Good Morning! Malodorous Manatee, here. Another Thursday has dawned, cruciverbalists, and today we get to catch a glimpse of the world through the eyes of five well-known artists. The glimpse comes via the efforts of constructor Chuck Deodene. Chuck is a veteran constructor who has had many puzzles previously published in both The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. Chuck is also a contributor to the Reading For The Oxford English Dictionary Programme. As such, his task is "to read books (and other texts) and note down potentially interesting instances of word use."
Today's theme: But Is It Artists?
Let's start at 60 Across: Self-taught creators, in modern lingo, and a hint to each set of circles: OUTSIDER ARTISTS.
This is the reveal and, to this writer, it certainly was an interesting instance of word use in that I had never before come across the term. It does, however, do a good job of describing the placement of the theme answers. At five places within the grid, the names of the ARTISTS can be formed by combining the OUTSIDE letters of the answers.
17 Across: Security perimeter feature: POLICE ROAD BLOCK. Jackson POLLOCK (1912 - 1956) was an American painter who was a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist Movement. Loosely translated, this means that our parents thought that we, as children, could create works of art very similar to his.
Blue Poles By Jackson Pollock
26 Across: Formally begins, as a meeting: CALLS TO ORDER. Alexander CALDER (1898 - 1976) was an American sculptor best known for his kinetic sculptures powered by air currents or motors.
Alexander Caldwell - Opening Scene "American Masters"
35 Across: Successfully lured: ROPED IN. Auguste RODIN (1840 - 19170) was a French sculptor perhaps most famous for his works "The Thinker" and "The Kiss". It is fascinating to note the change in style between RODIN and CALDER (above) and between RODIN and ARP (below) who were each born less than sixty years after Rodin.
The Burghers of Calais By Auguste Rodin
38 Across: High-intensity light source: ARC LAMP. Jean ARP (1886 -1966) was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet.
The Forest By Jean Arp
45 Across: Navy Cross recipient, for one: MILITARY HERO. Joan MIRO (1893 - 1983) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. He is associated with the Surrealist and Dada movements.
Plate 2 By Joan Miro
Here is how the five OUTSIDER ARTISTS appear in the finished puzzle:
These artists looked at the world differently than most mere mortals. Certainly, quite differently than many marine mammals. Now, let's take a look at the rest of the puzzle and see if we are able to spot some potentially interesting instances of word use.
Across:
1. Appreciate: VALUE. Interesting. Here Appreciate is not used as in to increase in value but, rather, as in to appreciate something and find it to be of value.
6. Goat of the Alps: IBEX.
10. Fine cotton: PIMA. PIMA cotton is an extra-long staple cotton grown primarily in the United States.
14. Turing and Cumming: ALANS. It probably says something about those of us who know who ALAN Turing was but have no idea who Alan Cumming is.
15. Resentful: SORE. Interesting. As in "to be SORE (mad) at" someone or something.
16. Screen image: ICON. Interesting. We could have seen a clue such as Screen Icon with an answer of STAR. Name...Image...Icon...Star. Something like this might make for a good word ladder puzzle.
20. Extraction by rescue copter, e.g.: EVAC. EVACuation. Alternatively, and still quite consistent with the clue:
Dad Uses Helicopter to Pull Out Son's Tooth
21. Contented sighs: AAHS. Onomatopoeia.
Aaaahhhh !
22. Helpful: OF USE.
23. Like the lawn at dawn: DEWY. Not this Dewey:
Huey, Dewey and Louie
24. Camping gear retailer with an #OptOutside campaign: REI. Recreational Equipment, Inc. was formed as a Co-op in Seattle in 1938. Each of the five founding members paid One U.S. Dollar to join. I purchased my first down sleeping bag from REI in 1971.
25. "Seasons in the Sun" songwriter: BREL. Jacques BREL wrote this song in 1961 with the title "Le Moribond" - "The Dying Man". Later it was translated by Rod McKuen. It has been recorded by The Kingston Trio, The Beach Boys and Terry Jacks, among others.
The Kingston Trio
31. Clutch: HOLD. Interesting. At first we might have thought of an automobile part, a type of purse or a critical situation in a sporting event.
Shindig 1964 The Miracles (Live)
You Really Got A Hold On Me
34. Afore: ERE. Interesting. Two rarely used prepositions.
41. "Much __ About Nothing": "The Simpsons" episode: APU. Interesting. Not, as we usually see, "Much Ado About Nothing". In Episode 23 of Season 7 of The Simpsons TV show, APU Nahasapeemapetilon is caught up in the turmoil when an initiative is placed on the ballot that would require the deportation of all illegal immigrants living in the town of Springfield.
42. Have a good cry: SOB. Interesting. It could have been clued as a general term of contempt.
44. Pocket bread: PITA. Interesting. It could have been clued as an annoying or tedious person or thing.
50. "Buy It Now" site: EBAY.
Weird Al Yankocvic's Parody of "I Want It That Way"
51. Best-liked, online: FAV. Texting slang for FAVorite.
52. Nearly here: NIGH. Interesting. Another rarely used word.
56. "That's enough!": CAN IT.
58. Peruse, with "over": PORE. I always forget if it is PORE over or Pour over in this context. There is an estate planning device called a Pour-Over will. The heirs can, hopefully much later, PORE over it.
