Theme: NONE
I feel that our editor has been saving this themeless puzzle just for this specific Saturday to coincide with Pope Benedict's visit. There are 2 "Christian"s in the clue, and "Book, bk, bks". NICENE, ECCLES, and BABI all have some religious overtone. And 9D: CISTERCIAN (under the rule of St. Benedict) is kind of self-revealing, isn't it? Or maybe I am just over-stretching my imagination?
I tanked again today. I think I am still in my C. C. Sabathia style slump now, "My arms feel fine, I just can't command either side of the plate".
I actually had a shock and awe start, filling in APERÇUS, CYCLIST TONG, UPSET and SATRAP like they were all sweet "OREO". I dazzled myself by conquering the whole upper left corner in less than 3 minutes. Then I rushed to the other battle fields eager to vanquish all the insurgents. But I was greeted with heavy resistance everywhere I set my feet upon. Horrible. I could not even get TONELESS for 63A. My TREELESS stood proudly there until the very end.
ACROSS:
1A: Signed for: ACCEPTED
9A: Of the ribs: COSTAL. No idea. The root word is "costa", Latin for rib.
15A: Disappearing communication device: PAY PHONE
16A: Glacial epoch: ICE AGE
17A: Some of Whistler's works: ETCHING. Did not know who Whistler was, but the answer was easily inferable.
18A: Molded: SHAPED
19A: Death rattle: RALE. Pure guess. I forgot this word.
20A: Sparkling: GLISTENING
22A: Weather of a region, so to speak: CLIME. Poetically I suppose?
24A: Organic compound: ESTER
26A: Underdog wins: UPSETS
28A: Rocky outcrops: TORS. Great picture. Want to take a walk?
30A: Petty tyrant: SATRAP. Nailed it this time.
31A: Part of ASCAP: SOC (Society). Don't like it. This abbreviation just doesn't fit my eyes.
32A: Soviet news agcy.: TASS (Abbreviation of Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union, in Russian). Ah, gimme for me, mainly because of my intense interest in him for a short period of time. Now it's ITAR-TASS in Russia, with ITAR focusing on domestic news and TASS on international affairs. Oh, the Soviet newspaper is PRAVDA (The Truth).
35A: Designer Christian: DIOR. J'adore! For those who dare, try Poison, in the evening!
37A: Webber play: CATS
42A: Humiliated: ABASED
47A: Icelandic epic: EDDA
48A: Creed of Christians: NICENE. Nicene Creed. No idea.
49A: One of a set of bks: VOL
50A: Black suit: CLUBS. Good clue.
52A: Certain dagger: SKEAN. Hmm, this would be the second time Dennis met with Ms. SKEAN. Hope he remembered her name.
53A: Free from bondage: EMANCIPATE. Like this Emancipation of Mimi? Very creative name for her latest album: E=MC2. I figure it's "The Emancipation = Mariah Carey 2". What does that 2 stand for then?
56A: Persian sect: BABI. Now replaced by Baha'i. I wanted SHIA.
57A: Tex-Mex pick: TAMALE
58A: Word for barely acceptable writing: READABLE
61A: Signer-upper: ENROLLER. What the heck is "Signer-Upper"? Is it the person who "Sign-up?"
62A: Hereditary ruler: DYNAST. Ah, that's how we got Dynasty! Good to know.
63A: Lacking shading: TONELESS
DOWN:
1D: Revealing glimpses: APERÇUS. Or a synopsis.
2D: Tree with trumpet-shaped flowers: CATALPA. See this picture. I can smell summer.
3D: Tour-de-France racer: CYCLIST
4D: Transitory things: EPHEMERAS. The plural form can also be EPHEMERAE. Don't you wish you saved all your childhood ticket stubs/programs? Stunning price on Ebay!
5D: Greek letter: PHI. Ugh, dislike the clue due to 23D. Can't you reclue this as something Philly related, to salve the wounds of those depressed Philly fans? Good job, Santana, you rocked last night!
