Theme: ALL DOLLED UP. Theme answers have a final syllable that is a homophone for DOLL
But first, today's theme song.
Sammy Nestico's arrangement of Satin Doll, played by the
Dearborn Big Band at the Plymouth, MI Fall Festival - 9/10/23
17 A. Primatologist who wrote "The Chimpanzees of Gombe": JANE GOODALL. Dame Jane Morris Goodall DBE; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; (3 April 1934) formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, after 60 years studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees.
She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots programme, and she has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. As of 2022, she is on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project.[6] In April 2002, she was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Goodall is an honorary member of the World Future Council.
27 A. Plaything made from a clothespin, perhaps: WOODEN DOLL. No homophone this time - instead the real thing. [If you consider a DOLL to be a real thing.]
49 A. Actress/entrepreneur whose son is Lorenzo Lamas: ARLENE DAHL. Arlene Carol Dahl (August 11, 1925 – November 29, 2021) was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Classical Hollywood cinema era.
She was also an author and entrepreneur. She founded two companies, Arlene Dahl Enterprises and Dahlia, a fragrance company.
In her personal life, Dahl had six husbands, including actors Lex Barker and Fernando Lamas, and was the mother to three children the eldest of whom is actor Lorenzo Lamas.
63 A. Lentil dish from western India: GUJARATI DAL. Sweet, spicy and tangy, Gujarati Dal is comfort food at its best! This thin consistency dal is tempered with lots of spices like cinnamon, cloves, cumin, mustard and flavored with ginger, jaggery, lime juice. Best enjoyed with plain rice. Recipe here. Gujarat is a state in western India. Dal can refer to several kinds of legume.
Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here. A theme like this requires a different spelling for each homophone, or it would lack elegance. And here that requirement is nicely achieved. Not the theme I expected at first look, but it works well. Let's see what else we can discover.
Across:1. Say "I'll be there," maybe: RSVP. An initialism of the French phrase, "répondez s'il vous plaît." This directly translates to "Respond, if you please." The initialism is often used to confirm attendance for an event, such as a wedding, birthday party or baby shower.
5. Officers-to-be: CADETS. Trainees in uniformed organizations.
11. In the past: AGO. Lone upon a time.
14. Aspire laptop maker: ACER. A Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology, headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City.
15. Firenze locale: ITALIA. we cal it Florence, Italy. But what do we know? It is the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region, and home to many masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. One of its most iconic sights is the Duomo, a cathedral with a terracotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and a bell tower by Giotto. The Galleria dell'Accademia displays Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture. The Uffizi Gallery exhibits Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and da Vinci’s “Annunciation.”
16. Break in continuity: GAP. I something missing?
19. Draw upon: USE. Take, hold, or deploy (something) as a means of accomplishing a purpose or achieving a result; employ.
20. Jungian inner self: ANIMA. Jung described the animus as the unconscious masculine side of a woman, and the anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man, each transcending the personal psyche. Jung's theory states that the anima and animus are the two primary anthropomorphic archetypes of the unconscious mind, as opposed to the theriomorphic and inferior function of the shadow archetypes. He believed they are the abstract symbol sets that formulate the archetype of the Self. And no, I don't understand it either. But I. am trying to get in touch with my female side. Maybe that is being animated.
21. Photographer Goldin: NAN. Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986). The monograph documents the post-Stonewall, gay subculture and includes Goldin's family and friends. She is a founding member of the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now). She lives and works in New York City.
22. Provo resident: UTAHN. People from Utah.
24. Cream ingredient: ALOE. Aloe vera] is a succulent plant species of the genus Aloe. It is widely distributed, and is considered an invasive species in many world regions.
An evergreen perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula, but grows wild in tropical, semi-tropical, and arid climates around the world. It is cultivated for commercial products, mainly as a topical treatment used over centuries. The species is attractive for decorative purposes, and succeeds indoors as a potted plant.
The leaves of Aloe vera contain significant amounts of the polysaccharide gel acemannan which can be used for a wide range of medical purposes. The skin contains aloin which is toxic. Products made from Aloe vera usually only use the gel. I certainly hope so.
