Theme: Reveal Monday - And a darn good thing.
17A. Sheet for plotting in math class: GRAPH PAPER. Autograph.
35A. Gridiron pass-defense scheme: ZONE COVERAGE. AutoZone. (car parts store)
42A. TV series starter: PILOT EPISODE. Autopilot.
64A. Market research target: FOCUS GROUP. Autofocus. (camera feature)
50D. Running by itself, and where the first words of 17-, 35-, 42- and 64-Across can be placed: ON AUTO
Argyle here. Textbook Monday. Very enjoyable.
Across:
1. Keebler cracker: ZESTA. Original Saltine Crackers.
6. Hotel employee: MAID
10. Consequently: THUS
14. Reference containing insets: ATLAS
15. Big name in luxury hotels: OMNI
16. What some hogs hog, with "the": ROAD
19. Rich rocks: OREs
20. Added to the collection plate: GAVE
21. Scrutinizes: INSPECTS
23. Menlo Park inventor: EDISON. Thomas Alva Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park".
25. Fort Worth sch.: TCU. (Texas Christian University)
26. Prohibition __: ERA
29. Advent mo.: DEC.. Advent, the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas.
30. Silent approvals: NODS
33. Author Capote: TRUMAN
37. Brand for Fido: ALPO
40. Misspell or misspeak: ERR
41. Nibble (on): GNAW
47. Points a finger at: BLAMES. Point a finger at Fido and he may gnaw on it.
48. Decant: POUR
49. Soft slip-on: MOC. (moccasin) Tonto has his mocs on but the Masked Man is John Hart.
52. Traditional Asian sauce base: SOY
53. Seventh Greek letter: ETA
55. One-named Tejano singer: SELENA
57. Eggs __: brunch dish: BENEDICT
61. General Bradley: OMAR
62. Object of adoration: IDOL
66. Door openers: KEYS
67. Provide a fake alibi for, say: ABET
68. Come together: UNITE
69. Minimal effort: EASE
70. Storied loch: NESS
71. Mystic's deck: TAROT
Down:
1. Took a sharp turn: ZAGGED right after zigged.
2. Online financial site: E-TRADE
3. Like Croats and Serbs: SLAVIC
4. Carton sealers: TAPES
5. Volcanic debris: ASH
6. Reaction to a bad pun: MOAN
7. Miami Sound Machine sound machines: AMPS. 44D. "Coming Out of the Dark" singer Gloria: ESTEFAN. Song history. The song(4:06).
8. Klutzy: INEPT
9. Dish Network competitor: DIRECTV
10. Jogger's pace: TROT
11. Member of the Apocalypse quartet: HORSEMAN. All four are horsemen. War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.
12. Abu Dhabi's fed.: UAE.(United Arab Emirates)
13. Militant '60s campus org.: SDS. (Students for a Democratic Society)
18. Attach, as a name tag: PIN ON
22. Restore to health: CURE
24. Tokyo-born Yoko: ONO
27. Hindu melody: RAGA
28. From the beginning: ANEW
31. Like the diving-board end of the pool: DEEP
32. Rx, for short: SCRIP. No tee.
34. Hard-to-resist impulse: URGE
35. Go like heck: [ZOOM!]
36. Estimate words: OR SO
37. BOLO equivalents: APBs. "Be On the LookOut"/"All Points Bulletin" sent to LEOs, "Law Enforcement Officers"
38. Disney's "__ & Stitch": LILO
39. Don Juans: PLAYBOYS
43. Many a manga fan: TEEN. Manga are comics created in Japan.
45. Expels by force: OUSTS
46. Dr. with Grammys: DRE
49. Life story: MEMOIR
51. "Magic" transport: CARPET
54. Photoshop maker: ADOBE
56. Doone of fiction: LORNA
58. Otherwise: ELSE
59. Puts frosting on: ICES
60. Scissors snips: CUTS
62. Cold War prez: IKE
63. Org. busting dealers: DEA. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
65. __ reaction: instinctive feeling: GUT
Argyle
40 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Gail, Bruce and Santa!
Nice Monday offering.
Do not remember having heard ZESTA. Other than that, no problems.
Have a great day!
{A-, B, B+, A-.}
The jogger's URGE was to TROT and go,
To ZOOM down the ROAD for a mile OR SO!
But his plan was wrecked
By his AUTO-correct --
Instead of a jog-TROT, he's juggling TAROT!
