Honors Courses
Today's constructors, Lance Enfinger and Jeff Chen, bring us a letter addition puzzle, with 4 themers (2 across, 2 down)
that work with or without the addition. Each themer fits the pattern
"Honors course for an aspiring ___?" and the fill is a career
description prefixed with AP, short for Advanced Placement. Note also that all the theme fills actually begin with APP, which is short for AP Program.
18A Honors course for an aspiring aircraft marshaller?: AP POINTING, as in telling the pilot where to go. Aircraft marshalling is a real gig. Complete this course and your career will really take off!
 |
| Aircraft Marshaller |
62A. Honors course for an aspiring pastor?: AP PRAISING. A pastor is the leader of a Christian congregation, who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Catholic congregations where there may be multiple priests, it is the pastor's job to administer the parish and supervise the younger priests. Pastors don't really PRAISE God any more than the priests. Their honors courses are more likely to be in planning, budgeting, building maintenance, and even in learning new languages. Last year our pastor spent a month in Guatemala in a Spanish immersion course to enable him to support our church's growing number of Hispanic parishioners.
3D. Honors course for an aspiring lawyer?: AP PROVING. PROVING is presenting evidence used to either support or ascertain that something happened or that a person’s statement is true. Whether it really is or not is something decided by the JURY.
36D. Honors course for an aspiring bell ringer?: AP PEALING. In England bell ringing is a very competitive field ...
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Cracked: AJAR. "When is a door ...?". Oh. You've already heard it.
5. Actor Omar: EPPS. Omar Hashim EPPS (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award.
 |
| Omar Epps |
14. Easy going?: LOPE.
15. Pharmacist's container: VIAL. Last Thursday a distraught ROMEO, thinking that JULIET was dead, swallowed a VIAL of a VILE substance to poison himself, leaving "no friendly drop" for her.
16. Ancient region of modern Turkey: IONIA. IONIA was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir.
 |
| IONIA |
17. Range for Zermatt and the Matter Valley: ALPS. The Matterhorn is one of the best-known mountains (14,692 feet [4,478 metres]) in the ALPS, straddling the frontier between Switzerland and Italy, 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the village of Zermatt, Switzerland.
 |
| Matter Valley |
20. Get down to basics: STRIP. Or to paraphrase my old math teacher, "to get down far enough for all practical purposes."
22. Consumes: EATS.
23. Red carpet stance: POSE.
24. Irish actor Chris of TV's "Get Shorty": O DOWD. Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979) is played Miles Daly in this film. As someone who is only 5'6" tall, it is only natural that I would dislike this movie (which I have not seen), but not as much as I dislike this song by Randy Newman (lyrics) ...
And don't get me started on his song about Baltimore. It's not like I take it personal or anything, but it's not easy being short. For example reaching the books on the top shelves. 😉
26. Shenanigans: HI JINKS. A CSO to our man in Norfolk.
28. Dust jacket design: COVER ART. Here's Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers. And here's No. 32 (you knew I had to get an OPERA in here somewhere) ...
Overture
Pinball Wizard
31. Bowling pin count: TEN. A CSO to our dearly departed Boomer.
32. Bird mascot for the Miami Hurricanes: IBIS.
33. New Zealand parrots: KEAS.
35. Ray's relative: SKATE. Stingrays and SKATES are often mistaken for one another. Both can be found in Baltimore's National Aquarium:
Also a CSO to Ray - O, whose relatives do a lot of SKATING up in the frozen Northeast I'm sure.
39. Tanqueray liquor: GIN. As long as it's shaken, not stirred.
40. Georgia fruit: PEACHES.
42. Hoppin' John morsel: PEA. A Black-eyed PEA that is, known in some parts as the COW PEA. One of my favorite legumes: easy to grow, disease resistant, prolific, easy to shell, and easy to dry for storage. Here's a recipe for this Southern favorite.
43. George of "The Goldbergs": SEGAL. George Segal Jr.
(February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became
popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic
roles. He played Albert "Pops" Solomon on The Goldbergs (2013–2021).
45. Word with ring or music: MOOD. Like most MOODS, these rings don't last forever. I'm not a big fan of MOOD music as it generally lacks passion, but I do like these guys ...
46. Relaxation stations: SPAS.
47. Claire of "The Crown": FOY. Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown (2016–2017). Here she confronts Edward the VIII, who abdicated his throne in 1936 for "the woman he loved", Baltimorean socialite Wallis Simpson ...
