24A. Subject of an 1857 Elizabeth Gaskell biography: CHARLOTTE BRONTE.
40A. Organization that really counts: CENSUS BUREAU.
57A. Tribute group: COVER BAND.
78A. Microbrewery choice: CRAFT BEER.
96A. Bletchley Park analysts: CODE BREAKERS. Enigma machines.
109A. Ghee, e.g.: CLARIFIED BUTTER.
3D. Team that hasn't won a Super Bowl in its 50-year existence: CINCINNATI BENGALS.
13D. It's seen on carousels: CHECKED BAGGAGE.
37D. Amateur sport since 1893: COLLEGE BASKETBALL.
51D. Perp processing area: CENTRAL BOOKING.
Simple theme. But holy smokes, just look at this answer grid. Fantastic intersection, Pawel!
As
I mentioned before, it takes luck and skills to make this happen.
You've got to have an ample supply of C* B* phrases, and you've got
the chops to design the grid. Let me pull a low-degree Husker Gary trick and put the Answer Grid in front.
Across:
1. Scrabble accessories: RACKS.
6. Long-grained rice: BASMATI. Hindi for "fragrant". Picard's favorite rice. Oo likes Jasmine rice. I like short-grained white rice.
13. Cajun crustacean: CRAWDAD. Never had it.
20. Target reader of a series of guides, facetiously: IDIOT. Complete Idiot's Guides.
21. Odysseus, e.g.: ITHACAN.
22. Struck a chord: HIT HOME. Great fill.
23. Kids' eager query: CAN WE?
26. Seal predator: ORCA.
27. Really enjoy, with "in": BASK.
28. '80s police show partner: LACEY. "Cagney & Lacey".
29. Better, to a rapper: ILLER.
31. Proprietors' places: INNS.
35. Generous limit?: SKY.The sky's the limit.
36. "I'm __": "Dragnet" line: A COP.
43. Meet with privately: SEE ALONE.
45. Tearjerker need: HANKIE. Been ages since I last used a handkerchief.
46. Enriched: FATTENED.
48. Nautical time units: BELLS. Hi there Spitzboov!
49. Actor Morales: ESAI. Always remember him as Tony.
50. Tourism prefix: ECO.
52. Mojito flavoring: LIME.
53. Like some portrait photos: BACK-LIT.
55. Unyielding: SET. Santa was sure stubborn at times.
56. Having four sharps: IN E.
59. Phoenix-to-Albuquerque dir.: ENE.
60. Gill openings: SLITS.
62. Like the Valkyries: NORSE.
64. "No Limit Top __": 1999 rap album: DOGG.
65. Stress, they say: AGER.
66. Shows obvious anger: BRISTLES.
68. Teddies, e.g.: LINGERIE.
70. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA.
72. Diamond stats: ERAS.
73. R&B singer __ Marie: TEENA.
74. __ Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster: ALBUS. Forgot. We had him before.
77. Poetic time: EEN.
80. Play date: GIG.
82. RSA ruling party: ANC. African National Congress.
83. "Yeah, so?": BIG DEAL.
85. Logician's "E": ERAT.
86. Either of baseball's Griffeys: KEN. Untarnished by any steroid scandal. Cool and clean.
87. Food stamp?: USDA. Nailed it.
88. How the euphoric walk: ON AIR.
89. "The Godfather" catchphrase: BADA BING. Remember him?
92. Lost intentionally: TANKED.
94. Rockefeller, e.g.: OIL BARON.
98. Trueheart of comics: TESS.
99. Bass ending: OON.
100. Business bigwig: EXEC.
101. Worshiping figure: ORANT. Regular in our old Star Tribune Daily days.
102. One of a deck's pair: JOKER.
104. "Star Trek" villain: KHAN.
106. Scottish resort town known for its whisky: OBAN. Looks charming.
116. Low area: SWALE.
117. Settled accounts, so to speak: GOT EVEN. Another solid fill.
118. Big wardrobe: ARMOIRE. Great also.
119. Almost off: ON LOW.
120. Salad choice: ICEBERG. In Guangzhou, iceberg is often cooked, with oyster sauce.
121. Low-quality material, idiomatically: SOW'S EAR.
122. Castaway's place: ISLET.
Down:
1. Bad guy in the song "Copacabana": RICO. Learning moment for me.
2. Month before Nisan: ADAR.
4. Brando's "A Streetcar Named Desire" role: KOWALSKI. Stanley.
5. Chateau __ Michelle winery: STE. No idea. It's in Washington.
6. Antacid option: BICARB.
7. Olympians, e.g.: Abbr.: ATHS. Athletes.
8. One-named Colombian singer: SHAKIRA.
9. Scuff, e.g.: MAR.
10. Often-injured knee part, briefly: ACL.
11. Confucian path: TAO.
12. IOC part: Abbr.: INTL.
14. Marbled cut: RIB EYE.
15. "Give it __": A TRY.
