Check out the link in the theme title to see movie trailers and short video movie clips. I may want to bookmark this for finding future links for my blog ...
 |
| Friday night "date night" |
Puzzling thoughts:
I don't know about you, but Friday night has become sort of a "date night" at the Chairman's house ... dinner is almost always pizza and salad, and afterward we watch a movie; either on DVD or on one of the streaming sites. It's quite fitting that Ryan Patrick Smith chose this play-on-words clued movie theme for today's puzzle; five entries and no reveal, with the themers being placed in a pinwheel display. Lots to digest so let's get started, OK?
20-across. Movie with lots of pan shots?: RATATOUILLE. First thing to digest with these entries is that all of the parodied clues "focus" on an element of filming a movie. For example, in the entry RATATOUILLE the clue "... pan shots" refer to the scenes shot in a kitchen (pots and pans) as opposed to a filming technique that involves horizontally moving the camera from a fixed position. The camera pivots either to the left or right, capturing a panoramic view (see image and video below)
 |
| There's got to be a pan in there, somewhere |
41-across. Movie with an iconic long shot?: ROCKY. Lots to like here, too. In this case, the clue refers to ROCKY being a "long shot" (underdog) to win the bout, as opposed to the movie filming technique of a long shot (see examples below)
 |
| The Chairman ran up these same steps many moons ago |
58-across. Movie with lots of reaction shots?: OPPENHEIMER. How cool to find a current movie title that allows for this play-on-words clue?! In film production, cinematography and video production, a reaction shot is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it. The reaction shot is a basic unit of film grammar. The "reaction shots" in OPPENHEIMER are featured below, as well as another type of reaction shot that this clue/answer ISN'T about ...
 |
| A literal reaction to a shot |
11-down. Movie with lots of zoom shots?: SPEED RACER. So, by now, I hope y'all have figured out the connection between the clues, the movie references, et al. The video below shows an old commercial (Zoom, Zoom) with a zoom shot or two ...
BTW, didn't we have "SPEED RACER" in a puzzle earlier this week?
 |
| Chucky doll |
|
| A film dolly |
A mid-blog recap:
1) "Pan shot", as in a photo of a pan used by a chef or a film-making term that shows lateral movement of the camera (RATATOUILLE)
2) "Long shot", as in an underdog or a film-making term that shows multi-layers of detail in a scene (ROCKY)
3) "Reaction shot", as in picture of a nuclear reaction or a film-making term that show a character's expression about an off-camera event (OPPENHEIMER)
4) "Zoom shot", as in a sound made by a racecar or a film-making term that shows a closeup of an image or character (SPEED RACER)
5) "Dolly shot", as in a picture of a doll (child's toy) or a film-making term that is taken from a "vehicle" known as a "dolly" (CHILD'S PLAY)
 |
The grid (sorry, forgot to highlight "ROCKY") |
On to the rest of the clues/words/phrases ...
Across:
1. Curly's replacement in the Three Stooges: SHEMP. This one caught Chairman Moe's attention 😀
6. Canal spot: EAR. Panama / Erie / Suez did not fit
9. Files that can't be opened: RASPS. Cute Friday clue; a RASP is a type of file
14. Bar mitzvah scroll: TORAH. Ryan could've clued it as "Bat mitzvah scroll" and had the same answer
15. Name of the T. rex at Chicago's Field Museum: SUE. Sue, the T. rex
16. Short exile?: EXPAT. As in "EXPATriate". "An expatriate
is a person who resides outside his or her country of citizenship. The term often refers to a professional or skilled worker who intends to return to their country of origin
..." [Wikipedia]17. State known for huckleberries: IDAHO. Moe-ku:
 |
| Huckleberry was around in my childhood days |
18. Canine care org.?: ADA. American Dog Association?? Oh, the other canine ... or in the case of the inage below, a canine's canine ... would the American Dental Association approve of these choppers? I'D BET they would
 |
| Pretty clean looking, for a dog; it must floss |
19. Actress Witherspoon: REESE. Have we established that she only likes peanut butter cups?
23. Language suffix: ESE. Chinese Japanese Portuguese ...
24. Actor Chaney: LON.
25. Ramble: MEANDER. As opposed to "serpentine":
27. Missing criminal who inspired James M. Cain's "Rainbow's End": D.B. COOPER. Read all about it
32. Limburger feature: ODOR. Limburger cheese is pretty stinky
33. "Wowzers!": OOH. I think I've seen the exclamation "wowzers!" used here by another blogger, perhaps?
