google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 Joe Deeney

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Sep 23, 2020

Wednesday, September 23, 2020 Joe Deeney

Theme:  YOU'RE CONFUSED.  The letters of the contraction YOU'RE are scrambled in the theme entries. Or, as the unifier has it --

55 A. Judge's words ... and a hint to this puzzle's circles: YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER.  This indicates the mixing up of the letters.  Outside of the puzzle, the sentence indicates that YOU'RE not following the prescribed or established procedures for a meeting, legislative assembly, debate, or - in this case - a court of law.

Let's see how it works.

17 A. University offerings: FOUR YEAR DEGREES.  Typically, it takes FOUR YEARS as a full time student to earn a bachelor's degree in most fields of study.  Here the subject letters are scattered over the first two words of the fill.  

26 A. Bob Dylan title lyrics that follow "in my heart you'll always stay": FOREVER YOUNG.  Here, the letters span both words.

x


42 A. "The Wrestler" Oscar nominee: MICKEY ROURKE.  Again the letters span both words of his name.


Hi Gang.  JazzBumba here.  The theme, though mixed up, is pretty straight forward.   Let's unravel the rest of today's puzzle. 


Across:

1. Bits of trash often swept up with popcorn: STUBS.  Ticket scraps in movie theaters.  Ahh - the nostalgia.

6. Outdoor party rental: TENT.  Protects the guests from direct sunlight, but - we hops - not from rain.

10. Creek croaker: TOAD.  Could have been a FROG.  Needed some perps to hop into place.

14. Like much beer: ON TAP.  Draft beer.  In a tavern.  Sadly, these location are primary virus spread hazards.

15. "Dude!": BRAH.  Probably derived from "bro," which is probably derived from brother.

16. Nashville highlight: OPRY.  It's grand, and it's old.

20. Open patio: ATRIUM.  An open-roofed hall or court.

21. Original angel on "Charlie's Angels": SABRINA. played by Kate Jackson.



22. Driver's role in "Star Wars" sequels: REN.  Adam Driver played Kylo Ren, the dark side son of Han Solo and princess Leia.

23. Easiness exemplar: PIEFiguring out why is not as easy.  

25. Johns in Scotland: IANS.  The name "John" in Scottish dialect.  It has nothing to do with the loo.

31. Hopeless, as a situation: NO WIN.  When all the alternatives are bad.

34. Tears to shreds: RENDS.

35. Cause of some royal insomnia: PEA.  For a fairy tale princess on a stack of mattresses.

36. Leave out: OMIT.

37. Ties together: BINDS.

38. Go no further: STOP.  Hatl!

39. Hill worker: ANT.  Not a congress critter.

40. Works in Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends": POEMS.


41. Provided light: SHONE.  A word rarely seen in the past tense.

45. Gets moving: HIES.  Goes quickly.  A good old Anglo-Saxon word seldom seen in any tense.

46. Luau finger food: POI. Made from the tuber of the taro plant.

47. Lead-in to a texter's afterthought: BTWBy The Way - now that I have your attention.

50. Words said in disbelief: WHAT THE  .  .  .  The next word in the sequence is open to considerable variation.

53. Canadian metropolis: OTTAWA.  Ottawa is Canada’s capital, in the east of southern Ontario, near the city of Montréal and the U.S. border.

57. MM and MMXX, for two: ANNI.  The years Y2K and 2020, respectively, in Roman numerals.  Let's face it: MMXX has not been a good year; but it is nothing compared to DXXXVI

58. Tire (out): WEAR.  This word has a variety of meanings; here it is to diminish by use, as happens when on tires.  Not also that tires wear from use, which is also the same meaning.

59. Beat, with "out": WIPED.  Another word with many possible interpretations.  Here it is WIPING out an opponent.

60. Enzo's eight: OTTO.   The number, in Italian.

61. Where Southwest Airlines is LUV: NYSE  The company's symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

62. Puts in like piles: SORTS.  Arranges by type or some characteristic.

Down:

1. Words often suggesting unmet goals: SO FAR.  We have a way to go, but we're on our way.

2. Fed. security: T-NOTE.  Treasury NOTE, a marketable U.S. government debt security with a fixed interest rate and a maturity between one and 10 years. 

