School Crossings
With 4 LAT puzzles under his belt, Chase Dittrich definitely qualifies as a Corner veteran. He is also a Marine Corp veteran and has had 4 puzzles published in the New York Times, including a Sunday. And be sure to check out Husker's review of Chase's and Jeff Chen's February 12, 2022 themeless outing for Jeff Chen's lavish praise of Chase. (😄)
Today Chase's theme schools us in a bit of "circular reasoning", something
he apparently learned as a math major in college. So we don't get
too lost, we'll start with the reveal and the grid.
37A. Places with guards, and what can be found six times in this puzzle:
SCHOOL CROSSINGS. Does your
school district have formal training for its
crossing guards? The splash video above will give you some tips about how they operate.
The
"six times" Chase refers to are the 6 circles in the grid where the
answers to 10 theme clues intersect. The answer to each of the themers
has a double-meaning with the second being a type of school. Thus we have 10 SCHOOL CROSSINGS:
Here are the themers:
1D. Captivate: CHARM. To entice. Or a CHARM SCHOOL, aka a finishing school for teaching "social graces" to young women. I think young men might need them more.
23A. T-shirt size: Abbr.: MED. Baltimore has 2 top flight MED SCHOOLS: at Johns Hopkins University and the University of MD. I use to work as a lab tech at both and in IT at the latter.
7D. Sous-chef's work: PREP. The character Everton in the "Chef" clip at 1A below is a sous-chef. Or an abbreviation for an academic finishing school, i.e. a college PREParatory SCHOOL.
10D. Not permanent: ACTING. Someone filling a position temporarily or until they are officially confirmed. OTOH, if you're interested in getting your name in lights, here are the 25 top ACTING SCHOOLS in the world.
18A. Uncomplicated: ELEMENTARY. Looks can be deceiving. Until 1964 physicists thought that protons and neutrons were uncomplicated. OTOH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS are simply for children in grades 1-6.
55D. Swap: TRADE. Barter. OTOH a TRADE SCHOOL, (also known as a technical or vocational school) is a post-secondary educational institution designed to train students for a specific job in a skilled trade career. They are generally far less costly than 4 year college programs and depending on the specialty can pay very well (had any plumbing work done lately?). Here are some programs in the Maryland area.
53A. "How Great Thou __": ART. "How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on an original Swedish hymn. It is often sung at funerals. For those who'd like to hear it, here's a powerful performance by CW singer Carrie Underwood (make sure you get out your hankies!). OTOH an ART SCHOOL is a place to hone the skills needed for fine arts professions such as painting, sculpting, graphic design or teaching art. The Maryland Institute College of Art, aka "MICA" (see also 62A ) is the Baltimore school where some of my ceramics teachers studied.
46D. Dead Sea Scrolls language: HEBREW. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has an exhibit of the scrolls and their relationship to the Hebrew Bible. A HEBREW SCHOOL, also called a Yeshiva is a Jewish parochial school that does much more than just teach the Hebrew language.
58A. Air conditioner setting: HIGH. AC setting these days in many parts of the country, or a HIGH SCHOOL for grades 9-12, unless your district has Middle schools for grades 7-9.
60. "Literature in a hurry," per Matthew Arnold: JOURNALISM. Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. I think that Arnold expected journalism to be something that it was never intended to be. But according to this author, that is no reason why journalism can't be well written. Here's a review of 12 US JOURNALISM SCHOOLS that can improve the odds of that happening. The rise of the Internet has seen the advent of a lot of amateur journalists, not always to good effect.
Here are the themers:
1D. Captivate: CHARM. To entice. Or a CHARM SCHOOL, aka a finishing school for teaching "social graces" to young women. I think young men might need them more.
23A. T-shirt size: Abbr.: MED. Baltimore has 2 top flight MED SCHOOLS: at Johns Hopkins University and the University of MD. I use to work as a lab tech at both and in IT at the latter.
7D. Sous-chef's work: PREP. The character Everton in the "Chef" clip at 1A below is a sous-chef. Or an abbreviation for an academic finishing school, i.e. a college PREParatory SCHOOL.
10D. Not permanent: ACTING. Someone filling a position temporarily or until they are officially confirmed. OTOH, if you're interested in getting your name in lights, here are the 25 top ACTING SCHOOLS in the world.
18A. Uncomplicated: ELEMENTARY. Looks can be deceiving. Until 1964 physicists thought that protons and neutrons were uncomplicated. OTOH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS are simply for children in grades 1-6.
55D. Swap: TRADE. Barter. OTOH a TRADE SCHOOL, (also known as a technical or vocational school) is a post-secondary educational institution designed to train students for a specific job in a skilled trade career. They are generally far less costly than 4 year college programs and depending on the specialty can pay very well (had any plumbing work done lately?). Here are some programs in the Maryland area.
53A. "How Great Thou __": ART. "How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on an original Swedish hymn. It is often sung at funerals. For those who'd like to hear it, here's a powerful performance by CW singer Carrie Underwood (make sure you get out your hankies!). OTOH an ART SCHOOL is a place to hone the skills needed for fine arts professions such as painting, sculpting, graphic design or teaching art. The Maryland Institute College of Art, aka "MICA" (see also 62A ) is the Baltimore school where some of my ceramics teachers studied.
46D. Dead Sea Scrolls language: HEBREW. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has an exhibit of the scrolls and their relationship to the Hebrew Bible. A HEBREW SCHOOL, also called a Yeshiva is a Jewish parochial school that does much more than just teach the Hebrew language.
58A. Air conditioner setting: HIGH. AC setting these days in many parts of the country, or a HIGH SCHOOL for grades 9-12, unless your district has Middle schools for grades 7-9.
60. "Literature in a hurry," per Matthew Arnold: JOURNALISM. Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. I think that Arnold expected journalism to be something that it was never intended to be. But according to this author, that is no reason why journalism can't be well written. Here's a review of 12 US JOURNALISM SCHOOLS that can improve the odds of that happening. The rise of the Internet has seen the advent of a lot of amateur journalists, not always to good effect.
