No Smoking!
17A. *Opera buffa by Mozart: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. Some people think that The Marriage of Figaro
is the greatest opera ever written, and far be it for me to argue with
them. This opera was revolutionary, not just musically, but in its
veiled attack on the aristocracy (it was actually banned in Vienna).
The plot revolves around Count Almaviva's attempt to exercise his Droit du seigneur
-- that is his right as a Lord to "break in" any of his servant girls
on the night of their wedding. The servant in this case it is Susanna, Figaro's fiancee (the same Figaro as in Rossini's The Barber of Seville). The opera ends with an embarrassing moonlight tryst between the Count and his own wife, the Countess Rosina, whom he has been tricked into thinking is Susanna. Here's how the opera begins ...
29A. *Landscape options in dry climates: ROCK GARDENS.
 |
| A Rock Garden in San Diego |
And finally Joe reveals what he's really trying to warn us about ...
54. "Not quite!," and what can be said about a letter string in the answer to each starred clue: CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR. ... or as this Veggie Tale tells us ...
... if you smoke, it will end up being your Silent Night!
I fear that there may be a whole other layer hidden in the ashes of this theme, and if there is, I'm sure you'll point it out!
Here's the grid ...
Across:
1. Department concerned with wages: LABOR.
6. "Word": I DIG.
10. Kazakhstan's North __ Sea: ARAL. Four letter sea? Could this be an EKTORP?*
14. D-Day beach name: OMAHA. OMAHA was the code name for one of 5 beaches
where Allied Forces came ashore on during D-Day, the June 6th, 1944.
It was the most heavily defended beach by the Germans, everything went
wrong on that beach, and it took the heaviest casualties (e.g. compare
American losses on Omaha vs Utah).
On a D-Day tour of the beaches some years back our guide told us that
the Allied air forces were supposed to carpet bomb the bluffs above
Omaha beach with sorties running parallel to it. He speculated that due
to inter-service rivalry they ignored this decision and flew instead in
from the sea at right angles to the beach, and many of their bombs
landed in the fields beyond the bluffs. As this scene from Saving Private Ryan shows us, the results were disastrous ...
Watch on YouTube link above
16. Get a better rate, for short: REFI. REFInance.
.
17. [Theme clue]
20. "Your point being?": AND?
21. They mean nothing: ZEROS. Yes they do, but they are also one of the most significant discoveries of early mathematicians. While there are many claims of "first" to this invention, e.g. this one, it seems likely that it was discovered independently by mathematicians around the world.
22. End zone marker: PYLON. Sports usage. But here our friendly Thesaurus.plus shows us only 10 of its 61 synonyms ...
24. Tropical trees: PALMS.
25. Vegan milk source: ALMOND.
28. Mountainous region of the Levant: JUDEA. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, JUDEA is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob (one of the "Genesis twins" who never seems to make it into crossword fill 😀) who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated.
32. "CSI" evidence: DNA. Deoxyribonucleic Acid is gathered during a crime scene investigation because each individual's DNA is unique, and like finger prints, it can help identify who was at the scene. It has a half sibling called Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) -- for more on both DNA and RNA see 59A.
35. __ in handy: COME.
36. Missay, say: ERR. Is there a wrong way to clue this?
37. God of love: EROS. Specifically the Greek god of love, the Roman god being CUPID or Amor. Their holiday is celebrated every February 14th. 💕
38. Swanky hotel amenity: SPA.
39A [Theme clue]
43. Memos: NOTES.
45. Crow's-nest cry: LAND HO.
46. Race town near Windsor Castle: ASCOT. The Ascot Racecourse was founded by Queen Anne in 1711, and has since received the support of a further twelve monarchs. The Ascot summer race meeting officially became a Royal week in 1911 and is always visited by the King and Queen.
 |
| The Ascot Races |
49. Pertaining to bees: APIAN.
50. __ Sound Machine: MIAMI. Miami Sound Machine was an American Latin pop band of Latin-influenced music that featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami Latin Boys before becoming the Miami Sound Machine in 1977. Their Rhythm is Gonna Get You ...
51. Explosive letters: TNT. A preview of coming attractions ...
54. [Theme reveal]
57. "Get your own!": MINE.
