Theme: - "Where the Boys Are" - Each theme answer is a city with a man's name.
23. Golden State 90-Down: CHICO, CALIFORNIA.
39. Sooner State 90-Down: NORMAN, OKLAHOMA.
57. Hoosier State 90-Down: GARY, INDIANA.
64. Mount Rushmore State 90-Down: PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA.
73. Lone Star State 90-Down: IRVING, TEXAS.
91. Sunshine State 90-Down: ORLANDO, FLORIDA.
112. Grand Canyon State 90-Down: CHANDLER, ARIZONA.
Reveal:
90. Premier League powerhouse, familiarly, and an alternate title for this puzzle: MAN CITY.
Very consistent, with city & state names in the answers and state nicknames in the clues, which provides key foothold in case you're not famliar with Man City (Manchester City).
Very smooth grid, hallmark of Doug's puzzles, whether themed or themeless, no odd names or weird Abbrs.
Across:
6. __ iced tea: THAI. Made with black tea. Sweetened with condensed milk.
10. Sgts. and cpls.: NCOS.
14. Slap sharply: SMACK.
19. Broadband device: MODEM. I have three pods.
20. Overcook: BURN.
21. Subj. with AB and BC AP tests: CALC.
22. "Cold Hearted" singer Abdul: PAULA.
26. Two-in-one conjunction: AND/OR.
27. Midsize Hyundai: SONATA.
28. Yemeni port: ADEN. I just learned that the best Sidr honey is made in Yemen. Very pricey.
29. Pro with a racket?: CON ARTIST. Also 114. What pros say: AYE. I love both "pro" clues.
31. __ bean: LIMA. Boomer's favorite bean.
33. React to yeast: RISE.
35. Divisions of a biblical chapter: VERSES.
36. Explosive initials: TNT.
44. Feature of Goliath, but not giants: HARD G. The starting letter G. Another great clue. Of course, we all associate Hard G with my mentor Don G.
 |
| Don G and his wife Barbie |
46. Like carbonara: BACONY.
47. Take a strop to: HONE.
48. Org. with a Ballpark app: MLB.
51. Much of an atlas: ASIA.
52. Encircles with a band: GIRDS.
53. Jazz style: BOP.
54. Surf sound: ROAR.
55. Use lofty language: WAX POETIC.
61. Olympic skating gold medalist Nathan: CHEN. His mom is from Beijing.
62. Chorus syllables: LA LA.
63. Ready to wear, in a way: IRONED.
69. Rum cocktail: MAI TAI.
71. Lawful borders?: ELLS. Letters again.
72. Privy to: IN ON.
76. Like a noteworthy day: RED-LETTER.
81. Highest-paid corp. employees, often: CEOS.
82. Trellis climber: IVY.
83. Jordanian archaeological site: PETRA. Wikipedia says "Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the color of the sandstone from which it is carved."
84. Shakespearean manipulator: IAGO.
85. Snack on: EAT.
86. Bit of Christmas candy: CANE.
88. Truckers' competition: ROADEO. Portmanteau of "road" and "rodeo".
90. __ Madness: Snapple flavor: MANGO.
94. Planet Fitness, e.g.: GYM.
95. Before too long: IN A BIT.
98. Teeming (with): RIFE.
99. Cozy hideaways: DENS.
101. Roast lamb condiment: MINT SAUCE. The last time I had lamb is 2002 when I was back home. Xi'an has the best lamb kabobs.
104. Wyatt of Tombstone: EARP.
107. Sharp insight: ACUMEN.
111. Start to go haywire: ACT UP.
115. Gaggle creatures: GEESE.
116. Color similar to chartreuse: LIME. OK. This is chartreuse green.
117. Website with a Daily Deals section: EBAY.
118. Knight contests: TILTS.
119. Pick from a menu: ORDER.
120. Hill inhabitants: ANTS.
121. Unchanged: SAME.
122. "Good grief!": YEESH. Splynter made a clip about his troubles with the new Blogger picture embed. Maybe you will hear his voice someday.
Down:
2. __-chic: BOHO.
