39. Noted Italian campanile that hints at each group of circled letters in this puzzle: THE LEANING TOWER.
The ALOHA Tower is a retired lighthouse that is considered one of the landmarks of the state of Hawaii in the United States.
COIT Tower is a 210-foot tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay.
The EIFFEL Tower is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France.
The SEARS Tower The Willis Tower (formerly known as and commonly referred to as the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, 1,450-foot (442.1 m) skyscraper in Chicago.
(Edited later: There's also a leaning CN Tower in the lower left.)
Melissa here. The definition of a campanile is an Italian bell tower. The other four towers here are not bell towers, but all are well-known landmarks.
Across:
1. With regard to: AS FOR.
6. One might be en route to the ER: EMT. Emergency Medical Technician.
9. Burn the midnight oil, perhaps: CRAM. Study for a test.
13. Leachman tied for the most (eight) Emmy wins as a performer: CLORIS. Always forget there's no H in her first name. Tied with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Leachman died in January of this year.
15. Immediately: NOW.
16. Screenwriter Ephron: NORA. My daughter and I always watch Ephron's You've Got Mail over the holidays. Charming, even though the Joe Fox character is actually kind of a creep, imo. YGM is actually a remake of The Shop Around The Corner with Jimmy Stewart. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.
17. Greet with a honk: TOOT AT.
18. Gave the okay to: GREENLIT.
20. Where a ring may be left: BATHTUB.
22. Beauty: GEM.
23. "Mangia!": EAT. Italian.
24. Like Vivaldi's "Spring": IN E. The first concerto of the Four Seasons is Spring, describing its freshness and beauty. Spring is a solo concerto with 3 movements: quick, slow, quick. The quick movements are written in Ritornello form, which literally means “returning”.
25. Like cartoons: ANIMATED.
28. Fröbe who played Goldfinger: GERT. James Bond. Auric Goldfinger was played by German actor Gert Fröbe. Fröbe, who did not speak English well, was dubbed in the film by Michael Collins, an English actor.
30. Martial arts rank: DAN. The term Dan (단) is commonly used in Korean martial arts to denote a black belt.
Literally, however, the word more closely translates as "level" or
"stage". For example, some jumping kicks are called "ee dan" kicks,
which translates as "level two", where ee is the number two in the
sino-Korean numbering system
31. Show with skits: REVUE.
35. Theater director?: USHER. Nice clue.
38. Brunch standard: MIMOSA. Champagne and chilled citrus juice, usually orange juice.
43. Gregarious: SOCIAL.
44. Miller's salesman: LOMAN. Arthur Miller's Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman is an insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman who believes in the American dream, but never achieves it.
45. Name in book publishing since 1915: KNOPF.
46. "Silk Stockings" co-star Charisse: CYD.
47. Yields to gravity: SAGS.
51. Fur coat quality: SOFTNESS.
55. Water tester: TOE.
56. Number of stars on Ghana's flag: ONE. The red represents the blood of those who died in the country's struggle for independence from Great Britain, the gold represents the mineral wealth of the country, the green symbolizes the country's rich forests and natural wealth, and the black star is the symbol of African emancipation.
59. Vein contents: ORE.
60. Singer Ed with albums titled "+," "x" and "˜": SHEERAN.
62. Like a tutor's lesson, often: REMEDIAL. Provided or intended for students who are experiencing learning difficulties.
65. Wedding acquisitions: IN-LAWS. Cute.
66. Dot-__: COMS.
67. Punk rock offshoot: EMO. A style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects.
68. Respect: ADMIRE.
69. Lose one's cool: SNAP.
70. Retired boomer: SST.
71. Some HDTVs: SONYS.
Down:
2. She took a day off with Ferris: SLOANE. Ferris's girlfriend who skips school with him. Played by Mia Sara.
3. Page number, often: FOOTER.
4. Sports med. branch: ORTH. Sports medicine is a subspecialty of orthopedic medicine
that deals with the physical fitness, preventive care and treatment of
amateur and professional athletes within the world of sports and
exercise.
