Same Clue, Different Vibes
The Flight of the Bumblebee
Rimsky Korsakov
The Flight of the Bumblebee
Rimsky Korsakov
Jeffrey Wechsler visits us today with another reveal-less theme (but you can definitely hear it) based on acoustic signals we receive from different sources (see 61A for a film clip that touches on this theme as well). The themers may look simple, but coming up with 4 grid spanners that all answered the same 4 letter clue could not have been simple.
17A. Buzz: NOISE MADE BY BEES. The world may be on the cusp of the tragic answer to Shakespeare's eternal question, "To bee or not to bee", but on the lighter side here are a lot of bad bee puns.
25A. Buzz: WORD ON THE STREET. There's a song about this with the lyric, "What's the buzz, tell me what's happening", but I'll leave the googling to you.
44A. Buzz: ASTRONAUT ALDRIN. Buzz Aldrin; (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and, as Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two people to land on the Moon. He is the last surviving crew member of Apollo 11. Anybody remember the name of the guy they left in orbit?
57A. Buzz: MILITARY HAIR CUT. We live about 30 miles from the Naval Academy and every June the Baltimore Sun publishes a picture like this:
I don't know what this guy is thinking, but here's what he's hearing. You don't have to listen to all of it, but he does.
And I will have nothing to say about all the BUZZ that started exactly one year ago today.
Across:
1. Star-crossed: HAPLESS. An illustrator for the Baltimore Sun was HAPLESS enough to have the surname HAZARD (his given name was Charles). When he showed up for his first day of work there, his colleagues promptly nicknamed him "Hap" Hazard. His illustrations graced the Sun for many years, before he died in 2018. Here are a just few of his many drawings:
Hap's mother Stella, was a fellow parishioner of ours. She also worked for the Baltimore Sun and became its first woman Art Editor. She was a world class oil painter, portraitist, and medical illustrator and died at the age of 104.
8. Enhanced the recipe with: ADDED IN.
15. "Invisible Man" author: ELLISON. Ralph Ellison, in full Ralph Waldo Ellison, (born March 1, 1914, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.—died April 16, 1994, New York, New York), American writer who won eminence with his first novel (and the only one published during his lifetime), Invisible Man (1952).
16. Always raring to fight: WARLIKE. The planet MARS is named for the Roman God of WAR, ARES in Greek. It's no coincidence that the two moons of Mars are called Deimos ("dread") and Phobos (fear").
19. Increase, with "up": STEP. See also 34A used as a vowel.
20. Org. monitoring insecticides: EPA. See 17A.
21. Vex: EAT AT.
22. Sideline advisers: COACHES.
33. Tickle: AROUSE.
34. Rock box: AMP. Amplifier, something that increases the flow of sound. Also AMP, short for AMPERE, a unit of electrical current flow as defined by Ohm's law.
35. Marathon Petroleum brand: ARCO.
36. "The spring is __ when green geese are a-breeding": Shak.: NEAR. From "Love's Labours Lost" Act I. From this precis for the Act I: "After vowing to avoid women, the King and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true to them." Well you know that'll never work! Hmm, sounds a lot like the plot of Mozart's "Così fan tutte". Here's the overture.
37. Intuitively grasp, in slang: GROK. This word entered our language in 1961, courtesy of Sci-Fi author Robert Heinlein. Grokking is an essential skill for cruciverbalists.
38. Calculated intake: DOSE. See 39A for just what the doctor ordered for the ABA-NBA merger.
39. "Medical" sports nickname: DR J. Julius Erving began his professional career in the American Basketball Association with the Virginia Squires and the New York Nets. Widely regarded as the greatest player of his time, he is often considered to have been the main catalyst for the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.
42. Cuisine including jambalaya: CREOLE. Here's a recipe.
47. Calculated intake: RATIONS. When my Mom grew up in WWII England, RATIONS were not just calculated, but required. Rationing was also required in the US.
48. West African capital: ACCRA. Accra is the capital of Ghana, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa.
52. Bed for an unexpected guest, maybe: COT.
53. Puts out, in a way: TAGS. Baseball.
61. Developing: IN UTERO. This brings to mind ultrasounds (Hi Ray - O!). And here's an interesting trailer for a film about how In Extero sounds affect us In Utero.
62. Place to put your feet up: OTTOMAN.
63. Lowered: DEBASED.
64. Bygone employees of cautious royalty: TASTERS. Food TASTERS were persons who ingested food that was prepared for someone else, to confirm that it was safe to eat.
Down:
1. Toothless farm denizens: HENS. Today's French lesson:
2. Plenty: A LOT.
3. Ballet motion: PLIE. More French: "Fold"
17A. Buzz: NOISE MADE BY BEES. The world may be on the cusp of the tragic answer to Shakespeare's eternal question, "To bee or not to bee", but on the lighter side here are a lot of bad bee puns.
 |
| Bee on clover |
25A. Buzz: WORD ON THE STREET. There's a song about this with the lyric, "What's the buzz, tell me what's happening", but I'll leave the googling to you.
