Today's constructor is August Miller, a Massachusetts dairy farmer who is making his 11th appearance on the Corner, and is also an NYT puzzle veteran (sorry I couldn't find the name of his dog). Today he asks us the question* ...
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Well the answer to that is obvious - it was our august constructor himself! Which of course leads to the further question ...
Where did he move it? ......
... and it will delight some that August has cleverly inserted slices of the stuff sans circles in the following theme clues ...
17A. *Fruit pastry: APRICOT TART. Here's a recipe ...
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| Apricot Tart |
28A. *"Star Wars" role for Oscar Isaac: POE DAMERON. I've fallen out of touch with this franchise, but apparently it's still going on in a galaxy far, far away. It seems that POE is a pretty intense guy and after reviewing several action videos I decided on this picture instead ...
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| Poe Dameron |
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| Edam Cheese |
42A. *Array in some wine bars: CAFE TABLES.
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| Some suggested pairings for FETA cheese. |
54A. *Unwanted color fluctuations, in digital photography: CHROMA NOISE. DNK CHROMA NOISE. Here's the ultimate guide digital photography noise reduction. Suffice it to say that adding romano cheese to your digital photos is not going help with this problem.
Pecorino Romano was a staple in the diet for the legionaries of ancient Rome. Today, it is still made according to the original recipe and is one of Italy's oldest cheeses. The name "pecorino" simply means "ovine" or "of sheep" in Italian. Here are a few Pecorino Romano recipes.
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| Pecorino Romano |
33A. Ravioli option, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have?: CHEESE FILLING.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Kitten chorus: MEWS. MEWS could also be clued as "Stables converted to residences" ...
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| Horbury Mews Notting Hill, London |
11. Sandwich initials: BLT.
14. Pianist Gilels: EMIL. EMIL Grigoryevich Gilels (19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was a Russian pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Gilels is universally admired for his superb technical control and burnished tone. His repertoire ranged from Baroque to late Romantic and 20th century classical composers. Here he plays the Alexander Siloti transcription of Bach's Prelude in B Minor ...
15. Disinfectant brand: CLOROX.
16. __ de parfum: EAU. Here's a good reason for Google to integrate a scratch and sniff app into Blogger.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Space race?: ETS.
20. Stan Musial's nickname: THE MAN. Stanley Frank Musial (born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history, Musial spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1963, before becoming a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
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| Stan "The Man" Musial |
Ceramic tiles were widely used in decorative applications dating back to the ancient world, e.g. this fragment of a 5th Century floor mosaic from Antioch:
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| Striding lion, birds, and crops Baltimore Museum of Art |
While we tend to think of tiles as flat-surfaced, they may also be cast in bas-relief, such as these tiles mounted on an oak plank, depicting the Evangelists Matheus, Marcus, Lucas, and Iohanni created at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA ...
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| Ceramic Tiles |
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| Ramen Pork Chashu |
26. Colleague of Sonia and Ketanji: ELENA. Elena Kagan is one of the 4 women Supreme Court Justices and a colleague of Sonia Sotomayor, Amy Coney Barrett, and Katanji Brown Jackson:
.jpg) |
| Elena Kagan |
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| Members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe |
30. Start of an early Grafton title: B IS. B Is for Burglar is a mystery novel by American writer Sue Grafton. It was published in 1985 by Henry Holt and Company as the second novel in her "Alphabet" series of mystery novels. The plot centers around the efforts of Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California, to locate a missing person. Critical reception was positive, and it won the 1986 Anthony Award and Shamus Award. Here's the first edition cover ...
32. __-Mex cuisine: TEX.
33. [Theme reveal]
38. Light touch: PAT.
39. "That works": OKAY.
40. Organic lip balm brand: EOS. Hand up if you had OPI? Here's the EOS Strawberry Sorbet flavor
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| EOS Strawberry Sorbet Flavor |
42. [Theme clue]
46. John Irving title character: GARP. The World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel, about a man, born out of wedlock to a feminist leader, who grows up to be a writer. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1979, and its first paperback edition won the Award the following year. It was also the basis for this film starring Robin Williams, John Lithgow, Glenn Close. and assorted other stars you know ...
