Theme: Sleuthing - use the reveal to hunt down the genre and thence the author:
58A. Literary genre often associated with the writer concealed in 16-, 32- and 40-Across: DETECTIVE STORY.
.jpg)
16A. A step up from a carport, perhaps: UNHEATED GARAGE. You probably don't need any heating in the garages in my neck of the woods unless you have a very delicately-dispositioned car. A/C perhaps if you're using it as a workshop.
32A. Limitation-of-freedom metaphor: BALL AND CHAIN. And a British slang word for a spouse (not exactly complimentary.)
40A. Ding-a-ling or ding-dong: ONOMATOPOEIA. What a great word, this is, and a treat to find it in the crossword. I wonder if this was the "seed" entry that gave Jeffrey the idea for the theme? I'm guessing it may have been.
Cool theme from Jeffrey, and I like how the reveal clues the genre to get to the author, a minor plot twist if you will. The construction is neat - a lot of both "themeage" and "stackage" give some satisfying larger areas of white space.
Let's have a tiptoe through the tulips and look at the fill:
Across:
1. Some munchies: CHIPS.
6. Asks to be excused, with "off": BEGS.
10. Latin initialism on a cross: IHS. I always thought it was INRI, but what do I know?
13. WWII riveter: ROSIE. Sun's Out, Guns Out! "We Can Do It".
14. Relating to body structure: ANATOMIC.
18. Come to terms: SETTLE.
19. Electronic dance music genre: TECHNO. This really is music you need to dance to.
21. Org. that's not lax at LAX: T.S.A. I think that's being generous to the T.S.A. They're not exactly gaffe-proof. Nice clue though.
22. Interval: LAPSE.
26. Space: GAP.
27. German brewing surname: STROH. Founded in Detroit in the 1850's. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of the brand names survive under new ownership.
30. Common Korean surname: LEE. Very common, about 15% of Koreans have the name. It is derived from the common Chinese name Yi, and shares the same character 李
31. Extremely dry: SERE.
36. Doubled, perhaps: GOT A HIT. Play ball!
39. Corrida figures: TOREROS. All matadors are toreros, but not all toreros are matadors. Also "toreador" was allegedly invented by Bizet for the opera "Carmen".
42. Zilch: NADA.
43. Greater N.Y. school: L.I.U. It looks like you have to be careful at one end of the soccer field not to paste yourself onto the wall, Looney Tunes-style.
44. Orchestra section: BRASS.
48. Chicago airport code: ORD. Orchard Field, originally, hence the odd acronym for "O'Hare".
49. "Golden Boy" playwright: ODETS. Oscar de la Hoya was nicknamed "Golden Boy" in his fighting days, now runs Golden Boy Promotions.
51. Hotel amenity: SPA.
52. President of Princeton, then the U.S.: WILSON.
55. Stride affectedly: SASHAY.
62. One happy to have no class?: GRADUATE. Its not just graduates who have no classes at the moment!
63. Arabian, for one: HORSE.
64. DE Dec. setting: E.S.T. Eastern Standard Time in Delaware in December. That's a lot of abbreviations packed into one small space.
65. What might take a while?: ERST. As in "erstwhile". Nice clue.
66. Fencing blades: EPÉES.
Down:
1. Pizza party leftovers: CRUSTS. Cold pizza for breakfast - lovely!
2. "Really": HONEST.
3. Eponymous goddess of a 1987 film flop: ISHTAR. This movie passed me by. I didn't miss much by the look of it, Roger Ebert wrote "Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy" and his compadre Gene Siskel remarked it was "shockingly dull" and "dim-witted".
4. Painter Mondrian: PIET.
5. Stop from leaking: SEAL.
6. Sweetie, in recent slang: BAE. I'll take a leaf out of Siskel's book and describe this as "dim-witted". It's a shortening of "baby" although "before anyone else" is claimed, although that's a "backronym".
7. Stop: END.
8. Joke: GAG.
9. Hawaii, e.g.: STATE.
10. Apple desktop: IMAC. I wonder how many iMacs are now sold other than to graphic designers?
11. A condition of maximum activity: HIGH GEAR. Not "top gear"? That says "maximum" to me. High gear just suggests a higher work rate.
12. Hypothetical account: SCENARIO. Interesting, I hadn't considered scenario to be hypothetical situation, but on reflection a scenerio can play out into reality. Good one to mull over.
15. Kate Brown is its gov.: ORE. Oregon.
17. Business card no.: TEL.
20. Bids first: OPENS.
23. Considered in full: ALL TOLD.
24. Tiny soup base: PEA. Odd clue, is pea the "base" of pea soup? I'd call it the main ingredient. And a pea isn't really tiny. I must be missing something here.
25. Mailed, as invites: SENT OUT.
28. "The Audacity of Hope" author: OBAMA.
29. "I'm amused": HA HA. Usually used sarcastically in my experience.
31. Gather wool from: SHEAR. There's a joke about a Kiwi and an Aussie sheep farmer involving "shearing sheep" which I won't say any more about.
33. Set ablaze: LIT.
34. Female ruminant: DOE.
35. Nursery item: CRIB.
36. First big song success for The Moody Blues: GO NOW. A song that's survived the test of time, methinks. Here's a reminder.
37. Positioned for ambush, as in many Westerns: ON A RIDGE.
38. Two-year-olds, say: TODDLERS.
41. Dessert choice: PIE.
45. Like sailors on leave: ASHORE. Unless you're serving on a shore-based station, and you go on a cruise for your vacation.