44A. Buzz: ASTRONAUT ALDRIN. Buzz Aldrin; (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and, as Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two people to land on the Moon. He is the last surviving crew member of Apollo 11. Anybody remember the name of the guy they left in orbit?
 |
| Buzz Aldrin |
57A. Buzz: MILITARY HAIR CUT. We live about 30 miles from the Naval Academy and every June the Baltimore Sun publishes a picture like this:
And I will have nothing to say about all the BUZZ that started exactly one year ago today.
Across:
1. Star-crossed: HAPLESS. An illustrator for the Baltimore Sun was HAPLESS enough to have the surname HAZARD (his given name was Charles). When he showed up for his first day of work there, his colleagues promptly nicknamed him "Hap" Hazard. His illustrations graced the Sun for many years, before he died in 2018. Here are a just few of his many drawings:
 |
| Illustrations by Charles "Hap" Hazard |
8. Enhanced the recipe with: ADDED IN.
15. "Invisible Man" author: ELLISON. Ralph Ellison, in full Ralph Waldo Ellison, (born March 1, 1914, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.—died April 16, 1994, New York, New York), American writer who won eminence with his first novel (and the only one published during his lifetime), Invisible Man (1952).
 |
“
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
- Ralph Ellison |
16. Always raring to fight: WARLIKE. The planet MARS is named for the Roman God of WAR, ARES in Greek. It's no coincidence that the two moons of Mars are called Deimos ("dread") and Phobos (fear").
19. Increase, with "up": STEP. See also 34A used as a vowel.
20. Org. monitoring insecticides: EPA. See 17A.
21. Vex: EAT AT.
22. Sideline advisers: COACHES.
33. Tickle: AROUSE.
34. Rock box: AMP. Amplifier, something that increases the flow of sound. Also AMP, short for AMPERE, a unit of electrical current flow as defined by Ohm's law.
35. Marathon Petroleum brand: ARCO.
36. "The spring is __ when green geese are a-breeding": Shak.: NEAR. From "Love's Labours Lost" Act I. From this precis for the Act I: "After vowing to avoid women, the King and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true to them." Well you know that'll never work! Hmm, sounds a lot like the plot of Mozart's "Così fan tutte". Here's the overture.
37. Intuitively grasp, in slang: GROK. This word entered our language in 1961, courtesy of Sci-Fi author Robert Heinlein. Grokking is an essential skill for cruciverbalists.
38. Calculated intake: DOSE. See 39A for just what the doctor ordered for the ABA-NBA merger.
39. "Medical" sports nickname: DR J. Julius Erving began his professional career in the American Basketball Association with the Virginia Squires and the New York Nets. Widely regarded as the greatest player of his time, he is often considered to have been the main catalyst for the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.
 |
| Julius Erving |
42. Cuisine including jambalaya: CREOLE. Here's a recipe.
47. Calculated intake: RATIONS. When my Mom grew up in WWII England, RATIONS were not just calculated, but required. Rationing was also required in the US.
48. West African capital: ACCRA. Accra is the capital of Ghana, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa.
52. Bed for an unexpected guest, maybe: COT.
53. Puts out, in a way: TAGS. Baseball.
61. Developing: IN UTERO. This brings to mind ultrasounds (Hi Ray - O!). And here's an interesting trailer for a film about how In Extero sounds affect us In Utero.
62. Place to put your feet up: OTTOMAN.
64. Bygone employees of cautious royalty: TASTERS. Food TASTERS were persons who ingested food that was prepared for someone else, to confirm that it was safe to eat.
 |
| Food Taster Girolamo Romanino |
Down:
1. Toothless farm denizens: HENS. Today's French lesson:
 |
| Trois poules françaises |
3. Ballet motion: PLIE. More French: "Fold"
4. Struggle with scissors?: LISP. Sylvester the Cat had this problem just two weeks ago. LISP is also an early programming language designed for AI applications and characterized by (its (use (of (lots (of (parentheses)))))).
5. Santa Fe-to-Dallas dir.: ESE.
6. 2013 Alice McDermott novel that was a National Book Award finalist: SOMEONE. Alice McDermott (born June 27, 1953) is an American writer and university professor (Hi Misty, hi OMK!). For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Someone: A Novel, is her seventh book of fiction.
