Green, Green, it's Green They Say
This is constructor Micah Sommersmith's second outing with the LA Times, the previous one being August 9, 2022, reviewed by our favorite feline. Micah describes himself as "a musician, crossword constructor, and generally curious individual". Here's his website.
Today he presents us with a straightforward theme, revealed by 5 theme
clues consisting of the word
GREEN, and filled by idioms and
metaphors:
16A. Green: BURNING WITH ENVY. ENVY is often confused with JEALOUSY, but they are quite different emotions. As nouns the difference between envy and jealousy is that envy is resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions) while jealousy is (uncountable) a state of suspicious guarding towards a spouse, lover etc, from fears of infidelity. - WikiDiff.
21A. Green: PUTTING AREA. A CSO to Husker, Boomer, and TTP. The PUTTING AREA on a golf course is at the end of a hole, with neatly manicured grass, a CUP and a removable FLAG. In looking for an illustration of a green, I discovered that some courses, notably St. Andrews in Scotland, can have more than one cup per green. This green has only one.
36A. Green: FAT STACKS OF CASH. WADS was too short. An entire film, The Color of Money, starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise (his debut) was devoted to this metaphor.
44A. Green: ECO FRIENDLY. What does "Eco-Friendly" actually mean? Don't fall victim to "green washing" - 10 companies that aren't green, but say they are.
55A. Green: HOPELESSLY NAIVE. IMHO HOPELESSLY is hyperbole. With sufficient attendance at the school of hard knocks a NAIVE person (newbie, noob, tyro, rank amateur) will eventually harden into a skeptical cynic.
Here's the grid. A pretty impressive second outing with 5 Thursday themers, including 3 grid spanners:
16A. Green: BURNING WITH ENVY. ENVY is often confused with JEALOUSY, but they are quite different emotions. As nouns the difference between envy and jealousy is that envy is resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions) while jealousy is (uncountable) a state of suspicious guarding towards a spouse, lover etc, from fears of infidelity. - WikiDiff.
21A. Green: PUTTING AREA. A CSO to Husker, Boomer, and TTP. The PUTTING AREA on a golf course is at the end of a hole, with neatly manicured grass, a CUP and a removable FLAG. In looking for an illustration of a green, I discovered that some courses, notably St. Andrews in Scotland, can have more than one cup per green. This green has only one.
36A. Green: FAT STACKS OF CASH. WADS was too short. An entire film, The Color of Money, starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise (his debut) was devoted to this metaphor.
44A. Green: ECO FRIENDLY. What does "Eco-Friendly" actually mean? Don't fall victim to "green washing" - 10 companies that aren't green, but say they are.
55A. Green: HOPELESSLY NAIVE. IMHO HOPELESSLY is hyperbole. With sufficient attendance at the school of hard knocks a NAIVE person (newbie, noob, tyro, rank amateur) will eventually harden into a skeptical cynic.
Here's the grid. A pretty impressive second outing with 5 Thursday themers, including 3 grid spanners:
I think this puzzle was pretty "solver friendly". I hope no one got green around the gills filling it.
Across:
1. Info in a bank: DATA. They don't keep any
GREEN there anymore, just bits and
bytes.
5. "May I speak?": AHEM.
9. ABC show for early risers, briefly: GMA. Good Morning America. They'll be celebrating their 50th anniversary in November of 2025.
12. Where the Wings meet the Sky?: ARENA. Okay you women's hoops fans, here are the highlights of their July 22 game!
14. "Hard pass": NOPE. An exclamation used to express firm rejection or dismissal, e.g. "$150? Hard pass! - Oxford languages dict.
15. Loving murmurs: COOS.
16. [see theme expo]
19. River that forms the Michigan-Ontario border: ST MARYS. The St. Marys River, sometimes written St. Mary's River, drains Lake Superior, starting at the end of Whitefish Bay and flowing 74.5 miles (119.9 km) southeast into Lake Huron, with a fall of 23 feet (7.0 m).
