Saturday Themeless by Bill Pipal
Today we have another new constructor. This is a picture of Bill and his rescue dog who got too hot on a walk and so he carried her. How great is that?
I punched through in the middle and worked out from there. NEMEA, ELISHA, AUDRE and RENE took some finagling.
Here are some generous notes from Bill:
I currently reside in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with my wife and rescue dog. Proud double-Illini working as an in-house attorney for a tech start-up in Chicago. Like many, I started constructing crossword puzzles during the pandemic and was lucky to meet so many kind people in the crosswording community who helped me learn from mistakes and improve my construction skills. A big thank you to the test solvers of this puzzle (and all of my puzzles). Specifically, my sister-in law, Alie, and my father-in law, Tom. Most importantly, while not a crossword enthsuiast herself, my wife was incredibly supportive of me in this time consuming hobby and encouraged me to keep trying even after some rejections started coming in on earlier puzzles.-Only one seed entry CANCEL CULTURE! Built the rest of the grid around that thirteen-letter entry.
-I struggled to come up with a good clue for CANCEL CULTURE and proposed [A bad take might make you a victim of it]. Love Rich's clue and wish I had thought of it. I clued PIANO BAR as [Good place to see a duel?] and wish that had made the cut!
I had fun cluing TV REMOTE, DREAM BIG, and APPLE PIE.
-After I put in the seed entry, I worked counter-clockwise to fill up the rest of the grid. I almost scrapped this version because I had trouble even getting the middle part of the puzzle in good shape, but once I found AMICLEAR I felt good about the middle. The NW corner proved to be the most difficult section as I was trying my best to avoid NEGEV and ENROBE, but felt those were good options, especially to get DRY SPELL and IN A PANIC as entries.
-This is my first 15x15 puzzle that has been published so this is a big thrill for me! I am most excited for my friends and family to get the chance to solve it!
Across:
1. Term of address in old Westerns: KEMOSABE - How old do you have to be to get this reference? Uh, I qualify!!
15. Freaking out: IN A PANIC.
16. DNA sample source: SALIVA - Spit in a tube and send it in for DNA analysis
17. Writer's challenge: DRY SPELL - Getting through one
18. Ascent, for one: SUBARU - Car brand and model. Google if you must, they all look alike.
19. Crowd around: MOB - Treatment received by Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles,...
20. Show confidence in, with "by": SWEAR - I SWEAR by my eight-yr-old Cadillac but my son-in-law will not drive a domestic car and even flew to Chicago to get a new Audi to drive back to Lincoln
22. "Seinfeld" surname: BENES - Seinfeld, Kramer, Costanza and BENES
23. Touch: ABUT - HGTV's International House Hunters showed some houses that really do ABUT each other in Paris
25. Short piece: STUB.
27. 2018 film for which Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director: ROMA - No idea for me.
28. Beersheba's region: NEGEV - Beersheba (also called Be'er Sheva) is a little over an hour SSE of Tel Aviv via the Toll Road Hwy 6 on the north edge of the NEGEV Desert.
30. Organic fuel source: PEAT BOG - A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss.
32. "The Color of Money" game: NINE BALL - Who else could get billing above Tom Cruise? 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. 36. Enjoyed, with "up": ATE - I ATE up this movie but the original, The Hustler, got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes
37. Controversial phenomenon in response to controversial actions: CANCEL CULTURE -Google if you must. This forum is not for political issues.
40. Disheveled do: MOP.
41. "Capisce?": AM I CLEAR.
42. They make a lot of calls: UMPIRES - Replay shows them right 94+% of the time
44. Inflexible: RIGID.
48. Kids' song locale: DELL - There's this farmer who lives in one...
49. Cries of success: AHAS.
52. Tireless assistant: SIRI - SIRI on my iPhone is a bottomless supply of useful and useless information!
53. Puppy: WHELP - As a noun a WHELP is a synonym for a puppy and as a verb it means to give birth to puppies. Below is a WHELP Box that is used for mom's comfort and containing the puppies.
55. L.A.'s __ Museum of the American West: AUTRY - I almost asked SIRI about the LA Museum of the American West but cowboy actor Gene AUTRY finally came to my mind. _ _T _ Y almost led me to GETTY
58. Outlaw: BAN.
59. Fix: REPAIR.
61. "Anything's possible": DREAM BIG.