IMHO, sussing the theme from just the reveal would have been tricky
without the circles, especially the 4 schools above and beyond the 6
implied
in the reveal (a red herring if I ever saw one). That said I think
this puzzle was very clever and its construction, with or without
circles,
must have been a real bear.
Here are the rest of the clues:
1. Stylish eatery word: CHEZ. A pretentious way of saying "at the house of" and today's premier leçon français. This reminds me of the hilarious BBC series "Chef!" about Le Chateau Anglais, a French restaurant in the English countryside. The Chef is Gareth Blackstock, played by comedian Lenny Henry, as a talented, arrogant, tyrannical obsessive who has endlessly inventive insults for his staff, unknowing customers, and almost anyone else he encounters. Here he locks horns with his wife Janice over the price of turkeys (2:18 min):
5. Irish icon, informally: ST PAT.
A storied saint, who seems to be the patron of crossword puzzle constructors.
His feast day is March 17th, a good day to plant peas, or so the story
goes.
10. Many moons: AGES.
14. "Buenos días": HOLA. Today's Spanish lesson, and a double CSO to Lucina!
15. Google __: EARTH. Brought to you by the creators of Blogger, Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery (see also 9D). The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Here's a snippet from a Google Earth view of the LA Times roof (if you look closely you can just make out Patti's office on the top floor right Corner):
16. Bit of thunder: CLAP. Please hold your applause (or raspberries) until I'm finished.
17. Roguish: ARCH. I don't think our Archbishop is. He seems like a nice person to me.
20. Shower unit?: RAINDROP. Technically speaking it would be an H2O molecule.
22. Litmus reddeners: ACIDS. And BASES make litmus paper bluer. Litmus papers indicate whether a solution is ACIDIC (e.g. Hydrochloric acid) or BASIC (e.g. Lye):
But these are "either/or" tests. If you need to determine the
specific degree of ACIDITY or BASICITY (aka
alkalinity), then you need to determine
its pH, a scale with a range of 1 (most acidic) to 14 (most
alkaline). Rather than a simple binary
RED/BLUE response, pH papers such as the product shown below, give you a reading of
the specific pH. This is very useful, e.g. for testing the soil of a vegetable garden.
Most garden vegetables like a pH of about 7, but some have specific
preferences. pH can also be tested electronically. Here's some
information on
pH testers for gardens.
24. Kylo __: Ben Solo's chosen name: REN. I don't speak Star Warsese, but this might help you understand this obviously conflicted person.
25. Before thou know'st: ANON Also a famous and very prolific author.
26. Unexpected blessing: GODSEND. A Deus ex Machina, or one of these ...?
28. Places to get in shape: GYMS.
32. Corp. shuffle: REORG. This happened to me a couple of times. One minute you're IN THE LOOP, the next you're not.
35. Half of deux: UNE. Two divided by two = one and today's deuxième leçon français.
36. Small battery: AAA.
42. Old tape type: VHS.
43. "Shine a Little Love" band, familiarly: ELO. The Electric Light Orchestra (or at least their acronym) is a favorite of puzzle constructors. Here's the song and lyrics (4:12 min):
|
||
|
St Patrick Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California |
10. Many moons: AGES.
14. "Buenos días": HOLA. Today's Spanish lesson, and a double CSO to Lucina!
15. Google __: EARTH. Brought to you by the creators of Blogger, Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery (see also 9D). The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Here's a snippet from a Google Earth view of the LA Times roof (if you look closely you can just make out Patti's office on the top floor right Corner):
|
|
LA Times Offices 11th Street NW |
16. Bit of thunder: CLAP. Please hold your applause (or raspberries) until I'm finished.
17. Roguish: ARCH. I don't think our Archbishop is. He seems like a nice person to me.
20. Shower unit?: RAINDROP. Technically speaking it would be an H2O molecule.
22. Litmus reddeners: ACIDS. And BASES make litmus paper bluer. Litmus papers indicate whether a solution is ACIDIC (e.g. Hydrochloric acid) or BASIC (e.g. Lye):
|
|
pH paper |
24. Kylo __: Ben Solo's chosen name: REN. I don't speak Star Warsese, but this might help you understand this obviously conflicted person.
|
|
Ben Solo played by Adam Driver |
25. Before thou know'st: ANON Also a famous and very prolific author.
26. Unexpected blessing: GODSEND. A Deus ex Machina, or one of these ...?
32. Corp. shuffle: REORG. This happened to me a couple of times. One minute you're IN THE LOOP, the next you're not.
35. Half of deux: UNE. Two divided by two = one and today's deuxième leçon français.
36. Small battery: AAA.
42. Old tape type: VHS.
43. "Shine a Little Love" band, familiarly: ELO. The Electric Light Orchestra (or at least their acronym) is a favorite of puzzle constructors. Here's the song and lyrics (4:12 min):
44. Joplin's "Me and Bobby __": MCGEE. Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970 - sadly a member of the 27 club) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known female rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence. She started out as lead singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company and rose to fame after playing at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Here's my favorite (3:31 min), lyrics:
45. "Hunny" bear: POOH. One of the great things about being a grandparent is getting to watch all of those old shows over again (and over, and over ...!)
|
|
Pooh and his hunny |
47. Flub, as an easy grounder: MISPLAY.
50. Kitchen initialism popularized by Rachael Ray: EVOO. A frequent ingredient in crossword puzzles because of its high vowel content. Here's everything you'd want to know about extra virgin olive oil . The freshly pressed olive oil we once bought at an olive grove in the Texas hill country actually had a peppery taste, unlike any we've had since.