20. Buck who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022: O'NEIL. John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 as an executive.
21. [see theme expo]
25. Nike rival: REEBOK.
29. Quaint word of dismay: ALAS.
30. Fur tycoon for whom a northwest Oregon city was named: ASTOR. The city is named ASTORIA, for a fort founded there by the company owned by John Jacob Astor. Astor is probably more famous for the way he died, giving up a seat on one of the lifeboats of the Titanic, just before it sank in 1912.
31. Nae sayer: SCOT.
32. Lewd material: SMUT. Shading a bit BLUE here.
36. [see theme expo]
39. Early pt. of a week: TUES.
40. Condé __: NAST. Condé Nast is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
41. Up: RAISE. As in UP the ante. We saw this recently.
42. Other, in Spanish: OTRO. Today's Spanish lesson.
43. Gently towel off: PAT DRY.
44. [see theme expo]
49. "Ghost World" star Birch: THORA. Ghost World is a 2001 black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas and Steve Buscemi. Based on the 1993–97 comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes.
50. Minor flaws: FOIBLES.
55. [see theme expo]
59. Once, once upon a time: ERST.
60. Insignificant amount: IOTA. Also the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet. Save this, you'll probably need it:
61. Welcome: GREET.
62. "Star Wars" heroine mentored by Luke: REY. Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
63. Numbskull: DOLT.
64. Subject that may come up in a frank discussion?: BUNS. Or a discussion about BRATS, the imps of the SAUSAGE world.
Down:
1. Blots gently: DABS.
2. Stuck in __: A RUT. "In a settled or established habit or course of action, especially a boring one." - dictionary.com. Or "a periodic and often annually recurring state of certain male animals (such as deer or elk) during which behavior associated with the urge to breed is displayed" - Merriam Webster.
3. Stretch in office: TERM.
4. Faris of "Mom": ANNA. Mom is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 23, 2013, to May 13, 2021, lasting eight seasons. Set in Napa, California, it follows dysfunctional daughter/mother duo Christy (Anna Faris) and Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney), who, after having been estranged for years while both struggled with addiction, attempt to pull their lives and their relationship together by trying to stay sober and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.
5. Inner turmoil: ANGST.
6. "In what way?": HOW.
7. Prefix with gram or graph: EPI. Epigram vs epigraph: what's the difference?
8. Assembled: MET. Hail fellow, well ASSEMBLED?
9. One who's done for: GONER. It's how they go out in oaters. The Lone Ranger, "The Indians have got us surrounded Tonto, I think we're GONER'S!" Tonto, "What do you mean WE paleface?"
10. "Argo" or "Fargo": MOVIE. Specific clue. General fill.
11. Safe havens: ASYLA. The plural of ASYLUM, and more Greek. The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon) 'sanctuary') is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another entity which in medieval times could offer sanctuary. The American Immigration Council is just one of many organizations in the US who support asylum seekers.
13. Place with numbered gates: AIRPORT.
15. "Peacemaker" star John: CENA. Peacemaker is an American superhero television series starring John CENA, based on the DC Comics character Peacemaker. It is the first DC Extended Universe (DCEU) television series and a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad.
17. Stooge chuckle: NYUK. A CSO to our Chairman.
18. Takes too much for oneself: HOGS.
22. Adds at the last minute: TACKS ON.
23. "This wasn't my game": I LOST.
24. Alliance headed by Jens Stoltenberg: Abbr.: NATO. Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. He's certainly got his work cut out for him.
25. River float: RAFT. Rafts can also float on oceans. Yet another Norwegian, adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002), led the Kon-Tiki expedition, a 1947 journey by RAFT across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands.
26. Old Testament twin: ESAU. How come JACOB (Hi Israel!) never shows up in puzzles? Here's the twins' story in a nutshell.
5. "May I speak?": AHEM.
