While Malodorous Manatee relaxes under a pool umbrella sipping iced
tea, I, RustyBrain, am toiling away on this review. However, I am also
under a pool umbrella sipping iced tea (hey, it's still summer!).
Patti
Varol, Patti Varol, hmm. Why does that name sound so familiar? Oh, I
know! I've seen it atop every puzzle here for the past couple years
along with someone named Ed. And LOOKY here! It's one of her own
creations!
17. "Don't be impulsive," literally: LOOK YOU LEAP. → LOOK before YOU LEAP. In the answer, the word "LOOK " is placed before "YOU LEAP." This one was a bit of a poser. I had LOOKY- from the NW corner, but hadn't sussed the theme yet.
29. Find hidden meaning, literally: THE READ LINES. → READ between THE LINES. The word "READ" is in between "THE" and "LINES." This was my aha (oho?) moment.
36. Requirement for many a private school, and an apt title for this puzzle?: PLACEMENT EXAM. → Advanced PLACEMENT EXAM. The revealer is also a themer! Very cool.
44. Risks missing a deadline, literally: SCHEDULE RUNS. → RUNS behind SCHEDULE. Another common phase reworked by placing "RUNS" behind the word "SCHEDULE."
60. Nearly identical pair, literally: A TWO PEAS POD. → TWO PEAS in A POD. I found this one the hardest to parse, even knowing the trick by now. The first letters ATWOP looked so odd it threw me. But "TWO PEAS" are definitely inside "A" and "POD."
You've all heard of prepositional phrases, well these are just positional phrases where the position of the words in the answer is dictated by the clue. It's not the first time I've seen this type of theme, but this one is done very well - a straightforward switcheroo of common expressions...and there are five of them! The only downside to all this is an abundance of short fill. All in all, a fun outing. Thanks Patti.
Across:
1. Take off: SCRAM.
6. Piccata need: CAPER. In Italian cuisine, piccata is prepared using veal, whereas in American cuisine, chicken is more commonly used. Great either way. Here's a piccata pic:
11. Advanced deg.: PHD. Doctor of Philosophy = philosophiae doctor in Latin. Yes, "doctor" is actually a Latin word meaning "teacher" or "learned person."
14. Now, in Spanish: AHORA.
15. Common fruit in 11-Down cuisine: OLIVE. Fruit in PROVENCAL cuisine: OLIVE. Next, you'll probably tell me that zucchini is a fruit. Ha ha...what's that? Zucchini really is a fruit?! I'll be darned.
16. Piglet pal: ROO.
17. [theme]
19. "!!!": OMG. TextSpeak for "Oh My God!" Oddly, it's rarely heard in church.
20. Absent: MISSING.
21. Timid person's lack: NERVE. I had "spine" first.
23. Gallery array: ART. Galley array: OARS.
24. Designer Jacobs: MARC. In fashion, he sits in the "affordable luxury" bracket. Out of fashion, I sit in the "affordable drudgery" bucket.
27. Covers for, maybe: ABETS.
29. [theme]
32. Garment worn with a choli: SARI. A choli in South India is a blouse or a bodice-like garment that is usually cropped leaving the midriff bare. A SARI is a draped dress.
34. Try (for): VIE.
35. Metal container: CAN. Metal container: ALBUM COVER (You knew I would squeeze one in somewhere!).
41. Talk and talk: YAP.
42. Atmosphere: AIR.
43. Aromatherapy options: OILS.
44. [theme]
49. Take off: LEAVE.
50. Baking soda target: ODOR.
51. Comedian Samantha: BEE. BEE is an alumna of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and later became the first woman to host her own late-night satire show.
54. Radio-active truckers?: CBERS. Fun clue for users of Citizen's Band radios. During the CB craze in the 1970s, the novelty song "Convoy" was a big hit, reaching #1 on Billboard. It's young writer, Chip Davis, took his royalties and founded Mannheim Steamroller.
56. Deep-fried appetizer: EGG ROLL.
59. Drink brand with Simbu Strawberry and Molokai Coconut flavors: BAI.
63. Receipt fig.: AMT. Recipe fig.: also AMT. That's what it Amounts to.
64. One-named K-pop singer: IRENE. This name/clue is slowly is slowing sinking into my brain.
65. Party-planning site: EVITE. An online service for creating and sending digital invitations. See RSVP.
66. Photo __: OPS. Photo OOPS!
67. Concession speech deliverer: LOSER. Concession stand delivery: "Get your hot dogs here!"
68. Better suited for: APTER. Meh. APTER doesn't sound quite right.
Down:
1. Actress Hayek Pinault: SALMA. How many more last names does she have that I don't know about?
2. Loft-y group?: CHOIR. I wanted "cloud."
3. Dove bar?: ROOST. Dove bar!
5. "Please?": MAY I.
