16. Region of severe drought in the 1930s: DUST BOWL - the history
24. Diner, e.g.: GREASY SPOON - My personal favorite - Waffle House
36. Rochester, New York, dish with meat, fries, and baked beans: GARBAGE PLATE - I spent a lot of my time in NY, but I had never heard of this dish before; I was going to add a picture, but it does not look appetizing at all
49. Hazard for bare feet in a beach parking lot: BROKEN GLASS - Also the title of a song; I used to hear it once a day during my retail employment tenure; I did not know it was Annie Lennox of "Eurythmics" fame who sings this
59. Army dining area, or a punny description of where to find 16-, 24-, 36-, and 49-Across: MESS HALL - perhaps the most notorious movie MESS HALL. . . .
It did get "messy"
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Day on Mars: SOL
- I do the DOWNS first, but had no crossings, so this one eluded me; a
"DAY" on Mars is one planetary rotation; in this case, it's just over 37mins more than Earth's
4. Crunched numbers: DATA
8. Shockingly vivid: LURID - I could find many an image, but this forum won't allow it~!
13. Clean water org.: EPA
14. Inner selves: EGOS
15. Wretchedness: MISERY
18. Structures that provide shade: GAZEBOS - a long-term goal is to build several decks and a structure down by my creek - perhaps it will be a gazebo
19. At the ready: ALERT
20. Massive: EPIC
22. Craigslist abbr.: OBO - Or Best Offer - anyone care to make an offer on these two~? My tractor is here, so I don't need these two any more~!
23. Actress Polo: TERI - name #1, filled via perps
28. Head physician, briefly?: ENT - Ear, "50D.", Throat; I was looking for an abbr. for "psychiatrist" e.g., "shrink"
29. Feeds the pigs: SLOPS
30. Light units: WATTS
31. Assume, as a responsibility: TAKE ON
33. Bank vaults: SAFES
39. Question type: YES/NO - my "CANOE" at 32D. led me to try NO/YES first
40. SoFi Stadium pros: L.A. RAMS
42. Actor Hawke: ETHAN - name #2, but I know this one
45. Runs up against?: ABUTS
47. Light touch: PAT
52. Cooked up: MADE - someone MADE a mess in the kitchen
53. Bluff, maybe: BET - eh, sorta - I've played enough poker to know when someone's "BET" is more likely a "BLUFF"
54. Force from power: OUST
55. Gives for a while: LENDS
56. "Doesn't look good for me!": "I'M TOAST"
62. Apt name for someone born on Christmas: NOELLE - name,ish
63. Operatic solo: ARIA
64. Narc's org.: DEA - Drug Enforcement Agency, mentioned in this song....
65. Class: GRADE - as in K thru 12
66. Subsequently: NEXT
67. Mule kin: ASS - and ABUTS in the same puzzle~?
DOWN:
1. Hardly rowdy: SEDATE
2. Richly appointed: OPULENT
3. Activity that involves taking a shot in the dark?: LASER TAG - my brother and I had the "home version" as kids
4. Subject of a congressional ceiling: DEBT - check out this site
5. Previously: AGO - meh
6. Pull along: TOW - ah, not TUG
7. Like a limb that's all pins and needles: ASLEEP
8. "30 Rock" role for Tina: LIZ - name #4; I know TINA, did not know "Liz"
9. Employ: USE
10. Start up again: REBOOT
11. Asimov work with "Three Laws": I, ROBOT - Issac Asimov, and a movie starring Will Smith
12. Vacuums that have "dual cyclone" technology: DYSONS - I actually have two, the 'ball'
and the cordless - but the latter seems to have lost the ability to
retain a charge - time to get a replacement battery, I guess
15. "I Try" singer Gray: MACY - name #5, filled via perps
17. Prefix with -athlon: TRI
18. Beneficiaries of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, for short: GIs - "The GI Bill"
21. Out of style: PASSÉ
24. Gooey lumps: GLOBS
25. Journalist Farrow: RONAN - name #6; filled via perps
26. Pinky promises: SWEARS
27. Carb-loader's pre-race meal: PASTA
29. Like the vibes at a spa: SERENE
32. Style of boat first used by the Aleut, Inuit, and Yupik peoples: KAYAK - I tried 'CANOE', but this is a better answer
34. Overachiever's test score: A-PLUS - a dupe answer from yesterday
35. Shoes that lack heels: FLATS - I had my fill of shoe fills last week. . . . see below
37. Aspirational hashtag: GOALS - I don't "hashtag", so I had no idea; crossing the unknown theme answer didn't help
38. Savory turnover: EMPANADA
41. Seats for equestrians: SADDLES - we had a Kentucky Derby pool at work; I picked "Track Phantom" and "Stronghold", and neither came in win, place, OR show. . . .
