Puzzling Thoughts: Happy New Year, Cornerites. I guess that since this is my first blog of 2024 I can still utter this cordial wish. That said, did we have to start the New Year with such a difficult Friday puzzle? Or did you find both the puzzle AND the reveal/theme easy? Well, I didn't. I had a few minutes to collect my thoughts after solving the grid before writing this blog ... and my thought was, "what happened to the puns/wordplay or the add/subtract letter puzzles that were standard Friday fare in 2023"??
So first, let's find out about the collaborators for today's crossword. According to the puzzle editor, this is their debut puzzle at LA Times. Congrat's guys! A quick google check offered this info about them. Maybe if they know about us they'll stop by and give us some more input to how they came up with this puzzle, and about themselves
Today's puzzle has four 10-letter entries and a 14-letter reveal. That's a lot of characters to squeeze into a normal-sized puzzle, let alone one that's a 14x15 square grid (one column short). And because of the number of theme characters, there are a higher-than-normal count (21) of 3-letter answers (sorry, Irish Miss)
So how does this puzzle make sense to its entries and reveal? Here's how: 15-across. TV series that may have high costume budgets: DASH DRAMAS with 22-across. Recording device in a vehicle: PERIOD CAM. If you trade "DASH" (from 15-across) with "PERIOD" (from 26-across) you get "DASH CAM", which is a trademark (corporate symbol) from Garmin Dash Cam™. This supports the clue for 22-across
The "traded" pair becomes "PERIOD DRAMAS" which supports the clue for 15-across, as a period drama is a trademark (defined as "a distinctive characteristic or object) of a TV series that has lavish costumes (this: Marie Antoinette - 2006)
The next "trade" is between 34-across. (Fan-written story that romantically links same-sex characters: BRACKET FICTION) and 46-across. (Office competition during March Madness: SLASH POOL). SLASH FICTION is a common descriptor/trademark of two same sex characters - or as defined by [bustle dot com] "Slash fiction — named for the slash that separates the two main characters in the story description (for example, "Sirius Black/Severus Snape") — is a subgenre of fanfic that focuses on pairing up two characters (usually male) and describing their time together, often explicitly". This is not a phrase that the Chairman was aware of, but crossword puzzles should cater to more than one generation.
BRACKET POOL is a name known to fans of the NCAA "Final Four" men's and women's Basketball Tournament; aka "March Madness". The object here is to amass the most points within your wagering group (in this clue's case, an office of workers) by choosing the most winners within the BRACKET (see diagram). There's more to it than that, but my 2024 resolution was to be more brief in my comments ...
Still confused? If so, please add comments at the bottom. I thought it quite clever once I "got" the gist of it. Here is the grid, and then on to the rest of the clues, briefly ...
Across:
1. Nothing more than: MERE. May I ask d-otto if he got this one? I had something else scribbled into this spot until perps came into focus
5. Software-driven FX: CGI. FX is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. "Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in art, printed media, simulators, videos and video games. These images are either static (i.e. still images) or dynamic (i.e. moving images)." [wikipedia]
8. K-pop band with a community of fans known as ARMY: BTS. The only explanation I could find for this was at [wikipedia]: "BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material." The ARMY part of the clue (I think) is based on ""RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook (band members) will fulfill their required time with the military by enlisting in the army. RM and V will be enlisting according to their respective procedures, while Jimin and Jung Kook are scheduled to enlist together," the statement read." [today dot com]
11. Colombian street snack: AREPA. Also available in Venezuela. I had my first arepa at one of the Autopista (3-down. Stops on the interstate:) REST AREAS located west of Caracas
13. Laptop slot: PORT. PORT, as in a USB Port, e.g. Chairman Moe knows that PORT can also mean a fortified wine
14. Sass: LIP.
17. Alias indicator: AKA. What Chairman Moe is
18. Lag: TRAIL. Follow me on this; don't LAG too far behind ...
19. Uses one's noggin: THINKS.
21. Bun in a bamboo steamer: BAO. This is fast becoming crossword-ese
24. Radish kin: TURNIP. The Chairman loves radishes but can't stand TURNIPs
26. Digging: INTO. A hipster's description
27. "There you __!": ARE. Maybe I should've placed this clue/answer at the end of my blog ...
