Is There an Echo In Here?
For all the
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
fans on the Corner.
Today's constructors are Chandi Deitmer and Darby Ratliff. Chandi is a licensed social worker who previously published here on November 16., 2022 and has also published in the NYT. I believe her partner Darby is making her LA Times debut. Darby is a Doctoral Candidate in American Studies at the Jesuit Saint Louis University, with a particular interest in the intersection of religion and American culture. Here's a portion of her capsule BIO copied from her LinkedIn profile and a link to her personal blog.
Today they invite us to locate an ECHO in each of the three starred themers:
18A. *Person destined for greatness: THE CHOSEN ONE. This was by far the most difficult clue for me to illustrate, and in the end I very arbitrarily CHOSE THREE greats, two of whom died this past year:
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| Nelson Mandela |
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Pelé |
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| Queen Elizabeth II |
27A. *Nocturnal bird known for its cry: SCREECH OWL. Keeping with our acoustic theme (you might want to turn the volume down):
39A. *Cocoa butter confection: WHITE CHOCOLATE. One of my DIL.'s favorite food groups:
54A. *Board-breaking move: KARATE CHOP. Look Ma, no hands!
Here's the straightforward reveal, but you probably weren't listening for the ECHOS until you read it:
64A. Nature's sonar, and what varies in the answers to the starred clues?: ECHOLOCATION. This one drove me BATS (well not a drive actually, maybe a short putt). Here's bit about bat echolocation. All the videos were too creepy, so I settled on this:
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Bat Echolocation |
Across:
1. Fall into bed: CRASH. Whoops! Off to a bad START.
6. Turn on: START.
11. 23andMe stuff: DNA. It's back again! "23" is the number of chromosomes in human cells. "Me"? It's one of the things I'm made of. You too.
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| Chromosomes |
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| Santorini* |
17. Ref. work that added "influencer" in 2022: OED. The very first edit I had to do upon loading the clue list was to add "influencer" to Google's dictionary.
[Theme clue]
20. Early afternoon: TWO.
21. Fizz liquor: GIN. I prefer my GIN in MARTINIS, shaken, not stirred. But if you insist, here's a recipe.
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Gin Fizz |
23. Goes (for): OPTS.
25. Pseudocultural: ARTY.
[Theme clue]
31. Tea variety: PEKOE. The PEKOE varieties are Indian black teas, often called ORANGE PEKOE, but that's not a description of their color.
33. Brass instrument: HORN. A CSO to JzB, as the Trombone is one of the "Brass instruments". Here are the HORNS proper, specifically the French Horns:
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French Horn Section |
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Adia Barnes |
37. Prefix with day or night: MID.
38. Irish golfer McIlroy: RORY. Rory Daniel McIlroy MBE (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in that position during his career.
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Rory McIlroy |
44. Melville captain: AHAB. The Great American Novel. Captain AHAB was the obsessive whaler who spent his life in pursuit of MOBY DICK, the great white whale who had bitten off one of his legs years before. In 2010, composer Jake Heggie turned it into the Great American Opera, using a steeply raked stage to suggest the inside and rigging of a whaling ship and digital projections onto the stage to simulate a fleet of harpooners. We've seen this stunning production at the Kennedy Center and later on PBS Great Performances. This was the preview for the LA Opera's presentation:
45. Melber of MSNBC: ARI. Ari Naftali Melber (born March 31, 1980) is an American attorney and journalist who is the chief legal correspondent for MSNBC and host of The Beat with Ari Melber.
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Ari Melber |
47. Drought-damaged: SERE.
48. Fireplace stack: LOGS.
50. He-Man's twin: SHE-RA. DNK SHE-RA. She-Ra, real name Adora, is a fictional super heroine in the 1985 Filmation series She-Ra: Princess of Power and its 2018 reboot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
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| She-Ra |
57. Mario Paint console, initially: SNES. Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Two parts of Mario Paint are meant to familiarize the user with the SNES mouse: the title screen, where users can click on each of the logo text for "surprise[s]" to occur and a fly-swatting mini-game named Gnat Attack, where the player swats 100 insects before fighting a boss named King Watinga. It sounds exciting:
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Kwame Ture |
59. Chinese greeting: NI HAO. "Hello". Today's Mandarin lesson. Just about the only words I remember from 15 years ago when my Son and I traveled to Harbin, China to adopt my second oldest grandson. He recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.
62. Chemical in some plastics, briefly: BPA. Better living through chemistry. BPA stands for bisphenol A, an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1950s.
63. Goal: AIM.
[Theme clue]
68. Slangy assent: YEP.
69. Unoriginal: TRITE.
70. Least extroverted: SHIEST.
71. "Give or take" ending: ISH.
72. Talked up: HYPED.
73. "Ugh, I'll never be able to __ that!": UN SEE. What many of the investigators said who were Inside the Bitcoin Bust That Took Down the Web’s Biggest Child Abuse Site (Wired Mag Apr 7, 2022). In order to prove their charges they had to examine thousands of pictures of child pornography and many of the investigators were completely devastated by the experience. I'd previously read the 60 page article about the years long investigation and found it emotionally draining.
