Tuesday, November 24, 2020 / Evelyn Rubin and Ross Trudeau
Bell Bottom Blues. In today's puzzle, the theme clues are all in the Down position.
The last or "Bottom" word in each theme answer is a type of Bell.
Note, too, that the theme answers are closely related to their
corresponding Bell.
3-Down. "Tuesday" special with fowl filling: CHICKEN TACO. Can you get a Chicken Taco at TACO BELL?
5-Down. Underwater snorkeling done behind metal bars: SHARK CAGE DIVING. Aristotle recorded accounts of Diving Bells way back in the 4th Century BCE.
9-Down. 19th-century French gift to New York City: STATUE OF LIBERTY. A brief history of the Statue of Liberty. In 1915, the Liberty Bell travelled across the United States.
And the Unifier:
25-Down. '70s fashion trend ... and features of 3-, 5- and 9-Down: BELL BOTTOMS.
Across:
1. Risqué: RACY.
5. Blunders: SLIPS.
10. Occupied: BUSY.
14. Return from a cave?: ECHO. Fun clue.
15. Lets loose on: HAS AT.
16. App downloader: USER.
17. Waikiki neckwear: LEIs.
18. Property valuations: APPRAISALS.
20. Fruit tree grouping: ORCHARD. When I was a kid, the
whole family would go to the university orchards and pick apples. That
was always so much fun.
22. Corner PC key: CTRL. On the Mac, the Control Key is
near the corner.
23. Hose problem: KINK. My initial answer was Leak.
24. Eco-friendly, as a container: REUSABLE. Due the the
pandemic, Trader Joe's doesn't allow customers to bring their own bags
anymore.
28. "That's what __ said!": SHE.
30. Eaves dropping?: ICICLE.
32. Not e'en once: NE'ER.
33. Author Fleming: IAN. Ian Fleming (né Ian Lancaster
Fleming; May 28, 1908 ~ Aug. 12, 1964) was a British naval intelligence
officer during World War II. In 1952, his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published. He died of a massive heart attack at age 53. The
first actor to portray James Bond on Screen was Sean Connery (Aug. 25, 1930 ~
Oct. 31, 2020), who recently died at age 90.
34. Actress Rooney __: MARA. Rooney Mara (née Patricia
Rooney Mara; b. Apr. 17, 1985) is probably best known for her role as Lisbeth
Salander in the movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I
found the novel too disturbing, so had no desire to see the movie.
35. End of a threat: OR ELSE.
37. Wile E. Coyote explosive: TNT.
38. It precedes beauty, per a saying: AGE.
39. Photog's deg.: MFA. As in a Master of Fine Arts degree. Many years ago, I lived across the park from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. There was a school associated with the museum and I took
some photography classes there. I wasn't very good, but it was fun to
learn the arts of developing film.
40. Partnership abbr.: LLC. Technically, an LLC is a Limited Liability Company. The clue cries out for an LLP, which is a Limited Liability Partnership. For those interested, you can read about the
differences LLC vs LLP.
41. Not up to the task: UNABLE.
43. Ego: SELF.
44. Vegas action: BET.
45. Fashion designer Rabanne: PACO. Paco Rabanne (né
Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo; b. Feb. 18, 1934) is a Basque fashion designer.
He opened his fashion house in the mid-1960s. He later began a
perfume line, which is where I have seen his name at the cosmetics counter.
46. Mild expletive: DANG IT!
48. Words before "vey" and "gevalt": OYs. Oy isn't just a
word, it is an entire vocabulary. As a stand-alone, it can mean anything
from surprise to joy to horror. Oy Vey literally means "oh, the pain",
but it, too can express any thing from delight to woe and sadness. It's the Yiddish version of I Am Groot. The
phrase Oy Gevalt is more of a cry of help or protest.
49. Lola in a Manilow song, e.g.: SHOW GIRL.
51. Sing strongly: BELT. What Barry Manilow was doing above.
53. "Chuck" star Zachary: LEVI. I am familiar with
neither Chuck nor Zachary Levi (né Zachary Levi Pugh; b.
Sept. 29, 1980), but he was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
54. Deserved: MERITED.
57. Officially give, as a exam: ADMINISTER.
61. "Get out of the way!": MOVE.
62. Item of interest?: LOAN.
63. SALT topic: N-TEST. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were about attempts to control nuclear weapons.
64. Sign of things to come: OMEN.
65. Slack-jawed: AGOG.
66. Beaujolais grape: GAMAY. Everything you wanted to know
about Gamay Wine, but were afraid to ask.
67. Nine-digit IDs: SSNs. As in Social Security Numbers. This has become a crossword staple.
Down:
1. Realtor's move: RE-LO. As in Relocation. This has become a crossword staple.
2. Taiwanese laptop brand: ACER. I learned of this brand of
laptop from doing the crossword puzzles. It appears with some frequency.
4. Super Mario's dinosaur: YOSHI. I have heard of Super
Mario, but didn't know he had a dinasaur.
6. W. Coast cop force: LAPD. As in the Los Angeles Police Department.
7. Web access co.: ISP. As in Internet Service Provider. We see this often in the puzzles.
8. Package: PARCEL. With the holidays coming up, and with
the pandemic, there will be fewer gatherings and more sending of parcels to
family and friends.
10. Road section for public transit vehicles: BUS LANE.
11. 50-st. country: USA.
12. French salt: SEL. Today's French lesson.
13. Wall cal. periods: YRs. As in Years.
19. Org. that handles returns: IRS. As in the Internal Revenue Service.
21. Kangaroo or kinkajou: ANIMAL. My first thought was
Mammal, but I wasn't sure whether or not a Kinkajou was a mammal, It is, but the perps led me to Animal as the
correct answer. The Kinkajou is a cute little critter.
24. Early electronics co.: RCA.
26. TV journalist Stahl: LESLEY. Lesley Rene Stahl (b. Dec.
16, 1941) is a long-time journalist and a reporter on 60 Minutes.
27. Puts up: ERECTS.
28. Crunch cousins: SIT UPS.
29. ESPN journalist Storm: HANNAH. Hannah Storm (née Hannah
Lynn Storne; b. June 13, 1962) began her career as the first female host on
CNN Sports Tonight, where she worked from 1989 until 1992.