28. Energy bar brand: CLIF. KIND and LUNA also fit here
30. Crypto-linked collectibles: Abbr.: NFTS. "NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated. NFTs can represent digital or real-world items like artwork and real estate"
38. Mediocre: SO SO. Might some of our followers of this blog describe today's puzzle thusly?
39. "Hey, you!": PSST.
40. Regret: RUE.
41. Like Robin Hood's beneficiaries: POOR. Good clue
44. Military directives: ORDERS.
50. Printing measures longer than ens: EMS. Does anyone else recall when the words "ENS" and "EMS" were part of the crossword puzzle lexicon?
51. Gibson of the "Fast & Furious" films: TYRESE. I had to look this one up
52. Parkinson's drug: L-DOPA. We haven't seen this clue/answer in a published puzzle in a few years; sadly (on a personal note) my mother may have to be prescribed with this as she is exhibiting Parkinson's desease symptoms
54. Do one's part?: ACT. Nice mis-direction; doing one's part - in a play - is ACTing
59. Tax org.: IRS.
60. Regatta equipment: OARS.
61. "Good __!": GRIEF. I witnessed this expression often when watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" during the holiday season
62. Bit of sunshine: RAY. The word "RAY" brought to mind this comedy sketch:
63. Trident-shaped letter: PSI. [wikipedia] "Psi /ˈ(p)saɪ, ˈ(p)siː/ (P)SY, (P)SEE (uppercase Ψ, lowercase ψ or 𝛙; Greek: ψι psi [ˈpsi]) is the twenty-third and penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet and is associated with a numeric value of 700. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ (as in English word "lapse")
64. Like DoorDash meals: TO GO.
Down:
1. Hot under the collar: MAD.
2. Reliever's stat: ERA. As in MLB; a reliever's statistic can also be a "hold" or a "save" but neither of those are abbriviated; ERA = Earned Run Average
4. Writer/director Nora: EPHRON.
5. URL ender: COM. "COM" seemed too obvious, at first; I was thinking that "NET", "EDU", "ORG", or "GOV" might have been the answer
6. Potatoes au __: GRATIN. GRATIN = cheese
7. "I am melting!": IT'S HOT. We don't "melt" here in AZ when IT'S HOT because it's a "dry heat"
8. White vin: BLANC. Your resident sommelier knew this one; BLANC = white. Look at some Champagne bottles: BLANC de BLANCs means "white (juice) of white grapes". BLANC de Noir means "white (juice) of red/black grapes"
9. Marinated tandoor dish: TIKKA. As in, Chicken TIKKA Masala
10. Jerk: SPASM. TIC did not have enough letters
12. Limón who is the first Latina to be Poet Laureate of the United States: ADA.
13. Not very bright: PALE. I tried DULL, first
16. __ effect: RIPPLE.
20. Terse denial: I DON'T. "No" would be an even terser denial, but 2-letter words are verboten in crossword puzzle
21. Pack animal: BURRO.
23. Musical phrases: RIFFS.
24. Can openers: TABS. According to [Industrial Physics dot com] " it was in 1959 – First all-aluminum beer can. Ermal Fraze (Kettring, Ohio) invents the easy open can! 1960 – Easy-open can introduced. 1962 – Beverage can pull-tab was introduced
25. "How nasty": ICK. GROSS didn't fit, thank god!!
29. Genius Bar employee, e.g.: IT PRO.
31. Video game hero who defeats Goombas with flaming projectiles: FIRE MARIO.
Which corresponds with: (33-down. Classic game console, for short:) SNES. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo
32. Around-the-world jaunts: TOURS. Another fill-in-the-blank clue could've been: ___ of duty
35. Thicket: COPSE.
36. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE.
