Theme: A Call to Arms Rams Mars
20A. Mars: FOURTH PLANET. The "Mars" part of Gustav Holst's "Planet Suite" is a cracking piece of music, and probably inspired more "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"-type themes than any other. Lots 'o notes in the score shown below:
33A. Mars: CHOCOLATE BAR. In the great Anglo-American confusion stakes, the Mars Bar and the Milky Way provide yet another example. The UK Mars Bar and Milky Way are similar to the US Milky Way and Three Musketeers respectively, while the US Mars Bar is similar to a Snickers bar, which until recently was called a Marathon bar in the UK. Clear? There'll be a quiz at the end.
41A. Mars: POP STAR BRUNO. I like Bruno Mars. This track from British producer and songwriter Mark Ronson is actually credited "Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars", but of course everyone thinks of it as a Bruno Mars song. It's hella catchy though! The video was filmed on 20th Century Fox's "New York Street" set in LA, you can see the lighting mounts on top of the buildings in a couple of the shots.
53A. Mars: SON OF JUPITER. God of War, too.
Fun theme from Joe today. There seemed to be quite a few proper names in the fill, but if the crosses are solid for names unknown I've got no problem with that. SPARTACUS and EXORCISMS in the downs are excellently done, crossing no fewer than three theme entries each.
Four entries not seen before in the LA Times, including RUTHIE which surprised me.
Let's see what else there is to muse on:
Across:
1. Baseball Hall of Famer Speaker: TRIS. Note the capitalized "S" in "Speaker" that tells us we're looking for a name. Tris Speaker, of whom I had never heard until today. Tricky start at 1A, but the crosses were solid.
5. Big name in interstellar communication: UHURA Lt. Uhuru, communications officer and translator on the starship "Enterprise" in Star Trek. Nice clue to this useful crossword name.
10. Window part: SASH. Tried "PANE". Was wrong.
14. Rope fiber: HEMP
15. Weighs an empty container on, as a deli scale: TARES. I got there in the end, but I'd not heard the word used before. I wanted something on the "zeroes out" line like your kitchen scales. The crosses let me to the "oh!" moment.
16. Oberlin's state: OHIO. A town best known for its liberal arts and music college.
17. "Frozen" sister: ELSA. I must get around to watching "Frozen" one day, then I might not having to keep guessing at the frequent references to the characters; two in today's puzzle.
18. Early 2010s Mideast anti-government movement: ARAB SPRING
22. American Red Cross founder: BARTON. Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton, American Civil War nurse and ... patent clerk? What is it with patent clerks - Einstein was one too.
23. Silently understood: TACIT
27. Creative nuggets: IDEAS
28. "Me too": AS AM I
32. "Te __": Rihanna song: AMO
36. Giants manager before Bochy: ALOU. Felipe of the Alou clan. He's still associated with the club in a "Special Assistant" capacity.
39. "Two Women" Oscar winner: LOREN
40. Valentine letters: XOXO
44. Number one woman?: EVE
45. Plan B lead-in: IF NOT
46. CBS news anchor Barnett: ERROL
50. It's in your jeans: DENIM. Hmm, I get the wordplay with the clue, but denim isn't really "in" your jeans, more "is" your jeans. Bar the zipper, buttons, optional rivets - and currently hipster slashes.
52. Gap: LACUNA. Often a gap in a text or manuscript.
58. Yellow mollusk that became the U.C. Santa Cruz mascot: BANANA SLUG. "Best nickname in College Basketball" according to ESPN.
61. Booted, say: SHOD
62. __ rug: AREA
63. Oozy stuff: SLIME. You can buy Banana Slug merchandise with "I've Been Slimed" on it.
64. "Hands off!": MINE!
65. __ chic: GEEK. A fashion trend, or a now-defunct manufacturer of high-end gaming tables.
66. Big name in baseball cards: TOPPS
67. Fortuneteller: SEER
Down:
1. DOJ division since 1908: THE FBI. Bit odd this one, with "The" tacked on the front, no? I think the clue would be better written as "A DOJ division ... " to include the article.
2. Browser's circular arrow function: RELOAD
3. "No doubt about it!": I'M SURE!
4. Gladiator played by Kirk Douglas: SPARTACUS
5. Jazz aficionado?: UTAHN. Basketball team from Salt Lake City. I like the word, it's got a nice unusual letter progression.
