Theme: "Commercial Free" - AD is removed from each common phrase.
23A. Like a kid wearing a tutu and a superhero cape?: SELF DRESSED. Self-addressed.
47A. Parental agenda that involves claims like, "You never call, you never text ... "?: MISSION OF GUILT. Admission of guilt.
67A. Compose a second draft of a hit song from "Cats"?: REWRITE MEMORY. Read-write memory.
89A. Good title for a reflective book on the life of a rap Dr.?: EXISTENTIAL DRE. Existential dread.
111A. Carnival?: RIO ACTIVITY. Radioactivity.
3D. Flashy accessories for hair curlers?: ROLLER BLING. Rollerblading.
69D. The guilty pleasure of using WebMD to second-guess one's doctor?: MEDICAL VICE. Medical advice.
I like how ADS are removed all over the place. Not just start or end. Sometimes consistency is good, but it also makes themers easier to obtain.
Across:
1. Solitaire unit: CARAT.
6. Brownish pigment: UMBER.
11. Two-beat gait: TROT.
15. Leg part: SHIN. Not CALF.
19. Go gaga for: ADORE.
20. Baker's tool: SIEVE.
21. Country whose anthem is "Amhrán na bhFiann": EIRE. Google shows it's called "The Soldier's Song" in English.
22. Five-O: POPO. Slang for cops.
25. Like viruses: ACELLULAR. I only know Cellular.
27. Right angle shape: ELL.
28. __ buco: OSSO.
29. "__ we go again": HERE.
31. 2021 role for Kristen Stewart: LADY DI. The film is "Spencer".
.jpg)
32. "Looks that way": SEEMS TO.
35. Zane Grey setting: OLD WEST.
37. Uses the << button on a remote: REWINDS.
40. Former Ford: TORINO.
41. 17-Down array: APPS. 17. Surface alternative: IPAD.
45. Buffalo NHL team: SABRES.
50. Lashes, e.g.: CILIA. Did you know these little bumps under your eyes are called milia?
51. Racket head shape: OVAL.
52. Flow out forcefully: SPEW.
53. Folktronica musician Beth: ORTON. Wikipedia says "Folktronica mixes elements of folk and electronica". New to me.
54. Missing: OMITTED.
56. Copycat: APE.
58. Raises a glass to: TOASTS.
59. Changeable camera part: LENS.
60. Disapprove, in a way: VOTE NO.
63. Some protagonists: HEROES.
66. B.S., e.g.: DEG.
69. Prefix with life or wife: MID.
72. Looked after: TENDED.
73. Copycats: MIMICS.
74. Transfer to a new city, informally: RELO.
75. Declare to be true: ATTEST.
78. Fleet org.: USN.
79. Fixated (on): HOMED IN.
81. Meat, in Mexico: CARNE. Called Rou in Chinese. My hometown Xi'an is known for its Rou Jia Mo.
82. "Well, __ that precious!": ISN'T.
85. Let up: EASE.
88. Performed by skaters, say: ON ICE.
92. Indigenous Arizona people: APACHE.
93. Coin with olive and oak branches: DIME.
94. Poirot creator Christie: AGATHA.
95. Prom fabric: TAFFETA. I can't tell the differences.
97. Dad's dads: GRAMPAS.
98. In a big, big way: ROYALLY.
101. Get going: PROPEL.
105. Pub glass size: PINT.
106. Rosalind of "Mulan": CHAO.
108. Routing word: VIA.
109. Smaller than small: SUBATOMIC.
115. __ burn romance: SLOW. Like most Chinese romances. The song I danced to last week is very sad Chinese love song. Here's the original version. Sloooow burn.
116. Camp accommodation: BUNK.
117. Puccini work: OPERA.
118. "Attack!": SIC 'EM.
119. College freshman, often: TEEN.
120. Like French toast: EGGY.
121. Gets smaller, as the moon: WANES.
122. Reagan-era attorney general: MEESE. Ed. Still alive.
Down:
2. "Set Fire to the Rain" singer: ADELE.
4. Sandy's bark: ARF.
5. Actor Danson: TED.
6. Employs against: USES ON.
7. Hit alternative: MISS.
8. "Eso __": Paul Anka hit: BESO.
9. Night before a big 55-Down: EVE. 55. Occasion: EVENT.
10. Spicy cinnamon candies: RED HOTS.
11. Sign of sorrow: TEARDROP.
12. __ vinegar: ingredient in sushi seasoning: RICE WINE. The brand I use.
