Theme: - "DIY" - Anagrams of six pieces of furniture are hidden.
23. "The Mousetrap" playwright: AGATHA CHRISTIE. Chair.
32. Fishy bagel topper: SMOKED SALMON. Desk.
48. Dinner table question: WHAT'S FOR DESSERT. Dresser.
80. Colorful Galápagos bird: BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY. Bed.
109. "You must be joking!": I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. Cabinet.
Reveal:
64. Ikea task, and a task that can be applied to the sets of circled letters in this puzzle: FURNITURE ASSEMBLY.
The CABINET answer is such an inspired choice.
I'm
thinking John-Clark could not find another workable entry to hide one
more piece of furniture, hence the reveal for 64A, which could be the
title as well.
Across:
7. Always and forever: ADVERBS. Fun to clue NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES, etc.
14. Test runs: TRIALS.
20. Wide of the mark: ERRANT.
21. Italian aperitif: CAMPARI. Ingredient in a Negroni.
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22. "What a piece of work is a man" speaker: HAMLET.
25. Magazine sale: AD PAGE.
26. A, in braille: DOT.
27. "The Westing Game" novelist Raskin: ELLEN. Unfamiliar to me. Wikipedia says the book won the Newbery Medal.
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28. Fort Knox block: INGOT.
30. Press: URGE.
31. Green Toyota: PRIUS.
35. Turn down: DECLINE.
38. Dry-spell relief: RAIN. We're having a very dry and hot summer.
39. Non-neutral atoms: IONS.
40. Really bothered: ATE AT.
41. Objectives: AIMS.
42. Greyhound, e.g.: BUS.
44. Former quarterback Tim: TEBOW. What is he doing now? He was once so promising.
52. Mimic: APE.
53. Spot for a Hindu bride's nath: NOSE. Nath is a nose ring.
54. Winter sport where competitors wear spiked gloves: LUGE.
55. "Queer Eye" fashion expert France: TAN. He popularized the French tuck.
56. Lassie, for one: COLLIE.
59. NNW opposite: SSE.
60. Camera option: AUTO.
61. Answered charges: PLED. And
63. Released early: PAROLED.
68. Car care franchise that started as a muffler specialist: MEINEKE.
70. Recess: NOOK.
71. Beanies and berets: CAPS.
72. "That'll be the day!": HAH.
75. Crossword heading: ACROSS. We also have 24. Escape room find: CLUE.
76. Club door requests: IDS.
77. Jabot material: LACE. Jabot is a new word to me.
78. Deep sleep: COMA.
79. "__ Wolf": Shakira song: SHE.
84. Puccini opera about an opera singer: TOSCA. 103. 84-Across solos: ARIAS.
87. Scrape (out): EKE.
88. Bird with a down-curved bill: IBIS.
89. "21" and "25" Grammy winner: ADELE. I've listened to her "Hello" a million times.
90. USAF no-show: AWOL.
92. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS.
93. False fronts: FACADES.
100. Rubbernecks: GAWKS.
101. Some keg contents: ALES.
102. "Gymnopédies" composer: SATIE. Erik.
104. OB-GYNs, e.g.: DRS.
107. Swindle: FLEECE.
113. Gimme courses: EASY A'S.
114. Possible to make out: LEGIBLE.
115. Bring down a Giant, say: TACKLE. New York Giant.
116. Mocking looks: SNEERS.
117. Went viral on Twitter, say: TRENDED. X now. Look, I even have an account. But I'm not there.
118. Actress with the most Oscar nods: STREEP.
Down:
2. Fictional movie in a real movie of the same name: ARGO.
3. Tantrum thrower: BRAT.
4. Baseball club: BAT.
5. Comes into: INHERITS.
6. Yalta conferee: STALIN.
7. Some flu symptoms: ACHES.
8. "Shucks": DARN.
9. Rival sch. of The Citadel: VMI. Virginia Military Institute. The Keydets.
10. Mini-albums, briefly: EPS.
11. Parcel out: RATION.
12. Cliff's edge: BRINK.
13. 10-year event in the "Iliad": SIEGE.
14. "You don't say": THAT SO.
15. Wicked cool: RAD. You guys should ask Steve Marron to show his railway models.
16. Itch: IMPULSE.
17. Freak out: ALARM.
18. "Hands off my waffle!": LEG GO.
