Theme: It's just your imagination.
Constructors Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz have entertained us here before, together, separately, and with other co-constructors. Today they make us stop and wonder whether it's all been real, or just our imagination.
The theme clues and answers, placed symmetrically in the grid, are:
20-Across. Spot where parallel lines appear to converge: VANISHING POINT.
33-Across. Sensation experienced after a long day of sewing: PHANTOM THREAD. Seamstresses sometimes go home and still feel the sensation of a thread between their fingers.
42-Across. Erroneous result on a medical test: FALSE POSITIVE.
57-Across. Snide dismissal, and what can be said about 20-, 33-, and 42-Across?: THAT'S NOT A THING. Current slang for “that's not real/true” or “that doesn't happen.”
In every case, we see or feel evidence of something that is not real. But you know what is real? We have 132 other mysteries to solve! Here they come.
Across:1. Move with a hop and a step: SKIP.
5. Circle dances: HORAS. Not just a Jewish dance enjoyed at weddings and b'nai mitzvah celebrations, variants of the hora (called hora or oro) have folks holding hands and moving in circles in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, and elsewhere.
10. Tendril: WISP. While a tendril is part of a climbing plant, and a wisp is any little thin mass, both words can be used to describe strands of hair that fall away from the main mass of hair on the head. It's a thing.
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| Hayden Panettiere with straight wisps, and Chloe Sevigny with tendrils. |
14. Office assistant: AIDE.
15. Maker of a Breakout hit: ATARI.
15. Maker of a Breakout hit: ATARI.
16. Poker buy-in: ANTE.
17. One past 12?: TEEN.
18. Name, in Latin: NOMEN. From which we have the English nomenclature, the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.
19. Money mgrs.: CFOs. Chief Financial Officers.
20. [Theme clue]
23. Green prefix: ECO.
24. Protected: SAFE.
25. Electric creature: EEL.
26. Knucklehead: OAF.
29. Yale student: ELI. A nickname derived from Elihu Yale, the primary benefactor of Yale University.
31. Vague threat: OR ELSE.
33. [Theme clue]
37. Root in tropical cuisine: TARO.
38. __ juice: MOO. A cutesy way of saying "milk."
39. Backyard spot that's shovel-ready?: SHED. It's ready to store your shovel.
42. [Theme clue]
47. Work together: TEAM UP.
49. "I don't trust stairs because they're always up to something," e.g.: PUN. MalMan! Have you used this one?
50. Number of fielders in slow-pitch softball: TEN. Did Not Know.
51. Old tape dispenser?: VCR. Video Cassette Recorder.
52. Animated pics: GIFs. The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format developed by a team at CompuServe and released in 1987. Usage of the format has declined, often being replaced with newer formats such as PNG for static images and MP4 for videos.
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| This GIF is a real Thriller. |
55. "Eww!": ICK.
57. [Theme clue]
62. Home of the "American Gothic" house: IOWA.
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| American Gothic is a 1930 oil painting by Grant Wood. |
63. Avis rival: ALAMO. Car rental companies.
64. __ contendere: NOLO. "Nolo contendere" is a Latin term meaning "I do not wish to contend" or "no contest." In a legal context, it's a plea in a criminal case where the defendant doesn't admit guilt but accepts the consequences of a conviction. It's often used when a defendant wants to avoid the implications of a guilty plea in potential future civil lawsuits. Remember in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded nolo contendere to a felony charge of tax evasion? As part of the plea bargain, he resigned from office, was fined $10,000, and sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation.
66. Average in math class?: MEAN.
67. Pipe alternative: CIGAR.
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| A little play on The Treachery of Images by René Magritte. |
68. Picked, as a Scrabble tile: DREW.
69. Sherbet brand: EDY'S. Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream makes Dreyer's brand frozen desserts for the Western US market, and Edy's brand for the Eastern and Midwestern US, so named to avoid confusion with Breyer's ice cream in those regions. Nestlé acquired Dreyer's in 2007, and in 2020, Nestlé sold all its US ice cream businesses to Froneri, the global ice cream manufacturer that Nestlé co-owns with PAI Partners. Big business!
70. Party throwers: HOSTS.
71. "You said it!": AMEN.
Down:
71. "You said it!": AMEN.
Down:
1. Didn't play: SAT.
2. Chicken __: KIEV. Chicken Kiev is chicken fillet, pounded and rolled around garlic butter and parsley, coated with egg and bread crumbs, and then fried or baked.
