Theme: Kleptomania! This puzzle just can't stop stealing - and we're not talking about baseball:
17A. Steal from a box office?: LIFT TICKETS. Here's an unused box office one:
30A. Steal from a bar?: HOOK SHOTS. Kareem never hooked shots. He just sky-hooked a-plenty.
44A. Steal from a government database?: NICK NAMES. I didn't stop to think about this one, but now wonder as I come to write up the puzzle if this is British English?
What's interesting about the British "nick" is that you can be nicked (arrested) for nicking (stealing) and end up in the nick (jail). If your name is Nick, and you nick your finger in the larceny process, that just adds a whole new couple of dimensions to the sentence.
(The grammatical sentence, not the sentence handed down for nicking). Who says English isn't hard to learn?
59A. Steal from a beauty salon?: POCKET COMBS. I rarely, if ever, used a comb, I just washed my hair, toweled it dry and ran my fingers through it to "style" it. Lockdown locks now demand comb-use, otherwise I look like a deranged sheep as the day wears on. Plenty of product required, too, to calm things down.
I liked this theme from Adam, four synonyms and nothing to upset you in the theme or the fill. I might speculate this might be a tad on the easy side for a Thursday, but everyone's mileage will vary.
Let's see what we've got lurking in the chutes and ladders of the fill:
Across:
1. Actress Gillan of "Guardians of the Galaxy": KAREN. A nod to the gods of crosses right off the bad. No idea.
6. Has a frog in one's throat: RASPS
11. Caps Lock neighbor: TAB. SHIFT doesn't fit, and A isn't exactly long enough.
14. Texas tourist spot: ALAMO. All together now: "It's smaller than you thought it was when you got to visit". Unlike the Grand Canyon; nothing can prepare you for how deep and wide the canyon is.
15. Insistent comeback: IS TOO!
16. "It's __-win situation": A NO
19. Dress to the nines, with "up": TOG
20. Put away: EAT
21. Like a loud crowd: AROAR
22. Bellybutton type: OUTIE. -IE and wait for the crosses.
24. Sources of wisdom: ORACLES. The Delphi oracle is the most well-known. The minor oracles mutter about the unfairness of that.
26. Chincoteague horse: PONY. A breed of pony, of course we all knew that (shhh! - now I know that).
27. Clumsy: GAWKY
32. Ostrich cousin: RHEA. I didn't notice this on the way through, crosses filled it in for me.
33. Got together: MET
34. Sudoku digit: ONE. "Sudoku" is superfluous here.
35. Routine grounder, e.g.: EASY OUT
37. Timber-cutting tool: BROAD AX
41. Bird whose eye is in the Wise potato chips logo: OWL. Never heard of them. Pennsylvania-based, so that might account for it.
42. __ race: RAT
43. Field mouse: VOLE
48. Goddess trio, with "the": FATES. Your fate is assigned at birth by Clotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Alloter, and Atropos the Inflexible. What does the "alloter" do?
49. Workplace standards org.: O.S.H.A. I would have thought by now that OSHA wouldn't need the periods, but I guess with "org." in the clue, I should respect that.
50. Integer: NUMERAL. Like ONE.
52. Moves with the breeze: SWAYS
54. Grenoble greeting: SALUT!
55. Feed bit: OAT. I went for ORT first and had to have a bit of a re-think.
58. Top __: TEN
62. Syncopated work: RAG
63. Where van Gogh's second "Sunflowers" series was painted: ARLES. The first series was painted in Paris. If you're wondering which Van Gogh you've got hanging on your wall, a "Paris" painting shows the flowers lying around on the floor, an "Arles" painting shows them in a vase.
You might think he'd got himself together in Arles, vase-wise, but then one night he and his buddy Paul Gauguin happened to tie one on in an absinthe bar, which ended with angry words and Vincent chopping off his own ear with his razor.
Happy days.
64. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
65. Is for two?: ARE
66. Bobby pin target: TRESS. Tress comes up again within a week. I didn't elaborate on it before, as I thought it was a common term for a hank of hair, but there were some "what?" comments, so once bitten - tress = hair. I need to get my tresses attended to shortly.
67. __ Tots: TATER
Down:
1. Curly leafy green: KALE. People claim to love kale, but really, they don't.
2. Latin "others": ALIA
3. Rapids transit: RAFT. Nice clue.
4. Ambulance pro: E.M.T.
5. Official with a seal: NOTARY
6. Bounce: RICOCHET
7. Set the price high: ASK A LOT
8. Sound system: STEREO. Do people buy a "sound system" which is "stereo" anymore? Maybe this should be clued with a "once" qualifier. I do very clearly remember my first stereo sound system. I put my headphones on and listened to my new "Dark Side of the Moon" album from Pink Floyd. I still remember my astonishment at hearing a different mix in each ear.
9. Cauldron: POT. Does anyone other than witches use cauldrons?
10. Mediocre: SO-SO
11. Many a clue in the TV series "Blindspot": TATTOO
12. Sanctify with oil: ANOINT
13. Pro golfer's disappointments: BOGEYS. I'm usually quite satisfied with a bogey. I start to sulk at the triple-bogeys.
