Theme: "Quality Time" - Common phrases that start with the synonyms of
"top quality" are reinterpreted as "Quality of good ...", matching the
second word in each theme answer with the profession in each
corresponding clue.
23. Quality of good mediums?: PREMIUM CHANNELS.
33. Quality of good photographers?: PARAMOUNT PICTURES.
53. Quality of good pyrotechnicians?: GREAT BALLS OF FIRE.
70. Quality of good detectives?: BEST-CASE SCENARIOS.
91. Quality of good gourd farmers?: SMASHING PUMPKINS.
108. Quality of good politicians?: FIRST CLASS TICKETS.
124. Quality of good architects?: EPIC PROPORTIONS.Hmm, I thought the answer for "Quality of ...." would be an abstract noun, no?
Otherwise,
the theme entries are all consistent and sparkling. Notice how few
proper names and abbrs in this grid. Not surprising from two of our best
Sunday puzzle makers.
Across:
5. "How dull": BLAH.
9. "Hot Shots!" or "Hot Fuzz": SPOOF. "Hot Shots!" is a parody of "Rambo". What about "Hot Fuzz"?
14. Harden of the NBA: JAMES. With the Clippers now.
19. Hankering: URGE.
20. Garter trim: LACE. I've never worn a garter.
21. Amp input: AUDIO.
22. Grove fruit: OLIVE.
26. Lower arm bones: ULNAE.
27. Click a magic link: LOG ON. Magic link is password-less.
28. Seed cover: ARIL. The seeds of a pomegranate are called ARILS.
29. Puts into play: USES.
31. "Curious": ODD.
32. Italian time piece?: ORA. Italian for "hour".
39. Sojutsu weapon: SPEAR.
41. Ten hundos: ONE G.
42. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB.
43. Colorful reef fish: WRASSE. We also have 135. Move like a fish: SWIM. And 4. Pixar fish: NEMO. Tom Pepper was just snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef last week.
47. Tap annoyance: DRIP.
49. Cutoffs material: DENIM.
59. Like some romance novels: RACY.
60. Playroom detritus: TOYS.
61. Grape also known as shiraz: SYRAH. I want to taste them.
62. Is more efficient, in a way: SAVES GAS.
64. Have a bond with?: OWE TO. In the sense of "I owe it all to him", right?
66. "A Dream Within a Dream" poet: POE.
68. Wild house party: RAGER.
69. Formicarium pet: ANT. Formicarium is an ant farm.
76. In the way of?: ALA.
78. Landlord's document: LEASE.
79. Life game piece: CAR.
80. "__ of the Dead": zom-com starring Simon Pegg: SHAUN.
83. Embers: HOT COALS.
85. Warmest temps: HIGHS.
89. Some fried pods: OKRA.
90. Soft repetition: ECHO.
96. Stroll: MOSEY.
98. "Crescent City" novelist Sarah J. __: MAAS. Don't know her. But happy with the new clue angle.
99. Desert north of the Sahel: SAHARA.
100. Innocent one: NAIF.
103. "Modern Family" dad Dunphy: PHIL.
105. Point __: Northern California cape: REYES.
115. Homer's "neighborino": NED.
117. Biomolecule in some vaccines: RNA.
118. Palette shades: HUES.
119. Actor Rickman: ALAN.
120. Talent show host: EMCEE.
122. "They were with me all day," e.g.: ALIBI.
129. Red Sea republic: YEMEN. 34. Many 129-Across residents: ARABS.
130. "The Birds" actress Hedren: TIPPI. Dakota Johnson is her granddaughter.
131. Check, as a cake for doneness, e.g.: POKE.
132. Composer Satie: ERIK.
133. Reek: STINK.
134. Sneer at: SCORN.
136. Volleyball fixtures: NETS.
Down:
3. Sibling statistic: AGE GAP.
5. __-ray disc: BLU.
6. "Poetic Justice" rapper Kendrick: LAMAR. He won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
7. Ghana's capital: ACCRA.
8. Pronoun pair: HE/HIM.
9. __ Marino: SAN.
10. Basis of many a popsicle stick joke: PUN.
11. Reverent poem: ODE.
12. Prepare to shine in a bodybuilding contest?: OIL UP.
13. Mary Anning find: FOSSIL. I don't know this lady. Wikipedia says she's a fossil collector and a paleontologist.
14. Participated in a Renaissance sport: JOUSTED.
15. __ or nothing: ALL.
