A SIMPLE THEME
16A. Reason for copyright suits filed by Atari?: APING PONG. I recall playing Atari's PONG in college back in the 60's at a local eatery in College Park, MD. It was one of the very first video games. I'm sure it was often imitated, but I don't know if Atari actually sued anyone for APING it. It was played on a computer controlled CRT mounted in a table top and looked like this ...
24A. Where squirrels stash treats?: ACORN HOLE. Where else would they stash them? OTOH Corn Hole is a game -- here's how it's played ...
34A. Shenanigans in the physics lab?: ATOM FOOLERY. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists tell us that these shenanigans are a very dangerous game that the world is playing with itself. But drop the A and Merriam Websters tells us it's all just playful or foolish behavior. Let's hope MW is right!
47A. Rueful remark after losing on the Strip?: ALAS VEGAS. Stop me if I've told you this before ... I don't gamble, but I was on a business trip in VEGAS years ago and decided to play the slots just for the thrill of it. I cashed in a 5 dollar bill for nickels and played the slots until they were all gone. After plugging my last nickel into that one armed bandit, I hit the jackpot and got them all back! The next day I stacked them into neat piles and left them for the maid. VEGAS has a way of bringing out generosity in people. 😀
Here's Lynn's reveal ...
57A. "Haven't seen that before," and an apt title for this puzzle: IT'S A FIRST. Need I say more?
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Hit-the-water sound: PLOP. Like this ...
5. Falafel bread: PITA. Here's Dr. Sonali's recipe.
 |
| Falafel sandwiches |
 |
| Ecologists study many diverse and complex relations among species, such as predation and pollination. The diversity of life is organized into different habits, from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems. |
14. Japanese noodle: UDON. SOBA fit, but didn't perp. Here is the difference between the two.
15. Wassail spice: CLOVE. Wassail is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation either involved in door-to-door charity-giving or used to ensure a good harvest the following year. Here's Lauren's recipe.
 |
| Wassail |
18. "The Right Kind of Wrong" singer LeAnn: RIMES. Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and other musical genres.
19. Prehistoric tools: STONES. This is a broad area of study and anyone wishing for a deep dive of prehistoric tools around the world might find this Wikipedia article interesting. Closer to home are the stone tools developed by the Clovis culture, during the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years ago. These indigenous Americans created spear points, hand axes, and other tools call Clovis points by flaking cryptocrystalline varieties of quart such as flint, chert, jasper, and chalcedony with deer antlers. Clovis points got their name from the high concentration of tools found in Clovis, New Mexico. The tools were not only very functional, but many were quite beautiful ...
 |
| Clovis points explained |
 |
| Impression, Sunrise Claude Monet, 1872 |
26. Vague quantity: ANY.
27. Kid-lit girl with a blueberry pail: SAL. Blueberries for Sal is a classic children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey in 1948. The story is set in Maine, following the adventures of a young girl named Sal and a bear cub named Little Bear as they both go blueberry picking with their respective mothers before winter. The book was awarded the Caldecott Honor in 1949.
 |
| First Edition cover |
 |
| Keenan Allen Rookie year 2013 |
33. "The Sound of Music" range: ALPS. Here's the inspiring finale of the movie ...
... in reality their hike in the ALPS was a diversion to keep the Nazis from realizing that they were leaving the country. At some point in the hike they were able to reach a train station and they left the country by rail.
34. [Theme clue]
37. "12 Monkeys" network: SYFY. 12 Monkeys is a 1995 American science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetée. It stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer (who BTW also starred in 33A). Set in a post-apocalyptic future devastated by disease, the film follows a convict who is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet. Here's a trailer
39. Aboriginal emblems: TOTEMS. Reports by European explorers of the totems of the Northwest coast Indigenous peoples date back at least to the 18th century. They were a highly developed art at that time and the tradition of creating is returning.
43. "Gross!": UGH.
44. "1883" actor Elliott: SAM. 1883 is an American Western drama miniseries created by Taylor Sheridan that premiered on December 19, 2021, on Paramount+.
47. [Theme clue].
50. Scale mark: OUNCE.
52. Retailer with an "Uncommon Path" blog: REI. New to camping? There's an app for that.
53. Make at work: EARN.
54. Worth remembering: OF NOTE.
55. Church official: ELDER. In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices. In other Christian traditions (e.g., Presbyterianism, Churches of Christ, Plymouth Brethren), an elder may be a lay person serving as an administrator in a local congregation, or be ordained and serving in preaching (teaching during church gatherings) or pastoral roles.