46. Spread out: SPARSE.
47. Agree: SAY YES.
49. At the proper moment: ON CUE.
50. Montreal-to-Boston dir.: S.S.E. I liked the compass-point-opposites we had a couple of weeks ago with a pair of NNE/SSW entries, but I guess we're firmly back to random-place-to-random-place clues. At least let's think about something to link the two place names together?
53. RBI or ERA: STAT. Baseball loves stats.
54. Venerable ref.: O.E.D. The Oxford English Dictionary. The day "bae" qualifies for an entry is the day that I cancel my (not-existent) subscription.
56. Queens tennis venue honoree: ASHE.
57. Where to get off: STOP. The great thing about the old Routemaster buses in London was that they had an open platform at the back so you jump on and off wherever you liked. Worked like a charm until some bureaucrats decided that it was dangerous, and you couldn't operate the bus with just a driver to collect fares as it forced passengers got on at a designated stop. Caused more congestion than you can imagine. Just a couple of years ago the Routemaster-style buses were reintroduced on certain routes.
59. Paving stuff: TAR.
60. "__ nothing new": IT'S. A rule if you're not sure about using an apostrophe with "it": "It's an apostrophe".
61. Nov. honoree: VET. Veteran's Day.
Well, there we have it. Here's the grid, and I just noticed 1A which reminds me to get a bowl of chips to crunch on with a beer.
Cheers!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
58A. Literary genre often associated with the writer concealed in 16-, 32- and 40-Across: DETECTIVE STORY.
16A. A step up from a carport, perhaps: UNHEATED GARAGE. You probably don't need any heating in the garages in my neck of the woods unless you have a very delicately-dispositioned car. A/C perhaps if you're using it as a workshop.
32A. Limitation-of-freedom metaphor: BALL AND CHAIN. And a British slang word for a spouse (not exactly complimentary.)
40A. Ding-a-ling or ding-dong: ONOMATOPOEIA. What a great word, this is, and a treat to find it in the crossword. I wonder if this was the "seed" entry that gave Jeffrey the idea for the theme? I'm guessing it may have been.
Cool theme from Jeffrey, and I like how the reveal clues the genre to get to the author, a minor plot twist if you will. The construction is neat - a lot of both "themeage" and "stackage" give some satisfying larger areas of white space.
Let's have a tiptoe through the tulips and look at the fill:
Across:
1. Some munchies: CHIPS.
6. Asks to be excused, with "off": BEGS.
10. Latin initialism on a cross: IHS. I always thought it was INRI, but what do I know?
13. WWII riveter: ROSIE. Sun's Out, Guns Out! "We Can Do It".
14. Relating to body structure: ANATOMIC.
18. Come to terms: SETTLE.
19. Electronic dance music genre: TECHNO. This really is music you need to dance to.
21. Org. that's not lax at LAX: T.S.A. I think that's being generous to the T.S.A. They're not exactly gaffe-proof. Nice clue though.
22. Interval: LAPSE.
26. Space: GAP.
27. German brewing surname: STROH. Founded in Detroit in the 1850's. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of the brand names survive under new ownership.
30. Common Korean surname: LEE. Very common, about 15% of Koreans have the name. It is derived from the common Chinese name Yi, and shares the same character 李
31. Extremely dry: SERE.
36. Doubled, perhaps: GOT A HIT. Play ball!
39. Corrida figures: TOREROS. All matadors are toreros, but not all toreros are matadors. Also "toreador" was allegedly invented by Bizet for the opera "Carmen".
42. Zilch: NADA.
43. Greater N.Y. school: L.I.U. It looks like you have to be careful at one end of the soccer field not to paste yourself onto the wall, Looney Tunes-style.
44. Orchestra section: BRASS.
48. Chicago airport code: ORD. Orchard Field, originally, hence the odd acronym for "O'Hare".
49. "Golden Boy" playwright: ODETS. Oscar de la Hoya was nicknamed "Golden Boy" in his fighting days, now runs Golden Boy Promotions.
51. Hotel amenity: SPA.
52. President of Princeton, then the U.S.: WILSON.
55. Stride affectedly: SASHAY.
62. One happy to have no class?: GRADUATE. Its not just graduates who have no classes at the moment!
63. Arabian, for one: HORSE.
64. DE Dec. setting: E.S.T. Eastern Standard Time in Delaware in December. That's a lot of abbreviations packed into one small space.
65. What might take a while?: ERST. As in "erstwhile". Nice clue.
66. Fencing blades: EPÉES.
Down:
1. Pizza party leftovers: CRUSTS. Cold pizza for breakfast - lovely!
2. "Really": HONEST.
3. Eponymous goddess of a 1987 film flop: ISHTAR. This movie passed me by. I didn't miss much by the look of it, Roger Ebert wrote "Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy" and his compadre Gene Siskel remarked it was "shockingly dull" and "dim-witted".
4. Painter Mondrian: PIET.
5. Stop from leaking: SEAL.
6. Sweetie, in recent slang: BAE. I'll take a leaf out of Siskel's book and describe this as "dim-witted". It's a shortening of "baby" although "before anyone else" is claimed, although that's a "backronym".
7. Stop: END.
8. Joke: GAG.
9. Hawaii, e.g.: STATE.
10. Apple desktop: IMAC. I wonder how many iMacs are now sold other than to graphic designers?
11. A condition of maximum activity: HIGH GEAR. Not "top gear"? That says "maximum" to me. High gear just suggests a higher work rate.
12. Hypothetical account: SCENARIO. Interesting, I hadn't considered scenario to be hypothetical situation, but on reflection a scenerio can play out into reality. Good one to mull over.
