Theme: CHECKING IN- The first words can be CHECKED.
17. *Many a museum piece : OIL PAINTING. Oil Check.
36. *Choice spot at the opera : BOX SEAT. Checkbox.
11. *Family crest : COAT OF ARMS. Coat check.
27. *Ellington genre : SWING MUSIC. Check swing. (Baseball.)
56. Words to a server ... or a hint to the first words of the answers to starred clues : CHECK PLEASE.
Melissa here. I struggled more than I should have with this one, due to a handful of tricky clues and a few unknowns. The theme didn't help with solving much because sometimes CHECK preceded the first word of the answer, and sometimes it followed. Only short a Q and Z of a pangram.
Across
1. Jordan's capital : AMMAN
6. Amounts to : COSTS
11. Cleveland hoopster : CAV
14. Tour leader : GUIDE
15. Popcorn brand whose logo resembles a movie marquee : ACT II
1. Jordan's capital : AMMAN
6. Amounts to : COSTS
11. Cleveland hoopster : CAV
14. Tour leader : GUIDE
15. Popcorn brand whose logo resembles a movie marquee : ACT II
16. Corrida cheer : OLE
19. "MSNBC Live" co-anchor Velshi : ALI
20. Big Dipper's constellation : GREAT BEAR
21. Birth-related : NATAL
23. Couple of gags? : GEES. Wording of clue seems odd. Couple IN gags would make more sense.
24. Tied-on protectors : APRONS
25. Without : ABSENT
28. Not even close : WAY OFF
30. Vise features : JAWS
31. British nobles : EARLS
32. Roger Federer's org. : ATP. Association of Tennis Professionals (males). Female counterpart is WTA (Women's Tennis Association), founded by Billie Jean King in 1973.
35. French buddy : AMI. AMIE is the feminine form.
38. Pi follower : RHO
39. Stood for office : RAN
40. Powerful Japanese dog : AKITA. Much like yesterday's SHIBA INU.
41. Black bird or black cat, to some : OMEN
42. Go round and round : GYRATE
44. Messed (up) : LOUSED
46. Obtain : COME BY. Stumped me.
48. Is not misused? : AINT. Nice clue.
49. Very serious, as a water shortage : ACUTE. Medically speaking, ACUTE does not always mean serious, but indicates sudden or recent onset - as opposed to chronic, which is long-lasting.
50. Blunder : FALSE STEP
55. Humanities degs. : MASE. Master of Arts in Special Education. Not sure why this clue is plural. (Correction: the answer is MAS. Master of Arts. Thanks, everyone.)
58. "The Book of __": 2010 Denzel Washington film : ELI
59. Exorbitant interest : USURY
60. Ceremonial place : ALTAR. I like this clue 💕.
61. Fond du __, Wisconsin : LAC
62. Closed : ENDED
63. Braid : PLAIT
Down
1. Twittering : AGOG. In this internet age, twittering has a new meaning.
2. "Studies in the Sierra" writer John : MUIR. Originally appeared in 1874 and 1875 as a series of seven articles in the Overland Monthly, which were later (1915 to 1921) reprinted in the Sierra Club Bulletin.
3. Fitbit unit : MILE. Not STEP.
4. Much of the Sunday paper : AD PAGES. Not ADVERTS.
5. Spruce (up) : NEATEN
6. Walking sticks : CANES
7. Penta- plus three : OCTA
8. Cup-a-Soup direction : STIR
9. Pewter component : TIN
10. Footpath aid : SIGNPOST
12. Poe's middle name : ALLAN
13. Concealing accessories : VEILS
18. "Probably not" : I BET. Sneaky because it's sarcasm - normally "I bet" indicates total agreement.
22. "Wanna go out?" response : ARF
24. Protagonist of Auel's "Earth's Children" novels : AYLA
25. Somewhat open : AJAR
26. Auburn rival, familiarly : BAMA
28. Squander : WASTE
29. Surface product : AREA. For rectangles and squares - height x width = AREA. Area calculator.
31. Bright word in a dark theater : EXIT
33. You, back in the day : THEE
34. Koi habitat : POND
36. Kansas City cuisine : BARBECUE. Variation is BARBEQUE. That and a Z would make for a pangram.
13. Concealing accessories : VEILS
18. "Probably not" : I BET. Sneaky because it's sarcasm - normally "I bet" indicates total agreement.
22. "Wanna go out?" response : ARF
24. Protagonist of Auel's "Earth's Children" novels : AYLA
25. Somewhat open : AJAR
26. Auburn rival, familiarly : BAMA
28. Squander : WASTE
29. Surface product : AREA. For rectangles and squares - height x width = AREA. Area calculator.
31. Bright word in a dark theater : EXIT
33. You, back in the day : THEE
34. Koi habitat : POND
36. Kansas City cuisine : BARBECUE. Variation is BARBEQUE. That and a Z would make for a pangram.
37. Not bad : OKAY
41. Fly off the shelf faster than : OUTSELL
43. To date : YET
44. Struggle with sisters? : LISP. Great clue.
45. 400 meters, on many tracks : ONE LAP
46. It has one hump or two : CAMEL
47. Florida's __ National Forest : OCALA
48. Binder for some paints : ALKYD. New to me.
50. 2017 FX miniseries subtitled "Bette and Joan" : FEUD. Anyone watch this series?
