EGO LOSS
(English Version
Objective Case)
Today's constructor, veteran Jeanne D. Breen presents us with a letter omission theme. If you made the right guess on quote clue 60A, all the themers would have immediately made sense. OTOH, if you'd solved the punny first clue, you would have probably sussed what she's dropping too ...Objective Case)
18A. Fuel for Greek gods?: OLYMPIC GAS. OLYMPIC GAMES. Very timely.
54A. Commit to eating leafy greens exclusively?: LEAD A CHARD LIFE. LEAD A CHARMED LIFE. While we don't eat greens exclusively, we have greens and a salad at every meal. Here's some Swiss Chard Teri is growing in our garden ...
 |
| Rainbow Swiss Chard |
60. "I'm absolutely not interested," and an apt title for this puzzle: COUNT ME OUT.
Here's the grid (sans MEs) ...
Across:
1. News magazine whose cover has a red border: TIME. You'll never guess Time's Person of the Year for 2024 -- apparently it's Taylor Swift time #4 ...
5. Last year's frosh: SOPH.
9. Make merry: ELATE.
14. Grows older: AGES. The alternative may be better ๐ or worse. ๐
15. German woman: FRAU. -- a grown up FRรULEIN. Today's German lesson.
16. Kansas governor Kelly: LAURA. Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950) is an American politician serving since 2019 as the 48th governor of Kansas. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented the 18th district in the Kansas Senate from 2005 to 2019. Kelly was elected governor in 2018, defeating Republican nominee Kris Kobach. She was reelected in 2022, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Derek Schmidt.
 |
| Governor Laura Kelly |
18. [Theme clue].
20. Present, as an idea: POSIT.
22. "I've heard enough, thx": TMI. Too Much Information. MOI? ๐
23. Mystery Hunt sch.: MIT. The MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual puzzlehunt competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest and most complex puzzlehunts in the world and attracts roughly 120 teams and 3,000 contestants (with about 2,000 on campus) annually in teams of 5 to 150 people. The mystery hunt employs a wide range of puzzles including crosswords, cryptic crosswords, logic puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, anagrams, connect-the-dots, ciphers, riddles, paint by numbers, sudokus, and word searches. Solutions to these classic puzzles are further complicated by employing arcane or esoteric topics like quantum computing, stereoisomers, ancient Greek, Klingon, Bach cantatas, coinage of Africa, and Barbie dolls. Puzzles might also employ pictures, audio files, video games, physical objects, and/or locations within MIT or the Boston area. The hunt also assumes extensive familiarity with MIT's campus, culture, and lore. A big CSO to Picard!
 |
| Many teams hunt in rooms with chalkboards, projectors, computers, and food. |
29. Meadow: LEA.
30. 1990s girl group: TLC. TLC is an American girl group formed in 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The group's best-known line-up was composed of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. The group enjoyed success during the 1990s, with nine top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with four number-one singles including Waterfalls, a sad song with a message ...
31. Fillet: DEBONE.
32. "The Little Red Chairs" novelist O'Brien: EDNA. The Little Red Chairs is a 2015 novel by Irish author Edna O'Brien, who was 85 at the time of publication. The novel is O'Brien's 23rd fictional publication. The novel follows an imaginary Balkan war criminal, Dr. Vlad, as he interacts with women in an Irish village. The past actions of the main character closely resemble the war crimes of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadลพiฤ. The title of the novel refers to a European theatre company's performance art which commemorated his 11,541 victims with 11,541 red chairs.
36. Commedia dell'__: ARTE. Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. Characterized by masked "types", commedia was comprised of improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. Another characteristic of commedia is pantomime, which is mostly used by the character Arlecchino, now better known as Harlequin. The performances were often accompanied by music. Here is a recreation of the theme for Harlequin, by modern composer Michele Biki Panitti
41. Fruit tree in a Christmas carol: PEAR ...
43. Upper limb: ARM.
44. Ireland, to a native speaker: EIRE. Today's Gaelic lesson.
48. U-shaped river bends: OXBOWS. What's an Oxbow?
53. First name of two Spice Girls: MEL. The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell-Horner ("Ginger Spice"); and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling girl group of all time. Here's their Wannabe ...
