IT's ALL Really Simple!
Today's constructor Bryant Shain rejoins us today after a long absence (recapped by a beloved reviewer) to treat us to a relatively uncommon vertical theme. He gives us these 3 down clues and a down reveal indicated by asterisks. If you don't see the embedded words in each of the themers (I didn't) IT's ALL given away by the reveal ...
3D. *Party boss: POLITICAL LEADER. As we are in the thick of an election year, and as the Corner doesn't generally do politics, I decided to go to a great General who later became a great President, whom I trust most will agree was one of the best political leaders in American history -- Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969).
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| President Dwight D. Eisenhower |
9D. *Runs out of free content, in a way: HITS A PAYWALL. In 1989 computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who was working at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland at the time, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) as a means of organizing and distributing research papers to interested scientists around the world. At the time, access to the underlying Internet was largely supported by grants and was restricted to universities, and thus the information transmitted over it was generally considered to be in the public domain. Eventually the WWW spread to the world of commerce and other means had to be found to support the development of content, e.g. advertising and PAYWALLS. Here is a visualization by the Opte Project showing the explosive growth of the Internet between 1997 and 2021 ...
And the theme reveal ...
11D. Explains in meticulous detail, and what the answer to each starred clue literally does?: BREAKS IT ALL DOWN. Some of us reviewers tend to break IT ALL down into a bit too much detail, but I'm not naming any names. 😀
Here's the grid ...
Across:
1. In the know about: HIP TO. A modern adjective.
6. Tub sessions: BATHS. While a lot of people take showers these days, in the past these people didn't.
11. Troop gp.: BSA. Boy Scouts of America.
14. Novel format: EBOOK. As the traditional format of many novels was the TOME, older readers are turning to EBOOKS because they are generally lighter and many have novel features such as the ability to search the book for specific passages, look up related content on the Internet, and bundled subscriptions to content.
16. Shofar horn source: RAM. A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth. The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur; it is also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah.
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| Shofar by Alphonse Lévy The caption says: "To a good year". |
18. Food regimens: DIETS. Hand up if you know one that works?
19. Wane: EBB.
20. Omega preceder: PSI. May also be clued "Meas. of tire pressure".
21. Comes to: EQUALS.
23. Like a 16-Across: MALE.
24. Protein option: TOFU. What is TOFU, and is it healthy? If you decide it's for you, here's a recipe for Garlic Sesame Tofu.
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| Garlic Sesame Tofu |
28. Old-timey theaters: DRIVE INS. I'm told that they were a great place to neck, but that was way before my time. 😁
32. Dutch ovens, e.g.: POTS. A Dutch oven, Dutch pot (US English), or casserole dish (international) is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. You can buy this one from Amazon for only $49.99.
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| Dutch Oven |
33. Houston university: RICE. Rice University, officially William Marsh Rice University, is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It sits on a 300-acre (120 ha) campus adjacent to the Houston Museum District and the Texas Medical Center.
34. Naval destroyer, in slang: TIN CAN. And they used ASH CANS (depth charges) to destroy submarines.
36. Chapel vow: I DO.
39. In the distance: AFAR.
40. Like most fish: SCALY.
41. "No more of that!": STOP.
42. Glycerin-based goop: GEL.
43. Eschewed cooked foods: ATE RAW. On alternate Friday's we eschew cooked foods ...
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| Sushi Platter |
45. Novelist Scottoline known for legal thrillers: LISA. Lisa Scottoline was born in Philadelphia in 1955 and earned a B.A. in English magna cum laude (in three years) from the University of Pennsylvania, then graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She clerked for judges at the state and federal appellate courts and later became a litigator in Philadelphia. After the birth of her daughter, she left the law firm and started writing. Final Appeal received an Edgar Award, for excellence in crime fiction. She has since written 30 bestselling novels, including Look Again and Don't Go, both which reached number two on The New York Times Best Seller list.
