Theme: "Blood Bank" - Four different blood type letters are added then removed from each common phrase.
23. Excuse for a presidency's shortcomings? (A+): FAILING CABINET. Filing cabinet.
33. Where Parisians get their newspapers? (A-): LE MON(A)DE STANDS. Lemonade stands.
49. Oscar the Grouch's backing instrumentalists? (B+): GARBAGE BAND. Garage band.
53. Angry tennis player, perhaps? (B-): (B)RACKET BUSTER. Bracket buster.
74. Barista-inspired dessert? (O+): AMERICANO PIE. American Pie.
76. Warmup stretches at a company retreat? (O-): STAFF L(O)UNGES. Staff lounges.
91. Excited cry when the shellfish course finally arrives? (AB+): ABALONE AT LAST. Alone at last.
106. Reason so many classic songs are earworms? (AB-): OLD H(AB)ITS DIE HARD. Old habits die hard.
The orderly + and - letter placement makes the theme easier to spot and adds elegance to the puzzle execution. The letter hints in the clues are probably not needed for our blog regulars, but novice solvers need the extra hint.
Across:
5. Many a personal website: BLOG. Can you see that guy in hard hat?
9. Apple player: IPOD.
13. Deceives: LIES TO.
19. "Am __ loud?": I TOO.
20. Spanish tender: EURO.
21. Purple pet in old cartoons: DINO. "The Flintstones". Wikipedia has a pink one.
22. Turn over: INVERT.
26. Antenna: FEELER.
27. Fencing move: THRUST.
28. Distribute: ALLOT.
29. Sales agt.: REP.
30. Music producer Brian: ENO. Ambient music.
31. Geopolitical alliance: BLOC.
37. Bagel feature: HOLE.
39. Cover story piece?: ALIAS. Great clue.
41. Jet stream heading: EAST.
42. Bit of sunlight: RAY.
43. __ au lait: CAFE.
44. Tight end Rob with four Super Bowl rings, familiarly: GRONK. Gronkowski. Played with Tom Brady for many years.
45. Siddhartha __: the Buddha: GAUTAMA.
47. Wisecracking extraterrestrial of 1980s TV: ALF.
48. Riot: HOOT.
57. Top __: TEN.
58. Milne character who likes to swing on Tigger's tail: ROO.
59. Cook quickly, as vegetables: BLANCH. Authentic Cantonese veggies are often blanched.
60. Fraud: SHAM.
61. Parting exchanges: BYES.
63. Subway Series side: METS.
64. "I guess that works": UMM OK.
65. Menial worker: PEON.
66. "Family __": FEUD.
67. "Tut-tut" evokers: NO NOS.
68. Yardstick's three: FEET.
69. Brink: CUSP.
70. __ chic: GEEK.
71. Oscar-nominated film about a South Korean family in rural Arkansas: MINARI. That green plant is called minari.
72. 34-Down opposite: FAR. 34. 72-Across opposite: NEAR.
73. Space-saving bed: COT.
80. Button on some scales: TARE. The ramen sauce is also called TARE.
81. Above, in odes: OER.
82. "Agreed": I CONCUR.
83. Moved furtively: SLUNK.
85. Short lunch orders?: BLTS.
86. Knee part, for short: ACL.
88. "Keep this private" docs: NDAS.
89. Handsome, in Honduras: GUAPO. Hombre.
90. Keep afloat: BUOY.
94. Give voice to: EMIT.
96. Confer knighthood on: DUB.
97. Mess up: MAR.
98. Nonspecific category: OTHER.
100. Window-switching shortcut: ALT TAB.
104. Used a loom: WEAVED. This loom is just like my grandma's. Everything I wore before I was 10 was handmade. Rough fabric.
109. Put forth: ALLEGE.
110. Small sled: LUGE.
111. Ardent: AVID.
112. Aretha Franklin's gospel/soul-singing sister: ERMA.
113. Some Ethiopian Christmas celebrants, for short: RASTAS.
114. __ so slightly: EVER.
