Theme: Retro TV. The circled letters, when read backwards, spell out a network.
17. Two-time Emmy winner for "30 Rock" : ALEC BALDWIN. ABC.
39. San Francisco neighborhood : NOB HILL. HBO.
11. Umami detectors : TASTE BUDS. BET. Umami is one of the five basic tastes (together with
sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness). It has been described
as brothy or meaty.
34. Where to pick up "will call" tickets : BOX OFFICE. FOX.
62. Unofficial means of communication, and a hint to each set of circled letters : BACK CHANNEL
Across
1. Latvian capital : RIGA
5. Sites for vows : ALTARS. (There's one in my near future 💘.)
11. Blues great __ Mahal : TAJ
14. Turow book set at Harvard : ONE L
15. __ pork: Chinese dish with pancakes : MOOSHU
16. Yellowfin tuna : AHI
19. Bart, to Homer : SON
19. Bart, to Homer : SON
20. Vixen teammate : DASHER
21. '80s Indiana senator Quayle : DAN
22. Underworld river : STYX. Greek mythology.
23. Dug up dandelions, say : WEEDED
25. Like some bank accounts : NO FEE
27. Doles (out) : METES
29. Place for bottom feeders : SEA BED
32. Red gemstone : RUBY
35. Walked (on) : TROD
37. Avoid capture by : ELUDE
38. Artist Yoko : ONO
41. Poorly lit : DIM
41. Poorly lit : DIM
42. The South : DIXIE
44. Boo Boo's pal : YOGI
45. Analogy words : IS TO
46. Squirreled away : STORED
48. Records for later watching : TIVOS
50. Castro of Cuba : FIDEL
52. Electric cars named for a physicist : TESLAS
55. Sports officials : REFS. No indication of shortened word.
57. Chinese chairman : MAO
59. Monopoly square with a question mark : CHANCE
61. Former White House Press Secretary Fleischer : ARI
64. Attack, to Fido : SIC
65. Five Nations tribe : ONEIDA
66. Tennis drop shot : DINK. New to me. From tennis.com: "When the dink is used correctly it’s an important addition to any
passing-shot arsenal. Unlike a drive, a well-placed dink forces the
volleyer to hit up while creating his own pace, and only the most solid
volleyers will be able to strike a forcing shot from this position."
67. Text giggle : HEE
68. Most weird : ODDEST
69. Catches sight of : SEES
Down
Down
1. "Rocky __ to Dublin": Irish tune : ROAD
2. Kin by marriage : IN LAW
3. Sixth-day-of-Christmas gift : GEESE
4. Lead-to-gold pseudoscience : ALCHEMY
5. Almond-flavored liqueur : AMARETTO
6. Tweeter's titter : LOL
7. Broadway barber Sweeney __ : TODD
8. Dam on the Nile : ASWAN
9. Safari herbivores : RHINOS
10. Word with screen or block : SUN
12. Nautical cry : AHOY
12. Nautical cry : AHOY
13. Bring bad luck : JINX
18. George Eliot's "Adam __" : BEDE
22. Navy commando : SEAL
24. Annual Kentucky event : DERBY
26. Intuit : FEEL
28. Really sexy : SO HOT
30. Clean up Time? : EDIT
31. Trade show model : DEMO
32. Anglers' gear : RODS
33. Textbook division : UNIT
36. Entry in a sudoku square : DIGIT
36. Entry in a sudoku square : DIGIT
39. "All You __ Is Love" : NEED
40. Online customer service option : LIVE CHAT
43. Eye part : IRIS
45. Cruise stops : ISLANDS
47. Insist on : DEMAND
49. Labor Dept. arm : OSHA
51. Tied, as skates : LACED
53. "Tomorrow" musical : ANNIE
54. Movie trailer segment : SCENE
55. Itchy red area : RASH
56. Buffalo's Great Lake : ERIE
58. Sooner migrant : OKIE
60. Part of BPOE : ELKS. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
62. Ghostly greeting : BOO
63. Fixed-term investments, briefly : CDS
43 comments:
Brag day: I used the Mensa site, so no circles, but after the reveal figured out where they'd all be!
The prescience of the BLOG: well, Tony used LOL yesterday, but that's a common enough word it hardly counts. And CSOs to JINX and CHAIRMAN M. Did I miss anything else?
{A-, A.} Rated R today.
Charon's house in Hell is beside the STYX,
SO HOT and DIM it attracts no chicks.
His garden is WEEDED
But hasn't succeeded
Raising RUBY red roses, just sticks!
A woodcarver, by name, Geppetto
Made a wish while drinking AMARETTO.
