Theme: "Freakonomics!" - Each economic term is humorously rephrased as if it's a dreaded term for the person in the clue.
23A. "Surgeon freaks out over higher __!": OPERATING COSTS.
36A. "Cattle rancher freaks out over __!": STOCK MARKET DIP.
56A. "Landscaper freaks out over cut back __"!: HEDGE FUND.
78A. "Shrimper captain freaks out over __!": NET LOSSES.
93. "Restaurant owner freaks out over __!": CONSUMPTION TAX.
112. "Car rental agency franchisee freaks out over __!": BUDGET DEFICITS.
17D. "Balloonist freaks out over __!": HYPERINFLATION.
49D. "Electrician freaks out over drop in his __!": CURRENT ACCOUNT.
What a great title!
I love 36A, 112A and 17D the best as they're really economic problems.
Ed
gave us another low 140-word grid, with only 69 black squares. I always
need a 144-word grid with 76 or 78 squares to make a Sunday puzzle.
Across:
1. Big do: SHINDIG.
8. Attacks: SETS AT.
14. Discusses, with "out": HASHES.
20. Traditional Eastern garments: KIMONOS. You can rent a kimono in Tokyo. Hi there, MitziMouse!
21. Arch support: INSOLE.
22. 1974 Top 10 Ringo Starr hit: OH MY MY.
25. Dish out messily, as goulash: SLOP ON. We have rotini, corn and Ragu sauce for our goulash.
26. Email clutter: SPAM.
27. Nerve cell transmitter: AXON.
28. Bring comfort to: SOOTHE.
30. Jared of "Fight Club": LETO. You won't find him in a USA Today crossword.
31. Luv: HON.
32. TV Drs. Isles and Quincy: MES. OK, Medical Examiners.
34. Build-it-yourself furniture chain: IKEA.
35. Scott in an 1857 case: DRED. Dred Scott v. Sandford,
43. Estate planning list: HEIRS.
44. White option, briefly: CHARD. Chardonnay
45. "__ go down to the seas again": Masefield: I MUST.
46. Put on notice: WARN.
47. Ones at home on the range: ARCHERS. Archery range.
50. Stock seller, often: BEAR.
51. Hesitant sounds: UMS.
52. Vaccine safety agcy.: FDA. Xi'an has a few new COVID cases
again. Andy lives in the 7th floor. The guy on the 4th floor came into
contact with a known COVID case, then government sealed his house from
outside. He's quarantining inside.
55. It may accompany vertigo: NAUSEA.
59. Open, as an envelope: SLIT.
60. Write "mispell," e.g.: ERR.
61. Hard-to-move type: STOIC. No one is more stoic than Seneca.
63. Hawks: SELLS.
64. Popeye's stop: AVAST.
65. Country singer Haggard: MERLE.
67. Mekong River land: LAOS.
69. Grammy, alternatively: NANA. It's "nai nai" in Chinese.
70. All, in scores: TUTTI.
71. Curved moldings: OGEES.
72. Ski resort near Montpelier: STOWE.
74. "Let me sleep on it": MAYBE.
76. Dr. Seuss' Sam-__: I AM.
77. Billionth: Pref.: NANO.
80. Punk rock's Joey or Dee Dee: RAMONE.
82. No. on a landscaper's doc: EST. Our association is polling on whether we want new driveways. Pretty expensive, but our driveways are so bad.
83. Came out on top: WON.
84. Newspaper stand?: OP-ED. Fresh clue.
85. Some fictional turtles: MUTANTS. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
86. Name in early Genesis chapters: ADAM.
88. Auricle, in anatomy: PINNA. We had this before.
90. Sombrero wearer's title, often: SENOR.
91. Breakfast strips: BACON.
97. Aunties' mates: UNCS.
98. Card relative?: RIOT.
99. NBA great Ming: YAO. Now the head of the Chinese Basketball Association.
100. La-la preceder: TRA.
102. New Mexico art colony: TAOS.
103. Julie with multiple Tonys and Emmys: HARRIS.
106. TriBeCa neighbor: SOHO.
109. How many ER orders are given: STAT.
110. Perceptiveness: ACUITY.
115. Common workday starting hr.: NINE AM.
116. "Swan Lake" heroine: ODETTE. The white swan
117. Longtime "General Hospital" actress: ANNA LEE.
118. Major course: ENTREE.
119. Affirmatives: YESSES. There are 64 households in our association. They need 35 Yeses for the new driveway proposal.
120. Taco truck fare: TOSTADA.
Down:
2. "Hungry, hungry" game beasts: HIPPOS.
