Theme: Level-Set - as hinted at by the central entry:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
17A. Where to find 37-Across : APARTMENT HOUSES. "Flat" is a common term in the UK for an apartment.
24A. Where to find 37-Across : GARDENING CENTER. Also known as Daisy trays, they commonly hold 18 plants
43A. Where to find 37-Across : WOMEN'S SHOE STORE. Not heels.
57A. Where to find 37-Across : SYMPHONIC SCORES. Here's a whole bunch of 'em:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
A nice puzzle from Corner regular Peg Slay. Just like last Thursday, there's four grid-spanners as the themers, and with the hint in the center that makes a solid 65 letters of theme entries. Some nice trickery to deal with - AURAE rather than AURAS, GNASH rather than GRIND and some clever longer fill.
Let's see what else catches the eye:
Across:
1. Ford crossover SUV : EDGE
5. Fawning flattery : SMARM. Great word.
10. Void partner : NULL. Null and void.
14. Melt fish : TUNA. Food! Tuna and cheese in a sandwich. I've had one, I believe.
15. Surrounding glows : AURAE
16. Pennsylvania city subject to lake-effect snow : ERIE. Nailed it! Brrr - this is not good:
20. Go hog-wild : LET LOOSE
21. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT
22. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL. Crosses all the way for me here.
23. U.N. workers' gp. : I.L.O. The International Labour Organization. Note the spelling!
33. Table spreads : OLEOS. Margarines.
34. Ostrich kin : EMUS. "Kin" in the plural here.
35. "__ rule ... " : AS A
36. Clutter-free : NEAT
39. Piedmont bubbly : ASTI. Do they make anything else bubbly in Piedmont? I need to take a trip out there and find out.
40. Nine-time NHL All-Star : ORR. Hockey's Bobby.
41. Walk or run : GAIT
42. Cathedral areas : APSES. One is usually found at the Eastern, or altar end of the cathedral.
47. Map line: Abbr. : LAT. Not Long.
48. Kendrick Lamar's genre : RAP. Not my first choice musical genre, but the name is familiar enough.
49. Greek vowels : IOTAS
52. Send up : SATIRIZE. I spelled it the English way with an "S" first but ZEST fixed that for me.
60. Popular jeans : LEES
61. "Once Upon a Time in China" star : JET LI. More crosses. I wasn't familiar with most of the proper names today.
62. Attitude : SASS
63. White-tailed seabird : ERNE
64. Dutch painter of "The Drawing Lesson" : STEEN. Another unknown, or at least one I was unsure of.
65. Poker buy-in : ANTE
Down:
1. Abbr. in an abbreviated list : ET AL. "Et Alii", "Et Aliae" or "Et Alia" depending on the gender of the noun being described. No wonder we abbreviate it to lose all the gender-noun uncertainty. See how great English can be?
2. Con : DUPE
3. Pest you might slap : GNAT
4. British peer : EARL
5. South Pacific islander : SAMOAN
6. Oaty breakfast mix : MUESLI
7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. Any relation to Thomas Arne, the composer of the perennial British favorite "Rule Britannia"? I think I've linked this before. It bears a repeat.
8. Traitor : RAT
9. [Yawn] : MEH! Relatively new addition to the dictionary. It came from "The Simpsons" TV show.
10. Cell using a synapse : NEURON
11. Bear in the sky : URSA
12. Willingly : LIEF. A learning moment for me. When it appeared I looked very critically at the across entries to see which one I'd got wrong.
13. For fear that : LEST
18. Tips for dealers : TOKES. I'd never heard this term before today. A toke to me is a puff of a certain kind of "herbal" cigarette, the type that Bill Clinton famously did not inhale from.
19. Checks figures intently? : OGLES
23. Post-op sites : I.C.U.S
24. Dismissive words : GO NOW
25. Last Olds off the line : ALERO
26. Furnish with more weapons : RE-ARM
27. One of four in Mississippi : DOT. Tried ESS first, of course. More than a couple of do-overs today.
28. Under, poetically : 'NEATH
29. Clock-setting std. : GMT
.
30. Italian Renaissance poet : TASSO. Another unknown/uncertain proper name.Solid crosses to the rescue yet again. First name "Torquato" which is also a new one on me. Here's a sample:
Interesting! I think there's some symbolism there I should think about.
31. Aromatic compound : ESTER
32. Jack up : RAISE
37. Ramadan ritual : FAST
38. Fleur-de-__ : LIS. I know it as a Fleur-de-lys, this spelling always confuses me.
39. Germane : APT
41. Grate together, as teeth : GNASH
42. Mold that's cold : ASPIC. Food!
44. Slide by : ELAPSE
45. Big name in databases : ORACLE. I know all about these folks, I worked there for seven years.
46. Has leftovers, say : EATS IN. Indian curry leftovers are the best of all. The flavors develop overnight.
49. Daysail destination : ISLE
50. Terminer's partner, in law : OYER. "To hear and determine".
51. Feds under Ness : T-MEN
52. Place to build : SITE
53. Parks whose famous bus is in the Henry Ford Museum : ROSA. The museum in Dearborn is great. There's some fascinating stuff in there, not all motor-transportation-related.
