Theme Clean Sweep - all the theme entries are phrases containing the name of a detergent, to wit:
17A. Detergent sold around Yankee Stadium?: BRONX CHEER. Hopefully none aimed at this puzzle.
27A. Jingle for a detergent ad?: SURF MUSIC. What better excuse for a summer blast with the Beach Boys from 1963?
38a. Detergent for fishing equipment?: NET GAIN
47A. Directors in charge of a detergent?: DASHBOARD. The outlier regarding the theme. One word, not two.
63A. Detergent for seasonal cleaning?: SPRING TIDE. Quickly - which tide is higher, the spring or the neap?
So, I have to say I found this a struggle, the center section especially. I stared it down eventually, but it really was a challenge, so kudos to Paul for the assignment. The cluing was tough, but there were a couple of entries which were, to my mind, so obscure to be worthy of my new acronym SNOE (Said No-One, Ever). We'll come to those in due course.
That being said, the theme was fun, and some nice long downs to tie things together. Let's go and explore:
Across:
1. Diet food phrase: NO-FAT. Heavens. What a horrible idea! I look at the fat content of everything I eat, but no fat? No flavor.
6. Puny pencil: STUB
10. __ gin fizz: SLOE. I used to make sloe gin back in the UK. You pick a basket of sloe berries in the winter, prick them all over with a needle (takes a while!) and infuse them with a couple of pints of gin or more. A few weeks later you uncork the bottles and yay! Sloe Gin!
14. Ancient market: AGORA
15. Long Island Iced Tea coloring provider: COLA. I tried COKE first against my better instincts.
16. Double-decker checker: KING. Checkers. Two makes a king. Is it three that makes a queen?
19. Village People megahit: YMCA. I saw them perform at Dodger Stadium on a July 4th after the game. They still had it!
20. Good to go: SET
21. Put up: HOUSE. Soft "S" if you're wondering.
22. Fell off: EBBED
23. Title characters, typically: LEADS. As in actors.
25. Tetris shape: ELL. I've seen Tetris, never played it. I can see how it could get addictive.
26. Chicken __: KIEV. Food! A classic recipe - chicken breast stuffed with parsley, garlic and butter and fried in breadcrumbs. Certainly not NO-FAT. We should be less sniffy about the "old school" food, this one is delicious. Just don't eat it every day.
33. Stuck, with "down": BOGGED
35. Game official: REF
36. Mediterranean tourist site: ETNA. Yay! A clue that doesn't talk about Sicily or "spewer".
37. "Go team!": RAH!
41. Same old routine: RUT
42. __ sax: ALTO
44. Charge: FEE
45. Large sea ducks: EIDERS. Those of the popular "down". I hope we leave them alone now and use synthetic breast feathers. I don't need to be kept warm that badly.
50. Junior prom attendee: TEEN. Isn't a senior prom attendee a teen too? I've never been to a prom, but aren't seniors teens too?
51. G.I. chow: M.R.E. Meals, Ready to Eat. Also "Meals Rarely Enjoyed" or "Meals Rejected by the Enemy".
52. "Snowy" bird: EGRET
54. No-sweat class: EASY "A"
57. Copier of old: MIMEO. I tried XEROX first against all common sense. I circled around this puzzle for quite a while filling in odds and ends here and there. This mis-step didn't help.
59. Member of the fam: SIB. Ling.
62. Quickly down: CHUG
65. Kon-Tiki Museum city: OSLO. I do want to go to Oslo, just so I can visit the crossword museums - the Nobel library, the Kon-Tiki museum, I think there are a couple of other destinations too.
66. Acorn droppers: OAKS
67. Three on a par-five, say: EAGLE. Golf, two under par. Or "Turkey Eagle" if you watch the ads for State Farm Insurance with Ricky Fowler. He's a funny chap, on a par with Peyton Manning in the celebrity commercial actor stakes.
68. Hard on the ears: LOUD
69. Military outpost: BASE
70. Composition for nine: NONET. Playing a nice-piece on a tightrope? No Net.
Down:
1. Bags: NABS
2. Fantasy brute: OGRE
3. Stage illumination: FOOTLIGHTS. This was fun, I noodled around with FLOODLIGHT, SPOTLIGHTS and others before the crosses started to help me out. I was an electrician with an amateur theatre company in London and lit a lot of productions. I blew myself off my stool in the lighting booth once when my cunningly-rigged stage telephone shorted out the lighting board mid-performance (it was a dress rehearsal, so no harm done). My hair was only slightly singed. Don't mess around with 220 volts and 30 amps. I picked myself up off the floor. I only missed one lighting cue as I patted myself on the back. There was a funny smell in the lighting booth for a few days, I think it was my charred hair.
4. Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Why did I think this was HAL?
5. Many an offshore bank account: TAX HAVEN
6. Go downhill fast: SCHUSS. The tuck position. If you're watching the Tour de France, watch tomorrow's stage 19 in the Alps, and watch the riders schuss on the downhills. They are crazy, I've come off a bike at around 25 MPH and it hurts. These guys are doing around 50.
7. __ the line: TOES
8. Film beekeeper: ULEE
9. Keep out: BAR
10. Color named for a natural phenomenon: SKY BLUE
11. Spot for a nest: LIMB. There are sparrows nesting in a street sign outside my door right now. Two chicks have been born. A lot safer inside a steel street sign than perched on a tree branch.
