Saturday Themeless by C.C. Burnikel
Another fun puzzle by our learned mistress and honorary Cornhusker! Even with all her responsibilities she now has with Boomer, C.C. sent us this comment:
I originally had THAT'S SO SAD for 65-Across. My 60-Down is PET, clued as [ ___ scan (MRI alternative)]. Rich changed it to WHAT'S SO SAD because PET dupes with PET SAT in 47-Down
. 
Across:
1. Handy tension reliever: STRESS BALL - Useful if you can't 11. Kick back: REST.
15. "Aww!": WHAT A CUTIE.
16. Fair: EXPO - County Fairs are a huge cultural event in Nebraska small towns
17. Places for posers: ART CLASSES.
 |
| How long can she hold that pose? |
18. Banh mi spread: MAYO - MAYO (seen below) seemed liked a pedestrian ingredient for an exotic sounding sandwich. BTW, the Vietnamese bread is called Banh Mi and the sandwich has come to be known as that too.
19. Nonsense: ROT.
20. Fabric types: KNITS - Ah, the double KNITS of the disco era were très 35. In: CHIC.
21. Racer with a crew: YACHT.
22. Pasture mom: MARE.
24. Exchange membership: SEAT - You could lose it
24. Exchange membership: SEAT - You could lose it
25. Trumpet: EXTOL.
 |
| Ever feel this way about your Credit card? |
26. Guiding lights?: STARS.
30. Pub order: ALE.
31. Architectural deets: SPECS - Details/Specifications
33. Omission indications: ELLIPSES.
38. Bucolic: PASTORAL.
42. From then on: SINCE.
45. Tony-winning playwright Ensler: EVE - She is now known simply as V and is very involved in violence against female issues.
46. Prepare to show some muscle: OIL UP - Pre-governor Arnold
48. Pets: SNITS - I learned this usage doing cwds
54. Reason to go green?: ENVY.
55. Desktop assortment: ICONS - Mine
56. Software to debug: BETAS.
58. Very long time: EON.
59. "Pretty please?": CAN I
58. Very long time: EON.
59. "Pretty please?": CAN I
60. Let others talk: PASS THE MIC.
62. Inserts, say: ADDS - My lovely bride ADDS brown sugar to her chili
63. Event necessitated by a move, perhaps: ESTATE SALE.
64. Bridge site: NOSE - This is where Hercule Poirot/David Suchet perches his pince-nez.
62. Inserts, say: ADDS - My lovely bride ADDS brown sugar to her chili
63. Event necessitated by a move, perhaps: ESTATE SALE.
64. Bridge site: NOSE - This is where Hercule Poirot/David Suchet perches his pince-nez.
65. "Why the tears?": WHAT'S SO SAD? - Hmmm...
Down:
1. Moving multitudes: SWARMS - Grasshoppers
2. Speakers often clear them: THROATS.
3. Dilapidated digs: RAT TRAP - What my childhood home had become
4. Space-saving abbr.: ETC.
5. La Jolla scientific research institute namesake: SALK.
5. La Jolla scientific research institute namesake: SALK.
6. Medical procedures: SCANS and 9. MRI technician's request: LIE STILL.
7. Keeps occupied: BUSIES - Materials that provide these materials for kids are great for substitute teachers
8. On the line: AT STAKE - "You lose and you're done"
10. "__ Djinns": Franck symphonic poem: LES - Here ya go
11. Century 21 rival: REMAX.
12. Ambitious track wagers: EXACTAS - In this race, you won $321.50 if you bet an EXACTA, i.e. you picked the #11 horse to finish first and the #10 horse to finish second.
13. See-through device: SPYHOLE.
14. Piccolo sounds: TOOTLES and "That's not the sound of a piccolo!" 21. Confident response after being doubted: YES IT IS.
