Here's the ghost of Chairman present - as envisioned by RustyBrain. Two Friday's down; one to Moe!
Kyle
Beakley is a TV writer who has teamed up with 30-year veteran
constructor David Levinson Wilk, who also writes for TV. I may not be
the sharpest spoon in the drawer, but I'll bet they met working on a TV
show.
The theme of this one is easy in retrospect, but hard to
describe. Each answer is an unclued famous battle. Hidden inside
circles(!) is the actual answer. The list of battles made for a rather
somber puzzle. With Purple Heart Day coming up on August 7th, let's remember the brave men and women who have been wounded or killed in action while serving in the U.S. military.
31. With 42-Across, encouraging words to someone making a good effort, and an apt description of this puzzle's circled letters: THAT'S HALF THE BATTLE. The revealer is stretched across two lines, and informs us that some sort of battle is involved. Cleverly, exactly HALF the letters of each themer are circled to form the clued word. HATS off for finding four battles that hide words that fit this constraint.
17. Zooplankton eaten by whales: BUNKER HILL. → KRILL. The Battle of BUNKER HILL, Mass. is from the American Revolutionary War - June 17, 1775.
25. Berets, bonnets, etc.: HASTINGS. → HATS. The Battle of HASTINGS was between Norman-French and English Anglo-Saxons - October 14, 1066.
52. More than a few: NORMANDY. → MANY. The Battle of NORMANDY was an Allied invasion of German-occupied France during World War II, beginning on June 6, 1944 (D-Day).
59. Art museum named for an oil magnate: GETTYSBURG. → GETTY. The Battle of GETTYSBURG, PA was a turning point in the American Civil War - July1-3, 1863.
While I appreciate the symmetry of the revealer in the center, I prefer the "aha" moment to be at the end, assuming I haven't figured it out already. In this case, I was at sea with 17A, wanting Beluga kill or something. Then, with the start of 25A in place, I wanted Hat ___ or Haberdash, and moved on. Nothing fit until the revealer, when it became obvious. Unfortunately, once I knew the trick, I filled in all the circles (the clues were very straightforward) and that immediately led to their matching battle. If the reveler had been at the end, it would have made for a tougher Friday.
Battling on:Across:
1. Pyramid city with the Great Sphinx: GIZA. Pyramid game with the Great Strahan: Hollywood.
5. Carry (off): CART. This is a grocery CART, unless you're from the South, then it's a buggy.
9. Border: EDGE.
13. Full house components, perhaps: ACES. The infamous "Dead Man's Hand" would be a full house if jacks were wild.
14. See-through dish: ASPIC. I don't find the see-through aspect of aspic appealing.
16. Shelved item: BOOK.
17. [theme]
19. Hidden mic: WIRE. This one bugged me.
20. Waste time: DALLY.
21. Make a beeline for: DASH TO. These are a little different. When I dash to the store, I don't necessarily travel in a straight line. But close enough for crosswords.
23. Sidewalk artist's supply: CHALK. I'm always amazed by the talents of these street artists and their willingness to create such temporary showpieces.
25. [theme]
27. Belafonte song starter: DAY-O. "Daylight come and me wanna go home."
28. Educational ad: PSA. Public Service Announcement.
30. Didn't play: SAT OUT. I had a radio that SAT OUT in the rain. It didn't play after that.
31. [theme]
34. Banister post: NEWEL. If you're lucky enough to have two of these, the second one is called a re-NEWEL post.
35. Email pioneer: AOL. My oldest brother still uses his American On Line account. If it ain't broke...
36. Snack brand based in Hanover, Pennsylvania: UTZ. Ruining appetites before dinner for over 100 years (according to moms everywhere).
38. "Forrest Gump" role, for short: LT. DAN. Although various CGI effects were used to erase Lieutenant DAN's legs, some scenes used a modified wheelchair with a slanted seat so actor Gary Sinise could fold his legs underneath.
