Which could be clued: "What is it called when you omit Jagger, et al, from your playlist?"
Here's a STONE'S tune that's never skipped on my playlist:
Puzzling thoughts:
Welcome to the first Friday of 2022. Lots to cover today, and I won't leave a single STONE unturned; promise! First off, today brings a memory of what would've been my Uncle Bud's 90th birthday. He passed away at age 85, and was always a family member I trusted and could count on to help me through life's obstacles. He was my first mentor, so to speak. And speaking of mentors, I have been blessed with a few crossword mentors over the past two years as I am developing my puzzle constructing hobby. Two of them happen to be today's collaborators: Christina Iverson and Jeff Chen.
I reached out to them - ala Husker Gary - to ask what was the inspiration for today's grid. Christina replied as follows:
Hi Chris!
I think I pitched the phrase "skipping stones" to Jeff as a potential revealer with a tricky gimmick ... Early in the pandemic when playgrounds were closed, I spent a lot of time on walks to the river with my son, where we'd attempt to skip stones. I think we came up with this idea together after some back and forth over email about how best to implement the stone skipping concept. I seem to remember getting a headache trying to figure out filling around the skipped letters! Jeff had done similar things before and had a better idea of how to make it all come together. Thanks, and looking forward to reading your write up! Christina
I don't know if this captures what Christina and her son did, but it's a fitting graphic:
So to be fair, if your grid came without circles, this puzzle would be nearly unsolvable, given the theme and placement of all of the STONE's that are "SKIPped" - which ultimately answers each of the themers. Here is a picture of the solved puzzle, in case you Finished It Wrong:
In four vertical answers the first names of famous people with the last name STONE are in circles: SHARON (the famous actress and femme fatale), EMMA (whose acting roles include portraying Billie Jean King and Cruella De Vil), SLY (as in SLY and the Family STONE, although his given name was Sylvester Stewart), and MATT (noted for his creation of the animated TV show 'South Park').
In 9 - yes, 9 - perpendicular crossings, the letter(s) in the STONE's name, when skipped (omitted), reveal the correct answer to each of the starred clues:
19-Across. *Works with needles: (S)KNITS. Take out the (S) and you have KNITS
22-Across.*Binge-watch on Netflix, say: V(H)EG OUT.Take out the (H) VEG OUT
24-Across.*Hero's place: DELI(A). No (A) leaves DELI
28-Across. *Work position with little mobility?: DES(R)K J(M)OB. Toss the (R) and (M) et voila: DESK JOB
34-Across. *Italian sparkling wine region: AS(E)TI(S). Moe knows his wines, and ASTI needs no (E) nor an additional (S); SKIP 'em!
37-Across. *Tweetstorm, e.g.: TI(O)RA(A)DE. The clue "Tweetstorm" may have thrown you for a loop if you don't participate on that APP, but when the (O) and (A) are skipped, TIRADE fits as the answer. And as a footnote, go back and read Melissa Bee's recap from Wednesday; she described "Tweetstorm" perfectly
40-Across. *Sandie ingredients: PE(M)CA(Y)NS. PECANS - as in Pecan Sandies (a cookie). No (M) or (Y) in my cookies!
41-Across. *Existential funk: ANG(T)ST. ANGST (I hope you're all getting it by now. The puzzle, that is, not ANGST!)
42-Across. *Crisis specialists: SW(A)AT TEAM. SWAT TEAM
And the reveal: 38-Across. *Makes splashes at the shore ... and what each answer to a starred clue does: SK(M)IP(L)SST(N)ON(T)ES. SKIPS STONES.
You might not have liked today's puzzle, but from a constructor's point of view, this one was brilliant
Across:
1. TV show featuring both blood cells and jail cells: CSI. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation had its beginning on CBS back in 2000, and became an instant hit. It spawned several additional spinoffs (the original was in Las Vegas) including NYC and Miami
A tie-in clue was found in 58-Down: (1-Across evidence:) DNA.
4. Not exactly a warm blanket: SNOW. This one came to me right away as I immediately thought of the phrase, "blanket of SNOW". Not something we see too often here in the greater Phoenix area, but does exist in many places in N Arizona where the elevation is above 4,000':
8. "Heavens!": MY GOSH. Moe-ku:
I really don't think
That anyone would utter:
"MY GOSH to Betsy"
14. Boo: HON. Very clever clue for this; had the word Boo been written as "Boo!" you'd immediately think it was ghost-related. But without the quotes you had to dig deeper, and find the synonym 'HON' which is an old-fashioned way of describing one's boyfriend, girlfriend, or companion. We saw this same word on Wednesday clued as "sweetie"
15. Club in a Manilow hit: COPA.
16. Waver's cry: YOO HOO. Did anyone ever drink this?
17. Chef and author Garten: INA. Learning "MOE"ment; she is also known as the Barefoot Contessa
18. Green card offerer: AMEX. Another "brilliant" clue! I was thinking of USCIS - the immigration service that issues Green cards: A Green Card holder (permanent resident) is someone who has been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis. As proof of that status, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) grants a person a permanent resident card, commonly called a "Green Card."