6. Angelic strings: HARP
7. Risk territory between Ukraine and Siberia: URAL
8. First name in country: REBA
9. Org.: ASSN.
10. Ish: SORTA
11. Big tuna: AHI. I've got some in my freezer right now waiting to be sushi'd for Christmas Day family pot-luck.
12. Do wrong: SIN
13. Refuse to share: HOG
19. __ four: small cake: PETIT
21. Peter of reggae: TOSH
24. Mexican resort, for short: CABO
25. Big-screen format: IMAX
26. Capa attacker: TORO. Bullfighting, the bull attacking the matador's cape. Also the best cut of tuna for sushi - the fatty part of the belly.
28. Some kind of a nut: ACORN
29. Kevin who played Hercules on TV: SORBO. Thank you, crosses.
30. On one's toes: ALERT
31. Premier League rival of Arsenal, familiarly: MAN. U. England soccer. I won't go on a bore-fest here, but Manchester United and Arsenal are not really rivals, they compete in the same league, that's all. The real rivalry for Arsenal is with Tottenham Hotspur, their North London neighbors. Man. U's true rivals are the other mancunians Manchester City and fellow Merseysiders Liverpool.
I don't know when you cross over from competitor to rival - it's the same here, especially in college sports. Take the PAC 12 - Oregon/Oregon State, Cal/Stanford, USC/UCLA are all rivalries, but none of the schools would consider fellow-confererence member Utah a rival.
34. "Frozen" snowman: OLAF
35. Ways of dealing with inner demons?: EXORCISMS. Is the red cartoon fellow on your shoulder with a trident whispering temptations in your ear an outer demon?
36. Made like: APED
37. Word with bird or nest: LOVE
38. Go first: OPEN
42. Pumbaa's "The Lion King" pal: TIMON. Where would we be without Disney crossword clues? Athens, that's where.
43. __ tide: NEAP
47. Foster of folk music: RUTHIE. Thank you, crosses. I should buy Crosses a drink today for all the help.
48. Impossible NFL score: ONE ONE. Any other score "non-one" score is theoretically possible in football, although in some cases highly unlikely. I did see a scoreboard reading "2-4" a few years ago where a college game was well into the second quarter and the only points registered at that stage in the game were three safeties.
49. Pantry: LARDER. There's an oh-so-subtle difference between the two - a larder originally was cooler than a pantry and used to store meat, milk and other foodstuffs likely to spoil faster. The pantry was where you kept your dry goods, spices and what-not. Nowadays synonymous, and perfectly OK.
51. "Wicked Game" singer Chris: ISAAK. I always want to call him ISAAC until a cross clunks me (cluncs me?) on the top of the head and tells me not to be so silly.
52. Olympic racers: LUGES. Want to slide at 80 miles an hour downhill, feet-first lying on a tray? No, me either. The doubles event is even crazier.
54. Condé __: NAST
55. Nobel ceremony city: OSLO
56. Lose one's cool: FLIP
57. Leap: JUMP
58. Carry-on unit: BAG
59. "__ you serious?": ARE
60. Used to be called: NÉE
Well, I've run out of stuff to talk about, so I'd better stick a fork in this one and call it done.
Steve
20A. Mars: FOURTH PLANET. The "Mars" part of Gustav Holst's "Planet Suite" is a cracking piece of music, and probably inspired more "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"-type themes than any other. Lots 'o notes in the score shown below:
33A. Mars: CHOCOLATE BAR. In the great Anglo-American confusion stakes, the Mars Bar and the Milky Way provide yet another example. The UK Mars Bar and Milky Way are similar to the US Milky Way and Three Musketeers respectively, while the US Mars Bar is similar to a Snickers bar, which until recently was called a Marathon bar in the UK. Clear? There'll be a quiz at the end.
41A. Mars: POP STAR BRUNO. I like Bruno Mars. This track from British producer and songwriter Mark Ronson is actually credited "Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars", but of course everyone thinks of it as a Bruno Mars song. It's hella catchy though! The video was filmed on 20th Century Fox's "New York Street" set in LA, you can see the lighting mounts on top of the buildings in a couple of the shots.
53A. Mars: SON OF JUPITER. God of War, too.