58. Free of fizz: FLAT. Another versatile word ...
Among the most important enzymes is RNA Polymerase, discovered 6 years after the the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953, and which is required in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Simply put, DNA is required to make enzymes, but enzymes are required to make DNA. How did that happen? Scientists have been working on this "chicken and egg"problem at least since 1959.
60. Online crafts site: ETSY.
61. __ up: tell all: FESS.
62. Lite: LO FAT.
Down:
1. Kirke of "Mozart in the Jungle": LOLA. Lola Kirke plays oboist Hailey Rutledge in the Amazon Prime TV series based on the 2005 memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, by real life oboist Blair Tindall ...
2. "Preach!": AMEN.
3. Boston or Chicago: BAND. CITY fits, but doesn't perp. Boston is an American rock band formed in 1975 by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that experienced significant commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1967. Self-described as a "rock and roll band with horns," their songs often combine elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music. Here are Boston and Chicago's greatest hits ...
More Than a Feeling
Saturday in the Park
4. Cry of discovery: OHO.
5. Poking fun at: RAZZING.
6. Like noble gases: INERT. Snobs that they are, noble gases' exhibit INERTNESS,
a tendency not to react with other chemical substances, which results
from their electron configuration: their outer shell of valence
electrons is "full", giving them little tendency to participate in
chemical reactions.
7. Long-extinct flightless birds: DODOS. Their name is synonymous with "stupid", but their extinction was not caused by stupidity.
 |
| Dodo |
9. Many a moving meme: GIF. LIFE IS SHORT ...
 |
| Argyle |
13. Wildebeest hunter: LION.
18. Nintendo princess: ZELDA. Princess Zelda is a character in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video game series.
 |
| Princess Zelda |
19. Tablets at some checkout counters: IPADS. 5 major benefits of using IPADS in retail.
23. Routine element: JOKE. While this guy is best known for his standup, he starts this routine kneeling ...
24. Many a 23-Down: PUN.
25. Circle parts: ARCS.
26. Roller coaster feature: LOOP.
27. Supersize suburban homes: MCMANSIONS. What's the difference between a McMANSION and just a big house?
 |
| Some McMansions under construction near me (BTW, the flag on the right is a CSO to Anonymous -T) |
28. Ryan of "Bosch": JERI. I couldn't find any clips of her from Bosch, but it turns out that Jeri Ryan can sing. I believe this performance was on Star Trek Voyager's holadeck ...
30. Suggestions, informally: RECS. TIPS would have fit too.
31. Soft & __: DRI.
33. Have a snack: NOSH.
34. Apropos of: AS TO.
37. Sicilian mount: ETNA. Mount ETNA erupts frequently in crosswords, and this past December it obliged us with an actual eruption ...
40. Gel: SET.
41. Avis rival: ALAMO.
42. Far beyond the norm: RADICAL. Dude!
44. Irish dramatist Seán: O'CASEY. Seán O'Casey (born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
.png) |
| Seán O'Casey |
46. College-level HS English course: AP LIT. You might just read one of 44A's plays there.
47. Falafel holders: PITAS. Here's a recipe.
 |
| Falafels |
49. Cartoon maker of Invisible Paint and Instant Road: ACME.
50. Stubborn beast: MULE.
51. "Yay, the weekend's almost here!": TGIF. The day after Thursday!
52. Grandmother's nickname: NANA.
53. Moderate gait: TROT.
55. Lifelong pal, briefly: BFF.
56. "If u ask me ... ": IMO. I know u didn't, but I drew the short straw today.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
*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."
Notes from C.C.:
Renee (sumdaze) and I made today's USA Today puzzle. Click here to solve. Congrats on your debut, Renee! You're simply amazing.
50 comments:
Wow! Pretty tough, especially the Italian for “The Marriage of Figaro” But through P&P, I managed to solve this quite challenging puzzle. Among other things, the crossing of “Judea” and “Jeri” seemed a bit cruel. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
I guess because I skipped a week I missed a David Alfred Bywaters' puzzle. So we have another bonus puzzle today. Here's what David has to say about it:
Are you feeling sad again, depressive solver? Is your advice ignored? Are your merits unrecognized? Is all your love in vain? I remember feeling that way myself once, years ago, before I became a fabulously successful, universally adored crossword constructor. In particular I remember one day, when I was driving sorrowfully down a rural highway, barely holding back the tears of self-pity, I happened to pass an enormous trailer full of pigs, crammed ruthlessly together, hopelessly confused, mortally terrified—with good reason, as they were headed, no doubt, to the slaughterhouse—and I thought, what do I have to complain about? Today’s puzzle is a memento of that moment of insight. Stop whining and solve it!.
