20. "No one told me!": HOW WAS I TO KNOW?
26. Had a new proprietor: CHANGED OWNERSHIP.
46. Run errands during a bad storm, say: BRAVE THE ELEMENTS.
52. Heart of an operation, and a hidden feature of 20-, 26-, and 46-Across: COMMAND CENTER.
These seemingly unrelated phrases contain a hidden canine command in the center. Such a tight theme that each hidden word is exactly in the middle of the phrase - same number of letters on either side. Too perfect to be a coincidence.
20 - (5) SIT (5) 26 - (6) DOWN (6) 46 - (6) HEEL (6)
Melissa here, good morning everyone. I confess it took some time to reason this one out. I knew we were looking for something in the center, but with no clue as to how they were related and no circles ... the aha moment came slowly.
Across:
1. Galaxy body: STAR. A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity.
5. Fellow: CHAP. Chum. Bloke. Mate.
9. Mezcal base: AGAVE. Wikipedia: Mezcal, sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave. The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl mexcalli, which means "oven-cooked agave," from metl and ixcalli.
14. Sharpen: HONE.
15. Chicago airport: O'HARE.
16. Mortal danger: PERIL. What song from recently-departed folk singer included lyrics: "The captain wired in he had water comin' in, and the good ship and crew was in peril?"
17. Like Scotch: AGED.
18. Flat-bottomed ship: BARGE.
19. Third-stringers: C TEAM. Makes sense but not sure I've ever heard the term. Is it common?
23. "Monsters, __": INC. Disney movie.
24. Like most of Nunavut's population: INUIT.
34. Solitary: LONE.
35. Ill-advised action: NONO.
36. Terse summons: SEE ME. Sounds ominous.
37. Climbing greenery: IVY.
38. Economist and social reformer Webb who coined the term "collective bargaining": BEATRICE. Glad to learn about her.
41. Sushi spheres: ROE.
42. Bronze, e.g.: MEDAL. Don't normally see bronze used as a noun.
44. European capital west of Helsinki: OSLO.
45. Rain buckets: POUR. Verb, not noun.
50. "Ouch!": YOWIE.
51. "Arrested Development" narrator Howard: RON.
59. Take the top off: UNCAP. Flash?
62. Coast: SHORE.
63. Bryant of "Human Resources": AIDY. About 1:30 she talks about the show, with a clip.
64. Garden tool: SPADE.
65. Tiny bits: IOTAS.
66. Grand opening?: MEGA. Help me out here. If it means 'Mega grand,' is that a phrase? I know Mega Millions, as in the lottery. There's a Grand Mega resort (but wouldn't that be Mega opening?) Or am I over-thinking it?
67. Follow, as a hunch: ACT ON.
68. Russian "no": NYET.
69. Utopia: EDEN.
Down:
1. Persian word for "king": SHAH.
2. Like takeout orders: TO GO.
3. From the top: ANEW.
4. Pinot noir or merlot: RED WINE.
5. Masala __: milky spiced tea: CHAI. What is chai and how to make it.
6. Male deer: HART.
7. Golden Fleece ship: ARGO. Argonaut, in Greek legend, any of a band of 50 heroes who went with Jason in the ship Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece.
8. Glance through an open door, say: PEEK IN.
9. Way for a high schooler to build credit?: AP COURSE. Advanced Placement.
10. Catch on (to): GET WISE.
11. "We __ the Champions": ARE. Queen! 'We Are The Champions' by Queen: The making of the ultimate stadium anthem.
12. By way of: VIA.
13. Stately tree: ELM.
15. Lewd: OBSCENE.
21. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" director Lee: ANG. The Melancholy of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ Feels More Potent Today.
22. St. Louis-to-Chicago dir.: NNE.
25. Charlize of "Mad Max: Fury Road": THERON.
26. Scale: CLIMB. Verb.
27. Be overattentive, as a waiter: HOVER. Don't remember what store had a solution to that. Different color shopping carts or bags - one for 'I'm open to receiving help,' and another for 'Leave me alone.'
28. Sometime soon: ANY DAY. Looking at it that way, it's saying any is the same as soon, but it isn't really. Any day could literally be any day, even a year from now. Maybe I'm overthinking again ;).
