This seems like one of those days where if you spotted me the "C" and the "A", I couldn't spell "CAT"
Puzzling thoughts:
As a blogger for the Crossword Corner for some three years now, I thought I had developed some sort of "sixth sense" that allows me to solve the puzzle, and then come up with a witty review to explain how everything meshed. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that today's puzzle marks my last blog/recap until mid-August. Don't panic. Moe will be back . . . But honestly? I need a break. I had no clue what this puzzle was trying to describe/define/make fun of/etc
Normally in a situation like this, I would accede to one of my other blogger peers and ask for some help. But you know what? I am going to try to figure this out as I ramble along in my blog ... so let's take these five "across" answers - one at a time - and see if I/we can solve this. And if not? I will look forward to hearing from my LAT Crossword Community in the comments section below ... I did manage to fill in the grid with correct letters and no cheats, if that's any consolation ... ;^)
18-across. Middle, approximately?: FUZZY NAVEL. So the word "approximately" shows up in each of the clues for the five longest answers (entries). By definition, "approximately" means: "imprecise but fairly close to correct". Would that imply - in this example - that the word "FUZZY" means imprecise, and NAVEL means in the middle? As in, your NAVEL is about in the middle of your body? IIRC, a drink called a FUZZY NAVEL was pretty popular back in the '60's and '70's ... maybe the next entry won't be quite so FUZZY ...
27-across. Sequence, approximately?: GENERAL ORDER. GENERAL = approximately? As an adjective, I found this word to mean "indefinite". ORDER - yeah, I can see that relating to sequence - as in, putting things in ORDER ... which of course immediately caused my brain to go into full Moe-l'ick (limerick) mode:
I like putting my blog into sequence,
Every two weeks; which is my frequence.
Sometimes I'm prepared;
But I never get scared:
Doing so would just give a false pretense
35-across. Straight, approximately?: BALLPARK FRANK. Hmm ... I may be solving this as I continue ... 'cause, guess what? The word "BALLPARK" means approximate; as in a "ballpark" figure. And the word "FRANK" (again, as an adjective) means: "characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion". [dictionary dot com] Could it be this simple? As an aside, FRANK is also a man's nickname (Francis). Just as Shirley is a woman's name. Which, or course, made Moe think of this classic clip:
I bet you thought I was going to show one of these, instead ...
44-across. Right, approximately?: LOOSE FITTING. LOOSE = approximately (adjective, meaning not officially recognized or controlled); right (adjective, meaning being precisely fitting and right). This prompted a Moe-ku:
Clever tailor gave
An underweight customer
A LOOSE FITTING
57-across. Quarters, approximately?: ROUGHHOUSE. OK, I think I've got it!! ROUGH = approximate - similar to BALLPARK - as in a ROUGH estimate. HOUSE = quarters (a noun) as in "housing" - he found quarters for his family to live in, or something like that. Monetarily, a quarter = "two bits", so "four-bits" would = 50 cents - as in this old Roger Miller classic:
Well damn! All I had to do was talk it out, and voila! The puzzle now makes sense ... Joe Deeney, a frequent contributor to published crossword puzzles, gave us a Friday-worthy puzzle after all. And all of the punned phrases are common language! Which of course led to me thinking of yet another one that may or may not have been in contention: "Tryst, approximately?:" CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Here is the grid, completely, not approximately, filled in:
Across:
1. Shea successor: CITI. As in the ballfield in the Queens, NY; home of the Mets
5. Requirements for some new jobs, briefly: RELO'S. How about another Moe-ku?
When picked-up autos
Are shipped for auction, are these
RELO'S for repo's?
10. Bunch: SLEW. No one ever has said the words, "Don't get your panties in a SLEW!"
14. Soba alternative: UDON. This clue would also work if SOBA was the answer; "UDON alternative: SOBA"
15. Facetious target of a series of guides: IDIOT. Are you calling me an IDIOT??!! Well, maybe as it applied to me with today's puzzle. But this clue is meant for one of two series of guide books, entitled The Complete IDIOT'S Guide ... The other being, ... for Dummies. I wonder if there is a Crossword Puzzles for Dummies book I could purchase ... oh, wait a second, there is!!
16. Film princess who says, "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought": LEIA. As said to Han Solo before escaping to the Millennium Falcon
17. Chap, in British slang: BRUV. I am seeing this word more often; it's a common term of expression in the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso
20. Start of an old boast: "I CAME ... ". My "boast" du jour is: "I CAME, I saw, I finally figured it out ..."
22. "That's amazing!": I LOVE IT!.
