Theme: COLD FRONT (56A. Harbinger of lower temperatures, and a hint to the answers to starred clues)
16A. *Metaphorical tablet for the overly nervous: CHILL PILL.
37A. *Flattering deception: SNOW JOB.
10D. *2005 Disney figure-skating film: ICE PRINCESS.
24D. *Stop-action effect: FREEZE FRAME.
Boomer here.
Yes
indeed a chilly theme. Reminds me of about 4 months of Minnesota
weather. We have two seasons in Minnesota - bowling season and golf
season. Sometimes they overlap. However I want to send sympathy and good
wishes to those in the gulf coast states who once again are ravaged by
hurricanes and tropical storms. We may freeze here in the north, and
have occasional tornadoes, but we are never ravaged by hurricanes or
earthquakes. Wishing the best to those down south.
Across:
1. Chums: PALS. We have a baseball card shop in Andover MN named Pals.
5. Lacks the ability to: CAN'T. No spot for apostrophe in a crossword grid.
9. Not spicy, as wings: MILD. The weather we are having up north right now.
13. On the Pacific: ASEA.
14. China's continent: ASIA.
15. Potato-prep kitchen tool: RICER.
18. Ancient Greek theater: ODEON.
19. Sailors' yeses: AYES. I think you need two of these for one yes.
20. Trinidadian music genre: CALYPSO.
22. Batman's butler: ALFRED. Played by Michael Gough. His surname in the Batman shows was Pennyworth.
25. Buyer's opposite: SELLER.
We hear these two terms about now in the Major League baseball season
as the trade deadline approaches. Teams at the top become "Buyers" from
lower teams with star players who want to "Sell".
26. Fishing boat: DORY.
27. Actress Pinkett Smith: JADA. I have enjoyed Will Smith movies. I hope they are doing well.
28. Troubles: AILS. Buy a boat and SAIL away what AILS you.
31. Trouble: WOE.
32. Sacred: HOLY.
"And the three Men I admire the most, the Father, Son, and HOLY Ghost, -
They caught the last train for the coast, the day - the music … died.
(Don McClean, Miss American Pie.)
34. C.S. Lewis' fantasy world: NARNIA. - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Oh my!
36. Mimic: APE.
39. Disney collectible: CEL. Okay but if it is a phone, don't use it while driving.
40. Do a city planner's job: RE-ZONE.
42. Farm cluckers: HENS.
Reminds me of my great uncle Bill's farm in Siren, Wisconsin. He had
crops but also had a building of hens. Each one would lay about 20 eggs
per month.
43. "Bambi" doe: ENA. Doe, a deer, a female deer. (Sound of Music)
44. Biblical garden site: EDEN.
The bible says it was a great place to live, except for that darn apple
tree. Many cities have adopted the name. We have an Eden Prairie in
Minnesota. A nice place to visit, but we can't afford to live there.
45. Riyadh resident: ARAB.
47. Played for a sap: USED. Interesting lot at most car dealers.
48. Influential moneybags: FAT CAT. Most of these rich "Cats" are not really fat.
50. Tousles, as hair: MUSSES.
52. Old-fashioned, close-fitting undergarments: CORSETS. When my back was under repair, I had to wear a hard plastic one. Very uncomfortable.
54. Diamond Head's island: OAHU. Gesundheit! Hawaiian God bless you.
55. Let up: ABATE.
61. Nero or Claudius: ROMAN. First date rebuke. No ROMAN hands or Russian fingers.
62. Running shoe brand: AVIA.
63. __ Lackawanna Railway: ERIE. Silly me. I thought it was a Great Lake.
64. Look intently (at): PEER. I always thought Peer Gynt was a third base coach for the Boston Red Sox. Turns out it was a play.
65. Come dramatically into view: LOOM. Summer activities. We would string loops onto a LOOM and make a potholder for Mom.
66. __ between the lines: READ.
Down:
1. Lobbying gp.: PAC.
2. Tapped-off cigarette part: ASH.
Believe it or not, there was a tobacco store in a mall called "Ashes".
The fellow who owned it was George Ash who also happened to be a little
league umpire.
3. Luau garland: LEI.
4. Weekly pay, say: SALARY. Of course if you're hungry, you may use your SALARY to buy CELERY.
5. Dressed like many a superhero: CAPED. We heard about the butler, now we see the CAPED Crusader. Keep your eye open for the Bat phone or that fancy car.
6. Without warranty: AS IS. See the USED car lot mentioned above.
7. No goals, in soccer: NIL.
8. Sprinkled with baby powder: TALCED.
9. Halfway-through-the-term exam: MIDYEAR. Maybe in high school. In college we had mid terms about every 4-5 weeks. Maybe that's why I only lasted a year.