Fun theme from Joe today. There seemed to be quite a few proper names in the fill, but if the crosses are solid for names unknown I've got no problem with that. SPARTACUS and EXORCISMS in the downs are excellently done, crossing no fewer than three theme entries each.
Four entries not seen before in the LA Times, including RUTHIE which surprised me.
Let's see what else there is to muse on:
Across:
1. Baseball Hall of Famer Speaker: TRIS. Note the capitalized "S" in "Speaker" that tells us we're looking for a name. Tris Speaker, of whom I had never heard until today. Tricky start at 1A, but the crosses were solid.
5. Big name in interstellar communication: UHURA Lt. Uhuru, communications officer and translator on the starship "Enterprise" in Star Trek. Nice clue to this useful crossword name.
10. Window part: SASH. Tried "PANE". Was wrong.
14. Rope fiber: HEMP
15. Weighs an empty container on, as a deli scale: TARES. I got there in the end, but I'd not heard the word used before. I wanted something on the "zeroes out" line like your kitchen scales. The crosses let me to the "oh!" moment.
16. Oberlin's state: OHIO. A town best known for its liberal arts and music college.
17. "Frozen" sister: ELSA. I must get around to watching "Frozen" one day, then I might not having to keep guessing at the frequent references to the characters; two in today's puzzle.
18. Early 2010s Mideast anti-government movement: ARAB SPRING
22. American Red Cross founder: BARTON. Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton, American Civil War nurse and ... patent clerk? What is it with patent clerks - Einstein was one too.
23. Silently understood: TACIT
27. Creative nuggets: IDEAS
28. "Me too": AS AM I
32. "Te __": Rihanna song: AMO
36. Giants manager before Bochy: ALOU. Felipe of the Alou clan. He's still associated with the club in a "Special Assistant" capacity.
39. "Two Women" Oscar winner: LOREN
40. Valentine letters: XOXO
44. Number one woman?: EVE
45. Plan B lead-in: IF NOT
46. CBS news anchor Barnett: ERROL
50. It's in your jeans: DENIM. Hmm, I get the wordplay with the clue, but denim isn't really "in" your jeans, more "is" your jeans. Bar the zipper, buttons, optional rivets - and currently hipster slashes.
52. Gap: LACUNA. Often a gap in a text or manuscript.
58. Yellow mollusk that became the U.C. Santa Cruz mascot: BANANA SLUG. "Best nickname in College Basketball" according to ESPN.
61. Booted, say: SHOD
62. __ rug: AREA
63. Oozy stuff: SLIME. You can buy Banana Slug merchandise with "I've Been Slimed" on it.
64. "Hands off!": MINE!
65. __ chic: GEEK. A fashion trend, or a now-defunct manufacturer of high-end gaming tables.
66. Big name in baseball cards: TOPPS
67. Fortuneteller: SEER
Down:
1. DOJ division since 1908: THE FBI. Bit odd this one, with "The" tacked on the front, no? I think the clue would be better written as "A DOJ division ... " to include the article.
2. Browser's circular arrow function: RELOAD
3. "No doubt about it!": I'M SURE!
4. Gladiator played by Kirk Douglas: SPARTACUS
5. Jazz aficionado?: UTAHN. Basketball team from Salt Lake City. I like the word, it's got a nice unusual letter progression.
6. Angelic strings: HARP
7. Risk territory between Ukraine and Siberia: URAL
8. First name in country: REBA
9. Org.: ASSN.
10. Ish: SORTA
11. Big tuna: AHI. I've got some in my freezer right now waiting to be sushi'd for Christmas Day family pot-luck.
12. Do wrong: SIN
13. Refuse to share: HOG
19. __ four: small cake: PETIT
21. Peter of reggae: TOSH
24. Mexican resort, for short: CABO
25. Big-screen format: IMAX
26. Capa attacker: TORO. Bullfighting, the bull attacking the matador's cape. Also the best cut of tuna for sushi - the fatty part of the belly.
28. Some kind of a nut: ACORN
29. Kevin who played Hercules on TV: SORBO. Thank you, crosses.
30. On one's toes: ALERT
31. Premier League rival of Arsenal, familiarly: MAN. U. England soccer. I won't go on a bore-fest here, but Manchester United and Arsenal are not really rivals, they compete in the same league, that's all. The real rivalry for Arsenal is with Tottenham Hotspur, their North London neighbors. Man. U's true rivals are the other mancunians Manchester City and fellow Merseysiders Liverpool.
