Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a melodious puzzle constructed by NYT, LAT and USA Today veteran constructor Brian Callahan. At four places in the grid Brian has inserted the names of singer-song writers with each name consisting of two words. The first words all begin with the letter P and the second names begin with the letter S. The theme was inspired by the answer to the unifier which is found at:
59 Across: Beatles hit on "Please Please Me," which could be dedicated to 16-, 24-, 35-, and 50-Across: PS I LOVE YOU.
Here are the four themed answers none of which require explanation beyond their clues:
16 Across: "Because the Night" singer-songwriter: PATTI SMITH.
24 Across: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" singer-songwriter: PETE SEEGER.
35 Across: "You Can Call Me Al" singer-songwriter: PAUL SIMON.
50 Across: "Poetry Man" singer-songwriter: PHOEBE SNOW.
Thank you, Brian, for the opportunity to revisit all of those great songs. Now, after all of that, if anyone still has the time and energy, here's how it all appears in the grid:
. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Campbell's container: CAN.
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| Andy Warhol's Take On The Subject |
4. Sports complex: ARENA. From the Latin harena meaning sandy place.
9. Air quality factor: SMOG. A portmanteau of SMoke and fOG.
13. The Jazz, on scoreboards: UTA.
9. Air quality factor: SMOG. A portmanteau of SMoke and fOG.
13. The Jazz, on scoreboards: UTA.
14. Cuddly pooch: LAP DOG.
15. University of New Mexico athlete: LOBO.
18. Siberian city: OMSK.
19. Twitter: CHIRP. An avian reference - not a tech reference.
20. Grumpy person: CRAB. CRABs (the animals) have a reputation for being feisty and unpleasant.
22. Fed. health law: ACA.
23. Dialect in some Black communities, for short: AAVE. All you might want to know:
27. Tear sheet?: KLEENEX. Not tear as in to rip a piece of paper. Tear as in crying.
29. Flair: TALENT. A cake entered a TALENT contest. The Judge asked, "What's your talent?" "Icing", replied the entrant.
30. "Mars Attacks!" creatures, in brief: ETS. ExtraTerrestrial BeingS
31. Celtic priest of old: DRUID. Did this one stump you?
34. Son of Zeus: ARES.
38. Ralph Lauren brand: POLO
41. Buff: TONED. Buff, here, was used not as a verb but as an adjective
42. Sked abbr.: TBD. To Be Determined. Sometimes it turns out to be TBArranged.
45. Device for smoking shisha: HOOKAH. Shisha is is a wet tobacco that is soaked in a combination of glycerin, molasses or honey, and flavoring.
48. On an elite level, informally: GOD TIER. This expression is new to this solver.
53. Wine category: REDS. As opposed to, for example, white wines or rose wines.
54. Jungfrau, for one: ALP. elevation 13,642 feet
55. Balm-yielding succulent: ALOE. ALOE, there. Vera nice to meet you!
56. Small but powerful group: CADRE. CADRE entered this solver's vocabulary during the Mao Tse Tung era.
57. History: PAST. The PAST, the present, and the future walked into a bar . . . and things got a little tense.
62. Yale students: ELIS. From the eponymous Mr. Elihu Yale.
64. Dawn goddess: EOS. A frequent visitor.
65. __ and file: RANK.
66. Short-lived Ford model: EDSEL. Often taken on road trips in our puzzles.
67. Private chats on soc. media: DMS. Abbreviated clue . . . Direct MessageS
Down:
1. Treat baked in a fluted liner: CUPCAKE.
2. No longer moving: AT A HALT.
3. Longtime residents: NATIVES.
4. Some Energizers: AAS.
5. Turntable meas.: RPM. Abbreviated clue . . . Revolutions Per Minute Remember when we'd talk of tone arm counter weight, Sure vs Audio-Technica cartridges, and direct drive vs. belt drive?
6. Order: EDICT. Not order as in what you do at a restaurant. Not order as in an array. Order as in some directive to be obeyed.
7. __-Dame de Paris: NOTRE.