11. Some July babies: LEOS.
Interesting sign of the Zodiac, but also the name of a Lion - (Not Burt
Lahr). Could be a man's name. In fact I bowled with a great bowler
named Leo Mann. So that would make it a Mann's name also.
12. Bond villain who attended med school: DR NO. It sounds like you show up for a scheduled surgery and the doctor talks you out of it.
15. Sushi __: ROLL.
17. Corrosive chemical: LYE.
21. Support group for families of drinkers: AL-ANON.
I used to enjoy a cocktail now and then but it never hooked me. I feel
sorry for those fighting this disease. I was told "NO BOOZE" because
it does not agree with the cancer meds. I donated the full bottles as
door prizes to my bowling league and gave the open bottles to friends.
22. Pop-up-producing program: ADWARE. This pops up everywhere all the time. Welcome to the 21st century.
23. Like a lasso's business end: LOOPED.
25. "Come again?": SAY WHAT. I don't know who started this response but I wanted to tar and feather him.
27. Former "Idol" judge, familiarly: J-LO. The big stars all have abbreviated handles. If you don't believe me, you can ask Tony O about Puck, and Killer.
29. One with a collateral loan: LIENEE.
30. Caesar and Cobb: SALADS. Julius and Ty.
32. TV shopper's channel: HSN. Why watch this if you have Amazon.com??
33. Type of short play: ONE-ACT.
35. Tummy muscles: ABS. We all have them. Short for abdominal.
38. Ex-Florida governor Bush: JEB. I heard his Dad and brother did pretty well
41. Astronomical way to wish: ON A STAR. When you wish on one, it makes no difference who you are. - Jiminy Cricket.
46. Imp: RASCAL. Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, etc. Also known as Our Gang.
47. Loan shark: USURER. I have lost count of the number of emails I get with an offer to lend money.
49. High-schooler, typically: TEEN. She was just seventeen, You know what I mean - (I saw her standing there.)
50. Palindromic title: MADAM. "She took me in a washed away my childhood" - Statler Brothers.
51. Old TV dial letters: UHF.
52. Kvetch like a fish?: CARP.
I guess it means complaining, But we have many Carp in our 10,000
lakes, and if you catch one you are not allowed to throw it back.
53. Bassoon kin: OBOE.
54. Varied mixture: OLIO. Food sharing, however people in Wisconsin's dairyland will not share their OLEO
57. Ab __: from the beginning: OVO.
58. Salem is its cap.: ORE.
I have never been to Oregon. Seems like a nice place to visit. I am
sure they have bowling centers and golf courses. Rumor has it that it
may have D.B. Cooper's body also.
59. Actress Long: NIA.
60. Texas senator Cruz: TED. A narrow victory over Beto in 2018.
Boomer
A theme to fight the heat that is present in many parts of the US.
ReplyDeleteMr. GOUGH was very convincing as ALFRED but he was not alone in the ROLE. I still picture ALAN NAPIER.
LIENEE is a word I never see used, though LIENOR is not uncommon.
Thank you, Gary and Boomer
FIR in 20:08 min.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Cornies.
Thank you Gary Larson for this enjoyable Monday CW.
Thank you Boomer for your excellent review.
Ðave
A fun Monday puzzle, with some interesting answers. Good start to the week. I am up early this on this beautiful morning.
ReplyDeleteYou may find an ICE PRINCESS in NARNIA,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I feel I must warni ya,
The land was kept COLD
By the shoulders of those
Who thought her jokes couldn't be corny-a.
God had a hissy-fit in EDEN
Over what Adam had eaten.
He should have kept still
And had a CHILL PILL,
And shipped Adam off to Eton!
{B, B-.}
Rose Red used a RICER on a gob
ReplyDeleteOf potatoes, and peeled corn from the cob.
With her sister, Ms. White,
The chores they split tight.
To shovel the walk was a SNOW JOB!
The Flash, of comic book fame,
Had a villain named Freeze to tame.
But the COLD-shooting foe
Was a FRONT, don't you know.
He was duped. The caper was a FREEZE FRAME!
{B+, B.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteNo COLD FRONT around here. It was 81° and muggy at 6AM. Ugh. But I noticed all the COLD FRONTs in this one. Ergo, it must be Monday since d-o got the theme. No dreck in this one (well, there was TALCED), but still a nice start to the week. Thanx, Gary and Boomer.
