Title: "Funny Business"
For those who celebrate, Happy Easter!
Today, Rebecca put some Funny (peculiar, not ha-ha) Business in our (circular) Easter baskets. In this Easter Egg hunt I did my best, but may(?) need some help parsing out these companies:
23. Composite image where stars appear as streaks: TIME LAPSE PICTURE. PEPSI.
39. Flurry of emotions: MIXED FEELINGS. FEDEX.
47. Vehicle that may address the "last mile" problem: ELECTRIC SCOOTER. COST CO.
63. "Don't forget your umbrella and galoshes!": ITS RAINING CATS AND DOGS. GIN'CA Peruvian Gin(?)
83. As the situation warrants: WHERE APPLICABLE. APPLE
92. Phryge, for Paris 2024, e.g.: OLYMPIC MASCOT. COMCAST - a cable / ISP company.
 |
| Olympic and Paralympic Mascots |
110. Period that included the storming of the Bastille: FRENCH REVOLUTION.
And the reveal:
102. Corporate shake-up affecting the companies in the circled letters?: RE-ORG. Nice, Rebecca. Very Nice.
Across:
1. Cymbals played with a pedal: HI-HAT.
 |
| Hi Hat |
6. Doofus: TWIT.
10. Snack or stack at the poker table: CHIPS.
15. Hushed summons: PSST. Yo' over here.
19. Sun-dried brick: ADOBE.
20. Hardwood trees: OAKS.
21. 32-foot pastry visible from the 405 in Los Angeles: DONUT.
 |
| Mmm Donuts |
22. "Sex Education" protagonist: OTIS. Sex Education is a series on Netflix.
23. [See: Theme]
26. Key turning point?: LOCK.
 |
| Or if you're Keyless |
27. Landscaping tool: HOE.
28. Title role for Madonna: EVITA.
29. Chihuahua's alert: BARK.
30. Sinister: EVIL.
32. Early social networking site: MYSPACE. MySpace was before Facebook.
34. Cartagena kiss: BESO.
35. Flat formation: PLATEAU.
 |
| Flat formations |
38. Kitchen containers: POTS.
39. [See: Theme]
41. GoPro device: CAMERA.
44. Musical ability: EAR.
45. Ref. that added "adultification" in 2023: OED. Oxford English Dictionary: "Adultification is originally a psychology term describing children who act more mature than their peers as a result of being handed adult responsibilities from a young age."
46. Rattan: CANE.
47. [See: Theme]
52. Used a peeler: PARED.
53. Comedian DeLaria: LEA.
54. Like last-minute tix, maybe: SRO. Standing Room Only at a sold-out show.
55. "Stop talking": HUSH.
56. Sudden shocks: JOLTS.
57. Air space?: LUNG. Cute.
59. Rio hello: OLA.
61. Bag-checking org.: TSA. Transportation Security Administration.
62. __ fide: BONA.
63. [See: Theme]
71. Bavarian range: ALPS.
72. Prefix with cache: GEO. "Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called geocaches or caches, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world." [Cite]
73. Get loose, in a way: SAG.
74. Ginger __: SNAP.
 |
| Cookies! |
75. Italian seaport: GENOA. Or salami!
77. Flock infant: LAMB.
79. Brio: PEP.
81. Word with bird's or bull's: EYE.
82. 75-Down [GRILL] accessory: GRATE.
83. [See: Theme]
88. Simpson who plays the sax: LISA.
 |
| Lisa on the Sax |
89. "Mr. Robot" creator Esmail: SAM.
 |
| I enjoyed the first two seasons. |
90. Beam: RAY.
91. Said aloud: VOICED.
92. [See: Theme]
97. Cable: CORD. Not Comcast but just a line.
98. Has on the calendar: PLANS TO.
99. "American Dad" dad: STAN. American Dad is another Seth MacFarlane cartoon.
 |
| Stan |
100. Inched closer: GOT NEAR.
103. Match makeup: SETS. Tennis anyone?
104. Petting zoo chorus: BAAS.
105. Base for many Italian fashion labels: MILAN.
106. Ginger blossom garland: LEI.
108. Tends to spilled milk: MOPS. Cute.
110. [See: Theme]
114. Dressy attire: SUIT.
115. "The Color Purple" producer: OPRAH.