16. One of many Seuss village residents: WHO.
17. Put on: DON.
18. Product, say: Abbr.: AMT. Got via crosses.
19. Capital of Denmark?: DEE. Denmark.
25. Nice cup?: TASSE. Just French for cup. Also 30. Him, to Henri: LUI. 54. Sylvie's seraph: ANGE. Angel in French. And 90. Year abroad: ANNEE. For Splynter.
27. Consult with the doctor: BE SEEN. Not fond of this answer or BE LATE last time. Command phrases are fine: BE CAREFUL, BE SEATED, BE BRIEF etc.
32. Figure in red: NET LOSS.
33. Indigenous: NATIVE.
34. Defiant challenge: SUE ME.
36. Fashion model Wek: ALEK. Look at her long legs.
38. Connected, in a way: ON LINE.
39. Annoy: PESTER.
40. Mating game: CHESS.
41. Flip chart holder: EASEL.
42. Roswell sighting: UFO.
44. Sequence sung like "Twinkle twinkle": A B C D.
47. Less cool: NERDIER.
56. "It __": formal self-identification: IS I.
57. Reached an apex: CRESTED.
58. Cold War capital: BONN. West Germany's capital.
61. Singing syllable: TRA.
63. "Frozen" snowman: OLAF.
65. Catch a bug: AIL.
67. Evening on Etna: SERA.
68. Small fishing boat concern: LEE TIDE. Also 76. Boatloads: SCADS.
69. Taunt: RAG.
70. Recover from a crash: REBOOT. Computer crash.
71. Bum: HEINIE.
73. Place to keep leaves: TEA BOX.
My friend Carmen just introduced this Dates, Longan, Goji berry tea to
me. A few months ago, Carmen was in the same island (Sanya, Hainan)
D-Otto visited in the 1980s. Very very few foreigners ventured into Hainan then. My friends were all in awe that D-Otto even stayed at the resort hotel Chairman Man favored.
75. Over-__: sports wager: UNDER.
78. Michael of "Arrested Development": CERA.
79. Prepare for impact: BRACE.
81. Summer hire, perhaps: INTERN.
84. Claim to call: DIBS.
86. Erstwhile CIA rival: KGB. What's their current rival?
87. Algebra staples: UNKNOWNS.
91. Casual Friday casualty?: NECKTIE.
93. Bond rating: AAA.
95. One whose business is mostly overhead?: ROOFER. Nice clue.
97. Lion or tiger: ROARER.
102. Banter: JIVE.
103. Nutritional stds.: RDAS.
105. Mother of Ares: HERA.
107. Ointment additive: ALOE. My aloe vera is still alive. Indoor plant now. I can't risk the unexpected rain again.
108. Mature eft: NEWT.
109. Pixar Studios' specialty, for short: CGI. Computer-Generated Imagery.
110. __ cit.: footnote abbr.: LOC.
111. Bore, as a cost: ATE.
112. Yank's opponent: REB.
113. "Dude!": BRO.
114. Underground org.?: UMW. United Mine Workers.
115. How-__: instruction books: TOS. TTP is a natural, a walking encyclopedia.
116. "__ lied": SO I.
C.C.
The prescience of the Blog: June 8, Picard wrote "I get Basmati rice from India at Trader Joe's."
ReplyDeleteA BENGAL tiger from CINCINNATI,
A ROARER who had become a FATTY,
Swore off CRAFT BEER,
And meat, Oh dear!
Ate only long-grain rice -- BASMATI!
At the closing BELL, a stock BIG DEAL boosts,
That's how it makes its points!
A COLLEGE BASKETBALL player shoots at hoops,
That's how he makes his points!
A baseball player on third is HIT HOME,
That's how he makes his point!
A NATIVE chips at a flake of stone,
That's how he makes his point!
{B, B+.}
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Pawel and C.C.!
Fun puzzle, went swiftly.
Puzzlers: ...Bronte, ...Bengles, BADA BING, OBAN. SHAKIRA and UMW.
Have a great day!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWowza, what a masterpiece of grid design!
Morning, C.C., so glad you explained Ange, which filled in with perps and which I never made sense of.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThe title and fill of a couple of theme entries signaled the CB pattern, which helped with the solve. My unknowns were all proper names: Dogg, Rhea, Khan, Oban, Rico, and Alek. They were all filled by perps except I stumbled on the Dogg/Ange crossing so had a FIW. I also goofed on the Got Even/Loc cross; that was simply not paying attention to the tense of the clue. Surprisingly, I had only two w/os: Tiles/Racks and Queen/Joker. Noticed the Sera/Cera duo. The impressive grid, coupled with the amount of themers more than made up for the numerous three-letter words.