FIR, but erased lEERED for PEERED.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all TV stations are UHF. Here our Channel 3 (CBS) actually broadcasts on Channel 40, Channel 10 (NBC) is on 31, Channel 13 (ABC) is old school on VHF Channel 13, and Channel 43 (Fox) is on Channel 29. Transparent to most watchers, but in my motor home I have to let the TVs autoprogram themselves whenever I stop somewhere that is outside of my previous TV area.
"Influential moneybags" and "tossels, as hair" made me think of our orange leader on Jimmy Kimmel's show.
I wanted NAP for "do a city planner's job". Here the city council does all the rezoning.
READ between the lines" is so old school. Now the pundits say "that's a dog whistle for...". Meaning that you should not trust your eyes, let ME tell you what the author meant by that.
We could use a COLD FRONT. The weather guy said that last week and this are the statistically the hottest of the year in this area. Two heat events are seared (sorry) in my memory: 1) my first trip to Las Vegas. Drove all night and arrived at dawn. Temperature was 102. 2) May 22, 1990 (or 1991) in Phoenix. 122 degrees. So hot that 737s were grounded because the flap settings and rotation speed tables only go up to 120 degrees.
Thanks to Gary for another fun, easy puzzle. And thanks to Boomer for another fun review.
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gary Larson, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteCruciverb worked today so I jumped right in this morning. Got through it easily for the most part. Theme made sense. We could sure use some of that COLD FRONT here. Bumping 90's.
Tried DICER before RICER worked much better.
No idea who JADA is. Perps.
Tried MID TERM before MID YEAR became the answer. Either way.
Aha! ERIE for 63A. That always makes my day. I have been up there to Buffalo many times. The Lackawanna Steels mills are all gone as far as I can tell. Not sure how often that RR is used.
I have to run. Counting at church this morning. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Boomer, thanks for the sympathy card but any bad luck happened west of the New Orleans area. Just a little rain. ICE, CHILL, FREEZE FRAME (J. Geils Band's follow up hit to "My Angel Was A Centerfold"), SNOW- the COLD FRONT was obvious.
ReplyDeleteTED & JEB- roadkill in the GOP debates in 2016. The country didn't want another Bush (or Clinton).
I had no idea what "Kvetch like a fish was". As I had already filled LEER I didn't bother to change CARL to CARP and didn't think about PEER. Ad OVO was an unknown filled by perps.
ROMAN hands and Russian fingers answered by sharp elbows. Ow! If it happens today, some bimbo will accuse you of sexual harassment 30-30 years down the road.
Fallon's show, not Kimmel's.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSolved it without mishap. Saw the theme at the end. JLO helped get JADA. Not much to add today.
ERIE-Lackawanna Railway. Believe its unabandoned assets are mostly rolled in to the Norfolk-Southern System.
Have a great day.
An apple was never defined as the forbidden fruit in any version of the bible. The fruit is not named. Many believe it is a metaphor for sex. To me, that's ridiculous. If a god created life on earth Wouldn't she or he want life to flourish.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, there was never a gunfight at the OK corral.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gary Larson and Boomer!
The only COLD FRONT I'll see until October is in his grid. But it's nice thinking about it.
I enjoyed the fill except for the seemingly forced TALCED and LIENEE and only had to change PARER/RICER.
ALFRED is unfamiliar but it perped.
My first and only encounter with DORY was in New Foundland where they are found in abundance along the coast.
I have to get an early start to go to a birthday lunch.
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Jinx:
ReplyDeleteIt was 1990, an unforgettable year for those high temperatures.
Musings¬
ReplyDelete-Played 18 and back home (25 miles) by 9:30
-With multiple 100+˚F days coming up, this felt good
-Back-to-school sales signal that a new school year is LOOMING
-If an American sportscaster says, “The score was 2- NIL” instead of “two to nothing”, does that sound pretentious?
-Cliff Edwards’ (aka Ukelele Ike) fabulous version of When You Wish Upon A Star for Disney’s 1940 Pinnochio
Boomer said:
ReplyDelete28. Troubles: AILS. Buy a boat and SAIL away what AILS you.
For two days only...
Meanwhile...
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was an easy, breezy Monday. I filled in Cold Spell right off the bat but perps corrected it to Cold Front rather quickly. Only nose wrinkler was Talced. New clue for Abejo's ubiquitous Erie. Fat Cat brought a chuckle as did Rascal (Imp) (CED and Jinx).
Thanks, Gary, for a "cool" challenge and thanks, Boomer, for a humorous and cheerful commentary.
Have a great day.
