Theme: "To Be or Not To Be" - BE is added and removed from each common phrase.
22. Final task on a medical supply manufacturer's assembly line?: PROBE BOXING. Pro boxing.
33. Fer sure, totally give birth?: BEHAVE LIKE A CHILD. Behave like a child.
47. Spring-loaded necklace element?: POPUP BEAD. Pop-up ad.
63. Tree surgeon's undergrad degree?: BABE IN THE WOODS. Babe in the woods.
70. Like the Ugly Duckling on the verge of adulthood?: BECOMING SOON. Coming soon.
85. Public perception of certain evergreens?: FIBER OPTICS. Fiber optics.
99. Tolerate a weekend marathon of a Bette Midler tearjerker?: STOMACH BEACHES. stomach aches.
Orderly execution: BE is added, then removed from the next theme entry.
From
the byline order, we can see that Gary came up with the theme, then
Doug came up with more theme entries and together they made the grid.
Lots of great clues in today's puzzle.
Across:
1. Metric feet: IAMBS.
6. Scotch mixer: SODA. I had my first Cola-Cola in 1987.
10. Put out: EMIT.
14. "__ bon!": TRES.
18. Sound (off): SPOUT.
19. Major alternative for a composer: MINOR.
20. Inspiring figure: MUSE.
21. Home of the stadium nicknamed the "Taj Mahal of Tenpins": RENO.
The National Bowling Stadium. Boomer would have entertained you with
his Reno stories. He went there a few times for some tournament.
24. Baum princess: OZMA.
25. "How unfortunate": ALAS. And 17. "How unfortunate": SO SAD.
26. Phillies div.: NL EAST.
27. Board that supposedly chose its own name: OUIJA. Oh really? I know it's just Yes and Yes.
29. Honeydew relative: CASABA. Told you about Hami last time. It's sweeter than casaba.
31. Supermodel Bündchen: GISELE.
36. GOP org.: RNC.
37. Make an effort: TRY.
39. Soak up the sun: BASK.
40. Stevenson villain: MR HYDE.
41. Retro console: ATARI.
43. Exclusive British school that originally served the poor: ETON. Didn't know this.
45. Admit: COP TO.
49. Start to care?: OBAMA. Obamacare.
51. Harpo Productions CEO: OPRAH.
56. Baaing mamas: EWES.
57. Last word in the "Gilligan" theme song: ISLE. "Here on Gilligan's Isle!"
58. Uncommon event: RARITY.
60. Caramel-filled treat: ROLO.
61. Hard-to-hit pitch: HIGH C. Not CURVE-ball.
65. In a power pose, perhaps: AKIMBO.
68. __ Dame: NOTRE. Suspended their men's swimming this year due to gambling. Sad for Chris Guiliano.
69. Occupies, as a table: SITS AT.
73. Biblical possessive: THINE.
75. Put up with: BEAR.
76. Esquire: LAWYER.
77. Unpaid: OWED.
78. Track for some small cars: SLOT. And 11. Elevator tracks?: MUZAK. Different tracks.
82. Sleep clinic study: APNEA.
84. Leaves in stitches: MENDS.
87. 100 centimes: FRANC.
89. Baby-faced: CUTE.
90. Shelter org.: ASPCA.
91. Critic Gene: SHALIT.
94. Free TV spots: PSAS.
96. Moo __ pork: SHU. Never had this in China.
98. Brita alternative: PUR.
103. Fragrant compounds: ESTERS.
105. "I Hope You Dance" singer Lee Ann: WOMACK.
106. Luke's bot: ARTOO. _Artoo -Detoo.
107. Came to a mutual decision: AGREED.
109. Actress Lena: OLIN.
110. Site of Napoleon's exile: ELBA.
116. Tear to shreds: REND.
117. Common merch: TEES.
118. Lucy's sitcom chum: ETHEL.
119. Eyelike openings: OCULI. Latin for "eyes".
120. "Orinoco Flow" singer: ENYA.
121. Home of the Whiffenpoofs: YALE.
122. Mil. awards: DSMS.
123. Round flatbreads: ROTIS.
Down:
2. Bank loan abbr.: APR.
3. Crater-pocked vista: MOONSCAPE.
4. Crooner Michael: BUBLE. I loved his version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
5. Dart feature: STEEL TIP.
6. __ sense: SIXTH.