9. ABC show for early risers, briefly: GMA. Good Morning America. They'll be celebrating their 50th anniversary in November of 2025.
12. Where the Wings meet the Sky?: ARENA. Okay you women's hoops fans, here are the highlights of their July 22 game!
14. "Hard pass": NOPE. An exclamation used to express firm rejection or dismissal, e.g. "$150? Hard pass! - Oxford languages dict.
15. Loving murmurs: COOS.
16. [see theme expo]
19. River that forms the Michigan-Ontario border: ST MARYS. The St. Marys River, sometimes written St. Mary's River, drains Lake Superior, starting at the end of Whitefish Bay and flowing 74.5 miles (119.9 km) southeast into Lake Huron, with a fall of 23 feet (7.0 m).
20. Buck who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022: O'NEIL. John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 as an executive.
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Buck O'Neil |
25. Nike rival: REEBOK.
29. Quaint word of dismay: ALAS.
30. Fur tycoon for whom a northwest Oregon city was named: ASTOR. The city is named ASTORIA, for a fort founded there by the company owned by John Jacob Astor. Astor is probably more famous for the way he died, giving up a seat on one of the lifeboats of the Titanic, just before it sank in 1912.
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John Jacob Astor |
32. Lewd material: SMUT. Shading a bit BLUE here.
36. [see theme expo]
39. Early pt. of a week: TUES.
40. Condé __: NAST. Condé Nast is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
41. Up: RAISE. As in UP the ante. We saw this recently.
42. Other, in Spanish: OTRO. Today's Spanish lesson.
43. Gently towel off: PAT DRY.
44. [see theme expo]
49. "Ghost World" star Birch: THORA. Ghost World is a 2001 black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas and Steve Buscemi. Based on the 1993–97 comic book of the same name by Daniel Clowes.
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Thora Birch |
55. [see theme expo]
59. Once, once upon a time: ERST.
60. Insignificant amount: IOTA. Also the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet. Save this, you'll probably need it:
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|
Ελληνικό Αλφάβητο (today's Greek lesson) |
61. Welcome: GREET.
62. "Star Wars" heroine mentored by Luke: REY. Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
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Daisy Ridley 2015 San Diego Comic-Con |
63. Numbskull: DOLT.
64. Subject that may come up in a frank discussion?: BUNS. Or a discussion about BRATS, the imps of the SAUSAGE world.
Down:
1. Blots gently: DABS.
2. Stuck in __: A RUT. "In a settled or established habit or course of action, especially a boring one." - dictionary.com. Or "a periodic and often annually recurring state of certain male animals (such as deer or elk) during which behavior associated with the urge to breed is displayed" - Merriam Webster.
3. Stretch in office: TERM.
4. Faris of "Mom": ANNA. Mom is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 23, 2013, to May 13, 2021, lasting eight seasons. Set in Napa, California, it follows dysfunctional daughter/mother duo Christy (Anna Faris) and Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney), who, after having been estranged for years while both struggled with addiction, attempt to pull their lives and their relationship together by trying to stay sober and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.
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Anna Faris |
6. "In what way?": HOW.
7. Prefix with gram or graph: EPI. Epigram vs epigraph: what's the difference?
8. Assembled: MET. Hail fellow, well ASSEMBLED?
9. One who's done for: GONER. It's how they go out in oaters. The Lone Ranger, "The Indians have got us surrounded Tonto, I think we're GONER'S!" Tonto, "What do you mean WE paleface?"
10. "Argo" or "Fargo": MOVIE. Specific clue. General fill.
11. Safe havens: ASYLA. The plural of ASYLUM, and more Greek. The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon) 'sanctuary') is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another entity which in medieval times could offer sanctuary. The American Immigration Council is just one of many organizations in the US who support asylum seekers.
13. Place with numbered gates: AIRPORT.
15. "Peacemaker" star John: CENA. Peacemaker is an American superhero television series starring John CENA, based on the DC Comics character Peacemaker. It is the first DC Extended Universe (DCEU) television series and a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad.
