Theme: Stay on the right track ~ or ~ We are well trained.
This is best explained by starting with the unifier.
59A. Engineer, brakeman and conductor ... and what the ends of the answers to starred clues comprise?: TRAIN CREW. Those named professionals are indeed the CREW of a TRAIN. The theme answers will make a TRAIN CREW of a different sort.
16 A. *Person to emulate: ROLE MODEL. This is the person who is a standout at what s/he does, performing at the highest level, getting the most done, and showing the right way to do it. A MODEL TRAIN is a scaled down representation of a real TRAIN, used in the hobby of Rail Transport Modeling, which can be extremely elaborate and realistic.
23 A. *Thanksgiving condiment: TURKEY GRAVY. Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meat - in this case, TURKEY, that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. It is typically served in a GRAVY boat. The GRAVY TRAIN is a situation where one can make a great deal of money with very little effort.
35. *Effective remedy with little downside: MAGIC BULLET. A medicine or other problem solving remedy, especially one newly discovered or unexpected with wonderful or highly specific properties. A BULLET TRAIN is a high speed passenger rail transport that uses an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. They run at least 160 miles per hour, and some systems exceed 200 miles per hour.
50 A. *A high-profile trial might become one: MEDIA CIRCUS. This is any news event that attracts coverage that is excessive in degree and/or duration, or out of proportion to the event being covered. This is often also magnified by sensationalistic reporting. A CIRCUS TRAIN is transportation to take a CIRCUS company from one venue to the next.
Across:
1. Band with an electrical symbol in their logo: AC/DC.
5. Youngest woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, familiarly: AOC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [b 1989,] also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district.
8. Aromatic herb: SAGE. Salvia officinalis is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It has a long history of culinary and medicinal use.
12. Church divide: AISLE. The passage between the rows of seats, benches or pews.
14. Rapping MD?: DRE. Andre Romelle Young [b. 1955,] known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, audio engineer, record executive, entrepreneur, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics,
15. Mariano Rivera's record 652: SAVES. Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons.
A relief pitcher recording a save must preserve his team's lead while doing one of the following:
- Enter the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitch at least one inning.
- Enter the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases.
- Pitch at least three innings. [Source]
18. LGBTQ part, briefly: TRANS. This designation, along with its many variants, refers to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender.
19. Wavelike pattern: MOIRE. A large-scale interference pattern that can be produced when an opaque ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on another similar pattern. For the moiré interference pattern to appear, the two patterns must not be completely identical, but rather displaced, rotated, or have slightly different pitch. [Wikipedia]
20. "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" singer Kathy: MATTEA. Kathleen Alice Mattea (b. 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1.
21. Arafat's gp., once: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.
26. Nigerian pop star: SADE. Helen Folasade Adu [b 1959] known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade [pronounced Shad-day, don't ask me why] was born in Nigeria, but brought up in England. She has had an enormously successful career.
26. Nigerian pop star: SADE. Helen Folasade Adu [b 1959] known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade [pronounced Shad-day, don't ask me why] was born in Nigeria, but brought up in England. She has had an enormously successful career.
28. Brief moments: SECS. Seconds, briefly.
29. Notable times: ERAS. Jazz, for example
30. Summer beverage: ICE TEA. Brewed TEA served over ICE. Let the ICE - ICED controversy commence.
33. "__ Tu": 1974 hit: ERES.
39. Spoken: ORAL. Communicated using vocal sounds.
40. Trickeries: FRAUDS. Fakes, phonies, shams.
43. Tel __: AVIV. Tel AVIV Yafo, to be complete, is a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast with a population of 460, 613.
47. Brown and blonde: ALES. Less hoppy than IPAs.
49. Cream or Nirvana: TRIO. Groups of three musicians.
54. Red Sox rivals, on scoreboards: NYY. New York Yankees.
55. Literally, French for "again": ENCORE. Makes sense.
56. Perot of politics: H ROSS.
40. Trickeries: FRAUDS. Fakes, phonies, shams.
43. Tel __: AVIV. Tel AVIV Yafo, to be complete, is a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast with a population of 460, 613.
