Friday, March 17, 2023, Jess Shulman and Max Woghiren
Good morning Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with a Saint Patrick's Day Friday recap.
Today's puzzle comes to us from the team of Ms. Jess Shulman and Mr. Max Woghiren. Jess made her NYT puzzle debut just about one year ago. I was not able to find a previous LAT puzzle by either constructor so this may well be their LAT debuts.
I found the theme to be both clever and a bit convoluted (but, hey, it is Friday). The reveal, which has nothing to do with either St. Patrick's Day or Red Nose Day, comes at:
63 Across: "You're blocking the view!," and what is needed to complete the answers to the starred clues?: DOWN IN FRONT.
Actually, we needed two things. First, it helped to be able to identify the unstated initial (FRONT) word of the three song titles that are the answers to the themed clues. Second, in order to stop wondering what was going on, it was necessary for one to realize that the dropped words are words that can be substituted for the word DOWN. In short, a "synonym" for DOWN (is) IN FRONT.
Here are the three themed clues/answers, once again starred for our convenience:
17 Across: *Bilingual Ed Sheeran song featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B: (SOUTH) OF THE BORDER. On most maps, SOUTH is DOWN. DOWN SOUTH refers to being in, or going to, the southern part of the country.
29 Across: *R.E.M. hit single on "Out of Time": (LOSING) MY RELIGION. If your team is LOSING the game you are said to be DOWN (by a run or two or a by a touchdown or by a goal, etc.).
REM
47 Across: *Carl Perkins rockabilly classic popularized by Elvis Presley: (BLUE) SUEDE SHOES. Perhaps, the most direct application of the theme: DOWN = SAD = BLUE.
Carl Perkins With Eric Clapton and George Harrison - 1985
Here are the rest of the, proper-noun-abundant, clues/answers:
Across:
1. Scarecrow innards: STRAW.
6. Italian port: GENOA. Christopher Columbus' place of birth. And, sometimes, berth. Also a variety of salami.
11. Get better, maybe: AGE. Like fine wine.
14. Gear bit: TOOTH.
15. Cheri of "Scary Movie": OTERI. A not-infrequent visitor.
16. Musical about Henry VIII's many wives: SIX.
19. Fury: IRE.
20. "Oh, come on!": PUHLEASE. A very appropriate reaction to this one.
21. Aims: GOALS.
23. "Love Stuff" singer King: ELLE. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
24. Tub gunk: SCUM.
Hot Tub Scum
26. Vane point: EAST. Weather vane.
34. Poetic rhythm: METER. IAMB did not contain enough letters to fill the squares.
36. Plenty: A LOT. TONS. GOBS. LOTS. WADS. Perps dictated which it was.
37. Jazz org.: NBA.
Of the National Basketball Association
38. "¡Ay, Dios __!": MIO. Today's Spanish lesson. See 22 Down for the translation.
39. Anthem that ends, "We stand on guard for thee": O CANADA.
42. "Dear old" one: DAD.
David Nelson
43. Over thataway: YON. Have you ever heard anyone in an oater say "They went YON" ?
44. "Shane" star Alan: LADD. He went thataway.
Movie Poster - 1953
45. "Spider-Man" trilogy director: RAIMI. Sam RAIMI.
51. Jet set jet: LEAR.
52. Wrote to online, briefly: IMED. Instant MessagED
53. Feels bad: AILS.
55. TikTok upload: VIDEO. A Moe-ku:
Tik Tok VIDEOs
Leave me uninterested
Perhaps I'm just odd
58. Very nearly: AS GOOD AS. Shouldn't the answer be ALMOST AS GOOD AS?
62. Rita Dove's "__ to My Right Knee": ODE.
66. Decathlon number: TEN. By definition.
67. Top-flight: ELITE.
68. Under control: TAMED.
69. Put away: EAT. Idiomatic
70. "I'm out": LATER.
71. Puts one over on: SNOWS.
Down:
1. "Cut it out!": STOP. My girlfriend got mad at me because I would not STOP singing "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees. At first I thought that she was kidding. But then I saw her face.
2. Food sold in blocks: TOFU. Until recently, I didn't know that TOFU could taste so good. It never o-curd to me.
3. "American Pastoral" Pulitzer winner: ROTH. Perhaps better known for Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint.
4. Word in several ESPY Award categories: ATHLETE.
5. Cheese shape: WHEEL.
Parmigiano Reggiano - Photo by MM
6. Loosey-__: GOOSEY.Meaning completely relaxed. The phrase, probably aided in longevity by the rhyme, dates from the first half of the 1900's. In earlier usage, it sometimes denoted promiscuity (loose morals), diarrhea (loose bowels), and so on but since about 1950 it has mostly stuck to its present meaning.
7. Basic French verb: ETRE. Today's French lesson - a language in which most verbs are conjugated with AVOIR (to have) or ETRE (to be).
8. Composer Rorem: NED.
Ned Rorem
9. Nickel source: ORE. The metal not the coin.
10. Wind instrument?: AIR GUITAR. Some AIR GUITAR players can actually play actual (in this instance left-handed bass) guitars.
11. Much of an atlas: ASIA.
12. Mary Cassatt's "Little __ in a Blue Armchair": GIRL. A painting (1878).
13. Former couples: EXES.
18. Lip __: BALM. Hand up for first thinking SYNC.
22. "Srsly?!": OMG. Seriously?
24. Actress Ward: SELA.
25. Dolt: CLOD.
26. Awards for "Schitt's Creek": EMMYS. Clued the way it was, any of a shipload of tv shows could have been referenced.
27. Vowel set: A E I O U. I once fell in love with a girl who knew only four vowels. She didn't know I existed.
28. "The Favourite" actress Emma: STONE.
30. Total stranger: RANDO. Oh puhlease!
31. __ folk: INDIE. INDIE folk has its earliest origins in 1990's folk artists who displayedalternative rock influences in their music,
32. "Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA. Not Barack. Not Sasha. Not Malia. Michelle.