6D: Chinese secret society: TONG (堂). Literally "assembly hall". In fact, it's a "Chinese American secret society". You won't find TONG in modern China.
7D: Writer Medeleine L'___: ENGLE. No, completely unknown to me. Oh, she also graduated from Smith College, she might have bumped into Sylvia Plath then.
8D: Stops: DESISTS
9D: Member of an austere monastic order: CISTERCIAN. It's "a member of an order of monks and nuns founded in 1098 at Cîteaux, near Dijon, France, under the rule of St. Benedict." Looks like the word CISTERCIAN is derived from Cîteaux the site.
10D: Earthy pigments: OCHERS. Here is more information for you. Drdad probably knows a ton about this stuff.
12D: Starch from cassava root: TAPIOCA. "Tapioca Pearl Tea" is a very popular drink in Southern China and Southeast Asia.
13D: Meeting schedules: AGENDAS
14D: Business books: LEDGERS. Too bad, Mr. Higgins missed a precious opportunity to pay tribute to Heath Ledger. It's so hard letting you go, Heath, you were so young!
21D: Arose: STOOD. I mis-read this clue as "Arouse".
23D: Greek letters: ETAS
27D: Most long, thin, and frail-looking: SPINDLIEST. This guy is really getting very wordy today.
32D: Monitor cursor mover: TRACKBALL
34D: Sick and tired: FED UP. That's how I felt about the whole Bittergate brouhaha. Crazy!
37D: Wished for excessively and culpably: COVETED. Oh, that's what "COVET" means! Thank you for the detailed explanation. Should I stop coveting certain things then?
38D: Incongruity: ANOMALY
39D: Father of Ajax: TELAMON. No, no idea. The dictionary says he is "an Argonaut and friend of Hercules, and the father of Ajax and Teucer." It also says that TELAMON is "a figure of a man used as a supporting pillar." It looks like this.
41D: Striped fabric: TABARET. It's "a durable silk or acetate fabric having alternating stripes of satin and moiré, for drapery and upholstery."
43D: Within view: SEEABLE
45D: Makes possible: ENABLES
45D: Withholders: DENIERS. This suffix of "er" sounds so arbitrary to me.
47D: Bk. of the Old Testament: ECCLES (Ecclesiasticus). Just found out that ECCLES, the Australian neurophsiologist, won Noble Prize (Physiology/Medicine) in 1963.
51D: Off. skill: STENO
C.C.
I feel that our editor has been saving this themeless puzzle just for this specific Saturday to coincide with Pope Benedict's visit. There are 2 "Christian"s in the clue, and "Book, bk, bks". NICENE, ECCLES, and BABI all have some religious overtone. And 9D: CISTERCIAN (under the rule of St. Benedict) is kind of self-revealing, isn't it? Or maybe I am just over-stretching my imagination?
I tanked again today. I think I am still in my C. C. Sabathia style slump now, "My arms feel fine, I just can't command either side of the plate".
I actually had a shock and awe start, filling in APERÇUS, CYCLIST TONG, UPSET and SATRAP like they were all sweet "OREO". I dazzled myself by conquering the whole upper left corner in less than 3 minutes. Then I rushed to the other battle fields eager to vanquish all the insurgents. But I was greeted with heavy resistance everywhere I set my feet upon. Horrible. I could not even get TONELESS for 63A. My TREELESS stood proudly there until the very end.
ACROSS:
1A: Signed for: ACCEPTED
9A: Of the ribs: COSTAL. No idea. The root word is "costa", Latin for rib.
15A: Disappearing communication device: PAY PHONE
16A: Glacial epoch: ICE AGE
17A: Some of Whistler's works: ETCHING. Did not know who Whistler was, but the answer was easily inferable.
18A: Molded: SHAPED
19A: Death rattle: RALE. Pure guess. I forgot this word.
20A: Sparkling: GLISTENING
22A: Weather of a region, so to speak: CLIME. Poetically I suppose?
24A: Organic compound: ESTER
26A: Underdog wins: UPSETS
28A: Rocky outcrops: TORS. Great picture. Want to take a walk?