47. Brown and blonde: ALES. Less hoppy than IPAs.
49. Cream or Nirvana: TRIO. Groups of three musicians.
54. Red Sox rivals, on scoreboards: NYY. New York Yankees.
55. Literally, French for "again": ENCORE. Makes sense.
56. Perot of politics: H ROSS.
58. Memphis tourist street: BEALE. One of the city's main tourist attractions.
63. Gillette razors: ATRAS.
64. Carrier to Tokyo: ANA. All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd is Japan's largest airline.
65. Hotel patron: GUEST. Paying customer.
64. Carrier to Tokyo: ANA. All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd is Japan's largest airline.
65. Hotel patron: GUEST. Paying customer.
66. Lays down the lawn: SODS. Puts rolls of grass in place. Nice word play.
67. Time out?: NAP. "Out" meaning asleep.
68. Palm gadgets, briefly: PDAS. Personal Data Assistants. Mobile devices which function as personal information managers. Now pretty much displaced by muti-functional smart phones.
67. Time out?: NAP. "Out" meaning asleep.
68. Palm gadgets, briefly: PDAS. Personal Data Assistants. Mobile devices which function as personal information managers. Now pretty much displaced by muti-functional smart phones.
Down:
1. Swiss river: AAR. A tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 kilometers (183 mi.)
2. Corp. tech exec: CIO. The Chief Information Officer is the company executive responsible for the management, implementation, and usability of information and computer technologies.
3. Internet connector via phone line: DSL MODEM. Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. A modem – a portmanteau of "modulator-demodulator" – is a hardware device that converts data from a digital format.
4. Jazz singer Laine: CLEO. Clementine Dinah Bullock (b 1927) is an English jazz and pop singer and an actress, known for her scat singing and for her vocal range.
5. Venomous snakes: ADDERS. Any of several groups of venomous snakes of the family Viperidae, fond in various parts of the world.
6. Tram load: ORE. In mining.
7. Disney frame: CEL. A special or limited edition version of artwork from an animated cartoon.
7. Disney frame: CEL. A special or limited edition version of artwork from an animated cartoon.
8. "No Exit" dramatist: SARTRE. Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre ]1905 –1980] was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic.
9. Personal user pic: AVATAR. An electronic image that represents and may be manipulated by a computer user.
10. Lake on the French/Swiss border: GENEVA.
11. Op-ed pieces: ESSAYS.
13. Send out: EMIT. As, frex., radio waves or light.
15. Alone, at a party: STAG.
17. Christian sch. in Tulsa: ORU. Oral Roberts University.
20. Whitman "53-Down" subject: MYSELF. SONG of MYSELF is a poem by Walt Whitman (1819–1892) that is included in his work Leaves of Grass. It has been credited as "representing the core of Whitman's poetic vision."
21. 23rd of 24: PSI. Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ (as in English word "lapse").
22. SupÈrieur, par exemple: LAC. One of the Great Lakes, in French.
24. Company with spokes-elves: KEEBLER. They make cookies.
24. Company with spokes-elves: KEEBLER. They make cookies.
25. Hose color: ECRU. Originally, the natural color of unbleached linen. It became more precisely defined as "a grayish yellow that is greener and paler than chamois or old ivory." ECRU comes from the French word écru, which means "unbleached."
27. LAX posting: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival at Los Angeles International Air Port.
31. Star quality?: EGO. Quality - I'm not so sure. More precisely, a characteristic.
32. The Red Baron, for one: AIR ACE. A flying ace, fighter ace or AIR ACE is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen [1892-1918,] known in English as the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
31. Star quality?: EGO. Quality - I'm not so sure. More precisely, a characteristic.
32. The Red Baron, for one: AIR ACE. A flying ace, fighter ace or AIR ACE is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen [1892-1918,] known in English as the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
34. Canon initials: SLR. Single Lens Reflex, a type of camera.
36. Colombian metropolis: CALI. Santiago de Cali, or CALI, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents.
37. Have: EAT. Consume.
38. Gets embarrassed, maybe: TURNS RED.
41. Tinkerer's abbr.: DIY. Do It Yourself.
42. Versatile bean: SOY.
43. One-celled critters: AMEBAS. Unicellular organisms which have the ability to alter their shapes, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods.
44. Rome's Via __: VENETO. One of the most famous, elegant, and expensive streets of Rome, Italy. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918), a decisive Italian victory of World War I.
45. Bouncer's request: ID CARD. Needed to get in, or he will bounce you out.
46. Members of string 49-Acrosses: VIOLAS. Remember, 49 A was a musical trio. Violas are the alto voices of the viol family, pitched a fifth below the violin, and an octave above the cello.
