It may be Friday, but we are today faced with creating a SUNDAE. As the link explains there are debate and a history about this American creation, but there can be no debate about the one put together by our own Jeffrey Wechsler both verbally and visually. We had an expanded grid yesterday and JW has also used this vehicle for his creative horizon lately with the 15 x 16 grids. This allows for more words especially sparkly like LAPPED UP, SCENARIO, SPARSELY, THAT IT IS, HARD WINTER, and SCRATCHPAD. In this iteration, we have 36 three letter words, and 22 with four letters. Both of which are unusually high for a weekday puzzle, as are the 46 blocks. The theme fill is not symmetrical (thought the puzzle does have left-right symmetry). Jeffrey also places a circle around a single letter in each themer and starting from the top down they spell (Ta-Dah) SUNDAE. That was the icing on the cake (I loved mixed metaphors!). Also, with all the theme fill clued only by 64-A, it is a very much circular solve. Obviously, with theme fill ranging from 4-16 letters, we are outside any of the old conventions which say the theme fill should be the longest words. I wish JW would stop by or write C.C. on this unique creation. On to the rest.
18A. *See 64-Across: MARASCHINO CHERRY (16). The cherry on top is both literal and figurative. They are an integral part of an American ice cream sundae. The term "cherry on top" refers to the Maraschino cherries on top of the ice cream sundae. wiki. HISTORY.
24A. *See 64-Across: NUTS (4). Toast and roughly chop your favorite nuts. Walnuts are a popular choice for sundaes, but just about any nuts will taste great. Cashews and almonds are two popular choices. You can even buy slivered almonds and save yourself the chopping. Various recipes.
34A. *See 64-Across: WHIPPED TOPPING (13). You want to make your own? THREE WAYS. Notice that to avoid a dupe Jeffrey could not use Whipped Cream with Ice Cream.
41A. *See 64-Across: HOT FUDGE (8). I like this RECIPE from the Smitten Kitten.
51A. *See 64-Across: FRUIT SAUCE (10). There are so many but how about STRAWBERRY?
64A. *Foundation ingredient of a treat built upward in the answers to starred clues and spelled downward in the circles: ICE CREAM (8). If you want the entire dessert HOMEMADE have fun, and please share your personal stories.
Across:
1. Smartphone call record, say: LIST. How often do you clear your history?
5. Wet-Nap unit: PACKET.
11. Utterly beyond repair: SHOT.
15. Part of a foot: ARCH. Not an inch.
16. St. Clare's town: ASSISI. Her STORY.
17. Carrie who was a friend of Susan B.: CATT. Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920.
21. "Shove off!": BEAT IT.
22. Summer footwear: SANDAL. Not in Florida, it is a year-round phenomenon.
23. Suggestion: TIP. Especially in the 10th at Gulfstream.
28. Rudder-controlled movement: YAW. An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail. wiki.
29. Beckett's "Endgame" has one: ACT. This play sounds boring, but it was written in French and Samuel Beckett was the one to translate into English, so I guess he liked it.
30. 7-Up moniker: UNCOLA. This AD was brilliant. The link is for CED. Not to be confused with 53D. Take the top off: UNCAP.
32. Narrow inlet: RIA.
37. Strikes lightly, as a window: TAPS AT. What light through...
38. Sexy: EROTIC.
40. Rap sheet letters: AKA. Also Known As. This term is used in much more than criminal law; if you buy a house and borrow money you will sign a name affidavit with all of your akas.
46. SFO info: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.
47. Sci-fi good guys: JEDI.
49. Prove equal (to): RISE. To the occasion.
50. Take quickly: GRAB.
56. Christian official: DEACON. In Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches an ordained minister of an order ranking below that of the priest.
59. Laundry convenience: HAMPER. My sweet wife just went shopping at Big Lots to find one that had wheels so I can get the laundry back and forth to our laundry room here at the condo.
63. Alpine retreat: INN.
69. Guitar, slangily: AXE. Originally, the first band I negotiated a record deal for was named ALIEN and then along came a movie, so they became AXE (3:23).
70. Needle part: EYE.
71. Really enjoyed: LAPPED UP. Kitties like Ice Cream too.
72. Little bit: TAD.
73. Spotted: SAW.
74. How farmland is populated: SPARSELY. A word that fascinated me when I was young. We grew up near lots of farmland.
75. Dr.'s group: HMO.
Down:
1. Country kid?: LAMB. Nice literal but still deceptive.
2. See 56-Down: IRAE. 56D. With 2-Down, Latin hymn: DIES. Very common in the CWP world.
3. Doodle site: SCRATCHPAD. My brother Barry was a frustrated Peter Max.
4. "Precisely so!": THAT IT IS. Instead of the all too popular 'it is what it is'.
5. Formal agreement: PACT. Any of you have blood brothers/sisters?
6. Grill remnants: ASH.
7. TV forensic series: CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. Changed television and the real world of investigations.
