Theme: "Play It Again" - Each song is rephrased as if it's remake.
23. Lizzo "remake" of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine"?: GOOD AS HELL.
25. Dua Lipa "remake" of Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine"?: LEVITATING.
35. Taylor Swift "remake" of the Eagles' "Take It Easy"?: YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN.
61. Marvin Gaye "remake" of Glenn Miller's "In the Mood"?: LET'S GET IT ON.
70. Steve Miller Band "remake" of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You"?: ABRACADABRA.
91. Jay-Z/Alicia Keys "remake" of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York"?: EMPIRE STATE OF MIND.
111. Ed Sheeran "remake" of the Rays' "Silhouettes"?: SHAPE OF YOU.
113. Lady Gaga "remake" of the J. Geils Band's "Love Stinks"?: BAD ROMANCE.
lan Massengill's debut. Congrats, Ian! You have a fantastic collaborator.
All these songs are very well-known. Even if you don't know the song, the "remake of ..." parts will provide you with enough clues.
Across:
1. Pesters online, in a way: SPAMS.
6. Dorothy Gale's dog: TOTO.
10. Wore: HAD ON.
15. Three-time WNBA MVP Leslie: LISA. First one to dunk in WNBA history
19. Divvy up: ALLOT.
20. Husband of Psyche: EROS.
21. "Just tell me": I GIVE.
22. Iraq neighbor: IRAN.
27. Snookums: SWEETIE. Qin ai de, in Chinese.
28. Defiant admission of dishonesty: SO I LIED.
30. Thirsts (for): LUSTS.
31. Least refined: RUDEST.
33. Early console letters: NES.
34. Accessory for Mr. Monopoly: TOP HAT.
41. "__ have to do": IT'LL.
42. "Creed" director Coogler: RYAN. He also directed "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever".
43. Wimbledon surface: RYEGRASS.
48. Petting zoo horse: PONY.
49. LAX regulator: FAA.
51. Find repugnant: DESPISE.
54. Folder's loss: ANTE.
55. Doo-wop syllable: SHA.
56. To no avail: VAINLY.
58. Get-up-and-go: PEP. Have some ginseng chicken soup. Very nourishing.
59. Descendant: SCION.
60. "Will you let me?": COULD I.
64. Direct means of access: HOTLINE.
67. Slow-cooked courses: STEWS. I like oden.
69. Anthem played at Blue Jays games: O CANADA.
72. Conditional release: PAROLE.
74. "Rumble in the Jungle" locale: ZAIRE.
75. Trifling amount: SOU.
76. Cowhand's seat: SADDLE.
77. Media-regulating gp.: FCC.
80. One-named supermodel: EMME. Her real name is Melissa Miller.
81. Most efficient: LEANEST.
84. __ socket: EYE.
85. Corn holder: SILO.
86. Final request: LAST WISH. "I've had enough ..." That's what Boomer said. Then I gave him the morphine. Saddest night of my life.
88. Pet food brand: IAMS.
90. Allowing a draft: AJAR.
97. Dicey: UNSAFE.
101. Connections: INS.
102. Paste-up pieces: REPROS.
103. Cola originally named Brad's Drink: PEPSI.
104. Dips for Easter: EGG DYES.
107. Keeps adding to, as mashed potatoes: HEAPS ON.
115. Actor Stonestreet: ERIC.
116. Yankee manager before Girardi: TORRE (Joe). Assistant to Rob Manfred now.
117. Big name in footwear: ALDO.
118. Resolves a tense problem, say: EDITS. Grammar-wise.
119. Ahi, for one: TUNA.
120. Irritable: CROSS.
121. Knitter's ball: YARN.
122. Station: DEPOT.
Down:
2. Snowbank creator: PLOW. We've got 52 inches of snow this season. I totally wowed David with some of my snow pictures/clips. He lives in York, England. He has never seen so much snow.
3. Banana Boat After Sun Gel ingredient: ALOE.
4. Using contemporary styles: MODERNLY.
5. Work in a park, perhaps: STATUE.
6. Snickered: TEHEED.
7. Vein contents: ORE.
8. "Anna Karenina" novelist: TOLSTOY. So complicated.
