Theme: SO AND SO (39. Name better left unsaid, or a description of the answers to the starred clues)
17. *Many an aria: SOPRANO SOLO.
24. *Not quite apologetic: SORTA SORRY.
48. *Persuaded with flattery: SOFT-SOAPED.
61. *In the near future: SOMEDAY SOON.Boomer here.
I was a baseball card dealer years ago, and I recently heard the story that a 1952 #311 Mickey Mantle rookie card went for over 12 million dollars. I checked my Beckett price guide and it is currently listed for $80,000.00. That's a long way from 12 million so it seems like a SO SO story.
Across:
6. Pizza serving: SLICE. I worked pizza and it is not a slice, it's a PIECE.
11. Dell products, for short: PCS.
14. Approximately: ABOUT. Evander Holyfield beats Mike Tyson.
15. Weighed down: LADEN.
16. Flamenco cheer: OLE. Mr. Svenson.
19. Tiny: WEE. WEE, WEE. WEE. WEE. All the way home
20. "Will I __ learn?": EVER. I do not expect to.
21. Dark cloud, maybe: OMEN. Guys from Oregon.
22. Noggin: HEAD.
23. 1950s sitcom name: DESI. Ricky Ricardo.
27. Historic Nevada city with a railway museum: ELY. I have never been outside of Reno and Las Vegas.
29. __ suey: CHOP.
30. Salon offering: NEW DO. I do not have enough hair for a salon visit.
33. Ore-Ida nuggets: TATER TOTS. My favorite!
38. Here, in France: ICI.
41. Syrup source: SAP. Mostly Maple.
42. Unlikely winners: LONG SHOTS. Rich Strike at the Derby.
44. "Best before" kin: USE BY.
46. Tune for two: DUET. The Carpenters were my favorite.
47. Campus URL ender: EDU.
53. Frosted, as a cupcake: ICED. Or tea in the summer.
57. Periods of history: ERAS.
58. Horse rider's strap: REIN.
59. "Big Night" actor Shalhoub: TONY. Hall of Famer - Twins' Oliva
60. Buddy: PAL.
64. __-at-ease: ILL. Cubs and White Sox state.
65. Strainer: SIEVE.
66. Plentiful: AMPLE.
67. Stubborn beast: ASS. I believe the beast is a mule. The ASS is behind it.
68. Great-grandparent, say: ELDER. I never met any of mine.
69. Big buttes: MESAS.
Down:
2. "Heavens __!": ABOVE. "We're on a street called Love"
3. Successfully handles a rough patch: COPES. COPES are not always successful.
4. Rushed: HURRIED. Rushing backs will be on TV soon!
5. Greek letter between zeta and theta: ETA.
6. Sports replay type, briefly: SLO-MO. Rushing backs will be here too.
7. Pointer or printer lead-in: LASER. Don't look into this thing.
8. "__ have a clue": I DON'T. Okay.
9. Cartoon frame: CEL.
10. Music producer Brian: ENO.
11. Confident stance: POWER POSE. Quarterbacks will be there for sure.
12. Blue-skies forecast word: CLEAR.
13. Far from swanky: SEEDY.
18. Like a busybody: NOSY. Don't ask.
22. YA novel by Carl Hiaasen about a threatened owl habitat: HOOT. Temple Owls are playing Duke Saturday.
25. Unreturnable serves: ACES. Also a good poker hand. Especially four.
26. Hide from view: SHROUD.
28. Red-ink amounts: LOSSES. Stock market was not friendly in August.
30. Zip: NIL. NADA
31. __-friendly: ECO.
32. Unexpected moments of good fortune: WINDFALLS. Visit a casino.
33. "__ Te Ching": philosophical text: TAO.
34. Unwelcome picnic guest: ANT. They are amazing!
35. NFL six-pointers: TDS. Plus 1 usually. Season will start next Sunday.
36. Bar bill: TAB. I do not go to bars anymore, But when I did, it was pay one at a time.
37. James Bond, for one: SPY.
40. "__ Be in Love": Kate Bush song: OH TO.
43. "No __, no glory": GUTS. If you got this far, you've earned glory.