23. South American barbecue: ASADO. I am still confused about this ... is it asadA or asadO? Maybe Lucina can help explain, because after reading this, I still have questions ...
24. Slushy drinks: ICEES. ICEES, only because Margaritas didn't fit
26. Cartoonist Chast: ROZ. This lady
30. Middle of a valley?: ELS. Not ELS like the golfer, Ernie; ELS like the two letters in the middle of the word, "valley"
31. Abbey area: APSE. A bit of a stretch, maybe? An abbey refers to the entire building "footprint" of a monestery. I usually think of APSE as a recess in a church or chapel ... but regardless, it is crossword-ese, IMO
32. Prefix with male or female: CIS. As in "cis-gender". A “cis” person is a person who was assigned a gender and sex at birth that they feel comfortable with. Typically, cis men are men who were assigned male at birth and feel that the words "man" and "male" accurately describe who they are. I guess that I should add the words "HE/HIM" to my blogger profile ... CIS, boom, bah
40. French chum: AMI. My daughter's name is AMY, but she speaks little, if no, French
41. Heart: CORE. "Coeur" is the French word for heart. If I had to guess, the word "CORE" probably comes from the French language
42. Enthusiasm: VIM.
49. Oakland-to-Palo Alto dir.: SSE. Palo Alto is also the home to Stanford University
52. Fantasy author Canavan: TRUDI.
53. Goes to press?: IRONS. Ha Ha!
54. Place with crude buildings?: OIL TOWN. Interesting play-on-words ... the answer could've been this had it been clued differently
56. Hockey Hall of Famer Cam: NEELY. An old Boston Bruin methinks. Perhaps Wilbur Charles can provide us with a few Cam NEELY stories?
60. Whipped up: MADE. "whipped up" is an expression I use for when I make/MADE drinks (frozen Margaritas, perhaps?)
62. Back talk, in slang: 'TUDE. Note the apostrophe I put into the answer ... short for attiTUDE
63. Land parcels: ACRES. I think that Friday puzzles should have fewer than 8 clues that lead you to a logical and/or easy answer
64. "Inspiration Information" musician Shuggie: OTIS. I guess that OTIS Redding and OTIS the elevator guy are passe ... See 63-across comment ... here is a snapshot of Shuggie OTIS:
65. Salchow kin: AXEL. An ice-skating term for a type of jump/spin
66. Hues: TONES. See 63-across comment
67. Set components: REP'S. As in, how many REPitionS one can do during a workout, perhaps?
Down:
1. Little lion: CUB. I've blogged a puzzle that featured baby animal names ... here are a few of the adult animals who raise cubs: Lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!); plus leopards, jaguars, raccoons, and badgers. Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!! [with apologies to Mel Brooks and the hombres from Blazing Saddles]
2. Voice of Chief Bogo in "Zootopia": IDRIS ELBA.
3. Colorful cereal mascot: TOUCAN SAM. Quite the parallel partner to 2-down; TOUCAN SAM was featured on the box of Froot Loops. Here is an older pic:
4. Enter aggressively: INVADE. As opposed to "enter approximately, perhaps? (the answer to 34-down: SKINNY DIP)
5. Teeming (with): RIFE. What would a Moe-blog be without a visit from our Thesaurusaurus?
6. End of an academic address: EDU. If there were a school of higher learning called "Eastern Delaware University", might their url be "www.edu.edu"?
7. Truss who was very briefly U.K. prime minister in 2022: LIZ.
8. Like molasses, vis-à-vis water: OOZIER.
9. Straightened, say: STYLED.
10. Pole, e.g.: SLAV.
11. Fixture in some voting booths: LEVER. "More viscous" didn't fit
12. Singalong quintet: EIEIO. "Old MacDonald had a farm, ...."
13. Ballroom dance: WALTZ. Samba, rumba, mambo, and tango also fit
19. Snout: NOSE. Yet, another Moe-ku:
An inquisitive
Aardvark, turned carnivore,
Had a NOSE for gnus
21. Upstanding: MORAL.
23. Spend time in a cellar, perhaps: AGE. Once upon a time, Moe had a 600+ bottle wine cellar. Many of these wines needed a bit or a lot of AGE to improve. Now, Moe doesn't buy green bananas ...