Blazing SADDLES Pie Fight; another MESSY HALL
42. Receding: EBBING
43. Earthquake: TREMOR - nailed it; we felt the April 5th New Jersey quake in CT; I read there was an additional TREMOR on May 1
44. Sore throat soother: HOT TEA - ah. LOZENGE did not fit
46. The Caped Crusader: BATMAN - Holy Crossword Clues~!
48. Cars that charge slowly in the cold: TESLAS - got it; I had a
plug-in Subaru Crosstrek, and was aware that it would take longer to
charge in the winter, as I did not have a garage at the time; it really
didn't matter, since I charged it overnight as I slept, and it only took
5hrs anyway
50. Honker: NOSE
51. Word before microbiome: GUT - filled via perps
52. "It's fine": MEH - Meh. For me, this qualifies something as less than "fine"
55. DA-to-be's exam: LSAT - crossword staple
57. Long in the tooth: OLD
58. Tap pour: ALE
60. Before, poetically: ERE
61. __-pack abs: SIX - my gym attendance has plummeted; conversely, my weight has risen - go figure; I'm just not a "gym" person
Splynter
34 comments:
Although this puzzle wasn’t as easy as the last two days, befitting a Wednesday, it was definitely doable. And I had some idea of the theme before I saw the reveal, though the exact wording was still a (pleasant?) surprise. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
FIR, but erased group for GRADE, opulant for OPULENT (UNTIE!) and dysans for DYSONS (UNTIE!)
Today is:
NATIONAL THIRD SHIFT WORKERS DAY (I’ve tried working the graveyard shift before, and I never could get my sleep cycle to cooperate)
NATIONAL SCHOOL NURSE DAY (gotta get a note from a parent to get an aspirin, but not for a COVID shot)
NATIONAL STUDENT NURSE DAY (there were a few RNs in my MBA class. Turns out you need business acumen to go with that medical stuff)
NATIONAL RECEPTIONISTS DAY (gotta think that robotics and AI threaten the demand for them)
NATIONAL COCONUT CREAM PIE DAY (the only coconut I like is cream of coconut in a pina colada)
NATIONAL HAVE A COKE DAY (Since they left Atlanta for a nonsensical reason, I avoid their products. But Minute Maid is hard to bypass)
More later...
I don't get how SOL is a day on Mars.
The Grapes of Wrath, inspired by the DUST BOWL, remains one of my all-time favorite books. My mother told me it was banned for a while; a cautionary tale.
No, no, no. A WATT is a unit of power. A lumen is a unit of light.
Ironic that NO ELLE has two of them. (Mr. Coward only has one "L".)
A local restaurant used to serve nachos on garbage can lids dedicated for that purpose. The health department made them stop.
I don't think that any other country has a debt ceiling. Drives me crazy that the big spenders in congress rail about big spending every time we close in on the nonsensical limit. They will ALWAYS increase it, but sometimes Federal workers get some extra paid time off (as if they didn't already get enough paid time off.) Where is Senator Proxmire now that we really need him?
Splynter, have you never been married? "IT'S FINE" means "you are in deep Bandini."
Like Splynter, I noticed the ABUTS and ASS duo. I also thought that the A-BUTS aren't FLATS.
Thanks to R&R for the fun puzzle, and to Splynter for the great review and musical treats. One question - what's that thang on the left of your pitchure? Looks like a miniature wood chipper.
Good morning!
Managed to finish this one without noticing the theme. Imagine. Noticed the SERENE/SEDATE pairings and REBOOT alongside I ROBOT. Also noticed your distinctive style almost immediately, Splynter. Thanx, Rebecca and Rachel.
