I had three natick black eyes (two of which now make more sense looking back) that you can see in the grid:
* A vowel coin flip with names EMM_TT/N_LS. I picked an "E"
* No idea on an obscure TV show crossing an obscure expression - AG_RO/AN_IE. I should have let go of ANNIE
* Completely unknown Finnish currency and a North African poached egg dish. As you'll read, Stella wished she could have gotten away from that crossing.
I wrote to Stella about this puzzle and this was her gracious reply:
As I look back on that puzzle, I wish I’d tried harder to get rid of that SHAKSHUKA/MARKKA crossing! And though EMMITT Smith is, I think, fair game in a hard themeless, I’m no longer crazy about him crossing another proper name.
All this reflects that, as many puzzles as I’ve been a part of making, I’m still getting more experience every day as a grid maker. When I was half of Daily and Venzke, he made all the grids and I wrote the clues. So I’m far more experienced as a clue writer and theme thinker-upper than as a grid maker.
My seed entries in this puzzle were PAX ROMANA and SHAKSHUKA, the latter of which I think is a delicious dish more people should know about. As you may have seen in discussions on Crossword Twitter, I’m all for unfamiliar but interesting words in puzzles, especially themelesses. I’ve tried out quite a few things I’ve learned about from puzzles (like reading Leon URIS novels, which I love), and if somebody looks up what SHAKSHUKA is and decides to try eating it, I’ll have paid it forward a bit.
Here is a very interesting interview with Stella, who is a Brooklyn-based copywriter at a pharmaceutical advertising agency and a power lifter
I felt the same anguish that Stella is showing in this picture at the right where she is making a dead lift :-). In the interview, she labeled herself as a "brawny brain"!
 |
| Stella Stella doing a dead lift |
Across:
1. Hardly rah-rah: APATHETIC
10. Peeved cries: DRATS.
15. Period that ended with the death of Marcus Aurelius: PAX ROMANA - Many consider the ascension of his erratic son Commodus in 180 AD to be a disaster after 200 years of ROMAN PEACE
16. See 20-Down: EIGHT and 20. Group of 16-Across: OCTET - I first this might be a type of animals paired with what a group of them is called but I liked this generic cluing
17. Regimen: TREATMENT.
18. Former TBS comedy "__ Tribeca": ANGIE - A Steve Carrell produced show that starred Rashida Jones who was in The Office with him
19. Longtime E Street Band member: NILS LOFGREN - Not NELS it turns out
21. Storage areas: CLOSETS - a physical one and 21. Storage area: CLOUD an electronic one
25. Gives the cold shoulder, in slang: ICES OUT - A cruel activity in a school lunchroom
26. Like the weakest excuse: LAMEST.
27. Jones of jazz: ETTA - A remarkable career
28. Certain tournaments: OPENS - A tournament where anyone is welcome to try to qualify and the 34. Org. that runs some 28-Across: USGA supplies places to try to qualify for the U.S. OPEN
29. When body temperature is typically highest: AFTERNOON
35. Bight, e.g.: INLET - Learning for me with solid perps - generic name for a bend or curve in a coastline
36. Words before many words: IN SO - Louis the XIV claiming he never actually said, "I am the state". Another Stella gem.
37. Sci-fi super weapon: DEATH STAR - You can build your own with this $499 LEGO kit
39. "The Lady of the Lake" author: SCOTT - Sir Walter SCOTT poetry from 1810
40. Touched down: ALIT - The last two of twelve American astronauts ALIT on the Moon 47 years ago
41. Rival of Kaspersky: MCAFEE.42. Employment hot topic: WAGE GAP - I never saw one with my teaching colleagues
46. With nothing owing: PAID FOR - A burning mortgage is a sweet scent
47. Public relations specialists: IMAGE MAKERS - They make chicken salad out of chicken, uh, manure
49. One who can't pass the bar?: TOPER - So many euphemisms for drunks.Etymology
50. Savory North African poached-egg dish: SHAKSHUKA - Recipe for the dish which Stella is promoting
55. Get ready to break: CREST.
56. Dissuade from doing: TALK OUT OF - Some people can not be TALKED OUT OF leaving an area where a flood CREST is approaching and often require a 57. Last-minute: HASTY, dangerous rescue
58. Unjokingly: IN EARNEST.
Down:
1. Well put: APT.
2. Standard course number: PAR - PAR is 70 at my course
3. Splitting tool: AXE.
4. Singing syllable: TRA.
5. Sex appeal: HOTNESS Cheryl Burke is high on the HOTNESS scale as she dances with 6. NFL great Smith who won "Dancing With the Stars" in 2006 : EMMITT
7. Asian weight units: TAELS - A 100 TAEL dark tea cake (5.39 oz)
9. Useful remedy for getting stuck in snow: CAT LITTER.
10. Unkind thing to turn: DEAF EAR.
11. Championship awards: RINGS - Uh, not this year, Bama
12. Combative, slangily: AGGRO - I ain't arguing with the brawny brain Stella! Merriam-Webster says it is an informal, British word.