37. Pos. for Lisa Leslie: CTR. Lisa Leslie is a WNBA player who played for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 2009 as a center (CTR). She is 6' 5" tall. The "normal" abbr. for the basketball position of center is "C", so this clue seemed "forced"
42. "You're embarrassing me!": OH,STOP!.
43. Met expectations?: OPERAS. Another clue mis-direction as Met is the nickname for the Metropolitan Opera Company
45. Leave: DEPART. EMBARK also fits
46. Flight unit: STAIR. Not an "airline" flight
47. Wetsuit material: LYCRA.
48. Quirkily creative: ARTSY.
49. Auto pioneer: OLDS. FORD also fits
53. "!!!": OMG. Odd clue; but the perps solved it
56. "Consider This" co-host Shapiro: ARI.
57. Brewpub cask: KEG.
58. OAK alternative: SFO. Airline reference; OAK is the airport code for OAKland; SFO is the airport code for San Francisco
"There you __!": ARE. Please comment below ... brief enough for you??!
47 comments:
Crossing “NFTS”
with “SNES” strikes me as a little “fishy” as does crossing “BTS” and “Tikka.” This puzzle, as a whole, didn’t seem very easy to me, though of course others may disagree. To me, it definitely seemed Friday-worthy. I started off with quite a bit of “white space” but gradually got it to come together. FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
Good morning!
Sorry, C-Moe, d-o immediately inked in MERE at 1a. That C/A combo has appeared before. But, true to form, d-o didn't get the theme. The themers didn't seem to make any sense. At one point I thought BRACKET would go better with POOL, but never took it any further. D'oh, I could'a been a contendah. In my defense, I couldn't see how SLASH would fit with any of 'em. Interesting puzzle, Aidan and Nate, but too esoteric for moi. Glad you were able to figure it all out, C-Moe.
TABS: Those pull tabs were supposed to be God's gift to beerholics -- no opener required. In '75, after a few people had died from swallowing the tabs, and communities complained about the metal litter, they were phased out.
FIW, missing the guess at my Natick AREPi x iDA. Erased baa for BAO (which saved EPHRON,) and licks for RIFFS.
Today is:
NATIONAL BIRD DAY (“bird” has a different meaning in the UK)
NATIONAL WHIPPED CREAM DAY (I had the album Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. I think I bought it more for the album cover than the music.)
NATIONAL SCREENWRITERS DAY (AI may make them go the way of secretaries)
NATIONAL KETO DAY (oh c’mon – what’s next, National Beanie Baby day?)
I REALLY wanted the fill for "Limon" to be "Lulu."
Remember when Coors had the little punch-down circles instead of pull tabs? I still have one of the little red plastic tools that made opening the cans easier.
The last wet suit I bought was made of neoprene. I no longer dive, but a school chum still does at our advanced age.
CSO to Bayou Tony and family at SFO. The bridge is prettier than the airport.
FLN - Darren - Sudoku has nothing to do with math. The game would work just as well using A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I instead of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.
I may have liked this one if I had heard of BRACKET POOL and SLASH FICTION. I've been part of many a March Madness pool, but never heard it called that. And SLASH FICTION sounds like a blood-and-gore genre. But I did like our Chairman's explanation of the grid.
Pretty quickly saw I wouldn't be able to solve this on my own so I resorted to reveals for the foods from other countries and the names I didn't know. Finally had enough to get the theme and fill in the rest. No joy here.
Got 'er done with perps and red letters but the theme was a total mystery. I thought the Jan 1st puzzle was the easiest of 2024, this was the toughest.
Good Morning:
I thought this was an extremely clever theme, which I noticed as soon as I filled in Period Cam and when looked back at Dash Dramas, it hit me: Dash Cam + Period Dramas. Okay, we're "trading" words to fit the correct phrases but it wasn't until I saw the reveal, Trade Marks, that I realized the traded words were all punctuation marks: Dash, Period, Bracket, Slash. A+ for the theme. However, demerits for the theme phrases that made no sense, the plethora of unknown or too specific entries, i.e. Bao, Arepa, Tikka, BTS, Ada, Fire Mario, SNES, Ctr, as clued, Slash Fiction, Clif, and Tyrese. Granted, some of these have appeared in previous puzzles but to have so many in one offering is off-putting, IMO, as was the high three letter word count. I finished w/o help in normal time, but with little solving enjoyment or satisfaction.
