SKYFALL
a gratuitous Daniel Craig for C.C.
A clever puzzle from a constructor I've had the pleasure to blog before, Juneteenth this year. The same "word" moving - that is, falling - through the grid, yet always in the same position relative to the edge of the puzzle. Not an easy task to accomplish without using the "word" as itself and stay within the vernacular, too. The grid has mirror symmetry, four unique fills (*) a handful of names ( but ones we see constantly in crosswords ) the same # of TLW & 4LWs (22), and a Moe ( per Splynter ) rating of 4 out of 5⭐. The theme fill falls thusly;
20. "Take time to consider ... ": * ASK YOURSELF
40. 1983 Tom Cruise teen comedy: * RISKY BUSINESS
47. Hangout for a long-distance couple: * SKYPE DATE
60. Chicken Little's warning, and an apt title for this puzzle?: THE SKY IS FALLING
ACROSS:
1. Lawyer Goodman in the "Breaking Bad" franchise: SAUL - With the spin-off series "Better Call Saul" - I have watched neither series, and reduced my TV bill from $105/mo. to $20/mo. by "dropping" Disney and ESPN - I just don't watch much TV
10. Deliberate loss: DIVE - TANK did not fit with my DOWNS
14. Workforce addition: HIRE - usually with "new"
15. New __, India: DELHI
16. Gulf States title: EMIR
17. Actor Idris: ELBA - name #1, but we see it all the time
18. City in Provence: ARLES
23. "Tiny Bubbles" singer: DON HO - we had this recently; name #2
25. Scepter companion: ORB - The Crown Jewels of the UK - more here
26. Under-the-sink piece: P-TRAP
29. "Looking for" shorthand: ISO - In Search Of . . . . also a TV series hosted by Leonard Nimoy and "Skinner" from the X-files, with its own spin-off (if you will ) called "Ancient Aliens"
34. Sunday __: dread of returning to work on Monday: SCARIES - I had the Sunday Scaries for school when I was a youngster - hearing the theme of the PBS show "All Creatures Great & Small" starting up for the closing credits meant bedtime, and I knew I hadn't done my book report . . . .
The theme song
36. Fossil-preserving spots: TAR PITS
38. Fast-__ restaurant: CASUAL - never heard of this; filled via perps
39. Shaped: MOLDED - I had FORMED first
44. NNW opposite: SSE
45. Tempe sch.: ASU - Arizona State University
46. Automated spammer: 'BOT
52. "Pokémon" protagonist Ketchum: ASH - no clue; the "S" was my last fill; name #4
56. Newcastle Brown __: ALE
57. Shearing day sound: BAA
64. Code with dits and dahs: MORSE
65. "The Batman" actress Kravitz: ZOE - Daughter of Lenny Kravitz & Lisa Bonet; name #5
66. Barista canvas: LATTE - canvas as in the "art" in the cream/froth atop an espresso
68. Stop: END
69. Pollinators that can see in the ultraviolet spectrum: BEES
DOWN:
1. Feminine pronoun: SHE -or "HER"~? I do the DOWNS first, but I WAGed correctly
3. Green spot in a concrete jungle: URBAN OASIS * - I see this is an HGTV show, too
4. Obedience school item: LEASH - I'm going to need me some dog food & supplies soon
5. Dec. 25, for Justin Trudeau: BDAY - Dah~! I was going to fill in "B-DAY", but I thought I was the only one who abbreviated it this way....
6. Digs into new digs, say: REROOTS - not MOVES IN
7. Magnetic power: ALLURE - my buddy Adam owns a restaurant of this name, sorta
9. Radiator sound: HISS - my house has baseboards, but they still "radiate" - much preferred over the forced-air system in my parents house
10. Gave a hand: DEALT - not AIDED -- a "hand" as in a poker game. Very clever
11. "Sorry, but it's true": "I'M AFRAID SO." - two of the last three clues fooled me~? I'm afraid so. . . .
