Theme: None
Words: 68 (Pangram~!)
Blocks: 39
There
is one other LA Times puzzle from Matthew, from Thursday March 23rd of
this year. Today's offering was a really pleasant solve, with very few
proper names or abbreviations and plenty of clever clues to make it
tough, but do-able. I admit to not getting my "ta-DA~!" because of one
cel, and I just switched to red-letter to find it; more below, and it's
quite funny in retrospect. Big block count today, a friendly grid, and
just a pair of 11-letter spanners in the across and few 8-letter answers
throughout;
33. Look for business? : WORK CLOTHES
Or how 'bout her~?
She definitely does not work at my terminal....
brOwNWARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Bass-baritone role in an 1885 Savoy Theatre premiere : MIKADO - never a good start when you have no clue - or is that answer~?
7. King Features Syndicate parent : HEARST
13. Brown world? : ACADEME - Funny, I wonder if Mr. Sewell knew I would be doing the blog, because half my world IS Brown - UPS brown, that is. Since UPS did not fit, I wondered if it was a reference to Charlie [Brown], but no, it's about an ivy league school
15. "I have a bad feeling about this" : "OH DEAR...." - and a line from Han Solo - four times
16. Strike a chord : RESONATE - my first thought was guitar related
18. There's one right in front of you : PUZZLE - ah. Yes. I had Muzzle, which is technically correct, and hoMe before 'against' made sense, but not after as well
19. MSN, for one : ISP - Internet Service Provider
20. Wore with jaunty confidence : ROCKED - I like rocking my plus-fours on the golf course. Not.
22. Scuttle : NIX
23. Most of a pool cue : SHAFT - like 99.5%
26. 11, at times: Abbr. : NOVember - I always get duped by this, especially since "11" to me is usually a guitar amplifier reference
27. Cooked : DONE
28. Vital vessels : AORTAS
30. W-9 filers : NEW HIRES
35. Panasonic flat-screen : VIERA
36. Welsh herder : CORGI
41. Majesty : SPLENDOR
44. Four-time WWE World Champion Brock __ : LESNAR - all perps
46. Wharf : QUAY - dah~! not DOCK
47. Dressy accessory : TIE - I went with BOA - 100% wrong
49. Curling piece : STONE
50. Audible pauses : UMs - I had UHs to start
51. How cherries jubilee is served : FLAMBÉ
54. Dungeons & Dragons bird : ROC - I'm such a nerd. I got this. But hey~! I think I might have a cool name for my board game~!
55. Shout on arrival : I'M HERE
57. 1984 Winter Olympics city : SARAJEVO - didn't come to me right away - I got it after I had the "S" and "O"
60. Strongly suggest : REEK OF - the word 'reek' always reminds me of a band that played the night club I managed; they called themselves REEKING HAVOC - not WREAKING
61. Alito and Thomas : YALE MEN - I thought we were looking for two guys named the same, so I threw an "S" in at the end. Bzzzt.
62. Danny, vis-à-vis the "Bloodline" siblings : ELDEST - no clue, via perps
63. Sharp weapons : SABERS - Dah~! not SPEARS - that's 83.3% at 50% correct
DOWN:
1. Best Supporting Actress two years after Whoopi : MARISA - Ms. Tomei, for My Cousin Vinny, and Ms. Goldberg for Ghost
2. Exhibition with blades : ICE SHOW - Good clue. Hockey games, too
3. '90s loser to Deep Blue : KASPAROV - I didn't know this. More chess, too~! The Wiki
4. Flap : ADO - so what's a MIK ADO~? (nyuk nyuk nyuk)
5. Forest digs : DEN
6. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR
7. Word before and after against : HOPE - hope against hope - ah, that makes sense
8. Israel's Olmert : EHUD - perps and a WAG
9. Sharp-edged tool : ADZ
10. Nine Inch Nails founder Trent : REZNOR - the one proper name I did know - I'd link a song, but most of the popular stuff is a bit raunchy - if you must, check out "Closer". On the flip side, Hurt was covered by Johnny Cash
11. Briny : SALINE - ah. SALTY was too short
12. Natural history museum attractions, briefly : T-REXES
14. School with trimesters called halves : ETON
17. Cheap opening : ECONO-
21. Bellyache : KVETCH
24. Kan. Army installation : Ft. RILEY - I was pretty confident of my ACROSS answers, so the FTR--- to start helped a lot
25. Go up against : TAKE ON
27. Turn off and then some : DISGUST
29. Cape Cod catch : SCROD
31. Forensics ridge : WHORL - fingerprints
32. Stallone roles, e.g. : HEROES
34. Sitting Bull's people : LAKOTA
37. "Forget I said anything" : "IGNORE ME."
