Lead-off Punner?
Pun with Leaders?
Attila the Pun!
Robin delivers a Fabulous Friday. The theme is tight with leaders' titles used homophonically in the fill. If you like silly word-play like I do, you're in for a treat. Let's play.
17a. Official portraitist for a Mongolian leader?: KHAN ARTIST. Con Artist.
25a. Condiment for an Ottoman leader?: SULTAN PEPPER. Salt and Pepper. A couple of us from the office walked to The Galleria for lunch Wednesday and guess what I saw...
 |
| Sult'an Pepper.com |
42a. Paltry stipend for a Middle Eastern leader?: EMIR PITTANCE. A mere pittance.
56a. Humble abode for an Arab leader?: SHEIK SHACK. Shake Shack. There is also one of these at The Galleria.
 |
| ShakeShake.com |
Across:
1. Some twitches: TICS.
5. Cicada predators: WASPS.
10. Challenges for nannies: IMPS. Or Lighting Bugs, Lucina?
14. Compatriot: ALLY.
15. Bracelet spot: ANKLE.
16. "Smashing!": NEAT.
17. [See: theme]
19. "Water for Elephants" novelist Gruen: SARA.
20. Sinus infection woes: EAR ACHES.
21. Sheer: UTTER.
22. Suddenly become alert: SNAP TO.
23. Tone down: EASE.
25. [See: theme]
31. __ curls: BICEP.
34. Tends to a draft: EDITS.
35. Paris street: RUE.
 |
| The hotel at this intersection is our fav. |
36. R&B singer Redding: OTIS.
Chained and Bound [7:39]
38. Cartoon girl who often says "Swiper, no swiping" to a masked fox: DORA.
 |
| (L to R) Swiper, Boots, and Dora |
39. Web: NET.
40. Afternoon hr.: ONE PM.
41. Creator of a cocky hare: AESOP. Tex Avery, et.al. didn't fit.
42. [See: theme].
45. Scoreboard count: OUTS.
46. Effect: IMPACT.
50. Thrones: SEATS.
 |
| The Throne |
53. Alcoves: RECESSES. Also my best school subject.
55. Stretched to the max: TAUT.
56. [See: theme]
58. Hobby farm measure: ACRE.
59. Horror or mystery: GENRE.
60. Haitian friend: AMIE.
61. Comparison word: THAN.
62. Jacket wool: TWEED.
63. Coat with gold leaf: GILD. [See: 50a commode]
Down:
1. Points of view: TAKES.
2. Omar of Congress: ILHAN.
 |
| Omar Represents Minnesota's 5th |
3. Civil War nurse Barton: CLARA.
 |
| Founder Red Cross |
4. Automatic transmission parts?: SYNAPSES.
5. Pop art icon played by Bowie in "Basquiat": WARHOL. Pop-art & Bowie gave it away.
Trailer
6. Chip in a new pot: ANTE.
7. Goes downhill fast: SKIS.
8. "__ fix thx!": PLS.
9. Complete group: SET.
10. Keeping up (with): IN STEP.
11. Impossible Burger's lack: MEAT.
12. Peel: PARE.
13. Lead: STAR.
18. Cause trouble: ACT UP.
21. Exploits: USES.
23. "The Imitation Game" encryption machine: ENIGMA.
 |
| Wikipedia |
24. Some 2BR listings: APTS. Two bedroom apartment(s).
26. Creeds: TENETS.
27. Go with the flow: ADAPT.
28. Aces: PROS.
29. Italian bread?: EURO. I inked Lira.
30. Use a scythe on: REAP.
31. Hip hop's __ Thugs-n-Harmony: BONE. No clue. I Googled so you don't have to.
Crossroads [4:43]
32. Thing: ITEM.
33. Big name in credit cards: CITI. I almost Swiped (38a) my VISA.
37. Huffy state: SNIT.
38. High-pile carpet style: DEEP SHAG.
40. Numbered piece: OPUS.
41. High spots: ACMES.
43. Raising a stink?: ROTTEN.
44. Barely cut: NICKED.
47. "Ditto," more formally: AS AM I.
48. Poet Day-Lewis who wrote the Nigel Strangeways detective novels as Nicholas Blake: CECIL. A sample of poetry.
49. Expressed disapproval: TSKED.
50. RBI or ERA: STAT. The STATistics Runs Batted In or Earned Run Average. #Baseball
51. A pop: EACH.
52. Vibe picked up by a psychic, supposedly: AURA.
53. Russo who plays Frigga in Marvel's "Thor" films: RENE.
54. DĂșn Laoghaire's land: EIRE.
56. Rank above cpl.: SGT. Sergeant outranks a corporal.
57. Fell: HEW.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
WO: Lira -> EURO
ESPs: SARA (as clued), BONE
Fav: c/a for SYNAPSES.