52. West Coast NFL team, on scoreboards: LAR. Los Angeles Rams.
56. Plane area: CABIN.
58. Big blow: HAYMAKER.
62. Layered mineral: MICA. When I was about 12 I found a very large piece of MICA in a gully. It appeared very exotic and extraordinarily different from anything I'd ever seen before (12 year olds are easily impressed). Here is the transparent variety of the mineral (known as Muscovite), large sheets of which were used in the past as windows in furnaces and horse drawn carriages:
|
|
Muscovite Mica |
63. Gala: FETE. According to WikiDiff these are not exact synonyms:
65. Egg on: PROD. I try not to get EGG ON my face, but sometimes I duck fast enough.
66. Don't have to assume: KNOW. If you want to know how we KNOW, this might help.
67. __ Allen furniture: ETHAN. A reference to this company, which took its name from this Revolutionary War hero.
|
|
Ethan Allen 1777 |
68. Levelheaded: SANE. From the Latin sanus "sound, healthy". More etymology.
Down:
2. Goddesses of the seasons: HORAE. As the Greeks recognized only three seasons: spring, summer, and autumn, there were only three main HORAE, but there were others who represented the "natural positions of time". Their naming and genealogy seems a bit complicated.
|
|
Horae Serenae Edward Poynter, 1894 |
3. Iberian folk hero: EL CID. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific al-sīd, which would evolve into El Cid ("the lord"), and the Spanish moniker El Campeador ("the champion"). By all accounts he was a remarkable warrior and a master strategist and tactician.
|
|
El Cid |
4. Journalist Paula: ZAHN. Paula Ann Zahn (/zɑːn/; born February 24, 1956) is an American journalist and newscaster who has been an anchor at ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. She currently produces and hosts the true crime documentary series On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel. And a CSO to Husker.
|
|
Paula Zahn |
5. Get sore: SEERED. SEETHED wouldn't fit, but "Singed" would have fit as a clue.
6. Claws: TALONS. The weapon of choice of birds of prey. Here's everyone's favorite raptor on this side of the pond:
|
|
American Bald Eagle |
8. NCR device: ATM. NCR Corporation, previously known as National Cash Register, is an American software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and electronic products. It manufactures self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, cheque processing systems, and barcode scanners.
9. Highest mountain range outside of Asia: THE ANDES. They may not be the highest in the world, but they are the longest. You can display them from Google Earth by clicking on this link (if you're prompted for which app to use, click on Earth) Zoom in and rotate the globe with your mouse if you like. Don't forget to take along some oxygen! [NOTE: running this on a smartphone requires the Google Earth app].
|
|
The Andes Mountain Range |
11. Pleased: GLAD.
12. Hearing things: EARS.
13. View: SPY.
19. Sgt. or cpl.: NCO. Non Commissioned Officer.
21. Khal __ of "Game of Thrones": DROGO. This is all about Jason Momoa, who played Drogo. This is all about Drogo.
|
|
Khal Drogo |
25. Dating profile word?: ANNO. Swipe right if you thought this was a Kinder reference?
26. Miracle-__: GRO. My father swore by it. We like the kinder, gentler organic fertilizer Epoma Garden Tone:
29. "Fire Island" actor Bowen: YANG. Fire Island is a 2022 American romantic comedy film directed by Andrew Ahn, and written by and starring Joel Kim Booster. The film co-stars Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, and Margaret Cho. Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the story follows a group of gay friends who go on vacation to Fire Island, only for things to become complicated by classism and romance.
|
|
Bowen Yang |
 |
| Mage Crest |
31. Enc. for a 32-Down: SASE. Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope.
32. Invitation letters: RSVP. Répondez š'il Vous Plaît. "Please respond". The troisième leçon français.
33. Zoom meeting annoyance: ECHO. LAG was too short.
34. Extremely: OH SO.
38. Beyoncé album and film of 2016: LEMONADE. A CSO to our Corner Historian. Also the sixth studio album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released on April 23, 2016 and was accompanied by a 65-minute film of the same title. It's her second "visual album" and also a concept album with a song cycle that relates her emotional journey after her husband's infidelity. I was not familiar with her work and found it impressive. Here's the first track, Pray You Catch Me (3:16 min); lyrics:
39. Award named for a Muse: CLIO. The Clio Awards (also simply known as the Clios) is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication. The program was named for Clio, the Greek Muse of history. I'm not sure what the connection is, but I think they could put a little more "creative excellence" into their logo:
40. Insincere flattery: SMARM. I suspect we'd see a lot of this at the 39D awards ceremonies.
41. Less than friendly: ICY. The 39D losers would probably be ICY.
48. Red Cross supply: PLASMA. PLASMA is one of 4 major components of the blood. IIRC you can donate plasma only and get your RED CELLS back, if you don't mind waiting for them to spin the whole blood down and transfuse the cells back into your system.
49. Nonprofessional: LAYMAN.
51. "The Voice of the Dodgers" Scully: VIN. Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022), the announcer for the Dodgers for 67 (!!!) series. And not just their voice, but "The voice of baseball". We lost him just a little over two weeks ago.
|
|
Vin Scully 1985 |
Listen to him narrate some of the openings of some classic World Series ...
53. Director Kurosawa: AKIRA. Akira Kurosawa (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in film history. Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. Kurosawa, is probably best known as the creator of the Seven Samurai, which was later adapted in the American western The Magnificent Seven.
|
|
Akira Kurosawa on the set of the Seven Samurai 1953 |
54. Intel mission: RECON.
56. Last name of both "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" filmmakers: COEN. Favorite directors of crossword constructors. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a 2018 American Western anthology film written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. It had a limited theatrical release, being primarily intended for Netflix television (this one flew under my radar scope) and features six vignettes that take place on the American frontier. Here's the trailer:
57. Wheels: AUTO. Components of a noun used as its synonym.
59. Concert gear: AMPS. Or units of electrical current.
60. NYC hub: JFK.
61. Auction unit: LOT. I liked this puzzle a LOT.
waseeley
And thanks as always to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive suggestions.
Cheers,
Bill
Chase Dittrich, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
52 comments:
FIWrong. 2 cells, both in the same rank, but opposite sides of the board. MAGEE < MCGEE, couldn't figure the cross.
