Themeless Saturday Puzzle By Craig Stowe
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of the U.S. Navy! We here salute all who served in this vital part of our national defense especially our stalwarts 2nd Class Petty Officer Tom Uttormark (Desper-Otto) and Commander Al Hollmer (Spitzboov).
Today's constructor is Craig Stowe who also had the HIGH CHAIR puzzle ten days ago so ably blogged by Hahtoolah. I last blogged one of Craig's puzzles on July 28 - The National Day Of The Cowboy. Craig is a kitchen porter in a rather large hotel in Toronto.
Today his puzzle arrives on a day that celebrates life and duty on the high seas, so let's shove off into the literary waters aboard the C.S.S. Crossword and see what Craig has laded aboard
Today his puzzle arrives on a day that celebrates life and duty on the high seas, so let's shove off into the literary waters aboard the C.S.S. Crossword and see what Craig has laded aboard
1. N.A. boundary river: ST LAWRENCE - Ah, an aquatic beginning on this Navy day. This river is part of the ST LAWRENCE Seaway that runs from Lake Erie to Montreal. The ST LAWRENCE River continues out to the Atlantic
11. Pompano kin: SCAD - Neither are in my restaurant's fish tank
 |
| POMPANO SCAD |
15. "I agree": WHAT HE SAID
16. Weight allowance: TARE - Can you find the TARE knob on this balance? It is used to reset the pointer to zero with an empty beaker on the pan so its weight is not included. Yeah, I know, this balance measures mass not weight but still...
17. Emergency transportation method: AIR LIFTING - Our hospital has a helicopter that costs $25,000 per trip
18. Auricular: OTIC - Using Zymox OTIC Enzymatic Solution 19. Originated: BEGAN - Our Navy BEGAN 243 years ago
20. Fragrant garland: LEI - Our cheapo Hawaii luau gave us each a LEI, took a picture and took them back for the next couple
21. Two-time Tony-winning playwright Yasmina __: REZA - Some of her work
22. Word with rain or pine: FOREST.
25. Dodo: NIMROD - In Genesis he was a grandson of Noah and a brave hunter. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck sarcastically called hunter Elmer Fudd that name and it became a pejorative part of the culture
27. "The Quiet American" novelist: GRAHAM GREENE - A 1955 book that correctly predicted the result of American intervention in Vietnam
30. __ noir: CAFE - Je ne bois que du CAFE noir (I only drink black coffee)
33. Angela Lansbury role: MAME - I think most would think of Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote
34. Cookbook direction: ADD IN
35. You can tie one on: OBI
36. Court figure: WITNESS
38. Sea-__ Airport: TAC - Once the plane sets down at SEA-TAC, it's a 23-minute drive to a Seattle Seahawk Game39. Like Loki: NORSE - Loki is a god in NORSE mythology. Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Oh...
41. Include "[sic]," perhaps: CITE - Suppose any copywriter did this to Duke Ellington: It Don't [sic] Mean A Thing If It Ain't [sic] Got That Swing.
42. Skye of "Say Anything...": IONE - Some of her work
43. "For what it's worth": JUST A THOUGHT.
46. Says: UTTERS.
50. WTO predecessor: GATT - General Agreement on Tarriffs and Trade signed in 1947
51. Recede: EBB.
54. Odorless gas: RADON.
56. Insignificantly: A BIT.
57. Bouncer's milieu: TRAMPOLINE - Not a nightclub it turns out
60. Ponderous pages: TOME.
61. Salt and pepper: SEASONINGS
62. "Dizzy-_ fury and great rage of heart": Shak.: EYED - The first part of Henry VI, Act 4, Scene 7. I read the entire passage and am still not certain what it means 😟
63. Part of a Kipling poem opening: EAST IS EAST - Also the start of a song where Frasier can't remember the lyrics and has awkward 47. Breaks: PAUSES.
Down:
1. Salt: SWAB - Our two sailors in my intro said this is not usually a term that is warmly received by members of the Navy
2. Doberman pincher?: THIEF - A Pinscher pincher
3. Key __: LARGO - Bertie Higgins' rendition of Key Largo was voted #75 by VH1 on list of best hits by one-hit-wonders
Listen if you like
4. On the run: AT LARGE - This must be at least the 4th time I've used this
5. Crybaby: WHINER.
6. Call on the field: REF - Guys with the striped shirt are said to REF the game
7. "Errare humanum __": EST - "To Err Is Human." Latin puts the words in a very different order
8. Do perfectly: NAIL - Some students NAIL every test
9. Theater: CINE.
10. Trim: EDGING.
11. Left angrily, with "out": STORMED - Delegates take turns STORMING out of U.N. speeches as we see Nikki Haley do here.