12. A while back: ONCE
13. "Good grief!": EGAD!
18. Atlantic catch: COD. A great fish, now slowly recovering from the over-fishing of the 70's and 80's. The UK and Iceland went to a "soft" war over the fishing grounds in the North Atlantic. A couple of warning shots were fired by British frigates in the so-called "Cod Wars".
22. Stately tree: ELM I had OAK first until 66A put paid to that idea.
24. Brain scan, for short: EEG. I need to consign the difference between EKG, ECG and EEG to memory. That one letter in the middle held me up for a long time
25. __ White, Jennifer Hudson's role in the film "Dreamgirls": EFFIE. Thank you crosses, I saw and enjoyed the movie, but the name escaped me.
26. Fluffy-eared critter: KOALA. I was trying to think of the fluffy guys in the movie who turn nasty (when they get wet?). Then I saw the light. I still can't remember what they were called, and a Google search "movie critters who get wet" doesn't help.
28. Pushy type: URGER. SNOE. First one.
29. "V for Vendetta" actor Stephen: REA
30. It may have an arrow: STREET SIGN
31. Store, as ashes: INURN. Quicky following on from 28D. My second SNOE of the day.
32. Title pets in a Lilian Jackson Braun mystery series: CATS. Have you seen the trailer for the new CATS movie? It's so creepy I had nightmares. Two questions - why does Helen Mirren's character wear a fur coat, when she's got fur underneath? And - why do the female cats have boobs? We should be told.
33. Thin nail: BRAD
34. "Moll Flanders" novelist: DEFOE. A lot of deep digging in the memory banks for this one.
39. Cause of a brewed awakening?: TEA. I get the wordplay here, but I think this is a stretch, even for a tea-drinker like me.
40. Ammonia component: NITROGEN
43. "Heavens!": OH MY GOD!
46. Snider of Twisted Sister: DEE. A great band who became popular in the 1980's. Go search for them on YouTube, you'll find some entertaining videos on there.
48. Sports __: BRA. In my youth I sang a version of "Rawhide" that was amusing to my ears: "Round 'em up, move 'em in, head 'em up, squash 'em down ... Sports Bra!". You have to understand I was young and foolish :)
49. End: DEMISE
53. High-ranking off.: GEN. General. Don't watch the commercials, they are all terrible.
54. Earth Day subj.: ECOL. ogy.
55. "Understood": AH, SO! SNOE, unless they are playing a cod Chinese character in a terrible movie.
56. "Mr." on a sci-fi bridge: SULU. Star Trek chap. I'm pretty sure he never said "Ah, So, Captain". I might be wrong, but somehow I doubt it.
57. Film-rating org.: M.P.A.A. The Motion Picture Association of America. I read an article recently about the British equivalent, and what now informs their ratings. I'd risk upsetting the mild-mannered amongst our Cornerites if I was too detailed, but apparently some "things" no longer consign your movie to the 18+ category as long as they inform the story.
58. Bothers: IRKS
60. Like much chitchat: IDLE. Isn't all chitchat idle? I thought that was the definition.
61. Borscht vegetable: BEET
63. Blubber: SOB
64. Confucian path: TAO
And ... we get to the grid after a long and winding road. Hope you had fun with Paul's puzzle.
Steve
17A. Detergent sold around Yankee Stadium?: BRONX CHEER. Hopefully none aimed at this puzzle.
27A. Jingle for a detergent ad?: SURF MUSIC. What better excuse for a summer blast with the Beach Boys from 1963?
38a. Detergent for fishing equipment?: NET GAIN
47A. Directors in charge of a detergent?: DASHBOARD. The outlier regarding the theme. One word, not two.
63A. Detergent for seasonal cleaning?: SPRING TIDE. Quickly - which tide is higher, the spring or the neap?
So, I have to say I found this a struggle, the center section especially. I stared it down eventually, but it really was a challenge, so kudos to Paul for the assignment. The cluing was tough, but there were a couple of entries which were, to my mind, so obscure to be worthy of my new acronym SNOE (Said No-One, Ever). We'll come to those in due course.
That being said, the theme was fun, and some nice long downs to tie things together. Let's go and explore:
Across:
1. Diet food phrase: NO-FAT. Heavens. What a horrible idea! I look at the fat content of everything I eat, but no fat? No flavor.
6. Puny pencil: STUB
10. __ gin fizz: SLOE. I used to make sloe gin back in the UK. You pick a basket of sloe berries in the winter, prick them all over with a needle (takes a while!) and infuse them with a couple of pints of gin or more. A few weeks later you uncork the bottles and yay! Sloe Gin!
14. Ancient market: AGORA
15. Long Island Iced Tea coloring provider: COLA. I tried COKE first against my better instincts.
16. Double-decker checker: KING. Checkers. Two makes a king. Is it three that makes a queen?
19. Village People megahit: YMCA. I saw them perform at Dodger Stadium on a July 4th after the game. They still had it!
20. Good to go: SET
21. Put up: HOUSE. Soft "S" if you're wondering.
22. Fell off: EBBED
23. Title characters, typically: LEADS. As in actors.
25. Tetris shape: ELL. I've seen Tetris, never played it. I can see how it could get addictive.
26. Chicken __: KIEV. Food! A classic recipe - chicken breast stuffed with parsley, garlic and butter and fried in breadcrumbs. Certainly not NO-FAT. We should be less sniffy about the "old school" food, this one is delicious. Just don't eat it every day.