31. Wrath: IRE.
36. Roof support beam: RAFTER.
39. Ryan of "You've Got Mail": MEG. Meg Ryan (née Margaret
Mary Emily Hyra; b. Nov. 19, 1961) just celebrated her 59th birthday.
She starred in You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks.
42. Game with strikes and a ball: BOWLING. Hi. Boomer!
43. NBC revue that gave us "More Cowbell": SNL. As
in Saturday Night Live.
47. Label for two "Aretha" albums: ARISTA.
50. Mil. head honcho: GEN. As in a General.
52. Stretches at a wedding?: LIMOs. As in a Limousine.
54. Tableland: MESA. Hi, Lucina!
55. Like some oxymoronic odds: EVEN. Funny!
56. Lairs: DENS.
57. Mobile home: Abbr.: ALA. Cute clue! The city of
Mobile is on the Alabama coast. The George Wallace Tunnel on I-10 goes
through mobile. The traffic is always back-up there.
58. Boxer or Borzoi: DOG. I wasn't fooled by this clue even
thought I was not familiar with the Borzoi. The dog is also known as the
Russian Hunting Sighthound, but I never heard of that either.
59. Chairman mentioned in the Beatles' "Revolution": MAO.
60. Pro __: TEM. Today's Latin lesson. The phrase
means "for the time being."
Here's the Grid:
Happy Thanksgiving! It will be a quiet one for us with no family
gathering, but we are thankful for all the little joys in our lives.
Once I changed SEXY/SELLS to RACY/RELO things went smoothly. I even managed to get the theme. Amazing. Don't recall ever seeing GAMAY before. Borzoi sounds like a Russian ballet company. Got OY vey easily -- it's one of two Yiddish words that I know. The other is "verklempt," which I learned from a SNL skit. Thanx, Evelyn, Ross, and Hahtoolah. (Cute "Kinks" cartoon.)
ADMINISTER: My former employer would occasionally administer a surprise drug test for all office employees. You fail, you're fired. I lost a talented computer tech that way.
PARCEL: UPS emailed me that I'll be receiving a parcel today. Must be my tax-prep kit from the IRS. It's still iffy whether we'll be permitted to do in-person tax returns next February.
LESLEY: She got her big break covering the Watergate scandal back in the '70s.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. Wishing all a very Happy, albeit, quiet Thanksgiving. Stay safe.
Ðave: So sorry to learn that your friend Carol is in the hospital. Praying for a speedy recovery.
QOD: Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts. ~ Baruch Spinoza (Nov. 24, 1632 ~ Feb. 21, 1677), Dutch-Jewish philosopher
Dave, so sorry to hear Carol is in the hospital. I wish her a speedy recovery. I caught on to the clever theme. One bad cell. Does ARISTA end in A or E? I never heard of the GAMAY grape. I guessed E. I loved your post, Susan. I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Brutal and violent. We can bring our own bags to Shoprite if we pack them ourselves. I have read cloth bags get germy with several uses so I don't use them during the pandemic. I knew BORZOI. I will bet IM does, too. Many YRS to all of you. These days they are all virtual. In my grandma's attic she had an RCA Victrola with a large horn and fragile records which we kids liked to play. You needed to crank it. It must have been from the early 1900's. RELO CSO to me. One week to go.
For some reason I thought Hannah Storm was a Boston sportscaster. I guess from 2010 NBA finals.
The hopeless Naticks in the SW did me in with LEVy/I and ARISTA. I WAG'ed GAMAY.
Mobile home was a cute one. I didn't get it until Hahtoolah pointed it out. Enjoyed the write-up
Prayers for Carol, D4.
Thursday came early, but three long fills helped. Item of interest another good one.
MENSCH from Sunday was another yiddish phrase. My friend tells me learning yiddish was essential to doing business in New York in the 60s. And Picard emailed about CH CH CHanges from Sunday.
That was a bit crunchy for a Tuesday but I enjoyed it. Thanks Evelyn & Ross.
Wonderful expo Hahtoolah - loved me some Eric Clapton! //and Kink's cartoon was funny.
WOs: Mos b/f YRs; was headed for Fronts at 'Puts up' b/f ERECTS ESPs: MARA, PACO, HANNAH, LEVI -- you know, names. ++GAMAY Fav: Needs more Cowbell [5:42 - epic!] Un-Fav: SHOW GIRL put Barry Manilow [Breakfast Club] in my head :-)
Did anyone else think of Van Halen's DIVER Down at 5d? For a moment, I thought the theme was headed that way.
D4 - God Speed to Carol. Please keep us posted. (And visit here to vent).
FLN - TTP, I nearly fell out off my chair when I saw the can of smoke this morning. LOL //Anyone who's worked with electronics knows, from empirical evidence -- electronics need smoke to function; If you let out the smoke, it no workie no more.
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Evelyn and Ross, and Hahtoolah. I FIRed in good time and saw the BELL BOTTOM theme. Hand up for being old enough to have worn them (yes, and then mini- skirts Lucinda). I had only one inkblot at 10D where I was thinking of the iSLANd where passengers might wait for pickup. Soon corrected with perps. I saw the CSOs to Boomer and Lucinda, and RCA for Misty.
Tossup between favourites with clues for ECHO, ICICLE but I think the latter wins. Names requiring perps today included LESLEY, HANNAH, PACO, LEVI, MARA. The Niagara wineries produce many stellar GAMAY wines. No problem there for me.
We had RELOs and APPRAISALS today. Hope your RELO goes without a hitch YR. Dave4- prayers for Carol.
Porch decorating is on the agenda for today. Wishing you all a great day.
I liked bellbottoms back in the day. Of course, then I was young and slim. I didn't care for minis. I was a kindergarten teacher at the time, bending over and squatting down all day. We had an open concept school with many people walking by and looking down into our kindergarten pit. OY VEY! As we kids used top say, "Free show!"
Easy solve; neat theme. I wondered about LLC. too. Thanks Hahtoolah. Puzzle had a fresh feel to it. REUSABLE - Our Hannaford's has gone back to letting us use REUSABLE bags. BELL BOTTOMS - - When I was a 1st grader in 1944, the High School girls on the school bus would sing BELL BOTTOM Trousers every morning on the way into school and every afternoon on the way home. (The sub in the video is the USS Drum, a museum ship in Mobile, ALA.)
