Funny, Funny Spots!
17A. Spot for a spot?: PARKING LOT. Parking SPOTS are found in PARKING LOTS.
24A. Spot for a spot?: WHERES WALDO. Illustrator Martin Handford published the first in his series of Where’s Waldo books over 25 years ago. The books challenge readers to find the titular cartoon man, clad in his trusty red-striped shirt and red-striped hat, as he hides in a landscape of red-striped red herrings. It turns out that for me, WALDO was not very easy to spot -- I had to search through at least a 1/2 dozen images before I could find one to use for this clue. This one's a gimme ...
 |
| Ben Blat thinks he has a mathematic strategy for finding Waldo |
47A. Spot for a spot?: TV BROADCAST. -- SPOT in this case being slang for an advertisement.
57A. Spot for a spot?: BENCH PRESS. I couldn't find a picture of Stella doing a BENCH PRESS, so you'll have to settle for this one. Tsk, tsk -- he's not using a SPOTTER!
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Of the kidneys: RENAL. In a single day, your kidneys filter about 150 quarts of blood. Most of the water and other substances that filter through your glomeruli are returned to your blood by the tubules. Only 1 to 2 quarts become urine, which is passed to the bladder.
6. Mineral deposits: ORES. An Ektorp? Plural clue with the word "mineral" and a 4 letter fill -- what else could it be but ORES? OTOH, not all mineral deposits are destined for the smelter. For example Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) is not refined into the Alkaline earth metal Calcium (Ca) -- rather it is used to make plaster, wallboard, and other products.
10. Stacked on: ATOP.
14. Words of defeat: I LOSE.
15. Bigger than big: HUGE.
16. "Don't use that __ with me!": TONE. "Well what tone DO you want!?" Here's a father and son team who will make a set of wind chimes that will play any 8 TONE tune you want to hear ...
17. [Theme clue]
19. Symbol at the center of a Scrabble board: STAR. Jared should
know -- he's a STAR Scrabble player!
20. Virtual video game characters: SIMS. The Sims is a series of life simulation video games
developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has
sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the best-selling
video game series of all time. It is also part of the larger Sim
series, started by SimCity in 1989.
 |
The Sims™ 4 on Steam |
22. Switches from a bottle to a cup, say: WEANS. IMO, more commonly associated with giving up mother's milk.
23. California's Santa __ Mountains: ANA. The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 61 miles (98 km) southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.
 |
| Santa Ana Mountains |
27. Language in which "w" can be a vowel: WELSH. Not only can "w" be used as a vowel in WELSH, but the latter's orthography (conventional spelling system) has 29 letters. Some examples of "w" as a vowel include “cwm,” which means “valley” and sounds like “coom,” as well as “crwth,” which is a stringed instrument and sounds like “crooth.” -- Book Riot.
29. Grade that may accompany a 26-Down message: DEE.
30. Particle exchanged in water purification: ION. Ion exchange is a process used in softening or demineralizing water, purification of chemicals, and separation of substances.
31. Square stuck in a corner: POSTAGE. This reminded me of a tone poem about a shy young man who stood in a corner trying to get up the nerve to invite the pretty girl on the other side of the room to dance -- and then he did, and she did! (a CSO to Yellowrocks) ...
35. Mediterranean mountain: ETNA. The same one that erupted on the Corner just last week.
36. [Theme clue]
38. Threading target: BROW. String Theory: an inside look at eyebrow threading ...
 |
| Ouch! |
41. Asset in darts: AIM. We'll skip the Ted Lasso clip this time around. Maybe next time.
42. Bases-loaded walk stat: RBI.
43. Beach tour destinations: ISLES.
47. [Theme clue].
52. Wonder: AWE. These days I wonder a lot about the Here After. I walk into a room to find something and then wonder "What am I here after?" 😀
53. Put on the payroll: HIRED.
54. Blonde hue: ASH. I used to be an ASH blonde, but what's left of my hair is on the verge of becoming SILVER blonde.
55. Printing shade: CYAN. The color CYAN, a greenish-blue, has notable tints and shades. It is one of the subtractive primary colors along with magenta, and yellow
 |
| CYAN, MAGENTA, and YELLOW |
56. Lions or Tigers: TEAM. or BEARS oh my! 😀
57. [Theme clue].