12. Humored: CATERED TO.
13. Cesar Chavez, by birth: ARIZONIAN - I had no idea where he was born or that the second "I" was necessary
14. Debauchery: DECADENCE - Some Roman Emperors come to mind
23. Arctic natives: SAMI.
24. Rustic roofing: THATCH.
26. Destinations for some PR deductions: IRAS.
28. Prenatal procedure, briefly: AMNIO - AMNIOcentesis can detect issues with a baby in the womb
29. Connect (with): MEET UP - Oops...
30. Do a tense recitation?: CONJUGATE - Today I blog, last Saturday I blogged, next Saturday I will blog...
31. Nick Hornby novel: ABOUT A BOY - As a movie...
32. There's one for everything: FIRST TIME - Don't ask C.C. about the FIRST TIME I blogged
36. Become tedious: WEAR - Teacher meetings used to really WEAR on me
37. Sonic Dash publisher: SEGA - My video game experience seriously waned after Pac Man40. Decided to keep: STETTED - Undid an edit. Ah, tell Duke we're gonna leave "don't" and "ain't" just as they were
42. "No way!": IT'S A LIE.
44. Trypanosome carrier: TSE TSE - As I've said before, this is the most dangerous animal in Africa
45. Wyandot people: HURONS - Roosevelt High School is in Wyandotte, MI at the foot of Lake HURON48. Ritzy Twin Cities suburb: EDINA.
49. Many are hits: SONGS - Ask me to name today's Top Ten...
52. Spanish for "tar": BREA - We've had the debate here about LA BREA Tar Pits being redundant
53. Meadow plaints: BAAS - The Whiffenpoof song contains, "We're poor little sheep who have lost our way, BAA, BAA, BAA"
55. Queen's domain: NEST - Here's the queen in the middle of a hornet's nest
58. Calgary winter hrs.: MST - Canadian time zones sorta follow U.S. zones
59. Islands staple: POI - "Like Grits in the American South, POI is a bland Hawaiian side dish that you serve plain and let people season with salt or pepper"
Anchors aweigh and let's hear your comments!
DA GRID
Dismal failure. Maybe half the grid was empty when I gave up and turned on red letters. Half of the NW turned red. Half of the NE turned red. Three-quarters of the SW turned red. But the SE was filled and all stayed black! With red guidance, I eventually filled all but one cell -- STE?TED + GAT?. After several WAGs, I gave up and pleaded for a reveal.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand REF,
Never heard of REZA, IONE, SCAD, and isn't POMPANO our Secretary of State this week?
A girl who sailed the ST. LAWRENCE
Gave herself over to DECADENCE
She kept it quiet
To avoid a riot
But many a WITNESS gave evidence!
There's something ABOUT A BOY
Who lexical erudition can employ.
He can CONJUGATE
Both early and late
In ways only he can enjoy!
{A, A-.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one went into overtime due to a triple "fox pass" along the ST LAWRENCE: Stomped/STORMED, Tret/TARE and Shad/SCAD. Oofda! I agree, Husker, that second I in ARIZONIAN sounds superfluous. Any hands up for BETE Noir? Or "Mere" for A BIT? My final fill was the U at the PAUSES/HURONS cross -- that required an alphabet run. Phew, Craig, this one was truly Saturday-worthy. Keep 'em comin'.
Did any of you see the CBS story this past week about a boy giving CPR to a squirrel? That took place in the Mpls suburb where C.C. and Boomer reside.
Too much of a slog for me. I got a headache from some of the clues.
ReplyDeleteMr. Stowe is really hitting his stride as a constructor and made me work really hard. Some of this was the cluing and some things I did not know; the most embarrassing was not knowing about YASMINA REZA . I never should have stopped reading the New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful write-up and I loved the quote from Dr. Tyson about eyewitness testimony.