13. '60s-'70s South Vietnamese president: THIEU - Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was the last president of The Republic Of South Vietnam
14. Medical tube: STENT - Help for clogged vessels
22. Slip: LAPSE.
23. Onassis' first: OMEGA - In Greek Onassis is spelled Ωνάσης
24. French upper house: SENAT.
27. Key of Beethoven's "Eroica": E FLAT.
29. Ristorante courses: ANTIPASTI - Usually the first course
30. Battery acronym: NI-CAD - Usually labeled with chemical symbols for Nickel (Ni) and Cadmium (Cd)
31. Binary, in a way: ON OFF.
32. Bony prefix: OSTEO - Orbiting astronauts can lose as much as 10% of their bone mass which is similar to what OSTEOporosis can do to senior citizens
33. One who pays attention: NOTER - Stella!!
35. Faith with five pillars: ISLAM.
38. Julie of "Airplane!": HAGERTY.
39. Cut out: SCISSOR - Scissor as a verb? Yeah, I guess.
41. Pre-euro Finnish currency: MARKKA - With Jean Sibelius on the bill
42. First speaker in "Macbeth": WITCH - In Act IV these three witches chant the more famous, "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble"
43. Marvel Comics' original Enchantress: AMORA - If you're interested
44. Reacts in wonder: GAPES.
45. Discharge: EGEST - One must digest SHAKSHUKA before it is EGESTED
46. "A Guide to Confident Living" author: PEALE - by the author of The Power Of Positive Thinking
48. "Star Trek" villain: KHAN - Star Wars earlier and now...
51. Catalaunian Plains combatant, 451 AD: HUN - Attila was turned back and was dead two years later
52. Adaptable vehicle, for short: UTE - A vehicle name I only see/hear in these environs
53. Ali had 37: KO'S - Muhammad was "The Greatest"
54. Blackbeard's backward: AFT - Backwards on Blackbeard's boat, Queen Anne's Revenge, would be toward AFT - the back of the boat. Another great Stella clue!
 |
| Queen Anne's Revenge replica used in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean 4 |
68 comments:
DNF. The East Central area was mostly white when I turned on the red, but everything in the top half stayed black. IsLET, AFTERwOrk, WAGE lAw, PAID off, KahN showed red. Once I cleared those out and reworked, I still had one natick -- MAR?KA + SHA?SHUKA. Both words totally unknown.
IN SO was devastatingly devious.
I wish I weren't so APATHETIC.
Doing nothing seems prophetic.
I TALK OUT OF pursuing
What I ought to be doing,
'Cause the result will be only cosmetic.
There once was a wily old WITCH
Whose broom had an ON & OFF switch.
When she set it to sweep,
It set things so neat
She decided her Roomba to ditch!
The salesman was so much IN EARNEST
On the fidelity Ear Buds would furnish.
No wires were needed
The Buds would be seeded
And cozily sit IN your EAR NEST!
{C+, B+, B+.}
I only spent about 15 minutes on this puzzle and I was done! Done trying to work it, that is. WAAAY to tough for me.
I would rather avoid getting stuck in the snow. I refer "suitcase" to KITTY LITTER. Just pack some clothes, bungee cord a snow shovel across the car's grille, and when someone asks "what's that thang y'all got on the front of that thar car", look around for a place to spend a couple of months. We leave in 20 days, but who's counting.
On to Sunday.
Lots of great, fun clues! My personal Natick was AMORA/TOPER. I've never heard either word before.
With a very obscure word like SHAKSHUKA, none of the letters of which are guessable if you don't know the word, it's hard when the crosses are K?AN, PE?LE, and MAR?KA, all of which are you-know-it-or-you-don't, and all of which have multiple legitimate possibilities for the unknown letter.
Uncle!
I had the exact same issues as Husker. I spelled EMMeTT with a second E. Then I wound up leaving blanks for that second G in AGGRO and the first K in MARKKA. There were too many possibilities to WAG it. DNF for sure. Thought "Words before many words" was cute. But this one was just too far outside my wheelhouse. I gave it a good shot, but couldn't cross the finish line. Thanx for the abuse, Stella, and for 'splainin' my inkblot, Husker.
Am I the only one that thought Kaspersky was a Russian chessmaster?