3. "Let me clarify ... ": I MEANT.
4. It's not unusual: NORM.
5. __ kit: DNA.
6. Itty bit: IOTA.
7. Unofficial EU leaders group: G SIX. France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK, which left EU. Now it's just G5.
8. Bottom-line name: SIGNER.
9. Letter abbr.: ENC.
10. General __ chicken: TSO'S.
11. Just okay: SO SO.
12. Tin mints: ALTOIDS.
13. Radon detection aid: TEST KIT.
14. Book before Joel: HOSEA.
15. Minor league rink org.: AHL. The American Hockey League. Iowa Wild is the minor league for our Minnesota Wild. I don't think they won the Calder Cup all these years.
16. Burn sans flames: SMOLDER.
18. Stage attention-getter: EMOTER.
19. Church councils: SYNODS.
24. Bedouin, e.g.: NOMAD.
29. With it, old-style: HEP.
33. Tackled moguls: SKIED. Eileen Gu has become an icon in China.
_18_(cropped).jpg/933px-2020-01-18_Eileen_Gu_at_the_2020_Winter_Youth_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women's_Freeski_Slopestyle_%E2%80%93_Mascot_Ceremony_(Martin_Rulsch)_18_(cropped).jpg)
37. Folk legend Phil: OCHS.
38. Cocktail hour array: CHEESES.
39. Gold measure: KARAT.
40. Woolf's "__ Dalloway": MRS.
41. Salon and Slate: E-MAGS.
42. Large serving bowl: TUREEN. Pretty.
43. Is down with: HAS.
46. Subj. of arms negotiations: WMD.
47. Buttercup relative: ANEMONE.
48. Krypton, for one: RARE GAS.
50. Chill: BE COOL.
51. Retract: UNSAY.
53. A long ways off: DISTANT.
54. Now and then: AT TIMES.
56. "Perfectly Good Guitar" singer John: HIATT. Not a familiar name to me.
57. Attacked via email: FLAMED.
58. Arm bones: ULNAS.
59. "Law & Order: __": SVU.
62. Daily Planet name: OLSEN. Jimmy.
64. Gorged oneself: ATE A TON. Boomer does not snack during Lent.
66. Sign of summer: LEO.
68. Passes out: SWOONS.
73. College sports airer: ESPNU.
75. Netflix title puggle dog: BRUNO.
78. __ de guerre: alias: NOM.
79. Morally repugnant: SEAMY.
81. Trade center: MART.
83. Sickly looking: WAN.
85. Travis Tritt's "Tell __ Was Dreaming": ME I.
87. FBI file: DOSSIER.
88. Original name of a classic NOLA sandwich: POORBOY. I've yet to try a po' boy.
/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__2019__02__20190221-shrimp-poboys-vicky-wasik-25-cf5d62e8c3db41ac844a7051b29555b5.jpg)
89. Offer an unwelcome opinion, maybe: INTRUDE.
90. Left one's seat: STOOD.
91. Lighter fluid: BUTANE.
92. Pain relief brand: ANACIN.
93. "Argo" spy org.: CIA.
94. Cuts partner: PASTES.
95. Fifth-century enemy of Rome: ATTILA. The Hun.
96. Explicit, in a way: X-RATED.
98. What's done for fun?: RHYME. Great fun clue.
101. On the briny: AT SEA.
104. Dire day for Caesar: IDES.
105. Pepper et al.: Abbr.: SGTS.
107. Pressure: HEAT.
108. __ consequence: OF NO.
109. "Beat it!": SCAT.
111. __ Bo: TAE.