39. Downsizes : TRIMS
40. German royal house, 1714-1901 : HANOVER
41. Knight aide : SQUIRE
42. Buffet : PUMMEL - I didn't know if it was BUH-fet, or buh-FAY
43. Tied up : LASHED
45. Scouting ops : RECONS
51. Picked dos : 'FROS
52. Took off : LEFT
53. Noteworthy times : ERAS
56. Stretch (out) : EKE
58. Like : Á LA
59. Politico with a father, brother and son named George : JEB - the Bushes
7. King Features Syndicate parent : HEARST
13. Brown world? : ACADEME - Funny, I wonder if Mr. Sewell knew I would be doing the blog, because half my world IS Brown - UPS brown, that is. Since UPS did not fit, I wondered if it was a reference to Charlie [Brown], but no, it's about an ivy league school
15. "I have a bad feeling about this" : "OH DEAR...." - and a line from Han Solo - four times
16. Strike a chord : RESONATE - my first thought was guitar related
18. There's one right in front of you : PUZZLE - ah. Yes. I had Muzzle, which is technically correct, and hoMe before 'against' made sense, but not after as well
19. MSN, for one : ISP - Internet Service Provider
20. Wore with jaunty confidence : ROCKED - I like rocking my plus-fours on the golf course. Not.
and Argyle socks~!
23. Most of a pool cue : SHAFT - like 99.5%
27. Cooked : DONE
28. Vital vessels : AORTAS
30. W-9 filers : NEW HIRES
35. Panasonic flat-screen : VIERA
44. Four-time WWE World Champion Brock __ : LESNAR - all perps
46. Wharf : QUAY - dah~! not DOCK
47. Dressy accessory : TIE - I went with BOA - 100% wrong
49. Curling piece : STONE
50. Audible pauses : UMs - I had UHs to start
51. How cherries jubilee is served : FLAMBÉ
54. Dungeons & Dragons bird : ROC - I'm such a nerd. I got this. But hey~! I think I might have a cool name for my board game~!
55. Shout on arrival : I'M HERE
57. 1984 Winter Olympics city : SARAJEVO - didn't come to me right away - I got it after I had the "S" and "O"
61. Alito and Thomas : YALE MEN - I thought we were looking for two guys named the same, so I threw an "S" in at the end. Bzzzt.
