Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee, aka MM aka OO, here with a recap of a puzzle by Will Pfadenhauer. Will has previously had puzzles published by both the LAT and NYT and the puzzles seem to evoke strong responses from the solvers. It is strongly suspected that today will not be different in that regard.
'Splainin' this one is going to take some verbal gymnastics so let's jump right in with the reveal:
70 Across. With 73-Across, insert for some water pitchers, or what has been used row-by-row on the answers to the starred clues?: BRITA. and
73 Across. See 70-Across: FILTER
Like it or loathe it, Will has executed quite a tour de force. All of the themed-answers come in pairs with each of the five pairs (ten themers in all) placed, one following the other, on the same row (once with an intervening answer the other times not) . What we solvers filled in, via perps, early on no doubt made no sense. How can ARIES, e.g., be the answer to the clue at 19 Across? Well, what our puzzle setter has done is consecutively FILTER out the letters found in BRITA ... each letter (dis)appearing twice in each of two words found on the same row. Double or even quadruple filtered, if you will.
The first pair is found at 17 and 19 Across:
17 Across. *Youthful helpers on tennis courts: ALLOYS - from BALLBOYS. If one commenced solving in the northwest, then it soon became apparent that something "tricky" was going on. BALLBOYS was not a difficult answer to suss out but it certainly was not going to fit within the allotted space. Next, we got the aforementioned ARIES. This solver moved on to something else trusting that the gimmick would become known somewhere further down the road. Later, returning to where he started, this quote came to mind:
If one removes the Bs from BALLBOYS we get the word ALLOYS. Will has removed the same letter twice from a word and drived a perfectly acceptable word as the residual. Then he goes ahead and does it again with another word focusing on the same letter!! Doing a single pair of these would be impressive enough but in pairs five freaking' times!?
But I digress. The Bs were also removed from 19 Across, on the same row:
19 Across. *Fashion toys from Mattel: ARIES - derived from BARBIES.
That takes care of filtering out the B of B R I T A. Now, on to the rest, which appear in the proper order (top to bottom within the grid), no less. I could go on and on about the gimmick but let us allow the technique to speak for itself.
For the R:
25 Across. *Restaurant freebie: BE A DOLL - from BREAD ROLL (was the BE A DOLL bit following the BARBIES bit a mere coincidence?)
28. *Weapon in Clue: EVOLVE - from REVOLVER
For the I:
34 Across. *Italian red wine: CHANT - from CHIANTI
36 Across. *Sasquatch trait: HARNESS - from HAIRINESS
For the T:
50 Across. *NCAA basketball powerhouse in Milwaukee: MARQUEE - from MARQUETTE
52 Across. *Tornado: WISER - from TWISTER
For the A:
59 Across. *Weekend part: STURDY - from SATURDAY
61 Across. *Finding the means?: VERGING - from AVERAGING Mean in this case as the companion to mode and median (methods of finding an average). We encountered mode used this way in yesterday's puzzle.
This is how it all looks in the grid:
Below are the rest of the clues and answers. It does not escape us that the puzzle setter has employed some not-too-often-seen vocabulary and has sprinkled more than a bit of tech-speak into the grid. This is befitting of a high school teacher who recently received a PHD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. (I wonder if he and his former fellow-classmates were teased about that first one):
Across:
1. Pong publisher: ATARI. A familiar bit of tech-related-ness.
6. Garden variety?: ZEN. Not as in run-of-the-mill. A place of serenity. We visited such a place this past Monday. One example:
9. Untrue: NOT SO. Well, actually in this case, yes. See also 2 Down.
14. Motto: SLOGAN. A friend was commissioned to come up with a Slogan for the year 2020 that was as catchy as, say, "click it or ticket". She came up with "mask it or casket".
15. Glass of NPR: IRA. A frequent visitor.
16. Thickset: BURLY.
18. Tit for __: TAT. Equivalent retaliation.
20. Support: AID.
21. "Assassin's Creed" game company: UBISOFT. A not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
24. __ peeve: PET.
