It's Football Season! The first letter of each word in the theme answer gives us the letters QB, for the team's QuarterBack.
16-Across. Social gathering where patchwork bedspreads are made: QUILTING BEE.
27-Across. "Abbott Elementary" creator/star: QUINTA BRUNSON. If you've never seen Abbott Elementary, you should check it out. It's a mockumentary about a fictional elementary school in Philadelphia. It focuses on the teachers in an underfunded and mismanaged school. Quinta Brunson (b. Dec. 21m 1989) portrays an idealistic second-grade teacher. [Name # 1.]
45-Across. Hybrid monster of Arthurian legend: QUESTING BEAST. Everything you wanted to know about the Questing Beast but didn't know to ask.
And the unifier:
58-Across. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, familiarly, or an apt title for this puzzle: STARTING QBs. [Names # 2 and 3.] Patrick Lavon Mahomes, II (b. Sept. 17, 1995) plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Lamar Jackson (b. Jan. 7, 1997) plays for the Baltimore Ravens. Both are the Starting QuarterBacks.
Across:
1. "Milk" director Van Sant: GUS. Milk is a 2008 bio-pic about Harvey Milk (May 22, 1930 ~ Nov. 27, 1978), the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Gus Van Sant, Jr. (b. July 24, 1952) appeared on a Tuesday recently. He has directed many films, including the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, which launched the careers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. [Name # 4.]
4. List of editorial mistakes: ERRATA.
10. Driver's approx.: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.
13. Palo __, California: ALTO.
14. Potato prep tool: PEELER.
15. Circle segment: ARC.
18. Jewel: GEM.
19. Cooler brand: IGLOO.
20. Comic book legend whose last film cameo is in "Avengers: Endgame": STAN LEE. Stan Lee, whose given name was Stanley Martin Lieber (Dec. 18, 1922 ~ Nov. 12, 2018), was the brains behind Marvel Comics. [Name # 5.]
22. Colgate rival: CREST. Is there a difference?
26. Southernmost Great Lake: ERIE.
31. "Your time __!": IS UP. Parsed differently, it becomes I Sup, which means I am eating.
33. 007's first film foe: DR. NO. Joseph Wiseman (May 15, 1918 ~ Oct. 19, 2009) portrayed the villain Dr. No in the film. [Name # 6, fictional.]
34. Insurance spokeslizard with a British accent: GECKO. Did you know that GEICO stands for Government Employees Insurance Company.
35. Dietary guideline letters: RDA. As in Recommended Daily Allowances.
36. DOD intel arm: NSA. The National Security Agency is an arm of the Department of Defense.
37. "Montero" singer Lil __ X: NAS. His given name is Montero Lamar Hill (b. Apr. 9, 1999). He is probably best known for his 2019 country rap song Old Town Road. [Name # 7.]
39. Bard's above: O'ER.
40. "I'm an open book": ASK ME.
42. Denny's rival: iHOP.
44. A5 and Q5 automaker: AUDI.
48. Letters of support, briefly: RECS. As in Recommendations.
49. First-year law student's course: TORTS. A tort is a civil wrong that causes harm to another person by violating a protected right. A civil wrong is an act or omission that is intentional, accidental, or negligent, other than a breach of contract. The term derives from Latin tortum, meaning “something twisted, wrung, or crooked.”
50. "Nice shot!": GOOD ONE!
53. Layers of tall cakes: TIERS.
57. Director DuVernay: AVA. She makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles. Ava Marie DuVernay (b. Aug. 24, 1971) received of two Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY. [Name # 8.]
62. Skin pic: TAT.
63. Saved to watch later: TI-VO'ED. Is this still a thing?
64. French night: NUIT. Today's French lesson.
65. Overhead trains: ELs. A crossword staple.
66. Knights' horses: STEEDS.
67. "__-boom-bah!": SIS.
Down:
1. Amount of olive oil, informally: GLUG. Not sure I have ever used this informal term to describe a bit of olive oil.
2. Gas co., for one: UTIL. As in a Utility company.
3. Beer pong target: SOLO CUP.
4. Prefix with gram or graph: EPI-. As an Epigram, a brief, clever, or witty statement that is often memorable and sometimes satirical, or an Epigraph, which is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document, monograph or section or chapter. What's the difference, you ask. Well, an epigraph is a reference to someone else's work, while an epigram is an original statement.