34. Trojan War figure: PARIS. Learning moe-ment: "Paris (Ancient Greek: Πάρις), also known as Alexander (Ἀλέξανδρος, Aléxandros), is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector" [Wikipedia]
36. Pathway stone: SLATE. Hand up for having "PAVER" as the first word chosen for this spot?
39. Dip: SWIM. As in taking a dip in the pool; or as in skinny-dip ... but not as in taking a dip from a tin of Skoal
43. Antioxidant-rich sorbet base: ACAI. A 21st century example of crossword-ese
44. Measure out: ALLOT.
46. Berlin's "Blue __": SKIES. The Willie Nelson version (with lyrics)
48. Goof: ERR. Something the Chairman does often when he tries to solves an xword puzzle
49. Capital on the Persian Gulf: DOHA. I've seen this clue/word before
51. Orange garnish for sushi: SMELT ROE. aka "Masago" (a type of fish egg or fish roe. Masago is a very popular ingredient throughout Asia, particularly in Japanese cuisine), or the stuff shown in the image below
53. Some Cassatt works: PASTELS. OILS and WATER COLORS didn't fit. Here's a Cassatt for you to gaze upon
56. Ryan's "La La Land" role: SEB. All by perps. Never saw "La La Land" so this did not resonate
57. Little dickens: IMP. Could TINY TIM be clued as "A little Dickens'?"
64. Not as flushed: PALER. Flushed, as in "red-in-the-face"; not flushed, as in "partially-filled commode"
66. Regret: RUE.
67. River that feeds Utah Lake: PROVO. Never knew the city name PROVO was also the name of a river. The Provo River (Ute: Timpanoquint, “Rock River) is located in Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah, in the United States. It rises in the Uinta Mountains at Wall Lake and flows about 71 miles (114 km) southwest to Utah Lake at the city of Provo, Utah [Wikipedia] (see image)
68. Stage: PHASE.
69. Spleen: IRE. ORGAN didn't fit
70. "Yeah, sounds like": "I'D BET!".
71. Affectionate letters: ILYSM. I had not seen this text abbr. before today. Thanks to Margaret's younger son, he correctly identified the acronym as: I Love You So Much😍
72. 30-Down, for one: GOD. (30-down. Mythical archer): EROS.
73. "It's Gonna Be Me" band: NSYNC. Margaret's younger son helped here, too
Down:
1. Shift slightly: STIR. [crossword tracker dot com] is a very useful data site for crossword puzzle constructors as well as solvers. When I checked, this is a first use for this clue and answer:
Results
Sorry, no matches were found. If you think this is in error, please send us an email with what you were searching for and someone will take a look.
Tip: Try changing the clue to just a keyword (for example, if the clue is "Measurement with square units" try entering just "measurement") and supplying what you know of the answer so we can look for answers that are the right length. Even if you don't know any of the letters, just knowing the length of the answer can help the search engine immensely.
2. TV host Kotb: HODA. She shows up every now and again
3. Proof word: ERAT. If ACAI is 21st Century Crossword-ese, ERAT is a 20th Century example
4. Island "thank you": MAHALO.
5. Camera setting?: PHOTO OP. Not an F-STOP - wouldn't fit and wasn't punny
6. Genesis twin: ESAU. Like OREO, ERIE, EIRE, and scores of other words that have 3 vowels and 1 consonant ... very useful to xword constructors
7. Bavaria-based automaker: AUDI. I owned two of these in my lifetime; great cars. Another 4-letter word with three vowels and one consonant
8. Sphere: REALM.
9. Enjoys a favorite novel, say: RE-READS. I am happy when I read a novel, let alone RE-read it
10. Felling tool: AXE.
12. So five minutes ago: PASSE. RETRO also fits, but I don't think anything five minutes old should be considered passe
13. Use a wheelchair's joystick, say: STEER. In the assisted living care community where my mom lives they refer to these vehicles as "scooters"
21. Commensurate (with): ON PAR. A slight CSO to HuskerGary who more often scores a PAR when playing golf ... though the phrase ON PAR has nothing to do with golf
22. Zodiac lion: LEO. Folks born under the sign "LEO", and who want to know their 2024 "forecast", it is described here
26. Home of the NBA's Pels: NOLA. CSO to all those from the Pelican State, and specifically New Orleans
27. Pancake served with chutney: DOSA. I checked the word out @ [crossword tracker dot com] to see its usage. This is an "archaic" word (crossword-wise) that's making a big comeback, post-pandemic:
Recent usage in crossword puzzles:
- Universal Crossword - Dec. 24, 2023
- Universal Crossword - Sept. 14, 2023
- USA Today - March 14, 2023
- LA Times - Aug. 16, 2022
- USA Today - May 2, 2022
- USA Today - March 14, 2022
- USA Today - April 6, 2021
- USA Today - Jan. 26, 2021
- USA Today - Jan. 19, 2021
- USA Today - Sept. 7, 2020
- New York Times - April 1, 1987
- New York Times - Feb. 14, 1970
28. Cereal dish: BOWL.
31. "Casablanca" cafe: RICK'S.
