Theme: "CONFOUNDED" - CON is added to the start of each common phrase.
27. Bistro where diners rarely get what they order?: CONFUSION RESTAURANT. Fusion restaurant.
37. One who makes a huge profit in the gaming industry?: CONSOLE BENEFICIARY. Sole beneficiary.
50. Museum employee who specializes in topographic maps?: CONTOUR GUIDE. Tour guide.
67. Well-secured garden vines?: CONSTRAINED PEAS. Strained peas.
89. Inflatables ridden in a river race?: CONTEST TUBES. Test tubes.
97. Inchworm with a successful YouTube channel?: CONTENT CATERPILLAR. Tent caterpillar.
109. Remodel of a badly designed airport terminal?: CONCOURSE CORRECTION. Course correction.
I think "Confound" works as a title too, right, as CON is FOUND.
Very
consistent set, all the CON are inserted in the first word. And the
theme entries are all quite long, occupying a total 113 squares. Super
smooth fill, Doug is one of a kind. He can make easy Monday puzzles. And he can also make hard stumpers. He's also a test solvers for Patti.
Across:
1. Geyser output: STEAM.
6. Cause to blush: ABASH.
11. Some Caribbean exports: RUMS. Ideal climate to grow sugarcane there.
15. "Goldberg Variations" composer: BACH.
19. Blender button: PULSE.
20. Marisa who plays Peter Parker's aunt: TOMEI.
21. Cookie with six Thanksgiving-inspired flavors: OREO.
22. Crass: RUDE.
23. Dined at home: ATE IN.
24. Massage: KNEAD.
25. Annapolis sch.: USNA.
26. "For All Mankind" side: Abbr.: USSR. Sci-fi drama for Apple TV. Wikipedia says "The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States".
31. Bullpen stat: ERA.
32. Get into: DON.
33. Poke bowl choice: AHI. Looks delicious.
34. Vassals: SERFS.
44. Branch of Islam: SHIA.
47. Part to play: ROLE.
48. Give off: EXUDE.
49. Chaney of classic horror: LON.
55. Marvel superhero with martial arts expertise: IRON FIST. He knows Kung Fu too.
57. Road beneath a freeway: UNDERPASS.
58. Uncomfortable spot: ZIT.
60. Layers: STRATA.
61. TV actress Susan: DEY.
62. Understood: GOT.
63. Parts of quotes: PRICES.
66. Black stone: ONYX.
72. Word in classic mystery novel titles: CASE.
75. Kumquat shade: ORANGE. It's called "golden orange" in Chinese.
76. Concert piece: AMP.
77. Long-running CBS drama: CSI.
80. Part of a vague threat: OR ELSE.
83. Nail art brand: OPI.
84. Row of stores: STRIP MALL. I also love this fill: 87. Sunday planning that makes weeknight dinners easier, say: MEAL PREP.
92. Shiba __: INU.
93. Maximum or minimum: LIMIT.
95. Shoddy: POOR.
96. The Hawkeye State: IOWA.
103. "Goosebumps" series writer: STINE (R. L.)
104. Retro hip beer, for short: PBR. Pabst Blue Ribbon.
105. Coconut __: OIL.
106. Hosts, for short: MCS.
117. Storyline: PLOT.
119. River of northern Spain: EBRO.
120. Made manageable: TAMED.
121. "The Studio" actress Catherine: O'HARA.
122. In short supply: RARE.
123. Corporate image: LOGO.
124. "Judge Mathis" event: TRIAL.
125. Election Day figure: VOTER.
126. Doesn't rent: OWNS.
127. Abound (with): TEEM.
128. In a suitable way: APTLY.
129. Clear: ERASE.
Down:
1. __ bar: SPACE.
2. Teach privately: TUTOR.
3. Two-time WNBA MVP __ Delle Donne: ELENA.
4. "Ew! No!": AS IF.
5. Mexican soup made with tripe: MENUDO. Tripe and red chili.
6. Guitarist Chet who helped create the Nashville sound: ATKINS.
7. Pro __: at no charge: BONO.
8. "Right on!": AMEN.