42. [theme]
48. Some silver cups: AWARDS. Get some plates, too, so you can have tea and scones.
50. St. with 14 HBCUs: ALA. ALAbama is home to the most Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are 101 HBCUs in total, mostly in the South.
51. Shoe support: HEEL.
52. [theme]
54. Full-bosomed: BUXOM. I'd better leave this one up to your imagination.
55. Sunflower shade: YELLOW. Flowers are safe though. Yes, I can show you flowers.
56. Gush: SPURT.
58. Mexican coin: PESO.
59. [theme]
63. Info in a bank: DATA. Here's DATA in a snow bank.
64. City served by Incheon International Airport: SEOUL. Located in the capital of South Korea, Incheon is one of the busiest airports in the world. In addition to outstanding architecture, it features indoor gardens, a golf course, spa, ice skating rink, casino, a video game center and a museum. That would take some of the sting out of a cancelled flight!
65. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's lake: ERIE. The R&R HOF is in Cleveland, Ohio. "Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice." - Joe Walsh (inducted in 1988 with the Eagles).
66. Three-time AL MVP in the 2000s: AROD. Heeee's back...great players with short nicknames will be with us forever!
67. Fossil, perhaps: BONE.
68. Comedian Foxx: REDD. The popular actor and stand-up comedian was know for his raunchy nightclub act. Amazingly, he put out over 50 records. (Hey! I managed to squeeze in an unlikely album!)
Down:
1. Yak: GAB. I guess, I never spoke with one.
2. Hosp. area: ICU. Intensive Care Unit in a hospital.
3. "Dune" actress: ZENDAYA. She's one of a handful of celebs that go by a single name.
4. Make demands (of): ASK A LOT.
5. Planetary scientist Sagan: CARL. "That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
6. Wan: ASHY.
7. Tech sch. in upstate New York: RPI. My dad's alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. A wonderful father and engineer, his pencil holder still sits on my desk. (I wonder if Irish Miss has seen one of these?)
8. Oscar winner Swinton: TILDA. She signs her name: ~ Swinton (probably).
9. Writer who studied under William Strunk Jr. at Cornell: E.B. WHITE. Elwyn Brooks WHITE was the author of highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little, and his masterpiece, Charlotte's Web.
10. "Why are you waiting!?": DO IT NOW. "And if you're the first caller, we'll throw in another piece of garbage at no extra cost!"
11. Ignore orders: GO ROGUE.
12. Squeeze (out): EKE. Always used with earning a living and never with earning the last bit of toothpaste in the tube.
18. Great Plains grazer: ELK. Great Plains geezer: also an ELK (sometimes).
22. Poem part: STANZA.
23. Summer hrs. in 26-Down: CDT. Central Daylight Time in St. Louis, Mo.
24. Derisive laugh: HAH. We're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you. Yeah, right.
25. Actor Holbrook: HAL.
26. Mo. town: STL. St. Louis, Missouri, the "Gateway to the West." Mo. town is a fun misdirect to Detroit, the Motor City.
28. Vietnamese soup: PHO. Pronounced "fuh", PHO has taken our area by storm, with new restaurants opening everywhere. It comes in many varieties and is delish! Where has it been my whole life?
29. Pretzel topping: SALT. And a little mustard doesn't hurt.
32. Birkenstock product: SANDAL. Wear them with socks! [see DWEEB]
33. Stoke: FUEL.
37. Scheduling abbr.: TBA. To Be Announced, similar to "TBD" - To Be Determined.
38. PC hookup: LAN. Local Area Network. Not to be confused with a Politically Correct hookup which is between two consenting adults.
39. 24-month: TWO YEAR.
40. Bravely decides one can: DARES TO.
41. Carrying capacity: ARMLOAD. I hope I got her enough. Don't want to appear cheap.
43. __ fever: HAY.
