Theme: "Building Vocabulary" - The first word is a building tool.
21A. Low-tech iCloud precursor: FILE CABINET.
23A. Supreme effort: LEVEL BEST.
43A. Boot camp bigwig: DRILL SERGEANT.
65A. Billowy attire named for an early rapper: HAMMER PANTS.
88A. '60s-'70s NBC News White House correspondent: SANDER VANOCUR. Unfamiliar to me.
112A. Flier's concern: PLANE FARE.
32D. Place to spin your wheels: ROLLER RINK. (Thanks for catching my misses, Bob)
49D. One of two for a positive number: SQUARE ROOT.
Another great title!
Splynter,
our master carpenter, once proposed this theme to me. I said there was
no hope as Rich had done this puzzle before. He was so disappointed.
Shows you how much I know.
Across:
1. Embarrassment: SHAME.
6. Multi-purpose cotton wad: SWAB.
10. Knack: APTITUDE.
18. Metric weights: KILOS.
19. Baba ghanoush bread: PITA. Never had baba ghanoush. Not fond of eggplants.
10. Knack: APTITUDE.
18. Metric weights: KILOS.
19. Baba ghanoush bread: PITA. Never had baba ghanoush. Not fond of eggplants.
20. Pals: PAISANOS. Probably same root.
24. Like some wells: ARTESIAN.
25. Kind of case or law: FEDERAL.
26. Batman and Robin, e.g.: DUO.
27. Loses it: GETS MAD.
31. Savvy: SMARTS.
35. Dignify: ENNOBLE.
39. Because of: OWING TO.
42. Historic trail terminus: Abbr.: ORE. Oregon.
46. Game whose "Discover the Secrets" version includes a baseball bat and a dumbbell: CLUE.
47. Half of ASAP: AS SOON. Rare 6-letter partial.
50. Voyaging: ASEA.
51. Obstructed the progress of: DERAILED.
53. Literally, Latin for "it follows": SEQUITUR. Non-.
55. Org. concerned with alleys: PBA. This is going to be a long winter for Boomer. He really misses bowling and his friends.
57. Late bloomers: ASTERS.
58. Shell for a crew: SCULL.
59. Mount once called Tacoma: RAINIER.
63. Stimulant: UPPER. I did not know "upper" has this meaning.
64. Org. with a lot of baggage?: TSA.
67. Friend of TV's Sheldon: RAJ. "The Big Bang Theory".
25. Kind of case or law: FEDERAL.
26. Batman and Robin, e.g.: DUO.
27. Loses it: GETS MAD.
31. Savvy: SMARTS.
35. Dignify: ENNOBLE.
39. Because of: OWING TO.
42. Historic trail terminus: Abbr.: ORE. Oregon.
46. Game whose "Discover the Secrets" version includes a baseball bat and a dumbbell: CLUE.
47. Half of ASAP: AS SOON. Rare 6-letter partial.
50. Voyaging: ASEA.
51. Obstructed the progress of: DERAILED.
53. Literally, Latin for "it follows": SEQUITUR. Non-.
55. Org. concerned with alleys: PBA. This is going to be a long winter for Boomer. He really misses bowling and his friends.
57. Late bloomers: ASTERS.
58. Shell for a crew: SCULL.
59. Mount once called Tacoma: RAINIER.
63. Stimulant: UPPER. I did not know "upper" has this meaning.
64. Org. with a lot of baggage?: TSA.
67. Friend of TV's Sheldon: RAJ. "The Big Bang Theory".
70. Entangle ... or disentangle, oddly: RAVEL. Indeed.
73. Welcomed at the door: ASKED IN.
74. VP before Gerald: SPIRO.
76. "Blue" or "Red" cattle dog: HEELER.
78. Uncertain sounds: UMS.
79. Bygone data entry method: KEYPUNCH. Not familiar to me either.
81. Seat sometimes spun: BAR STOOL.
83. Crunchy salad bit: BACO.
86. Try to influence: WORK ON.
87. Novel of the South Seas: OMOO.
92. Icky stuff: GOO.
93. Dawdles: TARRIES.
94. Dabs with a towel: PATS DRY. I love this microfiber cloth.
74. VP before Gerald: SPIRO.
76. "Blue" or "Red" cattle dog: HEELER.
78. Uncertain sounds: UMS.
79. Bygone data entry method: KEYPUNCH. Not familiar to me either.
81. Seat sometimes spun: BAR STOOL.
83. Crunchy salad bit: BACO.
86. Try to influence: WORK ON.
87. Novel of the South Seas: OMOO.
92. Icky stuff: GOO.
93. Dawdles: TARRIES.
94. Dabs with a towel: PATS DRY. I love this microfiber cloth.
98. Recorded: ON TAPE.
102. Like original Matchbox cars: DIECAST.
104. Dorm VIPs: RAS.
105. Cause __: icon: CELEBRE. I always thought "cause célèbre" as an issue.
108. Material used to make cans: TINPLATE.
118. Air: TELEVISE.
119. Green Gables girl: ANNE.
120. Tee off: ANGER.
121. Blue: SADDENED.
122. Big name in little trains: TYCO.
123. Eye drops: TEARS.
Down:
1. Winter resort feature: SKI RUN.
2. Big name in hotels: HILTON. Ages ago I brought my grandma to Hilton Xi'an and ordered her some French fries at a bar inside. Her first taste of western food.
