Theme: "Um, Yeah"- Um sound is added to common phrase, changing spellings as needed.
26. Switching out tedious people?: ROTATING THE TIRESOME. Rotating the tires.
37. Classroom ennui?: SCHOOL BOREDOM. School board.
45. Extremely powerful networking device?: BEAST MODEM. Beast mode.
68. Strange guy at a class reunion?: WEIRD ALUM. Weird Al.
90. "Life is short, don't drink Coke," e.g.?: PEPSI MAXIM. Pepsi Max.
98. Visual aids for treating snake bites?: VENOM DIAGRAMS. Venn diagrams.
112. Responses to questions at an anglers' conference?: FISHING FORUM ANSWERS. Fishing for answers.
Noticed the added letters are mostly different. Amazing. This theme requires tons of creativity. Chuckled at the 90A clue.
 |
| Michael & Kevin |
Another low-word Sunday grid. Only 138 words. Mine is often 144. Our blog labels show that this is the first LAT Sunday for both of them. Somehow I thought Kevin had a Sunday before. Here's another great picture of him.
Across:
1. Wraps (up): SEWS.
5. Young lady: LASS.
9. Last name of football brothers J.J. and T.J.: WATT. Their brother Derek is a football player also.
13. Cuts with light: LASES.
18. Start to fall?: PRAT. Pratfall.
19. Skip past: OMIT.
20. Complicated: MESSY.
21. College sports channel: ESPNU.
22. "Voyage to India" Grammy winner: ARIE. India.Arie.
23. Actress Rowlands: GENA. She was the old Allie in "The Notebook". Beautiful movie.
24. At hand: ON TAP.
25. Braces (oneself): GIRDS.
30. 1948 presidential election winner: TRUMAN.
31. "Money __": Spanish Netflix crime series: HEIST. Unknown to me.
32. TripTik output: AAA MAP.
34. Egyptian viper: ASP.
35. Body art: INK.
41. Grandma: NANA.
43. Verdi opera: AIDA.
44. Cliched plot device: TROPE.
51. Home of Arizona State: TEMPE. Leon Marchand brought them the NCAA championship last year.
54. Company with brown trucks: UPS.
55. Pet food brand: ALPO.
56. Strikingly strange: EXOTIC. Pets.
58. "Likewise," informally: BACK AT YA. Quite a few nice long fill in this grid.
61. Lots: SLEWS.
63. Makers of top 10 lists: RATERS.
66. Hover (over): LOOM.
67. Obama daughter: SASHA.
70. Roves around: ROAMS.
74. Opera number: ARIA.
76. Use for support: LEAN ON. Thank God for my blogging team, friends and my three Tom's! So happy to see you back, TTP!
77. Home of the Sherpa people: NEPAL. 120. 77-Across's locale: ASIA.
78. Steeplechase barrier: OBSTACLE.
82. "Drag Race" host: RUPAUL.
85. Lugosi of "Dracula" fame: BELA.
86. After taxes: NET.
87. Shrill cries: YELPS.
92. R&B singer Braxton: TRACI. Ton Braxton's younger sister.
95. Opening course: SOUP.
97. Till stack: TENS.
103. Rust shade: RED.
104. Small batteries: AAS.
107. "Rocky" role: ADRIAN.
108. Overjoy: ELATE.
110. Amp handler: ROADIE.
116. Target Field team: TWINS. Been ages since I was there.
118. Durable jacket material: DENIM.
119. Prefix with bot: NANO.
121. Carried: BORNE.
122. Linney of "Ozark": LAURA.
123. Shade: TINT.
124. Academic acronym: STEM.
125. Like some enclosed stadiums: DOMED. Metrodome before Target Field.
126. Otherwise: ELSE.
127. Tart fruit used to make gin: SLOE.
128. In this place: HERE.
Down:
2. Stat for a bad defense: ERRORS.
3. Call from a slowpoke: WAIT UP.
4. Cook bao, say: STEAM. We don't say bao alone. Always baozi or Cha siu bao.
5. Password partner: LOGIN NAME.
6. Blessing ender: AMEN.
7. Golfer Vijay: SINGH. He was a machine for many years.
8. Utters: STATES.
9. Got started: WENT TO IT.
10. Piedmont wine center: ASTI.
11. Ruler until 1917: TSAR.
12. Rare blood designation: TYPE AB.
13. Creative displays made with toy bricks: LEGO ART.
14. Barely boiling: ASIMMER.
15. Few and far between: SPREAD OUT.
16. "__ of story": END.
