Theme: "Share and Share Alike" - I'm afraid I'm missing the extra layer in this theme. The paired answers share the same clue numbers & starting letters, but the shared letters PTFFHBDM does not anagram anything.
1A/1D. Like many a postcard scene : PICTURE PERFECT
8A/8D. Imminently dangerous situation : TICKING/TIME BOMB
15A/15D. Achilles' heel : FATAL FLAW
54A/54D. "Need assistance?" : HOW CAN I/ HELP YOU
58A/58D. One of dozens, for millions : FACEBOOK FRIEND. What a great clue.
95A/95D. Poppycock, with "a" : BUNCH OF/ BALONEY. We have more: 83. Poppycock : ROT. Also 124. Poppycock : PAP
101A/101D. Bad person to share appetizers with? : DOUBLE DIPPER
121A/121D. Mr. Spock forte : MIND MELD
If you solve via Across Lite, then all your Down theme entries have the same clue: [ - ]. They're supposed to be blank, but Across Lite software can't handle blank clues, hence the dashes.
There has to be an extra layer of unifier to tie the gimmick today. It feels a bit loose to me, as the theme entry choices are not very limited, as shown by this NYT grid.
Construction-wise, this 140-word grid is lovely, as all Bruce's grids. Big chunks of white spaces, which are very hard to fill cleanly. Bruce is grid wizard. One of those few constructors who keep pushing the envelope.
Across:
20. "The NFL Today" analyst : ESIASON. Boomer.
21. Transfers, as a T-shirt design : IRONS ON
22. Girl in Byron's "Don Juan" : LEILA. Wiki says she's a Muslim girl. Leila means "night" in Arabic/Hebrew.
23. Get back (to) : RESPOND
24. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA
25. Jason's shipbuilder : ARGUS. The 100-eyed monster. We also have 43. Biform beast : CENTAUR. Horse/man.
26. Big party : FETE. Not FEST or GALA or even BASH.
27. Gross fraction : DOZEN. Got via crosses.
29. Brews for socials : TEAS
30. Hook wigglers : WORMS. Quite a few people were fishing along the bank of Mississippi River when Boomer and I took our walk last week. Obviously Boomer likes Rickie Fowler. I was stunned that he found those orange socks.
31. Artist's talent : EYE. EAR too.
32. Caribbean islander : ARUBAN
34. Not just any old : THE. I don't get this clue.
36. Trig ratio : SINE
37. Hollowed out : CORED
40. Mayo is in it : ANO. Mayo the month.
41. Behold, to Brutus : ECCE
44. Knowledge of spiritual matters : GNOSIS. New word to me.
46. North Pole feature : TUNDRA
48. [Yawn] : I'M BORED. Time to take a walk. Summer in MN is gorgeous.
50. Come together : GEL
51. City on Lake Michigan : GARY. I only know Gary in Indiana & our buddy Gary in Nebraska.
53. Casually arrive, in slang : BOP IN. Not a phrase I use.
62. Classic VW : BEETLE
64. Had the nerve : DARED
65. Tiny messenger : RNA
66. Wise ones : SAGES. Asked my sages Argyle and D-Otto, neither saw extra theme layer.
68. Way to hit? : TRAIL. Oh the real "way".
69. Timed perfectly : ON CUE
70. Lightning particles : IONS
72. Japanese noodle dish : RAMEN. This word is borrowed from Chinese La Mian, literally "hand-pulled noodles".
74. Water collectors : SUMPS
76. 1986 #1 hit for Starship : SARA. Unfamiliar with the song.
77. Gush on stage : EMOTE
79. Saw : MAXIM
81. Spanish royalty : REYES. Kings in Spanish. Or this guy.
84. West Coast NFLer : NINER
85. Musical Keys : ALICIA
87. Stock maker's flavor enhancer : SOUP BONE. Typical Cantonese soup consists of pork bones, dried dates, goji berries, watercress and a few traditional Chinese healing herbs, slow-cooked for at least 3 hours. They have a bowl of soup every day and they have a soup for every season. Do you have soup at home often, Jayce?
89. Short-lived Mormon state : DESERET. Learned from doing crosswords.
91. Chihuahua neighbor : TEXAS
93. Manual reader : USER
94. Deli delicacy : LOX
97. Make busts, say : SCULPT
104. Copied : APED
105. Taoist force : YIN. So in Cantonese cuisine, green mung beans are YIN and you eat the soup/porridge in summer. Red beans are Yang, popular winter food.
107. Unsettling look : STARE
108. "Bus Stop" playwright : INGE
109. Berkeley school, familiarly : CAL
111. Sickly-looking : SALLOW
114. Rouge ou blanc : VIN. Or COULEUR.
115. Rings : PEALS
117. Like 45 records : MONO
120. Kate of "Th1rteen R3asons Why" : WALSH
122. Bridges, in Venice : PONTI. OK, plural of Ponte, as in Ponte Vecchio.
123. Up against it : IN A SPOT
125. __ cheese sandwich, popular Augusta National menu item sold for $1.50 : PIMENTO. Our Big Easy saw this menu in person. Ticket price for Masters Sunday is probably 1,000 times of the sandwich.
