Theme: "Name Tags" - Each familiar phrase is re-interpreted as if the word is a person's name.
21. Inspiring Gates?: ELECTRIC BILL. Bill Gates is truly inspiring.
24. Upright Fosse?: PLUMB BOB. Bob Fosse, the choreographer with nine Tony wins.
49. Refined Bailey?: CULTURED PEARL. Pearl Bailey.
51. Careless Montana?: SLOPPY JOE. Joe Montana.
64. Vividly expressive Carney?: GRAPHIC ART. Art Carney.
67. Outgoing Macdonald?: SOCIAL NORM. Norm Macdonald of "Saturday Night Live".
86. Slothful Sontag?: LAZY SUSAN. Susan Sontag.
89. Seafaring Davis?: NAUTICAL MILES. Miles Davis.
113. Forthcoming Tyson?: OPEN MIKE. Mike Tyson.
115. Forceful Kelly?: DOMINANT GENE. Gene Kelly.
Theme heavy. Total 10 entries in a 140-word grid.
We got a good mix of people. 2 ladies. 8 men. From various walks of life.
Theme heavy. Total 10 entries in a 140-word grid.
Across:
1. Milky white kind of glass: OPAL.
5. "Dumb and Dumber" co-star: CARREY. Jim Carrey seems to be a recluse now.
11. Confident: ASSURED.
18. Stellar phenomenon: NOVA.
19. Aspirations: DREAMS.
20. Self-officiated game with a disc: ULTIMATE. Why don't they call it "Ultimate frisbee" any more?
25. More tender: SORER.
26. Driver's lic. info: DOB.
27. Red dye: EOSIN.
29. Use for a fee: RENT.
30. Family nickname: SIS.
32. Something read to the rowdy?: RIOT ACT. Nice clue/answer.
35. English breakfast __: TEA.
37. Outrage: IRE.
40. Very funny sort: CARD.
42. Hostess output: CUPCAKES.
44. It has an eye on TV: CBS.
47. 1980s Panamanian dictator: NORIEGA. Manuel Noriega. The Chilean dictator is Augusto Pinochet.
53. Type, in Calais: SORTE. Similar to our English.
54. Westminster landmark: ABBEY.
55. Jumbles: OLIOS.
56. House shower: C-SPAN.
58. Causes of frequent break-ins?: SPONSORS. Commercial breaks.
60. IBM competitor: NEC.
61. 1942 Philippine battle site: BATAAN. We had this before also.
63. Cold sheet: FLOE.
73. Actor Neeson: LIAM.
74. Fortune-telling aids: TAROTS.
75. One of the fire signs: LEO.
76. Period of the first dinosaurs: TRIASSIC. Is this word related to "triceratops"?
80. State with a panhandle: TEXAS.
81. Plane angle symbol: THETA.
83. Very long time: AEONS.
84. Some corporate jets: LEARS.
92. Where to find an idiomatic pig: IN A POKE. This idiom and "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" are just odd.
93. Family docs: GPS.
94. Widespread: NON-LOCAL.
95. One doing stars, say: APER.
96. Outlaw Kelly: NED.
97. "Ben-Hur" studio: MGM.
98. Starts to negotiate, as a price: ASKS FOR.
100. Clearasil target: ZIT.
102. Formally transfer: CEDE.
105. Opposite of piano: FORTE.
107. Young socialite: DEB.
109. Dependable: SOLID. All our blogging team. So lucky.
119. Fan of Jerry Garcia's band: DEADHEAD.
120. Flea market deal: RESALE. We had lots of fun at the flea market. Did it for many years.
121. Part of a pot: ANTE.
122. __ overload: SENSORY.
123. Absorbs the financial hit: EATS IT.
124. "Enough!": STOP.
Down:
1. Till stack: ONES.
2. Game played in an anagram of itself: POLO. Water polo. Pool.
3. Swear: AVER.
4. What loafers lack: LACES.
5. Burnable medium, briefly: CDR.
6. Dry as a bone: ARID.
7. "Made to be broken" thing: RECORD.
8. Browning's Ben Ezra, e.g.: RABBI. See here. New to me.
9. Former U.K. recording giant: EMI.
10. Fashion initials: YSL.
11. "__ want for Christmas ... ": ALL I.
12. Hindered, as growth: STUNTED.
13. __City: computer game: SIM.
14. Eclipse shadow: UMBRA.
15. "Streamers" playwright: RABE. Also new to me.
