Theme Unoften Opposites - all the theme entries are unusual antonyms:
22A. Rarely used antonym of harmless: NOCUOUS. Innocuous. These fine gentlemen make up the metal band Nocuous. I'll check 'em out on YouTube and report back.
33A. Rarely used antonym of disheveled: KEMPT. Unkempt.
39A. Rarely used antonym of unidentified: ONYMOUS. Anonymous.
46A. Rarely used antonym of crude: COUTH. Uncouth.
57A. Rarely used antonym of cruel: RUTHFUL. Ruthless.
5D. Rarely used antonym of bumbling: GAINLY. Ungainly.
50D. Rarely used antonym of friendliness: COOLTH. Warmth.
What a great idea this puzzle is. I had a lot of fun figuring out the unknowns in the theme entries, new to me were NOCUOUS, ONYMOUS, RUTHFUL, GAINLY and COOLTH. Oddly enough, as I'm typing this, Google has highlighted all the theme entries as "unknown" to its spell-checker. They might like to have a chat to Webster's and the OED and see if they can use their word lists.
With the theme entries not being the longest in the grid, and no asterisks or reveal, then it's the common cluing that sets you on the rights track of what to look for.
Having enjoyed the antonyms, let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Fourth of eight: MARS. The Planets. Let's have some background music courtesy of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and "Mars" from "The Planet Suite" by Gustav Holst.
5. Classic Pontiacs: GTO'S
9. "Shrek" ogress: FIONA. I've never figured out why Shrek has a Scottish accent.
14. Colorado-based sports org.: U.S.O.C. The United States Olympic Committee.
15. Boomers' lobbying group: AARP
16. Equally hot: AS MAD
17. Ousted Iranian: SHAH. The last incumbent of "The Peacock Throne".
18. Flat-package furniture retailer: IKEA. Put it together, realize you've got one piece upside-down or back-to-front and take it all apart and start over.
19. Me.-to-Fla. highway: US ONE
20. Greek: HELLENE. From whence "hellenic".
24. Serve as a foundation for: UNDERLIE
26. Text titter: HEE
27. Grab the tab: PAY.
28. Quick, speculative stock transaction: DAY TRADE
36. Jorge's hand: MANO
37. Nae sayer: SCOT. We've seen this clue before, but it still makes me smile.
38. Mets' div.: NLE. MLB's National League East.
42. Inc. cousin: LLC. Incorporated, and Limited Liability Company.
43. Bullring bravos: OLÉS
45. Time line units: ERAS
48. Entrée topped with pineapple rings: BAKED HAM. Yeek! That's a throwback.
50. Tuna holder: CAN
51. Fizzy prefix: AER-ated.
52. Sticker on organic produce: ECO-LABEL. Voluntary labeling. Green Stickers, for example on appliances, are compulsory.
61. American Girl product: TOY DOLL
62. Very, in music: ASSAI. "Allegro Assai" - "Get your skates on, we've got to finish this song before we get booed off the stage".
63. British peer: EARL
65. Rossini's "Largo al factotum," e.g.: ARIA. I can see the Aria hotel from my window, I'm in Las Vegas. C.C. has a couple of pictures of her in front of the hotel. There are some fantastic restaurants inside.
66. Blown away: IN AWE
67. Pinch at the table: SALT
68. Space: ROOM
69. Small songbirds: LARKS
70. Dash gadget: TACH. I've got one on my dashboard, but I don't pay any attention to it. I did when I drove a stick-shift, but now it's just there for fun, my car makes all the decisions on when to change gear.
71. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTÁ. The formal or respectful way to ask "Yo, wassup?"
Down:
1. __ pork: Asian dish: MU SHU. Food!
2. Pale with fright: ASHEN
3. Wonka creator Dahl: ROALD
4. Drag: SCHLEPP
6. "Star Trek" actor: TAKEI
7. Vein glory?: ORE. Nice clue.
8. Life time: SPAN. Another nice clue, some fun ones today.
9. Tap: FAUCET. Ah, a nice reminder of me British roots, fank you, Guv'ner.
10. Publishers, e.g.: ISSUERS
11. Melville novel: OMOO
12. Half an Orkan farewell: NANU. Robin Williams' great entrance onto the grand stage. "I am Mork, from Ork; I come in peace - Nanu Nanu". I think it's like "aloha" - it's both hello and goodbye.
13. Fruity drinks: ADES
21. Poet's muse: ERATO. I know this, but I went with ERATA for no good reason. The perp eventually corrected my mistake.
23. "Such a tease!": OH YOU! This always reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when he forgets his new date's name. He resorts to "Oh, you!".