18. Glass of public radio: IRA
23. Sudden, dramatic disruption: UPHEAVAL
24. "I heard you the last time": OKAY, OKAY!
25. Tennis garment: SKORT. Golf, too. I'd like to see a male golfer on the PGA tour wear one and see what the reaction was from the PGA. Male golfers on the European tour can wear shorts on a tournament-by-tournament basis according to the forecast temperature, but they still can't wear a kilt. Equality for the Scots and Irish! And skorts for men!
27. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
28. "Yes!": AHA!
29. "Isle of Dogs" director Anderson: WES
31. __ Balls: former Hostess treats: SNO. Currently owned by "Apollo Global Management" which sounds about as appetizing as a private equity firm can.
33. Disney film based on a Chinese legend: MULAN
36. "Queen Sugar" cable station: OWN. Thank you crosses.
37. Unfounded: BASELESS
38. On the __: DOT
39. Tavern tankard: ALE
40. Simple signatures: X'ES. Also known in legal circles as "Signature by Mark". Yes, it's a thing:
42. New film versions: REMAKES
44. Cosa __: NOSTRA. "La Cosa Nostra", literally "our thing".
45. "Cross my heart!": I SWEAR
46. Coins returned: CHANGE
47. Brawn: MUSCLE
48. One of the haves: FAT CAT. "Fat cats have a heart attack" in this catchy 1984-inspired ditty from Muse.
51. Boring routine: RUT
53. Minor disagreement: SPAT
55. Leave unsaid: OMIT
56. Not all thumbs: ABLE
57. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
60. "Bobby Hockey": ORR. Bobby Orr retired. His number is retired. It's probably time he was retired from crossword duty too, there is literally no new way to clue his name. Yes, he was a great defenseman, but ...
61. Egg cells: OVA
And here, without further ado, is the grid. Have a great Thursday!
Steve
17A. Steal from a box office?: LIFT TICKETS. Here's an unused box office one:
30A. Steal from a bar?: HOOK SHOTS. Kareem never hooked shots. He just sky-hooked a-plenty.
44A. Steal from a government database?: NICK NAMES. I didn't stop to think about this one, but now wonder as I come to write up the puzzle if this is British English?
What's interesting about the British "nick" is that you can be nicked (arrested) for nicking (stealing) and end up in the nick (jail). If your name is Nick, and you nick your finger in the larceny process, that just adds a whole new couple of dimensions to the sentence.
(The grammatical sentence, not the sentence handed down for nicking). Who says English isn't hard to learn?
59A. Steal from a beauty salon?: POCKET COMBS. I rarely, if ever, used a comb, I just washed my hair, toweled it dry and ran my fingers through it to "style" it. Lockdown locks now demand comb-use, otherwise I look like a deranged sheep as the day wears on. Plenty of product required, too, to calm things down.
I liked this theme from Adam, four synonyms and nothing to upset you in the theme or the fill. I might speculate this might be a tad on the easy side for a Thursday, but everyone's mileage will vary.
Let's see what we've got lurking in the chutes and ladders of the fill:
Across:
1. Actress Gillan of "Guardians of the Galaxy": KAREN. A nod to the gods of crosses right off the bad. No idea.
6. Has a frog in one's throat: RASPS
11. Caps Lock neighbor: TAB. SHIFT doesn't fit, and A isn't exactly long enough.
14. Texas tourist spot: ALAMO. All together now: "It's smaller than you thought it was when you got to visit". Unlike the Grand Canyon; nothing can prepare you for how deep and wide the canyon is.
15. Insistent comeback: IS TOO!
16. "It's __-win situation": A NO
19. Dress to the nines, with "up": TOG
20. Put away: EAT
21. Like a loud crowd: AROAR
22. Bellybutton type: OUTIE. -IE and wait for the crosses.
24. Sources of wisdom: ORACLES. The Delphi oracle is the most well-known. The minor oracles mutter about the unfairness of that.
26. Chincoteague horse: PONY. A breed of pony, of course we all knew that (shhh! - now I know that).
27. Clumsy: GAWKY
32. Ostrich cousin: RHEA. I didn't notice this on the way through, crosses filled it in for me.
33. Got together: MET
34. Sudoku digit: ONE. "Sudoku" is superfluous here.
35. Routine grounder, e.g.: EASY OUT
37. Timber-cutting tool: BROAD AX
41. Bird whose eye is in the Wise potato chips logo: OWL. Never heard of them. Pennsylvania-based, so that might account for it.
42. __ race: RAT
43. Field mouse: VOLE
48. Goddess trio, with "the": FATES. Your fate is assigned at birth by Clotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Alloter, and Atropos the Inflexible. What does the "alloter" do?
49. Workplace standards org.: O.S.H.A. I would have thought by now that OSHA wouldn't need the periods, but I guess with "org." in the clue, I should respect that.
