Theme: "Academic Circles"
Or, as 77a indicates:77. End-of-term cry, and an alternate title for this puzzle: SCHOOLS OUT.
Hi All!
Today, C.C. graces us with another Sunday puzzle. This time, she splits SCHOOLS on the OUTside of each theme answer and then circles them to provide what they call in Academic Circles, um, well, just that -- academies in circles. Let's study them:
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| XKCD |
24. Seeking a seat: RUNNING FOR OFFICE. Houston's own Rice University.
38. Explains something in simple terms: BREAKS IT DOWN. Brown University.
55. "Roman Holiday" star: AUDREY HEPBURN. Auburn University.
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| Hepburn & Peck in the 1953 Classic. It was her debut. |
81. Auto-erased item on a hard drive: TEMPORARY FILE. Temple University.
98. Connecticut state song: YANKEE DOODLE. Yale.
114. Fluffy brunch item baked in a skillet: DUTCH BABY PANCAKE. Duke University.
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| I had to Google the Dutch Baby variety. |
3. "Oh boy, that's uncomfortable": HOW AWKWARD. Howard University.
Well, what do you non circle-haters think? Pretty neat, eh?
There's only one thing to do before moving onto the fill and that's introduce Detroit's Vincent Furnier:
Alice Cooper's Schools Out
Across:
1. Org. on workplace posters: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.5. Sweet-toothed crawlers: ANTS.
9. Financial resources: MEANS.
14. Clubs for chips: IRONS. Golf. Woods to drive; IRONS for chip shots. And that's all I know. HG?
19. More than expected: ALOT.
20. Adversaries: FOES.
21. Group of eight: OCTET.
22. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT.
23. Mike of "Dirty Jobs": ROWE. Did you also know Rowe sang with the Baltimore Opera? I read it on the internet.
24. [See: Theme]
27. Pacific coast barkers: SEA LIONS.
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| Going Pro? |
29. __ Estados Unidos: LOS. Translation: The United States.
30. Feeling of gloom: PALL.
31. Hard-to-split wood: ELM.
32. Comes out on top: WINS.
33. Not trans or enby: CIS.
34. Unsubstantiated: TENUOUS.
36. Staged: FAKED.
38. [See: Theme]
41. Playful growl: RAWR.
42. Yukon gold rush region: KLONDIKE.
 |
| What would you do? |
47. 401(k) alternatives: IRAs. Individual Retirement Accounts.
48. De-iced?: NEAT. Cute.
49. State flower of New Mexico: YUCCA.
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| Eatable? |
53. Pucker-inducing: TART.
54. The Blue Jays, on sports crawls: TOR. Toronto, Canada.
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| If you know, you know. |
55. [See: Theme]
59. GameCube successor: WII. One year, Santa brought a Wii for the girls. We played games all of Christmas break and then almost never again :-(.
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| Nintendo's Wii |
60. Burned, in a way: ON DISC. Remember burning your data to CD?
62. "The Pioneer Woman" host Drummond: REE.
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| My copy of Dinnertime. |
65. Scolding sounds: TSKS.
67. Tossed dish: SALAD.
 |
| A caprese I "tossed" together |
71. Harmless fib: WHITE LIE.
75. Angry growl: GRR.
76. Time-honored maxim: OLD SAW. From One Word A Day: "The "saw" in old saw comes from the Old English word sagu, meaning "saying, speech, story, or report." This is related to Old Norse saga and Old High German saga - all stemming from the Proto-Germanic sagō ("saying, report")." Read more.
80. House Stark patriarch: NED. Game of Thrones reference [thanks Google!]
81. [See: Theme]
86. Exec overseeing accounts: CFO. Chief Financial Officer.
87. Healing ointment: BALM. Myrrh is a balm...
Monty Python's "Life of Brian" Manger Scene
89. Spacious hotel offering: SUITE.
90. Core constituency: BASE.
91. "Get outta here!": SHOO.
92. Starting lineup: A TEAM.
94. Crude structures: OIL WELLS. Cute.
97. Spot for solar panels: ROOF.
98. [See: Theme]
102. Hilarious sorts: RIOTS.
103. Leaves high and dry: MAROONS.
104. Calendar divs.: WKS. Weeks.
105. Noble above a viscount: EARL.
106. High euchre card: ACE.
108. Classical closing: CODA.
109. Copa Mundial cheer: OLE.
110. Products that help prevent chapping: LIP MASKS. For the uninitiated: "Lip masks and lip 87a [balms] are both formulated to hydrate your lips, however lip masks are generally thicker and more intensive than a lip 87a." [Google again]
114. [See: Theme]
118. Wind like a snake: COIL.
119. Solo: ALONE.
120. Anne of fashion: KLEIN. Nee Hanna Golofsky (3 AUG 1923 - 19 MAR 1974)
121. __-Ball: SKEE.
