Theme: "H2O"
Today, Tom and C.C. replace Hs with Os. Get it? H to O? Fun ensues.Let's dig in to the themers:
23. Destroying personal chicken pens?: BUSTING ONES COOPS. Busting one's chops is an idiom meaning to tease or criticized in a lighthearted way.
39. Spilling a drink or double-dipping chips?: PARTY OOPS. Party hOPS - goes from party to party. I've had to do this at Christmas time before I toned down my calendar.
58. Exuberant support for Polo?: MARCO MADNESS. March Madness - College basketball's championship series of games in March.
83. Attendee at an orca training center?: POD CANDIDATE. PhD candidate.
97. Cold comfort for a YouTuber?: VIDEO COAT. Video chat. You know, what we did during Covid.
118. Relishing every bite of a fluffy French dessert?: LOST IN THE SOUFFLE. Lost in the shuffle.
41. Grain for one who eats like a horse?: COWBOY OATS. Cowboy hats.
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| Toy Story's Woody complete with Cowboy Hat |
46. Dirty film at a movie theater?: SCREEN SOOT. Screen shot - taking an image of your computer screen.
Wow!, Tom & C.C. - eight (8) fun, water-making, clues.
As Paul Harvey might say, "Now, for the rest of the fill..."
Across:
1. Taj Mahal locale: AGRA.
5. The Bee Gees brothers: GIBBS.
Jive Talkin'
10. 10% church offering: TITHE. Pop ponied up 10% so Bro & I could attend St. Joe's.
15. Proper partner: PRIM. Prim & Proper - too stuffy if you ask me.
19. Prepare, as water for tea: BOIL. Tell us if you have an electric kettle.
20. Zhou of China: ENLAI. No Clue. WikiP says he was a "Chinse statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as [... China's premier ...] from 1949 until his death in 1973."
21. Ventricles' counterparts: ATRIA. Heart anatomy.
22. 40th anniversary gem: RUBY. Oy!, I only have four (4) years to save up.
23. [See: theme]
26. Polish language?: EDIT. Ha! Who else was thinking Poland?
27. Classical theater: ODEON. Like really classical Greek / Roman.
28. Storybook baddie: OGRE. Try as he might, Shrek wasn't a real baddie.
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| He's got a heart of gold. |
29. Mechanic's job: LUBE.
30. Get-together, casually: SESH. My cackles get raised when my co-worker says this.
31. Import tax: TARIFF.
33. Reduced to mush: PUREED.
Will it Blend? - SciFi edition
35. Inning sextet: OUTS. Three outs per side finish an inning.
37. Terrible fate: DOOM.
39. [See: theme]
41. Raven's cry: CAW. Who else thought Poe and wanted to enter "TAP, Tap, Tapping at my chamber door."
44. Impudence: SASS.
47. Snake in the grass: RAT.
49. Like some stories: SHORT. Isaac Asimov's are some of my favorites.
50. Island farewell: ALOHA. Out of context, it also means hello.
Beatles!
52. "Mayfair Witches" network: AMC. I think this is a show DW & Girls enjoy.
53. Like a pug's tail: CURLED.
56. Assent, in Paris: OUI.
57. Hawkish: PROWAR.
58. [See: theme]
61. Copa del Rey cheer: OLE.
63. Soccer icon Wambach: ABBY.
64. Shave sheep: SHEAR.
65. Internet rabble-rouser: TROLL. Don't be one in the comments below ;-)
66. Abruptly stops daydreaming: SNAPS TO.
68. Running time: LENGTH.
70. Nabe where one might find tteokbokki: KTOWN. K-Town is Korean Town a NABourhood where you can find tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes(?)). Houston has a small K-Town in the South Spring Branch area. I went there with my buddies for dinner - we had to cook our own meat :-)
72. Alcohol in windshield wiper fluid: METHYL.
74. Kenyan capital: NAIROBI.
76. Mountain, in Hawaiian: MAUNA.
78. Make slicker, in a way: REOIL.
80. The Beatles' "Back in the __": USSR.
Sir Paul lights up The Philharmonic
82. "Discreet Music" artist Brian: ENO.
