It's the first day of Spring, which officially arrives at my house @10:46am EDT. Here's my strike-through clue review of the first puzzle of spring, from John Liber, whose name I could not find with regard to any crossword construction; if I'm correct, then congratulations on your debut~! The theme, however, is not vernal equinox related, but instead consists of "extra" words in the clues, specifically 'pain' and 'gain' - take those out, and the clues are straight defintions of the answers. Quaint, but for me, a long way to go for otherwise unrelated theme fills. An over-sized 15x16 grid, 26 3LWs, and a few too many names - one of which created a Natick - see 44A./42D. The themers, and reveal;
19. *One who's overly concerned with pain control: MICROMANAGER - take "pain" out of the clue = the def. of 'micromanager'; I once had a boss who left a Post-It note on everything we needed to work on, with exactly what steps needed to be taken; paint this🠆, fix this🠆, cut here🠆 . . . 🙄
The World's Most Interesting Micromanager
24. *Gain ground, to a general: BATTLEFIELD- take "gain" out of the clue = . . .
39. *Capital gain recordkeeper: NATIONAL ARCHIVES- take "gain" out of the clue = . . .
51. *Highly effective pain relievers: BULLPEN ACES- take "pain" out of the clue = the baseball pitchers that come in to "relieve" the starter
59. Fitness mantra, and a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: NO PAIN, NO GAIN
How I feel after leaving the gym sometimes
But Gain Weight, There's More Pain
ACROSS:
1. Sack: BAG - I do the Downs first to have some perpendicular fills crossing the themers; it also gave me the "G" here, so this is the 'container', not the 'AXE', kind of sack
33. Sounds of hesitation: UHs - I filled in UMs, and crossing the name at 34D., which I did not recognize, made it hard to find that I was, er, um, uh, . . . "wrong"
36. Unwelcoming: ICY -11-letters synonym for 3-letters
37. Help in making things go smoothly for furniture movers: CASTERS - I once "wished" that all the freight I handled at Roadway Express came with its own set of wheels; the next night, I got a 28ft trailer filled with 300 shopping carts - be careful what you wish for . . . .
43. Grungy clothing?: FLANNEL - back in the 90's, when "Grunge" was all the rage, members in bands of the genre were typically seen wearing some sort of flannel shirt
Not exactly flannel, but since it came up last Friday,
"The Man Who Sold The World", Nirvana from Mtv Unplugged
44. Country music's __ Brown Band: ZAC - the "Z" was a semiWAG; name, #2, but crossing a foreign language word = Natick for me. Not a fan of this genre, but I found this . . .
"Toes", typical country lyrics, but the video is worth it
45. Altar affirmation: "I DO." - I.D.~? - O, Nevermind ( that guy from 43A. again )
46. Skip over: ELIDE - typically syllables of words, as in "Y'all"
47. Unfair accusation: BUM RAP - skirts are a kind of "bum wrap"
In spring pastels~!
50. Disavow: DENY
56. Sphinx location: CAIRO
58. Australian currency: DOLLAR - it's a G'day to make a G'dollar
64. 24/7 hosp. areas: ERs - Emergency Rooms
65. "May I speak with you privately?": "A WORD..." - A Twurd
66. __-pants: SMARTY - half my family lives in England, and when I was kid, before there was internet, we would be treated to a delivery of British candy at the holidays - including Smarties ( like M&Ms ), Flake, and Crunchie, my favorite - I ordered a package from Amazon last week to give to my trainer Brett for his B-day on Friday, the 13th; he, of course, looked at the calories first . . . 😝
67. Coca-Cola HQ: ATLanta - UPS and several others are headquartered there, too
68. Long-necked birds: GEESE
69. Charley horse, e.g.: SPASM - AND - 37. Charley horse, e.g.: CRAMP - I've had both versions
70. Biblical possessive: THY
DOWN:
1. Message on a jacket: BLURB - jacket, that is, of a book, not an LP/album like I was thinking; I had pondered LYRIC
2. Clueless: AT SEA
3. 50s president?: GRANT - not HARRY ( and Ike is short a few $s), the 50s of US currency - name #3
4. Big citrus: POMELO - orange did fit . . . but that was SO yesterday . . . 🙄
5. Riesling, for one: WHITEWINE - I knew this
6. Foreign policy gp.: NSC - US National Security Council
7. Port. locale: EUR - Port(ugal) and Eur(ope) - in print, the period (.) might be hard to spot
🠅
8. Spoke in a monotone: DRONED - this got used in the write-up title here
9. Alley division: LANE - Bowling
10. Italian macaroons made with almonds: AMARETTI - They don't seem to be the same thing . . .
Let the controversy begin~!