50. 2017 FX miniseries subtitled "Bette and Joan" : FEUD. Anyone watch this series?
51. Spacious lot : ACRE
52. Part of TTFN : TATA
53. Actor Morales : ESAI
54. Cheeky : PERT
57. QVC sister station : HSN. Home Shopping Network.
52. Part of TTFN : TATA
53. Actor Morales : ESAI
54. Cheeky : PERT
57. QVC sister station : HSN. Home Shopping Network.
77 comments:
Greetings!
Thanks to Mark and mb!
Pleasant puzzle with some unknowns: ACT II, ALI, GEES, ATP, AYLA, BARBECUE, LISP, ALKYD and FEUD. All easily sussed. Since when do we not use URSA MAJOR?
Lots of sleep Tuesday.
Am willing to try cardioversion.
Hope to see you all tomorrow!
FIW again?¡ _LKYD looks so wrong that I wouldn't fill it in, tried other vowels to end USERY first. AIN'T took a while to click, but ALKYD looked even worse.
The theme was equally opaque. I had no idea until I caved and looked at the reveal, and still wasn't convinced. COAT CHECK had the link-word last, while CHECK OIL and CHECK BOX have it first, and neither SWING CHECK nor CHECK SWING has any meaning for me.
The bride was from Earth, the groom from Altair.
It was said he had not ONE, but three, uh, "things," down there!
But that did not alter
Their trip to the ALTAR,
Nor honeymoon to GYRATE at an inn in GREAT BEAR!
The COSTS in the city were causing alarms!
And plants were emblazoned on the EARL'S COAT OF ARMS.
He took that as an OMEN,
And became Oklahoman --
Left the postman a forwarding C.O.A. TO FARMS!
{A-, A.}
Owen KL, a CHECK SWING is a baseball term. A slight swing of the bat.
The answer to 55-Across should be just MAs, not MASE. Humanity Degrees is Masters of Arts, not in necessarily in Special Education.
What is a Check Box?
Spelled barbeq(c)ue wrong, so I had quick please instead of check please. I knew the perps were wrong but took a while to sort out.
Fermatprime, you really do not want to try cardioversion!
I'm going to jump in early today, as this theme was a little tenuous and I can see where it caused some confusion, so sorry about that. The idea is that the key words in the theme phrases are all things that can be checked. Which doesn't necessarily mean that they fit before or after "check" in a real phrase. For example OIL CHECK is not really a thing, but rather you CHECK THE OIL in a car. Same with COAT and BOX, though CHECK BOX and COAT CHECK are sometimes seen. CHECK SWING (or CHECKED SWING) is definitely a baseball thing. So, granted there is some inconsistency here. I can see that the reveal entry CHECK PLEASE doesn't exactly tie things up in a neat little bundle as some reveal entries do. The interesting thing about the puzzle is that the meanings of CHECK are all different as you are INSPECTING the OIL, CURTAILING the SWING, MARKING the BOX, and DEPOSITING your COAT in the CLOAKROOM.
Oh, and I forgot that the meaning of CHECK in the reveal entry is different from all the others (BILL).
To the only Cornerite FLN up later than me,
AnonymousT FLN at 12:40 AM
Wrote "D4 - but did you catch the iSLIP joke or (what I forgot to link) being a dog on the Internet? :-) -T"
No, I missed (slipped up on) iSLIP, but I did catch the doggies. My Avatar shows my dog Romeo teaching me the fine points of the keyboard.
To Corner types whose Avatar starts in an A, L, P, S, (the infamous "Oxford Comma") OR W Your name is in lights FLN at 11:47 PM
Now to today, Good morning!
Thank you Mr. Mark McClain for this CW that seemed hard at times, and then I would open a cell. and voila I FIR in 28:19. Thanks for "Checking" in with us.
Thanks melissa bee for your excellent review.
To each of you who are ailing, get better.
I lost this for a moment, but got it back with "Ctrl Z."
Dave
I found this a very straightforward solve. Only ALKYD was unfamiliar and changed ROTATE to GYRATE. The clue for GEES also seemed odd to me.
ALI Velshi is a well known commentator though I had ARI first, no that's Ari Melber.
I've read most of Jean AUEL'S books so knew AYLA. FEUD lost me after the first episode; it seemed forced and not at all like Bette and Joan though Susan and Jessica are fine actresses.
CSO to TIN! AMMAN is an interesting city where one sees many head VEILS on women.
Thank you, Melissa, for being our GUIDE today and for expounding on the theme which escaped me, but that's not unusual.
Have a happy day, everyone! We are fast approaching the 90s.