54. Shah's former land : IRAN
55. Fragrant peel : ZEST
56. Cato's "to be" : ESSE. Latin. Thank you, Latin lessons at school, and "Ma Batt" as my teacher was affectionately nicknamed. Her son wrote the theme music to "The Wombles" which will mean as much to you as the phrase "It's as good as a homer in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded" meant to me when I read a Colt 45 promotional beer coaster in the first "American bar" to be opened in our little parochial home town. We literally no idea what it meant. The Dodgers could have done with one of those last night. The beer was awful, by the way. Upon research, it had some pretty terrible advertising. This one is the best I could find, and it's just a picture of the label.
58. a.m. beverages : O.J.S
59. Fishing aid : NET. Not ROD then.
That wraps it up for me. I'm heading to New York for a couple of days for some budget planning meetings for 2018. It's as exciting as it sounds! United don't fly LAX to JFK direct anymore, so it's Newark for me, and the NJ Transit rail link into Penn Station.
Here's the grid!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
Here are two cute pictures of Melissa's granddaughter from Halloween.
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
17A. Where to find 37-Across : APARTMENT HOUSES. "Flat" is a common term in the UK for an apartment.
24A. Where to find 37-Across : GARDENING CENTER. Also known as Daisy trays, they commonly hold 18 plants
43A. Where to find 37-Across : WOMEN'S SHOE STORE. Not heels.
57A. Where to find 37-Across : SYMPHONIC SCORES. Here's a whole bunch of 'em:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
A nice puzzle from Corner regular Peg Slay. Just like last Thursday, there's four grid-spanners as the themers, and with the hint in the center that makes a solid 65 letters of theme entries. Some nice trickery to deal with - AURAE rather than AURAS, GNASH rather than GRIND and some clever longer fill.
Let's see what else catches the eye:
Across:
1. Ford crossover SUV : EDGE
5. Fawning flattery : SMARM. Great word.
10. Void partner : NULL. Null and void.
14. Melt fish : TUNA. Food! Tuna and cheese in a sandwich. I've had one, I believe.
15. Surrounding glows : AURAE
16. Pennsylvania city subject to lake-effect snow : ERIE. Nailed it! Brrr - this is not good:
20. Go hog-wild : LET LOOSE
21. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT
22. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL. Crosses all the way for me here.
23. U.N. workers' gp. : I.L.O. The International Labour Organization. Note the spelling!
33. Table spreads : OLEOS. Margarines.
34. Ostrich kin : EMUS. "Kin" in the plural here.
35. "__ rule ... " : AS A
36. Clutter-free : NEAT
39. Piedmont bubbly : ASTI. Do they make anything else bubbly in Piedmont? I need to take a trip out there and find out.
40. Nine-time NHL All-Star : ORR. Hockey's Bobby.
41. Walk or run : GAIT
42. Cathedral areas : APSES. One is usually found at the Eastern, or altar end of the cathedral.
47. Map line: Abbr. : LAT. Not Long.
48. Kendrick Lamar's genre : RAP. Not my first choice musical genre, but the name is familiar enough.
49. Greek vowels : IOTAS
52. Send up : SATIRIZE. I spelled it the English way with an "S" first but ZEST fixed that for me.
60. Popular jeans : LEES
61. "Once Upon a Time in China" star : JET LI. More crosses. I wasn't familiar with most of the proper names today.
62. Attitude : SASS
63. White-tailed seabird : ERNE
64. Dutch painter of "The Drawing Lesson" : STEEN. Another unknown, or at least one I was unsure of.
65. Poker buy-in : ANTE
Down:
1. Abbr. in an abbreviated list : ET AL. "Et Alii", "Et Aliae" or "Et Alia" depending on the gender of the noun being described. No wonder we abbreviate it to lose all the gender-noun uncertainty. See how great English can be?
2. Con : DUPE
3. Pest you might slap : GNAT
4. British peer : EARL
5. South Pacific islander : SAMOAN
6. Oaty breakfast mix : MUESLI
7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. Any relation to Thomas Arne, the composer of the perennial British favorite "Rule Britannia"? I think I've linked this before. It bears a repeat.
8. Traitor : RAT
9. [Yawn] : MEH! Relatively new addition to the dictionary. It came from "The Simpsons" TV show.
10. Cell using a synapse : NEURON
11. Bear in the sky : URSA
12. Willingly : LIEF. A learning moment for me. When it appeared I looked very critically at the across entries to see which one I'd got wrong.
13. For fear that : LEST
18. Tips for dealers : TOKES. I'd never heard this term before today. A toke to me is a puff of a certain kind of "herbal" cigarette, the type that Bill Clinton famously did not inhale from.
19. Checks figures intently? : OGLES
23. Post-op sites : I.C.U.S
24. Dismissive words : GO NOW
25. Last Olds off the line : ALERO
26. Furnish with more weapons : RE-ARM
27. One of four in Mississippi : DOT. Tried ESS first, of course. More than a couple of do-overs today.
28. Under, poetically : 'NEATH
29. Clock-setting std. : GMT
.
30. Italian Renaissance poet : TASSO. Another unknown/uncertain proper name.Solid crosses to the rescue yet again. First name "Torquato" which is also a new one on me. Here's a sample:
ONCE a mosquito came a-buzzing round
The happy place
Where in his mother’s lap Love lay sleep-bound
With pretty grace;
Said Love, aroused from slumber by the hum:
“How from so small
A body can so great a clamour come,
Awaking all?”
Beguiling him with song, Venus replied:
“Thou too art small,
Yet mortals wake who on the earth abide
And the Gods all
Up in the sky,
Hearing thee cry.”
Interesting! I think there's some symbolism there I should think about.