3. One-eighty: U-TURN.  A rapid turn to go back into the opposite direction.  We seldom see it spelt out completely

4. Port on Italy's "heel": BARI.  Located near the top of the heel, BARI is a port city on the Adriatic Sea, and the capital of southern Italy’s Puglia region.

5. Watch surreptitiously: SPY UPON.  I see what you are doing!

6. Sched. uncertainty: TBA.  Something To Be Announced.

7. Shows one's humanity?: ERRS.  To ERR is human.

8. Zip: NADA.  Nothing.

9. Hitchcock thriller set in Bodega Bay: THE BIRDS.


10. Piemonte city: TORINO.  More commonly known to us as Turin.

11. Confides in: OPENS UP TO.  Shares personal information.

12. Region: AREA. Location.

13. Start to function?: DYS-.  This prefix indicates abnormality or impairment.  

18. Bahrain bigwig: EMIR.  A tittle applied to various Muslim rulers.

19. Charcoal pencil shades: GRAYS.  Available in a set of 50, I suppose.

24. Like "Halloween," and then some: EERIER.  Feast your eyes upon the comparative degree of a word meaning weird and frightening, because you're unlikely to be seeing it again any time soon - or possibly ever.  If I ever see: "More like a Great Lake: Erier," I'm just going to give up.

26. In good shape: FIT.  In good health, especially when due to physical exercise.  One can get fitter.

27. Mobile payments app owned by PayPal: VENMO.  An easy way to electronically transfer funds.

28. Finally arrives (at): ENDS UP.  Reaches some sort of conclusion.

29. Second-lightest noble gas: NEON.  The lightest is helium.  The lightest ignoble gas is hydrogen.

30. Stare slack-jawed: GAPE.  Wide open as, in this case, the jaws.

31. Linguist Chomsky: NOAM. [b 1928] Linguist - sure; but so much more.

32. Luxury hotel name: OMNI.  Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American privately held, international luxury hotel company based in Dallas, Texas. The company operates 60 properties in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,

33. Prejudiced investigation and harassment: WITCH HUNT.  A search for something to prosecute.

37. Father Flanagan's orphanage: BOY'S TOWN.  An organization dedicated to the care, treatment, and education of at-risk children.

38. "__ sells seashells ... ": SHE.  


40. Actress/author Holly Robinson __: PEETE. [b 1964]  She is known for her roles as Judy Hoffs on the Fox TV police drama 21 Jump Street, Vanessa Russell on the ABC sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and Dr. Malena Ellis on the NBC/WB sitcom For Your Love.


41. Mountain resort aids: SKI TOWS. Various types of ski lifts, each having a moving rope or bars suspended from a moving overhead cable.  This gets you up the hill, so you can slide back down again.

43. South Korean subcompact: KIA RIO.  A subcompact car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Kia Motors since November 1999 and now in its fourth generation. Body styles have included a three and five-door hatchback and four-door sedan, equipped with inline-four gasoline and diesel engines, and front-wheel drive.

44. Solar panel spot: ROOF.  Because that's where the sunlight is.

47. Reason for spin, briefly: BAD PR.  Some problem with Public Relations and the resulting projected image, perhaps caused by foot-in-mouth disease.

48. Limited message: TWEET.  A post on Twitter.  I do that. Does it make me a twit?

49. Hospital sections: WARDS.   Separate rooms or designated areas in a hospital, typically allocated to a particular type of patient.

50. Refuses to: WON'T.  A contraction of "will not," indicating unwillingness or inability to do something.

51. Newsman Lewis?: HUEY.   Hugh Anthony Cregg III (b.1950) known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.  He was frontman for the pop/rock group Huey Lewis and the News.  And so much more.  He now suffers from Ménière's disease, which is tragic for a musician.


 

 52. LAX postings: ETAS. Estimated Time of -- Arrival or Departure.  Always needs a perp.

54. Rock's Ben Folds Five, surprisingly: TRIO.  Maybe Ben folds something 5 times?  Or maybe two other guys quickly quit?  Anyway, this group was active from 1993 to 2000; and again erratically from 2008 to 2013.



