Theme: There's No Telling
17. With 61-Across, dubious tabloid image : UNIDENTIFIED
61. See 17-Across : FLYING OBJECT
25. Call to a police hotline, possibly : ANONYMOUS TIP
36. 1972 chart-topper for the band America : A HORSE WITH NO NAME
51. Emmy-winning travel and cuisine show hosted by Anthony Bourdain : PARTS UNKNOWN
Melissa here.
Interesting that there is no reference to the theme in the clues - no starred clues, and no reveal. Which is fitting because the theme answers are all about keeping mum.
This may have been the fastest Tuesday solve ever.
Across
1. Attack vigorously : ASSAIL
7. Insurance company's concern : RISK
11. "Now I get it!" : AHA
14. Dry-eyes solution : SALINE
15. __ Picchu : MACHU
16. Female GI in WWII : WAC. Women's Army Corp.
19. Curved line : ARC
20. '50s president, initially : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower
21. 20-Across nickname : IKE
22. The Congo, formerly : ZAIRE
24. Tycoon Onassis : ARI
29. Hits the tarmac : LANDS
31. Very long time : EON
32. Attention-getting whisper : PSST
33. Elect to office : VOTE IN
35. Spouse : MATE
43. Storyteller __ Christian Andersen : HANS
44. Key of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony : D-MINOR
45. Relaxing venues : SPAS
49. Train cos. : RRS
50. Likely will, after "is" : APT TO
56. Canon SLR camera : EOS. Everyone I know just uses their phone for taking pictures now.
57. Get the better of : OUTDO
58. "If you ask me," briefly : IMO. In My Opinion.
59. Like this crossword ans. : ACR. Across.
60. Hole in __ : ONE
67. ATM maker : NCR
68. Poke fun at : TEASE
69. Thingamabob : DOODAD
70. Bashful : SHY
71. Sleep in a tent, say : CAMP
72. Dries out, with "up" : SOBERS
Down:
1. Sch. with a Tempe campus : ASU. Arizona State University.
2. She plays Dr. Cristina Yang in "Grey's Anatomy" : SANDRA OH
3. Stirred up a cloud of dust at, as a base : SLID INTO
4. Staff helper : AIDE
5. Suffix with hero : INE
6. Bolshevik leader : LENIN
7. Battle of Britain fliers: Abbr. : RAF. Royal Air Force. Always makes me think of Roald Dahl.
8. Here, to Henri : ICI. French.
9. Female pronoun : SHE
10. Invasive Japanese vine : KUDZU. I used to use Kudzu fragrance in my massage oil blend - the scent is lovely. Interesting Smithsonian article.
11. Anticipates : AWAITS
12. Poll founder Louis : HARRIS. So this is who the Harris Poll is named after.
13. Receive willingly : ACCEPT
15. Personal bearing : MIEN
18. Ring ref's decision : TKO. Technical Knock Out.
23. Snake that bit Cleopatra : ASP
24. Thomas __ Edison : ALVA
25. Tag sale words : AS IS
26. Irish poet : YEATS
27. Cloth-eating insect : MOTH
28. Upright : ON END
30. German article : DER
34. Jacket style named for an Indian leader : NEHRU
35. Capital of Belarus : MINSK
37. Say "Watch it" to : WARN
38. Arabian Sea nation : OMAN
39. Little bite : NIP
40. Go before : ANTECEDE
41. Auto, to a Brit : MOTOR CAR
42. Love god : EROS
45. Cereal utensils : SPOONS
46. Beer gut : PAUNCH
47. Blood carrier : ARTERY
48. Criterion: Abbr. : STD. Abbreviation, not an acronym. Standard.
52. The third letter of 13-Down (but not the second) : SOFT C. I should know this sneaky clue by now.
53. Work starting hour : NINE
54. Texter's "Crikey!" : OMG
55. Forest : WOODS
59. "This is __ for Superman!" : A JOB
62. Grassy expanse : LEA
63. Candied veggie : YAM.
64. Web access co. : ISP. Internet Service Provider.
65. Scarer's shout : BOO
66. NFL scores : TDS. Touchdowns.
1) I mentioned a few weeks ago that Melissa had a car accident. She was driving her brother's truck to take care of some business in California. Her brother Rick wrote this moving article about the truck and what really matters. I remember the day Melissa let me know the accident and how important the truck was to her and Rick. It makes me cry.