25. Sushi bar finger food: EDAMAME. Food! My local sushi bar serves them with sea salt and togarashi. Yum.
29. Years in España: AÑOS
30. Gp. with a "Know Your Rights" web page: ACLU
31. Simpleton: DOLT
32. Sharply outline: ETCH
33. Gearshift topper: KNOB
34. Scat legend Fitzgerald: ELLA
35. Submissive: MEEK
36. Vidal's Breckinridge: MYRA
40. India's first prime minister: NEHRU
41. Like the skin of most fish: SCALY. I looked up the list of scale-less fish, out of interest. There's some pretty scary ones in that community.
44. Seattle NFLer: SEAHAWK
47. How some risks are taken: ON A DARE. Usually very stupid ones, uploaded to YouTube.
49. Goes against: DEFIES
53. PC key combo for "copy": CTRL-C
54. New York City divisions, informally: BOROS. I surprised myself that I didn't hesitate over this one.
55. "The Waste Land" poet: ELIOT
56. Peruvian grazer: LLAMA
57. Amtrak track: RAIL
58. Annapolis inst.: U.S.N.A. United States Naval Academy, natch.
59. Ruler until 1917: TSAR
60. "__ we forget": LEST. Lest us not forget on this "Day of Days" - the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944.
64. Battery size: AAA
Update on Nocuous, the band. I listened to one of their tracks on YouTube, and discovered that their musical genre is "black metal". Per the good folks at Wikipedia:
"Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms."
Probably not the most melodious track I've ever heard, but I kinda-sorta liked it. I was the 86th hit on the post, a little short of the best-to-date 6.2 billion views of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi. I'm sure they'll catch up eventually.
Here's the grid, and I'll get my coat.
Steve
Notes from C.C..:
Here are three pictures of Melissa's granddaughters Harper and Jaelyn and their parents. So beautiful!
22A. Rarely used antonym of harmless: NOCUOUS. Innocuous. These fine gentlemen make up the metal band Nocuous. I'll check 'em out on YouTube and report back.
33A. Rarely used antonym of disheveled: KEMPT. Unkempt.
39A. Rarely used antonym of unidentified: ONYMOUS. Anonymous.
46A. Rarely used antonym of crude: COUTH. Uncouth.
57A. Rarely used antonym of cruel: RUTHFUL. Ruthless.
5D. Rarely used antonym of bumbling: GAINLY. Ungainly.
50D. Rarely used antonym of friendliness: COOLTH. Warmth.
What a great idea this puzzle is. I had a lot of fun figuring out the unknowns in the theme entries, new to me were NOCUOUS, ONYMOUS, RUTHFUL, GAINLY and COOLTH. Oddly enough, as I'm typing this, Google has highlighted all the theme entries as "unknown" to its spell-checker. They might like to have a chat to Webster's and the OED and see if they can use their word lists.
With the theme entries not being the longest in the grid, and no asterisks or reveal, then it's the common cluing that sets you on the rights track of what to look for.
Having enjoyed the antonyms, let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Fourth of eight: MARS. The Planets. Let's have some background music courtesy of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and "Mars" from "The Planet Suite" by Gustav Holst.
5. Classic Pontiacs: GTO'S
9. "Shrek" ogress: FIONA. I've never figured out why Shrek has a Scottish accent.
14. Colorado-based sports org.: U.S.O.C. The United States Olympic Committee.
15. Boomers' lobbying group: AARP
16. Equally hot: AS MAD
17. Ousted Iranian: SHAH. The last incumbent of "The Peacock Throne".
18. Flat-package furniture retailer: IKEA. Put it together, realize you've got one piece upside-down or back-to-front and take it all apart and start over.
19. Me.-to-Fla. highway: US ONE
20. Greek: HELLENE. From whence "hellenic".
24. Serve as a foundation for: UNDERLIE
26. Text titter: HEE
27. Grab the tab: PAY.
28. Quick, speculative stock transaction: DAY TRADE
36. Jorge's hand: MANO
37. Nae sayer: SCOT. We've seen this clue before, but it still makes me smile.
38. Mets' div.: NLE. MLB's National League East.
42. Inc. cousin: LLC. Incorporated, and Limited Liability Company.
43. Bullring bravos: OLÉS
45. Time line units: ERAS
48. Entrée topped with pineapple rings: BAKED HAM. Yeek! That's a throwback.
50. Tuna holder: CAN
51. Fizzy prefix: AER-ated.
52. Sticker on organic produce: ECO-LABEL. Voluntary labeling. Green Stickers, for example on appliances, are compulsory.
61. American Girl product: TOY DOLL
62. Very, in music: ASSAI. "Allegro Assai" - "Get your skates on, we've got to finish this song before we get booed off the stage".
63. British peer: EARL
65. Rossini's "Largo al factotum," e.g.: ARIA. I can see the Aria hotel from my window, I'm in Las Vegas. C.C. has a couple of pictures of her in front of the hotel. There are some fantastic restaurants inside.