16. School since 1440: ETON.
17. Balance on a card, say: DEBT.
20. Parvenus: UPSTARTS.
22. Bench press muscles: TRICEPS.
23. Seized, as an opportunity: LEAPT ON.
28. Go down, so to speak: OCCUR.
31. Like some turkey stuffing: SAGY. Our 12-pound turkey this year. Tons of sage in the stuffing.
33. Eye care product prefix: OCU.
34. Certain Sooner: TULSAN.
36. ESPN Deportes language: ESPANOL. ESPN "Sports".
37. Joyous way to break out: IN SONG.
38. Surfing wave: ROLLER.
39. Symphony originally dedicated to Napoleon: EROICA.
41. Friend of TV's Sheldon: RAJ.
43. Stay in shape: KEEP FIT.
44. Popular spring break locale, informally: CABO. Cabo San Lucas.
45. Uncle Remus title: BR'ER.
46. Stone and Stallone: SLYS.
48. Wall St. news: IPO.
49. French Oscar: CESAR. Wiki says "The name of the award comes from the sculptor César Baldaccini (1921–1998) who created it."
50. "Barnaby Jones" star: EBSEN.
52. Numerical prefix: OCTA. Prefix for "eight".
57. Frisk, with "down": PAT.
59. Rio greetings: OLAS.
61. Partial view?: BIAS. Not "Not total" partial.
62. Lombardy-based football club: AC MILAN. Sponsored by the Emirates Airline. There are things that money can buy.
65. Nursery item: PLANT.
66. Sound of disapproval: HISSING.
67. Early rock horn: SAX.
68. Face-to-face exams: ORALS.
69. Toledo thing: COSA.
70. "Little House" family name: OLESON. Nellie Oleson.
71. Second shot: RETAKE.
72. Sounded ghostly: MOANED.
74. Green cars: TESLAS.
76. Sharp flavor: TANG.
77. Harvest: REAP.
78. Markers: IOUS.
79. Like many fine wines: CELLARED. Not a word I use.
80. Deked, say: TRICKED.
81. Bolshevik's foe: TSARIST.
82. March opening: HUP.
85. "He's __ notable coward ... ": Shak.: A MOST.
87. Speed: ZIP.
88. Santa __ Valley: California wine region: YNEZ.
90. More cozy: COMFIER.
91. Polar helper: ELF. I absolutely love this time of the year. Everywhere is so festive.
95. Sites for fights: ARENAS.
97. Patches up: MENDS.
99. Horace, for one: ODIST.
101. "Animal House" party attire: TOGAS.
102. Some UPS deliveries: CODS. Cash on Delivery.
103. Duel tool: EPEE.
104. University VIP: DEAN.
106. "Just __ is not __": AT&T slogan: OKAY.
108. Island near Java: BALI.
110. Mardi Gras follower: LENT.
111. Liking: INTO.
112. Insightful: DEEP.
114. Old reciprocal electrical unit: MHO. Now called a siemens.
116. Mt. Hood's home: ORE.
117. __ culpa: MEA.
118. Bottom line: NET.
C.C.
30 comments:
Good morning. May have set a personal best this morning. Answers flowed.
One typo, but I caught it. Hit the T key at the intersection of CARREY and YSL.
Learning moment was that the Lombardy football club was not FC MILAN. Knew the crossing BATAAN, and besides, football club was in the clue.
Frisbee is a trademarked name, and the discs aren't really frisbees. I was talking to a guy who told me he was once an avid player. He explained that they have different discs for different purposes, and that high end discs can cost upwards of $100 or more. Some are now collectors items and are highly sought after. It was all new to me. Had no idea until I asked him what that frisbee looking thing was. I was glad when another patron walked into his shop and I could make a retreat.
Nice job Gary and C.C.
Good morning!
ZIPped right through this one in near record time. Even noticed the theme along the way. Macdonald was the only one I didn't recognize. Very nice. Thanx, Gary and C.C. (Triassic [three distinct rock layers], Triceratops [three horned face], Triceps [three headed muscle]).
Wait, never mind. He was talking about Disc Golf, not Ultimate.
White rabbit, white rabbit.
This was another fine puzzle from the prolific GARY LARSON . My unknowns: RABBI BEN EZRA and RABE as clued.
Tom, AC Milan, in full Associazione Calcio Milan is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs.
Thanks for the FRISBEE information.
Pleasant Sunday puzzle. Didn’t get many of the acrosses the first time through, but better with the downs, then the themes became pretty obvious, and was able to finish fairly quickly. Only DNFs were CSPAN and BATAAN. House shower clue had me baffled, was thinking in the real estate agent realm.
Now a long wait until my Patriots play at 8:30 tonight. I am getting a little footballed-out this holiday weekend.
YNEN looked off but I certainly know a ZIT from a NIT. FIR-1. Drat.
