Theme: Two Letters - S & A (essay)
35A. Anthology of personal writings ... and a phonetic hint to what is literally comprised by the answers of 17-, 23-, 46- and 56-Across: ESSAY COLLECTION. Words starting with S and A.
17A. Wise guy: SMART ALECK
23A. Original "Tonight Show" host: STEVE ALLEN
46A. Home safety feature: SMOKE ALARM
56A. Home of the NBA's Spurs: SAN ANTONIO
Argyle here. Easy-peasey Monday.
Across:
1. Part of a flower: PETAL
6. Not working: IDLE
10. Final notice?: OBIT
14. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" playwright Edward: ALBEE
15. "Hud" actress Patricia: NEAL
16. Foreshadow: BODE
19. Highway off-ramp: EXIT
20. Major Can. city: TOR. (Toronto)
21. Composer Stravinsky: IGOR
22. Reverse of a hit 45: B SIDE
26. Computer antivirus brand: McAFEE
28. Dugout rack lumber: BAT
29. Neon or Freon: GAS
32. Oyster gem: PEARL
33. Tasseled topper: FEZ
34. "City of New Orleans" singer Guthrie: ARLO
39. Madeline of "Paper Moon": KAHN. Trixie Delight(1973)
40. Lennon's lady: ONO
41. "Grey's Anatomy" patient who proposed to Izzie: DENNY. I'm sure some Cornerite can fill us in on this.
42. Suffix with legal: ESE. (legalese)
43. __ de plume: NOM. Pen name.
44. Yanni's genre: NEW AGE. Music.
49. Helped with the dishes: DRIED
51. Spice Girl Halliwell: GERI. Ginger Spice.
52. "Sorta" suffix: ISH
55. Charged particles: IONS
59. "Famous" cookie guy: AMOS
60. Saint Laurent of fashion: YVES
61. Surplus: EXTRA
62. Madcap: ZANY
63. Small salamander: NEWT
64. Status symbol watch: ROLEX
Down:
1. Over and done with: PAST
2. Red Muppet: ELMO
3. Ski lift: T-BAR
4. __ Lingus: AER
5. Shoot the ball, in hoops lingo: LET IT FLY
6. Totally smitten: IN LOVE
7. Big name in field equipment: DEERE
8. Fond du __, Wisconsin: LAC
9. Antlered animal: ELK
10. More than a little heavy: OBESE
11. Where Ali did his rope-a-dope: BOXING RING
12. Confession to "Who broke this?": "I DID"
13. Noggin in Nice: TÊTE. Nice, France.
18. Tommie Ageeof the Amazin' Mets: AGEE. Tommie Agee, the center fielder who made two of the most spectacular catches in World Series history, died in 2001 in Manhattan. He was 58.
22. Sandwich initials: BLT. (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato)
23. Transparent wrap: SARAN
24. Brother of Cain: ABEL
25. Lounge (about): LAZE
26. Flat-topped formations: MESAs
27. Profits from: CASHES IN ON
30. Unaccompanied: ALONE
31. Walkman maker: SONY
32. Chinese lap dog, for short: PEKE. Pekingese
33. Progressive insurance spokeswoman: FLO
34. Elite group: A TEAM
36. Man the grill: COOK
37. Treater's words: ON ME
38. PC device also called a burner: CD WRITER
43. Wordless acknowledgment: NOD
44. Washington Nats' div.: NL EAST
45. Make, as money: EARN
47. In disarray: MESSY
48. Nixon's first veep: AGNEW. (Spiro Agnew)
49. Actress Cameron __: DIAZ
50. Tomato type: ROMA. Not the type for a BLT though.
52. Part of IOC: Abbr.: INTL. (International Olympic Committee)
53. Stable father: SIRE
54. Fraud: HOAX
56. Thesaurus abbr.: SYN. (synonym)
57. Fifth in NYC, e.g.: AVE. (Fifth Avenue)
58. Kitchenware brand: OXO
Argyle
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Robert and Santa!
Pleasant diversion. Didn't know AGEE and DENNY, but no prob.
Best friends grandson was shot dead in his front yard yesterday. Wonderful human being. Can't comprehend. Known him since he was in utero. He was 26.
Bye for now.
