(Note from C.C.: Lemonade still feels quite weak from his surgeries. D-Otto blogged today's puzzle.)
Theme: FUZZY MATH - Each math term is re-phrased as non-math.
“Fuzzy math” has a couple of very different meanings. In one sense, it can describe the way a politician defends his pie-in-the-sky spending plan. It’s also a valid field of math related to fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory. I’m not sure this puzzle fits either of those meanings. To me, it just seems to be a smattering of unrelated, but weirdly-clued, two-word math expressions:
17A. Bizarre entr'acte? : ODD NUMBER
25A. Cue from the wings? : LINE SEGMENT
37A. L.A. or N.Y. publishing equipment? : TIMES TABLES (Equipment?)
49A. Upbringing involving unhip oldies? : SQUARE ROOTS
And the reveal…
61A. It doesn't add up ... except as a hint to 17-, 25-, 37- and 49-Across : FUZZY MATH
This is another of the frequent collaborations from Jeff and Seth. We’ve seen Jeff here many times. Seth teaches computer science to grade school kids in California. He writes about his joint efforts with Jeff: “In the Pro-Am circuit of puzzles, he (Jeff) is definitely the Pro, and I'm the Am.” (Sorta like the cornerites’ collaborations with C.C.)
Let’s see what Jeff’s and Seth’s integration has wrought...
Across:
1. Ike, in the '50s : PREZ
5. Suffix for "leader" : ARCH. As in monARCH, oligARCH, etc. Had to think about it before the light went on.
9. Stopped to think : MUSED. My first guess.
14. First female attorney general : RENO. Janet was in charge during the Branch Davidian debacle in Waco. She passed away last November. There’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about her here.
15. Animal in una arena : TORO. “Una arena” tells us the answer will be Spanish.
16. Fester, e.g. : UNCLE. Morticia’s Uncle Fester on the Addams Family.
19. Historic name in India : MAHAL. As in the Taj. Tried NEHRU first.
20. "Millennium" trilogy author Larsson : STIEG/ The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. Have you read them? I thought they were pretty good.
21. "It's go time" : I’M UP (Meh!)
23. It's little when it's white : LIE. Probably my favorite clue in this puzzle.
29. Enter furtively : EDGE IN. Sneak and Steal in were too long.
31. Locks removed at night? : TOUPEE. Voted second favorite clue.
32. Curb : REIN Another first guess.
33. Reserved box, maybe : VIP SEAT (Meh #2)
40. Apt : GERMANE. No relation to Jermaine Jackson.
41. Sleazy gaze : LEER Not OGLE this time.
44. Sanction : PERMIT
47. "Open wide!" : SAY AAH
53. It's quite a mess : STY
54. Land of Freud: Abbr. : AUS tria
55. Flush, in Tijuana : RICO. Rich, no relation to Rich Norris.
56. Try to strike : HIT AT
58. Beamed : LIT UP
63. Muse of memory : MNEME. Looked really weird, until I remembered “mnemonic.” She was one of the original three muses. Later there were nine.
64. Hightail it : FLEE
65. Limo destination : PROM. Commonplace today. LIMOs were unheard of at the proms of my ute.
66. Accord, for one : SEDAN. Honda.
67. A or B, for the record : SIDE Those good ole 45’s with the big whole in the middle.
68. Figs. that are never intentionally reused : SSNs The first three digits once signified the area where the card was issued. No more. Soon Medicare will begin issuing cards with non-SSN numbers. I carry my Medicare card, but I’ve blacked out all but the last 4 digits.
