THE MIND...
Another 16 x 15 grid for a Wednesday puzzle - but - no circles, then again eight or ten names, depending on how you count, 22 each of TLWs and four-letter words, eight "quoted" clues, and a whopping ELEVEN abbreviations;
18. *Is treated unfairly: GETS THE SHAFT29. *Biodiverse ecological layer: RAINFOREST CANOPY
49. *Lost control of one's emotions: FLEW OFF THE HANDLE
64. Expression that covers a broad category, or what is found at the end of the answer to each starred clue?: UMBRELLA TERM - Today's $2 word for this phrase is "hypernymy"
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Coastal country with approximately a quarter of Africa's gorillas: GABON - I recall "Survivor" had a season there
12. Panda car driver: COP - I did not know this is a British term, despite having parents born & raised in England, but it makes sense; black & white . . . . the Wiki
15. The "A" of the ABC islands: ARUBA - the others being Bonaire and CuraƧao
17. Singer DiFranco: ANI - name #1
20. Slump: SAG
21. Skedaddles: SCOOTS
22. Fish out of water: MISFITS - semi-meh. FishES would have helped
24. Data unit: BYTE
26. "A little assistance here!": "HELP~!"
28. Monogram pt.: INITials - abbr#1
34. Irene who matched wits with Holmes: ADLER - #2; I did not know this character
35. Eateries that might have 1950s decor: DINERS
37. Apple platform: iOS
40. Foot part: TOE
41. Arthur of "The Golden Girls": BEA - #4, crossword staple
44. "You're making me blush!": "STOP IT~!"
47. Sacred song: PSALM
54. Actress Chaplin: OONA - #5 - her IMDb
55. Phone message: TEXT
56. Genesis garden: EDEN
57. Suitcases: LUGGAGE
61. Gutter ball preventer: BUMPER
68. Common breakfast ingredient: EGG
69. Hearty: ROBUST
70. Loads (of): SCADS
71. Poor grade: DEE
72. Real estate and the like: ASSETS
and "the like" :7))
DOWN:
1. "Eww!": GAG
2. "__ you nuts?": ARE
3. "And yet ... ": BUT STILL...
4. More than a little indecent: OBSCENE - "the words he knows are all obscene, but . . . "
We lost Phil Lesh last month - Oct 25th
5. Brussels-based gp.: NATO - Wed-level crossword clue - abbr#3
6. Wobble: TEETER - good WAG on my part
7. Pestered: HASSLED - but ANNOYED was not
8. Volcanic residue: ASH
9. United group: TEAM
10. Certain Muslim: SUFI
11. Makes a selection: OPTS - meh. chooses is better
12. Vegas venue: CASINO - I have ZERO desire to go to Las Vegas, other than to see the architecture
13. How some bet: ON A TIP - Dah~! Not ONLINE
14. Spot that isn't spotless: PIG STY
19. Hostess brand: HoHo - meh. I don't like this clue; isn't it a "product", not a brand~?
24. Boast: BRAG
25. When repeated, "Blah, blah, blah" kin: YADA - the "Elaine-ism" from Seinfeld
27. Trident-shaped letter: PSI
30. __ pie: dish with corn chips: FRITO - does make sense; we called it "Dip" in Cincinnati
32. Corp. suit: CEO - ah; 'suit' meaning the 'person' in the position; the term for this is "metonymy" - and abbr#6
33. Colombian street snack: AREPA
38. "Sounds painful!": "OOF~!"
39. UV-filtering measurement: SPF - Sun Protection Factor - for UV "B" rays, and abbr#7
41. Nightmare: BAD DREAM
42. Fanning of "Super 8": ELLE - #5, More from her IMDb page
43. Prayer ending: AMEN
44. Branded totes and pens, e.g.: SWAG - I am quietly wondering if I will ever get invited to the Pipe Organ convention, and see what swag they are offering. . . .
45. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT - duh-duh-duh dun....snick - snick - #6
46. Tina Turner's signature song: THE BEST - I can think of others that are "BETTER"
48. Star-bellied Dr. Seuss creature: SNEETCH - I've never heard of these guys, #7
49. Practiced origami: FOLDED - practiced POKER, too
50. Upscale waiting area in an airport: LOUNGE - total WAG
51. Take part (in): ENGAGE
52. Rejoices: EXULTS
53. Web design code: HTML - abbr#8
58. Supernatural glow: AURA
59. Engineered foods, for short: GMOs - Genetically Modified Organisms, abbr#9
60. Subsides: EBBS
62. El __, Texas: PASO
65. Regret: RUE
66. Dietary amt.: RDA - abbr#10
67. Early AOL rival: MSN - MicroSoft Network - abbr#11
Splynter
Savor Stuffing the Stuffing tomorrow~!