33. Low point: NADIR.
35. One to emulate: ROLE MODEL. Hi, Robert.
40. Docket item: CASE. A trial court reference.
41. Ritalin target: Abbr.: ADHD.
46. Unsuccessful candidate: ALSO RAN.
48. Conk out: DIE.
49. Less taxing: EASIER.
50. Say "cheese" by rubbing one's palms together, e.g.: SIGN. At first I thought they were talking about smiling for a photo. But it would not have made any difference because the answer was going to be American SIGN Language in either case.
54. Many apartments in former industrial areas: LOFTS.
55. Rock the __: VOTE. An organization whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young Americans.
56. Concept: IDEA.
57. Minor progress: DENT. My friend sailed his boat into the dock at a rapid pace causing a dent in the hull. He says that it's just a berth mark.
58. Chip in?: ANTE.
59. "__ arigato": DOMO. Today's Japanese lesson.
60. Over again: ANEW.
61. Norms: Abbr.: STDS. Not social diseases. STanDardS.
64. São Paulo greeting: OLA. Today's Portuguese lesson.
65. Card: WIT. Not playing cards. Idiomatic.
Here is how this all looks in the grid. Please pay no attention to the yellow/red highlighted squares at 3 Down. The .puz file solving app that I had to use while away from home does not allow me to override the app's highlighting of one's "current" place in the puzzle.
Very punny, M-M. Also loved your "proper-noun-abundant." Got 'er done in good time. Only had to use my Wite-Out once: maps/ASIA. Got the BLUE, but didn't catch the sad/down association of those Suede Shoes. This was a nice Friday challenge. Thanx, Jess, Max, and Mal-Man. (Your wheel of cheese didn't make the trip.)
"Ode to My Right Knee" -- I told my doctor I can no longer kneel on my knees -- feels like they're on fire. She said it was just arthritis. I said it was just awful.
DNF. Googled (Losing) MY RELIGION, which fixed sync, which allowed OF THE BORDER, PUHLEASE and ELLE. Also erased wag for WIT.
Lotsa CANADIAN TODAY, Eh? My excuse for not remembering their Anthem is that they sing it in Frawnch before hockey games. We also got "Favourite". Do Canadian poems have METRE?
DENT - For MalMan, here's a well-know ditty from the significant other of a boat owner: I don't get to steer the boat I don't get to ring the bell But let the damned thing hit the dock And see who catches hell!
Consider it done! It's AS GOOD AS done!
I wanted Rock the Casbah, but it wouldn't fit.
I remember an old quip that accompanied a Cheryl LADD pictorial in Playboy: "We're straight, but we love this LADD." (She was once married to Alan's son.)
Thanks to our MalMan for compiling the funny and informative review.
I was trying to wrap my head around what the theme could possibly be. With the reveal, I had some inkling, but didn’t really grok it until MalMan explained it. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. Way too many proper names most of which I guessed at and got right. Never got the theme, which is lame. Rando? Indie folk? Come on! I fully expected a St. Patrick's day theme and what we got was an early April fool(ish) theme.
I thought it was a good theme-less puzzle, which seemed odd and easy for a Friday, but evidently there was a theme.
I thought the song was "Losing My Religion," but readily accepted it could be just "My Religion." Similarly, I know Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes," but readily accepted that Carl Perkins' version was just "Suede Shoes."
I had no idea what "American Pastoral" was or who wrote/sang/directed/etc. it. Same for the "Armchair" clue/answer duo. I also didn't know the "Basic French verb," which strikes me as a poor clue for multiple reasons, but I did get other language clues (domo and cheese).
Happy St. Patrick's Day to those of you who celebrate it (and I'm pretty sure Ms. Irish Miss does)!
Not being familiar with Ed Sheeran or R.E.M.’s music, I had no idea what was going on until filling in Suede Shoes and Down In Front. Then, I could intuit South but not Losing. It’s an interesting theme concept, but if you don’t know the songs, sort of frustrating. Not as frustrating, though, as the unnecessary proper noun cluing for common words, Ode, Six, Girl, Indie, Vote, etc. I didn’t know that particular Elle nor Domo but my only w/o was Maps/Atlas.
Thanks, Jess and Max, and thanks, MalMan, for a fun, fanciful, fact-filled review. Loved the Free Lip-Piercing cartoon and all of your groany, funny puns!
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day tonight at my sister Peg’s. Last I heard, she is cooking 28 pounds of corned beef. Unlike other years, though, due to health limitations, no big dinner, just sandwiches and sides. I’m in the mood for a Reuben! And, maybe, a wee dram of Dewar’s! 🥃
I thought I hadda FIW. cuz no way PUHLEASE could be correct. Even Siri or Alexa wouldn't find that in the CW data base. But I was wrong, I was right.
You kin tell its gittin' weekendish.. Cassat, Rorem, Spiderman, Dove, Rosemary, Emma (...and I saw the flick) , "Srsly" OMG, seriously? I get putting "losing" DOWN in front of MY RELIGION but not the rest of the theme trick (btw thought that was a CW taboo subject..😄)..... reluctantly put INDIE? "folk"
Inkovers: boat/VOTE, maps/ASIA (tweren't jus me, I betcha), wedge/WHEEL.
"The true North strong and freeeee 🎵"...hadda sing this almost every day pledging my college fraternity (1968) for a Canadian frat brother from PEI. The lyrics are str8forward and not difficult to learn, unlike ours ...or bloodthirsty like the French "Marseillaise". We still spelled it METER though, sorry Canada Eh.
I guess it's not EMMies....Is there a partial"Stranger"? 😄.... Tried ReX (had the X) but Henry had SIX wives.... Pahleeze! (var) who says AGE means "get better" 😏. Tell my AM backache.
That really hurts!!....AEIOU Wildebeest....ANEW A Scot's "No, Honey"....NADIR Cops...PUHLEASE
FIR Friday for me! Thanks, Jess and Mac, for the puzzle practice. I got lucky since a final proofreading caught two blank squares I'd left. Finished SNOWS and began reading the review.