Thanks, Aidan and Nate, and thanks, Moe, for the clear, detailed explanation of the theme. I missed your trademark (Ha,) Moe-kus!
Have a great day.
I thought this was a fun, amusing theme - though needed the reveal to go back and finish the trades quickly that were on pause for perps!
BTS K-Pop group of followers is called ARMY - like Taylor Swift's fan are called Swifties and Justin Bieber's followers are called Beliebers. They have over 70 million fans following them on Instagram
FX is shortened way to mean special effects- so movies use CGI for that especially in super hero blockbusters like The Avengers.
I've got a meeting so will just thank CM for the fun blog and congrats to Aidan & Nate for the debut puzzle!
FIW. I couldn't remember BTS and have never heard of tikka. Their crossing failed me. Also took a WAG at the crossing of arepa and Ada; I guessed Ida.
The theme was a mystery to me, and even after having it explained I am still scratching my head. Yes I get it, but.....
This has to be the hardest Friday puzzle in my memory. And to be honest, no fun at all.
Off-topic:
It's kind of sad not to have a Jumble blog to check out any more.
Chicken Tikka Masala is one of our favorite dishes when we dine out at an Indian restaurant.
And I know BTS from previous puzzles.
That helped grab hold of the northeast corner and it was a steady fill from there.
I slowly FIR but was scratching my head to make sense of the theme until I dropped into the “corner” and CMoe’s explanation put it all into perspective.
Thanks Aiden and Nate.
Aiden is 24 years old and Nate is an upper school science teacher.
Well done on a clever theme and fresh fill. Nice to be challenged by younger puzzle constructors.
…. kkFlorida
The ‘24 in the article means I graduate high school in 2024. I’m 17. :)
Thanks for solving!
Aidan - You’re 17 years old and already a crosswords constuctor? That’s amazing! You really put us “old fogies” to shame!
In spite of not knowing what the hell was going on with the theme clues I managed to get them. But I'll call it a DNF for a blank square left at the cross of AREPA & ADA. Could have been IDA or ADA or ODA and AREPA was unknown. You know it or you don't
SLASH FICTION- never heard of it
BRACKET POOL- I don't gamble but have heard the saying
PERIOD DRAMA- IMHO, those costumes look suspect. The vibrant colors from artificial dyes and polyester didn't exist way back when.
DASH CAM- I've always wondered why the mfgs. don't automatically record your driving since they install the cameras on almost all automobiles. My Toyota only has back-up camera, granddaughter's Honda has back-up and a side camera that shows the blind spot when the turn signal is turned on, and DW's Mercedes has at least four.
TIKKA, OMG, TYRESE, CTR- unknowns filled by perps
I knew of MARIO but it took perps to get FIRE for this unknown close to its SNES console I'd never known.
d-otto, when those pull tabs were first out some people figured the ring was the same size as one of the coins used in my city's parking meters. They would fill up the maximum time with the tabs, followed by two pennies (which showed in the window of the meter). No meter maid could tell and when the meters were emptied they were full of pop-tops.
Jinx- Coors didn't sell east of Texas in those days. That's why Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed went to Texarkana to get Coors Beer in "Smoky and The Bandit". But as Anon-T knows Shreveport was only 15 miles from Texas.
BTS- joins Enya, Ott, Orr, Alai, IMHO, OMG and many others as crossword staples.
Wow… that’s awesome. Congrats on your LATimes debut!!
Musings
-DASH with CAM two lines below should have led me to suspect something but the oh so clever gimmick finally hit me for a “got ‘er done”
-BRACKET POOL stood out but even with Moe’s detailed explanation, SLASH FICTION seems “out there”
-I always wonder if Patti and constructors keep working to try to reconcile B_S/_IKKA or just accept that confluence without question. I know Patti will never let us see behind the curtain.