115. Honor roll stats: GPAS.
116. Overly curious: NOSY.
Down:
2. Capitol Reef National Park setting: UTAH.
3. Spider-Man __: monochromatic comic book character: NOIR. Learning moment for me.
4. Like sugar in water: SOLUBLE.
5. Square meal?: BENTO. Bento boxes are often in square shape. We also have 83. Dinner rolls?: SUSHI.
6. Schlep: LUG.
7. Large part of a pod: ORCA.
8. Hold nothing back: GO ALL IN.
9. The bee's knees and the cat's meow: IDIOMS.
10. Old Ford named for a horse: PINTO.
11. Solid yellow ball: ONE. And 67. Striped yellow ball: NINE.
12. On the __: DOT.
13. Infancy, adolescence, etc.: LIFE STAGES.
14. Hardly handy: INEPT.
15. Night before: EVE.
16. One-named Tejano singer: SELENA. Played by J-Lo.
17. Hot now: TRENDY. Everyone and her mom seem to be wearing this Lululemon crossbody bag now.
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18. Others, in Oaxaca: OTROS.
24. Key in the sea: ISLE.
25. Not optimistic: BLEAK.
29. Said again: RE-STATED.
32. Legume used in vegan chocolate: CAROB.
35. Apply messily: DAUB.
36. Many an Emirati: ARAB.
37. Lamb eaten on Eid, e.g.: HALAL MEAT. I also like 38. Heard but not seen, maybe: OFF-CAMERA. 43. Those with a driving passion?: CAR BUFFS. 50. Sport that encourages horsing around?: ARENA POLO. 51. Infamy: NOTORIETY. 62. Crack some jokes: YUK IT UP. 84. Infielder's untimely move: LATE TAG. And
85. "Plot twist ... ": BUT THEN. Just great fill.
40. Some sacred flowers: LOTUSES. I love lotus roots.
44. Post-punk subculture: GOTH.
45. Long-nosed fish: GAR.
46. Gents: MEN.
48. "Consarn it!": HECK.
49. Special find: GEM.
52. Spycraft files: DOSSIERS.
54. Massage target: KNOT. Oh I need this for my left shoulder. Wendy, do you think "high elbow" when you pull and recover?
56. Sun-kissed: TAN.
61. Taproom offering: BEER.
63. Stereo alternative: MONO.
65. Sedate: PUT UNDER.
66. Extra charge: FEE.
69. Portico pillars: COLONNADES.
70. Buicks, e.g.: GMS.
71. Indicator: MARK. Shout out to this Mark, Nina's husband.
73. Banned refrigerant, for short: CFC. OK, it stands for "chlorofluorocarbon".
74. __ Lingus: AER.
75. Riverside rental: CANOE. And 79. Sailor's boon: GUST.
77. "__ in the blanks": FILL.
78. ESPNU focus: NCAA.
86. Mamá's mamá: ABUELA.
87. Plot-makers: CABALS. Conspiracy.
89. Assemble: GATHER.
90. Acrimony: BILE.
91. Pitching duel?: AD WAR.
92. NASA-approved watch brand: OMEGA.
93. Park ranger's post: LODGE.
95. "Downton Abbey" figures: MAIDS.
99. Accept an invite, perhaps: RSVP.
101. Poi base: TARO. The way we eat in Guangzhou.
102. Upper limbs: ARMS.
103. Annual milestone, briefly: B-DAY.
105. Pet doc: VET.
106. __ Henriksen: skin care brand: OLE. Famous for their "truth serum".
107. Hon: LUV.
108. Noche preceder: DIA.
C.C.
