Words: 68
Blocks: 37
I do believe that this is Jeff Chen's first themeless (Saturday) puzzle - at least for the LA Times. In fact, we last saw Jeff with his Aug 8th "L.A." puzzle, and his well done "VW" women's initials puzzle in July - and this means he has "batted for the cycle", having a puzzle published every day of the week; S, M, T, W, T, F, and now S. Two grid spanners,
14A. Period, say : PUNCTUATION MARK - straight up definition, though the word has several meanings
47A. Tavern order : I'LL HAVE A COLD ONE - ah, the "old" days for me, but I never asked for a beer quite this way - someone will raise a glass for me tonight, tho it might not be 'cold'~!
and pyramid stacks of 11- and 13-letters, including:
12A. Source of a large reserve supply : NATIONAL GUARD - now I know we have several retired military members here at the blog, but are any of us part of this organization?
14A. Period, say : PUNCTUATION MARK - straight up definition, though the word has several meanings
47A. Tavern order : I'LL HAVE A COLD ONE - ah, the "old" days for me, but I never asked for a beer quite this way - someone will raise a glass for me tonight, tho it might not be 'cold'~!
and pyramid stacks of 11- and 13-letters, including:
12A. Source of a large reserve supply : NATIONAL GUARD - now I know we have several retired military members here at the blog, but are any of us part of this organization?
51A. Hybrid sport with seemingly incompatible components : CHESS BOXING - never heard of this; requires skill in both areas - chess and boxing, in alternating rounds....I'll bet the later rounds of chess get harder with each left hook you take....
On~ward Orthorunicans~!
ACROSS:
1. Bout with padded weapons : PILLOW FIGHT - can't say I have ever participated, and I was married to a woman with a young child, too; I would like it to be "all out" and have the feather stuffing strewn all over the place~!
16. Score direction: Abbr. : RITARDando - Gradual slowing of the tempo
17. Gull-like bird : TERN
18. Island food in a bowl : POI
19. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" composer : STYNE - a WAG, but the perps took care of 80% of the fill; I would have to say this one was a Natick for me, crossing nuiT, and a clecho with 9D - how's that for cramming in some CW blog phrases?
20. Some shooters, briefly : SLRs - Cameras, that is
21. Go on (one's way) : WEND
22. Certain hustler's tools : CUES
23. Setting for Ariadne : MAZE - Daughter of Minos - from the labyrinth myth
24. Observation after "Clean your room!" : IT'S A MESS~!!!
29. Pea family trees : CAROBS
31. Student's supper spot : COMMONS
32. "Oh no!" from Poirot : MON DIEU - French
33. Showed contempt for : SPAT AT
34. Where Daniel was thrown : LION'S DEN - First line here, from one of my favoritest bands Monster Magnet
35. Sellout signs : SROs - Standing Room Only
36. President under whom Texas was annexed : POLK - Hey, four letters and a president~! Another clecho, too; 43D. 34th pres. : DDE - Dwight David Eisenhower
37. "__ be in England ...": Browning : "OH TO"
38. Goggle : GAWK
39. Fragment : SHARD
44. Co-star with Betty, Rue and Estelle : BEA - 'Golden Girls' foursome
45. Bartlett relative : BOSC
46. Whistled at, perhaps : HAILED - oh, for a cab, not those legs.... see below
50. Characterized by extremes : FEAST OR FAMINE - seems that way in carpentry; now that I am involved in a large project, everyone seems to need some work done~! (BTW, I am not complaining~!)
DOWN:
1. __ hose : PANTY - ah, Jeff, pantyhose, the perfect clue/ans for me; have to restrain myself and pick just one image~!
2. "Txtng & Drivng ... __ Wait": AT&T ad tagline : "IT CAN" - pretty harsh commercials, but then again, what I see here on the roads of Long Island is far more terrifying....
3. BP unit : LITRE - British Petroleum, and the English spelling
4. Hard to look at, in a way : LOUD - like this outfit
5. Words with diet or dime : ON A
6. Turkey features : WATTLES - seen here
7. Circulars : FLIERS
8. Sikorsky and Stravinsky : IGORs - 'copters and composers
9. '50s-'60s title detective whose show's theme was composed by Mancini : GUNN - Earworm~!