113. Paris Jazz Festival saison: ETE. It's held in June-July.
114. Seat holders: INS.
We had a light week. Only PT and OT at the VA hospital in Minneapolis. Then we attended the Benilde-St. Margaret's bowling party in St. Louis Park. The
school now names the bowling Coach's Award as the Burnikel Award. We were so moved by their gesture. He's has been coaching the kids for 9
years.
Boomer is going to have a blood draw tomorrow, then we're going to talk with Dr. Downs on Tuesday, then Boomer will have his third chemo on Thursday.
C.C.
DNF. It's Saturday, *sigh*.
ReplyDeleteI got a lot done before giving up, and most of it correct. Small clusters of red in all corners except SW. Had to red-check several more times to finally complete it.
The art colony at TAOS,
Welcomes even people from LAOS!
Their styles, eclectic,
May be eccentric,
And throw the art scene into Chaos!
It's a truth about any NANA
She'll spoil her grandkids with manna.
If one is in trouble
In a split second, a NANO,
She'll be there to rescue! That's Gramma!
{A-, B-.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteGot 'er done, but Dr. Ed presented a difficult case. Needed my trusty Wite-Out to change ACUmen to ACUITY and ScaLDEd to SMOLDER. D-o forgot to read the puzzle title, but it wasn't needed to understand the theme. Many of the answers weren't immediately obvious, but the perps cleared up any confusion. Thanx, Dr. Ed and C.C. (That was a very nice gesture by Benilde-St. Margaret's. Congrats to Boomer.)
I had a little trouble with "Altoids" and "chard" and I didn't remember how to spell "pinna" but through P and P I finally FIRed, so I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteDr. Ed always comes through. Theme was easy to spot.
ReplyDeleteUNSAY- I got it but it's impossible.
OH MY MY- All I'll say about Ringo he's the luckiest bad singing mediocre drummer on earth.
ANACIN-"Mother please! I'd rather do it myself"
MES- I knew who Quincy was but not Isles.
FDA, NIH, or CDC. Waited for a perp.
PINNA is new to me. perps.
Very few proper names that need to be perped- HARRIS, BRUNO, RAMONE, ANNA LEE, HIATT.
"I love 36A, 112A and 17D the best as they're really economic problems." HYPERINFLATION can only be caused by government spending money it doesn't have, aka printing money or deficit spending. More money chasing the same amount of goods will always cause prices to rise. Always.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this solve and thought it was very well executed. I didn’t appreciate the tightness of the theme until I was finished and looked it over. I didn’t make notes while solving so my comments will be short and sweet. As CC pointed out, there were several cute and clever clues and, IIRC, very little dreck, if any. I wasn’t familiar with Anna Lee or John Hiatt, but perps were fair throughout the grid so no complaints. Pinna was, and still is, a mystery, so I’ll have to pay Mr. G a visit.
Thanks, Dr. Ed, for a very pleasant and rewarding solve and thanks, CC, for your clear and concise commentary. I’ll have to return to see the Burnikel Award video as it didn’t come through. Congrats to Boomer for a much deserved honor. He’s an excellent role model for those kids.
We have a very gloomy, rainy day today but unseasonably warm temps. I’m still not convinced that Mother Nature isn’t going to give us a March comeuppance, weather wise. We’ll see soon enough, I guess.
Have a great day.
FIR, but erased cdc for FDA, red ground for HEDGE FUND, cho for YAO, odetta for ODETTE, scosh for SKOSH, arabs for NOMAD, hip for HEP, element for RARE GAS, ulnae for ULNAS, overate for ATE A TON, mall for MART, and shoo for SCAT.
ReplyDeleteCSO to moi at "mispell".
UNSAY is like putting the toothpaste back into the tube. When the big networks and newspapers get caught in lies, they just ignore it as "old news".
Joey RAMONE had a crush on financial analyst Maria Bartiromo. He even wrote a song about her, and it was recorded by the group:
"What's happening on Wall St.
What's happening at the Stock Exchange
I want to know
What's happening on Squawk Box
What's happening with my stocks
I want to know
I watch you on the TV every single day
Those eyes make everything okay
I watch her every day
I watch her every night
She's really outta sight
Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo"
Most Cornerites will probably never see her, since she's on the dreaded Fox News network now.