8. Many holiday guests: KIN.
9. Anka's "__ Beso": ESO. Spanish for "that kiss."
10. Involuntary motions: TICS.
11. Plot outline: SCENARIO. I am surprised there has not been a tv series with this as a title.
12. Seasonal frontier challenge: HARD WINTER. Still a challenge.
13. José's "other": OTRA. Spanish.
14. Texter's sign-off: TTYL. Talk To You Later.
19. Hardly a gulp: SIP.
20. Loft bale: HAY.
24. Philadelphia-to-Albany dir.: NNE. Back to the Trailways bus station.
25. Golden State sch. in Davis: UCD. Univesity of California Davis.
26. Young one: TOT.
27. __-mo: SLO. Is it worth the abbreviation to take off a single letter?
29. Open one's eyes: AWAKE.
30. Plotting: UP TO.
31. Take down __: A PEG. Peg Slay, where are you?
33. Emotional distress: AGITA. Is it stress or a heartburn?
35. Half a tuba sound: PAH. OOM?
36. Tense beginning?: PRE. PREtense. Beginning to end. 68D. Stamp addition?: EDE. Stampede.
37. Jersey casino, with "The": TAJ.
39. Bus alternative: CAB.
42. Half of hexa-: TRI. Twice.
43. Able-bodied: FIT.
44. Initials on American vessels: USS. United States Ship; it's a ship, not a boat.
45. Org. concerned with meth: DEA. Drug Enforcement Agency.
48. "Stan Against Evil" airer: IFC. Formerly called: Independent Film Channel (1994–2014)
50. Shining example: GEM.
52. Deeply disturbs: ROILS. This also means agitates.
54. Big name in moving: U-HAUL. U-Haul is an American moving equipment and storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945.
55. Like TV's "Batman": CAMPY. Adam West was amazing.
57. "May It Be" co-songwriter: ENYA. A song which was written for the Lord of the Rings movies. Enya wrote music, Roma Ryan studied the languages created by Tolkien and wrote the lyrics in English and Quenya. There are two lines with phrases written in Quenya. The first, Mornië utúlië, translates to "Darkness has come." Mornië alantië translates as "Darkness has fallen."
58. Once more: ANEW.
60. Hiking spot: PATH.
61. Final, for one: EXAM.
62. Correct, in a way: REDO.
65. Org. dealing with brownfields: EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a brownfield as "real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant".
66. EMT proficiency: CPR. Emergency Medical Technicians do Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
67. High-__ monitor: RES. Abbreviation of resolution.
This was a very hard but satisfying solve. The double sixes on top of the grid-spanning Maraschino Cherry; Lapped Up and Sparsely supporting the ICE CREAM- wonderful. As you all know I also love visual grids. The solve started very slowly hindered by the circular cluing (Barry G. where are you?) but the payoff was great. I look forward to your comments and the rest of the weekend. Thanks, Jeffrey, Lemonade out.
Note from C.C.:
I'm so happy to share with you these three beautiful pictures from Nina, "Inanehiker" on our blog. Nina is a doctor and her "Team Argyle" comment was extremely helpful in gathering our support for Argyle during his final days.
Nina said:
"It's been a crazy few weeks with my mom breaking her hip a few weeks before my son Sam's wedding. Nice to have the Corner crowd have my back.
Here are a few pics: from the wedding and my mom who is headed home on Saturday from rehab - yay!"
I'm so happy to share with you these three beautiful pictures from Nina, "Inanehiker" on our blog. Nina is a doctor and her "Team Argyle" comment was extremely helpful in gathering our support for Argyle during his final days.
Nina said:
"It's been a crazy few weeks with my mom breaking her hip a few weeks before my son Sam's wedding. Nice to have the Corner crowd have my back.
Here are a few pics: from the wedding and my mom who is headed home on Saturday from rehab - yay!"
 |
| Nina's Mom |
 |
| Nina and her husband |
 |
| Sam's Wedding |
57 comments:
FIRight, but was uncertain for a bit because any two words I entered seemed to disagree on the crossing letter!
There was a DEACON and chancellor
Fell in love with an EROTIC dancer.
The way she did a strut
He really LAPPED UP,
To her lap dance he said, "My prayer's answer!"
Mara was a wee garden fairy
With hair as red as strawberry
When a LAMB almost bit her,
Her gnome, all a-twitter,
Warned, "Mara, she's no CHERRY!"
{B+, A-.}
Greetings!
Thanks to Jeffrey and Lemonade!
Easiest JW that I ever worked! FIR. No questions. Unfamiliar things filled in rapidly from other direction! Had no circles and did not need them.
Have a great day!
Actually Fermat, the circles were not there to help the solve, they were another layer of the puzzle. If you saw the word SUNDAE spelled from top to bottom without the circles, you are one excellent solver.
Good morning. Thank you Jeffrey and thank you Lemonade.
Never noticed that the grid was 16 x 15.
Did the puzzle using Across Lite, so the circles were there, and seeing Sundae built in the theme answers was the cherry on top to the solve.