31. Aromatic compound : ESTER
32. Jack up : RAISE
37. Ramadan ritual : FAST
38. Fleur-de-__ : LIS. I know it as a Fleur-de-lys, this spelling always confuses me.
39. Germane : APT
41. Grate together, as teeth : GNASH
42. Mold that's cold : ASPIC. Food!
44. Slide by : ELAPSE
45. Big name in databases : ORACLE. I know all about these folks, I worked there for seven years.
46. Has leftovers, say : EATS IN. Indian curry leftovers are the best of all. The flavors develop overnight.
49. Daysail destination : ISLE
50. Terminer's partner, in law : OYER. "To hear and determine".
51. Feds under Ness : T-MEN
52. Place to build : SITE
53. Parks whose famous bus is in the Henry Ford Museum : ROSA. The museum in Dearborn is great. There's some fascinating stuff in there, not all motor-transportation-related.
54. Shah's former land : IRAN
55. Fragrant peel : ZEST
56. Cato's "to be" : ESSE. Latin. Thank you, Latin lessons at school, and "Ma Batt" as my teacher was affectionately nicknamed. Her son wrote the theme music to "The Wombles" which will mean as much to you as the phrase "It's as good as a homer in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded" meant to me when I read a Colt 45 promotional beer coaster in the first "American bar" to be opened in our little parochial home town. We literally no idea what it meant. The Dodgers could have done with one of those last night. The beer was awful, by the way. Upon research, it had some pretty terrible advertising. This one is the best I could find, and it's just a picture of the label.
58. a.m. beverages : O.J.S
59. Fishing aid : NET. Not ROD then.
That wraps it up for me. I'm heading to New York for a couple of days for some budget planning meetings for 2018. It's as exciting as it sounds! United don't fly LAX to JFK direct anymore, so it's Newark for me, and the NJ Transit rail link into Penn Station.
Here's the grid!
Steve
Here are two cute pictures of Melissa's granddaughter from Halloween.
60 comments:
AHA!! I am FIRST!
Really I'm last, as in the last to drop for the night. Going to bed as soon as I finish this.
I didn't have to many hiccups on this one, just a little bump where AURAS didn't make sense with MsH but I figured it out. I got your theme, Peg, and figured them all out all by myself :) Thank you and well done! Thanks to Steve for the write up - kinda strange to not have a bunch of food references for you. I don't think ASPIC counts...
@Jinx - I like music a lot and am generally inspired by something I see in the puzzles. There wasn't a lot to go off of today. But!!! Did you know THIS U2 SONG is one of the only ones sung by the guitarist, EDGE? Random info. And a gorgeous version of the song.
Totally random: I read an article about a photographer that shoots amazing pictures of our favorite lake, ERIE. He has an Instagram account (and probably Facebook, but I'm not sure) if you want to see more. They are stunning photos showing the lake like I've never seen it before. Enjoy!!
@Anon-T from yesterday - I LOLed at your nerdy shirt! Thank you for sharing :)
Congrats to Houston. It was well played and truly a best-against-the-best match up. Both teams were worthy of the trophy and everyone played the best they could. And there's always next year...
Good night all!!
t.
Good morning!
Started off with a Ford ECHO and an Oldsmobile ENERO and stumbled on to victory from there. CSO to Abejo with ERIE. (Great photos, Tawnya. Thanx for linking.) TASSO? Really? Never heard of him/her/it. Thanx for the workout, Peg.
I really liked the ORACLE database. I really hated the ORACLE software.
The Simpsons is such a respository of Americana. If you haven't watched it, you should.
Shakespeare wrote, "I would as LIEF you would tell me of a mess of porridge." How much more WILLingly can you get?
Steve, we'll forgive you that second S in SATIRIZE...but just this once.
Cute little pixie, mb.
"EARL was my mentor," says ARNE.
"For years I basked in his AURAE.
Although he has passed
My emulation is APT --
Earl may be late, but I'm Earlly!"
{A+.}
Wikipedia’s “On this day...” says today is the 85th anniversary of the start of the Great Emu War, which sent Australian soldiers with machine guns to eliminate the birds which were destroying crops. The emus won in the long run.
Appropriately crunchy for Thursday. FIR, but didn't know KAL, Kendrick Lamar, TASSO, OYER, and was sure that LIEF couldn't be right but couldn't figure out where I had gone wrong.
Erased AURAs, plAnT for GRAFT, jello for ASPIC and eRNE for ARNE (I think he pronounces it "arnie").
Couldn't get to the puzzle on the LAT web site today, but Merriam-Webster came to my rescue. Looks like a policy change at the Times.
Thanks for the U2 link, Tawnya. I like their music more than most of the groups in their generation. Speaking of music, how about starting out melissa bee's reception with the beautiful lilt "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Beautiful grandkidlet, by the way.
URSA is a CSO to our location, New Bern. Bern means "bear" in Switzerland, and there are arty bear statues whimsically decorated all around the town. The patio of our favorite restaurant in New Bern was closed yesterday because of a swarm of honey bees that has taken up residence. They don't want to kill them, and are trying to find a beekeeper to relocate them. They wanted us to come inside to eat, but since Zoe wouldn't be welcome we moved on. We are having lunch in nearby Oriental today.
Thanks to Peg and Steve for today's fun outing.
Good morning everyone.
Peg offered a great puzzle. Thank you.
