Ryan Patrick Smith says he's a frequent moviegoer, and that my be his impetus for creating today's theme.
20. Cinematographer's assignment?: SHOOT YOUR SHOT. The cinematographer is the director of photography, and he tells the camera crew what to shot to shoot.
32. Screenwriter's assignment?: FORM A LINE. A screenwriter forms the actor's lines in screenplays for movies.
44. Costume designer's assignment?: PITCH A FIT. A costume designer pitches an idea, then creates the clothes that are custom fit to the actors.
56. Director's assignment?: GET THE PICTURE. The director manages the entire creative and narrative vision of a motion picture, and gets it all on film.
This was a fun one, although I initially thought the themers might have something to do with ball-playing (SHOOT... and PITCH...). Instead, they are all common phrases clued as assignments for a movie crew. My only nit was their order - I'd like writing first, then costumes, followed by filming and the final picture. But I have some OCD tendencies, so take that with a grain of salt...and some butter!
That was Take 1. Here are the rest of the shots:
Across:
1. Like a specialized committee: AD HOC. AD HOC is a Latin phrase meaning "for this." In English, it describes a solution or committee created for a specific, short-term purpose.
6. Qualified: ABLE.
10. Sheer delight: GLEE.
14. Ready to drop: WEARY.
15. Squander: BLOW.
16. Wet and squirmy: EELY.
17. Springsteen portrayer Jeremy __ White: ALLEN. The Boss personally handpicked Jeremy for the lead role, and approved his singing on all of the songs. I recently enjoyed him the in the final season of The Bear about a restaurant in Chicago.
 |
| Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White |
18. __ carotene: BETA. I prefer alpha carotene, it's one better.
19. Athletic brand: NIKE. In 1971, NIKE co-founder Bill Bowerman famously invented the innovative "waffle sole" by pouring liquid urethane directly into his wife's waffle iron. She hit him with a frying pan, and he's been running ever since.
20. [theme]
23. Short greetings: HIS.
24. Straight, for short: HET. HETerosexual.
25. Make an alliance: TEAM UP.
28. Novel that inspired "There Will Be Blood": OIL. Another great book about how OIL became king is The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize winning history of the global petroleum industry from the 1850s to 1990. Although written decades ago, it is still considered the definitive history of Big Oil.
29. Opposite of sans: AVEC. Sans = without; AVEC = with. From the French describing whether to add ketchup to fries or not.
31. Many a Chiwere language student: OTO.
32. [theme]
36. Toys with tails: KITES. Toys with tails: PEKES.
 |
| Pekingese flying a colorful tail |
38. Nutrient in spinach: IRON. That's why Popeye was strong to the finich.
39. "Srsly!?": OMG NO. Seriously!? This piece of text-speak is dead center in the puzzle!? Oh, My God, No!
41. iPhone helper: SIRI. iPhone spy: Also SIRI.
42. "Ghostbusters" actor Harold: RAMIS. Harold also co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Aykroyd.
44. [theme]
46. Question in reply to "omw," maybe: ETA. "On My Way." "What's your Estimated Time of Arrival?"
47. "Anyone __?": ELSE.
49. Detroit labor org.: UAW. United Auto Workers.
50. Town in Ontario County, New York: SENECA.
52. The works: ALL.
53. Aves. and blvds.: RDS. Avenues and boulevards are ROADS...but I wrote STS (streets) first.
56. [theme]
60. Low on dough: POOR. Since RightBrain started making sourdough bread, we're never low on dough...except after shopping for it.
62. Zither kin: HARP. On a zither, the 4 to 5 strings nearest to the player run over a fretted fingerboard and are played like on a guitar to create notes. The remaining 25 to 35 un-fretted accompanying strings stretch across the rest of the soundbox and are plucked by the fingers of the right hand to provide chords and bass.
 |
| I think I'll stick to guitar. |
63. Sound that comes from on high: YODEL. In 1968, NBC higher-ups famously interrupted an exciting AFL football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets to air Heidi. While the Alpine movie ran, the Raiders scored two stunning touchdowns in the final minute to win the game. Oh boy, did the fans YODEL! Afterwards, networks were contractually stipulated to show all game telecasts to their conclusion.
