This is not a Pipe (organ)
A new twist on a crossword puzzle idea that even I tried to construct - in that version, I inserted "Drill" into the song title "The Thrill Is Gone" - but that idea had been done more than once; in fact, the old editor, Rich Norris, was the constructor of one. Our C.C. could tell you more - today's author is another "C.C.", whom I have not had the pleasure to blog - she appeared for the LA Times three times in 2024, two of them on Mondays. No circles, a few names that filled via perps before I had the chance to read the clues, a run of 26 Five-Letter Words ( 5LW ), and several answers that I "Learned From Doing Crosswords" (LFDC). Here's your "Do It Yourself" minimum requirements;
17. Emphasize and then some: HAMMER HOME
24. Had an aha moment: SAW THE LIGHT
51. "Be brutally honest": LEVEL WITH ME
63. Some Expedia search results: PLANE FARES - I don't much like "plane", but it works - but Southwest came up before Expedia on my Google
39. "Remember your training, people!," and what can be said about the starts of 17-, 24-, 51-, and 63-Across: THIS IS NOT A DRILL - for those who don't recognize the paint job on the drill above, here's where it comes from
Van Halen - Poundcake
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
5. Multitasking, perhaps: BUSY
9. Chocolate canines: LABS - as in Labrador, the dog breed; Australian Shepherds are on their way to my local shelter, so I might just go with that breed for my new pet - I already know how much they shed, bark, weigh, and the amount of exercise they need~!
13. 22-Down city: TROY - AND - 22D. Epic poem featuring Patroclus and Achilles: ILIAD - Five-letter Epic poem blah-blah-blah = Ektorp
14. Turkish bigwigs: AGHAS - Learned from doing crosswords (LFDC)
16. Run __: AMOK - I do the DOWNs first; otherwise, I doubt I would have understood this clue
19. Written reminder: NOTE
20. Portents: OMENS
21. Glowing quality: RADIANCE
23. Me day place: SPA
27. Bearded garden figure: GNOME
30. "Don't get carried __!": "AWAY~!" - we have a lot of "quoted" clues today as well . . . .
32. Whisper receiver: EAR - different way to clue this answer
34. Book of maps: ATLAS
43. "Water Lilies" painter Claude: MONET - Is it mAnet, or mOnet~? - I can never remember; the "O" filled via perps
44. Little bit: TAD
45. Above: OVER
46. Slugger Mel inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951: OTT - name #2, Crossword Staple
49. Isabel Wilkerson work subtitled "The Origins of Our Discontents": CASTE - name #3, again, filled via perps
56. Financial daily, initially: WSJ - The Wall Street Journal
59. Speechmaker's story: ANECDOTE - "So there I was, in the middle of nowhere . . . "
60. Bonn's river: RHINE - or rhOne~? This time, I was wrong with the "O"
62. Seethe: BOIL
66. Jazz legend Fitzgerald: ELLA - name #4, Crossword Staple
67. Canyonlands features: MESAS
68. Campfire output: HEAT
70. Credit card balance, e.g.: DEBT
71. Requests: ASKS
DOWN:
1. Belief system: ETHOS
2. Walk with heavy steps: TRAMP - I tried CLOMP first
3. "What?": "COME AGAIN~?" - reminds me of the "Wolf" scene from Pulp Fiction - NSFW
4. "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," for one: HYMN - no clue; again, perps; name(ish) #5
5. Forbid: BAR - I had BAN first; 67% correct
6. "How repulsive!": "UGH~!"
7. In the red: SHORT - OWES was not long enough
9. One of four islands in Maui County: LANAI - name #6, filled - oh, never mind
10. "You're __ friends": AMONG - ooof - not sure I would ever guess this answer
11. Bungle: BOTCH - I always associate "BOTCH" with plastic surgery - definitely NSFW - even the "success" stories look creepy
12. Shooting sport: SKEET
15. Passover meal: SEDER - LFDC
18. Canadian fuel giant: ESSO - LFDC
25. Iowa college town: AMES - name #7 - LFDC
26. Gradually ease off: WEAN
28. Org. with opening and closing bells: NYSE - check the $$$ of your IPO on the NYSE in the WSJ
30. PIN point: ATM - good change-up for this Crossword Staple
31. "__ knows?": "WHO~?"