10. Breakfast choice : HAM
11. Figure with two legs askew : TRAPEZOID
12. Matin preceder : NUIT - Ugh, morning & night
13. Queen's mate : DRONE BEE
14. Button on older phones : PRS - the other 'odd' one was WXY
15. Razz : KID
20. Figure (out), in slang : SUSS - Dah~! I left this one out of my little run at 19A~!
21. Districts : WARDS - Did any of you like the movie "District 9"~?
22. Lincoln's place? : CENT
23. Author of the novel "Doctor Faustus" : MANN
24. Suffix with robot : ICS - RobotICS
25. Of the best quality : TOP SHELF
26. "Everyone's a comedian" : SMART ALEC
27. Kid's retort : AM TOO
28. Extinct kiwi relatives : MOAs
29. One who's at home on the range? : COOK
30. Nearest star to Pluto : SUN - Duh~! I thought "hey, Alpha Centauri is no closer to Pluto than to Earth at 4.37 light years....oh wait....
32. Take advantage of : MILK
34. Like the Atkins diet : LOW CARB
36. Leisurely walks : PASEOs
37. "Memoirs of a Geisha" prop : OBI - our Crossword sash
38. State runners: Abbr. : GOV'TS
39. Highly seasoned pheasant stew : SALMI
40. Used for cover : HID IN - remember this hiding spot?
41. During : ALONG
42. Russo of "Tin Cup" : RENE
45. Supporting part : BASE
46. Fraud : HOAX
48. Cry of derision : HAH~!!!
49. Fiscal VIP : CFO - oops, not CPA
Answer grid.
Splynter
Note from C.C.:
Here are two great pictures from Yellowrocks' 2009 trip to Costa Rica (Sorry for the error earlier). The first is of her and her son Alan. The second is of her and their guide & driver.
53 comments:
Greetings!
Oh my! A real gift from Jeff Chen! Great expo, Splynter! Puzzle was lots of fun! I'll go back and acquire the earworm. Loved that show!
34 minutes, but I imagine many of you beat that. Whenever I work a Saturday puzzle easily, I find that I am among the majority! No cheats, but a few WAGS. Never heard of SALMI or CHESS BOXING. Favorite fill: MON DIEU. (Big Christie fan.)
Wonderful, huge air conditioner/heater installed today in my room. (Part of deal with severely reduced second bathroom operation.)
Cheers!
PS: Thanks so much, Splynter, for early post. (Better than my responding at 11 pm.)
Hello Puzzlers -
One look at the grid, along with the name Jeff Chen at the top, and I figured it was going to be a bumpy ride. How wrong I was!
Fill went along pretty smoothly, with just a hiccup as CAROBS emerged, and a few minutes of head scratching at 41d because the clue "During" didn't seem well aligned with ALONG.
As occasionally happens, my business travels took me past Marti's house yesterday. Good timing, since I was able to pay compliments to her crafty puzzle in person on the day it was published! Thanks M for having me in on such short notice, and for the use of the most charming guest bathroom I've ever seen.
Good morning, Splynter group!
My first entry, confidently inked in, was BOXING MATCH. D'oh! Once that changed to PILLOW FIGHT things got a whole lot easier.
I knew WATTLES, but had trouble remembering the word. Like Fermat, I'd never heard of SALMI or CHESS BOXING. Perps solved that.
Still, it came together faster than normal for a Saturday -- ten minutes to spare.
YR, nice photos, though your son seems to be saying, "Don't you dare take that picture!"
What a fun Saturday puzzle. Maybe because I think I finished in record time for a Saturday, 36 minutes.
Yeah, I'm not a whiz....just have my sips of decaf coffee, Dove chocolate and the puzzle.....that's the way to start a morning...not trying to beat the clock!
Good morning all This on took a little longer than it should have taken Id get ON A roll but a story on the morning news would distract You could say this puzzle was a __________ Not trying to be a ________ because I would rate it _______
I seem to recall that CHESS BOXING was a short on one of the TV news magazines
Time to read the write up and comments
This was a fun Saturday puzzle and fine expo, but it took me longer than usual. It seems it was easier for many of you.