2) Happy 58th birthday to dear Steve, our incomparable foodie and our tireless Thursday Sherpa. Steve travels extensively for his work, so many of his blogs are written from airports or whatever city he's staying.
Steve and his friend Jill, June 12, 2016
Tea at The Queen Mary
40 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Jeffrey and mb!
How strange! A non-horrible JW. Well, it is Tuesday!
No problems!
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
Into our office an ANONYMOUS TIP came,
So I rode out on A HORSE WITH NO NAME,
Heading out from home,
Off to PARTS UNKNOWN
Where an UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT
-- was selling bootleg aspartame!
I'd like to take you to MACHU PICCHU
So high in the sky that breathing's an issue
Should we try to SPOON
You likely would swoon,
So with strong Santa Fe lungs, I'd have reason to kiss you!
{B+, B.}
I got my third JW completed w/o help, albeit this one was Tuesday-easy. Decaf caused me to need to erase "Attack" for Attack vigorously and Nec to make room for NCR. No such excuse for HEROics for HEROINE nor Das for DER - I just missed them.
Ventura Highway was my favorite song from America, and I overlooked A HORSE WITH NO NAME at first because I didn't remember that "A" was part of the title. Since it was a Wechsler, I filled in the _EATS and waited for K or Y.
Never heard of PARTS UNKNOWN or Bourdain. I have heard of SANDRA OH, and loved her in "Sideways" and "Dancing at the Blue Iguana" (a quirky movie with a better-than-necessary cast).
Thanks, Jeffrey, for showing us that your toolbox has tools other than a hammer. And thanks to Melissa for another delightful tour. It is great to see your return.
Homeward bound tomorrow. I've been too busy to come to the Corner for a while, but I've done well on the puzzles (except for CC's Saturday masterpiece which pounded me into a pulp).
Good morning!
I agree, Melissa, this was one of the fastest Tuesdays ever. Thanx, JW. My only stumble was ANTEdate; quickly fixed. Had trouble parsing SANDRAOH. CSO to Anonymouse.
Happy birthday, Steve! (And belated happy birthday to Gary; I was AWOL yesterday.)
Good Morning, Melissa and friends. Interesting Tuesday puzzle, but nothing really jumped out for me. I realized the theme after getting HORSE WITH NO NAME.
Interesting to have DDE and IKE side-by-side.
Happy Birthday, Steve.
QOD: Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing in it. ~ Jesse Owens (Sept. 12, 1913 ~ Mar. 31, 1980).
Hi Ya'll! Fast & interesting theme, Jeffrey, thanks! Thanks, Melissa.
ASSAIL had to be perped. So not off to a great start. Most of the rest filled in nicely with some ups and downs. Didn't know SANDRA OH.
SOFT C had to perp in -- SOFT & hard letter gimmicks always evade me.
Didn't know the band, but I got the song when I saw HORSE and a few other letters.
Happy Birthday, Steve!
Montana, I can understand your frustration with all the fuss we made over the hurricanes when you have a fiery disaster in your backyard. I can't even watch the fire coverage on TV, it is so scary to me. And though hurricanes are scary too, because we knew so many people there, I was glued to the set to the detriment of my health probably. You are the only one we know in Montana. I have been to Montana and thought it was lovely and important for all the natural resources there. The forest fires burn valuable timber that could one day have built the new houses that have been destroyed in the rest of the country. We need to remember that. There are other countries which have cut down much of their forests. They are poorer for it.
Thanks to JW for letting us see his soft side and not just SOFTC. Jinx said it best, "showing us that your toolbox has tools other than a hammer."
The solve was quick and easy though I was too quick and not careful enough and didn't notice I had ANTiCEDE. Drat! IOS/EOS doesn't mean much to me so didn't realize my error. I still use my Kodak camera as I don't have an I-phone.