Thanks, MalMan, for an amusing and helpful review today. I understood the theme idea but needed your help to add losing to MY RELIGION. That synonym for DOWN I hadn't thought of. (obviously forgot the song title)
Hand up for sync/BALM, wEdge/WHEEL, and thinking of Rock the Casbah/VOTE. (Hi, Jinx) I was amused by the evolution of one fill as perps affected it: reX/seX/SIX. (Hi, Ray-O)
DNF. I didn’t catch the theme since I wanted to put DOWN IN FRONT of the long answers, so for my first long answer I had on THE BORDER, which seemed to work not knowing this title. But it didn’t work for SUEDE SHOES. I was not clever enough to see the other meaning of DOWN.
In addition there were too many proper names or abbreviations, like RANDO?, PHULEASE, INDIE. This puzzle was not a comfortable fit for me. Maybe because of the unevennesses of the clues, either easy to get or guess, or titles I had to either know or not, with no guessing possible.
I’m glad to see some cornerites liked it and were able to work it. We all have different abilities.
Musings -Subbing on St. Patty’s Day and the only kid in 1st hour wearing green has a first name of Ireland -Talk about unique! DOWN/SOUTH jumped out to me. -I need a ruling. I was thinking AGAINST MY RELIGION and not LOSING. -PU_LEASE/ROT_ was a personal natick. I only thought of U or L and of course it was an H. OTOH, I got the I at IND_E/RA_MI -LEAR – My daughter works at Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, NE and they maintain and upgrade personal jets. Last week they had the Dallas Cowboy executive jet and Frances Ford Coppola’s plane in for refurbishing. -TAMED – People with tigers for pets are delusional -Rhonda Rousey SNOWED fans until she got beaten badly and exposed as a fraud. -Minimum/No till practices have eliminated most CLODS in fields here -Sign cluing was so fun. -Portuguese foreign exchange student here said “Oi” is a less formal and more common greeting
This one got me. Had to use red letter runs to finish. I grokked the missing first words, but the "down" part eluded me until MalMan explained it. Lots of pop cul, but at least some of it was fogie friendly! Liked AIR GUITAR for WIND INSTRUMENT.
Gary, I hope you don't run into Rhonda Rousey anytime soon. I wouldn't call someone a "fraud" who was a UFC champion with 6 title defenses and an Olympic medalist in Judo.
Hmmmm. How curious. I looked over this CW, saw the number of proper names, almost decided to pass, but then went at it and, Guess What? FIR in record time for me for a Friday. I cannot recall me EVER completing a Friday CW in under ten minutes. I do not know how this one just seemed to fill itself, no Google needed. And it filled easily w/o me ever getting the theme! This seemed like a Monday CW to me. PERPS to the rescue over and over again, but, as I said, FIR very quickly, surprisingly, seeing how difficult to suss the theme is. Thanx JS&MW. Very clever CW. Thanx too to MalMan for the extremely entertaining, educational and witty write-up.
I’m looking at this blog from my iPhone instead of my iPad for the first time and I see there is a “reply” option after each posting which is not available on the iPad version. This is Tante Nique.
The names made it hard for me. I looked up a few. I had rando but wonder about it. It is slang that is new to me. Google says, "a person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behavior." The reveal gave me the theme and SOUTH confirmed it. I Suppose I was rattled because I had to look stuff up to solve. I did know BLUE was the omitted down but didn't think of how it fit, same with the other theme answers. How would a single cook make 28 pounds of corned beef? Stove and refrigerator space? Enough pots? And how many people would it take to eat it? My deli was cooking all day yesterday to make enough corned beef for today. I have ordered a pick up meal instead of eating in the dining room today so I can use the corned beef to make Reubens for Alan and me tomorrow. Alan likes an open Reuben, David likes a closed one. I like both but lean toward open. I toast the bottom slice of rye before I build the sandwich. It helps solvers to make a list of foreign words that are common like ETRE and OLA. Similarly, I made a list of Simpsons characters because I couldn't care less. Now I know most of them. Happy St, Patrick's Day all. This afternoon we will have a party with Irish music and a "wee drop of the creature." Wish it would be Irish whiskey or Irish coffee. Yum.
DOWN IN FRONT -- heard often chez d-o when one of the resident cats takes up position in front of the TV to bat at the action. This is a particular problem during nature programs with birds.
I'd like to say THUMPER to this puzzle but it doesn't merit even that, IMO. I know it's because I am so unfamiliar with modern songs and culture but usually I can guess my way through it. Not today. OF THE BORDER? MY RELIGION? As clued both of those are foreign to me.
I did know O CANADA. Hi, Canadian Eh! SUEDE SHOES is easily partnered with Mr. Carl Perkins so I knew that, too.
Usually I enjoy a challenge but this was too full of incomplete phrases and unknown names. LEAR as clued. Luckily I am familiar with Rita Dove and her ODES.
All I can say is, DIOS MIO! And I can only hope for a normal puzzle soon.
A bit crunchy for me today, but I did FIR. Even with the reveal, I couldn’t figure out the theme until Mal Man ‘splained it. A bit heavy on names, but perps came to the rescue.
Thanks to Jess and Max for the workout and MM for his always fun and interesting tour.
FLN - Thanks Rose and Wilbur C. For the Jesse Stone suggestion. Also, I’ll give the erzatz Spenser books a try.
I’m wearing my green today and looking forward to a few Jamisons tonight! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody!
YR @ 11:39 ~ As my sister has cooked for her family of 11 for many years, she is used to preparing large quantities and she has the planning and execution of tonight’s undertaking down pat. No pun intended! She has two full size refrigerations and a huge freezer and enough pots and pans to equip a restaurant kitchen. The meat will be cooked in shifts over the afternoon and her 6 daughters will be sous chefs and handle the set-up and serving arrangements. My head count right now is 34, give or take. I doubt there will no any leftovers, either! ☘️
MalMan takes us through the ins & outs of a Shulman/Woghiren PZL.
I didn't have much trouble with the proper names. Perps solved them readily.