116. "You said it!": AMEN.
117. Do some dirty dancing: TWERK.
118. Jennifer of "Dirty Dancing": GREY. Nice clecho.
119. Dishwasher cycle: RINSE.
120. Petting zoo ride: PONY.
121. Music League submissions: SONGS.
Down:
1. "Hell __ no fury ... ": HATH.
2. Figurative expression: IDIOM.
3. Comfy cozy: HOMEY.
4. First pres. born outside the Thirteen Colonies: ABE. Lincoln was born in KY before moving to IL.
5. Power trip?: TELEPORT. Cute.
6. Debate issues: TOPICS.
7. Trash: WASTE.
8. HEMNES retailer: IKEA.
9. Vanilla meas.: TSP. Teaspoon.
10. 1990s media coverage?: CD CASE. Cute.
11. Souped-up car: HOT ROD.
12. Indigenous Alaskan: INUK.
13. Water filter brand: PUR.
14. Mentally prepared: STEELED.
15. " ... and I approve this message" spots: POLITICAL ADS.
16. Lifted prints?: STOLEN ART.
17. [Not my error]: SIC.
18. Disappointed click: TSK.
24. Digital images?: AVATARS.
25. Wild goat: IBEX.
31. Actor Kilmer: VAL.
33. Blueprint bit: SPEC.
34. Hardwood tree: BIRCH.
35. House of Lords member: PEER.
36. St. __ of Assisi: AGNES. A CSO to IM!. In Doug Peterson's March 17, 2024 puzzle, CLARE was the Assisi St.
37. Employed: USED.
39. Madrid "more": MAS.
40. Adversary: FOE.
41. Pegged instruments: CELLI. Plural cello.
42. Indigenous Alaskan: ALEUT. Nice clecho.
43. Denotes: MEANS.
44. Biotech bacteria: ECOLI.
48. Makes a flat sheet flatter: IRONS. Nice clue.
49. Resolution: OUTCOME.
50. Peak between Pelion and Olympus: OSSA.
51. "__ a big if!": THATS.
52. Duck habitat: POND.
56. Musician Batiste: JON.
58. Provide pardon: GRANT AMNESTY.
60. Acute thing: ANGLE.
62. Bread shaped like a 21-Across: BAGEL.
64. Plant with a tiger tooth variety: ALOE.
65. Brewery letters: IPA.
66. One on a fixie, say: GEAR.
67. Like some tear-jerkers: SAPPY.
68. Yr. before a historic time change: ONE BC.
69. Journalist King: GAYLE.
70. Dashboard display: SPEED.
75. Outdoor kitchen fixture: GRILL.
76. Simple: EASY AS PIE.
78. Lowest rank for a 35-Down [not PEER but House of Lords member]: BARON.
80. Crucially important: PIVOTAL.
82. Unappealing plateful: GLOP.
83. Baylor University city: WACO.
84. "I dunno ... ": HMM.
85. "Postman __": BBC stop-motion animation series: PAT.
 |
| Postman Pat |
86. Crunchy snack: CORN NUTS.
 |
| Original Corn Nuts |
87. Helper: AIDE.
89. Accepts an invitation to pose: SITS FOR. Or watching the neighbor's children.
93. Calif. Christmas hrs.: PST. Pacific Standard Time
94. Poses in a yoga studio: ASANAS.
95. Lazy walrus, e.g., for short: STACHE.
How to Style [7:24]
96. Paper money: CASH.
97. Coral community: COLONY.
100. Assumed: GIVEN.
101. Marvin the Martian, e.g.: ALIEN.
Best of [6m]
104. Switzerland's capital: BERN.
105. Brief brief: MEMO. Memorandum in case we all forgot what memo is short for.
107. Signs: INKS.
108. NYC arena: MSG.
109. Possessive word: OUR.
111. Troy research univ.: RPI.
112. Missy Elliott genre: RAP.
113. Number of players in Battleship: TWO.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
My synopsis:
WOs: Larch -> BIRCH
ESPs: OTIS, LEA DeLaria, SAM Esmail, OSSA
Fav: Teleport was cute.