9. Cook the surface of: SEAR.
10. Sleeper sofa: HIDE-A-BED.
11. Ordinary: ROUTINE.
12. __ Major: URSA.
13. OpenTable link: MENU.
14. Skyrocket: SOAR. As my health insurance did. Scary.
15. Country surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak: BRUNEI. Fun trivia clue.
16. Like koalas: AUSTRALIAN.
17. IRA options: CDS.
18. See 29-Down: HER.
29. With 18-Down, pronoun pair: SHE.
28. Daughter's brother: SON.
30. Way up: ASCENT.
35. Extremely unfriendly: FROSTY.
36. Sentence structure: SYNTAX.
37. Blanchett with two Oscars: CATE.
38. Agcys.: ORGS.
39. Singers Reed and Rawls: LOUS.
40. Yale student: ELI.
41. Left: EXITED.
42. Dog coat: FUR.
43. Rite words: I DOS.
44. Skim along, as clouds: SCUD. Learned from doing crosswords.
45. Sharpen: HONE.
46. Memorial Day weekend race, casually: INDY.
51. Chem class for premeds: ORGO. Organic Chemistry.
52. "__ further reflection ... ": UPON.
53. "Midnight Cowboy" hustler: RATSO. Ratso Rizzo. "Hey, I'm walking here"
54. Online mag: E ZINE.
56. Curly hairstyles, informally: FROS.
59. Zamboni surface: ICE.
63. Freak out: PANIC.
64. Semi: RIG.
65. Trades barbs: SPARS.
67. Minesweeper unit: CELL.
68. Torrid Zone boundary: TROPIC. Guangzhou is near the Tropic.
The week around the Chinese Spring Festival is often the coldest time of
year. Even then, temperatures typically remain above 32F.
69. Sharp knock: RAP.
70. Give off: EMIT.
71. Spot on a sked: APPT.
72. Stand-up individuals?: COMICS. Stand-up comic.
73. "We __ alone": ARE NOT.
74. Narwhal: SEA UNICORN. Because of its spiral tusk.
77. Baja resort, familiarly: CABO.
78. Whole lot: SLEW.
79. The "kid" in "Here's looking at you, kid": ILSA.
81. Organ near the pancreas: SPLEEN.
82. CNN anchor Burnett: ERIN. And 86. ABC News anchor David: MUIR.
84. "Enough!": STOP.
85. Actress Polo: TERI.
88. First aid pro: EMT.
90. "The Mikado," for one: OPERETTA.
91. Scand. kingdom: NOR.
94. Place to make draft picks: TAP ROOM. Non-sports related.
98. IRA options: T NOTES.
99. Network that airs "TBBT" reruns: TBS. "The Big Bang Theory".
100. Imperious: LORDLY.
101. Tell tales: LIE.
102. Cozy spot: ALCOVE.
106. Mazda two-seater: MIATA.
107. Apple centers: CORES.
108. Drum kit piece: SNARE.
110. Saxon foe: CELT.
111. Wind with keys: OBOE.
112. Hankering: URGE.
113. Complain querulously: CARP.
114. Conveniently leave out, maybe: OMIT.
115. Word in some Spanish team names: REAL. Meaning "Royal". Real Madrid, e.g.
116. Hammer-wielding god: THOR.
117. __ rata: PRO.
118. Brief topic: LAW.
I made today's puzzle for Slate. Click here to give it a whirl! It
was edited by the fantastic Quiara Vasquez, who added so much fun trivia
and sparkle to the clues.
I'd love to hear about your solving experience.
C.C.
32 comments:
Well, that was a bit of a
workout! Some pretty long answers for the themers. And I didn’t know the narwhal was known as the “sea unicorn.” The perps were very helpful in that case, though, and quite a few others.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Went astray in a couple places with PUreE and MEnu PREP. That's what Wite-Out's for. Got the theme early on, making the initial CONs a gimme. Cute. Thanx, Doug and C.C.