28 comments:
In my locale, the forecast for Thanksgiving is rain, all day long. But I’m not complaining. It’s been mighty dry around these parts lately, and we can use all the rain we can get! So I won’t mind using an “umbrella” that day.
As to the puzzle, it was a little tricky, but not too bad. FIR, so I’m happy!
Good morning!
SNEETCH, BUMPER, and HTML really slowed me down. Kept thinking Tina's signature song was The Rest. D'oh. I guess I've led a sheltered life; I've never seen a BUMPER on a bowling lane. Well done, Christina. Enjoyed your perspective, Splynter. (Do they hold that convention halfway between Nogales and Yuma? That's where you'd find the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.)
DNF, throwing in the towel after looking at the first few clues. Just not in the mood for a Christina puzzle today.
Took 7:15 today for me to finish eating the rib.
The Gabon/Aruba stack slowed me down, but I knew both of today's actresses (Oona & Gal).
I would've guessed "What's Love Got To Do With It" as her signature song (are you allowed only one?), "but still", I got "The Best."
Safe travels to all of you and your kith & kin.
Jinx, I am surprised because this was pretty easy for a Wednesday. SNEETCH was my only unknown, though some of the clues were tricky- see PIGSTY. Both Las Vegas and Sherlock Holmes are worth some time, IMO. Oo has been cooking for 2 days for Thanksgiving dinner with my oldest son and his family. I have been resting up for the eating. Thank you Christina and Splynter.
FIR. I found this to be another easy puzzle. Even the theme was easy. My only problem was forgetting how to spell sneetch. I guess it's been a while since I read that story to my kids.
Overall I enjoyed this puzzle a lot.
Everyone have a grateful day tomorrow!
Eight "quoted" clues is eight too many, in my opinion. I can barely tolerate two or three per puzzle, and eight is just ridiculous.
About par for a midweek grid as it took me about 15 minutes for the FIR. DNK SNEETCH or ADLER or ELLE, or what a Panda car was, but everything perped. I’ve finally committed ALEPA to memory, but I’ve never eaten one. Thanks to Christina for the puzzle and to Splynter for the expo!
SS ~ my first thought of Tina’s signature song was the same as yours, and she also did pretty good belting out “Proud Mary”.
I counted 17 proper nouns and lots of abbreviations. Didn't know Panda cab driver was called a cop. Difficult puzzle for a Wed.
I blew this CW. The NE stayed blank since I had to erase Nevada but didn’t come up with CASINO, and on line for ON A TIP.
I go blank when I see these little quoted expressions, although I finally got most except OH MAN since I did know SNEETCH. On Ana on. I won’t bore you with my misery.
Thank you Splynter for enlightening me. Poor turkeys.
Good Morning
I thought the theme was on the so-so side, with a pretty pedestrian reveal, surprising to me, coming from Christina. I agree about the excess of quoted clues and the resultant fill, which is usually contrived. Sneetch and The Best needed perps and Exalts needed a correction to Exults. Otherwise, the solve was a typical Wednesday, if somewhat unexciting.
Thanks, Christina, and thanks, Splynter, for the detailed recap. Loved the parting visual of the unfriended Turkey!
Have a great day.
DO, apparently, we share the same shelter as I have never seen a bumper on a bowling lane, either.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Christina and Splynter.
I FIRed in good time, and saw the UMBRELLA theme. I had SHAFT and HANDLE, and was looking for a broom at first.
NE corner was the last to fill. This Canadian did not know the Panda COP. We have had ANI before, but I always want to call her EDI. (My only inkblot, although I did pen in lightly in the NW corner until I was sure of GABON and ARUBA.). FINS finally swam into my brain to open up the corner. I decided that pt. was short for “part” to get INIT. and then CANOPY.
We have snow and mixed precipitation in our forecast, and will need more than an umbrella.
I noted PSALM crossing AMEN, STOP IT crossing ITT.
We also had EASE UP and EBB.
I learned OONA early in my CW-solving days - both wife and granddaughter.
Jaycee. will not like clues for THAT SO, HELP, STOP IT, AH MAN, GAG, OOF.
Those of you who remember my Pierre Trudeau elephant quote will understand when I say that our sleep is being disturbed by the current twitches and grunts. No Politics, just reality.
Wishing you all a great day.
52D was EXULTS
I see now that it was OH MAN. So I actually FIWed (and even this Canadian knows El PASO). D’uh!
Musings
-FWIW, Christina lives in the x-word town of Ames, IA and for a while was Patti’s assistant editor
-Nice learning geographic moments to start the puzzle
-An UMBRELLA TERM for young people is youths for which Joe Pesci had a very funny alternate pronunciation in My Cousin Vinny
-Our local DINER offers comfort food at low prices with a 50’s atmosphere.
