Puzzling thoughts:
Hi gang, C-Moe here getting a rare opportunity to recap a puzzle from one of his crossword puzzle constructor mentors, Robin Stears. Robin is no stranger to either this blog or blogger; (see my Jan 1, 2021 recap) at last count she must have at least ___ puzzles (fill-in-the-blank, someone!) published at the LAT, and perhaps 1,000+ puzzles published in total. Maybe she will stop by today and help me with my math!
Tapping into my inner "Husker Gary", I emailed Robin to get a few comments from her about today's puzzle, her inspiration, etc. Here's what she said:
"This crossword was actually inspired by a rejected crossword, which sounds weird but c'est la vie! I overheard a sports announcer say, "He's oh-for-two..." and I thought it would be fun to turn a double OO into a single O -- O for two. My favorite theme entry in that set was KINKY BOTS, but I think COWBOY BOTS with a Westworld clue would have worked just as well.
Patti Varol wasn't impressed.
So, I thought I'd try it the other way around -- turning a single O into a double OO.
Every once in a while, a puzzle just comes together almost by itself. This was one of those puzzles. The theme entries were super easy to find, they fit into the grid perfectly, and it filled like a dream. Sometimes, I'll spend days trying to work a puzzle, but this one practically put itself together, and in record time! I don't think it took me more than two hours to make this crossword, and that includes writing the clues.
Not only did Patti like the theme, she called my grid "squeaky clean"! For the first time in my entire career (spanning 30 years), she accepted the grid "as is" with no changes at all. Not a single one! Of course, I'll have to wait and see if the published clues are the same ones I wrote, but I absolutely trust Patti's judgment if she changed any of them. She's smart and savvy and knows her audience."
Well, I certainly can't add much more than that!! I agree that this puzzle was super clean although a couple of words were unknown to me: (12-Down. "Just Dance" game company): UBISOFT and (16-Across. Wikipedia articles that need expanding): STUBS, as clued. And if those stumped you, too, here is a link for UBISOFT, and here is a link for Wikipedia STUBs.
Five of the "double O's" made the cut, and no reveal was necessary. Here are the entries:
17-Across. Filming that takes place in a vault?: BANK SHOOT. BANKSHOT (one word) can mean a carom in pool/billiards, or a goal made in basketball when the ball hits the backboard before going through the net
25-Across. Revenue for the Witch Museum?: SALEMS LOOT. SALEM'S LOT is both a movie and a Stephen King novel
36-Across. Blast from a tugboat powered by spuds?: TATER TOOT. A TATER TOT looks like this:
While a TATER TOOT might be described as:
50-Across. Fantastic display of hustle?: GREAT SCOOT. "GREAT SCOT" was a favorite line from this "Back to the Future" co-star:
60-Across (and C-Moe's favorite of the five). Footwear worn in a meatpacking plant?: SPAM BOOTS. And while the image below doesn't match the pun, it certainly brings back memories of the "Spiced Ham in a Can". According to the company's Spam Museum, Ken Digneau, the brother of a Hormel executive, came up with the name — a portmanteau word for “spiced ham” — in a naming contest and got $100 as a reward. The new product was introduced on July 5, 1937
Here's the grid; and then on to the rest of the clues!
Across:
1. Fiddler's supply: ROSIN. Isn't this the waxy stuff that violinists use to condition their bows? As a kid, though, who was into baseball, the ROSIN bag was a thing of interest ... it's the white object on the pitcher's mound ... wait a darn minute! Didn't we already have this word this week? Wednesday? And then, it WAS clued as the baseball "equipment" ... this is Moe "paying attention"!! ;^)
6. "Sex Education" actor Butterfield: ASA. What did they call "Sex Education" before it became a "thing"? On-the-job-training! ;^) Here is ASA in the official trailer ...
9. Magazine copy: ISSUE. Do you know that if you split the word ISSUE 40%/60% you get "IS SUE". Listen (at least up to the 1:17 mark) to this classic song
14. Like lambs: OVINE. "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy ..." are the beginning words to the 1943 hit song "Mairzy Doats". And now that explains it! Ivy grows on a VINE and lambs eat it. OH! VINE!
