Theme: Cubed Rouge - square dancing with the noble grape:
The reveal:
37A. With 40-Across, party supplies found in this puzzle's four corners: BOXED
40A. See 37-Across: WINES
Each corner contains the word WINE rendered as a little cube surrounded by the other entries, hence "boxed wine". Placing the reveal centrally with two stacked 5's means that Bruce had to stretch the puzzle vertically, so it's a 16x15 grid.
Neat theme, especially as Bruce uses the elbow room in the downs to add some nice lengthy fill. The WINE boxes start in turn in each cube in the SW, NW, SW and NW, so very pleasing to the eye.
Boxed wine deservedly had a bad rap at one time, now, if you choose carefully, you can get some very drinkable stuff for your daily house wine or your casual party. A winemaker told me once that you won't get great wine in a box, because great wine needs a bottle to age in, but if you're buying wine for "bulk" consumption, you're not going to be laying it down in your cellar.
Some good advice I once read is to serve it in one of those indestructible Duralex glass tumblers you drink the house wine out of in France, and you're on the right track. Save the Riedel stemware for the posh stuff. Cheers!
Let's see what else we've got to challenge our Thursday minds:
Across:
1. Set of options: MENU
5. Dodge: EVADE
10. "Sing it, Sam" speaker: ILSA. I tried RICK at first without thinking. Sheer nonsense, of course.
14. Gospel singer Andrews: INEZ. This corner was a little tricky for me. INEZ crossing ENID could have been a Natick, but logic prevailed.
15. Annual Big Apple parade sponsor: MACY*S
16. Darned: SEWN
17. New Zealand bird: KIWI. There's a debate about changing the New Zealand national flag. A lot of the proposed designs have a kiwi on them. The rest have the silver fern beloved of the national rugby team.
18. __ Wars: Rome vs. Carthage: PUNIC
19. Tizzy: SNIT
20. Vogue VIPs: EDS. Editors of Vogue magazine. I've cracked this particular crossword code.
21. __ wrench: ALLEN
22. With 22-Down, "People's Court" rival: JUDGE
23. KOA campground area: R.V. LOT
25. Bond film?: GLUE. Nice clue for this little word. Might be my favorite of the day.
27. Ally of "WarGames": SHEEDY. Who? This lady, apparently, from 1983:
29. "Westworld," e.g.: HBO DRAMA. I saw the original movie back in 1816, or something. Yul Brynner was the cowboy. It was quite good.
33. "It's a Wonderful Life" director: CAPRA
34. Juicy fruit: BERRY
35. Up to, briefly: TIL. To quote Bill the Bard:
36. Revlon rival: AVON
38. Beige shade: BONE. I was tempted by ECRU first, but I resisted said temptation.
39. Hard to find: RARE
41. Fail to mention: OMIT
42. Hill builder: ANT
43. Cantina toast: SALUD!
44. __ donna: PRIMA. Is there a seconda donna? We should be told.
45. Fundamental measurement: BASE UNIT
47. __ exercise: upper arm strengthener: TRICEP
48. The "G" of GTO: GRAN. Gran Tourismo Omologato, of course. Lots o' Italian today.
49. Apple __: CRISP. I thought the insurance company was SIGNA, which left me frowning at SR___, that didn't look right at all.
50. Start of a French oath: SACRÉ. BLEU! In French, this is actually one word and the "E" is not accented. There, now you can start a trivia argument in the bar.
53. Norwegian contemporary of Tchaikovsky: GRIEG. Let's have a little "Hall of the Mountain King". The comments on the video are priceless if you've got the time.
55. Bullfight "Bravo!": OLÉ. Huzzah! No "World Cup" clue this week.
58. One-fifth of a limerick: LINE. The actor David Niven's very first audition for Sam Goldwyn included the unexpected request to recite a limerick. I won't quote it here, but apparently it was the only part of the screen test which had any merit and won him a contract with Goldwyn.
59. Guadalajara gal pal: AMIGA
60. Target Field player: TWIN. Minnesota, natch. C.C. would know.
61. Is indebted to: OWES
62. Lacked: HADN'T.
63. Make (one's way): WEND. I picture wending as not being a direct route. Nothing to say you can't wend on a straight line though.
64. Skin pics: TATS. I'm still tattoo-less after all these years. I do have my eye on one. Maybe one day.
65. "My take is ... ": I'D SAY
66. Circle parts: ARCS
Down:
1. Karaoke need: MIKE. Funny, we had MIC a couple of weeks ago, and I was mulling over whether MIKE was an acceptable variant. I guess it is! *drops mic*.
2. Novelist Bagnold: ENID
3. Bulletins, e.g.: NEWS REPORTS
4. "Argo" weapon: UZI. I had "Argo" confused with the Persia vs. Sparta war movie "300", so an assault weapon didn't immediately spring to mind.
5. Use: EMPLOY
6. Event for which Kerri Strug is famous: VAULT. She sprained her ankle in a prior event, but famously strapped it up and nailed her landing to help the USA to team gold in gymnastics at the 1996 Olympics.