11. SCOTUS justice who said, "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time": RBG - that's a lot of clue for a 3LW, yada yada yada Supreme Court = Ruth Bader Ginsburg - name #4
12. Grand opening?: GEE - the "G" that starts the word gRAND
13. Make a typo, say: ERR
16. Russian pianist Gilels: EMIL - name #5
Heavy Metal Rachmaninov - I dig the hair, man - he gets into it
34. "The Little Mermaid" star Bailey: HALLE - I knew of the original animated Disney movie only - here's more on the 2023 live-action version from IMDb - name #6
40. Brickyard racers, casually: INDY CARS - Brickyard being the nickname of the Indianapolis 500 race track, the consequence of a repaving in 1909 with 3.2 million bricks
41. United: ONE - think "as"
42. Blue, in Peru: AZUL - Español lesson; I tried AGUA
47. Flourishes: BLOOMS
48. Banksy, for one: ANONYM - the basis for "anonymous", a kind of pseudonym - I have seen his art, but did not know his name, #7
There was a series of "Girl with Balloon" - the Wiki
49. Bud: PAL
51. Container: BIN
52. Self-serve servers: URNS - I tried EGOS - Bzzzzt
53. Spiked shoe: CLEAT
54. "Pale Blue Dot" subject: EARTH - Carl Sagan's 1994 book, and reference, to "home"
The photo taken by Voyager I, a mere 4 Billion miles away from home in 1990. Mark you calendars,
November this year, the spacecraft will be ONE LIGHT DAY from us - fascinating
55. "4 real?": SRSLY - 21st century textspeak = seriously~?
57. Hill staffer: AIDE
59. Hound: NAG - ah - the verb, not the noun; I tried DOG - 'hound' is a homonym
60. Have debts: OWE
61. "The Cask of Amontillado" writer: POE - name #8
62. Lacuna: GAP - Learning moment; more here; I tried "EAU", Frawnche water - Bzzzzt~!
63. Legendary coach Parseghian: ARA - crossword staple, but still, name #9
My ISP performed overnight maintenance, and I had to call tech support to get up and running this morning. You know the drill: reset modem, reset router, reboot computer. All good now.
(1) After staring at the reveal, I still didn't understand the gimmick.
(2) Once again I failed to remember "pwned."
A single letter led to my DNF. My "Sounds of hesitation" were UMS, resulting in MALLE where HALLE needed to go. Could'a been either a first or last name. Dunno. Bzzzzzt. Thanx, John and Splynter.
Took 10:04 today, good buddy, for me to gain traction.
I knew the Actress of the Day (Halle), but oddly hesitated at the spelling. In crosswords, I've been known to confuse Halle Bailey with Halle Berry. After briefly having "owned," "oomelo" kicked me in the shin to remember "pwned."
I didn't know "rennet", the Italian cookie (amaretti), or the Peruvian color (azul). Fortunately, I saw Zac Brown on "Survivor" on Wednesday. As I mentioned yesterday, I don't care for "sounds of hesitation" clues.
I appreciate that our reviewer remembered, and linked, "The Man Who Sold the World" from last week.
Thank you John (congrats on you LAT debut!) and Splynter.
I completed the grid in just under 15 but did not get the congrats message. Spent a good 10 minutes rereading every clue and checking every answer. First the downs and then the across clues. I couldn't find an error. I thought for sure there was a typo somewhere. Nope. No typos.
If not a typo, then an odd word or name. Everything looked ok. Grungy clothing = FLANNEL? Is that it? Why is FLANNEL grungy? (Oh. Thanks, Splynter)
I finally hit check all. The M in UMS lit up. Wait, what? Sounds of hesitations is UMS, is it not? Oh, duh. It can also be UHS, so HALLE instead of MALLE. Oh well.
Splynter, I couldn't recall whether it was ZAC or ZAk, but I knew it was one or the other. ACCREDITS took care of that.
DRONED - I'll never forget my US History professor at the University of Houston. Fortunately, his TA did most of the lectures. Unfortunately, he wasn't all that much better. Hopefully the TA got better over time.
Banksy is still his ANONYM, but he has been revealed. Reuters is taking credit for outing him, but a writer at The Daily Mail came to the same conclusion in 2008.
FIR. Took a WAG at pwned because pomelo had to be right. I wanted owned originally but oomelo was not possible. I was confused by anonym but it had to be because of the perps. I did not get the theme at all. I had to come here to have it explained to me. In short I found the cluing somewhat lacking and obtuse. Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
FIR but GEE, the theme didn’t click. I needed Splynter’s nice explanation to get it. I had a few unknowns that were completed with perps like NINER, ZAC, (thank goodness I knew AZUL), EMIL, and HALLE as clued.
I should have remembered PWNED from past CWs, but POMELO had to be so I got it right. I’ll never get used to SRSLY however.
The exercise mantra, NO PAIN NO GAIN was popularized by Jane Fonda who put out a series of exercise videos. However that mantra has been disavowed DENied).
Thank you Splynter for another great review.
Now I’m going outside to enjoy a true spring day. 🌺🌸
FIW, with hand held high for UmS x mALLE. The only HALLE I now is Berry, as in flavor of the month.
Didn't get Banksy=ANONYM until Splynter 'splained it. I do, however, know what a brewski is.
I don't know how to make cheese, although I've been told that I can cut the cheese with the best of them.
Knew Zac Brown and his band. His songs have a strong Jimmy Buffett influence, and in fact the two collaborated on a few songs. Here they are singing Brown's sweet Knee Deep.
I wanted Hammer pants, 'til the perps insisted on SMARTY pants. Guess it's the new commercial with the golden hammer and the carpenter dancing in Hammer pants. I have no idea what product is being advertised - probably insurance.
Project manager's change principle - "Yes, but." (Yes, but that will delay the project by X," "Yes, but that will add X to the cost," "Yes, but that will create the following new risks to the project," "Yes, but we'll need to hire more people who can do X," etc.)
INDY CARS isn't a casual term these days. INDY CARS race in many venues including The Brickyard under the auspices of the Indy Racing League.