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| Lisa Scottoline |
47. Like some cast-iron 32-Across: ENAMELED. Our 32-Across is just plain old stainless steel.
49. Target of a strike, perhaps: CUE BALL. This is for all you pool sharks out there ...
52. Lounge: LOLL.
53. Dutch semisoft cheese: EDAM. The crosswordese cheese.
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| Edam Cheese |
57. Pops: DAD. A CSO to Tony's father.
60. Do sums: ADD.
61. One who goes for the gold?: MINER. Mining rare earth elements may be more profitable.
62. Fern-to-be: SPORE. How to grow ferns from spores.
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| Ferns showing sporangia containing developing spores |
65. Natives of Pre-Columbian Peru: INCAS. The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu, lit. "land of four parts" centered in the Andean Mountains), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 AD and by 1572 AD, the last Inca state was fully conquered.
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| Inca Empire circ 1525 AD |
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| Edwin Diaz |
68. Go-between: AGENT.
69. Stray adopted by Annie: SANDY. All I ever heard him say was ARF!
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| Annie and Sandy |
1. Rope fiber: HEMP. Hemp (Cannabis sativa) was grown extensively throughout the world during the days of wooden sailing ships to make rope. As it turns out, the leaves of some strains of the hemp plant are also used for the cultivation of marijuana, an hallucinogen. Thus the legality of growing the plant has fluctuated over time: it was legal in the 18th and 19th centuries, then production was effectively banned in the mid-20th century, and it returned as a legal crop in the 21st century. By 2019, the United States had become the world's third largest producer of hemp, behind China and Canada.
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| Two uses for Hemp |
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| Sacred Ibis Lake Ziway, Ethiopia |
4. Approximate weight of the Liberty Bell: TON. Perped.
5. Michael of "Caddyshack": OKEEFE. Michael O'Keefe (born Raymond Peter O'Keefe Jr.; April 24, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Danny Noonan in Caddyshack, Ben Meechum in The Great Santini, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Darryl Palmer in the Neil Simon movie The Slugger's Wife.
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| Michael O'Keefe |
7. Setting for Best Picture winners "The Last Emperor" and "Parasite": ASIA. The Last Emperor is a 1987 epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the final Emperor of China. Here's a trailer for the first film ...
Incidentally the Academy Award winning soundtrack for the film was co-written by Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su. You may remember Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Byrne from the new wave band The Talking Heads.
Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the film with Han Jin-won. The film follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family ...
8. Infection fighter: T CELL. T cells are a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes. They help your immune system fight germs and protect you from disease.
9. [Theme clue]
10. Bro kin: SIS.
11. [Theme reveal]
12. Fine fur: SABLE. The sable (Martes zibellina) is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kazakhstan, China, North Korea and Hokkaido, Japan. Here are some pictures ...
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| Before |
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| After Sable Bomber Jacket $6,300.00 |
13. Yellow shade: AMBER. Named for the gem AMBER, the petrified sap of prehistoric trees.
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| Baltic Amber Pendant |
23. Pilates roll: MAT. MAKI was too long.
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| Sushi Roll |
27. Chaney of classic horror: LON. Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters and for his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces". Here's a trailer from the Hunchback of Notre Dame ...
28. Downer: DRAG.
29. Lousy (with): RIFE. A bit of a stretch, but ...
31. Catch: SNARE.
35. Family: CLAN. A clan is an extended family. Your clan might include your parents and siblings, but also your cousins and second cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. Families that are related to each other, whether through marriage or as distant cousins, are members of the same clan.
37. Nod off: DOZE.
38. Opinion piece: OP ED. An op-ed piece is a short newspaper column that represents a writer's strong, informed, and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted audience. It is a written prose piece that expresses the opinion of an author or entity with no affiliation with the publication's editorial board. The term is short for "opposite the editorial page", referring to the practice of newspapers placing op-eds on the opposite side of their editorial page.
