Theme: "Shh!" - Part of each theme entry is a car model. Clues only refers to the non-car parts.
23. *Discerning: EDGEWISE. Ford Edge.
24. *Building manager: SUPERCHARGER. Dodge Charger
37. *Performer's period on the job: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. Honda Civic.
53. *Electricity: BEETLE JUICE. VW Beetle.
67. *Apportion: CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. Lincoln Continental.
84. *Follow: TRAILBLAZER. Chevy Blazer.
94. *Work a side hustle: MOONLIGHT SONATA. Hyundai Sonata.
113. *Infatuated with, with "on": SOUL-CRUSHING. I don't quite get this. Can you give me a sentence? Kia Soul.
Reveal:
116. Place for Amtrak passengers to unwind ... and a hint to how to interpret eight puzzle answers: QUIET CAR.
I'm not a car person. I can only tell a few car models. Here we have 8 car models from 8 different car makers, right?
Our Santa Fe is pretty good, except the passenger seat which can't be raised. It's very smart. It beeps at you when you cross the lane lines.
Here's President Xi Jinping's luxury car: Hongqi, literally "red flag".
Across:
9. Whitewater craft: CANOES.
15. Son of Abraham: ISAAC.
20. Got emotional: TEARED UP.
21. Greek island named for a storied flier: ICARIA. Named after Icarus, whose wings melted in the sun.
22. Rousey who was the first American woman to win an Olympic judo medal: RONDA. Gimme!
26. "Little Red Book" writer: MAO. My dad could recite the whole book. He served in the Chinese Army.
27. Author Tolstoy: LEO. Carmen just mentioned "War and Peace". I never read it.
29. Land between hills: VALE.
30. Mensa prereq: IQ TEST.
31. Big __: Red Sox nickname: PAPI. He was so so with with the Twins.
34. Truckers' loads: HAULS.
36. Call, old-style: DIAL.
43. "A Hymn to __": "My Fair Lady" song: HIM.
46. Not attentive: ASLEEP.
47. Bauxite, to aluminum: ORE.
48. Conquer a hero?: EAT. Hero sandwich.
50. Chaplin accessory: CANE.
51. Decked out: CLAD.
52. Victoria's Secret purchase: BRA.
57. Is down with: HAS.
58. Smelting by-product: SLAG. Hot!
60. Corp. alternatives: LLCS.
61. Unwitting test taker: LAB RAT.
62. Longtime U.K. record label: EMI.
63. Greek fabulist: AESOP.
65. Bilbao bear: OSO.
66. Locks in a barn: MANE. Horse barn.
72. Point after deuce: AD IN.
73. Sticking point?: RUT. Stuck in a rut.
74. Jefferson Memorial column type: IONIC.
75. Catch a few winks: NAP.
78. Handles clumsily: PAWS AT.
81. Give up: CEDE.
82. "__ la France!": VIVE.
83. "The History of the Standard Oil Company" author Tarbell: IDA.
86. Neighbor of Ill.: WIS. Where D-Otto grew up. So you have to change this sign every 4 years?
87. Obstacles to good teamwork: EGOS.
88. Picnic crashers: ANTS.
89. Play it by __: EAR.
90. Many Ph.D. students: TAs.
91. Reminder: PROMPT.
93. Make out: SEE. Such a comfort to SEE Irish Miss on the blog!
99. __ old age: RIPE. What is exactly the age for ripe old age?
103. Poppycock: HOOEY.
104. Votes in favor: AYES.
105. Rod user: ANGLER. Fishing rod.
107. Teeny, tiny bit: IOTA.
108. Kind of PC port: USB.
110. Place for a mask: SPA. Facial mask.
120. Fiji neighbor: TONGA. Just had their first COVID case.
121. Tenant: ROOMER.
122. Paragon of prestige: CLASS ACT. Harmon Killebrew came to mind. He was so nice to every fan, unlike Rod Carew.
123. Mork's leader: ORSON.
124. Hider's revelation: IN HERE.
125. Fish with the largest brain: MANTA RAY. Good to know.
Down:
2. Mother of Castor: LEDA.
3. "Aladdin" parrot: IAGO.
