Theme: There and back.
NaomiZ here with many thanks to the great Anonymous T for blogging the last three Thursdays. I made a ROUND TRIP and have come back to work the crossword puzzle with you all. Today, constructor Roland Huget clues us in on the theme with a big reveal:
61-Across. There and back, or a progression found in 17-, 25-, 35-, 51-, and 61-Across: ROUND TRIP.
The word TRIP appears in each theme entry. The first time, TRIP is spelled normally. In each subsequent appearance, the last letter from the previous appearance moves to the front of the word. In the final appearance, TRIP has come back to the beginning.
17. Hair removal option: WAX STRIPS. Ouch.
25. Underhanded move: CHEAP TRICK. And for the rockers among us ...
35. Growth also known as yellow poplar: TULIP TREE. Liriodendron tulipifera -- known as the tulip tree or yellow poplar -- is native to eastern North America.
51. Noncommissioned screenplay: SPEC SCRIPT. A spec script is a screenplay written on speculation, meaning without a guaranteed payment. It may be written with the goal of selling it to a production company or studio.
61. There and back, or a progression found in 17-, 25-, 35-, 51-, and 61-Across: ROUND TRIP.
Across:1. Former "Doctor Who" star Capaldi: PETER. Peter Capaldi is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist, who portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who from 2013 to 2017.
6. "Quit crying, ya big baby!": WAH.
9. Latches (on to): GLOMS.
14. Breakout publisher: ATARI. Breakout is an arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and released in 1976. Eight rows of bricks line the top portion of the screen, and the player's goal is to destroy the bricks by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them.
 |
| Breakout starting screen |
15. Punk offshoot: EMO. Thank goodness for frequent fill EMO to get me started on this puzzle.
16. Make merry: REVEL.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Get around: EVADE.
20. Shot: PIC. We took many shots on our three week adventure, and need to sort through them.
21. Apex predator with feathers: EAGLE.
22. 21-Across nest: AERIE.
23. Homecoming attendee: ALUM.
25. [Theme clue]
27. Blotter target: WET INK. An ink blotter is either a handheld rocking device or simple blotting paper, both used to absorb excess ink when writing with a fountain pen.
29. Emblem on a dol.: US SEAL. Abbreviated "dollar" in the clue lets US know there will be an abbreviation in the answer.
30. "4 real?": SRSLY. Text speak: seriously?
31. So-so poker hand: PAIR.
 |
| One pair ranks just above I got nuthin'. |
34. Conniving: SLY.
35. [Theme clue]
39. Stand __: PAT. "If you stand pat in draw poker you're betting on the cards in your hand being better than any you're likely to draw. It didn't take long for stand pat to move from the poker table, where it first appeared in the late 1800s, to the realm of politics; by the early 20th century, to stand pat was to oppose any change in U.S. tariff policy. The term continues to be used mainly in U.S. English, where it's applied to everything from a coach's decision not to change out players during a game to a homeowner's decision not to refinance." -- www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/standpat
42. Really liking: INTO.
43. Brings up: REARS. As in brings up, or rears, children.
47. Fireplace receptacle: ASH PAN.
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| fireplace grate and ash pan |
50. __ Sea: saline lake in California's Sonoran Desert: SALTON. Although there were salt lakes in the area millions of years ago, the current lake was formed by accident in 1905 when an irrigation canal broke, and water flowed into the Salton Basin for two years. Over the course of the 20th century, the lake became an important resting stop for migrating birds, but as the lake shrank and agricultural runoff poisoned the fish, it became an ecological disaster.
51. [Theme clue]
55. Dreamcast maker: SEGA. Sega introduced its Dreamcast video game console in 1998/99, replacing the Saturn, and the earlier Genesis. The Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, ending Sega's 18 years as a console maker.
56. "Bosch" star Welliver: TITUS. Titus Welliver is an American actor, best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in Lost, Silas Adams in Deadwood, Jimmy O'Phelan in Sons of Anarchy, and the title role in the television series Bosch and Bosch: Legacy. He is also known for his collaborations with Ben Affleck, starring in his films Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, and Live by Night. I clearly need to watch more television. I did watch Sons of Anarchy, though!