16. Inconsequential: MINOR.
17. Slip by: EVADE.
18. Crunchy salad toppers: SEEDS. I like macadamia nuts.
24. Not completely: IN PART.
25. __ paratha: Indian flatbread: ALOO. With mashed potatoes,
30. Friendly prefix: ECO.
35. Revert to a previous version: UNDO.
36. Football brand: NERF.
37. Quittin' time letters: TGIF.
38. Taxi alternatives: UBERS.
40. Discarded Apples?: E WASTE. Capitalized Apple.
44. "You can __ that again": SAY.
45. Camera shop purchase, briefly: SLR.
46. Slip by: ELAPSE.
48. Like Galileo and Fibonacci: PISAN.
50. "Madama Butterfly" setting: NAGASAKI. Literally "Long Cape" in Japanese.
51. "Not if __ help it!": I CAN.
52. PC adventure game: MYST.
53. Old Pontiac model: GTO.
54. Verbal spat: ROW.
55. Optic solutions: EYE BATHS.
56. Pump or clog: SHOE.
57. Framework for Indian classical music: RAGA.
58. On any occasion: EVER.
63. Judgement of Paris pot-stirrer: ERIS. The goddess of discord. She started the Trojan War.
65. Northern European capital: OSLO.
67. "Close this pop-up" key: ESC.
68. Puts a sail back up: RE-RIGS.
71. 73-Down exports: TEAS.
73. Northeast Indian region: ASSAM.
72. Feeling after a deep breath: CALM.
74. "It's Magic" lyricist Sammy: CAHN.
75. "Well then, fine": OH OKAY.
76. "If I may ... ": AHEM.
77. Motion opening?: LOCO. Locomotion.
81. Hot water holder: URN.
82. Grammy winning rapper Lil __ X: NAS. Known for his fashion sense.
84. Joel and Ethan of Hollywood: COENS.
86. Valedictorian stat: GPA.
87. "I didn't catch that": HUH.
88. "I like your thinking!": SMART. And 97. "Thanks, Captain Obvious!": YA THINK.
92. Suckers: SAPS.
93. Skeptic's laughs: HAHS. And
94. Skeptic's question: IS IT.
95. Activate at a designated time: PRESET.
101. Post-op ward: ICU.
102. Battleship groups: FLEETS.
104. Whopper maker: LIAR.
106. Last song at a concert, often: ENCORE.
107. "I watched that already": SEEN IT.
108. Shreds at the edge: FRAYS.
109. Sound of the sea?: INLET. Not the noise.
110. "Spider-Man" films director Sam: RAIMI.
111. Meaty jelly: ASPIC.
112. Trotting noises: CLOPS.
113. "Smack!": KAPOW.
114. Long mushroom: ENOKI. The Chinese way. Very cheap in China.
116. Classroom furniture: DESKS.
121. Outward manner: MIEN.
123. "Paddington" voice actor Whishaw: BEN.
125. Mkt. debut: IPO.
126. First aid training, for short: CPR.
127. Brooch: PIN.
128. Sleep acronym: REM.
JD sent me this loving picture of her birthday celebration. Surreal to think that Truman was a only a baby when JD first joined us.
A few pictures of the Chinese New Year office lobby decoration and the flower market from my friend Lesley in Guangzhou.
29 comments:
Other than having to replace “tetras” with “wrasse” I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. And although I didn’t take the time to read the title, the theme seemed pretty clear. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
The long themers were all "in the language," so once a few perps were in place the fell easily. That really helped with the solve. This one took me 20 minutes -- well within my self-imposed time limit for a Sunday grid. Thanx, Amy, Katie, and C.C.
Like SubG I forgot to look at the title, but I did see who authored the puzzle and was glad it wasn’t Saturday 🤣. FIR in 28:57, my last fill being the S in ERIS/SHAUN. Perps bailed me out on SYRAH, MAAS, REYES, FOSSIL (anyone know Mary Anning?), RAIMI and PHIL. I know ALOO as a potato dish, so I hesitated at the flatbread clue. DNK that OLIVEs are a fruit or that they grow in groves. All in all, an enjoyable Sunday solve, thank you Amy and Katie, and thank you C.C. for your write up!
Ladies, thank you. Fleek.
Quality of good saute chefs? AWESOME SAUCE
I did not know what a popsicle joke was, and couldn't recall if I'd ever heard of a popsicle joke. I only noticed the word stick when reading the review. Still had to google it, and only then did I understand it. If my mother ever bought them, they would have been a generic store brand.
Happy Lunar New Year to C.C. Year of the Snake. More specifically, the wood snake this time. The wood snake last occurred in 1965. There was coverage from Chicago's Chinatown celebration of the kickoff of the Lunar New Year on last evening's news. I think they said it will last a week or more.
FIR, but anil->ARIL, thou->ONE G, pippi->TIPPI, smell->STINK, ease->CALM, and eye balms->EYE BATHS. Guessed at DUPLO x ORA, ERIS x SHAUN, and HAHS x MAAS, but all three were pretty easy guesses.
