Words: 68
Blocks: 35 (with 4 cheaters)
A brain-drain puzzle for me, but totally worth the effort~! I would have to say that today's 'theme' could be "try, try again", as I had to change several of my initial answers in order to get this one done. Lots of good clues, some new fill, and an odd-looking grid. Bob has quite a record of puzzles; here's the interview from C.C. Four long-letter climbers;
7D. Theater accommodation : STANDING ROOM - nice to see the (almost) full length answer to a common crossword fill, "SRO" - just lacking the 'only' part
11D. Summons : CALLS FORTH
20D. "Just so you know ..." : FOR THE RECORD - I was trying to get 'FURTHER MORE' to fit, but was lacking a letter
25D. Homemade radio : CRYSTAL SET - had it not been for this appearing in a crossword not long ago, I would have not gotten it at all
ACROSS:
1. "Fear not" : REST EASY
9. Knuckle under : ACCEDE - wanted SECEDE, and tried RELENT instead
15. Likely will : EXPECT TO
16. Betrayed a bias : LEANED
17. Backing an ancient empire, like King Herod : PRO-ROMAN - took me a bit to parse this one out; I was missing the "R", and thought PROTO-MAN??? No, I don't think so....
18. Charge with a lance : TILT AT - Don Quixote, TILTing AT windmills
19. Made a party to : LET IN ON - lots of what I would call "Dan Naddor" fill today
20. Lacking extra room : FILLED
21. RB's gains : YarDS
22. Sonny and Cher, e.g. : DUO
24. The Baltics, once: Abbr. : SSRs
25. Caspian Sea delicacy : CAVIAR
28. Père's son : FILS
30. Strict disciplinarian : MARTINET - straight up definition
32. Nickname for two very different TV doctors : BONES - these two
33. Paying (up) : PONYING - betting term? ( I also see it might be related to the Spanish for put, "poner"~? )
34. Buck up : HEARTEN - shout-out, three days in a row now~!
36. "Sail no farther!" : "AVAST~!"
37. Pipe organist's selection : REED STOP - oh so good - was trying to s-t-r-e-t-c-h TOCCATA in....
39. Breton, e.g. : CELT - I was of the mind that this was a 'jacket' (yes, I know, that's ETON), but eventually, I saw the light - hey, I was in the right island group....
40. Sudden influx : ONRUSH
41. Bacteria-growing gel : AGAR
43. Taxonomic suffix : OTE - coyote, zygote, Quixote ???
44. Old televangelist org. : PTL - "Praise The Lord~!" and some other things, apparently
47. The "P" in P.G. Wodehouse : PELHAM - I tried "Putnam" to start; more on the author here; the man who gave us "Jeeves"
49. Going rate? : CAB FARE
53. Decide not to use : PASS ON
54. Waters off New Guinea : CORAL SEA - Filled in "SEA" right away, then waited; WAGed the CORAL part from - O - AL; Map
55. Familiarize : ORIENT - not TRY OUT
56. Church dignitaries : PRELATES
57. Territorial divisions : STATES
58. George Eliot's first novel : ADAM BEDE - More Wiki
DOWN:
1. Email function : REPLY
2. Ken Griffey Jr., e.g. : EX-RED - wanted EX-MET, but that was Ken Sr. - no wait - he was a Yankee - no wait - they were BOTH REDS - ugh, this is why I leave the baseball to C.C.~!