This was a Monday? Seemed more like Wed or Thur! Got it done, and guessed the theme before reading the reveal, even that it would be ESSAY and not just S.A.
ReplyDelete{C+, C, A-.}
The BAT colony considered resorting to violence
Over a member with GAS he couldn't silence!
Though the odor was bad,
'Twas the sound made them mad --
His farts made their sonar give erroneous guidance!
DENNY was a guy from SAN ANTONIO
Who thought himself a NEW AGE Romeo
He'd fall IN LOVE weekly
Peer thru windows -- indiscreetly --
The police had him listed with "stalker" as M.O.!
Wonder-dog Rex had high aspirations to seek
A mountain to climb -- by the end of the week!
There were MESAS in view,
But they wouldn't do.
He needed a mountain, since he was a PEKE!
Funny. A master like Owen found this one a bit crunchy, but a duffer (me) sailed through (I don't know how to sashay) with nary an erasure.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know IGOR Stravinsky or DENNY. I have no idea how I know GERI Halliwell, but I do. I couldn't name any other Spice Girl or recognize any of their music. I always have to wait for perps to decide Fond du LAC or Lis.
I was trying to think of the city where Ali first did the rope-a-dope before EXIT handed me the easy answer BOXING RING. Between that clue and LET IT FLY, I was looking for sports gear like Voit for "big name in field equipment". Nice misdirection.
Thanks REL Morris for a fun Monday puzzle. And to Santa for another fine reveal.
Hi Y'all! Fun, fast but loaded with proper names. Thanks, R.E.L.M.! Going strong, thanks, Santa.
ReplyDeleteMCAFFE, DENNY & AGEE: All perps. FLO, I see daily on the tube but needed a starting perp as did AGNEW.
CD WRITER wasn't a term I'd heard, only burner.
I LET IT RIP before FLY for that technical basketball term.
Thought the long down phrases would be theme entries too. Nope. Thought the reveal was cute.
Laughed at "final notice" being OBIT. Since moving away from my home town where I knew a lot of people, I daily read three internet sources for obits. It's a good week if there are three days when I don't see a friend in the obits. One of the hazards of getting old.
Fermatprime: I can't comprehend a lot of senseless deaths either. My condolences to you.
Wilbur from last night: when you watch your Open tape, don't leave the room near the end, thinking it is over. Astonishing! I doubt you can make it to Wed. without hearing about it somewhere.
ReplyDeleteMonday's sure not what they used to be (or is it I?) Can't remember the last time I filled in a Monday puzzle using the across clues exclusively.
Today wasn't too bad..... Is it DENNY or LENNY. Went with the first option because CDWRITER sounded more computerese.
Sure don't consider LET IT FLY basketball lingo, but its been a "loooong" time since I played or coached. Seems like Shoot the Ball was the term back in my day.
Like Jinx, my eraser got a break today. and It was a nice start to the week.
Yesterday I took a trip to CT to visit my ailing BFF. She was in quite good shape then. Her bad week to 10 days is just after chemo. It was so good to see her again. The traffic was light, but we were held up 30 minutes behind a bad accident where a car was completely burned up. No info about the drivers.
ReplyDeleteIrish Miss condolences on the loss of you precious nephew and Pk, on the loss of your best friend's grandson. It is so sad when they die so young. Melissa, I'm glad you were not badly hurt in your accident. Having an undriveable car is a great inconvenience.
In re, Sunday's puzzle, I had assumed the noun for the promiscuous trollop was derived from Anthony Trollope's characters. Then I learned that trollop, the woman, and Trollope, the author have different word origins. The name comes from Throughburn, a village in Northumberland, England which used to be called Trollhop by the Norse. TROLL, meaning a supernatural being and HOP meaning a valley, hence Trollhop, Troll Valley, where the family originated.
Trollop, the slut, comes from an old word trull, or Trulle in German. In English novels I have seen trull used this way.
As for the Monday puzzle, a quick sashay. I never do xwords by solving all the across clues first and then the downs. I don't know whether "Let it fly," in basketball is actually used, but having LET from perps made it a reasonable wag.
We are having miso glazed salmon tonight, one of our favorites and quick to make - no dashi involved.
Good morning all!