TREMOR: When I was stationed on Guam I noticed that water in the toilet bowl was never completely still. We had a MESS HALL on the base that we referred to as "Mom's."
NOELLE: I worked with a lady named NOEL. She often wore a tee with this image.
FIR. Got the theme early on when I saw spoon. This led me to throw down the reveal as mess tent, which needed to be corrected by the perps. Once again I rush when I should go slow.
I'm not familiar with garbage plate, but with the theme clear to me I was able to fill it in.
Sol for a Mars day makes no sense, and I didn't like meh for "it's fine".
But I finished, so it's all good.
Jinx, that's a snowblower (or snowthrower) in Splynter's picture.
I figure SOL is for the sun's passage thru the Martian sky.
SOL is an abbreviation for Solar day which is what billcohoes is saying I think. Meh on meh and GARBAGE PLATE is too regional and obscure but was filled with the perps. Splinter good to see your work again but I miss your old leg pics
Took 6:31 today for me to get dirty.
Garbage plate was unknown to me, which gave me the same pause as our reviewer when it intersected with the hashtag clue.
I knew "Liz" from watching "30 Rock," but thought that was a little obscure.
Good Morning:
I enjoy a puzzle with fun word play and this fit the bill nicely. Garbage Plate was unknown to this native New Yorker, which proves that many local customs and foods are regionally limited. (Rochester is approximated 230 miles from Troy.) Broken Glass is not as solid a themer because it is really not a stand alone, in-the-language phrase in the same vein as the others. No real stumbling blocks with the solve other than a misstep at Blobs/Globs and needing perps for Macy and Goals.
Nicely done, Rebecca and Rachel, and nice job, Splynter, pinch-hitting, once again. Thanks for your time and efforts.
Have a great day.
I liked the theme. I saw the tableware after getting two of the theme answers. I solved the top third first and next the bottom third. where I saw the theme. AHA, G------PLATE had to be garbage plate. The dish is new to me. IMO, unappetizing name, unappetizing appearance and unappetizing conglomeration of ingredients.
RONAN was the only other unheard of response. Ronan Tynan, the Irish tenor would have been easier for me. One day he was standing in my line to board at the airport.
No problem with goals, aspirational and the G was sufficient.
Interesting that WICKED can mean very good and FINE can mean not good. MY DIL texted me a change in time that was inconvenient but unavoidable. I texted back FINE. I wasn't that happy about it. Was I being subconsciously snarky?
SOL meaning a Martian day, one revolution around the sun, is quite a stretch for me, a nit I hardly ever make. Any better reasoning for the clue?
Worse then the third shift is rotating shifts like my FIL had. Every few weeks his shift changed, hard on sleep and hard on making social appointments.
Thanks for a fun puzzle Rachel and Rebecca. Thanks for pinch hitting, Splynter.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Rebecca and Rachel, and Splynter.
I FIRed in good time and saw the MESSy HALL early in the game. (Is SLOPS an Easter Egg to the messy theme?)
Two inkblots- On Tap (to go with that ALE) changed to ALERT, and Tap (I really wanted to get that word in)inverted to PAT.
The north was the last to fill. I didn’t know SOL or that it stood for Solar.
Unknown names LIZ and MACY also held me up.
Luxurious was too long, but OPULENT fit.
I thought of Carol or Noel, but the less common NOELLE was needed. (LOL Jinx re the two Ls.)
I don’t think of MEH as “I’m fine”? Maybe in a sarcastic manner.
I thought of Numb before ASLEEP fit.
I noted EGOS crossing AGO. We had PASSE and OLD, GRADE and APLUS. But I missed the ones that d’o noted.
TESLAS (or any EV) are a risky choice for Canadian winters, especially outside of urban areas.
Wishing you all a great day.
Splynter's link to Royal Museums Greenwich site gives a good explanation for SOL.
“Mars is a planet with a very similar daily cycle to the Earth. Its sidereal day is 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, and its solar day 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
A Martian day (referred to as “sol”) is therefore approximately 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.”