9. Scandinavian capital: OSLO.
10. Jewish campus group: HILLEL. Named after Hillel the Elder.
11. AARP concern: AGEISM.
12. Plunge: DIVE.
13. "Metamorphoses" poet: OVID.
14. __ worth: NET.
15. Brightened: LIT UP.
16. Like Oscar Wilde: IRISH.
17. With 45-Down, West Coast racing venue: SANTA. 45. See 17-Down: ANITA.
18. Teen sensation, perhaps: ANGST.
24. Fries, e.g.: SIDE.
26. As a companion: ALONG.
29. Harebrained: INANE.
32. Maroon: STRAND.
34. Affectedly dainty: TWEE. Not a word I use.
35. Litter cries: YIPS.
36. Brief "Then again ... ": OTOH.
37. Wing support: ULNA.
38. Suffragist Elizabeth __ Stanton: CADY. Learned from doing crosswords.
39. Faucet problems: DRIPS.
40. Cries of dismay: OYS.
44. Wisconsin city between Milwaukee and Chicago: RACINE.
46. Tolerated: STOOD.
47. Medicinal shrub: SENNA.
49. Flora partner: FAUNA.
50. Had a bug: AILED.
52. Gush forth: SPEW.
53. Place for a pawdicure: PET SPA.
56. Word with mail or box: VOICE.
57. Iberian capital: LISBON.
59. No longer novel: STALE.
60. Dry red wine: CLARET.
61. Actress Thompson: LEA. She's from Rochester, Minnesota.
.jpg/320px-Lea_Thompson_by_Gregg_Bond_(2008).jpg)
62. Motown Records founder Berry: GORDY.
63. MaƮtre's milieu: ECOLE.
64. Brownish green: HAZEL.
65. First president with a Twitter account: OBAMA.
66. Pares: TRIMS.
68. Accurate: TRUE.
71. Tokyo-based brewery: ASAHI. Meaning "morning sun" in
Japanese. The other day I was explaining to Tom Pepper what Ninja really
means and how expressive the Nin part is, with a heart under a blade. Then I realized that he has no idea what a blade or heart looks like in Chinese characters or kanji, or where the character starts and ends. Jayce would know it immediately.
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| Ninja Kanji |
73. "__ Fideles": ADESTE.
76. ESPN datum: STAT.
77. Vanuatu neighbor: FIJI.
78. Family circle: CLAN.
79. Twine: CORD.
81. Guacamole ingredient: LIME.
82. Predict-ability?: ESP. Nice clue.
83. Spacek of "Bloodline": SISSY.
85. 1941 Bogart role: SAM SPADE.
87. Group pic: WEFIE. Still call it selfie. The most famous one.
89. Italian dessert wine: MARSALA.
92. Struggles: RIGORS.
93. Provides (with): ENDUES.
94. "Julie & Julia" writer/director: EPHRON (Nora). The author of "Julie & Julia" just passed away at the age 49.
95. Froyo topping: OREO.
96. Made bubbles: FOAMED.
97. In a huff: UPSET.
98. 1960s jacket style: NEHRU.
99. Nadal's birthplace: SPAIN.
100. Pet adoption org.: ASPCA.
104. __ effort: E FOR.
105. Sandwich with tzatziki sauce: GYRO. This is the sandwich from my hometown Xi'an. Rou jia mo.
106. Site for a bidding war: EBAY.
108. Salon sound: SNIP.
109. Bi- quadrupled: OCTO.
110. Place for a clutch: NEST.
112. Non-Rx: OTC.
114. Musical arcade game, for short: DDR. Dance Dance Revolution.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9222819/IMG_1721.jpg)
A few extra notes:
1) Belated "Happy Birthday" to our sunny sumdaze (Reenee), who has brought so much joy to our blog. Thanks for being our Monday sherpa, Renee! Thanks for your sweet cards to me also.