12. Passing through: VIA
13. Hosp. triage units: ERs
21. Alaskan bear: KODIAK
22. Filmmaker Nora: EPHRON - I am sure you've seen at least ONE of her movies - her IMDb; name #6
23. __ jockey: DISC
24. Academy honors: OSCARS - I had the wrong academy in mind - see below, 37D.
27. Subj.-specific exam for the college-bound: AP TEST - Advanced Placement - I took the classes, but only one of the tests
28. Condition that may be treated with exposure therapy, for short: PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - George Carlin's take on the "words" - ** WARNING** may be considered "political"
31. Count (on): RELY
32. Roman of "The Ms. Pat Show": TAMI - no idea; filled via perps; her IMDb; name #7
35. Sly tactics: RUSES
37. Academy cadet: PLEBE
41. Christen: BAPTIZE
43. Decongestant brand: SUDAFED
48. Palmer of "Nope": KEKE - also no clue, her Wiki; name #8
49. "Woo-hoo!": "YAY~!"
50. __ mode: À LA
51. Bluffer's giveaway: TELL - more poker
52. Cash dispensers: ATMs
53. Wave away: "SHOO~!"
54. Foot-long sandwich: HERO - I just had one for the first time in a looong time for lunch Friday
57. Orthodontist's instruction: BITE - yeah. but meh.
58. Poker game starter: ANTE - and yet more poker
59. Range listed on board games: AGES - ah; did not make sense until it filled in
62. Daughter's brother: SON - did you have to "think" about this~? I did - too funny. How about this~? My aunt married the brother of her mother's second husband - try and figure that one out . . . .
63. Bunsen burner setting: LAB - ah. Not "LOW"
Splynter
One Week 'til Christmas~!
43 comments:
“Ash” “Ale” - totally obscure clues for common three letter words drive me nuts. They distract from what is otherwise a pretty clever puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Actually, I misspoke. That should be “detract” rather than “distract” (although, that too!)
Good morning!
Not so good, actually. D-o experienced a mid-week crash and burn. It's been ages since I've seen the Muppets, and have never seen The Pat Show. There were several options for the crossing consonant, and d-o went with the S. Bzzzzzt. On the plus side, it took under five minutes to reach the abasement. Thanx, Daniel and Splynter.
FIR, but stat->SOON, custard->SHERBERT, and ephram->EPHRON (UNTIE!)
I thought the puzzle had some bright spots, but that every ounce of fun was extracted by all the pop culture / A&E crap.
The late, great Jimmy Buffett was also born on 12/25. An educated guess would be that about 0.3% of us were born on that day. That's a lot of folks.
Age ranges are also listed on jigsaw puzzles, The old, tired joke: Why was the Valley Girl so proud when SHE finished the jigsaw puzzle? Because it only took her a month, and the box said 3-6 years!
CSO to my sweet greyhound ZOE.
FLN: NYC vs Chicago pizza: I thought this was a no-religion zone.
Thanks to Splynter for another fine review.
Oh, I forgot - she married her step-uncle?
FIR. There were a lot of tricky clues, and way too many proper names, but in all cases the perps saved the Wednesday.
When i got all done I failed to see the theme. Once here, and seeing it explained, I went back and did a head slap. Never noticed it first time around. Guess it didn't matter to the solve.
But overall, a fair puzzle. And it's done, so there's that.
Or could be her uncle - don't know from the story if her father was her mom's DH1.0 or DH2.0. Your grandfather or step-grandfather.
And it's not as creepy as it sounds. I've known people who were born before their uncle/aunt. Still got that "family tree with only one branch" thing goin' for her.
Wednesday puzzle. Several clues and answers seemed out of place in their relationship….just me??
Greet the day.
Took 5:42 to avoid being a buttinSKY.
Luckily, we had none of those peSKY circles.
Well, my view was quite obscured by clouds, namely SAUL, DR TEETH, ASH, ZOE, TAMI, and KEKE, but thanks to perps the sun eventually popped out in 15:53 for a FIR. Quite the challenge for a Wednesday IMO. Thank you Daniel for your fine work.
Splynter ~ I was in NYC last week and thought of you when I saw the most beautiful pipe organs at St, Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity Church, St. Mary’s Episcopal, and the twins at Radio City Music Hall, was wondering if you ever worked on any of those?