5. Ranchero's rope: RIATA. A long, noosed rope, used to catch animals.
6. An official lang. of Malta: ENG. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English.
7. Actor Freeman: MORGAN.
8. One in a storm, maybe: TWEET. A Tweetstorm is series of tweets from one person that starts with a number and a slash.
The first number is the order in which the tweet appears in a line of
tweets covering a single topic. The number after the slash is the number
of tweets from the same author. A Tweetstorm lets readers know how many
tweets to expect.
9. MSNBC rival: CNN.
10. Solo, for Ford: ROLE. Harrison Ford played the role of Han Solo in the Star Wars series.
11. Solo, for Fleming: ARIA. Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American opera singer and soprano.
12. "The Resident" star Czuchry: MATT. Czuchry plays Dr. Conrad Hawkins in Fox's medical drama.
14. Flabbergast: STUN.
19. Many a retired professor: EMERITA.
21. Last of two Pennsylvania-born presidents: BIDEN. The other was James Buchanan, born in 1791.
26. Subject of a painting by Andy and a song by Elton: MARILYN.
27. Exorcism targets: DEMONS.
29. Dutch exports: TULIPS.
32. Promise: VOW.
33. Employ: USE.
34. Canal setting: EAR.
36. Ceviche or sashimi: SEAFOOD.
37. Villain #13 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains": HAL. From 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hal 2001, the eerily human-like computer aboard the Discovery space ship, represents technological advancement.
38. "Thelma & Louise" studio: MGM. Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
39. Sound of reproach: TSK.
40. Sweetie: HON.
41. Friendly opening?: ECO. Eco-friendly.
42. Connection points: NODES. A point at which lines or pathways intersect or branch; a central or connecting point.
46. Third-stringers: C TEAMS.
48. Subway in an Ellington classic: A TRAIN.
49. Miss the mark: GO AWRY.
50. Feels: SENSES.
52. Fast-food favorite: FRIES.
53. Branch of Islam: SHIA.
54. Thrills: SENDS. Tricky clue.
56. Tolkien monsters: ORCS.
57. Element #10: NEON. A noble gas. It's colorless and has no smell.
58. Madame Bovary: EMMA.
61. Ticklish Muppet: ELMO.
63. Clairvoyant's claim: ESP. Extra sensory perception.
64. Filming site: LOT.
47 comments:
Good morning!
Well, the honeymoon between puzzle setter and solver is over for 2022. This was a toughie for mid-week...at least for moi. With the M in place, I confidently inked in MADONNA. Bzzzzt. Wite-Out, please. It didn't help that d-o had no idea what a "campanile" is. The circles were there, but played no part in the solve. We visited the observation deck in Chicago when it was still the Sears Tower. (How the mighty have fallen.) Melissa missed the additional tower at the lower left corner -- CN, an 1800+ foot broadcasting and observation tower in Toronto. (Hi C-Eh!) Don't believe I've ever seen a 2-letter themer before. Thanx, David and Melissa-Bee.
Dental cleaning day. Oh, yay.
Tom, I agree about the inclusion of a two letter themer, but that brings up the whole issue of what is a themer when it is only in circles and not a clue you solve. There is some debate.
Didn't know SLOANE and HAL was all perps. Who remembers lists like that?
Thank you mb and DP
FIW, missing ACT Bad x aNE and dERT. Thought aNE could be German, and although I remember Goldfinger (including every word of the theme song). I didn't remember who played the title role.
Three erasures, omelet for MIMOSA, knoll for KNOPF, and chlors for CLORIS. Oddly low for such a tough puzzle. DNK SHEERAN, MATT, EMMA, and tried to cram tAN in instead of the unknown DAN.
Thanks to David and Melissa for the fun.
David gave me a run for my money, but I FIR after all. Started off with blank spaces until I got CRAM and ROLE. Then little by little it filled. Only WOs were seT/LOT and GERd/GERT. Perps made those changes obvious. Thanks for friendly perps, David. My last fill was IN E. Oh sure, SLOANE is a name.
The reveal was necessary to understand the circles and theme. When I saw ALOHA early on, I wondered if we had a theme of greetings and the next combination was to be Ciao rather than COIT. Except for CN, I was familiar with the towers once revealed. Thanks Melissa B for guiding the way in your review. Very helpful!
It's Wednesday already and the week is going fast. Hope everyone is doing well, including Boomer.