127. Wrapped up : ENDED
128. Product of ocean evaporation : SEA SALT
129. Pisa party? : ITALIAN
130. English novelist Charles : READE. Never read any of his books.
131. Nerve junction : SYNAPSE
132. Ones handing out cigars, stereotypically : NEW DADS. Tiny dupe with 45. Changing of the locks : NEW DO
Down:
2. Poker phrase : I SEE YOU
3. Rain storage tank : CISTERN. Another new word for me. Carolyn at our flea market used to sell big rain barrels.
4. Record, in a way : TAPE
5. GI morale booster : USO
6. Mixed martial artist Rousey : RONDA. Once unbeatable.
7. "Bewitched" character : ENDORA
9. One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" : IRINA. Or MASHA.
10. Fleece : CON
11. Shoestring hassle : KNOT
12. "Land ho!" prompter : ISLE
13. Wrote, as music : NOTATED
14. Grind : GNASH
16. Spray sources : AEROSOL CANS. Great fill.
17. Fertile Crescent waterway : TIGRIS
18. Grads : ALUMNI
19. Misses : LASSES
28. Pueblo people : ZUNI
33. Virtual human companion : NEOPET. Do any of you own these pets?
35. Name that might pop up during a breakfast conversation : EGGO. Cute clue.
38. Just beat : EDGE
39. Idiomatic bits : DRABS. Oh, as in dribs and drabs.
42. Old yellers : CRIERS
47. Cheering deafeningly : AROAR
49. Move up and down : BOB
52. Surface for stretching : YOGA MAT
55. Five-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey : ARCARO (Eddie). Wiki says he "has the most wins in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes with six".
56. Impulse-conducting cell : NEURON
57. Brainstorm : IDEATE. Not a word I use.
59. Breakdown of social norms : ANOMIE
60. Fundamental rules : CANONS
61. First Turkish president __ Atatürk : KEMAL. Learning moment for me.
63. Twists in a bar : LIMES
67. Add pizazz to an ad, say : SEX IT UP. Another great fill.
71. Kind of radial tire : STEEL-BELTED. Got via crosses.
73. Christianity's __ Creed : NICENE
75. Grinch creator : SEUSS
78. "The Fog of War" director Morris : ERROL. Not many ways to clue ERROL, so you better remember this guy.
80. Personalized music media : MIX CDS
82. Contractor's details : SPECS
86. Something to say to a dentist : AAH. Our Bruce is an eye doctor.
88. Champagne choice : BRUT
90. Suit : EXEC
92. Trendy coffee order : SOY LATTE. Soy is spurned by so many. Now the latest research showed coconut oil is bad too. It's the key cooking oil of our foodie Steve.
96. Leave no room in : FILL
98. Wife of Aeneas : LAVINIA. Stumper for me.
99. Spot in a newspaper : PRINT AD
100. Muscle-to-bone connectors : TENDONS. Tiny bone dupe with the SOUP BONE.
102. Common soccer score : ONE ONE
103. Kampala is its capital : UGANDA. Their official language is English.
106. Unbiased : NO SPIN
110. Out of whack : AMISS
112. Base runners? : AWOLs. Gimme for regulars.
113. Snow __ : WHITE
116. Fries, usually : SIDE
118. Tandoori bread : NAAN. Want some naan pizza?
119. Peak in Thessaly : OSSA
126. Big mouth : MAW
1A/1D. Like many a postcard scene : PICTURE PERFECT
8A/8D. Imminently dangerous situation : TICKING/TIME BOMB
15A/15D. Achilles' heel : FATAL FLAW
54A/54D. "Need assistance?" : HOW CAN I/ HELP YOU
58A/58D. One of dozens, for millions : FACEBOOK FRIEND. What a great clue.
95A/95D. Poppycock, with "a" : BUNCH OF/ BALONEY. We have more: 83. Poppycock : ROT. Also 124. Poppycock : PAP
101A/101D. Bad person to share appetizers with? : DOUBLE DIPPER
121A/121D. Mr. Spock forte : MIND MELD
If you solve via Across Lite, then all your Down theme entries have the same clue: [ - ]. They're supposed to be blank, but Across Lite software can't handle blank clues, hence the dashes.
There has to be an extra layer of unifier to tie the gimmick today. It feels a bit loose to me, as the theme entry choices are not very limited, as shown by this NYT grid.
Construction-wise, this 140-word grid is lovely, as all Bruce's grids. Big chunks of white spaces, which are very hard to fill cleanly. Bruce is grid wizard. One of those few constructors who keep pushing the envelope.
Across:
20. "The NFL Today" analyst : ESIASON. Boomer.
21. Transfers, as a T-shirt design : IRONS ON
22. Girl in Byron's "Don Juan" : LEILA. Wiki says she's a Muslim girl. Leila means "night" in Arabic/Hebrew.
23. Get back (to) : RESPOND
24. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA
25. Jason's shipbuilder : ARGUS. The 100-eyed monster. We also have 43. Biform beast : CENTAUR. Horse/man.
26. Big party : FETE. Not FEST or GALA or even BASH.
27. Gross fraction : DOZEN. Got via crosses.
29. Brews for socials : TEAS
30. Hook wigglers : WORMS. Quite a few people were fishing along the bank of Mississippi River when Boomer and I took our walk last week. Obviously Boomer likes Rickie Fowler. I was stunned that he found those orange socks.
