Theme: Incidentally ...
[note, this cartoon is totally unrelated to the puzzle]
Puzzling thoughts:
I thought the name Dylan Schiff looked familiar. I discovered that I was the blogger of his January 8, 2021 LA Times debut crossword puzzle; a collaboration between he and Mark McClain
BTW, yesterday we had a puzzle from Zachary Schiff. Might they be related?
I digress ...
After completing today's puzzle I kept thinking, "is there more to this that I am missing?" So, with Mark McClain's help, I was able to reach out to Dylan and ask him about his thought process in coming up with today's puzzle. And no, I didn't miss anything. [phew!]
BTW, Dylan promises to stop by today and see what you all have to say about this, and answer any questions, so be nice!! 😀
Here are the entries:
17-across. Homeland, nation, or state?: ALT-COUNTRY. Three different (alternative) synonyms for the word "country"
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| The thesaurus-saurus agrees, in part |
25-across. Soapstone, shale, or mudstone?: SOFT ROCK. Three different kinds of "rocks" that have a Moh's Scale rating of 2 or less. Remember when Chairman Moe used the scale below to rate puzzles??
50-across. Cheerwine, Maine Root, or Jones Soda?: INDIE POP. Not familiar with Cheerwine? How about Maine Root? Does Jones Soda come to mind when you think of a soft drink? As those who live or grew up in the Midwest/western PA area know, the word "pop" is the term used to describe a carbonated beverage. Other parts of the country refer to it as "soda", and "Coke" (see map in the video below). And for those in the deep South, you know that the word "Coke" refers to any carbonated beverage.
Here is an example of ordering a soft drink at a drive-through in Mobile, AL:
[you] "I'd like a Big Mac, Fries, and a Coke."
[voice in the drive-thru]: "What kind of Coke do you want?"
[you]: "I'd like a Pepsi, if you have it. If not, make it a Mr. Pibb"
Fun Fact: The term "indie" refers to independent (as in the term "indie" films which are produced by smaller companies not called "MGM", "Universal", "Disney", et al) Here, the examples of "indies" are the three independent bottlers
And the reveal:
38-across. Score that sets the mood, and an apt description of 17-, 25-, 50-, and 62-across?: INCIDENTAL MUSIC. From Dylan's e-mail reply to me: "This puzzle takes four music subgenres and clues them in non-music contexts by providing 3 examples. The revealer INCIDENTAL MUSIC points to how each of them also "happens to be" a music subgenre when put back in the musical context" ... so don't look for another, hidden meaning!! 😁
I've enclosed the finished grid to help you find the other answers ... since this puzzle featured an incidental reference to hardness, I will use the Moh's Scale Rating today instead of assigning ⭐'s. Given that it took me just 6:33 to solve (more like my time for solving a Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday puzzle) I have to rate it less than a "5", as it barely "whet my apatite" (pun, intended - go back and look at the Moh's Scale)
 |
| The completed grid |
Across:
1. Food in red paraffin wax: EDAM. Moe-ku #1:
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| What bears might think about glampers |
And in a similar vein:
 |
| 😂 |
10. Bird of prey: HAWK.
14. Flatbread made with 3-Down: ROTI. Here is a DIY recipe for ROTI
15. Bay Area NFLer: NINER. As in "Forty-Niner" - the nickname (singular) of the SF area pro football team
16. DOL division: OSHA.
17. [entry]
19. Fix, as a pet: SPAY. Of course, I doubt that the pet would agree to be "fixed" if they had a say in it 😀
20. Beatles drummer: STARR. Moe-ku #2:
21. Unagi roll protein: EEL. One of 19 three-letter-words in today's puzzle. Hard to avoid that many when you have 4 entries (36 letters, total) and 1 reveal (15 letters) taking up so much real estate