4. GI chow: MRE. Meals Ready to Eat for Chinese soldiers.
5. Yom Kippur observer: JEW.
6. Despot Amin: IDI.
7. Fabric from Iraq: MUSLIN. MADRAS has the same letter count. It's from India. We also have 15. Baghdad native: IRAQI.
8. Graf __: WWII ship: SPEE.
9. Opposite of trans: CIS. Cisgender.
10. Contact lens giant: ACUVUE. Might be tough for those who don't wear contact lens.
11. Morning smell in "Apocalypse Now": NAPALM. "I love the smell of NAPLAM in the morning".
12. Vague threat: OR ELSE.
13. Emerald Isle: EIRE.
14. Egg container: SAC.
16. In a way, informally: SORTA.
17. Thin 77-Down: ANGEL HAIR. And 77. 17-Down, e.g.: PASTA. Do you see this brand in your area?
18. Fruity thirst-quenchers: ADES.
19. Horse preceder, when things are amiss?: CART. Cart before the horse.
25. Laid low: HID.
28. "Gone With the Wind" family name: O'HARA.
31. Blotchy: PIED.
32. Team's #1 pitcher: ACE.
33. Get-up-and-go: PEP.
35. Sit in casks, say: AGE. I just sit in a chair and AGE.
37. Secret supply: CACHE.
38. Faith with Sunni and Shia branches: ISLAM.
39. Pickle brand with a stork mascot: VLASIC. Nothing compares to Claussen.
40. Medusa, for one: GORGON.
41. Neighbors of the Knicks: NETS.
42. Latvian chess champ Mikhail __: TAL.
44. Atahualpa subject: INCA.
45. Track competition: MEET.
49. Mideast port on the Mediterranean: TEL AVIV. Full name. We often just see TEL or AVIV as fill-in-the-blank.
50. Like chicken-fried steak: CUBED.
52. Washroom fixture: BASIN.
53. Police record: BLOTTER.
54. "Frozen" sister: ELSA.
55. Cause for a romaine recall: E COLI.
56. Muppet who plays lead guitar in the Electric Mayhem: JANICE. Learning moment for me.
58. Flip-flop: SANDAL.
59. The Beatles' last studio album: LET IT BE.
64. Rosie of "Do the Right Thing": PEREZ.
66. Tiny Oreos: MINIS.
68. Place of refuge: OASIS.
69. Manet's "Olympia," e.g.: NUDE. How many of you have seen this painting in person?
70. Anti-war: DOVISH.
71. "The Imitation Game" encryption machine: ENIGMA.
76. Rescue from a shelter: ADOPT.
78. K-12 fundraising gps.: PTAS.
79. "Rule, Britannia" composer Thomas: ARNE. Learned from doing crosswords.
80. Pool party arsenal: WATER GUNS.
81. Italian "dear": CARO.
85. Run for it: LAM.
86. Sought-after Japanese beef: WAGYU.
87. Ages and ages: EONS.
90. Dressy accessory: TIE.
91. "Gangnam Style" rapper: PSY. How times flies. Now it's all about BTS.
92. Sushi topping: ROE.
95. "Pick me! Pick me!": OH OH OH.
96. A jiffy: NO TIME.
97. Repair shop offer: LOANER.
98. __ rasa: blank slate: TABULA.
100. Volunteer's offer: I'LL GO.
101. Type of pie popular in Southern cuisine: PECAN. Thanksgiving is coming!
102. Mess up: ERR.
105. In the matter of: AS TO.
106. American-born Jordanian queen: NOOR.
107. Airs now: IS ON.
109. Area meas. about the size of a pinkie toenail: SQ CM. Square centimeter.
110. Part of the navel is one: SCAR.
111. Guinea pig look-alike: PACA.
112. Affectedly cultured: ARTY.
114. New England sch.: URI. University of Rhode Island.
115. Future Ph.D.'s test: GRE.
117. McKellen who played Gandalf: IAN.
118. February Va. hours: EST.
119. Flight safety org.: TSA.
C.C.
FIRight. Hard, but not as bad as the past two days. I saw early on that the *themers were two-word phrases, and one of the words was the answer to the clue, but noting the other was a car model I didn't realize till nearly the end. Never heard of a QUIET CAR on a train tho. The clack of the rails permeates the whole train, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteJANICE the Muppet is a world-renowned diva.
