Theme: Words of Caution - The first words of the first two theme entries are units of length, the third is "cut".
14. *Pampering massage after a long day: FOOT RUB.
21. *Neighborhood notice taped to a telephone pole: YARD SALE SIGN.
40. *Chinese takeout choice: CHOP SUEY.
56. With 66-Across, carpentry adage that also describes the first words of the answers to the starred clues: MEASURE TWICE.
66. See 56-Across: CUT ONCE.
C.C.
here. Melissa (founder of Adopt an Inmate) could not blog today due to some unexpected family news.
But it's the best I've heard this year. She probably will share with you
in two weeks when she blogs the July 26 puzzle. I'm just so excited and happy for her.
Looks like Alice's debut. Congrats. Liang is also the surname of my best friend Carmen.
Across:
4. Red __ beet: AS A.
7. Fiscal exec: CFO.
10. Dozes: NODS.
16. Question that's an anagram of 35-Down: HOW. 35. Question that's an anagram of 16-Across: WHO.
17. S&L offerings: IRAS.
18. On the rocks: OVER ICE.
19. Many millennia: EON.
20. "Sommersby" star: GERE. Starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.
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24. Fix, as a shoe: RE-SOLE.
27. High-end Apple tablet: IPAD PRO. Agnes loves her Minis.
29. Taiwanese tech giant: ACER.
30. Car wash cycle: RINSE.
33. Alternate nickname for the Windy City: CHI TOWN. And 36. Alternate nickname for the Big Easy: NOLA.
38. Oolong, e.g.: TEA. 42. First animal of the Chinese zodiac: RAT. Alice is a Chinese.
39. Rower's blade: OAR.
43. Networking connections: INS. 41. Looked through the window: PEERED IN. This type of tiny dupe is allowed in crossword-making.
44. Canvas bag: TOTE.
45. Altimas, e.g.: NISSANS.
47. Leave alone: LET BE.
49. Follow, as a warning: HEED.
51. Typesetting unit: PICA.
52. Successful batters: HITTERS.
54. Breakfast order: OMELET. And 67. Cookie grains: OATS.
58. Gloss targets: LIPS.
59. Thor, for one: GOD.
60. Disney film with a magic lamp: ALADDIN.
64. Sunburn-soothing plant: ALOE. I used the gel from the plant directly once and got allergic.
65. Singer DiFranco: ANI.
68. Hamilton: TEN.
69. Covert __: OPS.
70. Dossier letters: AKA.
Down:
2. Congressional email suffix: GOV.
3. Garden tool: HOE.
4. Default font in Google Docs: ARIAL.
5. Bolivian capital: SUCRE. LA PAZ is the de facto capital.
6. Under the covers: ABED.
7. Degrades: CHEAPENS.
8. Waste time: FOOL AROUND.
9. Didn't rent: OWNED.
10. Sushi bite that's raw fish atop hand-pressed rice: NIGIRI. No wrapping nori seaweed.
11. Old West route: OREGON TRAIL. 26. Creates drama: STIRS THE POT. Nice long 11's.
12. "Aw, shoot": DARN.
13. NNW opposite: SSE.
15. Audition: TRYOUT.
22. [Not my error]: SIC.
23. Uses a hose: SPRAYS.
24. Shrink back: RECOIL.
25. Natural gas component: ETHANE.
29. "This again!?": ANOTHER ONE.
31. Spirited session?: SEANCE. Good old clue.
32. Bothers a lot: EATS AT. 53. Yank on: TUG AT. My comment on 43A.
34. Pairs of four: OCTETS.
37. Hawaiian garland: LEI.
46. Swimwear brand: SPEEDO. Our Sumdaze used to be a lifeguard. And a yoga teacher. She just amazes me all the time.
48. Skewed perspectives: BIASES.
50. Brooklyn hrs.: EST.
54. Prepare to shine in a bodybuilding contest?: OIL UP.
55. Exams for future drs.: MCATS.
56. Actress Kunis: MILA.
57. Texas home of Baylor University: WACO.
58. Tonal language similar to Thai: LAO.
61. Genetic letters: DNA.
62. "Disgusting!": ICK.
63. Read Across America org.: NEA.
C.C.
43 comments:
This puzzle seemed much easier than yesterday’s to me, and also much less likely to cause occasion for controversy. This sits well with me, as I don’t like to see my fellow Cornerites divided into “armed camps” on ANY subject. What I DO like to see is peace, harmony, humor and good fellowship; people helping each other to have a good time and, sometimes, giving each other good advice and counsel. Today, that’s what I expect to find online this blog and that’s why I really liked this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Somehow the words “on this blog “ got translated into “online this blog.” That’s not my doing, folks. Stupid autocorrect strikes again!