59. __-deep: very involved: KNEE. That's how it all begun. We were knee deep in the Big Muddy but the big fool said to push on.
63. Mystery writer Gardner: ERLE. Interesting. We almost always see the full name: ERLE Stanley Gardner. He created the Perry Mason detective stories.
64. "The Hobbit" soldiers: ORCS. In "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and in "The Hobbit" an ORC was a fictional humanoid monster akin to a goblin.
65. Starts a pot: ANTES. A poker reference. If we each had a Dime for every time we have seen some form of ANTE in a puzzle . . . . .
66. __ Inn: DAYS. The hotel chain.
67. Pool strikers: CUES.
Buster Keaton Busts A Pool Cue
68. So-so effort, in sports: B GAME. One's A-Game is the best. One almost never hears B-GAME although it's existence is clearly implicit if there is an A-Game. How far down the grading curve does this go?
Down:
1. Used Juul pods: VAPED. Juul is a brand name of E-Cigarettes or VAPEs. Juul asserts that its "mission is to improve the lives of the world's one billion adult smokers." Even if true, there has been, demonstrably, significant collateral damage. "Hey, kids, check this out. Sweet!"
2. "__ Supreme": classic Coltrane album: A LOVE. Recorded in 1964, it is said that the album was a spiritual declaration by Coltrane that his "musical devotion was now intertwined with his love for God."
3. Old NBC legal drama: L.A. LAW. We often see Susan Dey in our puzzles and she is usually clued with reference to L. A. LAW.
4. Street performer's vehicle: UNICYCLE.
5. PC key: ESC. The key generates the ESCape Character - ASCII Code 27 in decimal.
6. Holy Land nation: ISRAEL.
Finn The Bat Dog
8. Low nos. for aces: ERAS. Earned Run AverageS. The aces in this case are baseball pitchers and "nos." tells us that the answer will be an abbreviation.
9. Crossed (out): XED. Interesting. The Thesuarus.Plus site does not mention XED (out).
10. Filch: PILFER. Interesting. Both the clue and answer are less-than-commonly-used words for steal.
11. Lukewarm "You hungry?" reply: I COULD EAT. Interesting. When used in the expression I COULD EAT a Horse, it is not at all lukewarm.
12. Comfy shoes: MOCS. Short for MOCcasinS.
13. German tennis player Huber: ANKE.
Anke Huber
18. British peer: EARL. The one was certainly teed up. A swing and a . . . solid hit (A Number One Hit in 1962).
Gene Chandler - The Duke of Earl - 1962
19. NYC division: BORO. Interesting because, although the word can also be spelled BOROugh.
25. Piglet's dad: BOAR. A BOAR is a male swine. No sows appeared in today's puzzle.
27. "Just __ water": ADD. After hearing this line over and over and over again in commercial advertisements the phrase became a synonym for something that was easy to do.
28. Sun __: TEA. Sun Tzu just could not be made to work.
29. Humorist Bombeck: ERMA. I always forget if her name is ERMA or Irma. Or, maybe, Emma.
30. One ab crunch, say: REP. REPetition. Working out at the gym. Walruses. Go figure.
31. Native Arizonans: HOPI.
Hopi Girls - Circa 1920
32. In a luxurious manner: OPULENTLY. Interesting. We rarely see this word in our puzzles.
35. Sheep's dad: RAM. A RAM is a male sheep. As with the swine, above, no female sheep appeared in today's puzzle - so one, or more, of each has been added:
Babe and Friends
36. Words of surprise: I SAY. It is interesting to see this British colloquialism turn out to be the correct answer.
37. Easter lead-in?: NOR. A bit of misdirection as this clue, despite the capitalization, does not refer to the Christian holiday. A NOR'Easter "is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean." The winds that one produces are typically from, you guessed it, the northeast. The Northeast has been hit by a series of NOR'Easters recently.
39. EMT skill: CPR. Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
40. Pride Rock monarch: LION KING. The TV show "The Critic" once presented a wonderful parody of the scene below employing a cockroach.
Pride Rock
43. Using coercion: BY FORCE. Interesting. I thought the answer was going to be a gerund.
46. Hieroglyphics birds: IBISES.
47. Filmmaker Jacques: TATI. A French filmmaker probably best known for Mon Oncle and Traffic.
48. Beset: HARASS. Ah, "Much Ado About Nothing" (See 41 Across) doth sorta make an appearance after all! Hero: "Oh, god, defend me. How I am BESET! What kind of catechizing call you this?" Translation from the English to the English: Oh, God help me! How I am being attacked! What kind of game is this?
49. At any time: EVER. Are we supposed to cover the square(s) if we have EVER done it or cover the square(s) if we have never done it?
A "Never Have I Ever" Bingo Game Card
53. App with pics: INSTA. We have seen this abbreviated term for the INSTAgram app before. Never have I ever used Instagram.
54. Order to a Western posse: GET EM. Interesting in that this use is exceedingly non-specific. A posse could be given many other instructions and GET 'EM could be used in many other contexts.
55. "Siddhartha" author: HESSE. Herman Hesse also wrote Steppenwolf and Demian. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in literature.
56. Like dorms for men and women: COED. I suppose that COED dorms could be quite educational.
57. Radiance: AURA. My house was once filled with a demonic AURA so I called the local exorcist. When he entered the house I told him to "Get the hell out of here."