7. Get testy with: SNAP AT.
8. Evoke an "ooh" from, maybe: AWE. For example a reaction to New Years Eve fireworks:
9. Small application: DAB. Or a puzzle by David Alfred Bywaters (an example of recursion (see also 4D above)).
10. Like a country at the bottom of a rainfall chart: DRYEST. The DRIEST place on Earth. DRYEST vs DRIER?
11. 2013 Mandela portrayer: ELBA. In addition to being the tail end of a famous palindrome, and voted People Magazine's "sexiest man alive" in 2018, distinguished British actor Idris Elba had the privilege of portraying Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest heroes of the 20th Century, in the 2013 film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
12. Food regimen: DIET.
13. Swedish superstore: IKEA.
14. Hornet home: NEST.
18. Russian retreat: DACHA.
22. Trig. function: COS. Today's math lesson:
23. Verbal pause: HEM. and HAW.
24. Dubious ability: ESP. The dubious idea that we may have more than 5 senses.
25. Sykes of "black-ish": WANDA. Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999.
26. Treats with embossed surfaces: OREOS.
27. __ beast: holiday dinner in a Seuss classic: ROAST. From How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Seuss' satire on the commercialization of Christmas:
28. Engraver Albrecht: DÜRER. This engraving by the German Renaissance master recently made big news:
29. Persisted noisily, as a storm: RAGED.
30. Diamond flaw?: ERROR.
31. USDA concern: ECOLI. Good, Bad, and Deadly.
32. Memento: TOKEN.
39. CSI stuff: DNA. DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. DNA profiles can be used to solve crimes by testing for matches of DNA found at the crime scene with that of the suspects. The DNA may be collected subsequent to a crime or identified from a DNA database of previous criminals or other persons. DNA profiles are unique for everyone even for twins.
40. Snitch: RAT.
41. Like gossip worth spreading: JUICY. See 25A.
42. Bach wrote one about coffee: CANTATA. Some people may think that Bach was just a stuffy composer, but as a guy who had 20 children, he HAD to have had a sense of humor. And it really comes out in his COFFEE CANTATA. Here's just a cup:
43. "Kidnapped" monogram: RLS. Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. Kidnapped is an historical fiction adventure novel written as a boys' novel and first published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886. Among his many other works was a collection of poetry called Songs of Travel. Here is Ralph Vaughan Williams' setting of the poem Bright is the Ring of Words from that collection:
6. 2013 Alice McDermott novel that was a National Book Award finalist: SOMEONE. Alice McDermott (born June 27, 1953) is an American writer and university professor (Hi Misty, hi OMK!). For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Someone: A Novel, is her seventh book of fiction.
 |
| Alice McDermott |
8. Evoke an "ooh" from, maybe: AWE. For example a reaction to New Years Eve fireworks:
9. Small application: DAB. Or a puzzle by David Alfred Bywaters (an example of recursion (see also 4D above)).
10. Like a country at the bottom of a rainfall chart: DRYEST. The DRIEST place on Earth. DRYEST vs DRIER?
11. 2013 Mandela portrayer: ELBA. In addition to being the tail end of a famous palindrome, and voted People Magazine's "sexiest man alive" in 2018, distinguished British actor Idris Elba had the privilege of portraying Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest heroes of the 20th Century, in the 2013 film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
 |
| Idris Elba |
13. Swedish superstore: IKEA.
18. Russian retreat: DACHA.
22. Trig. function: COS. Today's math lesson:
24. Dubious ability: ESP. The dubious idea that we may have more than 5 senses.
25. Sykes of "black-ish": WANDA. Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999.
 |
| Wanda Sykes |
27. __ beast: holiday dinner in a Seuss classic: ROAST. From How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Seuss' satire on the commercialization of Christmas:
 |
| The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a Grassy Bank |
29. Persisted noisily, as a storm: RAGED.
30. Diamond flaw?: ERROR.
31. USDA concern: ECOLI. Good, Bad, and Deadly.
32. Memento: TOKEN.
39. CSI stuff: DNA. DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. DNA profiles can be used to solve crimes by testing for matches of DNA found at the crime scene with that of the suspects. The DNA may be collected subsequent to a crime or identified from a DNA database of previous criminals or other persons. DNA profiles are unique for everyone even for twins.
40. Snitch: RAT.
41. Like gossip worth spreading: JUICY. See 25A.
42. Bach wrote one about coffee: CANTATA. Some people may think that Bach was just a stuffy composer, but as a guy who had 20 children, he HAD to have had a sense of humor. And it really comes out in his COFFEE CANTATA. Here's just a cup:
43. "Kidnapped" monogram: RLS. Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. Kidnapped is an historical fiction adventure novel written as a boys' novel and first published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886. Among his many other works was a collection of poetry called Songs of Travel. Here is Ralph Vaughan Williams' setting of the poem Bright is the Ring of Words from that collection:
45. Speaks formally: ORATES. She certainly does!.
46. Likely to scald: TOO HOT.
48. Within: AMID.
49. With 50-Down, group for movie enthusiasts: CINÉ. Ciné Clubs were groups formed to study the art of the film through the discussion or the actual making of films, particularly avant-garde or censored films (back in the day, we called them "art films"; nowadays they'd be called "indies"). These groups were also called "Film societies", a term that first appeared in France in 1907.