47. Less amiable: ICIER.
48. Letters between names: AKA.
49. "__ and Bess": PORGY. I know it's almost Summertime, but I've already played that aria at least twice, but it ain't necessarily the whole story (lyrics) ...
50. Superficial: CURSORY.
52. Expired: LAPSED.
53. Self-conscious query: AM I.
54. [Theme clue]
57. Homey hole: DEN.
58. Big name in single-serve coffee makers: KEURIG. Not my cup of tea.
59. Durian feature: ODOR. Apparently an acquired ODOR. Maybe a scratch and sniff feature for Blogger isn't such a good idea after all.
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| Durian Fruit |
61. Lively Brazilian dances: SAMBAS. I doubt that it gets any livelier than this (straight from Ohio) ...
62. Swampy areas: FENS. And now for a little change of pace ... on this side of the Pond they're called bogs or marshes, but on the other side they're found In the Fen Country, the title of a beautiful tone poem by Ralph Vaughan Williams:
Down:
1. Barbecue supply: MEAT RUB. Also called a DRY RUB. Here's a recipe for for seasoning that crossword favorite, Carne Asada ...
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| Carne Asada Dry Rub |
3. Deer fencing material: WIRE MESH. We use a BLACK PLASTIC MESH, which comes in 300' x 7.5' rolls which were enough for an 80' x 50' x 8' enclosure around our vegetable garden. It also requires posts and gates and is user installable. The black color makes it almost transparent to passers by in the street out front. The downside is that rabbits can chew through it and we ended up having to install 18" of chicken wire all around the perimeter. The chicken wire didn't keep out ground hogs, but we dealt with them on a need to know basis ...
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| C-Flex Plastic Fencing |
4. Covers in goo: SLIMES. The Ghostbusters were slimed by a blob of ectoplasm called the Slimer ...
6. Secondary RPG character: ALT. In role-playing games (RPGs), an alternate character, often referred to in slang as ALT, alt char, or less commonly multi, is a character in addition to one's "primary" or "main" player character. Here are the rules.
7. Droid: BOT. Since the Star Wars space operas we tend to think of Droids or BOTS as human-like machines. Computer scientists extend the term machine to include anything automated, including "intelligent" software programs, such as the currently much-hyped chatGPT and its ilk. Here is a very accessible article on this topic from the journal IEEE Spectrum by pioneering robotics engineer named Rodney Brooks, entitled Just Calm Down About GPT-4 Already.
8. Prepared (oneself), as for a shock: BRACED. BRACE yourself - there are 26 more clues to go.
9. Oral tradition: LORE. Many equate the terms "oral tradition" and "LORE" with fables. Some of these "fables" may have had their origins in stories about real events from eons past. No "unbiased" observer was taking notes on all the details at the time, so we don't know how much of them to believe. But parts of some of them may be true.
10. Very: EXTREMELY.
11. High-end wheels, informally: BEEMER. Formally, automobiles manufactured by the Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, (BMW), a multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 to 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945.
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13. "Under the __ Sun": Frances Mayes memoir set in Italy: TUSCAN. Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy is a 1996 memoir by American author Frances Mayes. It was adapted by director Audrey Wells for the 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun, starring Diane Lane. We streamed this comedy recently and really enjoyed it. If you like Italy, I think you'll like this film. Here's a trailer ...
18. "__ you not?": CAN.
22. Soccer Hall of Famer Lalas: ALEXI. Not to be confused with ALEXA, Google's Android BOT, Panayotis Alexander Lalas (Greek: ΑλÎξης Λάλας; born June 1, 1970) is an American retired soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where he was a standout player on the team with his distinctive long beard and hair. After the World Cup, Lalas went on to become the first American in Italy's Serie A as a member of Calcio Padova. He was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2006. He is also in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
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| Alexi Lalas |
25. Fairies and sprites, quaintly: WEE FOLK. I think these folks are definitely fables. But then have you heard about Homo floresiensis?
28. Fare for one who's carbo-loading: PASTA. For more about PASTA see Dr Ed's puzzle from June 1, 2023.
29. Country record?: ATLAS. Nice misdirection. I really I had my heart on playing a soulful country song. Sittin' on Top of the World (from the 2003 film Cold Mountain) is really old timey music (but it is very soulful and sad) and I decided to play it instead ...