66. Blown away: IN AWE
67. Pinch at the table: SALT
68. Space: ROOM
69. Small songbirds: LARKS
70. Dash gadget: TACH. I've got one on my dashboard, but I don't pay any attention to it. I did when I drove a stick-shift, but now it's just there for fun, my car makes all the decisions on when to change gear.
71. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTÁ. The formal or respectful way to ask "Yo, wassup?"
Down:
1. __ pork: Asian dish: MU SHU. Food!
2. Pale with fright: ASHEN
3. Wonka creator Dahl: ROALD
4. Drag: SCHLEPP
6. "Star Trek" actor: TAKEI
7. Vein glory?: ORE. Nice clue.
8. Life time: SPAN. Another nice clue, some fun ones today.
9. Tap: FAUCET. Ah, a nice reminder of me British roots, fank you, Guv'ner.
10. Publishers, e.g.: ISSUERS
11. Melville novel: OMOO
12. Half an Orkan farewell: NANU. Robin Williams' great entrance onto the grand stage. "I am Mork, from Ork; I come in peace - Nanu Nanu". I think it's like "aloha" - it's both hello and goodbye.
13. Fruity drinks: ADES
21. Poet's muse: ERATO. I know this, but I went with ERATA for no good reason. The perp eventually corrected my mistake.
23. "Such a tease!": OH YOU! This always reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when he forgets his new date's name. He resorts to "Oh, you!".
25. Sushi bar finger food: EDAMAME. Food! My local sushi bar serves them with sea salt and togarashi. Yum.
29. Years in España: AÑOS
30. Gp. with a "Know Your Rights" web page: ACLU
31. Simpleton: DOLT
32. Sharply outline: ETCH
33. Gearshift topper: KNOB
34. Scat legend Fitzgerald: ELLA
35. Submissive: MEEK
36. Vidal's Breckinridge: MYRA
40. India's first prime minister: NEHRU
41. Like the skin of most fish: SCALY. I looked up the list of scale-less fish, out of interest. There's some pretty scary ones in that community.
44. Seattle NFLer: SEAHAWK
47. How some risks are taken: ON A DARE. Usually very stupid ones, uploaded to YouTube.
49. Goes against: DEFIES
53. PC key combo for "copy": CTRL-C
54. New York City divisions, informally: BOROS. I surprised myself that I didn't hesitate over this one.
55. "The Waste Land" poet: ELIOT
56. Peruvian grazer: LLAMA
57. Amtrak track: RAIL
58. Annapolis inst.: U.S.N.A. United States Naval Academy, natch.
59. Ruler until 1917: TSAR
60. "__ we forget": LEST. Lest us not forget on this "Day of Days" - the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944.
64. Battery size: AAA
Update on Nocuous, the band. I listened to one of their tracks on YouTube, and discovered that their musical genre is "black metal". Per the good folks at Wikipedia:
"Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms."
Probably not the most melodious track I've ever heard, but I kinda-sorta liked it. I was the 86th hit on the post, a little short of the best-to-date 6.2 billion views of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi. I'm sure they'll catch up eventually.
Here's the grid, and I'll get my coat.
Steve
Here are three pictures of Melissa's granddaughters Harper and Jaelyn and their parents. So beautiful!
Is there anyone who HASN'T read this classic from the New Yorker, How I Met My Wife? It's probably reprinted thousands of times across the Internet.
ReplyDeleteFIONA was a princess, ONYMOUS to all,
Always very KEMPT, as if going to a ball.
Altho NOCUOUS, she was target of COOLTH,
Befriended by the RUTHFUL and the COUTH.
So she proceeded GAINLY while walking down the hall!
(Every one of the puzzle words above is screamed at by my spell-check! 😈 )
I was surprised to find COOLTH was a legit word!
ReplyDeleteLoved this puzzle! I was chuckling so much my wife thought I was losing it.
Vein glory -terrific clue! And the twist to the suffix with RUTHFUL...
Nice job Stu!
COUTH [Spellcheck doesn't even recognize it.] is a word Grandma used often, and is something this world would do well to learn again.
FIR in 45:41 min.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thursday Cornies!
Thank you Stu Ockman for this crunchy Thursday CW.
Thank you Steve for your excellent review.
The antonym of disgruntled is gruntled, again never used.
Thanks for saving us from Nocuous. It sounds like hearing their cacophony would make me nauseous.
Thank you C.C. for the PICs of Melissa's granddaughters Harper and Jaelyn and their parents. I agree, beautiful children.
Ðave
Look what I found in the first sentence of "How I Met My Wife."
ReplyDelete"It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate."
Ðave
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteMorning! I dropped in to leave a message for Irish Miss, thus: I sent an email a few days ago, did that arrive?
