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Ancient Athenian sculptor / MON 5-24-10 / Skilled entertainer / Sci-fi hero in 25th century / Football alignment named for its shape
Monday, May 24, 2010
Constructor: Bob Johnson
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: CHEESE BURGER — circled squares spell out the various levels in a basic cheeseburger: BUN, TOMATO, PICKLE, CHEESE, BURGER, BUN
Word of the Day: JERKIN (47D: Sleeveless jacket) —
Jerkin' or Jerk is a Los Angeles dance movement. The Jerk movement started in 2008 in Los Angeles and spread across Southern California. Since 2009, jerkin' has gained fans along the West Coast and is gaining popularity on the East Coast. // The dance itself consists of moving your legs in and out called the "jerk", and doing other moves such as the "reject", "dip", and "pindrop". (wikipedia)
• • •
Nice. SASSY, even (20A: Impertinent). Felt very easy, but those big corners, my bad typing, and JERKIN kept me from a truly sizzling time ("sizzling" ... see, I'm trying to keep up the whole burger / grilling vibe ... because that's the kind of ARTISTE I am (39D: Skilled entertainer)). A shade over 3 puts me at a pretty normal Monday time. It's a lazy Sunday evening as I write this. I'm full of the risotto I cooked — thank you Cook's Illustrated — and a couple beers and a half bowl of blue- and strawberries (the other half bowl is sitting here, waiting for me). New Black Keys album is playing downstairs (fantastic). Lettuce and kale and potatoes are starting to come up in the garden. I love spring more and more and more with every year. This has nothing to do with the GRID (40D: Where to enter this puzzle's answers). It's just what's happening now. In my heart. And even RETINT can't bring bring me down (6D: Color again, as the hair) ("the" hair?!).MYRON (18D: Ancient Athenian sculptor) was the "Word of the Day" less than three weeks ago, so you're welcome for that. He's by far the most obscure thing in this grid, and crosses were all very easy, so no problem. I will say, about the circles, that they are at least quite dense in TFORMATION and BUCKROGERS. And CRIME SCENE is a killer answer (28D: It might be marked off with police tape).
Theme answers:
- 5A: U.C.L.A. player (BRUIN)
- 17A: Football alignment named for its shaped (T FORMATION)
- 26A: Top choice (PICK OF THE LITTER)
- 45A: "Light" dessert? (CHERRIES JUBILEE) — cute clue
- 58A: Sci-fi hero in the 25th century (BUCK ROGERS)
- 64A: To the point, ironically (BLUNT)
- 33A: Good "Wheel of Fortune" purchase for STRING BIKINI (AN "I") — way to liven up the typical ["Wheel of Fortune" purchase] clue!
- 38A: Heckle and Jeckle of cartoons (MAGPIE) — damn these birds! I can never remember what they are. "They're black ... crows? ... daws? ... caws? ... what the hell?!" MAGPIE just sound smaller, cuter, and more colorful than H&J look to me.
- 62D: Puccini's "Nessun dorma," for one (ARIA) — not that you have to know the first thing about "Nessun dorma" to get this. Hundreds of ARIAs out there that could have taken this one's place. First time I ever heard the word ARIA was as the title of some indie film I saw and didn't understand in the '80s.
- 63A: Captain Hook's henchman (SMEE) — I have never read "Peter Pan." I have never (to my knowledge) seen "Peter Pan" (any version). I wouldn't know SMEE if he bit me. But his name is, of course, common currency in crossword grids.
[Random picture of constructors Patrick Blindauer and Rebecca Young that I pulled down off Facebook because I liked it so much]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
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57 comments:
Just checking in for my Sunday tweets but Monday was already posted...
GOD HOW I LOVED THIS PUZZLE!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Johnson, you are fab! But you need a much better name!!!!!!!
Loved loved loved the theme...and such interesting fill...
Some a shade tough for Monday, I think:
JERKIN, ABOVO, SMEE, APIA
(I mean, gauging from when I ask non-bloggers to solve a Monday, they would have lots of trouble with those)
and APIA is what I use as a joke when I'm trying to explain why Mondays are hard to construct... I specifically say, "Every clue has to be easy and gettable to the average person, so, like, I couldn't use "Capital of Guam" even tho it might be what I need to complete the GRID..."