But NO!! Christina and Jeff - or maybe Rich - threw us a curve ball with the clue. The correct answer is the green card issued by AMEX (short for American Express). "What's in your wallet?" Oops; I think I pulled a "Hahtoolah"! (See this past Tuesday's blog). That's VISA's line. "Don't leave home without it!" is the tagline for AMEX
20. Mob inductee: MADE MAN. According to Wikipedia, "In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a MADE MAN is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oath of omertà, the Mafia code of silence and code of honor
23. Grand __: PRIX. OLE OPRY had too many letters to fit into this space. The Grand PRIX is the ultimate event for Formula 1 race cars
26. Chaney of the screen: LON. Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney was an American stage and film actor, make-up artist, director and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Wikipedia. He looked scary even without makeup
44. Hopped-up refreshment?: ALE. Nice play-on-words; ALE is usually rife with hops which give it the bitter flavor
45. OutKast chart topper with the lyric "My baby don't mess around": "HEY YA". Another of my learned moments today. This song WOULD be skipped from Moe's playlist; sorry for the offensive lyrics
47. Humorist Bombeck: ERMA. She appears more often in crossword puzzles than I recall her appearing in person or on TV
50. Bebop lover: HIPSTER. Bebop is just one of the many things a HIPSTER would love:
55. One crossing the line?: ROAD HOG. Lots of clues used mis-direction today. A ROAD HOG is a driver who, as I like to say, takes their half out of the middle
57. Like some garages: ONE CAR. I had TWO CAR before the perps arrived. ONE CAR garages are quite often found in condo communities. Could a ROAD HOG actually park in a ONE CAR garage??
58. Word with bike or bag: DIRT. DIRT BAG is not one of my favorite expressions, but a DIRT BIKE could be a lot of fun!
59. Fertility clinic collections: OVA. Moe-ku 2:
Fertility lab
Gave kudos, and called them a
Standing OVAtion
60. Ones taking advantage of suckers to get by?: OCTOPI. Yet another mis-directed clue; OCTOPI being the plural of OCTOPUS
61. __ alphabet: NATO. The NATO phonetic alphabet is a Spelling Alphabet, a set of words used instead of letters in oral communication (i.e. over the phone or military radio). Each word ("code word") stands for its initial letter (alphabetical "symbol"). The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows:
62. Lip: RIM. The Grand Canyon has two RIMs; North and South
63. Secure: FASTEN.
64. Early creation: ADAM. And this clue/answer crossed with (56-Down. Tiny bit:) ATOM. A bit of intended "homophonia"??
65. Word in wedding announcements: NEE. Second evidence of "crosswordese", but it fit perfectly
Down:
1. First hominid in space: CHIMP. I guess if you knew what the word "hominid" meant this answer would come easily. I didn't and had to look it up. The first CHIMP in space was named HAM
2. Bat signal?: SONAR. More mis-direction. I was thinking this:
3. Stuck: IN A DILEMMA. What I'm guessing many of you/us were when we saw today's puzzle!
4. Email to watch out for: SCAM. An unfortunate CSO to our dear Irish Miss; she's reported these email SCAMs - as well as telephone SCAMs - to us over the past few months, and Agnes, I hope your accounts are all safe and protected
Another thought; when employees at Hormel get erroneous e-mail do they still call it:
5. One lacking roots: NOMAD.
6. Made the first bet: OPENED. This is what happens in poker, e.g. The first player to bet (add) chips into the pot is said to have OPENED
7. Need on the slopes or the waves: WAX. Another Friday-worthy clue; this of course refers to a snow board/snow skis (for the slopes) or a surfboard (for the waves). WAX helps lower the coefficient of friction and allows you to go faster. But could the clue have also read, "Need on eyebrows or the mustache"? Hmm
8. 1979 #1 hit by The Knack: MY SHARONA. So, I was listening to various YouTube recordings of The Knack's "MY SHARONA", and I wondered, 'has anyone done a parody on the Coronavirus using this melody?' Well, sure enough, there are several of those, too. Look, I am not downplaying the severity of COVID-19 and all its Greek-letter variants. But these lyrics are no worse than what The Knack wrote! I hope this brings a smile. Part (I) of this parody is also good
9. Draft choice?: YOKE. Has anyone been keeping count of how many mis-direction clues Christina and Jeff used today?
10. It has a nice ring to it: GONG. About the same time that The Knack came out with their hit 'MY SHARONA', Chuck Barris was featuring THIS GONG on a weekly TV show:
11. Home to Athens and Dublin: OHIO. This native Buckeye knew this straight away. Athens, OHIO is the home of Ohio University; Dublin, OHIO is the home of Muirfield Village, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf club
12. Yearly address, initially: SOTU. Short for State of the Union. It's given by the POTUS in late January
13. One sending a Zoom link: HOST. Who had ever heard of or used Zoom prior to COVID-19? Not I
21. Stranger things: EXOTICA. Those with prurient minds might have seen EROTICA before EXOTICA. Not me, of course . . .
22. Friends often pay one: VISIT. Another clue whose answer came quickly to Moe
25. "Supposing ... ": LET'S SAY. LET'S SAY that you got all of today's puzzle solved, but STILL did not know what the @#$! was going on! ;^)
27. Playfully bite: NIP AT. And they call it puppy love
29. Swedish coin: KRONA. Why did Sweden not adopt the Euro, you might ask? Sweden does not currently use the euro as its currency and has no plans to replace the existing Swedish KRONA in the near future. Sweden's Treaty of Accession of 1994 made it subject to the Treaty of Maastricht, which obliges states to join the eurozone once they meet the necessary conditions. The EU countries that do not use the euro as their currency are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden
30. Clanked around, like keys in one's pocket: JANGLED. Or like spurs on a cowboy's boots
31. Swiss peak: MATTERHORN. This majestic peak; and I will lay odds that if Picard shows up today he will have several pictures of his own to share with us; hope so! And if you're curious but don't want to look it up, the summit is 14,692'
32. Oft-spoken tributes: ODES. I speak in haiku and limerick. Speaking of limericks:
Saturday Night Live comic Eugenia
Likes to parody folks from Slovenia.