50. Integer: NUMERAL. Like ONE.
52. Moves with the breeze: SWAYS
54. Grenoble greeting: SALUT!
55. Feed bit: OAT. I went for ORT first and had to have a bit of a re-think.
58. Top __: TEN
62. Syncopated work: RAG
63. Where van Gogh's second "Sunflowers" series was painted: ARLES. The first series was painted in Paris. If you're wondering which Van Gogh you've got hanging on your wall, a "Paris" painting shows the flowers lying around on the floor, an "Arles" painting shows them in a vase.
You might think he'd got himself together in Arles, vase-wise, but then one night he and his buddy Paul Gauguin happened to tie one on in an absinthe bar, which ended with angry words and Vincent chopping off his own ear with his razor.
Happy days.
64. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
65. Is for two?: ARE
66. Bobby pin target: TRESS. Tress comes up again within a week. I didn't elaborate on it before, as I thought it was a common term for a hank of hair, but there were some "what?" comments, so once bitten - tress = hair. I need to get my tresses attended to shortly.
67. __ Tots: TATER
Down:
1. Curly leafy green: KALE. People claim to love kale, but really, they don't.
2. Latin "others": ALIA
3. Rapids transit: RAFT. Nice clue.
4. Ambulance pro: E.M.T.
5. Official with a seal: NOTARY
6. Bounce: RICOCHET
7. Set the price high: ASK A LOT
8. Sound system: STEREO. Do people buy a "sound system" which is "stereo" anymore? Maybe this should be clued with a "once" qualifier. I do very clearly remember my first stereo sound system. I put my headphones on and listened to my new "Dark Side of the Moon" album from Pink Floyd. I still remember my astonishment at hearing a different mix in each ear.
9. Cauldron: POT. Does anyone other than witches use cauldrons?
10. Mediocre: SO-SO
11. Many a clue in the TV series "Blindspot": TATTOO
12. Sanctify with oil: ANOINT
13. Pro golfer's disappointments: BOGEYS. I'm usually quite satisfied with a bogey. I start to sulk at the triple-bogeys.
18. Glass of public radio: IRA
23. Sudden, dramatic disruption: UPHEAVAL
24. "I heard you the last time": OKAY, OKAY!
25. Tennis garment: SKORT. Golf, too. I'd like to see a male golfer on the PGA tour wear one and see what the reaction was from the PGA. Male golfers on the European tour can wear shorts on a tournament-by-tournament basis according to the forecast temperature, but they still can't wear a kilt. Equality for the Scots and Irish! And skorts for men!
27. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
28. "Yes!": AHA!
29. "Isle of Dogs" director Anderson: WES
31. __ Balls: former Hostess treats: SNO. Currently owned by "Apollo Global Management" which sounds about as appetizing as a private equity firm can.
33. Disney film based on a Chinese legend: MULAN
36. "Queen Sugar" cable station: OWN. Thank you crosses.
37. Unfounded: BASELESS
38. On the __: DOT
39. Tavern tankard: ALE
40. Simple signatures: X'ES. Also known in legal circles as "Signature by Mark". Yes, it's a thing:
42. New film versions: REMAKES
44. Cosa __: NOSTRA. "La Cosa Nostra", literally "our thing".
45. "Cross my heart!": I SWEAR
46. Coins returned: CHANGE
47. Brawn: MUSCLE
48. One of the haves: FAT CAT. "Fat cats have a heart attack" in this catchy 1984-inspired ditty from Muse.
51. Boring routine: RUT
53. Minor disagreement: SPAT
55. Leave unsaid: OMIT
56. Not all thumbs: ABLE
57. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
60. "Bobby Hockey": ORR. Bobby Orr retired. His number is retired. It's probably time he was retired from crossword duty too, there is literally no new way to clue his name. Yes, he was a great defenseman, but ...
61. Egg cells: OVA
And here, without further ado, is the grid. Have a great Thursday!
Steve
49 comments:
FIWrong. Had tOOK SHOTS instead of HOOK, and knew I didn't know how to spell RICOChET anyway, so didn't notice the rogue T.
The wise OWL we feared would succumb
To math, though he wasn't dumb.
To tell 'whom' from 'who',
As an ORACLE, he'd do,
But counting, not past NUMERAL ONE.
OWLS feast on RATS and VOLES,
To raptors, they're ice cream in bowls.
To survive, I reckon,
They are very fecund,
At least, more so than the owls!
{B, C+.}
I’ve visited the ALAMO and Delphi and I knew VOLE from my association with a vertebrate museum at a university where I taught. I liked the theme and enjoyed filling in the themers. No write-overs.
Good morning!
This was a nice romp, until I got to FA_ES crossing DO_, and drew a blank. An alphabet run solved the conundrum. DNF avoided. Thanx, Adam and Steve. (Yes "Nick" is definitely British. I think the "alotter" complains a lot.)
STEREO: I think it's sad that audio components today must be purchased sight-unseen. Gone are the days when you could browse in the audio store, lust after the McIntosh amplifiers, and "borrow" a piece of equipment for an at-home trial. The only saving grace -- Crutchfield has a very nice return policy. I've managed to put together a very nice stereo system for my office, and listen to it several hours every day. Expensive, but worth it.