45. "I'm good with it": SUITS ME.
47. Poet St. Vincent Millay: EDNA. A township in North Dakota.
48. Old photo tone: SEPIA.
49. Face-to-face exams: ORALS. Speak loudly and carry a small stick.
50. __ Forces Day: ARMED. Veterans welcome.
51. "Pet" annoyance: PEEVE.
52. Pillow feathers: EIDER.
54. Henhouses: COOPS. My Uncle Bill's farm produced many eggs.
55. "__ Holmes": Netflix film starring Millie Bobby Brown: ENOLA.
56. Units of force that make up newtons: DYNES.
61. NNW opposite: SSE.
62. Olive __: OIL. Popeye spelled his girlfriend OYL.
63. Orange tuber: YAM. Done? Yes I YAM.
Boomer
49 comments:
A simple Monday puzzle, as usual. This puzzle had very little “crunch “ to it, IMHO. A little French, an unknown book title and a couple of proper names were the only things that gave me any hesitation at all. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning -- and Happy Labor Day!
Zipped through this one, and managed to notice the So-So at the first themer. Didn't notice that there was a reveal. Yup, fell into the OYL pit. My younger dw tells me often that I'm past my USE-BY date. Thanx, Catherine, for the diversion. Thanx too, Boomer, for the humorous take on it.
CHOP Suey : At our house, the noodles were the "chop" and the mushroomy gravy was the "suey."
TAO : Little known fact -- TAO Te Ching was nephew to tea baron Cha-Ching.
I took about a minute longer than previous Mondays. For some reason I kept missing all the "gimme" clues and focusing on the more vague ones (1A - CACHE or STASH?) Also 14A just HAD to be CIRCA, right? Note to self: IT'S A MONDAY.
...And then there's me misreading 11A as "Deli products, for short" and wondering what could be a 2-letter abbreviation for some kind of sandwich.
FIR with no erasures. DNK TONY, TAO, OHTO, HOOT (although I think I've read all of Carl's books for grown-ups), or that ELY has a train museum. I loved the rail museum in the Smithsonian, and even better, the big one in Sacramento. A great day trip is to spend a half day in that museum, then take Amtrak across Donner Pass and on to Reno.
Boomer, that extra point isn't automatic. Just ask -T!
Somehow, "will I EVER learn" reminded me of this old Pete Seeger classic.
Thanks to CC(2) for the fun run, and to Boomer for the humor.
TONY Shaloub is Monk to me, a strange series about a strange Detective
Pretty straightforward solve today.
WC
FIR, easy Monday puzzle.
Took 4:34 to SOlve.
The "Newdo" and "ici" stack could've used some refinement, but a good Monday puzzle.
Easy. I had a FIR yesterday, too. I was distracted all day and solved it too late to post.
I use SO AND SO with both definitions:
"a person or thing whose name the speaker does not need to specify or does not know or remember.(Nice dodge for us seniors.)
"let's have so-and-so as a speaker on Tuesday"
INFORMAL
a person who is disliked or is considered to have a particular characteristic, typically an unfavorable one.
'nosy old so-and-so!' "
Around here pizza is ordered by the slice or by the pie, not by the piece.
Tony or Toni, DYNE said Y.
Thank you CC2 for this Monday Labor Day puzzle, solved with little LABOR (spoiler alert - but it looks like the Jumble may involve a little).
Thank you Boomer for your wry observations. You're ahead in the CORNIER department, at least until Ray - O signs in.
A few favs:
6A SLICE. But first you have to SLICE those PIECES Boomer.
46A DUET. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Here's Delibe's "Flower Duet" from his opera "Lakme".
68A ELDER. I only met my Grandmothers, one English and the other American, both BERTHAS.
47D EDNA. My Mom's oldest sister was named EDNA, a daughter of BERTHA PRATT. Could either of them the namesakes for our long-sought CSO to Canadian Eh!?
55D ENOLA. Or could it be she?
Jinx @6:44 AM If you're ever in Charm City, you owe it to yourself to visit the museum at the old B&O Railway station. It's where the trains all started from, and also the first telegraph transmission.