60. Pakistani tongue: URDU. Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where it is also an official language alongside English. Here is a distribution of native Urdu speakers in the major countries where it is spoken ...
 |
| Almond Torte |
64. Electrical unit: WATT. A WATT is a unit of power, named after Scottish engineer James Watt, which measures the rate of energy transfer. A watt, in electrical terms, is the rate at which electrical work is done when one ampere (A) of current flows through one volt (V). I've included this link for those who have spotted that A and V are not the standard symbols used in Ohm's Law.
 |
| James Watt (1736–1819) |
|
|
Apses in the Crypt of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Washington, D.C. |
1. Lumber mill tool: RIPSAW. Lumber mills use RIPSAWS to rapidly rough cut lumber because they are designed to cut along the grain, which is parallel to the growth of the tree. CROSSCUT saws have more teeth and are designed to make finer cuts across the grain of a finished lumber ...
... more discussion for wood geeks on the Woodworking StackExchange
2. Only main "Seinfeld" character who was not in the show's pilot episode:
ELAINE. This one was handed to me ...
4. Responds on "Jeopardy!": ASKS.
5. Hula hoop?: LEI. Cute clue.
6. "My stars!": OH GEE. So said Alice Cooper ...
7. Arendelle's Elsa, for one: RULER. Another empowered woman ...
8. Narcissist's problem: EGO.
9. Volleyball move: SET. One of my granddaughters plays volleyball. SET sounds like a simple move, but it takes a lot of practice to master.
10. Between ports: AT SEA.
11. Climactic moment during an eclipse: TOTALITY. While we didn't experience totality in Baltimore, it did get dark here for several minutes. Here's a national geographic explanation of how it happens ...
12. Ad infinitum: ON AND ON. See 18D below.
13. Lady Gaga, for Stefani Germanotta: PERSONA. A PERSONA is the personality that a person (such as an actor or politician) projects in public: i.e. their IMAGE. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Here's her song Just Dance (her PERSONA in Poker face was just a little too gaga! for me) ...
18. Ultimate degree: NTH. -- a term used to describe the most recent in a long series of things, when you do not know how many there are. This is truly the NTH time we've seen this.
22. Royal Rumble org.: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment.
24. "Holy moly!": WHOA. The first word that popped into my head, Batman! 😀
25. Path maintenance tool: EDGER.
26. Teacher's directive: SEE ME. Is she going to pat you on the head and tell you what a good job you did on the test? Or to talk about the 29A you got?
28. Erupt: SPEW. Like 35A.
32. PADI certification activity: SCUBA. Hand up if you're PADI certified? If you aren't and want to be here's a clip on course 101 ...
33. Halfhearted: TEPID.
34. Objet d'__: ART. Today's French lesson: "Object of Art" or ...
35. Burnt brisket bits: ENDS.
36. Only person to win seven Super Bowls: TOM BRADY. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time. He was also the greatest 6th round draft pick (199th player) of all time ...
37. "Right away, boss!": ON IT.
38. Rubber duck's place: BATHTUB. Do De Rubber Duck With Ernie ...
39. Côte d'Azur, e.g.: RIVIERA. More French: literally "Azure side" -- a reference to the blue Mediterranean Sea perhaps. Eight must-see spots on the Côte d'Azur.
42. Ned Flanders' oldest son: ROD.
44. Tiers: LAYERS. E.g. a 62A is usually multi-tiered.
45. Fried Apples?: EWASTE. Funny clue, but not funny fill.
46. Has an inkling: SENSES.
48. Brother in Rome's foundation story: REMUS. The other brother was Romulus, who lived to tell the story. They were raised by a she-wolf ...
49. "Pipe down!": CAN IT. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
50. Fancy neckwear: ASCOT. An ascot tie or ascot is a neckband with wide pointed wings, traditionally made of pale grey patterned silk. This wide tie is usually patterned, folded over, and fastened with a tie pin or tie clip, modeled here by American expatriot artist John Singer Sargent ...
51. "Pipe down!": SHH. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
55. Do some photo editing: CROP. Sometimes it's necessary in these reviews. And video editing too.
57. "I should tell you," for short: BTW. -- but the time's too short ...
58. Common __: ERA. I am in AWE of how BCE suddenly became CE in the course of a single weekend? 😀
59. Org. that may organize after-school activities: PTA. What would constructors do without them?
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
8. Narcissist's problem: EGO.
9. Volleyball move: SET. One of my granddaughters plays volleyball. SET sounds like a simple move, but it takes a lot of practice to master.