33. "Rubbish!": "ROT~!"
35. Not quite run: TROT - another tough-to-relate clue/answer
36. Go-getters: LIVE WIRES - I have to put this one in
I love playing the drums to this - the cowbell fills are great
Mötley Crüe - Live Wire
Mötley Crüe - Live Wire
38. Pro's camera: SLR - a professional's Single-Lens Reflex 35mm (typically) tool
40. "Mom knows": "I TOLD." - you dirty rat . . . .
41. RPM gauge: TACH - abbr. for RPM = abbr for tachOMETER
42. Driver at the Oscars: ADAM - Ooops, not MINI ( which is actually Minnie ) - name #8
47. Early afternoon hr.: TWO PM
50. Feudal laborer: SERF
51. Laundry instructions spot: LABEL - my first thought was the lid of the washing machine 😜
53. Obscures: VEILS
54. Razzle-dazzle: ÉCLAT
55. Rib: TEASE
57. B-ball shoe: SNEAK - meh. sneakER. My first thought, and I said "there's no way that's the answer."
61. "That's funny!": "HA-HA~!"
65. Superlative ending: EST - as in the BESTEST, ever
Splynter
Notes from C.C.:
Today we celebrate the pipe guy's 20th continued sobriety. Reaching this milestone is a testament to your resilience and dedication to living your best life. Congrats, Splynter!
46 comments:
Saw the theme right away. Replaced “ban” with “bar.” Otherwise, had little trouble with this puzzle, not even with “sneak(er)s.” FIR, so I’m happy.
The progression seems to be going backwards this week as I nailed this one in 10:04. Only a few unknowns, ENOLA as clued, and I didn’t know Isabel or the subtitle, so CASTE was all perps. I agree that SNEAK was a bit if a stretch. Theme was easily sussed after the reveal. Thank you Catherine for the puzzle, and Splynter for another fine review.
I hope that Naomi, Darren, et al Cornerites in the LA area are safe from the fires ravaging the area.
Good morning!
With stoMP/TRAMP, BAn/BAR, owing/SHORT, peon/SERF, ugh/ICK, and clEAt/SNEAK, d-o was off to a rocky (Wite-Outey?) start. On the other hand, southern California was filled completely via the across clues, so d-o never noticed LABEL, ENOLA, VEILS, or ECLAT. Thanx, Catherine and Splynter. (Congrats on your 20 years sober.)
We drove yesterday to tour a radio studio. First time I've been inside one in almost 50 years. Wow, how things have changed. The whole shebang is run by computer. Those paper broadcast logs are a thing of the past. And most surprising, nobody on the radio station staff is required to have an FCC license. (I assume the Chief Engineer has one, but his is an on-call position.)
FIR, but echos->MESAS, stomp->tromp->TRAMP, and sader->SEDER (UNTIE!)
David Bowie's Rebel Rebel used the catch phrase "hot TRAMP, I love you so."
HAHA can be "that's funny," or "that's not funny," depending on how it's said.
I SAW THE LIGHT is the first line of the chorus in Brooks and Dunn's Brand New Man, about a "player" who became a one-woman man.
Thanks to CC2 for the fun puzzle, and to Splynter for the interesting review. Congrats on 20 years, from this fellow quitter. I've kinda lost track, but I think my 10th year completes on May 1. (I guess losing track of how long it's been since I quit is a good thing. I mostly just think of myself as a nondrinker, not an ex-drinker.) Thanks to CC for letting us know.
Radio and TV stations haven't been required to have licensed engineers for maybe 40 years. In fact, they haven't issued commercial licenses in about that long. I held a First Class Radiotelephone license that got me an engineering job at the PBS affiliate in West (by God) Virginia. Shortly after I left the FCC quit issuing the license, and the National Association of Business and Educational Radio (NABER) started issuing a similar certificate. I got one of those but never used it, having moved on to GTE's computerized switching systems, and then to project management.