CAROB, There are not too many trees with pods.
NUIT- For Matin, I was trying to recall the canonical hours, but that is Matin(s). Then, Aha! French morning.
SALMI- I knew Salmagundi, so I WAGged it.
My last fill was H in CHESS BOXING. How odd! I had HAR and went through the ABCs to find HAH.
An inch and a half of rain in the gauge (all right, the rain is only good for next year but still…) and this “just right puzzle for a Saturday” Jeff Chen puzzle with a very imposing grid – especially the top and bottom pyramids. Wow!.
Musings
-PUNCTUATION, capitalization and spelling have taken big hits in the texting age
-The NATIONAL GUARD got a big workout in last year’s floods (drought this year confirms FEAST OR FAMINE in the heartland)
-Can anyone imagine Sheldon playing 3-D chess with boxing gloves? Me either.
-I remember seeing this Punch Bowl in Hawaii
-We are going to WEND our way to the Black Hills starting Sunday.
-Paul Newman played the quintessential hustler with CUES
-Our daughter’s messy rooms were the bane of Joann’s life until I told her about the wonderful invention called hinges on the door. They had to be decent (carpet visible) on Friday night for them to go out.
-Peter Gunn and Pink Panther themes? MON DIEU, they were both great Mancini themes.
-If Google can be a verb, I suppose Goggle can too.
-Unfortunately, I can stop my diet ON A DIME
-All of us husbands are DRONE BEES
-District 9 was not fun for me
-Granddaughter had a role in Faustus at Lincoln High. It was horrible but, of course, I told her...
-Nice pix YR! Hudson gets that face too when I take his picture.
-I hope I can use Marti’s LOO someday too!
Good morning:
Had a tough time with this fine offering from Mr.Chen. Needed help in the NW for nuit, ritard and prs. Great expo, Splynter.
And, Marti, I take back what I said; this was more head- hurting than your Friday monster. LOL.
Happy Saturday to all.
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
My Saturday hero is in great shape today, and you beat me to the punch by linking info on CHESS BOXING before I could even ask!
PILLOW FIGHT and NATIONAL GUARD emerged almost immediately, so that made the top half super easy...except for that RITARD / STYNE crossing NUIT. Like YR, I was thinking of the canonical hours, and then just like her, remembered that it is matin(s)...so of course it's always darkest before the dawn!!
BTW, nice pics YR!! It's always great to link a name with a face.
I was wondering, why was "Q" omitted on old phones? I found the answer
here.
Well, I never thought my bathroom would become a topic of discussion here, but now Dudley may have piqued some curiosity. So I guess the rest of you will have to come visit to find out what he thought was so charming!
P.S.
YR, nice pictures!
Good morning all. Nice commenting, Splynter.
The long spanners were daunting at first, but got NATIONAL GUARD early on and made me laugh. Loved the clue!. Gradually it all came together with a little red letter help in the NW . MON DIEU and CHESS BOXING were WAGs. The only tree I knew in the legume family was 'locust' but it didn't fit. Perps finally hinted it was CAROBS. In the fractured conjugation of 'to go', the past tense is 'went' derived from WEND. Only minor nit was 14d, PRS. We have a VTech phone about 6 yrs old that has letters on the buttons; it's not an 'older' phone.
Also liked the clue for SLR. Favorite fill - PILLOW FIGHT.
Good job, Jeff. You had many fun clues to offer.
YR - Nice pics.
Enjoy the day.
HeartRx: Can you explain QUincy 5-2000? Why is that a prank
MCI customer, because it is impossible to dial "QU" on a phone pad with no "Q"...
Good morning and happy Sat. Thanks Jeff Chen and Splynter for your thoughts. Fun Saturday puzzle got it done without any help.
Getting ready to go to daughters soccer game,then grandkids are coming over later today.
I guess we will have to batten down the hatches for another big rainmaker. Have a great day to all. RJW.
Splynter: Once again, THANK-YOU for explaining my INK-BLOT. It's a beaut!
Never got on Jeff's wave-length ... but that's OK. It was a FUN DNF. lol
Getting ready for a Tropical Storm is kinda interesting.