7. Unpopular spots: ACNE
8. Endangered species: DYING BREED
9. PC bailout key: ESC
10. Library, cardwise: ISSUER
11. Give for a while: LEND
12. Belt: SWIG
13. Deal preceder: ANTE. Ante up your stake before a poker hand is dealt.
21. "Bridge of Spies" actor: ALDA
22. See 22-Across: JUDY
24. Fogg's creator: VERNE. Phineas Fogg in Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 days". It's pretty much impossible today if you don't fly. There are no commercial passenger services across the Pacific.
26. Some aristocrats: LORDS
27. Egyptian beetle: SCARAB.
28. Morro Castle city: HAVANA. Learning moment, but I had most of the crosses, so I didn't think more than a beat or two.
29. Threaded fastener: HEX NUT
30. Electricity producer, perhaps: ATOMIC POWER. Is "perhaps" a cover-yourself moment from Bruce here? I think "nuclear power" myself
31. Dr. Evil's cohort: MINI ME. From the "Austin Powers" movies. The actor Verne Troyer who played the character sadly passed away recently. A mini-tribute to Verne with the 24D entry.
32. Pub handle: ALE TAP. I call it a beer tap or hand pump in my pub.
34. Seeing red: BOILING MAD
37. African title of respect: BWANA. From the Swahili.
38. Foe of "moose and squirrel": BORIS. Boris Badenov from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
43. "You bet": SURE!
44. Fussy sort: PRIG
46. Means of escape: EGRESS
47. International agreement: TREATY
49. Insurance giant: CIGNA. Not SIGNA then. Oh.
50. Part of a piggy bank: SLOT
51. Bygone audio brand: AIWA. What happened to them? They were ubiquitous in the '70s.
52. Site for techies: CNET
54. Empties (of): RIDS
56. "The Mod Squad" cop: LINC. Colleague of Pete and Julie, of course we all knew that. The final episode aired in 1973. Needless to say, I never saw it.
57. Circle's lack: ENDS
59. Tuna at a luau: AHI
60. Airline once owned by Howard Hughes: TWA. He gave up control of the airline in the 1960's.
And - grid, artfully colored. I'm glad I got out of New York last weekend; the East Coast has been pounded again by some awful weather. Be safe, everyone out there.
Steve
The reveal:
37A. With 40-Across, party supplies found in this puzzle's four corners: BOXED
40A. See 37-Across: WINES
Each corner contains the word WINE rendered as a little cube surrounded by the other entries, hence "boxed wine". Placing the reveal centrally with two stacked 5's means that Bruce had to stretch the puzzle vertically, so it's a 16x15 grid.
Neat theme, especially as Bruce uses the elbow room in the downs to add some nice lengthy fill. The WINE boxes start in turn in each cube in the SW, NW, SW and NW, so very pleasing to the eye.
Boxed wine deservedly had a bad rap at one time, now, if you choose carefully, you can get some very drinkable stuff for your daily house wine or your casual party. A winemaker told me once that you won't get great wine in a box, because great wine needs a bottle to age in, but if you're buying wine for "bulk" consumption, you're not going to be laying it down in your cellar.
Some good advice I once read is to serve it in one of those indestructible Duralex glass tumblers you drink the house wine out of in France, and you're on the right track. Save the Riedel stemware for the posh stuff. Cheers!
Let's see what else we've got to challenge our Thursday minds:
Across:
1. Set of options: MENU
5. Dodge: EVADE
10. "Sing it, Sam" speaker: ILSA. I tried RICK at first without thinking. Sheer nonsense, of course.
14. Gospel singer Andrews: INEZ. This corner was a little tricky for me. INEZ crossing ENID could have been a Natick, but logic prevailed.
15. Annual Big Apple parade sponsor: MACY*S
16. Darned: SEWN
17. New Zealand bird: KIWI. There's a debate about changing the New Zealand national flag. A lot of the proposed designs have a kiwi on them. The rest have the silver fern beloved of the national rugby team.
18. __ Wars: Rome vs. Carthage: PUNIC
19. Tizzy: SNIT
20. Vogue VIPs: EDS. Editors of Vogue magazine. I've cracked this particular crossword code.
21. __ wrench: ALLEN
22. With 22-Down, "People's Court" rival: JUDGE
23. KOA campground area: R.V. LOT
25. Bond film?: GLUE. Nice clue for this little word. Might be my favorite of the day.
27. Ally of "WarGames": SHEEDY. Who? This lady, apparently, from 1983:
29. "Westworld," e.g.: HBO DRAMA. I saw the original movie back in 1816, or something. Yul Brynner was the cowboy. It was quite good.
33. "It's a Wonderful Life" director: CAPRA
34. Juicy fruit: BERRY
35. Up to, briefly: TIL. To quote Bill the Bard:
O, gentlemen, help!
Mine and your mistress! O, my lord Posthumus!
You ne'er kill'd Imogen til now. Help, help!
Mine honour'd lady!
Cymbeline, Act V Sc. 5
36. Revlon rival: AVON
38. Beige shade: BONE. I was tempted by ECRU first, but I resisted said temptation.
39. Hard to find: RARE
41. Fail to mention: OMIT
42. Hill builder: ANT
43. Cantina toast: SALUD!
44. __ donna: PRIMA. Is there a seconda donna? We should be told.