22. Brand sold at Mattress Firm: SERTA.
23. Gondola propeller: OAR. "Gondolier" was too big to fit
31. With 30-Down, accessory that may coordinate with cuff links: TIE. (30-down. See 31-Across: PIN.)
32. More, in Mexico: MAS. I kind of prefer this as an actual word (mas = Spanish for "more") as opposed to a clue that might read "Pa's companions"
33. __ out: discuss in detail: HASH. Moe-ku #3
34. Falsehood: LIE. Fib also fits
36. Like many legal terms: LATIN.
42. French military caps: KEPIS. Also worn during the US Civil War/War Between the States
43. Movie SFX: CGI. Imagine that!
44. Insta- kin: REDI. OK, I know that this is not the "redi" that Dylan was after, but I much prefer videos ... this video dates back to 2009. I hope the plant in Pensacola is now able to meet demand for this fun-to-use product
45. Writing tool: PEN.
46. Baby hyena: CUB. My first choice was pup. Yours?
48. Without stopping: ON AND ON. Kind of like my sentences when I write a blog ...
50. [entry]
53. "Shameless" network, for short: SHO. Not a subscriber
54. "My goodness!": EGADS. For all of the solvers here that are members of the "Silent Generation"
55. Media center?: DEE. The "?" in the clue gave this away. The letter D is in the center of the word, media
57. Flattens (out): EVENS. I chose irons - anyone else make that mistake?
61. "Bob's Burgers" daughter: TINA. This solved by perps as I never watched this sitcom
62. [entry]
64. Part of a foot: INCH. Heel/sole/arch also fit, but I measured my choice precisely ...
65. See eye to eye: AGREE. Kind of an easy Friday clue
66. Assign stars to: RATE. So, if I did assign ⭐'s to this puzzle I would give it a solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
67. "Because of You" R&B singer: NE-YO. Total perps. [internet info] "Shaffer Chimere Smith, known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards. He gained recognition for his songwriting abilities following the success of his first major credit, Mario's 2004 single "Let Me Love You"
68. __ verde: SALSA. Mi favorito!
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| Salsa = sauce; Verde = green |
69. Approach bumper-to-bumper traffic, say: SLOW. I tried using the word "cuss" ... which is what I might have done once or twice back in my commuting days ...
Down:
1. Notable times: ERAS. We are currently in the Chairman Moe/Malodorous Manatee ERA of Crossword blogging. I am coming up on my fifth year here at the Corner as your co-Friday blogger; MalMan is close behind ...
2. Numbskull: DOLT.
3. Flour ground in a chakki: ATTA. Not familiar with the word "chakki". The "Silent Generation" (and this "Boomer") would prefer this clue: " ___ girl!"
4. Aid in locating a lost pet: MICROCHIP.
5. Serengeti grazer: GNU. Moe-ku #4:
6. Actor's "What am I supposed to say?": LINE. Very clever clue for this word
7. Chips in?: ANTES. How many different ways has this word been clued?
8. Bordeaux grape: MERLOT. In my former life as a wine rep/sommelier, the "casual" wine drinker was still focused on the line from the movie "Sideways" and the popularity of merlot plummeted. I can honestly say that the best ever wine I drank was a bottle of 2001 Paloma Merlot (ok, it was a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, but it was f***ing awesome!)
Here is a clip of the movie and Paul Giamatti's utterance (NSFW). BTW, the character, Miles, loves Merlot. The problem is, so did his ex-wife; and every time he encounters that grape varietal it reminds him (negatively) of her
9. Be nosy: PRY. I reached out to Dylan for his thoughts about this puzzle before I finished my blog. Hope he didn't think I was pry-ing
10. Canadian lout: HOSER. Not sure that I would ever call this a CSO ... but maybe our resident Canadian, "Canadian, Eh!" can chirp in here and give us the true explanation for this 😉
11. "Just like we discussed ... ": AS PROMISED. I confirmed [@Crossword Tracker] that this entry phrase is seldom used; just twice (2019 and 2020)
13. Whitewater vessels: KAYAKS.
18. Like many a thesis defense: ORAL. Just throw in a bunch of Latin words to impress and defend!
22. Cook over boiling water: STEAM.
24. Maddens: RILES UP. If the clue had read "Madden's", the answer would have had a far different meaning (sports gamers will get this!)
26. Temps: FILL-INS. Moe-ku #5:
27. Steak choice: AHI. The only kind of steak (tuna) that offers a three-letter answer - unless you count the word "RAW" as a steak choice (har har! Tartare!) 😂
28. Thomas, for one: TANK ENGINE. Congratulations, Dylan, this is a first use for the phrase tank engine in a major crossword publication! For those unaware of who this is ...
