You Think You're Feta Than Me? We are in dairy country today where the first word of each theme answer is a type of cheese.
17-Across. Seth MacFarlane cartoon series: AMERICAN DAD. American cheese was invented in the 1910s by James L. Kraft (né James Lewis Kraft; Dec. 11, 1874 ~ Feb. 16, 1953), the founder of Kraft Foods Inc. He patented his manufacturing process in 1916.
26-Across. Conversation that might involve Jordan and LeBron: GOAT DEBATE. Both Michael Jordan (b. Feb. 17, 1963) and LeBron James (b. Dec. 30, 1984) may be considered the Greatest Of All Time basketball players. A brief history of Goat Cheese.
38-Across. Big lottery win: JACKPOT. Jack cheese, also known as Monterey Jack, is a mild, semi-hard white cheese made from cow's milk. What is the true origin of Jack Cheese?
52-Across. "Room" Best Actress Oscar winner: BRIE LARSON. Everything you ever wanted to know about Brie Cheese, but were afraid to inquire.
60-Across. Green Bay Packers fans, or what 17-, 26-, 38-, and 52-Across have: CHEESE HEADS. Note that the first part (or Head) of each phrase is a type of Cheese.
Here's the Grid:
I found this to be another challenging Tuesday puzzle.
Across:
1. Make red-faced: ABASH.
6. Feature of some Southern accents: TWANG.
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| A Twang so southern it is from New Zealand. |
11. Bread with caraway seeds:
RYE. Yummers!
Rye bread with caraway seeds is a hearty, dense loaf featuring an earthy rye flavor paired with the distinct citrusy, peppery, and anise-like taste of caraway.
14. Like unhelpful hints: VAGUE.
15. Civic-minded brand?: HONDA. Cute clue.
16. Snakelike fish: EEL.
19. Language in which "Baw pen nyang" means "It's nothing": LAO. The language of Laos.
20. Ballpark snack: FRANK.
21. Hotel customer: GUEST.
23. Lane of "Superman": LOIS.
29. Promises: ASSURES.
31. Solemn acts: RITES.
32. Letter before lambda: KAPPA. It's Greek to me.
33. Moral wrong: SIN.
34. Get a better loan rate, for short: RE-FI. As in ReFinance.
37. __ out a living: EKE.
42. __ sum: bite-sized Chinese fare: DIM. We went to a traditional Dim Sum at Maxim's Palace the last time we were in Hong Kong. There were so many tempting dishes to select from.
43. Truly engrossed: RAPT.
45. Quaker possessive: THY.
46. Running track shapes, often: OVALS.
48. Seven, in Spanish: SIETE. Today's Spanish math lesson.
50. Sea cow: MANATEE. A shout out to our very own Manatee.
55. Take a day off, say: REST.
56. Baggy: LOOSE.
57. __-frutti: TUTTI. Today's Italian lesson. Tutti frutti roughly translates from Italian as all fruits. It's also a Little Richard song.
59. Wine cask wood: OAK.
66. Carry-on screeners: Abbr.: TSA. As in Transportation Security Administration.
67. Bridgestone products: TIRES.
68. Bright courtyards: ATRIA. Today's Latin lesson. The word atria is the Latin plural of atrium, meaning the central room or entrance hall of an ancient Roman house.
69. "Charlotte's Web" enclosure:
STY. The the backstory of
Charlotte's Web.
70. Bowling score indicated by a slash: SPARE.
71. Used a keyboard: TYPED.
Down:
1. "Hacks" comedy writer Daniels: AVA. Ava Daniels is the fictional character in the sit-com Hacks. She was portrayed by Hannah Einbinder (b. May 21, 1995), who is the daughter of Laraine Newman (b. Mar. 2, 1952) of Saturday Night Live fame.
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| Laraine Newman with her daughter, Hannah |
2. Impact sound: BAM.
3. The "A" of A/S/L: AGE. Apparently this means Age, Sex, Location and was used in chat rooms.
4. "Let's catch some waves!": SURF'S UP.
5. Whodunit suspect: HEIR.
6. Marvel villain played by Josh Brolin: THANOS. I am not up on my Marvel villains.
7. Fictional chocolatier:
WONKA. As in
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It as an adaptation of the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by
Roald Dahl (Sept. 13, 1916 ~ Nov. 23, 1990).
8. "On top of that ... ": AND.
9. Secrecy doc: NDA. As in a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
10. Gizmo: GADGET.
11. Information on a movie poster: RELEASE DATE.
12. Baker's supply: YEAST.
13. Mexican corn dish: ELOTE. Yummers!
18. Bird house?: CAGE.
22. App with a Women Drivers option: UBER.
23. L.A. NBAer: LAKER.
24. Honshu port city: OSAKA. Honshu is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. Osaka is the second largest city in Japan.
25. Server's query after a drink order, perhaps: IS PEPSI OKAY? No, Pepsi is NOT okay.
27. Journey: TRIP.
28. T. rex, for one: DINO.
30. TV friend of Sheldon and Howard: RAJ. A reference to The Big Bang Theory. I never saw the attraction of this show, but it was very popular.
33. Cloud location: SKY.
35. Computer folder contents: FILES.
36. "Nothing for me, thanks!": I'M SET.
39. Flour for chapati and roti: ATTA. This wheat has been making frequent appearances in the puzzles.
40. "Believe" diva: CHER. It's hard to believe that Cher (née Cheryl Sarkisian; b. May 20, 1946) it 80 years old.
