Rich Katz is relatively new to the crossword game, but has been coming on strong and has built a reputation of being inventive and humorous. Today, he has something shady going on.
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| Rich Katz (maybe) |
Here are the themers. Don't scratch your head too hard trying to figure out how the answers are related, because they're not. It's clues that are BLUE.
18. "Aquaman" star: JASON MOMOA. Aqua blue.
23. Cocktail that may be made with Bombay Sapphire: GIN AND TONIC. Sapphire blue.
36. Band with the hit "In the Navy": VILLAGE PEOPLE. Navy blue.
52. Microsoft Azure competitor: GOOGLE CLOUD. Azure blue.
57. Children's show whose title character leaves paw-print hints, and what 18-, 23-, 36-, and 52-Across have in common: BLUE'S CLUES. BLUE is an animated puppy who leaves a trail of paw print CLUES that her human co-host (and viewers) must follow to solve riddles.
So, the theme refers to the CLUES and not the answers on the grid. This seems tangent to what a crossword is supposed to be and falls in the gray are between themed and themeless. Shades of blue in the clues can be fun, but their associated answers are obvious, except for knowing Microsoft Azure is akin to GOOGLE CLOUD if you're not a techie. All in all, a pretty easy Thursday. In fact, I blew right through it!
Double your pleasure, double your fun! Note all the doubled letters!
Across:
1. Title said with a hat tip, perhaps: MA'AM.
5. Daddy: PAPA. Who's your PAPA?
9. "__ out!": PEACE.
14. Photographer Geddes: ANNE. The "Queen of Baby Photography."
15. Wasn't colorfast: BLED.
16. Complete: UTTER.
17. Sign gas: NEON. Gas sign: NEON.
18. [theme]
20. Out of order: AMISS.
22. "Hey, Soul Sister" rock band: TRAIN. This smash hit has sold over 10 million units in the U.S. Released in 2009, it was the top-selling single of 2010, reached the top 10 in multiple countries, and has surpassed 1 billion streams...which means I probably should've heard of it.
23. [theme]
26. PC pioneer: IBM. The usual M.O. (modus operandi) of us contributors is to spell out abbreviations in case someone doesn't understand the clue or answer. Informal poll - should I spell out ultra-common abbreviations like these? Personal Computers and International Business Machines?
29. Chow down: EAT. Chew up: EAT.
30. Small battery, or an org. that may help with a car battery: AAA. American Automobile Association.
31. Iditarod racer: SLED DOG.
33. Suomi speakers: FINNS. Suomi means Finland in Finnish, but can also mean the language.
35. Ages and ages: EONS. Many, many, ERAS.
36. [theme]
41. Gyro bread: PITA.
42. Give a bit more: TOP UP. Brit-speak for adding more to an existing level of something. We usually TOP off here in the States.
43. Accounts with round numbers?: BAR TABS. As in a round of drinks that may need TOPPING UP.
47. Spy-fi novelist Deighton: LEN.
48. Visitor in a knock-knock joke that ends, "It's nothing to cry about!": BOO.
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
BOO.
BOO who? And hilarity ensues...
51. Tricky: SLY.
52. [theme]
55. Herb in caprese salad: BASIL. I love caprese salads with the bright colors of the Italian flag. So simple to make yet so fancy on the table.
56. Upper crust: ELITE.
57. [theme]
62. "Sad to say ... ": ALAS.
63. Goodyear products: TIRES. One of the three Goodyear blimp bases is right here in nearby Pompano Beach, FL.
64. Legendary rebuke: ET TU.
65. Memory units, for short: MEGS. MEGAbyteS.
66. Branch of Islam: SUNNI.
67. Leader whose address ends with .edu: DEAN.
68. Bailiwick: AREA. A bailiwick is one's sphere of operations or particular AREA of interest.
Down:
1. Run: MANAGE.
2. Condition often treated with iron supplements: ANEMIA.
3. Tap, as one's successor: ANOINT.
4. High-IQ society: MENSA. I had to drop out when my brain got rusty.
5. Many a school sammie: PBJ. The classic Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. I looked up "sammie" and found most people hate the term, unless they are in grade school. Here's the gourmet version. It's cut on a diagonal. Ooh la la.
6. In the style of: ALA. Borrowed from French, à la, means “according to” or “in the manner of.” As in a PBJ ALA Cordon Bleu.
7. 55-Across sauce: PESTO.
