Zachary David Levy is a man with a plan. We last saw him here a few
months ago in January with "Speak Up," another synonym theme where words
spelled upwards on the grid.
The master plan becomes clear with the revealer:
37. "Let's do this thing!," or what can be said about each set of circles in this puzzle: SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.
The circled letters create made-up sound-alikes for words that mean
PLAN. They all can fill in the blank, "What is your ____?"
17. Some tissue in the central nervous system: GRAY MATTER. AYM sounds like AIM.
23. Quantum mechanics phenomenon: SUPER POSITION. PERPOS sounds like PURPOSE. For those of you that aren't physicists, a SUPER POSITION is the principle that physical systems can exist in multiple states, locations, or configurations simultaneously. Got it?
47. Sweet and tart fruit drink: MANGO LEMONADE. GOL sounds like GOAL.
58. Therapeutic canopy for some respiratory ailments: OXYGEN TENT. ENTENT sounds like INTENT.
I
don't mind circles, but I'm bad at anagrams. However, the first one was
easy, only three letters - either MAY or YAM. Now I'm looking for
months or tubers. When I couldn't unscramble PERPOS, I figured it must
be some foreign name I'd never heard of. Fortunately, the revealer came
up in the middle and saved me from tearing my hair out on the rest of
them. No anagrams, just imaginary homophones for synonyms of "PLAN". And
you have to use your imagination to see beyond their spelling to
hopefully pronounce them correctly. So, this puzzle was OKAY, although
like last Thursday, it seems a bit easy for this late in the week.
Let's see how his strategy plays out:
Across:
1. Hajj destination: MECCA.
6. Foxtrot follower: GOLF. Actually, after the Foxtrot came the Charleston. But in this case, the letters "F" and "G" are from the NATO alphabet.
10. Took off: LEFT.
14. Brilliance: ECLAT. ÉCLAT (pronounced "ay-KLAH") is a French term meaning doing something with great style.
15. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA. I liked ANYA in The Queens' Gambit, then was disappointed in The Gorge. She and a single Russian counterpart are tasked with protecting all of mankind from unknown evils that reside in a gorge. With humanity at stake, wouldn't you assign more than two people to do this?
16. Land division: ACRE. Land division: GORGE.
17. [theme]
19. Brit's trunk: BOOT. Britt's trunk: BOOTY.
 |
| Brittany Spears |
20. Not to be trusted, in slang: SUS. I SUSpect this sounds SUSpicious.
21. Condo gp.: HOA. HomeOwners Association.
22. Elusive picture book character: WALDO. Hiding in plain sight was a skill he learned as a child when there were chores to do.
 |
| Waldo, please take out the trash. Waldo? Waldo! |
23. [theme]
28. Frozen gutter problem: ICE DAM. Not a problem in Florida.
30. "Saturday Night Live" unit: SKIT. "Saturday Night Live" is abbreviated SNL. Oh wait, it's usually the other way around.
31. "Ditto": SO DO I.
32. Not great, say: OKAY.
34. Sanskrit title of respect: SRI.
37. [theme]
41. Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP. Mont Blanc, e.g.: PEN.
42. Mystery writer Buchanan: EDNA. In addition to crime novelist, EDNA is a journalist who won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting "for her versatile and consistently excellent police beat reporting."
43. Lego unit: BRICK.
44. Yogurt bowl berry: ACAI.
46. Homes: ABODES.
47. [theme]
52. Not of this world: ALIEN.
53. Messy class, often: ART. I've noticed that many artistic people seem to thrive in organized mess.
54. Uno y uno: DOS. 1+1=2 lección de matemáticas (math lesson in Spanish).
57. __ diagram: VENN.
58. [theme]
62. Board VIP: EXEC. An EXECutive is a Very Important Person, or so they think.
63. McEntire of country: REBA. REBA, also known as "The Queen of Country," has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. She's had over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with 25 reaching number one. In spite of all that, she seems very down-to-earth.
 |
| She's a real VIP. |
64. Italian bowling game: BOCCE. It's like curling without the ice!
65. __ a soul: NARY.
66. Tree of Knowledge location: EDEN.
67. A bit off: ASKEW. Just look up "RustyBrain" in the dictionary.
Down:
1. Gig segments: MEGS. My first thought was SETS, as in a band playing music for the evening. But this is a computer reference to Gigabytes which are made up of 1000 Megabytes.
2. Earth tone: ECRU.
3. Brought elegance to: CLASSED UP. It's what happens when I walk into any joint. So I'm told.
4. Sandy island: CAY. Same as a key.
5. Outer bank?: ATM. Nice clue. Automated Teller Machine.
6. "Later, __!": GATOR. In a while, crocodile!