But RANDO? C'mon. It was my last, reluctant fill. I see I am far from the only one to object. Google may define (and defend) it, but I swear sometimes the online definitions are only posted AFTER crosswords start to post a weird word. ~ OMK ___________ DR: One diagonal, far side. Its anagram (13 of 15) suggests a car chase, with a successful finish for the driver of a luxury ride. Its title must be The...
Greetings! I'm commenting later today because I had my taxes done today. I have to ask myself, WHY do I make morning appointments?? :-)! But, anyway, onto my grumble. I didn't get the theme. SOUTH, LOSING (never heard of it), BLUE related to DOWN? Kind of obtuse. Thanks, MM for explaining it. Also enjoyed your witty comments and lively clips. My only WO was sync -> BALM. It took me a while to leap from SUE to SUEDE. In general, the West & center filled quicker than the East. RANDO? PUHLEASE? Really?? I hereby register an objection to the spelling of vocal sounds appearing as the fill to CW clues. Vaguely familiar with the name RAIMI, but only after the perps filled it. I guess my new "rule" is, if the perps full an UNK, then I let it go, otherwise will be noted as UNK. My corned beef & carrots are in the slow cooker, cabbage to be added later....Yum!! Now I'm happy just anticipating dinner!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!! to all who celebrate it.
Delightful, if a little tough, Friday puzzle--many thanks, Jess and Max. And your commentary and pictures were just a pleasure, MalMan, and got us started on a fun experience.
Well, I thought it was fine for the puzzle to give us a hint of the day in MY RELIGION--not as a hit single but, for some of us, as pointing to St. Patrick's Day. And I also liked the praise of O CANADA, our wonderful neighbor and delightful puzzle colleague, and all of our neighbors in ASIA. So, let's just hope everyone has a great day, maybe starting out with some TOFU to EAT for breakfast, and time to write DAD an ODE, and then watch a VIDEO giving us a ROLE MODEL with an ATHLETE playing, though not playing an AIR GUITAR, and let's hope he or she doesn't get hurt and need BALM on their feet so they can go back to wearing SUEDE SHOES. Have a great day, everybody: hope it'll be AS GOOD as it can be.
DNF - G__OA at 6a and OF THE BO__ER at 17a. Didn't know the sausage was a port nor the Ed Sheeran song.
Thanks Jess and Max for the puzzle. Congrats if this is y'all's LAT debut.
I figured out the theme at SUEDE SHOES and filled R.E.M.'s [Losing] MY RELIGION.
MManatee - LOL, "Then I saw her face." Fun, humorous expo, MM.
WOs: wedge->WHEEL (Hi WC!), boat->VOTE (Hi Ray-O!) ESPs: did someone mention proper nouns? Fav: Wind instrument == AIR GUITAR. I also liked Say "cheese" == SIGN. Took me a second to recall that bit of ASL.
Being a fan of Styx in my ute, I knew DOMO [that's where the Austin Powers quip comes from]
MManatee - I need to know what you ate re: TOFU. I initially objected to that c/a 'cuz "TOFU's not food!" Then I remembered how much I love miso soup.
YR et.al. - Usage: "Some RANDO just tried to add me to a group-chat on Twitter." //Yes, this is the new catphish.
Jinx - Casbah was the first thing that popped into my head too. Rock the Casbah [VIDEO]
HG - You got the fill right, right? So you missed the R.E.M. title. //Don't feel bad, I kept thinking Radio Free Europe [but I knew that was on Murmur] and then Everybody Hurts is Blue but that was on Automatic for the People :-)
Waseeley said: "DOWN IN FRONT. Not heard as often these days with everybody streaming." Um, counter point [more Mike Myers]
IM - Mom's side is all Irish (I'd say the last name but then you could get the lady at Visa to give you my card #). Mom sent me a VIDEO she put together for St. Pat's. It was full of Irish Toasts but no Rubin (one of my favorite sandwiches!). I'm wearing my green flannel for warmth (it got down to 48F last night!)
DW & I are going to Drunk Shakespeare tonight. I'm not sure I want to park downtown on St. Pat's (take Youngest's car?) but I hope the beer is green :-)
Thank you all for your kind comments. It is nice to know that (most of) the humor is appreciated. I was raised on Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart, Doctor Demento, Alan Sherman, Spike Jones, Weird Al, Stan Freberg, Bill Dana and others of that ilk so off-center seems normal to me.
Since I slept way too late to write any crossword l'icks today, here's the Jumble poem I posted last night. elder, snort, engage, haggle, greens green.
Saint Patrick went to Ireland to preach, Using the trefoil shamrock to teach. Each green stem like the Godhead is one, Three green leaves are Father, Spirit, Son!
The elder Druids were not pleased At this Christian praying on his knees. He would snort at their oaks he'd ignore, Gathering power from the forest floor.
He would engage them in dialogues, Trying to wean them from their pagan gods. Try to haggle with the Wiccan priests, Convert them to his Catholic beliefs.
Oh yes, the snakes he drove from the land -- He did it in a Mini-Cooper sedan!
I may not even have time for the puzzle tomorrow because it's Book Club Meeting day and between making the salad I'm taking and then leaving for the day, the puzzle will be shunted back to possibly later at night.
I felt I was having déjà vu when I came across the clue/answer Aims: GOALS.
The feeling got stronger when I came across: Jazz org.: NBA "¡Ay, Dios __!": MIO Anthem that ends, "We stand on guard for thee": O CANADA "Dear old" one: DAD Feels bad: AILS Basic French verb: ETRE Total stranger: RANDO "Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA and Unsuccessful candidate: ALSO RAN
I'd swear we just had all of these same clues and answers in a recent puzzle. Weird.
Anyway, having so many proper names and strange "words," especially crossing one another, e.g., NED/OTERI, ROTH/PUHLEASE, SELA/MYRELIGION, LADD/RANDO, and RAIMI/OBAMA/LEAR, pretty much sucked the fun out of this puzzle for me.
There was some stuff I liked, too, such as: Scarecrow innards: STRAW "Dear old" one: DAD (yeah, I like it) Loosey-__: GOOSEY and Minor progress: DENT.
