Nirvana achievers / SUN 8-26-12 / Banned book of 1928 / 1962 John Wayne film / English author Elinor / Kite Runner protagonist / Onetime Ethiopia colonizers / 1955 Grant/Kelly thriller

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Constructor: Amanda Yesnowitz and Doug Peterson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: "Put a Lid in It" — a "HAT" rebus (with six "HAT" squares, one in each long Across answer)

Word of the Day: TACHYON (75D: Speedy subatomic particle) —

tachyon [...] or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always moves faster than light. The word comes from the Greekταχύς or tachys, meaning "swift, quick, fast, rapid", and was coined by Gerald Feinberg in a 1967 paper. Feinberg proposed that tachyonic particles could be quanta of aquantum field with negative squared mass. However, it was soon realized that excitations of suchimaginary mass fields do not in fact propagate faster than light, but instead represent an instability known as tachyon condensation. Nevertheless, they are still commonly known as "tachyons", and have come to play an important role in modern physics.
Most physicists think that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics. If such particles did exist, they could be used to build a tachyonic antitelephone and send signals faster than light, which (according to special relativity) would lead to violations of causality. Potentially consistent theories that allow faster-than-light particles include those that break Lorentz invariance, the symmetry underlying special relativity, so that the speed of light is not a barrier.
Despite theoretical arguments against the existence of faster-than-light particles, experiments have been conducted to search for them. No compelling evidence for their existence had been found. (wikipedia)
• • •

Found this one very easy. Got it after figuring out "LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER" and then looking at the puzzle title: "Oh: lid = HAT ... gotcha." Thought there might be other types of "lids," but no. Sort of surprised there's just six rebus squares in a grid this size. Also surprised at how easy they were to find (*only* in theme answers), and how easy the theme answers were to get—I rarely needed more than a few letters to get them, except with "HORTON HATCHES THE EGG," which I have never heard of (I didn't know Horton did anything but hear a who). Rebuses usually slow things down quite a bit, but not today. Sped things up, if anything. But there's just one problem: I had an error. And not a lazy, forgot-to-double-check-the-grid error. A real, thought-it-was-right-but-it-wasn't error. Namely, I had TACHRON / STAR. Now that I see TACHYON, I'm sure I've seen/heard it before, but I confess to not being completely up to date on my theoretical particles, and, well, TACHRON sounded plausible and STAR definitely works for 97A: Judge's issuance ("I give it ... three stars!"). So, yeah: failure. But a very easy failure.

I'm used to Doug Peterson puzzles being a little more ambitious than this (I've never done an Amanda Yesnowitz puzzle, so no expectations one way or the other there). I like all the long answers, but there's nothing clever about their cluing, or anything very "HAT"ty about the grid besides the six rebus squares. Oh, I guess there's HATBOX ... that's cleverish. Anyway, I enjoyed it well enough. Lots of good longer fill like WILLIES (93D: Acute uneasiness, with "the") and CHATTYCATHY (53D: Talking doll that debuted in 1960) and ACT ONE'S AGE (11D: Behave). I also love the word ROTTER (119A: No-goodnik), even though it's not that impressive from a Scrabble-score standpoint. The theme answers are all proper nouns (names, titles), which is ... a kind of unity. No rationale for it, but I appreciate the stab at consistency of some sort. Four of the clues have years in them ... so that's ... nothing. Nevermind.