There you have it folks.
I hope you found all the Easter Eggs and don't find one with the mower in June :-)
Cheers, -T
31 comments:
I “got” all the “businesses.”
( And, Dash-T, I believe the “business” you thought was “Ginca” is actually the insurance giant, Cigna). I thought that this puzzle was clever and fair. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
The Wite-Out got a rest today. Saw the circles, but didn't look at 'em until I'd finished, so they provided no help in the solve. Noted the CSO's to I-M (AGNES and RPI) and CED (GEO). Finished in good time, and enjoyed the ride sliding down the grid. Thanx, Rebecca and Dash-T. (You gave yourself away with "Mmm Donuts.")
FIR, but erased frita for EVITA (DOH!), buso for BESO, stated for VOICED, swing for TWERK, aluet for ALEUT, and slop for GLOP.
Today is:
EASTER
NATIONAL PROM DAY (suggest that your date get a dress that won’t wrinkle in the glove box)
NATIONAL CRAYON DAY (because they won’t let me have anything sharp)
NATIONAL BUNSEN BURNER DAY (doesn’t go well with crayons)
NATIONAL TATER DAY (loved ‘em since I was a tot)
NATIONAL CLAMS ON THE HALF SHELL DAY (light the fire and bring up the Pismo Beach music)
DNK INUK.
Telcom folks know that POTS is the acronym for Plain Old Telephone Service.
The old joke goes that the definition of MIXED FEELINGS is seeing your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Mercedes.
"Get loose" = SAG - speak for yourself!
OK, OK, I knew MILAN was the fashion base, without a single perp. Where do I send in my man card?
I once had a Fu Manchu STACHE that hung about an inch below my chin. I didn't know a single thing about MILAN in those days.
BERN, not to be confused with New BERN, where (today's anagram) PEPSI was born.
I noticed INUK/ALEUT, OPRAH/GAYLE King, CAMERA/TIME LAPSE PICTURE, and DONUT/BAGEL.
Thanks to Rebecca for the enjoyable Sunday puzzle, and to Bayou Tony for the fun tour.
Actually, the company name is PEPSIco. PEPSI is merely one of their product lines.
Everybody probably already knows this, but the main reason that PEPSIco spun off their restaurant businesses (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) was that it was hard for salespeople to sell their beverage products to rival fast food chains. After all, who wants to feather the nest of their competitors?
Took 13:36 today to fight my way through corporate America.
Didn't pay any attention to the theme.
I knew the today's foreign language lessons (beso & ola), but didn't know today's writer/creator (Sam) or tv character (Stan).
Oh joy, circles!
Happy Easter!
Today's Penny Press CW has "oxygen tank?" for LUNG.
I noticed FEDEX immediately, than noticed PEPSI, but could make nothing out of INGCA- Peruvian Gin? Oh, it's CIGNA, the insurance company. No problems today, just the usual unknowns filled by perps. I liked the tricky clueing.
SAM, STAN, INUK, OTIS, AGNES because Francis was too long, GAYLE, PAT, muSTACHE, RAP- needed perps for those.
Abbr. today- MSG, RPI, MEMO, STACHE, PST, HMM, IPA, TSA, SRO, OED, I won't count CD CASE, ABE, SAM, ONE B.C., TSK, or PSST.
JON Batiste is a local musician who made it big,
FIR. Once again circles that were absolutely useless to the puzzle. I ignored them and at the end tried to figure out the companies. Got all but Ginca (which I've never heard of) and Chevron.
There were some very challenging clues today and many unknowns for me, Otis for one? Of course most were proper names.
Not my most favorite Sunday puzzle, but it's done so there's that.
Oh it's Cigna, he said with a head slap!
FIR. Theme thoroughly unhelpful and south central region almost did me in, but crosses were fair.