31. Artist's talent : EYE. EAR too.
32. Caribbean islander : ARUBAN
34. Not just any old : THE. I don't get this clue.
36. Trig ratio : SINE
37. Hollowed out : CORED
40. Mayo is in it : ANO. Mayo the month.
41. Behold, to Brutus : ECCE
44. Knowledge of spiritual matters : GNOSIS. New word to me.
46. North Pole feature : TUNDRA
48. [Yawn] : I'M BORED. Time to take a walk. Summer in MN is gorgeous.
50. Come together : GEL
51. City on Lake Michigan : GARY. I only know Gary in Indiana & our buddy Gary in Nebraska.
53. Casually arrive, in slang : BOP IN. Not a phrase I use.
62. Classic VW : BEETLE
64. Had the nerve : DARED
65. Tiny messenger : RNA
66. Wise ones : SAGES. Asked my sages Argyle and D-Otto, neither saw extra theme layer.
68. Way to hit? : TRAIL. Oh the real "way".
69. Timed perfectly : ON CUE
70. Lightning particles : IONS
72. Japanese noodle dish : RAMEN. This word is borrowed from Chinese La Mian, literally "hand-pulled noodles".
74. Water collectors : SUMPS
76. 1986 #1 hit for Starship : SARA. Unfamiliar with the song.
77. Gush on stage : EMOTE
79. Saw : MAXIM
81. Spanish royalty : REYES. Kings in Spanish. Or this guy.
84. West Coast NFLer : NINER
85. Musical Keys : ALICIA
87. Stock maker's flavor enhancer : SOUP BONE. Typical Cantonese soup consists of pork bones, dried dates, goji berries, watercress and a few traditional Chinese healing herbs, slow-cooked for at least 3 hours. They have a bowl of soup every day and they have a soup for every season. Do you have soup at home often, Jayce?
91. Chihuahua neighbor : TEXAS
93. Manual reader : USER
94. Deli delicacy : LOX
97. Make busts, say : SCULPT
104. Copied : APED
105. Taoist force : YIN. So in Cantonese cuisine, green mung beans are YIN and you eat the soup/porridge in summer. Red beans are Yang, popular winter food.
107. Unsettling look : STARE
108. "Bus Stop" playwright : INGE
109. Berkeley school, familiarly : CAL
111. Sickly-looking : SALLOW
114. Rouge ou blanc : VIN. Or COULEUR.
115. Rings : PEALS
117. Like 45 records : MONO
120. Kate of "Th1rteen R3asons Why" : WALSH
122. Bridges, in Venice : PONTI. OK, plural of Ponte, as in Ponte Vecchio.
123. Up against it : IN A SPOT
125. __ cheese sandwich, popular Augusta National menu item sold for $1.50 : PIMENTO. Our Big Easy saw this menu in person. Ticket price for Masters Sunday is probably 1,000 times of the sandwich.
127. Wrapped up : ENDED
128. Product of ocean evaporation : SEA SALT
129. Pisa party? : ITALIAN
130. English novelist Charles : READE. Never read any of his books.
131. Nerve junction : SYNAPSE
132. Ones handing out cigars, stereotypically : NEW DADS. Tiny dupe with 45. Changing of the locks : NEW DO
Down:
2. Poker phrase : I SEE YOU
3. Rain storage tank : CISTERN. Another new word for me. Carolyn at our flea market used to sell big rain barrels.
4. Record, in a way : TAPE
5. GI morale booster : USO
6. Mixed martial artist Rousey : RONDA. Once unbeatable.
7. "Bewitched" character : ENDORA
9. One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" : IRINA. Or MASHA.
10. Fleece : CON
11. Shoestring hassle : KNOT
12. "Land ho!" prompter : ISLE
13. Wrote, as music : NOTATED
14. Grind : GNASH
16. Spray sources : AEROSOL CANS. Great fill.
17. Fertile Crescent waterway : TIGRIS
18. Grads : ALUMNI
19. Misses : LASSES
28. Pueblo people : ZUNI
33. Virtual human companion : NEOPET. Do any of you own these pets?
35. Name that might pop up during a breakfast conversation : EGGO. Cute clue.
38. Just beat : EDGE
39. Idiomatic bits : DRABS. Oh, as in dribs and drabs.
42. Old yellers : CRIERS
47. Cheering deafeningly : AROAR
49. Move up and down : BOB
52. Surface for stretching : YOGA MAT
55. Five-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey : ARCARO (Eddie). Wiki says he "has the most wins in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes with six".
56. Impulse-conducting cell : NEURON
57. Brainstorm : IDEATE. Not a word I use.
59. Breakdown of social norms : ANOMIE
60. Fundamental rules : CANONS
61. First Turkish president __ Atatürk : KEMAL. Learning moment for me.
63. Twists in a bar : LIMES
67. Add pizazz to an ad, say : SEX IT UP. Another great fill.
71. Kind of radial tire : STEEL-BELTED. Got via crosses.
73. Christianity's __ Creed : NICENE
75. Grinch creator : SEUSS
78. "The Fog of War" director Morris : ERROL. Not many ways to clue ERROL, so you better remember this guy.
