The recent floods prevented me from getting a newspaper for four days and forced me to do the crosswords online instead of using my trusty #2 Ticonderoga. I did not enjoy the experience.
Fun fact: John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and used more than 300 to write East Of Eden. You're welcome!
Pawel and I had a nice email exchange when I blogged his Feb. 3, 2018 puzzle and also for this one. He said he wrote the cluing for this puzzle over a year ago and so we had some interesting exchanges about the cluing process as he tried to recall what his thought process was. I told him that he looks like he could be a James Bond super villain and he thought that was pretty funny!
I told him I would love to have a glass of wine with him someday but he says he more or a single malt scotch man and has OBAN (a single malt scotch brand) in a submission. Suffice it to say he is a very interesting guy.
Pawel's license plate tells you both where he lives and what one of his passions is.
Pawel even managed to work his new home state into the first down clue 1. Alamogordo experiment: A-TEST- The first A-TEST detonation for The Manhattan Project occurred 1 hr and 35 min NNW of Alamogordo, NM
Cue the Goldfinger music as we see what Pawel has for us today.
1. SALT topic: ABM - SDS didn't cut it
4. Surface collection: DUST - My dad and his siblings talked a lot about the DUST of their childhoods
8. Territory affected by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie: DAKOTA - The Sioux got rights to their sacred land - The Black Hills. And then gold was discovered there and George Armstrong Custer, et al soon followed
14. Impulsively attack: TEAR INTO.
16. Panacea: ELIXIR - Good for what ails ya!
17. Makes a pig of oneself: ENGORGES.
18. Coquettes: MINXES - Synonyms for flirts 22. Esteem: REPUTE - Some coquettes can be of ill REPUTE and some can be 44. Smokin': HOT.
19. Showroom surprise: STICKER SHOCK.
21. Every other second?: TOCK - My favorite, Pawel. I proudly sussed TICK but then I had the wrong vowel for 2. Japanese box lunch: BENTO.
23. Keystone figure: KOP.
26. King or queen: BED
28. "Return of the Jedi" dancer: OOLA - A picture of the character autographed by Femi Taylor who portrayed her
29. Article beginning, in newspaper jargon: LEDE - LEAD/LEDE
30. Like some colors: MUTED.
32. Dish-washing liquid: TAP WATER - TAP WATER safety was a real concern during recent Nebraska flooding but it remained fine in my town
34. Lively ballroom dances: BOLEROS - I've never danced with someone who could touch the ceiling with her foot
36. City named for a Suquamish chief: SEATTLE - Below is the grave site of Chief Noah Sealth. Seattle founders mispronounced the chief's name to arrive at Seattle. Sealth was converted to Christianity by French missionaries
37. Interminably: AT LENGTH - Fidel Castro could talk for muchas horas
39. Expand: SWELL.
40. Young follower?: STER - Voila! An description becomes a person
41. College bookstore, perhaps: COOP - This one probably has a lot of books that I would not understand
43. Sylvie's soul: AME - Sylvie a une belle ÂME (Sylvie has a beautiful soul)
45. Surveyor's equipment: TRIPOD - Today that TRIPOD is likely to support a surveying laser
47. U.K. honors: OBES - Here Stella McCartney, Paul and Linda's daughter, receives the Order of the British Empire50. Fix things?: STACK THE DECK - Nepotism can "STACK THE DECK" against you for getting a job
52. Not the usual merchandise amount: ODD LOT - One sleeve is 2" shorter?
55. French actress Adjani with a record five César Awards: ISABELLE - Her Internet Media Data Base page
56. Words of despair: NO HOPE - An ominous doormat "Abandon HOPE all ye who enter here"
57. Smear protection?: LIBEL LAW - Can you sue for LIBEL if it's true?
58. Excessively focus (on): OBSESS - Emerson's take on this
59. Ruhr refusal: NEIN.
60. D and C in D.C.: STS - Here they are just north of the Capitol. Very clever Pawel!
Down:
3. Panacea: MAGIC BULLET - A famous/infamous one
4. __ Nowitzki, 21-season NBAer: DIRK - A great German-born seven footer
5. Neat freak of film and TV: UNGER - Tony Randall was my favorite Odd Couple Felix
6. Sound purchase: STEREO
7. Pink elephant sighter: TOSS POT - A Britsh insult - Beer or ale was customarily served in ceramic pots, so a tosspot was a person who copiously 'tossed back' such pots of beer.
