In this puzzle, the exasperation that causes people to use this expression comes from the placement of OY in various known clauses -- and each groan-inducing result.
The themers are a bit inconsistent, with TOMBOY oddly clued and OYSTER breaking the second word. However that one is also my favorite image. JW has a wonderful knack for making the puzzles challenging and interesting. Here we have the array of fill from all over the language. PHOTON, MANILA, YODELS, NUBILE, TWO DAYS, BUG EYED, GO TO CHURCH, and LOCAL PRIDE are the showpieces.
The themers are a bit inconsistent, with TOMBOY oddly clued and OYSTER breaking the second word. However that one is also my favorite image. JW has a wonderful knack for making the puzzles challenging and interesting. Here we have the array of fill from all over the language. PHOTON, MANILA, YODELS, NUBILE, TWO DAYS, BUG EYED, GO TO CHURCH, and LOCAL PRIDE are the showpieces.
17A. Young Pharaoh's mischievous playmate? : TOMBOY OF KING TUT (15). In my world tomboys are young lady tweens or teens who prefer roughhousing to cotillions.
25A. Overly sweet fruit? : CLOYING PEACHES (14). Never had one.
43A. Useless metallurgical product? : ALLOY FOR NAUGHT (14). Really fun.
56A. Small shellfish of high quality? : PRIME MINI-OYSTER (15). As I said the one I thought was best presentation of the theme. And the reveal-
35A. Apt cry in reaction to four puzzle answers? : OY VEY.
Across:
1. Chanel product : SCENT. I spent way too much time trying to think of a five letter perfume.
6. Father of Hector : PRIAM. Back again with the trouble making son. 55D. Paris' realm : TROY.
11. Interruption : GAP.
14. Give the green light : ALLOW.
15. "The Flintstones" co-creator : HANNA. Part of the dynamo team HANNA-BARBERA that dominated cartoon production for many years.
16. Martial arts accessory : OBI. Sash.
20. It's on display while boasting : EGO. Love the clue.
21. Eccentric : DOTTY. I love the old words.
22. Stephen Colbert forte : IRONY.
23. Papuan food staple : SAGO.
24. Solar prod. : ELECtricity.
31. Features of a Los Angeles aerial view : POOLS.
32. Charged thing : ION. Simply wonderful.
33. Chekov colleague : SULU. Do I need to mention Star Trek? 6D. Laser particle : PHOTON. Yes they are used in future torpedoes.
34. Line on a globe : ARC. latitude, longitude.
37. One in a cage : RIB. More fun cluing of 3 letter fill.
38. Carson predecessor : PAAR. I get Jack often; I wonder when he will be forgotten.
40. "Norma __" : RAE. Sally Field got her first Oscar.
41. Salad garnish brand : BACOS.
47. Coll. employee : PROFessor.
48. Motivate : URGE.
49. Helped create, in a way : SIRED. Does this count for humans?
51. Hold for another time : TABLE.
53. "Law & Order: SVU" rank : SGT.
59. Succor : AID.
60. Parking garage component : LEVEL.
61. Keats' Muse : ERATO. Not exclusively.
62. Montpelier-to-Providence dir. : SSE. An interesting mini-clecho.
63. Ski resort near Montpelier : STOWE. The closest nice resort when I was a youngster.
64. In la-la land : DITZY. One of the all time best....LINK.
Down:
1. Opposite of starve : SATE.
2. Obstruct : CLOG. Like a toilet.
4. San Francisco's __ Hill : NOB.
5. Weekend, usually : TWO DAYS. Duh! Almost fooled me.
7. Large quantity : RAFT. I guess less than a boatload?
8. Black : INKY.
9. "Wheel of Fortune" purchase : AN I.
10. Capital south of Taipei : MANILA. Seems to be due south. I have friend who is getting married in Taipei - sadly I must miss the ceremony.
11. Seek a higher authority? : GO TO CHURCH. Fun deception.
12. Have __ in the oven : A BUN. typical of 50's euphemisms.
13. "How unfortunate" : PITY. Tis a pity.
