23A. *Without hesitation: HOOK LINE AND SINKER. Captain Hook.
32A *Opponent of the U.S. entry into WWII: AMERICA FIRSTER. Captain America. I only know Trump's "America First".
48A. *"Sheik of ... burning sand" in a Ray Stevens hit: AHAB THE ARAB. Captain Ahab.
67A. *Back-to-basics food regimen: CAVEMAN DIET. Captain Caveman. Also new to me.
84A. *Moments requiring decisive action: CRUNCH TIMES. Captain Crunch.
100A. *Groups that pervert justice: KANGAROO COURTS. Captain Kangaroo.
16D. *Food chain with a roundheaded spokesman: JACK IN THE BOX. Captain Jack.
61D. *1990 Paul Simon song, with "The": OBVIOUS CHILD. Captain Obvious.
112. 1865 classic not written for the characters that start the answers to starred clues: O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN.
Good to see Peter back for a Sunday puzzle. He gave us that fantastic "Smile" puzzle earlier this year.
This puzzle is very heavy in themage. Total 119 squares (Rich's minimum is 84). But the fill is still quite smooth.
Across:
1. Glimpse: ESPY.
5. Way up: ASCENT.
11. "Modern Family" network: ABC TV. We also have 26. "Young Sheldon" network: CBS.
16. Bush found in Florida: JEB.
19. Taiwanese superstar Jay: CHOU. He was Kato in "The Green Hornet". His Chou is the same as my Zhou.
20. Indiana Big Ten school: PURDUE.
21. Anne of comedy: MEARA.
22. Kerfuffle: ADO.
27. Big-eyed bird: OWL.
28. Johns in Scotland: IANS.
29. Thought of Monet: IDEE.
30. Farm team links: YOKES. Real farm team.
38. Poop out: TIRE.
39. Certain noble's domain: BARONY.
41. "Speed-the-Plow" playwright: MAMET (David)
42. Broadcasts: AIRINGS.
44. Underway, in a way: ASEA.
45. Upbraids: SCOLDS.
47. Bear witness: ATTEST.
51. Michelangelo work: PIETA.
52. Curable aliment: HAM. Looks like "Curable ailment".
55. "Death, be not proud" poet: DONNE.
56. Stylish Christian: DIOR.
57. Espresso foam: CREMA.
59. "Death Wish" star Charles: BRONSON.
63. Tire material: STEEL.
65. Unkempt: SHABBY.
66. Automation prefix: ROBO.
71. "J'Accuse...!" author: ZOLA.
72. Middle-earth tongue: ELVISH.
74. Modeling agent?: EPOXY. Plane/train model.
75. Rubber glove materials: LATEXES. Did not know this is plurable.
77. Kavanaugh colleague: ALITO.
78. Awestruck: AGOG.
79. Chile con __: cheesy Tex-Mex sauce: QUESO. I had my first bite of cheese at the age of 24. McDonald's.
81. Brit. medal: DSO. Distinguished Service Order.
82. Fountain choices: COLAS.
90. Wasatch dweller, perhaps: UTAHAN.
92. Believer: THEIST.
93. Zilch: NADA.
94. Greek letter that inspired the euro symbol: EPSILON. Unaware of the connection.
96. "__ you done?": AREN'T.
97. Aptly named Vt. ski resort: MT SNOW.
99. Small indentation: POCK.
104. Beatnik's "Got it!": I'M HIP.
106. Oscilloscope knob: DIAL.
107. Twice tetra-: OCTA.
108. PC brain: CPU.
111. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect: PEI. Born in Guangzhou.
118. Annex: ELL.
119. Action star Lundgren: DOLPH.
120. Bawl out: RAIL AT.
121. Mirrored: APED.
122. Silent consent: NOD.
123. "Hasta la vista!": SEE YA.
124. Digestion aid: ENZYME.
125. Tender in Havana: PESO.
Down:
1. Smart speaker brand: ECHO.
2. Display: SHOW.
3. Lifeguard's domain: POOL AREA.
4. Goofy laugh: YUK.
5. Drone shelter: APIARY. Not the flying drone.
6. Largest division of Islam: SUNNI.
7. Dramatic mus. marking: CRESC.
8. Writer LeShan: EDA.
9. Vow taker: NUN.
10. Youngest of nine Kennedy siblings: TED.
11. In the thick of: AMIDST.
12. "John Brown's Body" poet: BENET.