Thank you, Mark McClain, for your remarks and for a fine puzzle today.
Vanna White:
Check your grid again. Mine has MAS not MASE so I'm not sure what you mean.
Lucina: The answer is wrong in the blog comment, not the grid.
There isn't much space in an ACRE if you're in the country.
Why are the answer boxes in 57 down in red and grey?
Vanna, a CHECK BOX is a square on a form where you indicate one of several choices, or a yes/no, like the marital status list on your tax form, or “I’m not a robot” when posting here.
Been a while since I couldn’t finish a Weds. Never recovered from the correct constellation UrsaMajor. Here in Virginia it’s barbeque.
I did not know "MSNBC Live" co-anchor Velshi: ALI took a long time to recall Mr. Muir from his woods and ALKYD?
I was on Mark's wavelength as far as the theme went, and always good to see a constructor, especially a prolific one, stop by and discourse with us. Thanks, Mark, and mb.
Good morning, Cornerites. Thanks, Mark, for the challenge this a.m., and to Mel Bee for the grid tour. Found crunchiness everywhere I looked, but managed to persevere in the end. Thanks for dropping by, Mark, it's always insightful to hear the constructor's POV. Up here on the northern side of the world's longest undefended border it would, of course, be "cheque please," but we're a pretty tolerant lot, so I'll let it go. ;-). Have a great day, all.
Hello Mark. Thanks for commenting.
Good morning to everybody else. The NW had me stumped and I almost LOUSED up the puzzle, until I finally got it. My astronomy knowledge is minimal, so the GREAT part of the GREAT BEAR was new to me. Wanted URSA MAJOR and it fit. In no way would I associate "Twittering" with the fill AGOG. The I BET fill for "Probably not" was perped and the clue for GEES didn't make sense either. I agree with Melissa.
After the never seen before spelling of BAR-BE-CUE, I said "CHECK PLEASE". bar-b-q, bar-b-que, bbq- I've seen, but not CUE.
ALKYD- my chemistry degree didn't help me on that one. New to me also.
I CHECK the OIL in my 15 year old Murano regularly; 180,000 MILEs (not steps) and leaks a lot on the cardboard that I have on the floor in the garage.
Good Morning.
Busy, busy so I did both puzzles this morn. We're keeping an extra close eye on MIL.
I did both puzzles today. I always like the warm up! Belated BD wishes to Spitzboov. I always appreciate German and Naval lessons. Thanks, TTP for covering.
Thanks, Mark and Melissa for today. A nice break this morning.
Enjoy the day.
FIR, no unknowns. A little crunchy, but no nits other than that GEES/couple of gags was a little odd. As mb said, couple in gags would make sense. Or IMHO gags’ couple makes the most sense.
I was on Mark’s wave length for the fine theme, things that can be checked. That makes each theme answer consistent, but placing check before sometimes and after other times does not.
I have seen ALKYD on paint cans. Here is an ad: Water Based Acrylic Alkyds - Sherwin-Williams Paints
When acute is used for an illness it can mean of sudden or recent onset as opposed to chronic. Concerning a drought and other disaster it means severe. Dictionary: “(of a bad, difficult, or unwelcome situation or phenomenon) present or experienced to a severe or intense degree.”
URSA MAJOR and GREAT BEAR are two correct names for the same constellation. Ursa means bear and major means great.
AGOG can mean excited about. TWITTERING can mean excited chattering.
Lucina, I watched only the first episode of Feud. Not impressed. Joan and Bette are two of my all-time favorite actresses. I have seen reruns of most of their movies.
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ or barbie) all are legit. I have seen them all.
The Grammarist says, "In today’s English, barbecue is the usual spelling of the word with several senses related to the cooking of food over open fire. It’s the spelling that tends to appear in edited writing, and it’s the one that dictionaries note first, for what that’s worth (and some don’t note any other spellings). Barbeque is a secondary spelling that appears especially often in the names of restaurants and products. It has steadily gained ground over the last few decades, but it is still far less common than barbecue overall."
Isn’t English funny? Stood for office means ran.
Thanks Mark and Melissa for an enjoyable outing on this snowbound day.
Good Morning:
This had some crunch for a Wednesday, most notably, Alkyd, which I've never seen or heard of. I, too, had Rotate before Gyrate and, for some inexplicable reason, I had "Duel" instead of "Feud" for the Davis-Crawford mini-series. To add insult to injury, I watched every episode. (Lucina, it was worth watching once it hit its stride, even if overwrought, at times.) I thought of Vests before Veils but knew the TV person was Ali. Had MFA at first before realizing the plural clue. Nice CSO to Tin. I thought the cluing for Gees and I Bet was odd but that may be just me.
Thanks, Mark, for a mid-week challenge and for stopping by and offering some insights and thanks, Melissa, for the detailed summary. Any current pictures of your precious granddaughter that you'd like to share?