3. Father of Thor: ODIN.
4. Windshield sticker: DECAL.
5. Acting with great feeling: EMOTING.
6. Schedule abbr.: TBA.
7. Island performance: HULA.
8. Desiccated: ARID. Excited to find Hami melons last week. They grow in a very arid region of Xinjiang.
9. Intense blazes: INFERNOS.
10. ATM manufacturer: NCR.
11. Call off: CANCEL.
12. Spaghetti aglio e __: OLIO.
13. Skim through: SCAN.
14. "I really don't want to know": SPARE ME.
15. Meditation recitation: MANTRA.
16. German luxury cars: AUDIS.
17. Complete the deal: CLOSE.
18. Go-__: mini racers: KARTS.
24. Paintballer's attire, for short: CAMO.
25. Vegetable in pico de gallo: ONION.
30. Mary Kay rival: AVON. Never used any Avon or Mary Kay products.
32. Dispute settler: ARBITER.
34. Place for vapor trails: SKY.
36. Warm up: THAW.
37. Distant exploration acronym: NASA.
38. Cereal that's not for a silly rabbit: TRIX.
40. Camp Pendleton soldier: MARINE. Hi there, Dennis!
41. "Thunderstruck" band: AC/DC.
42. Greeting on the bridge: AHOY.
43. Uto-Aztecan language: HOPI.
45. Big name in caulk: DAP. Still have an unopened tube at our garage.
48. Movie set on the island of Motunui: MOANA.
49. Lois who debuted in Action Comics No. 1: LANE.
50. Slender nail: BRAD.
52. Yankee legend Lou: GEHRIG. And 64. Shortstop's double play move: PIVOT.
53. "Dude!": BRAH.
54. Hilarious person: RIOT.
56. Coral reef's place: OCEAN.
57. People conquered by Caesar: GAULS.
58. Secondary social media accounts, briefly: ALTS. Alternatives.
59. Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA.
60. Remote-controlled flier: DRONE.
62. "Run __ Run": 1998 thriller: LOLA.
65. "For real?": IT IS.
66. Seductive: SEXY.
67. Calorie counter: DIETER.
68. M3GAN, for one: ANDROID.
69. Itchy and Jerry, in cartoons: MICE. I don't know Itchy.
70. Domain: AREA.
74. Actress Fey: TINA.
75. Fairly matched: EVEN.
76. Modernize, say: REDO.
77. Spanish aunt: TIA.
78. Zippy flavor: TANG. This means "sugar" in Chinese.
79. Like hollandaise: EGGY.
80. Dorm assignment: ROOM.
83. Brewpub orders: PALE ALES.
86. Refrigerator drawer: CRISPER.
87. Banff's prov.: ALTA. Alberta.
88. Rouen royal: ROI.
89. Eliminated, in noir lingo: OFFED.
91. Angle type: OBTUSE.
92. Experienced while sleeping: DREAMT.
93. Sweetie: DEAR.
95. Cicada stage: IMAGO.
96. Less churlish: NICER.
97. Started a pot: ANTED. Poker pot.
100. "__ Q": Creedence Clearwater Revival hit: SUZIE.
102. Sch. near Bel Air: UCLA.
103. Facial feature: CHIN.
105. Country great McEntire: REBA.
106. Brighton baby buggy: PRAM. Full alliteration.
108. Spy-fi figure: MOLE.
109. Tinnitus docs: ENTS.
110. "Claws" actress Niecy: NASH.
113. 1980s gaming console: NES.
C.C.
31 comments:
Although a large puzzle, as every Sunday is, I didn’t find it terribly difficult. As always, clues that refer to “hard” or “soft” letters are always a little difficult to suss, but other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Didn't know of the sports connections for those cities, but all were familiar names. Well, maybe not CHICO. Today the Olympics come to an end, and the TV schedules can get back to normal for a few weeks until football season begins. Does anybody ever say "BRAH?" New to d-o. Still, it was a nice romp through the grid. Thanx, Doug and C.C. (Itchy and Scratchy are characters in a "fake" kids show in The Simpsons. One of Bart's favorites.)