Sometimes with EASE, they can PIN ON the BLAMES,
Find scapegoats and POUR more oil on the flames!
But before they OUST
The INEPT poor louse,
Be sure he's not the only one driving the trains!
ATLAS is the giant who holds up the sky.
When he NODS with sleep, shooting stars fly!
The sweat from his pores
Soaks the ground as rich ORES!
And his farts form in to a hurricane's eye!
There's a new MEMOIR with tasty clips
Of the HORSEMEN of the Apocalypse!
One is addicted to raspberry ICES
Another has TAPES of political vices,
And two MOAN with fear at a solar eclipse!
Good morning!
Good morning! Zip, zip, ZOOM. Thanx, GG, BV and Argyle.
Clayton Moore loved "being" the Lone Ranger. He was making personal appearances in costume long after the run of the show had ended. That led to a legal battle over the rights to the Lone Ranger character. Moore eventually won that suit, and continued making public appearances right up until his death in '99.
Thought up this limerick late last night. Hope y'all will get a chuckle or groan. On the WC grading scale, this is a PwD+++!
Bilbo Baggins was recently scarred,
And the news really caught us, off guard.
He expired from infection
After getting an erection.
Guess it's true that old hobbits die hard.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Tough getting up this morning, but I did it. Heading to the school in a couple minutes to guard the crossing.
Puzzle was a good one. Liked the theme. Good Monday level. Got it done in 20 minutes. Pretty good for me.
Eggs BENEDICT are my favorite egg dish. I must eat them at least twice a year.
Our former Governor in Illinois was a slavic Serb. Blagoyevich.
As it is now 7:45 AM, I have to run. See yon tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
-I forgot my glasses which slowed my solve some, but FIR. I was reading BOLO as BOLD.
-There were teens in our adult school night class who were learning Japanese to read MANGA in that language, although there are manga in English. The teens did very well, because they were highly motivated.
-During my summers while I was in college I was a maid at a resort. In general, the men were tidier than the women. It seemed they were being more thoughtful of the college girls than, perhaps, they were at home. OTOH many of the women were slobs, maybe, a"not my problem" attitude. As a waitress I found that men dining without women present were more generous with tips.
-Abejo, I agree about Eggs Benedict.Yummy!
-Argyle the picture of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle brought back fond memories of Scotland.
-We have toured Edison's Labs in West Orange, NJ. Interesting.
-Michael, from last night: Obedience? I suppose so. I call it mindfulness, being fully in the present. It is wonderful how all my worries and troubles fly away while square dancing. Thinking of concentrating fully, do you do "Hot Hash" where the music is run at higher speed and the caller spouts calls as fast as he (she) can spit them out? Or "Take No Prisoners" where the calls are done in very unusual figures? Fun!
Good day to all!
Such an enjoyable Monday puzzle from Gail and Bruce. Definitely needed the reveal to see the theme. Unknowns in the clues were BOLO (Be On the LookOut?) and "manga", but perps came to the rescue easily. Thanks for the expo, Argyle.
Enjoy the day!
Good morning everyone.
Nice succinct intro, Argyle. Got the BOLO answer but thanks for explaining.
Otherwise, mostly easy Monday solve. Felt kinda lukewarm to the theme, though. Clecho? - to see IKE and OMAR in the same puzzle.
Avatar served up eggs BENEDICT on Sunday mornings.
OMAR Bradley was the last flag officer promoted to 5-star rank; circa 1950. There are none still alive, and none on active duty. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a 4 star and outranks all other officers.
Have a great day.
Feeling some sympathy for new solvers. I thought this was a bit tricky for a Monday. The theme entries came fairly easily to me, but they are not exactly familiar phrases. Zesta and BOLO required some deep memory work. I enjoyed the puzzle and the write-up. I have to ask...Is an amp really a machine? It's clearly a device, but with no moving parts, I'm not sure it's a machine.
Good Morning:
Always a pleasure to see Gail and Bruce's byline and always a pleasure to solve their offerings. Had no idea where the theme was going until the reveal. My kind of puzzle! 😉. However, it was a FIW as I had Jagged instead of Zagged (Jesta is an odd name for a cracker but, what do I know?) Either I never noticed the lack of a Tada or I was too befuddled by the beginnings of a cold. Still enjoyed the solve, though.
Thanks, G and B, for the usual fun and clever challenge and thanks, Argyle, for your steadfast guidance.