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41 comments:
Even though C.C. says the songs are “well-known” there were at least a couple of them that I had never heard of. Nevertheless, the puzzle wasn’t difficult and I managed to FIR in good time, so I’m happy. And speaking of “happy “, Happy Birthday, Sumdaze! I have been enjoying your Monday commentary recently! May you have many more such “happy” days! Okay, TASW.
Good morning!
So close, but no cigar. I had RETROS, making ET_RON impossible to see. Wasn't familiar with DRR, nor the ALDO footwear. Alabama was my downfall this morning. Thanx, Ian (nice debut), Doug, and C.C.
Happy belated birthday, Sumdaze. I enjoy your Monday outings.
I was completely stumped by the 64A 80A 60D 64D crossings, nothing seemed to make sense.
Turns out, there are no jungles in MAINE. Shocking, I know. DNF but I’m not even mad.
Forgot to mention, I used to live not far from RACINE -- just over the border in Illinois. Racine is probably best know as the home of Johnson's Wax with their headquarters designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Not being a fan of today’s pop music the only remakes I was familiar with were LETS GET IT ON and ABRA CADABRA, which are both now oldies. I did know all of the originals though. Without the generous perps I never could have solved, which I did FIR but it took 53+ minutes. The D in the DDR/ALDO crossing was a WAG and my last fill as I’d never heard of either. Thanks Ian and Doug for the interesting Sunday challenge.
C.C. ~ as always a nice recap, and a happy 15th to the Corner!
Sumdaze ~ Happy b/day to you, really enjoy your Monday blogs!
Not into current music. Gave it up.
Hi Y'all! An interesting theme and challenging puzzle, thanks, Ian & Doug. Thanks for the great expo, C.C.
Some of this was so easy and some impossible unknowns. I don't listen to music much and never heard of some of these groups & songs but they filled. Perps were kind in places. That dessert wine gave me fits -- didn't know MARSALA was a wine.
Took me 57 minutes which is about par for the course on Sunday for me.
Snowed & snowed yesterday, but most of it melted. Only about an inch of ground coverage on the grass this morning. Suits me. Driveway is snow free. I have a magic self-clearing sloped driveway. Neighbors cars have four or five inches of snow on them. Looks strange. Trees are frosty.
Oh joy! Another Sunday another 15 obscure proper names!!
DNF. I got stuck in the area with the Japanese brewery and could not fathom empire state of mind.
Took 13:42 today for me to get the remake.
Probably my fastest Sunday, though the sample size is pretty small.
I got hung-up at Marsala crossing repros, and where Emme (?) crossed claret.
Belated Happy Birthday to the Corner, and thank you C.C. for it.
Happy Birthday, sumdaze. Thanks for your Monday efforts.
Is some other anonymous poster trying to infringe on my "Oh joy"?
-The anonymous one who hates circles.
Good Morning:
Despite my oft-mentioned ignorance of pop music, which was on blatant display today, I enjoyed the clever and effective theme and a successful solve in 32.11, a fairly normal Sunday completion time for me. CC is much more knowledgeable about pop culture in general than I am, and proof of that is my zero knowledge of any of the remake titles and the sparse knowledge of only three of the original titles, i.e., New York, New York, Silhouettes, and In The Mood. Most of the titles were inferable, though, so there were only a few stumbling blocks requiring perps: Lisa, Ryan, Aldo, Racine, Senna, and DDR. I wasn’t too keen on Modernly, Teheed, Endues, or E For Effort and Clutch for Nest seems a bit much, IMO. These minor nits, however, are more than compensated for by the extremely low count of three letter words, only 13, if I counted correctly, a rare occurrence in a Sunday grid. Big CSO to CEh at O Canada.
Thanks, Ian and Doug, for a refreshing and enjoyable solve and thanks, CC, for the entertaining review, especially the mouth-watering food photos and the stunning celebratory pictures from your friends. Best wishes for the Year of The Rabbit to bring you good luck and peace.