Good Morning:
I agree with DO that this was a toughie for a Wednesday, but it was the cluing, not the fill, at least for me. My only unknowns were Sloan and Dan, both as clued, but there were many areas needing perps, simply because of the ambiguous, tricky cluing. No complaints, just my personal experience in solving. I am convinced David Poole has to be a staunch cinephile as this puzzle is bursting at the seams with film references: Morgan, Marilyn, Cyd, Cloris, Nora, Hal, Loman, Gert, Sloane, Emma, Orcs, MGM, Lot, Act, Role, Usher, Animated, and Revue. Phew! We also had some cute duos with CN/CNN, Ore/Orcs, Emo/Elmo, and A Train/C Teams.
Thanks, David, for a mid-week treat and thanks, Melissa, for the many interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout your entertaining commentary.
FLN
Ray O, “That Was Them”, 🤣 (I have to watch it again as I fell asleep half way through!)
One of my nieces is bringing dinner tonight from my favorite Italian restaurant. I ordered Clams Casino and Veal Mustarde with a veg and roasted potatoes. Yummers! (Hi, Susan!)
My brother was admitted to the hospital on Monday with a blood infection and as of late yesterday afternoon, he was still being treated in the ER, waiting for a bed. He has COVID and is in remission from leukemia. Please keep him in your prayers.
Have a great day.
This took 7:54 to scale the tower. Or, maybe I should say, "campanile," which is a brand new word to me.
Oh joy, circles. The would've have helped me much anyway, even if I had paid attention to them.
I consider many a page number to be found in the footer, but wouldn't consider a number to be a footer.
I didn't know Gert, Cyd, Dan, or (how to spell) Cloris - I guess I should resolve to be more "social."
IM, my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your brother.
USA Today today features a CC puzzle. Off to work it, then an old NYT grid, now.
Managed a FIR in 15 minutes which is probably close to my average for a Wednesday level of difficulty. Saw ALOHA and COIT when I was about 75% complete, but saw no connection as I’d never heard of either one as towers, and had no idea what campanile meant 🤷🏼♂️. Never herd of the actor GERT or FOOTER as defined by the clue, have heard footers used as kind of a slang term for footings, the base of a structure. Last fill was the T in EAT/MATT. Clever idea in the construction and theme David, and thank you for the morning mental stimulation! Also noticed a CSO to Monday’s writer-upper, retired BOOMER ~~ hopping you continue to improve each day!
Thanks Melissa for today’s expo, always a learning experience, and I enjoyed the videos of Duke and Sam!
I always enjoy reading all the comments too, as others see things in the puzzles that I fail to notice, such as today Irish Miss pointing out all the words relating to cinema, or the way other words connect as in A TRAIN and C TEAMS, or the way some words intersect similar words etc...
I’ve been to the observation decks in the SEARS and CN towers, spectacular views both! The Blue Jays stadium is right beneath the tower in Toronto, watched the roof open as I looked down, then saw the baseball game going on below (barely), from 1,500 feet up the players really did look like ants.
FIWrong. ACT Bad < ACT BIG. But even that wasn't enough. I still had to ask AcrossLite to supply the natick NODE between SLOAnE and InE.
I had a few WAGs at the end: SHEERAN + SENDS, one or two others I don't remember.
Nice try with the bubbles, but they didn't help me a bit.
No full diagonals, but I bet OMK will still be happy to at last see a puzzle with a (left-ward) slant! Irony -- THE LEANING TOWER is the only one in the puzzle that isn't leaning!
"AS FOR me and mine, we will not get vaxxed!"
Then you may die when the virus attacks!
Oh, how I wish high schools taught
Statistics to protect from such rot!
"C.D.C. rules aren't cut in stone, just Wax!"
When you see someone familiar to TOOT AT
Could it because you're wearing a matching tat?
He'd honk too,
If he saw your tattoo.
If you get a tattoo, we'll toot to you, back!
{B-, C.}
After I quit ACTing BAD so I could ACT BIG I FIR getting three unknowns right SLONE, IN E, and GERT. I noticed the circles but having never heard of the ALOHA tower. Placing the reveal in the center gave it away.
The Willis TOWER is not named for the former SEARS tower. The Willis Group out of the UK merged with the TOWERS Watson & Co and became...ready..... WILLIS TOWERS. They dropped the 'S' for the building. How convenient. But Willis got top billing.