23. Straight up: ERECT - Standing ERECT in the heat with locked knees for the queen...
27. Underwater groups: SCHOOLS.
29. __-size: PLUS - Lincoln native Ashley Graham was one of the first models for this group
32. HomePod Mini voice: SIRI.
34. Diagonally cut pasta: PENNE.
36. Vine fruit that can be dried and used as a container: CALABASH - Also called bottle gourd
38. Smoothie King Center NBAer: PELICAN - In NOLA
39. California state fruit: AVOCADO.
40. Duel personalities: SECONDS - Hamilton's SECOND was Nathaniel Pendleton and Burr's was William P. Van Ness
41. Some sleep on it: LUNESTA.
43. Mall features: CINEMAS.
44. "Ta-da!": ET VOILA - "...and there you have it!" in Français
47. Watched a boxer, say: PET SAT - We only use our granddaughter for our kitty Lily
49. Matched, as movie sound and action: SYNCED.
51. Star __: five-spice ingredient: ANISE - Ingredients for Chinese Five Spice Powder
53. Juice amounts?: WATTS.
57. Word before "A Lady" or "A Woman," in two old Top 10 songs: SHE'S - I chose The Beatles rather than Tom Jones
60. Bench for a flock: PEW - The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville was built as a Tabernacle in 1892 and then in 1943 it started housing The Grand Ole Opry but retained the PEWS as seating
61. Spanish pronoun: ESO - I always think of Paul Anka's ESO Beso (That Kiss) for this word
*Bill Murray in What About Bob?
*Breaking Up Is Hard To Do by Neil Sedaka
48 comments:
FIRight! The NE corner was last to fall, with nearly every cell a t/o at some point.
I didn't know CALABASH was a gourd.
Jimmy Durante's invariable signoff became a familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years no one knew who Mrs. Calabash referred to and Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive until ....
It was time to see the world, so EVE joined the navy,
But she soon got mal-de-mer, from the motions wavy!
It turned her GREEN,
She died, it seems,
Which turned other rail-birds green with ENVY!
When the daily load of STRESS
Forces you to vacation REST,
A PASTORAL scene
May be a dream --
But aboard your smaller YACHT is best!
{A-, B+.}
(Eve wasn't dead, just med-evaced to shore.)
Rich didn't like PET? And yet he allowed 22a with pasture and 38a. PASTORAL?
YACHT was my first thought at Racer with a crew, but looking at it later, I guess a race driver with a pit crew was the intended mis-direction.
Good morning!
I was halfway through this one when I realized that C.C. asked me to solve it about a week ago and get my take on 65a. You'd think I'd turn in a very impressive time today. Nope. Still, d-o got 'er done, so life is good. Thanx, C.C. and Husker.
OUD : Don't fret it!
TOOTLES : Thought that was the province of the flute.
"Hennessey Tennessee tootles the flute,
And the music was something grand.
A credit to old Ireland
Was McNamara's band."
CALABASH : Jimmy Durante -- "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you area..."
EXTOL : I certainly don't EXTOL my Amazon store card from Synchrony. I note my balance one day. The next day I look again, and it's dropped by $10.06 with no new purchases. That's because overnight Synchrony issued the 5% statement credit, but doesn't think it's worthy to be called a "transaction." I've written 'em about it to no avail.
PEW : Haven't parked my butt in one for many years. Fifty, at least.
FIW, missing my WAG at En VOILA x SNInS. Until Gary clued me in I didn't know SNITS as a synonym of "pets", and was thinking it was Saturday for "pet peeves".
Erased slips for SKIPS, scull for YACHT, exalt for EXTOL, and yes I can for YES IT IS.
When I lived in LA there was a popular bumper sticker proclaiming "TOURISTS GO HOME 9but leave your daughters)". Mostly displayed by transplants, I'll bet.
"Handy tension reliever" reminded me of "Rosie" by Jackson Browne.
I thought an ESTATE SALE happened when someone STOPPED moving.
La Jolla is also home to the Scripps Research, just above the cliff from the famous Black's Beach. I've been to one of them.
If the SCHOOLS are in Lake Michigan, Chicago will make sure they are virtual.
DNK that CALABASH is a fruit. I know it as a suburb of Myrtle Beach, just across the border in North Carolina. I'll be golfing there April 11th.
Thanks to CC for a doable Saturday grid. And thanks to HG for the always fun review.
The layout of the grid immediately caught my eye. Triple-stacked 10s linked together by a staircase of black squares Unlike yesterday's grid with a plethora of three-letter words, there was a dearth of them today. Impressive long fill entries all around, but that's not where I had issues.
That top 6 rows of the NE corner almost kicked my butt. I wasn't fooled by Trumpet. Just knew it had to be in the sense of herald, and confidently keyed in EXalt. A few rows above, my answer for Fair was EVEN. Those two answers meshed nicely with REMAX. Then I got stuck for quite a bit.
My mind started to wander (insert ELLIPSES after wander).