3. Ladybug's array : SPOTS
4. Actress Polo : TERI - I know her from "Meet the Parents"
5. Coll. course : ECONomy
6. Air head? : ATMOspheric, e.g.
8. Thataway : YON
9. Some choristers : ALTI - plural of Alto; & 32D. Hitter of low pitches? : BASS - HA~! not baseball....
10. Puts a roof on : CEILS - Ugh, this one always gets me
12. Join, as a discussion : ENTER INTO
13. Situation that makes stirring difficult : DEAD SLEEP
14. Clock-change abbr. : EDT- Eastern DAYLIGHT Time
23. Seven-in-one Mideast fed. : UAE - United Arab Emirates - and the seven members
26. Busy : AT IT - be careful how you parse this one....
27. Auto-biographical fig.? : V.I.N. - the serial number of your car; a breakdown for those interested
29. ID with two hyphens : SSN - was Adam's number 000-00-0001 in the Garden of Eden~???
30. Separate : MOVE APART - smart enough to try "APART", and then waited
31. Controlled numbness : ANALGESIA - Anesthesia did not fit
33. Super __: powerful fundraising gp. : PAC
35. URL ending : EDU
38. Med. specialist : ENT - Ears, Nose, Throat
42. Côtes du __: wine region : RHONE
44. Collage application : PASTE - Read this too fast, and you might see the first "A" as "E" - very clever
45. Stuck up? : TREED - NAILED it ( I did have the middle "E" )
46. It often requires a security deposit : LEASE
48. People seen from skyscrapers? : ANTS - nailed it; cute, too
50. Purview : AREA
51. Lip application : BALM
52. Workout target : FLAB
53. Ltr. distributors : POs - Post Offices
54. One often working on Sat. in the spring : CPA - Accountants busy preparing for the IRS deadline of April 15th
Answer grid.
Splynter
53 comments:
I loved this puzzle from one of the grand masters, almost 40 years of creations. After my first pass, with only YDS filed in, I was a bit discouraged, but I kept AT IT and somehow the answers started popping into my head, and then it was done. Loved so many of the clues/ fill. VIN and TREED and really stretching my mind for ADAM BEDE and PELHAM GRENVILLE. As always, Splynter, you were made for Saturday blogging, thank you; and thank you Mr. Wolfe.
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
Some of the phrases in this one just seemed “off” to my ear, like PRO-ROMAN, PONYING and DEAD SLEEP. I originally had “DEep SLEEP”. As long fill, I wasn’t excited about EXPECT TO, ENTER INTO, MOVE APART or ANALGESIA, either.
Thank goodness, we just had a discussion of CRYSTAL SETs a few days ago.
If PELHAM had been clued as, “The Taking of ___, 1 2 3”, I would have nailed it. Took perps to suss...
I loved seeing HEARTEN at 34A, but I don’t think of it as “Buck up”. To me, it means “to encourage”, with good news. “Buck up”, on the other hand, means to be strong, even in the face of bad news (quite the opposite!)
But I did like “Just so you know…” FOR THE RECORD, and “Theater accommodation” STANDING ROOM (although, I was looking for “only” tacked onto the end of that one…)
It’s a beautiful sunny Saturday here in the NE, so I’ll eschew the weeding and hedge trimming for now, and will be out on the golf course, instead. I hope you all enjoy your day!
This one was... a challenge. One which I just wasn't up to this morning, I'm afraid.
PELHAM, REED STOP, PRO ROMAN and EXRED were the bizarre unknowns that just killed me. And the clues on many others were even tougher than these unknowns.
Hands up for DEEP SLEEP.
Actually, pretty much everything that HeartRx said this morning. And I'll second what Lemonade said about VIN.
Meh. Not exactly my finest hour (or 15 minutes, as the case may be). I think I'll go barbecue something to cheer myself up...
I thought this puzzle was, wait a minute, Splynter already said it. In the words of Emily Litella, “never mind.” I’ll have him know that I am NOT an Orthorunican. I’m from the Midwest for crying out loud and have all my teeth.
Musings
-I broke my arm patting myself on the back for getting this bad boy done!
-Loved Going rate, Air head, Hitter of low pitches (I are one!), Stuck up, Auto-bio…
-Never really got started until SE revealed itself and last fill was wonderful PROROMAN in NW.
-BIAS reigns everywhere in the media today. Where have you gone Edwin Newman (earlier this week)?
-“I’m sorry but that class you need to graduate and start your life is ‘lacking extra room’”.
-For Tammy Faye, PTL was Pass The eyeLiner and, oh yeah, write us a check
-The producer in The Godfather didn’t PONY UP and wound up with a pony in his bed
-Analgesic balm (e.g. Icy Hot) is used by athletes to heat up under sweat to loosen up joints. Steven Strasburg found it can be very uncomfortable when it winds up in some, er, private parts.