46. Members of string 49-Acrosses: VIOLAS. Remember, 49 A was a musical trio. Violas are the alto voices of the viol family, pitched a fifth below the violin, and an octave above the cello.
At 4 min 32 sec, this is the shortest example of a string trio I could find. Takes a bit to get going, but is really quite beautiful.
48. ESPN commentator Jeremy: SCHAAP. Jeremy Albert Schaap (b.1969) is an American sportswriter, television reporter, and author. Schaap is an eleven-time Emmy Award winner for his work on ESPN's E:60, SportsCenter, and Outside the Lines.
51. Mars, to Greeks: ARES. Two views of the God of War
52. Sch. with a Providence campus: URI. University of Rhode Island.
53. Tune: SONG. Melody. We have a few today.
57. Atlantic food fish: SCUP. The scup (Stenotomus chrysops) is a fish which occurs primarily in the Atlantic from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Along with many other fish of the family Sparidae, it is also commonly known as porgy. First I've ever heard of it.
52. Sch. with a Providence campus: URI. University of Rhode Island.
53. Tune: SONG. Melody. We have a few today.
57. Atlantic food fish: SCUP. The scup (Stenotomus chrysops) is a fish which occurs primarily in the Atlantic from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Along with many other fish of the family Sparidae, it is also commonly known as porgy. First I've ever heard of it.
59. Beach tone: TAN. Could be the color of the sand; could be the darkening of your skin from the sun's rays.
60. Genetic material: RNA. Ribonucleic acid. It's complicated.
61. That, to Pedro: ESA. Spanish
62. Pkg. measures: WTS. Weights.
61. That, to Pedro: ESA. Spanish
62. Pkg. measures: WTS. Weights.
OK, folks, we've reached the end of the line. Hope you enjoyed the journey. You know how I love to link music vids. We had a trainload of them today, and a lot of variety. Adios, for now. Stay safe, wear a mask, and wash your hands. Winter is coming.
Cool regards,
JzB
Notes from C.C.:
Look at these wonderful Halloween pictures of Lemonade's grandkids. The first is Owen (the youngest). Second Harper. Third Charlotte. Click here for all the sweet pictures from them all these years.
44 comments:
Indeed, winter is here. We did not hit 80 all day yesterday!
Wavelike pattern: moiré was all perps for me. It did remind me of...Catherine O'Hara.
It was a very fine puzzle.
Thank you Mike P. and JzB
JzB, thanks for the variety of music vids this morning. Lots of perps needed to finish this interesting xword.
Once I had the Y in TURKEY I could WAG MYSELF and MATTEA.
There was a lot of WAGs and wos* on this one. Since I'm awake I might as well solve Thurs.
WC
*In my case, inkovers. Some letters can be changed easily others it's a mess. There's a tract I heard on how to alter letters xword style. Can't find it via Google.
Took 7:02, but had a wrong letter for Moire, as Clea seemed just as reasonable as Cleo. Unfamiliar with Mattea and her song.
Interesting to see "ORU" and "oral" in the same puzzle.
FIR, but the confluence of proper names in the Texas region made for almost arbitrary fill-in. Measured by my preference for wordplay, this was a horrible puzzle. We stayed at a hotel on the Via VENETO while on a Rome/Venice 35th Anniversary trip.
Good morning!
Stayed up way too late. Didn't recognize Rivera, but SAVES perped in unassisted. Not familiar with SCHAAP, but WAGged that Japanese Airline's initials probably ended in A. That brought the train into the station. Thanx, Mike and JzB. (That string trio was very nice.)
CIO: My former boss was the company CIO. He claimed the initials stood for Career Is Over.
DSL MODEM: The telephone infrastructure in our town isn't modern enough to support DSL. AT&T installed fiber optic over by the elementary school, but not in my neighborhood. I get my internet service from the local cable company.
It was almost a TRAIN wreck this morning but the TURKEY GRAVY saved me. MOIRE & MATTEA were unknowns and MYSELF was the only logical fill for 20D. SCUP & SCHAAP were unknowns- all perps. But I FIR.
I'm curious about the DSL MODEM that my internet, phone, and television use. The original copper wire that runs behind my house provides the phone and TV but ATT ran a fiber optic cable in front, through which I get my internet connection. But BOTH go into the same Gateway, which distributes the wired TV & Phone, wireless TVs, & wired internet.