I don't know when you cross over from competitor to rival - it's the same here, especially in college sports. Take the PAC 12 - Oregon/Oregon State, Cal/Stanford, USC/UCLA are all rivalries, but none of the schools would consider fellow-confererence member Utah a rival.
34. "Frozen" snowman: OLAF
35. Ways of dealing with inner demons?: EXORCISMS. Is the red cartoon fellow on your shoulder with a trident whispering temptations in your ear an outer demon?
36. Made like: APED
37. Word with bird or nest: LOVE
38. Go first: OPEN
42. Pumbaa's "The Lion King" pal: TIMON. Where would we be without Disney crossword clues? Athens, that's where.
43. __ tide: NEAP
47. Foster of folk music: RUTHIE. Thank you, crosses. I should buy Crosses a drink today for all the help.
48. Impossible NFL score: ONE ONE. Any other score "non-one" score is theoretically possible in football, although in some cases highly unlikely. I did see a scoreboard reading "2-4" a few years ago where a college game was well into the second quarter and the only points registered at that stage in the game were three safeties.
49. Pantry: LARDER. There's an oh-so-subtle difference between the two - a larder originally was cooler than a pantry and used to store meat, milk and other foodstuffs likely to spoil faster. The pantry was where you kept your dry goods, spices and what-not. Nowadays synonymous, and perfectly OK.
51. "Wicked Game" singer Chris: ISAAK. I always want to call him ISAAC until a cross clunks me (cluncs me?) on the top of the head and tells me not to be so silly.
52. Olympic racers: LUGES. Want to slide at 80 miles an hour downhill, feet-first lying on a tray? No, me either. The doubles event is even crazier.
54. Condé __: NAST
55. Nobel ceremony city: OSLO
56. Lose one's cool: FLIP
57. Leap: JUMP
58. Carry-on unit: BAG
59. "__ you serious?": ARE
60. Used to be called: NÉE
Well, I've run out of stuff to talk about, so I'd better stick a fork in this one and call it done.
Steve
44 comments:
Carol and I FIR.
Good morning Cornerites.
Thank you Joe Deeney for your enjoyable Thursday CW.
Thank you Steve for your excellent review.
16 A - Oberlin's state: OHIO. A town best known for its liberal arts and music college. When I was dating, we went to Oberlin because they had a pizza house, and a movie theater.
Ðave
This one is a strange FIRight for me. I still had a bunch of white in the SE corner, and was sure some of what I did have there was wrong, especially ONE-ONE. So I gave in and turned on the red. "No incorrect letters". Well! I finally finished. ERROL and RUTHIE were completely unknown, SHOD filled in where I had started with AXED and OUST, and LARDER and LACUNA finally came to mind. LACUNA is a word I just recently learned from a science fiction story entitled "Lacuna Beach" about a lawyer with memory gaps. (At story's end, we find they are a hypnotic cure for PTSD from an environmental disaster.)
Most unbelievable c/a: "It's in your jeans" = _ENI_ ! That's just evil, Rich. Evil!
I need an EXORCISM to get out the door
And I blame it on that demon PETIT FOUR!
Now I am so wide
I cannot get outside!
Since I'm stuck I guess may as well have more!
How many of you saw Roman Mars' Greek alter-ego in 15a? Since I've never seen that word verbed before, giving it the S at the end, I'm sure that was intended on purpose as an easter egg.
It's bulging in my jeans.
I intend it to be seen.
It gets so blue
With wanting you --
The DENIM is what I means!
And a rude take on yesterday's discussion,
regarding a rude naval(?) idiom:
When it gets so cold the sea turns glass
And icicles form on a seaman's ass,
The coldest it gets
On a sailing trip
Is when the balls fall off the monkey brass!
{A-, B+, R+.}
An enjoyable Thursday both puzzle and write-up. I had the hardest time remembering how to spell SORBO. We have a late CSO to KIRK DOUGLAS ; two unknowns as clued - CBS news anchor Barnett: ERROL and Foster of folk music: RUTHIE . We also have the bizarre Impossible NFL score: ONE ONE .
12-12 to you all
Good morning!