50. See 49-Down: CLUB.
51. Comic Rudner: RITA. Here's Rita. I think she's on to something ...
53. Bring (out): TROT.
54. Top: ACME.
55. __ gum: common thickening agent: GUAR. Made from the Guar or Cluster bean.
56. RR sched. components: STNS.
58. "__ we on for tonight?": ARE. Sounds inviting ...
59. Dowel: ROD.
60. Repeated contraction in the '50s TV "Superman" intro: IT'S. Played by George Reeves ...
46. Likely to scald: TOO HOT.
48. Within: AMID.
49. With 50-Down, group for movie enthusiasts: CINÉ. Ciné Clubs were groups formed to study the art of the film through the discussion or the actual making of films, particularly avant-garde or censored films (back in the day, we called them "art films"; nowadays they'd be called "indies"). These groups were also called "Film societies", a term that first appeared in France in 1907.
50. See 49-Down: CLUB.
51. Comic Rudner: RITA. Here's Rita. I think she's on to something ...
53. Bring (out): TROT.
54. Top: ACME.
55. __ gum: common thickening agent: GUAR. Made from the Guar or Cluster bean.
 |
| Guar cluster bean |
58. "__ we on for tonight?": ARE. Sounds inviting ...
59. Dowel: ROD.
60. Repeated contraction in the '50s TV "Superman" intro: IT'S. Played by George Reeves ...
Here's the grid:
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and her constructive suggestions.
waseeley
Cheers,
Bill
42 comments:
FIRight! And the theme revealed itself, so no need to guess what it was!
Had HGWELLS < ELLISON, but corrected that with the first perp. A couple other t/os, but nothing interesting.
Killer hornets are a very WARLIKE clan
From their NESTS they have a MILITARY plan!
They'll attack a hive of BEES,
And steal what they please,
An insect version of old Genghis Khan!
He promised that he'd BUZZ her every day,
And for awhile it went just that way.
Then the calls got rarer;
Was something in ERROR?
She didn't care, she had a field to play!
{C+, B-.}
Good morning!
I must've dreamed that somebody said today's puz would be easier than yesterday's. Was that you, Waseeley? I found it challenging...but satisfying. Once again, it was the NW corner that was the last to fall. Thanx, Jeffrey and Waseeley. (Interesting info on the names Deimos and Phobos.)
Wow, yet another tough nut. JW, you very nearly defeated me. A 40 minute struggle to FIR which I actually quit on several times then came back to. Every part of this was a struggle, with the SE the last to fill. TAGS and TASTERS befuddled me for the longest time. This whole CW was a real challenge. Bill, what an outstanding write-up! The Flight of the Bumblebee and coffee cantata and other musical treats along with great cartoons. Thanx for all the effort you put into this write-up. Now, back to sleep for a while.
Bit of a slog, but FIR.
FIR, somehow, but erased nigh for NEAR, diet for DOSE, doc for DR J, cairo for ACCRA, and desert for DRYEST. Guessed at ELLISON and SOMEONE, and needed ESP for ROAST, DURER, and GUAR. (ROAST, DURER and GUAR sounds like one of those personal injury law firms that advertise on local TV.)
Ever had a tickle session with a significant other that lead to becoming AROUSEd? Me too. It might also happen when you first meet, if your date "puts out".
One of my favorite COACHES was John Madden. Just watched "All Madden", a tribute to the great man. My favorite line from the show was "If you are a coach you are a teacher". If I ever go back to teaching project management, I'll use that quote.
Thanks to JeffWech for the very difficult Thursday grid that even I was able to complete. And thanks to Bill for the interesting commentary.
Yikes, carelessness in proofreading caused a FIW. I failed to notice I left the "m" when I realized my totem should be TOKEN instead. Oh well. I filled in the NW corner last, not trusting it was HAPLESS, HENS, and A LOT for way too long. The themers were daunting at first, but WORD ON THE STREET got things going. I found the puzzle enjoyable, Jeffrey. Thanks!
Thanks to waseeley as well for his excellent tour today. We appreciate the effort you and Teri make to enrich our experience.
A belated Happy Birthday to oc4beach for yesterday. Hope you had a good day. And I hope everyone on the Corner has a Thursday treat today.
Bill, congrats. For me this is your best write-up since you stepped in to fill our blogger void. JW is always a challenge even for his "easy" puzzles. I agree that the task of finding 4 credible 15 letter fill for the single clue: BUZZ, was a true accomplishment.
We also have a great Shakespeare quote from our professional Will S. promoters and some fascinating fill like Engraver Albrecht: DÜRER which we have had once before and Alice McDermott novel .
You brought out Jeffrey thank you Bill and and JW.
Ahhh! I does love me a good Jeff Wex!