FIR. All-in-all, a nice workout. My only problem was in the NW, con-founded by my insistence in staying with PUREE for too long. Unknown crosses (MENUDO, ELENA) hindered me in that area, along with the cutesy-wootsie cluing for the already annoying ASIF.
FIR, getting my WAGs @ SEA UNICORN x INU and STINE. Erased puree for PULSE, dig for DON, bruneo for BRUNEI, marsupials for AUSTRALIAN, meir for MUIR, and boldly, then wordly, for LORDLY. Lordy!
Four letter "cookie blah, blah blah" is going to be OREO.
OR ELSE we may pay you a little visit, says the mob boss in a lot of whodunit books.
I mentioned MENUDO here a couple of days ago as a hangover cure.
My eldest sister has a PhD in organic chemistry, but I've never heard her say ORGO.
Midnight Cowboy won the Best Picture Oscar, the only X-Rated film to ever win an Academy Award.
C-Eh! has gotten me paying attention to fills such as OREO/ORGS/ORGO.
Thanks to Doug for the fun workout. And thanks to CC for another fun review. Can't figure out how to print your puzzle, so I'll do it online later.
Agree this was a nice workout. Took me awhile to get going, but once I got a couple of key entries it was like down hill running. I “unabashedly” have one bone to pick. 6 across “cause to blush” is abash? That’s a verb not a noun. The noun that came to me was “embarrassment” then “shame” but neither obviously fit. It’s a “shame” the cluing was awkward.
CC, when I changed tori to TERI it took the puzzle away from me. Liked the puzzle, hated the platform.
Took 14:19 today to con my way through this one.
I knew the Actresses of the Day (Tomei, Cate, & Ohara), but not the Actress of the Dey. I also didn't know "Ebro," "orgo", and "menudo."
Good to be back in the Corner.
13:30. I thought this was beyond weak. If you're just going to add "con" to phrases, at least think up something interesting. The fill was also really poor. "Sea unicorn" was probably the only bright spot.
The NW section was the toughest part. I FILLED unknowns ELENA and MENUDO after changing PUREE to PULSE. The rest filled easily, NW to SE.
Had to change HIDEAWAY to HIDE A BED
I've studied inorganic, organic, qualitative, analytical, environmental, quantitative, physical, and geo-chemistry classes in college, aced them all except physical, and have never heard of ORGO.
Proper name unknowns filled as clued today- TOMEI, CATE, IRON FIST, O'HARA, TERI. At least I did known ERIN, STINE, MUIR, ILSA, RATSO, ELI, LOUS, ATKINS, DEY, BACH, THOR.
8. See 29-Down: HER. 29. With 18-Down, pronoun pair: SHE- I doubt those were Doug's clues.
Good Morning:
Even though the theme was evident by the title and the first themer, the solve had enough challenge to be both satisfying and enjoyable. The squeaky clean grid didn’t hurt, either, nor the straightforward, accessible cluing and fill. Doug is an accomplished constructor who keeps a solver’s positive experience in mind, a trait I admire and appreciate.
Thanks, Doug, for never disappointing and thanks, CC, for always giving us pointers from the insider’s perspective.
For anyone who has access, and is interested, there is a wonderful, insightful article about Noah Wylie and The Pitt series in today’s New York Times. It’s not only revelatory but it’s extremely well-written.
Have a great day.
I agree with the comments about ORGO (PhD in Chemistry speaking). Must be social media jargon?
FIR. Just the right combination of fun and funny. I really enjoyed this puzzle. I'm amazed that Doug was able to find seven long phrases to which "con" can be added as a prefix.
Musings
-Doug’s skills are well shown here as my friend Irish stated so clearly
-A famous cinematic SPACE BAR
-When did “I could care less” become proper SYNTAX?
-Ratso’s “Hey, I’m walkin’ here” was an ad lib when a cab unexpectedly entered the frame
FIR. What a workout for a Sunday puzzle, more like Saturday fare.
I got the theme early on and that helped greatly.