You watch for the latest on the Weather Channel (since last Wednesday) and it will be here (somewhere in the Gulf) on ... Monday.
Time to get ready for the 10" of rain coming and hot air winds (forecast from the RNC).
Shopping list for "Isaac":
1) More Pinch
2) A case of beer.
3) Bag of chips
4) A small 7-UP.
Think I'LL HAVE A COLD ONE at my Sunset toast tonight.
Cheers!
Here's the news magazine short I remembered. It was on ESPN rather than 20-20 or 60 Minutes. Chess Boxing
Thanks are in order for today's challenge from Jeff Chen. And thank you Splynter for the write up.
Just had to go look at a phone ! 9D Do you remember the Duane Eddy version ? And clecho with turkey and pheasant. Didn't see either of the movie's you referenced.
Going back to the last couple of days... I see I wasn't the only one that found Marti's puzzle a tough nut to crack. Great expose Lemon. HBBT Tin ! And Happy Anniversary to you Hatoolah !
Does anyone remember the quote / joke that went along the lines of, "The secret of a long marriage is that the woman has to have the patience to wait for the man to mature. I'm still waiting" ?
@Marti - why don't you make Saturday puzzles?
Good afternoon everyone.
We're watching the news carefully. Just having returned from a week+ in Alabama, it is not a cheerful thought to have to take off again to avoid Isaac. Perhaps go east and end up in NY, which is where my older son is and it's always fun. But it was so nice to be home and in our own bed!
It was wonderful to hear from you, ClearAyes. I think of you almost every day, and hope you are OK. And so sad to hear about GAH. You are a most impressive woman. We surely do miss you and your upbeat comments and the poems. No whining or complaining from you!
Oh – the puzzle. I did manage to get 11 correctly, and am very pleased to have done that well.
Cheers
AOLER @ 11:36, well I guess it's because I leave that day to the experts! Maybe after I have a few years of constructing under my belt, I'll give it a stab...
Marti
Tx @TTP for the clip on CHESSBOXING. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it! Also didn't know SALMI or STYNE, but all came together w/o GOOGLEs.
PS In the Naples News 18A was "Pearl City punch bowl serving". I surely didn't grok that. Wonder why the difference. Maybe if I'd had "Island food in a bowl" I might have gotten one more correctly. Maybe not.
Good afternoon, Splynter, C.C. and gang - wow, got my butt kicked today. My first thought for 1A was 'Pugil Sticks', especially since it fit with 1D, 'Panty'. That left a nice inkblot. The other big mess was the 's' in 'Bosc', which let me to believe 36D, 'Leisurely walks', was 'Moseys' even though I don't know if that can be a noun. Another fine inkblot. And so it went, with a lot of the problems already mentioned. Overall, this was really fun, in no small part because of Jeff's clever cluing. I hope he gets more Saturday slots. And Splynter, your write-ups are always superb.
Thanks for the clarification on 'Chess Boxing' -- I just thought it meant that if your opponent made a move you didn't like, you punched him in the mouth. Live and learn.
Belated birthday wishes to Tinbeni, and Spitzboov, great reunion pics. I wish we could get our 'Nam gang together more often.
Isaac, Schmisaac - I can't believe people down here get so wound up over a damn windy rainstorm. I plan on being perched on the back deck overlooking the beach whenever it's not raining. I love seeing Mother Nature show her stuff.
I almost gave up before starting when I saw those long spanners, but my faith in Jeff Chen, whose puzzles I love, paid off. No, I didn't finish--mainly because I stupidly didn't recognize that 'matin' was French rather than the liturgical 'matins' and so never got the ridiculously easy NUIT. I also put in CrossBOXING instead of CHESSBOXING, when the easy BASE instead of 'Baso' should have tipped me off. So I'd say the fault of my DNF was mine and not Jeff's. And thanks, Splynter, as always, for the helpful write-up.
Congrats on the cool bathroom, HeartRX!
And have a great weekend, everybody!
I enjoy sitting on a porch watchimg a strong thunderstorm or being outside during a snowstorm. The fun stops when lives at risk or my pocketbook is affected.
Off subject, but thought baking enthusiasts might enjoy.