I liked the fact that there was only 5 names. I knew one, Ethan , but the others filled easily. There was more proper nouns but they presented no issues. Good puzzle
Zipped through this one in less than a half hour. Got the theme after spoon appeared. Never heard of GARBAGEPLATE either but was kinda obvious. Perps were helpful for the unknown names.
Rebecca and Rachel did a nice job with their offering and Splynter a significant analysis of their result. Thanks to all.
Each day is a blessing, every hour a gift. Don't waste them.
Brontosaurus.
Good Morning! Whew! Quite a workout for midweek. I had to get “the little gray cells” fired up. Thanks, Rebecca and Rachel.
Finished with a few detours. Loans -> LENDS and when I changed LAkers -> LA RAMS, the NE finally came together.
Waffle House – I found one nearby and checked the menu out online. What – no Belgian waffle? Then, just an ersatz pancake with a grid.
I still don’t get how SOL matches the clue on 1A. A day is the amount of time a planet rotates back to its starting point on it journey around the sun (SOL), So…?
Thanks, Splynter. Loved your GAZEBO idea.
Best wishes to Ray-O for successful surgery today.
Pleasant and fairly easy CW. I enjoyed looking for the table setting theme, in spite of the rather unpleasant vibes: GARBAGE PLATE!, GREASY SPOON. In addition we have SLOPS, at least TOAST is more palatable.
When I was 17 I was at the beach and stepped on BROKEN GLASS and had to have 10 stitches put in the bottom of my foot. Not fun.
When I told a friend I was planning to retire, she asked me what I was going to do with myself, I startled her by saying I was going to raise GAZEBOS.
Thanks Splynter for that recap.
Is no one reading Splynter's link for 1 Across, or the notes offered in previous comments? Wikipedia says, "Sol (borrowed from the Latin word for sun) is a solar day on Mars; that is, a Mars-day. A sol is the apparent interval between two successive returns of the Sun to the same meridian (sundial time) as seen by an observer on Mars." This term has shown up in enough newspaper articles and movies to be familiar to me. I needed perps to be reminded of it, but it's not so far-fetched as some comments above suggest.
I thought today's puzzle was easy and lots of fun. I've never heard of a garbage plate and would never eat one, but it filled easily. Splynter, I especially enjoyed hearing Annie Lennox singing "Walking On Broken Glass." Blast from the past! But if I were to tell you, "It's fine," that would be pretty much a MEH from me.
Many thanks to Rebecca and Rachel for the delightful MESS, to Patti for giving us an easy Wednesday, and to Splynter for an excellent review.
Fun puzzle! Even more fun write up! Thanks Splynter!
(So many cross eyed thoughts I had to take notes...)
1. Perfect leg pic for the theme...
2. Never eat in a French restaurant with the title Cuillere graisseuse
3. Yeah, Watts clue seemed off, but I guess it's legit because we buy our bulbs by the wattage. Also name for a person born on Xmas had me trying to fit Nicolas in there. (Which made me wonder,,, it couldn't be St. Natick? Could it?)
4. Dinner setting pic, PSA: I could not find a simple pic, or short vid, so bear with me here...
At your dinner seating, make an ok sign with your right hand. Note that it's shape resembles a D for drinking glass on your right.
Then make an ok sign with your left hand. Note that it's shape resembles a B for bread plate.
I do this whenever I sit down at a formal gathering, which makes everyone else wonder what the heck is wrong with me...
P.s. the Caps were for emphasis. The actual letter representations are lower case.
( I take ownership of my place settings very seriously...)
P.p.s. A very easy to remember fancy napkin fold is The Rose. Leave it when you leave to impress the waiter. (Although they will be more impressed if you leave a tip...)
Loved the smuggler video! So much so I was hoping there might be a movie version. (I would watch that...)
Lastly, don't sell the snow thrower just yet!!!
I started out with a tractor, and thought I was smart by getting a plow blade for it and save money with multitasker.
A) you will need weighted wheels and chains for traction.
B) only works on light snow, get over 6 inches and it just builds up so much it will stop you dead. (You really need a 4 wheel drive truck.). You might be able to push a couple more inches by spraying your plow blade with pledge furniture polish. This stops snow sticking so it can slide off the plow to the side.