FIW. I had LUCRE completely missing the easy (RED) ASA BEET. Capital sometimes refers to peso,euro etc
Agreed SubG… Plenty of places to go for disharmony
WC
Good morning!
Not much stumbling was involved today. Only needed my trusty Wite-Out to correct LA PAZ to SUCRE. There seemed to be a plethora of multi-word, non-theme answers; I count at least 15. But it all came together very quickly, much easier than yesterday. Nicely done, Alice. Thanx for filling in at the last moment, C.C. We'll anxiously await Melissa Bee's news.
I managed to convince our cat Hootie (actually Houdini) to come in at 8:30 last night. He may have had a premonition about the fireworks. He seldom comes when I call him, and usually spends his nights outdoors. He's our resident meteorologist. When he wants to stay inside in the evening, it usually means rain's on the way.
Easy considering that it was oversized and I still got a Monday time. I only went wrong on RECede -> RECOIL. I had most of MEASURE when I saw the revealer clue so the rest of 56A and 66A went right in.
I measured the puzzle twice...
one side was 15 spaces, and the other 16?
FIR, but erased naps for NODS and peeped for PEEKED. Had to wait chicago / CHITOWN and rna/DNA.
Anyone have an IRA with an S&L? Ever hear of someone who does? I'm sure there is someone out there who has one, but it sure seems unlikely to me. Seems like an unforced bad clue to me, but what do I know?
A sailor's blade is rudder, centerboard or daggerboard. It is critical to keep them unnicked and fair. (In this context, "fair" means smooth.)
"Wanna FOOL AROUND" is more about making time than wasting time.
I've never had a SPEEDO body. When I was a kid, I was way too skinny to rock a tight suit. Now I don't have that exact problem. But all in all, I'd like nothing better.
Resole? Who put the sole on in the first place? Oh yeah, it was the Soul Man.
Thanks to Alice for the fun puzzle that doesn't STIR THE POT. And thanks to CC for filling in.
Easiest and quickest CW of the week. Only W/O= PEEPED:PEERED. Measure twice cut once is a valuable rule when building something, along with “Jot down the measurement” instead of relying on memory. Saves a lot of waste. I liked this CW. Good clues, fun solve. I didn’t notice it is 16x15 until mentioned here. Thanx AL for the fun, unclefred level CW. And thanx too to C.C. for pinch hitting for Melissa B.
Good Morning
SubG @ 4:04 ~ Amen.
This was a Tuesday level of old, IMO. My only unknown was Nigiri and my only w/o was Naps/Nods, but the perps were more than kind, so no problems. The clever theme was well hidden (to me) because the theme phrase were so disparate, therefore giving us a nice Aha reveal. I liked the juxtaposition of Ugh and Ick, the Who/How anagrams, and the nod to Chi Town and NOLA.
Thanks, Alice, for a fun solve and congrats on your debut and thanks, CC, for pinch hitting for Melissa. You’ve certainly piqued our curiosity about Melissa’s good news. BTW, my iPad Mini bit the dust long ago and I replaced it with the standard iPad, which is still very comfortable to use and transport. I chuckled seeing Acer right below iPad Pro as my laptop is an Acer, which I rarely use. Lucina also has an Acer.
FLN
Anon T, good luck with your lab work and upcoming appointment. I hope you’ll get some answers and remedies soon!
I have an appointment with a Dermatologist this morning to have an questionable spot on my back checked out. This medical practice is still requiring masks and has a no-companion-allowed in the waiting room policy. All other facilities that I know of dropped these restrictions months ago, even the hospitals.
Have a great day.
Aren't all batters HITTERS, not just successful ones? SLUGGERS didn't fit, so I had to wait for more letters to confirm it was HITTERS.
FIR, but had to change naps for nods. This was an easy puzzle, certainly suited for a Wednesday and not at all like the past two days which were ridiculously hard.
I got the theme and had no trouble with the unifier, but I do not understand "chop" as a measurement? Foot and yard yes, but "chop"?
DO @ 5:43 ~ Your resident meteorologist comment re Hootie, AKA, Houdini was a hoot! 😂
KS @ 7:50 Measure (Foot, Yard) twice, Cut (Chop) Once. 😉
This puzzle filled so fast I didn't read some of the clues because they were mostly or entirely filled by clues. FOOL AROUND, ANOTHER ONE, and STIR THE POT filled themselves. After MEASURE TWICE and CUT were filled ONCE was the obvious finish but the CHOP had me baffled. Then I realized FOOT, YARD-two measures; CHOP-one cut. Duh!