35. Hardly pore over: SKIM. As in "read briefly"
37. Staple in African cuisine: TARO.
38. Country led by the Taoiseach: EIRE. As a lover of whiskies (Irish and Scotch) the ending "ach" is often used on the labels. I'm guessing it's Gaelic. The word EIRE filled in after I got the E, I, and R
40. Academic: MOOT. Moot as in "boot"; not moot as in "mute" (although I do sometimes hear it pronounced this way)
42. "Gimme a break!": YEESH. Earlier in the week a few of you were discussing the proper spelling of "tush" ... "YEESH" and "Yees" are sometimes used interchangeably, and are just a letter off of each other: Yeesh versus Yees
45. Math proposition: THEOREM. We haven't seen this word @ an LA Times puzzle since 2018
47. Wake up late: SLEEP IN. Something Margaret and I do often ... retirement is fun ... we try to schedule no appointment(s) before 10:30 am
50. Swiss peak: ALP.
52. Sporty Fords: T-BIRDS. "... and we'll have fun, fun, fun 'til my daddy took the T-Bird away"
53. Longstocking of chapter books: PIPPI.
54. "__ and the Night Visitors": AMAHL. An old joke:
A woman gave birth to twins and gave them up for adoption. One of them went to a family in Egypt and was named “AMAHL”
The other son went to a family in Spain; they named him “Juan.”
Years later Juan tracks down his birth mother and sent a picture of himself to his Mom.
Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband she wishes she also had a picture of Amahl.
Her husband responded, "if you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Amahl"
55. Thyme piece: SPRIG. Ya know, if this word was spelled "SBRIG" it would be pronounced the same. Try it ...
59. Vision prefix: EURO. This: Eurovision Song Contest
60. Shortage: NEED. Good clue
61. Stage name of electronic musician Richard Melville Hall: MOBY. Another clue/answer that Margaret's son offered when I asked. I guess "___ -Dick" would've been too easy ... but it's interesting that Richard MELVILLE Hall shares his middle name with the author (HERMAN Melville) of the book, "MOBY-Dick"
62. Not odd: EVEN. Anyone care to guess at the smallest EVEN number that is also a prime number?
63. VMI program: ROTC. Virginia Military Institute is the school (VMI); naturally they have a ROTC program
65. Self starter?: ESS. The letter "S" (pronounced "ESS") starts the word "self" ... it also starts the word "starter"
And once again we reach the end of the blog. Thanks to Ryan for the fun solve. Please feel free to comment below ...
51 comments:
Well, this puzzle was definitely no “walk in the park.” In fact, I found it quite difficult. There were a number of foreign words, or at least words of foreign origin, as well as “textspeak,” etc. But through P&P I managed to overcome all the difficulties. FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. When I get stalled I usually take a break and then come back. Not today. I just couldn't get interested in the challenge.
Today is:
NATIONAL READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY (DR. SEUSS DAY) (Really tomorrow, but that’s Saturday, so it’s today)
GLOBAL DAY OF UNPLUGGING (far more people will observe Lent than this day)
NATIONAL EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY (I thought that was every other Friday, or whenever “the eagle flies”)
NATIONAL DRESS IN BLUE DAY (Bill Clinton, Mitch Rider and I like the Devil with the Blue Dress On)
NATIONAL SPEECH AND DEBATE EDUCATION DAY (not much debate in today’s mob rule cancel culture)
NATIONAL SUNKIST CITRUS DAY (celebrates California citrus and California citrus farms)
SELF-INJURY AWARENESS DAY (I can’t count the number of times I’ve shot myself in the foot. Figuratively – I support gun control and always aim with both hands)
NATIONAL HORSE PROTECTION DAY (As a therapy animal, horses relieve the symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and other disorders. These majestic beasts are sometimes neglected or abused, and saving them takes time and money)
NATIONAL FRUIT COMPOTE DAY (the French believed that fruit cooked in sugar syrup balanced the humidity's effects on the body and led them to invent compotes. That’s the second good thing the French invented)
NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER LOVER’S DAY (I can’t keep an open jar of PB around. I’ll grab a spoonful now and then until it is all gone. Open tequila, wine, beer, bourbon, no problem. Open peanut butter, big problem)
NATIONAL PIG DAY (pet pigs aren’t a recent phenomenon. In Dublin in 1772, a trained swine called the Learned Pig told time, counted, and other such tricks to entertain crowds in the streets. I’d rather celebrate with a BBQ sandwich)
FIRST DAY OF METEOROLOGICAL SPRING (they go by average temperatures, not astronomy)
This one must have been Patti's favorite - all A&E, all the time.
FLN - Tehachapi, thanks for clarifying. I still think I've been to your fair city. I used to camp near an area of the Kern River (or more likely, a tributary) known as "the slides." Mossy rocks that were fun to side down. I remember seeing a sign in a convenience store nearby that proclaimed "Save a life - stay out of the Kern River."
Thanks to our Chairman for the fine review.
Good morning!
Noticed the DOHA/DOSA pairing...but only after an alphabet run to get OOH. Thought of PAVER, but the S was already there. Thought of Jayce when YEESH (he says SHEESH) appeared. Enjoyed the theme (I usually don't), Ryan. Excellent expo, C-Moe. (Not only the smallest, it's the ONLY even prime.)