Her second-best ENGAGEMENT was in TEL AVIV-a!
But her best one of all,
That held audiences in thrall,
Was in Paris, France, performing a la VIVE!
Gotta wear ACU-VUE™ contacts, that's basic,
Before hiking out with SLIM-JIMS™ and TRAIL-mix!
When we get to camp,
Our appetites we'll damp
With hamburgers stacked with pickles from VLASIC™!
Is the MANTA RAY really the smartest of fish?
With their fins, they can fly when they wish!
From ICARIA to TONGA,
They're free to wander,
I think that would be a smart path to bliss!
{B+, A-, B+.}
I finished it, but absolutely no help from the theme clues. Hard to understand “supercharger” and “soul crushing” as “quiet cars”. I get the car model part, not the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteLike OwenKL, I realized that one word of the themers matched the clue. Unlike OwenKL, d-o never figured out that the other word was a car. Got 'er done, though, so life is good. Thanx, John-Clark and C.C. (I agree about Claussen vs Vlasic. Claussen Minis are the best.)
RIPE: I think "ripe" old age is someone who's at least ten years older than you.
MANTA RAY: They just swoop around straining protein from the sea water. Makes you wonder why they need such a big brain.
WAGYU: Took a 5-day package tour of Japan 50-odd years ago. One of the stops was a beef farm where the cattle got a beer rub-down daily. The cow got a second bottle to drink. Don't know if that was WAGYU beef, but the sukiyaki was delicious.
Oho, there was a reveal. Naturally, d-o missed it. I feel better about missing the theme now.
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing VIVa x JANICa (probably should have gotten JANICE) and SeA mask. (Thought about "ski" but not SPA. Never heard of a PACA, but I bet Al has.) Knew all the cars except EDGE. I'll bet that John didn't know that TRAIL BLAZER is a brand of Chevy SUVs distinct from its BLAZER line, competing with the Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander.
ReplyDeleteRONDA both frightens and arouses me.
If my friends SEE someone make out, they say "get a room!".
For "rod user" I wanted "witch". As in divining rod / water witch.
ACUVUE can't fill my oddball contact lens prescription.
When I read "is down with" I first thought "is cool about".
Maybe someday I'll understand why we need CIS. I guess it's a societal, not logical, implementation. Maybe we need "white zinfandel" and "cis zinfandel". And why do I get in trouble for saying "snow skiing" to differentiate it from "water skiing"? Ain't English fun?
Thanks to John-Clark for the fun puzzle, even though I messed it up a little. My favorite was "horse predecessor, when things are amiss" for CART. Least favorite will always be anything associated with "Frozen". And thanks to CC for the review. Interesting that your dad knew The Little Red Book by heart.
FIW. Had dale instead of vale. Never had contacts so Acuvue didn't compute.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGood morning !
What time is it ?
Yes, the themers were all commonly known phrases or terms that happened to have car names in them. As OwenKL alluded to, you almost didn't notice they were there. "Quiet. Don't let anyone know. Keep it on the down low. Let's be quiet about this. Shh!"
Owen, quiet cars - a designated commuter train car with no talking, no music, no unnecessary noise making. Don't fold your newspaper too loudly, lest you disturb other passengers. Kinda like the rules in many libraries.
C.C., the NCAAF third-ranked Michigan State Spartans suffered a soul-crushing loss to Purdue in a B1G 10 match-up yesterday, Their dreams of getting into the College Football Playoffs, and any chance of a national championship this year have been shattered.
FLN - Yesterday was brutal. 43:47, with two blank cells left when I stopped and gave up. The scoreboard says 99%, but it sure doesn't feel that way. The funny thing is that I liked the grid pattern, and decided to solve the center area first, but that is where the two missing letters are.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteWasn't particularly moved by the theme, but got them all - well-known phrases. Few unknowns like ACUVUE perped in. No searches needed. FIR.
VLASIC - - My favorite is Nathan's kosher spears.
CIS - I used the model for Caesar's Gaul; trans-alpine Gaul vs CIS-alpine. Slicker than snot on a doorknob.
WAGYU - Kobe wouldn't fit. A good Angus Filet Mignon suits me just fine.