I finally figured out CSPAN. After grok'ing Show-er . I was all wet on caRTE <SORTE. The WAG of CESAR and the V8 of TULSAN saved that area.
The theme answers filled a lot of boxes. I still think some posters will find this XW difficult.
WC
Good Morning:
This was a fun, enjoyable solve but, alas, a FIW due to the Retake/Theta crossing; I had Remake and Thema, both of which looked fine. Anyway, I also goofed (but corrected) on Genial before Social (This was before I caught the theme), Tsarina/Tsarist, Jurassic/Triassic, and Idaho/Texas. (CSO to our Texas contingent!) I needed perps for Eosin and AC Milan. Wasn't keen on Sagy or Cellared but liked the Zip and Zit duo. Other CSOs went to CC (Olios), Lucina (Olas), Abejo (Tea) and Hatoolah (Susan sans Lazy!). My favorite C/A was House shower=CSPAN and my favorite themer was Careless Montana=Sloppy Joe. Miles Davis came slowly because my brain focused on Bette, Geena, and Ossie for a long time.
Thanks, Gary, for a Sunday treat and thanks, CC, for the interesting guided tour. Those first two lines of Browning's poem were very familiar, but I always thought they were directed to his wife. (Your turkey looks delicious and perfectly cooked.)
Unless there is a shift in the storm's path, I think we're going to get clobbered, beginning this afternoon and continuing until Tuesday morning. I'm prepared as I was foolish enough to brave the supermarket's frenzied crowd yesterday. Saturday's are always daunting but a Saturday before a snowstorm is a nightmare. Well, I survived, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Have a great day.
Musings
-AVOW/RAWER seemed so right at the start
-DELTA is not the plane angle and the march HUT was military and O L _ S O N required an E not an L or an S
-TWINKIES out, CUPCAKES in
-As is my wont on the final Sunday themer, I got DOMINANT GENE without reading the clue
-Jim CARREY’s tortured soul
-Don’t most people put an extra syllable in Westminster?
-My MIL’s “House shower” was an agent and we ASKED FOR $169,000 and got $160,000
-Buddy EBSEN was the first choice for The Tin Man, not Ray Bolger
-Lombardy region was on the map in my write-up yesterday
Well after a very late night driving back from Baton Rouge and watching LSU beat Texas A&M, I opened the paper this morning and when I started to work the puzzle I realized after a few clues that the paper printed the puzzle from LAST SUNDAY. I'll go to the LA Times site and download it later.
LSU 12-0
Go Tigers
Theme came quickly, except for MILES. Like IM, I was thinking of Bette, Geena, and Ossie for a long time.
Two bad cells. I spelled BATAAN with two T's instead of two A's, so I didn't find the S in CSPAN and CESAR.
Oenophiles know about cellaring wine. I have heard of cellaring as a novel reader. Like most people, we drink young wine.
Cellaring wine
My grandma called a bag a poke.
Google says, "A poke is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as "poque" and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding "ette" or "et"—hence "pocket" began life with the meaning "small bag".
In Williamsburg, we saw that a small bag like a pocket on a string was tied around a woman's waist under her gown which had a slit to provide access. In later years the pocket was attached to the dress seam.
When I was little I heard this nursery rhyme and wondered how you could lose a pocket:"Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it; Not a penny was there in it, Only ribbon round it."
Live animals used to be carried home in a bag or poke. I always assumed the bag was made of burlap. If you buy a pig already bagged and don't look inside you are buying a pig in a poke. You really haven't examined the pig or whether it actually is one, so you could be cheated. IMO, a pig in a poke has to be quite young or it would be too heavy to carry.
If someone says “don't look a gift horse in the mouth,” it means that when you receive a gift, do not be ungrateful.
Don't question the value of a gift. The proverb refers to the practice of evaluating the age of a horse by looking at its teeth.
I know someone who turns every birthday card over to see how much it cost. IMO that's rude.
I enjoyed figuring out the themers, but stared at BuTAAN for a tad too long. Maybe too many names, but it didn't take long to finish.
FIR, but erased ash for LEO (fire sign), rko for MGM, LEAPT at, oles for OLAS, walton for OLESON (Merlin doesn't spell it that way, so I remained confused until CC 'splained it), and hand up for fixing "agent" and "battan".
Santa YNEZ was easy because we had a switching center there. Abejo was probably there.
TESLA is a green car because it takes a lot of taxpayer greenbacks to make them. Another case of government subsidies for the rich.
Unlike statute miles, NAUTICAL MILES actually means something. To wit - one minute of latitude.
I thought that Gary left out a letter when I filled EATSIT. Eatsit and die, was what we kids always said.