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| An Unforgettable Moment |
8. Shocked: AGHAST. A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus crashed losing its entire load. Witnesses were stunned, startled, AGHAST, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.
9. __-mo replay: SLO.
10. Certain representative for a child actor, casually: MOMAGER. A portmanteau formed from, MOM and ManAGER.
11. More than indecent: OBSCENE. We'll skip the graphics on this one.
12. Kids' racers: GO KARTS.
14. Sass: LIP. See also The Sex Pistols "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child"
17. Cherry or lime: TREE. Flavor, fruit and pie filling were all too long. Soda would have fit.
21. Arthur in the Television Hall of Fame: BEA. Best known for her role as Maude.
24. Lima's country: PERU. A reference to either the country or to the beans which were grown in PERU even before corn was grown there.
25. Jump for joy: EXULT. See also Van Halen "Jump"
26. Flair: ELAN.
28. Secret-protecting doc: NDA. NonDisclosure Agreement
32. Late start?: ISO. The beginning (start) of ISOlate.
33. Down Under canine: DINGO.
32. Late start?: ISO. The beginning (start) of ISOlate.
33. Down Under canine: DINGO.
35. Jab: POKE. Not in the "Lonesome Dove" sense.
36. __ Mix cat food: MEOW.
37. "That's strange": ODD.
38. Element of a basic reading test?: PH PAPER. PH PAPER can be used to determine, or read, where something falls on the acidic, neutral, alkaline (base) scale. Nice wordplay.
39. "How swanky!": OOH LA LA.
40. Keeps updated: LOOPS IN.
42. Like much Grateful Dead merch: TIE DYED. Okay, so there's no TIE DYE in this video but the images are great (no pun intended) and how could we pass on the opportunity?
40. Keeps updated: LOOPS IN.
42. Like much Grateful Dead merch: TIE DYED. Okay, so there's no TIE DYE in this video but the images are great (no pun intended) and how could we pass on the opportunity?
43. Double space?: BEDROOM. A place for a double bed.
44. "The Lorax" creator: DR SEUSS. Written in 1971, "The Lorax" was a relatively early piece of work focusing on environmental issues.
46. Legal org.: ABA.
47. "I could use a hand": HELP ME. In keeping with today's theme (and I would guess that this was an intentional "move" by Brian). Of course, we could also have gone with The Beach Boys.
49. Four-time NBA All-Star Young: TRAE. In 2017–18, TRAE tied the then NCAA Division I single-game assists record with 22 and became the only player to ever lead the NCAA in both points and assists in a single season.
51. "Deeply unfortunate": SO SAD. . . . and the opposite from Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (almost went with Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" but it is SO SAD that I could not bring myself to use it):
52. Düsseldorf denials: NEINS. Today's German lesson.
56. Walgreens rival: CVS. A drugstore reference.
58. Disappointed cluck: TSK. We never know, at first, if it will be TSK or TUT but we can go ahead and fill in the T either way.
60. Cell service letters: LTE. All you might wish to know: Long Term Evolution
61. Part of EVOO: OIL. I always thought that the concept was quantum but what do I know??
Well, that will wrap things up for this musical Wednesday. Have a Grate(ful) Day, everyone!
_________________________________________________
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| MM Out |
23 comments:
Once again, I reserve
the right to discuss this later.
See you then!
Good morning!
Thought the Jazz letters would be SLC. Noop! Thought CHIRP would be CHeeP. Noop! Once again it came down to a single letter. It was the GOD_IER/_RAE cross. D-o rose to the challenge, and failed. Thanx, Brian and Mal-Man. (I was a Shure, belt-drive guy.)
Did this puzzle - + you or + you?
Directly to the trash
After PETE-R, PAUL, and without any MARY, I noticed the PS and finished the NW because I really didn't know PATTI SMITH sang "Because the Night".
MOMAGER, TRAE and GOD TIER- not familiar with those; perps and guesses for me.
PH PAPER- never ran across one of those in any of my chemistry labs. A fancy litmus paper.
AAVE- Ebonics spelling bee won by an Asian in Norm's SNL announcement.
HOOKAH- I didn't know is shisha was a meat, narcotic, or tobacco. Took a couple of perps.