57. Place for HS filmmakers: AV LAB. High School is abbreviated; so is Audio Visual Laboratory.
59. Gown partner: CAP.
60. Wipe out: ERASE.
61. [Theme clue]
63. Compare: LIKEN. Shall I "liken" thee to a summer's day? Shakespeare used the word "compare," and the lady being compared came out ahead: But thy eternal summer shall not fade! To liken is to assert a similarity, but to compare is to examine similarities and differences.
64. Hesitant response: ERM. Here's that British "um" again.
65. With a single voice: AS ONE.
66. Hägar's dog: SNERT. Hägar the Horrible is the title and main character of a comic strip created by Dik Browne, which first appeared in 1973. Following Browne's retirement in 1988, his son, Chris Browne, continued the strip until his own death in 2023. The strip is a caricature commenting on life in the United States through a loose interpretation of Viking Age Scandinavian life.
67. Deli choice: RYE.
68. Deviated from a straight course: YAWED. (A moving ship or aircraft) twisted or oscillated around a vertical axis.
Down:
1. Green-skinned fruits in the custard-apple family: PAWPAWS. I only know this fruit from the old song, "Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch." Asimina triloba is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and southern Ontario, Canada, and it yields the largest native fruit of North America.
2. Always-open merchant: E-TAILER. An internet retailer.
3. Campaign promises directed at wage earners: TAX CUTS.
4. Triage ctrs.: ERs. Triage centers are Emergency Rooms.
5. Liturgical act: RITE.
6. Consider the pros and cons of: WEIGH.
7. Copious: AMPLE.
8. Hebrew prophet: HOSEA.
9. Hall of Famers: GREATS.
10. Simple machines: LEVERS. A lever is a simple machine that amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is said to provide leverage, which is mechanical advantage gained in the system. Components of the machine are fulcrum (or pivot), load, and effort.
9. Hall of Famers: GREATS.
10. Simple machines: LEVERS. A lever is a simple machine that amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is said to provide leverage, which is mechanical advantage gained in the system. Components of the machine are fulcrum (or pivot), load, and effort.
11. Egg cell producers: OVARIES.
12. Insurance category: MEDICAL.
13. In an aerodynamic way: SLEEKLY.
18. Pool triangle: RACK. Pool as in billiards.
12. Insurance category: MEDICAL.
13. In an aerodynamic way: SLEEKLY.
18. Pool triangle: RACK. Pool as in billiards.
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| This carbon fiber rack will set you back $895.00 plus tax and shipping. |
24. Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet: MILT. Milton "Bags" Jackson (1923-1999) was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
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| Milt Jackson at the vibraphone. |
26. Ragdoll sound: PURR. The Ragdoll is a breed of cat whose silky coat is dark on top and light below, with blue eyes. American breeder Ann Baker developed Ragdolls in the 1960s. The name Ragdoll comes from the tendency of these cats to go limp when picked up. Ragdolls are considered dog-like because they follow people around, are receptive to handling, and are not aggressive toward other pets.
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| Ragdoll cat |
28. Alma mater of Spike Lee and Ang Lee: Abbr.: NYU. Filmmakers Spike Lee and Ang Lee (no relation) earned their MFAs from New York University.
31. Map marker: PIN.
32. Well-suited: APT.
33. Skater Midori: ITO. Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. She was the 1989 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. She was the first woman to land a triple Axel in competition. Midori Ito continues to compete: in 2024, she won the International Skating Union Adult Figure Skating Competition's Masters Elite Women III + IV Artistic Free Skating category.
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| Midori Ito at the 1992 Olympics |
36. "The Mod Squad" role: LINC. Clarence Williams III (1939-2021) played the character of Linc Hayes in the police television series The Mod Squad from 1968 to 1973.
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| The Mod Squad: Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III |
37. Bullpen stat: ERA. In baseball, the bullpen is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also called the bullpen. A statistic relevant to pitchers is their Earned Run Average -- the number of earned runs they have allowed, divided by the number of innings pitched, and multiplied by nine (the usual number of innings in a game). Lower is better.
