Instant Messaging: I caught the I / M connection early on, but thought the unifier
would refer to Instant Messaging. Still, I'M DOWN with this puzzle,
since all the theme clues are in the down position and are two-word phases
where the first word begins withIand the second word begins withM.
3-Down. * "A Matter of Life and Death" heavy metal band: IRON MAIDEN. [Name adjacent.]
9-Down. * Ralph Ellison novel about the Black American
experience: INVISIBLE MAN. Invisible Man was first published in 1952. It was a debut
novel for Ralph Ellison (Mar. 1, 1914 ~ Apr. 16, 1994), for which he won the United States
National Book Award for Fiction in 1953. Ellison was the first
African-American writer to win this award. [Name # 1.]
22-Down. * Fencer seeking revenge in "The Princess Bride": INIGO MONTOYA. Mandy Patinkin (né Mandel Bruce Patinkin; b. Nov. 30, 1952) portrayed
Inigo Montoya in the 1987 movie The Princess Bride. [Name #
2.]
32-Down. * Noisy amenity in a motel hallway: ICE MACHINE. If you're in the market for one, you can learn about someone's list of top 10
commercial ice machines in the
below.
And the unifier:
53-Down. "Count me in!," or an apt description of the answers to the starred
clues: I'M DOWN!
Before we go any further, it's Mardi Gras, y'all! Catch the excitement
of the day and party down with this puzzle.
Across:
1. Opera solos: ARIAS.
6. Afrobeat pioneer Fela __: KUTI. Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (né Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; Oct. 15, 1938 ~ Aug. 2,
1997) was a Nigerian musician and political activist. He is considered
the Father of Afrobeat, which is a combination of West African music with
American funk and jazz. Probably not a Tuesday name. [Name # 3.]
10. Atlas pages: MAPS.
14. Birdcage feature: PERCH.
15. Part of, as a plan: IN ON.
16. __ vera: ALOE. This is the Tuesday word. It has
now appeared in the last consecutive Tuesdays.
17. Creamy dip for French fries: AIOLI. This is a good
crossword word due to all the vowels. Everything you wanted to know
about Aioli, but didn't know to ask.
18. Attractive person with gray hair: SILVER FOX. This
probably applies to many of us on the blog, although I added a touch of pink
to my hair.
20. Anderson Cooper's channel: CNN. Anderson Hays Cooper (b.
June 3, 1967) is the son of the late Gloria Vanderbilt (Feb.. 20, 1924 ~ June
17, 2019). His book, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, was actually quite good. [Name #4.]
21. Female sib: SIS. I have one.
23. Like some restrictions: DIETARY. If you are going to
serve alligator to your guests, you might want to ask if anyone has any
dietary restrictions first.
24. Pea soup flavorer: HAM BONE. This answer took me a while to
figure out. It's not kosher.
26. Hit the slopes: SKI.
27. Genesis twin: ESAU. The two brothers had a disagreement
of 37-Down proportions.
28. Many a Farsi speaker: IRANI. The Farsi, or
Persian, alphabet is based on the Arabic script.
31. Singer Simone: NINA. Nina Simone (née Eunice Kathleen
Waymon; Feb. 21, 1933 ~ Apr. 21, 2003) makes occasional guest appearances in
the crossword puzzles. [Name # 5.]
35. Hep "Gotcha": I DIG.
37. Scripture-related: BIBLICAL.
39. Perform a simple operation?: ADD.
41. Safe to drink: POTABLE. // And 43-Across. Org.
that ensures water is 41-Across: EPA. As in the Environmental Protection Agency.
44. No-win situations?: TIE GAMES.
46. Medical checkup: EXAM.
48. Singer Del Rey: LANA. I am not familiar with Lana Del
Rey (née Elizabeth Woolridge Grant; b. June 21, 1985). [Name # 6.]
49. Greek theater: ODEUM. Today's lesson in Ancient Greek.
51. Scandinavian people: SAMI. Everything you wanted to know
about the Sami people, but didn't know to ask. [Name adjacent.]
54. "Encanto" songwriter __-Manuel Miranda: LIN.
Encanto is an animated Disney film. Lin-Manuel
Miranda (b. Jan. 16, 1980) is best known for Hamilton. [Name # 7.]
56. Recorder mounted to a windshield: DASH CAM.
58. Dawn on: OCCUR TO.
62. Political org. with a donkey symbol: DNC. As in
the Democratic National Committee. Enough said.
63. Stashed: HID.
64. "I can be better": SHAME ON ME.
66. __ acid: AMINO.
68. Speech therapy subject: LISP.
69. Average gestation period for a dolphin: YEAR. Animals
with long gestation periods.
