Theme: Goonerisms, Spalore!
Puzzling Thoughts:
Sorry for my brevity today, but the holiday season has made blogging duties take a back seat. Today's puzzle by Alan Siegel uses an assortment of spoonerisms to add some levity to our crossword puzzle solving. I will describe these as the puzzle unfolds
Today's puzzle was not as difficult as some Friday puzzles I've blogged, nor was it so hilarious and/or clever that I got majorly excited. On my 5-star rating scale, I give this one a ⭐⭐and 1/2⭐
 |
| Solved grid - my one mistake @ 44-down |
Across:
1. Bunches of bucks: WADS. The dollar bills; not the stags
5. A neighbor: B FLAT. It is right next to "A". Don't believe me? See the image below:
5. A neighbor: B FLAT. It is right next to "A". Don't believe me? See the image below:
10. Annoyance that may be tough to reach: ITCH. Nothing more satisfying than an itch being scratched
14. Hodgepodge: OLIO. Crosswordese
15. Still kicking: ALIVE. As in "alive, and kicking"
16. Grand Canyon carrier: MULE. I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask Picard to post a picture of him on a mule, descending into the Grand Canyon ... don't let me down, Robert!!
17. Org. that works with SpaceX: NASA. Outsourced to Elon Musk
18. "Bridgerton" rank: BARON. Read all about it here
19. Murky: GRAY. Nice Friday clue
(Entry #1) 20. Au pair with a sinister sidekick: CROOK AND NANNY. First of the Spoonerisms: the more recognized phrase is NOOK and CRANNY
23. Big name in battery-powered lawn equipment: EGO. Unfamiliar to me; solved with perps. I know that many of you dislike taking a word such as ego and clueing it as a proper noun/name
25. Briny delicacy: ROE. This:
26. Official timekeeper of the Olympic Games: OMEGA. Dunno why I chose ROLEX first
(Entry #2) 27. Purchases for an organized gardener: SHED AND HOLDERS. Second of the Spoonerisms: the more recognized phrase is HEAD AND SHOULDERS
32. Danger: PERIL.
33. Lines of praise: ODES. Cute clue
34. Thumbs-up votes: YEAS. AYES also fit
35. Italian fashion brand: PRADA. Didn't the devil wear Prada?
37. Slash mark: SCAR. The most recent famous one:
 |
| Harry Potter scar |
41. Symbol on a dressing room door: STAR. Also found on a famous street in Hollywood
 |
| Walk of Fame |
And another clue/entry whose word means "star" in French: (44-down. Prima ballerina:) ETOILE.
42. Roughly: CIRCA. Referring to a date, perhaps ... I was born circa 1950, e.g. ... rounding the actual number up or down
(Entry #3) 43. Common sights in the Caribbean: KEYS AND PARROTS. Third of the Spoonerisms: the more recognized phrase PEAS and CARROTS (made famous by Forrest Gump)
48. Adjust to, as a radio dial: SET AT. Green paint? I have a number of pre-sets on my car radio
49. Flamenco shout: OLE.
50. Wee taste: SIP. I am having a wee sip of Scotch as I am writing my blog tonight
(Entry #4) 51. Some pieces in an avian-themed chess set: CROWS AND PAWNS. Fourth of the Spoonerisms: the more recognized phrase PROS AND CONS
56. Has __ with: AN IN.
57. Lack of musical ability: NO EAR. Moe-ku #1:
Vincent Van Gogh was
Tone deaf. He had an excuse
'Cause he had NO EAR (literally)
58. Naturally curly style: AFRO. This hair style is making a comeback
61. TV component?: TELE. As in: TELE Vision
62. Gas meter unit: THERM. "a unit of heat equivalent to 100,000 Btu or 1.055 × 10 joules" [according to Dictionary dot com]
63. Feature of some vacation homes: VIEW. I erroneously placed LOFT in here
64. Luge, for one: SLED. I thought that the word "luge" meant an Olympic event ...
65. Arranges in order: SORTS. One of the many functions of an Excel spreadsheet
66. School visible from Windsor Castle: ETON. This was too easy for a Friday clue
Down:
1. Finished up?: WON. Huh? As in, finished (a game, e.g.) and were the winner? Meh
2. __ Française: A LA. In the French manner
3. Summer's "Hot Stuff" time: DISCO ERA. This one gave me fits, at first, as I misspelled olio as oleo and I couldn't figure out what "time" began DESC_ERE (I also had AYES instead of YEAS in 34-across). I eventually saw the ways of my errors and corrected it. And of course, I spent the rest of the puzzle solving with this ear worm ...
