Title: "Signs of the Time" - The first part of each theme entry is a Vietnam Zodiac animal.
23. *Canaries: RAT FINKS.
24. *Bar food served with blue cheese and vegetable sticks: BUFFALO WINGS.
36. *Orange flowers that represent wealth in some Asian traditions: TIGER LILIES.
43. *"Peace Train" singer: CAT STEVENS.
49. *Atlanta event for sci-fi fans: DRAGONCON.
65. *Sacred Hopi ritual: SNAKE DANCE.
71. *Western, slangily: HORSE OPERA.
90. *Absurdly chaotic situation: GOAT RODEO.
92. *Playground fixture: MONKEY BARS.
98. *Spray behind a speedboat: ROOSTER TAIL.
113. *Sheet with a folded corner: DOG-EARED PAGE.
116. *Ashtray for trash, e.g.: PIG LATIN.
Reveal:
126. Vietnamese New Year, which is represented by the Zodiac animals at the starts of the answers to the starred clues: TET.
I
originally submitted RAT RACES, Patti thought the plural form was
awkward and suggested RAT FINKS instead. She also redid the section
between CAT STEVENS & HORSE OPERA. Can you guess why? I think I know
the problem.
Ten of the Vietnamese zodiac animals are the same as the Chinese ones, but they
have buffalo and cat instead of rabbit and ox.
Across:
1. Muscles toned by planks: ABS.
4. Does, e.g.: SHES.
8. Goes out swinging?: GOLFS. I like Ben Hogan's swing.
13. Longest reptile in the world: PYTHON.
19. "Gosh, that was a long time ago": I FEEL OLD.
21. Buck in the Baseball Hall of Fame: O'NEIL. Looks who's behind O'Neil.
22. Bring back on board: RE-HIRE.
26. Gets slippery: ICES UP.
28. Patronize, as a hotel: STAY AT. 42. Really bothered: ATE AT. Dupes.
29. Hush-hush docs: NDAS.
30. Bundle of hay: BALE.
32. Caustic cleaners: LYES.
34. Enter stealthily: SNEAK IN.
40. __ Domani: Italian wine brand: ECCO.
41. Promising letters?: IOU.
52. Actress Shawkat: ALIA.
53. Museum item: RELIC.
54. "Thumbs up" answers: YESES.
55. Smashing success: HIT.
56. Provided at no cost: COMPED.
59. Wealthy: RICH.
60. "r u coming soon?": ETA.
62. Call to the on-deck circle: BATTER UP. 106. Some ballpark figs.: ERAS.
64. Beads on blades: DEW.
73. "One Mississippi" star Notaro: TIG.
74. Dulse and nori seaweeds, e.g.: RED ALGAE.
76. __-mo video: SLO.
77. Coup target: ETAT.
79. "You can't do that!": NO FAIR.
80. Aggravate: IRK.
83. Top-tier celebs: A LIST.
87. Basic font: ARIAL.
89. Window shade: TINT.
95. Russian crepes: BLINI.
96. Short "Stop!": TMI. Patti's clue.
97. Vinaigrette acronym: EVOO. Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
101. Act omnipotent: PLAY GOD.
104. Burkina __: FASO.
105. Assns.: ORGS.
107. Total accord: UNISON.
109. Mogadishu resident: SOMALI.
120. "Let me rephrase that ... ": I MEANT.
121. Appointed: NAMED.
122. Soul mate: TRUE LOVE.
123. Sandwiches made with bolillos: TORTAS.
124. Secret rendezvous: TRYST.
125. Black bit inside a papaya: SEED. Ripe papaya of course. The
inside of a green papaya is like this. And you all know I love green
papaya salad. Mild. No peppers please.
Down:
2. Graphic designer's deg.: BFA.
3. Part of a match: SET.
4. Deli apparatus: SLICER.
5. Fine-tune: HONE.
6. Community group with a deer logo: ELKS.
7. SoCal campus with Mission Revival architecture: SDSU. San Diego State University.
8. Lump of goo: GOB.
9. Heavy loads: ONUSES.
10. Some boxing punches: LEFTS.
11. World Cup overseer: Abbr.: FIFA.
12. Leaves in stitches: SLAYS.
13. Safeguard: PROTECT.
14. Tree with flexible wood: YEW.
15. Weigh, in a way: THINK OVER.
16. Main language of India: HINDI.
17. Heart, but not soul: ORGAN.
18. Legendary loch: NESS.
20. Use TurboTax, perhaps: E-FILE. Have not bought the 2023 version yet.
25. Pool divisions: LANES. What's the temp in your local pool, Glenn/Renee/Wendy? Ours is 79F (I used to think it's 80F). And it was 76.5 on Friday. They
were replacing the pump.