I’m doing this as I sit in my car in the black of a very early January day, waiting for the Covid testing site to open. I’m currently on the shoulder of the street leading to the site, at the end of a line that’s at least 1/2 a mile long and got here at 6:15.
I actually found this one much easier than yesterday’s. The four giant Acrosses (is thar a word?) nearly filled themselves. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park but I did find it easier than most Thursdays.
My biggest slowdown came at 42 across; I so badly wanted CAJUN instead of CREOLE that I really had a brain freeze for a while. (And yes, I know CAJUN doesn’t have enough letters!)
Whoa… the line’s moving! Time to shut up and drive.
Good Morning:
I really like this type of theme as I find it creates a great sense of anticipation and curiosity as to the various descriptive phrases the constructor will choose. Jeffrey chose wisely, coming up with 4 grid spanners, no less. I had trouble in the NW and SE corners but, eventually, everything fell into place. My Bees made a Sound before Noise and my Totem morphed into Token. (Hi, ATL Granny!). Durer and Guar needed perps, although I think we’ve had both before. My favorite C/A was Diamond Flaw=Error and I loved the sing-songy quartet of Lot/Hot/Cot/Trot.
Thanks, Jeffrey W, for never disappointing and always pleasing and thanks, Bill, for an outstanding write-up. I always learn interesting facts and ideas from your analysis and feel like I’ve attended a widely varied mini lecture. Chuckled out loud at the Ottoman Empire cartoon and appreciated being reminded of Charming Billy, a novel I read many years ago. I couldn’t tell you a thing about it now, but I know I enjoyed it at the time. I’m not familiar with Someone, though.
FLN
Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers for my brother. As of yesterday morning, he was still in the ER, waiting for a bed. I guess the hospital, like so many others, is in crisis mode. He is responding to the antibiotics and is out of the woods with COVID, thank God. He will need the IV antibiotics for 6 weeks. He has other health issues which are being monitored but, hopefully, he’ll continue to improve. His wife has been with him since Monday and can’t leave because she would not be allowed back in. Their daughter is bringing her clothes and whatever else she needs and has to leave everything with Security. I imagine she’s sleeping in a chair. These are difficult days for everyone.
WikWak, thank you for your well wishes. I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s health issues and hope she’s doing better.
oc4beach, belated Happy Birthday, hope it was special. 🎂🎁🎉🎊🎈
CanadianEh, watching that video made my stomach do somersaults. If you offered me a million dollars, I wouldn’t get anywhere near that walkway, let alone step on it. Ditto for the glass floor. I’m not even comfortable going out on my own deck!
My niece had to improvise our planned dinner choices last night as the restaurant stopped taking orders by the time she finally reached them. She went to a different restaurant with a limited menu so I ordered Veal Marsala. It was good but very pricey for a very skimpy portion with no mushrooms at all! Disappointing, but we had a nice visit and caught up on all the family news.
Have a great day.
IM, good to hear that your brother is out of the woods. Not sure I could do what his wife is doing, taking up residence in the ER.
Good morning. I was lost until BEES in the NE was filled by perps and I worked back from that. After that revelation the other theme fills were easy to guess.
ELLISON & SOMEONE were unknowns and I 'Struggled' with the LISP clue. I knew who WANDA Sykes was but wasn't familiar with the show.
GROK, ELBA, CINE and CLUB were WAGs. Unknown as clued.
But in the end it was a FIW, due to messy spelling. wrote IN UTERI instead of UTERO and left RID for ROD.
FLN to Curmudgeon
Late in the evening you issued "A challenge to all constructors: Create a CW composed completely of proper names."
I think "Gridlock" , a tour de force by the late, great Merl Reagle might qualify. Merl is one of the few constructors, besides Will Schortz, who has made a fortune creating crossword puzzles. Hint: the 6 stacked grid spanners that cross in the center (3 across & 3 down) are where you'll find all the proper nouns. This is considered by many to be one of the greatest crossword puzzles of all time.
Word of the day: campestral
Pronunciation: kæm-pes-trêl
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Pertaining to open uncultivated fields or open countryside, hence rural, rustic.
Notes: This rarely used adjective has an even rarer variant: campestrial. It seems to be a lexical orphan, but by analogy its adverb would be campestrally and noun, campestrality.
In Play: The implication of this word is that something is far away from urban life: "Since Himmelreich lost his bid for county commissioner, he has been living in campestral seclusion." It is sometimes used by biologists to reflect the geological characteristics of open plains: "Elephants prefer campestral living space and avoid forests and jungles."
For more on this Word of the day see alphaDictionary
Lemony @7:35 AM Thanks for the compliment. I study under Masters.
Just because I love talking about honeybees...the buzz is E below middle C. Toss that in with the random facts you don't really need to know.
Hola!