She stole our hearts in the 2008 BBC mini-series Little Dorrit based on the novel by Charles Dickens ...
49. Fleetest of foot: SWIFTEST. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica that would be Jamaican Usain Bolt ...
51. Brandy glass: SNIFTER. Here are a pair of SNIFTERS I made for the oncologist who cured my prostate cancer to drink the single-malt scotch I gave him after 10 years in remission.
55. Penta- minus one: TETRA. Today's math lesson, in Greek no less.
56. Goddess who is the mother of Apollo and Artemis: LETO. More Greek. Apollo was the god of music and Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. LETO was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and the sister of Asteria.
57. Protein option for pho: TOFU.
59. Olympic volleyball great Kerri __ Jennings: WALSH. Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments. Her nickname is "Six Feet of Sunshine"!
[Theme fill]
65. Totenberg of NPR: NINA. NINA Totenberg (born January 14, 1944) is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States.
.... also a CSO to our inane hiker!
66. Barbecue sites: YARDS.
67. Creative flash: IDEA.
68. Tiny annoyance: GNAT.
69. Splash through puddles: SLOSH.
70. Prying: NOSY.
71. Meringue need: EGGS. You provide the shell and the filling and this simple recipe will provide the Meringue.
Down:
1. Quaint plaint: ALAS.
2. Shock: JOLT.
3. [Theme clue]
4. Lives: RESIDES.
5. Perón of Argentina: EVA. Here's Madonna singing Don't Cry for Me Argentina for Lloyd Weber's Evita ...
6. Out-of-reach goal: PIPE DREAM.
7. __ Smurf: PAPA.
8. Arboreal slowpoke: SLOTH. If you stop by the National Aquarium to see the RAYS and the SKATES (see 35A) be sure to pop-up to the Tropical Rainforest and see the SLOTHS.
9. Metal in pewter: TIN. Pewter is a malleable metal alloy consisting of TIN (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver.
10. Bright lipstick shade: HOT PINK. A CSO to Lucina! 😀
11. Gabrielle of "L.A.'s Finest": UNION. L.A.'s Finest is an American action comedy crime television series created by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier; and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It is a spinoff of the Bad Boys franchise created by George Gallo. Gabrielle plays Special Agent/Detective Lieutenant Sydney "Syd" Burnett.
12. Capital of Belarus: MINSK. Thumper.
13. Audiobook's lack: PAGES.
19. "You think so?": IS IT.
21. __ ejemplo: POR. Today's Spanish lesson, e.g. CSO número dos POR Lucina.
25. Waves from a boat: WAKE. Also a celebration of a life held at the passing of someone. One of the most famous of these events is the subject of James Joyce's Finnegans WAKE (a book which I have not read). A CSO to our Misty, a Professor Emerita of English and an authority on Joyce's works. Here's hoping she stops by and shares a few bon mots about the book.
27. Milo's "Gilmore Girls" role: JESS. Gilmore Girls is a mother-daughter comedy-drama television series (2000 - 2006) starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). Milo Anthony Ventimiglia played Jess Mariano, one of Rory's heartthrobs:
28. Slangy smokes: CIGS.
29. Big Apple stage award: OBIE.
30. Tuesday fare: TACOS.
34. Many entries in the Great American Songbook: SHOW TUNES. The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. It's not just a list of tunes and lyrics, but also an eponymous organization founded by Michael Feinstein, who is still on the road promoting these songs. Selecting a single song representative of this music is really impossible. This one by Henry Mancini is from the soundtrack to Breakfast at Tiffany's, and one of the first that I fell in love with ...
32. Bird mascot for the Miami Hurricanes: IBIS.
33. New Zealand parrots: KEAS.
35. Ray's relative: SKATE. Stingrays and SKATES are often mistaken for one another. Both can be found in Baltimore's National Aquarium:
39. Tanqueray liquor: GIN. As long as it's shaken, not stirred.
40. Georgia fruit: PEACHES.
42. Hoppin' John morsel: PEA. A Black-eyed PEA that is, known in some parts as the COW PEA. One of my favorite legumes: easy to grow, disease resistant, prolific, easy to shell, and easy to dry for storage. Here's a recipe for this Southern favorite.
 |
| Hoppin' John |
 |
| George Segal 1965 |
46. Relaxation stations: SPAS.
47. Claire of "The Crown": FOY. Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown (2016–2017). Here she confronts Edward the VIII, who abdicated his throne in 1936 for "the woman he loved", Baltimorean socialite Wallis Simpson ...
