Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of a Friday puzzle constructed by Lewis Rothlein. Per the NYT a couple of years ago, LewisRothlein is a yoga instructor and jazz piano enthusiast in Asheville, N.C. He has had puzzles previously published in both the NYT and the LAT.
This solver found today's offering to be challenging and enjoyable. A number of the clue / answer combinations required some cogitation - not because they were obscure but because one had to dig a bit deeper than usual into the cranial data base.
There is no reveal/unifier in today's puzzle. At four places within the grid Lewis breaks common words into two pieces and this "division" is incorporated into the manner in which the clue must be interpreted in order to conjure up the correct response. Here are the four themed clues and answers:
17 Across: Pa ss: SPLIT TICKET. Neither pass as in a gap in the mountains nor pass as in to do well on a school exam. As used in the clue, Pass means a way to get into a concert or a sporting event. SPLIT TICKET voting is when a voter votes for candidates from different parties in the same election, as opposed to straight-ticketvoting. Here, though, the Ticket has been literally been split.
25 Across: Fi rm: PARTED COMPANY. Not firm as in solidified. In the clue it is used in the sense of a business entity. . . and in this instance the entity has been PARTED like the Red Sea. PARTING COMPANY, of course, most often is used in a different context.
43 Across: Shis hito: CRACKED PEPPER. Shishito is a type of pepper although it is not the type of pepper that is commonly CRACKED. In the clue, the pepper has been cracked in half.
56 Across: Bo nds: SEVERED TIES. Not bonds as in financial instruments. Bonds as in the ties that bind. SEVERED TIES is quite similar to PARTED COMPANY, above, but is most often used in reference to a business relationship.
This is how it all looks in the grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Creature of Jewish folklore: GOLEM. In Jewish folklore, a GOLEM is an artificial humanoid made of clay, soil, or dust brought to life by a series of rituals and magical formulas. According to legend, GOLEMs could only be created by a powerful rabbi.
6. Verb with thou: SAYST. A variation of SAYEST. A hand up here for first trying SHALT.
11. __ bar: FIG. SAND was too long, as was OYSTER.
14. Slightly in front: UP ONE. Not physically ahead of the pack. UP ONE as in a sports score. Not to be confused with One Up as in to overshadow.
15. Intercontinental range: URALS. Demarcation line for Europe and Asia.
16. Soundless messaging syst.: ASL.
19. Dark site of the moon?: SEA. SEAS, or mares, on the moon are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by lava flowing into ancient impact basins. They were dubbed maria (Latin for 'seas') by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas.
20. Members of a sub group: HOAGIES. Not a reference to religious sects or to underwater vessels. A sandwich reference.
21. Like overripe bananas: SPOTTED. Not in the optical sense. More like a leopard.
23. "Embrace the glorious __ that you are": Elizabeth Gilbert: MESS. Elizabeth Gilbert is
an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love
24. Dressage pace: TROT. From Wikipedia, Dressage is a form of horse riding and an equestrian sport that aims to develop the horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform.
30. Formal, in a way: DRESSY. Interesting with DRESSY following Dressage.
32. Sought office: RAN.
33. Fruit in some gin: SLOE.
34. Overlord of the rings, for short?: IOC. Not a LOTR reference. The Olympic Rings.
35. "That's gonna leave a mark!": OOF. Punt!
36. Family: KIN. When asked if he had family in Salt Lake City, Robert de Niro replied,"Utah kin to me?"
37. Egg pouches: SACS.
39. Co-worker of Jamie, Alan, and Mara, in Progressive ads: FLO. This solver thought that is was kind of the constructor/editor to choose the most-well-know of the group for the answer. Had it been clued as, for example Co-worker of Jamie, Alan, and Flo this solver would have been at sea, as they say in some of our puzzles. What did you think?
40. Planters: SOWERS. As ye SOW so shall ye reap.
46. Blasted: DARN. Not a reference to an explosion. As slangy clue with a slangy answer.
47. __ bene: NOTA. NOTAbene is a Latin phrase meaning "mark well" or "note well". It is used to call attention to something important in a text or speech.
48. Skating hazard: THIN ICE. Literally. The expression is more often seen as an idiom.
51. Comic-con attendee with pointy ears, maybe: TREKKIE. A Star Trek reference
55. Feel sick: AIL. What does one say upon seeing a sick redhead? Ginger ail.
58. Org. with Kings and Knights: NHL.
59. Switch: TRADE. As in:
60. Aquarium fish: TETRA. A frequent visitor to our tank.
61. Slime: GOO. Punt-ish.
62. Campaign topic: ISSUE. I told my boss, “Sorry I’m late. I was having computer ISSUEs. Boss: Hard drive? Me: No, the commute was fine. It’s my laptop.