70. Button on a library app: RENEW.
71. Vow: OATH.
72. "This might be broken" shorthand: AS IS.
73. No-nonsense: STERN.
Down:
1. People of the southern Great Plains: APACHE. [Name
adjacent.]
2. Spanish queens: REINAs. Today's Spanish lesson. Hi,
Lucina! Can you name the top 10 most famous Spanish Queens?
4. Knee part, for short: ACL. As in the Anterior Cruciate Ligament. Definitely not a Tuesday clue and answer.
Apparently, it is easily injured.
5. Mint leaf used as a sushi garnish: SHISO. Hand up if you
knew about Shiso. We eat a lot of sushi, but I am not familiar with this mint leaf.
6. Mouth, slangily: KISSER.
7. Prefix with cycle: UNI-.
8. Ratted (on): TOLD.
10. "Dirty" cocktail: MARTINI.
11. Automaker __ Romeo: ALFA. Alfa Romeo is an Italian
luxury car maker, known for sports-oriented vehicles and car racing. The
company was founded in June 1910 and the name is an acronym for Anonima
Lombardi Fabbrica Automobili, which means Lombardian Car Factory. Romeo
was added to the name in 1915 after Nicola Romero (Apr. 28, 1879 ~ Aug. 15,
1938) took control of the company in 1915. [Name adjacent.]
12. Shoddy: POOR.
13. Erotic: SEXY.
19. Shriek of fear: EEK!
25. Future flower: BUD.
29. Demean: ABASE.
30. Quill tip: NIB.
33. Siesta: NAP.
34. In the style of: À LA.
36. Bitter brew, briefly: IPA. As in India Pale Ale.
38. Supervillain Luthor: LEX. The supervillain in the
comics. [Name # 8.]
39. Georgia airport: Abbr.: ATL. Formally known as the
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It is named after two
former Atlanta mayors: William Berry Hartsfield (Mar. 1, 1890 ~ Feb. 22, 1971)
and Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. (1938 ~ 2003). The former was a
six-term mayor and was in office in the late 1930s to the 1960s.
The latter served three terms in the 1970 and 1990s. [Name
adjacent.]
40. Part of una semana: DIA. More of today's Spanish lesson.
A day makes up a part of the week.
42. Actor Danson: TED. Ted Danson (né Edward Bridge Danson,
III; b. Dec. 29, 1947) is probably best known for portraying Sam Malone on
Cheers, but did you known he was a model before he got into acting?
[Name # 9.]
45. Walk oafishly, like the Jabberwock slayer: GALUMPH.
Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll (né Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; Jan. 27, 1832 ~ Jan. 14, 1898). You can read it here.
47. Campfire residue: ASH.
50. Calf feeders: UDDERS.
52. Pine Tree State resident: MAINER. I thought we were
called Mainiacs.
55. Burning anger: IRE. A crossword staple.
57. Surgery marks: SCARS.
58. Norway's capital: OSLO.
59. __ seeds: smoothie choice: CHIA. Although they are
edible seeds, they also make good pets.
60. Assign to a role: CAST.
61. Small bills: ONES.
65. __ tai: cocktail: MAI. It's a cocktail made of rum,
Curçaco, orgeat syrup and lime juice. Here's one origin story.
With such fills as “silver fox” and “Iron Maiden”, I thought there would be a metallic theme at first, so I didn’t get the real theme until the reveal. Also, this puzzle appeared to have more “crunch” than usual for a Tuesday puzzle, including such obscurities as “Kuti” and “*shiso”, and how many people remember how to spell “Inigo Montoya “? Anyway, having said all that, I managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
SHISO and KUTI were new to me. The SE slowed me down a bunch, it took a while to get the revealer, no idea about SAMI, and MAINER took some crossings for this non-American. I had ODEon for some time (that's the Greek way to spell that) and no clue about DNC, so UDDERS wasn't immediately evident.
Successfully failed to read the full reveal clue, and totally forgot to look for a theme. [Sigh] Noticed several CSOs today: IRON MAIDEN - Splynter, UNI - Picard, ALFA - Dash-T. Tried HAM hOck before BONE GALUMPHed in. SILVER FOX was the nickname of country singer Charlie Rich. Enjoyed the stroll in the park, Erica, and the tour Hahtoolah. (Misread "Formally" as "Formerly" and wondered what they call that airport now. D'oh.)
EXAM -- The dreaded annual physical is on tap for tomorrow.
BIBLICAL -- My dad's descriptive term for an evening gown -- Lo and behold.