63. Alicia Keys label: ARISTA - I found at least four labels for which Alicia records
64. Got off the leash: RAN LOOSE.
65. View secretly: PEEK AT.
66. Penciled-in item: EYELINER.
Down:
1. Oscar winner as Woolf in 2002: KIDMAN - Nicole as Virginia Woolf in the movie The Hours (79% on Rotten Tomatoes)
2. Dress for court, maybe: ENROBE - An unfortunate word that Bill told us he used as a last resort
3. Common name for a cockchafer: MAYBUG - Also called a Doodlebug or Maybeetle
4. Covert __: OPS.
5. Drains: SAPS.
6. One way to begin: ANEW.
7. Gymnast who won four golds in Rio: BILES.
8. Brilliance: ECLAT - A word I have never heard or used except in crosswords.
9. Biblical mount: ASS.
10. Slap (on): DAUB - This guy is DAUBING a thick substance onto a stick frame called a wattle to make a wall
11. Renaissance painter Dürer: ALBERT - Bill wrote me that he clued it as "MLB slugger Pujols" but Rich selected "the more obscure reference"
12. Setting for a Billy Joel classic: PIANO BAR - I like Rich's cluing here
13. One hiding in the cushions?: TV REMOTE - I like Bill's cluing here
14. Breakfast link: SAUSAGE.
21. "Drag Race" host: RUPAUL - Constructor Stella Zawistowski told me she is a big fan
24. Ark. neighbor: TENN - We crossed the Mississippi River from ARK. to get to Memphis, TENN.
26. Ball charmer: BELLE - Cinderella for example
29. Church official: VICAR - Miss Marple investigates foul play at his house
31. Union setting: ALTAR.
33. Site of Hercules' first labor: NEMEA.
34. "24" actress Cuthbert: ELISHA - ELISHA and her NHL hockey player husband Dion Phaneuf
35. Discreetly send a dupe to: BCC - Blind Carbon Copy: "My client" does not know I am sending this to "My boss" as well as to her.
37. Curt summons: COME HERE.
38. Slice of Americana?: APPLE PIE - A one time ad claimed Chevrolet was as American as Baseball, Hot Dogs and APPLE PIE
39. "Trinity" novelist: URIS - Leon's more well known novel Exodus is not used today
40. Spa treatment whose effects are temporary, per the FDA: MUD WRAP - Is the mud being DAUBED on?
43. "Lemme check": I'LL ASK.
45. Small Asian ape: GIBBON - You know that Bonobo at the zoo that you said resembles Uncle Fred? Well...
46. Announcement that suggests strength: I RAISE.
47. Homer or jack: DINGER - All three are slang for a home run
50. Feminist poet Lorde: AUDRE - Here ya go
51. Many a pound adoptee: STRAY - So appropriate for our dog adopter/constructor Bill!
54. It's a wrap: PITA.
56. Surrealist Magritte: RENE - Of his most famous painting, Son Of Man (1964), he said this was a take on a self portrait where we strain to see what we can't see.
57. Dixie bunch?: Y'ALL.
60. Snitch: RAT.
62. "You can't mean me!": MOI.
1. Term of address in old Westerns: KEMOSABE - How old do you have to be to get this reference? Uh, I qualify!!
9. Survives, maybe: ADAPTS - Very famous ADAPTORS
15. Freaking out: IN A PANIC.
16. DNA sample source: SALIVA - Spit in a tube and send it in for DNA analysis
17. Writer's challenge: DRY SPELL - Getting through one
18. Ascent, for one: SUBARU - Car brand and model. Google if you must, they all look alike.
19. Crowd around: MOB - Treatment received by Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles,...
20. Show confidence in, with "by": SWEAR - I SWEAR by my eight-yr-old Cadillac but my son-in-law will not drive a domestic car and even flew to Chicago to get a new Audi to drive back to Lincoln
22. "Seinfeld" surname: BENES - Seinfeld, Kramer, Costanza and BENES
23. Touch: ABUT - HGTV's International House Hunters showed some houses that really do ABUT each other in Paris
25. Short piece: STUB.
27. 2018 film for which Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director: ROMA - No idea for me.
28. Beersheba's region: NEGEV - Beersheba (also called Be'er Sheva) is a little over an hour SSE of Tel Aviv via the Toll Road Hwy 6 on the north edge of the NEGEV Desert.
32. "The Color of Money" game: NINE BALL - Who else could get billing above Tom Cruise? 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. 36. Enjoyed, with "up": ATE - I ATE up this movie but the original, The Hustler, got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes
37. Controversial phenomenon in response to controversial actions: CANCEL CULTURE -Google if you must. This forum is not for political issues.
40. Disheveled do: MOP.
41. "Capisce?": AM I CLEAR.
 |
| Yes, Mr. Soprano! |
42. They make a lot of calls: UMPIRES - Replay shows them right 94+% of the time
44. Inflexible: RIGID.
48. Kids' song locale: DELL - There's this farmer who lives in one...
49. Cries of success: AHAS.
52. Tireless assistant: SIRI - SIRI on my iPhone is a bottomless supply of useful and useless information!
53. Puppy: WHELP - As a noun a WHELP is a synonym for a puppy and as a verb it means to give birth to puppies. Below is a WHELP Box that is used for mom's comfort and containing the puppies.
55. L.A.'s __ Museum of the American West: AUTRY - I almost asked SIRI about the LA Museum of the American West but cowboy actor Gene AUTRY finally came to my mind. _ _T _ Y almost led me to GETTY
58. Outlaw: BAN.
59. Fix: REPAIR.
61. "Anything's possible": DREAM BIG.