A carving he'd done
Became a filial SON!
He complained he'd wished for fellatio!
Greetings!
Thanks, Debbie and mb.
No problems. No circles, though.
Have a great day!
Good morning all. Thank you Debbie. Thank you Melissa.
Didn't know there were circled letters. By the time I got to 62A telling me there were circles, it was just a few letters short of being completed. Still, I enjoyed the solve.
Again with clues and answers first seen in the write up. e.g. TODD, DINK, BEDE, FEEL.
CSO to Jinx. Not in Norfolk. Last I heard, he was in southern Indiana. No moss growing on his wheels.
Oh. That Vixen.
I think that one time, just for all of us at the Corner, we should have a clue of "Abejo's lake".
Annual physical in a little bit. Gotta get moving.
Good morning!
No problems with this one; I even got the theme before the reveal! Today's gonna be a good day. I thought for a moment we were going to have SEAL crossing SEABEE. Nope. Thanks for the entertainment, Debbie.
Melissa Bee, congrats on your upcoming nuptial. Who's the altar ego?
BACK CHANNEL reminds me of this scene from The Sum Of All Fears.
I like LIVE CHAT at most websites. It's a quick, easy way to get the information you need. But, klutz that I am, when I have to switch browser windows to answer a chat question, I lose the chat window.
Good morning and thanks for the puzzle. Tivos , teslas and dink were new to me . The rest filled in quite easily. Little sprikle of rain today , maybe enough to help the garden grow.:-)
Morning,
Thanks for write up MB.
Did not have circles, did not matter. Got thru pretty quickly and ,as usual, had no idea what the theme was. SE corner a bit troublesome, but ended up dead on.
I call them REFS. If I use referees there is usually a cuss word uttered first.
I seldom feel this way, but I wasn't crazy about the puzzle. The cluing was not much of a challenge and there were not any "Oh I did not know that" clues. Probably my mood, hopefully it will improve as the day progresses. I'm sure the forecast of 90 plus degree weather coming our way has something to do with it. Too Damn early for the three H's.
Hi Y'all! This was easier for me than yesterday. No circles, but I found ABC, too sleepy to recognize the other three, none of which I ever watch! Thanks, Debbie.
Thanks, Melissa. Best wishes for whatever you are doing to ALTAR your life.
Not having played tennis since I was single, I don't remember ever hearing of DINK shots. But I assume it's a way to return a lob or something played from the net area.
Congrats, Melissa! Will you still be Miss Bee, or are you taking the new name?
Musings
-A fun solve, an obvious theme and golf at 9 am. Works for me
-OCD? - No matter how I bought the tix, I call the BOX OFFICE that day to make sure
-ONE-L looks like a hoot!
-A lawn full of dandelions will make you a pariah in our ‘hood
-ONE-L/Bottom feeders? Hmmm… Everybody hates lawyers until they need one
-The best a REF can hope for is to be invisible
-My golf course is a 400 yds from the Platte River, so this is a common sight
-Isaac Newton spent a lot of time dabbling in ALCHEMY
-Grandson’s JINX last weekend? They gave up 16 walks
-Teacher DEMANDS are running up against low grain prices this year
-Congrats, Melissa!
-FORE! Look out Geese!
This one seemed hard af first pass but filled in quickly. Thanks, Debbie and MB.
Owen, A+. !!
Good Morning.
A swift run for me, Debbie. Thanks. I like the sleek look of TESLAS. I recently saw a sporty model. Way to old for a mid-life crisis--let alone too poor for a TESLA.
Thanks, Melissa. AND Congratulations!
Have pleasant day.
Good day to all!
No circles, so had to wait for the reveal to see what today's puzzle was all about. Thought "Clean up Time?" for EDIT was cute, albeit obvious. Over all, an enjoyable solve. Thanks for the expo, Melissa. Any details of your upcoming ALTAR experience you'd care to share?
Enjoy the day!
Good morning everyone.
Had 'smoke signal' before BACK CHANNEL. LACED set me straight. Ho hum theme to me but others probably liked it. No searches were needed to complete the solve.
ONEIDA - My home county. The Oneidas own the nearby betting emporium - Turning Stone. Venue for BH's Mother's Day dinner.
Of the Five Nations, only the Mohawk has no counties named after it in New York.
"Puzzling Thoghts":
FINAL EDITION
For awhile ...
The Chairman is going on hiatus as the next few months will mean packing, moving, settling into my new digs, working new job, etc. I hope once the dust settles I will return here to rekindle our cyber friendship. I'll certainly miss the humor, the sarcasm, the links, the puzzles, the recaps, and all of the community here at the Crossword Corner. CC, thanks for providing this venue for us to share in the hobby that brought us together.