A typically not so difficult grid today for most experienced solvers I would guess, had about a Wednesday feel with pretty straightforward cluing. FIR in 26 minutes with the correction of an “i” to an “a” in the NIKOLA/PETRA crossing. Yesterday we had a SILENT E, leading us to a HARD G today. BACONY and EGGY in the same puzzle was cute, as was IMAGO and IAGO. I’ve heard bro and bruh but never BRAH (👋d-o). Never heard of a ROADEO, but it makes sense. CHEN I assume won his medal in a previous Olympics? Sort of an Easter Egg with ”MAN”TRA. Best clue of the day was for CON ARTIST. Thanks Doug and C.C. for the morning entertainment!
FIW, missing CHoN and BOHe. If I could only spell ARBIToR and SeNATA, a FIR would have been within my grasp. Had no idea that there was a pro soccer team in any of those cities.
I think you take the blade to the strop to HONE it, not vice versa.
I knew CHICO CALIFORNIA for its state prison. Think I'll leave it at that.
ACDC could be clued "that Ektorp band."
For me, football season starts today, with the Cowboys' first preseason game. I haven't attended one since they played in IRVING TEXAS, about a mile from my office in Las Colinas.
Like UP Phil, my favorite was CON ARTIST.
Thanks to Doug for the fun puzzle, except for the soccer focus. At least it wasn't WNBA or MLW whiffle ball (their championships were on ESPN yesterday), so it could have been worse. And thanks to CC for the tour.
FIR. Not sure about brah, and the spelling of arbiter, and yeesh. There were a lot of seemingly strange clues thrown throughout the puzzle.
The only theme answer that made a little sense was Orlando, maybe because I'm a Floridian. I got all the male names, just never heard of the teams?
Overall this was not an enjoyable Sunday puzzle for me.
Oh, YEESH, I got all the theme answers with no difficulties, but, of all things, I never saw MAN CITY, so missed the whole point of this theme. Such a clever theme, in retrospect.
My only other snag was spelling GEHRIG, and BRAH (?).
When DREAMT appeared, I immediately thought of the first line of this long ago novel by Daphne du Maurier “Last night I DREAMT I went to Manderley again”.
Thanks CC for the tour.
Got the FIR when the light bulb went on for the theme. Very clever! An enjoyable puzzle today. I really wanted WASHED for "ready to wear." I don't know if we even still have an iron...haven't seen it in a decade or two. If it ain't permanent press it ain't in MY closet! A Marine friend of mine (no "ex" or "former", once a Marine, always...) takes great exception to being referred to as a "Soldier". BRAH? Something worn under a BHLOUSE?
Musings
-The confluence of LALA, ALTS, LOLA (not the Kinks song) and BRAH (not BRUH) cost me three bad cells. When I put the clues in for a Google search, the first options were for Crossword clues.
-NASA (not SETI), HARD G and ASIA took some time as well but I got them
-I really enjoyed the gimmick
-When my parents and my daughter sold their houses, the new owners ripped off all the IVY
-Planet Fitness and its cheap membership fees has really hurt our town’s YMCA
-This restored house in Pella, Iowa was the boyhood home of the EARP brothers
-The greenskeeper at our golf course is not always pleased with our GAGGLE
-When I was building models, I pronounced the word de CAL
-Scott Frost’s first Husker football game as a coach got CANCELED. It was a bad omen as he failed miserably.
-“Here’s the reason I missed that putt.” “Spare me!”
-PIVOT for baseball peeps only: The Royals had a very rare 3-4-5 double play last night
-We heard REBA sing the National Anthem in NORMAN, OKLAHOMA. She used a lot of trills and runs in a lovely rendition.
-DREAMT is the only English word ending in AMT
-Going out to mow and will need a jacket!
It was easy to FIR today with my last fill being MANCITY. I know as much about the Premier league as I know about semi-pro football-nothing. After filling it I noticed the men's names. After CA and OK filled the other states were easy to guess after a perp or two. Normal amount of unknowns filled by perps today. CHEN, ROADEO, MANGO, BOHO, BRAH (BRO?), LOLA (wanted FORREST), ANDROID, NASH, NES, MICE. Never saw the clue for BACONY, wouldn't have known it.
Got the HARD G and ELLS tricky fills today.
The only CHANDLER I know is female, granddaughter's best friend and was a tennis player on DW's team.
Wasn't sure if it would be SUSEY, SUSIE, or SUZIE. John Fogarty performed at our local Gretna Fest last year. Huge crowd and the cost for the entire day? $20.00.
