Aware of in cool cat slang / MON 1-23-17 / Little shaver to Scot / 50s Ford flops / Many John Wayne film informally / Corkscrew-shaped noodles

Monday, January 23, 2017

Constructor: Bruce Haight

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (2:48)


THEME: FAIRY TALE (60A: What the starts of 17-, 26-, 35- and 50-Across are) — those beginnings spell out "RUMP/EL/STILT/SKIN"

Theme answers:
  • RUMP ROAST (17A: Slow-cooked beef entree)
  • EL DORADO (26A: Fabled city of wealth sought by conquistadors)
  • STILT WALKER (35A: One with a leg up in the circus business?)
  • SKIN GAME (50A: Gambling scam)
Word of the Day: ETHAN Hawke (32D: Actor Hawke of "Boyhood") —
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer, and director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed two feature films, three Off-Broadway plays, and a documentary, and wrote the novels The Hottest State (1996), Ash Wednesday (2002), and Rules for a Knight (2015). // He made his film debut in 1985 with the science fiction feature Explorers, before making a breakthrough appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society. He then appeared in numerous films before taking a role in the 1994 Generation X drama Reality Bites, for which he received critical praise. In 1995, Hawke first appeared in Richard Linklater's romance trilogy, co-starring opposite Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise, and later in its sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), all of which met with critical acclaim. // Hawke has been twice nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; his writing contributions to Before Sunset and Before Midnight were recognized, as were his performances in Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014). Hawke was further honored with SAG Award nominations for both films, along with BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for the latter. // His other films include the science fiction drama Gattaca (1997), the contemporary adaptation of Hamlet (2000), the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), and the horror film Sinister (2012). (wikipedia)
• • •

This may as well be a themeless, so unremarkable is the theme. There are a few nice answers, most notably in the south (MISCAST alongside ASK AWAY; and I especially like I'M A FAN), but way too much short gunk / crosswordese. And, as I say, a super-blah theme. I wasn't yet out of the NW before I knew the fill would be a problem. It's HEP TO MOO WHAP! I like LASER fine but for some reason LASE in its various verb forms irks and even ires me (if IRES were a thing, which, I maintain, it is not and never will be, sorry crosswords) (yes, I know IRES isn't in this puzzle; it's just that even thinking about it gets me so IRED, I ...). In the end, though, this was more plain old dull than bad. Musty. If your dad was HEP TO EDSELS when you were a WEE LAD, maybe this spoke to you.


Difficulty-wise, it was just a shade easier than average for me. Had some hesitation at the phrase ON MIKE (had the ON, but the second part needed crosses, since AIR came up short) (3D: Like a live radio announcer). Also needed all the crosses for WHAP because WHAP, WTF? (6D: Fly swatter sound) I don't really know the phrase SKIN GAME, but that answer must've just filled itself in via crosses. The biggest trap in the puzzle is probably the CLUMSY / KLUTZY one (38D: All thumbs), which I clumsily and / or klutzily fell into. Luckily for me I saw that that made the ending on the central themer -ALCER, and my spidey sense told me that was unnnnlikely. So change: to KLUTZY, to ZALES, to zip zap zoom ET AL. And done. Wish there were more to say. There is not.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

63 comments:

Greg 5:55 AM  

Perfectly nice and I remember not a thing about it. Typical Monday.

Lewis 6:07 AM  

Pity that 60A wasn't two rows lower, giving the puzzle a FAIRYTALE ending. There is a SITS down, a lovely cross of STONED and KLUTZY, and I couldn't help thinking of a cow patty with the neighbors MOO and POOH. The puzzle has an extraordinarily low double letter count (4) -- anything under 5 is extremely rare.

It's a very simple theme, but IMO totally okay for Monday, and I've tried to think of a another fairy tale this could be done with, with no success. Also, I had forgotten the actual weaving-straw-into-gold story that went with the tale, and looking it up flashed me back to my young-child mind for a few moments -- a rare treat. Very nice introductory puzzle, Bruce!