My brother was transferred from the Troy hospital to Albany Med where he will have the heart surgery as soon as he is well enough. While he is feeling better, the pneumonia is viral which explains why the antibiotics weren't helping. His lungs have been compromised by his years of being a firefighter and he has some COPD issues. As luck would have it, his daughter is a respiratory therapist at Albany Med and his daughter-in-law is a nurse there, as well. As of yet, no date has been set for the surgery.
Have a great day.
Was a bit of a struggle today. Finished it, but never got into the flow of the puzzle. Too much work for a Wednesday!
For those of us who don’t take slow-cooking over charcoal seriously enough to make our own sauce, KC Masterpiece, Sweet Baby Ray’s, Jack Daniel’s, and Kraft all spell their sauces “BARBECUE”
This CW was more than OKAY. Thanks for the fun Mark (thanks for stopping by) and melissa bee.
I LOUSED up in the SW with a few FALSE STEPs.
The CHECK theme took a while to fall as I usually ask for the bill. Cheque/check is something I write to pay the bill.
Northern Boy - I wondered earlier if you were Canadian and your post today with "north of the longest undefended border" confirms it. I am happy to have a fellow-Canadian on the Corner. LOL re "tolerant".
I had Thou before THEE, far OFF before WAY, Lords before EARLS, BAS before MAS.
This Canadian needed perps for BAMA and HSN.
Smiled at AKITA today (ARF). Also enjoyed clues for AINT and LISP.
Fort ERIE JAWS of Life was stolen from fire station, and found and returned by local scrap metal dealer. Hope the thief never needs to be pried out of a vehicle after an accident!
Enjoy the day. Luncinate, I may be envying your 90 degrees but at least we are not getting YR 's Nor'easter here.
Thanks to Mark and Melissa for a fun puzzle and the explanation.
Even when I filled it in with perps I didn't see the couple of gags as GEES. I had to make several run throughs and a few alphabet runs to finish. I fear I may have to read some of Auel's books as they turn up so often in crosswords.
Irish Miss, best wishes for your firefighter brother. In Ohio, they passed a law that any incidence of cancer in a firefighter is covered by workman's comp. The dangers of that job, separate from getting burned, etc. are just being uncovered.
Healing thoughts and prayers for all in need.
BTW, I am almost 67 with a June birthday. I first began crosswords as a teen and used the method of using the next day's answer grid to help figure out the hard answers. I would wait 1 day before I started and learned to focus on just one clue when I "cheated".
Later I learned about this blog and have been coming here for help back when I still got the paper. I quit the paper when it started skipping days and putting 2 puzzles on one day. I now do my puzzles online.
Live Well and Prosper
VS
"PTs":
Abbr. version;
SPARE RIB>BARBECUE; ENATE>NATAL. All else was good.
Nice job, M & M (Mark and Melissa)
M-K:
Silly octopus
Designed his family crest:
A COAT OF 8 ARMS
Good morning everyone.
Agree with Big Easy's first paragraph about AGOG and GREAT BEAR. Their crossing created a Natick for me. I've never seen Great Bear used, but Google seems to like it well enough. NW was only sector needing white-out. Fitbit wasn't in my wheelhouse, either. Rest of it went like a hot knife through better.
TATA - Thinking it should have been clued as parts of TTFN. Got it from the perps.
Wow; a thinker, for sure! There was some not-often-seen fill (I loved GYRATE) and there were some very clever clues ("couple of gees", "trouble with sisters").
Not sure why, but ALKYD popped right into what I am pleased to call my mind.
Growing up in west central Illinois, BARBECUE was the only spelling I knew, other than the abbreviated BBQ.
Just now the cat is staring intently at (apparently) nothing at all. I hope she's not watching a poltergeist.
Bright, sunny day here, but it's a tad chilly. Have a good day, all.
Hello Puzzlers -
Just about the right difficulty for a Wednesday, I’d say. I was slow to work out the theme but that’s nothing new.
Morning, MBee, and thanks for clarifying. I see that an earlier poster caught that MAs versus MASE snag.
From yesterday: in my ten or so years here at the Corner, I’ve come to suspect that I’m at the lower end of the average age range. Now 58. One of the former regulars, Barry G from out near Boston, looked quite a bit younger. I hope that interest in crossword solving doesn’t fade away. At this point, I’m not sure that school kids are even learning to write on paper. They don’t seem very good at telling time by analog clocks!
The clue, twittering, immediately conjured up in my mind a concert venue packed with teenyboppers (tweens) who were all agog at seeing their latest music idol on the stage. They were twittering in high excited voices like a flock of birds in eager anticipation of his arrival. A gimme.
So many squeaky clean tween idols changed radically as they grew up. I am thinking of the early Justin Bieber and others. Miley Cyrus says she was never squeaky clean, but parents used to regard her as a wholesome role model.
URSA MAJOR didn't compute because there were 4 or 5 perps already filled. The GR suggested GREAT BEAT which I have known since childhood. I remember back then finding it difficult to distinguish between URSA MAJOR, GREAT BEAR, and the BIG DIPPER which is only a part of the Great Bear.
