Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Roland Huget
Hi Gary,
This is my first time providing info to the LA Times crossword blog.
My name is Roland Huget and I a retired nuclear engineer. I live in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Including this crossword, I have had 41 published in the LA Times, every day of the week except Sunday.
This is my first time providing info to the LA Times crossword blog.
My name is Roland Huget and I a retired nuclear engineer. I live in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Including this crossword, I have had 41 published in the LA Times, every day of the week except Sunday.
Times in March 2015. In this grid the "wheel" is "rotating" in the opposite direction to that in the NYT. The NYT grid design was borrowed from a Manny Nosowsky puzzle in an omnibus.
As far as the fill is concerned, it's certainly Scrabblier than my previous effort. I minded my Z's and Q's and W's in assembling the central crossed answers. I am also more aware now of limiting proper nouns and acronyms than I was back then. It also helps that my word list has improved significantly in the intervening 5 years.
Roland.
1. Doesn't block: ADMITS - He ADMITS you only if you have some serious ID
7. Financial crime trial evidence: LEDGER - This is one page of a LEDGER that turned Al Capone into a 30. Cell occupant: CON, eventually at Alcatraz
13. Daybreak?: SIESTA - Yeah, I get it, but shouldn't the clue be two words? (YR agreed)
14. Pronoun sung multiple times in the 1968 hit "Turn Around, Look at Me": SOMEONE.
15. French president after Hollande: MACRON - We had this definition on 11/15/20
16. One can hold about 500 hours of HD video: TERABYTE.
17. "I hate that!": UGH - For me it's liver!
18. Wine-and-food match, e.g.: PAIRING
20. Ancient refuge: ARK.
21. Compensate for goofing off, maybe: CRAM - "That exam's tomorrow?"
23. Fill with wonder: AMAZE.
24. Not busy: FREE
25. Capital NE of Vientiane: HANOI
27. Cream __: PIE.
28. __ one's time: waited: BIDED - I always liked this "rhyme" fashioned by Ira Gershwin for his brother George's melody, "But I'm BIDIN' my time, Cause that's the kinda guy I'm"
29. Motivation in "The Manchurian Candidate": MIND CONTROL.
32. Designers' tools: COLOR WHEELS.
34. Begged off formally: SENT REGRETS.
36. Negotiations: TALKS - The TALKS to end the Korean War lasted 2 years and 17 days and only achieved a cessation of hostilities, no peace treaty.
39. Proof letters: QED - So there!
42. Fruit picked from palms: ACAI.
43. Old Venetian coin: DUCAT - Act 1 Scene 3 from The Merchant Of Venice (3,000 DUCATS is $530,000 today)
47. "See here, fella ... ": LOOK YOU.
49. Misfortune: WOE.
50. Leftovers: ODDMENTS - Did you try REMNANTS first too?
50. Leftovers: ODDMENTS - Did you try REMNANTS first too?
52. Nervous excitement: TREMOR - TREMOR elicits a more
negative connotation to me
54. Singer who played a hacker in "Ocean's 8": RIHANNA - RIHANNA is dressed in "fashionable rags" in this picture of the cast. Audiences gave it a 45% on RT
54. Singer who played a hacker in "Ocean's 8": RIHANNA - RIHANNA is dressed in "fashionable rags" in this picture of the cast. Audiences gave it a 45% on RT
55. Francia neighbor: ESPANA.
56. Enterprise engineer: SCOTTY - Captain Kirk never said this line even once. Picard, do you agree?
57. Small town symbol: MAIN ST.
Down:
1. To the same degree: AS MUCH.
2. Sentence model used in language teaching: DIAGRAM - I love diagramming and my friend knows I might sneak it in when I sub in her English class!
4. State since 1948: Abbr.: ISR - Arizona in 1912 and then none until Alaska in 1959. Wait a minute...
5. Sporty car option: T-TOP.
6. Arabian Peninsula capital: SANAA.
7. Producer Michaels: LORNE - SNL producer
8. Salon, for one: EMAG - It is rife with politics and so I chose not to link
9. Ball star: DEB - If it's not Lucille I guess it's a DEButante
10. Homer, in baseball jargon: GO YARD - It means that a home run has left the baseball park (ball yard). Add in dingers below for home run names.
11. Main menu item: ENTREE - I got a shock
once when I splurged on a $40 steak and found out the ENTREE was just one
item on an á la carte menu. "$8 for a potato?"
12. Gave a strong impression (of): REEKED.
14. Motto attributed to Horace: SEIZE THE DAY - A memorable scene illustrating it
16. Total disasters: TRAINWRECKS - Husker, Michigan and Penn State 2020 football
19. Reason for a Champagne shortage, maybe: IMPORT QUOTA - Quotas and tariffs play a big role in getting French Champagne here
22. Snowboard relative: MONOSKI - Here quadriplegic Nikko Landeros practices for competition
24. Sole food: FILLETS - Nice pun Roland
26. Waits at the drive-thru: IDLES - There were 20 cars in the drive-thru line at MacDonalds yesterday. I parked, went inside and had my food in 60 seconds.
