Theme: "Name That Tune" - Each song is rephrased fitting the "what line" in the clue.
23. Power line?: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.
33. Life line?: I WILL SURVIVE.
49. Party line?: LET'S GET IT STARTED.
68. Opening line?: I'VE GOT A BLANK SPACE BABY.
91. Time line?: YOU CAN'T HURRY LOVE.
107. Dividing line?: GO YOUR OWN WAY.
119. Shore line?: UNDER THE BOARDWALK.
Not sure about 68A. Is it a song title? I only know it's a line from Taylor Swift's "Blank Space".
Otherwise,
I really like this theme set. We've seen "... line" rephrase theme
before, but not with the extra song layer. Congrats on your Sunday
debut, Katy and Rich!
Across:
1. "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" novelist Jamie: FORD. His debut novel. He's half Chinese.
5. Low-end speaker: BASS. And 18. One throwing out the first pitch?: OBOE.
9. Emulate successfully: PASS AS.
15. Cooling units, for short: ACS.
19. __ research: some dirt-digging: OPPO. Opposition research.
20. Baseball level just below the Majors: TRIPLE A. And
22. Hall of Fame slugger Mel: OTT. 86. One of Nolan Ryan's record seven: NO-HIT GAME.
26. Parched: DRY.
27. Two-time Best Female Golfer ESPY winner Ko: LYDIA. Kiwi. She was born in Korea.
.jpg/800px-Lydia_Ko_MNZM_(cropped).jpg)
28. Leaf wrangler: RAKE.
29. Bewitch: ENTHRALL.
31. Fright: TERROR.
37. Like some candles: SCENTED.
39. Home of many Goyas and El Grecos: PRADO.
40. "Fire" gemstone: OPAL.
41. Unlikely duo?: ELS. The two L's in "Unlikely"
42. "The Boy and the Heron" genre: ANIME.
44. Gifts at some Honolulu hotels: LEIS.
46. The blue in blue cheese, e.g.: MOLD.
54. Follower of up, down, and mid: TOWN.
56. Shake: LOSE.
57. Ireland, to the Irish: EIRE.
58. Like some adoption records: SEALED.
60. "The Matrix" hero: NEO.
61. Train cos.: RRS.
64. Prehistoric: OLD.
66. Data on dashboards: MILEAGES.
75. Yoga asana that requires balance: TREE POSE.
76. MSNBC journalist Cabrera: ANA.
77. Like this clue's number: ODD.
78. "Am __ time?": I ON.
79. Require: ENTAIL.
82. High point of the "Odyssey"?: OSSA. Mount Ossa.
85. Meter or liter: UNIT.
89. Dirty: SOIL.
95. Swap __: MEET.
97. Room in una casa: SALA.
98. HS course covering the facts of life: AP BIO.
99. Curse: HEX.
100. Guides with keys: MAPS.
103. __-panky: HANKY.
105. Writer of pastoral poems: IDYLIST. Spell check does not like this word.
111. Didn't cook, but didn't order in: ATE OUT.
112. Totalitarianism, metaphorically: IRON RULE.
113. Villain's hangout: LAIR.
115. Rims: EDGES.
118. Relieved (of): RID.
124. Female deer: DOE.
125. Spring agricultural machines: SEEDERS.
126. Beauty spot?: ULTA. Mecca of beauty products.
127. "That could work for me": I MAY.
128. "Weekend Update" show, casually: SNL.
129. Restoration poet dubbed "Glorious John": DRYDEN.
130. Headed to overtime: TIED.
131. __ pool: GENE.
Down:
2. Comply: OBEY.
3. Consumer Reports tasks: ROAD TESTS.
4. "Merci" response: DE RIEN.
5. Social media annoyance: BOT.
6. Goddess of love who had five children with the god of war: APHRODITE. One of the kids is Eros.
7. Fishing tool: SPEAR.
8. "__ it to me!": SOCK.