30. Sandwich on telera: TORTA. One had to recognize that telera is a Mexican bread. TORTA being Spanish for sandwich.
31. Furry foot: PAW. On your pet peeve, perhaps.
33. Social equal: PEER.
39. Throbbed: PULSED.
41. "Find out if they know": GO ASK. These something-that-someone-might-say type of clues provide great flexibility to constructors.
42. School in L.A.: USC.
45. Mature: AGE. Used a a verb. The adjective, AGED, was too long.
46. Obtains: GAINS.
48. Remote login protocol: TELNET. Another not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, again, perps.
53. Snail-mail org.: USPS.
56. Feed letters: RSS. Yet another not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, yet again, perps. An RSSfeed consolidates information sources in one place and provides updates when a site adds new content. With social media, all you see is the favorite stuff that people share.
57. Representative: AGENT.
64. Ultimate goal: AIM.
65. Drop dramatically: PLUMMET.
69. "The Matrix" hero: NEO. A motion picture reference.
72. Cha or chai: TEA. We also see Black, Green, Oolong, among others.
76. Thinking clearly: LUCID.
77. Aardvark snack: ANT. What does an aardvark order on its pizza? ANT-chovies.
78. Agree: ACCEDE. IMHO, A word not often seen in our puzzles. Do you agree?
79. Fencing blades: EPEES. Blunted weapons often found in crossword puzzles.
80. Simple structure: HUT.
Pizza The Hutt from Spaceballs
81. Flushed: RUDDY.
Down:
1. Basketball great Quigley: ALLIE. From the WNBA. Not to be confused with Immanuel Quickley of the NBA.
2. Fibbed: TOLD A TALE. See also 9 Across.
3. Many moons __: AGO.
Emma, the Yellow Wiggle, Explains
4. Writer Bradbury: RAY. When, as a child, my family lived in a section of Los Angeles, RAY was a neighbor. He drove a Corvette.
5. Dig: INSULT. Not as with a shovel. Not as a hipster would "grok" something. Used as a noun.
6. Cylindrical pasta: ZITI.
7. Notable ages: ERAS. Sometimes clued with as baseball pitching statistics.
8. Gp. joined by Sweden in 2024: NATO. Uh, Vladimir, are you familiar with the law of unintended consequences?
9. Jazz station?: NBA TV. A refence to where on TV one might watch the Utah Jazz professional basketball team. One of those clues that attmpts to mislead us because all clues, by convention, start with a capital letter. Not an abbreviated clue but an abbreviated answer this time.
10. Team's adjective: OUR.
11. Bases-clearing hit: TRIPLE. A baseball reference. All of those who had been on base are now "cleared" but there is now a runner on third.
12. Slob's napkin: SLEEVE. Or where we have now been taught to sneeze.
13. Grayish-white: OYSTER. Not the first hue that came to mind.
14. Bygone Volvo rival: SAAB. An automotive reference.
22. Uninspiring: BLAH.
23. Easiest to count, perhaps: FEWEST.
26. Puts on: DONS.
27. Taco sauce brand: ORTEGA.
29. Photo __: OPS. OPportunitieS
31. Plain text: PROSE. As contrasted with, say, to poetry.
32. Actress de Armas: ANA. The use of a minimal number of proper names in the grid is much appreciated.
34. No. pro: CPA. A pro. Not no pro. No as in the abbreviation for number. Certified Public Accountant.
35. Embrace: HUG. I like to crouch down, HUG my knees and lean forward. It's just how I roll.
37. __ Dei: AGNUS. AGNUSDei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism.
38. Barbecue rod: SKEWER.
40. Strawberry whose No. 18 was retired by the Mets: DARRYL. Originally from Los Angeles. A baseball reference.
42. Full-throated: UNSTINTED. Anyone recall previously seeing this in a crossword puzzle?
43. Spot: SEE. The combination of the clue and answer bring back memories from early elementary school. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.
44. WNBA pos.: CTR. Abbreviated clue.... CenTeR. A basketball reference.
47. Mensa stats: IQS.
49. CBS News contributor Lisa: LING.
50. Brand sold at REI: MSR. Another set of abbreviations. Although both companies pretty much only use their initials these days. Recreational Equipment Inc / Mountain Safety Research.