15. ICU staffer: LPN. According to [Nursing Licensce Map Dot Com], "Registered Nurses (RN) provide direct care to patients, while Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) typically provide assistance to doctors or registered nurses. Licensure as a registered nurse is generally sought after graduation from a 4-year undergraduate nursing program and successful completion of the NCLEX-RN"
So after reading this, I dove a little deeper into my Google search, and wondered if the clue (ICU staffer) was accurate. You decide
19. Comet's path: ORBIT. Actually, isn't Comet's path directly behind Prancer and Vixen; alongside Cupid?
20. Delivery guess, briefly: ETA.
21. Tribeca neighbor: SOHO. So first, a bit of a nit to pick: The clue should've been spelled out TriBeCa (note the other two capital letters), as it stands for "Triangle Below Canal" Street. It's an acronym. And SOHO is one of its neighbors.
In NYC speak, SOHO is the acronym for "SOuth of HOuston". [Google] confirms this: "The name "SoHo" derives from the area being "South of Houston Street", and was coined in 1962 by Chester Rapkin, an urban planner and author of The South Houston Industrial Area study, also known as the 'Rapkin Report'" And of course, there is a video that explains why New Yorkers don't pronounce "HOuston" the same as those in Texas
22. Peak southeast of Olympus: OSSA. I had ETNA in here for some unknown reason, which made it impossible for me to get STROLL, SUBSOIL and UBISOFT
23. Cracker with seven holes: RITZ. Haiku/Moe-ku:
Song title about
Russian Prez that went crackers?
"Putin on the RITZ"
Don't like that one? How about this instead?
Fancy cracker shrugged,
Jerked, twitched, and barked. I guess it
Has Tour-RITZ Syndrome
29. Unwrapped with excitement: TORE AT. This makes sense once you split the entry 2/3-1/3. "TOREAT" was a head scratcher. I notice that some of the easier puzzle publications (Penny Dell, e.g.) add to the clue "(two words)". Do you, as crossword solvers, sometimes want to know that an entry is actually a multiple word phrase? Curious to YOUR thoughts. In the case of this particular clue, I'd say yes
31. Reprobate: LOWLIFE. Is the opposite of LOWLIFE/reprobate, HIGHDEATH/angel??
32. Sign above a studio door: ON AIR. "Quiet, please!"
33. Horned herbivore: RHINO.
35. Mil. officers: LTS. This clue, and the one below (39-Across) are examples of abbreviations made plural. LieutenanTS. There are some crossword editors that frown upon the use of them
39. U.K. lawmakers: MPS. Never could understand the position of the "S" in the pluralization of some abbreviations. It's MemberS of Parliament, so shouldn't that be MSP? Of course, CC and Boomer would argue that MSP is the airport code for Minneapolis/St Paul. Gawd, we have a strange language!!
42. "Incorrect!": FALSE. No, this is TRUE!
43. Cavalry blade: SABER. How many of you spelled this with the ending, "RE"? In case you wondered, [Brittanica dot com] says: "sabre, also spelled SABER, a heavy military sword with a long cutting edge and, often, a curved blade. Most commonly a cavalry weapon, the sabre was derived from a Hungarian cavalry sword introduced from the Orient in the 18th century; also a light fencing weapon developed in Italy in the 19th century for duelling"
47. Negroni ingredient: CAMPARI. As a sommelier I am supposed to know (in addition to wine) the basics of all forms of alcoholic beverages (Beer, wine, Saki, any and all spirits), as well as the corresponding cocktails. So what's in a Negroni, Moe? Equal parts of Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and CAMPARI; served in a "rocks" glass and garnished with an orange slice. Given its popularity I might go out on a limb and say that this has replaced the "Cosmo" as the new, hip cocktail
49. __ Tuesday: SHROVE. Here is a thorough report on this "holiday". Occasionally my birthday falls on SHROVE Tuesday; but then, so does ASH Wednesday
53. Back up on the job?: ABET. Many clues for this entry
54. Restaurant freebie: ROLL. Really? Free? Don't you have to be sitting at a table and ordering a meal to get one? Hmm. Should I try that? I will go into a restaurant and say something like, "May I have just a ROLL please? Nothing else; and I expect that since it has no price on your menu that it's a freebie, yes??!"
