From the NYT: "Joe Marquez is a puzzle constructor. He likes words..." He deserves more than that; it sounds like my biography! But he's young, and we'll soon have pages about him. He co-authored one here back in May, and this is his (free) solo debut. I'm sure we'll see many more.
17. *Pointless task: FOOL'S ERRAND. A FOOL'S ERRAND is a pointless, futile, or impossible task that wastes time and effort. Like when RightBrain gives me a grocery list expecting all the right brands and sizes.
21. *Climb without ropes: FREE SOLO. A FREE SOLO is a form of rock climbing where the climber (free soloist) climbs without ropes or any form of protective equipment. One man's quest on El Capitan in Yosemite Park became an Oscar winning documentary film.
38. *Craftsman kit: TOOL SET. I've bought many Craftsman™ TOOL SETs from Sears over the years, one piece at a time. I used to be fascinated by their catalog pages showing massive sets, like a kid with a Wish Book. Their hand tools have a lifetime warranty - solid as Sears! Until a few years ago, anyway.
55. *Squeaker: CLOSE ONE. An idiom describing a narrowly avoided loss in a tight competition. It is commonly used to express relief after an evenly matched game. That's a CLOSE ONE!
And what do all these answers have in common? Nothing, so it seems, until the revealer ties them together:
62. Collection found under sofa cushions, or what can be found in the answers to the starred clues?: LOOSE CHANGE. In addition to coins, one can find keys and hopefully, my lost remote control. Anyone seen it?
The letters that spell "LOOSE" are CHANGED (scrambled) as highlighted above. We've seen this before, but I thought finding phrases with five letters in a row was a neat trick. And because it's later in the week, no circles! The rest of the grid filled in rather easily for a Thursday, so smooth sailing.
Let's tie up the rest of the LOOSE ends:
Across:
1. Winter X Games host city: ASPEN. Although the Winter Olympics are now in progress, here we have their wild little brother, the X Games. X for eXtreme.
6. "Hey, c'mere!": PSST.
10. Park place?: LOT. You can rent a space for $35, which seems like a LOT.
13. __ Doone cookies: LORNA. Introduced in 1912, these shortbread cookies were named after the titular character in a 1869 historical romance novel, but nobody knows why.
14. Navel type: OUTIE. Is this an innie or an OUTIE?
16. Janelle's "Abbott Elementary" role: AVA. Everyone said this is a great show, so I watched a few episodes. Unfortunately, I was annoyed by Janelle James' over-the-top portrayal of the principal. I guess I'm in the minority as she won an Emmy.
17. [theme]
19. Derisive cry: BAH. "BAH!" said no one ever (except Scrooge).
20. Chances to swing: AT BATS.
21. [theme]
23. Like the most yellow banana on the tree: RIPEST. When they get soft and brown, RightBrain freezes them to make banana bread. Now we can't fit anything else in the freezer and I'm still waiting! I jest, she's a great cook! (She made me say that.) Lately her passion has turned to making sourdough, which is quite a process but there's nothing like warm bread from the oven.
25. Urgent care employee: NURSE.
26. Chemical synthesis need: REAGENT. After Sean Connery's stellar turn as James Bond, Roger Moore became REAGENT 007.
29. Not on solid ground: ASEA.
30. Desert refuges: OASES.
31. Messy pile: HEAP.
34. Goblet part: STEM.
37. Telethon VIPs: MCS. The Master of Ceremonies is a "Very Important Person" at many events. I'm not sure why they called out telethons in particular.
38. [theme]
41. Prospector's find: ORE. Where prospectors found it: ORE. The Oregon gold rush brought miners north just a few years after discovering it in California.
42. Sigh of relief: PHEW. That was a CLOSE ONE!
44. "You sure of that?": IS IT.
45. Pieces of the heart: ATRIA.
47. Noble title: EARL. The most famous EARL is noted for his sandwich. Genius! Before him, people just stacked stuff on top of bread. Animals!