38. Anago and unagi: EELS.
39. Some Degas works: PASTELS. French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917) did much of his work in pastels, which are powdery sticks of pigment with very little binder, resulting in beautiful works of art that are very fragile.
38. Anago and unagi: EELS.
39. Some Degas works: PASTELS. French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917) did much of his work in pastels, which are powdery sticks of pigment with very little binder, resulting in beautiful works of art that are very fragile.
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| Edgar Degas, "Waiting" (c. 1882), pastel on paper |
40. Medicine cabinet staple: ASPIRIN.
41. Bad thing for an official to be on: THE TAKE. To be "on the take" is to accept bribes or other illegal income.
44. Was humiliated: ATE CROW.
45. Hair growth option: ROGAINE. According to the manufacturer, "ROGAINE® minoxidil products are the first FDA-approved topical treatment that is clinically proven to help regrow hair." Rip it out with WAX STRIPS, grow it with chemical treatments ... or maybe just get comfortable with your hair.
46. Replied sharply: SNAPPED.
48. One who may download Microsoft software: PC USER.
49. Green light: ASSENT. Since a green traffic light gives permission to proceed, by extension, to "green light" a project is to give permission to go ahead with it. To assent is to express approval.
50. Diehard fan, in slang: STAN. A "stan" is an obsessed fan. The term comes from the song Stan by Eminem, which describes a fan who is excessively fixated on the rapper.
52. Harder to come by: RARER.
53. Creamy white: IVORY.
54. Decorative feather: PLUME.
58. Annual celebration, briefly: BDAY. Easier to write in the tiny spaces of my pocket calendar.
62. Passenger-screening org.: TSA. Transportation Security Administration.
Here's the grid:
While I was away, I was able to briefly scan most of the blog posts here and many of the comments as well. What struck me was how very difficult the puzzles seemed to be, and how very clever all of you were to solve them. I hoped I would be able to keep up with you upon my return! I managed to complete today's puzzle on paper, no cheating, but it took a moment to get started, and there were quite a few entries solved by perps. Anyone who made it through the grid deserves AMPLE praise. I hope you all got to REVEL in your success, and that no one ATE CROW.
33 comments:
After staring at the
puzzle for a few moments, I finally understood the reveal. How about the rest of you? Were you quicker on the “uptake” than I was? Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
That NW corner was the toughest; had to circle back to it. That's when d-o realized that PAPAYAS and GEL STRIPS were probably wrong. ETAILER broke everything open. Thanx, Roland. Welcome back, NaomiZ. (How was the trip, and where'd you go?)
PAWPAWS: On my frequent trips to the "awl patch" we'd often stop at Pawpaw's restaurant in Lake Charles. It was a handy half-way point between Houston and the oil company heliports on the Louisiana coast.
FIR, but ash bin->ASH PAN, and sony->SEGA. Guessed at NYU. But I got YAWED without benefit of perp, so I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.
Last time I was at the SALTON Sea it looked and smelled nasty.
Just a little PSA - As an asterisk to NaomiZ's advice, remember that beach season is upon us. Depending on the cut of your swimwear, please do not become comfortable with your hair.
Thanks to Roland for another fun workout, albeit with a lot of A&E filler. And thanks / welcome back to NaomiZ. Enjoyed the writeup.
Took 8:03 today to avoid a riptide or eating tripe.
I didn't see or look for the theme. In a twist, I didn't know the Actors of Today: the former Dr. Who actor (Peter) and the Bosch actor (never seen any of his tv shows). I also didn't know the Modern Jazz Quartet member, the ice skater (Ito), the lake (Salton), or Linc.
I have tickets to see Cheap Trick very soon, and I sampled a pawpaw this past fall (not enjoyable).
Finally, no pesky circles!
FIR. This had some real bite to it, especially the NW corner. I had to start at the puzzle's bottom section and work up. Once I had the reveal, and saw the gimmick, wax strips fell into place, followed by tax cuts, and I was off to the races.
This almost had a Saturday flavor to it with answers like srsly and erm, and a couple of proper names I of course didn't know.