10. Between ports: AT SEA.
11. Climactic moment during an eclipse: TOTALITY. While we didn't experience totality in Baltimore, it did get dark here for several minutes. Here's a national geographic explanation of how it happens ...
12. Ad infinitum: ON AND ON. See 18D below.
13. Lady Gaga, for Stefani Germanotta: PERSONA. A PERSONA is the personality that a person (such as an actor or politician) projects in public: i.e. their IMAGE. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Here's her song Just Dance (her PERSONA in Poker face was just a little too gaga! for me) ...
18. Ultimate degree: NTH. -- a term used to describe the most recent in a long series of things, when you do not know how many there are. This is truly the NTH time we've seen this.
22. Royal Rumble org.: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment.
24. "Holy moly!": WHOA. The first word that popped into my head, Batman! 😀
25. Path maintenance tool: EDGER.
26. Teacher's directive: SEE ME. Is she going to pat you on the head and tell you what a good job you did on the test? Or to talk about the 29A you got?
28. Erupt: SPEW. Like 35A.
32. PADI certification activity: SCUBA. Hand up if you're PADI certified? If you aren't and want to be here's a clip on course 101 ...
33. Halfhearted: TEPID.
34. Objet d'__: ART. Today's French lesson: "Object of Art" or ...
36. Only person to win seven Super Bowls: TOM BRADY. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time. He was also the greatest 6th round draft pick (199th player) of all time ...
 |
| Tom Brady |
38. Rubber duck's place: BATHTUB. Do De Rubber Duck With Ernie ...
39. Côte d'Azur, e.g.: RIVIERA. More French: literally "Azure side" -- a reference to the blue Mediterranean Sea perhaps. Eight must-see spots on the Côte d'Azur.
42. Ned Flanders' oldest son: ROD.
 |
| Rod Flanders |
45. Fried Apples?: EWASTE. Funny clue, but not funny fill.
46. Has an inkling: SENSES.
48. Brother in Rome's foundation story: REMUS. The other brother was Romulus, who lived to tell the story. They were raised by a she-wolf ...
 |
| Romulus and Remus Capitoline Museums, Rome |
49. "Pipe down!": CAN IT. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
50. Fancy neckwear: ASCOT. An ascot tie or ascot is a neckband with wide pointed wings, traditionally made of pale grey patterned silk. This wide tie is usually patterned, folded over, and fastened with a tie pin or tie clip, modeled here by American expatriot artist John Singer Sargent ...
_-_1880_ca._-_by_Paul_Berthier_(1879-1916).jpg) |
| John Singer Sargent in a pleated Ascot tie c. 1880, and the subject of a recent Tate Exhibition. |
51. "Pipe down!": SHH. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
55. Do some photo editing: CROP. Sometimes it's necessary in these reviews. And video editing too.
57. "I should tell you," for short: BTW. -- but the time's too short ...
58. Common __: ERA. I am in AWE of how BCE suddenly became CE in the course of a single weekend? 😀
59. Org. that may organize after-school activities: PTA. What would constructors do without them?
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
37 comments:
Some fairly obscure clueing (such as the one for “scuba”) made this puzzle a bit more of a challenge than it would have been otherwise. But, on the whole, this was a fair and very doable puzzle. And for those of you who don’t like puzzles with reveals; once again, there wasn’t one. So what’s not to like? Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Yay, no reveal for d-o to miss. Found all the "spots" in about 10 minutes, which is normal Thursday solving time. My only Wite-Out moment was correcting FYI to BTW. Nice LAT debut, Jared. Enjoyed your tour, waseeley and Teri. (My ASH is also growing more silver now.)
ION -- When I lived in the upper midwest recharging the water softener was a common weekend chore. They're a rarity in SE Texas where the water is naturally soft (and poor tasting).
"Fried Apple" -- Owned one, and believe me, it smelled awful.
SCUBA -- Anybody else think of the old Sea Hunt TV show with Lloyd Bridges as the intrepid Mike Nelson?
FIR (unlike Bill 'n' Teri who had TEA CERoMONY x EDGoR,) but erased pours for WEANS, and gad for AWE.
Today is (actually yesterday's "Today is" due to my booboo on Wednesday):
NATIONAL MARITIME DAY (these brave seafarers can sometimes go under bridges without hitting them)
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN DAY (nearby Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters has their own ambulance fleet)
NATIONAL BUY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DAY (do drums qualify)
NATIONAL SOLITAIRE DAY (Early versions of Windoze included this game to give old farts practice with the mouse)
NATIONAL CRAFT DISTILLERY DAY (my dad’s rule of thumb was that if it has the “bottled in bond” seal, it will be good whiskey)
NATIONAL VANILLA PUDDING DAY (Bill Cosby would approve)
Bill's comment for WEANS was much more genteel than I was going to offer.