58. Lake Titicaca is partly in it: PERU. . . and it is partly in Bolivia.
61. MRI interpreter: DOC. Punt!
62. Browser window feature: TAB.
That wraps things up for today's puzzle. I think that Chuck did employ some potentially interesting word use.
________________________________________________
MM OUT
59 comments:
Hi Y'all! Thanks, chuck for an early morning art show. Wow, MalMan, what a variety of weird stuff. Very interesting and entertaining.
As for the helicopter dad, that guy has more money than sense. And I thought regular dentists were costly. What a production for a simple little incident. If I'd been the kid, I'd rather have a ride on the copter than just sitting on the ground.
DNK: REI, BREL, ALANS, Juul pods, ERAS, ANKE, TATI, HESSE. ESP
I did enjoy working this puzzle. The long phrases came pretty easily.
FIW. Misspelt IBiX and didn't suss what the perp wanted, so iRAS was as good as anything. As I write this at midnight, I still don't know what ERAS stands for.
Had offICER < POLICE, so couldn't figure out the first artist's name (OFF_OC_) until perps filled it in. Saw the rest before the reveal; OUTSIDER ARTISTS is a term I'm unfamiliar with.
There was a KING in ISRAEL
Who seduced a married gel.
To hide his crime
In nine month's time
Her husband then he had to kill!
An IBEX and an IBIS are not to be confused.
One's a mountain goat, a Himalayan dude.
The other has his style
Of wading in the Nile.
To mix them would display (BOO, HISS) ineptitude!
{B+, A-.}
VALUE, Duh. I had _ _ LUE and couldn't fill it for the life of me. I wanted to change it to eatUp. PSC Key??? . Is there a P(rt)SC(rn) key on a PC? There's actually a way to do it on an Android.
And next. I had _ _ EX and I wanted IBEX but couldn't get BOOHISS(c Wilbur at the Bat @Jumble). I couldn't think of that campground and my pleasure sigh is ooH. And I also thought of (House of)Lords.
I used two different pens so the w/os and inky mess are apparent. I haven't even gotten to the mideast yet.
See. The xword wasn't so hard it was me. I couldn't even grok SORE. I had S_ _ E. And ERAS? This wasn't aces it was baseball.
Of course I had Ado. As little as I know about Simpsons I knew APU from here. OPULENTLY rescued me finally. And I even knew the HOPI
My inner alphabet run somehow skipped right over the V(APED). I decided Juul must be a brand of tape.
I also wanted some other way to being the Court to order. Gavel?
And Picard would be disappointed that I couldn't grok UNICYCLE tout de suite.
Yep I had _LOVE , just needed one letter. No V8 can ever hit as hard as VALUE.
If the clue was Anke _____ I could've got Huber.
Since this is one of my all-time FAVs I'll link it for Android'ers that can't see MaloMan's links. Duke of EARL *
No, it is BOROugh. BORO - UGH.
The infamous 1978 blizzard that hit Boston was a snowstorm that blew into the Atlantic and then got blown back as the NOR'EASTER of the century.
Notice two other ARTISTS were featured, TATI and BREL though in different ARTs.
Finally I know Owen**'s "Husband", his country and his wife(NtSo the King)
WC
*The next song was a chain of this great song Unchained Melody Wait for it , the best one's at the end as heard in Ghost.
** Btw, I have A-, A+
"We had joy, we had fun, we had Seasons in the sun; and the hills we would climb were just seasons out of time" Happy to report I was in the doctor's office yesterday and a nice young lady stuck a sharp needle in my shoulder and pushed something called vaccine into my body. Also happy to report that there were no apparent side effects and the next turn to receive the second shot will be March 3, 2021, Man it's been a long winter, I need to go practice bowling. I have been on the bench this entire winter. (And remember, winter in Minnesota lasts from October 15 until April 15th). "We had joy, we had fun we had seasons in the sun, and the stars we could reach, were just starfish on the beach."
I was trying to say I had ones for that kind of Aces. In Blackjack the Ace can be one or 11.
Good morning!
I wonder if these artists were chosen because they all created some outdoor (outside) installations. Interesting puzzle, at any rate. I noticed the CSO to Picard at UNICYCLE. Like MalMan, I was expecting a gerund when BY FORCE elbowed in. Thanx, Chuck and MalMan.
TATI: He's one of many historical figures making an appearance in Ragtime.
COED: I briefly lived in a COED dorm back in the '60s. It wasn't truly COED -- there was a men's tower and a women's tower with common areas on the first floor.
Took me 10:14 today. I know very little of tennis, and needed the perps for Anke. Interesting that there weren't any substantive qualifiers (such as All-pro, all-star, etc), just "German," which leads me to conclude that is obscure.
I don't remember hearing/seeing the word "lightkeeper" before.
OwenKL, Earned Run Averages are low for Pitching Aces.
16A, I think Screen Image is referring to the ICON on your computer screen.
Interesting puzzle today, indeed, MalMan, richly enhanced by your artistry and comments. It's my FAV so far this week and I FIR! I struggled a bit with B GAME, my last fill and dropped in round up before ROPED IN was perped. The themers came easily and the reveal explained the artist gimmick. Thanks, Chuck. As DO said, BY FORCE was unexpected. UNICYCLE came easily, thanks to Picard. Nothing to BOO HISS about in this puzzle. A clean solve.
