Theme: None
Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X)
Blocks: 34
Another
new constructor for our Saturday - Jim Quinlan has 2 other LA Times
puzzles under his belt, a Friday and a Sunday. A very satisfying
puzzle, I must say - no Google, no red-letters, and when I didn't get my
ta-DA~!, I had the patience to go through the grid to find my error. A
spiral grid with a lot of three-letter words, triple 10-letter corners
in the across, 8-, 9-,10-letter stacks in the down, and a group of three
answers with a central 15- letter spanner;
15. Offer a libation (for) : POUR ONE OUT
- The winery/vineyard I
now work for offers bottles, of course, but also boxes, and recently
kegs - next year, they introduce wine in a can; my thought was that it
sounds like this 'cheapens' the whole wine thing. We'll see.
34. Samoa or Caramel deLite : GIRL SCOUT COOKIE
12. Pot without speed : SLOW COOKER - oh, that kind of pot. Somehow, I managed to think of a joint not laced with speed....
26. Sometime substitute for bread crumbs : CORNFLAKES
57. Experience for Marty McFly : TIME TRAVEL - right up my alley
The flux capacitor is...fluxing
WARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Floors : ASTONISHES - ah, then verb, not the noun
11. Beliefs : ISMS - Crosswordese
16. Polar explorer's concern : FLOE - I figured SNOW was too easy
17. President leaving office, perhaps : END OF AN ERA
18. Commercial name abbr. : CORPoration
19. Redden, say : DYE - I pondered "IRK" here, but waited; then it appeared at 53d.
20. William Tell Monument city : ALTDORF - I know of the "apple on the head" shot, but didn't know the whole story - here's the Wiki on it
22. Venus is in it: Abbr. : WTA
- I went with ATP, the Association of Tennis Professionals, but that's a
"men's club"; we're looking for the Women's Tennis Association
23. "S" on an invitation : S'IL - Frawnche; réspondez s'il vous plait, or RSVP
24. Vehicle-sharing company : ZIPCAR - I know about Uber, but never heard of this; their website er, explains it all
26. "Born on the Bayou" band, briefly : CCR
27. __ bar : WET
- there's a Tasting Room at the front of the vineyard office/warehouse,
but really it's a wine bar - it's like upscale happy hour
30. It's tuned an octave higher than a cello : VIOLA
31. 1988 noir remake : DOA
32. Unconcealed enmity : NO LOVE LOST
36. Certain baron : LANDHOLDER
37. King's value, at times : TEN - as in cards
38. Gather : INFER - D'oh~! Not AMASS
39. Sch. period : SEMester
40. Backwoods preposition : FER
41. Combined : MELDED
43. King or queen : BED - ah, good clue, since the previous 'regal' clue (37a.) had me thinking along the lines of "REX"
44. Chinese military gp. : PLA - filled via perps
45. Grew : WIDENED - my only bad cel; I had WIDE FED
49. Pipe in a song : COB - corn cob, Frosty the Snowman
52. Pen name that sounds like a drink : SAKI - technically, Sake IS a drink
54. Cry at the craps table : COME TO PAPA
56. U.S. dept. with a bolt on its seal : ENERgy - nailed it
58. Classroom fixture : DESK
59. Unable to continue : AT A DEAD END
DOWN:
1. Did : APED
2. Pioneer in portable music : SONY - and the company who gave us Betamax; see 33d.
3. Arrogant manner, slangily : TUDE
4. Top medalla : ORO
5. "You peeked!" : "NO FAIR~!"