STELLA! It was a DNF today. I had TWO blackeyes to add to your THREE Gary. And with an advance apology to the constructor, only a person named ZAWISTOWSKI would have a clue for an obscure Russian internet security company-Kapersky- for the MCAFEE fill crossing a pre-Euro Finnish currency unit-MARKKA- crossing a weirdly named food most people have never heard-SHAKSHUKA. I knew the MCAFEE, which is on my computers.
I got the rest of the puzzle by the hardest. Too many proper names and slang IMHO. NILS LOFGREN shows up in puzzles, usually only NILS but AGGRO, ANGIE, AMORA, KHAN, ETTA (James "At Last") Jones, HAGERTY were unknowns filled by perps.
Great clue for OMEGA; kept thinking of first wife.
BobB- I was thinking CHESS but after the FEE was on the paper from the down fills I realized it was MCAFEE.
Hated it. Too much obscure stuff that had to be looked up. Bummer.
Hola!
I see I'm in good company here. I actually got pretty far before I had to yell "uncle" and LIU.
EMMITT Smith was my late DH's hero so I had to know that and with PAXROMANA, the top was filled. And just this week I learned of NILSLOFGREN so that was my first fill.
I liked seeing the two storage areas, CLOUD/CLOSETS.
My daughter and her family would disown me if I didn't know DEATHSTAR.
Yes, I was certain Kapersky was a chess master and was agape when MCAFEE appeared.
PEALE was an easy guess but it's been too long since I was in Finland so MARKKA escaped me though I had TALKOUTOF and INEARNEST.
THIEU emerged only after erasing NGYEN which is misspelled anyway.
I've never heard of ANGIE Tribeca so LIU.
Of course I had to LU SHAKSHUKA!
Thank you, Stella and Gary. This was a real Saturday challenge and following this I'll return to bed for some needed rest.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
It's always comforting to have hit a wall on a puzzle and to come here and know everyone else did too. What Bob and Lucina said about thinking Kaspersky was a Russian chessmaster! And the natick of death was MARKKA/SHAKSHUKA!! I got OMEGA - but since there wasn't a question mark after the clue I thought OMEGA was the name of Onassis's first wife :P ....
"ANGIE Tribeca" was a gimme - it is very funny show which parodies other police/detective shows(similar to the "Naked Gun" movies) with a talented cast. They don't have new episodes - but TBS is still running reruns and it's on services like Hulu and Amazon.
Thanks HG and Stella!
Looks like it's safe to say, "December 7th, 2019, a date which shall live in infamy..." for this crossword crowd. Methinks you chess folks were conflating Garry Kasparov with Kasperksy Internet Security. Best Buy no longer offers Kasperksy, but it used to be included with every PC/Mac purchase.
Good morning.
Nope. Not today. Did fairly well though. I filled every square, and was certain I had it except for four unknown letters. My mistakes were:
ToELS instead of TAELS
KoAN instead of KHAN
PEeLE instead of PEALE.
Guessed wrong on each of those three.
Guessed correctly at the first K in MARKKA.
When I pressed the "Check Grid" but, there was an unanticipated error:
ANTIPASTa instead of ANTIPASTI.
I should have caught ANTIPASTa at aN EARNEST.
Plenty of type overs along the way. The couple that I remember now were:
Knew Julie HAGERTY but had HAGaRTY first.
Had GAwkS before GAPES.
Oh well. It was a great challenge. Thank you, Stella.
You too, Husker Gary. Besides the fun, you taught me that I had the right answer, OMEGA, for the wrong reason.
Good Morning:
Add another member to the Kaspersky Chess Club, the Shakshuka/Markka mess, and the Kahn, Amora, Angie, Death Star, Nils Lofgren, Toper, Pax Romana, McAfee mishmash! (BTW, the photo shows two ending As in Markkaa.) I relish a challenge but, IMHO, this offering had way too many unknown entities that made the solve a slog fest rather than a fun fest. Needless to say, I didn't complete it correctly, even with a correct Wag at the mystery breakfast dish and the Finnish moolah cross, because of misspelling Emmitt with a second E, and having no clue to the needed vowel at the Amora/Toper crossing and being too frustrated, at that point, to do a vowel run. I liked the Cloud ~ Closet pairing, but not Noted, but was pretty pleased that I threw in Thieu, without hesitation, much to my surprise. I, too, was thinking first wife for the Onassis clue.
Thanks, Stella, for your effort and thanks, HG, for your always fair and impartial review. Nice visuals and links, as usual.
Lucina, I'm glad your birthday was so perfect!
Remembering those lost on this somber anniversary.
Have a great day.
After going through all of the Across clues the first time, I had one word filled in and it was wrong. The down clues were a little more forgiving, but not much. So, I turned on Red Letters and tried again. APT, PAR, AXE and TRA gave me the foothold that I needed to get the NW corner filled in and then expanded southward. Officially this was a DNF.