FIR, guessing correctly at LENOZZEDI FIGERO x LOLA and ZELDA. Had I realized LOLA was a "star" on an Amazon Prime series, I would have thrown the puzzle right into the recycle bin. Erased city for BAND.
Today is:
NATIONAL MOSCATO (or “Muscat” in Italian, is one of the oldest varieties of grapes)
NATIONAL HOME FRONT HEROES DAY (around here they say that the hardest job in the Navy is being a Navy wife)
NATIONAL BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIE DAY (not a big butterscotch fan, but I’ve never met a brownie I didn’t love)
NATIONAL LOST SOCK MEMORIAL DAY (maybe it ran away with the footloose)
NATIONAL ALPHABET MAGNET DAY (was I asleep? When did these become a thing?)
NATIONAL SLEEPOVER DAY (oh sure, now that I’m too old and too married to celebrate this one)
Apologies to C-Eh for mispeling LABOuR. UNTIE!
ASCII ARTIST brings to mind dot matrix printers. Mine was an Epson.
FLATS yesterday, FLAT today.
Lots of B-listers today. I thought today's puzzle was (as we said yesterday) MEH. Thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the silk purse.
Good morning!
Really needed the reveal to have a hint at today's well-hidden theme. In each themer one letter is missing from the word CIGAR...the C in the first, the I in the second, and the G in the third. That's not something that jumps out at you. Of the three, only ROCK GARDEN is what I'd call an in-the-language phrase. Interesting debut, Joe. Let's hear more from you. Waseeley, enjoyed your tour. Thanx, too, to Teri.
Internet service has been down for several hours chez d-otto. I'm solving/posting via my phone's hotspot. Slow and painful.
Bill had asked if there was an expanded or layer of theme - D-O laid it out before I could type it - more complete that way!
Thanks for the blog Bill & Teri - and all the musical links from Mozart to the Miami Sound Machine, with Chicago, one of my all time favorites, in between. Nice that you had some opera!
And congrats to Joe for the debut.
Took 6:48 today for me to snuff this one.
Wildly lucky guesses at Lola/Lenozzidi and Jeri/Judea.
I didn't know Lola, Jeri, or the Irish dramatist.
FIW. I had no idea about the opera, and the cross with 1D didn't help. I guessed Loba and was wrong. Honestly using the Italian for the opera was just cruel.
And for those of us who might not be well versed in computers, ascii was also cruel. Fortunately for me it was in my wheelhouse.
Even with the explanation of the theme, I'm still not sure I get it.
I expect a Thursday puzzle to be a challenge, but this exceeded that by leaps and bounds. This was not at all enjoyable.
Good Morning. Interesting puzzle, a mixture to be sure. Congrats Joe Rodini on your debut.
I got the reveal, but not the theme. Even circles wouldn’t have helped today.
Some fills were quite familiar, others not. Wags and perps helped. Those I guessed at I later confirmed in order to keep going.
Epsom -> ASCOT; CaME -> COME; nO FAT -> LO FAT
I DIG does not come to mind for the clue, but “See me” didn’t fit. ESP. Still don’t know if this is the old Beatnik phrase. BING CoPilot says it’s “gibberish. I’ll go with that.
Thanks, Bill and Teri. The Blog is always the reward, and your today was right up there. Music, clips and humor – enjoyed it all.
Only missed on GIg instead of GIF. Can’t believe I missed Figaro. Thought the theme was validated once explained: The letter string being one letter away from cigar was close, but no cigar.
Well, at least I got the theme very quickly, but I crashed in the north. Too many unknowns for me.
For one, I had aha instead of OHO, I didn’t know the princess nor LOLA. I should have known NURI, but couldn’t think of it, etc.
Then I couldn’t come up with ASCII . The rest filled in nicely, but NO CIGAR for me.
