Theme: It all works out in the end, if you have the right beginning. Is that too enigmatic? All will become clear, I hope. Lets have a look at the theme fill, and hope for a silver lining.
20. Broadway contender's number: AUDITION SONG. A short performance to test the talents of a musician, singer, dancer, or actor.
31. Item that may spruce up empty floor space: ACCENT RUG. A small rug that can be placed in areas where larger rugs wouldn't fit. They're generally 4'x6′ or smaller.
38. Check for immunity: ANTIBODY TESTING. Antibody tests (serology tests) look for antibodies in your blood. Antibodies are proteins your immune system makes to fight infection. These tests help your provider confirm a diagnosis of a wide range of diseases, disorders and infections,
45. Last part of a relay: ANCHOR LEG. The final position in a relay race. Typically, the anchor leg of a relay is given to the fastest or most experienced competitor on a team. The athlete completing the anchor leg of a relay is responsible for making up ground on the race-leader or preserving the lead already secured by their teammates.
56. Positive spin on a bad situation, or a feature of 20-, 31-, 38-, and 45-Across: SILVER LINING. An advantage that comes from a difficult or unpleasant situation: When things look black, there's always a silver lining.
The only thing I can find in common among these theme fill is the first and last letters of each entry. These are AG, the chemical symbol for the precious metal SILVER. This symbol derives from the Latin argentum and Sanskrit argunas from "bright." So, between these letters, the rest of the fill becomes the lining. To pick a nit, the lining should be on the inside, while the AG is on the outside, and this did throw me off for a while. But, I guess, you can't have everything.
Here's today's theme song.
Hi, Gang, JazzBumpa here to lead this mining expedition. Let's see what other precious items we can find.
Across
1. __ Romeo: motorsport brand: ALFA. Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe. It was founded on 24 June 1910 in Milan, Italy, as A.L.F.A., an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. The brand is known for sport-oriented vehicles and has been involved in car racing since 19115. Soccer goal material: MESH. Material made from a network of wire or thread.
9. Congressional hearings airer: C-SPAN. The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit organization funded by its cable and satellite affiliates. It televises proceedings of the United States federal government and other public affairs programming.
14. Momentarily: SOON. A short period of time.
15. Hybrid or coupe: AUTO. Types of motortcars.
16. In the know: AWARE. Having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.
17. App store image: ICON. A symbol or graphic representation on a screen of a program, option, or window, especially one of several for selection.
18. 47-Down woman: FRAU. The German word for woman.
19. Gave an identity: NAMED. As defined.
23. Presidential advisory gp.: NSC. National Security Council. The President's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his or her senior advisors and cabinet officials. N.B. the abbrv in clue and ans,
24. Dachshund's bark: YAP. A high pitched canine utterance.
25. U2 collaborator Brian: ENO. Brian Peter George Eno [b. 1948] also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambient music and electronica, and for producing, recording, and writing works in rock and pop music.
26. Roman time unit: ORA. An hour, mis-splt. S/b HORA.
29. Amoxicillin target: STREP. Short for streptococcus, a bacterium of a genus that includes the agents of souring of milk and dental decay, and hemolytic pathogens causing various infections such as scarlet fever and pneumonia..
34. Caesar's final day: IDES. He was murdered on the IDES of March. The IDES was a day falling roughly in the middle of each month (the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of other months) from which other dates were calculated.
36. __ Vegas: LAS. A municipality in Nevada, aka Sin City. It is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-largest in the Southwestern United States.
37. Prefix with -syncrasy: IDIO-. An idiosyncracy is a mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual.
42. "Not so fast": WAIT. Hold on a sec.
43. Rust color: RED. A color at the end of the spectrum next to orange and opposite violet, as of blood, fire, or rubies.
44. Filmmaker Ethan or Joel: COEN. An American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody.
48. Netflix genre: DRAMA. A written work that tells a story through action and speech and is meant to be acted on a stage
51. "__ queen!": YAS. A term you say in response to someone fabulous. It's the equivalent of saying, “fierce,” “YES” or “you do you!” You're practically celebrating someone for what they're doing, how they look, or for what they've said.
52. Luau garland: LEI. A garland or wreath common in Hawaii, across Polynesia, and the Philippines.
53. Teamwork impediment: EGO. The part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. If not controlled, it can lead to an elevated sense of self-importance.
55. Woodsman material, in Oz: TIN. Tin is a chemical element; it has the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort.
62. "Sesame Street" toddler: ELMO.
63. Ice cream parlor option: CONE. An ice cream cone or poke is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon.
64. __ dog: CHILI. A hot dog served in a bun and topped with a meat sauce, such as chili con carne. Additional toppings may include cheese, onions, and mustard.
65. Coastal inlets: RIAS. A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.
66. Indigo shrub: ANIL. Indigofera suffruticosa, commonly known as Guatemalan indigo, small-leaved indigo (Sierra Leone), West Indian indigo, wild indigo, and anil, is a flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae. Anil is native to the subtropical and tropical Americas, including the Southern United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as northern Argentina. This species has been widely introduced to other parts of the world and today has a pantropical distribution.