19. Dutch painter of "Peasants Before an Inn": STEEN (Jan)
29. Horace, for one: ODIST.
31. Saucer: PLATE.
32. __ old story: SAME.
33. Overlook: MISS.
34. Amazon worker?: ANT. Amazon Ant. 69. Amazon gadget: ECHO.
35. Begins: DAWNS.
36. Value system: ETHOS.
37. Engagement breakers?: CEASEFIRES.
38. Heckle relentlessly: RIDE.
41. Shoptalk: ARGOT.
42. Miyuki bracelet elements: BEADS. Another learning moment for me.
43. Banquet dispenser: URN.
45. Heavily hyped: BALLYHOOED. We had BALLYHOOS a few years ago, clued as [Hypes].
46. Ryan Hurst's "Sons of Anarchy" role: OPIE. Opie Winston.
47. Quack grass or crabgrass: WEED.
49. Doesn't pass: FLUNKS.
50. Protruding navel: OUTIE.
51. Swordfish cut: STEAK. Our Asian store has a ton of swordfish steaks. Also 81. Catch some rays?: FISH.
56. Was in tents?: CAMPED.
57. Spheres: ORBS.
58. IM giggle: LOL.
60. Mars counterpart: ARES.
61. Narrative writing: PROSE.
62. Soccer great Messi, to fans: LEO. Inter Miami.
63. "See ya!": PEACE.
65. __ Flip!: Mattel card game: UNO.
66. Excessive: UNDUE.
67. Improvises vocally: SCATS.
68. Sailboat pole: MAST.
73. Hike leisurely: AMBLE.
74. Sean of "Will & Grace": HAYES.
76. Variety: ILK.
77. Reporter Lane of "Superman": LOIS.
78. Musical closings: CODAS.
80. "Twilight" heroine: BELLA.
82. Drama honor: OBIE.
83. Spot for an irritating "driver": BACKSEAT.
85. Colorful marble: CAT'S EYE.
86. Feeling reported by astronauts viewing Earth from space: AWE.
91. Fixate (on): OBSESS.
92. Animated film featuring a sloth named Sid: ICE AGE.
93. "Words __ me!": FAIL.
94. Lies ahead: AWAITS.
95. Latte art sites: CAFES.
96. "Ulalume" author's middle name: ALLAN.
97. Witherspoon with a book club: REESE.
98. Uneven: ATILT.
99. More spruced-up: NICER.
100. Selfish desire: GREED.
103. Up to it: ABLE.
104. Hockey term derived from "decoy": DEKE. Good to know.
105. Agitate: RILE.
106. Fitbit unit: STEP.
108. Budget rental: CAR.
110. "Delta of Venus" author Anaïs: NIN.
111. Like postseason matchups before the end of the season: Abbr.: TBD.
112. Old TV hookup: VCR.
Happy
Birthday to Lemonade, our Friday sherpa for a long long time. In a
couple of weeks, Lemonade & Oo will be in Thailand for a month to
celebrate the 100th birthday Oo's mother.
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Happy Birthday to Vidwan as well! So glad you're back to the blog.
C.C.
I didn’t find this puzzle to be terribly difficult. I caught the gimmick early, with the first themed fill, and it was off to the races from there. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one came together quickly; twenty minutes is quick for a d-o Sunday. Found the disassembled furniture, but couldn't put that cabinet together -- thanx for 'splainin', C.C. This one had lotsa nice stuff in it as well as some clever cluing. Well done, John-Clark.
With Twitter there were tweets? What're we gonna call the posts on X? X-crement? X-lax? X-post factless?
I think your first suggestion works best, DO.
DeleteAnother Sunday another puzzle with 20 obscure proper names. Just a few short years ago we never would have seen such lazy clueing and editing. Wish I wouldn't have wasted ink printing this one
ReplyDeleteA slow start today. Knew RABBIS & ERRANT but READ had me puzzled and still having 20/20 eyesight I don't know Braille. DOT was a guess and perp. I have the WhatsAPP on my phone but rarely use it. It took a while for the DIY furniture to be noticed.
ReplyDeleteLike d-otto I couldn't see CABINET in ICANTBElieve it-s not butter.