Yet, there it is 22D Samoan Capital
APIA!
But that does not tarnish the loveliness of CHERRIESJUBILEE...
and even tho PICKOFTHELITTER was in my PACACK, PECK, PICK puzzle, here it seemed super fresh and who knew that it hid the word PICKLE!
Even TFORMATION came to this sports-addled gal...and as @Rex said, who wouldn't love CRIMESCENE and MAGPIE!
ISAY, old chap, TRIX are for KIX!
Yay again, Bob Johnson whoever you are! If you ever need a SASSY renaming, call me!
Now to alert Patrick and Rebecca!
@andrea [as you will] michaels, hand up for "a shade tough for Monday". Watching both the NBA playoff game and the Yankee-Mets game at my local pub complicated an excellent puzzle but, nonetheless, 11D REAL ESTATE shouldn't have held me up as long as it did.
Rather straightforward puzzle with nothing too surprising. I have to admit now I get the fact that GRID is not a reference to the puzzles theme but just a clue. I was thinking in all sorts of ways of how a GRID is related to various parts of a hamburger. I finally just gave up and figured it something I simply didn't know. I imagine I'm not the only one.
Having been out of touch when MYRON was the XWOTD, that is my choice today. A cute puzzle. My only writeover was RAVAGE over PilAGE. Didn't know APIA either.
I would swear H&J are crows.
Andrea and other Bay Area people, the Mountain Play is very good this year. Opening day was today, (Sunday). Because of the play, I just got around to finishing Sunday's puzz. Very enjoyable, no Googles.
Tasty, meaty treat for a Monday, with a veal appetizer at 1A.
Interesting that, with the clue / answer at 33A, we also had EYE and AYE AYE, neither of which requires said purchase from Pat.
Mr Johnson, you deserved the shout-out at 58D. Well done!
Was totally prepared to make Pot stickers for dinner tonight, but after completing this puzzle I changed my mind and went with some Juicy Loosey hamburgers. @dk will probably know what I am talking about, and they were "to die for".
I will never make a cheeseburger any other way. Recipe available on line, just watch out for the molten cheese upon first bite and have plenty of napkins within easy reach.
Puzzle was fun and easy, only write over was VENTI over VENTe, dumb mistake!
As much as i admire the AGILITY of this puzzle -the big beefy tomatoes'the Gherkin pickles,the raw cheese -where is the onion slice here gotta have a slice of onion!! oh oh secret word "BEDWERM" had better mean hot water bottle!
What, no lettuce?
Saw the word of the day and said: huh! Sailed thru this one and did not even see JERKIN as it was a product of the crosses... gotta slow down.
Black Keys will be here 8 June. Favorite comment about them: They make a lot of noise for 2 guys.
SMEE, snick, dirk etc. are all part of the knife lore from the world of young dk. Now I use a CRKT and never expect to see it in an Xword GRID.
I should also like to point out that the Jerk was a dance from the mid-sixties, although it did not require eyebrow sculpting. Find Land of a Thousand Dances on utube for a review.
We are off to a good start in my less than humble opinion (IMLTHO).
*** (3 Stars) Hold the mayo.
I agree with Andrea (always) Bob Johnson sounds as common as... well... CHEESE BURGER. Perhaps he should change his name to RAVAGE TORENT.
Off to mow the lawn. Lovely wife failed to mow while I was in NOLA and I am now on my fourth attempt with our cordless mower. To quote Kermit: It's not easy being green.
Very cheery puzzle, and I'm delighted BOB got his own name in there at 58D! Nice cross and clue with BLUNT...
I too was waiting for Onion to appear, but RAW at 35A will do for a hint. Only write-over was just below that, at RAVAGE where I first had Damage.
∑;)
All's Well That Ends Well > Act II, scene I
HELENA: What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy.