Irish Miss, healing thoughts are with your brother, Jack. I hope he is soon well enough for heart surgery.
Fun puzzle, Mark--and many thanks for checking in. Nice write-up, Melissa--thanks to you too.
In a hurry this morning because I'm teaching Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" at the Senior Center this afternoon. So ended up cheating a bit, but enjoyed the puzzle. Like CanadianEh, found ARF, AINT, and LISP my favorite misdirecting clues. But never heard of ALKYD.
Hope your brother does well, Irish Miss.
Have a good Wednesday, everybody!
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Misty. I always read this blog, just don't often have much to say.
Y'all, what's an avatar name?
Becky
BARBECUE was my instant spelling as I thought barbeque was alternative used in advertising such as lite, etc.
IrishMiss:
I'll keep your brother in my prayers and hope he heals enough for his surgery.
The best dog I've ever had was an akita. For 12 years he was loyal, respectful, & protective of his family. Wonderful dog. Miss him a lot.
Best wishes for your brother, IM. Pretty much what Big Easy experienced. Took a lot of P&P to finish the NW. I guessed Federer's org to be ATA before the perps fixed it. Didn't know ACT II popcorn, any (p)MS-NBC hosts, GREAT BEAR, Book of ELI, ALKYD, any FX miniseries, and guessed at tata for now. I just flat forgot to look at the theme.
We just spent 2 months in an RV resort that abutted the Ocala National Forest. Very beautiful. Black bears can present a driving hazard, though.
YR - My favorite example of the unwieldiness of English is that we park on our driveways and drive on our parkways.
Thanks to Mark for a crunchy Wednesday. My favorite was "wanna go out" for ARF. Thanks to Melissa B for the nice review.
DNF due to WEES.
Age? You are as old as you feel!
Check Please?
Age related oil check?
Check box? What box?
Musings
-Greeting from Gate C7 in Sky Harbor Airport!
-I LOUSED up FAR OFF stood for WAY OFF because I didn’t check
-Former Husker and CAVS coach Tyron Lue is taking time off from coaching. LeBron is the coach anyway
-Our TOUR GUDE on Monday showed us the poverty surrounding reservation cotton fields in AZ.
-Neighbor’s husband wears the APRON and she wears the pants. Works for them.
-GYRATING made big bucks for Elvis
-Too few places have sufficient SIGN POSTS
-CAMELBACK Mountain is a ready reference point here in the Valley of the Sun
-The flight for Omaha is loading
Was it coat check, or check coat?
Really?
Hmm, the above "check swing" says it came from YouTube,
so I had to CHECK it out...
Hi Y'all! Good one, Mark, thanks! Thanks, Melissa.
I thought FALSE STEP was also a theme entry, because one may CHECK the BOX beside FALSE in a test.
Didn't think "twittering" was AGOG! YR says it is. That's good enough for me. My question is do you think our current demAGOGue is twitterpated? (Bambi sez that's a word.)
Had __KYD and immediately put in AL. Must have read it on all those paint cans I emptied back in my house renovation days.
Only FEUD I want to see is Family FEUD. A couple of ugly women being nasty doesn't appeal to me.
D4 & Tony: Had to look up what was meant by Oxford comma. Don't understand what all the commotion is about yet.
I didn't know what TTFN was, but TATA!
Nice theme - with balance of having the CHECK come 2 each before and after.
Briefly hung up with WEES about Q vs the C question - I live in the heart of barbeque/cue land and have seen it both ways. Most of the time it isn't spelled out it's shortened to BBQ and of course then it has to be Q because I don't think there are many brisket burnt ends on the BBC -( though Steve may say I'm wrong :))
Thanks Mark for stopping by and for your puzzle and Melissa for the blog!
Had a harder time with this puzzle than I expected to. Thought URSA MAJOR would be right for sure until John MUIR put a fly in that ointment. CANES (with which I am quite familiar) put the final nail in URSA MAJOR, and GREAT BEAR it became. OCTO also became OCTA. Seems like it was all a bit too much of a struggle. Took me a while to decide between THOU and THEE, and between POOL and POND, until OMEN straightened me out. I loved the clue for LISP! The clues for AINT and ARF were pretty good, too. Thanks for a fun puzzle, Mark.
On the PBS channel here there is a show called CHECK PLEASE Bay Area. We like it but we wish they would review more restaurants in the south Bay Area, where we live, rather than pretty much only restaurants in San Francisco, which is far too much of a hassle to go to.
SIGNPOST always makes me think of that old TV show The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling had an interesting way of pronouncing "zone."
Good wishes to you all.
Here I am back two days in a row.
Spitsboov suggested I do something special yesterday.
I did. My wife and I dined at a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ called the Salt Cellar. Its pricey but in my opinion the best fish away from the ocean you can get.
Good puzzle Mark. MB did a nice job taking us through the clues so that I'm not totally clueless.