FIR. This old cabinet maker saw the tools right "away". Caste was the only mystery for me. Never heard of the book let alone the author. Complete unknown to me. Thank goodness for perps!
Otherwise this was a Monday level CW happening midweek. Nice and easy and very enjoyable.
In order of importance- congratulations Splynter, 20 years is impressive. My prayers for all those facing calamity from weather related event (fire, wind, cold etc.) for whatever they are worth. YAMAHA makes many more electric instruments than electric organs (though I understand your attitude; my wife feels the same way about prepackaged Thai food) and their electric guitars are good as inexpensive entry level purchase. I really like the picture of the pipes from your organ (nothing sexual intended). Oh, and the puzzle...
I agree this was mostly easy though I did not know of Ms. Wilkerson (who appears to be black) or her theory on how blacks were subjugated by a European Caste system. I could not disagree more but this is not the forum for that discussion; I will only say that mass media suggests that blending of races is happening no matter who likes it.
ENOLA HOLMES was a project initiated by MILLIE BOBBY BROWN'S older sister PAIGE who had books upon which the movies were based. It offers a realistic but vastly different perspective of SHERLOCK HOLMES unlike the crap ROBERT DOWNEY JR put out in two movies. Thank you C.C.2 and Richard you are always a delight.
Took 5:33 today without having to wrench my body or my mind.
Today's author and her work were unknown to me, as was the Millie Bobby Brown movie.
"Sneak" as a noun? Why?
Canyonlands National Park is beautiful, but often overlooked when compared to its neighbor, Arches National Park.
Is there a name for KNOWING the answer is one of two options with only one letter differential, but having to wait for the cross to tell you which one? Two examples today: bar/ban and Monet/Manet.
The Monet Effect? Or Manet Effect?
Or, is it Affect....
This fast paced puzzle was the easiest of the week. Only Isabel/Caste and this Enola were new to me. I saw the tools right away.
Congratulations on your 20 years sobriety, Splynter.
Aghas are often in the Middle East news.
Monet's Gardens at Giverny were on my bucket list, which now has kicked the bucket. I'm a big fan. I have a large print of Monet's "Woman with an Umbrella" in my dining room.
We read Heinrich Heine's Die Lorelei in German class at college. I can no longer do that. Here is an English translation:
The Lorelei
Heinrich Heine
I don't know why I am feeling
So sorrowful at heart.
An old myth through my thoughts is reeling,
And from them will not depart.
The cool evening air makes me shiver
As I watch the Rhine's gentle flow.
The peak towering over the river
Gleams bright in the sun's setting glow.
Up high on a ledge is sitting
A maiden most marvelously fair.
Her golden jewelry is glitt'ring.
She is combing her golden hair.
She uses a gold comb to comb it
And sings a song as well,
That echoes down from the summit
And casts a melodious spell.
The boatman is seized by wild yearning
While guiding his small craft downstream.
His eyes from the rocks ahead turning,
He looks up, lost in a dream.
I fear that the boat and her master
Will slip under the waves before long.
And what brought about this disaster?
The Lorelei's siren song.
My older sister still calls sneakers sneaks. I few people used that term when we were teens, but not many. I believe no else uses it now. I don't remember her calling one sneaker a sneak.
Come again for please repeat seems very old fashioned to me. I have not heard it in decades. LIU. I see it is still in use.
***PSA***
Anonymous-T checked my link yesterday to the breakout video game and says it checks out as a malicious website!
DO NOT CLICK ON ON MY YESTERDAYS LINK!
I will try to be a safer link provider in future, I thought it was ok, but this one surprised me...
Good Morning:
This was a quick, easy, and fun solve with only one unknown, Caste. I remembered Enola from previous puzzles and promotional ads for the series. The Sneak entry, as clued, was jarring, to say the least, and should have had a more acceptable clue. The fill-in-the-blanks clues and the conversational quote clues continue to be annoying and distracting, IMO but, apparently the editorial staff thinks differently.
