Theme: Not only but ... As the reveal tells us what to look for:
66A. Cross-reference indicator ... and directions to the link among the five longest puzzle answers: SEE ALSO
Seems clear enough! Let's go find them:
18A. Wayward one in Luke: PRODIGAL SON. If you are of a certain age, you will not be able to see "wayward son" without hearing this. You can't un-see the hair or the beard either.
24A. Origin of new business, perhaps: REFERRAL SOURCE
39A. Oscar category: BEST ORIGINAL SONG. I've used my music link for the day, but no matter. If "Kansas" isn't your thing, the wonderful Audrey Hepburn certainly should be, the song won the Oscar in 1961.
48A. Hypothetical evolutionary starting point: PRIMORDIAL SOUP. Food! Recipe to follow.
66A. Cross-reference indicator ... and directions to the link among the five longest puzzle answers: SEE ALSO
Seems clear enough! Let's go find them:
18A. Wayward one in Luke: PRODIGAL SON. If you are of a certain age, you will not be able to see "wayward son" without hearing this. You can't un-see the hair or the beard either.
24A. Origin of new business, perhaps: REFERRAL SOURCE
39A. Oscar category: BEST ORIGINAL SONG. I've used my music link for the day, but no matter. If "Kansas" isn't your thing, the wonderful Audrey Hepburn certainly should be, the song won the Oscar in 1961.
48A. Hypothetical evolutionary starting point: PRIMORDIAL SOUP. Food! Recipe to follow.
57A. Click or cluck: ANIMAL SOUND "Animal Noise" led me astray a little, but soon corrected.
Here's the recipe for Primodial Soup:
Ingredients:
1 ocean (tropical oceans have the best flavor and a lower sodium content than inland seas).
1 active volcano spewing lava (these are available on your local Hawai'ian island, or substitute an Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull or similar).
2 tbsp concentrated amino acids
1 tablet of Alchemy
1 16oz bottle of captured lightning
Method:
Pour molten lava into ocean. When the ocean boils, reduce to a simmer and add amino acids. Leave to steep for millenia until a green bloom is apparent. Activate the alchemy tablet with a few drops of ocean until it is foaming. Add to the soup and immediately uncork the lightning and flash onto the surface of the mixture. When small sea creatures are observed crawling onto the rim of the pot and developing lungs and legs, the soup is ready. Salt to taste, garnish with kelp and serve. Keeps, refrigerated, for ice ages.
Warning: Prepared in an environment which may include traces of Big Bang.
Right, that flight of fancy over, let's get back to the puzzle.
The theme entries are nicely consistent - the AL-SO breaks across two words in each instance. Bruce is a dab hand at the long entries across for the themers, and he generally throws in a couple of extended down entries, in this case two of those long downs tie three theme entries together, that's a nice touch.
There's a lot of shorter fill, but that need not be a bad thing as long as the abbreviations are held at arm's length and there's some humor to the cluing, and that's what we see here. Good job.
Let's hop the tour bus. No need to tip the driver.
Across:
1. Barely enough to notice: A TINGE
7. Defib expert: EMT
10. Monopolizes: HOGS
14. Like a side view: LATERAL
16. __ cross: TAU
17. Playing a fifth qtr., say: IN O.T.
20. Partnership for Peace org.: NATO.
21. "On the Waterfront" director Kazan: ELIA
22. Radio tuner: AM DIAL
28. Open a crack: AJAR
30. California agricultural farm name: KNOTT'S. You can still get the fried chicken and boysenberry pies that started the whole thing off when Mrs. Knott started serving meals on the berry farm. The food is pretty good.
31. City near Berlin: POTSDAM. Site of the Potsdam Conference in 1945 when Stalin, Churchill and Truman carved up post-WWII Europe. Not sure quite how well that turned out.
There's a lot of shorter fill, but that need not be a bad thing as long as the abbreviations are held at arm's length and there's some humor to the cluing, and that's what we see here. Good job.
Let's hop the tour bus. No need to tip the driver.
Across:
1. Barely enough to notice: A TINGE
7. Defib expert: EMT
10. Monopolizes: HOGS
14. Like a side view: LATERAL
16. __ cross: TAU
17. Playing a fifth qtr., say: IN O.T.
20. Partnership for Peace org.: NATO.
21. "On the Waterfront" director Kazan: ELIA
22. Radio tuner: AM DIAL
28. Open a crack: AJAR
30. California agricultural farm name: KNOTT'S. You can still get the fried chicken and boysenberry pies that started the whole thing off when Mrs. Knott started serving meals on the berry farm. The food is pretty good.