41. "Falling Up" poet/illustrator Silverstein: SHEL. Sheldon Allan Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. His illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented Playboy. As a children's author, some of his most acclaimed works include The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic. His works have been translated into more than 47 languages and have sold more than 20 million copies. As a songwriter, Silverstein wrote the 1969 Johnny Cash track "A Boy Named Sue", which peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
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| Shel Silverstein |
46. PC pioneer: IBM. IBM's PC, released in 1981, was indeed a pioneering computer, but it was not the first commercially successful personal computer. That PC is generally considered to be the Altair 8800, introduced in 1975. This was followed by the Apple Computer II in 1977 (the Apple Computer 1 was really just a prototype), and the Radio Shack TRS-80 also in 1977. IBM's contribution to the PC world was two-fold: 1. Their name -- they were giants in the mainframe and mini-computer fields, and were in effect endorsing the idea of a "personal computer"; and 2. And more importantly, as they had previously done in the mainframe world, they introduced a standardized operating system called MS-DOS. IBM had purchased the latter from the nascent Microsoft Corporation, who had in turn purchased it from Seattle software engineer Tim Patterson -- whom they didn't bother to inform that they were currently negotiating the sale of MS-DOS to IBM! The IBM PC, introduced in 1981, would then go on to revolutionize computing and networking throughout the world.
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| The IBM PC |
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| Clumps of moss on the ground and at the base of trees Allegheny National Forest, PA |
50. Calf's suckling spot: UDDER. "Did you hear the one about the cow that jumped over the barbed wire fence? -- UDDER destruction!" 😀
51. Medieval Times prop: LANCE. The LANCE is also used in Modern Times as a prop in jousting, Maryland's state sport ...
55. Noodle: BEAN. Mr. Bean is really off his noodle on this one ...
56. Once, in the past: ERST.
58. Cactus-friendly: ARID.
59. Refuse: DENY.
61. Soccer great Hamm: MIA. Here's a short bio-pic of MIA's career ...
63. Activity that might elicit stares, for short: PDA. -- or the comment "Get a room!"
Well, that wraps IT ALL up for this review!
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
And thanks for the help, C.C. You made IT it ALL come together!
And thanks for the help, C.C. You made IT it ALL come together!
waseeley
19 comments:
I didn’t find this puzzle overly difficult. I
must admit the reveal was something of a surprise, though. All in all, a fun puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Started off with AWARE (Hip To) and SOAKS (Baths), and so it went. Wite-Out, please. Wouldn't have sussed the theme without the reveal -- well-hidden. Nice one, Bryant. Thanx for the expo, waseeley and Teri.
RAM: Didn't Joshua blow the Shofar at Jericho? The crowd exclaimed, "Shofar, so good!"
HEMP: Do you remember when potatoes were sold in burlap (HEMP) bags?
IBM PC: The basic model came with a diskette drive. The deluxe model had a 5 MB hard-drive. How things have changed. My first computer, an H-8 had three 100kb diskette drives -- one for the operating system, one for the application, and one for data. Sweet.
FIR, but soya->TOFU, totals->EQUALS, and nab->SEE.
Anyone remember Joe Bob Briggs, who hosted Joe Bob's DRIVE IN Theater on TMC years ago? He had his own rating system, but instead of stars it would be things such as "3 car chases, 2 exploding helicopters, and 7 breasts."
The bell that was commissioned by AC/DC was just a bit heavier than a TON.
I thought the whole idea behind Pilates was to eliminate the roll.
My second PC was a true-blue IBM. In the old days the acid test to determine if an IBM clone was truly IMB-compatible was whether it would run Microsoft Flight Simulator.
I nearly have my new laptop problems behind me. Lo and behold, the Office 2019 suite I bought for my previous laptop is a 5-computer license. All but one email is behaving properly, and that one may just get abandoned.
Thanks to Bryant for the fun puzzle, even though I forgot to look for the theme before coming here. And thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for another fine review.
The hard drive wasn't available when I bought my IBM PC. It came with dual floppies, kinda like my second DW.
Oh, oh! I almost forgot. When I was on GTE's data products team, someone pitched us on this new thing called "the internet." She said it was growing by leaps and bounds, and that we needed to be involved. She wanted us to be a (crossword favorite) ISP, but as a regulated telco weren't allowed to be. She said that the internet would increase business traffic as they grew more dependent on the internet, but that personal usage wasn't expected to be a factor because individuals would be using the excess capacity in the evening, when businesses weren't using it.
