Theme: Y me? Happy September, and I hope you all enjoyed last month's Blue Moon, which I forgot to mention, which segues into our 4th offering from Mr. Mueller, who also has 5 NY Times publications, including 2 Sundays. I had difficulty with this because it was (a) not easy; (b) the 5 theme answers each have a "Y" inserted in a common two word phrase to create a new and rib tickling phrase, clued to amuse. My problem is the first two have the Y replace an "E" while the last three just add the Y at the end of the first word. To add to the difficulty of constructing, all five theme answers have food related roots. The puzzle itself is a nice blend of mid-range 6, 7 and 8 letter words with lots of new stuff, but a great many very challenging intersections- no Naticks, but maybe a Framingham or two.
17A. Inferior swim? : CHEESY (E) DIP. (9) Cheese dip emerges from the pool.
26A. Impertinent camera movement? : SAUCY (E) PAN. (8). When a camera moves about to show a scene, it called panning, and this group certainly knows what saucy means.
35A. Burly Green Bay gridder? : MEATY PACKER. (11) We all know the team from Wisconsin and these days even the little guys are burly.
52A. Canine telling bad jokes? : CORNY DOG.(8) I might have tried something more with the dog part of the clue, considering all the other words in here subject to double meanings.
62A. Suspicious wartime sight? : FISHY TANK.(9) What image do you get?
17A. Inferior swim? : CHEESY (E) DIP. (9) Cheese dip emerges from the pool.
26A. Impertinent camera movement? : SAUCY (E) PAN. (8). When a camera moves about to show a scene, it called panning, and this group certainly knows what saucy means.
35A. Burly Green Bay gridder? : MEATY PACKER. (11) We all know the team from Wisconsin and these days even the little guys are burly.
52A. Canine telling bad jokes? : CORNY DOG.(8) I might have tried something more with the dog part of the clue, considering all the other words in here subject to double meanings.
62A. Suspicious wartime sight? : FISHY TANK.(9) What image do you get?
Across:
1. Musician Ocasek et al. : RICS. Not to sound like marti, but who are the other ones? Here is a CUT (3:43) from his debut album after he left the Cars. You might want to hang on to some of it guys.
5. See 15-Across : JUST. with 15A. With 5-Across, barely : ONLY. I only just got this.
9. Cavaradossi's love : TOSCA. I did not know this, and the crossing with Henry Moore was tough, but the TO___ was enough for to make an educated guess. An excuse to LINK (3:00) some Placido.
14. When some deadlocks are resolved, briefly : IN OT, Over Time. I first read this as DREADLOCKS, too much SKA.
16. Racing venue near Windsor Castle : ASCOT. We had this track recently in a Bruce S./Doug P. collaboration.
19. Quick trip : JAUNT.
20. Ran out of patience : HAD IT. I've had with all the sniping in the world.
21. Column affording views : OP- ED. Last time I had this fill we started another dispute over the meaning so I am out of it.
23. Shirt size: Abbr. : LGE.
24. Novelist Glyn : ELINOR. Another unknown AUTHOR.
29. Shoved off : SET SAIL. Nice new fill.
31. Cried : SHOUTED. Hmm, okay another one.
32. Half a tuba sound : OOM. PAH!
34. Oafs : CLODS. We could be back playing in the dirt with C.C. and Hard G.
40. Split : APART. TomKat. You all enjoy the new Cruise scandal with the pretty Iranian girl? She was Barney's girlfriend on How I Met Your Mother.
42. Calypso cousin : SKA. Again?
43. Shackle : LEG IRON. More nice fill.
46. Kind of offer that saves time : ALL CASH. And money, usually.
54. Over : FINITO. A common foreign word, used in the language, like Ciao!
55. "He's mine, ___ am his": "Coriolanus" : OR I. Act I, Scene 10. Obscure Shakespeare, but still...
- Tullus Aufidius. Condition!
I would I were a Roman; for I cannot,
Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition!
What good condition can a treaty find
I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, CORIOLANUS, 885
I have fought with thee: so often hast thou beat me,
And wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter
As often as we eat. By the elements,
If e'er again I meet him beard to beard,
He's mine, or I am his: mine emulation
Hath not that honour in't it had; for where
I thought to crush him in an equal force,
True sword to sword, I'll potch at him some way
Or wrath or craft may get him.