30. [see in the across comments]
35. List-shortening abbr.: ETC. and its clecho @ (58-down. List-shortening abbr.): ET. AL..
37. Fruit-filled pastries: TURNOVERS.
39. Chops finely: DICES.
40. In the past: AGO.
41. NL Central team: CIN. STL/MIL/PIT/CHI all fit, so I waited until a few perps came to the rescue
45. [see in the across section]
51. The Gem State: IDAHO. Immediately following is (52-down. Gem from a mollusk): PEARL
56. Holiday lead-ins: EVES.
59. __ phonetic alphabet: NATO. *Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Unicorn, Victor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee, and Zulu
(*Who can spot the mistake?)
60. Whole bunch: SLEW.
62. Holds: HAS.
63. Assenting vote: YEA.
That's a wrap, folks. See you in a couple of weeks. A personal "ps" from the Chairman, today is my little big sister's birthday. I know she won't be stopping by but as my only sibling, it is more than worth giving her a shout out. Happy Birthday, sis! 🎂
64 comments:
Once again, no reveal.
However, that didn’t stop me from solving this fun puzzle. I got the theme from the first themed solve, and it went pretty quickly from there. FIR, so I’m happy.
REDI x CIN is an insanely baffilng editing decision. Crossing two ugly pieces of fill (don't think I 've ever seen REDI, anyway) instead of REDO x CON which doesn't dupe anything.
Good morning!
Needed my Wite-Out to correct PROpoSED to PROMISED as LATIN demanded. Otherwise, this was a smooth solve -- unusual for a Friday. Those stacked vertical 10s were very nice. Thanx, Dylan and C-Moe.
FIW, missing ASCENDANCe x the totally unknown NEeO. Yes, pup->CUB. Also kwpis->KEPIS.
DW grew up in central Pennsylvania and uses HOSER for a disreputable / untrustworthy person.
I really wanted "dominance" to be "ass kicking." It fit, but perps didn't allow it. ASCENDANCY seems to be a bit of a stretch to me.
When I got my divorce from Major League Baseball CIN was in the NL West Division, for some unknown reason.
I enjoyed this one, though I found the theme and its fills to be weak. I still don't understand how, for instance, SOFT ROCK is INCIDENTAL to ROCK. Incremental I would have understood, but that wouldn't fit. Kinda seems like an "any port in a storm" puzzle. But thanks to our Chairman for the fine review. The first vid brought to mind my first trip to Hazard, Kentucky, less than 100 miles from my home. The culture and language was much different. For example, the past tense of "fight" was "fit." I had a couple of friends who lived in houses built by the Blue Diamond Coal Company as their company town, but the housing had long since been turned into independent rentals. Most of the folks who lived there had some Blue Diamond scrip they had found in the area.
Took 9:09 today for me to polish this one.
I liked this better than the usual add/subtract a letter or two that we tend to get served on Fridays, though I agree with the earlier comment about the crossing of "redi" and "cin," and the cluing for "ascendancy."
Alpha, not alfa.
Cheerwine is a southern thing. It was Cherry Coke before there was Cherry Coke.
When I think of soda from Maine, there is only one answer: Moxie
A DNF today. I got all the music the SW bombed out. I filled PIE PAN instead of the unknown TIN, guessed ARCH instead of INCH, and have never heard of either Thomas The TANK ENGINE, TINA or NEYO. No ASCENDANCY for me today.
"Insta-kin" and REDI- I know what Redi-Whip is, but IMHO the clue and fill don't match.
Was breezing along the top section, the two themers helped me get the bottom two, but the reveal and the adjacent 10 stacks in the west gave me pause as I was unfamiliar with TANK ENGINE and ASCENDANCY, and those crossing the unknowns TINA and NEYO didn’t help. A couple WAGs gave me the FIR in 14:33. CGI, REDI, and HOSER needed perps. ATTA and ROTI in the same grid. The other day the foot part was arch and not INCH. All in all a pleasant solve, but DNK the term INCIDENTAL MUSIC as defined by the clue. Thank you for the puzzle Dylan, nice work! C-Moe ~ I always enjoy your expos and especially the Moe-Kus, congrats on five years blogging! Also, thanks for the Deep Purple, I always loved the opening power chord riff in “Smoke on the Water”, hard to believe the song is 52 years old!