9. Old school crowdfunding org.?: PTA.
10. Branch: ARM.
11. Wee drink: SIP.
12. Pitch: SPIEL.
13. Mets slugger Pete nicknamed "Polar Bear": ALONSO. New York Mets. Patti's team.
_(cropped).jpg/800px-Pete_Alonso_playing_defense%2C_March_25%2C_2023_(1)_(cropped).jpg)
14. Mocked: SENT UP.
15. Vietnamese tunic: AODAI. Pretty. China's qipao is pretty too.
16. PC paste shortcut: CTRL V.
17. Flair: STYLE.
21. Place for a spiritual retreat: ASHRAM.
24. Livestock marker: EAR TAG.
25. Successor: HEIR.
30. KOA option: RV LOT.
32. Actress Russo: RENE.
34. Mickey's co-creator: WALT.
35. Brainstorming output: IDEAS.
36. French wine valley: LOIRE.
37. Go like hotcakes: SELL.
38. Egyptian queen, familiarly: CLEO. Cleopatra.
39. Gas, across the pond: PETROL.
43. Nintendo avatar: MII.
45. Snail mail need: STAMP.
47. Piece of cake?: LONG A. The A in "cake".
48. Square peg in a social circle?: DWEEB. Ha.
50. Durable twill fabric: SERGE.
51. Ward with two Emmy Awards: SELA.
52. Director Kazan: ELIA.
53. Big name in car batteries: DELCO.
55. Snoopy: NOSY.
59. Heroic act, say: DEED.
62. Tug of war need: ROPE.
63. Full of rocks: STONY.
65. Genetic letters: DNA.
67. Pop star Paula who was once a Lakers cheerleader: ABDUL. I did not know this.
68. "Can confirm": IT IS.
69. Noise made while playing with a Matchbox car: VROOM.
70. "__ Meenie": 2010 pop single: EENIE.
71. Regarding: AS TO.
72. Quaint baes: BEAUS.
73. Two half hitches, maybe: KNOT.
74. Verb that comes from a corruption of the ballet term "chassé": SASHAY. Another fun trivia.
80. Mogul Carl: ICAHN.
81. Former TV drama about SoCal attorneys: LA LAW.
83. "How's it hangin'?": SUP.
84. Get in the middle of, in a way: ARBITRATE.
87. Currier and __: IVES.
88. Words on a page: TEXT.
90. __ juice: LEMON.
92. Gran: NANA.
93. Log flume, e.g.: RIDE.
94. Went up and down, say: YOYOED.
96. Many a spring birth: TAURUS.
101. Cut back: PRUNED.
102. Machine shop alloy: SOLDER.
104. Six-time NBA All-Star Lowry: KYLE.
_(cropped).jpg/1200px-Kyle_Lowry_(26715268738)_(cropped).jpg)
106. __ van Beethoven: LUDWIG.
107. Supports: GIRDS.
108. Constellation with a belt: ORION.
109. Sound that comes from on high: YODEL.
110. Like some unkempt gardens: WEEDY.
111. Garlicky sauce: AIOLI. This one seems to have egg yolks.
114. Border: ABUT.
116. Flair: ELAN.
117. Ione of "La Brea": SKYE.
120. __ velvet: RED.
121. Green Day drummer __ Cool: TRE.
122. Channel for bargain hunters: HSN.
123. "Gnarly": RAD.
35 comments:
I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. I understood the gimmick, if you could call it that, right away and everything pretty much flowed smoothly from there. So I don’t have too much to say about this puzzle, except that I enjoyed playing all those songs in my mind. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got the theme, but tried YOU CAN'T bUy me LOVE. In retrospect, maybe that song title has no YOU. Also needed my Wite-Out to correct ALONzO, ENTrance, NO HITters, and DE nada. Do they actually use SOLDER in a machine shop? Enjoyed the outing. Thanx, Katy, Rich, and C.C.