Fun Monday puzzle--many thanks, Gary. No, no cold weather here in Southern California, thank goodness, but I still got the COLD FRONT theme. Don't know how I knew ALFRED, but I did, and got NARNIA even though I don't remember ever reading the Lewis work (crossword puzzles, probably). JADA appears often in 'People' magazine these days, so got her name quickly. CORSETS show up only in puzzles, it suspect (thank goodness). Anyway, a nice way to start the week, with your always fun and delightful comments, Boomer--thanks for those too.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week, everybody.
I was visiting a friend in Tucson the day it hit 122 in Phoenix. It was balmy 117. I went to the pool to cool off but that did not work either, but the a/c in my hotel room did. I did not do much walking around.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNot much to carp about in this Monday puzzle.
No markovers today.
It’s hot here as well, these are the 12 weeks of the year here that are brutal....every area of the country except San Diego and Hawaii has 12 weeks of nasty weather...either cold or heat, pick your poison. I picked heat, you cannot slip on heat and you don’t have to shovel humidity.
See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThe MENSA and Merriam-Webster sites still had Sunday's puzzle, so I had to go to the LA Times site which is not as user friendly. But I got it done.
Good puzzle Gary. I didn't get the theme while doing the puzzle, but had the V-8 can moment when I read Boomer's write-up that was spot on.
A few hitches along the way:
DICER before RICER
OLEO before OLIO
DEBTOR before LIENEE
And I mistakenly entered HGN vs HSN at first. It took me a minute to realize my mistake.
Perps helped a lot today.
Have a great day, everyone
This is the first time in a long while that I believe the theme helped me finish.
ReplyDeleteI was staring at 37A for the longest time. I had _N_WJOB and was on the verge of filling it as A NEW JOB, but the theme COLD FRONT stayed my hand!
I know, I know; I'm sure it was easy for others, but this was one of those things where my mind was just fixed on A NEW JOB.
Happily, Mr. Larson's theme worked his magic and I refused to proceed until--Bang!--the nickel dropped, and SNOW JOB took its proper place.
Yay me.
Misty ~
So sorry you're experiencing shoulder pains! I know how debilitating that can be. It can be hard to focus on anything else. I hope you find some relief--and soon.
~ OMK
Thank you, Ol'Man Keith. I have an appointment with a Nurse Practitioner this afternoon and hope she refers me to a specialist, or at least to therapy. It's my right arm, and since I'm right-handed, the pain interferes with most of my activities.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I've been TALCED, LOOPED. CAPED, USED, and slimed!
ReplyDeleteMarvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Gary and Boomer.
ReplyDeleteJust a little crunch for a Monday resulting in a couple of inkblots.
But I got the theme and saw all those COLD FRONTs. Refreshing for this hot day.
I initially had Used for 6D "without warranty=AS IS" but it was needed for 47A "played for a sap"!
Ova changed to OVO.
We had a new clue today for CW favourite ERIE. (Hi IM)
That LOOPED lasso reminded me of the closing night of the Calgary Stampede that we watched yesterday.
If you are the 29D LIENEE, let's hope that you loan was not issued by a USERER.
Does anyone say I TALCED the baby's bottom? (And not just because you are not supposed to do that any more, due to respiratory and cancer concerns.) (I see d'o, IM and Lucina wrinkled their noses too, even though the phrase evokes a lovely fresh smell.) LOL, Jayce!
This July baby is a Cancer not a LEO.
Latest news today about Bond. "25th film opens with Bond (Craig), retired in Jamaica, being called back to action to fight a new villain. “There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M says, “Come in 007”, and in walks Lashana Lynch who is black, beautiful and a woman,” the source said. “It’s a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he’s been replaced as 007.”
NotABondGirl
Misty, hope you can get some relief for your shoulder pain.
Wishing you all a great day.
Advice to Boeing: Stop spending millions of dollars trying to "fix" that MCAS software. Just get rid of it entirely. Its sole purpose was to try to make the 737MAX "emulate" the old standard 737NG and to con the airlines and the pilots into believing the behavior and flight characteristics of the MAX are the same as the 737 and that therefore no pilot training is needed. So stop trying to foist that junk software. Dump it. Train the pilots and let them fly the damn aircraft, with knowledge of its flight characteristics. Heck, pilots have been flying aircraft that are prone to severe pitch-up and stalling for many years. They know how to do it. Stop trying to con the world into treating the MAX the same way you treat an original 737; they are not the same. The whole raison d'etre of that MCAS software is gone; it no longer exists. There is no longer a reason for that software to exist at all.
ReplyDelete15 A -- Potato-prep kitchen tool: RICER. We see this often, and I had no idea why one would like to "Rice" potatoes so I LIU. It mashes said tuber for perfect mashed spuds.