The INDIE POPS from Michigan are Faygo and Vernors.
Pan was in the clue, would not repeat in the answer.
FIW. I too like Jinx had ascendance instead of ascendancy. I've never heard of Neyo, but then i don't know the name of the constructor's dog either! Once again a proper name, which shouldn't belong in a crossword, was the culprit.
I enjoyed the theme but I'm not totally sold on the reveal. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it.
So overall, this puzzle was meh!
Good Morning:
I agree with Anonymous @ 7:22 as to this being more acceptable than the usual add/subtract a letter format, but it was not my cup of tea, being totally ignorant (blissfully so!) of pop music. BTW, there were two Easter eggs with Salsa and Latin, unless they’re not Incidental, a term I’ve never heard. Aside from the theme, the fill was fresh and lively and the perps were fair.
Thanks, Dylan, and thanks, Moe, for the detailed analysis and the many Moe-kus. The video of the Redi-whip shortage and the “discovery” of how to substitute real whipped cream was hilarious. Making whipped cream was as natural as making coffee in our house.
Have a great day.
It is Alfa but not Unicorn; U is Uniform.
Neyo? seems like a real shot in the dark...
Two days of tectonic SCHIFFS 😁
This one was touch and go. Liked the theme development but INCIDENTAL MUSIC is a new subgenre term. (OIC it just it is not, just defines the theme ) Mid north last to fill, forgot about GLAMP the port-man-toe of “glamorous camping”. Actually am GLAMPing while working this puzzle at camp right now, just opened for the season: using WiFi, watching NETFLIX on a wide screen TV, nuking breakfast. Waiting for the espresso machine to heat up.
Had AS PROPOSED b4 AS PROMISED
Learnt from CWs and hopefully have now etched in memory: ATTA and ROTI. A MICROCHIP is now included with your vaccine. I GNU it couldn’t be elk, the Serengeti is too hot for ‘em.
“How would you prefer your steak done?” “Medium AHI please” Apparently a Hyena is not a canine (LIU) so pup was wrong. Tie PINS: we called ‘em TIE TACKS . 👔 what is shown in the picture we would call a TIE CLIP…. NE-YO? Who?
RILESUP, OK but never IRES. IDAHO, gem state? What about all them taters? 🥔🥔🥔.
I remember leftover pie crust dough trimmed from the PIETIN used to make TURNOVERS 🥧 😋
HBD to CMoe’s little big or is it big little sister 🎂
sumdaze, yesterday, I posted this comment to Monkey in error. Upon further thought, I believe you’re the one who mentioned your husband’s thoughts on Maddie.
Monkey, I’m sure your DH enjoyed the last episode of Bosch: Legacy as Maddie’s screen time was minuscule and the story line and circumstances were pure Bosch-centric. It was a very fitting ending to an otherwise so-so series
Incidental music used as background to films and plays, includes alt country, soft rock, indie pop and heavy metal music. The reveal seems very apt and logical.
Ascendancy and dominance are exact synonyms. Vocabulary.com says, "When you assume ascendancy over someone else, you become more powerful than they are. Ascendancy is the state of being in a higher position"
The picture is of a tie clip not a tie pin. That tent is my kind of old fashioned camping, not glamping, which I don't care for.
I see HOSER in many novels by British authors.
"As promised" is common in daily life.
Ne-Yo is not in my wheelhouse, not on my radar. Spellcheck accepts it. Anyone who has received many accolades and three Grammy's is well known, not obscure, and is fair game for crossword IMO. Anything that is well known can't be obscure, even if I don't know it. I do well at Trivial Pursuit, but directors' names are my Waterloo. They are well known by others.
Insta is short for instagram. Redi must be short for Reddit, a kin of instagram.