80. Personalized music media : MIX CDS
82. Contractor's details : SPECS
86. Something to say to a dentist : AAH. Our Bruce is an eye doctor.
88. Champagne choice : BRUT
90. Suit : EXEC
92. Trendy coffee order : SOY LATTE. Soy is spurned by so many. Now the latest research showed coconut oil is bad too. It's the key cooking oil of our foodie Steve.
96. Leave no room in : FILL
98. Wife of Aeneas : LAVINIA. Stumper for me.
99. Spot in a newspaper : PRINT AD
100. Muscle-to-bone connectors : TENDONS. Tiny bone dupe with the SOUP BONE.
102. Common soccer score : ONE ONE
103. Kampala is its capital : UGANDA. Their official language is English.
106. Unbiased : NO SPIN
110. Out of whack : AMISS
112. Base runners? : AWOLs. Gimme for regulars.
113. Snow __ : WHITE
116. Fries, usually : SIDE
118. Tandoori bread : NAAN. Want some naan pizza?
119. Peak in Thessaly : OSSA
126. Big mouth : MAW
C.C.
51 comments:
CC, you're not just any old constructor, you are THE constructor!
{B, B.}
There once was a man from West Licking
Who was hearing an incessant TICKING!
"I must remain calm.
If it's a TIME BOMB,
Well, I've been wanting to BOP IN to East Licking!"
Said the SYNAPSE to the NEURON, "You are quite a nervy fellow!
No cell could e'er accuse you of ever being yellow!"
Said the neuron to the synapse,
"Then let's not have another mishap --
Warn me when I'm texting, of the GELLED swimming pool of jello!"
Greetings!
Thanks to Bruce and C. C.!
Am used to the dashes from previous NYT puzzles. (Today's NYT puzzle was easier, IMO.)
Things unknown were: ESIASON, LEILA, GNOSIS, BOP IN, SARA, RONDA, NEOPET, ERROL and LAVINIA. Really tired. Cheated on ESIASON. No cheats in NYT. Ah, well.
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
Today's puzzle won't download correctly for me. Clues are mixed up and 125a thru 132a all say "null". Took me awhile before realizing there was a problem. Made me think this puzzle was extremely difficult :) Did this happen to anyone else?
Someone else had problems with the download from the Mensa site. Is that the one you used?
GNOSIS may be new, but one professing no certain knowledge of god is an aGNOStic
I think CISTERNs tend to be much bigger than a barrel, used to store water from rainy periods for use during dry times
Thank you Bruce and CC.
I didn't fare so well. Problems in the deep south. Had GANGLIA before SYNAPSE, which I eventually corrected. LAVINIA ? Should have got the V in VIN. Should have also not missed the Y in SOY and YIN. Also haven't heard of MAW, but it perped in. Don't know why I struggled to see Snow WHITE.
Forgot my Spanish for awhile. Mayo is in it ? ROC or MIN of course, or even BLT, unless you are Abejo. Then you will ask them to hold it.
Had to replace the pump in my basement SUMP a few weeks ago. Actually an ejector pump. $280.00 and a really nasty, messy job. Gloves and old clothes required.
We had a stone walled cistern on the farm. Probably 15' deep and 10' wide at the bottom. Halfway to the top it tapered inward to a 2 foot circular opening at ground level. Covered by a concrete lid. Don't remember ever using it.
Nice example to explain THE to CC Owen.
Thought of Lucina at YOGA MAT.
MENSA site had the dashes and was fine. The LA Times online version didn't have dashes or even numbers for the shared letters. And it was that way in the Chicago Tribune paper version as well. eg, There was no 1D, 8D, 15D etc...
Time for me to hit the TRAIL and move onto something new.
Good morning!
My biggest problem was reading "Stock market flavor enhancer." Don't recall seeing PIMENTO before...always PIMiENTO. Finished in better than normal Sunday time, so all is good. Thanks, Bruce.
C.C., GARY, Indiana is the GARY that's on Lake Michigan.
Was KEMAL Ataturk's son the original Attaboy?
Hi Y'all! Bruce asks: "HOW CAN I HELP YOU". Don't make puzzles with no clues, says I. I'm clueless enough on my own. This was clever but annoying -- a challenge I'm glad I conquered in the end. I almost gave up when I saw the dashes. I wanted to cry, "WHAT A BUNCH OF BALONEY!" Thanks a BUNCH, Bruce.
Who knows GNOSIS or ANOMIE (which is darn near what we have in society today.) I tried ANarchy but it didn't fit.
Lots of good meaty fill and current names as well as the ancient. I filled in Lavinia like I knew it. Never heard of her or ESAISON.
I had to fill two huge cisterns at my farm. One collapsed just after my son drove over the hidden top with the riding mower. Scared him because it was very deep and a fall could have injured him. I discovered the other cistern under the back porch when the old bucket pump rusted off at the bottom. I called the sand man and drove in the yard just in time as he uncovered the well. Wrong hole. Would have hated to have that filled with sand.
Mayo=ANO. Oh, I was trying to think of an abrev. for Co. Mayo in Ireland. Duh!