33. Stuck, with "down": BOGGED
35. Game official: REF
36. Mediterranean tourist site: ETNA. Yay! A clue that doesn't talk about Sicily or "spewer".
37. "Go team!": RAH!
41. Same old routine: RUT
42. __ sax: ALTO
44. Charge: FEE
45. Large sea ducks: EIDERS. Those of the popular "down". I hope we leave them alone now and use synthetic breast feathers. I don't need to be kept warm that badly.
50. Junior prom attendee: TEEN. Isn't a senior prom attendee a teen too? I've never been to a prom, but aren't seniors teens too?
51. G.I. chow: M.R.E. Meals, Ready to Eat. Also "Meals Rarely Enjoyed" or "Meals Rejected by the Enemy".
52. "Snowy" bird: EGRET
54. No-sweat class: EASY "A"
57. Copier of old: MIMEO. I tried XEROX first against all common sense. I circled around this puzzle for quite a while filling in odds and ends here and there. This mis-step didn't help.
59. Member of the fam: SIB. Ling.
62. Quickly down: CHUG
65. Kon-Tiki Museum city: OSLO. I do want to go to Oslo, just so I can visit the crossword museums - the Nobel library, the Kon-Tiki museum, I think there are a couple of other destinations too.
66. Acorn droppers: OAKS
67. Three on a par-five, say: EAGLE. Golf, two under par. Or "Turkey Eagle" if you watch the ads for State Farm Insurance with Ricky Fowler. He's a funny chap, on a par with Peyton Manning in the celebrity commercial actor stakes.
68. Hard on the ears: LOUD
69. Military outpost: BASE
70. Composition for nine: NONET. Playing a nice-piece on a tightrope? No Net.
Down:
1. Bags: NABS
2. Fantasy brute: OGRE
3. Stage illumination: FOOTLIGHTS. This was fun, I noodled around with FLOODLIGHT, SPOTLIGHTS and others before the crosses started to help me out. I was an electrician with an amateur theatre company in London and lit a lot of productions. I blew myself off my stool in the lighting booth once when my cunningly-rigged stage telephone shorted out the lighting board mid-performance (it was a dress rehearsal, so no harm done). My hair was only slightly singed. Don't mess around with 220 volts and 30 amps. I picked myself up off the floor. I only missed one lighting cue as I patted myself on the back. There was a funny smell in the lighting booth for a few days, I think it was my charred hair.
4. Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Why did I think this was HAL?
5. Many an offshore bank account: TAX HAVEN
6. Go downhill fast: SCHUSS. The tuck position. If you're watching the Tour de France, watch tomorrow's stage 19 in the Alps, and watch the riders schuss on the downhills. They are crazy, I've come off a bike at around 25 MPH and it hurts. These guys are doing around 50.
7. __ the line: TOES
8. Film beekeeper: ULEE
9. Keep out: BAR
10. Color named for a natural phenomenon: SKY BLUE
11. Spot for a nest: LIMB. There are sparrows nesting in a street sign outside my door right now. Two chicks have been born. A lot safer inside a steel street sign than perched on a tree branch.
12. A while back: ONCE
13. "Good grief!": EGAD!
18. Atlantic catch: COD. A great fish, now slowly recovering from the over-fishing of the 70's and 80's. The UK and Iceland went to a "soft" war over the fishing grounds in the North Atlantic. A couple of warning shots were fired by British frigates in the so-called "Cod Wars".
22. Stately tree: ELM I had OAK first until 66A put paid to that idea.
24. Brain scan, for short: EEG. I need to consign the difference between EKG, ECG and EEG to memory. That one letter in the middle held me up for a long time
25. __ White, Jennifer Hudson's role in the film "Dreamgirls": EFFIE. Thank you crosses, I saw and enjoyed the movie, but the name escaped me.
26. Fluffy-eared critter: KOALA. I was trying to think of the fluffy guys in the movie who turn nasty (when they get wet?). Then I saw the light. I still can't remember what they were called, and a Google search "movie critters who get wet" doesn't help.
28. Pushy type: URGER. SNOE. First one.
29. "V for Vendetta" actor Stephen: REA
30. It may have an arrow: STREET SIGN
31. Store, as ashes: INURN. Quicky following on from 28D. My second SNOE of the day.
32. Title pets in a Lilian Jackson Braun mystery series: CATS. Have you seen the trailer for the new CATS movie? It's so creepy I had nightmares. Two questions - why does Helen Mirren's character wear a fur coat, when she's got fur underneath? And - why do the female cats have boobs? We should be told.
33. Thin nail: BRAD
34. "Moll Flanders" novelist: DEFOE. A lot of deep digging in the memory banks for this one.
39. Cause of a brewed awakening?: TEA. I get the wordplay here, but I think this is a stretch, even for a tea-drinker like me.
40. Ammonia component: NITROGEN
43. "Heavens!": OH MY GOD!
46. Snider of Twisted Sister: DEE. A great band who became popular in the 1980's. Go search for them on YouTube, you'll find some entertaining videos on there.