28. Participants in Africa's 1830s-'40s Great Trek: BOERS - BOER is Dutch/Afrikaan for farmer
31. Short rule?: REG - In Massachusetts, it is a state REGulation that all day care children must brush their teeth after lunch
33. Deliberately weak argument metaphor: STRAW MAN.
35. Stereotypical swinging-doors sites: SALOONS - There they are in the background of this very famous TV SALOON
36. Small drums: TABORS.
38. Cry from a nest?: LAND HO - The name of the sailor in the Pinta's crow's nest who first saw land after 10 weeks at sea is lost to history
41. Study closely: PEER AT.
43. Youngest of a '60s-'70s male quintet, familiarly: DONNY - Here they are with Andy Williams who gave them their first big break.
44. Carved symbol: TOTEM.
47. Gave for a while: LENT.
48. __ Minor: URSA - The North Star is at the end of the constellation The Little Bear (URSA Minor). That star stays in the same place in the night sky all year long (north of the equator) as you can see in this 8-hr exposure picture. Therefore it was instrumental in navigation for sailors like Columbus.
51. Sweeper's convenience?: MAT - A very common metaphorical practice in my family
53. Center opening: EPI - Seismometers only show how far away the EPICENTER of an earthquake is and not the direction. The EPICENTER is where the three of these circles overlap.
ReplyDeleteWell, it looked daunting but it turned out to be quick. And perhaps a bit easy once I got on a roll. 18:57 for those keeping score at home. While watching Barnaby Jones. Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Husker Gary.
Financial crime trial evidence: LEDGER. Capone should have used a shredder to cover his tracks !
That NE corner fell first, with a few gimmes including TERABYTE. Then SE, SW, NW and done ! That "State since 1948" clue kept me from filling the NW first.
ODDMENTS is not a word in my vocabulary, but I got it easily and am glad to have learned a new word.
My great-grand-niece went YARD as a freshman with the first home run in her college career not too long ago. Time flies. AFAIC, I'm too young to have a great-grand-niece and great-grand-nephew.
What was the name of Miss Kitty's SALOON ? Was it Miss Kitty's ?
Time to get a little more sleep.
The bar was the Longbranch,easy Saturday except 50a,had odds ends at 1st.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteWhew, it wasn't three in a row. Got this one in short order. I loves me a themeless, because there's no reveal to miss. Looked long and hard at GOYARD, no realizing it was two words. Husker, thanx for 'splainin' MAT. (Whoosh!) Nicely done, Roland.
TTP, I haven't seen Gunsmoke in years and years, but I believe that saloon was the Long Branch.
TERABYTE: My music Vault has got two of 'em. I'll never fill it up. I'm still workin' on the first 1/2 Terabyte.
Roland-Thanks for your comments. I enjoy themeless puzzles. Your puzzle introduced three new terms to me that I'd never heard before- ODDMENTS, MONOSKI, and GO YARD. The other unknowns worked their way into the grid. I didn't know ACAI grew on palms or who was in the movie but the perps took care of RIHANNA. Took about 20 minutes to FIR.
ReplyDeleteSANA'A- I know it but can never remember if it's SAANA or SANAA.
Salon-E-RAG would be a better description for that EMAG.
IMPORT QUOTA- simple- buy American.
Gary- you should have told the bride you were copying the Yardbirds. Part of the act.
SW confused me for too long. Had date instead of acai, had remnants instead of oddments. Oddments??
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteMy experience with this was the exact opposite of the first three posters, i.e., it gave me fits, but with lots of P and P, I finished w/o errors, but it took 38 minutes. The SW corner almost defeated me because of not knowing Rihanna was ever in a movie, plus being stumped on Tabors, Oddments, and Land Ho. Part of my overall challenge was the misdirection and deviousness of the cluing, which was both fair and frustrating, so kudos to Roland. What really impressed me, though, was the abundance of outstanding fill: Mind Control, Seize The Day, Train Wrecks, Straw Man, Color Wheels, etc. I think my only w/o was DNA/Con, a result of one of those tricky clues. Sweeper’s Convenience=Mat was another head scratcher until the light bulb went on.
Thanks, Roland, for a truly enjoyable solve and for sharing your thoughts and thanks, Gary, for brightening a very gloomy December day with your wit and wisdom.
FLN
Anon T, your house looks absolutely beautiful and I’m happy that you survived the ladder climbing! 🎄
YR, your comment about the “death throws” sent me into laugh-out loud throes. (I have an add funny bone, I think). If proof readers exist today, which I doubt, they are just as ill-informed as the writers. BTW, belated good wishes on the move and getting settled in your new surroundings. You must be very excited.