31 comments:
I had a little difficulty with some of the foreign language words and phrases (mostly Spanish, I think), especially the word that translates as “grandmother.” On the other hand, I had little difficulty with the themed answers, which involved pretty straightforward letter additions and deletions. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o sorta got the theme, but RACKET USTER made no sense. Ergo the "sorta." The size of a Sunday pzl always makes it a bit of a slog, but there was some nice stuff to find in the long downs. Anyone else think of DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can) with I CONCUR? Nice job, Matthew and C.C.
This hot, dry weather is sending the fire ants inside in search of something. Water? Cooler temps? Who knows? Last night they decided perhaps what they were seeking was in our bed. Not a pleasant way to awaken in the middle of the night. Great was the tumult thereof.
Good Morning:
Today’s title was helpful right from the start but parsing the themers still required some thought. As DO said, Racket Buster was slow to “get”, as was Old Hits Die Hard, for me, anyway. I thought some of the cluing was off-kilter while some was clever. The usual Sunday unknown culprits abounded: Gautama, Minari, Geek Chic, Guapo, Erma, and Arena Polo. Umm Ok was a nose wrinkler but Notoriety, Dossiers, Colonnades, Car Buffs, Life Stages, etc. were all standout entries. Props, also, for the moderately low three letter word count. OTOH, eleven fill-in-the blank clues reflects poorly on the editorial staff, IMVHO.
Thanks, Matthew, and thanks, CC, for the usual equal servings of facts and insider viewpoints and an array of mouth-watering food photos.
I hope Wilbur’s absence is not due to any complications from that nasty spider bite. Let us hear from you, Wilbur!
While exploring some options on my new Smart TV, I discovered the Harry Bosch series, starring Titus Welliver. Bosch is a Michael Connelly (Lincoln Lawyer creator) character, a renegade LAPD detective. So far, I’m enjoying it and am impressed with Welliver’s performance.
Have a great day.
DO @6:29, RACKETBUSTER was BRACKETBUSTER before the B was removed.
DNF. I went down in flames with this Saturday, oh wait, Sunday puzzle. This was extremely hard in my opinion.
Too many foreign words and the theme escaped me completely.
FIR, but erased hat for TEN, edge for CUSP, tres for GEEK, snuck for SLUNK, err for MAR, serena for SELENA, and repeated for RESTATED. I think RESTATED is "said differently", not "said again."
Today is:
NATIONAL FILET MIGNON DAY
INTERNATIONAL LEFT HANDERS DAY
NATIONAL PROSECCO DAY (sure, now that I'm on the wagon...)
DO - (B)RACKET BUSTER. I didn't understand AMERICANOPIE (before subtracting the "o".) Is a barista "americano?"
I knew ABUELA because I frequent Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant, and the gender change was easy. (Abuelo's allows old people to order from the lunch menu at any time.)
HOLE with the bagel reference, or "Courtney Love's band."
Cot-schmot. The 'real' space saving bed is a Murphy.
I once owned a PINTO. Fun car. It got rear-ended while my ex-dw was driving, but it didn't explode. Damnit.
I thought a CAR BUFF was the tool the guy used at a CAR detail shop.
I don't know how I got MONO, mom. I was studying in my room all week.
At the RV parks I frequent, the ranger's post is usually a shack at the entrance.
When the wind is 8 knots and you get a GUST to 15, it is a sailor's boon. When it's blowin' 30 and you get a GUST to 45, it is a sailor's bane. More is not always better.
Thanks to Matthew for the fun challenge that I got after only one brain-reset break. And thanks to CC for another fun review.
Took 19:05 today for me to bleed this one out.
Didn't see the theme until I came here.
Still not quite sure how to feel about Sunday puzzles. I guess, "umm, ok".
It was a blood 'bath' for me today. I noticed the ABO+- in the clues but couldn't ever get B-RACKET. RACQUET or RACKET- spelled both ways. The rest of that area bombed. Got CAR BUFFS but filled OFF SCREEN instead of CAMERA, had no idea about the HALAL MEAT.
UMM OK was not what I would consider as an UM OK fill. Looks like a forced fill.
STAFF never had a chance to do the LUNGES.