He wanted a latrine, so I said, "I DIG, man!" Later he came to inspect the can. My shoveling was awesome, I was still at the bottom. He called for me, and I said, "I'M DOWN, man!"
Up in Finland you'll find the SAMI. Reindeer herders. Do they dream of Miami? Their land is cold, But traditions hold. They would melt if they were IRANI!
Started off easy….until it wasn’t. DNK SHISO, KUTI, SAMI. Still, managed to FIR in reasonable time, and had fun doing so. Thanx, EHW, for this fine Tuesday level CW. I did need perps to get some of the fill, and I did hafta search for the theme once the reveal filled, but that’s SOP for me. Hahtoolah, your write-ups are always a true delight. I love your cartoons, and also appreciate your explanations. Thanx for all the hard work.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. It does seem that the Tuesday puzzles have some clearly non-Tuesday words. Mostly words that I'll remember only 'til the end of the day!
Thank you, Uncleared. I am glad you enjoy the write-ups.
QOD: Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. ~ Erma Bombeck (née Erma Louise Bombeck; Feb. 21, 1927 ~ Apr. 22, 1996), American humorist
FIR so I did OK today in spite of some slow downs. KUTI was new to me and KISSER finally supplanted my original thought "sassed." I know, there were several things wrong with that! But in the end, I worked it out. Thanks, Erica, for today's offering.
Hahtoolah, your review is spot on, as usual. Thanks for expanding our knowledge and treating us to cartoon fun. The SHAME ON ME one was especially fun.
Good to see you today, OwenKL. Hope everyone has a fine day!
I had no trouble finishing but I doubt a beginner could say the same. Lately, the Tuesday puzzles are more difficult than you would expect and the Friday puzzles less difficult. This is not a complaint, just an observation, although I do miss the head-scratching Fridays of the past. I don’t mind difficulty but I find obscure and esoteric clues/fill frustrating, even if the perps are fair, and this offering had more than its share, IMO. Picard’s Uni and Anon T’s Alfa were the bright spots, plus Mainer for this 🦞 lover!
Thanks, Erica, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the interesting commentary and the usual array of rib-tickling cartoons. Loved the Spy Balloon!
Good Morning. FIR, but thought it was out of place in the weekly line-up. Shouldn't have to rely so much on perps & WOs on Tues. I'll never be a fan of obscure names/books/music/foreign words. That said, thanks, Hah2lah for the fun recap. The walruses were too funny!! I had that played on me as a kid more than once!!!
FIR, and I have no idea how I managed that feat since 2 of the starred answers were total unknowns to me. For afrobeat, I read acrobat, not that that error made a difference since I didn’t know SUTI anyway.
I couldn’t think of IPA because to me IPAs don’t taste bitter but delicious.
FLN Waseely, i agrée with your late night musical post.
Hahtoolah: fun little jokes as usual. Pink in your silver hair! How daring.
Musings -Impossible KUTI, SHISO and INIGO went quietly. When used as cluing for common fill raises my IRE. -A HAM BONE always wound up in mom’s navy bean soup -Husker baseball wound up in a 16 – 16 TIE GAME yesterday that had to be called so they could make their flight back to Lincoln from San Diego. -DASH CAM – One picture is indeed worth a thousand words -One use of KISSER that couldn’t/shouldn’t be used today -Laparoscopic surgery greatly reduced any SCARS for me but my abs still let me know they don’t like being disturbed -Fun write-up with a little pink in your hair, Susan? You go girl!
Testing Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Erica and Hahtoolah (great cartoons!). I finished and got the I’M DOWN theme, but forgot to go back and sort out my head-scratcher area in the north- centre, so officially a FIWed. Did anyone know KUTI. I wanted Sasses (two days in a row!) (hi ATLGranny). That decided UNI (for Picard) verses Tri. Then IRANI changed it to Sasser (could fit the clue, but meh). Are Anons part of a plan? Duh!
Anon@5:20- welcome to the non-American group here. Can you claim Canadian disadvantage like me for 20A, 52D, 39D, 62A. Or are you in another country?
I noted NIB crossing BIB LICAL, plus the sib SIS. We had DIA and YEAR. SILVER FOX crossing SEXY was cute. (I LOLed after my discussion with AnonT the other day about my natural silver fix hair colour.)
