Gail and Bruce have produced another Wednesday winner with this entertaining puzzle employing a food theme shown in the reveal which is in the Down clues whereas the theme answers are in the Across batch:
Reveal:
43. "Dinner!" ... and a hint to the first word of 21-, 27-, 44- and 53-Across : LET'S EAT - Shown here in an amusing version of grace
First of all let's see the hands of those who wish this had been a Thursday puzzle so our resident gourmand Steve could have waxed gastronomically! One, two, three... Let's see counting me that's everybody!
C'est la vie, you will have to make do with the "meat and taters" guy from the great plains - Husker Gary, who also did C.C.'s EAT UP titled puzzle from Sunday, October 15.
Here are Gail and Bruce's themers where each has a first word denoting what you might find on your plate and an entire phrase starting with that word:
21. Finishing a sentence? : SERVING TIME - A single portion at a meal or OJ being dismissed from a Nevada prison at midnight to avoid publicity after nine years of SERVING TIME for trying to recover some memorabilia at gun point but not for...
27. Diagram on a golf score card : COURSE LAYOUT - One of the parts of a meal or the perhaps the most beautiful COURSE LAYOUT anywhere with hole #7 shown at the top of the poster and jutting out into the ocean in the bottom middle of the map
44. Bad news for subway riders : FARE INCREASE - What might be available on a menu or what some of us remember when the Kingston Trio exhorted us to "fight the FARE INCREASE, Vote for George O'Brien, Get poor Charlie off the MTA!"
53. Grammatically, "have" in "I have spoken," e.g. : HELPING VERB - How much you are served or a non-intimidating example of the sample sentence
Let's get some HELPINGS of the FARE Gail and Bruce have for us in the COURSE of this puzzle that is SERVING our gaming appetites and HELPING getting our midweek off to a great start:
Across
5. Strip of latticework : LATH
9. Expels : OUSTS
14. For each one : A POP - A dollar A POP for a serving of corn is a "bucaneer"
15. Jackson 5 hair style : AFRO
16. IV part : INTRA - What my INTRAVENOUS remicade routine looks like every eight weeks
17. Stacy Lewis' org. : LPGA - My mental WNBA/LPGA coin flip was wrong first
18. Severely harm : MAIM
19. Use, as for a snooze : LIE ON - This is how I remember
20. "Well, __-di-dah!" : LAH - Close enough and extremely funny
23. In the air : ALOFT - Airplanes ALOFT in early morning of 9/11/2001. The skies were empty in a matter of hours.
25. Ancient Peruvian : INCA
26. "Fresh Air" airer : NPR
32. Divinity school subj. : REL
33. John Irving title writer : GARP - The character GARP becomes a writer in Iriving's Oscar Award Winning Screenplay The World According To GARP
36. Romantically involved with : SEEING
38. Oscar Mayer product : WIENER - I wish I were...
40. "And she shall bring forth __": Matthew : A SON - That season is getting close in all the stores since we are nearing Halloween.
41. Bordeaux brushoff : NON - A note in a French middle school - Pensez-vous comme moi ? Oui/NON (Do you like me? Yes/No)
42. Co. known for music compilations : KTEL - They "hooked" me. Ya gotta love Beethoven to a disco beat!
48. VW preceders? : STU - Cool clue! ...m n o p q r S T U V W x y z and
57. Letters between mus and xis : NUS - There is Nu between Mu and Xi
51. Fabric mishap : TEAR
52. Grecian urn glorifier, e.g. : ODIST - Yeah, I'm the only one who had to erase KEATS!
59. Revered Tibetan : LAMA
60. Paltry : MERE
61. Author Kafka or composer Liszt : FRANZ
62. City west of Tulsa : ENID - The Enid Storm Shelter company sells these
63. Neck of the woods : AREA - In this AREA, Husker fans who were used to quality football are getting 64. Short-tempered : TESTY
65. College Board exams, for short : SATS
66. Wordless summons : PSST - PSST, wanna buy a Rolex...
Down
1. Character actor Eli who often co-starred with his wife Anne Jackson : WALLACH
2. Horse with a spotted coat : APPALOOSA - This beautiful one was, uh, spotted in New Zealand
3. Backyard pet shelters : DOGHOUSES - They make a husband version
4. Massage venue : SPA
5. Unconvincing, as excuses go : LAME
6. A long way off : AFAR
8. Grits, essentially : HOMINY
9. Dashboard indicator : OIL GAUGE
10. Textbook division : UNIT
11. Oktoberfest keepsake : STEIN
12. Beat the pants off : TROMP - _____ U. was TROMPED by ____ U. Nebraska used to be the object of the preposition and not the subject of that sentence.