15. Kate Brown is its gov.: ORE. Oregon.
17. Business card no.: TEL.
20. Bids first: OPENS.
23. Considered in full: ALL TOLD.
24. Tiny soup base: PEA. Odd clue, is pea the "base" of pea soup? I'd call it the main ingredient. And a pea isn't really tiny. I must be missing something here.
25. Mailed, as invites: SENT OUT.
28. "The Audacity of Hope" author: OBAMA.
29. "I'm amused": HA HA. Usually used sarcastically in my experience.
31. Gather wool from: SHEAR. There's a joke about a Kiwi and an Aussie sheep farmer involving "shearing sheep" which I won't say any more about.
33. Set ablaze: LIT.
34. Female ruminant: DOE.
35. Nursery item: CRIB.
36. First big song success for The Moody Blues: GO NOW. A song that's survived the test of time, methinks. Here's a reminder.
37. Positioned for ambush, as in many Westerns: ON A RIDGE.
38. Two-year-olds, say: TODDLERS.
41. Dessert choice: PIE.
45. Like sailors on leave: ASHORE. Unless you're serving on a shore-based station, and you go on a cruise for your vacation.
46. Spread out: SPARSE.
47. Agree: SAY YES.
49. At the proper moment: ON CUE.
50. Montreal-to-Boston dir.: S.S.E. I liked the compass-point-opposites we had a couple of weeks ago with a pair of NNE/SSW entries, but I guess we're firmly back to random-place-to-random-place clues. At least let's think about something to link the two place names together?
53. RBI or ERA: STAT. Baseball loves stats.
54. Venerable ref.: O.E.D. The Oxford English Dictionary. The day "bae" qualifies for an entry is the day that I cancel my (not-existent) subscription.
56. Queens tennis venue honoree: ASHE.
57. Where to get off: STOP. The great thing about the old Routemaster buses in London was that they had an open platform at the back so you jump on and off wherever you liked. Worked like a charm until some bureaucrats decided that it was dangerous, and you couldn't operate the bus with just a driver to collect fares as it forced passengers got on at a designated stop. Caused more congestion than you can imagine. Just a couple of years ago the Routemaster-style buses were reintroduced on certain routes.
59. Paving stuff: TAR.
60. "__ nothing new": IT'S. A rule if you're not sure about using an apostrophe with "it": "It's an apostrophe".
61. Nov. honoree: VET. Veteran's Day.
Well, there we have it. Here's the grid, and I just noticed 1A which reminds me to get a bowl of chips to crunch on with a beer.
Cheers!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
Al Hollmer (Spitzboov) and I made today's Universal puzzle. You can solve it here. It's edited by David Steinberg. The puzzle was years in the making. Thanks for the patience, Al!
Also go to USA Today for the "Front Wheels" (Wednesday 7/15/2020) puzzle Hahtoolah (Susan) and I created. It's edited by Erik Agard.
Also go to USA Today for the "Front Wheels" (Wednesday 7/15/2020) puzzle Hahtoolah (Susan) and I created. It's edited by Erik Agard.
63 comments:
Hi Y'all! No one up yet! Surprise! Good one, Jeffrey! Caught the theme early with POE glaring out at me.
Great expo, Steve, always enjoy a British STOP.
Did not know: GO NOW, ISHTAR, LIU.
A DOE is a ruminant? Tried ewe, cow. Hand up for INR before IHA on 10a.
Took 4 perps __LSON to remember Woodrow.
BAE sounds like a serious speech impediment to me. Offensive.
I read "The Audacity of Hope" when OBAMA ran for prez.
Didn't one of our Cornerites serve on the Bonhomme Richard at one time? Scary seeing it burning in San Diego Harbor. SHORE LEAVE for sure.
Good morning!
I really liked this one. Perhaps because I actually read the full reveal clue, and actually got the theme. Amazing. IHS? What does that stand for? SASHAY was a CSO to Lucina, though she hasn't been sashaying much lately. Thanx for the fun, Jeffery, and for the tour, Steve. (Your bus photo didn't make the trip.)
UNHEATED GARAGE: No need for heat in SE Texas, but I did invest in some sheet insulation for the garage door. It makes about a 10° difference in the summer heat.
ASHORE: You've probably seen the reports of the fire aboard Bon Homme Richard. That was John Paul Jones' flagship, and that's also the name of the ship I served aboard. It wasn't the ship that's on fire. Old CVA-31 went to the great scrapyard in the harbor back in '92 The current incarnation is pretty old, and I'll be surprised if they decide to repair the damage from this fire.
IHS is/are the first three letters of the name Jesus in Greek. They are on the host Catholics use at Mass, or used to be. Also are or used to be on some of the priest's vestments. But INRI is the abbreviation for the Latin inscription above Jesus' head when he died.
Good puzzle.
More detail on what IHS on a cross (not the Crucifiction Cross) can be found THIS LINK .
A nice surprise to find a JW on a Thursday, he has had many before he became one of our Friday fixtures.
So "Latin initialism" is misleading, if not outright wrong?
Last year Long Island University merged its athletics program with that of its C.W. Post campus. Since 2014 they've played soccer at LIU Soccer Park in Brookville NY
https://www.liuathletics.com/facilities/liu-soccer-park/2
I loved this puzzle. Congrats, Sptiz and CC. Wonderful post, Steve,
Ding-a-ling/onomatopoeia immediately brought to mind EDGAR ALLAN POE's The Bells, so when I read "the writer" @58, I was expecting it.
I love Poe's stories.
Only Kate Brown's state needed all perps. I forgot.