ENIGMA - From what I've read about it, the crypto machine we had on our DD, circa 1960, seemed to be a modernized version of Enigma, at least mechanically. ICBW.
Have a great day.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteIt took me awhile to catch on to the car being quiet and the second word matching the clue, but once I caught on, I enjoyed the solve. Not too many unknowns for a Sunday: Muslin, Acuvue, Paca and Janice. My Vale was Dale (Hi, Lucina), Oso was Osa, and Roomer was Renter. All in all, a relatively easy and smooth Sunday solve.
Thanks, John-Clark, for a pleasant outing and thanks, CC, for being our Sunday Sherpa and for the welcoming words.
I watched a Netflix movie last night called The Last Laugh with Chevy Chase and Richard Dreyfuss. Both actors are completely white-haired and kind of portly which prompted me to verify their ages. Chase is 78 and Dreyfuss is 74. Speaking of Netflix, Ray O, you are the resident movie buff, so do you have any recommendations for a good movie/series? I watched Midnight Mass but that wasn’t really my cup of tea. I’m not into Sci-Fi or fantasy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 😉
All clocks are reset except for the analog relic in my den. I can take it off the wall but can never get it back in place correctly. My niece is stopping by later so I’ll ask her to do it.
Owen, A+ today.
Have a great day.
Thanks J-CL for the relatively stress free start to a Sunday, as I managed an FIR in a little over a half hour without ever really suss I gotta the theme, realized they were all autos but didn’t get the “Shh” reference. The perps helped immensely as there were quite a few unknowns, reading through CC’s expo I saw words that I didn’t know were in the puzzle, entirely filled in by the perps. I knew of ACUVUE cuz those are the type of contacts I wear. And speaking of pickles, “Milwaukee Midgets” rank right up there with the Clausen’s and Vlasic’s :). Have a great day everyone. Looking forward to the Packer game this afternoon as we get a first look at Jordan Love at QB.
ReplyDeleteEdgewise is Discerning,
ReplyDeleteTrail Blazer is Follow,
Etc.
Please, l need a new dictionary!
Musings
ReplyDelete-I fought EDGE WISE for a long time but it had to be and the reveal made it fun!
-RONDA’s looks and skill made her a MMA fighter but then she got her clocked cleaned and relied on just the former
-DANG! DALE not VALE gave me a careless error!
-Every American port has thousands of HAULS waiting offshore
-Note to self: Every Greek mother ending in “A” is not HERA
-Plain label pickles just don’t cut it
-CARO reminded me of recently deceased Jay Black and this fabulous CARA song!
Hola!
ReplyDeleteRats! To start this morning my computer gave me all kinds of trouble and finally re-aligned itself or whatever computers do.
Thank you, John Clark Levin, for a powerful puzzle though I did not analyze the Shh part. Thank you, C.C., for that. I just merrily sashay through the grid on my own time. And thank you all those who wanted DALE instead of VALE. That was my first thought, too. ACUVUE corrected that.
It's nice to see Rosie PEREZ in the puzzle and gives me an opportunity to express one of my biggest peeves. It's the pronunciation of PEREZ. The accent should be on the first syllable, not the second! It's PE-rez. Some of my distant relatives sport that name so it's PE-rez, please just like LO-pez and MEN-dez.
I love ANGEL HAIR PASTA though of course these days I am not supposed to have any.
The Phoenix Zoo had a PACA the last time I was there which was many years ago.
It's always nice to see a little Latin, TABULA rasa which my teachers often urged me not to have.
Did everyone know Atahualpa and his subjects, the INCA? He ended tragically at the hands of Pizarro. Talk about SOULCRUSHING!
Thank you, again, C.C. for your elucidation and I agree, it's interesting that your father knew the Little Red Book from memory!
Have a sensational Sunday, everyone! I have a birthday lunch to attend today. It's mine and my friend, Joy's, though a month early but celebrations can be anytime.
This was a much more pleasant experience than yesterday and it took about the same amount of time to complete. Yesterday's puzzle was a bit soul crushing but until this morning I have never seen "Soul Crushing" used as a verb. Unlike a few others here, I was lucky enough to catch on to the car model theme and it proved helpful in several locations.