67. -Ish: KINDA. A suffix indicating near similarity.
68. Longings: YENS. Strong feelings of wanting or wishing for something. I thought about going to Japan, but didn't have the yen to travel. [This is literally true. Our oldest granddaughter, Amanda, is dancing at Tokyo Disney. We considered gong to see her perform, but decided the 14 hour plane trip was more than we could endure.]
69. On a ferry, perhaps: ASEA. At sea. Or maybe confused while on a boat.
Down:
1. Sri Lankans, e.g.: ASIANS. Any inhabitant of a country located in the Asian continent.
2. Swarming insect: LOCUST. Locusts are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious.
3. Writers with good taste, hopefully: FOOD CRITICS. A food critic, food writer, or restaurant critic is a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings to the public. Although these terms are not strictly synonymous, they are often used interchangeably.
4. Roman time units: ANNI. Years. Unus annus est VMMMDCCLX horis.
5. Party game also known as "Werewolf": MAFIA. Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a Russian social deduction game created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986. The game models a conflict between two groups: an informed minority (the mafiosi or the werewolves) and an uninformed majority (the villagers). At the start of the game, each player is secretly assigned a role affiliated with one of these teams.
6. Icy moon of Jupiter: EUROPA. Europa, or Jupiter II, is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet of all the 95 known moons of Jupiter. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System.
7. Swiftie or Belieber: STAN. An extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan.
8. Feline friend: HOUSE CAT. A domestic cat, especially one kept as an indoor household pet.
9. Unusual instrument in the "1812 Overture": CANNON. Here is a relevant excerpt.
I've played this, but not with real canons.
10. College tour giveaways: SWAG. SWAG is free promotional merchandise such as branded apparel, drinkware, stationary, accessories, or any memorable gift item given to clients, employees, or meeting attendees for marketing, awareness, and branding purposes.
11. Conagra cooking spray brand: PAM. PAM is a cooking spray currently owned and distributed by ConAgra Foods. Its main ingredient is canola oil. PAM was introduced in 1959 by Leon Rubin who, with Arthur Meyerhoff, started PAM Products, Inc. to market the spray. The name PAM is an acronym for Product of Arthur Meyerhoff.
12. "My lips __ sealed": ARE. All your secrets are safe with me.
13. Flanders of Springfield: NED. Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr., commonly referred to by his surname, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer and first appearing in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." He is the good-natured, cheery next-door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally loathed by Homer Simpson, though there are numerous instances where the two are portrayed as good friends.
21. One with an easygoing personality: TYPE B. Type A and Type B personality hypothesis describes two contrasting personality types. In this hypothesis, personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management, or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed, "receptive", less "neurotic" and "frantic" personalities are labeled Type B.
22. "Nearly done ... ": ONE SEC. Wait.
26. Rabbinical students' goals: ORDINATIONS. Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized to perform various religious rites and ceremonies.
27. Tulum attraction: RUIN. Tulum is a resort town on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, around 130 km south of Cancún. The 13th-century, walled Mayan archaeological site at Tulum National Park overlooks the sea. It incorporates the clifftop Castillo, built as a watchtower, and the Templo de las Pinturas, with a partially restored mural. Inland, the Cobá archaeological site has pyramid-shaped temples with views over the surrounding jungle.
28. Waiting eagerly: AGOG. Very eager or curious to hear or see something.
30. Wharton who was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: EDITH. Edith Wharton 1832 - 1937] was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray realistically the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel The Age of Innocence.
32. Drexler who was part of Houston's Phi Slama Jama in the early 1980s: CLYDE. Clyde Austin Drexler (b.1962) is an American former professional basketball player who currently works as the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), spending a majority of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers before finishing with the Houston Rockets. He was a ten-time NBA All-Star and named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams. Drexler won an NBA championship with Houston in 1995, and earned a gold medal on the 1992 United States Olympic team known as "The Dream Team".
33. Chemical concentration measurement: TITER. Titer or titre is a way of expressing concentration. Titer testing employs serial dilution to obtain approximate quantitative information from an analytical procedure that inherently only evaluates as positive or negative. The titer corresponds to the highest dilution factor that still yields a positive reading.
35. Sour salad green: SORREL. A perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock. Sorrel is native to Eurasia and a common plant in grassland habitats. It is often cultivated as a leaf vegetable or herb.
38. Not sporting home colors: AWAY. Said of a team playing at the opponents' field, court, or arena
39. Granny: NANA. Familiar terms for a grandmother.
40. Amazon drop-off: DELIVERY. The process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination.
41. "Likewise!": SO DO I. Me, too!
46. "Drivers License" singer Rodrigo: OLIVIA. Olivia Isabel Rodrigo [b. 2003] is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She first rose to prominence for starring on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark and the Disney+ series High School Musical:
10. College tour giveaways: SWAG. SWAG is free promotional merchandise such as branded apparel, drinkware, stationary, accessories, or any memorable gift item given to clients, employees, or meeting attendees for marketing, awareness, and branding purposes.
