On Tuesday, WikWak said..."I have seldom known as giving and selfless a person. RIP, Bradley."
What follows was written prior to Abejo's passing. It is not meant to add anything to aid in coming to grips with the sadness. At best, a brief diversion.
Salutations, cruciverbalists. Another Thor's Day has dawned. Today, in lieu of the roar of thunder courtesy of the son of Odin, our constructor, MaryEllen Uthlaut, has provided the sonic effects.
THEME: Did You Hear Something Go Pop Pop Pop?
There are many, many ways that we use the word POP in our
language. Pop (contemporary) Culture, Pop (surprise) Quiz, Pop
(ask) The Question, Pop (go) Into The Store, Pop (open) The Cork, It
Just Popped (came) Into My Head, Five Bucks A Pop (each), I Just Heard
My Knee Pop (noise), etc. MaryEllen has chosen to integrate four
other ways that POPS is used into this entertaining puzzle.
17. Pops: BOSTON ORCHESTRA. The Boston POPs
Orchestra was founded in 1885. It's stated mission was, and remains,
to perform light classical music as well as the popular music of the
day. Arthur Fiedler led the Boston Pops for fifty years.
Arthur Fiedler
33. Pops: ICE CREAM BARS. ICE CREAM BARS, aka
an Ice Cream POPS, are frozen desserts on a stick often with coatings of
chocolate to prevent melting and dripping of the ice cream.
42. Pops: DAD'S NICKNAME. Let's see, there's POP,
Father, Pa, Pater, Papa, Daddy, Poppa, Pappy and, of course, "So's yer Old
Man!"
63. Pops: CARBONATED SODAS. The term POP is used to
mean soda in various parts of the country. According to one source,
historically the correct term is actually 'phosphate' which was defined by
soda jerks as being a flavored syrup mixed with carbonated water.
Sodas were what we call, today, 'floats'. POP is actually a shortening
of 'phosphate' (as they say in some crossword puzzles: letters one, three
and five).
Across:
1. Old storyteller: BARD. William Shakespeare is often referred to as the BARD of Avon.
5. __ value: FACE. To take something at "FACE
Value" means to accept something as presented without delving more
deeply into an analysis of the matter or item.
9. Worthless stuff: DROSS. DROSS is something
that is base, trivial or worthless. The scum that forms on the
surface of molten metal is also called DROSS.
15. Muslim community leader: IMAM. An IMAM leads
Muslim worshipers in prayer.
16. Time of one's life: YOUTH. A bit of
misdirection here. To Have The Time Of One's Life, when used
idiomatically, means to have a wonderfully enjoyable
experience. Here we need to answer with a time, or phase, of one's
life.
20. Female bighorn: EWE. From 1974 until 2016, the Los Angeles/St.
Louis Rams football team cheerleading squad was known as The Embraceable
EWEs. For some reason or another, that bit of
misjudgment makes me think of Tom Lehrer's comment about Dr. Samuel
Gall, inventor of the Gallbladder. Of the late Dr. Gall Mr. Lehrer
once said, "His educational career began, interestingly enough, in
agricultural school where he majored in Animal Husbandry....until they
caught him at it one day."
21. Ensign __ Crusher, Wil Wheaton's "Star Trek: TNG"
role: WESLEY. Picard, please correct me if I am
wrong, but I believe that Wil Wheaton began playing the role of WESLEY
Crusher in 1987 when Wheaton was just fourteen or fifteen years old.
22. Tasteless gruel: SLOP.
Feeding Slop to the Pigs
23. Trio from Don Giovanni?: ENS. Here we go
again. It is one of those clues meant to be taken extremely
literally. There are three ENS in Don Giovanni.
24. Flow slowly: SEEP. Below are
two High Resolution Photographs showing possible water SEEPage on
Mars. Some slopes on Mars darken during the Martian summer but
return to a lighter color by the following spring.
26. Manage, with "out": EKE. A Top Twenty entry
in the Crosswordese dictionary.
27. Parachute attachment: HARNESS. It is a very
good idea to keep one's parachute HARNESSED to oneself.
31. Like "it," grammatically: NEUTER. As an
adjective, it means that a word is neither feminine nor
masculine. As a transitive verb, NEUTER is substantially more
disturbing. No living creature would like it.
36. Note from the office: MEMO. Can secretaries
really write MEMO's with both their left and right hands at the same
time? Or is that stereotyping?
37. Buddy: PAL.
38. Mild Dutch cheese: EDAM.
Why is EDAM such a unique cheese?
Because it's made backwards.
47. Hardened: STEELY.
47. Hardened: STEELY.
Steely Dan
51. Poetic contraction: 'TIS. It is a contraction for it is.
52. Christmas pudding fruit: PLUM.
Did you hear the PLUM joke?
It was pitiful.