Thanks to John for the fun Friday challenge, and to Splynter for another fun review.
Musings -A triple layer of fun today. The fills made no sense, I needed the reveal to see the gimmick and the gimmick was in the clues! Wow! -One bad cell as OWNED and OOMELO looked fine. I had no idea on PWNED and POMELLO. I’ll survive. -My first principal was a MICROMANAGER about office supplies, desk placement, shade level, teacher dress code and other minutiae. Otherwise, he just left me as 21-yr-old rookie figure out how to teach. -Every doctor and athletic trainer I know have told me NO PAIN NO GAIN is dangerous nonsense. -Debunking another myth: Standing an egg on its end is no more likely on an equinox than any other day. -Wow, PWNED came from when a typist ERRED? How ODD!! -What we use to move furniture -Does omitting the “T” when pronouncing these words qualify as ELIDING: Internet, Center, Winter, Twenty and Dentist? -When GEESE start pumping that long neck up and down, back away! -50’s president was clever. -I have my new glass lens for my cataractless eye and I am trying to find the righ FOCAL area with them -Our UNFED kitty woke me up at 3:45 this morning. I can never be mad at Lily. -That “pale blue dot” Sagan spoke of tells us that on a universal scale, we are small potatoes. -Golf today on a beautiful first day of spring. Tomorrow is supposed to set a new highest March temp in Nebraska history.
You left out UNPLUG from the wall for 10 seconds. After I've tried all those tricks before I call, as soon as they go through their list, I tell them "I've already done those".
The guess of the unknown HALLE crossing UHS was my last fill.
Well! I ended with “pwrd” - not “pwnd” (so what does it mean? Pls).
And, I never sussed the theme. Thx to Splynter I now understand.
& is azul crossed with Zac obscure?
AND - while I’m not a pro sweets baker, I am a bit of a foodie. So here’s my thot about macaroon v. macaron v. Amaretti: they all use egg whites and sugar as the two main ingredients - which conspire with high heat to give a light & crisp & snappy texture. And they do come out differently - cuz of other singular ingredients. 😊
My biggest problem was forgetting about PWNED and therefore doubting POMELO was the large citrus. So, I had owned and orange for quite a while. RENNET was new to me, so the NW was a struggle.
I didn’t figure out what the theme was about, and that was just as well.
The rest was easy, though. I’m familiar with EMIL Gilels. I liked seeing FLANNEL. SRSLY didn’t stop me for long.
I’ll always prefer UH to “um,” which to me still means “you’re naughty, and I’m gonna tell.” Nobody was saying “um” for any other reason until about 20 years ago, when it suddenly started subbing in for UH. Some people – erroneously – write “ah.” That’s wrong!
I managed to FIR but BULLPEN ACES was the only one I could connect to NO PAIN, NO GAIN-for the wrong reason, thinking it would relieve the pain of losing the game. ERS, EMS, UMS, AND UHS, Ya KNOWS, UHS- take you pick but UHS was the only logical choice to cross the unknown HALLE.
Coca-Cola HQ ATL. Until they died, my boss and his wife lived in the Biedenharn Mansion in Monroe, LA. Biedenharn designed the Coke bottle and was the first bottler of Coca Cola in Vicksburg.
DNK EMIL, AMERETTI, LASSO, ANONYM, or HALLE. Thank you perps. "Container"- CAN, TIN, VAT, BIN- wait for perps SRSLY- for those who can't spell PWNED- for those who made a typo and hit P instead of O on the keyboard. Pwned might be the next synonym for 'hckd' at the pwn shp.
First off, congratulations to the Siena Saints for their performance yesterday against the Duke Blue Devils. Although they lost the game, this quote by sportswriter, Chris Branch, says it all: “No. 1 Duke escaped what I would’ve considered the biggest upset in Tournament history against No. 16 Siena, which led by 11 at halftime.” (Siena was a 27 1/2 point underdog.)
This type of theme is a nice change of pace which doesn’t appear too often, but is fun to solve. Like others, I remembered Pwned and the all-too omnipresent Srsly, but Azul, Zac, and Anonym needed perps. Otherwise, the theme’s obviousness and the straightforward fill led to a smooth, quick solve.
Thanks, John, and thanks, Splynter, for a fair and informative review.
John provided us with a clever and interesting challenge today. The theme had me stymied at first, but I like the gimmick. And I always enjoy clever misdirections, like "50s president?" turning out to be Ulysses Grant.
Hope to see you back here again, John. And thanks, Splynter, for the witty recap.
I think I'm a little more receptive to fill like SRSLY that other elderly Cornerites. At first I thought it was because of ham radio, with OM (old man, a male of any age) YL (young lady, a single female of any age) and XYL (ex-young lady, a married woman of any age.) Then I remembered that at work we had forn (Bell System lingo for "foreign" on their WCTS, or Wire Chief's Test Set) and tons of ASCII control articles (ACK for "acknowledge" NAK for "negative acknowledge" for examples.) Ohhh - ASCII would be great fill!
Was this a debut? (If so, I will bite my tongue....) Bum wrap=skirts LOL! I went to go find some silly reference, but it turns out skirts=bum wraps is really a thing!. Who knew? Anywho, as much as I love a leggy picture now and then, that particular shade of purple needs ruby red slippers...
I also disagree on Smarties, but it's not because I grew up with them, im just a smarty pants....