18. Hindu ascetic : YOGI. Berra?
19. Athenians, to Parisians : GRECS. French for Greeks.
23. Four after do : SOL. Re, mi, fa, sol....
24. Selection word : EENY. meeny.
26. What a homecoming parade generates : LOCAL PRIDE. Only four hours long.
27. Alms provider : GIVER. For the poor....
27. Alms provider : GIVER. For the poor....
29. Literature Nobelist of 1948 : ELIOT. From Cats to prizes for T.S. The year I was born.
30. Fills in : SUBS. CSO to HG, and I'll have a veggie.
31. Literary sobriquet : PAPA. When I had the beard some called me PAPA. I think C.C. has some pics.
35. "Carmina Burana" composer : ORFF. Music continues our high brow journey. LINK.
36. Former Rocket Ming : YAO. My wife is Thongyao - in Thai yao means young.
39. "Air Music" composer : ROREM. Our friend Ned.
41. Obviously astonished : BUGEYED. Cartoonish.
42. Vital statistic : AGE.
44. Some Alpine entertainment : YODELS.
45. Like Victoria's Secret models : NUBILE. Nubile historically meant of marriage age.
46. Woody offshoot? : ARLO. Cute way to clue the Guthries.
49. Getaway options : SPAS.
50. Camera lens feature : IRIS. She comes with every camera and cleans the lenses.
52. One way to start : ANEW.
53. ER shout : STAT.
57. Exchanged handshakes : MET.
Our Friday regular, JW delivers a fun challenge with some compelling word pictures. He has so many variations on the add letter(s) puzzles that is the type I look for first in blogging his work. Wish me luck. Lemonade out.Okay I found one....
35 comments:
Good morning!
Once again, it appears people are staying away in droves. JW almost got me in the mid-Atlantic states. Thinking of plays rather than Star Trek for "Chekov," and putting a RAT in the cage kept SULU and ELIOT hidden for quite a while. But they finally appeared.
Before the cable/satellite companies offered DVRs, Sony made a DirecTivo -- a DirecTV receiver with built-in Tivo. I bought one. Today Tivo is lumped with Blackberry in the list of tech products that made it big...and then didn't.
Hope you're feeling better, Lemon.
Hello Puzzlers -
Had just the same trouble as D Otto, with Rat and so forth. Otherwise normal Friday difficulty level. Favorite themer: Prime Mini Oyster.
Didn't realize TiVo was technically passé. We have a recent (Series 3?) version that does everything, and does it well.
Good Morning,
Thanks, Jeffrey. I had trouble with the theme even after it appeared. I liked Woody Offshoot as I was in search of something botanical. I inadvertently learned something about cancer treatment with PROTON therapy--didn't realize it was a laser.
Nice tour once again, Lemonade. I still had trouble with the theme after your explanation. Kinda blah for me. Nice links, as is your pro forma. I hope you are feeling better. Nice photo.
Have a fine day and a nice weekend, everyone.
Good morning all!
Oy Vey is right! Wow- this was more than crunchy for me. Had to Google, wag and perp my way through. Kudos to Jeffrey for the clever theme and lots of great fill, even though it had me feeling DITZY ( I had a cortisone shot in my knee yesterday and am suffering the usual side effects, one being jumpy and scatter brained with my mind all over the place. Very hard to concentrate)
Thanks Lemonade for a great tour with fun learning moments and I loved the Gracie Burns clip! So funny 😂 Hope you're feeling better!
It took a bit to see the added 'OY' to the theme answers. CLOYINGPEACHES clinched it for me and I finally got OYSTER- I kept trying to make LobSTER work as the shellfish. Other "Doh!" moments: I always want PAAR to be Parr and had Big>BUGEYED. SOL threw me as I was looking for a number. I even initially thought of Do, re, mi but counted wrong and second guessed myself. Oof!
Unknowns: PRIAM, SAGO, STOWE, MANILA, ORFF, GETZ, YAO and POE.