31. Basking spots for cold-blooded pets: HEAT ROCKS. All about Hot Rocks and Reptiles. This article seems to imply that your reptiles could become addicted to heat rocks and withhold their affections.
34. Foil alternatives: EPEES.
35. Maker of SEKTION kitchen cabinets: IKEA. It was the K that gave it away.
36. Lunar hemisphere visible from Earth: NEARSIDE. Looks like August might have missed a few ...
41. Classic Porsches: SPYDERS. Why are convertibles called Spyders?
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| Porche 550 Spyder |
43. Shrewdness: ACUMEN.
44. Process after glazing: FIRING. There have been many books written on this subject. The process has to take into account a lot of factors, the two most important being the firing cycle and the atmosphere in the kiln. The follow graph shows the kiln temperature rise and fall over time, which can be controlled either manually or via a computer. Potters use temperature only as a rough guide to where they are in the firing cycle. They use the deformation of specially formulated clay pyrometric cones (observed through spy holes) to measure the exact amount of heat work (a factor of both temperature and time) needed to melt the glazes. The following firing cycle shows a kiln fired to "Cone 10", approximately 1300 deg. C (the high point on the graph below). Once the "firing cone" has bent it is important to slow the cooling of the kiln for several hours until all of the non-shiny matt glazes have matured. Note also that the temperature rise at the beginning and the fall at the end should not be too rapid so as to prevent the clay body from cracking.
45. Distillate used as an aftershave: BAY RUM. BAY RUM is a type of cologne and aftershave lotion. It is a distillate that was originally made in Saint Thomas, and probably other West Indian islands, from rum and the leaves and/or berries of the West Indian bay tree, Pimenta racemosa.
46. Vanish just like *that*: GO POOF. Like the Slimer in Ghost Busters.
49. Unfavorable review: PAN.
51. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA. Better Call Saul is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. It is a spin-off from Gilligan's previous series, Breaking Bad (2008–2013), to which it serves as both a prequel and sequel. Better Call Saul
premiered on AMC on February 8, 2015, and concluded on August 15, 2022,
after six seasons consisting of 63 episodes. Saul Goodman was played
by Robert Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn played Kim Wexler, Saul's colleague and love interest. Here she gives some tips on how to negotiate like a pro ...
52. Doesn't keep up: LAGS.
55. Sphere atop a wizard's staff, e.g.: ORB. The ORB and a staff called the SCEPTRE are also symbols of the British Monarchy. These symbols were celebrated with Sir William Walton's Orb and Sceptre March during the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 ...
56. Soccer star Hamm: MIA. Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra (née Hamm; born March 17, 1972) is an American former professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion.
Hailed as a soccer icon, she played as a forward for the United States
women's national soccer team from 1987 to 2004. Hamm was the face of the
Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003.
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| Mia Hamm |
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
* oh yes, and with special thanks to Dr. Spencer Johnson
Notes from C.C.:
Our Chairman Moe (Chris Gross) and MM (Joseph Schwarts) made today's Newsday puzzle. Click here to solve. Congrats on your debut, MM!
FAIRIES AND SPRITES and other WEE FOLK
ReplyDeleteMay come out to play if you take a toke.
They hide in all shadows,
But they all skedaddles
When searched for by more sober folk.
If you DABBLE with CERAMIC pots,
FIRING them in kilns so hot,
Near the oven
You could put a dozen,
And fry you up some Tatter Tots™!
{A-, A.}
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I found this puzzle pretty darn tough. There were tons of obscure names, for one thing. And even some of the themed answers were pretty obscure! Somehow, I got through this puzzle , anyway. FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteWaseeley could've used a quote from American Graffiti as the title for this one -- "Who cut da cheese?" Or not. Missread "colleague" as "college" and scratched my head over ELENA. [I guess the review was written prior to seating Amy Coney Barrett. :)] OOZE can be a noun? News to moi. GARP is where I first ran into the "under toad."
Was cruising right along until it all came down to one letter -- LatinA, LatinO, LatinX. Guess who guessed wrong? Bzzzzzt. Edgar is the only Poe guy D-o would've recognized. Thanx for the adventure, August, and for the music-filled expo, Waseeley (and Teri).