57. [Theme reveal]
59. Like a cloud forest: MOSSY. A cloud forest is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Olympic National Park in Washington State, has a cloud forest called the Hoh Rainforest. It's the wettest destination in the lower 48 US states, receiving 12–14 feet of rain per year, plus 30 inches of fog and mist. It is blanketed by moss and ferns.
 |
| Hoh Rainforest Olympic National Park |
61. Side: TEAM.
62. Versatile celeb's feat: EGOT. Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony -- here's a list of the winners.
63. Terminal points: ENDS.
64. Irish Gaelic: ERSE. A Celtic language spoken in Scotland and Ireland. What is Irish?
 |
| Pct. of those who said they could speak Irish in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland censuses of 2011 |
1. Resource stored in some banks: PLASMA. In this case, blood banks. Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but which contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume.
 |
| French onion soup |
 |
| Rigate Penne pasta |
5. Young seals: PUPS.
 |
| Awwwh! |
7. Fizzy mixer: TONIC.
8. __-Frisian: West Germanic language group: ANGLO. Thank you perps! The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (English, Scots, Fingallian, and Yola) and Frisian (North Frisian, East Frisian, and West Frisian) varieties of the West Germanic languages. Here is the distribution of the modern versions of these languages ...
10. As a rule: COMMONLY.
11. Cover some of the same territory: OVERLAP.
12. Diminishes: LESSENS.
15. Marsh bird: CRANE. One particular species of this marsh bird, the Whooping Crane, was of special interest to Marylanders. By 1964 only 42 of the birds were left in the wild and their prospects were grim. In a effort to help the species survive, the Maryland Patuxent Wildlife Research Center established a breeding program using eggs taken from the remaining wild birds (it had been discovered that they usually laid 2 eggs, but only one would survive and removing the 2nd egg didn't harm the wild birds' prospects). By the time the program ended in 2017 the Center had managed to rear 72 birds in captivity. While we never got to see any of these magnificent creatures in Maryland, years later we were thrilled to see many in Texas on an aquatic birding trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where they migrate each Winter. They are still endangered and the work to save them continues to this day.
 |
| Whooping Cranes Aransas National Wildlife Refuge |
21. Peeve: IRK. A verb. IRKS could also be a synonym for 17D
24. Up in the air: ALOFT.
25. Learns via the grapevine: HEARS. That's where Marvin Gaye heard it ...
28. Sleeve tattoo spot: ARM. If you're not into pain you can buy these a set of 6 of these faux tattoos from Amazon for only $4.99 + taxes and handling ...
 |
| Faux sleeve tattoos |
31. Bath bathroom: LOO. LAV fit but didn't perp. Opinions are divided among Brits over which is preferred.
32. Seated yoga pose: LOTUS. It's more than just sitting cross legged ...
34. "Sorry, but it's true": AFRAID SO.
35. Part of a right triangle: LEG.
36. Second Gentleman Doug: EMHOFF. Not for long. He didn't make it to First Gentleman, so his days as Second Gentleman are numbered.
37. "Stop with all those details!": SPARE ME. TMI was too short.
38. Cake also called bûche de Noël: YULE LOG. Here's Sally's recipe. You've only got 41 days to make yours ...
 |
| bûche de Noël Yule Log |
42. Copious quantity: SEA.
44. Unpopular camper: SNORER.
45. Fills in for: ACTS AS. In As You Like It Shakespeare suggests that we're all acting as ourselves.
46. Terse invitation to get together: MEET ME.
48. Complain: GRIPE.
49. Writer Chekhov: ANTON. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. His career as a playwright produced four classic plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
 |
| Anton Chekhov |
54. lummoxes: OAFS. Our dinosaur agrees, finding only one 4 letter synonym for "lummoxes".
58. Grass farm output: SOD.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
36 comments:
The bottom right corner (is that the southeast?) was the toughest for me, but I got it. One thing I did have going for me though was that I knew what the gimmick right away. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Guess who started out with a SLAP at 1a? (Have I ever mentioned....?) PLASMA broke things open. D-o noticed the Hester Prynne theme before reaching the reveal...which he failed to notice. [Sigh] Thanx, Lynn, waseeley, and Teri. (That right triangle appears to be equilateral rather than 30-60-90.)