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John Cena |
18. Takes too much for oneself: HOGS.
22. Adds at the last minute: TACKS ON.
23. "This wasn't my game": I LOST.
24. Alliance headed by Jens Stoltenberg: Abbr.: NATO. Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. He's certainly got his work cut out for him.
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Jens Stoltenberg |
25. River float: RAFT. Rafts can also float on oceans. Yet another Norwegian, adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002), led the Kon-Tiki expedition, a 1947 journey by RAFT across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands.
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Thor Heyerdahl circa 1980 |
26. Old Testament twin: ESAU. How come JACOB (Hi Israel!) never shows up in puzzles? Here's the twins' story in a nutshell.
27. Luncheon end?: ETTE.
28. Significant video game foe: BOSS. In video games, a boss is a significant computer-controlled opponent. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the player has faced up to that point. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of a level or stage or guarding a specific objective. I wouldn't was to mess with this BOSS:
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Game Boss in
Guacamelee! |
31. Alarm: SCARE. The foe in 28D is alarmingly SCARY.
32. Jazz style: SCAT. Here's ELLA and MEL in a SCAT duet:
33. "Downton Abbey" staffer: MAID. Everything you'd ever want to know about every MAID in Downton Abbey.
34. KGB country: USSR. Now it's called the FSB and a former KGB boss is the head of RUSSIA. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!"
35. Gender-neutral pronoun: THEY.
37. Nay sayer: ANTI. Or a member of the EQUINE persuasion.
38. Coming apart at the seams?: FRAYING. Actually it means coming apart at the edges. Also used to metaphorically, e.g. "His nerves were FRAYING".
42. Like some traditions: ORAL. Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system, or in parallel to a writing system.
43. Cunning maneuver: PLOY. A common technique for transmitting crossword puzzle clues. Not this one of course.
44. Early anesthetic: ETHER. The word has several other meanings, including "a medium that in the wave theory of light permeates all space and transmits transverse waves". The existence of this medium was disproven in 1887 by the Michelson-Morley experiment, which paved the way for the acceptance of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity.
45. Mowing the lawn, e.g.: CHORE.
46. "__-daisy!": OOPSY. The meaning and history of the word.
47. Stew (over): FRET. This word is a constructor's dream. After stewing over its many meanings, I stumbled on this segue into the next clue (the ad at the end may be of interest to Corner guitarists.).
48. Black key above C: D FLAT. D-flat major (or the key of D-flat) is a major scale based on D♭, consisting of the pitches D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭ and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major.
51. Acerbic remark: BARB. BARBS occur frequently in the contemporary language of modern politicians and op-ed writers.
52. In __ of: LIEU. In LIEU of flowers send comments.
53. Tied up: EVEN. This review isn't EVEN, but we're almost there.
54. Related groups: SETS.
56. __ al-Fitr: EID. Eid al-Fitr (/ˌiːd əl ˈfɪtər, -trə/; romanized: Eid al-Fiṭr, lit. 'Holiday of Breaking the Fast') is the earlier of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam (the other being Eid al-Adha). The religious holiday is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.
57. Phillipa who was the original Eliza in "Hamilton": SOO. Phillipa Anne Soo (born May 31, 1990) is an American actress, best known for originating the role of Eliza Hamilton in the Broadway musical Hamilton in 2016. The performance earned her a nomination for a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year.
I wasn't able to get tickets to any of Ms. Soo's performances in Hamilton, but I did find this funny interview with her by Stephen Colbert, where she talks about how she got into showbiz (at age 3 in her parents' living room) and relates losing her cool when Julie Andrews came to visit her backstage after one of the shows.
58. Gateway Arch city, for short: STL. Designed by the constructor's favorite architect EERO Saarinen. Hand up if you've been to the top of it. ✋
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| St. Louis Gateway Arch |
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and her constructive talents.
waseeley
Cheers,
Bill
Micah Sommersmith, 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.