6. Totally : IN ALL
7. Heaven-__ : SENT - I'll let you know if this one ever stops in for a glass....
8. Helped make a bed : HOED - a garden bed
9. Mark's replacement : EURO
10. Premium movie channel that dropped its "!" in 2005 : STARZ
11. "Portlandia" airer : IFC
13. Serious transgression, in Catholicism : MORTAL SIN
14. Split : SEPARATE
21. Coppers : FIVE-O - one of my top TV show themes; I'm glad the re-make of the show didn't go with something different
23. Burned with steam : SCALDED
25. Led : PILOTED
27. Some sweaters : WOOLS - I tried KNITS
28. Get by : ELUDE
29. Venerated symbol : TOTEM
31. Martha Kent portrayer in recent Superman films : DIANE LANE - I had no idea, tried a total WAG, and it worked
32. Barracks VIP : NCO
33. Betamax player : VCR - at first I thought this was a huge gaffe, but then I realized the fierce (according to Wiki) format war was between VHS and Betmax; both tape formats played on a "Video Cassette Recorder"
34. Barely caught : GLIMPSED
35. Mole-like mammal : SHREW
40. Hat for Indiana Jones : FEDORA - Raiders of the Lost Ark might be my favoritest movie of all time
42. Decrees : DICTA - argh~! I threw "S" in there for plural, and tried WRITS
43. 2017 Dolly portrayer on Broadway : BETTE
46. "Finish the job!" : "DO IT~!"
47. "Handsome, clever, and rich" Austen character : EMMA
48. Food or water : NEED - I had fEED, which made sense to me if you "feed" a plant with water....
49. Finally give : CAVE
50. Tournament format : OPEN
51. Likely to skid : BALD
- I need to get tires before the end of the month in order to pass
inspection; however, I'd like to get white letter tires, and the only
way to do that on my vehicle is to buy larger rims for that particular
size tire - I'm willing to go sporty on the minivan~!
53. Get to : IRK
55. Enhance, as a résumé : PAD - no need to pad my résumé, there was barely space to list my qualifications for the new job - but I listed enough
Thanks for all the positive support - I especially appreciate those who know me and are 'concerned' about the "vocation" of my new employer~!
Splynter
Splynter
54 comments:
DNF Did not do well at all Although I was sort of pleased with a few I did manage to guess. My final natick that I had to ask the computer for was ALTDORf+fIVEO, and final WAG was PlA+DIANE lANE. Other unknowns ZIPCAR, TUDE, IFC, and several I didn't know as they were clued; and frankly thought some were wrongly, or at least poorly, clued. For example, if I'm being chased, "get by" means avoiding a stationary obstacle or enemy, ELUDE means losing or hiding from a mobile pursuer. Mutually exclusive implications.
Do students in seminaries have SEMESTERS?
Do spring breaks in Cancun include professors?
Do they study the semantics
Of seamen's semaphoric antics?
Can they drag race the semis during vespers?
It ASTONISHES that TIME TRAVEL can really SEND
People to near time-places again and again!
No paradoxes allowed
So there's never a crowd,
But pass either END OF AN ERA, you'll be AT A DEAD END!
{C, C+.}
Good morning!
My coffeemaker crapped out halfway through the pot this morning. Not an auspicious omen for the puzzle. Things worked out OK, though. Stumbled a bit in SoCal. Splynter: "I had no idea, tried a total WAG, and it worked". So did I, but DIANA RIGG didn't. Also tried AGRI/ENER and WELDED/MELDED, but still managed to muddle through. Thanx, Jim Quinlan.
Spynter, thanx for parsing FIVE-O. Thought maybe the copper was an Irish Dragoon, as in the Bonnie Lass of Fyvie. Talk about over-thinking things...
Kept thinking TOAST had to be part of 15 across. HOED and EURO put me on the right track. Good workout today.
Thank you Splynter and I am sure you will enjoy and excel at your new job. You have a made a science of discussing Saturday themeless puzzles.
Nice Saturday debut Mr. Quinlan; so appropriate to have GIRL SCOUT COOKIES as the centerpiece with the announcement by the BSA and the return of S'mores in 2018.
Looks like rain, but both Taste of Tamarac and the gymnastic party where my granddaughters flip are inside. Have a great Saturday all
Good morning!
Had to google for ALTDORF and DIANE LANE to finish. I had all but the L in the latter, but did not know PLA. An enjoyable puzzle nonetheless. Thanks for the expo and links, Splynter.
Enjoy the day!
I quit on this one. Had maybe 50%.
Saturday chewy puzzle that takes awhile to work out but satisfying at the end. Never heard of ALTDORF - but filled in with perps. I had DICTS instead of DICTA at the bottom but had no idea what STADEADEND meant until the "Doh" moment that I divided the words differently to get to the AT A DEAD END!