8. Rock samples?: DEMO TAPES - What musicians submit in hopes of getting recorded or published
9. "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" speaker: ALICE.
10. Flaw: KINK - We've all used this as a verb to get a drink from a hose
11. Losing game line: OXX - Top line here
12. Nil-nil, e.g.: TIE - Zero to zero on this side of the ocean
13. Razor edges?: ARS - Yes, R's start and end the word RAZOR
15. Gagarin or Glenn: ROCKETEER - I'm calling a foul, Pawel! Astronaut also has 9 letters. 😏
20. Island dances: HULAS
23. Exercise equipment sometimes swung: KETTLE BELLS
24. New York Giants' star __ Beckham Jr.: O'DELL - Just this month, this flashy receiver became a Cleveland Brown
25. Famille member: PERE - Mon PÉRE, était pompier volontaire (My Dad was a volunteer firefighter)
27. "Nebraska" Oscar nominee: DERN - A wistful look at aging and small town life - Trailer
29. Part of a getaway car description, maybe: LATE MODEL - Thieves can't drive old clunkers?
30. Words often framed: MOTTO.
31. Pet shop buys: DOG CRATES - They were temporary homes during our recent floods
33. Toddler's drink: WAWA - I better remember Gildna Radner's Bawbwa WAWA
34. Disparage: BASH - Ah, next year is an election year so let the BASHING begin
35. Unflappable: STOIC.
38. Brewer's drier: HOP KILN - Along with our cwd friend OAST
42. Friend of Richie, Ralph and the Fonz: POTSIE - Warren "POTSIE" Weber (Anson Williams)
45. 'Vette options: T-TOPS - '68 was the first
46. Abu __: DHABI - Ferrari Abu DHABI is a motor themed amusement park and the world's largest space frame structure
53. Passport nos.: DOB - Speaking of John and Yoko, John had his middle name changed from Winston to ONO. His passport shows both middle names along with his Date Of Birth
51. __ Upton, co-founder of the U.K.'s Raspberry Pi Foundation: EBEN - Here ya go!
54. They don't play the field: Abbr.: DHS - The American League still uses the Designated Hitter and The National League does not.
All right class, pencils down! It's time to electronically comment on this puzzle from the Dr. Fludzinski in the highest (7,000') state capital in America
Psst! When I can't find my #2 Ticonderoga, I use these because they have a great eraser and cost less than a dollar each!
30 comments:
Thank you Pawel Fludzinski for this easy peasy Saturday CW. It was a pleasure to FIR
Thank you Husker Gary for your excellent review.
Ðave
FIWrong. SW and central E were real problems, with a few WAGs, and it was where they met in the SE that I had my lone bad cell. STACK THE DaCK started okay, but the WAG of KETTLE BaLLS over-wrote it without my noticing.
DAKOTA had found the golden ELIXIR,
The MAGIC BULLET, the ultimet fixer!
Add to TAP WATER
And give to your daughter,
It will keep her safe at her next mixer!
{B+.}
Hi Y'all! Another challenge from Pawel on whose wave-length I never find myself. However, as usual he provides subjects for further study.
Great expo, Gary, as usual. As science/technology oriented as you are, i am surprised at your resistance to solving online and heaping praise on the worthy pencil. Hope your town is drying out. Watched with anguish for y'all.
DUST was my first fill. Liked the clue "surface collection". My friend called it a protective coating for her furniture.
Not "astronaut' but ROCKETEER. (Did not make me smile.) Not "oast" but HOP KILN.