The other is a natick of ordinary words I just couldn't bring to mind, VHr < VHS and OHrO < OH,SO.
The theme was great, and I would never have found it without the reveal!
Despite claiming mythology as one of my bailiwicks, I've don't recall ever hearing of the HORAE. I wanted Persephone, but she wouldn't fit. CLIO the Muse of history seems to be debased as an advertising award
A few CSOs: HOLA=Lucina, LEMONADE. ANON.
Moses sent SPIES to RECON the land
Reports of ten laid waste to his plan
Only two
He felt came thru.
He did a REORG, made Josh his main man!
On vacation you're at CHEZ Ease,
Servitors try your whims to please!
So long as tips
Are generous,
The staff treats you as The Big Cheese!
{B, B.}
I had to pause at the intersection of “Drago” and “Ren”, a possible Natick, but the surrounding perps got me through it. And I certainly didn’t get the theme until the reveal, but I got it then. FIR, so I’m happy.
FIR. Or so I thought. Couldn't find any mistakes until I decided to cave in and use autocheck. It marked all of LEMONADE wrong and no letters seemed to work so I hit reveal, and I got whatever this is:
https://imgur.com/i6mqpFw
And it's not the first time I get a bug like this, last Sunday i got some "R" crossings marked in red and apparently they had to be Is instead? CIUST and IESPECTS are definitely words.
Good morning!
Really needed the circles to see today's theme. Really needed the reveal to figure out what the circles were for. Yay, d-o managed to do it. Thanx, Chase and Waseeley.
ELEMENTARY: Our small school system had just two divisions. Grade school (Kindergarten - 8th) and High school (9th - 12th).
HIGH: My car has a one-button "Max" A/C setting -- fan goes to high, desired temp goes to 60°, and air source goes to "Recirculate." It's great for a quick cool-off after the car's been sitting in the sun. It's gotten lots of use this summer when it seems every day flirts with (or exceeds) 100°.
REORG: Survived two of 'em during my working years. Stressful.
MCGEE: The SE corner of Texas was home to many stars, including Janis Joplin, Big Bopper (remember Chantilly Lace?), and George Jones.
MICA: Evokes memories of Gordon MacRae -- "With isinglass curtains you can pull right down, in case there's a change in the weather..." (From the Furry with the Syringe On Top)
D-O @5:50 AM I recall working in Austin during the "10000 degree summer" - 100 days over 100 degrees - unforgettable.
LOL on "Furry". IIRC correctly it was from O&H's 'Oklahoma', where I first heard the word "isinglass".
FIR without erasure, thanks to guessing both Naticks (HORAE x ARCH & GROGO x REN) correctly. Don't know any of Bouncy's albums, YANG, MAGE, or AKIRA. Got COEN, EVOO and ELO because the LAT CW has them ingrained in me, like Oreo and oboe.
It had to be MISPLAY, because "Buckner" wouldn't perp. As a relatively new NHL fan, I've taken to referring to a goalie's "5-hole" (the gap between his legs) as his Buckner. I think it's hilarious, but experienced hockey fans don't even smile.
Vin Scully was also the lead golf announcer for NBC and CBS for 15 years.
FLN:
Michael, I think NOOB is an adaptation of "newbie", or someone who is new to the group.
Corner Medicos - I was always taught "listen to your body - pain is telling you to quit what you're doing". Can a person safely run after getting a stitch? Will it go away if (s)he keeps running?
Thanks to Chase for the Thursday challenge that I was lucky to meet. And thanks to Bill and Teri for the rest of the story.
Good morning. Thank you, Chase, and thank you, Bill
Didn't see the different types of schools crossing until after the solve. A HEBREW school was new to me. MAGE was also new.
Knew REN, didn't know DROGO. Didn't know YANG, but knew MCGEE. Knew ZAHN and AKIRA (but thought it was Akiro). Thank you SANE.
It was within the last couple of years that Beyonce passed Allison Krause for most Grammys by a female artist.
Today is the third day of the new school year for K-12 students in our district. The district's superintendent was interviewed on the news a few days ago. Across 58 schools, nearly 37000 students. Approx 2300 teachers (my est). They are looking to fill about 100 teacher vacancies. And bus drivers. Based on reporting, pick a school district anywhere and it's the same two shortages that are of concern. I read that over the last two years that over 300K teachers left the profession early, i.e. not normal attrition.
Abejo performed SCHOOL CROSSING guard duties here. He was very kind, caring, and benevolent man. And responsible. Some may remember his comment one morning after getting home from crossing the children. An unexpected rain shower had suddenly popped up. He got soaking wet, but never strayed his post.
Rachael Ray is fun, even if a bit over the top silly at times. She always lightens my mood.
Speaking of auction units and Monterey, Motortrend TV will be airing coverage of this week's Mecum auto auction in Monterey, starting at noon central on Friday. I'm hoping to catch enough of it to see how much LOT F54 and LOT F81 sell for. They are the two Boss 429s I referenced the other day. BTW, F54 indicates Friday, lot 54. Simple enough.
Gotta run.I've got a hot date with more driveway maintenance today. :-(
I made it to school in 6:17 today.
Oh joy ... wait, this use of circles didn't bother me.
I had zero idea about: Horae, Drogo, Yang, and Akira.
Zahn was vaguely familiar.
Another intricate theme, which I missed again.
I hate it when the NW is the hardest to fill, with ARCH and HORAE being total unknowns; a WAG for their cross. I never noticed the SCHOOLS until most of the puzzle was complete. The side-by-side unknowns YANG and MAGE took some lucky guessing to FIR. Had me thinking for a second that McGEE was spelled MCGIE. DROGO and "Game of Thrones"- zero knowledge of either. Ditto for "World of Warcraft" and MAGE.
CHARM school- the way many people act I think it should be mandatory.
TRADE school- remember when 'shop' was a HIGH school elective course called Industrial ARTs? What happened? In my Jr. High school ALL 9th graders took it or Home Economics for 12 weeks, rotating with 12 weeks for science, and 12 weeks for art or music.