The best part of the day was meeting our son for lunch. Good food, good conversation. No, we didn't have soda bread or corned beef.
RosE @ 2:02 -- I second your motion, about not having "vocal sounds appearing as the fill to CW clues." Some of these phrases are quite sketchy.
I would add also that any weird words -- RANDO is in my sights -- need to have been around long enough to reach maturity. Since RANDO just showed up in 2003, it has not yet reached adulthood, and therefore a FWG is allowable.
And thank you for explaining the theme. I was looking for SOUTH, LOSING and BLUE to be running DOWN somewhere in the puzzle. I don't feel I have finished until I understand the theme.
Frantic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Jess and Max, and MalMan. I had company today, but finally got a chance to do this CW. I had no luck with the theme (although I saw DOWN SOUTH (we had EAST too). I was looking for Down to go in front of the first word (I think we have been conditioned to think of that type of theme)
Short post since I am all tired out, but I needed to accept my CSO for O CANADA. But our anthem has been officially updated since the lyrics posted. We now sing “in all of US command” for the fourth line, thus including all of the sons AND daughters. Stay tuned, Jully Black sang it at the NBA AllStar game with the second line as “our home ON native land”, thus acknowledging that unless you are indigenous, you or your ancestors were once immigrants here. Good work Tante Nique, Lucina, Misty, and Ray-o (but you will need to learn the new version). Now you are all updated Americans.
Yes Jinx, I was beginning to wonder if Jess and Max are Canadian. We had Schitt’s Creek too. But the I saw METER, Where was favourite? It wouldn’t stick out to me if spelled properly.
45 comments:
Good morning!
Very punny, M-M. Also loved your "proper-noun-abundant." Got 'er done in good time. Only had to use my Wite-Out once: maps/ASIA. Got the BLUE, but didn't catch the sad/down association of those Suede Shoes. This was a nice Friday challenge. Thanx, Jess, Max, and Mal-Man. (Your wheel of cheese didn't make the trip.)
"Ode to My Right Knee" -- I told my doctor I can no longer kneel on my knees -- feels like they're on fire. She said it was just arthritis. I said it was just awful.
Way too many obscure proper names..should have left this one on the drawing board ..
DNF. Googled (Losing) MY RELIGION, which fixed sync, which allowed OF THE BORDER, PUHLEASE and ELLE. Also erased wag for WIT.
Lotsa CANADIAN TODAY, Eh? My excuse for not remembering their Anthem is that they sing it in Frawnch before hockey games. We also got "Favourite". Do Canadian poems have METRE?
DENT - For MalMan, here's a well-know ditty from the significant other of a boat owner:
I don't get to steer the boat
I don't get to ring the bell
But let the damned thing hit the dock
And see who catches hell!
Consider it done! It's AS GOOD AS done!
I wanted Rock the Casbah, but it wouldn't fit.
I remember an old quip that accompanied a Cheryl LADD pictorial in Playboy: "We're straight, but we love this LADD." (She was once married to Alan's son.)
Thanks to our MalMan for compiling the funny and informative review.
I was trying to wrap my head around what the theme could possibly be. With the reveal, I had some inkling, but didn’t really grok it until MalMan explained it. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. Way too many proper names most of which I guessed at and got right. Never got the theme, which is lame. Rando? Indie folk? Come on! I fully expected a St. Patrick's day theme and what we got was an early April fool(ish) theme.
Took 5:06 for me to get this one down.
I thought it was a good theme-less puzzle, which seemed odd and easy for a Friday, but evidently there was a theme.
I thought the song was "Losing My Religion," but readily accepted it could be just "My Religion." Similarly, I know Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes," but readily accepted that Carl Perkins' version was just "Suede Shoes."
I had no idea what "American Pastoral" was or who wrote/sang/directed/etc. it. Same for the "Armchair" clue/answer duo. I also didn't know the "Basic French verb," which strikes me as a poor clue for multiple reasons, but I did get other language clues (domo and cheese).
Happy St. Patrick's Day to those of you who celebrate it (and I'm pretty sure Ms. Irish Miss does)!
Good Morning:
Not being familiar with Ed Sheeran or R.E.M.’s music, I had no idea what was going on until filling in Suede Shoes and Down In Front. Then, I could intuit South but not Losing. It’s an interesting theme concept, but if you don’t know the songs, sort of frustrating. Not as frustrating, though, as the unnecessary proper noun cluing for common words, Ode, Six, Girl, Indie, Vote, etc. I didn’t know that particular Elle nor Domo but my only w/o was Maps/Atlas.
Thanks, Jess and Max, and thanks, MalMan, for a fun, fanciful, fact-filled review. Loved the Free Lip-Piercing cartoon and all of your groany, funny puns!
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day tonight at my sister Peg’s. Last I heard, she is cooking 28 pounds of corned beef. Unlike other years, though, due to health limitations, no big dinner, just sandwiches and sides. I’m in the mood for a Reuben! And, maybe, a wee dram of Dewar’s! 🥃
Happy St. Paddy’s Day to all ☘️
I thought I hadda FIW. cuz no way PUHLEASE could be correct. Even Siri or Alexa wouldn't find that in the CW data base. But I was wrong, I was right.
You kin tell its gittin' weekendish.. Cassat, Rorem, Spiderman, Dove, Rosemary, Emma (...and I saw the flick) , "Srsly" OMG, seriously? I get putting "losing" DOWN in front of MY RELIGION but not the rest of the theme trick (btw thought that was a CW taboo subject..😄)..... reluctantly put INDIE? "folk"
Inkovers: boat/VOTE, maps/ASIA (tweren't jus me, I betcha), wedge/WHEEL.
"The true North strong and freeeee 🎵"...hadda sing this almost every day pledging my college fraternity (1968) for a Canadian frat brother from PEI. The lyrics are str8forward and not difficult to learn, unlike ours ...or bloodthirsty like the French "Marseillaise". We still spelled it METER though, sorry Canada Eh.