FLN
Belated Happy Birthday to you, ReneĆ©. šššš (Had my father not suggested honoring my aunt who was such a big help to my mother, I would be Kathleen. š¢)
TTP, thank you for reminiscing about the serendipity of Abejo’s and Madame Defarge’s first meeting and the subsequent gathering of the Fabulous Four! Loved seeing the photos again.
Bill and Ray O, thanks for the recognition of St. Agnes’s Feast Day.
Anon T ~ I have never seen The Princess Bride but I’m a huge Mandy Patinkin fan, so thanks for that video. He’s going to be appearing in Schenectady next month. Circumstances prevent me from going to see him, but I’ll bet the one-night show will be sold out.
Have a great day.
It took DW to confirm that I FIR when I asked her if there was a shoe made by ALDO, which crossed DDR (or Dance Dance Revolution)- both unknowns.
This puzzle was definitely not in my wheelhouse, with more unknowns than any puzzle I've managed for FIR, mainly songs I've never heard. The puzzle's concept took some imagination but for those of 'oldies' those song names might as well have been in Greek.
GOOD AS HELL, LEVITATING, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN, EMPIRE STATE OF MIND, SHAPE OF YOU, BAD ROMANCE- all unknown and it took perps and guesses to get them. At least I know Steve Miller's ABRACADABRA and MG's LET'S GET IT ON (Sexual Healing wouldn't made it past an editor). J. Geils Band's " Love Stinks" because his "Angel Was A Centerfold"
Yooper and I only knew of the same tunes.
LISA, RYAN, EMME, ERIC, HILLEL, CADY, LEA, WEFIE- other unknowns filled by perps
PET SPA- for people with too much money
WEFIE- other than Ellen I don't know any of those others in the photo. But I don't watch movies or TV shows and that might be the reason. Ellen is a local girl from NOLA.
Hand up for the same Naticks - DNK ALDO (Avia?) DDR, or Gaga's song, couldn've been BAr ROMANCE, or BAn ..
"1960's" is pretty generous for the NEHRU jacket, as I recall the fad lasted 2 or 3 month, tops
This took me quite a while, but I was happy I filled in everything correctly eventually.
Many missteps as I tried SO SUE ME instead of SO I LIED, LAST GASP instead of LAST WISH, You Need To SLOW Down instead of CALM Down, HOC LANE instead of HOT LINE, etc.
Luckily I knwe Dance Dance Revolution, so ALDO filled in tho I've never heard of them.
Too many proper names again. And is ENDUES a real word?? I looked at that for a long time.
So a real challenge for me today.
Sorry, but I don't get the theme. Those are actual song names, not remakes. Even though I never heard of half of them. Can someone please explain?
As with YooperPhil, "The D in the DDR/ALDO crossing was a WAG and my last fill as I’d never heard of either."
The musical references were about half known and half filled by perps. You can probably guess which half (oldies or recent-ish) I knew and which I did knew not.
Happy Belated B'day Sumdaze!
It’s just sort of a word play, alternate names for the same song.
FIW, missing Naticks OlEO x REPlOS and TEwEED x GOOD AS wELL. Liked the concept for the theme, but it wasn't meant for us in the Al Bundy generation. IMO, the best part of this puzzle was cluing "corn holder" for SILO.
Brad (Abejo) and I had many mutual acquaintances at GTE. He knew several of my friends from California, and I knew several of his from Northlake. We had some fun off-line story telling sessions.
Thanks to Alan and Doug for the challenge. And thanks to CC for the tour.
Belated happy birthday Sumdaze,
sorry I'm late...
CC you have been busy! Enjoyed your Universal crossword yesterday
Quite a workout for me today, but I enjoyed the challenge…. Until I got to the crossing of ALDO and DDR and fell apart. So FIW.
Still fun and C.C.’s tour was wonderful.
FLN. Ray-O, re OZARK, I’m not sure who actually got shot, but Karma dictates it definitely should have been “me”!
FLN. Jinx - I guess I’ve led a sheltered life, golf-wise. I play in So. Cal., so I should have heard “flat stick”, I guess. I’ll add it to my golf vocabulary.