Now, while I’m here, really loved today’s theme. I’ve always liked the fun antonyms such as “chalant” and “gruntled”. At home we get a kick out of using the three levels: overwhelmed, underwhelmed, and whelmed.
Howdy Steve, nice to see your style.
I haven’t been solving crosswords lately; no real reason, just sorta lost interest.
MBee, that’s even more of a lovely family you have there! Thanks for sharing with C.C. and the rest of the Corner.
Respect for the truth should UNDERLIE each utterance,
ReplyDeleteAll ISSUERS of statements should do so in the furtherance
Of honesty,
But policy
Requires only UNDER-LIEING about the real incidence,
Once he did it ON A DARE
Because, he said, he didn't care.
He lit a rocket
In a FAUCET,
Now water's spouting in the air!
Pineapple on glazed BAKED HAM
Makes it sweet like berry jam.
And the fruit
Is cut in loops
To hide that it is just like spam!
{B, C, C+, C.}
Good catch Owen; I thought of the same thing. I think Victor Borge also had a routine with root words. A nice change of pace Thursday theme. Our third puzzle from Stu, including one I blogged here, and who has gotten up to 13 NYT publication.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I thought Boomer's organization was USBC?
ECOLABEL is an unfamiliar term; ASSAI also, even though I know I have seen it. Also the use of BOROS instead of BOROUGHS slowed me down even though I know the TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE is often called the TRIBORO, or rather was as it has been renamed ROBERT F> KENNEDY BRIDGE.
EARL reminded me that there is a DOWNTON ABBEY movie coming out in the fall.
Thanks, Steve and Stu.
Yes, the little Melissa B's are a treat. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Very interesting and amusing puzzle, Stu! Great expo, Steve! Seemed suitable for your COOLTH personality.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme for sure with COUTH & KEMPT. Antonym: LIU to make sure I knew the meaning. I did.
Last to fill: I ran aground with COOLTH/CTRLC/TOY cross. I had DOLL okay but didn't even consider TOY. I wanted a name like amY. TOY DOLL seems so redundant. But since the whole theme is strange, I suppose it is permissible. Other than that I didn't have much trouble with fill. While trying to deal with that snafu, I lost the whole puzzle but cared enough to reconstruct the whole thing.
DNK: ASSAI, TAKEI, EDAMAME (once again all perps. That word just will not stick in my mind.)
Vein glory = ORE: great clue, but ESP. Couldn't get off the blood carriers.
Melissa: great pictures of beautiful people. Thank you and C.C. for sharing.
Good Morning, Steve and friends. What an interesting puzzle. Am I Gruntled for liking this puzzle?
ReplyDeleteNice shout out to our Boomer, but the wrong organization, eh?
It had to be US ONE because I-95 wouldn't fit.
BAKED HAM never occurred to me. Pineapple on meat?
I first tried Wrens, before settling on LARKS.
Beautiful photos, Melissa.
QOD: It took man thousands of years to put words down on paper, and his lawyers still wish he wouldn’t. ~ Mignon McLaughlin (née Mignon Neuhaus; June 6, 1913 ~ Dec. 20, 1983), American journalist and author
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteIt was supposed to be stormy again today, but at least for this morning the forecast is clement. Works for me. I've got an M-o-W route at 10:30.
Tried that HELENIC (one-l) business. Wite-Out, please. Got the theme with NOCUOUS. NEHRU came back for an encore, and old friend OMOO made a rare appearance. I was going to complain about the natick at AC_LABEL. I wagged the O. Then Steve informed me it's EDAMAME, turning my natick into a DNF. [Sigh] Thanx, Stu and Steve -- sounds like a music duo.
Great photos, Melissa.
How come flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?
ReplyDeleteDNF, overlooking the blank cell at MA_S x _OALD. Should have gotten that one, but would have still had three bad cells: George TAKaI and EDAnAMi. Why do we (at least some of us) eat bait? Are we anti-fishing? For that matter, why do we burn our food (gasohol)?
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone has a very meaningful day of remembrance today. Some of my favorite Jimmy Buffett lyrics:
Well, the war took his baby
Bombs killed his lady
And left him with only one eye
His body was battered
His whole world was shattered
And all he could do was just cry
While the tears were falling and he was recalling
Answers he'd never found
So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean
And left England without a sound
Thanks to Stu for the fun, imaginative puzzle. And thanks to Steve for the interesting review. What a beautiful family, MB.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI didn't much care for this theme while solving, but it sort of grew on me after completing it and reviewing all the strange words. My two favorite C/As were: Vein glory=Ore and Nae sayer=Scot. (Hi Steve) My Boy doll became Toy doll and perps gave me Assai. There was certainly a mini-theme of initialisms: USOC, USNA, US ONE, ACLU, AARP, NLE, LLC, AAA, CTRL C.