26. Double __ Oreos: STUF. Oreo is a sandwich cookie with a sugary filling between two cocoa wafers. I am not a fan. The double stud variety has a thicker layer of sugary STUF. No, thank you.
32. Liberated: FREE. Showing freedom from social conventions or traditional ideas, especially with regard to sexual roles.
35. Fictional gentleman thief Lupin: ARSENE. Arsène Lupin is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine Je sais tout. The first story, "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin", was published on 15 July 1905.
36. Brazilian port: RIO. Rio de Janeiro is a huge seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, 38m Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado and for Sugarloaf Mountain, a granite peak with cable cars to its summit. The city is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns). Its raucous Carnaval festival, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes and samba dancers, is considered the world’s largest.
Mandatory
37. Locally organized lecture series: TEDX. TEDx are independent events similar to TED in presentation. They can be organized by anyone who obtains a free license from TED, and agrees to follow certain principles. TEDx events are required to be non-profit, but organizers may use an admission fee or commercial sponsorship to cover costs. Speakers are not paid and must also relinquish the copyrights to their materials, which TED may edit and distribute under a Creative Commons license. TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading"
38. Minor issue: NIT. A more or less trivial annoyance.
39. Accomplish: ACHIEVE. Get 'er done!
42. Gather dust: SIT. Be idle, as of machinery or a work force.
43. Cartoon girl whose best friend is Boots: DORA.
45. Director Ang: LEE. Ang Lee OBS [b 1954] is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. As a filmmaker Lee's work is known for its emotional charge and exploration of repressed, hidden emotions.
46. Spanish "precise": EXACTO. As translated.
48. Sweater spoiler: SNAG. A small fabric defect caused by threads getting caught on an object.
51. Study feverishly: CRAM. Study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination.
53. Fish sought by Marlin and Dory: NEMO.
54. Like udon, ramen, and pho: ASIAN. In various types of Asia cuisine, these are two noodles and a soup.
56. Play a part: ACT. portray a character in a movie or play.
58. Goads: PRODS. Provoke or annoys someone)so as to stimulate some action or reaction.
62. Moroccan cap: FEZ. The fez, also called tarboosh/tarboush, is a felt headdress in the shape of a short cylindrical, truncated hat, usually red, typically with a black tassel attached to the top. The name "fez" refers to the Moroccan city of Fez, where the dye to color the hat was extracted from crimson berries.
66. Issa of "Barbie": RAE. Jo-Issa Rae Diop [b 1985] credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl.
67. Trapped: SNARED. Caught, literally or figuratively.
68. Short letter: NOTE. A short informal letter or written message.
69. Meditation sounds: OMS. A mystic syllable, considered the most sacred mantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. It appears at the beginning and end of most Sanskrit recitations, prayers, and texts. Not to be confused with the Great God Om from Terry Pratchett's brilliant novel "Small Gods."
70. High-calorie cakes: TORTES. Rich, usually multilayered, cakes that are filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. Ordinarily, the cooled torte is glazed and garnished. Tortes are commonly baked in a springform pan.
71. Alum: GRAD. Alumni are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women. The word is Latin and means "one who is being nourished". The term is not synonymous with "graduate"; one can be an alumnus without graduating. Have I discovered a nit?
67. Trapped: SNARED. Caught, literally or figuratively.
68. Short letter: NOTE. A short informal letter or written message.
69. Meditation sounds: OMS. A mystic syllable, considered the most sacred mantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. It appears at the beginning and end of most Sanskrit recitations, prayers, and texts. Not to be confused with the Great God Om from Terry Pratchett's brilliant novel "Small Gods."
70. High-calorie cakes: TORTES. Rich, usually multilayered, cakes that are filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. Ordinarily, the cooled torte is glazed and garnished. Tortes are commonly baked in a springform pan.
71. Alum: GRAD. Alumni are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women. The word is Latin and means "one who is being nourished". The term is not synonymous with "graduate"; one can be an alumnus without graduating. Have I discovered a nit?
