"PR Blitz"
Winston puts a PR spin on some common phrases in this fairly easy Friday solve.
17. "It's been a while since I shopped till I dropped"?: LONG TIME NO SPREE.
LONG TIME NO SEE.
27. Pastoral exhortation to a graffiti artist?: SPRAY THE WORD.
SAY THE WORD.
48. Bargain hunter's forte?: PRICE FISHING.
ICE FISHING.
62. Trojan king struck dumb?: PRIAM SPEECHLESS.
I AM SPEECHLESS.
69. Ad guy responsible for four long puzzle answers?: PR MAN.
What's the difference between a rat and a squirrel ?
PR.
Despite being a fairly easy Friday solve, miscues were made along the way. Gotta get out of the habit of just throwing in the first crosswordese answer that pops into my head.
Sometimes it works:
- 4 letters to fill with a Norse clue would be either ODIN, Loki, or Thor. ODIN popped in first.
And sometimes it doesn't:
- 5 letters to fill "Present to an audience" was not orate. STAGE better fits the clue.
Fortunately, none of the initial errors created an insurmountable logjam.
Across:
1. 2019 Pan American Games city: LIMA. "Best Pan American Games ever" and A New World Record in Archery
5. Present to an audience: STAGE. Orate flew off the fingertips. After a few seconds, the backspace key erased the letters.
10. Nat's hat: CAP. MLB's Washington Nationals / baseball cap.
13. Norse deity: ODIN.
14. Syndicated show, say: RERUN. 21 Interesting Facts About Television Syndication
15. Smooth-talking: OILY. Threw in glib.
20. Revise: ALTER. Not amend today...
21. Bud: PAL.
22. Annually: A YEAR. Once a year is enough.
23. __ Cruces: LAS. Zoom in, zoom out.
25. Convent figure: ABBESS.
32. Belgian __: ALE. Chimay Grande Reserve is worth every penny.
33. Special ops acronym: SEAL. SEa, Air, and Land.
34. Some bank jobs: HEISTs. I associate this word with the original "The Italian Job" starring Michael Caine. Actually, both heist and caper.
38. Lack: WANT. Here you go, Wilbur Charles !
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
40. Set down: PLACE.
42. Bender: TOOT. Didn't know of toot as a synonym of bender (drinking spree), but know of a bender as a tool. Here's one for bending EMT thin wall. The Building (electrical) Code requires metal conduit here in Cook and DuPage counties.
43. Meddles: SNOOPs.
45. Pack (down): TAMP.
47. Mauna __: LOA. Tried Kea.
51. Moby-Dick, e.g.: ALBINO.
53. Vote in favor: AYE. Had the right letters in the wrong order with yea.
54. Many Oscar night attendees: STARs.
55. Sun, for one: ORB.
58. Social division: CASTE.
65. Sources of cones: FIRs. Plants that bear cones are conifers. Conifers doesn't fit. Firs and yews fit. Firs matched the crosses.
66. Dabbling ducks: TEALs.
67. Cable car: TRAM.
68. Fabled beast: ASS.
70. Roll call call: HERE.
Down:
1. Kinks title woman with "a dark brown voice": LOLA. Jinx linked Lola just a few days ago, so here's another Kinks hit:
Dave Davies slit the amplifier speaker to produce the distinctive sound.
2. Word after fallen or false: IDOL.
3. Like new: MINT. Often used in coin grading.
4. Actress Kinsey of "The Office": ANGELA. She played Angela Martin. Recognized the character after looking up the actor's name for the review.
5. Asian honorific: SRI. Shri, Shree, Sri, or Sree, is an Indian word denoting wealth and prosperity, primarily used as a honorific.
6. Census worker, for one: TEMP.
7. Location: AREA. Not site.
8. Legislation that varies from state to state: GUN LAW.
9. Eclectic musician Brian: ENO.
10. Prepare for print: COPYEDIT. "I say copyedit, you say copy edit"
11. Buenos __: AIRES.12. Earnest requests: PLEAs.
16. "__ Blues": Beatles "White Album" song: YER. My least favorite of the White Album tracks.
18. Cafeteria stack: TRAYs.
19. Buffalo skater: SABRE. Canadian Eh should be happy with the British English spelling.
24. Intervenes: STEPS IN.
26. Prague's region: BOHEMIA.
27. Maxims: SAWs.
28. It often undergoes changes: PLAN.
29. First female attorney general: RENO. Janet Reno at Biography.com
30. Burt's musical collaborator: HAL. Bacharach and David. You know their songs. Here's someone's Top Ten Ranking. As expected, Dionne Warwick figures prominently in the hit songs.