First I've heard of BROW threading. Hopefully the last.
"Motor City" TEAM, if we're talking pros.
I'm NASDS (National Association of SCUBA Diving Schools) certified instead of PADI. The main difference is that PADI teaches sharing a single regulator in case of an emergency air situation, while NASDS teaches everyone has an emergency regulator, so that one air source is shared, but not the mouthpiece.
We have a city-sponsored art area called d'art. A breakfast and lunch joint in the same building is named d'egg.
As was revealed at his roast, TOM BRADY actually has eight rings, after Gisele gave hers back to him.
Thanks to Jared for the fun challenge, and to Bill 'n' Teri for the fun afterparty.
Here's what David Alfred Bywaters has to say about Alienation, his fortnightly puzzle (I'm inclined to agree with him ...
Do you feel like everybody else is part of something from which you alone have been excluded? Well, everybody else feels just the same way—everybody else, that is, except me, because I’m not like everybody else.
Jinx @7:27 AM LOL Brady's bunch of rings!
FIR. Typical Thursday puzzle.
The theme was clever and some of the cluing was a tad obscure. But despite moments of "WTF" during the solve, I perservered and made it through, so I'm pleased.
Creative theme which highlighted the varied meanings of the word SPOT.
Gimme for me was RENAL - the kidney is one of the most complex organs in the body with functions of not only filtering but producing many important chemicals which help regulate the rest of the body! On average the nephrologists are the smartest doctors out there.
WHERE"S WALDO series were favorites of my kids. One of my kids could easily blend into a crowd, so his nickname was WALDO. Interesting article Bill about Waldo placement
I wanted band before TRIO for Nirvana - that was my learning moment
Thanks Bill & Teri for the interesting blog and congrats to Jared for the puzzle!
Took 6:33 today for me to get this out of my blind spot.
As usual, I didn't know today's foreign language-related lesson (objet d' art). I didn't know this animated Rod (wasn't there a Simpson's episode involving an inanimate steel rod?).
The 36D/Tom Brady clue isn't accurate. Bill Belichick has 8 super bowl rings (two as a defensive coordinator and six as a head coach).
I was hoping for a clue involving the beer, "Spotted Cow."
SS @8:11 AM Here ya go -- we aim to please. 😀
Good Morning:
I particularly like this type of theme because I'm always interested in just how the key word is going to be defined in several different ways, yet using strong in-the-language phrases. Jared was very successful in meeting that challenge with today's offering of five nicely varied definitions of a simple word. The fill wasn't particularly difficult but was sprinkled with many clued-words with multiple possible answers, requiring some thought which, as Martha would say, is a good thing. Keeps us on our toes! Brow threading is not familiar to me, nor was Normal, Ruler, Rod, and SCUBA, all as clued. I went astray at Band/Trio and WTA/WWE.
Thanks, Jared and congrats on your impressive debut and thanks, Bill and Teri, for an always enlightening and entertaining review. Today's highlight was the fascinating video on the creation of wind chimes and my learning moment was having a previously unknown title put to a familiar piece of music, Invitation To The Dance.
Have a great day.
Good Morning! What a fun puzzle! Thanks, Jared and congratulation on your debut. It was a workout I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but it all came together with an alphabet run.
My first thought when I came to the 17A themer was TEA PARLOUR but was happy to see it was captured by TEA CEREMONY later on. Overall I thought it was a clever theme.
My favorite C/A: Square in the corner/POSTAGE - LOL when that filled because I had a blank for the leading letter. Would it be Snap (as in temper)? Then the unknown PADI left SCUBA open.
I had to come to the Corner to find out how BROW related to the clue. Ugh, now I can’t unsee it…!
WO: CliP -> CROP
ESP: SIMS
Fried Apples / EWASTE – unfamiliar with either jargon.
Thanks, Bill & Teri. You gave us quite a treat with your fun/fact/tuneful recap.
I had a tough time completing it today with only two unknowns- ROD and WELSH. TOTALITY was a hard fill because I misread the clue as 'Cinematic' instead of "Climactic'.
SIMS and 'Scrabble'- two games I've never played but fills were easy.