24. "Casablanca" role: ILSA. RICK fit; SAM didn't
25. Put the squeeze on: COERCED. A "softened" clue for a forceful word
28. Google Play purchase: APP. Apple phone purchase would've been an acceptable clue, too
29. LG rival: RCA. For as old as this brand is, RCA seems to find its way into the modern x-word puzzles; a lot
33. Sacrosanct: INVIOLATE. Another Thesaurussaurus visit?
34. Barely get wet?: SKINNY DIP. Cute! And for those who enjoy a good Florida-based mystery novel, try reading this book, by Carl Hiaasen
36. One of the "Rugrats" twins: LIL. Can you tell them apart?
37. U.N. head between Boutros and Ban: KOFI. "KOFI Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize". [wikipedia] Moe's "alter ego" used his entire name in an x-word puzzle entitled "Parking Spaces" - see 19-across
38. Planner abbr.: FRI. MON, TUE, WED, THU, SAT, and SUN also fit
39. Adjust an ascot: RETIE. How to tie an ascot? View below:
43. Booker T.'s band: MGS. My favorite; "Green Onions". Enjoy!
45. Letters before a fresh take: OTOH. Interesting clue for this - "on the other hand" is sometimes said (or texted) when someone wants to offer a "fresh take" on a topic
46. Flip response to an ultimatum: OR WHAT?.
47. Official fuel of NASCAR: SUNOCO. All you need to know about SUNOCO racing fuel
48. Quake aftershock: TREMOR.
49. "Yes and no": SORTA. Another synonym for "approximately", perhaps?
50. Dakota Natives: SIOUX. Moe-ku:
Johnny Cash hit song
For Dakota Natives is
Called: "A Boy Named SIOUX"
51. Get away from: ELUDE. Can you ELUDE C-Moe blogs for a couple of months?
55. Neutrogena shampoo: T-GEL. this
56. Storied loch: NESS. Also the name of the fictional "monster"
58. Inspiration for Keats: URN. "Ode on a Grecian URN"
59. Date: SEE. Are you SEEing anyone? Not I. Margaret and I are past our "dating" period, although we do still enjoy occasional "date" nights
61. Double curve: ESS.
Well, that's it folks ... for awhile anyway ... to whomever is going to pinch-hit for C-Moe, "tag, you're it!!" I know you'll be equally entertained with their recaps. See you in approximately two months ...
He felt so like an IDIOT,
ReplyDeleteHis brain in skull was a LOOSE FIT.
It seemed his NOSE
Was also froze --
He'd slammed that ICEE, what a nit-wit!
IDRIS ELBA and TOUCAN SAM
Got together for a jam.
Sam played his NOSE,
'Dris rapped some prose;
They MADE some music, thank you ma'am!
This was a tough puzzle, as befits a Friday, I guess. Eventually, all the themed answers made sense to me, although some took second or even third looks. And I wanted “So what?” but eventually came round to “or what?” So, eventually, everything fell into place. So I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
ReplyDeleteFLN: Irish Miss, it was great to see your warm and witty commentary again yesterday. I have to admit I had been worried about you. Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteStruggled throughout, and ultimately failed. Didn't know BRUV and ASADO, making INVADE unsolvable for d-o. Bzzzzt. Managed to suss the theme and correctly filled all the themers, so there's that. Those stacked 9s in the NW and SE were nice. Thanx, Joe. Interesting expo, C-Moe. Enjoy your sabbatical.
I liked the puzzle but I crashed and burned today. Too many unknowns and a couple of wrong WAGS sent me up a couple of blind alleys. BRUV & ASADO- never heard of either and even after correctly filling IDRIS ELBA & TOUCAN SAM, I couldn't think of INVADE.
ReplyDeleteLIL was unknown, I guessed CONOCO, not SUNOCO, and my flip response was SO WHAT, not OR WHAT. TRUDI never had a chance as she was an unknown. Neither did LOOSE, so it was a DNF today.
OTOH I did fill three other unknowns- ROZ, NEELY & OTIS.
CIS as a prefix or M or F? Never knew. What happened to UNI?
LEVER- I miss those voting booths with the levers. They never had any problems but we do have a lot of dead people voting.
FIW, misspelled toucan by accident and have never heard of bruv before so there was no cross to catch my goof. Typical Friday puzzle difficulty wise. Clever theme which I struggled with especially rough house.
ReplyDeleteDNF, not even close. Worked on it a while, lost interest, worked another CW and two sudokus, and came back to this one. Still no. Managed to erase WALTZ for tango because I became convinced that xena was needed for axIS. But I got 46 of my 50 fills correct, so I got that goin' for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind puzzles being beyond my ability, but there was something about this one that was offputting to me. But thanks to C-Moe for trying to make sense of it.