56. "Get __": 1967 Esquires hit : ON UP. This SONG (2:30) which you will recognize, was recorded by many others who were more famous.
58. GPS precursor : LORAN. LOng RAnge Navigation is how ships long use triangulation to plot courses.
59. Critical : VITAL.
64. Wonderland cake words : EAT ME. You all are on your own here, as my thoughts cannot be captured, this puzzle begs for a Lois recap.
65. Urgent letters : ASAP. As Soon As Possible.
66. Behold, to Caesar : ECCE. back to haunt me from last week, the ECCO is part of the conjugation of the verb.
67. "Golf Begins at Forty" author : SNEAD. Slammin' Sammy, one of the 3 greats born in 1912.
68. Asian holidays : TETS. I do not want to be offensive, but I am sure we all have bad memories of this.
69. Starting point : SEED. Oh I do miss Lois and her comments; Dennis any comment from you?
Down:
1. Megabucks : RICHES. Like these? LINK.(1:55).
2. Sniff : INHALE. Tricky.
3. Make the cut together? : CO-EDIT. Another very difficult clue to suss.
4. Oktoberfest souvenirs : STEINS. The Friday beer reference.
5. Dawn rival : JOY. Not Tony Orlando, not dusk, not even Palmolive.
6. Menu choice : UNDO. I hit that key often when I write here.
7. Receipts, e.g. : SLIPS. I had a tough time with this as well.
8. High-strung sorts : TYPE A'S. I know no apostrophe goes there but you have to get away from reading it "AS."
9. New Jersey casino, with "The" : TAJ. Mahal.
10. Mama bear, in Madrid : OSA. We have this Spanish word often.
11. Henry Moore, e.g. : SCULPTOR. The only Henry Moore I knew was tailor in Hartford, but I guess it is my LOSS,. very abstractly sexual.
12. Joined a line, in a way : CONGAED. Is this a real verb? I know you dance in a CONGA (2:17) line, so I guess....
13. Shows up : ATTENDS.
18. Old congregating locale : STOA. The Greek built these for public gatherings.
22. "Like, no kidding!" : DUH.
25. Scream : RIOT. Similar to a Panic.
27. Prepare to fire : COCK. To pull back the hammer...
28. Noel : YULE.
30. Powell's "The Thin Man" co-star : LOY. Myrna as Nora CHARLES,(2:50).
33. Gitmo guards : MPS. Military Police (S?)
35. Belgian surrealist : MAGRITTE. Also very SEXUAL but not so abstract.
36. Yeats's home : ERIN. Considering all the sex and innuendo in this puzzle, I have to add, Go Braghless.
37. "It's worth ___" : A TRY.
38. Rap sheet letters : AKA. Also Known As.
39. New gnu : CALF. Who knew?
40. Breakfast places : ALCOVES. Not related to AL GORES.
41. Average American, it's said : PEORIAN. When I was a kid, they said the standard for airing a television show was, "would it play in Peoria" so this was a gimme for me.
44. "Star Trek: DSN" character : ODO. he is the shape shifting head of security on Deep Space Nine, played by René Auberjonois, a character actor from many series.
45. Milk for losers : NON-FAT. Loser of weight, nothing un-pc.
47. ___ pad : LILY. Nickname of Marshall's wife on How I Met Your Mother. (See it really all ties together).
48. Grand decade : C-NOTES. It takes ten $100 bills to make a Grand, very hard.
49. Top gun : AIR ACE. We have had ace many times. More Tom Cruise?
50. Batting coach's subject : STANCE. Feet shoulder width, weight slightly on your back foot...
51. Tooted : HONKED. No bathroom humor hear.
53. Semblance : GUISE. The root word for disguise.
57. H.S. exam : PSAT. You know this one.
60. Dr.'s order? : AMA. American Medical Association.
61. Set the pace : LED. Wow, finally an easy one!
63. Some PCs : HPS. Hewlett Packards.
Answer grid.
This was quite a work out with a little of everything, by far my most time consuming solve and write up in a while, but you know what? We made it to the end, and we overcame- or was that a different puzzle? Kurt Mueller, hmm KM, killing me....until next time....มีวันหยุดที่ดี. Ha en flott helg.
lemonade