29. Classic film noir about a man investigating his own murder: DOA.
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30. Pirouetting, say: ON TOE.
31. In sorrier shape: WORSE.
32. "Catch you later": I'M OUT.
33. Social equals: PEERS.
38. Used dynamite on, as a safe: BLEW OPEN.
39. Unwell: ILL.
40. Strong-arms: COERCES.
43. Green topper for toast: AVOCADO.
45. Writer's alias: PEN NAME.
47. Three-time NBA Finals MVP Duncan: TIM.
48. Confines: HEMS IN.
49. Tavern owner on "The Simpsons": MOE. Did you know that behind the idea for Moe’s voice is an A-list celebrity?
53. Greeting on deck: AHOY.
54. Staff member?: NOTE. Nice clue. Musical notes. Wikipedia: In Western musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch or in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments.
55. "Dagnabbit!": DRAT.
56. Like a game headed to overtime: TIED.
57. Rim: EDGE. Both words can be verb or noun.
58. Actor Gosling: RYAN.
59. Mex. neighbor: USA.
60. Video game figure not controlled by a human: Abbr.: NPC. A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player.
61. Calico or tuxedo: CAT. Cat identification.
28 comments:
I pride myself that, with the reveal, I was able to see the dog “commands” before Melissa explained it to us. Other than that, I don’t have too much to say about this puzzle. Seemed fairly easy for a Wednesday. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Yay, a Wite-Out-free day. All of my "could be's" turned into "yups." D-o even read the reveal and found the hidden commands. This was a smooth, nitless romp. Thanx, Josh and Melissa Bee. (That would be Gordon Lightfoot. So far as MEGA is concerned, methinks it merely means big as a prefix.)
FIR. Way too many proper names for me. In my opinion, they do not belong in CW's. This puzzle did not impress me.
I too did not see dog commands in the long answers, and it seems a bit of a stretch given the unifier
Wow! Three days in a row to FIR in under-the-usual-for-the-day time. AND no W/Os. 14 names by my count, about half requiring all perps. Once again I forgot to look for the theme; dang! Very cool how JG managed to put the theme words exactly in the center of common phrases, each of which I successfully guessed with no or few perps. Nice, entertaining, fun CW, thanx, JG. Terrific write-up as always, Melissa Bee, thanx for all your time and effort. Nice quote of lyrics from “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”, MB, nice reminder of Gordon Lightfoot. For some reason his songs always make me sad when I listen to them. And a CSO to Canadian ‘eh.
SIT, HEEL, DOWN? Say that to 61-D (CAT) and see what your results are.
Catching that unifier? HOW WAS I TO KNOW if I don't look for them. Sometimes they are obvious but if not, why bother.
Good morning all. Super fast fill today with only two unknowns filled by perps- NPC & AIDY.
CHAI and RON were guesses.
AVOCADO- bought a six-pack yesterday. You have to squeeze them daily to tell if they are the correct consistency and edible.
MEGA and 'Grand'- I don't get it either. Mega refers to million; grand can mean a lot but usually refers to a $1,000. Most people learned the prefixes by using computers. Bytes, Kilobyte, Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes.
YOWIE for 'Ouch'- had to wait for perps because it could have been anything.
If you got the Bronze MEDAL you didn't win or come in second. You were THIRD. But at least you're not on the C-TEAM.
Creative and tight theme answers today- and all those circle haters should be happy!
I'm with D-O on MEGA being a substitute for grand in a prefix.
28A Sometime soon - I think of ANY DAY with the addition of "now"
I think of bronze as the noun MEDAL - as she won the Bronze in the Olympics - I had put METAL first but perps changed that.
I know AIDY Bryant more from SNL, a crossword's favorite TV show
Thanks Melissa and Josh for a fun start to the morning
FIR without erasure. Fortunately, I gave up fixing AIDY, which I knew had to be wrong, but I was wrong. For a change, I easily got the theme. Could be the influence of my canine-centric world.
Today is:
NATIONAL EXASCALE DAY (an exascale computer can complete a quintillion computations in 1 second)
BRA DAY USA (tough for a guy who loved the 1970s to get excited about this day)
INTERNATIONAL LEGGING DAY (the human equivalent of plastic clamshells protecting retail goods)
NATIONAL NO BEARD DAY (with homosexuality nearly universally accepted, who needs a beard?)