CERAMIC: Our floors are ceramic tile throughout with hardwood in the bedrooms. Waseeley is correct about the downside of tile in the kitchen.
SPYDERS: Interesting that the name results from mis-hearing. My grandma's was made of cast-iron.
D-O @5:56 AM Thanx for the catch on the women justices. Teri is my proof reader, but not my fact checker!
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing with HEAT RaCKS and SPiDER. Erased alexa for ALEXI.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else remember Stan the Man Unusual?*
Hand up for learning that OOZE is a noun.
Does anyone else have trouble determining whether Sub @ 5:53 typed "d-a-r-n" or "d-a-m"? Context tells me that it must be "d-a-r-n" because Sub can spel gud. But on my PC the kerning makes them look identical. That's what I was getting at a few days ago, and ISDN (I still don't know) what causes it - browser, Blogger, or The Corner.
Thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the fun, informative review.
FLN: Do we think that the spam @ 7:48 and 7:49 is AI-generated? At least it is a little interesting.
* Stan the Man Unusual was a nickname for Don Stanhouse. He sported a Harpo Marx hairstyle and would scream bloody murder before games, earning him the name.
This was an interesting puzzle, though I was glad I had just finished breakfast or it would have made me hungry. Misty will have a field day with this one!
ReplyDeleteOscar Isaac is one of the best, versatile actors around these days from sci-fi leads like POE DAMERON in "Star Wars" and Leto Atreides in "Dune" to the darker, artsier "Inside Llewyn Davis" and a short film which you can watch on You Tube, Amazon, or Roku "The Letter Room" which I highly recommend
Stan THE MAN Musial is one of the most beloved STL Cardinals- he was very active in the community years after his retirement.
Thanks Bill & Teri for the eclectic blog and August for the puzzle so apropos being a dairy farmer!
What’s not to like about a CW featuring cheese? This old cheesehead got the delightful theme and smiled at the hidden cheeses. 11A had to wait on perps, coulda been BLT or PBJ. Couldn’t remember if it was a TUSCAN sun or an AUTUMN sun, that had to wait too, but the two answered each other, and it had to be TUSCAN since neither BLT or PBJ start with an “A”. W/O DAZE:HAZE. Only thing I did not like about this CW (you guessed it: unclefred’s usual complaint) too many names, some obscure (to me, at least) like EMIL, POEDAMERON and RHEA. Anyway, overall a good cheesy CW, thanx, AM. And thanx too to Bill for his as always excellent write-up.
ReplyDeleteI loved the book, Who Moved My Cheese, an amusing parable about attaining your goals in life. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteWe say our family's middle name is CHEESE. We love cheese in any form and in almost any dish.
My favorites today were country record /atlas and foil alternative/epee.
ESP: Poe Dameron, EOS, ALT. CHROMANOISE was new to me but perpable.
I enjoyed Under the Tucson Sun and read it twice.
Took 7:49 today for me to grill this one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with our earlier posters about the names (Emil, Porgy, Garp, etc.) in this one. I knew Poe from the Star Wars films, but not the spelling of his last name. And yes, the actor has been prolific. I liked him in Ex Machina. I guess I liked his performance, not his character.
Unfamiliar with meatrub (only have heard dry rub or rub), bayrum and that use of "alt."
CE Dave, thanks for caring. I am using a Dell PC with Windows 10. There is no saving on the blog. I have learned to save frequently on Windows 10. My last Dell PC saved automatically every few minutes.
ReplyDeleteThe strange part is that trying to highlight erases text only sometimes.
DNF. This was a Saturday puzzle if there ever was one.
ReplyDeleteThe SE did me in. Did not remember Garp and had pop off at 46D instead of go poof. Also not being a car guy I did not know the Porsche model.
Lots of unknowns, but I did get the theme and that helped a lot.
I enjoyed today's cheesy puzzle and, especially, Bill's very thorough and entertaining recap.
ReplyDeleteThanks, CC, for mentioning the puzzle that Chairman Moe and I have running today at the "Newsday" sites. I must tip my hat this morning to Chairman Moe. He mentored me on a puzzle idea that I was kicking around for a while and, due mostly to his efforts and experience, we have had the Crossword puzzle published this morning.