44. 9-Down's "Is Sex Necessary?" collaborator James: THURBER. Who'da thunk? White and Thurber wrote alternate chapters, combining them into a spoof of popular books about Freudian sexual theories. Being fledgling authors, they held little hope of publication but Harper's, which had published White's first book of poetry, came out with a small printing of 2,500 copies in November 1929. The humorous book became a bestseller and launched both their careers.
45. Feel: TEXTURE.
46. Papal name chosen by Robert Prevost: LEO. Not a summer Zodiac sign this time!
47. Shade tree: ELM.
49. Southampton smooches: SNOGS.
53. Nerdy type: DWEEB. Of course, I live in Florida where we never wears socks, so this couldn't happen to me.
54. City vehicle: BUS.
56. Amaze: STUN.
57. Gomer of 1960s TV: PYLE. Played to perfection by actor Jim Nabors, his stint in the Marines was a spin off of the Andy Griffin Show. Shazam!
58. Smooching at the movies, say: PDA. Public Display of Affection, although I remember being in the back of a darkened theater and thinking we were virtually in private. What I can't remember is what movie was playing...
60. Overly: TOO.
61. Purge (of): RID.
62. HS equivalency test: GED. General
Educational Development test. I thought it was Graduate Equivalency
Diploma, or something like that. I would have failed the test!
Notes from C.C.:
Today we celebrate the 81st birthday of Tehachapi Ken. Wishing you a wonderful day, Ken!
37 comments:
Well, this certainly was no
easy puzzle. It took me more than an hour to suss it out completely, although I did have a good idea about the gimmick from the first themed solve. As to circles, I think this is one case when they were absolutely necessary! Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Interesting concept -- clue the circled letters rather than the complete word. And in each case, exactly half the letters in the word were circled. Cute. Caught the theme early on, and the train came into the station in under ten minutes. Nicely done, Kyle, David, and rustybrain. (Methinks Mikey is probably old enough to retire now.)
Happy birthday, T-Ken.
FIR, but cab->BUS and disobey->GO ROGUE. Would have had to erase "gifted" for BUXOM, but "gifted" had too many letters.
My PSA usually runs about 1.25.
The irony of the BATTLE of GETTYSBURG is that it was Lee's initiative, intended to greatly reduce the Union's ability to wage war. His education at West Point taught him that fighting only to defend your turf was a certain way to lose a war.
I found this one to be easier than yesterday's puzzle. More fun, too. I parsed the actress' name as ZENDA YA, instead of ZENDAYA. Never heard of either, but the perps took care of that.
Thanks to Kyle and David for the fun end to the work week. And thanks to Rusty Brain for the punny review.
HBDTY, T.Ken.
Took 9:33 today to battle my way through this one.
I really didn't sense what was going on with the theme, but at least I knew the Actress of the Day (Zendaya). Then there was nearly an entire column of writers (EBWhite & Thurber), which were difficult for me. The bottom-left corner with "twoyear", "daresto," and "armload" was tricky too.
Oh joy, circles!
I was stumped for a while on this puzzle. I knew KRILL was right but didn't know either ZENDAYA or TILDA. The rest of the perps in the NW helped take care of those two. I quickly figured out the circles contained the answers to the clues but it took until NORMANDY to realize they were battles. Having those fills take exactly HALF was great.
The writers required a few perps before guessing them. Wrongly guessing CAB and SPATE instead of SPURT and BUS made me think of Wm. SHATNER before correcting it. The book is unknown but the answer is- you're here and alive, and definitely YES.
DALLY- never seen it without DILLY.
My first thought for 54A was BUILT, not BUXOM.
LT DAN was also unknown.
REDD Foxx's real name? Why it was SANFORD.
DWEEB- the photo of the guy with plaid shorts with striped white socks and SANDALs is nothing compared to some of the clothes I've seen lately. DW and I call them the "people of the sno-ball stand". Last week we saw a very, very pregnant girl wearing a bikini.