55. NBA great Ming: YAO.  [b1980]  After playing in China, he was the first overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2002 NBA draft.  His successful career was cut short by injuries, and he retired in 2011 after several years of foot and ankle problems.

56. Minecraft material: ORE.  Clever clue for this mundane fill.  Minecraft is the best selling video game ever.  Players explore a blocky, procedurally-generated 3D world with infinite terrain, and may discover and extract raw materials, craft tools and items, and build structures or earthworks. 

That wraps up another Wednesday.  Hope you made it through in an orderly fashion.

Cool regards!
JzB



56 comments:

Hungry Mother said...

Wowser! FIR, but very crunchy. Saw the theme early on and it helped a bit.

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. BRuH > BRAH (didn't notice the perp), ANNo > ANNI, KIA ROO > KIA RIO (I drive a KIA, but wasn't familiar with that model). Did catch the theme, tho, and it even helped me get the third set of bubbles!

TORINO/KIA RIO symmetrically placed. Speaking of cars, it's nice to see U-TURN spelt out for once.
SPY UPON/OPEN UP TO/ENDS UP.

One person RENDS the quiet air,
Causing folks to wail despair!
Another BINDS,
Calming minds.
There's fodder for some POEMS there!

There was an otter from OTTAWA
Who argued with his sis and BRAH.
He'd SPY ON them
And then pretend
He'd tattle to their pa and ma!

OwenKL said...

{A-, B+.}

Anonymous said...

Finished in 5:46. For my taste, it had too much crunchiness, for too little payoff (just another mixed-up word).

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Had the circles, but needed the reveal to reveal the theme. That cinched the first E in PEETE and settled MICKEY. Multiple UP appearances: ENDS UP, UP TO, UPON. VENMO and BRAH (Where Erin goes?) were new to me. Thanx, Joe and JazzBumba [sic] (That "Ask not..." was cute.)

TOAD: I always think of frogs as creek critters and toads as garden critters. We've had a couple of days of wet weather, and the frogs have been serenading -- easily heard inside the house.

BIRDS: I remember when that movie was first released. The ads proclaimed, "The Birds is coming! The Birds is coming!"

NOAM: DW's great nephew in Dresden is named Noam. I call him Chomsky.

We're far enough north that Beta wasn't much of a weather issue -- just a couple of inches of soaking rain spread over two days. Most of the problems were south of I-10. Anon-T is south of I-10, but apparently escaped the worst of it. Not sure about TxMs and LeoIII. Hope you guys are OK.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Joe, for a bit of Tuesday crunch. Nice to get the wheels moving early. Un po di italiano oggi. Grazie. I stalled in the southeast with BAD PR because I could not parse the -dpr. Huh?

Thank you, JazzB, for a thoughtful tour and musical links. Fun.

Have a sunny day.

Wilbur Charles said...

I'll take CSO on BTW. After ie, eg and Ps.
Re(another one) WIPED can certainly mean really tired as in "I'm WIPED out, man".

Re. VENMO. I am familiar with Zelle and tried to fit it by inking Velle. I took out the first L and the E. But leaving the second L I ended up with nOElS vs POEMS. I was back and forth on "hops" but finally went with HIES as KIA dawned. But I ended up with KIAROO(a Korea-Australia hybrid?)

A vague familiararity with online transactions doomed me. BTW*

Tacko Fall refers to YAO Ming as "Shorty". Oops, LIU says they're the same height (7'5"). Tacko, at UCF almost doomed Duke to an early exit in NCAAs. My take: Refs got the word:"Don't let Duke lose!" I have an NCAA poem from the nineties but it's long. J-blog material.

Yes, a very crunchy Wed. And it gets worse. I was "off" and laid in bed so I finished the week. Can't tell you anything but more crunch coming but good news- Another JeffWesh Fri.

Re. FIW. I should get on line and use auto wite out. Or...Read the clues more carefully fe Nothing said about Xmas in 40A.

W's per usual Owen and a solid for JazzB

WC


** Anybody ever do owner financing? As I surmised I just got solicited to cash out the OF contract. I haven't called but I imagine they'll want 20%

Wilbur Charles said...