54. [Theme clue].
57. Pt. of ABV: ALC. ALCohol By Volume.
58. Letter after pi: RHO.
59. Fast-food chain with retro flair: SONIC. Sonic Corporation, founded as Sonic Drive-In, is an American drive-in fast-food chain owned by Inspire Brands. Sonic is known for its use of carhops on roller skates, and hosts an annual competition (in most locations) to determine the top skating carhop in the company.
65. Lack: WANT.
66. When "The Room Where It Happens" happens: ACT II. Having never seen Hamilton I got this answer via ESP but didn't understand what it meant ...
Discovering its origin was a little tricky since The Room Where it Happens is also the name of Season 13, Episode 8 of Grey's Anatomy (apparently most episodes are named for songs) and Google hit that definition first.
67. Desert plateau: MESA. The abode of one Wiley Coyote ...
68. Decorative pitcher: EWER. Here's one decorated with the glazes Branman's Blue and I of Toad ...
 |
| Ewer |
70. Seeing things: EYES.
71. Start over: REDO.
Down:
1. Pond youngster: TAD POLE. A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in adult amphibians such as a lateral line, gills and swimming tails. As they undergo metamorphosis, they start to develop functional lungs for breathing air, and the diet of tadpoles changes drastically.
2. "Oops, my bad!": I GOOFED.
3. Many a baseball enthusiast in Queens: METS FAN. We caught a couple of them enthusiastically smooching just a few weeks back ๐
4. OPI rival: ESSIE. Also the name of Australian actress Essie Davis, who starred in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries ... 5. Bay Area hub, for short: SFO.
6. Fla. NBA team: ORL. The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise, and such notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard have played for the club throughout its history. As of 2024, the franchise has played in the NBA playoffs 17 times in 35 seasons, and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009, losing to the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.
7. Fee-based service: PAY TV.
8. Ran smoothly: HUMMED.
9. Yalie: ELI. Named for Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721), a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist.
10. French body of water: LAC. LAKE, today's French lesson.
11. Enhance: AUGMENT.
12. Many a new hire: TRAINEE.
13. Vane point: EAST. All you needed for this was one perp.
19. Accumulate, with "up": PILE. Or a noun measuring carpet depth.
21. Demo letters: TNT. Demo as in "demolition" -- TNT is available by mail order from the Acme Corporation ...
25. Generous slice of cake: SLAB. We feted one of our granddaughters on her 16th birthday last week, and I think I had one too many SLABS of her Ultimate Chocolate Cake.
26. Gross: ICKY.
27. Flanged girder: I BAR. They use capital I's for I BARS. The lower case versions (i's) don't work very well ... ๐
28. Viking tongue: NORSE. The differences between the Norse language of the Vikings and the modern Norwegian language.
33. Addis __, Ethiopia: ABABA. Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia in East Africa. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a modern, highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. However there is some controversy about recent urban renewal efforts.
35. Judicial org.: ABA. The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. A CSO to Jason and Susan.
38. Nickname of the slugger who was the youngest player to hit 600 home runs: AROD. Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), is an American former professional baseball player and businessman, who played as shortstop and third baseman. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), Texas Rangers (2001–2003), and New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016).
Rodriguez began his professional baseball career as one of the sport's most highly touted prospects, and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. With a career .295 batting average, Rodriguez amassed over 600 home runs (696), over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, over 3,000 hits, and over 300 stolen bases, the only player in MLB history to achieve all of those feats.
39. Killer whale: ORCA. The OREO of marine mammals.
40. Actor Epps: OMAR. Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. Epps's film roles include Juice, Higher Learning, The Wood, In Too Deep, and Love & Basketball. His television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the medical drama series ER, J. Martin Bellamy in Resurrection, Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox medical drama series House from 2004 to 2012, and Isaac Johnson in the TV series Shooter from 2016 to 2018. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. He has been married to Keisha Epps since 2006 and they have 3 children.
