Theme: Can you spare some speared pears to pare? Scrambles on the theme of "pears".
17A. Led: SPEARHEADED. Here's the Kovel spearhead (or at least a reproduction of it) excavated in the Ukraine in 1858. The original was looted and lost during WWII.
31A. Barbecue favorite: SPARE RIBS. Food! I tried "SHORT RIBS" first for absolutely no good reason. I sous-vide my spare ribs with a dry rub for 36 hours before painting them with sauce and finishing them off in a searing hot oven. Purists tell me that's not barbecue. Taste Buds don't object.
38A. Reduces, as spending: PARES DOWN. Usually only by a few slivers, but a reduction nonetheless.
51A. Cooked fruit dessert ... and a cryptic hint to the start of 17-, 31- and 38-Across: STEWED PEARS. More food! I'm a happy camper today.
Solid Thursday-level puzzle from Paul. There is a reveal entry, and so you can dispense with circles to alert the unwary to the presence of the theme scrambles. The fill is smooth, and the long downs give some pleasing cohesion to the whole. Let's see what jumps out:
Across:
1. Org. that awards the Spingarn Medal: N.A.A.C.P. Awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African-American.
6. Bochco series: LA LAW
11. Peter, Paul and Mary: Abbr.: STS. Nice clue! Saints, not states and nothing whatever to do with the folk trio. Here's Seal singing Peter Yarrow's Puff the Magic Dragon in my submission for the "Tenuous Link Of The Week" competition.
14. Counterpart of "a": ALPHA. I suppose it is a counterpart, never thought of it that way before.
15. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E.COLI. Let's be clear, the bacteria is present in contaminated meat and if that meat is undercooked can present a health risk. No need to swear off your medium-rare hamburger or your kibbeh nayyeh if you source your meat carefully.
16. Not just "a": THE
19. Bonanza contents: ORE
20. Many a Bon Appétit subscriber: FOODIE. The canny foodie gets Bon Appétit online.
21. Tablet download: E-BOOK
23. Flips, in a way: RE-SELLS
26. Ball beauties: BELLES. Here's a question - can a ball have more than one belle, or do multiple belles have to divvy up the balls between them? We should be told.
27. Hardened: INURED
28. Decline to recline?: STAY UP. Nice!
30. Bursts: POPS
34. Suffix with glob: -ULE
35. Held closely (to): ADHERED
37. "O wad some Pow'r the giftie __ us": Burns: GIE. "Oh, would some power give us the gift ..."
40. Manage (for oneself): FEND
41. Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAWS. Food aplenty. I know 'em as pawpaws, and long before I'd ever seen one in the flesh, I knew the name from the "Bear Necessities" song from The Jungle Book Disney movie.
42. Slapstick trio member: STOOGE.
44. Loosey-__: GOOSEY
46. Fishing lure: SPINNER
47. Less experienced: RAWER. or rare, as opposed to medium-rare, to continue my food! theme of the day.
48. Plump: ROTUND
50. Mike and __: fruity candy: IKE
56. Part of mpg: PER
57. Quilt filler: EIDER
58. Latin stars: ASTRA. Should be familiar from many mottoes and a ton of cultural references. I know "Per Ardua ad Astra" as the motto of the Royal Air Force.
59. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr.: ENS. ign.
60. Tea go-with: SCONE. If you're ever in Devon or Cornwall, make sure you get clotted cream on your scone.
61. Bikini blast: N-TEST. Bikini atoll. Contrary to popular opinion, the swimsuit isn't a "bikini" because it's a two-piece, it's because of the alleged explosive effect of wearing one when they were first introduced.
Down:
1. Hip-hop artist who narrates Netflix's "The Get Down": NAS. Knew the artist, but not the show.
2. Hurdle for Hannibal: ALP. Also a hurdle for the riders in the Tour de France which is currently heading for the finish in Paris this weekend.
3. Act like: APE
4. Plant-eating scarab beetles: CHAFERS. Thank you, crosses. I will file this away for future scarab reference.
5. Sentence shortener: PAROLE. Nice one. I was on the ET AL, ETC train for a while.
6. City on the Aire: LEEDS. A given for me. We lived in Leeds when I was a little kid and the city was the site of a lot of firsts for me - riding a bike unaided, kissing a girl (on a dare, naturally!), tearing open an artery falling out of a tree (I still have the scar), breaking a leg. I never fell in the river Aire though, which was just as well. Back then, I wouldn't have drowned, I'd have slowly dissolved in the chemicals.
7. Antioxidant berry in smoothies: ACAI
8. Valuable deposit: LODE. What a lode of ore we have today.
9. Tap output: ALE
10. Innocent-looking: WIDE-EYED
11. Informer: STOOL PIGEON
12. Pang: THROE
13. Goes after: SEEKS
18. You might hear music on it: HOLD. Usually really awful, crackly, repetitive stuff. People who implement on-hold music and announcements should be forced to listen to the tape loop for a full day, then see how they like it.
22. Cloud: BLUR
23. Make confetti of: RIP UP
24. Name on a 1945 bomber: ENOLA
25. Dominant states: SUPERPOWERS. My superpower is my Vitamix blender. It's got so much horsepower that if you leave it running for a minute or so the contents of the jug get hot enough to simmer just from the friction of the blades.
26. Spartan: BARE
28. Expels: SPEWS
29. Mountain lake: TARN
31. Larry McMurtry's "The Last Picture __": SHOW
32. __-watch: BINGE. The nearest I've come to binge-watching was settling down to all six seasons of Downton Abbey over a period of a few weeks.
33. Feast where the Haggadah is read: SEDER
35. Bad-mouths: ASPERSES. What a cracking word! We're all familiar with the noun form, as some of the snarky anons in the comments like to throw aspersions around like confetti, but the verb form is new to me. I resolve to use it. Not in the first person active though.
36. "Saving Private Ryan" event: D-DAY. I saw this in the theater when it was first released. There was a stunned silence for the first 40 minutes or so.