And thank you for the Seeger song. I can never hear it without weeping.
Cheers,
Bill
Good Morning:
This was a typical Monday solve but I respectfully disagree with Subgenius on the very little crunch factor, as Monday’s historically have no crunch. Jinx gave some examples, to which I would add Enola. I had no trouble but I could see where a newbie might, although the perps were fair. I enjoyed the big CSO to our own Tony The Tiger!
Thanks, Catherine, for starting the week off so easily and thanks, Boomer, for the banter and cheerful commentary. Good luck with your upcoming appointments.
FLN
Anon T, I like your style, too! 😈
Wilbur, yes, I know Tin would disapprove of my use of _ _ _ with my Scotch, but you know what they say about variety! 🤭
Michael, Ice, Rocks, a Rose is a Rose . . . . . 😉
Have a great day. Happy Labor Day!
Enjoyed the puzzle and enjoying the day off! Solved on-line today since our small city doesn't have a paper on the major holidays.
Like WC, I enjoyed TONY SHaloub in "Monk" - but "Big Night" was one of the first movies that made him more well known as an actor - He and Stanley Tucci are great as 2 brothers who own an Italian restaurant. Recently he is the dad of the main character in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" which won an Emmy for best comedy a few years back and an Emmy for him as best supporting actor. He is just an Oscar short of EGOT- a crossword fill favorite.
I had heard of ENOLA Holmes - Sherlock's teenage sister in some young adult novels- and the movies are on Netflix - but haven't seen them.
Thanks Boomer for a fun blog and Catherine for the puzzle!
I went to see "Marcel the Shell with Shoes on" at our local indie theater- highly recommend
though I don't know when it will be on a streaming service, etc.. Rated PG - one that you can watch with kids.
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Catherine and Boomer.
I FIRed, but agree with IM that there was a little crunch.
I thought I might be a little rusty after missing the past week (more later*) or just lurking.
Happy Labour Day. (FLN AnonT- you are already an honourary Canadian- no loonies needed).
I thought IM would comment on the three letter fill ( I counted 22).
ENOLA is usually clued as the infamous Gay bomber. I WAGged the N in the cross with TONY.
I erred with present tense for CASED and had sESI. Ah, DESI.
We had a SOLO and a DUET today.
Did anyone else smile at the trio of 66A, 67A and 69A?
*I was busy last week with grandchildren visiting, and then celebrations for my mother’s 100th birthday. (HG, I remembered that she is just a few months younger than your MIL.). She is an ELDER to 15 great-grandchildren. We are blessed to have her still with us, and in sound mind and pretty-sound body for 100.
Wishing you all a great day.
This link is for AnonT and any other Rush fans.
TributeConcert
Musings
-Not much LABOR required on Catherine’s fine Monday offering
-“Life is a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string, I'd be a silly SO AND SO, if I should ever let it go”
-The best pizza in my college town (mouth just watered) was cut into square pieces
-CHOP SUEY is an American-Chinese dish created by Chinese immigrants for the American market
-If something is one hour past the “Best If USED BY” date, my lovely bride tosses it
-DUET – Everly Brothers, Righteous Brothers, Joe and Eddie, et al.
-Great grandparents – Two stayed in Switzerland, two never left Kentucky, the other four never left Iowa.
-Give me my MacBook, a projector and a remote with a LASER pointer and get out of the way
-I filled in the nine blank cells in the SW corner without looking at the clues
-Has anyone here ever had to keep track of “running a TAB” for customer(s)?
-No GUTS, no glory – No time on the clock – PAT to tie or try a two-pointer to win?
-The now defunct town of ENOLA, NE was its founder’s, T.J. Malone, last name partially spelled backwards
Puzzle with more of an end-of-the-week vibe. But did better than SO SO.
Inkovers: pep/NIL.
A 3 letter Nevada city? POWERPOSE?, Who is "Kate Bush". Have never seen the clue/answer TAO "Te Ching" except yesterday's 2 week old Sunday NYT puzzle, hmmmm. Speaking of Chinese culture:
CHOP Suey from the musical "Flower Drum Song
At University all exams like most of Europe were face to face ORALS. COPES in the NW and COOPS in the SE. EIDER and ELDER
Odd clue for TONY "Monk" Shalhoub, (Marvelous Mrs Maisel) never heard of "Big Night"...(wait ..Inanehiker @ 9:58 description made me realize I saw that movie 😯).