11. Conagra cooking spray brand: PAM. PAM is a cooking spray currently owned and distributed by ConAgra Foods. Its main ingredient is canola oil. PAM was introduced in 1959 by Leon Rubin who, with Arthur Meyerhoff, started PAM Products, Inc. to market the spray. The name PAM is an acronym for Product of Arthur Meyerhoff.
12. "My lips __ sealed": ARE. All your secrets are safe with me.
13. Flanders of Springfield: NED. Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr., commonly referred to by his surname, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer and first appearing in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." He is the good-natured, cheery next-door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally loathed by Homer Simpson, though there are numerous instances where the two are portrayed as good friends.
21. One with an easygoing personality: TYPE B. Type A and Type B personality hypothesis describes two contrasting personality types. In this hypothesis, personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management, or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed, "receptive", less "neurotic" and "frantic" personalities are labeled Type B.
22. "Nearly done ... ": ONE SEC. Wait.
26. Rabbinical students' goals: ORDINATIONS. Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized to perform various religious rites and ceremonies.
27. Tulum attraction: RUIN. Tulum is a resort town on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, around 130 km south of Cancún. The 13th-century, walled Mayan archaeological site at Tulum National Park overlooks the sea. It incorporates the clifftop Castillo, built as a watchtower, and the Templo de las Pinturas, with a partially restored mural. Inland, the Cobá archaeological site has pyramid-shaped temples with views over the surrounding jungle.
28. Waiting eagerly: AGOG. Very eager or curious to hear or see something.
30. Wharton who was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: EDITH. Edith Wharton 1832 - 1937] was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray realistically the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel The Age of Innocence.
32. Drexler who was part of Houston's Phi Slama Jama in the early 1980s: CLYDE. Clyde Austin Drexler (b.1962) is an American former professional basketball player who currently works as the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), spending a majority of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers before finishing with the Houston Rockets. He was a ten-time NBA All-Star and named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams. Drexler won an NBA championship with Houston in 1995, and earned a gold medal on the 1992 United States Olympic team known as "The Dream Team".
33. Chemical concentration measurement: TITER. Titer or titre is a way of expressing concentration. Titer testing employs serial dilution to obtain approximate quantitative information from an analytical procedure that inherently only evaluates as positive or negative. The titer corresponds to the highest dilution factor that still yields a positive reading.
35. Sour salad green: SORREL. A perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock. Sorrel is native to Eurasia and a common plant in grassland habitats. It is often cultivated as a leaf vegetable or herb.
38. Not sporting home colors: AWAY. Said of a team playing at the opponents' field, court, or arena
39. Granny: NANA. Familiar terms for a grandmother.
40. Amazon drop-off: DELIVERY. The process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination.
41. "Likewise!": SO DO I. Me, too!
46. "Drivers License" singer Rodrigo: OLIVIA. Olivia Isabel Rodrigo [b. 2003] is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She first rose to prominence for starring on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark and the Disney+ series High School Musical:
47. Austria's language: GERMAN. German language, official language of both Germany and Austria and one of the official languages of Switzerland. German belongs to the West Germanic group of the Indo-European language family, along with English, Frisian, and Dutch.
49. Mouse with a polka-dotted dress: MINNIE. Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers and low-heeled shoes occasionally with ribbons on them.
50. Actress Lansbury: ANGELA. Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE [1925 - 2022] was a British and American actress. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles across film, stage, and television. Although based for much of her life in the United States, her work attracted international attention.
54. Lip __: GLOSS. Lip gloss is a cosmetic used primarily to give lips a glossy luster, and sometimes to add a subtle color. It is distributed as a fluid or a soft solid The product is available in ranges of opacity from translucent to solid and can have variously frosted, glittery, glossy, and metallic finishes.
56. Auctioneer's cry: SOLD. An auctioneer is a person who conducts auctions by accepting bids and declaring goods sold.
57. Nobelist Wiesel: ELIE. Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel [1928 - 2016] was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
58. Sweet Sixteen org.: NCAA. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
59. "Gah!": ACK. Expressions of dismay or disgust.
60. Upsilon neighbor: PHI. Greek Letters.
61. Negroni liquor: GIN. The Negroni is made with 1 oz gin, 1 oz Campari an 1 oz sweet vermouth, garnished with an orange peel.
I had fun with this puzzle and I hope you did, too. Did it test your mettle? Would you give it a medal for it's SILVER metal?
Cool regards, my precious friends.
JzB
Cool regards, my precious friends.
JzB
48 comments:
FIR without erasure.
Today is:
The Ides of May (I was already going to point it out before I read JzB's review)
PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL DAY (more than 1,000 were killed in 2020 and 2021 alone)
NATIONAL NYLON STOCKING DAY (I prefer bare legs. Where do I send in my man card?)
NATIONAL JUICE SLUSH DAY (back in the day I could test the capacity of a frozen margarita machine)
BRING FLOWERS TO SOMEONE DAY (even if you didn’t do anything wrong)
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CHIP DAY (even the big grocery stores bake great ones)
DW decided it was time to get up at 0300 today. Turned on all the lights, opened the curtains, and kept telling me to get up. So I did, and she busied herself making up the bed and tidying the bedroom. Now she's back in bed, sound asleep. At least I had some quiet time to work on the puzzle.