Mme D, re. "Crunch". Perhaps because it's Wednesday

jfromvt said...

Kind of a meh puzzle IMO. All that work solving and the theme is just YOU’RE mixed up.

desper-otto said...

Wilbur, yes I did OF when I sold my former home in Houston to my nextdoor neighbor. I was solicited numerous times to sell the note, but I never called back. Wondered at my "wisdom" when the couple who bought the home declared bankruptcy. But it all turned out OK. The couple sold the home at a profit, and I was made whole.

Yellowrocks said...

jfromvt, yes, kinda meh puzzle, not enough payoff for all those fun sponge names.

Malodorous Manatee said...

I am happy to learn that I was not alone in finding this CW crunchier than the typical Wednesday's puzzle. FIR but it took far more time to complete than is "normal" for me on this day of the week.

I liked the ANNI and OTTO stack and the Creek Croaker Clue. EERIER is always an enjoyable word at which to gaze. Between that Halloween reference, WITCH HUNT and SKI TOWS there was a bit of a fall is here and winter's coming vibe. I, for one, am ready for that.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I had KIARoO, too. Sigh. But I got everything else. I usually don't do well on Deeney puzzles, so I was happy. I wrote the scrambled YOU'RE's in the margin, and easily saw the YOURE anagram, so that facilitated the reveal spanner. Otherwise, crunchy as others have said and it was touch and go for a while.
62a re: piles - I was visualizing, for the longest time, 'pile driving' but couldn't come up with a short verb. The 's' in SKI TOWS steered me in the right direction.

Nice intro, JzB. Thanks.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I have blogged five of Joe’s Saturday puzzles and am always amazed by his nimble mind.
-KIA R_O crossing ANN_ gave me a one cell defeat. ANNO DOMINI led me to the “O”. ROO? Yeah, I know…
-Joe added some real Italian spice to this clever puzzle – TORINO, BARI and OTTO
-MARISSA TOMEI added more Italian flavor and worked at first for The Wrestler when I added an “S”
-I knew Minnie Driver not Adam (no relation) and had no chance on REN but it worked itself out
-Recent inadvertent COVID exposure has put granddaughter in a possible NO WIN situation for her wedding on Saturday. Everyone is testing today
-A corollary for ”To ERR is human”
-BOYS TOWN recently told 500 acres of its original farm ground that used to be 15 miles west of Omaha. They received hundreds of millions of dollars for it. Many kids learned the value of work and responsibility there.
-Reading Twitter and FaceBook yields gems like, “Your to much of a looser”

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

It was a simple theme but a pleasant enough solve. It might have been a better challenge if it was run on Thursday sans circles. No unknowns and only one miscue with Frog for Toad. Two cute duos of Trio and Rio and Tweet and Peete. I take that back about the unknowns. I didn’t know the Kia Rio but I filled it in correctly with the Anni crossing. CSOs to DO(Otto), HG (Boys Town), and CanadianEh (Ottawa).

Thanks, Joe, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JazB, for the entertaining and informative tour.

MadameDefarge, is your annual Maine visit still planned, or on hold because of COVID-19?

Continued prayers for Abejo.

Have a great day and I hope our Texas contingent escaped Beta’s fury.

Yellowrocks said...

Is crossword constructor's computer software supplying all these names? I may be wrong, but it seems to me that there were fewer names before the software came along. I wish someone would make a program without names. IMO the constructors and editors should limit the names 4 or 5 and not have them cross.

Edward Duarte said...

Fun clue for the theme.
5 bdrms 4 Ian’s, I mean Loos

Madame Defarge said...

Um. . . .

Wilbur; HA! I guess the Tuesday crunch is due to Wednesday. Now, I must locate just where it is that I left Tuesday. ;>)

Thanks for the update!

IM: Maine is on. I believe we will eat out less and carryout more, but I can still knit and read within eyeshot and earshot of the tide. I'll keep you posted. Ayuh.

NaomiZ said...

