Theme: I didn't fall for it ...
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| The Grid |
Across:
1. Mishandle, as a grounder: BOOT. I'd be curious to know if, when Rich Norris has an LAT puzzle, Patti edits his clues? I worked with Rich once, and he was very good at making clues work
5. Accelerated sci. class: AP BIO. IIRC, when I was in high school, the accelerated classes had a II behind them; Chem II or Algebra II or Calculus II
10. __ Eats: UBER. I have never used either UBER Eats or DoorDash
14. Colorful deepwater fish: OPAH. Aka, "Moonfish"
Moe-ku #1:
"Hook, line, and sinker":
That deepwater fish is known
As OPAH Winfrey
15. Hospital prep area: PRE-OP. Other than the "prep" in the clue matching the PRE in the answer ...
16. Aviation milestone: SOLO. Moe-ku #2:
A Star Wars pilot's
First Millennium Falcon
Flight, was Han's SOLO
20. Sentimentality: SCHMALTZ.
21. IMO relative: I'D SAY. Well, since IMO (in my opinion) is a text abbr., I'm not sure how I'D SAY is related; text-wise, anyway
22. Orangutan, e.g.: APE.
23. Chilly product prefix: SNO.
33. Basic decision-maker: COIN. I couldn't make "heads" or "tails" out of this clue ...
34. Weak poker hand: A PAIR. But even A PAIR of two's beats an ACE-high hand; just saying
35. Actress Zadora: PIA. Now there's a clue/answer we haven't seen in a long time. An erstwhile "crosswordese" entry
36. Sometime in the past: ONCE. AGO didn't fit
37. Inconsiderable: SCANT. New clue/synonym for this word
38. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR. Lord of the Rings. Hand up for trying IHOP first? I did
39. Amanda Gorman's "An __ We Owe": ODE.
40. __ dish: PETRI.
41. Prefix with -genarian: OCTO. SEPTA (my prefix) didn't fit
46. Plant sci.: BOT. Short for, botany. Also short for robot
47. "A spider!": EEK.
48. Take by force: WREST. I wrestled with this one for a while; USURP was my first guess
51. "Sadly, yes": AFRAID SO.
59. New Rochelle campus: IONA.
60. Hook, line, and sinker, e.g.: NOUNS. Rich (and/or Patti) found yet another clue for today's "theme"; which coincides with (62-across. "Yep, already spotted that"): I SAW.
61. One on a seal: UNUM. As on the reverse side of a one dollar bill
63. Hard to navigate: SNAKY. Another Friday-like clue for a familiar adjective
64. John or Paul, but not Ringo or George: POPE. Yup
Down:
1. Danceable songs: BOPS. As in "Be-BOPS"
2. Gp. whose most populous member is Nigeria: OPEC. Learning experience
3. Citizenship recitation: OATH. I swear, this is true
4. Ship in a late 19th century tragedy: THE MAINE. This is an LAT entry "debut"; I hope you will remember this (along with the ship)
5. Simple program: APPLET. I solved this whilst having a cup of Java ...
6. Lead-in to fall: PRAT. As in "PRAT-fall". Being a "stooge" I know all about these! I don't know if you need a Facebook account to view the video below ... I read somewhere that the Stooges "inspired" Aerosmith to write the song "Walk this Way" ...
7. Julie who played Rita on "Dexter": BENZ. Would it have been too obvious if her character's name was "Mercedes"?
8. Lithium-__ battery: ION. Did this one almost set you on fire?
9. Reveal, in verse: OPE. Moe-ku #3:
Amanda Gordon
Revealed poetic intent
When she OPEd an ode
10. Tried to influence with: USED ON. My "influencer" on food packaging is when it says "USED BY"
11. Order (around): BOSS. Verb form
12. Director Kazan: ELIA.
13. Good-looking?: ROSY. The hyphen in the clue gave it away
18. "Snow Angel" singer Rene : RAPP.