I don't tweet or use Twitter in any form, also I don't use the term AGOG when I'm amazed or astounded, so AGOG didn't mean anything to me. Facebook is about the only Social Media that I use, and then only occasionally. Perps filled it in though.
Sitting in my kitchen using my computer watching the scenery appear and disappear as the density of the snow ebbs and flows in the latest Nor'easter. Enough already.
Fermatprime: My Son-in-law's mother was having Afib heart problems so they tried cardioversion to get her back into rhythm. It worked for about a week then came back with a vengeance. She is on drugs now that are controlling her problem, but I'm not sure what drug or drugs.
BBQ, barbecue, barbeque. It doesn't matter to me how you spell it or pronounce it as long as it tastes good. Most people use the term BBQ et al when they should be using the term grilling.
IM: I hope all goes well for your brother.
Stay warm and dry everyone.
Well I got the solve. A lot of.....”what?” involved.
I was going to say that 1D was a shakey clue....until I reached 23A.
I nominate 23A as the worst clue of the year. Just terrible, especially for a 4 letter answer.
I’m not going to comment on the quality of the theme, as I’m not a big fan of them to begin with so no point in that.
Anonymous @ 1:35 PM, I recall Lucina mentioned she went to the Salt Cellar for a special occasion. If memory serves, she and her companions liked it, and she did say it was expensive. Her mention of it prompted me to look them up on the internet; seems like a nice place.
I also have afib. They tried electrocardioversion on me as well, but it didn't work. They zapped me three times and then gave up and resuscitated me. I had bad burns (like the worst sunburn ever) around the edges of the pads (front and back of my chest) they used to zap me.
I seem to be doing fine, except that I don't have any stamina, and I have to take Xarelto to ward off strokes. I used to take warfarin, which was a pain because of the frequent blood tests.
Ta- DA!
This was my cup of tea. Thank you, Mark McClain (and also Melissa Bee), for a most pleasant spin around the grid! The secret of an enjoyable pzl is the cluing, of course, and this had just enough misdirection and multiple meanings to keep it lively.
Anonymous PVX, I feel your pain, but the price of cleverness is the failure to win everyone. (I agree with MB's "fix" for the 23A clue.)
I particularly enjoyed the crossing of LISP and AINT, again because of the cluing. This would probably have been nigh impossible for me to crack when I first began doing Xwds, but years of practice hone the mind (and tip us off to how constructors think, with their wicked ways).
____________
Diagonal Report: Two; the two main lines (NW to SE and vice versa). No hidden message.
Jinx: Coq-10 and magnesium supplements could help.
Mark
Anonymous @ 1:35 PM was me. I don't know what I did to become Anonymous.
Becky @ 11:50am:
The meaning of "avatar name" has evolved. In Hindu tradition it's the name of "a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher."
But more recently, it's the name of an icon or action figure that represents you in a video game - and by extension it's any name given to something or somebody that represents you.
I identify more with Louie, my little Yorkie, than with my other dogs, so I'm pleased to think of him as an avatar of me.
Hm.
On second thought, maybe Nacho is my favorite. Today. Or Maggie.
Let's just say they are all my avatars.
PK, twitterpated, besotted, love struck, in a state of nervous excitement. It is against the rules for me to comment.
I can see the doubt about agog. Those silly tweens twitter like birdies, but people our age usually do not. We may stare, be agape, gasp, sit in the edge of our seats, talk too much, whatever to show extreme interest or excitement.
I enjoyed the puzzle though the theme was hard to pin down for me, even after the reveal. Several extra-tricky and clever clues I thought. Thanks Mark and Melissa.
The unusual sound of rain on our skylights fit in well with a mid-day nap. It can rain all day for the next several days before I will tire of it. But, I hope it's not enough to cause more mud and debris slides in the areas where the hills were denuded by brush fires. I am thinking about Freddie, my homeless friend, having to cope with this weather.
The quote below doesn't make complete sense to me but it's just humorous enough that I thought I would include it anyway.
~ Bread is like the sun - it rises in the yeast and sets in the waist.
D-N-F ... on a Wednesday.
Oh well, I did get my CSO at 9-d, TIN.
Cheers!
Jayce and John28man (as it turns out)
Yes! I highly recommend the Salt Cellar. It has been there for many years, 40 or more, and still serves fine seafood. Be warned, it is in a cellar, that is, it's underground and if claustrophobia is a problem, that could trigger it but otherwise the atmosphere is intimate and welcoming.
I went there for my birthday. Another fine place to eat, but not seafood, is the Roaring Fork which is also pricey but the steaks are good! I haven't been there in a while so I'm relying on memory.
Oh ye who poo-pooed the prognosticative ability of Punxsutawney Phil, note that the table on our deck in Louisville, KY is laden with 10 inches of beautiful snow. Where is global warming when you need it. At 1250P EDT the all powerful failed, 40,000 customers sans alternation. Our particular problem was a transformer down the street that had transformed into a monster. Our powerful electrical types wrestled it into submission by 400P.