2. Big name in hotels: HILTON. Ages ago I brought my grandma to Hilton Xi'an and ordered her some French fries at a bar inside. Her first taste of western food.
3. Toward the sheltered side: ALEE.
4. Hang-around-the-house footwear: MOCS.
5. Morales of "NYPD Blue": ESAI.
6. Willpower: SPINE.
7. Prevail: WIN.
8. Scarfed down: ATE. My grandma often made me veggie dumplings when I came back home from college every Friday evening. She loved seeing me wolfing down those dumplings. They're very time-consuming.
9. Cave dweller: BAT.
10. Did a takeoff on: APED.
11. Upgrade, as a dirt driveway: PAVE.
12. Levels: TIERS.
13. Muhammad's religion: ISLAM. And 60. Mosque leader: IMAM.
14. Drum with a sitar: TABLA.
15. Parisian article: UNE. Chinese is much simpler. No Une/Un confusion.
16. They're allowed: DOS.
17. Rough no.: EST.
21. Wither away: FADE.
22. Deli bread: BAGEL. And 65. Subs: HEROS.
23. Projecting shelf: LEDGE.
25. Canine found in cats: FANG.
28. Turn partner: TOSS.
29. Popeye's __'Pea: SWEE.
30. Juan's "Look!": MIRA.
33. More accurate: TRUER.
34. Ranked tournament players: SEEDS.
36. Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty: O'DOUL. Gosh I miss the old blog format. It was much easier to insert a picture at the correct spot.
37. Swelter: BROIL.
38. Buildup in a trap: LINT.
40. Triumphant cry: TA DA.
41. Indivisible: ONE.
44. QB Jared Goff, e.g.: LA RAM. Jared Goff is the only LA Rams player I know.
45. Snares: TRAPS.
46. Ticket: CITE.
47. Second in command: Abbr.: ASST.
48. "Just a few __": SECS.
52. Venomous snake: ASP.
54. River through Kazakhstan: URAL.
55. Le Pew of toons: PEPE.
56. Bit of finishing hardware: BRAD.
61. Urquhart Castle's loch: NESS. Here's the castle.
63. Eric who founded a reader: UTNE. The Utne Reader.
66. F-series camera maker: NIKON.
68. West Coast gas brand: ARCO.
69. Doe in many films: JOHN.
71. Plus: ALSO.
72. Review for accuracy: VET.
74. Word heard twice in "I'm a Little Teapot": SPOUT. Great clue angle.
75. Runs smoothly: PURRS.
76. WarnerMedia streaming service recently retired in the U.S.: HBO GO. Replace by HBO Max? We don't have HBO at home.
77. Former Irish leader de Valera: EAMON.
80. Org. with an annual Week Without Violence: YWCA.
82. Muesli morsel: OAT.
83. Cheese on crackers: BRIE.
84. With, on la carte: AVEC.
85. Hombre's home: CASA.
89. Death Row Records co-founder: DR DRE.
90. Southernmost Great Lake: ERIE.
91. Vision-related: OPTIC.
95. Don or Betty on "Mad Men": DRAPER.
96. Top-10 list makers: RATERS.
97. WWI battle river: YSER.
99. Afflicted with a breakout: ACNED.
100. Tick off: PEEVE.
101. Tiny: ELFIN.
103. Fifth cen. pope called "The Great": ST LEO.
106. Effortlessness: EASE. So what detergent or hack do you use to clean your shower liner?
107. Raised: BRED.
109. Cartographer's abbr.: N LAT. North Latitude.
110. Chris who plays Kirk in three "Star Trek" films: PINE.
111. Babe Zaharias is a charter member of its HOF: LPGA.
112. NFL stat: PTS.
113. Grassy plain: LEA.
114. City council rep.: ALD.
115. __ Geo: NAT.
116. "__ thoughts?": ANY.
117. Business mag: INC.
C.C.
62 comments:
How can a mountain climber,
To do what he's gotta do,
Do his LEVEL BEST
On his upward quest,
And scale Mount RAINIER, too?
If I had ANY artisanal beery thing
From an artistic ARTESIAN spring
Would it be too arty
To serve at a party
To open an artists' gallery wing?
{A-, B+}
Just a note to Gary Larson and my favorite crossword expert, C.C. They are not called "Alleys". They are called LANES. PS I once shared a LANE with Walter Ray Williams and another time with Parker Bohn III. (It was a PRO AM event. I was the AM).
Good morning!
Gary got me this morning. I drew a blank at __ELER for that cattle dog. Figured de Valera was probably a RAMON. Bzzzzt! And had no idea about _BOGO. So I "finished" with one incorrect square, and one blank one. Definitely a DNF. I remember KEYPUNCHing Fortran cards. Woe unto you if you dropped the deck, and the cards got mixed up. Thanx for sending me down to the abasement, Gary. Enjoyed the tour, C.C. (It appears you know one more LA RAM name than d-o.)
DO wrote, " I drew a blank at __ELER for that cattle dog. Figured de Valera was probably a RAMON. Bzzzzt! And had no idea about _BOGO. So I "finished" with one incorrect square, and one blank one." Me, too. No idea about 76A or 76D. The rest was relatively easy.