Thanks, Catherine, your puzzles always delight and thanks, Splynter, you always delight, as well. Congratulations on your 20 years of sobriety, a very admirable achievement . Loved the Phillips Screw comic! Good luck when the time comes for your doggie adoption!
Have a great day.
Musings
-I admire your 20-year accomplishment, Splynter. My brother told me quite often, “Quitting is easy, Gary, I’ve done it dozens of times.”
-Your tool reference to the Magritte painting and your pipes was very cool
-NOTE – My horrible penmanship reduces mine to being on electronic devices
-Rock solid WHO and LIVE WIRES solved my Manet/Monet and Rhine/Rhone coin flip
-His Eye Is On The Sparrow comes to my mind every time I look at the flocks of them on our winter feeders
-“Tell us your plans, General Washington, you’re AMONG friends,” said Benedict Arnold.
-Phone cameras have made SLR sales plummet
-Will Sherlock’s sister replace Tibbet’s mother for ENOLA?
-ÉCLAT is like so many other words I see here often but never in real life.
-SNEAK – Dropping syllables seems to be real trend at our venue
Well! That was an easy one, and fun to boot. I encountered just á couple of unknowns like the author of CASTE and ENOLA as clued.
My first exposure to the word AGHA was as á child when my parents and I were at the horse races in Paris and my mother pointed out the AGHA Kahn and his then wife Rita Hayworth.
Thank you Yellowrocks for posting Heine’s Lorelei poem. I have liked it for many years and I used to teach it to my World Lit students when we studied Heine.
Congratulations Splynter on 20 years sober. By the way, that funny take on Magritte should read PERCEUSE d’outils.
The NW was a bit confusing for a heartbeat. Had tromp for TRAMP (not quite TROT, saved for later) and ban [hand up] for BAR. Otherwise, as a Wednesday puzzle which usually takes a turn toward the difficult this was the easiest so far this week. Literally raced to the bottom will all the TOOLS needed for a FIR
Has Minnie been replace by ADAM? (an“impact” driver is a tool too) …. Loved the “Phillips” cartoon!!
I usually BOTCH the Saturday puzzle ☹️
Think of LIVE WIRES more like loud “life-of-the-party” types and “go getters” as driven individuals. I streamed the 2 Sherlock Holmes’ niece films so I knew ENOLA. Usually clued as the atomic bomb dropper plane’s moniker. 🛩️. Prefer the less lethal clue
The “feudal laborer’s” favorite menu Item “____ and turf” …. SERF.
Arterial thrombus …. ECLAT.
Where most Alaskan “beaded garden figures” reside …. Gnome.
Happy Hump Day. 🐪🐫
Hola!
CSO to my daughter who loves GNOMES and has a large collection of them, both inside and outside.
I liked the position of RADIANCE over SAW THE LIGHT.
I've never heard of Isabel Wilkerson or her work, CASTE.
MESAS abound here in desert country.
PLANE FARES have been paid for our trip to Petaluma via Oakland, next month. We shall celebrate Claire's 95th birthday.
Congratulations, Splynter, on your 20 years of sobriety! I know from members of my family how difficult that is to achieve.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Zipped through this one, despite the ugly "quoted" clues. Is it Monday again already? We retired folk sometimes get a little confused. Nice job, Splynter, on your XXth! Not always easy, but literally life-changing. This year will be XXX for me.
Yeah, I think kids (not Keds) today call them "kicks."
Effect
Yeah, and I thought of Seely Dan's Josie"
When Josie comes home
So good
She's the pride of the neighborhood
She's the raw flame
The live wire
She prays like a Roman
With her eyes on fire
I also agree that this is the easiest Wednesday puzzle this week.
Congrats on XXX years of avoiding the jug labeled XXX
Congrats, Splynter! I just hit my 12th…day. Started 12/27.
Well this one started out harder than usual for me, with lots of blanks that caused me to check both across and down for help before moving on. These days it seems not only harder to remember things, it's like a total memory block! (Feudal workers? I know that one, um, starts with a L doesn't it?. Aw nuts, onto the perps.). I'm a little concerned, because about five minutes in, I realized I was trying to to put the the down answers into the across clues...