51. Roof overhang: EAVE.
53. Fit for service: USABLE.
54. Provoke: STIR UP.
55. Exfoliation stone: PUMICE. PUMICE is also USABLE for cleaning hard water rings from toilets.
58. Make good progress: GET FAR.
60. Thumb-operated controls: D-PADS. More tech-speak.
62. Not self-sufficient: NEEDY.
63. Singer Lesley: GORE.
Nobody Knows Where Her Johnny Has Gone
66. Provo's state: UTAH.
67. Main information source?: MENU. Another bit of tech-speak?
68. Actor Damon: MATT.
Sarah Silverman Receives an Emmy for a bit of NSFW Singing
(originally aired on the Jimmy Kimmel Show)
71. __-dyeing: TIE. Far out, man!
74. Hospital dept.: ICU. Intensive Care Unit
75. Rock's __ Soundsystem: LCD. From Brooklyn, NY. This solver was not familiar with the band but we do solve these puzzles, in part, for the joy of learning new stuff.
I couldn’t get this one, until I turned on the “red letters” and saw all my mistakes. So I finished it “with help.” I can’t say I’m happy about that, but I am happy to be here with you good folks and see how many of you did better than I did!
D-o realized that the Bs were missing from bALLbOYS. Later realized that a different letter was missing from other themers. That's as close to the theme as he came. Got BRITA FILTER, but failed to realize it was a reveal. D'oh. Unknowns included MSR, UBISFOFT, TELNET, RSS, DPADS, and LCD (as clued). GORE was a gimme, but younger solvers would scratch their heads on that one. Don't believe I've ever seen UNSTINTED in a cw before, nor anywhere else for that matter. Thanx to Will for a real stumper, and to Mal-Man for yeoman service untangling it. (Enjoyed your "unintended consequences" quip.)
When it comes to eye-raising job titles, I think the prize would go to a guy I worked with at a heavy equipment manufacturing company. His job was to travel around the country setting up huge cranes. His business card read "Erection Specialist."
Unlike Anon’s disparaging opinion @ 6:16, I think this puzzle goes beyond clever and borders on brilliant. How a constructor can even conceive of a theme like this and execute the fill is beyond me. Quite complicated, and about halfway through I thought I may be headed for the dreaded DNF. Thankfully, perps gave me BRITA FILTER which clued me in on the missing T’s and A’, and I somehow managed a FIR w/out help in 22:29. DNK’s were the same as d-o’s plus ANA, LING, TORTA and ALLIE. Looking forward to reading all the other comments about this one. Thanks Will P for your outstanding grid, and to MM for expertly explaining it all!
Even tho I didn’t know most of the tech stuff - and was hoping y’all would ‘splain all to me (thx for RSS). And - yes - thank you for doable perps!
What I loved were the themed clues. I too was boggled at the complexity of the creation. How to even come up w the idea; THEN all the two-way fill words; THEN the cluing; THEN …. I could/would never get there. Well Done!! averaging to verging almost foiled (?epee-ed🙄😊) me - but mean’s multiple meanings finally dawned - and I was done!
I’ve always been the BEST audience for punsters - laughing/groaning at every twist
Wow! What a tough puzzle to FIR and I stumbled my way and managed to do it at the cross of USPS and MSR(never heard of it; no REI stores near here). It wasn't USPO and MOR because I get an email from USPS every morning that show what 'should' be delivered that day. It's still the Post OFFICE.
I noticed something was missing at EVOLVE (knew it was not a weapon). The perps for ARIES were solid and then I noticed the starred clues. B&R were missing and that allowed B-ALL-BOYS and B-R-EAD-R-OLL. But if it weren't the easy fill for BRITA there was no way I would have finished. Too many unknowns. UBISOFT (Assassin's Creed), RSS, ALLIE, D_PADS, TELNET, LING, LCD, TORTA (telera), OYSTER (didn't know it was a color), UNSTINTED for full-throated and LCD.
IRA and ANA show up so often they can be added to OTT, NEO, and ORR. I did know RAY, GORE, and MATT.
ORTEGA- I bought a two-pack of PACE'S 38oz from Sams yesterday for $7.32.