Track wagers had to mean horse races, right ? Or Greyhounds in Florida (Hi Zoe !)... I've been to horse races exactly one time, which is, BTW, the same number of times I've been to Las Vegas. The betting just doesn't do anything for me. Good time at Maywood Park, though. Guests of the comptroller and his wife, along with another couple. Haven't seen him and his wife for years. Losing focus. Just concentrate.
Hey, maybe that's it. Maybe the answer for Fair is just. But then that doesn't work with REMAX, so that's probably not the answer either.
Piccolo sounds ? Brian's Song. Starring Billy Dee Williams as Gayle Sayers and James Caan as Brian Piccolo. Not relevant. Scratch that thought. C'MON, Focus !
Racer with a crew. Jinx will know the answer for that one, for sure. Crew racing. Lori Loughlin's daughter got her scholarship for her accomplishments on a crew team. Crew team members use maritime propulsion tools and the crew members are known that use them are known as oarers. Well, at least sometimes they are known by that term in crossword puzzles. Wait. The answer could be scull, but that doesn't fit with the second letter being A, and I'm sticking with REMAX. Canoe ? Oh duh. YACHT !
Okay, good. That's solid. Moving on... Pub order is most certainly Ale or IPA. ALE is more likely. But with EXalt, that would be two A's in a row in 12D, and that's highly unlikely. Maybe EXalt is wrong ?
Bahn mi spread ? Miso paste ? The M fits with REMAX. No, now I remember, it's MAYO ! Hold the miso, I'm locking in with MAYO !
On a roll now. Not just with the MAYO. -eYHaLE ? See-though device ? Keyhole ! That's it ! No, it's not. It's SPY HOLE, so that means EXalt is definitely wrong. EX-O- remains. EXTOL. A better fit for trumpet than exalt, anyway.
Fair could be EXPO. YES IT IS ! And yes, yes, yes, now I finally notice that Kick back isn't one word, so it isn't a dirty money thing, it simply means REST. D'oh !
The last two seven letter words, EXACTA and TOOTLES were completed when I filled in REST, and the congrats message appeared. Yay me !
That's the story of my solve and I'm sticking to it. Pretzel logic in the northeast. I lost focus, the stray thoughts came to the forefront, I started wandering mentally and made clues tougher than they were. Hmmm. Pretzels. Big, soft, chewy pretzels. I've never made pretzels from scratch. Can't be too hard. Maybe I'll try to make pretzels. Wait, there I go again. I think I'd better try get some more sleep before I do anything else.
MRI SCANS have become au courant in here. Indicates solving audience.
I needed perps on NBA team even with the P. They're missing Zion
ET VOILA? LUNESTA is a sleep brand? They all contain that Dip* thingy.
My first thought was scull/YACHT. In ink I usually wait for perps but I did ink WHATS wrong/SO SAD
TTP, lol. Now quinella, that's ambitious. I bet the dogs at St Pete but PETA shut the dogs down. Parking lot is still full.
I liked seeing CC's name. I knew it would get me my 7th FIR. Oops, couple of those in the week. Disregard the above.
WC
Owen saved me a lookup on (Mrs) CALABASH. I recalled the Duranta trademark
It is fascinating to me how much of C.C.'s fill includes references to American culture which was before she was born or came to America. She may know more history than many of us.
It is funny that you all say this was easy; yes the perps were all fair and it filled but some things are hardly common knowledge. I'm looking at you OUD , LUNESTA, LES DJINNS . I only recently learned of V.
I liked SALK and SCANS and I will take WHAT A CUTIE as a CSO to my grandchildren and all of yours.
Thank you and continued Mi Sheberach for Boomer and anyone else who ails.
Enjoy another long weekend.
Yes, another end of the week FIR! Unlike OwenKL and TTP, my difficult area with lots of WOs was the NW with SWARMS being my last fill. I see the beginnings of words above the diagonal down to ENVY were problematic too, but they finally filled in. I needed that STRESS BALL by the end. Otherwise not so bad, and even fun, C.C. Thanks!
Thanks, Husker Gary for your helpful review. I had MAY I and YES I CAN as first possibilities, feeling positive about the puzzle. Everything got straightened out in time, fortunately.
Enjoyed your stream of conscious puzzle solving, TTP! Hope everyone enjoys the puzzle and the weekend!
FIR, but"snits" gave me fits, still does.