FIR. Circles and proper names, oh great joy! Sheesh, too many days this week.
I went through the solve without bothering with the circles and soon found out they were needed. More joy!
Honestly I thought the theme reveal was lame as each of the battles were complete, not halved. But oh well!
Overall a not so enjoyable puzzle by far.
B-E, sounds like you've been spending too much time at Wal*Mart.
I’m slow. It took me á while to notice the BATTLES, in fact no until I just had to enter GETTYSBURG. So I went back up and had my aha moment.
I didn’t like the number of proper names even though I knew most of them. Needed perps for ZANDAYA, UTZ, TILDA, RPI, and LEO as clued.
I had to change you’re to CLASS and har for HAH.
When there’s á 4 letter word for lake you know it’s ERIE.
AWARDS are due for á clever theme.
Thank you Rusty Brain for that fine review. I appreciate your story about E B WHITE and James THURBER.
Thanks, C.C., for the birthday greetings. Much appreciated!
I enjoyed Kyle and David's puzzle today. As a student of history, I liked that the four theme battles were from four different wars, including one of the innumerable French-British conflicts.
The puzzle was cleverly constructed, and the use of circles as part of the theme solutions demonstrates how intrinsic the use of circles can be. Most creative!
Thanks, David and Kyle, for a clever and enjoyable Friday-appropriate challenge. And thanks, Rusty Brain, for another stellar pinch-hitting stint today.
And thanks to all for my birthday greetings today!
Good Morning:
I was bewildered for a while with the clues and answers not jibing, until it dawned on me that the Battles contained the clue answers within the circles.
And, the answers were exactly “Half the Battle.” (Take note, KS @ 8.22) This was a super clever theme, IMO, and was a very enjoyable solve. The circles were absolutely necessary for the theme’s execution. My only small nit is the lack of challenge for a Friday offering, but that’s not the authors’ decision.
Many thanks and high praise to Kyle and David for a terrific exercise and thanks to RB for a punny and enjoyable review. No, I’ve never seen any RPI items but I’m mighty proud of my grand nephew who’s about to begin his senior year there soon. That’s a nice memento you have of your Dad.
Happy Birthday, T-Ken, hope it’s special. 🎂🎊🎈🎉🎁
FLN
Jayce, I started getting my groceries delivered long before the pandemic and continue to do so. (I go to the grocery store occasionally, especially in the non-winter months, but mostly order online.) I order directly through my grocery store and they fill the order, but Instacart delivers it. Over the years, there have been mistakes made, some minor and some major, but Hannaford (store) is very quick to resolve any errors, usually by issuing a generous credit immediately. The convenience and lack of physical exertion is much appreciated by this not-so-young-anymore lady.
Have a great day.
I REALLY LOVED THIS PUZZLE!
( And Circle Nay Sayers Be [deleted word]...)
Next time I see circles, I will say "oh joy, circles" with a big smile on my face!
At first, I was puzzled. Then I was gimmick searching. Then I was scratching my head at normal looking clues I just could not understand. And then I found a piece of the puzzle. Then I had a great time putting the pieces together. All in all, everything I would ever want in a puzzle! Thank you so much for making my day!
Happy Birthday Ken!
Ignore the age on the cake (and in life), jump in a VW Microbus with surfboards, and head to the nearest beach!
(Because a VW Microbus in this day and age probably won't get very far...)
Here's wishing you a beach nearby you!
Hola! Woohoo! it took a while, but I finally saw why the BATTLES were mentioned. At first, I thought they were randomly placed but no, they are cleverly positioned. Congratulations, Kyle and David!
I mistakenly had THAT SHALL at 31 across so it made no sense until BATTLE emerged and then it all came together when I realized it should be THAT'S HALF. Whew!
Happy birthday, T Ken! Enjoy your day, everyone!