Magic link? Sounds like an invitation to a hack.
"Garter trim" could have been ONES, but perps wouldn't allow them. Guess I hang out at different bars than Katie and Amy.
Yesterday marked the day that our average HIGHS started to increase, from a chilly 50 degrees to a balmy 51 degrees. The important part is that we are finally getting warmer!
I know that TGIF gets all the ink, but I prefer POETS day - [Pee] On Everything, Tomorrow's Saturday.
Thanks to Amy and Katie for the fun. My favorite was "sound of the sea" for INLET. And thanks to CC for another fun review. Loved those beautiful flowers.
Took 15:24 today for me to finish this master class of a puzzle.
Eris, raga, aloo, Maas, Cahn, the fossil lady, and a few others were unknown, but I knew today's actress (Tippi).
Good Morning:
This was a pleasant Sunday solve with only a few unknowns: Wrasse, Maas, Duplo, Fossil, as clued, and Eris. The perps were fair, though, and the easily discernible theme made for a trouble-free and quick finish. My only stumble was Eye Drops/Eye Baths.
Thanks, Amy and Katie and thanks, CC, for the review and critique. Loved the flower photos!
Have a great day.
FIR, but I found this to be a tad crunchy. As a single dad raising a daughter from birth, I remembered duplo blocks. And legos after that, that I stepped on many times. Ouch!
Didn't know wrasse (?), and fought with the section where naif fell. I wanted so much to make waif fit! Oh well.
But the theme was clever, and a big help with the solve.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Totally agree that the theme was helpful in solving today's puzzle. And the three letter words were my best friends in getting those themers started! Thanks to Amy, Katie, Patti and C.C.
FIW. The cross of ALOO and ARIL was a Natick for me. Thought I had come across all the CW variants for Indian flatbreads but I guess I have to work on combination varieties as well. (Paratha is actually the flatbread?) Never heard of Sarah Maas, and it didn’t help that I had ASSAN and not ASSAM as the Indian tea region.
Are both HAH and HEH uttered by skeptics?
We are now forewarned that CC took a liking to MAAS as a crossword fill. My High School Biology teacher’s name was Mr. Maas. We took to calling him “Pete” (behind his back of course).
I dutifully entered letters and reached the bottom with no aha moments or chuckles. So, I rate this 2 yawns - based on my late-night movie rating system: 4 yawns is a great movie (struggled to stay awake because the movie was so good) vs. 1 yawn (where I'm asleep before the opening credits finish). My wife counts the yawns and is the final arbitrator. LOL
Pretty good puzzle this morning. Lots of names, lots of unknowns, (to me, at least) but fair perps and in-the-language themers got me the FIR. I really wanted STAYS BOUGHT for the good politician, but it was too short. Now, if we could only eliminate the annoying not-really-clue "verbalisms" this could have been a REALLY good puzzle!
Musings
-HAHS, HUHS or HEHS gave me one bad cell at MA_S on this clever puzzle. Even WRASSE and ERIS took care of themselves.
-JAMES Hardin is a prime example of a ball-hogging bad teammate with no championships
-While touring an OLIVE grove near Venice, our guide had us try a fruit right off the tree. Yikes!
-POE is a pretty good bet for a 3-letter poet
-I remember ALAN as the despicable Hans Gruber in Die Hard
-The AGE GAPS for my siblings was one year, one year, one year, 8 years. Oops!
-All modern science labs have EYEBATHS
-Breaking the Japanese code helped America to sink all four of their FLEET carriers at the Battle Of Midway
-Our HIGH temps are going to be in the 50’s this week! Fore!
-HBD, JD, and thanks for the lovely pix C.C.
I got the theme early and enjoyed coming up with answers. Lots of fun. I had á few erasures, wrong WAGS, encountered several unknowns like people’s names, LOEB, ALAN, RAIMI, BEN, but perps helped. Of course I knew the COENS since they’ve done some of my favorite movies.
Then I encountered my own little Natick in the center. MAAS on top of PHIL crossing HAHS and IS IT. In retrospect, I should have persevered.
All in all, á great puzzle I thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks CC for the lovely pictures.
Impressive theme with just a few fill nits. Once I got the theme, the long answers were easier than the fill. Hand up stuck with EASE before CALM and DROPS before BATHS. FIR.
Interesting learning moment about MARY ANNING. Worth reading her Wikipedia entry. Quite an impressive woman at a time when it was difficult.
Learning moment about unknown TIPPI. She helped get Vietnamese immigrant women into the nail business.