19. Key type: MINOR. Perps made this MINOR rather than MAJOR
23. Barbecue rod: SPIT. Doesn't seeing a piece of meat on a SPIT want to make you drool?
24. Slide on a seat: SCOOT. Tough clue
25. Vrbo listing: CONDO.
26. The Owls of the NCAA: RICE U.
27. Jumping chollas, e.g.: CACTI. CSO to me, Lucina, and Yuman
28. Victor Vasarely's movement: OP ART.
29. Frenzied: MANIC. Hoping that no one felt this as they were solving today's puzzle
30. Holocene, for one: EPOCH. Holocene EPOCH
31. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI. Movie based on mobster Frank NITTI
32. Deck with kings and queens: TAROT. Good Friday clue; or a good clue on any non-Christian Friday
37. Equinox mo.: SEPT. Only because MARC looked odd
38. "You have a dictionary, don't you?": LOOK IT UP. For the most part, I LOOK IT UP for all y'all
40. Snap: PHOTO. Crackle: CHINA; Pop: SODA. Or are snap, crackle, and pop just a bit of Rice Crispies?
43. "Pygmalion" playwright, for short: G.B. SHAW. Not enough spaces for the full name: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. Fun Fact: SHAW preferred to be called "Bernard", and his signature/autograph was G Bernard Shaw
44. Grounds for excommunication: HERESY. As opposed to grounds for "communication", which for me is COFFEE. Please, no talking until I've drank the first cup!
45. Drinks with scones: TEAS. See 44-across; I am a COFFEE drinker but I do like a good scone
48. "Captain America: The First Avenger" backdrop, briefly: WWII. Margaret got me hooked into the Marvel movie series, and "Captain America: The First Avenger" was my intro
49. Spanish flowers: RIOS. Flowers, as in rivers
50. Italian volcano that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site: ETNA. The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Italy. Among those that we saw on our trip were: The Piazza del Duomo (Pisa); Venice and its Lagoon; The Historic Centres of Florence and Siena. The city in which we stayed, Montecatini Terme became part of the transnational "Great Spa Towns of Europe" UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021
51. Turquoise hue: AQUA. Needed perps; remember, my crayon box only had 8 colors. Turquoise and AQUA were not one of them
52. Low state: FUNK. FUNK is also somewhat related to 1-down (BOPS) as an African-American music genre. Video below gives snippets of the Top 25 FUNK songs of all time
53. Shape of some chicken nuggets, briefly: DINO. Meh. This was a reach, IMO
54. First course, often: SOUP. "No SOUP for you!"
55. Generous offer: ON ME. As in picking up the tab
57. Young'__: UNS. The future of crossword puzzles depends on these folks
58. Long or short measure: TON.
She was really quite a lady and lived a good, long life. It'll be hard to speak of her in the third person but I'll find something appropriate (and amusing) to say. Do me a favor and call your mom today (if she's still alive) if just to say "hi"
40 comments:
Wow! What a toughie!
It took me over an hour to get through this one successfully. So many obscurities! But, anyway, I persevered and got it. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o really liked this one. It had a "Silky" feel to it. And it was gratifying to see how the themers fit the clues. Very nice. WREST was my first thought for "Take by force," and I was surprised when it got to stay. When my OCTOgenarian parents were still alive, we used to drive to Arizona at least once a year. I knew when we were getting close when dw would erupt with "Jumpin' chollas!" (Choy'-uhz for us non-southwesterners.) Thanx for the challenge, Rich, and for the exposition, C-Moe. (Sorry to hear of your mom's death, but it sounds like she lived a long, full life.)
FIW, missing with SCHMALTy x BENy. No idea about either. I wish I knew a lot more Yiddish, but don't care about Dexter actors.
PIA destroyed the credibility of the Golden Globes when her husband bought her the award.
HERESY was the reason the Catholic Church imprisoned Galileo Galilei for suggesting that the earth might just revolve around the sun. Galileo championed experiments over theoretical reasoning, which didn't win him any friends either. He used the (crossword favorite) tower in Pisa to demonstrate that the acceleration of gravity is a constant, which was contrary to the dogma of the day. (Conventional wisdom was that the more massive an object, the faster it fell.) If you haven't read it, I highly recommend Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love.
Thanks to Rich for the challenge that I was very nearly capable of reaching, and to our Chairman for the fine review. I hope you have a meaningful and comforting service.
A puzzle by one of the masters followed by the review from a top tier blogger, what could be better than that! When I saw Rich’s byline on a Friday I knew it was going to be a challenge, and it certainly was that, but I was able to perp my way around for the FIR w/out help in 22:30. I couldn’t see a commonality among the four themers, with no unifier, and not looking back at the clues, seemed like a themeless, I didn’t make a connection till C-Moe explained it 🤷♂️. Could only confidently fill 8 or 10 words, the rest required perps. EEK is usually clued with a mouse reference. Read ‘flowers’ as 💐 and not a long ‘O’.