6. Mountain predator: COUGAR. Especially the older females.
7. "I'm __ yours!": ALL.
8. Epitome of ease: PIE. The idiom "easy as PIE" is akin to "a piece of cake." The key insight is that eating a pie (or cake) is simple and requires little effort, as opposed to making one. In fact, the original phrase was "like eating pie." "Look ma, no hands!"
9. "Dear __ Hansen": EVAN. Dear Evan Hansen is a Tony Award-winning musical about a high school student with social anxiety who gets caught in a lie after a fellow student's suicide.
10. Void, in a way: REPEAL.
11. Like bouillabaisse: PROVENCAL. Originating from the Provence region on the Mediterranean in France. This answer took a while to fill in.
12. Squads that typically bat last: HOME TEAMS. I think I misread this clue...
13. Canine: DOG. Canine teeth are the pointy ones on either side of your incisors (front teeth) and are named for their resemblance to
18. "I got it": ON ME. Music to my ears!
22. Softball stat: RBI. Run Batted In, just like in baseball.
25. Held in high esteem: REVERED.
26. "Double Indemnity" novelist: CAIN. James M. CAIN was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction. Prior to that, he poached his work.
28. Fed. ID fig.: SSN. That's a lot of abbrev.! Federal Identification figure: Social Security Number.
29. Refrain syllable: TRA. So fa, sol good.
30. Juice box brand: HI-C.
31. Lions or Tigers, in recaps: DET. But not Bears! DETROIT.
32. Destination for aspiring astronauts: SPACE CAMP. My eldest son went to summer camp at Kennedy Space Center. He had a great time and flew the shuttle (simulator). Although he didn't become an astronaut, he still shuttles to work.
33. "They're A, B, C, D-licious" cereal: ALPHA-BITS. Post was accused of being a cereal killer when they discontinued ALPHA-BITS in 2021. Now I'm at a loss for words. This is a box from when I was a kid.
37. Lac contents: EAU. A little French pour vous.
38. Actor Ventimiglia: MILO. He played the dad in the TV series "This is Us." Spoiler alert - Jack died before the timeline in the pilot, yet he somehow managed to to appear in every episode for six seasons and become a fan favorite.
39. Seemingly forever: EON.
40. Letters before omicrons: XIS. I wonder if the earliest version of Alpha-bits used Greek letters?
41. Couture monogram: YSL. Yves Saint Laurent's full name is Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. That that, SALMA.
45. Anticipatory time: EVE.
46. Throw off topic: DERAIL.
47. Former "At the Movies" co-host: ROEPER. Richard ROEPER.
48. Hard-to-resist desire: URGE.
51. Hasbro toy that requires twisting and pulling: BOP-IT. Bop-it has sold over 30 million (!) units and has seen more than a dozen revisions and spin-offs since its original release. I'm still waiting for Santa to bring me mine.
52. Mexican street corn: ELOTE. A classic Mexican street food of corn on the cob charred on a grill, then slathered in a spicy and creamy chile, garlic, and Cotija cheese–spiked sauce.
53. Senior figure: ELDER.
55. H-Town pro: STRO. Houston ASTROS, but H-town could also mean Hustle Town (right T?).
57. Mother of the Titans: GAEA. In Greek mythology, GAEA (or Gaia - depending on which Alpha-bits letter you can find in your bowl) is the goddess of the Earth, and is often referred to as "Mother Earth." Here she is on bowling night:
58. "Kindly let us know" letters: RSVP. "Répondez S'il Vous Plaît" literally means "respond if it pleases you." The French are so polite. They wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced after sending you an EVITE to something nice.
59. Stuffed bun: BAO. Same as on Tuesday's puzzle menu, except the Friday special comes with EGG ROLLs.
61. "The Phoenician Scheme" director Anderson: WES. All his movies are quirky, but I especially liked Moonrise Kingdom.
62. Number worn by Ozzie Smith: ONE. Three letters, so its ONE, two, six or ten. I know C.C. wouldn't have to wait for perps like I did.
Happy
birthday to my brother Gary! He's an emeritus professor of marketing
and statistics from the University of Iowa - the RealBrain in the
family. And yes, he has a PHD.