I have mentioned that I am reading all the Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. ERLE is very common fill, but you may not know that as well as being an incredibly successful author, he was an attorney who started an organization with friends of his who were experts in the forensic investigation that led to CSI and so much more. It was called THE COURT OF LAST RESORT . He also wrote an article for the CORNELL LAW REVIEW
EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY . As someone who at one time questioned people for a living, it is all fascinating and worth reading. Also, a CSO to Bill G.
Thanks Craig and Gary
And I forgot to mention both the wonderful LEMONADE tribute posted last evening by CED- thank you Dave 1; and, the CSO to me with POMPANO which is where I live. Not in a fish, a beach town in So.Fla.
ReplyDeleteSunday time for a Saturday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteActually went with 30A "film" noir first. Re which, one of last night's Blue Bloods subplots referred to gaslighting; the 1944 noir film Gaslight had 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in a little maid costume as accomplice to Charles Boyer driving Ingrid Bergman mad. It was Lansbury's first film role.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis required lots of P and P but it paid off in the end (30 minutes) with a resounding Tada, sans help. The SW corner was my quagmire because I was certain Bete ( Hi DO) was correct. (Stubbornness is a two-edged sword, me thinks!) After much tinkering, getting First Time and Conjugate filled in led to the finish line. Several unknowns needed perps: Scad, Wyandot, Sami, and, as clued, Eyed, Tse Tse and Cafe. The only w/o was Tret/Tare (Hi, again, DO). Graham Greene was a gimme, as was Ms. Reza, as I saw the play, "Art: A Play" and the movie adaptation of "God of Carnage." My favorite C/A was Doberman pincher=Thief. "Mame" brought a smile as that was my mother's (Mary) nickname.
Thanks, Craig, for a challenging but rewarding solve and thanks, HG, for the entertaining and elucidating expo. You and CED are pros when it comes to finding cute kitty clips! Congrats to our two Navy birthday celebrants, Spitz and DO, and to my late big brother who served in the Navy in WWII.
FLN
Bill G ~ I am touched by your kindness.
CED ~ Only you could unearth such a clever and comical clip!
Clues left me clueless. Just gave up.
ReplyDeleteAfter the first pass, I had maybe 4-5 words filled in. I thought ' this is going to be tough'. Thensomething clicked and the NE filled in, the SW, SE, NW. One word, one area at a time, and it all seemed to work. All in all... tough for me, but finished in 34 min.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend all.
The Northeast corner was my downfall. Put "oral" instead of "otic". "Shad" instead of "scad". Oh well...close but no vape cigar!!
ReplyDeleteCold day but full of leaf brilliant colors in Upstate NY south of the St Lawrence river. Geese cackling as they fly south. Hope they know it's hurricane season!!!
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteThis was a worthy opponent.
Hand way up for bête noir. That stayed in for a long time, leaving that corner hopelessly logjammed. Needing to justify the nearby J, I finally hit upon conjugate. Only then did the bête noir back off.
Never heard of a scad, and for that matter I wasn’t any too sure what a pompano was - I was thinking vegetation rather than fish - so for that corner I admit to resorting to Google. Thus I concede a Technical DNF.
Morning Husker, well done!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteD-O - - Yes, I caught the CBS squirrel story last night on the Steve Hartmen segment and saw the SO to CC and Boomer's community. I think they're near the "ritzy" suburb of EDINA.
A snappy salute to Tom and our other sailors out there, today.
Good Saturday challenge. Got the N, center and greater SE without mishap. So there was a continuum, top to bottom. Had nitwit before finally whiting out and trying NIMROD which shook loose the long downs. Hangup in the SW was I had 'bete' before finally trying CAFE (noir).
Once I saw it, I thought 'tense recitation" as a clue for CONJUGATION was absolutely spectacular, especially after having tentatively inserted the little used 'J' in JUST A THOUGHT.
Thanks Husker for the Navy birthday reminder and your usual fine intro.
A rare fail. Stalled half-way through, got a second wind leaving the SW corner open and then kaput. Bete killed me.
ReplyDeleteHG: Thanks for the info on Nimrod. In the Bible he's only described as a "mighty hunter" and a "mighty one in the earth", and I've wondered how that translated in being a "dodo" today.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was reading a lot more mysteries, I doubt I read every Parry Mason book, but I did read every one I could get my hands on. Also Cool & Lamb, by A.A.Fair!
Cart Boy, me, too. Everything you said, but then I went on to red- letter it quite a bit. If I occasionally cheat it is usually for only 1 or 2 cells. This had good perps with fair and not that obscure fill. I needed too much help. I am not sure what happened to us. Good one, Craig.