Only partial filled the spanners until sussing FLATS. Sussing the grid spanners became much easier then. Wow, coming up with 4 separate phrases that are "in the language" and associated with different kinds of FLATS was a tour de force IMO. I thought about that a bit and the only other one I came up with is associated with 'river flats'. Alluvial bottoms or deltaic deposits would encumber 15 letters.
Only WAG was KAL.
LIEF was a learning. cognates: L. German leef, German liebe which can be used in the 'willing' or 'gladly' sense.
Ostrich kin EMU. True they are both 'ratites'. and some classifications put them in the same order, but others put them in separate orders, so it seems there is some disagreement. If they are in disagreement, then they are no more 'kin' than ostriches and passerines ie. wrens, robins and crows. por ejemplo.
Melissa; nice pictures. Congratulations on your future plans.
Kazie: Hoping for a good outcome for your eye. Good to 'see' you yesterday.
Great puzzle,Peg. Nothing FLAT or MEH about it or Steve's fine expo.They are as bubbly as Piedmont's ASTI.
We have had TOKE and OYER AND TERMINER before. There were many names today, all easily perped. STEEN has become crosswordese. JET LI and ARNE Duncan were new to me. I see that ARNE is a first name here, not a last name, so he's no relative of Thomas Arne, composer of Rule Brittania. As Ed. Sec'y, Duncan was opposed by the teachers' unions, NEA and AFT.
I resurrected TASSO and KAL somehow from the depths of my unconscious, aided by a perp or two.
With the L--- Lief was a gimme. I can find mostly old fashioned examples of its use, but I have seen it often in novels.
I love heels, but now can wear only FLATS due to knee replacements and foot surgery. Sandals are also taboo, except for short periods of time.
Maybe this coming spring I can again plant flats of flowers, now that our outside reno was completed last week, It was too late to buy mums for the garden. The season for them peaked early and was over too soon.
I turned on my heat Tues. evening and dug out my winter nightie and parka. It was quite cold. Today we are back to early Sept. weather.
Cute little pixie, mb.
Well Peg, I finished it, fell FLAT on guessing the FLAT theme, and like Steve I kept looking at LIEF for 'Willingly'. D-O, I 'know' that you really remembered that Shakespeare line. It doesn't look or sound correct but I tried changing the crosses for maybe something else but had to leave it. I had a few other changes. GRAFT to PLANT back to GRAFT, RHEA to EMUS.
Never heard of KAL Penn or TASSO, misread the Piedmont bubbly clue as 'Piedmont buddy' and didn't know the word for 'Italian friend' but got the ASTI by perps. No 'racial profiling' allowed but with the name Kendrick RAP was an easy guess. JET LI was all perps. I agree with Steve on TOKES- a stupid replacement for TOKENS, which the dealers have to accept as tips.
Colt 45, Old English 800, Schlitz Malt liquor and the rest- fortified beer used by winos, teenagers, and wannabe RAP singers to get drunk, along with Thunderbird, Gallo, and Ripple.
Aromatic chemical definition- Having a BENZENE ring or one of its derivatives. An ESTER has the R-O-R configuration. In the chemical sense an ESTER is not aromatic but it smells nice.
Really nice and crunchy today. Luckily, the theme was easy enough and helpful.
To us word nerds as opposed to science nerds, aromatic means having a distinctive smell or smelling nice.
I have been amazed after years on this blog that so many words have different nuances when used by a particular discipline than they do in everyday language.
Alan and I have colds and low energy today. I must force myself to get off the computer and do something constructive. I feel rooted to this desk chair.
"Puzzling thoughts":
Quickie today as I am stressed for time.
FIR with a lot of perps - WEES
Couple of WO's (had CHITS > TOKES, AURAS > AURAE). LIEF and OYER were unknowns
Re: ASTI ---> this is both a town and a Provence in Italy. Most named wines in Italy are likewise. Chianti, Barolo, Prosecco, all are areas. SPUMANTE is the generic Italian word for sparkling wine. Asti Spumante is made from the Moscato Bianco grape. Prosecco is from a grape called Glera. In Asti you can find a wonderfully fresh and herbal red grape varietal called Barbera. Barbera d'Asti is a wine to seek out if you're looking for a good value
Another beautifully constructed puzzle. Peg Slay, it can take hours and hours to make these puzzles. If only we constructors could design a better city grid. Or a better tax code.
Hey mom! How can such a tiny insect, like a GNAT or a mosquito make so much noise to wake me up?
Well, you little snot, you're small too, yet god hears you.
The women bought several pairs of flats at DSW shoes, half of them went on to the gardening center and the other half went home to their apartment houses. Several of the ladies practiced the whole note scales on their oboes and a Samoan neighbor complained. He was eating roast emu and muesli listening to a symphonic score when put his knife and fork and spoon down and knocked on the door of one of the ladies practicing her oboe. "Go now," she said. But he didn't want to leave. Her beauty stunned him, an aura circled her head, he let loose a zestful smile and ...
Really enjoyed the puzzle, just hard enough, but not impossible. First read through and I thought I was in deep trouble. Kept at it and everything finally fell into place. LIEF is new to me.
There once was an EARL named KAL
Whose tenants did RAISE beef cows
He lived on an ISLE
Where EMUS ran wild
So he supped on bovine and fowls
Rick at 10:35 - . . . LET LOOSE?
Anonymous at 11:02, it's in the puzzle,LET LOOSE.
Great Thursday CW with just a little crunch. Thanks Peg and Steve.
Once I got the FLATS theme, I could go back and complete the long fills. I have not heard GARDENING CENTER used to mean FLATS (it means the place where you go to buy flats of flowers to me).