62. Danny, vis-à-vis the "Bloodline" siblings : ELDEST - no clue, via perps
63. Sharp weapons : SABERS - Dah~! not SPEARS - that's 83.3% at 50% correct
DOWN:
1. Best Supporting Actress two years after Whoopi : MARISA - Ms. Tomei, for My Cousin Vinny, and Ms. Goldberg for Ghost
2. Exhibition with blades : ICE SHOW - Good clue. Hockey games, too
3. '90s loser to Deep Blue : KASPAROV - I didn't know this. More chess, too~! The Wiki
4. Flap : ADO - so what's a MIK ADO~? (nyuk nyuk nyuk)
5. Forest digs : DEN
6. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR
7. Word before and after against : HOPE - hope against hope - ah, that makes sense
8. Israel's Olmert : EHUD - perps and a WAG
9. Sharp-edged tool : ADZ
10. Nine Inch Nails founder Trent : REZNOR - the one proper name I did know - I'd link a song, but most of the popular stuff is a bit raunchy - if you must, check out "Closer". On the flip side, Hurt was covered by Johnny Cash
11. Briny : SALINE - ah. SALTY was too short
12. Natural history museum attractions, briefly : T-REXES
14. School with trimesters called halves : ETON
17. Cheap opening : ECONO-
21. Bellyache : KVETCH
24. Kan. Army installation : Ft. RILEY - I was pretty confident of my ACROSS answers, so the FTR--- to start helped a lot
25. Go up against : TAKE ON
27. Turn off and then some : DISGUST
29. Cape Cod catch : SCROD
31. Forensics ridge : WHORL - fingerprints
32. Stallone roles, e.g. : HEROES
34. Sitting Bull's people : LAKOTA
37. "Forget I said anything" : "IGNORE ME."
39. Downsizes : TRIMS
40. German royal house, 1714-1901 : HANOVER
41. Knight aide : SQUIRE
42. Buffet : PUMMEL - I didn't know if it was BUH-fet, or buh-FAY
43. Tied up : LASHED
45. Scouting ops : RECONS
48. Weird Al song that wonders, "Tell me why I bid on Shatner's old toupee" : eBAY - man that's funny; I DID buy a golf cart on eBay - and I found a rare Tom Jones CD, Rescue Me, sold by a guy in Russia....
The Wiki on the song
51. Picked dos : 'FROS
52. Took off : LEFT
53. Noteworthy times : ERAS
56. Stretch (out) : EKE
58. Like : Á LA
59. Politico with a father, brother and son named George : JEB - the Bushes
Splynter
P.S.> I was shocked to see that my name now appears in the "labels" settings~!
P.S.> I was shocked to see that my name now appears in the "labels" settings~!
FIW¡ AsA + YAsEMEN got me. Was thinking of that old commercial, "Winstons taste good [like a] [as a] cigarette should". I knew YAsEMEN was wrong, but didn't know what it could be. Judges was too short, justices too long, case-men or basemen didn't fit the perp, and yes-men just plain didn't fit. Ah, well, I still got closer than I did Monday or Wednesday past.
ReplyDeleteWe had dinner at an exclusive café
The view ROCKED with the waves on the QUAY.
So much water was handy
When I spilled the brandy --
That was heating our cherries FLAMBÉ!
There once was a Sarge at FT.RILEY
Who rated the P.X. rather highly.
"In WORK CLOTHES or mufti,
The clerks all DISGUST me
By calling me Sir so politely!"
Sinbad was to TAKE ON a ROC
With a STONE in the toe of a sock!
An elephant was bait,
Then he just had to wait,
Till the sock that he slung ROCKED the roc!
{A, A-, B+.} (Kudos on the second l'ick to the discussion by some vets here a few days ago!)
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWow, we got a softball from Matthew. Lots of nice stuff in it, and nothing too obscure...well, LESNAR and REZNOR. VIERA, because VIZIO wasn't working. Neither was my pointy AWL. This one came together pretty fast. Thanx, Matthew and Splynter
Splynter, you wanted LOOK or SCAN. I wanted LEAF.
There's a CORGI on our morning marching route. It's fun to hear her owner holler, "STELLA!"
TIE -- Hasn't been a "dressy accessory" for me for more than 20 years. DW claims there's still one in the house, but I don't know where she's hidden it.
Thought "Nine Inch Nails" was a strip-center manicure chain. Nope. Speaking of weird band names, there's a "visit Houston" ad campaign on TV. The female vocalist is sashaying through various venues around town. The band name (no lie) is the Suffers. Guess it must be an homage to Houston summers.
"Service" and "provider" should always be in quotes in ISP.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-I was so happy to get HEARST as a parent company and not cartoon parent and laughed out loud when I got PUZZLE but rezNor/NiX/t-reXes just wouldn’t come. So I’ll take two bad cells today.