Grant, 50's pres! I was sure it was an 1850's reference! Thank you for setting me straight! (Hmm, could you spare one or two of those for a hamburger? I would gladly pay you back Tuesday...)
RIP tough man Chuck Norris. Although I didn't watch Walker Texas Ranger, they shot some of the outdoor scenes at GTE's HQ campus in Las Colinas, and I enjoyed watching the production from behind the scenes.
Sophia, Splynter provided a link to the definition of PWNED in the review.
While you are in the dictionary, you might consider looking up thot. I know you are using it as a shortening of thought, but it has an entirely different definition.
I had all the aforementioned problems with the NW corner. Pwned what a "word". Otherwise the puzzle was quite enjoyable. I had never heard of "rennet". But when the shoe fits, wear it. Enjoyable recap Splynter. My favorite, "bum rap". Ha.
It was better than yesterday, but still some poor clueing. If you’re not a gamer, don’t bother - is that the message when paired with a reallll stretch when “Oh, sure” means do you think I was born yesterday?! Of course, Port also made me think of Portland - so Maine or Oregon? Clearly Oregon right? Nope. And Halle vs Malle got me too. Can’t recall ever having issues like this two days in a row during a weekday. Clearly many above have seen pwned before, but I’m not a newbie and don’t recall it - unless I blasted it out my memory as a stupid use of the English language?
Easier’n yesterday but I still DNF. Couldn’t t figure out why “oWNED didn’t work when I knew that the “citrus” was POMELO…. PWNED?? C’mon!
Had to read the theme gimmick a couple times to get the connection to the *’d answers (expected fitness related responses ). Now I see the connection of FLANNEL to grunge but HOW ODD!
Had Egypt first for CAIRO. (Perfesser Google says the Great Sphinx of Giza is 8 - 12 miles from CAIRO). Had spasm in the middle but it fit better at the south end so I went back and changed it to CRAMP. SRSLY? Seriously! AMoRETTI are the little cherubic angels often part of religious art.
Other inkovers: laser/LASSO, side/INDY,
30’s with sleet back home. More like a “hibernal” (wintry) equinox. Nothing anywhere near “vernal” 🌱
Um, I beg to differ. M-W indicates the first know use was in 1604.
When I was in 3rd grade, a new family moved into town. The daughter sat directly in front of me in class. Alphabetical seating. She had a habit getting too excited, too nervous and talking too fast, saying both "And UM" and "UM" when she read out loud in class. It was severe, and the teachers quit calling on her. I guess to save her embarrassment.
She didn't have the problem when one on one. At least never with me. But when there was a group of any size, the "And Ums" and "Ums" would come back. It was really bad. Every sentence bad.
She was smart and always had good grades. But she was also teased mercilessly by some of the mean kids when a teacher wasn't around. They would call her And Um (last name). How nasty was that?
Her parents started taking her to a therapist.
By 6th grade, it was only from time to time. By HS freshman year, it was gone. She blossomed and came out of her shell and her shyness. She just missed being our graduating class salutatorian.
If Siena had won, it would have been the third time in NCAA history when a #16 seed upset a #1 seed.
The first happened when Virginia lost to UMBC (U Maryland, Baltimore Campus) in 2018.
The second time was in 2023 when Fairleigh Dickinson upset Purdue.
Both of those underdogs were 20+ point underdogs when they knocked off the #1s. Not as much as Siena though.
I watched part of the game. I had multi-view on so I was actually watching 4 games. But when it looked like tiny Siena had a chance to knock off one of the true blue blood college basketball programs, I turned off multi-view and watched that game until the near end. They played well.
Well I rebounded from yesterday’s FIW, which ended a lengthy streak of FIRs, got the win today, hopefully will keep it going with tomorrow’s themeless🤞. I had the grid filled but had to locate a mistake which a lot of others made too, changed the M to H in the UHS/HALLE cross and got the congratulatory message in the not so enviable time of 20:20. (Dumb mistake, failed to look at the last name, I do know MS. BERRY). At least it wasn’t that pesky ERM. OOMELO was quickly changed, and then I did remember the very forgettable PWNED. I parsed it as BULL PENACES till I looked at it again. I didn’t equate grungy with FLANNEL, it’s very popular attire in the U.P. and FLANNEL sheets make most comfortable bedding in the cold months. I knew AZUL, only because it’s a company that makes delicious high dollar tequila, bottled mostly in distinct AZUL and BLANCO bottles, each one unique. Perps needed for RENNET and ANONYM. CLEATS are the spikes, but the shoes can be referred to as CLEATs also. Thank you John, very nice debut, and to Splynter for your informative review, I had no idea how the fill made sense as per the reveal till you explained it.
Several comments that "At least it was better than yesterday", which I agree with. But I still did not like this CW. Maybe because it is TOO sneaky to hide the theme in the CLUES rather than the fill. For whatever reason, I had no fun with this CW. And I had to go online and turn on red-letter help. Dang!
PWNED is because someone hit the "P" key instead of what they meant, the "O" key? And than this error just stuck? That's really dopey.
"Large citrus" = "grapefruit" wouldn't fit. Neither would "tangelo". I needed all perps other than the "P" to finally remember "POMELO". And I've lived in FL since 1968!
ERS/UMS/UHS needed all perps. Um, no fair!
Tried "CRAMP" before perps led me to "SPASM". CRAMP appeared later, in my fill sequence.