ReplyDeleteÐave
Thank you for the kind words, CanadianEh--I very much appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteI see I fell asleep before my last Sunday post. Besides mashed potatoes needing gravy I was going to mention that my brother, a Kenya missionary would opine first hand on JOMO Kenyatta.
ReplyDeleteI had _LO. And miraculously WAGed JLO. The clue is Monday easy for the TV Guide xword audience.
EFT, ESAI,ERIE and ENA. YR, are these all in your Xword notebook? (Along with ASAO(AOKI),OREO, URN and ULM(and YSER). The list is long.
Del Baker was the third base coach of the Redsox throughout my boyhood ('45-60)*. Noted for sign stealing ability (would that be "cheating" in this PC crazed world?)
WC
*Except '48-50
Nothing wrong with a little sign stealing.
ReplyDeleteOh crap! It was supposed to say "Bill Belichick said...", not "Anonymous said...". Not funny if you have to explain it.
ReplyDeleteNeed a cold front, ice, snow, etc was 115 today. Aqua Zumba was more like Aqua Soup
ReplyDeleteWC, your memory of DEL BAKER forced me to check my memory. We both had it mostly correct, and I love the DON LARSEN comment.
ReplyDeleteTidy little Monday puzzle with the exception of "lienee" Even spell check hates it.⭐️⭐️
ReplyDeleteJeopardy tonight had LEMONADE as a question as well as a reference to MEL BROOKS who was the topic of the tribute puzzle I created with JW published on June 28, 2016, .
ReplyDeleteOur birthday lunch today was a smashing success! All those ladies and one with her husband are so much fun. We laughed until our sides ached.
ReplyDeleteNo word yet on the new baby. It could be hours until he arrives.
Misty:
Did you try a hot/cold treatment? It works wonders. Wet a hand towel, wring it, nuke it for 30 seconds then apply it to your sore arm. You can do just that a number of times, or dip the towel in ice cold water and apply. Repeat alternating hot/cold.
Very late but I had to say how much I loved this mostly easy Monday puzzle. Thanks Gary. I thought of myself I didn’t like LEINEE but I filled it in with no trouble so I guess I can’t complain!
ReplyDeleteBoomer, always fun!
Owen, the last few days have given me chuckles. Thanks.
Barry never was really a hurricane but our weather is still unsettled. Go away!!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gary for a little Summer cooling-off theme. Thanks Boomer for kicking-off the Monday after-party.
WOs: CALiPSO, Parer b/f RICER (Hi Lucina!)
ESPs: ENA, OVO, NIA
Fav: @52d CARP - y'll remember WKRP's Carp mascot? I know Bill G does :-)
{B, B+, B, A-}
Sorry to read about your arm Misty.
Glad to hear everyone made it (mostly) unscathed in Barry (BooL - how about you? You're West of NOLA, right?)
Jerome - your comment made me think of Good Omen's (on Prime) anyone see it yet? I loved it.
Cheers, -T
Anonymous T from 7-13 at 7:30 PM wrote "D4 - tell us how your visit went. More importantly, what'd he smuggle in for ya?"
ReplyDeleteDaniel and his student landed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on 7-12 evening. Student went to Nashville, and Daniel went to the Kentucky Motor Speedway, which is an hour from Louisville, to be with his brother John who is the gas man in a pit crew for NASCAR.
I saw Daniel at lunch 7-13. He was late arriving so one of my three female table mates had already left the dinning room. We talked with #2, then he pushed my wheelchair up a covered walkway so I could visit #3 who is in Rehab after a hospital stay.
We spoke with my sister Diane by Facetime, and then he had to leave to get his sleep before an early departure on 7-14. He was with me for 3 hours.
No contraband.
Ðave
Thank you, Lucina and AnonT. I have been applying a heating pad to the arm, but may try a hot/cold technique if things don't get better.
ReplyDeleteAnonT, yep, I remember the carp mascot. Very ugly and unnerving. As I remember, the carp mascot got in a hassle with WPIG's pig mascot when Herb, out of cash, tried to get into a pay toilet. Ah, the good old days when TV had some elegance and class...
ReplyDeleteBill G - did you watch my link? It explained the origin of Fish Story [and they got the bit about Herb getting into the toilet wrong - you got it right! No Dime]. The network wanted more bang-bang joke-joke comedy and the writers didn't. So, they (the writers) wrote the dumbest thing they could think of. With that cast, you can't go wrong... Biggest ratings they ever got.
ReplyDeleteLove me some WKRP.
Cheers, -T
D4 - I almost forgot... Even for lack of contraband, sounds like a wonderful visit. Good to hear, er, read.
ReplyDeleteCheers, -T