CC kicked my butt today. Took me 23:01, and probably 10+ minutes were spent in the upper-right corner. Great challenge.
I, too, was thrown off by the pasture mom and the pastoral. But, I survived.
FLN: I want to thank C Eh and Yuman for introducing the Wordle game to the Corner. Yesterday and today I was able to solve in three tries to my surprise. What fun! I will add it to my other morning puzzles (like Spelling Bee, Anon T. though I am not the pangram expert like you!)
Before I discovered the Corner about a year ago, I used to just do the puzzle and forget about it, now as I’m solving I try to put my narrative together in my head as to my take on the CW. (I know unclefred once stated that he takes notes along the way, and I sometimes do that also). But today I can save a LOT of typing just by saying that my solve went almost EXACTA-LY like TTP wrote above. I did have REMAX which led to EXult (don’t exult and exalt mean the same thing?). Then race with a crew I thought “not OARER again! Didn’t know if Pets was clued as a noun or a verb, with two empty spaces I had the aha moment of remembering the sometimes appearing CW clue “in a ___” and I filled SNITS. Last fill was the E in EVE/SECONDS, only because it was the only letter that fit. I saw that the clue was duel and not dual, but I am not familiar with that context. Did manage a FIR in a little under 20 minutes which for me is a good time on Saturday.
Thank you C.C. for the challenge, I always enjoy your work. Hope that Boomer is progressing well, still keeping him in my prayers for his complete recovery. And as always Gary, I enjoyed your Saturday synopses. Good day to all!
YP from the UP, which guy in that photo is you?
I doubt the red shirt in front of C.C. is a PLUS-size.
With C.C.'s mention of PET, 48A-SNITS for Pets- was my last fill. Christmas night my granddaughter's best friend (one of my neighbors) came over to see her and they asked if I would take them to some Uptown bar that all the recent college grads frequent. After we left they said: " we need to pick up Theresa". So after crossing the Mississippi I passed the Smoothie King Center where the NBA's PELICANs play to pick up Theresa, not at her house, at some rich person's house where she PET SAT a dog for big money.
ELLIPSIS- a word you don't see often. The plural-ELLIPSES- I've never seen.
LUTE, MAYO, EVE, LES Djinns, CALABASH, ANISE- all perps
AVOCADO- thought APRICOT at first.
LUNESTA- Ambien wasn't long enough
WHATS SO SAD- I wanted to use WHY but it wasn't long enough.
YES IT IS- wanted to fill YES I DID but the perps corrected it.
LOCAL- Movie & actor? it wasn't Ghostbusters
ET VOILA, and I FIR . . .
Jinx- agree with your assessment of ESTATE SALE
Wilbur- Zion's hurt. NBA season is way too long and too many injuries is the result.
desper-otto ~~ I am on the left, sitting
Good Morning:
This is my idea of what a perfect Saturday puzzle should offer: Fresh and lively fill, tricky but fair cluing, a challenging level of difficulty, and, most of all, minimal three letter words, in this case a very low eight. While solving, I thought of all the Silkie’s that gave me the same enjoyment and satisfaction on completion. CC hardly ever fails to have a couple of standout declarative phrases and today we have the cheerful What A Cutie and the not so cheerful What’s So Sad. BTW, IMO, Rich’s change resulted in a more egregious dupe with What’s because of the heretofore mentioned What A Cutie. Besides, That’s So Sad sounds more authentic. For the Banh Mi spread I confidently entered PĂ¢tĂ© as that was a recent answer. Perps soon brought Mayo to light. I needed perps for Calabash, Pelican, and Et Voila. Cute duos were: Scans/Lie Still and Watts/What’s. CSOs to Ray O and Inanehiker (Scans) and Lucina (ESO).
Thanks, CC, for a truly enjoyable solve that had just the right amount of resistance and thanks, HG, for your fun and fact-filled commentary. Great visuals and links, as usual.
We’re in for some frigid weather and some snow starting Sunday into Monday. Wind chills in the minus double digits are predicted for several days and/or nights. Brr!
Stay warm everyone and have a great day.
Hi, this is Subgenius. (I might be pegged as "anonymous" again because I'm using the computer at the library rather than my smartphone. I got a "data warning" so I'm not going to use my phone to get on the internet for a while). Irish Miss, I had the same thought that you did about "pate" for "Banh mi spread". I gradually figured out it was mayo. And KS, I had to same problem you had with "snits" for "pets." I thought of all kinds of other things first, like caresses and favorites. But, once again, I gradually came aright and fir'ed. A good challenging puzzle.