He that of greatest works is finisher
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,
When judges have been babes; great floods have flown
From simple sources, and great seas have dried
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails and most oft there
Where most it promises, and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
Fun puzzle and a tad harder than the usual Monday. Liked it quite a bit.
Heckle and Jeckle were actually billed as The Talking Magpies for whatever that bit of trivia is worth.
Love the Blindauer pic, Rex. I had the pleasure of having lunch with Patrick along with constructor Tony Orbach (whose Dad is one of my theatre heros) and champion Dan Feyer during a visit to NYC week before last. These guys are as nice as they are funny and intelligent (which to say: very, very nice). What a great way to spend 90 minutes.
I like mine with lettuce and tomatos, Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer. Good God almighty, which way do I steer? To get my cheeseburger in paradise! -- Buffett
Now I'm hungry, dammit.
This was a great Monday puzzle, although I've never heard of a jerkin as either a dance or a jacket before reading this write-up. Thank OOXTEPLERNON for the crosses, only two of which were even vaguely OOXTEPLERNONny.
When I lived in Taos, the magpies were ubiquitous. Loud, smart birds who are a bluepurple shimmery black with white epaulets. Gorgeous critters, they. And if they decide to decorate your vehicle, well, you damn sure know you've been decorated!
Praise be to ALLAH for this effort, Mr. Johnson!
Prowlvo! (Volvo's new sport utility with a police interceptor engine) -- jesser
Lots of alternatives for "Lay waste to," as mentioned above - RAVAGE, DAMAGE, PILAGE ...mine was SAVAGE before RUT came into view.
Thanks for the Black Keys video, Rex. Nice Monday morning treat.
Bob Johnson, a fine puzzle on a sunny day. Lotsa sparkle!
This puzzle made me hungry ... for more puzzles from Bob Johnson. Very fresh, juicy Monday treat.
I did have sAVAGE before RAVAGE.
@dk ... RAVAGE TORENT? How about BUCK JUBILEE?
Liked the Black Keys. Today is Bob Dylan's birthday!
Weird. Years ago I used to choose and publish to co-workers a word of the day, and ask them to use the word in a sentence in a reply email. It was fun.
Leafing through a dictionary for this purpose, I found the word "merkin" and published it. (Look it up.) The next day, I found the rhyme for merkin and published it -- "jerkin." So I am one of (I suspect) comparatively few people who wrote in JERKIN with zero hesitation in this grid.
I enjoyed the puzzle, and I agree that it's unusually arcane in some respects for a Monday offering.
I agree - a bit hard for a monday. Was looking for onion also.
But what more could you ask for - a yummy cheese burger and cherries jubilee for dessert!!
Now to look up the juicy loosey cheesburger
I'm getting that burger for lunch.
I just want to RAVAGE one.
Liked that VINEGAR was thrown in. I like it on my Fries.
Other than the unknowns JERKIN and ABOVO, both via the perps, this was a smooth ride. Also had MYRON filled in before the I saw the clue, then remembered back to when it was WOD.
I rate this one Delicious.
They screamed and jumped as only hockey moms can. "You know, they say, what is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? ...lipstick!" I wasn't nervous. By God's grace I was having a ball, and that broken teleprompter was pretty liberating. Still, after the laughter died down, I got back on script. I discussed my record: fighting the oil company monopoly, working for energy independence, and my work on the Alaska natural gas pipeline.
Above average clues for a Monday, I thought. Since I feel obliged to object to something in every puzzle, my quibble of the day is 31A: TORENT. For me, a vacant place is either TO LET or FOR RENT. TO RENT sounds off to me.
quill: what I use to fill in my crossword puzzles, of course.
@chefwen - thanks for the VENTI call out - I hadn't even realized my VENTE was a mistake until then.
@Rex - It's too bad that your childhood did not include the obligatory attendance at (at least) one Peter Pan production (that may explain why you aren't a theater buff). Those of us old enough to remember Mary Martin will forever associate her with the role. For me, it created a life-long love of musical theater.
Very good Monday puzzle! I surprised myself by getting the 17a answer after only TF.....!
Only write-over: push for pull... Should have checked the crosses first.