-Get ready for Super PACs spreading more manure than an organic farmer for the next 6 months
-Fore, Marti! Someday we'll have to play around, er, I mean, play a round.
I was daunted at first. Then I got CRYSTAL SET which we saw recently and the SW fell quickly. I had PELHA(M) and wagged the M. I like MARTINET.
I moved to the SE. PTL and PASTE were my key entries. HG, I remember PTL and Tammy Faye Baker with the heavy eye makeup.
Then in the NE ALTI gave me ACCEDE, then came ENTER INTO. I liked DEAD SLEEP, deeper than deep, when we are DEAD tired.
STOP came from perps, then an easy leap to REED STOP, which gave me ROOM and then STANDING ROOM.
HEARTEN was not hard. The Free Online Dictionary gives HEARTEN as a synonym for BUCK UP and vice versa.
The NE gave me pause, but EXPECT TO and LET IN ON broke it open. I especailly liked PRO ROMAN which describes Herod to a T.
This was the fastest Sat. in a long time. I’m off to do a long list of chores and correspondence.
Oooph! What a workout. First fill was YDS, second was CPA and third was PAC. Decided to take a wag on Coral Sea from the CPA and I was off like a herd of turtles. The brain and the eraser got a major workout, but I did prevail after the better part of an hour. Had no idea about FILS, but all the crosses were solid, so I let it live. Everything else seemed reasonable enough to run with.
The wind died down overnight. It's now only blowing at 20-25 MPH. Oh well, at least it's supposed to be cooler today. 81 instead of 89.
OK, I'll bite. What's an orthorunican? I went to a few online dictionaries and it just ain't there! It's one of those words that if spoken aloud would provoke a "You do and you'll clean it up yourself!"
Tough, tough sledding today. The NW was no-go, but CALLS FORTH, CRYSTAL SET and FOR THE RECORD gave me just enough traction in the other three areas. That allowed me to finally see STANDING ROOM and, like Husker, PRO-ROMAN was the last to fall. My biggest boo-boo was confidently inking in JOUSTS when New England was completely blank. It took awhile for TILT AT to appear. But, it all came together within the allotted Saturday-solving-schedule, so no whining here.
I remember TERI Polo from The Arrival, a not-too-bad Charlie Sheen movie, pre-self-immolation.
And what is the derivation of "meh?" Is it Mehmet OZ, perhaps? His performance on Jeopardy! this week could be termed meh.
Almost always the NW falls last for me. That must cause me to have a mental lapse and call it the NE instead, quite often. Sorry, actaully I did NW last. EXPECT TO, LET IN ON, and PRO ROMAN were there.
That takes some of the bloom off the rose from finishing quickly.
Orthorunican
Okay HG, I give up. It is not one of the 77 words beginning with ortho, so?
Sorry Lemon, but it looks like our inscrutable carpenter might have made up a word as silly as my response. However, I did go online and find an interesting game called RUNICAN and we use ORTHO products all over our yard. Anything?
Is that a wood butcher in New York I hear chuckling in the background? I see he has orthorunics among his “my blogs” on his page. Dentures for George Washington?
Top of the morning, all.
Good workout, but doable. Great expo, Splynter.
The ladybug's SPOTS were easy to find, but I shot myself in the foot by putting ECON one column over from where it belonged. That meant that the NW was the last to fall, with a lot of writeovers in that area.
Orthorunicans... ortho lines are horizontal or vertical lines, runic implies coded or hidden meaning. I guess that's a pretty good description of CW puzzle solvers.
Off to enjoy my B'day.
Hi Again~!
SPOT(s) on, Grumpy1 ~!!!!
Yes, a total balderdashian word that I use to describe my "pre" blog page when doing Saturday write-ups.
Splynter
Oh - and Happy Birthday to you ~!
Splynter
HBD, Grumpy! I hope Bashful, Doc, etc get you something nice!
Thanks for the info on Splynter’s enigmatic (balderdashian?) word!
Off to Omaha for graduation parties for kids I had as 7th graders.
So. You're saying it could as easily be striaconundrumology?