Would you have preferred a haiku/Moe-ku instead?
No one likes Dad jokes
Don't butter him up when he
Thinks he's on a ROLL
55. Concluded: OVER.
57. Rapper Dr. __: DRE. Hey! A rapper I've heard of. Remember MC Ren from my last blog??
58. "Solutions and Other Problems" writer Brosh: ALLIE. If this were Boomer blogging, might you think he'd want her name to be "LANE" instead?? Note, if this comment "went over your head", Boomer prefers calling this image a LANE
62. Quite small: TEENY. I'm guessing that the "itsy-bitsy, TEENY-weeny [sic], yellow polka dot bikini" was TEENY for its day
63. Communication sys. at Gallaudet: ASL. We had ASL in my recap a couple weeks ago; it was clued: "Communication syst. used in the film 'CODA'"
64. Minor channel: INLET. Did anyone else think of these "minor" channels?? Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, Sprout, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon
65. Equivocate: HEDGE.
66. Bad start?: DYS. Ha! Good wordplay clue. As in "DYSfunctional"; a word that many psycho-therapists often hear during therapy sessions
67. Pips and pits: SEEDS. This is a first-time clue for the word SEEDS! Speaking of SEEDS, I wonder which, if any, of the five entries for today's puzzle was the SEED entry for Robin?
Down:
1. The MLB's __ Clemente Award: ROBERTO. There is more to say about ROBERTO Clemente than I could possibly fit into this recap. I was lucky enough to have seen him play - in person - when I was studying at Pitt in the early '70s
That he died in an airplane crash just three months after his final season as a baseball player, and whose final at bat was achieving his 3,000th hit (a rare feat for MLB players), and considering that the circumstances of his death was that he volunteered to fly onboard an overloaded supply plane, bound for Nicaragua, and carrying provisions for suffering people in that country. The plane crashed into the sea shortly after take-off on December 31, 1972. His caring actions were felt far beyond the baseball community. The award is bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field
2. Hand: OVATION. I gave ROBERTO Clemente many standing OVATIONS, though he remained quite humble
3. "From Here to Eternity" Oscar winner: SINATRA. Who knew that? Not I. I was still in diapers at the time this picture was released. And oddly, SINATRA won for his supporting actor role, not for the Best Song. But here is the song along with lyrics for your enjoyment
4. Printer cartridges: INK. No reference to a tattoo??
5. Loch near the Moray Firth: NESS. Home of "Nessie" the monster
6. "Welcome to Hawaii!": ALOHA. Also the word used when you're leaving the state
7. Wire holder: SPOOL. Should we overlook an word/fill that has the same double-letter combo as the entries? SPOIL fits the spaces but would require a re-make of that portion of the puzzle
8. Industrious insect: ANT. I hear they live in colonies. So are nudists, then, really ANTs??
9. Kin of equi-: ISO. Puzzles with 5 "theme" entries (in a standard 15x15 puzzle grid) usually produce a lot of three-letter words. I know that Robin was both pleased and shocked that Patti accepted her puzzle with no edits. That said, there were a lot of three-letter abbreviations in today's puzzle, and I know that can be frustrating for some of you out there
10. Recreational walk: STROLL. I may be forced to take only STROLLs as part of my walking routine. I've been using a power walk (at about 4 MPH) for my aerobics, but now that my knees are feeling some arthritis, I may have to lessen the pace
11. Layer above bedrock: SUBSOIL. Also another word for dirt in a hoagie??
13. Grand properties: ESTATES. Here are some in Arizona. Note: none of these were on our list to buy! ;^)
18. One expecting an RSVP: HOST.
24. Time, in German: ZEIT. CSO memory to Spitzboov who clearly knew the meaning of this word. As did I. I had a double major in college: Economics and German. Sadly I can no longer communicate "auf Deutsch"