Thanks to Ed for a puzzle that challenged me, but one I could get without guessing. And thanks to CC for the interesting review. Great to hear that the school honored Boomer in that way.
Despite many unknowns, and a stubborn NE corner, I managed to FIR. What a workout!
ReplyDeleteI did not have time to read the comments after I posted on Friday's puzzle, so I read it today. Thank you very much for the ones who responded my post. This is a wonderful, caring community because of CC, Irish Miss, and others who spend time to explain many puzzling solves. My handle name is there today! It feels so special Thank you CC. I wish Boomer's quick recovery.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-After years of telling kids to check their work, a lazy entry of SKIER instead of SKIED cost me a bad cell in Dr. Sessa’s wonderful puzzle
-Omaha’s restaurant CONSUMPTION TAX passed with a “sunset” provision. Uh, the sun never set.
-SLOP ON – Ah college!
-David McCallum’s lengthy career now includes being Ducky, an ME on NCIS
-Pop hawkers at “alcohol free” Husker FB games yell out “Mix” not “Sprite” or “Pepsi”
-I should have slept on it when a slick Dish salesman got me to sign up. I cancelled the next day.
-My son-in-law always has a tin of ALTOIDS with him and has never offered me one
-75-yrs-old always seemed so distant!
-Off to break out the mower and do some yard work.
Imaginative theme that must have been a challenge to construct. Quite a challenge for me to solve, too. Done in by impossible mess in the middle of unknowns HIATT, STOWE, OLSEN and clue for SWOONS. Had STOpE/SpOONS to FIW. Way many unknown names. Just figured out RHYME clue. Had no idea meaning of MES until your explanation CC. Learning moment about SKOSH origin. Only ever heard it in a Levi's ad long ago.
ReplyDeleteLearning moment there is another meaning to ANEMONE than the sea animal. Anyone else?
Here was an ANEMONE on the beach near our home.
I have been looking into visiting AnonT. Hit by an extraordinary CAR RENTAL BUDGET DEFICIT. Car rentals are almost impossible to find. The only one I could find wanted $2,000 to drive from Austin to Houston. Maybe Lyft is cheaper?
After yesterdays DNF I was able to finish this one with a little help from the red letters and hubby’s sports knowledge. I need to start making notes as I solve like Irish Miss so my clueing comments can be more in depth.
ReplyDeleteSome of you know that 6 months ago our sweet yellow lab therapy dog, Sugar crossed the rainbow bridge. My husband and I agreed that when we were ready for another dog, we would get a senior not a puppy! All our shelters are full and put out a call for volunteer foster parents. We received Daisy, a sweet 6 month old yellow lab/mix. By the end of the first day we became “foster failures” and decided to adopt Daisy. She is smart, knows basic commands, potty trained, and made friends with our 4 cats.
I think Sugar helped her find her forever home. I not sure how to post a picture from my iPad.
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeletePK and TTP
I read your comments yesterday about Verizon cancelling your flip phone. I had the same thing happen.
I went to their link for new phone offerings. The only flip phone offered had 140 reviews. One star. Impressive!
I called their sales number. After being on endless hold I was told I had to pay $80 for a flip phone. They would make no other offer. But I could go to a Verizon store and maybe they could help.
Had to wait a half hour to be served at a Verizon store. Same thing. Pay $80 for a new phone or lose service. The manager actually had the nerve to tell me I don't know technology.
So... I am curious what you plan to do? A "smart phone" would be a major downgrade for me and not acceptable. I just need it for emergencies and need it to be small.
Similar experiences at Sprint/T Mobile and Verizon this week. They only want to sell $1000. phones. You can always use your old phone to call 911.
DeleteA nice Sunday puzzle I managed to FIR after coming back to it most of the day. Thanks, Ed. The themers were helpful once I caught on. Only real unknown was PINNA. Don't remember seeing it before. And I continued to puzzle over how CHARD fit with white until C.C. explained that it was the wine, not the vegetable. Oh sure, that works with "briefly" much better. Otherwise, I could see the connections between the clues and fill well enough.