31. City near Berlin: POTSDAM. Site of the Potsdam Conference in 1945 when Stalin, Churchill and Truman carved up post-WWII Europe. Not sure quite how well that turned out.
35. Exercise regimen complement: DIET. Exercise regimen compliment: Looking good!
36. Bagged leaves?: TEA
42. __-mo: SLO
43. One-named supermodel: EMME
44. Flying biter, informally: SKEETER. This was new to me. As kids, we used to build "Super Skeeter" balsa wood airplanes like this one (although it looks like the tail fin is missing!)
45. Put forward with confidence: ASSERT
47. General vibe: AURA
54. Chew out: REBUKE
55. "Beautiful Girls" singer Kingston: SEAN. This song passed me by in the early 2000's, but it's got more than 500m hits on YouTube so someone's been playing it.
56. Pianist Gilels: EMIL
64. Fit figure: SIZE
65. Semi-important part?: CAB
67. "Now!": STAT!
68. "That's odd ... ": HMM
69. Binge-watch, perhaps: STREAM. There's been a lot of that going on recently. I'm surprised that the Amazon and Netflix tech infrastructure has been able to keep up with the demand, that's pretty impressive.
Down:
1. Skiing spot: ALP. It's funny, I never really thought of alps in the singular until I came across them in crosswords. You wouldn't say that Mt. Everest is a himalaya, but there's no arguing that Alp d'Huez isn't an alp. English is a funny language, as we all know. Is Mont Blanc an alp, or a peak in the alps? Troubling times.
2. La Brea goo: TAR. I love the smell of hot tar.
3. Skater Midori: ITO
4. Composer Rorem: NED. Known from crosswords past. I had absolutely no idea what his music is like. Here's a snippet of his Pulizer Prize-winning composition "Air Music".
5. Playful criticism: GRIEF
6. Birdie topper: EAGLE. Golf, two under par for an eagle, one under for a birdie. Did you watch the Mickleson/Woods Tom Brady/Peyton Manning charity event at the weekend? I was sceptical but it was a lot of fun, and together they raised more than $20m. That's a good afternoon's work.
7. Extras on many Syfy shows: ET'S
8. Chinese chairman: MAO
9. Ahi serving: TUNA STEAK
10. Bhagavad Gita believers: HINDUS. The best-known of the Hundu scriptures.
11. Studio sign: ON AIR
12. Did so-so in class: GOT A "C"
13. Took badly?: STOLE. Nice clue.
15. Place for a long winter's nap: LAIR
19. Fun time: LARK
23. Spotted pattern: MOTTLE
24. "Midnight Cowboy" hustler: RATSO. Not the most attractive of characters, I think it's fair to say. Great performance by Dustin Hoffman though.
25. Once, once: ERST
26. "... __ quote:": AND I
27. Pork cuts: LOINS
28. Emer. alerts: APB'S
29. One of the Minor Prophets: JOEL. What makes a "minor" prophet? Prophetic output? Accuracy? If I make two prophecies and I'm spot-on does that make me less minor than a prolific prophet with a 50% hit rate? We should be told.
32. Makes a decent living: DOES OK
33. Close proximity: ARM'S REACH
34. Played charades: MIMED
36. Add: TOT UP. Is this English English? I'm not sure I've heard the phrase in the USA.
37. Part of DOE: Abbr.: ENER. I get "Environment" and "Energy" mixed up.
38. Tourist city about 110 miles from New Delhi: AGRA. Site of the Taj Mahal. I was going to visit the last time I was in Delhi, but the pollution was so bad that I didn't want to go outside. I was told that the round trip would take around eight hours by car, so I skipped it. I still came down with bronchitis so bad that I tore rib cartilages coughing so hard.
40. "Deadwood" actress Jewell: GERI. Thank you, crosses.
41. 12-time NFL Pro Bowler Junior: SEAU. A great player, and a tragic victim of brain trauma which led to his suicide.
