Theme: Acting out - or as the reveal nicely explains:
55. Therapy technique ... and a hint to what's hidden in 17-, 24-, 34- and 45-Across?: ROLE-PLAYING
Scramble ROLE and you’re off to the races:
17A. Cara cara or Washington fruit: NAVEL ORANGE. Originated at Hacienda de Cara Cara and believed to be a hybrid from the Washington navel and the Brazilian Bahia navel. Now we know.
24A. Where I-30 and I-40 meet: LITTLE ROCK. Interstate geography lesson.
34A. Traveler's rest: MOTEL ROOM. There's probably a couple in Little Rock.
45A. Actor who appeared in nine films with Sydney Greenstreet: PETER LORRE. What better way to namecheck the actor than remember this great 70's track from Al Stewart, played live on the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test" music showcase.
Straightforward enough theme, one that you need to go back and look for when you see the reveal. Nicely consistent with the even two-letter split across the two words of each theme entry.
I found the top-center section a little tricky and had to go back to finish up at the end. I actually didn't finish this one correctly - I had a personal Natick with LILA and ALL, both unknown to me. I guessed "Y" instead of "A" for no good reason.
Let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Spinal segment: DISC
5. One without a permanent address: NOMAD
10. What sit-ups strengthen: ABS
13. College World Series home: OMAHA. NCAA Baseball. I never watch it, but I knew the location. Funny how that works.
15. Offer one's two cents: OPINE
16. Burst: POP
19. Poirot's street: RUE. Agatha Christie's character Hercule Poirot is Belgian, and some detective work suggests he was born and grew up in Spa, which in the French-speaking part of Belgium, and therefore his street would be a "rue", rather than a "straat".
20. "Open: An Autobiography" subject: AGASSI. Tennis star André.
21. Blintz topping: ROE
22. Actress Meyer of "Saw" films: DINA. Never saw them. Thank you, crossses.
23. Hue: TINT
27. Tonsillitis-treating doc: E.N.T.
28. IV units: CC'S
29. Roman goddess of agriculture: CERES
30. __ Moines: DES
31. "Down Came a Blackbird" country singer McCann: LILA. As aforementioned, she's not familiar to me. Handy crossword name though, I'll endeavor to remember.
33. Committee leader: CHAIR
36. Boat filler: GRAVY. I think my favorite clue/answer of the day.
38. Passed-down tales: LORE. Passed-down tales of an actor in this puzzle? Lorre lore.
39. Convened: SAT
42. Pool table slab: SLATE
43. Part of Q&A: AND. Question-and-answer session
44. Pub potable: ALE
49. Pierce player: ALDA. "Hawkeye" portrayer Alan in "M*A*S*H"
50. Crew pair: OARS
51. Poet's preposition: ERE
52. Cubs pitcher Jon: LESTER. I didn't even notice this one until now, it filled itself in. I wouldn't have had a clue either.
54. "Suits" TV network: USA
57. Liberal arts maj.: SOCiology
58. Battery terminal: ANODE
59. Car opening?: RENTA
60. Compass pt.: E.N.E.
61. Parsonage: MANSE. Usually for Baptist. Methodist or Presbyterian ministers.
62. Light shirts: TEES
Down:
1. Gave: DONATED
2. Picture: IMAGINE
3. Learned ones: SAVANTS
4. Trunk: CHEST
5. Country partly in the Arctic Circle: Abbr.: NOR.
6. Tricky genre: OP ART Here's one that doesn't make your head spin too much at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt:
7. Annual North Dakota State Fair site: MINOT. I quite confidently filled in "FARGO" with no crosses to confirm any of the letters, and spent some time trying to convince myself it had to be right. They two places are more than 280 miles apart, so not even close!
8. Mike Trout, notably: ANGEL. What happens next year if he gets traded?
9. See 56-Down: DEE.
10. Like some knowledge: A PRIORI
11. Bar employee: BOUNCER
12. Represents, with "for": SPEAKS
14. Gore and Michaels: ALS
18. Original Pennsylvania headquarters of Quaker State: OIL CITY
22. Journal subject: DREAM
25. "__ of Dogs": 2018 animated film: ISLE
26. Reverberated: ECHOED
28. Well-off, after "in": CLOVER
32. Free Clear detergent maker: ALL. No clue, as previously mentioned.
33. Ithaca campus: CORNELL. Now I know where Cornell is. Learning moment.
34. Partners: MATES
35. Laugh good and loud: ROAR
36. "The Hustler" actor (1961): GLEASON
37. Grind: RAT RACE
39. Soup cracker: SALTINE
40. Ristorante request: AL DENTE. I'm not sure you request pasta "al dente", that's how it comes. If it's not, you send it back.
41. Riot squad's supply: TEAR GAS
42. Partner, perhaps: SPOUSE
46. Hotelier Helmsley: LEONA. Quite a figure. "The Queen of Mean" was jailed for tax evasion, allegedly saying "We don't pay taxes; only little people pay taxes".
47. Sweater fabric: ORLON
48. Clarinetist's supply: REEDS
49. So far: AS YET
53. Sound catcher: EAR
55. More than bump into: RAM
56. With 9-Down, river of the Carolinas: PEE. Unknown to me, I'll try to remember the Pee Dee for the next time it crops up.