Have a great day.
Well I blew it. I was thinking that a guitar had a thingy called a STReP. And when I filled SALOONS didn't correct. FIW. Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGary, I assume DIAGRAMs are punishment lessons to be held over their heads in case of disruption.
Not knowing my Oceans I had Sinatra/RIHANNA and when fishing for sole I saw the L and filled halibut just for.. I had a w/o in Homer but can't make it out. George Scott used to call them "Taters". And pore at preceeded PEER AT. After five perps SANAA looked vaguely familiar.
Not as hard as some Saturdays YMMV.
Ah, "under the rug/MAT". Wondered about that.
WC
Pretty sure that guitars are immune to strep WC
DeleteIM, sounds like your funny bone may be an ODDMENT. I crack up at odd moments too. When no one else sees the joke.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, ODD cENTS made sense, so; missed M in ODDMENT. Sigh. Got everything else including GO YARD which I was not up on. Liked LAND HO and its clue. In middle school we were strongly taught via DIAGRAMming. Glad to see it's still used. ACAI on palms was a learning for me, too. Had 'Asia' before URSA - perps convinced easily. Liked the triple column long downs.
Good Saturday work-out.
Thanks Roland, and thanks to Gary for another intro packed full of good poop. (Merriam noun definition #3.)
Got it all except the SW corner. Had MADONNA instead of RIHANNA. Thought ACIDIC and LANDHO were right but didn’t fit with the mistake. Overall a very good Saturday puzzle, just the right level of challenge.
ReplyDelete17:27 to finish today. Enjoyable puzzle, even though I didn't know oddments, Boers, and a couple others.
ReplyDeleteMy edition of the Hartford Courant has Mark McClain as the creator of this puzzle!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Courant uses one of those random constructor wheels. They seem to be increasingly popular these days.
DeleteWilbur @ 8:18 ~ Yes, my funny bone is odd, not add. I’m always amused at what strikes me funny, especially something I read that makes me laugh out loud, like YR’s comment.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention in my post that Go Yard is new to me. Go Long, yes, but I never heard Go Yard. Who can keep up with today’s jargon, anyway. It seems like Twitter and Face Book are creating new words daily and since I’m not on either, I’m At Sea, as they say in Crossworld!
My late sister, Mary, used oddments all the time, but apparently, incorrectly, as she would say, “Oh, I’m going to Walmart, I need some oddments”, meaning a few things, i.e., odds and ends. I never questioned it because I never used it myself, but I understood what she meant.
HOLA!
ReplyDeleteThe constructor in my newspaper is also listed as Mark McClain.
Challenging puzzle today but not impossible. Slow and steady got it done. Luckily I recalled LORNE Michaels and started with that. SIESTA is cleverly clued. Ha ha
Not much time to comment any more. Today my group has an ornament exchange so I have to go.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
I normally do not work the Saturday or Sunday crosswords but gave it a go today. “Missed it by that much.” I can barely recall US presidents’ names, let alone French. So the crossing of ASsUCH and sACRON raised no flags. Also, ODDcENTS seemed right in spite of not being able to figure out what a cAT had to do with a sweeper’s convenience, more like a hindrance.
ReplyDeleteThe Barnacle also credited Mark McClain. Methinks somebody at Tribune Content Agency has been getting into the Christmas spirits.
ReplyDeleteMe too: ODDMENTS was an odd word.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the term GO YARD. At first I put in GONNER as in Going Going GONE, or It's a goner. Oh well. I guess it comes from hitting it out of the yard and over your fence.
Also I'd never heard of the capital SANAA. Unique answer!
A nukuler engineer?..no wonder I DNF, Mr. Huget (youjet or hoo-zhay?). Came close but the SW was my waterloo and I tossed in the pen. Wanted Madonna/RIHANNA. The "nest" was the best and ended my run. Filled in the rest of the puzzle so not a complete TRAINWRECK. Like Irish M. ODDMENTS? C'mon! TABORS?
ReplyDeleteI figured homer was already baseball jargon. BTW why do we call Israel a "state"? Francia and España are countries not états or estados. Held off MINDCONTROL as I stuck with Bantu/BOER too long. Did NOT put idlefor FREE which showed up later as IDLES.
Salon name had me baffled for awhile. Another E answer. MAINST clue prolly shudda hadda abrev. Not sure I get the STRAWMAN clue but it's been used before. Acetic or ACIDIC. I wrote in MONOSKI? never hard the term but it makes sense. (Could also be one of DW's Polish relatives)
COLORWHEELS reminds me of those awful aluminum. Christmas trees from the 60's. We had a particular hidious sparse cheap one that made Charley Brown's tree look like a sequoia.
"I can'nae take any more SCOTTY, beam me down!"
Monotonus porcine person....BOER
snack break during "Gone With the Wind"....TERABYTE
What a vampire never does....SEIZE THE DAY
Husker...I know SOMEONE else "just BIDEN his time..."