Ray, it's my little big sister. She is just shy of two years older and 6" shorter
Dash Tony, for the win! I knew I couldn't sneak it by a veteran 😉
Like several others, I had ASCENDANCe because ASCENDANCY seemed like the wrong part of speech, and the singer was unNEYOn to me.
The revealer didn't stick the landing and the ease of the puzzle (except for the above error) was below par for a Friday.
Hopefully, OSHA will remain an entity so we don't have to start cluing it as NOSHA. But more important is the work OSHA does to keep our workers and workplaces safe.
I was thinking more along the lines of INSTApot / REDIwhip. Ad speak, not tech abrivs. -T
Yellowrocks, the best image of a tie pin was what you saw, and I couldn't get a better cartoon for glamping. Microsoft Edge isn't the best but I'm too lazy to switch. Sorry
Dear IM, did you notice the presence of PIETIN AND TIEPIN?
Musings
-What a clever and fun puzzle/gimmick although INCICDENTAL MUSIC seemed a little askew.
-I found a website yesterday that listed the Top twelve TV theme songs of the 70’s that set the mood for a show. I immediately thought of Hawaii 5-0 but it did not even receive a mention. #1 is at the bottom of this entry.
-Our INDIE POP was bottled by a company called Goody
-Ringo comes to OMAHA in June
-The first CGI dinosaurs in Jurassic Park took my breath away
-My writing is horrible with a PEN but now when I have to use my finger…
-I now have an Air Tag attached to locate my keys
-Me too, D-O, generating those stacked 10’s is impressive. How do you do it, Dylan?
-#1 70’s TV theme was from M*A*S*H. The narrator couldn’t even say the title of the song because it has the word suicide.
Not so smooth this morning. REDI and CIN, the last to fall. I understand ALT COUNTRY as an INCIDENTAL MUSIC genre, but not as answer to the clue, so I was very slow to fill the music entries until HEAVY METAL made its appearance.
Lots of my answers were total WAGS and á few perps. TANK ENGINE, NEYO, HOSER, needed all the help they could get. And then those three drinks! Thank goodness the word soda was included as á clue.
I too entered pup before CUB. I assumed hyenas were canines.
HAWKS are beautiful creatures. Á family of red-tail hawks used to come back every year and raise á family in á very large tree near our house. I so enjoyed hearing the little ones shriek for food. Unfortunately hurricane Laura in 2020 destroyed that lovely tree and the hawks moved on.
Thank you C-Moe for á neat review and those Moe-kus.
Even though the theme answers were not my strong suit, I feel that Dylan's puzzle today was first-rate. We had clever clues, lively fill, and magnificent construction. The reveal was an equatorial grid-spanner, and in both the lower left and upper right Dylan gave us TWO stacked tens. And in both cases the tens were next to half of an adjoining nine. I would have spent many a sleepless night grappling with that kind of headache.
I enjoyed the two identical clues (list-shortening abbr.) with different answers. And I note that yesterday we had the verb INCH, and today Dylan gave equal time to the noun INCH.
Thanks, Dylan, for an enjoyable Friday-appropriate challenge. And thanks, Chris, for your usual top-caliber recap. I can't resist one tiny nit, though: Friedrich Mohs, the mineralogist who came up with the Mohs Scale, would probably not like an apostrophe as being part of his last name.
Like Jinx at 7:01 am ET AL, I "FIW, missing ASCENDANCe x the totally unknown NEeO." I knew it was wrong, but didn't know how to fix it. Otherwise, I thought Dylan's puzzle was a good Friday challenge, and I think Yellowrocks at 9:32 am has explained why the theme answers and reveal work.
Chairman Moe, you do great work here, even reaching out to the constructor on this one. Your labors -- and poetry! -- are much appreciated!
Oops! NaomiZ at 10:32 am
No, Lee, I can’t say that I did. Thanks for sharing.
Not bad for a Friday. I found this mostly enjoyable, except for the usual annoying paraphrase non-clues, of which there were thankfully few. A local soft drink in the Northern Illinois area was the now long-gone Rolling Rock soda. Came in a wooden crate, had many flavors, and was a lot cheaper than the name brands. Nice recap, C-Moe! Favorites were Deep Purple, "individually wrapped", and "already peeled". Spotted that Unicorn right off.