One of my quickest solves for a Friday. No problems, but had never heard of "Stan Against Evil", and IFC was unknown. The perps said it had to be.
Lemonade, that song by Axe still gets airplay on one of the classic rock stations here. Just heard it the other day in fact.
Loved banana splits and ice cream sundaes as a youth. It was a big deal when a Dairy Queen Brazier Burger was built and opened in our small town. The next year was my first year of Little League, and I played on the first team sponsored by Dairy Queen. Win or lose, after "home games" we always went to Dairy Queen for a small cone. We mostly lost. But otherwise, going to DQ was a special treat.
Nice to meet you Nina. Nice photos. Someday, please explain how you came up with the handle of inanehiker.
AXE was very popular in Texas often doing 10-12 tour dates in the state, but I was unaware of any great response in the midwest. I do know that the NFL used that particular song as its background during the 2015 season. It was always fun to watch a song be created and then become a staple on the radio.
Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. This was quite a challenge. The grid certainly had an interesting pattern. At first I thought the treat might be some sort of fruit cake. The NUTS were quickly filled, but I pecked at the other ingredients until I got enough for the MARASCHINO CHERRY.
I learned that a Dr. Group is not the AMA but an HMO.
Thank goodness for the perps, which gave me AGITA. That's one word I will probably never use in a sentence.
The 19th Amendment, which gave women the vote was only passed in 1920; 98 years ago last Saturday, August 18.
I knew that Endgame had only one ACT. I saw the play once ~ the operative word being once!
QOD: Do something instead of killing time, because time is killing you. ~ Paulo Coelho (b. Aug. 24, 1947)
My first thought (Hi Nina, thank you for sharing your pictures, really nice) was that INANe hiker starts with an anagram of NINA. Then I thought of the new concept of e-hiking, where you look at hiking trails online.
Good morning!
After applying Wite-Out to SKETCH (because it was too short), my sundae came together quickly. Thought Brownfield was a rifle. No hunter here. Mom decided early on that if older brother and I went into the woods with rifles, only one of us would come back out. Smart mom. The Barnacle had circles, but I didn't notice 'em until Lemon called 'em out. I love ice cream, but have sworn it off due to a close-to-troublesome A1C. Pudding, too. And cookies. Cake, yep. Pie, gone. If it can be called dessert, it's literally off the table. [Sigh]
Nice pics, InaneHiker. Looks like the weather cooperated.
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Jeffrey. Thanks, Lemonade for topping this out.
I did everything else but the theme entries, ignoring the 64A reference which annoyed me greatly and found the reveal clue meaningless. Did mostly downs then WAGd the theme entries. Finally, got enough perps to land the MARASCHINO CHERRY then the NUTS then the HOT FUDGE and my sour mood sweetened up. I got the ICE CREAM too. However, could not come up with FRUIT SAUCE. I had a natick at IFC/FRUIT cross -- last to fill. I just couldn't think of anything I'd put between the FUDGE & the ICE CREAM. Had to red-letter the "F". No circles but SUNDAE it had to be. I indulge my ice cream cravings only a little once or twice a month after I've been a good girl and done my grocery shopping.
Had no idea what EPA had to do with brownfields. When my fields turn brown it's time to harvest or they badly need rain.
Wanted Carrie Nation before CATT. Then I tried MOTT, forgetting her name was Lucretia. Really wasn't familiar with Carrie CATT, but bless her good work.
Doodle site wasn't "page margin" but SCRATCH PAD. Didn't know: AGITA, TAJ, ENYA.
Nice to see you, Nina. Are you Nina with a long "i" or Neena? Is your son USAF? Glad your mom is better. Did she get to go to the wedding?
FIR a JeffWech! I haven't been so proud since I finished that jigsaw puzzle in only two weeks, and the box said 5 - 7 years!
But I erased moot for SHOT, inch for ARCH, DEACON for cleric and back, AMA for HMO, oom for PAH, and scalp for UNCAP. PHEW!
Interesting that HAMPER is a convenience. I was surprised to see "Davis" in the clue for UCD. Like "machine spitting money" for ATM.
FLN, -T I'm on the fence about the connected fridge. I can see how it would be great to have the panel show the picture from the Ring doorbell if my hands were messy because I was in the middle of making a banana split. I could decide whether to towel off or just play possum.
Also FLN: YR, please look for a booklet or maybe a folded sheet in your router packaging for instructions on changing those passwords. Don't be intimidated, it's not that hard. If you can't find the paperwork, just Google for it. E.g. type "manual cisco WXYZ-239".
From a couple of days ago's discussion of prefixing "A": Today we get AWAKE as a verb, kinda like WAKE. Ain't English great? I wright it real good.
Thanks to Jeffrey for the Friday puzzle that even I could enjoy. And thanks to Lemonade for the fun tour. I especially liked the AXE story.
Excellent theme. Got maraschino cherry right off with 3 perps, and looking at the clue for 64A, I realized we were building a dessert. The circles, S-U. suggested sundae. Did you notice that the circles are in an arrow shape?