41. Painter nicknamed "Jack the Dripper": POLLOCK. American Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noted for his "drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, since he covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This painting, called Convergence, is considered his masterpiece ...
In 1964, puzzle producing company, Springbok Editions, released Convergence the jigsaw puzzle (Inspired by Pollock's painting). It was a 340-piece puzzle that they promoted as "the world's most difficult puzzle". The impact of Pollock's Convergence was evident in 1965 when hundreds of thousands of Americans purchased the jigsaw puzzle.
42. Carry out: EXECUTE.
45. "Mind. Blown.": I'M IN AWE. In a perpable kind of way. ๐
46. Like some sugar: REFINED. The manufacturers remove the vitamins from the raw sugar and sell them back to us in little bottles. ๐
47. High-voltage enemy of Spider-Man: ELECTRO. Shocking!
49. Heartfelt: WARM.
50. Hatch a plot: SCHEME.
52. Rx writers: MDS. A CSO to Nina and Raphael.
55. Bunk: HOOEY.
56. Farther down: LOWER.
57. Smoothie berry: ACAI.
61. Actress/director Vardalos: NIA. Antonia Eugenia Vardalos (Greek: ฮฮฝฯฯฮฝฮฏฮฑ ฮฯ ฮณฮตฮฝฮฏฮฑ ฮฮฑฯฮฝฯฮฌฮปฮฟฯ, romanized: Antonรญa Evyenรญa Vardรกlos; born September 24, 1962) got her start in this movie ...
... and it's a big fat CSO to CanadianEh!.
62. "__ better to have loved and lost ... ": TIS. This line is from the elegy In Memoriam A. H. H. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) dedicated to his dear friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died at the age of 22 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
The poem consists of 133 sections and details Tennyson's three-year emotional journey of processing grief. In its context, this line is situated in the first year of the speaker’s grieving process.
71. Start over: REDO.
Down:
1. Pond youngster: TAD POLE. A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in adult amphibians such as a lateral line, gills and swimming tails. As they undergo metamorphosis, they start to develop functional lungs for breathing air, and the diet of tadpoles changes drastically.
 |
| Common frog tadpole (Rana temporaria) |
3. Many a baseball enthusiast in Queens: METS FAN. We caught a couple of them enthusiastically smooching just a few weeks back ๐
4. OPI rival: ESSIE. Also the name of Australian actress Essie Davis, who starred in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries ... 5. Bay Area hub, for short: SFO.
6. Fla. NBA team: ORL. The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise, and such notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard have played for the club throughout its history. As of 2024, the franchise has played in the NBA playoffs 17 times in 35 seasons, and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009, losing to the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.
8. Ran smoothly: HUMMED.
9. Yalie: ELI. Named for Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721), a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist.
 |
| Elihu Yale |
10. French body of water: LAC. LAKE, today's French lesson.
11. Enhance: AUGMENT.
12. Many a new hire: TRAINEE.
13. Vane point: EAST. All you needed for this was one perp.
19. Accumulate, with "up": PILE. Or a noun measuring carpet depth.
21. Demo letters: TNT. Demo as in "demolition" -- TNT is available by mail order from the Acme Corporation ...
25. Generous slice of cake: SLAB. We feted one of our granddaughters on her 16th birthday last week, and I think I had one too many SLABS of her Ultimate Chocolate Cake.
 |
| Happy Birthday to You! |
27. Flanged girder: I BAR. They use capital I's for I BARS. The lower case versions (i's) don't work very well ... ๐
 |
| I BARS |
33. Addis __, Ethiopia: ABABA. Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia in East Africa. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a modern, highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. However there is some controversy about recent urban renewal efforts.
 |
| Addis Ababa skyline |
38. Nickname of the slugger who was the youngest player to hit 600 home runs: AROD. Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), is an American former professional baseball player and businessman, who played as shortstop and third baseman. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), Texas Rangers (2001–2003), and New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016).