30A: Petty tyrant: SATRAP. Nailed it this time.
31A: Part of ASCAP: SOC (Society). Don't like it. This abbreviation just doesn't fit my eyes.
32A: Soviet news agcy.: TASS (Abbreviation of Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union, in Russian). Ah, gimme for me, mainly because of my intense interest in him for a short period of time. Now it's ITAR-TASS in Russia, with ITAR focusing on domestic news and TASS on international affairs. Oh, the Soviet newspaper is PRAVDA (The Truth).
35A: Designer Christian: DIOR. J'adore! For those who dare, try Poison, in the evening!
37A: Webber play: CATS
42A: Humiliated: ABASED
47A: Icelandic epic: EDDA
48A: Creed of Christians: NICENE. Nicene Creed. No idea.
49A: One of a set of bks: VOL
50A: Black suit: CLUBS. Good clue.
52A: Certain dagger: SKEAN. Hmm, this would be the second time Dennis met with Ms. SKEAN. Hope he remembered her name.
53A: Free from bondage: EMANCIPATE. Like this Emancipation of Mimi? Very creative name for her latest album: E=MC2. I figure it's "The Emancipation = Mariah Carey 2". What does that 2 stand for then?
56A: Persian sect: BABI. Now replaced by Baha'i. I wanted SHIA.
57A: Tex-Mex pick: TAMALE
58A: Word for barely acceptable writing: READABLE
61A: Signer-upper: ENROLLER. What the heck is "Signer-Upper"? Is it the person who "Sign-up?"
62A: Hereditary ruler: DYNAST. Ah, that's how we got Dynasty! Good to know.
63A: Lacking shading: TONELESS
DOWN:
1D: Revealing glimpses: APERÇUS. Or a synopsis.
2D: Tree with trumpet-shaped flowers: CATALPA. See this picture. I can smell summer.
3D: Tour-de-France racer: CYCLIST
4D: Transitory things: EPHEMERAS. The plural form can also be EPHEMERAE. Don't you wish you saved all your childhood ticket stubs/programs? Stunning price on Ebay!
5D: Greek letter: PHI. Ugh, dislike the clue due to 23D. Can't you reclue this as something Philly related, to salve the wounds of those depressed Philly fans? Good job, Santana, you rocked last night!
6D: Chinese secret society: TONG (堂). Literally "assembly hall". In fact, it's a "Chinese American secret society". You won't find TONG in modern China.
7D: Writer Medeleine L'___: ENGLE. No, completely unknown to me. Oh, she also graduated from Smith College, she might have bumped into Sylvia Plath then.
8D: Stops: DESISTS
9D: Member of an austere monastic order: CISTERCIAN. It's "a member of an order of monks and nuns founded in 1098 at Cîteaux, near Dijon, France, under the rule of St. Benedict." Looks like the word CISTERCIAN is derived from Cîteaux the site.
10D: Earthy pigments: OCHERS. Here is more information for you. Drdad probably knows a ton about this stuff.
12D: Starch from cassava root: TAPIOCA. "Tapioca Pearl Tea" is a very popular drink in Southern China and Southeast Asia.
13D: Meeting schedules: AGENDAS
14D: Business books: LEDGERS. Too bad, Mr. Higgins missed a precious opportunity to pay tribute to Heath Ledger. It's so hard letting you go, Heath, you were so young!
21D: Arose: STOOD. I mis-read this clue as "Arouse".
23D: Greek letters: ETAS
27D: Most long, thin, and frail-looking: SPINDLIEST. This guy is really getting very wordy today.
32D: Monitor cursor mover: TRACKBALL
34D: Sick and tired: FED UP. That's how I felt about the whole Bittergate brouhaha. Crazy!
37D: Wished for excessively and culpably: COVETED. Oh, that's what "COVET" means! Thank you for the detailed explanation. Should I stop coveting certain things then?