"Words before many words" these days seems to be just be the word "SO". While watching Jeopardy I've noticed that when Alex Trebek asks the contestants a personal question they almost always start by saying "SO," then continue with their story. I've noticed this in general conversation with others also, especially with Millennial's and other younger people.
Cold today, but sunny, so I think I will get out the outside Christmas decorations and adorn the trees and bushes with lights.
Have a great day everyone.
Too many obscure proper names for me. This puzzle was hard and unpleasant. Making the bottom corner impossible to complete was really not cool.
oc4beach, thanks again for the lead on the Grilled Stickies. They were delicious ! Nothing but positive reviews from all that tried them.
My brother sent me a link for this bakery that makes and sells kolachi like my mother used to make every year for Christmas. I'm ordering for us and for my sister.
Butter Maid Bakery - Kolachi Nut Rolls.
I'm going with the Original and Honey Walnut. They should be very similar to what my mother made. I think she also made a pecan and pecan walnut mix. It's just been so long I don't recall, and neither do my brother or sister. We all remember how good they were, so we are looking forward to trying these this Christmas season.
A DNF for me. I usually keep pecking at a difficult puzzle, but I just wasn’t on the same wavelength as Stella. Didn’t fully get NILSLOFGREN and SHAKSHUKA, maybe could have perped some of the downs if I had. Plus a few minor errors, like PAXROMera, TUT instead of HUN, ANTIPASTa, and I couldn’t get through this one. Was a toughie, but I don’t think it was unfair. Maybe better luck for me next Saturday.
Now onto a day of binge-watching college football. All the conference championship games are today, already an upset last night in the PAC-12 (if anyone else really cares)!
Good morning everyone.
Well, this one flexed my brain but entries - not so much, particularly in the NW. But there were bright spots. Nailed MARKKA cold. I still have a 5 MARKKA ($1.25) coin in my drawer. One side has the icebreaker Urho on it. Many clever clues. There were too many names I had not heard of, or was weak on, to permit an unaided finish, but the sectors I could do made it worthwhile. Several learnings.
INLET - To me a bight is an indentation of a coastline, like the Great Australian Bight, but not an inlet which would be more like a fjord or estuary or mouth/harbor, I concede that Merriam says they are synonyms. Bight is akin to German Bucht.
I don't think CAT LITTER is effective for getting unstuck from snow. Becomes greasy under many temperature conditions. Rocking out works much better.
REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
APATHETIC is an APT fill to describe my feelings about this crossword. Who uses the term ICES OUT? AGGRO? NICAD is an abbreviation not an acronym. Cross MARKKA with SHAKSUKA and throw in more obscures like ANGIE Tribeca, AMORA, PEALE, and I'm on to Sunday funday.
Empty cross-reference clues (i.e. 16A-20D) are a real pain, and would be better left out, or clued differently. It's not clever...
Very hard puzzle today. DNF.
This puzzle makes me appreciate Jeffrey Wechsler, and themed constructions, which are so helpful in solving.
Yes, I thought Kaspersky was a chess player. I've never encountered SHAKSHUKA. I was pretty sure "unjokingly" was "seriously". I did figure out PAX ROMANA and I knew the WITCH was the first to speak in Macbeth.
I'm looking forward to a better outing with tomorrow's themed
....puzzle.
Ay! Ay! So many gripes and grumblings today! Saturday puzzles are meant to be difficult, further adding the fact that they are themeless makes them more challenging. If solvers can't cope with that I suggest they skip Saturdays or find the Universal crossword.
I found it well to my liking and I thank Stella again!
This was a toughie. Shakshuka? Markka? Not fair. Otherwise good, tough puzzle! It's nice to see Nils Lofgren get a little shout out. He's an underrated guitarist.
How nice of you to check in with us, Stella. Yes, this was a real toughie--for nearly everyone, it seems, but still fun. I got started with ETTA, ALIT, APT, and E FLAT. And it was great to get TALK OUT OF. But I goofed when I put MARIA for Onassis's first (wife, I thought)--I'm not even sure that was her name. Oh, first letter of his name--that's the OMEGA (a toughie, Stella). But still lots of fun, and, Gary, thank you for letting us know this was hard for you too, and for asking Stella to give us some feedback on the construction.
Owen, so glad to have you back, and great to see your lovely poems this morning.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
As Marlon Brando screamed..."Stella!...Stella!...Stella!..what a difficult crossword!" or something like that.
The NW corner was an easy fill and I became overconfident.
I was shocked by SHAKSHUKA! Now I'll have it every morning with my Rice Krispies.
Had so much to do today left big sections blank so DNF is an understatement.