ReplyDeleteCAFE Noir, although common and my choice of coffee, was the farthest thing from my mind. I learned that STET can be a verb. There was much clever fill such as nest, conjugate (terrific clue) and trampoline.
Gary, thanks for your always interesting review and all the great links.
Hi all,
ReplyDeletea big fail in the southwest although I had About a boy straight away (wonderful movie). REZA also clear as I have seen one play from her in Slovak theatre (it was about a completely white painting).
Also I knew Graham Greene (favourite author of my uncle)
I did not like the NIMROD clue. It is a hunter in my book - how does that translate to idiot? I would have clued it as an album from Green Day. Before they went full mainstream.
Well let‘s see if I manage Sunday finally.
So, on my first run through this Saturday toughie I got LEI, BETE, EBB, and TOME for the across answers, and STOMPED and BAAS for the downs before I started cheating. Relief to learn that, like Desper-otto, I'm not the only one who goofed with Bete and STOMPED. And it killed me that I couldn't remember GRAHAM GREENE even though I'm pretty sure I read "The Quiet American" in my younger days. Never heard of TARE--that's totally new for me. But I have to admit that the clues were clever, like SWAB for SALT and THIEF for Doberman pincher. So, many thanks, Craig, even though I pretty much flubbed this one. Great write-up, Husker Gary. I loved seeing your picture of Angela Lansbury as MAME, one of my favorite actresses.
ReplyDeleteSo, I'll try to keep my spirits up on this rainy Saturday when I failed at crossword, Sudoku (even on a Medium rated one) and even Kenken. How can anyone fail at Kenken--I'll have to try it again later and see if I can salvage my pride. But Woohoo, I at least got the Jumble (sorry to mention it on this blog) without any trouble. A tiny, tiny success, much needed on this tough morning.
Still, have a great weekend, everybody!
I wish more people would mention Owen's jumble blog on the Corner -- or is that a no no? He writes such great longer-form poems there, and I think the posters here would really appreciate them.
DeleteLOKI is also my daughter’s cat. Spent some time looking for a synonym for mischievous, impish, chaotic, etc.
ReplyDeleteI was bothered by the NIMROD clue and so have Krijo and others:
ReplyDeleteWiktionary offers:
"Possible reasons for the shift from "hunter" to "idiot"
:
One suggestion is that Bugs Bunny's references to Elmer Fudd as a "poor little Nimrod", while most likely using the term's "hunter" sense, contributed to the development of a sense "one who is easily confounded".
An alternative explanation of this sense is that it derives from the John Steinbeck memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America, in which Steinbeck used the term sarcastically while describing an inquest that was held after a hunter accidentally shot his partner: "The coroner questioning this nimrod..."
The Oxford English Dictionary, in turn, cites a 1933 writing as the first usage of nimrod to refer to a fool, predating Bugs Bunny by at least five years and Steinbeck by nearly thirty: in Hecht and Fowler's Great Magoo, someone remarks "He's in love with her. That makes about the tenth. The same old Nimrod. Won't let her alone for a second." However, this could still have been used in the sense of a hunter (i.e. someone pursuing a love interest).
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests that because the legendary Nimrod was associated with the Tower of Babel, a disastrous idea, nimrod acquired the meaning of "a stupid person."
Another possible source of the sense is the play "The Lion of the West" by James Paulding. First performed in 1831, it features a comedic characterization of Davy Crockett named Col. Nimrod Wildfire who attempts to woo a young French woman."
YMMV
HuskerGary Thanks for the Navy History lesson and the shout out to our Navy corner people. The WITNESS quote is so very true.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain the meaning of PR DEDUCTIONS? Google is not helping with what is PR in this case. I only know PR as Public Relations or Puerto Rico.
Hand up this was tough! Unknowns included REZA, SCAD, ABOUT A BOY, EYED. But it was the sneaky cluing that made it so hard. Hand up for FILM then BETE before the unknown CAFE NOIR. The BOUNCER clue was clever. I don't drink coffee. But I do know enough French to understand the meaning. STETTED seemed wrong. So did ARIZONIAN. Grudgingly filled them in. Pleased to FIR!
I have a friend whose friend is NIMROD. Neither of them were aware of the DODO meaning. I suggested he might want to use a different name if he comes to the US!
