Theme Back to Front - each theme entry reverses direction.
20A. Parvenu's business venture?: UPSTART STARTUP
25A. Quarterback's nonchalant move?: OFFHAND HAND-OFF. As demonstrated by Penn State QB Antony Morelli to RB Austin Scott.
42A. Down Under withdrawal?: OUTBACK BACKOUT
48A. TSA agent's perfected search technique?: DOWN PAT PAT-DOWN. I've had more than my share of these in my time.
A very neat theme from Robert, and going by the blog history this is his LA Times debut. I don't see him in any of the other major publications, so congratulations if this is indeed the first.
A quick Google search turns up a gentleman here in Los Angeles who is an accomplished pastry chef, cookbook author and lecturer on the culinary delights that are the dessert course. Are they one and the same?
Let's look and see what we've got to chew on in the fill!
Across:
1. Diamond problem: FLAW
5. Plush carpet: SHAG
9. Test versions: BETAS
14. Feminist poet Adrienne: RICH
the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.
From "Diving into the Wreck" (1972)
15. It's partially submerged: HULL. I tried HULK at first but that led to the odd-looking GKUT. Happy coincidence with the extract above!
16. Valuable violin: AMATI. Could be "STRAD" so wait for some confirmation.
17. Italian wine region: ASTI. If you only do crosswords, you'd think this was the only wine region in Italy. Strictly speaking, Asti isn't a wine region, it's part of the Piedmont region and a DOCG.
18. Founder of Edom: ESAU. Thank you, crosses.
19. R2-D2 or BB-8, e.g.: ROBOT. or Droid. Both characters from "Star Wars", the former much more familiar than the latter.
23. Beantown NHL nickname: ESPO. Boston Bruins legend Phil Esposito.
24. "__ whiz!": GEE
32. Vague time period: WHILE
33. Spots for AirPods: EARS. Fun clue. AirPods are those wireless Apple earbuds. Personally I'd rather have my earbuds connected, so I don't lose one or drop one down a drain (and I would!) They're also ferociously expensive.
34. One may be decorated for the holidays: FIR
35. Sprightly: AIRY
36. Marmalade bits: RINDS
38. __ Ren, "Star Wars" villain: KYLO. More "Star Wars". Completely unknown to me, but the crosses were sound.
39. Trig. function: COS. I remember SOHCAHTOA from my high school math days, but I've no idea what the significance of the cosine being a function of length of the adjacent side of the triangle over the hypotenuse. It was terribly important when I was 15, but I've not really needed it since. The hypotenuse does feature in a rather jolly Gilbert and Sullivan song, here rendered by the English National Opera.
40. Aloha State bird: NENE
41. Plumlike fruit: SLOES
46. Disney doe: ENA, or "Aunt Ena" as she is known in the movie.
47. It's just over a foot: SHIN
55. Tropical porch: LANAI
56. Murdoch who received the 1978 Booker Prize for "The Sea, the Sea": IRIS. It could have been Rupert, as his tabloid empire published as much fiction as the entire history of Booker prize nominees and winners combined and still continues to do so.
57. "What's the big __?": IDEA
58. Habituate: INURE
59. Retail outlet: MART
60. Mattress option: KING
61. Zaps: TASES
62. Neverland pirate: SMEE
63. What this puzzle does here: ENDS. I like this, but it's an item for friendly argument. In numerical order, indeed it's the last clue, but in the common style of across, then down, then the end would be LIT in this puzzle. My puzzle ended with DENEB when the crosses helped me out.
Down:
1. German spouse: FRAU. Could be "HERR" so don't jump to conclusions.
2. Speech therapy target: LISP
3. Tries to look: ACTS
4. Plant leaf pest: WHITEFLY
5. Himalayan guide: SHERPA
6. "Prizzi's Honor" director or actress: HUSTON. Anjelica, the actress, and father John, the director.