WAGged the U at the RUTHIE/LACUNA cross, and came here to get my comeuppance. Wow, it was right. Who gnU? Nice to see SORTA getting the respect it deserves. My postage scale has a "TARE" button, so that one was a gimme. Nice outing from both Joe and Steve. Thanx.
FIR, but erased tres for GEEK and snap for FLIP.
"Trouser trout" was too long for "it's in your jeans", but I didn't see Rich's _ENI_ 'til OKL IDed it. And "Booker" was too short for "Gladiator played by Kirk Douglas".
I once belonged to MARS - Military Auxiliary Radio System - as a ham operator. IIRC, that's where Field Day started.
A friend was once the head of HR at Mars. Unusual for a company that large to be family owned.
Thanks to Joe for the challenge. I didn't know how I had done until I looked at the crib. And thanks to Steve for the tour. I'm glad you were here to 'splain the soccer stuff.
I was lucky to survive this trivia fest. So many names, so little wordplay.
Took 7:22. Never heard of Ruthie, Tosh, or Errol. Lacuna was new too. At least the crosses were friendly. Originally had sill instead of sash - good thing I wasn't stubborn this morning.
Creative puzzle and amusing blog - fun way to start the day - along with "Uptown Funk" in the background which was a popular song at my cardio dance class a year or so ago. I filled in TORO with perps but needed to come to the blog to find out Capa is Spanish for cape.
LACUNA was familiar to me as a medical term as a gap or cavity- it comes from the Latin for lake/lagoon like the town in Wisconsin FOND du LAC. In anatomy it can be there on purpose like in the bone or it can be a problem like in the brain - if a person has a very small stroke in certain parts of the brain you see it on a scan and it is then called a LACUNAr infarct.
Thanks Steve and Joe!
Am I the only one who put “the red planet” for 20 across?? I knew Spartacus was right, but never thought of fourth planet so the whole NW corner had me stumped!
Hola!
Owen, I'm still laughing at your first verse! All the others are funny, too.
Thank you, Joe Deeney, for today's astral grid! And thank you, Steve, for the detailed commentary about soccer and all other obscurities (to me). If you're taking sushi to the Christmas potluck you'd be welcome at my daughter's home.
It's always called THE FBI so I don't see a problem there. CSO to my nephew Jason who was in THE FBI for several years.
Whew! I'm glad the near-Natick of LACUNA/RUTHIE was affirmed. Neither is familiar to me so I took a guess on them. I do know of Chris ISAAK and by now both characters from Frozen are in my wheelhouse, ELSA and OLAF whose name I don't need to mentally debate if it ends in F or V. Danish kings bring on the conflict.
Oberlin College appears in many novels I've read.
REBA immediately emerged since it's one of the few first names I know in country music.
TRIS? I may have heard of TRIS Speaker and what were his parents thinking to name him TRIS?
Kevin SORBO is a stranger to me but by now ALOU is well known.
One of the cabinets in my kitchen I euphemistically call a pantry. It's tall and narrow with many shelves and holds all the dry foods and cans.
This was fun.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
What a slog. I couldn't find much to enjoy here. Way too many proper names and trivia. Crossing proper names with more uncommon proper names is really getting to be annoying. Who says as am I for me too? BTW I liked the theme.
Good morning all.
Difficult slog through Joe Deeney’s construct.
Thanks OwenKL for lightening up my mood with your poetry.
At first pass I almost gave up when I saw so many clues requiring names of people unknown to me.
I finally dared start at the top right with SASH and HOG and worked my way clockwise around the grid. I managed to fill all except the #5 square. Did not know UHURA and even after checking the review could not get how Jazz connected to UTAHN.
Anyhows have a great day.
The Sun is shining, no wind so the Brass Monkey is not suffering as severely as a few days ago . Cheers
inanehiker:
Thank you for explaining LACUNA. I meant to research it and you have saved me the trouble as well as providing clear understanding of the term.
Good Morning:
I can't remember a week day puzzle that had this many proper names: I counted at least 30, which is way too many, IMO. As Steve said, the perps were fair, but as Hungry Mother noted, the lack of wordplay made for a less than enjoyable solve. The "Frozen" duo tripped me up for a bit as I had Ella before Elsa and Olav before Olaf, and I erred, as well with So am I/As am I. I liked the Love ~ XOXO ~ Amo trio and Flip and Jump right next to each other. I never heard the phrase Chic Geek, but I learn some current jargon each day, it seems. The theme itself made up for the proper name onslaught; I'm always impressed by a constructor's ability to find such disparate definitions for a simple four letter word. I had too many unknowns to list but I did finish w/o help, thanks to the perps. Thought of Steve at Man U.