Down:
1. Punjabi prince: RAJA. RAJA is the name for a monarch — a king or a princely ruler — in historic India. While there are still rajas today, they no longer hold any real power. Through the long history of India, there have been many rajas who ruled over small areas of the continent.
2. Virus check: SCAN. Look at all parts of (something) carefully in order to detect some feature.
3. "__, vidi, vici": VENI. "I came; I saw; I conquered" is a Latin phrase used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory. The phrase is popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian,] used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela (modern-day Zile, Turkey).
4. Put together early: PRE-MADE. Made or assembled in advance.
5. Tech-focused exec: CIO. Chief Information Officer.
6. Paid for one's sins: ATONED. Made amends or reparation.
7. Absurdist art movement: DADA. DADA or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Developed in reaction to World War I, the Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works.
8. Joie de vivre: ELAN. Energy, style, and enthusiasm.
9. "How Long __ Black Future Month?": N.K. Jemisin collection: TIL. Up to the point in time or the event mentioned; until.
10. Port __: creamy French cheese: SALUT. Port Salut is a semi-soft pasteurised cow's milk cheese from Pays de la Loire, France, with a distinctive orange rind and a mild flavour. The cheese is produced in wheels approximately 23 cm in diameter, weighing approximately 2 kg.
11. Taqueria drink with tamarindo and horchata varieties: AGUA FRESCA. (English: cool waters, lit. 'fresh waters') are light non-alcoholic beverages made from one or more fruits, cereals, flowers, or seeds blended with sugar and water. They are popular in Mexico and some other Latin American countries, as well as parts of the United States such as the Southwest.
12. Deep cut: GASH. A long deep slash, cut, or wound.
13. Vulnerable: OPEN. Allowing access, passage, or a view through an empty space; not closed or blocked up.
18. Lead-bearing ore: GALENA. The natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms.
23. Feathery cluster: TUFT. A bunch or collection of threads, grass, hair, etc., held or growing together at the base.
25. Buck: ONE CLAM. A single U.S. dollar
26. Eastern European language: SLOVENE. Slovene or Slovenian is a Western member of South Slavic languages, which belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Most of its 2.5 million speakers are the inhabitants of Slovenia, majority of them ethnic Slovenes.
27. Mascara applicators: WANDS. In this usage, a slender staff used to apply a substance to a specific location.
28. Film production company named for a constellation: ORION. Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company currentlyowned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former senior executives at United Artists. From its founding until its buyout by MGM in the late 1990s, Orion was considered one of the largest mini-major studios
29. Shuns: OSTRACIZES. Shuns or excludes from a society or group.
30. Cantilevered window: ORIEL. A form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground.
31. Stretch the truth: LIE. An assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone.
33. "Downton Abbey" sister: EDITH.
34. Laud: EXTOL. Praise enthusiastically.
40. "How Stella Got __ Groove Back": HER. Used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a female person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified. The novel, told in Stella's own exuberant, dead-on, dead honest voice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back is full of Terry McMillan's signature humor, heart, and insight. More than a love story, it is ultimately a novel about how a woman saves her own life—and what she must risk to do it.
41. Not subject to taxes: EXEMPT. Free from an obligation or liability imposed on others.
44. Taj Mahal city: AGRA. A city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about 230 kilometres south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. The Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite empress.
47. Loving lots: ADORING. Love and respect someone deeply.
50. Main course: ENTREE. The main course of a meal.
52. Fretful feeling: ANGST. A feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general.
54. Hairstyle for Diana Ross and Bob Ross: AFRO. A hairstyle, worn predominantly by Black people, in which naturally kinky or tightly curled hair is styled in a rounded shape.
55. Baseball gripping point: SEAM. A line along which two pieces of fabric are sewn together in a garment or other article.
56. Not closed all the way: AJAR. Slightly open.
57. Links transport: CART. A golf cart.
59. Aroma: ODOR. Aroma sounds more attractive than smell.
60. Spreadsheet input: DATA. A collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted formally.
61. Downhill racer: SLED. A land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners similar in principle to skis. This reduces the amount of friction, which helps to carry heavy loads.