27. Easily influenced: PLIANT.
30. "Free your pores" brand: BIORE.
31. __ frescas: fruity Mexican drinks: AGUAS.
33. So far: YET.
35. Maker of eco-friendly Vero computers: ACER.
36. Neat and clean: TIDY.
37. PC hookup: LAN.
38. Rash symptom: ITCH.
39. Sainted pope called "the Great": LEO I.
43. Put into gear?: CLOTHE.
44. Have the intention of: AIM TO.
45. Thin candle: TAPER.
46. Drop in pronunciation: ELIDE.
47. More pleasant: NICER.
48. Phonetic symbol: SCHWA.
50. __ Squad: Best Buy tech support team: GEEK.
51. KitchenAid rival: OSTER.
52. Covered California statute, for short: ACA.
57. Critical-care ctrs.: ERS.
58. Club fees: DUES.
61. Major Yemen port: ADEN.
62. Starts: BEGINS.
63. Quite cold: POLAR. Not cold here. Been an incredibly mild winter.
65. Cook dim sum, say: STEAM. The three squares on the top left
are taro cakes, traditional Spring Festival food in Guangzhou. I'm going
to make them next Saturday.
66. Part of TNT: NITRO.
67. "Encore!": AGAIN.
68. Big deal: ADO.
69. Trade pact from 1994 to 2020: NAFTA.
70. Debussy's "__ de lune": CLAIR.
72. Casual collared shirt: POLO.
75. Sketchy subject?: ART.
78. Waiting room directive: TAKE A SEAT. Not many snazzy fill in the grid. 12 theme entries & a short reveal in the exact order is demanding.
80. Digs in the snow: IGLOOS.
81. Versailles residents: ROIS.
82. Philosopher Immanuel: KANT.
84. Pet pendant: ID TAG.
85. Tractor-trailers: SEMIS.
86. Plug away (at): TOIL.
88. Impose, as a tax: LEVY.
91. Hair __: TIE.
93. Cultured products?: YOGURTS.
94. Bret with four Gold Gloves: BOONE. Sorry for another name. Bret Boone was at his height when I arrived in the US. I was following Ichiro then.
95. Red Sox, on scoreboards: BOS.
98. Hot spots: RANGES.
99. Got going: ROLLED.
100. "Judge Judy" event: TRIAL.
101. Product pitch: PROMO.
102. Light brew: LAGER.
103. Failed to: DIDN'T.
104. Like bubble baths: FOAMY.
106. Make a long story short?: EDIT.
108. Trade jabs: SPAR.
110. Makes a choice: OPTS.
111. Bog down: MIRE.
112. Shivering fit: AGUE. Patti's least favorite entry in the grid.
114. "Blonde" star de Armas: ANA.
115. Summer hrs. in Philly: EDT.
117. Kiddo: TOT.
118. "Or so __ heard": I'VE.
119. Pickleball need: NET.
Belated "Happy Birthday" to Bill G. How's everything, Bill? How's Jordan?
Here is a picture of Barbara, Bill and their three grandkids. This picture was taken a while ago when Bill still went out daily for his bike ride and coffee.
My friend Lesley sent me these few pictures from the festive Guangzhou. The second one is a winter plum tree.
34 comments:
I saw all the animals, but didn’t know what they had in common until the reveal. Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle, which I found quite clever. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got through this one, but not without some WAGs: bioRe/dRagon (could'a been DIAGON as in Harry Potter), Aca/Alia (Why California?), anA/tortAs. Failed to read the full reveal clue, so I didn't realize the significance of the animals. I remember the TET of 1968 -- it was offensive. Thanx, CC for the amusement and the explication.
I overnighted in Guangzhou back in the '80s on my way from Hong Kong to Sanya at the southern tip of Hainan Island. Unfortunately it was just the one night, and there was an early morning flight, so I didn't get to see much of the city. In my ute we called it Canton.
Congratulations C.C. but it was a DNF today. 52A&D was one letter short for me. The ACA, aka Obamacare, is a Federal, not California statute and I had no idea who ALIA Shawkat was. But since the lovely Commander in Chief(aka C.C.) did the puzzle I won't say NO FAIR.