DARNIT!!...FIW hadat/HASAT.(dumb tense error, wondered what IDP was?) Almost put realtor sale but perpwalked RELO. Inkover LESLie/EY. And I just saw her on the tube recently. Didn't know palindromic HANNAH...OYS kind of a stretch. Photographer's deg?..ohhh degree! MFA
Why is "Tuesday" a CHICKENTACO specialty day? Oh, ah, aha, oho, (and other CW fill words of surprise)...Taco Bell....and that's the theme, sheesh, yeesh, owie! (Hahtoolah we still pick apples...a family Fall fun thing to do.) Liked "return from the cave." GAMAY was new for me. Sounds like a soap.
Loved the Kink cartoon..lol
Stretches at a wedding? "Dad's bank account". Wondered how SHARKCAGEDIVING could be done with a snorkel. Wouldn't it require SCUBA gear? but LIU and it can be actually be done with snorkel. Definitely NOT on my bucket list. 🦈🦈🦈
My Dad was in the Navy in the late 40's and absolutely HATED bell bottoms that were part of the uniform.
Thus, when they came back, he thought they were the stupidest thing...told my sister he forbade her wearing them! Of course, it didn't help that they were associated with all those "New Age Hippies."
Loved the theme, though I didn't spot it until after I was finished.
Perfect for a Tuesday FIR. Not a whole lot of crunch, but a few unknowns like Paco, Levi and Gamay. Started with chicken kiev and changed to taco. CSO to Boomer at 42D. Also had darn it and changed to dang it. As for bell bottoms, I can say with absolutely certainty that they were a '60's fashion, not '70's. I met DW in June '66 and her VERY cute figure was enhanced by the bell bottoms she wore. We entered into wedded bliss ten months later on, yes, April Fool's day 1967. Now 53 1/2 yrs. later we have our wonderful daughter with her four, and our exceptional son with his five. All are upstanding and successful in their own individual ways. So, so blessed are we.
Creative puzzle - and entertaining blog - good way to start a Tuesday! I'm off this week - drove to my Mom's and it was warm - today it is snowing! Crazy November!
My son who lives in D.C. gets together weekly for Taco Tuesday with friends - at least he did before COVID - not sure what he does now - don't ask, don't tell!
Musings -Besides having a comet named after him, Sir Edmund Halley invented a very useful diving bell -BELL BOTTOMS of the 70’s dragged a lot of mud into our school -Miniskirts of that time started out as modest but became minis when girls rolled up the waist band in the park -APPRAISALS of even tiny houses in L.A. are unbelievable -This picture shows you how little I use the Control Key on my Mac -I wonder if IAN Fleming knew of what Alan Turing, et al, were doing at Bletchely Park -BELT out a song seems synonymous with Ethel Merman -Would I have MERITED a “got ‘er done” if P _ C O crossed G _ M A Y? Odds are EVEN money. -Lovely job, Susan!
Not a bad puzzle today, although I have never heard of a gamay grape, but I am not a wine drinker, not much a beer drinker either.
52 and raining here today, so our home is not iced up like the photo, just wet. Pond is full.
WE will go next door to our son's home for Thanksgiving dinner, He moved a modular home onto the 2 1/2 acres I own next to me so he could be closer to us in our old age. We had an ice storm earlier, and all of the trees have broken limbs that need to be burned. so he has been a help with that. We really need him now, I have been in the hospital three times this fall. All is well now though.
waseeley - My buddy from New Orleans (the one that wanted to be a chef but went into accounting 'cuz his dad was all like "If I'm paying for it..."; he's also the one I stood on-line for to get Emeril to autograph a book for) turned me onto getting excited about Beaujolais Nouveau(s?). I haven't seen him in years but think about him this time of year when Nouveau hits the shelves.
I recall Bell Bottoms from my ute. They got ridiculous (polyester?) in the mid-'70s as did the music #DiscoSucks :-) I don't think Mom (a mini-skirt wearing/hippie/model (looked like Pat Benatar in her prime)) ever made me wear them. My fashion sense was orange calf-high Chewbacca socks w/ shorts. I was so fly :-)
This had some fresh and lively fill and the not-so frequent vertical theme placement which, IMO, makes it more difficult to discover the theme early in the solve and that’s fine by me. Gamay and Yoshi were unknown but no w/os. I liked Paco crossing Taco and the numerous CSOs: Lucina (Mesa and Acer); Misty (RCA), Boomer (Bowling), Moe (Gamay), and Moi (Acer and RCA).
Thanks, Evelyn and Ross, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the detailed summary and the always outstanding eye candy! Loved seeing Nipper, too. As YR mentioned, I am familiar with the Borzoi, along with many other lesser known breeds, from watching the Westminster competition every year.
Dave, thought and prayers to you and Carol. Keep us posted.
Shankers, you certainly are blessed and it’s obvious that you are grateful. 😉
Only one write-over spot; 26-down was spelled LESLIE. OY vey!
Fun puzzle and easy to solve; love the recap Susan.
MESA is my new home; just about to celebrate my first year of living in the desert SW.
GAMAY —> one of the more unappreciated grape varietals. Thanks Susan for linking the readers of this blog to Wine Folly. That website is a must visit for anyone - myself included - who wants to know more about vino. Regarding Nouveau Beaujolais: first off, it is indeed wine, but more of a celebration of the vintage than something of substance to drink. The wine is produced and distributed so it arrives by the third Thursday in November. Most of the French drink it merely as a “toast”. In Beaujolais (a region in France just south of Burgundy) the tendency is to whole-cluster ferment the Gamay grapes, rather than to de-stem and crush them. It takes maybe 10-20 days, tops, to attain a minimum level of alcohol and color. The result of the wine is raw and unrefined, and can at times be off-putting in taste. When GAMAY is fermented, aged, and stored as the majority of wines are, it can be amazing. One of the better value reds, and quite good with poultry. If anyone is looking for a quality bottle of red wine to enjoy with Thanksgiving Dinner, find a bottle of Jadot Beaujolais Villages (2018 or 2019). You’ll not be disappointed. Should be able to find it for around $10-15 depending on your market
C. Moe - Jadot! That's the label I look out for (can never recall the name). NOLA buddy would always provide Jadot's Nouveau at our "can't get home this year" college Thanksgiving get-togethers.