Jeremy's father Dick SCHAAP was also a famous sportswriter, but I misspelled it SCHApP, hadn't heard of ANA, only JAL for a Japanese airline.
I don't think of RNA as genetic material, but it seems to be a xword convention. DNA has the genetic material and RNA is just a messenger.
Hola!
Mostly quick and easy throughout the grid until I hit the SE corner when I came to a screeching halt. Natick at SCUP/PDAS. I had the P, removed it, stayed with SCUd.
I am starting to recognize some of the groups so ACDC flowed in, grokked TRIO.
I love MOIRE. It's a beautiful pattern on fabric and mostly easy to sew.
Good to see SARTRE in a puzzle. And I love the music of SADE, so soft and mellow.
ESA had to wait for confirmation that it's feminine or masculine for A or O.
HROSS Perot etched himself into election history when he ran as a business man who promised he could turn the country in a new direction. He lost.
I never watch ESPN so SCHAAP is totally foreign to me and I missed the second A and left it blank. Sigh.
Thank you, JazzB. I so enjoy your in depth analyses.
Still no winner in the election. Another sigh! I never dreamed it would be so close.
Have a happy day, everyone!
Lemonade, I love the photos of your grandchildren! It seems you have some future drama actors.
Another FIR this week! I did get lucky with this one, guessing that A fit in ANA and SCHAAP ( hi D-Otto!) rather than another p. Some other unknowns, but perps cleared them up: MATTEA and SCUP. Much ink filled in the squares (hi WC!) before I saw EAT was needed. Figured out the theme, though BULLET and CIRCUS were slow to come. Thanks, Mike, for an interesting puzzle. And bravo to JazzB for his informative review!
Like D-Otto, we get internet service through the cable company still, though we've cancelled the phone and cable parts of our original package. Fiber optic companies are working on providing service nearby but not our end of the street so far. Putting the cables underground is an improvement in our tree-filled city.
Time to get something done. Have a great day, y'all!
My vote is iced tea, not ice tea.
Originally had amoeba.
Had to walk away before the CREW came to me. Train seemed obvious but didn't know SCUP and thought uTS might have been for units? Duh!
Good morning everyone.
No significant problems in solving. FIR. No erasures. Liked the theme. Two double A words; AAR and SCHAAP.
I'll take a CSO @ BEALE, the destroyer I served on. (DD-471). Named for Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale (USN) who contributed much to the early development of the SW. Worth a Wiki visit.
SCHAAP - is Dutch for 'sheep' (singular). SCH has 'sk' sound like in 'school', and Schuyler.
32d. Red Baron. The Royal Can. Mil. Inst. in Toronto has a piece of his wing fabric on display, which I was privileged to see as a luncheon GUEST of an Ontario-Hydro colleague some 40 odd yrs ago. I understand he was shot down by a Canadian.
Thanks for a fine intro, JzB.
Good Morning:
This was a fairly easy solve with a well-hidden theme and fun revealer. Scup and Schaap were unknown, although I remember Dick Schaap.
I’ve heard of Porgy but never heard of Scup. It was nice to see NYY and ORU again and I also liked Eres/Eras and URI/ORU. I have two great nephews and a great niece at URI.
Thanks, Mike, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JzB, for the delightfully detailed discourse!
Cute pictures of the grands, Lemony. They sure are growing up fast. I remember Charlotte when she was a tiny tyke.
My sister, Eileen, (No jokes, please) is coming for lunch so I’m planning on whipping up a batch of Bloody Marys from scratch, the best kind.
have a great day.
Ah, but for a single wrong square. Being a big sports guy I should have known the correct spelling of Schaap, but entered "pp" instead. That gave me ANP for 64A which made no sense. First try for 64A was JAL. Otherwise, a smooth fill. No real complaints except perhaps scup. Til we find out the final outcome of voting it should be a real 50A.
FIR. Nice Wednesday puzzle and I really enjoyed the commentary. It was good for me to brush up on the requirements for a SAVE in baseball. Now, it's on to "Play it Straight" tomorrow's USA Today puzzle by Z.B. AKA C.C.B.
Another FIW (Guess I wasn't very SAGE). Had SCHArP crossed with ANr..Didn't remember the Japanese airline even though we recently had it as a clue. Again one letter did me in. A few alphabet runs for ALE and CALI. Lets argue over whether GRAVY is a condiment.