I noticed the animals immediately and figured it would be the Chinese, not Vietnamese, zodiac. Any difference? Filling the animals was easy but DRAGONCON was an unknown.
TIG and One 'Mississippi', the RED half of ALGAE, TORTAS and bolillos, SNAKE DANCE, & BOONE were other perped unknowns.
After two surgeries in the last six weeks I FEEL OLD.
ECCO Domani was unknown but I had to ditch a pair of Ecco shoes this week; the soles fell apart and they were unrepairable. Ticks me off because the were only seven years old, only wore them to weddings and funerals, and hoped they would be the last dress shoes I would ever buy.
Buck O'NEIL I knew but why was BOOMER on the field?
DW's BFF is Marilyn FINKE. My broker's asst. is Jennifer VINCKE(Dutch). But I wouldn't call either a RAT FINK. "Can you guess why? I think I know the problem." NO.
I live at 23 Melrose; my Vietnamese neighbor Hoang is across the street at 24 Melrose
My cardiologist Than is Vietnamese.
My old tennis partner Bach is Vietnamese.
My wife's hair dresser Ha is Vietnamese. Ha's daughter came over for Christmas.
The LAST phone book for New Orleans listed more people named NGUYEN than Smith.
Harmon Killebrew is a HOF and one of CC’s heroes
FIR. But I found today's puzzle had a little bite to it. The crossing of ACA and Alia was just cruel. I took a WAG to fill it in. And is it just me or were there an awful lot of two word answers today, most ending with small prepositions like up, in, or at.
I got the theme early and was straining my brain to remember all the animals in the Chinese zodiac. But I must say I never heard of dragon con or goat rodeo. Thank goodness I remembered the animals.
BATTER UP is NOT "call to the on deck circle". Call FROM the on deck circle would be correct. Some pair of constructor and editor really don't understand this baseball concept, because we had something like this in the last month or two. Don't use baseball terms if you don't understand them!
Very enjoyable Sunday fare, showcasing the talents of the matriarch of the Corner! To fit all 12 animals of the Vietnamese Zodiac in one grid is pretty good stuff! I too assumed it was referencing the Chinese calendar till the reveal, and the expo explained the 2 animal difference. Only had a few DKN’s, ALIA and TORTAS. FIR in just under 23 minutes which is a good Sunday time for me. Thank you C.C. For the puzzle AND the write-up 😊
Took 15:03 for me to round up the animals.
I didn't know today's actress (Alia), this weekend's food (tortas), or the Italian wine brand (ecco). Well, I knew Tig, but think of her as a comedienne, even when she's acting.
Dragon Con and Goat Rodeo were also learning moments.
Ashtray for tray was beyond me.
Some tricky clues, but I got everything eventually. I really liked the theme and got it early.
But wouldn't pig latin for trash be rashtay? I thought you only shifted the first letter (of course, there was no high school english lesson on pig latin growing up!)
I saw Cat Stevens when he did a concert at my college in the early 70s. I feel old!
The call usually comes FROM the home plate umpire TO the next batter no matter where he is standing, not necessarily to the on-deck circle. He may be standing near the batter box as well, often at the beginning of an inning.
Lee @9:13. OK, I can see that, thank you. The way I was reading it is that the player is being called TO (go to) the on deck circle. I don't like the ambiguous meaning of "to", but I guess that's crosswords.
FIW, missing my guess at Natick TOTiS x ANi.
Today is:
NATIONAL THANK A MAIL CARRIER DAY (thanks, but I could make do with delivery 3 times per week)
NATIONAL CREATE A VACUUM DAY (well this day really sucks)
NATIONAL HEMP DAY (great for making rope. Sure.)
NATIONAL HOMEMADE SOUP DAY (if I partook of National Hemp Day I would probably make pizza soup)
You can't spend much time in Florida without being told that the PYTHON is the longest reptile.
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth made a career of RAT FINK. His web site is, of course, RATFINK.com
ATE AT can be parsed differently.
I knew EVOO is one of those many things I know only from crosswords.
Some Foreigner wrote:
"Now it's up to you, can we make a secret rendezvous?
Oh, before we do, you'll have to get away from you know who"
ERS as known by patients and crossword solvers. EDS as known by those who work there.
"Kentuckian" was too long for Versailles residents. In Woodford County they pronounces it ver-SAILS. Tourists laugh, but they think it's fine for Bourbon County residents to pronounce their county seat PAIR-is.