Thanks CC! I don't think anyone has ever made a Sunday "uniclue" puzzle before, and the few daily ones I've seen all seemed to have strained fill related to the constraints. My first try at this had 20 theme entries but tons of dreck fill. I decided to cut themers to nine strong ones, make most of them pretty long, and go for a grid design that was visually appealing and could be filled cleanly. Rich seemed very happy with that plan, and made no changes to the grid. I'm afraid this kind of thing is fraught with technical difficulties given all the solving platforms out there but I hope solvers like it. Bruce Haight
Thumbs up.
One of the biggest wastes of time I can recall. Not only were too many clues off kilter, the theme was meaningless. Don't know how or why I finished it. Is 8 hours too long?
Hey, folks, this is Abejo. I am away from home and have not been able to get a puzzle from Cuciverb all week. Any thoughts?
Abejo
Musings
-The fun theme went from “no idea” to “big help”. PERFECT-TIME BOMB-FLAW led nowhere. DOUBLE DIPPER finally clued me in on this one-bad-cell exercise for me. Wow!
-ESSIASON was in Denver when his foundation office on the 101st floor in the WTC was hit
-My friend thought he ordered a DOZEN frogs for dissection. Guess how he got 144
-It’s not just any old Ohio State University, it is THE Ohio State University
-CORED and peeled
- A more famous use of ECCE (HOMO) by a Roman
-Our incredibly high water table makes SUMP pumps necessary. Some have to pump this “best water in the world” out into the street
-It’s not The David in marble, but to my EYE, this guy SCULPTS pretty well
-One day when you’re “up against it”...
-My cigars were pink bubble gum
-Agnes Moorehead loathed her inane role of ENDORA but cashed the checks
-ARCARO is in the National Italian American Sports Hall Of Fame
Hi everybody. I liked the challenge once I figured out the theme clues.
I see that Owen explained the 34 A clue and answer. "Not just any old" THE. Clever I thought.
My grandmother had a cistern on her property in horse country in rural Virginia. All of the gutters around her roof led to down spouts that fed into the cistern. So rain would refill her water supply. It usually worked well though a long drought could be troubling.
Hello Puzzlers -
At first I thought the clue file had a glitch, then I noticed a pattern and realized something was afoot.
Had to suffer through the LA Times site again, because Cruciverb is still toast. Abejo, you're not alone! The LAT presentation is far clunkier than my third-party app.
Ultimately saw the high quality of this masterful grid. Excellent!
I don't think we are sussing the same idea about the clue and answer for 2 Down. CC wrote "Poker phrase : I SEE YOU. Poke-r." I think it would be heard in a situation where somebody is going to raise the bet. "I'LL SEE your dime and raise you fifty cents."
Thanks, Bruce, for a puzzler this am. Had at least 1/2 done before the theme appeared. Nicely done!
Thanks, C.C. Yes, you are "THE" constructor, not just any old one. Thanks, Owen, for putting that so clearly!
It took me a very long time to get the "connection," but when found it at FATAL FLAW, I loved this puzzle. From then on solving went faster and it took just about my usual Sunday time. The newspaper omitted clues for 1D, 15D, etc. After reading the blog, I checked out the Mensa puzzle online. It shows up there and I can print it if I wish. I liked the way the Mensa site used dashes, instead of omitting the clues.
I knew DESERET, GNOSIS, and ANOMIE from reading. As PK said, ANOMIE is very apropos these days. I come across it frequently in reading the news. I have very eclectic tastes, providing me with knowledge a mile wide and an inch deep. RONDA, WALSH and LEILA were perps and wags. KEMAL was all perps. I knew ATATURK, but not Kemal.
We visited several large cisterns in Israel, very necessary in such a dry land. I always marvel at what ancient civilizations could do with such basic tools.
I see both pimento and pimiento. I prefer the first one.
Musical Keys/Alicia was my last fill, giving me the L in KEMAL. I have heard of her. I missed the capital K and so was not expecting a name.
Sometimes we can find AN answer to the clues, but the perps tell us it in not THE answer.
We have fresh corn fritters on the menu for supper. Just grated corn, salt, eggs and a soupcon of flour, then fried in butter. Yum!
Hiya!
It took me forever to get the theme (dashes on MENSA) but once I sussed it out, I loved it!! DOUBLE DIPPER was the first one to fill in and I was able to go back through all the other clues and put them in. Very well done, Bruce! Love the challenge!
ANO was my last fill as I just couldn't figure out a three letter word besides BLT. All my sandwiches and burgers are ordered NO MAYO.
Thank you C.C. for the write up - Owen nailed it with his breakdown of THE.
Guilty of singing SARA to every friend I've ever had with that name. Same with Joanna. I've only found my name in one song, 88 Lines About 44 Women. (3:34, Mom was not pleased!)
DH lived in a house in Italy (Navy Brat) that had a giant cistern in the yard - MIL has pictures of it looking green and disgusting. They have fond memories of swimming in it. And that's the water that came out of the faucet (but they didn't drink it). Yuck. I've been told there are people in very rural areas of Oklahoma and Texas that still have cisterns as their source of drinking water. Urban legend? IDK.
Happy Sunday!
t.
ARCARO is the hall of fame? Where does that leave Marciano? Graziano? Dimaggio? Lombardi? etc. etc.