She stole our hearts in the 2008 BBC mini-series Little Dorrit based on the novel by Charles Dickens ...
 |
| Usain Bolt |
 |
| SNIFTERS |
56. Goddess who is the mother of Apollo and Artemis: LETO. More Greek. Apollo was the god of music and Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. LETO was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and the sister of Asteria.
 |
| Leto with infants Apollo and Artemis |
59. Olympic volleyball great Kerri __ Jennings: WALSH. Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments. Her nickname is "Six Feet of Sunshine"!
 |
| Kerri Walsh Jennings |
65. Totenberg of NPR: NINA. NINA Totenberg (born January 14, 1944) is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States.
 |
| Nina Totenberg |
66. Barbecue sites: YARDS.
67. Creative flash: IDEA.
68. Tiny annoyance: GNAT.
69. Splash through puddles: SLOSH.
70. Prying: NOSY.
71. Meringue need: EGGS. You provide the shell and the filling and this simple recipe will provide the Meringue.
1. Quaint plaint: ALAS.
2. Shock: JOLT.
3. [Theme clue]
4. Lives: RESIDES.
5. Perón of Argentina: EVA. Here's Madonna singing Don't Cry for Me Argentina for Lloyd Weber's Evita ...
6. Out-of-reach goal: PIPE DREAM.
8. Arboreal slowpoke: SLOTH. If you stop by the National Aquarium to see the RAYS and the SKATES (see 35A) be sure to pop-up to the Tropical Rainforest and see the SLOTHS.
 |
| Linne's Two-Toed Sloth |
 |
| Pewter Cream Pitcher c. 1780 |
10. Bright lipstick shade: HOT PINK. A CSO to Lucina! 😀
11. Gabrielle of "L.A.'s Finest": UNION. L.A.'s Finest is an American action comedy crime television series created by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier; and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It is a spinoff of the Bad Boys franchise created by George Gallo. Gabrielle plays Special Agent/Detective Lieutenant Sydney "Syd" Burnett.
 |
| Gabrielle Union |
13. Audiobook's lack: PAGES.
19. "You think so?": IS IT.
21. __ ejemplo: POR. Today's Spanish lesson, e.g. CSO número dos POR Lucina.
25. Waves from a boat: WAKE. Also a celebration of a life held at the passing of someone. One of the most famous of these events is the subject of James Joyce's Finnegans WAKE (a book which I have not read). A CSO to our Misty, a Professor Emerita of English and an authority on Joyce's works. Here's hoping she stops by and shares a few bon mots about the book.
27. Milo's "Gilmore Girls" role: JESS. Gilmore Girls is a mother-daughter comedy-drama television series (2000 - 2006) starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). Milo Anthony Ventimiglia played Jess Mariano, one of Rory's heartthrobs:
 |
| Milo Ventimiglia (2019) (he was 24 when he played Jess) |
29. Big Apple stage award: OBIE.
30. Tuesday fare: TACOS.
34. Many entries in the Great American Songbook: SHOW TUNES. The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. It's not just a list of tunes and lyrics, but also an eponymous organization founded by Michael Feinstein, who is still on the road promoting these songs. Selecting a single song representative of this music is really impossible. This one by Henry Mancini is from the soundtrack to Breakfast at Tiffany's, and one of the first that I fell in love with ...
Audrey Hepburn
36. [Theme clue].
37. Dim sum brews: TEAS. Legend has it that Dim sum originated in TEA houses in the 10th Century (Sung Dynasty), and is a communal dining and social experience that can span hours. It is customary for large groups to enjoy dishes together. A CSO to our fearless leader!
38. All-Star side: EAST.
40. Storyline: PLOT.
41. Falco of "Nurse Jackie": EDIE.
44. Provides, as an opportunity: AFFORDS.
46. Idiosyncratic: STRANGE. IMHO, all of REALITY.
48. Creature in Tibetan myth: YETI. aka the Abominable snowman ...
50. "Woo-hoo!," in textspeak: FTW. For The Win, a gamer expression anticipating victory, with "Woo-hoo!" being an expression of enthusiasm. It's opposite is FTL, "For The Loss". We Cornerites solve puzzles FTW, or as we would put it to FIR. Here's wishing you got a "Woo-hoo" for this puzzle!