Chris ~ fitting that you’re having your mom’s service on her 96th b/day, from your past comments about her I know she was proud of you. Her favorite ice cream ‘Moose Tracks’, originated from the town I’m from in the U.P. 😊
Took 15:14 today for me to set the line.
I knew one of today's actresses (Pia) but not the other (Benz).
The singer & her song were both unknown (Rapp & "snow angel").
Scoot, RiceU, TheMaine made that area "tough" and the last to fall.
Good puzzle. Better than the usual +/- a letter we've grown accustomed to seeing on Fridays.
My condolences to our Chairman. I hope the service goes well.
One scoop of vanilla for me, please.
PS. I forgot to mention that "Rice U" reminds me of Bill Mlkvy, a basketball player for Rice University in the early 1950s (I think). Mlkvy was later drafted into the NBA, but while he was an Owl at Rice, he received an all-time great nickname: The Owl without a Vowel.
I feel the residents of this Corner can appreciate the quality of that nickname.
Chairman, enjoy the celebration of your mother's life. Mine has been gone 19 years already, and I imagine most of the Corner do not have living parents. I watched the first few seasons of Dexter so BENZ filled quickly but RENE RAPP and VICTOR VASSERLY were complete unknowns. It was fun to have a Rich Norris who was the most published major newspaper constructor at least until Zhouqin came along. Have an easy fast for those who join me in this very old tradition.
Anonymous your comment reminds me of the Super imp Mister Mxyzptlk who does have a Y in there but I have never learned the proper pronunciation.
FIR. This was a struggle for me, but of course it's Friday, so it's to be expected.
This was a clever theme that opened up for me with "tough pitch to hit". From there on things fell into play.
Despite some unknowns, and a few learning moments, this was a very enjoyable Friday puzzle.
Oh! Oh! I just remembered that I know the song I'm Snow Angel by Gregg Allman. What? It's I'm NO Angel? Never mind, but it's still a great rockabilly song.
Good Morning:
What an interesting way to break down a well-known phrase into four disparate meanings, with the added bonus of four grid spanners, and an Easter Egg (Nouns) to boot! As mentioned, there were several unknowns (Benz, Rapp, Rios (I fell for the misdirection,), Cacti and Op Art, as clued, etc.), but perps were fair throughout, so a FIR in 24 minutes. This theme and execution are text-book Rich Norris, constructor and editor extraordinaire, IMO.
Thanks, Rich, for the challenge and reward and thanks, Moe, for the review and commentary. The service and tribute to your Mom sounds very fitting and meaningful to the memories of those 96 years.
Have a great day.
A challenging but fair puzzle…finished in just under 12 minutes. HOOK and SINKER both came to me quickly with the help of just a few well-placed perps. LINE needed more than just a few. Overall, a great puzzle that was fun to solve.
Wow! Admirable CW. Yes, several unknowns like BENZ, cacti as clued, DINO (?), OP ART as clued. I erroneously had rOUGH PaTCH TO Hoe. That messed up my east wing. My NE crashed as well.
I admire a CW that includes SCHMALTZ. So, I might not have finished but loved this VW nevertheless.
Thanks, Chairman. What a lovely send off for your mother.
Musings
-Subbing today with a bad back. I couldn’t even finish the last two holes yesterday and probably should have quit after the front nine.
-Rich’s puzzle is one of those that is enjoyable because, despite struggles, I never felt I was not going to finish.
-Cyril Ritchard will always be Hook and Mary Martin will always be Peter Pan for me
as seen in this 1960 TV show
-The KC Royals ended their great season last night. The Yankee closer had them striking out on his SINKER in the dirt.
-In every play in FB, a defender tries to WREST the ball away from a ball carrier
-“Remember the MAINE, To hell with Spain”
-When growing up, we all could SCOOT across the front seat
-Burr nerd or Burr Nard Shaw?
-Lovely story about your Mom, Chairman.
For two straight days now we've been spoiled by top constructors. Today Rich Norris came up with a fresh and clever reveal and theme, and all four of its members were grid-spanners!
I do have a question about Rich's use of definite and indefinite articles. The answer to 4 Down was THEMAINE. Why not just MAINE? I realize that the jingoist press's call to action back then was "Remember the Maine," but we're not revisiting the Spanish-American War; we're simply being asked for the name of a particular naval vessel. Similarly, 34 Across is ACOIN, when COIN would suffice.