AAS- showing a Wal-Mart brand in the picture?
Up early this morning and enjoyed Brian’s puzzle to start the day. The theme was interesting and fun. Very tight with an apt reveal. Hadn’t seen one quite like that before, and actually knowing all of the artists and songs surely helped! Fav clue was for CUPCAKE, somehow I was thinking of champagne flutes and tried to fit “parfait” before perps convinced me otherwise.
Thanks to Brian for the fun outing and to MalMan for the delightful recap! As you said, the visuals in the “Ripple” video were great. I once saw PATTI SMITH open for the Grateful Dead at UMass, might have been my first rock concert ever. Happy memories of teen years!
FIR. I had to take a WAG at the crossing of Trae and God tier(?) to finish. Add aave and this became ridiculous.
I really despise puzzles that have too many proper names and this one actually had a theme full of them, not to mention several thrown in on the side.
Overall NOT an enjoyable puzzle.
I am continually impressed with constructor’s abilities to come up with fresh creative themes, as represented by today’s puzzle. Just right for a Wednesday as I FIR in 12:43. I knew all the singers but needed perps to fill them in cuz I wasn’t familiar with the songs referenced in the clues. New to me were MOMAGER and GOD TIER. Took me a minute to figure out how ISO was a start to late, duh. Also in the music department there is “HELP ME (I think I’m falling)”, Joni Mitchell, and “HELP ME (make it through the night)” Kris K. Thank you Brian for the most enjoyable solve, nice work! Also thanks to MM for your very thorough and witty review. I’m also impressed by all the bloggers who contribute here, each with their own style, thank you all!
That’s a little harsh, at least give it a shot.
FIR, but changed jive to AAVE, and alf to ETS. Had to wait for tba/TBD, cart/KART, and where to put the "H" in AGHAST.
I'm not so sure about "longtime residents" = NATIVES. To me, it's where you were born. I remember when Jay Rockefeller was running for Governor of West Virginia. In his stump speech he admitted that although he had lived in the state for 35 years, some NATIVES still referred to him as "a carpetbagger."
Alice Cooper sang he's sick, he's OBSCENE.
The late Bea Arthur (born Bernice Frankel) was a US Marine during WWII. In addition to her Emmys for her roles in Maud and The Golden Girls, she won a TONY for her work in Mame.
Thanks to Brian for the clever puzzle. My favorite was "element of a basic reading test" for PH PAPER. And thanks to MalMan for another chuckle-filled review.
DNF. I got the theme alright and although it required knowledge of proper names, these names were pretty famous, so enjoyed that part of the puzzle.
I fumbled the NW because I had UTe and not knowing AAVE, NATIVE didn’t show up. Then the SE defeated me since I wanted cabal for CADRE but knew DR SEUSS was correct and not knowing GOD TIER (?) I just gave up. I knew this site would give me the answers, and sure enough MM came through with a great review.
I remember my first visit to Switzerland as a child, my mother pointing out a mighty mountain named the Jungfrau which means young woman or maiden.
I had the same problem Monkey had with “Ute” instead of “Uta” and not knowing (remembering) AAVE. Oh well, I guess you can’t win ‘em all!
Musings
-A nice solve and the gimmick was tricky as I had PS…. and wondered how that would be resolved
-UTA has lots of alternatives that could have been used in place of a silly abbr.
-Some unfamiliar clue/fills were no real problem
-Our BBB team got beat playing the Winnebago Chiefs last night on the reservation to end their season. The school had a group of Ho-Chunk NATIVES that sang/chanted a song after the National Anthem before the game.
-The clue for pH paper was enjoyed by this science teacher
-In recent PAST, we have had an NBA player named TRAE and a MLB player named TREA
-BTW, the 15 science teachers in our system were put into a CADRE to work on issues and we weren’t all that powerful. :-)
Good Morning:
This was a very clever and well-executed theme. Phoebe Snow was the only artist who required perps. Looking at the entry G O D I E R, I decided it must be Godlier, which made the down entry L Rae, a perfectly plausible name for an NBA star. Well, I was wrong and, therefore, must claim a FIW. I also must claim a Natick, at least to me. I also was perplexed by the ISO beginning of late until MM’s explanation. Tricky but fair cluing is not only allowed but encouraged, so that’s my mental lapse. Perps and WAGs solved all other obstacles.
