Theme: You .... you .... PUZZLE, you ... Paired phonemes at the start of the five theme entries.
18A. Inspiration for a chewy candy : JUJUBE FRUIT. Food! Also known as the "Chinese date" (or 红枣) amongst 30-odd other names. C.C. can check my Mandarin spelling. (From C.C.: The dates in your picture are exactly the kind I grew up with, Steve. My grandma had two date trees. 红枣 are pronounced "Hong Zao", literally "red dates".)
28A. Horns banned at the 2014 World Cup : VUVUZELAS. This was singularly the best thing FIFA has ever done. I love the World Cup - I watched every game in the 2014 tournament except one - those horns would have driven me crazy, literally.
39A. Colorful island dresses : MUUMUUS. I had "MOUMOUS" first before I realized I was being something of a dummy by ignoring the theme. If you're going to be strict about it, "MUUMUU" would be the plural in the original Hawaiian - there's no "S" in the Hawaiian alphabet and plurals are spelt the same as the singular noun form.
47A. Yoga-inspired athletic apparel brand : LULULEMON. Notorious for the pants being more sheer than intended. I was out on my bike for a Sunday half-century ride last year and I was passed by a girl wearing a pair on a fixed-gear sprint bike. How I didn't eat pavement I have no idea. I did manage to keep up with her for a good five miles though - of course I was just drafting off her rear wheel, honestly.
59A. Dish at a 37-Down : PUPU PLATTER. More hawai'ian. Why not PUUPUU or MUMU? We should be told.
Morning all! I hope there are no post-St Patrick's Day hangovers to deal with today, and if there are, remember it's a self-inflicted injury so you get no sympathy. We haven't seen Ryan's name before, so congratulations on a fine debut. This actually reminds me of a "C.C."-style puzzle with a neat theme and some nice long downs. There's no reveal entry as the theme is pretty self-evident once the solution starts to come together. It's an 80 word-count grid, which means a lot of 3's and 4's, but I didn't particularly notice that while I was solving, so that's a good sign. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Cellist's need : BOW. Not if you're playing pizzicato-style. Let's cue Yo-Yo and some Bach.
4. North of Colombia : NORTE. I like these "in another language" style of clues.
9. P.T. goal : REHAB. Physical Therapy.
14. In a style resembling : A LA. Here's one of my Food! favorites - Daube a la Provençale - basically beef stewed in red wine.
15. Make less dangerous : UNARM. I would use "disarm".
16. Clear : ERASE
17. Hipster : CAT. I view hipsters as more new-age, cats as old-school.
20. Doglike scavengers : HYENAS
22. Bird on Australia's coat of arms : EMU. Not emuu?
23. __-di-dah : LAH
24. "Frasier" role : ROZ
25. Run __: find : ACROSS
31. Tons : A PILE
35. Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN. He of the psychological conditioning fame.
36. Visual greeting : NOD
37. Peruvian wool sources : LLAMAS
38. "Yo, how's things?" : 'SUP? Greetings to Hipster Cat.
41. Game show VIPs : MC'S. Masters of Ceremonies. High-falutin' title.
42. Umpteen : A LOT OF. Tons and umpteens today.
44. "Hometown Proud" supermarket chain : IGA. Crosses all the way for me. I discover that my nearest IGA store is 70 miles away in a town I've never visited.
45. Give (out) : METE
46. It's a wrap : SARAN. Fun clue/answer.
49. Actor Piven of "Entourage" : JEREMY. Not familiar - I needed the crosses. He won a Golden Globe and three Emmys for his role in the show, so I guess he's pretty good at it!
51. __ trip : EGO
52. Master : ACE. Verb or noun? Either would work.
55. Kyoto cash : YEN
56. Hammerheads, e.g. : SHARKS. There's a comic strip in England called "The Pathetic Sharks". They can't swim without floaties and they faint at the sight of blood. Very "British" humor.
63. Electron-deficient particle, e.g. : ION
65. Pet problem? : PEEVE. Favorite clue/answer of the day.
66. Alias lead-in : AKA. Common enough now to have lost the abbreviation designation.
67. Crashed, so to speak : SLEPT. Hipster cats probably crash rather than sleep.
68. Closer : ENDER
69. Morning salmon : LOX. More Food! Loving this puzzle today. Most "lox" you see nowadays isn't really lox, more accurately it's "nova". It's much less salty than traditional lox.
Down:
1. One of music's Three Bs : BACH. We heard him at 1A if you clicked the link.
2. Maker of Regenerist skin care products : OLAY. I think we've had the OLAY/ULAY brand-name discussion before.
3. Steam : WATER VAPOR
4. Contemporary electronic music genre : NU JAZZ. Crosses to the rescue. At this point I was waiting for the pangram to show up, but in spite of all those "U"s, there's no "Q" to be found.
5. Weighty obligation : ONUS. If we share the burden, I guess the onus is on us.
6. Howard's best friend on "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJ. Crosses again. Thankfully, very approachable perps.