MATT and Ed SHEERAN were also filled by perps.
It was either RKO or MGM and the MIMOSA too care of it for me.
Hola!
Thank you, David Poole and Melissa! This whole process awoke me!
First, CSOs to my two granddaughters, EMMA and SLOANE.
Then another CSO to our EMERITA professor, Misty. Keith, too, but it's a female ending.
Never heard of CYD Charisse? That's sad. Once seen, you would never forget those beautiful, long legs.
I've had many a REMEDIAL student to deal with as I'm sure have all the teachers here.
Robert Burns: The best laid plans of mice and men often GO AWRY.
I think I'll go back to bed. Have a lovely day, everyone!
Thank you David Poole for the challenging puzzle, and Melissa Bee for the explanatory review.
A little typo, Cloris Leachman died LAST year,... maybe your blog was written a few days ago, when the year was still current... I remember her from her role in the TV series,'Rhoda', with her (late) husband, Lars.
The CW was a slog considering all the first names of some also-rans, and a lot of italian ( Hi Ray O Sunshine !). I thought campanile was something you do, while RayOSunshine is basking in Camp, on some lake in the New York boondocks ....
My neighbor has a Maltese .... she understands English very well ... the dog, that is .... especially the word 'treat'.
Have a nice day, all.
I had FOOTEd. Auric actor pretty much unknown. SLOANE was a WAG and I had Bad/BIG. Another midweek FIW
Spotted the towers though, but not CN(???- Can't they give it a catchy name like Maple Leaf tower).
EMERITA, CSO to our Misty
LOT/seT was another w/o. Needed lots of perps to slowly wend my way through (early this morning)
Two solid B's, Owen(I liked #2). We learned of a young man that died of Covid. Unasked question: Vaxxed?
WC
TTP, drop by and say hello. Any good Evan Birnholz Wa-Posts lately? I save them for some future xword binge
I agree, this was more difficult than the normal Wed. I got stuck in the NW. AS PER stayed in far too long. The FO in AS FOR and FOOTER was my last fill. I had beep at instead of toot at.
I refused GERT in GE-T. LIU. That was enough help to finish. I considered GERT a female name. My MIL, Gertrude, was called GERT. In later years she called herself TRUDY to new acquaintances. I see GERT is a nickname for Gerhart. The Gerhart I knew was called Gerry.
I have ascended the CN and the SEARS towers. I know campanile, so TOWER in the reveal was easy and gave me the theme. THE in the Leaning Tower held me up a bit.
The Marilyn pictures were so unflattering.
IM, thoughts and prayers for your brother and you. That is a very concerning situation.
MB, thanks for the interesting review.
Lucina, happy dreams. After doing the puzzle, no matter how tired I am, I cannot go back to sleep.
Wednesday workout. Thanks for the fun, David and melissa.
This CW required P&P to reach the finish line. I knew the meaning of “campanile”, but am not familiar with the COIT tower. I love how fellow-Canadian, David, snuck the CN tower into the bottom corner. (I was in my final year at U of T and saw the helicopter put the antenna on top.).
CNTower
Yes, Yooper Phil, the view is great, but I could not stand on the glass floor and look down! Now there is an Edgewalk, which is not on my bucket list, but has been taken by several brave souls much older than I am.
90thBirthdayEdgewalk
AS FOR WC’s query re the CN name: “The CN in CN Tower originally stood for the Canadian National Railway. When CN Rail transferred ownership of the tower to Canada Lands in 1995, the tower's official name was changed to Canada's National Tower.”
That’s probably as catchy as we Canadians are going to get . . . unless a large amount of money is involved!
Second post - I thought I should post the first before I lost it into the ether.
Yooper Phil- yes, we all notice different things. I saw C TEAMS and A TRAIN (and IN E), but Irish Miss always finds more.
I noted a TOE to test the water in that BATHTUB..
I wanted Granted, but GREENLIT fit (is that a NEON green?).
Who else wanted the “canal setting” to be Erie, not just EAR?
I didn’t associate Ian Fleming with an ARIA! LOL!
I wanted Suni before SHIA perped.