Hope the rest of the day goes as well. Best wishes to you all.
This was a slow and steady solve- I glossed right over the OUTSIDER ARTISTS as it was filled in by perps. I thought it said OUTSIDE - and referred to the artists creating artwork that was displayed outdoors LOL - rather than OUTSIDER as those who pushed the envelope in their day.
I am more familiar with the Terry Jacks' version of "Seasons in the Sun" - probably because it came out in 1974 during my teen years when you would listen to songs over and over. I noticed from listening to the Kingston Trio's version - that Jacks' version didn't have the cheating wife in his translation of BREL's original French lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdQbxNEFEs
Thanks MM and Chuck!
Congrats Boomer on getting your vaccination!
Good morning all. It's definitely a male dominated theme today. In addition to the OUTSIDER ARTISTS we have RAM, two Jacques- TATI & BREL, HESSE, BOAR, two ALANS, EARL & ERLE, and the LION KING. ERMA and ANKE were vastly outnumbered.
After filling POLice road bLOCK I saw POLLOCK and immediately thought the theme was FISH. But when CALDER (unknown to me) showed in CALLS TO ORDER, I quit trying to guess the theme. But I FIR after wrestling in the extreme SE. HESSE & INSTA made their way onto the grid after the NIGH and B-GAME were filled.
ALANS- knew Turing but Cummings was unheard of. BREL & TATI-perps for those two unknowns.
A LOVE Supreme-perps
Hola!
As has been noted, nothing to BOOHISS about this puzzle. Thank you, Chuck Deodene. And many thanks, MalMan, for expertly reviewing it.
I have doubts about the synonyms for XED, however, since it means crossed out. Shouldn't they be deleted, erased, eliminated, etc?
UNICYCLE is a nice CSO to Picard who demonstrated that mere mortals can ride them.
The Hobbit is not in my wheelhouse so it took a while for perps to fill ORCS. And my only knowledge of the Simpsons is from CWDs and a three letter character must be APU.
I'm not sure what an ARC LAMP is; can someone elaborate?
It has been many years since I read Siddhartha by HESSE so it might be time to refresh.
The PIMA community is located one mile from where I live and the once thriving cotton fields have been replaced by commercial buildings. Low rent, maybe?
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
I saw the movie, Enigma, so knew ALAN Turing and I see and hear ALAN Cummings on Masterpiece Theater every Sunday on PBS. BREL and TATI I know only from CWDs.
I was disappointed in the use of 'The Hobbit' as the clue for 'ORCS,' as the creatures in 'The Hobbit' are never referred to as 'orcs,' only as 'goblins.' the LotR trilogy has plenty of orcs, as do many other works of fantasy. 'The Hobbit' does not. The argument that those creatures were implicitly intended to be synonymous with orcs decades after initial publishing is a very weak justification when so many other better options for the clue exist.
Lucina, ARC LAMPs have been around since the early 1800s. Current is passed through a pair of pointed carbon elements. They were commonly used in applications that required a lot of light -- think movie projectors, lighthouses, etc.
inanehiker, I also noticed that omission in Jack's version (but only very recently and certainly not in "real time" in the 1970's). It certainly does change the overall mood of the song. I was going to comment on the more-bitter-sweet version but this is a G-rated blog.
"What a variety of weird stuff." PK, that is quite a compliment. No, really. I'd like to thank Jay Ward, Alan Sherman, Stan Freberg, Jack Benny, Top Cat, Shelley Berman, Crusader Rabbit, Chuck Jones and all my other (too many to mention) early influences.
....and thanks to the other Conerites for their kind comments.
The cluing, IMO, left a lot to be desired. And if anyone gets the theme "Outsider Artists"..... then you are a crossword King or Queen!! Kudos to you!
Good Morning:
Nice, pleasant solve this morning with just enough crunch for a Thursday. Tati and Anke were unknowns, as were, Lion King and Brel, as clued. My only w/o was Ado before Apu which should have been evident, as Apu is a regular in crosswords. We had a few fun pairings with Earl/Erle, Ere/Eras, Ibix/Ibises, and Pima/Pita. Nice CSOs to Picard (Unicycle) and Ray O and Inanehiker (Doc). Alan Cumming was quite familiar as he had a major role in The Good Wife and, as Lucina mentioned, he’s a narrator on Masterpiece Theater. Alan Turing was also known because of the movie, Enigma. Interesting, both Alans are/were gay men.
Thanks, Chuck, for introducing me to the concept of Outsider Artists via a very enjoyable offering and thanks, MalMan, for the outstanding write-up and your very personal interpretations of the Chuck’s word usage . I’ll have to return later to see the graphics, per usual. Nice job!
FLN
oc4beach, how did your cardiologist’s visit go?
Have a great day.
Mal-Man, another a-plus review. Enjoyed this test today that produced a few changes including utile to ofuse, grab to hold. The SE was the last to fall with nigh and Bgame. Never noticed or paid any attention to the theme until finishing. Ho hum. I liked the two baseball related answers side-by-side, boohiss and eras. Siddhartha was required when I read it, but too long ago to recall the content. Definitely not Catholic!
Good morning everyone.
Good puzzle. The more I got into it, the more I liked it. The circles didn't bother me today. Probably needed to present the theme correctly. Only wite-out was I had 'ones' (for cards) before ERAS (for pitchers). FIR.