55. Take in the groceries?: EAT.
56. Seal-hunting swimmer: ORCA. ORCAs can often
be found in crossword puzzles. Sometimes, the clues are similar to
those used for OREOs, with black and white as the key words.
Today, this marine mammal is honoring that marine mammal with
black and white images (also apropos of Oreos and crossword puzzles).
58. Protective charm: AMULET.
60. 46-Down work: ODE. An ODE is a lyric poem in
the form of an address to a particular subject. Another Top-Twenty
entry on the list of Crosswordese vocabulary.
66. Mound: KNOLL. A KNOLL is a small
hill. JFK was not shot from the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, TX but
some conspiracy theorists believe differently.
The Grassy Knoll - Dealey Plaza
67. Great start?: MEGA. The constructor threw in the question mark to let us know that she was being a bit sneaky with this clue. MEGA can be used as both an adjective and as an adverb.
68. Ceremonial grandeur: POMP. Under some
circumstances, POMP means a splendid display.
69. Changed course, nautically: YAWED. YAWED is
the past tense of YAW which means to twist about a vertical axis.
Occasionally, in an airplane or on a boat, I am
emphatically reminded of the difference between Pitch, Roll and Yaw.
70. Worshipped image: IDOL. Originally, an IDOL
was the physical representation of a god. Some of the Israelites
created a false idol, the Golden Calf, to worship in a moment of doubt
when Moses ascended Mt. Sinai. In today's POP Culture, IDOL means
a greatly admired or loved person. Plus ca change plus c'est le
meme chose.
71. Long shot, in hoops lingo: TREY. Slang for a
three-point shot. The distance varies a bit (pro, college, men,
women) but it is generally more than twenty feet. TREY used this
way likely has its origins in card player lingo for the card one higher
than the deuce and that is, of course, the three.
Down:
1. Sheep herder in a 1995 Best Picture nominee: BABE. "That'll do, pig, that'll do."
2. Swear: AVOW. I usually cannot remember the
difference between AVOW and AVER, especially as clued in puzzles.
However, the first two letters are the same, the balance is going to be
either an O and a W or an E and an R, and the perps take care of that.
3. Come to the surface: RISE. Or, to go above the surface.
4. EPA-banned
insecticide: DDT. Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane
was developed in the 1940's and was used to combat insect-borne human
diseases. Its use was banned in 1972.
5. Skillful handling: FINESSE.
6. 8th-century B.C. Hebrew prophet: AMOS.
Amos was one of the so called twelve minor prophets. So,
just how famous was AMOS ?
Wally "Famous" Amos
7. Western burger franchise __ Jr.: CARL'S.
CARL'S Jr is a fast food restaurant chain founded by Carl
Karcher. Several of their burgers have the word Western in their
titles regardless of on which continent the particular restaurant is
located. For example, the Junior Western Burger or, if you are
hungrier, The Triple Spicy Western Bacon Cheese Burger.
8. Bob Hope, often, for the Oscars
ceremony: EMCEE. EMCEE is the spelled-out
version of M.C. or Master of Ceremonies.
9. Turn red, say: DYE. A seemingly half-hearted attempt at misdirection. Clearly, neither Embarrass nor Ripen was going to fit in the allotted squares.
10. Supreme singer?: ROSS. Diana Ross was the
lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes. The group had a
record-setting twelve number one hit singles.
Diana Ross
11. Current source: OUTLET. First, we needed to disabuse ourselves of the notion that the
reference was, for example, to a current source of income. As
for the required answer, I tend to think of the source of an electric
current as being at the point at which it is generated. See 39
Down, below.
12. One of four on a par-4: STROKE. In golf, a STROKE is any swing forward of a golf club by a
golfer who is trying to strike the golf ball. Just because the
hole is rated a "par-4" does not mean that a single STROKE will turn out to be one of
four. It could be one of fewer, or one of many more,
STROKEs.
Ben Hogan's Famous One-iron Shot
13. Metal-cutting machine: SHAPER.
18. Proprietor: OWNER. Apu is the PROPRIETOR of
the Springfield KWIK-E MART.
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
19. Nocturnal scavenger: HYENA. In
addition to being scavengers, HYENAs are skilled hunters.
Sometimes called "Lauging Hyenas", they make loud barking noises that
sound like cackling laughter.
A Laughing Hyena
23. Represent in cipher: ENCODE.
25. Part of rpm: PER. Revolutions PER Minute.
27. "That's the guy!": HIM.
28. First-rate player: ACE. The best baseball pitcher on any given team is called that team's ACE. In the 1960's, Sandy Koufax was the ACE of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff.
Sandy Koufax
29. Sleep cycle: REM. Rapid Eye Movement.
REM sleep typically accounts for 20 - 25 percent of an adult's sleep
cycle. Most dreams occur during REM sleep.
Ted
30. Drains of power: SAPS.
32. Early online forum: USENET. There are
several folks here who can explain USENET far better than I can.