FLN
ReplyDeleteYR: Letting life go by for 2 weeks is actually a pleasure in some ways now that the wife and daughter are on the mend. I'm learning nothing is so important it can't wait 14 days.
Anon T. Tony your house and decorations look great. I hang wreaths below windows by leaning out probably just as dangerous as a ladder. Second I have a man cave with a 100 projection screen to TV binge with and reading area keeping me occupied and partly separated from recovering Marcia and Catherine.
100in
ReplyDeleteHello Roland from Kitchener!! I lived in Kitchener from '74-'76 and loved it as I did the previous 5 years in Toronto. My "old" secretary stills lives there. I should introduce you to my nuclear physicist brother so you could discuss parallel universes in which dear brother believes he resides. As for the puzzle, slow, slow, but steady. Up, down, back and forth, side to side, it came into focus. Like Spitboov, I thought oddcents made sense, but what about cat at 51D. Thus, a single missed square. Can't complain though. It was tough, but fun. Notre Dame in an hour. Go Irish.
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary thank you for the shout out.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, "Beam Me Up, SCOTTY" was never said on Star Trek. This short video tells a bit of the story.
Here I was honored to meet SCOTTY in real life at a Star Trek convention in Los Angeles.
Challenging puzzle today but worth it. Clue for MAT my favorite part. Had TABLAS before TABORS. Hand up for PALM before ACAI. GO YARD had to be wrong. But I was wrong. FIR.
Check your spelling off "rhianna"on your solve
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFLN —> Dash T (and anyone else who’s curious), the PINOT Grape family consists of several different “relatives”. Pinot NOIR is actually the patriarch of the group. The name Pinot translates to pine, as the grape clusters resemble a pine cone on the vine. The word NOIR translates to black, and is the darkest member of the Pinot family. PINOT GRIS is a direct relative of Pinot Noir, as is PINOT BLANC. The main difference among the three is the amount of Anthocyanin (colorant) that exists in the skins. If you were to look at the DNA of all three, they are identical. It’s the skin color that differs. Pinot “Gris” translates to grey. Pinot “Blanc” translates to white. Think of it this way: if the Pinot grape were a human, the Noir would be a person of color (black), the Gris would be a akin to a mulatto, and Blanc would be an Anglo-Saxon. But what’s inside the grape (it’s juice, or “blood”) is all the same. The juice is actually the same color in each. Pinot MEUNIER, which is one of three allowable grapes to be used in producing Champagne, is more of a mutant hybrid. It’s derived as if two first cousins married and had children!
Now, you ask, if what’s inside the three grapes (Noir, Gris, and Blanc) is identical, how is it that Pinot Noir is a darker wine in the glass? Great question! In the process of making wine, grapes with lighter skin colors (such as Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc) are pressed to squeeze the juice out in the first step of fermentation. The skins are discarded or in some cases, allowed to sink to the bottom of the fermentation tank to add more flavor and body, but no color. The Pinot Noir (as well as any other red grape varietals) is crushed prior to fermentation, and the resulting juice and skins are kept in constant contact. It’s the pigment from the skins that provide wine its color. The longer the skins stay in contact with the fermenting juice, the darker it becomes. But the highest amount of color transfer occurs within 24 hours or so. So theoretically there could be a “White Pinot Noir”, if the winemaker decided to press the grapes rather than crush them.
Finally, I’m sure you’re familiar with Rosé wines as a category. What many people don’t realize is that Rosés are almost exclusively made from various red grape varietals. The reason the color is lighter is that the skins are only left in contact with the juice, prior to fermentation, for a few hours and then discarded. Rosé made from Pinot Noir is quite good, but my favorite Rosé usually features a high dose of Grenache.
I hope that’s enough wine geek to last for awhile!! 🤡 🍷
Today’s puzzle: our paper also listed Mark McClain; HG, great recap! I had a few w/o’s and used WAGS and perps when needed, but all fell into place correctly. ODDMENTS was my only ?/unknown
ReplyDeleteSuper crunchy Saturday.
Happy to get the solve after a bit of a slog,,
Now for lunch, Jersey Mike’s BLT, yum.
I was doing better than my average Saturday puzzle. Now they tell me it was easy. My only sticking point was the NE. I should have had LEDGER and DEB (clever). I missed terabyte.
ReplyDeleteI don't think of TERABYTES as "holding" anything. LIU. I assume hold means store. I didn't know LORNE and never heard of GO YARD in my baseball loving family. The rest was fast and accurate.
I used to like to diagram sentences. I stopped using diagramming as a teaching tool because only the most able students could relate to it. The others never appreciated it. There are simpler ways to teach it. I think having a learning disabled son helped me to understand those students who have trouble catching on any concept. My mom used to say, "There is more than on way to skin a cat." -more than one way to teach grammar.