7. Ready to go: ON TAP.
8. NaOH, more familiarly: LYE. RightBrain took a break from perfecting sourdough breads and decided to try her hand at Bavarian pretzels. The recipe called for soaking them in LYE (sodium hydroxide), just like bagels. It's highly caustic so she made a baking soda bath instead, but if used, the LYE will break down in the oven.
 |
| The knots were hard to do...but they tasted great! |
9. Not walkable, say: FAR.
10. Canadian brewery: LABATT. LABATT is now part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev family.
11. Cause of some food poisoning: E. COLI.
12. Baggins of the Shire: FRODO. This also could have been Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings. Frodo is Bilbo's second cousin, once removed, but Bilbo affectionately considers him a nephew.
13. "Grand" peak visible from eastern Idaho: TETON.
18. "Standing right here!": AHEM. "You know I can hear you, right?"
22. Mario Kart platform: WII. WII was a popular Nintendo gaming console discontinued in 2013. It lives on here because it has two "I"s. Like most of us.
24. Soba alternative: UDON. UDON and soba are staple Japanese noodles with distinct differences: Udon is thick, chewy, and white (wheat-based), while soba is thin, earthy, and brownish (buckwheat-based).
25. No longer in arrears: PAID.
26. Port city east of Kobe: OSAKA.
27. __ terrier: SKYE. SKYE Terriers were originally bred in the 1600s on Scotland's Isle of Skye to protect farms and livestock by hunting and killing predators, such as foxes and badgers. Their low-slung, sturdy bodies,, tough, long double coats, and fierce, intelligent nature allowed them to tackle prey and thrive in harsh, rocky Scottish weather.
28. Actress Rae: ISSA. ISSA Rae is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer, director and entrepreneur. And she has lots of usable letters in her name.
29. Refrigerate: COOL.
32. Tune rarely played on Top 40 radio: OLDIE. Unfortunately, every song I used to listen to on Top 40 radio is now an oldie. I wonder what that says about me?
33. Family: KIN.
34. PowerPoint file, essentially: SLIDE DECK. I wanted SLIDE SHOW.
35. Zoom: RACE.
36. Signs, as a contract: INKS.
38. Animal that goes with the floe?: SEAL. Winner: Best Clue.
39. "Fernando" band: ABBA. Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden, and 400 million albums later...
 |
| ABBA won singing "Waterloo" |
40. Egg on: PROD.
44. Ability to shape one's own future: AGENCY.
45. Fleece: CON.
46. Poker stake: ANTE.
47. Whiz: MAVEN.
48. Wrestler Bliss known as "Five Feet of Fury": ALEXA. What made her furious was her Amazon Echo that answered every time someone called her.
49. West Coast NFLer: NINER. The San Franciso 49ers, named after the thousands of prospectors who flocked to Northern California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. "Dwelt a miner, forty-NINER..."
50. "It's always possible": MAYBE.
51. Church fixture: ORGAN. I love the massive sound of a pipe organ in a large church. And if one ever breaks, call 1-800-SPLYNTER.
55. __ in a while: ONCE.
56. Hearty bowlful: STEW.
58. Seam contents: ORE.
59. Crossed (out): XED. "X" is often used as shorthand for "cross," as in xwords.
60. Org. for Jazz quintets?: NBA. The Utah JAZZ from the National Basketball Association. Basketball is played with five players on each side.
61. Talking-__: TOS. And in the "terrible twos," the tots talk back!
Be good. RB
26 comments:
A fun puzzle. And I DID
understand the reveal, though I think some may find it obscure. (“Sound” the themers out, folks, if you don’t get it at first.)
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Missed the reveal. Finally noticed the circles, but they made no sense. Came here to learn what I was missing -- not much. I proudly inked in LARAM at 49d...and then not-so-proudly applied the Wite-Out. This one came together in normal Tuesday solving time -- too easy for a late-weeker methinks. Thanx, ZDL and Rusty. (In my case the joint gets CLASSED UP when I walk out of it.)
RB, I'm glad you figured it out because I had zero idea. SOUNDS for the scrambled, circled synonyms of PLAN was over my lizard brain head. AYM becoming MAY was the closest I could understand. The SW was the hardest to finish. AGENCY was unknown as clued and ALEXA was just unknown.
BILBO>FRODO. SLIDE SHOW>DECK.
A CAY or KEY is a flat island formed by limestone rising from the sea bed. Very few hills of any type.
D-otto will say I CLASSED UP the blog when I quit writing.
FIR, but labats->LABATT, and altar->ORGAN. Needed Rusty and Google to figure out talking-TOS.
Will I become a University of Florida fan when I move to Ocala? Later, GATOR.