Why ESA? (fem.) as there's no noun being modified. Seems it should revert to eso which I had, thus PDO. SCUP is new kettle of fish. Hairy Mike you wanna run that MOIRÉ definition by me again? D'oh!
We shout the French word ENCORE (again) to get a performer to come back. The French (and Italians) shout "Bis" a Latin term meaning "twice" (as in biscotto, biscuit..."cooked twice"). Why is Lake Superior French? LAC Genève would have been a better clue.
.
A good excuse for my CW failure is constant interruptions by DW showing me samples of 50 shades of gray as we paint the whole downstairs up to date colors. She sees differences I don't perceive. I'd like to meet the guy who comes up with the fancy names for colors that all look pretty much the same to me.
The painters have an optical device they apply to a color in a wall painting DW wants as an accent..like a shade in a pleat of a women's dress and a phone app reproduces it on the wall. Then create the paint color.
Also.not very SAGE...
How many Swiss rivers ____ there?.....AAR.
Pastor Roberts was quite ___ about statrting his own University...ORAL
Couldn't start the morning in London without ____ MATTEA
When Mars visits Greece he puts on ____. ARES
Spose to hit 60 tomorrow...warm enough to pull out all my recently frozen plants and flowers and bury spring bulbs.
Musings
-Hallelujah! No political calls or texts this morning!
-I have seen educational MAGIC BULLETS come go in my 50 years in the classroom
-I’m not a big NYY fan but Mariano was a real class act
-We drove 400 miles round trip in one day for granddaughter’s wedding to avoid being a hotel GUEST
-Living two miles from phone building in our town made DSL very unreliable for us
-Yesterday’s elections will provide fodder for many op-ed pieces in venues where they are appropriate
-I never had a fake ID CARD and had no idea on how to get one
-That TAN did not penetrate my watch band! :-)
-Off to mow where we have laid down our lawn. Love that clue!
Mark I, too, was looking for the dipthong. Interesting construction thought: Having the dipthong represent say the O or E on the perp like the NYTimes sometimes does. There's a term for a square representing more than one letter. L214?
Hmm? So it wasn't Snoopy that shot the Baron down. Snoopy vs Red Baron
SCUP you say is similar to Porgy?
FIR again today. I remembered Dick SHAAP after a perp or two giving me the Japanese airline.
WC
WC, it's called a rebus square -- not sure why -- but sometimes shows up in the NYT on Thu or Sun. Rebus squares are not allowed in the LAT.
DSL modem...when ATT installed my new fiber line they also put a new gizmo on the wall where it comes in, plugged into a wall socket for power. The cable coming out of that new gizmo then goes into the WIFI modem on the desk. This is also where I get my UVerse tv signal. My phone is a landline with its own dedicated line for phone service only.
Nice Wednesday puzzle.
Got my Fluad Quadrivalent with the Adjuvant yesterday, shoulder a bit sore but that’s it.
Hi All!
2 DNFs in a row? Oy.
HungryMother - same sentiment. Oh, and DW & I did our 31st in Italy last year.
Thanks Mike for the puzzle but 20a|20d|33a == nope. Also, I put in SCHArP @48d [that, like Ray-O, was my best guess Lucina]
//for reals? - who's got two adjoining As in their name? (oh, thanks Spitz)
Theme was easy but, IMHO, fill suffered. On the plus side, I may have learned somethings.
Wonderful expo to sooth the burn JzB. Thanks.
Thanks for Lem's pics C.C.!
WO: got->EAT @37d
ESPs: yes! names
Fav: Times when the day is like a play by SARTRE [Crash Test Dummies - from Canada!]
We had MOIRE a few weeks ago (ILIU - Aug 13 & 17 - Um, OK, more than a few...). I recall when DW was majoring in RTVF (Radio TeleVision Film) and was told NOT to wear stripes on TV. :-( she couldn't wear her favorite blouse.
D-O: The only guy with less likely time in one company than a CIO is the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer). 2 to 4 years on average. I (only by default - didn't have the title (nor the $$$ of C-suite) but it was on me) made it ~2.5years and worked to get myself demoted / some grown-up supervision so I could get back to the tech.
So... I got DSL to compensate when Cable-internet is out (working from home / #redundancy). ATT guy said they'd have to re-wire the inside-house to carry the signals.
$$$?
Screw it -- put the DSL (WiFi) MODEM in the garage and cut the land-line.