48. Sports __: BRA. In my youth I sang a version of "Rawhide" that was amusing to my ears: "Round 'em up, move 'em in, head 'em up, squash 'em down ... Sports Bra!". You have to understand I was young and foolish :)
49. End: DEMISE
53. High-ranking off.: GEN. General. Don't watch the commercials, they are all terrible.
54. Earth Day subj.: ECOL. ogy.
55. "Understood": AH, SO! SNOE, unless they are playing a cod Chinese character in a terrible movie.
56. "Mr." on a sci-fi bridge: SULU. Star Trek chap. I'm pretty sure he never said "Ah, So, Captain". I might be wrong, but somehow I doubt it.
57. Film-rating org.: M.P.A.A. The Motion Picture Association of America. I read an article recently about the British equivalent, and what now informs their ratings. I'd risk upsetting the mild-mannered amongst our Cornerites if I was too detailed, but apparently some "things" no longer consign your movie to the 18+ category as long as they inform the story.
58. Bothers: IRKS
60. Like much chitchat: IDLE. Isn't all chitchat idle? I thought that was the definition.
61. Borscht vegetable: BEET
63. Blubber: SOB
64. Confucian path: TAO
And ... we get to the grid after a long and winding road. Hope you had fun with Paul's puzzle.
Steve
Irtish Miss ~
ReplyDeleteAnd other fans of smaller dogs--
Here's a shot of Louie, our rescue Yorkie, steppin' high with his pal, Nacho, the Chihuahua mix we adopted from the Orange County pound.
As you can see, Our two guys are patrolling the ground about our house in lock step.
They take their watch-dogging seriously!
~ OMK
Nice doggie pic Keith.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I think the last detergent referenced is TIDE not SPRING. It is part of Paul's pattern - last, first, last first, last.
My father had us convinced that SKY BLUE PINK was areal color. I still believe it.
TWISTED SISTER and The Village People in the same puzzle. Cool.
Prince Valiant was created by HAL FOSTER so maybe that is why you thought of that name. Speaking of names, EFFIE was all perps for me also.
As always a delightful Thursday when Paul and Steve provide the entertainment.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. We use Persil Pods, but finding the well known detergents was fun. Thanks, Paul.
Steve, Gremlins. Gizmo.
That Chicken Kiev pic urges me to thaw a couple of chicken breasts. I haven't made Chicken Cordon Bleu in quite some time. Maybe I'll give Chicken Kiev a shoit while at it.
Never had MREs. They were introduced just after my service. Did have too many MCIs. Meals, Combat, Individual. Everyone mostly still called them C-Rats. Still have and use my P-38 can opener. Handy little tool.
Hand up for trying spOTLIGHT first.
Nice looking dogs, Ol' Man Keith. One looks like my brother's dog, Taco. A busy little guy when he's not sleeping.
Tom, we have been using the Persil Pods as well lately. My youngest son and I lived off of old MREs after the devastation of Hurricane Wilma back in 2005. Three weeks with no power gave us little choice.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteFell into the spotLIGHTS trap, TOEd the line, and briefly tried SPRING TImE, but still skated to victory. Don't think I've seen the expanded OMG in a cw before. Thanx, Paul and Steve. (The STREET SIGNs around here are flat sheets of metal. Not a place a bird would pick for nesting.)
MIMEO: At our school they used spirit duplicators (which the teachers erroneously called hectograph machines). Kids often begged to be allowed to run the duplicator so they could get high on the alcohol fumes.
TTP, funny you should mention that P-38 can opener. A lady on my M-o-W route gave me one last week. She said she used to teach a survival course and passed one out to each student. I put mine onto my keyring.
LEMON, when I was a kid we often heard "Sky blue pink" -- but it was always followed by "with purple polka-dots." No, it wasn't that stupid bikini song.
I do not understand the answer of KING for the clue DOUBLE-DECKER CHECKER. The crosses gave me king so I left it, but no idea what it means. Anyone have some insight?
ReplyDeleteAnon, when a checker reaches the last row, you “king” it by stacking another piece on it, so it can move and jump backwards. If you’ve never played checkers it’d be hard to explain.
ReplyDeleteIn Fort Myers Beach there is a hair salon named Twisted Scissors.
KING ME! I got to the finish line without error, but had to erase lido for ETNA, kleg LIGHTS (I know they aren't spelt that way) and eNURN. Yesterday we had ENISLE, an equally thumper fill.
ReplyDeleteIt must be Twisted Sister Week here at the LAT. I wonder if she is a very kinky girl, the type you don't bring home to mother?
OMK, those are some fine looking hell hounds ya got there.
Like Steve I noticed that the "junior" in prom attendee must have been merely for misdirection. Although I do know a guy who said that the hardest three years of his life were fifth grade.
Thanks to Paul and Steve for the good start to the day. Onward to our Lancaster, PA camping site.
John Wayne, based on this image, mine is a P-38. It's 1-1/2 inches long with a single groove.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve. I agree that URGER and INURN are rarely used outside of crosswords. AHSO is in a different category. It should have an ironic clue, but these get changed sometimes in the editing process. In building a grid, constructors try to minimize the use of crosswordese - in fact, most puzzles won't get accepted with more than two or three of these. It's not that constructors try to torture solvers, it's that sometimes these are the only words that will work in a certain area. We make numerous grids each time to come up with the smoothest fill, but sometimes a few of your SNOEs are unavoidable.