63. Caravan rest stops: OASES.
Down:
1. Rhapsodize: GUSH.
2. Intel collected during a race: OPPO. Truncated clue, truncated answer. A political race. OPPO is damaging information about a political candidate that is gathered and used or made public usually by an opponent's camp.
3. "Copacabana" showgirl: LOLA. Okay. If we're headed down this road we might as well go with the over-the-top version.
4. Hard-to-read people: ENIGMAS.
5. Fortes: METIERS.
6. Word on some European notes: SUISSE. Seen on Euro notes that feature Switzerland.
7. Shape made with a pencil and string: ARC. A rudimentary compass.
8. Jaws: YAKS. Not a reference to mandibles. Idioms for talking too much. Not a reference to these:
9. Didn't answer immediately: SLEPT ON. As in the colloquialism to "sleep on it".
10. Brief weather event?: T-STORM. "Brief" in the clue tips us off that the answer will be a-brief-iated.
11. Slick one: FAST TALKER. The meaning of FAST-TALK is to influence or persuade by fluent, facile, and usually deceptive or tricky talk.
12. Words of understanding: I SEE.
13. Willing (to): GLAD. As in "I'd be GLAD to help you with that."
18. Petulant: TESTY.
22. Best or bests: TOPS. The first word of the clue is an adjective. The second is a verb.
25. Minor offense: PECCADILLO. Anyone recall previously seeing PECCADILLO in a puzzle?
26. Wilt: DROOP.
27. Half-__: latte spec: CAF.
28. Cain genre: NOIR. A reference to James M. Cain. Perhaps best known for the novels Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
29. Urges: YENS. Not used as a verb as in to pressure someone to do something. The urges, themselves.
30. __ jockey: DISC.
31. Laugh good and hard: ROAR.
35. Word with hand or saw: OLD. Precedes either/both.
38. Get the drift, perhaps: SCAN. A bit of a stretch. Apparently used as in to quickly peruse.
39. Folks who might say, "Curses! Foiled again!"?: FENCERS. Not FENCERS as in those enclosing a yard. A sword fighting reference. A foil is a type of sword.
40. Botanical reproductive unit: SPORE. How mushroom does a SPORE need?
41. Decided in favor of: OPTED TO.
42. Underwhelming argument: WEAK TEA. Idiomatic.
44. Skating great Yamaguchi: KRISTI. The name was known. The spelling was aided by the perps.
45. Menu selection: ENTREE. I recently made a delicious European breakfast entree, but when I finished eating it I had a stomach ache. It was a Belchin Waffle.
48. Kick: TANG. Spicy. As in "this salsa has quite a kick to it."
49. Chipper greeting: HI HO.
50. Some NASA missions: EVAS. ExtraVehicular ActivitieS What we used to call spacewalks.
52. Many Ikea purchases, essentially: KITS. Put it together yourself.
57. Gettysburg address feature?: EDU. At first this solver thought that this was just plain wrong. Got the web address part of it but every Gettysburg-related site I dug out ended with EDU or GOV. Then Gettysburg College in, of course, Gettysburg, PA was "discovered".
The northwest was stubbornly snow-covered, so d-o ventured into the southern climes where things came easier. Star Trek enthusiasts prefer the term Trekker to TREKKIE. Finally, back in Oregon, ENIGMAS broke the logjam. SUISSE disproved my CANST to SAYST. This turned into a nice challenge; nothing too easy, but nothing too obscure. Thanx, Lewis and Mal-Man.
FIR. I had a difficult time in the top insisting on shalt at 6A, until the perps all fought me and I stood corrected. I'm not sure I like scan for "get the drift", but this is a Friday puzzle after all. But all things considered, I did enjoy this puzzle.
This was a Saturday level puzzle, but with a theme.
I didn't know metiers (spellcheck doesn't either), sayest, fig bar, Cain or his/her genre, the pepper, or this strong candidate for worst clue of the month is, "French noun suffix: iere".
The acrosses in the SE were so easy for me that I didn't even notice IERE. Absolutely insane fill.