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| History here. |
122. "Shogun" streaming service: HULU.
123. Lightheaded?: BLOND. Cute.
124. Put in stitches: SEWED. Also cute.
125. Leaves in hot water: TEAS. Hat Trick!
126. Really small matter: ATOM.
Down:
1. Steering implements on dragon boats: OARS. Every Fall, the community just north of me has a dragon boat race. |
| The Woodlands' Dragon Boat Race |
2. Blackthorn berry: SLOE. Flavors the SLOE gin in the fizz.
3. [See: Theme]
4. Drawing rooms?: ATELIERS. WikiP says "An atelier (French: [atəlje]) is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect."
5. Picked hairstyles: AFROS.
6. Plus or minus: NOUN.
7. Change for a 20, maybe: TENS.
8. ID with hyphens: SSN.
9. Snowboard cousin: MONOSKI. So it's a snowboard but with your feet side-by-side(?)
 |
| A Monoski. |
10. Heart charts, briefly: ECGS.
11. Org. concerned with traffic: ATF. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
12. Virtual animal such as Xweetok: NEO-PET. I'll just let the internet explain what a Xweetok is. Here's an image for the TL;DR:
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| Xweetoks |
14. Tributary streams: INFLOWS.
15. Penalty caller: REF.
16. Injuries, to a tot: OWIES.
17. Salt, in a chem lab: NACL. Na (Sodium) + Cl (Chloride) = salt.
 |
| Salt's Crystalline Structure |
18. Thorn's spot: STEM.
25. "Odyssey" prequel: ILIAD.
26. "Be a Revolution" author Ijeoma: OLUO.
 |
| Her WikiP |
28. Neither Rep. nor Dem.: IND. An Independent is neither a Republican nor a Democrat.
33. Part of CDC: CENTERS. Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention).
34. Traffic jam: TIE UP.
35. Newton or tesla: UNIT.
36. Corn chip: FRITO.
37. "The West Wing" creator Sorkin: AARON.
 |
| His WikiP |
38. Ran in the wash: BLED.
39. Crowd noise: ROAR.
40. "The __ Boat Song": classic Scottish ballad that opens "Outlander": SKYE.
42. Oft-cracked joints: KNUCKLES.
44. Babe in the woods: FAWN.
45. Destiny's Child, for one: TRIO.
46. Mix: STIR.
50. Chem. in some dispensary products: CBD. Cannabidiol derived from hemp.
51. Sticks in a pool hall: CUES.
52. Tank top openings: ARM HOLES.
55. Good thing to have: ASSET.
56. Vote in favor: YEA.
57. "Hey Arnold!" bully: HELGA.
 |
| Helga G Pataki |
58. Writer Zora __ Hurston: NEALE.
 |
| Neale's WikiP |
61. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT.
64. Contribute: ADD.
66. Shang-Chi player Liu: SIMU.
 |
| Simu's WikiP |
68. Flight board abbr.: ARR. Arrival.
69. Signs of drought: DRY BEDS.
71. Org. for the Fever: WNBA. Indiana's Women's National Basketball Association team.
72. Preliminary race: HEAT.
73. Doing nothing: IDLE.
74. Prefix with dermis: EPI. Skin.
77. [See: Theme]
78. Underway: AFOOT. "Come, Watson, come!' [Holmes] cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'"
79. Dog sounds: WOOFS. What the dog says when asked, "Where do the solar panels go?"
82. Great Plains Natives: OTOES.
83. Tara of "Sharknado": REID.
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| Tara's WikiP |
84. Leaf-peeping season: FALL.
85. Archipelago part: ISLE.
88. Guatemala native: MAYA.
91. Hot sauce served with pho: SRIRACHA. A buddy loves this stuff and puts it on everything. Yes, even ice cream.
93. Moved in step: MARCHED.
95. Area prone to flooding: LOW LAND.
96. No longer asleep: WOKEN.
99. Gaming greenhorn: NOOB. Typed n00b; the opposite of 1337.
100. Some classic cameras: KODAKS.
101. Make possible: ENABLE.
102. Sheep with horns: RAM.
103. "Same here!": ME TOO.