DINO- Barney wouldn't fit but didn't know DINO was purple as I didn't have a color TV.
GAUTAMA, MINARI, GUAPO, ERMA, ARENA POLO, ABUELA, OLE Henriksen- didn't know any of them but got them on the grid anyway.
WEAVED- what happened to WOVE as past tense?
TRENDY- the purse looks like the booty pack changed to a booby pack.
B-E, I agree with you about Weave/Wove. But, if I were talking about a car in traffic, I'd probably use "weaved." Weird verb. Both can be correct, but aren't necessarily interchangeable.
Musings
-The AB+ and AB- entries made me laugh out loud
-My treadmill sees precious little RUNNING
-Flights from Hawaii to the mainland take less time because of the EAST to west tailwinds
-El GUAPO was the villain in the comedy The Three Amigos. Uh, he was not attractive!
-On my MacBook I use CMD + TAB to toggle back and forth between our BLOG and the Word document where I type my comments. CMD + C copies the Word document and CMD + V pastes it into the comment box.
-Teaching how to read and do problems with the SOLUBILITY curve to 14-yr-olds ain’t easy!
-I really liked the solid/striped yellow ball clues
-Consarn it/HECK! My World Herald for the fourth time this summer.
-If gov’t agents can’t get to sleep, they might try reading a DOSSIER on me
-PEONS/MAIDS at Downton, similar?
-FILL IN THE BLANK was the entire premise for The Match Game. E.g. “A bald man complained, “My wife thinks my head is an egg! Last night she tried to _________ it.”
Bracket bustet
DO, you must not have gotten enough sleep last night due to the ants. The B- comes off the beginning of the phrase BRACKETBUSTER.
Another DNF for me. Too many FILL in-the-blanks, and the clues just were not on my wavelength today.
Took a long time working my way up from the bottom to the top. Got the theme idea when Oscar's band appeared. Too many WAGS and perps needed for the slow process of FIR.
Quite a variety of long fill today. Especially 37D and 51D. 13D and 73D also caught my eye.
Matthew and C.C. deserve a round of applause for their fine collaboration of preparation and adjudication of today's serving.
Be well
HG - wouldn’t a tailwind from Hawaii to the mainland be from west to east?
Thank you CC for the great review. This was a struggle for me, finally tuned on red letters.. I still don’t understand 74 across “AMERICANO PIE?
Jinx @8:41 I’ll take a CO to International Left Handers Day, does this mean I am in my right brain?
We don’t use a treadmill, we doing our running on a Cubi. It’s too hot to run/walk outside, still over 110° all week, and our YMCA closed due to competition from new cheaper gyms…sad.
I am recovering from a root canal, I opted not to be PUT UNDER, as endodontic charges additional $900 for sedation! Here in Yuma many people go across the border to Algodones, Mexico where there are hundreds of dentist and dental procedures are less expensive.
Hope you all have a great day, be safe keep cool
DNF. I was missing one letter, the “I” of MINARI.
This CW took some time to finish, but I enjoyed working out the Blood Bank clues. I caught on at LE MONDE STANDS. There were a few unknowns such as GRONK, ERMA, and MINARI. “Consarn it” looked like a typo and took a while to fill in since UMM OK also was slow in coming.
WEAVED/ wove. I agree with DO @9:54, I would use wove for worked on a loom but WEAVED in traffic. But……..
All in all I enjoyed this puzzle and CC’s recap and her Chinese insights.
Oops!
-Yeah, Phil, it’s west to east, Duh! I have taught that for years and have no good excuse.
This was a slog for me. Sigh. I thought there were some clever clues but there were also some lame/lazy cluing that made me roll my eyes. Thanks CC for the excellent write up and visuals. … kkFlorida
This was really hard for me and took ages to complete, but to FIR after several corrections (edge/CUSP, snuck/SLUNK, err/MAR, etc.) gave me a real sense of accomplishment! You folks who finished in few minutes have my congratulations - I struggled for more than an hour!