At first thought it was FORNICARIUM. Something one might find at a RAGER? I actually knew the connection between FORMICA and ANT.
Here I was at PARAMOUNT PICTURES at the start of a VIP tour.
Unfortunately, the photo quality was not PARAMOUNT. The camera was new and I did not realize when I handed it to someone to take my photo that they had pressed a button that threw off the exposure. I was privileged to do two different VIP tours at PARAMOUNT. It requires special connections that I only had on those occasions.
I think Amy and Katie came up with an interesting theme today, and overall the puzzle was nicely-constructed, with all those well-clued long themers.
I do concur with other commenters in a couple areas; first, that the use of verbalisms--those conversational throat-clearers like OHOKAY and SEENIT--should perhaps be reconsidered; and second, that obscure words and names should be widely separated from each other to avoid Naticks.
I felt the clues were by and large fresh and creative, led perhaps by my favorite, the misdirection at 109 D. I just wish there had been more misdirections!
Thanks again, Katie and Amy, for a polished and entertaining Sunday challenge; and to C.C., for your usual informative guidance.
Mary Anning , died 1847, started out as a beachcomber collecting and selling sea shells. She made many important discoveries of extinct sea creatures such as Icthyosaurs (sp?) . She wasn’t given much recognition until late in life because women couldn’t join scientific societies. She is supposed to be the inspiration for “She sells seashells down by the seashore…”
First entry after following y’all from the sidelines for years now. Many thanks to CC and all of the steadfast bloggers. Love the puns; love the links; love the camaraderie found here. Grateful for the explications, wonderful little community here. Are you all up in the wee hours doing the puzzles? The entries all precede my solving by hours. Just wanted to say hi, and thanks. Posting without a handle because I’m not savvy enough to figure out how to do that!
Interesting info on Mary Anning added to others’.
Good Sunday outing. A few problem areas but worked it out. Got the theme early on. I enjoyed the flower pics CC.
Thanks for chiming in and being so complimentary. Until you get yourself a handle and avatar, just identify yourself however you’d like, e.g., Sideline Spectator! That way, you’re no longer Anonymous! 😉
Thank you! Here I am. Don’t always have much to say, but perhaps now I will!
I don't know how good it is, but there was a movie about Mary Anning released in 2024 https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7468780/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
I took 64A to be using 'Bond' in the sense of 'evidence of a long term debt'. But, surely the lender has the Bond (which the borrower issued). The borrower owes (the debt) to the lender but doesn't really have the bond?
I started very late today after watching the Australian Open, trimming my dead vincas (periwinkles) that froze to death, and worked the puzzle while watching Washington fumble the game away against Philly. I FIR but never noticed the theme until l looked at "Quality Time" that was printed on top. I always cover up themes as they give away the puzzle.
I stumbled immediately, not having the slightest idea of the Lego brand and the WAG cross of DUPLO and ORA was my last fill. I had to WAG the cross of SHAUN and ERIS (as clued), unknowns. Other unknowns were SYRAH, BEN, PHIL, MAAS, ALOO, NAGASAKI.
I've owned three sailboats and you HOIST THE SAILS, not Rig the sails. The rigging is the set up- wires, masts, and sails. The last boat had a roller FURL for the jib/genoa. RERIG was all perps.
PUN- never heard of a "popsicle stick joke"
ARIL and ANIL are old crossword staples. They've disappeared along with Jai Alai and helot.
Tough, but very interesting Sunday puzzle--many thanks, Amy and Katie. And your commentary was a delight, C.C., especially with all those lovely pictures. I especially liked the one of Tippi Hedren, and those colorful flowers at the end were just a treasure. Thank you for that whole, pleasant survey.
Hola! Because I've stayed up too, too late I fell asleep on my chair and so I am late to post and i really wanted to comment on Mary Anning. Our book club read about her in the book "Remarkable Creatures" which describes her accidental journey into fame because she simply loved to comb the beach and save the shells and artifacts she found. She sorted them in her own way but of course, as has been mentioned, because she was a woman not much attention was given her at the time. Besides that she did not have a degree or was much educated or well known. Otherwise, the puzzle was straightforward in spite of a few ERRORS which are glaringly apparent with wite-out. I should know by now that any Indian bread is ALOO.
CAHN and COHN are always a dilemma for me. Today it was Sammy CAHN.
I believe I've passed by Point REYES but I can't be sure.
I first saw ALAN Rickman in "Sense and Sensibility" as the love interest of a young Kate Winslet. Hugh Grant was also in it.
I hope your Sunday has been relaxed and peaceful, everyone.
Welcome aboard, El Niño. Don’t be shy about voicing your thoughts or opinions; that’s what we all do! 😅
Post a Comment