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (and don’t forget those fun-loving Jaycees)
HAGFISH DAY (considered to be the ugliest of species)
Finally, a couple of important ones:
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE DAY
MEDICAL ASSISTANTS RECOGNITION DAY (they work cheaper than MDs, PAs and NPs, helping tame health care cost inflation)
Are there any other famous Charlizes out there?
I also didn't quite get grand opening --> MEGA. To me, grand opening --> kilo.
Bronze could have been metal or MEDAL. I wanted alloy, but perps wouldn’t allow it.
I’ve only had one experience with a HOVERing waiter. It was at a fancy Chicago restaurant the final night of a technical class with me and a bunch of Bell Telephone employees in attendance. A lot of people (but not me) smoked in those days, and whenever anyone so much as dumped an ash into an ashtray, a waiter was there to clean or replace it. If a diner rose to make a call, visit the washroom or even to make a toast, there was someone there to refold or replace his/her napkin. I found it to be very obnoxious. To paraphrase George and Tammy, I’m not the jet set, I’m the old Cheverolet set.
We Will Rock You is usually played before We ARE the Champions . Until melissa's link, I didn't know it was specifically written with football crowds in mind. Oh, but not the type of football with Cowboys and Eagles, the kind with balls that look like a geodesic dome and a basketball had a child.
Thanks to Josh for the fun Wednesday romp, and to melissa for the interesting and witty write up.
Took 4:34 today for me to roll-over.
Forgot to look for a theme, but it was nice not having those dreaded circles there.
I knew today's actress, Charlize Theron. I didn't know DOA, and I paused for medal/metal.
Yeah, "mega" seems off.
Good Morning! Fun but tricky puzzle today. Thanks, Josh.
I went back to the themers when I saw COMMAND and found them – cute! But I had to come to the Blog to see the rest of the theme. Thanks, Melissa, for the underlying reveal and your recap – loaded with lots of good clips & info.
WOs: stag -> HART
PEEr -> PEEK
I’M Off -> OUT
MEtAL -> MEDAL
DNK: TIM, BEATRICE, AIDY OR NPC. Perps all the way.
I took MEGA as a prefix (opening) synonym for grand.
The mega-fauna of the Pleistocene (think Mammoth, etc.) were large animals. Grand = Mega = Large.
Hola!
Thanks to Josh and Melissa for the midweek entertainment.
DRAT! I don't know what is going on with my computer. All of a sudden it seems to be going off on its own!
Anyway, I enjoyed this solve as it required a little more thinking than usual. And I didn't look for the theme; well I did look but it did not stand out to me. Thank you for that, too, Melissa.
Sigh. I did not even think about AIDY and knew ANDY was wrong but didn't change it. Human Resources" means nothing to me as a title.
MEGA simply emerged and did not make a lot of sense. I appreciate all the efforts to explain it.
Ooh. It's disconcerting to have my mouse jump all over the place.
So, it's Ta-Ta for now. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Nice n easy but again the theme threw me. (Coulda used me some ⚪️⚪️⚪️’s)
Inkover: chum/CHAP
Started to fill MEtAL for “bronze” but it wouldn’t perp (and it’s technically a metal alloy made of mostly metals copper and tin, I hadda LIU 🤓). CHAI latte, a good substitution for a cappuccino.
Mom would give me a “terse summons” when I was ‘bout to get walloped cuz of an “ill advised action”…. YOWIE!! 😳
Never heard of a Tuxedo 🐈⬛ can they even do up a bow tie without opposable thumbs?
<a href="https://youtu.be/IAZKwuNvt8c?si=RZ0kIqMe4sWArRc1“><b>Ted Cruz</b> (AIDY Bryant) visits Sesame St </a>
Depends on the college or uni whether you get “credit” for your AP COURSE. Some are uppity about it. Mine gave the credit and waived the Freshman English course
To the constructor: I josh you not. Yer a good man
Musings
-I had to use the reveal to see the gimmick. Our kitty would ignore all of those commands.
-I liked the Gordon Lightfoot lyric included in your nice recap, Melissa. It was a flat bottomed boat.
