Theme: synonyms
20A. *Samsung Galaxy, e.g.: SMART PHONE
37A. *Trick that's "pulled": FAST ONE
51A. *Optimist's perspective: BRIGHT SIDE
11D. *Yeast-free bakery product: QUICK BREAD
28D. *Hairpin turn, e.g.: SHARP CURVE
65A. Group described by the starts of the answers to starred clues: MENSA
Argyle here. Definitely not Mensa material today.
Across:
1. Medicare section for doctors' services: PART B
6. Number of sides on most game cubes: SIX
9. Fit of __: irritated state: PIQUE
14. Western neighbor of Wyoming: IDAHO
15. Omelet meat: HAM
16. Finnish hot spot: SAUNA
17. Deck: PATIO
18. Some Little League eligibility rules: AGE LIMITS
22. Aberdeen native: SCOT
23. Salty waters: SEAS
24. Eastern neighbor of Wyoming: Abbr.: S. DAK
26. Sewn loosely: BASTED
29. Put together, as IKEA furniture: ASSEMBLE
33. Pale: ASHY
34. Urge forward: IMPEL
35. Curtain holder: ROD
36. Reggae relative: SKA
39. Bit of energy: ERG
40. Capek sci-fi play: RUR
41. Jerk: IDIOT
42. Taxi meter amount: FARE
43. Tickle the fancy of: APPEAL TO
45. Puts up with: ABIDES
47. Big name in banking: CITI
48. "So that's it!" cries: O-HOs
49. Heavy hammer: MAUL
57. Barbra with Oscars: STREISAND
59. Ballet skirts: TUTUs
60. Donates: GIVES
61. NHL surface: ICE
62. Layered cookies: OREOs
63. With 21-Down, dictation taker's need: STENO
64. Bobbsey girl: NAN
Down:
1. Apple seeds: PIPS
2. "The Voice" judge Levine: ADAM
3. Pro __: in proportion: RATA
4. Needing a drink: THIRSTY
5. Crocheted baby shoe: BOOTEE
6. Persian monarchs: SHAHS
7. "Othello" villain: IAGO
8. Marvel Comics mutants: XMEN
9. Pitchfork-shaped Greek letter: PSI
10. Sean Penn film with a Seussian title: I AM SAM
12. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO
13. Dawn direction: EAST
19. Reduce: LESSEN
21. See 63-Across: PAD
25. What a stet cancels: DELE
26. Iraqi port: BASRA
27. Invite to one's penthouse: ASK UP
29. "Are not!" response: AM TOO
30. Dalmatian mark: SPOT
31. Sitcom producer Chuck: LORRE
32. Boundaries: EDGES
34. "__ just me ... ?": IS IT
37. Royal decree: FIAT
38. Goes off script: AD LIBs
42. Narrow crack: FISSURE
44. Astronaut Collins: EILEEN
45. "That feels good!": AHH!
46. Inning half: BOTTOM
48. Poet Nash: OGDEN
49. Inbox list: Abbr.: MSGs
50. Going __: fighting: AT IT
52. Reason to roll out the tarp: RAIN
53. Peruvian native: INCA
54. Cal.-to-Fla. highway: I TEN
55. Couples: DUOs
56. She, in Sicily: ESSA
58. Prefix with -bar or -tope: ISO
Argyle
44 comments:
It's Easey Peasy Deasy Light Seaving teaime, Happy Monday to Mr. Craig Stowe, and each of you Cornerites including annons. I breezed through the CW in 18:03, and FIR.
Thank you Argyle for the appropriate review. I agree. No need for PICS or links today.
Today's paraprosdokian: Of all the people I’ve ever met, you could be one of them.
Dave
Greetings!
Thanks to Craig and Santa!
Nice puzzle! No problems. S. DAK. filled itself in.
A miracle happened in the word puzzle today. The remaining letters after two words were created arranged themselves into a 12-letter word (DEUTERANOPIA) worth 156 points. I was the top first for a change!