3. "Eureka!" elicitor: IDEA. "Eureka" (Ancient Greek for "I have found it") is an exclamation used to celebrate a discovery or invention. It is attributed to Archimedes, who stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose, whereupon he understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. He was so excited that he forgot to dress and ran naked in the streets yelling "Eureka!"
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| Archimedes has a revelation. |
4. Pasta with angled ends: PENNE.
5. Longtime Harrison Ford role: HAN SOLO.
6. Texter's equivocation: OTOH. On The Other Hand.
7. "Ghostbusters" actor Harold: RAMIS.
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| Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis |
8. The Eras Tour venue: ARENA. Taylor Swift's fans filled large arenas on her recent "Eras" tour.
9. Entertain, in a way: SING FOR.
10. Baylor University home: WACO. Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas.
11. Dribbler that gets a batter on base, e.g.: INFIELD HIT. An infield hit in baseball is when a batter hits the ball within the infield and safely reaches first base without the defense making an error that allows him to advance. It's typically a slow-rolling ground ball or a ball that is hit with enough speed to reach the infield but not the outfield, and the batter is able to beat the throw to first base.
12. Cairn elements: STONES. A cairn is a human-made pile of stones, typically used as a marker, a memorial, or a burial mound.
13. Mortar's companion: PESTLE.
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| The pestle is gripped and used to grind items in the mortar. |
21. "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE-T. You may know him from his acting role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
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| Tracy Marrow AKA Ice-T |
22. Napoleon's father: PÈRE. Père is French for "father." It's not Napoleon's father's name.
26. Stop waffling: OPT. Choose! Decide! Pick one!
27. "Eureka!": AHA. See explanation at 3-Down for Archimedes's "aha!" moment.
28. Like the galaxy from which 5-Down hails: FAR, FAR AWAY. Harrison Ford played the character Han Solo in the Star Wars movies, which take place in a galaxy far, far away.
30. "Gotta do my thing!": I'M ME.
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| You do you. |
32. All-Star side: EAST. In the MLB All-Star Game, the National League represents the "East" side, facing the American League (AL). In the traditional NBA All-Star Game format, the Eastern Conference All-Stars play against the Western Conference All-Stars.
34. Linguist Chomsky: NOAM.
35. Blouse: TOP.
36. Stud alternative: HOOP. Earring styles.
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| Hoop with dangle, regular hoop, stud. |
40. Night before: EVE.
41. Cozy spot for 47-Down: DEN.
43. Hauls with effort: LUGS.
44. Ingredient in a Florentine dish: SPINACH. Chicken Florentine, Pasta Florentine, Eggs Florentine ... apparently people in Florence, Italy, love spinach.
45. Beaus: SUITORS.
46. Yardstick division: INCH.
47. Period between homework and dinner, for some kids: TV TIME.
48. Made a comeback: ECHOED.
41. Cozy spot for 47-Down: DEN.
43. Hauls with effort: LUGS.
44. Ingredient in a Florentine dish: SPINACH. Chicken Florentine, Pasta Florentine, Eggs Florentine ... apparently people in Florence, Italy, love spinach.
45. Beaus: SUITORS.
46. Yardstick division: INCH.
47. Period between homework and dinner, for some kids: TV TIME.
48. Made a comeback: ECHOED.
53. Shakespearean volume: FOLIO.
54. Antlered deer: STAGS.
56. Ish: KINDA.
58. Catches some rays: TANS.
59. Amo, amas, __: AMAT. We had Greek earlier, so it's time for Latin: "I love, you love, he/she/it loves."
60. Par for the course: NORM.
61. Delight: GLEE.
65. BYOB part: OWN. Bring Your Own Beverage/Bottle/Booze/Beer.
Here's the grid:
Did you SKIP all the way to Finish It Right?
Was that a SOLO effort, or did you TEAM UP to solve the puzzle?
Or did you finally come close, but no CIGAR?
Let us know in the comments!
-- NaomiZ
29 comments:
I had never heard of a
“phantom thread.” But perps here, as elsewhere, were kind. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Tried I'M ON, thinking he'd gotten his cue, rather than I'M ME. Wite-Out, please. Also thought RAMIS was RAIMI. More Wite-Out. A downtown hotel had a Grant Wood Room when I worked in Cedar Rapids. Wood spent many years there. This one came together quickly and goes into the win column. Thanx, Katheine (not Katherine?), Laura, and NaomiZ.