Certainly feel free to send me an email and I'll always reply. Email address is in my profile.
I almost aced my last LAT Xword today as my lone write over was in 32d where I put REEL > RODS. Other than that, it was a fitting, Good-bye, "RUBY Tuesday" kind of puzzle. Cute theme; BACK CHANNEL was all filled in from perps but was easy to spot.
So of course I have to EXIT with a final limerick and haiku (or as I call, a Moe-Ku). WC and Tony, hope these will get good marks!! 😜
At the bar the man said, "Give me suds!"
(Not a statement you'd hear from blue-bloods)
So the bartender pushed
Tap from Anheuser Busch;
All that guy wants right now's to TASTE BUDS
Former hockey star
Became a ticket seller.
Sat in BOX OFF ICE
Thank you, Debbie, for this quick and easy RUBY Tuesday puzzle. After the theme reveal I didn't understand it and now I know why. From that group, the only CHANNEL I watch is ABC and not too much of that. But I liked much of the fill, especially MOOSHU, STYX, and NOB HILL.
And thank you, Melissa, and congratulations on the upcoming ALTARations.
Moe, I wish you well on your move and hope you return to us as soon as you can. I'll miss you!
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Debbie Ellen, for a fine puzzle. Thank you Melissa Bee, for a fine review.
Got through this quickly this morning after guarding the crossings.
Did not look for the theme, but saw it after I was done. Clever.
Reading where the Chicago Tribune may be buying the Chicago Sun-Times. Interesting. Hope they do not screw up the crosswords in the process.
I saw my lake again today, ERIE. Caught your comment TTP.
ELKS jumped out at me. Been a member in Erie #67 for 45 years.
IN LAW reminds me of mine (R.I.P.). They were both great people.
13D reminds me of our Blogger, JINX. I believe I worked in California the same time he did. We may have known each other.
MOOSHU was unknown. Perps.
We have had ONE L before. I actually remembered it this time.
Now i have to go back and report in for Monday, Sunday, and Saturday.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Chairman Moe, best of luck in your new digs and new job. Keep in touch. We will miss you. I really liked your Moe-Ku.
Miss B, thanks for the fine expo. Congratulations and much happiness on your upcoming wedding.
Having the circles, made the theme jump right out with CBA, subsequent confirmed by the other theme answers. I thought the puzzle was enjoyable. Easy.
The geese have become a suburban menace.
I like dandelions. I think it is too bad that they are frowned upon by most.
HH, we call the officials refs, too. I agree it is too early for HHH, which I find it so uncomfportable. I have been enjoying these 60 degree temps. My many sweaters and light jackets are finally getting some use.
Spitz, at least Mohawk is a town in NY, if not a county.
DO, I like Live Chat, too. Sometimes, like you, I get hung up on switching browser windows to answer a chat question. Occasionally I will use my tablet and computer together so I don't have to switch back and forth.
Alan has had a terrible cold ever since the night before his scheduled endoscopy. We will wait to address the low oxygen problem until he feels better.
Good Morning all!
Thanks for the Pogues video, Melissa, excellent find! Congrats on the upcoming event - wishing you all the best.
Thought this was a fairly standard Tuesday, a few hang-ups but easily fixed with the perps. Well done, Debbie. Hope to see you again soon.
Sorry to see you go, Chairman. Good luck in your move and everything else.
STYX's Too Much time on My Hands is an appropriate soundtrack for me these days. Watching the video today made me laugh at how cheesy the 1981 graphics were. Then I found a remake with Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd that made me laugh even more. Enjoy!
TESLAs are known for their sleekness. My friend's boyfriend has one and when we first saw it, there were a lot of questions about the door handles. A YouTube video showed us how they are flat when driving or parked, then pop out when the key fob is near. Very futuristic! (Disclaimer: the video only 10 seconds long, so I had to watch it a few times before I figured it out.)
RUBY Tuesday was probably my first favorite Stones song. I'm not sure which I would pick today...BTW, did all of your Ruby Tuesday restaurants close? Ours did - by putting a sign on the door for the employees to see when they showed up to work that day. Classless - no fair to the minimum wage workers that depend on their daily income and likely don't have savings. I hadn't been there in ages - too expensive for not great food.
Off to the pool and to run some errands, wishing you all a very lovely Tuesday!
t.
Farewell, Moe, in every sense of the word. Sounds like some major life changes, so hope you fare well.
Gary, that golf course looks like a good place to get goosed if you make a momma unhappy by venturing too close to the ducklings.
Hi everybody. Good luck and best wishes to Mr. Moe and Miss Melissa B.