Rodriguez began his professional baseball career as one of the sport's most highly touted prospects, and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. With a career .295 batting average, Rodriguez amassed over 600 home runs (696), over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, over 3,000 hits, and over 300 stolen bases, the only player in MLB history to achieve all of those feats.
 |
| Alexander Rodriguez |
39. Killer whale: ORCA. The OREO of marine mammals.
40. Actor Epps: OMAR. Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. Epps's film roles include Juice, Higher Learning, The Wood, In Too Deep, and Love & Basketball. His television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the medical drama series ER, J. Martin Bellamy in Resurrection, Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox medical drama series House from 2004 to 2012, and Isaac Johnson in the TV series Shooter from 2016 to 2018. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. He has been married to Keisha Epps since 2006 and they have 3 children.
 |
| Omar Epps |
 |
| Convergence 1952 |
42. Carry out: EXECUTE.
45. "Mind. Blown.": I'M IN AWE. In a perpable kind of way. ๐
46. Like some sugar: REFINED. The manufacturers remove the vitamins from the raw sugar and sell them back to us in little bottles. ๐
47. High-voltage enemy of Spider-Man: ELECTRO. Shocking!
 |
| Electro |
50. Hatch a plot: SCHEME.
52. Rx writers: MDS. A CSO to Nina and Raphael.
55. Bunk: HOOEY.
56. Farther down: LOWER.
57. Smoothie berry: ACAI.
61. Actress/director Vardalos: NIA. Antonia Eugenia Vardalos (Greek: ฮฮฝฯฯฮฝฮฏฮฑ ฮฯ ฮณฮตฮฝฮฏฮฑ ฮฮฑฯฮฝฯฮฌฮปฮฟฯ, romanized: Antonรญa Evyenรญa Vardรกlos; born September 24, 1962) got her start in this movie ...
... and it's a big fat CSO to CanadianEh!.
62. "__ better to have loved and lost ... ": TIS. This line is from the elegy In Memoriam A. H. H. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) dedicated to his dear friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died at the age of 22 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
The poem consists of 133 sections and details Tennyson's three-year emotional journey of processing grief. In its context, this line is situated in the first year of the speaker’s grieving process.
I hold it true, whate'er befall;I feel it, when I sorrow most;'Tis better to have loved and lostThan never to have loved at all.
While Tennyson experienced loss from which he believed he would never recover, the elegy indicates that on the other side of a seventeen-year grieving journey, he found hope in the notion that love itself is a miracle. And it’s worth every moment of pain-filled loss. This poem is also known to have brought solace to Queen Victoria at the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert.
63. Put to work: USE.
64. Some grad students, for short: TAS. Teaching Assistants are the ones who do the real work -- e.g. administering tests, grading them, and grading papers. The profs just show up once a week and pontificate (apologies to the Corner's former and current professors ๐)
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Postscript:
I tried posting this in the Comments section, but for some reason (or unreason), Blogger didn't like it, so I'm posting it here ...
Postscript:
I tried posting this in the Comments section, but for some reason (or unreason), Blogger didn't like it, so I'm posting it here ...
Here's what David has to say about it ...
My last crossword exemplified art’s ability to lift us out of the finite worldly sphere and into the eternal; today’s exemplifies art’s complementary responsibility to represent the truth of that worldly sphere with uncompromising fidelity, however vile, however filthy, however offensive it may be. In doing so it confronts the shibboleths and pieties of our society, forcing us to reckon with the evil that lurks around and within us all.
40 comments:
I didn’t find this puzzle terribly difficult. I caught the gimmick early on, and that helped me solve the rest of this fun puzzle. Other than that, I don’t have too much to say about it. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o thought the theme was 3-letter abbreviations -- eleven of 'em -- TMI, MIT, TLC, AKA, ALC, SFO, ORL, TNT, ABA, MDS, TAS. Too many. With DEFENSIVE LINEN, I decided the theme must be an extra N. Bzzzzt. Finally the reveal revealed the real theme. That's a new one on ME. Thanx, Jeanne, waseeley, and Teri
FIR, but erased enjoy for ELATE, it's for TIS, and void for WANT (i misread my W in LOWER as a "v." I not only spel bad, I writ bad two.)