I'll be back later.
I start the day feeling bad for Splynter on the missed puzzle publication and for Boomer with the Bowling woes.
Sundays are always a slog just because of the size, but this had much that needed helpful perps. One of two for a positive number: SQUARE ROOT means nothing to me. I have never heard of "Blue" or "Red" cattle dog: HEELER or Former Irish leader de Valera: EAMON . Like Tom, I began my exposure to computers by sorting the results of our psychology experiments in college using Bygone data entry method: KEYPUNCH and Do loops. I wish I had stuck with it.
I am not surprised that you do not know SANDER VANOCUR who was an important force in political reporting for years before you came to the US. Also, the press coverage of uppers and downers at the beginning of the war on drugs in the early 70s was probably a time you missed.
I do want to know your grandma's recipe for the dumplings and what her reaction was to her first french fry.
As we celebrate the Labor Day holiday, I must once again thank you C.C. and marvel at your almost 13 years of the Corner, beginning with blogging every day, becoming a force in constructing, still writing up Sundays, the most time consuming of the weekly puzzles missing only one day over those years, and inspiring friendship with so many diverse readers and personalities across the country. Take the rest of the day off!
C.C. celebrates with another USA Today puzzle, which I found to be one of her most challenging 15 x 15s.
Musings
-A fun Labor Day puzzle
-I used to think Baba Ghanoush was a character from Tales Of The Arabian Nights
-All honest labor deserves to be ENNOBLED
-Fans who want college football ASAP have been mostly DERAILED this year
-Bad hearing can generate nonSEQUITURS like, “What’s the temp outside?” “Two o’clock”
-Baseball players called UPPERS “greenies”
-ASKED IN – H.S. kids selling door-to-door are told to never go into the house no matter the weather
-VET mistake - “Deny it all you want, they have it ON TAPE and can TELEVISE it!”
-I am never teed off with grandkids and will tee off with them at 9:05 tomorrow morning!
-Broil – High of 100F today, 50F on Tuesday
-ERIE – How do I clue thee, let me count the ways
-UTNE and ST LEO have popped in with some regularity recently
-Alderperson is replacing alderman in some places. Works for me
I didn't know OMOO nor its cross EAMON so that was my the only misstep.
And I almost gave up on the lower left quadrant until I got ONTAPE. It's taken me a very long time to switch from saying. "I'll tape it," to "I'll DVR (or record) it."
And I thought they were called Parachute Pants, although I've only seen them worn on Hammer Time!
From Yesteday.
If anyone finds a mind let me know. Once again, I've lost mine. 🙄.. A flubbed mis-remembered fact. Add it to my list.
"Perry Mason" streams on HBO..not NETFLIX..
Enjoy the day.
I don't think the author of today's write-up realizes that the longest down answers, SQUAREroot and ROLLERrink, are part of the theme.
Bob
I think an "alley" is technically the bowling facility and a "lane" is one of several long playing areas within the facility, but I think that the terms often get used in other ways in casual conversation.
Agree STLEO and UTNE have shown up a bunch recently! I've never heard of HAMMERPANTS, either, although I've seen his videos so I know what they are talking about. Had JAMMER PANTS in there for a while.
Good catch, Anon @ 9:56.
OKL, thanks for ilustrating the difference between artisan and artesian, so often confused. Our supermarket advertised artesian bread. LOL
I remember KEY PUNCH and all those cards. Dropping a stack of them was a disaster.
When we would make a big deal out of something minor my mom would say, "Don't make a FEDERAL CASE out of it." The phrase is often used to complain that someone is exaggerating a problem or alleged wrongdoing.
Gender in many European languages is difficult for some non European speakers, but IMO tonal pronunciation of Chinese is even more difficult."Mandarin is said to have four main tones and one neutral tone (or, as some say, five tones)."
Here is an interesting article on gendered nouns.
gendered nouns
Holal!
Thank you, Gary Larson. As Lemonade mentioned, Sundays by the very length of the puzzle are a long slog but mainly doable. Today all the clues at the end of each column were missing so that added another LEVEL of challenge.
Luckily Eric UTNE was mentioned recently so it was fresh in my mind. I don't understand DOS, they're allowed. To me, DOS means two.
I believe Irish Miss will have a field day collecting related items.
Of all things to hamper me, NAIL CLIPPER almost stumped me. I had TRIMMER for too long and once it went in, the downs emerged like a waterfall.
We Arizonans can take a CSO at BROIL. Temps here will remain above 110 and may reach 117. By Thursday that will change.
CSO to Anon-Tony at PAISANOS. I'm sure he'll have a comment on that.
Yes, I remember SANDER VANOCUR though I'll have to check to recall his face.
My JOHN Doe started as Jane but I did know RAJ who is married to a former Miss India.
C.C., it is so sweet that you took your grandmother to have a taste of western food. And thank you for your Sunday service as well as all your hard WORK on the Blog. I don't tell you enough how much I appreciate it and the community it has formed.
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Lucina, DOS as opposed to DON'TS.
Hand up that Natick cluster in the SW did me in. Had ADELER, ABOGO, DAMON instead of HEELER, HBOGO, EAMON. FIW.