Basically, USENET, established in 1980, is a bulletin board system and
was the precursor to internet forums.
34. Fellow: MAN.
The Ascent of Man
35. Spot on a screen: BLIP. Radar is used to
determine the location of an object by measuring the time it takes for a
radio wave to reach and return from the object. The determined
points are shown on a screen and are called BLIPs.
39. Hydroelectric power source: DAM.
Hoover (nee Boulder) Dam
41. Came upon: MET. We have MET Mr. Met numerous times in crossword puzzles.
Mr.Met
43. Mountain in the Tour de France route: ALP.
44. Subject of the biopic "I'm Not
There": DYLAN. Robert Allen Zimmerman was born
in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941. In 1962, he legally changed his name
to Bob DYLAN. His net worth is estimated at $200 Million and, in
2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. His mother
would be so proud.
Bob Dylan
45. Guided by a statement of faith: CREEDAL. I
looked it up and, surprisingly, it actually is a word. CREEDAL, as
the clue implies, is an adjective used when referring to a statement of
a religious belief or "creed".
46. "The Poetry of earth is never dead" poet: KEATS.
47. Short and solid: STOCKY.
48. Albania's capital: TIRANA. TRIANA is the largest
Albanian city both in terms of population and area. Often, constructors mess with
us and the "capital" they refer to is the local currency. In this
case that would be the LEK which appears frequently in puzzles.
49. Mortgage provision: ESCROW. Under the terms
of some mortgages, money for property taxes and insurance is paid
monthly into an ESCROW account by the borrower where the funds are held
in order to pay the bills when they become due.
53. Taste sensation: UMAMI. There are five
recognized basic tastes. In addition to UMAMI they are salty,
bitter, sweet and sour. Of these, UMAMI is, perhaps, the most
difficult to define. Words often used to try to do so are meaty,
broth-like and savory.
54. Subtle, as a shade: MUTED. MUTED can also refer to sound, as on the computer, tablet or cell phone that you are now using.
57. Willing partner: ABLE. Another bit of misdirection. In this case the reference is to "Ready, Willing and ABLE."
59. Toy company with theme parks: LEGO.
60. Reminder to take out the trash?: ODOR. I
first tried to make MOTHER, and then EX-WIFE, work.
61. British title: DAME.
Dame Edna
62. Best Game, e.g.: ESPY. In this case,
ESPY is the name of a sports award given by ABC Television and
named for the sports channel ESPN. Both ESPN and ABC are owned by
The Walt Disney Company. As with so many current-day acronyms,
first they decide on what they want the acronym to be and then they
"force feed" the words for which the acronym stands. In this case
that's Excellence In Sports Performance Yearly Award or ESPY.
64. Passé: OLD. I'll let this one pass.
65. Get off the fence: OPT. To OPT means to make a choice. We could OPT not to solve crossword puzzles but that would be sub-optimal.
That wraps up the puzzle today. As I gain more experience with
"blogging" on the Corner, my admiration for all of those who create these
puzzle "explorations" grows. It is a challenge, I have discovered,
to strike a balance between expository writing, entertainment, and humor. I lean
toward the humorous but I know that the primary purpose here is to try to
explain the clues and answers. On another note, after "shooting" in
black and white this week, next time I'll put the color film back in the
camera.
MM Out
______________________________
______________________________
What a glorious write-up. You were born to blog MM.
ReplyDeleteA fun puzzle. White rabbit, white rabbit.
Happy October all; thank you Mary Ellen and Joseph
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteGot through this one in short order. TIRANA immediately came to mind -- thank you Jeopardy!. Tried MAc before MAN became obvious. Shuddered at CREEDAL -- creepy. Thanx, MaryEllen and MalMan. (Stereotyping, indeed!)
POPS: I had several of their RCA "Red Seal" LPs. Leroy Anderson wrote many of his famous compositions -- Sleigh Ride, The Typewriter Song, etc for their concerts.
DADS: Remember the old radio commercials chanting, "Dad's old fashioned root beer!"?
D-Otto I wanted MAC to cross PAL but waited for the cross. I sussed the theme as soon as BOST was in place for 17A. As the 'stinky marine mammal' put in the write up I was thinking ASK THE QUESTION for one of the fills.
ReplyDeleteAMOS & ESPY were WAGS. I didn't know the Poetry clue but after EATS was in place it was either YEATS or KEATS and NICKNAME took care of it. No other problems.
Ensign WESLEY was perps. I saw a Star Trek episode in the 60's; never seen one since.
Good Morning, MM and Friends. I liked how PAL crossed with MAN and DAM crossed with EDAM.
ReplyDeleteFunny story about BABE. When the movie came out, my hubby and I went to see it. Three or 4 young men were in line behind us. They obviously didn't know what the movie was about. As they stood in line looking at the marquee, they saw BABE listed, and discussed what the movie (they thought) was about and decided to get tickets to see that film. I bet they were disappointed. We thought the movie was just delightful.