Thanks Splynter and Jim!
Good Morning:
Some areas were crunchier than others but I'd rate it fairly easy for a Saturday. I think the long fill was, mostly, easy to suss and that usually breaks things wide open. I wasn't keen on some of the cluing and fill, e.g., Did=Aped and Pour One Out seems forced and jarring. My favorite Clue/Answer was Pot Without Speed=Slow Cooker. I, too, am not familiar with ZipCar. Overall, a satisfying solve.
Thanks, Jim, for an end of the week challenge and thanks, Splynter, for the guided tour. Am I correct in thinking that there are several wineries on Long Island? I know the Finger Lakes Region is home to many vineyards, as well.
Are any of my fellow "Blue Bloods" fans as disappointed as I am that Linda was killed off, with no warning whatsoever? I liked her a lot and felt that she added a softer edge to the mostly male-dominated scenes. This is the third show that has eliminated a character who I really enjoyed: "Chicago Fire" and "NCIS: New Orleans" are the other two.
Have a great day.
It was surprising, IM. I had to go back to see which episode I'd missed. Hmmmm...there wasn't one. She just turned up dead in the season opener. Maybe the writers felt a need to stir up the "formula."
I think I just dislocated my shoulder by patting myself on the back for remembering C.C.'s comment last week about the Chinese army's name; People's Liberation Army. Surely came in handy today!
Rain, rain, and more rain, only interrupted by the occasional intense lightning and thunder. Supposed to be this way until just before dawn tomorrow. Having had to replace two sets of washers and dryers, two furnaces, and two water heaters in the past ten years due to a basement full of water from floor to the floor joists of the main level, I am a tad nervous.
Seeing all of the long fill as I was starting, I was afraid this would be a Saturday Slaughter but surprisingly, it all came together fairly quickly. Didn't care for TUDE or APED, but no real complaints. Thanks to Jim and Splynter.
Worst puzzle I've seen yet!
Thanks, Jim, for a nice challenge, and a nice TADA! at the end. Nicely done!
Splynter, another great write-up. Hope that girl stops by the winery!
DO @ 9:28 ~ From what I've read, Amy Carlson left the show of her own accord, which I have no problem with, although I'll miss her presence. I just thought CBS could have handled her absence from the show in a less abrupt and less-contrived manner. Ah well, it's only a TV show; I'll get over it.
WikWak @ 10:02 ~ I, too, remembered CC's reference but, unlike you, I couldn't remember the name or initials! Good for you! �� I hope you remain dry!
Those ?? should be 😉! Google error.
Musings
-Fills I refused to put in at first all turned out to be right and I got ‘er done
-Like the first Star Wars, the first Back To The Future and Raiders Of The Lost Ark were the best of those series
-The North and South Pole are considered to be deserts and so SNOW was not an option
-I wonder if the WET Bar at the vineyard we visited in Sonoma two years ago is still standing
-NO LOVE LOST between these 20 pairs of athletes
-I changed a tire FER you not FER from here FER cryin’ out loud
-Tables have supplanted DESKS where I sub
-I have been slightly SCALDED when using these
-I chose Betamax over VHS and soon saw that was not the way
Hi Y'all! Engrossing bit of wordplay, Jim. Thanks again, Splynter. I'm curious, just what do you do at the winery? Build barrells?
The NW was the last to fill. Just couldn't get a toehold. Finally did red-letter runs to get the first two letters. Did = APED? Are you kidding me? Pecked and WAGd the rest which came easier. Thought of floors in a high rise & types of flooring but was ASTONISHEd by the answer. Never heard of ALTDORF. Did get SENT, EURO, STARZ though.
I never used either CORNFLAKES or bread crumbs in preparing food. In my cooking life, I used oatmeal in meatloaf.
"Pipe in a song" I thought of piped-in music so COB was a surprise. Oh, Frosty!
DICTA: once spent my afternoons operating a DICTAphone while typing on a real typewriter for a lawyer. Very educational.
Thanks to Jim Quinlan and congratulations if this is a Saturday debut!