Gail G. had two puzzles at the upuzzle.com site. One took almost twice as much time as the other!
The rain has abated for awhile.
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
There was this IDIOT in IDAHO
Wanted to cook on his PATIO.
So he moved his whole range
(Which of course is insane)
But now he can barbecue Spaghetti-O's!
A fellow there was in South DAK.,
Who thought he'd develop a knack
Curiosity to PIQUE,
With tchotchkes, pure geek --
He called this his knick-knacks hack!
{B, B-.}
Not original this is an old one I remember from my first joke book, many decades ago:
There was a young fisher named Fischer
Who fished for a fish in a fissure.
The fish with a grin,
Pulled the fisherman in;
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fischer.
Good morning!
Overslept again, and that didn't help with the solve. I wrote SCOT where SEAS needed to go. Wondered why those BOOTEEs were for a crotchety baby. Pondered why they put MSG in the inbox. I definitely have not completed the great leap forward. Thanx, Craig and Argyle.
Speed run today.
Thanks Craig and Argyle. Quick Monday solve with only two second looks . AHA to OHO and ELLA to ESSA via perps . The farther south you go in Latin and South America the pronunciation
of ella becomes ejja. Interesting language Castilian or Spanish . Whats normal usage in one country can be offensive in another .
Hello Puzzlers -
What KS said. There was a pause at bootee/bootie.
Sitcom creator Chuck Lorre has had quite a career, apparently, but I wasn’t aware of the name until Big Bang Theory. After each episode, he has a “vanity card” inserted into the closing credits - it’s a page or so of commentary, but as it is only on-screen for a second, it requires freezing via a DVR or similar in order to read it. I generally don’t bother.
Morning Argyle, a bit more snow headed your way, I suspect!
Thank you, Craig Stowe, for the speed run today. Only AAH morphed into AHH and BOOTIE to BOOTEE.
What? No link to STREISAND, one of my favorite singers? She's a good actress as well.
MENSA in Spanish means just the opposite, IDIOT, so that always makes me smile.
On our trip to Yellowstone in Wyoming we then drove north to Montana then EAST to SDAK.
Thank you, Argyle, for continued dedication and guidance.
Have a fantastic day, everyone!
Nice smooth solve to start the week. Thanks to Craig for the puzzle and to Argyle for the write-up. Had never heard of Quick Bread -- sounds like a good name for a line of ATMs, though. Great day, all.
Quick and cute. BOOTIE to BOOTEE, both spellings are acceptable for either a baby bootee or a woman's ankle length bootee. I usually use -IE. I waited for AAH or AHH.
I read all the Bobsey Twins books. In the very small school I attended we had classroom libraries where we could take out three books every Friday. I would have the first book read by Friday night and the other two by Sunday night with nothing to read until next Friday. I would read under the covers with a flashlight. I was so happy when our town opened a public library. Then I would dust with a book in my hand and wash dishes with a book propped on the windowsill, until I got caught. BTW this tiny school with fewer than 70 students in 1st through 12th grade was the best quality school I ever attended.The year after our family of six children moved out they consolidated with another district. In my new school I found I had covered their curriculum months before.
Lucina, I favor Streisand's singing, too.
We had a Dalmatian. I was not in favor of getting a dog, but I came to love her best. When we had to put her to sleep I mourned her most.
You all have eaten quick breads: waffles, scones, muffins, biscuits, corn bread, banana bread, short cake, soda bread, etc. Quick bread is any bread leavened with some leavening agents other than yeast or eggs. Unless you bake likely you have not heard the term.
Northern Boy, ATMs. Ha ha.
I agree that today's puzzle was easy, but for me only because of the friendly perps. Learning moments included PIPS for apple seeds (fresher cluing than something domino-related), ADAM Levine, a movie called I AM SAM, QUICK BREAD (har har Northern Boy), or Chuck LORRE (another fresh clue). More freshness at MSGS. Whatever, giving the eraser a day off is always welcome.