ALAN Cumming was on "The Good Wife" series.
Jacques BREL was a favorite of ours in the 70's. He was a French speaking Belgian singer. Known for the chanson genre. He died too young in 1978 at age 49.
SEA - Most lighthouses are now automated so the only SEA peeping is by the maintenance technicians.
We had joy, too. BH and I got our 1st Moderna COVID vaccine at our local Rite-Aid. No charge to us. We will get the 2nd shot on March 10.
Musings
-On a tour of the Phoenix area I was amazed to see PIMA cotton fields just outside Scottsdale. They are owned by the PIMA tribe not the HOPI
-I associate BOO HISS with old melodramas. Things yelled at umps are usually more colorful
-In the years Maury Wills and Ricky Henderson stole so many bases sports writers would run out of verbs and all uses the word PILFER eventually
-We had appointment TV for the EARL of Grantham
-Sloppy solving as I let SOHO stand for BORO and flitted merrily onward
-COED dorms – Mrs. Paroo told her prudish daughter Marian the Librarian in The Music Man, “It's a well-known principle that if you keep the flint in one drawer and the steel in the other, you'll never strike much of a fire.” Now if you put them in the same drawer…
-The superintendent at the school where I sub just wrote telling me she would like to put me on the list of their faculty who will get the vaccine very soon. We are already signed up but I said to go ahead and get me shot
-Nice job, Joe.
This puzzle was definitely an unwanted learning moment for me...
Outsider artist?
I was sure Bob Ross was going to be there somewhere,
(I mean, all his works were landscapes...)
It was however, still an eye opener...
I was looking forward to watching the video of the kids tooth being pulled
Out by an RC model helicopter, but a real one?
(I've heard of helicopter parents, but this is ridiculous!)
I mean, what if the tooth didn't come out?
Anywho, I am desperately trying to stifle my inner Thumper
At the Natick of boro crossing Brel!
If it were me
(Spoken in a highly dignified English accent:)
I would have changed Boro to Bogo (buy one get one)
Brel to Tgel (a psoriasis shampoo...)
And then Boar to Toar. (The fore part of a foot or hoof.)
And so, in doing so (the above nonsense)
I submit the following link...
Thank you Chuck for a delicious, crunchy breakfast, with some of the ICONS Western art, and thank you MM for a very, very, very ... interesting and punderful review. I FIR, but as usual didn't suss the theme until after all the answers, then I GOT EM.
A minor nit is that I don't think you can call RODIN, CALDER, ARP, AND MIRO "OUTSIDER ARTISTS" (POLLACK maybe). I can say this because in BALMER we have an entire museum dedicated to truly "self-taught, creators", that is the American Visionary Arts Museum, filled with art by people who never had an art class, but woke up one morning and decided to be artists, using whatever materials were at hand. If you're ever in town, stop by and take a stroll: very, very, very ... interesting!
Some great fill in this puzzle. FAVs:
6A Not every day you see an IBEX climbing the ALPS (thanks for that MM).
Loved 41A, couldn't figure out what was wrong with ADO until nothing worked in the West and I finally reread the clue. Very timely too (as it seems to be EVER).
25A Jacques Brel is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and though he is no longer "alive and well", this off-Broadway review of his greatest songs produced by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman is my all time favorite musical.
55A And as PICARD will tell you Hermann Hesse is one of my favorite novelists, with "The Glass Beadgame" being in my top ten list.
Had not heard of 47D film maker Jacques Tati, but his "Mon Oncle" rings a bell and I'm adding it to my bucket list.
Cheers,
Bill
Good morning all.
Thanks to the constructor for an interesting challenge this morning .
Said to DW the puzzle was too difficult but 45 minutes later I had FIR without help.
Unknowns BORO and BREL filled themselves in and SUN TEA is a new one to me also.
About to go shopping on this clear ,cold winter Thursday. Better now than the weekend .
Cheers
With the first set of circles I realized we were looking for artists, which helped the solve. I discovered the reveal word OUTSIDE much later on. Neat that the names were on the outside of the grid.
Lucina, I had the same thoughts about xed. I disagree with the pigeon.
WC, hand up for ONES before ERAs. ADO before APU.
I looked up JUUL. Now I remember seeing it on store signs. I perped all of TATI and, again, after I got it I remembered seeing it before.
I think ERMA is so funny and so true and relatable.
PILFER seems common enough for me, used to mean to steal stealthily in small amounts.
As teachers we were best by helicopter parents, "A helicopter parent is a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions." I would add - excessive attention. It produces weakened kids who can't take set backs and can't rise to challenges.
In NJ we see the BORO spelling all the time on road signs. I think BORO and BOROUGH are alternate spellings and both are legitimate.
Hand up OUTSIDER ARTISTS was a new term for me. Definitely helped me with the solve. Fun theme and learning moment.
MalMan Hand up for being very familiar with ALAN Turing and never heard of the other one. Thank you for your very illustrated write-up.
Wilbur Charles, desper-otto, ATLGranny, Lucina, IrishMiss Thank you all for the UNICYCLE shout outs!
Here my DW posed with me and my dear friend and UNICYCLE partner Danielle just before the start of the Solstice Parade.
This is especially current because Danielle invited us to join her and her son Charles for an outing to the local tidepools a few days ago.
Don't miss this short video of my UNICYCLE partner Danielle and her son with an amazing tidepool find.