Almost FIR. I was stuck on ALDO crossing DDR. I got the rest. Once I understood the gimmick, which I’m assuming is playful rather than the names of actual songs, but not knowing pop music, I can’t tell, I enjoyed this CW. The give away for me was EMPIRE STATE OF MIND. Once I got that I went back to my many blank squares and worked it out.
Interesting about the name PEPSI.
Dreary, cool day today.
It was a fun puzzle. Thanks for the pics and Chinese info. Always interesting. Thanks for sharing about Boomer's last night. I can feel his pain. GC
Good morning. Thank you, Alan and Doug, and thank you, C.C.
A pretty straight forward theme today. Easy to see what was going on.
Having said that, of the 8 "remakes" the only one in which I knew both songs was Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" paired with Glenn Miller's "In The Mood"
In each of the other 7 cases, I knew only one of the two songs, but I still managed to get them all.
C.C.'s "Year of the Rabbit" crossword over at USA Today was also a fun solve. Of course, anyone that didn't get the theme here would most likely miss it over there.
C.C. must be craving warm stews or soups. She has pictures of oden and chicken ginseng soup here, and uses tong sui as a clue over at the USA Today. I had to look it up. Cantonese sweet desert type of soups. No Sichuan for C.C.
So if I understand correctly, those fills for the theme are actual song titles. Surprise. The only one familiar to me is LETS GET IT ON.
I’m with CC, good time for hearty soups. I made one yesterday that had a little of everything in it. If I had it in the fridge, it went in the pot.
Several years ago Sunday puzzles would every once in a while feature a famous quotation. Those themes seem to have gone out of style. I wouldn’t mind another one.
Musings
-I loved the theme/gimmick. The only pair where I knew both were by a 60’s soul singer and a WWII band leader.
-SO I LIED – I couldn’t find my favorite
-I found “Folders loss/ANTE” and Teen sensation/ANGST very clever
-I am having trouble finding a comfortable bicycle SADDLE
-What a poignant story about Boomer
-Having a $10M painting or a $1,000 REPRO that only 10 people in world can see it is fake? Hmm…
-I thought ALDO would be a fabulously overpriced shoe, but they seem to be reasonably priced
-Removing the SNOW/ICE the PLOW puts at the bottom of our driveway is the last and most difficult feat
-LIT UP – What Joann did when she saw our Lily at the Nebraska Humane Society
-A late HBD from me too, Renee!
Hats off to anyone able to complete this slog without looking anything up.
I know embues, not endues.
Bittersweet memory. I did the same as CC to ease the pain of my husband so he could pass in peace. Blessings to you CC.
DNF and FIW today, both! After taking several breaks to crack the puzzle open, I made a few silly mistakes here and there (LISi & IRAq!!!), CoDY/CADY, and had ENDUES, but doubted it. Wanted endows but it didn't work.
Those were bad enough, but the SE! Total disaster. That's where I couldn't even get guesses to work at FOAMED (put FRAPED), or DDR (had the first D & R but not the middle D) and EPHRON, a name I knew but not that she was involved in that movie. Perps didn't help where I DNF.
In spite of it all, I enjoyed the puzzle and did what I could before reading C.C.'s indispensable review. Thanks to C.C. and the two constructors, Alan & Doug!
Belated Happy Birthday to sumdaze. I look forward to Mondays and your reviews. You are a quick learner!
Thanks for the pictures and updates, C.C. Stay warm!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, all!
Puzzling thoughts:
Lurking today; did not do the puzzle
Happy Birthday sumdaze from another Aquarian!
