Fifty Shades of Gray. or maybe just 4 shades today.
17-Across. Extremely good-looking person, slangily: SMOKE SHOW. I am not familiar with the term Smoke Show to describe an attractive person. I guess it refers to someone who is so hot they are on fire.
23-Across. Actress who played Rollergirl in "Boogie Nights": HEATHER GRAHAM.
40-Across. Treat that can help a dog with indigestion: CHARCOAL BISCUIT.
53-Across. Online publication founded in 1996 by Michael Kinsley: SLATE MAGAZINE. Slate is an online magazine that features stories on politics, the arts, and business.
And the unifier:
65-Across. Range between white and black, and where the starts of 17-, 23-, 40-, and 53-Across can be found: GRAY SCALE. Is it spelled Gray or Grey? On this side of the Pond (unless you're Canadian), the color generally spelled with an "A". On the other side of the Pond, the colour is generally spelled with an "E". An easy way to remember this is in American, use the "A"; in England use the "E". Hi, CanadianEh!
Across:
1. Sleep outdoors: CAMP.
5. Salad topped with blue cheese and bacon: COBB. Robert H Cobb is said to have created the Cobb Salad. It's made with lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, crisp bacon, roasted chicken, avocado, tomatoes, blue cheese and a touch of French dressing.
9. __ Sketch: drawing toy: E-TCHA.
14. Spiny succulent: ALOE. As we learned from yesterday, it's a sunburn soother (See. 2-Down).
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| You knew I was going to include this cartoon. |
15. Major producer of pineapples and bananas: DOLE. Everything you wanted to know about the Dole Company.
16. Dubbed: NAMED.
19. Peruvian pack animal: LLAMA.
20. Cantina fare: TACOS.
21. Oahu neighbor: KAUAI.
29. Fury: IRE.
30. Quiche need: EGG.
31. __ Jima: IWO.
32. Inquires: ASKS.
36. April 15 agcy.: IRS. Tax day is coming up soon!
38. Bother terribly: EAT AT.
44. "Access Hollywood" host Lopez: MARIO. Mario Lopez (b. October 10, 1973) is an actor who has also appeared on Broadway as well as television.
45. Hither and __: YON.
46. Residential units, briefly: APTs. As in Apartments.
47. Horror movie street: ELM.
48. Mallon in the World Golf Hall of Fame: MEG. I don't follow golf, so I was not familiar with Meg Mallon (b. Apr. 14, 1963). She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.
51. Sleeping place: BED.
58. __ Island: New England state: RHODE. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the Union. Supposedly, the state got it name from the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, who called the island "Roodt Eylandt" (meaning "Red Island") in 1614, referring to the red clay lining the shores of Aquidneck Island, an island in Narragansett Bay.
59. Flatbreads for gyros: PITAS.
62. Belly button type: OUTIE.
68. Monastery member: FRIAR.
69. Jane Austen heroine: EMMA. Emma is the 1815 novel written by English author Jane Austen (Dec. 16, 1775 ~ July 18, 1817). It is set in the fictional country village of Highbury and is about the relationships among people from a small number of families. I have never read it.
70. Sledding spot: HILL.
71. Lower leg joint: ANKLE.
72. Proofreader's catch: TYPO.
73. Airline to Tel Aviv: EL AL. I always fly El Al when I go to Israel.
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Down:
1. Performers in a play: CAST.
2. __ mater: ALMA. Today's Latin lesson. Alma mater literally means Nourishing Mother, but it is a phrase used to indicate where one went to college.
3. Freeloader: MOOCH.
4. Tea option: PEKOE. The gradation and classification of tea is very complicated. Pekoe tea actually refers to a grade of black tea, specifically referring to the size and quality of the leaves, and not a specific flavor or type of tea.
5. LP successors: CDs. As in a Compact Disc.
6. __ and aah: OOH.
7. British fellow: BLOKE.
8. Word of caution: BEWARE.
9. Makes bigger: ENLARGES.
10. Actress Shire: TALIA. Talia Rose Shire (b. Apr. 25, 1946) is probably best known for portraying Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series of movies. She is also the sister of film director Francis Ford Coppola (b. Apr. 7, 1939).
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| Francis Ford Coppola and Talis Shire |
11. Nashville-based awards org.: CMA. As in the Country Music Association.
12. Skirt edge: HEM.
13. Tooth care org.: ADA.
18. "La Bamba" actor Morales: ESAI. Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (b. Oct. 1, 1962) makes frequent appearances in the puzzles. Did you know that his name, Esai, is a Spanish name that derives from the Hebrew root "Yesha'yahu" (יְשָׁעְיָהוּ), which means "God is salvation"?