ReplyDeleteLemonade, you're right that the detergent is TIDE. This one started as a 21x called Brand Awareness. With puns on all sorts of brand names, it made the rounds of all the majors and syndications unsuccessfully, until Rich saw its potential as a 15x focused on detergents. Hope it didn't put you through the wringer.
Musings
ReplyDelete-_ O _ A _ was not LO CAL
-Glasses? Apple Watch? Hearing Aids? iPhone? I’m SET and out the door!
-Seeking perfect and at the expense of possible can get you BOGGED down
-Note to self - Eiger? An alp. EIDER? A fine feathered friend.
-“You took off to find the FOOTLIGHTS and I took off for the sky”
-I ONCE had a 29” waistline
-I am not a TEA drinker but is that brewing aroma as strong as coffee’s?
-Tortured logic - A couple of “F-bombs” can keep movies below the Rated-R level if they don’t reference sex
-D-O, great Uranus comment yesterday!
-Well done, Paul and Steve!
Unlike Steve, I found this puzzle a BREEZE and in this ERA it DUZ one good to run through a puzzle this fast. I got an EASY A today. I wanted to find a way to include OXYDOL, FAB, BOLD, & RINSO in the sentence but I couldn't. What kind of quality was one of those free towels found in one of those detergent boxes? PUREX unscented with a teaspoon of GLAMOROUS WASH DIVA ($80/gal) for my wife's clothes.
ReplyDeleteFOOTLIGHTS could have been the original LIMElights.
My only WAG was the cross of ELL & EFFIE. I don't play electronic games so I had no idea about the shape of Tetris. CATS was perped.
Anon@7:01- when I was a kid we always said 'crown me' in checkers and I never heard the term 'king me' until about 10 years ago (40 year gap of not playing checkers)
Hi Y'all! ALL those years of family laundry paid off big today! I sloshed along at a DASH with Paul's fun puzzle. Thanks! Great expo, Steve!
ReplyDeleteINURN with "ed" or "ment" added is pretty common in local obits these days here with cremation becoming more common.
Lo before NO FAT. Sack before NABS. MRI before EEG.
Keith: your cocky little Louie & Nacho made me smile. Thanks for sharing.
Big Easy: chuckled thru your comments. Good ones!
Always shocks me when young women use the F-bomb word. I've been known to say some questionable words, but not that one. Dislike it intensely.
I also thought Prince Valiant's son was HAL and thought DITTO was the ancient copier, and got hung up on the names throughout. I did remember that Snider was in yesterday's, but still had to go look up the clue in that paper.
ReplyDeleteFor double decker checker I at first thought of the conductor on double decker busses. Maybe Steve can relate to that!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteFinished without help. The center was the last to fill; finally settling on URGER. Nice detergent puzzle.
ARN - Val's other son is Galen.
AH SO - "Aye" on a bridge.
HAVEN - L. German for harbor. Ger. Hafen. Danish havn. København (Copenhagen) means merchant's harbor.
SCHUSS - means 'shot' in German. Pl. Schüsse. L. German Schööt.
FIWrong, from the very first square. lO-FAT instead of NO-FAT. Not sure what I thought of lABS for 1d, but it's a common word with several meanings.
ReplyDeleteI liked the easy theme.
Would you, on a dare, CHUG down a COLA?
Would you, on a dare, feed a SLOE to a KOALA?
Would you, on a dare,
SPRING high into the air?
If you would, you're not very smart, are ya?
Can you write very well, with a pencil STUB?
Would you keep a ticket STUB of a band that you love?
Might you STUB a TOE
When the FOOT LIGHTS are low?
Aren't I being STUBborn asking all of the above?
{B, B.}
For a change,found this one fairly easy for a Thursday. Must of been on my wave length.
ReplyDeleteNeat theme.Thanks for stopping by, Paul. INURN is common when talking about cremains (cremation remains). What do you do with them? INURN them. My ex's cremains were in an urn. David would have liked to have them when his stepmother remarried, but we don't know what happened to them. I have my favorite cat's cremains in a fancy box.
ReplyDeleteI hear AH SO said humorously or ironically quite often.
Urger, not so much. A mild word for a pushy type is noodge.
My mom often said, "Sky blue pink with a heavenly border." When the dawn sky has lovely stripes of blue and pink, I often think of her.
50A TEEN was a gimme. A senior prom in college is likely to have no teens. A junior prom in high school is likely to have all teens.
We pronounce the verb house with a Z. The US dictionaries concur. In re PUT UP: When I invited my MIL to come to the shore with us, she missed grandpa and so was more than a noodge. I didn't respond with meanness. Her thank note said, "|Thanks for putting up with me and thanks for putting me up."
My brewed awakening come from black coffee.
I'm having trouble picturing a nest in/on a STREET SIGN. Picture, please?
ReplyDeleteI saw an article about a lot of reviewers getting creeped out by the CATS trailer. I watched it and didn't see anything wrong with it.
Awakening tea
Big Easy, I enjoyed your recap. To borrow two of your unused words, it was both BOLD and FAB.
ReplyDeleteOwen, interesting take. I don't think I've seen you use a repetition device in your verse before.