I needed many perps for fruit sauce. I don't use it. IFC was unknown by me. I had a bad cell due to a silly mistake. I had EXOTIC instead of EROTIC and didn't notice that PXE should have been PRE. Well, it is what it is. When I was a virtual assistant for a construction company, the boss always said; "It is what it is." Since you can't change it. Just accept it.
"That it is" has the more positive meaning of I totally agree.
I had a friend who always said, "That gives me agita"
Brownfield was a gimme. We hear a lot about them here. "Brownfield- a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination."
Thanks, Jinx. My son set up my router. I just now found a sticker on it where David wrote the password he made up. Some of the figures are now illegible. Since it is uniquely mine, do I need to change it?
Poodle, who doodles,
Had an invasion of fleas;
Lives in a SCRATCH PAD
Musings
-A Wechsler puzzle with circles written up by Lemon should be a fun ride and it was!
-Stubborn me refused to look at 64 Across and still got the gimmick/theme
-There is no hint of cream in our WHIPPED TOPPING. No dairy for our kitty!
-Our guide told us that St. CLARE’s basilica and St. Francis’s just up the street in Assisi might trouble these two who lived lives of strict poverty
-The smartest woman I know (pre-C.C.) had a phobia about toes in open shoes
-We use “It is what it is” and “que sera sera” around here
-We have a magic HAMPER that always seems to be full
-Huge farmer/operators with huge machinery like this have made farmland even more SPARSELY populated
-I had a run-in with a U-HAUL dealer who said his truck was full of gas when I left but I had to put in 5 gallons when I returned after driving 5 miles. Was I petty? Sure, but still…
-Lovely pix, Dr. Inanehiker!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
This was quite a puzzle. Amazing! I loved it. Got through it more easily than I had thought I would, seeing which constructor it was.
What in the world does CAMPY mean for 55D?
Nice link to St. Clare, Lemonade. I enjoyed reading her story.
I like ice cream, but not sundaes, in general. I am not a whipped cream person at all. My favorite dish I call a Mexican Sundae. Ice Cream with chocolate sauce and spanish peanuts. I might have one for breakfast.
OK, I see Carrie CATT. Who the heck is Susan B.?
Did not know TTYL, even though I text all the time. I just spell things out and use punctuation. Also capital letters when appropriate. Guess I am old fashioned.
Crossed 70 kids this morning with no problems. Some days there are problems with people driving through crossings while I am out there with my stop sign high in the air. Anyhow, I will get off my high horse.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
A JW Friday offering is always hard, fun, and satisfying to solve. This was no exception. Thank you Lemonade for putting the cherry on top for all of us.
I agree, Jinx, I was surprised at 25D having Davis in the clue and,essentially, Davis(D) in the answer. My brother graduated Medical school from UCD and he always refers to it as UC Davis.
I put either FRUITSAUCE or HOTFUDGE on my sundae but usually not both.
Good Morning:
This started out slowly but gradually started to take shape, little by little. I read the revealer clue but found it too confusing, so I just ignored it and stumbled along until I saw the light and, then, it was smooth sailing. (The revealer clue was perfectly clear when read with a clear mind. I blame TTP, Jinx, and Anon T for boggling mine with their technical twaddle! 🤓) I fell into the Inch/Arch trap and my Taps were On instead of At. No unknowns at all, though. I liked the Ice Cream above Lapped Up and was pleased to see Agita, a legitimate word, IMO, but one that Words With Friends will not accept. I'll take a close-enough CSO at Albany.
Thanks, Jeffrey W., for a yummy Friday Sundae and thanks, Lemony, for putting all the ingredients together for our enjoyment.
Hatoolah @6:39 ~ I never saw "Endgame" performed but did study it in a literature course. I didn't understand it then and have no desire to ever understand it. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
Jinx @ 7:47 ~ You must have had your Wheaties this morning; you're in such fine fettle, humor-wise! 🤗
Haiku Harry @ 9:07 ~ Cute!
Nina, thanks for sharing those lovely photos. That's good news about your Mom; best wish for her homecoming. Congratulations to Sam and his bride.
Anonymous T, I hope you feel better, broken frogs notwithstanding.
Have a great day.
No circles when you do the puzzle online. Kept looking for the word "SUNDAE" but never saw it until I read the blog. That's the problem when you do certain puzzles online... you miss clues that are intended to help out... or possibly confuse you more. Either way, have a nice weekend.
Abejo: Susan B. Anthony, a famous suffragette. I think they put her picture on a stamp or coin several years ago. Probably should look that up before I look ignorant again.
Abejo, CAMPY means the show is done in an exaggerated manner for humor, with both the actors and audience in on the joke. Compare the cartoonish Batman TV show with the later "Dark Knight" movies, which were done "straight" and seriously, at least within their own universe.
The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1979 to 1981, when production was suspended due to poor public acceptance, ...
This was an entertaining and challenging puzzle - but I am ready for an ice cream sundae now! I was with GJ about only ever hearing UC David!