-The original 1933 King Kong had no CGI and brilliantly used low-tech Claymation
-One complaint I have about my MacBook Pro is that it removed the HDMI port
-Methinks Robin Hood skimmed a little off the top of the POOR’s money
-The two marines in A Few Good Men were just following ORDERS
-A trailer for a fabulous movie that uses L-DOPA dramatically
-The older I get, the more I like this poem by ADA
-Wow! I’ve got socks older than Aidan. Well done, my friend!
Hand up the challenge was to figure out the theme and then it started to fall in place. Hand up SLASH FICTION made no sense even when it appeared. Apparently it originated in Star Trek with the relationship between Kirk and Spock. I guess you have to be gay to see that, since it makes no sense to me. Batman and Robin I might believe.
TYRESE just looked wrong. ESP. The Natick crossing for me was AREPA/ADA. WAG to FIR.
Jinx I also thought my usual wet suit for our cold Pacific was Neoprene, but it would not fit.
Here I was in a LYCRA outfit in the Red Sea.
From Yesterday:
Lucina Thank you for the kind words about my travels. You also seem to get around!
sumdaze Thank you for quoting me about the theme. I was being diplomatic. I really do not like themes where the theme is about the clues rather than the answers. Not UNdecided!
Total defeat. I just couldn’t get into this puzzle. I’m still not sure how it works, but that’s OK.
C-Moe made a valiant effort at explaining the theme.
Pull TABS are fine on drink cans, but they are dangerous on food cans. Last month I tried to open a 5oz tuna can with a pull tab. It opened part way then stopped. I yanked on it and it gave, the lid flew in the air and that very sharp edge landed at the inner base of my thumb drawing a lot of blood. Thank goodness I was near the sink. Needless to say I won’t buy tuna cans with a pull tab. I have a very handy Oxo can opener.
Puzzling thoughts II:
Irish Miss @ 8:08 -> thanks for catching the (obvious, now) real theme which is trading the [punctuation] marks. Doh! Here I was trying to parse deeper ... DASH CAM threw me off as it is a trademark (insert the "tm") of Garmin. And the word "trademark" can mean "characteristic". But I clearly never saw just the DASH (-), PERIOD (.), BRACKET ([]), and SLASH (/). And you questioned why - the other day - you should be paid attention to by crossword puzzle constructors ... ;^) Thanks for catching that and mentioning here on the Blog
And just for you - since I omitted them from the recap - here is a Moe-ku:
Impersonator
Of a harp asked, "Did you just
Call me a lyre??!"
Sandyanon @ 8:47 -> did I miss something about the Jumble blog? I haven't gone there in a few months to check things out and was unaware that it was no longer active. I know that Misty and OMK were frequent visitors, as was Wilbur Charles (may he, and Keith RIP). Come to think of it, I haven't seen Owen here in a long time ... did I miss something about him? Is he OK?
Getting old sucks
Aidan Deshong @ 9:14 -> thanks for the brief visit to "rub in" the fact that you are only 17 years young ... (!!!) ;^). Please stop by later to add more insight to your puzzle (if you want). Maybe if you have a study hall later this afternoon, and you're not busy doing homework??!
An aside to TTP (whom I hope is lurking about): do you realize that the Steelers, with a win tomorrow, would have the best record in the AFC North and may still not make the playoffs, depending on the outcome of Sunday's games? Coach "Cliche" will most likely get another 5-10 year contract extension, and our Black and Gold team will drift into mediocrity
(Said with TFPIC)
I enjoyed the puzzle and did get the theme. Missed the T in BRS and Tikka and the A in Arepa and Ada. I had an I. Otherwise it was fun, well done. I'm impressed. GC
Clever puzzle! Too clever by half for me! The NE did me in, as well as a couple of bad WAGs in other spots. Theme? Could not grok it. CMoes explanation got a big Aha! Oh, well. First DNF of the new year. Had to happen eventually!
Aidan Deshong @ 9:14, the publishing of your puzzle speaks well of you, and even better of your parents. Congrats.