Down:
1. Period with a noticeable lack of feline fossils: CAT GAP. When I first perped this clue I thought it was a joke. But it wasn't.
2. Employ again: REHIRE.
3. "Men in Black" role: AGENT K. Men in Black (stylized as MIB: Men in Black) is a 1997 American science fiction action comedy film. Loosely based on the Marvel comic book series of a similar name created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones (Agent K) and Will Smith (Agent J) as two agents of a secret organization called the Men in Black:
5. Chortles: HAHS.
6. Skunk aftermath: STENCH. An olfactory disaster.
7. Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback who never made it to the Super Bowl: TONY ROMO.
8. Affectional orientation abbr.: ARO. AROMANTIC, i.e. someone who doesn't form romantic attachments.
9. Bolted: RAN.
10. 2000s teen drama that introduced "Chrismukkah": THE OC. A portmanteau of Christmas and Hanukkah. The O.C. is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initialism of Orange County, the location in Southern California in which the series is set:
11. Pencil puzzle: DOT TO DOT.
12. Story line?: NEWS WIRE.
13. Big fuss: ADO.
15. Japanese drama: NOH. Noh (能, Nō, derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent") is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century.
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Noh Performer |
24. Ancient kings who wore nemes headdresses: PHARAOHS. Nemes were pieces of striped head cloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Here's one created by a marvelous modern fashion designer:
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Nemes Headdress |
28. Actor Bana: ERIC. Eric Banadinović, AM (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana, is an Australian actor and comedian. He began his career in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining notice in the comedy drama The Castle (1997). He achieved further critical recognition for starring in the biographical crime film Chopper (2000.
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Eric Bana |
30. Set down: LAY.
32. End a fast: EAT.
36. "If __ Street Could Talk": BEALE. If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 American romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. The film follows a young woman who, with her family's support, seeks to clear the name of her wrongly charged lover and prove his innocence before the birth of their child.
39. Cereal with collectible boxes: WHEATIES. You can buy this one on eBay for just $3500 ...
40. Gruff protest: HARRUMPH.
41. Lightweight clog: CROC.
42. Singer's challenge: HIGH NOTE. Here's a clip of Diana Damrau's HIGH NOTES in the role of the evil Queen of the Night, berating her daughter to kill her enemy Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute. They don't get much higher than this:
43. Spanish article: LOS. Los Angeles, "THE City of Angels". Today's Spanish lesson.
44. Request: ASK.
49. Besmirched: SOILED.
51. Some gender-fluid people: ENBIES. A homophone for NBs, an acronym for "Non-Binaries".
52. Tranquility: REPOSE.
53. Swahili for "thank you": ASANTE. And HAKUNA SHIDA is "No Problem". Today's Swahili lesson.
55. Pearly whites: TEETH.
56. Soup sometimes served with banh mi: PHO. My Sister Mary's recipe is still available on C.C.'s Ginger Roots blog.
60. Cooling systs.: ACS.
61. Island near Kauai: OAHU. Thus OAHU is an island near KAUAI ...
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| KAUAI OAHU |
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| Ayi Kwei Armah |
66. With it: HIP.
67. Sardine can: TIN.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. waseeley
* Oh and thanks to sumdaze for teaching me a new use for a tool I've been using for years. I've just used it to "snip", but never to "sketch".
67 comments:
Failure! Abject and total humiliation! Yes, friends, “the great Subgenius “ eats crow! I TITT! I DNF! “Mario Paint console”? Fail! “Swahili phrase”? Fail! “Chemical in some plastics?” Fail! And ESPECIALLY “gender-fluid people “? Burn and crash! (In other words, Fail!) That southwest section did me in, I’m very sorry to have to report. So, while I certainly can’t say “I’m happy “ about this, I am happy to have you friends around who can (I hope) commiserate with me about this! And I certainly hope that some of you had better luck with this puzzle than I did! That’s all I can say. Subgenius out!
Well, I can echo what SubG stated, my failures were the same four, and add He-Mans twin to the DNKs, and I couldn’t WAG my way out of it, had to give up with a FIW after 45 minutes, breaking a lengthy streak of FIRs, figured it would end on a Friday or Saturday, not a Thursday. Chandi, Darby and Patti, you got me today but I appreciate the challenge and hope to retain a few things I learned.
Bill and Teri ~ thanks for your in depth report, very much an education today!
FIR, slightly harder than the usual Thursday. Had to WAG to finish because I didn't know the WIRE part of NEWSWIRE, ADIA and RORY. I did know ASANTE (from crosswords), ENBIES (from a crossword made by a Sporcle friend of mine who's a proud ENBY), SHERA and SNES. BPA appeared through crosses and I didn't even look at the clue, though looking at the completed grid, that area looked like it could have much Natick potential for some solvers.
I was also slowed down by my CHEERIOS guess which lined up with the crossings I could get, AHAB, SERE, AIM and ISH. After I got the revealer and saw the theme, WHITE CHOCOLATE and KARATE CHOP filled quickly and I fixed my mistake.
