1992 Joe Pesci title role / WED 10-17-18 / One of 18 French kings / Siri's digital cousin / Mama lobster

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Constructor: Patrick Blindauer and Tony Orbach

Relative difficulty: Easy (3:28)


THEME: a stack of PANCAKEs — three PANCAKEs and then, beneath them, a PLATE (68A: Item that might go under several answers in this puzzle) ... Oh, and off to the sides, two [Syrup brand]s (AUNT JEMIMA and HUNGRY JACK)

PANCAKES:
  • 21A: Kind of makeup
  • 38A: Flatten
  • 56A: Breakfast food item 
Word of the Day: SNELL (51D: Fishhook line) —
noun
  1. 1. 
    a short line of gut or horsehair by which a fishhook is attached to a longer line. (google)
• • •

I assume the MAGIC (1A: Sorcery) is what's making these damned PANCAKEs levitate, but I don't know why in the world you'd use two types of syrup, or pour both of them off to the side of your PLATE. This whole theme is so nuts that I kind of like it, but visually it makes no sense. Or, not much, anyway. Weird grid shape opens up room for some nice long Downs, which are the real highlight of the puzzle, for me (I mean, from a puzzle-solving standpoint—hard to really "like" the PANCAKE thing as a solver because, well, once I got the second PANCAKE, the third one, and the PLATE, were just too easy). Forgot that HUNGRY JACK was a kind of syrup (can't say I've ever seen or had it), and would like to forget that AUNT JEMIMA is a kind of syrup (because of the racism). Too bad MRS. BUTTERWORTH or LOG CABIN wouldn't fit symmetrically in this one. The hardest part of this puzzle for me was, honestly, nothing. Seemed to fill itself in. I did balk at 64A: 10 bucks, in slang (DIME), which tells you how much into drugs I am (I know this use of DIME only in reference to the phrase "DIME bags," which is a quantity of marijuana, as I understand it, I don't really know, I'm quite square) (actually, I do know, I looked it up to make sure).


Five things:
  • 6A: Serving of butter, as might go on top of several answers in this puzzle (PAT) — haha just noticed this alleged themer. My eyes must've just stopped at "serving of butter." PAT is pretty bad here. BUTTER, as they say, is (or would be) better. Yeah, it's six letters and can't sit in the center blah blah blah MAKE IT WORK! NIX the PAT!
  • 39D: With 40-Down, something tapped at a pub (ALE / KEG) — considering the symmetrical positioning of these answer parts ... are we eating these PANCAKEs in a bar? If so, where is this bar and how do I get there?
  • 50A: Siri's digital cousin (ALEXA) — wait, is Siri analog? 
  • 4D: "Licensed to ___" (1986 Beastie Boys album) ("ILL") — uh, I think I am only just now learning that it's "LicenseD" and not "License"
  • 27A: Hearing-related + 28A: Christianity, for one (AURAL FAITH) — I like when rows of answer make interesting phrases, like the names of hypothetical Christian metal bands
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

87 comments:

jae 12:15 AM  

Easy and smooth. Made me smile, liked it!

Seth 12:38 AM  

I hate how really really dated slang is so often just clued as slang, like 2D. No one says ACES anymore. No one's said it for like 30 years. The clue should be "Terrific, in dated slang."

Bourbon Street 1:27 AM  

Not only are we washing down our pancakes with beer and ale, we’re having a French dip on the side (along with the hidden salad in 30D)!

Brookboy 1:33 AM  

I liked it too. I got the pat of butter at the top, the three pancakes, and the plate at the bottom. I thought that made it a pretty good puzzle.

Had ALEXi for 50A, couldn’t get that out of my mind for too long, and the cross didn’t help. Had no idea that a fist bump is also called a “DAP”. News to me. (How would that go in English? Would the baseball announcer say that “...they gave each other a dap...”, or maybe “...they dapped each other...”? Either would sound slightly promiscuous to the uninitiated.😁)

Fair review today, I thought.

Tom R 1:37 AM  

This puzzle brings up a sour point for me: making ASAP and STAT equivalent. I have worked in a hospital; STAT means NOW! and is used in true emergency situations. "Take him to ER1 STAT" ASAP, on the other hand, just means quick. "I need that report due Friday ASAP" They both mean do it quickly, but there is a huge gap in connotation.