Thanks for all the kind comments on the pics. My name is said with a long "I" - we are in the minority for sure. I usually tell people so they can remember - "It's Nina - like Eight-ah, Nine-ah, Ten- ah , Eleven-ah". My son is a captain in the USAF. My mom couldn't attend the wedding - (probably could have if it was another month out)- but she lives in Kansas City and the wedding was in northern Wisconsin (where the bride is from). It was a little too far to travel at this point in her recovery at age 86.
Lemonade you were close on my blog name- I was looking on one of those sites that can scramble letters and come out with anagrams. My full name scrambled would be fakeinanehiker- but I didn't like having the "fake" at the beginning - so dropped it off!
Have a good weekend - thanks Lemonade and Jeff for a fun morning!
If I hurry I can still say "Good Morning!"
Thank you Mr. Jeffrey Wechsler for this enjoyable CW. All roads led to 64 A so I solved it, and the starred clues fell into place. I need to get strawberry sauce off my tie. I FIR in 34:38 min., and had fun working it.
Thank you Lemonade for your excellent review.
Picard FLN at 12:57 PM
- - The PICs of Diana's memorial appear to be at the entrance to the tunnel where she was killed/died.
- - The PICs of the Tower at Pisa taken through an arch, or other structure were inspired.
Ðave
Good morning everyone.
Belated Happy Birthday to Tinbani.
Hope Anon-T gets better soon.
Thanks, Inanehiker for sharing your special pictures. Congratulations.
Woohoo! I got a whole Friday Wechsler without error. Once I saw what would be ICE CREAM near the bottom, the other theme fills became easy. BH helped me spell MARASCHINO. AXE :: guitar; a new learning.
HAY - German Heu; Dutch hooi. Has the same sound as the German. Eu has vowel sound of 'oy' as in 'boy'.
Excellent—a Friday JW which was finished (correctly!) in under 15 minutes; a rare occurrence around here.
Back after nearly 3 weeks in NorCal and Nevada, touristing and sightseeing and dodging forest fires. Most of the time there was little or no cell service, so the LAT puzzles had to be forgone. I had a wonderful time but it’s nice to be back home.
D-O: I think you’re remembering BROWNing and EnFIELD, all squished together.
Abejo: Susan B Anthony. A leading suffragette; there is a dollar coin with her image on it.
Have a great day, all!
Good morning on this Friday. After filling "CHINOCH_RRY" by perps the only problem was how to spell MARASCHINO. Too easy for a Friday. I always avoid peaking at clues such as 64A because they give the puzzle away. But after a few more perps it was obvious that it would be some type of ICE CREAM SUNDAE. FRUIT SAUCE- never heard that term. I'll take Caramel or Chocolate topping.
The TAJ, EPA, IFC, ENYA,CATT were filled by perps.
WHIPPED TOPPINGs- I can't stand them. I've sent malts back because for some reason places are putting whipped cream on top.
Crazy week from Nina? I might have her beat. Tuesday--Washing machine broke, Car battery died, Termite treatment, plumber replacing water shut off valve that the handle broke, having to rent a wheelchair for my DW who on Monday had her second epidural (hopefully her last) for sciatic problem, and found out she has a cracked femur on the same leg. She can painfully walk but her sciatic pain has been replaced by knee pain.
Wonderful puzzle... I lay my humble self before Jeffrey as only one square did not receive a letter. The cross of CATT & TTYL... Thanks to Nina; I can say “talk to you later”
Woohoo! Woohoo! Thank you, thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler--you are my hero! On my first run-through of this puzzle I got only the little east and west corners on the bottom and a few other items here and there elsewhere. Figured, 'it's a Friday puzzle, what else is new.' Then I went back to the top to work the down items, and to my surprise it slowly filled in, including the MARASCHINO CHERRY! That perked me up, and I kept going, and couldn't believe that slowly, slowly, it began to pretty much all fill in. Woohoo! It really helped to get the theme early on, which made it clear that it would be FRUIT SAUCE and not FRUIT SALAD, for example. I initially had SCRAP PAPER for the down before I realized it had to be SCRATCH PAD. Had OOM before I got the PAH. And then, there it all was, except for two letters: CA__. That killed me because I was such a feminist in the seventies that of course I knew the answer but just couldn't remember it. So I googled "feminist Carrie" and got CATT--my only slight cheat. Woohoo! I can't believe I almost, almost got an entire Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle. You've made my crossword day, week, and year. I'm going to save this puzzle! Thank you again!
And of course, I always value your write-up, Lemonade--thank you, too.
Nina, how wonderful to see your pictures and learn a bit about you. Thank you for posting them, C.C.
Big Easy, so very sorry to hear about your tough day. I wish you a much better week to come.
And have a great weekend coming up, everybody!