Unlikely Antonyms
STAN actually started as a pitcher in the Cardinals organization. During WWII at an audience with P-XII he shocked the pontiff when he told him he was a Cardinal(from a comic book)
ReplyDeleteFIR, but misspelling ANG as Ayn Lee and then inking ACUity for ACUMEN caused a lot of backtracking
The FENs were part of Back Bay in Boston near to where the Redsox built FENway Park
Make that FIW, I refused to spell BEEMER with two E's
even though ETS made more sense than aTS
MIA's Garciparra surname is from Nomar the former Redsox star
"OOZE can be a noun?" As in primordial OOZE(Soup)
I forgot to check for a theme.
BTW, YR Heres down-loadable Word alternatives for Windows PC
WC
I’m with you on BEEMERS, WC, but for a different reason: us Bimmer fanatics grit our teeth when the bbb kids (backwards ballcap brigade) call the cars that, because Beemers are the Motorrads (bikes). And you should hear the bike guys when they hear it!🤬
DeleteJust some pedantic raving for your day…
====> Darren / L.A.
FIW on this Thursday puzzle when I entered dAZE instead of HAZE and accepted dEAT ROCKS. Once again I was not thinking enough about the down fill. Down fill can be my downfall.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side I found the theme cheeses and my unknowns like POE DAMERON were perped helpfully so I didn't have other errors. OOZE as a noun surprised me, and I liked seeing DABBLE and CURSORY. Thanks, August, for an interesting puzzle.
Thanks, waseeley and Teri, for a thorough review again today. The lunar cartoon is fun and reminds me to get plenty of wine and cheese for the weekend.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Do I drive High-end wheels? BEEMER? No, just a Mercedes.
ReplyDeleteWas my classic Porsche a CAYMAN? Never had one and it wasn't a SPYDER (unknown)
Have I ever gone to a wine bar? No but I see they have CAFE TABLES (never heard that term)
Have I seen a Star Wars movie in the last 30 years and ever heard of Oscar Isaac? NO, but perps and a WAG let me fill LATINO(A or x), ALEXI, and POE DAMERON (total unheard of unknown).
Have I ever heard of CHROMANOISE? Not a prayer.
Did I even know what RPG was? TGFP because ALT fit. Secondary- I didn't know primary either.
CHEESE FILLING- did I notice but fill correctly? No and yes. But I did FIR. And who are the whiners who complained about the easy M-F puzzles? GUILTY. A tough great puzzle.
TUSCAN, GARP, EMIL, HEAT ROCK, RHEA, BAY RUM, & EOS were other unknowns filled by perps.
Jinx- my newpaper's "rn' looks the same as 'm'.
Anon@7:51- I'd only heard of DRY RUB but Meat rub was easy to fill.
KS-I never knew SPYDERS were Porsche. Up to the last few years I only knew of 911s, 941s, and Carreras. They now make overpriced sedans and SUVs.
YR, you made me chuckle. It was a hot day in Arizona under the "Tucson" sun.
ReplyDeleteI do like cheese and appreciated their sneaky appearances. It took a while but I began to notice them after filling in CHEESE FILLING, which fortuitously crosses PASTA.
ReplyDeleteHowever, had it not been for Mr Google, I never would have finished this puzzle. It featured a slew of unfamiliar references and misdirections that got me like CAFE TABLES, when I wanted to include wines
By July CICADAS here can be deafening when they congregate in one or two trees.
Musings
ReplyDelete-Hanging on to MUSTARD at 1 Down (M _ _ T _ _ D) was a real problem until it wasn’t
-POE DAMERON?
-I loved how sections of this puzzle required more than a CURSORY effort.
-Poirot had to untangle a fake suicide in Murder In The Mews
-After retirement, I now DABBLE in crosswords and golf
-Romping with my school chums in the FENS and spinneys
-My surgeon used MESH to hold by umbilical hernia in place. TMI?
-Vowel-laden IKEA is always a reasonable guess for a four-letter furniture maker
-RHEA’s character stuck with Jimmy/Saul despite his manic behaviors
-Nice teamwork Bill and Teri!
Xxxxx
ReplyDeleteAt 8:19 the link should read
ReplyDeleteUNCOMMON ANTONYMS
FLN,
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck was all that multi link posts at the end.?
I was afraid to click on them as it looked like some nasty Spam...