Thanks, Stu, for a fresh, if somewhat tricky, solve and thanks, Steve, for dissecting the trickery so well.
Thanks to Melissa and CC for sharing those beautiful photos.
Dudley, I haven't received any emails from you.
FLN
Spitz, congratulations on your anniversary. 1959 was also my graduation year from CCHS. Interestingly, our graduation ceremonies were held in the Armory which is part of RPI, yes?
Have a great day.
Interesting puzzle. I believe the theme words are usually used jocularly today. COOLTH was new to me. I found an article on it that says it is being used again these days.
ReplyDeleteCOOLTH
MY MIL used pineapple on her baked ham. This was popular in the 50's and 60's. It looked like this:
baked ham
OKL, I liked the third pone best A. That reminds that when I was in high school, sometimes pranksters put cherry bombs in toilets in schools. Oh my!
My dad and brother used to catch catfish. They were scaleless and had to be skinned. They were tasty.
I found TOY DOLL redundant, too. Then I looked it up and was reminded that dolls have been used as magic and in religious rituals. Have you taken CPR training using a doll? Dolls also can be purely works of arts. Wikipedfia has an interesting article.
LEST WE FORGET, how appropriate for today. Jinx, thanks for the lyrics.
Stu and Steve, thanks for a fun morning.
Musings¬
ReplyDelete-¬So clever! Yes, it seems COOLTH is a word
-Is the Ayatollah an improvement over the SHAH?
-California State Route ONE is the Pacific Coast Highway
-Grab the tab? We all said our principal’s favorite drink was what anyone else PAYS for
-A struggling Jorge might have a “MANO a la boca” (hand to mouth) existence
-This EARL offered a good deal in my yute!
-My car run so quietly, I have used the TACH just see if the motor is running
-New acronym – LFP (Learned From Puzzles)? Today I’d name at least OMOO, ROALD, COOLTH and ERATO!
-Lovely pix, Melissa and write-up Steve
-LEST we forget indeed. Joann’s uncle landed on Utah Beach four days after D-Day. He was a clerk and always says, “They didn’t need a typewriter on the beaches on June 6.” I tell him emphatically that all who served were heroes. He remembers every detail of that time and said he saw things he can never forget as he moved toward Germany.
ReplyDeleteNever forget! Thanx Jinx.
ReplyDeleteSusan, ignoring that ham is not kosher, have you heard of a pineapple ham combo as a pizza topping? I can assure all of you putting fresh pineapple in the pan when my wife makes her chicken fried rice with vegetables adds a very yummy dimension.
Very moving ceremonies on the morning TV from Normandy.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteIM - Thanks. Yes, I think RPI bought it in the 70's. I think the ROTC's are housed there now.
Cranky puzzle to start. But after seeing how the theme should work, the solving cadence improved and moved right along. Some like nocuous were unknown, but could be inferred. FIR; no searches were needed.
15a - Wondered if it had to do with a bowling organization. :-)
KNOB - Seems related to the German Knopf for "button". L. German Knoop.
KEMPT - Opposite of disheveled. Seems related to German kämmen for "to comb".
SCHLEPPer - Means tugboat in German, or a kind of tractor.
MARS - Crosses helped me realize we were talking about the (now) 8 planets. BTW, Jupiter is now visible and spectacular in the SE night sky ~ 30º above the horizon at around 2230 local time. (40º N. Lat.)
Husker. FYI there is an acronym currently very active on the the interwebs with the younger set. It is TIL, today I learned. Many of them might use it this morning with the remembrances. eg. TIL that 75 years ago #OnThisDay in 1944, thousands of American, British, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along the Normandy coast of France on a mission to liberate Western Europe from Nazi control. We are grateful to all those who sacrificed so that future generations could thrive. #DDay
ReplyDeleteRarely? GAINLY is the only one I've ever heard and I am being tRUTHFUL. KEMPT and COOLTH were guessable but the others were perped. I wanted HELLENIC but ran out of space, so HELLENE it was.
ReplyDeleteAARP- I wish they would leave me alone. I don't belong but I get something from them at least once a week trying to get me to join. They are like many 'non-profit' orgs. Act as though they are looking out for the little guy but the ones in charge are in it for themselves.
D-DAY- I was expecting a military theme today.
Another thing kids these days are fond of saying is "I'm not crying, you're crying". It often is used as a comment to a heart breaking or even a heart warming video or story seen on the internet to jokingly deflect that fact of tears in the eyes to another sitting nearby.
ReplyDeleteSo, as I sit here watching the tributes to the story of the day, I have to say, "I'm not crying, you're crying".
Do you who speak Yiddish accept that schlept (3D) is present tense for DRAG? I hear, "Yesterday I schlept the my old sofa to the dump." And in writing I see the past tense spelled SCHLEPPED.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the present tense of drag be just SCHLEP? Just wondering.