"Hot spots" for RANGE could have been "Hotpoint."
Thanks to CC for your fun work today.
FIR .Nice puzzle today. Very entertaining. C.C. is doing double duty today.
Ecco domani Pino Grigio is one of my favorite Italian white wines.
ChickenWINGS was my only false entry today. Rest of the puzzle came easily since the theme involved animal names. Would it be "s" or "e" for REDALGA?. TRUE LIES turned to TRUELOVE when the perps appeared.
When all is said and done, who will remember but your friends?
Retreat.
I loved, loved this puzzle. I had fun finding the animals. When I heedlessly entered chicken WINGS, I was called back to reality and entered BUFFALO, but I didn’t expect to encounter one as part of the zodiac. I was born in the year of the SNAKE.
There are so many ways to clue DEW. I particularly liked beads on blades, then next to it is DUES.
This CW had to have been quite difficult to create IMHO.
Of course C.C. would think of pool LANES.
Good Morning:
Puzzles focusing on animals (great and small) are definitely winners in my book and today's is especially fun as it celebrates a culture our leader understands. Like others, I assumed the animals were related to the Chinese Zodiac, but Buffalo and Goat struck me as being out of place. Another surprise was the brief three letter reveal, but it was very spot on. Snake Dance, DragonCon, Goat Rodeo, and Rooster Tail were all unknown phrases, but easy discernible. The other unknowns were Alia, Red Algae, Biore, and Boone, but the perps were fair throughout the grid and having only one w/o, Ests/ERAs, attests to the straightforward cluing and fill. I always enjoy CC's trademark declarative entries, such as: I Feel Old, Take A Seat, I Meant, and No Fair!
Thanks, CC, for the fun solve and the informative expo. There were enough snazzy clues and entries for me, as well as a clean, junk-free grid. Well done, as usual. Enjoyed, as always, the foodie-centric photos, especially the Dim Sum. I believe Patti redid that section because of the extraneous animal (BatCaves) that wasn't part of the theme.
Belated Happy Burthday to Bill G 🎂🎉🎁🎈🎊 You are missed greatly, Bill, and we would love to hear from you.
Have a great day.
Wonder why Mr. Smarty Pants autocorrect didn't catch Burthday. 🤣
Musings
-Knowing the lovely author and seeing the title helped me.
-_CA/_LIA and TOTR_S/AN_ succumbed to educated guesses and I’ll take a “got ‘er done”
-I FEEL OLD: We landed on the Moon 55 years ago!
-Hay BALE art
-Karma delivered in SLO-MO
-Our friends’ marriage nearly ended over his TRYSTS but she forgave (forgot?) and took him back
-FIFA – The best ORG. that money can buy
-Have the intention to: How’re those New Year’s Resolutions working out?
-Judy’s TRIALS don’t really punish anyone as all expenses and fines are paid by her production company
-My grandson’s graduating class of 330 at Lincoln Pius X high school had dozens of Trangs and Nguyens
-Call to the on-deck circle: BATTER UP. Call to the pitcher: Play Ball.
-What Irish said.
-Temps in the 60's this week. Can I call that Indian Summer like I did as a kid or is that verboten these days?
Hola!
C.C., I loved your animal-themed puzzle which I solved very early this morning then returned to bed. That practice is becoming a recurring theme with me and I FEEL OLD.
CAT, ALIA, COMPED, BATTER UP is how that section worked for me and I saw no problem with it.
I'll be back. I have to go for some much-needed coffee.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
What a pleasure to have our blog mistress as puzzle creator and solver today! Admittedly, I never look at the puzzle's author until I finish the game -- just eager to start solving -- and I was thinking, C.C. would appreciate this one! Besides being a triumph of construction with lots of clever fill, I found that the theme helped with solving, which is always a bonus. I appreciate all of it, and was also interested to see how deeply our editor Patti gets involved. Brava!
Man I love working CC's puzzles. This one was well thought out and fun. The theme definitely helped with solving which is appreciated. Great job. GC
Today's blogger certainly showed an in-depth understanding of today's puzzle. A tip o' the hat to both 😁.
Glad to see that Lee and Whiner sorted out their different takes on the "call to" issue. I took it the way Lee did but I do see where Whiner's was coming from.
Enjoyed the TET theme. We attended a TET celebration here a few years ago, but I am having trouble finding the photos.