Yellowrocks, personally, I plan to be cremated, but I don't fancy sitting in an urn. I've told my son to sprinkle me in my favorite woods.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteFirst off, a great big thank you to Keith for that adorable picture of Louis and Nacho, strutting their stuff! I laughed out loud in merriment! Keith, you made my day, Merci beaucoup!
Unlike Steve, I found Paul's offering on the easy side for a Thursday. I had to wait for Effie and Dee and I had a couple of stumbles at Erect/House and Tax Exempt before Tax Haven. I also entered Spring Time at first, thinking of Irish Spring, but that's a soap, not a detergent. Perps eventually made me see the error and the correct Tide rolled right in! My favorite themer was, Bronx Cheer, naturally. I loved the avian trio of Egret, Eagles and Eiders and the stately Elm and sturdy Oak.
Most of all, though, the Lillian Jackson Braun clue for Cats brought back many happy memories. She wrote a series with each title beginning The Cat Who........ Her protagonist, Jim Qwilleran, was a rich, retired crime reporter living in Pickax, Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere. Mr. Q was the owner of two mischievous Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum who had a penchant for "sniffing" out clues to various and sundry crimes. The books were light, fun, and enjoyable.
Thanks, Paul, for another satisfying solving experience and thanks, Steve, for your honest and fair review. I'm just tickled with your SNOE acronym and I hope it catches on. It's a gentle but pointed criticism, sort of in the same category as our friend, Thumper.
Have a great day.
Sorry, Keith, I was sure I typed Louie, not Louis. (My husband was Louis.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, forgot to thank Paul for dropping by. It's always a treat to hear from the constructor.
Paul, me, too. Scatter me in the woods. I love nature.
ReplyDeleteSports bra may be the answer for me. I could hook my bra behind my back only that one day and not since then, although I have recovered most other mobility. My shoulder has little daytime pain now, but not so at night. Little by little, gradually I will win.
FLN, Jayce, I use bag it that way, too. Let's stop, let's end what we are doing.
IM, I loved the CAT WHO... books. Light and fun.
In our younger days, our friends drank Long Island Iced Tea. With knowing winks they concocted one for me, I suppose hoping I would get tipsy. No prob. It tasted so vile, I had only a few sips.
Keith, delightful pic of your dogs,
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paul, for the puzzle and for stopping by. I wanted Enurn for INURN after yesterday's ensile. A couple soap names eluded me for a minute or two, but they all came back. Forgot about DASH and SURF.
Steve, thanks for the walkabout. Nicely done once again.
FLN (and yesterday):
TTP: Yes we made it to Galena. Fun. The kids got to set foot in Iowa as we had lunch in Dubuque after the Alpine Slides at Chestnut Mountain.
DO: Still laughing. My sometimes fussy hub was laughing out loud when I shared.
Wilber: Do read Atonement by McEwan. Not a wasted word.
I do relish the SKYBLUE pink dawns! Have a lovely day today.
New Yorker humor article about crossword puzzles.
ReplyDeleteVery funny, thanks for the reference.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Paul Coulter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeletePaul Coulter, thanks for stopping in.
Jinx: I went to an Elks Lodge in Lancaster, PA, many years ago. It was a good place at that time. I was working in York, PA.
This puzzle was not easy. One reason was that I do not know the names of all the detergents referenced.
Tried DESIST before DEMISE became the word.
Tried LO CAL for a while at 1A. After a while I put in NO FAT. Worked much better.
To me INURN was easy.
I also like chicken KIEV. We order them from Schwan's. Their truck comes by every two weeks. Great products.
Many years ago I played Tetris. So, I knew the ELL. I do not play any of those games anymore. The only things I do are Crosswords and Words. Words is on my phone and it is like Scrabble. I play with four different people and really enjoy it.
Lots to do. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
CanadianEh ~ I just read a very interesting and informative article about Niagara on the Lake, in today's New York Times. You've often mentioned your visits there and, after reading about its charm and vibrancy, I can understand the appeal.
ReplyDeleteOwen @ 10:09 ~ Thanks for the chuckles.
Steve - You want Mogwai.
ReplyDeletePlay later, -T
Delightful Thursday puzzle, Paul, and thanks for stopping by. I got right off at the start with AGORA and OGRE, and NO FAT and STUB. Down on the opposite side MIMEO got me going and I got EAGLE though I've never played golf. The detergents weren't much help to me since I've used only TIDE for years now, but it was nice to have that one pop up at the end. That bit of LOUD music for YMCA was fun, though a NONET is better on a quiet evening. Anyway, very enjoyable puzzle, and I always like your pictures, Steve.
ReplyDeleteOl'Man Keith, Louis and Nacho are adorable. Wish I could figure out how to post a picture of Dusty.
Have a great day, everybody!
FIW,
ReplyDeleteI thought I had all my Ducks in a row,
but I may have been too Eiger...
Thanks for stopping by Paul C.
I had to find out who made the puzzle by stopping here also,
The Star Ledger (fill in rant here...)
Yellowrocks, FLN,
In addition to TSL (The Star Ledger from now on...)
dropping names, adding weird characters, they also
have dropped any third line of dialog from any Comic.
(See Family Circus...)
I do not think the proof read their own paper any more.
OwenKL, I bookmarked your link for l8r.
(The Husky gets very verbal if I am late walking her...)
I am sure Spitz can enlighten us as to why
Spock is not the only Mr on the Bridge.
Anywho, CanadianEh, I am not giving up my fight!