7. "Storage Hunters" network __TV : TRU. Belying the name of the network, the show is allegedly staged and the auctions are fake.
8. Bonfire leftovers : EMBERS
9. Turndowns : REFUSALS
10. Misspeak, say : ERR
11. Swag : HAUL
12. Where Bhutan is : ASIA. Landlocked country at the eastern end of the Himalayas. Cracking flag!
13. "Little Women" woman : BETH. The only sister with four letters. Jo, Amy and Meg are the others. Obviously, we never see Jo in the crosswords, but we meet her other sisters from time-to-time.
19. Rock genre : EMO. Does Hipster Cat listen to this genre or is it too depressing? Here's my favorite, courtesy of Green Day.
21. Any thing : NOUN
25. Felipe of baseball : ALOU. I prefer his Indian relative, Saag Alou, but I think he probably plays cricket.
26. Element in a rechargeable battery : CADMIUM. Nickel is the other element in the Ni-Cad.
27. Hydromassage facility : SPA
28. Travel papers : VISAS
29. Soft palate dangler : UVULA. A partial anagram of those annoying horns too.
30. Plenty, to texters : ENUF. Apparently I date myself by using correct punctuation and spelling in my texts. I read that if you capitalize the first letter in a text message you are guaranteed to be over 50. Guilty as charged.
32. Timeless : IMMEMORIAL. Wait, so "since time immemorial" means "since time timeless?" Doesn't sound right to me.
33. __-ovo vegetarian : LACTO. No meat. Dairy and eggs are OK though. When I went to India I became LOV for the duration of each trip, the "veg" food is so good.
34. Krupp Works city : ESSEN
37. Island bash : LUAU. Let's see if you were paying attention at the top of the blog. What do you call two of these?
39. Do-it-yourselfer's nightmare : MONEY PIT
40. Homely : UGLY
43. __ Mahal : TAJ
45. Start of something big? : MEGA
47. Delaware tribe : LENAPE. More learning for me today and the final fill.
48. Presidential debate moderator Jim : LEHRER
50. Seminary subj. : REL. Religion, I presume.
52. Big primates : APES
53. Select : CULL
54. Fencing blade : EPEE
56. Golf great Ballesteros : SEVE. Anyone who saw his victory fist-pump at the 1984 Open Championship at St. Andrews will never forget it. Sadly, he died in 2011 at the early age of 54 from brain cancer.
57. Gorilla who learned sign language : KOKO
58. Junk food, in adspeak : SNAX
60. Official at a base : UMP
61. Commonly used base : TEN. In my computing life I've used binary, octal and hexadecimal too. There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those that understand binary, and those that don't.
62. "Ideas worth spreading" conference acronym : TED. (Technology, Entertainment, Design).
Here's the grid, and as Eminem said to the music executive "It's a rap".
Steve
18A. Inspiration for a chewy candy : JUJUBE FRUIT. Food! Also known as the "Chinese date" (or 红枣) amongst 30-odd other names. C.C. can check my Mandarin spelling. (From C.C.: The dates in your picture are exactly the kind I grew up with, Steve. My grandma had two date trees. 红枣 are pronounced "Hong Zao", literally "red dates".)
28A. Horns banned at the 2014 World Cup : VUVUZELAS. This was singularly the best thing FIFA has ever done. I love the World Cup - I watched every game in the 2014 tournament except one - those horns would have driven me crazy, literally.
39A. Colorful island dresses : MUUMUUS. I had "MOUMOUS" first before I realized I was being something of a dummy by ignoring the theme. If you're going to be strict about it, "MUUMUU" would be the plural in the original Hawaiian - there's no "S" in the Hawaiian alphabet and plurals are spelt the same as the singular noun form.
47A. Yoga-inspired athletic apparel brand : LULULEMON. Notorious for the pants being more sheer than intended. I was out on my bike for a Sunday half-century ride last year and I was passed by a girl wearing a pair on a fixed-gear sprint bike. How I didn't eat pavement I have no idea. I did manage to keep up with her for a good five miles though - of course I was just drafting off her rear wheel, honestly.
59A. Dish at a 37-Down : PUPU PLATTER. More hawai'ian. Why not PUUPUU or MUMU? We should be told.
 |
| Food! Yay! |
Across:
1. Cellist's need : BOW. Not if you're playing pizzicato-style. Let's cue Yo-Yo and some Bach.
4. North of Colombia : NORTE. I like these "in another language" style of clues.
9. P.T. goal : REHAB. Physical Therapy.
14. In a style resembling : A LA. Here's one of my Food! favorites - Daube a la Provençale - basically beef stewed in red wine.
15. Make less dangerous : UNARM. I would use "disarm".
16. Clear : ERASE
17. Hipster : CAT. I view hipsters as more new-age, cats as old-school.
 |
| Hipster Cat |
22. Bird on Australia's coat of arms : EMU. Not emuu?
23. __-di-dah : LAH
24. "Frasier" role : ROZ
25. Run __: find : ACROSS
31. Tons : A PILE
35. Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN. He of the psychological conditioning fame.