But her speech has since slurred;
We know why it occurred:
'Cause she now suffers from skits-ophrenia
33. Outdo: BEST. Yup, it's there; toward the bottom ...
34. Serpents in some hieroglyphics: ASPS. No Cleo in the clue??
35. Bias: SKEW. In this case, a noun; SKEW: "a bias toward one particular group or subject"; courtesy of an online dictionary
36. Severus Snape's house: SLYTHERIN. Christina and Jeff are throwing in a bit of Harry Potter on us. These books were quite popular among today's "GEN Y's". Hogwarts, the name of the boarding school for would-be witches and warlocks, has four separate "Houses" that new "students" are assigned to upon their arrival. SLYTHERIN, RAVENSCLAW, HUFFLEPUFF, and GRYFFINDOR. Here is a quiz you can take to see which house would best fit you! Me? I am mostly GRYFFINDOR, but would fit into RAVENSCLAW as well
39. Look on Snape's face, often: SNEER. Sadly, the actor who played Snape - Alan Rickman - died in 2016 at age 69. That kinda hits home . . .
43. Large number: MYRIAD. Fun fact: the origin of the word "MYRIAD" is from the mid 16th century late Latin from Greek murias, muriad-, from murioi, which means the number 10,000. Seems pretty large to me.
Fun Fact #2: You want to know how you can "blow" $10,000 in one year? By spending just $29.70 a day on random stuff
46. Major artery: AORTA. This could be categorized as crossword-ese by now
48. Flick: MOVIE.
49. Top performance level: A-GAME. I always try to bring my "A-GAME" when I blog these puzzles; but today's A-GAME is a CSO to OwenKL and Dash T who use a letter grade {A+, A, B+, etc} for Owen's CC poems
50. One of a buck's four: HOOF.
51. Quechua speaker: INCA. Here is what Brittanica dot com has to say: "Quechua, (Quechua Runa) are South American Indians living in the Andean highlands from Ecuador to Bolivia. They speak many regional varieties of Quechua, which was the language of the INCA empire (though it predates the Inca) and which later became the lingua franca of the Spanish and Indians throughout the Andes"
52. Many adoptees: PETS. The Pandemic contributed to a lot of people getting/adopting PETS
53. Paisley native: SCOT. Paisley is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of SCOTland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow. And here I thought Paisley was this:
54. It's on a roll: TAPE. My first "career" job was selling Scotch TAPE for 3M. Believe it or not, I was one of the first sales reps to peddle the plastic box sealing tape that is now a staple (pun intended) for use in closing corrugated containers
And with that, all of the STONES have been turned. Thanks again Christina and Jeff for an amazing puzzle. Hope one or both of you will stop by today to share any other thoughts. Comments or questions? Please add to the merryment! See you again in two weeks
66 comments:
I think it was DES◙K J◙OB that alerted me to the skipping trick, and I assume the bubbled names are people named STONE. I only recognized one of them. The circles are the ripples spreading out from the skips the stone makes as it bounces. Gimmicky, and not in a good way. The down themers have no cross words to check them, and the horizontals are unsolvable until one gets the gimmick. The reveal is unsolvable until you get the gimmick!
Anyone else remember the lyric "I've got spurs that jingle jangle jingle"?
BOO clue just before YOO-HOO was cute. Likewise ROAD HOG/ONE CAR.
The neighborhood's lost in a blanket of SNOW.
It muffles most sound, but I *crimp* as I go.
A MYRIAD of flakes
Are crushed in my wake,
Their ANGST whirled away by the winds that blow!
MY GOSH, there goes, uh, you-know-who!
I must WAVE and call out YOO-HOO!
Oops, she's anyone but!
Now she thinks I'm a nut!
Ah well, I'd forgotten her name any-who!
{A, A.}
Circles with fills that don't have crosses! I really dislike circles, but this one just raised it to the level of hate.
Good morning!
This puzzle was evil -- perps were useless. The proper nouns in three of the vertical themers required you to know the circled Stone name, or you were lost. Four extraneous letters in the "reveal" answer added to the evil. That being said, d-o got 'er done, though it slipped over the 15-minute mark. This one was too clever for my simple mind. Thanx, Christina, Jeff, and C-Moe. ("What's in your wallet?" is actually Capital One's slogan.)
ERMA Bombeck : Was best known for her newspaper columns and for her novel The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank.
ONE Car : Three-car is the norm for new construction in our area. Folks who suffer with just a two-car garage put storage sheds in the back yard. We have a two-car, pickupless, boatless, RVless, shedless residence -- the lowest of the low.
DIRT Bike : We bought a pair of 175cc Honda dirt bikes back in the '70s. Dangerous as all get-out, but great fun.
TAPE : I used to buy many reels of Scotch <a href="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/UI0AAOSwVb5dnhju/s-l300.jpg>Tartan</a> recording tape -- totally obsolete now.
Lets try that link again: Tartan tape.
Similar experience for me as d-o above, taking me 15:30 to skip along.
Oh joy, circles.
Skipping circles sounds good, but having vertical answers with no crosses, well, that takes the "cross word" out of a crossword puzzle. I didn't realize the circles spelled "Stones."
I genuinely credit the creators for their ingenuity and effort for constructing it, but I didn't enjoy it as a solving experience.
DNF, finally giving up and cheating SLYTHERIN. I only wish I had given up earlier. I think Rich should have included a disclaimer that the puzzle cannot be solved unless one knows Potter trivia. I would not have tried had I known, and would have been better off for that. However, I did know all of the STONES except MATT.
In my world, a sandie is when one of our foursome is able to get out of a sand trap then one putt. Common on tour, rare among hackers.
Remember OCTOPI Wall Street?
A ONE CAR garage would be nice. My 1914 house doesn't have a driveway, so I park on the street.
C-Moe ~~ I remembered from yesterday’s comments that you had forewarned us of what may be in store for today’s CW as far as being a challenge, and you were spot on with that! I agree with you that Christina and Jeff have created an outstanding grid, if puzzles were rated as gems this would certainly be a diamond, which dedicated solvers will enjoy as a brain-wracking experience. I somehow managed a FIR but it required a walkaway after 30 minutes with a third of the puzzle (mostly the center) blank. I do the CW on an iPad and when I fill a square that is part of the theme, all squares related to the theme are shaded, which today was the third of the puzzle that was stumping me. How could there be so much? The reveal mentioned nothing of the circles, only the starred clues, and I didn’t see any correlation between those and the circles. I finally made a connection with EMMA and SHARON as Stones and once I got SLY I was able to figure it all out, IN A DILEMMA really helped as a perp. Excellent clueing with lots of red herrings which really make you think in the abstract. Thanks Christina and Jeff for a particularly challenging Friday puzzle, and Christina for telling of your inspiration for this.