64. Volkswagen Group subsidiary: AUDI. The VW Group includes AUDI and ten other brands, as well as Ducati motorcycles and some truck lines. Due to marketing pressures, they recently announced plans to cut their global vehicle lineup by 50%.
65. Like supervillains: EVIL.
66. Hall of Famer Shaquille: ONEAL. The little fella has 12-inch wide hands that dwarf a water bottle.
67. Get out of bed: RISE.
68. French jeweler and glassmaker Lalique: RENE. RENE may not be familiar to you as he died 80 years ago, but his pieces reside in museums around the world. Let me rephrase that: his creations reside in museums...
69. Bookish sorts: NERDS.
Down:
1. Teeming (with): AWASH.
2. Metropolis in north-central India: DELHI.
3. The MLB's Angels, to fans: HALOS. Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels.
4. Cookie with a limited-edition BTS collaboration: OREO. These OREOS feature purple wafer cookies with a brown sugar pancake flavor inspired by Korean street food (hotteok). And they have 13 different designs! They sound awful, the cookies, not the band.
 |
| Collect (but do not eat) them all! |
5. "Harriet" and "Wicked" Oscar nominee Erivo: CYNTHIA. The British actress and singer has been nominated for the complete EGOT set, and has won all but the Oscar so far. She only 39, so I'm sure she'll get there.
6. Monastery leader: ABBOT. Although sometimes Costello took the lead.
7. Veal cordon __: BLEU.
8. Tolkien saga, briefly: LOTR. The epic trilogy Lord Of The Rings.
9. Old mice and such: EWASTE. "What did you whippersnappers call us?"
 |
| We're not EWASTE! |
10. Italian salami city: GENOA. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...seeking a shorter route to DELHI for some lunch meat.
11. Recurring melodic phrase: LEITMOTIF. A LEITMOTIF is usually associated with a specific person, place or thing - like the menacing two-note "shark theme" from Jaws.
12. Big grazer: ELK.
13. Cornea locale: EYE.
21. Mello __ soda: YELLO.
 |
| With apologies to Donovan. |
22. "Dang!": HECK.
26. Gestation sites: UTERI.
27. Put forth: POSIT.
28. High-end hotel chain: OMNI.
29. "Concrete Rose" novelist Thomas: ANGIE. ANGIE started by writing lists before becoming a bestselling author.
30. Dryer outlet: VENT.
32. S'mores cookers: FIRES.
33. Speak from a rostrum: ORATE. "Friends, ROMANs, countrymen..."
34. Namesakes of most planets: ROMAN GODS. The word "planet" comes from the ancient Greek word for "wanderer." This was later changed to Roamin'.
35. Little devils: IMPS.
37. "That didn't escape my notice": I SAW. I spy through my OCULI...
40. Windows shaped like 13-Downs: OCULI. "Oculus" is a Latin word that translates to "eye". OCULI are circular or oval windows, or a circular opening at the top of a dome. Keep an eye out for one when in Rome.
 |
| The Pantheon |
43. Product of a schism: SECT.
45. Golden, as bygone days: HALCYON. HALCYON means calm, peaceful, and happy, often used to describe an idyllic time in the past.
48. Foam: LATHER.
51. Otherworldly: EERIE.
52. Waldorf salad fruit: APPLE. Here's a hilarious scene from
53. Less polite: RUDER. RUDER looks wrong for some reason.
54. Trepidation: DREAD.
55. Exchanges for money: SELLS. As opposed to bartering, which is the direct exchange of goods or services without using money. Having my own business, I've occasionally bartered my services for things such as kitchen counter tops, a new garage door, and even Dolphin football tickets.
57. Order at a restaurant: HAVE.
58. CNN anchor Burnett: ERIN. The news veteran has been at CNN for 15 years.
60. Target score in disc golf: PAR. Just like regular golf.
61. "Bien sûr": OUI. "Bien sûr" is French for "Of course!" as when asked if you want ketchup on your fries.
And that's a wrap.
Be good. RB
I’d call this a
ReplyDeletecombination of the obscure and the obvious.
But, on the whole, it wasn’t TOO bad.