7. U.S. maritime agcy.: ONI.
8. Soccer Hall of Famer Landon: DONOVAN. Soccer's MVP award was named after him.
9. Makes one's case: ARGUES.
10. Angry Face With Horns, for one: EMOJI.
12. Marx follower: ISM.
13. Server on wheels: TEA CART.
14. Lowbrow: TRASHY.
15. Installed again, as linoleum: RE-LAID.
16. Provide power to: ENABLE.
19. Calendar pgs.: MOS.
23. Prizefighter Max: BAER. Beat in "Cinderella Man".
28. Type: ILK.
30. Blessed sound?: ACHOO.
31. Chardonnay, for one: GRAPE.
32. Like repos, often: IN TOW.
34. Quarters: ABODE.
35. Feeler in a sci-fi novel: EMPATH.
38. "Oh, come on!": YEESH.
42. South Dakota memorial: RUSHMORE.
44. Soft mineral in some cosmetics: TALC.
45. __ asada: CARNE.
46. Not name: OMIT.
48. Well-financed lobbying group?: BIG OIL. Well-clued. Also 63. Wasn't cheer-ful?: BOOED. 95. Got the point?: SCORED.
49. Stump figures: ORATORS.
50. Scottish tyke: BAIRN.
52. Boycotts or strikes: PROTESTS.
53. Some bounders: ROOS.
54. Swit co-star: ALDA.
55. Zoom meeting initiator: HOST. Every time I Zoom with David, he's in dress shirt. Must be a British thing, yeah?
59. Words of affirmation: YES I DO. And 67. Volunteer's offer: I CAN.
62. Tech giant with more than 120,000 patents: IBM.
64. Connect four in Connect Four, say: WIN.
65. "Voulez-Vous" singers: ABBA.
66. Castle stronghold: KEEP.
68. PopOdyssey Tour headliners: NSYNC. New clue angle.
71. MVP of the 1969 Super Bowl: NAMATH. "Broadway Joe".
72. Hailee's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" voice role: GWEN. Hailee Steinfeld. Gwen Stacy (Spider Woman).
73. Ninny: TWIT.
74. Toast starter: HERE'S.
77. Handy: OF USE.
79. Rolled across the edge of a golf hole: LIPPED OUT.
80. Come about: OCCUR.
81. Deposed autocrats: TSARS.
83. Insurance company with a quacking mascot: AFLAC.
86. Stop briefly to allow: PAUSE FOR.
88. Ready to tumble down: RICKETY.
89. (In) a secret partnership (with): CAHOOTS. Not many ways to clue this.
91. Lifted: STOLEN.
92. Hulled corn used in grits: HOMINY.
93. "Insecure" actress Seales: AMANDA.
94. "__ the Bunny": touch-and-feel baby book: PAT.
97. Bach title: HERR.
99. Made an oath: SWORE.
100. Tower of __: BABEL.
101. Make blank: ERASE.
102. Fills past full: SATES.
104. Phone service outfit: TELCO.
108. Type of manicure: GEL.
111. Broadway star Salonga: LEA.
113. Omega, on a physics test: OHM.
114. 2001 film depicting the Rumble in the Jungle: ALI.
115. "__ a pity": TIS.
28 comments:
At one point, I had to replace “swan” with “soon.” Other than that, I had little trouble with this puzzle. However, I didn’t notice the pattern of when the “be” was added or subtracted until I learned about it from C.C. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o should'a read the puzzle title. Maybe the theme would've come into focus, and I would've known that it was Pat The Bunny Bzzzzzt. Tried SISKEL for SHALIT. Fixed. Once again there was no joy in Mudville. [Sigh.] Thanx, Gary, Doug, and C.C.
Although it’s not always the case where a puzzle’s title will greatly aid in the solve, today’s title was of significant help for me. I think most of us will appreciate this grid from two veteran constructors, and shouldn’t garner the number of negative responses as yesterday’s themeless. FIR in 36:39 when I changed PET to PAT. DNKs were OZMA, EMPATH, BAIRN, GWEN and DONOVAN as clued (not up on soccer, now if it had been clued as ‘ex Eagles quarterback McNabb…). GISELE may be a supermodel but she is much better known as having been married to another quarterback. SHALIT immediately brought the image of that frizzy hair and mustache. I always liked him, and he’s still around at age 98. Back to Napoleon instead of Idris for ELBA. Oh joy, YEESH again, I rank that up along ‘erm’. Golfers (HG) hate to see that their putts have LIPPED OUT. IBM could have been clued simply as ‘tech giant’, the 120,000 patents the Ektorp part of the clue. Thanks Gary and Doug for the fun Sunday solve.
C.C. ~ thank you for the rundown of today’s grid. A bowling reference in a CW always elicits a memory of Boomer.