39 comments:
Although a little
challenging, as befits a Friday puzzle, I thought our esteemed editor crafted a pretty fair one. And whenever I see “literally” in themed clues, I know word placement is going to have a lot to do with it , so I had a pretty good idea about what was going on from the start.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got the theme early on, and wondered why PLACEMENT EXAM didn't fit the pattern. Oh, it's supposed to be the reveal. D'oh. APTER was ugly, no other word for it. But it all came down to pairs of crossing proper nouns. D-o had MARv/vAIN and GAiA/iVITE. Bzzzzzt. Thanks for playing, enjoy your ceramic Dalmation. Kudos to Patti and Rusty Brain. (We must subscribe to the same dictionary posts. Zucchini and Doctor were both mentioned recently.)
Patti shows her creativity as a constructor with this cleverly designed puzzle, not exactly a walk in the PIE, a good challenge for a Friday. Sussed three of the five themers, did not figure out the missing ‘advanced’ or ‘behind’. Perps needed for AHORA, BAI, and ELOTE. APTER sounds made up, “more apt” would be a gooder way to say it. Total unknown was PROVENÇAL, kept thinking provincial but it didn’t fit. Last fill was a WAG at the C in the MARC/CAIN cross, FIR in 19:34. Thanks for the fun and fair Friday puzzle, but how do you edit your own work? RB ~ always a good read when you take the blog reins, your style is a great fit here on the Corner.
FIW, missing my WAG @ mAI x mAO. I know, I know - we just had BAO. I've always enjoyed Asian food when I've had it, but for some reason I never opt for it, whether cooking at home or dining out. Guess it can't beat out Mexican, Italian or Merican in my so-called mind.
Really good HOME TEAMS don't literally bat last, the games usually end after 8 1/2 innings when their (lesser) opponents make the final out.
I would say that I enjoyed today's outing, but my momma taught me to never lie. Far too much A&E, which Patti seems to dig for some reason. I miss the time when Rich would publish his tough but interesting puzzles. But thanks to Rusty Brain for the fun review. Hardboiled / parched and bowling night? You should be ashamed of yourself for making me spit out my cereal and milk through my nose.
7:55 finished today.
Like YooperPhil, I had to guess whether it was Marc or Mark/Cain or Kain. C was the winner. So, I didn't know today's writer (Cain), the Korean singer, the Mexican food, the Greek goddess, or Provencal, but I knew the Actress of the Day (Salma). Bai/Bao area wasn't my favorite. Clever theme though.
Good Morning:
We rarely see this type of theme and, perhaps, that’s why it’s such a fun solve and challenge to figure out the gimmick. I don’t understand where Advanced comes into play, though, on the Placement Exam fill. I’m missing something, I guess. I went astray at Lemon/Caper, Yak/Yap, and needed perps to finish off the SE corner with Bopit, Gaea, and Elote. Milo Ventimiglia was my favorite cast member in This Is Us; he was the heart of the show, IMO.
Many thanks, Patti, for a nice change of pace theme and thanks, RB, for the many chuckles you provided with your humorous puns and jokes. Your commentary and expo was enjoyable, as well. Happy Birthday to the smart brother in the family!
Have a great day.
FIR. This for me was Saturday tough on a Friday. I had to really work at this one.
The theme didn't come quickly for me. Only after finally seeing "two peas in a pod" did i get it.
And I must say I have a problem with "apter". Not sure that's even a word.
And again the number of proper names seems excessive.
So overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Took a bunch of return visits to the puzzle but eventually FIR. Words MISSING in the theme answers and what is left is out of order. Thought there might be a TWO P’s connection, I didn’t get the “positional phrases” but very clever. Patti this puzzle may go Varol!!
Inkovers: gab,yak,/YAP, deflect/DERAIL, tin/CAN, Poo/ROO, Gaia/GAEA
“Epitome of ease” not PEASy
APTER?
AHORA I know what ELOTE is but 🌽
If you knew 59 down, take a ___ ….BAO
The ___ of ___ … MARC, CAIN
___ but you left the skins on the potatoes. Need to _____ SARI, REPEAL
Short work week, went fast.
I thought you were going to say Milo was the heart throb of the show. lol
A great Friday puzzle. Really enjoyed the theme.
m á LOSER on this one. I did get the theme, an interesting one, but I got aggravated by the names, names, names, most of which I didn’t know.
I wouldn’t mind á good bouillabaisse with aioli today. Instead I’ll have the Cajun equivalent, seafood gumbo.
Thank you Rusty Brain. Great review and I enjoyed the picture of Right Brain you so often refer to in your comments. But you are not TWO PEAS IN Á POD, right
A solid Thursday-level puzzle (yes, I know today is Friday). No stumbling blocks for me today, partly because my trivia-filled brain knew many of the semi-obscure entries.
I guess we're all APTER 🙄 on some days than on others, right?
"Who approved this puzzle!!!"