I do not find ODDMENTS odd. -D---NTS suggested it. I used to use "oddments"
for little bits of this and that. Google says, "Odds and ends probably derived from an earlier term from the mid-1500's, odd ends, referring to short leftovers from bolts of cloth and then later to short leftovers of any material, such as “odd ends of chain” or “odd ends of lumber.” By the mid-1700's it had morphed into 'odds and ends' and become more generalized, ..."
Thank you Roland for a delightful puzzle and for your always stimulating commentary.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Most Saturdays puzzles I don't even attempt, but I've been getting bolder in my dotage. My progression today was anything but linear and I had to twirl the "pinwheel" multiple times to get most of the long fill, and interesting fill it was.
2D I loved sentence DIAGRAMing, but I would add to the clue: "which should be used more widely" in language teaching. IMHO the abandonment of this tool accounts for much of the poor business writing I encountered when I was working.
19D BigEasy @7:24. Technically Champagne can only be obtained by importing it. By definition it can only be legally called "Champagne" if it is made from grapes grown in the eponymous region of France.
52A I agree with Gary that TREMOR is a bit strong for the clue, as it usually connote some sort of physical cause, whereas the clue connotes a psychological one. But perps don't lie, so TREMOR it is. However it did take awhile for me to mentally insert the space in MAINST.
36D TABORs provide the percussion section in Irish string bands, with winds supplied by the uilleann pipes.
51D Dw would NEVER sweep anything under a MAT! I wouldn't either, much preferring the more mnemic RUG, due to its much larger capacity.
Bill
Yep! McClain is credited as the creator in the LA Times as well.
ReplyDeleteAs we used to say in Jr High, What gives?
DNF
I managed to chew my way through this toughie in every sector EXCEPT the NE. Even the example given for 10D doesn't use the same weird grammar as GO YARD. The perps couldn't overcome an aversion to clipped English.
A true Natick for non-BB players.
~ OMK
ODDMENT? Really?
ReplyDeleteNow, why would I have accepted that, when I resisted GO YARD?
Es gibt keine Logik.
~ OMK
Saturday surprise! FIR. Started in the morning and took a break, coming back mid afternoon, when some problem areas started clearing up. SIESTA and ARK were slow to come. I lost track of how many other words I tried before UGH filled in. Those squares were nearly solid ink. Same questions as others had: MAT? ODDMENTS? GO YARD? Thanks, Husker Gary, for explaining and illustrating the puzzle so well. I too liked diagramming sentences. Thanks, Roland, for the challenge today and for the interview. It's always interesting to learn from constructors.
ReplyDeleteWe print out the Washington Post puzzle everyday and they have had the right names for the constructors so far.
Hope you all have had a good Saturday.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteNeeded help to finish - DONNY (#1) was never going to come to me (I was thinking Jackson 5) nor was RIHANNA(?who? - #2).
Thanks Roland for a fair Saturday. Thanks HG for the fine expo (and Dead Poets clip). Thanks both you for the 'interview'.
WOs; date -> ACAI, ODDsENdS b/f Cheat #2 reconsiderations. Put capo in 45a when the STRAP belong'd in 40a.
ESPs: #1 & #2 should be :-)
Fav: ACAI and I'll tell you why. I just learnt what those 'seeds' are. DW does not like them as they fall from the palmand litter the little path in the back YARD. Now that I know they're a "power fruit," I need to Google how to process them into eatable.
Sparkle: <backspace, backspace, backspace> IM (thanks! re: house) beat me to it.
I'll just add - it tickled me to see Salon and SALOON in the puzzle. I mixed those up as a kid - mom owned a Salon not a Saloon.
WC & IM Odd humor? Based on Spitz's 51d, I'm visualizing him pushing around the floor -- with his foot -- the cAT. That' or Mr. Meow (CED) comes over to help Spitz tidy-up :-)
Oh, wow. Thanks C.Moe. I get the French colours but I guess I've always thought Pinot defaulted to Blanc (wife loves it chilled pool-side in the summer). However, when I said Pinot at fancy restaurant they brought me Noir. Now I know.
Speaking of learning - Thanks for the odds & ends etymology YR.
Ray-O: 100 screens? Your den a Sports Bar? Oh, 100", that's very different. Never mind.
The wreaths will not fit though the windows; yep, I tried. :-)
GO YARD - Listen to baseball on the radio. They have to say the same things over and over so they use colorful phraseology to keep the listeners' minds active / paint the picture. Eg "Hung out on a rope" == line drive or, my favorite, when someone's on a streak == "Hotter than a depot stove."
Cheers, -T
Nice combination Roland and Gary. The puzzle was not easy but doable with lots of fun cluing. FLN I enjoyed the tour of your house -T, but would never have seen the swing without the heads up.