QOD: It is now proved beyond a reasonable doubt that smoking is one of the leading cause of statistics. ~ Fletcher Knebel (Oct. 1, 1911 ~ Feb. 26, 1993), American novelist
Took almost 9 minutes. Creedal and steely & Tirana took a long time to come out of the darkness.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the reviews here that explain the clues, especially the unfamiliar proper nouns.
Nicely done today.
Wil Wheaton was a regular on TBBT, Sheldon's foil and later pal
ReplyDeleteFINESSE was a key Pool answer last Saturday.
AMOS was a pal of Andy, speaking of "bit of misjudgement".
Isn't CARL'S called Hardee's out East?
DYLAN became part of the "Traveling Wilburys". No relation.
Managed the FIR but Thurs slow. So, Hahtoolah, those guys thought it was about baseball . John Goodman had the face(and girth) but apparently never played the game.
WC
Ps, STEELY was last clued as a marble. That word pronounced by a Bostonian always gets a laugh
You don't have to be short to be STOCKY. If you did, the expression "short and stocky" would be redundant.
ReplyDeleteAnd ICE CREAM BARS are not pops.
MM, great write-up
ReplyDeleteBabe appeared automatically. I didn't think of the pig.
I never came across Carl's Jr. Burgers.
IRE before DYE for turn red.
CREEDAL is well known in Christian church scholarship.
The parachute harness looks uncomfortable.
I enjoy the Boston Pops.
No one around here calls soda, pop. My midwest sister does.
Frank McCourt's two memoirs, Angela's Ashes and 'Tis were very interesting. Some found them too dark, but I thought them absorbing.
Actually, the more humor in the write- up the better. We Bostonians used to refer to POP as Tonic. Although a Coca Cola (or Pepsi) would be called Coke.
ReplyDeleteWC
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSaw the theme with the POPS early as BOSTON was starting to fill in. Got everything without error; but did have to wite-out 'pear' and enter PLUM. MUTED drove it. Guessed WESLEY and BABE. Not so many names today so that was a plus. TIRANA anchored the SW for me.
YAW - A vessel's rotational motion about the vertical axis, causing the fore and aft ends to swing from side to side repetitively.
Mary Ellen serves up some toughies. She had a WSJ puzzle last week, I think.
WC, just how does a Bostonian pronounce "STEELY?"
ReplyDeleteMore on YAW - Even a larger ship is subject to hogging and sagging in large waves. When hogging occurs, the wave is under the amidships and the fore and aft ends oscillate up and down. The rudder can come out of the water and the propellers be milling. This permits YAWING. You don't want to get dropped sideways parallel to the waves causing extreme roll.
ReplyDeleteBOSTON POPS - I've seen them at least 3 times over the years, each time led by Arthur Fiedler. Once each at RPI, Newport Naval Base, and at the Esplanade along the Charles River in Boston.
Belated birthday wishes to Pam and Spouse. Hope your day was special.
Musings
ReplyDelete-A fun puzzle summed up nicely by MM.
-FACE VALUE – When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time
-Astronaut to engineer: And you, sir, are a STEELY-eyed missle man (1:41)
-A vehicle can change heading, YAW, to counteract air or water currents without changing course
-The TREY has forever changed basketball and not for the better in my view
-Five days from now will mark the 55th anniversary of the day Koufax declined to pitch on Yom Kippur
-I remember using Fetch as a first primitive web search
-Radar showed many blips approaching Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. For the rest of his life, Lt. Kermit Tyler rued the fact that he told the operators, “Don’t worry about it”
-CREEDAL? I was afraid it was going to be CREEDED
-OLD – There are many things for which I am ready, willing but not so ABLE
Can someone tell me how to get to Abejo's profile? I usually access profiles by clicking on the poster's name, but alas, not today ... ☹️
ReplyDeleteAnother great write-up MM. Seemed more like a Friday level to me. I thought cereal was a bit iffy and the same for steely. Never got into Star Trek, but Wesley (my brother's name whose nickname was Bud) filled by perps. Boston was the last to fall because of a Babe brain freeze. Still, an enjoyable FIR. As a lifelong sportsaholic I have no interest whatsoever in any of the playoffs this year. Interjecting politics turns me off big time. I simply want to be entertained, not lectured. Same goes for the Oscars with Meryl Streep, Joachim Phoenix and the like using the show as their own personal platform to espouse their convictions. So there! I feel relieved now.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteNicely done, MaryEllen Uthlaut, thank you! And thank you, MalMan for your excellent review!
CARL'S, Jr. is located about a mile from my home though I've been there only twice. I prefer Denny's hamburgers.
DAME Maggie Smith and DAME Judi Dench come to my mind. Both are excellent actresses.
I love Diana ROSS and have one of her CDs. I recall one year when she was on tour, she had all her five children on stage with her. Her daughter, Tracee, can now be seen on "Blackish."