FIR, but erased tapered for SCENTED, closed for SEALED, I IN for I ON, etna for OSSA, sex ed for AP BIO, bird for FOWL, and ads for BOT.
Today is:
CINCO DE MAYO (great day to avoid Mexican restaurants. Let the amateurs have this one)
NATIONAL LEMONADE DAY (LemonadeDay.org is partnered with Google to continue the entrepreneurial spirit in the youth of America.)
NATIONAL HOAGIE DAY (when is national Carmichael day?)
NATIONAL CARTOONISTS DAY (not so fast there, Scott Adams)
NATIONAL TOTALLY CHIPOTLE DAY (a chipotle is a smoked, dried jalapeno pepper. Who gnu?)
NATIONAL INFERTILITY SURVIVAL DAY (friends of mine finally conceived after lengthy and expensive medical assistance. Two years later, they had a second, oops, child)
NATIONAL ASTRONAUT DAY (Major Anthony Nelson and Major Roger Healey were the best. Major Nelson escaped injury while at NASA, only to get shot on the Southfork Ranch in Dallas)
NATIONAL SILENCE THE SHAME DAY (addresses the stigma associated with mental illness)
Honorable mention: Revenge of the Fifth day
Well, that's about enough for one post!
Didn't understand BASS for "low end speaker." I have a deep voice. I've been called "radio guy" but never BASS. If it means that giant fiddle, is it really a speaker? If it is part of a home entertainment system, it would be "woofer."
What a novel way to clue (crossword favorite) OBOE!
I've never heard of The Black Eyed Peas' LETS GET IT STARTED, but any excuse to ogle Fergie is okay with me. I think the "song" samples a little bit of Pink's 2001 monster hit Get The Party Started.
I agree with CC that the name of the song is BLANK SPACE. Maybe Katy should have used her Easter egg (Mitch Ryder's Sock It To Me) in the theme fills instead.
ok, we've got it. You can lay off the TREE POSE now.
Yes, most KOAs offer a few tent spaces, but their core business is RV LOTS. You usually don't have the option of which lot, unless you pay extra.
The problem with half hitches is that they tend to untie(!) themselves. Adding a third half hitch in front of the first one eliminates the problem.
Does "how's it hangin'?" pass the breakfast test? From grammarhow.com:
"“How’s it hanging” originally referred to the “p*nis.” “It” refers to how a man’s p*nis “hung” on that day, to basically ask them “how’s your s*x life” and thus “how are you?” It was a slang form of asking how another man was while being coy about their genitalia."
I've got some more notes, but for now I'm all petered out. Thanks to Katy for the fun trip down musical memory lane, and to CC for the comments.
Good Morning:
Being pop-music illiterate, this was a slow solve, albeit a successful one. I'm aware of only two of the songs mentioned, I Will Survive and Under The Boardwalk, so I needed perps for much of the grid. Fortunately, perps were fair and the fill was mostly discernible and straightforward. The usual suspects of unknowns were Ford, Lydia, Anime, Aodai, Kyle, Tre, and Ctrl V, not nearly as many as some past puzzles. I went astray at I'm In/I May and Spool/Spear and thinking Alonso had a Z, not an S. I was surprised to see the recent entries of Tree Pose and Rake reappear so soon, especially Tree Pose. Idylist looks very strange without the second L and it's hard to imagine why it would be just dropped. Sashay is a fun word and was a long-time favorite of Lucina.
Katy and Rich, thanks for an enjoyable, if somewhat confusing, to me, solve and congrats on your debut and, thanks, CC, for the bird's eye view of the theme and execution. How apropos to have four baseball references for CC to field!
Have a great day.
Come to think of it, two half hitches tend to tighten or loosen the loop, not untie(!) itself. But adding the third hitch does cure, or at least mitigate, the problem.
I forgot to mention the very respectable low count (24) of TLWs. 😉
I had a hard time getting today's "party" started but ultimately managed to FIR with a WAG at the cross of unknowns FORD and DERIEN. My original guess for 1D was BIRD, not FOWL. I know 'merci beaucoup' and 'tres bien' but not DERIEN. I knew all the songs except I'VE GOT A BLANK SPACE BABY but guessed it with enough perps in place.