64. __, dos, tres: UNO. Spanish is as easy ONE, two, three.
65. Some internet search results: ADS. Advertisements for products or services.
57. Links transport: CART. A golf cart.
59. Aroma: ODOR. Aroma sounds more attractive than smell.
60. Spreadsheet input: DATA. A collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted formally.
61. Downhill racer: SLED. A land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners similar in principle to skis. This reduces the amount of friction, which helps to carry heavy loads.
64. __, dos, tres: UNO. Spanish is as easy ONE, two, three.
65. Some internet search results: ADS. Advertisements for products or services.
OK. For this Wednesday, that's all. Hope y'all had a ball, and didn't brawl, fall, crawl or hit a wall.
Cool regards!
JzB
38 comments:
Good morning!
Couldn't sleep, and gave up trying an hour earlier than normal. Caught the sounds-like theme. The only stumble occurred at GUJARATI DAL which d-o parsed as GUJARA TIDAL. Oops. RIO -- my nextdoor neighbor just returned from a week there helping to set up a maintenance facility for United Airlines. CIO -- my former boss. He claimed the letters stood for Career Is Over. (He was Type A, and his career was over in his mid-50s, ended by a massive, fatal heart attack.) Enjoyed the diversion, Max, and the erudite expo, JzB.
TORTES: The only kind Mom made was Schaum Torte. About once a year.
GALENA: A small city in western Illinois on the Wisconsin border, named for the lead deposits there.
Good morning. Thank you, Max Schlenker, and thank you, JzB!
It felt like a slow solve, but the game clock shows I finished in good time. Did a lot of bouncing around to get it done. Needed letters for some unknowns, but they perped in easily enough.
I think I may have been a bit distracted after a bit of trash left in the blog comments yesterday, and by not being able to get my Bluetooth options on my phone to show when trying to send pics to my computer. Found a workaround though.
I took pics of my zinnias and posted them at the end of yesterday's blog, along with some comments about them. Here's the link to the pics: Zinnia Pics. I won't repeat my comments. They are in yesterday's blog if you are interested.
I love the overall smooth and soothing sound of The Girl From Ipanema. I played the video twice. Will likely listen to it again later today.
Thanks, JzB. I always enjoy reading your reviews.
FIW, making a careless mistake at EsTOL x the unknown TEDs. Kinda ran out of P&P; this was a very obscure puzzle for me, and not much fun.
Today is:
NATIONAL PEANUT DAY (Suffolk’s Peanut Festival isn’t for another two weeks)
NATIONAL CELIAC DISEASE AWARENESS DAY (peanuts are gluten-free)
UNCLE SAM DAY (Mom's brother was my Uncle Sam, but he didn’t have a goatee)
NATIONAL BALD IS BEAUTIFUL DAY (I also had a bald uncle. And that guy in my mirror is nearly bald)
POSITIVE THINKING DAY (I’m fairly positive that this is a shout out to Norman Vincent Peale)
DAY OF THE PROGRAMMER – 256th Day of the Year (256 is 2^8, one byte in most computer architectures)
Philip Morris used "VENI, vidi, vici" in some of their logos for cigarette products. As a child I smoked Marlboros, and found out about the famous saying by asking our school's Latin teacher.
When we met, DW had an Irish Wolfhound named ORION. After he went to the rainbow bridge, we got a Wolfie puppy and named him Sirius, ORION's #1 dog. Irish Wolfhounds are sweet, gentle big oafs.
Thanks to JzB for the extensive review.
ARSENE was strong, the piano thief!
He'd haul them off to sell on the street.
To prison he was bade,
And learned a trade --
As a piano tuner, he's ATONED for his deeds!
There was a translator, ARLENE,
Whose favorite language was SLOVENE.
"It's built around Love
We think so much of,
An here it is tightly in between!"
{C, B-.}
Good Morning:
I finished w/o help in normal Wednesday time, but I thought there were more than usual unknowns: Nan, Ted X, Galena, Edith, and Gujarati Dal. Perps were fair, so no complaints, other than the awkward sounding One Clam, probably said by no one ever. To my ear, Good-all’s pronunciation rhymes with Tall not Doll, but that’s a personal perception. Acer always reminds me of Lucina’s and my own laptop.