I guess it's not EMMies....Is there a partial"Stranger"? 😄.... Tried ReX (had the X) but Henry had SIX wives.... Pahleeze! (var) who says AGE means "get better" 😏. Tell my AM backache.
That really hurts!!....AEIOU
Wildebeest....ANEW
A Scot's "No, Honey"....NADIR
Cops...PUHLEASE
Mal Man: Luvyer punz 😄
FIR Friday for me! Thanks, Jess and Mac, for the puzzle practice. I got lucky since a final proofreading caught two blank squares I'd left. Finished SNOWS and began reading the review.
Thanks, MalMan, for an amusing and helpful review today. I understood the theme idea but needed your help to add losing to MY RELIGION. That synonym for DOWN I hadn't thought of. (obviously forgot the song title)
Hand up for sync/BALM, wEdge/WHEEL, and thinking of Rock the Casbah/VOTE. (Hi, Jinx) I was amused by the evolution of one fill as perps affected it: reX/seX/SIX. (Hi, Ray-O)
Hope you all have a fun St. Patrick's Day!
DNF. I didn’t catch the theme since I wanted to put DOWN IN FRONT of the long answers, so for my first long answer I had on THE BORDER, which seemed to work not knowing this title. But it didn’t work for SUEDE SHOES. I was not clever enough to see the other meaning of DOWN.
In addition there were too many proper names or abbreviations, like RANDO?, PHULEASE, INDIE. This puzzle was not a comfortable fit for me. Maybe because of the unevennesses of the clues, either easy to get or guess, or titles I had to either know or not, with no guessing possible.
I’m glad to see some cornerites liked it and were able to work it. We all have different abilities.
C-Eh!. I immediately knew the O CANADA verse. 🇨🇦
Musings
-Subbing on St. Patty’s Day and the only kid in 1st hour wearing green has a first name of Ireland
-Talk about unique! DOWN/SOUTH jumped out to me.
-I need a ruling. I was thinking AGAINST MY RELIGION and not LOSING.
-PU_LEASE/ROT_ was a personal natick. I only thought of U or L and of course it was an H. OTOH, I got the I at IND_E/RA_MI
-LEAR – My daughter works at Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, NE and they maintain and upgrade personal jets. Last week they had the Dallas Cowboy executive jet and Frances Ford Coppola’s plane in for refurbishing.
-TAMED – People with tigers for pets are delusional
-Rhonda Rousey SNOWED fans until she got beaten badly and exposed as a fraud.
-Minimum/No till practices have eliminated most CLODS in fields here
-Sign cluing was so fun.
-Portuguese foreign exchange student here said “Oi” is a less formal and more common greeting
This one got me. Had to use red letter runs to finish. I grokked the missing first words, but the "down" part eluded me until MalMan explained it. Lots of pop cul, but at least some of it was fogie friendly! Liked AIR GUITAR for WIND INSTRUMENT.
Hmm,
What can I say about this puzzle?
I guess a lot has to do with "how" you put it down...
Gary, I hope you don't run into Rhonda Rousey anytime soon. I wouldn't call someone a "fraud" who was a UFC champion with 6 title defenses and an Olympic medalist in Judo.
Hmmmm. How curious. I looked over this CW, saw the number of proper names, almost decided to pass, but then went at it and, Guess What? FIR in record time for me for a Friday. I cannot recall me EVER completing a Friday CW in under ten minutes. I do not know how this one just seemed to fill itself, no Google needed. And it filled easily w/o me ever getting the theme! This seemed like a Monday CW to me. PERPS to the rescue over and over again, but, as I said, FIR very quickly, surprisingly, seeing how difficult to suss the theme is. Thanx JS&MW. Very clever CW. Thanx too to MalMan for the extremely entertaining, educational and witty write-up.
Thank you for explaining the theme, it was driving me nuts!
I’m looking at this blog from my iPhone instead of my iPad for the first time and I see there is a “reply” option after each posting which is not available on the iPad version. This is Tante Nique.
The names made it hard for me. I looked up a few.
I had rando but wonder about it. It is slang that is new to me. Google says, "a person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behavior."
The reveal gave me the theme and SOUTH confirmed it. I Suppose I was rattled because I had to look stuff up to solve. I did know BLUE was the omitted down but didn't think of how it fit, same with the other theme answers.
How would a single cook make 28 pounds of corned beef? Stove and refrigerator space? Enough pots? And how many people would it take to eat it? My deli was cooking all day yesterday to make enough corned beef for today.
I have ordered a pick up meal instead of eating in the dining room today so I can use the corned beef to make Reubens for Alan and me tomorrow. Alan likes an open Reuben, David likes a closed one. I like both but lean toward open. I toast the bottom slice of rye before I build the sandwich.
It helps solvers to make a list of foreign words that are common like ETRE and OLA.
Similarly, I made a list of Simpsons characters because I couldn't care less. Now I know most of them.
Happy St, Patrick's Day all. This afternoon we will have a party with Irish music and a "wee drop of the creature." Wish it would be Irish whiskey or Irish coffee. Yum.
Thanx Jess & Max for a TAMEABLE Friday foray in puzzle land.
And thanx MM for your usual punday Friday frolics. Filled the *'d clues, but didn't know where to fill the theme.
Some favs:
14A TOOTH. I think it would take a DDS to understand that diagram.
16A SIX. Not a lucky number.
20A PUHLEASE. Puhlease!
47A SUEDE SHOES. Gimme that good ole' time ROCK & ROLL (the other two themers were a little EERIE).
55A VIDEO. These are not real popular right now with the gummit'
63A DOWN IN FRONT. Not heard as often these days with everybody streaming.
5D WHEEL. Looks more like block of TOFU to me MM.
57D DENT. Also Arthur DENT, the protagonist of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, played by Martin Freeman in the 2005 film version. Here he is in a a clip with Slartibartfast, played by Bill Nighy.
Cheers,
Bill
uncle @11:21 AM I'm with you on this one. It was a lot easier than I expected for a Friday.
Thanks Mal. I never would have gotten this theme. Never heard of Rando. GC
Methinks RANDO is slang for some random person.