//shhhh, don't tell no one, but my ADT doesn't call out :-)
Whelp, Eldest is on her way back to OU and I'm on my way back to bed (up all night watching returns - yeah, I know we won't know 'till but still...)
Cheers, -T
Good morning!
Andre Romelle Young has indeed designated himself a "Dr.". That said, I have a slight issue with "MD" being included in the clue. You may be a doctor in many fields of study that are not medicine so not sure why puzzle author asks for a "Rapping MEDICAL doctor?" here.
Cheers!
Regarding: 18. LGBTQ part, briefly: TRANS. This designation, along with its many variants, refers to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender.
Well, no. I'm non-heterosexual, but I am not trans. (I am a gay, cisgender male.) Myabe the "or" is the problem? (But, maybe not: is a trans person non-heterosexual by definition? I don't think so...) Although I do think that the lately expanded labeling of sexuality and gender identities has gone over the top and often times does more to confuse than to clarify, the clue/answer exposition as written is just not right. (Sorry about that, JzB!).
Do any blog readers who happen to be trans care to comment?
Have a fantastic post-election-day-but-no-decision-yet Wednesday, everyone!
Barry T:
I'm'a gonna to try to be careful with my words here but,... I'm a moron (just ask DW).
No intended offence follows...
What's Gay CisGender? Is that just homosexual?
I'm Cis-hetero(? - is that a thing?) but one daughter is certainly gay (I could tell when she was 12yro & smitten with another girl in her choir - you could see it on both their faces). Other daughter seems to be more fluid (AC/DC?) but boys still mostly turn her off.
I've always thought of Trans as someone who cross-dressed. You know, like Eddie Izzard [Cake or Death].
//wait, religion too? :-)
I had one friend who went thought the whole surgery to become female.
Is them (pronoun?) Trans too?
And then there's the pronoun thing. I can't really keep up (and I'm on Twitter!)
Hope there's no offence in the above said,..
Cheers -T
Clever, but crunchy, Wednesday puzzle--many thanks, Mike. And always appreciate your helpful commentary, JazzB.
The theme answers were fun--I got TURKEY GRAVY right away--hey, Thanksgiving is coming up. Also got ROLE MODEL, but figured a turkey probably wasn't a role model for anything or anybody. Enjoyed seeing SARTRE, but Perot drove me crazy because I knew he was ROSS but couldn't figure out why it was four letters--oh, H ROSS--okay. Like Mark, I also wanted it to be AMOEBA, but finally gave in to AMEBAS. Never heard of SCUP or SCHAAP. And interesting to see ORU turn up again--glad I remembered it from my Tulsa days.
Have a nice lunch with Eileen, Irish Miss.
Funny grandchildren in their cute costumes, Lemonade.
Have a good day, everybody. When will we learn the election results?
Scratch that FIR. I just noticed I had LeC not LAC. I meant to recheck this morning. French of all things to cause FIW. AAAARRRRGGGHHH!
Ps, PVX, I got a flu shot this morning too . $10 Publix gift card
Anonymous T
Thank you Thank you Thank you for Eddie Izzard!!! He's one of the best things to ever happen in this world.
And as for Judith Ivey, I worked with her in Chicago in plays and once, she was my understudy. She did end up having to go on for me, I was ill, but I got the opportunity to see her performance, and she was so much better than I was!! So she went to New York and I went to Hollywood. She did a Neil Simon play and got a
Tony and I got a great husband and two wonderful daughters and now two wonderful grandsons.
Becky
My favorite CIO joke: "Someone who is smart enough to do the job,and dumb enough to take it".
Well,
at this late juncture,
I am afraid I must post in reverse order of things
i remember...
1st,
Irish Miss,
Bloody Marys?
(Can I come over?)
Note that I prefer Bloody Maria's,
(Tequila vs Vodka)
but at this age, I don't care anymore...
Puzzle?
(wait, Irish Miss, I can bring celery...)
Oh, puzzle,
Yes, it did things to my Butt.
In Particular, 8d sartre crossing 20a mattea was like
sitting on a sharp tack. (on a Wednesday?)
(& I left the names without Capitals to express my displeasure...)
7. Disney frame: CEL.
wait a sec!
DW bought that exact same Cel!
& now it's on the crossword Blog?
(how many of these dang things are there?)
I must go into the Living Room & examine it for discrepancies...
66. Lays down the lawn: SODS. Puts rolls of grass in place. Nice word play.
(really?)