63. Alicia Keys label: ARISTA - I found at least four labels for which Alicia records
64. Got off the leash: RAN LOOSE.
65. View secretly: PEEK AT.
66. Penciled-in item: EYELINER.
Down:
1. Oscar winner as Woolf in 2002: KIDMAN - Nicole as Virginia Woolf in the movie The Hours (79% on Rotten Tomatoes)
 |
| Woolf KIDMAN as Woolf |
2. Dress for court, maybe: ENROBE - An unfortunate word that Bill told us he used as a last resort
3. Common name for a cockchafer: MAYBUG - Also called a Doodlebug or Maybeetle
4. Covert __: OPS.
5. Drains: SAPS.
6. One way to begin: ANEW.
7. Gymnast who won four golds in Rio: BILES.
8. Brilliance: ECLAT - A word I have never heard or used except in crosswords.
9. Biblical mount: ASS.
10. Slap (on): DAUB - This guy is DAUBING a thick substance onto a stick frame called a wattle to make a wall
11. Renaissance painter Dürer: ALBERT - Bill wrote me that he clued it as "MLB slugger Pujols" but Rich selected "the more obscure reference"
12. Setting for a Billy Joel classic: PIANO BAR - I like Rich's cluing here
13. One hiding in the cushions?: TV REMOTE - I like Bill's cluing here
14. Breakfast link: SAUSAGE.
21. "Drag Race" host: RUPAUL - Constructor Stella Zawistowski told me she is a big fan
24. Ark. neighbor: TENN - We crossed the Mississippi River from ARK. to get to Memphis, TENN.
26. Ball charmer: BELLE - Cinderella for example
29. Church official: VICAR - Miss Marple investigates foul play at his house
31. Union setting: ALTAR.
33. Site of Hercules' first labor: NEMEA.
34. "24" actress Cuthbert: ELISHA - ELISHA and her NHL hockey player husband Dion Phaneuf
35. Discreetly send a dupe to: BCC - Blind Carbon Copy: "My client" does not know I am sending this to "My boss" as well as to her.
37. Curt summons: COME HERE.
38. Slice of Americana?: APPLE PIE - A one time ad claimed Chevrolet was as American as Baseball, Hot Dogs and APPLE PIE
39. "Trinity" novelist: URIS - Leon's more well known novel Exodus is not used today
40. Spa treatment whose effects are temporary, per the FDA: MUD WRAP - Is the mud being DAUBED on?
43. "Lemme check": I'LL ASK.
45. Small Asian ape: GIBBON - You know that Bonobo at the zoo that you said resembles Uncle Fred? Well...
46. Announcement that suggests strength: I RAISE.
47. Homer or jack: DINGER - All three are slang for a home run
50. Feminist poet Lorde: AUDRE - Here ya go
51. Many a pound adoptee: STRAY - So appropriate for our dog adopter/constructor Bill!
54. It's a wrap: PITA.
56. Surrealist Magritte: RENE - Of his most famous painting, Son Of Man (1964), he said this was a take on a self portrait where we strain to see what we can't see.
57. Dixie bunch?: Y'ALL.
62. "You can't mean me!": MOI.
Notes from C.C.
1) Congrats on your debut, Bill!
2) Happy Birthday to our foodie Blue Hen, who gave us this amazing risotto recipe a few years ago.
3) Happy birthday to CrossEyedDave, who never fails to delight us with his amazing links.
After a long, hard struggle, I still FIWrong. 😥 I knew Albrecht Dürer, but when that wouldn't fit, I tried various permutations, settling on ALBEcT, covering two unknown perps BeNES and cOMA. Also wrong was All CLEAR, covering one perp I knew but didn't recognize (NEMEA) and one I didn't know at all (ELISHA as a female -- as a male prophet I would have known it.)
ReplyDeleteRene was urged to DREAM BIG,
ReplyDeleteSo a humongous screen did RIG
Above his head,
So when in bed,
His dreams could all be wysiwyg!
I'm IN A PANIC, I can't write!
I stare at blank screens every night!
No thoughts remain
In my GIBBON brain! --
I love to read it by morning light!
{A-, B-.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis was my kind of puzzle -- no circles to ignore, no theme to find, no reveal to miss. Stumbled in New England, but circled back to it and finally wrestled it to the ground. Impressive debut, Bill. Thanx for the illustrious expo, Husker. (Didn't know that about DINGER. The last time I saw a baseball game Dizzy Dean was doing the announcing.)
AUTRY: His heyday was a little before my time. I thought Roy Rogers was the bigger star. Ken Burns' Country Music set me straight.
KIDMAN: We were assigned Woolf's To The Lighthouse in English class. I thought her stream of consciousness was a river of boredom.
Happy birthday C-E-D and Blue Hen. Enjoy the day.