83. [See: theme]
85. __ skirt: POODLE.
87. High-tech FX: CGI. FX == special effects; CGI == Computer-Generated Imagery.
89. Baggage handler: SKYCAP. The guy right outside the terminal that you tip $5/bag to get you checked in.
90. "__ in the Bed": classic counting rhyme: TEN. Does this have anything to do with monkeys jumping?
91. Large deer: MOOSE.
92. Alaska's 365 million: ACRES. MOOSE wouldn't fit (and we just had it :-))
94. Sashimi fish: AHI. Sashimi == fish & no rice; sushi == fish on rice.
95. "Hey, c'mere!": PSST.
96. Foraging insect: ANT.
97. [See: theme]
101. Salt Lake County ski resort: ALTA.
103. Quick-with-a-joke types: WITS. "And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke / But there's some place that he'd rather be" [Billy Joel - Piano Man]
104. Pickleball point starters: SERVES.
106. Swung up and down: YO-YOED.
110. Flip-flop, e.g.: SHOE.
113. Common blood type, briefly: A POS. ABO blood typing. A+ means you have the Rh (rhesus) factor and the antigen A in your red-cells (with the B antigen in your plasma). There are three antigens - A, B, & O. //My MOS was 92B [read: my army job was medical lab tech]
115. Per person: EACH.
116. Yoda's power, with "the": FORCE.
117. Prepare for takeoff?: TAXI.
118. [See: theme]
122. __ so slightly: EVER.
123. "OK, we're doing this!": ITS ON. It's on like Donkey Kong!
124. Turner of "Rivals": AIDAN. Irish actor.
125. Fuel fire suppressant: FOAM. Los Angels saw a lot of this in January :-(
126. Darn, say: MEND.
127. Seated twist, e.g.: ASANA. Yoga.
128. "Don't play" symbols: RESTS. Musical reference.
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| Notes and Rests |
Down:
1. Man on a mission?: ABBOT. Ha! A mission like the Alamo.
2. Mild yellow cheese: GOUDA. It's a real gooda!
3. Choir platform: RISER.
4. Tin mints: ALTOIDS. When I quit smoking I went through a tin a day. I switched to sugar-free Ice Breakers to save my teeth.
5. Next-__ hardware: GEN. Next GENeration. I think we're up to the iThing 16 now.
6. Gerund suffix: ING. To make a verb function as a noun, add ING - in case you were askING.
7. __ single: BLOOP. In baseball, a bloop single it's a lightly hit fly ball that goes over the infield but not quite to the outfielders.
8. First-rate, as a job: BANGUP. Tom & C.C. did a bang up job on this grid.
9. Romeo follower: SIERRA. The NATO Alphabet.
10. Tic-__-toe: TAC.
11. "See!?": I TOLD YOU.
12. Slacks, slangily: TROU. TROUsers.
13. Half a pair of waders: HIP BOOT.
14. Relax: EASEUP.
15. Media coverage: PRESS.
16. "The disrespect!": RUDE.
17. Bird with a curved bill: IBIS.
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| Ibis |
18. Prometheus, for one: MYTH. Greek mythical god of fire.
24. Dirt, so to speak: INFO. The skinny. The word on the street.
Jon Lovitz [L] & Phil Hartman [R]
25. Future readers: SEERS. Cute, Tarot readers SEE the future.
32. Message board: FORUM. Not an ODEON? :-)
34. Community spirit: ETHOS.
36. Pre-1917 autocrat: TSAR. We're back in the USSR. [See: 80a]
38. Race named for a Greek battle: MARATHON. Pheidippides ran 26.2 miles [40km, C, Eh!] from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of victory.
40. Constellation containing Betelgeuse and Rigel: ORION. Knowing this told me Party Foul (filled b/f I knew the gimmick) was wrong.