Lots of trivia today, old and new. Some clever, some irritating. I am a fan of drag culture, and Norfolk has plenty of it, but I hadn't heard of YAS queen until today.
I knew Clyde the Glide right off the bat, but not Phi Slama Jama.
I think we should be careful with using MAFIA in any kind of game. As much as I loved The Sopranos, a life of crime shouldn't be trivialized.
It's hard for me to conceptualize that someone that was born after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 (OLIVIA Rodrigo) is now crossword fill. But the reality is that she's old enough to no longer need a fake ID, and she can legally gamble in LAS Vegas.
Thanks (I think) to Rena for spanning the decades, and to JzB for anther fun review.
All that just to get
“AG” at each end of the themed answers? Anyway, besides a couple of obscure names, this puzzle wasn’t TOO difficult. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Had my comments almost completed when the computer decided to reboot to install the latest W11 updates. Grrr. Noticed the ALFA cso to Dash-T. Never saw YAS on my way through the grid, and hope to never see it again. We visited the Tulum (two-loom) RUINs years ago on a trip to Cancun. Is "poke" a regionalism for an ice cream CONE? That's a new one for d-o. Interesting backstory on the PAM name. Saw the reveal clue (yay), and even noticed the A-Gs. Will miracles never cease? Thanx, Rena and JzB. (ORA -- You were thinking Latin rather than Italian.)
FIR. Maybe it's just me, but this week's puzzles seem to be on the crunchy side, today being no exception.
Yas queen? Hmmm. And did anyone else have sorta before kinda?
I saw the AG thing in the long answers but never connected it with silver in the reveal. Guess it wasn't needed to solve this puzzle.
Overall, not a fun puzzle for me. I give it a very mild yuk! Or a meh!
A nd this one took 5:33 today for me to finish answerin G.
I knew today's actress (Angela), but needed perps to pass today's foreign language test (anni, ora, phi, & frau).
I knew Europa only because I remember reading an article a long time ago about how it was Earth-like.
I agree with the prior comments - not a lot of fun in these recent puzzles.
I've never heard of this werewolf/mafia game.
That makes me feel better about my friends.
I just noticed the timer on the on line version starts right away now. I think it used to start when you typed in the first letter. Am I wrong? Anyway, it’s more accurate this way. I too noticed the puzzles having a little more of a crunch lately. I finally finished this one with only 2 stupid mistakes. Oh well.
D-O, where I grew up folks would buy a quart of ice cream at the grocery and put the box in a poke, then scoop it into a CONE at home. Guess you could poke at the ice cream in your CONE.
That pitcher for the (sorry for mentioning) the Yankees was David CONE. But we had COEN too, just to keep our options open.
Good Morning! Today’s puzzle was a grind for me, but one of those where there’s be a “head slap” if I’d have caved. Thanks, Rena for the workout.
Perps for YAS (really…? Too obscure IMHO); MAFIA (as clued); Tulum/RUIN; CLYDE; OLIVIA
WO: iN a -> ONE SEC
ANGELA Lansbury, what a wonderful career she had! I think my favorite of her roles is as Penelope Keeling in The Shell Seekers.
Thanks, JazzB, you made it all so clear! A wealth of info today.
Good morning.
Completed this one slightly faster than yesterday, but I have to settle for AG rather than taking AU today. Somehow my longings were yans rather than YENS.
I tried something different today. I chose to solve the puzzle from top to bottom, left to right.
Never heard of the Werewolf / MAFIA game.
CANNON airs in the overnight on ME TV between Mannix and Barnaby Jones. Mannix got in a fight in every episode. CANNON was not only an expert shot, but his oft used single karate chop to the nape disabled many, many bad guys. And Barnaby Jones? Ever notice that a phone rings two or three times in every single episode. And that after you hear it, there's usually a close up of the phone just before or just as someone's hand reaches for it. It's remarkable how many times the call is for Barnaby, no matter where he is.
I'm a fan of PAM in the kitchen.
CLYDE the Glide had mad hops. "Watch him glide and soar against the Lakers defender."
I was taking evening business classes at U of H during the Phi Slamma Jama years. Also on campus as students were Fred Couples and Jim Nantz. They were both on the golf team.
Thank you, Rena Cohen, and thank you, JzB.
JazzB, when the sun is behind a dark cloud, the SILVER LINING is seen along the outside edge.
Tried STaph before STREP. Remembered TITration from high school chem, but not TITER
My dachshund had a real bark, not an annoying YAP or YiP like a Yorkie or Chihuahua
Never heard of Yas queen. Perplexed with ora. instead of hora. So many obscure names.
Knew the writers Edith and Elie . None of the others . Oh knew Elmo and Minnie
Enjoyed the puzzle, but I'm with JzB - the SILVER should have been LINING the long answers instead of on the outside. If the AG was in the 2nd and penultimate spaces of the theme answers though it would have been hard to see without circles and that would have made it a later week puzzle
Coincidentally, Brian ENO was in Paul Stynsberg's crossword related Word of the Day today - if any of you subscribe to his daily email.