Down:
1. Do quite well : PROSPER
2. Destructive algal bloom : RED TIDE
3. Writing a "Dear John" letter, say : ENDING IT
4. Lose focus, with "out" : ZONE
5. It requires a 24-Across : ATM (24A: See 5-Down. PIN)
6. Hood of folklore : ROBIN
7. Eclair filling : CREME Tried CREAM first.
8. Egyptian sky god : HORUS No relation to Horace Greeley.
9. Quiet : MUM
10. Feminine article in Italy : UNA Second appearance today – see 15a.
11. Haul : SCHLEP Dutch-German origin. I’ll bet Spitz knew that.
12. Sitcom character who dated baseball's Keith Hernandez : ELAINE Thank you, perps.
13. Insert neighbor, on PCs : DELETE Did you cheat? On my keyboard it’s directly below Insert.
18. Wrinkly hybrid : UGLI
22. Beatle for two years : PETE BEST
26. DC-to-AC electronic device : INVERTER If you’ve got solar photo-voltaic panels on your roof, you need an INVERTER to make the power usable.
27. "Scoooooooooore!" : GOAL Soccer (or futbol).
28. Without a sound : MUTELY Without a spoken word, perhaps, not necessarily soundless.
30. Baffler : ENIGMA The machine.
34. Ending for many schools : ISM Capitalism, socialism, communism, ad nauseum...
35. Fundraising sch. group : PTA
36. Franciscan leader? : SAN San Francisco
38. Milwaukee schoolteacher who went on to lead Israel : MEIR Golda, who became Prime Minister.
39. Typically five-armed marine invertebrates : SEA STARS
42. Go whole hog on Thanksgiving : EAT A TON
43. Beats : RHYTHMS (Weird letter combinations)
44. Biblical collection : PSALMS (Weird letter combinations part 2)
45. Track runner : EQUINE i.e. a horse.
46. Suffered from neglect, in a way : RUSTED
48. Hardly hale : ASHY (I guess they mean “pale” or “wan.”)
50. Jazz improvisations : RIFFS
51. Eyelike openings : OCULI
52. Slowly exuded : OOZED
57. Cheeky tykes : IMPS
59. She played Mia in "Pulp Fiction" : UMA Thurman
60. __ name : PEN The male swan has a cob name.
62. Part of a dazzling duo? : ZEE daZZling.
It wasn’t a slog, but this one just didn’t do it for me. Your mileage may differentiate. Thanks for the effort, Jeff and Seth.
As you read this, I’ll be at the Medical Center having a routine EGD – not to be confused with a GED. Desper-otto out (literally).
Theme: FUZZY MATH - Each math term is re-phrased as non-math.
“Fuzzy math” has a couple of very different meanings. In one sense, it can describe the way a politician defends his pie-in-the-sky spending plan. It’s also a valid field of math related to fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory. I’m not sure this puzzle fits either of those meanings. To me, it just seems to be a smattering of unrelated, but weirdly-clued, two-word math expressions:
17A. Bizarre entr'acte? : ODD NUMBER
25A. Cue from the wings? : LINE SEGMENT
37A. L.A. or N.Y. publishing equipment? : TIMES TABLES (Equipment?)
49A. Upbringing involving unhip oldies? : SQUARE ROOTS
And the reveal…
61A. It doesn't add up ... except as a hint to 17-, 25-, 37- and 49-Across : FUZZY MATH
This is another of the frequent collaborations from Jeff and Seth. We’ve seen Jeff here many times. Seth teaches computer science to grade school kids in California. He writes about his joint efforts with Jeff: “In the Pro-Am circuit of puzzles, he (Jeff) is definitely the Pro, and I'm the Am.” (Sorta like the cornerites’ collaborations with C.C.)
Let’s see what Jeff’s and Seth’s integration has wrought...
Across:
1. Ike, in the '50s : PREZ
5. Suffix for "leader" : ARCH. As in monARCH, oligARCH, etc. Had to think about it before the light went on.
9. Stopped to think : MUSED. My first guess.
14. First female attorney general : RENO. Janet was in charge during the Branch Davidian debacle in Waco. She passed away last November. There’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about her here.
15. Animal in una arena : TORO. “Una arena” tells us the answer will be Spanish.
16. Fester, e.g. : UNCLE. Morticia’s Uncle Fester on the Addams Family.
19. Historic name in India : MAHAL. As in the Taj. Tried NEHRU first.
20. "Millennium" trilogy author Larsson : STIEG/ The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. Have you read them? I thought they were pretty good.