ReplyDeleteBe safe all
Gallup Poster, like the pollster who keeps predicting Trump, will lose 90% of states, you could not be more wrong. While you are likely correct that Saturday is the least attempted puzzle, the demographics show thousands viewing our site every day of the week, including Saturday. If you hold unsubstantiated opinions such as "go yard" being an archaic term (it first appeared IN 1988 or arcane - understood by few; mysterious or secret - when baseball may not be the preeminent sport it once was, still draws more than 50 million people a year to the ballpark and more to the TV and radio.
ReplyDeleteIf you do not like Saturday, do like many- skip it. But please do not come here to whine. IMO
Lemonade, I echo your keenly perceptive remarks to Gallopman.
ReplyDeleteShankers, I think I have my pandemic grump on but thanks for the backup
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 1:28:
ReplyDelete"Robyn Rihanna Fenty (/riˈænə/ ree-AN-ə;[1][n 1] born 20 February 1988)[2] is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna was discovered by American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the United States to record demo tapes. [Etc., etc., much glorification. All per Wiki.]
With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She has earned 14 number-ones and 31 top-ten singles in the US and 30 top-ten entries in the UK. Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, and six Guinness World Records." [Gosh, only six??]
I really liked the puzzle, Roland; nice write up, Gary!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I had a DNF, along with a few WRONGS sprinkled in the grid.
My first fill (since I always look at the long ones first) was SOMEONE. The song was one of my favorites. So, I checked Wiki, and I discovered Glen Campbell was an uncredited co-writer of the song (credited to Jerry Capehart). Campbell recorded it in 1961, the Bee Gees recorded it in 1964, and as the clue said, The Vogues didn’t record it until 1968.
I liked the LANDHO clue.
Yes, GO LONG is a football term (“I’m gonna throw it as far as I can, and you’d best be there to catch it!”), while GO YARD is definitely baseball. I can’t find too much about the origin of GO YARD. One source said, “In 2005, William Safire said he couldn’t find the origin.” That’s good enough for me. There does seem to be a general consensus that ESPN is responsible for its overuse these days.
Gotta go eat! Later….
I liked this puzzle. Took a long time to get going and there was still a lot of white space after I did my first across/down pass. Then the light bulbs began illuminating, one after another, leading to a successful finish. Fun, enjoyable, and informative.
ReplyDeleteSo it was ADMITS, not ALLOWS. It was TABORS, not TABLAS or even BONGOS. And it was PEERS AT, not PERUSES.
ARK went in, came out, and went in again. So did ACIDIC. Excellent clues for REEKED, MAT, LAND HO, CRAM, FILLETS, and BIN.
Like -T, all I could think of was the Jackson Five, so it took a while for me to get DONNY.
Chairman Moe, thanks for your exposition on Pinot. Pinot noir is my favorite varietal, and I'm on a De Loach spree at the present time.
Good wishes to you all.
I have learned over many years of teaching that diagramming only adds to the confusion of the grammar challenged. It helps only those who have that kind of mind. There are many learning styles and mind sets. A teacher needs to fit the students'learning style rather than trying to stuff a square peg into a round hole.
ReplyDeleteWhen a student doesn't get it you have to try a different tack. I have explained many concepts ten ways to Sunday. Whatever works!
I have learned over many years of teaching that diagramming only adds to the confusion of the grammar challenged. It helps only those who have that kind of mind. There are many learning styles and mind sets. A teacher needs to fit the students'learning style rather than trying to stuff a square peg into a round hole.
ReplyDeleteWhen a student doesn't get it you have to try a different tack. I have explained many concepts ten ways to Sunday. Whatever works!
I have learned over many years of teaching that diagramming only adds to the confusion of the grammar challenged. It helps only those who have that kind of mind. There are many learning styles and mind sets. A teacher needs to fit the students'learning style rather than trying to stuff a square peg into a round hole.
ReplyDeleteWhen a student doesn't get it you have to try a different tack. I have explained many concepts ten ways to Sunday. Whatever works!
I think I'm seeing triple YR. Must be the Bordeaux. But fair point about different learning still. One size definitely doesn't fit all.
DeleteYR - I know you've read my posts and can plainly see I'm "grammar" (among other things :-)) challenged.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in grade school, I took to diagramming sentences; it was the only thing in English class that was easy for me. Whereas other's had issues diagramming, they could spell. Diagramming, to me was just logical; very much unlike spelling (and dyslexia* didn't help).
Waseeley - is that your experience too?
Lem - I wasn't sure how to read GallupPollster... I mean - On one hand you're right; don't try Sats and then moan when you don't know something (esp. on Sat!). On the other hand, if you're a word-nerd then try Sats & learn - like I've been doing for >15 years //still can't nail a Sat but when the Moon is Blue.
GallupP - to answer your question. About 1/2 of the Corner regulars have had a hand at construction. Some on their own but, IIRC, most (like me) with the help of our Blog Mistress (she's fabulous!). We all like puzzles and like to learn.