FIR, but tv hour->TV TIME, remis->RAMAS (UNTIE!) and spinich->SPINACH (UNTIE!).
I learned about VANISHING POINT in my freshman drafting class at UK.
I like that NaomiZ's example of "average" showed the example's MEAN, median, and all three MODEs, all the "averages."
I'm reading a book about early man and how we spread ourselves, our languages, and our technologies around the globe. Learned yesterday that in most European languages, words for "sheep" derived from "avis." (Some of the many Cornerites that took Latin may recognize "ovis.") Not in German or English, however, but our related word "ewe" is derived from "avis," and though the author didn't mention it, our (crossword favorite) "ovine" must be from there too.
I know ICE T mainly from hawking overpriced car breakdown service contracts on TV.
Thanks to KB and LD for the fun Thursday special. My favorite was "one past 12" for TEEN. And thanks also to NaomiZ for another fine review.
A day with only one unknown. PHANTOM THREAD was all perps. Never heard of it.
Will chicken KIEV become chicken Kyiv?
I just got back from dropping DW off at the airport. She's flying to Des Moines, IOWA. She'll be FAR, FAR, AWAY tonight.
INFIELD HIT- basically a lucky mishit. Other than a bunt, no batter would purposely try it.
BYOB. People around here used to call it BYOL-liquor.
Back in the stone ages, before there were umpteen bowl games, college football had all-star games for seniors who weren't playing in the Rose, Sugar, Cotton, or Orange Bowls. EAST-West game, North-South game, and Blue-Gray game.
I only know ICE T from crossword puzzles. If Vanilla ICE married ICE T (possible these days), he would be Mrs. Vanilla Ice T and hi 'husband' would be Mr. T.
"I pity the fool" who just wrote that nonsense.
FIR. I had no trouble with today's presentation. The perps were kind and the absence of obscure proper names was welcomed.
I needed the reveal to see the theme, but once I did it brought a smile to my face. Very clever.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks for catching the typo, desper-otto at 5:30 AM! Geez, how many times did I look at the title line and not see my typo in Katherine's name? Sheesh!
Took 5:02 today for the theme to ghost me.
I struggled on the entire foreign language exam today (nomen, amat, nolo, and pere), but fortunately the crosses were kind.
I heard of a movie called "Phantom Thread," with Daniel Day-Lewis. I didn't know it ... was a thing.
"TV time" is now more commonly called "screen time."
Good Morning:
No unknowns and no w/os made for a quick and smooth solve, not at all what I expect from a Thursday. Correction, Phantom Thread was a new concept but perps were generous and, also, it was easily discernible. The solid themers called for a stronger reveal, IMO.
Thanks, Katherine and Laura, and thanks, Naomi, for the detailed and interesting review. Enjoyed the many photos and illustrations, especially the Conjugal Visit and Sarchasm comics.
FLN
Congratulations, HG, on that round of par golf!
Have a great day.
I enjoyed today's puzzle with the clever theme and high-quality fill. Thanks to Katherine and Laura for an entertaining start to the day, and to Naomi Z for the fun exposition!
Just two unknowns this morning: RAMIS and PHANTOM THREAD, but the latter was easy enough to guess. I’M ME took á while to show up since MOO milk was not on the tip of my pencil.
NaomiZ I finished this one SOLO. Thank you for your fine recap. It’s always á pleasure to read your comments.
Moved thru like a Monday/Tuesday challenge till a roadblock in the SE corner KINDA screwed me up for awhile. An eventual FIR.
Inkovers: Ramos/Ramis,
PHANTOM THREAD: “that’s a thing?”
If your VCR was “dispensing” the tape you were in trouble
okra is the CW pod but TARO is the “root”.
How Romans were named: “Gaius Julius Caesar”:
Gaius: This is the praenomen (first name).
Julius: This is the NOMEN (gens name), indicating he belonged to the Julian gens or clan
Caesar: This is the cognomen (family name within the gens).
The cognomen often indicated a physical trait of the ancestor: Marcus Tullius Cicero, “cicero” means chickpea possibly an ancestor had a wart like a chickpea on his nose.
TV TIME usually started after homework and dinner around 7PM when the then 3 networks aired their prime time shows.
Median? Mode? What does all that ____ … MEAN?
Chomsky: to ____ was to love ‘em … NOAM
Men’s tailors: SUITORS
Gonna be a hot one in central NY 🥵☀️
@Naomi: Mrs Hululi and I teamed up to finish this one. I especially enjoyed the Sarchasm cartoon at 48 down.