7. Word of regret: ALAS, poor Yorick!
8. Excess: GLUT
9. Scrubby wastelands: BARRENS. This as a
10. Chewed the scenery: EMOTED
11. Perfume that sounds forbidden: TABU. Apparently, it "features a dazzling mixture of jasmine, narcissus, rose, ylang-ylang and amber notes." So now you know. Suitably dazzled.
12. Surmounting: ATOP
13. "Pull up a chair": SIT
21. Arthur in the International Tennis Hall of Fame: ASHE
22. Seaweed-based thickeners: AGARS
25. Buckeye State sch.: OHIO U. They're the Bobcats, the Buckeyes, with something of a lack of imagination, are Ohio State, or THE Ohio State University, as they like to style themselves.
26. Leading: FIRST
27. Brightest star in Cygnus: DENEB
28. Taken in: HAD
29. "All Because __": 2005 U2 song: OF YOU. Not one of their best-known tracks, but the video is a lot of fun.
30. Steakhouse order: FILET
31. Picked dos: 'FROS
32. Dr Pepper Museum city: WACO. I've been to the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta. It was oddly very interesting.
36. Postgame postmortem: RECAP
37. Skin pics: INK
38. Yukon gold rush region: KLONDIKE
40. Au pairs: NANNIES
41. Burlesque bit: SKIT
43. "'__ the Jabberwock, my son!'": Carroll: BEWARE "... Beware the Jabberwock, and shun the frumious bandersnatch." What a great flight of fancy that poem is.
Interestingly, in some published versions, the line is "Beware the Jabberwock, and shun. The frumious bandersnatch". I'll try to find a copy of the manuscript to check this one out, but I suspect the period is a mistake because the first line of each verse is capitalized per the convention of the day.
"Beware the Jabberwock and shun
The frumious bandersnatch".
44. Have great plans: ASPIRE
45. Pure: CHASTE
48. Mike's "Wayne's World" co-star: DANA. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.
49. Obligation: ONUS. Sometimes a burden. If it's an obligation it's on us.
50. Gets in the crosshairs, with "at": AIMS
51. Disneyland transport: TRAM
52. Norse god: ODIN
53. Make (one's way): WEND
54. Old horses: NAGS. Old horses never die, they just say "neigh".
55. Put a match to: LIT
... and I think that pretty much wraps it up. An enjoyable debut from Robert. Here's the grid!
Steve
37 comments:
Hi Y'all! Unusual and fun puzzle, thanks, Robert! Great expo, Steve!
The theme was WAGable with perps from the START UP. Kind of easier than expected for Thursday.
KLONDIKE is in my vocabulary & also in my refrigerator because of the Bars.
Peels was more appealing at first than RINDS. Not much to chew on for our foody Steve.
I've been near the New Jersey Pine Barrens, I think.
Back when my youngest was a teen, he brought home the "Wayne's World" video tape for family viewing far too often. Came in handy today.
DNK: KYLO, ESAU, Adrienne RICH, ESPO, DENEB. Yay, perps!
Good morning!
Where Robert zigged, d-o zagged with BERG/HULL, DROID/ROBOT, PEELS (Hi, PK)/RINDS, ad nauseum. I knew DENEB, but had to wag the C in ACTS. I still don't get how ACTS = "Tries to look" -- anybody? Nice debut, Robert. Enjoyed the tour, Steve. (I saw what you did misspelling DOG with that extra C, or did you misspell DOC with an extra G? Never heard of a "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita".)
Good morning. Thank you, Robert, and welcome on your debut. Thank you, Steve.
Bounced around with no particular approach in mind. Just wherever the clues and answers flowed. Almost tripped on BEWARE with the "Habituated" clue.
Desper-otto, for ACTS, I think the clue should have been "Tries to look like".
Yep. It's Ohio University and THE Ohio State University to avoid confusion.
- Ohio State was the land grant university and is in Columbus.
- Ohio University is SE from Columbus in Athens, Ohio.