Interesting theme today, I was filling in the common phrases for awhile before I figured out the "approximately" part of the clue
ReplyDelete49D was tricky - easy to forget that due to the angle of San Francisco Bay - Oakland in the East Bay is west of Palo Alto on the west/peninsula side of the bay. Similar to Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California
On 16A- I thought the answer might be Anna or Elsa of "Frozen" fame before LEIA - later on we had ILSA from "Casablanca"
Thanks CM - enjoy your summer break! Thanks Joe for an interesting puzzle!
Took 15:02, approximately, today to finish this one.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't figure out the theme either for a long time, despite having a few of the themed answers. I'll give this puzzle a bonus point for creativity, and another for not resorting to those dreaded circles. I agree that this seemed to be the typical Friday-level difficulty.
I didn't know the cartoonist, the twin (or the other one), or tgel.
I also had "so what" before "or what", asada before asado, and AEIOU before EIEIO.
I also learned "bruv" from Ted Lasso (subtitles).
Welcome back, Ms. Irish Miss.
By the way, I wanted to let you folks know about an issue I’m having with this blog. Approximately two weeks ago, there started appearing these annoying “drop-down” ads on this blog for me. I can partially “cancel” them by tapping an arrow on the side of them, but not completely. I use an I-phone to connect with this blog. Is anyone else having this problem? Can anyone tell me a “permanent “ way to get rid of these annoying ads? Just asking.
ReplyDeleteIf you click the blue > at the top right of the ad it will "disappear" and you can see what it overlaps.
DeleteSaturday level difficulty with little help from themes. But I thought I FIR but Ms Canavan(UNK) spells with an I as does KOFy. Good ol' One Box Wilbur
ReplyDeleteMy one NEELY Nugget is that he personified the Battling Bruins.
Re. 13D, neither did SALSA
As a Fla guy I'm familiar with Hiassen as tbtimes has an insert(Florida) in which he and other Fla authors are profiled
I had texaco/SUNOCO which didn't work nor aramco. SW was tough; CA geography not my huckleberry but I knew AXEL and guessed TGEL. OR WHAT was last to drop after the SIOUX V8
Couple od W's today, Owen
C-Moe were you aware of the added twist Joe gave us. fe. BALLPARK FRANKs are the hotdogs sold at Fenway. The other word combos have an additional meaning
SubG, as I said yesterday, the ads drop down atop the name of the poster. Ergo, I missed Irish Miss as author of a post. Again, I suggest a moniker(WC fe) as a sign out
This one needed half a CBD gummy to finish which makes it Saturday level
WC
Musings
ReplyDelete-Joe gave me a real run for my money. Sussing out his fun gimmick helped a lot. FUZZY took an alphabet run before the “Z’s” appeared crossing OOZIER?. What a hoot!
-A non-Disney, non-fairytale princess this morning.
-CIS has only recently entered this science guy’s vocab.
-Heart: Anyone remember the movie that featured a gem called El Corazón? Answer below *
-Whipped up: A job for a politician’s front man
-I impressed myself for knowing Salchow
-TONY TIGER fit for cereal mascot with T O _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
-I have never seen/used a LEVER to vote
-Green Onions is a fav of mine and one of the few rock and roll songs with an organ
-The SIOUX run some nice casinos around here
*Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito chased El Corazón in Romancing The Stone
Echoing all sentiments above, this was a tough one! Did the old "shotgun" approach again. Got a few gimmies entered and some parts started to fill in. The SE came together nicely and the clues started to make sense when ROUGHHOUSE appeared.
ReplyDeleteBut, I FIW, actually some spelling errors, SoNOCO and KOFe left me out of the running. Like BE, I never heard of BRUV. The I in CITI gave me INVADE.
Best clue of the day was "Barely get wet?".
Thanks, Joe, for the fine puzzle and Best Wishes to you, Moe. Have a great summer!
I wrote to yesterday's constructor, Dr. Ed Sessa, about his latest status after Hurricane Ian took out his Florida home on Sanibel Island. This is what he had to say:
ReplyDeleteHi Gary,
Thanks for asking. Penny and I travelled through northern virginia trying to find a place, home or apartment that was somehow equidistant and closer to our kids but it was not to be for various reasons. All things considered we decided to stay in SW Florida, and will soon close on a home in Fort Myers. It's about 45 minutes from Sanibel so we can still maintain some friendships and connections from the past 20+ years and watch the island heal. We were very lucky that someone (turned out to be an ex-football player and contractor) bought what was left of our home, with plans to build an elevated home on the site. I appreciate all the work you and the whole crew do on the blog site - it must be a labor of love. If you are ever in the neighborhood let me know!