The NE corner was my nemisis. Needed red-letter runs to fill. "Rock Samples" really stumped me. TAPES perped in and I still kept trying words that didn't work. DEMO finally dawned on me. But the rest of the corner didn't. ALICE didn't make sense until Gary 'splained the Wonderland connection. Haven't read that since I was about 12.
DNK: ODELL or EBEN/ISABELLE (a natick). ISABELLE crossing BELLS. Surely not. Resisted putting that in.
Couldn't remember POTSIE until POT perped in. UNGER took awhile.
Did know DIRK. Watched him play many times. Remarkable skills but I didn't like his personality. I thought he had retired but guess not. Don't watch as much basketball as I used to.
BOLERO is a ballroom dance? By golly, it is. I LIU and spent a pleasant hour watching TAPES of dancers. The one I liked best was Ravel's Bolero from Omnibus. The dancers were Jose Greco's troupe of authentically Spanish moves from 1953 with flamenco & castanets. Ole! And who could forget Torville & Dean's stirring 1984 Olympic gold medal performance in ice dancing. Bravo!
Good morning!
Tried OVEREATS, but immediately realized that would be too banal for a Saturday cw. Needed perps for those sports references. DIRK and ODELL I'm lookin' at you. I thought "They don't play the field" was a weird clue for Dear Husbands. Thanx for 'splainin', Husker. Enjoyable outing, Pawel.
TOSSPOT: I smiled at your "Hope your town is drying out," PK.
DEMO TAPES: I suspect the demos are now delivered as computer files, probably on thumb drives or as email attachments.
ALAMOGORDO: Used to pass through it on 54 twice a year on my annual trek to visit the folks in AZ.
HOP KILN: Thought it should be HOPS KILN.
ABU DHABI: Spent a few days there. I forget why. I learned to be careful which authors I asked for at the bookstore. Censorship was alive and well there.
DERN: Got there in a roundabout way. I read Nebraska, but thought Ozark, which lead me to DERN (Laura) rather than her dad, DERN (Bruce). Whatever works!
ODELL is on the Cleveland Browns now. Much to the consternation of many Giant fans.
An excellent Saturday puzzle! Lots of great clues and answers. As usual, I started out slowly, but once I got a few answered, the puzzle filled in.
Now onto a couch potato day watching golf and basketball. Some great games last night, Duke is getting all the breaks.
Lots of elastic in the cluing today ROCKETEER could well have been the more used COSMONAUT or ASTRONAUT but TOSSPOT broke the elastic and flung it into outer space .
Good morning everyone.
Tough one but Pawel always has interesting clues and answers, so I plodded ahead. Needed help with DIRK, KOP, ISABELLE, and ELIZIR. Fun to work on and a lot was learned. Wanted oast where KILN is but STACK THE DECK clinched it.
NEIN crossing EBEN - Eben means 'even' or 'level' in German.
TOCK sits directly below STICKER SHOCK. So, you end up with TICK TOCK stacked. Pawel must have noticed this. I'm sure it put a smile on his face.
Fun solve, but hard earned. Really shot myself in the foot with Felix in lieu of Unger. That was hard to let go of, but I finally did and things opened up.
For Tock, I filed 1st, 3rd and 4th and waited. Couldn't help but be reminded of the old joke about the Russian interrogators trying to break the spy. He wouldn't answer a single question, but would only jerk to his right and say "Tick". Losing interest in the game, the chief bad guy blurts out: "Vee vill make you tock!"
Good Morning:
I found this very difficult, especially the NE corner (Hi, PK) which took forever to break open. (Dave 2, you must have had a double portion of Wheaties if you found this easy peasy! 😏) I needed perps for Alice, Dirk, Oola, and A-Test, as clued. I went astray with Nevada/Dakota, Pepe/Pere, and Eban/Eben. Despite my struggles in the NE, I finished in 38 minutes w/o help, not too bad for a Saturday stumper. (IIRC, Pawel is an RPI alum.)