For some reason UMAMI does not stick with me and I have to await perps. I misspelled it as UMAGI and had GEGA instead of MEGA.
Not many KNOLLs are found in the desert; they are more likely to be buttes.
I love seeing KEATS in the puzzle. What lovely poems he penned.
Have a marvelous day, everyone!
Oops. Creedal, not cereal. Darn spellcheck.
ReplyDeleteThe B&W Malodorous commentary was a treat today! Mary Ellen's puzzle was fun, too. Does anyone here call ICE CREAM BARS "pops"? We certainly had flavored ice on sticks which we called "popsicles." I don't doubt that it's a regional variation.
ReplyDeleteDelightful Thursday puzzle, with a bit of crunch--many thanks, Mary Ellen. And a terrific commentary, MM, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteLoved the poetic references--BARD, KEATS, ODE--and a bit of music with Dylan and the BOSTON ORCHESTRA. And enjoyed the funny POPS theme.
Have a good October coming up, everybody.
White Rabbit, White Rabbit.
ReplyDeleteBallot Day is a-coming
and the Pols are getting fat,
please put a vote in the old mens' hack...
Thank you Ms. Uthlaut for a very charming and interesting puzzle, and MalMan for your humorous and inventive review. I wonder if Uthlaut is a natural progression of the diacritic Umlaut..
A-la Ray-O, ...In a typical household, what do the kids reply, when asked the question,'Who's the boss in this house ?' .... Umami
Actually, taste is a very complicated subject, and itself, subjective to the max. How do you describe a taste for rotten eggs ? .... a highly desirable, though quaint choice of flavored (common) salt in north indian and Pakistani cooking. It is so popular that it is now manufactured commercially. Called Kala Namak, which means Black Salt
Also how do you describe the feeling of temporary numbness, induced by the first sip of an ice cold POP, on your tongue ? A spice that does just that Sichuan Pepper and similar, but of a different genus, plants in S.E. Asia.
Finally, Phosphates were called that because of the addition of phosphoric acid, or its mineral salts to the Sodas. Phosphoric acid is used more than Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) or Citric acid (lemon) or Maleic acid (Apples). This is because Phosphoric acid adds fizziness, a strong "mouth feel", a better bactericide and a stronger preservative.
Re. "WC, just how does a Bostonian pronounce "STEELY?". Maahh-bell which coincidentally is the old nickname for NE Tel before breakup. It's a long story, which Splynter would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteYR, McCourt's brother wrote a book too. Malachi. I remember him as the frontman for the eponymius club on NYC East side with his long flowing hair and beard. He'd greet outside.
Dean Smith, followed by Mike Krzyzewski ruined it for me by perfecting the flop. Negating the beauty of the drive to the basket. Later NBA and finally NCAA put in a no-flop circle in the lane. 3-pt discussion would become political. Not to speak of Pearl Harbor who knew what and when.
Re. "Cereal". Patience, it's coming.
WC
Hi Everyone:
ReplyDeleteLate to the dance but here I am. I like definition puzzles because I’m always eager to see how one word can have so many different meanings, as our blogger riffed on in his intro. My only unknown was Wesley as I never ventured into Star Trek’s Galaxy. i went astray at Act/Opt, Dalai/Dylan, and Duke/Dame. The daily duos included Net/Met, Ewe/Eke, Alp/Amp, and Dam/Dame. I liked Pal crossing Man, Dross crossing Ross, and Edam above Dam. Nose wrinkle at Creedal but as I and HG feared, at least it wasn’t Creeded.
Thanks, Mary Ellen, for a fun theme and solve and thanks, MalMan, for another dazzling review. I like your style as well as your substance.
FLN
YR, I admire your decisiveness and pragmatism in adapting to the vagaries of aging and lifestyle. Best of luck in selling your house.
Have a great day.
Wilbur Charles, you are correct. In some parts of the country, Carls Jr. is called Hardees. As here in Montana. And I prefer them over McDs, Burger King or Wendy's. But not as good as Five Guys.
ReplyDeleteESPN originally stood for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. I guess they finally decided that sports was more popular with viewers than music, comedy, and other forms of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteFIR today to continue the streak. Saw the pops with no problem. Thanks for explaining the great variety of meanings, MalMan in your rich review. Like Irish Miss I started putting DalAi, 2/5 right as Splynter used to say, before perps straightened me out. A similar problem was putting tRaSh early on and trying to fit tan where DYE belonged. Growing up we took out the garbage but now the trash. But my sloppiest mistake was reading the 60 across clue and writing poem down instead of ODE across. I did catch it a second later but must pay attention! Ultimately a successful and fun solve, so thank you, MaryEllen.