13. Self-indulgent sort: CAKE EATER. New phrase to me.
14. Numero di colori on the Italian flag: TRE.
15. Verb associated with mileage: VARY.
17. Stefan of tennis: EDBERG.
18. Heads: BOSSES.
24. Legal encumbrance: LIEN.
25. Horse fathers: SIRES.
31. Elevator guy: OTIS.
33. Ancient Dead Sea kingdom: MOAB.
34. Dino's love: AMORE.
35. FDR's dog: FALA.
36. Cinephile's website: IMDB.
37. "Hud" director Martin: RITT
39. Barnyard bleat: BAA.
40. Tray filler: ASH.
43. Come to, as an agreement: REACH.
45. Medicinal shrub: SENNA.
46. Spam holder: CAN. Spam Musubi. I'll probably still dip this in the wasabi & soy sauce mixture. I'm going to try this one after my current tube runs out.
47. Garlicky sauce: AIOLI.
49. NFL stats: TDS.
50. Bootlegger's haul: HOOCH.
51. Variegated: PIED.
53. Mosey: AMBLE.
54. Chichén Itzá builders: MAYAS.
56. Overrule: DENY.
58. Bulldoze: RAZE.
59. Basketful on the table: BREAD. And 60. Basketful on the table: ROLLS. And 115. Indian 59-Down: NAN. Here are some Chinese Man Tou. We just steam.
62. "__ isn't!": emphatic rebuttal: NO IT.
63. Industrial settler?: SMOG.
64. Duty: TAX.
65. Tuck away: STASH.
68. Like the Impossible Burger: VEGAN.
69. Heroic poem: EPOS.
70. Pick: ELECT.
73. San Bernardino Co. is part of it: SOCAL.
76. Tater __: TOT.
78. Bing Crosby's role in "Robin and the 7 Hoods": ALAN ADALE. Learning moment for me also.
79. Westernmost South American capital: QUITO.
80. Young __: UNS.
83. Reluctant assent: OH OK.
84. One-named singer: CHER.
85. Vegas rival: RENO.
86. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr.: INST.
87. Guy's grooming portmanteau: MANSCAPE.
88. Pre-1868 Tokyo: EDO.
89. Jug band instrument: SAW.
91. __ bar: TIKI.
92. Cheery refrain: TRA LA.
94. Auto-injector brand: EPIPEN.
95. Big citrus fruit: POMELO. Thick-skinned.
96. __ Raisin, British whodunit sleuth named for a British writer: AGATHA. Helpful clue.
97. Change in form: MUTATE.
98. Something under the sink: TRAP.
101. Chilly: NIPPY.
102. With feigned shyness: COYLY.
103. Logical "razor" creator: OCCAM.
105. Bean bags?: PODS.
109. Bakery array: PIES.
110. Reverse: UNDO.
113. Iowa college: COE.
114. Spleen: IRE.
116. "Les __": MIZ.
117. Stout source: TAP.
C.C.
DNF and FIWrong, what I did finish. A-and-e instead of ABC-TV, eARn > VARY, and a natick at nOK?S + EDB?RG.
ReplyDeleteLots of w/os, too many to list. If you had a w/o, I probably did the same.
I'll take a CSO at UTAHAN, even tho I only lived in the Wasatch for a year at BYU.
FLN: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Does your man look SHABBY?
There is something you can do.
Tell him to get savvy,
MANSCAPING he must get into.
Tame those unruly whiskers,
Perhaps some styling gel.
If they're still resisters,
Then shave them off to hell!
If he likes his CAVEMAN look
Don't you RAIL and SCOLD.
Just tell him that he's a kook
And lock him out in the cold!
If he tries mansplaining
How his rugged looks appeal
Just ignore what he is saying,
Tell him he will have to deal!
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
Never heard of O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN. Was familiar with each of the captains in the theme answers except CAVEMAN.
Not familiar with that Paul Simon song.
Yep. I got HAM and wondered. Finally saw the difference in spelling.
Rich threw in "Upbraids" to reinforce it to those that did not get it last time. He also came back with a puzzle that had UTAHAN in it.
Is the Impossible Burger truly VEGAN ? I seem to recall reading an article saying it wasn't.
Just in the last couple of weeks I watched a bit of AGATHA Raisin on either the local PBS station or the MHz Worldview channel.
C.C., re: CAKE EATER for "Self-indulgent sort"... Someone that has their cake and eats it too (although the proverb is that you can't). A wealthy person.