OKL, I liked all three.
Thanks to Craig and Santa for a fun morning.
Musings
-Fun. My MENSA invite must have gotten lost in the mail but the puzzle did have IDIOT so…
-We took the Cog Railroad rather than take the hairpin turns up Pike’s Peak
-Little League Age – When your best player is shaving already…
-How small is an ERG? It’s the energy required for an ant to do one pushup
-Your SMART PHONE will tell you the UBER FARE before it picks you up
-Chuck Lorre and his equally prolific and famous predecessor
-I’ve read that some of Robin Williams’ “AD LIBS” were well rehearsed
-I-10 does not have the panache of Route 66
Good morning everyone.
Good nifty puzzle to start the week. No problems with the solve, and got the theme after getting the MENSA clue. Did have Coleen before EILEEN , briefly, but perps fixed that.
Aberdeen - When I was in my youth, I understood the beef breed to be Aberdeen Angus. Now we just see 'Angus' on the menu.
ISO - Back in my hydrology days, I got to draw lots of ISOhyets, lines of equal rainfall. ISO prefix gets lots of uses.
SAUNA - When BH and I were in Espoo, Finland, we inquired what the SAUNA hours of operation were. We couldn't easily fit it in but the manageress encouraged us to come by after they closed, and we would have the whole facility including sauna and swimming pool to ourselves. She provided mucho towels, and, of course, saunas are best taken in the nude.
THIRSTY - to be THIRSTY in German is expressed as Durst haben; to have thirst.
Good Morning:
This was an easy, breezy start to the week with no w/os and no hiccups, just smooth sailing to a quick tada. I caught the synonymous themers but the reveal was still a surprise.
Nice job, Craig, and thanks, Argyle for your guidance. I hope the lack of comments is not due to your being under the weather in any way.
YR, we "had" a Dalmation named Gizmo. He belonged to our next door neighbor who was a policeman who worked odd hours, so Gizmo spent most of his life in our house. He and our own dog, a Beagle named Brownie, had sort of a detente relationship, but every now and then would get into a growling match under the kitchen table.
Snow expected tonight into Tuesday but I don't know how much we're going to get. I think Dudley's area is going to get hit hard this time.
Have a great day.
"Puzzling Thoughts":
PACT>FIAT; PITS>PIPS; BOOTIE>BOOTEE. Otherwise, pristine.
Moe-ku:
The taxi driver
Used Lyft to go to airport.
"Twenty bucks? That's FARE."
FWIW, my SMART PHONE is waaaay smarter than I.
10D: As a real Seussian title I went with “Sam I Am”. I soon learned it was the other way around. I never saw the film.
WEES. A nice easy stroll through the grid today. Nice one by Craig. Argyle was a great companion as he accompanied us on the stroll. It's obvious that the week can only go downhill from here WRT easiness.
The fill went quickly and there was never a need to get the theme in order to solve the puzzle. I didn't see the theme until Argyle revealed it.
Dudley @ 7:08am: I've enjoyed reading some of Chuck Lorre's Vanity Cards since I first saw them on "Dharma and Greg". He also did them on "Two and a Half Men" and the "BBT". At first I used a VCR to capture the Vanity Cards, then I found CHUCK LORRE'S VANITY CARD WEBSITE which made it a lot easier to read them.
My body clock hasn't quite caught up yet with DST. Of course I was still up at midnight on the phone dealing with my VISA card company cancelling my card and getting another one. Apparently my card was compromised and some thief was trying to use it on-line. Luckily the Fraud Protection unit flagged it and sent an email asking if I had made the charge. It looks like the thief was trying to see if the card was valid by just charging $1.00 to an on-line site. It has been cancelled and I should get a new one sometime this week. This is the second time in 7 months that this card has been compromised. I don't know how they got the number, but it may be from the Equifax breach or the OPM breach. I try to practice safe charging with my cards but nothing is fool-proof or safe anymore.