Thanks, Joe D., for a clever Thursday theme and thanks, Steve, for 'splainin' it all.
Have a great day.
I should quote Thumper today, but I did complete the puzzle with lots of help.
Steve's expo was the best part of the morning. I learned a lot.
Montana
Musings
-Me too - I stared at two blank cells - ER_OL/_ _THIE/LAC_NA - for a long time but deduced the correct letters somehow for a “got ‘er done”
-Same with vowel lottery at the top middle but I loved NBA UTAHN Jazz!
-“Tore open the shutters and threw up the SASH”
-TARE(S) and TARE OUT are very familiar to science teachers
-ELSA’S beautiful anthem Let It Go is wonderful advice I am trying to heed
-I told today’s constructor I was a fan of C.C.’s puzzles and Joe replied, “AS AM I”
-Why I know BANANA SLUGS
-"And now, the great SEER, soothsayer, and sage, Carnac the Magnificent." Speaker? (BTW, not TRIS)
-I really liked Steve’s expo and Owen’s and Inane’s explanation of LACUNA. This place is rife with smart people!
Good morning everyone.
A bit crunchy for me. DNK TIMON and LACUNA, so, DNF without help. Agree with Montana about Steve.
Liked the theme although I was weak on ……BRUNO and BANANA SLUGs. Wasn't sure about GEEK chic, but it sounded good.
Have a great day.
It was a toughie I thought, but got it done. Never heard of LACUNA or LARDER, but had all the fills and guessed on the A connection and got it right! Three baseball references, which I knew, so that helped.
So my little adventure yesterday. Went up to the Montreal Casino. First, we got detained at the Canadian Customs for about 40 minutes as they apparently did a detailed background check. That has never happened to me ever, and I’ve crossed the border hundreds of times in my life. Then we get a ticket (I wasn’t driving) 10 miles into Quebec in a classic speed trap. Then we all lose our shirts at the Casino, playing against Blackjack dealers that couldn’t bust. Then we crawl home in a snow squall that hit Montreal right at rush hour. It was a sunny, gorgeous drive up there, but there are no windows in the Casino, so we were surprised by the snow when we got ready to leave. I love Canada, but glad to be back in the USA!
Growing up in the Bay Area, and a hiker as a ke, I was always on the lookout for BANANA slugs. I never stapped on one, thank the gods.
I agree with others that there were a few too many names. It took Red Letters to make it through the grid today. I did like the Mars theme and managed to get them all.
My Son-in-Law worked at Mars in NJ as a software weenie and then a financial analyst for a number of years. My Choco-holic daughter benefited from the free candy that he was able to bring home every day. Employees could take home whatever candy they could carry in their hands at the of the day from a box in the building's lobby. No bags, pockets or containers allowed.
Snow squalls yesterday and now it's bright and sunny with a temperature of 16° this morning. I think winter is upon us.
Have a great day everyone.
No prob. Today's names didn't really bother me, except where I needed two Us.
The first was at the intersection of UHURA and URAL. It could have been either ARAL or URAL, but then remembered it wasn't UHaRA.
The second was the intersection of RUTHIE and LACUNA. U was the only letter that made sense to me for both answers. That was my last fill.
Did seem like it took a little longer than recent Thursdays, but I wouldn't call it a slog.
ONE ZERO would be the other impossible NFL score, but there weren't enough spaces.
J from VT, funny story.
Adele, I did too! Had the R in Spartacus, so I thought it was a sure thing.
Tristram Edgar Speaker, nicknamed "The Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345. His 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. Wikipedia
JB2
Hand up I thought the center was absurdly stuffed with obscure name crosses. I know Sofia LOREN from movies on TV as a child, but I never heard of "Two Women". I only know BRUNO MARS because DW is a fan.
Here is a BANANA SLUG I found leading a hike awhile back.
When I first came to California I only knew one person. A high school friend who was going to UC Santa Cruz. I took the Greyhound bus over to stay with him there a few days. Somewhere I must have photos.