C-Moe - a most excellent commentary today, and if Jeff and Christina are your mentors in construction, you will be learning from some masters of the craft, and I wish you success as a cruciverbalist!
DNF for all the already mentioned reasons. I don't think I would have gotten the gimmick if I had persisted all day. But when I couldn't get my expected fill to work near the circles, I gave up and read C Moe's excellent explanation instead. Thanks, C Moe. Christina and Jeff, you were too advanced for me today!
I found the southern section as well as the NW quadrant manageable and satisfying. Away from the circles!
MATTERHORN was one of my first entries. We've spent a lot of time hiking nearby through the years, and DH climbed it when he was 60. Nice memories.
Hope you all have a fine Friday.
This one takes the cake for Stupid Puzzle Gimmicks. A total waste of my time.
Ridiculous. An exercise for the constructor to show off how clever he was, but way too obscure a gimmick for any solving enjoyment.
Extra letters that aren't even in the actual answers? Whqat a repallqy aggravlartinzg and stkupzid idfepa.
Thank you Christina and Jeff for a real learning experience. When I finally TITT, the white-space looked like my backyard, BLANKETED with 4" of new SNOW.
And thank you MOE for your very clever explication of this very clever theme. It made me recall the maxim "History repeats itself and those who fail to learn that history ...". The irony is that I had a very similar theme on July 22, 2021 courtesy of David Poole, but failed to recall it. Then as today the theme SKIPPED right over my head and I had to reach out to my A TEAM to bail me out, with MALMAN's SONAR picking up on it right away. Last Summer the STONES emerged from a single circle near each CORNER and then turned it. In fact some of the STONES were common to both puzzles: EMMA, SHARON, and SLY, with OLIVER standing in for today's MATT.
Missing the theme and the significance of the circles made it effectively impossible to get anywhere with this puzzle. This was compounded by all of the MYRIADS of clever misdirection, which led me astray almost immediately:
1A/1D CSI/CHIMP. Got these, but then ...
23A PRIX. Had PLAN (all my plans are GRAND and "gang aft agley").
2D SONAR. This occurred to me, but PLAN didn't fit and besides SONAR is for dolphins, not for BATS. NOT. SONAR works not only underwater, but is also a synonym for echo-location in general.
20A MADEMAN. Wanted MAFIOSO, but it didn't work with SCAM and OPENED. Only when I saw Chris' grid did I recall it from a previous CWD.
3D IN A DILEMMA. Had I not been completely STUCK by then, I might of seen EMMA and having resorted to a rare LIU for MY SHARONA might have dredged last Summer's puzzle up from the depths.
Oh and a hand up for liking YOOHOO.
Nevertheless, great fun! Or at least SCHADENFREUDE, as it appears that most of the Cornerites reporting so far had a similar experience.
Cheers,
Bill
Not a fan and now to skip your future submissions…
Word of the day: moue
Pronunciation: mu
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A slightly pouting expression used to indicate doubt or disbelief or, occasionally, to flirt.
Notes: Drat! Today's word is an easy one, so easy, in fact, that any cow can say it. It may also be spelled mow and pronounced [mo], for the expression "to make a mow" is a much earlier version of the same word (see Word History). We may also use it as a verb when we moue at someone. Just remember to keep the conversation away from cows when saying it and all those vowels straight in writing it.
In Play: Basically, the moue is the facial expression accompanying pouting: "When I told Billy that he could not have dessert until he finished his vegetables, he made a little moue and left the table." However, girls sometimes use it as a hint to boys: "Myrtle batted her eyelids and made a slight moue as she asked Lance if he were not taking her to the dance."
For more on this Word of the day see alphaDictionary
Good Morning, All and here it's at last above zero (albeit nine degrees now!) I did not enjoy this puzzle; so, I am glad I have this corner to come to for a good explanation of what I was missing. Lots of stones, it seems. On out into the world and hope everyone is safe and warm. Thanks for the explanations, but I have to skip out!
No, No, and No. A thousand times "NO" to this CW. Unsolvable by unclefred. Never watched or read any of the Harry Potter movies or books. Skipping over letters in the CW? Nuff said.
This puzzle was just plain annoying.
I really don’t understand the negativity directed at this CW, I personally view it as a fine piece of work, agreed that it is not an easy solve, requiring some deep thought, but if you want simple you can buy a book of “Easy Crosswords” where the clues hardly vary from puzzle to puzzle and zip through them all in no time. In golf, a course can be made extremely hard by placing the pins in treacherous spots on undulating greens, as CW’s can be made difficult by the clueing, ie - obscure names, clues with multiple meanings etc. I once complained to the head greenskeeper of my local course (who is also a friend) about his placements of the pins which added several strokes to my score. His advice “get better at the game!” Each CW is practice for the next.
Good Morning:
I’ll gladly defer to Thumper today.
Moe, thanks for the CSO re the phone calls and emails. They have lessened tremendously and I’m now back to the usual 2-3 a day, sometimes none. Your expo and commentary were excellent.
FLN
OMK, you must be thrilled with discovering new family members! Thanks for sharing this happy occurrence during these unhappy and frightening times.
Lucinda, so sorry about your accident. At least no one was hurt, though.
My brother is finally out of the ER and in a normal room and his once captive wife is now free to come and go freely during visiting hours.
For the fans of All Creatures Great And Small, new episodes begin this Sunday on PBS.
Have a great day.