I let ALAN ADALE stay only because the perps seemed solid. No idea. Never saw it.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected. Found the article(s). The Impossible Burger is vegan, but not necessarily healthy:
"The Impossible Burger's nutrition profile is fairly close to the Beyond Burger’s: zero dietary cholesterol but not much lower than ground beef in fat and saturated fat. Plus, it has more sodium than beef."
"While it is vegan, it’s certainly no wholesome veggie burger!" "While seeing The Impossible Burger on a menu can feel like a godsend to vegans and vegetarians at a restaurant, this burger should be treated as an indulgence in the same way a healthy omnivorous eater would view a standard cheeseburger. It’s fine on occasion..."
"The burger’s high level of saturated fat is the biggest detriment to its perceived health halo, along with its sodium content and lack of whole food ingredients."
Have read the Impossible Burger is cooked on the same grill as the regular burgers. So it has fat from the real meat. BTW, it tastes like cardboard.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteIANS did not lure me into the LOOS trap. Knew as soon as I entered it that ASTA was wrong, and corrected it to FALA. Those were the only bright spots. Once again California gave me fits. With BRANSON, DSM, DING, and ADD in place, OBVIOUS CHILD was anything but obvious. Finally got that area resolved, but still failed in the end. QUITO started life as CUSCO. Got most of that straightened out, but still finished with CUESO crossing CUITO. Had I looked at it, I would've known it should be a Q, but I didn't look. Bzzzzt! DNF. Still, it was an enjoyable outing. Thanx, Peter and C.C.
ECHO: No smart speakers chez d-o. Luddite? Troglodyte? Take yer pick.
CAKE EATER: Learning moment. Lotus Eater, yes, Cake Eater, no.
Alan-a-Dale came to me immediately. In my ute I was a big Robinhood fan, and I remembered that Alan-a-Dale had been a wandering minstrel. Obvious choice for der Bingle.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the puzzle and liked that there were so many Captains. I never heard of Captain Caveman, though. I think that there could have been a way to make ABCTV and CBS consistent within the same puzzle, though.
ReplyDeleteThis was a toughie for me. I think it was a fair puzzle, but I was not synced into the clues. Even when I finished, it didn’t feel like I got it all, but I did. Only vaguely familiar with the book in the theme, but once I got that it helped fill in the long answers.
ReplyDeleteMy Patriots won yesterday, and looked good doing it. You should all agree Brady deserves one more Super Bowl win before he retires. I think it’s his last year.
Just went on YouTube to look up OBVIOUS CHILD. The first time I'd ever heard the song. Good reason I didn't finish the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Famous AMERICA FIRST spokesperson opposed FALA’s master
-As we learned recently, KATO worked for The Lone Ranger’s descendant
-25 PURDUE graduates have been astronauts - Here ya go!
-MLB is going to greatly reduce their farm teams
-I saw ailment too not the food going down the alimentary canal
-Not until 24 yrs old, C.C.? Wow!
-NUNS are hard to come by these days
-Interesting AGATHA learning
-Off to the nursing home
I thought I had no chance because of all of the names, but I slogged it through. Didn’t see the theme until I was finished. My favorite day of the year today with more sun each day coming up.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter Koetters and C.C.
I finished most of this on my own but the CAVEMANDIET and The OBVIOUS CHILD gave me trouble and so I LIU. Otherwise it was a smooth solve and I recognized the various CAPTAINS except the one mentioned.
I have had some drama here in the last 12 hours. Yesterday a cable man came to upgrade my system and install another box in the bedroom. While doing so he drilled a hole in the outside wall and hit a water pipe. Obviously the water had to be shut off and a plumber had to called to repair the pipe. No upgrade to the cable. Then the plumber's drill bit broke and he didn't have a replacement. Hence, we were without water overnight. Luckily we have bottled water to make do.
Now another plumber is here and will get the job done. After that another repair person has to be called to patch up the hole. DirectTV/ATT will, of course, pay the costs. To put it mildly, it is really inconvenient!
I hope you are all having a much better day!
ReplyDeleteLucina, that is really a shame, especially at this time of year.