MManatee - Wheee! #DiscoSucks! Dr. Fever will give it to you straight. //There's your WKRP for the day Bill G. :-)
FIR today so a good start to the holiday week. The long theme answers were easy to fill but I needed the reveal to explain the connection. Thanks Evelyn and Ross for the fun today. Thanks Hahtoolah for your essential part. Always learn from your reviews as well as enjoy them. Had a couple of WOs due to hasty fill. Didn't understand ALA for Mobile home until I read the reviews. Clever.
Having observed the fashion trends returning after enough years, I suspect bell bottoms may come back for young people before long. If so, as an active person, I will just observe. Easier to trip with so much width around the ankles.
Welcome to Jamie. Thoughts with Dave and Carol. Happy safe Thanksgiving celebration to all.
Ditto CM. While the Nouveau vintage is a fruity way to start the season, the various villages in the region produce aged, subtler vintages, the Jadot bottling being an excellent value (to my taste and pocketbook anyway).
Thank you Evelyn and Ross for the puzzle and thanks to Susan for your entertaining and informative write up.
Today's puzzle reminded me of last Tuesday's, much easier than the day before, as if the editor had swapped them by mistake.
Anonymous T, both you @8:39 and Shankers @10:04 respectively described today's puzzle with "a bit crunchy for a Tuesday" and "not a whole lot of crunch", implying different connotions for this commonly used bit of solvers' argot. As a newbie to this blog I had settled on a definition of "consonant rich " vs the also commonly used "guey", standing for "vowel rich". Perhaps you both agree on these terms, but have different thresholds for when they are reached.
Do either or both of you (or anyone else here) care to weigh in? But I don't want to start a RIOT!
Love love Beaujolais! Villages, nouveau, whatever. Once, when I was emoting over the just-arrived shipment of Nouveau for Thanksgiving the store manager asked, Do you really LIKE this wine? I said, Well, not really but it’s so festive for the holidays! Why not?
He just stared at me and shook his head.
I also loved todays puzzle. Thanks, Evelyn and Ross. My favorite was KINK for hose problem. I thought of stockings first of course.
Hahtoolah, thanks for all the fun! The cartoons were great.
Thank you D-O, I was not aware of the 13 buttons. (no wonder they were limited to only a pint a day...) So I went looking for more info.
The numbers go up, the numbers go down, but I was really impressed by the Pro Tip for Modern Sailors at the end of the article.
It reads:
Pro tip: Many sailors have their trousers tailored to remove all the buttons and replace them with Velcro strips to grant easier access to the goods. They then resew the buttons to the outside flap, with uniform inspectors being none-the-wiser.
CED, that's a great idea. Too late for me, though. Velcro hadn't yet been invented when I had to wear that uniform.
WC, the Lutherans in our small town used Manischewitz wine for communion. I've never heard of anybody actually drinking the stuff. Our little church used Welch's Grape Juice for communion.
WC @ 1501 - - My Elders loved elderberry soup with dumplings. (As do I.). When the supply of elderberries waned in later years, they would buy Manishevitz Elderberry wine for the flavor stock. Worked pretty well. See Elderberry Soup – Fliederbeersuppe
Hunky Dave! Thanks for the link, had fun working the puzzle ‘sitting in the back’ on the way to Phoenix. Sorry to hear about Carol, hope she’s doing well! Hogs & Quiches
Waseeley, I like crunch, or a bit stick, or speed bumps, or hiccups, only to indicate it was not necessarily smooth sailing, or a skate in the park. Now, for the few who finish in 5 minutes or close to it, I doubt they seldom have to go slower than the speed limit.
My check for municipal taxes took two weeks to arrive. It came just in time to avoid tax sale. $60 penalty. Five other checks sent that day arrived in timely fashion. I understand that even same zip code mail goes to a central processing facility and then back home again.
waseeley - crunchy to me is... "Wait what? I need some perp-checks. Ok, nothing's clickin'..." And then it fills a bit later. Like Monday's slop, er, FEED.
Lucina - I poke fun at disco because it feels vapid. We went from 60's / early 70's protest music saying something onto dance groves w/o a message. [OK, I confess, I do like me some Donna Summer and ABBA . They were fun! :-)]
It wasn't until '78 when punk came on the scene and music stood for something again. //And then it went down the toilet (see: Madonna) until Grunge hit the scene. Don't get me wrong, I still love me some tunes from the mid '80s [Tears for Fears]
That's my $0.02. It and $4 will get you a cup of coffee :-)
Time to tend to dinner. BBQ pork chops, brussels sprouts, and a Caesar salad (with anchovies for me!)
Pretty easy Tuesday puzzle for me. I finished 95% of it early this morning, had to work today (really WORK – not just sit there and finish the puzzle), and I got the rest of it done when I got home. I even got the long fills and the reveal fairly quickly again!
Thanks Evelyn, Ross and Hahtoolah!
First of all, FLN: Irish Miss mentioned her lack of enthusiasm for squash. How appropriate that in yesterday’s “broadcast” of my favorite cartoon, BREAKING CAT NEWS, there was a rather backhanded remark about that very same vegetable in the chyron in the second panel:
If any of you cat servants have not found this comic strip yet, it is in some newspapers, on Facebook, on the Go-Comics website, or you can simply Google BREAKING CAT NEWS. The lady who draws the strip has cats (and those of us who are their servants) nailed perfectly.
Enough foolishness!
Yes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is brutal and violent, but then so is the world, unfortunately. As I’ve mentioned before, I have read the Millenium Trilogy three times (I rarely read a book more than once), and the other two books are no less so. I cannot count the number of times I have watched the movie, but that is due as much to the excellent cast (particularly Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig – but all of them are good - and to David Fincher’s direction) as to the story itself. Wish the three of them (and those playing the surviving characters) could have made the other two books into movies. Opportunity lost forever.
Having read some about Stieg Larsson’s life, work, politics and philosophy, I see that his writings reflect his perception of Swedish life, right or wrong. Don’t forget, HIS title for the first book translated to, “Men Who Hate Women.” He vehemently fought against changing the title, and the change didn’t happen until after he died.
As with any other music genre, some disco I liked, and some disco I didn’t like.