22. Brand of fluffy slippers: UGG. The UGG company began in Australia and got its name because the sheepskin boots are ugly.
24. Group of three: TRIO.
25. Queen of Mount Olympus: HERA. In Greek mythology, Hera, the goddess of marriage, women, and family, is considered the Queen of Mount Olympus.
26. Seek a loan from: HIT UP.
27. Anticipate: AWAIT.
28. Apple juice brand: MOTT'S. It's more than just apple juice.
32. Zeniths: ACMES.
33. "__ we dance?": SHALL.
34. Cosmic payback: KARMA.
35. Indian honorific: SRI.
37. __ as a fox: SLY.
39. 2010 health law, for short: ACA. As in the Affordable Care Act.
41. Summoning words: COME HERE.
42. Tea option: BOBA. Boba tea, also known as bubble tea, is a Taiwanese tea drink with chewy tapioca pearls (boba). The drink is also frequently sweetened and combined with milk or fruit flavorings.
43. Spanish spelling of Agnes: INEZ.
49. Angsty music genre: EMO. A crossword staple.
50. Gizmo: GADGET. A gizmo is defined as any device that gets the job done, but it often means an unknown object.
52. Hummus and salsa: DIPS.
54. Dry run: TRIAL.
55. Bacteria-ridden: GERMY.
56. For a very specific audience: NICHE.
57. Online sales: E-TAIL.
60. Penne __ vodka: ALLA. Yummers! Penne alla vodka is a popular pasta dish, made with penne pasta, tossed in a creamy, tomato-based sauce that includes vodka, and sometimes chili flakes and other ingredients.
61. Vend: SELL.
62. Birds __ feather: OF A.
63. Self-serve coffee server: URN.
64. "__ Tok": No. 1 hit for Kesha: TIK.
66. Gear for a roadie: AMP.
67. Basketball star Ming: YAO. Yao Ming (b. Sept. 12, 1980) played for the Houston Rockets from 2002 until 2011. He is 7 ft 6 in. In 2007, he married Ye Li, who, at 6 ft 3 in, is also a former professional basketball player. She played for the Shanghai Octopus team in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association.
Here's the Grid:
33 comments:
There were a couple of
obscure names and terms that kept this puzzle from being as easy as it might have been, but generally it was a pretty quick solve, as Tuesdays are wont to be. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
The theme was not helpful today. Of the four, only SLATE MAGAZINE was familiar, though I never read it. Still, it came together in typical Tuesday time; no Wite-Out required. Lets' give a big hand to Caroline. (Was this a debut?) Enjoyed your take on things, Hahtoolah.
HILL: There was a favorite sledding spot at our school including a bridge over the creek at the bottom. There were steel posts in the center of the bridge to keep vehicles from trying to cross. If you were to hit one of those posts while on your Flexible Flyer, you could slide off into the water. Don't ask me how I know this.
UGGS: In my ute, Mom bought me some high-top rough leather shoes for summer wear. I hated them, and other kids teased me. In later years they were rebranded as "desert boots" and everybody wore them.
FIR without erasure.
Boogie Nights must have been just one edited scene from a dreaded X rating, despite its A-list cast. In addition to the lovely Ms. GRAHAM, William H. Macey, Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds and Philip Seymour Hoffman were players. The film is a dark take on the porn industry.
I love the bumper sticker that proclaims "My karma just ran over your dogma."
Thanks to Caroline for the fun, easy puzzle. My only unknown was SMOKE SHOW. And thanks to Ha2la for the fine review. That camping cartoon fit me to a tee. I think of my motor home as being more of a portable lake house than a camping vehicle.
FIR. The only gray shades I knew were charcoal and slate, not smoke and heather. So the reveal meant very little to me.
And there were way too many proper names as well. But well placed perps got'er done.
Overall not my most favorite Tuesday puzzle.
Perps were especially friendly today which helped me get all the themers and a FIR in 10:43. I didn’t know MARIO, zero chance of knowing anything about “Access Hollywood”. Also unfamiliar with HEATHER GRAHAM, but she could be classified as a SMOKE SHOW. How does one know that their dog has indigestion? And I think they may prefer a Tums instead of a CHARCOAL BISCUIT. A Spanish CSO to IM☘️ with INEZ. The county I live in in Michigan is over twice the size of RHODE Island, area wise. Thanks Caroline for the puzzle, and to Hahtoolah for another very entertaining recap!