"Units that make up newtons?" figs wouldn't fit. (Ah, read the clue too fast). Olive OIL (née Oyl) got tired of hearing "I YAM what I YAM" and ran off with Bluto (aka Brutus)
In France it's Nice and ____ ... ICI.
In France it's a yes....WEE
No GUTS, no glory, so just ___ ! DUET
Which duck? ____ one...EIDER
Sleazy music format?...SEEDY
No credit cards, ____ only ...CACHE
What my taylor does....SUITSME
(I own one suit, it's 20 years old, hafta suck in the GUTS to get the pants on)
A rainy dreary end to the long weekend and a day dedicated to Moms about to deliver. 😊
Musings
-Yes, Canada, I did see that confluence of words too!
-Congrats to your mom on becoming centenarian! Joann’s mom’s body is maintaining just fine but her dementia has negated her soundness of mind. Our conversations center on events of over 70 years ago. All that remains is her indomitable sense of humor.
Will the missed extra point lead the Florida Gators to a great season? Will Bill Napier keep his job? How many others here have studied in Gainesville, or at least taken classes. I miss Lake Alice.
Thanks Boomer and Catherine, off to do C.C.'s USA Today today
TGIM! Nice Monday CW, thanx, CC2. Last to fill was NW: I simply could not come up with the words CACHE or CASED for some reason, so did the rest of the CW and came back to that corner. 23A could have been LUCY or DESI, perps settled it, once I had ABOVE, HURRIED and ETA; then finally CACHE hit me, then CASED, and the CW was done. DNK TONY or HOOT, but perps filled them for me. Nice start to the week. Thanx for the terrific write-up, Boomer. Happy Labor Day to all.
Ray - O @10:44 AM I didn't know Kate Bush either: pretty impressive CV.
Lemony, was there a blocked PAT in the Gator's game? I just paid attention to the Criminoles game. That game will probably be the acme of the FSU season, and the nadir of LSU's.
Similarly, our little Old Dominion U team beat the mighty Virginia Tech gridders, even though ODU is predicted to finish last in their conference.
Recruiting can be done on the basis of these big upsets by underdog teams.
Hola!
Happy Labor Day!
This puzzle was way more than just SO SO! Thank you, Catherine and thank you, Boomer! It's great to see you retain your sense of humor. Good luck with all your tests this week.
I solved the puzzle at 6 this morning, then returned to bed which seems to be a pattern lately. It's typically easy for Monday and not much LABOR involved.
Interesting to see ENOLA clued that way and not as the name of a bomber.
I'll take a CSO as an ELDER.
The SHROUD of Turin has never been definitely proven to be the one Jesus wore and no DNA available to test it.
According to some reports I've read, the USE BY date is only a suggestion, not solid fact.
I've witnessed a master manipulator who SOFT-SOAPED his way around my grandmother.
Yesterday I was expecting my family for dinner and was busy with preparations most of the day. After dinner my grandchildren cleared the table and put everything away. Afterwards my daughter and her husband finished what the children had not and then mopped the floor. My daughter then set about moving anything that was in the way and might cause me to trip or fall. It was gratifying to have her do that because I don't see any danger where she does.
I wish you all a nice, relaxing day today.
Speaking of Monk, I finally had to stop watching it because his neurosis nearly drove me crazy.
Delightful Labor Day puzzle, Catherine--many thanks. And I always enjoy your commentary, Boomer, thanks so much for that neat picture of Lucy and Desi, and all your other fun news.
Well, as soon as I saw SLICE I looked for a FOOD theme, but not much showed up. No, wait, we did get some TATER TOTS, and some . . . Nope, there was nothing even to SIEVE here. What a hungry puzzle!