Musings
-PEPSI stood out immediately
-The best TIME LAPSE PICTURE is pointing the camera at the North Star overnight
-I only know OTIS from elevators and the Mayberry drunk tank
-TWIT: I once did a GEOcache exercise while driving 60 mph
-In Italy, it’s JEH noh uh, in Filmore County Nebraska, it’s jeh NOH us
-I don’t PLAN TO do anything unless it’s on my iPhone calendar
-IKE was a three-letter president not born in the original colonies
-Today I learned INUK is singular for INUIT
-The Mona Lisa only became famous after it was STOLEN ART in 1911
-Fixie?
-After 1 B.C. came 1 A.D., there was no 0
-My favorite podcaster is Tony Kornheiser and he has been badmouthing CIGNA for years.
Thank you Rebecca for the corporate REORG, which was pretty obvious after the first few themers so I didn't bother to unscramble the rest of them. I guess you could say that "I succeeded in business without really trying".
And thank you -T for CEOing for C.C. It's about time that lady took a break!
A few interesting clue/fills:
22A OTIS. His fellow cast mate Eric, played by Ncuti Gatwa was last scene flitting around space and time in a TARDIS.
47A ELECTRIC SCOOTER. Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking would not have been amused by this one.
88A LISA. In addition to playing the SAX she's a cracker jack cruciverbalist as well..
105A MILAN. Also the home of "La Scala", the most famous OPERA house in the world.
110A FRENCH REVOLUTION. REIGN OF TERROR was too short. I seem to recall Christo having wrapped the Bastille when we saw it, but Google doesn't agree.
Cheers
Bill
Enjoyed the REORG theme, but I struggled to unscramble the ORGs. Got PEPSI, FEDEX, COSTCO, CIGNA, APPLE. Gave up on the last two and found the answers here: COMCAST, CHEVRON.
Last to fill was cross of cryptic MSG and unknown GREY. WAG to FIR. I just know I like MSG in my food. But for me it is not a total FIR because of those last two theme answers.
This was the funniest GEOCACHE I have ever found.
This is in a very remote area on my favorite hike to lead in the mountains here. Very few people are able to find this spot, which is why I love to lead it. I was so amused I laughed out loud when I found these "scrolls" of our Chumash Native tribe upon encountering the white intruders in the 1780s..
Husker Gary Can you please say more about your GEOCACHE experience at 60MPH?
Learning moment about Randy's DONUTs. I see there is one right by LAX. We will pass there in two days and I will watch for it. Hand up learning moment about INUK.
Fun puzzle. I didn't think of Cigna either CC. I liked "key turning point", "air space" and "power trip". Happy Easter, All. GC
Thank you, Rebecca, for providing us with a most enjoyable Easter morning. The puzzle was clever and rewarding. It had to be challenging for you as a constructor, what with a full-grid 21-letter phrase and six other long ones.
Our normal weekday grids measure 15 by 15. Rebecca's today is 21 x 21, typical for a Sunday. Some may say, big deal, Rebecca's is not that much bigger than a weekday's. Well, that is not true. A 15 x 15 results in 225 squares, where a 21 x 21 gives you 441, nearly twice the number
In a weekday's!
I was an FIR (barely), but had to figure out the circled and jumbled companies. I was fine with the first few,; CMASCOT and NCHREVO took a bit longer.
Excellent, almost-gettable puzzle from always stellar Rebecca. I just couldn’t get STAN crossing with STACHE and MASCOT, but I’m quite happy to have successfully completed everything else and enjoyed the exercise. Thanks, Rebecca, and thanks, T, for the great tour pro tem.
Enjoy a blessed Easter for those of us who celebrate. We’re having friends over later for Happy Hour. I’m preparing an Easter charcuterie board with jelly beans and chicolate coins in little “grass” nests, deviled eggs, cubes of baked ham and cheese (Havarti and cheddar) baby carrots and dip, assorted crackers.
Picard @12:05 Wow! The 18th Century Indigenous people in that region really had a wicked sense of humor!
FIR and especially enjoyed the long answers. Imagine fitting IT'S RAINING CATS AND DOGS in a single row! Unscrambling words is not my forte, so I gave up on some of those circled company names. There were several unknowns today, but not the iconic DONUT atop Randy's Donuts in Inglewood. My grandson often asks for a stop there on the way home from school. Felices Pascuas desde Los Ángeles.