(We solved our legal issue by starting an unregulated subsidiary for our and our nascent ISP and long distance businesses.)
I t took 7:35 today.
T hanks for the review, Bill & Teri.
A ny else stumped by this Edwin?
L isa Scottoline was unknown to me.
L ater!
FIR without red letters or LIU. I saw ALL going down, but missed the IT .
That sushi /sashimi platter looks yummy.
Rife means widespread, mostly with bad things , the same as lousy. Teeming can be good or bad.
My students and I loved Shel Silverstein's Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree. Among other things Shel wrote A Boy Named Sue, a favorite of mine.
See/catch. Do you see my point? I catch your meaning.
Your bill comes to (equals) $20.67.
I enjoy all cheeses, especially smoked edam. We say our family's middle name is cheese.
I read print books as well as eBooks. eBooks have many advantages. They are light and easy to read in bed. On vacation you can bring five books or as many as you wish on one device. You can get new books 24/7. You can enlarge the print. The page lights up. I have no room in my apartment for very many print books.
I am enjoying this cool weather and the lovely fall scenery it brings,
FIR. Not particularly difficult for a Thursday, but a few proper names I'd never heard of.
The theme totally escaped me and I had to come here to get it explained. Even so, I find it a tad lame. Oh well!
But overall a somewhat enjoyable puzzle.
By and large, I feel that this was a pleasant solve. Not exactly a pushover, but Thursday-appropriate. The theme/reveal bordered on the farfetched and obscure, but in the end rather satisfying, I guess. I liked that the reveal and one of the themes were grid-spanners.
The puzzle for me was largely trouble-free, with the exception of the north, where I seemed to have a mild Natick, with BADU, ASCII, and TCELL all entangled. And down lower, LISA crossed ASA.
I liked the clue for 49 Across, "Target of a strike, perhaps," leading to CUEBALL. On the other hand, "hip to" sounds like something out of the Beatniks/hippies era.
I wish the clue for 5 Down had been "artist Georgia."
Thanks, Bryant, for providing us with a straightforward and clever outing.
Vertical themers are always harder for me and made this Thursday-worthy. It solved like a themeless, however. Took a while after FIR to suss the theme, which was hardly worth it.
I hate clues like 7D, asking for the locale of some work, and rather than it being a city, or region, or even a country, the answer is the whole dang continent! If asked for the setting of "White House Down," I doubt anyone would answer "North America."
My earliest computer featured a single 8" floppy drive. I soon upgraded to a dual drive model (faster back-ups by bouncing between them) that my wife called "a two-slice toaster."
Good Morning:
I always enjoy the rare vertical-themed puzzle because they are usually a little more challenging, themewise. It took me a few seconds to see today’s theme, but then the separated “It All” sort of jumped out and, voila, there was the theme. I needed perps for Edwin, Bagu, and ASCII, but everything else fell into place. Ate Raw seems green paintish to me.
Thanks, Bryant, and thanks, Bill, for the many learning moments of your extensive review and commentary. The Dutch Oven pictured is an exact replica of mine. Winnie and friends, Annie and Sandy, and Shel Silverstein brought some smiles. Thanks, also, to Teri for her continued dedication.
Yesterday was my sister Peggy’s (DH, Joe) 70th Wedding Anniversary. Due to health considerations, the celebration was at their home, hosted by their children. It was a low-key affair but with a show-stopper highlight. Their eldest son, who lives in Florida, surprised everyone by arriving unannounced and completely unexpected. I couldn’t attend, but I was there in spirit!
Have a great day. Thanks, again, for all of the well wishes and kind words.
Congratulations to Peggy and Joe. 70- WOW,
Nearly a DNF but ASCII finally popped into my head providing the unknown BADU. Otherwise not bad for what is usually a more difficult Thursday puzzle
Almost put aware like DO instead of the more “hip” answer: HIPTO. Speaking of which, calling’ yer DAD “Pops” is very HIP…..