Regards,
Ed
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI think my brain cells are more than a little rusty because I had more difficulty with this than I’ve experienced in a long time. I also think Joe Deeny’s application of Moe’s dictum of having a very low number of clues leading to a logical/easy answer was another reason why I struggled so much. On my first pass, I was left with an enormous sea of white and it took quite awhile to gain some headway. Not knowing Trudi, Otis, Toucan Sam, Liz, Lil, Inviolate, MGS, and TGel slowed me down considerably, plus the stumbles at Texaco/Sunoco, Evade/Elude, So What/Or What, and Tints/Tones added to the challenge. Having no idea of the theme didn’t help matters, either. That said, I finished w/o help, albeit slowly and with a vague understanding of the theme.
Thanks, (I think!) Joe D, for a mighty tough workout and thanks, Moe, for your excellent explanation and deconstruction of the theme. I thought it was along the lines as you described it, but you fleshed it out and made it a much more logical and admirable accomplishment. Loved all of your Moe-kus, as usual, and particularly enjoyed the Roz Chast narrative. We’ll miss your wit and wisdom but wish you and Margaret a safe, fun-filled summer sojourn.
SG @ 4:59 and SS @ 8:24 ~ Thank you for your kind words.
FLN
Tante Nique, Wilbur, Moe, Anon T, and sumdaze, thank you, as well. It’s nice to be back!
Have a great day.
Nope. Not even close. After about a half-hour of struggle I was still looking at the White Sea, and gave up. This was totally NOT on my wavelength. I know quite a few Brits and had close friends that would stay at Club Fred for months at a time. I would also visit them in Ibiza for a month or so. Never in all that time did I hear “BRUV”. Too many other DNKs to list. I did eventually get FUZZYNAVEL before giving up and looked at it….and looked at it….and couldn’t see how that was “Middle, approximately”. Clue just sailed serenely far over my head. This CW is just way above my meager abilities. Ya got me, JD. Thanx for ‘splainin it all C-Moe, and for the great write-up. SubG yeah I get that drop-down ad too. I suspect the blog is getting paid to allow it. They gotta keep the lights on somehow, so I think we are stuck with it. At least it goes away (almost) with the arrow thingee.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joe for the puzzle, which I kinda sorta FIW, starting like a bat out of Hades, but finally foundering on some whitecaps in the SSW.
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for a fun review MOE and all for the licks. I really liked your splash screen. Did you get chatGPT to gen that?
Also it looks like you may have beat me to a vacation. I've got to nail down some exact dates with Teri and then I'll try to secure a sub with our security specialist for at least one of them.
I won't bother yall with the gory details on where I went wrong, and as most of the grandkids have been here since 8 AM this morning ... it's time for my afternoon NAP! ...
Cheers,
Bill
Husker @9:56 AM CIS - you're talking about the isomer right? 😁
Husker @9:57 AM Thanks so much for getting in touch with Dr. Ed and for relaying his message. It's good to hear that things are starting to settle down for him.
I loved the theme of this puzzle but the rest left me cold. Like everyone else, i thought it was more Saturday level, but also way too many obscure slang, names, etc. I did like the SKINNY DIPPING clue.
ReplyDeleteSlower than molasses saying led me to miss OOZIER for a long time. And I kept reading soda instead of soba. GRR.
Moe, I really liked your solve it as you go attitude.
WC @ 9:43 --> you said: "C-Moe were you aware of the added twist Joe gave us. fe. BALLPARK FRANKs are the hotdogs sold at Fenway. The other word combos have an additional meaning"
ReplyDeleteYes, Wilbur, C-Moe was aware of that ... having written such a long introduction, I thought it best to acknowledge that of Joe in my last paragraph where I said, "All of the punned phrases are common language!" And I did squeeze in a pic of the Fenway Franks - aka - BALLPARK FRANKS
But had I added more to the blog, I might have said:
ROUGHHOUSE, of course, the action of two siblings (boys, usually)
LOOSE FITTING, - what we currently have on one of our bathroom faucets
GENERAL ORDER, - what CED's post generally have ... just kidding!! ;^)
FUZZY NAVEL, - besides the drink ... hmm ... let me contemplate that for a minute or two ...