RIP, Vera Lynn. She was 103.
Oh, I think Wise Potato Chips are the standard against which others are measured, except for kettle-cooked chips.
Steve, may be a typo, but I think it's "right off the bat" not bad
Finished in under 8 minutes today, but skirt/skort tripped me up.
Karen Gillan (no D at the end) plays Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which are surprisingly entertaining and aided by wonderful soundtracks. She also appears in the new Jumanji movies.
Good puzzle, easy fun theme. Only Karen was new to me. Fine write up, Steve.
Several summers we went with David and his family to the beaches of Assateague Island, MD just a stone's throw away from Chincoteague. The feral ponies are quite tame and wander on the beach among the sunbathers. Watch that sandwich or they might steal it! Have you read "Misty of Chincoteague?" The life of these ponies is interesting.
ponies
So many of Kindle's Prime Reading books are by British authors. Nick is one of many British words and phrases I have learned. Steal from Victoria's Secret? Nick Knickers.
Arles has been on my bucket list for years. I guess I will never see it now.
Wise potato chips and other snacks are sold in 20 states and DC, all east of the Mississippi River.
This was a clever theme and fairly quick for a Thursday. I had AM TOO before IS TOO and at first thought it was HACK instead of NICK names. Steve, I think I've seen NICK to steal more in British TV shows and literature than American ones- I hadn't heard of the other British uses of NICK!
My kids loved the book "Misty of Chincoteague" about one of wild ponies that live there.
OWN cable station acronym for Oprah Winfrey Network- came to mind as she just announced her new book club offering "Deacon King Kong" by James McBride. He is a favorite author of mine- so I read it a few months ago and recommend it for the book reading crowd on the corner!
Thanks Steve and Adam!
Clue ORR? Hockey GOAT
Blame it on Mr S, again. He insisted on BOGees leaving PONE???? I should have gone back to my Xword . And seeing it I guess BOGEYS is actually correct. I thought bogies.
FIW. Owen, A on #2.
Of all the 40s, 50s singers Vera Lynn escaped me. But I recognize the voice
I think the competitor to Wise was Cains in the day, before the uneatable LAYS came along .
Other than the BOGEY the round went smooth
WC
Good morning all .
FIR in good time , Mcd’s coffee still warm.
A few unknowns - RHEA,WES,OWN and KAREN.
Cheers
Thank you, Anon at 7:57. I have developed the unfortunate typing tic of hitting the "D" key when I type "AN."
A very enjoyable puzzle and write-up. Adam, who has been published in many different major puzzle sites in his 8-month career delivered a very fun theme. Steve continues his tour of his mind and his life wrapped inside his discussion of the puzzle. Nicked indeed! I always liked the British term The Filth for the police more than the American Pigs. BTW, I am a staunch supporter of the Police and the 99% who are hard-working sincere public servants. It is a thankless job I could not do.
It is interesting that most do not know the name of KAREN GILLAN despite the many successful projects she has been part of. (if you click the link you will see she was in many, many successful projects.
Our new fill of week is RHEA with so many different iterations. We have eaten WISE chips both in Connecticut and in Florida. A guess maybe it is an East Coast product; not the greatest but serviceable.
I also forgot to comment on the unknown QUEEN SUGAR which plays on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
Great Thursday puzzle, only one inkover: VOLE and I got the obvious theme.
RHEA was an actress yesterday. Today morphed into a large bird.
Almost put Muses for goddesses, they're such popular crossword ladies. But as FATEs would have it I held off. You don't want to hear "EASY OUT" when you step up to the plate. Had no idea what Chincoteague referred to
Blindspot.. I never followed the series but have seen the tattooed woman on the commercial.
Forced to wear a SKORT. Explains why John McEnroe was always so ornery. The TSAR will always live to reign in the Crossword Empire.
When I was kid my adult cousin and husband gave me all their HiFi LP's when they bought a STEREO.
And of course.....
Restaurant desert cry "Remember the _____!! " ALAMODE
King Arthur's inquisitive knight, Sir______ ASKALOT.
MILO's bouncy younger brother _____ RICOCHET.
Actress Streep after her makover _____ NUMERAL
Besides skin art "to crochet" means to TAT _____ TOO
Thanks guys, I guess God did a great job creating Adam and Steve!
Good morning everyone.
Solved without error today; no searches needed. Sticky-fingered theme. Thanks Steve for another fine recap; and the discourse on 'Nick'.
My innie was an OUTIE before my ventral hernia repair.
BOGEY - Is an unidentified air contact. May turn out to be friendly, neutral, or hostile. (navy usage)
EASY-OUT - - A type of hardware used to remove a screw with a damaged or broken-off head.
VOLE - I have regaled you before on filling up a tractor toolbox with 14 slain VOLES and providing a banquet to our barn cats. Afterwards they became FAT CATS.