Hi Everyone:
My brain must be on vacation because it took me forever to see what was going on and, until the light bulb lit, I was struggling mightily. I managed to finish w/o help but it took me more time than I care to admit. There were several unknowns including Lavinia, Gnosis, Neopet, and Errol, as clued. I knew Esiaison (CSO to our Boomer) but misspelled it at first. I did like the theme and thought the execution was well done. Mind Meld is unfamiliar as I am not a Trekkie.
Thanks, Bruce, for a Sunday stumper and thanks, CC, for your entertaining write-up.
So far, I have watched 4 disks of Prime Suspect and I have mixed feelings about it. Helen Mirren is outstanding but I'm almost overwhelmed by the coarseness of many of the characters, including the law enforcement officers, the grittiness of London's underbelly, and the depraved and distasteful story lines. Any fellow Cornerites have any memories of this series? I know a lot of you are PBS fans and may have seen at least some episodes. Any thoughts would be welcomed.
Our weather forecast for the coming week is the 3 H's plus rain almost every day. Sound familiar?
Have a great day.
I loved this clever theme. I did the puzzle on paper and didn't have to contend with dashes. At first the missing down clues confused me; the aha moment was priceless. Thanks Bruce and C. C.
too clever by half. I just assumed the print version was in error and I stopped trying. when one down is just missing no dashes or anything I immediately assumed a misprint. I guess I'll know better next time.
Whenever I hear "Cistern,"
I cannot help but think of the great cisterns at Masada.
I always thought these things were filled by rainwater coming off rooftops,
until today when I found this poking around YouTube.
Brilliant puzzle, Bruce--and thanks for checking in. But because all the theme downs were simply missing in the LA Times, I too thought the print version was just messed up, like Chuck, and gave up and went to the blog. There it became clear what was going on, but the cheating was done by that point. Still, it is a really brilliant puzzle with a neat grid, and a delightful write-up by C.C. There are worse ways to start a Sunday.
Have a good one, everybody.
Aw, come on- if it looks like a typo it is just plain unfair. Not "cute"; not "elegant"; just misleading.
Print version LA Times is messed up.
E.g. Diwn clues start w 2 ..and no clue for 58 down.
Bronwen Barry, I used the print version of the LAT puzzle, too. At first I thought the missing clue at 1D was a misprint, but when I found several more missing clues I realized it was intentional. The title Share and Share Alike had to mean the missing clues worked off shared letters. After stumbling around for quite a while I had perps for FATAL across and –LAW down. The light dawned. Achilles’ heel is a fatal flaw. The first part of the answer is going across, but to really make sense we had to use the beginning letter of that word and make a compatible word going down. A two word answer made more sense than just the mere word in the given clue. I thought it was clever.
When I looked at the Mensa site later I saw 1D clued as 1) –
That could mean that 1D was a continuation of something else. This was a stronger hint than my missing clues.
If you don't suss the gimmick, this type of puzzle is very difficult.
Sunday Lurk Say...
Dang - that looks like a cool grid Bruce. I'll have to print it tomorrow and play though now I know the gimmick.
C.C. Those dishes (and the dishes in 'em) looked so pretty.
{B,B-}
Billo - aGNOSTICs may have knowledge of many gods; just don't believe in any.
I giggled at writer Charles READE - aptronym.
HG - 12 Dozen frogs for dissection? That's gross.
IM - Yep, sounds familiar. I was lazy yesterday and put off my bike ride till the afternoon - a POP-up storm dampened that. I got 10mi in today but the H's were brutal. Stay cool (in both senses :-)).
Pop's house in SPI is >120yr and has two cisterns in the backyard (his house is the only one on the north side of town during Lincoln's days there; kinda cool it's on the same old map highlighting Lincoln's house). Uncle C collected the old stuff tossed in out of 'em before they were filled. The neighbor didn't know he had a cistern until his mower just disappeared in front of him (while he was mowing!). //Uncle C got more marbles & bottles...
CED - I'll take your Cistern and raise you one locally.
Have a great Sunday! Cheers, -T
The way this is supposed to work is for the puzzle to have one long list of clues with no "Across" or "Down" section. That didn't turn out to be possible and it sounds like the solvers with dashes had an easier time than solvers with absent clues. Sorry about that !
It took me quite a while to figure this one out, but once I got it I liked it a lot. I still had to look some things up that I didn't know and couldn't get from crosses. Two near-naticks were the A crossing ACARO and SARA and the Y crossing SOY LATTE and YIN. Perhaps it's my lack of mastery of Taoism but I have always viewed YIN and YANG more as characteristics or traits rather than as forces.
As for soup. I love soup, but my wife seems to make it in spurts: soup every day for weeks and then no soup for months. I find soup a good way to use up leftovers, but LW seems to prefer stir-frying leftovers with rice or noodles. Sometimes this results in some items being rather dry.
We recently saw Boomer Esiason in a rerun of Blue Bloods. He played a guy whom Erin was dating for a while, but they broke up before the end of the episode.
Our son loves TENDONS in his pho.
Never heard of NEOPETS.
We've had family from Arizona visiting us the last few days so no time to do the Friday or Saturday puzzle. It's been pretty hot here, about 90 degrees, and we thought our Arizonan visitors might feel right at home. Nope, they all spoke as one voice in requesting we spend that days at restaurants and malls where there is air-conditioning. So we ate out a lot.
Best wishes to you all.