Congratulations to Sumdaze and Waseely. I’m making a note of the CW.
Good Morning:
Props to the constructor for creativity and execution but I'm not fond of this type of theme. I solved w/o help but needed lots of perps for the unknowns, Lennoze di Figaro, ASCII Artist, Lola, Zelda, Real Madrid, and the unfamiliar slang expressions, as clued, I Dig, and Amen. Fortunately, the perps were fair throughout the grid which led to a successful, if not enjoyable or satisfying, solve. I really miss the solving experiences of puzzles centered around word play and whimsical themes, yet still offering a reasonable challenge.
Thanks, Joe, and congrats on your debut and thanks, Bill, for the cornucopia of facts, fun, and frivolity from Mozart to the Miami Sound Machine and the various and plentiful riffs on science, history, geography, pop culture, the arts, cartoons, etc. The Seinfeld video was cute as were the Road Runner toons. Best of all was the eloquent tribute to our much-loved and much-missed Argyle. Thanks to you and Teri for making Thursdays so special!
Have a great day.
Testing Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Joe (congrats on your debut), and waseeley and Teri.
Officially a DNF as I needed Google help to get the Italian for that opera title. (But I did have the FIGARO part).
And I ERRed on ASCII with ASCyg.
But I had noticed the GARs in the themers, and went back after the reveal to see the “almost cigars” of FIGAR, CKGAR, CYGAR oops should be CIIAR.
I’ll just echo what IM said.
The NW corner was cruel. Hand up for Aha before OHO (rhymes with LAND HO), NOLA beng unknown, and not knowing Boston as a BAND (I wanted Pizza).
Yes Jinx, thanks for ATONing for the American ERRor of spelling LABOR without the U. (The folks at ASCOT agree with me!) LOL
Wishing you all a great day.
sumdaze and CC ~ Congrats! Your theme was clever and well-executed, the title was perfect, the grid was junk-free, and the fill was fresh and lively. Most importantly, the solve was enjoyable and very satisfying! Kudos to you both; you make a good team! I hope there are more joint efforts in the works. 😉
The theme is actually no CIG-ar.
Each long clue contains the subsequent missing letter of CIG. 17A is missing the "C", then 29A is missing the "I", then 39A is missing the "G". Close but no "CIG"-ar.
So, instead of just having "IGAR", "GAR", and "AR" in red, you would have the entire string of the attempted "CIGAR" in red with the missing letters, i.e. "FIGAR", "CKGAR", and "CIIAR".
Great write-up though!!
IM @9:47 AM And thanks for that! As I only read parts of today's puzzle that people have questions about, I missed C.C.'s note about Renee's and her puzzle. I've printed it and will solve it apace.
The reveal led me to find the word CIGAR in each of the starred clues, each time missing a different letter: C, I, G. This hidden smoke did not contribute to the solve!
DNK Kirke, Ryan, or Sean. Had "aha" before OHO and "dry" before DRI. No worries. FIR and was delighted.
Many thanks, Joe, Patti, Bill and Teri.
Got the puzzle but the theme eluded me until the reveal.
Thanks for the puzzle and the great recap.I have never been a Seinfeld fan but that bit was hilarious.
Thanks, also, for the "bonus" puzzle, C.C. and Renee (congrats!).
Musings
-The cluing of LO_A crossing the start of an opera seemed unfair. No ektorp for this solver. Gwen Virdon from Damn Yankees and a Kinks song would have worked. I always wonder if Patti or the constructor come up with this concoction.
-There is a huge shortage of LABOR in our town
-A brilliant display of British reserve and brilliant staging in The ASCOT Gavotte
-FLAT 7-Up is great to settle my upset stomach
-Being RAZZED by my 12 uncles was a big and sometimes painful part of my childhood
-When you’re paying your restaurant bill, this is the first screen you see
-My neighbor is retiring and wants me to write a REC for him to sub where I do and I am glad to do it.
FIR!
My 2 cents (FWIW)
I really enjoyed the puzzle, as it started out with a lot of unanswered horizontal clues, that led to many unanswered vertical clues, that led to a lot of sussing and perpage. A fun time was had by all...