Not an easy solve but, ultimately, FIR. The reveal was a big help, fortunately, because by the time that I reached that point roughly 2/3 of the squares had been filled and I still had no idea about what was going on.
Thanks, Ch. M. for the excellent recap starting with the STONES.
I’ve railed against circles in the grid often, but, for worse, it’s becoming even more common in the LAT puzzles. An editor’s issue, not the constructors IMO. But given that, once I figured out the theme/gimmick, this was interesting. The SLYTHERIN/HEYYA Natick was just brutal.
Friday puzzles are known for their gimmicks,
And I personally enjoy looking for them.
I thought I figured out the gimmick when "Asti " would
Not fit. But I still had a lot of trouble with the circles.
(No, I don't have rocks in my head.)
So, after a hundred years of puzzle making,
Kudos on coming up with a new gimmick!
(Now to find a new clue for Oreo...)
I, for one, found this puzzle very unusual...
Thanks for the puzzlement!
Musings
-Seeing perfectly good fill that were not working gave me ANGST and I was ready to rescind my Happy Birthday wishes to Jeff from yesterday. Then the reveal gave me the gimmick - BRILLIANT!
-BTW, Jeff said he was 32 in hexadecimal base system.
-_ _ _ THERIN and the last stone evaded me and so I asked a roomful of 15-yr-olds and their twenty-something teacher, “What was Severus Snapes’ house called?” They all immediately answered SLYTHERIN in a chorus and then SLY Stone made sense!
-The bottom “ungimicked “ third of “the puzzle filled in very quickly
-The Joe Pesci character in Goodfellas was murdered because he himself had killed a MADE MAN
-ROAD HOG that cross the line today are usually on a cell phone
-The first living beings were shot into space in 1947 were fruit flies aboard one of the Nazi V2 rockets we brought back to America
Frazzled Friday. Thanks for the fun, Christina (thanks for dropping by) and Jeff, and CMoe.
We can’t say that we weren’t warned! This CW was a different sort of workout. I finished and saw the STONES theme (but not familiar with SLY and MATT). I figured out the letters to skip in the circles fairly early, which helped to solve the rest. But when you have no perps to Grok an unknown, Google becomes the solution. And that’s what was required for SLYTHERIN (LOL HuskerG, you had an advantage in your classroom) and MY SHARON (I would fit into Ravenclaw, with some Hufflepuff.).
Perhaps not my favourite, but still a feat of construction.
I wanted Grand Slam before PRIX.
Misdirection at 9D had me thinking of ALE before YOKE.
And this Canadian also thought of the green Card required to work in USA. We don’t use AMEX here very much, and I didn’t know the colour. My VISA card is burgundy.
ADAM’s ALE would be what that blanket of SNOW produces when melted. And here in Canada, we do think of SNOW as a warm blanket of protection from deep winter frosts for bulbs, perennials buried in our gardens for the winter.
HEYYA perped, thankfully.
I smiled at Boo followed soon by YOOHOO. (Thought of Misty’s WooHoo.)
I have some photos of the MATTERHORN. If Picard does not post some, I will try to dig them out.
FLN, Lucina, sorry to hear about your car accident.
OMK, wonderful news of new family contact. You never know what DNA testing will discover. And not all these meetings go so well.
IM, glad to hear that your brother (and his wife) are out of ER.
Wishing you all a great day.
Not a fan. Please don't patronizingly tell me to do the easy puzzles instead. I enjoy most Friday puzzles and often get a FIR. I am sure I never would have picked up on this gimmick. It was evil. I got all but one of the down answers with circles, but didn't connect them with STONE. Because I got none of the across answers where we had to skip letters. I didn't have STONE as a tip off in 28A.
I did like and sussed most of the misdirections.
I have read almost all of Erma's humorous books.
I don't care for Homer Simpson and so took years to memorize the characters. Not a fan of Harry Potter, either. I will have to memorize that lore, too.
Lucina, sorry about your accident. It must be quite upsetting. I am glad you were not injured.
IM, it is good news that your brother is improving.
Christina and Jeff "took me upstairs for a ride" on their puzzle today. I knew something was missing but there were way too many unknowns, especially EMMA & MATT Stone- never heard of either. And you can add SLYTHERIN and HEY YA to that list. I correctly guessed both the song and spelling of MY SHARONA. Even got 'DESRKJMOB', SWAAT TEAM', and 'TIORAADE'. But nothing made sense because EMMA, SLYTHERIN, & MATT were complete unknowns.
Above my pay grade today.
You may not want to skip these humorous
Theme references:
exhibit A
exhibit B
& for Tinbeni...
Rip Sidney Poitier
CrossEyedDave @10:43 AM Thanks Dave for 53 seconds of acoustic bliss!
Husker Gary @10:51 AM 50? Hey I count your classroom query as an acoustic LIU! 😀
Clever Friday toughie, Christine and Jeff--still, thank you. Clever commentary, Chairman Moe, thanks for that too.
There were odd items here and there that helped for starting, but often with tough clues: DELI as a Hero's place, ADAM as an Early creation.
Others were pretty normal, like 'Oft-spoken tributes' for ODES and 'Many adoptees' for PETS.
Owen, I loved your second verse.
Irish Miss, so glad your brother is getting better.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
I HATE these kinda puzzles. Sorry.
Yellowrocks ~~ I didn’t mean to be offensive in my remarks, I just think it’s kinda mean to blame the constructors for putting out a difficult grid. I’ve been stymied and had to give up many times with a FIW, but realize it’s because of my own lack of knowledge in certain areas, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy trying. It’s one thing to critique a puzzle, but to slam the people who made it just isn’t right in my book, not that I’ve ever seen you do that, but some seem to take out frustration in that way.
Hola!
WEES. What everyone else said. I will just say that I really, really, really dislike these kinds of themes. The circles don't bother me, but the gimmicks do. Please, can't we have real words with intelligent clues. Sigh. I miss those clever constructors we used to have.