To cooks the broth is the base of the soup. Base can also mean basis, the most important part, so PEA. I would say that the pea is tiny compared to other soup ingredients.most of which are chopped or cut up.
I did read Ed's and Lemoanade's IHS post and agree. May I venture to add, INRI is really an initialism, Latin initials of Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum, Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.
Many slang expression die out, like the bee's knees, whereas others continue for decades. I am betting BAE won't last.
I know ISHTAR, but knew very little about her. Funny, the random trivia stuck in our brains.
Steve, I never heard TOP GEAR, so HIGH GEAR is tops in my world.
Have a great day.
Great puzzle! Jeffrey is the best. And no circles, thank you, as they easily could have added them to dummy down the theme.
A JW puzzle i could actually complete and, dare I say, enjoyed - GASP!!
I just have to share this poem I love. There is plenty of delicious onomatopoeia and I love its rhythm and imagery.
The Bells
FIW, with ODETe; should have remembered my northeast geography. Missed the NYT solve also, so not a great day in this neighborhood.
This was a fun theme although I don't think of EDGAR ALLAN POE so much with DETECTIVE STORY as with Noir, dark themes, but when I think of the latter I think of who-dun-its from Agatha Christie or Sam Spade stories from Dashiell Hammett.
I had never heard that "Moody Blues" song - I'm more familiar with their later songs - since 1964 was before I was listening much to radio hits!
I agree with D-O as the clue for IHS on a cross is Greek. Though IHS in Latin are the letters associated with the Jesuits- Iesus Humilis Societas - Humble Society of Jesus,
Iesus Hominum Salvator - Jesus, Savior of men.
Off to work-
Thanks Steve and JW! I'll try to do those other puzzles tonight!
You are right. However, St. Bernardine also used IHS as “Iesus Hominum Salvator”:
https://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-does-ihs-mean/
Good Morning:
Jeffrey’s byline is a welcome sight no matter what day it is! This was a very enjoyable solve with a well-hidden (to me) theme and a surprise revealer. I saw Poe right away but was looking for other author’s surnames but, then, Edgar and Allan jumped right out and the lightbulb came on. I liked Ball above Get a hit, Doe/Poe, and the visually pleasing bottom row of EST ERST EPEES. I didn’t know Techno or Go Now but
Sashay (Lucina) and Chips (Moi) were easy-peasy. Anatomic, Scenario, and Onomatopoeia were the frosting on the cake!
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for a terrific Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for the grand and enlightening tour.
CC, I look forward to solving your Corner collaborations. Congrats to Spitz and Hatoolah and, of course, to you!
FLN
Anon T, I ordered a Motorola phone. It wasn’t expensive but it will meet my needs (and more!), so, I’m looking forward to learning the ropes, so to speak. (I can remember when we didn’t even have a phone, Smart or Dumb!)
Have a great day.
Good morning everyone.
Thought this was one of Jeffrey's easier puzzles. Got the theme after entering ONOMATOPOEIA and spelling it right, with perp help. Very neat. Only white-out needed was to get TOREROS spelled correctly. SHEAR and SCENARIO helped with that.
PIET came easily. At my doctor's last week I stared at a Mondrian print for a long time before Doc came in. Guess there was some benefit to the wait.
Have a great day.
ONOMATOPOEIA- that's a word we all use every day with a clue from Chuck Berry's "My DING-A-LING" and Hostess DING-DONGs.
Good morning. With only a couple other unknowns filled by perps-ISHTAR & IHS- it was a struggle to complete it. I'd also thought the Latin initialism was INHI instead of IHS.
I knew it was a GARAGE but UNHEATED took a while. No need for any extra heat to keep a car warm in New Orleans.
Filling DETECTIVE STORY was basically filling in the blanks with enough perps in place. I'd noticed POE but not EDGAR ALLAN.
Woodrow WILSON- which ex-US president will the woke crowd decide to trash next?
IHS is Greek. INRI is Latin. Originally IHS was, as Ed says, the first three letters of the name of Jesus, (iota-eta-sigma). The other interpretations came about 10 centuries later and were formed on a misconception. Please skip this if you could care less. I was a religious studies major and will let this post suffice.
In the Western culture there exist the compositions: "IHS" and also "IHC" being the first letters (iota-eta-sigma) of the name Jesus in Greek alphabet: ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (Ίησοῦς or ΙΗϹΟΥϹ with lunated sigma). The abbreviation in form "IHS" appeared in first time on the coins of Justinian II on the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries.
The order of Jesuits, in other words the Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu), adopted IHS as its fixed emblem - the symbol in 17th century. There appeared also Latin interpretations of the abbreviation IHS, among others:
• Iesus Humilis Societas - Humble Society of Jesus,
• Iesus Hominum Salvator - Jesus, Savior of men,
and also:
• In hoc signo vinces- By this sign you shall conquer.
These developed inscriptions were most likely formed because in the Middle Ages people mistakenly read the letter E as H. In the Western culture there exist the compositions: "IHS" and also "IHC" being the first letters (iota-eta-sigma) of the name Jesus in Greek alphabet: ΙΗΣΟΥΣ
Got POE. Missed Edgar & Allan.
The tada sounded after the final fill ONOMATOPOEIA which is a word I infrequently use. Heck, I can't even pronounce it.
I think ROSIE recently passed away.
Thank you Steve & Jeffrey.
MO
Never get Jeffrey.Always on different wave lenghts.
IM. I've had a Moto X Pure Edition for years. Love the phone. No bloatware apps. I do hope that Lenovo, or your service provider, will send you updates more frequently than I received. Even when it was new, Lenovo updates were SPARSE.