( i thought xwords were supposed to help your brain?)
Congrats Splynter! that deserves a cake!
Forgive me, but I think the alcoholic cakes are funnier...
The theme reminds me that I have a new hobby! I bought a woodworking table with drawers, dog holes, and a vise from Harbor Freight for only $120-!
2-3 hours to put together, but it looks and works great! Just a word of caution though, the assembly instructions for the drawers were written backwards.. There is a video on YouTube that explains the correct assembly procedure. I can link it if anyone wants it, but I am busy checking my old iPad for malware... (stuck on ios15.8, planned obsolescence!)
Wednesday puzzle. Had hiccups in all four corners causing write overs. Always enjoy LFDC…covers mucho.
Greet the day.
A 12 minute FIR on a Wednesday is very good time for me. 13 names by my count, but only 4 DNKs. I picked up the tool theme early, with 24A, when SAW followed HAMMER, I got it, which helped. I had the same W/Os as others mentioned, STOMP/TROMP/TRAMP among them. So far this is my kind of week: on the easy side! Thanx to CC2 for this fun CW, I very much enjoyed it. Thanx too to Splynter, both for his terrific, fun and informative write-up, and for the Lady in Red. Nice pic, although if I were a woman I would never wear high heels, especially not those foot destroying torture devices she is sporting. And congrats on your years of sobriety. I quit alcohol April of 2023, but now occasionally have a drink or two. I probably average four alcoholic beverages per month, so still feel very much "in control".
Congrats, Splynter! Thanks for the recap.
For Baseball, CLEAT yes, SNEAK no way.
Oh!! I meant to comment. Last week I bought a smart watch I found on the internet that, among other things, reads blood glucose levels. For others that might be diabetic or pre-diabetic, I highly recommend this device. It measures BP, O2, steps taken, tells you the weather, and many other things in addition to blood glucose. Especially if you are sticking your fingers, this watch will be a blessing. It is called "Joeme Fit". $60, including $9.95 lifetime warrantee. Check it out.
Delightful Wednesday puzzle--many thanks for this treat, Catherine. And your commentary was a pleasure, as usual, Splynter--thank you for that too.
Well, those LIVE WIRES sure produced a lot of shouting and argument in this puzzle--"THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" "LEVEL WITH ME!" "COME AGAIN!"--one ANECDOTE after another until they finally settled their issues and "SAW THE LIGHT." Clearly the issue here should be about art, about how to ETCH great designs, how to produce RADIANCE and delightful OMENS (okay, and an occasional GNOME), but art like the kind produced by MONET, back in the day. I guess we can only hope those jerks just wanted to TEASE us and produce JESTS. We could live with that a lot more happily than with all that griping, don't you think?
Have a good day, even in the terrible weather some are having to endure, and take good care of yourselves.
TRoMP at 2-Down made it hard for me to see the HAMMER, but with help from the reveal at 39-Across, I mended my ways, and had additional help from the reveal to fill the remaining themers. FIR.
Like Ray-O, I think LIVE WIRES are "life-of-the-party" people, not go-getters.
Here in West L.A., life goes on, with warm wind, a gray, smokey sky, and occasional power outages. Many neighbors to the immediate north have had to evacuate. Our son's new in-laws are returning from travel with the likelihood of having no home left in the Pacific Palisades. They'll stay with us.
Thanks to Catherine for the puzzle, and to Splynter for an excellent review. Congratulations to Splynter, Charlie Echo, and Jinx for their impressive soberversaries.
Greetings! When I first called up the LAT CW, the Wednesday puzzle wasn’t posted I supposed from the horrible fires devistating the area. My heart goes out to all the families affected. Later I saw it was posted but I had already worked it online from my local paper.
Either this puzzle was hard for a Wednesday or I wasn’t in tune with the constructor, or I’m discombobbled trying to do everything one-handed. I needed the red letters to get through it.
Congrats to Splynter & thanks for sharing the interesting work you do.
Thanks to Catherine! FAVs were RADIANCE and PIN point
I had the same experience as NaomiZ with TRoMP then seeing that it had to be HAMMER for the tool theme.