Loved this puzzle and am amazed at the skill and cleverness of the maker. Spent a while trying to make the r in oyster work with revolver and the a in eave with averaging. Lots of fun. Like the echo in beadoll after barbies pointed out bt MM.
On one hand, I applaud the constructor for what had to be painstaking work. On the other hand, this felt painful, even excepting an add/subtract letter(s) theme, which is par for the course on Fridays. To me, the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze.
I didn't know Gore, ruddy, telnet, msr, or ubisoft.
FIR. Is this Saturday and nobody let me know? What an incredibly hard puzzle! It took a while to get the theme and once I had the reveal the solving went a tad faster. But missing letters in starred clues is pure evil and cruel. And the number of unknowns was ridiculous. A major misstep for me was throwing down false at 9A instead of "not so". Talk about set me back! Ugh. Overall not an enjoyable puzzle at all.
Wow, that was tough! I missed it by one letter. I had USPo instead of USPS. It would have helped if I had heard of MSR.
It was only after getting BRITA FILTER that I realized what was happening. From top to bottom, BRITA was being FILTERed out two times on the left side of the puzzle, and two times on the right side.
I struggled with many of the needed perps today. I knew ALLIE Quigley, but first entered tshirt before SLEEVE. I also sleepily entered arial before PROSE. I had AngUS befor AGNUS, and didn't know LING. D PADS is new to me, and I'll have to look that up. Lastly, I not only misread the clue at 75D, I put the answer in at 74D. Speedwagon doesn't look like Soundsystem.
After breaking for coffee and getting a sugar rush from a couple of creme puffs my wife made, I finally figured it out and got it all except that USPo/USPS error.
A great challenge, Will. Very well done. Bravo. For me, it was very reminiscent of many of Evan Birnholz' types of puzzle. I look forward to those every week.
Very well explained, MM. I ACCEDE that we don't see it very often. Ditto, you and D-OTTO, UNSTINTED.
You are correct, D-O. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out who the singer Lesley was. That was even after I had ORE filled in. I got the G because of getting (A)VER(A)GING with the missing As as part of the theme.
I have to admit this puzzle stumped me for a while. But once I figured out the clue, I was absolutely amazed at this constructors mind. Very slick. at first I hated it, but I have to admit it’s a very good puzzle.
After starting the CW, like yesterday, I “EYED UP” the clues and realized I couldn’t “COTTON ONTO” the rest of the puzzle so I regretfully concede to an early DNF😔
Good Morning! Being Friday, I went the “easy” route doing it online with the red letters. Lots of alphabet runs. Good decision because this puzzle made no sense to me. I don’t expect fun on a Friday, but this went way beyond any hope for that. MalMan, you did an exceptional job explaining it. Even in that, this puzzle had no redeeming qualities for me though I was surprised reading the recap there were more straightforward clues/fills than I thought.
FIR, but erased false for NOT SO, soso for BLAH, con for CPA, and PUMaCE.
I had lunch at USC yesterday. Not that USC - the one in Columbia. Nice time with freshman grandson.
I did confuse Quigley with Immanuel Quickley, a product of the Kentucky NBA player development machine.
Speaking of basketball, how long ago was Marquette a powerhouse? Has it been since the Al McGuire era?
This one stretched my limited solving abilities to the breaking point. Couldn't have done it without figuring out the theme. I did know TELNET and RSS, but not DPADS nor LCD Soundsystem.
Thanks to Will Pfadenhauer for the pfabulous pfriday workout. Any puzzle with PAW and PET is OK by me. And thanks to our MalMan for delivering again,
Not my cuppa tea. Figured out the theme early and hated it. You can call it clever, brilliant, or any other accolade you can think of, and you’d be right. But the end result was a puzzle filled with gibberish. I prefer puzzles whose answers are actual words.