And with the grid, that about seals it for this outing:
Steve
55. Therapy technique ... and a hint to what's hidden in 17-, 24-, 34- and 45-Across?: ROLE-PLAYING
Scramble ROLE and you’re off to the races:
17A. Cara cara or Washington fruit: NAVEL ORANGE. Originated at Hacienda de Cara Cara and believed to be a hybrid from the Washington navel and the Brazilian Bahia navel. Now we know.
24A. Where I-30 and I-40 meet: LITTLE ROCK. Interstate geography lesson.
34A. Traveler's rest: MOTEL ROOM. There's probably a couple in Little Rock.
45A. Actor who appeared in nine films with Sydney Greenstreet: PETER LORRE. What better way to namecheck the actor than remember this great 70's track from Al Stewart, played live on the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test" music showcase.
Straightforward enough theme, one that you need to go back and look for when you see the reveal. Nicely consistent with the even two-letter split across the two words of each theme entry.
I found the top-center section a little tricky and had to go back to finish up at the end. I actually didn't finish this one correctly - I had a personal Natick with LILA and ALL, both unknown to me. I guessed "Y" instead of "A" for no good reason.
Let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Spinal segment: DISC
5. One without a permanent address: NOMAD
10. What sit-ups strengthen: ABS
13. College World Series home: OMAHA. NCAA Baseball. I never watch it, but I knew the location. Funny how that works.
15. Offer one's two cents: OPINE
16. Burst: POP
19. Poirot's street: RUE. Agatha Christie's character Hercule Poirot is Belgian, and some detective work suggests he was born and grew up in Spa, which in the French-speaking part of Belgium, and therefore his street would be a "rue", rather than a "straat".
20. "Open: An Autobiography" subject: AGASSI. Tennis star André.
21. Blintz topping: ROE
22. Actress Meyer of "Saw" films: DINA. Never saw them. Thank you, crossses.
23. Hue: TINT
27. Tonsillitis-treating doc: E.N.T.
28. IV units: CC'S
29. Roman goddess of agriculture: CERES
30. __ Moines: DES
31. "Down Came a Blackbird" country singer McCann: LILA. As aforementioned, she's not familiar to me. Handy crossword name though, I'll endeavor to remember.
33. Committee leader: CHAIR
36. Boat filler: GRAVY. I think my favorite clue/answer of the day.
38. Passed-down tales: LORE. Passed-down tales of an actor in this puzzle? Lorre lore.
39. Convened: SAT
42. Pool table slab: SLATE
43. Part of Q&A: AND. Question-and-answer session
44. Pub potable: ALE
49. Pierce player: ALDA. "Hawkeye" portrayer Alan in "M*A*S*H"
50. Crew pair: OARS
51. Poet's preposition: ERE
52. Cubs pitcher Jon: LESTER. I didn't even notice this one until now, it filled itself in. I wouldn't have had a clue either.
54. "Suits" TV network: USA
57. Liberal arts maj.: SOCiology
58. Battery terminal: ANODE
59. Car opening?: RENTA
60. Compass pt.: E.N.E.
61. Parsonage: MANSE. Usually for Baptist. Methodist or Presbyterian ministers.
62. Light shirts: TEES
Down:
1. Gave: DONATED
2. Picture: IMAGINE
3. Learned ones: SAVANTS
4. Trunk: CHEST
5. Country partly in the Arctic Circle: Abbr.: NOR.
6. Tricky genre: OP ART Here's one that doesn't make your head spin too much at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt:
7. Annual North Dakota State Fair site: MINOT. I quite confidently filled in "FARGO" with no crosses to confirm any of the letters, and spent some time trying to convince myself it had to be right. They two places are more than 280 miles apart, so not even close!
8. Mike Trout, notably: ANGEL. What happens next year if he gets traded?
9. See 56-Down: DEE.
10. Like some knowledge: A PRIORI
11. Bar employee: BOUNCER
12. Represents, with "for": SPEAKS
14. Gore and Michaels: ALS
18. Original Pennsylvania headquarters of Quaker State: OIL CITY
22. Journal subject: DREAM
25. "__ of Dogs": 2018 animated film: ISLE
26. Reverberated: ECHOED
28. Well-off, after "in": CLOVER
32. Free Clear detergent maker: ALL. No clue, as previously mentioned.
33. Ithaca campus: CORNELL. Now I know where Cornell is. Learning moment.
34. Partners: MATES
35. Laugh good and loud: ROAR
36. "The Hustler" actor (1961): GLEASON
37. Grind: RAT RACE
39. Soup cracker: SALTINE
40. Ristorante request: AL DENTE. I'm not sure you request pasta "al dente", that's how it comes. If it's not, you send it back.
41. Riot squad's supply: TEAR GAS
42. Partner, perhaps: SPOUSE
46. Hotelier Helmsley: LEONA. Quite a figure. "The Queen of Mean" was jailed for tax evasion, allegedly saying "We don't pay taxes; only little people pay taxes".