Thanks T and Shankers. I'm an adept at making the easy seem difficult. While I'm at it anybody care to sound off on guey? My current thinking is that it's argot for vowelly ...
Like all vegetables squash is at it's best when fresh picked and eaten immediately (esp tomatoes and potatoes). But then what kind of squash are we talking about? Winter (butternut, acorn, etc.) or Summer (yellow crooked and straight neck, zucchini, patti-pan). And then which of the dozens of recipes you use to prepare it. For some though it may be an onomatapoetic problem - it does sound a little like the victim of a hit and run.
waseeley - I should let C.C. answer this... Guey or Glue-y fill is something every constructor, editor, and solver has a bit of distain for. But, overall, you gotsta make the puzzle work. Think of Mos, er YRS today; not great but there you is.
LEO3 - I pan genres of music 'cuz I'm a snob :-) I don't like music that any moron could do with enough electronics and time *cough AutoTune* . I like bands that put themselves through practice & performance. Real talent (like #RUSH! :-)) Actually, there's no genre that I can't take something out of. I even like some Rap and a bit of Country. [Cash's Grandfather's Clock].
I think I may have been outside of the target audience for today's puzzle; there were a lot of ones I just didn't know. I ended up having to ask for a letter at the crossing of ARISTA and GAMAY, both totally new to me. (Music and drink being two of my trivia weak points!) But now I know them!
Was amused however to learn the commenters' term 'Natick,' because, despite hailing from Texas, I *have* heard of Natick! I went to college with a girl who came from there. I'm fully behind the principle!
Jamie - where in TX you from? D-O, Leo3, and TxMs (how you doing Ms?) all live in Houston(ish). TTP lived down here b/f going to my home-state of IL. No, we've never yet met IRL. C, -T
60 comments:
Good morning Cornerites.
Thank you Evelyn Baruch & Ross Trudeau for your enjoyable Tuesday CW.
Carol is in the hospital with P-Newmonia. Please pray for her full recovery.
I FIR the CW in 23:05 min.
Thank you Hahtoolah for your excellent review. I could tell you were the reviewer by the wealth of information.
Ðave
Good morning!
Once I changed SEXY/SELLS to RACY/RELO things went smoothly. I even managed to get the theme. Amazing. Don't recall ever seeing GAMAY before. Borzoi sounds like a Russian ballet company. Got OY vey easily -- it's one of two Yiddish words that I know. The other is "verklempt," which I learned from a SNL skit. Thanx, Evelyn, Ross, and Hahtoolah. (Cute "Kinks" cartoon.)
ADMINISTER: My former employer would occasionally administer a surprise drug test for all office employees. You fail, you're fired. I lost a talented computer tech that way.
PARCEL: UPS emailed me that I'll be receiving a parcel today. Must be my tax-prep kit from the IRS. It's still iffy whether we'll be permitted to do in-person tax returns next February.
LESLEY: She got her big break covering the Watergate scandal back in the '70s.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. Wishing all a very Happy, albeit, quiet Thanksgiving. Stay safe.
Ðave: So sorry to learn that your friend Carol is in the hospital. Praying for a speedy recovery.
QOD: Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts. ~ Baruch Spinoza (Nov. 24, 1632 ~ Feb. 21, 1677), Dutch-Jewish philosopher
I loved the Ray Davies joke!
Just under 6 minutes.
It's a taco Tuesday and a Paco Tuesday.
Didn't know Paco or Gamay.
Dave, so sorry to hear Carol is in the hospital. I wish her a speedy recovery.
I caught on to the clever theme. One bad cell. Does ARISTA end in A or E? I never heard of the GAMAY grape. I guessed E. I loved your post, Susan.
I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Brutal and violent.
We can bring our own bags to Shoprite if we pack them ourselves. I have read cloth bags get germy with several uses so I don't use them during the pandemic.
I knew BORZOI. I will bet IM does, too.
Many YRS to all of you. These days they are all virtual.
In my grandma's attic she had an RCA Victrola with a large horn and fragile records which we kids liked to play. You needed to crank it. It must have been from the early 1900's.
RELO CSO to me. One week to go.
For some reason I thought Hannah Storm was a Boston sportscaster. I guess from 2010 NBA finals.
The hopeless Naticks in the SW did me in with LEVy/I and ARISTA. I WAG'ed GAMAY.
Mobile home was a cute one. I didn't get it until Hahtoolah pointed it out. Enjoyed the write-up
Prayers for Carol, D4.
Thursday came early, but three long fills helped. Item of interest another good one.
MENSCH from Sunday was another yiddish phrase. My friend tells me learning yiddish was essential to doing business in New York in the 60s. And Picard emailed about CH CH CHanges from Sunday.
WC
Hola!
My newspaper has Evelyn Rubin and Ross Trudeau. I wonder if they just didn't finish her name. Anyway, I'm grateful for this Tuesday treat!
I remember BELL BOTTOMS of which I had several. If I recall correctly they preceded mini skirts. I had many of those, too.
GAMAY is completely unknown to me. It was a good guess. We must have seen HANNAH Storm before because the name came to me quickly.
Yes, Susan, a MESA can be easily found out here in the desert. Thank you for the CSO and thank you as well for the rich content of your narrative.
Dave 4:
I'm sorry to hear about Carol and will include her in my prayers.
Have a good day, everyone!
FIR, with a wag in the mid-south. One of those ill-advised trivia crosses that some constructors are so fond of. I call it sloth.
Hi All!
That was a bit crunchy for a Tuesday but I enjoyed it. Thanks Evelyn & Ross.
Wonderful expo Hahtoolah - loved me some Eric Clapton! //and Kink's cartoon was funny.
WOs: Mos b/f YRs; was headed for Fronts at 'Puts up' b/f ERECTS
ESPs: MARA, PACO, HANNAH, LEVI -- you know, names. ++GAMAY
Fav: Needs more Cowbell [5:42 - epic!]
Un-Fav: SHOW GIRL put Barry Manilow [Breakfast Club] in my head :-)
Did anyone else think of Van Halen's DIVER Down at 5d? For a moment, I thought the theme was headed that way.
D4 - God Speed to Carol. Please keep us posted. (And visit here to vent).
D-O: A double-dose of SNL: Coffee Talk [8:34]
Lucina - Houston Chronicle has Evelyn Rubin too. Wonder what's up.