Very clever.
How to separate an egg white from the yolk
Greetings, weekend warriors, though not necessarily the NATIONAL GUARD.
What a fun puzzle from Jeff Chen! Hard as I tried I could not altogether savor it because my girls, granddaughters, were here and so I did it in between slipping in videos and serving breakfast.
However, once PANTY hose, FLIERS, GUNN and TRAPEZOID fell in place, so did the PILLOW FIGHT.
Like YR I, also, thought of the canonical hours but of course it would have to be matins and ergo, not NONE so NUIT and then STYNE was a pure WAG.
The bottom was most difficult and started with I'LL HAVE A COOL ONE and since I didn't know SALMI it took a while to SUSS.
CHESS BOXING certainly sounds contradictory but that's what worked. HAH! And I guess PASEOS is now in the vernacular.
I loved your puzzle, Jeff. Thanks.
Splynter, your blog, too. Great job.
YR, thank you for sharing your pics.
Have yourselves a fantastic Saturday, everyone!
TTP
That is an interesting video and great way to separate eggs. I'll have to try it.
WEES. I turned on red letters and was able to finish the puzzle with that for a crutch. I don't enjoy Saturday puzzles much but I thought this one was better than usual.
TTP, I really enjoyed your video.
Very clever stuff.
DNF.
Never heard of this SALMI, but certainly Albert SALMI, who committed a murder suicide in 1990. He appeared in >150 films or tv dramas.
Love that Mancini. Still have the LP with "The Brothers Go to Mother's."
Which reminds me of the 44 cent Snoopy stamps which were recently destroyed at great expense. I have to admit, I rarely send a letter, even to make payments. Anyway, he wrote their music, too.
Pantyhose is, thankfully, gone, as are its predecessor, stockings.
Godspeed, Neil Armstrong.
Dennis, that is probably the most selfish statement you have ever made, especially on the anniversary of Hurricane Andrew. Hurricanes are nothing to take so lightly. They can be very destructive to both lives and property. Just ask the survivors of Florida hurricanes: David (1979, 5 lives lost), Charley (1986); Florence (1988); Hugo (1989, ok that was South Carolina); Bertha (1990, 2 lives lost); Andrew (1992, 15 lives and billions of dollars); Gordon (1994, 4 lives lost); Erin (1995, 3 lives lost); Opal (1995, 1 live lost); Earl (1998, 2 lives lost); Dennis (1999, 4 lives lost) ... and the list goes on. I just hope you don't have to experience a truly devastating storm.
Hello everybody. Wonderful puzzle today. At first I was intimidated, as well as (positively) impressed, by so much white space, but then wallowed in its deliciousness. I love long fill and I sure got plenty of it today!
It was a fun journey WENDing my way across and down, down and across, taking my time to savor each solve. I couldn't fill in the S crossing PRS and STYNE right away, so left it to come back to later. Unfortunately I forgot to come back to it, which made it a DNF. After coming here to read Splynter's terrific writeup, I was all, "Oh crap, I left that square blank."
Yellowrocks, thanks for sharing your photos. It's good to put a face to the writings. Apparently the Costa Ricans didn't mind you calling their country Costa Rico. LOL
The San Jose Mercury News also clued 18A as "Pearl City punch bowl serving". Took me a minute to remember that Pearl City is not in Vietnam.
Best wishes to you all.
Yes, dammit, you saw right through my facade of 'enjoying Mother Nature at her best'. Of course you're right -- I'm hoping that this tropical storm becomes a raging hurricane, killing thousands of people and causing millions in damages. Maybe a little pestilence and famine thrown in.
Damn, I hate that I was so transparent.
Actually you said 'I love seeing mother nature show her stuff', but it was 'I can't believe people down here get so wound up over a damn windy rainstorm' that took me aback. Its too bad that the folks in New Orleans didn't 'get so wound up'.
once again it is obvious that anons don't have a sense of humor.
This IS a 'windy rainstorm' - we're getting nothing more here. Exactly my point.
Actually, I think the anons are the ONLY ones laughing!