51. Leaves rolling in the aisles: SLAYS. Another CSO to Ray - O.
52. Place to spot a 48-Down, maybe: NEPAL. As YETIS don't recognize international boundaries, they occasionally stray into neighboring countries ...
53. Staffer who's good at networking, for short: IT PRO. A CSO to -T, Jinx, et MOI (a long time ago).
54. Pitcher's gripping aid: ROSIN. ROSIN, also called colophony or Greek pitch (Latin: pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile components. In addition to its use by pitchers, it's also used as a flux in soldering, and by violinists on their bows to get a better grip on the strings. This country boy always kept his bows rosined ...
This song is played at Orioles games during the 7th inning stretch.
58. Everymutt: FIDO. Garfield's favorite FIDO ...
60. Obstacle: SNAG.
61. Bowlers, e.g.: HATS. another CSO to our BOWLER in Heaven.
63. Fire pit residue: ASH.
64. Carefree: GAY. Or a synonym for HAPPY. A refreshingly retro clue.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
37. Dim sum brews: TEAS. Legend has it that Dim sum originated in TEA houses in the 10th Century (Sung Dynasty), and is a communal dining and social experience that can span hours. It is customary for large groups to enjoy dishes together. A CSO to our fearless leader!
 |
| Dim sum array |
40. Storyline: PLOT.
41. Falco of "Nurse Jackie": EDIE.
44. Provides, as an opportunity: AFFORDS.
46. Idiosyncratic: STRANGE. IMHO, all of REALITY.
48. Creature in Tibetan myth: YETI. aka the Abominable snowman ...
50. "Woo-hoo!," in textspeak: FTW. For The Win, a gamer expression anticipating victory, with "Woo-hoo!" being an expression of enthusiasm. It's opposite is FTL, "For The Loss". We Cornerites solve puzzles FTW, or as we would put it to FIR. Here's wishing you got a "Woo-hoo" for this puzzle!
51. Leaves rolling in the aisles: SLAYS. Another CSO to Ray - O.
52. Place to spot a 48-Down, maybe: NEPAL. As YETIS don't recognize international boundaries, they occasionally stray into neighboring countries ...
54. Pitcher's gripping aid: ROSIN. ROSIN, also called colophony or Greek pitch (Latin: pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile components. In addition to its use by pitchers, it's also used as a flux in soldering, and by violinists on their bows to get a better grip on the strings. This country boy always kept his bows rosined ...
This song is played at Orioles games during the 7th inning stretch.
58. Everymutt: FIDO. Garfield's favorite FIDO ...
 |
| Odie |
61. Bowlers, e.g.: HATS. another CSO to our BOWLER in Heaven.
63. Fire pit residue: ASH.
64. Carefree: GAY. Or a synonym for HAPPY. A refreshingly retro clue.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
36 comments:
I was trying to figure out the new riddle of the sphinx
When along came a friend and I said, "HI, JINKS!
What did the YETI
Say to spaghetti?"
(Nothing, because yetis are myths or extinct!)
Getting people Woke is a PIPE DREAM.
Too many people think it's obscene!
They spew calumny
Fueled by bigotry.
They assume the Wokies are up to some scheme.
(Just ask Chewbacca!)
This puzzle definitely took a couple of WAGs to solve, notably at “Walsh” and “FTW,” so it seemed a lot like a traditional Thursday level puzzle to me. On the other hand, the themers were clever and not too hard to figure out. FIR, so I’m happy.
SubG @4:22 WALSH/FTW is not good. At least I knew FTW. My biggest SNAG was seeing that 17A AL__ was some kind of "range" and putting in ALTO instantly. Otherwise a normal Thursday with the usual unnecessary proper name clue. (UNION... come on)
Nice theme, but far too many proper names for my liking, by my count 14, of which I knew four. I just don’t like obscure names in CWs. I did manage to FIR, but did not enjoy this CW. Thanx Waseeley for the fun and thorough write-up.
Good morning!
WALSH was a gimme (we watched her in multiple summer Olympics), but that T in TETRA/FTW was a WAG, and my final fill. D-o is not much of a texter, give me a real keyboard any day. This was a nice outing. Thanx, Lance, Jeff, and Waseeley.
Rainy morning here. I hope it moves on before I have to head out on my M-o-W route later this morning.
Here's the link to the latest DAB puzzle, entitled "Alien Invasion".
He has this to say about it ...