FLN - TTP, I nearly fell out off my chair when I saw the can of smoke this morning. LOL
//Anyone who's worked with electronics knows, from empirical evidence -- electronics need smoke to function; If you let out the smoke, it no workie no more.
Play later, Cheers! - T
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Evelyn and Ross, and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed in good time and saw the BELL BOTTOM theme. Hand up for being old enough to have worn them (yes, and then mini- skirts Lucinda).
I had only one inkblot at 10D where I was thinking of the iSLANd where passengers might wait for pickup. Soon corrected with perps.
I saw the CSOs to Boomer and Lucinda, and RCA for Misty.
Tossup between favourites with clues for ECHO, ICICLE but I think the latter wins.
Names requiring perps today included LESLEY, HANNAH, PACO, LEVI, MARA.
The Niagara wineries produce many stellar GAMAY wines. No problem there for me.
We had RELOs and APPRAISALS today. Hope your RELO goes without a hitch YR.
Dave4- prayers for Carol.
Porch decorating is on the agenda for today.
Wishing you all a great day.
My bad. Appologies to Evelyn Rubin. I made the correction.
I liked bellbottoms back in the day. Of course, then I was young and slim. I didn't care for minis. I was a kindergarten teacher at the time, bending over and squatting down all day. We had an open concept school with many people walking by and looking down into our kindergarten pit. OY VEY! As we kids used top say, "Free show!"
Good morning everyone.
Welcome aboard, Jamie.
Easy solve; neat theme. I wondered about LLC. too. Thanks Hahtoolah. Puzzle had a fresh feel to it.
REUSABLE - Our Hannaford's has gone back to letting us use REUSABLE bags.
BELL BOTTOMS - - When I was a 1st grader in 1944, the High School girls on the school bus would sing BELL BOTTOM Trousers every morning on the way into school and every afternoon on the way home. (The sub in the video is the USS Drum, a museum ship in Mobile, ALA.)
The Statue of Liberty is a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, they just erected it in New York Harbor.
DARNIT!!...FIW hadat/HASAT.(dumb tense error, wondered what IDP was?) Almost put realtor sale but perpwalked RELO. Inkover LESLie/EY. And I just saw her on the tube recently. Didn't know palindromic HANNAH...OYS kind of a stretch. Photographer's deg?..ohhh degree! MFA
Why is "Tuesday" a CHICKENTACO specialty day? Oh, ah, aha, oho, (and other CW fill words of surprise)...Taco Bell....and that's the theme, sheesh, yeesh, owie! (Hahtoolah we still pick apples...a family Fall fun thing to do.) Liked "return from the cave." GAMAY was new for me. Sounds like a soap.
Loved the Kink cartoon..lol
Stretches at a wedding? "Dad's bank account". Wondered how SHARKCAGEDIVING could be done with a snorkel. Wouldn't it require SCUBA gear? but LIU and it can be actually be done with snorkel. Definitely NOT on my bucket list. 🦈🦈🦈
No one could BELT out a song like "The Merm"
Salt doesnt need a "____ by" date...SEL
Motor bike fueled by frozen water.... ICICLE.
Espouse Edward or Theodore....MERITED
Russ, when is it your turn to run Canada?
My Dad was in the Navy in the late 40's and absolutely HATED bell bottoms that were part of the uniform.
Thus, when they came back, he thought they were the stupidest thing...told my sister he forbade her wearing them! Of course, it didn't help that they were associated with all those "New Age Hippies."
Loved the theme, though I didn't spot it until after I was finished.
Perfect for a Tuesday FIR. Not a whole lot of crunch, but a few unknowns like Paco, Levi and Gamay. Started with chicken kiev and changed to taco. CSO to Boomer at 42D. Also had darn it and changed to dang it. As for bell bottoms, I can say with absolutely certainty that they were a '60's fashion, not '70's. I met DW in June '66 and her VERY cute figure was enhanced by the bell bottoms she wore. We entered into wedded bliss ten months later on, yes, April Fool's day 1967. Now 53 1/2 yrs. later we have our wonderful daughter with her four, and our exceptional son with his five. All are upstanding and successful in their own individual ways. So, so blessed are we.
BTW, DW still has a dynamite figure even after having just joined the octogenarian club.
Creative puzzle - and entertaining blog - good way to start a Tuesday! I'm off this week - drove to my Mom's and it was warm - today it is snowing! Crazy November!
My son who lives in D.C. gets together weekly for Taco Tuesday with friends - at least he did before COVID - not sure what he does now - don't ask, don't tell!
Thanks Susan, Evelyn & Ross!
prayers for Carol!
Musings
-Besides having a comet named after him, Sir Edmund Halley invented a very useful diving bell
-BELL BOTTOMS of the 70’s dragged a lot of mud into our school
-Miniskirts of that time started out as modest but became minis when girls rolled up the waist band in the park
-APPRAISALS of even tiny houses in L.A. are unbelievable
-This picture shows you how little I use the Control Key on my Mac
-I wonder if IAN Fleming knew of what Alan Turing, et al, were doing at Bletchely Park
-BELT out a song seems synonymous with Ethel Merman
-Would I have MERITED a “got ‘er done” if P _ C O crossed G _ M A Y? Odds are EVEN money.
-Lovely job, Susan!
Trader Joe's does allow you to bring your own REUSABLE bags. You just have to do the bagging outside. They provide a nice table for the purpose.
Just tell them to put your groceries back in the basket or cart and you can still use your bags.
Just remember that Beaujolais is the only Red that you drink cold. The Nouveau should be hitting the stores any day now.
Not a bad puzzle today, although I have never heard of a gamay grape, but I am not a wine drinker, not much a beer drinker either.
52 and raining here today, so our home is not iced up like the photo, just wet. Pond is full.
WE will go next door to our son's home for Thanksgiving dinner, He moved a modular home onto the 2 1/2 acres I own next to me so he could be closer to us in our old age. We had an ice storm earlier, and all of the trees have broken limbs that need to be burned. so he has been a help with that.
We really need him now, I have been in the hospital three times this fall. All is well now though.
waseeley - My buddy from New Orleans (the one that wanted to be a chef but went into accounting 'cuz his dad was all like "If I'm paying for it..."; he's also the one I stood on-line for to get Emeril to autograph a book for) turned me onto getting excited about Beaujolais Nouveau(s?). I haven't seen him in years but think about him this time of year when Nouveau hits the shelves.