I enjoyed Joe's puzzle. Thanks to JzB, I know that I FIW: at 45A I had "hits" instead of HIES, as I'm not familiar with Holly Robinson PEETE and she might have been "Pette" for all I knew. I was thinking that "Gets moving" might be "hits [the road]" or something, but clearly HIES is a better answer, and Ms PEETE is entitled to her name. Thanks for the fun.

Picard said...

Apparently BRAH is a word. Learning moment. Enjoyed the YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER theme. Hand up not so fond of names. PEETE was hardest for me. Learning moment that THE BIRDS took place in Bodega Bay. I have been there. Hand up for FROG before TOAD. I have many photos of each.

I learned WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT from this Book TV interview of a war photographer in Iraq. Very powerful.

What does that have to do with the puzzle? It is the same as WHAT THE ____.

Here are some of my recent photos of NOAM CHOMSKY.

I was honored to have him as a professor and as an activist ally in college. We have crossed paths many times over the years. He is now in Tucson where I last saw him.

Malodorous Manatee said...

YR: "Is crossword constructor's computer software supplying all these names?" I have wondered about that, also. I really am ignorant as to what percentage of constructors use software to generate fill. I am, likely, a bit naive about it.

oc4beach said...


No circles on Merriam-Webster so, didn't see the theme. I finished it, but it took a little longer than a Wednesday puzzle should have.

Great write-up by JzB today.

Today's "erasures" included: HULLS before STUBS, FROG before TOAD, LOOS before IANS, ANNO before ANNI and OCTO before OTTO.

I saw the Italian connection today, but BARI was a little obscure. Perps filled it in along with some others.

And we have OTTAWA again instead of TORONTO, MONTREAL, CALGARY, VANCOUVER, SASKATOON, REGINA, WINNIPEG, HALIFAX, ST JOHNS, WINDSOR or a number of others.

At least the puzzle got my brain cells working today. Now I'm off to run errands.

Have a great day everyone. Be safe and please wear your masks.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Joe for the puzzle. I must be slow on the uptake 'cuz this took me way too long for a Wednesday.

Thanks JzB for kicking-off the after-party - TENT or no.

WOS: TBD b/f it was announced, ocho b/f OTTO, put ORE in YAO's squares, started Ontario b/f I ran out of squares. Dyslexia dictated HeuY.
ESPs: BARI, PEETE,
Fav: LUV's clue stands out. Not that the grid wasn't filled with Sparkle.

Woah, wait, waaa? I just mentioned the Ford TORNIO last night. On the heels of XENON (another Noble Gas); this is getting EERIER and EERIER.
//does Rich have access to my Siri?

Chomsky - I was studying Computer Science; DW was studying English Lit. Yet, we both met facets of NOAMs work.
//Picard - How did I know you'd have a photo? :-)

{A, B}

Re: crossword constructing software. I paid for one program. They come with dictionaries and you can buy more. ++add to them with your own stuff. I've (obviously) not been too successful with them; I still paint myself into corners. Point? (do you have one =T?). Yeah - It's never suggested names I don't know.

BTW, WTF is about the most polite way you can call a colleague a moron in any meeting.

Hope to have a fun link later. JzB kinda did me in w/ Back to the Future :-)

Play later. -T

Anonymous said...

15a never heard of brah, anybody? Lousy clue/answer, but its the only one that fit. Pretty easy for a wednesday. Loved theme. I was i could be forever young!! Good job Mr. Deeney. The birds still scare me.

LEO III said...

Well, proofreading saved me today. Had to change OPRY/DYS from an I to a Y, as well as OPRY/TURINO FROM U to O. Just wasn’t thinking too clearly at 0400 this morning.

My sole barometer for “crunchiness” is whether I FIR or FIW or DNF. Today was a FIR, so it wasn’t too crunchy for me. I also solved the circles. There were a few unknowns, though: BARI, NOAM, PEETE and KiaRIO. Perps took care of all of them.

I don’t do Twitter! I have enough trouble keeping up with two email accounts, Facebook, text messaging, and --- OF COURSE --- THE LAT CC! Good thing I’m retired!

Never saw “The Wrestler”, but Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke starred in “9-1⁄2 Weeks”, which was a very strange movie --- eerie and erotic!