Lemonade keeps asking me for comments on my puzzles, and I have seen that you all seem to enjoy when the constructor stops by and discusses his process for a puzzle, so here goes:
I’m sometimes asked about the inspiration behind a puzzle; I always tend to initially give the same answer whenever I’m asked that question -- I truly have no idea. Once in a while, I decide to ponder the possibility of creating a puzzle with a visual element. For this crossword, I was probably considering the notion of how I could stack words vertically to produce a verbal/visual representation of something. What came to mind was the layering of a sundae. Given that theme, I had to determine which components to include. I came up with the idea that the word SUNDAE would be spelled out in circled letters, one per theme entry, thus locking in six entries. With six stacked entries, I knew I needed extra space, so I immediately went to a 16x15. This was also done to accommodate the key entry, ICE CREAM, which has an even number of letters. Now, all the other entries had to have even numbers of letters. Each one also had to contain the single relevant letter in proper order for the circles containing SUNDAE. Here’s a note on one specific entry: The term WHIPPED TOPPING is certainly less common than WHIPPED CREAM, so why is it there? First, I could not repeat the word CREAM from ICE CREAM. Second, I needed the letter N to spell SUNDAE in the circles; TOPPING has an N and CREAM does not. Overall, this grid was extremely hard to devise, and it went through many transformations. Even when I found a workable grid, I was quite worried that the very large number of three-letter words might squelch the puzzle’s chances for publication. Fortunately, Rich Norris thought the theme and grid were creative enough to allow stretching the usual rules and parameters. I know this is a rather hard puzzle, but I hope that, like Rich Norris, the solvers determine that the interest of the theme outweighs the difficulties. To the Corner regulars and other solvers: I have seen your commentary increasingly indicate that you are willing to persevere to meet a challenge -- and you often succeed! I sincerely hope you conquer this grid and get as much satisfaction from it as I did in devising it. Some crosswords are demanding, but they also can be stimulating and just plain fun. And what is a sundae for, except to -- Enjoy!
Jeffrey, thanks for stopping by. I enjoyed your commentary about this puzzle's creation. Good work. Thanks for the fun and the challenge.
Also, thanks to Lemon for the fine writeup.
Nina, thank you for confirming that reading all those mysteries over the years has helped my deductive skills.
WikWak, thank you for your Susan B. Anthony dollar link. As the article explained, it was the size of a quarter, and got spent as such all too often.
BE, it will get better. I took the entire three shot course of epidural for my sciatica, but it was not helpful. Wishing your wife better luck. I used to put some pineapple syrup with chunks on my sundaes and you see raspberry and strawberry especially at the places where you build your own. There are also many fine sugar free frozen alternatives.
Jeffrey, I must go read your mini-opus. Thank you.
Best wishes for John McCain and his family. I don't always agree with his politics but he seems like a really good guy.
From late last night: My vote for show stopper from Guys and Dolls is "Fugue for Tinhorns." I got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere...
Nine-A, since you are not blue I cannot send yo my guess or your full name, but I have one.
Thanks, IM. I admit I'm in a rare good mood.
YR, there are two important passwords on a router. The most dangerous one is the administrative password. If your son didn't set it or doesn't remember, you need to make sure. One way is to find that user's manual and try to logon to the router using the default password (listed in the manual). if you can't get in, it was most likely set. You may never need it again, and if you do for some reason, you can reset the router to all of its default values. The way to do that will be in the manual, and is usually pressing a reset button for some period like 15 seconds or 30 seconds. The second password is used by your device(s) to access your network and the internet, and the password is stored on the devices. You won't need that one unless you need to add a device.
David Pecker is all the rage on the networks today. I love watching the talking heads struggle to keep a straight face while reporting on him.
This looked totally impossible with so many clues missing. What a thrill to figure it all out! Thank you Jeffrey Wechsler for putting in so much effort to create this masterpiece! And thank you for dropping by and explaining what went into it!
I figured it out in a flash when I saw FUDGE. The theme was essential to working back through everything else. Hand up AGITA seemed utterly wrong. It was a surprise to know I FIR! Hand up for AMA before HMO. Hand up having DAVIS in the clue made UCD seem wrong. I visited UCD when I was considering physics grad schools. Somewhere I have photos. I like how everything is designed for bicycling. But our own UCSB is, too!
My ideal SUNDAE: For a few years we had a Ben and Jerry's shop. I would order Fudge Brownie ICE CREAM with HOT FUDGE on top. No FRUIT SAUCE or WHIPPED TOPPING to interfere with pure chocolate delight.
My favorite ICE CREAM is at the UCONN Dairy Bar with the cows nearby.
The Dairy Bar photos begin at image #1638.
Here I took DW and her mother to the actual BATMAN Cave (Bat Cave) in Los Angeles.
Here is Weird Al Yankovic and his version of BEAT IT called EAT IT.
D4E4H: Thank you for the kind words about my photos yesterday. Yes, the DIANA memorial was at the entrance to the tunnel where she died.
From yesterday:
AnonT: I hope you feel better soon! Very cool that you did frog repair in your time of illness!
Wilbur Charles: Glad that you enjoy my shirts!