Personally, I would have liked to see
"rolls up the grass" = unsods
(or maybe, reaps sod?)
I mean, it had to come from somewhere, right?
Now, I probably wont be back for a half hour or so...
(lucky you...)
because, in all my YouTube travels, I do not think I ever
relived Casey Jones, of which the Circus Train reminded me.
After just the intro, I have to watch the whole episode!
In addendum,
I enjoyed the Red Baron/Snoopy link,
& the return of the Red Baron side afterlink...
But I must somehow find the Christmas version
for these trying times...
Air--- stymied me as well!
how could this be?
after all the clips I have posted
about my exploits!
Note, the above is IL2-Sturmovick, a PC Flying Simulator game.
the video was altered to make it look like original gun camera footage,
but the game is in glorious hi-def color!
Also note:
you need to learn how to fly a plane...
you must learn the maps to know where you are...
it is very immersive...
But one of the breakout things is Track IR.
you will never go back if you try this...
Now, I admit, the baseball cap add-on does look silly.
(my fav thingy...)
but Track IR is not the best version of this hardware.
Purists insist on "Headtracker."
but the thingie you wear on your head,
will make you look like a teletubby...
Well, I thought we had a very nice puzzle today. As with JzB’s intro, I started off with the unifier, which made solving the puzzle much easier.
Thanks Mike and JzB.
I had a couple of hiccups along the way. Knew Kathy Mattea, but I couldn’t remember how to spell her name. For the longest time way back when, I thought the title of the Mocedades song was “Et Es Tú". It wasn’t until I finally got curious and looked up the translation of the lyrics that I found out how wrong I was. Took me awhile today to remember. Here is the English translation:
Eres Tú English Lyrics
Like most of the rest of the world, I haven’t been traveling much (and it’s driving me crazier)!!! However, when I do travel, I travel on my stomach. I always plan my trips so that I can stop at my favorite restaurants, and my favorite in Memphis is Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, just a few blocks north of Beale Street:
The Rendezvous
As noted, Jeremy Schaap is the son of Dick Schaap, who was one of ESPN’s absolute best, and why I knew how to spell the name. Dick’s obit on the ESPN website says it all:
Dick Schaap’s ESPN Obit
Like HG, I haven’t gotten a robocall all day! Nobody cares anymore!
Waiting Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Mike and JzB.
I required P&P today, and I got the TRAIN theme; but I FIWed at my Natick cross of SCHAAP and ANA (I see that many of you also used P instead of A).
I didn't need to ask DH for NYY today. Perps gave me the unknown American Congresswoman AOC.
Yes, billocohoes, I agree that RNA is the messenger. I changed my R to D with perps.
Yes, Ray'o, my nose wrinkled at "condiment" for GRAVY. Condiments are ketchup, mustard, HP sauce etc. I thought of you with ESA/O quandary; I entered the A because the feminine always seems to be the CW default. But your French question about LAC might be answered by some Canadian history; one route that the French-Canadian voyageurs paddled/portaged with their furs was between Montreal and Fort William (now Thunder Bay) on Lac Supérieur.
I smiled at MATTEA and ICE TEA.
We had PSI and ETA; TAN & ECRU were joined by "Brown and blonde" which turned out to be ALES, not hair colours.
Spitzboov - there seems to be some controversy as to whether a Canadian or an Australian shot down the Red Baron.
Wishing you all a great day.
What a morning. Wasn't sure I wanted to get up to confront the latest election news. I did not expect it to be close. I wonder how much longer we'll be on tenterhooks.
I spent more time than usual reading the news and ESSAYS in today's paper, I had less time left to do the Xwd. Glad it was not too difficult. Thank you, Mr. Peluso.
Irish Miss ~ OK, okay, so no jokes about "My Sister Eileen." I'm stifling MYSELF.
But surely after one or two of your home brewed Red Snappers, the gags will fly between the two of you!
Maybe you'll remember a couple of them to share with us tomorrow...?
Misty ~ I had to pause as well before remembering the "H" preceding ROSS. I wonder how many got caught by that one.
Wilbur ~ Glad you got your shot. It would be a terrible thing to get both COVID and the Flu this season. We need to do all we can to protect ourselves.
(How come you got charged for the shot? Mine was free. I guess it was covered by Medicare.)
~ OMK
____________
DR:. Just one diagonal today, in the mirror.