8. Decorates: ADORNS.
9. Pedicure stone: PUMICE.
10. Harry and William's alma mater: ETON.
11. Convenience in a cash-only venue: ATM. Automated Teller Machine.
12. Corp. leader: CEO. A Chief Executive Officer is the highest-ranking executive in a corporation.
13. Shaded section of a timeline: ERA. Here's the famous ERAs Tour:
19. Execute perfectly: NAIL. Perfectly executed NAILs:
21. Slug kin: SNAIL.
24. Comedian Carvey: DANA. Meet Garth, one of DANA's most famous characters from Wayne's World, originally an SNL skit.
25. Punchy flavor: TANG.
26. Pop sensation: IDOL.
27. Barbecue discard: BONE.
28. Booker T.'s band: M.G.'S. Sadly, Steve Cropper, songwriter and their original guitarist, died this past December (thanks for reminding me, MalMan!). I dabble on the keyboards, and one of my favorite songs to play is Green Onions, written by Cropper, with its distinctive Hammond B3 organ sound.
33. No longer fizzy: FLAT.
34. Game, __, match: SET. Tennis’s notoriously bizarre scoring system (using love, 15, 30, 40, and “deuce” instead of 0-1-2-3-4) likely stems from medieval clock-based scoring, where quarters (15, 30, 45) marked points.
36. Lab container: VIAL.
37. "It was nothing": I TRY.
38. Exit __: POLL.
39. Fencing blade: EPEE. Whee! It's EPEE...again.
40. Light weight: OUNCE. Actually, light has no weight. It consists of photons, which are massless particles. However, because light possesses energy and momentum, it behaves as if it has a relativistic mass and is affected by gravity. I watch NOVA!41. "Nova" network: PBS. For over 50 years, NOVA has the most popular prime-time science series on American television.
44. Tennis star Andre: AGASSI. Tennis players often place a small silicone dampener in their strings to reduce vibration. RightBrain has a bunch that look like anything from ladybugs to smiley faces, but I use a simple rubber band because AGASSI does.
45. Anjou alternative: BOSC. Members of your pear group:
46. Dirtied: SOILED.
48. Tank in a basement: BOILER. Tanks in a basement: AQUARIUMS.
49. Service interruption: OUTAGE. I hope none of you had a power OUTAGE during the winter storms last week.
50. Black Sea port: ODESSA.
53. Posterior muscle, informally: GLUTE. Know your GLUTEs:
54. Many a denizen of Machu Picchu: LLAMA.
55. "It's __ a minute!": BEEN.
57. "Mic Drop" K-pop septet: BTS. This South Korean sensation is known to me only by xwords.
58. Actor Simu: LIU. He's kicked Lucy LIU out of the xword rotation, but it seems like they're still friends!
59. Samovar: URN. Universal Remains Niche. (This might not be an abbreviation!)
60. Due-in hr.: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.
61. Phoenix NBAer: SUN. National Basketball Association is abbreviated, but the team is still just the SUNs.
I hope this chased some of your BLUES away!
Be Good. RB
32 comments:
Once again, I could
make no sense of the reveal until I came on this site. But now I understand. Still, the whole “mechanism” seems kind of fishy to me.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Zipped right through this one with nary a thought as to the theme. As R-B explained, it was devilishly clever. Never heard of BLUES CLUES, but it sounds like it could be a successor to Winky Dink And You -- remember that one? TIRE: Goodyear used to operate a blimp base on the north side of Houston not far from Dash-T's new residence -- that base closed in '92. Enjoyed your creation, Rich, and your expert explication, R-B.
FIR, but incan->LLAMA, and pumace_>PUMICE (UNTIE!)
I'm pretty sure that if I applied to MENSA, laughter would resound throughout the realm.
My 112-year-old home is heated by a BOILER. It originally was heated by coal fireplaces, then oil BOILER, now natural gas. It doesn't have a separate water heater.
"Light weight" is. of course, relative. An OUNCE of pot might get you a light sentence, while an OUNCE of Peruvian marching powder will get you a heavy sentence.
Seems to me that using Bombay Sapphire for a GIN AND TONIC is a waste. Kinda like asking for top-shelf vodka for a bloody mary.
Norfolk has several restaurants partly owned by the Katz family. Richard was a founder but is now retired. Son Rich Katz has assumed his responsibilities. I assume Norfolk's Rich is too busy running his empire to construct puzzles. But thanks to this Rich for the mostly-fun grid. I don't really care one way or the other about themes, and mainly use them as a sanity check for my fill. This one escaped me. A lot of A&E, but less than we've had recently. And thanks to Rusty Brain for the fun and funny tour.
Hi there~!
I spell out the abbr clues & answers for the "lurking newcomers" who check in at the Corner. RB, your abbr for URN is a winner - I have a similar gag in Friday's write-up~! Thanks for the "Green Onions" - I can never recall the name of the tune, and then it plays and I go "oh, right, that one~!"