I also didn't know IHS, only INRI.
Funniest thing about having LEE as a last name, being Caucasian (Irish), was when I chaperoned a busload of kids from Chinatown. They kept looking at my name tag, then my face, then my name tag, then my face. And some even asked me if I was Chinese.
Also I'm periodically asked if my middle initial is 'E' - I say 'no, but you must have had a really good history teacher!'
Can a cross have both inri and ihs on it together?
Mark
Musings
-I am binge watching this fabulous detective for free on YouTube
-It took help to get the vowels correct in ONOMATOPOEIA and then BOOM, I had it
-ISHTAR – How can so many smart people not see what they are making is bad? Trees/Forest?
-Many SCENARIOS are now being “run up the flagpole” about how to open school next month
-ALL TOLD, I have had over 15,000 students in my career
-Very few invitations got SENT OUT by grads this year
-I taught at Elkhorn RIDGE Middle School and in the same area, I shopped at the Pacific RIDGE Shopping Center and golfed at The Shadow RIDGE Golf Club. I was never ambushed.
-While showing us San Diego, my uncle pointed out many “street workers” (urban hostesses?) were preparing for 5,000 sailors coming ASHORE the next day on the carrier JFK
-SSE – 157.5 degrees compass heading?
-She was only the bus driver’s daughter but she told the boys where to GET OFF
-BAE – Some Husker fans wanted to use ‘Skers for a nickname. Never (shouldn’t have) caught on
Always enjoy JW puzzles. For 19A I entered techmo thinking of emo genre. Then knew INRI, but never knew of IHS for 10A, which led to not being able to suss scenario for 12D. Dang! Yesterday I got a little snarky about the absence of recognition for Roy Orbison and must humbly offer my apologies to IM, HG and another for failing to notice their comments. Indeed, Roy's pure voice and vocal range put him a cut above his peers. I have 15 of his CDs and enjoy playing them on long road trips singing at the top of my lungs with the windows rolled up. He was gone too soon.
SSE - From YUL to BOS is True heading of 146.6º. SSE includes span of 146.25º - 168.75º. Entry just made it.
Hola!
Well, yes, I did SASHAY through this lovely JW crossword.
CSO to my late aunt Angela who was a ROSIE RIVETER in Goodyear, AZ where airplanes were built during WWII. She was tiny and with her small hands could reach into the nose to affix those rivets.
Interesting discussion about IHS and INRI. Yes, IHS is still etched on most hosts and on chalices as well. I haven't been to church in so long I've almost forgotten all those details. INRI is etched at the top of the cross.
My A/C is not cooling at top capacity so I called a service person who will be here at 3:00. It could just be that the temperature is just so high. There's no need for a HEATED GARAGE here!
With STATE and ORE next to each other it seems they could somehow have been linked.
Today is my great-grandson's first birthday; he is not quite a TODDLER yet. I bought him a CRIB about a month ago and today he will get some toys.
Have a thoroughly wonderful Thursday, everyone!
I had a pleasant time solving today's puzzle. FIR. None of the theme answers came immediately to me. No one has HEATED GARAGEs where I live so the concept was a bit alien. ONOMATOPOEIA is a word that I have probably used less than a dozens times, and likely never had to remember how to spell, since High School English class. When I think of BALL AND CHAIN I think of Big Brother and the Holding Company which gives you some idea of how much water has gone under the proverbial bridge since those English classes.
Anon-T, FLN I have amended my profile.
C.C. and Spitzbov, I have yet to solve your puzzle today on my Shortyz app but I am looking forward to it. I contacted David Steinberg a couple of years ago because, knowing nothing about him at the time, I thought he might be the same David Steinberg with whom I went to High School. He hadn't even been born for another thirty years!
Shankers, to make it up to you I just now listened to Only the Lonely." 19060's. I remember. Very lovely. I married a music teacher in 1960 and we didn't listen to much popular music.
I have an attached garage, unheated, but much warmer than outdoors in winter and cooler in summer. I need the garage for storage, so my Sentra is a just barely workable fit. I only garage my car on winter nights when the temps are freezing or below and during snow and ice storms, preferring the extra space otherwise. I hate scraping ice. All my neighbors use theirs for storage only.
I had to buy Alan a new phone. He is death to phones. This one was much easier to program with info from the old phone. I had trouble activating it, because often I have a slightly weak signal. The signal never causes problems otherwise, but apparently you need a stronger signal when you are activating. Success.
I loved this Thursday Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle and was delighted to get almost, almost all of it with just a tiny bit of cheating. When I saw the reveal clue, I was delighted to, sure enough, see EDGAR, ALLAN, and POE buried right there in the three long items. A lot of fun, many thanks, Jeffrey. And thanks for your commentary, Steve.
Got ODETS pretty readily but didn't remember Mondrian's first name and needed perps for that PIET. Also delighted to see OBAMA in a puzzle as an author.
Enjoyed your name story, Bob Lee.
Thanks for giving us "The Bells," Yellowrocks. The first couple verses are a true delight before it gets a bit more complicated. But a great reminder of Poe's diverse talents.
Have a great day, everybody.
FIR, but got a little too ambitious and filled in TERRIBLE for "two-year-olds, say," instead of TODDLERS. Wondering if having a 4 year old and a 1 year old contributed...
Greetings from the Death Zone.
This must be “all-star constructors” week...today it’s JW’s turn, and another beauty.
And I have learned to respect the all-stars...just don’t guess. 10A a good example...I knew INRI and also could see 3 blanks, so that wasn’t it...wait for crosses.
And this worked (at least today)...