Having completed the north eastern corner and smiling at SLOWCOOKER, I thought, aha, this will go fast. Ha! The rest of the puzzle gave me fits and though GIRLSCOUTCOOKIES appeared soon enough my mind stumbled on so many cells. It ASTONISHES me! But then, I remember that age is a factor.
So I was looking for a name at BARON then LANDHOLDER emerged. FIAT had me trapped for a long time until I erased it and I was AT A DEAD END. Had to laugh at BALD, likely to skid. Oh, tires.
ALTDORF was a hard won fill but last night for the very first time I watched Hawaii FIVE-O so that was opportune and gave me the F to finish it. I also watched Blue Bloods and realized the difference between well written and well acted drama between the two. I'm surprised 5-0 has lasted this long. No idea who Linda is or was.
I'm always happy to see any reference to Jane Austen.
Well, I'm sorry to say that it appears the monarchs have migrated and not even one is around. Last night the temps here fell so that likely prodded them to fly farther south. They were entertaining while they lasted and I regret not having photographed them.
Thank you, Splynter, for the well defined tour today.
Have a fantastic day, everyone! I highly recommend A Man Called Ove by Fred Backman if you haven't already read it.
I managed to almost finish but the SW triple stack of GLIMPSED, DIANE LANE, and CORN FLAKES was not completed. I had MELDED, PLA, ENER, and DESK filled but I went brain dead on SAKI. I wanted AMASS for 'Gather' and INFER just wouldn't appear in my mind. At that point I was AT A DEAD END, 'Unable to continue'. I never heard of DIANE LANE or the use of CORN FLAKES for breading.
ALTDORF sounded Deutsch but I didn't know it and it was solved through perps. Ditto for ZIP CAR. I only got STARZ because HBO & Cinemax weren't the right amount of letters.
As for the CLOWN who posted under BIG EASY last night at 11:14, I'll just let everybody know that it WAS NOT ME. So whoever you are, it's you, not me, that you are referring to calling YOURSELF the name.
I see that this crossword led other Cornerites to the same irritations: "Did" = "Aped"???? "Coppers" = "FiveO"???
Sometimes, I think, the need to make everything fit leads constructors into bending English far beyond reason ... or solvability.
Well, I did get SIL, IN ALL, ISMS, BETTE, FEDORA, and FER before I started cheating. Those long, long blanks just scared me off from even trying. I'll have to think about whether I might want to brighten my Saturdays by just skipping the tough puzzles. But then I'd miss hearing from my blog friends, so that may not be a good idea.
Anyway, after starting to cheat I did get a lot more, and I too tried DIANA RIGG before seeing that it wouldn't work.
Seem to have a working phone again (keeping my fingers crossed.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Well gosh, I didn't like this puzzle very much. Well, parts of it, anyway. As others have mentioned, some of the clues simply did not lead to the answers. When I see a clue that says something like "perhaps," "say," "a certain," "at times," "sometimes," I feel there is no way I would ever ever be able to figure out what it is referring to. You might as well clue it "sorta kinda maybe a little bit like." So I had to resort to Google more than I had wanted to, and for that reason the satisfaction just wasn't there.
I do, however, appreciate the construction and constructor. Ya gotta like a puzzle that has stuff like POUR ONE OUT, END OF AN ERA, and especially COME TO PAPA, at which I smiled.
I agree about the incongruous loss of Linda in Blue Bloods. Like desper-otto, I went back to see which episode I must have missed.
Hi All!
I spent my allotted time just finishing the NW with some smatterings about... Thanks Jim for the entertainment while I had my coffee(s).
Thanks Splynter for the expo and fixing the errors of my grid. Glad to hear the new gig is going well and my she walk into your tasting room for a sip; don't let her ELUDE you....
27a was not ISO Bar, I learNED instead of WIDENED, Cede and BAre completed COB (it was a CORN COB pipe!), and Crackers wouldn't fit @26d where CORN did. I don't know why I thought it, but Concord was right out at 20a.
//I don't think we've had CORN FLAKES about since college. The girls grew up on Cheerios. I'll use Saltines in a pinch and cut back on salt called for - I've only been out of Italian bread crumbs twice.