22. "Cold Hearted" singer Abdul: PAULA. While were on the subject of 'cold hearted SNAKE', my total out of pocket expenses came to $3,240.00 caused by the snake that somehow got into the main electrical feed box. Insurance deductible is $2,894. AC, generator, alarm system. GFIs, house telephone, one TV, and internet modem.
My brother used to say “brah”. Had to smack him a couple times but he came around. I too, at the last minute changed to Nikola from Nikolai to get a FIR.
How? I'm guessing slow runners on first and second, ball hit softly wide of first, 3 fields, throws for a force at second, then 4 to 5 for a tag out of the pokey guy going to third?
Geeze - hope you didn't file a claim to net $350.
Albert Benjamin (Happy) CHANDLER was Commissioner of (crossword favorite) MLB, and governor of Kentucky.
Enjoyable puzzle! Thanks, Doug.
Today's puzzle was a clever--some might say convoluted--exercise. The reveal (90D) concerns professional soccer, or football as it's called in most of the rest of the world. Some of the best football globally is played in the Premier League, which is located in the U.K. My son Jim follows the Premier League avidly, so can clarify and correct my observations here.
Usually the top team in the Premier League is Manchester City, known for short as ManCity. And there you have 90Down. "ManCity" leads to the long horizontal theme answers, but here the constructor throws us a curve. None of the long answers have anything to do with soccer or the Premier League. They are all cities (American) that are men's names. So they are literally "man-cities."
Incidentally, Jinx, you were one letter off when you mentioned the state prison in Chico CA. No, that would be Chino, about 500 miles south.
Re MLB: I agree with you on the most plausible 3-4-5 double play. Did you hear about the triple play a few weeks ago that went something like 1-3-5? I may be off on one of the numbers, but whatever, it was the first such triple play in MLB history!
Back to the puzzle, as a lover of lamb, I appreciated 101A. Whether it's a chop or leg or rack, lamb loves mint sauce. It's become increasingly difficult to find Crosse & Blackwell's mint sauce. So I make my own, the key ingredients being fresh mint, malt vinegar, garlic, and olive oil.
When I saw every theme answer ended in a State things started to happen fast. I had never heard of Itchy either, then I don't watch the Simpsons. I completely missed that it was men's names I was so happy with the States. I was just figuring "men's soccer". At any rate I enjoyed the puzzle and the recap. I enjoyed the Olympics, especially the swimming and track and field. I like events where you win or lose and don't get "graded". GC
Jinx
-Here is the 3-4-5 DP
Heads up running by the guy on first. He could have run into the tag, making the putout at third easy and possibly setting up a triple play. He made them work for it anyway, even though the result was two out with a man on first instead of second, which is probably what would have happened had he just run into the tag. I still think the runner on second must have been kinda slow, not beating the play on a ground ball hit to the right side.
I frequently pass on the Sunday CW because it is bigger and takes a long time. Usually they are about a Wednesday or Thursday difficulty level, today's was about that too. Took 35+ minutes to FIR. DNK BOHO, BRAH, or ANDROID (as clued) but got the theme with the very first theme clue after figuring out 90D was MANCITY. I thought it might be MANCHESTERCITY but it took perps to find the abbreviation, which I DNK, so had to work that section of the CW early. Then of course the V-8 can hit with the theme, helping on theme clues. Thanx DP a fine CW, and well done amazingly getting seven (7!!) theme clues in there. Thanx C.C. for the terrific write-up. I especially enjoyed the references to China. Well, I have house guests, and yesterday did some mild arm-twisting to get them to come with me to Slacker's Packer Bar here in FLL to watch the Packers play the Browns. They are Brazilian, so not exactly Packer fans, but gamely put on Packer shirts and hats for me. After all that, and a twenty minute drive to Slackers, they DIDN'T HAVE THE GAME ON THEIR TVs!! Last year the owner John Slack died, and ever since his partners have not kept up the standards. Sad. And embarrassing, after dragging my friends to the bar, promising them some fun. It USED to be fun there every game. Now ... not so much. No, just NOT! Rats.
I loved this masterful puzzle. Doug Peterson is a pro. (Love those pros!)
HOUSE --> ABODE
WHIP --> HONE
TRAS --> LALA
MINT JELLY --> MINT SAUCE.