Ghana’s flag could have had one, two or ten stars to fit the spot. Perps decided ONE.
Continued thoughts and prayers for Boomer.
Also for IM’s brother.
Wishing you all a great day.
Lucina- I love your modernized lexicon of “Gang aft agley,” to GO AWRY.
Thanks to David and Melissa Bee for today's puzzle and expo.
As others said I didn't know what a campanile was, but I was able to get the puzzle filled in with the clues that I knew, plus many perps and a few WAGS. Even looking at the circles didn't register to me that they were towers. Oh well.
As far as the proper names went, I knew SLOANE, CLORIS, NORA, GERT, LOMAN, KNOPF, CYD and ELMO, but I didn't know SHEERAN or EMMA. Perps.
Heights are a bit of a problem for me. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon or looking down from the Empire State building gives me a queasy feeling in my stomach. I don't think I could stand on a glass edge walk. My cousin was an architect in NYC and worked on many skyscrapers. He said that a number of buildings that had floor to ceiling glass windows had to be retro-fitted with solid half-walls against the glass because many employees couldn't work near the windows because of vertigo issues.
Here we are in a new year and I'm another year older. I hope this one will be better than the last two.
Enjoy.
Watchu talkin' 'bout Willis!!
Two CWs in a row more difficult than usual for their day of the week. I hate it when 1A stumps me, and I hafta peruse the CW to look for SOMETHING I can fill with confidence. Many DNKs in this CW. Many proper names, too. As IM said @ 7:34, many film related clues. Amazingly, no W/Os for unclefred today, probably because I was super careful to fill only when I was pretty sure. “Dutch exports” I wanted “edams” but it didn’t fit. Tulips popped right up though. I planted some tulips last year; how foolish of me of the black thumb. Not a single one came up. :-(( 70A a CSO to Boomer, I tried to think of how SST would fit him and came up blank. Super …..??? 11D was good misdirection after 10D: I thought of IAN Fleming not the opera singer. D-O at 5:39, and others for that matter, at 77 I still have all 32 teeth, and have never had gingivitis or a root canal. The secret? I fill the reservoir of a water-pik with 3% H2O2 and carefully go all along the gum line with it about once a week. This kills all the anaerobic bacteria which are the troublemakers for oral health. There is a dental school in Fortaleza Brazil that uses pictures of the inside of my mouth to teach oral hygiene!! (Long story). Anyway, back to the CW, a FIR but took about 25 minutes. I heard of all the towers except CN. Clever CW, big challenge, thanx, DP. And thanx too to Melissa for her usual excellent write-up. The time you so obviously put into it is appreciated, Melissa. C.C., please keep us posted on Boomer. Wishing him the best, along with IM’s brother.
YR:
Believe me, if I'm still in sleep mode, very little can keep me awake.
CEh!
I wish I could take credit for that but someone else translated the poem though I don't know who.
Of the TOWERS mentioned in the puzzle, I've seen all but the CN one. The only parts of Canada I've visited have been BC, Victoria Island and New Foundland where I went with a friend after reading The Shipping News.
Hello.
Happy Birthday, oc4beach.
I FIR with a single WAGGED letter GERT crossing SLOANE. Inkovers emeriti/A (sorry ladies). I no longer scratch my head for "water tester" TOE (or Mom's elbow for baby?)
Hope some one you tubes Sam Cook's "You SEND me", I'll just screw it up.
The old joke: "I'm on a SEAFOOD diet, I eat all the food I can see" In HS we called her "Madame Ovary". Liked "retired boomer" (like a dog, at first it gave me "paws"🤭). DAN is a newbie. Never seen ORTH used that way, colloquially "Ortho"... Orthopedics (Canada Eh Orthopædics) "straightened child". Years ago I was in a cyclist group, the slowest of the A, B, and C TEAMS and I couldn't even keep up with them.🚴♂️
What a dyslexic inker does....TOOTAT
These _____ meant only for my HON....TULIPS
Row....ORE
A theater, a house of......USHER
If I told this story sorry..Speaking of THE LEANINGTOWER..back in 1971 when it was still allowed I climbed the Pisa bell tower (raining and the marble was slippery as heck). Was able to make the huge bells ring by slapping them with my hand, with my thick college ring to the shock of those on the ground and consternation of the caretakers.🔕🔕🔕
There are two medieval leaning towers in Bologna in the same square.