Splynter
OH -
And great theme title - I may be partial to the name "Rich"~!
Thank you, Rich and Rusty.
Rich, congrats on your solo debut at the LA Times!
The puzzle was not hard, but understanding the theme was. I understood that the CLUES would have some association with BLUE(S), but couldn't quite get it. Almost did with navy, but I got distracted with the news on TV. Then I forgot to finish trying to understand it when I opened today's blog.
Congrats to the blog on reaching a milestone of 350,000 comments, as of yesterday!
FIR. For a Thursday this wasn't too difficult. My one misstep was throwing down gigs before megs.
I stared at the reveal and couldn't make heads or tails of the theme. I had to come here to get the explanation. Sorry, but the theme seems really lame.
But overall, theme aside, this was an enjoyable puzzle.
Blues Clues was a gimme for me, but it didn't help me get the theme. Even so, in hindsight I think the theme is great. The puzzle was not too difficult today.
My only problem was having BAR crossing ITRY. I let it stand. OOH! I thought ITRY was texting like YOLO, but no, it is I TRY. Paying for a round of drinks can be put on your bar account (tab.)
As a waitress I topped up many cups of coffee. Every Sunday I top up my gas tank whether I need it or not, so I never run short.
Slang depends on who hang out with. I never hear sammy for a sandwich ,but I see it in writing often. I never hear bae, but know it was popular in certain circles. I see its use is beginning to fade.
Jinx, I feel about high end Scotch the way you feel about Sapphire gin. I like it on a few rocks, no soda or water, so I can really appreciate it. My son gives me a bottle of high end Scotch among other things for my birthday.
Good Morning:
This makes twice this week that I failed to see the theme. In retrospect, I should have figured it out, based on the hints in the reveal clue. Anyway, I think it’s quite clever and certainly a fresh and fun change of pace. The grid was clean and the fill was pretty straightforward, so the solve was both enjoyable and satisfying.
Thanks, Rich, and thanks, RB, for a fun and informative tour. Loved the opening feline photo and that delicious looking Caprese Salad, one of my favorites!
Have a great day.
Musings
-What a great place to hide the theme!
-IBM played a role in this first room-sized computer
-Some gas pumps have signs that discourage TOPPING OFF your tank
-While in BASEL, BASIL used BASIL in his salad
-DW’s Greek heritage makes her vulnerable to ANEMIA. She choked down liver during her second pregnancy.
-Morse Bluff, NE (pop. 111) has a lovely little bar/restaurant that takes no credit cards. An ATM sits in one corner.
-A great story about the origin of Green Onions
Thank you RustyBrain for splainin', and thank you for the Green Onions! Listening to it while learning made not comprehending another theme tolerable...
HG, thanks for the Booker T link, (you beat me to it...) I needed to hear that story again, because I had no idea Scotty Moore was involved!
This 'brain' was 'rusty', but in spite of not knowing what BLUES CLUES (unknown) had to do with the puzzle I did FIR. After Rusty's explanation, it was about the clues, not the answers. Duh! JASON MOMOA was unknown but Aquaman and VILLAGE PEOPLE were in the deep BLUE. I know Bombay comes in a BLUE tinted bottle. Azure is a blue, and I knew it was Microsoft's 'cloud' for business users.
TRAIN- add me to the list of people who haven't heard of them.
IBM was the first 'real' PC, as in IBM-PC. Their big mistake was trying to compete with Microsoft's MS-DOS with their own version called PC-DOS.
TOP UP- it's been in a previous puzzle and that's the only reason I knew it.
ANNE, LIU, and DEPP joined the list filled by perps.
Hola! Easy enough for a Thursday, thank you Rich and Rusty. I finished before coffee was ready but enjoyed the solve. BLUES CLUES was a favorite of my granddaughter, so I knew that. MOMOA took five perps to spell.
"The ODESSA Files" by Frederick Forsyth started me on a long adventure with his subsequent books. A few years ago, he came to Phoenix to speak and sadly he died last year.
i don't listen to much popular music but I love THE VILLAGE PEOPLE.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Lovely puzzle, Rich! There was potential for failure in the southwest corner, where BTS and LIU crossed BLUES CLUES, but fortunately, my WAGs led me to FIR. I didn't immediately see the theme, but a bit of focus led to a thunderbolt from the clear BLUE sky. Mr. Brain, thank you for adding to the fun. Nice KAT pic!
This might have been even easier than yesterday’s Monday-level offering. I don’t believe I had ever finished a Thursday puzzle in under eight minutes before today.