Here is a collection of photos displaying some of my shirts.
Someone had posted on one of my articles that I always wear "that shirt". As if all interesting shirts count as one shirt. So, I went back and posted what I was wearing in my previous ten articles. Ten articles. Ten different shirts.
Abejo...CAMPY...deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style, typically for humorous effect.
This was a tough start, not much filled in first past, worked it from the bottom up, got a foothold and went to town.
Friday and a Wechsler, quite the combo, very happy with the solve.
A thoroughly enjoyable Wechsler!
Ta- DA!
I thought it might be too chewy for me to digest, but the 4-Ps helped me through, and I got a kick out of the delicious theme.
Misty ~
I'd say your "slight cheat" was what I call a "confirm," so it barely counts at all against you. I had MOTT before I changed it to CATT because my Ol' Walnut was functioning exactly opposite yours (knowing the two "T"s before the CA).
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: None, sadly. I liked the visual balance of the grid, but its skewed width (16 x 15) meant that neither side could complete a diagonal.
Picard ~
Those are some shirts, Robert! Truly.
Don't know that I'd have the guts to sport such bold colors/patterns - except maybe on stage.
Here's to your audacity!
~ OMK
Wow, this was a Fab Friday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey (thanks for dropping in) and Lemonade.
I found this to be a straight-forward solve especially for a Friday; when I got here and found out it was a JW construction, I was surprised that I did so well. Woohoo, as Misty would say.
At first (after finding the CHERRY), I named this Find the Treat and thought we were building a Banana Split but SUNDAE it was. Clever and yummy.
I had TTFN before TTYL, That is it before THAT IT IS. Hand up for Inch before ARCH.
Unknowns filled by perps were AGITA, SFC, UCD (Like others, I saw Davis was in the clue!?).
EWAGs were ASSISI (Francis would have been easier than St. Clare), TAJ (for Taj Mahal I presume), ACT.
Every Canadian thinks of Calgary with StampEDE.
Country kid=LAMB was my favourite.
Today we travel from Pittsburgh to Albany. Now that I can pronounce it, Albany is becoming a starting point/destination here. I must visit but it is SSE from me.
Thanks for the photos, inane hiker!
Wishing you all a great day.
Great shirts Picard! I don't always come back to comment on your photos (I have to open them later so I don't lose my post). Please keep posting!
So elegant, so complex, so impossibly hard for me, but such a delicious treat to finally figure out. Thanks, Jeffrey, it’s always pleasure to do do battle with you!
There were so many little treasures besides the layered construction. SIP crossing TIP. PACKET an PACT. PAH was my favorite just because it seems so silly.
Thanks, Lemon, for your always witty write up... and for dragging Jeffrey in to talk to us!
Dern it JW, you got me again. However, it's my own "I can't spell" fail. I was so concerned with 'EL'/'LE' rule that I totally didn't think of an A in SANDeL [sic].
Thanks JW for the delicious grid. I got nut'in' much on first pass because nothing would agree perp-wise. Then I saw just enough to figure out there was a CHERRY on top. "Aha!", he exclaimed. "BANANANA split. Oh, wait...." And, if that Anon is you, thanks for the inside baseball on how your scary mind works :-)
The only Saint I knew from ASSISI until today was Francis. I assume Pope Frank, a pretty cool Pontiff IMHO, is named for same.
Thanks Lem for the recipe-rich expo.
Inanehiker - Nice to "see" you; for some reason I had you PEGged as a dude... [on the Internet, no one knows I'm a dog]. Thanks for sharing the photos & backstory.
WOs: Hand-up for inCH; deCAP; afore mentioned banana
ESPs: yep, I had many.
Fav: I'll go w/ UN-COLA. Brilliant advertising that.
{A, B-} HH: {cute}
BigE - I won't moan again about my summer cold... What an awful week! I hope your DW gets that sciatic worked on - Pop swears by his chiroquackter.
TTP (and YR) we had IFC earlier this week [Tracy & Erik's puzzle]. As for DQ after a win-or-lose, those were the days. Step-dad, who coached our team [we where the Jefferson All Stars, named after our home field, Jefferson Park, and Jefferson Airplane which Step-dad had on 8-track when concocting the team's name], treated all 11 of us to DQ after games.
Jinx - Argggg!!! More IoT? No and No. :-). Ditto re: UCD.
Brownfield is a euphemism for land totally SHOT due to SH*T dump'd in it. I'm sure Picard will chime in.
And now for something Completely CAMPY.
Cheers, -T
Great to have you check in, Jeffrey. It's always fascinating to hear how a construction comes into existence. And I really loved this one.
Thank you for the very kind words, Ol'Man Keith, and for the sweet shout-out (is that what we call it?), CanadianEh.
FLN
Well despite the fact that I hit the link button any time CED or others suggest it, I have a query: Is it possible that smart phone communication is safer than the general PC kind?
I bank via cell, have done so for a decade.
Having said that Betsy*'s old Cell was a hacker/spammer playground. But... There never was anything to hack.And...