Oh, never mind. It identified me correctly as "Subgenius" after all. But if anyone responds to anything I've said on here, I might not see if for a while, since, like I said, I'm eschewing using my phone to get on the internet for a while, because of the "data warning."
Feeling a little better now after getting another few hours of sleep, and after having had a couple of cups of coffee.
In reading HG's review, I came across EVE and its clue for playwright Ensler. Never saw it during the solve. Looking at the grid now, I'm not sure that I paid any attention to the clues in that corner for CAN I, ADDS and NOSE as well.
I definitely never saw the clue for LES. Didn't need that one either.
Fun puzzle and review.
ATLGranny, congrats on getting a WORDLE solved in 3. You must have started with a really good word today ! 5 seems to be my norm, and that was the case again today.
YooperPhil, I think we are in the majority thinking that the NE corner was the toughest today.
We only got about 3/4 of an inch of snow according to the weather reporter. Maybe I'll go push the snow off the drive for something to do. I was going to make pretzels, but DW is making cinnamon rolls. Pretzels can wait !
Thank you C.C. for a doable, but challenging Saturday. Like TTP I found the sight of all those initial ELLIPSES in the grid intimidating. But I followed the strategy of the Chinese game of GO, initially securing positions I was sure of and then branching out from there. The NE region held out the longest until I got EXPO and the logjam began to break. At last I unconfidently filled YES IT IS, as I DNK that PETS is idiomatic for SNITS.
And thank you HUSKER for another fine review. I especially liked the Franck and Beatles clips.
The wide open grid created many opportunities for clever fill. Here are just a few favs:
30A STARS. I read somewhere that Polynesian canoers are so familiar with the wave patterns of the Pacific Ocean that they can navigate by them during the day and when the stars are obscured at night.
31A SPECS. Will not forget DEETS, as I initially thought it was jargon for SPANS, i.e. bridges.
50A LOCAL. I've heard that Bill Murray is a local on Sullivan's Island outside Charleston and will just pull up a chair and start talking to you at one of the many eateries there.
54A ENVY. Clever clue. JEALOUSY and ENVY are actually different sins. The former is wanting something belonging to someone else. The latter is resenting that someone else has something. Only the latter made it into the list of "The Seven Deadly Sins", which came from church tradition and is not actually in the Bible.
63A ESTATE SALE. A move from above ground level to below it?
5D SALK. I too wanted SCRIPPS, but it was too long.
Cheers,
Bill
OwenKL @3:38AM Thanks for the clip on Mrs. Calabash. I'd always wondered who she was too.
Phil @9:00 AM Exalt means to praise. Exult is to rejoice. BTW I imagined that you were the guy on the left. You guys should record a riff or two and upload them to the Corner.
Hola!
Heading for a Saturday stumper but finally finished it right. Yes, I've heard of REMMAX.
This took lots of thought and rummaging through old memories. Ah. ESO.
Thank you, C.C. and Gary. Not exactly a sashay but waltzed it in good time.
Have a great day, everyone!
Word of the day: parvenu
Pronunciation: pahr-ve-nu
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A member of the nouveaux riches who has suddenly risen to a much higher income level but is rejected by those of older wealth, ostensibly for a lack of the social graces associated with their social plane.
Notes: We contrast parvenus with Old Money, those who made their money the old fashioned way—by inheriting it. The established elite refers to the newcomers to wealth exclusively in French terms like parvenu and nouveau riche, which parvenus are considered less likely to understand. Parvenu may be used as an adjective, as someone's parvenu antics at the cotillion.
For more on this Word of the day see alphaDictionary
Bill's comment:
One of the most famous parvenus is Molière's "Le Bourgeois gentilhomme", who when told he was speaking prose replied "My faith! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose while knowing nothing of it, and I am the most obliged person in the world to you for telling me so."
Super Saturday. Thanks for the fun, C.C. and HuskerG.
This was definitely a workout, but I FIRed eventually with many an inkblot (and not just in the NE!)
Hand up for Even before EXPO, Miso on my unknown banh mi, waiting for perps to decide IPA or ALE, and May I or CAN I (which eliminated my dupe of YES I Can, changing it to YES IT IS),.