41. [See: theme]
42. Starbuck's boss: AHAB. Melville's Moby Dick rather than CEO of the said named coffee chain.
43. Cautious (of): WARY.
44. __ Club: SAMS. Wal-Mart's Wholesale club and competitor of COSTCO. In college DW & I "joined" Sam's hoping to save $$. We did but spent the entire grocery budget on 50 packs of ramen, a dozen burritos, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 40 rolls of toilet paper, and 3 lbs of beef jerky :-)
45. Menotti's shepherd boy: AMAHL. Waseeley probably knows Menotti's opera featuring Amahl and the Night Visitors.
46. [See: theme]
48. Letters before a recap: TLDR. Too Long; Didn't Read. Basically, a memo's Executive Summary.
51. Really hated: LOATHED.
53. Welsh herding dog: CORGI.
54. Mushroom in bulgogi hot pot: ENOKI.
55. Muscle used in lateral raises: DELT. Deltoids are the muscles on your torso's sides.
57. Cacio e __: pasta dish: PEPE.
59. Baseless rumors: CANARDS.
60. Replay effect: SLOMO. For our first anniversary, I purchased a VCR for DW so she could record her soaps. She claims I bought it for myself 'cuz it had cool features like 4x SLOw MOtion :-)
62. Don Quixote's home: LAMANCHA. Spanish Lit.
66. Moved stealthily: SNUCK.
67. Take it all off: STRIP.
Adam Ant
69. Grove growth: TREE.
71. Rolls of bills: WADS.
73. Lo-cal brews: LITES.
75. Lawn bowling game: BOCCE. When Pop & his wife go to The Hill in STL, they play bocce ball.
77. Dasani competitor: NAYA. Bottled water brands.
79. Time to give up?: LENT. The forty (40) days following Fat Tuesday "to give up" something (fast) until Easter. It's no fair giving up drinking if you don't.
80. South Indian semolina porridge: UPMA.
81. Any day now: SOON.
83. King or queen, in chess: PIECE. I'm so glad someone threw me a bone with the "in chess" bit.
84. Newspaper: DAILY. Clark Kent worked for the newspaper at the DAILY Planet.
86. Jeans pioneer Strauss: LEVI.
88. 2,240 pounds: GROSS TON.
92. Super Bowl commercials, e.g.: AD SPOTS. This year, 30 seconds will run you about $8,000,000.
93. Existentialist Kierkegaard: SOREN.
95. Bribes: PAYOFFS.
98. Torino locale: ITALIA. DW's first car, a Torino, was located in Shreveport, LA :-)
99. Incarnation of Shiva: AVATAR. An Indian (Asian, not Native American) god.
100. Gadget enthusiast: TECHIE. My reason for the 4x SLO MO feature.
102. Vegan protein: TOFU.
103. Bizarro: WEIRD. It's weird to me that the word doesn't follow the "I before E (except after C) unless it sounds like an A" rule. Bizarro!
105. Storage sites: SHEDS.
107. "Friend __?": OR FOE. Um, if foe, wouldn't they lie?
108. Brilliant display: ECLAT.
109. Considers to be: DEEMS. Seems to be that I deem it that way.
110. Originate (from): STEM.
111. "__ a nice day!": HAVE.
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| Blazing Saddles |
112. Farm workers: OXEN. Serf fit too. Just sayin'.
114. Peak in Thessaly: OSSA.
119. Cookbook writer Garten: INA. Crosswordom's favorite foodie?
120. Warmed the bench: SAT. In my youth when I played baseball, I was not a bench warmer. Other sports are another matter.
121. Iron-__: heat-activated patches: ONS.
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| Iron On on a 86d LEVI jacket |
The Grid:
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| The Grid |
The skinny:
WO: PARTY foul -> OOPS
ESPs: ENLAI, AMAHL, LAMANCHA, AIDAN
Fav: Polish language == EDIT
Cheers, -T
Notes from C.C.:
1) Thanks for the great write-up, Tony!