I caught the theme at BABY BOORS, then verified it with the first two. Took a while to get the theme clue because I didn't remember that a CHARD can be something besides something on the beach that cuts your foot. Oh wait - that's sHARD. Never mind.
Our SONIC car hops don't skate. DW was a skating car hop as a kid in PA.
First time I've heard of mystery hunt.
I sorta liked this one, although some of the cluing sapped some of the fun. I' m lookin' at you MEL, TLC, ARTE, DOTS, TMI, REDO, ACTII. On the other hand, the clue for PEAR sparkled. Overall, I'm glad I took the time to solve the puzzle.
Thanks to Jeanne for the challenge, and to Bill 'n' Teri for another fine review.
Good Morning:
It took me a while to see the theme gimmick, but I did see it before the reveal, Count Me Out. This is not one of my favorite types of themes, as I find some of the revised phrases silly or clunky. I admit to being a purist who prefers a straightforward crossword puzzle sans fancy trickery. CSO, again, to Picard at MIT, and CSO to anyone guilty of the abutting TMI syndrome.
Thanks, Jeanne, and thanks, Bill, for the fun and fact-filled summary. I especially enjoyed learning about the Mystery Hunt competition, revisiting My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the vignette of the Tennyson poem. I could have done without seeing ARod, a Yankee in name only, IMO. Thanks, also, to Teri.
BTW, that Ewer was beautiful and that chocolate cake looked scrumptious!
Picard, I hope Merlie is comfortable and not suffering unduly. Sending best wishes.
Have a great day.
FIR. Lots of unknowns for me, and a few unfamiliar names, but the perps saw me through.
I didn't get the theme until charmed life showed up and then I had my "aha" moment.
This was a typical Thursday puzzle, but ultimately quite doable. But overall, not my most favorite.
Took 6:54 today for __ to finish.
I didn't quite get the theme while I was solving, but it sure felt like a Friday add/subtract a letter or two to try to make some whimsical cluing.
I had no idea what was going with the "arte" clue.
As expected, I struggled with the French and Greek clues, today's writer (Edna), and Essie.
I don't consider "ORL" to be a team. The Magic is the team.
Two consecutive down answers: Ababa aba.
IM @7:29AM I added a postscript to my review with a link to a DAB puzzle.
I bet you'll enjoy that.
Effortless solve today while paying no attention to the gimmick. Themed answers came easily through perps. I acknowledge the cleverness of themes but I have zero interest in figuring them out. Like Irish Miss, I prefer a straightforward crossword puzzle.
Good Morning! I’m thinking more kindly of this puzzle in hindsight. There was a lot of guessing and perp assist to complete it.
Aha! Clever theme which I suspected, but didn’t pause to grasp. I thought it very rude when BABY BOORS filled!! ๐ – who could say such a thing!
So, it was good to finish and come to the Corner for the wrap. Waseeley and Teri. You gave us a wealth of information. Thanks for all your research and background. It is appreciated!
I hope for better luck here than I had yesterday. After spending a long time on my post I hit a wrong key and it disappeared. I didn't repost.
This puzzle took longer than usual for a Thursday but FIR. At first I thought the theme was add an N. That didn't hold up.
ABV and ALC were new to me.
Not much to say today. My missing post was better.
Experian warned me that my SSN appears on the dark web. I locked my credit file a long time ago. Do I need to change all my passwords on sites that are financial? I hate to do that because I would have to place the new password separately on all my devices. Any advice would be appreciated.
Yes, I noted ABABA and ABA. We were just missing ABBA.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jeanne, and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed in good time and saw the COUNT ME OUT theme early with the first themer (although I was almost thrown off thinking of Line Not Linemen with the second).
Unknowns perped (LAURA, TLC, EDNA, ACT II, POLLOCK) or WAGged (MIT, ELECTRO).
The SW corner was the last to fall.