Garisenda and Asinelli (the taller of the two, taller than Pisa)
I climbed Asinelli many times. It was considered good luck before an exam.
Inside Asinelli tower, no elevator
Try that again..🙄
Garisenda and Asinelli (the taller of the two, taller than Pisa)
Inside Asinelli tower, no elevator
Ray-O, I see what you mean about problem linking. Your two tower links are broken BTW, Melissa included You Send Me in the body of the main blog.
Oh, I see you fixed 'em. Well done.
Squirrels and chipmunks love to eat tulip bulbs. That may be what happened, unclefred. Then if the bulbs survive, when the tender shoot come up, the deer eat them. I loved my crocus flowers, one of the first signs of spring year after year. One spring a lovely flower was still standing, but some critters had dug underneath and eaten the bulb. Squirrels, chipmunks and other rodents don't like daffodil bulbs because they are poisonous to them. And the deer, also, do not eat the leaves of daffodils.
Musings
-Imaginative cluing (by Rich or David) and an uber-clever gimmick! Cooll!
-I knew campanile from visiting that most famous one
-CLORIS’s Phyllis (not Rhoda) was a perfect character to play against MTM’s sweet Mary Richards. Like Golden Girls, that show had intelligent writing and Betty White!
-Somebody GREENLIT new Coke and the Edsel
-DAN – Of all the clues in all the world for that word…
-Even as a dopey teenager, the story of Willy LOMAN touched me
-Sports fans hope Antonio Brown can exorcise all his DEMONS before he seriously hurts himself or someone else
-I taught headers and FOOTERS in my “Office For Educators” class
Puzzling thoughts:
Oops - I FIW due to one mistake: I had AS FAR for 1-Across and ARTH for 4-Down.
Had a couple w/o's: ACT BAD/ACT BIG; EMERATE/EMERITA
As others commented, the cluing was more difficult than Wednesday puzzles tend to be, but YMMV. It didn't take me too long to solve, though.
C TEAMS seems a stretch; not a phrase that I often use or hear used
KNOPF - I immediately thought of the German word "KNOPFKOPF" which loosely translated means "knucklehead". CSO to Spitzboov; Möge er für immer und ewig in Frieden ruhen.
I liked the overall puzzle just fine; could David Poole have used DEMOCRATIC PARTY as the reveal instead? All of these towers "lean left"! ;^)
Hi Y'all! Whew! but thanks, David. Thanks a bunch, Melissa.
Last fill and DUH! of the day: the "D" in BIDEN. I simply could not think of a president with BI_EN born in Penn. Too recent, I guess. Just before that, I finally filled in the "E" on the ROLE/EAT cross. I wanted a name instead of ROLE & never heard of Mangia.
However, I did know CAMPANILE. I had an organist friend who was asked to play the bells at one of our big colleges and she was so thrilled.
Unsure of the spellings for KNOPF & SHEERAN.
Never TWEET so didn't think of that kind of storm. Know of someone who stormed TWEETS almost daily tho.
DNK: GERT, DAN, SLOANE, MATT, HAL, EMMA. But knew CYD.
Way many crossed proper names for my taste. But I very much enjoyed THE LEANING TOWER theme! I have been to all of them except the ALOHA TOWER. Not allowed up the TOWER at PISA.
The CN TOWER in Toronto has a glass floor on the observation deck which makes for a unique experience!
Here I was at the CN TOWER and with empty space below me on the observation deck!
Sorry to see that CLORIS LEACHMAN has died. It seems it was probably due to COVID complications. Her name sounded so ugly to me I always thought it was fake! She was a brilliant actress.
From Yesterday:
Vidwan Thank you for your comments. I remembered the story of Rosie Ruiz and her New York MTA marathon fraud at the time. Glad that Husker Gary validated my memory. And glad to do the follow up research to learn the complex twists and turns that involved the Boston and New York marathons.
Oooh, Wednesday circles--makes for a complex and interesting puzzle, many thanks, David. And I always enjoy your commentary, Melissa, thanks for that too.
I wanted to put DORIS for Leachman, but no, it was CLORIS. But at least I remembered NORA Ephron.