Yellowrocks,
Hmm, this is a puzzler...
An intermittent highlight deletion...
This is just a WAG, stab in the dark sort of guess, but I assume you are highlighting with a mouse.
I would be suspicious of a fault with the mouse, or it's software. If it is the kind with right and left buttons, and a scroll wheel in the middle, it might possibly be getting, or issuing the wrong commands. Be extra careful handling the mouse when inputing, or better yet, try a different mouse. If you are highlighting with the keyboard commands, you might have some sticky keys...
Anyone else got any ideas?
Todays puzzle?
(Who cut the cheese?)
I got a bit sidetracked parsing incomplete themers, and did not know that Star Wars character, and saw "Amer", and was wondering if all the cheeses were abbreviations. Let's just say the cheese had to age before the proper parsing revealed itself...
Thank you for the learning (moments)
I wondered while I wandered London streets about the Mews, and now I understand why they are not all homes for cat fanciers...
All in all, this puzzle made me very happy...
Hard but doable with some help. Saw the cheese at FETA but ROMANO was last to fill with CHROMA NOISE unknown. Daze/HAZE. bog/FEN, smears/SLINES and meat rod/MEAT RUB. Didn’t know RHEA, EMIL or that Star Wars guy.
ReplyDeleteWaseeley.- thank you for such an informative review! ALT? Good heavens! AndAM, thank you for this brain stretcher.
Yesterday:
CED - so good that you are working hard on getting healthy. Maybe you will soon be able to baking those biscuits!
YELLOWROCKS “squished” - haha.I. I once received a card from a friend after a troubling mammogram with a picture of a man in an examining room with a nurse with a mammogram machine with the words If women ruled the world.”
Jinx - Boats passing in the night? Huntington 1957-1959.
.
Just an FYI, if you are interested in iPad puzzle solving.
ReplyDeleteJust this morning, DW asked me for help because her IPad was constantly going to sleep every 2 minutes.
I said, no problem, I change the auto-lock setting to "never" all the time when using the iPad for my flight simulator radar map.
Boy was I wrong, because, when you went to settings/display/auto-lock, the 2 minutes were there, but grayed out so you could not change it! It was DW who discovered it was grayed out because the iPad was in low power mode! (Which is really strange because it had 30% battery left...)
So I am going to go try and fix someth8ng easier, like my lawn sprinkler...
Good Morning! Yikes, this took me a long time, but with a few bumps, it came together.
ReplyDeleteClever theme but it only helped me with the last O in ROMANO, one of my favorite cheeses. Thanks, August, for the challenge.
WOs: Meow -> MEWS; yarn -> LORE; daze -> HAZE; otos -> UTES
The SE corner was my downfall. Had to google EOS and GARP.
ESP: EMIL, POE DAMERON, ALEXI, & SPYDERS
Fav fill: DABBLE
Thanks, Bill & Teri for the recap. Loved the FEN clip and Under the Tuscan Sun, my kind of film. Tx, YR, for comment about the book version. Must call up my Libby (library) app and put in my request.
This was a good headscratcher, but managed to arrive at a FIR. Lots of unknowns, but the perps were fair, and my WAGs were lucky. Got a real feeling of accomplishment until I got to Bill's review and realized that I never looked for a theme! Pretty cheesy! -thanks for 'splainin', Bill! Really wanted "loader" for the "Secondary RPG character, but knew it wouldn't fit. Oh! Not that kind of RPG. D'Oh.
ReplyDeleteI only knew of one type of RPG and it definitely was not a role-playing game. It is called rocket propelled grenade.
DeleteI’m finally learning that Ms. Seehorns first name is Rhea. Her acting is so widely known and spectacular in “Better Call Saul” … that Rhea Perlman from “ Cheers” must be collecting dust in the crossword Do Not Use files. kkFlorida
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteWhew! This was more than a DABBLE! It took some ACUMEN and hard concentration and even a bit of help from Google. But, oh boy, do I love CHEESE! Sadly it is not on my diet.
MMMM APRICOT TART reminds me of my mother who made some wickedly good TARTS with not only APRICOT but whatever fruit was available. I easily GORGED ON them.