FIR, so I’m happy,
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteNot again! That G smack dab in the middle eluded me. OM_NO cried for a vowel, but AN_IE cried for a consonant. Guess who landed on OMMNO/ANNIE? Bzzzzzzt. Sezst lah vye. OIL evokes the 25+ years I spent in the "awl patch." I worked for three different companies. Each one got "swallered up" and no longer exists. Thanx, Ryan and Rusty.
Bertha's due to arrive later today. Sounds like it'll be a nothing-burger.
My history from OMNNO to G, exactly! Great minds….
DeleteFIR, but ramus->RAMIS, sts->RDS, and thanks to one last review before peeking, annie->ANGIE. Had to wait to determine which of the many spelings of ONEAL Shaq needed, and to play "where does the 'H' go?" for DELHI.
ReplyDeleteMost Americans say gen-O-a, but sailors say GEN-oa. It's a front sail that is characterized by overlapping the mast.
Thanks to Ryan for the challenge, and to Rusty Brain for the punny tour.
FIR. I got this one done despite all the proper names sprinkled throughout. The crossing of Angie and OMG NO almost did me in.
ReplyDeleteI get the theme but take exception to "shoot your shot". That seemed a bit of a stretch to me.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
Thank you, Ryan.
ReplyDeleteIt is Thursday. The only thing completely new to me was LEITMOTIF.
I POSIT that many will find this puzzle relatively easy for a Thursday. OTOH, the theme might not be so obvious. There's something going on with these action idioms. I can't put my finger on it. I'm going to bite the bullet, and go to the review to find out what I'm missing.
RustyBrain's assignment? SPILL THE BEANS
Back later.
When I was teaching project management to mid-career adults, one of the things we discussed was how the use of what we think are mainstream idioms can lead to misunderstanding. I was amazed at how many didn't know "zero in on," "do an end-run," and others.
DeleteThe first long answer had me puzzled. The others thank goodness made sense, so I persevered.
ReplyDeleteYes, lots of easy fills, but 5 UNK names such as ALLEN, RAMIS, CYNTHIA, ANGIE, ERIN. There’s that hotel again, OMNI and of course some OREOs. It’s amazing the number of ways that little cookie can be clued.
When I say the word series, SIRI thinks I’m summoning it and it offers help. That little sneak is always listening. Lalique crystal creations are gorgeous.
Thank you RB for a great review.
Took 5:57 to produce the ending.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actress of the Day (Cynthia), but not the writer (Angie), nor did I know most of the French (oui & avec, but I knew bleu). Oto/Chiwere and "het" were also new.
I've heard "leitmotif" a couple times, but I think they were in crosswords.
FIR - but leitmotif coupled with pitchafit and DNK Angie caused fits for awhile. Better puzzle than yesterday!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I’m no grammarian, but I agree in that I thought the correct usage of less polite would be ‘more rude’ vs ruder…?
ReplyDeleteI think Ryan's challenge today proved to be humorous, thought-provoking, and overall Thursday-appropriate. For the four theme answers he took common phrases and idioms and applied them to movie-making. The connection in one or two of the themes was perhaps a mite farfetched, and one was frankly redundant (SHOOTYOURSHOT), but I think overall Ryan succeeded.
ReplyDeleteLeitmotif (an Anglicizing of the German word leitmotiv) goes back to the 19th century and the works of Richard Wagner. In the two centuries since, leitmotif has entered most music genres. You'll hear it in everything from "Star Wars" to the Super Mario franchise. Throughout "Jaws," whenever you hear that familiar two-note theme, you know, uh-oh, here comes the shark.
Thanks, Ryan, for an amusing and thoughtful exercise. And thanks, RB, for the helpful explication and recap.
Musings
ReplyDelete-SHOOT YOUR SHOT made me think the gimmick might be “do your own thing!”
-LEITMOTIF, Ms. Erivo and that ANGIE provided speed bumps and (temporary) learning
-Sometimes teams win a game and sometimes the other team BLOWS it
-TEAM UP: Choosing up sides on the playground is one of life’s hard lessons and couldn’t be RUDER
-OMG, I put in KITES for toys with a tail and it must have corrected itself somehow
-O’Neal was a dominant scorer and a lousy free throw shooter so teams would foul him intentionally near the end of a close game. That tactic became known as Hack-A-Shaq.