I had Elbows before OXBOWS. (Calgary has a Bow River that takes in the Elbow River.)
I had no idea about ABV. I must not drink enough. Does Pt. stand for PINT?
I waited for perps to decide between EIRE or Erin. Same with West or EAST.
I wanted the 90 ’s group to be the Spice Girls, but MEL was needed later.
Yes, IKEA was an ECKTORP.
Of course I knew NIA. But no CSO for me at MDS. I was an Rx filler.
Wishing you all a great day.
Today's crossword had a clever reveal and theme. It's a good example of a puzzle where it is advantageous for the solver to solve the reveal first. The long theme answers then become fairly obvious.
I ran into a mild Natick situation down in the SW, where ALC, ACTII, and NIA crossed esch other. It required a combination of wagging and perping to emerge intact. I had a similar situation in the SE, with one of the Spice Girls crossing Spider-Man's foe. Luckily, they were outnumbered by neighboring perps.
To those of us who follow baseball, the name Alex Rodriguez is a household name. But I wonder how many solvers do not follow baseball, so didn't have a clue on 38Down (AROD).
Thanks, Jeanne, for a fine, well-constructed Thursday puzzle.
YR, I would get a password manager that works across devices. I use LastPass, but there are several good ones. When possible, also use secondary verification (phone call, text message, email) for all of your financial sites.
You're right, Bill, I did enjoy the solve. It took me several minutes, however, to understand the title's relationship to the actual theme. I was very pleased when I figured out DAB's deviousness. Very clever, indeed. Thank you for sharing. ๐
Fairly easy FIR for a Thursday. The top half zipped by, but slowed on the bottom. The I-bar just bugs me. It's an I- BEAM, people! Other than that, not too bad.
Musings
-So much fun on several levels. ESSIE (unknown), TNT and PAY TV as clued (duh) delayed my voila.
-The reveal gimmick was wonderful.
-Stores should sell dental floss next to the DOTS
-Acapella singing by Pentatonix and Manhattan Transfer are among my favs
-SONIC is the only place where I have thrown away my onion rings. I haven’t been back.
-LAC La Ronge in Saskatchewan is the biggest body of water I’ve ever been on
-Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes!
-I'm off to do my weekly chore of cleaning the guest bathroom
Good on you for freezing your credit. That's saved my bacon a few times.
Bayou Tony will provide information that is better than mine, but there are a few things that i suggest:
- You need to change financial account passwords frequently. At least quarterly.
- I'm kind of a fuddy-duddy and don't like to put my most sensitive passwords on a password app. I try to use passwords I can remember, like "j!i@n#x$qfour1924B0A"
I just spelled my name and interspersed the first four special characters J ! i ! n # x, then qfour1924 for quarter four (and 1924 instead of 2024 to make the password guessing software work harder) and B[zero]A to remind myself which account this one has [zero instead of upper case O in Bank 0[f] A[merica])
I actually write the password down (Bayou Tony rolls his eyes) and put it in a place where someone stumbling on it wouldn't immediately know it is a password.
Of course, each financial account gets its own password not used for anything else.
These aren't as good as the random password generators, but in my case we're not talking millions of dollars. I think more effort is spent on the whales than on the ordinary Jinx, and my protections are built around that thought.
If you have reason to believe your login credentials have been compromised, of course you need to change them. Even if they seem like low risk, like your affinity club with your grocer, they can make identity theft more likely.
FIR, but it took ME a while to see the theme gimmick. I encountered several unknowns, both names and head-scratching clues like Pt. of ABV.
At first I had Yuky, but that got quickly corrected.
We had a FRAU in a very recent CW.
I didn’t know about the MIT Mystery Hunt, so I really appreciate waseeley’s link.
I have always had a fondness for EWERS. They can be simple but quite elegant.
I hope Big Easy survived last night’s hurricane Francine. He probably lost power. We have two tall crepe Myrtle in front of our house and the poor things really got a beating last night. Their ends are quite ragged this morning. They’ll need a hair cut.