I thought this was a brilliantly constructed puzzle and worthy of a Friday, the themers were a little slow to fill with the confusing clues, but I managed a FIR in 17:43. Had to correct an E to an A to get HAH/DAYO for my final fill. I liked EB WHITE atop THURBER (more cleverness). Have heard of ZENDAYA but not familiar with any of her work. I may have seen UTZ in stores but don’t remember buying any of their products. DW still uses an AOL email as her primary. If you’re doing a PDA with someone you shouldn’t, it’s best to stay off the kiss-cam. I remember my dad had some records by REDD Foxx, maybe racy back then, pretty tame by today’s standards. I’m sure a lot of guys (myself included) can conjure up many more answers to 54A. Thanks Kyle and David for your fine piece of W, and to Rusty Brain for the humorous, informative review. I believe you’re heir apparent for the next full time blogger opening.
Happy birthday T-Ken. 🎉🎂🎊🎈🎁
Our local grocery store uses Instacart and I have flirted with doing what you’re doing. Your comment encouraged me. My SIL in Houston has been doing something similar since Covid.
Musings
-KRILL inside BUNKER HILL was an odd way to start but I loved the gimmick!
-I’m sure we will all go to our graves wondering how those GIZA pyrmids were built
-BOOKS on display on an HGTV show are put on the shelves backwards to avoid copyright issues showing the titles
-Our Thursday golf group has an average age of 80 which means there’s always someone who SAT OUT because of medical issues
-Incredibly gory Pulp Fiction (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) was beaten out for best picture by incredibly entertaining Forest Gump (76%) for best picture.
-REDD’s material today would barely get a PG-13 rating
-GO ROGUE: A teacher at my school was given the "resign/get fired" option after refusing to take down some controversial posters
-THURBER’s The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is a great memory of my high school English class
-Socks with SANDALS: Does anybody remember Erik Agard’s recent POWER CLASHING?
-I’ve got to blog much earlier to stop Irish Miss from posting my exact thoughts!! 😊
-Thanks Rusty and HBD Ken!
I was thinking the first theme answer was some species of KRILL, then HATS helped me figure out the clue only applied to the circles. I needed the revealer to get the battle theme. And I learned a new word, NEWEL. Great puzzle!
Oops, forgot to wish TK a happy birthday! 👊🏼
Monkey, give it a try. Be aware, though, that the prices on Instacart are higher than the store prices. Not by a lot, but still higher. I don’t have that discrepancy because I order directly through my store and Instacart is just the delivery service. This is an unusual setup , though, and the only one I know of in my area. Lucky me, eh? 😉
In the movie ‘Christmas Vacation’, in frustration, Clark Griswold takes a chain saw to the loose decorative finial atop the NEWEL post, declaring to his wife “the NEWEL post is fixed!”
You know what they say about great minds, HG! 😉
HG, I don't understand... how can there be any copyright issue for just showing "the title, and author" of a book? This is insane!
Next there will be copyright infringement on any song, because they used one of the 8 notes in the scale that some one else used before...
The world has gone mad!
Thanks, CrossEyedDave. I just may head for the shore, as you suggest. From Tehachapi it's about an hour and a half to the nearest beach, which is Malibu. And I always come back with a load of fresh seafood.
Your comment about today's puzzle rang true with me (and I suspect, with Irish Miss, too, since she loved it for many of the same reasons).
Anyway, you perfectly summed it up with the line, "All in all, everything I would ever want in a puzzle." Touche!
EBWHITE) attracted me to the NE corner immediately, and James THURBER soon transported me to GETTYsburg, which helped me figure out what was going on. I liked the theme and the execution.
White and Thurber came to mind especially quickly because I had just finished reading an article about relationships between editors and writers at the New Yorker over the years. The team of Strunk & White is best known for the grammar-and-usage guide “Elements of Style.”
Hand up for busty before BUXOM.
UTZ was unknown to me, and the LAN/LT. DAN crossing was sort of a Natick. I’ve seen Forrest Gump only twice.