Here I got to see CESAR CHAVEZ and Governor Brown up close when he was campaigning for Governor Brown in 1978.
I was too poor to own a telephoto lens so I really was that close. Brown really was getting into his modest Plymouth sedan. The crowd was chanting for him to run for president so that we would have Linda Ronstadt as First Lady.
As a child living in Denmark I saw many a THATCH roof. It just seemed normal.
Here is the song FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a worthy challenge!
ReplyDeleteI immediately knew ST. LAWRENCE River and GRAHAM GREENE. I read most of his books way, way back and long ago.
With those in place, the verticals fell like icicles on a Christmas tree. ARIZONIAN surprised me, too. I consider myself an Arizonan.
Hand up for BETE noir. That corner, the SW, gave me fits! I finally had to Google ABOUT A BOY as the author is unknown to me. STETTED also amazed me.
There's a FIRST TIME for everything was clever. I don't know if EDINA is ritzy or not but it's the only MN suburb I know. Yes, I saw the squirrel that got CPR. The fresh cluing for TSETSE almost beat me. Thinking of the comments we've had here about the La BREA tarpits, I laughed when it emerged!
Congratulations to all our Navy men on the anniversary of the Navy's founding! John Paul Jones, I believe, is called the "Father of the U.S. Navy".
Have a magnificent day, everyone! It's raining again!
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteAnonT Thank you for the kind words about my Baja desert photos of the HITCH HIKING boys in my COROLLA. Yes, the picked over rusted car added to the ominous feeling out in the desert without seeing even one other person or car for hours.
Glad you enjoyed my BEN COHEN photos, too! Good that you visited the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. I have not been to Vermont since I was a child; before Ben and Jerry's!
I had hoped someone would comment on my IDLE RICH video clip from Roger and Me from a couple of days back.
Picard. Did you try googling "PR Deductions"?
ReplyDeleteIt comes up as the 1st result.
I had BETE for 30A.....Well, I’ve been drinking coffee and all of its mixtures for 50 years....never heard of Cafe Noir....I’ve a poster of all the coffee drinks...not on there either. Nor has it ever been ordered, as most would just ask for it black. So no chance on 30/31/32 down at all, despite having JUSTATHOUGHT and UTTERS.
ReplyDeleteNever saw NORSE for LOKI, thought it was looking for some personality trait. Just nowhere to go in that section.
Oh well, can’t win them all.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThank you HG for bailing me out of this grid! Sorry, Craig, this was way above my Ensign Red-shirt pay-grade. I loved the DeGrass Tyson QOD.
Here's the sad story - WITNESS this: My solve BEGAN at eST [sic] and POI. I PAUSES'd for a THOUGHT, smelled the RADON, and heard SONGS in my head. I solved most of the SE and a few smatterings about but everything else was a NEST of nesting thoughts; I NAIL'd nuttin' and STORMED out.
Finally, I looked up how to spell GRAHAM GREENE [I needed the H - And, really(?), Craig, you couldn't have CITE'd Our Man in Havana*? - I know that one!; I was WAGin' this] and MEET'd UP with some center-fill. It's been two hours now and I've gotta TAC-left and get this house (and me) pretty b/f DW gets home. //I sound like a WHINER, eh?
The SEGA continues... RIO GRANDE was right out.
And, dang it(!), I had Bete Noir [hi Dudley & Lucina!]. I shoulda got CONJUGATE, I studied!. //That's my excuse 'cuz (32d) There's one for everything.
{B, A *plus for the LOL}
Picard - we know Roger & Me. The commentary on the clip would go Red/Blue b/f you know it. #Nod&WaveBoys,Nod&Wave
Sandyanon - the Jumble talk got a bit much for some. You can reference OKL's joint next-door without people groaning.
WC - It's a miracle! WWDTM reply said Auntie MAME as I was reading the clue. If only I knew Jessica Fletcher, er, Angela Lansbury, played that role too.
Krijo - HG (& now Spitz**) kinda beat me to it [but I have CITEs!]. it's American-"culture." See Daffy. //I thought this Bugs Bunny [7m] (he's not NORSE but plays the Loki) toon had the pejorative NIMROD too. It doesn't but I'm going to link it anyway just for C, Eh! :-)
Happy Navy Day to my Brothers-in-Arms on the high-seas!
Cheers, -T
*Wormold passed off HOOVER schematics as a bomb design.