@chefwen: one day, try to put a little anchovy paste inside the hamburger instead of cheese. Amazing taste, and it also works as a tenderizer.
I saw at least one Peter Pan production. I am not a theater buff.
Here in the Land of Enchantment, chopped green chile is a must for your cheeseburger--you can even get a green chile cheeseburger at McDonalds!
Santafefran
Such a rave review from Andrea on a Monday puzzle is impressive, Bob! Congratulations.
Yesterday we saw peppery arugula, today tomato and pickle; maybe the lettuce will come tomorrow (along with some oil to go with the vinegar).
Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger. RIP John Belushi. Or dance.
Great puzzle, very clever. (1) surprisingly strange Monday words (2) nice theme architecture, and (3) evocative grid to boot.
All the homophony “Is” in the center made me think of these lyrics:
I woke up this morning,
I could barely breathe
Just an empty impression
In the bed where you used to be
I want a kiss from your lips
I want an eye for an eye
I woke up this morning to an empty sky
springsteen
A puzzle that makes me think of John Belushi and Springsteen is IMALTHO,@DK, a great start to the week.
Amazing, is it not, how people who speak bluntly have the unerring ability to get right to the point?'And so it is with Bullet Bob Johnson, and this Monday entry that brought out the true ARTISTE in him!
Let me point out another feature that lifts this puzzle above your run-of-the-mill, random-circle puzzle: The lengths of the circled words have a nice symmetry to them: 3-6-6-6-6-3.
Barney Fife: [Barney is writing a song, doesn't know Andy is standing behind him, sung to the tune of Clementine]
In a jailhouse
down in dixie
fighting crime and risking lives
live a sheriff
and his buddy
pistol packing Barny Fife.
Oh my daring, oh my daring,
oh my daring Barney Fife
He's a deadly crime stopper
what a copper
Barney Fife
Then one day there
came a ridin'
two bad men to rob a bank.
But Fife was tricky
a deadeye dickie
now they're locked up in the tank....
Andy Taylor: ...Oh my Barney
Oh my Barney
had a jail but couldn't lock it
had one bullet for his pistol
had to keep it in his pocket
@Ulrich
Mark of a good c-burger, the contents are bigger than the bun.
The Thieving Magpie by Rossini, or at least its overture (which is on any NPR station's playlist), deserves a mention today.
Perfectly good Monday fare IMO despite some later-in-the-week clues/answers as pointed out by others. OK, maybe a maven's Monday.
Had 3D LEOS from crosses and did not look at the clue until later. Briefly wanted S to be a Roman numeral I didn't know...
Put down RAVAGE @ 42A instead of the other six letter possibilities mentioned because, well, it just sounded right. It was.
Thanks, Mr. Johnson.
MAGPIE just sound smaller, cuter, and more colorful than H&J look to me.
Have no fear, Rex, your cutedar is, in fact, in need of tuning.
Magpies are noisy pests that have two feeding modes: they flip cowpies looking for insects and they steal from other birds. The "pie" in their name goes back to the Latin picus, "pecker," from the habit of poking at turds.
"Mag" is a particular shortening of Margaret that is associated with emptyheaded chattering. The OED has a citation for "Mag's tale" roughly meaning "BS" from 1410, for instance.
I trust that the knowledge that magpies are truly unpleasant is comforting.
The center was especially fun for me. The rhyming between magpie, lie, lye, eye, and ayeaye. A very nice little group.
I don't think that "An I" is a particularly "good" pick on Wheel of Fortune. It may be opportune or foolish, depending on how many letters you already have. A good pick is one in which you get a lot of money (i.e. you roll $2,500 and pick the N to get $5,000 instead of the S to get $2,500.) THAT's a good pick!
Remember, you have to buy a vowel, all the more reason to call it opportune or even lucky, since there are no other vowels in "String Bikini!"
Greg
P.S. It's frustrating to see people who don't think about what they're picking and wind up wasting high-value spins for one letter when they could choose a letter that appears 3 or 4 times!
In the cold light of day, still loving everything about this puzzle!