Nice job, Brian, thanks, and thanks to MM for the fun and facts of his informative commentary. Love your guitar-playing Manatee!
Have a great day.
I enjoyed today's puzzle by Brian because it was fair, enjoyable, and appropriately challenging for a Wednesday. And I must admit that for me it brought back many happy memories of my college days and music of the '60's.
The composers and artists who appeared in the grid reminded me of others, like Peter Paul and Mary, and the three memorable J's: Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, and Joan Baez (all three of whom are still with us).
Oh, the poor Edsel--we seem to keep seeing it appear here.
Thanks, Brian, for your consistent displays of craftsmanship. Today's challenge was fresh and fun to solve. And thanks, MM, for your able guidance.
Hand up for a FIW, but enjoyed the puzzle, and MM's review. I *love* that Paul Simon song, but had never seen the video. Many thanks for that and the rest of the links!
Oh Wow! Just Wow! (Im having a good day...)
There are days when doing the puzzle is just the price of admission to the Blog. And then there are days like today...
I am sorry for all those who felt this was off their wavelength, maybe you just need to "get in tune.."
This constructor knows how to make a fair "and" challenging puzzle. I am impressed! Yes, there were Naticks, quite a few in fact. But in each and every one, I felt, well this is going to end in an Alpha Run. And yet, each and every one of the single letter impossibilities were saved by adjoining perps. Just one example would have to be, Godtier crossing Trae is a Natick! Pure and simple! And yet, when I busted my ass to fill in every perp around it, that single T became obvious. But "only" when the perps were revealed! This happened again and again throughout this puzzle. My hats off to you Brian Callahan, for making my day! (The juice was worth the squeeze!,!)
And MalMan!
You are the icing on the cake!
(You've got me dancing in the aisles...)
Not only was I so self absorbed in thinking about "what I would say about this puzzle," I totally forgot to look at the theme! P.S. I love you= great songwriters? Pfft, even I could think of that. Wait! What? They all start with P and S?
(Oh crap! I was so enamored with this puzzle, I forgot to look at what it was all about!)
Hmm, maybe i'm gushing a bit. Maybe I should just say, thank you Brian and MalMan...
(And, P.S. I love you!)
I printed the CW from my morning SouthFloridaSunSentinel as usual, and counted the names: 21!! DNK 13 of them. Almost decided not to even attempt the CW, but went online so I could use redletter help. Soon found myself zooming right through the CW to FIR in 13!
Really surprised myself at how well I did, and also at how much I enjoyed it! Lots of good clues, favorite being 38D. But 27A also clever.
Thanx BC for the fun. The CW was much better than it looked at first glance.
MalMan, what a spectacular write-up! You sure hit it out of the ballpark with your musical selections especially. Best was the "Ripple" video by Grateful Dead. As you mentioned, great imagery, an acid trip w/o the need for LSD. Grateful Dead was one of my many "favorite bands", if you're allowed to have many favorites. I actually, literally, cried when Jerry Garcia died. It marked the end of an era.
Cream was another great band. That particular video was not their best rendition of that song. Ginger Baker looks so different in the video. From everything I've read he was a particularly nasty person. But he definitely was a great drummer.
Learning moment: I always thought TBA meant To Be Announced. Doh!
A
Forgot to mention: the "T" where "GODTIER" ( which I never heard of) and "TRAE" (also a DNK) crossed. The "T" was one of many successful WAGs in this CW.
Well - I did it. And I did it fast. Even tho a couple of entries I didn’t know even after they were done (like ISO-late). Thanks for a fun puzzle, and for the music heavy recap! I loved the jaunt thru memory lane.
The “T” in Godtier/Trae was my FIW moment. I guessed Godlier. Seemed to make sense.
Thanks for the music videos. The Paul Simon song was my favorite.
Afterthoughts:
crab reminded me of...
obscene reminded me of...
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