Good Morning:
When I finished, alas, there was no Tada! A grid check soon discovered the error of Musak instead of Muzak. Not knowing the Disney princess, Ozma, led to this error. I agree with CC that there were several clever clues and, also, some lively fill such as Rickety, Moonscape, Rushmore, Cahoots, Lipped Out, etc. Hand up for Siskel before Shalit. Seeing Yeesh reminds me of Jace, but his trademark might be Sheesh, I'm not sure. This is not one of my favorite types of themes, but Gary and Doug carried it off quite well.
Thanks, Gary and Doug, and thanks, CC, for the always informative insider's opinion. I'm sure everyone thought of dear Boomer at that Ten Pin Stadium clue.
Have a great day.
FIW, missing OstA x UMsAK (shoulda known better) and ISt (which worked too.) meter->MINOR, tour->ISLE, areto->ARTOO, tap->PUR, slays->MENDS, yes sir to YES I DO, and pet->PAT. Oh, hand up for siskal->SHALIT, and even wandered down the bunny hole trying to remember if he was the skinny one or the fat one.
C-Eh just called and reminded me that 85 across is wrong. She said "Jinx, everyone knows it is "fibre optics."
"Dart" is such a versatile word. Could be a bird, a movement, a skirt part, an old Dodge, or in this case, a pub missile.
The only DONOVAN I know sang Sunshine Superman.
I was going to make a bad pun for RELAID, but the only ones I could think of were TRASHY.
Vince Vance & the Valiants wrote and performed the original "All i want for Christmas is You," which became a Country/Western hit. Vance is suing Mariah Carey for her version. Mariah made bank with her hit song. Maybe BUBLE will sue them both.
Thanks to Gary and Doug for the professional-level Sunday grid. My favorite was CAHOOTS - such a fun word. My least favorite was "oh come on" for YEESH. And thanks to CC for narrating another big puzzle.
From yesterday:
Someone asked: A. Aajma
14. Down: Does anyone remember Lotsa Luck, the Tumbleweeds cartoon character?
I never had the good fortune to ever see this comic, but I did have fun researching it...
FIR. It was a struggle today. I found this to have some bite to it.
Didn't know Ozma but fortunately knew muzak.
All things considered, not an enjoyable puzzle.
Finished with help. Only had to check the princesses name. Then I recalled that I had come across it in a book by Robert Heinlein called "Number of the Beast. She was visited in Wonderland by the main characters in the story using their universe hopping flying car named Gay Deceiver. Great book and story. Part of Heinlein's Future History novel series.
Thanks to Gary and Doug for their fine collaboration and for C.C.'s recap of their efforts.
There are none so blind as those who would not see. - Ray Steven's
Possess.
Musings
-These gimmicks were uber clever
-Some of us well remember who sang Scotch And SODA
-For some reason, I remember the first time I heard I Can’t Get No Satisfaction on an elevator. ...and the beat goes on.
-After having a bunch of putts LIP OUT, it is so pleasing to have a 50-footer drop in
-Dang, Irish, I made the same MUZAK mistake. Are you sure we aren’t related?
FIR in average time so an unexceptional Sunday. As desper-otto mentioned, the title was big tip-off of what was to come.
I like that all the "to be" clues are on the left while "not to be" ones are on the right, alternating on down.
My fav clue was 61A "hard to hit pitch" as I couldn't stop thinking of baseball until perps showed the way.
Oops! It was YooperPhil who said the title kinda gave away the game...
DNF. An unpleasant 1 1/2 hour slog. Did someone forget what day of the week it was? Many more like this and I'll have to add Sunday to Saturday and Friday on my "do not do" list.
Vince is a local guy and has been performing around here for a long time. I don't know what he sounded like 40 years ago, but I was at a benefit for some nuns being held at Rock&Bowl 8-10 years ago. He sounded like the clue and answer for 56A- EWES
I’m not proud of my efforts. The center of this CW got all messed up because I had a few errors I didn’t know how to correct. Instead of BOOED, I had sober. For AKIMBO , I had at yoga. In the SE, I had it’s for TIS. Anyway, no excuses for my errors. Oh! I also had to look up a few people’s names.
HG. Yes, I immediately thought of “Scotch and SODA” and started looking for the jigger of gin.
I noticed the added BE after POP-UP BEAD and thought I was off to the races, thinking BE would be added to all the theme clues. Then FIR OPTICS was filled and I saw the light. Add left; subtract right. (I worked the left side first and HAVE LIKE A CHILD and BA IN THE WOODS were done later.)
The usual splattering of unknowns filled by perps with the last fill being the cross of unknown BAIRN & OBAMA.
GISELE, RENO, DONOVAN, ROTIS, GWEN, N SYNC, ABBA, AMANDA, PAT, LEA- DNK as clued. Only had to make two changes today. IT"S to TIS a ptiy and PET the Bunny to PAT.