45. Talisman: AMULET
46. Australian isl. state: TASM.
48. Media attention: PRESS
49. Pay: REMIT
50. Spanish resort island: IBIZA
51. Green spaces: LEAS
52. Retail statistic: SALES. It doesn't take a prophet, even a minor one, to tell you retail sales will be down this year.
53. Get-go: ONSET
58. Setting for some war movies, familiarly: 'NAM
59. "THINK" sloganeer: IBM. My PC laptop is a ThinkPad, named for the slogan, before IBM sold their PC business to Lenovo.
60. Crew aid: OAR
61. Mod or nod ending: ULE
62. Intel-gathering gp.: N.S.A.
63. __ Pérignon: DOM. Cheers!
My company just gave me a Macbook Air, so now I've got my Chromebook, the aforementioned Lenovo laptop and a snazzy new Mac. To say I don't know whether to scroll down for up, up for down, whether to command- or ctrl-, use a left mouse button or not and "confused" is an understatement. Plus all the keyboards are just a little different regarding spacing. All good fun. Getting a screen grab of the grid and coloring in the "ALSO" squares was a good (!!!!) learning experience. Except I missed one. Doh!
Here it is, in all its Chromebook/PC/Mac glory, and thanks again to Bruce for the fun.
Steve
46 comments:
Hi Y'all! Enjoyed the puzzle, Bruce, thank you! Thanks for the great commentary, Steve! Wow! your "flight of fancy" was very descriptive & compelling.
I did not get the theme but didn't spend enough time trying to figure it out. Just came to see what Steve said.
Lots I didn't know but perps & WAGs got 'er done. DNK: EMME, SEAN, EMIL, Bhaggyad Gita = HINDUS, RATSO, JOEL, TOTUP, GERI, SEAU, IBIZA.
I did know EAGLE: all that Sunday afternoon golf I watched wasn't a complete waste of time.
A TINGE. Tad was A Tad too short.
I saw the “AL” part of the theme and then got it from the reveal. After a few days touring in Majorca, as we were riding the ferry back into the Barcelona Harbor, I joked that the statue of Columbus was pointing at IBIZA, the party place. No one laughed. I had oOze before SOUP and asAp before STAT and ATracE before ATINGE. I had a credit card misused at AGRA and I quickly realized that I’d never been there. I’m an ex CAB driver from Philly.
Good morning!
I did notice all of the ALs in the theme answers while I was busy not finding the reveal clue. D'oh! I Haight when that happens. I was zipping right along until I got to the deep south. REMIT and ONSET finally broke things open. Whew! Failure avoided. Thanx, Bruce and Steve. (Did you actually type in "Eyjafjallajökull," or did you cut and paste it, like I did? And "Dab hand?" Where did that come from?)
TAR: Steve wrote, "I love the smell of hot tar." You should've been in my neighborhood last fall when all the streets were "shaved" and repaved with a fresh layer of blacktop.
CAB: Looked at this for the longest time before the penny dropped. The cab is an important part of the semi.
JOEL: I've mentioned this before. Isaac Asimov took a Bible course when he was in college. Every year the professor asked the same final exam question: Compare and contrast the major and minor prophets of the old testament. Isaac was ready. But the question the professor wrote on the blackboard was, "Compare and contrast the major and minor kings of the old testament." Isaac thought about it, then began, "It's very difficult to rate the major and minor kings of the old testament, but so far as the major and minor prophets are concerned...." He got an A in the course.
Tiaina Baul SEAU Jr. was a hard-hitting linebacker; his name is pronounced say-ow
This was a steady solve - I definitely didn't get the theme until the theme reveal answer!
Classic tight solve and clues that I expect from Bruce!
The only difference between the Major and Minor prophets of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) are the lengths of their books - not their importance. Their are 4 major and 12 minor prophets.
I'm with D-O - I filled in the CAB but took awhile to figure out why that was the answer!
Thanks Steve for an always entertaining blog - I enjoyed the clip of Audrey Hepburn where she actually sang "Moon River" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as opposed to "My Fair Lady" where her vocals were done by Marni Nixon - who also sang for Deborah Kerr in "The King & I" and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story".