Wendybird @12:48 PM As our Tuesday Sherpa would say -- "Yummers!"
In an old Peanuts cartoon, Charles Schulz had Snoopy stridently point out that it's proper to say "Dogs and cats. Not cats and dogs. Dogs always come first."
I dunno, the puzzle looked a little askew, but I fixed it...
T.Ken, that's why when you split a 12" pizza pie with someone, you say you'll have the outer 6". (28 in² inner "half" vs 113 in² outer "half")
Kentucky had been split off Virginia by a mere 12 years when Abe was born. The National park in Western Kentucky is worth visiting if you are in bourbon country.
H.Gary - At Branched Oak Lake, the sailors call their overlapping headsail a JEH noh uh (or just "Jenny," as in 867-5309.)
Finished with a WAG to finish the "T" in STACHE, since it could have been SeAN. Great puzzle. Theme was well done with great clues. FIR.
The two 12 downs were a nice touch. Minimal 3 letter words as well.
Nice going, Rebecca, -T, well done subbing for C.C. today.
As for candy, it's dandy, but sex doesn't rot your teeth.
Eggzactly
waseeley at 12:50 Indeed! And they had perfected making durable leather scrolls that would last centuries!
Chevron was fixed by my Angel Editor before SubG posted Cigna* and the GIN was left in place.
My Angel Editor is the best.
//I really thought I missed the zeitgeist on GIN'CA; my goto for a G&T is Beefeater.
Rebecca's puzzle was fun (but a lot of words #Sunday) and I hope I did her justice in the review.
CED - I learned someone actually does GEO CACHEing from you. Picard - that was an LOL hide.
Jinx - re: two pair POTS. I spliced many of those in my day. 100 pair in a manhole and up a pole for training (#DOD).
And, when I was 9, I used TELCO CABLE to split the 300ohm bullet on the back of the TV to steal CABLE from parents' set for my B&W. //also the stereo, I found out I could pickup stations from STL (#K-SHE95) with more silliness.
HG - I was going to mention Edison's horse for Time Lapse but then recalled it was Stop Motion (oooh, that could be a puzzle theme :-)). Yours is spot on.
For some reason Jene Wilder was trending on Titter (X) today. My 4th favorite bit.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.
Cheers, -T
*yes, KS @9:31a - that was a head slap "D'Oh!!!"
Thanks for your clever puzzle, Rebecca! I unscrambled all the businesses except for CIGNA. I needed the theme to guess some of the COMCAST circles which helped with STACHE.
FAV: CD CASE
Thanks to -T for filling in, explaining Lazy walrus, and the Marvin video! LOL-ed at Daffy's Disintegration Vest!
Anon-t,
I was geocaching when I first found this bLog.
This one geocache required learning how to use HTML before you could solve the puzzle to find the co-ordinates...
It is because of that geocache that I supply you all of the silly links i provide you with to this day...
The best thing about geocaching is not all the amazing hides you may or may not find, it's the places you would never know existed if you didn't go looking....
-T
Gene Wilder is trending on X(twitter) because a documentary on his life just came out this month "Remembering Gene Wilder"
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21215388/
It's currently in theaters but not streaming yet.
Thanks for pinch-hitting and to Rebecca for the puzzle
CSO to IM with Agnes - hope she is still on the mend
Finally got to this st 6 p.m. Fairly fast fill but I still dislike corporate names and/or products used as clues or fills. Seems to me that they're getting free "plugs" in the LAT with it's huge circulation. Your thoughts?
heya Gary! A “fixie” is bicycle slang for a one- speed bike, like what’s ridden in velodrome races. It’s only got the one GEAR. Fixies are also popular with the bike-messenger crowd. NYK. ===> Darren
What a pleasant change after that disaster yesterday — thanks, Rebecca! Although I’m not a circular kinda guy, once I got all done (FIR, yay…) it was fun trying to parse all the corporate names. A bunch of entertaining entries along with snazzy clueing made for a nice relaxing late on a Sunday night. 💤 time now…
====> Darren / L.A.
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