45. Fundamental measurement: BASE UNIT
47. __ exercise: upper arm strengthener: TRICEP
48. The "G" of GTO: GRAN. Gran Tourismo Omologato, of course. Lots o' Italian today.
49. Apple __: CRISP. I thought the insurance company was SIGNA, which left me frowning at SR___, that didn't look right at all.
50. Start of a French oath: SACRÉ. BLEU! In French, this is actually one word and the "E" is not accented. There, now you can start a trivia argument in the bar.
53. Norwegian contemporary of Tchaikovsky: GRIEG. Let's have a little "Hall of the Mountain King". The comments on the video are priceless if you've got the time.
55. Bullfight "Bravo!": OLÉ. Huzzah! No "World Cup" clue this week.
58. One-fifth of a limerick: LINE. The actor David Niven's very first audition for Sam Goldwyn included the unexpected request to recite a limerick. I won't quote it here, but apparently it was the only part of the screen test which had any merit and won him a contract with Goldwyn.
59. Guadalajara gal pal: AMIGA
60. Target Field player: TWIN. Minnesota, natch. C.C. would know.
61. Is indebted to: OWES
62. Lacked: HADN'T.
63. Make (one's way): WEND. I picture wending as not being a direct route. Nothing to say you can't wend on a straight line though.
64. Skin pics: TATS. I'm still tattoo-less after all these years. I do have my eye on one. Maybe one day.
65. "My take is ... ": I'D SAY
66. Circle parts: ARCS
Down:
1. Karaoke need: MIKE. Funny, we had MIC a couple of weeks ago, and I was mulling over whether MIKE was an acceptable variant. I guess it is! *drops mic*.
2. Novelist Bagnold: ENID
3. Bulletins, e.g.: NEWS REPORTS
4. "Argo" weapon: UZI. I had "Argo" confused with the Persia vs. Sparta war movie "300", so an assault weapon didn't immediately spring to mind.
5. Use: EMPLOY
6. Event for which Kerri Strug is famous: VAULT. She sprained her ankle in a prior event, but famously strapped it up and nailed her landing to help the USA to team gold in gymnastics at the 1996 Olympics.
7. Unpopular spots: ACNE
8. Endangered species: DYING BREED
9. PC bailout key: ESC
10. Library, cardwise: ISSUER
11. Give for a while: LEND
12. Belt: SWIG
13. Deal preceder: ANTE. Ante up your stake before a poker hand is dealt.
21. "Bridge of Spies" actor: ALDA
22. See 22-Across: JUDY
24. Fogg's creator: VERNE. Phineas Fogg in Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 days". It's pretty much impossible today if you don't fly. There are no commercial passenger services across the Pacific.
26. Some aristocrats: LORDS
27. Egyptian beetle: SCARAB.
28. Morro Castle city: HAVANA. Learning moment, but I had most of the crosses, so I didn't think more than a beat or two.
29. Threaded fastener: HEX NUT
30. Electricity producer, perhaps: ATOMIC POWER. Is "perhaps" a cover-yourself moment from Bruce here? I think "nuclear power" myself
31. Dr. Evil's cohort: MINI ME. From the "Austin Powers" movies. The actor Verne Troyer who played the character sadly passed away recently. A mini-tribute to Verne with the 24D entry.
32. Pub handle: ALE TAP. I call it a beer tap or hand pump in my pub.
34. Seeing red: BOILING MAD
37. African title of respect: BWANA. From the Swahili.
38. Foe of "moose and squirrel": BORIS. Boris Badenov from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
43. "You bet": SURE!
44. Fussy sort: PRIG
46. Means of escape: EGRESS
47. International agreement: TREATY
49. Insurance giant: CIGNA. Not SIGNA then. Oh.
50. Part of a piggy bank: SLOT
51. Bygone audio brand: AIWA. What happened to them? They were ubiquitous in the '70s.
52. Site for techies: CNET
54. Empties (of): RIDS
56. "The Mod Squad" cop: LINC. Colleague of Pete and Julie, of course we all knew that. The final episode aired in 1973. Needless to say, I never saw it.
57. Circle's lack: ENDS
59. Tuna at a luau: AHI
60. Airline once owned by Howard Hughes: TWA. He gave up control of the airline in the 1960's.
And - grid, artfully colored. I'm glad I got out of New York last weekend; the East Coast has been pounded again by some awful weather. Be safe, everyone out there.
Steve
58 comments:
ILSA, INEZ, and ENID
Had an argument, really heated!
Ilsa left in a fit,
Inez left in a SNIT,
Enid left in a GRAN Turismo Omologato!
The KIWI may be a DYING BREED.
They cannot fly, so nests aren't treed.
They're getting RARE,
But Kiwis care,
So they're getting houses that are wee keyed!
{B+, B+.}
Greetings!
Thanks to Bruce and Steve!
Hangups here and there. Had the darndest time coming up with BONE. The B was of course nailed down. (I loved squirrel and moose!)
Other problems were with HAVANA and MINI ME (how could I forget?)
Finished without error, but I won't tell you the time!
Have a great day!