Theme answers:
  • 25A: Banned book of 1928 ("LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER")
  • 43A: Source material for Broadway's "Seussical" ("HORTON HATCHES THE EGG")
  • 59A: Time's 1930 Man of the Year (MAHATMA GANDHI)
  • 74A: 1955 Grant/Kelly thriller ("TO CATCH A THIEF")
  • 88A: World's first certified gold record, 1942 ("CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO")
  • 107A: Source of the line "They say miracles are past" ("ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL")
  • 110D: Storage item ... or one of six in this puzzle? (HAT BOX)
Bullets:
  • 23A: Storied C.S.A. commander (R.E. LEE) — pretty easy, even though the "CSA" I'm most familiar with provides fresh, local, organic produce to members (Community Supported Agriculture).
  • 24A: Onetime Ethiopia colonizers (ITALIANS) — gimme. Is this common knowledge or just knowledge I happen to have because I'm beset on all sides by historians?
  • 72A: English author Elinor (GLYN) — No idea, but I'm guessing she's been the clue for ELINOR a few times too. Slightly unusual, non-Rooseveltian spelling of that name.
  • 13D: "The Kite Runner" protagonist (AMIR) — Wow. Cool. Way to rescue AMIR from the horrible Land of Var.
  • 18D: Nirvana achievers (ARHATS) — one of my least favorite crosswordy words, but kind of a shoo-in (hat-in?) for this particular puzzle, so: pass.
  • 45D: 1962 John Wayne film (HATARI) — a gripping tale about African video games.
  • 70D: "Solid Gold" host Marilyn (MCCOO) — I just like her name. It's just so ... round.
  • 71D: Mock response to a friend who pulls a practical joke ("I HATE YOU") — struggled here because I totally forgot about the rebus; I'd simply entered "H" where HAT was supposed to go and so nothing was making sense: "I, HE, YOU? What kind of cryptic slang is that?"
Fun, breezy, smooth, simple ... not a bad Sunday.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

63 comments:

The Swing Bard says... 12:08 AM  

Pardon me, boy
Is that the cHATtanooga choo choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine
I can afford
To board a cHATtanooga choo choo
I've got my fare
And just a trifle to spare


You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner
Nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham an' eggs in Carolina


When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in
Gotta keep it rollin'
Woo, woo, cHATtanooga there you are


There's gonna be
A certain party at the station
Satin and lace
I used to call "funny face"
She's gonna cry
Until I tell her that I'll never roam
So cHATtanooga choo choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?
cHATtanooga choo choo
Won't you choo-choo me home?

JFC

retired_chemist 12:29 AM  

Enjoyable but it seemed easy for a Sunday. A lot of kinda Tuesday-ish cluing, it seemed to me.

Got the theme at 43A - had enough to KNOW it was HHTE but too few spaces, so - rebus! 45D was cool - I was unable to think of any four letter John Wayne movie titles but 43A dropped HATARI in my lap.

11D was OBEY ORDERS at first, obviously without any crosses.

Someone should write a book about LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER and MAHATMA GANDHI taking the CHATTANOOGA CHOO_CHOO TO CATCH A THIEF.

Thanks, Amanda and Doug.

Masked and Anonymous Party Animal 12:36 AM  

Happy 60th Birthday, Will Shortz. Keep up the good work.
And party hardy.

paulsfo 12:56 AM  

I got 91D but I think the clue is wrong. A caress is done to show a feeling but it is not itself a feeling (neither in the sense of an emotion nor as the experiencing of sensation).
BTW, I just saw an article on "How To Caress," online. I think this may be a case of "If you have to ask...."

I liked "slap-happy sort" for MOE.

jae 1:37 AM  
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jae 1:41 AM  
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jae 1:44 AM  

Very nice Amanda and Doug!  Smooth fun easy-medium Sun.  with some excellent theme answers.  Caught the theme at LADYCHAT.... but still had to work for it in spots...didn't remember the HORTON story so that area was slower...also thought  MCCOO had an A in it ...

Liked WILLIES, ILLBE, ACTONESAGE,  CHATTYCATHY..

Only full erasure:  wArmSTO for TAKESTO

Possible tough cross CHATTY/GLYN if you thought toy manufactures were cute with i endings in 1960.  STAR never occurred to me as issuance sounded legal.

I knew the ITALIAN Ethiopia connection from reading Verghese's Cutting for Stone.

chefwen 2:12 AM  

Started off a little confused (so, what else is new?) Got LADY CHATTERLEYS LOVER and thought, put a lid on it must be something like stuff a sock in it, so I was concentrating on CHAT or CHATTER, then the light bulb was illuminated and the rest was history. Part time puzzle partner and I tackled this one together and had a great time doing so.