Musings
-This may have set a Wednesday record for easy fill with odd cluing
-SAUL Goodman came from the character frequently saying “It’s all good man”
-Debate continues on whether Sonny Liston took a DIVE in his fight with Cassius Clay
-I am subbing for a shop teacher who has been fired, uh, allowed to resign. The search is on for a new HIRE. FWIW, no one seems to know what he did.
-My wife’s AAA purchases come in packs of 60
-SHERBET joins the ranks of “most misspelled/mispronounced words”
-Teddy’s TELL in the movie Rounders that let Matt Damon’s character beat him
Good Morning:
This had a bit of crunch, but nothing too onerous. I needed perps for Dr. Teeth, Tami, and Ash and I tripped over Noel/BDay and Formed/Molded. I noticed the Sky repetition, but the reveal was still a nice surprise. All in all, a Wednesday-worthy solve.
Thanks, Daniel, and thanks, Splynter, for your keen analysis and observations. Is a dog still on your wish list or has it become a reality? The newer theme song of ACGAS is much more melodic and befitting to the story, IMO.
I am suffering (silently) with a miserable head cold, sore throat and cough. I had to cancel two appointments today but, hopefully, this bout will be short-lived and won’t interfere with Christmas.
Have a great day.
Well done, Daniel. You not only have the word "sky" in four answers, but you somehow had the skill and patience to place them directly over each other, in squares 4-6.
There were quite a few proper names in the puzzle, which generally raises my hackles. But these were for the most part not obscure folks. I am always delighted to see the talented wriiter and director Nora Ephron in a puzzle: "Silkwood," "When Harry Met Sally" ("I'll have what she's having"), "Sleepless in Seattle"....
I enjoyed the misdirection clues like "Gave a hand." Thanks again, Daniel, for a fun and clever Wednesday solve that showed great diiligence.
Wounded Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Daniel and Splynter.
Count me in with d’otto as a crash and burn. I guessed DR mEEcH, which gave me REROOmS (which matched one definition of “digs”). I had fOLDED instead of MOLDED (origami anyone?), which renamed the unknown-to-me TAMI as cAFI.
But I did see the SKY FALL (DIVE), although for symmetry, I really would have liked another SKY at 34A).
This Canadian knew Justin’s BDAY is Christmas Day. His younger brother, Alexandre, was born on Christmas Day two years after him.
(He may not be celebrating this Christmas as he ponders stepping down after the last few chaotic days. And will you please tell your POTUS-elect to stop calling him Governor, and musing about Canada as your 51st state. We are NOT amused.). No more politics!
CSO to Misty with WOOHOO.
Wishing you all a great day.
A LOT of us are not amused either, and your taking offense is justifiable 😊.
Would you be happier as a US Protectortorate? You could keep your own government, and wouldn't need a passport to go to Florida for the winter. Just trying to be helpful;-)
Bit of a hump day, but very sussable. The only thing that has me scratching my head is: 42. Play for a pawn: USE. I can't seem to wrap my head around it. Nope, no V8 can, I just don't get it... use just doesn't seem pawn specific...
Splynter sent me down memory lane with the childhood theme music. While I don't recall all creatures great and small, The Peter Gunn theme comes to mind. But most of all, this theme sticks out. The 1st comment nailed it:
this theme reminds me of being up too late as a kid, when I heard this I knew it was past my bedtime...
Just to add,
These days I seem to watch more old YouTube than anything else, current TV shows are just not "must see" anymore. So I went back to the 50's for some classic entertainment, when I realized that I had not seen this Anne Francis (Forbidden Planet/bad day at black rock etc...) drama before, I was in for a treat. But what stood out was the theme music! It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I remembered hearing it, but it was a long forgotten memory... this is a good episode if you want some good old time drama...
LOL Jinx - only if you let us keep our British spelling and hot tea!
Hey, Daniel, I watched The Muppet Show but DNK DR TEETH; never heard of Sunday SCARIES; thought "formed" was a better answer than MOLDED; DNK ASH as clued; DNK ZOE as clued; DNK TAMI; DNK KEKE although I watched and liked "Nope"; and like CrossEyedDave at 9:59 AM, I have no clue about the pawn clue at 42 Down.