ReplyDeleteWhite rabbit, white rabbit! October already! We are having a pretty day. Now to get out and enjoy it. Good day to you all.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteI just finished a NYT Sunday Puzzle ( published on Sept 13 I think) that Mary Ellen constructed, and I was quite impressed. Today’s work was equally creative yet different. I think that adds to my enjoyment as a solver of puzzles; constructor’s who aren’t “themed” by their work
And speaking of creative and different, I think that applies to all of C.C.’s bloggers. Double M, another great mix of facts and humor. I noticed the black and white tones early on, and I swear, I was going to email TTP to see if my iPhone Safari software was acting up again!
Regarding the image of Ben Hogan hitting the 1 iron for his iconic second shot on the 18th hole @ Merion ... nowadays, that would be a mere 6 or 7 iron for the current PGA pros; maybe less. A 213 yard shot from a slightly downhill lie ... all of the golfers here would attest to its difficulty, regardless it weren’t the final hole of a Major golf championship (US Open)
I hope and swear that one of these days I’ll know the difference among IMAM/AMAH/EMIR. I tried all three in 15 across
Pretty clean puzzle, otherwise. DROSS / DYE almost became a Natick until YOUTH saved the day
43 down was confusing, as I thought the reference to the Tour de France would’ve meant the answer should’ve been ALPE
Moe-ku du jour:
What did the mushroom
Say to his parent, when she
Hugged him? UMAMI
For all the golfers here, and with apologies to Lee Trevino: If you are caught out in the open on a golf course when a lightning storm materializes, stand straight, look skyward, and hold up a One Iron. Even G-d can't hit a One Iron.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone, for the kind comments.
I liked this puzzle and made no goof-ups for a change. Like Irish Miss, I like definition puzzles because I like to see how one word can have so many different meanings. A few years ago I tried making a puzzle in collaboration with C.C. in which the definition word was TRUNK. It was a failure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know CREEDAL is a word, but it made my nose wrinkle anyway. Another nose wrinkler was SHAPER.
As NaomiZ said, Does anyone here call ICE CREAM BARS "pops"? We certainly had flavored ice on sticks which we called "popsicles."
Every time I read or hear the word KNOLL and can't help but reflexively add the adjective "grassy."
I consider a number of teachers I have had to be POMPous asses. Funny, I reflexively think of that adjective when I read the name of Mike POMPeo. (Not a political statement, just an observation about word association.)
Speaking of IDOLs as worshipped images, a good friend of ours, having just returned from a wedding service, incredulously asked me, "Christians do believe in the ten commandments don't they?" (Not a religious statement, just a description of what he said apropos worshipped images, which is a clue in this puzzle.)
LW and I ate at a Carl's Jr. a few years ago. We never have since then. Not our cuppa, as they say.
MM, I totally love your write-ups. I tend toward the camp that prefers reviews that explain the answers. Sure, humor and entertainment are also good, but not at the expense of not explaining the clue/answer.
Good wishes to you all.
Fairly easy for a Thursday
ReplyDeleteHad to change ESPn, didn't understand ESPY. Also too quick to pull the ripcord/HARNESS also stolid/STOCKY.
Reminder to take out the trash...DW: "Stop doing the puzzle and take out the trash!!".....
Tastless gruel: thought of "pap" (another word for Pop) but too short. Our porcine friend BABE might claim..."SLOP, it's an acquired taste" ....Are all groceries edible? (Tide laundry pod anyone?)
CARBONATED SODA is an oxymoron. Somewhere along the Thruway between Rochester and Buffalo soda becomes pop. Glad Malman looked up CREEDAL...Nevah hoid of it.
Vidwan....Umami and pop's grocery store? ....
Or worse..
Not alowed in _____ BARD
Small donkey .....AMULET.
Sketches .......DROSS
"We're starving _____ at the nearest restaurant"...AMOS.
I'm with NaomiZ. Don't think ICE CREAM BARS are ever referred to as pops in this fly over portion of the country.
ReplyDeleteCarls Jr. + Hardees nee Sandys which had the best tasting orange flavored POP ever.
MO
A fine pzl today from Ms. Uthlaut!
ReplyDeleteWell explained and illustrated by MM!
I like the rather sweet pic of the Laughing HYENA.
I feel sympathy for the poor beast. The HYENA gets the worst press of any wild creature. He's just another of earth's struggling fauna, but we generally look down on him.
Look at the fable of The Lion King. What an anti-democratic story it is, treating natural hereditary royalty as the true political system, and scapegoating HYENAs as the species to be despised.
I mean...
~ OMK
___________
DR: Just one diagonal today, on the off side.
Its anagram refers to the allowance granted to an insolent child, the leeway granted to a spoiled kid, aka the...
"BRATTY PASS"!
(Another anagram from the same source points to what kind of "pass' this may become when the child monster grows to adulthood.
Haven't we seen a prominent example of this on the political scene?
Without naming names, I offer you the...
"TYRANT'S PASS"!)
By golly I remember going to the "malt shop" and ordering a "cherry phosphate."