DOWN IN FRONT -- heard often chez d-o when one of the resident cats takes up position in front of the TV to bat at the action. This is a particular problem during nature programs with birds.
Festa di San Patrizio ☘
When I was in University in Italy I went shopping for a Father's Day card. In Italy March 19th, St Joseph's Day is when they celebrate Father's Day.
Asked the clerk in my halting first year Italian if they also sold St Patrick's Day cards. They dont.
Clerk: "They celebrate St Patrick's day in America?.. How. Do you go to mass?"
Me: (To the shocked look on the face of the clerk) "No we have a big parade then everyone goes out and gets drunk."
🥳
Hola!
Happy St. Pat's Day!
I'd like to say THUMPER to this puzzle but it doesn't merit even that, IMO. I know it's because I am so unfamiliar with modern songs and culture but usually I can guess my way through it. Not today. OF THE BORDER? MY RELIGION? As clued both of those are foreign to me.
I did know O CANADA. Hi, Canadian Eh! SUEDE SHOES is easily partnered with Mr. Carl Perkins so I knew that, too.
Usually I enjoy a challenge but this was too full of incomplete phrases and unknown names. LEAR as clued. Luckily I am familiar with Rita Dove and her ODES.
All I can say is, DIOS MIO! And I can only hope for a normal puzzle soon.
If you celebrate today, have fun!
Thank you, MalMan! I enjoyed your expose'.
I raised kids….I always heard it as “puh-leeze”.
A bit crunchy for me today, but I did FIR. Even with the reveal, I couldn’t figure out the theme until Mal Man ‘splained it. A bit heavy on names, but perps came to the rescue.
Thanks to Jess and Max for the workout and MM for his always fun and interesting tour.
FLN - Thanks Rose and Wilbur C. For the Jesse Stone suggestion. Also, I’ll give the erzatz Spenser books a try.
I’m wearing my green today and looking forward to a few Jamisons tonight! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody!
YR @ 11:39 ~ As my sister has cooked for her family of 11 for many years, she is used to preparing large quantities and she has the planning and execution of tonight’s undertaking down pat. No pun intended! She has two full size refrigerations and a huge freezer and enough pots and pans to equip a restaurant kitchen. The meat will be cooked in shifts over the afternoon and her 6 daughters will be sous chefs and handle the set-up and serving arrangements. My head count right now is 34, give or take. I doubt there will no any leftovers, either! ☘️
MalMan takes us through the ins & outs of a Shulman/Woghiren PZL.
I didn't have much trouble with the proper names. Perps solved them readily.
But RANDO? C'mon. It was my last, reluctant fill.
I see I am far from the only one to object. Google may define (and defend) it, but I swear sometimes the online definitions are only posted AFTER crosswords start to post a weird word.
~ OMK
___________
DR: One diagonal, far side.
Its anagram (13 of 15) suggests a car chase, with a successful finish for the driver of a luxury ride.
Its title must be The...
"LIMOSINE ELUDE"!
Greetings! I'm commenting later today because I had my taxes done today. I have to ask myself, WHY do I make morning appointments?? :-)! But, anyway, onto my grumble.
I didn't get the theme. SOUTH, LOSING (never heard of it), BLUE related to DOWN? Kind of obtuse. Thanks, MM for explaining it. Also enjoyed your witty comments and lively clips.
My only WO was sync -> BALM.
It took me a while to leap from SUE to SUEDE. In general, the West & center filled quicker than the East.
RANDO? PUHLEASE? Really?? I hereby register an objection to the spelling of vocal sounds appearing as the fill to CW clues.
Vaguely familiar with the name RAIMI, but only after the perps filled it. I guess my new "rule" is, if the perps full an UNK, then I let it go, otherwise will be noted as UNK.
My corned beef & carrots are in the slow cooker, cabbage to be added later....Yum!! Now I'm happy just anticipating dinner!!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!! to all who celebrate it.
D-O @12:03 PM DOWN IN FRONT. ROTFL! 🤣
Lucina @12:44 PM I wouldn't expect a "normal puzzle" tomorrow!
Aha, SIX as in # of wives. How do you marry a Guy who AXED his previous wife
I thought wedge was solid for that cheese ntso sync/BALM and INDIE was 5 perps. Perps gave me the Spanish DIO
I thought SAO PAULO is in Argentina hence Spanish but if Gary says Brazil…LIU showed quite the metropolis
FIR for a change
WC
Do any of you chefs use Russian dressing on the Reubens? My goto at Breakfast Station is Turkey Reuben. I agree on toasting well before light grilling
Ps, I couldn't grok the theme because SOUTH and BLUE didn't seem to match and MY RELIGION was UNK
BTW, Reuben Thursday was referred to as "Purple death" by 'Nam Marines (good ol' boys)
Delightful, if a little tough, Friday puzzle--many thanks, Jess and Max. And your commentary and pictures were just a pleasure, MalMan, and got us started on a fun experience.
Well, I thought it was fine for the puzzle to give us a hint of the day in MY RELIGION--not as a hit single but, for some of us, as pointing to St. Patrick's Day. And I also liked the praise of O CANADA, our wonderful neighbor and delightful puzzle colleague, and all of our neighbors in ASIA. So, let's just hope everyone has a great day, maybe starting out with some TOFU to EAT for breakfast, and time to write DAD an ODE, and then watch a VIDEO giving us a ROLE MODEL with an ATHLETE playing, though not playing an AIR GUITAR, and let's hope he or she doesn't get hurt and need BALM on their feet so they can go back to wearing SUEDE SHOES. Have a great day, everybody: hope it'll be AS GOOD as it can be.
And have a great weekend, everybody.
Hi All!
DNF - G__OA at 6a and OF THE BO__ER at 17a. Didn't know the sausage was a port nor the Ed Sheeran song.
Thanks Jess and Max for the puzzle. Congrats if this is y'all's LAT debut.
I figured out the theme at SUEDE SHOES and filled R.E.M.'s [Losing] MY RELIGION.