I, too, thought this puzzle was "Thursday-ish." So many proper names. The only totally unfamiliar fill was KUTI. ESP. I got SHISO with ESP, but then remembered seeing it before. I am a sushi fan. Too bad, it has become very expensive these days. Perps were helpful for memory jogging. Sami, reina and Alfa were gimmes. I needed the reveal to suss the theme. My favorite clue was "perform a simple operation = add." I'd love to make pea soup with a hambone, but no one in my family likes pea soup, except me. They love navy bean soup, so there goes my hambone. Hi, Gary. Silver fox. It seems more and more women are going natural these day. My hair is salt and pepper with more salt each haircut. My hair stylist says the gray looks like natural streaks. I don't intend to dye it. I am hoping for pure white eventually, but will probably get steel gray instead. Susan, your blog is always interesting and fun. I liked the animal gestation article. One transposition of letters and one illigible letter held me up a bit, but FIR w/o help.
Thank you, Erica Hsiung Wojcik, and thank you, Hahtoolah
No problems with the crossword or the review. Easy, despite the two answers of SHISO and KUTI that were total unknowns.
I M ? Irish Miss, of course! A Shout Out to Inanehiker, as well. Then there's ALFA for Dash T, and UNI for Picard.
Yesterday I was reading about countertenors and contraltos. That (eventually) led to a YardBarker article about The greatest singing voices of all time. NINA was there.
CALLOO, CALLAY! FIR today. I must have been tuned to Erica's wavelength. The non Tuesday clues perped nicely...didn't even notice some of them. The theme, however, escaped me completely. Indigo was one of my favorite characters. Funny how puzzles strike people so differently.
Hahtoolah I also struggled with HAM BONE crossed with unknowns SHISO and INIGO. This reminds me of the spot on OATY CHEERIOS cartoon yesterday from sumdaze. I enjoy PEA SOUP with nothing added. And I enjoy Cheerios with nothing added. I do not drink milk. Milk is a drink for a CALF.
desper-otto, Jinx, Irish Miss, CanadianEh Thank you for the shouts out about UNICYCLE! Believe it or not, my physics and math mind first had me thing of EPICYCLE.
That was in 2018, after the horrific fire and mud slide that killed many in our community. The theme that year was "Heroes" to honor those heroes who helped. Our Grand Finale group were "Art Heroes" so I combined the fire fighter costume with the Mondrian leggings. Only in Solstice.
JJB. How does anybody finish that puzzle in 5 minutes? What a bunch of nonsense! I think we have at least one irrepressible ego amongst us. Very tough one for a Tuesday. Everyone has already commented on the Kutis and shisos.
Neat Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Erica. And your commentaries are always a pleasure, Hahtoolah.
Puzzle got off to an exciting start with KISSER and SEXY--Woohoo! I was expecting more of that fun stuff. But there wasn't much else, except for those silly UDDERS, and so I was embarrassed for having even hoped for more--SHAME ON ME. But the treat of the day were all those DIETARY items, like that HAMBONE for our soup decorated with a bit of SHISO, and the POTABLES like that ALOE VERA and, of course, our favorite MARTINI. Gosh, after that delicious lunch I think it's time for a NAP.
When we moved to BR DH encouraged me to go gray. New town, new look. So I did and I’m so glad. People think it’s beauty shop streaks. And more important, DH loves it.
JJB at 1:01: I see you're relatively new here, so welcome to the Corner.
I've explained before that I post my times because when I first discovered this site (several years ago), some other people posted their times, and it motivated me to be a better solver. The timing element adds to my enjoyment of the puzzle, although I fully understand that not everyone feels that way. I solve online, so the timer is there automatically - I don't have to go out of my way to keep track, and believe it's placed there for a reason.
Respectfully, Anonymous at 8:19 a.m.
PS. I would describe myself as "unassuming," and as someone who hates circles in most crossword puzzles.
Whew! For a few frightening moments, I thought the fill for 24A must be HENBANE. Aargh. As much as I enjoy pea soup, I feared I must give it up--until, that is, the write-over came to me. HAMBONE! Of course...
OK, here is your pedantry for today: The ancient ODEUM or ᾨδεῖον was not properly a Greek "theater." It was a small hillside reserved for singing and poetry. The clue for 49A, "Greek theater," was correctly a Theatron or θέητρον, the "Viewing Place," and was much larger, allowing room for many thousands to see the actors and chorus and a degree of spectacle that accompanied full scale tragedies and comedies.
Centuries later, the term Odeon or ODEUM was/is sometimes appropriated and applied to proscenium (modern) theaters, and sometimes even to cinemas. Tutorial out. ~ OMK ____________ DR: Only one diagonal today, on the far side. Unfortunately, the super-abundance of vowels limits the possible anagrams. I beg your indulgence, as the best I found (a mere 9 of 15 letters) must refer to an old Czarist decree on an arcane subject;, to wit, the exchange rate between the ruble and the monetary unit of Papua New Guinea. I refer you to the...