31. Send: ELATE. Some readers may be old enough to remember this song:
35. Arias, usually: SOLI.
36. Animation product: TOON.
37. Unattached: STAG. Not solo.
39. Joint Chiefs, for example: TOP BRASS. Pentagon bigwigs.
41. Joltin' joe?: CAF. I've never heard of just "caf", but have heard of half-caf. Accepted it since it fit. Later googled. Not sure that this is what the clue is referencing, but there's a veteran owned company named Black Rifle Coffee that has a brand name, CAF, that "...delivers twice the caffeine punch of an average coffee with a rich smoky flavor. Made for the professional coffee drinker..." Twice the caffeine ? Yes, I'd say that's a cup of joltin' joe ! They're getting a little unanticipated PR here.
Perhaps CAF is commonly used when ordering at Central Perk or Café Nervosa or Starbucks or Peet's ? I know for sure that I've been in a coffee shop on two occasions, but there may have been a third time.
44. Refracting polyhedron: PRISM.
46. Intimidate mentally, with "out": PSYCH.
49. "The Last of the Mohicans" author: COOPER. Cooper crafted a unique form of literature writing historical romances about frontier and Indian life.
50. Toast word: HEALTH.
51. Heart chambers: ATRIA.
52. Hideouts: LAIRs.
54. Banana Boat letters: SPF. Sun Protection Factor.
56. Copy room unit: REAM.
57. One sometimes seen with Boris: BELA. Karloff and Lugosi.
59. Withered: SERE.
60. Romanov title: TSAR.
61. Salinger character who says, "I prefer stories about squalor": ESME.
63. "The Racer's Edge": STP. Scientifically Treated Petroleum.
64. Gp. that sometimes has an added "Y": CSN. Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) are an occasional folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. They are titled Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) when joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member.
An example without:
An example with:
Check your grid here:
33 comments:
Good morning Corner. As TTP said, this was easy for a Friday. I did like the simplicity and the consistency of the PR theme, though I missed seeing MAD MEN somewhere in the grid. My only unknown was Actress Kinsey of "The Office": ANGELA and I needed the perps to recall "__ Blues": Beatles "White Album" song: YER .
Some real fine musical links Tom and Winston, I am impressed to see a puzzle that works the old king of Troy in the grid. Enjoy your Friday the 13th.
Hi Y'all! Thanks for the challenge, Winston! Thanks for a great expo, TTP. Loved the Folsom PRISM Blues TOON.
Unlike the guys, I didn't find this easy. This was one of those puzzles where I didn't get much of any fill on the first try: just ODIN, AREA & PRISM. I left a lot of white waiting for perps then didn't have any perps. Ah well, good old red-letters for getting some toe-holds.
Got the PR theme with the SPREE but didn't know where in the long phrases they needed to be placed.
ALBINO is not something I associated with Moby Dick. I know he was a great white fish but...
Send = Email before several other tries. ELATEd to finally hit the right one.
Guess not all my synapses are firing these days. Since my brother died a month ago, I have had four once-close friends die with some strange revelations. Now the corona virus scare while three sets of relatives are traveling. What a scary scenario we have. One good thing: I got plenty of TP already on hand.
In the West, the LAW was totin'
Six-shooters, and the GUN was loadin'
Ammo, like lightning,
Which a Viking
Would have said were bolts from ODIN!
LAS CRUSES has a P.C. problem.
It's named for where Romans brought Him.
Christian iconography
Is anathema now to see,
Lest it bug a Sikh or Moslem!
{C, B.}
FIR, but erased olaf for ODIN, amend for ALTER, and fine for MINT. Yes, the Seattle area gave me fits.
When I was little my mother played a literary card game with me. I don't remember exactly how it was played, but you had to know that COOPER wrote The Last of the Mohicans among other classics.
Yes, You SEND Me was the first thing I thought of when I filled ELATE.
CSO to me and my ATRIAl fibrulation. Continuous.
Thanks to Winston for the fun challenge today. And thanks to TTP for the fine review.
Good morning!
This was an easy romp for a Friday. I noticed the extraneous PR with SPREE, and I was off and running. Winston writes good like a puzzle creator should. Very interesting expo, TTP. (Thanx for the Boris/BELA explanation. Natasha was too long.)
ELATE: Have you noticed how some songs evoke a former time and place. You Send Me evokes the Lubinski Brothers' bowling alley. That song was almost constantly on the jukebox while I was back in the "pits" setting pins.