I didn't know BET.
I used to play tennis a lot. I got DINK OK but I think it's what I always heard called a drop shot.
One of my tutoring students came by and said Hi as I got back from a short bike ride yesterday. Her dad was driving a Tesla.
Switching browser windows used to be a hassle for me too. Then I started using tabs instead of different windows. Now? Easy peasy.
Tawnya, my daughter and SIL frequented a chain restaurant (not Ruby Tuesday). One day she saw their favorite waitress somewhere else and told her they'd missed her. She said the restaurant considered wait personnel as "service contractors" and didn't pay minimum wage or any wage at all. Servers were dependent on tips and this waitress couldn't live on that with two young children to support. I would think that practice would be highly illegal. All sorts of taxes by-passed, etc. as well as being downright mean. My daughter always insists on paying big tips, but not everybody does.
YR said: "at least Mohawk is a town in NY, if not a county.'
It is a town in Montgomery Co. whose offices are located in Fonda, the ancestral home of Henry and others.
Mohawk is also a village in Herkimer Co., the name of a major river, and name of countless streets and thoroughfares. Also an Indian reservation in Northern NY which straddles the border with Canada.
Moe, good luck on your future endeavors. Fair winds and following seas!
Moe, hurry back soon.
We are all getting older quite fast here
& may not be around if you take too long...
Case in point...
Ditto...
Uh, yep!
An alternative view...
Truth in advertising?
And, Why can't you just pay for the cable channels you want?
Also,
found while changing channels looking for silliness,
and it was just too good too discard...
Chairman Moe ... you will be missed.
Tonight's "First Toast at Sunset" will be to you ...
Hmmm, I just may make that "Toast" with my fave today, 5-d, AMARETTO ... NEAT, of course!
Never caught on to the theme until Melissa explained it in the write-up. Good Job!
Debbie: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.
This "having to go to the Library" to use a computer is kinda liberating.
Now I don't spend more than an hour on the computer each day ... and have more time to "Goof-Off."
Cheers!
Owen, thanks for the kind words. Re. Matt Batts. He was the answer to my ? "Eponymous STL Brown hitter?". And.. I read Caves 50 years ago but it had an effect on my thinking. Speaking of.. Clever 'licks and kus today. BUD as NYSE ticker symbol got me Sunday
If I wanted to introduce someone to solving, this puzzle would be an excellent candidate. Despite the hint I couldn't figure it out the "gimmick" at first. I thought of HOBNOB with 39A.
A yard full of dandelions is attractive.
If restaurants want waitstaff to do other work like cleaning then they're probably liable for W2 minimum wage. Florida recently enacted law that allows restaurants to include tips in minimum wage.
The trend of screw the worker.
WC
Ps. I'll miss you chairman M.
thanks everyone, clever ALTAR comments :). kazie - the "bee" will stick, since melissa means honeybee, but on paper it will change. mj - "details" = sometime before the end of the year, very low-key. lower-case, you might say ;), but superlatively happy.
Kind of an easy Tuesday, no issues. Had the circles but didn't need them, didn't care about the theme as it had no impact on the solve.
Delightful Tuesday puzzle, Debbie. I love seeing rings on the page in the morning, and I was happy to get the whole thing without any cheating. What fun to have an ALTARS clue on Melissa's blog day: congratulations on the upcoming wedding! Tell us all about it, and please post pictures when the time comes!
I miss our local UMAMI restaurant. Never knew it was a taste until I came to the blog.
We'll miss you even more, Chairman Moe. Hurry back once you get settled.
Have a great day, everybody!
Thank you, Ladies, for a bright start to Tuesday. Debbie Ellerin's pzl is most enjoyable, and Melissa Bee's commentary rounds everything up nicely. I was a tad surprised that the theme mixed a broadcast network in with the cable channels, but I guess distinctions are made less often these days.
It was smooth sailing throughout, but chewy enough to sustain interest - just as one expects from a Tuesday exercise. Nice work!
Hi Everyone:
Late to the dance due to a very busy day. (It's 2:40 and I haven't had lunch yet! ACK!). This was an easy, typical Tuesday that sort of solved itself. Did need the reveal, though, to catch the theme.
Thanks, Debbie, for a fun solve and thanks, Melissa, for the commentary. Congrats on the future nuptials and much happiness for the future.
I have to eat before I check out all the links, so I may be back later.
Have a great day.
I just noticed the ALTAR emojis. Best wishes for your ongoing happy days, Melissa.
WC
More Mohawk; Crumbs Along The Mohawk ice cream.
No circles here, so never saw the theme and back channel came very slowly.