I DIG. I’M DOWN. This grid is DIETARY fiber, man. You IN ON it? Thanks for the fun, Erica. Thanks for the LOL expo, Hahtoolah. //spy-balloon - teehee
WOs: N/A ESPs: KUTI, SHISO, NINA, LANA | GALUMPH, spelling of INIGO MONTOYA, SAMI Fav: ALFA. DW likens her Giulia to me: It's Italian -- high-maintenance, doesn’t always work, but SEXY as hell. I would liken my Spider to her but she's not Italian ;-)
{A, B+} That's a real stretch, OMK ;-)
Welcome Kkflorida.
YR - I too am the only one in the house that likes pea soup. And it's getting the family is tired of my HAM-BONE bean soup too (I make it after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter).
The Sami are not Scandinavian people. Scandinavians are from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and some definitions include Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Sami are not related genetically or linguistically to the Scandinavians. Other constructors have used the word Lapp as the answer to clues about reindeer herding and other aspects of Sami culture. They have never called themselves Lapps or Laplanders; a German traveler centuries ago gave them that name, and it was adopted by other Western countries. I hope Erica Hsiung Wojic and other constructors see this and are accurate in their clues and answers about the Sami in the future.
Wilbur Charles, I didn't understand your driving comment until I looked at Hahtoolah's link to Urban Dictionary's "Mainiacs" (I thought they were called Mainers or Mainerds). That "see also" term made me laugh. First time I've ever heard or seen that.
Out of state drivers, especially those from neighboring states always seem to get criticized. I know some Wisconsin people that use the term FIBs for Illinois drivers.
There used to be a commenter here from Bar Harbor that went by the moniker of Maniniac, and another that went by Manic. There were some epic back and forth, cat and dog comedy bits between Cross Eyed Dave and one of those two, but I don't recall which one.
OMKeith: I had to laugh when I say your post because I, too, thought that the HAMBONE was going in the HENBANE direction. I knew there was a reason we didn't eat pea soup!
Erica's puzzle was a good fit for my brain so no troubles with a FIR today.
I am familiar with SHISO from my time in Japan. It is refreshing & delicious!! I also heard it called "ao shiso" (blue/green shiso) or "ooba" (large leaf). Now I am craving it!
My pea soup is meatless, too. I like to use the yellow split peas, if I can find them.
Thank you for your delightful write-up, Hahtoolah!
I just want to say I'm home after visiting friends in California especially my dear friend whose 93rd birthday we celebrated. Tomorrow my newspaper delivery will resume and I'll have a puzzle.
42 comments:
With such fills as “silver fox” and “Iron Maiden”, I thought there would be a metallic theme at first, so I didn’t get the real theme until the reveal. Also, this puzzle appeared to have more “crunch” than usual for a Tuesday puzzle, including such obscurities as “Kuti” and “*shiso”, and how many people remember how to spell “Inigo Montoya “? Anyway, having said all that, I managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
SHISO and KUTI were new to me. The SE slowed me down a bunch, it took a while to get the revealer, no idea about SAMI, and MAINER took some crossings for this non-American. I had ODEon for some time (that's the Greek way to spell that) and no clue about DNC, so UDDERS wasn't immediately evident.
Good morning!
Successfully failed to read the full reveal clue, and totally forgot to look for a theme. [Sigh] Noticed several CSOs today: IRON MAIDEN - Splynter, UNI - Picard, ALFA - Dash-T. Tried HAM hOck before BONE GALUMPHed in. SILVER FOX was the nickname of country singer Charlie Rich. Enjoyed the stroll in the park, Erica, and the tour Hahtoolah. (Misread "Formally" as "Formerly" and wondered what they call that airport now. D'oh.)
EXAM -- The dreaded annual physical is on tap for tomorrow.
BIBLICAL -- My dad's descriptive term for an evening gown -- Lo and behold.
He wanted a latrine, so I said, "I DIG, man!"
Later he came to inspect the can.
My shoveling was awesome,
I was still at the bottom.
He called for me, and I said, "I'M DOWN, man!"
Up in Finland you'll find the SAMI.
Reindeer herders. Do they dream of Miami?
Their land is cold,
But traditions hold.
They would melt if they were IRANI!
FIW, missing my wag at the nasty Natick GArUMPH x rIN. Erased ODiUM. UNTIE!!!
CSOs to our transportation experts -T and Picard. I hear that the unicycle is more reliable than the ALFA.
I just can't conjure the energy to even complain about this puzzle. To me it was a self-evident stinker.