WELSH and Icelandic- two languages that are just impossible to read for outsiders to even guess.
NORMAL- Isn't it in Illinois?
SCUBA? There are sharks in the water. I'll look at those creatures on a TV BROADCAST.
d-ott0, if a Western is called and 'oater' in puzzles I guess 'Sea Hunt' would be a 'boater'
Hello, it's Jared here, today's constructor.
I want to thank Patti and Katie for their wonderful and supportive editing (and creative clues), Bill/Teri for the great write up today, and my friend Emily for her helpful feedback as I was creating this puzzle.
The word 'spot' has so many meanings which leads to such fun wordplay. I didn't even use one of the most common forms of the word, that being a physical dot.
I was thrilled to include references to some of my favourite things in this puzzle: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Scrabble, and the Detroit Lions.
Loving all the comments here. I have another LAT crossword in the queue, so stay tuned for more!
A little crunch to this CW but nothing that couldn’t be figured out eventually. Some cells filled without my help like WEANS and BROW.
Some unknowns I was able to guess like SCUBA, WHOA, RULER.
All in all a fun challenge.
Thank you Waseely for the nice recap. There’s always something interesting to learn from our reviewers.
This morning I got GOOGLE’s grumpy face again saying my post had failed, but it had posted AND it was still appearing in the rectangle. I hit refresh and the rectangle cleared and my posting stayed.
This happens every once in a while, but not always. I think other posters have experienced similar occurrences. One of the mysteries of GOOGLE.
BE @9:31 AM Yes, NORMAL is a town in Illinois -- a "suburb" of BLOOMINGTON. I lived in Normal, but worked in Bloomington for about two years consulting to State Farm Insurance, which is headquartered in the latter.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jared (congrats on your LA Times debut), and waseeley and Teri.
Thanks for dropping by, Jared. I did have a DOT before it became a PARKING LOT, but I knew Elsa was not a Ruder RULER,
I FIRed in good time and got all the Spots.
Several inkblots.
R CUB e (I had no idea about PADI and thought of Rubics Cube LOL). Oh, SCUBA,
Levels changed to LAYERS (which changed Ewe to AWE).
My Tarte changed to TORTE, which improved my photo CROP from Crap.
I knew BROW threading from my Indian DIL.
We had TOTALITY here on April 8. AWE inspiring.
Favourites were the clues for POSTAGE, EWASTE and LEI (nice fresh clue for a common CW fill).
A proper British TEA CEREMONY would never serve TEPID tea., but they crossed in this CW.
Yes, Monkey, I’ve had that Google post experience.
Wishing you all a great day.
An enjoyable outing this morning! I found all the spots, and managed to FIR. The clues were mostly "spot on" my particular wavelength today (with the exception of THREADING TARGET...Definitely TMI!) Fun puzzle, Jared!
FIR and enjoyed it! As Irish Miss said, it was fun to see "spot" appear with different meanings in the theme answers, which were all well known phrases.
BROW threading is commonly offered in salons here in Los Angeles. It's an alternative to tweezers.
Many thanks to Jared for the puzzle, as well as for visiting the Corner. Thanks to Patti for editing, and to Bill and Teri for explaining it all.
Fine CW, thanx, JC. I got the theme with the first clue, which helped. Something I didn't see mentioned was how cleverly the theme fill was placed: left, right, center, left, right! Impressive skills to get that organized properly. I was SCUBA certified by the YMCA, before there WAS a PADI. Over the years my job became more and more demanding of my time, and it got to the point I would only dive once every couple years, and constantly needed my equipment recertified, rebuilt or replaced. Then dive captains didn't wanna recognize my YMCA certification, and I just quit and sold all my equipment. Anyway, a couple W/Os on the CW, band/TRIO, was one, but quickly corrected. For me a 15 minute Thursday is a good day. Bill you did your usual amazingly good write-up, informative AND entertaining, thanx Bill, for all the time and effort you put in for our entertainment. And I look forward to JC's next CW, hopefully as light as this one on obscure names. Thanx again, JC.
None of the theme entries dawned on me without perps, so it took a while to FIR. None of the entries seemed particularly clever, certainly including WHERE’S WALDO.