But all things considered, overall, this was enjoyable.
SRSLY, ERM, STAN, BDAY- put those in my Hall of Shame. Other than that quartet, it was a great puzzle. I noticed the TRIPS; wasn't thinking ROUND.
The NW was the hardest area for me to fill. PETER, Breakout, and PAPAWS were unknown and the other end was SRSLY. At least I knew MILT Jackson (and Lionel Hampton).
TAX CUTS and lower spending- always promised and never delivered.
WET INK caused by fountain pens. Since ballpoints are neater, more consistent, cheaper, and not messy, it's hard to believe anybody uses one.
TITUS and "Bosch"- never heard of either and NO, Naomi. You don't need to watch more television.
ROGAINE to grow hair and WAX STRIPS to remove it; make up your mind.
WAH- we always said, "the world's smallest violin playing my heart bleeds for you".
This was a pretty smooth solve - the whole SE downs filled by perps.
-I had a gimme at 1D as PAWPAWs is the State Fruit Tree of Missouri where I live.- the fruit is pretty bland but makes a nice custard for dessert.
-I had an extra step in the ash BIN to CAN to PAN
-When I was a tween/teen I wanted to be like Peggy Lipton's character Julie Barnes on "The Mod Squad" - she was the coolest back then
Thanks and welcome back Naomi Z for the blog and to Roland for the puzzle
WEES about the NW being much tougher than the rest of the grid, even with ATARI and SRSLY being easy for me. I didn't know PETER and MILT, I don't think I've ever seen the spelling PAWPAWS, and WET INK didn't occur to me at all because I only knew the other definition of "blotter" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blotter, definition 2).
LINC with a C at the end is an actual name? I thought it was an abbreviation I didn't know (L IN C, something like C IN C which I've seen in a few puzzles).
Linc was a shortening of the character's full first name of Lincoln
I remember Pawpaws restaurant in Lake Charles. We knew the owner but didn’t go often because it was on the other side of town from our house.
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one to stumble on the NW. In fact I made á TRIP down south to get á hold of this CW.
Maybe because of that I was able to get the reveal and theme very quickly which I liked. The rest, not so much. Too many fills thanks to perps, so that’s not fun. I didn’t know STAN as clued, TITUS, SEGA, PETER as clued, MILT crossing SRSLY, ATARI as clued.
I didn’t know there was á breed of cats called RAG DOLL. I got the fill, but wondered why. NaomiZ the cat you pictured is gorgeous.
So not my favorite puzzle today. Welcome back NaomiZ and thank you for the great recap.
Musings
-Double whammy: a common name clued very obscurely and at 1 Across. No matter…
-Once again, YAWING does not necessarily deviate from a straight course.
-Welcome back, Naomi.
-FORE! It’s my limit of three/week today.
O.K., I had to resort to the E-CW, so I could use red-letter help. Only 11 names turned out to still be too many for me: DNK 5. Like many, NW was really tough. I call "No Fair!" on putting two names right next to each other. I filled all the cells in 18 minutes, but hafta take a DNF since I had to use an alpha run. Don't like ERM. Didn't know RAGDOLL is a breed of cat. Thought of DIRTY before CHEAP, but waited for perps. SONY/SEGA W/O. CAN/PAN W/O. Oy. "PAWPAW" made me think of my Filipina GF, who has the most unbelievable ability to grow things. She grew a jackfruit a few years ago that were half as big as her! I wish I knew how to publish a picture here. Anyway, the CW: even after filling all the cells (by cheating) I stared at the CW and did NOT see the gimmick. Oy again. RH, thanx (I think) for this too-hard-for-me-but-still-fun CW. Welcome back, NaomiZ, and thanx for the great write-up. Your cartoon re copious ads is so true! I actually timed an episode of ABC Nightly News. First half is fine. Second half there was one place where there was three minutes of ads followed by (I'm not making this up!) 11 seconds of news, followed by another 2.5 minutes of ads. I also liked your comment about hair, as I had the same thought: we use Rogaine to grow hair in one place, but use wax strips (Ouch!) to tear it off in another place. I once had a GF that put wax all over her legs, then when she discovered how painful it was to tear it off, didn't know how to get the rest of the wax off her legs without the pain. "I'll find some other way to get the hair off my legs, but how do get this wax off?" Alum is used as a styptic pencil because it has such a high affinity for moisture.