Musings
-Proper noun vowel crossings provided A TINGE of an issue
-PRIMORDIAL SOUP – John Scopes was fined $100 for allegedly teaching such things in the 1920’s
-He later ASSERTED he didn’t teach any evolution at all but the ACLU used him as a test case
-Unusual INOT gave me pause before I read the clue
-At POTSDAM, Truman told Stalin about “a new weapon of unusual destructive force”
-Inside one semi CAB
-NETFLIX occasionally gives me a “We are having a problem” message
-A teacher might not be wealthy but she certainly DOES OK
-Within ARM’S REACH every morning – Coffee, puzzle in newspaper and MacBook Pro
-Media attention for a struggling actor – “There’s no such thing as bad PRESS”
-Space-X’s command MODULE rendezvous with the ISS has been delayed again
-Always a unique job by you, Steve!
Great puzzle, the top 2/3 was solved 1-2-3, Wednesday level. The bottom third felt like Friday. After the reveal I finally found ALSO. SEAU and SEAN needed all perps. I was looking for Did so and so in class. Huh? Then I saw so-so. Oh, so easy then.
Great blog, Steve. You had me going with Primordial Soup. Food! Then I saw your delightful recipe. Great Asimov story. LOL, but as his teacher, I would not have bought his switch.
My feeling for grief in this sense is not playful, just annoying.
I agree that the designation, major or minor prophet, has to do with the length of the book not with its importance. My college major was Christian Ed before I became a public school teacher.
Ned Rorem appears here frequently. Thanks for linking his music, Steve. I never LIU before.
I remember those very fragile balsa planes. They seldom lasted more than a day two.
There are many references to tot up in print.
"Last year, a New York University business professor totted up Amazon’s corporate tax burdens and found what he called “the most disturbing fact in business.” Seattle Times, Apr 4, 2018.
Steve, I have the same problem with different devices. My tablet, phone and computer are used quite differently. I have the same problem with print book and ebooks. I try to turn the physical page with ebooks and swipe print books.
.
Good morning everyone.
Well, I wallowed in the PRIMORDIAL SOUP for a while but eventually got it all. With the SEE ALSO reveal, I was able to prefill the SO in SOUP.
Solve took longer than normal; the grid being 16 X 15 squares.
Many 3 - letter clusters helped keep things going.
IBIZA - One of the Balearic Islands. Only one I know of with 5 letters. 'Z' confirmed by crossing with SIZE.
TOT UP - I think is very English. Wonder how the Brits pronounce it with TOT inviting a short 'o' sound.
NATO - I wore this Shield on the right breast of my uniform during the 5 years I was attached to a NATO reserve command.
YR - My confusing of two media is when I "pinch" on some newspaper type and try to enlarge it by dragging outward. Duh!!
FIR but had "I am" for THINK (therefore I am) so the B in CAB came quite late. Why is there a hyphen in semi-important?
When is a female an actor and not an actress? Gilels? Who? Inkover on elle/EMME
Thought the theme was words starting with PR so wanted to put primalSOUND instead of ANIMAL but it made no sense. (What kind of animal makes a "click" sound? A bear playing with a ball point pen?). Also I never saw also coming. Exer/EMER. (DOE: "Dyspnea On Exertion", common med term for shortness of breath with minimal exercise). TOTUP? Wha? agree with Steve
The parable of the PRODIGAL SON has always fascinated me. Putting aside from the theme of forgiveness and repentance I can't help but side with the Older Brother. Working hard for a thankless father ( "And you never gave me even a goat to celebrate with my friends".) now expected to celebrate at a lavish party thrown for the dissolute, penniless (shekeless?) albeit repentant returning younger son.
The story also is left open ended.....does the older brother eventually go in to the celebration? What happens to younger brother when the party is over and long term, Dad dies? He has squandered his inheritance. Won't it fall on the older brother to take care of him?
(Oh yeah and what were the older brother and his friends gonna do with that 🐐?)
I know... no more relijun but...
Joel's public speaking gigs only made a ______ last year ....minor prophet.
Or....
Underage seer...minor prophet.
Or...
Canary in the coal shaft...miner prophet
It's only morning and the SKEETERs are clicking around my ear.
Good morning. Thank you, Bruce, and thank you, Steve.
Scant turned into A TINGE. Tough to start off and have your initial first-thought answer be wrong.
It got better. By the time I got to "Hypothetical evolutionary starting period", PRIMORDIAL SOUP went in with just three crossing letters.
Stuck for awhile at TOTal before TOT UP. Will have to remember TOT UP for 5 letter answers to the clue "Add" and its synonyms.