38D: Incongruity: ANOMALY
39D: Father of Ajax: TELAMON. No, no idea. The dictionary says he is "an Argonaut and friend of Hercules, and the father of Ajax and Teucer." It also says that TELAMON is "a figure of a man used as a supporting pillar." It looks like this.
41D: Striped fabric: TABARET. It's "a durable silk or acetate fabric having alternating stripes of satin and moiré, for drapery and upholstery."
43D: Within view: SEEABLE
45D: Makes possible: ENABLES
45D: Withholders: DENIERS. This suffix of "er" sounds so arbitrary to me.
47D: Bk. of the Old Testament: ECCLES (Ecclesiasticus). Just found out that ECCLES, the Australian neurophsiologist, won Noble Prize (Physiology/Medicine) in 1963.
51D: Off. skill: STENO
C.C.
38 comments:
Good morning everyone. I have to say, I really had a hard time with this one. I didn't have a "clue"! LOL How is lacking shading "toneless"? I would think readable would be easily read, not barely acceptable writing. I never heard of "apercus" in my whole life! The catalpa is a beautiful tree, thanks for the link. 39D, father of Ajax I never heard of, but that was a great picture.
Have a good weekend everyone. I don't get the Sunday puzzle., which really bums me out. We get the New York Times puzzle. I can't get ANY of those!
Katherine,
Tone means "shade" here.
Apercus has appeared on this puzzle before.
200
Good morning, gang. Well, this was finally the hammer for me. The perp. cousins helped a lot but I still took forever.
No, C.C., 'skean' didn't come to mind this time either. You have to remember, old people can remember breast-feeding, but not what happened yesterday.
Also thought 'signer-upper' was weak, and I made your mistake as well, wanting to 'arouse', not 'arise' - although they can be somewhat synonymous...
Probably won't get the Sunday puzzle down here, and tomorrow afternoon it's back to the AutoTrain, so I'll see you all sometime Monday; hope it's an outstanding weekend for everybody.
Anonymous, where is "here"?
Katherine,
I am 200.
Tone: "a quality of color with reference to the degree of absorption or reflection of light; a tint or shade".
Well, It's plain that I nee3d a larger vocabulary.
Although I use every one of these words in everyday conversation (????) this puzzle was NOT a trip down memory lane.Should have stayed in bed!! Oh well, it'll get better.
Today's rating? 25!
Katherine,
I just noticed that APERCU appeared on a Sunday puzzle before. No wonder you were not familiar with it.
I think Shading & TONELESS are printing terms here. Maybe others can explain it more clearly to you.
Bill,
Keep plugging!
Katherine, shading and toning are pretty much the same in printing/graphics terms, as I understand it. Like you, I was originally thinking 'treeless'.
It's pretty obvious that I need a new keyboard too. Somebody put a 3 where it wasn't supposed to be!
C.C. I never say die but sometimes I RALE!
Dennis,
I am smiling at your SKEAN comment. I wish it were positioned differently in the grid.
So my original understanding of "Signer-Upper" is correct then? What a weird looking word.
Have a safe trip back home. Are you planning for another FL trip soon?
This was the Hammer for sure. I goofed up the lower right by using 43A as visible... stayed with it for a time since the last three letters worked with the across clues. 9A and 9D got me and 4D I put in ephemral not noticing the need for plural there... which made it hard to fill in CATS.... I have to be more careful with plurals, nouns, adjectives etc. It was a hard one for me... but I liked it...
I finished it without help but it took way too long. Did not know APERCUS (check out the pronunciation here), SKEAN or BABI. Reading "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeline L'Engle to a young friend so I got that.
Meant to tell you c.c. that I thought you were very perceptive in picking up the link between this puzzle and the pope's visit.
NYTanonimo,
I am getting smarter now!:-)
One fellow solver emailed me yesterday about his mistake for "J. C. follower" (PENNEY). He penned in PETER thinking J. C. stands for Jesus Christ.
A bit of Bushism here:
"Thank you, Your Holiness, Awesome speech"
C.C. - maybe one more Fl. trip next month, then that's it.