Resisted LAMEST as "est" was already in the clue. Guess it's the same as an answer ending in "ing" already part of the clue.
Wonder how may TAELS I weigh? Probably sounds better than my weight in actual pounds.
Licking my wounds...Learned some interesting facts which I'm sure my short term memory won't retain till they appear again..
And the ASPVS has issued a warning about the use of CAT LITTER for snowbound tires. Be sure the cat isn't using it at the time
ASPCA
Wow, what a toughie.
Had MARDKA not MARKKA for that natick.
Have a great weekend.
Lucinda @11:27 ~ I can only speak for myself but my solving experience with this puzzle wasn't enjoyable, which I expressed in my earlier post and explained why. I'm rarely overly critical about a puzzle's difficulty and, when I am, I try to temper my words of critique. I also try very hard to remember to qualify any negative statements by stating "In My Opinion", because, as you know, we all have different perspectives. I have been solving crosswords for 40+ years and consider myself an above average solver so I will continue to do Saturday puzzles as I appreciate the challenges they present, but I reserve the right to voice the occasional "foul" when it's warranted, IMO. 😇
Hi Y'all! Sorry, but I fear Stella is not destined to become a favorite constructor around here. This sample was more than ample and bordered on abusive. Stubborn that I sometimes am, I found myself red-lettering every single letter in far too many words. WEES. Thumper!
Hey, I knew EMMITT, but not how to spell his name.
Gary Schlapfer, you are such a lovely, nice man! Thank you for doing hazardous duty. You are appreciated here.
Anyone know what happened to fermatprime?
I would like to propose something I'll initially call "Regan's Rule": any crossword answer has to be within the ambit of, say, 80% of the solvers to be considered legit. (Maybe we'll cal it the "Irish Miss Test"?)
'Markka' qualifies as a long-established crossword entry (BTW, I think the second 'a' on the end marks a plural), but 'aggro', 'shakshuka' and friends definitely are not. (How many times have you poached eggs in North Africa, anyway, or been combative in Liverpool?)
We're trying for challenge in the puzzle, not frustration.
DNF. Way too hard for me. I had to resort to looking up so many answers that it seemed Google solved the puzzle, not me. WEES about some of the downright Naticks. I did love the IN SO clue, though; outstanding. The clue for DEAF EAR was good, too. I know what Kaspersky is, but entered NORTON as the rival. Bzzt. Perhaps I should have gone for MCAFEE first, as that is the name of a very good friend of ours, who always tells people to whom she is introduced, "No, not THAT McAfee."
Looking forward to more puzzles from you, Stella, but hopefully not quite so hard. You did say you are a good "theme thinker-upper." Hint hint.
Gary, thank you ever so much for your write-up and your interview with Ms. Zawistowski. That was the best part of the morning. I admire your kindness and tact.
Good wishes to you all.
My usual downfalls - proper names and foreign words.
Hey, isn't today Lucina's birthday...or did I miss it? Anyway, happy birthday, Lucina, even if it's belated.
I also had Fisher > McAFEE, tho I knew Bobby spelled his name Fischer. And I'm a bit ashamed of myself since I just read a long investigative article on QuickStrike, the cyber-security company started by former McAfee programmers that identified the thieves of the Democratic computer files as Russian. Kasparsky and others in the field claimed the evidence was insufficient. Kasparsky has been in the news a bit lately. It's the security software used by most governments in the US (fed. & state), and since it's based in Russia, its potential for election interference is suspect.
Russian grandmasters Kasparov, Karpov and/or Korchnoi challenged Fischer, and fought each other for the world title.
AGGRO as slang for aggressive, ICES OUT for cold shoulder -- seem sussable even if I hadn't seen them somewhere before (I don't recall where).
IrishMiss:
In no way was I criticizing anyone in particular. I just noticed a certain number of unusual quips about the puzzle and I know you are a veteran solver so if you find a puzzle unusually obscure I have to agree.
Desper-otto:
Thank you! Yes, that was yesterday and I'm sorry if you missed the absolutely gorgeous cake CED found for me. It looked good enough to eat!
I am grateful my granddaughter is here;she is young and energetic so while I entertained and fed the baby she set up the Christmas tree, decorated it and the rest of the house though these days my decorations are minimal. Now the wrapping can begin.
I messed up this puzzle big time! Tho’ I was surprised I knew so many of the unusual answers.
Having said that, I’m always loathe to criticize the constructor. These people give us their time and talent for our enjoyment. If we don’t enjoy a puzzle I’m not sure we can say that’s the constructors fault.
Thanks, Stella, for trying to please us. If we weren’t , maybe you are too smart for us!