Royally screwed this one up the NW. Had Estรฉe for ESSIE which gave me DOTt and POSet which I knew hadda be wrong. The theme was all ME
“Demo” not like a car. OXBOWS are the final evolution of a meandering river and become OXBOW Lakes which eventually silt up. (HS Earth Science class 1964)
Pt. of ABV? Mystery Hunt School? Huh?
I hope with as many times as I fill the answer AรAร that I derive some nutritional benefit from it.
Got another parking ticket …. REFINED
locate again …. REFINED
Whispered to the ref by a boxer who threw the bout …. COUNTMEOUT
Lots of relatives ( all the outlaws ) here for a family event this weekend in Rochester so less of my usual drivel .๐ค
FIR and enjoyed it, but like d-o and YR, it took me a while to figure out what was being added or subtracted from the theme answers, until the reveal revealed it to ME.
Waseely, I appreciate your beautiful rainbow Swiss CHARD (I buy mine at the weekly farmers market), as well as the lovely EWER, and precious granddaughter. Thank you for explaining the context of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's oft repeated line.
Jeanne de Breen, this puzzle was keen! Bill and Teri, was the review good? -- very!
P.S. I know how to spell waseeley, but my phone doesn't.
Kinda surprised myself to FIR in very good time for a Thursday. It's great when the first few clues are easy. Didn't get the theme until the reveal, so it didn't help. Lotsa names, but I knew many. Not much else to say. Thanx JDB for the entertaining CW, and thanx too to Bill for the terrific (as always) write-up.
Hola!
Fun! Fun! Fun! thank you, Jeanne D. Breen and waseely, for all that fun
I loved LEAD A CHARD LIFE! However, I have never eaten CHARD and have only seen it in CWDS. FRAU always reminds me of Young Frankenstein and FRAU Blucher. So funny1
Have a great day, all.
Yellowrocks, what D-O said about using a password manager, and for using 2FA (Two Factor Authentication, aka multi-factor authentication). Use it when it is available.
I got the same recent email notice from Experian on Aug 27th. You most likely got that email as a result of signing up for Experian IdentityWorks in the first half of 2022. That free monitoring is for 4 years from when you signed up. It will expire sometime before July 1, 2026.
Experian IdentityWorks monitoring is part of the settlement agreement with Equifax after Equifax failed to patch a software vulnerability in 2017, resulting in a major data breach. Personal and financial information for 148 million Americans (and another 15 million records for Canadians, Brits, etc) were stolen. The government's settlement with Equifax was reached after 5 years in the courts.
A credit lock is different than a credit freeze. You may have meant freeze. For many, a freeze is the better option, and won't cost you a monthly fee. It is considered the surest way to ensure your credit isn’t used without your consent. Read here:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/credit-lock-and-credit-freeze
A credit freeze keeps creditors from opening any credit accounts in your name. You can read about placing and lifting a credit freeze here:
https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze
ANYONE can now get a free weekly credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies. It used to be free just once a year, and was authorized by federal law. Read here:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/10/you-now-have-permanent-access-free-weekly-credit-reports.
You can get your free credit reports at:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Of course, it is not just the potential banking and credit financial fraud and theft against you. The other major concern is Identity Theft. Using your SSN and other personally identifiable information, bad actors could:
- Assume your identity, and then get a W2 paying job. The income gets reported against you, and you will have state and federal tax headaches.
- Create a new identity, using your SSN and some other name
- Use your info to file for a tax return in your name. File early. As soon as you can.
- Obtain healthcare services (medical identity fraud) using your info.
- Get travel documents created using your info (the U.S. is addressing via the RealID legislation req'ts)
- Conduct various types of other criminal activity.
If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at 877-438-4338, or at:
https://www.identitytheft.gov/
Picard, I'm sending best wishes for your wife. I know how painful those dental procedures can be, even for just one or two teeth.
It's my favorite vegetable!
From yesterday and today:
Jinx, S Sasse, Irish Miss, Lucina Thank you for the good wishes for Merlie. When I dropped her off for surgery at 6:30AM they said to expect her to be ready to go at noon. We actually were not able to leave until 5PM. The surgery went for seven hours and she was very drugged and out of it until this morning. She doesn't remember much until now.