Loren Muse Smith 6:09 AM  

AHA anagrams to a big fat Hah! I loved this! I had RUMP ROAST, EL DORADO, and STILT WALKER in place and thought, “No. It couldn’t be…” That slow little AHA moment was worth it. How cool that all four parts are separate words.

So many other great things:
KLUTZY/STONED. Well, yeah. Pass those brownies, will ya, @Lewis?
CARS – Ford EDSELS, Cadillac ELDORADO, and Kia AWGEE.
EGRETS are, arguably, STILT WALKERs.
LAYS and, well, UTZ. Kinda.
EL DORADO and RUMPELSTILTSKIN – both involved in the quest for yesterday’s ORO.
EL DORADO/OATER
DAD BODS and PASTA BAR. Hmm. Maybe consider the kale bar instead? And have a CAN of TAB.
WHAP/MOO/MWAH. Love me some onomatopoeia. (I wasted a lot of time yesterday wondering if the word mammal is onomatopoetic. I didn’t do that kind of linguistics.)

Speaking of which - how ‘bout that northeast corner? DAD BODS, E-READER, PASTA BAR.

OCULAR – you just had to do it, didn’t you Dr. Haight? You’re an ocular doctular, right?

Today’s puzzle reminds me of this puzzle by Adam Perl. (Heads-up: it’s the filled grid.) So here’s mine: THE VERY IDEA, THREE PIECE SUIT, LITTLE WOMEN, PIGS IN A BLANKET. I like Bruce’s better because the the themers have separate words that combine to make one word.

What a terrific start to the week. I disagree with Rex; imagine that. This puzzle is so simple, so cute. I’ll remember it for a long time.

The Bard 6:48 AM  

OTHELLO:Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore,
Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof:
Or by the worth of man's eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my waked wrath!

Othello, Act III, scene III

John Child 7:16 AM  

STONED over ZALES, purveyor of gemstones, was cute. ASKAWAY sounds like a town in the upper Midwest. Wisconsin maybe...

I like Mr Haight's puzzles better each time, but I'm a bit distressed when any Monday get's Jeff Chen's POW. Sounds like a rough week ahead.

Z 7:47 AM  

I think the theme is fine, with a nice surreal quality of things like RUMP ROAST or SKIN GAME being used to get us to a FAIRY TALE. Also, the fill didn't wow me, but EDSELS will forever be more popular as an answer than as a car since its letters are far more useful than its tail fins ever were, so no real complaints.

As for difficulty, I was not trying for speed and still finished in under 5:00, almost a minute better than my previous best, so easy or even whatever is easier than easy here.

My wife loves Dead Poets Society, while it just makes me want to turn the station to anything else. I'm usually okay with the "rebel teacher touches kids lives" trope, I even just sat through Summer School (1987) starring Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley, but something about Dead Poets Society just bothers me. Please don't bother telling me why it's great, my wife already does and I trust her opinion more than yours and i still hate the thing.

pmdm 7:56 AM  

Nice point, Mr. Child. I read Mr. Chen's comments before visiting here because I tend to prefer uplifting comments to disparaging comments even when the puzzle is sub-par. And I immediately thought what you did: we must be in for a bad week.

It must be quite difficult to construct a Monday puzzle that is top-notch given that the prime requirement of a Monday puzzle is to avoid requiring much thought on the part of the solvers. So using a theme that hides in plain sight is I believe a terrific idea for a Monday puzzle. I hope other constructors will catch on and do the same. (And I hope Mr. Shortz would approve more such submissions.)