Hmm,
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle did some serious damage to my rear end,
and I don't have a single word to describe it...
In fact, it may have made me re-evaluate my entire life's mission...
Yellowrocks! Help me out here!
Ack! I'm LOst!
Oh nuts!
I wish I never attempted this puzzle...
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Stu Ockman, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeletePhew! This puzzle was a tough one for me. Thank goodness I was able to use cruciverb, because the program tells you when you get them all correct. I prefer pencil and paper, but you never really know.
Lots of obvious answers, but lots of UNobvious answers as well.
Theme was very good. Kind of a unique approach.
Other than some of the theme answers, I had some others that were tough: MUSHU, TAKEI, EDAMAME, ASSAI.
I tried RT ONE for 19A. US ONE won that battle.
I worked with a guy named ROALD, so I knew the name. Even though he went by "Mike." Roald "Mike" Svenson.
Well, nice weather, so I am going to try to work in the garden again. I have had bad luck so far.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
On the D-Day subject: I dated an old boy a few years ago who had been in the next wave of troops to land on one of those beaches. He was a Nebraska farm boy who managed to sign up for the Army by lying about his age of 16. He turned 17 during boot camp. As soon as that training was done, his company was shipped to England and within a few days, he said, D-Day invasion was underway and they shipped out for that. He marched across Europe at the age of 17, carrying a rifle and scared spitless. His company was in place at the time of events written about in "A Bridge Too Far". I asked him if he'd killed any of the enemy. He said, "I hope so. I was a good shot and I sure pumped enough lead in their direction." He's gone now, but I realize all those old guys who are commemorating being in the war had to have been very young when they fought that war and are alive to tell about it.
ReplyDeleteI used to make a baked ham glaze with crushed pineapple, brown sugar and cloves that went over big time at family meals. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
ReplyDeletethesaurus, word finder,synonym dictionary
ReplyDeleteIntriguing puzzle, Stu--many thanks. I got the east but had trouble in the mid-west (although I too laughed when I finally got the SCOT nae sayer). Had GUY DOLL, then BOY DOLL and never thought of TOY DOLL since I didn't get the PC key combo. Was surprised that I got DAY TRADE even though I know nothing about stock transactions. But my favorite answer was T.S. ELIOT. I'm working on teaching a course on Modern Poetry at the Senior Center next spring, and ELIOT will be the first poet we'll study. And of course we'll discuss "The Waste Land." I worked on the lecture yesterday, so I got this one in a second. Anyway, thanks again, Stu--and always enjoy your commentary, Steve.
ReplyDeleteLovely family, Melissa.
Fun poems, Owen.
Have a great day, everybody.
Schlep - to drag; to haul laboriously; to carry burdensomely.
ReplyDeleteThis comes from the German word schleppen, which means nearly the same thing, but without the implied burdensomeness. It can also be spelled "shlep"
I loved this puzzle!
ReplyDeleteWe use gruntled , underwhelmed and couth a lot in our family. First time I heard gruntled was on Flip Wilson’s show when he became Geraldine.
We gave 4 of our granddaughters American Girl Dolls, which they played with for years.
Hi everybody.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle and its clever theme. It reminded me that I had posted the essay "How I Met My Wife" from the New Yorker many eons ago. As I remember, CC had it listed on the right-hand side of the blog, maybe under Olio. It's not there any more. Maybe CC can confirm if I'm recalling correctly?
"47. How some risks are taken: ON A DARE. Usually very stupid ones, uploaded to YouTube."
Have you noticed that the epic fails of those DARE risks on YouTube are almost always boys or men? No females. How come? More common sense I'm thinking.
Hola! And a salute to the Greatest Generation!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Stu, for a clever and fresh take on this puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for your fluid interpretation.
Wow! This was different. I caught the trick at ONYMOUS and laughed out loud. Tis a CSO to our many anons.
I had doubts about SCHLEPP with to PPs but I see that it's right.
Last night my visiting grand nieces watched Mulan (a Disney movie set in China) and George TAKEI was listed on the credits.
All went well until I hit the Natick at ECO/COOLTH. That one really stumped me. I also had UNDERPIN at 24A so EDAMAME ended up like a tossed salad.
This is such a clever puzzle!
Dudley! It's so good to see you and I'm sorry you lost interest in puzzling. I hope you drop in once in while.
Have (re)freshing day, everyone!
Melissa's family is just beautiful. Thank you, C.C., for posting the pics.
ReplyDeleteRemember, too, that Yiddish was originally written in the Hebrew alphabet, so its "english" words are transliterations. There can, therefore, be several variations of the spelling. I have also heard, and seen, Schlepn.