105. Swords with bell guards: EPEES.
106. Tiny amount: A DAB.
107. Cherry-pick: CULL.
109. Mayberry boy: OPIE. Ron Howard but y'all knew that.
110. Michigan, for one: LAKE.
111. Store with a Swedish food market: IKEA.
112. Metric weight: KILO.
113. Urban renewal target: SLUM.
115. "Inside Politics" channel: CNN.
116. Wood used in cabinetry: YEW.
117. Duluth winter hrs.: CST. Central Standard Time
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
My $0.02:
WO: HaLGA @57d
ESPs: ATELIERS, OLUO, DUTCH BABY (but I inked DUKE from just the K in IKEA :-))
Fav: ROOF crossing WOOF 'cuz of the implicit dog joke.
There you have it folks. Have a great Sunday and, for those of you in the path of the Polar Vortex, stay warm tonight!*
Cheers, -T
*Forecast where I am: Today is in the 70's; tomorrow I'll wake to 38F.
There were a few pretty
ReplyDeleteobscure names, but that didn’t stop me from completing C.C.’s enjoyable puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteAnyone else think it was weird to have six horizontal themers and just one vertical themer? Thanx for splainin' IRONS, Dash-T. My one-track mind never made it to golf. When we'd drive west dw would shout, "Jumpin' cholla!" (rhymes with La Jolla) when we entered New Mexico -- I thought that was the state flower. AFOOT always evokes Holmes for me, too. Thanx, C.C. and Dash-T.
D-O: The vertical themer is symmetrical with the vertical reveal.
DeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteStill on my phone - hopefully I'll be back online later today if my nephew knows what he's doing. 🙏
I enjoyed the theme and the solve, although, with a few exceptions , it was on the easy side. Any obstacles were remedied by friendly perps. Some of the cluing was quite clever, as well.
Thanks, CC, and thanks, Anon T, for the entertaining review. We don't hear from you often enough these days, especially with updates on the family.
Have a great day.
Yay! You're blue! (Not pall). Was it my suggestion that helped?
DeleteFIR. Circles, oh great! Ignored as usual. And way too many proper names for my liking, and most quite obscure. And the crossing of Ree and Helga seems somewhat unfair.
ReplyDeleteBut the perps were there where needed. The cluing was fair for the most part. Once I uncovered the reveal I went back and found all the colleges.
I've never heard of Dutch baby pancakes, so that was a learning moment for me.
Overall an OK puzzle.
Just a weird thing I noticed while solving--many letter K's. You don't see that often (and I liked that it held throughout).
ReplyDeleteI noticed the K’s as well. Notable for a 5 point scrabble tile.
DeleteA bit trickier than the usual CC puzzle, but still fair and enjoyable. The circles actually sped up the solve, as I only needed a couple of letters to figure out the universities in question.
ReplyDeleteFinished in 24:43, pretty typical for a Sunday.
106A - the highest card in euchre is a jack, although ace is a high card. Did anyone else think this was an unfair clue?
ReplyDeleteYeah, but I was more verbose about it.
DeleteFIW, missing with an "L" at the totally unknown (to me) ATELIERS x the made-up RAWR. Tainted an otherwise fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little surprised that Bayou Tony didn't note that WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) was the predecessor to the better-known DNS (Domain Name System.) Both are useful in preventing effective home computer networks.
I'm not so sure those TEMPORARY FILES auto-erase. It used to be more important to police unneeded files back in the days before storage drive space became cheap.
The clue for ACE is weak. Of all the card games I can think of, euchre ACEs are the weakest. Any other trick-taking game would have been better, but a game that doesn't have trump suits would have been ideal. To make matters worse, euchre has the Right Bower and Left Bower which are higher than any ACE.
Never heard of the Skye Boat Song,>/i> but I'm quite familiar with the banana boat song.
I think I'm confusing tank tops with tube tops. I guess either can be considered easy-opening tops.
Maybe it's because of my recent caregiving activities, but DRY BEDS are my signs that the Depends are working.
Thanks to CC for the fun workout. I especially liked the doggie subtheme. And thanks to Bayou Tony for another pinch-hit appearance.
OH NO! I screwed up the end pareth ah=gain. Lets see if this foxes it
ReplyDeleteEmd ital, not end parenth
DeleteFixes, not foxes
ReplyDeleteLooks ok after my post now. If subsequent posts are still in italics, let me know and I'll delete my original post.
ReplyDeleteCaught on the circles right away and that really helped with the solve. RAWR was a real stumbling block for me. Thanks CC for a somewhat challenging and very fun puzzle and to Anon T for the absolutely hilarious XKCD. I used to read those all the time.