When it went out I thought I would write a short note which becomes today's paraprosdokian. I wrote the "Para" word from poor memory. It was even longer than it should be. I opened a draft in gmail only to find no internet. I'm thinking of becoming Amish.
John E at 7:57 AM
Wrote "Why are the answer boxes in 57 down in red and grey?" I'll take this question because I asked it myself not too long ago. Melissa, correct me if I am wrong, but the gray portion is your last word, and the red square is the last square you studied. There is no higher significance. John, have you been watching 50 shades of Grey about prominent businessman Christian "Grey?" Are you "Gray" from the effort?
Dave
Dudley at 11:15 AM
Wrote "They don’t seem very good at telling time by analog clocks!" How do you teach the concept of clockwise / counterclockwise with a digital clock?
They also can't make change sans the printout. They can't read or write cursive, or work all day in the hot sun picking those fruits, tomatoes.
Would you help me down from my soap box, and hand me my CANES.
Young Man Keith at 3:14 PM
Thank you for helping Becky with the meaning of "Avatar." Reading between her lines, I hear a plea for help setting up her Avatar so she becomes "Blue." I did it, but I' not sure I could lay out the steps for her. Who would like to help Becky?
Dave
Greetings!
I enjoyed working today's puzzle. Favorite clue/answer was "Is not misused?" for AINT. "Check swing" is a new term to me, so I had a little trouble understanding the theme. Thanks for stopping by, Mark, and for today's entertainment. Thanks for a fine expo, Melissa.
IM--Best wishes to your brother.
Big thanks Mark McClain for stopping by and explaining the theme! I had only a vague association between the CHECK and the theme answers; good to know that is all there was. And interesting to note that each usage of CHECK was different. Never heard of CHECK SWING, so that made it hard to know if I really was getting it.
Hand up for enjoying the clever cluing of AIN'T, ARF, LISP! Hand up GREAT BEAR was a surprise twist on URSA MAJOR. Hand up BARBEQUE had me stuck with QUICK PLEASE. I have been active with the SIERRA Club since graduating college. Never heard of that book so it was a learning moment, but MUIR came to mind when I saw SIERRA.
Unknowns: AYLA, ACTII, ATP, ALKYD, ESAI, HSN, FEUD, BAMA. Surprised suddenly to realize I had FIR with crosses.
Here we were each on a CAMEL in JORDAN. Real transportation not just a photo op.
Here again my dancer friends were doing a VEIL dance recently. Very sensual.
From Yesterday:
AnonPVX: I am 59. Is anyone younger?
D4E4H: The young women near the end were friends and/or room mates of my niece at Stanford. There used to be a lake on campus, but it seems to have dried up into more of a swamp. Those little frogs seemed to enjoy that habitat and were quite abundant. The young women were enjoying the amusement of having them on their heads. Not sure about the plastic frog.
Melissa Bee: Thanks for that Wonderland SIGN POST!
Here was a Wizard of Oz theme with SIGN POST at our recent Orchid Show.
Here is my full article with photos on the Orchid Show.
Hi All!
Just not my week for TaDas...
Mark, first, thanks for stopping by the corner. Second, I had no problem with the theme and enjoyed all the different uses of CHECK. However, ALKYD xing a "cute"-clue was my undoing. I was left sans 'F' and 'D' in FEUD (didn't help I had USeRY) and the 2 'D's in ENDED. I had to look at mb's grid for ALKYD (how would you even Google for that?!?) which changed the 'M' in MINT to 'A' in AINT (cute). [MINT-condition would be 'not misused' too :-)]. Thanks for the puzzle.
mb, thanks for letting me crib from your grid and for the fun expo (liked your choice for SIGN POST).
WOs: STEP b/f MILE as a Fitbit unit; THou b/f THEE (Hi Jayce!); hand-up for MFA & BARBEqUE.
ESPs: ALI, ESAI.
Fav: CHECK SWING - Spring has sprung and Baseball is around the corner
{A-, A} {cute}
IM - That's great Jack has family @the hospital. They'll make sure no FALSE STEPS (Oy! When MIL was in for knee surgery we had to be there around the clock to make sure the drug regimen was right after a shift-change!)
TIN got the big SO today!
Picard - Yes. I was born in '70.
BigE - spelt w/ a 'C' 'cuz the clue specified KC and, as we in TX know, that AINT real 'Q'
CED - LOL Carlin; If I heard it I forgot until today. Thanks!
PK@1:01p - LOL; 'nuff said.
I know some y'all are in a 4'easter but Spring really is near. Maybe pix of the garden that Eldest & I put in today will give you hope. Garden and the "Back-Forty".
Cheers, -T
Picard at 5:13 PM
Wrote about a "Veil dance." The use of the veils is very colorful. Reminds me of the full skirts of some dancers not so long ago. You didn't advertise the belly or Persian dancers that followed, but I enjoyed them also. In the Persian dance, the oriental girl's hands were exquisite
Dave
Picard:
Lovely pictures! In Petra we had the choice of riding those camels or walking. I chose walking! 2 1/2 miles each way wasn't too bad.