There were no FLATS (or sharps) in A MINOR yesterday.
Yes Steve, I noted the correct! spelling of LaboUr (and the incorrect! for CENTER). LOL. But I am more used to SATIRIZE and LIS (am I becoming Americanized?).
LIEF I have heard but not used.
OYER, JET LI, TASSO were unknowns requiring perps. I thought of the other meaning of TOKES also.
NW was the last to fill because I had Cut LOOSE, then Get LOOSE, and couldn't remember EDGE.
New clue for our friend ERIE. Yes tawnya, those photos are great. I think I linked them here once a while ago.
Did anyone else try count the 4 ESSes and EYEs in Mississipi before filling in DOTS? Clever, not MEH.
Congrats to Houston. AnonT, they finally won! Great series (even for a hockey fan!).
kazie, sorry to hear of your eye problem. Best wishes for healing.
mb, thanks for the photo of granddaughter. So cute.
YR, hope you and Alan feel better soon.
Musings
-I am subbing today and the teacher actually expects me to, well, teach!
-Peg’s fun puzzle provided just enough misdirection in between teaching slope and I had a great time.
-Nothing to add to Steve’s erudite summation plus the kids just keep comin’! Yikes!
Greetings, Cornerites! Thanks for the nice words.... this was a fun theme to work up, and I had a lot of fun with it.
BTW, Steve, I had clued 30D TASSO as "Smoked Pork in Louisiana cuisine" "Food!" And, it's very delicious!
Congrats to my Astro's! Great series by both teams!
Hi Everyone:
Late to the dance because of getting sidetracked (what else is new? 😳) and also getting involved with the furnace serviceman. He's as chatty as my hairdresser but a very nice, clean-cut young man. I, too, loved this puzzle and am so impressed with Peg's cleverness with the theme and the fill and giving us four grid spanners, to boot! My only w/o was Levi/Lees. We've had tokes often enough to remember it, although nowhere near as often as Abejo's Erie! I liked filling in Smarm as Smarmy is one of my favorite words, as it is so visually descriptive! Learning moment was the origin of "Meh."
Thanks, Peg, for a truly enjoyable solve and thanks, Steve, for the breezy commentary. Have fun in the Big Apple.
Congrats to the Astros. I wasn't into the Series but, from what I've read and heard, it was hard fought by both equally talented teams.
Melissa, Jaelyn (sp?) is as cute as I knew she would be and the role of Tinker Bell fits her to a tee!
A question for our resident electronics wizards: My iPad screen is no longer showing when I have mail nor does it ding when mail comes through. However, when I click on the Mail icon and get to the Message page, then it dings and new mail shows up. Any thoughts?
Have a great day.
CanadianEh!, all of the theme answers are places where you can find FLATS, not FLATS themselves.
B-E, I didn't claim to remember that line, but I did remember the meaning of the word LIEF. I figured I'd run across it in something esoteric like ancient poetry, a medieval B-movie (The Black Shield of Falworth?), or maybe Monty Python.
IM, it sounds like your mail app isn't auto-starting at log-in. Did you recently turn that off? Another possibility is your "notifications" settings. Did you remove email from the list?
IM—I am not an electronics expert, but when my iPad acts funny I shut it down and then restart it using the button on the top. This usually fixes whatever is funny.
Thank you, Peg Slay. Your puzzle definitely had an EDGE!
Like IrishMiss, I like the word smarmy, so SMARM was fun to fill. Then the nerdy words appeared, LIEF, OYER, NERUON. Shakespeare studies was too long ago so LIEF never rang a bell. KAL, however, did because as has been mentioned he was active in the Obama years. I'm still having trouble with SATIRIZE as "send up". Help, please.
Though I'm not a sports fan, I'm happy for those of you who enjoy and congratulations to the world series winner. I hear they're from some city in Texas. Is that right?
Thank you, Melissa; your granddaughter is adorable! I'm sure I would give her all my candy if she came to my door.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
When I finally figured out the FLATS theme ... I gave myself a V-8 can smack.
Thank you Peg for a FUN Thursday puzzle.
Excellent job on the write-up Steve.
Fave today, of course, was 39-a, ASTI. Any kind of booze is always a "fave!"
Congratulations to the Houston Astros ...
Cheers!
I had a really hard time getting started on this puzzle this morning. Got very little until I got to the middle, where NEATH, LIS, AND GAIT helped me get FLATS. Then I looked at the top grid spanner and saw _OUS__ and filled in HOUSES. Well, the only houses that are also FLATS are APARTMENT houses, and that opened up the whole north for me. A fascinating way for a puzzle to come together. It took a while, but I got everything without cheating in the end, although I forgot to put in the J for OJS because I didn't know JET LI. So, many thanks, Peg, for a cool solving experience, and you, too, Steve, for your always great expo. Loved the TASSO poem, thanks for citing it. And loved your adorable grand-daughter's costume, Melissa.
Rick, that was a wild and crazy riff on the puzzle.
Hope you and Alan feel better soon, Yellowrocks.
Have a great day, everybody!
Thanks d-otto @11:49 - I think my brain must be tired from watching the ball game last night. I misread Steve's explanation talking about daisy trays and confused myself!
I had a hard time seeing the theme, and had to cheat...
Once again, had to click on every link & chase down things that were not linked.
Simpsons "Meh" Origins
I'm also researching this "Great Emu War" you spoke of.
Never heard of it, going to read about it now.