Toughest area was the SW corner. Had the PRIMORDIAL part, REBUKE and STAT going across, and REMIT and AMULET going down. Didn't know the pianist and forgot the Spanish resort island even though we've had it before.
Could only think of "PR ops" for "Media attention" before PRESS finally came to mind. That left me with EM_L and SI_E. Of course EMIL, but still had to ponder SIZE for a second, given the clue. Then Oh, yeah, IBIZA.
A slow but successful solve. Bruce, I liked how you split ALSO evenly in the 5 longest fills. The reveal made them easy to spot.
There were no comments at 3:45 AM this morning when I completed the puzzle. Will have to read Steve's write-up and your comments after I get another cup of joe and wake up a little bit better.
Good Morning:
I am now convinced that isolation and hibernation have caused a major brain-drain, not to mention a diminished level of P and P in solving puzzles. To begin with, seeing Bruce’s byline was a pick-me-up and I was expecting some tricky and fun word play and a clever and comical theme. What did I get? Primordial Soup, which sounds made-up, but isn’t, and boring Animal Sounds, Prodigal Son, Best Original Song, and Referral Source, fancy phrases hiding a simple, four letter word. Lack of interest and waning mental energy left me totally in the dark about the theme until Steve explained it so clearly. Sean, Emil, and Geri needed perps and I went astray with Iwo/Nam, CIA/NSA, and Seay/Seau. Tasm was a nose wrinkler.
Thanks, Bruce, for a Friday challenge, even if it wasn’t what I was hoping for and thanks, Steve, for the entertaining and enlightening expo and for explaining the simple but, to me, elusive theme.
Stay safe, all.
SEE ALSO- I got it but I didn't 'get it' until your explanation. Duh!
I finally finished the ANIMAL SOUND after I couldn't think of REACH for a while. I wanted LENGTH but it was too long and the tricky 'Semi-important' had me stumped until I (along with d-otto) realized it was referring to a truck'sCAB. No other problems other that a couple of A&E unknowns-SEAN Kingston & GERI Jewell.
Steve- almost every song (and movie & tv show) since the early 2000's has passed me by.
TOT UP- never seen it before as an abbr. for TOTAL or TOTE but is was an easy fill.
The HINDU was a WAG for the unknown clue.
Macbook Air-Chromebook- Lenovo laptop- not for this old guy. I hate the keyboard of laptops. I have an all in one HP with a 24" screen with a great wireless keyboard that has wonderful touch feel. Wireless mouse too. As for my backup laptop I don't use the keyboard or touchpad- I bought a separate wireless keyboard & mouse.
YR- Amazon has figured out how to NOT pay taxes.
Enjoyed the recipe!!
Tough one. Nine proper names (eleven if you count Joel and Ratso) were a bit much for me - thank goodness for perps!
BE, I was just illustrating the use of TOT. Meriam Webster says TOT is informal British, but in just a few minutes I have found 18 recent references in American periodicals using TOT in this sense. Of course, I came across three references on the BBC and I am, sure there are many more. I have come across this sense of tot quite often before this.
TOT is found in novels about sailing and pirates,too. The sailors received a daily tot of rum (small alcoholic drink, a shot).
I speculate that aside from meaning add up, tot is often used for something small, Tater Tots, a child (tiny tot) and a tot of rum (a small shot of an alcoholic drink.)
I think this social distancing has resulted in brain drain in me and others. It must be the lack of stimulation. I suspect that puzzles that seem more difficult than usual actually are not. I seem not as sharp in other ways, too. I am finding motivation and get-up-and-go hard to come by, as well. I must try to get back on the ball.
Re: Prodigal Son:
English tends to refer to the son as PRODIGAL meaning wasteful or profligate.
German refers to him as "Velorene Sohn"; 'lost son.'
Dutch similarly: "verloren zoon"; 'lost son.'
Nuances get in the way of translation, and one wonders, as Ray seems to infer, exactly what words and sense were used in the original telling of this wonderful parable.
Back when I started at IBM in 1963, everyone had a THINK sign on their desk.
Think Pads were small notepad covers, cardboard or leather, with THINK embossed on the front.
There also was an employee magazine titled THINK.
I spent almost thirty years with IBM. Seven in Los Angeles, two in China, and twenty two in Phoenix.
Liked this puzzle and Steve's usual great expo.