No write-overs...but you should have seen all the blanks!
And on to Friday. Stay Safe.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and Steve.
I had some difficulty with this CW (I understood why when I got here to discover it was a JW creation!) and eventually had to do a couple of Google searches to complete.
I did get the theme and go back to find EDGAR ALLAN POE.
Thanks for the link to The Bells YR. My education must have been lacking, since I don't remember ever seeing it. Thanks also for joining the clue "Ding-a-ling or ding-dong" to the POE Bells poem.
My newspaper had a note at the top of the CW "Today's puzzle theme honors (Sic LOL!) the 75th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America".
Some Canadian disadvantage today with info that is probably well-known to Americans - WILSON (although I did guess after a few perps), VET (I don't know all your holidays), DE (I don't know all your state abbreviations), ORE (I don't know all your state governors!) LIU. (Okay I LIUed LIU to find that it stands for Long Island University. We may have had it here before, but I had forgotten it.) I have learned LAX and ORD by now.
Steve, I think of HIGH GEAR and not Top gear. There is probably a British association because of the BBC program Top Gear.
In this Great White North, most people have an UNHEATED GARAGE, unless they have a year-round hobby that requires heat (and insulation) in the garage. It can get well below freezing out there; (just ask my DH, who forgot his gladioli bulbs there and found them in the spring ruined by frost!).
I love the word ONOMATOPOEIA, but hand up for having to rearrange the vowels as the perps appeared. Another hand up for changing Cow to DOE when I knew there was no W in Onomatopoeia.
I remember those Mondrian colour-block dresses from the 1960s, but I had forgotten his first name.
Thankfully, ERST was already filled in by perps; that was a wicked clue.
I knew both INRE and IHS, and only the latter fit the spot. Interesting background info.
Congrats on your CW publications, Spitzboov and Hahtoolah. I will try them both soon. And thanks to C.C. for all your assistance to our aspiring constructors.
Wishing you all a good day.
Spitzboov's CW done in about 10 minutes - lots of fun and not too hard (although I had to go back and search to find the theme!).
About 11 minutes for Hahtoolah's creation. Also fun and fairly easy.
Now I must get some work done!
I also just did both "Pet Carriers" and "Front Wheels". Enjoyable puzzles, both. I don't know the etiquette on reporting times so let's just say that, for me, they went a bit quicker. Spoiler Alert: It's always nice to see Nick and Nora's dog and I hope that the common pest didn't jump from one puzzle to the other.
Wonderful puzzle today! Loved ONOMATOPOEIA and the theme, which helped me to FIR. Thanks, all!
This is the Post I forgot to post this morning (Hi Lem)
ERST was solid but I never got it until Steve's sterling write-up.
I took a pre-9/11 drive up I93* and discovered a whole big City South of Montreal: Sherbrooke. About an hour north of St Johnsbury.
From reading Lemonade's Link I would say "Latin initialism" is precisely right. I see the subject was exhausted with no clear resolution.
Hunting for the elusive EAP was interesting. As is "The Purloined Letter". eg What better way to hide something than in plain sight. Hmmm, is anybody doing that today? Summary
WC
**I LIU and it's I91 and east of Montreal
Ps, Third dipthongs in the space of a week(Amoeba,Anaeid and ONOMATOPOEIA
Nicely done, Spitz and C.C., though I think calling out the mutts' positions may have been over-kill.
Work? What’s that? ;-)
JW is my favorite creator and today only served to underline that. Very fun one to solve. Steve, I also always enjoy your dissertations. RE: HIGH vs TOP gear, I have only ever seen top gear in novels written by British authors. I have always assumed it was just one of those boot/trunk or lift/elevator things.
All the fresh fill made this one sparkle for me.
Now I must get some nap done. (HAHA)
Stay well.
Wilbur Charles @ 1402 - - re: Sherbrooke. I think they call that region the Eastern Townships. It includes a significant minority of English speakers. I've been to Montreal and Quebec City but not to the Sherbrooke region. I think Que. would call that region their "breadbasket".
Misty, I thought of you when I posted The Bells. I agree that the first couple of stanzas are best. They sound so musical when read aloud. My type of poetry. The later verses lose a little of the musicality. Canadain Eh!, glad you liked it, too. Any bell type of onomatopoeia brings Poe's poem to mind.
I wrote ERST but wondered at "What might take a while." Erstwhile. Duh! Cute pun, even though I couldn't parse it.
This seemed easy for a Thursday.
My neighbors had a large party this afternoon. I saw at least a dozen cars there. Although NJ is one of the safer states, I haven't even had my sons in my home or visited them in theirs. Indoor restaurants are still closed. Our church may have indoor worship one Sunday a month, starting in August, also carried on Zoom. I will pass. I have gotten used to Zoom. In ten days I will feel secure about my last beauty salon visit.
Wear your mask. Observe social distancing. Be safe.
Spitz, it just came as a lovely surprise to see this metropolitan city that I never knew existed. It's probably bigger than anything north of Boston.
And it's more East of Montreal than South
Hello all, FIW (had ODETe instead of ODETS). Once I turned on the red squares and figured out the mistake, I finished in 11:33. (Are we still posting times? I'm happy to stop - I just don't want to stop until everyone else does, because otherwise I'll be tempted to post only my good times.)
"Unheated Garage" and "On a Ridge" felt like green paint (or "eat a sandwich" as one blogger would say) to me, but I'm interested what everyone else thinks.
Move over HungryMother & Weels42 -- make some room on the group FIW Bench. I made the same ESE error.
Hi All!