- LSU QB Joe Burrows' father Jim coached at Ohio U. They lived in The Plains, near Athens. Joe graduated in 3 years from Ohio State before becoming a grad student transfer to LSU.
FIR (a CSO to most Cornerites today), but like DO didn't understand ACTS and DNK RICH. I'm guessing that if I put on a flapper dress and say "why don't you come up and see me some time" I would ACT (like) Mae West. My puzzle ended with that WAG. Erased berg (DO again), firm for KING, hook for SMEE, and ahead for FIRST.
I thought that Miami (of Ohio) would have been more Thursdayish than OHIO U.
My hand would have shot up if the question was "where is the Pepsi museum?". Beautiful, downtown New Bern, NC.
Thanks to Robert and Steve for all the fun.
Very easy theme and puzzle. Lots of ways to clue Waco.
The theme revealed itself quickly today, which lead to an under 9-minute solve.
Some people act (or "try to look") interested, or distinguished, etc.
Barrens is new to me.
This puzzle was easy because the clever theme suggested the long fills. The helpful theme made this a Wednesday level IMO. I enjoyed the word play, so that made it worthwhile.
The only total unknown was KYLO, quickly perped. The names did not hold me up, but I still prefer words to names.
As a New Jerseyite, the Pine Barrens are very familiar as a proper noun. I hiked in the Pine Barrens with my hiking club and canoed a river through the barrens with Alan and his special needs Boy Scouts. Alan's paddling assistance was needed going up river. He was thrilled to do almost all the paddling going back down. I just dipped a paddle in from time to time to course correct.
Steve, thanks for the G&S clip. I love G&S.
Also, thanks for the info about the wine regions.
I appreciated that word in the bottom right was ENDS, technical or not, that seemed like the end or last word to me. Just my opinion.
The Pine Bush west of Albany are also described as pine BARRENS, I'd guess because the in the glacial, sandy soil not much else will grow. There are pine barrens from New England thru Virginia, Kentucky and out to Wisconsin.
Getting UPSTART STARTUP right off the bat made this puzzle an easier puzzle for me. HUSTON, RICH, KYLO, DENEB, EASU & DANA were perps.
The "partially submerged" clue had me 'under water' for a few seconds. Ditto for the ACTS clue. I'm not familiar with the song "All Because OF YOU" but it was and easy guess.
Gotta go.
Good Morning:
Because of the theme being so obvious, this solve was way too easy and fast for a Thursday. Not a complaint, simply a personal experience. My favorite themer was Down Pat Pat Down because I filled it in with no hesitation and no helpful hints; it was that easy. My only true unknowns were Kylo and White Fly. I have never heard anything other than the dreaded Black Flies; then again, I'm not a gardener. I liked the Sit ~ Lit duo.
Thanks, Robert, and congrats on your debut here and thanks, Steve, for entertaining and educating us so smoothly. You're in extra fine fettle this morning!
SwampCat, don't be such a stranger.
Madame Defarge, I hope you're feeling better and will chime in soon. We miss you!
Have a great day.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Robert (congrats on your debut) and Steve.
I wandered around this CW as the Downs seemed to fill faster than the Acrosses. But ENDS was appropriately located for me.
My first theme fill was DOWNPAT PATDOWN which illuminated the other themers. But several inkblots. For some reason, my German was deficit today and I entered Haus before FRAU. I was shopping at the Mall before the MART. And as per my post the other day, I prefer Enure to INURE (but I put a match to it and entered the I).
I had Front before FIRST, and thought of Nepali before SHERPA perped. (Same with Thor-ODIN)
American geography review for me today trying to remember Beantown, which state is the Buckeye one, and Dr. Pepper city. (I was very far away at first because I had Sin instead of COS and with the SO, I entered Oslo! - Really!?)
My nose wrinkled with a meh! at FROS (never heard it shortened to that!) and Taken in=HAD. I agree that "Tries to look like" would have improved the clue to ACTS.
One Sloe, two SLOES. We don't see the plural as often in CWs.