Cheers, -T
*I didn't find out I was dyslexic until DW had Eldest tested ~15yrs ago. I thought nothing was wrong with her (Eldest). That's when DW had me tested :-).
Actually, that's when I started solving x-words daily to help reinforce letter patterns. (two Ls in FILLET only one T). Vowels still trip me up (TaRA BYTE)
T - I don't deal well with ambiguity (not that I have any choice!), and diagramming is one way to reduce it. (Future) IT people are probably drawn to sentence diagrams because they're tree structured and stepping stones to networks, linked lists, hashes and other ways of storing data.
DeleteSpelling English is a different problem because it is basically a "language stew" with no real rhyme or reason*. I learned it via the old "See Spot Run" method, illustrated with poster size pictures of the words for the objects and actions being learned. The retrieval key for each word is an image tagged to another image of the correctly spelled word, the exact opposite of image retrieval where the key is a word. I think spelling skills started to go south with the introduction of phonetics, which denies the reality of English's delicious ambiguity (which makes it ideal for poetry). Have you ever wondered if learners of languages like Spanish, Italian, and German have spelling bees? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Bill
* other than to facilitate WORDPLAY
I say about each child, "Whatever floats your boat. Whatever clicks." There is no one size fits all.
ReplyDeleteMy greatest reward is the AHA moment, the light in the eye, the dawning of understanding. I receive the same reward here when what I write gives anyone an AHA moment. That thrill is what I miss the most in retirement.
With Alan every step forward was a great reward for both of us.
-T @ 1630. That's kinda what I thought the constructor and editor had in mind. Screw a spare mop handle into the cAT'S belly button (an INNIE would be real helpful here) and, away you go. Upon completion, the sweeper's convenience would be released to the outdoors where it would shake itself out. (With a by-your-leave from CED.)
ReplyDeleteI am very late to the party today. I enjoyed the puzzle and very much liked the recap. The comments, here, have also made for interesting reading. I will be unable to spend much time here for a few days as I am dealing with some deferred home maintenance issues (it's nice to break out the tool box) and also hitting the ski slopes (that's even nicer - when not thinking about how best to deal with the maintenance issues).
ReplyDeleteSpitz & -T,
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where your
your Cat mop reference came from,
but, if you are interested,
they are available for only $19.95...
I think YR did a great job of showing that repetition is also a wonderful teaching device. Gary being a mathematically inclined person would appreciate the form of diagramming, YR the dancer, perhaps not. The real challenge for me when I have taught is accepting that people are so different and learn differently. The larger the classroom the harder to accomplish
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteLeo, I agree. Go long is football. Go deep and GO YARD are common in baseball to replace the verb homer, but the MLB campaign of a few years ago, "Chicks did the long ball" confused the issue. Mox nix. Glossary of baseball Also, plenty of YouTube videos about MLB teams "going yard" on their opponents, such as Cleveland ripping off 5 homers against Kansas City.
Malodorous Manatee, did I ever tell you about the time I was at the top of the mountain and took the black run by mistake ? I think I wore out the bottom of my ski pants trying to get to the bottom of that hill. Have fun while there, and hire out the maintenance.
Yellowrocks, check your blogger settings. It should be on semi-automatic (single send) versus three-round burst.
Lemonade, yeah, that's the daily complainer. Clearly envious of C.C.'s blog success and the community that resides here. Wants simply to sow dissent and likes to sponge the fun.
BTW, over 368K blog views in the last 30 days. There's only a very small portion of readers that actually comment. The gregarious ones, almost daily. Occasionally for many, many more. Some, never.
I'm certain that most see the daily complainer for what he is. Reminds me of Debbie Downer, the character played by Rachel Dratch on SNL. Except that her persona is unintentional, while our daily complainer clearly has an agenda of heckling. It is one sign of what an envious person does when seeing someone else succeed.
Yeah TTP, I was a lurker for a couple of years, just logging in to check my fills. And then I was gradually drawn into this wonderful community of wordsmiths, all shapes and sizes.
DeleteLemonade, although your point is well taken, in its general meaning, I would have to amiably disagree on a dancer not totally comprehending the forms of diagramming. I would think professional dancers are expected to be experts on the subject.
ReplyDeleteDancing, and choreography involve complex moves and serial maneuvers which would be nigh impossible to replicate without sophisticated dance step coding and dance notation, which is by any definition of the word, diagramming. Without this sort of algorithm, square dancing might just be considered some sort of an oxymoronic activity. ( apologies, YR )
Do lawyers understand diagramming ? Based on my minds view of the alarming and dreadful court room scenes on TV and the movies, we may have some doubts on the matter. My cousin Vinny, maybe the exception. Hmm.
waseeley
ReplyDelete"19D BigEasy @7:24. Technically Champagne can only be obtained by importing it. By definition it can only be legally called "Champagne" if it is made from grapes grown in the eponymous region of France."