SHEMP: When we moved here seventeen years ago, we brought along three kittens: Mo, Shemp, and Curly. Mo is the only one remaining, and she's not in the best health.
For some odd reason, my monthly Malwarebytes summary got plastered across every video embedded in today's blog. Maybe TTP can explain. Weird.
FIR. The center of the puzzle took a long time. Then I saw Rocky, and DB Cooper took hold. Also took me a while to remember Paris. And ILYSM? Thank heavens for perps.
I got the theme early but I must admit the only two movies I ever saw were Rocky and Oppenheimer. The latter I very much enjoyed.
All in all, this was a typical Friday CW, difficult but ultimately doable.
Took 17:12 today for me to see the movie.
Clever theme, but I did not enjoy this one.
Too many proper names - even excluding the theme/movie titles (Amahl, Dosa, Seb).
Please leave texting abbreviations (such as ILYSM) out of the puzzles.
So many proper nouns, counted 27, knew 17. Then we had foreign words and textspeak. Two NOLA clues helped being from NOLA,. Hoda and Pelicans.
DNF cuz of one letter, a IMHO a Natick ? BCOOPER crossed with ?OSA.
I remember prior puzzles stumping me with “Taoiseach” and “Cassat” and it’s happening again🙄.
I enjoyed EXPATS, a series starring Nicole Kidman. There was also a movie called The EXPAT (add that to the list) . An Hispanic comic once said “ Now a days if you’re white and come to the US you’re an expat. If you’re any other color you’re an immigrant” 😁
It only took two tries to spell RATATOUILLE! ….”canal spot” lock too long (and obvious).👂. Language suffix: ish or ESE? Hadda “listen” to the perps. AÇAÍ back to replenish our antioxidants and thus help to finish the puzzle “Persian Gulf capital” almost tried Aden. I liked “Self Starter” and “Thyme piece” , PHOTOOP …
“Cereal dish” : Mom made sure I ate all my Cheerios till I could see Hopalong Cassidy’s face on the bottom of the BOWL 🤠. I seem to remember the AMAHL opera performed on TV as a kid maybe a few years in a row.
ILYSM seemed wrong but it perped. I expected I LUV U which didnt. I’m guessing’ I Love You So Much. Guessed correctly. . Sounds like a googled or Alexa/Siri search to find a clue to fit a nonsense answer.
After yesterday’s snowstorm will rise into the 50’s this weekend. 🌴
Good Morning
I liked the theme and the fun dual-meaning cluing added an extra layer of cleverness. I wouldn't consider it Friday-difficult, but I did need perps for Speed Racer, the only movie that was unfamiliar, and also for Smelt Roe, ILYSM, and DB Cooper. I waffled on entering DB Cooper because I didn't think James M. Cain would have been still alive in 1971. I also stumbled at Agar/Acai and Aden/Doha. I, too, thought of Jace at Yeesh and, naturally, CED at Imp, plus our Louisiana contingent at NOLA. The TLW count (16) was quite reasonable, but the proper names numbered close to 30, not counting the themers, which seems excessive in a weekday grid.
Thanks, Ryan, and thanks, Moe, for the detailed and informative review. Your explanation of the theme and accompanying visuals/clips was spot on. Enjoyed the Moe-ku and the Amahl dad-joke. The resemblance of Cillian Murphy to Robert Oppenheimer is striking, especially the tortured and haunted visage in certain photos of the two men. Murphy appears to be a shoo-in for an Oscar.
Have a great day.
I got the theme and have heard of all the movies, although I'm not a movie buff. I looked up DB. I perped the COOPER. I think initials crossing a food uncommon to many in the US, DOSA, is cruel. Hi, Ray-O. I didn't think of BOWL and SWIM in that section until I found the B. Oops. Bowl was clever.
I was surprised that I have not heard of smelt roe on sushi, although I perped it. I see it is common. When I see roe on a sushi menu I rush right past it. Ugh!
SEB was all perps.
I reread many novels. It is fun to see them from a different perspective, even more so when I reread them many years after the first time.
I like ratatouille or almost any eggplant dish. They sometimes serve it here.
The Hawaiian language has given English the words ukulele, aloha, mahalo, muumuu (a kind of dress), wahine, lei, hula and kahuna, among others.
Quite a challenging puzzle for today, but it all came out in the end. FIR. PHOTOOP and ROCKY broke the dam. ILYSM was all perps. Never heard of DOSA.
Worst clue/answer was: Yeah, sounds like/IDBET.
Never wash behind your ears or you will never grow up.
Parade.
Had to settle for a FIW today, TITT after more than a half hour and I couldn’t WAG my way out of the SW. The top half seemed like a Monday level as I breezed through, not so much on the bottom. Couldn’t let go of EGO for self-starter even though I’ve seen similar clues many times. AMAHL was unknown. ILYSM I would classify as an “ERM” ~ “a word or string of letters seemingly put together by the constructor for the sake of fill, which pretty much nobody is familiar with”. (I just made that up, but I see words like that a LOT. Anyway, thanks for the challenge Ryan, even if I didn’t measure up. (It's a game not a test, right HG?)