The guess of G for the unknowns NIGIRI and GERE finished the puzzle.
ANI DiFranco lives in NOLA.
MCATS- with some colleges not using SAT and ACT scores will they ignore MCATS? Let's hope not.
Took 7:01 today for me to measure this one out.
Exactly one minute longer than yesterday.
Since I found it a little tougher than yesterday, I can't fully agree with SubG. Ms. Irish Miss summed it up nicely though (and good luck at the dermatologist).
Seemed like very few proper names, though I knew Ani. I didn't know nigiri or Sucre (wanted La Paz, like D-O).
I hope all the wild animals managed the fireworks well too.
Musings
-Our kitty and we are glad the fireworks have stopped
-Cool weather may call for long pants and a jacket on the course today
-Very successful HITTERS still fail to get a hit 2/3 of the time
-Hmmm…, it appears Bolivia has two capitals
-American Idol set a new tone for auditions
-Speaking of Houdini, debunking SEANCES became his mission late in his life
-It only takes a minute or so to see the BIASES of various media outlets
Cute theme - I remember my grandmother saying that phrase before cutting fabric as well - she was quite a seamstress!
Many countries of the world now have new capitals like Bolivia, with the former capital still often serving in that role for some parts of the government. e.g. capital of Nigeria is Abuja, but capital until the 1990s was Lagos. Bolivia's administrative capital is LaPaz and its constitutional capital is Sucre. IIRC South Africa is the only one with 3 capitals one for each branch of government, none of which is the largest city Johannesburg
I don't think I've ever had CHOP suey or Chow Mein once I was going to Chinese restaurants. We used to have them occasionally growing up with those 2 cans connect together put out by Chun King. We would sneak to eat the crispy noodles in the top can sometimes before the meal. I'm sure my mom in the 60s thought she was being exotic ;)
I took the MCAT the 2nd or 3rd year it became an achievement test with subjects like physics and biology - before it was more like the GRE with analogies
Thanks CC for filling in and Alice for the puzzle and congrats on your debut
FIR today. Fairly easy puzzle. Nice theme. Thanks, Alice and C.C.
Most here would agree that when you come across a word in a puzzle that you don't know or have never seen before, it piques your interest.
I do the daily NEA puzzle in our local paper each day along with the LATS. Today they used a word I have never seen or heard. The word was LORGNETTE. They are opera glasses. Picture the scene in the movie Pretty Woman where Richard Gere takes Julia Robert's to the opera and she picks up the glasses and says "These are broken". He then politely shows her how to fold them so they stay horizontal.
Just a bit of trivia for all.
Very easy, Monday-like puzzle.
I like nigiri, just sushi rice and fish, no nori wrap. Having a Japanese DIL helps in solving crosswords.
I am probably a maverick, but INS as networking connections is not close to the same meaning as peered IN. So I don't question it. YMMV.
The Oregon Trail is of special interest to me. I have read countless historical novels about the journey. I am also interested in Louis and Clark and have read copies of Lewis and Clarks' journals, biographies of each, and countless historical fiction novels about them. I have always loved Americana about our early history, settlers, patriots and native Americans.
HITTER has more than one meaning. A hitter can be the ballplayer at bat or it can be a person who actually hits. In one sense, the hitter who is at bat might whiff every time and not hit the ball at all. In another, more literal sense, you are only a hitter if you manage to hit the ball.
Bolivian capital: "The Liberal party overthrew the Conservative party and wanted to move the official capital to La Paz. Eventually, it was agreed on to keep the official capital in Sucre, while La Paz would also get more power, as the legislative and executive seats of the government would be located there."
My mom made homemade Chow Mein as a use for left over chicken. I think we realized it was not authentic, but we enjoyed it. Mom was far from interested in the exotic, just the practical.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
WOW! Shrinkflation strikes again.
Good Morning! What a relief!! Nice puzzle today, Alice – thanks.
Natick in the NE: NI_IRI crossing _ere. Had to google the G.
Two WOs: STaRS -> STIRS and ISP -> INS.
Other than that, all filled smoothly into place.
Thanks, C.C. for your recap. Nice to see you mid-week. I see you more often creating for USA, but no reviews there, so thanks for that also.
On the road for a few days and managed to print out a copy of the puzzle at our hotel ...
Thank you Alice for a crafty theme and for a puzzle of early week difficulty. Managed a FIR despite 5D -- perps don't lie. Thought it might be Spanish slang for money (sweet?). We occasionally have regional capitals for Mexico. Why not Bolivia?