An impressive grid, that I see as the square version of yesterday's round puzzle. Thanks, Bruce.
ALLY SHEEDY has been in the news since January as part of the ME-TOO movement. She had lots of early SUCCESS in Hollywood; films WAR GAMES and BREAKFAST CLUB come to mind.
I did not know gospel singer INEZ ANDREWS but apparently her songs were recorded by the great but ill ARETHA FRANKLIN
FLN here is the IPA CHART .
Thanks Steve.
Good Thursday Morning everyone.
Mr. Bruce Haight was easy on us today. I finally got the theme when I filled in 37 and 40 A. I looked and looked in each corner before, and could not see a red or a rose. I FIR in 30:18 min.
Thank you Steve for your excellent review.
Ðave
Good Morning, Steve and friends. Interesting puzzle. I got it filled, but somehow missed seeing the little "WINE" boxes in each corner. I was looking for wine types. Very clever construction.
ENID Bagnold has made so many guest appearances in the crossword puzzles that I finally remembered her name.
I don't really think of AVON and Revlon being rivals other than the fact that both sell cosmetics. One can buy Revlon at any drugstore, but AVON is, I believe, sold "door-to-door" or now online.
Hand up for trying Ecru for the Beige tone instead of BONE. Unlike Steve, I did not resist that particular temptation.
When I saw the clue for Apple _____, my first thought was in the computer realm. Oh, we were actually going for Steve's foodie answer of Apple CRISP!
I thought the French oath was SACRÉ-CŒUR.
I am currently reading the book Bridge of Spies. It is very well written and there is much more detail about Gary Powers, which was not so much in the movie.
My favorite clue was Bond Film = GLUE.
QOD: I love my wife dearly, and, therefore, I’ve never cooked a meal, romantic or otherwise, for her. ~ Steve Carell (b. Aug. 16, 1962)
As Lemonade noted,Ally SHEEDY was in a number of films in the 1980s, most memorably The Breakfast Club.
Hi Y'all! Interesting puzzle, Bruce. I don't want to whine about WINE, but the theme didn't give me a buzz. Had no idea there was a theme. Scanned the clues but quickly moved on and let the perps fill the spaces. Number references always annoy me as being too vague so I don't give them much attention. A toast to Steve for interpreting this for us.
Did not know: INEZ, ENID, SHEEDY? (sheese!).
Ecru, nude, perped BONE. The only time I remember BONE being a color is my favorite ever pair of BONE high heeled pumps when I was 21 and had feet that still thought high heels were fun.
Knew BWANA as a kid from reading Tarzan books & a movie. Played in our tree house and went around saying "BWANA". Forgot it when I needed it today until I saw the BW___. Loved that tree "house" (okay, it was just two boards in the crook of a tree with a ladder to get up there).
Also forgot Morrow Castle was a fortress in Cuba. I got stuck thinking about the ship. Finally got HAVANA with perps then LIU. What is frustrating is that I recently read a book that took place in Havana Harbor with Morrow Castle prominent in the narration. Oh do-dah-DUH!
Good morning!
He who never oversleeps overslept today. The extra few minutes did not improve my puzzling skills. I struggled mightily in the center section. Changing SANTE to SALUD allowed me to see BOILING MAD, and then things fell together like peas and carrots. D-o even got the theme! Thanx, Bruce and Steve.
BONE: I also failed to resist. Wite-Out, please.
SACREbleu: My General Science instructor in H.S. often said that when things went sideways with his experiments. He told us he'd recently left the military, and we should be grateful that he chose a French expression.
I was lucky to finish Bruce's puzzle today. SHEEDY, MINI ME and their clues were unheard of unknowns that required WAGging and perps. Ditto for the unknown AIWA & SACRE. It didn't help that I only knew of 'Westworld' as an old movie with Yul Brenner from many, many years ago; HBO DRAMA was perped.
Steve, I wasn't tempted by ECRU; I filled it but Mr. Betenov changed it. BONE crossing MINI ME was the only logical WAG for me. Didn't know BONE was a color.
BOXED WINES and bottled wines- you can keep them; they all give me a headache. I stick with beer, scotch, gin, & rum.
JUDGE JUDY- She's on one of the annoying TVs at the gym; she's merciless but that's what those idiots need. People sue for the dumbest things.
ALLEN wrench- I have about 50 but it seems that every time I need one, it's the one that is MISSING and I have to buy another set just to get the one I need. Grrrrrr!
HEX NUT- I have a coffee can full of old nuts and bolts because when you need one something in the can will work.
Apropos of nothing I found this to be fascinating WHERE DID YOU COME FROM
Michael Crichton back again with WESTWORLD
Nice puzzle Bruce and nice catch Steve with Sacrebleu
In 1988, Python Michael Palin completed the 80-day circumnavigation, taking container ships for the eleven-day crossing of the Pacific and eight days on the Atlantic.
SACREbleu (holy blue?) probably is the equivalent of "Good Heavens."
Raise your hand if you recognized the theme.
51D: I had an AIWA cassette player back in the day. Can’t remember what it was but I didn’t like it for some reason. I think it just wasn’t made well.