To add to my ANGST, I have never watched a Harry Potter film and do not plan to, so those clues will always be alien to me.
Thank you, friends, for the expressions of sympathy about my accident. It is depressing. Fortunately, (I guess) it happened in a parking lot and not out in traffic where the police would have gotten involved and maybe even a citation. It could have been worse.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's puzzle with the expectation of a normal head scratcher.
Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
Keith, how wonderful for you to find a heretofore unknown family member!
Chairman Moe:
You gave me more entertainment than the puzzle, so thank you for that.
Lucina, at least you've shown good taste in the kind of car you run into.
Puzzling thoughts 2:
I kinda thought that today’s puzzle would be polarizing
As bloggers, we get the puzzle several days in advance; I didn’t time how long it took me to fill all of the grid, but it was longer than normal for me for sure
Normally I am “ready, set, go” to start writing the blog after solving; but for today’s I needed to take a few deep breaths and think about it, knowing there would probably be more dislikes than likes for the puzzle. I hope I spoke to both factions
d-otto: my misuse of the AMEX card slogan was a silly retort to Melissa Bee who also showed HER silliness by using the AMEX card slogan for her word, VISA, on Wednesday
YooperPhil: my two biggest mentors in crossword puzzle construction have been C.C. and Mark McClain. Christina has assisted me with a couple ideas but we’ve never collaborated. Jeff Chen and I emailed each other a few times, but I sensed that he and I were of two very different styles
CED: great videos and comics, as usual!
Lucina: my pleasure!
Not that it would have made a difference, but WaPo did not provide the theme for this abomination. WTF.
First, well-earned congrats to C-Moe and all who FIR this (supposedly) crossword puzzle! I enjoy a brain-cruncher, but this one was ridiculous. I won't go into all my nits; I'll just say that I'm with Billocohoes (@8:36) and Betsey C (@9:35)!
Onward to Saturday!
Yooperphil, As you say, "I’ve been stymied and had to give up many times with a FIW, but realize it’s because of my own lack of knowledge in certain areas, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy trying." Same here, almost always. But, this one was not about our lack of knowledge. Often we can cover that with perps and wags. It was about deciphering the very strange gimmick. Many better solvers than I were not thrilled with this one.
Moe, thanks for an interesting blog, fair to all.
Halfway through the puzzle I thought, "What's everyone talking about? FLN This isn't so bad." Then I hit the middle, never figured out the theme, but I did know all the Stones. Never got the skipping part, but I should have. That said, what an amazing construction job! Good on you guys, Christina and Jeff!
Thank you very much for the Copa video, Moe, I loved seeing the old juxtaposed with the new. I liked the old, reminded me of all the movies I would watch on Saturdays at 11:30 in the morning. Loved seeing a really young Shirley Temple, then the older one conducting an orchestra.
Becky
Puzzling thoughts 3:
Here is more about Jeff Chen, as well as his relationship with Christina Iverson. They’ve done several NYT puzzles together
Hello Cornerites! Happy New Year and hope it's a good one.
Friday and Saturday are always wwaaaayy over my head and today was no different. I was delighted for the gimmees: 4D SpAM Nope, SCAM; 8D MY SHARONA!; 31D Mt evERest_ Nope, MATTERHORN; 57A twoCAR with 52 crossing dogS Nope, ONE CAR/PETS. I finished the puzzle by having the grid on the monitor while trying to understand how my ink blotted newspaper should look.
Thanks, Christina Iverson and Jeff Chen, for the challenge that I was not up to. Thank you, C Moe, for the expo. It took me a while to figure out the theme even after you explained it so well.
Lucina, sorry about your accident. Thankfully it wasn't any worse than it was.
IM, glad to hear the improvements for your brother and his loyal wife.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Agree 200%
Hi All!
Nope. I had to cheat [Arggg! OK, if it is a Hero sandwich, then what's a word for deli that starts with a D and ends with an A? <insert Final Jeopardy tune> Arrrgg!
Oh, thanks Moe.] b/f I kinda figured it [add a vowel?] out...
I didn't fully figure out the gimmick until I was able to GROK 38a which really helped the remaining fill. Knowing MY SHARONA and SLiTHER-something* helped.
Ingeniously infuriating Christrina & Jeff. Thanks.
Thanks for the nudge and fun expo, C. Moe. Nice job reaching out to the constructors for the inside-scoop.
WOs: SpAM, ANGsST
ESPs: YOO HOO, OCTOPI (ha!), HEY YA, LON
Fav: AMEX's clue was particularly evil.
Runner-up: JANGLED is a fun word.
1d - I was pretty sure the answer should be Ham but it started with a 'C'(?) and had 5 letters? Did I forget one? Oh, a generic CHIMP.
{A, A+}
FLN - Sorry to hear of the crash, Lucina. Same thing happened to Youngest but she was the parked one. As long as everyone's safe, right?
Thanks for the fun links, CED. To return the favor, not a CHIMP but a different hominid.
I enjoyed reading everyone's take on this style of puzzle.
Want a little SOTU story?
When I was at DOD, I worked with a newly-minted 2LT [a CMU grad]. He didn't yet have a TV but wanted to watch Clinton's SOTU and asked if he could come over.
"Sure."
When I answered the door to let him in, he had a bottle of Absolute in one hand and a 6 pack of beer in the other and exclaimed, "State of the Union, Baby!!!"
which quickly became our catch-phase.
Cheers, -T
*yeah, I FIW too :-(
I am on the side of those who believe all is fair in creating puzzles and the fact that there is so much I do not understand is not a reason to demean the constructor(s)' efforts. For example, PABLO PICASSO . But this is just my opinion which noone is obliged to accept. Jeff Chen is a very respected constructor and mentor. He has always been friendly and helpful when we have corresponded. Other than that I do not "know" him.
Have a great weekend all.