Favs:
56A MEASURE TWICE.
66A CUT ONCE.
My Father, who was a carpenter, taught me this at an early age and I hear his voice every time I get ready to saw a board.
See y'all tomorrow.
Cheers,
Bill
Smooth puzzle today. Yep, I too had naps for NODS and needed perps for NIGIRI. I like the adage at the heart of this CW. However I thank CC for pointing out the CHOP related to the second part of the theme phrase. Very clever on the part of our constructor.
What a neat cat HOUDINI must be DO.
Increasing the font size sure makes a difference for me. I had a tendency to miss some comments before.
This morning I thought my iPhone was dead, as in cannot be resurrected dead, but it was just the battery totally down. I don’t usually let my battery go down, so I unnecessarily panicked.
We are going to hold a SEANCE.
Please hold your doubts in abeyance.
We're not here to FOOL AROUND.
Today a spirit will be found!
(Brought by moonshiner's conveyance!)
I love to see a YARD SALE SIGN,
I get to paw thru stuff not mine!
Like ALADDIN
I'll sometimes gladden
And be rewarded by what I find!
{A, A-.}
Have to agree with SubG on this one. Got the FIR with a little help from wite-out on NAPS/NODS, and PEEKED/PEERED. Thought some of the clues were a tad Gluey, but that's probably just me. One nit, however: when I "fool around" it's NEVER a WASTE OF TIME!
Wire-out? I see this referred to a lot by you cw pros. What’s wrong with doing in pencil with an eraser? Much easier. I’m sure this is blasphemy to most of you.
Wite-out!! Yes, curses spell check.
-T: You probably know this, but I heard on the radio that Rush has their own brand of beer. Not sold in the USA, so far. They also have their brand of mustard, which apparently is. I'll have to look for it in the supermarket tomorrow.
OKL, you tickled my funnybone today. A+ and A.
Anonymous at 9:41 said..." WOW! Shrinkflation strikes again."
In these hot summer days, you might want to avoid jumping into the deep end of a cold swimming pool. Wading in gradually helps, at least for me.
Inanehiker, I'm not too worried about how people get into med school, but I am worried that they might start slanting grading criteria. If grade performance in med school becomes based on anything except performance, we're all in danger.
Fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Alice. And great to see your commentary today, C.C. --always a pleasure, many thanks for that too!
Well, the UGH made me worry that there would be unpleasantness ahead. But that FOOT RUB calmed that worry down, and if we're going to get some drinks OVER ICE, we can look forward to some TEA to go along with our morning OMELET, followed by some CHOP SUEY and even some cookies with OATS in them. That's a pretty good way to get started on a good morning.
Have a great day, everybody.
Hola!
Thanks to Alice Liang for a very doable puzzle today and especially giving us Richard GERE to swoon over. However, I'm surprised at the reference to Sommersby as that is a really, really old movie. He was also in the movie, Chicago, which would have been a neat connection to 33A.
Whenever we go out to eat breakfast I like to order an OMELET.
NIGIRI is a new word for me. I don't eat sushi so that's not surprising.
At the beach this weekend I did not see anyone wearing a SPEEDO.
Spirited session was my favorite clue today.
FOOL AROUND brings back some distant memories! And LEI recalls trips to Hawaii.
CSO to Big Easy at NOLA.
Yes. my computer is an ACER and my car is an ALTIMA.
How my girls love the movie ALADDIN!
I hope you are all having a restful after 4th day! I can't wait for Melissa's news!
Fun as opposed to Monday
There's something about pen and ink for solving. There's an art to changing F to E etc. In fact, there's a how-to out there
A lot of IRAs were done with Savings Banks,Credit Unions and S&L. The latter got creamed in 2008
George had SHRINKAGE problem
No SPEEDOs but at St Pete Beach many thongs
WC
Thank you Alice for an enjoyable puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for an enjoyable expo.
The Oregon Trail was traveled by a couple of my ancestors. Born in New Jersey, they pioneered in Ohio & Iowa when those territories were being settled. They hit the Oregon Trail in 1855 from Ft. Kearney, NB, with several of their many children. They are buried in Oregon. One of their daughters stayed in Iowa with her husband who later died in the Civil War. That daughter's daughter came to Kansas with her husband who worked for the railroad when it came thru.
My neighborhood of very dry trees & shrubs was barraged by aerial fireworks until 11 p.m. last night. Then my nerves were settled when a rainstorm moved thru to wet down any errant sparks.