**Hey, look, I refreshed b/f posting! :-)
Anon @ 12:25 Picard said that he Googled it and it was no help.
ReplyDeleteIt seems you don't know what the PR means either? If you do, say what it is.
PR. - Just as a WAG, I'd say it meant "pay roll"
ReplyDeletePR == Post-Retirement based on the answer. (? I donno, it's JUST A THOUGHT). Anyone, anyone? //pay close attn. Ben Stein is an economist IRL - Hawley-Smoot was a bad idea then.
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T
Hi Y'all! Beastly hard puzzle for me, but thanks for the challenge, Craig.
ReplyDeleteGreat expo, Gary! My last gentleman friend was a ret. naval officer who probably would have decked anyone who called him a SWAB. Salt wasn't NACL here.
For me the right side/diagonally of the puzzle was gettable. The left side was torture with a lot of red flashing letters on tries. "Tense recitation" = CONJUGATION: had a "J" & "E", the rest was solved with 5 red-letter runs and "G" & "A" WAGs. Didn't know Nick Hornby, but when I perped ABOUT, I Wagd A BOY & felt a little smart. DNK: "WTO predecessor = GATT, still don't. STETTED: boo, hiss!
"N.A. boundary river": wasn't Rio Grande, Columbia, Niagra, then perped in LAW & knew the rest.
I actually had an Auntie MAME, my dad's older sister. Dad couldn't say Mary as a tot, only Mamee.
Didn't like Doberman Pincher = THIEF then realized someone was pinching the Pinscher. We had a sweet Doberman who chased down our semi-tame yard pheasant and grabbed it by the tail. Poor bird ran around thereafter without tail feathers. After getting a mouthful of feathers, the dog never bothered him again. That dog was a runner and if he didn't get a daily run, he dug craters in the pen yard.
CPR on a squirrel? Hope it was the chest pump type & not mouth-to-mouth. Shudder!
ReplyDeleteBillG: thank you for being a caring man to feed the poor guy.
Owen: is the knee any more functional after a couple days? Worrying about you.
Picard.
ReplyDeletePR refers to PayRoll.
I was trying to help you out but suggesting you Google it properly. I find people tend to learn and retain if they figure it out for themselves rather than have me just tell them the answer. But since you refused to try on your own, I failed you and just gave you the answer.
Btw, Picard, are we referring to ourselves in the third person now or did you forget to log out of "Picard" and log into an alternate account to suggest it was a comment from a sympathetic ally?
ReplyDelete@1:38/1:42 - is it fun to be a smug SWAB?
ReplyDeleteLook, I can go w/ Pay Roll (c. Broadway Pay Role? == a. MAME) but you don't need to be a butt to Picard about it [read the rules mate; no personal attacks]. Until Craig, Rich, or Joyce pipes-up, we (I) won't really know, will we? //I read the c/a, like, 9 times and either payroll or post-retirement applies IMHO.
Cheers, -T
1A: I don’t consider that a N. A. boundary. If it said USA boundary I might agree. N. A. is a continent that includes Canada, the Yukon, Akaska, etc.
ReplyDelete29A: Cheapo is right. When we went to Hawaii we were greeted at the airport and presented with a lei which we kept. Got another at the luau which we kept. You must have flown the airline Bob Newhart joked about. The company was called “Hawiian Airways and Aluminum Storms and Screens.”
30A: I went with film noir.
PK:
ReplyDeleteThe squirrel CPR episode will likely be shown again on 60 minutes on Sunday. You can see for yourself.
My guess on PR deductions is Post Retirement. It could be pay roll, too.
Oops. No, not 60 minutes. Probably on Sunday Morning.
ReplyDeleteMagillaGoR. OMG, thank you! I love Newhart; his humour is drier than a Brit's...
ReplyDeleteSo I went and LUI... '65 on Paar's show. [@ ~2m of 6:50]
//no, I wasn't alive then but I study my comedy history :-)
Cheers, -T
I'd guess the PR is Payroll, though I've never heard of a company offering a payroll deduction to an IRA, just a 401K. Post Retirement wouldn't work -- once you've retired, you no longer have earned income, and only earned income can be contributed to an IRA. Pre-Retirement would work, though. I think it's time for Craig to 'splain what he meant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the write-up and kind (and even less than kind) remarks.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could clarify this mystery for everyone. However I submitted the much more pedestrian "Glass and others" as my clue for 26D, though I'd surmise that it means Payroll based on what I could find online. I will take credit for the cluing of 57A and 30D :-)
Minor update, I'm at the same rather large hotel but yesterday was my last day as a kitchen porter. Come Monday I will be a receiving store person - from one glamorous job to another, I know. Not being career-oriented leaves plenty of mental space for constructing, which I immensely prefer.