I have some friends who are extremely picky about which wine they drink. There are very fine (and expensive) wines that they hate simply because they don't care for the type of grape the wine is made from. That type of attitude sometimes infects this site, especially early in the week. Which is not to say I criticize anyone for stating there reaction to a puzzle. But compare Mr. Chen's comments today with those on this site. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

chefbea 7:58 AM  

What a great easy Monday puzzle. And Pooh is a fairy tale as well Also many yummy things - rump roast, rotini at the pasta bar and lays chips.... not a very dietetic meal!!!!!

wgh 8:05 AM  

1A https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PIflYUYpsWw

Nancy 8:45 AM  

Other than the clue for STILT WALKER (and that seemed odd since both legs are up) there wasn't an interesting clue in the entire puzzle. I did have RUMP STEAK before RUMP ROAST, and needed to correct it, but other than that there was almost no thinking required. Is ON MIKE (3D) a term? Wouldn't a radio announcer doing a taped show be "on mike" also? Anyway, I found this a bore.

RooMonster 9:03 AM  

Hey All !
Yes, typical easy MonPuz. Thought it a touch too easy, but that's OK. Different-ish theme type. We've all seen the First Word themes, but don't remember First Parts of Words to Spell Another Word theme before. Probably just me. Enjoyed the solve overall.

Speaking of EDSELS (we were, right?), as much of a flop as they were, they are now worth big money. Imagine that.

Wonder if @M&A's MOO Cow E-Z clue will be 5D. No TYPOS for me today. Was HEP TO all the answers. :-)

MWAH, ET.AL.
RooMonster
DarrinV

Arlene 9:08 AM  

I guess it won't be too long before we'll get a Rapunzel puzzle. You heard it here first.

QuasiMojo 9:18 AM  

Tough crowd. I thought the puzzle was better than average for a Monday. And coming up with Rump/El/Stilt/Skin was pretty clever considering the whole point of that fairy tale is that the girl has to guess his name.

@Z, -- 7:47am -- no apologies needed. I totally agree about "DPS", the reason being that it is a totally contrived, manipulative, Hollywood fantasy of what being in school is really like. And while I recognize Robin Williams's talent in other films, he was definitely "miscast" in this one.

jberg 9:22 AM  

I got RUMP ROAST and thought we were going to get vaguely titillating body parts, but this was much better. STILT WALKER gave me the theme, so I wrote in SKIN, but I was thinking we were going to go the phonetic route with 'pull' something -- so EL DORADO was a very nice touch. I was A wed before I was A FAN, but other than that it was supereasy. No writeovers, and very few times I had to leave an answer until I got more crosses.

A SKA WAY -- street for Jamaican buskers.
A ISLE -- destination of boatman with bad grammar
A DO -- how I fix my hair

But I can't think of anything for A CNE or A WGEE.

Unknown 9:34 AM  

Best blog entry in a while because of the book cover. Such a treasure.

Z 9:40 AM  

@pmdm - So you don't actually disagree with Rex? I'm am certain that Jeff Chen and Deb Amlen are fine people, but their blogs always feel more like what the constructor's Mom would write. Or maybe a better comparison would be the difference between the movie poster blurbs and the NYT review of a movie. The poster might be prettier to look at, but the review is a better assessment of the movie's quality.

I do disagree with Rex on the datedness of the fill, ALITO, ETHAN Hawke, and DAD BODS are all current answers. E-READER is current but gets a demerit for the E-ness of the answer. POOH, O'HARA (your options are Scarlett or Maureen it seems) and EDSELS are never going to be current, but I find it hard to be to down on a puzzle with a balance of old and new. The short fill is rarely able to be better than today's, so no real problem there, in my opinion.

Evil Doug 9:44 AM  

Warren Buffett is asking everyone to forward this email to a minimum of 20 people, and to ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in the United States will have the message. This is an idea that should be passed around.




The BUFFETT Rule

Let's see if these idiots understand what people pressure is all about.

Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE.

Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE. This is stupid

Salary of Speaker of the House .. . . . .. . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE. This is really stupid

Salary of Majority / Minority Leaders . . .. . . . . $193,400 FOR LIFE. Stupid

Average Salary of a teacher . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .$40,065

Average Salary of a deployed Soldier . . .. . . .. $38,000

Here’s where the cuts should be made!

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in five minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election".