-All right, make it three with careless uHs/puHmel (duh)
-This philistine always thought MIKADO was a female role
-NOV is when college FB games start being meaningful. HOPE against HOPE dissipates.
-Has anyone used one of these to get food DONE and not burned?
-Mercedes intervened between Whoopi and Marisa
-Ken JENNINGS played against IBM’s Watson (2011) not Deep Blue
-In The Music Man Mayor Shinn’s wife railed against dirty books like Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. How did she get a British accent in Iowa? :-)
-Sitting Bull’s burial site has become a bone of contention between the two Dakotas
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis took me slightly longer than usual to wrap up, but once I corrected a few errors, I was home free. First error was confidently filling in Figaro which worked with a few downs, I.e. Ado and Omar and Gasparov, except, as I later found out it's Kasparov not Gasparov and Mikado not Figaro! Also goofed on Boa/Tie, Sworl(sic)/Whorl, Elud/Ehud and Yaleies(sic)/Yalemen. I knew Corgi, Academe, and Sarajevo right off the bat but needed perps for Lesnar, Reznor and Viera. The cluing was Saturday-subtlety devious and my favorite was Look for business=Work Clothes.
Thank you, Matthew, for a crunchy but satisfying solve and thanks, Splynter, for a pleasant tour.
Anon T, I have no idea how Mufti came to mean civilian clothing but that definition precedes the Gulf War.
Wilbur C, I think you mixed up your Millers. Marilyn Monroe was married to Arthur Miller.
Have a great day.
Steady fill except for the NE corner, which wasn't helped by not knowing either of the 2 proper names: the Israeli- EHUD and the Nine Inch Nails - REZNOR.
ReplyDeleteGot a chuckle out of the Weird Al song - EBAY - thanks Splynter for the link. I enjoy his work - so creative. Didn't appreciate the borderline soft porn pics of women - tired of the objectification, and in my practice deal with online addicts of that stuff who are ruining their relationships with their loved ones over it.
Thanks Matt for a fun challenge
Hi Y'all! OH DEAR, I feel like I was LASHED to a QUAY & PUMMELed with STONEs by this PUZZLE then given the SHAFT. KVETCH, KVETCH! But I"M HERE and DONE filled 'er so IGNORE ME. Thanks, Matthew for the stimulating puzzle. Thanks, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteTREXES in a museum? What the heck are TREXES? I googled TREXES even. Duh! T-REXES.
Caruso before MIKADO. I thought it was the singer not an opera. Took some perps.
Didn't know KASPAROV or LESNAR and a few other things.
Good day to all!
ReplyDeleteSo many unknowns today, but most filled via perps. Finally googled for Trent REZNOR to finish up in the NE. "Look for business?" for WORK CLOTHES was my favorite clue/answer. An enjoyable PUZZLE overall. Thanks for the expo, Splynter.
Enjoy the day!
Spent 20 minutes but could get 1A, !D, 2D or 13A. I had no idea about MARISA or MIKADO, wanted either fencing, rowing or cooking for the 2D, and filled in ESHOW but got no farther. ACADEME never had a chance because KYAM was there but OMAR wasn't.
ReplyDeleteThe rest was filled at the usual Saturday pace- slowly.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteIt took me a handful of Googles to get 'er DONE but I did it! Thanks Matthew for a feel-good (about myself) Sat.
First pass I got KASPeROV, REZNOR (gave me HEARST instead of Tribun[e]), PUZZLE, DONE, AORTAe, STONE, LEFT, EBAY, SAltlake, and then JEB messed that up. I went for a bike ride then Googled 1d, 6d, 8d, &57a. That helped.
Thanks Splynter for another writeup that goes to 11, 'at times.' BTW, I think the day's poster is always in the Label; that's not new (I recall noticing on Boomer posts, Label shows C.C.'s account)
Fav: 'common, any PUZZLE with a nod to Weird Al. EBAY doesn't even let you buy your name in a grid. [though PK tried to put mine in @1a :-)]
Cuteness: ADO xing mikADO; NEW HIRES over WORK CLOTHES. KVETCH is just such a fun word.