Cheers, -T
 |
| Coda |
46 comments:
Zowie! What a toughie! Are you friends familiar with that fiendishly clever British innovation known as “cryptic “ crosswords? This puzzle reminded me of one of them. Wordplay, misdirection, and obscure names (“Ilhan,” anyone?) abounded. Nevertheless, through P&P I (eventually) managed to get ‘er done. FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
Good morning!
There was morning fog in San Francisco that didn't lift until d-o changed VISA to CITI (Hi, Dash-T). Saw KHAN ARTIST and dyslexically read it as "anarchist." Anyone else try for the "Sultan of Salt?" All's well that ends well, and this one, well, ended. Thanx, Robin and Dash-T. (Did you sneak into Mar-a-lago for that throne photo?)
I thought this was really easy for a Friday.but I agree there were too many obscure names
Good morning.
Thank you, Robin for the punny puzzle. Thank you, Dash T for the fine review.
Fairly fast for a Friday.
I solved this a few days ago. I needed perps to help solve each pun part of the theme answers. Also need perp help to get a few other answers, but the solve was (for me) pretty quick. It was within D-O's allotted time for an early week puzzle.
I'd never heard of CECIL Day-Lewis but I knew of his son, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. First from the 1992 movie "Last of the Mohicans"
CECIL and SARA were all perps. ILHAN, CLARA, OTIS and DORA were gimmes. WARHOL and RENE needed a little perp help.
Also, I had never heard of BONE Thugs-n-Harmony until this week. In the strange-but-true department, an article headline from the TV news station back home caught my eye four days ago: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Krayzie Bone in ICU: Report . Krayzie Bone? I just had to read the article and then further read about the group. All with funny names. Wish Bone. Layzie Bone. Flesh n Bone. Bizzy Bone.
Then, later that night I solved the puzzle. That's serendipity!
They are from the Cleveland area, so maybe Vidwan knows of them and listens to their hip hop rapping music.
It's time to bone up on new words and slang. We've seen at least one of these very recently in a crossword puzzle: Beast mode.
Merriam-Webster: We Added 690 New Words to the Dictionary for September 2023
They'll be coming to a crossword near you. It's the truth. Here's another three letter one we might see: ngl.
FIR, joining the crowd and erasing visa for CITI (and two of my three cards are from CITI.)
Today is:
National VFW Day - September 29 (good to place to drink in “dry” areas)
NATIONAL GAY MEN’S HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY (c’mon guys - wrap that rascal)
URBAN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE DAY (many urban areas have some pretty wild life that can't be refused)
NATIONAL COFFEE DAY (kinda ho-hum for this decaf drinker)
I thought this was the easiest puzzle of the week so far, and with only Saturday looming I think it's safe to eliminate the "so far" qualifier.
Being a news junkie, I knew ILHAN, but waited for spelling.
Took a while for grokking how hitches = SNAGS. Again I blame decaf.
Impossible Burger's lack was MEAT, because "taste" and "texture" wouldn't fit.
What a versatile word, lead. We have a Lead Street in Norfolk, and I never can remember if it is pronounced like the element or the verb. And the past tense of the verb sounds just like the element. A boss can instruct a lazy worker to "get the lead out (of your bottom)," and a baseball manager can tell the infield to "get the lead runner."
Thanks to Robin for the fun Friday (except for the dreadful clue for BONE,) and thanks to Bayou Tony for the stellar tour,
From yesterday. Nice job, Waseeley.
Like CanadianEh, I questioned what you meant by BOFEM. I guessed there was a Bank of Eastern Maryland. Oh, Both of them. Bofem. Whoosh!
Kind of like my additional clue to John Guzzetta's Wednesday "prefix word to mode" puzzle. Using the answer ROMCOM would give us COMMODE. I think Dash T got it. He used commode today. Others may have been silent because of the potty humor... :>)
I scrambled today to FIR with the most trouble in the Minn. area. The "PLS fix Thx", WASPS, and WARHOL were just guesses after enough perps were in place. BONE was also all perps and I stalled in that area with VISA. There's no CITI bank around here and with the unknown rap group and ____curls, I was thinking the Michael Jackson type JHERI curls, not BICEP. It all worked out.