To be consistent about (unnecessarily) putting an article before the noun in this puzzle, COIN should be ACOIN, APE should be ANAPE, PHOTO should be APHOTO, APPLET should be ANAPPLET, and so forth.
Another sort of inconsistency relates to colleges, of all things. At 26 Down we have RICEU, but at 59 Across, it's just IONA (without a U or C).
Back to the theme, the process was clever and well thought-out. And each entity was exactly 15 letters long! As a drama director, I loved SCRIPTCOMPONENT for "line," and as a baseball nut I loved TOUGHPITCHTOHIT for "sinker." Hey, are we all watching the baseball playoffs? There have been some great games so far.
Thanks, Rich, for a solid, informative, and fun exercise.
Pretty sticky for a Friday but FIR. Working down I was almost to the bottom before getting any traction. Then build up from there. Final guess was the top left "B". At first thought POPS made more sense than BOPS, but even knowing little about baseball, POOTS sounded wrong.
Agree THE Maine feels off, but am OK with A Pair, as opposed to Two Pair.
I staggered to an FIR, and I liked the theme overall, though I agree with Yooper that it seemed like a themeless -- but there were several needless impediments.
The worst: A pair is not a weak poker hand. You can open with a pair. I thought the answer was going to be some nickname like Yarborough, the bridge term for a hand that contains no points. Second-worst: I immediately thought of two NCAA sets of Owls – Rice and Temple. I wracked my brain trying to come up with a five-letter school. Third worst: The clue “key ‘term.’ ” The word “mode” would have been tough enough without being indecipherable. Fourth worst: Who calls a PHOTO a “snap” anymore—or ever did?
Throw in a couple too many paraphrase entries and the unknown Renee and Julie and a few other overly esoteric clues, and it became difficult to enjoy a puzzle whose obstacles were overly contrived.
Still, I can understand why CMoe liked it better than I did, and he described its virtues well. I hope your mother’s memorial was gratifying, Chris.
H.G.: Pretty sure the stress on Bernard was on the second syllable, but the “experts” are increasingly unskilled at presenting phoneticized pronunciations. Note to NFL announcers regarding 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk. It’s eye-YOOK, not EYE-yook. . . Thanks, Tony, for the Owl Without a Vowel memory.
Great puzzle! Great exposition! I learned some, worked the long-term memory some! And smiled often! Thanks for the Moe-kus❣️ celebrating your mom with you from afar. I “led” both my parents’ services - such an honor, and it was a bit daunting. An ice cream social sounds yummy. I want a taco truck and dancing at mine.
In the early 1960s, the DC Comics editors explained it as “Mix-yez-pit-lik”. Since I read that, I’ve never forgotten how to spell “Mxyzptlk”.
Tough but interesting Friday puzzle, Rich--many thanks. And thank you, Moe, for your always helpful commentary, thanks for that too.
Well, I'D SAY we'd better not go SOLO with this puzzle--we're better off working as a PAIR. The two of us could create a neat ODE, or take an OATH, or rent a CONDO. Then we could hang around there and play TAROT cards, or grow CACTI, or take PHOTOS on a trip to RIO. That would be fun, wouldn't it? Let's do it.
Have a lovely sunny weekend, everybody.
Oh 😯 - and, Moe (or anyone),
what is “TLWs” …
Three Letter Words ?
Nope. If only I'd noticed it was a RN CW I wouldn't have spent the enormous amount of time on it, only having to resort to going online with red letters and even then having to do several alpha runs. Gotta take a DNF. As always, RNs CW is difficult but imaginative and would be fun...if only I was better at doing CWs. But, as always, this RN CW was above my level. Did I fill all the cells? Yes, eventually, but only with alpha runs. Thanx C-Moe for the terrific write-up. Rats. Octogenarian? Oy. I become one October 24. Can't believe it. 80? What happened to 30!! Where is that time machine when I need it?
Hola! Thank you, Rich, for a fun run today. It took me longer than usual to finish because I was nursing my coffee and not in a big hurry. However, I enjoyed the solve WITHOUT QUESTION. SCRIPT COMPONENT gave me some trouble but I remembered NITTI for some reason though that movie was long, long ago.
Since it is Rich's puzzle some baseball had to be included so TOUGH PITCH TO HIT fit the bill.