Thx Bill Pipal for an entertaining Saturday with Biles. And Gary for the intro and write-up. Benes and Belle; Umpires and dingers.
ReplyDeleteI had the S,B,U and immediately thought SUBARU but Ascent? Duh.
Wasn't BEERSHEBA David's BAE?
URIS (along with BENES) was LHF and the S gave me SIRI.
So, I actually knew RENE Magritte and the T from STRAY allowed me to WAG AUTRY
My first guess was KilMer*.
Hmm, Obscure? Pujols vs Durer. In this corner the former I'm guessing
My OCS friend had a farm bordering both TENN and Ark.
I wonder what those MUD WRAP effects actually are? Regardless, whether psychosomatic or med certified they are still effects. I wonder what our CC Doctors say?
so D-O, your fear of Woolf was confirmed, eh?
FIR on Saturday, Woohoo!!!!
WC
HBDTY CED and BH.
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing oHo crossed with NEMEo and oUDRE. Too many erasures and unknowns to mention.
I've seen many a stray that RAN LOOSE. And isn't it possible that something that's a ball charmer could also be a cock chafer?
FLN: -T, I think we can award you the Kirwood Derby.
Congrats to Bill on 1) the fine rescue, and 2) the fine debut. I like Saturday puzzles that are just a little beyond my range, and this one fit the bill (so to speak). My favorite was "penciled-in item" for EYE LINER. And thanks to Gary for the fun narrative. I immediately thought of that Far Side cartoon when I filled KEMO SABE.
Jinx, your cockchafer is up for line of the year. Rotfl except I read it lying down.
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to wish (on the eve of YT hbd) same to fellow libras Ced and a friend from past posting: Blue Hen
WC
It was pure luck that I FIR today. There were crosses and stacks of A&E fills I'd never heard before that took some guessing. BENES, ROMA, ELISHA, ANTRY, ANDRE. I had to guess the correct spelling of "K-I or E-MOSABE" crossing IN ROBE or ENROBE. I've heard of MAYFLY but both 'cockchafer' and MAYBUG were unknowns. Somehow I luckily got it right today. Whew!
ReplyDelete1A- I wanted to pencil in MARSHALL but the perps of OPS, SAPS, & BILES stopped that thought.
TV REMOTE- when the grandkids are over it always ends up in the cushions.
SUBARU Ascent- only known because a friend just bought one.
I RAISE- wanted I RULED but BAN stopped that.
BELLE of the ball next to RU PAUL- priceless
CANCEL CULTURE- read "1984" or check wi Xi.
ANTRY- I wanted GETTY but ELISHG wouldn't get it.
Gary- did your son-in-law check to see where his non-domestic car was made? Most of them are assembled in the USA with parts from all over including the SUBARU Ascent, put together in Lafayette, Indiana.
Very much fun, definitely Saturday level CW that I surprised myself by managing to FIR. As BigEasy at 8:52 said there were more than a few guesses that I got lucky on. 3d MAYBUG? BEETLE? SCARAB? Had to await perps. 48a FARM? DELL? Await perps again. DNK DINGER. I actually FIR in a little less time than yesterday! Very nice CW, BP, thanx and congrats on your first 15x15. And thanx HG for the great write-up, and ‘splainin’ DINGER. HG, you say there’s a bonobo in the zoo that looks like me? Aw, poor thing.
ReplyDeleteOne regret and two best wishes
ReplyDelete-Sorry about that Fred! That selection should have required a little more thought! Your response was perfect.
-Happy Birthday Blue Hen and Dave!
-I hope all of you are enjoying all these new constructors as much as I am
How fun and frustrating! I love it no matter how a puzzle turns out---because if I get a chance to come here and find out how amazingly simple some of the clues are (except to me,) then it's been a good puzzling morning! Waffled around in a Coma in the NW and really wanted some sort of moth to be hiding in the cushions? I couldn't come up with any idea for what foreign languages could be an Ascent for one! So, thank you all for the explanations, the giggles, and the chance to do all these new constructor puzzles with help from this blog! Congrats to Mr. Pipal and on to my chores.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bill Pipal for a challenging Sat puzzle, and HuskerGary for your review. Finding out about the constructor definitely adds much to our enjoyment, even after the puzzle has been solved, or 'finished' up with (uncompleted).
ReplyDeleteI am always in awe of Sat puzzles, but now not so scared. Durer was infinitely better known than Pujols, I even have a 4x4 magic square art by Durer, in Melancholia in my den.
I didnt come to the US until I was 20, so I have no idea of the TV shows, like the Lone Ranger, but I did see Tonto say 'Keno sabay' in the Dell or Action comics....
I am reminded of a Bob Hope joke, he said, during the Cold War, the russians used to love watching Cowboys and Indians on TV .... ' but they always rooted for the indians ...'.