JW - you got me again (and on a Thursday!). Fun puzzle - tricky as heck though.
Thanks Steve for the, once again, most excellent (and humuorous) expo. Thanks for the GO NOW link too; never heard it (and I like Moody Blues!)
WOs: STROs, ONOmonoP??IA. I finally resorted to The Google for spelling [so DNF too?] I do love the word, though - iT'S so fun! //can you see the bold'd apostrophe, Steve? :-)
ESPs: PIET, LIU, ODETe [sic], GO NOW, GOT A HIT [D'Oh! - That can of V-8 hurt]
Fav: I'm going with ASHORE b/c a) we always get asea and b)...
So, I'm attending a virtual CyberSec training / conference today & tomorrow.... Discord (the chat-channel) was filled with 'Dad Jokes':
Q: What's a pirate's favorite letter?
A: You'd think it's 'R' but really it's The 'C' //insert rim-shot here :-)
IM - a 'Droid, eh? Maintain your updates and be warry of random texts. And enjoy your deliveries!
PK - I think J'myle was joking re: smoke breaks on the Bonhomme Richard getting out of hand... (or maybe he did consult?)
Happy Birthday to your pre-TODDLER Lucina!
C, Eh! - My paper had the same "75th anniversary" preface but honours was spelt American. :-)
37d made me think of Rock RIDGE [the Ballad of, Blazing Saddles].
Back to the vConference.
Cheers, -T
Busy day, trying to catch up...
1st, tx for not pointing out my overposting yesterday.
(way too long-but that's how Oysters go thru me...)
Today, did the JeffWich, got my teeth around it,
but had NO IDEA what the theme was!
Waaa-aay out of my wheelhouse!
Since pics are worth a thousand words,
Here is a representation of how the blog helped me find the theme...
And, in truth,
the rest of the puzzle was no piece of cake either...
Here is a representation of how I did the puzzle, that I found under OmnoWTF?!?!
I liked that there was no hint as to which letters were involved in the author's name. I had to do some pondering to figure it out, which was a good addition to the puzzle!
ONARIDGE is definitely green paint territory for me, and it would have been nice if it could have been avoided. A heated garage is a thing in northern climates, though, so UNHEATEDGARAGE seems legit to me. I remember visiting Minnesota, and people were talking about how glad they had heated garages to help them get through the biting cold of the winter there.
Unheated garage, notherners woe. Real thing.
Wheels42, I had never heard either "green paint" or "eat a sandwich" before your use of the terms but I am definitely with you and Anonymous on those.
Time, now, for a late lunch. Alice's Restaurant might be just the place,
Ok,
yesterday I talked too much,
but today, I am posting overlong links (10 minutes)
because if you have ever had trouble doing a puzzle,
you have never lived with a Cat!
As others have noted, today's pzl was "fun & fairly easy." Thank you, Mr. Wechsler.
I did not, however, suss POE's name. Don't realize we were looking for three different names.
But of course.
That's what all free Romans and modern day Americans have in common--three names.
Some nobles & royals boast ten names, but we make do with three.
We are economical, efficient, & best of all, elegant.
No diagonals. Pity.
~ OMK
60'S music isn't just my alley, it's my avenue. But I had to have G_NO_ for the Moody Blues hit before it became obvious from perps. I like the song and can hear every note and lyric in my head (even the flat staccato "Go Now!") but had no recollection that it was by Justin Hayward and Co. Later hits would have been easy, but this one wasn't. Got it, FIR. Enjoyed the puzzle and saw the EAP in the end.
I must have missed the memo on green paint and eat a sandwich. A slang G-search yielded only weed and money for green paint. I doubt those are right, so what's that about.
Average Joe, I remember, or at least think that I remember, Go Now from it's release in the mid-sixties but I did not know that it was The Moody Blues until Days of Future Past a few years later.
I did not know Green Paint or Eat a Sandwich until today. I was, perhaps a bit luckier than you with a web search. Here are a couple of citations that I was able to unearth:
From B E. Quigley - "Green paint" is industry shorthand for a crossword answer that while definitely exists in real life, doesn't feel "conversational enough" to be a truly legit entry in a puzzle. But since Merl's puzzles were already gonzo, he could get away with it, and those infelicities were filed under "Merl Being Merl."
From R. Parker Blog: I only just learned the term "GREEN PAINT answer," which, in crossword-constructor-speak, is an answer made up of weak adj./noun pairing. TALL WOMAN, for instance, is not a good puzzle answer. It's certainly a phrase one might say, but it doesn't have enough coherence, conceptually, to be a good crossword answer.
I, like you, could not find anything on Eat A Sandwich but I'd guess it means much the same thing as Green Paint and probably came from a question/answer pair that some cruciverbalists found unsatisfactory. Perhaps some of the folks here will be able to enlighten us.
That is very helpful Senor Seacow. Thank you.
Green paint, what seems odd or forced is common to some, for instance, unheated garage. You people in warmer climes, not having heard of it does not make it uncommon or awkward.Many answers panned here are liberally represented in journalism.
Thank you, J.W., for a challenge I was not able to win. I enjoyed most of the puzzle but several answers had me peeking at the grid. Thanks for the write-up, Steve.
arid/SERE, this/ERST, cow/DOE.
I knew GO NOW, (and have had it playing in my brain all day), but didn't know it was by the Moody Blues. I love their music.