Thanks for the Cam Neely nugget ... sorry your Bruins didn't finish the post-season on a high note, but the NHL this year will have one fewer franchise without a Stanley Cup
Nope. Back to the arcane inane trivia contest. DNF, lost interest, and tossed in the towel. I'll ECHO Jinx on this one. By the way, Jinx, dead people voting is a hallowed tradition here in Chicago and Cook County! Proves there is life after death, if only in the booth!
ReplyDeleteThat!, was a tough puzzle...
ReplyDeleteOozier?
for Chairman Moe.
I will leave you with this thought...
Very tough but fun puzzle. Didn’t get the theme right away. I agree with other folks, best clue was “barely get wet”. Very clever theme clues also. Inviolate, another great clue. No complaints today. JJB
ReplyDeleteI CAME , I saw, I DNF or "I non complere" as Julius Cæsar might say if he ever tried a "cruciverba" ....CORE (cor "heart" in lingua latina) as in "Brutus, why you aiming that knife at my COR?"
ReplyDeleteI get confused with California geography. If Palo is ALTO why is it south of Oakland 😆. I do know St Francis went north and St James went south
Odd theme and odd theme answers. Agree witcha Moe.... plus I was IDIOT enough to think "Straight approximately" BALLPARK FRANK referred to the almost straight shape of a hotdog 🌭😳 (they curve a bit when grilled unless on those endless rollers)... Lots n lots of unknown proper names...thank you Alexa/Siri. 🙄.. Had Uni instead of EDU. ("Edju", Polish SLAV nickname for Edward, my DW's Uncle Eddie)
Don't know how I knew UDON for "Soba" ...gotta be one of those stored old CW clue/answers. Whereas "Salchow has an old familiar CW ring but my mind blanked. Refinery would not work with "Place with crude buildings"
"French Chum" crèpes suzette thrown to the sharks? Ohhh THAT kind of "chum".. "Back talk" lip too short and sass not slang. (TUDE, meh, OK)..."Official fuel of NASCAR" (Tried both Texaco and SUNOCO which I inked over when it didn't agree with my many erroneous perps)
If yer rich enuff to wear an ascot you hire someone to tie and RETIE it for you.
Like Big Easy...I liked the old curtained voting booths... you could change your mind or correct an error with the flick of a LEVER right up until you swung the big shaft to open the curtain. (But why would dead people vote, no states have passed laws, at least yet, making it illegal to be dead. A bit of a problem if they remove dead people from history books 😆)
I hate red NOTES, do you have the same outfit ____ ....INVIOLATE?
Francis in CITI field...BALLPARKFRANK
"Colorful cereal mascot" downing a couple beers...TOUCANSAM
Indiana teammate....OOZIER
No mo' Moe? Oh No! (Fer awhile anyhoo) 🙁
FIW but really, really enjoyed this intelligent puzzle. Thank you Joe Deeny.
ReplyDeleteAfter getting GENERAL ORDER and BALLPARK FRANK, I understood “approximately” but the SW never jelled. Did anyone else think quarter horse? Ergo, I had range (approximately) - (“Home, home on the range”) horrse. for RANCH HOUSE. All the first words of the theme made sense MIDDLE -stomach, FITTING - right, etc. horse - quarter—-wrong!
. Nothing made sense with saw before SSE and tres before AXEL made it TGEL.
FUZZY NAVELs are delicious, especially for brunch. A wonderful refreshing drink, particularly in the summer.
Moe, your write up today was outstanding, It was fun to follow your thought process that took you and us from not knowing to knowledge. Have a great summer!
Happy, sunny weekend to all!
Ray-O-Sunshine ——. No mo’ Moe. Haha. Sounds like a Rap star!
ReplyDeleteI wrote to Joe and he gave us this peek behind the crossword curtain:
ReplyDeleteHi Gary,
Always nice to hear from you. All is well here, I hope the same with you. Daughter is 3 now and she's a a happy kid with a big imagination.
I made this puzzle almost two years ago, I sat on it for a while before submitting as I wasn't entirely sure about its quality, but ultimately I decided it was worth trying to get published. One intended nuance of the theme clues I haven't seen mentioned yet today is that they're intended to be mathematical concepts that could theoretically be approximated - middle, straight, right, quarters, and sequence (last one is definitely most grammatically strained in this regard).
An if you use the recipe for the FUZZY NAVEL, squeeze in a slice of lime to add some tartness.
ReplyDeleteRAY-O, They are ALREADY removing dead people from the history books. Polk, Hood, Bragg, Lee, Benning.......