39. Let up: EASE
40. Most affectionate: FONDEST
42. 5'7" Webb, shortest to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest: "SPUD". All-Name Hall of Fame. Another first-round All-Name Hall-of-Famer is the 5'3" "Muggsy" Bogues who was the shortest player to ever play in the NFL and HE could dunk. Think about that. The hoop is at 10'.
43. __ Alley: TIN PAN
44. Beef: GRIPE
45. Like Cognac casks: OAKEN. Or dwarves' shields, according to The Lord of the Rings.
46. About 1.3 cubic yards: STERE. Or a cubic meter, more simply put. There's some discussion about whether to use the cubic meter for cut wood, and the stere for uncut wood, but frankly I shouldn't lose any sleep over it.
48. Give a makeover: REDO
49. "A Prayer for __ Meany": John Irving novel: OWEN. A fabulous novel in my humble opinion, this had me enthralled from start to finish.
52. Personal quirk: TIC
53. Downed a sub?: ATE
54. Syst. of cars on tracks: R.R.S. Railroads. I'm thinking of building a model railway, but it would have to be the super-tiny "N" scale. Not sure if me old bones and eyesight are up to the task.
55. Convened: SAT
And that should do it. I'm hungry after all this food!
Steve
17A. Led: SPEARHEADED. Here's the Kovel spearhead (or at least a reproduction of it) excavated in the Ukraine in 1858. The original was looted and lost during WWII.
31A. Barbecue favorite: SPARE RIBS. Food! I tried "SHORT RIBS" first for absolutely no good reason. I sous-vide my spare ribs with a dry rub for 36 hours before painting them with sauce and finishing them off in a searing hot oven. Purists tell me that's not barbecue. Taste Buds don't object.
38A. Reduces, as spending: PARES DOWN. Usually only by a few slivers, but a reduction nonetheless.
51A. Cooked fruit dessert ... and a cryptic hint to the start of 17-, 31- and 38-Across: STEWED PEARS. More food! I'm a happy camper today.
Solid Thursday-level puzzle from Paul. There is a reveal entry, and so you can dispense with circles to alert the unwary to the presence of the theme scrambles. The fill is smooth, and the long downs give some pleasing cohesion to the whole. Let's see what jumps out:
Across:
1. Org. that awards the Spingarn Medal: N.A.A.C.P. Awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African-American.
6. Bochco series: LA LAW
11. Peter, Paul and Mary: Abbr.: STS. Nice clue! Saints, not states and nothing whatever to do with the folk trio. Here's Seal singing Peter Yarrow's Puff the Magic Dragon in my submission for the "Tenuous Link Of The Week" competition.
14. Counterpart of "a": ALPHA. I suppose it is a counterpart, never thought of it that way before.
15. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E.COLI. Let's be clear, the bacteria is present in contaminated meat and if that meat is undercooked can present a health risk. No need to swear off your medium-rare hamburger or your kibbeh nayyeh if you source your meat carefully.
16. Not just "a": THE
19. Bonanza contents: ORE
20. Many a Bon Appétit subscriber: FOODIE. The canny foodie gets Bon Appétit online.
21. Tablet download: E-BOOK
23. Flips, in a way: RE-SELLS
26. Ball beauties: BELLES. Here's a question - can a ball have more than one belle, or do multiple belles have to divvy up the balls between them? We should be told.
27. Hardened: INURED
28. Decline to recline?: STAY UP. Nice!
30. Bursts: POPS
34. Suffix with glob: -ULE
35. Held closely (to): ADHERED
37. "O wad some Pow'r the giftie __ us": Burns: GIE. "Oh, would some power give us the gift ..."
O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!
Robert Burns, "To a Louse".
40. Manage (for oneself): FEND
41. Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAWS. Food aplenty. I know 'em as pawpaws, and long before I'd ever seen one in the flesh, I knew the name from the "Bear Necessities" song from The Jungle Book Disney movie.
42. Slapstick trio member: STOOGE.
44. Loosey-__: GOOSEY
46. Fishing lure: SPINNER
47. Less experienced: RAWER. or rare, as opposed to medium-rare, to continue my food! theme of the day.
48. Plump: ROTUND
50. Mike and __: fruity candy: IKE
56. Part of mpg: PER
57. Quilt filler: EIDER
58. Latin stars: ASTRA. Should be familiar from many mottoes and a ton of cultural references. I know "Per Ardua ad Astra" as the motto of the Royal Air Force.
59. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr.: ENS. ign.
60. Tea go-with: SCONE. If you're ever in Devon or Cornwall, make sure you get clotted cream on your scone.
61. Bikini blast: N-TEST. Bikini atoll. Contrary to popular opinion, the swimsuit isn't a "bikini" because it's a two-piece, it's because of the alleged explosive effect of wearing one when they were first introduced.
Down:
1. Hip-hop artist who narrates Netflix's "The Get Down": NAS. Knew the artist, but not the show.
2. Hurdle for Hannibal: ALP. Also a hurdle for the riders in the Tour de France which is currently heading for the finish in Paris this weekend.
3. Act like: APE
4. Plant-eating scarab beetles: CHAFERS. Thank you, crosses. I will file this away for future scarab reference.
5. Sentence shortener: PAROLE. Nice one. I was on the ET AL, ETC train for a while.
6. City on the Aire: LEEDS. A given for me. We lived in Leeds when I was a little kid and the city was the site of a lot of firsts for me - riding a bike unaided, kissing a girl (on a dare, naturally!), tearing open an artery falling out of a tree (I still have the scar), breaking a leg. I never fell in the river Aire though, which was just as well. Back then, I wouldn't have drowned, I'd have slowly dissolved in the chemicals.
7. Antioxidant berry in smoothies: ACAI
8. Valuable deposit: LODE. What a lode of ore we have today.
9. Tap output: ALE
10. Innocent-looking: WIDE-EYED
11. Informer: STOOL PIGEON
12. Pang: THROE
13. Goes after: SEEKS
18. You might hear music on it: HOLD. Usually really awful, crackly, repetitive stuff. People who implement on-hold music and announcements should be forced to listen to the tape loop for a full day, then see how they like it.