I had two sistern and two brothern, but one of each have "moved on."
I do remember a house in our town that had a cistern in the basement, fed by runoff from the roof. They had city water in the house, but used the cistern for lawn-watering. It was a big thing; you could look over the wall in the basement and see the water. There was a trough that opened to outside through a screened-off chute, so the cistern could never over-fill...not unlike a bathtub.
Bruce, thank you for stopping by the Corner! Initially I had a very hard time with this puzzle and as I solve in print; it was annoying until realizing that the unmarked clues were paired together! Only then did I realize how clever it is!
It took a great deal of thinking but slowly and after coming home from church did I finish. Mentally I gave myself a premature Ta-da! After reading C.C.'s summary however, I saw three errors. Drat! ESIASON, spelled it ESIYSON/TYPE, ARCARO and SOUP BONE. I had ARCARa and SOUPBase.
It was however, a somewhat satisfying solve considering the difficulty level. KEMAL Ataturk recalled my seeing his tomb in Ankara, Turkey where guards still keep watch daily. He is much admired in that country. LAVINIA was a doomed damsel in Downton Abbey. At our church we no longer say the NICENE creed but the Apostles Creed instead. ECCE was also in Pontius Pilate's lexicon.
I liked the cluing of NEWDO.
Thank you, C.C. and Bruce Haight! You both expanded my mind today!
Have a frabjous* day, everyone! *from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol
The cisterns we had were all enclosed. No peeking in. We all drank out of the cistern at MIL's house. All the eaves gutters flowed into it through a large charcoal filter. My husband brought me a gallon of the water every evening. I couldn't drink water out of our farm well without gastric distress. Everybody else drank the well water okay. I had some qualms about birds using the eaves troughs for relief stations, but they assured me the charcoal filtered that out. Being a sceptic. I had both the well water and cistern water tested. The well water had bacteria in it. The cistern water was purer.
Anonymous T,
I would love to see your cistern, (amazing by the way...) and raise you
our own local underground, in the woods, find by hiking concrete water tank,
(but it turns out it was meant to be a boy scout camp septic tank...)
Still very echoey, and scary though.
There is a ladder in one of those chimney looking things
and it goes another 40 feet underground.
But, beware, catching rainwater in the U.S. can land you in jail!
(can't link, as it might be deemed political.)
If interested, google Gary Harrington...
It seems to me that puzzles like this one with a bit of a gimmick divide the solvers into two groups. The ones who "get it" enjoy the puzzle and feel satisfied with their solve (even if they had difficulty). The ones who didn't "get it" feel irritated and dislike the puzzle even after the gimmick is explained. I think that's just human nature.
I'm a big fan of soups. A few restaurants or delis seem to make little effort and have a weak broth with chopped up vegetables and noodles. I don't order soup at these establishments. Others have soups with thick bases full of flavor and other interesting stuff. One deli near here sometimes has a cream of carrot soup. I've never had it anywhere else but it is delicious. Another place has a lentil soup that I love. It seems to have a special ingredient but the owner won't tell me what it is. Rats!
Italian-American sports hall of fame: Oops, I forgot – Roy Campanella, Liza Minelli, . . .
LAT has finally completed my conversion. As of today my subscription ends after nearly fifty years. The Sunday puzzles used to be challenging forays into knowledge of words, history, literature, science,.... But now word selection must "fit" silly and cumbersome "themes" . No care is taken to make "clever" defs even come close to the real meaning of words! "Challenging" does NOT equate to being a drudgery. How dare you pass off today's entry as a "crossword" puzzle. Better to call it a convoluted trivia hunt. I'm through with gnashing my teeth with such elitist balderdash. LAT: shame on you and goodbye.
CED - as a crazy-person, I follow this kinda stuff from my undisclosed aboveground lair [Some, call it "the garage"]. I remember GH's plight but also the nuances in the case. GH seemed to be in the wrong (I won't link-it either but see Snopes). Much ADO about Teapot Tempests were made; The guy didn't just collect rain water from his roof IIRC.
Tawnya - You Dox'd yourself! Nails nailed you @3:34. It's like a certain Fortunate Son releasing his own emails... [I doubt you're a biker chick IRL though :-)]. Ha! - Joan Jett's Bad Reputation just came on XM25... The universe speaks.
Cheers, -THE T
4:58 - You have the wrong venue, unless you just want to vent and spew in front of an audience. You might take a moment or two to research for an LA Times feedback button at the LA TIMES newspaper site, or address your concerns to the LA Times addresses listed in the paper.
First Anon at 4:58 - Here you go. When you come to Chicago, please stop by and I'll take you to the hall. List of members of the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.
BTW, look at the inductee whose last name begins with an O. I have always found it amusing that Eddie is actually a member of the Polish Hall of Fame (where he is is also listed), but he is listed here....
Anonymous T, as a crazier person,
I had no idea about G.H. from my undisclosed underground lair
(the basement, even DW won't come down here...)
(oh crap, I guess I disclosed it...)
When I 1st saw the news flash, (about 2 hours ago,) I was shocked
by the headline. But then I saw the Snopes feed, and thought
maybe I should just let people make up their own minds...
It is interesting to see both sides of a story though.
Which brings me to Anon@ 4:58
To be totally honest,
I have not completed today's puzzle.