Back again from yet another trip to the Dermatologist's office--for my first skin cancer surgery of the year.
I like my surgeon, who keeps up a friendly patter with me and the nurses. It makes the surgery a little less unappealing. But still...
This is my penalty for many years of SoCal sunshine, all that wonderful swimming and basking in the UV radiation.
Well, I knew I was asking for it, and I traded joy in the '70s and '80s for medical intervention in the '10s and '20s--so I mustn't complain too much.
Today's PZL was too tricky for me. I think I'm saving my brain for something later in the afternoon. Exactly what, I'm not sure. But surely there will be something.
~ OMK
I got every thing but what SKIPping STONES meant. I had the idea of skipping letters, actually knew SLYTHERIN but just wasn't smart enough to GROK* what was in ? minds
Never saw a minute of any CSI's
A synonym for the slang term "Tool" was (in my day) THUNE
Ring a bell anyone?
.
Yogi Berra got rich promoting YOOHOO
I was thinking of this hominid
I had SOTU but no idea what it stood for
Liked that lyric, C-Moe but I didn't get the first Moe-ku
C-Moe I've been known to grade them W for the ones I like(2 W's today). Also when Owen undervalued l'icks I really like
Back later, out of juice on cell battery
WC
Wow. Well I finished it. I can not believe it. I got all the stones by guessing Emma. When I got 28 across and 37 I new what was coming. I endured. 22 down was great and 50 down got me cause qtrs wouldn't fit and no abbr clue. But mixed feelings still prevail for me on this puzzle. Whew.
I started the puzzle in the Syracuse airport waiting for my flight with a blizzard outside.❄❄❄ ("not exactly a warm blanket")...
Our flight was not cancelled like many others but I knew the phenomenon of de icing likely loomed. We boarded on time but that process took over an hour with many passengers seeing their connections vanish. Fortunately had a 2 hour layover in Charlotte NC.
I realized how the puzzle theme worked when I ASTI is always a 4 letter Italian wine region,(CED)🍷..Got about 3/4 of the puzzle finished when I put the phone on airplane mode. Now at the Charlotte gate I've reopened the puzzle which usually saves what's been completed but it's completed blank.. Forget it ...not starting over...☹
Not a fan of Uber gimmicky puzzles.🙄
BTW..Weird Al did a parody of "My Sharona".."My Bologna" (not the Alma Mater of my U....which ironically is known aa "Alma Mater Studiorum"). OHIO or Iowa?
Familiar, of course, with the POTUS's annual speah but never heard of SOTU. I wanted but couldn't perp a heated garage
Boarding again; just told a "part" has to he replaced the plane...pilot says 20nminutes...suuuure😏.. I hate flying, not the actual flight just all the surrounding nonsense.
Tomorrow's puzzle...from the beach!!
J'ever have one of those solves... that when you look at the filled in letters in partially completed answer... that you are so confident of what the answer will be... that you don't even have to look at the clue ?
Today wasn't one of those days. At least it wasn't for the answers that had circles. I felt I knew what they should be, but something was wrong.
However, knowing the answer had to be PECANS led to entering SWAT TEAM and ASTI and those led to understanding the game when EMMA filled the second set of circles. I already had the gimme (for me) MY SHARONA as one of my first fills.
Alas, even after racking my brain and sounding out many three letter first names, I could not come up with SLY.
I'd never have gotten that Snape answer. It was perps that gave me SNEER over scowl for the other Snape answer.
Brilliant, indeed ! A struggle, for sure. Strange, but fun.
Moe, yes, many times, to YOOHOO.
Ditto with you on OHIO being a gimme.
WC - Glad I didn't think of KoKo - thanks for the LOL link.
TTP - I knew you know The Knack.
All my Harry Potter knowledge comes from "quality time" with the Girls. They forced me to watch the MOVIEs. I'm also learning alot about the current MarvelVerse the same way.
Just for Ray-O when he lands My Bologna [2:38 from '79]
Cheers, -T(Bone, WC? :-))
WC @ 3:36
The usual phrase is “Heaven’s to Betsy”
The clue was: Heaven’s - answer, MY GOSH
No one ever says: “MY GOSH to Betsy”
{C-}
How are these? Not ku’s just puns:
We named our stove "alto"
Because it has a limited range
When the sea eagle died,
Of course we placed its ashes in an urn
Do mothers of flatulent children
Force them to wear windbreakers?
First things first ... Lucina, I'm realy sorry and sad and emphathize with you on your single car accident ... and deeply appreciate your honesty and integrity of waiting for the parked car owners.
Good Karma never fails to repay and show itself, at most needed times, and your efforts will be repaid in some form, hopefully soon. Above all, it is good that nobody was hurt.
I have gone through a similar rear ending accident a couple of months ago, and my car was the expensive one ... but the driver, who rear ended me, spoke no english, had no driver's license, and the alleged insurance co., Progressive, refused to accept any liability, on presumably, some insurance,technical terms. So, sometimes we have rain in our lives, and they sometimes are very stormy ones. I hope your previous vocation as a nun will keep you in good stead.
This too, shall pass ... and God bless you, as always.
C E Dave, thank you for the most numerous, humorous jokes of the day ! You never fail to amuse. I've personally, had kidney stones,... too numerous to mention, ... and even worked for a short time in an ultrasound, lithotripsy ( kidney stone breaking- ) unit in a hospital. I came across, in an estate sale, and bot a small collection of human kidney stones, purportedly smuggled from Mexico, .... mostly calcium oxalates, ureates, phosphates etc.
Thanks to Chairman Moe for the advance notice, he gave us yesterday. Now, I realize that if a blog reviewer and puzzle constructor sends us a warning, it must be bad news and stormy seas ahead.
How is not caring for a puzzle demeaning the constructor? We can admire and appreciate the constructor without liking a particular puzzle or gimmick. Our tastes and likes can differ. I believe no one has said anything mean or demeaning today. Even a dearest friend or family member can say or do things we do not care for.