49. Had a great time at: ENJOYED.
51. Quickly get through a season: BINGE. We cut the cord years ago, and now have enough subscriptions that we're paying about the same as cable! However, we often wait until an entire season has dropped before we BINGE watch it. No more forgetting about what happened last week as networks dribble out a show. And if your brain is as rusty as mine, that's a plus!
53. Gets out of Dodge: SCRAMS. Gets out of a Dodge: AMBLES
55. [theme]
57. Swashbuckler's sword: RAPIER. Named after my wit! RightBrain says that's half right.
61. Downside: CON.
62. [theme]
64. N.J. winter hrs.: EST. New Jersey uses Eastern Standard Time during winter hours.
65. Bunch of flowers: SPRAY.
67. Software engineer, for short: DEV. They called me a DEVELOPER for short, but not for long!
68. Exceedingly dry: SERE.
69. __ of all: LEAST.
Down:
1. A in communications?: ALFA. Beginning of the NATO alphabet. It is intentionally spelled with an "f"' rather than "ph" to ensure consistent pronunciation across different languages, as non-English speakers might not intuitively know to pronounce "ph" as "f."
2. Chimney buildup: SOOT.
3. "Not my __": PROB. "Not my PROBLEM." When people say this, it PROBably is.
4. Blow up: ENLARGE.
5. Most unpleasant: NASTIEST.
6. "¿__ qué?": POR. "Why" is this in Spanish?
7. Sees the sites: SURFS. I wanted TOURS at first.
8. Kick off: START. I STARTED when they asked me for a ticket I didn't have, and then was kicked off the train.
9. Prong: TINE.
10. Place for experiments: LABORATORY.
11. Shapes formed by spotlights: OVALS. Of course, more interesting shapes are possible.
12. Lake in the Sierra Nevada: TAHOE.
15. Utopias: EDENS.
18. "30 for 30" network: ESPN. "30 for 30" refers to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network's documentary series celebrating its 30th anniversary with 30 films on sports history.
22. Takes to court: SUES.
24. Shared belief system: ETHOS.
26. Easy win: ROMP. Not a CLOSE ONE!
27. Per person: EACH. A pop.
28. Product line?: AS SEEN ON TV. Winner - best clue. And you know if you saw it on TV, it has to be crappy.
29. Primatology subject: APE.
32. Pharmaceutical giant __ Lilly: ELI.
33. Daisy kin: ASTER. Daisy kin: ABNER.
35. Maumee River endpoint: ERIE. A new way to clue an old fav.
36. Honey brew: MEAD.
39. Canola __: OIL.
40. Mausoleum on the Yamuna River: TAJ MAHAL. A new way to clue an old fav, but it's also like 35A. So, a new old way?
43. Happy dog's movements: WAGS. Who's a good boy? FuzzyBrain (aka Buster)!
46. In reserve: TO SPARE.
48. Film rolls: REELS.
50. Drug cop: NARC. NARCOTICS agent.
51. Secretly looped in: BCCED. Blind Carbon Copied. A feature that lets you send an email to multiple recipients without revealing their addresses to each other, protecting privacy.
52. "No prize for me this time": I LOSE. Well, maybe a booby prize...
53. Nap noisily: SNORE.
54. Labor leader Chavez: CESAR.
56. Unwelcome sound from a barber: OOPS.
58. Actress Swenson: INGA. Although her name sounds Scandinavian, she from Omaha.
59. Impediments to effective teamwork: EGOS. It's tough to l'eggo one's EGOS.
60. Monopoly payment: RENT. RENT to own! Now you can be a homeowner for the low, low price of $200! First four callers get a free hotel stay. Call now!!
63. Needle part: EYE. I like Ken Follett, and Eye of the Needle was his first breakthrough book, earning him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America.
Be good. RB
It wasn’t too hard.
ReplyDeleteUnlike yesterday, I didn’t see a lot of obscure names.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Insomnia night here in Tucson. Stopped in to say that Lil ABNER, good in its time, is hayseed compared to Zits, Garfield, Shoes, and many more. IMHO.