In the last bit of the video they hand it off to me, but I am not as adept as they are with it!
SUN TEA is a favorite beverage here in the Valley of the Sun. Every morning my mother would fill a gallon jar with water and insert about ten TEA bags then place it outside in the SUN where it would sit all day and be served for dinner.
Fun puzzle, and great writeup! That walrus doing crunches creeped me out a bit, but it was interesting to see. And I'm glad that I'm not the only one who never heard of OUTSIDERARTISTS before!
Delightful Thursday puzzle, Chuck, many thanks. It was a thrill having all those amazing artists turn up in the circles. And, MalMan, your commentaries just get better and better. Loved seeing all the art works those artists produced, plus so much more.
Even more names, besides the circle artists, but no problem getting them. Got the ALANs and ERLE, and also HESSE and BREL, But didn't know ANKE. Fun to see both IBEX and IBIS.
The one that stumped me the most was BOO! HISS! Guess I've never chided an ump in my life.
Have a good day, everybody.
I enjoyed the challenge, but some of the cluing was flat out terrible.The iffy fill just wasn't worth the payoff.I don't really care to list all of the fill I found unpleasant, but there really was a good amount of it,The SE was just one big fat Natick.No idea of theme,the revealer is a modern bit of ridicu-lousiness.
I enjoyed this puzzle very much. It's actually a little easy for Thursday, and the theme was easily sussed after POLLOCK.
I know arc lamps very well because DH was a movie projectionist back in the 1960/70's working his way through high school and college. I watch many movies from the projectionist's 'booth'.
OwenKL, thanks for your poem explaining the difference between IBEX and IBIS. I did wonder about that.
Can we describe Picard as 'a mere mortal'?
We have not had Erie in a coupla DAYS. So, here goes:
The majority of L. Erie is Ice Covered Now.
FIR, in 29, w/ a few w/os: ONE:ERAS, which came with perps and I never figured out how that could be the answer for the clue until MM ‘splained it to me. BFF:FAV, perps to the rescue again.ADO:APU, perps again. Overall an enjoyable CW, which I even got the theme and reveal, thanx, Chuck!! Marvelous olio of a write-up, thank MM!
My comment should say “o/ws”, over-writes.
Finally a breather...relentless day.
First row of circled letters would defintely offend my Polish descent DW . Oh. two L's!!...never mind..😁
Going down the circled letter list, artists who painted "outside the box"
Isn't a NYC division a borough?
Our Whitesboro NY Village Seal: founder Hugh White strangling an Oneida Indian, 1784
Ohmy/osay/ISAY. Comes/came/CALLS TOORDER (What an inky mess 😖). CW famous tennis player with a 4 letter name starting with A is always ASHE? . No I LIU she's a Fraulein, ANKE Huber (not Hubert ANKE...)
Malman...remembered it's PORE over, not pour over. App with pics? Snapchat or Instagram way too long. Is INSTA abbrev OK cuz of App? (But Like fax not really an abbreviation anymore). GETEM?, FAV?...meh
Didn't confuse my IBISES with my IBEX 🐐 RAM
The BDrugstore A ______ what ails you....PILFER
Of or belonging to Mork's home...ORCS
Master of fabrication...LIONKING
"Winnie, what's ___ ....APU?" "And ___ really want to know?" ....DEWEY.
Chuck has a job reading the dictionary😳
Great job Mal man
@10:57. Autocorrect, butt out. We were beset, not best!
Highlight what you quetion, but don't change it without permission. Just now you changed beset to besot. It's not even happy hour yet.
I enjoyed the fill and thought it was a fair game.
Puzzling thoughts:
MalMan, I didn’t envy you having to recap this one, but you came through in the crunch, just like that walrus cousin of yours! 🤡
I didn’t see all of the videos until I launched the “web version” on my iPhone. Loved the EBAY song parody. Classic
Chuck Deodene almost defeated me today, but I hung in there despite several write overs. Just shows that my B GAME was good enough. This was not my cup of TEA. When I saw CALDER (the first entry I filled in completely) my first thought was racetracks. Calder though I believe has changed its name to Gulfstream West. But like the erstwhile Hialeah Racetrack, Calder has been a fixture in the Miami area for quite some time
To lengthen my wind even further meant to add:
B in TAB/BGAME was last to fill, a single letter guess that gave me a FIR rather than FIW.
BTW say "THE DIG" with Ralph Fiennes on Netflix last night. Excellent flick.
Saw not say
Thank you Mr. Deodene for a challenging and nice puzzle, and thank you, MalMan for a charming video filled review.
The name, Deodene, sounds like a ten faceted organic molecule, geometric crystal .... Deo as a variant of deca- meaning ten, and -dene as in hexene, terpene(s), pentene, octene.... unsaturated hydrocarbons.
I did not look for the artists despite the circles, but I am familiar with almost all of them. I did try to make a Calder mobile, myself, as a hobby, about ten years ago, ... maybe I should have used sturdier materials, like sheets of aluminum and copper... Maybe I will try again, this summer..... looks like a lot of fun. Especially, with bright pastel colors.
It appears that the crux of the structure artistry is to balance it dynamically, and adjust the center of gravity, .... and provide some sort of rotating power for the mechanism.
