Theme: Monthly Planner - as the reveal nicely explains:
38A. Today, e.g. ... or what is found in 12 puzzle answers: FIRST OF THE MONTH
It's that time of the year when I usually buy a new planner, and those JAN, FEB, MAR tabs down the pages are pristine and speak to a new year of possibilities. Jeffrey comes up with a great way to represent all twelve of those with each entry's "first" letters being the month abbreviation, and in calendar order to boot. So, here they are, one after the other:
1A. Keys sound: JANGLE
7A. Running a temperature: FEBRILE
16A. Coldplay lead singer Chris __: MARTIN. He seems to be a polarizing character, I've had quite a few people tell me that they like Coldplay, but don't like Chris. I'm not sure why, I've looked through the interwebs for pictures of him being mean to puppies or stories of him buying an island and evicting all the residents, but I came up blank. Anyway, great music and here's an example. Maybe a tad over-produced, but I don't think that's his fault.
21A. Home Depot employee garb: APRON
25A. Yucatán native: MAYAN
28A. Deep-sixes: JUNKS. I tried SINKS before I saw the theme.
45A. Minty cocktail: JULEP. The Derby, "My Old Kentucky Home", hats and juleps.
47A. Drilling tool: AUGER
51A. Calyx part: SEPAL
61A. Rating at a pump: OCTANE
66A. Catholic devotions: NOVENAS. Decades, Novenas, Forty Days, it always seems a long, long process being a Catholic. How long was Moses wandering around the desert?
67A. Irregular paper edge: DECKLE. I know a different DECKLE, and this is my favorite - it's the point cut of the brisket - the piece that you don't get if you buy brisket in the market, you get the flat cut. There's a reason why you don't get the deckle - it's the tastiest, fattiest cut and it goes to the deli. Solution? Buy the entire brisket and brine/corn/pastrami it yourself. If you want to get technical with your butcher, you want the IMPS cut "119", not the "120". I'm not sure how I know that.
Wow, that was a lot of theme! Congratulations to Jeffrey for a great construction job on this. I always avoid the theme reveal if I glance down and see where it is, and this one I had no clue that I was filling in month abbreviations from top to bottom. Well concealed, and a happy moment when the grid-spanner had me looking.
Let's see what else (what else is left?!!).
Across:
14. Become too old to qualify: AGE OUT
15. Howled: ULULATED. Awesome word. Usually funeral-related, as in howling in grief.
17. Lamp fuel: KEROSENE
18. Dude: BRO
19. Quarter: AREA
22. Italian thing: COSA. Many people know it from the Mafia-related "cosa nostra", literally "our thing/"
24. Farm enclosure: STY
31. "Wayward Pines" actress Melissa __: LEO. Lovely crosses, thank you. I'd no clue - I've never seen the show, I had no idea about the actress. My favorite LEO works works in production at CBS. Here's to you, Victoria Leo.
34. Cooler in an apt. window: A/C UNIT
36. Bridal bio word: NÉE
37. Suggestion: HINT
41. Having a fancy for: INTO
42. On the __ vive: QUI. "Who lives?" or "Who goes there?" To be on the alert.
43. Just this far: TO HERE
44. Govt. prosecutors: AG'S. Attorneys General, don't get the "S" in the wrong place or I'll be coming for you to give you a lesson in pluralization.
48. Usher family's creator: POE. The Ushers of the collapsing house. I once wondered why they didn't get some engineers in to shore up the foundations, then realized that underpinning wouldn't solve the family problems.
49. Long-dist. weapon: I.C.B.M. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, if I recall correctly.
54. Lyft rival: UBER. I'd call this one the other way around, but point taken.
56. Mix with a horse: TOM
59. Vex: IRRITATE
64. Suffered greatly, in Sussex: AGONISED. Take out a Z, slip in an S unnoticed, and suddenly you're 6,000 miles and a common language apart. Now, there are the counties of Sussex and Essex, there's a historical county of Wessex, mostly now Hampshire and Dorset, and there is Middlesex, which may or may not be a county any more, although it still has a cricket team. But nowhere is there a Northsex, or a Norsex, or anything relating to being north and a county. There's south - Sussex - West - Wessex - East - Essex - in the middle - Middlesex - but the atlas is silent on anything north of London. "Here be demons" - or William Wallace, although he was 300 miles further north.