ONIONY: The old Steak And Ale restaurants made an exceptional onion soup.
Sleeve Tattoo: Whether real or fake, I see nothing attractive about tattoos, though dad had an anchor tattoo on his arm from his WWI Navy days.
D-O @ 5:41 AM By George you're right D-O -- the error was in the original (sic), but is no more.
FIR, but anat->ECOL, chive->CLOVE, nit->IRK, face->TEAM, and marry->UNITE (UNTIE!)
Caught the A+ gimmick early, which helped me fill in the theme entry.
STONES could also have been clued "prehistoric rock band, to fans."
I didn't think I would like this one, and almost took a pass. Seemed like a lot of names I didn't know, but I somehow overcame them. The "Dash of flavor" was my favorite, and won me over.
Thanks to Lynn for the fun puzzle, but I wouldn't grade it an A+. And thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the fine review. BTW - You aren't as old as you think you are. Whatever your age when you first played PONG, it wasn't in the 60s. PONG was released in 1972.
Actually, I misspoke. I should've said "isoceles" rather than "equilateral." They say the mind is the second thing to go.
FIR. I struggled a bit with today's puzzle, and it didn't help that I threw down normally instead of commonly. That set me back in the NE.
And I'm really not a fan of oniony as a word. Even spellcheck didn't like it.
But I got the theme before the reveal so that helped a lot. Tom foolery iced it for me.
Overall I enjoyed today's puzzle. Very nice.
Atook 8:05 today to finish.
Lots of unknowns, including the "West Germanic language group", the kid-lit character, the country quartet, wassail, and spelling Rimes. At first, I had "normally," but eventually it gave way to "commonly."
Seemed like a (new generation) Friday - not because of the difficult, but because of the add/subtract a letter gimmick.
D-o: Wait a minute; WW1? So your father was born maybe125 years ago?
Ken, my father was born in 1900 and mother in 1901.
Good Morning:
Lynn is known as the Queen of Monday puzzles so it was a pleasant surprise to see her byline today. Although the theme was evident early on, the reveal was a surprise Aha. Like KS and SS, Normally threw me off for a while, aided and abetted by the unknown Eli and Keenan. Any other stumbling blocks were tamed by fair perps.
Thanks, Lynn, come back soon, and thanks, Bill and Teri, for the usual mega-dose of fun, facts, and figures for us to ponder over. The photo of the Seal Pup stole the show. My recipe for French Onion Soup is by Julia Child, with a few tweaks. IMO, sweet onions are a no no for this soup and Julia agrees that plain, yellow onions are best. Of course, individual tastes vary, but I don’t think sweetness is a hallmark of authentic FOS.
Have a great day.
Thanks for the birthday wishes yesterday. And I had some PENNE pasta with shrimp and crawfish last night. But I don't know of "liscce and rigate versions". The PLOP made penne the choice.
A tougher (for me) than usual Thursday puzzle from Lynn. Not from unknowns but clues. Had to guess a few fills from those clues. SYFY, REI, YULE LOG, LINE, to go along with the tricky A clues.
KEENAN (didn't know) was the comeback player and San Diego wants the Charges to COME BACK from LA.
SAM, ELI, RIMES, REI- I knew of them but not from the clues.
HEARS from who's grapevine. Gladys Knights (original), Marvin Gaye, or Creedence Clearwater. I saw Gladys sing in Vegas a few years ago and John Fogarty sing it last year at the Gretna Fest a few miles from my house. Marvin Gaye? His father shot him. I never go a chance to see him.
Good Morning! Today’s puzzle was a challenge, but I did finish after a few bumps in the road. Clever theme.
Hard start at 1A. Spelled sounds are such a subjective thing. Not my favorite way to start a puzzle. The NW was the last to fill when I finally got a toe hold with LIPTON crossing STONES.
WO: loss VEGAS -> ALAS VEGAS
Perps for SAL, KEENAN
Thanks, Bill & Teri, for the tunes and info. Congrats on your 55 years!!
Hola!
PLOP! PLOP! What a relief it is. . . . . That is what came to mind as soon as I filled 1A. The rest of the puzzle also filled easily. There is nothing to GRIPE about it. Although I'm not a fan of country music, I have heard of LeAnn RIMES. And I believe that ANGLO people express their weight in STONES.