Like several others here, I got a slow start out of the gate and had to circle back. For some reason, I've found that to be true lately, but it made for proper crunch on Thursday. Thanks, Roland, for not putting circles around the TRIPs, that made for a better reveal.
I enjoyed early video games like Breakout, but lost interest not long after. Now, when the young'uns ask dear ol' dad to play, I look at the controller and haven't a clue where to begin.
I'm with Monkey in not knowing about Ragdolls, but in my defense, I'm voluntary allergic to cats!
"ERM," said no one, ever.
Thanks, Naomi, for your well-researched review. Lots of good info. I know that takes a lot of time. Also liked the timely GIF of Hot Lips playing the world's smallest violin.
Lots of clever fill today, but the plethora of A&E and non-words (SRSLY, ERM, WAH, STAN) lowered the enjoyment level for me. I thought STAN was a mash-up of "stalker" and "fan", not a very nice thing to be. When landing an aircraft in a crosswind, the pilot must YAW into the wind to maintain a straight line course to the runway. Managed to FIR after finally figuring out the NW Territory, but had to wait for NaomiZ to 'splain the gimmick to me. Thanks, and welcome back!
A clever puzzle and solid theme.
I am a Bosch fan so “ Titus” was a gimme. I also remembered Hagars dog “snert”
Held my nose for 30A … “srsls”
Seriously… the editors get away with such drival… just saying
Thanks Naomi for an excellent recap
Ooops typo.. srsly
SRSLY?! I came very close to a DNF, as the western third of the puzzle was full of, well, you know.
The NW is still sticking to my craw. PETER Capaldi, WAX STRIPS, and wiping up green paint, or was it WET INK, were not helpful. Is there some other kind of ink one might blot? I wasn’t familiar with Breakout, as clued. ETAILERS provided the breakthrough. I needed the perps for PAWPAWS, which we don’t see much in California. And, of course, there was SRSLY, which I would also apply to the WAH entry.
The SW tripped me, as it turned out, as ASH bin became ASH cAN, but unfortunately, not ASH PAN, which I’ve never heard. With SPEC SCRIPTS crossing cC USER, I was already cross enough. ASPIRIN didn’t come to mind quickly. ASSENT was my breakthrough.
Elsewhere, the PURR entry purrplexed me, and the hated ERM appeared again (and I’m not blaming Roland for that). And last, but not least, I needed NaomiZ’s explanation to understand the theme – sort of.
It was good to see MILT Jackson, and LINC Hayes provided nice nostalgia.
I won't repeat the observations of previous comments. Overall Roland presented us with a fairly thorny puzzle with some weak points already mentioned.
But I enjoyed it. Esthetically I found the construction attractive, with massive white areas in the four corners, particularly the NE and SW. This presents a challenge for the constructor to come up with answers in all those sandwiched 7's, 6's, and 5's that are not pure gibberish.
I also enjoyed solving Roland's creative theme, dissecting the word TRIP.
Hey, I miss pangrams. Every time I see a Q, X, or Z appear in a grid I'm thinking, aha--maybe we've got a pangram. They seem to be getting rarer and rarer.
Thanks, Roland, for your clever and challenging Thursday-appropriate puzzle. And welcome back, Naomi, and thanks for the entertaining and helpful recap today.
Pawpaw is has been closed at least 25 years.
What TehachapiKen said at 11:47 AM. I smelled some green paint in this puzzle. Last to fill was the MILT, NYU, SRSLY area, which I could not do without cheating (i.e. revealing the word.) So, overall, some good stuff and some stinky stuff.
Welcome back, NaomiZ.
Kindly remind me again about “green paint.”
Testing Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Roland and NaomiZ (welcome back).
I FIRed, but it took a long time (actually it required an intermission for lunch to jog my brain into figuring out the NW corner).