The 26th Amendment ( granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds ) took only three months and eight days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffett is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2017

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman / woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 3/1/17. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three days for most people in the U.S. to receive the message. It's time!

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree, pass it on.

Nancy 9:50 AM  

@Quasi (9:18) -- Nice aside on the girl having to guess RUMP's name in the fairy tale. I guess that does add another dimension to the theme. So now we're up to one-and-a-half dimensions?

@Z -- You reminded me of the DAD BODS answer which indeed must be a new term, since I've never heard of it. Are DAD BODS the male equivalent of the bods of women who wear MOM JEANS? Does anyone see unapologetic ageism in both these terms? No, wait, forget I said anything, please! I don't want to start an ADO today -- we had more than enough of one yesterday.

Anonymous 9:52 AM  

I don't time myself or try to set personal speed records, but this seemed to take less time than a sneeze. A nice Monday, though a bit more crunch might not have been a bad thing.

RooMonster 9:53 AM  

Agree with everything, but think you should've just used Anonymous instead of trying to pass yourself off as evil doug. Just sayin.

If Ass Trump won, why doesn't Buffet run? I'd vote for him. 2 cents...

RooMonster

Evil Doug 10:16 AM  

@Roo: I prefer to think of using weEvil Dough's name as "alternative fact."

Btw, there might be some nuanced facts in that post, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Whirred Whacks 10:24 AM  


Another BRUCE HAIGHT gem

Some solvers' hearts go atwitter when they read the constructor's name is Blindauer or Berry. Mine does that for Bruce Haight.

The "Three B's of Crosswording: Blindauer, Berry, and Bruce."

howard a. brenner 10:27 AM  

I find Rex's ongoing ageism tedious and offensive. Just because someone can remember the Edsel or.... should not license scorn. Rex should keep his bigotry in the closet.

Joseph Michael 10:38 AM  

AW GEE, I have to say I'M A FAN of the theme. Got a welcome chuckle out of it as I solved the puz and thought the FAIRY TALE revealer put a nice button it.

The fill, however, is another "story," with old chesnuts like ARAL, ETAL, MOO, ADO, APB, OATER, and ELO, and green paint like ON LATE, ON MIKE, and TOLD OF. Have heard of "hip to" but not HEP TO and still cringe every time I see MWAH.

Did like DAD BODS, especially so close to the PASTA BAR, and KLUTZY crossing STONED.

gzodik 10:38 AM  

Sorry, @evil. Buffett is NOT asking people to pass that around. AND, it contains a lot of BS.

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/congressional-reform-act/

Anonymous 11:06 AM  

evil once again trolling.

Jim Beam 11:08 AM  

Don't be roped in, it is a fake Buffett E-Mail, posted by a fake @ Evil Doug (not in Blue.)

Bruce Haight 11:12 AM  

@Loren Muse Smith: My sentiments exactly! I'm going to suggest to Rex that you get a guest critic-ship for Mondays. He and I are pretty tight..........

Evil Doug 11:22 AM  

@Jim Beam: I'm pretty sure I'm not fake.

Masked and Anonymous 11:29 AM  

Weren't Scarlett a Butler, rather than an Ohara, by that "day-um" part of the movie? Confuses the M&A.

thUmbsUp MonPuz. I mean, it ain't like rumpelstilitskin is rocket science, but shoot we're only at the training-wheels puzlevel, here. And check it out: long corner stacks! Plus, MOO POOH! There's yer rodeo, ground level!

@RP: har. That dude in the pictured magazine U take looks like he may be sayin the words to today's grid column startin with 6-Down.

Thanx, Mr. Haight. Good job.

Masked & Anonymo3Us

Hedda Hopper 11:39 AM  

OMG Bruce:

Why did you have to go and say that? Now our Loren is gonna have an Awe-Gasm!

She'll probably become DAMP just seeing your name directly on top of hers? Sheesh!

GILL I. 11:43 AM  

Cute Monday puzzle. POOH MOO MWAH WHAP to start the day.
HEP TO
AS TO
ALI TO
AWGEE IM A FAN..
RUMP ROAST on a Sunday cooked by your grandmother while DADBODS watch TV.