Lucina I also found NAIL CLIPPER really hard for some reason. Also tried TRIMMER. The crosses in that area were very hard for me: NLAT, PINE, LPGA, DRAPER. Pleased to WAG that mess.
Never heard of RAVEL as also meaning UNRAVEL.
Yellowrocks can you educate us on this?
CanadianEh thank you for the kind words yesterday about my STREET CAR photos! Which leads to...
Here are a few LEDGE photos in Sedona, Arizona with my co-worker friend Madeleine.
The third photo I shared before, but the LEDGE photos are new. We were supposed to be back in that area this April, but something happened to cancel that convention.
CC your dumpling images and BABA GHANOUSH images made me wish I ATE them today! DW sometimes makes those kinds of dumplings. I would encourage you to try BABA GHANOUSH. Do you like hummus at all? To me, it tastes similar, but with a more smoky taste if that makes sense.
From Yesterday:
Malodorous Manatee my parents used to sing that song "Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game". They had to explain it to me, too. What made you think of it yesterday?
CC and Boomer the orange STREET CAR in the last row of my photo set ran in Minneapolis before it was given a new life in San Francisco!
Lucina, I'm surprised you didn't mention that our paper erroneously omitted the clues for 71D and 74A. Anyway, I had the same problem as others with not knowing wheeler and the Irish leader's first name, so a DNF today. Since many Cornerites often stray from the puzzle itself to share dessert recipes or thoughts on various esoteric topics, I had planned to comment on why, IMHO, baseball is the most boring sport. You see, I had a particularly restless night and ending up laying there thinking of all the reasons I felt so negative about baseball. I was going to enumerate them, but it dawned on me, "Who cares?" Next time I'll probably lay awake ruminating about curling. And so it goes.
Well that was fun. Thank you, Gary and C.C.
Solved the puzzle except the HE in HEELER. I had rAMON.
Then had a cup of coffee, made an omelet and some toast, did a few other things and then went back to bed for a few more hours. Feel a bit better now.
Looks cool outside. The weather station says 61 degrees, and we finally got a good drenching rain. I was so tired of those upper 80s and lower 90s, especially with the high humidity. Looking forward to the temps staying in the 70's for awhile, and getting even cooler later. For the months of July and August, Chicago had the least amount of rainfall for over 100 years.
C.C., "Chinese is much simpler..." You are kidding, right ? Please explain all of the definitions of chou, along with their associated rising and falling tones.
Shower liner cleaner ? I noticed an article the other day that said something about, "... you would being surprised at how well your dishwasher soap will clean showers", but that's as far as I got.
Boomer, good for you ! It's a bowling house with bowling lanes and channels. I could also do with out seeing the word slog in reference to crosswords for the rest of my life.
Shankers I think you mean you were "lying there" not "laying there"?
All correct for the first time! A few missteps early on but came out in the end. Thanks to Mr. Larson AND to CC.
Today’s CW was solved pretty smoothly except for the HEELER EAMON HBOGO section which eventually became clear as we worked through the possibilities of Ramon, Damon, or hey, Eamon, that’s a good Irish name. The only other sidetrack was thinking that To Scale might be the answer for the Match Box cars clue. That working guess was dismantled pretty quickly by BRIE and AVEC.
FLN, I really liked WikWak’s description of the process we all sometimes (often?) use - “I roamed all over this puzzle, finding the perps I planted along the way turned into real answers as I sauntered about.”
Also, FLN thanks again to all for the good wishes. Picard, what made me think of the song was this month-long "permanent floating" birthday party that Valerie has organized for me.
I have been fortunate to have visited Xi'an twice but have not stayed at the HILTON. The first time, late last century, we booked through a travel agency and were on a semi-organized tour. We stayed at a tourist hotel well outside of the city center. With only that perspective, I remarked about what a nice, small town Xi'an was. What an ignoramus! I had done some homework about the Terracotta Warriors but had no clue about the city itself. Xi'an has 12 million inhabitants. Los Angeles has 4 million with roughly 13 million people in the SMSA. So, Xi'an is approximately the size of the greater L.A. area. The USA has ten cities of a million people. China has more than one hundred. The second time we visited Xi'an we flew in, rode the airport shuttle bus to the center of town, and walked to a nearby, wonderful small hotel. Everything has a learning curve and travel is the best way I have discovered to erode parochialism.
FIR with no write-overs, but it was a marathon solve which seemed harder than it was. Gotta love Sundays when ya get both of the big puzzles.
The biggest challenge was keypunching LISP cards.
Musings 2
-I thought M.C. HAMMER PANTS were called parachute pants
-I hope these NAIL CLIPPERS will help with my nails as I, uh, mature
Fun Sunday puzzle, doable but with clever clues, many thanks, Gary. And your Sunday comments and pictures are always a treat, C.C.
Lots of things I didn't know right away, but perps helped fill them in. Never heard of HAMMER PANTS, for example, but got it with no problem. Nice political clues including SPIRO and EAMON. Never heard of RAJ (didn't watch the show) or BACO, even though I do eat salads, of course. But I have to take Gary's side on bowling ALLEYS. I was on bowling teams in high school and college and we always thought of the lane as the bowling alley. This was back in the late fifties and early sixties, so maybe the designations changed over time.
Nice Sunday poems, Owen.