Thanks, Max, and thanks, JazzB, for the always detailed and informative review. I can’t imagine how much time and effort you expend, but it’s very much appreciated.
FLN
Anon T ~ Hope you’re feeling better.
TTP ~ Your zinnias are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Owen ~ Best wishes for better days ahead.
Have a great day.
FIR. Whew what a workout. It was like doing a CW in a foreign language. Too many truly arcane answers and many unknowns.
Never got the "sounds like" theme but was able to soldier through without it. This was not enjoyable at all.
Okay, I get it. The BARBIE movie comes out and we get a puzzles about 'dolls'. But this puzzle was filled with harder clues than the normal Wed. fare. I didn't know ARLENE DAHL was Lorenzo's mother. Also, didn't know anything about a DOLL made using a WOODEN clothespin. But I would think a WOODEN DOLL would be carved from wood. (got 4 'woods' in one sentence)
I managed to FIR but there were unknowns that were completely alien and required 100% perps. ARSENE, TEDX, GUJARATIDAL, SALUT, AGUA FRESCA. I remember a Coca Cola product named Fresca that tasted like grapefruit or something like it.
Then there were the WAGs filled after a couple of perps- DORA, EXACTO, NEMO, TIL, SLOVENE, EDITH. Agree with KS- a workout in foreign words.
ONE CLAM for buck was a great one. Mollusk and mammal.
Good Morning! I don’t know how I finished this puzzle. Not a fan. I didn’t much care for the Latin drink, the French cheese, the Indian dish or the thief – all perps…
I didn’t know, see, or care if there was a theme while in the midst of it.
Enough crabbing… Kudos to JazzB for a stupendous recap. I love reading all the bios and “the rest of the story” to the CW fills. Thanks, and for explaining the theme.
JANE GOODALL – what a tremendous contribution she has given science and humanity with her work.
I remember ARLENE DAHL from the glamorous 50’s with her red hair and beauty spot. So elegant.
WOs: PREpare -> PREMADE; S -> X in EXTOL; IDS -> ADS.
Musings
-A really great puzzle makes me struggle, provides learning but is very doable. Max’s puzzle did all that and didn’t even need a reveal! :-)
-We also call student teachers CADETS
-Harry Chapin at his best: And here she's ACTING happy, Inside her handsome home, And me, I'm flying in my taxi, Taking tips and getting stoned
-I was a college GRAD in 1968 and still get solicitations from them.
-ORION is my fav constellation and will soon be appearing in the evening sky
-Poor EDITH was portrayed as an ugly duckling
-Some CPA’s can find all sorts of EXEMPT loopholes in the tax code
-Pitchers routinely have a two SEAM and a four SEAM fastball
-I've been in two golf CARTS that have died this summer. Each time we were as far from the clubhouse as we could be.
-Poirot’s French version of EXACTO is “precisement”
-I am still getting ADS for a search I did four months ago.
-As usual, I echo Irish’s comments.
I found this puzzle hard to digest, with its clever diversions, and some total unknowns. In fact it's still giving me agita...
I never even saw the theme...
I think in future I will stick to easier puzzles, like what to recommend for Lucina to watch on Netflix...
Anywho, no complaints, I have a solution for homophones...
Took 5:54, but I guessed wrong at the intersection of some ore and some fictional gentleman.
I like a challenge, but did not like this one. I echo what KS said @ 8:08.
Things I didn't like today:
(A) the foreign words (or foreign based words): aguafresca, gujaratidal, Italia, uno, veni, Rio, Agra, and the French phrase clue of 8 down; and,
(B)the proper names: JaneGoodall, Edith, Rae, Dora, Arsene, Nan, Lee,....