Thanks, Pawel, for a smooth Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for the detailed and informative summary. I always appreciate your professional critique and personal asides.
PK, do you have any update on Aaron?
Have a great day.
The only thing missing today was CONSTRUCTION BATTALLION. The CBs were easy to guess but the A&E and proper names were a wee bit too many. I got 'em all except one- I had Michael DERA because my "Microbrewery choice" was DRAFT BEER, not CRAFT. They aren't in cans.
ReplyDeleteKOWALSKI, SHAKIRA, LUI, ALEK, ILLER, DOGG, RHEA, ALBUS, KHAN, ORANT, SOWS EAR, LOC, OBAN, ANGE - all perps
REBOOT- after a crash you need a new disk drive; I doubt you will REBOOT on the old one.
HEINIE- so that's how it's spelled; never knew.
CRAWDAD only because MUDBUG wasn't long enough. Maybe they're called CRAWDADS up north but not around here.
IM- my duo was SERA/DERA and the decks have FOUR queens.
Good mourning!
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw the impressive grid design. Yes, I saw the C-B theme pattern. That still wasn't enough to keep me from entering DRAFT BEER and Michael DERA (Hey, it could'a been!). DNF. I was smug in my certainty that DUMMY was correct, before IDIOT showed up. I also learned that I didn't know how to spell SHAKIRA. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln liked the play just fine.
CRAWDAD: Folks around here call 'em crawfish. In my ute we called 'em bait. The best I ever had was at a little restaurant in Breaux Bridge, near Lafayette, Louisiana.
NECKTIE: It's been more than twenty years since I wore one. I have no plans to ever wear one again, though DW says she's got one squirreled away just in case...
ALOE: Reminds me of a letter to the newspaper's gardening expert as to when this lady should water her cactus. The response -- Check the weather in the newspaper. If it rained in Albuquerque, you can water the cactus. [Not sure why it was Albuquerque and not Phoenix.]
Time to go pedal that bicycle before it gets too hot...
Big Easy @ 7:03 ~ A perfect example of my carelessness in reading the clues. 😚
ReplyDeleteDO @ 7:07 ~ Is your "Good mourning" a typo or a bit of word play? 😈
- - Thank you Mr. Pawel Fludzinski for this impossible CW. I had very few words on the first pass. I had to BAIL in the NW corner to start, but once my engine warmed up, I found letters I didn't even know existed to , ever so slowly, forge forward. I ended at the corner of 68D LEETIDE, one of my favorite words, and 96A CODEBREAKERS. Yes I finally broke the code.
ReplyDelete- - Thank you C.C. for your excellent review of this opus. I read the theme before starting the CW, and never thought of it again.
Ðave
IM, so you noticed that, did you?
ReplyDeleteForgot to thank Pawel and C.C. for a pleasant Sunday outing, even though the solving experience was less than optimal.
Chateau STE Michelle is also French, even if it's in Washington.
ReplyDeleteBaa Baa Black Sheep also uses the same ABCD tune. Mozart wrote 12 variations of it based on a 1761 French song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7yiD6cz8A
...and the public for these puzzles gets smaller and smaller...
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-What a treat from Dr. Fludzinski today. C.C.’s assessment works for me!
-I had to shake a lot of red herrings before OIL BARON unlocked that part of the puzzle!
-TILES/TONY got me off to a roaring stop @1A/D après corrections
-Benedict Cumberbatch was annoying and brilliant in Bletchley Park as he was here
-Good luck IDIOTS!
-I am BASKING in Clair de Lune as I type this. Ahhh…
-Alternate to “I’M A COP”
-A SEE ALONE/closed door meeting with the principal ain’t good
-Pawel could have used his home of Santa Fe, N.M instead of Albuquerque
-We’re taking the ARMOIRE and that’s all there is to it (:47)
-The over/under for the NYY/NYM tonight is 7. If you bet UNDER, you win if the total runs are under 7
-The NECKTIE is a casualty in any teacher’s lounge today
-Otto, me too on DERA/DRAFT
Lyrics- Part I
ReplyDeleteHer name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from eight til four
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?
At the copa (co) Copacabana (Copacabana)
The hottest spot north of Havana (here)
At the copa (co) Copacabana
Music and passion were always the fashion
At the copa they fell in love.
Lyrics- Part II
ReplyDeleteCopa, Copacabana
His name was Rico
He wore a diamond
He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancing there
And when she finished, he called her over
But Rico went a bit to far
Tony sailed across the bar
And then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two
There was blood and a single gun shot
But just who shot who?