I think I mentioned my appreciation of Moxie Orange recently.
TIE PINs stick through the tie. No big deal if you always wear that style, but if you wear a tie tack subsequently, the hole will show. Here's a TIE TACK that Amazon is hawking.
And it's been 52 years since I saw/heard Deep Purple play that song at a concert in Columbia, Mo. The warm-up acts were Rory Gallagher and the Bob Welch version of Fleetwood Mac. Tickets cost $6.
It's a tie PIN, not tack. Now they've got me interchanging them.
Good theme, but it would have been better without the unifier. I’m with Jinx. INCIDENTAL MUSIC does not describe any of the genres of the theme entries and is not an “apt description.”
I found an “apt” definition (I guess I DO use AI): “Incidental music is music used to accompany or enhance a non-musical medium, such as a play, film, or television show, to create a specific mood or atmosphere, or to transition between scenes.” There’s usually not a full enough structure to incidental music to claim it incorporates the genres. It seldom does.
My own efforts to create a large-scale musical theater show have given me an appreciation of the purposes of incidental music and how often we don’t notice its brilliance -- or even notice it at all. If you ever listen to TV in bed without watching (to fall asleep, probably) you might become a fan of these mood-setters.
I appreciated Dylan’s efforts to create unity among some of the fillers, like PIE TIN and TIE PIN, but I call the latter a tie-tac. Maybe that’s archaic. Another such attempt at unity, the two “without stopping” entries, were an ugly shade of green paint, particularly AT A CLIP but also ON AND ON. I’m already on record not liking the second portion of RILES UP and references to pro athletes as NFLers or MLBers, a device seen in crosswords but not on sports pages.
I almost FIW. I wrestled with ASCENDANCe for quite a while without conceding NEEo might be right, and finally realized I need a ‘Y’. The clue for the long word was a bit off, and the clue for NEYO didn’t help either. For me, “Because of You” is a Chris Montez song.
GLAMP and KEPIS (a WAG) were fun entries. AS PROMISED looked like a shoutout to former major league infielder Ken ASPROMonte until perps, uh, proved otherwise. MICROCHIP was a gimme. My dog is chipped. The only problem is that the chipping company sends advisories about lost pets “near" me, but they’re nearly always in some distant part of my large city. I’m obliged to check them out anyway.
Loved the Ringo/Starr Moe-ku!
I liked this puzzle. It eased my mind after Friday’s more challenging sudoku. I ran thru it pretty quickly, with en-joy-ment; but discovered I made mistakes, in the end.
I tripped over “tie pin”, as I made it “tie tac”. (I too noticed the picture’s difference - showing a “tie bar”/“tie clip”, instead of those dinky “pins” with the little back thing that you pinch to at/de-tach—my husband was always dropping them. I know almost no one - personally - who wears a tie now (even to the opera or symphony - not that I go to many of these, these days) …. (Gettin’ kinda rambling here; is that what happens when one hits 75 [may 26 😊] 🙈?)
26-down “temps” tripped me up - but I liked the noun-verb flip possibility after I caught it. I first put “fills in” (verb); not sure I’ve ever heard “fill-ins” (noun) actually used & pretty sure I myself have never used it that way my; AND it certainly works. AND, I “should have” gotten it by paying attention to clues for “CGI”, “SHO”; “on and on” is what finally fixed it for me🤷🏼♀️
Also - just now notice: “tie pin” ll “pie tin” - made me chuckle. That must be some kind of word-play; not a “pun”, & kinda “punny”?
Thanks for the puzzle, for the elaboration, and for the chats. I love this blog! Thank You! - to all who make it possible, and so enjoyable❣️
This was pretty fast for a Friday - but had some challenges to keep it interesting. Many of things I would have commented on have been ably mentioned by YR and others
Gimmes for me was Thomas the TANK ENGINE - my kids loved the motion stop TV show which began in 1984 with the Narrator/Conductor voiced by first George Carlin and then (crossword clecho) Ringo STARR
And the train set,like Legos, are virtually indestructible - so now getting a new workout with the grands
Local sodas/ pop (STL is Soda and KC is pop) are Fitz's and Vess and Polly Pop was recently resurrected
Thanks CM for the fun blog and Dylan for the puzzle !