Everyone should check their credit card statements carefully and frequently.
I hope everyone has a great day.
Another night with difficulty sleeping, so I figured I would have puzzle trouble this morning. But although it took patience, it slowly filled right in, and I got it perfectly without cheating and found the theme delightful. Many thanks, Craig, for a fun start to what may be a tough day for me, and Argyle, I too hope you're okay, and thanks.
I not only got the puzzle, but also the Sudoku, Kenken, and Jumble this morning, so a good start in spite of my worries. Took a Melatonin last night, but it didn't help much. Will take an Ambien tonight in the hope of avoiding another bad night.
Have a good day, everybody!
I like to do Monday thru Fridays in ink,
but just to be safe, on the 1st pass I just lightly
ink in the 1st letter of a word.
(saves inkblots...)
So, 26a sewn loosely, I lightly put a "T" for tacked...
When all the perpage flew by,
I didn't realized I had FIW'd Tastra/Tasted.
(Rats...)
Smart phone?
Fast one?
Monty Pythons Bright Side!
Cont...
Hi Y'all! Good puzzle, thanks, Craig & Santa.
Can't stop sneezing. Nuff said.
Quick bread?
Self explanatory...
Mensa?
Mensa??
oc4Beach:
Do you carry your credit cards in a shielded wallet? Thieves can "lift" card numbers right through your wallet or purse. I believe that happened to me two years ago in San Francisco, that was before the credit bureau's fiasco, and just a small amount was taken from my account. Fortunately, I saw it, didn't recognize it and reported the transaction.
I now carry all credit cards in an aluminum case to protect them.
A Mensa puzzle...
I think Mensa is looking for CED...
Rimshot...
Smooth Monday cruise and a SHARP theme! Hand up for BOOTIE before BOOTEE. Never saw this spelling before.
Lucinda: Interesting learning moment about MENSA in Spanish!
Does anyone remember this bit on LESSEN in Alice in Wonderland?
"That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: `because they LESSEN from day to day."
Here are some of my photos in S DAK (South Dakota)
The Badlands are spectacular. We went through a memorable storm with non-stop lightning for hours. I have photos from IDAHO, too. And some spectacular FISSUREs. Maybe another time.
Nice puzzle. When I filled SMARTphone and ASSemble I began to wonder what the theme was. Had to change AHAS to OHOS. Chuckled at the proximity of HAM to I AM SAM. Thank you, Mr. Stowe, for a pleasant offering.
A,nice easy start to the week.... BOOTIE/BOOTEE like others, and that was about it.
Mr. Stowe's pzl seemed oddly tough to get going, and curiously chewy to start our week. At least that's how I felt after my first scan-thru. But I changed my mind when things got rolling to my Ta- DA!.
My point-of-entry was 7D IAGO. Just last night I was sorting photos of a production of Othello I staged for the Revels company back in 1980, so the play was fresh in my mind and an obvious fill for me. (I often miss down clues when first scanning.)
Thanks again, Argyle, our ever-present Virgil...
Congratulations to you, Misty, for your 4-way perfecta (or Superfecta?), achieving today's Xwd Ta- DA! as well as conquering the three collateral challenges. Brava!
Sorry you're still fighting the insomnia bug. Forgive me for harping, but I do recommend music as both most natural & very effective - if you can find a way to play the right melodies w/o having to leave bed to do so.
Aha, Lucina, thank you for the revelatory translation of MENSA! How delightful!
But don't they have Spanish chapters?
____________
Diagonal Report: Two center diagonals, the back- and forward-slashes, crossing at the "T" of FAST ONE.
˘
Lucina: That's a good idea. Each of my cards is carried in it's own shielded sleeve. DW uses an aluminum case.
This past week the local police found a skimmer that was installed in a gas pump card reader that captures the info on each card. The crooks then access it via Bluetooth to download the data. They are recommending that everyone use cash or take your card in to the cashier and have it read there.