I’m late to the party today ((totally forgot to do it earlier) but I can echo WEES about the Indian lentil dish, which I thought was pretty far “out there.” Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Tougher than a typical Wednesday, lots of perps needed all across the CW, but still did manage to FIR…eventually. W/O = PREPARE:PREMADE. Never saw the theme; JzB had to ‘splain it to me, as usual, unfortunately. I take notes as I do the CW so I remember what I wanted to comment on here in the blog, but have no notes, so I’ll just say thanx MS, for the entertainment, and thanx JzB for the outstanding write-up. I can’t even guess how many hours it took to put this write-up together. Wow! Thanx for all your time and effort, it is appreciated.
Wacky Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Max and JazzB.
I FIRed in good time, but forgot to go back and see the DOLL theme.
No real holdups, but a few possible Natick crosses that I was fortunate to solve with perps. (DAHL/EDITH and EXACTING/FRESCA).
GUJARATIDAL was just cruel, but it perped. (It crosses AJAR). Thanks for parsing and explaining it JzB.
Owen has caught the ARSENE, ARLENE, SLOVENE trio in his poem.
Americans have ONE CLAM! Canadians have One Loonie.
FEZ reminded me of Abejo RIP.
Wishing you all a great day.
FIR in good time and enjoyed it, but came here for confirmation of ANIMA, GALENA, and ARSENE. JzB did a tremendous job explaining! I found the DOLL theme helpful while solving. Kudos to Mr. Schlenker.
I found this puzzle easier than usual for a Wednesday. Except for NAN, TEDX, and RAE, which showed up with the help of perps, no problems. How I came up with GUJARATI DAL, I don’t know. The mind or memory works in mysterious ways.
JzB thanks for the bios of some of our human entries.
Nice to see OwenK’s poems again.
FIR, but can't say I got much enjoyment out of it. Way too much obscurity for obscurities sake, IMHO. All perps...couldn't really WAG, as the answers were so far out in left field. Didn't even look for the theme, just glad to put this one behind me.
I had a nice long nap after being up so early. I really needed that extra sleep.
Irish Miss, thank you.
I asked the professional. She said that the zinnia varietal around the mailbox are Burpee Zesty Mix, and the varietal in the corner garden are Burpee Cut and Come Again. She's harvested three large bouquets of flowers from the Cut and Come Again so far. She also told me to deadhead the fading and spent flowers to encourage reblooming.
I think she just relegated me to groundskeeper.
Got the DOLL theme, but never heard of DAHL or EDITH and they were crossed. FIR.
Here was a SLED near our hotel in the colorful village of Tasiilaq in Greenland where we recently stayed.
From Yesterday:
TTP Thank you for the ZINNIA photos and for the kind words about my photos. I find shooting arrays of flowers like that to be especially challenging. You did well. The best strategy:
1) Get very close
2) Use a wide angle lens setting and include foreground and background
3) Use a high f-stop number to get maximum depth of field
Hola!
Yes, it's nice to see ACER which is the type of computer I have. And I liked the different sounds of DOLL. Growing up we had many styles of DOLLS. Our grandparents, aunts and uncles gifted us with them. However, we made our won paper DOLLS.
I well remember ARLENE DAHL with her beautiful red hair. She is one of the gorgeous actresses from the 40s and 50s along with Esther Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, Rhonda Fleming, Barbara Stanwyck and others.
GUJARATI DAL required perps all the way.
Although EDITH's role was downplayed in the beginning, she eventually succeeded as a newspaper publisher, mother and was granted a noble title through her husband.
GAP is also a clothing store.
Last night we received much needed rain.
Ray, your zinnias are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing. I wish I had planted before the rain but it isn't too late to do so.
Wishing you all a great day!
I really liked this puzzle. I didn’t know all the names or foreign words, but perps were life-savers, and I learned some new stuff that I’ll hopefully be able to dredge up next time it appears. Thanks, Max, for the challenge.
Thanks JazzB for the great tour, especially the music.
Picard, thank you for the tips but I just have a smartphone. I'll have to read to find out if there are settings that can be changed.
Hi Gang -
I don't typically do the blog all in one sitting, and usually have some sports on the TV when
I do it. So I don't know how long it takes.
Anyway, I appreciate all the positive comments. You are a great group.