Have a cool Sunday everybody--especially folks in southern California. I'm going to follow the newspaper warning to keep windows closed all day to avoid heat coming in, since I don't have an air conditioner.
Shower liner cleaner? I throw my shower curtain liner in the washer with some towels. Then I hang it back on the shower rod to dry. Better not to let it get too cruddy, but if you do, you can spray it liberally with white vinegar before putting it in the washer.
Picard, your neat street cars pics reminded me of riding the street car with my grandma in Reading, PA, a fun experience for a kid raises in "the sticks." I also liked your ledges, specifically the last two.
Ravel and unravel are Janus words, words with contradictory meanings. These words are also known as contronyms and auto antonyms. There are many complicated reasons why these anomalies came about.
Here are 20 examples of Janus words used in sentences:
Bolt: to fasten/secure, to flee
We bolt the door at night.
The cat bolted away.
Bound: to tie someone or something to a particular spot or thing, to (prepare to) go to a specific place
They were bound forever by the wonderful memories they shared.
He’s bound for Europe next month.
Clip: to attach, to cut
She clipped the pages together to stop any from getting lost.
The hairdresser clipped a little too much of my hair off.
Dust: to remove dust, to add (metaphorical) dust
He made sure to dust the house before his parents came to visit.
He dusted the cake with icing sugar.
Fast: firmly fixed/attached, (capable of) moving fast
They remained fast friends.
She was a fast swimmer.
Fine: excellent, satisfactory
There’s supposed to be fine weather on Saturday.
The siblings had a fine relationship but they were by no means good friends.
First degree: most severe, least severe
He was charged with first-degree murder.
It was only a first-degree burn and my skin is already healing well.
Hold up: to support, to obstruct
He held his head up and faced his classmates despite knowing they were gossiping about him.
He wanted to face up to his classmates who bullied him but his fear held him up.
Lease/Rent: to pay someone to use their property, to offer someone use of your property in exchange for payment
We leased/rented a house in France for our holiday.
They lease/rent out their flat when they aren’t using it.
Left: to go away from, remaining
They left the party early.
They were the last ones left at the party.
Mean: unkind/aggressive/spiteful, excellent
He wished his teacher wasn’t so mean.
He makes a mean pasta bake.
Peer: a member on the nobility, an equal
In the UK the ranks of the peerage are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
My assignment will be marked by my peers.
Refrain: to desist, a repeated (number of) lines
Please refrain from smoking indoors.
There’s a refrain at the end of each verse in the poem.
Seed: to sow seeds, to remove seeds
It is important to seed plants at the right time of year so that they can grow in the best conditions.
Chop and seed the chillies before adding them to the sauce.
Strike: to hit/succeed, to miss/fail
They struck gold.
He was struck out.
Transparent: invisible/see-through, apparent/obvious
We visited a beautiful beach with transparent waters.
Her expression made her views transparent.
Trim: to decorate/adorn, to cut away excess
Each year the family gathers to trim the Christmas tree.
The gardener trims the hedges frequently.
Wear: to deteriorate, able to withstand deterioration
My jeans always wear away at the knees.
The dress has at least another year of wear left in it.
Weather: to withstand, to deteriorate
The ship is built to weather a storm.
The cliffs have weathered over the years.
Wind up: to power something up to make it start, to gradually bring something to an end
You need to wind the toy train up to make it run.
It’s time for the meeting to end– please wind up all discussions.
Yellowrocks, thank you for that really interesting list of Janus words! I had never heard that term before.
Speaking of unknowns, I had never heard of RAVEL before today, only unRAVEL. The L was my last square, because I didn't know URAL was a river in addition to a mountain range, so I had to run the alphabet to get RAVE? crossed with URA? , and even then I wasn't sure that the L was correct.
What are other words where the un- or in- version is the better known one? Uncouth comes to mind quickly.
Misty, hi.
Seems to me like it was about 15 or 20 years ago when the leadership team at the sanctioning body of the American Bowling Congress or the US Bowling Congress encouraged bowling establishment proprietors, TV bowling announcers, writers and general membership to start using the terms bowling house instead of bowling alleys, lanes instead of alleys, and perhaps channels instead of gutters. It was a concerted effort to change the language that many felt carried negative connotations of bowling.
Shankers:
I did mention that ALL the clues at the ends of each column were omitted, 12D,71D, 74A and that made the solve more challenging.
It's interesting that RAVEL was clued the way it was and not for the composer.
Picard:
Thank you for the gorgeous pictures of the LEDGEs in Sedona.
MalMan:
What interesting comparisons! I guess most of the one billion people in China (maybe more now) are concentrated in the cities.
As desper-otto & Yellowrocks have said " I drew a blank at __ELER for that cattle dog." Other than that... EZ-PZ. Enjoy the rest of your Holiday weekends!
What a SHAME. The theme flew over my head. FIR with just a few problems. Heard PAISANOS before but had not idea of the correct spelling. SEQUITUR I knew but the correct spelling I didn't.
Like D-otto, Blue or Red HEELER. No knowledge of that dog.
Lemonade- "-2 X -2 = positive 4" just like 2X2=4
BACO- is that a real word?
HBO GO- an easy guess but I'd never heard of it; no HBO at my house.