Thanks Amanda and Doug!

syndy 3:52 AM  

I thought at first we were going to take the CHAT and change it and then I was a little disapointed that Cap, Tam ETC didn't show up but still not too bad.I thought the clue for 91 down was fine there is definitely feeling involved in a caress and a little loving too.If I remember correctly the EGG is in a nest up in a tree and poor HORTON is almost as big as the tree!.anyhoo ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL!

Brookboy 4:18 AM  

Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle for me. I agree that the theme actually made the puzzle easier in some ways, but, as usual, I found ways to stumble all on my own.

I got the GANDHI part of 59A, just could not figure out the first name (Mahatma? Mohandas?). Nothing fit. Gave that section up and then encountered 74A (TOCATCHATHIEF), and after puzzling over that for a few minutes, I finally had my AHA!! moment (after rereading the theme). So I'm slow, so what?

Got a kick out of MOE being the "slap-happy sort".

Nice puzzle. Thank you, Amanda and Doug.

evil doug 4:20 AM  

"To Catch A Thief" is the most notable answer, since our three-letter 'hat' transverses three separate words. Contrast that with "All's well tHAT ends well". Too bad the hats couldn't all cover more than one head....

"Chatty Cathy": The stupid toy that went on to enjoy a long life as a common derogatory phrase---and even engendered a follow-up: "Who pulled your string?" when somebody pipes up uninvited in a conversation.

Evil

acme 4:36 AM  

Hats off to Amanda AND DOUG (whose name does not seem to appear under constructor...
She is scary talented and you must go immediately to the Wordplay blog to see the video of her singing "A Way With Words" from two years ago ACPT...and you will be mesmerized by her beauty and wit!
(And Brian Cimmet on the piano ain't too bad himself!!!!)

Then you must hop over to Orange Amy"s Crossword FIend blog and join in the celebration of WIll's huge milestone!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bunch of constructors got together to fete him and the result is a dozen puzzles by some of your fave constructors in Will's honor!!!!
We couldn't be in NY to celebrate so we did it virtually, everyone contributing his/her own unique take on Will...and all done on super Shortz notice!!!!

And if you have one to add, PLEASE do so, the more the merrier!

Enjoy...here is a non embedded link.
http://crosswordfiend.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17&sid=631b0481b86ea28aac5fddac20c97db7

The Bard 6:26 AM  

All's Well That Ends Well > Act II, scene III

LAFEU: They say miracles are past; and we have our
philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar,
things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that
we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves
into seeming knowledge, when we should submit
ourselves to an unknown fear.

orangeblossomspecial 6:47 AM  

R E LEE was a gimme. In the South, we used to get Jefferson Davis' birthday as a holiday.

@Swing Bard hit it on the nose:
'CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO'. Watch for Milton Berle in the scene.

Ricky Nelson had a hit with 1D 'IT'S LATE'.

4D evokes 'Donkey Serenade', based on a Rudolph Friml composition.

Phil Harris recorded a song relating to 7D 'Woodman, spare that tree'.

Who ? 6:47 AM  

Horton, that's who.

pauer 7:12 AM  

Congrats to Amanda on her debut (and to Doug for his usual fine work)! If I wore a hat, it would be off to both of you!

Milford 7:13 AM  

The Magmic app says I have an error but I can't find it for the life of me. Magmic also doesn't handle a rebus well, so that might be the reason ... Good Sunday, easy-ish, never turned into a slog.

Got the rebus theme at TO CATCH A THIEF, and also liked how HAT connected 3 words.

I read HORTON HATCHES THE EGG to my kids a lot. Even very young they would recite the line with me,
“I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent!” Very sweet book.

Susan Gardos 7:14 AM  

A few months ago I was in Chattanooga and saw the actual choochoo! The engine is on display and the cars have been converted into hotel rooms. What a fun place to stay if you're ever in the area. When I saw three C's in my grid at 88 across, I got it. I was born in 1940 so the song was in the air (on the air) when I was two years old.

Loved this puzzle!