47. Sweater fabric: ORLON
48. Clarinetist's supply: REEDS
49. So far: AS YET
53. Sound catcher: EAR
55. More than bump into: RAM
56. With 9-Down, river of the Carolinas: PEE. Unknown to me, I'll try to remember the Pee Dee for the next time it crops up.
And with the grid, that about seals it for this outing:
Steve
64 comments:
Surprised to see 38A: LORE which is also an anagram for ROLE. While I too did not know LILA as clued, a friend uses ALL for her washing.
I had DINA MEYER in a recent blog. She started as Commission Gordon’s daughter Barbara in Batman inspired show BIRDS OF PREY
But it was as a bad gurl - Holly Snow - on NCIS and Lady Irena on CASTLE that she found her niche.
Thanks Me Morris and Steve
Warning, this one puts the ICH in l'ich.
Gaze on a NAVEL ORANGE, and wonder on its name.
The navel is where the umbilical cord came.
Surely it seems strange,
For a naval orange --
Do arborists make GRAVY from the placenta remains?
Good morning!
As Steve mentioned, the theme words were easy to find after the reveal, but played no part in the solve. LORE is a bonus theme word. CSOs to Husker (OMAHA) and Bill G (Cornell). None for MINOT or LITTLE ROCK -- don't they do crosswords in North Dakota and Arkansas? Not sure I understand how DREAM relates to a journal. Wite-Out came into play in Maine changing STANDS to SPEAKS. Nicely done, RELM, and thanx for the expo, Steve.
SAVANTS: IMO, it's usually applied to someone who's extremely talented in one pursuit, but undistinguished in others.
LEONA: She was a completely despicable human being: Queen of Mean -- analog of the Lord of Lies.
Good morning all.
Thanks Robert and Steve.
Several look ups and one write over and I was able to FIR .
Had to change MET to SAT when MALTINE wouldn’t work.
Spent a couple of very enjoyable days in MINOT earlier this fall at their annual Scandanavian Harvest Fest.
Today Nov 8 is 51 years since I excitedly made the trip to purchase an engagement ring so I could properly POP the question. !! She said yes and we find life getting sweeter and sweeter still.
Ciao.
Bad Jinx! Looked up DINA and CERES (knew how to pronounce it) and STILL got LIsA wrong.
Hand up for Fargo and met, and confidently penciled in Latrobe before OIL CITY demanded its appearance. Giggled at TINT / ENT and LORE / LORRE.
Nice one, RELM. And another fun review, Steve. I love OPART. Escher's work too. I guess Escher's stuff isn't OPART, but it must work on the same brain level.
Fun romp through this puzzle- I didn't get the theme until the reveal clue. Thanks Steve for the song link on Peter LORRE - I never would have known the reference to him in the verse. I like the song- I don't think I ever knew the details of the lyrics.
There is an AFB in MINOT-- a pretty remote place. They always say if assigned there -"Why not MINOT?" (since it's pronounced MY'-not)
D-O - some people journal their DREAMs in the morning, they think they might have a clue to what might be troubling them or to not forget ideas that may have come up in them.
Thanks Steve and RELM!
It's supposed to possibly snow here tonight! We are supposed to have the asphalt laid down for our church parking lot- first it was rain for 2 weeks and now snow?!? It's become a muddy mess out there!
Waaay over my head today, but thanks RELM for the workout. I loved LORE and LORRE, ORE and OATS, ROE and RUE, TINT and ENT. I was amazed I remembered Jackie GLEASON and PETER LORRE. Just too many others I didn’t know.
Thanks, Steve, for the expo.
Nice puzzle, fine review. In the end I was hung up by a misread clue.After I FIR I forgot to look for the theme.
INANEHIKER, my first thought was dream journaling, too. Fairly common.
I had to wait to see which part of PEE DEE River went in which cell. My kids thought PEE DEE was aptly named.
I grew up in parsonages. It was a great childhood.
We square dance helpers for newbies are called ANGELs.
From CERES, the goddess of agriculture, we get the word cereal.
I knew ALL detergent, but DINA and LESTER were new to me. LILA was ESP, because our paper skipped the clue for 31A.
Good Morning. I had a LITTLE problem getting started in the NW with only OMAHA in place, and I'm no SAVANT, but once RANGE was in place it was obvious that 17A would be NAVEL ORANGE. I'd never heard of the Cara cara or Washington hybrids. But I do have two Hamilton Sweet ORANGE trees in my yard.
The unknowns today were all A&E people DINA Meyer, LILA McCann, Jon LESTER, ANGEL ( baseball is entertainment if you're not playing), Suits on the USA network, ISLE of Dogs movie. MINOT was a WAG.As for ROLE PLAYING, I had no idea but with only the 'P' missing and the rest of the fill solved by perps, it was an easy fill.
HARRY Helmsley was the Hotelier, not LEONA. She took over when he died. Don't you just love it when the press piles on. Leona and Martha Stewart go to jail while O.J. and Michael Jackson walk free.
Good morning everyone.
Couldn't really get it going until I settled in the SW. It bloomed out from there. Got it all without help or erasures. Theme eluded me until I read Steve's intro. Cute.
CORNELL - CSO to Bill G. Also my sister's alma mater. NY's only Land Grant school.