Good morning. Thanks Bruce and Steve.
Slept late.
BASE line before BASE UNIT slowed down the middle.
Abejo, sorry to read that the Elk County team lost the game. Watched it until about the middle of the fourth inning, but then had to scoot.
Running late. Much to do. Will catch up later.
Good Morning:
Another fun-fest from Bruce with just a few hiccups: Avoid/Evade and Ecru/Bone. (Hi Hatoolah and DO.) Unknowns, as clued, were Inez, Havana, Mini Me and Boris. Big CSO to CC at Twin. The theme was well hidden and, even with the reveal, a nice Aha moment. At first, like others, I was looking for names, such as Cabs, Zins, Rosés, etc. I've heard of "Westworld" but assumed it was SciFi.
Thanks, Bruce, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Steve, for guiding us along.
I'm off to a doctor's appointment.
Have a great day.
RIP Aretha Franklin.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
TTP: Thanks for the baseball note. I was sorry to see them lose, as well. As was all of Johnsonburg, Ridgway, Wilcox, and Kane. They got that far, though. I am sure they all had fun. They will remember that series for the rest of their lives.
Puzzle was pretty tough for me. I never figured out the theme until I came here. Actually it was pretty simple. I should have seen it.
I also entered ECRU for 38A. Bone became obvious with some perps.
Did not know GRIEG. Perps.
Have to run. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Musings
-Being too literal, I looked only in the strict corners and it took our friend Steve to get me the theme!
-MICS/MIKE, LINC/LINK and INEZ crossing ENID were speed bumps
-Really? Some can tell if the wine came from a box or a glass?
-The MACY’S 80th parade went on despite the weather
-IKEA construction uses a lot of ALLEN wrenches
-Being the #1 day time TV show has allowed JUDGE JUDY to accumulate 9 fabulous homes/mansions including this one in Connecticut
-Steve, I loved hearing that familiar GRIEG piece but this is what I think of when I hear his name (first few minutes)
-“Shots from beyond the ARC” is a familiar part of basketball lexicon
-NCIS agents are not hit by barrages of UZI fire but they pick off the shooters with their sidearms
-My DW was BOILING MAD at her twin sister on Tuesday
-The Korean War had a ceasefire not a TREATY to end it
-After yesterday’s great phonic lesson, I wonder how you would write how BORIS pronounced “squirrel”?
Husker Gary, Did you read my posts FLN at 810P and 817P?
Ðave
18:46 today and never saw the boxed WINEs. Nice theme though. Very likable effort. Thanks to all.
FIR with ease, but would not have guessed the gimmick without the reveal which, being centrally placed, I read before I wasted time looking on my own.
I had to chase down Steve's limerick story, and it took a bit of doing. So to save everyone else the trouble:
Niven's first Hollywood chance was testing for Edmund Goulding. "Pretty bad," said the director, "apart from the natural bit when you told the limerick."
There once was an old man of Leeds
Who swallowed a packet of seeds.
Great tufts of grass
Shot out of his ass
And his cock was covered with weeds.
Hahtoolah: LOL at your QotD! I always look forward to them!
I thought SALUD was Russian, but no, it's Spanish (also Breton):
Interjection ¡salud!
1. bless you (said to somebody who has sneezed)
2. cheers (the usual toast when drinking alcohol)
3. (dated/Breton) greetings!
AnthonyGM: I briefly looked at Lemon's link, and noticed this in the sidebar.. Then 2 comments later, I see your avatar!
Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018)
I watched the original show, but it wasn't until the reboot that I learned LINC/LINk was short for Lincoln.
Wow, this was a Thursday thriller. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Steve.
With a great deal of P&P, I finished, saw the theme (after some searching) and found the BOXED WINES.
As Steve commented, the symmetry of the WINES is beautiful. Impressive.
Tinbeni should be happy today with all the WINES plus an ALETAP!
Hand up for falling into temptation with Ecru before BONE. Like TTP, I had BASE Line before UNIT.
I was Hopping MAD before BOILING, and my Belt was a Slug before a SWIG.
Greig changed to GRIEG with perps.
DH helped with HEXNUT, GRAN, ALLEN and TWIN. (I used my Call a Friend privilege!)
Yes, Big Easy, DH also has coffee cans full of nuts and bolts.
I agree with Hahtoolah re Revlon/AVON. Calling them rivals is like comparing apples and oranges.
If you want the Newfie version of the French oath SACRE, watch this video which has gone viral. The commentary is hilarious and illustrates the regionalisms we were discussing FLN.
BlessedRedeemerPiebaldMoose
Enjoy the day.
Good morning everyone.
Finally finished it without help. I, too, used the HG method for corner checking and also came up with bupkus for the theme. Got BOXED WINES easily, tho. Overall, a good puzzle; fun to work on.
GRIEG - Is the only Norwegian composer I know from that period.
KIWI - One of the ratites.
BREED - I feel BREED as normally used is a varietal or hybrid of a species. Holstein and Jersey are both BREEDS of Bos Taurus, the species of common cattle, for instance.
Abejo - we have a Canadian team in the Little League World Series. We'll see how they do.
BCTeam
Nailed it!