-IOS seems to be more likely than OSX
-23rd PSALM: I remember when I finally figured out “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” didn't mean I don't want him. :-)
-Our SCADS of leaves are 99% mowed up and hauled away
-Nebraska voters okayed CASINOS two years ago. There are now five of them on tribal lands and they are flourishing.
-Our 84-yr-old widow neighbor drives to a CASINO once a week her son told us
-My BAD DREAMS usually having OCD me failing to meet an obligation
-Splynter and Yooper: Me too on Tina Turner’s song. Proud Mary came to my mind.
-HTML Code and the result
I know there's probably long-standing tradition for using "TLWs and four-letter words" but couldn't we just simplify to the more easily understandable 3LW and 4LW? TLW is hard to parse at first just like the common crosswordese TID.
umbrella term?
stay dry out there tomorrow!
Quick and easy Wednesday, made so by all the short words and abbreviations. Thanks Splynter for the COP - panda info, although extending the meaning to blue/white and others in England seemed a step too far, IMO.
Shia/SUFI. exalt/EXULT, and tremor/TEETER.
Seeing GHANA makes me smile. I did student teaching in the spring of 1957 just as GHANA gained independence and became a country, teaching the history, geography, and culture in a 2 hour core curriculum. I knew nothing about GHANA but learned very fast. Today, in an area of western Africa that is unstable with violence, military and dictator coups, GHANA, after some years of growing pains, has a stable democracy with elections and peaceful transitions of elected officials. The country is also known for their RAIN FORRESTs (CANOPY).
Happy turkey day, all!
CEh, that’s what I corrected it to. š
Hola! A Wedmesday whirl! Thank you, Christina ( I miss my late niece, Christina, who died too young). Learning moment for me that GABON contains so many of Africa's gorillas. And SUFI recalls my first visit to Turkey where they whirled in a dance that soon became a blur. The four men in whie robes were perfectly matched in height and slender build so that they almost became one with each other. It was an impressive sight! No MISFITS there.
Reading to my daughter and granddaughter, I saw many a SNEETCH as well as other Dr. Seuss characters. Now it's my great-grandson's turn.
Please stay safe if you are traveling. Have a lovely day, everyone!
Why I'm anonymous there is a mystery! It's Lucina!
Now it's there!
I knew it was you Lucina when I saw “Hola!”.
I’m not a fan of today’s constructor, and today’s puzzle didn’t help, for reasons many of you have cited.
I’ll add that “pt” is the abbreviation for “point,” not “part,” and that eww/GAG and aw shucks/OH, MAN indicate that someone is way too paraphrase-happy. I also disliked EASE UP because the superfluous “up” is way too common in too many ways.
The derivation of “got the shaft” as an expression meaning “was cheated,” CLEARLY is vulgar. It wouldn’t be such a common expression otherwise. See also “Sit on it.”
I’m not that put off by distasteful entries, but I WAS put off by the SNEETCH/BUMPER area with the Tina Turner “signature song” nearby. Her signature song eventually was “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” with “Proud Mary” a close second. Ironically, given today’s theme, the one time I saw Tina Turner in person was at Bumbershoot -- at the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1982.
I didn't care much for this one, and tossed in the towel about halfway through. I really dislike paraphrases, or "quoted clues", which are not clues, but examples of laziness on the part of the constructor/editor. On the other hand, I did enjoy (as usual!) Splynters recap, so I got that goin' for me this morning!
Delightful puzzle, Christina, many thanks. And always enjoy your helpful commentary, Splynter, thanks for that too.
Well, this puzzle gave me a story where the first time a COP gave Harry a ticket, he FLEW OFF THE HANDLE and got into a lot of trouble. But since then he's become a bit more ROBUST and has learned to EASE UP and avoid any HASSLES and just treat that early experience like a BAD DREAM. He now enjoys visiting a CASINO where he can hang out in the LOUNGE and make bets ON A TIP before heading to the DINER. There he used his new ASSETS to order some bacon and EGGS, then stopped by the place next door and bought an UMBRELLA to head home in a bit of a RAIN FOREST. Not a bad day, all things considered.
A cloudy day here, but I still wish everyone a good one with good times.
Splynter Thanks for the ENGAGE shout out. And for the Grateful Dead music.
DW is typical of many Asian women in that she usually carries an UMBRELLA to protect from SUN, not RAIN. Learning moment about PANDA CAR. Enjoyed the theme and FIR.
Here is my video of our local World Dance For Humanity performing to a very well known TINA TURNER song.
World Dance performs to many TINA TURNER songs. "The Best" is one I never even heard of. World Dance raises money for education projects, notably in Rwanda. A country known for its many GORILLAS. Learning moment about GABON.
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