I am obviously one of a very few readers of this blog who can recognize the Hindi /sanskrit/ deva-nagari script on the title of "Siddharta", and because of that , .... I had a tough time reading the 'equivalent english' script. !!
It took me a long time to read the top line ... "Classics to go" ... and his name at the bottom, Hermann Hesse.
The problem is that the script has been used as a gimmick, but inappropriately, in the sense that the indian alphabet has been used to mimic the SHAPE of the romanized (english) script. but the actual hindi letters mean something else altogether.
For instance, in the word "Siddhartha", the 'S' is actually the letter for a long ee, the 'i' is actually a vowel ... an 'aah', ....and the "d's" are actually the consonents, 'vee''s !!!
To a person who knows both languages, it is very confusing.
I am reminded of a russian friend who came across the logo,..... Toys R Us , ..... where the letter R was reversed, as an ad gimmick, and the reversed R is a legitimate letter, 'Fa' in Cyrillic Russian,..... and this russian guy kept thinking, what does ... Toys Fa Us .... mean ???
Have a nice day, folks.
Ray-O-sunshine, I thought of you at 61 Down, MRI Interpreter ...DOC
And I loved your homonyms !! Lol.
FIR, and figured out the theme from the first themer. I used to pooh pooh modern art until I sat in on an Into to Art (“Art in the Dark”) course that a buddy of mine was teaching. Near the end of the semester, we took a field trip to D.C. to visit several museums. I toured with my friend, who explained to me how to appreciate a POLLOCK or Mondrian. Some years later, I enjoyed visiting two MIRO museums in Spain.
A bit of crunchiness in the Thursday crossword.
Everything filled, slowly and steadily.
Stay safe.
Boo hiss for using boro instead of the correct borough
Hi All!
Oas - I was in your boat; never going to finish!, Oh, wait - I'm done.
Thanks Chuck for the puzzle. Fun stuff with a side of learnin'.
MManatee - you certainly didn't bring your B Game today... Thanks for the tunes!
WOs: OKL - LOL #2 'cuz I mixed up my IBEX & IBIS, WOs there. Same with Ace of One b/f a pitcher's stat [ERA]. BREL &, hand-up, Ado -> APU.
ESPs: ANKE, ERLE, HESSE
FAV: [see: self]
{A-, A+}
Ray-O: LOL your ancestry; that's how I parsed the circles in 17a too and thought "Un-PC a lot?" :-)
Lucina - paternal grandfather would do the same for Sun TEA but then add a cup of sugar to the gallon of brew. That'll wire a kid!
There are two songs that can bring me to tears, Cat's in Cradle and Seasons in the Sun ('74 version).
Break's over. Back to work. Cheers, -T
Yes, I believe my mother added a cup or maybe a 1/2 cup of sugar. Talk about sweet tea!
I have a project I am working on and it is getting frustrating. About a month ago I ordered a chair which I am now really unhappy with. It's a recliner but without a handle. To extend the foot rest I must push the seat forward and then the foot rest springs up. Believe me, that is getting old!
It is within the allotted time to return it but must be in a box, just as it arrived. Unfortunately I did not save the box! Now I'm having quite a time finding a box. UPS will order one for me and it will be available by tomorrow for only $24.95. The refund will pay for it but what a hassle! Live and learn. Next time I shall visit a STORE and find what I want.
errata -- BREL was ESP not a WO...
So many BINGOs:
To that - I have NOT 'Cut my own hair', 'Had a (major) Surgery', nor 'Had an imaginary friend' -- he was more an enemy :-).
Re: Skipped School - DW (who dropped out in January as a Sr, took the GED, and moved on to her eventual PhD) would call the principal's office to get me out of class. Afternoon Delight indeed!
Cheers, -T
I used to enjoy Alex Trebek saying "Boo Hiss" on Jeopardy.
Thanks Chuck and MalMan!
Took me awhile early this morning, but I FIR and got the reveal! YAY! Only problem was, I didn’t recognize who the artists were. Oh, well. That wasn’t a requirement for a FIR, was it?
To further show you how my brain doesn’t work, I figured out ERAS this morning, but when it came time to proofread before coming here this afternoon, I couldn’t remember. Luckily, the perps kept me from making a fatal error. I had a similar problem with APU/HOPI. I knew that HOPI was correct (but was there a HODI tribe too), and I didn’t know APU at all, so I kept wanting to change it to ADO. Finally, I said (explicative deleted) and left it as it was for the WIN!
ANKE and TATI were also perps.
“Seasons in the Sun” --- It’s interesting how different people interpret songs. My sister didn’t like the song, because she thought it was about suicide. I liked both (the KT and Jacks) versions, but I thought it was happening during the French Revolution, and that he was on his way to the guillotine. Neither of us ever thought of it as terminal illness, although both points of view could be construed that way, I guess. Didn’t know BREL or that he wrote it.
LEOIII - I'm w/ your sister on suicide... "Goodbye my friend/It's hard to die" and "Good bye papa/please pray for me." and "Goodbye papa/it's hard to die".
I heard the song when I was just a 7yro (Terry Jack's version) and I remember a friend had left (moved away I think?). It's haunting (to me) nevertheless... *wipes tear*
-T
No! listen/watch this Terry Jacks version that was on my side-bar. #fail
LeoIII - I'm trying to listen to it w/ your French Revolution take... OK, maybe(?). Or just killing/ending a Love that wasn't going to happen/is ending - new ears...