Wait a sec! Sacre Bleu!
I don't remember Bleu, oh nuts! I bet I spelled/spelt it wrong as Blue.
Wait another sec!,
(I didn't have to write blue/bleu at all...)
Hmm,
maybe I corkscrewed it...
Friend of Moose and Squirrel could have been anything.
He goes by a lot of Aliases...
My favorite Ally Sheedy movie has to be Short Circuit.
Boxed wine? Nothing wrong with that!
I thought I might find something funny in YouTube under "boxed wine,"
and was not disappointed.
In fact, it is too long! (9:20)
I watched the 1st 4 minutes until it finally got to the boxed wine,
but quit around 6 minutes due to TMI...
TTP and CanadianEh: Hand up for BASE LINE before BASE UNIT. Hand up had HOPPING before BOILING. Both had me stuck awhile.
Unknown SHEEDY/HAVANA cross had me stuck awhile, too. Last to fill. Otherwise fairly smooth for a Thursday.
For years I hiked Pinnacles National Park to try to see the ENDANGERED SPECIES of California Condor.
Here in 2015 I finally got to see two California Condors at once! Scroll down to the images starting with #335
The California Condor was a DYING BREED. Every single one of the 22 remaining condors in 1982 were captured and then bred in captivity. Eventually the breeding program worked and they were released into the wild again. There are now 400 in the wild. Still considered critically ENDANGERED. The biggest dangers? Lead bullets in carcasses. And spilled antifreeze which is very sweet and alluring to wild animals.
Our Congress member is named SALUD Carbajal. Here he posed with us at Martin Luther King Day events last year.
Interesting about SHEEDY and WAR GAMES.
My undergraduate thesis advisor Ed Fredkin was supposedly the model for the grumpy genius in WAR GAMES who saved the world.
From yesterday:
TTP: Thanks to AnonT I learned about the OTTO inside joke. Thanks!
OwenKL: Thanks for the shout out, but somehow I was not getting your meaning? The Jules VERNE link was meant to illustrate the value of visionary science fiction. Some things that are "not real" can matter a lot in the real world. Others, not so much.
Such a nice surprise that VERNE was featured today!
And I did not catch your meaning about photo captions. Which photos needed a caption? Sometimes I am linking to my published articles which have extensive captions and explanations.
PS: I only got the theme when I completely finished the solve. Fun theme!
Love Bruce Haight puzzles, even when they're toughies like this Thursday one. But I actually got most of it, except for problems in the middle area. And I was very happy that I got both of those long downs, 3 and 30, without any problems. One hitch came with having ELUDE before EVADE, and since I didn't know Kerri Strug, it never occurred to me that her event might be an athletic VAULT. Like others I kept thinking BONE can't be right for a color, and would have been happier with ECRU. And I would never have found those BOXED WINES if Steve hadn't pointed them out to us. I kept wondering what ANTE and SLOT had to do with wines. But, clever, clever, when Steve revealed them. So many thanks, Bruce, for an intriguing and fun puzzle, and your write-up was a gift, Steve.
Owen, I knew Aretha Franklin was very ill, but hadn't heard that we had lost her. RIP.
Have a good day, everybody.
Thanks to Bruce Haight for the BOXED WINE! I didn't see the cleverly placed WINE as I, too, was looking for specific names.
Yes, SALUD is Spanish as is INEZ though I've never heard of the gospel singer, Andrews. ENID Bagnold is a CW favorite as has been mentioned. AMIGA, more Spanish.
Hand way up for ECRU before BONE.
MINIME was completely unfamiliar. Oh. MINI ME. Another movie series I never saw. However, I loved The Mod Squad so LINC came easily.
It also took me a very long time to parse HBO DRAMA.
I believe Ally SHEEDY was the Jennifer Lawrence of the 80s.
Good bye, Aretha! Sing with the angels.
Have a very pleasant day, everyone!
Thank you, Steve, for finding the wine inside the boxes! I completely enjoyed your witty commentary.
Bruce Haight's puzzle faked me out. At least for the corner boxes, thanks to Steve the "Boxed Wines" were revealed.
Interesting though, he pointed out that the letters W-I-N-E follow in a regular pattern; all going clockwise. But after drinking even one box of wine, I wouldn't think anyone could follow such a course.
HEXNUT. I had SCIFI-DRAMA, which I shortened to SFI-DRAMA. It didn't last but when I checked HEXNUT it read SEX-NUT.
We don't get many NEWS REPORTS in crossword puzzles - thank God. Today's news is like N-E-W-S, E-W-S-N, W-S-N-E... Let me drink another box.
Bye
ARGO was Jason's ship. So... Bow?
Ok. My friend Mr S. Refuses to help.. expliquez-moi Bond film=GLUE???
I thought I had to give this one up but FIR in reasonable time.
I panicked when I read "not SIGNA" . I had it right.
I quickly recognize when Steve is at the HELM*
WC
* Was it here or NYT? I'm having an awful time with an old one with answers like DISCO ON TENT
Wilbur, when you glue two pieces together a thin film of glue creates the bond.
@WC 3:14PM
Glue bonds things together and is often applied as a film to one surface before marrying the other piece to it. Hence "Bond film" and GLUE!