17. Fishy, in slang: SUS. Suspicious.
20. Title role for Brandy Norwood: MOESHA.
27. Tarnish: TAINT.
28. Hawaiian Punch rival: HIC.
29. __ Tomé and Príncipe: SAO.
33. State flower of California: POPPY.
36. Kentucky fort: KNOX.
38. Tribute in verse: ODE.
39. Petting zoo cutie: LAMB.
40. Table in the desert: MESA.
42. Love: ADORE.
45. Adam Clayton's instrument: BASS. Bassist for U2.
46. First name in scat: ELLA.
47. "Planet of the __": APES.
48. "Why should I care?": SO WHAT.
49. Cybercommerce: E-TAIL.
50. Bishop's hat: MITRE.
52. __ reader: PALM.
53. Environmentally friendly prefix: ECO.
57. __ chest: CEDAR.
59. "Freak on a Leash" band: KORN.
60. Blob on a microscope slide: AMOEBA.
62. "Born to Fly" singer Evans: SARA.
64. Incurred: RAN UP.
65. Skiing spot: SLOPE.
68. Corduroy ridge: WALE. The higher, the better? I never liked corduroy.
69. Not suitable: UNAPT.
71. Acme: APEX.
72. Senegal neighbor: MALI.
73. Poetry event: SLAM.
75. Frozen over: ICY.
78. "As seen __": ON TV.
79. Liberal arts college in Kentucky: BEREA. Reminds me of Windhover.
80. Refuse to budge: STAND FIRM.
81. "Frozen" sister: ELSA.
83. Type of interface: USER.
84. Factoid in a CD booklet: LINER NOTE.
88. 1990s fad disc: POG.
89. Certain: SUREFIRE.
91. Windows precursor: MS DOS.
93. "Put Your Records On" singer Bailey Rae: CORINNE.
94. "That one didn't hit the target": I MISSED.
96. Cocktail of tequila and grapefruit soda: PALOMA.
99. Morse code unit: DAH.
100. Not going anywhere: IN IDLE.
101. Dent or scratch: MAR.
102. Double takes?: STUNTS. Great clue. Stunt doubles.
104. "__ Fideles": ADESTE.
105. Not as close: AIRIER.
106. Bagel option: SESAME. Hmm, I'm going to make this next.
109. Yahoo! service: EMAIL.
111. Overflowing (with): AWASH.
113. "Snow Crash" novelist Stephenson: NEAL.
114. Wildebeests: GNUS.
115. Part of A.D.: ANNO.
116. Up in the air, for short: TBD.
117. Court: WOO.
C.C.
33 comments:
It was interesting
how some of the “add-ons” were “om,” some were “um,” and one was even “im.” I guess the constructor wanted to keep things interesting. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Immediately inked in ENDS at 1a. (Have I ever mentioned...?) Things came together quickly -- too quickly, as it turns out. YELLS yielded LOG and d-o never looked at the down clue. Bzzzzzzt. Thanx, Michael, Kevin, and C.C.
MSDOS: I really miss those MSDOS days. Programs were small and fast. I once wrote a game in C that was only 35K in size. Years later, when I rewrote it in Python, it had bloated to over 10MB.
FIR, but school boardom->SCHOOLBOREDOM, tibet->NEPAL, toted->BORNE, LOGoNNAME, and iNAPT. Got my SWAG @ TRACI x CORINNE.
We seem to have gotten back to the original intent of STEM schools, and have let the steam out of the arts addition. We have a STEM academy amid an area of public housing. Politicians seem to always refer to "spending" as "investment," but this one really is an investment.
As seen ON TV - your assurance of shoddy merchandise.
Gotta love AAA baseball. Last night our Norfolk Tides made six ERRORS leading to six unearned runs. As Casey Stengel once said, "can't anybody here play this game?"