ReplyDeleteThanks C.C. for your helpful review and the Boomer update. The Burnikel Award is such a nice idea to honor your involvement through the years, Boomer. Hope the next week goes well for you and us all!
Thanks CC. I always enjoy the Chinese info. The Burnikel award is wonderful. Good luck this week. GC
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on The Burnikel Award!
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar if there are any awards for crosswords,
but I would know what to name it...
Re: puzzle
Much too large too remember any specifics,
but while I get the references, I.e.: electrician/current etc...
I do not understand the relationship between hyper and balloonists.
Can anyone enlighten me?
Yuman,
I would love to see your pup!
Once you have your picture on the internet,
Instructions should in be the Olio section.
One thing I would recommend is that you not use a Facebook picture
as if you do not take an extra step people get blocked by the Facebook sign on page.
I use free photo storage sites, like Shutterfly.
The only down side is ads for putting your photos on a mug etc...
There may have been improvements since I last struggled with this,
Like using the cloud? I don't know, perhaps listeners here could help?
Picard, why not fly to IAH on Southwest and get a Lyft from there? And don't worry about the weather, the temperature and relative humidity in Houston that time of year are usually about the same, hovering just below a hundred. You won't even need to pack your Aveeno. BTW, you might want to check out the Jitterbug Flip Phone 2, which I think is a 4G device.
ReplyDeleteYuma, congratulations on your newest family member. Can't wait to see the baby pictures!
Usually just lurk on Sunday, read the clues/answers/commentary (thanks CC) and the entertaining cornerite repartée 😁 then settle down to do our home newspaper's two week old NYT puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSo needing to satisfy the Sunday CW itch I bought the local "New-Press" tropicalia (serving Captiva, Sanibel, Ft Myers, Cape Coral et al.)....only to discover turning to the Sunday puzzle, it was in fact today's LAT Sunday CW. 🙄 I'll bet even having reviewed the answers I'd still not have finished the puzzle. Tough one....(and..Rich Norris, editor? I thought Sir Change-à-lot retired? 🤔)
Saw "Belfast" last night, terrific film. the boy playing Buddy was excellent, (reminded me of JoJo in "Jo Jo Rabbit"). In 1969 Belfast, Northern Ireland, Buddy, from a Protestant family living in a Catholic neighborhood doesn't understand why Protestants are attacking Catholics. Multiple Oscar nominations
Good luck to Boomer with ongoing therapy.
Burnikel Award,🏆 Congratulations!
I love this puzzle and greatly enjoyed solving it. It is a compliment to Dr. Sessa's fair and masterful construction that I found the puzzle completely doable without needing to look anything up. The only help I required was to do a "Check grid" to find one incorrectly filled cell, namely that my E crossing PENNE and SEEMY needed to be an A.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Mr. Burnikel for a much deserved honor.
Good wishes to you all.
Picard, I'd just pay the doggone $80 for the phone. It's not worth your getting all stressed out.
ReplyDeleteSunday Lurk say...
ReplyDeleteAn award named after you? That's pretty cool, Boomer.
For those not familiar with the word Freakonimics... It started as a book and is now also a podcast / weekly NPR program. [in Houston it's on 88.7FM at 9PM Mondays - I listen every week].
BigE - I expected you to no only mention the theme (++what you said re: econ probs!) but also point out its a Po'Boy :-)
//mediocre drummer? I disagree; very unique quality to his sound after Beatles' early stuff.
{B+, B}
Yuman - How wonderful Daisy found you. If you ask me, Labs are the greatest dogs (if you have room for big-dawg). Sinbad was my buddy growing up.
HG - what's a Dish salesman? Wait, you capitalized it... so, not kitchen but satellite TV?
Jinx - Maria was on Sunday Morning news b/f Fox, right? Maria Bartiromo [Ramones]
Picard - $2k?!? Jinx beat me to it... A Southwest flight/hop would be cheaper (and we could visit LEOIII on the way out of the airport :-))
CED - Balloon::hyper INFLATION [air in balloon?, no?]