Max BAER Sr- father of Jetho Bodine
Voulez-Vous singer-s- only knew Patti Labelle's song
HIGH C- that was an easy note to reach on a trumpet. It was the DOUBLE High C that was the 'Hard-to-hit-pitch'. I couldn't hit it.
Well, when a puzzle begins with iambs, you know you in for a rough day.
I think I did the whole puzzle just to figure out what 1A was...
(The theme was cute tho...)
My only association with to be, etc... is when taking an Uber home. You see, thru town via exit 7A is 11 minutes. However taking the highway exit 2B is also 11 minutes. So I never forget what exit I am on, I just tell the driver, 2B or not 2B... (or when you get to the fork, take it...)
I'm outta here...
I'm back...
Should some things exist. Or not exist?
todays historical curiosity...
YooperPhil said it all at 7:56 AM. This was fun to do, and the theme was helpful. I did not notice the alternating pattern of BE and no BE -- therfore, many thanks to C.C. for pointing that out. Elegant puzzle, elegant blog post, elegant comments!
Sometimes I wonder the same thing, HG, especially when you often add "What Irish said" to your comments! 😉
Delightful Sunday puzzle--not totally easy but manageable--and full of neat items, a real pleasure--many thanks, Gary and Doug. And C.C. I always look forward to your Sunday commentary, always a treat--thanks for that too.
Well, there were quite a few high-class items in this puzzle, beginning with that MUSE, and getting really interesting when we saw ETON. Would we also get YALE? Yes, of course we would, but not until near the end. But lots of high class people like OBAMA, and TSARS, and ORATORS, and a LAWYER, and OPRAH. These are certainly not MINOR figures. They didn't get much money in this puzzle, just a FRANC, hopefully not STOLEN. And very little food, with just a GRAPE and some SODA and a CASABA (is that edible?). All in all, interesting and delightful and a lot of fun,
Thanks again, everybody. And have a wonderful week coming up.
Cheers, Misty
Should we consider people named “Maxwell” (ahem) to be BIG OIL?
Oh me, oh my.
Hola! Late to the party and what a party it is! Some, like me, had a frustrating time with the puzzle and others seem to have aced it. My excuse is that I am distracted while packing for an upcoming trip and not fully concentrating on solving. Besides that I also went to church and so my mind was not entirely on the puzzle. However, it is clever with a clever theme and with more time I might have enjoyed it more. Thank you, C.C., Gary and Doug for entertaining us today. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
CEDave
That was a fascinating video. Thank you for posting. I love learning about historical events especially quirky ones like that one.
I enjoyed working this puzzle. I thought the theme gimmick was clever and I was able to solve the puzzle by using reasoning and logical thinking rather than simply looking up specific trivia information.
I should have deduced OZMA but misspelling MUZAK as MUSAK led me astray. Also, misspelling ETHEL as ETHYL delayed me in getting SATES.
The word OUIJA makes me think of a news reporter named Weijia Jiang who pronounces her name as "Weeja."
SILVER became MR HYDE.
SWAN became SOON (Hi there, Subgenius.)
SISKEL became SHALIT.
RHIMES became WOMACK.
I still hold my nose at ARTOO.
I noticed BAER and BEAR.
I like the words RICKETY and CAHOOTS.
Good reading you all.
Although this was a real climb for a Sunday cw, it was pretty much a steady trek — until I came to the SW corner. I mean, quintuple crossing pop-culture proper names?!? Gimme a bloody break! There’s gotta be a law somewhere prohibiting stuff like this in a crossword…
Other’n that, props to Gary and Doug for a great gimmick, per Hamlet. When I got FIbeROPTIC the theme was illuminated, but it still took some brain-gnashing to suss out when and where the BE appeared and disappeared. Thanks to C.C. for helping clear that all up!
====> Darren / L.A.
Okay, I’m obviously still effing up this bold type thing. I prefaced the word “quintuple” with the left-delta/b/right-delta and added the same to the end of the word — but the whole rest of the comment stayed bold…
Where’d I screw it up?😖
====> Darren
Thanks to Gary and Doug! FAVs: Elevator tracks?, AKIMBO (love that word!), and clue for HIGH C
Unfortunately a DNF for me. Some days the names are in one's wheelhouse, somedays they are not....
Thanks to C.C. for all the help with this one! That CASABA looks so good! People planted all sorts of melons where I grew up. There were always plenty to share. I liked the Santa Claus melons because they had a Christmas name but were ripe in August. To a kid, that was very intriguing.
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