Musings -Wow, I don’t want to do one of these all days but I had a blast! -The obvious (B)ALL(B)OYS/(B)AR(B)IES gave the hint that something weird cometh and a clue to the gimmick -Having perfectly good fills remaining after the double extractions made this even more amazing. Did I say Wow?! -ATARI was a given but unknown DPADS and UBISOFT went quietly. -GORE evokes “turnabout is fair play” for our usual contemporary names -BURLY, when I worked retail, clothing for larger boys carried the label “Husky” -GO ASK: What Joann says I excel at! New neighbors always get a quick visit from me. -DIG as a noun (not archeological) took a while but I finally dug it. -OYSTER replaced PEWTER at _ _ _ TER -AGNUS Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. I have sung it hundreds of times… -The NBA CTR’s are making a comeback after the 3-pt line nearly pushed them to extinction -Where I first encountered the word PUMICE -Lesley’s hairdo screams 1960’s -MM’s thoughts seemed to mirror mine. I hope that's a compliment, Joseph! I wonder what our friend Irish, Agnes (not AGNUS), will say.
Obviously Mensa would laugh if I tried to join. Finally TITT. I’d like to think I might have gotten the theme had I been able to fill in the many names, sports, and tech references to use as perps. Unfortunately that’s my Achilles heel.
D-o, I had a friend who worked as a sales rep for a company that sold various adhesives. His card read, in part, Adhesive Services - We're Into Bondage.
After reading HG's comments, I went back to MM's review to see the image of Lesley GORE's hair. I somehow missed it as a video earlier, so I played it. I know I've heard that song on the radio station many, many times in yesteryears. I certainly would have failed a trivia question about "Who sang it?"
I knew a guy who worked in a company known for its use of initialisms in job tiles. His title was Analytics Support Specialist.
I think one of my most important requisites for puzzle solving is enjoying the journey to a satisfying completion. I have solved many difficult puzzles with no enjoyment or satisfaction and this was one of them. IMO, this was constructed to please the author, not the solver, and while this may be a brilliantly executed theme, I prefer less showy style and more solid substance. I did like the CSO to Subgenius, AKA, Darryl!
MalMan, many thanks to you for unraveling and explaining in detail a difficult to describe theme. You get an A+ from me.
HG, I don't think I'll see "what Irish said" from you today! 😉
Count me on the side of the happily amazed solvers. A tough one to start, but I got Brita Filter early on (although I at first doubted it was correct...), and that eventually rang the bells. I am in awe of the constructor's abilities and am thankful for the opportunity to enjoy them! More like this, please :)
Once I picked out "revolver" in EVOLVE (thanks to the Clue board game), I was on to Will's gimmick, and a clever one at that. I've always had a Brita pitcher, so the main puzzle theme presented itself pretty clearly--and cleverly.
Here's my problem: the rest of the puzzle. It was inundated with baffling and impenetrable entries. Examples include UBISOFT, OYSTER (as a color?), TORTA, RSS, ANA, UNSTINTED (not unstinting), MSR, DPADS, GORE, TELNET, NEO, LCD (as a rock sound system), and I could go on.
Will's brilliant Brita filter scheme was to me tainted by an onslaught of perps that could have been helpful, but were instead inscrutable.
Many chores today, I kept putting it down but had to keep coming back for more puzzlement. I finally got this gimmicky Friday done, but quite honestly, The BlogSplanation was the most fun part. I knew the brita letters were missing, but I never figured out how or where or why...
It did not help that there was a healthy smattering of Naticks. (Possibly personal Naticks, but Naticks nontheless...)
Bravo! I wanted a puzzle, and I sure got it!
2 notes: In yesterdays comments, there was a late comment that alerted me that TTP had inserted a reply (somewhere between 9 and 10 am) that included an excellent reference for learning how to use HTML. I would never have seen it without the later comment.
MalMan! What can I say! Awesome splainin' thank you! (But I am still mad at you...) You see, the pumice stone reference reminded me that for months, I had been searching the house for that special Home Depot pumice stone, and could not find it. This morning, I found a pumice stone in the kids bathroom cabinet. Now I have to clean the stupid toilet, and I blame you! Normally this would not be such a pain in butt, but it's not the ring I need to scrub, the entire toilet above the waterline is discoloured. ( our house water is very hard, and self scouring. But any pipe leaks are self sealing...) so I will be up to my elbows in the throne all afternoon thinking I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for MalMan!