Robin 1:38 AM  

"...hypothetical Christian metal bands".

Saved your bestest comment for the very, very last.

chris b 2:02 AM  

a new record Weds time for me! easy like sunday morning...eating pancakes.

'merican in Paris 2:23 AM  

Ooh la la, this puzzle was full of crepes. AUX armes, citoyens, et prendre une PLATE! Mais oui, LOUIS, C'EST LA VIE, pas la GUERRE!

I'm ALL IN: can't speak ILL of this puzzle, which gets away with the same answer three times! Thanks Messrs. Blindauer and Orbach! First write-over: CrAPolla before CLAPTRAP.

Zoomed through it until I looped back to the north-east. Those OBI, NANA, VINNY crossings were tough. I had "uma" first for 10D. Yes, yes, I know: I should sear OBI and similar three-letter Japanese words into my tiny brain.

What, you've never tried a breakfast beer, Rex? KEG ALE with PANCAKEs sounds to me like a combo made in heaven.

By the way, all the PANCAKE syrup that's sold here in France is imported [GASP!] from Quebec. Made from sève d'érable, not KANE sugar. The brand in our refrigerator is "Maple Joe", and the label features a guy in a plaid shirt, big white beard, and a red cap (sans MAGA).

'nough fun for the morning. Keep the FAITH; SEE YA!

chefwen 2:45 AM  

Easy week continues. Wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Nothing like a short stack with many PATs of butter and rivers of syrup. I always liked the LOG CABIN tins shaped like little cabins, but frugal dad wouldn’t dish out the extra coinage for packaging. Bah Humbug!

Not up on my fist bumps and thought it was BAP which gave me ST. JUPE, easy switch to JUDE, my only write over.

Expected more trickery from this duo, maybe next time.

Thomas 2:53 AM  

Agree

Music Man 3:10 AM  

Many musical references today:
24A: Notable instrument in Springsteen’s 1975 breakthrough hit, “Born To Run” (SAX). I like the way it crosses with 13D, STYX.

Also, 30D: Tom Jones hit “SHE’S A LADY” was his 5th (and final) Top 10 hit in the US, peaking at #2 in March, 1971. Tom’s previous Top 10 hits were “It’s Not Unusual” (#10, 1965), “What’s New Pussycat?” (#3, 1965), “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (#6, 1969), and “Without Love (There Is Nothing)” (#5, 1970).

Music Man 3:24 AM  

6D: “PENNY LANE” was the Beatles’ 13th #1 single in the US, reaching the top spot in March, 1967. It was originally to be included on the “Sgt. Pepper” LP released in the summer of ‘67. But too much time had lapsed between songs on the chart for the Fab Four, so “PENNY LANE” was rushed out as a single instead, and was NOT included on the album. Incidentally, the B-side of “PENNY LANE” is “Strawberry Fields Forever” which charted separately and peaked at #8 in April.

Mike 5:15 AM  

@Tom Rowe agreed on STAT vs ASAP.

Anonymous 5:45 AM  

It makes sense for the syrups to be on the sides of the plate if you think of them as bottles.

Lewis 5:55 AM  
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Lewis 5:59 AM  

I love column five -- CLAPTRAP DAP -- and would love for KANE to be under PENNY LANE.

I saw the two syrups running down the sides of the stack, and one of them, HUNGRY JACK, popped out of my brain drawer labelled "Haven't Thought of Since My Youth", as did NANA (which tripped off I REMEMBER MAMA, something I vaguely remember my parents watching on TV).

Speaking of my youth, our pancakes came from Bisquick, and on Sunday mornings my dad would experiment with making different types of omelets. Some were hits that would be repeated, others, like the mustard omelet, were left on the plate.

So this pancake puzzle was not only a stack o'fun to solve, but also -- and I'm grateful for this -- it elicited a stack o' fond memories.