13. More reasonable : SANER
22. Cpl., for one : NCO - As in Cpl. Maxwell Q. Klinger
24. No longer encumbered by : FREE OF
28. South end? : ERN - The southERN most major street in this 60. 27-Across, essentially : MAP is Washington Street
29. Journey segment : LEG
30. Did terribly : TANKED
34. Orthodontic devices : RETAINERS - I have had many very expensive RETAINERS lost by students on my many trips to Florida
37. Nervously distracted : IN A TIZZY - Where guilt trips can put you
38. Took the title : WON
39. Business abbr. : INC
41. State of bliss : NIRVANA
45. Stimpy's sidekick : REN - Am I missing anything by not having seen this 'toon pair?
47. Take the wrong way? : ROB
48. Unfair treatment, with "the" : SHAFT - She got the elevator and I got the SHAFT
50. Forearm bones : ULNAS - TESTY eliminated ULNAE
54. Breathe hard : PANT
55. Give off : EMIT
56. X-ray units : RADS - Originally defined in terms of our crossword buddy ERGS
The Grid:
Now, how 'bout a healthy portion of your wit and wisdom:
The NE corner gave me conniptions -- SPEWS>OUSTS, CHAP>PART>UNIT, WHOMP>TROMP, LAY ON>LIE ON.
ReplyDeleteAlso had spelling errors STieN > STEIN and WeiNER > WIENER, PALOMINEO>APALLOOSA>APPALOOSA .
Having used GPS for geocaching but never for driving, I put LTS(latitudes)>STS.
Caught the theme early with SERVING and COURSE, which helped give FARE and HELPING easily.
A saucy hottie from TERRA HAUTE
Had two particular assets of note.
They used to be A's
But they're C's now-a-days --
Their textbooks won't fit in her tote!
FRANZ lazed on his chaise longue and dozed.
He'd been watering when a snag interposed.
The equipment was so tangled
He tried something newfangled:
Used his smartphone to APP A LOOSA HOSE!
{B-, A-.}
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Gail, Bruce and Gary! I always enjoy offerings by G and B!
No major problems. Didn't know LPGA or GARP right off. ENID seems to be the only xwd city in OK.
Have a great day!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis had a little more crunch than usual for a G and B, probably due to the well-hidden reveal. I had no idea what was going on until filling in Let's Eat. I chalk this up to being up and doing a crossword in the wee hours (for me) of the morning. (Insomnia struck at 4:30 am.) I thought a lot of the cluing was tricky (in a good way) and thought provoking. I was certain Oil Gauge was going to be Odometer and that "D" messed up Intra for ages. For some reason, A Pop always eludes me as all I can think of is Per, Apiece, Each, etc. The lame/Lama duo struck me. Other tha needing perps in a few spots, it was smooth sailing.
Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, HG, for your bottomless bag of wit and wisdom, not to mention your dazzling visuals.
As we have both Dodgers and Stros fans on the Corner, I will remain neutral. Just call me Swiss Miss until the series is over! 😈
Have a great day.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWhen solving, I normally try to complete a right angle in each section: 1. WADS/WALLACH, 5. LATH/LAME, 9. OUSTS/ODOMETER (Oops! Hi there, IM. Wite-Out, please.) RETAINER saved me from a KEATS mistake. Thanx, BV, GG and HG.
Our local H.S. team is the Eagles who play in this multi-million dollar Boondoggle. Makes me proud that as an old fogey, my school taxes are capped.
TERRE Haute's was well-known in my ute as the home of the Columbia Record Club. Remember? Send that computer punch-card back, or you'd automatically receive that album you really didn't want.
Yes, HG, "These are the times that try men's souls...Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!..." immediately came to mind.
How did that "'s" get in there? Gremlins.
ReplyDeleteSpeed run today but didn't see the food until 43D.
ReplyDeleteLAY-LIE, I can never remember so I never use LAY except for the potato chip man Herman Lay, or the infamous head of ENRON Ken LAY, who managed to drop dead before he could be convicted.
HG- nice to see you almost quoting the Jerry Reed song "She got the Gold Mine, I got the SHAFT."
My 'Rolex' cost about 10 bucks on a New York street. Guess what? It kept time more accurately than a real Rolex until the battery died and I threw it away.