13. Underground resource: ORE. 68. Went after 13-Down: MINED.
14. Relates a tale about: TELLS OF.
15. NBA great Webb: SPUD. 5'6".
16. "__ cow!": HOLY.
18. Seaweed snack: NORI.
24. Flatbreads served with some curries: ROTIS.
26. Back muscle, for short: LAT.
30. Mumford of "Fifty Shades of Grey": ELOISE. New to me also.
33. Earns: MERITS.
34. Hard work: SWEAT.
36. Sufficient, to Shakespeare: ENOW.
38. ID issuer: DMV.
39. "Unstoppable" singer: SIA. And 46. Pop singer Mann: AIMEE.
41. Ethereal glows: AURAS.
42. Olive discards: PITS.
43. Conspiracy: PLOT.
44. RR stops: STNS.
45. Reprimand: SCOLD.
48. Viewpoint: SLANT.
49. Like hot fudge: GOOEY. Never had fudge, cold or hot.
51. Chris of "The Sapphires": O'DOWD.
57. Ada Limón works: POEMS.
58. Top spot?: TORSO.
61. Half of sei: TRE.
62. __ al-Fitr: EID.
63. Shirt edge: HEM.
64. British recording giant: EMI.
65. Valium maker: ROCHE.
67. Zero out: RESET.
70. Tchaikovsky's middle name: ILICH. No idea.
71. Fundraiser beneficiary: DONEE.
72. Needing kneading: TENSE.
74. Italian soprano Tebaldi: RENATA. Meaning "reborn" in Italian.
75. Got top marks on: ACED.
76. Cab: TAXI.
77. Curtail: TRIM.
78. Moab resident: UTAHAN.
80. Glum: MOPEY.
82. Teri's "Young Frankenstein" role: INGA.
83. Putting one's foot down: STAMPING.
84. Overly critical: NIT-PICKY.
86. Frick collection: ART. In NYC.
87. Brighton attraction: SEA.
90. Spot for a stud or hoop: EARLOBE.
91. Edge of the nosebleed section: LAST ROW.
92. Happening now: AFOOT.
96. Brawl: FRACAS.
97. Figure out: GET.
99. The Chi-__: "Have You Seen Her" group: LITES. Also unknown to me.
100. "I'm so great!": YAY ME.
101. "I need to tell you something secret": PSST.
102. Cardinal __: RULE.
103. Flute neighbor in an orchestra: OBOE.
104. One of 16 in a chess set: PAWN.
106. Filmmaker Joel or Ethan: COEN. They grew up in St. Louis Park, MN.
107. Rabbit lookalike: HARE.
110. Coffee cup: MUG.
112. Craft beer letters: IPA.
113. Belief system suffix: ISM. This poster was in all our
classrooms. It says "Long live Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought!" We
don't use Maoism in China. Just Mao Zedong Thought.
114. Compete (for): VIE.
C.C.
36 comments:
It took me a while, but eventually I saw all the missing “ads.” Other than that, I don’t have too much to say about this puzzle, except that it wasn’t terribly difficult, in spite of its length. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Identified most of the missing ADs, but tried to figure out where it should go in ACELLULAR. When SUBATOMIC filled in, it became apparent that this pairing wasn't part of the theme. D'oh. Ya almost got me again, Gary. Thanx for 'splainin' it all, C.C. (I tried to spell it Ilych -- HOMED IN fixed that.)
Tchaikovsky's middle name: ILICH.
Google says it is Ilyich. Too many letters for the grid.
TAFFETA crossing RENATA had me running the alphabet to get that final T. Hopefully, TAFFETA is a synthetic and somewhat new, otherwise I may have lived a sheltered life, as I’m older than dirt and have never heard of that one.
FIW, missing SEEMS sO x ROsIS. Fixed out west->OLD WEST, says no->VOTE NO, tent->BUNK, oil->ORE, pact->PLOT.
Lotsa BAs in the Corner, with a few of us BS folks scattered in.
The primary requirement for prom fabric is that it not get too wrinkled when stuffed into a glove box.
If I'm camping (and I am,) my accommodations include a fridge, ice maker, satellite TV and a washer/drier.
SPUD is the shortest person ever to win the NBA slam dunk contest, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. (I used to golf in the shadow of his huge estate in South Dallas.)