AYI is... very avoidable fill (which has never appeared in a NYT puzzle, by the way). Seriously, it's a 3-letter answer crossing only 3s, surely TRI would've worked just fine?
Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, Ghanaian….Oy. Subgenius who list problem clues in the SE but say it was the SW that did you in? Anyway, this CW was just too difficult so I just cheated my way to a fill. What can I say? It took Google to finish it. Nuff said.
Supposed to say “you list” not “who list”.
Good morning!
Lotsa names and esoterica, but the perps were kind...until they turned really nasty in Florida-Georgia. 'Twas not to be. Gave up at the 15 minute mark with 9 empty squares near Atlanta. Brutal. Ya got me, Chandi and Darby. Very interesting expo, Waseeley. (I equate those operatic HIGH NOTEs with a SCREECH OWL. D-o OPTS to pass.)
Hi Everyone, wishing everyone a very good day!
Sorry, I don’t enjoy proper names in a crossword puzzle at all, now we have names in foreign languages. This is not my cup of tea.
I have no idea who these people are.
No logs on the fire lately. In the 60s which is very lovely but odd January weather here in the lower Hudson Valley of NY.
God bless America
Good morning. Thank you, Chandi and Darby, and thank you, Bill
FIR, but the SE corner gave me a bit of an issue as well. So I won't ECHO SubG because I got through it, albeit in overtime at 32:21 (while watching a late night movie). Filled in right, so I'm satisfied. (I would have been satisfied even if I hadn't
SHE-RA was a gimme. ASANTE (close to Armand Assante) and BPA took time to recall. Then REPOSE fell. But that still left the blank in S_ES until I finally remembered Nintendo, so SNES for the win !
UNSEE ? I wish I could unread that explanation. I sure wasn't ready for that subject matter. Did not take the link.
Bill, 17A - You added influencer to your browser's spell checker, not Google. You didn't have to for Blogger purposes. I will send you a note.
Hand up for never having heard of the CAT GAP.
TTP: Unsee! Is that a word? Shera? so many odd /unknown names to me. Perhaps others think differently than I do. I didn’t enjoy this puzzle, sorry.
TTP, it appears, in my post, I got my “southwest” and “southeast “ mixed up, but you know what I meant. And congratulations for succeeding where I failed!
Crossword puzzles, in my opinion, should be about words. Hello, cross words!. Not people’s proper names. I suppose they have to fill in occasionally, but certainly not on the regular basis that has been of late. Terrible puzzles over the last few days, in my opinion. Words, please, editor. With all due respect, enough of the foreign language clues.
I randomly, luckily guessed a few in the lower-right to finish in 9:34, so I, too, echo what SubG said.
I figured it had to be SNES (Super Nintendo), and repose was the only thing that made sense to me, but BPA was a big guess on a vague clue, but I didn't know: the Swahili word; the Spanish article; the Ghanaian writer; nor did I know the coach of one of the sports teams at Arizona Univ. I also didn't/don't know "aro" and I've never heard of "enbies" before.
From numerous other puzzles, I did know "noh," so there's that.
I've heard of "connect the dots," but "dot to dot" took awhile to parse/see.
I strongly disliked this puzzle. Tough for me to get past "Ghanaian writer" as clue. Back in the Rich days, he'd at least try to justify the obscure clues with some bona fides (Pulitzer prize-winning author... 4-time all-star... Oscar nominated....), but now seeing something such as "Ghanaian" seems like a dead give-away to obscurity.
More indoctrination crap. I'll add Chandi and Darby to my "don't bother" list. Patti's getting there too.
I don't speak Swahili, and regardless of how wild the party gets, I try to avoid gender fluid (even my own).
It would have been much better if the "questionable" clues had been in the Everett region, so I could have quit before wasting so much time. I stalled at Myrtle Beach, having filled all but 6 squares.
Jinx, you are the man. Call em like you see em. Awful puzzle. I’m in RVA btw.
4 squares in se. First non finish in a while. Snes, bpa, enbies and asante. Need to bone up on my Swahili, Chinese, Japanese, Ghanaian and orientations. I know LGBTQIA. Add enbies and aro to my education.
ECHO LOCATION? Easy to locate in the three theme fills. That was an easy as the fills- thECHOsen one, screECHOwl, and whitECHOcolate. But IMHO the rest of the puzzle was ridiculous. You can't make a puzzle work so you put some letters in it and look for some foreign word that fits. I wasn't off to a bad START but did CRASH in the SE. Never heard of SHERA, ENGIES, ASANTI, SNES, and you could throw any three letters for a chemical abbr. Add to those ERIC, ADIA, AYI, BEALE- at least I got those by perps.
CATGAP- never seen in either the American or European named Periods.
BPA- thousands of organic molecules out there; let's pick one that allows a few stupid fill to make it in the puzzle.
NI HAO- get serious
Stokely Carmichael and his fellow local thug from Baton Rouge, H. Rap Brown I know about, they were local. Kwame TURE- never heard of it.
SNES- SEGA or WII wouldn't work and it looks like it's for small children.