(Oh, never mind... it wasn't going to get rejected anyway...)
I must say, this was very puzzling. And no, I never did figure out the theme. (Thank you Rusty...) But after all the dust has settled, and the nits smoothed over, I have to admit that it was a very clever theme, and none of the clue/answers were below the belt. With the possible exception of lions and tigers at Detroit, (oh my...). "Det", reallly? (But in retrospect, it did say in recap, so I guess I have to swallow it... (but it didn't taste good!)
Kudos Patty, I guess I asked for puzzlement, and I got it...
Hmm, I don't know this Gary Brain... does he read the Blog? Hmm,,
well, maybe just a little cake...
Oh, who am I kidding! If it's Rusty's brother, they must be like two peas in a pod! Happy Birthday you crazy animals!
Musings
-A very entertaining puzzle where I felt the juice was well worth the squeeze.
-Nice explanations Rusty Brain!
-I parsed PLACEMENT (ENTRACE) EXAM. Close, but we’re going to need that cigar back
-MARC: Buying clothes for a label ain’t happening for me. My $16.99 Costco golf shorts work as well as the $120 ones by someone named Peter Millar online
-Does the Moon have gravity or air? Kids always no to both but it does have the former and not the latter.
-The 55mph (double nickels in CB) speed limit was imposed in 1974 during the Arab Oil Embargo. “Ya got yer ears on, good buddy?”
-Omaha’s Chip Davis’ Manheim Steamroller music is now a Christmas staple
-Many sports peeps, (George Steinbrenner among them) are credited with saying, “Second place is the first LOSER”.
-Canine/DOG seems like a pretty pedestrian option for Patti. "A lab that’s not allowed in a lab?"
-Fred MacMurray being a villain seemed out of place in Double Indemnity after seeing him in such lightweight roles in my early years and the movie much later on cable.
-MILO was a bigger crop in Nebraska before corn hybrids were bred to be more drought tolerant. I’ll buy Rusty Brain a beer if Patti ever clues MILO as a grain crop.
-I never have heard of ELOTE but correctly surmised the last letter was not silent
-APTER is definitely an "any port in a storm" fill.
-Love the picture, RB!
Oh wow! I really messed up!
here's the correct 2nd cake...
And I I meant to conclude with Patty's puzzlement placement exam...
I like this sort of puzzle, and Patti executed it well. If it’s a PLACEMENT EXAM, do you FIR if you can’t identify all four prepositions? I came up with “before,” “between,” and “behind” easily, but “in” nearly eluded me.
That wasn’t the only problem in the SE. I had GAiA before GAEA and wasn’t sure the latter was correct, and I was unfamiliar with BOP-IT. APTER was a stretch for “more apt.” Fortunately, ELOTE didn’t elude me.
The H-Town clue made me anticipate whether Tony or desper otto would disclaim the term. DW, who is from Houston, found “H-Town” faulty because it doesn’t eliminate any syllables. . . .XIS appeared a couple of days after an LAT puzzle that featured about 10 labored pluralizations, so apparently those don’t bother Patti when she’s wearing her editor’s hat, either.
Puzzle highlights, aside from Rusty’s “bowling night” presentation, were PROVENCAL, MARC with a C, and ALPHABITS – not because I ever ate the cereal, but because I’m an aficionado of ad jingles.
Friday Fail. Thanks for the workout, Patti and Rusty Brain (Happy Birthday to your brother).
I not only DNF this CW, but I FIWed in 4 areas.
But I did finally get the theme at A TWO PEAS POD. That helped me to go back to the other themers and see the Before, Between, Behind and In PLACEMENTs.
(Somehow “Easy as PIE” struck me as an Easter Egg???!)
Several inkblots.
I wanted rAEA, but finally Googled to find the alternate spelling of the real mother, GAEA. That gave me EGGROLL.
I forgot Samantha BEE and had the toy as pOPIT. I have never heard of that Mexican street corn, and could not decide between aLOTE or ELOTE. If. Had not entered ALPHBeTS instead of BITS, I might have seen that the unknown-to-me drink BAI and my incorrect BaE. But I have learned the BAO bun from C.C.!
My Spanish is lacking (sorry Lucina) and I was left with eHORA when I WAGged SeLMA instead of SALMA.
MARC and CAIN was a Natick cross for me. I chose a Y (MARy, yAIN).
Hand up for a nose wrinkle at APTER.
I had Yak before YAP.
Favourite today was the clue for CHOIR.
Wishing you all a great day.
A clever and fun puzzle.
However our revered Editor should hold herself to higher a standard and “apter” should of been rejected by herself or Katie Hale.
A Friday worthy puzzle.