5. Kylo of the "Star Wars" sequels: REN. [Name # 9, fictional.]
6. Decaf alternative: Abbr.: REG. Regular vs Decaffeinated coffee. I prefer Regular.
7. Clerical robes: ALBS. According to Webster's, the word Alb comes from the Middle English albe, aube, in part borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Late Latin alba "white garment or vestment, originally one worn by the recently baptized".
8. Threaten to topple: TEETER.
9. Accent pieces on a hardwood floor: AREA RUGS.
10. Rank that requires 21 merit badges: EAGLE SCOUT.
11. Family figure?: TREE. Cute clue.
12. Pinnacle: ACME.
13. Pollution meas.: AQI. As in the Air Quality Index.
17. Actress Spelling: TORI. Tori Spelling (née Victoria Davey Spelling; b. May 16, 1973) is probably best known for being on Beverly Hills 90210. [Name # 10.]
21. Sudoku digit: NINE. Some people really love this game, but I prefer word games.
23. Objectives: ENDS.
24. Use a sieve: STRAIN.
25. Soak up some rays: TAN.
27. Big name in breakfast cereal: QUAKER OATS. The name was apparently selected because it symbolized good quality and honest value.
28. Congo primate: BONOBO. The difference between a Chimpanzee and a Bonobo.
29. Gave the nod: OK'ED.
30. Sushi seaweed: NORI. Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine. It is usually made from a species of red algae genus. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made into flat sheets and used to wrap rolls of sushi.
31. Baghdad's country: IRAQ. Baghdad is the capital and the largest city in Iraq. The name Baghdad is a combination of two Persian words that mean "gift of God" or "founded by God". The word "Bagh" means "god" and "Dad" means "gift". The city was founded in 762 CE.
32. California sch. just north of Tijuana: SDSU. As in San Diego State University.
36. Bottom-line figures: NET COSTS.
38. Imitator: APER. Did you know that a Bonobo is an Ape?
41. Teacher's advanced deg.: MSED. As a Master of Science in Education.
43. Alt.: HGT. As in Height.
44. Gives, as homework: ASSIGNS.
46. "So true, right?": ISN'T IT?
47. Routing abbr.: ATT'N. As in Attention.
50. Yard entrance: GATE.
51. Shaped like an avocado: OVAL.
52. Roof projection: EAVE.
54. Same, in combinations: EQUI. As in Equidistance, which combines Equi and Distance. Not keen on this clue.
55. Slugger's stat: RBIs. As in Runs Batted In, a baseball term.
56. Retired fast jet, for short: SST. As in SuperSonic Transport. This used to be a crossword staple.
59. Fish-to-be: ROE. It can also be found on sushi wrapped in Nori.
60. Journalist Koppel: TED. Ted Koppel (né Edward James Martin Koppel; b. Feb. 8, 1940) is probably best known for being the anchor of Nightline. Ted was the host and anchor of the late night news show from 1980 until 2005. The show began during the Iran Hostage crisis in 1979. [Name # 11.]
61. Cards checked by the TSA: IDs.
Here's the Grid:
חתולה
39 comments:
I wouldn’t say this was the easiest Tuesday puzzle. It took me some friendly perps even to get a couple of the themed answers! Nevertheless, I persevered and got the win. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o found quite a bit to relate to in this one. (See below) The theme actually helped with the solve, for a change. It confirmed the B in Brunson and Beast. Needed my Wite-Out to correct TBSP to GLUG. (Really?) Thanx for the outing, Prasanna, and for the expo, Hahtoolah.
TIVOED: Before DirecTV offered their own DVR, I purchased a DirecTV-branded TIVO receiver. If I remember correctly, it could only record a single program while you were watching something else, or two programs if you weren't watching anything.
DR. NO: I happened to rewatch the DVD this past weekend. In the process I found one six-pack of Bond movies contained only damaged disks. They look fine, but refuse to play. Or will play only up to the switchover to the second disk layer. I guess Diamonds Are Forever, but Bond DVDs are not.
QUAKER OATS: In Cedar Rapids a prominent feature near downtown was the QUAKER OATS factory with its prominent nasty odor.
IGLOO: In west Houston, I used to drive past the IGLOO cooler factory every morning on my way to work. They've moved further west to Katy.
EPI: I'm still trying to get my Walgreens to fill my Rx for the Neffy anti-allergic nasal spray. First they didn't process the Rx, because my Medicare drug plan wouldn't cover it. Then they didn't process it, because it was expensive and they were afraid I wouldn't pay for it. At the moment they still haven't processed it, because it's out of stock. Waiting...waiting...waiting.