22. Cloud: BLUR
23. Make confetti of: RIP UP
24. Name on a 1945 bomber: ENOLA
25. Dominant states: SUPERPOWERS. My superpower is my Vitamix blender. It's got so much horsepower that if you leave it running for a minute or so the contents of the jug get hot enough to simmer just from the friction of the blades.
26. Spartan: BARE
28. Expels: SPEWS
29. Mountain lake: TARN
31. Larry McMurtry's "The Last Picture __": SHOW
32. __-watch: BINGE. The nearest I've come to binge-watching was settling down to all six seasons of Downton Abbey over a period of a few weeks.
33. Feast where the Haggadah is read: SEDER
35. Bad-mouths: ASPERSES. What a cracking word! We're all familiar with the noun form, as some of the snarky anons in the comments like to throw aspersions around like confetti, but the verb form is new to me. I resolve to use it. Not in the first person active though.
36. "Saving Private Ryan" event: D-DAY. I saw this in the theater when it was first released. There was a stunned silence for the first 40 minutes or so.
39. Let up: EASE
40. Most affectionate: FONDEST
42. 5'7" Webb, shortest to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest: "SPUD". All-Name Hall of Fame. Another first-round All-Name Hall-of-Famer is the 5'3" "Muggsy" Bogues who was the shortest player to ever play in the NFL and HE could dunk. Think about that. The hoop is at 10'.
43. __ Alley: TIN PAN
44. Beef: GRIPE
45. Like Cognac casks: OAKEN. Or dwarves' shields, according to The Lord of the Rings.
46. About 1.3 cubic yards: STERE. Or a cubic meter, more simply put. There's some discussion about whether to use the cubic meter for cut wood, and the stere for uncut wood, but frankly I shouldn't lose any sleep over it.
48. Give a makeover: REDO
49. "A Prayer for __ Meany": John Irving novel: OWEN. A fabulous novel in my humble opinion, this had me enthralled from start to finish.
52. Personal quirk: TIC
53. Downed a sub?: ATE
54. Syst. of cars on tracks: R.R.S. Railroads. I'm thinking of building a model railway, but it would have to be the super-tiny "N" scale. Not sure if me old bones and eyesight are up to the task.
55. Convened: SAT
And that should do it. I'm hungry after all this food!
Steve
66 comments:
CrossEyed D - from yesterday ~
"Screw the Pooch"
Wiktionary Etymology
1950s, from earlier f**k the dog (“fritter, waste time”) (1935) (compare f**k around), later sense of “make an embarrassing mistake” (compare screw up, f**k up). Popularized by use by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff (1979), and film adaptation The Right Stuff (1983).
And from Stackexchange.com:
"The term was first documented in the early "Mercury" days of the US space program. It came there from a Yale graduate named John Rawlings who helped design the astronauts' space suits. The phrase is actually a bastardization of an earlier, more vulgar and direct term which was slang for doing something very much the wrong way, as in "you are f**king the dog!" At Yale a friend of Rawlings', the radio DJ Jack May (a.k.a. "Candied Yam Jackson") amended this term to "screwing the pooch" which was simultaneously less vulgar and more pleasing to the ear."
~ OMK
Greetings!
Thanks Paul and Steve!
Crunchy puzzle. FIR.
Problem answers: STS, PAPAWS (know other spelling), IKE, NAS, CHAFERS, LEEDS, HOLD, ASPERSES and SPUD.
Still way over 100 degrees.
Have a great day!
There was a hero who had SUPER POWERS!
Before him each of the bad guys cowers!
Until a STOOL PIGEON
Revealed he loved fishin',
A stream and new SPINNER could distract him for hours!
A FOODIE subscribed to Bon Appétit.
Tried out SPARE RIBS as a meat treat.
Then some STEWED PEARS
Prepared a la Paris,
Now she is ROTUND, no longer petite!
I hate to GRIPE, I really, really do.
But there are times one just has to.
When Thumper's ignored
By the Anonymous horde,
They're often revealing they haven't a clue!
{B-, B, A.}
Hello Rätsellöser,
I managed to finished today in 18 minutes in 100% (nice for a Thursday puzzle). Last to fill was GOOSEY - never heard that term. Many new words, but managed to solve them with crossings.
ABEJO
I suppose the club is named after Josef Dobrovsky, famous Czech philologist and important figure of National Revival in the 19th century. Would love to hear what you consider Bohemian food and if there is actually any Slovak food too.
Picard
Actually it is a bit weird to have DRIVER written on your licence plate:) They look like a happy couple.
ad yesterday's crossword
AVA DuVerney makes movies aimed at afro-american audience mainly. She is the first woman of color to direct a movie with a budget over 100 m USD. However, A wrinkle in time is probably the biggest flop of the year. Her movie Selma gained a NAACP award - connection to today's crossword. I know her name well, because she was part of the mostly female Cannes jury this year with Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart, Lea Seydoux and Dennis Villeneuve (awesome director) among others.
TUCCI - surprised he is not widely known. He was hilarious as the father of Emma Stone in Easy A.
Good morning!
Tried SHRED and NEWER for RIP UP and RAWER, but otherwise skated right through this one. Thanx for 'splainin' HOLD, Steve, the telephone never occurred to me. I was thinking ship.
I, too, am familiar with Paw Paws, a seafood restaurant in Lake Charles rather than PAPAWS. Thanx, Paul, and nice tour, Steve. (I think those belles should leave the balls alone.)
If ever there was a puzzle that was intended for Steve to blog, this food intensive creation by Paul is it. Maybe Paul was watching.
The theme was a common variation and the fill mostly very recognizable. Like Steve Plant-eating scarab beetles: CHAFERS was an unknown. Seeing PAPAW in the puzzle reminded me of my youngest son's performance as Doc in CRIMES OF THE HEART in high school.
Krijo, glad to see you have stayed and 18 minuted with no mistakes-awesome.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun Thursday puzzle! I loved the STEWED PEARS.
Hand up for trying Short Ribs before getting the SPARE RIBS.