C) don't show off to the neighbors. I was only trying to be neighbourly, and did their driveway too. But it was so slippery, I lost control and the plow dinged their car. They feigned OKness, but I just felt stupid...
Oh, and one more thing, I left the bracket on the tractor to save time adding the plow. But summer mowing in 6th gear between the kids swings is not a good idea. The bracket got caught on the swing seat and before I could stop I was vertical. Thank goodness I was in the backyard and no one saw that one...
Oh, I almost forgot...
If you want to hear a broken glass story,
When I was 8, used to get sixpence a ball retrieving golf balls from the water channel hazard behind our apartment in Sydney.
it sort of looked like this 6 feet deep for storm runoff, but usually only a trickle on the Sandy bottom. Not being completely stupid, I wore flip flops.
One day, I stepped on a broken bottle that looked like the piece on the left. I stepped on one side, causing it to roll the other side directly into the side of my foot.
So I walked up the 4 flights of stairs to get help from Mom. I don't remember her bandaging it up as much as I remember her being upset with me as she cleaned the blood off 4 flights of stairs. All the while exclaiming "it looks like some one was murdered here!"
I still have the scar...
CED, in my mind I also tried to shoehorn WATT for the amount of light in the bulb. But I think that back then we were shopping by bulb power consumption, with the expectation that light output would be directly proportional. Of course, we certainly don't do that with LEDs, we buy them by lumens and color temperature. Sometimes the packages say "75 WATT equivalent" or some such reference to the old tungsten wasters, but I'll bet that'll go away over the next 10 years or so.
Hey, everyone who doesn't like disgusting-sounding food should just skip to the next post.
I love creamed chipped beef on toast, AKA "sh*t on a shingle." Wouldn't want it once a week, but monthly would be great. Unfortunately, the local diner took it off the menu and only offers it as a special.
The puzzle? MEH. Splynters recap? A-PLUS!
Hola!
Today was a walk in the park, thank you very much, Rebecca and Rachel. BTW, SOL means sun in Spanish.
MISERY is a movie with Kathy Bates and James Caan. I don't often remember movies that old, but that was such an eerie one, I can't forget it.
GARBAGE PLATE? Really? It does not sound appetizing nor does GREASY SPOON! However, an EMPANADA would be delicious.
Here we have, not a Waffle House but a Pancake House. We ate breakfast there when my friends were here.
Thank you, Splynter. What? No legs? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Have a wonderful (earth) day, everyone!
Musings
-This theme and Splynter’s fine touch stood out immediately and the reveal was fun
-Grandma Opal grew up in the DUST BOWL dirty thirties. She told me she loved seeing the corn emerge but started crying when she remembered seeing it shrivel up from July 4th onward.
-In The Martian, Matt Damon recorded how many SOLS had passed
-Right now, I am supervising 15 kids in GRADE 9. Suffice it to say, they aren’t much interested in A Midsummer’s Night Dream
-Is the national DEBT even relevant any more? D.C. has a lot of printing presses!
-Lay’s Potato Chips had a fun ad campaign with Burt Lahr saying, “Bet you can’t eat just one!”
-My GOAL is to break 80 at our golf course. I’ve come close.
-When I went to college there were no TV’s in the dorms. I remember hundreds of us gathering in the student union to watch BATMAN and laughing very hard.
-Student nurses around here get $22/hr while in high school
-About 15 years AGO, it was said we would no longer be able to get incandescent light bulbs rated in WATTS and that we would all be using the metric system. Bzzzzt, thanks for playing.
Fun outing, RG and RF, and any review showing Ralphie is an A PLUS, Splynter!
All names were familiar but TERI; SOL and OSO unknown; loans/LENDS, elegant/OPULENT; lug/TOW.
It took a while to figure out “congressional ceiling” because it was printed as “ceiling” and looked like “cellling” (3 l’s) to OLD eyes.
A right of passage for any parent of a child at college in Rochester, NY was/is to eat a GARBAGE PLATE. Yes, I tried, but it was GLOBS of food all piled up and as disgusting as the photos, if you care to look them up. Besides the ingredients named, the original GP also included macaroni salad, home fries, French fries, special sauce and a choice of cheeseburger, hamburger, sausage, or red hots all on one plate. More than MEH — yuck!