26. Not for the hoi polloi: ELITE. "Hoi polloi" is the ELITE's way of referring to we common folks
27. Hi-fi setting: MONO. Also the common name/word used for the "kissing disease"
28. Sports logo since 1972: SWOOSH. Some interesting history about the Nike logo
30. Oslo Accords participant: ARAFAT. Not too many other last names fit
33. Smithsonian artifact: RELIC.
34. Appt. book divisions: HRS. More pluralizing of abbr's
37. Patches up, as a driveway: TARS. I've never used old sailors to patch up my driveway
38. "Teen Titans Go!" voice actress Strong: TARA. Without even looking this up, I knew that the clue was targeted at a different generation than mine. TARA Strong plays the character, "Raven"
39. "Supergirl" actress Katie: MCGRATH. Ditto 38-Across; this clue was also targeted to a younger generation methinks. [wikipedia] "Katie McGrath is an Irish actress. In television, she gained recognition for portraying ... her role as Lena Luthor on the superhero series Supergirl (2016–2021)"
40. One on conditional release: PAROLEE.
41. Sensed, in a way: SMELLED. The nose knows
44. 1996 also-ran: BOB DOLE. Robert Joseph Dole ran against incumbent President William Jefferson Clinton in the 1996 Presidential election
45. Turned inside out: EVERTED. Upon examination, I found that this word refers to the position of the ankle during a sprain. If you don't believe me, then Google it yourself!! :^)
46. Tries again: RE-TESTS. Or as my folks used to say, "a do over"
48. Losing color: PALING. As in turning white?? As a footnote, I often use this reference when writing my clues for a puzzle submission. Most of the clues for PALING refer to a fence or picket
49. Much of a sunflower: STEM. Indeed
51. "__-daisy!": OOPSY. Hmm, another word/fill that has the double O's, yet is not one of the entries ... OOPS!! ;^)
52. Shapes formed by angled spotlights: OVALS. Let's see ... yup!
56. Hitting stat: RBIS. Once again, shouldn't this be RSBI? As in RunS Batted In?
59. Word with private or public: EYE. Margaret and I recently watched a movie on one of our streaming channels called "EYE in the Sky". It's quite a riveting movie. Here's the trailer if you're interested:
60. Pathetic: SAD. A rather harsh definition, but certainly "Friday-worthy"
61. Pacific Coast Highway's route number: ONE. Too many iconic views along Hwy ONE to choose from, so I came up with another "ONE" that I hope you'll recall:
Final thought: As I completed the puzzle and blog, I realized I forgot a very important CSO to my fellow Friday blogger, Lemonade714, whose lovely wife and partner Oo is featured in today's puzzle!
As always, YOUR comments are appreciated. See u again in a couple weeks, hopefully from our new home ...
It took WAGs and ESP to get “McGrath” crossing “Allie.” OTOH, the gimmick was pretty clear from the start, and that made it easier to solve the puzzle. BTW, I must say that Johnny Cash has always been my favorite country star, ever since I was a 14 year old singing “Ring of Fire” as I coasted my bicycle down a steep hill. (I didn’t understand what I was singing then; I know better now.) Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteSame here - WAG at ALLIE/MCGRATH. I had SALEM *ALLOT* for SALEM'S LOOT for some reason, so it took a while to see SUBSOIL and SWOOSH. Glad to find out it wasn't some sports team logo that I didn't know. STUBS and UBISOFT were gimmes for me.
ReplyDeleteFor once, a crosswordese name clued in a way that I DID know (not from doing crosswords) - TARA Strong. Though I knew her for voicing Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents, one of my favorite cartoons as a kid.
LPN is new to me. It could've been LTE with ASP above it instead of ASA but the downs in that area were easy anyway.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, a Wite-Out-free Friday. My only unknown was SHROVE Tuesday -- isn't that what we call Mardi Gras? Why confuse things? Nice puzzle from Robin, and a scholarly expo from C-Moe. What's not to like?
STROLL -- We've noticed recently on our 3-mile-marches through the 'hood that other folks seem to walk faster than we do. Takes us an hour, which if my math still works, comes to 3 miles per hour.
ESTATES -- Most of the homes in our little town are situated on one-acre lots. Now D.R. Horton is building a subdivision here, touting its half-acre lots, and calling them ESTATES.