I kept reading Samoa a Sonoma, CA and Caramel as Carmel way too long... California towns refused to fill :-). PK - word from your sister?
At least I knew STARZ and ZIP CAR out of the gate and nailed the deep SW under the PLA's control.
{B+, B}
BigE - re: 11:14p: poster got the tone of voice wrong - we knew it wasn't you.
Lucina - those butterflies are elusive as a cactus bloom, I guess. Next year! :-)
Cheers, -T
I was fired after the first three episodes of The Lou Grant Show, replaced with another actor. No one noticed or cared, except me, but I got other jobs, met my husband the director, have two great kids, so everything does work out for the best, as they say. A Man Called Ove is truly a wonderful book, and his new one, Bear Town is even better!
rb
I thought this tough, with very misleading....and unknown...clues and answers. Got the solve sans any satisfaction.
BLUEBLOODS...a show that could pick up and be a 70s show with zero alteration. It’s in NYC but no black characters at all, women in subservient roles, always the happy ending. I thought KEVIN CAN WAIT was tasteless in its ridding itself of the leading (woman’s) character until BB upped the ante in terms of even more disrespect. I like Tom Selleck but not in this pay the rent mess of a show....see him in any Jesse Stone TV movie for real enjoyment.
HAWAII FIVE-O...I was and still am a fan of the original, this is as bad a redo as can be. In the first show the female cop cold-cocked an idiot surfer....with no fallout. Cuz cops assault people all the time to show how tough they are, right? I don’t think so.
Sorry, these shows have bugged me for a while now. Total pablum.
Lucina, I just saw a Monarch butterfly flitting around my patio plants, so maybe they haven't migrated yet after all! Here's hoping they have a late season this year!
Well, Quinlan, ya had yer way with me...
Like Splynter, I had no Ta- DA! today,
but my dignity is still intact, considering that I kept my Googles under five.
And some of my pre-correction errors were classy enough to warrant a Xwd of their own, such as LANDED PEER for LANDHOLDER, and (my fave) PORES for WOOLS. UNFAIR instead of NO FAIR was a toss-up, as was SGT for NCO.
My silliest slowing-down came when I misspelled SAKI as SAKE, as that left me (for a while) with ERK (meaningless!) instead of IRK.
Jayce, I agree with your enmity to waffling clues, the "sometimes" and "maybes" of puzzledom. When my mood is good, I'll remind myself that there are in fact Xwds that have no clues at all - like this one with a curiously Naked Grid. Then these little non-committals seem a little less bothersome.
Ah, well.
This is why we do these pzls, is it not? To expose our frailties - and make our peace with the limited mortal retention & the errancy of our Ol' Walnuts!
Misty, glad your phone is (still) working. May it survive the weekend with no further anomalies.
Did BarryvG drop out? Miss his comments.
OMK - WTF is that? The grid looks like a Space Invador (see: ATARI) but I'ven't a clue how to play... Pointers? [not @25d today]. -T
I agree about the awkwardness of some clues today but may I offer the benefit of a lifetime of crossword solving: the more you do them and become familiar with different types of cluing, recognize playfulness or downright trickery and begin to know depth of meaning in certain words the easier it becomes. And yet the creativity of constructors continues to surprise. After 70 years of solving, it's still a joy and I do at least three, sometimes four a day.
If anyone is interested I recommend Simon and Schuster's Mega Crossword Puzzle Book #7 edited by John M. Samson. I received it as a gift and am so grateful. It contains puzzles by many familiar constructors. Some are weekday level and others Saturday.
Anonymous@2:31
Thank you for information about Mr. Backman's latest book.
Misty:
I also saw two butterflies a while ago so they have not all departed. And I, too, hope your phone continues to give you good service.
Anon-T, the weird numbering indicates that each number denotes a letter. (ie: Each block containing a 17 will contain the same letter, though not likely to be 17th letter of the alphabet.)
Holy cow, Lucina, you've been solving puzzles for 70 years? You mean you started when you were 5 years old? You precocious child, you!