Happy Birthday Blue Hen and Cross Eyed Dave, and many more to come ! Yesterday, I saw CED's links on the Red Pyramid and ammonia manufacture .... I worked on a home paper (essay) on the synthesis of ammonia, 50 yrs ago, ... but i did not want to get into a tangential discussion on the blog ...
WHELP: I was wondering about the breed of the dog-bitch ... I think she is a Rhodesian Ridgeback....
EYELINER :: The picture shows a model with ( or without) the Epicanthic fold, particular to east asian and poly/micronesian eyes.
Have a nice day, all.
Was easy as APPLE PIE 🥧 for a Saturday until I feared the SE would do me in: guessed at RENÉ, AUDRE was unknown, Homer & Jack DINGER? Finally I DREAMt BIG and FIR. Thought a DINGER was a mar on a car. Not a BB enthusiast but never heard jack about a home run called a jack
ReplyDeleteI remember the line from our HS English class performance of his play Julius Cæsar "...A lioness hath whelpèd in the streets". Assumed it meant any animal giving birth to a litter. Someone tell that amateur Will Shakespeare that lions can't have puppies.😄
Inkovers: stand/SWEAR , Ill look/ILL ASK.
Only knew ENROBE from an earlier puzzle. bedbug wouldn't fit for "hiding in the cushions" NEMEA pops up just infrequently enough for me to forget it
Afonso Cuar? huh? (ROMA fit, the film was "meh", whereas KIDMAN in "The Hours" was incredible)...
3Down: a what?? 😳 (starched BVDs?) and crossed by ABUT? What would the VICAR say?? 😲 Followed by the controversial politics of CANCEL CULTURE. The mysterious, infamous all-powerful Rich let that pass? 😏
Prohibition era....DRYSPELL
Wildebeest....ANEW
Agree with the fragrance...ASCENT
What a vampire leaves you with...NEMEA
Mid October and 70's in Cental NY..Fall is mocking our terrible recent summer.🙊
Happy Birtbday CED ...🥳
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteNot so hard for a Saturday although I did invoke aid with KIDMAN. Got everything else, though, so it went OK. I had 'stand' (by) before SWEAR (BY).
Wanted 'Albrecht' for ALBERT Dürer. Never have seen him referenced as ALBERT. But perps were firm.
Have a good day.
Second 'musings'
ReplyDeleteI am always fascinated by people's last names or surnames .... in this case Pipal... our respected constructor, for today.
The Peepal tree, or Pipal tree is a fig tree, alike a Banyan tree, of great religious importance to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions. It sends thousand of air roots, lives past several (dozen - )
centuries (much like an Oak), its dried leaves, as a matrix, can be used for painting, and the small fruits are quite edible.
Buddha is said to have meditated under one such tree.
As the Wiki article notes ....( unlike our constructor ), the epiphytic fig, Peepal tree is not a true constrictor, or strangler, as most fig trees are .... ;-o) .... but it may begin life as an parasitic epiphyte, thus is considered to be an invasive species, in many temperate zones.
Enjoy.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes, very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a much better day than yesterday's puzzling
As I did this Saturday's at The Chicago Tribune site.
After the latimes site bombarded me with Spanish ads every 5 seconds,
I was elated that the tribune site not make me watch any ads at all!
The only negative so far is that it starts in red letter mode
And I have not figured out how to turn it off.
Being Saturday, this was not a problem at all.
Get this though...
After doing the across and downs, and filling as much as I could,
I hit reveal on the first unknown "name" I saw.
1 down=Kidman appeared in very lite blue letters with little green flags on them
To show where I cheated. This made me look closer as I did not want my cheating
To be so exposed, and resulted in completing the entire NW corner!
I did get stuck again in the NE, and revealed two more names but filled
In a lot of unknowns doing it.
However, 8n the middle, there was one more name I did not know an could not perp.
So I hit the reveal, and up popped a screen that said:
You have already received 3 hints,
Do you want to watch an ad to see another hint?
Now this is my kind of advertising!
Ad hating so much, I declined and it forced me to finish the rest of the puzzle.
A very enjoyable experience!
CrossEyedDave @11:07 AM. Did you ever publish a link to the article by the chemist on the Pyramids you mentioned. I'd like read it, but can't find it
DeleteVidwan. Thought Pipal was an online secure payment service
ReplyDeleteoh wait....nevermind
Then there's the Streisand song "Pipal who need Pipal are the luckiest Pipal..etc."
ReplyDelete😆
OK I'll stop now, it's raining and I'm bored
CED, thanks for the link to the Trib site. I do find it easier to work on a puzzle there vs. the LAT site.
ReplyDeleteJinx, IIRC wearing the Kirwood Derby made its wearer the smartest person in the world but the Derby could only be found by the stupidest person in the world. So, I am still trying to figure out if -T was complimented or dissed. If I could only remember where I put that damned hat I could probably sort things out.
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeletePK Thank you for following up on our situation with the Alisal Fire. We were spared any need to evacuate and the fire is now under control. We just had to deal with bad smoke.