(I will spare you the link, as I do not post unread links.)
However, the Aussies have declared war on just about every critter
down under at one point or another, I shouldn't be surprised...
Irish Miss,
When it comes to Apple, I defer to my Daughters for help
as they are incomprehensible to me without a manual.
(and their online support is woefully obscure to the technically challenged also.)
When in doubt, I just Google...
Ah, I think I see why the Emu's won.
They enlisted the aid of the Military...
With Lewis guns? Really?
Oh well, google images for flats seems ripe for linkage...
From the Google files...
Irish Miss, Remember the good old days?
And... A public Service Message...
Lucinda, I have always thought "send up" as being synonymous with "spoof". I guess its not too much of a leap to get to "satire". Think Weird Al Yankovic's "'Lizabeth Taylor Thighs" being a send up of Kim Carnes' "Betty Davis Eyes".
big easy - don't forget Mad Dog 20/20, a prom staple for as long as I can remember.
So, Steve, you're a Nero Wolfe fan, eh? Along with"pfui" there was "poppycock". I wish there was a chronological anthology so I could bury myself in Archie-dom*.
There are such for Sherlock Holmes.
I foundered in the plural of AURA. I despaired for awhile until I sussed the theme. I had DANTE for the Renaissance poet (anyone else?) and thusly thought LENDER would complete the second long fill.
And I had ROD and saw no problem having that D as second letter as in GDANSK.
I was in Dunkin donuts and beside me was a young man drinking OJ and I was jealous.
That he thought so much of his health to shell out the extra $. And I, of course, with my own mug to save a few cents plus senior discount. And then tipping a buck.
As a shuttler I have to pass on the tips. I even keep bills in my shirt pocket for the sign guys*.
Cd6peg you did the corner proud. Every bit as proud as that pixies parents.
WC
* I blush to say that I had to look up Rex Stout. Having done so I'm thinking of joining the Wolfpack.
** And homeless gals.
We heard SYMPHONIC SCORES of Mozart and Schubert played last night by the Israel Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta. Enchanting!
LIEF seemed utterly wrong and I checked and rechecked the crosses. But I was wrong, so I FIR. Learning moment. Maybe related to "beLIEF"?
Only know ASTI from these puzzles. TASSO and KAL unknown along with KENDRICK LAMAR and his genre. Learned ZEST and ASPIC and TOKES from these puzzles. JETLI unknown. Thanks for the parse of this. Saved by crosses.
Saw STEEN paintings in Amsterdam. Magnificent.
I saw the ROSA Parks bus, but I can't believe I have no photo of it!
Here is a photo of it before restoration. Apparently there is some dispute about whether this was the specific bus she was on that day, but it certainly would have been similar.
Yes, the Ford Museum is a must-see! As noted above, there is a lot to see that is not about cars.
Here are just a few of my photos exploring there for two days
Most notable for me: Ford had the entire Thomas Edison workshop moved there! And he moved the Wright Brothers' family home there! Check out those photos!
Sorry if I am overposting,
but I have been looking for this clip for about two years.
@ 1:38 Rodney Dangerfield
explains why I link cakes for everyones Birthday...
Irish Miss, the same thing happened on my and my wife's iPads and iPhones. It happened when the operating system (iOS) was updated to version 11. Before then, we got that "ding" when an email came in. Now it doesn't do that. Apparently, email servers such as Yahoo and gmail used to be able to "push" emails to you. Now, though, even though you may have "push" turned on in the email settings, emails from those accounts are now only able to "fetch," which means you won't know whether you have any new emails until you actually check your email. If you do have a new email, that is when you'll hear the "ding." As far as I know there is nothing you can do about it; it seems to be a characteristic of the new OS. I suspect some sort of behind the scenes squabble between Apple and Google and Yahoo. Maybe it affects Hotmail, too, but I don't know. Maybe this is the case with all "POP3" email services.
Interestingly, my work email account, which uses an "exchange server," still does "push" as before. and I get a ding when a new email comes in, whether I have the email app open or not, as it has always been.
Ta- DA!
Well, it wasn't easy - not by any stretch. I predicted things would get tough after this week's first three Gimmes in a row. I had to chew a while on Ms. Slay's entry.
In the end it was worth it. I loved seeing LIEF and SMARM, although I wondered at the latter's def. I mean, if SMARM is what a "Smarmy" person trades in, then shouldn't it be greasy slickness and slyness - not necessarily "flattery"?
I can see where it may overlap, but not as an immediate definition.
Fun to see TASSO too - a poet whose name I knew but never (before) his poetry. Thanks for the sample, Steve, although when an English version (not just of this, but of any adaptation) is so jingly and free, I can only wonder what the original sounds like.
Thanks for inspiring me to check online.
Ah, here's the opening Canto of Tasso's famous Jerusalem Delivered, (Gerusalemme liberata) an epic poem of the First Crusade. It has the beautiful elisions and springing march of Italian tetrameter.
(Apologies! It's not exactly in the spirit of the Mosquito tribute, but ...)
"Canto l’arme pietose e ’l capitano
che ’l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò co ’l senno e con la mano,
molto soffrí nel glorioso acquisto;
e in van l’Inferno vi s’oppose, e in vano
s’armò d’Asia e di Libia il popol misto.
Il Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto a i santi
segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti,"
In English, it begins something like this:
"I sing of the Captain who with weapons maim’d
Freed Christ from a sepulcher long storied.