Have to run; have an appointment with the retina specialist. Hoping for a good report.
Have a great day.
Musings
-Me too, Argyle, a very enjoyable textbook Monday
-My only two AUTOGRAPHS are from Konrad Dannenberg, the last former Nazi rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center and Fred Haise, a crew member of Apollo XIII
-AUTOFOCUS is a pain when I try to take pix of birds through my window screen
-A “sorta” autopilot I’d hate to be without
-All you want to know about the Prohibition ERA
-To ERR is human, to really mess things up you need a computer
-In his AUTObiography Clayton Moore says he never knew why he was replaced for that one season
-If you’ve got 5 minutes, listen to what Dave Letterman calls the greatest talk show story ever told that features Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger
-Gotta run, I’ve got two SCRIPS to pick up
Nice Monday puzzle from Gail and Bruce. Argyle's expo was up to his usual high standards.
I finished it quickly even though there was only one word I didn't know, Manga. Everything else filled in nicely and perps were a big help. There were a number of the down clues that I didn't have to fill in because the Across clues had taken care of them.
I didn't get the theme until I read Argyle's explanation, but I had no trouble with the individual theme fills.
I had no problem with BOLO and APBS because of all the cop shows I've watched over the years. APBs were more common in the earlier days on shows like Dragnet and Police Story. Now BOLO seems to be the preferred term on shows like NCIS.
HG: After his career at NASA, Fred Haise signed on with Grumman Aerospace as the Vice President of Space Programs, where I worked for him for over a dozen years. He is a great guy. Funny story about him. Most of the astronauts of his era were speed freaks and drove sports cars, mostly Corvettes, at breakneck speed. Fred, who was frugal, on the other hand drove a Volkswagon Bug, but he drove it as fast as it would go. Always a little scary riding with him.
Like HG I have to head to CVS to pick up some SCRIPS also.
Have a great week everyone.
Had to come here to figure out the theme. I was thinking, "On a UTO ... what is a UTO?!?!"
Great Monday puzzle; 8:32 minutes and 100%. That doesn't happen very often!
Thanks for a great blog!
Well, I found this CW rather difficult for a Monday. First time a long time I couldn't finish.
Never heard of Zesta and didn't know BOLO.
Off to sing with my chorus this morning. 32 women.
Have a great day all.
Liked the puzzle and the clueing, hated the gimmick as usual.
Just wondering when and how the "gimmick" - or more politely, I guess, the "theme" became part of the crossword puzzle. It seems a strain on what are otherwise great puzzles.
I would never miss these gimmick/theme constructions if they just disappeared.
Argyle: Enjoyed the write-up. Good Job!
Gail & Bruce: Thank you for a FUN Monday puzzle with a nice theme.
OK, I admit it, 26-a, Prohibition ERA is my "least favorite" clue/answer of the year.
Trust me, I would have hated living through that ERA ...
Oh well, the Sun is over the yardarm ...
Cheers!
Well, I personally think the themes make xwords. Saturday doesn't want to give anything away but the themes definitely are integral to the entertainment.
I vaguely recall ZESTA. I'm enjoying pita chips these days with horseradish cheese. Except my son, Phil is hording it. Speaking of.
Phil is heavily into all things Japanese since he realized the best video stuff comes from there. He too learned Japanese, on his own, to get the real thing
I'll ask him about MANGA. I should have asked Betsy for more yoga talk since after AMESTRE we got more yoga over the weekend.
I was going to post earlier and I got the blog frowny face. I thought the three 'licksters had got ourselves barred. Speaking of, C-Moe +++ indeed. Plus I like everything Hobbit.
Publix has BOGOs. BOLO is a new one. This Monday went pretty smooth after the NW got straightened out.
Thanks Bruce, Gail and Argyle. YR thanks for the expo on square dancing and Misty for Joyce expliquez yesterday. I hope dad is doing well.
WC
HG @9:19, OMG! that Lone Ranger link was hilarious!
Chairman Moe, I give your poem at least three 6 downs...:)
Well, I got all 3 WAGs right,
(WAGs, on a MOnday?)
Z in Zesta, (who names a cracker Zesta?)
(Methinks maybe the cheese slipped off his cracker...)
10a Consequently. I was thinking Then, inked the "TH"
& consequently the "US" appeared...
49a Soft slip on,,,
Forgive me, but, why was it not clued as an abbreviation?
(Hmm, maybe because the answer could be risque?)