But the surgeon said it went well. He placed four implants very far up into her skull along with two normal ones. I am very grateful for that, as it means there are spares if one fails. She will not be able to eat normal food for six months. That is, if all goes well and the implants work OK.
She let me take a photo of her to share, but be warned it is a bit shocking. Nothing too awful, but it looks like she went a few rounds with Muhammed Ali.
Here is how she looks right now.
She is not in too much pain, but I think she is still helped by the powerful local anesthesia that will start to wear off soon.
Got the ME OUT theme at CHAR-ME-D LIFE. Helped with the solve. Never heard of DOTS, ELECTRO, SONIC or ESSIE. Mystified by ACT II. WAGS to FIR.
waseeley, Irish Miss Thank you for the CSO about the MIT MYSTERY HUNT. Apparently, it started soon after I graduated. I am on our reunion committee, planning right now for next June. We had to cancel in 2020 due to COVID.
After my concussion two weeks ago, my friend Danielle photographed many a TADPOLE as I sat recovering.
waseeley, CanadianEh The TADPOLE in your photo is of a European Common Frog. I enjoyed watching many of these in the pond near our home in Copenhagen as a child. It looks very similar to the Wood Frog that is found back East. I am wondering if you are familiar with the Wood Frog, CanadianEh?
Merlie looks great in view of her experience. DH who had one back molar extracted looks like Merlie around one eye but also a long bruise along his cheek. Merlie is very brave. Good wishes for successful recovery.
Delightful Thursday puzzle, Jeanne--many thanks! And thank you, Bill and Teri, for your always helpful commentary.
I wonder if EDNA was a SOPH who was a great METS FAN and initially wanted to be a TRAINEE to get into the OLYMPIC GAMES? But I gather her legs got so sore she wanted to have them DE-BONED--but, instead, she just said "COUNT ME OUT." So as an alternative she started taking acting lessons and soon got a role in ACT II of a REFINED Broadway play. After her first performance a lot of audience members yelled "I'M IN AWE" and EDNA now LEADS A CHARMED LIFE. Good for her!
Have a wonderful day, everybody!
Needed the occasional BABA, and, of course BAA to corral the flock.
I often assigned “OX-BOW Incident” (film and book) in my senior level Personal and Professional Ethics course.
I didn't notice the missing ME but the theme fills and rest of the puzzle were easy. I had to guess at the cross of DOTS and ESSIE-unknowns.
TIME- does anybody actually subscribe to it? Time Warner got rid of it and Sports Illustrated years ago, due to lack of readership.
ABABA followed by ABA-ABABAABA.
SONIC- I didn't know it was retro, just a drive-in that I pass daily. I don't eat food in my car.
MIT, LAURA, TLC, MEL, POLLOCK- came by perps
Thanks. We did fine. Never lost power. Plus, we have a 22kw backup Generac. Wind and rain but no flooding here. Metairie, Kenner, and Lakeview got the most rain (over 7") and flooding. And there's always some idiot who drives past barricades and decides he can make it under the RR underpass.
Time is the most read news magazine. Over 26 million readers, 20 million of whom are in the United States. I’ve been one for over 40 years
I was gone all day. Did you miss ME?
Thanks to Jeanne & waseeley!
I was wondering when you'd show up. ๐
Sorry, Picard. I try to stay away as far as possible from any frogs!
Fell into the same false idea of the theme as @Desoer-Otto and @Yellowrocks, figuring after OFFENSIVELINEN “oh-kay-ee, just add an N at the end or somewhere”…but, of course, no cee-gar on that path. Once I got the themers filled, I eventually had the “DOH!!” moment. I wish y’all’d just publish the title…
I echo @Charlie-Echo’s gripe on IBAR — no high steel guy used anything other than I-beam, ever. IBAR is purely crossword-ese.
Other’n that, this was a snazzy little cw, and happily I got a FIR.
====> Darren / L.A.
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