As for our resident gourmand, Steve has an expense account to eat out when traveling. 'Other People's ( Larry Ellison) Money'.
TERRE Haute is the beginning of the Ride Across INdiiana, a 160 miles in one day bike trip mostly on U.S. 40. My son talked me into doing it in 2011 on a very hot day. I found the puzzle much easier. I picked up the there pretty quickly and it helped a bit.
ReplyDeleteI was LAYing down answers 1-2-3 until I got to the SE, but still solved it in reasonably good time for a Wed. RETAINERS took a while. PRESSURES put me under a lot of pressure. When I thought of those I finished up with KTEL and NUS.I must memorize those Greek letter in order. I saw the theme after SERVING and COURSE. I had GAUGE and waited to see if it was GAS or OIL. Thought of KEATS, but I already had OD---.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fun puzzle, G&B. Thanks, Gary, for your always clever write up.
Remember this old time commercial? The song is an ear worm for me today.
commercial
Hungry Mother, I agree that today's puzzle was considerably easier than a 160-mile bike trek across Indiana.
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteAlways fun to have a puzzle from Gail and Bruce. Learning moment was that "The World According to Garp" was a novel by John Irving. I was only familiar with the movie based upon the novel. Thanks for the write-up, Husker Gary.
Enjoy the day!
Correction to the comment on 34 across: John Irving won the Oscar for his screenplay adaptation of "The Cider House Rules."
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteDid not get K TEL but everything else dropped in easily.
HELPING VERB sounds 3rd grade-like to me but it is in the language. "Auxiliary" verb seems more commonplace in foreign language instruction. Not a statement of fact, per se; just a rumination.
Liked the cluing for STU.
Nice long 8 and 9 - letter downs.
Always liked Eli WALLACH in westerns.
Chairman MoeOctober 25, 2017 at 10:19 AM
ReplyDelete"Puzzling Thoughts":
LETS EAT! was my last fill, as I was entering words from the NW --> NE, then fly-over, then SW ---> SE. Never saw the clue; never really thought about the "theme". But regardless, the G and B team had a clever puzzle, and HG did a yeoman's job, "clearing the table"!! 😜
I had no C's or E's, but a few W's; namely, WPGA (when I know darn well, it's LPGA), RTS > STS, and ULNAE > ULNAS. The short-tempered clue corrected that, TEETY? Maybe what you'd call a well-endowed cow!
Even though I live in the South, I'm not a fan of 8d. But then, all items in that category make me gag - Cream of Wheat, Oatmeal, et al
Cool stack of ZZ's in 58 & 61a; and then a clue for snoozing in 19a. Clever or coincidental?
Like OKL, I too saw the APP in APPALOOSA as a punning moment ...
Since he used it, I'll grab these two:
Moe-ku: (brace yourself)
The Orthodontist,
Turned Lawyer, has lots of cash.
Needs no RETAINER
Moe-limerick:
Ford inventor, whose friends called him Hank,
Heard this comment when filling his tank:
"To start your Tin Lizzy
Puts me IN A TIZZY!"
Or was that, someone yanking his crank?
Moe's out ...
Since we recently had an urn reference of course I wrote KEATS but ROB settled that one and ODIST made way for RETAINERS and PRESSURES. KTEL is unknown and NUS perped itself. I, too, should memorize that Greek alphabet.
ReplyDeleteUntil LETSEAT appeared I had no idea about the theme. Thank you, Gail and Bruce. I usually find your quirky puzzles amusing.
And there's WIENER added to the meal. GARP was a total guess as was EAGLES.
As a westerner I'm very much aware of horses so APPALOOSA was a shoo in.
Thank you, Gary, for a superb expose with lovely graphics.
Have a splendid day, everyone!
I managed to sail through this delightful Gail and Bruce puzzle this morning without a single erasure. The long answers were a bit daunting, but the across ones filled them in pretty quickly. Great to see FRANZ Kafka in the puzzle, and also Desi ARNAZ. I even got GARP although I never read the book. So, many thanks, Gail and Bruce, and fun write-up, Husker Gary.
ReplyDeleteI actually got everything this morning: puzzle, Sudoku, Kenken and Jumble by 8:45. Woohoo! Mornings don't get much better than this!
Have a great day, everybody!
Finally caught up with the backlog of puzzles from the camping trip!
ReplyDeleteI must say I found this puzzle very tasty,
except it is missing one important thing...
Lay/Lie?