I caught the puns at KHAN ARTIST and SULTAN PEPPER. Made EMIR and SHEIK easy guesses.
Every year a large bird, locally called a night heron, walks around my side yard and eats cicadas. Flies in at sundown and flies out when the sun comes up.
Very easy for a friday.
FIR. Extremely easy for a Friday. More like what we expect on a Tuesday.
The theme was clever using puns, but also the titles of eastern Asian leaders added to the fun.
This was an enjoyable CW to finish out the work week.
Took 7:22 today for me to follow the leaders.
Surprised the great SubG struggled with this one.
I didn't know today's novelist, didn't know today's poet, and can't seem to remember how to spell Ilhan. But, I knew today's actress (Rene)!
And in the foreign-derived words department, I knew the Paris street and the Italian money, but needed crosses for Dun Laoghaire's land.
I thought bracelets were worn on wrists, and anklets worn on ankles.
Clever puns, which I enjoyed, but I rue how Friday gimmicks have replaced the old Friday challenges.
Some peoples' TENETS are ENIGMATA
They make no sense, nor apply pro rata.
They come ad hoc,
And like as not
Obfuscate with Latinized data!
One wonders if AESOP, in his chair,
Wishes that Mel Blanc were there
To voice his act
For more IMPACT:
Bugs Bunny for that COCKY HARE!
SS at 8:20 a.m. - Well, that’s the problem with (usually) being the first one to chime in. Sometimes I’m “out of step” with everyone else. However, that’s not the end of the world. As the saying goes, “You can’t please everybody!”
Good Morning:
I enjoyed this solve very much and find no fault. The theme was clever and tight, especially with the two on-the-money homophonic themers, Khan Artist and Sheik Shack. The other two required a tad finessing but were just fine. IMO, the proper names were minimal and none were obscure, except Cecil. Ilhan Omar has been in the spotlight often, not always in a positive light. Bone, as clued, and Cecil were the only unknowns and Tacts/Takes was the only w/o. The grid was junk free and the scant number (6) of three letter words was the icing on the cake. I prefer more of a challenge on a Friday, but the bottom line is having a satisfying solving experience and this puzzle more than met that standard.
Thanks, Jeff, for a fun and pleasant solve and thanks, Anon T, for the fun and factual review and for pinch hitting for the peripatetic MalMan.
Another rainy day in the great Northeast. If our winter is as wet as our year so far, we're in for a lot of the white stuff. ⛄️
Have a great day.
Apologies to Robin. Jeff was yesterday, so I guess my brain isn't quite in tune, maybe fuzzy from the flu shot? Anyway, thanks, Robin, for a great puzzle!
Musings
-Fun puns! Tony, I had to share the Hun pun with my good friend who is an English teacher. She said she needed a good laugh today and thanked me for it.
-IMPS: Last week, I asked a group of 7th graders I had never seen before if they had any space questions. One IMP asked, “How big is Uranus?” expecting a big laugh. The rest of the kids didn’t catch on and I just rolled my eyes and moved on. No mole hills into mountains.
-EDITING a draft is much easier with Word!
-Lunch rooms and RECESSES provide a lot of education
-ACRE/REAP: We played golf an hour north of here and the clouds of dust showed the IMPACT of combining soybeans
-Where do I go to get my memory SYNAPSES looked at?
-There’s no point in lamenting the loss of the complete SETS of 1956 baseball cards mom threw away
-Did you have a rake for your DEEP SHAG carpet?
I, too, found this very easy for a Friday. It helped that I got the theme with the first theme clue, making the rest easy guesses. BICEP had a tough clue. Looking at the CW, wow, no W/Os. All good, nice CW, thanx RS. Thanx anon-T for the great write-up.
Another shotgun approach for solving this wide ranging offering by Robin. Enjoyed the punny approach to the theme.
Didn't know Ms Omar, awaited perps. Also wanted visa for 33D but EMIR said no. Waited for perps other PM hour.
FIR after all was said and done.
Thank you Robin for a FUNNY PUNNY Friday FIR. Clever theme.
And thanks -T for filling in for whoever you're filling in for. You certainly filled their shoes today. Please tell me you didn't use a chatBot to generate all those APT cartoons. đ
16A NEAT. "Smashing". Very British
25A SULTAN PEPPER. I've watched a lot of Blue's Clues with my grandchildren and Mr. Salt And Mrs. Pepper make frequent appearances to spice up the day.
35A RUE. The RUE de Rivoli in Paris has the Angelina Cafe, with the worlds greatest chocolate shop.