14 names, DNK 6 among them, which slowed me done. Eventually FIR in 18.
Thanx Splynter for 'splaining the theme. Sailed right over my pumpkin head w/o leaving a ripple until your explanation. Thanx too for all the great links, and for the "lovely legs" picture.
Challenging but delightful Friday puzzle, many thanks John. And, Splynter, your commentary and pictures are always a help and a pleasure, thank you for those too.
Well, I'm guessing that a LARGE BAG was unlikely to be produced by a MICRO-MANAGER, especially since we don't have any business on the BATTLE FIELD at this time. No, we needed a GRANT to get some good food delivered, like some of that AMARETTI served with a bottle of WHITE WINE. That way we could take time to check out the NATIONAL ARCHIVES and read some of those lovely poems from Edgar Allan POE. Wouldn't that be a great way to spend some time this Spring? Even if it isn't, don't call me a SMARTY-pants.
The discussion on the earliest use of "filler" words like "UM" got me to wondering what placeholder words Will Shakespeare (1564-1616) used in his plays. So I checked my Shakespeare lexicon, and herewith:
Filler words that Shakespeare used: AH, HA, HEM, and OH
Filler words that Shakespeare never used: EH, UH, and UM.
Hola! I had a better time solving yesterday than today. The east and south filled quickly and easily, but the northwestern corner was a mess. First, why clue an 1850s president without warning? Second, I have no idea about cheese making although I did watch the process in Amsterdam many years ago. Then, since I don't know HALLE Bailey, MALLE looked ok. And what is PWNED? If it was used before, I must have been away. SPASM filled before CRAMP, then appeared later. I have left wishes at both the TREVI fountain and the WAILING WALL, but I don't know if they have been granted. Happy first day of spring, everyone!
First of all, as Ray - O - Sunshine pointed out, the Sphinx is not in Cairo. Of course I entered EGYPT as the answer. Second of all, there is no second of all. I guess this puzzle was simply not my cuppa tea. I think RENNET is also used in making jams and jellies. Answers (real words!) that I liked seeing include CASTERS, FLANNEL, ELIDE, SMARTY, DRONED, AMARETTI, ACCREDITS, BLOOMS, and ANONYM. TRUST-->LARGE. EGYPT-->CAIRO. DOG-->NAG. SPASM-->CRAMP, CRAMP-->SPASM. I knew AZUL because we used to love to eat at El Marlin Azul (The Blue Marlin) in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. Good reading all your comments.
42 comments:
Two things:
(1) After staring at the reveal for a couple of minutes, I actually understood the gimmick .
(2) I remembered “pwned” this time.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
My ISP performed overnight maintenance, and I had to call tech support to get up and running this morning. You know the drill: reset modem, reset router, reboot computer. All good now.
(1) After staring at the reveal, I still didn't understand the gimmick.
(2) Once again I failed to remember "pwned."
A single letter led to my DNF. My "Sounds of hesitation" were UMS, resulting in MALLE where HALLE needed to go. Could'a been either a first or last name. Dunno. Bzzzzzt. Thanx, John and Splynter.
Took 10:04 today, good buddy, for me to gain traction.
I knew the Actress of the Day (Halle), but oddly hesitated at the spelling. In crosswords, I've been known to confuse Halle Bailey with Halle Berry. After briefly having "owned," "oomelo" kicked me in the shin to remember "pwned."
I didn't know "rennet", the Italian cookie (amaretti), or the Peruvian color (azul). Fortunately, I saw Zac Brown on "Survivor" on Wednesday. As I mentioned yesterday, I don't care for "sounds of hesitation" clues.
I appreciate that our reviewer remembered, and linked, "The Man Who Sold the World" from last week.
Flannel is "grungy"? I thought I looked respectable. At least this was better than yesterday.
Thank you John (congrats on you LAT debut!) and Splynter.
I completed the grid in just under 15 but did not get the congrats message. Spent a good 10 minutes rereading every clue and checking every answer. First the downs and then the across clues. I couldn't find an error. I thought for sure there was a typo somewhere. Nope. No typos.
If not a typo, then an odd word or name. Everything looked ok. Grungy clothing = FLANNEL? Is that it? Why is FLANNEL grungy? (Oh. Thanks, Splynter)
I finally hit check all. The M in UMS lit up. Wait, what? Sounds of hesitations is UMS, is it not? Oh, duh. It can also be UHS, so HALLE instead of MALLE. Oh well.
Splynter, I couldn't recall whether it was ZAC or ZAk, but I knew it was one or the other. ACCREDITS took care of that.
DRONED - I'll never forget my US History professor at the University of Houston. Fortunately, his TA did most of the lectures. Unfortunately, he wasn't all that much better. Hopefully the TA got better over time.
Banksy is still his ANONYM, but he has been revealed. Reuters is taking credit for outing him, but a writer at The Daily Mail came to the same conclusion in 2008.
FIR. Took a WAG at pwned because pomelo had to be right. I wanted owned originally but oomelo was not possible. I was confused by anonym but it had to be because of the perps.
I did not get the theme at all. I had to come here to have it explained to me.
In short I found the cluing somewhat lacking and obtuse.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
FIR but GEE, the theme didn’t click. I needed Splynter’s nice explanation to get it. I had a few unknowns that were completed with perps like NINER, ZAC, (thank goodness I knew AZUL), EMIL, and HALLE as clued.