Yes, I do appreciate the playfulness, trickery, and creativity of the constructors. Objectively all is good. My comments mostly come from my subjective feelings about a puzzle, which may not always be so positive, although probably 97.3% of the time I like a puzzle and I say so. It's the old "I know it is good but I still don't like it" objective vs subjective conflict. I ran into this a lot in college literature classes. The works we were required to read were supposedly all considered to be worthwhile classics, but there were several that I simply did not like, such as, to give a concrete example, Kafka'sMetamorphosis. Supposedly high-quality writing and "required" reading but it simply left me cold. It was simply drudge work to read it. Another example: Shostakovich and Mahler are considered to be great composers and their works are firmly "in the repertoire." But, doggone it, I just don't care for their music. I like some of Stravinsky's stuff but my wife can't stand it. Some crossword puzzles are like that.
Best wishes to you all.
Here I go again. Another Sat. puzzler I angrily threw in the trash. Please don't be condescending and tell me to find "easier" puzzles that would "fit" my diminished skills. As a writer for all my adult life, for years I've used Sat/Sun puzzles to sharpen my vocabulary skills. Over the past several years puzzles have become less a test of word and history knowledge to slogs of references to pop and media culture. Since I refuse to use the two dozen "crossword helper" Web sites - I call them " cheat sites" - I most often toss the puzzle in order to avoid the angst. So sad to see the love of our eclectic language to be relegated to an afterthought in most of these puzzle entries. OK, I've given you a target - take your best shot!
AnonymousPVX @ 2:39 ~ I don't know how many episodes of "Blue Bloods" you have seen, but I have seen every one since the show premiered in 2010. Your statement "no black characters at all" is blatantly false. Whoppie Goldberg has had a recurring role as the City Council president and, in fact, appeared in last night's show. Up until this season, the mayor of New York was played by a black man. Several police officers, (men and women), perpetrators, lawyers, judges, civilians, have been portrayed by black people and Asians, too, I might add. Your other head-scratching comment about women in subservient roles is just as bewildering. I never saw any subservience in any of the four most visible women's role's: Erin (Asst. DA), Linda (Nurse), Baker (PC's Secretary) and Eddie (Policewoman). And there have been plenty of strong women judges and attorneys and other peripheral characters. As far as the show being Pablum, I'll take this Pablum any day over the mindless reality shows, talk shows, and what passes for comedy today.
Hi again~!
Funny you should ask, PK, but no barrels at the winery; they are pre-made, and go to the wine-making facility down the road - my only job there is to drop off the "dry" goods for bottling and packaging. I did, however, end up endearing myself to the Tasting Room manager because we needed a quick solve to an exposed propane tank issue - and I had two half barrels in the back destined for the dumpster, and inverted, they solved the problem.
I HAVE had to fix broken half-barrels at the restaurants (they're drinks tables), and a "half" is infinitely more unstable than a whole one - and once it starts to fall out of the hoops, it's really frustrating to get it back again.
Splynter
Frosty the Snowman did not have a corn COB for a pipe; he had a corn cob pipe.
Coppers = FIVE-O is a stretch. The 50 was the rank of Hawaii's admission to the Union, not a police force.
Anon at 2:31- I noticed that they fired Rebecca Balding from Lou Grant after three episodes. I also noticed she married a director she met while appearing on Charmed. Never understood why they went with an older actress. Loved her in SOAP . Cool that she does the LAT and reads and stopped by the Corner,
I was about to post just after D-O's 9:28 AM comment, but DW insisted that it was time for a full financial review and discussion. Of course, at 3 or so, some focus was lost as the Stros / Yanks game was turned on... Finally got back to the emails and comments after the game was over. What a finish !
Here are my comments from earlier this morning:
Like Irish Miss, I thought this was relatively easy for a Saturday.
Started by taking the probable S to end the Floors clue and got STARZ, which led quickly to ZIPCAR, PILOTED, TEN, BED, FEDORA and BETTE, all as fast as I could type. Then VIOLA and CORP, followed by MORTAL SIN which proved FLOE over berg. SLOW COOKER and SEPARATE then came easily and the NE fell.