2) Happy 54th Birthday to dear Splynter, our faithful Wednesday Sherpa. Splynter also blogged the Saturday puzzles for us for many years. May this year bring you joy, good health, a loyal four-legged friend and a special two-legged friend.
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| Splynter with Cooper on Christmas Day |
29 comments:
I understand everything but “party oops.” Party hops? I have never heard of that. Everything else made sense, though. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Sub, methinks it's like bar hops. Only one teensy Wite-Out application required this morning, changing SESS to SESH -- Prometheus demanded it. Caught the theme with the first themer, and I was on a roll. Thanx, Tom, C.C., and Dash-T (Your comment raised cackles here, too).
MARATHON: Also the name of one of the Florida Keys.
LENT: D-o follows the maxim, "neither a borrower nor a Lenter be."
Happy birthday, Splynter. Enjoy 'em while you got 'em.
Managed a FIR in 34:27, aided greatly by a big helping of fair perps. DNK AIDAN, K TOWN, AMAHL, SOREN, NAYA, PEPE, and of course UPMA (did anyone know that one?). Forgot to look at the title, but figured out the theme after the first couple long fills. Favorite was LOST IN THE SOUFFLÉ. One of the best SHORT stories I remember from school was “The Scarlet IBIS”, and I’d bet a lot of Cornerites also remember it. Thank you Zhouqin and Tom for this enjoyable solve, a fine creation and theme! T ~ thanks for explaining it all! Happy b/day to Splynter!
FIW, missing my WAG @ AbC x AbAHL. Erased odeom->ODEON, porter->SKYCAP, and bocci->BOCCE.
Raven's cry was CAW, because 'nevermore" wouldn't fit.
I love the English language. Today snake=RAT. Tomorrow, snake eats RAT, maybe.
The TSARs were gone about five years before the USSR was formed.
Didn't know Don Quixote's home was LA MANCHA? Have you never taken the time to Dream the Impossible Dream?
SKY CAP is OK, but it doesn't have the same ring as Johnny Cash's
Hey Porter.
If your lo-cal brew is a LITE, it is a Miller. They own that spelling.
I like the timely Super Bowl clue, but I was expecting something like "excellent aviator" for SUPERB OWL.
Thanks to Tom and CC for the terrific puzzle. And thanks to Bayou Tony for reviewing it. I had "gadget enthusiast" marked as a CSO to you, but you beat me to it.
Forgot to mention - There is a town of Marathon, located conveniently on Marathon Key. Other towns named Marathon are located in Mississippi, Luisanna, Texas, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Lots of Saturday misdirection opportunity there!
FIR. This was a fun Sunday puzzle. Nothing too over the top, and perps where needed when I came across (or down) an unknown.
The theme was most clever and I got it early on.
Overall a most enjoyable puzzle.
Good Morning:
Nice to see a Tom and CC collaboration, especially on a super-sized grid, giving plenty of space to showcase their talents. The title was very helpful with the solve which was evident early on with Busting One’s Coops. Aidan, Upma, and Naya were the only unknowns but perps were fair, so no problem, and no w/os, either. The fill had lots of fresh entries and the TLW count was exceptionally low for a Sunday grid.
Thanks, Tom and CC, and thanks, Anon T, for pinch hitting as our Sunday guide. I always enjoy your personal asides about DW, Bro, Youngest and Eldest, and, of course, Pops! The Cactus comic was cute.
Happy Birthday, Splynter, 🎂🎈🎁🎊, hope it’s a special day and I hope you find that special furry friend soon!
Have a great day and enjoy the Super Bowl. And the Puppy Bowl, too!
Bar hops was my first thought too. Seems I remember some discussion back when Paris Hilton was the IT girl that she was paid large sums to make an appearance at anyone's party that could afford her rate. She would PARTY HOP, making several appearances in a given evening.
The only presidential inauguration I've attended was Jimmy Carter's. My mom got a ticket to one of the "inaugural balls," and she gave it to me. I remember her saying "this is the ball the President will be attending!" I later found out that the Carters actually attended all of the various balls that evening. PARTY HOPping, I guess.