Aren't all board members VIPS? In large companies they are usually EXECs in other companies, except for the chairman, who is commonly the CEO of the company being directed. Then that company's Chairman of the Board sits on the Boards of the other companies. It's called "interlocking directories," and is largely to blame for the enormous salaries enjoyed by CEOs of large firms. ("You vote for my big pay, and I'll vote for yours.") It's the worst possible system, except for all the other ones.
I think I've finally learned to tolerate LOTR fills and clues, am close to recognizing some WNBA stuff, but I don't think I'll ever catch on to women's professional wrestling. Shel Silverstein wrote in his Put Another Log on the Fire:
So sit here at my feet
cause I like you when you're sweet
And you know it ain't feminine to fight.
Thanks to ZDL for another fun outing, and to Rusty Brain for the sparkling review.
FIR. Once again we have useless circles. Why bother? They added nothing to the solve.
Circles aside, this was fairly easy for a Thursday. There were a few unknowns for me but the perps were there to help.
As far as the theme goes, it was the epitome of lame. Yes I get it, but really? What a waste of time and effort. Sounds like tupid!
Overall a so-so puzzle.
And the chemistry lesson goes on. SHEESH. I didn’t know LYE and ANYA.
With the reveal coming so soon helped me get the theme and I figured the circles pretty early. Personally I needed the circles.
“Standing right there!” really stumped me but perps took care of it. ICE DAM took a while to show up also. No fear of those here.
For Mont Blanc indeed you have to wait for perps to choose either pen or ALP. When I filled TOS it looked ALIEN to me. The rest of this CW was pretty straight forward.
Thank you RB for the fine review. All sorts of good info.
First, a FLN for Chairman-Moe and any others interested in yesterday's poker duscussion regarding "all-in." Son Jim, a casino dealer, knows poker quite well, and he kindly weighed in on the "all-in" issue late last night. You will find his comments on yesterday's Corner, at "ArizonaJim at 12:45 AM," right after C-Moe's midday response to me.
As for today's puzzle by Zachary, I found much to enjoy. The construction was impressive, with a grid-spanner reveal and four long theme answers. AND Zachary also managed to build into all that structure NINERS at 49-Down. I don't think it was just happenstance that the 49ers are at 49-Down.
I liked the look of Zachary's grid, with the black squares consisting of virtually all double- and triple-blocks. And his circles were useful and necessary to highlight the four homophones.
Thanks, Zachary, for a such a pleasant interlude. And thanks, RB, for the amusing and helpful recap.
Musings
-I sussed out the gimmick the same way RB did. The circles were definitely necessary
-Without crossword puzzles, ECLAT and its pronunciation would be a mystery to me
-Why is pronunciation not spelled pronounciation?
-ANYA’s performance in The Queen’s Gambit turned me into a binge watcher
-My neighbor just lost 640 ACRES of prime farm ground he used to rent to a company building a housing development
-A Brit would have a tyre in his BOOT, an engine under his bonnet and liters of petrol in his tank while driving on the left side of the motorway
-I had to abandon SETS too as MECCA would not go away
-I’ve lost count of how many SLIDE SHOWS I’ve generated on PowerPoint.
-PROD: Using today’s gimmick, there’s a synonym hidden in “teenager”
--ALEXA is a far cry from some of the early female wrestlers (rasslers)
Ignored the theme as I solved, and rolled my eyes after finding out, through the blog, what is was.
Aside from that, I thought it was an excellent puzzle that flowed smoothly and solved much easier than yesterday’s offering.
I liked ZDL’s puzzle today.
It filled in quckly and the clueing was fair.
I knew all the names except the Wrestler Bliss and her Five Feet of Fury. Sounds fun.
I have enjoyed the occasional Labatt’s Blue on a hot day. It’s a quality Canadian beer in a blue can. 🍺
Took 4:20 today to formulate this one.
I knew the Actress of the Day (Issa & Anya), but not the mystery writer (Edna).
Seemed like a very easy (and themeless) puzzle for a Thursday.
It bothers me when people say "sounds like a plan" immediately after we formulate an actual plan. I'll usually respond, "it sounds like a plan because it is a plan."
I don't think I can name any songs of Reba.
Oh joy, circles!
12 to FIR, never figured out the theme until RB 'splained it. 17 names, 4 DNKs. Perps decided between FRODO/BILBO, and BEAR/SEAL. LABATS/LABATT.
Overall a fun CW, thanx ZDL. You sailed the theme right over my head w/o a ripple. And I looked, trying to unscramble the circled letters.
That Waldo 'toon: wow, can anybody actually find Waldo in all that? AND how long did it take the cartoonist to draw all those figures? Another WOW.
Thanx too to RB for the outstanding write-up. That list of beers owned by AB surprised me. Corona 00 is the best of the non-alcoholic beers. If you like the taste of beer, but your liver no longer manages to deal with alcohol, it is a good choice.