Seeing Bruce's name as the constructor always demands my A-game. But, the top two-thirds went so fast it almost seemed like a walk in the park. Then had to shift back to first gear for the south before getting a satisfying FIR. Lots of perps and susses but all fair. Never got the theme though.
Well, like others, I found the top part of this puzzle pretty doable, but the bottom got tough. Not unusual or bad for a Thursday with some fun fills--many thanks, Bruce.
And thanks to you too, Steve.
ALP and TAR got me started, and then I remembered ITO and NED. That filled in not only LATERAL but also PRODIGAL SON--a real treat. Of course, I never noticed the ALSO.
I also remembered the Dustin Hoffman role but put in FATSO (Hoffman, fat?) before I remembered he was RATSO.
Never heard of SKEETER and am thankful we don't have any around our house.
Have a good day, everybody, and get ready for Friday and Saturday toughies.
The word prodigal does not appear in the Bible. Other names for The Prodigal son are The Parable of the Two Brothers, The Lost Son, The Loving Father, The Forgiving Father. These are just different titles that have been assigned to this story. These titles are not translations and none of them were used as a title in the original story. I think of them as similar to the names the bloggers of the day assign to our weekday puzzles. But the description of the son in all the accounts is of one who is extravagantly wasteful.
IMHO The Lost Son says it best.
Ray @ 9:33 ~ Visualizing your “bear playing with a ball point pen” made my day! 🧸
See also?
FIW and felt A TINGE of GRIEF. Normally, you might ASSERT that NaomiZ DOES OK, but today she GOT A C. Had "total" where TOT UP was needed, so could not get AURA or SOUP. As often happens, I failed to understand the big reveal until our expert explained it. Thanks, Steve! Fabulous soup recipe, too. Save me A JAR!
Aaarrgggh! I was so careful and checked and rechecked being careful to leave a box blank. But I thought OUTSET even tho it didn't fit and missed it. I'll have to take a FIW.
SEAU was solid because I distinctly recall the clue NFL HoFer. I'll bet that's in the Reagle puzzle I started. Or some recent clue somewhere. Aha, there it is, 41A. I hate solving online.
Problem and solution is that I ran out of time and I'm now sitting outside at Wawa and my transition glasses leave this online grid dim. I lost the Sunday insert of week's xwords.
This would have been a nice FIR. The ALSO theme helped once I SEE'd it.
I first had JOAB. Aruba became IBIZA w the WAG of EMIL.
Re. PRODIGAL SON: Pigs or Swine was code for Romans. The 'prod son' was Herod Agrippa who lived in Rome, squandered his inheritance and then became King of Judea. What'd the other son do? Probably poisoned him.
FLN, yes Gary neglected CSO's for "Just hang on". I wasn't sure if it was Seasons or Association .
WC
Hola!
My granddaughter sometimes HOGS the computer so I had to wait until she finished.
Thank you, Bruce Haight and Steve! Brilliant recipe for PRIMORDIAL SOUP, Steve; however, I'll take Teilhard De Chardin's if you don't mind. He had a way with words.
I love it when Hahtoolah asks, "When is a door not a door?" When it's AJAR. Tee Hee.
The model EMME is familiar to me but not GERI Jewell.
Talk about minor prophets! JOEL has only two pages while the others have reams, well, maybe not reams but certainly more than two. I guess he was a man of fewer words.
DOES anyone recall during the Labor Day Telethons, Jerry Lewis calling for the TOT Board?
MAO/TAU make an interesting crossing.
My Bible names it The Parable of the Lost Son.
A light bulb suddenly lit when d-otto mentioned "the CAB is an important part of the semi". Thanks, d-o.
Yesterday we had a debate about agri/agro and today we get AGRA but in a completely different context.
Stay well, everyone!
Wow, a Thursday toughie....lucky I have my day of the week clock, could’ve been Friday.
Started strong but the entire south was tough.
Write-overs...AERIAL/AMDIAL, TOTAL/TOTUP, BERATE/REBUKE, SEAL/SEAN,
Never ever have I heard “tot up”....”tote up” is all I’ve heard or said.
I’d appreciate knowing where “tot up” came from.
And on to the real Friday.
Stay safe.
Congrats on the Mac Steve. You know the great thing about standards is that there are so many of them. I'm sure you remember "RS232" (the great, great grand daddy of USB). The "RS" stood for "Recommended Standard". The real problem with the industry is that Techies don't like being told what to do.