ReplyDeleteThis was an easy, peasy puzzle with a clever theme. Thanks, Robert E.L.M. !
Thanks, Argyle... nice pic of you with the DEERE!
My one little hiccup was having Loll/LAZE. Got ahead of myself without checking crosses. BAT and FEZ soon fixed it.
Had a tummy BLT& Egg sandwich for lunch yesterday at a little pub that has awesome food. This was after the painting class with Mom, sister and daughters. So much fun- mimosas, music and a stress free environment. We all are proud of our "masterpieces" we made at "Cheers to Art!" Definitely going back :)
I knew DENNY - I used to watch Grey's Anatomy (when it was still good). Denny was a heart transplant patient and the character and storyline were a huge hit. Played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan who is now on "The Walking Dead" (I don't watch it). I loved him on "The Good Wife" ( gosh, I really miss that show!)
fermatprime- my condolences to you and your friend on the loss of her grandson. So senseless and tragic.
The humidity has abated here (finally!) and it's a beautiful summer day. Hoping to get back outside and enjoy it, as we've been staying in to avoid the excessive and oppressive heat.
Hope it's lovely where you are and that you all have a wonderful day!
I just read YR's comments- I didn't read the blog yesterday, so was unaware about Melissa's accident or the loss of Agnes' nephew.
ReplyDeleteMelissa B- so glad to hear you're ok! Looking forward to your next blog entry :)
Irish Miss- I am so sorry about your nephew. I can't imagine how heartbroken you are. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I'm sending you a huge hug. Please know we are all thinking of you and your family during this difficult time.
YR- so glad you got to visit your friend. I'm sure your visit was a great treat for her!
I just reread my BLT comment and had to lol. That should have said "yummy" not tummy! Although it was yummy IN my tummy ;)
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robert, for a clever start to the week. I enjoyed this one. Pencil and paper again. I think I may do better than on the computer as I tend to move around more with no scrolling about.
I did Saturday's puzzle yesterday and enjoyed Splynter's write up and the full round of your comments. As I am a bit behind and watched Friday's Jeopardy yesterday. Madame DeFarge was clued in the Lit category. Yay! I doubt many students read TOTC in school anymore. Or perhaps Dickens for that matter. . . .
Nice links again today, Argyle. I look forward to them, and you do not disappoint me.
So sorry, Fermatprime.
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I had to use LA Times' own puzzle site, but today there was something new: at some random time the puzzle was hijacked by a presumably fake Amazon ad, targeted at iPad users. I hope they discover and disinfect.
Cruciverb is sorely missed.
Easy puzzle once I got back to the site. Morning, Argyle, that big Deere would do your lawn pretty fast...
Dudley: I too have been forced to the LA Times site by Cruciverb's (long hiatus? Demise?). No hijacking for me today, though. One of the problems with doing these kinds of things on an iPad is the ease with which stubby fingers can accidentally send you off to an ad's site.
ReplyDeleteOne of the people in the Cruciverb forum has begun posting the contents of the day's puzzle in .puz format as plain text; you can copy and paste it into a new text file and then save that with a ".puz" extension. Works fine on a PC and probably on a Mac, but if there's a way to do it on an iPad I haven't found it.
Pretty easy puzzle for me today. So was yesterday's... makes me worry that I'm due for a fall tomorrow. :/
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the loss of your dear nephew, IM. My deepest sympathy.
Easy Monday. No false moves. Perps got a couple unknowns like DENNY and GERI. Favorite was ESSAY COLLECTION as lead-in to the S A gimmick.
A salute to Argyle for linking the visual at 7d - DEERE. (I grew up with International Harvester, but we did have a John Deere mower and side-delivery rake for a several years.)
CD WRITER - My new I-Mac came without one. Guess they're not needed much now.
Just one letter short today - peke and Kahn are new to me. With everything there the phonetic hint was still a blank. Had to read it here - S A -- Ach, English!
ReplyDeleteGood day to all!
ReplyDeleteLike most others, I found this to be an easy, yet enjoyable Monday puzzle. DENNY was unknown but filled by perps. I didn't remember that Madeline KAHN was in "Paper Moon", but I am familiar with her as an actress. I remember her as the ZANY neighbor Pauline on the sitcom "Cosby". Thanks for the tour and links, Argyle.