Coincidentally I was in a restaurant last night that had quite a few Thai entrees that contained masago, neither DW nor I was familiar with it so I googled it, then it appears today. Like the raw oysters of yesterday, I’ll pass on the masago.
Thank you C-Moe for filling in the blanks on this one!
FIW but thought it was clever. Misremembered DB COOPER as JB Cooper which gave me a josa pancake and that made as much sense as DOSA. Loved RATATOUILLE but didn’t know CHILD’S PLAY or ISYLM. Thanks for the explanations C-Moe.
Ryan Gosling was excellent in “La La Land” and I thought he should hav won the Oscar. Perhaps the movie was true to life, where the most talented in the movie has a mediocre career and the least talented becomes a star. He learned to play the piano in a few months for the role!
Always love seeing PARIS, even when it’s a person not the city.
Happy day, all!
Good Morning! Crunchy but fair Friday puzzle today. Thanks, Ryan.
I almost got it but had to look up DOSA and SEB to fill in the last remaining blanks.
WO: small -> SMELT.
ESP: SUE, MOBY, AMAHL and a few WAGs (ex: EIRE, as clued.)
Thanks, Chairman Moe. You summed it up nicely.
FLN, Jinx – Oh No!!! I briefly had Windows 11 (and disliked it much like I held onto W-7 after the awful W-8 came on the scene). Then when I purchased my new laptop, I happily had it loaded it with the offered W-10. Now you say I have a mere 18 months before I’ll have to switch!!! Ugh!! I better start gearing myself to the inevitable…😲, 😢😢😢…
Thanks for the movie filming tutorial, Ch. Moe. That said, I could have done without the shot shot. Ouch! Thanks also for the In-Laws clip.
"These are the best security men in the world. They used to work for J.C. Penny in Detroit." - General Garcia.
And just for the record, I don’t ever recall saying, or hearing anyone else ever using the term YEESH, although I have heard many more colorful expressions.
DNF. I figured out all the movie titles, but had a few errors such as SHEpP, probably because my sister had a dog named Shepp, failed to come up with the S of YEESH because I couldn’t imagine anyone named SEB, I wanted ego for self starter?, so missed out on the ILYSM. I got everything else but had to struggle.
Didn’t we have SPEED RACER recently? And I think a few days ago two cornerites were discussing SPELT.
PARIS was a really handsome dude according to Homer. I can see why Helen dumped Menelaus for him, but her lust/love started a long costly war. Now, we can view this less romantically and assume poor Helen was kidnapped by Paris.
Great recap from C-Moe.
Well, how 'bout that! Two days in a row I got the theme with the first theme clue, and managed to FIR in (for me) record Friday time of...could it be?...12 minutes!! Needless to say I loved this CW, thanx RPS. W/O = ISH/ESE. Did not know DOSA, all perps. Thanx too CMoe for the great write-up. The mention of horses brings to mind that here in SOFLO horses are getting stolen then immediately slaughtered for their meat. Very sad. Which is how I felt after watching "Killers of the Flower Moon" some time ago. Just very sad that people could be so evil.
DNF today. Couldn't get past the SW corner of this cross-name puzzle. Not a total waste of time, as some of the clues were pretty clever. Wondered about the ROTC clue for VMI. I thought VMI grads received REGULAR army commissions, not RESERVE?
Musings
-The pinwheeled theme with clever cluing with RATATOUILLE was much more obvious than how to spell it.
-Unknown D_SA crossing indefinite _OH was my only hesitation. Similar SEB/YEESH took care of itself.
-When my hometown was established in the 19th century, German EX-PATS wound up buying adjacent farms and settling near each other
-The MEANDERING of the Missouri River means that to get to Omaha’s Airport from downtown, you have to drive through a little slice of Iowa
-I’ve had more experience with SLATE blackboards and pool tables
-Willie’s distinctive voice gives a nice treatment of the 1926 Irving Berlin standard
-Thanks for the shout out, Moe, but PAR and I have been known to be on the outs!
-Yooper, sometimes golf is a test and not a game! :-)
-Warner Brothers took a risk on the play Everybody Comes To Rick’s and changed the title to Casablanca when filming started in 1942.
Hola!
My goodness! So many comments and very entertaining!
I enjoyed this challenge and managed to finish with only a bit of help from Alexa. LALA LAND was a long time ago and I did not recall Ryan's name. Thank you, alexa.
But I have been to Chicago's Field Museum and saw SUE there. She is enormous!
SPELT ROE?? No idea about that.
I have yet to see OPPENHEIMER and I believe this weekend is a good time for that.
Is there a better movie than Casablanca? Not in my opinion and I've seen it several times.
IDAHO River is news to me, too, but what else could it be? It was a pure guess and I wonder if it MEANDERs.