ISLE of Dogs - - A section of East London on the inside curve of the Thames' largest meander. I'm assuming Steve has been there.
Finally had clear sky last night and noticed Mars in the SE at 1730 local time.
Have a great day.
We just had “Lorre’s Caablanca role:” UGARTE on Sunday
Jon LESTER, also former Red Sox pitcher, threw a no-hitter after surviving cancer
YR, in the Barnacle the clue for 31a was printed as part of the clue for 30a..."____ Moines 31 'Down Came...."
Thanx, Inanehiker and YR for 'splainin' dream journals. Don't think I've ever heard of 'em.
Good morning, everyone!
This was not an easy go for me this morning. For some reason Ceres just would not pop into my conscious brain. Thanks for the work out and also the explanation!
Like YR I grew up in parsonages. It was a fun and unique childhood experience.our particular church had lots of visiting missionaries from Asia mostly. Their stories from the different cultures were so fascinating to me. This instilled in me a great desire to travel.
Minot AFB was the last duty station for my late brother-in-law. When asked where he would locate after retirement, his reply was that he would keep driving south until someone asked the purpose of the heater plug sticking out of his engine. He ended up in South Carolina!
PK, from a couple days ago-since I grew up in Central Illinois, I am quite familiar with needing to harvest when the time is right. You are not alone; the farmers here in Northern Indiana are fighting the wet fields as well. I hope the grain had held value enough to make it worth the effort.
We are invited to our first grade granddaughters school today; they are honoring veterans.
Have a great day!
The former comment should have a space and an upper case O but the keyboard failed to appear on my IPad screen. There are still things to learn at this age!
Musings
-I saw ROLE and liked the reveal and the puzzle
-We were NOMADS in 2006 as we had five addresses in that year. Don’t ask!
-OMAHA built this beautiful new stadium for the CWS to use two weeks/yr because otherwise the NCAA said they would move the event that OMAHA had hosted for 50 years
-My E.N.T. changed my life in February
-MIL’s friend LILA got stranded in a MOTEL ROOM with her husband during a snowstorm and resorted to using a fork to comb her hair the next morning
-JACKIE GLEASON knew his way around that SLATE table
-...or RENT A this
-My school has an exchange student from NOR who could play a young Ingrid Bergman
-What seasonal song has the lyric, “We’ll be all in CLOVER…”
-This 3:40 clip from Ben Hur shows men with OARS going from Battle Speed to Attack Speed to RAMMING speed
"This looks strangely familiar!" I said to myself as I filled in NAVEL ORANGE. Then I went to the reveal and sure enough - ROLE was in it. It was familiar because one of my only two published (L.A.Times) puzzles published had ROLE REVERSAL as the theme and navel orange as one answer. Robert E. Lee Morris never knew history can partially repeat itself.
Anyone curious about the puzzle can go back in time to it.
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Rick%20Papazian
The rest of the puzzle was easy as a DREAM and hard as SLATE. Too many personalities can drive us crazy but heighten the thrill of solving. PEE DEE river was in the news from hurricane Florence in South Carolina. Nitpick: to me ECHOES reverberates.
Thanks to Steve and Robert
-Steve, your wonderful write-up led me to listening to and researching Year Of The Cat (Song was written during Vietnam’s Year Of The Cat). It is one of those songs where I could never understand the lyrics and so I ran them in another tab while the song was playing. Don’t we all have songs where the lyrics are hard to decipher?
I got tripped up in the middle. Don't know ?ILA? or Free Clear Detergent ?LL. Had to Google McCann in order to solve .And, to be honest, I've don't recall ever hearing the term "in clover" referring to one as well off. Oh well!
I think the saddest book I've read in the last 10 years was Andre Agassi's bio "Open: An Autobiography". I never finished. I read 75 pages and couldn't go further. Really sad.
It's 35º here but no wind so I think i can do my ride. At least there's no wind.
Good Morning:
Not too many stumbles but several unknowns: Ceres, Dina, Lila, Lester, and All, as clued. W/os were Met>Saw>Sat, Ans/And, and Mike/Dina (wrong gender!) CSOs to Bill G (Cornell) and HG (Omaha) are popping up often. I liked the Lore/Lorre entries. My favorite C/A was Boat filler=Gravy. (Hi, Steve.) I saw the theme before filling in the reveal but wasn't sure how it would be phrased. (When Leona Helmsley died, her will provided a couple of million dollars for the care of her dog, Trouble, a cute Maltese.)
Thanks, Mr. Morris, for a Thursday challenge and thanks, Steve, for the interesting tour.
Oas, loved hearing your poignant memory. An engagement ring wasn't part of our plans but happily materialized after a very successful trip to the track at Saratoga! What a surprise that was!
Have a great day.
9 & 56D: I’ve crossed the Pee Dee many times driving from NJ to FL and back. Now I’m permanently in FL. No-mo-sno!!! :-)
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Robert E. Lee Morris, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Puzzle went along easily. My slow spot was in the NE with A PRIORI, DINA, CERES, DREAM. With some prepping and wagging I got through it.