Condolences to Irish Miss and Fermatprime and the families that have lost loved ones so young. Melissa, I'm glad you are okay.
Enjoy the day!
Bluehen (from yesterday)--Grains of Paradise sound interesting. Did you have to order them online, or did you find a grocer that carries them?
ReplyDeleteCool puzzle. At first I thought the theme phonetic was AL, as in SMART ALECK, STEVE ALLEN, and SMOKE ALARM. Nope. SAN ANTONIO dashed that theory. I guess I overthought it.
ReplyDeleteAt 11 down, when I had just XI I immediately (and incorrectly) entered MEXICO CITY. The mess that created took a while to clean up.
Fermatprime, that is so tragic!
Good wishes to you all.
For those that didn't recognize him, that was Spitzboov with me in front of the little John Deere.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Fermatprime. I think I used the wrong name. It is tragic about your friend's grandson. What a shame!
ReplyDeleteMJ, I have not seen GoP in any store. I had to order it on-line from Amazon.
ReplyDeleteOh dear,I was in Riverside Saturday and Sunday and so missed the posts for the last two days, and it sounds as though there were some very sad events. My sympathy and condolences, Irish Miss and fermatprime, and I hope you're okay, Melissa. I'm so sorry to hear that there have been difficult days this week.
ReplyDeleteA huge relief that I got this Monday puzzle without messing up. It was a speed run at first and got crunchier and tougher as I went downhill. I worried especially about GERI since the only Spice Girls I know are MEL B on "America's Got Talent" and POSH. But thank goodness it was correct so all is well.
My visit to friends was lovely. They threw a sweet dinner in my honor and I had a chance to see Riverside friends I hadn't seen in a long time. So it was lovely.
Have a great week, everybody!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteCrunchy for me today. Maybe my head wasn't in it; felt like a WAG fest with the all the names.
Thanks RELM for a doable grid with some fun cluing [OBIT/TETE]. I got hung up on the names but finally filled ALBEE for the win. Took me forever to get Jack Paar out of my head to nail STEVE ALLEN [mind you, Carson/Leno was my time]
Argyle - Nice shot of you & Spitz. I've seen the pic before but you, him, & the DEERE are pretty cool. And thanks for Arlo's NOLA... Nice tune to read the blog to.
WOs: Let's see, I put the NATS in the NL weST [stupid, stupid STUPID!]; I had tERI b/f GERI; ISm 'cuz I wasn't thinkin' b/f ISH; PEcE b/f the wonderfully 'sizzlin' KAHN came along (donno the movie clue'd but know her). [Ludwig - if you've not seen, during English education, Brooks' movies, do.]
ESPs: ALBEE, DENNY, AGEE (again, Argyle, thanks - wow him!), IGOR (+two WAGs w/ --OR in place [we know how it's pronounced :-)])
Fav: I'm going w/ SAN ANTONIO. Not only is a city dedicated to my Patron St., not only did I spend Army AIT there, not only did DW & I do honeymoon on a budget in '88... Oh, and the ALAMO, but The Doobie Bro's China Grove has an SO to SA. As clue'd with the Spurs, however, they can gasp in the Rocket's SMOKE :-)
Runner-up: IN LOVE: 29 YR's later, I still is.
{A,C,B}
Fermat - OMG! That is so wrong... Please accept my sympathies. I can't wrap my head around it either.
Jinx - I was trying to think of the Rumble in the Jungle city too... Zaire didn't fit.
Bunny M- Mmmm, BLT. I've got the bacon, I've got the lettuce, but garden isn't producing tomatoes! Last good BLT I had was when Pop was here and I had 3 heirlooms ready for him.
Play latter, Cheers, -T
Tada virtually without perps. Couldn't remember at first if the character was Denny, Danny or Donny or the spice girl was Jeri or geri but a quick look at the perps confirmed. I think one had to be 65 and a sports fan to fly through this one.
ReplyDeleteAshamed to admit it but I watched the first couple or three seasons of Grey's Anatomy. I tended to like medical dramas back then. Denny was a character that got fans so upset for killing him off they brought him back as a ghost if I remember correctly ! That's about when I quit watching. It was also about the time of my first hospital stay. Depending on your insurance they either look for reasons to keep you (blue cross) or kick you out (HMO's). My company provided the latter so all I remember is my oncologist arguing with someone that I needed a couple more days.