I should have remembered PWNED from past CWs, but POMELO had to be so I got it right. I’ll never get used to SRSLY however.
The exercise mantra, NO PAIN NO GAIN was popularized by Jane Fonda who put out a series of exercise videos. However that mantra has been disavowed DENied).
Thank you Splynter for another great review.
Now I’m going outside to enjoy a true spring day. 🌺🌸
FIW, with hand held high for UmS x mALLE. The only HALLE I now is Berry, as in flavor of the month.
Didn't get Banksy=ANONYM until Splynter 'splained it. I do, however, know what a brewski is.
I don't know how to make cheese, although I've been told that I can cut the cheese with the best of them.
Knew Zac Brown and his band. His songs have a strong Jimmy Buffett influence, and in fact the two collaborated on a few songs. Here they are singing Brown's sweet Knee Deep.
I wanted Hammer pants, 'til the perps insisted on SMARTY pants. Guess it's the new commercial with the golden hammer and the carpenter dancing in Hammer pants. I have no idea what product is being advertised - probably insurance.
Project manager's change principle - "Yes, but." (Yes, but that will delay the project by X," "Yes, but that will add X to the cost," "Yes, but that will create the following new risks to the project," "Yes, but we'll need to hire more people who can do X," etc.)
INDY CARS isn't a casual term these days. INDY CARS race in many venues including The Brickyard under the auspices of the Indy Racing League.
Thanks to John for the fun Friday challenge, and to Splynter for another fun review.
Musings
-A triple layer of fun today. The fills made no sense, I needed the reveal to see the gimmick and the gimmick was in the clues! Wow!
-One bad cell as OWNED and OOMELO looked fine. I had no idea on PWNED and POMELLO. I’ll survive.
-My first principal was a MICROMANAGER about office supplies, desk placement, shade level, teacher dress code and other minutiae. Otherwise, he just left me as 21-yr-old rookie figure out how to teach.
-Every doctor and athletic trainer I know have told me NO PAIN NO GAIN is dangerous nonsense.
-Debunking another myth: Standing an egg on its end is no more likely on an equinox than any other day.
-Wow, PWNED came from when a typist ERRED? How ODD!!
-What we use to move furniture
-Does omitting the “T” when pronouncing these words qualify as ELIDING: Internet, Center, Winter, Twenty and Dentist?
-When GEESE start pumping that long neck up and down, back away!
-50’s president was clever.
-I have my new glass lens for my cataractless eye and I am trying to find the righ FOCAL area with them
-Our UNFED kitty woke me up at 3:45 this morning. I can never be mad at Lily.
-That “pale blue dot” Sagan spoke of tells us that on a universal scale, we are small potatoes.
-Golf today on a beautiful first day of spring. Tomorrow is supposed to set a new highest March temp in Nebraska history.
You left out UNPLUG from the wall for 10 seconds. After I've tried all those tricks before I call, as soon as they go through their list, I tell them "I've already done those".
The guess of the unknown HALLE crossing UHS was my last fill.
Well! I ended with “pwrd” - not “pwnd” (so what does it mean? Pls).
And, I never sussed the theme. Thx to Splynter I now understand.
& is azul crossed with Zac obscure?
AND - while I’m not a pro sweets baker, I am a bit of a foodie. So here’s my thot about macaroon v. macaron v. Amaretti: they all use egg whites and sugar as the two main ingredients - which conspire with high heat to give a light & crisp & snappy texture. And they do come out differently - cuz of other singular ingredients. 😊
My biggest problem was forgetting about PWNED and therefore doubting POMELO was the large citrus. So, I had owned and orange for quite a while. RENNET was new to me, so the NW was a struggle.
I didn’t figure out what the theme was about, and that was just as well.
The rest was easy, though. I’m familiar with EMIL Gilels. I liked seeing FLANNEL. SRSLY didn’t stop me for long.
I’ll always prefer UH to “um,” which to me still means “you’re naughty, and I’m gonna tell.” Nobody was saying “um” for any other reason until about 20 years ago, when it suddenly started subbing in for UH. Some people – erroneously – write “ah.” That’s wrong!
I managed to FIR but BULLPEN ACES was the only one I could connect to NO PAIN, NO GAIN-for the wrong reason, thinking it would relieve the pain of losing the game.
ERS, EMS, UMS, AND UHS, Ya KNOWS, UHS- take you pick but UHS was the only logical choice to cross the unknown HALLE.
Coca-Cola HQ ATL. Until they died, my boss and his wife lived in the Biedenharn Mansion in Monroe, LA. Biedenharn designed the Coke bottle and was the first bottler of Coca Cola in Vicksburg.
DNK EMIL, AMERETTI, LASSO, ANONYM, or HALLE. Thank you perps.
"Container"- CAN, TIN, VAT, BIN- wait for perps
SRSLY- for those who can't spell
PWNED- for those who made a typo and hit P instead of O on the keyboard. Pwned might be the next synonym for 'hckd' at the pwn shp.
Good Morning:
First off, congratulations to the Siena Saints for their performance yesterday against the Duke Blue Devils. Although they lost the game, this quote by sportswriter, Chris Branch, says it all: “No. 1 Duke escaped what I would’ve considered the biggest upset in Tournament history against No. 16 Siena, which led by 11 at halftime.” (Siena was a 27 1/2 point underdog.)