Musings
-Nits on parade - I’m still working on HOOK as a synonym for Steal
-Adam - Of all the KARENS in all the puzzles in the world, you had to pick that one to lead off :-)
-After three months, we MET Joann’s mother yesterday at the Memory Care Facility and it went okay
-O.S.H.A. – Where were you in ’72 when I needed you?
-Poetry in motion, See her gentle SWAY, A wave out on the ocean, Could never move that way
-Johnny Tillotson hit #2 in the Top TEN with this song in 1960. Ray Charles’ Gerogia On My Mind kept him from #1
-I’m trying to imagine a Chincoteague Pony eating an OAT
-An “EASY OUT” player knows well that he/she will be batting ninth in the lineup
-No golf today as cool, wet weather is moving in to replace many hot, dry days over 90oF. What’s this BOGEY thing in the puzzle? ;-)
Or knicker nickers
Good Morning:
This was a clever theme and was enhanced by lots of fresh and lively fill, IMO. My only w/o was Muses/Fates and my only unknown was Gillian. We had a mini-critter theme with Owl, Rat, Vole, and Cat; in fact, Owl, Rat, Vole were all on the same line. I liked the duos of Rut and Rat and Rat and Cat and the Ten/One/Numeral trio. Lots of three letter words but as the vast majority were words, not initialisms or abbreviations, I wasn’t at all put off.
Thanks, Adam, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for the humor and interesting tidbits, especially your riff on the Brit nick usage and the images evoked by your description of the state of your hair. 💇♂️
Ray O @ 9:01 ~ Thanks for the daily chuckles! 🙂
FLN
Oas, that was a lovely tribute that your nephew paid his dad. I understand how difficult the circumstances were for the family due to the mandated social restrictions. May they find peace and solace with the passing of time.
PK: “I bought four brand new cars since he died.” Priceless! 😈
Have a great day.
The Chincoteague Ponies primarily eat the salt water cord grass that grows in the marshes on Assateague Island. They eat almost all day just to get enough nutrition from this diet to sustain themselves. The salt content of the cord grass is very high.
I can guarantee they nick sandwiches of the unwary, too. They are probably hungry. I don't know whether they can eat them. I'll bet no one has offered them oats.
The iris gardens are now open after the stay at home order has been lifted. They were closed at the height of the blooming season.
Finished it right in reasonable time.
Liked the theme, and the fills were good. Glad Steve sorta explained NICK. Was not crazy about HOOK.
MO
For a Thursday a relatively fast FIR in 15 min. I thought hook and nick were real stretches as synonyms for steal. Never heard of them in use. I would prefer using an "x" in signing because my signature looks like I'm 110 years old due to benign tremor. Curses!!
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Adam Vincent, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Picard: I never saw your email you sent me. Maybe try it again. What address did you use?
Puzzle went easy. Theme appeared and made sense. Easy to figure all them out.
A few unknowns: KAREN, TATTOO, MULAN, perps helped.
I am a NOTARY. My commission expires in two months. I had better get on it and renew it.
Had a brain MRI yesterday. One of the worst things I ever went through in my life.
Have to go. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
Good puzzle from Adam and Steve's write-up, as always, was elucidating.
Not too hard, but I still needed a few perps to fill in the grid. I put in the IE and waited to see if it was INNIE or OUTIE.
I only know of two Ostrich relatives and the RHEA is the four-letter one. Plus I am so tired of the LIMU EMU commercials, I could scream. I automatically hit the mute button on the remote when one of them come on TV, which is often.
WISE potato chips is one of the brands that I grew up with in Pennsylvania. They were OK but there were a lot of other local ones that I liked better, like Middleswarth and Gibbles. I think I got Irish Miss hooked on Gibbles chips. One of the few brands that still are cooked in lard.
Steve: My youngest son, who is a soon to be 50 year old, is the free spirit in the family who wears a kilt to work in the summer. Which is interesting since he works for the phone company and occasionally has to climb poles.
I put in VOLE as the answer to the Field mouse clue but they are not true mice, although they are similar and are rodents. I have had problems with both mice and voles. The voles have messed up my plants and shrubs outside, but the mice that got into my car in the garage chewed up the wiring and caused over $1500 in damages. After I got the car fixed, I sold it.
I hope everyone is safe.
Not being a thief or shopLIFTer, LIFT was a familiar term but I'd never heard of HOOK, NICK, or POCKET being used for stealing. But Adam's Thursday puzzle filled in Monday time with just three A&E clues filled by perps- KAREN Gillian, TATTOO, & OWN for unknown shows.
WES Anderson-don't really know who he is but he shows up all the time. SCWA.
POCKET COMBS- no shoes, no shirt, no service, no HAIR, no need for a comb.
PONY was an easy guess for 'horse'.
FATES & ORACLES- we're covered today.
SKORT-DW put one on this morning to go play tennis.
SNO Balls- chocolate cakes with marshmallow-coconut icing-one pink, one white. I always had to split the 10 cent pack with my brother. HOSTESS still makes them.
Steve- listen to some 50 years old songs in stereo where individual sounds come out of only one speaker-they sound weird. Producers learned to mix sounds better after those records.