As I answered –T’s question late last night, I’m doing all right in beautiful downtown Clodine, TX. Only got about two inches of rain. No wind to speak of. I was out Monday when it was just starting to rain off and on, but I got in before it got bad. Wish I had gotten a dose of winterizer on the lawn beforehand, but it probably would have just washed down the storm drain anyway.

Looks like it’s over here now.

Wheels42 said...

I enjoyed today's puzzle. The theme may have been a bit simple but it was well executed. "You're out of order" is a perfect revealer, too.

TTP said...

My laptop crashed a couple of hours ago, and along with it went my comments.

I really enjoyed this puzzle, and hardly noticed the names. Didn't know REN, but the perps locked it in. I seriously thought Minnie Driver was in Star Wars and I didn't know that about her, until I read JzB's expo. I've never see any of the Star Wars flicks.

It took a few perps to guess SABRINA because I couldn't remember the name from so many years ago.

Holly Robinson PEETE I knew. She and husband Rodney (retired NFL QB) introduce themselves at the start of their TV commercial for Lipozene.

I don't fault the constructors for using names. I've learned a lot about people I wasn't familiar with by reading about them after doing puzzles.

I served with a couple of guys from Hawaii. The one we called "Pineapple" always called me BRAH for brother. He was a lifer who married a German girl on his first tour in Germany. He had a black belt in Taekwondo and taught it on the side. Started my white belt training with him.

NOAM we see all the time. YAO would be easy for any sports fan. Great clue for HUEY ! Never saw "The Wrestler" but knew it was MICKEY ROURKE (and Talia Shire).

Thank you, Joe Deeney, and thank you, JzB !

unclefred said...

Never have figured out the diff between “gray” and “grey”. Never heard of “brah”. Looked at that and was sure I had something wrong there. Last word for me: “wiped”. “Edged” didn’t work; “eked”? No, for sure. Then “skitows” filled in (finally!) and “wiped” occurred to me (finally!!). I hate to say it took me 33 minutes on a Wednesday puzzle. Oy. Nice theme to the CW though, and good reveal.

Unknown said...

About the past tense shone:
Back in the dark ages, I learned the past tense of shine was shone if intransitive and shined if transitive.
•He shone in the pub quiz.
•He shined a flashlight on it.
Is this still true? Maybe.

Wendybird said...

Some of you found this a bit crunchy. For me, it was HARD. My progress lately has been like a yo yo.
When there are a lot of names, you either know them or you don’t , and today I was in the “don’t” category for several. I agree with IM.

Still, there were learning moments, such as reading about 536. Not a good year to live through!

I am a huge Shel Silverstein fan and have several of his books. His off-beat, humorous, wise take on things is endlessly enjoyable.

Question: what do the brackets mean that several of you use? Are they enclosing grades you are giving the puzzle?

Thankyou for the challenge, Joe. Thankyou for the entertaining and educational tour, JzBump.

LEO III said...

unclefred --- MY understanding (take it for what it is worth) is that GRAY is America, and GREY is British. CanadianEh! will have to fill us in on her spelling.

TTP --- I was wondering if she is married to Rodney. Thanks!

Anonymous T said...

Leo3 - GRAY is a color whereas grey is a colour :-)

-T

Anonymous T said...

Wendybird - I missed your post. The little {} are for OKL. A few years back he asked us what we thought of his prose... Give 'em a grade and all that.

Sometimes (many?) he's too hard on himself.

Unclefred - I'm down w/ SHONE; There's lots of past-tense that's regular-ily fun. //can a cat miced?

-T

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

I agree that proper names are 2nd rate fill, and should be limited. But sometimes you get backed into a corner. Life ain't always easy.

I liked the theme.

Didn't know that Holly was married to Rodney. We all get to learn something.

Cool regards!
JzB

Wilbur Charles said...

Calvin PEETE pretty much broke the color line in professional golf.

Since ACTS wouldn't do I tried HOPS. KIA makes this off lime green which is the epitome of ubiquitous. At least in this retirement community.

Calvin was a very straight driver and would have fared well at Winged Foot. Then again, that was the persimmon era. Bryson DeChambeau played a game "with which [] not familiar"*
. WC

* Bobby Jones on watching Jack Nicklaus.

unclefred said...