ReplyDeleteFIW today, one letter, putting VIVa/VIVE (Hi Jinx). Guess I was thinking Spanish, not French. My last fill was MANE, coming around to hair in the stalls rather than locking hardware like "gate." JANICE was unknown and didn't help either, though it made more sense than JANICa. Well, tomorrow is a new start. I got the theme, John-Clark, so there is that consolation. Thanks for today's puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks to C.C. for confirming the correct answers. Learning moment today: MANTA RAY, largest brained fish. Like DO, I wonder why. Enjoy your early birthday celebration today, Lucina. Good to see you, Irish Miss. And a pleasant day to all!
Shhh! Really?!? No guidance to the unrelated clues presented. Try doing these puzzles from the newspaper without the handy little letters computers give...
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles last studio album was and always will be Abbey Road. Perhaps if the clue had read "The Beatles last released studio album," it would have been accurate. This was just misleading.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first finished, I got no ta-da. One of the perks of working it online (or off-line with AcrossLite). The laptop warned me I still had to look for errors, and found two before I got ta-da: ACUdUE and VIVa, both of which I atoned for by putting them in l'icks.
ReplyDeleteAtahualpa was easy for me. During my year at BYU, I was in the play "Royal Hunt Of The Sun", which is about Pizarro and Atahualpa. I was, literally a spear-carrier in INCA group scenes.
TTP, thanks for the explain on QUIET CARS. I did all my train riding as a rambunctious child (my Dad was a railroadman) who wouldn't have been allowed in one, if they existed back then!
WAGYU beef tenderloin.
Had ZIP < PEP, which made me search for BIG _AZI.
Do PACAs get used as LAB RATS?
Lawyer: At that distance you could MAKE OUT my client? How far can you see?
Witness: Well, I can SEE the moon, and it's a lot farther away!
Beetle is a nickname for the Volkswagen Type 1.
ReplyDeleteI guess that a manta ray needs a big enough brain to know that a Crocodile Hunter isn't good for it.
ReplyDeleteMusings 2
ReplyDelete-SOUL CRUSHING? My Huskers have lost seven games, all by an average of four points. If we had punted the ball the to the right instead of the left (as called) we would have easily beaten Michigan State. C'est la vie!
-Is being the best 7-loss team in the country any consolation? Not really.
-Anonymous 1 – I do the puzzle in the paper with a pencil and no handy computer letters. My only mistake was the aforementioned VALE/DALE. I needed the reveal for the gimmick and loved John’s great puzzle!
-Anonymous 2 – Despite nits being in session, figuring out the Beatles title was not a strain. Still I'm happy to learn that info
-A business here in Fremont specializes in WAYGU and Kobe Beef
Two days in a row with a DNF. The intersection of the unknowns-ICARIA & ACUVUE- stumped me. I don't wear glasses or contacts. Got the rest without noticing the CAR brands. I had no idea what the theme clues were about but after a few perps they were easy to fill.
ReplyDeleteCUBED- had to fill it by perps. Tried CRISP, then FRIED but Cane wouldn't allow that. After filling by perps I looked it up. The term 'Cube Steak' is new to BE. We always used ROUND steak and beat it to a 2nd death to flatten it thin.
JANICE, Rosie PEREZ, CARO, & Mikhail TAL- 100% unknowns filled by perps and MANTA RAY really surprised me with the big brains. Didn't know that.
PAPI, RONDA, PSY, IAGO, GORGON- learned those from doing Xwords.
LAB RAT- with these vaccines that have been out for less than a year that term could describe all of us.
C.C., For some reason auto manufacturers (but not BMW, Audi, or Mercedes) want to give names to cars. Years ago the American brands were named for eastern parts of the US- Fifth Ave, Park Ave, New Yorker,..etc- but lately names have drifted west- Tahoe, Yukon, Santa Fe, Tucson, Durango, Dakota,...etc.
Anon@10:35- my newspaper was late today but I never use the computer to fill a puzzle. No RED LETTERS in the paper so you can't cheat.
Anon@11:03- I knew that about Abbey Road. I didn't know LET IT BE was an album but it was an easy fill.
Sunday Lurk say...
ReplyDelete{B, B+, B+}
Claussen does make great pickles.
C.C. "She's really crushing on that Korean group, BTS." meaning: "She has a crush on the boys in BTS." //was that the question in your expo?