Worked backwards from right to left across the middle post haste. Middle, Midwest and SW fell quickly, and with a quick GLIMPSE to the online clock, I realized on was on a very fast pace for a Saturday.
The rest of the south fell quickly, and only the NW was going to prevent a sub 20 finish. And it did.
SONY, SENT DYE and EURO went in fast enough. NO FAIR and IN ALL seemed likely, and were key to revealing ASTONISHES and subsequently, HOED. Still looking at sub 20, but hastily throwing in TONE for the Arrogant clue caused for the erroneous "TOOK ONE OUT."
That left me with 1D as AT-D, 4D as OK-, and 17A as -NN-FANERA, which I kept trying to parse as something NO FAN ERA. DOH ! Just never saw it, and spent the next twenty minutes rethinking every answer in the NW to see what was wrong. Only after I finally CAVEd in and changed the game to regular mode did I see the middle two letters of TONE light up like I stop light I didn't want to hit. Oh well.
Back to present. Now it's time to watch Ohio State / Nebraska and then flip back and forth to the Cubs / Dodgers.
See all y'all later n'at !
This was quite a challenge, indeed.
After checking that I FIR, I had to go back and figure out some of those correct answers that seemed wrong.
IFC seemed wrong. But I was wrong. IFC indeed is a network I never heard of. We have just one local TV station and a lot of things to watch on-line.
Never heard of WTA, but I guessed the reference to Venus Williams and knew there should be a W for women and a T somewhere for Tennis.
Turns out FIVE-O has become a slang term for police as a result of the TV show. As said above, FIVE-O comes from Hawaii being the 50th state. I was less than a year old when that happened, so I don't remember it very well.
Only know SAKI from these puzzles. DIANE LANE unknown. BETTE, too. I still have my first VCR which was a BETAMAX. It was a gift at my first job after grad school when our company was sold. I had engineered the guts of our top product. Beta was superior to VHS, but VHS did better marketing and licensing and "won". As an engineer that drives me nuts.
ZIP CAR is a brilliant idea that is starting to catch on in our town and also in San Francisco and other places where parking is difficult and many people don't own a car. It allows you to rent a car by the hour as needed. All expenses are included. Insurance, gas. Everything. You can pick it up in one place and drop it in another. I hope this idea spreads everywhere and am grateful this puzzle promoted it!
Thanks, Splynter, for your fine recap (again) and your mention of some of your job duties at the new job. As you always say on Saturdays, in some form or fashion ~ ONWARD! I might add, and UPWARD! Out of big-bizness corporate structure, to a kinder, gentler company.
Did not like APED clued as DID?! Perps confirmed it though. Never heard of IFC or Portlandia; perps again. Who the heck is Marty McFly?; perps again. Got it done, but with a lot of lightly inked entries. Thanks to all who explained the head-scratcher, FIVE-O. Never heard that term down here in TX, but did watch the show years ago. I tried to google the origination of COME TO PAPA (fun phrase when I first heard it); was it from a movie or a commercial?
PK, how is your sister doing? Your stint as a legal secretary (Dictaphone transcription) brought back 42 years of working for attorneys - memories either for a best-seller or life-long nightmares. Thanks, I think, :-)!
Anon T @ 3:13.
I know!
It's a *#@! naked albino monster, on the prowl to make grown men weep...
But then, doesn't it make us feel a little easier facing clues that don't quite add up?
I put off Starting, prescience? Sports, agony columns, Luann and the rest of the comics and finally the bridge. By that time I was out of time.
Then I started for fifteen minutes, did a run etc. My MOD is to get these.clues into my head and let the cerebellum do its work since the frontal cortex has long since said SEEYA
Thank God for MORTAL SIN 😁. Since I indeed did have SNOW you can imagine how desperate I was. I had nothing, nada in the lower right. I didn't like the looks of PA. Finally I went home and sat down. The key for a novice like me is never give up, never look up just wait. It took an entire week to get that NYT Sunday with the SPOT, PLACE,ZONE eztc. Lucina did you do that one?
ALTDORF was a complete unknown. That Anon@10:08 post made it all worth while.