"I pity the poverty of imagination that forces so many crossword constructors to draw on other people’s movies and television shows when they want to add to their puzzles some of the excitement of interstellar warfare. Here, in the constraints of a 15 x 15 puzzle, with no outside assistance, I create my very own science-fiction universe. I expect an avalanche of Hollywood sequels, and commercial tie-ins, and fan-fiction sites, to follow in due course."
I had LETa, FTL. But I guessed FTW x WALSH, so I got that goin' for me. Erased leda for the equally incorrect leta and anna for NINA.
I sussed ALP from "Matter Valley," but I'm certain that the Matterhorn is in Orange County, CA. Riding through it required an "E" ticket when I was last there.
I've always thought that Randy Newman was poking fun of idiotic prejudices with Short People. Kinda like basketball great Bill Walton. I heard him say that the lowest form of life on earth are guards. Of course he knows that guards are essential teammates, but it's still funny.
A friend who used to be a waitress (now she's a "server") at a local Mexican waitress referred to Tuesdays as "CAT Day." Cheap-ass tacos. (Cheap food = lower tips from most customers.)
The biggest WAKE I ever encountered was from a submarine returning to Norfolk from sea. I didn't even see the sub until the WAKE hit - my bow went skyward, then the bottom of the bay dropped away and the bow buried into the next wave. I looked around and saw the sail and a tiny bit of the hull from the Los Angeles class sub that had crossed my path a few minutes earlier. I can't imagine the WAKE that one of those tubes must put off when surfaced and going fast.
Last day in Myrtle Beach. Heading toward home tomorrow, arriving Saturday.
Thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the informative and fun review.
FIR. Typical Thursday CW, with way too many proper names. Thank heaven for perps! Got the theme, sort of, but I found it to be a real stretch. Only "appealing" came close to making sense for this solver.
Finished this one in 6:32, which I found APPropriate
I agree with the others about the proper nouns/names, which has definitely been a trend in the last year or so.
I knew Walsh, which helped with "FTW" (I'm familiar with "for the win, but I don't associate that with "woo-hoo"), but I found the "foreign word ("por") crossing "Odowd" to be uglier.
I didn't know Jess, nor any Gilmore Girls actors/actresses or characters, which I think I need to learn to keep up with the LAT crossword.
FIR Thursday for me. The meaning of the themers gradually dawned on me which helped. With RESIDES, I did the hokey pokey, putting it in, taking it out, and putting it in again. Other complications I caused myself were entering PAper/PAGES and pARkS/YARDS. ALAS, I forgot we had this clue before and tried egAd instead. Wait, that isn't a "plaint." But no big issues today, so thanks, Lance &Jeff.
I liked your review, waseeley and Teri. I didn't know FTW or WALSH, but thought a W seemed most likely. Thanks for explaining both puzzlements as well as others. Maybe it'll help me next time they appear. No other naticks as perps were there. It's always interesting to read what other people know about and what words they aren't familiar with.
Glad to hear your meeting went well, Lucina. Relationships with neighbors can be tricky whether in a HOA or not.
Hope everyone has a friendly day today!
The people trivia is getting exhausting.
This is the least desirable way to add difficulty to a puzzle. Seems they are in fact a FEATURE of every crossword puzzle now.
Musings
-What fun, where the clever gimmick was accommodating enough to give its first three letters
-Uber obscure names are okay with fair crosses like today.
-Touching a RAY is like petting a wet inner tube
-California grows more PEACHES than Georgia and produces more milk than Wisconsin
-50+ yrs in J.H., I've seen MOOD rings, pet rocks, fidget spinners, ad nauseum
-MINSK was part of a running gag on Seinfeld
-Seinfeld didn’t need a PLOT, it was “a show about nothing”.
-I’ll take Totie Fields FOR THE WIN
-School staffers who can solve IT problems or get the copier to work are heroes!
-FORE!
Good Morning
The obvious theme made this an easy solve despite the many unknowns: O’Dowd, Keas, Leto, Jess, FTW, and Walsh. The puzzle was perfectly fine, but I’m still expecting (to no avail) a higher level of difficulty when I tackle a Thursday grid. Props for the low three letter word count. Nice CSOs to Nina and Jinx Untied!
Thanks, Lance and Jeff, and thanks, Bill for always providing many learning moments and musical interludes. I’m not a Madonna fan, but I like that song, and I am an Audrey Hepburn fan and also like that song. To me, Milo Ventimiglia will always be the strong and faithful father, Jack Pearson, of This Is Us.