OIL CITY was easy. Been there a few times. Not far from Erie or Johnsonburg. I used to use Quaker State Motor Oil solely. Now I use anything.
Never heard of Cara Cara or a Washington orange. However, I have eaten a ton of NAVEL ORANGES.
MINOT reminds me of the church mission trip we went on in circa 2011 to Minot, ND. The town flooded. The Souris (Mouse) River overflowed. Started in Canada, the Canadians did not want all the water to stay up there so they opened the flood gates and down it came. I think everyone will be better prepared the next time.
SALTINE took me a minute. I do not eat crackers in my soup. But, I figured it out. I eat most of my saltines with cheese, braunsweiger, or lunch meat on them.
Off to church for a study group, then to Wheaton to help the Election Commission, then to Geneva for a Royal Arch meeting.
See yountomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Good Morning, Steve and friends. This puzzle seemed difficult at first, but I persevered and eventually finished it. I didn't, however, look for the revolving ROLE. I just accepted that there was a ROLE in there somewhere.
I learned that Convened is not Met but SAT. I learned that Hue is not Tone, but a TINT.
I was not familiar with the PEE DEE. Apparently it is named after a Native American tribe that lived in the area.
Part of Q&A was tricky. I confidently wrote in Ans for Answer. Nope, we were looking for the meaning of the ampersand.
I love ROE on my Blintz.
My favorite clue was Boat Filler = GRAVY. Many of us will have our GRAVY Boats out on the table two week from today.
I knew OMAHA was the home of the College World Series as LSU has been there several times in the past.
QOD: Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer. ~ Dorothy Day (Nov. 8, 1878 ~ Nov. 29, 1980)
Free Dictionary.com
Synonyms: echo, reflect, resound, reverberate.
These verbs mean to be repeated by the reflection of sound wave.
A cry that echoed through the canyon
A final chord that reverberated in the concert hall
I haven't read Agassi's autobiography. JJM, you piqued my interest, so and I found this short version of the book.
Agassi
This summary reminds me of a few extremely bright 5 or 6 year old students I had whose mothers pushed super rigorous reading and writing on them. The unfortunate kids had to spend all their free time on literary pursuits, at home and at school. No down time, no fun, no non-reading activities. I tried to widen their horizons. Most of these kids came to hate reading.
Leona Helmsley was a hotelier and partner with Harry all during their marriage. Per Wikipedia, "Together, the Helmsleys built a New York real estate empire that included 230 Park Avenue, the Empire State Building, and the Tudor City apartment complex on the East Side, as well as Helmsley-Spear Inc., their management and leasing business."
Thank you Robert E. Lee Morris, and thank you Steve.
Lorre lore. Nice.
Had a friend whose job had him relocate from Houston to Minot. He was an avid outdoors man, and he didn't mind the weather. He moved from there to Colorado, and we lost touch.
A 31 foot CERES stands atop the Chicago Board of Trade building.
OAS, a great decision, eh ? Congratulations on the engagement anniversary !
Near CSO to Abejo at Oil City, westward on the other side of the Allegheny National Forest from Johnsonburg.
Husker-
Easter Parade
Thank you, RELM! I was instantly on his wave length and zipped right through the grid.
Like others, I had to change MET to SAT. My last fill was SLATE and I don't understand how HATES equals partners.
Our HOTELROOM in Pala, CA was lovely! We four sisters stayed together in one room with ample space for us.
I noted the CSO to Bill at CORNELL and HG at OMAHA.
Why is Andre Agassi's biography so sad?
I knew ALDA, PETER LORRE, LEONA and GLEASON but not LILA or LESTER.
Yesterday I awoke vomiting and with diarrhea; it lasted just one day but was miserable and could not even bear to look at the puzzle. Today I feel normal again. Strange.
Thank you, Steve, for your review!
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, R.E.L.M. Great expo, Steve.
It was Thursday so I was looking for something more complicated than ROLE so never got the theme until Steve explained.
ALL is what I have to use, but I was thinking the company making the stuff so got up and looked at the bottle. Three spaces? Duh!
This is one of those puzzles when I knew words that wouldn't quite slide into my consciousness so I had to wait for a few perps: GLEASON, LEONA, MINOT - been there. Son's last college roommate ended up at the AFB in Minot. Loved it because he wanted Missiles. To each his own.
DNK: APRIORI, OP ART, CERES, LILA, LESTER. Wondered how Mike Trout was an ANGEL that perped in. Oh, baseball?
OAS, loved your engagement story. Many happy returns of the day.
Lucina: it is MOTEL ROOM and MATES = partners.
Just finished the puzzle, got to walk the neighbors dog,
but FLN had to post for Mike Sherline that I think I misspoke re: effects
At first I thought Jaco used a fretless bass...
But I took a closer look, and he seems to be able to mke these sounds
just using an old beat up bass guitar!
Be back to play later...
Fun puzzle this morning, and had to look up only two items to get the whole thing. A relief after yesterday's toughie--many thanks, Robert. Like others, I was bothered by not having a clue for 31 across in the paper--Yellowrocks thanks for explaining that it was combined with 30 across (I wondered about that odd clue). Never heard of the singer so I wouldn't have gotten it anyway. I got the ROLE PLAYING solution early, though, and it helped with the theme answers. Biggest problem for me was the southwest, even though once LORRE filled in I also got the PETER. Fun morning, and cool write-up, as always, Steve.