NOSE & nath; LACE and Jabot material; BEADES & Miyuki- guesses for those three unknowns
EASY A'S- way too many of those in college
ANT- a worker ant in the jungle was all I could think of
OPIE, UNO Flip, ELLEN, TAN, SHE Wolf, HAYES, BELLA-perps for those unknowns
Painters coming tomorrow. Have to cut out the upstairs carpet close to the baseboards but leave the padding. That way the painters can paint all of the boards without having to worry about dripping paint on the carpet (which is going anyway). DW needs to pick out a color and and carpet type.
Took 14:15 for me to put it together wrong. Spelled "obsess" wrongly as "obcess".
ReplyDeleteTo feel better, I'll try to convince myself that the blame belongs to my new tablet that I had to buy due to the sudden and unexpected passing of my old one.
Oh joy, circles!
I finished it wrong, so I'm unhappy.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAs Sundays go, this was a pleasant enough solve but with the usual Sunday grid negatives, i.e., a preponderance of either unknown proper names and references, or those known but clued obliquely. Today’s latter category included Hamlet, Ellen, Opie, Allen, and Ice Age. Additional proper, but unnecessary, usage was in the cluing for Tan, She, Tackle, Beads, and Car. It’s also baffling, to me, anyway, why one would use 8 words to clue the 3 letter answer of Awe. On the plus side, the themers were all very solid, in the language phrases and the title and reveal were spot on, although the reveal placement lessened the the element of surprise. Parsing I Can’t Believe It into Cabinet took the most time but was the most impressive of all the entries. There were also several catchy duos: Coma/Coda(s), Ibis/Isis, Ellen/Allen, Ride/Rile, and Obie/Obie.
Thanks, John-Clark, and thanks, CC, for your usual insider’s assessment and viewpoint. Thanks, also, for posting the lovely photo of Lemony and Oo.
Happy Birthday, Lemony. 🎂🎁🎉🎈🎊 Safe travels and enjoy your stay in Thailand.
Happy Birthday, Vidwan. 🎂🎊🎈🎉🎁 Enjoy your special day.
Bill, did you receive the newspaper article I sent recently?
Have a great day.
You mean Obie/Opie, IM?
DeleteFIR, despite two of my pet peeves. Proper names and circles. Too many of each!
ReplyDeleteGot the theme early and threw down the unifier without a thought.
Only sore spot, and the last to fall, was the crossing of Iceage, Satie, and Bella. That was cruel!
There was a three-cell crash near Bismark. Missed gAMPARI and AGATHA CuRaSTIE, because I was sure of AguES and VMa. I DNK that Ms. CHRISTIE was a playwright.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
WORLD ROCK PAPER SCISSORS DAY (decisions, decisions, decisions...)
NATIONAL CINEMA DAY (I'll just watch at home, thank you very much)
NATIONAL PEACH DAY (there are 71 street names in Atlanta containing PEACH)
NATIONAL JUST BECAUSE DAY (leads us to...)
NATIONAL POTS DE CREME DAY (Saturday fill?)
"A" in Braille is DOT? "A" in Morse is DOT dash (or didah, in ham talk.)
Can't believe I missed VMI. Love the mountain college town of Lexington, VA, even thought it is a l-o-n-g way from Norfolk.
REESE has a book club? Who does she think she is, Oprah?
HBDTY, Vid and Lemony.
Thanks to John-Clark for the fun challenge, and to CC for the tour.
Thanks, John-Clark, for an engrossing puzzle which kept me occupied for over 52 minutes. Thank you, C.C., for another fine expo.
ReplyDeleteHand up for not seeing the CABINET.
Some stuff in this one that I've learned only doing CROSSWORDS such as DEKE. A lot of stuff in here that I didn't know.
Happy Birthday, Vidwan! Hope you are feeling better all the time.
Happy Birthday, Lemonade. OO must be older than she looks (35?) to have a mother who is 100.
I started out cussing all the proper names, but eventually filled everything in (with the 'Bella' guess).
ReplyDeleteI really liked the theme. Very clever!
I strolled right along and before I knew it, I had solved this puzzle. I did stumble over a few proper names and spellings,
ReplyDeleteI CANT BELIEVE I too didn’t pay attention to CABINET on the last long answer. I was just glad I had made it to the end without too much fuss.