His spirit and hands cleansed the deed of shame;
His suffering matched the feat in glory …"
Steve, I failed to thank you for today's commentary. Seeing Melissa's granddaughter there, she was on my mind.
CEDave:
Thank you for linking Rodney Dangerfield. He was certainly a hilarious guy.
I liked this puzzle very much. Thank you, Peg. I rather like that kind of theme. I, too, had to look three times at LIEF, then it hit me. I remember when my mom, when she didn't want to do something, would say, "I'd as leave eat dirt." Maybe she was actually saying "lief" but it sounded like "leave" to me. I associate it in my mind with the expression, "By your leave" which to me is like saying "If you are willing" or "With your permission." Maybe not the same, though. A definite learning moment and something I will remember.
desper-otto, I agree with you about Oracle.
Chairman Moe, thanks for the tip on Barbera d'Asti.
Rick Papazian, speaking of tax code, oh never mind.
Re the Ford EDGE, I was reading reviews of the Lincoln MKX and one of them said it is basically an EDGE with lipstick. (Reminded me of "hockey mom" Sarah Palin.)
Best wishes to you all.
(Sigh …)
Too bad about the Dodgers. Congrats to the Astros!
But—
Anytime a series runs to a full seven games, both teams deserve the highest accolades. Compared to everyone else in baseball (this year) the Champion 'Stros and the Dodgers are the mightiest of the mighty!
I have to say I feel for Yu Darvish. He is responsible for one of the greatest public flops a human being can perpetrate. The newspaper columnists are letting him have it both barrels today. But understanding that his failure wasn't intentional, there has to be some room for compassion.
οὐαί! - the hubris! Oy! - the shame …
On the personal level, we are witnesses to a tragedy of near-classic proportions.
To all the electronics elves who offered suggestions re my email problem, thank you, thank you, and thank you. I do not recall changing any functions in Settings and up until last night, I had no problems. Perhaps the glitch will disappear as mysteriously as it appeared. Jayce, my IOS hasn't been updated in ages; presently, it is 9.3.5.
CED @ 1:34 ~ I don't get the cartoon reference?
I just went to get my mail and couldn't believe how mild it is. Not your typical November weather, but this has been a strange year, weather wise. I wonder what Old Man Winter has in store for us! ⛄️ ❄️ 🌨
LIEF is common in Shakespeare. I haven't looked it up to check, but my intuition is to connect it with "fief" and "fiefdom," which in older usage was a stretch of an aristocrat's property upon which the inhabitants "belonged" to the ruler. In the medieval mindset there was an element of volition involved, as if the serfs willingly owed loyalty to the master. LIEF in this sense is the favor granted both ways between upper and lower classes - and nowadays between any parties capable of giving consent.
Following it further, Jayce, I'm guessing that "leave" and LIEF began life as the same word.
YellowRks @9:01, I'm sure you know that sometimes first names (or middle names) can also be a family name. It is not only surnames that indicate relationship. And sometimes given names are reminders of a shared event.
My middle name, Franklin, for instance, is a tribute to an otherwise-forgotten great uncle who fell in the Battle of Franklin.
Hi Y'all! I FLAT out liked this puzzle, Peg, thanks! Thanks, Steve!
Let's be glad that it was Spitzboov who came up with "alluvial bottom" for FLAT and not PEG. I understand the term, but...
I knew LIEF because a favorite book of mine years ago was about a pioneer era girl nicknamed LIEFY because everytime someone asked her to do something, she'd say, "I'd just as LIEF [do it or not do it]." I have no idea of the title of the book which I read several times.
Is Lake ERIE as muddy as those pictures look?
Never have heard the term "send up" so was mystified when SATIRIZE showed up.
Melissa B: Betcha your little Tinkerbell cast her magic pixie dust on everyone she met and they instantly loved her.
I would ask the Darvish' detractors just how they expected to win scoring one run. Terrible defense hurt him too.
Excellent l'icks today. CED, your FLAT link was hilarious. Anon-itanical must be over at the NYT.
Well, it's just golf from here until April unless I catch a Celtic or Patriots game.
WC
Well, I've been researching the email "push" issue, and the information is often incomplete or confusing. I think I am able to glean that almost all so-called POP3 email servers, including gmail, yahoo mail, hotmail, and outlook have gone the way of removing the push option entirely. So it seems it is not an Apple problem. There are some other email servers affected, too, such as att.net, that actually use the Yahoo service.
Thursday CWs begin toget a little difficul for me. Loved the theme though. Sorry you are having
a problem, IM, I know the feeling, I have been without my computer for almost a month. Finally I have my brand new IMAC.
I've really missed you all. IM, be sure watch NCIS NOLA, Chelsea is there now, she i in another episode.
It's getting cooler here, thank goodness.
I liked this theme! Nice job, Peg! I did need a couple explanations so thanks for the expo, Steve.
When I replace my Escape I'm thinking about getting an EDGE, but since DH's car is 4 years older than mine it won't happen for a while.
When my daughter was in 1st grade, she and I went to my parent's place in Michigan for Spring Break. The day before we came home Mom, Liz and I went to Henry Ford Museum. Liz was a pain in the a** that day, cranky/whiny/obstinate. She went to school on Monday and we found out that she was breaking out with Chicken Pox! We exposed a lot of kids to it on Saturday.
Cornerites sure have good looking kids and grandkids. Thanks for the pics.
Got the solve despite some tricky clueing...I agree that LIEF was new, I’ve never seen the word before, also TOKES, never heard of that as a tip...unless passing a J. Also...does one transplant a GRAFT...I thought you grafted it, transplant to me is putting a plant in a new location.