36. Visual greeting : NOD
37. Peruvian wool sources : LLAMAS
38. "Yo, how's things?" : 'SUP? Greetings to Hipster Cat.
41. Game show VIPs : MC'S. Masters of Ceremonies. High-falutin' title.
42. Umpteen : A LOT OF. Tons and umpteens today.
44. "Hometown Proud" supermarket chain : IGA. Crosses all the way for me. I discover that my nearest IGA store is 70 miles away in a town I've never visited.
45. Give (out) : METE
46. It's a wrap : SARAN. Fun clue/answer.
49. Actor Piven of "Entourage" : JEREMY. Not familiar - I needed the crosses. He won a Golden Globe and three Emmys for his role in the show, so I guess he's pretty good at it!
51. __ trip : EGO
52. Master : ACE. Verb or noun? Either would work.
55. Kyoto cash : YEN
56. Hammerheads, e.g. : SHARKS. There's a comic strip in England called "The Pathetic Sharks". They can't swim without floaties and they faint at the sight of blood. Very "British" humor.
63. Electron-deficient particle, e.g. : ION
64. Varnish resin : ELEMI. A learning moment. The tree is formally known as Canarium luzonicum and, as the second word in the name suggests, it is native to the Philippines.
65. Pet problem? : PEEVE. Favorite clue/answer of the day.
66. Alias lead-in : AKA. Common enough now to have lost the abbreviation designation.
67. Crashed, so to speak : SLEPT. Hipster cats probably crash rather than sleep.
68. Closer : ENDER
69. Morning salmon : LOX. More Food! Loving this puzzle today. Most "lox" you see nowadays isn't really lox, more accurately it's "nova". It's much less salty than traditional lox.
Down:
1. One of music's Three Bs : BACH. We heard him at 1A if you clicked the link.
2. Maker of Regenerist skin care products : OLAY. I think we've had the OLAY/ULAY brand-name discussion before.
3. Steam : WATER VAPOR
4. Contemporary electronic music genre : NU JAZZ. Crosses to the rescue. At this point I was waiting for the pangram to show up, but in spite of all those "U"s, there's no "Q" to be found.
5. Weighty obligation : ONUS. If we share the burden, I guess the onus is on us.
6. Howard's best friend on "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJ. Crosses again. Thankfully, very approachable perps.
7. "Storage Hunters" network __TV : TRU. Belying the name of the network, the show is allegedly staged and the auctions are fake.
8. Bonfire leftovers : EMBERS
9. Turndowns : REFUSALS
10. Misspeak, say : ERR
11. Swag : HAUL
12. Where Bhutan is : ASIA. Landlocked country at the eastern end of the Himalayas. Cracking flag!
13. "Little Women" woman : BETH. The only sister with four letters. Jo, Amy and Meg are the others. Obviously, we never see Jo in the crosswords, but we meet her other sisters from time-to-time.
19. Rock genre : EMO. Does Hipster Cat listen to this genre or is it too depressing? Here's my favorite, courtesy of Green Day.
21. Any thing : NOUN
25. Felipe of baseball : ALOU. I prefer his Indian relative, Saag Alou, but I think he probably plays cricket.
 |
| Food! Saag Alou - spinach and potato curry |
27. Hydromassage facility : SPA
28. Travel papers : VISAS
29. Soft palate dangler : UVULA. A partial anagram of those annoying horns too.
30. Plenty, to texters : ENUF. Apparently I date myself by using correct punctuation and spelling in my texts. I read that if you capitalize the first letter in a text message you are guaranteed to be over 50. Guilty as charged.
32. Timeless : IMMEMORIAL. Wait, so "since time immemorial" means "since time timeless?" Doesn't sound right to me.
33. __-ovo vegetarian : LACTO. No meat. Dairy and eggs are OK though. When I went to India I became LOV for the duration of each trip, the "veg" food is so good.
34. Krupp Works city : ESSEN
37. Island bash : LUAU. Let's see if you were paying attention at the top of the blog. What do you call two of these?
39. Do-it-yourselfer's nightmare : MONEY PIT
40. Homely : UGLY
43. __ Mahal : TAJ
45. Start of something big? : MEGA
47. Delaware tribe : LENAPE. More learning for me today and the final fill.
48. Presidential debate moderator Jim : LEHRER
50. Seminary subj. : REL. Religion, I presume.
52. Big primates : APES
53. Select : CULL
54. Fencing blade : EPEE
56. Golf great Ballesteros : SEVE. Anyone who saw his victory fist-pump at the 1984 Open Championship at St. Andrews will never forget it. Sadly, he died in 2011 at the early age of 54 from brain cancer.
57. Gorilla who learned sign language : KOKO
58. Junk food, in adspeak : SNAX
60. Official at a base : UMP
61. Commonly used base : TEN. In my computing life I've used binary, octal and hexadecimal too. There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those that understand binary, and those that don't.
62. "Ideas worth spreading" conference acronym : TED. (Technology, Entertainment, Design).
Here's the grid, and as Eminem said to the music executive "It's a rap".
Steve