Thanks to Ha2la for the funny, colorful review. Nice way to rescue a forgettable morning.
Started off easy….until it wasn’t. DNK SHISO, KUTI, SAMI. Still, managed to FIR in reasonable time, and had fun doing so. Thanx, EHW, for this fine Tuesday level CW. I did need perps to get some of the fill, and I did hafta search for the theme once the reveal filled, but that’s SOP for me. Hahtoolah, your write-ups are always a true delight. I love your cartoons, and also appreciate your explanations. Thanx for all the hard work.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. It does seem that the Tuesday puzzles have some clearly non-Tuesday words. Mostly words that I'll remember only 'til the end of the day!
Thank you, Uncleared. I am glad you enjoy the write-ups.
QOD: Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. ~ Erma Bombeck (née Erma Louise Bombeck; Feb. 21, 1927 ~ Apr. 22, 1996), American humorist
Hahtoolah, methinks you've become victim to the dreaded otto-correct.
FIR, but way too many proper names for my liking. And even a few crossing like Lin and Inigo Montoya. I find this to be bad CW form.
I shouldn't have to speak Spanish to finish a crossword puzzle
I finished this in 5:47.
M anaged to get it right, despite the plethora of proper names and foreign words.
Tuesday-level has seemingly morphed into Wednesday-level. I'm ok with that.
I'm not ok with: Shiso(?), Reinas(?), Sami, Lana, Lin, Alfa, etc.
I'd award this puzzle bonus points for employing a theme in the Downs, but detract points for the undue amount of foreign and/or proper names.
FIR so I did OK today in spite of some slow downs. KUTI was new to me and KISSER finally supplanted my original thought "sassed." I know, there were several things wrong with that! But in the end, I worked it out. Thanks, Erica, for today's offering.
Hahtoolah, your review is spot on, as usual. Thanks for expanding our knowledge and treating us to cartoon fun. The SHAME ON ME one was especially fun.
Good to see you today, OwenKL. Hope everyone has a fine day!
Good Morning:
I had no trouble finishing but I doubt a beginner could say the same. Lately, the Tuesday puzzles are more difficult than you would expect and the Friday puzzles less difficult. This is not a complaint, just an observation, although I do miss the head-scratching Fridays of the past. I don’t mind difficulty but I find obscure and esoteric clues/fill frustrating, even if the perps are fair, and this offering had more than its share, IMO. Picard’s Uni and Anon T’s Alfa were the bright spots, plus Mainer for this 🦞 lover!
Thanks, Erica, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the interesting commentary and the usual array of rib-tickling cartoons. Loved the Spy Balloon!
Have a great day.
Excellent puzzle and even more excellent write-up with Nina Simone's jazzy vocals, Beatles Come Together, and a fun poem, Jabberwocky! Thanks
Good Morning. FIR, but thought it was out of place in the weekly line-up. Shouldn't have to rely so much on perps & WOs on Tues. I'll never be a fan of obscure names/books/music/foreign words.
That said, thanks, Hah2lah for the fun recap. The walruses were too funny!! I had that played on me as a kid more than once!!!
Loved the quips, thanks.
Lots of proper names and things I didn't know. Tough Tuesday.
FIR, and I have no idea how I managed that feat since 2 of the starred answers were total unknowns to me. For afrobeat, I read acrobat, not that that error made a difference since I didn’t know SUTI anyway.
I couldn’t think of IPA because to me IPAs don’t taste bitter but delicious.
FLN Waseely, i agrée with your late night musical post.
Hahtoolah: fun little jokes as usual. Pink in your silver hair! How daring.
Musings
-Impossible KUTI, SHISO and INIGO went quietly. When used as cluing for common fill raises my IRE.
-A HAM BONE always wound up in mom’s navy bean soup
-Husker baseball wound up in a 16 – 16 TIE GAME yesterday that had to be called so they could make their flight back to Lincoln from San Diego.
-DASH CAM – One picture is indeed worth a thousand words
-One use of KISSER that couldn’t/shouldn’t be used today
-Laparoscopic surgery greatly reduced any SCARS for me but my abs still let me know they don’t like being disturbed
-Fun write-up with a little pink in your hair, Susan? You go girl!
Testing Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Erica and Hahtoolah (great cartoons!).
I finished and got the I’M DOWN theme, but forgot to go back and sort out my head-scratcher area in the north- centre, so officially a FIWed.
Did anyone know KUTI. I wanted Sasses (two days in a row!) (hi ATLGranny). That decided UNI (for Picard) verses Tri. Then IRANI changed it to Sasser (could fit the clue, but meh). Are Anons part of a plan? Duh!