Have a great day.
on the lighter side...
Jesse from Gilmore Girls?
Eh, you can take him or leave him...
I'm going to try to remember what FTW means. Wondering why WTF is so much easier to recall.
Good Morning! Thanks Lance and Jeff for today’s puzzle. I may have been on their wavelength, or just lucky, but FIR & no WOs!! Yea!!
NW was the last to fill because I gleaned the APP from the other themers and built from there.
DNK & ESP: FOY, WALSH and FTW.
I am short (5’ 3” & shrinking…) so I know the challenges it presents, but the measure of a person is so much more, as in their character, personality, talents and other attributes. I know people of short stature who are giants in those regards. That’s what counts.
Thanks, Bill & Teri for the wonderful music clips & skads of info.
What a powerful scene from The Crown!! I’m putting it on my list of “must see” as soon as I start streaming.
I agrée with IM ☘️ about the degree of difficulty in a Thursday puzzle. Although, as others have observed, there are quite a few proper names in this one, they didn’t present a problem for me since perps and WAGs took care of them.
I did leave the NW for last since for a while all I had was ALPS, then I was JOLTed into my senses and FIR.
I hesitated at PEA since when it sees this word my mind pictures a little green orb and I knew it didn’t belong in a Hoppin’ John.
Yes, California is the produce basket of this country, although down here many of our produce comes from Mexico and the bananas I bought yesterday hailed from Guatemala. As for peaches, there is nothing better tasting than a Georgia peach.
So fun puzzle and great write up Waseely.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Lance and Jeff, and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed and saw the AP courses. (No AP courses that I am aware of in Canada (we do have IB courses), but I knew of them when daughter taught international students in S. Korea).
Plenty of CSOs already mentioned today; I’ll take one with VIAL, and Woo-hoo is for Misty (although I am not familiar with FTW).
Is it Par or POR, Resin or ROSIN? Hurray for perps.
Plenty of unknown as clued (to me) names again today, (WALSH, NINA, JESS, SEGAL, UNION, ODOWD) but again they perped.
This Northerner is not familiar with Hoppin’ John. I thought it might be a restaurant.
I noted PEA, TEAS and KEAS.
PEACHES are a Niagara fruit as well as Georgia. Nothing better on a hot August day than a bite into a fresh peach with the juice dripping down your chin.
Wishing you all a great day.
I have wonderful memories of Zermatt and the Matterhorn.
By mentally adding "gram" to Penta I got TETRA
Mot to be confused with LEDA who got it on with a Swan per Michaelangelo
A strange girl's journey from Milan to MINSK Oops, Gary thought of it first
Pete Hamill in "A Drinking Life" talked about Sunday Dim Sum but TEA was not the beverage
My Sun City tree had the most delicious PEACHES I've ever tasted
Woo-hoo: Another CSO to Misty but FTW was complete UNK
I was an IT PRO (79-2000)
WC
FIR, but let me Echo what unclefred and others have said about the obscure A&E clues. Can't even count it as a learning experience, as I really don't care about actors/actresses in movies/TV shows on streaming channels I don't subscribe to. IMHO, the DAB puzzle Waseeley posted is an example of how to construct an ENJOYABLE crossword puzzle.
A clever puzzle. I thought the FTW clue was weak. My favorite George Segal movie is King Rat from 1965. A dystopian tale of POW’s in WW2. kkFlorida
Hola!
Lance and Jeff always provide us with a fun puzzle, thanks to both.
I found the APP APPEALING and easy to apply in this grid.
My memory of MINSK is dark because it was cloudy the day we drove through it though I remember we ate a good lunch there.
Moi? HOT PINK? You bet your life I love it!
HI, JINKS! Look at that! A personal greeting right in the puzzle!
It's not Tuesday but yes, TACOS for dinner today. I'd have them every night if it would be acceptable.
Last night Carol Burnett was feted for her 90th birthday and some SHOW TONES were heard.
UNION Station. UNION Jack. Marriage UNION. Yes, so many clues for UNION could be used.
CSO to the NINA I once knew and who now lives in Nome, Alaska.
Time to stop. Enjoy your Thursday, everyone!