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30 comments:
I couldn’t get this one, until I turned on the “red letters” and saw all my mistakes. So I finished it “with help.” I can’t say I’m happy about that, but I am happy to be here with you good folks and see how many of you did better than I did!
Total garbage! Ican't even believe that was published
Good morning, er, ufda!
D-o realized that the Bs were missing from bALLbOYS. Later realized that a different letter was missing from other themers. That's as close to the theme as he came. Got BRITA FILTER, but failed to realize it was a reveal. D'oh. Unknowns included MSR, UBISFOFT, TELNET, RSS, DPADS, and LCD (as clued). GORE was a gimme, but younger solvers would scratch their heads on that one. Don't believe I've ever seen UNSTINTED in a cw before, nor anywhere else for that matter. Thanx to Will for a real stumper, and to Mal-Man for yeoman service untangling it. (Enjoyed your "unintended consequences" quip.)
When it comes to eye-raising job titles, I think the prize would go to a guy I worked with at a heavy equipment manufacturing company. His job was to travel around the country setting up huge cranes. His business card read "Erection Specialist."
Unlike Anon’s disparaging opinion @ 6:16, I think this puzzle goes beyond clever and borders on brilliant. How a constructor can even conceive of a theme like this and execute the fill is beyond me. Quite complicated, and about halfway through I thought I may be headed for the dreaded DNF. Thankfully, perps gave me BRITA FILTER which clued me in on the missing T’s and A’, and I somehow managed a FIR w/out help in 22:29. DNK’s were the same as d-o’s plus ANA, LING, TORTA and ALLIE. Looking forward to reading all the other comments about this one. Thanks Will P for your outstanding grid, and to MM for expertly explaining it all!
I loved this one! Thanks for every eye-roll!
Even tho I didn’t know most of the tech stuff - and was hoping y’all would ‘splain all to me (thx for RSS). And - yes - thank you for doable perps!
What I loved were the themed clues. I too was boggled at the complexity of the creation. How to even come up w the idea; THEN all the two-way fill words; THEN the cluing; THEN …. I could/would never get there. Well Done!! averaging to verging almost foiled (?epee-ed🙄😊) me - but mean’s multiple meanings finally dawned - and I was done!
I’ve always been the BEST audience for punsters - laughing/groaning at every twist
Wow! What a tough puzzle to FIR and I stumbled my way and managed to do it at the cross of USPS and MSR(never heard of it; no REI stores near here). It wasn't USPO and MOR because I get an email from USPS every morning that show what 'should' be delivered that day. It's still the Post OFFICE.
I noticed something was missing at EVOLVE (knew it was not a weapon). The perps for ARIES were solid and then I noticed the starred clues. B&R were missing and that allowed B-ALL-BOYS and B-R-EAD-R-OLL. But if it weren't the easy fill for BRITA there was no way I would have finished. Too many unknowns. UBISOFT (Assassin's Creed), RSS, ALLIE, D_PADS, TELNET, LING, LCD, TORTA (telera), OYSTER (didn't know it was a color), UNSTINTED for full-throated and LCD.
IRA and ANA show up so often they can be added to OTT, NEO, and ORR. I did know RAY, GORE, and MATT.
ORTEGA- I bought a two-pack of PACE'S 38oz from Sams yesterday for $7.32.
Yooper- guys are always looking at T's & A's.
Loved this puzzle and am amazed at the skill and cleverness of the maker. Spent a while trying to make the r in oyster work with revolver and the a in eave with averaging. Lots of fun. Like the echo in beadoll after barbies pointed out bt MM.
Took 16:06 today to filter my way through this.
On one hand, I applaud the constructor for what had to be painstaking work.
On the other hand, this felt painful, even excepting an add/subtract letter(s) theme, which is par for the course on Fridays.
To me, the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze.
I didn't know Gore, ruddy, telnet, msr, or ubisoft.
FIR. Is this Saturday and nobody let me know? What an incredibly hard puzzle!
It took a while to get the theme and once I had the reveal the solving went a tad faster. But missing letters in starred clues is pure evil and cruel.
And the number of unknowns was ridiculous. A major misstep for me was throwing down false at 9A instead of "not so". Talk about set me back! Ugh.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle at all.