For a long time I read reASSEMBLY, so couldn’t see the FURNITURE until I came to my senses.
FIR but didn’t bother with the circles. I never do as they drive me a little crazy.
ReplyDeleteI never believed there was a blue footed boobie until I saw one on a nature program. I am always up for dessert! I don't have a carte Blanche but I do have a carte Discover, which is almost as good.
ReplyDeleteAgatha Christie is my DW and I's favorite author. We love the movie Interpretations by Kenneth Branagh and are looking forward to his newest, A Haunting in Venice.
As to today's puzzle, ho hum. Clever theme, but easy fill, or maybe it was just on my wavelength. FIR. No WAGS today. A few perps helped to shake the V-8 can.
A swell job by Mr Levin and the inimitable review by our own, C.C.
Adios amigos.
Musings
ReplyDelete-I did “get ‘er done” even after trying to make the bottom middle as hard as I could
-AMISS/ATILT, TBA/TBD, VISIBLE/LEGIBLE was where my first choices were ERRANT.
-Gator Tim Tebow and Husker Tommy Frazier were college stars but never made it in the NFL
-This week, an Omaha politician PLED guilty to one charge to get six others dismissed
-I had Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s JABOT in a recent Saturday puzzle
-Is your “finger signing” LEGIBLE?
-I bought hundreds of pencils to RATION out during the year. Kids always have pens and markers but science and math should be done in pencil.
-We are on the BRINK of a new college FB season where NIL and betting are now full elements
-A wonderful 1914 CEASEFIRE
-My BACKSEAT driver sits in the passenger seat and has done so for well over 50 years!
-Oh, that ALAN!
-HBD to Lemon and Vidwan!
I didn't find the puzzle difficult at all...
ReplyDelete(Except I thought it was a flat footed booby...)
PSA: how to make money assembling furniture...
happy birthday Lemony!
Ditto Vidwan!
Lee @ 9:59 ~ Yes, I meant Obie/Opie but Autocorrect didn’t agree with me. My fault, though, for not proofreading more carefully. Thanks for the correction. 😉
ReplyDeleteWhew! A workout, but finally arrived at a FIR. Lots of obscure names I won't remember tomorrow, but the perps were fair. Some clever mis-direction and D'Oh! moments. Unfortunately, my furniture remained in an unassembled pile. Don't do well with scrambled letters. (I like my eggs over easy, too!)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the FURNITURE ASSEMBLY theme. READ RECEIPT puzzled me. Stuck awhile with I DON'T BELIEVE IT. Hand up VISIBLE/LEGIBLE. FIR.
ReplyDeleteHere I was very grateful to capture the BLUE FOOTED BOOBY mating dance in the GALAPAGOS.
These beautiful birds are OK with you being up close as I was while making this video. Just delightful!
WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN was set to music in this memorable song from the musical "Hair".
The song is powerful irony. It immediately follows a chilling song about the callous and meaningless brutality of the US war in Vietnam. Think of listening to this as Putin wreaks havoc in Ukraine.
I don't see my alma mater very often, so "Rah Virginia Mil"! No problems with this one, very well done.
ReplyDeleteA usual Sunday pattern of too many proper names and smatterings of lazy editing/cluing. However I enjoyed the theme and a few clever misdirections. FIR. Thanks John-Clark…… kkFlorida
ReplyDeleteThank you John-Clark for a relaxing Sunday puzzle. While some have lamented the circles, leaving them out would require a new reveal, e.g. ...
ReplyDelete64A "Ikea task, applied to contiguous letters embedded in the theme clues": FURNITURE REASSEMBLY.
Ikea would be a dead giveaway, but now imagine the themers without the circles and then imagine how you would approach finding and "unassembling" them. SHEESH, even SS got an FIW today (the first in my memory)!
And thank you C.C. for your colorful (and flamboyant) review. Here's one possibilty for a 7th themer, with the unassembled furniture in bold italics ...
"First 7 notes of the scale":DOREMIFASOLATI. Of course I don't know how this could be shoehorned into the grid.
Some favs:
84A TOSCA. She lived for ART ("Vissi D'Arte") and she was, like HAMLET and all the other principal players, dead by the end of the opera (by suicide).