NEGATIVES: Blond, not “blonde” is the default spelling and the only one that applies to modifiers. A man cannot be “blonde” or “a blonde.” I suppose “ash blonde” implies a noun distinct to women who dye their hair that color. . . . I say and write “WHOA” a lot, but I don’t think “holy moly” quite means that word. The young-uns have been spelling the word “woah,” and Listerine originally spelled it that way in its “Feel the Whoa” campaign. . . . I didn’t know what Common ERA meant; the PADI clue for SCUBA wasn’t helpful; and WEAN may have meanings beyond transitioning from mother’s milk, but switching from a bottle in a clue for that word seems kind of 1952, like married couples in twin beds on TV.
POSITIVES: I liked the POSTAGE set-up, and CAN IT. Legend has it that a smart aleck kid on one of those local kids cartoon shows of our youth told the Bozo host (I think his name was Corky) to “Can it, Clown.” . . . My first encounter with burnt ENDS was perhaps the best, as it occurred at the original Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City. Despite K.C.’s reputation for barbecue, Texas is the place to get brisket, and often a hole-in-the-wall is the best place to get it.
ASIDES: Texas is also the only place I’ve found righteous nachos, which should be more than melted Velveeta poured over a mess of corn chips. Nachos should be made individually, with a corn chip containing a thin smear of bean dip, a sliver of jalapeno, and a small piece of cheese, baked until the cheese melts and the chip is chewy. . . . Our octet used to sing “Rubber Ducky.” In addition to my tenor role, I squeaked like the Ducky.
At first I thought, "this is too easy for a Thursday," when the top 3rd filled itself in. This mindset was quickly altered in the middle, which became the hardest part to fill...
Square stuck in a corner= postage, very clever, I got stuck thinking cheater square as the letter count matched.
Who invented the steam engine? Not who, Watt, James Watt!no pun intended
The hardest for me had to be "tea ceremony," as this definition of spot being a little bit is strictly British. Or is it because tea hits the spot?
You can skip this if you don't like TBBT, but for the unfamiliar, here's 8 minutes of Sheldon spot...
Jared, thanx for dropping by. Spot could also be clued as the dog in the Dick and Jane stories for those of us who learned to read via McGuffey.
Jared Thanks for stopping by. Fun SPOT theme!
waseeley What is an "Ektorp"? It is not in the glossary for this site.
This RUBBER DUCK was not in a BATHTUB.
If you have ever experienced TOTALITY you know that it is not about things getting dark for a few minutes. It is nothing at all like a partial ECLIPSE. Everyone should have the TOTALITY experience at least once.
Picard, I've added this to my personal abbreviation list because i'd probably never remember it otherwise.
EKTORP was defined by Emma Oxford in a comment to her April 17th, 2024 puzzle as "a clue whose answer you can get from context without actually knowing it."
Hola!
Thank you, Jared Cappel, for LOTS of fun today. My favorite clue/fill was POSTAGE, square stuck in a corner. Hula hoop, LEI, was good, too.
I don't get the FRIED APPLES clue.
This will be a short commentary because I am so tired. Most of the night was spent, first, searching for my credit card, realizing I didn't have it and then reporting it lost. I finally went to bed sometime around 1:30. I believe that Monday when we went out to lunch I must have left it at the restaurant.
I found all the "spots" in the puzzle and laughed.
Have a great day, everyone!
Copy Editor, California's Carlos and Pepe restaurants serve their nachos that way. They look like they are made by a pastry chef. After melting the cheese, each chip gets a little sour cream, a little guacamole, and a slice of jalapeno to top it off. Expensive but yummy. (I just Googled it - looks like the C&Ps of (crossword fave) SoCal is no longer. There are restaurants by that name in Canada and Ft. Liquordale, but their nachos look like just another Tex-Mex place.
Lucy @1:00 PM Apple computers that have died and ended up as EWASTE --electronics destined for landfills
RosE Thank you for your reply.
First: Can you please explain the meaning of RosE? Are you male or female?
Here's a problem:
If you Google "natick crossword" no quotes, you get the explanation.
If you Google "ektorp crossword" no quotes, you get no explanation.
I indeed see that over a month ago it was suggested here to add this term to puzzle abbreviations:
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2024/04/wednesday-april-17th-2024-emma-oxford.html
However, it is still not there:
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/comments-section-abbreviations.html
The best nachos I ever had were in San Angelo, Texas. Shiner beer, too.
I rather liked this puzzle and I appreciated and enjoyed the SPOT gimmick. I think SPOT referring to tea is from British, who often call it a spot of tea. (They also call the evening meal "tea".)