Happy birthday, Steve! I hope you celebrate with some scrumptious food!
Melissa, thank you for your analysis and especially for linking the article about Roald Dahl, one of my favorite authors though I only know his children's books and movies. James and the Giant Peach is a favorite. I didn't know about his life and how it inspired his writing. Thank you, again.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Owen:
I forgot to tell you how much you made me laugh especially thinking about "bootleg aspartame." I can't stand it much less would I ever want it bootlegged! You amaze me with your quick ability to use puzzle themes in your creations.
Good morning everyone.
Interesting to see JW on a Tuesday. Fairly fast solve. Couple unknowns like HO were easily perped. Thanks Melissa for focussing the theme; it was a blur for me. If I don't readily 'see' the theme, I drive on without it. Nice bright puzzle.
RAF - I served a NATO related training tour under an RAF Group Captain, a sharp officer, watch commander, and natural leader. I could see why the RAF succeeded in winning the Battle of Britain if they all were like this guy.
16 x 15, first one in a while. I enjoy the variation. Just wish it rendered better on the screen.
NWR, it rendered just fine in my newspaper. :)
I did it! I solved a Jeffrey Wechsler!! Okay.....it's only Tuesday and you have all said it was easy, but I'll take little victories when I find them.
And it was as much fun as the dangerous ones. I liked the mini theme of IKE, DDE, RAF, WAC - did I miss any WWII references? I loved dries out for SOBER. Yes, it's obvious once you get it, but that's JW's special deviousness. Same with ACR. I groaned!
Thanks, Jeffrey, for the pleasure, and MB for the tour.
Owen, A,A
HBD , Steve . How appropriate to have Anthony Bourdain in the puzzle today. You travel and eat, and so does he.
Interesting puzzle. Theme was obvious with 17A and 25A early on. Although I could picture her I had to I perp SANDRAOH. Huh? Weird name. Thanks, Argyle. SANDRA OH. V8 can moment.
Montana, I feel how devastating and life threatening those wild fires are to very many Montanans. My heart goes out to them. Also the destruction of all those miles of forest is sickening.
Happy birthday, Steve. Have a great day. Your point of view is always interesting.
WC, I again came across your music for Alan suggestion. I couldn’t find the exact wording. Please explain or email me. Thanks for caring. Alan had been up and functioning since Sunday after three days of sleeping. He is not 100%, but fairly good, kinda the new normal. He no long seems confused, which was scary. He will likely go to work tomorrow.
We are still undergoing condo renovations. I am happier with the siding color now. Seeing it on the side where there was very little trim was not so encouraging. Now, in the front, with lots of white trim, it looks better.
Happy Birthday, Steve. Have a great day!
This puzzle wasn't easy for me, but on second pass, perps filled in all empty spaces. So, it was a quick solve.
I didn't know PARTS UNKNOWN or SANDRA OH, but perps rescued me immediately.
PK, local volunteer fire departments and neighbors helping neighbors have been great this summer.
In fact, after a major prairie fire (quarter million acres) early on, there have been so many donations of hay, fencing materials, and money, they are sending money on to relief efforts in Texas and Florida.
There are only 23 fires active now. Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada closed all facilities a while back--that fire has burned into Montana's Glacier Park. It's very 'brown' out here on the prairie this morning from all the smoke.
Rain & snow this weekend will help. Hope the weather forecasters are correct.
Stay safe, everyone,
Montana
Good Morning:
Seeing JW's byline on a Tuesday is a rare but welcoming sight. It didn't take long to catch the theme but, while I didn't breeze through it as quickly as some others, it was a smooth and satisfying solve. I chuckled at OMG crossing IMO, two of the most common cyber shortcuts. I'm familiar with Anthony Bourdain from his travel/food shows. He's a little too edgy for my taste.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a fun offering, although, personally, I prefer the "hammer and tongs" Wechsler challenges. Thanks, Melissa, for the detailed summary and visuals. I enjoyed the Roald Dahl article (my knowledge of him was only that he wrote children's stories and was married to Patricia Neal) and your personal article. That's good news about your brother.