At the copa (co) Copacabana (Copacabana)
The hottest spot north of Havana (here)
At the copa (co) Copacabana
Music and passion were always the fashion
At the copa, she lost her love
(Copa, Copacabana)
(Copa, Copacabana)
(Copacabana).
Anyway, the rest does not matter, I was also very impressed with the grid design and did not care for ILLER AGER and the inexcusable ATHS for athletes. I did not know DOGG, RHEA forgot ALBUS and always hated ORANT.
ReplyDeleteOverall a good challenge that reminded me that knowing some French really helps
Thank you Professor P and C.C.
Amazing!
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult enough to create 2 intersections, let alone 6. And "checked baggage" and "central booking have 2!!! How impressive!
D-O & HG- I guess we drink DRAFT BEER and really don't know or care who Michael CERA is or which show he appears on ( or should I say: on which show he appears). I know they are CRAFT (or micro) breweries but the beer is DRAFT (draught). I've never heard anybody actually say "CRAFT beer".
ReplyDeletedesper-otto at 7:07 AM
ReplyDelete- - Ate crawfish in Breaux Bridge, near Lafayette, Louisiana. - I interned at Baton Rouge in 1995 as part of my PT training. I enjoyed zydeco music in Breaux Bridge.
Here is a picture of Mulates.
Ali Landry, from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana was Miss Louisiana USA 1996,
Miss USA 1996, (14:55) and a Miss Universe 1996 top 6 finalist. Folks were talking about her when I was there.
Our trip to Cajun Country is complete with
Doug Kershaw - The Ragin' Cajun Live In Concert.
Laissez le bon temps rouler!
Ðave
Good morning everyone
ReplyDeleteAnother delightfully fresh puzzle from Pawel. How often do we see CLARIFIED BUTTER in the fill? Completed it on-line without incident.
OBAN - There was always a great restaurant at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. called the OBAN INN. Several fine repasts there (at company expense.)
TASSE - Also German. Probably a borrowing. I grew up with the word.
"Morgen marschieren wir
Zu dem Bauern in das Nachtquartier.
Eine TASSE Tee, Zucker und Kaffee,
Eine TASSE Tee, Zucker und Kaffee
Und ein Gläschen Wein,
Und ein Gläschen Wein!"
ITHACAN - I didn't know Odysseus was a Cornellian.
It is now 8 BELLS (local time) and time for lunch. I have a clock that does 'BELLS' on my mantel.
Chateau Ste. Michelle is in Woodinville WA. Their cab sauv is our house wine. Woodinville is home to dozens (hundreds?) of wineries, many of them small craft wine makers located in an industrial park. Woodinville is also home to my son and daughter-in-law.
ReplyDeleteBackatcha with a little Jolie Blonde.
ReplyDeleteFLN: Ok LIU. Apparently, BATTER'S EYE is a baseball expression very common in the game for the covered area of CF bleachers set up to contrast with the pitched ball to improve the BATTER's Eye. As lemony explained, I just never knew.
ReplyDeleteI am a self acknowledged baseball aficionado ( I can spell Shoendienst(Red, RIP-6/6) but never heard of the expression. I wasn't consulted. Btw, at Fenway Park the bleachers were not covered, even for day games until perhaps the 80s. And there were complaints. Ted didn't like it. Folks wore white shirts in those days
Ok next stop Sunday
WC
Hi Y'all! Though I agree he is brilliant, I cringed when I saw Pawel's name. Our areas of expertise are so different and there are always too many unknowns & naticks to really enjoy his puzzles. I do keep trying and filled it with a lot of red flashes at my word trials.
ReplyDeleteGhee = CLARIFIED BUTTER was a topic on Jeopardy or some other trivia quiz show lately. This was the third full theme entry I got. The first theme total fill was COLLEGE BASKETBALL. I had just finished watching "Strange Inheritance's" segment on the Naismith "First Rules of BASKET BALL (yep, two words) written in 1873. 2nd total theme fill: CINCINNATI BENGALS which finally had enough perps to dredge up that mysterious team.
The NW corner was unknowable at first & last to fill after several attempts. Forgot RICO & ADAR. Stanley before KOWALSKI. Nobody I hang out with says ILLER. Had BUREAU & CHESS a long time before I made CENSUS of that.
Pawel must be a Brando fan. Didn't know BADABING. Didn't see either that movie or KOWALSKI's, but nis name was familiar.
Didn't know UMW (all ESP) but FLN Picard asked if anyone else knew DOC was a miner. I don't think they were unionized, but I remember the dwarfs in "Snow White" marching off singing, "Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to work we go....in a mine" (diamond mine, I think.