Cheers, -T
I am of two minds about this puzzle; there are things I liked about it and things I didn't. To wit:
Things I did not like:
BORO instead of borough.
The clue and answer Low nos. for aces: ERAS.
Cluing ORCS as being soldiers in The Hobbit.
Things I did like:
Everything else.
PIMA are also native Arizonans.
Interesting to have BOAR as a piglet's dad and RAM as a sheep's dad.
Maybe coulda clued PIMA and HOPI in a similarly parallel manner.
Re Noreaster: I gotta say it bugs the crap out of me when news announcers and so-called meteorologists ALWAYS refer to a storm that occurs in the northeastern United States as a "nor'easter" while they simultaneously show weather maps of the storm sweeping up from the southwest. A storm approaching the New England states from Colorado or Kansas is NOT a nor'easter. I think they misuse the word simply because it is cool to say and makes them look all clever 'n' stuff.
I smiled at seeing EARL and ERLE.
I always got a kick when Hastings would exclaim "I SAY!" to Poirot.
GET EM made me think of "Book 'em, Danno!"
RIP Chick Corea, a fabulously talented musician.
Good wish to you all.
Anon T....I'm FBI...Wife is Polish both sides. Even tho we were born within blocks of each other. Separated ethnic neighborhoods. Both RC. My mother-in-law considered ours a mixed marriage 😁
"Seasons in the Sun" always assumed it was death from illness...from the line "it's hard to die etc"
Technically, it's called a Nor'easter because the winds are out of the North-East. Where the classic development occurs is in the northeast USA. I agree the weather guessers have gotten a bit liberal with this term.
@ 19d, the clue was NYC division. To me, this invited an abbreviated form of the answer. So BORO would be OK in this instance. IMHO. Other boroughs are spelt both ways. Marlborough, MA, but Marlboro, NY.
Alaska has boroughs instead of counties; Louisiana has parishes. And so it goes.
It's a Thursday puzzle. I thought this type of clue was well-crafted by the constructor and editor.
Spitzboov, thanks for your wisdom!
I found this easy for a Thursday. Maybe I was on the right wave length! Thanks all.
Vidwan837 @ 2:34:
"I am reminded of a russian friend who came across the logo,..... Toys R Us , ..... where the letter R was reversed, as an ad gimmick, and the reversed R is a legitimate letter, 'Fa' in Cyrillic Russian,..... and this russian guy kept thinking, what does ... Toys Fa Us .... mean ???"
Uh, actually the 'backwards R' is the vowel "ya", and means "I", the first person singular. But the cognitive dissonance remains.
Ray-O: DW is IBM (Italian By Marriage). She grew up in the rural south (Farmersville, LA - north of Ruston & Monroe, LA; about an hour from the 'big city' of Shreveport). Some in her family was not happy her marrying an I-Talian (that's two syllables) even though I'm really mostly Irish; Mom & Pop were a mixed marriage too :-)
Cheers, -T
More ramblings:
Along with airplanes, old cars, landscapes, courthouses and other old buildings, I like to tour and photograph lighthouses. Like everything else, the list of lighthouses on my TO DO spreadsheet keeps growing.
Spitzboov --- While most of lighthouses that are still operational are automated, this one is quite unique, since people can sign up (and PAY) to be a keeper::
Lighthouse Keeper
I sent the information to both of my daughters last summer, so that they can plan a joint vacation there with their kids, sometime in the post-Covid (hopefully) future. Not too sure they fell for it, but I’m not too sure they didn’t. My mistake was not copying in their husbands. It's right up THEIR alley.
Erle Stanley Gardner played one of the two judges in the very last Raymond Burr episode of his original Perry Mason series.
In one of the numerous online articles I’ve read about the show (I always have whatever episode I’m watching pulled up in IMDb on my tablet, so that I can keep track of the players), there was this little tidbit about how Raymond Burr got the part:
Burr Had Only One Fan When He Read For the Part … But It Was the Only Fan He Needed
"After an infuriating experience with the [previous] Perry Mason movies, including one incident where he [Gardner] actually removed the character from a movie that the studio had turned into a western, Gardner was determined to do the TV show right. He was sitting in at the auditions when a man named Raymond Burr read for the lead role (after trying out unsuccessfully for prosecutor Hamilton Burger). Gardner instantly took to Burr’s look and delivery and considered no one else for the part, in spite of his producers’ objections."
Another story I read said that Gardner pointed to Burr and said, “HE IS PERRY MASON!”
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Chuck and MalMan.
I'm late to the party, but even with a little crunch, I got'er done today.
Hand up for Ado changing to APU on rereading the clue.
Another hand up for entering in (lightly) ING before being changed BY FORCE.
Is Lent not the Easter lead-in? Oh, a storm. Clever clue.
Is that Lightkeeper "keeping" the ARC lamp working?
It took a while to remember that Juul pods are for vaping, not for coffee.
I had ClownCar before Unicycle (thinking of the Shriners before Picard).
We had a different tennis player than Ashe today.
Spitzboov - it's a good thing Erie has more ice cover as I hear there is lake-effect snow coming this weekend!
Ray-O- thanks for the laughs today (especially PILFER!). I thought of you with SOB; we never wanted pts to see the medical notes that used SOB! And we don't want any old DOC reading our MRI, do we??
Wishing you all a good night.
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