AnyWho, I don't like Moc as an answer,
just doesn't feel comfortable...
(Like they were Mocking me...?)
P.S.,
While I try to put multiple meanings in my posts,
(I.E.:CrossEyedDave)
I would not fret too much on the last line above,
as even I do not know for sure what I was trying to say...
- Finished in just under 8 minutes, about average for a Monday.
@ Northwest Runner: if a machine is something that does work (and I think that's an accepted definition), then an amp, which changes the level of sound, IS a machine.
"Moc" has become a word in itself; just check out shoe ads.
Got through this one top to bottom horizontally and never did see the clue reveal, also didn't notice the "auto" clues along the way.
Thanks, Bruce & Argyle, for a just-right Monday job!
WC --> check Sunday's blog for a couple of late night 'licks I put in for you ...
C-Moe
CED ---> yup, 6 "Moe"ns is about right for that one. 😜
Nice Monday with a bit of crunch. Didn't need the theme.
My official "Puzzling Thoughts":
Ditto what CED said to HG about how great that Letterman clip was re the Lone Ranger
My only write over was having FOCUS PANEL > FOCUS GROUP. Back in my "corporate life" I conducted a few Focus Panels. They're quite revealing if you have a vocal group.
Never even saw the manga clue, as TEEN was filled in with perps.
Surprised that Tin didn't comment on 59d! 😜 Guess only one "least favorite" per post!
Thanks to the constructors and of course to Argyle for the explanation.
Hmm, why do teens like Manga so much?
I guess it all started with Sailor Moon...
Note: you would have had to have seen a Sailor Moon episode to appreciate the above parody...
Which brings me to something called "Chobits."
If you like Science Fiction, with a dash of humor, and deep meaning,
this is a classic Manga.
Imagine if you will..
You are a broke teenager from the countryside, trying to work
your way thru College. Miraculously, you find in the garbage a discarded
robot that you take home and try to repair. Unfortunately, this robot is missing
all but its basic programming, and you have trouble finding the switch that turns it on...
Through all the innuendo, & funny stuff (underpants!) this series
is actually very deep, and thoughtful. Entertaining and perplexing,
an excellent introduction to Manga!
(P.S. my introduction to Manga was a TV series called AstroBoy)
Chairman Moe
Nothing wrong with the 59-d answer ... I like cakes with frosting, and someone has to do it.
As such, I entered ICES since it had nothing to do with adding "_ _ _" to a drink.
I'm just really glad I was born after the Prohibition ERA ...
That way ... when I say "Cheers!" I can do it with a potent drink.
Cheers!
Tinbeni @1:22 ~
You remind me: when I was a kid and I heard adults saying "Cheers!" I was sure they were saying "Chairs!" I didn't get what they found to celebrate about the furniture. I particularly remember this in visits to my Grandpa's apartment - about the same time I used to worry when they would ask someone (not me!) to shut the door to keep the "Giraffe" out.
(How did they know one was coming?)
An excellent pzl for a Monday morning. I thought at first there was some mistake because I could not get started at all in the usual beginner block, the NW quadrant. Which "Keebler cracker"? What "financial site"? Sure, they were all answerable but not narrowed enough for a Monday easy-peasy. The first fill I knew was EDISON. Once I saw that I'd have to work a little, I had no trouble - and enjoyed working for my Ta-DA!
Thank you, Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke, and a bow to you, Argyle!
Yellowrocks @ 8:15:
"Obedience? I suppose so. I call it mindfulness, being fully in the present."
Language is slippery ... to be obedient to the caller, means turning off the usual interior mental debris to listen, so we can be fully here and now.
C-Moe I caught the pair and enjoyed them this morning. I see you dredged one if them up from the days of the MAID from France.
Not to speak of the brilliant Brazilian named Bruno
WC
Took all day, tough with ZESTA and HORSEMAN, and no idea what a BOLO was other than the tie which I figured wasn't going to be capitalized. Getting better though. :)
CED: You probably know the difference, but you're confusing other people, I fear. MANGA are comic books and graphic novels. Anime are animated cartoons. Many stories cross over from one to the other, and they share drawing styles, but they are distinct media. Just ask any Otaku!
Yes Owen, you are absolutely right!
They are different media in their own right.
But!
Can you identify a single Anime
that did not start out as a Manga?
hmm, except maybe Spirited Away.
(still trying to wrap my head around that one...