Today's puzzle was a good one for science types with ANTIBODY TESTING, TITER, AG for SILVER, ANIL
Fun to have CLYDE Drexler in a puzzle during the NBA playoffs!
Thanks JzB for the blog and music links and to Rena for puzzle
FLN -Fun to hear about Misty's pet Gophie
YAS QUEEN and MAFIA game were totally unknown by me. Thank you perps. Also new to me, but easy with perps and wags, were OLIVIA, CLYDE and TULUM/ruin. I waited to spell COEN. Our constructor was Rena COHEN. For me the names today were not as hard as they were yesterday.
I learned from the blog that a poke can be an ice cream cone. My mom sometimes called a bag a poke. In the same vein, buying a pig in a poke is foolishly buying something without examining it, like buying a piglet in a bag, without opening the bag to see it first.
Thanks Rena and Ed. Interesting blog, Jazz.
ACK! Gah! I mean to close my Mannix, Cannon and Barnaby Jones comments with the memorable "A Quinn Martin production."
Likewise, I failed to close my comments about Couples and Nantz not getting nearly the attention that Phi Slamma Jamma was getting at the time.
Oh well.
Adele, it depends on where you solve, and sometimes on the app you use. Both the online LA Times and Washington Post sites use the PuzzleMe app. The clock starts as soon as the puzzle is opened on the LA Times site. The clock starts at the Washington Post when only after you first select a square in the grid. Other's may use different apps to solve, such as AcrossLite. That app starts the clock as soon as the puzzle it opens.
I'm going back to bed.
Hopefully I'll be able to type and edit more betterer when I wake up.
I learned a few things today. I thought SORREL was a horse color, not something you ate. I thought students learned about the gov. in CIVICS class, not AP GOV. I missed out when I started college because the only SWAG I got was a parking pass. There is a party game called MAFIA; what game did the John Gotti play? STAN? I thought that was one of those ASIAN countries NW of India, not some type of groupie.
And in spite of having a chemical degree and doing hundreds of titrations in Geochemistry, I learned a new word today-TITER- never heard of it. I missed the SILVER LINING-AG endings.
I knew CLYDE Drexler. I'm glad the HAKEEM OLAJUWON wasn't a fill. Maybe Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for those who follow AP GOV.
Good Morning:
What a delight to see Tony's Alfa as our opening gambit this morning. I noticed the A start to each themer but didn't catch on to the G ending as being the basis for the reveal but, in retrospect, it's clever and works for me if you view it as Silver with a Lining. The themes were solid and the reveal was a nice surprise, which is always more fun for me. Mafia, Europa, Ruin, Clyde, and Titer all required perps but the only misstep was at Ditto/So Am I. Ora is usually clued referencing the singer, Rita, and Anil used to be an early crossword staple. Yas, OTOH, is a current slang which I believe has appeared before. I enjoyed seeing the two iconic female figures of the entertainment word, the irrepressible Minnie Mouse and the indomitable Angela Lansbury.
Thanks, Rena, and thanks, JazzB, for the usual informative, enlightening, and entertaining review, narrated in your distinctive voice with that barely perceptible but easily recognizable drollness. One minor correction: Edith Wharton's correct life span is 1862-1937. She was 75 not 105 when she passed away.
FLN
HG, grandson Parker is a handsome young man.
Lucina, do you or your daughter watch Will Trent? The title character has a sweet Chihuahua named Betty who is a real scene stealer! My niece recently rescued a Chihuahua and named her Betty, after the animal-loving activist and much-loved Betty White.
Have a great day.
This CW wasn’t a good fit for me. Although I filled in SILVER LINING. I couldn’t find it in the other answers.
In addition there were too many obscurities for me: MAFIA as clued, STAN as clued, YAS. Other obscure names I got with perps, like NED and CLYDE and ANCHOR LEG.
I did like FOOD CRITICS as clued.
Thank you JzB for an info-packed review.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Rena and JazzB.
Officially a DNF as I had IDEO instead of IDIO and didn’t notice the resulting Ruen.
I did eventually see the AG theme but agree it was a little weak re LINING. Was TIN an Easter Egg to the metal theme?
Multiple inkblots today. The N central was the last to fall. I was looking for a letter before Fan (not familiar with STAN), and I didn’t know the MAFIA game (plus my dog sound was Yip not YAP).
Europe changed to EUROPA, Lap to LEG, In a SEC to ONE SEC.
Hand up with KS for Sorta before KINDA.
TYPE B and SO DO I took a while to parse.
Mini subtheme of Roman time with ANNI, ORA, IDES. SEC is a modern outlier.
Antibody serology tests are not used to diagnose diseases. They can show that you have antibodies to a disease. But they can't show if the antibodies are from a current or past infection or from a vaccination. Interestingly, the test is called an antibody TITER (or titre for this Canadian).
CSO to Anon T with ALFA and Misty with FRAU (although she only spent early childhood years in Austria).
RIP Alice Munro, Canadian Nobel winning short-story writer who died on Monday at age 92.