ATOM FOOLERY was my favorite fill today. Thank you, Lynn Lempel and thank you, Bill and Teri for today's expose' Enjoy your day, everyone!
Bill and Teri, I also congratulate you on 55 years! What a tremendous milestone!
Yikes, could it be Saturday already? So many unk PN and tricky dicky clues. First answer : splash obviously wouldn’t work. “Girl with blueberry pail” (no clue) reminded me of the aroma coming from my daughter’s Strawberry Shortcake doll collection ages ago.
Must have missed that day in math class but don’t remember learning that a right triangle had LEGs. Just a “hippopotamus nose” (or something like that)
Then there’s the SYFY version: “The hills are alive with The Sound of Mutants”
Other inkovers: gone/POOF…anat,evol/ECOL… flint/STONE (Fred?)
What is it and why is a “cloud” forest MOSSY? Because cloud = moisture which encourages moss? Waz splained it all.
KS & Anon. Normally for COMMONLY gave me fits for awhile too
(A)’FRAID SO but leaving tomorrow for home and work after a relaxing but fun week on Sanibel island
Ken, Dad was born in 1898. Mom in 1905.
Fun puzzle with a cute theme - ATOM FOOLERY was my favorite and made me think of our resident physics teacher HG - who I had the pleasure of meeting and having lunch with yesterday!
From yesterday, Gary Chapman who is best known for his book "The 5 Love Languages" also wrote a book on "The 4 Seasons of Marriage" and a friend of mine, Catherine Palmer, who is a novelist - collaborated with him on a set of 4 novels - one each focused on a different season of marriage in his books
Thanks Bill & Teri for a fun blog and Lynn for the puzzle!
My father also served in WWI. He was born in 1898.
I totally agree. No sweet onions for this soup.
I too got the theme before the reveal when I got to ATOM FOOLERY. I enjoyed this CW very much. A tiny bit of crunch since I didn’t know some proper names like RIMES, SAL, KEENAN, REI, ELI, but either perps or WAGS helped me FIR.
When I was a child my mother baked a beautiful bûche de Noël every Christmas.
Á front came through during the night and brought us some cool sunshine.
Today's puzzle was interesting, and clever in places. Well done, Lynn! I figured out the "Scarlet Letter" gimmick, and the theme answers were pretty amusing.
I ran into a potential Natick situation in the NE sector, but the obscure and peculiarly-clued words therein, like ELI, MRS, and KEENAN, were vanquished by friendly perps.
I am not a fan of words like POOF, UGH, and PLOP. Or ONIONY, for that matter.
On the other hand, Lynn (and perhaps Patti) came up with some clever misdirecton clues, such as "Waiter's place" (LINE), "Union agreement?" (IDO), and the best of all, "Bath bathroom" (LOO).
Again, Lynn, I felt your puzzle showed solid design and construction, and was pleasant and even playful at times. Thanks for providing us a Thursday-appropriate puzzle that was enjoyable to work on.
Musings
-The NE took some effort but I never felt I wouldn’t earn my “got ‘er done”
-Finally, I saw APING in actual use. :-)
-The gimmick and all those fills were fun
-The long LINES for waiting at Disney are bad and even worse on summer days
-Could the pyramids really have been built with only STONE tools?
-My non-family TOTEM would have to include a crossword puzzle and the NASA meatball
--My physics lab had both units but we never used OUNCES
-Some Whooping CRANES can be found among the million Sandhill CRANES that stop in Nebraska during late winter
-“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a SEA of troubles”
-Kids today see no stigma attached to TATOOS
-Thanks Bill and Teri!
Lynn, your theme was brilliant! To come up with so many phrases, the meanings of which could be changed by the simple addition of the letter A at the start -- it's impressive. I am often called upon to "wordsmith" a bit of writing for someone else, but could never come up with something like this. ALAS VEGAS made me laugh. And desper-otto's description of the "Hester Prynne theme" was clever as well.
I agree with RosE that the first block was the hardest, but I've learned not to give up at the first PLOP. This was a rewarding puzzle.
Bill and Teri, your contributions are epic. Thanks for all the information and explication.
Edward in Los Angeles: do NOT put oliVe in your Wassail.