Favorite/clever clues/fills were POOLS, GOTOCHURCH, ARLO, EENY and RIB. I'm missing a rib- found out during a pre-surgery consult several years ago when the nurse looked at my chart and said " That's interesting- did you know you're missing a rib?" Me: "No, but I do now and I'd like to know who took it" ;)
AnonT- so funny that you linked Donovan's "Mellow Yellow" as I always get that song stuck in my head when I see my Mellow Yellow Spirea. In fact, it was an ear worm after working in the garden Wednesday and again this morning when I read your comment. Time to listen to our favorite Canadian trio to get that out of my head :)
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
I see that I am early to the party today. I finished this Friday workout while DH is shovelling the 4 inches of snow we got overnight. Really!
Thanks for the fun Jeffrey and Lemonade.
I think PAPA refers to Hemingway.
Technically a DNF today because off the cross of the theme reveal OYVEY which I didn't really understand (is it Yiddish?) and the unknown ORFF and YAO. But I did get all the theme answers and thought the Prime mini oyster was clever. (Agree with Lemonade about Tomboy cluing).
Moved from Over to ANEW, Lots to RAFTS, Leno to PAAR, Ebon to INKY, Lat to ARC (thinking of Latitude from yesterday), Taro to SAGO, Ener to ELEC. Plus I had a FIW with Proton instead of PHOTON.
I smiled at the CSO of SUBS for HG.and also enjoyed seeing DOTTY and DITZY.
Stan GETZ should be familiar to most of you..."Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking...." Stan played the sax, and Astrud Gilberto sang the lyrics back in '62.
We don't call the early Niagara peaches Cling but rather refer to them as "non-freestone". I prefer the later freestone peaches for flavour and ease of use, especially the Red Haven variety.
Bunny M- favourite Canadian trio=Rush?
Have a great day!
Good morning everyone.
Tip 'o the hat to Lemonade for explaining the theme schtick well. Figured out the OY insert early on. Classic Wechsler in construction and execution. Lots of mucking around but a RAFT of fun to solve.
OY - Are also the Finnish letters for INC. or LTD; AG in Germany.
TROY - Immediately thought of Irish Miss.
ARC - Would be any Great Circle segment.
Table - The clue is typical American usage. Canadians also use it to mean the opposite; to bring TO the table. One has to be aware of the context to make sure of the exact meaning. Don't know if it is nationally used, but I heard it at meetings a lot from my colleagues in Toronto and Ottawa, and the Niagara frontier.
Musings
-I am 30 Downing today but since the teachers are taking so many kids out of town, it’s mostly just me and the computer
-This was a fun struggle as per Lemon’s summation. Tis a PITY I had four bad cells.
-Solar power use of the future
-I love teaching GREAT CIRCLE ARCS
-I had a DIE in a chuck-a-luck cage first
-Technology will soon tell us where a parking place is available
-BUN IN THE OVEN (:19) rumor spreading
-BUG-EYED dredges up Jerry Colonna to me
-I am subbing in a study hall right now and every kid has a computer or phone up to his face. Nirvana! Soon I’ll have a bunch of seniors ready to go out into the shop to use the welders and acetylene torches. Later!
I was on D-O's wavelength today with RAT before RIB and trying to think of another Russian playwright for Chekhov instead of Star Trek. Slow but steady- kept having to go to other sections and work my way back by perps. Growing up we had a lot of CLOYING PEACHES as the cling peaches often came from a can packed in syrup! Glad we do more fresh/frozen now.
Beautiful day today here, though a little crisp and cool for April!
Thanks Lemonade and JW for the Friday outing!
Is there a muse for puzzlers? I could have used one today but managed to slide into JW's devious mind in spite of the many proper names. But no searches needed, they all perped.
I did know ORFF, ELIOT, GETZ, PAAR (PARR, too)and eventually PRIAM and HANNA pushed through the fog. I'm glad you mentioned Star Trek, Lemonade, because SULU left me with doubts.
The OY wasn't needed to solve, but I see it's cleverness after the fact.
When researching for our trip to New England last summer, I noticed STOWE and saw that the Von Trapp hotel is located there.
Nicely done, Jeffrey Wechsler, for the Friday feature. And thank you, Lemonade, for always adding your zest to the commentary.