A very Happy Birthday to Steve! 🎂🎉🎁🍾🎈 I hope your special day is filled with good friends, food, and fun! And maybe a wee dram of Jameison's! ☘ ☘ ☘
Occasionally, I've mentioned my bad luck with my Netflix selections. Recently, though I saw two excellent movies, "Hidden Figures" and "Hacksaw Ridge," After the watch the never-ending, horrific combat scenes in Hacksaw, I needed something light and fluffy and bland, but in a good way. Well, last night I watched the most far-fetched, over the top, silly, unbelievable movie I've ever seen but it made me laugh up a storm. It was titled "Nine Lives" and starred Kevin Spacey (what an apt name!), Jennifer Garner, and Christopher Walken. After an almost fatal accident, KS winds up in a coma but through CW's "powers", Kevin ends up inhabiting the body of the cat that he bought for his young daughter's birthday. It's too complicated to explain but the hilarious antics and special effects overcame the lack of credulity. I searched the ending credits in vain for CED's name, but no luck!
WIlbur, glad you're back in the fold!
Have a great day.
Should read, "After watching the never-ending ... Sorry.
Oh thrill, oh rapture! I got it, and I got it all right! Learned some new things and names. This will be a wonderful day!
Always exciting to see a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle, and this was a total Tuesday delight, with no problems, no erasures, an improbable and wonderful speed run! Many thanks, Jeffrey! And a great write-up, as always, Melissa--many thanks to you too. I couldn't believe how perfectly your SLIDE INTO photo fit the baseball clue!
I have dry eyes and have to use eye drops, but never knew they were SALINE (salty? wouldn't that burn your eyes?). I also have to put hot compresses on them for a few minutes twice a day. A bit of daily work, but it's great not to have them itching and tearing all day.
Montana, I've added your state to my prayers for the people of Texas and Florida and the Caribbean. What a difficult end of summer for so many of our people.
Yellowrocks, so glad to hear that Alan is feeling better again.
Have a great day, everybody!
Interesting and refreshing to have a Jeffrey Weschler puzzle so early in the week. A nice Tuesday-easy puzzle which I enjoyed solving. I didn't catch on to the theme.
I have long thought SANDRA OH to be a pretty accomplished actor.
Owen, great verses today. Thank you.
CC, thanks for the link to that article by Melissa's brother about what really matters.
Happy birthday, Steve!
Speaking of weather, we had a spate of cloud-to-cloud lightning occur here last evening. Lots of bright, prolonged flashes and some awesome thunder. The thunder reminded me of how Washington Irving, in his story Rip Van Winkle, described how it sounds like men playing nine-pins in the sky. It really does! Now I know why Boomer is called Boomer.
Best wishes to you all.
I agree with Melissa: Mr. Wechsler's Xwd was probably the smoothest solve for a Tuesday in memory, more like a Monday pzl of old. Ta- DA!
I'll never miss a reference to the RAF. My brother Russ was born during the war, and our parents blessed him with the same gallant initials. (Mine are unpronounceable.)
I love seeing photos of MACHU Picchu. Isn't it funny that the classic photo of the Inca village always shows the "other" mountain in the background. The peak you see is Huayna Picchu (or "young man mountain") The photo is taken from a height on Machu Picchu ("old man mountain"), which is where my wife and I managed to climb when we were there.
Misty, Janice and I share your eye problem. Hot compresses bring such refreshing relief! It's a luxurious sensation, but I'm disappointed they seem to have no lasting effect. Once I remove the washcloth, I'm ready to replace it.
Who will invent the compress we can actually see through?
Musings
-What a creative Tuesday level puzzle. Fun fill and cross references too!
-Do UFO spotters attend the same seminars as the “we never went to the moon” peeps
-When Santa Ana finally did ASSAIL, the Alamo defenders showed valor but had no hope
-RISK - It appears insurance companies will pay for little of the Texas flood damage
-Most surprising “VOTE IN” – Truman/Dewey or Trump/Clinton?