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say, speaking of reflexively thinking something when reading or hearing a word, that I immediately thought of Anonymous T upon encountering the term POPS.
And, speaking of Dads and Dad's Root Beer, I recently learned of a delicious beverage called "Not Your Father's Root Beer." It tastes like a fine root beer but it is actually a spiced beer, an alcoholic beverage. (I suspect, due to trademark considerations, they couldn't call it "Not Your Dad's Root Beer.")
Vidwan, I very much enjoy reading your comments and I learn interesting things from you.
Ol'Man Keith, it seems most Disneyfied stories center around princesses and other royalty. And yes, the villains are highly stereotypical. (Hmmm, another "-AL" word, like creedal, anecdotal, and societal.)
Ta ta.
Friday offering? Anon at 4:11?
ReplyDeleteVidwan has had many entertaining Persona similar to our old friend Doha Doc.
No big deal today.
ReplyDeleteCarl’s Jr. was the target of protests in LA 1989.
Stuck in Naples Fla without my PC
ReplyDeleteSo posting cakes is going to be difficult.
Some one said they were looking for Abejo's profile,
Which made we wonder, so I tried to link it for you.
But unfortunately it is mostly blank.
I thought if I copied his post from his birthday in 2014,
It would include a blue Abejo link, but it does not.
Here it is anyway:
Blogger Abejo said...
Good evening, folks. Thank you, Barry Silk, for one tough puzzle (as usual). Thank you, Splynter, for a fine review.
Well, I had an all day meeting today. Worked on the puzzle off and on. Got about 90 percent of it and decided to go for help. The NW corner did me in. Wanted to check in before midnight.
Really liked this puzzle. It was certainly challenging, but when I got the words they made sense.
Had BED FEATHERS for 54A. Finally BOA FEATHERS worked better.
Liked RCMP. That one took me a while. I was thinking of police in this country for quite a while.
AKRON OHIO appeared slowly. Got OHIO first, then AKRON after a couple perps made it obvious.
Tried PEUGEOT for 39D. Thought I was pretty clever to think of that. Not one of those letters worked. Eventually CITROEN became the answer. Lots of thinking to get there.
I have been over the EADS bridge at St. Louis. Remembered it.
BART STARR was easy. We had that recently.
Anyhow, I am done for the night. I mentioned that I had to look up a few. Given more time I may have beat this one.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Also, to Irish Miss, nice to see we share a birthday. Enjoy your input, always. I will try to remember next year.
Thank you, C.C., for all you do. The photo was nice.
C.E.D.: I opened your link on the search. Unbelievable amount of pictures. Probably all tied to the crossword blog. One of those, the Shahyad Monument brings back many memories. Saw it in person many times near Mehrabad Airport.
This was a happy day for my birthday. My wife, daughter, her boyfriend, and I went to Outback for a nice dinner. It was great. Love the Bloomin' Onion.
On a sad note, I had two good friends pass away today. Knew them both for decades, in my fraternity.
See you all tomorrow.
Abejo
(1393 4249894)
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteGnarly SW but otherwise a fun Thursday puzzle. Thanks MaryEllen.
MManatee - I hope you're having fun with this 'cuz I don't want you to burn out. Excellent (B&W) Expo.
WOs: tRaSh b/f DROSS(?) [Hi ATLGranny!], I always mess up ABel.
ESPs: DROSS, TIRANA, CREEDAL(?)
Fav: USENET. Haven't thought about (or used) it in years until it turns up in a puzzle.
//fav forum: alt.music.rush back in the early '90s
WESLEY, Dr. Crusher's son was hated by TNG fans. So much so that this is a meme: Shut up WESLEY.
DR: That's what good up-bringing is for OMK :-)
The closest I can think to ICE CREAM BAR == POP is a Dreamsicle.
FLN - YR: I hope moving is not too painful on you. I still miss the first house DW & I owned.
I'll second Jayce on Vidwan's contribution to The Corner. Always interesting.
I don't know if you can get it out there Jayce, but St. Arnold's brewery makes a mighty-fine (not spiked) root beer.
Back at it. Cheers, -T
I am trying to see if I can hotlink videos with my ipad:
ReplyDeletehere goes nothing...
CED - There's an extra " at the end of your link. -T
ReplyDeleteHa!
ReplyDeleteCED - and I forgot my link :-)
WESLEY, Dr. Crusher's son, was hated by TNG fans. So much so that this is a meme: Shut up WESLEY.
-T
I often felt like telling Wesley to shut up. Not to mention the character of Wil Wheaton (played, of course, by Wil Wheaton) on The Big Bang Theory. Shut up, Wil!
ReplyDeleteD-O @9:21 am: I don’t know how they pronounce STEELY in Boston, but I have always pronounced it STEELIE.
ReplyDeleteVery nice puzzle, with just the right amount of crunch for a Thursday. Great writeup, MM!