This type of theme is a nice change of pace which doesn’t appear too often, but is fun to solve. Like others, I remembered Pwned and the all-too omnipresent Srsly, but Azul, Zac, and Anonym needed perps. Otherwise, the theme’s obviousness and the straightforward fill led to a smooth, quick solve.
Thanks, John, and thanks, Splynter, for a fair and informative review.
Have a great day.
John provided us with a clever and interesting challenge today. The theme had me stymied at first, but I like the gimmick. And I always enjoy clever misdirections, like "50s president?" turning out to be Ulysses Grant.
Hope to see you back here again, John. And thanks, Splynter, for the witty recap.
Happy Vernal Equinox, everyone!
Forgot to mention the final score: 71-65
I think I'm a little more receptive to fill like SRSLY that other elderly Cornerites. At first I thought it was because of ham radio, with OM (old man, a male of any age) YL (young lady, a single female of any age) and XYL (ex-young lady, a married woman of any age.) Then I remembered that at work we had forn (Bell System lingo for "foreign" on their WCTS, or Wire Chief's Test Set) and tons of ASCII control articles (ACK for "acknowledge" NAK for "negative acknowledge" for examples.) Ohhh - ASCII would be great fill!
Was this a debut? (If so, I will bite my tongue....)
Bum wrap=skirts LOL! I went to go find some silly reference, but it turns out skirts=bum wraps is really a thing!. Who knew? Anywho, as much as I love a leggy picture now and then, that particular shade of purple needs ruby red slippers...
I also disagree on Smarties, but it's not because I grew up with them, im just a smarty pants....
Grant, 50's pres! I was sure it was an 1850's reference! Thank you for setting me straight! (Hmm, could you spare one or two of those for a hamburger? I would gladly pay you back Tuesday...)
And finally, (hmm, nope, I forgot drone...) Who knew I could post a link, and...
get around the no politics rule, while making current bull dinkies entertaining!
And now, finally, one of the greatest artists of our time...
A clever and mostly fun puzzle today.
I will have Halle Berry and Halle Bailey forever etched onto my brain after today .
I too DNF because of the Ums instead of Uhs 🙈.
Maybe missing the solve by one letter should have its own acronym?
M.B.O. Missed By One
Thanks Splynter. You reviews are always enjoyable.
RIP tough man Chuck Norris. Although I didn't watch Walker Texas Ranger, they shot some of the outdoor scenes at GTE's HQ campus in Las Colinas, and I enjoyed watching the production from behind the scenes.
me again - so can I “pwn” a fail, as in I failed to touch the link to the def of pwnd … 🤦🏼♀️ 🤪
Sophia, Splynter provided a link to the definition of PWNED in the review.
While you are in the dictionary, you might consider looking up thot. I know you are using it as a shortening of thought, but it has an entirely different definition.
I had all the aforementioned problems with the NW corner. Pwned what a "word". Otherwise the puzzle was quite enjoyable. I had never heard of "rennet". But when the shoe fits, wear it. Enjoyable recap Splynter. My favorite, "bum rap". Ha.
It was better than yesterday, but still some poor clueing. If you’re not a gamer, don’t bother - is that the message when paired with a reallll stretch when “Oh, sure” means do you think I was born yesterday?! Of course, Port also made me think of Portland - so Maine or Oregon? Clearly Oregon right? Nope. And Halle vs Malle got me too. Can’t recall ever having issues like this two days in a row during a weekday. Clearly many above have seen pwned before, but I’m not a newbie and don’t recall it - unless I blasted it out my memory as a stupid use of the English language?
Easier’n yesterday but I still DNF. Couldn’t t figure out why “oWNED didn’t work when I knew that the “citrus” was POMELO…. PWNED?? C’mon!
Had to read the theme gimmick a couple times to get the connection to the *’d answers (expected fitness related responses ). Now I see the connection of FLANNEL to grunge but HOW ODD!
Had Egypt first for CAIRO. (Perfesser Google says the Great Sphinx of Giza is 8 - 12 miles from CAIRO). Had spasm in the middle but it fit better at the south end so I went back and changed it to CRAMP. SRSLY? Seriously! AMoRETTI are the little cherubic angels often part of religious art.
Other inkovers: laser/LASSO, side/INDY,
30’s with sleet back home. More like a “hibernal” (wintry) equinox. Nothing anywhere near “vernal” 🌱
At least those kids are behaving. 😉
Um, I beg to differ. M-W indicates the first know use was in 1604.
When I was in 3rd grade, a new family moved into town. The daughter sat directly in front of me in class. Alphabetical seating. She had a habit getting too excited, too nervous and talking too fast, saying both "And UM" and "UM" when she read out loud in class. It was severe, and the teachers quit calling on her. I guess to save her embarrassment.
She didn't have the problem when one on one. At least never with me. But when there was a group of any size, the "And Ums" and "Ums" would come back. It was really bad. Every sentence bad.
She was smart and always had good grades. But she was also teased mercilessly by some of the mean kids when a teacher wasn't around. They would call her And Um (last name). How nasty was that?
Her parents started taking her to a therapist.
By 6th grade, it was only from time to time. By HS freshman year, it was gone. She blossomed and came out of her shell and her shyness. She just missed being our graduating class salutatorian.
If Siena had won, it would have been the third time in NCAA history when a #16 seed upset a #1 seed.