FIR, much to my surprise. I drove to Charlotte yesterday to pick up my RV from Caterpillar. They fixed the fuel leak, but it overheated during their final test drive. I suspect that the diesel leaked into the centrifugal fan clutch. So I spent the night in a hotel, without my printer. I'm not used to the online puzzle, and was surprised when I got congratulations before I had reviewed my work. I'll take the hard copy any day.
ReplyDeleteD-O I'll bet that there wasn't a sewer system when your neighborhood was laid out. In a lot [hehe] of places, an acre is the minimum for a septic system.
Thanks to Robin for the fun challenge, and to C-Moe for the chuckles.
Jinx, so far as I know there's always been a municipal sewer system (MUD) here.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThe theme was obvious early on but that didn’t diminish the challenge of the solve at all, IMO. Asa, Tara, Allie were unknown, as clued, and Ubisoft was totally unknown, as was Everted. My favorite themer was Tater Toot and my favorite entry was McGrath, as that’s my maiden name. Add Katie to the list of unknowns.
Thanks, Robin, for a fun Friday solve and for sharing the details about the evolution of this puzzle and thanks, Moe, for the informative and entertaining review. Your Moe-kus, as always, brought smiles and chuckles, as did many of your asides.
Have a great day.
Robin's puzzle caused some trouble for this LOWLIFE in the SW and NE that required some WAGS for unknowns in order to FIR. STUBS, UBISOFT, McGRATH, ALLIE, and especially HEDGE which I would never associate with 'Equivocate'. Just lucky today. ASA, TARA, RITZ, and CAMPARI were unknowns as clued filled by guesses.
ReplyDeleteI caught the theme after changing BANK SHOTS to SHOOT. The extra O to fill GREAT SCOOT was the only thing that let me get the SW because with four unknowns I wouldn't have completed it. Sometimes you just get lucky and today I did.
SHROVE Tuesday, aka MARDI GRAS in the Big Easy
Took me 13:36 to get this one doone.
ReplyDeleteSame comment as the others regarding: McGrath, Allie, Ubisoft, & everted.
Hadn't heard of "Shrove" before either.
Tatertoot seemed too much of a stretch, and close behind was GreatScoot, but overall a good Friday puzzle.
FIW, the crossing of stubs and ubisoft did me in. Took a WAG and put an N instead of a B.
ReplyDeleteSmall nit about LPN. Having been in the ICU a few times, I would want an RN attending to me, not an LPN. Never saw an LPN in the ICU when I was there.
In spite of all the DNKs (ASA UBISOFT STUBS MCGRATH TARA ALLIE) and one W/O OOPSA:OOPSY, I very much enjoyed this 27 minute FIR. I got the theme with BANKSHOOT and that was a help. My favorite clue was TATERTOOT! Cute! Very nice CW, lotsa fun, thanx RS. Terrific write-up, too, thanx C-Moe for all your efforts.
ReplyDeleteIn Greek, hoi polloi means 'the people. So clue "not for the people" is redundant.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-40F this morning. Brrr…
-ROBERTO, SINATRA and BOB DOLE threw a bone to us older solvers but MCGRATH, ALLIE and ASA said, “Not so fast”
-Early Nebraska sheep herders named their temporary train station OVINE, NE
-The ORBIT of Halley’s comet takes 76 years to complete so mark the year 2062 on your calendar. BTW, Halley rhymes with alley not daily.
-Chips and salsa are not free at our favorite restaurant but they appear as soon as we sit down
-Some say SINATRA got that role because of a metaphorical “dead horse in a bed” ala The Godfather
-My old Apple IIe did a lot of SPOOLING at times
-A hilarious/nostalgic look at The STROLL from 64 years ago
-The SW was a struggle. I didn’t know CAMPARI, put in FADING (PALING?) and MCGRATH/ALLIE were out of my ken.
-Nice job, Chairman.
No problem with the gimmick. Names crossing threw me :McGrath, Allie, CAMPARI. Had to capitalize because of spell check. Other wise not to bad
ReplyDeleteA Friday FIR always is a great start to the day! And Robin's theme helped after I saw the endings were OOT and could prefill the lower themers's last three spaces. Fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThanks, C Moe, for a helpful review that cleared up my unknowns. I was able to fill them thanks to perps but didn't know Asa, Tara or McGrath.