I've consumed my share of Rolling Rocks, but there was nothing soft about them. Latrobe Brewing marketed it as "extra pale." Our Eastern Kentucky soft drink was Ale 81, kind of a Mountain Dew-like soda. Pronounced "a late one" as proclaimed on their logo.
I got that "Insta" for Instagram was misdirection, and it's supposed to be REDI as in "ready". Still could and should have been avoided IMO.
Hola! Thank you, Dylan Schiff, for the Friday fun! I liked this puzzle and finished it in good time. No, actually, it was a DNF as I did not know NEYO and had ASCENDANCE, not ASCENDANCY. Drat!
Otherwise, the grid filled nicely and I recalled ATTA and ROTI from prior puzzles. NEYO is unknown and so it was not filled. R & B singers and most other singers of current popular music are unfamiliar to me.
Thank you for showing the complete NATO alphabet which I had never seen, only parts as shown on puzzles.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! My sister who is here from Charlotte just called for a lunch date with all our sibs on Sunday. Yea!
Fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Dylan. And your commentary is always helpful, Moe, so thanks for that too. I hope your sister has a lovely birthday!
Well, it was fun starting this puzzle on a KAYAK along with getting an OAR to help us with moving around on the water. It would be nice to have lunch on board, especially since we'd start with a glass of MERLOT. Finding some food was a bit more challenging although there was, of course, that EDAM. Could that be served with some ROTI and ATTA (whatever that is), and and maybe even with some TURNOVERS for dessert? Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Especially if we could also listen to some MUSIC, a bit of COUNTRY, and that SOFT ROCK, and some INDIE POP and HEAVY METAL. Could be a delightful voyage to start off our weekend, I'd say.
Have a good Friday, everybody.
We're just beginning to get some sunshine, so have a great day too, everybody.
Hi All!
Thanks for the Friday challenge, Dylan. I liked the meta of the theme and things were pretty clean ... that is until Ne-Yo ;-)
Great expo, C. Moe. Your kus overfloweth with cute.
WOs: piTa -> ROTI, NeeO (looked wrong so I did a 25 char alphabet run (Hi CopyEd!)).
ESP: KEPIS (oh, those - thanks C.Moe!)
Favs: HOSER elicits Bob & Doug, I love STARR, and I think we all enjoyed what C.Moe did with 62a :-)
Easter Egg: LATIN music, INCIDENTALly.
CopyEd: My aunt saw The Beatles in STL for $5. I was born a generation late - concerts cost upwards of $90 (before TicketMaster fees!) nowadays.
//last concert I went to was Sting in The Woodlands about 2 years ago.
IM - yes, making whip'd cream is too easy* to waste all that money on air.
//*well, everyone accidentally makes butter once ;-)
HAWK - Cordelia Cupp, the detective in Netflix's The Residence [2:24 Trailer], mentions her method is akin to a HAWK spotting prey. DW & I just got into the show after finishing Severance.
Inanehiker - Nice catch on STARR as the (second voice) of Thomas the TANK ENGINE. I watch that a lot when my kids were younger.
Speaking of...
C.Moe - your little big sis shares the day with Eldest. Eldest is all grown up now - as of today she has to pay for her own health insurance :-)
Looking forward to Dylan dropping by The Corner -
Cheers, -T
Mohs’ perhaps?
I agree that Ne-yo is not obscure but it's iffy to use Grammy awards to justify how well known someone is. For this year's Grammy's, there are 94 categories. Plus, the Grammy's always include a "new artist," so we sometimes see a one-hit wonder, who's "hit" only had to be better than a handful of other new artists' hit in that given year.
I liked this puzzle.
Google AI says:
Several films incorporate alt-country music into their soundtracks or scores. For example, A Star Is Born features songwriting by artists like Lori McKenna and Jason Isbell.
Several films feature soft rock scores. "Dazed and Confused" (1993) has a soundtrack with a blend of soft rock and other genres.