Khaki changed to KNITS, STREtch ELLIPSES changed to STRESS BALL (grands have fidget bracelets), Lyre became LUTE, Hence became SINCE.
And this Canadian had to correct Eh VOILA to ET, LOL.
I would have preferred “Fife Sounds” as the clue for TOOTLES, and Trifectas are more ambitious track wagers than EXACTAS.
But no SNITS here (unknown-to-me use of that word to mean Pets).
We did have musical sub theme today with Trumpets, Piccolos, and a LUTE.
Gambling link with AT STAKE, EXACTA.
ATLGranny- I got the WORDLE in 3 steps today also. I’m am glad others are enjoying it. I just found out about it the other day in a CBC news item about knock-off apps.
Wishing you all a great day.
Learning moment: so that's where "pet peeve" comes from...
I managed to perp in "yacht" only because I wanted what
You call those racing rowing boats, but could not remember
What they are called. I thought it was "scull," but google says
This is an oar, and sculling is "oaring." Turns about the name of
The racing boat is a "shell." (Who knew?)
Yooper phil@9am,
I have have always considered the puzzle to be
The price of admission to the after party, or Apres ski
(Learned fr9m xwords)
The only crossword French I appreciate...
Wait a sec...
Ellipses are a sign of omission?
My posts are full of ellipses,
Have I been using them wrong all these years...
?
Yikes...I finished a Saturday,đŸ˜„ Inkovers: pint/PLUS, elisions/ELLIPSES, hence/SINCE, tabs/ADDS, (verb, not a noun), Aetna/REMAX (a realty co., not insurance, dummy đŸ™„)
A discussion between husband and wife on last night's DVRed recent episode of "Ghosts", a comedy series on CBS I watch.
Samantha: "You still call your mother when you finish a crossword."
Jay: "It was a Saturday one and I did it in ink!"
I first read it as "confident reponse at being doubled huh (I'm a twin?)đŸ˜„. "Juice" is misdirection for electricity, WATT??..."see-through device" lie detector wouldn't fit. PENNE (It. feathers, Pens), Piccolo (little, piccolo flauto, small flute) . An "oud" has no frets so must be a happier form of LUTE. Didn't know ENSLER.
C.C. "pets" SNITS connection kinda obscure. Def 4/8: Wonder what 8 is? In that picture Hamilton is saying "I shoulda hadda V8" đŸ˜¬
Wonder what Dr. SALK would make of the antivaxer movement. (our) MRI tech request: "How about a new microwave for the break room?" "SIRI what's the answer to 1 down?"
We have one of those old botanical framed art renderings of a CALABASH plant in the bathroom to stare at while "sitting around"
Minus 10 degrees!. So had to include all of the following nonsense just to keep warm
đŸ¥¶
What folks look like from an airplane....SPECS
Stylish Arab leader....CHIC
Beyond vocal....PASTORAL
Very old dog age...EON
Lite...LOCAL
Like an axe....ADDS
Seven "deadly" ones ...SINCE (TTP)
Formal for teen angst....STRESSBALL
C.C. putting together a Satueday level CW and making sure Boomer gets better...Wow..get some REST. đŸ¥±
C.C.
Yes! I echo Ray's suggestion. Get some REST. I'm sure you need it.
I must need it too because after I finished posting I returned to bed and slept some more. This dental procedure has taken a lot out of me! I'm hoping I've lost weight, too. After I shower I'll step on the scale.
I forgot to mention how much I love ANISE and anything that tastes like licorice. Sadly, it's my sweet tooth that got me into this problem in the first place!
Musings
-Although most schools in eastern Nebraska were shut down yesterday, we only got about 2” and it didn’t start until school was out
-It’s full sun and 16F today and the snow on the concrete is almost all gone
-Jimmy Durante and “Good Night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are” were my first thought but I just stayed with the intent of the clue.
-Yeah, it amazes me that a girl for Guangzhou would know this!
-As you could see, that use of “PET” was far down the list of definitions
-That’s a very interesting observation about ESTATE SALES being after someone had quit moving :-)
-I took those pictures of my RAT TRAP boyhood home on the day it was razed and hauled away
-Me too on use of ellipses, CED!
-Settling in for some FB this weekend where each team has a lot at STAKE!