May I rant on another subject? I’m watching LSU in what is advertised to be a “SEC Championship Game” . They won ALL their games. ALL! (So did Ohio State). Why do they now have to play a lesser team for....what?? Some fantasy “championship “ ?? They are the best team in the SEC. Their record proves that. Why are they playing what’s essentially a 13th game!
I’ve been told to watch Soccer!!
End of rant. You may read the comments safely!
I thought Kaspersky was a chess champion.
Hi All!
While I typically crash & burn on Saturdays, I can usually get ~1/2 the grid right. Not today. Oy!
Didn't help that I was pretty sure 42d was WITCH but I was so proud of filling 'Spin DoctoRS' (18% right!) at 47a that I finally cried Uncle (after an hour+) and looked at HG's grid.
Oh, IMAGE MAKERS!(???) Well that also fits with my 1st thoughts of ANTIPASTa [Hi TTP!] at 29d and KHAN @48d. I got some extra-play with those goin' on but still couldn't poach an egg in Africa.
So thanks x2 HG; fun expo - I know people who's lay'd-out $500 for that Lego DEATHSTAR (which I nail'd! sans perp)
Thanks Stella for the puzzle. Not to pry, but what's your weight class? Our summer intern was a petite girl of Asian descent (well, she still is, I suppose) and could dead-lift an impressive amount [disclosure - I'm finally up to "just the bar" :-)].
Being in CyberSec, I have a VANTAGE re: Kaspersky but it was in the news relatively recently (compared to, say, PAX ROMANA). I see D-O remembers it as standard on store-bought PCs.
NILS LOFGREN was just this week (as Lucina pointed out) - I swear Rich tees these up for us for the Saturday exam. C.C. assures me that's not the case but...
I'll keep my tin-foil hat on.
Inane - I too was thinking 1st spouse @23d so I went with tennis over Golf @34a's US-A.
{A, A, B+}
Jinx - LOL. Our snow shovels were packed by Mayflower when we were moved to Louisiana from IL. They sat in the corner of the garage as a novelty for the locals / my buddies.
Ray-O: Next time, repost and delete your last post. It's worth the joke to annoy TTP just a bit :-). Funny nevertheless.
OK, the elephant in the room... To me, in my attempt to solve puzzles grossly over my pay-grade, Saturdays are "learning days." Reading Stella's response to HG's email, this is her "learning puzzle" too. She admittedly is a relatively new gridder and regrets some of the crossings.
Lemme tell ya... gridding is HARD! Not wanting to burden C.C. w/ every cockamamie theme I think of, I've tried (for over a year! (and I spent gob$ on magic software)) and I always end up with either an un-wordable(TM) area or fill so "yech!" I wouldn't foist it on the world.
Now, let's all join hands and sing a round of Kumbaya :-)
Cheers, -T
This may have been the chewiest Xwd since I joined the Corner. I didn't spot a single finisher. If I missed you, please let me know!
Misty ~ I'm with you (and with Irish Miss and much good company). I didn't do MARIA for "Onassis' first," but I did try to cram a single "L" version of CALLAS/CALAS into that slot.
We wuz had!
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the mirror side.
Another wash-out for anagrams. Like yesterday's, the main diag has only one vowel. Not much fun unless you're nostalgic for a small E. European Jewish village, a...
"SHTETL."
BobB, No. But Fischer and Kasperov wouldn't fit. MCAFEE was all perps.
I'll take the one box * FIW on the Islington** , I tried SHAUSHUKA- I was so thrilled to get it to one box I WAG'ed and came here.
The entire South was hopeless and wite-out city. So I went to Latimes and filled online. The West fell with IMAGEMAKERS. PEALE allowed me to replace solvent with PAID OFF. Given those perps I filled the rest.
It started easy, btw but I had nada down below. My rule is don't quit, don't Google (see below-its an honest program as Bill W used to say).
I was trying to think of the guy who wrote "The Art of Loving" - I was young and thought it was a sex how-to.
I tried DIPSO<TOPER***; WALDO,WENCH <WITCH(The I gave me IMA**. NILS LOFGREN was in another XW (once I dumped N for F)
Let's check the other posts
WC
* Ok, I inked(when I was using pen(½ the xword) USTA- I thought it was Ari's first wife. This would have been noticed if I'd rechecked.
**You think Natick is obscure, this is a suburb of Westwood, MA
***TOPER showed up once awhile ago
Don't poke the bear.
OKL - the company is CrowdStrike and yes, ex-McAfee folks started it. Another ex-McAfee started Cylance. I did a software selection pitting their end-point 'solutions' [read: nextGen Antivirus] against each other. Both offer good solutions.
And, this might be taken by some as political, so. skip a bit brother, skip a bit...