Thanks for the humorous recap Rusty.
Have a nice weekend everyone. 😊
I liked the theme in this puzzle but wrinkled my nose at entries like APTER, XIS, and DET even though I understand a theme-heavy puzzle often must have some nose-wrinkling fill.
Happy birthday, Real Brain.
Looking back, I do admire the creativity displayed in this puzzle. Lots of nifty fill, too.
Hola! Of course, AHORA was my first fill followed by ELOTE and I was surprised to see it. but overall this puzzle was not "easy as PIE". I really, really, really dislike this kind of puzzle where a word is missing and must be inferred.
GAEA was once regular fill, but I haven't seen it in a while.
ROEPER could be challenging to spell so I'm grateful for perps.
Have a great day, everyone!
I wonder if HABOUB will ever show up in a puzzle.
I guess if someone in Mr. Roeper’s ancestry decided to pronounce the OE in his name the way I pronounce it in mine he would be known as Mr. Reeper.
HG, Until the TV show, My Three Sons, Fred MacMurray continued his “villainous” roles in The Caine Mutiny and The Apartment. He played “nasty” as convincingly as “nice”, proving himself to be a truly versatile actor.
Wow! How exciting to get such a delightful Friday puzzle from Patti Varol this morning! What a treat--thank you so much, Patti. And thank you for your always helpful commentary, Rusty. I especially liked some of your fun pictures today.
Well, I must have passed all my PLACEMENT EXAMS back in the day, because I got my PHD without any problems. But I'm not sure I always LOOK before I LEAP because I have had a fall or two back in my younger days. So what other activities do we get in this puzzle? I'm retired, so I'm not on a HOME TEAM any longer, but I did manage to sing in a CHOIR until some years ago, though I doubt my melody was REVERED. Anyway, enough about my past. Time to get some lunch. Not sure I know how to make an EGG ROLL, or TWO PEAS in a POD. So I better just get some late cereal, and enjoy our sunny day outside.
I wish you all a cheerful, sunny day too.
‘should have’ is more APTER than ‘should of’, grammatically. 🤣
Nice puzzle and nice recap. I see what you did there with "hard boiled" and "poached"; thanks for the sensible chuckle. At the end of my solve I almost tried MARy Jacobs/yAIN but ended up guessing correctly. I am a little embarrassed to admit I thought there must be a HIC juice brand I'm not familiar with. You'd think Hi-C would come to me easily after the powerful hit of nostalgia I got from ALPHABITS.
Great blog entry lol several times. Thanks "Rusty"
Thanks for his Bday wishes!
Hope you weren't eating Alpha-bits!
Thanks from Smarty Pants!
My bro thanks you!
Crashed and burned in the S.E. I had URGE, RSVP, and ELDER but ROEPER, BOP IT, and ELOTE were three fills that never head a chance. A TWO PEAS POD never had a chance, even correctly guessing unknowns IRENE and LOSER (describes my attempt today).
I caught the gimmick at LOOK YOU LEAP but it was still a DNF. MARC, CAIN, MILO, and BAI were filled by perps.
"!!!"- I don't do 'textspeak' and when somebody sends a message to me containing those things, I just delete it. Even with a magnifying glass I couldn't tell if the clue was 111 or !!! in the newspaper. Perps too care of it.
ASTROS- anybody else remember the Houston Colt 45s?
"more suitable" would be more suitable than "apter".
Yooper- how do you pronounce "should've" I think the 'should of' stems from the way almost everybody pronounces should've.
I must have been, and didn't have the right letters for "poached." Don't know if automiscorrect or brain disconnect is to blame.
Related to Grim? 😀
I solved the puzzle before dashing out for a hike this morning, and understood the missing prepositions, but didn't fully grok the theme. Not to worry; RustyBrain explained it all, and made me chuckle from beginning to end. I'd like to be that clever! Patti also impressed today. Great puzzle, great blog post, great comments from all y'all.
RustyBrain, if you and MalMan are both sipping iced tea under your ‘brellyies, I hope it’s of the Long Island flavor 🧉 You’re approaching Moe-Ku level with some of your sight gags in your recaps — great fun today! I was not sorry to see the pretty sari photo, and your loss of words over AlphaBits is indeed tragic 🤣 Great to see your RightBrain brother in the pic — Happy B-day!
Wow, Patti can wield a mean pen (grid?) and has put together quite the snazzy theme! Loved that part. Did not like the overload of A&E names, especially when they cross and cost me a FIR (24A/26D and 51A/D). ‘Nuff has been said about APTER; I agree that she should use a guest editor 😎
====> Darren / L.A.
Not a fan. Kindly don't do another.
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