Thanx AT. Always wondered, now I know. It’s those damnatious Brits again, getting even with us for stealing their colonies!

unclefred said...

Thanx LEO III. Learn something every day!

AnonymousPVX said...


Unclefred....it was explained here a couple weeks/months ago that the easiest way to remember the difference:

America...grAy

English...grEy.

And I haven’t forgotten since.

Lots of crunch today, many mark-overs, but I got the solve.

Jayce said...

I didn't like this puzzle as much as I usually do, but I was delighted by quite a number of nifty clues, including but not limited to (no, I'm not a lawyer) the clues for HUEY, PIE, PEA, and NYSE. I groaned at "One-eighty" and dutifully entered the "U" as I pondered how the second syllable would be spelled. A sigh of relief as I discovered it was U TURN spelled out. Hand up for putting in FROG before the perps forced the frog to be a TOAD; nice alliterative clue, though. EERIER sure is a rich source of "E"s. So is that really wide shoe size. Lots of "A"s in those little batteries in many other puzzles, too.

KIA actually makes pretty nice cars, including the Hyundai Santa Fe look-alike, the Sorento. I have never heard of the RIO before, though.

Good wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

This was a strange pzl, I thought, with YOU'RE as its theme. I guess it was the use of a contraction that made it less than helpful for solving.
I'm with Jayce that it was not as enjoyable as expected. And yes, my hand is up for FROG before TOAD. And I too have never heard of a RIO before. (Not a bad name for a car, though.)
But I shouldn't be so harsh. There were some clever clues, and this may be perfectly suited to someone else's experience.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Four diagonals, one in hand and three opposite.
The first diagonal offers a curious anagram, referring to the more Old-Maidenly member of a pair of male hunks--of the two the...
"PRISSIER STUD"!

TTP said...


The theme wasn't YOU'RE.

The theme and reveal was YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER.

JzB had a little bit of wordplay with the title.

Avg Joe said...

Unless I've missed it, there's been no reference to one of the greatest scenes in movie history which ties into this theme (Rated Mature): You're out of order!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Typical humpday degree of difficulty.

FIR: no inkovers...YOU'RE ether right ORE YOU'RE rawng.

Italy is divided into 20 regions (regioni) some are familiar names ...Tuscany cap. Florence (Toscana/Firenze), Lombardy cap. Milan (Lombardia/Milano) Piedmont = "foot of the mountain" cap. Turin (Piemonte/TORINO).. ...Each regione is subdivided into provinces. The provinces retain most of the political power.

Santa doesn't live at the north pole. St. Nicholas perpetually enjoys the sunny warm weather where he has "resided " for centuries in BARI, regione di Puglia,(POOL-yah) (Eng: Apulia)

If PIE is so easy why is DW always looking for the perfect crust recipe?
Thought "Rock's Ben Fold Five" was an updated version of the rock/paper/scissors game

Why would one address a close friend using the shortened version of an article of women's undergarment.

"She Sells Sea Shells" is a chain store in Florida. Tons of cheaper items but get ready to shell out for the good stuff...... Agree with D.Otto TOADily.. (frahg or frawg?)

Is a UTURN like a uey? uie? uee? no...HUEY!!...

YAO! these are even worse:

Belonging to the Beav's dad.....WARDS
More like a great lake.....EERIER.
Brazilian/Asian hybrid car...KIARIO (besides WC's wheels)
Think I ____ from ____ .....NOAM

Have a Grayt/greyt day!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

If a male friend is a BRAH is a female friend a JOCK?

(*** now he's just being ridiculous, call the CW police ***)

Wendybird said...

Sorry, I meant YR’s comment about many names was one with which I agreed.

I think Marisa Tomei was in The Wrestler, not Talia Shire. I liked the movie, but the scene of Mickey Rourke getting staples put in his back by an opponent (with his advance permission as a “stunt”) made me cringe.

Thanks for the explanation of the brackets, ANO. T.
Also, thanks for explaining when to use shine and shone, Unknown at 1:53. As a former literacy teacher, I should know, but......

JJM said...