2. __ Française: A LA. In the French manner
3. Summer's "Hot Stuff" time: DISCO ERA. This one gave me fits, at first, as I misspelled olio as oleo and I couldn't figure out what "time" began DESC_ERE (I also had AYES instead of YEAS in 34-across). I eventually saw the ways of my errors and corrected it. And of course, I spent the rest of the puzzle solving with this ear worm ...
4. Fly high: SOAR.
5. Primate with a doglike muzzle: BABOON. Woof!
6. Like Maldon sea salt: FLAKED. Two thoughts about this:
1) Who among us even knew about the Maldon "sea" and its salt? (I didn't)
2) And if we didn't know, how would we determine that it is flaked?
Moe to the rescue ... this short (2 minute) video is quite the "Cliff Notes" version of this fascinating place
7. Turkish currency: LIRA. Italy sent all of theirs to Turkey when the Euro was coined ...
8. Bath flower?: AVON. ROSE might have fit if:
1) There was no ? in the clue
2) The word "flower" meant a member of the flora family
This tricky clue plays on the word "flower" as something that "flows" (a river, perhaps?), and the word "Bath" refers to a city in England. The River Avon flows through the city. And now you know
9. See (to): TEND. I tend the Crossword Corner blog every two weeks ...
10. "Sure, let's!": I'M GAME. A bit about its origin
11. English Romantic painter: TURNER. A brief biography and some images of his paintings
12. Metallic sounds: CLANGS. This may be the most bizarre video that Chairman Moe has ever attached to one of his blogs ...
9. See (to): TEND. I tend the Crossword Corner blog every two weeks ...
10. "Sure, let's!": I'M GAME. A bit about its origin
11. English Romantic painter: TURNER. A brief biography and some images of his paintings
12. Metallic sounds: CLANGS. This may be the most bizarre video that Chairman Moe has ever attached to one of his blogs ...
13. OutKast hit that asks, "What's cooler than being cool?": HEY YA. This might be the second most bizarre video that C-Moe has shared ...
21. Administered with a spoon: ORAL. This one almost gagged me (with a spoon) ...
22. Silent assents: NODS. Okay
23. Award won by Caitlin Clark: ESPY. Caitlin Clark wowed the basketball world with her gritty performance in the NCAA Tournament for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes this past March/April, and then went on to wow the WNBA with her Rookie of the Year performance for the Indiana Fever
24. Biryani butter: GHEE. Moe-ku #2:
What's the best butter?
Some say Irish; I say GHEE.
Just to clarify ...
[groan]
28. Bad-mouth: DIS. Are you in the "one S" camp, or the two? Dis versus diss
29. Stockpile: HOARD. After my Mom passed away, and I was left to go through her stuff, I realized just how much of a hoarder she was
30. Peculiar: ODD. Couldn't this be "EVEN"?? The word peculiar has eight letters ... just sayin'
31. Grassy meadow: LEA. For as many times as I've seen the word "lea" in crossword puzzles, I don't think I've ever used it (in everyday conversation) to describe a grassy meadow
35. Org. with moms, dads, and educators: PTA.
36. Operated: RAN.
37. Post-dubbing title: SIR.
38. Workout regimen with tire flipping: CROSSFIT. Oh, to be young again ...
39. Dramatic beginning: ACT I. This is more of a Friday clue
40. Filing tool: RASP.
41. Bygone jets, briefly: SSTS.
42. __ cut: CREW. BUZZ also fit
43. Essence of an idea: KERNEL. This seems kinda corny, to me
45. Displayed boredom: YAWNED. I thought that you yawned to get more oxygen into your lungs ...
46. Warhol genre: POP ART. Why didn't I think of this??? Could've made a fortune
47. Scares: ALARMS. The verb form
48. Sings jazzy nonsense syllables: SCATS. She was the best
52. Farm insects: ANTS. Some might argue that ants were the original colonists
53. L.A. nabe with an arts district: NO HO. Short for North Hollywood
54. Animal on "XING" signs: DEER. Have you ever seen a deer actually cross at one of these signs??
55. Cathedral area: NAVE. APSE fits, too
59. __ Speedwagon: REO. Last of the videos ...