FIR, but the list of unknowns was long, and I would have DNF’d if the missus hadn’t known CLIF and NFTS. The gimmick was a mish-mash if you don’t know what SLASH FICTION is or think PERIOD DRAMAS could have been just about anything. The swap of “corporate symbols” reminded me of a joke from the days when ethnic humor wasn’t consider too un-PC:
TOP BANANA: “What do the numbers 1476 and 1792 mean to you?”
STRAIGHT MAN: Well, if you mean 1492 and 1776, I’d say . . .”
TOP BANANA, interrupting: “Actually, those are adjoining rooms at the Warsaw Hilton.”
I did like four fills – AREPA, L-DOPA, COPSE AND ISOLDE, and I would have liked RIFF if the definition hadn’t been so much more apt for “lick,” which is just a phrase, whereas a RIFF is a full-blow motif that is frequently more like a paragraph than a phrase.
Unknowns in addition to the two my wife knew were the K-Pop group (or any K-Pop groups), FIREMARIO (SuperMario didn’t fit), TYRESE and SNES, and the puzzle had several of those dialogue entries in quotes that don’t parse as well as Patti obvious thinks they do, such as OH, STOP, which are dependent on perps. Another quibble: EMS are units of width, not length.
Had “dull” before PALE, which stymied me a lot.
All of this in a Friday puzzle that reminded me we haven’t seen Jeffrey Wechsler for a while.
Hola!
"Too clever by half" for me, too. I did well until DASH DRAMAS which I still don't understand. Also, RIFFS as musical phrases. That is something you know or you don't know and I don't.
And the clue for BRACKET FICTION makes no sense to me. Is there a hidden meaning to BRACKET?
CMOE, thank you. Without your explanation this puzzle would have been impossible to understand and I'm not sure that I do, at least, not completely.
So now we, I, anyway, are/am being outsmarted by the younger generation. Maybe they will be smart enough to run the world better than ours has.
At least my brain got a good workout. Have a lovely day, everyone!
FWIW, I ran SLASH FICTION by all the English/Literature teachers here as school today, ranging in age from 28 - 50. They had never heard of the phrase and indicated they had no interest in doing any reading in that genre. BTS/TIKKA also made them shake their heads.
Lucina @ 12:10 -> as much as I would like to take credit for figuring out the puzzle's meaning today, the real solver was Irish Miss. The constructor(s) were trading (punctuation) marks that were a part of each of the entries. The words DASH (-), PERIOD (.), BRACKET ([]), and SLASH (/), refer to "MARKS"
BRACKET FICTION isn't supposed to "make sense", any more than the others ... until you trade each "mark" with the other one below it
Regarding the younger generation outsmarting us ... and I don't want to get TOO political here ... but until the Gen X's and younger figure out how to position and elevate one of their own, we may be resigned to having another Presidential election between two octogenarians later this year. And that doesn't thrill the Chairman ... at all
I shake my head when I hear of some of the ethnic foods people in red states haven't heard of. Tikka is not obscure to anyone who has actually dined at an Indian restaurant.
Greetings! This was a google-assisted puzzle at about the 90% mark.
Perps were not much help with ADA crossing AREPA crossing DRAMAS. If I had gotten RIFFS that would have filled PERIOD and CLIF, but as it is, I was glad to have finished.
WO: Dull -> PALE; I'm out -> I DON’T which gave me _FTS -> NFTS.
F -> S for SLASH POOL, shoulda seen that one but didn’t go back to check STAIR
DNK: TYRESE which I then WAGged LYCRA
Perps for TIKKA, SNES, CTR, FIRE MARIO
I never saw the theme, but I that point I was just glad to be done.
Thanks, C-Moe for ‘splaining it all. “Johnson” is a classic comedy routine which I haven’t seen it in decades, but always one of my favorites 🤣🤣🤣!
Interesting Friday toughie, but still fun--many thanks, Aidan and Nate. And thank you, too, for your helpful commentary, Moe.