Lewis 6:13 AM  

By the way, Erik Agard, American Crossword Puzzle Tournament winner and constructor (or co-constructor) of 24 NYT puzzles (at age 25) will be a Jeopardy contestant this Friday.

imsdave 6:49 AM  

mmmm... pancakes. But Aunt Jemima Syrup:

CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CELLULOSE GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM BENZOATE AND SORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVES), SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.

vs. maple syrup:

maple syrup.

I suspect our constructors know better :)

Anonymous 6:57 AM  

How about having the puzzle already filled in when we get it. Then we can all have perfect times without
breaking a sweat.

OffTheGrid 7:00 AM  

I have the same thought whenever this clue/answer appears.

Dawn Urban 7:09 AM  

Whimsical grid with serendipitous fill. Loved it!

kitshef 7:16 AM  

Had the FA from 25A, and all I could think of was FAble. Later, I got the T and all I could think of was FAcTs. That was probably the only slowdown on our second Monday-level puzzle in a row.

Still have yet to hear RABE outside of the crossworld. Would never have pegged ASICS as a shoe company – I would have guessed something computerish.

kitshef 7:18 AM  

@Seth - I say ACES fairly often. In a world where seemingly everything is fantastic or awesome or mega, it's a nice, more low-key alternative.

michiganman 7:27 AM  

I switched to real maple syrup several years ago. Worth every penny! While we're on the subject, I like
an over easy egg on my pancakes. The mix of cake, syrup, and runny egg yolk is delightful. Anyone else or would you leave it on the plate?

Hungry Mother 7:28 AM  

Smiled all the way through this one. In 1993, My wife and I spent 6 weeks in Quebec City immersed in French. I was desparate to eat the local maple syrup on our weekend travels, so I broke my personal ban on eating pancakes for the duration and literally ate them up on Saturdays and Sundays. Good memories.

Suzie Q 7:28 AM  

This was a smooth fun solve by two experienced constructors whose skill really shows. Nice one guys. Thanks.
The mini French theme could have been stretched for one more clue/answer as 63D might have been a French street.
Another slangy clue for dime would be ratting on someone as in "dropping a dime". Now that seems so old since a pay phone, if you could find one, costs a quarter.
Of course now I'm hungry!
@ Lewis, thanks for the heads up on Jeopardy. It will be really cool if he wins.

amyyanni 7:33 AM  

Thumbs up for maple syrup! >former New Englander

Hungry Mother 7:45 AM  

One of my favorite Italian meals is gnocchi agli olio with sauteed broccoli RABE atop. I pretend that it’s vegan, although I suspect there’re eggs in them thar dumplings.

Birchbark 7:54 AM  

This puzzle passes the breakfast test.

Anonymous 7:55 AM  

Felt like an easy Monday. Dime is slang for $1000 to gamblers the only time I’ve heard it slang for $10 is in reference to drugs. I figured he’d rue Aunt Jemima. C’est la vie. Wait there’s an apostrophe there. Why no complaints ?

QuasiMojo 7:57 AM  

This one went down like a heavy pancake. I get the stack idea but so what? These gimmick puzzles are always too cute by half.

Btw try eating a pancake on an ACELA.

A dime is also slang for a 10, as in Bo Derek.

Thanks @Lewis for the heads-up! I wish there were a way to watch Jeopardy online. I don’t have a TV.

Nampa, Idaho 8:11 AM  

Well, now I want a stack of blueberry pancakes with some good butter and real maple syrup... to be followed by a short, comatose period...

chefbea 8:15 AM  

Yummy puzzle!!! All the breakfast food...the salad and broccoli rabe!!! And wash it all down with a keg of ale!!!

TomAz 8:31 AM  

This was a decent and very easy puzzle for sure. But the PANCAKES and their "syrup" left a bad taste in my mouth. Mainly because I don't like pancake
"syrup" at all -- it's disgusting crap. High fructose corn syrup -- hello obese, diabetic America! Others have suggested real maple syrup, which is fine, but I prefer my pancakes (if I eat them, it's because I've made them for house guests) with good honey.



Unknown 8:43 AM  

As a retired MD, who previously posted rarely as DrLee77, # Tom Rowe is absolutely correct. STAT means DROP EVERYTHING & DO IT NOW!!! ASAP means as soon as you can but you have a bit of time. Unofficially, do it in the next half hour plus or minus.