Whenever I was working on some antique treasure in my former life, my husband would say, "You can't make a silk purse out of a SOW'S EAR". It would make me mad enough to make it very nice looking and more valuable.
So this is Wednesday level. Sounds like many disagree, especially Anon@10:05. I did it in two shifts. Like IM, I DNF'ed on ANGE/DOGG. I of course knew ANGE was an Angel/Seraph(im). And I even know good ol' Snoop Doggy DOGG. But, I was missing the W ons SOW'S EAR, caught it, but didn't go back and check the Downs. Exactly my excuse from Saturday. @#&*
ReplyDeleteHaving read A LOAD of Potter I still couldn't recall ALBUS until late. SeaBees helped a lot.
I too started with TILES/TONY but the theme straightened me out. My brain is so befogged I couldn't suss CINCINNATI even with the i before B.
They did GET to two SBs, the first in '82 was my last bet with the Bookie. Not only over and UNDER but COLLEGE BASKETBALL split bets where the favorite gave 4, and the Dog(g) got 2. Bookie cashed all bets if 3, and pushed* at 2 and 4. I had to be desperate and was. *
I remember at OCS/Basic School a good ol' boy singing about"The CRAWDAD Hole". Boston accents weren't popular. Then again the REBs are out there lurking, sulking waiting...
WC
* I had UCLA circa 1971/2 and Henry Bibby was fouled at the buzzer. UCLA had won the game and they dragged Henry out of the shower to shoot 2 FTs. Spread was 2-4 , he sank both to give me my PUSH. I loved that man even though his own son wouldn't speak to him.
I just did the _J since my post. I've been _ _ _ _ _ _ by the ---- ous _J bug
ReplyDeleteWc
Excellent—just excellent. I think I have done enough of Dr F's puzzles now that seeing his name on a Sunday puzzle no longer gives me the willies (heeby-jeebies? fits? muttering mumbles?). And I always learn something from C.C. so it’s all good today.
ReplyDeleteFavorite clue/answer: It’s seen on carousels— CHECKED BAGGAGE. One I hope never to see again: ILLER. That one just edged out ATHS.
Most everyone where I grew up (west central Illinois) called them CraYfish.
Gloomy, rainy day here. Temp 67, humidity 96%. Yuk.
Have a great day all!
So, Dark Asteroid, are you the singer formerly known as WikWak?
ReplyDeleteCC: I am in awe of how you can keep track of our posts on top of all else that you do. Honored that you remembered my enjoyment of BASMATI! Impressed you remembered, too, OWENKL.
ReplyDeleteI found this way difficult. A struggle right to the end. The abundant CB theme certainly helped a lot. But hand up all those proper names stumped me: KOWALSKI, ESAI, RHEA, ALBUS, OBAN, DOGG, SHAKIRA, KHAN, OLAF, KEN, ALEK, TESS. ORANT just looked wrong. Stuck a long time missing the meaning of BUM. Thinking of one who is down and out or the verb of how they get things. After all that work, glad to see I FIR.
Learning moment that some portraits are BACK LIT. I am a sometimes professional photographer and I have never done that. Favorite clues: Play date = GIG; Mating game = CHESS.
Big Easy: Thanks for the MUDBUG lesson. When I lived in the North we called them Crayfish.
PK: Thanks for connecting UMW and my earlier question about DOC. I have not seen very many Disney movies. Apparently in the original Seven Dwarfs story the dwarfs did not have names. And in the next version they had very different names than Disney gave them.
Here are my photos of another kind of NEWT when he tried to visit Santa Barbara. The crowd was not receptive and they re-routed the train!
From yesterday:
Glad to know that others are happy to eat NUTRIA. It does not change the point made by Dr Dean Edell about the statistics of most Americans' conservative eating habits. The current issue of Discover Magazine reports on efforts to farm crickets and other insects as a nutritious food source. Good for the planet and for the consumer. I am all for it and would be first in line for it.
From two days ago: Lucina:
Here was the article I read about Arizona trying to replace the word EVOLUTION in their science classes.
Imagine if astronomy or geography curricula were set by religious texts. I am hopeful that science and sanity will prevail in the long run. Thanks for the heads up, Lucina!
Not a fan of today's puzzle, not only because I FIW. Too much hip hop / rap crap.
ReplyDeleteLike so many others I had a dRAFT BEER. Unlike most of the others, I had it only on paper.
I can't wait for COLLEGE BASKETBALL to start. Looks like Kentucky will be loaded with talent again; let's see how well Coach Cal can do in making them into a team.
I didn't remember bada bing from The Godfather, but The Sopranos stole it for the name of their strip joint.