There were a handful of unknowns that gave me pause, but overall a very fair puzzle...and wonder of wonders, an LAT puzzle with no "ISSA RAE" fill!
C.C. and Tom presented us with an amusing idea for their theme today. And being such capable constructors, they made sure to entertain us solvers with many clever misdirected clues. Some random thoughts:
--Even though today is Super Bowl, C.C. reminded us via two or three clues that baseball is just around the corner;
--There were several answers that even when solved, I had no idea if they were correct, given how obscure they were to me. Examples would include UPMA and AIDAN;
--Alas, a newspaper is not necessarily a DAILY (84 Down). My paper went to five days a week a while back; and
--I am weary of answers like ITOLDYOU, PSST, and ITSON.
Thanks, Anon-T, for helping explain things to us; and thanks, C.C. and Tom, for your entertaining and satisfying Sunday challenge.
Such a clever puzzle, with fair crossing entries (AKA perps) that allowed me to FIR. All the H to O substitutions were well done, but for some reason, COWBOY OATS (cowboy Hats) really tickled my fancy. Many thanks, Tom and Zhouqin, for the puzzle, and many thanks to -T, who did such a good job explaining it.
Musings
-Clever and challenging!
-COOPS/CHOPS had me thinking the two “O’s” were going to be the H2O gimmick
-This Stephen King SHORT STORY was made into one of my favorite movies Stand By Me
-Talk about yer long TAXI line!
-Me too Ken, our town’s DAILY paper is now five pages and usually be slid under a door. It is published in Lincoln and so that city’s news is filler here.
-That BLOOP single looks just like a line drive in the box score
-“See, I TOLD YOU” – Never saying this to my wife has helped keep our marriage together
-TLDR – Does anyone read all that legalese after opening a new app?
-Forty lashes with a wet noodle for taking too much time for Man Of LA MANCHA
-Into each puzzle, a little UPMA? must fall.
-Quotes from Kierkegaard
-HBD, Splynter! Nice write-up, Tony!
Now, that's more like it! An ENJOYABLE crossword puzzle, unlike yesterday's ugly mess. Lots of clever misdirection, many V-8 moments, and very little dreck. (With the exception of UPMA, SESH, and the obscure soccer player) I won't mention the few annoying "verbalisms". Wanted REDCAP instead of SKYCAP. Showing my age, I guess, and I couldn't squeeze "nevermore" in for the Raven. It was truly a treat to complete a puzzle that leaves a sense of accomplishment. Thanks, CC & Tom, and -T for the recap.
Always a treat to find a CC puzzle waiting to be solved. Even better with Tom alongside. It was a double O good job. Very well done. My favorite was the "Polish Language".
Happy Birthday Splynter - I always love your write-ups.
UPMA - I didn't know this either and it should have been in my ESPs. I asked my friend (from India) at work and she disclosed it's a savory breakfast food (a porridge) sometimes mixed with mango. "But that's what it is where I was from," she said. She also corrected my pronunciation - it's not Willy Wonka UMPA :-)
I hoped you all enjoy'd the expo and Sir Paul's music (did anyone watch the full Corden video?).
H-Chron is still a DAILY I subscribe to to support local news. ibid our local NPR.
Y'all have a great Sunday!
Cheers, -T
Party hops. Very few people throw parties these days and the only party hopping I've ever done is on Christmas Eve.
Me, too, Dash-T, I also support both. But $30/mo for on-line-only access to the Barnacle seems excessive.
$30? Why am I paying $200 for me & MIL?!? Tell me what I'm doing wrong.
In these parts, groups of rowdys rent houses via Airbnb or Vrbo and throw big blowout parties. Awful when it's in your neighborhood. Lots of noise and outdoor bad behavior, including reckless driving and public urination. Not much PARTY HOPping at these, though. Seems like no one leaves until nearly dawn. Luckily, nearly all the houses on my block are owner-occupied.