If you've ever played tennis, being linked is not fun. Some players really perfect that drop shot!
SO HAPPY FOR YOU, MELISSA!!
Yesterday I put a couple answers in the wrongs places and really messed up the puzzle and wasn't too happy with my experience. Today I did the puzzle correctly and even saw the theme before the reveal! Thanks, Debbie E! Enjoyed the expo, Melissa Bee!
Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, MB!
Best wishes for a smooth move and settling into the new job, C. Moe! You will be missed.
The pollen has been high to very high lately which makes being outside less than fun. Bless the persons(s) who invented air conditioning!
Congratulations, Melissa. (The emoji's cited by others did not render on my browser.)
Funny how it works - Hondo liked yesterday's puzzle, and much less liked today's effort. My opinion was just the opposite, more in line with Pat's. There were a handful of unknowns, but the perps rescued all. Erased EvaDE for ELUDE and eeoc for OSHA.
Melissa, congratulations on your upcoming vows. Please don't forget about us.
YR - I hope Alan's bug gets better quickly. I heard a long time ago that if dandelions were hard to grow, they would be prized plants.
Moe, good luck with your move. I really dread another one, but my 3-story house (plus basement) is far too big for us empty nesters so my time is coming.
Abejo - The more I think about it, the more I'm sure we have met. probably in Mission Hills.
We are now just a few miles south of the Michigan state line in northern Indiana. Amish country, big time. We were driving around seeing the beautiful countryside, and the always-quiet Zoe noticed a buggy being pulled by a "giant dog" and started barking frantically. She settled down for a brief moment, then she saw another and started barking again. She doubled the amount of barking we have heard from her in our three months together in about 10 minutes.
No driving tomorrow, but the motor home goes into the shop for a minor repair in the morning. I should be able to chime in here sometime, but don't know when.
Hi all!
NW was a slog, but got'er done. Thanks Debbie for a puzzle worth watching ;-)
Thanks to to mb for the expo; enjoyed the SCENE w/ John Travolta.
WOs: N/A
ESP: I knew of ONE-L after ESP, RIGA, ELKS [I knew I've seen BPOE but I kept thinking BOE - Barrel Oil Equivalent #thanksMBexpo!]; the letter K was my last fill.
ROAD was funny (peculiar, not haha) - I had --A- and kept thinking it would be some brogue word instead of ice cream on the way to Dublin.
Fav: DEMO's c/a - All I could think, 'till the V8 hit, were Booth-Babes
Runner-up: c/a for EDIT.
{A+, A-} {LOL - Nice imagery and wordplay, cute}
D-O: Funny re: ALTAR-ego; congrats MB! Is the lucky guy a puzzler?
Re: LIVE CHAT - I don't have the browser-issues y'all do... I have 3 monitors :-). No, I can't stand the damn chat-bot that doesn't have a clue [oh, that's a human? S/he doesn't pass the Turing Test]
Tawnya - I knew you'd have good picks and I can't wait to watch when my work is done [another password compromised another mess to root-cause for -T :-(]
CED - Your cartoons were priceless; thanks. I'll watch your vid later too.
C. Moe - All I can say mate...Happy Trails... UNTIL we meet again.
Cheers, -T
Very late to the party after finishing this CW in good time earlier in the day. Thanks Debbie and Melissa (congrats on the upcoming wedding!).
WEES by now. I was doing this CW in my newspaper and had the circles but they were not necessary to the solve. I didn't know BET (probably not available in Canada?).
I had Dunk and fought against entering DINK but ANNIE forced the I.
Hand up for Reel before I noticed the need for the plural RODS.
LOL re ERIE as Abejo's lake clue suggestion.
Hope Alan feels better soon, YR.
Come back soon CMoe.
Moe, your 'ku was exceptionally good today! See you again soon, we hope!
I'm surprised no one's asked what the channels are.
-- ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (Japanese), Associated British Corporation (defunct), or Disney's Aladdin Bambi Cinderella.
-- BET Black Entertainment Television
-- FOX "The network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William Fox, who founded one of the movie studio's predecessors, Fox Film."
-- HBO Home Box Office -- so ironic that BOX OFFICE gave us FOX in today's puzzle!
Not quite done yet says...
Tawnya - Fallon & Rudd were almost too spot-on to be funny; but it was.
CED - Your vid was not at all puzzlepropos! And the funniest punch-line I've heard in some time. Perfectly setup. Thanks for sharing.
Back to the salt-mine. Cheers, -T
Argyle - Re: Crumbs along the Mohawk... We're on the same page :-)
Salts are lick'd for the day. Play tomorrow. -T
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