Have a spectacular day, everyone! Nothing but bright sunshine here.
Lemon zest -- nice, Lucina.
I really liked the theme. Plenty of white until I sussed the OY VEY.
I wanted OY VEY with --V-Y but didn't accept it for quite a while. Living among a large Jewish population, I find OY VEY is very common, an expression of dismay, roughly "Oh, woe!" or "Woe is me!" However, I doubted a puzzle would use OY VEY. Here we goyim, nonJews, have picked up many Yiddish expressions.
Then I found CLOYING for cling with the added OY and realized the theme. That made all of it much easier.
(BTW, inanehiker, I agree that peaches in heavy syrup are cloying.) I perked along quite well after that, but found ALLOY FOR ------ the most difficult, and was hung up a little on the church, rib, Bacos, naught and SULU section. SULU was all perps. I didn't know CHEKOV was in Star Trek. FIR.
Hello LA LA LINDA. How are you?
KING TUT's mischievous tomboy playmate could easily be a young lady tween.
Alan was doing so well that his medications were reduced to limit side effects. So, now we are in trouble again. He came home from work early on Wed. and stayed home yesterday. Today he went in, not feeling up to par. We're back on the merry-go-round after an almost three month respite.
Hi Everyone:
Normally, I'm on JW's wave length, but not today. I did get the theme as I filled in the reveal early on and that helped with the theme answers. But I got stuck in the north central and the Grecs/Sulu cross did me in causing a DNF. I missed the plural on Greeks/Parisians and having never seen a Star Trek episode, I was thinking of the literary Chekhov. Hand up for Rat/Rib and Sits/Subs. Overall, I found this to be a tough solve. On the bright side, thanks Spitz for the CSO to this Trojan!
Thanks, Jeffrey, for a real challenge and thanks, Lemony, for a spot-on review, especially the Gracie Allen clip. I have a quote of hers on my refrigerator: "Never put a period where God has placed a comma." Hope you feel better, Lemon.
Another gloomy day with more rain expected. I have forgotten what sunshine looks like. I think we're supposed to have warmer and sunnier weather in the next day or so. Yippee!
Have a great day.
IrishMiss:
How I wish we could send some of our sunshine to you. It's brilliantly sunny today! I'm so sorry for your bleak weather.
I did poorly on this puzzle. 3/4 was okay, but the SE had a lot of white, and half of the black turned red when I hit the help button. Also didn't get the theme until I finished. I saw the OYs, but not all long entries had them -- PRIME ??? lObSTER at least didn't. Also didn't see the seed phrases until after everything was finished.
Overslept today, but then blogger was down for ~2 hours, so I had to wait a long time to post.
The YOGI, enraged, was throwing a fit!
"Come here, my child, we need a sit!
My feet are in pain
And you are to blame!
So stop leaving Legos in the fire pit!"
At last! The LA Times has remedied its credit line problem. For the first time this week we were able to see who created the pzl before tackling it. No apology or explanation from the Times, but I am happy to see
we're back in good order.
A surprisingly easy pzl from Mr. Wechsler, especially for a Saturday entry. I got the theme fill, OY VEY, before any of the long themes, and it was a big help. It was pleasant too to see a Greek sub-theme (PRIAM/TROY) in play.
Oy Vey!
OY-VEY ... What an Ink Blot !!! ... D-N-F ...
Lemon, Good job explaining my "lack-of-solving" experience.
Jeffrey, I enjoyed the "Half-of-the-Grid" that I got.
Not a clue about PRIAM, ORFF & ROREM ... at least I got Stan GETZ.
Fave was BUG-EYED ... how I probably get when I look at the NUBILE Victoria Secret models.
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
It took two sessions, hours apart, to finish this one. I caught, initially FOR NAUGHT, the OY but it didn't help early. I had to back out of a few places and make some stabs in the dark. Changed ELSE to EENY, SLOW to ANEW, CON in the cage became a RIB, DONOT to GIVER and the LOBSTER somehow became an OYSTER. GRECS, POE, and ELIOT were just guesses. I didn't really know PRIAM but had remembered the name from earlier puzzles. 'Chekov' and SULU- I've never watched Star Trek but the perps were solid. My wife gets BACOS but they have no bacon.