SHE-RA- I know 'SUN-RA" the jazz musician but not a comic book character
ADIA Barnes- nope
ENBIES- I wish this new editor would quit throwing this BS in our faces. Unfortunately we can't UNSEE it if we try to solve the puzzle.
SOILED is a perfect description of what I think of this puzzle.
Have a nice day.
DNF. SE corner did me in, what with She-Ra, SNES, BPA, enbies, and Asante. I found this to be unusually tough for a Thursday puzzle. The theme was nice, and I got it somewhat early.
Chandi, Darby, Patti and Joyce obviously see it differently.
Wow, that was weird. I fell back asleep right after sending my 6:10AM comment.
I forgot to comment earlier. 3 letter answer to "Arizona Wildcats coach Barnes" had to be RICK, no ? He's still coaching basketball, but now he's the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. The perps said it was ADIA.
SubG @ 6:40. I didn't say anything about your SW / SE gaffe today. That was Unclefred. Thanks for the congrats.
Anonymous @ 6:45. in re, your "Words, please, editor" comment. There are no crossword puzzle editors here.
To my knowledge, the editors don't read this blog. I have never seen one comment here.
Bill, I'll send you that note now.
That should be 4 letter answer. I must need more sleep. Or some Voltaren cream.
Two weeks ago I posted:
"blizzard of obscure names" says it perfectly
Yes, another blizzard even more obscure but perpable except SE
I had ExpIES not knowing SNES(should have) nor BPA
First FIW in awhile
Oh, that was the Woman's Arizona Bball coach. Perped it anyway
Other UNKs(perped): ARI,SHE- RA, TURE,NI HAO,ARO,THE OC,AGENT K,NOH, AYI, ERIC(Bana), and of course ENBIES and BPA
ASANTE I guessed but first inked matata. We just talked about PHO
WEES especially re. SE. Two squares in all as the rest of the UNKs perped
WC
Curious to me - the negativity today … I’ve never seen it here before, and I’ve been visiting this blog for years. Always been impressed by y’alls’ interest in and openness to learning … And, it was a puzzle full of unknowns for me too; I learned a lot today 🙏
DNF...didn't know Swahili crossed with He-man's ("By the power of Grayskull") Twin. I also forgot to check out the theme.
Spelt YOGI with a Y and once again reversed the O and A in Pharaoh🙄
Inkovers: FEC/SEC
Were "felines" taking a catnap during the CATGAP. ...."affectional"? (In the OED too? 😧) ARO?....add in..Barnes? McIlroy? Melber? Kwei Arma? sheesh!....I wonder if I'd prefer PHO to yesterday's left over GUK!! 🍜... and what courses do skunks take "aftermath"? 😄
Minor household tasks....CHORTLES
Laugh-in's Johnson.....ARTY (e)
Ray felt waiting forever for a hamburger was a ____ CROC.
Confiscated cars....REPOSE
Years ago was reading the Maureen McCullough's historical fiction "Masters of Rome" series but didn't complete it for some reason. I recently found her last novel "Antony and Cleopatra" in the library give away bin. Finished it two days ago (Cleopatra considered herself one of the PHARAOHS, just asp her 😄). Historical fiction: a great way to learn stuff while having fun...like from the LAT CW and our blogsters. But today was a bit much..😧
I find crossword puzzles provide another opportunity to grow and expand knowledge in many areas. After completing a puzzle, I will google many places, people, foods, language, cultures, acronyms etc to gain a deeper understanding of the evolving world around me. Many times in conversation with friends, I will have greater knowledge and understanding of thought processes found in today's world that are expressed in crosswords. Some may choose to put their heads in the ground but they will find themselves left in the dust of those that move forward in life.
Joining the club here with a FIW due to the SE corner where I put ExBIES and SxES. I didn't think of Nintendo though we have had NES before as fill. My other guesses in that corner worked out so I am pretty happy with this puzzle. You provided lots of learning moments, Chandi and Darby!
The theme was a surprise with the reveal telling me what to look for. Then it was obvious. I had looked and noticed the repetition of CHO in the themers before filling in the reveal but missed the E.
Thanks, waseeley (and Teri), for guiding us through today. Well done!
I especially liked seeing HARRUMPH today, which seems to be a common thought. Hope your day improves everyone!
Wish I could unsee this puzzle.
No CATGAP in our home, we have four of them.
For a Christmas gift my hubby gave me a DNA test for our lab mix rescue. Much to our surprise she is 30% Labrador, 22% Pit Bull Terrier, 16% American Staffordshire Terrier, 6% Chow Chow, 6% German Shepard and small percentage of other breeds. Cady, named after a character in a Craig Johnson novel, is extremely smart, obedient, affectionate, laid back, and quiet, she never barks. The DNA test also show any known genetic predispositions, and extended relatives. No matter what she is, we love our little mutt!
DNF, thé SE corner did me in. Subgenius was the first to express the, so far, majority reactions to this very difficult puzzle because of the slew of obscure proper names and words, and I agree with his observations.