The puzzle had just enough crunch, along with its other assets, to be a worthy Friday puzzle despite how easy it seemed in retrospect.
Very clever puzzle today! I don't believe I've ever run into a gimmick quite like this one before, and I found it very entertaining. If I remember correctly, wasn't there a loose newel that played a part in "It's A Wonderfull Life"? HBDY, T-Ken!
HGary, you're on to something. My initial comments posted today were back-to-back with Irish Miss's. So she and I were thinking the same things about the puzzle AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.
Very interesting and challenging puzzle. Excellent Friday challenge. And I chuckled Rusty Brain when you said you could show me flowers. Heh.
YP here ~ yes I believe the aforementioned scene from ‘Christmas Vacation’ was a nod to ‘Its a Wonderful Life’.
Where there’s a lawyer. There’s a way.
My favorite podcast is the Tony Kornheiser show, and he has gone to where he just plays submitted independent music instead of using copyrighted music that is so very expensive to use for bumper music. It has turned out to be a great gimmick for both sides.
Nope. I did, as I tend to do, persist until I had every cell correctly filled, but had to revert to the E-crossword and turn on red letters. And even then needed three alpha-runs to fill this disgraceful namefest. 20 names, DNK 10. No thanx. I did not care for this CW at all, due to all the names. I grudgingly give a thumbs up on the theme and managing to have exactly half the letters as the clue answer. That bit is clever, but I can't get past all the names. Thanx RB for the nice write-up. HBD TK!
I agree with what YooperPhil said, "I thought this was a brilliantly constructed puzzle". I enjoyed figuring it out.
In fact, you’d think it would free advertising for the book.
Delightful Friday puzzle, Kyle and David--many thanks for that gift. And thanks, Rusty Brain, for your helpful review.
Well, maybe after dealing with HALF the BATTLE OF NORMANDY, a friend of Lt. Dan's no longer wanted to DALLY but packed up his stuff to DASH on home. There he first just SAT OUT all that conflict going on, but he kept thinking about NORMANDY and GETTYSBURG and ERIE and SEOUL and decided to start writing a STANZA about his experiences over time visiting all these different places. It was published, and to his surprise he was given AWARDS for his efforts, and his friends celebrated by singing him "DAY-0, Daylight come and me wan' go home". It made him smile because he was already home.
Have a wonderful end of the week, everybody, and a great weekend ahead.
And, Happy Birthday, Ken.
Yeah, I think that it's more likely that HGTV turns the books around because the publisher doesn't want to pay product placement fees to HGTV. If you watch closely to a lot of programs, stage props either have a wrapper around the container, or the brand is either turned out of camera view or is blurred. Even tee shirts.
But using actual music is expensive. Back in the day I used to watch a lot of Big Brother After Dark, which was more spy cam than an actual program. Whenever a houseguest would start singing, the voice of Big Brother would immediately tell them to "STOP SINGING!" The disgraced rocker Gary Glitter made a fortune from NFL teams for Rock 'n' Roll (part II), and Queen still makes bank with We Will Rock You.
Absolutely beautiful puzzle...thank you, Kyle and David -- and Rusty Brain for the review. And Happy Birthday, T-Ken!
Circles two days in a row…okay.
Well, I’m in Uncle Fred’s camp on this one: I did NOT like the gimmick, with the clueing having Ø to do with the actual fills, despite the constructors’ effort to justify it with the reveal. Props to them for concocting it, with the battles connections, but imho crossword puzzles should not be riddles. Color me curmudgeonly, but I can do without another one like this.
On the good side, RustyBrain’s review was the entertainment, as a sort of a booby-prize 😎. Good stuff in it!
And Happy 🎂, T-Ken! Yeah, go to the beach, it’s nice there today.
====> Darren / L.A.
Happy B'day T-Ken. Great recap, RustyBrain. I am glad that I didn't have the responsibility of 'splainin' the gimmick today.
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