MOBY made me laugh when I saw that Richard's middle name is Melville. Clever!
That's all from me for now. Have a fabulous Friday, everyone!
I'm so glad to see that most of you regulars hated this one as much as I did. I've been trying to improve my familiarity with modern slang and unfamiliar culture in these crosswords over the last few months, with varying success, but this one did me in. I no longer get the newspaper that I used to do xwords in, and I've been gradually rebuilding my skill with them online, thanks to the cheating possibilities via word check and reveal. But as a resident of a town of only 5,000 people, and no posh, name-brand or ethnic restaurants, many of the recent clues leave me clueless. This is even more challenging with no young people nearby to update my familiarity with their idioms. Please forgive this rant, but I'm still frustrated.
RosE - You COULD just make your computer a Linux machine. And, your new laptop should qualify for a free "upgrade" to Win 11. I'm considering Linux for my one desktop that isn't nearly Win 11 compatible. But my other desktop and the laptop I'm using for this trip are already on Win 11, and I don't hate it. I actually find it to be only slightly different from Win 10. And who knows - maybe µsoft will extend their security patch support.
Charlie Echo - I haven't been to VMI, but I have driven through the "other" Lexington, and I've seen the students decked out in uniform. I was guessing that ROTC is their undergrad program, and that they would be commissioned at graduation.
I found the theme and the theme-cluing quite clever, on the whole, but I wasn’t sure I FIRred until C-Moe confirmed I had gotten the YEESH-SEB natick right. I’m familiar with YEESH, but “Gimme a break” didn’t translate to YEESH without perps for me. I saw and loved “La La Land,” but I didn’t remember the name Seb. I figured it could be short for Sebastian, “so I’m happy.”
Other dislikes: Calling SHEMP a replacement (he was more of a fill-in while Curly was ill for several years); my disinclination to associate IDAHO with being “known” for huckleberries or ACAI with sorbet; and cluing a military school with ROTC, whose presence at more liberal universities is the anachronism that has always defined ROTC’s effectiveness. I agree with those who felt “yeah, sounds like” was a lousy clue for I’D BET. My views on Patti Varol’s abilities in this area are already established. MOBY and ILYSM were unknowns, but they perped. And “wowzers” as a clue for anything? Yeesh!
Other likes: the clues for RASP and BOWL, and the very presence of MEANDER, D.B. COOPER and “Blues SKIES,” complete with Moe’s furnishing us the Willie Nelson version. Ever notice that no impressionists even try to duplicate Willie’s iconic timing and cadences?
I enjoyed today's puzzle and found the double meanings in the theme clues to be clever and consistent. FIR with no cheating. I'D BET was awkward, and ILYSM was new to me but made sense. The Chairman explained it all nicely. Many thanks to Ryan, Patti, and Chairman Moe for a pleasant morning's entertainment.
Thank you Patrick for a fun Friday FIR. This was a very clever puzzle with lots of sparkly fill.
Thank you MOE for one of the best reviews to come done the pike. The punning in the themers was very clever and your explanations were great. You really outdid yourself this time.
Just a few of many favs:
9A RASPS. BASTARDS wouldn't fit.
15A SUE. I always thought that SUE was a chick -- weren't dinosaurs the precursors of AVIANS.
19A REESE. Aren't her cup preferences a bit TMI MOE? 😁
34A PARIS. Speaking of beautiful women, PARIS' pick for "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" was one of the causes of the Trojan War.
56A SEB. La La Land was the first of several Easter Eggs in this puzzle. The movie was widely expect to get the Best Picture Oscar, but the only one it got was for Best Actress Emma Stone (who just won a BAFTA for Poor Things).
58A OPPENHEIMER. The highly detailed clip you posted was the best explanation of the assembly of the A-BOMB I've ever seen. I only had a vague idea of how it worked. It's a wonder the Company didn't have to shoot the narrator!
4D MAHALO. Did not know MAHALO, but it perped.
13D STEER. This brought back pleasant memories of a woman we knew named Gerri in a nursing home we used to visit. She could STEER her wheelchair like a SPEED RACER.
31D RICKS. Another Easter Egg.
61D MOBY. The great American Novel and the Great American Opera.
Cheers,
Bill
Today's crossname puzzle was certainly a Friday cruncher. I finally raised the white flag in the SE, which resembled a Natickville, with its peculiarities like YEESH, SMELTROE, SEB, MOBY, IDBET, ad nauseum scrunched together.
Ray-o- Sunshine--Yes, Amahl and the Night Visitors was on NBC a lot in the '50s and '60s at Christmas time. It was NBC who commissioned the work for the NBC Orchestra.
Jinx--Yes, our Kern River turns nasty in the spring especially with the snow melting in the Sierras. Last spring was a particularly treacherous time, and many lives were lost. Median age of the victims was around 19. Median gender solidly male. Median last words: "Dude, watch this!"