PR = Penurious Remuneration
ReplyDeleteKnee and ankle are still out of it, but I'm getting a little better at using a cane. Our hall is too narrow for my walker.
LOKI was my nom de crucis back when I was still doing cryptic crosswords: Lorion, Owen K., the 1st.
Cafe noir (I had film, then wanted pinot.) My foreign languages are all poor, but isn't CAFE NOIR an exact translation into French of "black coffee"? And the clue was (sneakily) entirely in French as a tip-off.
Craig S., thanks for stopping by! I hope you're one of our lurkers here even when you don't have one of your puzzles in play!
Seriously, PR = payroll deduction.
Good but (appropriately) very difficult puzzle, Craig. Great review as always, Husker. I agree re: 12 d - I'm with Lucina - I was an Arizonan for 37 years, and never knew a single Arizonian. I'm pretty sure the extra "i" is not only not required, to me it's just plain wrong. Someone will say it's not wrong, so I'll just say it's at least not used - by anybody.
ReplyDeleteI'll pause a moment to honor the Navy's birthday. Though I only served 4 years (ended up as Musician 1st Class), 50 years later it's still a major part of my life.
1a - took some pondering to figure out what N.A. meant in the clue - especially when Rio Grande wouldn't fit.
11a - was pretty sure Pompano was a fish, but could only think of shad; not sure if I ever heard of a fish called scad. There are probably thousands of species I've never heard of.
Getting 15a made 43a easier. Something about casual or off the cuff phrases - not exactly slang, but not formal or literary either.
30a - never would have thought of CAFE noir until I said the clue for 30d aloud several times emphasizing different syllables and conjugation popped up on TENSE - I felt so clever! Probably heard or read of "About a Boy" at some point, and the name Nick Hornby is vaguely familiar, but never would have connected them or come up with the answer, but thankfully there is a FIRST TIME for everything and some of the crosses were reasonable. I did remember GATT - it was in the news a lot.
I guess I dont understand the confusion as to PR deductions.
ReplyDeletePR refers to payroll. It is abbreviated to PR to suggest the answer is also an initialization. (IRA)
D-O, 401ks are not the only the only deductions that companies facilitate. Roth IRAS are also deducted by the employers.
Craig thank you for stopping by and for all the wonderful puzzles you have given us so far in 2018.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Craig. Good luck in your new position and may the sentiment expressed in your closing sentence serve you well.
ReplyDeleteWhere is TTP?
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteStarted this puzzle pretty hit and miss. Bounced around and got a few here and there. No toehold immediately.
SE was my first solid corner. Kind of moved like an amoeba from there.
Caught ST LAWRENCE in the NW after a while and a couple perps. From reading Lemonade's write-up, he says that the seaway starts at Lake Erie. I always thought it started at the far end of Lake Ontario. Maybe it has to do with the drainage in the area. Anyhow, thanks to Lemonade, my old lake, ERIE, got mentioned in the write-up. Thanks, Lemonade.
I got NIMROD after a perp or two. After coming here and reading the comments, I looked up NIMROD on my cell phone Webster. First definition: A descendant of Ham represented in Genesis as a mighty hunter and a king of Shinar. Second definition: hunter. Third definition: idiot, jerk. So, it looks like the biblical definition is primary, as well as hunter.
Got 21A REZA with perps. I had never heard of her. However, according to the link, she is French. By her name I would have deemed her an Iranian. REZA is a classic Iranian name. It is the second name of the last Shah and the name of his father, the Shah before him. It is also a Persian restaurant in Chicago, Reza's. And a very good restaurant.
As I entered IRAS for 26D, the only thing I could think of that made sense was Pay Roll, for the PR. My two cents. Sometimes I luck out.
I remember the AMNIO well. We experienced that process when our daughter was still in the womb. We discovered then that all looked well and that she was a she.
ABOUT A BOY was unknown as was the author. It was easy to get, however, only nine perps.
My friend the TSE TSE. We have had that pest many times in crosswords.