Hope you all get to have a stroll during the comfortable fall weather this weekend. No rain predicted here, though we could really use some.
What a fun puzzle and write up. The few unknowns like MCGRATH and ROBERTO revealed themselves quickly. I took a chance and put in a B for STUBS and UBISOFT because I liked the sound. Sometimes you win.
ReplyDeleteNice of Robin to tell us about her puzzle thoughts. What’s not to like about Cmoe-kus.
Enjoyable, fun, and several learning moments.
ReplyDeleteWhat more could you ask for in a crossword...
A tasty find for a Friday!
Serious grumbling here at so many crossed proper names. Particularly: MCGRATH/CAMPARI/ALLIE. And UBISOFT/OSSA. WAG to FIR it but it diminishes the joy and satisfaction. Never heard of SALEMS LOT, which made me doubt that theme fill.
ReplyDeleteFrom yesterday and earlier:
Lucina Thanks for your reply about the TOTES boots. I cannot live without pullover rain boots in the winter and have no idea why TOTES discontinued them. Or how other people deal with avoiding wet SHOES in the rain.
I was a bit mystified about your comment about looking forward to me sharing travel photos. Did you see my SEINE photo last Saturday and/or my GECKO video yesterday?
Wilbur Charles Thanks for the welcome back. I am mystified about your comment regarding my GECKO video and your WiFi service. How can you run out of WiFi? Or am I misunderstanding? The video is very short and you can get the idea in the first five seconds.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme early, but still needed Red Letters to fill in the unknown names, etc. It was still a Friday puzzle.
Good puzzle by Robin with some clever cluing, and a good write-up by Moe.
I agree with HG about chips and salsa not being free at Mexican restaurants. They expect you to buy something else. At some restaurants, rolls are extra. At some places another thing that is not always included for "free" anymore is using a credit card. My favorite Pizza place now charges 3% for the privilege of using a card. I would rather have them raise the price a little instead.
Have a great day everyone.
Thank you Robin for an almost Friday FIR.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you MOE!
Only a few favs today as we're headed to the Berkeley Springs WV Apple Butter Festival for the weekend:
29A TORE AT. As we'll see next week it's also useful to know if a two word fill is hyphenated.
47A CAMPARI. SPOILER ALERT. We may see this RSN as well.
24D ZEIT. Had 4 years of German, and all I can remember (other than the lyrics to losts of lovely Lieder) is "Auf wiedersehen", Deutsch for "We hope you had a good time in Hawaii!". And I too miss Spitz Moe.
44D BOB DOLE. This reminded me of one of the greatest crossword clues of all times: "39. The headline of tomorrow's newspaper (!), with 43. across" published in the NYT on November 5th 1996.
51D OOPSY. I had DISFUNCTIONAL fill for this, and thus a BAD spelling for DYS, a mistake I won't make again: OOPSY ends in the same letter as DAISY Bill!
61D ONE. There is also a Rte ONE that runs along the East Coast through Baltimore, but it is not a part of the Interstate System. That honor goes to I95.
Cheers,
Bill
FLN: Spent most of yesterday chasing our two youngest grandsons around the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Jarretsville, MD. Here's a fox hunter and his hounds chasing after a fox. And here's one of the grandsons petting the fox.
Managed a FIR in 13:04 (one of the few times I’ve ever had a faster time than anonymous SS, DNLC), and much less than my usual 20-30 minutes on a Friday. Took off quick in the NW and croozed from there, several unknowns filled by the perps…DNK what Negroni was so CAMPARI was perped, as were ZEIT, TARA, and MCGRATH. Surprisingly after 8 years in a Catholic school I don’t ever recall the day before Ash Wednesday being called SHROVE Tuesday 🤷♂️. Had to eliminate fading and waning before I came up with PALING. Always thought it was UPSY daisy and not OOPSY. All in all, a nice solvable puzzle, thank you Robin for that, and also relating your inspiration for the grid, always nice to hear from the constructors!