21. "It's go time" : I’M UP (Meh!)
23. It's little when it's white : LIE. Probably my favorite clue in this puzzle.
29. Enter furtively : EDGE IN. Sneak and Steal in were too long.
31. Locks removed at night? : TOUPEE. Voted second favorite clue.
32. Curb : REIN Another first guess.
33. Reserved box, maybe : VIP SEAT (Meh #2)
40. Apt : GERMANE. No relation to Jermaine Jackson.
41. Sleazy gaze : LEER Not OGLE this time.
44. Sanction : PERMIT
47. "Open wide!" : SAY AAH
53. It's quite a mess : STY
54. Land of Freud: Abbr. : AUS tria
55. Flush, in Tijuana : RICO. Rich, no relation to Rich Norris.
56. Try to strike : HIT AT
58. Beamed : LIT UP
63. Muse of memory : MNEME. Looked really weird, until I remembered “mnemonic.” She was one of the original three muses. Later there were nine.
64. Hightail it : FLEE
65. Limo destination : PROM. Commonplace today. LIMOs were unheard of at the proms of my ute.
66. Accord, for one : SEDAN. Honda.
67. A or B, for the record : SIDE Those good ole 45’s with the big whole in the middle.
68. Figs. that are never intentionally reused : SSNs The first three digits once signified the area where the card was issued. No more. Soon Medicare will begin issuing cards with non-SSN numbers. I carry my Medicare card, but I’ve blacked out all but the last 4 digits.
Down:
1. Do quite well : PROSPER
2. Destructive algal bloom : RED TIDE
3. Writing a "Dear John" letter, say : ENDING IT
4. Lose focus, with "out" : ZONE
5. It requires a 24-Across : ATM (24A: See 5-Down. PIN)
6. Hood of folklore : ROBIN
7. Eclair filling : CREME Tried CREAM first.
8. Egyptian sky god : HORUS No relation to Horace Greeley.
9. Quiet : MUM
10. Feminine article in Italy : UNA Second appearance today – see 15a.
11. Haul : SCHLEP Dutch-German origin. I’ll bet Spitz knew that.
12. Sitcom character who dated baseball's Keith Hernandez : ELAINE Thank you, perps.
13. Insert neighbor, on PCs : DELETE Did you cheat? On my keyboard it’s directly below Insert.
18. Wrinkly hybrid : UGLI
22. Beatle for two years : PETE BEST
26. DC-to-AC electronic device : INVERTER If you’ve got solar photo-voltaic panels on your roof, you need an INVERTER to make the power usable.
27. "Scoooooooooore!" : GOAL Soccer (or futbol).
28. Without a sound : MUTELY Without a spoken word, perhaps, not necessarily soundless.
30. Baffler : ENIGMA The machine.
34. Ending for many schools : ISM Capitalism, socialism, communism, ad nauseum...
35. Fundraising sch. group : PTA
36. Franciscan leader? : SAN San Francisco
38. Milwaukee schoolteacher who went on to lead Israel : MEIR Golda, who became Prime Minister.
39. Typically five-armed marine invertebrates : SEA STARS
42. Go whole hog on Thanksgiving : EAT A TON
43. Beats : RHYTHMS (Weird letter combinations)
44. Biblical collection : PSALMS (Weird letter combinations part 2)
45. Track runner : EQUINE i.e. a horse.
46. Suffered from neglect, in a way : RUSTED
48. Hardly hale : ASHY (I guess they mean “pale” or “wan.”)
50. Jazz improvisations : RIFFS
51. Eyelike openings : OCULI
52. Slowly exuded : OOZED
57. Cheeky tykes : IMPS
59. She played Mia in "Pulp Fiction" : UMA Thurman
60. __ name : PEN The male swan has a cob name.
62. Part of a dazzling duo? : ZEE daZZling.
It wasn’t a slog, but this one just didn’t do it for me. Your mileage may differentiate. Thanks for the effort, Jeff and Seth.
As you read this, I’ll be at the Medical Center having a routine EGD – not to be confused with a GED. Desper-otto out (literally).