I'm a bad dad. I almost forgot that our wonderful greyhound Zoё came to live with us 8 years ago today!
Super Sunday. Good clues, fun theme though at first I assumed all the answers would involve double Os. When I saw tteokbokki I thought it was á typo. LOL.
COWBOY OATS was the last to fall. Loved LOST IN THE SOUFFLÉ.
Novel way to clue USSR. I encountered á few unknowns, but nothing perps couldn’t take care of.
Thank you Á -t. Nice review and happy birthday to Splynter.🎂🎉🎊
I couldn't resist doing a C.C. and Tom Pepper puzzle and I'm glad I didn't resist. I enjoyed this puzzle very much and DEEM it to be well constructed. A bonus for me is that it is a Sunday puzzle; I like the larger size, the word play, and it's havING a title. Good reading you all.
Reporting from Bourbon St. (not really; we went Friday).
I didn't notice the H to O until MARCO MADNESS. Not familiar with the term PARTY HOPS and my thought about OOPS was a missing letter, as in Party POOPER.
UMPA, AMAHL, AIDEN, Cacio e PEPE, ABBY, NAYA water, K TOWN, TEN in the Bed were all filled by perps. LA MANCHA took a couple of perps to job my memory. TLDR- tired of seeing that one and it can only be solved after a perp or two.
The Times Pick-Your- Nose (Picayune) has upped their subscription price to $71, which is MORE than my WSJ. DW reads it but I only look at the funnies and CW puzzle.
Done in ink, on dead tree, at the beach, there was plenty of H2O, but too cold to go in...
Happy birthday Splynter! these cupcakes come with holders!
CC, Tom Pepper Enjoyed the theme, which helped with the solve. SOREN a gimme for this philosophy minor. We just attended a planetarium show where we were shown BETELGEUSE and RIGEL in ORION and had the names explained.
BETELGEUSE means "shoulder of the giant" in Arabic. RIGEL means "foot" in Arabic. Very apt. Learning moment that A POS is second only to O POS in being COMMON. I am O POS and they like when I donate several times a year.
Here we were in LA KTOWN.
These side dishes are called Banchan and are the best part of any Korean meal, in my humble opinion.
AnonT Thank you for the HAVE A NICE DAY image from the greatest movie ever! Brilliant having a Black and a Jew going undercover in Klan outfits. HAVE A NICE DAY is the cherry on top!
Thanks to Tom and C.C. for Sunday challenge! I ended up with a one-box-FIW at AbC X AbAHL. Nevertheless, I enjoyed using the theme to fill in several tricky spots. FAV was PODCANDIDATE because the PHDC did not seem correct.
Happy birthday, Splynter! Not sure why CED thinks you'll like those cupcakes....
; )
Thanks to -T for the fun recap! Yes, hand up for having an electric kettle. FAV was Will It Blend?
Polish & polish -- Grammar Girl recently did a podcast on capitonyms (words that change meaning and sometimes pronunciation when capitalized). Other examples are Lima, Peru & lima beans and August the month & august the adjective. Fun stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgoX8n3kPVs
Quite the workout today, but it was an enjoyable one — clean clueing, a snazzy collection of themers with a unique hook. Ol’ dumb-arse me, I failed to look at the title until about 3/4 of the way through the puzzle (we’re also watching the football game as I’m doing the CW so had split attention) but managed to figure it out anyway.
Anon-T, thanks for handling the recap chore today — nice stuff in there. Oh, fwiw, back in the ‘60’s his name was spelled Chou En Lai, does that jog your memory? First (and longest serving) honcho of the PRC. Also, Abby Wambach ain’t exactly an unknown-to-America soccer player (as was Sam KERR yesterday); she won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. women’s team, among other awards.
Nice job, Tom and Zhouqin; thank you for a thoroughly doable Sunday romp devoid of obscure pop-culture junk! 🤙🏽😎
====> Darren / L.A.
What's UPMA?
Not much, son, what's up with you?
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