TAMP: My father was a life-long pipe smoker, though he found keeping it lit to be a challenge.
LAS: I used to make an annual trek from the midwest to Arizona. My route always took me diagonally through New Mexico: Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Vaughn, Carrizozo, Alamogordo, Las Cruces, then west on what's now I-10.
Anybody here been touched by the Coronavirus? I stocked up on beer yesterday. If it turns out that I have to self-quarantine, I want to be able to self-medicate.
Had TOOL instead of TOOT, so SLAG, not STAG. So obvious now. I hate it when that happens. So 99.44% pure, just like Ivory Soap.
Today is going to be another interesting day. We need to come to our senses, and get some leadership/reassurance.
Good Morning:
I, too, found this on the easy side for a Friday, but I went astray with Saber/Sabre, Solo/Soli, and Oily/Glib. Trays was a long time coming because I saw Cafeteria Snacks instead of Stacks. I liked Stars next to Orb and the kissing cousins of Stars and Tsar, SPF and STP, and Toon and Toot. My only unknown was Angela.
Nice work, Winston, and thanks for a fun and factual review, TTP. Yes indeed, Sam Cooke evokes lots of memories.
FLN
Anon T, thanks for your comments on "Office Space" but in checking the synopsis, Jason Bateman is not listed in the cast. Are you thinking of "Horrible Bosses" by any chance?
Have a great day.
Me too, D-O. I bought beer yesterday.
jfromvt, I've been doing a ton of reading. Obviously, some sources of info are better than others.
I loved this theme, which helped the solve. FIR
At 41D I thought of Joltin Joe DiMaggio, but couldn't find a three letter nickname. Then I thought of coffee.
One of my sisters is a census TEMP. She likes the job.
I always connect Uriah Heap with OILY, insincerely gracious, ingratiating. Unctuous is another word for it. Merriam Webster: "Nowadays, unctuous usually has a negative connotation, but it originated as a term describing a positive act, that of healing. The word comes from the Latin verb unguere ("to anoint"), a root that also gave rise to the words unguent ("a soothing or healing salve") and ointment."
Jinx, that sounds like the game of Authors, which I played with my parents. That game helped me win the literature award in HS.
I associated BORIS with the old time toon with Boris and Natasha. Remember them? Then I thought of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi from horror movies.
I needed too many perps before I dredged up COOPER. Shame on me!
The grocery store shelves here are emptying fast. So many events are canceled. The danger is that if the virus ramps up much later than expected, people will be complacent again.
Alan day program is canceled for a month due to social distancing and he is bored already. He will be phoning me all day long.
The yew has a unique type of cone.
See picture
Good morning everyone.
I thought I did well and got a FIR only to come here and learn from TTP and others that it was easy. Sigh.
Made slow but steady progress and with PRIAM SPEECHLESS, began to see the schtick. Very clever.
Heart chambers - considered aorta but then woke up and said: "Oh, I've got a-fib" so voilà, ATRIA went in.
SPF and STP in the same puzzle and near each other.
TAMP - TAMPed down the backfill in lots of post holes when my dad built or repaired his fenced areas, (Never did his pipe, though.)
Belgian ALE - Ommegang, which is very good, is made in nearby COOPERstown, NY.
Fun puzzle but not the easy romp for me that some have reported. FIR after taking a breather and coming back to it.
Since my supply of hand sanitizer has been cut off by people binge buying I have dug out a fifth of cheap vodka from the back of the pantry. Works for me. A little hand lotion solves any irritation problems. I just never got used to standing in front of the wash basin singing "happy birthday" twice.
Good morning 'cornerites'. Mr. Emmons' puzzle was a little crunchy in place but I got it done. The inserted PR was apparent from the beginning and I'm glad because SPF & ATRIA were in place before I had to fill the unknown king-PRIAM- for the last spanner.
TTP- I also put GLIB for the smooth talking PR MAN before the perps made OILY appear. I've seen it before- only in crossword puzzle but never heard anybody use the term. Ditto for CAF. Only other unknown was ANGELA Kinsey.
Your video of the Kinks reminded me of the time Ray Davies got shot when his girlfriend had her purse snatched on Burgundy street in NOLA. My son-in-laws brother (also one of my golf buddies), who is an ER nurse, tended to him at the hospital. I clipped this from Rolling Stone magazine:
"The fifty-nine-year-old Kinks frontman was walking on Burgundy Street, just east of the French Quarter, with a female companion when two thieves stole her purse at gunpoint. Davies gave chase and one of the men turned and shot him in the thigh."