DR DRE & DRAPER- learned from X-Words. RAP ain't my cup of tea.
GAry anon@10:am-HAMMERPANTS. MC HAMMER wore those on his video of his song "You Can't Touch This", which was set to the music of his cousin Rick James song "Superfreak".
Trivia- MC Hammer was a batboy for the Oakland Athletics.
"Scarfed down" ATE, easy. I've only seen "snarf" in crossword puzzles and C.C. "wolfed down" the food down provided by her grandmother.
BigEasy, BACOs Bits was an imitation bacon that was chopped up into little pieces and used on salads or baked potatoes. It was extremely common for a long time, but it looks like it's been discontinued as of 2017.
Nice relaxing way to start a Sunday. This time I went top to bottom, filling in what I knew and ignoring what I didn’t. There was a lot more of the latter than of the former. Then (to mix a metaphor) I went west to east doing the same with the verts. By the time I finished that the thing was over 3/4 done. Not too many holdups; the biggest and longest lasting was the HEELER / HBOGO / EAMON that so many others have noted. I got hung up way too long by only thinking of “BOGO” in the sense of retail sales but when that pin dropped the rest fell in place. FIR in a little over half an hour, about average for me.
There used to be a computer ‘dungeon’ type game called EAMON. It was unique in that it included programming commands that allowed you to create your own dungeon, complete with traps, mazes, monsters and such. I spent hours creating dungeons for friends to adventure in and they did the same.Fun.
Abejo, I hope you are feeling a bit better.
Gary usually creates enjoyable puzzles, and this was one of them. C.C., I always learn something from your writeups. Thanks to both of you.
Mask up & stay well..
Many thanks, TTP, for your helpful and interesting bowling explanation. Makes sense why there might still be some confusion about the terms.
I thought I was familiar with most dog breeds. No wonder! Heeler is an Australian cattle dog, a cross with a dingo. However, it was accepted by the AKC and has been shown at Westminster. My learning moment for today.
HBOGO was new to me.
De Valera looks like a Spanish name, so I chose Ramon instead of the Irish Eamon.
This was a true Natick for me. I am more comfortable with that than something I "shoulda" known.
Hormel and Oscar Mayer sell real bacon bits in jars for salads. Very expensive.
Instead I use Oscar Mayer's fully cooked bacon. Very handy to reheat in microwave and crumble on salads or omelets. I don't care for most brands of fully cooked bacon.
I was calm, cool and rational in facing the consequences of my accident. I will pick up my "new" preowned car early this week. Now that most of the details are settled, the delayed emotional reaction sets in. David can't understand that. "Everything is good now." I am overeating and having an extra glass of wine every day. This always happens with me after a catastrophe. I should watch my BP and glucose or I will have more problems.
Since I grew up with the old fashioned bowling terminology I hear no bad connotations in the terms.
Sunday Lurk Say...
Bob Lee - Wiki disagrees as do I. My younger Bro [CEO one; not Army one] was a little fashionista; anything that was in vogue, he was on it. Saved his paper-route money for red parachute pants w/ the side zipper pockets -- even though he couldn't break dance [white boys can't jump ;-)]
Can't Touch This.
C.C. - I too am curious re: your Gram's reaction to French Fries.
AnonBob (@9:56) Good Call! re: a square. [This Old House]. I showed Youngest 1/4 the uses for it when we built her laptop table. We didn't use a paint ROLLER to stain.
YR - LOL loaves-fed spring (or is it spring-fed loaves?). Jesus a baker at your grocer? :-)
BigE and i x i = -1
Hungry Mother - that hasta be a joke. Lisp on PUNCH cards?!? You'd use ~30 just to close nested parens.
Young as I am, I've used punch cards -- ran a program on State of IL's mainframe for my Computing Merit Badge when I was 12*. Also how I registered for first year of classes at LaTech.
Lucina - You called it! PAISANOS. [So I Married an Ax Murderer - "too much w/ the Ethnic Slurs?" LOL!]
Youngest's family (social-distancing) driveway party is tonight (assuming storms stay at bay)... time for a quick nap.
Cheers, -T
*we won't discuss visit to Pop's house shortly thereafter by the FBI; it was nothin' I did to the mainframe then.
Lefty was a mentor to Jolt'n Joe: "O'Doul refused to take credit for DiMaggio's success, saying "I was just smart enough to leave him alone."
Lefty and Joe
Another regular: ESAI. That H was my last box too but HBO made sense. I knew EAMON from HS but the spelling was questionable. Also, I thought at the time: An Italian? EAMON DeValera. Father was Spanish, born in NYC which may have saved him after the Easter Rising.
YR, yes, artisan/ARTESIAN - loved that l'ick
Aaarrrggghhh! Picard just brought back my acrophobia
Shakers, the announcing of MLB has taken a page from golf. Analytics is boring by definition. Talk about cures for amnesia, though
I agree with Misty on bowling alley (s). I wonder if Little Richard* ducked back in the (bowling ) alley.
FIR. Mostly easy but a "slog" in parts.
WC
* Beatles **version
**Actually I thought the words came from Lucille. I linked this because it was so cool
Addendum
FLN, Picard I liked the trolley cars. I see they had a Boston street car. Green in Boston. Orange for the El, Red for underground. Brilliant idea to color code.