Yellowrock: Tell your friend to keep to the Chemo. Treatment has advanced so much in the last 15 years its incredible. Make sure she describes any side effects to her Doc in detail. Software like Watson is probably better than any physician so if her medical team has access make sure she asks for it.
So sorry about any youngsters death. It doesn't seem right. The suffering of children always reconfirms my Agnostism although when I first had my cancer diagnosed I welcomed all prayer. said a few Hail Mary's myself too ! Sorry about the religion. I'll skip politics today.
Musings
ReplyDelete-I thought golf and mowing were going to take up my day but I did get to work Robert’s lovely Monday when my lawn service showed up. He started on a tale of his wife trying to kill him with arsenic while also robbing him blind while sleeping around while…
-Just when you think you have a tough life…
-Now my MIL has TV issues. My empathy and competence are being strained today.
-Will the blog go on without me today? Uh, yeah! Hope to read Argyle and youse guys tonight.
A few ink blots for a Monday but perps straightened me out. Thanks for the fun Robert and Argyle. I saw the S A theme.
ReplyDeleteI debated between Sepal and PETAL right at the start but it was the "Monday easier" PETAL.
My dishes were Wiped before they were DRIED.
I'm not sure why ALEC has a final K but the guy can spell his name any way he wants eh!
AGEE is usually clued as the writer, but perps were there.
I'll take a CSO with TOR. Thanks, Argyle, for the photo with the CN Tower and Rogers Centre (NOT Center!)
I remember watching the helicopter maneuver the top part of the tower into place when I was attending U of T.
(Misty did you get a chance to go up the CN Tower?)
I have cherry tomatoes ripening to eat but the larger ones for BLTs are not red yet. Soon I hope! (Like AnonT.). ROMAs are getting big also and I should have plenty for canning in August.
Ludwig Kech - You are doing well if you just had one letter short today. PEKE is commonly used in crosswords if you want to file it in your memory (or crossword word list if you make one). I did that at the start and found it helpful to refer back to my list.
Glad you had a good visit with friends in Riverside, Misty.
Also glad that You got to visit your BFF on a good day, YR.
So sorry to hear of the death of your friend's grandson, fermatprime. Doubly hard to bear when it is so senseless.
Best wishes for a good day to all here.
Dear Spitz:
ReplyDeleteThe new iMacs don't have any external drive ... my suspicion is that this is done so the only software you can get is through the App Store ... the first thing I got for the new iMac was an USB external drive.
Michael @ 1522 - I think you are probably right. On my last IMac, I found I 'burned' very few cd's. My car accepts thumb drives, so I can download to a thumb drive when the Muse strikes. They have so much more capacity than a CD, anyway.
ReplyDeleteLudwig Keck - Sei gegrüßt! Belated welcome aboard. Looking forward to your slants on things.
Ludwig Keck - My apologies for misspelling your name.
ReplyDeleteThank you, CanadianEh! No, I didn't have a chance to visit the CN Tower, but I had a great time.
ReplyDeleteTa- DA!!
ReplyDeleteEasy but not so Peasy today. Mr. Morris' contribution to the new Monday chewiness.
It called up pop knowledge that lay a bit outside my borders, from TV's Grey's Anatomy to Mr. Χρυσομάλλης, the celeb pianist. But perps brought satisfaction.
I spent the rest of my morning streaming the Iranian Oscar winner, The Salesman, a fine, taut tale of rape and revenge, somewhat marred by the writer's misunderstanding (or mishandling, at any rate) of the play he uses as a framing medium, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Easy breezy puzzle today, just right for a Monday. Sepal or petal? Loll b4 laze, until the down/across answers answered the question.
ReplyDeleteFingernails on chalkboard! Easy, peasy? Sounds like a child's adjective. Drives me nuts!! Googled the origins: "It is generally agreed upon that the saying originated as a slogan for a British detergent brand named Sqezy. The slogan was used in several commercials back in the 1950s."
Still, I'm sticking with "easy breezy." Makes more sense - hmmmph!