Good morning all:
If I were prone to headaches, I'd be in migrain hell after wrestling with Mr. Wolfe's challenging offering. Had to use red letter help, especially in southeast corner. Nice write-up, Splynter.
Happy Birthday, Grumpy.
Have a sunny Saturday everyone.
oooh, good one, Avg Joe ~!
Splynter
Another refreshing Sat puzzle. Time for breakfast!
I usually don’t post any message on Saturday since I start the puzzle with red-letter help on. I did surprisingly well last night (did it a little after midnight) but WEE said sure applies to me.
Interesting thing happened with my iPad this morning as I tried to read Splynter’s great comments. Each time I would follow a link, when I clicked the back button, I would be kicked back to Friday’s Blog. I finally read through the whole thing and then went back and checked out later links. I did close entirely out of the Crossword Corner and restart, but still had the same thing happen. I paid closer attention to clue numbers so it was easier to find my place.
That did not happen with links in the comments other puzzlers (orthorunicans?) made, however.
Have a good weekend everyone,
Montana
Greetings, weekend warriors! Gracias, Splynter for your erudite narrative today.
Nice offering from Robert Wolfe. Each quadrant filled, starting at the SW with PAC, CELT, AGAR then MOVE APART and ANALGESIA. Sorry, Marti, I think that's a great puzzle word.
And WEES about CRYSTAL SET which was fresh in my memory bank.
Then on to the SW where PTL and SEA opened the whole AREA for me.
NE was next and the NW was the hardest to parse until STANDING ROOM appeared. Had no idea about Ken Griffey, Jr. of course, but it perped well.
Splynter, is it my vision or are you missing 32D in the blog?
No BONES about it, I ACCEDE that Mr. Wolfe's opus was great fun and fast for a Saturday.
Ciao, everyone, enjoy your Saturday!
Grumpy,
Happy Birthday! You're on my list now.
Lucina,
See 9D. I don't think any D can escape Splynter's eyes. A might.
Happy birthday, Grumpy!
Thanks, C.C.
Well, I'll never complain about a Saturday Silkie again. After my first run through this puzzle, I had only DUO for Sonny and Cher. Not a great start. If we hadn't had all that discussion of CRYSTAL SETs some time ago, I would never have gotten off the ground. But then slowly, slowly, one little item at a time, it started to come together, and in the end I got the whole thing. Huge relief! So thanks, Mr. Wolfe, and of course, Splynter, for a great Saturday write-up.
A lot of laughs in the blog this morning, thanks Desper-otto, Avg Joe, Husker.
Have a great weekend everybody. Our biggest challenge will be trying to figure out how to fight the tourist traffic to get to the grocery store. The downside of living in a resort community. Which reminds me--Happy birthday, Grumpy!
Happy Saturday - Getting ready for a Wine Stroll in our downtown this afternoon. Fifteen local wineries participating...YUM!!
Anyway, WEES about crystal set. I've never heard the word martinet, finally filled using perps.
My last fill was the "a" in reste_sy. Boy did I stare at that for awhile. ATMO....I get it!?! Duh...
Nice puzzle & interesting expo. Happy birthday Mr. Grumpy! Does this mean you are a bull-headed Taurus or a bi-polar, split personality Gemini??
Just got back from a community project. Our little volunteer club was out with implements of destruction trying to beautify the entrance to our little city by cleaning up the sign, repairing the lighting, digging a garden bed for some colorful plantings, then weeding and mulching. Whew! It's hot out there! Looks good, though.
HBD, Grumpy1!
Hello everybody, and happy birthday greetings to you, Grumpy 1.
Wow, so much to say about my experience solving this puzzle. First of all, like Husker Gary, I darn near injured myself patting myself on the back for solving this without having to look anything up. Like most of you, I started with tiny toeholds. Well, medium-sized toeholds, CAVIAR being the first fill I filled. I thought 6 letters would be a good start, but it didn't help much; I had to eke out every little bit. Looking the puzzle over after having finishing it, I realized what a tremendous construction it is, so many long words and phrases lined up side by side. I imagine that it is quite difficult to construct. So even though I frowned at certain clues/fill such as ATMO and ALTI, my overall feeling was, in the words of Len Goodman, one of the judges on Dancing With The Stars, "Well done!"
desper-otto, Chris Matthews and Thomas Friedman didn't do very well on Jeopardy, either. You could tell those gentlemen were not very good at taking direction or following instructions. (I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Some of the greatest people were rule breakers.)