I wonder if Pawel considered "frequencies for good buddies" as a clue for a potential theme entry "Citizens Band".
I was all excited when I read that the contestants in the next Miss America contest wouldn't be wearing their bathing suits. I read further and was disappointed to read that they eliminated that competition. They eliminated the evening gown portion also. They already have a competition where looks don't matter, it's called Jeopardy.
Also great last week was the capitals winning Lord Stanley's Cup. Son and DIL got me an early fathers day present - my first hockey-themed tee shirt. I'll wear it on parade day Tuesday.
No surprise that Justified won the Belmont. What an amazing animal. Paid $3.60 to win. Gronk paid $13.80 to place, and Hofburg $3.70 to show. Smart money never bets an odds-on favorite to win.
On the down side, Charles Krauthammer announced last week that he only has a few weeks to live. I first noticed him as a columnist in the WaPo, then later as a panelist on Brit Hume's show on Fox News. He was paralyzed by a diving accident while in college, but finished medical school and became a psychiatrist before becoming a journalist. Like millions of others, I will miss him dearly.
Lucina and Bill G ~ I hope you saw Sunday Morning today. I thought every segment was A+ in subject matter and significance,
ReplyDeleteHere is another Cajun offering Dewey Balfa - Jai Ete Au Bal - Awesome Fiddlesticks. The young man is playing the Fiddlesticks.
ReplyDeleteYeehah!
Ðave
Irish Miss, yes, I have started watching Sunday Morning but got interrupted. Now I am very much looking forward to the rest of it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteImpressive gird. Great puzzle. The title Sea Bees certainly helped the solve. The many unknown proper names were filled with perps and wags. FIR. I had sowsear, but couldn't parse it. Make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. AHA!
ReplyDeleteIn slang ILL means good.
I am not into Harry Potter. My students loved the series.
We don't use hankies these days. They are terrible to launder. We quit using bar soap, too. It causes build up.
ILLER is slang. Ill means good
Lovely picture of Oban. It brings back happy memories of the Scottish villages we visited.
ORANT- ORA means pray in Latin. AVE Maria, Ora Por Nobis means Hail Mary, pray for us.
Craft beer is popular here, and I read that it is popular in many regions of the U.S. We have ordered it in brew pubs. There will be a craft beer festival near here soon.
Craft
beer
Yes, Heigh Ho, the Seven Dwarfs Marching Song, mentions digging in the mine for diamonds.
Today I again made two large trays of deviled eggs and a large macaroni/tuna salad for a picnic. This time they got eaten. Although it rained, we were in a pavilion at a park. Good food, good company.
Picard, not only that but "bum" in newsprint looks just like "burn". I finally got the 'einie and just need the H in RHEA. Then, and only then, did I get it. And in a family newspaper, I'm shocked and chagrined*.
ReplyDeleteJinx. Did I ever mention that you slay me nearly every post. What a great idea, Miss NUDE America. What,?? Already taken?
WC
* Name the movie
This is one of those puzzles for me that the theme answers with the CB were much quicker than the fill (other times it goes the other way).
ReplyDeleteCRAWDAD, Crawdaddy, Crayfish, Crawfish, etc. are often one of those things that can locate what region you are from in those quizzes with multiple regional words to pick from.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=1
I often have a hard time choosing, since we live in a crossroads between North and South and East and West and sometimes multiple terms are used. CRAWDADs is what we tried to catch in the creek in the summer growing up so I guess those are my roots
Thanks CC and Pawel!
Looking for a new clue for JUSTIFY to show up on crosswords now that we have another Triple Crown Winner!
Very nice job and love the poems, but I see 44D as “AABB” sequence, no?
ReplyDeleteTwinkle, Twinkie little star is also the tune to the ABC song. ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOP.........Now I've sung my ABC's.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle even though I had to turn on red letters to discover that my GET should have been AIL, my RIB should have been RAG, and my TILES should have been RACKS. Well-executed themage and construction, but I too had difficulty with the proper names (with the exception of ESAI, who appears often) and slang. I smiled very slightly at seeing IN E and ENE in the same row. Then there were EEN and OON.
ReplyDeleteBeethoven was born in BONN.
LW and I like Chateau STE Michelle Riesling wine. It is very drinkable and far too easy for me to finish off a whole bottle in one day, especially on a hot day. We also prefer BASMATI rice.
"Nice to see you."
"Nice to BE SEEN."
Our son treated me to a nice TEA BOX of wonderful Taiwanese Jasmine Ball tea. Really good stuff. I still have a little bit left and am looking for a source from whom to buy more; I can't find the same brand that he bought but there seem to be plenty of excellent alternatives out there.
We rented the movie Molly's Game last night and it turns out Michael CERA was in it. (It is a good movie, but, being written {and directed) by Aaron Sorkin, it is a little bit quirky.)