There is NO connection between CrowdStrike and Ukraine (except CS may do incident-response (IR) there too; they're global). The nonsense about not letting the FBI in re: The Server is, well just that (and conflates two different incidents *shakes head confused*).
I've done IR and the Gov't/FBI is never lead on a private company's investigation. They, the FBI, are mostly a black-hole. You send them what you learn but they never say how it connects with anything else... Curious minds wants to know! //Ditto Scotland Yard :-(
CrowdStrike's IR team is on PAR with Rapid7's and Cylance's all, IMHO, trailing Mandiant's (a FireEye company) IR's team by a step or two.
All the IR companies I've worked with have teams consisting of ex-DOD/Gov't professionals ++really good hackers. I've engaged with them in the last few years and I've met most the guys that started these companies. Some of the CEOs are pretty damn good hackers themselves. :-)
Cheers, -T
Hi everybody.
This fit into my usual Saturday solving experience, i.e., too hard for me without red-letter help.
I came across two old stylish dramas on cable; THE PRISONER and the original THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. Do you remember THE PRISONER with Patrick McGoohan? I loved its look and style. I kept watching, hoping it would finally make sense, but it never did. Kinda like LOST I thought.
Dash T, I thought you would have clarified Owen's statement. From what I've read, Kapersky Labs software was removed from all US federal systems in 2017 after the bill was passed. The UK does not use Kapersky for similar concerns. Canada won't say whether they do or don't use any Kapersky Labs software, citing security concerns.
Gotta go. The B1G Championship Game is on the tube.
Swamp Cat @6:04, I agree with you about being loath to criticize the constructors. I also agree about the championships. A team that has been superior all season can lose out for just one bad day.
This puzzle was very difficult for me, but I enjoyed trying to solve it. I had some red letters so DNF. When I run into this many problem areas, I always am convinced I'm "losing it." I'm glad to see that many of you had the same problems.
Late again; I hope you saw my birthday wishes Lucy. It was hard, nobody came and took my lunch money so the fact I did not know everything is fine with me. It takes new stuff to learn, And besides, Stella looks like she could beat or old asses. I used to be good at the deadlift, for my size. It is a combination of strength and technique.
HG you da man. Wisconsin tonight?
This is without a doubt the poorest excuse for a puzzle that I have seen in the LA Times in the last ten years.
TTP - I thought about it. I went Forbes article thinking it would be taken more seriously than the, likely obscure to most, ArsTechnica. Oh, yeah, and then I went off on a tangent :-)
Yes, most Gov'ts have removed Kaspersky because (even though they're pretty good) are Russian-based. The dirty little secret is that most NextGen endpoint security systems are NOT secure. Let me break it down...
Old AV (antivirus) programs relied on 'signatures' of KnownBad. These 'signatures' were just a (huge) list BadThings (files) that have been caught in the wild. You'd download that list weekly/daily/hourly(!) but still got viruses. Oh my.
So,* now companies use "Machine Learning" or AI system to figure out Bad on the fly. But to do that, often a suspect file is sent to "The Cloud" for further analysis / teach the Machine. Your data was just uploaded. The company you rely on for endpoint protection is the target of governments to see what their software gathered as "may be" suspicious files.
So,* In the case of the NSA losing classified material, some dipwad put documents/code on his home box (with Kaspersky's AV on it), the document was somehow maybe(?) suspect, and "whoosh" it went to Russia (and intercepted by Israel along the way).
So we all blamed the company and not the hackers that infiltrated Kaspersky Labs. Don't think that some (most) US NextGen AV companies are not targets for the data they gather while "protecting" us.
The Cyber is fun, no?
-T
*sorry Oc4 :-)
I know this was harder than we're used to, but I don't blame the constructor. The editor has the say about what goes into the puzzle and tinkers with the clueing, usually for the better, to make it interesting, and adjust the difficulty. Maybe it was time for a really hard one.
I was thrilled to the gills to learn about SHAKSHUKA - - recipe below:
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion sliced
1 medium red bell pepper sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon coriander
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs
Fresh cilantro for garnish
Crusty bread for serving
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook for about 10 minutes until the onions become soft and translucent. Stir in garlic and cook for an additional minute until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Pour the tomatoes, and add cumin, paprika and coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the tomato sauce thickens like a stew, about 10-15 minutes.
Create 6 small nests in the tomato stew. Gently crack the eggs into the skillet over the tomatoes in the nests formed. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the skillet, and cook until the egg whites have set, about 10 minutes.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with crusty bread or pita.
Musings
-As I quoted Stella in the write-up, she wished she had reworked the crossing of Finnish money and an African egg dish but like Lemon, I enjoy learning and am in awe of constructors like Stella. That single cell crossing was my only true Natick in retrospect and I look forward to more puzzles from Ms. Zawistowski.