Hope you feel better today, Lucina.
Happy engagement anniversary, OAS.
Have a great day, everybody!
PK:
Thank you! I guess I'm still a bit fuzzy.
Hi gang -
Made it through with some googly assistance.
Found this puzzle to be inordinately difficult, and the names and obscurities to be rather annoying.
As lemonade pointed out, 38A also fits the them - probably unintentioally.
Is this a bonus or a flaw?
Cool regard!
JzB
This Thursday puzzle had some Crunch to it. Plus yet another “no giveaway” theme, neat.
One markover today...STANDS b4 SPEAKS.
Lucina, I had that a couple weeks ago, but it lasted a couple days, and it was miserable, I couldnt even keep Gatorade down the first day. Nasty. Hope you feel better before I did.
Steve thank you for the beautiful rendition of The Year of the Cat featuring PETER LORRE. I was planning to link to it, but you beat me to it. On my first trip to North Africa that song kept running through my head. I was really living it.
Husker Gary glad you are also a fan of that magical song.
Hand up for all those unknowns: LESTER, LILA, DINA and more. Had no idea about OMAHA as clued. At least AGASSI is a sports figure I know.
Has anyone else heard that use of CLOVER? New to me.
Can someone please explain why the "perhaps" in the SPOUSE clue?
Did anyone else have STANDS before SPEAKS?
TORSO before CHEST?
Those hung me up for awhile.
How about this Treasure CHEST of sea creatures from our Solstice parade?
This was created by my brilliant artist friend Ann Chevrefils.
CanadianEh you will be pleased to know she is from your homeland!
Ann is in the sparkly blue outfit above the head of the pirate with the sword.
Here we spotted some Bedouin NOMADs near the Dead Sea.
Way cool how these peaceful people continue to live in the modern world and avoid conflict.
Yellowrocks thanks for the learning moment about CERES and cereal.
This is the CERES that I know.
This CERES is the smallest and closest Dwarf Planet in our solar system. There is speculation that it has or had conditions for life.
For some reason I just didn't particularly like this puzzle. The GRAVY clue was excellent, though. My Natick was the L crossing LILA and ISLE; after cycling mentally through the letters, L seemed the best guess. Hello Lucina; I also had HOTEL ROOM until the need for MATES changed it to MOTEL. Hello Hahtoolah; I also learned that the Q&A ANSwer wasn't ANS. I was surprised to learn that Peter Lorre was in as many as nine films with Sidney Greenstreet. I read somewhere that Peter Lorre had very bad teeth and bad breath. I also learned that the learned ones were not PEDANTS but SAVANTS, and I agree with desper-otto's observation about what a savant is.
Hey, don't pee in the PEE DEE River, Dee! (Even though the very name of the river invites it.)
I had many contacts by radio with airmen stationed at MINOT AFB while I was at Malmstrom AFB. As it turned out, Great Falls, Montana, is where I met the woman who is now my wife and has been for 53 years now. Congratulations to you, Oas!
Jinx in Norfolk, I like Escher's work too.
Best wishes to you all.
Oh, my. Another mass shooting. This one just down the freeway from us in Thousand Oaks, CA at the Borderline Bar and Grill.
Here is the CNN story with updates.
I was wondering if we are just hearing about them more. Or if it really is a trend.
This little chart seems to answer the question.
Oh, my. We were still grieving from the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting.
IM, if you’re still looking for rice flour I just saw a bag in the Latham Price Chopper. Probably in others as well, look in the health food aisle under Gluten-free, not organic. $3.99 for a pound-and-a-half.
Had a tough time with this puzzle,
cause me to look up some names...
Met b/4 Sat nearly made the cheese slip off my cracker...
PeeDee? (or was it DeePee, either way, I dunno...)
Anywho, I always had trouble with role playing...
I mean, I just never can figure out how far you want to take it...
is there any way we can make it easier?
Jayce, you must have been in the car with my kids when we drove along the PEE DEE River. You sound just like them and their jokes.
I always wondered about this strange name. LIU This afternoon I learned it was named after the PEE DEE Indian tribe. How did the Indians get that name? "The meaning of name Pedee is unknown but is believed to be a Catawba language-term. Anthropologist Frank Speck believed the term may have derived from the Catawba term pi'ri, meaning "something good," or pi'here, meaning "capable," "expert," or "smart."- from Wikipedia.
Picard, the last thing I heard on the news last night and the first thing I heard on the news at 5:30 this AM was the horrible shooting at the bar in CA. These attacks are escalating. They are off the charts.
PICARD, we came across several groups of Bedouin nomads in Israel. Your pics bring back memories of a great trip.
Interesting how what is difficult in the puzzle for some is easy for others and vice versa. We all have different wheelhouses. Although I had trouble with some fill, I got Omaha with just the H. I am familiar with the saying of being in clover, but not the experience of it.
Your partner may be your spouse, but not necessarily. She could be your live in lover or paramour. No experience of that, either.
Feel better, Lucina.