As a seamstress & a remodeler in my younger days, I sure knew MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE. I had one cabinet maker who didn't. His overhead cabinet was a curf too large to fit between my windows and had to be redone.
New people moved into my neighborhood. I now see a beige cat with Siamese face & ears but dark ringed tail and legs. Very unusual markings. She thinks my trash can is a good place to do her morning ablutions.
Real "men" use ink...lol
So we seem to be following the Mohs hardness scale progressively thru the week as we should. A MEASURE(FOOT ,YARD) is that first word with CUT(CHOP) (look twice, don't CHOP your FOOT OFF)
I figured the end if the "Old West Route" hadda be TRAIL so filled that part in first. I put RAm thinking our standard idea of a zodiac animal (we just had ARIES) giving me EAmSAT? Eventually smelled a RAT.
Inkovers: withice/OVERICE, naps/NODS,
"CHOP SUEY" from Flower Drum Song (movie version 1961)
Truly "Natural" gas would be methane, ask any cow. 😁. Jinxy...I have a pair of the "Dad" swimming trunks that SPEEDO makes besides the well know bikini bottom style so I can still brag I can wear a SPEEDO. 😃 (The original style I got away with till around the turn of the century 🙄)
Via Oregano in English....OREGON TRAIL
Good cakes require ____ "excellent batters"
A story about______ the Middle East...ALADDIN
How NIGIRI is served....OVERICE
Two beautiful days...finally
🌞
I liked this puzzle. Thanks to Alice Liang. The last cell to fill was the S crossing ASA and SUCRE. First of all, I didn't know there was a city in Bolivia called Sucre and second of all I didn't know it was a capital city. Third of all, I was looking for a brand name or type of beet, so I thought Red ASA beet was a type of beet, like Red Delicious apple. Thanks to your, write-up, C.C., I understand now.
WC - It's telling that I don't remember thongs on St. Pete Beach, but I remember a number of fantastic Italian restaurants along Gulf Blvd. It also explains why I don't have a Speedo bod. Also, I hope that none of those investors did so as a result of professional advice. I can't think of a single application where that kind of IRA would be a good idea.
Ray, I had a frenemy in Phoenix who was a French immigrant. He was the first man I ever saw wearing one of those little "banana hanger" Speedos. Frenemy, because we had the two most competitive boats on Lake Pleasant, and we went after each other pretty hard. But we often sailed together on one of our boats or the other, and got along great. We did social stuff like we were brothers. (He also stumped a scanner when we were flying to LA to sail the Marina del Rey to San Diego race on my boat. To be legal we needed a second anchor aboard, so he brought one from his boat in his carry-on bag. The scanner lady ran the conveyor back and forth a few times, then called her supervisor over. He didn't recognize it either, and asked him to explain. He did and was allowed to proceed. That was pre-9/11, of course.)
I hadda Google search "Lake Pleasant/Phoenix" cuz I found it hard to believe there could be a lake in such an arid place ("sere" as a CW answer would be)
Ray-O
We have other lakes as well. There is Roosevelt Lake where our family spent many summer days in my late brother-in-law's boat, Canyon Lake and Lake Mead. There are others farther north such as Lake Mary near Flagstaff. Though it's a desert, it's also a recreational area. Also a development called The Lakes which has five small lakes surrounded by homes.
C.C. brings us today's new constructor, Ms. Liang, with a fine PZL that, unfortunately, lacks diagonals.
But it does have one of my favorite adages: MEASURE TWICE; CUT ONCE.
If I knew the capital of Bolivia is a place called SUCRE, I had surely forgotten... how sweet it is!
55D - I'm never sure of the early exams. I had LCATS for some bizarre reason before changing 54A to OMELET.
~ OMK
_____________
DR: No diags. Asymmetrical grid, 16Ax15D.
On a totally unrelated topic, how can you not love a guy named Joey Chestnut?
Hi All:
Great debut, Alice. Lovely long fills and the theme is something I've heard all my life woodworking with Pop.
//Hey, goombah, you measure that two times?"
Thanks for pitch-HITTing and kicking off the after-party, C.C.. At least you told us mb's news is good so we don't have to worry.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: ANI, SUCRE,
Fav: CHI-TOWN followed by NOLA is cute.
{A+, A}
RUSH beer, eh?, Jinx. And mustard? I will have to find some ;-)
I don't recall which of my buddies called SPEEDOs a "banana hammock" but it's apt.
Enjoyed reading y'all today!
Cheers, -Tony
Jinx, one reason for Bank IRAs was safety. FDIC insured. Up to 200k but I agree, more than that you'd want a brokerage account
WC
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