I'm well aware of the 'definition' of champagne. I'm not a wine drinker but I doubt there's very little difference between the French champagne, Italian, or the California sparkling wines. But money talks. Buy what you please but I always try to keep Americans employed.
Truth be told Big Easy, I don't have a "Champagne pocketbook" and rarely buy it. And I heartily agree that we should look out for our brothers and sisters in the US of A.
DeleteCan I call you URL? Anyway, of course, you are correct. Dancer was the wrong analogy for art versus science but it was all I had to work with. Attorneys on the other won't fit easily in either box. Much of what you can do discourages creativity, where not reinventing the wheel is the road to success. Yes there are times for innovation
ReplyDeleteMManatee - If you need to borrow a tool I've got tools that fix tools I've got tools [Tim Allen 8:05 - goes MA @6:50]. No, really - here's just the right side of my work bench :-)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the skiing!
Waseeley - I think my education was on the cusp of See Spot Run & Phonics. I had both.
Stepmonster (Pop's 2 of 3 SOs) always chided "Just spell it like it sounds." Me: "Foniks?"
TTP - we all know that Debbie Downer [Thanksgiving Edition 5:08 (w/ Pinot Blanc!)]
WWWo'Oz @9:35p - Youngest is into dance & choreography - I've seen the notations as she pounds out a "free style." A language of it's own.
Lawyers do get it... ever see Legal Eagle's YouTube channel? [that one breaks down My Cousin Vinny [25:40]]
CED - a number of solvers at The Corner had ODD cENTS for 50a giving 51d, "Sweeper's convenience?", a cAT. I'm glad Spitz used the innie belly button - that's not where I'd have stuck the broom-handle in Fluffy :-)
Cheers, -T
-T I think lawyers speak the language of syllogisms, which are graphs of a sort, some sillier than others.
DeleteSuper Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Roland (nice to have a fellow-Canadian here) and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteMy newspaper never has constructor credits; I always have to wait until I come here.
I started this CW this morning but had to put it aside to do chores. With more P& P this afternoon I completed it.
Smiled at the many lightbulb moments; favourite was LAND HO.
I had remnants before ODDMENTS.
My palm tree produced a Date until I perped the I; our CW staple Ugli replaced the date; more perps gave me our other CW staple AÇAI. I LOLed.
WEES by this hour, but really Roland, only American designers use COLOR WHEELS😁
Wishing you all a good evening.
Just to set the record straight.
ReplyDeleteChampagne, under its strict legal definition only applies in the Euro community, ( per a 1891 Pact, and a post WW I 1918 agreement,-- which the US Senate never ratified, etc.),
and some other countries, including Britain,( and possibly Canada, because of a Canadian-Euro trade agreement post 2005 (?) .)
Not so, in the good ole USA !
Per a US district court judgement, 1973?, Moet and others vs. Watkin's Glen and Hammondsport Wineries etc.,
Champagne is a generic name for any sparkling alchoholic drink.
Since affirmed by Fed Ct of Appeals, and denied certiorari by the US Supreme Court.
Post a 2007 agreement between the US and the Europeans, no NEW sparkling wines, post 2007, can be called CHampagne.
BUT, Older CA and NY wines, pre-2007, usual champagne brands, are exempt, forever. And can call themselves 'champagne', for their entire lifetimes.
My final wine say of the evening:
ReplyDeleteChampagne is indeed a region in France. According to law, the only three grapes allowed in the sparkling wine produced in this region are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Period. The wines chosen are fermented separately and then blended in the bottle. What makes Champagne "special" as a sparkling wine is that the bubbles come from a second fermentation done INSIDE the bottle. I could go on and on about the process, but generally speaking, a true Champagne has gone through a very long and arduous journey to get to market.
That said, there are scores of sparkling wine examples that can match or exceed an average wine from Champagne. All of these use the same wine producing technique, but since the wine is produced outside of the Champagne region of France, the producers can not legally call it "Champagne".
Look carefully at the front label of a bottle of sparkling wine, (usually under the name) and if it says something like "Methode Champenoise", or Method Traditional, it will be made a la Champagne. A couple of great examples here in the US of that style are from Schramsburg (CA - Napa) and Gruet (New Mexico). One of my favorites from Italy is called Franciacorta, and from Spain I love Cava's.
Salut!
I thought Lemonade's response was to understated. Ironically the anon picked the easiest Saturday in a month.
ReplyDeleteI personally knew all answers once I had a few perps. (GO)YARD is not obscure- I wouldn't refer to music terminology or pop-cul references that way. I'd just say "Not familiar".
Sorry so late. Enroute to Dunellon again. Brr, 40s.
WC
Dear CED:
ReplyDeleteYour posts are always ones I look forward to, but I must say that your 'Cat Mop' was world-class! (And how did that cat stay put for the dust out? In the past mine would scat as soon as they heard the vacuum.)