-One thing I have learned by talking to constructors is that their puzzles don’t run for months after submission and acceptance. Sometimes they have to jog their memories to come up with comments.
waseeley ~~ we did some recording a couple years ago which I burned onto CD’s, I may still have some tracks in my voice memos which I’ll see if I can link up. Sadly, our bass player (seated in the middle) passed away a couple years back, 4 months after the photo was taken in what I recall was our last gig. BTW, I like your addition of “word of the day” as just about all that you come up with are new to me.
CED ~~ I like your take on the blog, doing the puzzle is your ticket to the Corner dance.
Well, I usually skip Saturday puzzles--just too tough for me. But no way I would miss trying a C.C. puzzle, and especially one with that gorgeous grid, which caught my eye instantly. So, many thanks, C.C. for a delightful weekend gift. And thank you too, Husker Gary, for your always helpful and enjoyable write-up.
Loved the picture of our favorite actor with those spectacles on the bridge of his NOSE.
Funny to see the medical SCANS followed nearby by the MRI request to LIE STILL.
Hat to laugh at the person who PET SAT to watch a boxer.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
When a person's in a bad mood, they can be said to be "in a pet", another way of saying
"petulant." That's why "pets" is a perfectly good synonym for "snits", if a little obscure.
Oh, never mind. I just realized Gary had already made the above perfectly clear. D'oh!
I always think that pet for snit is more of a British term.
But yay for me, I finished a C.C. Saturday right!!
Becky
Wait, WHAT?? No! It can't be!! After wrestling with my @#$%^& printer forever this morning, I gave up and did some Saturday chores and errands. Then I did the CW on my laptop this afternoon, with red letters turned on. And, to my utter amazement, got a FIR in 13:23!!! "Impossible!" I thought to myself, but it had gone remarkably well with several lucky WAGs, and SALK and ETVOILA as the only DNKs that needed perps. AND the electronic CW times me, so it wasn't a timing mistake on my part. Then, reading the comments, I read anon @ 8:42 took 23:01!!! For the first time EVER (and probably "ever" going forward) I beat anon! I was just really on exactly the right wavelength and everything fell into place. Last letter was a "t" WAG where SNITS and ETVOILA cross. Couldn't figure out how "SNITS" are Pets until HG 'splained it. What a wonderful treat for unclefred on a Saturday to FIR, and FIR so QUICKLY! Thanx, C.C. And thanx HG for the outstanding write-up. BTW, I doubt I will ever again romp through a Saturday like I did today. So.....y'all gotta put up with my crowing, for once!!
Just before I opened the puzzle I was thinking that I hadn't seen CC's name in a while, and I was pleased to discover it today. Dying to know if 16A was originally clued as "One who became a National" or something like that because I didn't see any baseball along with the basketball and boating.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with a few w/o’s: AMID/CHIC; OILED/OIL UP; ART STUDIOS/ ART CLASSES; DOG SAT/ PET SAT
For 12-down, a Pick Six would be one of the most ambitious bets. EXACTAS to me are a more expected bet to make (wager) as I usually like to choose two-three horses I like in a race, then I bet to win on the one I prefer and box the others with that horse in an EXACTA wager. That covers most of my bases … (<- BTW, I am the “king” of ELLIPSES use!)
Jinx @ 6:00 —> I’ve been to Black’s Beach twice; Scripps never. 400’ or so above Black’s Beach is Torrey Pines GC. I tried playing it twice, to no avail, so I hiked down to the beach instead
I wonder if CC considered this puzzle for The NY Times? It has more of an NYT “feel” than an LAT themeless; just my 2 cents
Enjoy doing CC’s puzzles as they often include rarely used words and phrases. LUNESTA was one that ended up as a WAG, but I swear I had heard of it before even though I don’t have sleep issues
Hi All!
Needed a nudge from HG's grid to get a foothold in the NW this morning so another DNF for -T.
Thanks for the puzzle, C.C. And thanks for taking time out for HG's questions.
Great expo HG. I nailed What About Bob but missed the song's artist. LOL GPS comic.
WOs; Pup-SAT, AVaCADO
ESPs: Let's just say yes............ //extras for CED :-)
Favs: I love ANISE candies [Hi Lucina!], PENNE pasta [HG pictured Barilla - my fav] and Banh Mi* sandwiches (MAYO? Ok, maybe. But hoisin sauce (insofar as condiments go) is the STAR (and Sriracha for heat)
{A, B} //I almost entered oArer b/f YACHT (Hi YooperPhil!)
FLN - WC, I'm impressed with your memory inre Twilight Zone. I knew I'd seen it b/f but the ending still surprised me.