And @ulrich
366663!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for pointing that out, just when I couldn't think I'd like it more...
plus
@coolpapad
Your spotting EYE, AYEAYE and ANI even further enriches my post-solve experience!
This from a totally hypocritical vegetarian!!!! (I have a MacDonalds Big Mac a few times a year much to my regret!)
I may be on a weird caffeine high tho as I had a chocolate craving at 1 am, grabbed a bag of M&Ms from my fridge for just such an emergency, which I couldn't open and then they exploded all over my kitchen floor. I've been up since 5 am, but BOY have I gotten a lot done!
:)
ANyway, as a sometime Monday constructor, I just wildly appreciate this puzzle...for once not in a jealous sort of I-wish-I-had-thought-of-that sort of way, just as a loved this even tho I thought the vocab was Monday-and-a-half towards Tuesday sort of way.
fwiw, write overs:
RAVAGE for dAmAGE,
ADE for AlE (Are any ales fruity, drinkers out there?)
and my papa's real name is MYRON.
Hambugguh, cheesebugguh, Peepsi ... no coke! Cheeps! (now that half of y'all figure I've gone plum loco, I'll talk about the puz with some major street cred)...
I'm really conflicted here, but I'll go mild thumbs up. Heck, it's just a poor defenseless MonPuz, after all. My big (personal) problem here is that I didn't get my completed puz bonus on a Monday, due to an error. Spoils my whole next five minutes, man! Had a rare Monday nat-tick at ABOnO crossing nENTI. Latin crossin' Italian? As 44 would say, come ON!
But puz had four U's and nice fill (across the border from Italy, anyhow), so it sneaks back into the plus column. And I like circles.
@joho: RAW GORE.
@Big E... going on about game show strategies is almost as lame as dissecting and rating xwords, or thinking math is cool or... OMG that is me!
I have to get new batteries for the cordless mower, drat. Any of you need carbon credits for your Briggs and Stratton 2 cycles.
d (Chester Goode) k
black keys rock! if you get a chance to see them live, it will change your perspective on them...
LOL...great write-up and even more comments to make me smile on a drizzly Alaskan morning.
Easy-medium on the puzzle. Almost LOSTIT when I wanted WESKIT for JERKIN, but quickly corrected that fumble off my TFORMATION.
Make my cheeseburger a patty melt with American cheese on that toasted rye bread and sauteed onions. Heaven...I'm in heaven...
BETTER THAN AVERAGE PUZZLE FOR A MONDAY!
Good one, @dk! How about IRON MYRON? Or RUT PIT. Ok, I'll stop now.
Hey, it's Bob Dylan's birthday today.
And to make that relate to something in @Rex's write up, I really did like that Black Keys clip.
P.S. Oh, BTW... has anybody mentioned that this puz had a great lookin' pair of BUNs? (44's too clean-livin' to mention it, of course...)
I was sleepin' like a rat
When I heard something jerkin'
There stood Rita
Lookin' just like Tony Perkins
She said, "Would you like to take a shower?
I'll show you up to the door"
I said, "Oh, no, no
I've been through this movie before"
--Motorpsycho Nightmare
Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 7/30/2009 post for an explanation of my method):
All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 7:04, 6:55, 1.02, 61%, Medium-Challenging
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:55, 3:41, 1.06, 74%, Medium-Challenging
One question popped up in my head when I finished this: Isn't it customary to have some sort of reveal (either clue or answer) when there are circles? Otherwise, they're just kind of hanging out there.
Other than that, not bad (especially for a circle puzzle, which I typically dislike). Impressive to see 15-letter answers on a Monday.
What would have been truly impressive is if the circles could have formed a bit of a pictogram, since the buns are already centered, but I suspect that would have been pretty much impossible, at least at a Monday difficulty level.
@Van55: I actually put in "merkin" at first. Couldn't remember exactly what it meant. Now that I've looked it up, let's just say that "sleeveless jacket" would be way, way off the mark. Oops.
...Well, I got back and took
The parking ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
When this Coast Guard boat went past
They asked me my name
And I said "Captain Kidd"
They believed me but
They wanted to know exactly what I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid
Well the last I heard of Arab
He was stuck on a whale
That was married to the deputy
Sheriff of the jail
But the funniest thing was
When I was leaving the bay
I saw three ships a-sailing
They were all headed my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, "Good luck."