I immediately know the the Bochco series was LA LAW. The show was aired when I was in Law School in the other LA. Steve Bochco died of leukemia earlier this year (in April).
I liked both the Counter Part to "a" = ALPHA and Not Just "a" = THE.
Also interesting to have Bonanza Contents and Valuable Deposit, ORE and LODE, respectively, in this puzzle.
Haggadah is the transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning "telling". The Haggadah the story of the Exodus from Egypt, which is why it is read during the Passover Seder.
A shout out to our Chairman Moe with the STOOGE.
QOD: It’s all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back. ~ Mick Jagger (b. July 26, 1943)
Good morning all. Thanks Paul and Steve.
Tough sledding this morning .
North west was much more difficult than necessary.
Did’t know CHAFERS. For some reason it never dawned on me that PAROLE was a sentence shortener even tho I participated in an inmate visitors progrogram years ago . My assigned inmate was transferred to minimum security for good behavior and promptly flew the coop. Got rearrested halfway across the country and I was back on visitor duty.
Did not know ENOLA and couldn’t suss RIPUP.
Maybe I was not quite awake as I didn’t sleep too well. Kept having dreams of baby girl as a tot of about four . Pleasant enough dreams of outings and fun things , ice cream and kittens, and puppies. She lives on the west coast now and is comming home in a few weeks to help DW and me celebrate Our Fiftieth wedding anniversary. We see her once or twice a year now. The other kids and grands live closer and we see them often , especially on weekends.
Wish you all a wonderful day.
FIW x 3. Only used the eraser once, to change gormet to FOODIE. Should have used it more. We're leaving today, so I got in a hurry and missed FONDnST. Had I gotten that one, I would have found STEWED PnARm, which would have led to fixin' meT with SAT.
At least two Cornerites know someone named ENOLA Gay.
My favorite is baby back RIBS.
SPUD Webb had a house on Cedar (not SEDER) Creek Golf Course (may still live there). HUGE place for such a little guy. I used to play the course as a guest of a vendor and marveled at the tennis and basketball courts on his big estate.
SPINNER could also have been clued as "very short girlfriend".
Thanks to Paul for a fine puzzle and to Steve for the foodful review. Mike and IKE sounds like food too, but just barely.
Fun puzzle, Paul. Steve I liked your food theme. Only new words for me were NAS and Chafer.
CSO to OWEN @ 49D, Moe at STOOGE, and TIN with cognac casks and ALE.
OAS, how nice that you will soon see your daughter from the west coast. Sweet dreams.
A ball can have many belles, but the belle of the ball is the most beautiful and popular one.
I had a young relative who called his little sister Bell because she was round as a bell. I convinced her that a belle was a beautiful woman. The young man was chagrinned that the sting was taken from his slur.
I like the pawpaw spelling best, but I have seen papaw, especially in puzzles. Here is a kindergarten papaw song.
Where oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where oh where is dear little Nellie?
Way down yonder in the paw paw patch
Come on, kids, let’s go find her. Come on, kids, let’s go find her.
Come on, kids, let’s go find her. Way down yonder in the paw paw patch
Pickin’ up paw paws,Put ‘em in your pocket
Pickin’ up paw paws,Put ‘em in your pocket
Pickin’ up paw paws,Put ‘em in your pocket
Way down yonder in the paw paw patch.
Dis you ever play SPUD?
I watched Saving Private Ryan, gritty, but it shows the reality of war. Many of my hawkish friends choose not to watch.
I like the phrase loosey goosey. It describes much of today's so-called rhetoric. I guess these speakers never took a class in real rhetoric.
Yellowrocks: SPUD! Lol. That brings back memories! Lived on a dead-end street in a (then) new housing development in the '50's and '60's... every house with at least three kids. Spud was the favorite summertime game, usually right after dinner... in the cooling evenings, kids letting off steam - as did the streets right after a brief rain, the aroma of hot, wet asphault more fragrant than one would think - before bedtime. Played in the street and adjacent front yards, and the few cars that interrupted our games knew better than to move any faster than 5 mph through the gang of kids. Occasionally joined by a courageous adult or two. The houses emptied out, parent sitting on front stoops, cool drink in hand, always an audience cheering us on. Days gone by. Way by.
I remember the SPUDs of my ute. It was a necessary implement for ice fishing.
Yes, I must have been hungry when I made this one. There was definitely a food vibe to it. But as the farmer REAPS what he sows, AS PER usual, I apologize if some of the entries were difficult to PARSE.
Owen, I particularly enjoyed your FOODIE verse. Steve, thanks for the review. Everyone else in the gang, I'd like to call your attention to an excellent new on-line puzzle that's been running for a few months now. The Puzzle Society crossword is edited by the young phenom David Steinberg. You may know David from his Orange County Times series. Its blog is at crosswordcrossing.blogspot.com with a link to the grids. Several LAT favorites, including C.C. have provided puzzles, and they are all first rate.
Good morning everyone.
A little crunchy at first but then the dendritic fill rapidly bloomed and puzzle was completed without mishap. Only strikethrough was 'met' before SAT. FIR.
STERE - Never had to use that word in real life. Boundary waters matters with Canada are reported in dual units of cubic feet per second and cubic meters per second. Maybe in some other part of the world?
LEEDS - Youngest spent his junior engineering year from RPI at Univ. of LEEDS, in a dual program.
PEAR - Dutch peer. Plural: PEARS - peren.
Hi Y'all! Not an easy puzzle but doable, thanks, Paul and nice to hear from you. Glad to have eaten breakfast before reading your expo, Paul. You still had me salivating.
NW was the last to fill. Didn't know the Org. was NCAAP or rapper NAS. Finally had to red-letter the "N" before I could get going here. Didn't understand the "counterpoint of 'A'."
"Make confetti of" wasn't "shred" but RIP UP. Take a lot of RIPping to get to confetti size. I own a confetti making shredder. Nasty teeth to confront when it gets jammed.
Didn't know Bochco series = LALAW. I was going for LALA land. All perps except WIDE EYED. Still don't know of any fruity candy = Mike & IKE. SPUD Webb played before I became a fan.