ELMO's been coming up more frequently in puzzles lately--always glad to see him.
How kind of you, Wilbur and Lucina, to remember that I'm an EMERITA. (Hi, Keith, my fellow Emeritus).
Irish Miss, so sorry to hear the sad news about your brother. I too will keep him in my prayers.
Have a great day, everybody.
Yellowrocks @ 12:08, thanx for the ideas about what happened to my tulips. I live on a very busy street in the heart of Fort Lauderdale, so no deer here. No chipmunks, either, but we do have squirrels. The tulips were planted in the swale between the sidewalk and the busy road, and I never saw any squirrel road-pizzas, or saw any squirrels digging in the swale. Down here in South Florida, frosts are very rare, thus our soils tend to be filled with many different species of nematodes, which love to eat the roots of grass and anything else they can munch. I suspect they all had a very nice lunch on my tulip bulbs. I also planted several amaryllises in the same swale, which seem to have survived my cursed black thumb. If they actually bloom around Easter, I'll feel really happy to FINALLY find something I can grow. The bulbs are three-inch diameter, so the nematodes have a real challenge eating them.....I hope. Anyway, thanx for your thoughts!
Hi All!
David: That NW was a killer but the theme finally helped unlock it. Thanks for the puzzle (what Picard said - lotsa names).
Fun expo, mb. Thanks for the info on DAN and the audio/visuals.
WOs: AS peR, MtM -> MGM
ESPs: MATT, DAN, CYD, GERT, KNOPF, EMMA, IN E, CLORIS' & SHEERAN's spellings
Fav: USHER's clue was cute
{B+, C}
IM - So sad to read about your brother; loving thoughts to your family.
oc4 - Happy Birthday!
I'm one of those that can't get too close to full glass windows in a TOWER w/o getting vertigo. However, Ray-O, I did gut-out climbing Mangia TOWER in Siena. If figured, 'it's been here this long, certainly it won't fail in the 60 minutes I'm here.' :-)
View from the top.
Back to work. Play later.
Cheers, -T
Anon T, Tower of Mangia would also make a great name for a ristorante. Great pic. 🍝
YR...Don't know why botanists or whoever create flower varieties can't implant the gene that makes daffodils repugnant to rabbits and their friends into other bulb flowers like tulips. 🌷🌷🌷
One of the funniest unexpected lines in comedy cinema 😄
Thank you David for a crunchier than normal Wednesday, with more of a Friday/Saturday flavor. As luck would have it I was able to FIR, but it was definitely a challenge. As the "theme" circles were graphical, rather than complete fills, it wasn't until I was past the reveal and saw "EIFFEL", leaning to the SW that I had a clue. We've been to Italy a couple of times and have seen many beautiful CAMPANILI.
Thank you Melissa for a fine with review, with lots of interesting "Internet Bling". Loved the Seinfeld clip and Sam Cook really SENT me down memory lane.
Just a few favs from a really interesting grid:
24A INE. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 -- 28 July 1741), nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice (St Mark's Campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica there) Here's the first movement of the first of 4 concerti grossi (3:42 min).
30A DAN. Also a Japanese rank for GO players (1 thru 9 DAN). A higher ranked player can give a lower ranked one handicap stones to make a game more interesting. A 1 DAN American player once allowed me a 9 stone handicap (the max), and then proceeded to cream me. I stopped playing GO when I found out that 9 DAN American players are ranked 1 DAN in Japan.
46A CYD. Somehow had Ms. Charisse confused with Sid Caesar until perps convinced me that they didn't look a bit alike. Loved the photograph.
60A SHEERAN. IIRC Ed played himself in the 2019 film "Yesterday". Great flic.
2D SLOANE. Last to fill. I've never seen Ferris play hooky, but the film was a great favorite of my teenage son.
11D ARIA and 56D ORCS. Here's Renée singing an ARIA in ELVISH from the "Lord of the Rings".
19D EMERITA. A CSO to Misty, but not OMK.
50D SENSES and 63D ESP. I have a premonition that we're going to this again soon.
Cheers,
Bill
p.s. a little bird tells me that tomorrow's puzzle will be a walk in the park compared to this one.
Word of the day: polygene
Pronunciation: pah-li-jeen
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A gene that must join with one or more other genes to determine an inherited characteristic.