Your illustration of 2D's misdirection is ill-considered. Batman is peeing off the cliff.
-T @3:23 PM Those Orangs really had me in suspense. I wasn't sure she could reach the break pedal.
Lemonade @3:32 PM I'm with you Lemony. All's fair in love and crosswords. I should know, I've lost at both.
Wilbur Charles @ 3:36 PM The banana in George's hand at the end was the perfect touch.
gmony @3:37 PM Wow an actual FIR. Can I get your autograph?
WEES
Vidwan - Unless "it's done deal" try again w/ Progressive. According to Pop's DW (who worked/retired as a consumer advocate for IL's govt), Progressive uses contract adjusters. Youngest's car took weeks of telephone-tag with a Progressive rep. Eventually, though, all was made whole [there's a long story about me thinking, "is this a real policy?"*]
Waseeley - Colbert had that Orang in a different clip the other night. Since I won't link Colbert (#PoliticsRule), I did some research for 'is this for real?' Apparently it's a hominid named Rambo and s/he actually knows how to drive a Golf Cart just as good as other Orange hominids...
C.Moe: I thought it was Heavens to Murgatroyd [@:26]
Wiknuckles - I thought it was just cloud-lighting at first glance. Thanks for calling out an LOL!
Cheers, -T
*only the daughter spoke English and there were two identical trucks (different VINs) on the policy... things that made me go uhmm.
Dash T, yep, nailed that one.
Still kicking myself for not getting SLY though. Then it would have been a FIR.
As for polarizing... SLY said it best in Everyday People
"Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
.
.
.
Different strokes, for different folks"
Always loved the lyrics and the way he laid down his message in that song.
I think that in Virginia, if your driver's license isn't valid, neither is your insurance. But here we have uninsured motorists coverage, and if it ain't your fault you don't have to pay a deductible, and you get a rental car, and it doesn't count as a claim on your policy. Every state is a little different - the worst, if you are an innocent victim, seem to be the ones with "no-fault" property damage coverage.
Chairman Moe and CanadianEh Thanks for thinking of me, but of the hundreds of photos I have in Switzerland, none are of the MATTERHORN. So, feel free to post your own!
I liked the fresh new idea of the SKIPS STONES theme. But I side with those who really don't like how it works as a puzzle. With crosses being of no value, what you end up with is mostly Natick "crossings" on steroids. I did figure out MY SHARONA after much thought after I got MY...A. And I do know of SHARON STONE. But I never heard of MATT STONE or EMMA STONE. But I did get all of that.
What did me in was (SLY)THERIN. This was the only actual DNF for me ever. Usually I can do a WAG. But there is simply no way to get a toehold for a WAG with no crosses. I went through dozens of three letter names and none made sense. SLY is not a real name like AMY, TOM, ANN, TED, DON, FAY, GUY, IAN, JAY, KIM, LON, MAY, NED... so it can't really be guessed.
A bigger beef for me? OCTOPI is not really a valid word. I learned this freshman year in college. The word octopus is of Greek origin. "Pus" meaning "foot". The plural of pus is puses or podes. Yes, the clue was amusing. But I held back putting it in until I had no choice because it really grated on me.
Here I met a QUECHUA SPEAKER.
But I don't think she or anyone else alive today is an actual INCA.
I had a tough time with the CW, and I didnt know My Sharona ( Whaa..). But ASTI clued me that some random letters had been added ... I guessed there was a rhyme and reason, but ...
I think, from now on, the Fridays should be subcontracted to NSA ,,, I hear, just hear, that they have some great cryptologists and super mathematicians, so ...
Thanks Moe, of the explanation of the logic beehind the puzzle, I guess thats supposed to be a lot of help. Actually, I do know my EMMA, SLY and SHARON.
A small question on your tangential leanings ...
43 Down - MYRIAD ...Fun Fact #2 ... To blow $10,000 in one year (365 days) you said spend $ 29.70 per day .... the accountant in me tells me its a grand total of 29.70 x365= 10,840.50 ... Or, you would be spending $10,000 in about 336.7 days, well short of a normal year.
... The reason I bring this up is to enquire ... does this involve some sort of puzzle gimmick as well ? ... or do you skip meals, as well as stones.
Also AMEX cards seem to be more platinum, black, colorless, cranberry and blue ... very few green ones.
Now, I've had a Real Green card ( No. A24 512 206), a piece of blue cheap cardboard, torn from a bigger piece of the same, ... for the longest time, which I copied, xeroxed, photographed etc., despite strict instructions and penalties to the contrary, but that color was more Blue than Green. Now, post 1975, they come in plastic, still in the blue color, with all sorts of biometric codings, and the picture embossed therein, like a drivers license.
Anyhoo, there is always Saturday, tomorrow,
Have a nice day, you all.
Vidwan @ 6:46 - I must be math challenged; I meant to say $27.40
Picard, the picture of the Inca-nese lady is very nice and detailed.
One knitter could easily get the entire pattern of her full knitted skullcap, actually tuque ('tuk') caps. Tuque is actually a canadian word, Hi Can Eh !
You say, there are no more Incas left ? Sadly, the spainards 'did them' In ...
But, in crosswordese, we still have Incas ... still extant ... and you are One of Them ...
Anybody moving to Californy is an InCA ... atleast according to our Crossword cluers ...
Actually I wouldn’t mind puzzles with stupid gimmicks if they came with some sort of alert, like perhaps a Dangerous Curves Ahead icon, so I can skip the wasted time. I really do appreciate the creativity that went into constructing this puzzle, and I am genuinely happy that some enjoyed it. Just let me off the bus in advance, thank you.
Totally agree with those saying this was ridiculous and aggravating. I finally gave up - not going to lose any more time I'll never get back!
A very fun puzzle! Kudos to the constructors!
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