STEWED isn't anything I do with PEARS because if cooked too long they become mush, but okay. I get it & got the theme.
I've never seen a PAPAW/PAwPAW. Used to sing YR's ditty in grade school, but thought we put out PAwPAWs in a basket. They must be small to go in a pocket. How soon we forget.
Musings
-A few bumps (aka learning) in this pleasant puzzle
-E.COLI has hit some fast food restaurant salads this year
-A square city block for FOODIES in Portland, OR (scroll down)
-Two friends will now have to FEND for themselves as their spouses died last week
-I remember the PAWPAW Patch song from Captain Kangaroo
-WIDE-EYED innocence immediately conjured the lyrics in this 60’s song (@:45)
-Two heartthrobs of mine – Susan Dey in LA LAW and Cybill Shipherd in The Last Picture SHOW
-Veterans have said the start of Saving Private Ryan is as close to the horrors of D-DAY as they can imagine
-REDO - -Some movie makeovers (Scroll down)
-FORE!
Merriam Webster: counterpart "One remarkably similar to another The crow is sometimes mistaken for its larger counterpart, the raven. One having the same function or characteristics as another college presidents and their counterparts in business."
So I suppose A and alpha sometimes have the same function.
PK, I wondered about stewed pears being mushy. I do see recipes for with pictures showing the whole pears standing upright on the plate. I am a little leery of trying that. Do any of you cooks stew them?
Tough start. Had to solve down the right side and across the bottom back up to the NE. Had meT instead of SAT for convened. CHAFERS was new to me.
"dwarves" didn't use oak shields, only Thorin took an oak branch to fend off an orc, hence HIS name was Oakenshield.
Thank you Paul and thank you Steve !
NW corner was last to fill, and I needed to scramble PEARS. Then PAROLE hit. I was off in left field with et alia, et alii, etc etc. CHAFERS ? Only because the perps made it so.
Went from SHRED to CUT UP on my way to RIP UP, and WORLD POWER to SUPER POWER.
Steve, I recalled you mentioning LEEDS as your home in your youth and thought you must have been joyed to see it in today's puzzle.
Paw Paw is a village WSW of Chicago; it was named after the large grove of Paw Paw trees.
Yes we do Jinx ! Two of us anyway.
I had to look up the SPUD game after Yellowrocks and Barry T wrote of it. Never heard of it before.
Krijo, even though I am not of Slovakian descent, I was a member of SNPJ (Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota) in my teen years, and of SPJST (Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas) in my 20's and early 30's. Czech them out with google searches !
Good Morning:
Filling in Speardheaded and Spare Ribs clued me onto the anagram letters but the reveal was definitely an aha moment. My only w/o was Gae/Gie and the unknowns were Chafers and the Spingarn Medal association, but that was easy to guess. I noticed a sub theme with D Day, Enola, N Test and Super Powers. CSO to Tin (Pan) and Ales. And a big CSO to Owen.
Thanks, Paul, for a smooth and satisfying solve and for dropping by and thanks, Steve, for a delightful, culinary-centric commentary. I share your sentiments about "A Prayer for Owen Meany"; I loved that book and several others by John Irving. You are 100 % right about raw meat. I've been making and eating Steak Tartare and eating my sister's Kibbeh Niyyah for years and have never had any ill effects. (BTW, it sounds like you gave your parents some anxious moments in your younger years, to say the least!)
Krijo, congratulations on your solve!
OAS, such pleasant dreams in anticipation of your daughter's visit!
Have a great day.
I have never seen a pawpaw. I read they seldom appear in grocery stores because they are hard to ship and have only a one or two day shelf life. Although some may be a little smaller, the average uncultivated ones run four inches or so long by about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. They are a little too large and delicate to put in your pocket. A basket would actually make more sense. I understand that NJ is on the Northeastern edge of their natural range, but NJ does have several places where they have been transplanted successfully and are thriving.
Steve, kibbeh nayyeh is indeed a raw meat Middle Eastern dish. At Armenian picnics here in Rhode Island my relatives feast on the Armenian version called Keyma (I can't speak the language except for some choice words but when I hear this word it sounds more like Klee-ma.) I am a health-food nut but this is a rare, once-a-year treat. It must be kept cold and the butcher has to sterilize everything while triple grinding the beef. It is mixed with Buglar wheat and spices and we put it on Armenian cracker bread. On a hot day it is the best. I never heard of anyone getting sick... But what is life without adventure.
As for the puzzle. At first Paul Coulter's creation seemed impregnable but for a small spark of my feeble intelligence I chose to insert PAROLE as my first fill. I got hung up on at least a dozen tough pronouns, TV shows, hip-hoppers, Burn's poems, and 16A: Not just "a"? Eh?
My one mistake, because I can not spell, Fishing lure: SHINNER thinking shiner.
Good morning Cornies.
As I start the CWP, I have been fighting to stay awake, but at 28A Decline to recline?: STAY UP, I give up. Nap time.
Much later, I have finished. I needed to BAIL a time or two to do so. I used the "Buddy can you spare a pair of pears for paring" theme to my advantage. That really helped at 38 A - PARESDOWN, which I did.
Thank you Mr. Paul Coulter for this enjoyable challenge., and for checking in with us. Thanks for the new CWP info.
Thanks Steve for your excellent review.
Krijo at 6:45 AM
Wrote "Last to fill was GOOSEY - never heard that term."
Yellowrocks at 8:20 AM
- - Wrote "I like the phrase loosey goosey."
I believe it comes from the makeup of the excrement of the Canada Goose, which is everywhere when a flock lands on your street. One must watch their step.
Gotta go (no pun intended, but it is cute). Lunch time.
Ðave
Paul thank you again for stopping by and reminding our solvers of the new crossword puzzle site. David also runs his own blog, as C.C. did 10 1/2 years ago.