LEMONADE- unknown but perps too care of it.
COEN- shows up enough to guess it.
BASICITY is a word this chemical grad had never seen before, only alkalinity.
Musings
-When the NW corner had four names, a Spanish word and only one way out I was a little tense but it all worked out and I loved the puzzle and the gimmick! Recently have KYLO REN helped.
-Places with guards that included the word SCHOOL was sobering thought
-TRADE SCHOOLS should be bursting at the seams
-MISPLAY – Baseball fans immediately think of Bill Buckner
-Our ST PAT’S church has so much ECHO that it makes voices very difficult to hear
-I guess a SMARMY person would possess SMARM
-FORE!
Almost gave up but eventually FIR in an estimated 30. Started off thinking, “Hmm, Cafe or Chez?” Perps answered that with ElCid. DNK HORAE which definitely added to the difficulty in the NW. Not a big fan of this CW because of two proper name naticks. I grudgingly give credit to CD for the imaginative theme, which I did see. W/Os VCR:VHS, COHN:COEN. Nine proper names. Thanx for the as usual terrific write-up, Waseeley.
Good Morning:
I really liked this theme and, unlike some late week puzzles, it definitely needed those circles, IMO. I ignored them while solving, but they were the star of the show after filling in the reveal. I also liked the diversity of the schools, ranging from Acting to Charm to Med to Hebrew, etc. My unknowns were Drogo, Mage, and Yang and my only w/o was Eons/Ages. Ethan could have been cross referenced as one of the two Coen brothers, but maybe one( RSVP/SASE) cross reference was considered enough. My favorite C/A was Shower Unit=Raindrop. Our Lemonade got top billing today!
Thanks, Chase, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, Bill, for another mini course in so many varied subjects. I appreciate the in-depth analysis and knowledge that your reviews provide. Thanks to Teri for her continued contributions.
We haven’t heard from ATLGranny recently, hope all is well.
Have a great day.
I couldn't grok my frawnche thus missing the Z in CHEZ* and ZAHN. I thought I knew her as kAHN. Or Mr S. did(FIW)
SEERED???
Paris would have fit for EUROS
My son's game is DOTA2 which is having a 40$mil tournament in Singapore in October
Janis was remarkable and her rendition of The Rose fantastic
Owen, your B's are W's pour moi
Jinx, enough on Billy B, even hardened Sox fans forgive(but not until after WS(2004) victory
I started at a 3 room schoolhouse in West Roxbury appropriately named Theodore Parker. And..
We had 8th grade "Shop" to which I was as hopeless as the other 90% were at Math
I arrived home from my trip at 11pm and went for the xword insert from the latimes that Betsy had so thoughtfully purchased. I crashed at the fill of MAGE and never got to grok the theme (I may have misspelled CaEN(and JaURNALISM??
Great write-up waseeley
WC
* Is a 13 hour car ride an excuse. I was forced to go online for 3 xwords. NO MAS
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Chase, for the challenge. I have a grandson named Chase and another named ETHAN. Thank you, Bill & Teri.
Knowing it would be Thursday difficult, I waited until after my sleep time and a good breakfast to try the puzzle. Not sure it helped much. Plugged away and filled it, but a lot of unknowns I'll never know next time either. Thanks, red letters.
Knew ANDES but was thrown off by THE in front and couldn't think of any T beginning range except Tetons which I knew weren't right.
Like Gary, I got SCHOOL & GUARD with a big blank space which gave me chills. With all the mayhem at schools, CROSSING is so tame, I didn't even think of it until perps insisted. DUH!
Eked out a FIR, lotsa proper names but liked the theme as we approach "back to achool" time for many parents "The most wonderful time..of the year"....Once I perped the SCHOOL part the CROSSING came easy and the theme tumbled into place.. Agree with Waz, not sure I would have figured out all the vertical schools without the cross letters being circled.. JFK is a "middle" SCHOOL in our town.
DO: Our large school system was ELEMENTARY K - 8 then HS 9 -12 as well when I attended (50's - 60's).. the middle school thing came later. I went to grade school, HS and college with a girl who says we went to school together K -16 , btw..syringe on top? ...Was Curly an Oklahoma junkie? 🥴
Inkover: see/SPY, goad/PROD.
ELEMENTARY also a favorite TV series, modern take on Sherlock Holmes. The one thing the CABIN of a plane does not look like, a CABIN. SMARM (a 19th century lady SCHOOL teacher?). HORAE: "goddesses of the season" (or ladies of the evening? 🤭)
"Half of deux" is un..."une" is the feminine article "a" ...une maison, "a house" ..."un" is one or the masculine article un livre "a book"
Gotta get used to ST PAT not being clued as the abbrev it is. They say ETHAN ALLEN had a poor Swedish cousin...Johan Ikea.
Bowen YANG much more well known as the first Asian-American member (and one of the funniest) of the current SNL comedy team. I saw the movie because of him.
Need info about of our planet? Google " ___" . ...EARTH.
Rogaine: "Miracle" ____. ...GRO.
Hip, Hip, ____ ... HORAE.
Warhol, Griffith, Williams...three of____ THEANDES
Burned or burnt...SEERED
My car needs an "oil additive", where's the ____? STPAT.
Two days off, back to work tomorrow
WAZ thanks for the extensive review, very informative.
Wow I did go on didn't I. Cold and rainy at camp. Nothing to do but sit by the fireplace, read and harass you all. 😃
DANG!
NW corner was Dang near impossible. (For me...)
The only possibly clue I had to suss with was T Shirt size,
and nothing fit!
You should always be A-lert at school crossings.
Pay attention!
remember, those crossing guards are heroes...
and the kids (& drivers) aren't watching...
and me, seeing possible silly links today....
Just be careful out there...
HOLA!
Home again! Home again! Jiggedy jig! I think that's how it goes. Anyway it's so good to sleep in my own bed again. San Rafael is wonderfully cool and delightful and my friend's generous hospitality is enjoyable but it was time to leave though I would have loved to stay longer and enjoy the nice weather. I hope you all have been well during that time.