I believe I mentioned that I gave away my KEURIG coffee maker because I did not like it. The coffee was too weak and besides I have my trusty 20 year-old Mr. Coffee.
The only time I heard of a SPYDER was when Kelsey Grammer wrecked his several years ago.
CHROMANOISE is totally unfamiliar and unknown to me.
I've never heard of POE DAMERON and was doubtful of the name when it emerged.
I am proud to be a LATINA.
SLIMES evokes a scene from Ghostbusters!
I hope you are all enjoying your day. I'm looking forward to the next Xword which I will now print out.
Anon-T - Forgot to tell you Billy Collins is a long time favorite,. “Canada” is my experience with different books and instead of 2. young boys it is 2 young girls, my sister and me. (or is it I - ???)
ReplyDeleteCanadianEh - Have you read this poem?
Neat Thursday puzzle, many thanks, August. And thanks, Bill and Teri, for your always helpful commentary.
ReplyDeleteWell, reading this puzzle made me hungry, wishing I could GORGE ON a BLT and some CHEESE for lunch, along with some RAMEN and PASTA and an APRICOT TART for dessert. Hope there's still some coffee in that KEURIG coffee-maker, and maybe later in the day I'll head for something a little ICIER at the CAFE TABLES at that wine bar.
Tomorrow I'll check on the animals when I hear that kitten chorus MEWing along with the CICADA, and check out the deer behind that WIRE FENCE.
Have a great day, everybody.
Parsan, I had just started first grade when you moved to Huntington, but I did visit my grandmother in Kenova a lot. I remember my parents taking her to TriState airport to catch either a Piedmont or Allegheny flight. She always stopped by the Mutual of Omaha kiosk to buy life insurance for the flight. Probably smart - flying in those days wasn't nearly as safe then as it is now in today's jet age.
ReplyDeleteBE - "Jinx- my newpaper's "rn' looks the same as 'm'": they look the same in your post on my pc too. In the composition area they look fine, but somehow kerning occurs in preview and when it posts.
CED - When I read 'So I am going to go try and fix something easier..." I thought of "like solve world hunger."
Charlie Echo - I wanted to blow something up too @ RPG.
Jinx - Ever watch Romper Room when you visited your grandmother?
ReplyDeleteWEES.
ReplyDeleteJinx,
ReplyDeleteHmm, I would like to solve poverty. Kill two birds with one stone. (Maybe)
(Ooh, wait! Fix politics!)
(Hmm, but then we would have no theater...)
No really, my lawn sprinkler broke!
It is on my mind, because I went out to turn on my 17 spray oscillating sprinkler, and it looked like a truck ran over it!
I asked all the neighbors if they saw anything, but nada! A closer inspection during repairs discovered that the dang thing just exploded! Pieces went everywhere! I am still trying to get it to spray right...
It was probably time for an upgrade anyway, it was getting kind of old. Besides, I would love to get an automatic one, to keep the deer away from the flowers?
A Miller PZL brought to us by waseeley...
ReplyDeleteKinda clever, but cheesy... eh? (Don't blame me; others couldn't resist!)
~ OMK
___________
DR: Just one nearside diagonal.
And this one doesn't yield much in anagrams, as there are only two vowels in the 15 letters.
But we'll do our best.
Still, it's a poor showing. I would say this anagram (10 of 15) describes the onomatapoetic sounds made when you drop triangular light refractors.
Wouldn't these give...
"PRISM ZONKS"?!
RoseE @11:12 AM I bet you've heard Knoebel's Grove in Elysville. We're headed there to meet the family this week. Here's a video that Teri found describing what the staff there does during the off season when all the visitors are away.
ReplyDeleteRe "Under the Tuscan Sun", we really liked Diane Lane's performance and found that she had also appeared in Lonesome Dove, a movie I've wanted to watch for years. It's streaming on Prime and we're about 1/2 way through it. Lane really shows that she can act drama as well as comedy. She deals with some pretty tough situations.
OMK @3:26 PM It has finally dawned on me what a fine collection of groaners you treat us to whenever you get the right slant. 🙄
ReplyDeleteFLN/FLN ...
ReplyDeleteC.C. ~ Sorry to be two days late in expressing my thanks,
but I am grateful--sincerely!--that you recovered my original posting.
That ol' Bot seems to have it in for me, and I appreciate your intervention.