Well, this fun Thursday puzzle started out as a toughie for me, but in the end I got almost everything by just working my way slowly through all the clues. Unlike others I had more trouble in the northeast than the northwest, although in retrospect, that should not have been a problem. I just didn't get THE as different from A. There were lots of other unknowns for me. Never heard of Mike and IKE or of PAWPAWS. CHAFERS and STERE were also new to me. Got to know ACAI only through crossword puzzles, but now got that one instantly. And it was fun to see STOOGE rather than MOE for a change. Anyway, delightful puzzle, and thanks for stopping by, Paul. And your FOODIE review left me hungry for breakfast, Steve.
Sweet memory, Barry T, and sweet dream, Oas.
Have a great day, everybody.
TTP
I have checked out these organizations. The first mentioned is actually Slovenian - Slovenia - capital Ljubljana formerly part of Yugoslavia and birthplace Melania Trump. Also a Slavic country, but totally different.
Slovakia is in the north, formerly part of Czechoslovakia with capital Bratislava (Czech republic is birthplace of Ivana Trump, Slovakia is birthplace of Ivan Reitman for example). I know, tricky. Even the flag is similar. GWB jr. could not tell the difference.
The other one has an interesting history. It seems it is still supporting its members.
Forgot to mention that I never heard of CHAFER either and wanted "PARdon" before PAROLE.
This started off real tough and empty, but crosses and fills eventually got me the solve.
CUTUP b4 RIPUP, MET b4 SAT and that was it. I also thought that female Saints were abbreviated STE, but STS did the trick.
And on to Friday.
Hand up MET before SAT which had me confused for awhile. Fixed it with ASTRA which I learned eons ago in LATIN class and indeed there are many motto reminders of it.
Steve: Thanks for the detailed review. Including the point about E COLI. Slaughterhouse work is very demanding. If the workers don't have enough time to take care, that is one way contamination occurs. With proper care, contamination is not a problem.
Always enjoy a STAR TREK reference! The series began in the depths of the Cold War. Creator Gene Roddenberry made a point of putting a Russian on the bridge crew as lovable young ENSign Chekov.
Here is a brief bio of ENSign Chekov.
Learning moment about PAPAWS. Apparently the proper spelling is PAW PAW. I knew that as the name of a city in West Virginia. I knew it from our local railroad timetable. It seems the city is named for the fruit! I love puzzle learning moments like that! Other interesting learning moments: SPINGARN MEDAL of the NAACP and CHAFERS. I think SCARAB BEETLES are cool.
My father took me to see The Last Picture SHOW with him when I was 12 years old. My mother did not want to go. One of the stars was Timothy Bottoms. His father Bud Bottoms is famous here in Santa Barbara for creating beautiful sculptures.
Here is a photo of the dolphin fountain by Bud Bottoms.
I am sure I have a better photo of my own, but it would be hard to find. Funny how hard it is to find photos I have taken right here at home!
Melissa Bee: Thanks for the explanation and for the correction yesterday about the AFC and the related sport! It is good to have one less thing to be confused about!
Krijo: Today and yesterday: Thank you for the kind words about my Czech friend, his lovely wife and his unusual license plate. In Europe the license plate stays with the car. So I am guessing he still has that California JEZDEC license plate on it now in Prague! I will have to ask him!
I
Medium Thursday difficulty. Easy perps helped. At first I thought Paul was in Saturday mode. Enjoyed Steve's write-up. And Owen's always grade A l'icks.
Random notes from reading the blog:
I just enter JUMBLE and Google finds Owen's J_ site. But... Google is designed to feed us what they think we like fe. I'm getting a lot of Mickey Mantle talk lately.
FLN. BillG and Swamp, thanks for the good advice re Anon-trolls
I recalled SPUD Webb as being an NC State grad. College bball was my thing in the 69s-90s. The game was ruined in much the same way MLB is being ruined by the shifts. Flopping did in b-ball.
WC
Whoo! The NW gave me fits too. It took lots longer than usual for this one to start to come together but I did FIR in about the same time as Krijo.
Random observations—
For "counterpart of a" I would have chosen ALFA instead of ALPHA, assuming that it was a reference to the NATO alphabet.
CHAFERS was new to me.
I also liked seeing both LODE and ORE together.
ASPERSES? Sounds weird but I guess it’s legit.
I never thought of a TIC as a quirk.
Hand up for knowing PAWPAWS but not PAPAWS. TTP, there’s a Paw Paw in MI, too.
Does PAROLE really shorten a sentence, or just allow part of it to be served outside of prison, under observation?
Spitzboov, I loved "dendritic"!
A Prayer for Owen MEANY was made into a movie titled "Simon Birch", starring Ian Smith. Ian was a student in the middle school where I taught when it was released.
Time for my first mid afternoon nap. Have a great afternoon, all!
WEES. I agree with all you have to say! This was a fun challenge from Paul. And thank you to Paul for stopping at the Corner and for the information on the new puzzle site.
STS is the English plural of saints so that started me off and what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't know that THE is not just "a"? The entire eastern strand filled very quickly. It's always a pleasure to see Robbie Burns quoted.
I've only ever heard of PAPAWS, never seen them. Apparently not many people have seen them.
I loved the PEAR theme; YR, I have made STEWEDPEARS. It is important to ADHERE to the time to keep them from getting mushy.
Steve, what a perfect puzzle for you! You seemed to really enjoy commenting on all that food!
CHAFERS is my new word for today.
I hope you all are enjoying a fabulous day today!
OMK & CED - I was thinking maybe it was military that used the phrase so I looked it up during a boring meeting. Slate on "screw the pooch". Play later. -T
Asimina triloba, the papaw pawpaw, paw paw, paw-paw, common pawpaw, Quaker delight, or hillbilly mango is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada, producing a large, yellowish-green to brown fruit. I like the name hillbilly mango, and it is not fair to suggest papaw is incorrect.
Anon T, even without your excellent link, OKL already began the day with history of screw the pooch.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Paul and Steve.
Loved your comment "ASPERSES. What a cracking word!". Blimey.
The top section esp. NW was the last to fill. Cross of 1A and 1D was a possible Natick (hello PK) but I wagged the N (or dredged up NAS from my CW memory bank).
After getting the theme reveal, I went back to 17A and saw the SPEAR.
Yes, Paul C., I went back looking for REAPS too.