Several indie pop songs have been featured in popular movies, often adding to the film's overall atmosphere and emotional impact. Some notable examples include "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears in "Donnie Darko"
Heavy metal has been used in movie soundtracks since the genre's rise to prominence. Notable examples include the "Heavy Metal" movie's soundtrack, featuring artists like Sammy Hagar, Blue Öyster Cult, and Black Sabbath, and horror films like "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" with a Dokken song.
Jinx, I agree Rolling Rock is not hard to take.Yum.
Oops! DW just informed me the soda brand was GLEN Rock, and came in 7oz. Bottles. I seem to have confused my hard and soft drinks!
POP or SODA 🥤
I worked in the old Mercy Hospital in Buffalo NY during training and everyone used POP for “carbonated drinks” while 2 hours east on the Thruway in Rochester it was SODA.
Somewhere in between there’s a confused town .
(Batavia NY is about half way 🤔)
Yes.
Before I gave up alcohol, I realized I was allergic to Rolling Rock. Every time I drank my fill I would break out in handcuffs.
Let’s hope it’s not Mohs’s!
Ray-O: I've lived in so many places that I use pop, soda, fountain drink, Coke, ETC. interchangeably.
Anecdote anyone?
Remember 4/16 puzzle - STUTTER for old jalopy & the day earlier MANUAL for car w/ a clutch?
Someone made a jape about kids & manuals & how no one could steal 'em...
Buddies & I met for dinner Wednesday night. It was a fancy joint with only valet parking.
I pulled up and asked the guy, "Um, you can drive a stick, right?"
He looked around and said, "Let me show you a spot up front, you can drive it and keep the key."
I gave him an ABE for not pretending / ruining the gears.
Crux of the story: My manual transmission ('15 Civic Si - 6 on the floor) really is an anti-theft device :-)
C, -T
Wow, 54 comments by the time I got here. With that many I don't have time to read them, so if any of my remarks have been made already, sorry.
FIR in 20, it took the second theme fill to get the theme. Clever! AND I especially like only 8 names, 2 DNKs. Also dopey me didn't understand the reveal, CMoe had to V-8 can me. Also DNK ATTA. I often hafta cheat to complete a Friday, but not today: no alpha runs, no Google. Thanx DS for this Fine Friday offering. And thanx CMoe for the terrific write-up. Another headache; gonna nap now.
AnonT it’s like the evolution of an accent heading south on the Thruway from Albany 3 hrs to NYC. The upstate NY accent slowly gives way to New York Cityese . “Sisterrrr” becomes “Sista” etc.
Hi all; constructor here! Thanks for this great write-up and engaging discussion!
I should clarify that the unifying revealer reimagines INCIDENTAL MUSIC (descriptive music played during a play to project a mood) as INCIDENTALly (occurring merely by chance or without intention) MUSIC. Each theme answer is taken out of its musical context as clued, but is incidentally also a genre of music when considered in a musical context.
I had originally submitted the puzzle with REDO / CON in the east section of the grid, but Patti and Katie preferred REDI / CIN so as to eliminate the repeat of WHAT CAN I DO and REDO in the grid together.
And to my knowledge, I am not related to yesterday's constructor. But what a fun INCIDENTAL observation of our back-to-back puzzles! :)
Thanks again for having me!
Ashura, a day of recognition for when Mohs's parted the Red Sea and saved the Israelites, is coming up on July 5. 'Course I could be speling Mohs's creatively.
You’re welcome.
Dylan's explanation of occurring "incidentally" does justify the unifier in his puzzle, but it doesn't settle arguments over definitions of incidental music itself.
Musical Friday. Thanks for the fun , Dylan and CMoe.
I’m late to the party, so WEES by now.
But I did want to comment on HOSER. AnonT correctly associates it with the McKenzie brothers and their Great White North program. They poked fun at our Canadian idiosyncrasies in hilarious comedy. I do not consider HOSER to be derogatory in that context. We are proud of our Canadian differences. Elbows Up!
One last thought before the day ends: Moxie tastes like carbonated motor oil. There, I said it. And I live in a state that abuts Maine…
errata - it is a falcon in The Residence, not a HAWK.
Moxie tasting like motor oil is too cruel! It really tastes like carbonated Lavoris mouth wash.... Yum!
I laughed 😊😉
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