Anon@5:20- welcome to the non-American group here. Can you claim Canadian disadvantage like me for 20A, 52D, 39D, 62A. Or are you in another country?
I noted NIB crossing BIB LICAL, plus the sib SIS.
We had DIA and YEAR.
SILVER FOX crossing SEXY was cute. (I LOLed after my discussion with AnonT the other day about my natural silver fix hair colour.)
Wishing you all a great day.
I, too, thought this puzzle was "Thursday-ish." So many proper names. The only totally unfamiliar fill was KUTI. ESP.
I got SHISO with ESP, but then remembered seeing it before. I am a sushi fan. Too bad, it has become very expensive these days.
Perps were helpful for memory jogging.
Sami, reina and Alfa were gimmes.
I needed the reveal to suss the theme.
My favorite clue was "perform a simple operation = add."
I'd love to make pea soup with a hambone, but no one in my family likes pea soup, except me. They love navy bean soup, so there goes my hambone. Hi, Gary.
Silver fox. It seems more and more women are going natural these day. My hair is salt and pepper with more salt each haircut. My hair stylist says the gray looks like natural streaks. I don't intend to dye it. I am hoping for pure white eventually, but will probably get steel gray instead.
Susan, your blog is always interesting and fun. I liked the animal gestation article.
One transposition of letters and one illigible letter held me up a bit, but FIR w/o help.
The bird poo spy balloon cracked me up. GC
Thank you, Erica Hsiung Wojcik, and thank you, Hahtoolah
No problems with the crossword or the review.
Easy, despite the two answers of SHISO and KUTI that were total unknowns.
I M ? Irish Miss, of course!
A Shout Out to Inanehiker, as well.
Then there's ALFA for Dash T, and UNI for Picard.
Yesterday I was reading about countertenors and contraltos. That (eventually) led to a YardBarker article about The greatest singing voices of all time. NINA was there.
CALLOO, CALLAY! FIR today. I must have been tuned to Erica's wavelength. The non Tuesday clues perped nicely...didn't even notice some of them. The theme, however, escaped me completely. Indigo was one of my favorite characters. Funny how puzzles strike people so differently.
INIGO. Otto correct runs amok again.
Hahtoolah I also struggled with HAM BONE crossed with unknowns SHISO and INIGO. This reminds me of the spot on OATY CHEERIOS cartoon yesterday from sumdaze. I enjoy PEA SOUP with nothing added. And I enjoy Cheerios with nothing added. I do not drink milk. Milk is a drink for a CALF.
desper-otto, Jinx, Irish Miss, CanadianEh Thank you for the shouts out about UNICYCLE! Believe it or not, my physics and math mind first had me thing of EPICYCLE.
Here is a new video of me riding my UNICYCLE in the Solstice Parade.
That was in 2018, after the horrific fire and mud slide that killed many in our community. The theme that year was "Heroes" to honor those heroes who helped. Our Grand Finale group were "Art Heroes" so I combined the fire fighter costume with the Mondrian leggings. Only in Solstice.
Apologies in advance, (nothing else was amusing....)
I'm down?
but with style...
And then there's this guy that shows how it's done...
And now,
a word about The Princess Bride...
JJB. How does anybody finish that puzzle in 5 minutes? What a bunch of nonsense! I think we have at least one irrepressible ego amongst us. Very tough one for a Tuesday. Everyone has already commented on the Kutis and shisos.
Neat Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Erica. And your commentaries are always a pleasure, Hahtoolah.
Puzzle got off to an exciting start with KISSER and SEXY--Woohoo! I was expecting more of that fun stuff. But there wasn't much else, except for those silly UDDERS, and so I was embarrassed for having even hoped for more--SHAME ON ME. But the treat of the day were all those DIETARY items, like that HAMBONE for our soup decorated with a bit of SHISO, and the POTABLES like that ALOE VERA and, of course, our favorite MARTINI. Gosh, after that delicious lunch I think it's time for a NAP.
Have a great day, everybody.
When we moved to BR DH encouraged me to go gray. New town, new look. So I did and I’m so glad. People think it’s beauty shop streaks. And more important, DH loves it.
Tante Nique: email me. We should meet for coffee.
JJB at 1:01: I see you're relatively new here, so welcome to the Corner.
I've explained before that I post my times because when I first discovered this site (several years ago), some other people posted their times, and it motivated me to be a better solver. The timing element adds to my enjoyment of the puzzle, although I fully understand that not everyone feels that way. I solve online, so the timer is there automatically - I don't have to go out of my way to keep track, and believe it's placed there for a reason.
Respectfully,
Anonymous at 8:19 a.m.