I couldn't recall the term Yacht Rock but re. TOTO, it's often played there. I thought it was Tojo.
WC
After a long morning and afternoon at the kitchen table, I FIR.
Unknowns were UNE and AVEC (of course), O’DOUL (except for the fake beer), UTNE, and my last-fill triumvirate, HBOGO, EAMON and OMOO. All of these unknowns were handled via perps, except for the “M” --- a true WAG.
Where to start?
EGGPLANT: I’m with you C.C. Eggplant tops the list of foods I do not eat (and there aren’t too many things on the list).
HEELER: I got lucky on this one. Didn’t have a clue, and I couldn't figure out what it had to do with RODEO, where a CALF ROPING team consists of a HEADER and a HEELER. It’s a timed event in which the former ropes the head of the calf, and the latter ropes the heels. Has nothing to do with the clue, but it worked. (Yes, I’ve been in Texas a long time now.) Calf Roping
KEYPUNCH: During my last year or so of college, I taught typing and “IBM Keypunch” at the local business school where my wife was teaching. There I was out playing ball in the field behind the apartment after she had left for work. Next thing I see, she is trudging across the field and telling me to get inside and get cleaned up NOW! “You’re the new typing/keypunch teacher!” Best thing that ever happened; I was making $3.25 an hour, while the burger flippers and gas pump jockeys were lucky if they were making a buck.
MOCS: Nope! Barefoot!
NIKON: Nope! I shoot a CANON! NIKON is reputed to have better, but more expensive, lenses. Doesn’t matter for me. I ain’t that good anyway!
LPGA HOF: Didn’t we have Babe Zaharias in a puzzle fairly recently? She was quite a lady, from Port Arthur, TX. There is a museum in Beaumont that I pass every time I go to Florida. I’ve promised myself I’m going to visit it as soon as (if) the lockdown ends. Forgive me if I’ve posted this link before. Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor would have loved this theme. I did too, but the rest of the puzzle not so much. I got totally flummoxed in the HBOGO,HEELER,EAMON area. To me, a crunchy salad bit would be a "Baco-bit" not just a "Baco." That's like calling a "Handi-wipe" a "Handi."
I guess I'm just grumpy today.
I remember reading an article about linguistic gender that made the argument that "la" in French precedes "table" (for example) in French, is not because "table" is "feminine" and therefore requires the feminine article, but rather the reverse, namely that "table" is simply labelled as feminine because it happens to be preceded by "la." In other words, the "gender" of the article (or adjective) is not dictated by the "gender" of the noun, but that the "gender" of the noun is dictated by the arbitrary usage of the article "le" or "la". The same author tied that to Latin, in which the word for girl, woman, wife, etc. is feminine and the word for man, boy, husband, etc. is masculine. The result is, according to the author, that while it was easy to define such biological things as masculine or feminine in the "Romance" languages it basically raised the question of which article to use with things like "table" or "house." Bottom line: pretty much arbitrary.
I have talked way too much. Bye, all.
Jayce, interesting. Different languages call the same noun feminine or masculine. I understand that it even varies by dialect in the same language.
I am greatly worried about my voting signature. Sixty years ago it ago it was in my school girl hand. Since then hundreds of thousands of my signatures have been a variety of scrawl and straight lines. On voting I see in the sign in book which signature I relied on before. I am so afraid my signature will be rejected.
LEO III, would that have been an IBM 026, 029 or 0129 keypunch class ? I guess it really doesn't matter as they produced the same 80 column output. I knew those machines very well. Learned the 026 and 029 keypunches, and 082 sorter operations in the Army, and 0129 later. Dropping a card tray was a PITA, but easily corrected if you knew how to run the sorter.
Then came the 3741 followed by the 3742 electronic keypunches with the 8" diskette drives. They were called data entry systems. A single diskette held the equivalent of one box of 80 column cards.
FIR today! Reporting at the end of a busy day. Got most of the puzzle early this morning with a major slowdown in the SW. Came back to it when things quieted down, and with a lucky guess for HEELER plus finally seeing PLANE FARE and TELEVISE, finished it right. Tada!!! Even saw the across theme answers, though missed the two others going down. A better result than expected. Many thanks, C.C. and Gary.
With a teenager daughter during the 80s, observed the high school fashion trends including baggy pants. Remember folding the pant leg around the ankle to narrow it? Learned from the military, fitting the pants into combat boots?
See you tomorrow. Enjoy the holiday!
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Gary! Great expo, C.C.! I, too, wondered how your grandma liked the French fries.
Apparently I am the only one here who has had the privilege of knowing a Blue Heeler dog. We had one show up at the homestead where the cattle were fed in winter. That homestead was without a dog when he came, so they immediately put out a pan of dogfood. Never learned where he came from, but he liked it and stayed for about 10 yrs. We'd never seen a Blue Heeler before. Thought maybe he came with pheasant hunters who left without him. He definitely had a mind of his own and herded cattle whether anyone wanted him to or not -- a compulsive heel nipper. Cattle definitely respected him and moved out of his way when he showed up. He had a white base coat with blue speckles, head top and saddle markings. The men called him Blue-tick because it looked like his coat was infested with ticks. He was definitely a blue color, too. He liked to wander and wasn't welcome some places he showed up. They tried chaining him & locking him in a shed, but he always got loose. Probably the dingo in him. Good dog!