A Jeff Wex Thursday puzzle which I started with trepidation but prevailed!
I found a toehold with WANDA Sykes and then just muddled around until the long spans were filled then solved in downward mode from there. I ADDED IN words slowly and many were easy to GROK. JW coined a new clue for OREOS!
Thank you, JW and Bill! I loved the OTTOMAN cartoon!
GUAR gum is an old CWD term which I had not seen for a long time.
Have a HAPPY day, everyone!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jeffrey and waseeley (and Teri).
I FIRed and saw the sweet theme, but there are plenty of inkblots.
I had the ___ACHES and tried to fit Attaches - COACHES won.
I started with (Dr.)Dre, but he is not sports-related. DR J perped with JUICY.
My Shakespearean spring was Here for a long time, and held up the central West for a while. Perps changed it to NEAR for the finish.
Filling the Downs first in the central East gave me ALDRIN. Lightbulb moment to fill in ASTRONAUT.
I thought of Ramp up (not AMP) before STEP.
Raise your hand if you had Agar before GUAR?
My hand is up for wanting Cajun before CREOLE.
STaS or N - wait for perp.
New clue for OREOS, but my fav was the clue for LISPS.
Abased or DEBASED? Either fit the clue today but not the spaces. I wondered what was the difference in meaning, and LIUed. Diffsense.com says “When used as verbs, abase means to lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings, whereas debase means to lower in character, quality or value.”
FLN- belated Happy Birthday oc4beach.
WikWak- hope your test results are negative. We have given up routine PCR testing here, and are now prioritizing workers in high risk settings or with high risk conditions. Otherwise, if you have symptoms, you are to consider yourself positive and self- isolate accordingly.
IM- continued prayers for your brother (and dedicated SIL).
Wishing you all a great day.
Musings
-Jeffery provided real relief on a -3F morning. What a hoot!
-That “What’s The Buzz” song is from my favorite rock opera
-BUZZ got confronted by a “The Moon landing was a hoax” idiot. 72 yr-old BUZZ punched the guy in the nose
-This is the time of year that FB COACHES are on a merry-go-round of firing/hiring
-Does the U.S. president have a food TASTER? Maybe/Maybe not
-Struggle with scissors? Jeffrey! :-)
-ROAST BEAST was a familiar entrée at the college cafeteria
-Umpires have tried hard recently to eliminate the ERROR of calling runners out on a “phantom TAG”
-Nice job, Bill. The IKEA cartoon was my favorite.
Doing the puzzle on my phone while waiting for a same day PCR Covid test, woke up with a mild sore throat and need to known if I can fly to Florida tomorrow. Half hour in the freezing snow, just to get into the building.🙄 Still waiting 2 hours inside. CSO to WikWak
Was sure I wouldn't finish but eventually solved the long "Buzz" Wheel of Fortune type clues and perped my way thru.
I see we are running out of clues for OREO(S). Making music and children when did Bach get a coffee break?
Inkovers: diet/DOSE, addedin/TO, almost filled HG Wells but perpchecked and it wouldn't work, (ELLISON?) oh not "The Invisible Man"!!😀
That Grand PLIÉ looks painful.☹
Papa bear's porridge....TOOHOT
"Able was I ere I saw ____"... ELBA
Consequently.....HENS
IM: Quick recovery for your brother.
The only name I knew was RLS.
Never heard of grok or guar.
As usual with Mr Wechsler puzzles
Dnf
Negative..🤗
Ray-O
Congratulations!
Thank you all for the birthday wishes. The only good thing about getting older is the cake. The aches, pains and other maladies, not so much. But, we all carry on.
I really enjoyed Jeff's puzzle this morning and Waseely's explanation.
I liked the various BUZZ definitions. Once a few perps appeared the rest of the words were easy to fill in. I personally knew BUZZ Aldrin and I've had the military BUZZ cut, but I try to avoid bees because of the adverse reaction to their stings. The Word on the Street has never helped me much in my investing strategy, so, I think I'll just BUZZ off to the next puzzle.
It is the time for the big COACHing change season. Our coach (Franklin) made noises about considering moving to another university and the administration threw more money at him to keep him at Penn State. He is a good recruiter, but a mediocre game day coach. Not sure it was a good investment.
IM: glad to hear that your brother is improving and I hope Boomer improves as well.
Time to get ready for the snow storm that is supposed to be hitting us tonight and tomorrow.
Be safe everyone.
I'm not sure if I DNF'd or not?
Yay!!!
Delightful Thursday toughie--many thanks, Jeffrey. And your commentaries are wonderful, Bill, thanks for this one too.
Nice pictures of WANDA and of Alice McDermott. Thank you for the kind professor reference, Bill.
I remembered Idris ELBA portraying Mandela.
My favorite clue was 'place to put up your feet' for OTTOMAN.
Irish Miss, I will certain keep you brother--and his faithful wife--in my prayers.