Some things I especially liked:
Language in which "w" can be a vowel: WELSH
Square stuck in a corner: POSTAGE
Climactic moment during an eclipse: TOTALITY
Rubber duck's place: BATHTUB
Fried Apples?: EWASTE
Some things I especially disliked:
Switches from a bottle to a cup, say: WEANS (for the reasons already mentioned by a couple of you)
"My stars!": OH GEE (paraphrase)
Again, IMO paraphrasing, or in the case of crossword solving, reverse paraphrasing is inherently impossible. Take a word or phrase, paraphrase it, then ask the solver what the original word or phrase was. Nope, it simply cannot, by definition, be done. In this puzzle we had:
"My stars!": OH GEE
"Holy moly!": WHOA
"Right away, boss!": ON IT
"Pipe down!": CAN IT
"Pipe down!": SHH (there's my proof, right there)
"I should tell you," for short: BTW
I had the final T in WATT but waited for a perp to reveal whether it was WATT or VOLT.
My patisserie BREAD had to be change to TORTE.
My common LAW had to be changed to ERA.
I think, as Copy Editor pointed out, that you were an ASH blond, waseeley, not an ash blonde. And I appreciate that you appreciate the physicist Kip Thorne, as I also appreciate him.
Good wishes to you all.
Worst clue of all - “Fried Apples” referring to Apple devices, iPhones, etc.
Picard, I should have further explained, a) my list includes abbreviations AND definitions.
b) EKTORP is a type if IKEA sofa. This was the Clue/Fill: Maker of Ektorp sofas: IKEA for the 04/17/24 puzzle. Blogger Splynter commented: I have learned to default to "IKEA" when it's an oddly-named furniture clue....
Poster Anonymous @12:59 said this:
Another point of interest: Will Pfadenhauer and I have been trying to get "ektorp" into the crossworld lexicon. Much like natick, it is also a small city that no one has heard of (IKEA furniture is named after real places, fun fact), but where natick means "an impossible crossing," we submit for your consideration that ektorp should mean "a clue whose answer you can get from context without actually knowing it." Splynter has proved my point above, saying that weird furniture names is all that's needed to know the answer must be IKEA, even if you wouldn't have been able to come up with those furniture names independently.
Hope this helps.
P.S. I'm of the feminine persuasion & RosE is a collection of letters from my name.
JAYCE -- Thanks for your take on a topic I've been harping on all along, the "paraphrasing" Patti obviously likes too much.
JINX -- While guacamole and sour cream don't ruin nachos, they don't necessarily enhance the subtle blend possible with the four main ingredients.
JAYCE AND JINKS -- When it comes to enhanced nachos at premium prices, it was hard to beat the ones at Ninfa's, originally a Houston restaurant that expanded in the 1980s. They had some beef on them, reminiscent of Ninfa's signature fajitas, plus the features Jinks liked at the SoCal restaurant chain. Not surprised to hear of great ones in San Angelo, though.
NATICK is an actual place in Massachusetts. We actually passed it and I saw it on a sign on one of my travels.
Musings
-A fun solve. Gimmicks were fun to discover.
-Finding finding PARKING SPOTS in downtown Lincoln are always a hassle
-ORE found at Sutter’s Mill (a sawmill with a RIPSAW) in 1848 changed this country
-Prince (now King) Charles starts speech in Welsh
Hi All!
Jarod provided a fun Thursday puzzle with just the right amount of crunch for a late-week grid. Thanks and congrats on the LAT debut!
I haven't the chance to click any of the videos but the rest of the expo was A-One. Thanks Waseeley & Teri.
WOs: N/A
ESPs: ROD, BROW as clued.
Fav: Clue for POSTAGE... All I could think was a nerd trying to be the class-clown and getting stuck in the corner w/ the dunce cap on ;-)
Copy Editor - I'll second Ninfa's here in Houston. Top notch-Os.
//I'm not a huge fan of Nachos - too messy ;-). The mess is worth it if they're really good.
I enjoyed reading everyone today.
Cheers, -T
Congratulations to Jared on his LAT debut! Today's challenge was SPOT on! (C-Echo beat me to that one.) Thanks for stopping by The Corner. I look forward to your upcoming puzzle.
FAVs: UPTREND and Fried Apples?
Hand up for "band" before TRIO.
RosE. Thank you for the reminder about "Ektorp"!
Thanks for your terrific review, waseeley! You out-linked yourself this week!
= )
FAV: Ernie & friends in the tub
Post a Comment