38D DEEP SHAG. This fill would never get past the censors in England.
Cheers,
Bill
p.s. to Husker -- in Gustav Holst's The Planets, the accent on URanus the Magicianis on the first syllable and the A is pronounced like an I.
Lee, "EMIR said no." But IMAM said yes, until it didn't.
This was a fun theme - I enjoy puns and after getting the first two I was trying to say EMIR fast enough to think what the phrase would be - voila!
I've had enough friends who have lived in the Mideast and central Asia for all the leaders to come quickly. Even though Shake Shack is from NYC - it does have locations in all the cities my kids live in from Seattle to Washington DC
As parents, we all got to play around with an ENIGMA machine during our son's coding class at USAFA when we were there for parents' weekend many moons ago.
For National Coffee day (well actually every Friday) I meet downtown with friends at our local coffee place. Today was the twice yearly morning where it is filled with 20-30 somethings in suits who are coming to the state's Supreme Court to be sworn in to the state bar accompanied by their parents and significant others.
Thanks -T for filling in - I knew it was you right off with the Galleria reference.
And thanks Robin for the fun puzzle!
Really fun puzzle today! I don't often visit the Corner these days unless I'm puzzled by something, but today I'm here just to thank Robin for the romp. The perps took care of the unknowns, and the long puns were good ones! Thank you!
For some reason, my first attempt at this puzzle was dismal, until I reached the south and got SHEIK SHACK and the light bulb was lit and I gleefully worked my way back up. What a delightful CW. Yes, there were a few people whose names I didn’t know or couldn’t remember or spell, but perps worked quite well.
A-t. The MENU PLEASE. Funny.
Love the PUNS. Really clever. The “Hun” cartoon should be every waitress’s response to the menu question.
Inkovers: hits/OUTS,
“Thugs-n-Harmony”? The down side of using dating site E-Harmony? đ…”DĂșn Laoghaire" looked kyna Irish so I WAGed it. Started to fill SHABBYSHEIK but perps said no, then SHEIKSHEIK (chic) but that’s not “humble”. DEEPSHAG, Husker I remember how shag carpets came with a rake and the most popular color seemed to be an orange/yellow mix đ. One of the Anonomi @ 8:20 AM makes a good point: a “bracelet” goes on the arm (bras français for “arm”)
Mr. Redding that’s how much you _____ from last year…..OTIS.
Forefoot….INSTEP
Asking “how big is Uranus?” eg. …….IMPACT
Ever since I was a kid hearing the first cicada singing in August (c’mon it’s more like buzzing) meant summer was coming to a close, then they proceeded to get more frequent through the rest of the month. When I read the CW clue it dawned on me it’s almost October and no singing/buzzing this year? And maybe the last few years (These are annual cicadas not the periodical type)
đȘ°đȘ°đȘ°
.
Very enjoyable!
Not hard, not too easy, cute theme, with just enough unknowns to make it interesting, and any unknown names were perpable.
All in all, a joy to suss out...
A fun FIR today. Really chuckled at the clever puns, and the now-common ultra obscurities were not enough to suck too much of the fun out.
Hola!
I lost my post because Google wants to verify it is really me!
Okay. That worked.
Thank you, Robin and Anon-T. Robin's puzzles are always fun and very solvable.
And yes, I have to keep this short because of the Lightning Bug.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Ray - O @10:44 AM Happy 1/3 Feast Day! Are you, Mike and Gabe going out for a few beers? đ
Funny Friday. Thanks for the fun, Robin and AnonT.
I FIRed in good time and smiled at each themer. SULTANPEPPER was the first to fall. I didn’t get the full effect of SHEIK SHACK since I pronounce Sheik with a long E, and I am not familiar with Shake Shack.
Wrist changed to ANKLE.
Awaken changed to SNAP TO.
I waited for perps to decide between ONE or Two PM.
This Canadian needed every perp for ILHAN. (Haven’t we had her as OMAR before?)
Hand up for wanting VISA before CITI. Thankfully CITI was in a clue yesterday, as it is not a Canadian card.
I noted NEAT crossing MEAT.
CSO to CED with IMPS.
Wishing you all a great day.
For 25A, how is the pun answer “sultanpepper” for “salt and pepper” correct for the SINGULAR clue “condiment…” without the “S”?
I’d direct my question to the alleged “editor” but they apparently are not doing the job….as per usual.
Waz…
It ruffled my archangel wing feathers when they tried to take away my own personal Feast Day October 24. I hate sharing. Mike thinks he’s a tough guy cuz he slayed ONE dragon and Gabe wont stop blowing his horn.