Yes, I also agree it is an opportunity to learn new things, but when these things are so numerous in one puzzle that they frustrate the player, then that takes away from the joy of the aha moment of reveal.
I was frustrated by the accumulation of these unknowns and lost interest.
There’s always tomorrow.
I enjoyed this CW. It was challenging but doable. What more could you ask for? I had to look up the meaning for enbies when I was all done and learned something new. I knew that some old buzzard would complain about a gender reference and sure enough they couldn’t resist a snarky comment.
Musings
-E_BIES/S_ES made for one bad cell. I chose an “M” for no particular reason
-I did START my snowblower this week for a crummy one inch of wet snow
-ARTY – “It’s ART because I say it is!”
-My great nephew and his wife named their daughter RORY
-A hard part of a college coach’s job is to WOO 18-yr-olds to come to their school
-TURE and AYI were unknown to me but totally fair as they filled easily and offered learning
-Interesting reading about CAT GAP. There will never be one in this house.
-A recent Saturday had AROMANTIC ( ey-roh-MAN-tik). Asexual and asocial are pronounced similarly.
-Some singers hit the HIGH NOTE of the National Anthem and then even jump it up an octave.
-I must invoke constructor Maliaka Handa again today. In her Saturday 10/8/22 puzzle comment she said, ”Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test.”
I agree that it's great to "expand knowledge". And crosswords are a decent venue for that, *to an extent*!
But when there's too many arcane items, *especially grouped together*:
1) The puzzle becomes more difficult than necessary. It's not testing your intellect. You end up "losing" because of not knowing an obscure piece of trivia.
2) I suspect the puzzle creator was forced into using these items. I don't believe they set out to "teach" you about the subject. I'm guessing they "Googled" the letters they were left with to see if it came up with anything. "ARO" for "A-Romantic?! Come on!
I'm not saying I could do better, but please!
Good morning. DNF. I ECHO the comments about the SE corner, and aptly agree to 40D: HARRUMPH!!Perps for AIDA, ARI, TURE (never heard of them) and NI HAO.
shone to SHINY. fouled to SOILED.
Not a likable puzzle, but I surprised myself getting as much done as I did, so today was "horseshoes and hand grenades" It counted!
I like that expression, "horseshoes and hand grenades." Thanks, RosE.
I always thought that the four basic food groups were salty, crunchy, chocolate and who cares. Making chocolate covered pretzels natures perfect food. Thanks, Bill, for straightening me out on this point.
I'm certainly not the best solver on the Corner (I'm still eagerly awaiting her comments), but I was able to finish this puzzle with a FIR, although I must admit that it had a lot of obscure clues and fills. It seems that the general mood of Corner solvers is "mulligrubs" !( see What's the Good Word? below). When confronted with puzzles like this, I do a lot of circling around and leverage little bits of info on the margins of the unknowns (plural? past tense? comparatives). This usually works on Thursdays, but not so much on Fridays and Saturdays.
As I consolation prize I offer today's David Alfred Bywater's weekly puzzle. I haven't solved it yet, but I'm sure it won't make you mulligrubs.
Cheers,
Bill
YUMAN @10:17 AM Cady sounds like a real All American dog!
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What's the Good Word?
mulligrubs
Part of Speech: Noun, plural
Meaning: 1. Despondence, grumpiness, sullenness, bad or ill-tempered mood. 2. Upset stomach, colic, diarrhea.
Notes: This word seems to be regional, used in older dialects in Alabama but not in North Carolina, where I grew up. It is a pluralis tantum "plural always" noun, even though the number is not limited to two as are most others pants, glasses. pliers.
In Play: Mulligrubs cause grumpiness: "I'll come back when you get over your mulligrubs; we can't talk when you're this way." It can also refer to stomach problems or just feeling out of sorts: "The king is laid up with the mulligrubs and will countenance no audiences today."
Word History: Today's Good Word seems to be a compound consisting of mully + grub, but most etymological dictionaries give up on tracing its origins. In fact, mully-grub goes back to the 18th if not the 17th century. It referred to an insect larva that feeds on meal. In fact, mully is an obsolete adjective meaning "mealy, moldy, powdery", which makes sense if it feeds on meal. Assuming that mully is a corruption of moldy (British mouldy), mold comes from PIE mele-/mole- "grind, mill", which relates it to mill and meal, Latin molere "to grind", Russian molot' "to grind", Albanian miell "flour", and Lithuanian malti "to grind". Grub descended from Old English grubban "to dig in the earth", akin to grave, gravel and grovel, Russian grob "grave", Latin crypta "crypt, vault", Lithuanian grebti "to rake, scratch", and Latvian grebt "to carve". (Now a word of thanks to Anna Jung for sharing this odd Good Word that caught her ear every time her beloved father, born in Birmingham, Alabama, uttered it.)
Easy to "critique" todays puzzle,
Just repeat my yesterdays post, again, and again, and again...
To try and avoid Thumperisms, on a positive note, I did learn something.
When constructing puzzles, and you get stuck in a corner, it is ok to use a homophone of an abbreviation of a new word that 99% of the people who do crosswords would have never heard of, crossing fictional cartoon characters, crossing abbreviations of chemicals in plastics...