I'm sharing this post from a Facebook group I am part of. It reviews the latest crossword entries (good/bad/ugly) from the major publications:
The Good: NIHAO, DRAMEDY (LAT), WORDSALAD, PHOTOBOMB (WSJ)
The Bad: SHOJI, ETYM (WSJ), INU, PAPERY, BLOOP, ABT (LAT), RIPPERTIE (Newman)
The Ugly: EBOY, ARO, ENBIES (LAT), PANTO (WSJ)
15-Second Famous Soon-to-be-forgotten people: ERYKAH, KEHINTE, AYI, TURE, TANEHISI, EMEZI, RIAN, RAI (LAT), CONOR, BOWA (WSJ)
Compound Words that you'll never see outside of an xword: UPZONE (NYT), EGOSURF, UNHELPS (WSJ), HOTYOGA (LAT)
I know, I know. YMMV (my standard disclaimer) and you ask how can I applaud NIHAO when I usually dis foreign words ... Well, everybody ought to know as many greetings as you can in other languages, so this one slipped by with a smile. FWIW, I didn't blast PRIMERO even though it was on the list.
As far as names of people you can look up but don't know, Res Ipsa Loquitur. Or maybe not.
Although I happily acknowledge this puzzle was pretty well constructed and probably was a lot of work to make, overall I didn't particularly enjoy it. On the other hand, some things about it I did like and appreciate.
What I liked:
The neato clues for ANTE, O CANADA, ZAIRE, SADDLE, SILO, PLOW, STATUE, ANGST, OBAMA, and ESP.
Nifty fill, such as SAM SPADE, RYEGRASS, DESPISE, and SANTA ANITA.
What I didn't like much:
"Just tell me" I GIVE, IT'LL "__ have to do", EYE "__socket, "Paste-up pieces" REPROS, NET "__ worth", E FOR "__ effort".
Fill such as SHA, REPROS, MODERNLY, TEHEED, OYS, WEFIE, ENDUES, and DDR.
Irish Miss, your first two paragraphs say very eloquently what I would say.
Good wishes to you all.
Thank you, everyone, for your happy b-day wishes (yesterday & today). You have good hearts. I like my cake, CED!
Thanks, Alan and Doug, for your puzzle. It takes a clever constructor(s) to make the connections between those song titles. Hand up for only knowing Marvin Gaye & SMB but I was able to work out all the themers. Unfortunately I ended with some gaps in the West Coast. Finally sussing RYEGRASS and Folder's loss opened up the East Coast for me. FAV: Predict-ability?
H-Gary @ 2:00. Interesting link!
I'm headed over to C.C.'s Year of the Rabbit puzzle next...
I've been solving LAT puzzles for over 50 years and this entry has to be the most sloppily clued one I have ever seen.When, oh when are the editors get back to having clues that refer to words and phrases "IN COMMON USE"? BTW: I tossed it after two hours of angst.!!
It's me,again. Need some advice from you pros. I absolutely LOVE solving Sunday xword puzzles, but today's puzzle joins several recent offerings by LAT that I found unsolvable. Is it my failing intellect, or are LAT puzzles becoming way too esoteric so that they appeal only to the "pros". I'm really getting tired of the angst I am feeling when I see answers that I have never heard of or seen in my life (of 78 years). Do I succumb and end my 50+ years of subscription of LAT ...or do I start cheating by looking at the answers???
Dear Gnarly: I'm right alongside you, in age and perception. I know the world's changing and all that -- the problem is that, for example, I don't stay up at night learning about brands of shoes, and I haven't been in an arcade in a few decades so the natick at 117A and 114D remained 'enNaticked.'
I just try to figure out what deviousness the constructor or editor had in mind, and if I don't succeed, I go on. Of nothing else, it is almost always educational here, like a 2-unit seminar all the time!
Michael
Hence the “?” at the end of each song’s clue…
At least I’m in good company — I also only knew “Abracadabra” & “Let’s Get It On”…part of being over 65, I guessš
(heck, I still HAVE a Nehru jacket in my closet; comes in handy for the occasional costume party!).
====> Darren
Cross@words here — page is now asking for not only name, but also my url? How would I know that? Anyway, fun to see Brad’s drink, having been to the drugstore in new bern, nc and seeing the plaque there.
94Down. Answer is Ephron, but photo is of the late Julie Powell, writer of the book. Nora Ephron, director of the movie, was older and passed away in 2012.
At Jan 24, 3:02 PM - Thank you for clarifying.
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