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Gail & Bruce. Great expo, Argyle!
My mother always bought ZESTA crackers which have a more buttery taste than plain old saltines. More expensive too.
Never heard of MANGA.
I got the theme when done after a little study. Gary, I still haven't figured out my AUTOPILOT cruise control on my Encore. Only went out of town to need it once and couldn't get it to engage while traveling 70 mph. I got along fine with my cruise on the last car. I did finally get my A/C to work the other day. I learned to read words. Don't understand all the cute little symbols in my new car.
Gonna be a busy week. Son took DIL to the emergency room late yesterday with chest pains and a numb left arm. She didn't put up a fuss about staying overnight which tells us the extent she doesn't feel well. She's 45. Her brother had his first of three heart attacks at age 42 and isn't 50 yet. Their father also had a first heart attack in his 40's. They all survived. DIL never smoked but the other two still do.
Tomorrow my daughter goes in for a hysterectomy. My job is just to wait for word and beseech the Deity.
Hi All!
What NWRunner and OMK said - tough getting started on this one. I guess when Z is the 1st square, it's goinna be a slow solve. ROAD (then the NW) and ONO were my two first toe-holds and I worked out from there.
Thanks Gail & Bruce - It took me a second to realize that 39d and 11d weren't part of the theme (AUTO-PLAY @ 39d; but what's an auto-horse? :-))
Great job as usual Argyle; and thanks for explaining BOLO [like Wade, I thought it was a tie too but couldn't be in caps].
WAG: E or I in ESTeFAN / BENiDICT?
ESPs: APBS; LORNA, & OMAR; the O in Omar / LORNA was last WAG/square to fill.
Fav (NOT!): ADOBE; not because of the c/a but of trying to untangle .pdf's in emails to find malware. Adobe junked so much into the .pdf standard you just can't trust opening random .pdfs w/o digging into the code. I had 8 of those today! //MOAN
Funny thing, they weren't malicious just built w/ some random free tool I've never heard of. For the layperson, you can upload the .pdf to Google Docs if you need to view it - then Google gets infected if it's bad! [actually they don't because they have their own .pdf rendering goodies.]
{A,B,A,B} {Cute}
PVX - I like theme'd puzzles. Sure sometimes they can force clunkers (not in this one!) but the meta-puzzle is fun to figure out - a little lagniappe.
HG - That Lone Ranger story was funny; thanks.
Fav: Who doesn't like Steppenwolf's Magic CARPET ride?
Cheers, -T
PK,
My gosh!
Not sure what to say, except I will join you in your search to beseech the Deity...
Anonymous T,
"Fav (NOT!): ADOBE; not because of the c/a but of trying to untangle .pdf's in emails to find malware. Adobe junked so much into the .pdf standard you just can't trust opening random .pdfs w/o digging into the code. I had 8 of those today! //MOAN"
Are you bringing your work home again!
1st of all, what the heck is a c/a?
PK – I have one vehicle where I have to manually turn on the Cruise Control EVERY time before I set the cruise control. In the other vehicle (the control in the picture) I just have to set it unless I turn the Cruise Control off at some time because it stays on.
Sorry to hear about the heart issues in your son's family.
Busy day, but just a quick thanks to Gail and Bruce for a delightful puzzle, and Santa for your always fun expo. And thanks, Wilbur, for your kind note.
Have a good evening, everybody!
PK - let me second CED's My Gosh... Positive thoughts your family's way.
CED - work is 19/6 - there's no turning it off (I do NEED sleep about 5 hrs; Friday afternoon and Saturday is the only time that 95% company globally is "off" and even then the phone may ring). Life gets the lulls in the day.
Re: c/a == clue/answer. Gail and Bruce provided a fair c/a for Adobe - I was just cursing them (Adobe, not Gail & Bruce) all day.
Cheers, -T
Just got word that my daughter-in-law had tests through the night and most of the day. They didn't find anything wrong with her. This is a woman with a normally very high pain threshold who doesn't admit to being sick very often, so son and I are frustrated. I personally have had so many misdiagnoses, that I wonder what they have missed on DIL. Instead of being relieved at their "clean bill of health", we're very uneasy. She has a high-stress job. We hope it was just that.
Thanks for the good wishes! Helped me get through the evening until son called.
PK - a bit of Whew... Still sending positive thoughts...
CED - I just found the Adult Swim Anime in my still-open tabs... LOL! -T
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