Early for once! (Well, early for me.) I had lots of the same comments I’ve read here. Hand up for stands before SPEAKS. I also thought that SAVANTs were only advanced in one area. In CLOVER or in the CLOVER was common where I grew up.
Abejo, I prefer to have a little soup with my SALTINES. I want it good and mushy.
Thanks, RELM and Steve, for a good Friday workout— on Thursday!
Be kind; the country could use it.
Or former Redsox pitcher: Lester. We Questioned choosing Price over Lester until now. Boston doesn't like to go four years without a WS Ring. I see Billocoes mentioned his Redsox Jean-eology*
I agree. Boat filler was a gem. And I couldn't stick a Y onto GRAV. I originally had OIL TOWN. Mr S. wins again
A Thursday level for a Tuesday brain. I actually did this at 7:00 am. Perhaps that was my problem. Only the one bad box, though.
Wow, congrats!!! Oas. HS sweethearts?
And IM too. What a story.
Actually, didn't Agassi marry Steffi Graf?
Said, Befuins made an interesting discovery in the caves around said Dead Sea. And the arguments rage on.
WC
* That's a present to Misty re. The J
Hi All!
Jinx - DINA was also the look-up I needed! Somehow that one answer was the key to unlock the rest of the grid. I was stuck-stuck-stuck w/ A TON of snow and, once I looked that up, I got enough letters crossing unknows that I could WAG out from there [e.g. that gave me APRIORI (finally!) and the confidence to enter LITTLE ROCK --which I was fairly sure of, but not sure enough, ibid MINOT from LITTLE; ROE followed... You see(?) how this went?]
Thanks RELM for a delightful Thursday puzzle. The theme helped me get the reveal; I had RO-E- LAYING and had to look at all the themers to see what letters were near Rs & Os. I finally realized 'Therapy' wasn't LAYING of the hands or some such, but PLAYING...
Thanks Steve for another sparkly expo. Like inanehiker, I didn't realize LORRE was referenced in The Year of the Cat. Learned something new.
WO: RAn into b/f RAM
ESPs: LESTER, RUE, ANGEL, PEE, and DEE. Re: LILA & DES -- paper: 30 MOINS31 "DOWN Come a Blackbird" country singer McCann [sic]; I had a hell of a time figuring out there wasn't a DES MOINS31 who sang "Down Came..." It took Steve to point out there really was a clue for 31a! I see others had that issue too.
Fav: I'll go w/ MINOT b/c, back in the day, my team had a gig up there. In January! I sent the new guy :-)
Runner-up: CERES reminds me of the 10 week gig I had at USDA's HQ in DC.
{A, A-}
Hand-up: Thought of Bill G @ Ithaca / CORNELL
Lucina - I hope that's the end of it. Maybe something you ate?
Braunsweiger, Abejo? Now there's something I've not seen/eaten since I was a kid at maternal grandparent's in the 70's. Thanks for that happy little memory.
Speaking of happy memories - Congrats OAS!
Cheers, -T
Lucina, your trouble sounds like something DW and I had a few months ago. Doc said we probably had a norovirus. Very contagious but short lived. We had a slight fever as well, but not everyone gets that. What do you do if you get it? Don't worry, you'll KNOW what to do.
There is also a Little Pee Dee river as well. IIRC you cross both when driving on I-95.
I dunno. Hard to envision PETER LORRE "strolling through a crowd." My main recollection is of him frantically running for help:
"Rick, Rick! You MUST help meeeee! PUH-Leeze, Rick!!"
I suppose the main surprising thing about Mr. LORRE was the difference between his film career and the stage career that preceded it. Before playing the psychotic nut in M, his main type in the German-speaking theater was as a young leading man.
He was a breakout star in the play, Tales from the Vienna Woods by Odon von Horvath before making the transition to character roles on the silver screen.
Anyway, Ta ~ DA!
A very likeable puzz.
~ OMK
_____________
PS. Still a little dazed over the terrible massacre in Thousand Oaks last night. That bar is less than 15 minutes from where I used to live. The ubiquity (& obscenity) of these killings is driven home by the fact that some of the folk in the bar are survivors of last year's shootings in Vegas.
Houston paper was missing clue for 31 across. why?
All these shootings: think of all the shoot-em-up video games, newscasts, TV shows, etc. Monkey see, monkey do. These sick people are brain washed into thinking it is heroic or their destiny. We have a war going in America without the declaration.
My bad. The clue is there. Bit it is on the same line as 30 a Ross.
Yes my paper printed the clue for 31a thusly:
30. __ Moines:31. "Down Came a Blackbird" country singer McCann
Well, PK, I am generally with you as to the effect video games may play in possibly lessening the seriousness of piling up corpses. But in this case, I can't help thinking the shooter's background as a Marine machine-gunner may have been a more significant factor.
But who knows for sure? Obviously, we have a major Gun Culture in this country, whichever way one turns.
I don't mean to make light of the current state of world affairs,
but most boat fillers these days are refugees...
other things in incredibly bad taste...
But these things don't bother some people (or birds...)
Luckily, my mind tends to deviate on these things...
Clover did remind me of some good times though...