Micah Sommersmith, 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.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteEID beside SOO was just brutal, but the perps were fair, so no foul. Finished it in typical Monday time. Even got the theme -- it helps not having a reveal to miss. Thanx, Micah and Waseeley.
BUNS -- Our nextdoor neighbor has two dogs, Maizie and Frank. I've commented that she's got a corn dog and a hotdog.
ORAL Tradition -- Tom Lehrer told of a South American natives who had invented gargling and passed it down as part of their oral tradition.
ETHER -- I'm old enough to remember being etherized (is that a word?) when my tonsils were removed at age four. The bill came to some amount plus fifty cents. My father asked why the fifty cents? The doctor said it was to cover the bandaid where I'd bit him.
FIWrong. upPSY < OOPSY. Didn't notice ECu
ReplyDelete< ECO, and didn't know the other perp.
The theme was nice, and not much of a puzzle that I guessed early.
My Dad retired to a village near COOS Bay, in the SW corner of Oregon, and I went surfing in ASTORia, at the NW corner of the state.
ASYLA was a new word for me.
FLN I posted two l'icks at the tail end of last night's posting for that days puzzls.
Hello from 40,000 feet
ReplyDeleteDoha soon
Lemonade on my way
FIR without erasure, but guessed ONEIL to jump-start the Northeast. Other DNKs were REY, ASYLA, CENA, EID, SOO, Jens Stoltenberg and that BOSS was a video game foe. I had a PC game that had a "BOSS" hot key that would pause the game and display a spreadsheet.
ReplyDeleteANNA killed Mom by quitting after the seventh season. It didn't make sense without the daughter, although I liked season 8 too.
Keeping with the theme, I love Green Day's Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life).
Thanks to Micah for the fun challenge. My favorite was "tied up" for EVEN, while I was searching my meager mental DATA bank for synonyms for "busy". And thanks to Bill for the thorough explanations.
The only word I had no idea about was one everybody else has mentioned: “Soo.” Otherwise, I found this puzzle to be a very fair one. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't feel like a sage, but I did finish this puzzle in 5:55.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea for "Soo" or "Eid," which was compounded by them being placed adjacent to each other; vaguely recalled this "Thora" person from a prior puzzle; and, don't recall ever seeing "asyla" before (spellcheck doesn't approve).
FIR, without too much difficulty. A few unknowns, nothing the perps couldn't deal with
ReplyDeleteCan someone please explain 17D, Stooge chuckle, NYUK?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at GTE we had a big contract with SOO, or State of Oregon, pronounced "sue". And they sued us. We apparently bid some cutting-edge telecom products and services that only existed as brochureware. It was very ISDN-ish before there was an ISDN, and developing and deploying it was much harder that the product managers imagined.
ReplyDeleteJT~~ Curly of Stooge fame used to say it in triple “nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI really like definition puzzles and always find them a nice change of pace. I love the challenge of figuring out exactly how the author is going to define the various meanings and, in this case, the themers were all spot on and the three grid spanners were an added bonus. Overall, I thought this was a puzzle that had something for everyone, including Sports, Entertainment, Religion, Geography, Music, Pop Culture, etc., plus some cute cluing and lively fill, such as, Foibles, Angst, and Oopsy. And the frosting on the cake was having only 8 three letter words. Wilbur got double billing today with the Nae and Nay sayers!
Well done, Micah, come back soon and thanks, Bill, for another mini course in all things great and small. I always feel a tad smarter after reading your write-ups. Thanks to Teri, as well.
DO @ 5:45 ~ Only you would make that connection. 😂
FLN
Wilbur, I haven’t read any of Grisham’s latest books but, IMO, his best book was A Time To Kill, which I believe was his very first, but didn’t become popular until after The Firm was such a resounding success. My second favorite was A Painted House, a departure from his legal thrillers.
Have a great day.
Green?
ReplyDeleteI'm a little rushed today, no time for silly links.