65. Hard-to-take complainer: WHINER. We all know one.
Down:
1. Doorway side: JAMB. We had a whole discussion about stairway parts a while ago. What's the top of the doorframe called? I forget.
2. Bio lab gel: AGAR
3. Archie's boss, in detective fiction: NERO. Archie Goodwin, the narrator in the Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout. I sound awfully clued up about these people. 15 seconds on Wikipedia makes anyone an expert. Thank you, crosses.
4. Understood: GOT
5. That guy, to Guy: LUI. Guy Maupassant springs to mind. "Him" in French.
6. Old lab burners: ETNAS. We called 'em Bunsen burners back in the old country. Much the same thing, I'm sure.
7. Bug with bounce: FLEA
8. U.K. locale: EUR. Some Brexiters will disagree, but geography doesn't lie.
9. Swells up: BLOATS
10. Hoarse: RASPY
11. Ancient Roman road: ITER. Ancient or not, they're still in use. One of the scariest rides I've taken was from Rome to Fiumicino Airport in a taxi when I made the mistake of telling the driver I was running late for a flight home. He channeled his Formula 1 Driver alter ego. This was in a Fiat about the size of my suitcase.
12. Car-collecting comedian: LENO. He's a common sight around here. Most notably driving his Stanley Steamer - you don't see many of those.
13. Early venue for nudists?: EDEN
15. Luau strings: UKE
20. British rule in India: RAJ
22. Childish response to a dare: CAN SO!
23. "Will do!": ON IT!
24. Sport invented by hunters: SKEET
25. Criminal group: MAFIA. See "cosa nostra" earlier.
26. Delivering excellent service to?: ACING. Tennis, the perfect serve. "THWOK!". Pause. "Fifteen Love".
27. Asian tents: YURTS
29. Loosen, as a bow: UNTIE
30. O.T. book: NEH. Handy things, those bilbical abbreviations.
31. Where to claim miscellaneous credits on a W-4 form: LINE G. Ach - I'd have turned somersaults to avoid this one - yes, it's a thing, yes, it's accurate, but where, ever is this used in common parlance? "Did you file in time?
"Yes, but that LINE G was troublesome
"On your W-4? You should have called me
"I will, next year, thanks".
Said no-one, ever.
32. __ nous: ENTRE
33. Survey choice: OTHER
35. Culinary topper: TOQUE. I think these are quietly going the way of cream sauces on everything and cheese on lobster.
37. Hardly stimulating: HO HUM. "Meh." I do love how the language continues to evolve. I love "meh.
39. Ending with hand or fist: -FUL
40. Utah city with a Biblical name: MOAB
45. Baseball's __ Joe: JOLTIN' Congratulations to the Red Sox for a very well-deserved World Series win. One day, Dodger Stadium will be the venue when the home team clinches. Joe DiMaggio, of course, was the clue/answer.
46. Dessert slice: PIE
48. "These are the times that try men's souls" writer: PAINE
"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
Those of you who can, please go out and vote on Tuesday.
50. Lots of people: CROWD
51. Phillips of "I, Claudius": SIAN
52. Logician's word: ERGO. "Therefore". There is a logical fallacy, "Post hoc ergo propter hoc", or "after that, then this happened" which is a handy way to cloud causation with correlation. I refer you to my comment on 48A.
53. B.C. or P.E.I.: PROV. Oh Canada! The provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.
54. Sport-__: vehicles: UTES
55. Garden area: BED
56. Propane container: TANK
57. Turow memoir: ONE L. Harvard Law.
58. Just: MERE
60. Simile words: AS A
62. Guerrilla Guevara: CHE. Let's have the iconic portrait, just for fun:
I did dig a little deeper - this was the original photograph taken by Alberto Korda in Havana in 1960 - I'm not sure I've ever seen the original:
63. Little jerk: TIC
Ok, muchachos, I think that's me done for the week. Here's the grid! I hope you survived tricks, treats and candy overload.