ReplyDeleteThanks OwenKL for the link to Winter's wife tale! I guess I'm one of those rara aves who's never 'eard of it. And here I thought I was clever for recently telling my wife (whom I met in the 11th grade in the doorway of Mr Saterley's M&C History course) that her hair was very sheveled. Little did I know (and always will).
ReplyDeleteBesides the common cluing denominator, the placement of the answers is symmetrical. COOLTH stumped me. I was sure I had made a mistake. There aren't many series that come in eights other than the planets, since Pluto was voted off the island.
ReplyDeleteYellowrocks, I schlept on my old sofa the other night because my DW was aggravated with me. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle and finally got the gimmick when I realized not all the antonym words began with IN, UN, or AN. Nice job, Mr. Ockman; I am IN AWE of your creative imagination.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, get a dog :)
Good wishes to you all.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Stu and Steve.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos melissa bee.
I finished with a few inkblots and came here to discover I FIWed.
I was certain of UNDERPIN and did not understand Gainpy and Ndamame.
I also had Denies and not DEFIES which gave me Ruthnul. Oh well, it was fun.
Perps were needed for USOC.
Hand up for Wrens before LARKS; I also had Ltd before LLC, and Buros before BOROS.
Oh Boy before OH YOU gave me Tee instead of HEE for the text titter. (Actually I had LOL first.)
Yes, LEST was very appropriate today.
“It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.” — President Barack Obama
54D: Two time USGA Open winner. (Julius)BOROS. Inc 1963 @Brookline CC
ReplyDeleteI spelled EDAMAMi wrong, just like the I in oragami sushi. I should have caught ECO for Organic prefix. One bad box on what solvers may have found a toughie. Let's see.
Owen, that's a classic. W+
As the Scots say: If there's NAE 'scuses there's NAE Golf
My favorite EARL was the Duke
WC
Let us not forget that the D-Day battle was fought on much more just the beaches of Normandy. Many lives were also lost inland and were just as vital to the success of the mission. One of my favorite World War II films/documentary is "Band Of Brothers", which dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, which is airing today on HBO.
ReplyDeleteAlso the classic film, The Longest Day, with it's all-star cast, portrays the many faceted invasion of June 6, 1944.
All that about schlept, but nothing about the final T making it past tense. The clue called for present tense.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWow, is it Thursday? Because this felt like a Saturday.
Tough tough tough, what with words that are barely words, LOL. “Rarely used”, indeed!
Still, I got through it.
Markovers....UNDERLAY/UNDERLIE, HELENIC/HELLENE, FOOL/DOLT.
I think the best D-Day movie is “Saving Private Ryan”. I remember having to remind myself to stop holding my breath in those first 20 minutes, and there was no real let up after, just pauses. Then the ending....”I’m not crying, you’re crying”. Actually, just about everyone was.
See you tomorrow.
Lest we forget... the World War II museum has had all day tributes which have been wonderful. I even have a tee shirt with the map of Operation Overlord on the back.
ReplyDeleteAnd did you see that several ex- paratroopers from 75 years ago once again jumped from a C-47 into Normandy. They are all well into their 90s. PK, you are so right. The greatest generation was very young when they went to war.
Loved this puzzle. It went fast once I caught the gimmick. Thanks, Stu. Great tour, Steve.
TTP, HBD yesterday. Spitz, congratulations on 60 years and thanks for your service.
Yellowrocks, I believe the response is schlepp, not schlept. That makes the across word pay, not tay.
ReplyDeleteOops, kempt, not kemtt.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, everyone! What an unusual theme – thanks for the mental workout, Stu. Great write-up, Steve.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun trying to come up with the rarely used antonyms, although I took a serious wrong turn with NOxiOUS (as in fumes) instead of NOCUOUS. Had to resort to red letters to straighten out the ensuing mess. COOLTH was unknown but perps prevailed. Hand up for HELenic and UNDERpin before HELLENE and UNDERLIE. No matter how you spell it, SCHLEPP is such a great expression.
Lovely pictures of your family, Melissa. Thanks for sharing. Belated birthday greetings to TTP.
Have a splendid day, all!
This is the closest PIC to the way our Ham & Pineapple is served. Ours has a whole slice with a cherry in the center. It's Gooood!
ReplyDeleteÐave
I'm going to re-read Killing Hitler by Bill O'Reilly as soon as I finish the novel I'm working on. Maybe Killing Patton as well. I found out in college that I didn't hate history, I hated history as it was taught in high school.
ReplyDeleteI got COOLTH, but it was the one I couldn't figure out until seeing Steve's blog. I was going to object to it on the principle that the other antonyms did not require additional letters (the "TH"). But then I see it's actually in the dictionary.
ReplyDeleteWill wonders never ... ?