Thanks, Matthew, for a real workout, and thanks as always, CC for the tour. Re your swimming, be really careful with your shoulder not to overdo it as you are getting started. Pulled shoulders are the most common injury for “older”swimmers. I am very old school, so my elbows are too high, and my kick is too big, according to today’s methods. I would follow your instructor’s direction and ignore me! I hope it is going well.
Irish Miss, Bosch is one of our favorite series, and we’ve watched the whole thing. I love his house, and Jack loves his taste in music! Good plot and excellent acting by the whole cast.
Americano is a way to prepare coffee that a barista would provide.
Anonymous @ 3:03 ~ Your reference to Jack identifies you as Wendybird, I believe, but why aren’t you in blue? I agree on Harry’s house and the acting of the whole ensemble. I don’t trust the rookie female, though, for some reason, but I’m only on Season 1, Episode 7. (Just found out that the actress who portrayed the rookie passed away in January at age 45 from cancer, leaving a husband and 3 children. Very sad.)
Irish Miss - I didn’t even notice my message was from “Anon.”, and I have no idea why. It happened once before, mysteriously.
CC - Anonymous at 3:03 is me - something weird happened to my name .
Thanks, Brian. When I drink coffee away from home, the barista usually wears a 7-Eleven name tag.
I liked this puzzle. Some terrific fill. Then there's that stinker UMM NO.
HG @ 10:41. Having worked for the local LA Times manager in Pasadena for some years, both 'stuffing' the Sunday heavy editions, and delivering a route in all seasons, your carrier's behavior is inexcusable. If was raining, or threatening, all papers were bagged at the garage workshop and delivered that way. Our success rate was in the 99.9% range, but rarely a paper might land awkwardly and get wet ... so a dry copy was delivered promptly..
FOUR times??!! I know the newspaper business is on hard times, but that is a NO-NO.* If it's not far to the World-Herald's office, I'd drive in and rant-and-rave; if not, cut a ruined edition and mail it to their office. I've noticed that somethings roll downhill more effectively.
(* The LA Times is running mere 28-page editions on weekdays. They cut out reporting on standings, game reports, etc. by substituting soccer reports.)
Michael - The "Times" they are a-changin'. Our local fishwrapper has gone from quickly redelivering a missed or damaged paper, to claiming to extend the current subscription by a day. One reason I dropped home delivery.
Challenging Sunday puzzle, but still, many thanks, Matthew--that's what they're supposed to be. And your commentary and pictures are always a real delight, C.C., many thanks for those too.
Well, my favorite search in Sunday puzzles is always for food, and here we started out with BENTO, not a meal at all familiar to me, but thankfully there were at least some LEMON stands, and we could also get some CAFE au lait, and after a while, even some BEER. I guess we'd have to wait until someone BLANCHed some veggies. But it wasn't until almost the end that someone finally yelled ABALONE AT LAST, when the shellfish course finally arrived. Well, time for me to start supper--no, no abalone tonight.
Have a great week coming up, everybody.
Hola!
I thought it was just me but it looks like almost all solvers found this particularly challenging. I started early this morning, 7:45, worked on it on and off, wrote some letters, then returned to it. I watched a movie on Netflix, then finally finished it. I found most of the puzzle enjoyable but too much quirky fill. I'm looking at you HOOT, HECK, MINARI, BUT THEN.
I'll take a CSO at ABUELA.
D-O
That sounds really painful and annoying. I hope you got them all. We've had an infestation of cockroaches for the same reason, I believe, trying to escape the heat! But, luckily, not in my bed.
I hope you all had a great Sunday.
Sorry, but a definite DNF for me! After a BUSY Sunday, sat down with this entry at 7p.m. It's now 1:15 AM and only 1/3 fill. Totally a frustrating failure for me. If Mr. Stock places another entry here, I'll simply toss it to avoid frustration.
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