I forgot to say that I also have beautiful memories of the ALPS. We ate lunch at a restaurant up there; the air was clear with not a cloud in sight. In those days I could walk and once we exited the bus it was a pleasant stroll to the picnic area.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with minimal changes; cute theme and clues to take words beginning with APP to another level
Thanks to the constructors, and of course, the team of Bill and Teri
Bill, we share a couple of things: our being "vertically challenged", and our being cancer survivors. I hit 19 years a couple of weeks ago ...
If anyone wants to solve another puzzle today, try this one called:"Batteries Included"
Terrific theme and execution, I thought. And great fill: HOT PINK, SHOW TUNES, COVER ART and more. Wonderful write-up, Bill...thank you!
Edward Duarte in Los Angeles here. Nice to see my great-aunt Eva Duarte Peron in the word again.
Our waseeley is the escort for today's Enfinger/Chen PZL.
The NE corner was the last for me to fill. I wasn't sure what "aircraft marshaling" was at 18A, and the perps at 11D & 12D took some guessing.
But they all gave way, FTW.
Tanqueray GIN is my drink of choice before dinner, when I usually order a "Tanqueray Gibson on the rocks, Thank you!"
This is the second time in a few days for SNIFTER, either here or in The NY Times XWD. Funny word.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Four diagonals, three on the nearside, one in opposition.
The near central diag is full of vowels. But it gives us an anagram (11 of 15) of the sudden cry of the Cockney librarian who has just located the first volume of a classic series on creative writing.
Here, in his own words...
"OI! AA POETICS!"!
C-Moe, nice puzzle. My 4th today!
Wow, light posting today....
I did Dab's ET puzzle, but the Boston Herald would not let me sign in for the other one.
(I guess my batteries were dead...)
The best peach I ever ate was picked ripe off the tree,
(The worst peach had worms in it...)
But either way , Georgia was a gimme thanks to The Allmans Brothers Album, Eat A Peach.
Hoppin Joe's however only reminded me of this...
MOE @12:52 PM I liked your puzzle. Reminds me a bit of the good old days. I was ENERGIZED by Type I theme - i.e. one that helps you solves the puzzle and rather than a Type II theme that is an additional puzzle itself. Favorite clue was 54D, filled with "GODOT". Somewhere out there those two guys are still WAITING ...
CED @5:54 PM. Wow! A PEA who likes PUCCINI! p.s. re "Batteries Included" - I have problems with the Boston Herald puzzles too. When you try to print them they want to be saved to a PDF and then give you a security warning. I just override it and haven't been burnt so far (I think!).
I liked the AP theme of this puzzle. I absolutely did not like the shopworn, kneejerk, unimaginative, formulaic A&E cluing, which includes the following:
Irish actor Chris of TV's "Get Shorty": ODOWD
George of "The Goldbergs": SEGAL
Claire of "The Crown": FOY
Olympic volleyball great Kerri __ Jennings: WALSH
Totenberg of NPR: NINA
Gabrielle of "L.A.'s Finest": UNION
Milo's "Gilmore Girls" role: JESS.
It doesn't matter that the "perps were fair" in solving for these names, or whether I happen to know the particular person, work of art, fictional character or not, because, as Charlie Echo said, "Can't even count it as a learning experience, as I really don't care about actors/actresses in movies/TV shows on streaming channels I don't subscribe to." So formulaic: just go to IMDb, Goodreads, or some other database, find some entry in the data table, mindlessly plug it into the formulaic format, and voila you have a clue and answer. Nope, not for me. I can appreciate true creations of imagination and originality, such as Ray's relative: SKATE and Audiobook's lack: PAGES.
"blah blah blah" blah blah blah: BLAH
.......^...............^...........^
.......|...............|...........|
Plug a title in here...|...........|
Plug a characterization in here....|
Plug the particular result in here.|
Good wishes to you all.
Well, my arrows didn't line up, but I hope you know what I meant.
I very much liked that "Alien Invasion" puzzle. The editor didn't ruin DAB's work.
Personal experience in the Alps. On our honeymoon in 1961, we drove through the Brenner Press where all the trees and shrubs moved. They were soldiers in camouflage! We were frightened and got out of there fast.
Jayce @7:08 PM That's because DAB was the editor. I also thought was cool how he signed the puzzle at 1A.
If we are going to note the Moody Blues, the better work of theirs for this blog is href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoYbGPO_KKs">this old friend of mine.
(Sorry 'bout this, but the "Online Comments" section in the notes is not correct, but after wrestling with the HTML daemon for half an hour, I can't suss out where I goofed.)
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