60. Cop to: OWN. See you all in 2025 ... Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays!
24 comments:
When I got to “keys and parrots,” it finally dawned on me what was going on. Pretty dern clever, if you ask me. Anyway, in spite of a few obscurities (“Hey Ya,” anyone?) the rest of the puzzle fell into place without too much difficulty. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
This one was doable, but not as smooth as a well-boiled icicle. Cute theme, although Cons and PAWNS don't rhyme to my ear. Nicely done, Alan. Enjoyed your expo, C-Moe. (Some neighbors put up a DEER Xing sign. The deer like to hang out in the next-door woodlot. Occasionally one of them gets injured dashing across the road in front of an oncoming car.)
At 1D, "up" means "ahead in points", so if you "finished" (while) "up" that means you WON.
Friday puzzle. Iceandkneasy, kinda.
Greet the day.
FIR. Never got the theme till I got here. I spent the entire solve confused as to what the theme was. Oh well.
Typical Friday fare. Never heard of "Hey Ya" and threw down apse before nave.
This was not my cup of tea, but it's done, so there's that.
Took 9:15 to finish today, although I never caught on to the theme.
Truthfully, I (wishfully) thought this was themeless - considering there were no "?" following the four long across answers. More themeless puzzles are on my wish list ... every year.
Etoile was entirely perped, Turner was unknown, and "acti" took a long time to parse. But, I know "Hey ya".
Took me 21:25 for the FIR, about par for Friday difficulty wise. I may have heard the term “spoonerism” before but didn’t know what it was till today, very clever theme and construction from Alan. Took a bit to suss out DISCO ERA, cuz I didn’t equate Summer’s “Hot Stuff” with Donna. KERNEL and ETOILE were perped, my last fill being a WAG at the EL in TELE. I don’t own any EGO equipment but I see a vast array of it at Lowe’s. I have about a dozen DEER XING into my yard every day for a handout of corn and silage, all does and fawns as the bucks pretty much stay in hiding. Thanks Alan for the Friday challenge and to Moe for the write up, always like the Moe-kus!
FLN - sumdaze, I don’t recall if there was pickled okra in the Bloody Mary 🍹 at SRQ, might have had a spear of pickled asparagus, nature’s swizzle stick. The empanada made for a tasty side though!
Yeah, and the constructor of that grid a coupla days ago would say "finished all?" Not that I hold a grudge or anything.
Happy Friday; Chris did your last puzzle blog (see December 6, 2024) which did not have individual fill as part of the theme inspire you to try this style where you intersperse theme answers in their numerical place in the write-up? I guess I am old fashioned as I found it a No-ku. Okay a cheap attempt to steal Moe's unique approach, but the fact is his write-up pointed out all that I found deficient, e.g. MALDON flaked salt. All I know about this salt variation is that you can make it at home with virtually no-cost. EGO lawn mowers? I live in condo and haven't mowed a lawn in 20+ years. The puzzle itself felt uneven with spoonerisms a popular theme, but PAWN and CON are not close as Moe said. Alan is not a newbie (noobie) having published 2 NYT- 2/14/2022 and 9/5/2023 as well as a Wall Street Journal On August 1 this year. Have you all finished your holiday gift shopping? I haven't. So I must go, thanks Chris a very fair and entertaining write-up, Alan welcome to the LA Times and the Corner who publish a rare blog dedicated to that venue.
FIW, not catching my silly mistake at SlED (lower case L) AND HOLDERS. herd->WADS, raft->MULE, lire->LIRA, anti->ACT I, and cays->KEYS.
Florida isn't in the Caribbean, and I don't remember seeing KEY used while I sailed around in the USVI and BVI. Lots of cays though. Probably not technically wrong, but kind of Ugly American to force our spelling on their geography.
Technically wrong would be THERM for "gas meter unit." Gas meters units are cubic feet, period. It is the gas company's billing system that determines how many THERMs are in those cubic feet, based on the grade of the natural gas supplied.
Other than those two problems, I really enjoyed this puzzle. My favorites were Summer's Hot Stuff and Bath flower? Thanks to Alan for the fun run, and to our Chairman for the fine review and kus.
We're a Greenworks house.
Started this one late last night (after our office Christmas party) and was stumped on just what the heck was going on.
Started fresh this morning and finally sussed it out.
Enjoyable puzzle.
Forgot to add: According to Bing, "...about 200 people die from deer-vehicle collisions annually. Deer are considered the deadliest animal in America due to car fatalities." I suspect the deer don't come out of the collisions too well either.
I'm a sucker for Spoonerisms as well as misdirected clues, so I enjoyed today's puzzle on both counts. As a singer, probably my favorite misdirection was 5 Across, " A neighbor."