It took me forever to come up with AFOOT for some reason. Great clue. Makes up for a lot of the unknown proper name crap.
Thanks to Gary for the mostly-fun grid, and to CC for the tour.
Hate hate hated it! Way too many proper names.
FIW again. Done in by the crossing of POPO (a hopelessly general slang term clued by another hopelessly general slang term) and NORI. Also hurt in the fracas caused by the crossing of RENATA and TAFFETA.
FIW. The crossing of Spud and popo did me in. I didn't know either, so I guessed copo. It looked right, but what do I know?
I never got the theme. Missed the "ad" in all the long answers, but really didn't need them to answer the clues.
And the proper names were a bear. In most cases a perp helped, but I still maintain they do not belong in crosswords.
Overall not an enjoyable Sunday outing.
Took 19:02 today for me to ad it up correctly.
Quite a few unknown names, including the folktronica one, the Italian soprano, Odowd, Inga, Frick, and today's actresses (Eloise and Chao).
Spud Webb's dunk contest performance was great.
Not sure why, but the "Still alive" comment in the review after Meese had me expecting to see that for all the proper names that followed.
Loved the challenge and FIR! The fact that the missing AD moved around made it harder to place in the theme answers, but the question mark on those clues assured me that I could insert AD somewhere to form another phrase.
DNK Beth ORTON, Rosalind CHAO, ELOISE Mumford, SIA, Chris ODOWD, Tchaikovsky's middle name, RENATA Tebaldi, the Chi-LITES, or SPUD Webb, but didn't let that stop me.
Many thanks to Gary Larson for a clever puzzle, to Patti for editing, and to C.C. for explaining it all. Someone treat that woman to a GOOEY, hot fudge sundae!
Lots of back and forth today. Instead of REwrite it was REWROTE. UMBER over AMBER, BUNK over tent, etc. Finished but had to check on Mr Webb's nickname. INGA over Igor fixed GRAMPAS.
As SubG Indicated, not a very hard puzzle, but I didn't suss the theme.
Shoutouts to Gary and C.C. for their fine work on the day.
Happy birthday to my DW on her 78th. Got her gift three weeks ago, a knee replacement for her ailing right knee.
Traveling down the road, I should have been home yesterday. - John Denver
Bitter
I caught the missing AD at MISSION OF GUILT after changing TELLS TO to TELLS OF. The hardest to get was the R-AD-IOACTIVE. Just a few A&E unknowns filled by perps today. CHAO, ELOISE, O'DOWD, ORTON,SIA, RENATA. EIRE was filled by perps.
After a few perps in place I guessed TAFFETA but it took AFOOT to make it FF instead of TT.
Ed MEESE is alive. So is Elaine CHAO- only Chao I knew.
97. Dad's dads: GRAMPAS. Shouldn't it be Dads' dads? Dad only has ONE dad. I'm being NIT-PICKY. POPO is a word I've only seen in a crossword puzzle. Asked Lt. Simpson (my son) and he said it's the word used in 'the hood'.
I remember SPUD Webb winning the slam dunk contest. How he jumped that high and held onto the ball amazed me. It's hard to grip a basketball with one hand, especially a small hand.
GOOEY- DW likes MacDonald's hot fudge sundae better than one from DQ across the street. Cheaper too.
Kristen Stewart was unknown but I knew LADY DI's family name was SPENCER.
Southside-J- It was a guess for me at the cross of Taffeta & Renata. Could have been a D.
Lee @9:56- My birday is in November but I'm getting that some 'gift' Tuesday on my left knee.
I usually manage a FIR in about 30 minutes on a Sunday, the difficulty level typically that of an early week grid, but not today as I had the grid filled in my allotted time but didn’t get the congratulatory message, leading me to search for my mistake, which I couldn’t locate and TITT after almost an hour. I thought it may be in the TAFFETA/RENATA crossing, but I WAGed that correctly. Changed amber to UMBER, and honed to HOMED, but still was not right. My downfall was not knowing Beth ORTON, I’ve seen RR stop abbreviated as STA, so as plural I had STAS, giving me ORTOA and the FIW 🫤. I have finally memorized Eso BESO and OSSO buco. Waseeley alerted us to the Five-O clue today when it appeared in Robin’s puzzle Thursday. It was a challenge I was not quite up to today, but I had fun playing the game, as HG says, it’s not a test. Thanks Gary for the grid and C.C. for the expo!