ReplyDeleteC-Moe ~ very detailed, educational and entertaining write up! I agree that RBI can stands alone as either singular or plural, I’ve heard some announces skip the “s” even when referring to multiple runs. Also, I’d rather not have the “two words” attached to the clue, it’s up to the solver to suss that out, just my opinion.
Our US Rte One along the east coast is an interstate highway. Rte. One, The Pacific Coast Highway, is a state highway.
ReplyDelete"A brief History of US Route 1, America's first interstate highway. U.S. Route 1 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,390 miles (3,846 km) from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border." Google.
The dog ate my homework, no the internet ate my post that I spent half an hour writing. Grrr.
Lots of WAGs, but thought it a good Friday puzzle. Thanks, Robin. And thanks C-Moe for the expo. I thought your haikus (in keeping with the theme) were a hoot!! Natick STUBS and UBISOFT. I had SEED for the sunflower(49D) before I got STEM because I thought it referred to the flower itself (see photo). My least favorite foreign words in the CW are German. In my youth it was "upsy-daisy" when a toy toppled.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin Stears and CMoe. Fun Friday!
CSO and a remembrance of my late maternal grandfather who raised hundreds of OVINE animals on the once lush hills of Concho, AZ. It's all abandoned now.
SHROVE Tuesday is so called because one is expected to make one's confession just before the start of Lent.
In Denver I taught one of the nine MCGRATH children at our school.
FADING changed to PALING.
Last October I had the good fortune to visit SALEM, MA. They really go all out for Halloween with a street carnival.
Picard: I missed last weekend's post because I was in California for the Believe Walk.
Wishing you all a fantastic Friday!
I was off to a good start, I live on Sinatra Dr. then it was all downhill as I missed McGrath, Asa, Tara, and Allie.
ReplyDeleteBeing a grandma I went with “upsy-Daisy” before oopsy-Daisy. A bad case of mono (mononucleosis) forced me to drop out of my first year of college. My sunflower had seed before stem. Thank you C-Moe
Fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Robin. And those little verses in your commentary always make me laugh, Chairman Moe, thanks for those too.
ReplyDeleteSurely SINATRA deserved an OVATION for his performances, after getting an ALOHA before going on stage from his HOST. I'm guessing people also listened to him ON AIR, so no wonder he was on a ROLL.
I always look for critters in a puzzle and this time they had opposite sizes: I'm talking about the RHINO and the ANT. I guess neither of those is actually OVINE--although maybe a bit LOW LIFE (well, at least that little ANT). Do they eat SEEDS? Maybe only after they SMELLED them and thought they were okay.
Well, enough comments from me--OVER and out. Have a great day, everybody.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteFLN - Thanks for the kind commentary on my HOSTing The Corner. I would have gotten here, but... Let's just say there's a vul being exploited in the wild and we responded. #CyberSecurity #PITA
Robin - you win. McGRoTH xing oLLIE seemed fine. FIW. I also got Nitack'd in the SW - SHR(?)O(V?)E but my guesses worked out.
C. Moe! Dude, are you trying to raise the bar on expos? I spent more time chasing links than puzzle-play. #Learning.
Hand-up wanting SABre.
Also, I learned Negroni isn't sushi related... I kept trying to fit some fish in kelp there.
UBISOFT took two perps - I think they're a French company.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: ASA, OSSA, SHROVE (#LuckyGuesses!), [see: FIW]
Fav: DYS's clue.
Jinx / D-O: [see: MUDs] //John Oliver@9:47 [click-warning: #politics #profanity #HBO]
Waseely - No #Spoilers! Cool topiary pics.
FLN - I could barely make out the gecko, Picard. But Neet-O!
//Speaking of groovy - anyone google 'velma'? #Ally
Lucina - Me tOO! I kept trying to reconcile "I think ROLL" with "I think fAdING" for quite a spell. Multiple ABC-runs before INK went to paper.
I gotta get back to work but... Reprobate: I love it! - Made me think of how Mrs. Carlson referred to Dr. Johnny Fever [@9:27 of 17m (and fuzzy at the end)].
Cheers, -T
FIW. Same WAGes as others mentioned but my luck ran out at UnISOFT/STUnS.