-A nice four minute MAJOR/MINOR key tutorial
-Girl’s SB is usually played in shorts and those SLIDES usually left a “raspberry”
-AS IS - A woman brought back a tiny bike from our garage sale and I had to convince her the hand brake was not a gear shift
-Pronoun vague ANTECEDENT - “Take the radio out of the car and fix IT” Hmmm…
-Anybody know a better “WOOD” poem than the one that starts “Two roads diverged in a yellow WOOD”
-Happy Birthday to my favorite gourmand! I’d love to celebrate my 9/11 birthday with you at some grand venue! Uh, you’d probably have to order for both of us.
I just read the Melissa/Rick correspondence and am greatly impressed by how such a life-altering experience as prison will change one's priorities. I think we all know how our attitude toward material possessions could be affected, but to hear from those undergoing it is simultaneously alarming and reassuring.
The casual acceptance of injustices as endemic in our court system is very troubling. We might expect cynicism, but there seems to compassion instead, a truly admirable concern for others than oneself.
Well this was a bit of a breeze, a day after we had a REAL breeze, called IRMA. No it didn't hit SC directly, thank goodness, but what we did get was wild.
Only lost power for about 2 hours, no flooding here, so lucky.
Anyway, this was a very nice Tuesday level puzzle.
Ol' Man Keith, what you need is this facemask Jennifer gave Mr. Carlson in the WKRP Who concert episode, part one.
Happy Birthday Steve! What a lovely picture!
Ludwig, so glad you liked the puzzle too!
Ol'Man Keith, I bet we got the same hand-out from our UCI eye clinic, recommending the hot compresses. I've been grateful ever since.
Argyle @2:24,
Maybe so! I'll see if I can find one...
Misty, I missed the hand-out. My use of compresses actually followed from feeling hot towels from my barber!
I've started using Soothe XP for my dry eyes and am happy so far. I also got tear duct plugs installed on doctor's advice.
Isn't it kind of late for CED to not have chimed in? I hope all is well in Jersey and Florida.
Has Lem checked in yet?
YR, glad that Alan is stabilizing and hope it continues.
HG, The most misunderstood poem in existence! And one of my favorites. But I love Frost. Thanks for the reminder.
I thought Soothe XP was no longer supported and had been superseded by Soothe 10. :)
SwampCat, isn't that the poem that Yogi paraphrased: "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Ah, D-O, Yogi was the only one who truly understood the poem! The very words of the poem that is considered a hymn to Good Ole American independence say ...it doesn't matter which fork!! Yogi was a true intellectual! Hehehehe
Fun puzzle and theme today, but no sweat. Spending time looking at photos of our place in Naples. The outside looks OK, except to ornamental skirting, but nobody has been inside to check for water damage.
Irish Miss,
Just checking in...
I could no longer stand watching the weather Channel 24/7
& with a friend, drove 50 miles north to New York State for an early September
camping trip.
Beautiful weather!
No News channels!
Ah! Paradise!
Re: Naples Fla,
Neighbor says can only see a rip in the mosquito netting round the pool.
No flooding...
(I still will have to fish all the patio furniture out of the pool...)
Will not know for sure the damage until we visit in October.
No point in going down now as there is still no power...
Our house is concrete cinder block with 140 mph hurricane windows
(Naples airport weather station registered a Max of 122mph sustained winds)
What is really disturbing is they say the RV park next door was completely obliterated,
and that RV's were found in the road 1/2 a mile away...
Must investigate this Nine Lives movie, Netflix you say?
Regards,
Dave
"Puzzling Thoughts":
Well, the newspaper arrived today, so I was able to do a puzzle - as I await the return of power from FPL
Power's been off 1-1/2 days now. It's "Africa Hot" here; but if this were the north, and in the winter, I'd be freezing. Glad there's a/c at work! Looking forward to working all day tomorrow so I can enjoy it! #sweatinglikecheapbacon #notconcernedaboutit #coldshowerisbetterthannone
#wheresthebreezewhenyouwantit
Odd that within about a 1/2 mile of my condo, the entire plaza (Publix, Outback, and several other establishments) DO have electricity. I had a 2-1/2 hour lunch at Outback to enjoy their a/c, a good meal, and recharge my phone. They weren't too busy so I wasn't keeping them from seating another guest
No idea how long we'll have to wait for power. But I'm safe, and there was no damage to my stuff. Throwing out a few items in the fridge won't be the end of the world
A fitting poem for today:
We know Milton penned Paradise Lost;
Epic poem of how Adam crossed
God, when he and bride Eve,
Eden were forced to leave.