Re: Deep Blue. [if this is too much, IGNORE ME]
Computers play Chess ALA the
Min-Max tree. The leaves at the bottom of the tree represent board positions / score. The limit of a computer is the amount of memory to process every move against every move you can make from the current board position. The subsequent moves are the leaves. Typical home computers are good for 6-10 moves ahead. IBM threw gobs of hardware at the problem and beat KASPAROV. Basically, Blue didn't learn, it was brute-force. Very much unlike Watson on Jeopardy [more Weird Al].
{A,A,A-}
@8:08 - LOL
IM - This was the best I found: 1580s, muphtie "official head of the state religion inTurkey," from Arabic mufti "judge," active participle ofafta "to give," conjugated form of fata "he gave a(legal) decision" (cf. fatwa ). Sense of "ordinary clothes (not in uniform)" is from 1816, of unknown origin, perhaps from mufti's costume of robes and slippers in stage plays, which was felt to resemble plain clothes."
PK - Cute "puzzle"-post. LOL'd @1st paragraph.
Cheers, -T
A W-4 is filed for new hires, a W-9 is filed by businesses.
ReplyDeleteForm I-9 (not W-9) is filed by new hires to document that they are authorized to work in the US.
ReplyDeleteExcellent write-up Splynter!
ReplyDeleteI rarely attempt the Saturday puzzles ... but I'm glad I did today.
Fave was SARAJEVO ... I use to go there monthly back when I worked for Deloitte in Zagreb.
(And YES I went to the spot where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated that started WWI).
Being from "Flat Florida" it was an interesting drive from Zagreb to Sarajevo.
Then from Sarajevo to Split, Croatia, back to Zagreb.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Cheers!
The Wiki speaks. W-9 is a valid clue. -T
ReplyDeleteI thought this poorly clued.
ReplyDeleteThis was mentally challenging and fun! Thank you, Mr. Sewell and thank you, Splynter. I managed to solve all the PUZZLE without any lookups, not even, REZNOR, whom I don't know about. It all just worked out though I spelled KASPAROV with a C, drat!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day, everyone!
Whoo, I had a hard time with this puzzle. Didn't know REZNOR and LESNAR but did know EHUD and KASPAROV. Putting in IM HOME at 55a messed me up in the southwest and having OWL and SPEARS messed me up in the southeast. Anyway, with a few lookups and with the help of red letters I managed to finish the puzzle and found it enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteGood wishes to you all.
DNF even withone cheat with Reznor. Music after 1980 is hit or miss for me. Mostly miss. Proud of getting Kvetch ..one of fifteen Yiddish words that I know and love. But the southeast had blanks...had SWORDS...Changed to Speers...never tried SABERS. But still a fun puzzle. It took to long to get NEWHIRE. I Mixed up 1090 with W-9. I wonder what a W-8 is or 7 or 6 or w-1 ??
ReplyDeleteThis one was fun with some interesting clues. Thanks, Matthew. Splynter, I did think of you at Brown World. Alas, it was a different world.
ReplyDeleteOwen.....all A's. But now that your muse(s) have returned, the l'icks all seem to be great. You are on a roll!
After celebrating yesterday that I solved my very first Jeffrey Wechler puzzle, I discovered that's not true. I actually finished another one on June 28, 2016. ( It was a Tuesday.). So there!
Thought it might have been KASPEROf and fIERA (a better name for a flashy TV). Also had MIcADO, but that was just an unfixed blunder. Nice puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI took my granddaughter to buy a microwave and for some reason letting go is making me feel sad, even more so than when her mother left. I want to protect her although she will be 21 next month but she is still a child in many ways yet working at growing up.