I'm still not sure how the pears are STEWED in each theme entry. If I think about it long enough, I might make Stewed mean Scrambled but really if means "cooked slowly in liquid". Only a small nit, as Scramble Pears does not sound like a very appetizing dish.
I saw the CSOs today to CMoe (STOOGE), OWEN KL (loved your work today), and TIN (Pan Alley). (YR saw ALE and cognac casks too.)
I smiled when at the misdirection for STS. and HOLD, and also at the grid location of 38A PARES DOWN and 28A STAY UP.
We also had LALAW and PAPAWs.
Hand up for newer before RAWER.
I have heard of CHAFERS but I'm not sure where. None in my garden I hope.
PAPAWS grow in Canada!? Learning moment.
Final Jeopardy had the Bikini just the other night. Here's their background information.
Bikini
Enjoy the day!
Thank you everyone for explaining "screw the pooch."
Asking what it was, was a real roll of the dice, because I did not
know what the result would be...
Todays puzzle, DNF.
(or finished with serious cheating...)
Combination of being on a different wavelength, or being really stubborn.
5a, sentence shortener = parole. (I was sure it was period.)
55d convened=sat? (not met?)
cut up before rip up...
Desper-otto, Spuds of my Ute! gave me a flashback!
When I was 8, My Mom took me to visit friends near Cooper Park in Sydney.
I was roaming this beautiful park when I came across a metal gun!
I took it back to my Mom, who "freaked out" thinking it was real!
The friends we were visiting pointed out that it was a Spud Gun
and we spent the rest of the day shooting potato bits at everything.
1st and last time I ever saw a Spud Gun.
(No, she didn't let me keep it, dang it!)
Tough puzzle to find silly pics for,
but Picards fountain gave me a fruity idea...
Actually, most of the silly pics were vegetables, not fruits...
Dave@ 11:02, Ha ha, you got that right, I was referring to goose droppings or BS.
For those wondering, STEWED is slang for drunk, so it is often used as an anagram indicator in cryptic puzzles, which I also write. And Stewed Pears is very much a real dessert, at least where I grew up.
Pawpaws in Canada!? OK LIUed - this article is from 2016 and I am not sure if they were successful
PawPawInOntario
OK I kept looking. Apparently they were successful. You can buy a cross-pollinating pair for $100 (that would be Canadian$ so you Americans get a deal of about $75!)
CanadianPawPaw
Thanks for explaining STEWED, Paul. I'll take back my Nit.
Krijo,
Thanks for clarifying. And good to see you in BLUE !
Yellowrocks @ 9:57 -- First, I stew me; the pears take care of themselves.
Ta- DA!
A good one from Mr. Coulter, keeping me at it longer than usual.
Steve, the one place I found where you can't get a medium-rare hamburger is the whole *#@! state of Alaska!
In 2009, after getting an over-cooked hockey puck at one fast-food joint in Fairbanks, I tried again at a half-way decent sit-down restaurant and got the same hard black-and-grey thing on my plate.
State law apparently requires this over-cooking - a great surprise to anyone who's heard that Alaskans don't like much regulation.
I suppose some past governor's son or daughter took sick after eating raw burger. Does anybody know another reason for this rule? Has the law changed?
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: Two today, the main line and the mirror. No hidden messages.
Screw the pooch.
STE for female saints is French. In English both male and female are ST.
Cognate with German Käfer and Dutch kever.
Noun -- chafer (plural chafers)
Any of several scarab beetles, including the cockchafer, leaf chafer and rose chafer.
(I'd never heard of it before, either.)
I remember "pickin' up pawpaws, put 'em in your pocket" from my school days. IIRC, my teacher said we'd never seen pawpaws because the more common name was kumquats. I've never seen either in my life! Looked them up and they aren't related, tho similar size and shape.
WELL OAS should've known to find you here :) it's your youngest! I can't wait to come back home! maybe "help" you with a crossword or two ;) in pen. hah! love you dad, miss you always
I had bookmarked the 1st link on PawPaws to read when I had time,
but being a wild food nut I couldn't wait and had to see a visual.
(CrossEyedDave, Duh!)
I am always pointing out wild foods to my friends on hikes,
and they always say, "have you tasted it?"
aand I have to reply , no...
(except for raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.)
But someday I hope to get up enough nerve to try Morels
(a Blog favorite)
and especially for me, an orange mushroom I see growing
all over the place that they call "Chicken of the Woods."
(Hmm, maybe I should change my Avatar...)
Anywho,
PawPaw.
And I get a kick out of this guy cooing over his babies...
Struggle for me today! Too many unknowns but a worthwhile struggle. Steve I also thought of Phil Harris as Baloo in Bare Necessities at PAPAW. One of my favorite songs from a favorite Disney confection. I also like Kiplings Jungle Book although it is very different.
I prefer pawpaw but have seen spelled it both ways.
And, no, I have never seen an actual one.
Paul, thanks for explaining STEWED. Makes so much sense!
My favorite clue was you might hear music on it. Tried iPod, radio, phonograph.. oh my! On HOLD. How obvious after you told us.
Steve, the expo was delicious .
Owen, LOL
Note:
If you ever go mushroom hunting,
be aware that every mushroom (including Morels)
have a poisonous lookalike...
Chicken of the Woods
I see a lot of interest in
PAPAW or "Pawpaw" ...
Not to be confused with Po-po (police) or a Pu pu platter. (Or that infamous tape allegedly featuring you-know-who in Russia...)
~ OMK
Took a while to get a foothold in this fun puzzle. This is one of those where I think "Sheesh, that could be anything!" for so many of the clues. First semi-confidant foothold was ECOLI and first sure foothold was GOOSEY. From there is was step by step, with a few timeouts to walk away from it, let my brain STEW, and come back to it with synapses refreshed. I amused myself by trying to think of the name of which of the three stooges would be "Slapstick trio member" but Curly, Shemp, and Larry were all one letter too short; it took me too long to realize that word STOOGE itself was the answer. "Tea go-with" was neither crumpets, biscuits, nor sympathy. Loved the clue for HOLD. My new learned word is ASPERGE(S), although I will probably never actually use it; I'm too hard-wired to saying "cast aspersions on."