You can see from my ICON Im now the patron saint of hockey teams and ….uh …. CD/DVD players ?
I’d rather go fishing
đ
I wonder if Patti and/or Robin are old enough to remember Frank Zappa's double album Sheik Yerbouti, with its title being a send-up of Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Band. Might have been cute in today's PUNishment.
Puzzling thoughts:
What's not to like? A pun-filled puzzle by Robin, and a comics-laden recap by Dash Tony. Loved the puzzle and the cartoons
It's probably a good thing that this wasn't my week to recap ... I would've worn myself out with the Moe-ku's!! đ
Robin’s puzzles are always fun, clever, and constructed well. Fun puns made a smooth đ♀️ run. Thanks hun. Oops … thanks Robin and -T …. KkFlorida
Anon T brings us today's Stears XWD.
This fine PZL kept me hopping for a while. The last to fall was the mid-Western sector--because I was stuck on VISA too long.
I knew that was wrong, as I could not make any sense out of BIVEP at 31A.
And it also threw off the theme fill at 42A.
Some nice cluing. My fave was 41A, "Creator of a cocky hare."
Not hard to suss the fill, AESOP, but fun nevertheless.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Four! Yes, four diagonals today; one near to hand, and three on the opposite shore!
The near diag gives us today's JACKPOT!
Yessiree. We have a rare Winner, all fifteen letters contributing to the outcome.
The near-diagonal's anagram (15 of 15!) spells out a reference to the precious ores that may be obtained from the Croatian coast, aka the ...
"DALMATIAN METALS"!
This puzzle was a lot of fun! Thanks, Robin! Yes, -T, I like silly word play...and your comics!
BTW, for some reason I thought you were subbing on Wed. this week. When I started reading JzB's review, I thought, "Wow, -T is really channeling JzB today. How clever!" LOL!
FAVs: Raising a stink? and Tends to a draft
Just one BONE of contention....
Enjoyed it thoroughly!
Thank you, Robin.
{B+, A+ #TexAvery)
Nice DR, OMK.
TTP - LOL "potty humor."
D-O: Apparently, anyone with more dollars than sense (#pun) can buy them.
HG/Ray-O: I was maybe 4yrs of age when I went with mom to look at houses in Detroit (we were moving from Battle Creek) and I remember Orange & Yellow shag carpet in one model's "sunken living-room." I thought, "This is a home for rich people." I must have seen it on TV a lot ;-)
I'm glad y'all enjoyed today's recap. I thought I was subbing Wednesday (me too Sumdaze!) and, after finishing that draft, got a "I think you have Friday's this week" from my angel-editor. I only had two evenings to slap it together (and was loathe to impose on the kindness of editor again!). I'm glad it came out OK.
Cheers, -T
I liked the puns.
Ray - O @12:50 PM I'm really glad I baited you! đ
@AnonymousPVX - Did you read the clue for SULTAN PEPPER? It's NOT cluing two items. Why would it need to be plural?
I know you look for any excuse to beat up on the editor, but the clue is 100% fine and quite clever. Better luck next time.
Wow! I just saw the golden toilets! Thank you, Anon-T, for posting those. It never entered my mind that those actually exist.
The Lightning Bug is gone for the week to his daddy's home. Whew! My heart can go back to beating normally.
This weekend the Believe Walk will take place in Redlands, Ca and I will miss it for the first time since it started. That five hour drive to Highland just seemed too challenging and although I really wanted to join the family, I opted to stay home this time. We shall see what next year brings.
R.I.P. Diane Feinstein. What a woman she was and such a great role model for us women!
What does one use to clean a golden toilet? Inquiring minds want to know.
Re TTP @ 6:18 ... 'ngl' abbreviation for 'not gonna lie'.
um…because the pepper for the sultan is only one condiment? đ
====> D. in L.A.
If you’re going to “gimmick” a crossword, this is the way to go! Nice puzzle, Ms. Stears đđœ and thanks to DashT for all the Khan laughs — I gotta remember ’em!
Favorite clue today: “automatic transmission parts?” It had me thinking “synchros” until my brain finally kicked into first gear and reminded me those are only in stir-your-own gearboxes… and I dare call myself a “car guy” đ
Had my VISA out before the perps told me it was the bank name, not the card issuer. And a big “Doh!” moment trying to force “lira” to work until I got back into the 21st century with EURO…
All in all, a fun romp with all the various punny world leaders.
====> Darren / L.A.
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