TTP --- To be honest with you, I don't really remember.
Anon@12:47 pm
A famous story you'd like is "How I Met My Wife". I happened to read it when it was originally in the New Yorker, and then 2 or 3 more times over the years.
LEOIII - Step mom was in the secretary pool for state of IL [back to getting mainframe access :-)] and could type ~135wpm. I couldn't type for sh** and it was impeding my hacking, er, programming.
After moving from IL -> LA & got into public school... It was the first time Nuns didn't tell me what classes I was allowed to schedule. I signed up for typing. #Girls!
A week in, I was taken out of that class [but there are Girls in there!] 'cuz "You're too smart for that. We put you in third period Calc." //are there girls?
So disappointed that they said I could sign up for whatever I wanted but then couldn't.
ATLGranny - Dressin' your boots. Learned that in Basic.
PK - I've not heard of a Blue Heeler.
DW's growin' up dog was a little Border Collie mix. Party-trick: If people sat in the wrong chairs in the living room, the dog would run around nippin' heels until we moved into the right seats [OK, OK, that's FIL's chair!].
I'd also get an ankle nip if I was getting too fresh w/ pre-DW on the couch.
Play tomorrow!
Cheers, -T
YR:
Could you possibly go to the office of your Secretary of State (I believe that's the one), explain your fears and supply them with a sample of your current signature or, suggestion #2, have your signature notarized and witnessed and carry it with you. Our local banks usually have a notary but if yours don't I'm sure you could find one.
i did not understand the clue for the 74 Down clue : SPOUT.
The poem 'I'm a little teapot', mentions 'spout' only once ?
Am I missing something >
Also Tabla (Wiki) refers to ( both the ) TWO SET of drums accompanying a Sitar, or other musical instruments in Indian music.
Shouldn't the clue have indicated drums, as in the plural ?
The smaller drum is the Daya, and the larger, rotund drum is the Bayan. There has to be one of each. Tabla is a collective, there are no Tablas for the two drums. Tablas would refer to two or more sets of drums... ( I can only think of the nouns, Money and Monies . as an equivalent example. )
BTW, there is a nice 2 min. demo of Tabla playing in the middle of the Wiki Tabla article.
There are two headed, single drums, in indian music, but they have different names.
On the subject of the gender of french nouns, I am reminded of the story, when an Englishman once went to a Parisian restaurant, and ordered a bowl of soup. When the soup arrives, the Brit discovers that there is a housefly swimming in the bowl.
He promptly calls the Maitre D', and points to the offending insect in his bowl.
"La Fly", he says haughtily.
The Maitre D' is more concerned, and offended, on the Brit's imperfect grammer, that the situation itself.
He corrects him, immediately " ...le fly".
The Brit looks alternately at the fly and the man, and exclaims," By Jove, you've got jolly good eyesight !".
OMG!! What a yucky puzzle ...a REAL drag! My list of disagreements with Larson numbers at 23 ...but I won't list them here...two will suffice: outside of NYC the friendly PAISANS refer only to ethnicity AND in NYC when there are two or more, no "O"is used. AND ...FILE CABINET is a NO TECH device. C'mon, Gary...give us a break! This was no way to spend a 110 degree afternoon!
OOPS! IT'S BOBBI AGAIN! TOODLE-OO!!
I wondered the same thing about Stout Spout Shout Out but no second Spout. But then I always did get that song confused with the Jeopardy melody.
@10:58 - Is it that late? Would you rather a mosquito? :-)
-T
I was confused by that, too. According to Wikipedia there’s a second verse, but the words “handle” and “spout” are both repeated in that verse.
Since my great-grandson lives with me I hear those nursery rhyme songs all day and SPOUT is definitely repeated in I'm A Little Teapot.
For the edification of all: The "Tea Pot" nursery song DIES repeat the word "SPOUT". It's repeated in the second verse. Maybe I've lead a sheltered life, but in my 76 years, I've NEVER even seen the second verse. Cheap shot, Gary????
Bob,
Thanks for catching my miss.
Lemonade et al,
My grandma loved her French fries. Tasty and easy to chew, she said. She was in her 80s and her teeth were not good. I don't have a recipe for her dumplings. But the main ingredients are tofu & Chinese chives. The dumpling skins were rolled every thin.
To Mr. Larson re clue 74 Down: I'm a 78-yr.-old retired English teacher, crossword puzzle fan, and mom of seven-- and I like a challenge. Though I've sung the song many times, I never heard or read the second verse of "I'm a Little Teapot". I gather there's actually another unknown verse. However, I do feel that, since that verse is unknown and virtually never used, and that the only word repeated in the first verse is "here" (which obviously doesn't fit,) that the only way to find the answer is to guess that there's an unknown second verse and look it up. Now, I've had to look up answers on rare occasions when I'm simply not familiar with a person's name, but almost always I can find the answer just from solving the other word clues, which is how this turned out. However, I do feel the clue left your readers no other choice than that. It seemed misleading instead of ingenious, so I'm disappointed. I do enjoy the L.A. Times and N.Y. Times crosswords challenges, and admire their creators. From Jeri G.
C.C.,
My pleasure! Thanks for the great write-ups!
Bob
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