D-otto, I bought some wireless speakers from BestBuy for about $60 each that sound better than the $300 AR speakers I bought years ago. You want really expensive super high quality speakers, buy KLIPSCH. A friend was the president of the company in Hope, Arkansas until the family sold out. Most of the Vegas shows used Klipsch speaker systems but they also make home versions.
Oas- DW loves Mcd's coffee so much that she buys it for the house. It's a Heinz product.
Hola!
Thank you, Adam and Steve! This puzzle was almost too easy for a Thursday though I had ONE white-out, on the FLY until DOT altered it.
When my late friend, Betty, moved to Alaska she wrote about the many VOLES living there. They are not found in the desert as far as I know.
I, too, enjoyed the theme, a version of which I recently encountered in my puzzle book. It was by Matthew Sewell and Brad Wilber titled, Crime is on the Rise with the themers rising upward. In fact it's #300 and the last one. Time for another book.
St. Teresa of AVILA is as popular in crosswords as the TSAR.
NOSTRA is a close relation to the Spanish nuestra also meaning "our".
For some reason I liked seeing UPHEAVAL and ANOINT which are not commonly found in CWDs.
Yesterday a NOTARY came to witness the petition I had circulated. My only contacts are with family so that is who signed it.
Many years ago I purchased a beautiful print of Van Gogh's Sunflowers; it's too big for my small condo but perfect for my sister and it now graces the stairwell of her lovely home.
MULAN remains one of the favorite movies that my granddaughters watch. I finally had to buy a DVD version because the VCR tape was worn out.
I hope you enjoy a sunny day, everyone!
We all have different wheelhouses which crosswords expand. Never having heard a term doesn't make it a stretch. It does expand the mind of the person hearing it for the first time. For me NICK, LIFT and POCKET are quite common, as is BOOST, used as synonyms for steal. Five finger discount is a synonym for shoplift. Hook is also slang for steal, not as common, but I have read it several times. Many of the terms that seem new to some are found in novels and news articles rather than everyday speech.
Picard, OATER from yesterday is used quite a bit in movie reviews, (I found many references) but probably much not in other places, except for crosswords.
It's been a busy week in the home office -- a nice change! -- so although I've enjoyed the puzzle every day, I am just catching up with the comments since Monday.
Abejo, I want to join the chorus of well wishers sending you hope and support.
PK, I loved your car story. It wasn't exactly the story of my first marriage, but resonated!
Thanks, all, for fun with the language.
BTW, Constructors, I do not know your minor KARENs. An of-the-moment clue would be, "Entitled woman with stylish bob."
Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, Adam, thanks! More fun with Steve's expo!
My last fills were DOT/FATES/FATCAT & GRE/GAWK/WES. Tried musES before FATES.
I googled BROAD AX. AX has an "E" as I suspected.
DNK: KAREN, GILLIAN, WES.
YR: My daughter took her daughter to Chincoteague to meet the PONYs (sic) after she became enthralled by that book.
I accidently mowed a nest of VOLES once. Sickening.
HG: HOOK for steal: My SIL's mom had her purse stolen when someone used a bent clothes hanger to reach under the restroom cubicle door and HOOK the strap. By the time, she got her clothes adjusted, the thief was out the door & gone.
IM & Naomi: glad you liked my car story.
Woohoo! Woohoo! I got a Thursday puzzle--clearly not unusual for many, but pretty rare for me. So, many, many thanks, Adam, for this delightful and fun puzzle. And I like your Van Gogh picture, Steve.
The bottom filled in first for me, thanks to getting NOSTRA right away. Nice to have all that art and culture with ARLES and AVILA. Kept wanting to put SKIRT since I've never heard of SKORT, but gave in to ONE at the end.
I guess you could call Misty my NICKNAME. But had no idea I had any connection to Chincoteague PONY-s--never heard of them.
Liked your fun allusion to Milo O'Shea's brother, Ray.
So, Owen, what would you call the connection between BOWLS and OWLS if they don't rhyme? Enjoyed your verses, all the same.
Have a good day, everybody.
Good morning. Easy’ish Puzzle for Thursday but still interesting. Misty of Chincoteague is one of my most treasured books from my childhood, and the illustrations are so lovely.
We have visited Arles, and of course there are many “V an Gogh was here” spots to see.
I’m amazed at the folks who refuse to wear masks. Is that too political to mention?
Stay safe everyone.
Misty:
If you watch Jeopardy you might have seen a category called "words that should rhyme but don't". It's an interesting one as you can imagine and OWL and bowl fit the pattern.
Not surprisingly I don't recall the Chincoteague PONY (ies) but vaguely remember seeing them in a puzzle at least once before and the book sounds like one my grandchildren would enjoy.
This Thursday grid had its moments.
Write-overs...MOANA/MULAN. Should have waited for crosses there.
Wendybird...I too am just dazzled by the “no mask” contingent. I consider this a Darwin moment.
I am also just amazed by ignorami who just cannot figure out the arrows in the aisles. One lady actually looked down, saw it pointing the other way, and just continued. I’m figuring she was in a hurry to get to the treadmill at home.