-E-WASTE: My old Apple IIe worked just fine but I traded up.
-The salami is pronounced JEN o wha. The Nebraska city is pronounce jen NO uh.
-HALCYON days: The older I get, the better I was
-I'm off to chase PAR on a very nice day. This weekend temps in the 100's return.
Thank you, Thursday! DNK the novel, the native American language, Lalique's first name, the novelist, or the CNN anchor, but perps were much kinder than yesterday, and I FIR! Yesterday we were chatting about OMNI being clued as a high-end hotel chain, and there it was again today! This bothers me more than the ASAP/STAT debate! ;-) It all depends on your frame of reference. Omni outranks Motel 6.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks to Ryan Patrick and to Rusty Brain. Our faith in crosswords is restored.
Naomi, thanks to the crossword clue databases OMNI shall forevermore be known as an upscale hotel chain.
DeleteHola! This was fairly easy for a Friday. Thank you, Ryan Patrick Smith. I saw CYNTHIA Erivo on TV and absolutely cringed at the ring in her nose. I really hate that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had ANNIE instead of ANGIE so made a mess of that section.
Otherwise, I did GET THE PICTURE. I love the word HALCYON.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
It's Thursday.
DeleteOr as my luck's been going, it's the fourth Monday of the week.
DeleteFIR in 15, but did not have fun doing the CW. In fact, I haven't been having fun with the CWs in a while, and may quit altogether. These "crosswords" are gradually turning into "crossnames" using too many names I DNK. Usually I can get them with PERPs, but, I don't know. I just am not having fun solving these anymore.
ReplyDeleteThanx anyway, RPS, I do appreciate your skill at creating this CW.
Thanx too to RB for the terrific write-up.
First read-through was not promising; but it filled easily from the bottom, up.
ReplyDeleteI mostly liked this puzzle. Thank you, Ryan Patrick Smith, for constructing and submitting it.
ReplyDeleteMy nose wrinklers include only these two: EELY and OMG NO.
Plenty of sparkly fill, including: WEARY (reminds of the theme song to that old TV show "The King of Queens"), SENECA, EWASTE, LEITMOTIF (yep, I think of Richard Wagner), ROMAN GODS, OCULI, HALCYON (a terrific word!), and LATHER.
Thank you, Rusty Brain, for the informative write-up.
Good reading all your comments.
Here's what Bing has to add about Pink Floyd's The Wall::
Delete"Fans and critics alike have noted how the motif becomes a “thread of tension” running through the album, making it easier to follow the narrative and feel the emotional arc Reddit. Its recurrence is so consistent that once you hear it, you start picking it out in multiple tracks.
In short, the LEITMOTIF is not just a musical device — it’s a narrative and emotional anchor for The Wall, helping to unify the rock opera’s story and deepen its impact."
Where, oh where, is our storyteller, Miss Misty?
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well, Misty. (me above)
DeleteNice Thursday-level cruise compliments of Mssr. RPS. Yeah, a bit fat on the names, but as noted the perps made them tolerable — although I would bow in awe to a constructor that builds us a CW with no proper names in it 🙏🏼
ReplyDeleteDuring my long career, I spent thousands of nights in hotels, everything from mom-and-pop flea holes and Motel 6’s to Ritz Carlton’s. Omni is up there in the higher tier of quality and service.
Speaking of which: RB, you were in too-tier
(🤬 inadvertently hit Publish on my tiny phone screen…)
ReplyDeleteRB, you were in top-tier form today — “alpha carotene, it’s one better!” You sound like Nigel Tuffnell 😆 and “French fries avec ketchup” (I prefer 1,000 Island). “I spy with my OCULI”, brilliant. And the piéce de resistance, “René’s pieces” — maybe in the French version of “E.T.”? Great stuff, keep on with it, Mr. Brain 🤙🏽😎
====> Darren / L.A.
Oops! All day today I've been thinking it was Friday! I see now that it's Thursday. I almost lost a day!
ReplyDelete