This was the most satisfying puzzle I have ever finished. Bravo!
Wow, that was tough! I missed it by one letter. I had USPo instead of USPS. It would have helped if I had heard of MSR.
It was only after getting BRITA FILTER that I realized what was happening. From top to bottom, BRITA was being FILTERed out two times on the left side of the puzzle, and two times on the right side.
I struggled with many of the needed perps today. I knew ALLIE Quigley, but first entered tshirt before SLEEVE. I also sleepily entered arial before PROSE. I had AngUS befor AGNUS, and didn't know LING. D PADS is new to me, and I'll have to look that up. Lastly, I not only misread the clue at 75D, I put the answer in at 74D. Speedwagon doesn't look like Soundsystem.
After breaking for coffee and getting a sugar rush from a couple of creme puffs my wife made, I finally figured it out and got it all except that USPo/USPS error.
A great challenge, Will. Very well done. Bravo. For me, it was very reminiscent of many of Evan Birnholz' types of puzzle. I look forward to those every week.
Very well explained, MM. I ACCEDE that we don't see it very often. Ditto, you and D-OTTO, UNSTINTED.
You are correct, D-O. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out who the singer Lesley was. That was even after I had ORE filled in. I got the G because of getting (A)VER(A)GING with the missing As as part of the theme.
I have to admit this puzzle stumped me for a while. But once I figured out the clue, I was absolutely amazed at this constructors mind. Very slick. at first I hated it, but I have to admit it’s a very good puzzle.
Busy Friday.
After starting the CW, like yesterday, I “EYED UP” the clues and realized I couldn’t “COTTON ONTO” the rest of the puzzle so I regretfully concede to an early DNF😔
Happy Weekend
Good Morning! Being Friday, I went the “easy” route doing it online with the red letters. Lots of alphabet runs. Good decision because this puzzle made no sense to me. I don’t expect fun on a Friday, but this went way beyond any hope for that.
MalMan, you did an exceptional job explaining it. Even in that, this puzzle had no redeeming qualities for me though I was surprised reading the recap there were more straightforward clues/fills than I thought.
FIR, but erased false for NOT SO, soso for BLAH, con for CPA, and PUMaCE.
I had lunch at USC yesterday. Not that USC - the one in Columbia. Nice time with freshman grandson.
I did confuse Quigley with Immanuel Quickley, a product of the Kentucky NBA player development machine.
Speaking of basketball, how long ago was Marquette a powerhouse? Has it been since the Al McGuire era?
This one stretched my limited solving abilities to the breaking point. Couldn't have done it without figuring out the theme. I did know TELNET and RSS, but not DPADS nor LCD Soundsystem.
Thanks to Will Pfadenhauer for the pfabulous pfriday workout. Any puzzle with PAW and PET is OK by me. And thanks to our MalMan for delivering again,
Not my cuppa tea. Figured out the theme early and hated it. You can call it clever, brilliant, or any other accolade you can think of, and you’d be right. But the end result was a puzzle filled with gibberish. I prefer puzzles whose answers are actual words.
Musings
-Wow, I don’t want to do one of these all days but I had a blast!
-The obvious (B)ALL(B)OYS/(B)AR(B)IES gave the hint that something weird cometh and a clue to the gimmick
-Having perfectly good fills remaining after the double extractions made this even more amazing. Did I say Wow?!
-ATARI was a given but unknown DPADS and UBISOFT went quietly.
-GORE evokes “turnabout is fair play” for our usual contemporary names
-BURLY, when I worked retail, clothing for larger boys carried the label “Husky”
-GO ASK: What Joann says I excel at! New neighbors always get a quick visit from me.
-DIG as a noun (not archeological) took a while but I finally dug it.
-OYSTER replaced PEWTER at _ _ _ TER
-AGNUS Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. I have sung it hundreds of times…
-The NBA CTR’s are making a comeback after the 3-pt line nearly pushed them to extinction
-Where I first encountered the word PUMICE
-Lesley’s hairdo screams 1960’s
-MM’s thoughts seemed to mirror mine. I hope that's a compliment, Joseph! I wonder what our friend Irish, Agnes (not AGNUS), will say.