Yes, I love to learn new things, and crosswords do just that.
Today I learned that crosswords just are not fun anymore...
Question?
How many out there, just kinda, sorta, feel that to construct an elegant crossword, and then sully it with "anything that will fit" in a tight corner, is kinda like "cheating?"
just a silly link that I found while looking for the above link.
On the subject of "something you cannot unsee."
Reminded me of an excellent series on Netflix called, "Love, Death, & Robots."
In one episode, (yes it involves cats,) a robot in search of learning investigates what "teabagging" meant in regard to todays virtual gaming.
I warn you! If you don't know what teabagging is, do not look it up. You cannot "Unsee" it.
Hola!
It was "by guess and by golly" today so WEES. The northern and eastern hemispheres filled in good time but South America did me in, too. SHERA/ENBIES are unfamiliar to me as are SNES and BPA.
ARI Melber is one of my favorite anchors, not on a NEWSWIRE, though. He is straightforward in his broadcast.
CSO to Ron, our resident BRASS instrument player. And I would have known Armand ASSANTE who is a hunk, IMO.
I often see PHO as part of the name of some Vietnamese restaurants.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!
For all the people that do crosswords for the enjoyment of "learning new things," you may (or may not) get a kick out of this:
Re: 3 robots/love, death & robots
Robots in the future, after the demise of all mankind, try to make sense of history.
Based on the available data, they believe that
1) The internet was created to share pictures of cats...
2) cats can explode!
based on the fact that there used to be a game called exploding kittens???
ATLGranny, I figured getting close put today's puzzle in the plus column. The SE was a jumble of Naticks, and not ones I probably (hopefully) will ever see again, so not anything I want to retain.
On another note, I did not open the links warned about, but thought it unfortunate that they were presented in the CC Blog. Not in keeping with the "pass the breakfast rule" or whatever it's called. Added a dark note to otherwise uplifting info we usually see.
Hmm,
It occurs to me,
That the current state of crosswords, is a lot like a game of exploding kittens...
there is a very real chance you may learn something you don't want to know...
Awful puzzle for the reasons stated by Jinx, and others.
JudyB, how dare you. I resent being referred to as a "buzzard". That used to be correct, but now I identify as a "vulture". (The "old" part hasn't changed though.)
Yuman - What a sweet dog! Rescues are the best!
ASIDE / THREAD DRIFT!
DW and I went lunch at a little cafe today. They were showing the US House negotiations to elect a Speaker. The sound on the TV was down, but on the restaurant's background music feed the Beatles were singing We Can Work It Out. I know it had to be coincidental, but I about fell out of my chair. (No, it doesn't take much to amuse me.)
Well, I guess I'll ECHO everybody by also admitting that this was a real Thursday toughie.
Makes you feel like you need some GIN rather than some PEKOE tea to get through this, and maybe even some WHITE CHOCOLATE along with your morning WHEATIES. But although this puzzle sure didn't hit a HIGH NOTE, it didn't produce any STENCH either, and was actually a bit ARTY in places. So I don't think we need to grit our TEETH or CRY over this and maybe end in REPOSE without further ADO.
Enough GAB--have a good day, everybody.
It's Thursday Lucina!
Hi All!
Big Fat DNF - 50a SHE--, 62a CFC (is Styrofoam a plastic?*) . I see I'm in good company.
Thanks for the puzzle Chandi & Darby (I know constructing / publishing is NOT easy) but that SE corner was a wreak.
Thanks for the expo, waseeley. CAT GAP article was interesting (and kinda funny).
WOs: N/A
ESPs: ADIA, ARI, TURE, AYI
Fav: A GIN and tonic sounds mighty, mighty good to me [@:39 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - gotta love them HORNs! (right, JazzB?)]
Fav [I can have two, right?] HARRUMPH [Mel Brooks]
As a rule, I don't watch movies with real gore or suffering 'cuz I can't ever UN-SEE it. Flashbacks to scenes ensue when a word or idea triggers the brain.
NI HAO ma is how I learned it from Lao Di ("Old" Mr. Di - he was the nighttime lab manager where I worked in college - funny guy). I was told to be careful saying it (proper tonals) or otherwise it's something about a horse(?).
HAH! - I just said FLN: "C, Eh!, I was thinking Pho too. Pho gives chicken-noodle or matza soup a run for it's [sic] money when it comes to a cold."
Allow me to defend ARO & ENBIES (new to me) - the folks exist and we should keep minds & hearts open.
Well said, @9:38a. You too BillV.
TTP - don't you mean Blue Emu? //or was that earlier this week for ACHE?
Jinx - I'm listening to the s***-show in congress as the 8th vote (already lost) comes in. I nominate McCartney.
CED - so far, LOL links. I'm going to have to go back (after my next meeting) to check out the rest.
Yuman - your mutt (I'm assuming avatar) is a beautiful pup.
"Close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades [and small nuclear weapons**]" -Pop.