I recall Bell Bottoms from my ute. They got ridiculous (polyester?) in the mid-'70s as did the music #DiscoSucks :-)
I don't think Mom (a mini-skirt wearing/hippie/model (looked like Pat Benatar in her prime)) ever made me wear them.
My fashion sense was orange calf-high Chewbacca socks w/ shorts. I was so fly :-)
Back to the salt mines.
Cheers, -T
Good Morning:
This had some fresh and lively fill and the not-so frequent vertical theme placement which, IMO, makes it more difficult to discover the theme early in the solve and that’s fine by me. Gamay and Yoshi were unknown but no w/os. I liked Paco crossing Taco and the numerous CSOs: Lucina (Mesa and Acer); Misty (RCA), Boomer (Bowling), Moe (Gamay), and Moi (Acer and RCA).
Thanks, Evelyn and Ross, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the detailed summary and the always outstanding eye candy! Loved seeing Nipper, too. As YR mentioned, I am familiar with the Borzoi, along with many other lesser known breeds, from watching the Westminster competition every year.
Dave, thought and prayers to you and Carol. Keep us posted.
Shankers, you certainly are blessed and it’s obvious that you are grateful. 😉
Have a great day.
Sorry Ross..spelled your name wrong.
Never saw the Bell Bottoms,
then again, I never had an eye for fashion...
It is said that Bell Bottom pants were invented
so sailors could swab the deck and still keep their
pants dry. Sort of like the buttons on sailor uniform sleeves
were there to stop them from wiping their noses on their sleeves...
I guess you can make fashion out of anything...
CED, you forgot to mention the 13 buttons on those sailor pants that forced you to plan your bathroom breaks carefully.
Puzzling thoughts:
Only one write-over spot; 26-down was spelled LESLIE. OY vey!
Fun puzzle and easy to solve; love the recap Susan.
MESA is my new home; just about to celebrate my first year of living in the desert SW.
GAMAY —> one of the more unappreciated grape varietals. Thanks Susan for linking the readers of this blog to Wine Folly. That website is a must visit for anyone - myself included - who wants to know more about vino. Regarding Nouveau Beaujolais: first off, it is indeed wine, but more of a celebration of the vintage than something of substance to drink. The wine is produced and distributed so it arrives by the third Thursday in November. Most of the French drink it merely as a “toast”. In Beaujolais (a region in France just south of Burgundy) the tendency is to whole-cluster ferment the Gamay grapes, rather than to de-stem and crush them. It takes maybe 10-20 days, tops, to attain a minimum level of alcohol and color. The result of the wine is raw and unrefined, and can at times be off-putting in taste. When GAMAY is fermented, aged, and stored as the majority of wines are, it can be amazing. One of the better value reds, and quite good with poultry. If anyone is looking for a quality bottle of red wine to enjoy with Thanksgiving Dinner, find a bottle of Jadot Beaujolais Villages (2018 or 2019). You’ll not be disappointed. Should be able to find it for around $10-15 depending on your market
Thumbs up for Disco Sucks !
C. Moe - Jadot! That's the label I look out for (can never recall the name). NOLA buddy would always provide Jadot's Nouveau at our "can't get home this year" college Thanksgiving get-togethers.
MManatee - Wheee! #DiscoSucks! Dr. Fever will give it to you straight. //There's your WKRP for the day Bill G. :-)
Cheers, -T
Ken Jennings will be the first to tryout to fill Alex Trebek’s shoes.
FIR today so a good start to the holiday week. The long theme answers were easy to fill but I needed the reveal to explain the connection. Thanks Evelyn and Ross for the fun today. Thanks Hahtoolah for your essential part. Always learn from your reviews as well as enjoy them. Had a couple of WOs due to hasty fill. Didn't understand ALA for Mobile home until I read the reviews. Clever.
Having observed the fashion trends returning after enough years, I suspect bell bottoms may come back for young people before long. If so, as an active person, I will just observe. Easier to trip with so much width around the ankles.
Welcome to Jamie. Thoughts with Dave and Carol. Happy safe Thanksgiving celebration to all.
I liked this puzzle and Hahtoolah's review.
Ditto CM. While the Nouveau vintage is a fruity way to start the season, the various villages in the region produce aged, subtler vintages, the Jadot bottling being an excellent value (to my taste and pocketbook anyway).
I feel compelled to speak up for DISCO. Why the hate? It was fun to listen to and even more fun to dance to. I loved the disco era.
Thank you Evelyn and Ross for the puzzle and thanks to Susan for your entertaining and informative write up.
Today's puzzle reminded me of last Tuesday's, much easier than the day before, as if the editor had swapped them by mistake.
Anonymous T, both you @8:39 and Shankers @10:04 respectively described today's puzzle with "a bit crunchy for a Tuesday" and "not a whole lot of crunch", implying different connotions for this commonly used bit of solvers' argot. As a newbie to this blog I had settled on a definition of "consonant rich " vs the also commonly used "guey", standing for "vowel rich". Perhaps you both agree on these terms, but have different thresholds for when they are reached.
Do either or both of you (or anyone else here) care to weigh in? But I don't want to start a RIOT!
D-O, I heard the 13 buttons were to give a girl twelve chances to say NO
Love love Beaujolais! Villages, nouveau, whatever. Once, when I was emoting over the just-arrived shipment of Nouveau for Thanksgiving the store manager asked, Do you really LIKE this wine? I said, Well, not really but it’s so festive for the holidays! Why not?
He just stared at me and shook his head.
I also loved todays puzzle. Thanks, Evelyn and Ross. My favorite was KINK for hose problem. I thought of stockings first of course.
Hahtoolah, thanks for all the fun! The cartoons were great.
The things you learn on this Blog...
Thank you D-O,
I was not aware of the 13 buttons.
(no wonder they were limited to only a pint a day...)
So I went looking for more info.
The numbers go up, the numbers go down,
but I was really impressed by the Pro Tip
for Modern Sailors at the end of the article.
It reads:
Pro tip: Many sailors have their trousers tailored to remove all the buttons and replace them with Velcro strips to grant easier access to the goods. They then resew the buttons to the outside flap, with uniform inspectors being none-the-wiser.