Yes, TTP, the chiminea, even if it's not carbon neutral, is nice on nippy nights
LOL the MeowTrix, CED
TTP - quite the story of the solve!
Pretzels are fairly easy and spinning the knot in mid-air is fun. Make sure the recipe you find calls for boiling b/f baking and you have a) kosher salt & b) stone mustard on hand :-)
Vegas? It's no fun by oneself. Watching friends lose money while you do too makes for great stories. //And you only gamble 'cuz the drinks are free!
Actually, the most fun I have in Vegas is hacking. I hope our company lifts our travel ban policy soon.
So, last night, I lean about Wordle and this morning WWDTM is discussing it?!? I just downloaded it on my iThing but I'm not sure I got the right one [doesn't look like FLN C, Eh!'s link(?) - I may have spent $0.99 on a knock-off :-( ] I did earn 2 points in my 3 minutes of play :-)
//ATLGranny - I suck at jumbles 'cuz dyslexia (it already looks like a word!); I still try to overcome my brain which is why I do xwords - reinforces letter patterns.
Weather? Oy! The wind is wicked-cold today.
++on NOT moving == ESTATE SALES
Cheers, -T
*We order from The Pho Shack ~2x/mo.
Didn't refresh b/f posting say...
Crow all you want unclefred (you too Becky!). Nailing a Saturday is a feat.
C.Moe - I see what you're saying; some of the cluing did feel NYTish.
Cheers, -T
C.C.'s beautiful black diagonal cuts off any chance for anagram diagonals today.
Still, 'tis lovely to see...
Thanks, Owen for filling in the BG on Jimmy Durante.
I was never sure how his sign-off "Missus" was to be spelled. He had that deep-in-the-throat growly slur, and there were times I thought he was saying good night to "Mrs. Succotash"!
I mean, who knew for sure...?
I enjoyed today's PZL a lot, especially the cluing.
I needed only three cheats. 2D was a fave.
52A is Queen E's second son, newly stripped of his honorary OxBridge degrees.
~ OMK
What Irish Miss said.
UncleFred, congratulations!
See, I knew you were breathing down my neck. Well done. That's a great time for a Saturday puzzle, especially this one.
Bravo!
unclefred @1:41 PM Nice work unclefred. You're learning that solving is a learnable skill just like any other. Just a matter of practice.
CMOE @2:20 PM Gee I thought Lunesta was a mattress brand.
-T @2:34 PM I add 2 Tbsp of Sriracha sauce to my homemade hummus to give it some heat.
AnonT- you fell for the scammers.
My Friday post said it was a free web-based game.
Let me further clarify for others. You don’t need to download or pay for an app. Just go to the website that was linked by myself @11:24am, and TTP@3:14pm yesterday.
This is the CBC news item that introduced me to the game.
WORDLEknockoffs
Speaking of NYT I picked up Ocala and noticed it had the NYT xword. Then after making my weekend Picks I left it behind. I agree the difficulty seemed simular to CC 's
Btw… I can ELIPSE with the best of them
-T, That TZ must be mid 60s but the startling ending always stayed with me. Did it have a name? Maybe YouTube has it.
The Jumble is like xws, practice and certain techniques can get you to the Misty level
PTs down 14-0 right off the bat
WC
WC —> 20 nothing now
For WC @7:58pm
Will The Real Martian Please Stand UP?
Groan. Allen I'd nothing short of terrific but can he stand the pounding and not get hurt.
I'll root for the Bills and pray for Josh
Now to watch Twilight Zobe courtesy of Rod himself
Dash T, I read four 5-star pretzel recipes. Each had hundreds of ratings. Three of four used AP flour. The King Arthur recipe uses bread flour. I'll try KA version the first time. All 4 used a baking soda bath - the variation was the amount of baking soda. Oven temp and time too. My MO w/ new recipes is to pick one, follow it as written, and then adjust in the future if needed. Made some teriyaki pork chops one time that DW couldn't eat. I liked them a lot.
What Canadian Eh said about the real one. Here's that link again: WORDLE
Canadian Eh, thank you for the link to the CBC article. Some of the comments were amusing, especially in the politeness of the disagreements. From my perspective anyway. YMMV. :>)
TTP- that’s the Canadian way to disagree! We say “Sorry” for disagreeing. LOL. Raucous ranting is not our usual style.
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