In looking for a silly pic of a man eating a crossword puzzle (no luck)
I came across this little ditty!
A nice Bruce&Gail puzzle. I really like their work. The last part to get solved was the LIEON/OUSTS/OILGAUGE area. I had forgotten KTEL but now I remember it again. Liked the clue for HOSE. For some reason I entered ODIST right away; perhaps it was because of the "e.g." in the clue. I hear ya about ENID, fermatprime.
ReplyDeleteNice write-up, Gary. Thank you again.
I liked Eli Wallach in almost everything I saw him in. He was a terrific bad guy in The Magnificent Seven.
Yep, I remember the Columbia Record Club. I was a member for many years. It's the only reason I remember TERRE Haute. Having bought and built many Heathkits is why I still also remember Benton Harbor.
Best wishes to you all.
Picard, I love the picture of the Franz Kafka Cafe. Husker Gary, I forgot to tell you how terrific your pictures and images were this morning--many thanks! And enjoyed your poems, as always, Owen.
ReplyDeleteAnother offering from the Grabowski/Venzke team - a real class act!
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to you two for a grid that allowed me (sorta) to start off with a straight (more or less) diagonal solve from NW WADS down to SE PSST. Filling the rest was a pleasure, except when I got hung up for a coupla minutes trying to remember which GAUGEs were on a typical dashboard. Ah, well.
Ta- DA! in the end!
Thank you, Husker G, for all the visuals, especially of the Kingston Trio. I caught them live in their prime at the Shriner's Auditorium in San Francisco. They were sharing half the bill, if memory serves, with Miss Peggy Lee.
(Hm. C'mon, Ol' Walnut! Could that have even been possible?!!)
Special thanks to Misty! I enjoyed reading your paper — and what a good time to revive it! Our awareness of Ibsen’s relevance was refreshed recently by Lucas Hnath’s Doll’s House, Pt. 2, that we saw last spring at So. Coast Rep.
Your detailed tracking of Ibsen’s use of myth and symbol – from objects to events, particularly in repetitive patterns throughout the plays – is most impressive. Well written!
The arrival of a surprise visitor, again and again Ibsen's inciting action, points up one of the most theatrical devices he used. Even in the most “realistic” of stagings, there always seems something spooky about that person.
And how about dem Bums?
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteHad to wait for a couple downs before I wrote in WADS. I am always careful.
Theme appeared after I got 43D LET'S EAT.
Wanted SLAT for 5A, but held off. Saved me some ink with LATH.
Got K TEL once I had one letter.
ODIST came with perps. Tried ODE TO first. Only inkblot.
We seem to get PSST a lot. But, that's OK.
Have to head to work shortly. My evening at Amazon. I enjoy it.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
D-N-F ... 9-d, had GAS GAUGE as the Dashboard indicator, so the NE Corner wasn't completed.
ReplyDeleteHusker: Wonderful write-up. Good Job!!!
Gail & Bruce: I enjoyed your theme and the 95% of the puzzle that I completed.
Without thinking at 43-d. "Dinner" ... I entered SOUPS-ON before LET'S EAT emerged ...
So that was kinda a messy AREA.
Cheers!
Jayce, Benton Harbor was also the secret identity of Chickenman!. (Note: It was never a cartoon. Chickenman was a serialized "radio drama" put together by the on-air staff of WCFL in Chicago and later syndicated nationwide.)
ReplyDeletePS: Jayce, my first computer was a 1979 Heathkit H-8. Monitor/keyboard and diskette drives sold separately. With 64kb memory (non-standard), three 100-kb diskette drives and DEC dot-matrix printer (parallel interface sold separately), the who shebang could be yours for a measly $3500. Dang it was fun!
ReplyDeleteJust went right through this one today, right on the same wavelength I guess. Didn’t even realize the theme, not needed to solve, the best kind IMHO.
ReplyDeleteThis one went very easily for me. The only two I did not understand, even after they filled in with crosses were the two about alphabets. Doh. Usually the ones I would best be able to solve. They just did not process correctly until I looked at today's solve, later. I thought of VW as in the car, and the fill in between mus and xis made no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for laying it out so clearly, Husker Gary!
DeleteI don't think ODIST is a word.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gail and Bruce for WADS of fun. I pretty much sped through most AREAs save the NW; just all seemed in my wheelhouse.
Great expo HG; enjoyed the LAYOUT.
WOs: Palomino went in lightly. I also wanted herd for 1a but SPAs was a gimme. Hand up for WNBA (which went in 2x - once @14a then at 17a!) b/f LPGA.