“Hey Soul Sister” is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. They are from San Francisco, and I actually was given their demo CD decades ago by their guitarist, who, prior to their success, was a mailroom clerk at a company I did business with.
Train has a lot of catchy tunes, and I highly recommend checking them out.
My cousin could not find the plastic sheet you needed to put over the TV screen and drew directly onto the TV once to figure out the answer to the Winky Dink clue. My aunt walked into the room and went nuts 😃
Green Onions was my first attempt at imbedding a video. Mind-blowing, I know! LOL I'm so old school. At least I picked a great song. Thanks to all my fellow contributors who made this possible. What a supportive group! More exciting vids to follow - please stay tuned...
CW
Pulling out my hair in the SE.
Why won’t Incan work? BOO hoo 😭. But that gave me BOILER and ALAS was able to “piece out” the rest for the gold
Blue theme
Inkovers: but a/BEEN
“Sammie” we call ‘em sangwidges
Why not Johnny (her PAPA) DEPP? First encounter with JASON MOMOA was in GOT as Khal Drogo a Dothraki warlord his “breakout role”. Sometimes I add ginger spiced syrup to my G&T to make a London Mule instead of a vodka Moscow Mule.
Use to watch BLUESCLUES with the grandkids…. Borrrring!!
“Accounts with round numbers” SLY clue!
A MAAM is usually not ____ … AMISS
Over 18 for a guy…. MANAGE
Champagne is just _____ wine… AGASSI
Gates, Musk, Bezos … RICH KATZ
Have a great day😊
Fast, fun, FIR this morning, but the theme? Meh.
Took 5:01 today, like a pair of Levi's ... jeans.
Seemed themeless to me, which is fine.
Upon reading the review, I think there's an Easter Egg - "IBM": Big Blue.
"Train" is a good band. "Drops of Jupiter" was another well-known hit.
Today's gimmick was lost on me, and evidently I wasn't alone. But otherwise the puzzle was rather quick and straightforward for a Thursday. And I love that knock-knock joke.
Thanks, Rich, and especially to RB for the explanatory guide.
Fun puzzle, my youngest son loved "BLUES CLUES" when we was preschool age - it was even the theme for his birthday party as we had clues and a notebook to solve the answers like a scavenger hunt around the house
I just read an article in the past week about ANNE Geddes - it is the 30th anniversary of her first book publish of babies and she is trying to track down those original babies who are now in their 30s
https://people.com/photographer-anne-geddes-wants-to-reconnect-with-baby-models-from-down-in-the-garden-30-years-later-11899195
thanks RB for the blog and Rich Katz for the puzzle
Edward in Los Angeles. Thanks to this puzzle, I have started drinking again 😂
Delightful puzzle, many thanks, Rich. And thanks for your commentary, as always, Rusty, appreciated that too.
Well, I thought that the MAAM could also be a MAMA and that would make her and PAPA parents, which would be nice, especially if they got along and created PEACE in their household. But maybe everything wasn't peaceful if ANNE was in a struggle and BLED because things were AMISS--that would certainly be sad, wouldn't it? Well, let's hope she got a GIN AND TONIC and a chance to EAT some lunch. Then maybe in the afternoon they could all join the VILLAGE PEOPLE for some music, and maybe slowly get a reputation for being ELITE. If not, I still hope they'll get some PITA bread and some drinks and have a good day without too much of a BAR TAB.
I wish you all a very good day too!
The hotlink for Inanehiker's url:
Anne Geddes Is Looking for the Baby Models from Her First Book, 30 Years Later.
Great story! (I was hoping that the B side was Groovin'.
I see what you did there - BLUE jeans!
How about those 3-color screen overlays in the '60s. Plastic film sheets designed to simulate color on B&W TVs. Typically blue at the top for sky, orange in the middle for skin tones, and green at the bottom for grass. So lifelike!
GIN AND TONIC?
Great catch on the Easter Egg!
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Rich and RustyBrain.
Another hand up for not seeing the BLUES in the CLUES. How could we all have missed it?
Could we give that BLUES CLUES dog a BONE?
This Canadian says TOP UP (Never heard TOP off).
I have been saying for EONS that you all need to learn Simu LUI’s name.
I learned doing family genealogy investigation that BASIL is English for the Russian “Vasily”, and the Ukrainian and Polish “Wasyl”. Now more commonly William or Bill in English.
Wishing you all a great day.
I have read the phrase here in comments in the past “going blue”. I’m pretty sure I know what it means and I would do it, but don’t know how.
Today’s puzzle was fun, and I had no trouble with it. But like so many others, I needed RB to explain it. Clever! Thanks Rich and RB!
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