Lying Syrup 8:49 AM  

A microcosm of the sign of the times. Back in the day (maybe the 70s?), maple syrups like the ones here in the puzzle, advertised their products as being thick (to stick on the pancakes, I guess) and not icky runny (like, you know...actual maple syrup), and as a young lad I thought that was how syrup was supposed to be. I eschewed real maple syrup for a long time solely because it was runny, NOT thick like I was told it was "supposed" to be. I have since discovered actual maple syrup and have never used the others since...mostly because they're nasty and tasted artificial, but also because they flat out lied saying that "thick syrup" was somehow better than real maple syrup based on texture alone.

This is your reminder to vote.

Sir Hillary 8:53 AM  

What an odd theme! But somehow the puzzle works, perhaps because the non-theme fill is so good. Great long downs, nice poker conversation (Player 1: "ALLIN"; Player 2: "ICALL") and very little "ese" except for...well, ESE.

@Birchbark -- Excellent!

Nice job, PAT (Patrick And Tony)!

GILL I. 8:58 AM  

Nice Wednesday. All about PANCAKE's....
Growing up, we never ate them in our house. To this day, I eat a piece of cheese, fruit and toast for breakfast. (do you care?). Anyway, my mom's best friend had a summer home in New Hampshire (Hi @pablo) and she introduced us to Fadden's 100% maple syrup. She'd whip up stacks of pancakes and there would be two syrups on the table. AUNTA JEMIMA and Fadden's. ...The kids would reach for AJ and those of us with a discerning taste grabbed the maple. The difference is between Thunderbird (think corn syrup combined with rubbing alcohol) and a Chateau Lafite (think glorious, fruity tannins invading your palate)....That's my story on PANCAKEs and I'm sticking to it.
@kitshef 7:16. If you ever watch any of the "foodie" networks, you'd be familiar with Broccoli RABE. Maybe you know it as Rapini? The chefs cook it up many different ways just to entice you to get you to eat your veggies. I can guarantee it's 100% better than just plain old broccoli.
I like that STAYS SANE MAGIC FAITH IN TROUBLE arena.
JUS sayin.

Dimebag Darrel 9:04 AM  

Way too easy, even for a Wednesday.

Z 9:13 AM  

I'm pretty sure the KEG being tapped is Founder's Breakfast Stout.

I'm with @Lewis, the syrups are running down the sides of the stack.

@Birchbark - Shocked it took so long to get that one posted. Way to step into the void.

As for our high fructose corn syrups, sorry everyone but Maple Syrup is too sweet and just as bad for you. I'm generally of the opinion that American food is too often too sweet and this is oft true of food pushed on us as "gourmet."

DIME is also slang for a perfectly thrown pass.

I see the OED weighing in again on singular they, but what I found most interesting was the discussion of prescriptivists of old railing against singular you.

Nancy 9:24 AM  

So the moment of keen disappointment -- It's PANCAKE again???? It's PANCAKE for yet again a third time???? -- becomes the puzzle's Aha Moment: Oh, I see, it's a stack of PANCAKEs!!! What saved the puzzle for me were the two bottles of maple syrup standing guard. Not that I've ever heard of HUNGRY JACK. But AUNT JEMIMA goes back to my childhood.

Repeating fill is a no-no, of course. This puzzle tries to make a virtue out of a fault. That it succeeds at all is largely because of the humor. So today I'm trading humor for a truly satisfying solve. The repeating PANCAKES removed much of the crunchiness from the puzzle. But I guess if I wanted crunch, I shoulda had cereal.

Tim Aurthur 9:25 AM  

Naturally, if your PLATE is smaller than the PANCAKEs, your syrup is going to run onto the table, and you're going to run out of one bottle of syrup and then another (different brand) bottle of syrup. What a mess to clean up. You should have used a larger plate, except that you'd just smoked a DIME bag of weed and had such a horrible case of the screaming munchies that you grabbed the first plate you could even though it was too small.

RooMonster 9:30 AM  

Hey All !
Yummy! A triple stack of PANCSKEs, with a PAT of butter on top, dripping with syrup down the sides. Nice visual. And two types of syrup, because you can never have too much! @Rex's complaint that they're floating is ridiculous. C'mon. Rex, get back into the spirit of these puzs.