There is going to be a reckoning here, I just hope I’m safe at home when it starts.
Stay safe, see you tomorrow.
What Desper-Otto said,
re: FaTes crossing doT alphabet run,
(it was the period that put a stop to it...)
Re: voles
I once encountered a strange little animal
by my campfire one night, alerted by a tiny rustling sound.
When I investigated, I found a tiny little blind albino shrew,
that looked something like this.
As a kid, I built my own Stereo (from junk) and was always making
improvements. But it drove me crazy when the early Beatles Stereo
recordings would just split the group into two separately recorded channels.
I found out much later that they were not even true Stereo...
hmm, reminds me of that Bass Booster I built from plans in a Popular Electronics
magazine that picked of CB radio transmissions from taxi cabs...
(not enough shielding...)
Steal this puzzle!
Irony...
Have a seat!
Required reading for our times...
Have I been traveling in the wrong company? I knew all the words for steal. That made the puzzle easier. Thanks for the fun Adam. I wasn’t sure about Tavern Tankard being ALES . Doesn’t the ALE go IN the tankard ? It was an obvious answer so no problem.
Steve, thanks for your guidance . I’m always amazed I learn English !
Owen, both A!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Adam and Steve (this Canadian knew that NICK meant Steal!). I thought that I FIRed and got the stolen theme. But now I see that I did not make enough corrections. I had "On the Lam" instead of DOT; I corrected the D and O with perps from BROADAX and VOLE, but left FAmES instead of FATES. I SWEAR I should have checked better.
Once again, I moved to the Downs when I had a problem with 1 Across (the unknown as clued KAREN- NaomiZ, I love your clue!)
Several inkblots:
Muana changed to MULAN (AnonPVX-what were we thinking?); Et Al changed to ALIA with perps (and when I realized that the abbreviation was not indicated); RHEA was in my head, and I entered Emu for the Wise OWL (perps and Wise set me straight).
Perps changed REmAKE to RETAKE.
I had never heard of Chincoteague PONY; I'll check on the book for grandchildren.
Yes PK, I was looking for an E on the end of AX.
The clue for ALE seems odd IMHO; isn't the tankard the holder of the ALE?? I started with Urn (or Vat) but thought they were too big. (I see SwampCat just beat me to the same ??)
I had an AHA moment at Steve's explanation for 11A. My brain was thinking of a location (and not on a keyboard) and TAB made no sense when it filled the spot. D'uh!
This Canadian had some holdups (was I NICKed?) with American knowledge. OSHA and GRE I have learned here. I am familiar with OWN but did not associate it with "Queen Sugar". IRA Glass is not familiar either (although I vaguely remember meeting him here in the past).
"Rapids transit"= RAFT made me smile.
Wishing you all a great day.
Speaking of rodents.
I could use some advice. The number of chipmunks that have taken to digging holes in my garden has exploded this year. They damage the plants by indirectly uprooting them which I try to replant sometimes unsuccessfully
Googling suggests all kinds of products.
Anyone find anything that works other than trapping or dispatching them?
Ray'o - I have the same problem with chipmunks but not in my garden (that is a rabbit problem). The chipmunks dig up plants from my pots and planters. I have tried sprinkling with chili powder with some success, but it must be repeated weekly (or after every rain). A friend has used bloodmeal sprinkled around her fence to keep out squirrels. But similarly, it must be repeated often and after rain. Has anyone here used Critter Ridder??
Thanks Canada.
I have used mothballs put right down their holes. Works for me.
Naomi Z, I just learned that definition of Karen this week.
I think tankard can include what is in it. Ale. Would you like some coffee? Thank you. I will have a cup.
Thanks for the chuckles.
I liked this puzzle. The clue for RAFT is outstanding.
The comments about STEREO sent me down a research rabbit hole ranging from Binaural through Dolby Digital 5.1 to Dolby Surround 7.1. It was a fascinating 3 hours.
Ray-O, I love your humor. I laughed out loud at "MILO's bouncy younger brother _____ RICOCHET" and "Actress Streep after her makeover _____ NUMERAL."
When Ray-O-Sunshine substitutes battery power for solar, he is called Ray-O-Vac.
Good wishes to you all.
Misty ~ I don't know the technical term, but it is some sort of "visual rhyme" the connection between BOWLS and OWLS. Similar to how the Brit pronunciation of "Again" relates to the American one.
ARRGH
I just wasted over an hour on hold with the Apple store. And then another hour via laptop trying to "chat" with somebody who never materialized. All I need is to buy a new iMac to replace my old one (which is constantly crashing) and to have my old files transferred to the new model. Easy enough, eh? HAH!
The woman I managed to speak with--briefly!--said I needed to order the new one on line, pick it up at the local store, and then have somebody on the phone talk me through transferring my data.
I tried telling her I do not follow phone instruction well--and, more to the point, I do not want to accept a new model w/o my old files already on it.
Somehow I got lost--dropped?--as she said she would transfer me to a "genius." Arrgh!