Here are a few more photos from that hike.
From yesterday:
Jinx I loved your comment "For a while I thought FARMERSTAN was a country in the Middle East that we hadn't gotten around to invading yet."
CanadianEh I would be very interested in connecting and hearing your views on the treaties. Can you please email me at earthmanrobert (at) gmail.com ? Your profile does not list an email address.
Too many proper nouns!! No fun!
Well,
at 1st I was not going to post anything...
2nd thought was Bah Humbug!
(3rd thought was Thumper...)
Then I got stopped @ 42d & have to ask,
what has Timon & Puumba to do with Athens?
(all subsequent thinking sidetracked...)
Thank you HG for that Visual of the Banana Slugs T-shirt
(Banana Slugs now have meaning...)
No thank you Picard for that visual of a real Banana Slug!
(P.S. that hike does not look like California, but does look like fun!)
Hmm, kinda rankled that I did not get Uhura right away.
(sure could have used her help in getting on the constructors wavelength...)
WHich has me wondering, what's really happening on Mars?
& what will happen when we actually get there?
Obligatory joke.
Sadly, I am getting too old, & may never see us turn into Martians.
Nasa! a little help please!
Although I will watch an animated movie, I don’t watch those aimed squarely at tykes, so I’ve never seem FROZEN, nor will I. Toy Story, Cars, UP, Wall-E (especially good) are wonderful. IMHO.
My kitchen scale has TARE right on it.
FIR, but too many names, two thirds of which were easy and one third of which were obscure.
As Hungry Mother said, "I would have preferred more word play." Picard, I agree the center was a real PIA. I rarely write fun sponge or Thumper, but here they are!
I liked the theme, but stumbled over quite a few of the proper names. I wanted STEVEN Foster but it was not to be. It turns out his name was Stephen anyway.
Like Steve, I tried PANE, which, as he said, was wrong. I learned PLAN A was not the lead in to Plan B.
I, too, almost shot coffee out my nose when I filled -ENI- as the answer to "It's in your jeans."
Owen, I loved your poems today, and enjoyed reading your comments.
I learned Clara Barton was a patent clerk.
I'm glad evolution gave us banana slugs. I think they are way cool. Thanks for the photo of one, Picard.
When I was a young lad the house we lived in had a pantry, a LARDER, and a butler's pantry.
That was quite an adventure, jfromvt. Thanks for relating it.
I was going to make a joke about Misty living in LACUNA Beach, but it turns out it isn't funny.
Good wishes to you all.
Yes, 30 is way too many.
Ta ~ DA!
Yup! - Got 'em all, although many came through only via perps. *#@! proper nouns!
I believe Oberlin was a major station on the Underground Railroad. It certainly was a breeding ground for abolitionists. My ex-wife was a grad.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One mirror-side diagonal.
It doesn't offer much in the way of vowels, so the anagram potential is slight. One possibility tells us how cavemen used to start fires. They...
"HIT FLINTS"!
Another impossible NFL score is two-one. Yes, a safety is two points but it is not possible for the score to be two-one. Challenging and entertaining offering from Mr. Deeney.
@CED - I was thinking about how one would clue "Timon" if you weren't using Disney movies. The only alternative I could come up with was Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens". It's not one of the best-known, but it is in the First Folio.
Hi Y'all! Groan, Joe Deeney! Too many obscure names & words.
Thank you, red-letters! I filled it, but would not have without you.
Thank you, Steve, for your courageous reporting.
Steve,
Holy Cr*p,
talk about obscure...
But,
If I were a constructor,
(& possibly why I am not...)
I would have clued,
Byrd at first!
1) Tim On...
2) Byrd? (He was an Oriole...)
3) I'm hoping CC would like this clue...
(It's a stretch of seventh inning proportions...)
Hi All!
WEES - names! I had all my MARS long before the puzzle was completed. Hand-up for WAG'n' that U in LACUNA.
Thanks Joe for the puzzle. Thank you Steve for your wit in exposing the grid and confirming a win (didn't know if R in LOREN/SORBO was right either).
WOs: Simba b/f D'uh!, I wanted Green Revolution b/f ARAB SPRING (ink'd the G before I counted squares), weST b/f NASH, so AM I.