Jim Q you did a good job of mixing Sat+ clues with Mon-Tue. eg DESK. When someone asks an impersonator "Do your Trump?", and he does then he DID Trump. I was trying to think of Old King Cole's pipe.*
Splynter I'm glad you're so enthused with the new gig.
I too rated Owen's l'icks much higher.
WC
* He really existed apparently
PS: I sounded like a Debbie-Downer, but I did enjoy today's puzzle. Guess I was frustrated as I was pressed for time before walking out the door.
Go 'Stros! Houston teams have always been, to quote hilarious Bum Phillips (Houston Oilers' coach; 1/7/80) "... we knocked on the door. This year, we beat on the door. Next year, we're going to kick the son of a bitch in." Nope, it has never gone well for any of our teams. Houston Rockets did win NBA championships in '94 & '95??, and the Aeros (ice hockey team in Houston?!!) in the 70's. But, unfortunately, historically, Houston teams have been known to sizzle and then fizzle. Hence our moniker, "Clutch City." Apologies to our Yankees fans, but please empathize. Brutal conditions next, for sure, up north.
TX Ms - don't forget the Dynamos 06 & 07 MLS champs.... [yeah, I don't watch Soccer either].
Maybe we're Clutch 'cuz we fans can't get our shit together. I took my Bro to a the ball game - he said, "It's weird here. You go to a Cubs game, it's all blue; Cards, all red. Here you guys have so many different Astros gear with different colors... Dude?" He has a point. Regardless 2-0 'Stros!
And OU beat Texas! Not bad for a Saturday. Cheers, -T
Jayce:
Why thank you, you darling man. I was actually 10 when I started doing puzzles.
Thanks for the comments, y'all. Seems that "Did" for APED and "Coppers" for FIVE-O irked a few. One comment seemed to blame the constructor... Please remember that an editor is involved in the process! I stumbled on both of those clues myself when I solved... but I must say, I think they're both fair for Saturday fare. Okay, "Did" is a bit rough... Pretty sure "Coppers" was my clue though- and I like it, dammit.
Anon-T, thank you - forgot the Dynamos, is it soccer or futbol? - I forget; whatever. I love the 'Stros creative and ever-changing colors. Think orange (WTH?) mixed w/ blue, and WHAT?!! For a 5'6" player, Altuve can certainly churn the distance - loved his piston-pumping legs to round a couple of bases, and then to slide into home for a 2-1. No offense, Yankee fans, your time in the spotlight is a-coming. Tough series for both of us is ahead.
Jim Q - FIVE-O was lost on me... I had FIVES thinking Coppers was some type of monies (after I gave up on Police).
APED for Did I was cool with - I thought: as in Little did a good Carson.
Thanks for stopping in and thanks for the puzzle - impressive stacks pin-wheeled.
Cheers, -T
Also... and this is hilariously arbitrary... I tried to make the middle look like a cookie when I built this grid. Seemed like a good idea at the time...
JimQ:
Thank you for your insight and especially for joining us here at the Corner. And the center could be a cookie that someone bit off the corners. A graham cracker, maybe.
I do hope we see more of your puzzles.
Dear Anonymous T:
Bless you! The Rich Little clip finally made "Did" = "Aped" make sense. It's been bugging me all day, so I came back to the Corner for another look, and, Voila. Thanks again.
OMK: Thanks for the link to that naked puzzle. I've done them in puzzle mags before, but still got a "below average" on it, for 7:57 time¡ I like acrostics better -- same principle, no perps, but meaningful result -- but the clueless was mildly entertaining.
Closing down for the day asks:
@2:31 - Is Lem right that you are the RB? If so, I loved you in Soap - DW's aunt reminds me of your character.
D-O I got that much re: the number system. All the "Ds" got placed but I still had squat. How does one move forward?.... Curses OKM!
OKL - hints on how to approach OMK's nastiness? I'm ASEA.
-T
Hello to all! Love this blog. I'm amateur at best with the crossword puzzles, but sometimes I surprise myself. Not nearly as good as you guys, but I think I'm ok. Will not contribute every day, but will do so as often as possible.
See you on Monday?
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