Some crossed unknowns: ANA/TORTAS, BIORE/DRAGONCON, FIFA/ONEIL. Loved the clue for PIG LATIN. Almost had a different answer for HAIR _IE.
Here I was delighted to find our version of the TIGER LILY out hiking with a friend.
Our version is actually called the Leopard LILY. Looks the same to me.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR in a pedestrian-like 30 minutes. My sole w/o was ANA / TORTAS (the second "A")
I wonder if Zhouquin is related to C.C.?? ;^)
As Irish Miss said, lots of familiar Burnikel phrases and sports references. I, too noticed that the BAT in BATCAVES (original submission) would've confused the audience of solvers
Is the "rematch" of the 2020 Super Bowl participants (KC and SF) next Sunday a precursor for the 2024 Presidential election (presumably between Biden and Trump)? Will be interesting to see if KC wins, as there have been three previous "identical team" matchups, and the team that won the first game also won the second
I went to watch the AT&T Pebble Beach golf event, and they've delayed the final round to Monday due to near hurricane force winds along the Monterey Bay/Peninsula
Enjoy your week ahead. BTW, according to what I heard, Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow; therefore, an early spring is predicted. And based on HG's report of 60+ degree temps in Nebraska, it may already be here
Thanks to C.C. for her puzzle and review! Seeing the theme helped. I am so impressed that you were able to put those animals in order! Wow! The well-placed TET was nice, too.
FAVs: Heart but not soul; Goes out swinging; Dings in the snow; and Put into gear?
My difficult spots were the Cause of inflation I FEEL OLD area and PIG LATIN. Ultimately I sorted those out but had a FIW with sEaALGAE instead of REDALGAE.
All those food pics made me hungry. Time for lunch!
Super puzzle, C.C., thank you so much! And timely, too, since TET starts this week -- February 10. Terrific theme entries, and I enjoyed the fill a lot. And the write-up? The icing on the cake!
That was fun. I didn't realize the animals were part of a zodiac until I got to DRAGON. Then the reveal clarified that it was the Vietnamese zodiac animals.
As Yoooper Phil wrote, "To fit all 12 animals of the Vietnamese Zodiac in one grid is pretty good stuff!"
I would add that getting them in order was special. (I see now that Sumdaze has spotted that as well. I was off reading about various Asian zodiacs and went down the 卯 hole looking at the similarities and differences.)
Nice puzzle, C.C.!
I was completely fooled by: does, e.g. = she's
happy birthday Bill G!
Does?
What does "she" do, anyway?...
I loved this puzzle and thank the constructor for providing so much pleasure.
Loved this puzzle! Thank you Zhouqin and thank you C.C.! This one was a real Tour de Force, herding all 12 of those animals and getting them to march in Month order. This is my favorite kind of theme -- one that helps you solve the puzzle, rather than a second puzzle you have to figure out when you're done. All of these themers gave us lots of starting points for perps, so the rest of the fill wasn't that hard to suss.
Favorite fills:
116A PIG LATIN and 126A the terse TET. Two MAESTRA strokes!
Cheers,
Bill
Quick Sunday post. Thanks for the fun, C.C. (and C.C.)!
Great TET theme.
I FIRed online , thus no inkblots.
But I needed a red letter help to finish - the last letter of SHES. I started with Verb, and one-by-one perps changed each letter, but I didn’t know the SoCal university. Aha moment to change Does to those female deer.
Belated Happy Birthday Bill G.
Wishing you all a great day.
Great puzzle! I attended a Tet celebration on two different occasions. Can't say I enjoyed them much. Spent too much time in bunkers dodging incoming.
Big Easy@6:48, I also had two pair of ECCOs whose soles split at about the same age of yours.
!!
Late to the Sunday party; was outta town over the weekend 😜
What a great puzzle, C.C.! Thank you for an enjoyable cruise 👍🏽 a very “animated” construction with “snazzy” clues for IGLOOS and PIGLATIN — that kinda stuff tickles my giggle-bone nicely. I do have to agree on BATTERUP, though; shoulda been “call to the plate” (which could also mean to come eat!). You really stuck me down inside the SW; had Lien before the perps whacked me into LEVY, and taught me that new name for vinaigrette.
FWIW to all the non-CA folks here, the ACA is indeed the thing behind Covered California; it’s the state’s program for administering the Fed plan.
Year of the Snake, @Monkey? It sounds like you oughta think about changing either your handle or your birth year 🤣
====> Darren / L.A.
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