Our innovative landfill/material recovery center was not so fortunate. This is really terrible news. People have no idea how important modern technology is at landfills and how fragile it is.
Here is my article on what they were trying to do and now it is all shut down.
I am taking a bit of posting hiatus after the Climate Crisis comments. I do still read Crossword Corner every day. Thanks!
Picard @11:14 Very interesting article and pics on the recycling plant. Is the plant destroyed, or can it be restored?
DeleteUsing "Albert" for "Albrecht" Durer is as ludicrous as "Paul" for "Pablo" Picasso. Come on!!
ReplyDeleteI SOOO agree. But Saturday constructors are given certain liberty to "stretch" their defs. They're also allowed to use commercial names more often (free plugs??). I have often expressed my angst.
DeleteForgot to wish CED Happy Burthday. Hope you find a cake to your liking.
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the debut, Bill. Fresh puzzle but I'd have preferred ALBERT Pujols :-)
Thanks, HG, for the expo and reaching out to Bill for some behind-the-scenes.
WOs: skorts -> EN ROBEs, dAYBed (?) -> MAY BUG, NerfBALL(?)
ESPs: ELISHA, NEMEA
DNF: the AUTRY | AUDRE | RENE |Y'ALL (oh, great clue - I was thinking Dixie cups) area; I didn't DREAM at all :-(
Fav: I'll go w/ DINGER. See Correa's go-ahead last night?*
Happy Birthday Blue Hen - haven't seen you around in a while.
Happy Birthday CED - A cake.
//"And please, don't call me Shirley."
{B+, A}
Jinx & Ray-O: LOL @3d
unclefred - funny re: Bonobo :-)
Enjoyed reading y'all!
Cheers, -T
*I know it broke WC's heart. Oh, yeah WC, it's on; Go 'Stros! :-)
Thank you Bill for a not unusual Saturday slog. I got a horseshoe FIW, with one LIU for Ms. Cuthbert's first name. And I'm with OKL, "A male prophet" would have been easier, but then this IS Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThank you Husker for your usual ECLAT. The mission of cruciverbalists is to keep words like the latter alive, right KEMOSABE?
22D BENES. Learning moment, glad it perped.
30A On our trip to Ireland, we tried a pittance of peat that we'd purloined from a local stash, but nobody told us that it has to be COMPLETELY dry to give off heat.
64A RAN LOOSE. My favorite Great Dane is Niels Bohr. His explanations for the meaning of quantum mechanics are still RUNNING LOOSE in the fields of physics 100 years later.
36A ATE Speaking of food I still owe the Corner a recipe: Ultimate "Loaded" Colcannon. Also we made this one just yesterday, inspired by Boomer's picture a couple of weeks back of Potatoe salad with radishes. As H2LAH would say YUMMERS!
28A NEGEV. WC - not BEERSHEBA, but BATHSHEBA, wife of URIAH and mother of SOLOMON. Her name is easy to remember because Davey was instantly smitten with her after a single PEEK AT her BATHing from the rooftop of his palace.
3D MAYBUG. Another learning moment.
7D BILES had some real trouble dealing with all the media attention she got at the Tokyo Olympics this past some.
11D ALBERT. Had to swag this as Dürer's first name in German is ALBRECHT, which Google translates to English as ALBRECHT. I guess Bill had to cut some corners somewhere.
35D BCC. Husker, what's a "carbon copy"?
57D "Dixie bunch". My fav clue/fill Y'ALL.
And HBD to CrossEyedDave. I take back what I said yesterday about your Pyramid scheme sounding crazy. A bit wacky perhaps, but not crazy. I'm guessing I won't be getting a cake next summer. 😥
Oh, and Cheers on your DEBUT Bill!
Cheers,
Bill
Vidwan @10:21 AM You remind of that old joke:
ReplyDelete"The Lone Ranger and Tonto are surrounded by Indians, and he turns to Tonto and says, 'Look's like we're goners Tonto'". To which Tonto replies, "What do you mean WE, paleface?".
ReplyDeleteRay O Sunshine, if you're still here ...
.... its amazing how our 'little brains' ( note: not Great Minds ... ;-) ) think so differently.
When I read Pipal, I first thought : Circle or Orb Friendly .... or Archimedes' collegue.
Alas, I now am now, thinking, ( from personal experience - )... the alpha blocker .... Tamsulosin, ( Flomax )
Waseeley, thanks for the joke.
ReplyDeleteA word of advice to the wise ... next time, you go abroad, if you go to India, rather than Ireland, and you purloin some from the local 'stash', and you 'use' it, you'll find it doesn't have to be completely dry, before it starts giving off 'heat' .... in fact it may be more effective and enjoyable, if eaten than smoked..
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fantastic puzzle. And I do appreciate the constructor's notes. Many thanks and congratulations, Bill Pipal. And Happy Birthday, Blue Hen and Dave!