Steve
38A. Today, e.g. ... or what is found in 12 puzzle answers: FIRST OF THE MONTH
It's that time of the year when I usually buy a new planner, and those JAN, FEB, MAR tabs down the pages are pristine and speak to a new year of possibilities. Jeffrey comes up with a great way to represent all twelve of those with each entry's "first" letters being the month abbreviation, and in calendar order to boot. So, here they are, one after the other:
1A. Keys sound: JANGLE
7A. Running a temperature: FEBRILE
16A. Coldplay lead singer Chris __: MARTIN. He seems to be a polarizing character, I've had quite a few people tell me that they like Coldplay, but don't like Chris. I'm not sure why, I've looked through the interwebs for pictures of him being mean to puppies or stories of him buying an island and evicting all the residents, but I came up blank. Anyway, great music and here's an example. Maybe a tad over-produced, but I don't think that's his fault.
21A. Home Depot employee garb: APRON
25A. Yucatán native: MAYAN
28A. Deep-sixes: JUNKS. I tried SINKS before I saw the theme.
45A. Minty cocktail: JULEP. The Derby, "My Old Kentucky Home", hats and juleps.
47A. Drilling tool: AUGER
51A. Calyx part: SEPAL
61A. Rating at a pump: OCTANE
66A. Catholic devotions: NOVENAS. Decades, Novenas, Forty Days, it always seems a long, long process being a Catholic. How long was Moses wandering around the desert?
67A. Irregular paper edge: DECKLE. I know a different DECKLE, and this is my favorite - it's the point cut of the brisket - the piece that you don't get if you buy brisket in the market, you get the flat cut. There's a reason why you don't get the deckle - it's the tastiest, fattiest cut and it goes to the deli. Solution? Buy the entire brisket and brine/corn/pastrami it yourself. If you want to get technical with your butcher, you want the IMPS cut "119", not the "120". I'm not sure how I know that.
Wow, that was a lot of theme! Congratulations to Jeffrey for a great construction job on this. I always avoid the theme reveal if I glance down and see where it is, and this one I had no clue that I was filling in month abbreviations from top to bottom. Well concealed, and a happy moment when the grid-spanner had me looking.
Let's see what else (what else is left?!!).
Across:
14. Become too old to qualify: AGE OUT
15. Howled: ULULATED. Awesome word. Usually funeral-related, as in howling in grief.
17. Lamp fuel: KEROSENE
18. Dude: BRO
19. Quarter: AREA
22. Italian thing: COSA. Many people know it from the Mafia-related "cosa nostra", literally "our thing/"
24. Farm enclosure: STY
31. "Wayward Pines" actress Melissa __: LEO. Lovely crosses, thank you. I'd no clue - I've never seen the show, I had no idea about the actress. My favorite LEO works works in production at CBS. Here's to you, Victoria Leo.
34. Cooler in an apt. window: A/C UNIT
36. Bridal bio word: NÉE
37. Suggestion: HINT
41. Having a fancy for: INTO
42. On the __ vive: QUI. "Who lives?" or "Who goes there?" To be on the alert.
43. Just this far: TO HERE
44. Govt. prosecutors: AG'S. Attorneys General, don't get the "S" in the wrong place or I'll be coming for you to give you a lesson in pluralization.
48. Usher family's creator: POE. The Ushers of the collapsing house. I once wondered why they didn't get some engineers in to shore up the foundations, then realized that underpinning wouldn't solve the family problems.
49. Long-dist. weapon: I.C.B.M. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, if I recall correctly.
54. Lyft rival: UBER. I'd call this one the other way around, but point taken.
56. Mix with a horse: TOM
59. Vex: IRRITATE
64. Suffered greatly, in Sussex: AGONISED. Take out a Z, slip in an S unnoticed, and suddenly you're 6,000 miles and a common language apart. Now, there are the counties of Sussex and Essex, there's a historical county of Wessex, mostly now Hampshire and Dorset, and there is Middlesex, which may or may not be a county any more, although it still has a cricket team. But nowhere is there a Northsex, or a Norsex, or anything relating to being north and a county. There's south - Sussex - West - Wessex - East - Essex - in the middle - Middlesex - but the atlas is silent on anything north of London. "Here be demons" - or William Wallace, although he was 300 miles further north.