Wishing you all a great day.
Today's puzzle seemed a bit schizophrenic. On one hand, the major part of the puzzle struck me as solid and straightforward. The reveal and theme, on the other hand, was startlingly obscure.
My good old chemistry classes saved the day figuring out the latter. First, TITER made me think of titration and put me back in my chem lab, and suddenly I saw AG and silver. Clever, Rena, though mildly irritating and remote.
I'm old enough to remember the great Clyde Drexler and his memorable time with the Phi Slamma Jama.
Overall I enjoyed working on--for the most part--a Wednesday-appropriate fun puzzle. And Rena, I look forward to a return engagement.
To quote Jinx, sideways: "I knew Phi Slama Jama right off the bat, but not Clyde."
HiDiddlyHo crossword neighborinos!
Actually, I haven't watched The Simpsons,in years. The last episode I remember,Homer genetically cross breeded tomatoes and tobacco. He called it Tomacco! And it was super addictive...
Anywho,
For those who don't know Homers neighbor Ned, here's a 3:08 compilation of his strangely super friendly speech patterns, that surprisingly start with him cursing out his neighbors?!
Stan? I don't know Stan... but I do know we had it on the blog about a year ago. It was an acronym (or some k8nda nym) for something else. Anyone remember what Stan stood for?
Curious that Minnie Mouse was in todays xword. Trivially, it was also in the newspaper Almanac as follows:
"1928, the Walt Disney character Micky mouse first appeared before the public in a test screening of the short, "plane crazy." Mickey made his formal debut 6 months later in Steamboat Willie." (I did not know this...)
Can't decide on a silly theme link, Should I go with the coffee cup, or perhaps, a little darker...
Oh well,
Since I started with the Simpsons, might as well throw this in there. (It has a silver lining (sorta) as well...)
Lisa Simpson, known to be an excellent crossword solver, also plays a mean Sax!
FIR and liked it! Great puzzle! I thought there might be a chemical basis to the SILVER LINING, but alas, I have no chemistry. Thanks for the explanation, JzB!
DNK the party game also known as "Werewolf" (but it sounds like fun), STAN (even though DH and our daughters are Swifties), CLYDE Drexler, or singer Rodrigo, but obviously the perps were fair.
YAS queen! You go, Rena! Thanks also to Patti, and again to JzB.
It always bugged me that the Drexler-Olajuwon Houston Cougars were known as Phi Slama Jama, instead of Phi Slamma Jamma. I know Tommy Bonk, then of the Houston Post, coined the nickname, spelling and all. I thought I read somewhere later that Bonk admitted it should have had double-ms, but I can’t find that readily.
I struggled a bit for my FIR. YAS Queen and TITER were today’s unknowns. I should have known the latter, but the former is ridiculous. The clues for AP GOV and AWAY were also rather obtuse. I also didn’t know MAFIA as clued. And nothing more needs to be said about “Gah!”
A big DNF today. I could get no traction in the southwest corner. Started well, but faded fast. ORA? YAS? Couldn't find the SILVER LINING in this one. I'll have to Echo KS with a yuk & a meh.
Oh, I almost forgot!
(An aside for TTP & Splynter,)
I was busy all day yesterday with the lawn tractor. I've changed pulleys/springs/oil & whatnot before, but yesterday was the first time I changed a mowing deck "spindle." I believe this is a rite of passage for every tractor owner...
All the ball bearings blew out of the old one, apparently I must have hit something. So I spent the afternoon mowing (approx an acre) of several neighbors yards really really slowly whenever I thought there might be a rock, or a tree root "sticking" out. (Hmm a word from yesterday, how curious...). Anywho, I was almost done when I came around some taller grass near a huge oak tree, and, you guessed it, whacked the crap out of a hidden root with the same side as the new spindle...
So far, it still sounds better than the old bearingless spindle, but time will tell.
(But it makes me want to procrastinate on changing the oil, I mean, what's the point? It's always something...)
STAN is a mash-up of "stalker" and "fan". Not a good thing!
Musings
-Futility: Getting the baton for the ANCHOR LEG against Usain Bolt
-Yesterday, I saw that the birds are eating my strawberries. I need to put up some MESH
-C-SPAN even covers speakers who are talking to an empty House
-AP GOV and class president aren’t necessarily connected.
-EUROPA in the movie 2010
-STAN is a portmanteau of Stalker and Fan
-Of all the OLIVIA’s in the world…
-Yes, Irish, Parker is a good-looking young man. His dad is also a professional musician and named Parker for the jazz legend Charlie “Birdman” Parker
-I had YAS QUEEN in a Saturday puzzle recently. It was coined to describe drag queens.
Just a slight expansion of Canadian Eh's comment at 9:53 - because if you're going to add to your knowledge base - which I like to do at the blog - you want it to be complete
You CAN use ANTIBODY TITERs to diagnose - there are different classes - IgG is the one she mentioned that you can't tell by itself with one value if it was current, recent, or long ago. However, IgM is only up at the beginning of an infection and then goes away later. IgG can be low but with a recheck eg 6 weeks later can give help with a time frame if it is rising, falling, or staying the same when talking about an infectious disease.