Yes, this anon is laughing, but only at the overly sensitive reactions to Dennis' post. I too live along the Gold Coast and was wondering why all the bread, eggs and milk are gone. We were declared out of "the cone of uncertainty" yesterday, which means we'll get rain and 35-40 mph winds. In other words, laughable conditions.
Evening all, I'm humbled to say this was a DNF for me today. Paseos is a real word? New to me. Nuit had me stumped and ashamed to say it but I could not get cent for Lincoln's place. Dennis, my folks are down there and their attitude is we need the rain ( say hello to them if you see them ). Just be sure to roll up that umbrella on your deck before hand. Its like up here when there is a big snowstorm coming, Hey! it's New England! It snows, just get what's on Tin's shopping list and get over it. By the way Tinman, whats with # 4 on the list? I just get the first three.
So, does saying, "I'm tired of fighting it; I'm not going to spend the time and energy to defend myself any more" mean the same thing as "I confess I'm guilty, go ahead and strip me of my medals" ? Whether Lance Armstrong doped or not, how can they take away his medals and his standing just because he got tired of defending himself after so many years? Don't they still have to bring a case and prove his guilt before they can pronounce and carry out a sentence on him? It doesn't smell right to me, but maybe I don't know the law well enough. As far as I know, giving up the fight is not an admission of guilt.
Portent? We had kangaroo court on Tuesday.
I'm guessing we'll never know the truth about Lance Armstrong. If he's innocent, he surely got a raw deal and I'd think he'd work harder to defend himself. If he doped, then he and Melky Cabrera got what they deserved.
I'm feeling fortunate to live here right now. The weather has cooled off and there's a nice breeze. No hurricanes or earthquakes. The Kings won the Stanley Cup. USC is rated highest in the pre-season polls, the Lakers just got Steve Nash and Dwight Howard AND the Dodgers traded for a productive first baseman, Adrian Gonzolez and some other guys. I'm hopeful.
I've always liked George Burns.
Bill G. You have no idea how much I'm giggling right now. My dear wife has has not shut up about that trade to the Dodgers with Gonzolas and Josh Becket from the Bosox. She is a huge fan of the Sox. She is so happy, who knows, maybe I'll get me some tonight.
Bill G @ 8:31 - Enjiyed the George Burns clip. I have a refrigerator magnet with this quote by Gracie Allen:
" Never put a period where God has placed a comma."
Did anyone see the dead-heat finish of The Travers at Saratoga?
Bill, George Burns was so entertaining in his day. He had class that that makes me think of our Marti.
Nothing but the upmost respect.
Manac, I haven't heard much good about Josh Beckett but Adrian Gonzolez seems like a good guy and a good ballplayer. He hit a three-run home run in his first at bat tonight. What does your dear wife know that I don't? And I certainly hope she stays happy this evening...
I remember when George Burns was asked why he went out with younger women and not women his own age. He replied that I would go out with women my age, but there are no women my age.
Other quotes...
Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.
Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.
It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth.
It's good to be here. At 98, it's good to be anywhere.
Bill, I don't follow baseball all that much so I trust my wife to tell me, anyways, Gonzolez- A$$h#&@
Becket- Major league A$$h#&$. She even knew about his hit tonight when I asked her. So won't know til tomorrow how happy she is.
Bill,
Sorry, I guess what my better half was telling me was that they don't play well with others. Still going to see if she is happy though.
BillG: I guess I'm a Lakers fan now. Steve Nash is my favorite player and Pau Gasol is 2nd and Dwight is up there pretty high. I hope Nash gets a championship out of this. He deserves it. He makes everyone else around him look good.
Re George Burns: I wouldn't want to be 18 again for anything. My dying friend is living with her son's family and she wrote me she was glad she wasn't raising her kids now. I told her I was glad I wasn't a teenager again. Too many expectations and temptations.
PK, I'm not sure I'd want to be 18 again either. I know if I had another go round, I wouldn't be so insecure with girls though.
I like Steve and Pau too. They seem like good human beings along with being great basketball players. I hope Dwight is a good guy too.
It is now Sunday morning. Finished the puzzle yesterday, but had no time to do the blog. I am in Erie now and leaving shortly. Hopefully will see you all later today after I finish the Sunday puzzle.
Abejo
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