Hungry Mother 11:49 AM  

I really liked WHAP. Nice Monday.

jae 11:53 AM  

Easy Mon. Pretty smooth with a theme I didn't see coming. I'm with the liked it contingent. I'm always up for something a little different on Mon.

Anoa Bob 12:04 PM  

So, a priest, a rabbi & a house painter walk PAST A BAR....

I have a theory as to why the Ford EDSELS were such a spectOCULAR failure. Remember the look on the person's face, the tortured, agonized expression, especially in the shape of the mouth, in Edvard Munch's "The Scream"? Here tis.

Now look at the central area of the EDSEL'S grill. Spooky freak-out scary, right? Who would buy that? Not many, it turns out.

I went through a phase where I read everything I could get my hands on about early Spanish exploration/exploitation of South America. There were variations of the EL DORADO myth that was foisted on the ORO crazed Spaniards, but the main gist was not of a city, but of a man, a chief or king, who had so much gold that he would completely cover himself with it every morning, thereby becoming EL DORADO, The Gilded One, and then wash it off in a lake that evening. Every time the Spaniards would get close to the alleged location, a new version/variation would crop up.

r.alphbunker 12:05 PM  

Jeff Chen's word list smiled on this one. And when I got the theme it brought a smile to me also.

Details are here.

Greg 12:20 PM  

Perfectly fine for Monday fare, imo.

kitshef 12:23 PM  

More themes like this (i.e. non-traditional), please. Fill is good, too. Nice Monday.

Carola 1:11 PM  

Add me to the FAN club for the puzzle: an easy puzzle for beginners but with some choice nuggets to keep old hands entertained, this old hand, anyway. And a cute reveal that totally snuck up on me.

@Quasimojo - Thank you for the reminder that the whole point is to guess his name!

Teedmn 1:25 PM  

Great puzzle by Mr. Haight. And I think @Rex's review was almost enthusiastic, compared to how he has found BH's puzzles in the past.

Yesterday, I was at a trendy "social" bar that had mini-bowling lanes, an 8-player foosball table, ping-pong, billiards, a mini-karaoke room, darts, you name it. The menu was also super trendy. I impressed my friends with my healthy choice of a Superfood Grain Bowl which included "crispy farro, kale, pickled radishes, carrots and shitakes in a vinaigrette" while they all ate huge burgers with fries. And all I could think was "Where's the PASTA BAR?" That would be like finding EL DORADO to me!

I got the theme relatively easily but I had a GRIDSEC where I read the reveal clue at 60A and my eye strayed to 26A and, looking at ELDOR, was thrown back to EnDOR; I thought perhaps Star Wars was now considered a FAIRY TALE - hmmm, new genre? Merged with Lord of the Rings, with the wizards TOLDOF and WEELAD?

Noam D. Elkies 1:35 PM  

Nice Monday puzzle. Rex's perennial complaints ring even less true than usual with 13D:DADBODS (first NYTimes) appearance stacked with 12D:E-READER, both of which are modern without drawing yet again from the brackish well of pap-culture names. Thanksfully it seems that the oft-repeated off-color etymology of RUMPELSTILTSKIN is just an urban legend.

NDE

RooMonster 1:42 PM  

Oof, @fake Evil Doug got me. What's the world coming to when you can't believe stories that are on the internet? Not a world I wanna live in... :-)

Lots of descriptive EDs today, TAP ED, LAS ED, SO FAB ED, STON ED, R EDS, ED SELS. Har.

Roo

Masked and Anonymous 1:47 PM  

p.s.
Write-up stand-in bullets:

* ELDORODEO. There is an Eldorado Lake near the Texas/Oklahoma border, that we pass by via I-40 now and then. Schlocky-lookin, as it is chock full of dead trees, standin upright all over its entirety.

* KLUTZY. Primo wUrd.