Did anyone else try to fit Tats into the space for INK?
I'm confused by Steve's "verb" comment re "Scrubby Wastelands=BARRENS". Is Wastelands not a noun here (and Scrubby an adjective)?
I smiled at NENE and LANAI.
I should buy a bottle of marmalade. DH likes it, but I am not a fan of the RINDS.
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings
-ALAS, a hasty error, HESTON looked kinda right and HELL was at least a word
-“The Statue Of Liberty Play” is an OFFHAND HAND-OFF
-Some RECAPS called this the greatest David/Goliath FB game ever
-Lovely Harry Chapin poetry - And here, she's ACTING happy, Inside her handsome home, And me, I'm flying in my taxi, Taking tips, and getting stoned, I go flying so high, when I'm stoned
-Frank Solich has been the FB coach at OHIO U for 15 years after the Huskers fired him following a ten-win season. His longtime assistant was Jimmy Burrow who was also a former Husker and father to Joe
-That museum beats remembering WACO for the Branch Davidians and the Baylor football scandal
-This great song and accompanying actual pictures show the KLONDIKE rush very well
A relatively easy FIR with perp corrections
The theme became obvious once UP (20a) was revealed at both ends with FRAU LISP and TABU ATOP. Then all that was needed was the first or last half of the answer to automatically film in n the opposite ends of the long clues.
Some dumb corrected mistakes. Went from "spry" to "wiry" finally AIRY 35a.
"What'sthe big 'deal' 57a was wrong after I realized KLONDIKE needed IDEA to fit. (Love those mini Klondike ice cream bars!)
Quickly and erroneously filled in "Hook" which wouldn't work with any perps until I changed it to Hook's chubby first mate SMEE and changed "mall" to MART.
I live not to far from Bill in Cohoes but never heard of the BARRENS.
Short term memory failure. Already forgot Bambi's aunt ENA
What was I saying?
Good morning everyone.
What a nice juicy puzzle today. Reminds me of a FILET. Once the back to front theme was sussed, the solve became easier. Only real hangup was in the West where I had 'front' way too long before finally changing it to FIRST. __NEB helped me pick DENEB, part of the summer triangle with Vega and Altair.
SHERPA is what CC calls her loyal helpers.
WEND - The highly fractured conjugation of 'to go' uses 'went' from WEND as its past tense.
The pine BARRENS in the Albany - Glens Falls corridor are a deltaic and aeolian remnant of the recession of the last glaciers, when the area was juxtaposed by a large inland lake and outflow channels from the Gt. Lakes while the ST. Lawrence was still blocked by ice.
HG
Really liked the Alaska pictures.My great grandfather Nathan Storey was a river boat captain from Nome. My grandmother Vesta Storey Sheldon raced sled dogs in Nome. I have some of her trophies. My mother Jane Sheldon Swart was born in Nome. I have some neat pictures of early Nome.
KerryS_from_Carefree
Hola!
This puzzle could have been a flop for me with the sports clues but with enough downward fill that I know, the solve was quick.
Mentally I debated between Herr and FRAU, saw that ASTI would fit and so FRAU won its place. That describes most of my solving efforts. BARRENS is completely new to me so thank you to all who have experienced them and can speak about them. I was going for steppes.
I agree that "tries to look like" would have completed the clue and aptly describe ACTS. EMOTED on the opposite side somewhat balances it.
My T-BONE changed to FILET when FIR occurred to me. FROS is not as common as afros but it's used. Also, firm before KING.
All's well that ENDS well so I'm happy about that.
Thank you, Robert Wemischner, and if this is your debut, congratulations! Steve, your observations rock! Thank you.
Have a beautiful day, everyone! Mani, pedi day today.
FIW,
Can't remember a puzzle where the theme was so easy,
& I got totally flummoxed by the fill...
Wees on Heston/hell, but I left it,
but since when is hell only half submerged???