Ray-O, wishing you successful surgery today. Because he is from central NY, I bet he has tried the GARBAGE PLATE.
Happy day, all!
Splynter, I agree, "meh" means less than fine, like barely OK.GC
Jinx,
Hey, there are at least two of us who regularly have chipped beef on toast! Aka creamed dried beef, which is what my mother and both grandmothers called it.
My son was visiting a few weeks ago, and I made it for dinner. His reaction was, what the heck is this? --forgetting that he grew up on it. And of course he loved it then and he loved it now. I think I'll check with my daughter to see if she remembers it. Incidentally, Stouffer's makes it (frozen food aisle), and it's surprisingly tasty.
Husker, your high school offers nursing classes, and students get paid for going?
An almost bare butt sitting in flour on a baking surface? Gross.
I learned a new word today. SOL. I should have looked it up. Tsk. Tsk.
Many, many people say "Fine!" in a disgusted or sarcastic voice. Don't be fooled. Everything is definitely not copacetic.
Splynter Thank you for making the best of the MESS theme with that lovely kitchen MESS. And for including my favorite movie Blazing SADDLES.
My college friend Lisa had her youngest daughter on Christmas and she indeed named her NOELLE. Lisa and I are both unicyclists and NOELLE followed in her path as a unicyclist and as a medical doctor. So did her eldest daughter.
Here we are setting out on unicycles, with NOELLE on skates as well as a more recent photo of us all together.
From Yesterday:
sumdaze and Jayce Thank you for the kind words about my KYOTO PHOTO. Glad you also have happy memories in Japan, sumdaze, and that this brings some back.
I managed to FIR but MESS HALL came out of nowhere. I'd never heard of three of the theme fills DUST BOWL, GARBAGE PLATE, or BROKEN GLASS having anything to do with meals or restaurants. GREASY SPOON- Waffle House- every on I've ever been in has a slippery floor, and not from being freshly mopped.
MACY Gray, TERI Polo, NOELLE, SOL, LIZ, RONAN Farrow, MEH,- got those from perps; didn't know them as clued. I only know Tina Fey from her commercials aired on shows DW watches and she must be making a fortune from them. Never saw 30 Rock and SNL was last viewed about 30 years ago.
34. Overachiever's test score: A-PLUS- I just got a call informing me that my granddaughter is graduating from HS as the valedictorian.
YR said "An almost bare butt sitting in flour on a baking surface? Gross." I agree. That young lady needs a good spanking. I mean, she's really asking for one.
RONAN Farrow is Mia Farrow and Woodie Allen boy. He made a name for himself by doing good investigative reporting into Harvey Weinstein.
I'm old enough to remember when catering trucks weren't the tony eating experiences they seem to be now. In those days, they showed up at our workplace at break and lunch times, announcing their arrival with a distinct horn TOOT (think Rodney Dangerfield's Cadillac in Caddyshack. They were universally called "roach coaches."
Big Easy - Congratulations on your granddaughter's achievement. Brains must run in the family.
Clever and interesting Wednesday puzzle, Rebecca and Rachel--many thanks for this pleasure. And your commentary and pictures were also interesting and fun, thanks for those too, Splynter.
Well, I was going to comment on all the negative stuff in this puzzle, but the MESS/MESSY theme and discussion already explored this in many delightful ways, as did all the commentary above. I must say, I never want to have dinner in this MESS HALL with GARBAGE PLATEs and GREASY SPOONs, and a LURID DUST BOWL, and BROKEN GLASS on the floor. What a lot of MISERY. No wonder everybody who ate there said "I'M TOAST." I think I'm ready for some HOT TEA, or maybe even a glass of ALE, and a chance to listen to an ARIA, while trying to recover from all this.
Have a great day, everybody, and a great rest of the week.
I enjoyed Rebecca and Rachel's MESS HALL theme and Splinter's fun recap! Thanks, all!
Big Easy @ 1:06. That's wonderful news about your granddaughter!
Post a Comment