* STILTWALKER. This themer had an o de speration to M&A, but it Googles just fine. [Had much better fun, Googlin WHAP PICS, btw.]

* ETAL. Directly below its anagram buddy TALE. Also lanced thru by LATE. Cannot be an accident.

* ROTINI. There sure are a lot of INIs out there. Googlin ROTINI PICS is pretty dull. Googlin LUKE STILTWALKER gets kinda interestin, tho.

* ON MIKE. Symmetric entry: ON LATE. Again, cannot be an accident.

* BYU. staff wee-lad-ject pick. Short for BAYOU. yo! Drained swamp!

Thanx again, Mr. Haight. Lotsa extras to absorb, in here. Nice. Sneaky nice.

M&Also


**gruntz**

QuasiMojo 2:39 PM  

@Carola (1:11pm) You -- and @Nancy, earlier -- are most welcome!

Amy 4:00 PM  

What totally redeemed this puzzle for me was the aha moment because I literally went Rum-pel-STIL-SKIN! just like in the story itself. Rumpelstilskin!he he. that made me LOL.

Z 4:04 PM  

@Nancy - I'm not 100% sure of this, but my understanding is that DAD BOD was initially a complimentary term for young men (20-somethings) who were good looking without being obsessed with their bodies or preening in front of every mirror. Think more Tim Allen than John Goodman. More the dad playing basketball with their kids, not the guy swilling beer while watching the NFL RedZone.

Z 4:09 PM  

@Nancy - But also not Paul Ryan, a poster child for the kind of self-absorbed twit some women have learned to avoid (and, no, this is not a comment about his politics).

Anonymous 4:56 PM  

Z,
It's not?

Z 5:05 PM  

@Anon - The Republicans do not have a monopoly on Prima Donnas or twits.

Happy Pencil 6:13 PM  

@Nancy, the guy with the DAD BOD basically has a spare tire. He's not horribly out of shape, but he's not ripped either. When I was still in university, we used to call him "skinny fat guy." The idea, basically, is that he's comfortable being a family man and has no interest in spending hours at the gym to impress other people. It is meant maybe not quite as a compliment but at least good-naturedly.

To Z's point, Andrew Weiner is an example of self-absorbed twit on the other side. Not a DAD BOD, and not someone you would want to touch with a barge pole.

I enjoyed this puzzle. I didn't see RUMPELSTILTSKIN coming, and when the penny dropped, I got a nice chuckle out of it. I worry every time I see Bruce Haight's name because the poor guy so often gets raked over the coals by Rex, who just never seems to enjoy his work (or only rarely). But to my mind, this was a really good Monday puzzle -- original idea, simple and straightforward cluing, some lively answers, and an unexpected reveal. This would be a great puzzle to give to someone who was just starting out as a solver. Liked it, as @Jae would say!

Cassieopia 6:25 PM  

Really really nice Monday. Played easy yet had great words. Gold found on Bonanza and ELDORADO creeks are what sparked the Klondike Gold Rush. I've backpacked the trail that the rushers used - amazing. Suggested reading is Pierre Berton's "Klondike Fever".

Wordsmith 6:49 PM  

Agree. Why disparage the past? Problem has been the ignorance of history and culture and total focus on current artifacts

Charles Flaster 7:07 PM  

Liked the "aha" moment of the reveal.

Favorite was STILT WALKER.
Wilt the STILT!!
Thanks BH.

Cassieopia 7:37 PM  

PS the "WHAP" cover alone was worth my annual donation.

Nancy 8:09 PM  

@Z (4:09) and @Happy Pencil (6:15) -- Thanks for the explanation. I thought DAD BODS was more of an insult than it evidently is. And while Anthony Weiner is obviously the more revolting of the two vile pols mentioned in your respective posts, I also find Paul Ryan to be a smug, self-absorbed twit. I wouldn't touch either of them "with a barge pole" either :)

Askaway Cars Miscast 2:01 AM  

What a fun puzzle beginning to end!
I'd call Tuesday, tho, what with tricky parsing of the theme, only 34 black squares, 6 and 7 stacks galore ...
So much to like
From in- joke 2D OCULAR
To ROTINI /PASTABAR parallel to crunchiness of 3Ks and a Z

Loved Yiddish KLUTZY crossing with uber whiteness BYU!
And it was one of those puzzles you can really hear what with MWAH WHSP AHA ASKAWAY AWGEE

IMAFAN!!!!