Noam D. Elkies 8:10 AM  

Cute puzzle. Solved on an International Herald-Tribune copy in the Frankfurt airport. Found the rebus at 59A:MA[HAT]MA. Didn't know 45D:[HAT]ARI. 75D:TACHYON, that I do know of (and it's inferable from other fast words like tachycardia, tachymeter, plus the -ON ending), though it should have been clued as a *hypothetical* particle since we have no experimental evidence in favor of its existence (and some theroetical evidence against). No problem with 18D:AR[HAT]S, especially with Gandhi in the grid too (a minor pity that they didn't cross at the [HAT]); better that then the same with SS in place of R...

NDE

P.S. Thanks to Acme for the heads-up regarding Shortz's LX!

Glimmerglass 8:21 AM  

@ paulsfo: "Feeling" in the clue for 91D is a gerund. Get it now? @Rex: Horton heard a Who, not a who (that would be "whom"). The theme was easy and led to some quick long-answer answers, but some of the fill was challenging enough for me to make this a "medium" Sunday for me.

Z 10:15 AM  

LIE ABED/ABIE was strangely hard for me. My brain kept wanting AmIE for some reason and the ED ending to be a past tense. Came back three or four times before finally seeing it at the end.

When I saw that TACHYON fit I was puzzled. TACHYONs figure in several episodes of Star Trek and are as real as transporters and phasers. Speaking of Star Trek, once again an opportunity was missed to clue 74D by his most important role - his fine turn as a Klingon in ST-TNG. Maybe next time.

I don't know quite what to make of the information the CHATTY CATHY and I made our debuts in the same year.

No complaints about USAIN Bolt - he made the front page of the NYT once or twice during the Olympics. This is a feat unmatched by Norah Jones, Cher, Edith Piaf, Elinor Glyn, or Zeno.

jberg 10:15 AM  

It's all been said. Nice puzzle! Writeovers Rascal before ROTTER, COAT rack before TREE, ACRIditY before ACRIMOMY, and for some reason AruNdEl before AVONLEA, but still easy and fun.

mac 10:21 AM  

Very good easy-medium Sunday, thanks Amanda and Doug! Happy birthday Will Shortz! I am going to enjoy all those special puzzles on a lazy Sunday.

I ended up with the same mistake Rex had, plus almost another one at slate/Lenx.

jackj 10:40 AM  

With all the wonderful, sparkly, fresh clues and answers in this puzzle it is somewhat irritating that the word lingering in my mind is one I had never heard of before and which I may never hear of again, ARHATS. I have room in my clue bank for the Zen Buddhist SATORI but adding ARHATS is enlightenment too far.

Using HAT as the theme’s rebus allows for some very fertile entries, from a reverent nod to MAHATMAGHANDI, to an irreverent shout of IHATEYOU, (which is actually nicely clued as being uttered as a jesting riposte to a friend).

There was no shortage of interesting fill, as we had the likes of ILLBE, BENEATH, FAILURE and ACTONESAGE as palliatives for the dreaded obscurities ARHATS, GLYN and TACHYON that still threatened to give us the WILLIES until Amanda and Doug treated us to the day’s “best-of-puzzle” clue “Class action” for FIELDTRIP.

As another nod to the Times incredible record of prescient cluing one can only wonder how they knew to include 70 down’s Marilyn MCCOO, apparently knowing she would also be singing the national anthem with husband Billy Davis, Jr. at last Tuesday’s Red Sox game. SHAZAM!

This fun teaming of old hand Doug Peterson with tyro constructor Amanda Yesnowitz begs for an encore. Soon!

Happy birthday, Will; remember sixty is the new forty.

Loren Muse Smith 11:20 AM  

Happy Birthday, Will! Many happy returns!

Hats off to a Dr. Seuss theme answer in this terrific puzzle that’s not The Cat in the Hat.

Fairly smooth sailing for me, especially once I erased “shalom” and put SHAZAM and a couple of other mistakes that people have noted.