But I did get the ROUND TRIP theme quickly. This ALUM (and DH) took a ROUND TRIP to Toronto last week to celebrate my 50th class reunion.
Apparently PAWPAWS grow around the Niagara region, but their whereabouts are kept secret, and they sell for a good price! I have never seen them.
WAH is what women say to men using WAX STRIPS to remove chest hair.
We had ERS and ERM. SAGA and ATARI.
TIL about the Ragdoll cat. PURR filled, but I had no idea how a doll could do that.
We have had STAN and SRSLY before; amazingly I remembered them with just a perp or two. (But still went Meh!)
Why does “Emblem on a dol..” assume an American dollar? But this Canadian knew better than to enter “Loon”. But eh! there were no missing U’s!
Wishing you all a good day.
Another interesting puzzle today, many thanks, Roland. And nice to have you back with your neat commentary, Naomi--very helpful.
Well, this puzzle had a bit of a worrisome start, with that cry of WAH! followed by a pretty unpleasant response with someone saying "Quit crying, ya big baby!" This was followed by another slightly nasty reference calling something a CHEAP TRICK and suggesting in the end that someone was embarrassed and ATE CROW. I worried that the E-TAILER and somebody producing TAX CUTS was involved in all this, but I kept hoping that maybe PETER would WEIGH in on all this, and suggest that all this negative stuff was part of the past and that we were in a better ERA now.
And sure enough, soon we were on a much happier ROUND TRIP. That ALUM's PIC about that EAGLE in an AERIE was comforting, and soon we saw some lovely PASTELS and someone wearing an IVORY CAP with a handsome PLUME making it look quite decorative. This was giving us a bit of an ASCENT to a much better time, when we could sit under a TULIP TREE, and enjoy some of those PAWPAWS and some RYE and maybe even REVEL on somebody's B-DAY. So, let's just put aside the ASPIRIN and that MEDICAL stuff and enjoy our day!
Have a good one, everybody!
Not the usual Thursday walk in the park; like a lot of us, I had fits with the NW territory, and ended up working this puzzle from the opposite corner.
Among my missteps, I had “ska” instead of EMO (I shoulda known better…) and was thinkin’ “nasty” instead of CHEAP TRICK, but the pool RACK set that area straight. I thought the theme hook was pretty snazzy — I still can’t fathom how constructors cook up this stuff! Nice job, Mssr. Huget!
@NaomiZ, I really enjoy your recaps — your m.o. of adding deep information such as that entomology of STAND PAT is a nice bit of reading. Of course I thought of the rock band right after I filled 25A, as I was a bit of a fan if their music (but not a rabid STAN…) and I enjoyed the refresher on the history of the SALTON Sea — and @Jinx is right about the place having a rather peculiar aroma. Finally, who can forget the character “Hot Lips” Houlihan on M*A*S*H* — RIP Loretta Switt ❤️
====> Darren / L.A.
“Etymology”, dammit — 🤬ing auto-corrupt strikes again…
====> D.
Made my day, Misty.
So you're blaming "entomology" on a bug in the system?
India Ink-Specfic, in the language
Wet Ink-Generic, green paint
RB, 😂
Hi All!
Welcome back Naomi! You didn't miss a step on your return's expo - good stuff.
Thanks Roland for the grid with a well executed theme. You nearly got me in the north-central but I got it all worked out.
WOs: ASHbin, Sony->Sega (Hi, Jinx!), ASPRIN [sic], and, what really held me up, Moses -> HOSEA
ESPs: HOSEA, SALTON, TITUS
Favs: GLOMS, THE TAKE, LIKEN
ATARI & SEGA in the same grid is cute.
Hand-up: I too had no clue about Ragdoll kitties. I had to go w/ PURR but didn't know why other than perps were solid.
I enjoyed reading y'all!
//and RustyBrain@3:30 wins the internet!
Cheers, -T
Thank you, Prof M!
Thanks to Roland! His puzzle had a lot of tough clues and misdirection -- which is to say I liked it! I did not Surrender* and slowly but surely unlocked the NW.
Welcome back, Naomi! Good to read you again!
*25A fans will get that this.
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