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said, but I did know TIRANA right away. Shortly after the collapse of the USSR I was privileged to be able to speak on the radio with one of Albania’s first legal radio amateurs after their years of being illegal there. Pretty exciting for me.
Stay well.
ReplyDeleteNo Goof this morning. Thank you, MaryEllen, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee.
That was a fun definition puzzle, and the review was superb. Loved the gif of the popcorn kernel, and much more.
This morning the WGN Morning News team was making a little fun of a Radio Shack catalog ad from 1976 for a stereo system for young people because it featured Arthur Fiedler as their "Staff Musicologist".
He is quoted in the ad ad saying, "Making good music listening affordable to young people is one of the things Radio Shack does well. Perhaps better than anything else." The 1976 Radios Shack catalog cover.
ICE CREAM BARS seemed a bit odd to me, so I Googled. Found a bunch of recipes, so I assumed it was a regionalism.
What has often been said: It all depends on one's experiences. CREEDAL is very familiar to me. What gives me problems are movies and the stage, including actors.
ReplyDeletePopsicle(r) is a registered trademark.
>>Roy
Hello, all! Haven’t been here for about a week, I think. I’ve been awfully busy. I STILL haven’t gotten back to finish the Friday, Saturday and Sunday puzzles. I think I had two FIRs and a DNF yet! earlier this week. How can someone who is old and retired have too much to do to finish the daily crossword puzzles???
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I did get a FIR today, although as many of you have already mentioned, it wasn’t easy. SW was last to fall. I finally stared at it long enough to see that the SODAS were CARBONATED, not whatever I had in there earlier. Didn’t know DROSS, cringed after I finally figured out CREEDAL, and couldn’t remember TIRANA at all. I also fell into the O'ER/'TIS trap, which didn’t help at all. Alas, the perps eventually solved all of my problems.
Oh, well.... Gotta run and get some sleep. Gotta work AGAIN tomorrow.
Later....
Following curmudgeon's link I saw that ICE CREAM BARS are distinctly NOT to be confused with Popsicles.
ReplyDeleteAgain, it wasn't STEELY but rather marble whose pronunciation is quaint when spoken by a Bostonian.
Then as Google just reminder me there's "The Bostonians" a novel by James*. Something about generations of family hostility wrapped up in the words "Please pass the sugar".
WC
*Was it Henry or William?
TTP - for me, Radio Shack became the last minute parts (resistors, potentiometers,etc.) store. I did love going in there and looking at stuff. Also when there were knowledgeable guys behind the counter that could recommend a cheap soldering gun.
ReplyDeleteI got a Technics receiver/amplifier for Christmas. Pop, who was happy he could get it for me said, "Well, let's hear it."
"Dad, I still need to buy speakers."
//Which were also Technics'. I saved my paper-route money in anticipation. Later added a dual tape-deck and turntable.
Leo3 - Right?!? I've been working from home since March and initially thought, "No commute, more time!" Worked at first and I cooked & gardened.
But now, I feel busier than ever and get less Sleep!
//retirement is going to kill me :-)
And, since MManatee mentioned it... a little STEELY Dan.
Cheers, -T
Last thing...
ReplyDeleteI was on a software-demo call today. The demonstrator had all the useracount names of musicians. Buddy called her out "Please, do not use Kenny G again." :-)
I called out the other performer's names the demo user employed. //She likes boring music!
My buddy was like, "Oh, no - You got -T started on music.
He'll start singing in a second.
I'll say yes to [product] if you shut him up the [redacted] quick."
I said to -D, "That's yacht-rock. You can't sing to that." :-)
Cheers, -T
Abejo, we will miss you!
ReplyDeletewaseeley - Nearly forgot. Abejo's profile.
ReplyDelete//told you I couldn't sleep :-)
-T
ReplyDeleteDash T, same here. Radio Shack in a pinch and for some specialty items they sold, like the Sound Level Meter that I bought for adjusting the Soundscraftsmen equalizer. Still have that in a drawer, and probably have some odds and ends parts in the tackle box.
I had a hobby of fixing old TVs for a few years and there was this musty dusty old radio and TV repair supply store that carried just about any discrete part I needed from amplifiers to Zeners. The old guys that worked the store knew where everything was and were all well experienced. Plus they had a huge rack of Sams Photofact technical service manuals and schematics. Most of the time though it seemed that they had to order in the one I needed.
Radio Shack ticked me off one time in Houston when I popped into the store to buy some part, found it and went to check out. The guy wanted my name, address and phone number. I just wanted to buy the part. He said he couldn't sell me anything without that info. After a bit of back and forth, I walked out and never went to Radio Shack again.
Speaking of soldering irons, I misplaced the chisel tip for my soldering iron. The direct replacement tip is about $40, or I can just buy a new cheapo soldering iron for half that. I'll probably do that because I just don't use it very much any more.