I've got to read about The Michelson-Morley experiment!
(How "do" electromagnetic waves propagate thru a vacuum?)
Thursday triumph. Thanks for the fun, Micah and waseeley(&Teri).
ReplyDeleteI FIRed and found all the definitions of green, eventually, but not without a struggle.
I’ll blame it on being “green around the gills” for the last week (but hopefully on the road to recovery).
ASYLA is not a common word, but I know my Latin and pluralized Um to A.
Porn turned to SMUT. ( I was noting that porn was a short form and there was no indication of that in the clue . . .).
Busy changed to EVEN. Different meaning of “tied up”.
Moving D FLAT from 46D to 48D corrected that AREA.
I noted TACKS ON crossing STACKS OF.
FOIBLES is a great word. My Fav for the day.
Wishing you all a great day.
Micah the constructor here! Thanks for the write-up, and thanks to everyone for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed the puzzle. It was a fun challenge to nail down multiple senses of the term "green" - the theme entries in the first grid I submitted were a bit drab (UNRIPENED was one) so the editors encouraged me to come up with entries that were a bit more, well, colorful - to the puzzle's benefit.
Five theme entries including three spanners meant that the grid took a little fiddling, but hopefully you find it fair.
To those unfamiliar with Phillipa SOO - she originated three lead roles in Broadway musicals before age 30, and she's going to be a major theatre presence for decades. Better commit her to memory! :)
Delightful Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Micah. And always enjoy your commentary, Bill, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteWell, my goodness, this puzzle had an overall sad emotional theme, didn't it? Beginning with ANGST, there was no sense being NAIVE about being in A RUT and a bit SCAREd with all the FOIBLES and ENVY and SMUT down the road. It was a real CHORE not to become HOPELESS and start looking for some ETHER to help us stop FRET-ting and give us some relief.
And it worked. Saying a prayer or two at ST. MARY'S helped RAISE our spirits and GREET-ed us with more FRIENDLY possibilities, like going to a MOVIE or watching a game at the ARENA, where we could eat some hotdog BUNS. Yep, a much happier way to go.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Micah and Bill! What a nice Thursday theme! Nothing to FRET about. Normally I would say we are devoid of GREEN here in the desert except that after last week's rain that changed. It won't last long, though.
Sadly I never visited Michigan to finish my goal of going to all 50 states so I'm unfamiliar with the ST. MARYS River. CSO to my high school alma mater, though, ST. MARY'S. It's still open but with very few nuns. When I went there, every class except religion was taught by nuns. The Franciscan priests taught religion and we girls were all in love with the very handsome Father Christian
At a very young age (8 or 9) I was given ETHER to remove an abscessed tooth.
I love the word FOIBLES and it's positioned over HOPELESSLY NAIVE! Fun! Sometimes I can be that and my daughter just rolls her eyes.
Have a delightful day, everyone!
MOM is an entertaining sitcom. It's in reruns every day. ANNA Faris and the rest of the cast are truly hilarious.
Held on to rOPE for "hard pass" way to long. Old football slang.
ReplyDelete"rOPE" for 'Hard pass'. Good catch, anon-don. Or Frozen ____
ReplyDeleteI've watched a lot of "Mom". My friends Chet and Lois recommended it
Micah, thanks for dropping by and keeping pop-cul proper names to a minimum. Mo nits to pick here
Smooth solve
WC
CEDave: photons?
ReplyDeleteAnon: 5:55?! 5 hours, 55 minutes?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks, Micah, for the backstory and fun solve...and to Bill for the great write-up.
Micah the Constructah (c'mon, that works): Thanks for stopping-by and commenting. Your puzzle was enjoyable, more than fair, and importantly ... didn't include any circles.
ReplyDeleteProfMeritus: 5 minutes and 55 seconds (I think you were being facetious, but I often "read" things the wrong way). That's quick for me for a Thursday.