ReplyDelete13:15. Ugh. That's about as weak of a theme as you can get.
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled to your opinion, but I thought it was clever. Just out of curiosity, what did you mean by 13:15,?
DeleteAfter yesterday's slog, what a pleasure it was to fill this large Sunday puzzle easily. The theme even helped me with a couple of the long fills. There were some unknowns -- Mike ROWE, OLUO Ijeoma, HELGA, Tara REID -- but perps were helpful. The Southwest corner was a bit of a bear, but FIR and enjoyed it. Thanks, C.C., and thanks, -T!
ReplyDeleteFIR in spite of the many unfamiliar proper names like ROWE, NED, OLUO, SIMU, and LIP MASKS, new to me. For no longer asleep I would never WOKEN but awake.
ReplyDeleteThe NE was the last to fill baffled by IRONS and INFLOWS. The theme was fun and easy. I love DUTCH BABY PANCAKEs.
“Roman Holiday” in spite of its age is still a very watchable and delightful movie. When DH’s nephew and his wife lived in Hong Kong for a few years, the wife joined a group of Dragon Boat Racers.
Thank you A-t for that nice review.
The word use is missing before WOKEN.
DeleteFIR, but basically by accident. The crossing/near proximity of ATELIERS/RAWR(?!?)/ONDISK, along with a bunch of abbreviations basically led that part of the puzzle to be a random grouping of letters. Not quite an eyechart, but close. I too have never seen DUTCHBABYPANCAKE, either in real life or in a CW, but it perped OK, as did the equally unknown NEOPET and the usual plethora of proper names.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous T: I presume your WOOF/ROOF reference was to this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKmfP3krpY0 :-)
Sorry---Don't include the smiley face text :-) if you want to cut-and-paste that youtube link.
DeleteLooney Toons are never far from my mind so I'm sure that's what I was thinking of, John M27.
Delete(John's link for ease of click).
AAH! That's more like it! An ENJOYABLE crossword puzzle for a change. Thanks, C.C.!
ReplyDeleteThank you Anon-T for the write up, loved the Dave on the island comic, I wanted to say it described my month, but now I am torn by the video above it describing my life...
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle? Academically it was fun, didn't have to circle back a lot, so I got it done fairly easily, "until" I got to the very last blank square that really stumped me. I had no idea about neopets, didn't know alou, forgot how to spell tenuous, and was left with an alphabet run to accidentally find the first "L" in pall in red letter mode... all in all, I guess I'm doing pretty good if I have no concept of the word "pall."
My biggest problem today is choosing just one silly theme link:
exhibit A
pop up quiz B
and final exam C....
Almost forgot, where and how would I ever learn of things like 1337 if it were not for this blog.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yucca is amazing! It is all over our dunes at the beach in breezy, (Rockaway, queens, NY). You can eat the tender pods before they get too tough. Next door neighbor brought some home to Jersey and they grow like mad. Every year they produce this central stalk over 6 feet high that when dried is tough and hard as a spear or javelin!
hmm, might even make a good walking stick...
O my gosh, I didn't think it was really possible! But I YouTubed, and it is!
ReplyDeleteLooks like I will have a new hobby come next years harvest!
it's a 25 minute video, so I have not seen the whole thing yet...
Fun theme. EVIL cross of RE?/H?LGA.
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure to see CC's name as the author. My favorite clues, "crude structures", "leaves in hot water", "Newton or tesla" ( with the "t" uncapped helped), "good thing to have". My only gripe is "rawr". The circles were very helpful and sped the solve. Well constructed puzzle as always by CC. Thanks for the humorous recap Anon-T.
ReplyDeleteWhat a masterful puzzle. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-I made the right vowel guess at RE_/H_LGA and so earned a “got ‘er done” on C.C.’s engaging puzzle
-Yeah, IRONS are correct although wedges and chippers are variations and you would rarely use a wood around the green.
-I’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to split ELM with its crazy grain
-I do remember WII being a cool device for a short time and then, back in the box.
-Remember when you tell those little WHITE LIES, the night has a thousand eyes
-I was so proud to be able to remember ATELEIER
-My neighbor’s dog’s name is River but I always forget and call him SKY, or is it the other way around? :-)
-Nebraska voters overwhelmingly voted to legalize “medical marijuana” but the unicameral is making it hard for people to bring it to market. Thank goodness that will stop all marijuana use by cornhuskers! ? :-)
-Some NFL execs think they know how to CULL players for the draft and can be spectacularly wrong.
-Nice job, Tony!