I remember Cesar Chavez well, when he was stumping for the pickers and the union. Long time ago.
SAMI was unknown. Perps and wags.
So, it is time to ice down my knees again. Doing this three times a day for the next month.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
The Samipeople are a Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. The Sami have historically been known in English as the Lapps or the Laplanders, but these terms can be perceived as derogatory. wiki.
ReplyDeleteSAMI is also the representation in the Roman alphabet of the Thai word for husband.
As JJM said this morning: my thought after the first few minutes spent on this puzzle was "this is going to be tough."
ReplyDeleteIt was.
I finally got it done, but not without having to turn on the red letters. Not something I very often have to do. I just couldn’t seem to get on Craig’s wavelength today. Liked the PINSCHER / PINCHER pair, disliked STETTED a lot. No problem with the ST LAWRENCE being a N.A. border river; it’s a border river IN N. A.
Anon -T FLN: I don’t remember Camp Bunn (Bunn-O-Matic I DO know!). I was at Illinek in the late 50s - early 60s. Was Camp Bunn a thing then?
Time for my first pre-bedtime nap. Have a great evening, all.
Re letters to the rescue. I could not have solved this puzzle without them. Hard puzzle but well designed. Took me forever to figure out how salt and swab were related; swabbie I would have known. I say again, good puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSatisfying Saturday! Thanks for the fun, Craig (thanks for stopping by to fortify the Canadian presence and for opening the CW with ST LAWRENCE!) and Husker Gary.
ReplyDeleteI was working in my newspaper in pen and plodded on with just a few inkblots. I was totally stuck at the SW corner and left it for awhile. I glanced briefly at it at lunchtime and voila (just like WC has noted), the lightbulb went on for ABOUT A BOY and STETTED (clever! - as was TRAMPOLINE).
Hand up for Tret before TARE, Bete before CAFE, Stomped before STORMED. I also had Run (thinking of the baseball coach who tells the runner when to go or stop) before REF - oh the verb not the noun.
Smiled to see LOKI, NORSE and SAMI. (We have had SAMI here before, most recently on Sept. 18/18 when it was clued as a "Scandinavian language".
Abejo said "From reading Lemonade's write-up, he says that the seaway starts at Lake Erie. I always thought it started at the far end of Lake Ontario. Maybe it has to do with the drainage in the area." I noted that also (but it was Husker Gary who blogged today LOL!).
The ST LAWRENCE River starts at the eastern end of Lake Ontario (around Kingston) and flows from there to the Atlantic. The ST LAWRENCE Seaway starts at the western end of the Great Lakes - Lake Superior. My Canadian brain was thinking it started at Thunder Bay but I LIUed and it actually starts at Duluth, Minnesota.
StLawrenceSeaway
Magilla, I read the clue as a river within N.A that acts as a boundary.(Oops, I see WikWak beat me to it while I was writing.)
AnonT - I think the Bugs Bunny link did not connect to the one you wanted!? I got "Life of Brian - ROMANES EUNT DOMUS". This Canadian is waiting with bated breath for the proper one. LOL
Over my space limit again.
Good evening all.
The SW was unfinishable for me today. I Had GATT, UTTERS, OBI, & NORSE but Nick Hornby and ABOUT A BOY were total unknowns. The only noir I knew was BETE and CAFE noir would have been an impossible fill. 'Dizzy-EYED- no way. CONJUGATE didn't have a chance. I cry uncle.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the puzzle was fairly easy for a Saturday, especially since RIO GRANDE wasn't long enough for 1A. GRAHAM GREENE fell into place, even though I really know nothing about him or his writing. REZA, MAME,
Any policeman will tell you that an eye-witness is usually unreliable and gets many things wrong. When bullets are flying, nobody is hanging around to get a detailed description of the perp.
C, Eh! - D'oh! I didn't 2x-check my link to Bugs. Thanks for catching it.
ReplyDeleteWikWak - I don't know when Camp Bunn was built; I was there in the '80s. Cheers, -T
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Craig and Gary.
Headache still present. Waited in Urgent Care 1.5 hours last night only to have them close.
Cheated and looked up "About A Boy."
Have a great day!
Reading those who came before, I see I'm not the only one objecting to the "Dodo" clue for NIMROD. Spitzboov gives the most thorough reasoning for how this noble Hebrew name got ambushed.
ReplyDelete~ OMK