ESPs: WALLACH
Fav: c/a for STU - very clever new way to clue Simpson's Disco__. I got it after Hitler didn't fit and circle-noted 48a w/ AWESOME! [sorry HG]
Runners-up: FRANZ Kafka - just 'cuz I knew it (DW has PhD English; Metamorphosis is around here somewhere); Nice to see stacked Zs IN A TIZZY.
{B, A-} {LOL, ha!}
"Swiss" Miss - funny IM.
Hungry Mother - 160mi in one day? Dang. The BP MS150 (really 180mi Houston->Austin) is a 2-day ride. Of course, Indiana is flat whereas Austin is in the foot-hills.
@6:22 - re: ODIST. Does it convey meaning? Does it fall within the symbolic construct? It's yes to both, so, 'Tis a word. [DW is a PhD :-)]
GO 'STROS! -T
My goodness, Ol'Man Keith! I can't believe you actually went to the trouble to read my fifty year old Ibsen paper! That's unbelievably generous of you, and I am totally flattered by your kind comments! You've just made my day! Of course, now I'm going to have to go back and read the paper myself since I can't remember anything about a surprise visitor and I'd better check that out. Again, thank you so much for this wonderful support!
ReplyDeleteI was on the right wavelength....it filled itself in quickly. Fun theme. Thanks G and B , and HG for all the funnies.
ReplyDeleteOdist.? Sure, if you can have a "pianist", why not an ODIST?
Now Anon T, is "Stros " a word?? Hehehehehe
The question begs......can you have a 12" odist..
ReplyDeleteThis CW filled in with only a few inkblots. Thanks for the fun, Gail and Bruce, and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteHand up for wanting Gas GAUGE before OIL, and misspelling WIENER (thanks for the earworm YR). I changed Err to ROB, and debated over ULNAS/ulnae.
Yes, Keats came into my head but ODIST filled in.
Mark S, this is a different twist on that Greek Urn from yesterday!
I had forgotten GARP but perps rescued me.
My first thought when I saw IV was Roman numerals. Thanks Anonymous@4:58 for pointing out the alphabet progression. I too was thinking of Volkswagon and then did not notice the resulting STU that perps gave.
Did anyone else smile at the cross of AFRO and AFAR? (to and fro, afar and afro!)
Hi Y'all! LET'S EAT and looks like the FARE is HOMINY & WEINERs but don't get TESTY or IN A TIZZY or get your PANTS in a WAD. Surely there will be some other COURSE or we will TROMP the cook and put him in the DOGHOUSE, of COURSE.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint about this puzzle by Gail & Bruce. Unappetizing.
I remember that joke. 50 years since I heard it.
ReplyDeleteStarted slowly but moved along nicely. No snags. C-Moe, I caught "brace" yourself. Your l'ick was pretty good as were Owen's.
And of course, Gary's usual excellence. And, I was psyched to see Gail and Bruce at the helm.
I got my GALTS mixed up with my GARPS and Stacey is such a WNBA type of name. I only watch golf all the time.
How about "As the train came rumbling through (Scully Square Station)". I sure did ramble around the old Boston T in my 'ute. Pre-ute since I moved to the burbs when I was ten.
WS. By default it's Houston. We're the city that chanted "Beat LA" after losing a tong war to the 76ers in '82.
Ibsen. Talk about 1967. I think it's been longer than that since I read "Doll House" or"Three Sisters". Did I read them? Xword constructors like them.
Dostoevsky was my guy. Myshkin, Ferdeshenko etal.
I think I'll read Misty's article now. Zzzz
😂
WC
I wondered if anyone was going to catch my other pun for the orthodontist haiku ... 😜
DeleteThanks for noticing, as well as for the plaudits ... Dittos to -T ...
The 'Stros are killing me!!!! -T
ReplyDeleteWow. Oh wow. Oh wow.
ReplyDeleteI hope this goes seven!
Butch - I hope it's over in 5 w/ 'Stros winning at home. That was NUTS! One out needed 2x and Waaaa?!?
ReplyDeleteOk, My BP is almost back to normal.
Bill G. - Good game. See ya' Friday..
TxMs - It won't be a sweep this time!
Cheers, -T
Wilbur, seriously--you too may read my article? The kindness of this blog just astonishes me! Thank you, everybody!
ReplyDeleteAnonT, yep, a good game for sure.
ReplyDelete