Burma Shave 10:52 AM  

OCULAR ADO

In ENACT of Kim K’s SKINGAME she’ll PARADE her CAN,
a TAPED FAIRYTALE ACT, ONLATE from coast-TWO-coast,
as she SITS or LAYS on her HOTEL’S SOFABED, IMAFAN,
just a STRINGUP her butt, AW,GEE, let that RUMPROAST.

--- ETHAN STILTWALKER

spacecraft 10:56 AM  

Well, it's different. I daresay it's ol' Rumpy's puzzle debut. Pleased to meetchou, wontchou guess mah name?! Yeah, I confess, IMAFAN of the Rolling STONED (sic).

Bruce and I attend different buffets. Where his sign reads PASTABAR mine says Italian. I got me a salad bar and a dessert bar, but PASTABAR...nope. As I'm wheat-free, I don't go there anyway.

Some awkwardness in the north (ONMIKE, HEPTO, LASED and all the NE long downs) gave me forebodings, but the thing grew on me as I went. KLUTZY won me over. ONLATE was an unfortunate sour note to end on. Late. Should I go for Vivian Leigh as southern belle Scarlett OHARA for DOD? Or flame-tressed Maureen? Both spitfires, and both unquestioned beauties. Give me Maureen!

Here's how this hole played: Drive in the rough, good recovery shot. Par.

The Buffett thing: Ask the Gummint to make sense?? ASKAWAY, it won't make any difference. You are tilting at windmills, my friend.

leftcoastTAM 1:00 PM  

Half way though and thought, is this going to be mostly gimmes and other familiar crosswordese? Glad that it wasn't.

Got to revealer before finishing last themer, SKINGAME. Heard of it, but never really thought about it, and fortunately have never been in one.

Also wanted Sioux before SAULT and EmO before ELO.

So, just enough bite in the SE corner to make it good enough Monday start to the week.

rondo 2:57 PM  

Thought it perfectly OK for a Mon-puz. I hadn’t parsed the themers by the time FAIRYTALE came around so that was kind of an AHA moment there. That’s good for Monday.

The term DADBODS has been in use for a while now, and they abound. DADBODS are for the lazy, no reason to get that way. Not even after too much ROTINI from the PASTABAR. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Have some self-respect.

I saw the film The SKINGAME with James Garner and Lou Gosset waaaaay back when. Not as far back as EDSELS, but before OFL’s time.

@spacey called it with Ms. OHARA, so I won’t stretch. I seem to recall, from when I was a WEELAD, a bit from Rocky and Bullwinkle about a soldier named Marine OHARA. Where else would that come from?

Do curlers get STONED? Congratulations to yeah baby Rachel Homan’s rink for winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts yesterday. They will be Team Canada at the Worlds in China. IMAFAN.

Decent Monday, no problems nor EGRETS.

Diana,LIW 3:52 PM  

Ooh - you just gotta' love a foodie Monday. Read a tiny article in my HMO's magazine about a U. of Michigan study that listed the top 10 addictive foods. Can anyone guess what is on the list? Hint - @Teedmn mentioned at least one, and it's not her salad. (Second hint, Mr. W has 9 out of ten as his primary food sources. I guess you could say he has a bit of a DADBOD.)

Surprised to see two Haights in a row - and they were so different from each other.

Thought this was fine for a Monday - definitely came out of the right envelope.

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

rondo 8:27 PM  

Right envelope, har. Very timely.

Diana,LIW 10:19 PM  

@Rondo - back at you regarding "EGRETS" he he

Di, the Lady

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