Thanks to Michael and Kevin for the fun, easy-ish Sunday workout. My favorite was "not as close" for AIRIER. I see what you did there with ARIER and ARIE in the same grid. And thanks to CC for another fine review.
Took 14:25 today to, um, finish.
I knew today's actresses (Gena & Laura), but not today's writer (Neal).
I couldn't think of "wale," which is a word I have only seen in crosswords.
I didn't know the bassist, though I know U2.
Good Sunday puzzle.
FIR. I started off on the wrong foot throwing down ends at 1A, only to be baffled with that whole corner. Eventually I saw the "error" of my ways.
This entire puzzle had way too many proper names for my liking. And the perps in most cases weren't as helpful as they could be. So I struggled through the entire puzzle as it took way longer than it should.
And as far as the theme, well that just seemed extremely lame and somewhat disjointed.
So overall NOT an enjoyable puzzle.
Good Morning:
As CC pointed out, this was quite the creative achievement. The themers required some thought, unlike some Sunday easy-peasy, fill in the blank answers. My favorite was Strange guy at a class reunion?=Weird Alum. Perps were needed for Corinne, Paloma, and Moesha. The crossing of Heist/Moesha was a borderline Natick, IMO. DO and I fell into the same traps at Ends/Sews and Yells/Yelps, but I, fortunately, saved my FIR because I knew Pods was correct.
Thanks, Michael and Kevin, and thanks, CC, for highlighting the talents of the constructors and for including their pictures.
FLN
CED, did you see my post about my suggestion on your blog photo question?
Anonymous @ 10:54 ~ Thanks for your kind words about this community. As a long-time reader, you must be aware that there are all levels of solving ability amongst us, so please join us and contribute to the camaraderie of the Corner. You’ve already contributed by introducing me to William Caxton! 😉
Have a great day.
Big Easy
I liked the puzzle because all the 'added' letters weren't at the end, making it harder to guess. I was cruising until I got to the SW. BEREA, NEAL, LAURA, and CORINNE (and song) were unknown. I was really FISHING FOR(um) ANSWERS. I couldn't remember if the game was POD or POG and that slowed the VEN(om) DIAGRAMS from appearing. It took longer than the usual 30 minutes to FIR today.
PEPSI MAX(im) was hard for two reasons. Never heard of that Pepsi version and maxim in a word I've never used.
Money HEIST- If you don't subscribe to Netflix, why would you know that? I had to take a hard look before I left the unknown MOESHA; no idea on that one.
WALE- it used to be a crossword staple; have not seen it in years. The few corduroy pants I ever (pre age 12) had would wear out the ridges in the crotch. My mother picked them out, not me.
PALOMA-not a margarita. I guess you add it to Fresca. Unknown.
AIRIER- never seen that word before.
SASHA Obama but not LAURA Trump (Linney)? Editor leans left.
Big Easy
Way back when, memory and storage were very expensive, and programmers were cheap. The computers had bytes, not gigabytes. Programmers tried to use as little as they could to speed up the programs. When computers got more core and storage, programs got bloated. You only stored the programs you needed. I kept most programs on 80 column cards. I now use the program cabinet to store tools in my garage. It has 20 drawers that are three feet deep. Heavy steel.
Sunday, UM day! This was fun. Thank you, Michael, Kevin, and C.C.! DNK TRACI, CORINNE, or BEREA, so the R and C were WAGs, but were likely enough that I FIR.
Um, it’s Lara not Laura Trump, maybe you would’ve preferred a reference to a former First Lady?
My old Apple II could play a pretty good chess game on 16 kilobytes of RAM. Not fast and low res graphics, but still...
Fun themers, especially liked ROTATING THE TIRESOME. But no fun in the SW with criss-crossing unknown names. Probably just a personal natick as most people seemed to get it.
BTW Traci's sister is Toni not Ton. In fact, I don't know how much she weighs!
Musings
-I liked the gimmick and loved VENOM DIAGRAMS!
-James Bond almost got LASED by Goldfinger
-Dewey’s campaign was mostly IN IDLE while TRUMAN outworked him
-Nice Twins regalia, C.C.!
-SINGH – It’s always interesting to see where a silent H might be hiding
-Adding an A (ASIMMER) and deleting syllables (SUS) are standard fare these days
-STAND FIRM – Ya gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…
-I was very happy when I could use a GUI instead of MS-DOS
-We have a big box store in our town with an AS SEEN ON TV section. I always look.