A couple of CRAFT BEERs that I have recently discovered and like are Black Butte Porter by Deschutes Brewery and Alaskan Amber Ale by the Alaskan Brewing Co.
Why, in fantasy fiction, are dwarves always underground dwellers and miners? And elves always seem to be archers and live in deep forests?
Good wishes to you all.
Sunday Lurk say...
ReplyDeleteBadaBing BadaBoom is normal speak for Italian-Americans. No really, Pop says it all the time when meting solutions to problems:
"Put that over there
Put this in dat
Bada Bing - You done."
"Pop, um, that is 300lbs."
"You'd bitch with a loaf of bread under your arm..." (?)
I'm all over the map with what to call crawdads/mudbugs... If I'm gonna eat it, it's crawfish.
WikWak (if that's you) - is the new moniker a hint at impending doom?
BigE - spend a weekend in Denver - 180+ CRAFT BEERS. We only got to 10 houses but had fun.
Jayce - One of our favs was Living the Dream Brewery. The guy left Utah for CO because he wanted to make >3.2 beer. Glad he did :-)
Jinx - LOL Jeopardy! re: Krauthammer: I seldom agreed but I got his point and internalized it. His columns are well written and seldom (if ever) presented red herrings. I will miss him almost as much as Will Safire. That kind of conservative thinking is sorely lacking IMHO.
Cheers, -T
In Casablanca it was merely"I'm shocked!". Jackie Chiles of Seinfeld fame added "Chagrined".
ReplyDeleteTolkien was a Middle Ages scholar and simply adoped his Dwarves from things like the "Eddas" and Seigfried.
I'm not so sure about the elves. A borrowing for sure but more from legend and tradition. Legolas was perfect for Hollywood of course.
I don't know if Disney was familiar with"The Hobbit" when he produced"Snow White". The Brothers Grimm we're surely familiar with the same tales as JRR.
WC
That was BUM? Like in backside? Phooey, I read it BUrn, too and thought it might be a Scottish stream called HEINIE.
ReplyDeleteJinx: LOL! My first thought when I read about the NEW, IMPROVED Miss America was, "Nobody will watch it but women." When we only had two TV channels, I could talk my husband into watching Miss America only because of the swimsuits. I covered our state Miss America preliminary several years for the newspaper. Seated below the stage with the camera pointed upward, I had a few crotch pictures during swimsuit parades that I wouldn't dare print in a family newspaper.
Tony, I figured you'd know BADA BING. The only time I ever heard that was the few months when I lived in Massachusetts and worked in an office with a bunch of Italians.
I was trying to test a Link using the usual syntax . When I go to Preview it tells me I can't link to a secure site(https- as if therest anything else out there)
ReplyDelete-T? Any ideas . It seemed to be working ok before and I see other https sites linked .
Was this what YR was talking about once . I use chromrbtw .
Wc
Oops that sb Chrome
DeleteCC - thanks for the generous comments in your write up, and I very much appreciate the kind comments from the people that have posted. Thank you. When I created the puzzle, I thought "SeaBees" as a title might give away too much, but it sounds it was about right - led solvers in the right direction, but still challenging enough. Alternative (much worse) titles I proposed were: "Naval Engineers" or "We Build, We Fight Sailors". I am glad Rich went with SeaBees.
ReplyDeleteMy only regret in reading these posts - I now have Barry Manilow's "Copa" stuck in my head... I trust I will be "hearing it" while I fall asleep tonight.
Thanks all!
(PS - I deleted a very similar post because I saw several typos - corrected and reposted)
Whew! The late BELLS are ringing! My granddaughter spent the night so even though I have two TVS she somehow managed to glom onto both. I'll watch Sunday Morning later this week.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pavel, you served us a tough one today; no it's not Wednesday easy, not for me anyway. The impressive CBers were relatively easy to work out and many of the perps hinged onto them. However, I'm with those of you who found too many unknown names. I knew SHAKIRA and KEN Griffey but for the life of me could not recall Stanley KOWALSKI! LIU. That nicely completed the NW corner. DOGG, ALEK, RHEA, CERA and ALBUS I may have heard of once, but just not familiar enough with them to recall. All perps to the rescue.
GIG/RAG were botched when it came to ARMOIRE and SOWSEAR I was just too tired and frustrated to try.
D-O:
That joke about watering the cactus was in Reader's Digest many years ago and the reference was to Phoenix.
BASMATI: I forgot the other day to mention that's what I use also. Love it.
OLAF: no debate on f or v because in Frozen it's the f.
CODEBREAKERS: I love to watch the Bletchley Circle on PBS.