I often mix up the words ANECDOTE & ANtiDOTE.
Thanks to Splynter for the humor and for the pic of the washing machine lid. It reminded me I had a load of clothes that needed to be moved to the dryer. Congratulations to you on your 20 years of sobriety! Congratulations, also, to the others who noted their soberversaries. Well done, all!
Did it occur to you to delete your comment?
Thank you all for your very kind comments & well wishes. I am just catching up & will respond. Your thoughtfulness warms my heart.
My sympathy to you and all affected by these horrible fires. I would rather go through three cat 5 hurricanes than fires. I hope you all stay safe.
I tried to find out more, but online it is a real rabbit hole of scam websites with similar devices. Amazon does not carry it by name. Can you tell us where you purchased it?
You're headed in the right direction!
Hi All!
Hand-up for TRoMP and BAn messing up my NW...
Thanks Catherine for the Tool Time puzzle. Thanks Splinter for another great review and cool pics.
Wos: [see above], coinED -> TITLED, colar [sic] -> LABEL
ESPs: AGHAS, ENOLA as clued,
Fav: TROY from the ILIAD
CED - LOL the Barbie barfing cake.
DW's cousin had to flee his house in Altadena and head up into the mountains (Lone Pine) to escape the smoke and fire. I'd much rather sit through a hurricane where you know where it's going, when it will be gone, and (usually) there won't be too much damage if you're inland enough. With a fire, you have no idea of any of that.
Y'all out near LA stay safe!
I enjoyed reading y'all. Cheers, -T
Yes it did, but it was part of a much larger comment, plus I figure no one bothers to look at old previous days blogs anyway. My only purpose for the PSA was if anyone actually did use it (which I doubt) they should be advised...
RosE, I printed mine from the LAT site at 0600 Eastern. They may have lost one of the buildings where the servers that host the online LAT are, either through physical damage or lost power or fiber. They would have contingency plans covering losing their primary server location, although it doesn't happen as quickly as an emergency generator firing up. (There are nonstop server architectures, but those are too expensive for something like a newspaper where a few hours downtime in rare emergency situations don't make a significant difference.)
OK, well I deleted the comment with the potentially dangerous link around 2:20 today. I can't delete parts of comments. It's all or none. It had to go, because Blogger would have flagged it as a security risk.
It happens. I'm not faulting you. Sometimes even good links get compromised. But they can not be allowed to exist on the blog, or this site will get flagged.
CED @3:25 Try https://mbsmybrosport.com, then search "Glucose monitoring smartwatch" using the little magnifying glass near the upper right corner. It is the first one listed of the two. It's listed as $99.99 on sale for $49.99, but when you go to checkout it says $34.99. I don't know why. When your credit card is charged the charge will be ~ $60. I emailed them about this and they said it was because I bought the lifetime warrantee, which I don't recall doing, but anyway this watch is amazing and I'm glad to have it, whether $34.99, $49.99 or $60. This site says 3-day shipping from TX, but mine came from China direct, and took two weeks or so. The watch on this website is definitely the same one I have, though. The iPhone app is called Joeme Fit. When you get the watch the instructions include a QR code you can aim your QR code reader at to download the app. Or it's available on Apple's App Store. All a bit confusing, I know, but the smartwatch is amazing. It also pairs with my iPhone via Bluetooth, but somehow allows my iPhone to still use Bluetooth to pair with my Bose Soundlink Mini at the same time. The watch can also be set up to automatically monitor your glucose periodically and give you a graph (via the app) of where it was at various times of the day.
CED, I should mention that I don’t do fingersticks, so can’t measure the accuracy of the device compared to fingersticks. I’ve had it about a week now and am still learning many things about it. Let me know your experience.
Thanks Jinx!
Fair enough, no prob, I understand. The real reason I didn't delete it, is I have doubts that it actually is a malicious site. It has no affect on apple products and my iPad seems fine even though it is running 15.8 iOS. It maybe bad for PCs, but the source identified by Anon-T seems to be just an advertising company. However, I would trust you and Anon-T's judgement on technical matters over mine any day...
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