However, I did not even attempt to find the cigars, because I thought incorrectly that it was hidden anagrams of cigar names. I only know cheroot. The multitude of names for cigars eludes me. So, when reading the blog, it felt kinda flat that it was "Igar/gar/ar." Shouldn't it be "ar/gar/igar" almost making a cigar? Which had me thinking, jeez Dave! It's hard enough constructing crosswords as it is, and now you want them to do it backwards? Let it go...
Thank you Jordan @ 10:18, my mind is now at ease... (May it rest in peace...)
Honorable mentions:
exhibit A...
exhibit B
oh well...
This was a challenge but in the end run a fun puzzle, with a Natick for me at ASCII/JERI, having ASFI—(references instead of RECommendations) and JERI unknown. City/BAND, aha/OHO, and pleased to remember REAL MADRI thou not a fubol fan.
Interesting “word”. Modern slang of the 21st century, I DIG mid-century slang of the 20th century.
Wonderful review waseeley and Teri, and thanks for brighten my day with “—-FIGARO”.
Happy day, all!
“Patti, this is Joe Rodini. I have a nice puzzle with a great theme idea, but it’s got a grid-spanner in Italian and a theme entry with ASCII in it.”
“Nice crunch,” Patti replied. “Let’s run with it.”
Perps helped me with both issues, and the unifier was reassuring. Still, I really don’t like it when I’m right but don’t believe it, so I guess I don’t like EKTORPs. DW assured me that ASCII (she knowingly pronounced it “Asky”) has “been around forever,” but so have I, and it was a new one on me.
I had few other complaints. I would have picked a more prominent LOLA. . . . Professor Duffy of the Mizzou J-school taught me that a game or other event is staged AT a venue IN a municipality or other locale, so the REAL MADRID entry threw me for a second. But all in all, it was a quick solve. Thanks, Bill and Teri.
I’m not a Trekkie, but I remember JERI Ryan as 7 of 9 from one of the spinoffs. I always refer to her as 7 of Eleven.
Hola!
Thank you, Jon Rodini and Bill and Teri. This is not my favorite kind of puzzle and I don't speak Italian so, of course, did not know the opera. Even Spanish did not help because nose is NARIZ. I left it blank and came here to finish. Drat!
Also, LOLA is unknown to me as clued. I love the name ZELDA and wanted to name my daughter that but when I told her about it, she said she was glad I didn't. Apparently it's part of some game.
ROCK GARDENS are popular here in the desert southwest.
REAL MADRID. I hope everyone knows REAL is pronounced RAY-ALL.
A MCMANSION is being built in our neighborhood and looks really out of place. Moreover, it's painted gray and black, has two stories with a flat roof.
I'll take a CSO at NANA.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! Every day is a gift!
oopa. It's JOE not Jon. I apologize for the ERROR.
Thanks, Joe, for an impressive and challenging debut. I would give you high marks for certain aspects of the puzzle, and lower grades for other parts.
The nitpicking on my part refers to some unnecessarily peculiar clues for common
words, such as "word" for IDIG, missay for ERR (I am sure I have never used missay in my life), routine element = JOKE, and suggestions = RECS.
Then there were the terms and people who were beyond me, such as NORI, PRADA. LOLA, ZELDA,GIF, and JERI.
Perps and wags came to.my rescue, especially in the NW and center, where those toughies seemed to reside, and played a key role in allowing me to FIR.
Which brings me to areas where I think you deserve a feather in your cap, and that outweigh my previous comments.The first is the point I just mentioned, which is placing your perps in the vicinity of several difficult answers. To me, this shows that you've got the best interests of the solver in mind.
The structure of the puzzle was impressive, with two 15-letter grid-spanners, one of which was the reveal, and two 11- letter phrases which were part of the theme.
And in each of the theme answers, they lacked just one letter to spell cigar. So literally, all three were "close but no cigar." What fun. (Does anyone know where that expression came from?)
Thanks, Joe (and Patti), for a clever and well-constructed crossword.
Uh... OK. Thanks for the effort, Joe. Keep on constructing, I'm sure I'll enjoy your next theme more than I did this one.