ReplyDeleteRobin's gimmick was cOOl and C-Moe's review was smOOth. Well done!
My vote is for the clue to not say when there are multiple words.
FAV: GREAT SCOOT
Awesome topiary pics, Waseeley!
As to restaurant freebies, I always think of my grandfather teasing us grandkids that all he could afford to buy us at the restaurant was a Pine Float -- a glass of water and a toothpick!
Disguising the two words puts zest into the xword, IMO
ReplyDeleteRe. The "s". Same for RBIS. The majority just want to tack an S
I got SHROVE Tuesday mixed up with MAUNDY Thursday. I liked the sound of Maundy Tuesday
Bob Evans is good with the freebies. Besides rolls they offer banana bread
ROBERTO was originally signed by the Dodgers . They already had Carl Furillo so they sold him to the Pirates . OTOH it was great to 7 quick letters off the gitgo
Those STROLLers didn't know the secret. Complete indifference and scorn
Sherry, when spellcheck rebels put an * at the end then erase
Picard, I've got limited download capacity up in Fla no man's land. Messes up the TV too
My favorite xword clue? Incontinence on Jersey Shore character
Dependsonthesituation
(NYT Sunday clue)
YR I have a .doc for each day of the week and always cut and paste to CC.
WC
A very clever PZL from Robin Stears, offered up here by our smart Chairman Moe, with some of his brilliant signature Moe-kus!
ReplyDeleteMy only question concerns the fill for 52D, OVALS.
Perhaps some "shapes formed by ...spotlights" create OVALS, but when it comes to "angled spotlights," it really depends on the receiving surface. The results are more likely to be skewed ellipses, aren't they?
Just sayin'...
~ OMK
____________
DR: Just the one diagonal on the far side.
As for its anagram (12 of 15), I am trying to remember which ring of his Inferno it was that Dante reserved for the very messiest inhabitants...?
Whichever, it must be known as the...
"SLOBBIER HELL"!
OMK:
ReplyDeleteClever! I always look forward to see what anagram you will create with the words du jour.
I liked this puzzle and chuckled heartily at TATER TOOT and GREAT SCOOT. Loved your recap, Chairman Moe. Fortunately, as a computer game player, I knew UBISOFT, and as a frequent user of Wikipedia I have seen STUBS. On the other hand, I did not know ASA Butterfield, ALLIE Brosh, TARA Strong, and Katie MCGRATH.
ReplyDeleteGood wishes to you all.
Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Robin and CMoe!
ReplyDeleteI FIRed, and saw the OOT endings first, then the dropped O.
(CMoe, there were three double O outliers, SPOOL, OOPSY and SWOOSH,)
I chose the B correctly for the cross of STUBS and UBISOFT. Same for the A in the cross of ALLIE and MCGRATH.
Inverted was too long, EVERTED fit.
Hand up for changing Fading to PALING (meh!).
I noted ROSIN again, but a shortened RHINO.
Canada has MPS too - at Ottawa.
Of course this Canadian wanted SABRE (but I know better).
Favs today were the clues for ABET and DYS.
Wishing you all a great day.
Picard- I saw that gecko’s foot flick out, but it was well camouflaged!
ReplyDeleteDH has shoe protectors that he uses on his dress shoes when rainy, slushy, or small amount of snow. Are these what the Totes were like? Or did they cover the whole shoe?
https://www.amazon.ca/Moneysworth-Best-Traveller-Overshoe-X-Large/dp/B00JLANR6Y/ref=asc_df_B00JLANR6Y/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292918792233&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3417408988447861402&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000745&hvtargid=pla-492667567864&psc=1
What a great write-up! I was out-and-about all day doing errands yesterday, and I completely forgot the LA Times puzzles was one of mine. Sorry I missed everyone, but I thank you sincerely for your terrific comments. I had thought that UBISOFT was a gimme, but apparently, that was tougher than I expected.
ReplyDeleteAs it turned out, Patti did change a couple of my clues. "Great Scoot" was clued with a reference to actor Scoot McNairy. I had considered a "Boot Scootin' Boogie" clue, but Patti went a completely different way. In the end, I think Patti edited this whole puzzle brilliantly!