Since I never saw "Dexter" I had to resort to ALEXA for PRAT. And who knew there was another BENZ besides Mercedes?
I liked the clue for POPE. On my first trip to Europe in 1974 dinner always included five courses and started with SOUP. In later years it was more relaxed and rarely included SOUP.
It's hard to believe that I am, in fact, an OCTO-genarian!
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Jumping Cholla: A peek at Gary’s Map will reveal it to be a CSO a mi tambien! 😎
My iPad won’t allow the accent over the “e” in tambien. Sorry.
I had a lot more fun when I was in my 20s in the 70s than I'm having in my 70s in the 20s.
CM thanks for the great review and the CSO. You definitely want to stay three feet away from any jumping cholla. The names comes from the ease with which the stems detach when brushed, and attach to your clothes, skin, or fur in the case of an animal. If the spines puncture your skin they are extremely painful and difficult to remove.
Another day of record breaking heat here in AZ.
A really terrific write-up, Chairman! Thank you! (Our son calls his mom, and me, his dad, at least once a week, and all 3 of always enjoy our conversations.)
I liked this puzzle, but, like Moe, I felt cluing I'D SAY as "IMO relative" seems incongruous, and I was slightly startled that PRE-OP had "prep" in the clue.
I really really wanted "Key type" to be SKELETON, but the answer was only five letters. Shucks.
HERESY revealed "Hook, line, and sinker, e.g." was not IDIOM.
I liked the clue/answer "One on a seal" UNUM, since UNUM means "one."
Good reading you all.
Prof, hold your finger on the “e” and a menu of all the accents will appear; then slide up to the one you want: también! HTH (it works on other letters, too — try it).
====> Darren
Thank you, Darren!
About a third of the way into this one, I went “who th’ 🤬 built this thing?” “Ohhh, Rich Norris; I shoulda known…” That said, somehow I managed to FIR, but not without a few bouts of mental strangulation. Wanted “cards” first for TAROT, and was jonesing to put in PETRI for that dish at 40A but, knowing how diabolical Mssr. Norris can get, I just couldn’t pull the trigger on it ‘til I got some perps. And yessir, DINO is quite the reach for some chicken nuggets (has anyone ever determined which part of a chicken produces nuggets??).
SNAP as a slang term for photo is an archaic one, but (having been a shooter for nearly 60 years) I’m familiar with it used like this, @Copy Editor 😎
Chairman, my condolences on the passing of your Mom; 96 is pretty good mileage, but I know that doesn’t make it any easier. I’ll raise a spoonful of Vanilla Chocolate Chip in her honor this evening after dinner.
====> Darren / L.A.
YP here ~ to get rid of Mxyzptlk you have to trick him into saying his name backwards, will banish him for 90 days. 🤣
Thank you, Rich, and thank you, Chairman Moe. I'll admit that I did not get to the blog or read any of the comments, except for the first few. I have been preoccupied with other issues. Will catch up tomorrow or the next day.
From much earlier:
I like definition puzzles and I loved today's. Rich showcased his skill as a constructor and as a wordsmith.
One wrong letter. Same as Jinx.
TOUGH PITCH TO HIT was the first grid spanner that fell
OPeRa to OP ART
drOp to BOOT
I tested usurp before WREST.
RICEU was a gimme.
I forgot to mention (maybe someone else already did) that Zhouqin Burnikel has the Universal <a href="https://syndication.andrewsmcmeel.com/puzzles/crosswords</a> crossword puzzle today.
Let's try that again
I was in a hurry this morning, solved most of the puzzle including the theme entries, did not see the connection between them, and left a few blank squares in the northwest corner. I'm glad I came here this evening to read Moe's brilliant review and to appreciate Rich's puzzle further.
The Chairman was on a roll with his sparkling humor, and then made me glad I had a long call with my Mom this Erev Yom Kippur evening. Peace to you all.
Õōòôöóh! I learned something today!
“Dino” (“shaped”) chicken nuggets are - ever since they’ve been available, I think - the most popular with every kid I’ve ever known. They were my dtr’s main protein source practically til she was an adult - “picky” doesn’t begin to describe that child’s palate - it had to crispy and carb-heavy and practically tasteless to gain entry; now at 40yo old she eats all manner of things. perhaps she was one of those “super-tasters” w/ too many taste-buds for comfort?
Thx - now I know TLW 🥳
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