ReplyDeleteYou can add "Pearls Before Swine", one of my faves.
Delete"Calvin and Hobbs" & "Doonsbury" for me!
DeleteLil ABNER was before my time, but his link to Daisy made me do it! I'm a "Peanuts" guy myself.
DeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteEasiest of the week, so far. Zipped right through, only needing the Wite-Out to correct PREZ to PROB. If this is Joe's solo premier, it's a good one. Let's see some more. Thanx for the expo, RB. ("Reagent 007" -- cute. With all the numbers available, why did they have to recycle them?)
Not worthy of a Thursday . More like a Modany puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFIR. This was uncharacteristically easy for a Thursday. So much so that I didn't even bother to notice the theme and didn't even think about it till I came here and had it explained.
ReplyDeleteSo overall an enjoyable puzzle.
10 names, DNK 3. Two W/Os: MILAN/ASPEN, TOOLKIT/TOOLSET. FIR in 12.
ReplyDeleteA mention of Sears always makes me think whoever was CEO in the '90's should be jailed for incompetence. If Sears had taken its famous "Sears Catalog" and put it online, they would be today's Amazon, instead of bankrupt.
RB, all that bread looks good. I tried making sourdough many years ago, but did not manage to properly maintain the starter pot. The first couple of loaves were good, then.... In my defense, my job had me travelling all over the country.
Rent makes me think of the guy behind me building a three story house which he now rents for $14,000/month. Oy. To my mind, what a waste of money. The renter should buy a house for that money.
I liked this CW, easy for a Thursday. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that once again I forgot to look for the theme. When RB 'spained it, I appreciated how clever it is, and how difficult it must have been to construct.
Thanx, JM, I look forward to more CWs from you. Please continue to keep the name count as low as you can.
RB, excellent write-up, thanx. All your time and effort for our entertainment is very much appreciated.
Young people must wonder where some of these common expressions come from, like "carbon copy", or "hang up the phone". There's a lot more that must be mystifying if you are a teen today.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was on the easy side for a Thursday, but the theme was well-hidden until the reveal and that’s always a plus for me. The grid was clean and tight with some fresh fill, e.g., Taj Mahal, Laboratory, As Seen On TV, Rapier, etc. The themers were all solid and the reveal was spot on.
Thanks, Joe, and congrats on your solo debut and thanks, RB, for a fun and factual expo. Your humor is an extra bonus! Loved the kitty photo and also the adorable Buster. I agree with you on Janelle James’s character being over the top. I think the show itself runs hot and cold but I do enjoy Janine, Gregory, and Jacob.
Have a great day.
FIR, but arid->SERE, labortory->LABRATORY (UNTIE!) and astor->ASTER (UNTIE!)
ReplyDeleteI loves me some LORNA Doone cookies.
Craftsman is now the property of Stanley / Black & Decker.
Or as Jed Clampett often said, "you sure about that Jethro?"
ARGON could have been clued as "state between California and Washington."
Thanks to Joe for the fun Thursday offering. And thanks to Rusty Brain for the fine review.
Took 5:10 today to put away the (crossword favorites) OLEOS.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the Actress of the Day (Inga).
Good to see Lake Erie again.
Seemed themeless to me, which is nice. I agree with the prior posts that it seemed too easy for a Thursday.
WEES about a "fast for a Thursday" puzzle. I didn't figure out the theme answers until after it was done, but I enjoyed the creativity
ReplyDeleteI had trouble parsing out the AS SEEN ON TV with it in vertical - so the V was the last letter to drop
I think I survived my internship on LORNA Doone cookies and milk as both were available in the floor kitchens when I had so much work from new admissions that I hadn't gotten around to eating dinner on call nights.
One of my attendings taught me early on not to say OOPS if you were doing surgery when the patient was awake
Thanks RB for the entertaining blog and congrats to Joe on your debut
When we were on call the hospital offered us a sandwich meat we called alternatively referred to as TLS “turkey-like substance” or MUO “meat of unknown origin”
DeleteTwo shows that my wife and I recently binge watched were Dead to Me and, more recently The Diplomat. Christina Applegate is amazing in Dead to Me. We can’t wait for the fourth season of The Diplomat to drop.