Okay, so how about some Art, starting with that SOPRANO SOLO followed by a DUET a little further down? Well, LUCY and DESI didn't sing much, did they? And can you imagine MONK (TONY SHALHOUB) ever singing? I guess we at least did get an owl that HOOTed, if you want to call that music.
Finally I got all excited when I saw EDU followed by ORALS. Hey, I'm a retired literature professor, and gave students some ORAL exams back in the day. I was even a Department HEAD once, for a short time. But not much else to work with.
So, have a great Labor Day, everybody. Take it easy, and don't work too hard!
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with a final correction for the "P" in POWER POSE
I just now looked back at the trio to which CanadianEh! referred - cute
There were parts of this that were good and parts that were SO SO
Boomer: Duke defeated Temple this past Friday, 30-0
I wonder if "NIL" would ever be clued to mean: "Name Image and Likeness?
Gonna go measure some things at the new house ... Happy Labor Day, though apparently not for garbage collectors - ours was just picked up a few minutes ago
PT 2:
A haiku for today's puzzle:
The impish tailor
Has printed on business card:
"I'm a SEW and SEW"
Monk had an obsessive compulsive disorder.
Good Mo-ku...Good to see you're not a Slo-MOE today!!
😁
Happy Labor Day!
FIR. Thank you Catherine and Boomer!
Lemonade @ 10:56. DH is a Gator. Mechanical Engineering major on a ROTC scholarship. After that, 25 yrs. in the USMC.
Singer-songwriter Ian Tyson (Hello, CanadianEh!) wrote the western song, SOMEDAY SOON. Here's the 1st verse:
There's a young man that I know
Whose age is twenty one
Comes from down in southern Colorado
Just out of the service
He's lookin' for his fun
Someday soon
Goin' with him someday soon
Lucina @12:01 PM And I've yet to read a satisfactory explanation of how the SHROUD was created. I've got at least 30 books on the subject.
sumdaze @1:37 PM Ian and Silvia were favorites of Teri and I. We could sing a lot of their songs by heart. "Four Strong Winds" was our favorite.
Hi All!
Thanks Catherine for an above SO-SO Monday puzzle. Thank you Boomer for the jaunty expo.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: ICI, ELY, EDNA
Fav: How ABOUT: TONY likesa SLICEa pizza pie.
Runner-up: We got the physics, not the football, Newton today. Dyne predates modern SI and is .00001 newton.
HG - where did you go to college? The only places I know that cuts pizza in squares are all the best Mom&Pop joints in SPI.
Speaking of life on the Prairie - La Choy's Chop Suey is what I thought was Chinese food. Houston's China Town fixed that.
C, Eh! - Thank you for the RUSH link. Taylor Hawkins was just as big a RUSH fan as I -- maybe more. Extend my HBD wishes to your Mom.
Enjoy'd reading everyone. Gotta run for Youngest's B-Day cook-out.
Cheers, -T
Best example of
you little so and so...
waseeley @ 1:56. "Four Strong Winds" was our favorite." Another good one!
I am having a hard time posting today.
My previous attempts have been rejected, with a note saying HTML "must be at most 4,096 characters."
My entire message is only 534 characters. What gives?
~ OMK
Sumdaze, I'm sure you remember Creedence Clearwater Revival telling us that Someday Never Comes.
A Cetta PZL, by way of Boomer...
Hands up for SHIELD before SHROUD.
I haven't read anything serious about the SHROUD of Turin, so I don't know if its image is composed of any unusual fabric stains or particles.
I just see it as a somewhat-more-permanent version of all those Madonnas-on-Toast or the Miracle of This Guy.
If these are heaven-sent, I wonder what heaven hopes to communicate.
Funny. The blog would not post the following:
My sign-off, and Diagonal Report (DR) following my message above:
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, far end.
Its anagram (10 of 15 letters) refers to everyone's favorite nightmare, a...
"SLASH CLOWN"!
Regarding that "Your puzzle will appear after this ad" message on the www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword website:
Jeez, the LA Times has made that ad video on the puzzle website even more obnoxious than it used to be. It used to play, muted, automatically upon opening the page, so one could do other things, such as opening this blogger page, and wait it out while the ad ran. But now the ad won't play unless I click the Play button (which looks like a right-pointing triangle in a box) and then I have to click the Mute button to prevent the ad from blasting out the sound. That is psychologically bad because it forces me to "request" the ad to play before I can do the puzzle. A very shitty move IMO.