WC - What D-O said. Also, since Bond was in caps, I wondered if it had to do with a hair GLUE product.
I felt like the tortoise on this one.
But slow & steady wins the race, eh, Mr. Haight?
The last corner to fall was the NE. I should have paid more attention to the theme, as that would have jolted me out of answering "Belt" with SING - instead of SWIG.
But I did solve it in time, so in the end I earned my ...
Ta- DA!
Misty, Irish Miss, CanadianEh!, Hahtoolah, &c. ~ I too lost time over the ECRU/BONE flip. Beige is just too damned versatile!
~ OMK
____________
Diagonal Report: Go home. Asymmetrical grid today.
RIP Aretha Franklin, a truly great and extraordinarily versatile musician, excelled at everything from gospel to opera arias. Her piano playing (while singing) revolutionized the art of vocal accompaniment in jazz and soul music. Age 76, at home in Detroit, pancreatic cancer.
2D/14A Didn't know Inez or Enid.
27A I think I actually saw War Games all those years ago, and the actress' name is familiar, though I didn't connect them. Don't often remember names of actors, even in the rare movies and shows I see and like.
29A Heard of Westworld, only as a movie, didn't know it was a show on HBO.
53A Grieg was a gimme. Husker, me too on the Piano Concerto.
60A Didn't know where Target Field is, will forget before it comes up again.
1D Why would anyone intentionally drop a highly sensitive, multi thousand dollar piece of equipment?
21D Never heard of Bridge of Spies, but a 4 letter actor AL__ has a pretty good chance.
24D Prescience of the blog - enjoyed reading Picard's link to Verne yesterday. But Steve, are there really no commercial passenger services across the Pacific? Maybe you just meant ships? Otherwise, how did I get here?
28D I remember touring El Morro Castle in San Juan, PR in 1967. Have lots of pictures somewhere. Maybe the "El" makes the difference?
31D Heard or read the names Dr. Evil and MINIME, but had no idea of their origin or relationship.
I was looking in the corners for the word wine, but didn't find it til the third try, after reading Steve's writeup. Oh, well.
Thanks Bruce and Steve.
My daily rant about circles in the grid lol - this would have been a prime puzzle to do it, but thankfully they didn’t, as it would have made the reveal too easy. Ban circles I say!
Thanks Steve- nice write up!
Ah, so THAT'S where those wines were to be found!
'Twasn't logic that got me that N crossing INEZ and ENID.
Funny that that YouTube presentation of the GRIEG piece says "Artist: Georges, Bizet ()".
So, it wasn't crescent wrench, box wrench, open end wrench, monkey wrench, or liquid wrench.
Hand up for having to erase ECRU for BONE. Speaking of Jennifer Lawrence...
There is no way I would ever want to be a litigant in JUDGE JUDY's court.
Steve asked, "Is there a seconda donna?" Good question.
So, what if Mike drops the mic?
Love love loved the clue for GLUE!
Wouldn't the foe of "moose and squirrel" be "Russian spy"? Wouldn't the foe of Rocky and Bullwinkle (their names) be Boris (his name)?
RIP Aretha Franklin.
OMK:
Oh, yes! Morning is by far and away my favorite of Grieg's music!!! Thank you for linking it though I have two or three versions on CDs.
@Jayce - Boris called them "moose and squirrel", he didn't call them by their names. I thought the same thing and went a-looking for an explanation
FLN my comment to "Picard: as a Sci-Fi fan, I loved that Jules Verne statue! But really, man, you have GOT TO caption your photos! I've seen a few you did, so I know you can do it!"
Sorry my two comments got conflated! The statue I thought was unreservedly great (especially those divers at the base of it)!
The captioning comment referred to the ones like this a couple days ago, especially the works of art -- what are they? where are they? Who are they by?
Musings
-D4, I did read your post from yesterday and now see how the lava has progressed. Can those people get volcano insurance?
-Boris somehow got a V sound in “squirrel” to my ear
-Grieg’s Piano Concerto was at the end of this wonderful 3:48 recording
-Our beautiful summer on the plains continues. .5” of rain last night and a high of 80˚F today. Yeah, I know, you desert peeps can crow in January! :)
A bit late today....but I seemed to have been on the beam today, went right through...online write over was newsFLASH which crosses fixed to newsREPORT in short order.
And on to Friday.
OwenKL @1720 - I'm with you. Picard, I love your pictures, but often wish I knew what I was seeing. I guess it would be awful tedious to caption all of them - maybe the first in each group or something. But whatever you do, please keep them coming! When I was in the navy I took mostly slides, and it drove me nuts trying to remember the what/when/where of each picture when they came back. Then most of the cardboard mounts got eaten by termites, and by then the pictures were so old I have no hope of recreating the data. That was over 10 years ago and I haven't even found a safe way to clean the hardened mud off of them.
HG @ 1757 - they can, but they're in the highest danger zone, so it's very expensive. Some have it, a lot don't - thought they were getting a bargain on land & houses, though realtors are required by law to explain the lava hazard zone system to all buyers.