Took 5:21 today, with no need to get misty.
I knew both of today's actresses (Talia & Heather Graham), but not Mario and struggled to spell alla (I confuse it with aloo).
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Caroline and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed in good time, and saw the GRAY theme. (Yes, Hahtoolah, I had to overrule my desire to enter Grey into the reveal!)
I have always thought of HEATHER as a shade of violet, not Grey, but I see it is more diverse - “a color effect achieved by blending different colored fibers, resulting in a muted, soft, and often gray-toned appearance”.
I didn’t know UGG made slippers; I think of.boots.
I noted IRS under IRE, and EAT AT crossing HIT UP.
I loved the Spanish CSO to Irish Miss.
Wishing you all a great day.
This was a fun and easy Tuesday puzzle with SMOKE SHOE totally unknown, but ENLARGES my knowledge of Gen?
Musings
-A SLATE GRAY sky can mean thinking about taking shelter
-Our friend Chef Wendy lives on KAUI and I miss her comments and recipes
-The Japanese Bushido code led to 90% of their forces dying on IWO rather than surrender
-The first women admitted to the FRIARS Club in 1988 included Liza Minnelli, Joan Rivers, Brooke Shields
-My TYPO errors occur as I try to type as fast as I read
-The rapid path from vinyl to streaming had a lot of stops along the way and created a lot of e-waste
-My first image of a BLOKE is Liza Doolittle’s ne’er do well father Alfie
-Coppola’s sister TALIA was great in The Godfather. His daughter Sophia was horrible
-After getting HIT UP for “loans” with bad results, I finally told my brother and sister-in-law no.
-Our Agnes by any other name is still as sweet.
-Hahtoolah’s cartoons are always a treat.
Fun puzzle, not difficult, but not filled as fast as I can write. It took a little thought. I recognized all the shades of gray and the magazine. I know heather can be an all gray mixture. I like heathers that are a mixture of gray and green or gray and lilac.
I had SMOKIN right away, but SHOW needed all perps. It's new to me.
DO, your sledding experience reminds me of our roller skating experience. My brother and I used to skate down a very steep hill on cracked sidewalks. We were going very fast when we reached the bottom of the hill. We had to make a sharp 90 degree turn to avoid skating across a busy street. We didn't talk about it or mom would have banned it.
I laughed at the camping cartoon. IMO that's not camping. Susan, thanks for all the great cartoons and info.
I also laughed at the typo cartoon. My typing has deteriorated with age. I would soon reach my typo limit.
I make all my quiches without crusts. The cheese greases the pie plate and so they are easy to serve. There are less calories and I prefer the taste. I make crustless spinach-cheddar quiches in mini muffin pans to serve as hors d'oeuvres.
Have a great day, fellow Cornerites.
UGG1!! —-To continue,—-to ENLARGE(s) my knowledge of Gen? slang. I knew all the names but needed perps to spell KAUAI.
A salute to Miss Irish for INEZ - new to me. I think Agnes is a prettier name. We like names when we know and like people who have them, don’t we?
My husband put polls with lights down the steep HILL behind our house and family, friends, and neighbors would sled down the hill, ,often on toboggans. The hill is still there and we have had a lot of snow, but the neighborhood children are never outside playing now. Different times.
Thank you H2Lah for all the funny comics, especially the treadmill, and Debrah and Yul singing and dancing is always a wonderful way to start the dau!
Happy day, all!
Today's puzzle was unusual in that the theme entries actually handicapped the solving of the rest of the puzzle. I knew "Slate" mag, but none of the other three.
And as for their being various shades of gray, I guess I'm OK with slate, charcoal, and smoke, but heather?! Anyone who has visited the Highlands of Scotland will know that heather is a beautiful muted violet color, and sometimes the entire side of a heather-filled hill is purplish with heather.
But evidently someone in the fashion industry arbitrarily decided to call some sort of grayish fabric "heather." They might as well have called it "daffofil" or "rose."
End of rant. Caroline devised a nicely constructed puzzle that is well-clued for the most part, avoids overused staples (except for ALOE), and her obscure names are easy targets of nearby perps.
So thanks, Caroline, for your efforts in providing a Tuesday-appropriate and fun challenge. And thanks, Hahtoolate, for another entertaining and helpful recap.
I got tripped up when the answer to quiche need wasn't moolah.
Someday soon, OUTIE will be clued as an off-duty person in Severance - a great sci-fi thriller on Apple TV.