For some reason, the foreign words and proper names didn't bother me very much. Maybe I'm getting mellow in my old age. [?]
Cheers!
JzB
Challenging but fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Max. And also appreciated your commentary, JazzB, thanks for that too.
Well, this puzzle felt a little like being in a foreign country, like ITALIA, maybe, where they say VENI, VIDI, VICI, or another place where they have AFRO hair-dos or wear a FEZ or speak SLOVENE. And, of course, being in foreign places gave us a great ENTREE, maybe GUJARATIDAL, with some AGUA FRESCA to drink, and a TORTE for dessert. Pretty exciting trip, wouldn't you say?
Have a great day, everybody.
Musings 2
-Thanks for all the kind wishes on my 77th birthday. Loved the cake C.E.D.
-I subbed that day and then Joann and I went to Omaha to one of the last real Nebraska steak houses, Brother Sebastian’s, and had a wonderful dinner.
-Today I made a smart decision by skipping golf and helping wash windows.
I had to do an alphabet run to get that E crossing ARSENE and ONECLAM. It befuddled me because of the clue “Buck.” “One buck” is one clam, just as “ten bucks” is ten clams, so “buck” would be CLAM. Anyway, I guess that’s a NIT.
Speaking of ARSENE, it occurs to me that Arsenio Hall would fit the theme.
I agree with Irish Miss that the ALL in Jane Goodall (and also Arlene’s last name) rhymes more with “ball” than with “doll,” but the sounds are pretty close. Good enough for LA Times puzzle work.
Good wishes to you all.
Thanx Max for a DOLLightful Wednesday puzzle.
And thanx JzB for the expo and all the great tunes.
A few favs:
17A JANE GOODALL. An inspiration to us ALL and 8D ELAN for being pronounced with an "a:" sound to maintain the homophone with 17A.
22A UTAHN. The news today is that UTAHN Mitt Romney will not run for senator again, to make way for a younger leader from UTAH. He also suggested that the incumbent and the previous incumbent not run for the presidency again. But don't hold your breath.
36A RIO. Thank you Ron for the clip of Astrud Gilberto. Sadly the young woman who fluttered the hearts of young men everywhere back in the 60s passed away this year. A lot of old men will miss her.
Cheers,
Bill
Challenging puzzle, but finally finished with help, from red letters...
Gujarati Dal ????? How esoteric and foreign are we going to get ???
I don't even eat/ and would never even think of preparing Gujarati Dal ... its just any perfectly good and decent dal, .... ruined with an excess of sugar ....
But then, I am not a gujarati ( gujrathi/ gujrati ) ....
The 'famous' gujrati's I can think of are, a) the Patels who own motels, b) Mahatma Gandhi c) Mukesh Ambani, the current richest man in India (?) and d) the current, honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi.
BTW, Dal is pronounced, as written .... da-al. The 'd' is soft ( like pronouncing 'the') and the 'a' is long, like a double a.
The only Slovene I can think of is the ex-President's current wife, Melania Trump.
There is a long story of how, after World War II, a major part of the then Slovenia, voted by referendum to join, and become a part of, the defeated Austria, rather than be a part of the young and nascent Yugoslavia, which was going to be communist ( and despotic ?).
Re: Jane Goodall ... I just learnt that a Dame, outranks and is senior to a Baroness ? Probably because the latter is a personal honor, not something that was just inherited ...?
I meant the Dame is a personal honor, not a Baroness...
Anyhoo, Thank You, Max Schlenker for a challenging and eclectic puzzle,
and Thank YOu Jazz Bumpa for a charming and very fascinating review on your commentary blog !!!
The word UTAHN is very interesting, in that you would expect, UTAH-AN , an 'a' before the 'n'. I wonder which sort of english grammer rule, applies in this case ??....
I used to think that an Aloe Vera variety was used in the making of the liquor, Tequila... apparently, the plant (root) is that of the Blue Agave, which is like, but not the same genus as an Aloe Vera.
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in her 14th pregnancy (delivery - ) in as many years of marriage. After the edifice was built, and his (the -) eventual overthrow of his kingdom, by his youngest son, Aurangzeb.... Shah Jahan was also buried in the same Taj Mahal. And there he lies, in the basement, in a grave adjacent to, but symmetrically askew, to that of his wife.