It is time for us to unite and fight poor editing and proof reading!
TSL should come clean with their mistakes!
CED @ 1142 - - Commissioned Naval officers below the rank of Lieutenant Commander are addressed as "Mister". This includes Warrant Officers. I believe Mr. Roberts was a LTJG, por ejemplo,
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteGreat grid, Paul! Thank you for visiting us today.
OMK:
I love your Nacho and Louie!
So today was washday and some of it was in hard water only because I don't know all the detergents mentioned. ONCE I saw them, however, I recognized them. My preference is TIDE pods though Consumer Reports rates Persil very highly. If I could find it in pods I would use it. None are available where I shop.
EFFIE is unknown to me so had to LIU. As has been mentioned, INURN is often found in obituaries of the day.
Thank you, Steve! You've inspired me to make chicken KIEV as it's been a long while for me. If you visit OSLO you won't want to miss the VASA museum where the restored ship rests.
Have a delightful day, everyone!
Oops. No, I'm sorry, Steve, the VASA is in Stockholm.
ReplyDeleteYR: have you tried fastening the bra in front then scootching it around so the fasteners are in back and the "girls" can fall into the cups in front? Easier on the shoulders.
ReplyDeleteYes, PK, I do that now because I must, but I don't like it, especially when I am damp after a shower. I am sure I can get my shoulder working properly again. My ortho will not say it is impossible, because he always has been astonished at how I can bounce back. I do everything I can to remain flexible. I still step into my jeans and put on my socks standing up. I use work-arounds only when I absolutely must. As I meant to say last week, but muffed it, use it or lose it.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was cool that so soon after JW's BREWED AWAKENING theme fill, it reappears as a clue.
ReplyDeleteYour personal story was a bit scary Steve. I would stay away from jury-rigged electronics.
Lucy email me your address and I will send you a couple of the Persil pods to see if you like them
ReplyDeleteThis Thursday puzzle had some crunch in the middle.
Markovers....LOFAT/NOFAT, ELBA/ETNA, RAE/REA (don’t know why I did that).
YR....if that Long Island Iced Tea was nasty, they didn’t make it correctly. Made right, those drinks are “stealthy”, they go down easy and have little taste of alcohol. Don’t ask me how I know.
I intend to have my cremains scattered as well, but I’m not thinking it’ll really matter at the time, I’ll (hopefully) be elsewhere. If I’m not, then it really won’t matter.
Gotta run, see you tomorrow.
Glad our "guard" doggies could amuse! They are proud of keeping our home clear of zombies, monsters, Great Whites, and other interlopers.
ReplyDeleteI was in Oslo once, Steve, but did not know there was a Crossword museum there. Another *#@! missed opportunity...
~ OMK
____________
DR: A mirror 3-way today. The central line gives us an anagram for the understated melodious nature of the Turdus migratorius (Robin Redbreast), describing it as...
"MERELY SONGFUL"!
The most stealthy drink I know was our lemonade and rye punch in the 60s. Guests drank it like it was a more delicious lemonade. It sneaked up on them and packed a wallop. I had to start serving milder drinks. I eventually lost the recipe.
ReplyDeleteDo not go gentle into that night. Keep the life force as bright as possible as long as possible. My motto all my life is "Yes,I can." It surely paid off with Alan.
Misty ~
ReplyDeleteQuelle coïncidence!
I spotted this commercial notice for a workshop in Irvine to relieve shoulder pain. Here's a link to the Rotator Cuff Ad in case you are interested.
~ OMK
LOCAL>NOCAL until the elusive FOOTLIGHTS perped NOFAT.
ReplyDeleteMany years since I played Tetris.
ELM/OAK are interchangeable, unless it's a "tree with a Dutch disease."
Never watched Dreamgirls, nor read about it.
AH SO reminded me of Charlie Chan.
Even after yesterday, did not remember DEE SNIDER.
DAFOE>DEFOE. ENURN>INURN.
Steve: I officially became a senior when DW and I got our AARP cards.
kazie: "Double decker checker" made me think of busses, too.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Paul (thanks for dropping in) and Steve.
ReplyDeleteI got all the detergents but there were a few inkblots and I arrived here to find that I FIWed . . . again!
For 21A "Put up" I had Hoist at first instead of HOUSE; I corrected the I to U when SCHUSS perped, but I did not fix Ulet to ULEE (and we have had him many times before).
My Mediterranean tourists were going to Elba before ETNA.
I waited for perps to decide if the game official was a REF or an Ump.
I wanted 48D Sports ____ to be BAR but we already had that at 9D. BRA was an anagram.
MIMEO is an abbreviation for mimeograph IMHO. I didn't see it at first and almost had a Natick with MPAA.
Rich is testing our memories with DEE Sider again (first name today); plus we had a Brewed Awakening last week (referring to coffee).
Really, Rich, EGAD and OH MY GOD in the same CW. The trolls will be out in force. (Plus an EFFIE.)
IM, I'll see if I can find that NOTL article. Glad you enjoyed learning more about one of the prettiest towns in Canada.
Enjoy the day.
IM, I found it but will need to take some time to get access. But the first paragraphs & photo look realistic. We are going to see Brigadoon next week and will enjoy NOTL again.