FIR but didn't love it. Saw the SKYs but didn't appreciate how they fell in a straight line until Splynter explained it. Thanks, Splynter!
I had one bad cell, the T in Dr. Teeth and Reroot. Apparently Dr. Teeth has been around since the 1975 when my kids were 12 and 14, way past Sesame Street age.
Perps and wags gave me Keke, Ash, Zoe and Tami. Ale was a gimme.
A pawn is someone who "is being controlled by others and used for their own advantage."
I use Bday, too. My Bday is Dec, 25, like Trudeau. I get all kinds of butterfly cards, jewelry, and decorations. I love it. I call butterflies my totem.
My orthodontist asked me to bite several times while getting my implants. Now dentists have "a process that uses a small wand and software to create a 3D image of a patient's teeth." You don't have t bite into a gel like substance to make an impression.
An aunt and her niece were both in my class the same year.
Brash and brazen have different origins, so why flag them?
I enjoyed my mental health day yesterday and am back in the harness today.
Hola!
THE SKY IS FALLING! We may well feel that way during the next our years. Oh, but I digress. Thank you, Daniel Hrynick, for the puzzle. Though I never saw "Breaking Bad" I'm familiar enough with the catch phrase to know it.
I always loved school so I never had the Sunday SCARIES and have never heard that term.
We've had a plethora of SKY news this week with reports of unknown objects flying around.
CSO at ASU.
I love Nora EPHRON'S movies! She died too young.
Sigh. Edris ELBA in the puzzle.
Luckily KEKE was filled by perps. I once had a student nicknamed KIKI; somehow it was short for Enrique.
YAY! Once week before Christmas!
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!
IrishMiss
I'm so sorry you are suffering from a head cold. Those are so miserable. I hope you soon recover.
Unusually easy for a humpday puzzle. THE SKY IS FALLING AND ITS FULL IF DRONES
Started to fill POLAR which obviously didn’t work 🐻
The “Ms Pat Show”? DEALT, oh as in playing cards! Never heard of Fast-CASUAL (more like a Saturday level clue). Saw “NOPE” but as usual don’t remember the cast. “Shearing day sound” “Don’t cut too close!!” ✂️ 🐑
So… then how could an Olympic DIVEr deliberately lose? “
Spine surgeon: ____ “jockey” …. DISC
Hershey research facility: Chocolate ____ …. LAB
Jig, minnow, or worm …. ALLURE
Canada Eh, don’t get angry with us. We may soon need to bring our kids across the border to get vaccinated
Hand up impressed with the FALLING SKY theme and construction. Hand up struggled with DR TEETH/REROOTS/TAMI. Learning moment about REROOTS. FIR.
This nice young man was giving me a demonstration of using Virtual Reality for EXPOSURE THERAPY for PTSD for US war in Iraq veterans.
When you put the Virtual Reality headset on, the effect is powerful. My friend at UCSB Psychology Jack Loomis was a pioneer in this technology. He had me trying to walk on a narrow beam high above a chasm. Even though I knew I was standing in his LAB I found it very difficult.
Has anyone else had this experience?
Well hell's bells. Pawn made perfect sense to me until you said that. Now I remember Yes singing:
Make the white queen run so fast she hasn't got time to make you wife
'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and it's news is captured for the queen to use
Move me on to any black square
Use me anytime you want
Obviously, a bishop.
A little crunchy, but managed to FIR. Last area to fall was the North Central. Didn't notice that the sky was falling until Splynter warned me! Where's Chicken Little when you need him?
Would someone explain to me what TLW & 4LWs (22) means? referring to symmetry - this is at the end of Splynter's opening paragraph. Thank you
A clever puzzle and theme. I love Keke Palmer as host of the gameshow Password with Jimmy Fallon.
Manageable Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Daniel. And thanks for your commentary too, Splynter. Take good care of yourself, Irish Miss. And thank you for remembering me, CanadianEh!
Well, with a BRASH theme like THE SKY IS FALLING we can expect an unhappy END, I'M AFRAID SO. We were warned that there were SCARIES and that things were RISKY with all those RUSES and the warnings that we might DIVE.