Double Arrrgh!!
~ OMK
Hi All!
Puzzle was an EASY OUT. Thanks Adam - I had lots o' fun swiping stuff. [poor quality Dora]
Steve. Steve. Steve. LOL - you were on fire today. NICK was fun, I had the same STEREO experience w/ Time (when I was 10yro), and Rich should give you KALE every week just so you can continue the disparagement of that green with such wit.
WOs: Bird.., wait - no. me TOO. SwO - wait that's not Showtime's... b/f OWN.
ESPs: KAREN (and I read Gillian and thought Anderson | X-FILES), TOG, AVILA
Fav: OKAY, OKAY. It's RAFT's c/a.
NICK - any of the (new) Sherlocks or Miss Fisher or BBC or CBC or...
{A, B+}
FLN - LOL HOOK'd on math TTP. I would jump in w/ IM, Swamp, and Ray-O claiming the auto-correct virus infection but it's more likely on me.
FLN - cute DR
FLN - LOL new cars PK!
YR - cute NICK'd knickers (you TOO OAS) and thank you for the info on PONY. I didn't know why Chincoteague rang a bell but your mention reminded me that DW was trying to convince me to vacation there with her family and my family -- together(!). Yeah, NO.
CED - "Steal this puzzle" link hit a home run w/ DW. She snicker'd.
C, Eh! You might like IRA's NPR show "This American Life." It's usually three personal stories connected by a common theme. I like it OK but I have to be in the mood.
Whowa! Bloodmeal? Will that work on Eldest too? Between her & squirrels, I've only had one of my tomatoes. :-)
Garage STEREO receiver is a Yamaha. It has A|B channels that can be used separately or together for sound in the garage (A) and over the pool (B). Plus, has enough inputs for (old) iPhone, MP3 player, and SirusXM receiver for (more) NPR or Classic Rewind.
NaomiZ @11:54 - LOL! Saw a Tweet today that went something like "For all you complaining about KAREN, where were you for Felicia?"
Cheers, -T
Anon-T, you think you got troubles. I have a peach tree in my front yard. I picked a beautiful ripe one several weeks ago. Absolutely delish. But…
Clue #1, why were the rest so far behind and….
Clue #2, why were there so few?
But ..
I resolved to wait patiently for the dozen or so to ripen, looking for that "delish" experience again.
Then…
All three of us took both cars and went up to Ocala area to the new place we bought. When I came back after the weekend, Tuesday night, I checked the tree the next morning.
ALL GONE. I'd had a peach thief. Oh the humanity. Was it the trash man to whom I'd graciously offered a peach two years ago? Actually, last year's crop seemed scanty too. Or….
We're going to transplant up to the new place.
Yes, I know there's nothing like a fresh grown tomato.
WC
(Except for that peach)
Steve thank you for reminding everyone that KALE is not food.
The Beatles were pioneers in making good use of STEREO. We did not have a STEREO until I almost finished high school. So many amazing discoveries to listen to those Beatles records. Like "Her Majesty" which starts in one speaker and ends in the other. Or "Magical Mystery Tour" where you can hear the cars and trucks whoosh by on either side.
Never heard of BLINDSPOT. Interesting learning moment. It sounds as if they stole their idea from the film Memento. Did anyone else see Memento?
A man is trying to figure out who murdered his wife. But he has severe memory problems. Every time he solves a piece of the mystery, he makes a TATTOO of it on his body so he won't lose that piece. I watched MEMENTO as I was recovering from my own brain injuries from being hit by a car, so I could totally relate.
Clever theme. FIR.
Here I was at OSTRICH Land over the mountains from Santa Barbara. No RHEAs, though.
Abejo sorry my email did not get to you. I sent it to the address in your profile:
abejoyek (at) yahoo.com
Is that correct?
Yes, I have also had a brain and spine MRI. It is indeed terrifying to be sealed in a device where you have no way of getting out.
Jayce: thanks for your comment but the Crossword Police aren't happy.
Yellowrocks thank you for following up on my OATER inquiry. Good to know it really is used.
I remarked once here re. "Filth" and "Pigs" that IMHO, the New Testament refers to the Romans as 'Pigs'.
The prodigal son and the parable of the pigs going to the sea* are allegorical in that sense.
Then again what's plain as day to one person ...
WC
* That parable was in all four Gospels
Wilbur C.: Sounds like you have a peach thief. Maybe human or not. Once had a possum(?) that would hiss at us from the peach tree at night. He may have sampled the fruit. Might have been a raccoon. I had deer eat all of my first apple crop, then I saw one eating my cherries at dawn. Birds got the cherries in the top branches. Deer ate those on the low branches. I settled for picking plenty from the middle branches. My German shepherd was caught eating all the ripe strawberries.
Wish I had seen that "Jeopardy" with the "words that should rhyme but don't" category. Thanks for telling me about it, Lucina.
Ol'Man Keith, what a frustrating computer experience you are having. I'm so sorry to hear that, and will pray that you can get it resolved soon.
Jayce:
Very funny, Ray-O-Vac!
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