ReplyDeleteNiagaraOnTheLake
I liked this puzzle and Keith's photo of his dogs. Keith, I presume your dogs' efforts to protect your house from vampires etc is working. Our house has been 100% orangoutan free due, of course, to a blessing that one of our Cambodian friends conferred on it years ago when I was in grad school at Stanford.
ReplyDeleteIrish M. ~
ReplyDeleteNot to worry. Louis, as you well know, is a fine name.
Pronounced with the "s," it is how I sometimes address Louie, especially when I need to get his full attention!
~ OMK
So, there we were at Cracker Barrell and there's a checkerboard. So, the match was on. And .. She claimed that "I don't have to jump!". Aarrggghhh!!! If there's nae jump'n there's nae checkers
ReplyDeleteAm I not right? Btw, I was slaughtered
TBTimes took Valiant out of the Sunday comics. And kept Doonesbury.
Later
WC
Thank you, Ol'Man Keith. I have a physical therapy appointment scheduled for this coming Monday to start work on the rotator cuff, but wrote down your information in case I need additional help next month.
ReplyDeleteOMK, and others who care, in New Orleans Louis is pronounced LOUIE as in Louis Armstrong. Problem solved!
ReplyDeleteW.C. ~
ReplyDeleteLOL!
Sounds like you wuz hustled.
Was it like, "Tell me, kind sir, is there jumping in checkers? I am so-oo ignorant..."?
Your answer shoulda been, "Not for you there isn't."
Oh, and BTW, you outta said, "When I stack three high, that means he's the 'Emperor,' and he can move on any color--or fly across the board."
At least then you mighta' hadda fightin' chance.
~ OMK
YR, interesting that you used LEMONADE as your drink to make your guests drunk. I always used Minute Maid frozen Limeade as the base for a drink called "Mean Green" My guests often wondered why their legs stopped working.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul, thanks for stopping by and the explanations!
ReplyDeleteSorry I messed up with highlighting "SPRING" and not "TIDE", it was getting late last night.
In college we had a drink called "Delete the Day"
ReplyDeleteThe Delete drink was made from vodka, blue curacao, lime and lemon-lime soda, and served in a highball glass with ice.
Finally. I actually was solving at Winn Dixie. I was thinking of taking a break and meandering by the laundry aisle. After I FIRed I did just that- no SURF but there was ALL.
ReplyDeleteSo. After getting trapped by a BOGO that wasn't, I returned the items and a couple of clerks were standing around. I asked if SURF was indeed a detergent.
One said "We haven't seen that be brand in ages. My mother used it though.
I originally had INURE so TEEN was hidden.
Owen, I liked you two today, solid W's.
OMK, I wasn't clear. In checkers as I knew it, if presented with a jump, one had to JUMP. Hence the double and triple jumps. I can't conceive of checkers without that rule.
-T, did you recall this band? 8-Eyed Spy
WC
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul for the swell puzzle but the cluster of names (REA, EFFIE, SURF (that's a soap?)) did me in. Didn't help that I thought it may be SCHUSh.
Wonderful expo Steve. After watching a guy careen into the woods at ~30mph I will not get my bike > 20mph on a turn [Once, going down a long, steep hill I got the bike upto 48mph - that was before seeing folks wreck]. BTW, did you catch the Mogwai for your koala @11:28a?
WOs: LO FAT (Hi OKL), Ban b/f BAR.
ESPs: EIDERS (with EFFIE from Google)
Fav: I was pleasantly surprised OMG was spelled out.
{B, A}
Cute DR and Guardians of the Night OMK
Jinx - I caught the Rick James you got goin' on there. Kismet? I heard that song about 2 hours after reading you whilst at the gas station.
WC - I Googled 8-Eyed Spy late last night. Never heard of them but you have something to say about their name(?)...
So no one else thought SULU, no wait! - Warf! Whew, it is SULU... Picard... Fess-up :-)
Cheers, -T
Sorry, guys! I want to be INURNed and planted by my husband, I told my son. This was after my SIL scattered his dad's cremains on his favorite hiking path at the private school where he taught. I had visions of all those unsuspecting boys & teachers getting those powdery ashes on their shoes and tracking into the dorm carpets. Didn't sound at all sanitary. I'd rather be in a lovely urn than moldering in a carpet, being vacuumed up, or forever dancing as a dust mote in the fading sun rays.
ReplyDeletePK - On the Great Beyond... I told DW we both need to be INURN'd into the same vessel with our rings fused into an infinity-loop and embedded into said mantle-shrine that we will let the Girls fight over who doesn't have to have it.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it beats the hell out of being buried at her maternal-family plot in Farmersvile, Louisiana where no one will ever visit. Whomever dies first doesn't get their wish :-)
Cheers, -T
Nobody in my family has a mantle on which to display ashes. I read all the tombstones and published a book on that hometown cemetery. I want to rest there.
ReplyDelete-T, 8-Eyed Spy was the name given to the German family that Goebbels embedded in Hawaii in 1935 to map out Pearl Harbor. They did their job well.
ReplyDeleteAs can be seen by the dates, the Axis strategy of Japan opening up an Eastern front began five years before the attack on Pearl.
I had surmised that Germany was communicating with the Kuhns(Kuenns) by Enigma whose code had been broken(by Turing).
The story was reported in the Washington Post and NYT.
Here's the link . 4 spies*2=8 eyed
WC