A Monday clue for RABE could be "broccoli style".
I always think of this TOGA scene in Animal House.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, Gary. My favorite was the fresh clue for GPS. And thanks to CC for another fun tour.
Hello, everybody--Misty's back from her Thanksgiving visit with Dad and brother in Pennsylvania last week. I really missed this blog and am so glad to be back, even though I had a lovely visit. So, fun to see a Gary Larson puzzle, along with a very helpful C.C. commentary first thing this morning. Wouldn't have gotten the theme without the help and found it a delight. Nice to revisit all those beloved figures from the past.
Nice also to see the comments coming in. Oh dear, Irish Miss, hope the snow won't be too terrible. I went to graduate school in Buffalo, and the winters were so tough. I'd go out in the morning to drive to school, and all the cars on the street would be drowned in layers of snow. I'd try to clean the one that was mine and find it was a different car once I saw the color. Then had to go to a different car and pray it was mine and start all over again. Those were the days. Glad to be living in California in my retirement.
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and have a great Sunday, everybody.
Hello everyone.
Thought Gary's opus had a neat well-crafted theme. Ultimately got it all. The NE was last to fall. Lots of clever clues.
Battening down the hatches as IM said. Our company left yesterday. Grandson headed back to Syracuse from Capital District last night; granddaughter left Albany Airport for Notre Dame this morning; before the storm hit.
Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.
DNF
(I just got tired, may go back to it if I get bored...)
Idunno,
Somewhere around Sag-y I got turned off.
If I ever ran into Sag-y stuffing,
I would immediately head for the drumsticks
to make sure they were not contaminated...
Tin man was played by Jack Haley.
Unknown@1:37: True, and the man's sine is THETA.
FIWrong. Misspelt BATtAN, and don't know much French, so CEStR seemed okay. The Bataan Death March apparently involved a lot of New Mexicans, so it gets newspaper ink on its anniversary each year.
I don't know about Jim CARREY being a recluse, but he has seemed to have switched from acting to art -- sculptur, painting, and especially (anti-Trump) political cartooning. [Thanks HG for epanding on this. Interesting if lengthy article!]
Speaking of cartooning, someone mentioned the demise of Opus and Bloom County here recently, and no one mentioned that while they were ended in 1989, they were revived in 2015 and are still going strong. I read it at Facebook, but it's also on go comics.
I thought Marco Polo as the pool game, not water polo.
Late in the day, but may as well add a l'ick.
In Brazil crowds have no impact,
No need to read the RIOT ACT!
The cops spread balm
By being calm
And exercising RIO TACT!
Sunday Lurk say...
{A}
C.C. - I think YR covered the Pig in a poke and Gift Horse (not Trojan). I was on the phone with Eldest (OU beat OkSU!) and made sure she knew her idioms. I think that makes me an idiomit :-)
Misty - I LOL'd thinking of uncovering the wrong car from snow. BIL sent me a pic of his car one year in Boston where you could barely tell where the houses were! Good luck IM :-)
TTP - LOL, I was thinking, "are you sure he wasn't explaining disc golf? I have a set of "clubs," hard & heavy ones for teeing off and a floppy one for putting into the basket. I've played ultimate too; useing a standard 150g Frisbee." and then read your @6:41.
OKL & HG - I've followed CARREY's carrier since "In Living Color," (not that I've seen all the movies). His art is pretty good and his politics delivered with (some) satire. He's still a +1 in my book.
Back to cooking... I've got MIL's ham-bone boiling down for stock in Red Beans & Rice (tonight) and Split Pea Soup (tomorrow for me & MIL; nobody else likes it). I wanted to make Hambone-Bean Soup but Youngest & DW said they were tired of it(?!?)...
*Sigh* Oh, well. They did ask for my potato soup though. Maybe next weekend.
Oh, House Shower==C-SPAN is brilliant misdirection.
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! Thought the theme was really fun & amusing, Gary, thanks! Always love your blogging, C.C.!
Started out moaning on this when not much filled on the top tier. However, this eventually worked out as I got middle clues & backfilled. Names filled in quicker on the themes than the adjectives. Got some good chuckles. I had forgotten all about PEARL Bailey until today. She was always a favorite years ago.
I got MILES right away because I had perps of __LES before I read the clue. I had also just been reading the Michael Connelly books where MILES DAVIS was mentioned. If you don't read, I doubt you are good at CWs.
Hand up for needing several tries to spell OLESON & BATAAN. EOSIN was all perps.