AP BIO replaced my SEX ED (DW taught it in regular BIO classes to all students except those who had parents who didn't allow it).
IDYLIST- never seen the word but it was an easy fill.
DRYDEN- didn't really know it but with YD in place the rest was an easy guess.
DELCO- what happened to 'AC Delco'?
LUDWIG caused OKAY to change to I MAY for "That could work for me".
I had IRON FIST before the perps overRULEd it.
ALONSO, ANIME, TREE POSE (I would fall over on that one), ANA (Patti has an obsession with MSNBC people), AODAI, KYLE, TRE- perps and guesses for those
d-o, I thought the same about SOLDER. Electronics yes but machine shop??
Jinx- down South a BASS is a fish; BASS is a fiddle or guitar; and we would call people 'Ace'. They thought it was a compliment but it was really the last three letters of BASS. They would never catch on to the joke.
FIR. Clever theme although I'm not familiar with the song "I've got a blank space baby". I guess I need to look that up? All the others I knew.
For me there was a little bit of crunch to this puzzle. The NW was the last to fall with only a WAG at Ford to save it. And I didn't remember enough French to help. But it's done so I'm pleased.
I’m not familiar with the song titles but that didn’t deter my FIW.
I knew the book title for 1a, I read this book, but couldn’t remember the author’s name at first. The book is a novelized version of the author’s family experiences with WWII internment camps of Asian Americans. The title refers to his family address in Seattle. I think I remember all this correctly. Anyway it is well worth reading.
I too wanted you can’t buy me love instead HURRY LOVE.
Very satisfying CW that was a slow but sure solve, just right for a lazy Sunday.
Thank you C.C. for that recap.
Musings
-Weekend cluing for FORD starts us off today
-I vividly remember growing up without A/C
-Omaha’s TRIPLE-A team is the Storm Chasers and their namesakes were busy last week
-Billy Joel sang of and married an UPTOWN Girl
-Mike LOSES Lalo very creatively (3:31)
-Yesterday I blogged 37. Yoga stance also called Vrksasana (TREE POSE).
-UNITS: My weight of 190lbs. looks better as 87kg.
-SEEDER: This is what you need to be a player in Nebraska
-DE RIEN : French = DE NADA : Spanish (both mean “It is nothing”
-In Oregon, we saw fishermen who needed a baseball bat as a necessary tool
-I wonder if WALT would have adjusted to the death of hand-drawn animation?
-Log Flume rides can be refreshing on a hot summer day. In January, however,…
-Crazy LUDWIG II of Bavaria built this castle that was the model for WALT’s Cinderella Castle
Missed by an "S". Went with PASSAt. Don't know the phrase SENTUP. Recognized the theme of song titles but didn't know the BLANKSPACE entry. Perps helped a lot with several entries.
Lots of headscratching today, but most came clean after a little concentration.
DO@5:46, a woofer is a bass speaker. It reproduces low-end frequencies, ergo, low-end speaker. Low voice would have been a better clue, but probably too easy for Sunday.
De is French for "of", Rien is French for nothing, DE RIEN is interpreted as "of nothing" or "it is nothing",
Thanks to our crew for today's puzzle, C.C., Katy and Rich.
Blest be the tie that binds.
Alert.
Gary, our TRIPLE A team, the IRON PIGS, is based in Allentown, (a Billy Joel song).
Would the bat be needed for the eels that they would sometimes catch?
I knew things augured well for me on this puzzle when I saw that it not only majored in music, but that it minored in baseball. I love both. I think there were at least four or five baseball answers. And my FAV combined both, 18 A: "One throwing out the first pitch," which is a baseball term. But it also can be elegantly applied to the orchestra, where the oboe is tasked with playing an A natural pitch to tune the other instruments.