Managed to FIR, but I can't say I got much enjoyment out of it. The plethora of obscure and arcane names sucked most of the fun out. POPO? Really? C'mon! All in all, I have to rate this one as a solid meh.
For all those who missed seeing the Ads...
And,
an honorable mention...
Hola!
Amazingly I finished (sorta) this before going to church! The eastern side filled pretty quickly followed by the bottom. I, too, had to wait for ILICH; I knew it but did not recall the spelling.
SIA is not familiar enough for me to recall but I did see her on the Drew Barrymore show once.
Thank you, Gary, Patti and C.C. for the Sunday crunch.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
DNF, missed one letter the p of POPO and SPUD. We’ve had the word POPO before, but I couldn’t make the leap to it from Five-0.
Otherwise I got all the theme answers and “saw” the missing ad except for REWRITE MEMORY. CC gave us the answer but I don’t get it.
Yes, lots of names. The ONLY ones I knew were RENATA and LADY DI. Since I knew TAFFETA, a word I’ve known since I was a child, I didn’t experience the FRACAS some posters complained about.
So all in all, I VOTE YAY on this CW. And thank you to C.C. for the recap.
Got the no AD theme quickly and enjoyed it. I record anything I watch or listen to so I can skip the ADs. TAURUS before TORINO. Stuck with COPS and SCOT before bizarre POPO and SPUD. Interesting about SPUD's height. STNS or STAYS. Lucky WAG to FIR.
After weeks of preparation for our Solstice Festival, here I was unicycling yesterday with my dear friend Danielle.
The theme this year was "Flights of Fancy". You can see our amazing Grand Finale float with a winged sun behind us. Lots of wings and propellers. I had both.
The photo is by another dear friend, Virginia, who came all the way from San Francisco to photograph the parade. She is a professional photographer.
Half way through the parade someone near our float collapsed. Some off duty firefighters were doing really intense CPR on him for a long time and I was sure the poor man was dead. But apparently he did make it. Probably with broken ribs from the CPR. But they had to bring in a fire engine and ambulance in front of our float, stranding it.
Danielle and I rode ahead to fill in the ever growing gap. Eventually we rode back to our heroic leader Pali, who designed and built the float and we all finished the parade together. Unfortunately, most of the spectators had left by then.
Jinx Hand up as another BS.
Lucina Not sure if you have already shared this: How is it that you decided to become a nun and how did you decide to leave? Were they difficult decisions?
Elaine Chao, wealthy wife of Mitch Mc Connell and former Secretary of Labor.
Enjoyed the puzzle. None of the theme answers seemed forced. Very nicely done!
Lee - What a loving present! Maybe she'll get you a colonoscopy for your birthday!
I looked at ACELLULAR as meaning non-cellular.
I couldn’t remember ILICH. I only remembered that hi first name was not spelled PETER but rather PYOTR.
Musings
-RE(ad)WRITE MEMORY was fabulous.
-HERE WE GO AGAIN: The political season of “Point with pride/View with alarm”
-On my iPhone podcasts, I can rewind all the way or for just 15 seconds
-A H.S. senior I had last year is interning as a MIDWIFE in Omaha’s biggest maternity hospital making $22/hr. She will soon be certified and be making big bucks doing what she loves.
-AGATHA’S mystery novels take on some real changes for the TV and Movie screen.
-Our trips north, south and west of here are now done VIA 4-lane bypasses. The cities of Wahoo, Scribner, North Bend, Valley, Hooper, et al aren’t all that happy about it.
-Of course, the WANING moon does not get smaller, just its lighted area does.
-I usually recall ESO BESO for the first word – Sp. For that
-EARNS and MERITS go together in this puzzle and in life
-5-letter fill for works by someone I have never heard of? Piece ‘o cake!
-I had an autistic student who prefaced every sentence with, “Mr. Schlapfer, can I tell you something?”
-Now I see why the MN. Coen brothers shot Fargo in the far north.
-I love that my grandkids still call me Papa.
Thanks to Gary Larson for the Sunday diversion! I sussed the theme with the title and enjoyed identifying where the ADs could be re-inserted.
FAVs: Solitaire unit; Top spot?; AFOOT; and ROLLER BLING
I knew POPO from DH. (He grew up in a tough neighborhood.)