I guess nothing is totally safe these days.
A nice, quick start to the week. Thanks, Craig S., and Argyle.
BOOTiE/BOOTEE, PITS/PIPS, but the rest was fine. I got the theme after I filled in MENSA.
Misty: a few years ago I went to a health food store and asked if they had something to help me sleep. They recommended Anxiety Control. I don't know how it works but it helps my brain slow down so I can relax and get to sleep. I've taken it as late as 4 am and don't have any side effects.
Have a great day.
A cube by definition has SIX sides. Should have said "dice.
Hate clues for sounds: they all have a number of spellings; some I have never actually heard.
From Saturday night: Mitch Miller's take on "Stars and Stripes Forever".
Well I needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get the Astronaut Collins EILEEN.
The only one I remembered was Michael Collins.
So a "Learning Moment" on a Monday is always "A-Plus."
Even entered ICE ... NHL Surface is the only time I need ICE.
Cheers!
Roy, so the question was, "How many sides does a cube have?" It is Monday, remember?
OMK:
That's a good question about MENSA having chapters in Spanish speaking countries. If they do, I suspect they're named differently. I'll have to LIU.
Well, my research yielded interesting results. MENSA is used as the name of the organization with the tabulation that it means table in Latin.
Perhaps the designation of IDIOT (mensa, menso) is purely street slang possibly localized. It isn't listed in my Larousse or in the on-line dictionary. I just know I have heard it from childhood. E.g., what's wrong with him/her? Es un menso;;es una mensa. He is an idiot or moron. She is an idiot or moron.
Dear Lucina:
You are vindicated: here's one on-line dictionary's take on "mensa"
"mensa is the feminine form of menso and roughly translates to stupid.
menso
stupid, fool
Dictionary
menso
ADJECTIVE
1. (colloquial) (dumb) (Latin America)
a. stupid (stronger)
No seas menso. No dejes pasar esta oportunidad.Don't be stupid. Don't miss out on this opportunity.
b. silly (milder)
Qué menso eres, pero sà me hiciste reÃr.You're so silly, but you really made me laugh.
MASCULINE OR FEMININE NOUN
2. (colloquial) (dumb person) (Latin America)
a. fool
No hagas lo que te dijo, es un menso.Don't do what he told you. He's a fool.
Copyright © Curiosity Media Inc.
menso
ADJECTIVE
(Chile) (México)
silly; stupid
Collins Complete Spanish Electronic Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers 2011"
Lucina et al.
I get mixed results on Google Translate. When I enter "Él es un menso!" I get "He is a mess!" in English.
But when I enter "Ella es una mensa!" I only get "She is a mensa."
(And if I enter "Mensa" alone, I get "Mensa" back.)
Context probably makes all the difference. If I say it with a scowl, the point should get across.
Thanks for your care and suggestions, Ol'Man Keith and Pat. I'll keep them in mind, and see if I can work it out to try them.
Lucina and Michael,interesting discussion about mensa.
I must be longing for spring. On our list serve I wrote that our next dance will be on June 19. Someone immediately corrected me. Do you mean March 19? More snow tonight and tomorrow morning. I see New England will clobbered again. I feel for you. Really, I am eagerly awaiting a snow free April. I love April and May here with the slowly unfolding of spring day by day.
CED, you are in rare form today!! Thanks! LOL!
Owen, I laughed! Thanks.
Michael:
(sigh) Thank you. I guess I should have searched on-line.
CEDave:
You really are in rare form. All those links make me laugh heartily.
Very funny Dave!
Can't get enough kitty jokes
Dear Lucina:
"(sigh) Thank you. I guess I should have searched on-line."
I suspect it also matters which version of Spanish is being used. The dictionary quote above mentions Chile and Mexico ... but noticeably absent are Spain, for one, Argentina for another....
Michael:
Yes, I noticed that.
I wrote a post last night but never published it . Liked the l'icks and ku.
WC
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