Thanks, Pawel, for stretching the brain muscles and thanks, HG, for lots of fun, facts and photos.
FLN
Welcome, Ms UK, join the club!
Have a great day.
Joe- That's the groaner of the century!
Whew! Hard but fun. I guess challenging is a better word for it than hard. I love the clue for TOCK. I wanted ASTRONAUT but then realized Gagarin was a COSMONAUT, so I TOSSed the whole -NAUT thing out. Not sure either of those gentlemen would appreciate being called a ROCKETEER. It's a cool word, though. So is ENGORGES. Along with SWELL. MIRACLE CURE also had to be scrapped, giving way to MAGIC BULLET. Gosh, three BELLs in that SE corner.
Worked the puzzle yesterday but ran a lot of errands so was too tired to post any comment.
Good wishes to you all.
Sometimes, these constructors STACK THE DECK against us, the unwashed amateur crossword solvers, and there is no MAGIC BULLET or ELIXIR. I could go on AT LENGTH, but nein, that's not necessary. The mid-CA coast drove be crazy and my rule is to walk away and come back later. I was thinking that there was NO HOPE to finish. 5 hours later I came back and finished.
ASTRONAUT? Oh, did I know that and until I realized the surprise was STICKER SHOCK I was lost. I just sat down, took it out, and for some strange reason everything fell into place. DERN, BENTI, OOLA, EBEN, POTSIE, ISABELLE-unknowns filled by perps.
ODELL, Jr., aka OBJ, ex-LSU
ODELL, Sr. also ex-LSU
And guess where his athletic parents went to college? One guess.
Finished this bad boy with red letters, no real naticks because there were adequate perps, just things I didn't think of. My excuse is that this old brain is on overload. I hope that when life slows down, I will again do Saturdays w/o red letters. Nevertheless I enjoyed it. Difficult Saturdays are fair game. I will not fault the puzzle or the fact that it was a challenge I did not meet. I am happy that it was great for some of you.
OOLA was new to me, as was Isabelle, Odell and Dirk. We had a fine discussion about LEAD/LEDE some time ago, but I forgot the spelling.
I know TAP WATER is correct, but I almost never use that term. When I was a waitress I was often asked for branch water or Adam's ale, facetiously. I had to be careful because Samuel Adams makes Boston Ale.
Glad I got SEATTLE. I find the saga of the Native Americans interesting and sad. I have read much about them.
Never ending is hyperbole, Hyperbole is IN these days. Going on AT LENGTH just seems never ending.
Astronaut turned into rocketeer.
I was stuck on FELIX before I yielded to UNGER.
Motoko is finally in rehab, in good spirits and not in much pain, but she is weak and has a long way to go.
Alan loved his overnight at the group home. I feel confident that this was a wise decision. There are so many requirements that are not spelled out until the last minute, so I am OBSESSING about how my carpal tunnel surgery on 4/15 will impact my readiness. I had hoped to have Alan settled before the surgery, but coordination with the bureaucracy is not an option. I will need to pack, plan the move, continue with laundry, meals, appointments, find the documents, etc. after surgery. My hand muscles and nerves are deteriorating too rapidly to wait. Sometimes a low pain threshold is a disadvantage.
I am looking forward to seeing my youngest sister along with David and his family at Easter. My sister, Ruthie, will help me prepare our share of the feast on Saturday. We are a good team.
Beautiful spring weather today.
Hi Everyone,
I have had a very busy week. WEd, Thur, Fri, and Sat puzzles were all great fun for me. Thank you all, constructors and tour guides. This week's links were amazing. I haven't had time to comment, but I have read all the comments at the Corner.
Healing wishes all around. Everyone be well.
One comment for OMK: Crutches are a real pain in the *** unless one is in middle school and can practically run a sprint with them. Are you using your cane with your LEFT hand? Rule of thumb: cane opposite of bad knee (foot, leg, hip). It provides balances and takes some of the pressure off the opposite side. Try it.