The theme of this puzzle completely alluded me, but there were still enough manageable items to make it doable and enjoyable. I thought it was particularly nice to find a series of what I might call little "travel items" in the puzzle: TRAIL, TOURS, DEPART, REST AREA, PORT, OARS. Maybe a BURRO could even help us out on this trip.
Sandyanon, thank you for mentioning your regret about the Jumble blog. We managed to keep it going even without Owen (not sure what happened to him), but losing Ol'Man Keith so suddenly has been a real tragedy. CanadianEh! and I are thinking of continuing sharing Jumble comments a few days a week on e-mail, so maybe check in with us.
Have a good weekend, everybody.
Hi All!
Perps were kind - until they weren't. FIW at 36d xing 52a. I put in an I.
Thanks Aidan & Nate for the puzzle. Thanks Aidan for dropping by The Corner. Fun theme and punctuation MARKS is brilliant!, but, um, what IM said re: cluing / fill.
17yrs old, eh? - I had my mind on games and programming then; that is until I met my future wife ;-)
C.Moe - thanks for taking us through the grid explaining the unknows. You can call me Ray never gets old.
I think you missed a bit re: BTS Army. Think KISS Army (rabid fans of KISS) back in the '70's. //inanehiker's with me.
WOs: Phi -> PSI
ESPs: [see: FIW], AREPA | ADA, TYRESE | COPSE,
Fav: Stair's clue was cute.
Misty - I think OKL also passed. If anyone wants to take over the Jumble, I might have enough access to add you (I haven't really tried yet).
Picard - LOL "Batman and Robin I might believe." Re: Red Sea pic - of course you had a colorful shirt ;-)
Pull-Tabs: one summer with (paternal) Grands, I collected enough pull-tabs from Old Milwaukee cans to make a 7' diameter peace sign for my bedroom wall.
So, What the Hell is an NFT? [SNL]
Cheers, -T
Moe @ 11:21 ~ Thanks for the cute Moe-ku and your kind words. 😉
Dash-T, no matter how many times I see that skit, I still don't know what the hell an NFT is.
Chairman Moe @11:21 --
I didn't post often at all on the jumble blog, but did view it every day. Lately it was just OMK, Misty and CEh posting, and OMK was the one whom Owen had taught to update it every day. Owen had been ill and no longer felt up to it. Stopped hearing from him and have no idea whether he's still ok or not.
I'm pretty sure the blog is defunct, permanently. Unless someone else wants to maintain it and knows how?
Puzzle: groan! THanks, Moe! Still don't get the theme, even with Agnes' input. I filled 'er.
One I certainly knew: L-DOPA. My mother had Parkinson's and we had an awful time trying to get the right L-DOPA dosage. She kept begging the doctor for more medicine which gave her horrible side effects until I finally got her into the doctor when they were the worst. My brother also had Parkinson's. Death was a blessing for both of them. Don't need a reminder of those days in a supposed to be "fun" crossword puzzle.
DNF … the theme? thought it was a combo of vertical and perpendicular words like MADDASHDRAMAS. Hadda read the explanation a cupla times. I was kyna PSST till I realized that Aiden is 17. Bet he composed the puzzle while simultaneously playing FIREMARIO and texting friends. Good job you young whippersnapper.
“Bit ‘o sunshine” RAY : I’ll give myself a CSO
Inkovers: only/MERE, eew/ICK,
Ana/ADA,
Why should anyone care what color “Vincent” is (ohhhh, never mind). “Potatoes”(where’s Dan Quayle when you need him?) “au” GRATIN or as I like to call them all rotten
“Bun in a bamboo steamer. ”Colloquialism when an Asian woman is pregnant? Colombian Street snack? AREPA: Think it’s a prior CW entry mostly perped.
The newly built replacement REST AREAS on The NYS Thruway are a disaster, too small, cramped, crowded, endless lines. Then, of all the fast food franchises, they picked Chick-fil-A which is closed on Sundays, one of the busiest travel days..
Snowing hard. Up to now hardly snowing
So, it wasn't I WONT, it was I DONT.