Enough information for Jeopardy ....
Have a great day, you all.
TTP,
You got me wondering...
An F Stop adjust on an iPhone would be a wonderful thing. Never really thought about it when taking iPhone pictures before.
Turns out, it "does exist."
I never noticed that little up arrow in the screen before...
Mine does does specifically say "f stop ", but it does have an exposure adjustment that I never knew about.
Interesting stuff to play with...
Correction
Not does does
(Stupid autocorrect)
Should read "does not".
What it does have is a circle with a plus/minus in it, this is the exposure.
62 Across. Moroccan Cap :: FEZ.
May I link to an Indian/Urdu song from a Bollywood movie. Jodhaa Akbar (2008 ). ...?
Here is Khwaja Mere Khwaja, song on Youtube
The song, 'Khwaja Mere Khwaja' means ... Lord, Oh My Lord .... ( come reside in my heart ) ....
Involves lots of Fez(s) .... and dancing....
This is a scene, involving a religious song and dance, in the Sufi (Shia) tradition of Islam. Supposedly in the year of Akbar, grandfather of Shah Jahan ( of the Taj Mahal - )... and supposedly during his pre-wedding night.
There are also glimpses of the weepy Aishwarya Rai, arguably one of the best looking actresses in India ... who was presumably his bride in the movie.
Irrespective of your personal religious preferences, this song and dance, is one of the best Bollywood compositions, ... by an Oscar winning composer, Mr. A. R. Rehman.
The scene is memorable, and worthy of your interest... and BTW, the movie was pretty good, too. ;-)
Holy crap!
Looking at the word "does" makes it look really weird.
So I looked up the definition of "does."
(A lot of interesting stuff... third party etc...)
(Don't tell Yellowrocks,,, she'll be all, "I told you so...")
I see I wrote the footnote "DR" earlier in the day, then went on about other business & forgot to finish my post.
Ah well, such is the classic forgetfulness of age. Like our pets, we focus on one thing at a time and do not fret when a new thought pulls us away from a prior sequence.
Where was I?
I was going to note that GUJARATIDAL is the only item for which I had no point of reference.
I suspect I will not remember it, as the letter combo seems quite alien to my western experience.
What else...? Oh, yes! I was going to say that I cannot picture the face of ARLENE DAHL without a frilly mask.
I bet I'm not the only one.
I see from my colleagues (above) that she had red hair. But not so's you'd notice on B&W TV...
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, far side.
There is an abundance of vowels, but we can spot an anagram (10 of 15) that offers at least two meanings.
Either it refers to a person whose default response to anything new is to embrace it passionately,
-or-
this is a car nut, the kind of person who'll will accept only one brand of passenger car.
I mean, of course, an...
"AUTO ZEALOT"!
Thanks to Max for his puzzle. I got stranded at 49A, even though I do remember blogging about her being Lorenzo's mother for a past puzzle. I'm not sure we've had to know both her first and last names for one puzzle before this one. I wonder if I'll remember her next time....
FAVs: Connection between Diana Ross and Bob Ross and ONE CLAM
UTAHN looks like it is missing a vowel. (Hi Vidwan @ 6:24)
IM @ 7:49. You can add my 2nd monitor to your ACER list.
BE@8:22. "But I would think a WOODEN DOLL would be carved from wood. (got 4 'woods' in one sentence)" Well done!!
FLN (& today). Lovely zinnia pics! Thanks for sharing!
JzB. I always enjoy your Wed. write-ups. Thanks for all the info. Best was (of course) the opening number! Also, very interesting about alum & grad.
OMKeith
You correctly note that in black and white movies it was not possible to know the real color of an actor's hair but in my youth I was an avid reader of movie magazines which provided interesting details and photos of movie stars and that is how I learned about Arlene Dahl's red hair.
Vidwan @ 7:07. Shukria. But for your intervention tonight would have been 'the usual.' Such contemplation from Bollywood!
Post a Comment