ReplyDeleteI’m on the fourth season (out of six) of The Americans which was originally broadcast from 2013-2018. It takes place during the Reagan administration and is focused on a married couple of KGB spies living in the DC area and posing a a typical American family. Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell star and Frank Langella plays a pivotal character. It’s excellent and truly addictive and certainly dredges up memories of those Cold War years.
DeleteRecently binged Rhys with Claire Danes in The Beast in Me. Pretty good crime thriller. I liked Dead to Me as well.
DeleteRB, I enjoyed The Beast In Me and found Rhys very talented, as evidenced in The Americans, as well. Claire Danes never disappoints, IMO.
DeleteYes, needed the reveal to notice the LOOSE CHANGE strewn throughout. The rest was pretty quickly dealt with. Just a few unknowns names like AVA, INGA, and coming up with PROB.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the sad news, without my vertical glasses on, I was not able to parse AS SEEN ON TV. I had everything but the V.
I understand why one would want to BINGE on a series, but I’ve never done it. Two episodes in a row is my maximum.
Thank you RB for a great review. That bread looks super tasty and Buster, aka Fuzzy Brain, is cute.
I'm with you about watching just two in a row most nights, or about two hours worth which equals a movie. So, our binges often stretch out over a week, more like a mini-series, I guess. I've never sat and watched a whole season in one long marathon.
DeleteThank you, Joe and RustyBrain
ReplyDeleteWhat Desper-otto said. Pretty easy for a Thursday.
I had to change TOOLkit to TOOLSET. My first fill today. And FIRST (of all) to LEAST (of all).
ROMP - Shades of yesterday... There are two collective nouns for otters. ROMP for when they are on the ground, and raft for when they are in the water.
FOOLS ERRAND - "Like when RightBrain gives me a grocery list expecting all the right brands and sizes." I can relate to that. Just yesterday I bought chicken breasts. They were on the list. I made sure they checked all the boxes. Boneless. Skinless. All Natural. No added hormones or steroids. Then when I got home... Oops. I bought the wrong brand.
DW made a new banana bread recipe this week. So good. She's happy with the new kitchen range. She has two more new recipes scheduled for this weekend. One is for UP pasties. I got the rutabaga. No brand name on it. The other is for Jeff Mauro's Italian Unstuffed Shells. I got the tomatoes. Wrong again. They were supposed to be San Marzano tomatoes.
FLN- limited parking. In many places in NOLA, houses have no driveways.
DeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-I LOSE/LOST, DST?/DEV and having to parse ASSEENONTV made for one bad cell in this entertaining puzzle
-Me too, DW sends me to get a grocery item and I am overwhelmed by sizes, types, brands and packages!
-I do like shortbread cookies like LORNA DOONES
-AVA: A character in an ensemble cast on network TV? No chance.
-AT BATS: Pitchers and catchers are currently reporting to Spring Training
-I am having cataract surgery next week. I will have seen five nurses, three techs, a PA and a pharmacist before the 15-minute procedure with my M.D.
-Husker FB plays the first few bars of Mick Jagger’s START Me Up to start the game with a kickoff
-My colleague had a sign in his chem lab: This laboratory requires more LABOR and less ORATORY
-Recently we had Put-In-Bay’s lake for our ubiquitous crossword body of water
-I liked your write-up and puppy, RB!
Yes, this was a super easy puzzle. Inga and AVA were the only new to me fill.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised I dredged up reagent after all these years.
Most gold prospectors did not find the "pot of gold" while mining for it. Many of those who found it went bankrupt, frittering their earnings away on alcohol, brothels and gambling. It was the merchants who got rich providing what the miners needed, as well as providing these temptations. I tutored a middle schooler who was writing a research paper on this. Although I tutored many subjects, my favorites were research papers and test prep.