Delightful Sunday puzzle, Peter--many thanks. And your commentary is always a wonderful help, C.C.--thank you for that too. My first entry was NUN (the only other vow takers would be people getting married) and then I got TED, which together gave me PURDUE. And so I was on my way. ADO and YOKES gave me JACK, so I took a chance on JACK IN THE BOX, which turned out to be a big help in working my way down the east puzzle side. Another really helpful clue was the one for BAA, which gave me BARONY--another big help, which later got me APIARY. And so it went, with lots of fun figures appearing, like CHER and MEARA. I did need help in the end with some of the long answers, but really enjoyed the experience--thanks, again, Peter.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you worked MANSCAPING and other puzzle words into your poem, Owen.
Sorry to hear about that terrible house fixing experience, Lucina. Hope all gets repaired soon.
I'm hosting my annual Christmas party tomorrow night, so may not have time to check into the blog for a couple days. But I wish you all a wonderful holiday coming up.
Lucina, I'm so sorry about the cableman mishap. Sounds dreadful. I hope it's repaired quickly.
ReplyDeleteI stayed with this puzzle, and finished, but FIW in so many places. I put musical instrument SAx for SAW. Thus, never got MT. SNOW, etc, etc. I didn't really get the theme either until I read CC's write up. I know Whitman's poem. I just didn't put it together with the various captains.
I've tried the impossible burger at Carl Jr's and hated it. Tasted terrible.
Thank you Peter and C.C. for a fun Sunday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTheme answers were witty, though I didn’t know all the captains.
Hungry Mother, ME TOO anticipating longer and longer days!
Hi everybody,
ReplyDeleteI sure enjoyed this puzzle with its tricky and clever cluing. Thanks.
Lucina, I'm sure sorry for your repair woes. I hope it's all fixed by now. Good luck!
SNOWBALL
by Shel Silverstein
I made myself a snowball,
As perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet,
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas,
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first--it wet the bed.
Hi y'all! Enjoyed the challenge and the amusing theme, Peter! Thanks. Great commentary, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteC.C.: Age 24 for your first cheese. I'm wondering if you liked it and eat cheese now.
This puzzle filled with a lot of perps & WAGS & tooing/froing. Not doable for me without red-letter runs in a few places. Quito took 4 perps before I remembered the "Q". I had a map of South America hanging on my fridge for a couple years trying to memorize names of countries & capitals. Only vaguely successful. About half the person's names in the puzzles were totally unknown.
Hand up for "ailment", but I didn't know what "aliment" meant anyway. HAM was ESP & a big surprise.
Vegan burgers: I have no desire to eat fake food or vegan. I believe in the sanctity of the food chain for carnivores. My mother was always on a diet. She came up with so many unpalatable concoctions -- like cauliflower-based salad dressing. I'd rather just eat the cauliflower and other salad participants without anything on it.
Happy Holidays this week everyone! My children & I won't get together until next weekend. Hope I'm well enough to go. Supposed to be rainy. One kid's family has to come from out of state. Always anxious until everything comes together or doesn't.
Lucina: Good luck with the house repairs.
ReplyDeleteExcellent puzzle; I liked it a lot. So well constructed.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the good wishes. I really just wanted to share my frustration with you, my Blog Friends, and I appreciate your responses. The water is now back on and someone is here to work on the wall and cover the hole. I'm thankful for all those workmen coming out today.
ReplyDeleteThis was a steady solve - recognizing the "Captain" theme helped with filling in the theme answers - except when I didn't know the Captain eg. CAPTAIN CAVEMAN I'm looking at you. OBVIOUS CHILD took every perp to solve. Just when I've gotten used to Utahn being acceptable, an answer throws back in the UTAHAN that I'm more used to.
ReplyDeleteI associated "CAKE EATER" with Marie Antoinette who had no compassion for the poor not having any bread, and was supposedly to have said "Let them eat cake"! So not just rich people but callous rich people!
Thanks CC and Brian!
Happy Anniversary a day late Lemonade!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Peter Koetters, for fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw ALIMENT as AILMENT. Got HAM with perps. Thought it might mean Hamstring. After coming here I saw the word as ALIMENT. Looked it up and it means food. Therefore, HAM is a curable food. I will have to learn to read the fine print a little better.
Took me a while to catch the theme. Got AHAB THE ARAB, then HOOK LINE AND SINKER, The CAVEMAN DIET. After getting O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN with perps, I plugged CAPTAIN into the starred answers that I had. That gave it to me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Lucina: Best of luck with your household woes. One thing always leads to another, it seems.
1D ECHO. We have a couple and like them.
OBVIOUS CHILD was unknown. With 12 perps, how could I miss!