Ala the syrups, why is everything that tastes so heavenly bad for you? I want my money back from life twisting the good food/tastes bad - bad food/tastes good. Another example, MegaStuf OREOs.

Couple writeovers, run-LAM, astA-NANA. Second one because when you see a four letter dog, ASTA.

So I liked this puz. Fun theme, and when was the last time we've seen PB2? So that was nice also. Clean fill, and RUE. JUS sayin'. :-)

MAGIC CLAPTRAP
RooMonster
DarrinV

Anonymous 9:31 AM  

As 'merican in Paris (2:23) and later Suzy Q suggest, the puzzle had a cosmopolitan (or at least a European-language) edge to it, wedded to the most vulgar of American breakfasts, a stack of pancakes topped by a pat of butter, flanked by two rather low-brow brands of "syrup." This was designed for ex-pats (ex-patriates, or those missing their pats of butter) in Europe in October. About this time of year, with the first cold wave, ex-pats look upon their fine croissants and decent coffee and really wish we could go vulgar. Some hotels, at least in France and Italy, cater to these desires; the English do it naturally.

An odd puzzle, but finely done.

Anon. i.e. Poggius

kitshef 9:41 AM  

@Birchbark - thank you for going there.

@Nancy - "Hungry ... Hungry Jack. They gobble 'em down and the plate comes back for Hungry Jack" was the commercial jingle from my youth.

@Everyone - Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel has been advertising a set of crossword-related mysteries (with the too-on-the-nose title, "The Crossword Mysteries") that Will Shortz had a hand in creating. Coming in February.

pabloinnh 9:58 AM  

Maybe a little too easy for a Wed. but just seeing the stack of pancakes made me smile. Plus, it's full of stuff I like--The Beatles, Springsteen, French dip, My Cousin Vinny, answers in French, plus the aforementioned stack.

@GILLL I is right--no one in these parts uses anything like the abominable "syrups" cited in this puzzle. Lots of folks around here make their own maple syrup, and in leaf-peeping season (just ending) every little store is full of tiny overpriced bottles of Real NH Maple Syrup. It's all collected by tubing attached to the trees these days in the bigger operations so no more horses pulling sleds through the snowy sugarbush any more, but it still makes a great calendar illustration.

Also, Red Sox.

Bruce R 10:12 AM  

When I saw AUNT JEMIMA my day was made. Not because of any sense of nostalgia on my part, but because I knew Rex's hair-trigger racism-detector would be sounding the alarms faster than you can say NO BUENO.

OffTheGrid 10:23 AM  

For a breakfast to be truly vulgar it must include pig: Greasy sausage and bacon.

Anonymous 10:42 AM  

@michiganman - I've never thought to put a sunny-side up egg on a stack of pancakes, mostly because I hardly ever have a stack of pancakes to consider. BUT - a hamburger or cheeseburger without a sunny-side-up egg splooshing all over it (I learned it as an Eagleburger, at the Eagle Diner in center city Phila.) - is incomplete.

GHarris 10:42 AM  

Easy and as enjoyable as wolfing down a stack of blueberry buttermilks with maple syrup and a cup of hot Italian roast coffee. Yummy.

Anonymous 10:44 AM  

Cute puzzle! Like MAGIC a stack of PANCAKES appeared, with all the fixings, perfect for Tuesday. Cheers!

Phipps44 10:47 AM  

I always mix my pancakes and eggs together! We spent two months in Ottawa last summer oh the maple syrup was fantastic!

Carola 11:00 AM  

Cute, my only cavil being that one PAT of butter is stingy for a three-PANCAKE stack. At least in Wisconsin. I liked the middle pancake balanced on the LEDGE of a too-small spatula, like mine. Favorite of those nice long Downs: SEVEN SEAS.

@QuasiMojo - I join you in the no TV club, having thrown our set out 40 years ago after wasting untold hours on dross. Then came the Internet and....

John Hoffman 11:11 AM  

Yes, nice long downs like SEVENSEAS. Easy for a Wednesday. It’s been an easy week so far.