Lots of answers with partners: BRAYED/GROWLED, OMEGA/PSIS, LYNX/ SAABS/ ALTIMA/ALFA, BRAVA to our ALTOs. . .Give me a CREEK over a TARN (huh?) any day!

Elegant that Spanish EL SOL crosses OTROS. Poor dad.

As much as I like language, I have never been able to bring myself to use the” requisite” TALL, venti, grande words at Starbucks. I think I would feel self-conscious and silly, but I can’t explain why.

“It’s just so… round” - MCCOO, CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO, BOOST, OOO. . .

My first doll in CHATTANOOGA was a Charming CHATTY- maybe a CHATTY CATHY copy cat? She was kind of creepy. This is the model I had (handled by Penny from Lost in Space!

http://youtu.be/B44RQ8cNls8

I appreciate that the final theme answer is ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. Nice, debut, Amanda (and of course Doug). Congrats!

Carola 11:31 AM  

I wonder if LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER ever said to her, "IT'S LATE, LIE-ABED!" but she STAYed for one last CARESS. The loving continues with PIAF next to her AMI, and with the Platters' fabulous Only You.

I like the word TARN, picture it surrounded by tamaracks.

Like others, I caught on at TO CATCH A THIEF, then went looking for the other HATs, enjoying lots of the other answers encountered along the way.

Thank you, Amanda and Doug - very fun Sunday.

Anonymous 12:20 PM  

Chatty Cathy was my first doll. As the story goes, my grandfather walked in a snow storm to buy it for me for Christmas. Yes, I am indeed a chatty Kathy!

r.alphbunker 12:34 PM  

Got the theme early with C[HAT]TANOOGCHOOCHOO. It made me smile and look forward to the remaining theme answers and I wasn't disappointed.

Really wanted BRAVo instead of BRAVA but was absolutely certain that KAHUNA ended with an A so I accepted BRAVA. If I had never heard of KAHUNA it would have been a different story.

joho 12:44 PM  

@acme, thanks for the heads up on Amanda's wonderful song at Wordplay!

And congratulations, Amanda, on your debut! And to Doug, too, on this fun Sunday romp. And thanks to Doug, again, for helping me post a puzzle over at Amy's blog ... he is the best!

I liked the realization that AYE becomes YEA with just one letter change. And a nice juxtaposition to Amanda's YES NO!

I'll add the COATTREE to the HAT imagery as I can see one dangling off at the top.

Fun!



JFC 1:18 PM  

This blog is really getting boring. Rex says nice things. ED says nice things. Acme gushes nice things. Chefwen hands out recipes. Will turns 60 and everyone says happy birthday. I crave the good old days when Rex is nasty and everyone is dissing everyone else....

JFC

Mel Ott 1:28 PM  

@Acme: Today I fully expected you to sign in as Amir ChooChoo McCoo. I'm disappointed. :-)

@Z: Yeah, I guess USAIN is crossworthy - if he wasn't before.

Anonymous 1:52 PM  

Could someone please explain "blare" for "be on high?". Thanks!

Norm 2:03 PM  

high volume (e.g., the iPod next to you on the train) = blare

JFC 2:03 PM  

Anon@1:52 - I hate using up my 3rd on a question like that but I'm such a nice guy allow me to explain. Go to your TV and turn up the volume as high as you can. Then you will understand blare....

JFC

chefbea 2:09 PM  

Late to the party today. No time. Got the theme to this easy sunday puzzle. Got the theme at Chatty Cathy.

Happy b-day Will. Now to go to the puzzles

retired_chemist 2:20 PM  

@ r.alph - BRAVA is feminine as is diva. BRAVO is masculine.

quilter1 2:25 PM  

Our neighbor has a rooster whose crow sounds like he is screaming Happy Birthday. So if Will came over and had a drink on the back porch he could hear this greeting over and over and over....
Oh, yeah, the puzzle. Finished over lunch and enjoyed everything about it. I felt chuffed knowing Marilyn McCoo, and all the theme answers came easily. To Catch a Thief is a great fun movie.