Sometimes on Saturdays I get inapanic when I see all the white space in the grid, and stumbling over the first several clues I start to think that I’m never gonna get through this, but today I was able to establish a foothold in the NW and work counterclockwise to FIR in a little over 20 minutes. Was breezing along till the NE where the last few fills took 25% of my time, biblical mount I was thinking mountain (duh), hadn’t heard of the Subaru Ascent, and the clever clue for tvremote had me a little baffled. Also didn’t know of Audre Lorde, Elisha Cuthbert or Albert Dürer, Nemea, or that nineball was the game from The Color of Money...the perps were the key for me solving this. Always nice to learn new things that hopefully I can retain when they appear in another puzzle (but probably won’t). Congrats to Bill Pipal, to debut on a Saturday is pretty impressive! Also thanks to Rich and the write up from Gary. Yesterday I commented that I thought Jefferey Weschler is among the most talented and creative constructors, which is true, but my hat’s off to all the clever cruciverbalists who keep us crossword aficionados entertained on a daily basis, your work is much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteFun Saturday puzzle, even if it took mainly cheating to get through it. But many thanks, Bill, and you too, Gary.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see both Nicole KIDMAN and Simone BILES in that top left corner.
I have a SUBARU, but it sure isn't an Ascent.
So ALBERT and ALBRECHT Duerer were brothers? You'd think the family would have given them slightly more different names to deter a lot of confusion.
Have a great weekend, everybody
Hi Y'All! Thanks for the challenge & learning moments, Bill Pipal. Thanks for 'splainin', Gary.
ReplyDeleteLearning that a cockshafer is not a roach MAY BUG me a while.
Hand up for wanting ALBrechT for Durer.
Had no idea what DINGER or homer or jack were or that Ascent was a SUBURU.
Saw a picture of a GIBBON on Jeopardy or some other game show recently so got that.
PEAT BOG wasn't Cow Patty or bison droppings which when dried were used for fuel by pioneers on our treeless plains.
Also DNK: AUDRE, ELISHA, AUTRY (my fav cowboy), BENES (tho I watched Seinfeld) ROMA, CANCEL CULTURE.
Happy Birthday, CE DAVE.
Picard: Thanks for letting us know you are okay. Those fires are so terrible. I'm wondering if any of the beautiful areas where you sponsor hikes are now gone? Please don't let the comments of a few others chase you away from commenting. The corner would be poorer for it.
ReplyDeleteCool PZL from Mr. Pipal. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHusker G asks how old we need to be to understand KEMO SABE. Well, my hand is raised.
"The Lone Ranger" was my favorite Radio show--long before it made its first TV appearance.
And how many (besides yrs truly) caught Lenny Bruce's act--live!--when he did his KEMO SABE routine ("Thank you Mask Man"), starring both the LR and Tonto?
(Yes, I caught Bruce one time in San Fran in that North beach hole-in-the-wall just south of B'way.)
FIR, although slowed down by STAND before SWEAR, SHINE before ECLAT, MARTHA & MARSHA before ELISHA, & TOGA before PITA.
Toughest fill? SUBARU. The clue ("Ascent, for one") reminds me that I am often thrown by car models.
~ OMK
Love the corner and always learn someting importantfrom its members. Thanks to Picard for the inormation on the latest recycling techniques. Hope all will be up and running again soon. Greetings to Bipall from a former resident of Lakeview in Chicago (and a forever fan of the Cubs).
ReplyDeleteWaseeley@2:46
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there is no article,
The guy is trying to sell a book,.
I would not recommend it as if you watch this videos,
You will see him ramble on, repeat himself, and say there is more coming.
Still, the premise is intriguing.
I can only suggest that you click on one of my links
And use it to click on his YouTube homepage where
You will find a list of his videos. 11 in all, some quite interesting.
I spent three days sorting thru the dross just to find the intriguing stuff,
Sort of a hobby of mine...
Thank goodness for the Corner! Thirty plus years in the US and never (until now) came across 'jack' or 'dinger' as a synonym for home run.
ReplyDeleteCrosses gave me the fill but I had no idea what it meant until I came here.
Add me to the list of people crying foul on 11d. I've seen Dürer spelled Durer but not Albrecht spelled Albert.
Although a Google search finds quite a few "Albert Dürer" hits - mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries when English speaking people were (perhaps) a bit more casual about the spelling of foreign words.
PK Thank you for the kind words of support. I should have also mentioned that the freeway was closed for many days. It is the only way out of here to go north. The only railroad line in the region was also shut down.
ReplyDeleteYes, this wonderful trail that had just opened ten years ago is completely destroyed, along with the new park around it.
Thank you also for your kind comments about the comments. It is difficult for me even to get my head around it to even try to explain how disturbing it was. It has nothing to do with "politics". Not sure if you do email, but please do send me an email at earthmanrobert (at) gmail.com if you are willing and able. You are one of the most interesting of the many interesting people on this blog. Thank you!