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary - Mrs. Shinn only had an English accent in the movie. Hermione Gingold always played a Grande Dame and would't change for any role. Much like Gregory Peck wouldn't do a Southern accent for To Kill a Mockingbird, but still won an Oscar.
ReplyDeleteAlmost a Ta- DA!, which is not bad for a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mr. Sewell, but your T-REXES did me in. Like HuskerG & PK, I went astray there. I settled for NIP for the 22A perp, figuring that TREPES was some elision or slang for another word for "dioramas" or "terrariums."
Ah, well. C'est la samedi!
For all who have been encouraging me through my recent ear surgery, today's the day I must remove the dressing. It is already 3pm here, and I haven't found the motivation yet to strip the wound. I'll get to it, and I promise to let you know the outcome on Monday.
I guess I'll face the music when I "publish" my comment.
OK.
Here goes.
Irish Miss, thanks for the Miller timely correction.
ReplyDeleteOh the SPLENDOR of a Splynter write-up. I-H, sorry, we look forward to Splynter's illustrations all week. I really don't think these addicts knock off the Lat-Sat just for the pix.
HG, whose hit had "NIX, NIX in it? Or anyone. It's too easy, I know. It's too late too.
PK, you took the words right out of my mouth. Not knowing Mr Sewell I was saying "Give me Lin!". It was very slow going but so was business at TPA.
I had SWIRL. I finally did a mental alphabet run and didn't quit and finally got to N O 'V'. Boy what a thrill when the no cheats TaDa came.
Splynter, I mentioned earlier that we had a fav word show up: INTUITIVE. My frosh calculus Prof pronounced it in-twitive and I have to stop when reading it aloud.
WC
Oh yeah. Owen has indeed been red-hot. I don't recall the vet's discussion vis a vis MUFTI. I think the modern word would be "Utes" as in utilities. Perhaps the Brits use MUFTI. Is there a Tru-brit in the house?
And... Mr Sewell you've constructed a Jewel.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. Check out KVETCH in the Urban dictionary for a laugh. I originally couldn't spell it.
Musings
ReplyDelete-billochoes – Of course I knew that but after living in the farm belt for 70 years her English accent really seemed out of place. The casting of Hermione was probably intended to accent a prudish, patrician demeanor which she carried off deliciously!
-WC – We commemorated the man who sang “NIX, NIX” on the 16th just past
Yes, may Elvis rest in peace. That movie* was on cable the other night
DeleteWC
* Jailhouse Rock
Help! I'm getting insane looking for the discussion about sergeants in basic training not being called sir -- "Don't call me sir, I work for a living". I was sure it was within the past week, but I've gone all the way back to the first of the month without finding it!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that was this last week past
DeleteWC
OKL: I show July 12,'17.
ReplyDeleteLucina - I feel you. We've NEST nearer empty too. Yes, Youngest is still here and we had our fun cooking; with Eldest gone the endevor was a little bitter-sweet. Eldest called from OU and it seems she's starting to settle in a bit to the idea of "on her own" [mind you, I'm paying for all this! :-)].
Cheers, -T
AnonT:
ReplyDeleteIt's our fate as parents and grandparents! Our own parents experienced it, too!
This seemed utterly impossible at first, but I was wrong. Managed to FIR. Kept expecting a theme when I kept seeing Ks. Wrong.
ReplyDeleteNo idea about MARISA, REZNOR, FT RILEY, VIERA or LESNAR. Not sure why I would remember any of these.
Hand up for being slow to figure out NOV for 11 even though it is my birth month.
Hand up for thinking King Features parent was a parent in a comic.
My parents used to sing the "list song" from the MIKADO with this line:
You may put them on the list
And then none of them be missed
There certainly are people who, if they disappeared, never would be missed!
Learning moment that Winter Olympics used to be in the same year as Summer Olympics. In 1984 we had them here in California in the summer. (Athletes were housed right in my neighborhood!) Did not realize there were winter games that same year.
Anyway, it was very challenging, but in the end I suppose it was mostly fair and worth the ride!