We have a 10 minute link to cats from CED, so I'll give you a dog link. I've sat with Burgess, a new timid/shy/under socialized dog for a couple days. On Saturday I was given permission to take him outside for a walk. We spent time in a fenced yard, leaving the leash on him until I was sure I could get him again. We went out Sunday and I was able to take off the leash as he would stand still and allow me to approach him and pet him. I gave him a toy but he ignored it. We went out Tuesday, threw the toy, he approached it, picked it up, then dropped it. Took him out Wednesday, threw the toy and, as he was picking it up he mistakenly tossed it in the air! The light bulb went off and away he went! Here he is, a cavorting canine!
Have a great evening!
I forgot to comment on the unheated garage answer. We live in a temperate climate where ~5 months of the year are cool to cold. I designed our house when it was built, and it includes an attached insulated, heated garage. That was the single greatest indulgence built into the house. I have no regrets, but can easily understand that this would not be a priority for folks in a more southern location. For me it's a big deal and serves as a "Man Cave" that I wouldn't be without.
It's finally cooled down to 97F. Even so, my GARAGE (where I'm typing this now) is certainly HEATED. :-)
I grew up in SPI IL. I remember Pop going out and putting a 100W light-bulb near the car's battery overnight so the it would start in the deep of winter.
Don't need to do that in Houston. Nope.
Cheers, -T
*It was actually a barn (with a hayloft! fun times up there w/ Army men & rubberbands) but he ran power out there and used it as a workshop/car-park.
I liked this puzzle. I learned that the German brewing surname was not PABST but STROH. I learned that common Korean surname was not REE but LEE. By the way, Steve, the Chinese surname 李 is also Lee or Li, not Yi. Perhaps you simply made a typo.
I also learned a lot, an awful lot, about IHS. Sheesh, what a convoluted history!
I also immediately thought of you, Lucina, at SASHAY.
Mr. Wilson, especially vis-à-vis Princeton University, has gotten some press coverage recently.
The term BAE makes me GAG. Hi there, PK.
Having a heated garage in Montana is almost necessary because of the severely cold winters. At least that's what I learned when I lived in Great Falls. Otherwise you pretty much have to keep your car plugged in, with one kind or another engine heater, all night or just don't drive it because it gets frozen up. I had neither, so was carless on the really cold days.
I enjoyed your post, Bob Lee. Actually, I enjoy reading everyone's comments.
Good wishes to you all.
Wonderful Wechsler puzzle from my favorite word wizard! Thanks, Jeffrey, though you beat me as usual. Loved the theme and the fresh fill, such as Org that’s not lax at LAX. I won’t even mention ONOMATOPOEIA! I knew IHS although INRI is more familiar.Thanks for the fun.
And Steve, thanks for your take on it all.
The TU also had the note about the MWA, so I assume it was part of the LAT syndication. I immediately expected EDGAR or EDGAR ALLAN POE in the puzzle since (1) EAP is credited as the father of the detective story (The murders in the Rue Morgue; The purloined letter), and (2) the EDGARs are the MWA's annual awards.
>>Roy
In my lifetime, the only time I ever ran across ONOMATOPOEIA was when I was helping my elder daughter study for state spelling contest the two years she went. That is a standard spelling stumper in competitions. From the chatter here, I gather we are not ready for competitions here at the Corner. Alas! However, I think we never LIU to see what it meant, because I didn't know until running into it in CWs. Lots of words in those spelling lists we never looked up. However, as pronouncer 40 yrs. ago, I apparently didn't learn to spell it either. And no, she didn't win big at state after taking first in our county. But she didn't go out the first round either like she feared. Fifth or sixth round. Over half the kids were gone by that time. We were proud of her.
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
Did not get up last night to work the puzzle. Tried to sleep. Did it late this afternoon. When I saw it was a Wechsler, I was very happy. The puzzle went through fairly smoothly once I got a few footholds.
CRUSTS came easily. As did STROH. I used to drink a lot of Stroh's when I worked in Ohio. After many years I discovered the microbrews and all the great tastes. The Plain Jane beers kind of faded away for me.
Liked the theme. I knew GARAGE had to be a part of 16A. So I entered that and worked backwards. Had a few perps already so UNHEATED GARAGE appeared, and it made sense. I also saw EDGAR. BALL AND CHAIN came easily at 32A. Had a few perps and it appeared. Now I had ALLAN. Looked at 40A and POE was already there.
What a great puzzle!
See you tomorrow, folks.
Abejo
( )
Late again! Had to work, but I got the puzzle completed during down time. We had a group in until around one-ish, but not much happened after they left.
I thought I had a FIR. Alas, I somehow messed up BEGS/BAE, and didn’t catch it. Oh, well….
Misspelling ONOMATOPOEIA caused a real crisis situation. I knew 43A had to be LIU, but I couldn’t make it fit until I finally corrected the spelling, which led to ALLTOLD, which gave me GOTAHIT.
Strange as I might seem, I saw POE immediately, which made the long fills easy. I actually pretty much solved from the bottom up. (Well, actually, I entered CRUSTS first, but I gave up on it because I couldn’t get the correct beer name. Once I remembered STROH and figured out the kind of GARAGE, the rest kinda fell into place.)
Other unknowns were SERE, ODETS, PIET and, of course, BAE. Perps helped.
ERSTWHILE is one of my favorite words. Had a coworker who always used the word incorrectly.
HG, my answer to your question is that most of those Hollywood types really aren't that smart. With all of the "straight to DVD" dogs that come out of there, I guess the only thing smart about them is getting other people to invest in their projects. I see the trailers for some of those movies and just scratch my head.
See you tomorrow!
Well the festivities for my great-grandson lasted all afternoon and it was just great to see my two sisters, niece and grand-nieces and nephews, none of whom I had seen since early this year, January.
Post a Comment