Its anagram is a curious one. Drama students and classical scholars know that the "Braggart Soldier" or "Miles Gloriosus" is a favorite character in ancient Roman comedies. He reappears in Commedia dell-arte farces as a typically Spanish warrior, a model of braggadocio.
In today's anagram he is given NCO rank, as...
"SGT. BOASTER"!
Puzzling thoughts:
What a TRAIN WRECK! Ink blots all over the newspaper I'm afraid: APSES/AISLE; MAGIC BUTTON/BULLET; AMOBAE/AMEBAS; BEELE/BEALE; JAL/ANA; OWN/EAT, and for some reason I misread the clue at 54-across and put BOS in before realizing it should be NYY. But regardless, I don't like either of those teams (sorry WC and tinbeni) so I could've penned in MEH instead! ;^)
As others have said, very well-hidden theme today. Thanks Mike Peluso for the fun ride!
Thx JazzBumpa for the very thorough recap; love the music links
Back when I traveled the world in my Intl job, I got to visit the city of GENEVA quite often. Very French.
A non-puzzle related Moe-ku, other than the baseball reference (for which we had a few in today's):
Overweight catchers
Were ejected from buffet
When they blocked the plates
CanadianEh! - - I agree. I didn't want to argue with my generous Canadian host. His country; his story. I think the swatch of red fabric was genuine.
___________________________________________
Becky - - Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
By golly I saw the theme right away with MODEL and GRAVY, so was able to enter (correctly as it turned out) BULLET. Didn't get CIRCUS until later. I note that MODEL, BULLET, and CIRCUS are real trains while a GRAVY train is not.
Hand up for not knowing SCUP.
I agree that cluing Dr. DRE as an MD is not good cluing. I suspect his use of the term Dr. is similar to how the highly talented rag pianists, colleagues and competitors of Scott Joplin, called themselves doctors.
We have DSL, which is extremely slow because we are at the maximum distance from the Central Office. In other words, the copper wires are very long. AT&T did string fiber into nearby neighborhoods but missed our street, so no fiber for us. The only alternative at our address is Xfinity (Comcast) cable. Sheesh, and this is the so-called heart of Silicon Valley. The city of San Jose is woefully low tech in many ways.
Our son in San Diego recently got fiber to his house, and man oh man it's fast. And reliable.
Good wishes to you all.
D-O, rebus, yep. I think Evan Birnholz Wa-Post has used it, too. TTP? TB-Times dropped NYTimes and went to EB last year. I recall a complicated rebus but that was past my memory bank expiration date.
OMK, no, Publix gave ME $10.00 to get the shot there.
Some claimed that Julius Erving was not a real doctor. The response: "You should see him operate"
WC
Wilbur ~ WoW!
Money to GET a shot?!
Who is this Publix guy?
OK, I looked him up, and he's a supermarket.
OIC.
Our market, Albertson's, gave me a coupon for 20% off our grocery purchase up to $20. So I guess it is the same thing.
My wife got her shots too, and together we scored $40 on groceries this week.
Hey, this is a good deal. I wonder how many more shots I can take...
~ OMK
Becky - So, um, Ivey was a gimme yesterday, eh? :-)
C, Eh! - Ok... But are you sure it's not a condiment? //brace yourself -- it's disgusting...
Nice DR OMK.
Cute Moe-ku, C. Moe.
CED - I thought you were headed to roll a different type of grass. [2:43]
waseeley - that is the best description of CIO/CISO I've ever heard :-)
Eldest is back at OU; Youngest has her friends (masked & social distanced) in the driveway watching a movie on the garage door. Is it wrong to take two naps in a day?
Cheers, -T
Canada Eh and Anon T....LIU sadly I was wrong..not only is gravy considered a condiment but...(Canada are you sitting down)so is ...MAPLE syrup...😱
Yeah, Lemonade, I dare say your grandkids may become professional performers.
Just told DW about today's fill...
Flashed my grid (with some pride) at getting 8d //she introduced me to his lit [Married an English Major (Phd), I did]
"Honey, that's not how you pronounce SARTRE."
Um, yeah - that's exactly how I pronounce 'Sar-T-Er-eh' :-)
Cheers, -T
AnonT and Ray’o- Clear GRAVY 😝. Ok, I could think about accepting GRAVY as a condiment . . . but Maple Syrup! Sacrilege!!
AnonT- your DW must be a gem💕. Just tell her that Sar-T-Er-eh! is the Canadian pronunciation😁
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