The puzzle was just right for a Thursday though, of course, I am not familiar with terms liked DROGO and SEERED seems wrong. YANG and MAGE are also unknown. But all filled in the end.
Am I familiar with SCHOOL CROSSINGS! Yes, they were a part of my former life.
CSO to LEMONADE! Hello, Jason.
I did not know YANG as clued, but again, perps to the rescue.
St Pat's Cathedral in Oakland is an amazing feat of architecture! If you look it up I believe you can take a virtual tour. It's worth the time.
One of my nieces is now teaching at a TRADE SCHOOL in Mesa.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! I am going to enjoy my recliner and sip coffee.
Oh! SEE RED! I just got that. Ooh, la, la. I guess I've been gone too long.
5 d how is get sore …seered?
Interesting Thursday toughie, many thanks, Chase. And always enjoy your helpful commentary, Waseeley, thanks for that too.
As soon as I saw ST PAT, religion came to mind. Guess we can consider that a GOD SEND for folks on this EARTH, whether they're LAYMAN or clerics, whatever their DOGMA, whether HEBREW or other.
There was also a bit of ART--is that a TRADE in JOURNALISM? Maybe just a display at a FETE. The important thing is not to MIS-PLAY, when you perform.
What we should really do is to just stay SANE, and KNOW what to do.
Have a good day, everybody.
I loved this very clever SCHOOL CROSSINGS theme. Glad others did, too. Even the anti-circles people. Never heard of that meaning of ARCH, but we have seen it here before. Hand up that cluster with YANG and MAGE was also tricky.
I went to JFK HIGH SCHOOL so it was good to see it all here.
Here is our JFK HIGH SCHOOL.
Here I was with my Math Team friends at JFK HIGH SCHOOL.
Hi All!
DNF - NW corner did me in. Unclefred CHic ain't right either ;-) And I had no clue (other than the one provided) on 2,3,&4d.
Really cool puzzle theme though, Chase; it (theme) helped at 1d xing sml, lrg or MED.
Fantastic, detailed, and link-y expo, waseeley; good on you.
Peas on St. Pat's day? Mom (almost as Irish as IM) said potatoes ;-)
WO: started SEMI PRO @49d before realizing M from 60a was in wrong spot.
ESPs: It's a DNF, silly. ++AKIRA, YANG as clued (I only know him from SNL [ffw to 5:49 to avoid politics]
Fav: Everyone loves Janis Joplin's Bobby MC GEE.
Runners-up: Not heard 'Shine a Little Love' in years (thx Bill) and Vin Scully, R.I.P.
And R.I.P., Abejo. TTP memorialized his care of CROSSING duties perfectly.
{B, A+}
D-O: K-8 & 9-12 -- that was Catholic School too (though I pop'd in and out depending on which parent I lived with for that grade).
HG & PK - I had the same 'sobering thought' at SCHOOL guards... #Uvalde
Jinx - there's pain as in 'oh, sh** stop moving like that' (my lap-band on the left-back after lifting all those boxes) and then there's 'work through the burn' when your muscles release ACIDs - after that, you can go run/bike/swim (or drown ;-)) for hours.
CHARM School is what NCOs call the OCS that mints 2-Lt.s. //don't think I missed your FLN Michael ;-)
OCS == Officer Candidate SCHOOL.
BigE - At Byrd, I tried to take Home Ec (girls!) and then typing (so I could program computers faster - oh, and girls!) but they made me take maths.
//Picard - LOL we were both on our math teams. #NERDS! Though, your computers pre-dated the boxes I played on in HS.
Pop taught me the Industrial [woodworking] ARTS in his workshop.
DW's Community College offers real-TRADE training. She had one kid come up to hear and say, "this welding program will change my life." The kid now makes bank in the oil-patch.
LOL ETHAN's cousin in Sweden, Ray-O. We have multiple EA pieces (very nice) but I've also assembled scads IKEA furniture over time [in fact, last weekend for Eldest's grad-school apt]
CED - "human trafficking" comic == LOL.
Who wants more moving woes?
New house: 6yro Frigidaire just went south. Repair guy said "It's the board - you're better off buying new." So much for 'durable goods', eh?
//and so much for $500 worth of food -- including 1/2gal of marinara sauce I build & froze! :-(
Cheers, -T
Mark @12:00 Ya got me. Anger = hot? I agree it was a stretch.
My $0.02 at 5d. Get hot, where hot == mad == sore == butthurt == angry == fume...
Ergo: SEE RED. Two words as Lucina (welcome back!) pointed out.
C, -T
Anon T..glad you took the time to comment and give those muskuls a rest..So Mom is Irish..hmmm ...so you're not FBI.
-T, NOT THE MARINARA! Oh, the humanity! I just replaced my $$$ LG with a few-frills Whirlpool one, because my LG lasted - you guessed it - 6 years. I was excited to discover that the LG had a 10-year compressor warranty, until LG told me that I had to have the original receipt. (I probably have it somewhere, but finding it before I want to store cold food again would have been unlikely.)
So, the stitch = "the burn"?
"...one kid come up to hear and say, "this welding program will change my life." The kid now makes bank in the oil-patch." Mike Rowe has been screaming this fact for years. Our local ship builders have apprentice programs that offer pay-while-you-learn opportunities, and grads pull in big money. A lot of trucking companies will refund CDL training fees too, and OTR drivers can easily make 6 figures with no college loans to repay. We even have a couple of HVAC firms who advertise for techs with no experience, supposedly so they don't have to undo bad habits. These guys have their own training facility.
I liked this puzzle a lot -- even though I wasn't able to complete the trickier regions. The reveal helped me to fill all the circle crossings. Thanks Chase and Waseely!
Today's PZL is by Mr. Dittrich, well rendered by our waseeley.
ACIDS - This reminds me of the time in high school chem lab when I stupidly over-heated a tube of acid, and it exploded!