-C-TEAM and BRONZE medals both refer to being third best.
-It appears that Nunavut is INUIT and not INCAN. Doh!
-BEATRICE, NE is pronounced bee AT truss not BEE uh truss
-MEGATON became a scary adjective in the atomic age.
-Have you ever said “TO GO” while in the burger drive-thru lane? Uh, me either.
-Joann doesn’t believe I’ll quit subbing ANY DAY now.
-I’M OUT. Our Lemonade used to end his write-up with Lemonade Out.
-Unlike the NFL, college FB games cannot end TIED
Nope, sorry,
just could not parse the commands...
From yest, Lucina,
DW tells me, that of the 4 trips so far to Napa, we did not yet make it to the Brothers winery on the hilltop.
Of the hilltop winery's we have seen, they were all done by private bus, as there is no way you are going to get me on those hilltop roads again without a blindfold...
Case in point, was the short cut road to Muir Woods (a lovely place).
It was SO Steep, with no guardrails, that I thought I might have a heart attack!
scary part starts at 4:30...
The next day, another short cut road we took from Napa to Sonoma was Trinity Road.
It did not help that our friend driving kept reminding us of the time we drove with him and the brakes failed...
Also, that it was Friday the Thirteenth. And when there were any guardrails, they were completely peppered with nice new shiny parts where they were recently replaced...
Pretty simple today. What the across left hanging, the downs filled nicely. MEGA made me cringe, but to call a SPADE a SPADE, I did enjoy this puzzle. I looked, and my PEN NAME turned out to be BIC. Also looked for the theme, but did not find it 'til MB 'splained it. D'OH!
FIR but I couldn’t find the CENTER COMMANDS. I figured one of our fearless, hard working recappers would do the work for me. And sure enough, Melissa, in her great review didn’t disappoint.
I really liked this CW in spite of the few unknowns like AIDY, NPC. I like BEATRICE Webb’s quotation chosen by Melissa.
I had no problem with MEGA, in fact I entered it with no hesitation.
I had never heard of DOA the movie but I’m intrigued.
I try not to BRAVE THE ELEMENTS if at all possible when going shopping. Too many “fearless drivers” to contend with.
Many years ago I had a calico cat. They are usually female and supposedly bring good luck. However what mine liked to bring me were dead lizards.
Who’s a good doggy ? A nice Wednesday jog … thanks Josh …and Melissa for the awesome recap… kkFlorida
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Josh & Melissa.
This puzzle took me 6 minutes longer than Tuesday's. Don't know why. One thing: I kept plunking in "t" instead of "D" in that bronze answer. I just wouldn't accept it wasn't "T". Duh!
Who would name their kid AIDY? Never heard of a "C" team.
Saw the dog commands easily after the reveal. Maybe because my daughter is training two new pups. When I was trying to talk on the phone to her, all I was hearing was "SIT. No, SIT!" She had taken them to the vet and they took off. She fell off the curb and skinned her knees badly. The vet's aid had to help her get them in the car cage and stop her bleeding.
I am not a dog person, but I enjoyed the COMMAND CENTER theme and got all of the COMMANDs.
Hand up about AIDY clearly being wrong. As PK said, who would name a kid AIDY? Turns out it is worse than that. She was named AIDAN, which was a Celtic boy's name meaning "fiery". Apparently someone thought it was OK for a girl, too.
These lovely INUIT people were our hosts in Greenland.
The guy Mike (pronounced Mike-ee) owned the hotel and the helicopter that got us there. The beautiful young lady is named Laila. I asked if she was INUIT and she said INUITs are in Alaska. She said they just call themselves "Greenlanders". But they really are INUITs. The full history of how they came to be there is not yet really understood.
She had gone to live in Denmark for a few years, easy since Greenlanders are Danish citizens. She wanted to stay there, but her mother insisted she come back. She wants to own her own hotel someday.
From Yesterday:
Vidwan Thank you for your very kind words about my KITE festival article and about my friends. My friend Vandana is from what used to be called Allahabad, India. That name sounds Muslim, but my friends are Hindu. But that name Khare was the name of her ex-husband. She is obviously still on good terms with her ex's family. I think it was the Khare family that started the KITE store, so you are probably correct about their ethnic roots!