If it is SAGY, it is spoiled. One year my SIL, the chef, used a butter-sage rub on the turkey and absolutely ruined it for me. They didn't invite me the next year although my tongue didn't say a word about hating sage. Guess my facial expression said it all. I heard my vegan granddaughter fixed "tofu turkey". Good thing I wasn't invited. I probably would have cried. Over 20 years of cooking lovely turkeys & all the trimmings for crowds of people at my farm home. This is the thanks I get? This year the feast was bacon-wrapped pork loin from my son. I didn't miss the turkey.
PK - I like SAGE ok but a little goes a long way...
Back in college, DW made a "Hurry Curry Chicken Casserole" which was basically chicken ramen noodle (we were in college) w/ a little curry and sage. Well, she upped the sage by 3x.
Spicy? No. But later, it was like we had little pot-belly stoves in our bellies. We were warmed from insideout :-)
Cheers, -T
After printing out the puzzle managed to complete it in less than 26 minutes (which is the time for the load of clothes I put in the washer to finish) before I started filling the grid. I finished just as the buzzer buzzed. TTTP- not solving on computer means I never time myself.
D-Otto, I'll give your a TRIple on your TRIplex explanation.
C-SPAN- does anybody actually watch that? I can't imagine anything more boring that watching some House member spout about what a lobbyist has PAID him to talk about.
A few unknowns and a question. What is CDR? CD-RAM, because CD-ROM is 'read only memory'.
EOSIN, RABBI, RABE, SORTE, CESAR, AC MILAN, OLESON, CELLARED- filled by perps. The theme was obvious from ELECTRIC BILL, which made for some easy guessing.
Anon-T, in "real golf" you have to finish the hole with the same ball you started that hole with, unless you hit it in the water or lose it.
AnonT, I enjoyed your response to my snow story!
Hi everybody.
Gary asked, "Don’t most people put an extra syllable in Westminster?"
Dunno about most people but I've heard it for sure. What about the people who pronounce Realtor as Real-a-tor?
I only know one person who says real-a-tor. He says West min -ister, too.
I like salt in mashed potatoes, but not salty mashed potatoes. I like sage in stuffing, but not sagy stuffing. My son layered bacon on top of his turkey, but it did not taste like bacon. It was delicious and moist. Subtle flavoring is the answer.
T, I wish you could teleport that ham and pea soup to me. I am the only one in my family who likes it.
Anon-T,
Lemme know when you make a beef & barley soup!
My neighbor makes one, & it's driving me crazy!
(he won't tell me his recipe...)
But the whole house smells divine when he makes it!
He also makes Buffalo legs for the Superbowl.
think buffalo wings,
but with turkey legs,
& the hotttest sauce you could possibly find...
(he make it with a different sauce every year...)
So it seems I’m not the only one here who found the northeast to be the most difficult part today. Everything else filled in right away but I had to leave and come back later before that part finally fell.
Loved the theme but disliked SAGY. (The word and the taste.) I almost always enjoy the Sunday puzzle most; it’s been part of my routine for over fifty (!) years.
Good luck to those anticipating snow. Despite all the headaches it causes, I still loves me a snowy day!
BigE- You don't play the same club through, no? :-)
The discs are "clubs" in the sense of distance/toss-through-the-trees needed for the next swing. In a pinch, you can under-hand flip a disc to get out of the rough. That's my wedge :-)
BillG - I've been guilty of adding the 'A' in realtor when referring to the listings (but never the person!)
YR - I've only made split pea once (after which I learnt no one liked it). If tomorrow's is 1/2-good, I'll let you know.
CED - Oh, man. 1) the wings 2) I've gotta lookup a good recipe for beef & barley soup. I've never made it but it can't be more difficult than beer (can I reuse the Barley later?, eh?)
WikWak - I just hung up w/ Pop. Aside from us arguing politics (our favorite pastime), he told me of walking Tinker (his Chocolate Lab) this morning near the woods as snow started to fall. Ahh, if Norman Rockwell could paint that... 'Man and Dog in the Snow,' it would be known as.
Oh, and Tinker stole a loaf of fresh bread from the counter top. Bad Girl! :-)
Cheers, -T
I was thinking about Carrey & Man on the Moon (Kaufman) and stumbled upon this interview Danny DeVito did w/ Charlie Rose.
If you can't sleep, enjoy!
Now, I need to sleep so I'm going to find me some C-SPAN -- yes, BigE, some of us do watch it :-)
-T
To those with insomnia (or nothing better to do)
Did y'all know Dick Van Dyke had Andy Kaufman on his show? Did you even know DVD had a show in the '70s?
CED, that link's probably just for you :-)
Now, about a nap (Youngest is finally asleep after writing her paper; DW too from grading her class's papers).
Cheers, -T
Post a Comment