Also, in an alternate universe we get a cleaner grid where the "D" square in DRESSY and the "S" in YENS are black squares, IOC is gone (uncommonly seen abbreviations with "?" clues are the worst), and 25D becomes PICCADILLY Circus.
I loved the theme which was executed perfectly, IMO. This was a Friday-worthy challenge that was an enjoyable change of pace from the add/remove a letter themes. Hand up for Shalt before Sayst (Sayest is more familiar) until perps intervened. I thought the cluing was mostly clever (Scan might have been too clever) and the fill was fine except for “iere”, a sore thumb if ever there was one. However, this two very minor nits pale in the overall satisfaction and enjoyment of the solve.
Thanks, Lewis, and it’s nice to see you again and thanks, MalMan, for an excellent review and commentary. Your explication of the theme was top-notch and the puns were 5 Star gems. The only Progressive people’s names I know are Flo and Jamie, although Mara seems to be getting featured more and more. I loved the “dressed-up” horse.
Lewis provided us with a challenging Friday diversion today. His (revealless) gimmick was clever, albeit a bit farfetched in places. And shishito was obscure to me.
I enjoyed seeing HOAGIES, since I grew up in Philadelphia, which is where they were made famous by Italian delis. I find it difficult to find a true hoagie today outside Philly. Even most of the folks at Jersey Mike's or Subway give you a blank look when you mention the word.
The 50 Down clue is misleading. An EVA can be a feature of a mission perhaps, but it's stretching things to call an EVA a mission in and of itself.
Thanks, Lewis, for your thoughtful and creative challenge today. It gave me a workout. And thanks, Mal-Man, for your indispensable and helpful expo.
This had a few twists and turns but actually came out pretty fast for a Friday -I thought the Overlord of the rings - could be a boxing ring instead LOTR or Olympic rings - so tried REF before IOC filled by perps - SUISSE is on Swiss money but they are Francs as they never adopted the Euro IIRC -I thought of Cain - the Christian Contemporary band - so took perps to get to NOIR as I didn't know the author -I just like the way the word PECCADILLO sounds saying it -HI HO makes me think of Snow White's seven Dwarfs
Thanks MM for the fun blog - especially the Neil Sedaka link; and Lewis for the puzzle!
Finicky Friday. Thanks for the fun, Lewis and MalMan. Officially a FIW, since I moved from Shalt to Canst to Mayest, and never arrived at SAYST/SUISSE. So close! I did finally get from nags to YAKS. That NW corner was a head scratcher. But I did SEE the Split clues which helped the solve.
Several inkblots. By ONE changed to UP. VoTED changed to OPTED. I had a lovely cross of OOF and Off, but I needed “OLD saw” and “OLD hand”, not “Saw off” of “ Hand off”.
This Canadian had heard of FLO, but any of the other names would have been a personal Natick.
ENIGMAS, METIERS, PECCADILLO are high value words. Favourite was the clue for FENCERS. 46A Blasted clue should have had an ! to better match DARN. “Get the drift= SCAN” was a little forced.
Musings -This had all the elements of an ideal puzzle for me: A gimmick that switched from obscure to helpful, cluing that stretched my imagination and a sense that I never felt stymied. -In my blogging of Lewis' first LA puzzle for this blog, I noted how he taught a class called The Art of Solving Crosswords at UNC-Asheville and told him I wished I could take it. -Did anyone else have SHALT before SAYEST or MR SPOCK before TREKKIE? -On July 20, 1969, The Sea Of Tranquility was the SITE of history’s most famous broadcast -George Patton was a famous participant in dressage -The IOC has been the target of corruption scandals over the years -Nebraska has a 9 ½ ton SOWER atop its capital building -Doing OPPO research is very easy now with people leaving electronic footprints everywhere. -FENCER cluing was very cool. -Ed White performed NASA’s first EVA and later died in Apollo I on a launch pad during a rehearsal -When I try to remove the first piece of pie, it turns out to be a KIT
This was fun. The kind of puzzle I enjoy. I got the theme at PARTED COMPANY. Then the others fell into place with little resistance. I too wanted cAnST but SUISSE showed up to set me straight.
Lots of clever fills like HOAGIES, and EDU. IOC and NHL appeared on their own.
Finally, a Friday puzzle worthy of the day. Thanks, Lewis!
A little sticky in places (SHALT I go on?) but fair perps came to the rescue. I hit THIN ICE near the South Pole - Drat; DAng; DARN! All in all, good fun.