~115th Dream
@Steve J: I will henceforth Google all of your mis-entries. That is freakin' hysterical! Merkin, indeed!
@Martin: I don;t remember my days among magpies with near the hostility for them that you do! Just for fun, I did some Googling to reconnect with those beautiful playful birds.
Check it out: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black-billed_magpie/lifehistory
Three and out! -- jesser
@LitDoc - I made the same mistake you did! Starting off of ALLAH, of course, "reaLestate."
Had to wait for PULL, PUsh or tUrn.
Otherwise, easy despite not reveal or theme.
PULL
Not only did I get a ticket in a NYS Trooper road stop for an out of date inspection, but fell on my face, knees and hand on Genesee St attracting the Fire Dept.'s EMT team. A regular public nuisance. Shoulda stood in bed.
S. 2 Gentlemen of Verona. Act II scene IV
Thurio: My jerkin is a doublet.
Valentione: Well then, I'll double your folly.
It wasn't too long ago that the style in the fall was the padded jacket with the arms that could be zippered off - a jerkin.
@SteveJ - I asked Hubster if anyone ever really wore a merkin. He told me, and I'll have to believe him - that a certain female impersonator named Heaven Lee used it in his/her act. She must have had a jacketless sleeve.
@Andrea - unfortunately, some ales are fruity. Some Germans favor berry-flavored beers, and they won't be gettin' 'em hier.
And, any M&Ms that make it from the car into the house never make it to the fridge.
@DK - I told Hubster I'd never mow a lawn unless I had a $400 electric mower (he uses a human-energy). For my part, I have one section in wild strawberry, another in Bishop's weed, another in vinca, and am working on a woodruff section.
Chickentarian and Chocoholic.
The two best things about the wikipedia "merkin" article:
1) photo of a merkin with built-in LED light,
2)"According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language the term stems from a corruption of the obsolete word malkin, meaning a lower-class woman or mop..."
Malkin made my day.
piLLage
@SteveJ
IMO, "cicles" (and other themes) are like good jokes --- they're much better whan you don't need to 'splain them.
P>G>
@andrea cheeseburger...:
How about IPA with Apricots?
@BigE: It had to be the I; don't your just purchase vowels on that show?
licksms!
Did this puzzle very late, but loved it. Way better than the LAT today. Like everyone else I want a CHEESEBURGER and all the trimmings. Loved all the Belushi references by the fellow commenters. And then the CHERRIES JUBILEE! CHERRIES are abundant at the farmers market right now.
About JERKIN - I was 8.5 months pregnant with with my second child in 1986. I was driving with my 3 yr old son in his carseat. Some guy hit us out of nowhere. Upon impact I yelled out, "You F*%@ing JERK! Witnesses realized I was a semi- hysterical, very pregnant woman and called the police who arrived within seconds. When the officer poked his head in the window to ask what happened, my son blurted out "that JERKIN crashed into my mom!" The word JERKIN lives on in infamy in our family.
@ACM: Yep, there are all kinds of fruity ales out there. Both overtly so - as in having had fruit added to the beer during fermentation (there are several Belgian beers like this, and there are various American craft brewers who also do fruit beers) - and more subtly. A lot of ale yeasts will give of esters that hint at fruit aromas or flavors, and some hops are also reminiscent of citrus fruits. Depending on how the brewer approaches things, some beers can come off as quite fruity.
@Sfingi: the one example I know in Germany with fruit-flavored beer is in Berlin, where it's traditional to charge the local beer (Berliner Weiss, a quite sour beer) with a shot of fruit-flavored syrup. In Bavaria, you can find Radler at a lot of beer gardens. Radler (which literally translates to "bicyclist," as this was allegedly created to help people avoid biking home drunk) is a mix of beer and lemon-lime soda. It's as awful as it sounds.
@Steve J: Radler sounds very much like the English Shandy, which is beer with ginger ale or lemonade added.
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