The shock threw droplets of acid in my face--and also on the shirt of the guy next to me.
Our teacher screamed-- at me and to the heavens!--and marked me down for whatever experiment we were working on.
I don't think he gave me proper credit, though, for my hasty action in an emergency. I rushed to the big bottle of lime water he had mounted on a shelf, and I splashed the stuff (a base) on my face. And I drenched the kid's shirt to stop the burning action.
I was rather proud of myself for that...
And proud for finishing today's XWD in good time!
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, opposite side.
It yields an anagram JACKPOT! (i.e., all 15 of 15 letters)!!
But you must bear with me as I explain a (slightly) weird combination of phonemes. This anagram refers to the major street upon which my house sits. But this is in a non-Spanish-speaking town, and "my home" is rendered phonetically.
Ah, now you understand, for I dwell on...
"MI KASA BOULEVARD"!
Picard, you had a beard in high school? I don't think I started shaving until my 20s.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Chase and waseeley.
I finished and saw the SCHOOL CROSSINGS (although I must admit that I missed a couple), but arrived here to discover that I FIWed.
I had REaRm instead of REORG (I must have been thinking of a military Corp.!). OH SO does fit the clue better than aH SO; I didn’t know DROGO and DROmO seemed as good as any. I did know REN.
Hand up for having problems in the NW corner. ARCH took a while to dawn. I should have known HOLA immediately from Lucinda’s greetings.
Another hand up for VHS before VCR.
ACTIve changed to ACTING, See to SPY.
We had RAINDROP and a CLAP of thunder. Actually, we are getting raindrops here right now, which is a GODSEND for our dry gardens.
Wishing you all a great day.
Ray-O: Nope. 1/4(ish) if counted by Full-Blood. Both Great-grands on Pop's side went through Ellis Isle but their off-spring found fair-headed girls in the US. Paternal Grandma is EURO mix (and some indigenous tossed in -6'2" she was); Maternal Grand is Dutch-Irish, while Paternal Grand is Irish-Irish.
However, them Romans have some dominate genes -- I'm an olive-skinned boy who seldom burns in the sun and my hair is thick & dark even 52 years on.
Speaking of FBI - ever heard of IBM? Our fair-headed wives are Italian By Marriage :-)
That DR is a reach, OMK. But cute nonetheless.
Jinx - a) love Mike Rowe! b) Oy! I need to proof gooder -- my "one kid..." line is full of MISPLAYs.
For the record, I did save a bit of sausage & peppers marinara in the deep freeze - so not all is lost ;-)
Misty - Amazon dropped off your book yesterday (I'm still absorbing the Abbreviations page - DW got it straight-off). Your introduction is making me think of Samuel Pepys' Diaries. //maybe you mention him after page 3? ;-)
If you're so inclined, email me and I'll send a link to DW's dissertation on "[...]politics of subversion in works by E. M. Forster, Nathalie Sarraute, and Jean Rhys"
C, Eh! Weather man says we're supposed to get heavy (flooding?) rains tonight. I'll take it in this drought.
WC - someone said [paraphrased] 'Journalism is the 1st draft of history'. I guess Second Draft is written by who won the war :-)
Cheers, -T
My two children who chose trade schools have been happier and made more money than my child who has six+ years of college & four degrees. Big need now for people who know how to DO things. One grandson just started school for auto mechanics this week with great anticipation.
Anon-T, sorry to hear about your fridge. I remember it was during Alicia back in '83 when we were out of power for about 10 days. We had just purchased an upright freezer, and it was fully stocked. We knew things were thawing inside, but had no power for cooking. Took a pickup load to the dumpster at a nearby apt complex. Expensive lesson.
I was solving this puzzle online while the cleaning crew was here so I was slightly distracted: school crossings? I wanted the circled letters to spell something until the V-8 can finally knocked me upside the head! Seered? D'uh, SEE RED! There were a couple more, but I don't remember them now. Thanks, Chase D., for the challenge, which I kinda/sorta got. Thanks, Waseeley, for the expo!
I did know ST. PAT, Bobby MCGEE, CHEZ, RSVP. Perps helped with other answers.
Checking the pollen/mold counts the past few days, Ragweed pollen count is going up. It is officially the start of my Fall sneezin'season. When's the first hard frost?
I hope everyone has a good weekend!
ANNO? I’m not understanding.
@4:16 - as in ANNO Domini (The Year of...) 2022. It 'dates' when, say, a cornerstone was put into place. Clue is devious evoking a hot-hookup ;-). C, -T
ANNO means year.
AnonT, desper-otto Thanks for the comments about me as a nerdy Math Team member in HIGH SCHOOL.
Yes, I indeed had quite a thick beard in HIGH SCHOOL. I decided to shave it off later during my senior year. I was beardless for about 20 years until some friends suggested a beard might look good on me.
Yes, those computers in our HIGH SCHOOL Math Lab were quite primitive. One was an actual Olivetti "desktop computer". It used transistor modules. Not very user friendly. The other was actually a Wang programmable calculator. I used that one quite a bit. You could save your programs on a regular cassette tape!
But we also had a teletype machine that connected to an IBM 370 computer leased by the school district. Some of us nerds took a Fortran class with that connection.
I liked the school crossings.
Fill that I liked:
CLAP
RAINDROP (One of Chopin's etudes is called "The Raindrop.")
GODSEND
JOURNALISM
EVOO
HAYMAKER
LEMONADE
LAYMAN
Fill that I did not like:
REN
UNE (Ray - O - Sunshine is right. "Un" is the number 1, as in "Un deux trois...")
LAR
Names I knew:
ST PAT
Bobby MCGEE
POOH
ETHAN Allen
EL CID
Paula ZAHN
VIN Scully
AKIRA Kurosawa
COEN
Names I did not know:
Kylo REN
Khal DROGO
Bowen YANG
I guessed the R crossing HORAE and ARCH, only because it seemed to be the only letter that made sense in A-CH.