Kudos to my favorite non-aquatic Manatee. You pulled out all the stops, from "hard drives" to "belchin' waffles!" A tour de force that was thorough, humorous and informative.
It’s easier to say you liked a puzzle if you FIR, but I did and I did.
It was very slow going for a while. I found a few short gimmes like LOLA, FLO, SLOE, NHL, ASL, OOF (although I don’t think that gut-punch word applies to abrasions and lacerations), URALS, TETRA, OASES, and ESAS, and then I WAGGED my ENTRÉE to the SE corner, which helped me figure out TREKKIES (I was expecting an animal costume).
That led me to SEVERED TIES, which confirmed the gist of today’s theme, although it wasn’t much help sussing the CRACKED PEPPER clue. The latter was made even more difficult by the obtuse clue for SCAN.
There were several other clue/answers that were a stretch, such as the IOC (I had “ref” for a long time, but it didn’t turn out to be one of the gimmes), the foiled-again FENCERS, and especially the Gettysburg clue, which took me back to Bill Cosby’s routine about playing football for lowly Temple University and the list of the Owls’ perennial opponents.
I completed the lower two-thirds – PECCADILLO helped a lot -- before I finally CRACKED the upper third, thanks mostly to METIERS. Oddly, it took me way too long to come up with GOLEM (dybbuk kept getting in the way), and with FIG bar, one of my favorite cookies.
Several clue-to-answer relationships stretched the bounds of common sense and fair play. FIR, but had too many eye-roll moments to really enjoy the experience.
Good Friday challenge but “Thou shalt not finish”. At first thought the space in the clue was for a missing letter (like maybe the T in TSTORM)…. wrong! Got about 80% completed but eventually but TITT
Had a nose for awhile for UP ONE which obviously didn’t perp. Sub group/HOAGIES, great clue/answer. LOTR fooled me but did finally figure DARN meant “blasted”
““Gettysburg address feature”? zip code wouldn’t fit and impossible to parse 😊. Knew OPPO from a long ago puzzle. I actually would not fill MÉTIERS as toooo obscure. Had sassy for petulant
“Cain” / NOIR : no idea, nor EVA’s. (So what useta go on in a car at the drive-in theater were IVA’s: Intra Vehicular Activites 😘). French noun ending? IERE? A feminine gender suffix “like jardin/jardinière? as in garden/female gardner? “Ça ne me plaît pas du tout!! ” constructor should have reworked this part of the puzzle
Good memory, Gary, regarding NASA's first EVA, in 1965, conducted by Ed White on a Gemini mission. I'll never forget it.
I used to work for a rocket propulsion company that was contracted with NASA and the Dept. of Defense to manufacture solid and liquid rocket engines for missiles. For NASA we built engines for the Mercury, Gemini, Space Shuttle, and Apollo missions.
So I still think of an EVA as an astronaut out in space tethered--or untethered--to a space vehicle. But the twelve moonwalks were also EVAs, if you think about it. Which brings me to today's crossword, and my previous comment that an EVA isn't in and of itself a mission.
I will concede that to the extent that the twelve Apollo moonwalks (EVAs) were considered the heart and soul of the moon-landing missions, then yes, those particular EVAs could each be considered a mission.
It was extremely hard to get going on this puzzle. It was mostly a sea of white until I got to the bottom. It took quite a few perps before I got severed ties, and I guessed cracked pepper, because I had no idea what shishito referred to. And in spite of my troubles, I had exactly one other unknown, MESS.
OPPO? I think people in constructors are trying to make up words to put in popular usage.
The clues made this and enjoyable but difficult puzzle to finish.
Interesting Friday puzzle, many thanks, Lewis. And thanks too for your always helpful commentary, Mal Man--much appreciated.
Well, this puzzle gave us a FAST TALKER, who may like expressions like 'SAYST thou'. His fast talking may produce some ENIGMAS that often make listeners TESTY and make their spirits DROOP. But at least he didn't ROAR or GUSH, and that was a relief too. So we invited him to a diner and ordered him an ENTREE, which he enjoyed until the CRACKED PEPPER made him cough and sneeze and we had to offer him a tISSUE. But we still had a good time, and he's GLAD he has us as friends.
I've enjoyed reading your comments on my puzzle -- the plusses and minuses all -- which help me fine tune my puzzle-making. I'd like to add that Patti is a first-class puzzle editor who makes excellent decisions and has the knack of making a submitted puzzle shine brighter.