FIR, but erased eratta for ERRATA. BAD SPELARS OF THE WORLD, UNTIE!!!
I resisted MSED, wanting MAED. Guess it's kinda like business degrees. A business degree is as BA, but a business administration degree is a BS. My brainiac professor sister has a BS, MS and PhD, but in chemistry, not education.
DO - you may have better luck at a WalMart pharmacy. I don't think Walgreens is focused on their core business these days. At least the Wal Mart folks aren't wondering what they are going to do when the store is shuttered.
Thanks to Prasanna for the nice, easy Tuesday puzzle. And o, Prasanna, don't you cry for me (because of my erasure.) And thanks to Ha2la for another fine review.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. I hope you are all enjoying the nice Fall weather.
QOD: When an artist explains their artwork, the viewer closes their eyes. ~ Robert Rauschenberg (né Milton Ernest Rauschenberg; Oct. 22, 1925 ~ May 12, 2008), American graphic artist
FIR. This Tuesday offering certainly had some bite to it. Two of the three theme answers were unknown to me. Only quilting bee came easily.
And the theme also escaped me. I saw the answers start with Q, but completely missed the B part.
And who refers to olive oil as a glug? Crossing with a proper name, Gus, seemed really cruel.
So overall, this puzzle was much less than enjoyable.
It started very badly, since I didn't know either 1A or 1D. The it got very easy, even though I've never heard of QUINTA BRUNSON or QUESTING BEAST. All perps for those two QBs.
TIVOED- how about DVR?
"Red SOLO CUP, I'll fill you up", Toby Keith
EAGLE SCOUT- I think it was 21 merit badges.
Took 6:04 today for me to close out of QuickBooks.
I didn't know MSED, but knew today's actress/creator was Quin-something Brunson. I also knew Tori, the other actress today.
As stated above, the intersection of "glug" and "Gus" wasn't pretty, and there were too many 3LW and/or abbreviations (SDSU, epi, equi, aqi, util, sst, rbis, recs, ren, reg, hgt, oer, nsa, and nas).
Before I comment on Prasanna's classy puzzle, mention must be made of one of the two gentlemen named in the reveal, 58Across, Lamar Jackson, of the Baltimore Ravens. By a remarkable coincidence, Jackson played just last night in Monday Night Football.
We are fortunate, I believe, to be able to witness in Jackson perhaps the greatest quarterback in history. Last night, for instance, he passed for 5--that's FIVE--touchdowns. He can also run; in fact he holds the NFL record for single-season rushing yards by a quarterback.
He has twice been voted the MVP of the NFL--and the guy is still only 27! When he was in college at Louisvile, he won the Heisman Trophy. Youngest winner ever. Even if you don't follow football, you need to see this guy in action.
OK, the puzzle, and the clairvoyant Prasanna Keshava. Clairvoyant because she features a football player here just hours after he starred in Monday Night Football.
Prasanna dazzles with all those Q's in the puzzle. And they weren't particularly forced. I did face a Natick mess amidships, with BONOBO and NAS crossing each other. And APER adjoining.
I was able to extricate myself, but I'm still not a fan of the word "aper."
I enjoyed seeing baseball crossing football down in the southeast, with RBI and STARTINGQBS.
Before I forget: do you know why the Baltimore team is called the Ravens? Well, Edgar Allan Poe was a resident of Baltimore, and one of his immortal poems was "The Raven" (as in "Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore!'").
Thanks, Prasanna, for your clever, fresh--and unexpected--challenge.
In addition to the 11 proper names there was 19 abbreviations. Some well known but many of the names and abbreviations were very obscure.
Area rugs. Yeah, they sort of brought to room together.
Actually, they really tied the room together.
I have one of them too but in Psychology. She has been a teacher and consultant. Even ran her own school.
Is this what you're referring to?
Quote from The Big Lebowski.
Musings
Obvious QUILTING BEE and two obscure others that took care of themselves
A game with Patrick Mahomes is appointment TV for me
Football games in Buffalo will soon know the fury of ERIE’s lake-effect snow
I would say that cake has seven layers not TIERS
NUIT replacing NOIR was my last correction fill
Someday I am going to try a late-night cup of regular coffee
TAN: I have to toast my English Muffins twice to get the shade I like
I had to change my idea of Alt. as alternate
Missing homework is the bane of every teacher’s life. I tried to minimize mine.