Good reading you all.
YP here ~ coincidentally the Packers play the Eagles in the first game of the regular season, fittingly in Brazil, but you already knew that I’m sure. Maybe by then your guests WILL be GB fans 👊🏼.
I guess I'm in the minority today. City names that are also men's names? Aren't hundreds (thousands?) of places named after people? That's pretty lame even with the unneeded reveal. Unless, of course, CHICO and the rest all play for MANCITY, then that would be amazing. But alas, they do not.
The states were obvious from their nicknames and I filled them all in after striking gold in CALIFORNIA, which covered a lot of real estate. Then a couple letters from downs gave away the matching man's name. Thrilling. All the themers and a quarter of the puzzle done before I really started. No challenge = no fun.
Another great offering from Mssr Peterson; albeit a bit of a walk in the park, it was quite fun.
I immediately grokked the theme on getting CHICO CALIFORNIA (being a native CA boy) and that provided plenty of fill to help put on everything else. The ELLS and HARD G items were forehead-slappers — I share both D-Otto’s and Yooper Phil’s feelings on this sort of clueing (“duh!”) as well as giving CON ARTIST a tip o’ the fedora as Best Clue 🤙🏽😎
I spent some of my younger years living in Hawai’i; HULA Land is where you’d’ve heard BRAH as a “dude!” term. Not so much here on Da Beeg Rock — not even in SoCal, bro…
Took me a minute to remember ManCity — all I could think of at the moment was ManUnited, the other team from that burg. But I thought that was a snazzy way to tie everything together. Well-played, Doug!
About the only 🤮 I had in this puzzle were the crossing names. I personally hate proper names in a cw, but crossing them? SPARE ME, please — this practice needs to be OFFED, imho…
====> Darren / L.A.
Anon @3:40. They will be in Rio when the Packers play down there. I gave them each a Packers hat they promised to wear during the game, but, of course, will not be going to the game. The hats should generate some discussion. Unfortunately, their story will undoubtedly include the disappointing Slacker's experience.
Thanks to Doug for the Sunday fun. I saw the title before starting so I clocked the theme at Chico, CA. (BTW, I think it was the 80s when CA State Univ., Chico topped the list of party schools in the U.S.A. Their enrollment benefitted from the headlines.)
FAV: Calorie counter. I also like the ELLS and HARD G c/a's. I know some on The Corner do not, but they work for me.
C-Echo @ 11:28 is correct. Since Wilber Charles is no longer here to explain, I will try in his stead. Do not refer to a MARINE as a "soldier". It's a big faux pas. The clue can be corrected either by replacing "soldiers" with "servicemembers" or with "soldiers of the sea". I do not mean to sound nit-picky; but, sometimes incorrect clues get published then other constructors repeat them because they were published.
Thanks, also, to C.C. for her tour! I always appreciate your PRO analysis of the puzzles!
Well, I thought ABODE might give us a home theme in this puzzle--but the only words that suggest a home had to do with food and eating--like BACON (though I've never seen it turned into an adjective like 'bacony'). We could also get some PALE ALE or some other drink to go with the food, not bad if you're a DIETER.
There was a bit of art, which was nice to see, starting with a SONATA. But some it was emotional, well EMOTING, and there seemed to be someone capable of writing VERSES. I bet that's someone whose efforts WAX POETIC.
Well, I need to go. I don't have any MICE, thank goodness. But I do have a sweet turtle and it's time for her supper (a salad, she likes to stay trim).
Have a lovely evening, everybody.
Zzyxz, CALIFORNIA is (would be) a great panagram capper. Anyone seen it as a fill?
HARD G, a possible CSO our own Husker G-ary (but not Gerry)?
No, only driven by it… 😎
I was a bit shocked when I realized that I've lived in two of the cities in this puzzle. What are the odds of that?
Thanks, Prof M. I'd take it but would have to defer to C.C.'s mentor who she refers to as Hard G for his last name.
Two minor nits to pick. 1) The SD capital is pronounced as ‘peer’ - so, is that the man’s name (maybe to the Norse?). 2) It is the second baseman who typically must pivot in the middle of a double play - the shortstop would continue across the bag (no pivot needed).
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