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteCARNE ASADA, here ASADA is the adjective that modifies CARNE and since CARNE is feminine it ends with A. ASADO is masculine because it stands alone. I hope that helps.
This puzzle presented me with a few challenges but I managed to finish it all right.
I recall reading a book that had to do with SALCHOW but it's really hazy in my memory.
IRONS is my favorite fill/clue.
Luckily the names, OTIS, TRUDI and ROZ all filled themselves because I would not have known them. In other contexts, yes, but not as clued here.
Sigh. I'm always happy to see IDRIS ELBA in a puzzle or anywhere!
I wonder if anyone younger than 40 IRONS anything? I barely do and in the past it was a weekly chore.
Nothing in my closet is LOOSE FITTING anymore which is why I have joined Weight Watchers.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
I salute Chairman Moe for the courage to take on this Deeney PZL.
ReplyDeleteImpossibly tough w/o cheats.
I confess I actually wore an ascot in my first year as a grad student in England. So very long ago...
I can't remember for sure, but I think it was partially pre-tied.
~ OMK
_____________
DR: ONE diagonal, near to hand.
Its anagram (10 of 15) is a single word--not particularly amusing, but the abundance of vowels left us with few interesting choices.
This single word refers to the floral family of Iris...
"IRIDACEOUS"!
Fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Joe. And always enjoy your fun commentary, Moe, thanks for that too.
ReplyDeleteI CAME to this puzzle, expecting to be in a BALL room--not a BALL park--wearing a LOOSE FITTING dress and looking forward to doing a WALTZ with some STYLED fellow. Instead, there were guys ROUGH HOUSing around, or, in shorts, getting ready to SKINNY DIP. Not my kind of treat--time to RELO.
Fun poem, Owen. And nice to see you, Irish Miss.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
This puzzle by Joe seemed daunting at first but slowly filled until the middle where I needed an assist from DH for KOFI. That name just wasn't coming to mind and I was trying to fit in "most exitting" for the themer "right, approximately" thinking of right turns onto exit ramps. Obviously not a common phrase like the other themers! But with KOFI, all became clear and I could finally FIR, albeit with that little help. Thanks, Joe, for a Friday-worthy puzzle.
ReplyDeleteC-Moe, thanks for a thorough puzzle review and the amusing Moe-kus. Enjoy your summer holiday and come back refreshed.
What will tomorrow bring?
I Miss..
ReplyDeleteGreat news, see you're on the mind, not unlikely due to following my recommendation
Rx: Bloody Mary
One every half hour till the coughing stops.
Anonny? @ 1:06
Part of the don't say Dead laws....Was tryna get some of my dead CHUMS to vote, even sent absentee ballots, but they came back burnt or too scorched to read 😆
Thanks for chimin' in Mr. Deeney, but whatchoo talkin' 'bout Joe? 😄 ...👏👏 to everyone who successfully worked the puzzle and "got" the theme
(Seriously... appreciate cameos from the constructors, thanks)
I liked this puzzle. A hearty "Well done" to Joe Deeney for coming up with such an imaginative theme.
ReplyDeleteI had the ----CO at 47-down, so I blithely entered TEXACO, but soon realized that was wrong. So I changed it to CONOCO. Nope, that was wrong, too.
I had SLOWER at 8-down ("Like molasses, vis-à-vis water") because I was thinking "Slower than molasses...". I also had IRONED at 9-down ("Straightened, say"), but IRONS showed up at 53-across.
Additionally, putting in ROUNDHOUSE instead of ROUGHHOUSE caused me to stumble there, too.
Didn't realize Palo Alto is east of Oakland, but sure enough, it is. We always say Oakland is in the "East Bay," which it is, but I guess that terminology misled me. A learning moment; now I know and will remember. I will also remember, as inanehiker pointed out, that Reno is west of Los Angeles. Thirdly, I remember watching the sun rise while sitting on the beach in the morning in Santa Barbara; a look at the map reveals that the coastline there curves around so much it actually faces east.
I have heard the term cisgender, but never "cismale" or "cisfemale," so I take exception to the clue that CIS is "Prefix with male or female."
I have recently been getting ads right across the width of the bloggers' write-ups. They are especially irritating when the blogger has posted a picture to illustrate one of his answer explanations but there is the damn ad instead. I have to refresh the page to make it go away, but it, or another ad, reappears again later. Refresh again and it goes away. Sometimes I have to do that 4 or 5 times. PITA!
Good wishes to you all.