Wikipedia: "Arne is a common forename for males in Scandinavia. It also occurs as a surname in England. The name Arne originates from the old Norse word for "eagle" – arni. The word arne also refers to the central stone on the floor of traditional Norwegian homes upon which the fire that provides the heating/cooking needs was lit."
Prince Valiant's son was named ARN, sometimes a crossword fill.
MY point was that Thomas ARNE and ARNE Duncan are not likely to be related.
LIEF
Merriam Webster: "Did You Know?
Lief began as "lēof" in Old English and has since appeared in many literary classics, first as an adjective and then as an adverb. It got its big break in the epic poem "Beowulf" as an adjective meaning "dear" or "beloved." The adverb first appeared in the 13th century, and in 1390, it was used in John Gower’s collection of love stories, "Confessio Amantis." Since that time, it has graced the pages of works by William Makepeace Thackeray, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and D.H. Lawrence, among others. Today, the adjective is considered to be archaic and the adverb is used much less frequently than in days of yore. It still pops up now and then, however, in the phrases "had as lief," "would as lief," "had liefer," and "would liefer."
Definition of LIEF
Middle English lief, lef, from Old English lēof; akin to Old English lufu love
1archaic :DEAR, BELOVED
2archaic :WILLING, GLAD"
As I said this morning we would meet the word lief mostly in old writings.
PVX, I had SHOOT which seems to be what the GARDENER uses to transplant or graft onto the fruit tree. Warning, I'm merely going off of Google.
Just reading it over tells me that Peg used Transplant as a noun rather than a verb.
WC
Loved your posting the Tasso Canto in two languages, Ol'Man Keith!
Great Emu War
Can anyone explain today's New Yorker current events cartoon to me?
I was expecting one of today's themers to be "stage background scenery".
Surgeon's transplant = graft would be less problematic.
OKL @ 1934: Houston Astros stars on ……Walk of Fame? Maybe?
OwenKL:
I would guess it is a tribute to Houston winning the World Series. Hence the H on the stars as on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hi All!
Late, late, late today. Would you believe*... I got a FLAT? No, well, after worked helped a buddy w/ his computer and then raced to see Youngest dance at the football game's 1/2-time. Bummer, I was sent to the wrong stadium.
Thanks C6D6Peg Stay for a wonderfully constructed puzzle with some very sparkly words (SMARM, LIEF, ZEST as clue'd). It took the reveal to nail the themers but it was fun. IIRC from Harvey-posts, you're down the road a pace... How's clean-up going for y'all?
Thanks Steve for a fun expo - sorry your first exposure to American beer wasn't even beer (Malt Liquor is nasty --- 'course some would argue that American beer isn't either [see: Budweiser]). Ironic, though on the day-after..., the Astros were the Colt '45s (guns, not a horse) from '62-'64. It was the build-up to the moon-shot that changed their name to grab attention during the space-race. Wiki .
WOs: Mob __rule b/f AS A, TOKEn; MUESLe and ASPeC - just needed to swap the I and E :-)
ESPs: LIEF, STEEN, KAL
Fav: I liked ARNE and ERNE in the grid; donno why, but it makes me giggle.
{A} {cute CoachJ}
mb - and the whole Peter Pan clan! Sorry, Tinker Bell stole the show.
D-O: You summed up ORACLE perfectly.
Thanks Picard for the snaps of Ford Museum. NEAT.
CED - Dangerfield never gets old.
Tawnya - thanks for those eerie ERIE pics... Cool!
OKL - Houston finally won the Big One in Seven (there's seven Astros' logos on the sidewalk). I'm not sure about Walk of Fame 'cuz I don't recall trees in front of the Chinese Theatre. Just Paint the town Orange! maybe?
Anyone recall Politically Incorrect w/ Bill Maher? He'd end the monologue with "SATIRIZEd for your protection."
Cheers, -T
*It's funnier if you hear Agent 86 in your head...
Oh, Lucina, I caught that... LOL! -T
AnonT:
Yes, I knew you would. My tongue was firmly in my cheek when writing. So happy for you! Sorry, Dodger's fans. Maybe next time.
Finally wound down for the night says...
I was thinking about what YR said re: GRAFT / better clue Surgery... and noticed 21a's clue is Gardener's.... And then GARDENING CENTER as a themer... Is that groovy 'cuz it's different-ish enough Rich? or just a slip? Inquiring, aspiring, mind wants to know... -T
Tasso is referenced by Runciman's books on the Crusades. I see there are a lot more books out there on the subject.
The saga is fascinating.
WC
Loved this puzzle. WEES about the clever and very helpful theme and Steve's writeup.
Sons and I were crushed by the Darvish meltdown. We had our chances in previous games but "mistakes were made." My feelings are alleviated because it is such a good thing to have happened to Houston after all the travails they have been through recently.
The clue for GMT at 29D should probably have been "former clock-setting standard." Since 1972 the worldwide standard for time has been called UTC, which stands for Coordinated Universal Time (not Universal Time Coordinated, oddly enough; don't ask me why.) The reason for this change has to do with small variations in the length of the day, resulting in some ambiguity in the term GMT. The Brits love to keep GMT because that way they still get the credit for Greenwich and the 0° longitude definition. The shortcut Z or Zulu Is often used in transcontinental communications.
Last sentence should've read "The shortcut Z or Zulu is often used in intercontinental communications."
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