Hands up for those who remember Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in TV show, and Judy Carne's trademark "Sock it to me." (8 Down)
And more hands up to those who were shocked while watching "Laugh-in" one night to see the President of the United States (Richard Nixon) appear on Laugh-in and say "Sock it to me."
Katy and Rich, your puzzle not only brought back memories, but it was fun and clever in many aspects. Thanks for providing an entertaining morning.
And Cinco De Mayo to everyone!
Pu way too many proper names
Tehachapi Ken, my hand's up for both. Judy Carne led a very troubled life. She was Burt Reynold's first wife, and things went downhill from there.
Lee, I think you've got me confused with Jinx@8:09.
Monkey @ 10:10 a.m.
Monique, based on the rest of your comments, I’m pretty sure you meant “FIR” not “FIW.” Am I right?
I thought today's puzzle was a *hard* one with a couple of unknown song titles and lots of sports, to which I am allergic. DNK novelist Jamie, baseball level below the majors, ESPY winner Ko, The Boy and the Heron genre, journalist Cabrera, Mets slugger Pete, Vietnamese tunic, Nintendo avatar, mogul Cari, All-Star Lowry, or Ione of La Brea. Nevertheless, I FIR on paper, no cheating, so apparently I WILL SURVIVE and I MAY say I liked it.
Until we MEET again, many thanks to Katy, Rich, Patti, and C.C. for the interesting morning.
Lee, "woofer" wasn't in the clue or fill, leading to my confusion. Maybe the low voice is Billy BASS, who sang that great rendition of Take Me to the River.
Subgenius @12:28. Exactly, write, oops I mean right. I just noticed my mistake. My brain said right, but my fingers transcribed write, hence the erroneous W. Oh, well, I WILL SURVIVE.
I loved “Laugh-in” and “sock it to me” became a popular phrase like “here come the judge”.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, Google and I completed the impossible (to me) puzzle in equal measure with a resulting resounding FIW.
Today, I FIR, with a lucky guess at BOT,OPPO and a couple of corrections at I’m in/IMAY and Ludvig/LUDWIG (I knew better, but I spelled it like I pronounce it). Otherwise, it was a slow and pretty steady pace through this interesting and somewhat challenging puzzle. I always fall into the grammar traps, such as LONGA and ELS, and as usual I climbed out grumbling when I realized what the answer was.
I loved “…Bitter and Sweet” but couldn’t remember the author’s name. AODAI was a learning moment. I’ve been to Korea but didn’t know the name of those lovely tunics. The themers were fun, though I didn’t know every song. Perps were kind.
Thank you Rich and Katy, and thank you, C.C. for leading us through it.
The sun is finally shining, and the puzzle turned out beautifully. A lovely start to the day!
It was fun trying to suss out the song names, but not easy with some unforgiving perpage. A lot of the clues didn't even give me a clue, like "shake" all by itself does not make one think of "lose," without at least 4 perps...
Duck and goose, thought it might be noun when I had no perps. Made the NW corner last to fall.
Kick myself in the butt moment: could not remember Cleo! I could see her face, (Ah nuts, I was going to type the actress, but I can't remember her name either...)
Ub Iwerks? (Yeah, spellcheck doesn't like it either.) but you might want to remember this future crosswordese any time Mickey is in the clue...
here are a few song titles that did not make the cut...
CED, I've heard most of those sayings, but I only knew of Jimmy Buffett's My Head Hurts; My Feet Stink; & I Don't Love Jesus" as a real song.
Sunday.Songfest. Thanks for the fun, Katy and Rich (congrats on your debut), and C.C.
I am running hot and cold on evaluating this CW. On the one hand, the theme was great, the songs (other than 68A) were well known and some clues were fresh (ie. OBOE, OSSA). But of course I hated the ELS and LONGA (and two in one CW was even worse). And only a grumpy old lady would complain about OPPO, RAD and Baes (in the BEAUS clue) so I won’t show my age.