Addendum
- 3 – 0. I had three tech issues last week and, thanks to virtual visits from Dr. YouTube, I solved them all. One took two hours and four different videos where I finally could decipher what the narrator was saying. Of course, his English is infinitely better than my Hindi.
-Hahtoolah, I have already shared some of your cartoons with my English teaching friends!
DNF. I was defeated by the theme answers. I noticed the Qs, but I didn’t know any of the names associated with some of the theme answers. Also, GLUG and SOLO CUP are not words I’m familiar with.
Thank goodness for Hahtoolah’s stellar review.
Sis-boom-bah.
Add;
Scuddy wuddy doo dah
Scuddy wuddy doo dah
Scuddy wuddy doo dah day
At least that is how I recall it.
Nice puzzle by Prasanna and well reviewed by Ha2lah. Don't think I have seen so many Q's in a puzzle before.
GLUG must be a cooking thing. Geckos are cute and emus OK, Flo, yuk. The best one going of the insurance figures is Mayhem for Allstate.
Remember, only you can prevent forest fires - Smokey Bear
Twinkling.
Many wedding cakes have tiers. They usually save the top tier for the happy couple's first anniversary, if they make it that far.
Saved by the revealer! Had Quintan Runson and confidently noticed the themers started with Q so filled them all in including 58A. But when QUARTERBACK led to nothing good, I realized it was STarter, then STARTING QBS. The "QB" led me back up to change the N of Quintan to B, the first letter of her last name. Ta Da!
Not an "as fast as I can write" outing, but still a quick Wednesday-like romp .I liked the theme. I saw the Q's quickly and immediately filled in the remaining QU's. After seeing the reveal, I realized I should have noticed the B's on my own.
Quinta Brunson and Questing Beast were unknown, solved by perps and wags,
Milk is one of my favorite movies. I'm not into directors so perps gave me GUS. There were very few unknowns for me today,
We had SDSU before.
I find my Walgreens Pharmacy efficient and accommodating.
I recognized glug from recipes. "A glug of olive oil is usually about 1–2 tablespoons. It's the amount needed to coat a pan or until the bottle makes a audible 'glug' sound." It is imprecise like a pinch of salt.
Susan, I Ioved the trick or treaters and the skeleton impaled by the tree.
Lee, I agree about the wedding cake tiers.
Enjoy this beautiful fall day.
There were two MNF games last night, so that means there were four starting quarterbacks (out of 32 in the NFL), which to me makes the coincidence somewhat less than remarkable.
Lamar Jackson is a unique talent, but he will have to prove himself much more capable in the playoffs to enter the "greatest" conversation.
I think two other guys who also played last night are highly underrated/underappreciated: Baltimore's RB Derrick Henry and Tampa Bay's WR Mike Evans. Coincidentally, they both currently rank 30th in their respective NFL career yardage categories -- Henry for rushing yards; Evans for receiving yards.
Good Morning! I pretty much wasn’t on a wave length with this puzzle today. But I did finish and did see the theme.
Lots of perps and a few WOs. I do object to a GLUB of olive oil, not the word but the clue which I doubt few in a kitchen would ever use.
TIVOED: I don’t use that term, but I do record most of my TV viewing primarily to watch the program at a time convenient to me &/or to shave ~20 min of ad time. I’m not so much into streaming. Kinda set in my ways although I am working my way through Midsommer Murders.
Thanks, Hah2lah, as always, a fun romp through your blog. Johnny, Ed and Carnac were priceless. LOL along with them!
Good Morning:
Late today due to blood draw and a trip to the grocery store and then tackling the puzzle. I knew Quinta but needed perps for Brunson. Never heard of Questing Beast, so more perps to the rescue. The clustered groups of three letter words were distracting and even though the count of 22 is high, it’s not egregious, but it seemed like more, due to placement. Glug is used occasionally on cooking shows but Aper gets a boo! The theme was cute and the execution was fine, except for the TLW-laden grid.
Thanks, Prasanna, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for another fun and fact-filled review. Your comic choices today were all excellent especially the ones for Egg Football Announcers, Arc, Ask Me, Tan, and Quaker Oats.
HG @ 9:44 ~ I’m with you on the “tanning” of my English Muffins.