IM - Last night DW & I watched Army of Thieves. Though it's a prequel to Army of the Dead (a zombie movie), there's only passing references to some zombie virus outbreak in Nevada.
Enjoyed reading everyone.
Cheers, -T
It took explanations by C.C. and you all for me to figure out the theme. I think I also figured out how the answers fit the clues, namely remove the "car" part of the answer, thus:
ReplyDelete*Discerning: WISE.
*Building manager: SUPER.
*Performer's period on the job: ENGAGEMENT.
*Electricity: JUICE.
*Apportion: DIVIDE.
*Follow: TRAIL.
*Work a side hustle: MOONLIGHT.
*Infatuated with, with "on": CRUSHING.
Good wishes to you all.
Re: RIPE old age: When I turned 80 a month ago my sister told me I am now officially a geezer. I don't feel like one so I guess it's all relative. It's like when my wife feels hot even when it's 60 degrees and I feel cold when it's 70 degrees.
ReplyDeleteJayce:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about age and feeling. Though I am going to be 84 most of the time I feel like 48 though once in a while my body lets me know it's just not true.
I have seen Manet's Olympia in Paris. According to Wiki, it was judged to be a scandalous painting depicting a prostitute with her finery, directing her gaze directly at the viewer. Evidently, nudes gazing afar in a less sensual setting were deemed pure and acceptable.
ReplyDeleteShh Sunday. Thanks for the fun, John-Clark and C.C.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed, but failed to get the theme and see the cars (although I did see the answer/clues as Jayce pointed out.
Ah well, it was easier than yesterday’s offering (which I almost finished but then got Naticked like the rest of you).
I started poorly because this Canadian is not familiar with SLIM JIMS. I wanted Beef Jerky.
And this Canadian entered Ltds before LLCS perped.
Similar to Jinx, I wanted Dowser before ANGLER. Hand up for Dale before VALE.
Does that NUDE need a BRA. Maybe not, at her AGE.
VIVE crossing TEL AVIV was fun.
CANOES for whitewater reminded me of our local “Indiana Jones” explorer whose specially-made canoe had to deal with more than white water.
AloneAcrossThe Arctic
Favourite was that CART before the horse. I wonder if the horse had a MANE and was PIED.
CSO to LEO.
Wishing you all a great day.
Creative multi-layered theme - although I didn't get it (except the car model part) until Jayce's comment - the clue being the definition of the rest of the answer if the car part was silent (quiet) thus the title Shhh! I was searching the blog for illumination- good that I didn't have time to get here until after Jayce- thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI have seen Manet's "Olympia" in Paris - but it was 1976 and it's current home in the Musee D'Orsay wasn't even a museum then- it was a converted railway station which opened ~1986. When I saw it, it was in the Jeu de Paume museum which was a converted tennis court (thus the name) on the grounds of the Tuileries Gardens - but was much too small for the Impressionist and post Impressionist collection they owned.
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/18/arts/museum-in-paris-to-close.html
Some friends' dad after traveling to Japan on business came back to the family farm just east of here and started raising Wagyu beef cattle - he sells to some higher end restaurants and also direct. He's quite an entrepreneur because then he also started a vineyard. https://www.mariesriverwagyu.com/
Thanks CC and John-Clark!
I was looking forward to the Chiefs/Packers game today - a match of my two teams - but now with Aaron Rodgers shenanigans - it won't quite be the match up I was expecting!
ReplyDeleteHe should have heeded the old adage, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt"
Which often is attributed to Mark Twain or Lincoln - but is probably from neither of them
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain-silent/
Busy morning with Zoom visits with family and friends, and so am a bit late to comment on the Sunday crossword puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun, John-Clark, many thanks. And always enjoy and appreciate your commentary, C.C.
The long answers stumped me a bit, but there were lots of manageable items.
Nice to see writers like LEO Tolstoy and that Greek fabulist (is that a word?) AESOP.
Got IDI Amin without any problem. For how many years (decades?) has he been appearing in puzzles?
And, of course, it's always nice to remember the O'HARAs from 'Gone with the Wind'.
And, yes, lots of Ph.D. candidates support themselves by serving as TAs or Teaching Assistants.
Have a great week coming up, everybody.