Finally, I'd like to thank my dog Teddy, who feeds me with ideas as I walk him. I'm not sure how he does it, but he does it. He passed the idea for today's theme to me one afternoon, and I was sure to give him very special treats afterward!
I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the cluing! Regarding OPPO, it has appeared in the major crossword outlets 25 times beginning in 2020, almost half of them in the LAT. I do remember hearing it quite a bit in this last election cycle. Here's the MW entry: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oppo .
Giving credit to your dog makes perfect sense! Both of you did an excellent job with this Friday/not Friday puzzle. I agree the entire experience benefited from MM being the reviewer. Shabbat Shalom
Thank you, Lewis Rothlein, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee
Finally got aound to to today's puzzle.
Struggle City. Spurts and stalls. Then a lengthy break. In the end, one bad cell.
There was a lot of trial and error, and quite a few typeovers. It was one of those that was my downfall. It was the answer for Petulant. I started with PICKY, then eventually changed it to PETTY, and finally ended with PESTY, because the S made MESS seem to be the likely answer for the quote. I should have glanced up and saw that made my crossing answer SPLIT PICKET instead of TICKET. DARN!
MM, I didn't try SHALT. My first stab was CANST. Eventually got SAYST, and I only left it because of the perping answers.
My first theme answer was CRACKED PEPPER, and it was due to word recognition, not the clue. It did not help me understand the theme. SHISHITO is new to me. ("I was today years old when I learned of the word SHISHITO.") PARTED COMPANY gave me the theme.
I had MR SPOCK before TREKKIE.
I groaned when I finally realized "sub group" HOAGIES (with 4 of the letters filled).
OOF came to mind only because sumdaze sometimes uses OOF in sentences where I would use ouch.
Thanks, Lewis, for stopping by the Corner and sharing your thoughts. Didn't the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have an album titled Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy?
The only reason I didn’t bin this one is some clues were actually pretty snazzy, like the IOC one, along with the THIN ICE and FENCERS clues. I kinda got the theme, but for me it was a “skating hazard”… Strangely, I did remember LOLA from that tune by Barely Manenuff 🤣
I did enjoy your review, though, Mal-Man — the “Copacabana” aforementioned tune video you chose is absolutely priceless (I will admit Manilow is good at not taking himself seriously!) and the dressy horse pic is a hoot. Plus it’s your De Niro on Utah KIN is a real groaner — luv it!
Hola! After I finished the puzzle I forgot to come and comment! I can't believe it. And I did enjoy the SPLIT theme. Very nice. Thank you for that. i hope you are all enjoying your day!
Thanks to Lewis and Teddy for the Friday challenge and for stopping by to say HIHO! I solved the gimmick but not the grid -- the opposite of my yesterday. OOF! Speaking of... TTP@2:47. Happy to be of help. = ) Anonymous@7:59. That's how I like my bananas, too. Thanks to MalMan for his excellent explanations! Great choice for the opening .gif!
35 comments:
Some of the “?” entries
were a little tricky, but I got them. Other than that, I don’t have too much to say about this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
The northwest was stubbornly snow-covered, so d-o ventured into the southern climes where things came easier. Star Trek enthusiasts prefer the term Trekker to TREKKIE. Finally, back in Oregon, ENIGMAS broke the logjam. SUISSE disproved my CANST to SAYST. This turned into a nice challenge; nothing too easy, but nothing too obscure. Thanx, Lewis and Mal-Man.
FIR. I had a difficult time in the top insisting on shalt at 6A, until the perps all fought me and I stood corrected.
I'm not sure I like scan for "get the drift", but this is a Friday puzzle after all.
But all things considered, I did enjoy this puzzle.
Took 18:06 today for me to crack this one open.
This was a Saturday level puzzle, but with a theme.
I didn't know metiers (spellcheck doesn't either), sayest, fig bar, Cain or his/her genre, the pepper, or this strong candidate for worst clue of the month is, "French noun suffix: iere".
21. Like overripe bananas: SPOTTED: The bananas pictured are perfectly ripe! IMHO. LOL.
The acrosses in the SE were so easy for me that I didn't even notice IERE. Absolutely insane fill.
Also, in an alternate universe we get a cleaner grid where the "D" square in DRESSY and the "S" in YENS are black squares, IOC is gone (uncommonly seen abbreviations with "?" clues are the worst), and 25D becomes PICCADILLY Circus.