When you get this many dissatisfying comments, it should tell you something. The Mozart (Austrian) in Italian, in an English puzzle is a little over the top. Sure, some folks liked it, but I feel sure it irritates most solvers. Throw in I dig, ASCII, Lola and Zelda and you complete the debacle. Nuff said.
I don’t understand how my post got repeated.
Also I misunderstood the CW constructors. It’s C.C. and sumdaze.
My first fill was the theme reveal CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR and it did help me a bit with the solve. Struggled with the NW proper name cluster, but WAGs to FIR. I saw the theme as "CIGAR" with one letter wrong in each answer. And the progression of wrong letters was C-I-G. I thought it was clever and an impressive construction.
I can't resist re-sharing this photo of us with the CHICAGO BAND.
Yes, most of you have seen this before. In a world of deep fakes, such real images become less impressive.
Here I had just finished doing the SUSHI WRAPPER thing with NORI during our Japan travels.
We took a little class in making SUSHI and I was showing off the finished result in that photo. Merlie refuses to eat raw fish, so her SUSHI was not as interesting!
Nice CW C and Sumdaze.
Ken @11:41 AM Since I came close and got a STUB, the least I can do is provide the etymology for "Close but no cigar".
Renee -- congrats on your constructor debut (and for your mentorship C.C.). It was a lot of fun!
Picard @1:29 PM Great pic of you, Merlie and Chicago. I might start sending you advanced requests (unclued) for pictures of people and places in my reviews. That would really surprise people!
Theme? There was a theme? DNF, so NO CIGAR for me, not even a Tiparello.
I love that we've been a) saying "close, but no cigar," for over 100 years, thanks to those good old carnivals and fairs, and b) most people probably have no idea of its derivation.
I guess you get a "not close, so not
even a cigar stub."
Well, a very difficult Thursday! I cannot say I managed to FIR, since I had to do two alphabet runs. One was the "L" where Lola crossed LENO.... Can't recall where AR #2 was. I started right off filling the first 6 Across clues and thought I was on my way. In the end I filled all but two cells, with some guesses, but...alas...needed the ARs with red-letter turned on to get those two cells. It was fun trying, though, thanx JR. Great write-up, Bill, thanx. Lots of fun links. I have never been a fan of opera, but the story line you presented has me interested enough I may just give it a try. To think it was acceptable for an employer to be able to legally force a female employee to have her first sex with him is disturbing. Especially since she wasn't a slave, which is disgusting enough.
I mentioned that despite my not being a fan of opera, the story line of "The Marriage of Figaro" sounded interesting enough that I might watch it. I just looked, and the opera is a bit over three hours. Well...forget it. It cannot be THAT interesting. I guess for opera fans it would be a real treat.
I liked the cigar gimmick. I do not like cluing one expression with a (necessarily subjective) paraphrase of it. For example, cluing I DIG as "Word", cluing AND as "Your point being?", cluing MINE as "Get your own!", cluing AMEN as "Preach!", cluing TGIF as "Yay, the weekend's almost here!", and cluing IMO as "If u ask me ... "
Besides the gimmick, here are some of the things I liked:
They mean nothing: ZEROS
Crow's-nest cry: LAND HO
and the words RAZZING, ARGYLE, MCMANSIONS, and RADICAL.
Besides the paraphrasing, here are some of the things I didn't like:
__ Sound Machine: MIAMI
Kirke of "Mozart in the Jungle": LOLA
Suggestions, informally: RECS
Soft & __: DRI
and the fill AP LIT.
Didn't have time to do yesterday's puzzle, as I spent a good chunk of the day sitting for 2 hours in the dentist chair getting my roots "planed" and making the 45-minute drive each way. The good news is that the root planing was much less traumatic and frightening than I thought it would be. At least now I know what to expect when go in again next week to get the other side of my face done.
Good reading you all.
I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
U - Fred, everyone is free to grade themselves, but I don't count alphabet runs as disqualifying a FIR. (I also don't count erasing fill when I've put it in the wrong place, or when my hand disobeys my brain like writing a "c" when I'm demanding an "e," as an erasure.)
I just wanted to say, "Congratulations to sumdaze and CC!!" I just finished your USA Today puzzle in my local paper. It was terrific!! Very nicely done. I hope we will see more.