Ms. Irish Miss: "A Time to Kill" is my favorite Grisham book, and may even be, simply, my favorite book. Many years ago, I got sunburn while reading it because I couldn't put it down or bother to move into the shade.
A PZL from Mr. Sommersmith, whose very name destined him to become a cruciverbalist, and now presented to us by waseeley.
ReplyDeleteI struggled over 14A far more than I should have, merely because I can't think of NOPE as a "Hard pass." It is way too casual.
I moved on, and then discovered--after I thought I had completed the XWD--that I left the "P" blank: NO E.
J.J. ASTOR. Yes, his self-sacrificing example is what we all remember of the man. It is the perfect model of "Noblesse-oblige" and the only real justification of aristocracy in society.
A Thought; Taken as a type of a lifelong commitment, such personal denial is the reason for hanging on to the monarchy. Nowadays,the world expects two things of a monarch, as we witnessed in Elizabeth II: Service and self-sacrifice.
The latter includes a degree of humility.
And no, a queen can't go around looking like a nun or a cellar maid. (ASTOR didn't spend his life like a hermit.) We want them to be dripping with wealth, encased in gilt and jewels, but inside all that, living an abstemious life, choosing a career of self-denial--so that we understand all the pomp and glory is for the people, not something to the personal taste of the billionaire ruler, but for the pride of the nation.
Just sayin'.
~ OMK
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DR: Four diagonals, three on the far side.
The far central diag gves us an anagram (12 of 15 letter) that speaks of a basketballer, whose lengthy hops cover the length of the court so swiftly & powerfully, he is thought to be...
"PART KANGAROO"!
I liked this puzzle, your write-up, waseeley, and all your comments, everyone. Very interesting stuff about the propagation of light, CED.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your puzzle, Micah. Thank you for posting your comments. I am wondering if you considered "green" for 61A. Changing 54D to "sent" and 64A to "bunt" would do the trick. I think that would have been cool but perhaps I am just HOPELESSLY NAIVE.
ReplyDeleteFAVs: "info in a bank" and "nae sayer"
Thank you for your very informative write-up, waseeley. I appreciate the time you put into it!
FLN: Jayce. Congrats on the 40 lbs.! Wow!!!
Micah, thanks for dropping by. Look forward to seeing your name again soon.
ReplyDeleteSpeedy Solver @ 2:39 ~ I suffered the same fate for the same reasons while immersed in The Winds of War!
I'd also like to add my thanks to Micah for stopping by and giving us some insights on the origins and development of this puzzle. The clues may have been monochromatic, but the fill was very colorful.
ReplyDeleteI've been keeping a low profile as Teri and I are watching 6 of our grandchildren while my son and DIL spend four days celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. We're taking a break on Saturday to attend a wedding, returning late to my son's place so we can get the kids to church on Sunday. Busy weekend!
Musings
ReplyDelete-Just back home after a 12 hour round trip to play golf on a world class course in northern Nebraska
-Gotta love five themers.
-Highway 30 runs through our little town and ends in ASTORIA, OR.
-Not much to add at this late hour.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks Micha for a fun 'definition' puzzle - certainly not GREEN Paint. Enjoyable. Thanks for stopping by the Corner too.
Also, you have a new Twitter follower.
Fine expo, waseeley.
I've been to top of the Arch in STL
WOs: uyCK->NYUK, ASYLm [sic], swi[n]g Jazz, seE in->GREET
ESPs: ANNA, CENA, THORA, SOO
Fav: I'll jump on the FOIBLE bandwagon.
Jinx - I was stuck on 'busy' too not inking anything for a spell.
Back to work. Hopefully more time to play tomorrow.
Cheers, -T
Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Micah! Great expo, Bill!
ReplyDeleteI kept looking for more to the theme than just GREEN! NOPE! Good enough.
We were on the Oregon Coast and I insisted that we drive to ASTORIA to see where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. We had followed the Columbia River Gorge to Portland. Those were the days when I was studying & writing about waterways.