I learned that the TURNIP is related to the radish. I always thought it was related to the parsnip. Or to the beet. Or to the rutabaga. Maybe they're all related to each other.
Total unknowns to me:
AREPA, CLIF, SLASH FICTION, TYRESE.
This was much harder than yesterday but a more traditional themed puzzle. I must mention that AOC is much more than what one of the regulars said about her yesterday: Medicare For All · Housing As a Human Right · A Peace Economy · Justice for Workers & Small Businesses. Those are not unpopular goals.
I must reply to Copy editor @ 12:47 pm. There are lots of small towns in any color state that do not have Indian restaurants.q
A Rest Area is any Interstate exit with multiple gas stations that have clean restrooms and restaurants. Bucee's is the absolute best. No competition comes close. Chik-Fil-A is closest second.
Thank you Aiden and Nate for the Friday challenge. I had a one letter Natick swagging an I for an A at 12D. Still there was lots of good stuff, but I couldn't make any sense of the theme.
And thank you MOE for the thematic explication. Another straw I didn't draw this week, so like SG I'm happy and relieved.
A few favs:
24A TURNIP. Dug fresh from the ground, sliced thinly, and served in a salad they're very close to a radish in flavor.
62A RAY. A CSO to our Raphael.
5D BLANC. Also the man of a thousand voices, MEL!
Th' th' that's all folks!
Cheers,
Bill
Copy Editor, let's leave red state/blue state politics alone here. The smell of Indian food makes me nauseous. I have no interest in learning menu items on Indian restaurant menus. I'll bet you can't guess what color state I live in.
Sandyanon,
CanadianEh! is busy taking care of her grandchildren today, and said she would not be able to e-mail today. But if you could send her your e-mail address, maybe we could all have a discussion about possibilities of continuing to maintain some version of our Jumble blog on e-mail. I'm just so happy to hear that you checked in with our blog everyday, and am just so sorry that we lost Ol' Man Keith. I'll try to work on sending a condolence message to his wife Janice from all of us.
Chairman Moe, thank you too for mentioning that you used to check in on our blog, and if you have any suggestions on how to maintain it, please let us know.
Misty, I don't like to post my actual email address online. Bu you can check my info and send me something if you wish. CEh has no email contact info listed that I know of. Nor do you?
Thanks to Aiden and Nate for a fun Friday challenge and congrats on your debut! I saw the TRADE gimick but missed the -.]/ aspect. Very clever!! Apparently I missed the MARK. Haha! One has to get up pretty early to get one past IM.
FAV: Met expectations?
I had a FIW at ISOLiE X LiOPA (Hi -T!)
I was rooting for you, C-Echo!
Thanks to C-Moe for his explanations! RE: radishes and turnips...do you like daikon? To me, it's milder than some radishes and delicious both raw and cooked. Also pretty easy to grow in a garden.
Sandyanon- I’ll be in touch with you when I get a chance over the weekend.
Not the best puzzle ever. Guess you can make anything fit.
True, it ain’t “math” per se, but it’s still a numbers puzzle to me, Jinx 😆👍🏽
====> Darren
PS — I’ve never owned any LYCRA wetsuits either…
My first opinion as I made my way through this was that it was very SO-SO; but, as C-Moe likes to say, once the V8 can hit, I was having more fun with it. The NW corner was a buggah until I finally accepted MERE as a match for the clue. A very clever theme, a well-built CW with some pretty snazzy misdirection in the clues (I’m looking at you, “Do one’s part”). Nice job, boys! 🤙🏽
+1 on FX, as in movie-speak for “special effects”; that used to be a high-talent specialty in the biz, but now it’s largely the domain of keyboard jocks. It was more fun, I think, when we actually got to blow up stuff (“You were only supposed to blow the bloody DOORS off!!” — “The Italian Job”
1969 😎).
One last thing: I’m really getting weary of seeing ISOLDE in crosswords; time to retire her, imho. The poor girl is more famous for appearing in grids than on the opera stage, fer Pete’s sake!!
====> Darren / L.A.
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