I remember hearing the expression "screw the pooch" from the movie Top Gun.
Best wishes to you all.
Musings II
-Gus Grissom went to his grave thinking he had not made any mistakes in his mission. Here is a discussion of whether Gus Grissom “screwed the pooch” when his Liberty Bell capsule sunk.
-Played terrible golf today on a spectacular 80˚F day with a refreshing breeze. Ya gotta take ‘em when ya get ‘em!
FIR
NW was last to finish. Got ALP on first run-through. WAGs for ALPHA and APE gave me the rest.
ShortRIBS before SPARERIBS.
Went through all five names before the generic STOOGE. Also thought of the Ritz brothers.
Don't know SPUD Webb; solution made me think of <a href="vhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWAFOPntWYc>this</a>.
this
No, this
Just getting to today's puzzle, that was a DNF, but the NW was undoable for this guy. I correctly WAGged NAACP, NAS, and FOODIE but I sloppily filled RESALES instead of RESELLS, knew HOED was incorrect but CHAFERS was a total unknown animal. So A_E were AL___A left and APE & ALPHA should have been easy but I was stuck on the beetle. LA LAW and Bocho- unknown. So was PAPAWS; wanted PAPAYA but the clue was plural and all the perps were solid. Ditto for OWEN.
The scrambled PARES didn't register. I kept thinking S-something.
YR and Irish Miss thanks for the well wishes .
Anon @ 3:22 I know its your first time on the blog. Like Burl Ives used to sing " A Little Bitty Tear Let Me Down"
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Paul Coulter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Krijo: Sounds like the same Dobrovsky. The Club honors him because he is believed to have been a Freemason. The Club is over 100 years old. The food we get at the meetings are generally a pork entree, with sauerkraut, a vegetable, potatoes, and dumplings. Kolachkies for dessert. Of course, home made rye bread. And, few brewskis to wash it down.
TTP, WikWak, and others: I worked for two days in Paw Paw, IL. It was a GTE central office that had our equipment handling all the calls. I had to change out a suspected defective part in a fuse panel. Since our factory, in Genoa, IL, was only a few miles north of Paw Paw, it was simple to just go there and do it.
The puzzle went along as smooth as any Thursday does. In other words, a little crunchy. That's OK.
Them appeared after I was finished. PEARS
A few unknowns, but perps helped: CHAFERS, ASPERSES, and IKE.
STS was excellent misdirection. I got it with perps, but had to come here to get an explanation. SAINTS
WikWak, your time schedule is way off.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Did you hear a contestant on tonight's Jeopardy pronounce the animal called tapir, tape ee er? Perhaps not, he was not called on it.
YR: yep, he said "tapier". I was surprised Alex didn't correct him. Then I got to wonder if there was Spanish or Portugese language involved?
LIU at that maligned Wiki: "A tapir (/ˈteɪpər/ TAY-pər, /ˈteɪpɪər/ TAY-peer or /təˈpɪər/ tə-PEER, /ˈteɪpiːər/ TAY-pee-ər) is a large, herbivorous mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. The five extant species of tapirs, all of the family Tapiridae and the genus Tapirus, are the Brazilian tapir, the Malayan tapir, the Baird's tapir, the kabomani tapir and the mountain tapir."
Thanks, PK. The pronunciation looks acceptable. I LIU in the dictionary and didn't find that pronunciation. How daring of you to use Wiki! lol
PK and YR - I heard the odd tapir pronunciation on Jeopardy, too, Thanks for the wiki clarification.
I don't like the pig analogy. Pigs are even-toed ungulates while tapirs are odd-toed like the rhinoceros. Horses are odd-toed, too, but have one prominent 'toe' instead of three.
Jeopardy Spoiler!
No fair! Please - as a courtesy: keep them OFF LIMITS for later viewers on the West Coast. We like to hear things afresh.
Thank you,
~ OMK
Hi All!
Thanks Paul. It was hard to get on your wavelength but once I did, all was well. Some pretty fun c/as too! Thanks for stopping by The Corner and explaining STEWED as sauced.
Thanks for the lively expo Steve. Loved the STOOGE pic. Why must it be N-scale?
WOs: cut UP b/f RIP, met b/f SAT, and SaDaR until STOOGE let me know both vowels were E (I learned they are the same - now which same :-))
ESPs: CHAFERS, TARN, STERE, GIE
Fav: c/a for HOLD. Took 3/4 perps for the V8 to hit.
{B,B,A}
D-O: Someone had to say it (belle's balls) - glad it was you :-)
Lem@1:45 - I'd finished the puzzle and read the blog. I found the same entomology article, entered anonymously, OMK found and dug deeper to find the Slate one. The Slate article also mentioned the anon entry.
@3:22Anon - LOL. Been looking all over the Internet for OAS, eh?
CED - That's not a SPUD gun... This is a SPUD Gun //say w/ Crocodile Dundee's accent :-)
Cheers, -T
Yellowrocks- Yes, ravens are larger than crows. But, it can be hard to tell them apart. There are, however, three giveaways beside size. Ravens often glide, crows rarely. Ravens have a diamond shaped tail. Crows have split tail feathers. Ravens have a bit of a chirp in their caw sound. I live among a jillion of these beautiful animals in the Alexander Valley of California.
By the way, they usually mate for life, as do crows, and both birds are considered among the most intelligent of animal life.
er, auto-correct is the ECOLI of moving too quickly...
Lem@1:45 - I'd finished the puzzle and read the blog. I found the same etymology (not entomology) article, entered anonymously, OMK found and dug deeper to find the Slate one. The Slate article also mentioned the anon entry.
Oy!
Work is done(ish). Play tomorrow. -T
Spitzboov @ 8:23. " Pigs are even-toed ungulates while tapirs are odd-toed like the rhinoceros. Horses are odd-toed, too, but have one prominent 'toe' instead of three."
Well, I'm a 5-toed, odd-toed primate -- doesn't that qualify me for something?
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