Have a sunny day, even if it must be of your own making.
A rather tricky Saturday puzzle, IMO.
Markovers UNGUR/UNGER, KANSAS/DAKOTA, REGARD/REPUTE, HOTWATER/TAPWATER, KETTLEBALLS/KETTLEBELLS.
Enjoy the weekend.
Hi All!
Ouch. I could finish the South & most of East on my own but the North would not crack. Felix didn't help. Thanks HG for 3 peeks at your grid to keep me playing.
Fun puzzle Pawel - I really like how you crossed related items: ABM/ATEST, HULAS/OOLA, UNGER/DUST, ISABELLE/KETTHLE BELL*, O'NO / NO HOPE [ok, last one's a stretch :-)]
{B+}
*Jayce - I failed to notice the third Bell. Nice catch.
YR - Good news on your DIL. Better news on Alan.
AveJoe - with jokes like that... :-) //Jerome - I assume you mean last century ;-)
I think I'm going to join jfromvt on the couch. I went to the gym and the guy I pay $$ to keep me healthy worked me like a rented-mule; no Kettle-bells today but I am sore all over.
ENGORGES makes me want to link Meaning of Life's Mr. Creosote bit - doesn't past the breakfast (or lunch) test, that.
Have a wonderful Saturday!
Cheers, -T
Thank you, Mme. Defarge, for the cane/crutch advice. Yes, I use both (one at a time!) in the opposite hand. I did not think of this before, and it truly is an eye-opener.
I have since discovered that there are plenty of hand-holds throughout my home so that I rarely need either the crutch or cane. I can reach out and lean on all sorts of things to my left side, from bookcases and table tops to sinks and wall moldings! And when things aren't on my left, I can just turn toward them and do a quick hand-over-hand to keep the pressure off my right knee.
I feel less pain each day, so maybe this will be the cure. Fingers crossed!
~ OMK
Hola!
Thank you, Pawel Fludzinski and Gary! Whew! What a challenge!
I worked this in three parts as I had errands to complete. First, the NE gave me the jumpstart and then the entire eastern strand. KETTLEBELLS seemed odd but on seeing the photo I recognized them.
On my return the SW filled and I finally LU ISABELLE because regardless of how many award she won I would not have heard of her. I got Sylvie's soul, however.
I finally recalled POTSIE and then HOPKILN appeared. I only know KILN sans the HOP or oast. Finally the top where I had UNGER, STEREO, TOSSPOT (interesting origin) and of course, ASTRONAUT but then Gugarin wasn't one. Another time out ensued. On my returned I LIU and saw ROCKETEER.
Since I did see Nebraska, DERN emerged and the central plains were done. Can someone tell me why DOGCRATES are needed? COOP was a LU too as I'd not heard of that.
For me this was a slog but satisfying when I finished.
Gary, re your remarks about Chief Seattle and the treatment of native Americans, I recently read the sequel to One Thousand White Women, The Revenge of Mothers by Jim Fergus. All of it takes place during the time of Custer and in the DAKOTA area. It hurts my heart and makes me cry.
Jayce:
Vey nice catch to see the three BELLS
Thanks again, Gary. You brighten the Saturday solve.
I hope your day is as sunny as it is here, everyone!
Kentucky has reached the "Elite eight." They are still in the Midwest bracket where they will play Auburn tomorrow 3-31 at 2:20 pm EDT on CBS, the network with the eye logo. Yes, but is it just a logo, or is it an eye recording our every move, shades of the book "1984."
Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English writer George Orwell published in June 1949. The novel is set in the year 1984 when most of the world population have become victims of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and propaganda. - Wiki.
Hmm, does this sound familiar?
Avg Joe at 10:06 AM, Tock to me, groan.
Irish Miss at 10:34 AM, OK, you caught me. I too had difficulty with the NE cell. I chose the Thumper post this AM. I believe ALICE gave me the start. I thought MINX was the tailless cat, but that is really a Manx.