54D most of you probably won't know who he is (ANON T will), but he's one of my favorites. This is my favorite Ben Folds song: Where's Summer B is one of his best efforts IMHO.

Wendybird said...

Another question: Is Joe Deeney the constructor with the super-sized hair?

ATLGranny said...

FIR early today, but had to wait to confirm it with JzB's entertaining review, which was much appreciated. Thanks, Joe, for the puzzle. I WONT complain about it.

My croaker was a frog, like in our fishpond, and it took a while to see KIA RIO separated and understand. But I did have the plural ANNI just fine. The theme and reveal were helpful, though the first spanner wasn't completed until I filled in STUBS and SO FAR. Before that I was trying to make cOURsE work with university offerings somehow.

We had a beautiful day for our weekly hike up Stone Mountain. Hope your day went well too.

TTP said...



Wendybird, thank you. It was Marisa Tomei. Not sure how I thought Talia Shire.

Husker Gary said...

-Wendy, the constructor with super-sized hair is Erik Agard who is now the editor for the USA Today Puzzle.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I spent one night in BARI many years ago. I arrived on the ferry from the former Yugoslavia, across the Adriatic.

It was only my second visit to Italy, and I still hadn't mastered the pre-Euro money.
Like many American tourists, I didn't want to be seen as a tightwad. I remember over-tipping a cab driver--apparently to such an extent that he followed me from the taxi while blessing me, my family, and my ancestors, I believe, for at least four generations.

Later, when I got to Rome, I took so much care NOT to overdo it that I insisted a waiter give me the change for my bill BEFORE I would dole out a tip.
Turns out I made him go to the neighborhood bank to get sufficient small coins to be able to make change.
It translated into something like 5 cents.
~ OMK

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Joe and JzB.
I’m late to the party after celebrating DH’s bday. I started this CW this morning and completed this afternoon.
FIRed and got the theme, (one of my pet peeves is seeing Your when YOU’RE is needed).
I thought there were perhaps a few too many names that I did not recognize.

WEES by this time. Did anyone enter TOAD immediately and not Frog?
I’ll take the CSO with OTTAWA, but oc4beach is correct that the clue could have referred to many other Canadian cities. I hope that you all spelled it properly this time.
And yes, unclefred et al, I wanted to enter the British/Canadian Grey, but knew that this American CW clue required GRAY. LOL, this colony didn’t get stolen.

HuskerG - hope your granddaughter’s wedding plans are not upended.

Wishing you all a great evening.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

Late to the party again

I went all around the grid looking for a foot hold; and while the YOURE anagram never hit me until I filled in the unifier, it was a damn good and clever puzzle. Kudos, Joe. JzB, loved the “50 shades“ (GRAY); as well as the “Erier”!

Thanks to those who commented on the GRAY/GREY, American/British difference. But if that’s so, why didn’t the American born Wild West novelist spell his name Zane GrAy??

Surprised that I didn’t have more write-overs, but I really used the perps well

As the reveal for the Jumble in today’s paper would say about all of the repeats, “Watts UP”?

Clever to have both SABRINA and WITCH HUNT. Wasn’t Sabrina one of the characters on Bewitched?

I knew a few guys in college during the Vietnam War era, who needed seven years to get their FOUR YEAR DEGREES

POEMS is definitely a CSO to Owen; at times others, but he always puts one together using the xword fill. My POEMS are just goofy; e.g., today’s: (in haiku format)

When handed a “fin”,
Rock Star does oragami.
You’d say, Ben Folds Five ...




The Curmudgeon said...

DNF - Anchored NW with SnooPON. However, I did get BARI and UTURN.

How many got the second vowel in OTTAWA right on the first try?

I believe BRAH is the Hawaiian form of bro, which I believe is street slang. Wiktionary gives a half dozen variant spellings.

>>Roy

Malodorous Manatee said...

Avg Joe, I was wondering when someone would make that reference.

I took the ferry from Bari to Brindisi in the 1970's.

Ben Folds Five Oragami!

Anonymous said...

The “Forever Young” song that has “in my heart you’ll always stay” is NOT a Bob Dylan song. (from yesterday’s puzzle) Rod Stewart recorded a completely different song with that title which has the line in the clue.