-One thing I like to say of myself is “I am smart enough to know how little I know”
-Lemon, Wisconsin is leading going into halftime and they may take the air out of The Ohio State Buckeyes tonight. Looking forward to the second half.
I have been receiving spam supposedly mailed from my address five or six times a day. The sender always comes up as "me." None of my correspondents are receiving this spam. I always send it to junk. Any ideas how to stop it?
SHAKSHUKA is an Israeli dish.
HG and Lemon, I definitely agree that knowing what you don’t know is the first step to knowledge . These “hard” puzzles teach us a lot.
Stupendous Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Stella and Husker Gary.
Yes, this was above my paygrade, but I feel better to see that most of you had problems also. Actually, maybe I did not do as poorly as I thought. I only visited Google three times.
Hand up for Emmett not EMMITT.
My "ristorante courses" was Insalata (is that plural?) before ANTIPASTI filled the spot.
And "get ready to break" was Crack (like an egg for that SHAKSHUKA!); I refused to change it for the longest time.
I smiled at CLOUD crossing CLOSETS, and ICES OUT crossing DEAF EAR (both unkind).
I have Bitdefender not MCAFEE.
FLN, WikWak - yes there is a Canadian version of TurboTax and I have used it for years (previously called Quick Tax). It caught deductions that my previous pencil/paper work had missed.
Good evening to you all.
This was that "sex" book Fromm didn't fit anyway.
I came to a full stop with little hope. NE, SW,most of the middle: all blanks. Advantage: EMMITT (Natch), ANGIE with a few perps. I had to overwrite NORG for KHAN. I thought of trading the Star Trek clue for the NFL with Picard.
Also. I was 90% sure of SCOTT but I did check his poetry. It was all I had, I needed a solid. Jury? Uhoh.
Nice try Wisconsin. I'll take Clemson for championship.
WC
I notice, btw, the white flags were thrown awfully early. I was ready to slog this out all week.
I'm sorry Wibur. I'm hoping to see a OSU/LSU tilt for the Championship. The BIG Ten was better than the SEC this year and a direct matchup between each conference's best teams would be epic. Clemson just didnt have a demanding trip to the playoffs.
Swampcat - $$$$$ is why the Conferences have these championship games. Plain and simple.
So, [sorry again Oc4], I'm out in the garage listening to Car Talk and reading a book... Youngest calls me in to watch a commercial for this toy.
I was sure it was an SNL spoof (and WTF am I doin' not monitoring her media? Bad Dad!).
The toy is for real.
I'm so getting her that for Christmas :-)
Now, back to my book and the Tappet Brothers.
Cheers, -T
Anon-T - Now, THAT'S hilarious. Thanks for sharing-Plumber's Pants-if we'd thought of making that common visual into a game, we coulda made some bucks.
WEES. I cratered at Finnish currency - never been there nor have I read anything about their economy LIU. Uncle at N. African poached eggs - whaa? Never watched Star Trek (doing good to get Star Wars' clues (another no-see), so didn't have the foggiest. Had K_AN. Oh, well. Enjoyed the brain-stretcher except for those two clues, as others have pointed out.
Gary, I meant to tell you how much I enjoyed being reminded about Fawlty Towers. I LOVED that show. I've watched most of it again on YouTube. The one you posted is one of my favorites. Also, the one about the crotchety old lady who keeps her hearing aide turned down to save the battery. Heck, they're all my favorites. Thanks again!
Mind how you go...
Though probably this won't be posted since, like always, I do my daily puzzling to relax me before bed. This entry did just the opposite! I join the crowd who have collaboratively said, "HUH???" to this "puzzle". Yes, Saturday puzzles are trickier, but this entry was just too quirky for me. Quit after 20 minutes. Now I can't get to sleep.
Bobbi @ 0122:
Just use the Corner's mantra: "Aum ... Shakshuka ... Aum ... Shakshuka" [repeat until quickly asleep]
Capping out at 5 say...
Bobbi - most Cornerites read everything and there's no reason why y
our post wouldn't.
Spitz - the spices are so Italian I've gotta do it. Thanks.
BillG - seeing Faulty Towers was my Fav. I found this once.
At first, I couldn't figure out if it was a spoof [read the translation below... I think it says "My sister was bit by a Moose once"] but Cleese is for real.
TxMs: so good to read you again. Glad you enjoyed the commercial. Youngest (16yro) and I decided it's a gag-gift for DW. She will not be amused [but we will!]
Cheers, -T
Me too! I had Bobby FISHER first.
SwampCat I feel the same way about Clemson. #3?? C'mon now.They are undefeated and won 2 of the last 3 championships.
No respect!
After reading the other comments, I'm proud of my 90%!
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