Good Morning:
I loved the theme which was executed perfectly, IMO. This was a Friday-worthy challenge that was an enjoyable change of pace from the add/remove a letter themes. Hand up for Shalt before Sayst (Sayest is more familiar) until perps intervened. I thought the cluing was mostly clever (Scan might have been too clever) and the fill was fine except for “iere”, a sore thumb if ever there was one. However, this two very minor nits pale in the overall satisfaction and enjoyment of the solve.
Thanks, Lewis, and it’s nice to see you again and thanks, MalMan, for an excellent review and commentary. Your explication of the theme was top-notch and the puns were 5 Star gems. The only Progressive people’s names I know are Flo and Jamie, although Mara seems to be getting featured more and more. I loved the “dressed-up” horse.
Have a great day.
Lewis provided us with a challenging Friday diversion today. His (revealless) gimmick was clever, albeit a bit farfetched in places. And shishito was obscure to me.
I enjoyed seeing HOAGIES, since I grew up in Philadelphia, which is where they were made famous by Italian delis. I find it difficult to find a true hoagie today outside Philly. Even most of the folks at Jersey Mike's or Subway give you a blank look when you mention the word.
The 50 Down clue is misleading. An EVA can be a feature of a mission perhaps, but it's stretching things to call an EVA a mission in and of itself.
Thanks, Lewis, for your thoughtful and creative challenge today. It gave me a workout. And thanks, Mal-Man, for your indispensable and helpful expo.
Felt like a Saturday puzzle to me. Quite challenging.
Wonderfully clever theme that was well executed and (for me at least) essential to the solve. I enjoyed the challenge of the Friday-level clueing.
Thanks to Lewis for the fun outing, and MalMan for the nice expo!
This had a few twists and turns but actually came out pretty fast for a Friday
-I thought the Overlord of the rings - could be a boxing ring instead LOTR or Olympic rings - so tried REF before IOC filled by perps
- SUISSE is on Swiss money but they are Francs as they never adopted the Euro IIRC
-I thought of Cain - the Christian Contemporary band - so took perps to get to NOIR as I didn't know the author
-I just like the way the word PECCADILLO sounds saying it
-HI HO makes me think of Snow White's seven Dwarfs
Thanks MM for the fun blog - especially the Neil Sedaka link; and Lewis for the puzzle!
Finicky Friday. Thanks for the fun, Lewis and MalMan.
Officially a FIW, since I moved from Shalt to Canst to Mayest, and never arrived at SAYST/SUISSE. So close! I did finally get from nags to YAKS.
That NW corner was a head scratcher.
But I did SEE the Split clues which helped the solve.
Several inkblots. By ONE changed to UP.
VoTED changed to OPTED.
I had a lovely cross of OOF and Off, but I needed “OLD saw” and “OLD hand”, not “Saw off” of “ Hand off”.
This Canadian had heard of FLO, but any of the other names would have been a personal Natick.
ENIGMAS, METIERS, PECCADILLO are high value words.
Favourite was the clue for FENCERS.
46A Blasted clue should have had an ! to better match DARN.
“Get the drift= SCAN” was a little forced.
Wishing you all a great day.
I groaned when HOAGIES filled. I was thinking of a sub group like Old AGerS.
Musings
-This had all the elements of an ideal puzzle for me: A gimmick that switched from obscure to helpful, cluing that stretched my imagination and a sense that I never felt stymied.
-In my blogging of Lewis' first LA puzzle for this blog, I noted how he taught a class called The Art of Solving Crosswords at UNC-Asheville and told him I wished I could take it.
-Did anyone else have SHALT before SAYEST or MR SPOCK before TREKKIE?
-On July 20, 1969, The Sea Of Tranquility was the SITE of history’s most famous broadcast
-George Patton was a famous participant in dressage
-The IOC has been the target of corruption scandals over the years
-Nebraska has a 9 ½ ton SOWER atop its capital building
-Doing OPPO research is very easy now with people leaving electronic footprints everywhere.
-FENCER cluing was very cool.
-Ed White performed NASA’s first EVA and later died in Apollo I on a launch pad during a rehearsal
-When I try to remove the first piece of pie, it turns out to be a KIT
This was fun. The kind of puzzle I enjoy. I got the theme at PARTED COMPANY. Then the others fell into place with little resistance. I too wanted cAnST but SUISSE showed up to set me straight.
Lots of clever fills like HOAGIES, and EDU. IOC and NHL appeared on their own.