CED - Your links are messing up my You Tube AI assumed priority lists; which were: of South Tyrol marching bands, footage of German surrenders in early MAY, 1945, quirky train movements, freighter travelogues, and accordion bands in Norway/Sweden.
Lorre and Greenstreet were famously together in The Maltese Falcon. RELM might use Lorre's character in a clue who's xword answer would be OILY.
CED. You're link took me to all those 60s groups.
WC
My cinema professor told a story that at Bela Lugosi’s funeral, PETER LORRE looked at Bela in his Dracula cape and said “You don’t think he’s kidding us, do you?
Keith, when i posted above, I had not yet seen the news about the California shooter. I'm sure you are right about the marine gunner being a bigger factor in this case. Wonder how much combat he saw over there? Shooting all those young people, you got to wonder if he just couldn't stand happy people dancing and having fun. So grim.
Thank you all for the well wishes .
And since you asked TTP and Wilbur Charles , Yes it was a great decision and no we weren't HS sweethearts .
I first noticed her at a country fair when I was 16 and she 15.
She was teasing her Dad who had just lost a nail driving contest, him being an accomplished farmer/carpenter. It was the easy comradery she enjoyed with her Dad that peaked my interest and of course at 15 she was a looker I thought( and still do). Saw her again at a sports venue a year or so later and after that at someone's birthday party .Soon after that I determined to find out who she was and got over my shyness and asked her out on a date. I knew at 18 yrs old I need look no farther and at 20 got married and lived happily ever after.:)
CED @1133 - WOW! That Tony Franklin is amazing! Playing a fretless Precision in this clip. I notice he refers to it as electric bass as I do, rather than bass guitar. In my case it's because I'm coming to it from string bass. He has amazing technique and musical ideas. I played a fretted Precision for many years, now have a fretless Jazz - but it has bars going across the fingerboard where the frets would be that are flush with the surface of the fingerboard, so the smooth glissandi are possible.
I can't tell for sure what Jaco Pastorius is playing in the "A Portrait of Tracy" clip (oh, for those long skinny fingers!)- it looks pretty much like a Precision with a slightly narrower neck and extra tone controls. I think they issued a custom version with his name on it. I'm pretty sure he also played fretless bass a lot.
CrossEyedDave sad but true about refugees as BOAT FILLER. Last night I attended a powerful talk by David Miliband who is head of the International Rescue Committee (founded by Einstein in the 1930s). He said there are 65 million refugees in the world today. A record number. And he said all of the forces driving this will make this even worse in the future. I hope to write an article on his presentation soon.
Yellowrocks thanks for your experience hearing about the latest mass shooting. I don't carry a device and I pretty much just get my news once a day on the TV news. I know that is quaint these days. I like what our new governor-elect Gavin Newsom said:
"We can’t allow this to be normalized". As long as we continue to be shocked, appalled, horrified, etc there is hope for action.
Glad my Bedouin NOMAD photos brought back happy memories for you! My most memorable NOMAD experience came in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
This was the scene as I recently showed it.
I really thought we might die out there. Just then, a NOMAD girl passed by, herding some goats. She barely even glanced our way as if we were like a mirage in the desert. Or part of a parallel universe that was briefly glimpsed. Of little relevance to her life. It was one of my most regretted moments that I did not take a photo of her and her goats. And then they were gone. I cannot imagine what the goats could eat out there or where they would be going to.
Thanks also for explaining the "perhaps" with regard to partner/SPOUSE. It just seemed asymmetrical that the "perhaps" was not used for Partners/MATES, too.
Yes, we each have a different wheelhouse. What I don't like is a puzzle that has three crosses in one tight area that are all in the sports wheelhouse. We had that in the last day or so.
This one seemed fair in that there were no such crossed Naticks all of one type. FIR! And got all of the theme answers!
Another ER visit for Alan tonight resulting in a!l tests negative. This has happened before. In spite of tests for urinary infection antibiotics seem to knock out suspected ecoli.
My DIL is in the hospital with a broken hip after a fall. No further news yet.
OAS wonderful story. We have many love stories here
Lucy I am glad it was short-lived, Traveling for 30+ hours in a metal tube with hundreds of other people makes staying healthy a challeng
YR - Did the give you antibodies for Alan? That's awful about your DIL.
CED - And here I'd a answered Joan Jett for Crimson and CLOVER.
Half-time Daughters & Dad dance update:
Dads are as ready as we're ever going to be... [I'm 4th from right (standing) giving Josh bunny-ears; we were told "OK let's do a silly shot for the girls" - I'm thinking, now, that we were played as this is the only pic posted]
I really just wanted to see if this works... Anyone not on Twitter able to see this link?
Cheers, -T
YR, er, "did the DR give"... -T
It's very late but I feel so much better, just weak. Lemonade, I didn't fly this time; my sisters and I drove, however, there were 200 guests at the wedding so I suspect someone passed on a virus. And I'm sure it wasn't anything I ate. My BFF who dines with me had no reaction so I suspect a virus.
AnonT:
The photo appeared ok.
Lucina - Just "OK?" I thought we Dads were stellar :-)
Get some more rest, don't push it!, and you'll feel better. Nite, -T
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