Regarding the theme: A big fat Thumper. Using too many red letters was a fun sponge. I threw in the sponge and didn't even try to finish.
Obviously Mensa would laugh if I tried to join. Finally TITT. I’d like to think I might have gotten the theme had I been able to fill in the many names, sports, and tech references to use as perps. Unfortunately that’s my Achilles heel.
Thank you MM for a nice explanation of this CW.
You got to be kidding me. Give me a break! I also like puzzles with actual words.
D-o, I had a friend who worked as a sales rep for a company that sold various adhesives. His card read, in part, Adhesive Services - We're Into Bondage.
After reading HG's comments, I went back to MM's review to see the image of Lesley GORE's hair. I somehow missed it as a video earlier, so I played it. I know I've heard that song on the radio station many, many times in yesteryears. I certainly would have failed a trivia question about "Who sang it?"
I knew a guy who worked in a company known for its use of initialisms in job tiles. His title was Analytics Support Specialist.
Good Morning:
I think one of my most important requisites for puzzle solving is enjoying the journey to a satisfying completion. I have solved many difficult puzzles with no enjoyment or satisfaction and this was one of them. IMO, this was constructed to please the author, not the solver, and while this may be a brilliantly executed theme, I prefer less showy style and more solid substance. I did like the CSO to Subgenius, AKA, Darryl!
MalMan, many thanks to you for unraveling and explaining in detail a difficult to describe theme. You get an A+ from me.
HG, I don't think I'll see "what Irish said" from you today! 😉
Have a great day.
Count me on the side of the happily amazed solvers. A tough one to start, but I got Brita Filter early on (although I at first doubted it was correct...), and that eventually rang the bells. I am in awe of the constructor's abilities and am thankful for the opportunity to enjoy them! More like this, please :)
Once I picked out "revolver" in EVOLVE (thanks to the Clue board game), I was on to Will's gimmick, and a clever one at that.
I've always had a Brita pitcher, so the main puzzle theme presented itself pretty clearly--and cleverly.
Here's my problem: the rest of the puzzle. It was inundated with baffling and impenetrable entries. Examples include UBISOFT, OYSTER (as a color?), TORTA, RSS, ANA, UNSTINTED (not unstinting), MSR, DPADS, GORE, TELNET, NEO, LCD (as a rock sound system), and I could go on.
Will's brilliant Brita filter scheme was to me tainted by an onslaught of perps that could have been helpful, but were instead inscrutable.
Compliment gratefully accepted.
I get an email from USPS every morning that shows what 'should' be delivered that day. It's still the Post OFFICE.
Leslie sang "You Don't Own Me", "It's My Party", and a few others
You mean the USC that somehow managed to lose to LSU last Saturday? The 'other' USC beat LSU two weeks earlier.
Wow! Just Wow!... what a sussfest!
Many chores today, I kept putting it down but had to keep coming back for more puzzlement. I finally got this gimmicky Friday done, but quite honestly, The BlogSplanation was the most fun part. I knew the brita letters were missing, but I never figured out how or where or why...
It did not help that there was a healthy smattering of Naticks.
(Possibly personal Naticks, but Naticks nontheless...)
Bravo! I wanted a puzzle, and I sure got it!
2 notes:
In yesterdays comments, there was a late comment that alerted me that TTP had inserted a reply (somewhere between 9 and 10 am) that included an excellent reference for learning how to use HTML. I would never have seen it without the later comment.
MalMan! What can I say! Awesome splainin' thank you!
(But I am still mad at you...)
You see, the pumice stone reference reminded me that for months, I had been searching the house for that special Home Depot pumice stone, and could not find it. This morning, I found a pumice stone in the kids bathroom cabinet. Now I have to clean the stupid toilet, and I blame you! Normally this would not be such a pain in butt, but it's not the ring I need to scrub, the entire toilet above the waterline is discoloured. ( our house water is very hard, and self scouring. But any pipe leaks are self sealing...) so I will be up to my elbows in the throne all afternoon thinking I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for MalMan!
What the world is coming to...
I am sure that you know how I knew about that particular use for pumice, or as we used to say. "I can relate!"
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