That IERE clue as in derrIERE was unexpected.
Thank you MM for the excellent review.
Finally, a Friday puzzle worthy of the day. Thanks, Lewis!
A little sticky in places (SHALT I go on?) but fair perps came to the rescue. I hit THIN ICE near the South Pole - Drat; DAng; DARN! All in all, good fun.
Kudos to my favorite non-aquatic Manatee. You pulled out all the stops, from "hard drives" to "belchin' waffles!" A tour de force that was thorough, humorous and informative.
It’s easier to say you liked a puzzle if you FIR, but I did and I did.
It was very slow going for a while. I found a few short gimmes like LOLA, FLO, SLOE, NHL, ASL, OOF (although I don’t think that gut-punch word applies to abrasions and lacerations), URALS, TETRA, OASES, and ESAS, and then I WAGGED my ENTRÉE to the SE corner, which helped me figure out TREKKIES (I was expecting an animal costume).
That led me to SEVERED TIES, which confirmed the gist of today’s theme, although it wasn’t much help sussing the CRACKED PEPPER clue. The latter was made even more difficult by the obtuse clue for SCAN.
There were several other clue/answers that were a stretch, such as the IOC (I had “ref” for a long time, but it didn’t turn out to be one of the gimmes), the foiled-again FENCERS, and especially the Gettysburg clue, which took me back to Bill Cosby’s routine about playing football for lowly Temple University and the list of the Owls’ perennial opponents.
I completed the lower two-thirds – PECCADILLO helped a lot -- before I finally CRACKED the upper third, thanks mostly to METIERS. Oddly, it took me way too long to come up with GOLEM (dybbuk kept getting in the way), and with FIG bar, one of my favorite cookies.
Several clue-to-answer relationships stretched the bounds of common sense and fair play.
FIR, but had too many eye-roll moments to really enjoy the experience.
Good Friday challenge but “Thou shalt not finish”. At first thought the space in the clue was for a missing letter (like maybe the T in TSTORM)…. wrong! Got about 80% completed but eventually but TITT
Had a nose for awhile for UP ONE which obviously didn’t perp. Sub group/HOAGIES, great clue/answer. LOTR fooled me but did finally figure DARN meant “blasted”
““Gettysburg address feature”? zip code wouldn’t fit and impossible to parse 😊. Knew OPPO from a long ago puzzle. I actually would not fill MÉTIERS as toooo obscure. Had sassy for petulant
“Cain” / NOIR : no idea, nor EVA’s. (So what useta go on in a car at the drive-in theater were IVA’s: Intra Vehicular Activites 😘). French noun ending? IERE? A feminine gender suffix “like jardin/jardinière? as in garden/female gardner? “Ça ne me plaît pas du tout!! ” constructor should have reworked this part of the puzzle
Anyway it’s a beeeyoootiful day. 🌞Hoping to get my car back after 3 weeks in the shop. DW wants me to “pressure wash” the deck. 😩
Good memory, Gary, regarding NASA's first EVA, in 1965, conducted by Ed White on a Gemini mission. I'll never forget it.
I used to work for a rocket propulsion company that was contracted with NASA and the Dept. of Defense to manufacture solid and liquid rocket engines for missiles. For NASA we built engines for the Mercury, Gemini, Space Shuttle, and Apollo missions.
So I still think of an EVA as an astronaut out in space tethered--or untethered--to a space vehicle. But the twelve moonwalks were also EVAs, if you think about it. Which brings me to today's crossword, and my previous comment that an EVA isn't in and of itself a mission.
I will concede that to the extent that the twelve Apollo moonwalks (EVAs) were considered the heart and soul of the moon-landing missions, then yes, those particular EVAs could each be considered a mission.
I very much enjoyed this puzzle. You all have said everything I would have said, but you said it better.
It was extremely hard to get going on this puzzle. It was mostly a sea of white until I got to the bottom. It took quite a few perps before I got severed ties, and I guessed cracked pepper, because I had no idea what shishito referred to. And in spite of my troubles, I had exactly one other unknown, MESS.
OPPO? I think people in constructors are trying to make up words to put in popular usage.
The clues made this and enjoyable but difficult puzzle to finish.
Big Easy
Interesting Friday puzzle, many thanks, Lewis. And thanks too for your always helpful commentary, Mal Man--much appreciated.