Jice nob, Alan. Dell won!
Good Morning:
It took me a few minutes to figure out the gimmick, but I can’t say that helped with the rest of the solve. Spoonerisms are cute and comical, but I prefer more challenging and complex themes, especially in a Friday puzzle. Props to Alan for creativity and imagination, but this was not an enjoyable solve for me.
Thanks, Alan, and thanks, Moe, for your honest and straightforward critique. Enjoyed the Moe-kus, as always, and your tongue-in-cheek humor. Loved the Deer Crossing Guard comic.
Have a great day.
Fun puzzle, Alan, and congrats on your LAT debut!
It took longer to get the theme than it did to solve. It was rethinking CROOK AND NANNY as NOOK AND CRANNY that gave me the theme.
Chairman Moe, thanks for the review. FLAKED was easy enough to figure out, but I am not familiar with their product and don't recall ever hearing of the sea.
I do get one product that is made in England. Red currant jelly. Specifically Tiptree red currant jelly, via Amazon. DW needs it for one of her Christmas cookies recipes, and red is hard to find in any local stores.
Even worse are feral hog collisions, since their center of gravity is so low. Not as populous as deer, though, thus a lower rating.
Musings
-A real treat on every level especially when the gimmick dawned on me.
-My EGO mower battery last 3 ½ years but I was promised a lot more. Hello Toro.
-Yesterday they told you you would not go far
That night you open and there you are
Next day on your dressing room
They've hung a STAR
Let's go, on with the show
-Ya gotta have some white hair to get this: My fav radio station was was 1290, just after the right-hand symbol
-Crossword standards: Flower that rhymes with blower and Number that rhymes with dumber
-Supervising final exams today that kids are doing on computers. The better students can opt out and so there are very few kids in each class.
Musings 2
-This just in. I asked the teacher next door and she said getting exempt from finals has nothing to do with academics. The kids who are exempted from taking finals are ones who have missed fewer than four days and have had no disciplinary referrals. She further said this has really helped with absenteeism. I have only two kids this period, one took a week-long hunting vacation in South Dakota and the other suffered a concussion in softball.
Husker, I'll bet that AM radio station is all talk today...like practically every other AM station in the country.
"Florida isn't in the Caribbean"- neither are the BAHAMAS but some TV weathermen seem to think they are. KEYS are low limestone islands formed by land rising. The Carribean is ringed by mountainous islands to the north and east.
Back in 1967 one of my HS teammates was driving his cousin's VW and hit a COW. Totaled that VW.
Only 5 more shopping days until Christmas. Good morning.
This puzzle was baffling me for about 15 minutes. Like Subgenius,when I'd filled AND PARROTS theV8 hit me after I'd changed SNORED to YAWNED. ETOILE, Frawnch for the Prima ballerina star, and KERNAL opened everything up and I noticed it was not "___out" but "___cut". My CHEW out became CREW cut. My radio dial(don't touch that dial, and listen to our message from one of our sponsors) went from a RESET to SET AT.
HOLDERS came by perps only due to the spoonerism. No idea about that fill.
I know what a THERM is but have never known it to be a 'meter unit', only 'thousand cubic feet' or BTUs. Gas(oline)'s meter units are gallons and litres.
DISCO ERA- listen to the song and she's definitely horny and on the prowl. She must have HOARD around.
EGO, FLAKED, TURNER, HEY YA, NO HO,- BARON thank you perps.
Not too hard except for one trouble spot, the center of the west coast. I got the theme with peas and carrots. It helped with crook and nanny. I agree with others, to my ear Pawn and Con have different vowel sounds. But, some people do pronounce Don and Dawn alike. They say La for Law and Pa for Paw.
I knew Etoile. EGO was all perps.
When I go to pick up Alan I see many deer that cross country roads. When deer cross busy highways sometimes I see a DEER CROSSING sign. It means in that general area, not that specific spot. Deer on the highway are so dangerous in the dark. When you stop for one, you should wait for others to follow.
LIU. I see that OutKast is a rap duo. The capital K is a clue. They have a song called Hey Ya! News to me.
Favorite clue was bath flower.
Fun puzzle and write up.
Canadian here (but not CanadianEh!) with a question for D-O and Lemonade and maybe many, many others: To my northern ear, "Con" and "Pawn" sound exactly the same. How do they differ to you? Thank you, and thanks to C.C. for this wonderful blog.
Post a Comment