Cheers, -T
*ILIU - yes: "The foam that you formerly knew as styrofoam is actually expanded polystyrene foam or EPS. This material is made from polystyrene, a plastic that's often used to make clear products like food packaging or lab equipment." [Google's first hit]
**my update
Well I got the solve. Somehow.
And even though it’s only the 5th day of the new year, we have a strong candidate for “worst clued crossword”.
Congrats to the authors and especially to the “editor”.
What a hot mess. ARO indeed.
Sorry, I don't speak Swahili. I did not like this puzzle at all.
Oh, my goodness! It is Thursday today! So that's why my granddaughter went to work! Here I thought she was taking on extra hours! Her schedule is Thursday through Sunday. See what happens when you don't have a schedule to follow and no need to look at a calendar. And Congress appears to have no schedule or calendar either. They are stuck on procedure with no foreseeable path forward.
I had wanted to mention earlier that I really miss the TONY ROMO restaurant (I think that's what it was) where they served excellent ribs. We would spread newspaper on the tables while we awaited our order and then enjoy some excellent eating. Hmm. I think I'll go and buy ribs for dinner this weekend.
Saturday we are having our annual family White Elephant party. I can't wait to see the expression on the person who opens mine. I won't say what it is just in the off chance that someone here might be attending that party.
I hope you are enjoying your THURSDAY, everyone. I am now that I know what it is.
Lotsa unknowns, but I managed to work them all out--except for the nexus of SHERA & ENBIES.
The shared "E" threw me. I had a "U" there.
I thought I'd never see NI HAO in a XWD. One of the more obscure fills I happened to know. A gimme.
~ OMK
___________
DR: No diagonals in an asymmetrical 16x15 grid.
Jayce: terse review, mate. IIRC, you know some Mandarin(?) Can you help with NI HAO ma? Did I remember tonals could indicate a horse(?) correctly?
Lucina - I'm giggling at Wednesday == extra hours. Sorry it's a but schadenfreude //wait 'till that shows up in a grid :-)
Next meeting now. Cheers, -T
I speak only one language and didn't have any trouble with a single part of this Thursday crossword. Finished it under 10. It makes me sad to see such negativity here, and with all due respect, it comes across as incurious. I recognize that it's easier to point to others for one's own struggles rather than, in this case, expanding your base of cultural information to improve your puzzle solving, but found this comment section especially nasty (calling people "thugs," even -- I can't imagine anyone putting up a stink if the answer was "PINOCHET," as it's simply the name of a historical figure). I apologize that the stream of time and language continue on forward, unabated, and mainstream word puzzles reflect that and the increasing breadth of knowledge and, of course, youth of the puzzlers. There can't always be clues about Howdy Doody and Rocky Marciano (two things I know plenty about despite not being from my era). I know some day the cluing and answers will pass my generation by as well, and I hope I show grace and openness when this is the case. To those who already approach new, strange information and words with aplomb: You're wonderful. Never stop learning!
Just finished the DAB puzzle I linked @11:26 AM. True to form it was almost pure wordplay with very little P&P, and that easily perpable. Favorite clue was "13D Creators of extremely difficult puzzles, jocularly" 7 letters, and particularly apropos of today's LAT puzzle. I'll post the answer tomorrow lest anyone here wants to give it a try. Here it is again.
Anonymous T, you are right: I know some Mandarin. I suppose you can go to Google translate to hear a sound recording of someone saying ní hǎo ma. That "ma" at the end is a verbal question mark and has no tone. You are also right that the word mǎ (so called third tone, or "low-rising" tone) means horse. By the way, "ní hǎo ma" is actually kind of formal; it is more common to people who know one another simply to say "hǎo" or "hǎo ma". Sort of like saying "Howdy" or "Hi" as opposed to "How do you do" or "How are you doing" or "Are you well".
Yeah, terse review, mate. Others have explained what they did or did not like about this puzzle, so there was no need for me to say the same things again.
I do, however, wish you all a good day.
B. Andrews @4:07 PM Despite what I said at 4:07PM I agree with you. I think Gary said it best in his last comment at 10:49 AM. Puzzles are learning experiences and we come to this site to see if our answers were correct and to learn new things. Some of these things will be of little use to us, other than perhaps for solving future puzzles. I'm sure that most of us can find things in today's puzzle that we learned in a previous puzzle.
Of course sometimes puzzles can be discouraging, but not all puzzles in life are solvable. We shouldn't let that fact cause us to sink into "mulligrubs" (see waseeley @11:26 AM). I've already completed the draft for next Thursday's review (1/12/2003) and I can assure you it is much more "doable" than today's puzzle.
Ms. Lucina, the restaurant was Tony Roma's, which is a different spelling (and person) than Tony Romo, the NFL player turned analyst. And, I miss Tony Roma's too.
B. Andrews, as I said much earlier in the day, I strongly disliked this puzzle, but yet, I continue to do crosswords, in part, to expand my vocabulary and knowledge base. I think being critical of crosswords is fine, just as there are critics for movies, books, art, etc. I prefer no circles, no foreign words, no overly obscure authors, etc., in crosswords, and I believe we should have a certain standard for clues -- or a confluence of clues -- in a puzzle to maintain some level of enjoyment. It's just my preference/taste, to which I'm entitled , just as much as you're entitled to your criticism of the critics.