But right now, I'd prefer Robert Frost.
A JW on Tuesday. Thanks for the fun Jeffrey and melissa.
Not too many hold ups today. Heroism changed to heroINE.
I noted the RAF, WAC, IKE, DDE mini-theme also All that was missing was ETO.
This Canadian knew fellow-Canadian SANDRA OH.
YR, glad Alan is feeling a little better.
Montana, thoughts and prayers for those areas under fire on both sides of the border.
Glad to hear reports from our SE Cornerites. Things can be replaced; people can't.
Hope to hear from others soon (probably when their power is restored). News today showed hydro workers from Several Canadian provinces leaving to help with restoration in the south.
Happy Birthday Steve!
PT2:
Happy Bithday, Steve
CED, sorry to hear about your place. I lived in Naples from 2012-2015 so I know how vulnerable that area is to storm surge
So now I finally heard why we're in a power "freeze". Apparently a transformer, a couple of lanes down from where I am, blew AFTER the hurricane passed! We learned from FPL and the HOA that only a few groups of condos are affected. They need to order a new transformer and install it. Hoping by the end of the week. Arrgggghhh. In the meantime, ..... things could be worse I suppose. Still betting that my electric bill for Sept will be large. I wonder if FPL will excuse my late payment until they get the power back on ...
If I had put 2 answers in their proper places this would have been much easier. Dumb. Thanks Jeff W. for the fun time. Excellent expo, MB. Enjoyed your brothers' essay.
Steve: Happy Birthday, young man! What's on the menu for tonight?
YR, glad to hear that Alan is doing better. Hope it continues!
I am frustrated with trying to link things from You Tube so I had a Facebook conversation with a niece. I've tried a couple different things, so o any of these links work? With the first one you should be on my home page, then click "videos" at the top under my name. The other two should take you directly to the page. Link #1, Link #2, Link #3.
My thoughts are will all who have suffered from natural disasters. I hope help comes quickly.
HI All!
First, good to hear from you WC!
Thanks JW for a nom de none puzzle that I enjoyed but didn't find as breezy as EES; many clues took at least a perp to jog the brain (see LENIN, ZAIRE, ALVA, OMAN, NEHRU (spelling - always forget the H)).
Thank you mb for the wonderful expo and the pics. Learned MACHU Picchu is a place not a person; I kept picturing Michio Kaku as I read the clue... You know how there's some words you've only heard and some you only read... There's two, respectively :-)
WO: AbR(iv) @ 59a. Almost put SLID home but kinda suspected ARI.
ESPs: ICI, SANDRA HO, MIEN.
Fav: Blogger's Address? ANONYMOUS T's IP*
Runner up: HORSE WITH NO NAME. Nailed it w/ only A[...]TH in place. Jinx I like Ventura HWY, Sister Golden Hair, but I think Tin Man is my fav; Oz didn't give him Scotch either :-)
{A,A-}
Happy Birthday Steve!
Good news about Alan YR.
Montana - I understood you were safely afar from the fires. I've read about what they're doing to the NW and Wow... Thankfully someone mentioned your Avatar w/ the acre count on it - I didn't get it at 1st.
CED - now that's a sane plan. Enjoy.
HG -A Venn diagram would show there's a significant-intersection of UFO Believers and Moon Landing Deniers. Listen to enough late-night AM radio and you too will be able to spot 'em :-)
D-O: LOL w/ the quips today. Yogi was enough but... Soothe 10! LMAO
OMK - Argyle beat me to the WKRP mask[@3:24 of 14m]. I was too busy earlier when I read your dilemma.
It's late so I'll ASSAIL y'all with Eddie Izzard on RISK [MA-L]. LENIN is not mentioned...
Cheers, -T
*Hey, I can dream :-)
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