ESPs: there were 30 names? Ok, then, 26 fills is too many to list :-)
Fav: BANANA SLUG just 'cuz I remember this from Hasan Minhaj. (thanks HG & Picard for pix!)
{A+, B, A}
Funny DR, OMK.
FLN - WC: 20 seconds of that song? That's endurance :-)
JB2 @11:19 - thanks for TRIS info. I LIU, great player that I never heard of!
jfromvt - I guess, nowadays, Canadians are more suspect of US below the Great White North. I've never had issues with customs up there (as long as it wasn't for work). What say you, C,Eh!, with us Americans sneaking over your boarder :-)
oc4 - what a great fringe-bennie form Mars! When I was younger, I could eat two candy bars + a diet coke and call that lunch. My metabolism wouldn't deal now [see: OKL's #1] :-)
CED - I'm glad you stopped in. We all needed your levity on Mars.
Wait, Byrd who? Aach!
Cheers, -T
My father gave me"The Connie Mack Baseball Book when I was 11. I read it as my Bible and TRIS* was prominently mentioned. I patterned my CF play after him and my 13 year old coach was an ex MLB'er who installed me in CF.**
UHURA will bring my friend Picard to the CC fersure
I liked TARE but the perp solid UTAHN threw me until I thought of the NBA
Owen, I couldn't figure out what TARES had to do with MARS. Then the V8. How do you do it?
Btw, A, R, X
I thought OMK would be the first to mention Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" but Steve caught it. FAIAP, It's a CSO to OMK. Btw, St Paul mentions TIMON. I had to LIU Acts(6.5)(not St Paul)
Re. XW. Lot of white esp w pop-cul refs. Chic<GEEK;Snap<FLIP;EXeRCIses_;Do<AM. Inky mess in places. But the cool theme helped. Pleased to FIR.
WC
* Someone in here knew TRIS Speaker(PK?) He played for the Redsox then Cleveland and finally the Philadelphia Athletics with Ty Cobb.
** Which kept me off the mound
Thanks for the thought, Wilbur. But I didn't comment on TIMON because it was one of my last fills. I did not remember the little critter's name and that he shared it with ol' Will's play. It finally came to me through perps.
So I guess it was because I was slow to catch on that I felt little "ownership" of it.
Anon T ~ Thanks! We work with what we get.
I don't see Misty here today. She reported computer trouble in the Jumble room. I hope it's not too serious.
~ OMK
OMK, that's funny that I would have picked that up. I thought it was one of those later plays for which the authorship was contested .
One Will source I've read is the prose Shakespeare by the author who called himself Elia.
As I write I forget who that was even though those four letters are an xword staple.
.
WC
PS. As far as the TIMON in Acts of the Apostles, I have no idea except it was buried in my brain. Or Steve's
The 3 hardest things to say:
1. I was wrong.
2. I need help.
3. Worcestershire sauce
Thank you for asking about me, Ol'Man Keith. The computer problem kept me from doing the Crossword and getting on the blog this morning, though I did the Jumble. My university Tech support guy will come tomorrow and help me with the problem, I hope. But thank you for your kind concern.
Tortuous Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Joe and Steve.
I "did" this CW this morning but didn't make it here. Glad that it wasn't just me who had trouble with all the names.
(Can I work AS AM I into that sentence?). But this Grandma knew ELSA and OLAF.
Thanks inanehiker for reminding me how I knew LACUNA.
I'll join Montana and say Thumper (to join TIMON today).
Do you really say UTAHN?
BANANA SLUG was a learning moment for this Canadian. Do they lead hikes, Picard!😀
Jtfromvt - one never knows any more in crossing the border (AnonT, I think the only boarders we had were draft dodgers back in the 60s😀) what officious customs agent you might encounter, or what possible threat they may have been told to investigate. And with all the information about us loaded into their computers, it might take some time. Perhaps they have a quota system in which they must make a fuller investigation of every 10th vehicle. But it certainly does not encourage cross- border tourism. Yesterday we had that blizzard that blew up out of nowhere, created a few hours of bad roads and then disappeared.
Picard, I will email you re my CUSMA views, but it might not be until next week as I have a busy few days coming up.
Good evening to you all.
Racisms that need to be prohibited from crossword puzzle answers (if not also from clues): DORK, DWEEB, GEEK, NERD.
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