I've been reading the headlines that characterize the Facebook IPO as a flop and a fizzle. Yeah? In whose opinion? I think the IPO was a total success, based on the fact that it met all the objectives of the company and its underwriters. The only people who call it a flop are the ones who tried to get rich quick and didn't. That's like calling the Kentucky Derby a flop because the horse you bet on didn't win. The more the media focus on hype and sensationalism, the more my former respect for the media erodes away.
Happy Birthday. I hope you are having a wonderful day, far from feeling grumpy, which you definiitely are not. I always enjoy your posts and often think WGS.
Aw, shucks, Yellowrocks... you're making me blush with sentiments like that, but thanks.
Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes. They're much appreciated.
GarlicGal, 15 wineries? Hmmmm, could get interesting by the end. BTW, I'm definitely the bullheaded Taurus.
Jayce, re the IPO and the media comments... two thumbs up!
YR, glad to hear you were able to get a little dancing time in. Hope both of the knees improve and you get back into a normal routine again.
Uhoh... I'm on C.C.'s list. Is that the good list or the bad list?
Well, i got about 6 words. a DF/DNF. At least i have learned some new words, Martinet, ponying, alti, ceils. I came to the Blog to find out what a Proro man was, & got hit with "orthorunicans???" I still don't know who "Fils" is...
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
GRUMPY1
Hi Everyone ~~
What an enjoyable struggle! Thank you for the challenge, Robert Wolfe. As others have said, the first pass through gave me very little. But after chipping away and an hour and a half later, it felt good to finish with no look-ups.
I did have LOTS of erasures and second-try answers - in some cases third-try. Aero before ATMO, Fitted / FILLED, Dst / EDT and Deep / DEAD SLEEP, to name a few. MARTINET was new to me. I think my last to fill were ANALGESIC (I, too, was thinking Anesthesia) and ACCEDE.
I really liked the clues for VIN, ANTS, BASS, TREED, and CAB FARE. So many clever clues today!
Thanks for an enlightening and entertaining write-up, Splynter. Interesting info on "Tilting at windmills" - I always wondered about that.
I hope you have a very Happy Birthday, Grumpy ~ you seem so unlike your "name!" ;-)
Sunny and beautiful here today ~~ Enjoy the weekend!
Happy birthday, Grumpy! Bulling your way through life ain't half bad!
Garlic Gal: after about the third winery, won't it be more of a WineStagger than a stroll? Would be for me!
As for the puzzle, I got the bottom third and assorted other entries, but mostly drew a blank. As the daughter and sister of pro-organists, I got STOPS but not reeds, to my shame. At one point I had REgisters which is what they call the tiers of keyboards, I think.
If I remember right, Herod was a non-Jew King of Jews who was more pro-Herod than pro-Roman and a Class A Evil Brown-noser.
Thank you, Splynter, once again for giving me enough hints to fill in all the rest of the squares. Love your creativity.
Stupid question: I have an old reed pump organ in my foyer, and I refer to those push/pull knobs as reed stops. But a pipe organ has pipes, not reeds, so why are they called reed stops?
A think a pipe organ has some of its pipes that include a vibrating brass 'reed' (as in your old pump organ) that makes the 'reedy' sound. Other pipes have no moving parts and make a sound much like blowing across a coke bottle. So when you pull the knobs that direct air to those 'reedy' pipes, they must be called the reed stops.
Happy birthday to cheerful Grumpy!
I actually almost finished a Saturday CW! Didn't get Ear Nose and Throat and even after I filled Proroman I couldn't figure it out. I kept trying to think of somthing to do with his wall.
Favorite clue and fill was cab fare.
HBD Grumpy.
Jayce, agree with what you said about the IPO. The people who were pissed were the one who tried to buy and sell short.