Last to fill was the I crossing CLIO and MISPLAY, because I had originally misspelled CLIO as CLEO.
Excellent postings, all of you. Thanks.
Interesting you were in San Rafael, Lucina. That name sparks in me greater interest than ever, because our son and his new wife now live near there, in Mill Valley.
Good wishes to you all.
Some of the best education I ever got was from community college courses in various "trades" such as programming, speech making, and typing. Also very useful was to have learned how to read, write, and do math, and to learn a bit of geography and history at the grade school and high school levels. Some of the worst and most useless education I got was at college and grad school. But doggone if it wasn't my (useless) degrees that were valued and got me the jobs.
Pat @3:24 PM and all the other Cornerites perplexed by my explanation for 5D. [BLUSH]. I've been out most of the day trying to buy a car, just got home to find myself in the middle of a discussion about the meaning of this answer, and my dim bulb finally lit up. My lame excuse is that, like solvers we bloggers don't get our fill pre-parsed. When I loaded the skeleton HTML for the puzzle and saw SEERED I left it as I found it, ASSuming that it was a clever Chasean multi-layered pun of some sort. I hope that too many Cornerites didn't SEE RED over this FOX PASS. Teri told me to "Just chalk it up to a Senior Moment, I'm sure they'll believe you".
I took two years of typing in high school and it has been exceedingly useful. Writing class has also served me well. The Religious of the Sacred Heart were hard taskmasters but it paid off.
Jayce:
Yes, I saw the exit ramp to Mill Valley when we were out on the road.
San Rafael is a lovely section of the state with undulating hills and lush greenery though much of it is slowly turning yellow from lack of rain.
OMK @ 2:45 PM. An alternate parsing for the DR might be:
"MIKASA BOULEVARD"!
for "A wide street in Tokyo with a shop that sells IRON STONE plates".
53 years ago Teri and I received 6 stoneware dinner plates as a wedding present. They were marked underneath with "Mikasa / Painted Sands / BURNT ORANGE". We still have them, and will be eating dinner on a pair of them this evening.
Re refrigerators: Not bragging, pox on me, our 26-year-old Amana is still chugging along. Just replaced our 26-year-old Amana stove, 40-year-old Panasonic microwave. 29-year-old Maytag dryer is on "life-support". Hate to have to replace them with new-fangled digital JUNK. TC
FIW quickly, but only did a two-min. look-over to find the schools. Will read your comments later, but...
CED, I couldn't stop chuckling at your "Just be careful out there." Loved, loved the poor pup's bug-eyed expression riding in the suicide seat while Granny "confidently" drove. So funny - where do you find these cartoons?! Always look forward to them and appreciate your time spent in finding and posting them.
Oops - meant "FIR quickly."
Jayce @5:06 PM DNK the name of the Raindrop Prelude by Chopin, although I recognized it immediately when I heard it. Here it is everyone, courtesy of Jayce.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR
Liked the puzzle and theme, ok. Bill S you outdid yourself again with the blog. Kudos
Speaking of SCHOOL CROSSINGS, I was on "safety patrol" duty on the day that JFK got assassinated. I still recall one kid asking me - of all people - if Nixon would now be the President. True story
Update to my own situation:
1) Monday, found out that our landlord of three years wants to move back into his house. Our lease expires end of November, so no huge panic, but we just got finished spending nearly two months emptying/packing/preparing a house for sale in Wisconsin this summer, while moving her mom into assisted living! Margaret was clearly not happy that WE have to "repeat" the process
2) Tuesday, started looking at houses to either rent or buy. Decided that renting has become way too expensive for what you get, and neither of us want to have to be in a position where we - as renters - have to pick up and move a whole house full of furniture and belongings, again, in another year or so
3) Found a house (new construction) for sale that fits everything we want and is just 10-15 minute drive from current location - and close to our doctors, dentists, stores, et al
4) Put an offer on the property on Wednesday and were accepted! And, at a slight discount from the asking price!!
5) Should be ready to move into and close by early to mid October
6) Now, the fun begins ...
Needless to say, I won't have time each and every day to solve a puzzle and/or visit the Corner. I'll still be doing my bi-weekly blog here, so no worries. My email address is in my "blue" so feel free to check in with me there
Peace - Ch Moe
"Where are all the posts?". Ans: Anon-T was on vacay (dad duty)
Picard, I too enjoyed the math club pix and it brought back memories. Except I didn't join. When I got to BC as Math major I was surrounded by nerds and didn't have my gang buddies watching me. The nerds were by far the best people inc sports
And… Anon-T, fln you missed my Iron Maiden post as in…@139 pm
"So, Tony(anon-)… As we entered NC Phil says "So you want "Music". This godawful cacophony erupts: Iron Maiden"!!!*
WC
* "Head to the Hills"(But I was trapped in the car
C, Moe - I feel for you buddy. Moving is suck.
Y'all aint going to believe this - storm knocked out power. After the power came on, the Frigidaire started cooling like it should. //No, I don't trust it.
TC: ++yep.
Nice of you to drop by, TxMs! Did you enjoy the rain this eve?
WC - I wouldn't say I was Missing it re: Iron Maiden ;-)
I was never a big fan of their 'music.' And, if any band was the poster-boys for This is Spinal Tap's parody-poke, Iron Maiden's attempt at 'mysticism' fits the bill.
Cheers, -T
Iron Maiden. Spinal Tap its all noise to me. But...
If I was to have an earworm, Rose by JJ was a delightful one.
Now to take a listen to some of the classical music linked in here.
WC
Well, it took too many perps and two WAGS, but I earned an FIR today. I also got the theme, which I agree was both clever and well done.
Thanks, Chase! Thanks, Bill and Teri!
Pets especially cats, can also be an annoyance at ZOOM meetings.
"How great was Vin Scully?" he asks rhetorically.
Vin Scully Sounds Great Even Reading Grocery List
Yes, Gary, I think Buckner wins the prize.
Post a Comment