Owen, thanks for the pleasure. Loved 'em both!
Anon T, Louisiana, like Texas, knows it's Q!
IM: Hope your brother recovers apace!
Becky our poster who has the picture uses the avatar name Picard.
Be well
Picard - Eldest said cool CAMEL pic too. I got a chance to ride one in Giza but my GUIDE said "no" - It was $2 to get up and $50 to get down. A literal Pyramid-scheme.
Swamp - Yes ma'am. That's why I included Big E in we. LA knows Q and South Louisiana, esp, knows seafood.
Becky - you can "go blue" (see Olio in the right-bar of the home-page); I think it's Blogger Account by TTP. You can add a pic/Avatar too by uploading an image that represents "you." I like posters w/ Avatars because it makes it easy to "scroll-back" and find what exactly "Dog in Snow" (that's TTP) said.
Cheers, -T
Lucina: Yes, we walked most of the way, too, at Petra. The CAMELs only go half the way. We walked all the way in. Then rode the CAMELs the first half back. I very much enjoyed their gait. The only problem? We seemed to have an allergic reaction afterwards that took awhile to go away.
D4E4H: Thank you for taking the time to view my other videos of the Middle Eastern dances after the VEIL dance. The choreographer Cris! Basimah is a friend and she really directed her performance to me. I was grateful for that and she was deeply grateful to have the video.
AnonT: Way cool there is another "young" person at the Corner! You were born the same year as my DW.
Jayce, I'm with you, on the hassle of going in to San Francisco ... it's one of the most user-UNfriendly places around: access and parking are both major hassles. (Plus, if you're coming from the East Bay, there're one or two bridge tolls, and the joys of "the Maze" and I-80 through Berkeley. Much better to stay home and have a beer!)
I finished this around noonish but napped right afterwards. Then I went to buy something for Betsy and had plenty of time to blog and forgot my cellphone AARRGGHH!!
I Had to proceed due East to find a few fillable squares then I continued south and West. Finally, I tackled the North.
TaDa. Btw, what was that TTFN stuff?
CED, that Carlin link had me doing a belly roll and I'm posting in bed .
Misty, if Hemmingway* was writing today would he be rated as highly or read as widely? I did read a collection of his correspondence. The love then hate relationship with F Scott Fitzgerald was interesting .
I recall Sophomore Rhetoric and I had 'Allusion in "Old Man and the Sea"' and just as I was beginning to present the proof he says " No DiMaggio stuff".
And of course that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. Heck, S&G milked it five years later .
On that note ad boredatum... In the shuttle I got talking about the MLB HoF and the first five inducted. That came from my mentioning that Christy Masterson dying young from complications resulting from a gas attack drill during WWI.
I tried to name the five HoFers and then mentioned that a famous ballplayer had failed induction on his first year of eligibility .
So. Name him, the first five,the next three and the one of the 8 who participated in the deadly drill with CM.
Ok .But it's late and there were excess bytes to fill and fearless leader loves bb talk .
WC
* spell check didn't know Hemmingway but filled OMATS smoothly.
Btw. L'icks and Ku were most excellent today especially the alien with three feet. You two combine creativity with clever word Play.
WC
Bonus baseball. Name the (7?) .400 hitters . Post 1900.
WC
Needless to say no googling
Btw the original discussion occurred as a result of Assad use of chemicals talk . I can turn any conversation to Sports.
WC - Tigger's TTFN . Ta! -T
I disliked this puzzle. Somebody obviously did some tweaking to make a few of the three letter words fit. Hope this author doesn’t show up again. Bah Humbug!! Give an English lesson.
Interesting question about Hemingway, Wilbur. (Spellcheck shouldn't mess with this spelling). I expected only a few student to attend my class today because I had the impression that nobody in the class liked Hemingway. But to my surprise about fourteen seniors showed up. Everybody started out pretty critical, but after a discussion of a "Farewell to Arms" we all sort of came around and found a lot to like in the novel. And of course it's hard to know how he'd write in our contemporary culture. But I can't believe he'd get a Nobel prize nowadays. It kills me that he got one, and James Joyce didn't. Anyway, I gather you liked his work? Good for you!
Ok .Cobb, who was there when Mathewson got gassed; Ruth, Johnson and Honus Wagner were the five followed by Young, Speaker and Lajoie . Here are the.400 hitters from memory:
Lajoie, Cobb,Heilman , Sisler, Hornsby,Terry and Ted Williams.
I did an LIU and realized it was Lajoie not Eddie Collins in the second Hof class.
Misty, I read most of Hemmingway even some of his Michigan stuff. My favorite author and book was Dostoevsky and The Idiot.
My current favorite is Len Deighton. I'm trying to determine if he's embedded the truth about JFK in his trilogies .
WC
PS . Can you imagine using real mustard gas in a drill? By the time it was my turn it was tear gas. The drowning pool was a lot of fun though.
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