I get my puzzle in the Wisconsin State Journal
Good morning, CC et al, Another struggle for me as well, but I liked it mostly. Surprised myself on what I did get, really. 1D irritates me. Another foreign word. Does any English speaking body really use this word? Thank you nytanonimo for the links. Thought this word was unfair. And "toneless" surprised me, but in creative expressions of music, art, writing it made sense to me. Black suit got me. Wanted to take the "club" to the paper and use my "skean" on what's left. If it's a SECRET society (tong), how are we supposed to know it? I never heard of it, but the secret's out now! Sorry about their luck! And the father of Ajax (39D)...What dreams are made of! Great picture! Great everything! I want to put him at MY bird feeders!
Have a good one!
Toneless:
Color quality
Blend or harmonize
Strengthen in color. If a picture has no tone, it is blah, right? Shading is everything. Makes for tone.
Good morning everyone!
CC, did your 13D clue really have "with" in it? Mine just said "Meeting schedules." I didn't care for the double Greek letter clues. How about "Expected times?" for ETAS? Glad I only solve them, not construct them! BABI was fairly obscure, I thought. We've seen SKEAN recently? Don't remember that one at all. CLIME is more scientific than poetic, I think. Never heard of TABARET. Katherine, the catalpa is a fairly messy tree. Those leaves are huge when they come down and they have messy seedpods that litter the ground. I see "signer-upper" as someone like a petition circulator. We have lots of those here in Oregon.
crockett1947,
My mistake on 13D. I've changed it.
Your ETAS clue sounds good to me. "SKEANS" appeared on March 12 puzzle. I think you were in San Antonio then.
JIt's Saturday and I decided to sleep a little late. James Whistler painted "Whistler's Mother." I am a pigment chemist and colorist and anonymous is correct in his explanation of toneless and shade.
A brain burner in places. I hate to google these but alas, I did on some (1D, 2D, 52A, 56A). !!@#!!** Nice pickup on the pope's visit and the religious terms, C.C.
Clime is a scientific term that refers to a region that is defined by its climate. What a place to get hung up for a bit - I had bar for court divider (a courtroom) not thinking tennis!!!
Time to do some yardwork. Have a good day!
Oh, so frustrating today! I got off to a bad start and never got the top left corner. I'm going to have to hit that website you mentioned and start doing the Sunday puzzle. It seems like most of the time when I miss a crosswordese answer, it's always something that was in a Sunday puzzle. I could not come up with APERCUS or CATALPA and although I had everything but the first two letters, I couldn't think of PAYPHONE or RALE. Oy vey.
For the longest time I had BAR instead of NET for 40A. I was thinking courtroom, not sports.
This one let me know that I'm only about ¼ as smart as I would like to think. Words I never heard of were rife, i.e. COSTAL, SKEAN, BABI, APERCUS, CATALPA, & TABARET. Catalpa was the only one that passed the spell checker on my software, so the folks that do the spellchecker need to - maybe - add a few words. I wonder how they got Catalpa??
I love puzzles like this one. Saturday always used to be hard but sort of got easier in the last year or so. And here I thought is was me getting smarter.jam
the last comment was from me, but my password didn't work. It should be from JIMHLLRN
Ithink I got my sign-on corrected.
The one word I thought was pretty good was glistening. I first put glimmering and then changed to glittering before finally landing on glistening. All three fit the clue and the space and had enough common letters with the down words to make it interesting.
The rest were just a bunch of words I'd never heard before starting with apercus, costal, satrap, nicene, babi, catalpa, telamon, tabaret, and cistercian. Then there were the questionable words like enroller (enrollee?), deniers, spindliest, and dynast.
Let's just say I was a little busy looking up words.
For barely acceptable writing I could only see my old professeur writing in brilliant vermillion "LAMENTABLE!!!" (add your own French accent for this lame apercu--sorry no cedille handy). Think "seeable" is one of those words only found in crosswords--personally I find it barely acceptable...have a good one everyone...time to put on the Avias and work those intercostal muscles!