So if you're in a diagnosis mindset you would order IgM and IgG and then repeat later. If you wanted to see if someone is immune either from a past infection or a vaccination then you would just check IgG - Ig standing for Immunoglobulin antibody.
Hand up the SW corner was nearly a TITT. Had ME TOO -> AS DO I -> SO DO I. Hand up IN A SEC before ONE SEC. Did anyone else try MOLAR before TITER?
Hand up I felt the SILVER LINING should be on the inside. FIR.
Here I was about 30 years ago at the TULUM RUIN with my then lady friend from Ireland.
We were on a grand tour of the region, ending up in Guatemala and Belize. TULUM was not the most amazing RUIN we saw. But it is the most beautiful location, overlooking the ocean.
From Yesterday:
sumdaze Thank you for the kind anniversary wishes!
D-O, yes, it would have been extremely hard for any Houstonian to not notice Phi Slamma Jamma back in the day. It was everywhere for a couple of years. The Chronicle and the Post. Occasionally the front page news. All of the radio and TV stations. Many times the opening news as they advanced in the NCAA tournament. Constant media attention.
Copy Editor, I guess I never paid attention to the spelling.
Cross Eyed Dave - STAN originally came from STalker and fAN, and originally had strong negative connotation, but now it's coming to mean less of a crazy scary fan to more of a fanatical fan.
Splynter bought a garden tractor. A small farm tractor if you will. With 2 or 3 PTOs for various implements and a lot more horsepower than is needed for just mowing grass.
I haven't had to replace any spindle bearings on either of my John Deere riding lawn mowers, but I have had to replace one on my Scag walk behind mower. It was probably because I had to much tension on the blade drive belt after replacing it and not adjusting it for proper deflection.
I bought my dad a Lowes store brand MTD riding lawn mower. He had about 5 acres to cut. My BIL had planted about an acre field of peach tree saplings. Many grew and thrived through the years, but some didn't and were cut off. My sister's friend decided to cut the lawn and field one day and carelessly hit one of the stumps. Blew the spindle out, bent the blade and damaged the deck, and seized the engine. Ruined that mower. It never cut the same, so I loaded my John Deere into the bed of my F-150 and drove it down to Texas from Illinois. Dad used it until he could no longer mow. After he passed, I brought it back here to Illinois, and used it for another 10 years. Had over 25 years on that 12.5 HP John Deere STX-38, and then sold it for $400. Just jeep after your maintenance, keep it greased and keep your oil and filters changed.
I still can't type correctly, and am becoming even less coherent. There's only one thing to do. I'm going to get ready and go golfing.
Fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Rena. And your commentary is always a pleasure, JazzB.
Well, my favorite moment in this puzzle was to see the 'AUSTRIAN LANGUAGE' clue. I was born and grew up in Austria, so I, of course, spoke GERMAN until my mother married an American GI and we took off for the US when I was 11 or 12. We spent two weeks on a US army boat getting here, and, thankfully, they had a room where kids on the boat could play together every day. Since the other kids were almost all American, that's where I learned English, and to my surprise, and pleasure, the school I was to attend decided that my English was good enough after those two weeks with the American kids that I didn't have to repeat 4th grade and could start 5th grade. One of the happiest experiences of my youth. And thank you for remembering my story, CanadianEh!
Have a great day, everybody.
An excellent sportswriter answers my "Phi Slama Jama" question: "Tommy says:'Heck no. It is not misspelled. It did not exist before I made it up.' "
Speaking of "ANCHOR leg": I never saw O.J. Simpson play football in person, but I did see him run the 400-meter relay at a USC-Oregon dual track meet in Eugene in 1968. Earl McCullough, Fred Kuller, Simpson and anchor Lennox Miller were world-record holders at the time.
Hola!
A fun time initiated by Rena Cohen. Thank you And even more fun starting with a CSO to Tony at ALFA who owns an ALFA Romeo.
I know it's ANGELA LANSBURY but also a CSO to my late aunt, ANGELA who was a riveter for many years.
One of my friends lives on SORREL Drive.
I have been to several ORDINATIONS of friends who are now priests.
In my travels I have visited many, many RUINs.
I'll take a CSO at NANA.
Misty, it was interesting to read about your pet turtle, Gophie. Thank you for sharing.
TITER is a new term for me and I'm not sure that I understand it.
A can of PAM spray is always in my pantry and gets used often.
My friend, ELIE (aka, Eleanor) passed away at age 104.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Gary-"C-SPAN even covers speakers who are talking to an empty House". The Senate is also empty of Senators. Only a few aides are around and they are talking to each other, completely ignoring what the pontificating politician is spouting.
TITER-Out of curiosity I decided to look in the indexes-indices of chemistry books I kept- Physical Chemistry, Enviromental Geochemistry, Geochemistry, Organic chemistry, Quantitative Chemistry, and Analytical Chemistry and the word TITER is only listed in the Analytical book- not the other five.
Hi All!
Almost a DNF but finally gave up on lITER and "in a SEC" (Hi RosE & Picard) for the win.