Hi Y'all! Thanks for an interesting puzzle, John-CLark. Always enjoy your take on things, C.C.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle took just five minutes longer than Saturday's SOUL CRUSHER. But I think I spent at least that much time trying to make sense of the theme. I saw the CARS and now I've seen the explanations. Gotta say, it still seems far-fetched to me.
Bunch of DNKs including WAGYU, PACA, TAL.
I don't consider red-letter runs as cheating -- just quick research. We're not being graded or up for a degree on this. It's supposed to be mind exercise & enjoyable.
Jinx @ 7:21 -- We use 'CIS' because it's a chemical term -- coopted now for another purpose -- as in 'CIS/TRANS ISOMERISM', where, per WiKi, "In the context of chemistry, cis indicates that the functional groups (substituents) are on the same side of some plane, while trans conveys that they are on opposing sides. Cis-trans isomers are stereoisomers, that is, pairs of molecules which have the same formula but whose functional groups are in different orientations in three-dimensional space."
ReplyDeleteBig Easy @ 12:04:
ReplyDeleteWe are all "lab rats", and not just for this year. Ever since about 1850, when we humans started to have a real control over, and knowledge of, chemistry, we have been creating elements and compounds, whose effects we are learning "experimentally" as we go along, with us as the experimentees. Think of radium, aspirin, opium, benzene, the endless string of new drugs, ... you get the idea.
I thought fish with the largest brain was some kind of whale,
ReplyDeleteBut then my (know it all) neighbour (almost)
Pointed out that whales are not fish...
From then on we were hooked...
Must have spent hours trying to solve the bottom end
Of the puzzle, my neighbour was down to the last three entries
When he hit something that froze the screen.
From then on I could only get an empty puzzle on reload.
So, DNF...
Oh well...
Tomorrow we head for key,west,
A 5 hour drive.
Already have reservations for a dinner cruise!
Should be fun!
(If you don't hear from me, I am probably snorkelling...)
Thanks for your astute theme explanation.
ReplyDeleteI meant thanks to Jayce.
ReplyDeleteMy birthday celebration which I shared with my friend, Joy, was absolutely lovely! I have such special friends who are not only loyal and fun, but generous as well. I am blessed!
ReplyDeleteI hope yo have all enjoyed your Sunday.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteThanks Jayce for the puzzle theme explanation!
FIW with a Natick @ VIVA / JANICA
I got eight correct but never grok'ed that they were CARs
ReplyDeleteTop half went reasonably smooth with the mistake of trying to make both words work with the clue. Thus EDGE had to be perped.
Finding a tbtimes this far north of Tampa led me finally to Walmart and a human being that found the CACHE. I got started about 730* EST. OH OH OH cracked Texas and replaced renter/ROOMER. TONGA emerged => I'LL GO/I will. Finally, TSA/FAA and TABULA dropped.
Read W&P long ago. Just reread Anna Karenina. Fascinating but a very depressing ending. Poor Anna
Oops, FIW. Had EMi and should have caught VLASIC/oC. HOOEY was a late drop.
That Chinese MRE** sure beats Ham'n Limas.
I had seesaw < SANDAL for
Flip-flop. Oops again. I had NiT missing NUDE and RUT. I need to leave things blank and come back.
Not MIT nor WPI. URI has been here before
3 W's today for Owen
How about Dowser for the rod user, Jinx. Didn't fit. I see PK thought of the Dowsing ROD too.
ENIGMA. I'll bore you again. If England had cracked the Nazi's code then they read the signals Germany sent to the Spy family embedded in Pearl. Is that why the Carriers were away?
WC
*It's 9pm now. Oops again. I fell asleep but it's 1016 in Cali.
** I wanted (C)RAT. I think it was K in WWII
Yep, I'll be last. Three generations of birthdays to celebrate today (great granddaughter is one!!) Got home and pulled out this chapter of HUH? puzzles. Lots of holes in this one. First Kevin mixes car models with nicknames ("Beetle" was never a model name). Then, too many "slangy" words ("roomer", "hooey")! Finally, a questionable "theme". Finished but had a few holes to fill.
ReplyDeleteMaking a new last; sorry, unknown! Jinx, I also learned cis/trans in a mountain context, but, with montane.
ReplyDelete