LOOSE CHANGE is one thing I get rid of weekly. I keep a small bag in the car, and throw any change I get in it. When it gets over a dollar I spend it.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't notice (or look for) the scrambled LOOSE in the fills.
I knew LORNA today, but not AVA . She took perps.
I think I LOST should have been the answer for "No prize for me this time" but DEV changed it to LOSE. DEV for 'Software engineer"? Joe needed to find a clue for that one.
I ENJOYED this puzzle with few proper names. Everybody knows the TAJ MAHAL, just not the polluted river.
No SOOT in my chimney with natural gas logs.
The local WalMart had an entire section for those AS SEEN ON TV $19.95 plus shipping products that didn't sell. They probably bought them for $1.00 each of them.
Loved the puzzle, Joe! Favorite clue: "Quickly get through a season." I'm dashing off to Mom's, but look forward to reading all y'all later.
ReplyDeleteYup. Fast and fun puzzle. Didn't know Inga and never watched Abbot, so thanks perps! Appreciated the dearth of obscure A&E, but did not get the theme until RB made things clear in his excellent recap. Never been much of a Jumble fan, but I did enjoy the solve today!
ReplyDeleteI 'll be succinct.
ReplyDelete1) I greatly enjoyed the puzzle.
2) Joe, where have you been? Don't be a stranger.
3)) Patti, please accept all future submissions from Joe Marquez.
Ditto.
DeleteI can't find FIR in the puzzle. But it was referenced several times in the comments in mysterious ways. What am I not seeing?
ReplyDeleteFinished it right
DeleteFIR=finished it right. As opposed to, say, FIW (finished it wrong), or--gasp--TITT (threw in the towel).
ReplyDeleteThanks, TehachapiKen! Obviously I've never been here before.
DeleteWelcome to the Corner!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA Monday puzzle sneaked in on Thursday. Quickly filled. Found the LOOSE change in the sofa.
ReplyDeleteNot playin’ attention to the “X” filled Milan which obv didn’t work with the perps
Inkovers also boo/BAH, rout/ROMP
We had “Hey c’mere” recently so can’t get PSST about that clue ☺️.
Just had ETHOS ( last time I put ethic first) and ERIE also. TOOLSET is a CW standby but DEV for engineer?
BINGE: “One more episode and I’ll turn off NETFLIX, and I’ll go to sleep, …darn now I can’t sleep it’s a cliffhanger … ONE more just ONE
Those who FREESOLO hope there are no LOOSE rocks
Dyslexia!! I thought the clue said “shapes formed by stoplights.”
Chunky in Madrid: ___ que …POR
Brooklynese for OIL : EARL
RENT is due when a place is ____ LEAST
Started going to Mike a new young barber just down the street when I was a teen. (First time I saw a “Playboy” mag btw😯). He managed to OOPS nick me all the time. Fast forward, I’m 30 and returning home to practice. Ask an old bud about a barber. Sends me to a guy named Mike. Yep it was him, different shop and of course he nicked my neck. 😖
Great work Joe M.
Rusty Brain, it seems that you and I are both in the minority. I gave Abbott Elementary a chance, and failed to see what the hype was all about. Zero laughs for me, and I love comedy. Worst sitcom since Schitt's Creek.
ReplyDeleteAs for the puzzle, I solved it as a themeless and breezed right through it. It lacked the usual difficulty level of a Thursday puzzle, but was well-constructed and nicely clued.
Hola! Thank you, Joe and Rusty Brain for today's fun! It was a bit of a slog in places, but I FIW. AS SEEN ON TV forced me to do a double take until I parsed it. Clever! I also cannot BINGE a series. I might watch two but that's all. And I've never watched Abbott Elementary, so ALEXA helped me with AVA and OVALS was my last fill. From the comments it sounds like I haven't missed much.
ReplyDeleteAs for DEV, what about DEV Patel? We've seen enough of him to likely know his name. Again, thank you; I ENJOYED today's offering! Have a lovely day everyone!