MManatee - LOL, "Then I saw her face." Fun, humorous expo, MM.
WOs: wedge->WHEEL (Hi WC!), boat->VOTE (Hi Ray-O!)
ESPs: did someone mention proper nouns?
Fav: Wind instrument == AIR GUITAR.
I also liked Say "cheese" == SIGN. Took me a second to recall that bit of ASL.
Being a fan of Styx in my ute, I knew DOMO [that's where the Austin Powers quip comes from]
MManatee - I need to know what you ate re: TOFU. I initially objected to that c/a 'cuz "TOFU's not food!" Then I remembered how much I love miso soup.
YR et.al. - Usage: "Some RANDO just tried to add me to a group-chat on Twitter." //Yes, this is the new catphish.
Jinx - Casbah was the first thing that popped into my head too. Rock the Casbah [VIDEO]
HG - You got the fill right, right? So you missed the R.E.M. title. //Don't feel bad, I kept thinking Radio Free Europe [but I knew that was on Murmur] and then Everybody Hurts is Blue but that was on Automatic for the People :-)
Waseeley said: "DOWN IN FRONT. Not heard as often these days with everybody streaming." Um, counter point [more Mike Myers]
IM - Mom's side is all Irish (I'd say the last name but then you could get the lady at Visa to give you my card #). Mom sent me a VIDEO she put together for St. Pat's. It was full of Irish Toasts but no Rubin (one of my favorite sandwiches!). I'm wearing my green flannel for warmth (it got down to 48F last night!)
DW & I are going to Drunk Shakespeare tonight. I'm not sure I want to park downtown on St. Pat's (take Youngest's car?) but I hope the beer is green :-)
Friday nap time!
Cheers, -T
I did grok the clever theme but had a 1 square FIW. (See Mal Man's red square above.)
NADIR was the M-W Word of the Day on Wed.
"Blarney ______" would have been a good fit for 28D today.
Thanks for your write-up, Mal Man! 1Down LOL!
Thank you all for your kind comments. It is nice to know that (most of) the humor is appreciated. I was raised on Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart, Doctor Demento, Alan Sherman, Spike Jones, Weird Al, Stan Freberg, Bill Dana and others of that ilk so off-center seems normal to me.
I actually do like tofu.
Since I slept way too late to write any crossword l'icks today, here's the Jumble poem I posted last night. elder, snort, engage, haggle, greens green.
Saint Patrick went to Ireland to preach,
Using the trefoil shamrock to teach.
Each green stem like the Godhead is one,
Three green leaves are Father, Spirit, Son!
The elder Druids were not pleased
At this Christian praying on his knees.
He would snort at their oaks he'd ignore,
Gathering power from the forest floor.
He would engage them in dialogues,
Trying to wean them from their pagan gods.
Try to haggle with the Wiccan priests,
Convert them to his Catholic beliefs.
Oh yes, the snakes he drove from the land --
He did it in a Mini-Cooper sedan!
I may not even have time for the puzzle tomorrow because it's Book Club Meeting day and between making the salad I'm taking and then leaving for the day, the puzzle will be shunted back to possibly later at night.
I felt I was having déjà vu when I came across the clue/answer Aims: GOALS.
The feeling got stronger when I came across:
Jazz org.: NBA
"¡Ay, Dios __!": MIO
Anthem that ends, "We stand on guard for thee": O CANADA
"Dear old" one: DAD
Feels bad: AILS
Basic French verb: ETRE
Total stranger: RANDO
"Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA
and
Unsuccessful candidate: ALSO RAN
I'd swear we just had all of these same clues and answers in a recent puzzle. Weird.
Anyway, having so many proper names and strange "words," especially crossing one another, e.g., NED/OTERI, ROTH/PUHLEASE, SELA/MYRELIGION, LADD/RANDO, and RAIMI/OBAMA/LEAR, pretty much sucked the fun out of this puzzle for me.
There was some stuff I liked, too, such as:
Scarecrow innards: STRAW
"Dear old" one: DAD (yeah, I like it)
Loosey-__: GOOSEY
and
Minor progress: DENT.
The best part of the day was meeting our son for lunch. Good food, good conversation. No, we didn't have soda bread or corned beef.
Happy St. Patrick's day toasts to you all.
RosE @ 2:02 -- I second your motion, about not having "vocal sounds appearing as the fill to CW clues." Some of these phrases are quite sketchy.
I would add also that any weird words -- RANDO is in my sights -- need to have been around long enough to reach maturity. Since RANDO just showed up in 2003, it has not yet reached adulthood, and therefore a FWG is allowable.
MalMan Thank you for the ROLE MODEL shout out.
And thank you for explaining the theme. I was looking for SOUTH, LOSING and BLUE to be running DOWN somewhere in the puzzle. I don't feel I have finished until I understand the theme.
OwenKL a 5:28. St Patrick in a Mini Cooper Sedan??!!
Frantic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Jess and Max, and MalMan.
I had company today, but finally got a chance to do this CW. I had no luck with the theme (although I saw DOWN SOUTH (we had EAST too). I was looking for Down to go in front of the first word (I think we have been conditioned to think of that type of theme)
Short post since I am all tired out, but I needed to accept my CSO for O CANADA. But our anthem has been officially updated since the lyrics posted. We now sing “in all of US command” for the fourth line, thus including all of the sons AND daughters.
Stay tuned, Jully Black sang it at the NBA AllStar game with the second line as “our home ON native land”, thus acknowledging that unless you are indigenous, you or your ancestors were once immigrants here.
Good work Tante Nique, Lucina, Misty, and Ray-o (but you will need to learn the new version). Now you are all updated Americans.
Yes Jinx, I was beginning to wonder if Jess and Max are Canadian. We had Schitt’s Creek too. But the I saw METER,
Where was favourite? It wouldn’t stick out to me if spelled properly.
Good night all.
Nice to see Owen posting one of his better pieces on the Jumble site over here for Corner-ites to appreciate!
In the name of St Patrick, Enjoy!
~ OMK
So true. This one was plain stupid.
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