Over on the Jumble blog, we have another victim of random Bot censorship. I do my best to help on that scene, but I can't always catch it in the act.
It isn't logical, so you can't tell when it will strike.
Thank you, again!
~ OMK
MalMan @10:23 AM Your and Moe's puzzle was a Friday shading on Saturday, but I got 'er done. It took a while for the penny to drop re the theme, but once I saw it, it was very helpful. Those Antonyms are truly uncommon, but they do appear to be valid dictionary words. Fav clues: "What Jackson's eject from" and "You can count on them".
ReplyDeleteParsan, I don't remember watching Romper Room (but I remember the name). But I was all about Steamboat Bill, which I think was actually a WSAZ production. (I was too young to know the difference between local, network and syndicated shows, so I'm not really sure about that.)
ReplyDeleteCED, when I lived in Phoenix I had many encounters with those timer controlled long-range sprinklers on golf courses. We had to have someone sneak up behind it and step on it while everyone else in the vicinity hit. Getting wet felt pretty good after the sun had been up for an hour or so, but you couldn't hit a ball knowing it was coming.
waseeley @3:42, we actually started with some "unreal" antonyms that, while you would understand the contrary meaning, were not words that were to be found in the dictionary. For example paraging as in having an excessively high opinion, Ultimately, we went with words that were "real", if uncommon.
ReplyDeleteThank you, August, for a challenging puzzle. FIW at BAYRam/KEaRIG. I needed the theme to help suss out the long fills, especially in the NW. Like H-Gary, I had MusTard for a while. FAVs Country record? and GO POOF
ReplyDeleteI knew POE but not his last name.
DH had a Mitsubishi 3000GT SL SPYDER when we met. I thought he was a player and kept my distance.
Misty@2:26. Your stories always make me hungry!
Waseeley. When I saw FIRING, I was glad you were at the helm because I knew we would get a lesson. You did not disappoint! Also, I liked your title.
Congrats to C-Moe and MalMan for your puzzle! It's a clever theme! I filled it in but the clock keeps ticking so I know there is at least one error. I'm searching for the reveal button....
ReplyDeleteRe. Better Call Saul as both prequel and sequel to Breaking Bad.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted to binge watch both should I start with BB or BCS?
And, since there are TV devotees in here, what was the name of that PFC (D????)* who made a short appearance in MadMen
WC
* Dinkman?
C.C.
ReplyDeleteYour Sip and Solve puzzles are so much fun! I hope you will have a follow-up in the future.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteVery nice puzzle, August. The theme was pretty cheesy and helped me see the APRICOT. Thanks!
Thanks for the extensive expo, waseeley. What I know about pottery would fill your little finger.
WOs: EMPHAsIs, LATINa, CAkE -> CAsE -> CAFÉ table (FIRING is a hard set of letters to parse).
ESPs: EMIL, ALEXI, POE DAMERON, EOS, BAY RUM (as clued)
Fav: I made some TEX Mex tonight. [constructed]
{A, B+}
I was thinking NPC (non-player character) at 6d. Blue Shirt Guy was an NPC in Free Guy.
Since it's Italian, my '86 Alfa is a SPiDER.
CED - funny you mentioned sprinklers. This morning my neighbor sent me this text. Fortunately, DW hadn't left for work and I was able to coach her re: which valve to turn (any - just make it perpendicular to the pipe!) to cut off the water. My plumber fixed it FOC (it was their work after the freeze) an hour later.
We had CICADA the other day and I held myself back from posting this [Seth Meyers - ff: 7:33] But no more :-).
I'll be headed to Austin to find an apartment for Youngest (she's in NYC doing research at Columbia, so...). She just found out Monday that UT accepted her. I'm happy because OSU, Johns Hopkins, et.al. are NOT in-state tuition ;-)
Anyway, if you don't hear from me until Sunday... Cheers!, -T
An FYI (since my reply to WC didn’t go thru) BEEMERS are the Motorrads (motorcycles); the cars are referred to as BIMMERS. BMW aficionados grit their teeth when they hear the BBB (backwards ballcap brigade) pinheads misuse the terms.
ReplyDeleteYes, y’gotta be a Bimmerhead to care — but still…
====> Darren / L.A.