The middle left also got me,
with the "F" in front, & the "T" in back,
I could only think leading was "front," not first...
And the only town ending in "O" I could think of was Oslo!
Left me in a bit of a mess...
32A vague time period = Ohrly?
35A Spritely=sioy???
39A Lon (Longtitude???)
ALright, I have no excuse for sioy, (I just gave up...)
Which brings me to DOCG??? (Where the hull is that?)
(must be submerged somewhere...)
So I looked up wine regions. & could not find Asti?
Ah! there it is!
So what the heck is a DOCG?
@CED - the Italian equivalent of the French "Appellation Contrôlée" certifying the geographical origin of a wine. Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
Delightful Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Robert. I was cheered by the way some of the top filled in very quickly, and that gave me UPSTART START-UP, which was a good start to guessing the theme process. But the down areas were a bit more challenging, though I thought DOWN PAT PAT DOWN was pretty cute. Nice to see IRIS Murdoch in the puzzle. Had trouble with that mattress even though KLONDIKE gave me the K for the start. Oh, KING, for heaven's sake, I sleep on one every night and should have gotten it quickly. Anyway, lots of fun, thanks again, Robert. And I always enjoy our commentary, Steve.
Have a good day, everybody.
Well this Thursday grid had a bit of crunch to it.
I dislike this type of gimmick puzzle because as soon as you figure one out, it fills half of the rest. Thursday puzzles should require more effort with less “gimmes” IMO.
Otherwise a nice debut puzzle.
Write-overs....ENA/ESA, DEAL/IDEA. No one else?
And on to Friday.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Robert Wemischner, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for fine review.
Got a few across the top and then had enough letters to get UPSTART STARTUP. So, I had the theme. The others fell quickly. I thought I was in Hog Heaven!
I finished this in the doctor's office waiting room. Had my examination and now I am home. He changed one of my glaucoma eye drops.
Couple tough ones: KYLO, ESAU,RINDS, INURE, DANA, DENEB, HUSTON, perps got me through all these.
Husker Gary: Liked the Johnny Horton song and pictures.
Lots to do this afternoon. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Once again thank goodness for the blog. I stared and stared but could not see how 'acts' came from 'tries to look'. That could have driven me crazy all day!
HG - hand up with thanks for the interesting link re North to Alaska song & photos.
I started to enter Alaska, realized it was too short, and then realized that Yukon was a Canadian territory and KLONDIKE was the answer.
Most of those prospectors went north to Alaska and then over the mountains (and the border) to reach those gold fields. (The Canadian route was much harder.) Alaskan tent and shack towns of Skagway and Dyea were the jumping off points for the 600-mile trek to the goldfields. To prevent mass starvation in the remote and inaccessible Yukon Territory, the Canadian government required every stampeder bring a year's supply of goods before crossing the border.
TonOfGoods
Heartrending to see that line of hopeful people climbing up the mountain with visions of gold and prosperity, when we now know the odds of survival, let alone wealth, were miniscule.
Do Americans know Robert Service (Cremation of Sam McGee) and Pierre Berton (The Klondike Fever et al)??
Picard - I finally got back to you.
CanadianEh!, that's one of my favorite poems..."Was that night on the marge of Lake LeBarge I cremated Sam McGee." Great stuff. Right up there with Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman: "The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees. The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas..." Hey, I can't help it my taste runs to doggerel.
Fun puzzle. I enjoy play on word themes. Once I got the first one, the others were pretty obvious. Has been an easy week so far. Maybe I was a bit too harsh on my comments for the Tuesday puzzle, so my apologies two days later..lol...
I'm with desper-otto about doggerel. Those two poems are my absolute favorites. I mean, "ghostly galleon", wow.
I liked the puzzle and the theme. Like some of you I tried DEAL before IDEA, PEELS before RINDS, HOOK before SMEE, didn't know KYLO at all, and waited for a perp or two to determine whether that mattress would be SOFT, HARD, FIRM, or something else. Ah, size not firmness.