Musings
-I have heard of amputees having the sense of a PHANTOM LIMB
-This painting in Florence, is purported to be the first one to use a VANSIHING POINT
-That tenth player in slow-pitch softball is called a rover.
--Even amateur productions of Music Manfeature this image
-NOLO contendere and pleading the fifth seem to imply some level of guilt
-The GOAT QB Tom Brady SAT the bench behind Drew Breese before he got a chance to play
-OPT: Making no decision is still a decision
-I may not get a chance at “Par for the course” today. The course is an hour west of here and with the rain in Nebraska continuing unabated, they will let us now by 10 if we can still play.
-Nice job, Naomi, that conjugation cartoon is headed for my English teaching colleagues!
Fun Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Katherine and Laura--much appreciated. And, Naomi, your comments are always a pleasure, a very enjoyable treat. Thanks for that too.
Well, I was first struck by all the negatives in this puzzle, beginning with that VANISHING POINT that already predicted it was a FALSE POSITIVE and convinced us that THAT'S NOT A THING. So we had to depend on that TEEN to get us some AIDE, and he right away gave us an ANTE for series of SAFE bets. He encouraged us to TEAM UP and try one or OR ELSE another. If this didn't work he was willing to SHED the HOSTS and spend some TV Time. I'd say AMEN to that.
Have a lovely day, everyone.
Hola! I always solve my own puzzles sans help. Puzzles have taught me a few scant words and phrases in French, German and other languages. Spanish is my first language so that is no problem. I've even learned some sports terminology with puzzles.
Today's puzzle was a breeze, thank you, K and L for that.
Now that it was mentioned, I vaguely recall the movie, PHANTOM THREAD but don't remember much about it.
THREAD and sewing took up a large part of my time in the past; I was an avid seamstress and made my own clothes as well as my daughter's. That changed when she started school and buying ready-made clothes became a cheaper and quicker option.
I hope all are enjoying cooler times than we are here!
'implying' guilt? It actually means that they really are guilty but the prosecution can't prove it. It's usually done for financial reasons. District attorneys and the US attorneys don't worry about cost, but the average person does. They can outlast you.
It was actually Drew Bledsoe in New England, Brees was in NOLA
Thanks to Katherine and Laura for this nice leisure trip to a FIR. VANISHINGPOINT was a “gimme” for this photographer, and KINDA clued me in to what was comin’ ‘round the bend, but the reveal clue zooms right over my head: THATS NOT A THING? If you’re an artist, 20A is a rather important “thing”, if you ask me. Maybe I’m just being dense this morning (not an unusual “thing” for me 🤣).
Like D-Otto, I had “I’M on” before MOO juice hit (that term has always cracked me up — think of the visual!) and these days ALAMO seems to always be a rental car outfit as opposed to where Davy Crockett (allegedly) met his demise. Gotta luv the modern world, yeah?
NaomiZ, another nice guided tour — the “conjugal visit” gag killed me! I guess the con got conned…
====> Darren / L.A.
Hi All!
I've been pretty busy lately - read: I've been mostly in lurk-mode but did enjoy reading y'all.
I quite enjoyed the offering from Katherine and Laura - and the theme is cute.
Another bang-up expo, NaomiZ. I shared Sarchasm with the team and got a number of LOLs.
WO: CpaS -> CFOs
ESPs: N/A
Fav: TEEN's clue was funny once the penny dropped.
Not to say there's not a lot to love in this puzzle, ATARI, NOAM, Star Wars & TV xrefs... Just a delight to solve.
If you've seen Pee-wee's Big Adventure, you'll love this ALAMO Story.
Back at it.
Cheers, -T
Wait… Davy Crockett got killed in an ALAMO rental car accident.??
Yup. Happened near Santa Anna. Antonio López caused his demise.
FWIW: Tucson averages 5 to 7 degrees cooler than Phoenix during the summer.They’re swarming south like Bert’s Bees!
NOLO and “The Fifth “ can imply not wanting to lose it all for the kiddies.
I liked this puzzle, Naomi's explication, and all your comments. Too busy to write more.
Hi, Darren at 3:09 PM -- I think what makes VANISHING POINT fit the theme is that parallel lines don't actually meet there. Railroad tracks, for instance, maintain a constant distance apart. But they *appear* to meet. It's an illusion.
Oh. Okay 😎 ====> D.
What Jayce said...plus I liked the "One past 12" clue the best.
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