BUG-EYED, DOTTY and DITZY. I was somewhere between those two after I finished.
Very slow slog today, but got it.
Hi Y'all! Another slog from Weschler, but always rewarding to finish even with red-letter help. Fun expo, Lemonade.
When I first moved to the farm we had three gnarly little trees of CLING PEACHES. I pruned all the dead wood out of them, expecting I'd killed them, but they rewarded me by flourishing. Best sweet white flesh PEACHES we had ever tasted. No CLOY about them fresh from the tree. But every year just when they were ripe, a flock of yellow & gray long-billed birds would move in and slash half of each PEACH. We'd pick what was left and I'd cut out the spoiled parts so we could eat the good parts. Tried all sorts of things including netting to discourage those bad birds -- to no avail. Early picking left the fruit without the good tree-ripened flavor. Never ever saw those birds in our area except for the ripe PEACH days. Trees died during a drought year.
Woody offshoot: not limb or root or bush. Wait...ESP! Had to wait on a lot of words today. HANNA came very slowly about the sixth time I passed the clue.
Never heard OY VEY except on TV or seen in print. Raised in an ethnically undiversified area.
Never watched Star Trek. Didn't have the channel on our TV. Didn't have TV as a kid.
So I got the solve after yet another slog. My most disliked puzzle type of all, the gimmick puzzle where the gimmick runs the puzzle, coupled with some very tough and almost dense clueing.
So I got the solve but no joy, just relief.
Yay! I cheered this morning, when I saw Jeffrey Wechsler's name in the byline of my LA Times puzzle! Yay! What a relief to have our normal format back! Thank you, so much, Ol' Man Keith, and C.C., for helping us get this solved--and you too, Ed, if you've begun to check out the blog.
Of course, this was a bit of a toughie for me, but I managed without too much cheating, and I didn't care, in any case, because I was just so happy to have the regular puzzle back--especially on a Jeff Wechsler day. I got TUT in the northeast corner right away, and after putting in OYSTER down below, figured out the OY theme, which helped with a number of other theme solves. My only really embarrassing goof was that I first put PRES for the College employee instead of PROF! Duh! At least no one can claim I'm self-centered.
CanadianEh, I had to make many of the same moves you did. And I too thought of Hemingway when I filled in PAPA.
So glad to have you back, Lemonade!
Have a great Friday, everybody!
I started early and drifted around and looked up and sure enough, JW. I think someone predicted that we'd have a toughie after yesterday.
I guessed TUT would be in that TOMB. The TOMBOY reminds me of Chelsea Hammer who made an appearance a month or so ago. She has a short story about a 12 year old sitting for a 14 year old boy.
I haven't read it. Imagination runs wild here. Whoa Wilbur.
YAO is the ISAO AOKI of the NBA. I had an URGE to google for ELIOT and Chekhov's peers.
Btw. The blog server was down for me here in South Florida. Apparently, not the blog itself. It may account for paucity of bloggers.
CHURCH was a late WAG; I had THE TOP. I also thought we were talking about a GENE selection pool.
STOWE is familiar; I played golf at Killington. Took the cocky out of the pro from Dover.
Nice to get a tada after yesterday's Ted Turner fixation. Noggin's a little sore from those V8 cans.
WC
Ps. Nice write-up Lemonade. Can't wait for the troll from mom's basement to show up
OY VEY! Jeffrey stole my lunch and gave it to you good solvers. I was lost on 1st pass -- SATE(? Came to mind but didn't work until I realized starve was a verb), CLOG, NOB, HANNA, AN? (9d), PHOTON and SULU. Funny that we talked about different backgrounds and solving experience recently. I knew HANNA and Trek but this idiot didn't even think of a Russian writer* :-)
Thanks Jeff but I had to cheat-cheat (read - look at Lem's grid) to break up the SW and keep playing. I caught the OY early on 'cuz with -YV-Y it wasn't hard to see [esp. after watching Rickles' clips last night]. Reveal was 1st solve of 'em all!