Ouch! Had 'AMMOCO' to complete the ___OCO fill. Didn't like the double-m but convinced myself I just didn't know how to spell Amoco. The, when nothing else would fit I 'corrected' it to 'CONOCO' and battered my head against the wall some more before finally settling on 'SUNOCO'.
ReplyDeleteAll that left me so bamboozled I couldn't shift myself off of 'ROUND HOUSE' even though I could see 'OTOD' should be 'OTOH'
Life (and crosswords) can be cruel.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteGlad to read I'm not the only one (#Beatles) who 'nailed' a #Fail on this grid. Oy!
Thanks Joe for the challenge but the only reason this wasn't a Sat. is 'cuz you had a theme. Thanks for keeping me distracted from work ;-)
//Thanks for your reply to HG. I was taking every themer mathematically literal and that got me nowhere :-)
That you filled it all, C, Moe - I respectfully bow. Thanks for filling 90% of my grid's south.
Fav: I-D 10T //invoicing code for a nut LOOSE behind the keyboard.
{2x B+}
I wanted AMOCO but I was short an M. //isn't that on NASCARS?
TOUCAN SAM filled easily - I grew up on sugar.
Inanehiker - yep, I too had ELSA and thought it cute ILSA was also in the grid (until ELSA wasn't).
CED - #2 is the meaning of life. Got Gramps through WWII and Pop through losing him.
Up all night (#work) so it's nap time.
Cheers, -T
Correction - Imagine was a Lennon solo. //couldn't sleep until I looked that up ;-) -T
ReplyDeleteC-Echo - I love Chicago and hope they don't lose the city completely. I had many great times in Itasca, Lisle and Naperville. Never voted there, though. I was taught to vote on a machine with LEVERs. I was probably about 5 when my mom would take me into the booth, pull the curtain and told me which levers to pull (all next to the "D".) I didn't learn until later that there was a "straight ticket" lever, which she probably would have used had I not been along. I always collect my "I Voted" sticker and affix it to Zoё-the-greyhound's collar.
ReplyDeleteASCOT sounds like slang for a director's chair.
OK, y'all made me look. No, Reno isn't east of LA, it is NNE. Even Vegas isn't east of LA, it's NE.
I'm in a better mood this afternoon, because I overcame Microsoft's warning that my best desktop couldn't use Windoze 11, and most support for 10 has ended. (Was able to change boot sector type and turn on Secure Boot, then 11 loaded just fine.) I'll use it for a couple of weeks, then if all goes well, I'll update my laptop.
ReplyDeleteI guess the “editor” is back from vacation and was able to oversee this mess.
I got the solve, but had zero fun.
But it would seem fun is no longer on the editor’s to do list, just aggravation.
Others may have solved it but not me. Too confusing. If you have to explain the answers so they fit the clue it is not for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to get Win 11 running on your PC, Jinx.
ReplyDeleteHere are the obvious Patti-isms that I have identified:
ReplyDeleteFilm princess who says, "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought": LEIA.
"Inspiration Information" musician Shuggie: OTIS.
Voice of Chief Bogo in "Zootopia": IDRIS ELBA.
"Casablanca" role: ILSA.
One of the "Rugrats" twins: LIL.
Booker T.'s band: MGS.
There may be many others but the above are easily identifiable.
Clues I liked include:
Facetious target of a series of guides: IDIOT.
Goes to press?: IRONS.
Like molasses, vis-à-vis water: OOZIER.
Fixture in some voting booths: LEVER.
Barely get wet?: SKINNY DIP.
Inspiration for Keats: URN.
Terrific write-up, Chairman!
Keep on taking care of yourselves, everybody.
Hurry back, C-Moe!
ReplyDeleteJinx - I'm testing Win11 for $corp but I'm not happy with it.
ReplyDeleteOh, win11 is mostly fine (my GNUwin32 tools do well) but they ($corp) gave me a little baby laptop w/o a numeric keypad!?!
I don't think I'll fully transition to win11 until they give me an expanded laptop with 10-key. Try typing 100+ (maybe nefarious) IP addresses/day on the top row and get anything else done that day.
Good breakdown, Jayce.
Cheers, -T
Anon -T I'm with you on keybuards; no numeric key pad, no sale.
ReplyDeleteHard puzzle. i had to do what i consider fair game to give me more letters to the few clues i could answer with a first pass: look up some of the proper words, typically not allowed in crosswords/Scrabble, a la Jayce’s comment above.
ReplyDelete…And what is a “Patti-ism.”