Between CMoe and Ray-o, I have had my chuckles for the day. Thanks.
sumdaze and waseeley- great taste in music with Ian and Sylvia, Canadian icons!
And of course, Rush for AnonT. Great CSO today, plus a SLICE of pizza! I’ll pass on the bday greetings.
OMK- we are having a great time trying to post on the blogs today!
I liked this puzzle and felt it was a nice Monday offering. I didn't want that salon offering to be NEW DO, but it had to be. I love Tony SHALOUB and his acting style.
Good wishes to you all.
Jayce, since I'm printing my puzzles from the LAT site for free, they can play any ads they want and I'll ignore them. If they offered a $5/year subscription I'd still put up with the ads instead. I didn't set up audio on the old PC I'm using almost entirely for internet access, so I didn't know about the audio, but I did know that the timer doesn't start if it's web page is minimized.
(My power supply in that old machine started screeching yesterday, so I dug out a used PSU from my junk bin and it's quiet and strong now. Will probably last until Microflaccid discontinues Windoze 10 support, making it dangerous to have that box on line.)
Ol' Man Keith @3:29 PM The Shroud of Turin is purported to be the single most studied artifact in history. It came to the attention of the modern world after the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) circa 1981. Past and continuing research on it is tracked on the Shroud of Turin website, managed by Barrie Schwortz, a Jew who was the original photographer for STURP (I visited the site for this post and it clocked me as the 11,990,654th visitor). FWIW, the 1984 radiocarbon tests purporting to show that the cloth originated in the Middle Ages have been shown to be incorrect (search the aforementioned site and it will explain why). Whether it is Christ's burial shroud has yet to be proven or dis-proven.
Jinx, yeah, I ignore the ad. It's just humiliating to have to request it. It feels better to have the ad "forced" on me. But if the ad don't play, I can't play. Glad you found a power supply that works.
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Catherine. Fun & fast. Nice theme. Very enjoyable! Thanks for more fun, Boomer!
No unknowns or problems. NO red-letter runs.
Thanx, waseeley @5:36.
You add to my knowledge, although, in full disclosure, I had picked up on some of that through general word-o'-mouth and one old documentary.
What I don't know, still, is whether the stained fibers show anything unusual--other than burned or painted or accumulated dirt particulates--especially for the era in which the shroud has been dated.
I grant that the "Miracle of This Guy" (referenced above) reveals human intervention, although so far no one has called me out on that.
~ OMK
CED, cute SO-AND-SO pic. Looked like the tuxedo cats you and I had years ago. Miss that contrary little s-a-s.
Reading everyone's comments I realized that there were two unknowns when I said earlier there were none for me. Kate and ENOLA weren't known as clued. Apparently they perped in without my seeing the clues.
Ol' Man Keith @7 16 PM The fibers aren't "stained". The image is actually ONE fiber deep. The first layer of fibers appears to have been oxidized by light or some other form of radiation. The image is an anatomically correct and proportioned male who bears all the markings associated with a crucification. The image can be most accurately described as a faint, life sized, photographic NEGATIVE.
Last week I was Moaning about my Red Sox, today They come to st. Pete on a 6 game win streak. But Rays have been tough whittling Yankees 15 game lead to 4 in the loss column until Sundays loss
44 years ago(1978) the Redsox blew a 14 game August lead , ran off 8 straight to end the season only to suffer the Bucky Dent homer- did someone say AGONY of defeat?
WC
Jinx, I drafted my late post, fln, right after finishing the Tuesday xword. I compose in Docs and keep each day's post for a week.
And, my previous Tuesday post moaned about the woes of the woeful Redsox. That led to 1978, Bucky D and AGONY
BTW, the video I originally saw of "Talkin Baseball" showed the Dodgers death March out of the Polo Grounds through the CF tunnel, the only exit to their locker room.
The YouTube video I found didn't have it
WC
A googol is 10 to the 100th
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