FLN- Swamp Cat. I like how you mentioned how New Orleanians pronounce words.
Calliope- Cal-E-Ope for the street; Ca-lie-o-p for the organ on riverboats.
Melpomene- I've heard it as both Mel-pom-ene And Mel-Pom-n-e.
But Burgundy St. is the funniest. Bur-GUN-d instead of the wine pronunciation.
Milan St? It's MY-lan (like the maker of EpiPen) instead of the American pronunciation of Milano (Milan).
Well, Fridays and Saturdays are always toughies for me, but I really enjoyed this one--many thanks, Winston. My Catholic background helped me get ABBESS, and then I got HEISTS (because I had put in SOLI and TOON) and once I had TAMP for packing stuff down, I got--Voila!--BOHEMIAN. Not a rhapsody, but still a pleasure to get. And so it went, filling in corners and spots here and there. But my favorite clue gave me ESME--J.D. Salinger's "For Esme, with love and squalor" was one of my favorite stories in my younger years. Thanks too for your always helpful comments and pictures, TTP.
Enjoyed your first poem, Owen.
PK, I too never thought of Moby Dick as an ALBINO, although I got the answer. So sorry to hear about your recent losses and your worries about family travels. What a difficult time you are having--my heart goes out to you.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
The origin of the PR Man...
TTP Excellent write-up & links. Good job!
Fave today, of course, was 32-A, Belgian ALE. Booze is always my favorite!
Was going to go and see the Indy Car Race is St. Petersburg but they are going to run it "Fan Free" ... so I guess I will watch on TV Sunday.
tears ...
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
More tears ...
They called off the race ...
Guess I will go the Honeymoon Island a enjoy a 6 mile beach walk.
Perfect puzzle for me. Fun theme and whenever I was stuck, the perps came through. Great confidence builder.
The world slowdown has hit the Corner - 17 comments!
I like the puzzle and the comments so far. YR's reference to YEW trees sent in many directions. Hey, Yew. Stop standing there and leave! Tinbeni's comments reminded me of destination weddings in Jamaica.
My favorite was Spitz' comment on Ommegang which bought this VERY EARLY CHARLOTTE picture to mind.
Good afternoon everyone! I really enjoyed Winston’s puzzle today – just enough tang for a Friday with only a few slow-downs on the way to a FIR. Many thanks for the fun write-up, TTP, especially the Sam Cooke and CSN(Y) links.
The PR theme was apparent with LONG TIME NO SPREE (my fave), which helped grease the skids along the way. My 42A Bender was a Tear before TOOT worked better. I’ll bet we all know that one person who goes on a 42A and ends up behaving like a 68A ASS. YR, your comments re: unctuous reminded me that what used to be known as Last Rites in the Catholic Church was also called Extreme Unction (Final Anointing). In the past this sacrament was reserved for those near death; but today it is known as Anointing of the Sick and can be given to someone who is seriously ill or injured as well as to the dying.
On a cheerier note, we recently welcomed a new feline friend into our family. Oliver is a year-old orange tabby with lots of energy to keep “big brother” Jean Claude on his toes. So much fun!!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Well it’s 4:30 and I am #20...cough cough...KIDDING!
Anyway, the last thing I like to see in the commentary is how “easy” a given puzzle is...this one wasn’t, IMHO...but the THEME was.
Write-overs...SASS/SAWS, SANS/WANT, MAG/CAF, EMME/ESME.
OK, I’ve been buying and drinking coffee, cappuccino, and lattes for decades...I’ve heard of half-caf but never “caf”. It doesn’t look or sound right either. I’ll have a caf please...
I’ve never heard of “price fishing” either. Neither has Google.
When in doubt, make it up.
So, on to Saturday, hopefully with better clues.
Java Mama, I was quite old when I learned it wasn't Extra Monktion. Probably 40-ish.
Java Mama, I was tempted to write about Extreme Unction, done with oil, but then changed my mind. Glad you brought it up.
During summers off from college I worked as a waitress. Every summer our main chef, Freddie, would go off on a two week toot. Then the manager would track him down, sober him up and bring him back for the remainder of the summer. I remember how angry Freddie became when a customer ordered a well done steak. He would rage about ruining a good steak. He said he would not be responsible for its taste and texture.
PK, you are in my thoughts at this difficult time.
JM, kittens are so cute and interesting. You must be very happy.
The theme answers like PRICE FISHING were not real phrases, just puns made from real phrases, like ICE FISHING, with a PR added.
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Winston and TTP.