Joseph Michael 11:21 AM  

Slightly disappointed when I realized that the theme was a recurring PANCAKE, but kind of enjoyed the puzzle anyway. If ever there was a time for the crosswordese IHOP, this is it.

But since when does “several” mean “three”? If I said from backstage that there were “several” people in the audience and you looked out and saw only “three,” you would probably think I was either a fool or a liar.

C’EST LA VIE? Is that referring to a board game, a breakfast cereal, or a picture magazine?

jb129 11:36 AM  

Fun puzzle

Masked and Anonymous 11:38 AM  

What @Birchbark 7:54am said.

Really liked the PLATE part of the theme. Nice to have syrup choices. We tend to go with Log Cabin or sometimes real maple syrup, at our house. Different theme, due to the triple so-light-they-can-float PANCAKEs maneuver. Like.

staff weeject picks: AUX & DER. When desperate, go with abbrs. or foreign wordlets. But, please -- no foreign abbrs., tho, Shortzmeister.

fave fillins: JUVENILE. PENNYLANE. SHESALADY. INTROUBLE [debut]. UBOAT.

And Thanx for the weeject stack [upper N-central] with butter on top, Blindauer & Orbach. Fun.

Masked & Anonym8Us


**gruntz**

Banana Diaquiri 11:44 AM  

@Nancy:
Repeating fill is a no-no, of course.

got almost to the end of the comments at 11:30 before someone raised what I thought was a violation of the Prime Directive of crosswords: thou shalt use an answer but once. is there such an (unwritten?) rule? one way or another, how could OFL not mention this. never seen it before, that I can recall. moreover, to be a stack of pancakes, they really should be in three abutting rows. that would make the gag more obvious, of course. may be the gag shouldn't be used?

Joe Bleaux 12:30 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown 12:35 PM  

One of the best things about this puzzle is it sparked comments of unanimous disdain for anything other than maple syrup. Proof again of the intelligence and good taste of crossword solvers.

jberg 1:04 PM  

OK, so as @Nancy points out it's a violation of the no-repetition rule, but that's the gimmick that makes it interesting. But it was too easy for a Thursday, so we got it today, and it is a bit weird. Personally, I thought more was needed -- maybe with other things in the middle of the 3-stack (bacon, sausage, ... ?) Like everything else, I knew there had to be a third PANCAKE once I had two.

But @Z, "too sweet?" Come on, it's a sweetener! That's like saying sugar is too sweet (and syrup is just sugar and water). In either case it's not how sweet the sweetener is, it's how much of it you add to your food. But the virtue of maple syrup is that you get the maple flavor to temper the sweetness.

But my real beef was with LOUIS, as clued. I mean, it's easy enough -- essentially all of the kings of France were either Louis or Charles (hyperbole warning!). But 18? The titles run up to Louis XIX, but XVII and XIX ever actually reined; but then we had Louis Philippe. So to get 18, you need some weird rule about which to include and which to exclude. A less frustrating clue might have been "lots of French kings."

Teedmn 1:06 PM  

What a fun puzzle. I liked seeing the syrups on the side - that's how I eat my pancakes. I am a sugar fiend and I find that if I pour the syrup over the pancakes, it soaks in and makes the flavor less intense. I don't bother with the butter - I keep my (pure maple syrup, no commercial brands) syrup on the PLATE next to the pancakes so I can dip each forkful into it - and it uses less syrup to boot (same method as salad dressing). I just got some homemade maple syrup from my sister-in-law, and she intrigued me by telling me about the black walnut syrup they made - I might have to try that in my own backyard.

"She's A Lady" brings back memories of finding my Mom dancing to her Tom Jones albums in the basement. She was always chagrined when my brother and I came down to watch but she wasn't able to shoo us away.

@Nancy, good one on the cereal crunch.

@Gill I, I have seen broccoli rabe used in many a cooking show but I don't think I've ever seen it in the stores around here and don't remember seeing it on a local menu. Probably a farmer's market item and I never get there.

Thanks, Mr. Orbach and PB2.

kodak jenkins 1:18 PM  

I love maple syrup but certainly won't thumb my nose at dear old Aunt Jemima, who used to come in those shapely custom glass bottles.