Wishing you all a good day.
So it wasn't Orr so it must be ESPO(c below)
I was suggesting xwords for a friend's ADD. I told him a list of xword Staples: I forgot ENA. And ASHE. And ESAU.
PK, but I haven't seen a BOGO or even a decent discount on those KLONDIKE
Bars. I liked the mint. But not at $5/pkg
Marmalade is my go-to spread. If there's NAE RINDS it's NAE marmalade. What I really miss is Howard's piccalilli*
Agree that easy theme made otherwise difficult perping easier.
WC
What a great xword word, eh?
Steve@12:04
Thank you!,
You saved me from trying to Dog that WAG...
(W.A.G. = Wild Ass Guess in XWords...)
(Oh dear, if I have to explain my absurdities,
we are in for a long post...)
Canadian Eh! Thank you for that incredibly informative link,
TonOfGoods
There is something for everyone there!
For instance,
In the internal link, "33 miles from dyea to Lake Bennett."
I found:
Everyone thought he was crazy, but the Stampeder who brought in a scow-load of kittens to Dawson that summer of 1898, made out like a bandit, selling the kittens to lonely miners craving for the companionship of a pet at an ounce of gold per kitten.
Holy Cow! I could have made out like a bandit!
& last, but definitely least,
I had a terrible time trying to find silly theme links.
But I did have a little better luck with the self invented theme name:
front to back...
or maybe not...
Wait!
There's more!
Digging deeper into the links,
I found:
Nestled between rocks and boulders near the top of Chilkoot Pass are over 50 bundles. Most bundles consist of canvas wrapped around pieces of wood. Though they initially appear to be tents or bedrolls, they are canvas boats, long abandoned 16 miles from the ocean, over 3000 ft above sea level on a mountain pass.
Boats?!?!
Fascinating!
But there is more to this puzzle!:
They tried to unravel one of these canvas bundles
in an attempt to explain history,
& this is what they found:
They counted a total of 72 pieces of wood frame and one large piece of canvas. Rotted pieces of wood were duplicated and the canvas was measured and recreated with fresh material. The team then assembled one of the boats. On the rib assembly process the memo notes "[w]e can't explain how this would have been done originally, unless the wood was green and could be bent." In the end the team produced a constructed canvas boat that appears larger than suggested by the bundle of canvas and wood. Somewhat mysteriously though, they had an extra piece left over.
(Hmm, sounds like this boat came from Ikea...)
CED, those two (3:21) were even better than usual. Very excellent!
Anonymous @10:50
Sounds like in your family
"Be it ever so humble there's no place like...NOME!"
After I retired from Shippensburg University, I taught for three years at Richard Stockton University, located on Jimmie Leeds Road in the Pine Barrens. The Jersey Devil was born at the nearby Leeds Point. If you are ever in the area, got to the Oyster Creek Restaurant for some great seafood.
CED, You are especially, deliciously HOT today. Thx for the chuckles
WC
Sorry, my friends.
Not much to say today.
The times scream for political commentary, but that is not to be tolerated here.
~ OMK
d'otto@1:28 - glad you know and like Robert Service. Here's a great rendition by Johnny Cash
for any who haven't heard it.
CremationOfSamMcGee
And here is some info on Pierre Berton, the "voice of Canada". Maybe not as well know to Americans.
PierreBerton
CED- glad you enjoyed the Klondike link. You spent more time there than I did. Trust you to find the kitten story!
Is a Canadian allowed to LOL at your Mount Rushmore link?! (Maybe it would help OMK feel better)
C-eh:
I like Robert Service's poem and bought a copy when visiting Alaska. It appeals to that bit of western rusticity in me.
C. Eh! And D-O, I also am a huge fan of Robert Service and Pierre Berton . As a very young girl I had a friend whose father would recite several options whenever the conversation lagged. I didn’t so much memorize them as become immersed in them!!
OMK, thanks for your restraint. I feel your pain.
IM, hi!
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