Hey, Jinx, have you (or anyone else) figured out my challenge from yesterday? To recap, the category is U.S. history and the question is, why were the the first terms of both Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Washington considerably shorter than four years? The reason for the two shortages differs, and neither reason has anything to do wiith death or resignation.
Tehachapi Ken: My stab at answering your inauguration question: Well, I know the inauguration date changed from early March to late January during FDR's reign, and I suspect G-Dub's inauguration occurred later than early March.
Your "Jeopardy!" phrasing was a painful reminder of how my third and final appearance on that show in 1969 came to an end. The category was American History, and the Final Jeopardy answer was: "Major Robert Anderson surrendered there after a 34-hour bombardment."
Ken, my guess is that FDR got caught up in the change of inauguration day, from when the weather in DC is bad to when it is awful. Can't think of a reason for Geo being shortchanged, and don't want to LIU.
Also, I remember we camped north of Kernville, and that about half the time we took a dirt road a lot of the way back to LA instead of the highways. I also remember great Sunday breakfasts at a rustic restaurant in Kernville, and that sometimes there would be too many bikers for us to eat there. (Not the Picard kind of bikers, the outlaw and outlaw wannabe kind of bikers.)
Tehachapi Ken, Washington's first term didn't begin until the end of April, 1789. He was unanimously elected to a second term by Congress in February, 1793, and he was inaugurated early in March. Roosevelt's first term began on March 4th, 1933. Technology allowed for a faster counting of the presidential ballots, so the 20th Amendment specified an earlier Inauguration Day -- January 20th. Roosevelt's second inauguration was held on that date. Admittedly, I had to look this stuff up.
Copy Editor - Jinx, you owe me a Coke
Jinx, I beat ya by 10 minutes. But if I ever get to Norfolk . . .
I enjoyed todays puzzle - until i DNF because of DB—/Dosa; knew neither 🤷🏻♀️
And, I did try sPrig-sBrig —> very hard to differentiate vocally! 🤣🙄 Forming sounds of s to b together is much harder than s to p. Made me recall the linguistics I learned in seminary for Greek & Hebrew. For the nerds among us - here is more than you care to know about plosives, fricatives, and voiced-unvoiced:
https://www.ugr.es/~ftsaez/fonetica/consonants.pdf
Thanks all for the fun❣️
Finicky Friday. Thanks for the fun, Ryan and CMoe.
Officially a DNF as I was too busy today to visit Google any more times for the unknown-to-me names.
But I did get the movie theme, even if I had trouble spelling RATATOUILLE.
Yes a CSO to Jayce with YEESH (Sheesh).
Hand up for Ego before ESS, and Aden before DOHA.
Of course, this Canadian did not know Pels or VMI, but at least their perps were friendly.
ILYSM, AMAHL, DOSA crossing DB not so friendly.
Wishing you all a great day.
What is Fort Sumter? Total guess
Hi Dad! Lol @ “median last words”
I had a guess on your presidents and, after reading below, looks like I was right about FDR, but what about GW? Delays from bureaucracy and red-tape? (It must’ve taken so long to fill out all the paperwork back then)
Kalends of March greetings to you all.
I liked the theme of this puzzle and Chairman Moe's explanation of it. The rest of the puzzle IDLSM.
FIR! Took a bunch of guesses—shocked they all turned out correct. Almost gave up on that SW corner—I guess any common phrase can just be abbreviated now and called a text (ILYSM).
While there was a bit of iffy, obscure clueing, I found the theme very helpful and enjoyable as I love movies (got CHILDSPLAY with only the C and OPPENHEIMER with only a P).
Surprised so many people had trouble with DBCOOPER. He was my immediate thought without any perps, and that whole escapade happened way before my time.
All the things I do not know: RASPS, SUE, Blue SKIES, SEB, HODA, ERAT, DOSA, EIRE, AMAHL, and spleen=ire??
Someone should find out if HODA has ever had a DOSA in DOHA… (with a soda?)
SEB sounds like a skin condition.
Jinx, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the extended security patch. I don't ever remember why I didn't like W-11. (Maybe 12 will be on the horizon by then...) RE: the Linux, I yield to your expertise. My head was spinning when I read about it on Wikipedia.
Thanks.
Arizona Jim is correct: Fort Sumter was where Major Robert Anderson surrendered after a 34-hour bombardment.
Constructor here! I always enjoy perusing the comments on my creations, even the less-than-thrilled ones. Glad to see my pinwheel of themers landed with a good number of you -- I'm big into film and filmmaking myself and was excited to learn that this very nerdy film theme of mine would be going to print!
Thanks too to the Chairman for that staggeringly thorough write-up. Appreciate the kind words!
Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and keep solvin'.
Before I get to the Presidential terms, I need to recognize Copy Editor's appearance on Jeopardy. Well done! So in 1969 I would think that Art Fleming was the host, right? And I would agree with my son--aka Arizona Jim--on Fort Sumter.