I don't mind repeating an answer if it serves a nice theme.

What's Rex's problem with a PAT of butter? In my mind the PAT is the pre-measured serving that comes on a little piece of waxed paper at pancake houses. And yes, for a stack of pancakes I would expect several PATs.

It was a super easy puzzle except I DNF because of that sudden Friday crossing of SNELL, ACELA and SAS. I never heard of any of those and from the comments I guess I'm the only one....

chefwen 1:48 PM  

Growing up Grandma Sophie would make Palatschinken sp? which is more crepe like. I always had mine with butter, a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, roll those puppies up and dig in. Big brother would drown his with syrup and Dad would spread a thin layer of jam on his. Now that it’s morning and I’m hungry I could go for about 10 of those. Mmmmm...

foxaroni 1:54 PM  

@Michiganman--hand up for the egg yolk/butter/syrup (maple, of course) treat. It's the only way I can stand eating pancakes.

My father would make pancakes every Saturday morning for 18 years. It got to the point where I'd try jelly or peanut butter or honey as an alternative.

Of course the puzzle pancakes "levitate" in the grid. Having them short-stacked on top of each other would very obnoxious and joyless.

Enjoyed the puzzle, PB and TO. Thanks!

Banana Diaquiri 2:17 PM  

FWIW. a snell exists from dry fly fishing, which I did for while a long time ago. a dry line floats and is as big around as a ball pen refill, so it's pretty obvious to even a dumb fish. the snell is long enough to break the visual line, yet not be so heavy as to sink the fly.

JC66 2:26 PM  


And Matt SNELL scored the only NY Jets touchdown in their upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Cassieopia 2:41 PM  

What a fun puzzle! Great comments today too. Anyone else want the grid art to represent a plate of pancakes? I strove mightily to see a picture in the grid but the closest I came was a mashup of an overhead view of a plate of pancakes (eager arms/hands on either side of the plate, waiting to dig in), and a side view of two syrup bottles. I think it’s a stretch.

thfenn 3:17 PM  

Easy, but a lot of fun. If we can get past repeat answers being a problem I would have preferred to go whole hog and see a PAT on top of each PANCAKE, which is how I like mine. And yes, 100% pure maple is of course the only syrup you should put on these, but the one jingle that to this day still comes easily from my youth is this one:

Aunt Jemima pancakes, without the syrup, is like the spring, without the fall. There's only one thing worse in the whole universe
And that's no Aunt Jemima at all.

Z 3:17 PM  

@jberg - Yep. Do you eat plain sugar? And you’re right, syrup is just sugar and water and maybe some flavors. Every pure Maple Syrup I’ve ever tried has had a hint of maple trying to fight through the overwhelming sweet of the sugars. Maybe if they reduced it a little less during processing it wouldn’t be so cloying. As for the alleged superiority of maple syrup over the cheap stuff, marketing. My guess is 90% or more of all New Englanders couldn’t tell the difference between maple syrup and Karo pancake syrup. Worse, that we’ve convinced ourselves that dessert is breakfast is very very American.
Bah. Humbug.

kitshef 3:37 PM  

@Gill I - The last cooking show I saw all the way through I think involved Graham Kerr.

[Pauses while everyone under fifty hits the Google machine.]

I am glad that they are so popular, and the food of the country is probably better for them, and if I'm flipping around and they are making something interesting, I might well watch until the next commercial break. However, I can't sit through a whole show, and anything involving broccoli I'm flipping right past.

Banana Diaquiri 3:40 PM  

@Z:
My guess is 90% or more of all New Englanders couldn’t tell the difference between maple syrup and Karo pancake syrup.

well... I never!! any real New Englander sure can. maple syrup actually has flavor, and isn't as thick as library paste. spend a couple of bucks and get Your Significant Other to do a blind taste test. granted, some folks just want the sugar hit. philistines.

GILL I. 4:28 PM  

@kitshef.....The Galloping Gourmet? Next you're going to tell me The Frugal Gourmet's Jeff Smith was related to you?
But...but...but, Broccoli and Broccoli RABE are different. The later is part of the turnip family and you don't have to like turnips at all because RABE tastes earthy and nutty especially if you stir fry it with garlic and you eat the whole thing - stems and all. Whew.
PANCAKES....on the other hand.....And whoever said you should add a fried egg to their hamburger wins my gourmet of the month prize. Just be sure it's gooey!