Wondering Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Josh and melissa.
I FIRed and saw the Commands (but only at the reveal).
(I had to parse correctly to make sense of HOW WAS IT OK NOW)
And you all know that Canadian, Ryan Gosling, should be located at 57D (and EDGE should be on the edge) for the “proper” spelling of CENTRE.
You all beat me to Gordon Lightfoot.
HG- I pronounce BEATRICE as bee-a-triss (with a very short a)
Another hand up for Metal before MEDAL.
No problem with MEGA as a prefix meaning grand or large.
I changed I’m Out to OFF.
Similarly, GET with (it) changed to GET WISE.
We had AGAVE and AVOCADO today, both of which do not darken my shopping cart (the first not available readily here, DH is allergic to the second).
Perps prevented my first thought, Stag, before HART.
Favourite today was the clue for NOTE.
Wishing you all a great day.
Welcome back Melissa! It is good to read you again! Your reviews are always so connected and intersting.
Thanks, Josh, for a fun solve. I am impressed that the commands were exactly in the center, as Melissa pointed out. Nice work!
FAVs: AVOCADO toast, CAT, and Staff member?
It took me a bit to SEE "SEE ME".
HOVER. Restaurants in Japan often have a little button on the table. You push the button if you want the server to come to your table. Otherwise, they leave you alone. I got used to that when I lived there; so when I moved back, it felt like servers were constantly interrupting my meal & conversation, whereas I'm sure the servers felt they were being properly attentive.
I had metal before medal and stag became hare become hart.
My wife and I are huge fans of film noir and DOA is one of the best.
CEDave
I enjoyed your drive but didn't realize it was so curvy! Of course, I did not drive it; my youngest sister, who is fearless, drove and I don't recall too much of it but I was mesmerized at Muir Woods. They are so quiet, cool and beautiful.
And I have not driven up to the Monastery either. When I reached a certain age, the driving was taken over by one of the younger ones. They are in their 70s and still very able.
I do, however, recall visiting a couple of wineries but haven't been back since the fire and I hope it did not cause too much damage.
Lucina,
Curvy?
The video does not do it justice, I was terrified!
A 300 foot drop 6 inches from your car wheels with no guardrail ...
Anywho,
I apologize for yesterdays silly links re the dog legs.
I was just thinking legs, vis a vi, the puzzle.
But, getting cozy with your dog in the bathtub was not my intent...
P.S.,
I was mowing the grass today, and had to stop and shut it down, as I saw a little spaniel running towards me with a loose leash hanging behind, I managed to coax him towards me, but there was no info on his collar.
Not knowing what to do, I hung on to him and called my neighbor, who has lost his Husky (Layla) many times.
(He was in the shower, but came asap to help...)
After about fifteen minutes of what to do, this kid showed up, running down the street, that, I swear, looked like that Boy Scout kid from the movie, "Up."
Turns out the little Spaniel was from two blocks away.
Another adventure, just cutt8ng the grass...
Thank You Josh Goodman, for a nice and doable and easy puzzle, and yipee (!) I even saw the dog commands after filling in the final answer. For a Wednesday, it seemed like an easier than average puzzle, for me.
Thank You Melissa Bee for a very nice and informative blog. Thank you for the cat color charts and the back-story about Beatrice Webb, whom I had not heard about.
Thank you Picard, about the articles on kite flying ... despite the fact, that India makes lots of cheap kites, .. I still believe that the Chinese make the best, the most complicated and the most sophisticated kites... alas, there are too many trees in our housing development, to allow for safe kite flying... and I'm getting too old and lazy, to drive up to the nearest fields and hills.
CED, it was nice of you to wait for the little puppy owner to turn up. Too many people would have just taken it to the animal shelter, where it would have been adopted by someone else ... with further complications.
Have a good rest of the week, all you folks.
I liked this puzzle.
I just completed the Thursday puzzle and it’s not terribly difficult. I think it would be more in the interests of those of us Sundsyvmorning and
Tomorrow (?) todays puzzle would be more of interest to those who watch Sunday afternoon snd Monday night football. The other answers are not too difficult and I completed in my usual time. Three or four names that I was not familiar with ….. have fun you all….
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