Lee @ 9:59 ~ Of all of the insurance ads and pitchmen (women), my least favorite is Allstate’s Mayhem. I think their ads are sophomoric and I think the actor is ridiculously portrayed. Interestingly, said actor had a few appearances as a love interest of Olivia Benson in Law and Order: SVU. His talents are better suited to Mayhem. 😉
Have a great day.
Correction: GLUG. sentiments the same.
Quick FIR, despite the irritating paraphrases. Nice recap, Ha2la! Liked the eggs.
Seemed to have a little more crunch than most Tuesday CWs, but managed to FIR in a bit over usual Tuesday time. WMOS re GLUG/GUS. Once I had the US and the LUG I did a mental alphabet run, and G seemed the most likely suspect. I had trouble with SOLOCUP, DNK QUINTA which didn't help. WAG got me there. Didn't count the names but seemed like a lot most of which I DNK. Overall, thanx for the CW, PK. A few nits to pick, but still fun. Hahtoolah you never disappoint with your write-ups, always fun, informative and interesting. Thanx for all your work.
Testing Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Prasanna and Hahtoolah.
Officially a FIR for this crunchy CW. I had REFS thinking of References, and never corrected it to C with COSTS.
Like d’o, I got the theme before the themers, and went back and entered QU and B.
Plenty of silly inkblots. I ‘m not sure why I want Jem instead of GEM.
MAED changed from Arts to Science with QUESTING. (Hi Jinx)
Baboon would not fit the perps already in place. BONOBO was unfamiliar. (I did smile to see it beside APER.
The Sudoku digit could have been NINE or Five.
TIVOED and OKED were meh IMHO.
Wishing you all a great day.
I submit an open challenge to everyone to show me an instance in cooking where a word describing a sound - GLUG - is used as a measure for anything, not just for olive oil.
Not the easiest Tuesday puzzle. Guess I need to read up on Questing Beast
That, and "Colts" had been sold to the highest bidder.
Yeah, will that first year end in tiers or tears?
Don't go too hard on Flo. You know the definition of a "10?" A "6" with $6,000,000 in the bank!
Well, if you'd ASK ME what I thought about this puzzle, I'd say it was a pretty GOOD ONE. Many thanks, Prasanna. And your commentary is always a pleasure, thanks for that too, Hahtoolah.
This puzzle made me want to join a social club where we'd get together for QUILTING BEES or to make AREA RUGS, and where they'd serve you some QUAKER OATS with some tea while you were working. Or maybe a chocolate cake with five TIERS--wouldn't that be great! Fabulous party, as long as we don't have to contribute to the NET COSTS.
Hope everybody gets as good a lunch as this today!
Q-Tip didn’t fit.
Puzzling thoughts:
Looks like Prasanna is the QUEEN BEE today as her puzzle seemed well-thought out, and she wasn't in it to make a QUICK BUCK.
Patti was obviously the QUALIFIED BUYER among the crossword editors who had a chance to accept this one
Surprised to find out that the QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS of the NCAA don't have a QB. Why? They don't have a football team ... duh
Also surprised that this theme has not been used before. According to OneLook dot com, there are over 1,000 Q* - B* combinations. I wonder if Presanna chose the ones used today or if she tried other ones?
Here is a link to the OneLook "Q* - B*" list: (might have to cut and paste)
https://onelook.com/?w=Q*_B*&ws1=1&loc=firstp
Thanks, Susan for the funnies, videos, and hyperlinks
I liked most of this puzzle. Here's what I especially liked:
The QB gimmick
EAGLE SCOUT
QUAKER OATS
BONOBO.
Here's what I especially disliked:
How GLUG was clued (it does, however, seem to actually be used in recipes)
RECS
REG (have you ever asked for a cup of reg?)
The clue for TEETER seems off
APER
HGT
EQUI
And those irritating and inherently unsolvable paraphrases:
"I'm an open book": ASK ME
"Nice shot!": GOOD ONE
"So true, right?": ISN'T IT.
We lived in Palo ALTO for 14 years.
Good reading you all.
Thanks, Prasanna, for the Quite Brilliant theme. It was a GOOD ONE! I am impressed with all the Q's.
I noticed NSA next to NAS on row eight.
Thanks, also, to Hahtoolah for her Quirky Blog! The Carson clip was my favorite today!
Oh, and inre: GLUG... If you pour the oil right out of the bottle it GLUGS.
If you're civilized and use a spouted jar to control the pour, it drizzles.
My $0.02 and 4 bucks will get you coffee :-)
C, -T
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