So a lot of you had FDR right; inaugurated in 1933 on the date that all Presidents before him had been inaugurated, March 4. No sooner had he settled into office, that Congress passed the so-called "Lame Duck" Constitutional Amendment, its goal being to shorten the time between November elections and the date when officeholders actually take office. The new date for members of Congress was set at January 3, and for the Presidential inauguration, January 20. With that, FDR lost 43 days of his first term.
Now to George Washington. The Congress of Confederation had determined that March 4, 1789, would be the date of the first Presidential inauguration. The date of March 4 was not put into the Constitution, and there is some question as to the extent to which Washington was aware of the exact date.
Moreover, Washington lived in Mt. Vernon, Virginia, and the seat of government was up in New York City, quite a distance to travel in winter 1789. And he had to close up his affairs at Mt. Vernon, and get his staff organized and prepared to govern.
By the time he and his staff were together in New York, it was well into April, and so it was determined by Congress that the inauguration date would be April 30.
This was a big time DNF today. There were movies I had no knowledge about- RATATOUILLE, CHILD'S PLAY, and SPEED RACER. The first I'd heard about Speed Racer was earlier this week, and I thought it was a TV show.
SMELT ROE- zero idea about that fill
SEB- I was in "La La Land" about him as I have seen or intend to see the movie.
ILYSM- where did that come from? Never seen it.
DOSA-ditto
AMAHL-ditto
MOBY-ditto other than the white whale
SHEMP- when the owner of my company put his three sons is charge everybody at work called them MOE, LARRYL, & CURLY. The biggest reason I quit 20 years ago; knew 2 of the three were incompetent and was I ever right. I'll omit the company name but the DEA released this on Feb. 7th. " As part of the settlement, XXXXXXXXX has agreed to forfeit $19 million." Glad I was long gone.
RPS- thanks for stopping by. I don't criticize any constructor, knowing how hard it is to put a puzzle together and then get some entity to actually publish it.
A&E themed puzzles are out of my wheelhouse. Not a movie or TV buff.
T.Ken - Thanks for the fun history lesson. As an adult I discovered there is very little boring history, but a lot of boring history text books and teachers. (Actually, I discovered it in my first semester in college. My history prof was a noted authority on Henry Clay's life and writing, and he made my Kentucky History class my favorite for the term. This was so long ago that profs actually taught freshman classes.)
Arizona and Tehachapi: I was the youngest contestant in Jeopardy history when I appeared near the end of 1969, winning twice and losing the third thanks to Fort Sumter, so that also meant I was the youngest Jeopardy contestant of the 1960s and seemingly paved the way for children to appear on the show.
I graduated from high school in 1969 and turned 18 in the fall during what we now call a “gap year.” At the time you had to be 18 to get on Jeopardy, so I wrote to the show during the summer to reserve an appointment to be tested and interviewed in New York at my own expense that November. I lived in Oregon, so it was quite a gamble, but I had a large amount of high school quiz bowl competition, including a Portland TV show, so I was confident the producers would want me to succeed and that things would go pretty much as they did. Jeopardy got me on quickly. I stayed at the Grand Central YMCA on East 47th Street for nine days and had a great adventure in the process.
Copy Editor @ 10:23. Thank for a nice story of young success. WOW.
Grr. I missed a you in my previous post. It’s late, that’s my excuse.
Thanks to Ryan for his puzzle and for commenting on The Corner! I saw your Constructor CSO at 56A!
I didn't do very well today so I was especially happy to be able to come here and learn from C-Moe! Thanks for the info. & chuckles!
I am currently RE-READing a book about cycling around Spain called "It's Not About the Tapas".
Copy Editor,
Wow, I am so impressed with your Jeopardy experience: a two-time champ and almost three-time. At age 18! That would rank high on my resume.
I tried out for Jeopardy once, around 1995. Auditions were held right on the Jeopardy set in the Century City studios. It was a three-stage tryout, where the initial crowd of about 100 people got whittled down through written tests and whatnot, to a group of about ten. I made it into that final group, and we spent about an hour onstage, answering more questions, and
practicing with the blasted buzzers, with the Jeopardy staff taking notes and sizing us up. We in the Group of Ten were told we'd get a call if they wanted us as a contestant. I never got the call.
But you did! Way to go.
MAHALO nui to Ryan for this challenging, but not brain-busting xword today; I really enjoyed the double-entendre clues for ADA, PHASE and PHOTO OP (but not so much the sketchy ones for OOH and I’D BET, along with the vast plethora of proper names… YEESH!)
If y’all liked “Oppenheimer” with Cillian Murphy, have a look at another of director Nolan’s epics, “Inception”; the storyline is a real brain-twister! I’m in awe of this guy’s talent in putting together that film — imo, he’s ON PAR with directors like James Cameron and Spielberg.
If you can afford SLATE to use as pavers in a walkway, you’re a lot more affluent than I 😎
And chairman Moe, as always, thanks for the great review and the excellent background music to listen to whilest reading the comments!
====> Darren / L.A.
Post a Comment