65. Hard-to-take complainer: WHINER. We all know one.
Down:
1. Doorway side: JAMB. We had a whole discussion about stairway parts a while ago. What's the top of the doorframe called? I forget.
2. Bio lab gel: AGAR
3. Archie's boss, in detective fiction: NERO. Archie Goodwin, the narrator in the Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout. I sound awfully clued up about these people. 15 seconds on Wikipedia makes anyone an expert. Thank you, crosses.
4. Understood: GOT
5. That guy, to Guy: LUI. Guy Maupassant springs to mind. "Him" in French.
6. Old lab burners: ETNAS. We called 'em Bunsen burners back in the old country. Much the same thing, I'm sure.
7. Bug with bounce: FLEA
8. U.K. locale: EUR. Some Brexiters will disagree, but geography doesn't lie.
9. Swells up: BLOATS
10. Hoarse: RASPY
11. Ancient Roman road: ITER. Ancient or not, they're still in use. One of the scariest rides I've taken was from Rome to Fiumicino Airport in a taxi when I made the mistake of telling the driver I was running late for a flight home. He channeled his Formula 1 Driver alter ego. This was in a Fiat about the size of my suitcase.
12. Car-collecting comedian: LENO. He's a common sight around here. Most notably driving his Stanley Steamer - you don't see many of those.
13. Early venue for nudists?: EDEN
15. Luau strings: UKE
20. British rule in India: RAJ
22. Childish response to a dare: CAN SO!
23. "Will do!": ON IT!
24. Sport invented by hunters: SKEET
25. Criminal group: MAFIA. See "cosa nostra" earlier.
26. Delivering excellent service to?: ACING. Tennis, the perfect serve. "THWOK!". Pause. "Fifteen Love".
27. Asian tents: YURTS
29. Loosen, as a bow: UNTIE
30. O.T. book: NEH. Handy things, those bilbical abbreviations.
31. Where to claim miscellaneous credits on a W-4 form: LINE G. Ach - I'd have turned somersaults to avoid this one - yes, it's a thing, yes, it's accurate, but where, ever is this used in common parlance? "Did you file in time?
"Yes, but that LINE G was troublesome
"On your W-4? You should have called me
"I will, next year, thanks".
Said no-one, ever.
32. __ nous: ENTRE
33. Survey choice: OTHER
35. Culinary topper: TOQUE. I think these are quietly going the way of cream sauces on everything and cheese on lobster.
37. Hardly stimulating: HO HUM. "Meh." I do love how the language continues to evolve. I love "meh.
39. Ending with hand or fist: -FUL
40. Utah city with a Biblical name: MOAB
45. Baseball's __ Joe: JOLTIN' Congratulations to the Red Sox for a very well-deserved World Series win. One day, Dodger Stadium will be the venue when the home team clinches. Joe DiMaggio, of course, was the clue/answer.
46. Dessert slice: PIE
48. "These are the times that try men's souls" writer: PAINE
"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
Those of you who can, please go out and vote on Tuesday.
50. Lots of people: CROWD
51. Phillips of "I, Claudius": SIAN
52. Logician's word: ERGO. "Therefore". There is a logical fallacy, "Post hoc ergo propter hoc", or "after that, then this happened" which is a handy way to cloud causation with correlation. I refer you to my comment on 48A.
53. B.C. or P.E.I.: PROV. Oh Canada! The provinces of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.
54. Sport-__: vehicles: UTES
55. Garden area: BED
56. Propane container: TANK
57. Turow memoir: ONE L. Harvard Law.
58. Just: MERE
60. Simile words: AS A
62. Guerrilla Guevara: CHE. Let's have the iconic portrait, just for fun:
I did dig a little deeper - this was the original photograph taken by Alberto Korda in Havana in 1960 - I'm not sure I've ever seen the original:
63. Little jerk: TIC
Ok, muchachos, I think that's me done for the week. Here's the grid! I hope you survived tricks, treats and candy overload.
Steve