Good Morning:
As Subgenius would say, this was a walk in the park, but there were a couple of stops along the way, i.e., Smoke Show and Heather Graham, both unknowns but both easily perped. Overall, the solve was a pleasant Tuesday exercise with a solid theme and execution.
Thanks, Caroline, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the enlightening and entertaining review. Favorite cartoons were the Alpaca/Llama, Air Friar, Fox in the henhouse,
Pita Pan, and Beware of the Cat. Highlight of the summary was the video of the stunningly beautiful Deborah Kerr and the irascible King Yul.
Yooper Phil and CanadianEh, thanks for the CSO!
Have a great day.
Add ParSan to my CSO thank yous!
HG, you’re sweet, too! Thank you for the CSO.
Lots of smiles evoked by the write up, thanks I needed it.
From last late nite, was "ektorp" a typo? I can find no definition, but it seems very familiar, as if we discussed it once before...
Picard, how does staying silent aid a campaign of not being silent?
Silly theme link from the past: well, it is in black and white .
Of the four theme fills, I've never heard of any of them. But the GRAYs were easy to spot. The puzzle was easy to FIR, thanks to perps. In spite of the other unknown proper names, my only question was if our "Irish Miss" would be INES or INEZ south of the border. I've seen it spelled both ways.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. My apologies, Irish Miss, for not giving you a special recognition on your new Spanish name!
QOD: Most of American life is driving somewhere and then driving back wondering why the hell you went. ~ John Updike (né John Hoyer Updike; Mar. 18, 1932 ~ Jan. 27, 2009), American novelist
FIR, despite the obscure names, as the perps were more than fair. The theme struck me as a bit meh, but YMMV. Loved the days 'toons, Ha2la! Especially Pita Pan and the air Friar!
Fast fill, yet I recognized only one of the long answers, SLATE MAGAZINE. Á little different.
About the spelling of GRAY/GREY. I prefer the latter because that’s the first one I learned, so I always hesitate before spelling that word. I’m now reading The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny who is Canadian, ergo the spelling.
Thank you Hahtoolah for the usual great recap and the Updike quote. Ive read almost all his books, fiction and non-fiction.
It is a term coined by constructor Emma Oxford IIRC, which means that you can decipher an answer by the context of a clue, but not necessarily know the answer from the clue itself. Some like “Cookie with a Post Malone variety”, a four letter cookie in a CW is almost always OREO, even if you’ve never heard of that variety, “cookie” is an Ektorp.
My usual complaint: 21 names, DNK 9. I needed a HUGE number of perps to come through for me, which they did to FIR in a remarkable (for me) 8 minutes or so. The only theme answer I knew was SLATEMAGAZINE, the rest needed lots of perps. With all the DNKs in this CW I'm surprised I managed to finish it at all, let alone in good time. Thanx CH for this CW. Try to construct your next one with far fewer names, please. Hahtoolah, terrific write-up, as always, thanx.
No apologies necessary, Hahtoolah, but thank you. 😉
Hwat ptyos? Untie, eh Lynx?
Hola! No complaints from me. This puzzle was easy as eating pie although SMOKE SHOW is new to me. I've heard of CHARCOAL BISCUIT but have never seen one. However, I have seen the HEATHER covered hills of Scotland and they are lovely. I'm not sure if gray adequately describes the color. The blossoms, as I recall, are lilac.
CSO to our Irish Miss, INEZ, who by any name is very nice.
KAUAI was the favorite of my late DH and so we usually stayed there.
In my quest to visit all 52 states I can now chalk off RHODE Island which is where Jay Leno lives. I'm short seven states but it's likely I won't get to those unless my sisters decide to go on another road trip.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Hahtoolah, I love all your cartoons and today the AIR FRIAR really tickled me.
DNK SMOKE SHOW, the Rollergirl actress, the doggie digestive aid, host Lopez, or MEG Mallon, but FIR pretty quickly. HEATHER also threw me off with regard to GRAY SCALE (which sounds like an infestation in the garden). Fair enough! Hahtoolah's review was a delight, as usual.
I'm sure that, as our resident golf guru, you know that Condy Rice (and Darla Moore) were the first women to be admitted into Augusta National. My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.
Undeed!
Thank you, Lucina, you’re pretty nice yourself! 😘
If you want to cheer yourself up a little, please go to nypost.com and scroll down to the article entitled: WILD RIDE: Doggy day care bus transports two dozen pups to the park. Click and enjoy!
IM - I notice that the doggy daycare bus is located in Oconto, WI. Years ago an old cousin of dad's owned a hardware store in Oconto. We used to visit at least once yearly.
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