Edward in LA: 44D: HUNGRYBEAR did not fit
This was relatively easy because the first theme fill suggested the gimmick. Perps were kind. Plasma was my only slow down. Monet and oniony anchored the NW and made it doable.
Gimmes were oniony, Sal, Mrs, SYFY, poof among others.
Elementary teachers know the classic, Blueberries for Sal
I am surprised that ONIONY is not common. It was very common in our household growing up and now. We use a lot of onions.
I loved falafel street food in Israel. It was made of chick peas. I could be spicy or bland. The tahini sauce accompanying it could also be spicy or bland.
More food: penne, and soba, puttanesca.
A summer favorite of mine is cold soba noodles with dipping sauce made of dashi, soy sauce and mirin.
I taught that right triangles and isosceles triangles have legs.
I don't mind a little tattooed flower or heart . Full sleeves turn me off. The fact that tattoos last for decades and are hard to remove if one changes their mind makes them a no no in my book.
Puttanesca: Etymology. Because puttana means roughly 'whore' or 'prostitute' and puttanesca is an adjective derived from that word, the dish may have been invented in one of many bordellos in the Naples working-class neighbourhood of Quartieri Spagnoli as a quick meal taken between servicing clients.
I learned PUTTANA from novels and wondered why it was a pasta recipe.
A nice Thursday puzzle, with just enough crunch (for me, anyhow) to make it a challenge. Lots of clever misdirection, and plenty of unknowns, but friendly perps to the rescue for the FIR. A nice recap by Waz to bring it on home.
Jinx @6:38 AM They say that the mind is the first thing to go. 😒
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Lynn, and waseeley and Teri (congrats on being married 55years).
I FIRed and saw the A game (favourite was ALAS VEGAS), but I had difficulty finding FIRST in the SE corner. A Google search for Kamala’s spouse gave me the missing O and F in EMHOFF to open up the corner for the Tada.
I really wanted Pound on the scale (even though we also have kilograms). Who worries about the OUNCEs?
See ME was too short; MEET fit.
I learned SY FY yesterday!
Unknown names like SAL, KEENAN, ELI. perped. My Canadian disadvantage was in play with EMHOFF.
But I did know LIPTON although I prefer Red Rose Tea, which now is owned by Lipton. But apparently our Canadian Red Rose is still orange pekoe, while your American version is black pekoe. (Do I need to remind you again how to properly make tea? Hint: boil the water and use a teapot!)
Our local guide in Salzburg told us that the Sound of Music version of the Trapp family’s escape was a myth.
“The family did not secretly escape over the Alps to freedom in Switzerland, carrying their suitcases and musical instruments. As daughter Maria said in a 2003 interview printed in Opera News, "We did tell people that we were going to America to sing. And we did not climb over mountains with all our heavy suitcases and instruments. We left by train, pretending nothing." National Archives, Prologue Magazine 2005, Movie vs Reality”
Wishing you all a great day.
Delightful Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Lynn. And your commentaries are always a pleasure, Bill and Teri, thanks for this one too.
Well, as soon as I saw I DO, my mind looked forward to seeing romance in this puzzle, probably about a couple who got married in LAS VEGAS where IT'S A FIRST for both of them. How nice for them to UNITE as a TEAM. Did they get a PUP to take on a STROLL together every day, after having been at work to EARN money for their new family. Do they go shopping together and then cook dinner, having learned how to PUREE things and use a CLOVE and ONIONs and enjoy having PITA bread? I bet they're going to get a lovely YULE LOG to celebrate their first Christmas together.
Have a wonderful day, everybody.
And the second thing is...uh, uh, uh - wait - it'll come to me.
When I lived in SoCal, that gambling mecca in the desert was commonly called "Lost Wages."
The only Harris Teeter house brand that I think is outstanding is their puttanesca sauce. Add anchovies and it becomes good restaurant quality. Don't know if parent Kroger's has an equivalent.
I liked this puzzle's construction.
C.C. has today's Universal crossword: Look Both Ways.
It took me a few minutes to understand why the title worked.
This entire day has been spent reading the book we will be discussing Saturday. I only received it Tuesday so I could not read it at a leisurely pace. It's a wonderful story, "Good Night, irene", that takes place in France during the throes of WWII.
TTP, thank you for the info on C.C.s puzzle.
Post a Comment