Misty ~
Also glad to see Mr. ELIOT in today's pzl. His name or monogram are quite popular in Xwds. I became a fan as an undergrad. I chose Prufrock for a city-wide oral interp contest & won with it. I think I wowed the judges by learning by rote the canto from Dante that precedes the main text. I'm sure it was a relief to their ears when I slid from the Italian into the smooth cadences of "Let us go then, you and I...."
~ OMK
_____________
DR: Four diags, one on the near end, three on the flip.
Close to home we have an anagram that describes the poor soldiers (and one pet dog), the survivors of a sunken vessel in the movie I am now watching on TV--Dunkirk. I refer to ...
"COLD MAMMALS."
Brr.
And on the opposite side, we have another watery reference, but this one seems more appropriate to a coxswain trying to get the attention of a slackening crew member whilst propelling a punt along the Cam or Thames: ...
"HEY! OARSMAN!"
Dear Jinx:
ReplyDeleteFor me, the same feelings, but about 'literature'. To ask 16-year olds to fish out the "deep meanings" in someone's poem or novel ... when we had had NO experience of life besides Pasadena High School, was agony for said teens.
"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain." Well, okay, but there's no winter to speak of in Southern California, so none of imagery worked. (August is the cruelest month, in the L.A. basin, IMHO.)
Sandyanon, thanks. Although I thought I wrote kempt, I wrote kemtt. So one easy bad cell. Using a pen, I had a messy grid.
ReplyDeleteMichael, my work pals from the inland empire were fond of saying "I don't trust air I can't see". My right hand man was a proud grad of James Monroe High in the Valley, and he said the student body tried to get the school's name changed to Marilyn Monroe High. Nobody in the school gave a rats patooey about James Monroe.
ReplyDeleteWest coasters should make sure not to miss the interview portion of tonight's Jeopardy! episode. The current champ, Emma, has an interesting personal tidbit regarding crossword puzzle solving.
ReplyDeleteI liked it so much that I may switch-up my next at bat.
C. Eh! Apropos of nothing, I am reading a novel by Louise Penny in which the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec figures. I am thinking of you and remembering my only visit to the Chateau with my grandmother. We stayed there one night, just so I could say I had.
ReplyDeleteTo a grandma from French south Louisiana it somehow mattered! I only remember that it was magnificent!
What a great Prufrock performance you must have staged, Ol'Man Keith. And thank you for the text, Michael--and you're right, June is turning out to be a bit cruel too.
ReplyDeleteSwampCat- I have some of those Louise Penny books on my reading list after your previous recommendation.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful memory with your grandmother. Yes I have visited the Chateau Frontenac and it is beautifully historic. I have not stayed overnight though.
The Chateua Laurier in Ottawa is impressive too.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Stu for a very fun puzzle. While it's hard t repeat a theme like this, it was wonderful. #MoreLikeThese
Enjoyable expo Steve. I listened to a bit of Filth (that's a song title) by Nocuous. I'll pass.
Cute kids & Grands mb.
WOs: I started filling Gandhi b/f I counted letters. AREA for ROOM in ARIA's squares (only cost me one WO), LOL b/f HEE.
ESPs: MANO & MYRA needed a leap of faith. ASSAI
Fav: There's US OC, US NA, and US ONE. C, Eh!, your CA is @50a :-)
{A, B, C+, B}
OMK - Or maybe what the COLD MAMMALS yell up at the boat? :-)
Nice to see you Dudley!
JavaMama - I almost went with the X too to give me FAUX O-... Fortunately, I couldn't think of a fake anything dealing w/ Tap.
YR - That's exactly like MIL's BAKED HAM (except more cherries for her Grands). PK, MIL uses cloves too. Oh, so good.
Speaking of yummy - Tonight, we had BLTs with the garden's tomatoes. Hang in there, Abejo, you'll get yours.
Never Forget.
Cheers, -T
Misty ~
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the technical dynamics of his poetry, I believe it is ELIOT's rhythms that win the day.
I can't put my finger on it precisely. He uses pentameter--roughly-- but doesn't confine himself.
His ear for the modern word just commands attention.
~ OMK
Sadness... I just heard Dr. John passed away this morning. -T
ReplyDelete-T, now there’s a blast from the past. I remember that song from my earlier days but never had the faintest idea who recorded it.
ReplyDeleteAnon-T --
ReplyDeleteYes, that brings back memories: night trippin' on whatever grade of wine was below Gallo, listening to Dr. John sing about "gris-gris" ... ya know, we had it made, and then time marched on ... right over us.
"whatever grade of wine was below Gallo, " That would be Boone's Farm
ReplyDeleteI do recall reading LotR in one long sitting with a gallon of Pastene Chablis.
At that point my friend suggested I meet his friend Bill W
"But it's Tolkien! You don't understand..."
That was May of '73, I finally became permanent friend of said Mr W in May of '78
WC