ORANT: Latin for one who prays. In the lives of the saints many are called ORANTS.
Picard:
Thank you for linking the article. That is exactly what I read in the newspaper and I'm following carefully to see what the final decision is. Our superintendent of public instruction was elected only because she is a republican. Her opponent is an ASU professor and eminently qualified for the job but here too many people see the R and vote on that alone. Her qualification is that she was a member of a school board.
Thank you so much, C.C. for posting the grid and highlighting all the theme phrases. That is impressive!
Jayce:
ReplyDeleteI also love Chateau Ste Michele Riesling! It's wonderful.
CRAFTBEERS: that is the only way I've heard them described and there are dozens advertised around here.
There is a Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, Va. in the mountains.
ReplyDeleteLemonade, thanks for finding the lyrics. They are pretty cleverly done, I think, sort of like this grid.
ReplyDeleteI hate to post this late in the day and feel I should know what has already been said, but not enough time. But I did have a deja vu moment, or maybe an"aha" moment, where I just felt that I was thinking in crossswordese, not having studied enough to be fluent.
Yes, the Chateau Ste. Michele riesling is great, and fairly ubiquitous. The best rieslings I've experienced are those from New Zealand.
We have certainly lost a lot of celebrities and other well-knowns, and found we will be losing more soon (McCain and Krauthammer, e.g.). I'll never forget that episode of Parts Unknown where Bourdain is in Hanoi and has dinner with Obama while President. No security was apparently needed. Makes me want to go to Hanoi, perhaps to see Ha Long Bay.
C.C., thanks.
Jim: Close but no C-gar.
ReplyDeleteYou take an Ay
Followed by Bee,
Add on Cee,
End with Dee.
The sequence is ABBB. Nice try, tho!
YR: You're just repeating the clue/answer for 44d.
I think it's not so much that dwarves* live underground, as that if they live underground, they're dwarves (especially if they're short and usually good guys. If they're tall and bad guys, they're trolls. Similarly with elves and forests. Though Tolkien was alone in making them human-sized. (Or did he? Too long since I read the books. That may be something Jackson added in the movies.)
If you can't link to an https site, just erase the s. http will get you to the same place but without the extra security. I don't know how universal that is, but it's worked for me a couple times.
*My spellcheck wanted me to change dwarves to adwares!
Maybe dwarfs live underground because everybody is is to big to fit in the handy caves. Or else the dwarfs are hiding so they don't get bullied.
ReplyDeleteOKL, Jim was looking for a rhyme scheme, AABB in Twinkle, Twinkle. He didn't think of the alphabet song which I added the words for, "also the tune to the ABC song. ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOP.........Now I've sung my ABC's." Therefore ABCD seems wrong to him.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I really liked your first poem.
WC, I think I had a different problem. I could publish here with EDGE, only if I did not include a link. When I add a link, I lose my post.
When I remember to post a link in Chrome it works.
Also I can only get the Mensa puzzle site in Chrome, not in Edge.
I am sorry about your problem. I do not know the answer.
D-O, Anon-T, et al: Yup, 'sme. I must have been logged in under one of my other aliases (alii?). Not sure how that happened.
ReplyDeleteWC - Idea #1 don't use preview; YR had issues with that a week or so ago. Idea #2 be very careful with spacing... You can't have href= " for instance. HTTPS links just fine - no YouTube subscription needed.
ReplyDeleteRainman - Watch that Parts episode again (I did; it was on CNN last night) and notice the entire street was shut down and Secret-Service was all about.
WikWak - now I'm curious about the radio thing... But you say there's no dark nothing to look out for and we're safe (at least until Tuesday), right? ;-)
PK - LOL! re: dwarves/no one else can fit in the caves. My Great-Grand father immigrated to the coal mines in Riverton, IL. They let a lot of us WOPs in 'cuz we were short an fit in the shaft :-)
Youngest has been looking forward to and is now watching the Tonys. I asked,
"Who do you want to win? - I give those out you know."
"Dad, really?" #dadJoke
Cheers, -T
Here's a link test
ReplyDeleteS&C
Thx Tony . No preview did the trick .
ReplyDeleteRe. Dwarves. A Dwarf crafted Siegfrieds Ring. And Sword if I'm not mistaken. Btw, that Brunhilde was quite a woman, at least in the first half of the tale.
Also, I finally grok'ed ITHACA from my dim memory of Homer. Almost as dim as my memory of hearing the name SHAKIRA.
I'm surprised Pawel didn't use the clue "Titanic nemesis" for 120A.
WC
WC re: SHAKIRA. Didn't you ever see the video of singer & belly dancer SHAKIRA doing a song called, "Hips Don't Lie"? Lovely girl.
ReplyDelete