SEE ALSO: no wonder I didn't get the theme. I was doing downs and never read that reveal. Then when I read Steve's 'splainin', I somehow just jumped over that first sentence. Didn't catch on until the rest of you talked about it and I went back for a more thorough read. Oh Duh dah day!
Had to turn on Red Letters about 3/4 of the way through. Officially a DNF. Tough puzzle from Bruce today. Steve's great explanations gave me a number of V-8 head slaps.
I had PROFILE before LATERAL, PRIMORDIAL STEW before SOUP, and I totally missed CAB, but perps took care of them.
Well, have a great day everyone.
Terrific Thursday. (IM, you made me check my calendar with your "Friday challenge" comment!) Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Steve.
This was a real workout today, not just A TINGE.
I nearly came here with a certain FIW because of my personal Natick at 41D and 47A. But a break over lunch and another look at that spot showed me the error of my ways. I had Total instead of TOT UP (is that when you throw your youngster over your head?) which caused me to enter PRIMORDIAL Soil and created a big ??? with AURA and SEAU. (But it still gave me the theme ALSO!) Correcting to SOUP fixed that whole mess and would have given me a Tada if I had been on line. Instead, I just got a massive inkblot! but the satisfaction of a FIR. (Sorry you never got there Naomi but I feel your pain)
Perps were needed for KNOTTS (my memory dredged it up with only a couple of letters), SEAU, EMIL, GERI, NSA (this Canadian always wants CIA).
I had Start before ONSET; my pork cuts were Chops before LOINS; I ran through -ern, -est, before -ULE fit both mod and nod.
Did we all gasp at 33D "Close proximity". No, we must be separated by more than an ARM'S REACH!!!
Hand up for ASAP before STAT. I think of ASAP as the business shortform and STAT as the medical shortform for "Now!"; but STAT is more forceful. ASAP might depend on your boss!
Another hand up for wanting Scant before A TINGE. (TTP and I were on the same wavelength today)
Favourite clue was for 65A Cab. That one was a groaner when the light dawned. Almost as bad as the groans for all those jokes with the answer AJAR. (and Naomi's) I see Lucina remembers.
I am inured to SLO-Mo, but are we now using Syfy instead of SCI-FI? Nevermind, I just LIUed and see that it is an American pay TV channel. This Canadian learns new trivia here every day!
We had 2 islands on our travels today - TASMania and IBIZA. Also POTSDAM, AGRA and an ALP for those of us who are chafing at this confinement.
Wishing you all a good day.
CanadianEh @ 1:18 ~ My Friday comment is yet another example of my lame brain syndrome. I’m surprised no one else mentioned it.
I liked this puzzle. I agree with Irish Miss that TASM is a nose-wrinkler. Cool to see POTSDAM, LATERAL, and PRIMORDIAL SOUP in the puzzle. Excellent recipe, Steve.
Waseeley, I loved the RS-232 interface.
Gary, that is quite some CAB!
Good wishes to you all.
I just received my Cares Act stimulus money. I checked online to see whether it is legitimate. Yes, it is. It comes in an unassuming envelope that can be mistaken for junk mail. I read that many people are throwing it away unopened. I hope you are aware of this. Inside was a Visa debit card with instructions. I activated the card, set up an account and immediately transferred the money to my regular checking account. I hope you all get yours soon.
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Knotts Berry Farm. Been there several times while I lived in Southern California. The Boysenberry was developed there. The man who did it was named Boysen.
Minor Prophet. Yes, short books of the old testament. Minor meaning short, as others have said. There are twelve.
Puzzle went fine for a Thursday. A little tough. Caught the theme after I got 66A.
IBIZA was with perps.
LARK took a while because I had Referral spelled wrong.
Had enough perps that I wagged PRIMORDIAL SOUP.
I am done. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Irish Miss - LOL! I'm surprised that my lame brain caught it. As YR said, we all seem to be afflicted.
YR - I don't think this Canadian will get any of the Care Act stimulus money. I am still waiting for our Covid Seniors' bonus to show up in my account.