I sat down after breakfast, & tried to complete "just the NW corner."
When "all" of the NW acrosses would not appear,
I tried the NW downs.
Perplexed that the Poker answer (which I got,) would not work the perps
in the 1d position, I finally realized it was supposed to go in 2d...
Having a misprinted paper, missing a vital clue, (1d) I immediately went to the answers
which are printed on the next page of every Sunday paper, & looked at 1d.
(I did not look further, not wanting to spoil anything, But now I knew 1d's answer without a clue...)
Endeavoring to complete just the 1st top third of the puzzle b/4 chores,
I ventured on to discover that the clues for 8d & 15d were also missing?
I knew that something was afoot!
Sadly, I did not have time today to investigate further, & read the Blog.
There are all types of people in the world, and therefore all types of
crosswords. It is a shame that you cannot see that what annoyed the crap
out of you might delight someone else. I hope that newspapers everywhere
continue to print a variety of information, for everyone, and when you come across
something you don't know, don't be embarrassed to learn something from it...
(& especially, learn to take a Thumper...)
My take on this puzzle?
I am going to put the unfinished portion in my luggage bag,
& the next time I am on a plane & have completely forgotten all the answers,
I am going to complete this puzzle with Glee!
Oops I just lost my post. I had to cheat on WALSH but since y'all seemed to be familiar, I don't feel bad. I had a semi-cheat by checking the capital of RUANDA*.
And PALLID looked good. You mechanics: SEALS are not Rings, eh? And finally, Misses wasn't LOSSES, but LASSES.
Bruce, was it you that had the MrEd xword. And, fittingly, I happened to have a 4/16 NYT , all about famous TV horse's(Silver etc and the riders.
I love,love,love clever themes and I love all themes ., That's .
Owen, I don't think I got #2. We need an annotated Owen. But, then again, this tired old brain, misses a lot.
Btw. NPR was excellent this pm. All about gnosis. The Pope sent a French army to wipe out the Albigensian GNOSTIC Cathars circa 1230 AD.
Splynter, if you ever drop by on a non-sat, see if you can podcast that npr program. It's right up our alley
WC saying ADIOS
M
I
G
Os
Oops. You giot it sans alignment, right?
WC BLUSHing
Finally "figgered" it out @ Double Dipper - yech! - my pet peeve.
Anon-T - thanks so much for Houston's historical cistern link - read so much about it, but have been so lazy. Gotta go see it!
My family also had a cistern on our farm - waaay back then, not so much in recent years.
Enjoy another week closer to fall, everyone!
Dear Anonymous#2@4:58:
You're probably correct ... but today's cwd is the only game in town, and until YOU write the gonzo cwd, the Plaqtonically ideal one, AND get it published, what's a guy whose local high temperature today was 107 supposed to do? It's too hot to move....
Darn spell-correct -- that's "Platonically ..."
Good Monday morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
Got home from Normal, IL, yesterday afternoon and started into the puzzle. I tried Cruciverb while on the train and it did not have the puzzle. Was not happy about that all last week. Same story. I did send the guy an email asking what's up. We will see if I get an answer.
This puzzle was strange in that it was missing clues. Well, I figured that out. It was the theme. Finally got them all.
Big inkblot at 132A. Tried FATHERS, then DADDIES, then NEW DADS.
Not sure what ALICIA means for musical keys.
Anyhow, I have to run. Blood test today, hot water heater to install, garden too work in, lawn to mow., meeting tonight to prepare for.
See you on Tuesday.
Abejo
( )
Abejo: Alicia Keys is the name of a singer/song-writer
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Keys
Fun puzzle.
However, tundra is not a feature of the North Pole. Ice or open water are possible, but there is no land on which to have tundra.
Wow, that was a workout! I determined early on that something odd was happening with the missing clues and the theme indicated that it involved sharing those missing bits with the clued bits.
Mr Spock's forte is LOGIC and I could not figure out how to make that work. MIND MELD was one of the last theme answers I figured out!
BALONEY appeared with crosses but I still had to figure out the BUNCH OF part. I had NICEAN instead of NICENE which made it hard to get BUNCH OF. When I got that theme crossing, I "got it". But I still had to struggle with each and every other answer! TICKING TIME BOMB was second to fall.
Thank you CC for the write-up and highlighted solution which showed the elegance of Bruce Haight's construction. That made up for the difficult struggle!
Some serious unknowns. ESIASON just looked wrong. I assumed it was supposed to be ELIASON.
RONDA, DESERET, INGE, READE, LEILA, LAVINIA, KEMAL, SARA, ARCARO total unknowns. Never heard of SOY LATTE either. I don't do coffee. But I could figure it out after I replaced CHI with YIN. Anyone else try CHI?
SARA/ARCARO crossing was the only truly unfair bit. At least SARA was a normal name. SCULPT for Make busts was very clever!
Glad that someone else found the clue for TUNDRA to be incorrect. That slowed me down a lot.
Thanks for the Masada CISTERN video. DW and I were at Masada two years ago. A spectacular and historic location. We also saw a herd of ibex there!
Here http://swt.org/events/israel2015/jigrobert/20150716-0852.JPG was one close up
Here http://swt.org/events/israel2015/jigrobert/20150716-0947.JPG was the herd
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