Anonymous 2:46 PM  

Loved LADYCHATTERLY, HORTONHATCHES, all except for ARHATS...
My EMAG said ALLSWELLTHATENDSWELL
between Kristen Stewart and RPATZ!

wHATever!!

Jon88 2:53 PM  

Point of order: The theme is, per the title, "put a lid IN it."

chefwen 4:33 PM  

@quilter1 - We have two wild roosters that we loved because they shooed all the other roosters away and they didn't crow. I even named them Robbie and Bobby and started feeding them so they would stick around. Went on vacation and while we were gone they found their voices and are making up for lost time with frequency and volume. Seriously considering taking Osso Buco off the menu and replacing it with Coq au Vin.

Anonymous 4:42 PM  

It was clued with "diva", so it's feminine. Else it would've been BRAVO.

ConnieRock 5:39 PM  

Any of you folks get Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac? ... It was fun to see Will feted on his birthday there: http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1555805&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=9f3fa6b991

quilter1 5:54 PM  

@chefwen: Sometimes I notice and sometimes it is just part of the background. My grandkids enjoyed it and we would scream Happy Birthday at each other and laugh til we fell down.

amir choochoo mccoos 9:06 PM  

@mel ott
Who am I to disappoint?! (tho 90D is ACME!)
And for those who love sudoku, Wei-Hwa Huang just posted an incredibly fun Word Sudoku in Will's honor! The uniqueness of each contributor has been fabulous!
There is a Sunday-sized one by Patrick Bl and gang, and a dozen 15 x 15s!
http://crosswordfiend.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17&sid=631b0481b86ea28aac5fddac20c97db7

Sue McC 9:26 PM  

Captcha thingy wouldn't let me post earlier...Anyhoo...I'm back from vaca and enjoyed this super easy Sunday. Rex described my thoughts exactly, with the exception of Horton, whose hatching I had some familiarity with.

Anonymous 10:07 PM  

Had BLOG for 51D until I got Chatty Cathy for 53D, then that section came together quickly for me. Did anyone else think 13A -- ALTO -- was a bit of a stretch for the clue (Norah Jones or Cher)?

Tita 10:13 PM  

Fun, though I DNF - like Rex, never heard of Horton hearing anything but Whos.

@joho - thanks for pointing out COATTREE as continuing the theme...

I also loved figuring out AYE/YEA all by my lonesome. Cool!

I must admit I skimmed the comments - the thought of all those Will tribute puzzles has me reeling... (thanks @ACME)
-Did anyone notice "Who, little old me?" crossing "I[HAT]EYOU at 71d/87a?
Clever, Doug & Amanda!

@chefbea - went to a truly spectacular buffet dinner (I know, spectacluar & buffet are usually mutually exclusive...), but because the caliber of this one was such, I bravely tried the yellow and the red beets...they were - tasty...!

Last but not least, liked the shout-out to my eminently parkable wheels, the MINICAR at 80D.

avonlea chatty mithals 11:42 PM  

so few comments for such a nice puzzle! Maybe everyone is on vacation...
All day long, all I can hear in my head is my old friend Tom Lieberman's joke, "Pardon me, Boy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoe?"
Anyway, BRAVA to Amanda and the ever-modest Doug.

skua76 11:43 PM  

Late comment...but I found this surprisingly hard. Even after finding the theme I had to Google a couple of things, MCCOO and HATARI and ERIC...could not see SEAAIR with those 2 A's. And, thanks ACME (90D) for all of the links!

matty lite 12:23 AM  

I hate BRAVA. Because I always figure when you say "Bravo," which is what you say, because nobody ever, ever says "Brava," but anyhow so when you say "Bravo" you are not using it as a descriptor of the performer but as a descriptor of their work. At least that's how I always had it figured.

Whereas a priest is actually a gendered thing and so it was easy to imagine that for some reason Hawaiian was like Spanish and so that thing I'd heard of called a KAHUNA could as easily be a KAHUNO.

All of which is simply to say I had that one square wrong and it pissed me off...