And C.C. I hope all is well with Boomer, and look forward to an update.
Enjoyed your verses, Owen.
Have a good day, everybody.
Hi All!
Thanks Jeffrey for the fine Thursday puzzle; I enjoyed the theme.
Thanks for the post-puzzle play, Waseeley. Enjoyed RITA's bit.
//It would take me at least a week to re-learn LISP.
WOs: put DNA in RAT's squares, RITA in CLUB's squares, TROd, DRiEST
ESPs: DURER, GUAR, SOMEONE took 6/7th perpage.
Fav(s): Liked the clues for HENS, ERROR, & DR J. GROK is fun too.
ELLISON - Frosh yr. of HS we had to select books from the shelf and read them.
"Hey, cool! Invisible Man."
I waited forever for him to take the formula and hookup w/ Frankenstein['s monster' before it dawned on me, "Oh, he's invisible b/c he doesn't 'count' in society."
{B, B+}
Good news about your Brother, IM. One step at a time.
ATLGranny - I too had the same hesitations in the NW but as soon as I committed, the corner suddenly solved itself.
C, Eh! - AGAR in my head is why GUAR was ESP.
Ray-O: Whoot! Have a good flight.
oc4 - your cake comment made me think of Pop's quip:
"Actually she's my 3rd wife. What can I say?, I like cake."
What's the WORD ON THE STREET? [SNL 1:02]
The BUZZ around the (virtual) office is returning to (real) office Monday. Only the vaxed are allowed -- unless, you wear a mask (HIPPA violation - we know who didn't get poked) AND you have a test every 7 days.
Of course, the non-vaxed are like - "do we have to take the test on our time?", "who pays for the test?", "what if we can't find a test?", and other nonsense.
Thanks for the giggle, CED.
Play later!
Cheers, -T
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR after looking up a few answers.
So here’s the BUZZ: if a Jeffrey Wechsler shows up on a Thursday, just imagine how difficult tomorrow’s puzzle is?! Spoiler alert: it’s not constructed by JW, but another Jeff is involved
Mr William A Seeley: a lengthy bow, and tip of my hat to you, sir, for a thoroughly wonderful review
Ray O ~ 👏👍
Always appreciate seeing a JW byline as I know it will be a fun, uniquely clued puzzle, and on a Thursday it’s a little less intimidating than seeing his name attached to a Saturday themeless. Today seemed to flow and I managed a FIR in 17:25, which for me is a good time on any of JW’s offerings. Other clues for the themers could have also been “euphoric feeling” or marijuana effect”, (so I’ve been told) Especially like the “Treats with embossed surfaces” for the stale OREO, I first thought of treats as a verb.
Thank you Bill for another outstanding write-up, I spent way more time perusing your details than I did solving the puzzle. The late columnist Sydney Harris used to run an occasional piece entitled “Things I learned en route to looking up other things”, and your expos always cause me to do that, or to paraphrase Robert Palmer ...”One link leads to another”
Irish Miss ~~ nice to hear the news of your brother’s improvement 😊
Delightful "buzzy" puzzle. FIR in normal Thursday time for me , but I am no longer as fast as I was.
Only the answers ELBA and SOMEONE were new to me, but perps helped to suggest many of the other ones. Coffee was a surprise, but Cantata needed only one perp.
David, my DIL and grandson are all sick in bed with flu-like symptoms.
All three had at least the first two shots. I know David did not take the booster, David thinks omicron is over hyped. We shall see.
Alan has two counselors who are quarantined with Covid. The agency won't tell us whether or not they are seriously ill. I am not bringing Alan here this weekend and maybe not after that, either.
My nephew's wife in Texas has Covid too.
With no cases among the independent living residents here at the Oaks in Dec. we have about 6 new cases as of yesterday. Many of the staff have tested positive and are quarantined, although they are not sick. Our resident activities manager has a mom in the hospital with it, in spite of having had two shots and the booster.
We are having only Zoom church for a while. Our pastor also has mild covid. And more and more of the congregation were already opting for online only.
Square dancing is canceled for two months.
Who will catch it next? How many will be hospitalized? All unknowns.
This pandemic seems more serious than some people think. Stay safe.
YR, from what I can glean out of the over-information, nearly all people in the US have had or are going to have covid-19. The good news is that omicron is the overwhelming variety here, and it seems to be much less dangerous than the original or delta versions.
Omicron appears to be easier to spread than a seasonal flu, but about the same seriousness. Somewhere around 50,000 people die each year from the flu in this country. It will probably be less this year, because patients that present with both covid-19 and the flu and die will be counted as a covid-19 death.
I think that you are smart to avoid contact as much as possible. Looks like the vaccines (and previous infection, for that matter) are good at minimizing dangerous effects of omicron, but not especially good at preventing it.