Betty Crockett 5:14 PM  

I stock my pantry with Log Cabin and the best real maple syrup I can afford. A recipe that asks for ,say, 1/4 c maple syrup gets the Log Cabin. Only the real stuff for the table.
Around here we do the dish of syrup on the side as well for dipping each bite. No soggy pancakes.

GILL I. 5:38 PM  

Latter...Can someone please tell me how to turn off Mr. Know It All?

QuasiMojo 5:58 PM  

@Gill, go to Settings, then General, then Keyboard if iPhone.

GILL I. 7:40 PM  

@Quasi. My hero. I have an iPhone. Now let me try it with Mr. MacBook ...He knows I hate him... ;-)

dm3000 6:33 PM  

As a couple have pointed out, the syrup, at least in advertising photos, runs down the sides of the stack.

Bryce 10:20 PM  

@Quasimojo: the jeopardy subreddit usually has uploaded streams of the show, you should be able to see it there in the evening.

spacecraft 11:07 AM  

Well, one thing this puzzle did was make me HUNGRY, JACK! Which brand name doubtless refers to an alternate name for the repeated (!) themers: "FLAPJACK." I like the distribution, with the butter (but surely more than just a single PAT, no?) on top, etc. Gawd, I can feel my waist expanding as we speak.

So we waive the no-repeat rule; I guess this is a special case; not the hill I want to die on. Some of the fill, though, is a lot less appetizing, like RCDs (ESE coulda been a second one), AAA, EKES, and the Mini-theme French lesson with one ESTA thrown in.

Another mini-theme marks the end of every poker tournament: "65-across!" "14-across!" Points for that. Also for some nice long downs, including the syrups, though Log Cabin or Mrs. Butterworth's would be my choice. 31-down, if space permitted, could have easily been CESTLAGUERRE. Comedienne/hottie Carol KANE is DOD. Birdie.

Diana, LIW 11:20 AM  

tried to post a comment - what's up?

dliw

Burma Shave 12:18 PM  

CLAPTRAP PANCAKE DAP

SHE’SALADY now, but for a YEAR as a JUVENILE
AUNTJEMIMA was INTROUBLE with a maniac.
SEE,YA go ALLIN FAITH on the LAM, for a while,
C’ESTLAVIE, ‘twas JUS’ HER and HUNGRYJACK.

--- LOUIS GUERRE

thefogman 12:18 PM  

Nice puzzle. I had AUNTJEMIMA in HUNGRYJACK's spot because of the U in LOUIS. And I had boA before KAA. BTW, I've never heard of HUNGRYJACK syrup. I would have like to see flapjack, hotcake, blini and/or crepe make an appearance. But there's no need to batter the constructor. This one was golden and delicious.

Diana, LIW 12:20 PM  

I had a very, very (as POTUS would say) small joke about the PANCAKE makeup of this puzzle on an earlier post, but the internet ate it. Yum

Today I get to travel on our highways with the rest of the world - bought concert tickets before realizing it was the day before T-day. Hope to see y'all tomorrow, drumsticks or tofurckey in hand.

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for the rain and the traffic

rondo 12:38 PM  

Around my house ICALL PANCAKEs blini, or else I get INTROUBLE. Only 100% maple syrup or honey allowed. ALLIN the name of harmony.

FAITH Hill JOINS the yeah baby contingent.

Gotta go, too much on my PLATE.

leftcoastTAM 2:25 PM  

Simple, easy, quirky and, and a bit surprisingly, three (sassy, rule-breaking) PANCAKEs, dripping with butter, and not one but two brands of syrup.

Mmm, mmm [mouth watering].

Skip the French dip, please.

CL 11:25 AM  

Plate on the bottom, stack of three pancakes, pat of butter on top, and syrup dibbling down the sides. The visual is perfect in every way

https://media.gannett-cdn.com/29906170001/29906170001_5511344405001_5511329999001-vs.jpg?pubId=29906170001&quality=10

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