I’m with Husker Gary and all of y’all re: LOLA crossing the opera. Cruel and unusual punishment! But at least the rest of it wasn’t a PITA 😎 some fun clues and just tough enough to give the ol’ grey matter a good thrashing.
Bill & Teri, you made my day! Not only a tune from my favorite hard rock band of all time (Boston) but TWO “Roadrunner” cartoons!
Boston was an incredibly talented bunch of guys (MITers) that wrote very tight music (just listen to the transitions in “More Than a Feeling”, the posted song) and also were technically amazing — rumor has it their demo tape, done in the band’s leader’s basement, was so tightly engineered that it was used for the mix to produce the masters for their debut album. Whatever the actual truth, Boston’s eponymous first album is one of the best sonic experiences in rock music, along with Linda Ronstadt’s “Heart Like a Wheel”. If you really want to hear either of these, listen through a good pair of “cans” (headphones).
But enough about music. Chuck Jones is arguably one of the best cartoon writers in history; the Roadrunner cartoons had just brilliant stuff and funny violence to enjoy. At one time, I VHS’ed as may of the Roadrunner series as I could find. I still have the tape somewhere (assuming my VHS machine still functions), but almost all of his work is available online, so no loss if I can’t play the tape, I guess.
ANYway…fun cw, though a bit challenging for a Thursday, but worth a hi-5 to Mssr. Rodini on his debut here.
====> Darren / L.A.
Puzzling thoughts:
Late to the party, as usual
I think I finished this with help as I had way too many squares that needed assistance
Congrat's to Joe on your debut; you, too Renee! You and C.C. make a great team
If you all had some issues with today's puzzle, tomorrow's wasn't a walk-in-the-park
As a CIGAR smoker I was intrigued by the reveal. It reminded me of a pun I wrote about 10 years ago:
"Famous actress Glenn mourned the recent death of a Breeders Cup winning race horse. She even went so far as to attend the horse's funeral.
Unbeknownst to her, the horse's owners cancelled the funeral and had it cremated instead. She came anyway. TMZ followed her and published the following headline the next day on their website: CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR!"
I will see myself out ...
JAYCE – I’ve been harping on my dislike of those pseudo-dialogue entries in the puzzles. Thanks for seconding (or maybe I’m seconding you).
unclefred – For several decades now, live opera has presented supertitles (subtitles above the stage), which make it much easier to follow and enjoy the, uh, action. Synopses help, too. You’re never gonna like Wagner, though, so stick to the Italian classics, including those Mozart created, or Verdi.
MOE – Good one!
I will add my voice to the Anonymous person who writes: "I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!" Too much whining about pop culture and high culture, from the same solvers! There's no satisfying some people.
You solved this perfectly!
Copy Editor @8:21 PM I'd add to that list Puccini, and start with everybody's favorite La Boheme. And the best way to see any opera, is live, in a theatre. They have surtitles above the stage to help follow what's happening.
Thanks for your Thursday challenge, Joe! I sussed your CIGAR theme but, unfortunately, I already had those letters. It did not help me with any unknowns. I am disappointed in myself for not seeing the ASCII fill because I blogged a puzzle with that just a few weeks ago. Oof!
FAVs: They mean nothing; Boston or Chicago; and Crow's nest cry
H-Gary@ 10:48. 12 uncles??!! What a large family! I only had two -- one on each side. Sadly they have both passed. I was the only niece so I mostly got smiles and not much RAZZING.
Thanks for your thorough review, waseeley! Your opera knowledge always impresses and adds to this blog!
Thursdays are always busy days for me but today was an extra challenge as my extended family had some bad news. That said, I want to thank C.C., IM, MalMan, Monkey, Waseeley, RosE, and C-Moe for your beyond kind words. Your support is extra appreciated on days like today. Thank you for giving C.C.'s and my puzzle a go! It goes without saying that I never would have had that opportunity without C.C.'s amazing mentorship. Not only did I learn a lot but I had heaps of fun in the process! One more big thank you to C.C.!!
sumdaze
I'm sorry for your bad news and hope things will improve for you.
Large family? Most of our gatherings have a minimum of 20 people but up to 50 if all the locals attend. Out of towners provide another 15-20. We often meet at my niece's home and she provides outdoor as well as indoor seating to accommodate everyone.
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