41. Heavy load: TON.
44. Formal neckwear: TIES.
47. Assortment: VARIETY.
49. Puts in office: ELECTS. Election day is coming up. I'll be glad when it's over.
50. Styling foam: MOUSSE.
51. Poker stake: ANTE.
52. Rorschach test shapes: BLOTS.
53. Cook in an oven: ROAST.
54. Pilot: STEER.
58. The one there: THAT.
61. __-hop music: HIP.
62. Slice of history: ERA.
63. Dada artist Jean: ARP. Jean Arp (né Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp; Sept. 16, 1886 ~ June 7, 1966) used to make frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.
64. Monopoly cube: DIE.
65. Melancholy: SAD.
Don't be Sad the puzzle is completely. Just provide us with your comments.
Not the easiest
ReplyDeleteTuesday puzzle, by any means, but at least the reveal was helpful.
FIR, so I’m happy.
FIW. I guessed right at AVA x VAcUE.; wrong at AcE x VAcUE. Never heard of A/S/L, and assumed that Patti was force-feeding us another lesson from her gender primer.
ReplyDeleteBack when I drank sodas I preferred PEPSI, but it was easier to order a Coke. Most places with fountain drinks offer one or the other, with gas station convenience stores being exceptions. PEPSIco ownership of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC gave Coke salespeople a powerful sales slogan - "don't feather the nest of your competitor." To counter that, PEPSIco spun off the restaurants into Yum! Brands.
Thanks to Zachary and Shannon for the tough Tuesday grid, and to Ha2la for the excellent review. Loved that crossword-adorned room.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up only 50 miles from Green Bay, d-o can relate to this CHEESE HEADS theme. In my ute we'd drop by the cheese factory in our little town about 1PM, after the still-warm curd had been sliced and salted. It was like squeaky popcorn. Yum. The LA LAKER name makes more sense when you learn the team moved from Minnesota to LA around 1960. The Wite-Out only came out to correct DRAWL to TWANG. Nice one, Shannon. Great cartoons today, Hahtoolah, as usual.
In the South, coke is often used as any variety of soda.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hatoolah, for all of the great cartoons and for the shout out at 50 Across.
ReplyDeleteFIR. I got off to a rocky start with the NW remaining blank for some time. Additionally I did not know Thanos since I'm not a fan. Also the "GOAT" reference was unknown. This was basically harder than most Tuesday puzzles.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side I picked up on the theme quickly and was able to get all the various cheeses.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI went astray right away with Shame/Abash, and Willy/Wonka, both of which slowed me down. The A/S/L had me stymied for a while, thinking it could be American Sign Language, but that wouldn’t work. After correcting Shame to Abash, everything fell into place and the puzzle was solved. I liked the theme but the reveal came too early and made the rest of the solve too easy and quick.
Thanks, Zachary and Shannon, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the entertaining and informative review. The comics were great, as usual, with the Jack/Swiss rivalry, Crossword scene of the crime room, and the empty bird cage being my favorites.
Have a great day.
The whole North pretty much stayed blank, except for one wrong entry, drawl, until I finished the lower part of this puzzle. When I returned North and came up with AMERICAN DAD, I filled most of the clues except the NW. DNK AVA, entered AmE for AGE. So DNF. On a Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteThe theme finally became clear at BRIE LARSON. The reveal was easy then.
I can never remember ELOTE, since it’s never been concrete for me, and IS PEPSI OKAY was also hard to come by.
Anyway, thank you Hahtoolah for the many cheese cartoons and all the good info.
found this one very straightforward, 4:23 to solve with the only mistake being "anger" in 1A. For some reason I saw the matrix on "is pepsi okay" even though that is an obviously insane clue. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI struggled a bit, because I don’t even know who Seth MacFarlane is, let alone his cartoon series. Same with the “Room”, best actress. Throw in comparisons of Jordan and LeBron and I couldn’t think of them as sports “goats” (my thought was losers, not greats). Then the cheese theme hit me, and I was able to finish the puzzle, but FIW. I thought ASL had something to do with American Sign Language, and also had no clue who wrote “Hacks”, considering I never even heard of “Hacks”.
ReplyDeleteFor over 20 years, we gather with some friends on Christmas Day in Houston’s Chinatown for dim sum. Standing room only and a 1/2 hour wait for tables. The mall and even the grocery store are all open. It is my favorite Christmas tradition although we usually pass on the “chicken feet".
Crunchier by half compared to yesterday. I’m no cheese whiz but BRIE is a stand alone word for a type of cheese unlike the other theme answers. Cheese that’s not a cheese?: HEAD CHEESE
ReplyDeleteKnow ELOTA from CWs. Liked “Civic minded”’ HONDA. WEES re: A/S/L
Started to fill ”Family Guy” (one of my favorites) for AMERICAN DAD but too short. My grandkids (all teens now) are getting too old for Grand DAD jokes. “Whaddya call a female MANATEE? … a womantee 🙄
I don’t believe Fred’s pet DINO is a T. rex unless he’s a puppy (or whatever you call baby dinosaurs)🦖
Let’s be ____ about what’s in a hot dog… FRANK
“BAM”! The sound of _____ ABASH.
Time to re-up on a renter’s contract : RELEASE DATE
Not a lotta money:____ sum…DIM
Loved the all the toons
Have a great day 😊
Musings
ReplyDelete-“New to me” cluing for VAGUE, HEIR and AGE provided for an interesting start and incorrect DRAWL didn’t help. :-)
-Sunday as a day of rest is a very quaint notion these days
-You can see this potentially watchable movie’s RELEASE DATE and we might shell out some bucks for a real-life chocolatier.
-Not only is COKE the only cola served in Disney World,it offers colas from around the world in it at Club Cool in EPCOT