Brian and Ali were buying formal
ware for the post IPO Party last I heard. Though not quite millionaires, They are looking for an Eichler in San Mateo.
Getting more and more like a Taurus
the older I get. Astrologers still holding onto the twelve signs.
eddy
Oops, just realized Hadrian was the guy with the wall.
Greetings!
Worked this one last night and did not do too well. But knew MARTINET right off.
Happy birthday Grumpy!
Marti: how did the root canal guy get rid of the infections?
Another piece of the crown holding the bridge broke off last night. Tooth is bad underneath. Am afraid to eat anything solid.
Harvey is out of town for 5 days. Caregiver/housekeeper is in hospital. Swimming friend Christ came over and made protein drink and soft scrambled eggs. Neighbors kid expected to come over to feed turtles. Hope it is soon!
Could not go to sleep last night. Neighbor started in with sawing boards in yard at 6 AM.
Life gets better and better.
Wow! Jesus swims with you, Ferm? Maybe He is trying to get you to complain less and accept your lot. He doesn't swim with me, but then I learned to live with my frailties.
Susan, wasn't Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd)also involved in some kind of wall? LOL
Speaking of walls, are you making progress toward getting into the real estate business, Susan?
fermatprime, I'm sympathetic about the sawing noise. There is a city ordinance here that construction noise can't start before 7:30, 9:00 on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. I had to threaten to call the cops on one inconsiderate neighbor doing construction when he had some plywood delivered early and the delivery guys were pulling it off the truck and dropping it on the ground.
I'll Have Another is looking better and better.
Go Lakers!
Oh my goodness!!! Did I miss the party???
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRUMPY1 !!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._
Try not to be too gruntled on your special day!
HBDTY Grumpy and many more.
C.C., I would have to give you an "A" on your comment on Splynter and his Ds, in fact I will make them double Ds just for him.
I don't have a Facebook page and am not on Twitter. (What an old fogy!) But I do look at my wife's Facebook page. Do you find it annoying when people post something and suggest that you aren't a caring person if you don't repost it?
Lois, it seems your principal is the perfect example of MARTINET. My teacher friend had a martinet type boss who irrationally criticized everything she did. My friend made a Thanksgiving bulletin board titled, "Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down." Ms. Martinet loved it. She never guessed who the TURKEY actually was. So don't let the "turkey" get you down.
Dear Pope, my favorite beatitude is "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."
Marti, in re last night's post, you're amazing. You motorcycle, too, as well as skiing, scuba diving, world traveling, earning a living and blogging about and constructing puzzles. I thought I had been to Storm King, but have not seen the 2 mile treacherous stretch of highway you mentioned. You rock.
Jayce, I agree with your media comments. Everything is hype.
I'll Have Another had another thrilling victory tonight. I'm rooting for him for the Triple Crown.
Jayce, thanks for asking. I had my first sale two weeks ago--yeah! I've got some health issues I'm dealing with now mostly, but I'm still plugging in there.
Hey now ~!
I happen to be an "A" man, so rarely does one get past me....but I don't mind seeing a "D" or "DD" (thx Lemon) either ~!
Splynter
Careful, Splynter. They're a handful!
Bill G., I am on Facebook, but only for friends (my book club). But they all know, because I have made it clear, that I don't "do" Facebook. So, if they want to let me know about something, they now realize that they have to email me personally...
YR, I did have a motorcycle at one point, but it was CrossEyedDave who mentioned Storm King hwy. I have never been to that stretch, but it sounds right up my alley!!
Another cool stretch is "Rim of the WOrld Highway", between San Bernardino and Lake Arrowhead. My late husband drove me up there on a Friday night in dense fog, so I was totally oblivious to the view...until we cam down on Sunday.
[GASP!!!]
Very late to the party, but happy birthday, Grumpy. Hope you had a great time.
Marti, you linked the North Yungas Road in Bolivia.
The Amalfi oast highway in Southern Italy is a really fun drive, especially when your in the lane closest to those sheer dropoffs. I thought it was great, and the views were spectacular, but dear wife was terrified.
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