BE@ 10:09. Best wishes for Tuesday!
Picard@ 1:18. Awesome pic!
Thanks to C.C. for your write-up! Your China experiences are always so interesting!
Tough but very clever Sunday puzzle, and so still a weekend treat--many thanks, Gary. And C.C., your commentaries and pictures are always a total pleasure--thanks for those too.
When I saw ADORE, I figured we were going to get a delightfully loving puzzle on this Sunday. But then there was a TEAR DROP, and that didn't bode too well, and I started to SWEAT when MISSION OF GUILT showed up. A little further down we got MIMICS, and then STAMPING and NIT PICKing, and pretty soon I felt MOPEY. And when I saw MEDICAL VICE, I decided I had best VOTE NO on this puzzle's merits.
But on my second run-through I realized we could actually drink some RICE WINE, maybe ON ICE, and offer a TOAST because this puzzle also had some real MERITS. After all, there were HEROES like the ones that used to fight in the OLD WEST. And then some lovely art appeared: some POEMS and some OPERA, and I decided to REWRITE my MEMORY to focus on this HOLY PLOT.
So, on this happy note, I wish you all a great week ahead.
I enjoyed more of this puzzle than not, so it's a net gain. Loved the commercial free theme.
OCHRE --> UMBER.
KNEE --> SHIN.
ARIZONA --> OLD WEST.
ASSERT --> ATTEST.
NAVAJO --> NAVAHO --> APACHE.
SITE --> TENT --> BUNK.
ROBES --> CASES.
Wanted ILYICH but I see it is also sometimes spelled ILICH.
For a nice example of a two-beat gait, TROT, read The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes.
Hand up for requiring an alphabet run to fill that P in SPUD and POPO.
Clues/answers that I particularly liked:
Hit alternative: MISS
Pub glass size: PINT ("Fancy a pint?")
__ al-Fitr: EID
Needing kneading: TENSE.
Clues/answers that I particularly disliked:
Five-O: POPO
"Looks that way": SEEMS TO ("Seems to be" seems to me to be more "in the language")
"Well, __ that precious!": ISN'T
Dad's dads: GRAMPAS (what Big Easy said)
Employs against: USES ON (clue and answer don't seem to match)
Top spot?: TORSO (another "Trouble in River City" clue/answer).
Good reading you all.
The non-computer geeks may not know that there are two types of memory in storage media. There is Read Only Memory where the data in that location can't be changed. Then there is READ WRITE MEMORY, where the data in the storage location can be changed by writing to the location and then it can be read later if necessary.
Picard, thank you for asking. I'll make this short because I have written about it in the past.
At age 14 while I was attending St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, it was during an annual Retreat, in a strong prayerful moment I felt a powerful desire to do something useful with my life so I prayed for guidance and over the course of that year, as I observed the nuns who taught us, the desire grew stronger. I sought guidance from one of the nuns who informed me that a high school for Aspirants who were contemplating the Religious life was available. During the summer I applied, was accepted and started my training the following September.
After 15 years of Religious Life when the Church was in turmoil during the 60s I decided to relinquish my vows but it took me five years of anguish to definitely decide to do so. In retrospect I believe it was the right decision for me.
Jace, how about "seems to me," as in the lyrics from the James Gang's Walk Away:
"SEEMS TO me
You don't want to talk about it
SEEMS TO me
You just turn your pretty head and walk away"
I always thought this tune sounded like the Grateful Dead should be doing it.
Brian, when we had a memory problem we would usually log the fix as "replaced write-only memory." (Thanks for not getting into PROMs, EPROMS, EEPROMS and other enhancements.)
sumdaze Thank you for the kind words!
Lucina Thank you for some of the back story of how you became a nun and stopped doing so. Perhaps we are primed by our upbringing for different actions when we feel that urge to do something useful with our lives.
My father was a scientist and for me that urge was an urge to do science. I also followed his example and worked on social justice and protecting the environment. Thank you for sharing a bit of your experience.
TAFFETA …..> stretched sweet Greek cheese
Prof M, excellent TAFFETA joke!
Thank you, Jayce! I have my (very few) moments.
"Elijah' is found in Russian and Slavic languages as ILYA. As required in Russian, there is naturally a patronymic, the son of .= I(y])ICH. Also Lenin's middle name.
Lucina, having also gone to Catholic schools and attended retreats, I found your story very moving. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Post a Comment