Thanks Lem for the expo - LOL'd at RAFT < boatload.
Notable WOs: Alas b/f PITY; Satir(e) b/f IRONY, taro b/f SAGO.
Lookups: PRIAM (got me RAFT, INKY** and MANILA); ROREM proof'd out INKin' PROF;
Fav themer - ALLOYFORNAUGHT. Nailed it! w/ -LLO--OR---GH-! [and knowing OY]
Fav: ARLO. I saw the ? and went to Toy Story for a moment b/f the Guthries. Awesome c/a Jeff.
{A+ & LOL}
DO: TiVo won their suit against cable-provided DVR makers and rake in the royalties [disclosure - college chum works at TiVo but I never had one].
C, Eh! Yep, I think PAPA refers to the Old Man. And yep, Bunny M was talkin' RUSH (only the greatest band ever... [Funny or Die]). //ps. I loved your spelling of favourite :-)
CED - LOL Grinch that sole candles. Thanks dude; I needed that laugh.
HG - for non-cartoon-wolf, at BUGEYED I thought of Marty Feldman.
Cheers, -T
*in grad-school DW (PhD English) confessed her guilty-reading was Calvin & Hobbes. Everyone was impressed and she never let on it was the comic books. [Hi Bill G :-)]
**who remembers Car Talk? "From the INKY shadows of a dimly LIT Quonset hut..."
Lemony,
Thank you for not attempting to provide your own title/theme to the puzzle today.
It was much appreciated.
I read an historical novel containing the basic facts of King Tut's life in a fascinating story. I am so sorry I cannot name the novel. I tried keeping track of the books I read, but when reading 75 to 100 books a year and being an average, but not obsessively, organized person, I find it hard to cross reference concepts I find in books. Approaching age 80 in December, I find fewer facts readily at my fingertips. My older sister who is mathematically brilliant is a fantastic keeper of the facts, but is not into books. I am sure I have read about King Tut's tomboy female companion. Here is Tut's history.
King Tut
Yep, It's Friday and Jeff W. gave us another test. Lemon also did a great job of 'splaining what was going on in Jeff's mind today.
I got through it with the help of Red Letters and ESP. Having lived in a predominately Jewish neighborhood on Long Island (Lawn Guy Land) OY VEY was heard quite often.
Next challenge will be tomorrow's puzzle. See you all then.
YR - sans reading the history of KING TUT & TOMB <-click and listen to an oral history.... //ducks
-T
Did I break the blog? How is @4:35 last post?
Bill G. We did it! Youngest got a 93 on her ALG test. She said there was one trick question that none of the other "smart kids" got... [I said "so maybe yous not so smart?"... "Daaaaad! Umf," was her reply :-)]
For those under 45, thie format will seem slow... Rickles on Cavett. [30min] Sorry to dwell, but when a great comedian like Mr. Warmth passes I hav'ta' laugh outta respect. -T
Yep, you broke it!
I think blogger.com has been having problems today. The must have upset the cyber-Russians (or The Twitterer Who Must Not Be Named).
OKL - 59 Tomahawks must'a pissed someone off... Screech; 502.. Carrier los[t].
Thanks for the link. Cheers, -T
I just noticed that Wyeth's Christina was in the 10/29/16 xword. I'm waiting on that *#$& plane and found that Saturday xword wedged in behind a seat. So I knocked it off
I was left with MOMA. Write-up explained it. Music(DOT) and art are not my strengths.
And Christina gave me a ticket to talk about it six months late.
New record for me
WC
Ps. I wouldn't have finished a Saturday so quick six months ago
I grew up with parents who really did say Oy Vey so I caught the theme quickly!
ORFF and ROREM total unknowns.
Star Trek is my religion so I was surprised I was also thinking of literature when I saw Chekov. I even got to see the real Sulu (George Takei) just last month. What a treat. He is such a brilliant human being and such a generous humanist.
Learning moment about St ELMO fire which I know from my high voltage experiments in my youth!
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