GROK may be a bit dated now, but we used to use it in comments a lot, where we now use suss. (And I think it was preceded by ken.)
What's embossed on an OREO cookie?
Enjoyed this PZL, despite the lack of diagonals.
I had one cheat (accidental), and otherwise did this Wechsler on my own in good time. I liked the theme fills, which I solved in this order: 44A, 25A, 17A, and 57A.
Ironic that HAIRCUT was the last to fill, as I was prepping for a HAIRCUT from my wife right after doing the Xwd. Of course, my head was not about to go MILITARY style...
NEW Discovery!.
After the HAIRCUT (and beard trim) I exchanged enjoyable emails with my new nephew. I say "new" because it was only last month I discovered my long-lost half-brother, a Canadian. (CanadianEh!) Gordon was a child born to my mom and given up for adoption three years before she had me!
I was skeptical at first when Gordon's daughter contacted me, but I believe now in the DNA.
A strange and marvelous discovery for the two of us, both in our 80s. Everyone with a direct interest but us has long since departed...
~ OMK
OMK - I believe your story; and it's a wonderful thing - you & Gordon.
FIL, after being orphaned, "escaped(?)" his aunt (and sisters) for the Marines. One fateful phone call from post (a mix up indeed) and he never talked to his sisters for...
FFW 40+ years: BIL does some research on the web and reaches out to a woman in SFO (the PAN AM stewardess). FIL's long lost sister!
FIL has passed but we still go out to SFO to visit her [just last summer] and DW's Cuz.
Here's another blast: Pop got me the Mensa "10-minute crossword" desk calendar for Christmas. With all going on, I just got around to opening/playing it today. Guess who's on the first page.
//I flipped forward - looks like I get to do a few more Gail puzzles this month.
OKL - CONSPIRACIES EVERYWHERE! :-)
Cheers, -T
Owen, the word "OREO" and some designs are stamped (embossed) on the outside of the cookie I eat them too fast to notice exactly.😋
OMK fascinating, wonderful news 😁
Bill, thanks for Bach's Coffee Cantata. New to me. I love it. I also love coffee. I do not describe coffee with the word sweet.
I was surprised Jeff W's CW had a relatively easy long acrosses. They helped a lot, and I enjoyed the puzzle. Thank you Mr. Jeff W.
Waseely, Thanks for your blog review ! I spent a lot of time reading all about the rationing in Britain. And the Taste testers, which led me down a rabbit hole to Hitler's last surviving taste tester, and then Hitler's German Shepherd etc.
I knew and have read Ralph Ellison, waay back in 1972, but did not know Wanda.
I worked in a Guar Gum plant in Bombay ... a long time ago....
The guar bean is a rather common vegetable in India ... somewhat stringly and fibrous ( it is cooked and eaten with the pod, but is cut into bite size pieces ..) ... but the bean has a 'beany' taste. ;-o)
The guar gum, at the time, was /is used extensively as an additive in making ice cream ... like a thickener for adjusting viscosity, so crystals of ice do not form. It is not as slimy as Agar agar.
The main ingredient in ice cream is of course, CMC*S - Carboxy-methyl-cellulose, Sodium salt (a gum, when hydrated -) and MCC Micro Crystalline Cellulose.
But in 1990, Guar Gum was found to be a fantastic viscosity modifier, under extremely high pressure, when used as an ingredient in Drilling Mud, during the process of Gas Fracking ... for locating and opening holes for natural gas ...
This used up enormous quantities of the product, and created a tremendous shortage, because of all the money behind the need, and the prices of Guar Gum went through the roof, almost 45 times !!! .... because the major american gas producers bought out the next ten years supply in the indian futures market... !!!
It is now still one of the more expensive 'vegetables' ....
My post is still too long, already - as usual.
Have a nice evening, you all.
Got distracted today although I completed xword yesterday
That was the best OREO Clue yet
B+,C+. We definitely differ, Owen(NtSo Anon-T)
C-Moe, I struggled with Friday off and on all day. Admire your reticence
Yonder, the BUZZ depends on whether you Inhale
Google is the culprit on sending us down the looking glass. G. throws Cheers clips at me these days.
FIR as my pattern is FIR late, FIW early week.
WC
waseely: Note the term of the challenge: " Create a CW composed completely of proper names."
Gridlock does look interesting. I've copied it to work on when I have time.
>>Roy
Today, alas, has not been a good day for me. When I went to the nail salon this morning all was well, but when I turned to park my car I accidentally hit a parked BMW SUV. It not only damaged that vehicle, but mine as well. Of course I waited until the owners arrived, gave them my insurance information and proceeded into the salon. Their vehicle will of course be an expensive repair, mine a bit less, but still costly. It's not a good start for this new year.
Vidwan:
That is really interesting about GUAR gum and how the vested interests of big business can interfere with the needs of the "little people."
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