Notes: Some genes, called monogenes, can single-handedly effect inherited traits, like the genes that determine freckles or a cleft chin. In order for polygenes to determine such traits as the hair, eye, and skin color, they must collaborate with one or more other genes as a team. The adjective is polygenic or, less often, polygenetic.
In Play: Genes produce proteins that trigger physical development. Defective genes that produce too much or too little of their protein may cause illnesses. Sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia are monogenic disorders. Cancer, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis are caused by teams of polygenes.
from the alphaDictionary
Ray - O @11:44 AM So you went to the University of Bologna? Isn't that the oldest University in the World? Wow, you must be REALLY old! So how'd you do on the test? 😁
MOE @12:44 PM Baltimore has had nothing but C Teams this year.
And a CSO to you for your CSO to Spitz. Es hat mich traurig gemacht.
Waz
Yes. 1088, when founded the med school taught only 2 courses. Anatomy and Herbs. Passed them both. 😀
FIR but my goodness, what a struggle! The plethora of proper names nearly did me in.
My brother retired after a lifetime as a broadcast engineer, both radio and television. As he knew many of the broadcast engineers in Chicago through professional groups, and as he knew I was very interested in these things too (we’re both ham radio operators), I was fortunate to be allowed to go with him to visit many of the TV and radio stations who had workspaces in the very top stories of several of the tallest buildings in Chicago. These facilities were always as high as possible and usually were above the observation floors. Lots of fun. My favorite visit was to the top of the Trump tower where we were allowed to go out on the roof. What a view! There were no railings around the edges; only the rail about a foot above the floor used by the automatic window washers. Scary but exhilarating.
IM, lots of prayers for you and your brother. We had a similar issue with my wife this year and it was pretty scary. (That’s what accounts for my long absence from the blog this year.)
Everyone should have something to believe in. I believe I’ll take a nap.
73.
Red Notice (movie) Spoiler Alert ahead...
Waseeley: Ed plays himself here too.
Cheers, -T
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had my message all set, complete with diagonal anagram, but then got distracted before posting it.
By the time I closed my computer, it was just left dangling.
Today's "leaning tower" theme was fun. I haven't been to the CN Tower or the ALOHA one. But have seen the others PLUS have been inside COIT Tower on Telegraph Hill, SF.
When I was growing up in San Fran, I thought it was called "Quake" Tower. When you just hear it pronounced in quick conversation, it sounds just like "Quake" to an innocent ear.
And of course "quake" makes perfect sense to a six year old who is learning the history of his earthquake-prone city.
And tell me, what adult is going to stop and tell a little kid that it is "COIT"?
--and be prepared to explain to a child what "Coit" means?!
I ask you.
~ OMK
Anon T...liked "Red Notice"
...BTW the main character in "The Lost Daughter" is Leda Caruso, played by Olivia Colman.
And, OMK, (again?) Just what does COIT mean? Pronounced Koyt?
WC
FIW. I had LOMIN, instead of LOMAN. If I ever saw DOAS, it was way, way back when. Therefore, EMERITI looked fine to me.
Also, since I’ve never actually watched Ferris Bueller, and I didn’t recognize the meaning of the clue for 24A, so the N in 2D was a complete WAG.
I was, however, able to find all of the leaning towers, FWIW.
GERT was a gimme. As I’ve said many times before, I’m a huge James Bond fan. I’ll watch any of the movies anytime, over and over again. Shallow???
Lucina, I VERY MUCH agree with you about CYD Charisse! She was probably my favorite dancer. And YES, THOSE LEGS!!!
I generally have no problem with heights. Well, there was that one time on Rollins Pass in Colorado, when I froze up on top of the Rifle Notch Trestle (I think) and had to be helped off of there by my (now ex) wife. Hey! There were holes in the roadway and nothing along either side that I could grab, but it really isn’t that high --- I’d say 20’ or so. I simply froze.
Wilbur Charles @ 6:00 PM Just suffix it with "US" and you'll have your answer.
A challenge to all constructors: Create a CW composed completely of proper names.
So THERE! to all the complainers.
>> Roy
LeoIII
Since I am a short person I drool with envy at those people with long, shapely legs and Cyd had them!
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