Lucina ~
I learned Edvard GRIEG's Morning Theme the same way most middle class American kids did - through Saturday afternoon cartoons. In my case it was the hour-long cartoon show before a double feature at the Metro Theater, Union Street, San Francisco.
My wife attributes all her classical music background to Bugs Bunny. It was not a single movie theater for her, as she moved around (a Marine brat), but she recalls it was always Bugs!
And he was always at the Hollywood Bowl: Grieg, Wagner, Mozart - the works! She got it all through that dad-blasted Rabbit!
Bugs may have done more for the musical education of the youth of America than even Maestro Gustavo Dudamel!
~ OMK
Hi All!
Thanks Bruce for this Thursday salve after my DNF yesterday. I enjoyed the [hic] the theme (all the Ws gave it away) and it helped in the West's corners.
Great Expo Steve and thanks for calling out the comments in the Hall of the Mountain King link - priceless.
WOs: edge b/f ENDS @57d [I was thinking 3D!]; tUNIC b/f PUNIC but let's not fight about it...
ESPs: ENID, INEZ, GRIEG, LINC
Fav: BORIS - love me some Moose and Squirrel
Runner-up: SHEETY - I had a huge crush on her in War Games and Short Circuit; not so much in The Breakfast Club :-)
{B,A-}
MikeS. Target [NYSE: TGT] is Headquartered in Minneapolis, hence the MN TWINs play at their field (that's how I figured it out and fixed 'edge'). Maybe that will help you remember/suss other branded ballparks ;-)
Billo - I enjoyed Palin's Around the World [3:54]. Remember the blind barber in India? //Google 'Palin around the world' and all episodes are available free.
Lem@5:12a - I was anticipating this IPA Chart. :-)
For those into Cacti & State Fairs, this morning Pop got second place for his Bullwinkle cactus.
Hard to Think Aretha's gone. [Blues Brothers 3:06]. RIP
-T
SACREbleu is a French euphemism, substituting "bleu" for "Dieu". French Wiktionary gives the English translation as "my God!"
Boris Badenov & Natasha Fatale.
Hmmm.
Somehow my link to the GRIEG theme got zapped. I can't find it anywhere on the blog now.
SO, for any who were curious about the piece I think most of us first associate with Edvard GRIEG, here it is again.
Hands up if this is the melody you first connect to the master! Grieg: Theme
~ OMK
Musings 2
-Thanks Mike, I would think that Volcano Insurance would be cheaper here in Nebraska although my MIL pays $800/year for federal flood insurance in an area where it has never flooded, covers nothing and it is money she can not afford
-OMK, thanks, I did not know that fabulous music was Griegian!
-I too learned so much classical music from Looney Tunes and Disney!
I started this earlier, ran out of juice, napped (TMI)...
RE. "FILM=>GLUE.
Ok. That kind of Bond. I was hoping for an Ursula Andress link or some Octopussy. I stumbled on the end of that movie and (my blushes) continued watching.
Rip, Aretha. This brings back memories*
WC
* 1967, late night after club gathering. All of a sudden I look around and it's all blacks et moi. All United by the music, the August Newark riots a non factor.
When I was in elementary school, fourth or fifth grade, our teacher would tune to the Texaco hour every Thursday at 11:00 A.M. She would explain the music being featured and glowed when the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofe came on. She could then incorporate it into an Arizona lesson.
Then in high school, I had an English teacher who would use classical music to help set the mood for writing essays. She was my teacher throughout all grades in high school. In the convent, on certain days, classical music would be played during dinner.
That is how I came to love classical music.
A little bit more out of DefCon - The Badge. [I like the headline - straight from War Games :-)].
The badge was a text-adventure game (Steve, that's why I loved the comments on GRIES' link) that you had to figure out that it was even a game.
My buddy and I spent about 4 hours, with two laptops each, hacking the badge (at a pub from 11-3a) and got 3 of the 6 lights to go 'green.' We attendees were told nothing about the badge / that it was a game; we just knew it had blinky lights, buttons, and a USB port -- fun around our neck with which to fiddle and figure. Now there's a puzzle!
Lucina - Nice story, but,.. c'mon, hand-up w/ me & OMK's DW? It was Bugs Bunny* :-)
Cheers, -T
*cue Kill da wabbit!
Lucina, i was honored to meet Ferde Grofe. i grew up hearing his Grand Canyon Suite on Texaco Hour. I went to music camp in Gunnison, Colorado and lived with my teacher who worked in the camp office. I did some extra stuff for the office. Grofe came in because they were debuting a piece he'd written on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison at the camp finale. I was awe struck and he wasn't impressed by me, for certain.
PK:
I am so impressed that you met Ferde Grofe!
AnonT:
You take your Bugs Bunny and I'll savor my story! I saw those cartoons, too, but it's not my major recollection for classical music.
Back to the puzzle says...
Until Steve called out the 15x16, I didn't notice. But, Bruce's long juicy downs were quite noticeable and appreciated. Well done. -T
Another casualty of 'progress' -- In addition to shop classes and home economics being axed because of costs and "we need to teach the test", music and arts in general are also pretty much dead.
If we don't teach our kids about our culture -- where it came from and what it means -- it will disappear.
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