Thanks, RB, for the acts plan eight shun!
Hi there~!
Similar solving experience, RB, had SETS before MEGS (fellow guitarist ), BILBO before FRODO; I tried MOLSON before LABATT, and sadly, went with ALTAR, not ORGAN [ sigh ]. I am still available for and needed repairs, though . . .
Well done with your takes on GORGE and BOOTY, too Rusty, thx~!
Good Morning:
Somehow I lost my lengthy post, so I’ll try to recapture the salient points. The fill was no problem due to the generous and helpful perps and a few correct WAGs. The theme, however, was a complete mystery until RB’s excellent explanation. After reading that, my opinion was: a forced theme with questionable homophonics. I can’t cry unfair or foul, though, because so many of you had no trouble deciphering the gimmick. I actually enjoyed the solve, despite not having a clue about the theme, although the difficulty level wasn’t Thursday-worthy.
Thanks, ZDL, and thanks, RB, for the concise synopsis of the theme and your unique humor. Loved the photo of the cute Skye! Those pretzels look yummy!
Have a great day.
The puzzle was fine, the theme however was incomprehensible.
I am 100% certain, that, if I were the one to come up with this theme it would have been rejected outright...
Bilbo before Frodo. (But isn't Bilbo always before Frodo?'
I liked outer bank=ATM...
Giant nose wrinkle at talking tos...
Pretzels soaked in Lye? There was a great good eats episode where Alton Brown explained it with lawyers, but to find it , you have to go thru a lot of sock puppets.... So here is his "soft pretzel" version with baking soda and egg yolk wash. (5:24)
Lastly, Anya from The Queens Gambit got me into playing chess again! Here is an online free site that I found to be a lot of fun!. If the link doesnt work, just type in online chess, and choose Lichess. It has none of the ads and other nonsense you find on the internet. You can play against any level of A.I., or real players. And if you sign up (for free) it will keep track of your games. My favorite thing to waste time is to do the puzzles, as in a preset situation where you have to find the best move, or moves...
here's some clips from The Queens Gambit if you have not seen it!
Also, a Brit driver sees a triangular sign that says “GIVE WAY” and not yield, and they leave their vehicle in a “car park”, not a parking lot. And if the time is 1:30, they don’t say “one thirty”, it’s “half one”.
LABATT Blue Light is my go-to.
I enjoyed the puzzle but the reveal was indeed lame. I decided not to spend any time thinking about what it was and relied on the Corner to clue me in and I wasn't disappointed with RB's explanation. Several unknowns but the perps were fare.
Ewe arc well come.
Took me almost 15 minutes to FIR w/out help, and I did figure the theme after completion, but I had to look at it for a bit before I got it. Like others, I thought of “sets” but didn’t insert it cuz 1A had to be MECCA. I’ve never heard the word ECLAT in conversation, and never knew the pronunciation till RB’s enlightenment. Block was quickly changed to BRICK. Perps needed for EDNA and ALEXA. I recently spent two days on the Isle of SKYE, didn’t see any of those terriers, but I did see about a million sheep and some Highland Cows, or as they say “coos”. Thanks ZDL for the puzzle, and to RB for the entertaining expo!
Hola! Thank you, ZDL, for the puzzle which I found to be fairly easy although I thought the clue for AGENCY was really obscure, but perps filled it. Same with EDNA.
CSO to LEMONADE, our prior longtime leader.
The clue for ATM was really clever, IMO.
Our church has both an ORGAN and a piano and together they create a great sound.
I liked seeing BRICK above ABODES!
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Transpose a couple letters in ABODES, and you’d get “adobes”, even more relevant below BRICK.
I can't help it if my shoulders are stooped.
Interesting and pleasant Thursday puzzle, Zachary--many thanks. And thanks to you, as always, Rusty, for your helpful commentary and neat pictures--enjoyed all that too.
Well, I probably should have CLASSED UP my knowledge about GOLF after seeing this morning's puzzle. Maybe I should liven up my GRAY MATTER a little to put me into a more SUPER POSITION to understand exactly what's going on here. So a GOLF player with considerable ECLAT LEFT our ACRE of the course, because he maybe had to go to an OXYGEN TENT for some treatment? I hope he got some, and that he's now feeling OKAY and COOL again. I'd advise him to drink some MANGO LEMONADE for lunch, before going to discuss that problem about that young visiting ALIEN with our program EXEC. If the kid looks skinny and weak maybe we should get him some STEW for lunch to perk him up. That might make him feel like he's in EDEN.
Well, that's about all I had to say today--hope I didn't sound too ASKEW. Have a good day, everybody.
Misty, I eschew “askew” as a way you sound.
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