I almost finished this CW in the morning, but got stuck and put it aside.
Then I decided to grocery shop before hunkering down. (It was a zoo but everyone was polite and keeping their space. Yes, d'o, the neighbouring liquor store was busy also.) Finally I am here. (And I see a few more Cornerites are later than usual today too.)
Hand up for seeing the added PR with SPREE. The other themers and reveal showed themselves easily. But I had a DNF at the cross of 55A and 56 and 57D. My dabbling ducks were Terns instead of TEALS; I couldn't get away from thinking of newspapers (due to 10D) for copy room, and was trying to think of first name of female star in Frankenstein. Then, the small font size prevented me from deciding whether 55A clue was "Sun, for one" with a comma or period. Sun. could have stood for Sunday or Sun newspaper (still in newspaper mode thinking). My brain was overloaded and I gave up and came here!
SOLO changed to SOLI with perps (and the realization that plural was required).
I thought that SOLo also fit for 37D but STAG was needed.
Nat's hat perped but did not make sense until I saw TTP's Nationals. D'uh.
I wrinkled my nose at CAF but we do say Decaf. I was also thinking of baseball.
TTP - you read my mind at SABRE. No nose-wrinkling there!
But this Canadian required an alphabet run to get the G in GUNLAW. As I said the other day, I know nothing about GUNs.
I noted Meddles=SNOOPS crossing Intervenes=STEPS IN. When does stepping in cross the line and become Meddling?
Wishing you all a good day.
To your HEALTH!
TTP, thx but I got my WANTs and Wonts mixed up which resulted in Stoop/SNOOP. It was his wont to carry extra nails lest for WANT of a nail…And plots change as well as PLANS.
We've had great steerage this week from the CC helmsmen with lemonade on deck. Owen there's no such thing as a C-l'ick from you. I enjoyed both.
WC
Oops. That HG(Gary) on deck for tomorrow's easy-peasy Saturday. NOT.
Musings
-My day got turned upside down after I finished the puzzle and Joann asked, "Do you want to go to Omaha?" After 53 years I've learned when she is not really asking a question. Nice day for a drive.
-I loved the puzzle after a slow start.
-Read ya all later, gotta help with shrimp for supper (not dinner here on the prairie)
I had much the same experience and fell into the same pitfalls as many of you. I liked the puzzle, though.
Gotta go.
Hi All!
Long day getting everything ready for everyone to work from home for 2 week... Oy!
Fun puzzle. I was reviewing the NW corner for perpage and thought "LONG TIME NO SPREE(?)" right after thinking of inkin' LOLA. Oh, too easy (theme-wise).
Thanks Winston for the grid and thanks TTP for the wonderful review [loved the PRISM Comic].
I'll forgo the ESPs, etc. for now 'cuz the puzzle is upstairs and I need a nap b/f Eldest gets home for (and 2 week-extended) Spring Break - she should be here around 1:30a.
{B+, A}
IM - I confused Rob Livingston for Jason Bateman but not the movie. Rob had Jason's 'devil may care' attitude I associate w/ Bateman's roles. If you liked the previews, go for it; it's not like we're going anywhere for a spell :-)
PK - Oh, I'm so sorry to hear. Your post before the heartbreaking news show's you still have your humor. Keep strong; virtual hugs!
DW hit H.E.B. again today and we're larded in until July(? :-)). I don't think she plans for anyone to leave the house for a month. I plan to get a haircut tomorrow and hit the gym & garden store on Sunday. Next week we'll be hold-up at home (per boss-man's email).
We'll see what the days bring...
Cheers, -T
TTP, every time I scroll down all your pictures to get back to the blog, I admire your hard and great work assembling them for us more and more. Many thanks, for that.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Winston Emmons, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.
I worked this puzzle today while working at the Polling Place as an Election Judge. We always have some quiet time, so I worked the puzzle then. Finished after a few off and on hours. Enjoyed the puzzle. My last answer was GUN LAW.
Liked the theme.
Remembered James Fenimore Cooper after I thought about it for a long time. Had a couple perps too help.
Changed SOLO to SOLI. Anyhow, getting late. I have to get up and be an Election Judge all day tomorrow. See you then.
Abejo
( )
Misty, YR, & Tony: thank you for your kind comments. Tony, my sense of humor is the only thing that has kept me sane for all these years.
You are not alone.
Lemonade, your link to your Charlotte pic did not work. Return code 404 (Not Found).
Wilbur, I added "For Want of a Nail" because over the last three years you've made reference to the beginning of it four times.
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