A friend said this am:" They skimmed my credit card at the gas pump". He got an alert and they stopped the thief at $1.00. He used the chip.
Oh. The xword? Slow but steady. I suspected 14a wasn't INCH.
I didn't know about the ENYA - LOTR Connection. Too bad they didn't have room for Ghan Beri Ghan
That's a bitter pill(QOD) today for us xwers
D-O you always crack me up- and Jinx-2
Welcome back Haiku Harry
74a goes with 12d
Picard to repeat: luv them shirts
WC
* Btw yesterday was our 32 anniversary
Tin what did you do on your birthday in 1986? Beautiful day on Cape Cod
Meant to ask, Lemon, was your title intentionally df? Or is it that I have a prurient mind? Or both?
PACT was in the xword on the J_ page next to comics. I glance at it but solving would indeed be a waste of time
And the CHERRY on top was Jeff Wesch dropping in. Solving difficulty seemed to vary. I smeaked a peak at 64a and the theme made it easier. I needed an FIR.
FLN, MANTLE had me look up his MVPs(3) vs Yogi (same) and finally Hof members. The most amazing fact is Joe DiMaggio taking four tries to get in.
Sportswriters should never have any sporting authority, whatever including scorekeeping. One thing they could do is report and do their own commentary instead of banal interviews and gossip, PC commentary etc.
I'm still trying to figure out what Urban Meyer did wrong. Deleting text messages seems like better advice than changing passwords.
And... I see a young woman received a year in prison for falsely claiming rape.
WC
I should have put a spoiler to the effect "Don't read past this point"
And. Lemony you know I love your write-ups and double W's Owen
I loved this puzzle. Yeah, I skipped over the clues that said "*See 64-Across" and worked on all the other entries. Finally some significant letters of MARASCHINO CHERRY began showing up and there that cherry was, staring me in the face. Seeing the clue for the aforementioned 64-Across involved "built upward" and "treat" I first thought of banana split, but of course banana didn't fit. A few head scratches and additional fills later ICE CREAM became apparent and the rest followed along. More head scratches ensued at seeing FRUIT SA--- but I knew it just couldn't be SALAD. Never having heard of anything called fruit SAUCE it took me more head scratching to eventually reconcile myself to there actually being such a thing. Like some of you I would never put such a thing on an ice cream sundae. Altogether a terrific puzzle.
Nice to see you, inanehiker.
Best wishes to you all.
Methinks the aim of M. Picard's shirts, is to enable a quick rescue after the avalanche is over.
But I put strawberry syrup on my sundaes, Jayce, and I suppose that is a FRUIT SAUCE by definition.
Now, I probably won't mix it with HOT FUDGE, but on a good day I can have more than one sundae.
~ OMK
Keith, you make a good point, as usual.
OldManKeith, CanadianEh, WilburCharles, Michael: Thanks for all the support for my shirts and for my photos!
Here are some photos I took as I lifted off from SFO at dawn a few years ago. It almost looks real, doesn't it?
Did anyone else think about the connection between ASSISI and SFO?
Anonymous at 2:26PM: Is that you, AnonT? Hope you are feeling better.
As for my comments on BROWNFIELDS: I think it is best to build human constructs on BROWNFIELDS. The best way to be kind to nature? Don't build or live out in nature.
Lemonade: A belated thank you for the UNCOLA ad. I actually posted that same link on May 7. It is a classic. His name was Geoffrey Lamont Holder and he also starred in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die".
Picard, that is indeed our main man, Anon-T(ony) who's been ill but has managed creative work with ceramic frogs. Or something like that.
Strawberries and chocolate tend to go together, hence Neapolitan ice cream.
Apres ca le deluge ie Saturday xword 10 hours away
WC
Wilbur Charles and DW: Belated Happy Anniversary! 32 years is an achievement.
Nina: thanks for the info. Your mother doesn't look 86 in her picture.
Jinx: Think the subject for which D. Avid Pecker is now famous, paired with his name will be the funniest thing to come out of the whole mess.
D-O
Both
Thank you all
Late start. Was in Seattle this week. Smoke from Canadian fires is ugly and probably unhealthful. Jeffrey, you are my nemesis and I won today. Puzzle was a bit "campy" but even after a couple of glasses of wine, I nailed it. Anxiously awaiting the next JW challenge. Here's to the weekend! TGIF!
I’m usually humbled to come here and read about how easy a puzzle is when I struggle with it. There are definitely some great solvers that comment, and I usually learn some things about a puzzle that I missed, which adds a layer of satisfaction to the solve! That said, I have to brag about this one. It might be my fastest Friday solve yet. I don’t time myself but it seemed to be quicker than Monday. It certainly helped that the reveal was one of the first answers I got. I saw “foundation ingredient of a treat” and immediately thought of ice cream. Then it was off to the races. I’ll just conclude by saying it’s a good thing I have these puzzles and this site. My 4 year old granddaughter keeps whipping me in Wii games! Ha.
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