Tita 1:03 AM  

@matty lite...whaaat??
BRAVA for a female singer, BRAVo for a male. Just like your example with KAHUNA and KAHUNo... (LOL - thank you for that!!)

@Chefwen - can you please oh please confirm that Hawaiian words work that way too? That would be so awesome.

BTW, I have just posted my scintillating comments re: 3 of the Will BD tribute puzzles on my Crucimetrics blog - our own ACME's, and dear Mr. Pepper's. Scroll down a bit to see it.

ksquare 1:51 AM  

@ACME 11:42 If you're still awake (It's 1:45 a.m. here.), it was Roy Rogers who had a cat that bit his new boots, so he was asked "Pardon me Roy? Is this the cat that chewed your new shoes?".

























































Anonymous 11:36 AM  

Talking Tina.

matty lite 12:29 PM  

@Tita:

I don't think I explained that too well. I was trying to say that "Bravo," which means something like "excellent" or "splendid," isn't something you say to describe the male or female performer themselves, but rather the performance. And since you just say the word for "excellent" and don't include the modified noun ("job" or "performance" or whatever), then you'd just default to the masculine adjective as is customary in romance languages.

It's really a nit-picky point.

Anonymous 4:43 PM  

Can anyone explain 42A?

Anonymous 5:12 PM  

I assume 24A is "Magazine wheels", and the answer is EDITORS, but that doesn't make sense to me, either.

Anonymous 7:25 PM  

I hate hate hate EMAG. Nobody calls anything they read on the internet an "EMAG." I'm seeing this stupid answer all over the place these days.

I also don't get 42A. Magazine wheels...!?

Anonymous 7:36 PM  

I guess 42A uses this definition of wheels:

Informal . someone active and influential, as in business, politics, etc.; an important person: a big wheel.

Ugh.

notsofast 9:23 AM  

This was a fun puzzle. But crossing two spanish words makes a DNF. Not fair.

Dirigonzo 6:35 PM  

From the land that time forgot, to go directly to @notsofast's complaint I was helped greatly by Spanish-speaking weekend puzzle partner in completing this one, altho we did wind up with the exact same error as Rex (which I am considering to be a point of pride). We would have finished much sooner if either of us knew how to spell GANDHI. We caught the theme early and had lots of fun watching for the HATS to appear in the grid.

Happy Labor Day to all.

Anonymous 6:44 PM  

Anyone else notice Rex's explanation for 45D?

Spacecraft 7:04 PM  

Gotta agree with the rating, though I'd put it the other way around: Medium-easy. This because I had a little trouble out of the gate. I really, really did think the Grant-Kelly vehicle was TOCATCHATHIEF, but it didn't fit. (BTW, now watching Strangers on a Train on TCM: love that Alfred!)

Worked on crosses there till I finally hit on the rebus angle... isn't that a little unusual for a Sunday? Anyway, once that bulb turned on, there was no stopping me. Like OFL, I thought Who-hearing was Horton's only claim to fame, but when the east left me with THEEGG--well, what can you do with one of those, with HAT in it?

Thanks be to a one-time sci-fi writer names Somtow Sucharitkul, whose stuff I used to devour in the monthly Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Nis universe included TACHYON bubbles, in which one could travel FTL--but you had to "kill a star" to get one.

A little disappointing that the theme entries weren't in all cases symmetrical, or different three-letter "lids" like CAP, TAM, etc., but a good one anyhow.

If The Birdcage's Albert did a number as Russian royalty, would it be billed STARINA AS TSARINA?

Anonymous 2:12 PM  

a day late and a square short.

Final square was the Y in SLATY/LINX which I finally decided had to be changed from an E. SLATY being a stretch, but less of a stretch than LENX.

But I blew Sunday perfection by entering CEO instead of CFO, and I ended up having to makse sense out of PI_E.
I wanted HATARI at 45d but PIAE couldn't be right. And the "oscar winning" clue at 49a pointed to PIAF...oh, but there's an E there. I ended up putting a U in that spot, because PIUE sounded sorta French and HATURI sounded close enough.

Check ALL of your crosses people. even the ones you're sure of. That's the lesson.

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