Well, I have to run. We had 16 people over last night for dinner. Our church Koinonia Group. This is our 35th year of doing this. The HoneyBaked ham is always the star of the evening. Now I have to do the dishes.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Drone bees do fly. In order to mate, they have huge … eyes (What else were you expecting?) to help them find the flying queen. After mating, the drones drop to the ground and die. Someone in Miami is suing Burger King because their Impossible Whopper was cooked along with the beef patties. Did BK advertise it as vegan? I heard they will cook it separately if you request it.
ReplyDeleteI eat vegan most of the time; I have an occasional fish meal. I’ve never felt better. I’m still running distances up to 50K and doing triathlons. I grill Beyond Meat burgers and Beyond meat sausage weekly. I even have my omnivore wife on board for those plant-based meals per week.
ReplyDeleteLucina, you were not late with the anniversary wishes as the celebration continued until 10 minutes ago when Oo went off to bed. We had a very special weekend. She is a bit worn out. She does love POMELO
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed the other PK's puzzles as they always take my mind wandering.
AGATHA RAISIN one of two series written by MARION CHESNEY GIBBONS writing under the pen name M.C. BEATON . I prefer the HAMISH MACBETH books, but both characters are a fun read. Since there are over 30 of each you could have much reading your future.
I agree ALIMENT was the hardest clue but I live across from a canal.
Good, tough puzzle. Thanks to Peter, who really knows how to bury an answer and to C.C., whom I always enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteHand up for reading ALIMENT as AILMENT and making more work for myself. Even after HAM got filled in by perps I didn’t see it correctly. And I have known aliment as a word ever since jr high science introduced the ALIMENTary canal as part of a unit on human body systems!
I also did myself in by reading HORSE FATHERS as HORSE FEATHERS. (I know, I know.)
All of the long theme fills came quickly and we had to read “O Captain my Captain“ in English class somewhere along the line, so that went in easily—and I still didn’t suss the theme! Humbug. And add me to the list of those not ever having heard of Capt Caveman.
As long as we’re putting names on lists, also add me to those who looked at OBVIOUS CHILD and said “Paul Simon? Really?”
D-O, hand up for having known Alan-a-Dale since forever due to much reading of Robin Hood stories as a young’un.
Lucina, I am glad your problems were resolved. That’s never any fun.
Christmas is at our house this year, so off to the decorating wars. See ya.
Does anyone remember the movie, Dead Poet Society, in which Robin Williams played the teacher whose students recited, O, CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN? As usual, Robin was brilliant.
ReplyDeletePeter Koetters, the puzzlemaker here. Thanks all for the kind words and just criticisms. It's a pleasure to have my work enjoyed by such a magnamimous crowd.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking on some of the theme entries that generated discussion: I did wish I could find an "America ___" phrase of the right length other than "Firster," but because it is an awkward construct, not than I thought it would offend. Point taken. "Obvious ___" is a tough one, but I love Captain Obvious on the commercials, so I had to include it too. Finally, I'm actually surprised at how little known Captain Caveman seems to be. He even had his own cereal! Perhaps you have to be from my particular era. Little known fact: Mel Blanc did the voice.
Anyway, thanks again!
Sunday Lurk say...
ReplyDeleteHi All! Back from Norman with Eldest in tow. We made good time even with two stops: Collin Street Bakery for lunch (and to pickup a Fruit Cake to find out what the fuss is about) and Cooper's Peach Farm where we gassed up and picked up a jar of whole preserved peaches, some pickles, and coffee (Eldest got a peach latte). We had a hoot during the 7h drive.
Lucina - Oy! The begat system. One thing leads to another...
//Years ago someone doing work in our apt hit the sewer-vent line with their drill. It was behind the washer & dryer near the kitchen. Every few days a foul smell would fill the living space. Took them forever to find out why things smelled like s*** every few days (as the wind blew).
Here's your Dead Poets Society clip.
Peter - had I done your puzzle, Captain Caveman would be Obvious.
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeleteDash T, after looking up Captain Caveman yesterday, I thought you might have known of the cartoon.
Enjoy the fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery. I take it you stopped in Corsicana. We got them from the Waco location.
Enjoyable, well constructed puzzle with lots to like. Crossing an obscure captain with an obscure Paul Simon song a bit dubious. Even after I looked both of those up both are still kind of .... “well I guess they exist but ????”
ReplyDelete