SHEL you need a differ’nt picture yer scarin’ the kids. 😫
“Pilates roll”: Roman Procurator
Inkovers: haze/SMOG
So….I’ve been ready, on time, been all set to leave for awhile. Waiting forever for DW. Finally pick up the newspaper or a book out of boredom. She eventually appears, acts like I am causing the delay: “Put down that book and LET’S GO ALREADY!!”
What a wrecking ball does to a building…..BREAKS IT ALL DOWN.
Like most musical instruments….SCALY
Houston U. with an Asian Culinary Dept….RICE
Doing CWs is supposed to stimulate the mind and improve the memory so why do I keep forgetting about the theme? 😮
Good Morning! Today’s puzzle was a fun challenge. I had some AHA moments when the fill matched the clue, e.g. CUEBALL. NICE!
As I hopscotched around, I got the reveal before any of the starred clues, but I can’t say it helped anywhere. I came to the Corner to make sense of it.
WOs: smog -> HAZE and MIdas -> MINER
A long time ago, I drove a Mercury SABLE. I loved that car, periwinkle blue, one of a couple of station wagons I owned, a model which eventually disappeared in favor of SUVs.
Thanks, Bill and Teri, for a wealth of info and fun.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Bryan (2019 was an Eon ago- come back sooner), and waseeley and Teri.
I FIRed in good time for a CW with a little crunch, but only saw half the theme. D’h! How could I miss the ALL? (I see YR had the opposite problem.)
I thought we might have a pangram when I saw the Z and Q, but we were a J and X short.
Hand up for Aware before HIP TO.
Unknown-to-me names perped (BADU, OKEEFE). LISA, SHEL, LON, MIA were known. .
I even knew that Shofar RAM. (Groan d’o!)
I wanted Smog before HAZE.
This Canadian had no idea how much the Liberty bell weighed, but TON fit.
I noted the fern SPORE crossing MOSSES. But they don’t like being rooted in ARID, SANDY soil.
We had STOP and CEASE.
Good to see you back, Irish Miss.
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks for the internet education, Bill. Somewhere in a box I have a book on using Archie, Veronica, Gopher, etc. What a long strange trip it's been.
Musings
-I used an enjoyable game of fill hopscotch (me too, ROSE!) and a very satisfying gimmick
-I see videos that purport to help my golf game and I click on them. If I get what I can see is going to be a 15-minute reiteration of my issue, I know a PAY WALL is coming up.
-QUIT STALLING, answer the question and stop reciting your talking points!
-Only in its third year, our local DRIVE-IN is doing good business
-As a teacher, I try very hard not to LABEL a kid when I first see them.
-It took me way to long to SEE Hahtoolah’s fork lift cartoon Tuesday.
-NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson did hire an AGENT. His mother took on that role for him.
-FUR is back in style as part of this look
-A physics switch for MOSS on an old saying, “A rolling stone gathers momentum”
-Thanks for the lovely write-up Bill and Teri and welcome back Irish!
Fun FIR for me. Thought this a very enjoyable effort, with great misdirection and fair perps. Uh, about the theme...Dang! Knew I forgot something. Thanks, waseely!
Thank you BS for a really fun puzzle. The review was outstanding Bill and Teri! It almost took me longer to read all the interesting information than it did to do the puzzle.
Like YELLOWROCKS, I saw the ALL but missed the IT. Had miser before MINER, but LANCE changed that. “NICE”, favorite retort by, Onslow on PBS “Keeping Up Appearances”.
Instead of asking for a pay raise, I think the SABLEs should bite anyone trying to catch them and turning them into coats.
IM, sorry you were unable to attend the party. I too observed my 65th wedding anniversary this weekend, (all be it as one), by going to the the CIA Bocuse Restaurant in Hyde Park with daughters from Boston and Chicago and son, who came home to celebrate. Ah, memories!
Cool but lovely day here today. Beautiful views of red, orange, yellow and green leaves on trees that will soon be bare. Alas!
Happy day, ALL! Parsan
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