102A SATIE. If you were a Blood, Sweat, and Tears fan you'll recognize his Gymnopédie No.3.
103A ARIA. Here's CAVARADOSSI (TOSCA's lover) singing Lucevan Estella ("The stars were shining brightly"), while he awaits his execution (by firing squad).
60D ARES. EROS didn't perp.
96D ALLAN. DNK ULALUME, but I do know EAP, who is buried about a block from where I used to work in downtown Charm City.
Cheers,
Bill
Husker @11:07 AM You headed me off with RBG and her JABOTS.
Irish Miss @ 9:00 AM It's still in my Inbox and I promise you a reply ANON!
HBD Lemony and Vidwan. IIRC they used to call one another "a brother of a different mother"
Thanks to John-Clark for some Sunday fun and to C.C. for her take! Agree that ADVERBS is fun to clue and CABINET was impressive (I needed pen & paper to unscramble that one.) I also liked the intense/in tents word play.
ReplyDeleteCED @ 11:09. Loved your ATILT furniture!
Thanks for your bird video, Picard @ 12:14. It looks like the male is showing off is pretty BLUE feet to the female.
Happy b-day to Lemonade and to Vidwan. Wishing you both and EASY A day!!
Weirdly, my paper had a puzzle today titled "Subtraction" by Pam Amick Klawitter
ReplyDeleteSo I will have to go on-line to find the puzzle from John-Clark Levin that you all solved!
Happy birthday to Lemonade and Vidwan! Hope your back holds up during the travel to Thailand Lemonade!
Picayd@12:14. Loved the video of the blue footed boobies.
ReplyDeleteI liked the theme and everything about this puzzle except for the obliquely clued names.
ReplyDeleteThanks to waseeley for the links to those arias from Tosca. Pavarotti really inhabited that role.
Thanks to CED also for your links.
Happy birthday to Lemonade and Vidwan!
Hola!
ReplyDeleteI'm late! I'm late! But only because I napped while working this puzzle. Also, I started the solve early this morning, went to church, ate breakfast, etc. We received the sad news that our pastor resigned. It wasn't surprising because he took a leave of absence and has been gone all summer.
I love ARGO and have watched it several times.
LACE is my favorite fabric.
I guess using obscure clues is the rule for Sunday puzzles. POE could be clued in so many ways as could SIEGE and BEADS.
Thank you, C.C., for showing us what MIYUKI looks like. I had no idea.
I wish I could have found EASY A courses! Our small women's college had none.
Happy birthday, Vidwan! Happy birthday, Lemonade!
sumdaze, Tante Nique Thank you for the kind words about my BLUE FOOTED BOOBY mating video. I am so grateful to have seen this up close.
ReplyDeleteYes, the male indeed is posing on the rock to show off how BLUE his feet are. But notice that just around one minute into the video they trade places and the female takes her place on the rock!
This article explains what is going on with the female BOOBY mirroring the male.
According to the article, the male and female BOOBY are very equal. They take turns in raising their young.
By the way, hand up that CABINET was the last FURNITURE ASSEMBLY for me. The scrambled FURNITURE did help me with some of the solves.
Picard, sorry about spelling your name so strangely. I’ll blame spellcheck. That is fascinating about the birds’ mating ritual.
ReplyDeleteI’m late to the party again. Thanks to John-Clark and C.C. for the fun.
ReplyDeleteI needed a couple of Google helps, but eventually I got the Tada and saw the IKEA theme. Hand up for having to work at figuring out Cabinet. (I really wanted that iconic IKEA Billy Bookcase to go with the DESK.)
Spoiler Alert: 63D is the Wordle today. Coincidence?
Thanks for the BLUE BOOBY video, Picard (and the article explaining the colour variations etc.).
Happy Birthday Lemonade. Safe travels (and best wishes to Oo’s mother on her 100th).
Happy Birthday Vidwan. Glad to have you back.
Wishing you all a good evening.
Tante Nique @ 7:46: Hey, 5 out of 6 letters is 83% -- better than me today.
ReplyDeletePicard, enjoyed the blue-footed booby pictures. Birds fascinate me.
ReplyDeleteMental workout for me, but I enjoyed it. Missed one letter, but oh well.
ReplyDelete