It's always a total delight to find that C.C. is the splendid author of our Sunday puzzle. Thank you, as always, for this gift. And AnonT, your commentary is also always a pleasure, thanks for this one too.
ReplyDeleteFun to find ANTS near the beginning of this puzzle, especially when they're pretty unlikely to have a lot of FOES who are RUNNING FOR OFFICE at this time. SEA LIONS are likely to be a better bet, but they might PALL some of the voters and keep them from getting any WINS. So the whole situation feels a little FAKED and may need someone who BREAKS IT DOWN. We should try to find someone with a pleasant DEMEANOR who will refuse to growl (GRR) or tell a WHITE LIE. Maybe we should try to find a CFO in his SUITE surrounded by his A TEAM who is willing to promote OIL WELLS if we help him to keep down those RIOTS. They shouldn't have MAROONED that EARL who was running for office. I think this story needs a CODA, so let's stop and get some lunch, and then deal with all this political hassle after we've had a few bottles of beer. Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?
Have a delightful, sunny day, everybody.
Superb Sunday. Thanks for the fun, C.C. and AnonT. (This Canadian knows that Geddy Lee has season tickets to the Blue Jays TOR games and is a huge fan.)
ReplyDeleteI FIRed, but this Canadian had to reach YALE before the reveal made sense, as I was slow to recognize the SCHOOLS.
Some unknown names but perps were fair.
Sour changed to TART.
We had RAWR and ROAR, A DAB and ATOM..
WOKEN brought a nose-wrinkle.
I was first introduced to SRIRACHA years ago at a trendy TOR restaurant.
My mother kept her vintage KODAK Brownie camera.
Canadian author, Pierre Berton, was raised in the Yukon, and wrote KLONDIKE: The Last Great Gold Rush.
I hope you all know SIMU Liu by now.
We have Snow falling (some mixed precipitation as well). FALL is ending.
Wishing you all a great day.
Hola! I started this puzzle before going to church and finished it after eating breakfast so, of course, I'm late again. But it's fun to read all your reactions and comments. I get IRONS but what a strange clue. Crude structures is a clever clue, though. And in fact, I found the whole puzzle altogether doable. Thank you, C.C. and Tony. Nice job both of you!
ReplyDeleteCanadianEh!
ReplyDeleteFall is ending! It hasn't even started here! It's 88 degrees at this moment and likely to reach 90 before the day is done. But that is life in the desert! The mornings are cool as are late evenings. Cold temps might start after Thanksgiving.
My original post from earlier somehow disappeared. C.C. was sending us on a college tour today. After HOW-ARD and RI-CE in circles, I was guessing the others after a couple of perps. After filling KNUCKLES, I guessed PURDUE but the students' hair was AUBURN. DUTCH BABY CAKE was an unknown food and my thought was Dutch OVEN, not BABY.
ReplyDeleteOther changes were FIXED to FAKED and CONTROL to CENTERS.
MONOSKI and NEO-PET- new ones for me
The usual amount of unknown A&E fills today. OLUO, AARON, SKYE, HELGA, SIMU, REID.
Another very enjoyable puzzle by our resident constructor! Not a hard trek, but no walk in the park, either. Thanks, C.C. !
ReplyDeleteI “got” the hook almost immediately, which made getting the theme fills much easier (even though I’ve never heard of a DUTCHBABYPANCAKE either!). Props to C.C. (and probably Patti) for some excellent clues, as noted in other comments. Only one sour point: I’m no golf aficionado, but while wedges are irons, most irons are not used for chip shots. There’s gotta be a better clue in there somewhere.
RAWR again? My growl on that one ain’t too playful. And you can keep WOKEN, too — it’s missing the leading “A”…
Thanks for the amusing review, Dash-T! I hadn’t seen “Life of Brian” for decades; great fun to revisit it. I picked up on the dog joke when I filled ROOF attached to WOOF, but that cartoon you dug up was perfect! And yes, a monoski was a forebear of the snowboard — it’s the Magritte-ish bridge between skiing and surfing on snow. I’ve never tried one, but I can imagine how hard it would be to swap from two skis to one fat one…
By the way, if on a blind date, she removed the ice from your drink, would that make the date a cute NEAT?
(I’ll see myself out…🤪)
====> Darren / L.A.
I am surprised at the number of bloggers who don’t know DUTCH BABY PANCAKEs. They are delicious. This is what it is : A Dutch baby pancake, also known as a German pancake, is a large, puffy American popover baked in the oven. The batter puffs up while baking, resulting in a pancake with a crispy crown and a tender center that deflates slightly after removal from the oven.
ReplyDelete