Any votes for Manishevitz Elderberry wine? $6.00. I don't touch alcohol but Phil and Betsy drink it for anti-Covid immunity reasons.
I agree with Lucina. The Disco sound was great.
DW is 5' 1" and when we dated, besides miniskirts, she wore the tallest platform shoes she could find. (Neighboring on stilts).
As for Disco - let the music speak for itself.
Frankie Avalon Venus - Disco Version
CED, that's a great idea. Too late for me, though. Velcro hadn't yet been invented when I had to wear that uniform.
WC, the Lutherans in our small town used Manischewitz wine for communion. I've never heard of anybody actually drinking the stuff. Our little church used Welch's Grape Juice for communion.
WC @ 1501 - - My Elders loved elderberry soup with dumplings. (As do I.). When the supply of elderberries waned in later years, they would buy Manishevitz Elderberry wine for the flavor stock. Worked pretty well.
See Elderberry Soup – Fliederbeersuppe
Hunky Dave!
Thanks for the link, had fun working the puzzle ‘sitting in the back’ on the way to Phoenix. Sorry to hear about Carol, hope she’s doing well!
Hogs & Quiches
Had 17 question and abbr clues the most ever on a mon tues crossword. To many. Leave em for late in the week. Crunchy but doable. I still loved it.
Waseeley, I like crunch, or a bit stick, or speed bumps, or hiccups, only to indicate it was not necessarily smooth sailing, or a skate in the park. Now, for the few who finish in 5 minutes or close to it, I doubt they seldom have to go slower than the speed limit.
Shankers above, not Unknown. Why does that happen?
My check for municipal taxes took two weeks to arrive. It came just in time to avoid tax sale. $60 penalty. Five other checks sent that day arrived in timely fashion. I understand that even same zip code mail goes to a central processing facility and then back home again.
waseeley - crunchy to me is... "Wait what? I need some perp-checks. Ok, nothing's clickin'..." And then it fills a bit later. Like Monday's slop, er, FEED.
Lucina - I poke fun at disco because it feels vapid. We went from 60's / early 70's protest music saying something onto dance groves w/o a message.
[OK, I confess, I do like me some Donna Summer and ABBA . They were fun! :-)]
It wasn't until '78 when punk came on the scene and music stood for something again.
//And then it went down the toilet (see: Madonna) until Grunge hit the scene. Don't get me wrong, I still love me some tunes from the mid '80s [Tears for Fears]
That's my $0.02. It and $4 will get you a cup of coffee :-)
Time to tend to dinner. BBQ pork chops, brussels sprouts, and a Caesar salad (with anchovies for me!)
Cheers, -T
Pretty easy Tuesday puzzle for me. I finished 95% of it early this morning, had to work today (really WORK – not just sit there and finish the puzzle), and I got the rest of it done when I got home. I even got the long fills and the reveal fairly quickly again!
Thanks Evelyn, Ross and Hahtoolah!
First of all, FLN: Irish Miss mentioned her lack of enthusiasm for squash. How appropriate that in yesterday’s “broadcast” of my favorite cartoon, BREAKING CAT NEWS, there was a rather backhanded remark about that very same vegetable in the chyron in the second panel:
Squash
Today, they moved on to Cranberry Space Goo!:
Cranberry Space Goo
If any of you cat servants have not found this comic strip yet, it is in some newspapers, on Facebook, on the Go-Comics website, or you can simply Google BREAKING CAT NEWS. The lady who draws the strip has cats (and those of us who are their servants) nailed perfectly.
Enough foolishness!
Yes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is brutal and violent, but then so is the world, unfortunately. As I’ve mentioned before, I have read the Millenium Trilogy three times (I rarely read a book more than once), and the other two books are no less so. I cannot count the number of times I have watched the movie, but that is due as much to the excellent cast (particularly Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig – but all of them are good - and to David Fincher’s direction) as to the story itself. Wish the three of them (and those playing the surviving characters) could have made the other two books into movies. Opportunity lost forever.
Having read some about Stieg Larsson’s life, work, politics and philosophy, I see that his writings reflect his perception of Swedish life, right or wrong. Don’t forget, HIS title for the first book translated to, “Men Who Hate Women.” He vehemently fought against changing the title, and the change didn’t happen until after he died.
As with any other music genre, some disco I liked, and some disco I didn’t like.
Thanks T and Shankers. I'm an adept at making the easy seem difficult. While I'm at it anybody care to sound off on guey? My current thinking is that it's argot for vowelly ...
Like all vegetables squash is at it's best when fresh picked and eaten immediately (esp tomatoes and potatoes). But then what kind of squash are we talking about? Winter (butternut, acorn, etc.) or Summer (yellow crooked and straight neck, zucchini, patti-pan). And then which of the dozens of recipes you use to prepare it. For some though it may be an onomatapoetic problem - it does sound a little like the victim of a hit and run.
Go blue!!! Then we’ll know you
waseeley - I should let C.C. answer this...
Guey or Glue-y fill is something every constructor, editor, and solver has a bit of distain for. But, overall, you gotsta make the puzzle work. Think of Mos, er YRS today; not great but there you is.
LEO3 - I pan genres of music 'cuz I'm a snob :-) I don't like music that any moron could do with enough electronics and time *cough AutoTune* . I like bands that put themselves through practice & performance. Real talent (like #RUSH! :-)) Actually, there's no genre that I can't take something out of. I even like some Rap and a bit of Country. [Cash's Grandfather's Clock].
And, maybe, even Western. :-)
Cheers, -T
I think I may have been outside of the target audience for today's puzzle; there were a lot of ones I just didn't know. I ended up having to ask for a letter at the crossing of ARISTA and GAMAY, both totally new to me. (Music and drink being two of my trivia weak points!) But now I know them!
Was amused however to learn the commenters' term 'Natick,' because, despite hailing from Texas, I *have* heard of Natick! I went to college with a girl who came from there. I'm fully behind the principle!
Jamie - where in TX you from? D-O, Leo3, and TxMs (how you doing Ms?) all live in Houston(ish). TTP lived down here b/f going to my home-state of IL.
No, we've never yet met IRL. C, -T
Anonymous T - I grew up near Houston! Went to college at Baylor. It's a small world!
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