Googled myself into trouble. There is a catappa tree.
http://www.botanypictures.com/plantimages/terminalia%20catappa%2004%20macro%20cur%20AN.jpg
Gargoyle
"Seeable", "enrollers" and "spindliest" sound like made-up words to me. But "apercus", "catalpa" and "skean" make up for them.
I am constantly and sadly aware of my minds inability or stubborness to change from the first idea it gloms onto. I, too, thought J C was Jesus yesterday. Today, black suit brought funerals and/or formal attire to mind and I never made the switch to cards. Flexibility! This was a difficult one for me. I get my puzzle from the San Jose Mercury News. Maybe it was people like all of us who bounced Googles stock so high yesterday! Wish I had some...
Drdad,
I think I saw that "Whistler's Mother" painting somewhere before. Had no idea that Whislter painted it. Thanks.
Ellie,
Sorry, Sunday TMS puzzle is not on Chicago Tribune's website. It's not available anywhere on line.
Jim,
Yeah, some of the words did not pass my Firefox spelling check this morning either.
Mh,
I bet you were not the only one who made the glittering/glimmering mistake.
Thomas,
Good to see you in the day time!!
Gargoyle,
I cannot get into the link you posted.
Johnboy,
I agree with all your take except "spindliest".
Bobolink,
That's why I think "Black suit" is a very good clue. Very misleading.
My husband & I worked tag-team and were able to finish sans Googling. Since I'm in the medical field and a Pinchle player, I got 'costal','rale', and 'clubs realatively easily. I was annoyed with "readable' intersecting with 'seeable', and to me 'enroller' is a word only GW Bush would use.
Oops! Didn't spell check. I meant Pinochle and relatively
Good afternoon everone
yes c.c. Santanna rocked I almost left Mn when he left.
I completly blew the upper left cornor c.c. good for you!
crockett I should have gotten 2.d as I used to have one of those, but we used a different name for it. But a few of the letters fit!
ellie I was upset not knowing 9.a &19.a as i did a 7 year stint as an E M T altho I knew them as intercostal and rales. Technicnaly rales are rattling breath associated with emphysema
Dennis did you catch my ? from yesterday?
and c.c. I struggled with 53.a as I can't spell enacapated
emasaplated
emancprated
oh forget it !
t/c everyone
The Whoo
Hey Whoo - yes, I saw your comment yesterday. I don't know Roger, but I'm always glad to meet a fellow near-dead. I do, however, have him beat, being older than fluids.
Off to South Beach - we'll see if we can't show these young people how it's done...
Happy weekend from sunny Manhattan!! I tanked today too. But I did notice a slightly papal theme... NYC is pope-crazy at the moment!
CC - my boss is from Taiwan, and she recently introduced me to the delights of the tapioca drink you were talking about.. I had an iced chocolate drink with the tapioca pearls in - it was really good!!
I didnt like the use of 'Greek letter' for two clues. The same clue used more than once for theme answers - yes, ok. But just because they couldn't think of two different clues - sloppy.
i did enjoy 'Black suits' though
Good evening to all from Kim in NJ. Worked the night shift so just completing the puzzle. Actually liked it, although the top left corner took a long while since 1d,2d,4d, and 30a were unknown to me..only filled them in since I knew the "A's". I have never heard of a "satrap" and doubt I will remember it as I only got "skean" because of "trackball".
Drdad- I was happy I got 40A as I fell into that trap before only thinking courtroom. Of course I only got it after I knew it had to be "Fedup".
Thomas and Johnboy- agree with you about "seeable" ..shook my head when filled in that one.
Crockett- I just discovered this blog this week..and when I see your name I have to smile because my 2 sons were Thru-Hikers of the AT trail this past year.. Their trail names were Doc and Crockett.If I knew how I would attach a picture of him next to a mail box along the trail with the name Crockett on it. Anyway, just wanted to share that with you.
Does anyone do the Merl Reagle Sunday puzzles? I love them
Hi Kim from NJ - yes, I do the Merl Reagle puzzles every Sunday, and they're usually very good.
What part of NJ?
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