When Ms UK posted yesterday, I did not notice that she is a fan of the University of Kentucky, "UK." Go Big Blue.
Ðave
Ol' Man Keith, I hope you soon master those crutches and your knee heals quickly. My right leg and hip have been weak for over 5 years and I used to use one cane. Yes, as Madame Defarge said, it is recommended, and I have found it to be best, to use the cane on the opposite side of your bad leg. For about the past year, however, I have taken to using two canes, and I can walk ever so much better. I think it is for two reasons: (1) I no longer have that tendency to lean as I used to do when using one cane; I walk upright. And (2) I think the two canes sort of take some of the weight off my legs, which makes a big difference in how well and far I can walk. Frankly, if I could lose 100 pounds I might not need any canes at all, except maybe for balance. Alas, it seems my body likes being at this weight because every time I manage to take some weight off it always comes back. No more, no less.
Anonymous T, I like your reference to rented-mule. An interesting and amusing phrase.
General George Armstrong Custer was a pompous, preening martinet.
I spent a wonderful 5 1/2 years of my childhood growing up in the Black Hills area and I love them to this day. I totally understand the almost spiritual attraction they exert(ed). Lucina, I know exactly why learning about the atrocious deeds committed back then hurts your heart and makes you cry.
Yellowrocks, I'm glad things are working out well for you and Alan.
Lucina at 4:46 PM wrote "Can someone tell me why DOGCRATES are needed?"
I believe Gary said it all with his 1000 word dissertation. I can see 4 crates in the picture which means that 4 dogs are under control.
We had a crate for our dog in the kitchen. When we went away, we told him to go into his room, and he went right in. We had a second crate by my bed, and he would go in during the night, and sleep on his back.
Dogs naturally want to get into a small space which gives them a feeling of security.
Ðave
Jayce ~
You are so right!
Even before my recent fall, I had difficulty walking--because of the neuropathy that has weakened my numb legs and because of the general weakening of my ab muscles following a bout with hospital-induced general sepsis in 2012.
I found then I could walk upright, though listing a bit to my side, with one cane, but with two canes I can use both strong arms to keep upright for longer distances.
When I walk without canes (or crutches) I have to lean forward from the waist. When I used to see old codgers bending over I thought it was because they had back problems. But with me it's my abs. They can't hold me up while also letting my diaphragm work.
If I try to walk upright without aid, you can guess what happens--
I can't breathe!
~ OMK
Dave 4
Thank you. I should have guessed that myself about the DOGCRATES.
YR:
I, too, am glad to hear that things are working out for Alan though I'm sorry to hear about your DIL.
Having no idea about BENTO I quickly inked TICK. Of course it was every "other" second. Let's see if I made any other boo-boos.
Yep. COP=>KOP and I knew LEDE but I needed an A. This is awful. No more faux pas I hope. I struggled so much with Pavel's monster I just wanted to put it to bed
Gary, the bashing never stopped.
YR, how about "City Gin".
As I said this struggled. X'ing with p&I is a challenge but I shouldn't do it on Saturday. I had a break with the Sports fill but beside ASTRONAUT I had MAGIC POTION, TOPPLER<TOSSPOT, DICE<DECK and CATTLE BELLS. And inexcusably , ABOMB.
But a FIR was a tick tock away.
D4 Dave it's good to see the old D4 back.
WC
Kentucky is the one team I've had my eye on .But they have to make their 3's .
I posted an old 1995 song about the NCAA on the Jumble blog Wednesday night .
It's long
WC
Still fighting s cold so a VERY late start. Real challenge. Agree with others that equating Glenn/Gagarin's accomplishments with "Rocketeer" is a bit demeaning and boleros are essentially NOT performed in ballrooms. I'd also like to point out that the Ft Laramie treaty also established the protected land of the Lakota Nation, a part of the treaty quickly violated with the coming of the Black Hills gold Rush!!
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