Good Afternoon, all. Like the many that have come before me this xword started out with the feel that the solve would be in short order. Not. SW corner just wouldn't fill. Primordial was not in my personal Webster's so no chance to finish. DNF. I had armlength @ 33d and still seems reasonable with the clue. Had See Also, but when the answers aren't forthcoming the theme is hard to see. Thanks Bruce for the challenge and thanks Steve (we share first names) for making sense of it all. DNK Ibiza, Tasm, (Tasmania, hmmm) Primordial, tot up and my German recall isn't much and wanted POTShAM. Also, inserted Iman, one named model, for Emme which was unknown. So it went. Tomorrow is another day and another challenge.
PS Seems number of posts go down with the relative difficulty of the puzzle. Just saying.
Figuring out the CAB answer is going to drive me nuts, then it’s going to be “aha”.
Fun puzzle. Some perps, never knew of Primordial Soup.
Nice job, Steve.
Yep. "Wayward Son" came immediately to mind. I have a couple of their albums that I bought while in Germany. Come to think of it, all but maybe a few of my albums were purchased there.
Wow, Steve. You are a foodie. Creative recipe. (See what I did there ?)
jfromvt, if you are still wondering, CAB here refers to the cabin (CAB) portion of the tractor, in a semi-truck (aka semi, tractor trailer, 18 wheeler, big rig etc).
As Ray-O said, not sure why the hyphen was in the clue.
Wow! Steve! I knew right away I wanted to do this puzzle when PRIMORDIAL SOUP came up in the research, but your write-up really highlighted it. Thanks for going the extra mile!
"Hey! I'm walkin' here!"
Fun & chewy, a perfect Thurs pzl! Except as noted*.
Thanks, TTP, for the CAB-splanation!
~ OMK
___________
* An asymmetric grid, so no diagonals.
SB (Steve 3) oddly there is no predictable pattern for comments based on days of the week or puzzle difficulty. We have been doing this for more than ten years and there are generally fewer posts but some of our big days have come when people found a puzzle impossibly hard and wrote to complain about the constructor and the editor. We get not only the number of comments but the number of views daily, and that pattern too is not consistent.
Steve, I really enjoyed the trip inside the primordial quagmire that is your brain.
Ray, I read your comment as beer playing with a ballpoint pen. Hmm
Welcome, Kerry. I see Arizona got your loyalty. We have Lucina and others in that state.
Hi All!
Tough one (for me [SEE: Names!]) Bruce but I got it done. Thanks for the puzzle.
I made the NW difficult on myself via a "lock'd-in" misstep [SEE: WOs]. Took a long time to give-up on my 1a and its 4(!) agreeing perps.
Steve - fine fettle today Bro... LOL your 'SOUP' 'Troubling Times' and JOEL asides. Excellent expo!
//knew it was Kansas b/f I clicked... Thx.
ALSO, Theme helped me out at 48a. I couldn't get Lucy out of my head. Oh, a bit further back evolutionally-speaking.
WOs: A TRACE. There's ink under GRIEF but I can't make it out. TOTal
ESPs: Every stinkin' name, spelling of PRODIGAL (there's only one R?), CAB.
Fav: c/a for SIZE
D-O: Thank you! I kept thinking, "Semi (as in Valley, CA) important (export) means a 'part' of CABernet? On a Thursday?"
PVX - TOTe-UP *snicker*
TTP - you described my final fill to a T
.
SansBeach - when I first came 'round The Corner, it always seemed to me that Monday's had the fewest posts and they ended earlier at night. Disappointed because Mondays I could get here earlier! :-)
Weseeley - back in the day everyone had there own standard BUT they still had RS232 - even Apples. I mean, if not how did Jeff Goldblum connect to the space craft in Independence Day?
SEE ALSO: This.
Cheers!, -T
AnonT:
It appears that you are feeling better. Is that so? And how is Mrs. AnonT? Better also I hope.
If you remember that in California it's SIMI(pronounced see-me) Valley you won't make that error.
Lucina - I am 100%! DW is still puny and awaiting her Covid results [likely negative, in a positive way. :-) We've been too careful.]
I think she took the C-test so she could self-isolate ergo I will leave her alone [2 days after stay-at-home she was going to report me to HR! :-)]
Reality is - in the Spring, we both get allergies that sometimes turn nasty and then give nasty to the other. We're fine. Thanks for asking.
Wait, then, why is the first I pronounced like... Nevermind, it's English.
Cheers, -T
last line was inre: SIMI Valley. -T
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