PS. I would describe myself as "unassuming," and as someone who hates circles in most crossword puzzles.
Hahtoolah brings us a Wojcik PZL.
Whew! For a few frightening moments, I thought the fill for 24A must be HENBANE.
Aargh.
As much as I enjoy pea soup, I feared I must give it up--until, that is, the write-over came to me.
HAMBONE!
Of course...
OK, here is your pedantry for today:
The ancient ODEUM or ᾨδεῖον was not properly a Greek "theater." It was a small hillside reserved for singing and poetry.
The clue for 49A, "Greek theater," was correctly a Theatron or θέητρον, the "Viewing Place," and was much larger, allowing room for many thousands to see the actors and chorus and a degree of spectacle that accompanied full scale tragedies and comedies.
Centuries later, the term Odeon or ODEUM was/is sometimes appropriated and applied to proscenium (modern) theaters, and sometimes even to cinemas.
Tutorial out.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Only one diagonal today, on the far side.
Unfortunately, the super-abundance of vowels limits the possible anagrams. I beg your indulgence, as the best I found (a mere 9 of 15 letters) must refer to an old Czarist decree on an arcane subject;, to wit, the exchange rate between the ruble and the monetary unit of Papua New Guinea.
I refer you to the...
"TOEA UKASE"!
I like that you post your times. I am not nearly as quick but it gives me a benchmark to work towards. Keep posting your times please. Kkflorida
Smooth, Monday-level xword
Last box was DIo changed to DIA. LANA sounded better
Thanks for the entertaining(as always) write-up hahtoolah
ALFA as mentioned is a CSO to -T. I missed Picard 's UNI but enjoyed watching him zip around the parade
Xword was typical Tuesday as popcul was fairly perped
It wasn't the driving but the overall oddball nature of folk from Maine . I heard MAINiac back in '71
WC
Hi All!
I DIG. I’M DOWN. This grid is DIETARY fiber, man. You IN ON it?
Thanks for the fun, Erica. Thanks for the LOL expo, Hahtoolah. //spy-balloon - teehee
WOs: N/A
ESPs: KUTI, SHISO, NINA, LANA | GALUMPH, spelling of INIGO MONTOYA, SAMI
Fav: ALFA. DW likens her Giulia to me: It's Italian -- high-maintenance, doesn’t always work, but SEXY as hell.
I would liken my Spider to her but she's not Italian ;-)
{A, B+}
That's a real stretch, OMK ;-)
Welcome Kkflorida.
YR - I too am the only one in the house that likes pea soup. And it's getting the family is tired of my HAM-BONE bean soup too (I make it after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter).
Thanks for the kitty-giggles, CED.
Gotta run - busy day. Cheers, -T
The Sami are not Scandinavian people. Scandinavians are from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and some definitions include Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Sami are not related genetically or linguistically to the Scandinavians. Other constructors have used the word Lapp as the answer to clues about reindeer herding and other aspects of Sami culture. They have never called themselves Lapps or Laplanders; a German traveler centuries ago gave them that name, and it was adopted by other Western countries. I hope Erica Hsiung Wojic and other constructors see this and are accurate in their clues and answers about the Sami in the future.
Wilbur Charles, I didn't understand your driving comment until I looked at Hahtoolah's link to Urban Dictionary's "Mainiacs" (I thought they were called Mainers or Mainerds). That "see also" term made me laugh. First time I've ever heard or seen that.
Out of state drivers, especially those from neighboring states always seem to get criticized. I know some Wisconsin people that use the term FIBs for Illinois drivers.
There used to be a commenter here from Bar Harbor that went by the moniker of Maniniac, and another that went by Manic. There were some epic back and forth, cat and dog comedy bits between Cross Eyed Dave and one of those two, but I don't recall which one.
OMKeith: I had to laugh when I say your post because I, too, thought that the HAMBONE was going in the HENBANE direction. I knew there was a reason we didn't eat pea soup!
Typo - That should have been Mainiac.
Erica's puzzle was a good fit for my brain so no troubles with a FIR today.
I am familiar with SHISO from my time in Japan. It is refreshing & delicious!! I also heard it called "ao shiso" (blue/green shiso) or "ooba" (large leaf). Now I am craving it!
My pea soup is meatless, too. I like to use the yellow split peas, if I can find them.
Thank you for your delightful write-up, Hahtoolah!
Hola!
I just want to say I'm home after visiting friends in California especially my dear friend whose 93rd birthday we celebrated. Tomorrow my newspaper delivery will resume and I'll have a puzzle.
Welcome Home, Lucina! Cheers, -T
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