I had puree first for the blender button, and was forced by perps to put pulse. I don't know about anyone else's blenders, but mine doesn't have pulse. I checked.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
A pretty good workout for a Sunday morning, but very enjoyable. Good clues, clever misdirection, and fair perps. I liked the dual clue of REED and RAWLS for LOU. It gives a better chance on those "you either know it, or you don't" clues. I didn't care much for the theme, though. Left me CONfused until CC 'splained it.
This seemed a little faster than the usual Sunday - once the CON theme was discovered I just went down the puzzle filling all the CONs and then CONtinued the solve. Favorite theme answer was CONCOURSE CORRECTION
I'd never heard of a TENT CATERPILLAR. I wonder how hard it is for a narwhal to get around
WEES about ORGO -I have heard of OChem before
My parents always called our sleeper sofa a HIDE-A-BED
Thanks CC for the blog - I'll try to get to your puzzle later and thanks to Doug for the puzzle
Look at "cause" as a verb.
Methinks Ratso was the inspiration for the end of this scene...Miss Congeniality
FIR in 16:31, with just a handful of stumbling blocks that were filled, without breaking stride, with perps.
Easiest Sunday puzzle in recent memory for me, made even easier by exposing the gimmick with 27A. That allowed for a three-letter head start on the subsequent themers.
A very enjoyable, well-constructed puzzle with just the right amount of cleverness.
Fine and fun puzzle in spite of a few names I didn’t know, but perps helped. I too started out with purée for PULSE, but that was quickly CORRECTed.
I had fun with the theme, unfortunately I flubbed the You Tube caterpillar. Not knowing what a TENT one is and not knowing ERIN, I entered CONTEsT for CONTENT, therefore missed a FIR by one letter.
Thank you CC for your assessment of this puzzle. I hope we keep getting more CWs from Doug.
I actually remembered to look at the puzzle title just after starting, and after solving the first couple themers, realized that CON were the first three letters of them, which helped with the solve (sometimes the key word will appear elsewhere in the phrase). FIR in 28:05. Like a lot of others, I stuck with ‘purée’ for too long, and not knowing the WNBA player, I had to WAG the L, which was my learning moment of the day, cuz I’ve never heard of PULSE (my blender is really old and rarely used, but I’m pretty sure it lacks that setting, of course DW knew). We’ve seen ORGO before but I still needed perps for that and SEA UNICORN. A quality Sunday puzzle, thank you Doug for that, and to C.C. for your expo. Also I did your puzzle on Slate, but came up a little shy for a FIW, stumped in the NE corner. Surprisingly I got 1A, but it certainly looked suspect. The puzzle was a nice creation though!
ORGO-Definitely NOT from anybody who ever passed organic chemistry. But then we have 'sked', popo, bae, a multitude of new (lazy) words and all the text abbr. nonsense which have entered the language. Then there are emojis and emoticons.
Super cute and clever. Thank you, Doug! Pretty much loved this puzzle from CONFUSION RESTAURANT onward. C.C., thanks for explaining and illustrating.
I too did CC’s Slate puzzle, but how in the world did you get 1 across. I had to turn on “reveal word”.
YP here ~ strictly by perps, never saw a word with that beginning
I guess I didn’t have enough perps and, I wanted to make sure I had that strange beginning right.
Hey, C.C., I just tried your puzzle on Slate and really enjoyed it. I don't often solve online, so that in itself was kind of a treat. Too bad the grid disappeared when I completed it, so I can't really comment on the clues and answers, but I found the experience very lively. Solved in under 20 minutes, including snack breaks!
I looked at it but there was no print option. I'm strictly Pen & paper.
NaomiZ, did you know 1 across? I was disappointed that the grid disappeared once I finished so I couldn’t review it.
I liked this puzzle a lot. Hand up for having PUREE before PULSE. My blender also doesn't have a pulse button per se, but it does have a button that springs back out, turning off the motor, when you release it, to be used for pulsing.
Hooray for snack breaks.
Good reading you all.
Doug Peterson’s puzzles are always fun & satisfying!
FOUNDED is when something begins. Maybe CON-FOUNDED refers to the fact that CON goes at the beginning of the theme answers?
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