I didn’t know LYDIA, AODAI, ICAHN, ALONSO which held me up.
But I have learned TRE Cool, and SKYE.
And this Canadian knew KYLE Lowry. Thanks C.C. for the photo in his Raptors uniform. It was a sad day for Toronto fans when he was traded.
It was a sad night yesterday when our Maple Leafs lost in OT to Boston, ending their season and fan’s hopes for a Stanley Cup after not winning it since 1967.
Perhaps that explains my complaints today while most of you were more accepting.
Wishing you all a good evening.
I had fun solving this puzzle, but I needed to "Check grid" a few times to see how far off I was. For example, the fishing tool wasn't SONAR, the social media annoyance wasn't LAG, and the HS course covering the facts of life wasn't SEX ED. IDYLIST and EDGE went in, came out, and went in again.
Good reading you all.
Thanks Katy and Rich and congrats on your Sunday debut! The song theme was fun.
Terrific clues for OBOE, OSSA, ELS, LOSE, YODEL, and MAPS.
It turned out my last 2 boxes to fill were both a name crossing a foreign word. I guess the D correctly with FORD X DE RIEN but ended with a one box FIW at SiLA X ICiHN. I had it confused with "silla" (chair). Oh, well, still a fun solve.
Can someone please help me with 61A? I got the RailRoadS but do not get the "cos."
Thank you C.C. for another enjoyable Sunday tour!
Hola!
Oh, my goodness! I loved reading ALL your comments! It must be a slow Sunday to have so many; I can't recall this many in a long time but then, I am still recovering from my trip. It was just wonderful and relaxing but at my age recovery takes longer!
The puzzle took me way, way longer than it should have but I liked it! Our book club read Jamie FORD'S novel quite a long time ago. It is a bittersweet story of his family's time in a concentration camp. I highly recommend it.
Oh, no! My candles were TAPERED before they were SCENTED and I mistakenly thought the song was YOU CAN'T BUY ME LOVE. So except for those two big errors most of the grid was fairly clean. And oh, my, do I remember SERGE! Our black habits were made of black SERGE and when the weather was cold they were nice and comfortable but in the heat, mama mia, they were a good tool for sacrifice.
I hope you all have had a good week. One of the highlights of our trip this week was a tour of Francis Ford Coppola's winery. What a gorgeous place! We ate lunch there then toured the small museum where all his movie memorabilia is displayed. It was a real treat. We hope to return there in the fall when we go to retrieve some of our friend Claire's items that she wants to dispose of.
Happy cinco de mayo to all!
I did not get the "cos" either.
Irish Miss
I'm shocked that you recall SASHAY which I once used and over-used. Believe me, I did not SASHAY through the puzzle today. It was more of a slow slog.
First time this year I gave up in frustration before even filling in half the clued words. Got the theme in the first fifteen minutes but couldn't use it to solve more than a third of the grid. Too many "borderline" defs for my poor old brain. Definitely not a "challenge" for me today ....more like a waste of time. I'll definitely pass on any future grids by this pair.....unless they attend a refresher course in "definitions"!
Cos. = companies
🤣👍🏽 Jinx! ====> D.
Some snazzy clues (i.e. for OBOE and YODEL), couple of grammar groaners, and an entertaining theme. I’ve never heard of that BLANK SPACE tune either, so I’m encamped with the rest of y’all. Took a WAG on 4d only because I thought of the Español version, “De nada” (“It’s nothing”) and won the bet on that, so it saved my arse to FIR.
“SOCK it to me!”, boy did that ever bring back memories! My fave character on Laugh-In was Arte Johnson’s Dirty Old Man on his tricycle, doing his BASS “dee-dee-dee-DEE” routine, until he got beat by Ruth Buzzi’s purse and fell over. The only bummer was that the show took the time slot away from my favorite show at the time, “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”!
All in all, a cheery puzzle, not too many obscure fills or obfusive clues.
====> Darren / L.A.
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