-Anonymous at 6:57 (the one who hates circles)
Andrews, you didn't live Baton Rouge when those two were inciting and joining riots in wanting destruction of property. H Rap got convicted of armed bank robbery. Who knows what else he did and got away with. We also had the goofball David Duke marching around campus in a Nazi uniform at the same time
Hurrah for B. Andrews!!
If we use the number of comments, pro and con, as a measure of the interest generated by a puzzle then this one was pretty good.
Enjoyed this puzzle with such a creative theme - I wonder how the constructors came up with all the phrases that contain ECHO in them. Kudos to Chandi and Darby! Biggest challenge was trying to get it finished before a 730 am dental appt this morning!
Definitely had a few challenges - but perps helped get to the finish!
I'm always pulling random info out of the brain recesses, like ADIA Barnes the ARizona basketball coach was long form interviewed at some point. When we moved to Missouri and I had 6 months off before finding a job, I was actually the room mother for my second grader - each class focused on a country and ours was Kenya - so I learned some Swahili ("Jambo Sana", "Asante") and we made mancala boards, Kenyan flags, etc.
Even our little town has a Vietnamese restaurant and I like their PHO (though I've never heard of GUK from earlier in the week- I do like goki at Korean BBQs)
"If BEALE Street Could Talk" was an excellent film- and gave Regina King an Oscar - but hard, thought provoking subject matter. I've been to BEALE Street when my husband ran the St. Jude's marathon in Memphis - a very historic street
Thanks Bill & Teri for the interesting blog and Chandi & Darby for the puzzle!
Nina @7:30 PM Thanks for making our day. 🙂
I would like to join with Mr. Jinx on this. We all know that times are changing -- along with the underlying cultural assumptions -- yet it feels like there is a deliberate magnification of certain opinions, and against other ones.
i don't mind learning new things, but, really now, how often am I going to read any Ghanian writer? I have around a yard of books in the to-be-read pile, and no need to add to it.
BTW, the syllable "ma" has 16 meanings in Vietnamese, depending on which tone it has.
Michael - you too?!? (a pile yet to read). And, to your point - I love learning new things, just not in one corner of a grid ;-)
Jayce: Thanks for confirming my (spotty) memory. Your closing line made me think of Spirited (on Apple+) but I couldn't tell your tone :-)
Good Afternoon [In Scrooge's day, that was a sick-burn]. //if you have 2 hours for a musical (and AppleTV), I highly recommend while it's still the Holy Days. Destined to become a holiday classic.
Cheers, -T
Well, this one beat me up pretty badly too. I had a great big DNF, and a few of my Fs were grossly incorrect. I shan’t bore you with my bloody details, other than to say that ALL my problems resided in both the SW and SE corners. “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln….”
Thanks for hanging me out to dry, Chandi and Darby! Thanks for ‘splaning it to me, Teri and Bill!
Oh. Tony Roma's. Thank you, Anonymous@4:44. To think that I used to have such a good memory! I guess it is too cluttered now after stuffing so much in it for 85 years.
"Doctor, it hurts every time I do this." "Well then, stop doing it."
Nobody is cramming anything down your throat. You have choices. Among them, you don't have to solve if it is causing you that much angst. I don't think complaining here is going to change anything. The world is changing. It always has. What is acceptable in Crosswords here and other major venues is changing. Look around. You may not like it, but you are unlikely to change the course. It comes with the territory and the world we live in.
Funny about the subconscious. Overnight I remembered Asante Samuel of the New England Patriots. He was an All Pro. When I saw his name on the LA Chargers team I thought, "He's still playing ?" Nope, it's Jr. Some of you may know of Cameron Heyward (and brother Connor) that play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Did you know they are the sons of "Ironhead" Heyward ? The things you learn while watching football games ... Anyway, that's probably where I learned that Asante meant thank you. Or it could have been in another puzzle.
I looked at the SW corner after reading Leo's comments because I didn't recall any issues in the SW corner. Oh yeah, that's where Ayi was. I meant to remark earlier, after reading comments about "Ghanian author." I never saw that clue until the review.
I strive to understand why every answer works for every clue, but sometimes when it comes to people or places, or operas or character names in fiction books, or some other categories, I often have to rely on the perps. That's ok, it's a learning opportunity, and I appreciate this blog as a source to provide explanations for all of the answers in a crossword puzzle.
Dash T, yes, Blue Emu was imaged in Wednesday's crossword. Never used it. As I have aged, I've come to learn why my mother would warm the back of her hands with running water in the mornings.
Good one, Misty! I’ll be REALLY impressed if you can write another comment using ni hao, asante, aro, bpa, ture, snes and enbies!
Andrews, saying “with all due respect” does not automatically make your comments respectful. If you’re sad to see such negativity then don’t reply negatively. Snes, bpa, Ayi and Adia are not “generational” or “expanding your base of cultural information”, just obscure fill ins. No more, no less.
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