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteHBTY CED
FIW with a misspelling of KIMOSABE/IN ROBE
ReplyDeleteI know of that prince in a can. I know of the trumpet player and his Tijuana Brass. I know of that baseball player. I know of the Beatles uncle. I know of the theoretical physicist. I know of the Royal Hall. I even know of ____ Lea in Minnesota.
Bill's clue should have stood. Or at least some legitimate alternative. To clue it as Dürer is wrong. It is Albrecht, not Albert. His 500th birthday was celebrated in May.
Speaking of birthdays, Happy Birthday to Cross-Eyed-Dave and Hungry Mother.
ReplyDeletewouldn't want anyone to be sad.
or miss any bad puns...
But in an incredible learning moment,
After 66 years of not knowing,
It was that that silly link about kemasabe meaning horses ass
That made me look up the meaning of "tonto."
who knew?
Sometimes, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, I consider a crossword grid the way I consider a good bowl of Phở: admire the looks of it and savor the aroma of it before diving in. Today's grid (and yesterday's too, for that matter) presented very aesthetically visually.
ReplyDeleteGotta go.
The Dürer confusion has grown more confused in the exchanges here.
ReplyDeleteI find no reference to a brother named ALBERT, but only to his brother Hans Dürer.
Albrecht is a dialectical version of ALBERT; the family was used to altering their name as they changed regions along with local dialects. In a recent generation they altered their surname from "Türer" to "Dürer."
The artist himself used a Latinized version of Albrecht--"ALBERTina"--at times.
He would surely have recognized ALBERT himself.
~ OMK
When my American university buds and I would leave a restaurant in Italy the waiter would often call out "Grazie tanto" ("thanks so much"). We would pretend he was saying "Thanks Tonto" (pronounced the same) and yell back "e anchè al Lone Ranger" ("and also to the Lone Ranger!!") to his confused look and that of the tbe rest if the restaurant patrons..🤠
ReplyDeleteWC - Those 8 runs in the 1st two innings were, um... very deflating. See you in Boston.
ReplyDeleteRe: Dingers and jacks - this may be more likely for "baseball on the radio" than TV games. Announcers a) have a lot of time to fill & b) don't want to use the same word over-and-over.
//I listen to games so I can do something while it's on. If something amazing happens, I run into the living-room and re-wind to watch.
====
My favorite Lone Ranger story [Letterman 5:41].
Thanks for the research / Slate article, CED. Here's the Carson w/ Jay Silverheels [4:02] sketch the article mentions.
Cheers, -T
ReplyDeletePicard: your pictures of the trail are beautiful. So sad about the destruction. Hope it revives eventually.
-T, things are looking good for my Redsox right now with the two slammer-jacks*. It's a long way to Tipperary . Whew, 6th got tight and 9th too but , yep, on to Boston. Is it 2-3-2 or 2-2-1-1-1?
ReplyDeleteRe. BENES. Anybody who followed my link for WORD would have had that name fresh
Thx for corrections on BEER vs Bath. Dave sent B's hubby (Uriah) to the front where he got in a Heep of trouble C'est la vie.
I've been known to spell it Yawl. Rebs didn't work
TTP, there's Finney and Camus
WC
*Brand new word I just made up . And, BTW, a baseball announcer will say "He JACKed that one out when a player hits a DINGER. Occasionally abbreviated to JACKs
TTP, there's Finney and Camus, too
Late solve tonight as we had a long drive back home from Colorado. Nothing new to add..
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday CED and Blue Hen!
Congrats on your debut Bill!
Super Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Bill (congrats on your debut) and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteI required a couple of Google hints for names (here’s looking at you ALBERT, except Wikipedia gave me Albrecht!) to open up a few areas. But I felt that I was fairly successful for a Saturday.
My Gaboon (that’s a tree) changed to a GIBBON, Elder to VICAR.
My MUD pack changed to a bath and finally a WRAP (dupe with 54D clue!)
My wrap was a sari before a PITA. (Sari would have been great with SIRI.)
But we did have some combos - the Biblical mount crossing Ascent (ASS and SUBARU not so much LOL), STRAY crossing RAN LOOSE (plus we had WHELP), MOP and MOB, DRY SPELL and NEGEV.
Also UMPIRES and DINGER for our baseball fans.
Favourite clue was for TV REMOTE.
Ray-o- you are in rare form today. I LOLed at your version of the Streisand song.
Picard- glad you are safe, but sorry to hear about the recovery centre and trail.
Happy Birthday CED and Blue Hen.
Good evening Y’ALL. (This Canadian entered Cups for “Dixie bunch”)
Picard @ 11:14-- your piece about the Tajiguas Landfill was so refreshingly lucid and competent ... I have been beaten down by what passes for journalism these days.
ReplyDeleteOne problem with recycling is that the recyclers want all materials to be as "pure as the driven snow," so much recyclable material has to go to landfill, because there was some food 'contamination' on it.