But we were also given an URBAN OASIS where we might have a more CASUAL life in which we could RELY on a HERO or an EMIR to protect us. This gives us some ALLURE to plan to EAT some good snacks and drink some ALE and watch the OSCARS. Not a bad life to hope for.
Have a good and cheerful day, everybody.
YP here Three Letter Words, four letter words
It was a slow Wed. fill for me. Unknown people filled by perps-ZOE, DR TEETH, ASH, TAMI,SAUL,KEKE. Never heard of the Sunday SCARIES. BDAY for Trudeau? Who cares, as he's on the way out.
I never saw RISKY BUSINESS but have heard of it.
Is a SKYPE DATE followed by physical activity?
Is that all from me today? I'M AFRAID SO.
If you’re going to number all the (ridiculous) names, why didn’t 1A count ?
I would have known "singer Dee who performed on Elton John's first UK #1 hit" for KiKi. Close enough for me to mispel in either case.
DNF. I didn’t come up with the T of DR TEETH and TAMI.Many of the proper names were unknown to me but perps helped me fill them.
When I saw Gulf Stares, of course I was looking for one of the states on the Gulf of Mexico. After some reflection I came up with the APT answer.
Well someone had to be born on Christmas Day. Interesting that Trudeau’s brother would be born on that date. And now Yellowrocks.
Thank you Splynter for your nice recap. I needed your explanation of the FALLING SKY theme.
I liked the falling SKY construction. It reminds me of a SKYFALL puzzle C.C. published a few years ago. Some of the rest of the puzzle I liked and some not so much, pretty much along the same lines as many of you.
Puzzling thoughts:
First off, thanks Splynter for the Moe-like, 4 star review of today's puzzle. I am a bit tougher on my grading (as you'll see on Friday) than you are
Second, a very cleverly constructed puzzle showing the SKY falling. I solved today's puzzle starting with the reveal as I couldn't get a toehold in the NW corner. The Chicken Little clue gave it away, and from there I just had to figure out where the SKY was situated
Took me just under 13 minutes to solve, which is a bit longer than normal for a Wednesday puzzle these days. I had two errors: REROOMS before REROOTS and CAMI before TAMI. DR TEETH was the culprit
Yellowrocks at 10:45 AM solved the mystery of the pawn. Thanks, YR!
16 names by my count, but only DNK 7. Perps big help with the name-fest. I first looked for SKY to be in the verticals, but no. Took a while, but I persisted and finally spotted them, so got the clever theme. Other than the name-fest, which seems to be standard now on CWs, this was a clever and fun CW. No W/Os, 14 minutes to FIR. 26A "Under-the-sink piece" = PTRAP. Seems like a PTRAP should be under the toilet, not the sink. But who am I to tell anyone how to use their sink. Thanx DH, and thanx big to Splynter for the terrific write-up, and for including some pictures of shapely female legs. Reminds me of the ZZ Top song. Splynter, I looked at the incredible job done on Notre Dame restoration, and read a comment that every pipe on the pipe organ was cleaned, inside and out. What a job!! What a magnificent pipe organ, too!!
CED - you USE pawns for defense, sacrifice, or attack. But people, who'd be described as pawns are always used by the bourgeoisie :-)
Jinx - YES!
I'll comment on the puzzle later when I have more time. More folks, apparently, are swarming for the holidays! Gotta prep.
Thanks to Daniel for today's puzzle. I enjoyed the clever construction but C-EH!@9:20 has a good point about only one of the themers being above the equator. Nevertheless, the vertical alignment was impressive. I had a one-box FIW at REbOOTS. FAV was Barista canvas.
My bro had the good fortune of looking a lot like Tom Cruise did when RISKY BUSINESS came out. His dating life got a huge boost.
I-M. Sorry to hear about your head cold. As you know, rest & liquids are the Rx.
Thanks to the Cornerites who recommended Ted Lasso and Cosmic Crisp apples! Excellent suggestions! You people are the best!
Thanks also, to Splynter for his insightful review! So is your aunt's mother now also her SIL?
Oh! IM, if you are not hypertensive, SUDAFED (or pseudoephedrine, generic) may be a big help in managing the head-cold.
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