Thanks Rena for the grid and thanks JzB for the in-depth review.
WOs: uropa_ oops in a SEC, lITER.
ESPs: ORA as clued, CLIDE (I was thinking Phi Slama Jama was a hip-hop group), OLIVIA
Fav: ALFA!
I did know MAFIA game (though not that it was called Werewolf), YAS Queen, and STAN.
Any one notice that PHI duped at 60d and in Phi Slama Jama?
Misty - interesting how little your turtle eats.
CED - LOL second "silver lining" link.
Cheers, -T
Fastest I managed to FIR this week. I don't often get a Wednesday filled in 11 minutes, but today things just fell into place. For me this seemed more of a Monday CW. I haven't read the comments, will hafta come back later. Anyway, thanx, RC, I very much enjoyed your creation. It did not leave me grumpy, like yesterday's CW. Thanx too to JzB for the terrific write-up. I must admit that once again I forgot to look for the theme.
IrishMiss
I have no idea if any of my family watch Will Trent but I'll ask them the next time I see them which will be for graduation day next Wednesday (granddaughter from elementary school) and again Thursday (grandson from high school).
Thank you Rena. Got the FIR, but missed the theme (I guess because I wasn't looking for it).
And thank you JzB for another comprehensive and informative review.
A few favs:
1A ALFA. I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but this is a CSO to Tony.
55A TIN. It was good to hear America again.
68A YENS. JzB, you really should go to Japan to see your granddaughter. If you didn't have the YEN to travel, couldn't you pay for your tickets with dollars? 😀
6D EUROPA. NASA seems convinced that they might find life on EUROPA. I hope they find it, because 6 explorations must have cost a lot of bucks.
7D STAN. DNK STAN, but it perped.
9D CANNON. The Tchaikovsky performance was spectacular!
36D OLIVIA. She'll get over it.
47D GERMAN. A CSO to Spitzboov.
Cheers,
Bill
Great job, JzB, sussing out the theme. I never did while solving the puzzle. Now, if the reveal had been A silver linin G !
Thanks to Rena! She deserves an AG medal. I FIW in a few places but sussed the theme and still enjoyed the solve.
Thanks to JzB for a terrific reveiw! I enjoyed the opening number, seeing Steve Buscemi (one of a kind, that guy), and the word of the day: mononymously.
IIRC I used a TITER in HS Chemistry. It was a tall, thin tube???
FLN, Thanks for telling us more about Gophie, Misty. I like knowing that she has a safe place to live. Do you also give her veggie scraps like carrots or apple cores?
I liked some parts of this puzzle and disliked others.
Examples of what I liked:
Amoxicillin target: STREP (although I had ECOLI at first, then ST--- which I waited for perps to reveal whether it was STREP or STAPH)
Woodsman material, in Oz: TIN
Swarming insect: LOCUST
Writers with good taste, hopefully: FOOD CRITICS
Auctioneer's cry: SOLD.
Examples of what I disliked:
Hybrid or coupe: AUTO
Dachshund's bark: YAP (ARF, YIP, or YAP? Actually, my friend's dachshund has a very loud BARK, as billocohoes's does)
"__ queen!": YAS
Course for a class pres., maybe: AP GOV
"Gah!": ACK.
Is IDIO- really a prefix with -syncrasy?
Regarding the timer clock, until about a week ago, the timer would not start until you typed the first letter. For some reason unknown to me, about a week ago I noticed the timer started as soon as you open the web page to see the puzzle. (I use the Edge browser to do the puzzle on the https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword website.)
I also notice, and am annoyed by, something else: I keep the puzzle open after I have finished it and open the https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/ page in a new tab. Then, after reading the write-up, I open this comments page in a third tab, so I have 3 tabs open and can look back to refer to the puzzle or to the write-up. What I notice is, that often when I go back to refer to something in the write-up, such as Jazzbumpa's write-up today, that while I wasn't looking, that page had been redirected to a full-screen ad. It requires hitting the browser's "back to previous page" arrow to restore the write-up. Also, if I do not open this comment page in a new tab, i.e. if I just plain open it, I will get that full-screen ad instead of this page. Clicking the browser's "back to previous page" arrow is also required to "go back from" the (extremely) annoying ad to this comment page.
Good reading you all.
I am impressed by those of you who solve the puzzle online. I can't even imagine that as I do mine on paper. I really enjoy receiving a daily newspaper and perusing it.
Thanks inanehiker for expanding our knowledge about ANTIBODY TESTING.
Although I've mentioned it before, I always remember my mother with ANIL which she used when washing white clothes. She would add a few drops in the water to make sure the whites were really clean and shining. They were then hung outside to dry and I'm sure the sunshine helped to bleach them further.
Another reason I'm on shaky ground with my "Phi Slamma Jamma" stance:
She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)
"This was released in 1981 and was still popular in 1982 when Phi Slama Jama was dubbed," my Gen X relative says. "I always assumed this was the inspiration - single Ms and all."
Misty - I think you shared years ago, but can you show us a snap of Gophie (and explain the name (again if I missed it)).
Cheers, -T
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