Y'all have a wonderful afternoon.
Cheers, -T
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIR after looking up BRUNO
W/o's galore
Good theme and tight fill
Continued best to Boomer
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Ed, for a challenging, thought provoking but amusing puzzle. Great expo, C.C. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Boomer, for being so honored by your school.
C.C. sorry to hear about your brother's quarantine. Is he vaccinated?
Don't know what I'll do about my cell phone. Have until the end of the year to decide. Strangely, I had a call from Amazon saying someone had charged a $647 smart phone to my account and I should call the Amazon fraud squad if I hadn't ordered it. I sure hadn't. I tried to call the F.S. & that call left more questions. Then I tried to call my local ambulance service about my bill and got some sweet young thing I couldn't understand who admitted being in India. AAAAGH!
PK - never call a number sent to you. That Amazon charge is a fake. Never happened.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if it did, call your credit-card co. NOT Amazon (or the phony number you received).
I do CyberSec for a living and I've seen this scam tons.
Good luck, eFriend. - T
Sasses, I don't think 911 calls will connect after 3G goes away. They aren't just disabling the phone, they are taking away the links that "speak" that technology. Kind of like a wireline phone when the wires to the house have been taken down.
ReplyDelete-T, yes Maria came to Fox News from CNBC, where she won a couple of Emmys. My point wasn't that no one has ever seen her, but that they wouldn't see her now that she's over at that "dark side" network.
PK, I got one of those calls too. I looked at my credit card and found nothing of the sort had been charged to my card. But my car's extended warranty HAS expired :-o
ReplyDeleteMy credit card ACCOUNT. Logged on to my account at the financial institution.
ReplyDeleteJust reread last Sunday:"I like Kentucky a bunch; it always takes Cal a season to mold his freshmen". WRONG!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis was slow going but I think I FIR. Needed the freaks to get it. Oops there it is. I had SEedY* and ERRed on SEAMY(Hi Jayce). Like CC I had no clue re. PINNe/A. But…
My WAG on HARRIS opened up Texas. I was thinking of Emailing BigE for that Nola hero.
I inked Tamale/TOSTADA thinking of Lucina
There's controversy re. The Death of ATTILA
Did his new bride strangle him?
Always love Owen's l'icks. And so great to see the Burnikel Award
WC
Ps, re. Taking notes. If I done so my history of this solve would be five pages. I did recall STOWE from my Bew England days except mine was s Killington(in the Summer, an interesting Golf Course)
** SEEDY brought to mind this little ditty from a year ago
ReplyDeleteAnon-T,
ReplyDeleteWait a sec,
So,
All of the other theme entries used the first word to relate to the clue,
And your telling me that "this one entry"
Is using the last word to relate to the clue?
I dunno,
That's gotta be the stretchiest crossword theme clue/answers ever....
Owen, actually, it's Sunday!!
ReplyDeleteI managed to FIR yesterday’s CW, but it was so late at night by the time I got to it (11 something) I didn’t post. After my Friday miracle (for me) I was back to my usual slog of 48 minutes yesterday. Still feeling a small glow from Friday I thought I would try today’s Sunday CW, which I seldom even attempt. I thought I managed to FIR in an agonizing 2 hrs and 26 min (bring on the Booby Prize!) but when I came here I discovered a number of cells with the wrong letter in them. Dang!! All that time and agony for a FIW!! I DNK 75D or 80A. WAG of SIMONE for 80A left me with BSUNO for 75D. Shoulda seen that couldn’t be right. And 64D I filled ATEITON, which also looked goofy but I let it stay. ATTILA I managed to have ATTICA because I DNK ANNALEE, and ANNACEE looked as good as any other WAG. If that wasn’t enough I didn’t know how to spell DOSSIER, and although I EVENTUALLY managed to get it right from perps, the SW ended up a big W/O mess. Soooo….if Saturday didn’t take me done a few notches from Friday’s high, today not only brought me down to earth but buried me. All that work and time….for a FIW. Oi. RN & JNL ya got me. C.C. thanx for the nice write-up. I’m looking forward to a nice Monday (my level) CW tomorrow.