Well, this puzzle gave us a FAST TALKER, who may like expressions like 'SAYST thou'. His fast talking may produce some ENIGMAS that often make listeners TESTY and make their spirits DROOP. But at least he didn't ROAR or GUSH, and that was a relief too. So we invited him to a diner and ordered him an ENTREE, which he enjoyed until the CRACKED PEPPER made him cough and sneeze and we had to offer him a tISSUE. But we still had a good time, and he's GLAD he has us as friends.
Have a great weekend coming up.
I've enjoyed reading your comments on my puzzle -- the plusses and minuses all -- which help me fine tune my puzzle-making. I'd like to add that Patti is a first-class puzzle editor who makes excellent decisions and has the knack of making a submitted puzzle shine brighter.
Finally, I'd like to thank my dog Teddy, who feeds me with ideas as I walk him. I'm not sure how he does it, but he does it. He passed the idea for today's theme to me one afternoon, and I was sure to give him very special treats afterward!
I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the cluing! Regarding OPPO, it has appeared in the major crossword outlets 25 times beginning in 2020, almost half of them in the LAT. I do remember hearing it quite a bit in this last election cycle. Here's the MW entry: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oppo .
Giving credit to your dog makes perfect sense! Both of you did an excellent job with this Friday/not Friday puzzle. I agree the entire experience benefited from MM being the reviewer. Shabbat Shalom
Thank you, Lewis Rothlein, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee
Finally got aound to to today's puzzle.
Struggle City. Spurts and stalls. Then a lengthy break. In the end, one bad cell.
There was a lot of trial and error, and quite a few typeovers. It was one of those that was my downfall. It was the answer for Petulant. I started with PICKY, then eventually changed it to PETTY, and finally ended with PESTY, because the S made MESS seem to be the likely answer for the quote. I should have glanced up and saw that made my crossing answer SPLIT PICKET instead of TICKET. DARN!
MM, I didn't try SHALT. My first stab was CANST. Eventually got SAYST, and I only left it because of the perping answers.
My first theme answer was CRACKED PEPPER, and it was due to word recognition, not the clue. It did not help me understand the theme. SHISHITO is new to me. ("I was today years old when I learned of the word SHISHITO.") PARTED COMPANY gave me the theme.
I had MR SPOCK before TREKKIE.
I groaned when I finally realized "sub group" HOAGIES (with 4 of the letters filled).
OOF came to mind only because sumdaze sometimes uses OOF in sentences where I would use ouch.
That's all for now. See all y'all later n'at!
I first went with “saw” Out and “hand” Out. But the latter would be one word.
Thanks, Lewis, for stopping by the Corner and sharing your thoughts. Didn't the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have an album titled Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy?
Well, a whole lotta “Nope!” for me in today’s puzzle: two foreign words next to each other, and a number of clues that were more obscure than a René Magritte painting. SAYST? Nope. OOF for “…leave a mark”? Nope. YAK for “jaws”? Nope (it’s spelled “yack”, I looked it up). TANG for having a “kick”? Maybe down in the South, but I can’t grasp it.
The only reason I didn’t bin this one is some clues were actually pretty snazzy, like the IOC one, along with the THIN ICE and FENCERS clues. I kinda got the theme, but for me it was a “skating hazard”… Strangely, I did remember LOLA from that tune by Barely Manenuff 🤣
I did enjoy your review, though, Mal-Man — the “Copacabana” aforementioned tune video you chose is absolutely priceless (I will admit Manilow is good at not taking himself seriously!) and the dressy horse pic is a hoot. Plus it’s your De Niro on Utah KIN is a real groaner — luv it!
Oh well…on to tomorrow’s.
====> Darren / L.A.
MM -- Thank you for your review, which was not only right on the mark, but a hoot as well!
Hola! After I finished the puzzle I forgot to come and comment! I can't believe it. And I did enjoy the SPLIT theme. Very nice. Thank you for that. i hope you are all enjoying your day!
Thanks to Lewis and Teddy for the Friday challenge and for stopping by to say HIHO! I solved the gimmick but not the grid -- the opposite of my yesterday. OOF! Speaking of...
TTP@2:47. Happy to be of help.
= )
Anonymous@7:59. That's how I like my bananas, too.
Thanks to MalMan for his excellent explanations! Great choice for the opening .gif!
I hope Jinx is OK today....
If this puzzle is representative of the caliber of ideas that he inspires - can I take him for a walk sometime?
:o)
Sumdaze, earlier drafts had different opening .gifs but sometimes, if we're lucky, the Muses will speak to us.
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