-I remember selling wide WALE corduroy pants when I worked in retail
Addendum
-Would someone please remind me next Saturday to do the Wordle puzzle? I always solve it after I comment during the week but forget to do it when I am the blogger and I can never get past a streak of 6. :-)
Hola! For a Sunday I thought this puzzle was easier than most but I still took my time with it. I'll take some CSOs: TEMPE and MESA, two of my neighboring cities, LEGO ART for my daughter who loves it and has several displays. And they are pricey! MOESHA is familiar because of my grandchildren who call me NANA. I also liked seeing VEN(OM) DIAGRAMS. They convey a lesson better than words, in many cases.
BEREA also reminded me of Windhover. And though I've never seen "Drag Race" I have seen RuPaul on TV.
Have a great day, everyone! And thank you, C.C., for this Sunday sum-up.
I meant Pogs, not Pods.
Thanks CC, for this puzz recap and for all that you do for the puzzle community. I will once again miss you at next weekend's ACPT and Cru Dinner but will send you some souvenirs that I hope you will share with your loyal and delightful Cornerites.
-Mike-
The Puzzle?
Irish Miss, yes! I saw it! Thank you!
It works wonderfully, I just never saw the black border because the sheet music fills (almost) the entire page. How did you discover this elusive method?
HG, whenever I need to remember something, I ask my phone (or Siri) by holding the side button, and saying! "Remind me Saturday April 5th at 10am to do wordle" and it will remind you on Saturday at 10am, "if" you remembered to choose a notification sound loud enough to hear...
Could not remember the "L" in Wales for corduroy ridges. But it did remind of time time I was taking daughter #1 to Colleges out of state, and the airline changed the gate unbeknownst to us to the other side of the airport. We ran so fast we "just" made the flight. Collapsing exhausted into my seat I uttered:
"It's a good thing I wasn't wearing corduroys or I would've caught fire!"
A href="https://media.tenor.com/y3vi7iF6YXIAAAAM/rim-shot-badum-tss.gif">(Rimshot)
DNF. I got caught in the HEIST, HIC crossing. Many years ago DH used to drink Hawaiian Punch. I would buy the syrup and mix it with water. I’ve never heard of HIC however. Are those initials, I wonder.
I was not sure about the theme answers. Except for á couple of them like WEIRD ALUM they weren’t obvious to me. I didn’t know the majority of the proper names except LAURA and GENA.
Nice picture CC. Thanks for the recap.
It’s Hi-C
Oh, silly me. Of course I remember HI-C.
CED, either by trial and error, or just plain Irish luck! ☘️ Glad to have helped.
No left or right on this blog
I enjoyed this puzzle.
Our son and his family used to live in TEMPE. His kids (our grandkids) grew up there.
Good reading you all.
I second that.
I’ve always spelled I’d comradery. Each is correct.
…spelled IT…
That’s interesting , Prof, I’ve never seen it spelled your way.
Thanks to Michael and Kevin! Um, Yeah, I liked this one! The themers were so fun -- especially WEIRD ALUM AND VENOM DIAGRAMS. This was not a quick & easy solve for me but it was rewarding. I was stuck for a while thinking the "double takes" were priNTS.
Another FAV was POPPY. It is the perfect state flower or CA's diverse climates. They are found in the desert, by the ocean, in the mountains, and in my front yard.
Thanks to CC for today's explanations! It is always interesting when you add constructor notes (like today's word count). I like the pic of you at the TWINS game!
I've had several busy days and got behind in my solving. Happy to be caught up now. I will miss waseeley's Thurs. tours but am also happy to get a regular dose of NaomiZ's smart takes.
FLN. Anonymous @10:54. WIMS (What Irish Miss Said)
= )
CED. Along with what IM said, another way to get out of the pictures after you've enlarged them is to use the ESC key (if you are on a laptop). Like you, I find that the back button takes me out entirely. Oof!
Monkey@12:16. HI-C took me a bit to parse, too. Then the V-8 clicked!
Got annoyed at the improper use of "factoid".
Nice to see pog back, in crossword form.
Post a Comment