The first happened when Virginia lost to UMBC (U Maryland, Baltimore Campus) in 2018.
The second time was in 2023 when Fairleigh Dickinson upset Purdue.
Both of those underdogs were 20+ point underdogs when they knocked off the #1s. Not as much as Siena though.
I watched part of the game. I had multi-view on so I was actually watching 4 games. But when it looked like tiny Siena had a chance to knock off one of the true blue blood college basketball programs, I turned off multi-view and watched that game until the near end. They played well.
Then I went back to my yard clean up work. :>(
Well I rebounded from yesterday’s FIW, which ended a lengthy streak of FIRs, got the win today, hopefully will keep it going with tomorrow’s themeless🤞. I had the grid filled but had to locate a mistake which a lot of others made too, changed the M to H in the UHS/HALLE cross and got the congratulatory message in the not so enviable time of 20:20. (Dumb mistake, failed to look at the last name, I do know MS. BERRY). At least it wasn’t that pesky ERM. OOMELO was quickly changed, and then I did remember the very forgettable PWNED. I parsed it as BULL PENACES till I looked at it again. I didn’t equate grungy with FLANNEL, it’s very popular attire in the U.P. and FLANNEL sheets make most comfortable bedding in the cold months. I knew AZUL, only because it’s a company that makes delicious high dollar tequila, bottled mostly in distinct AZUL and BLANCO bottles, each one unique. Perps needed for RENNET and ANONYM. CLEATS are the spikes, but the shoes can be referred to as CLEATs also. Thank you John, very nice debut, and to Splynter for your informative review, I had no idea how the fill made sense as per the reveal till you explained it.
Several comments that "At least it was better than yesterday", which I agree with. But I still did not like this CW. Maybe because it is TOO sneaky to hide the theme in the CLUES rather than the fill. For whatever reason, I had no fun with this CW. And I had to go online and turn on red-letter help. Dang!
PWNED is because someone hit the "P" key instead of what they meant, the "O" key? And than this error just stuck? That's really dopey.
"Large citrus" = "grapefruit" wouldn't fit. Neither would "tangelo". I needed all perps other than the "P" to finally remember "POMELO". And I've lived in FL since 1968!
ERS/UMS/UHS needed all perps. Um, no fair!
Tried "CRAMP" before perps led me to "SPASM". CRAMP appeared later, in my fill sequence.
14 names, DNK 6 among them, which slowed me done. Eventually FIR in 18.
Thanx Splynter for 'splaining the theme. Sailed right over my pumpkin head w/o leaving a ripple until your explanation. Thanx too for all the great links, and for the "lovely legs" picture.
Challenging but delightful Friday puzzle, many thanks John. And, Splynter, your commentary and pictures are always a help and a pleasure, thank you for those too.
Well, I'm guessing that a LARGE BAG was unlikely to be produced by a MICRO-MANAGER, especially since we don't have any business on the BATTLE FIELD at this time. No, we needed a GRANT to get some good food delivered, like some of that AMARETTI served with a bottle of WHITE WINE. That way we could take time to check out the NATIONAL ARCHIVES and read some of those lovely poems from Edgar Allan POE. Wouldn't that be a great way to spend some time this Spring? Even if it isn't, don't call me a SMARTY-pants.
Have a lovely literary Spring, everyone!
Husker, also Toronto.
The discussion on the earliest use of "filler" words like "UM" got me to wondering what placeholder words Will Shakespeare (1564-1616) used in his plays. So I checked my Shakespeare lexicon, and herewith:
Filler words that Shakespeare used:
AH, HA, HEM, and OH
Filler words that Shakespeare never used:
EH, UH, and UM.
Hola! I had a better time solving yesterday than today. The east and south filled quickly and easily, but the northwestern corner was a mess. First, why clue an 1850s president without warning? Second, I have no idea about cheese making although I did watch the process in Amsterdam many years ago. Then, since I don't know HALLE Bailey, MALLE looked ok.
And what is PWNED? If it was used before, I must have been away.
SPASM filled before CRAMP, then appeared later.
I have left wishes at both the TREVI fountain and the WAILING WALL, but I don't know if they have been granted.
Happy first day of spring, everyone!
Forsooth
"Lovely" is not a word that I associate with Poe's poetry.
You all have said it all except the une underrated sweet grapefruit, the POMELO. I never tasted one until my fi
rst trip to Thailand. They are yummy and sold at ALDI . Try one, Mikey likes them, happy spring everyone
Posting interruptus
TTP, thanks for sharing those interesting tidbits.
Lucina--Ulysses Grant wasn't the 50th President; he is on the $50 bill.
That's one of John's misdirections.
First of all, as Ray - O - Sunshine pointed out, the Sphinx is not in Cairo. Of course I entered EGYPT as the answer.
Second of all, there is no second of all. I guess this puzzle was simply not my cuppa tea.
I think RENNET is also used in making jams and jellies.
Answers (real words!) that I liked seeing include CASTERS, FLANNEL, ELIDE, SMARTY, DRONED, AMARETTI, ACCREDITS, BLOOMS, and ANONYM.
TRUST-->LARGE. EGYPT-->CAIRO. DOG-->NAG. SPASM-->CRAMP, CRAMP-->SPASM.
I knew AZUL because we used to love to eat at El Marlin Azul (The Blue Marlin) in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.
Good reading all your comments.
Post a Comment