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Broadway musical 1919 1973 / SAT 5-14-11 / German region viticulture / Title woman 1975 #1 hit / Organ appendages / Emission in cloud chamber
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Constructor: Mike Nothnagel
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: none
Word of the Day: GRAPY (19D: Inferior, as some wines) —
of or relating to grapes; especially of wine : having the taste or aroma of fresh grapes (merriam-webster.com)
• • •
This played like two completely different puzzles for me: the NE corner, and everything else. I started in the NW, and had that whole quadrant done in under a minute. Then tried to enter the NE—no dice. Reeeeealy would've helped today if I knew a lot about wine. As it was, --APY was giving me only nonsense possibilities, I got gun shy about BLARE (24A: Loudspeaker's sound), I convinced myself that 21A: One in la famille could be FILLE or FEMME *or* FRÈRE ... so I turned around and went the other way.
Guessed LADED off the -ED, "DEAR ME" off the D-, and TEETERS off just that second "E," so that SW corner didn't last long. Slowed down slightly when I got carried away with the Zs and had 29D: Lightheaded as DIZZY (it's WOOZY). But no worries: BASENJIS was a gimme (32D: Barkless dogs), with no crosses needed. That led straight to TIP JAR and shortly everything was done but the NE. At this point, maybe we're five or six minutes in. And then, with (it turns out) GRAPY and MOSEL (25A: German region known for viticulture) guarding the gates, I just sat. Not pat. Just sat. Then I flailed a bit. My general tactic for solving a corner I just CanNot get into is to throw stuff at it. Hard. Threw in ORBITS (wrong) and TSE (correct!) and something-ISH (wrong). That was leading me toward MOSHE for the German viticulture region (wrong), which sounded more Israeli than German. Tore all that out. Had "ANNIE" as the musical (wrong) (8D: Broadway musical of 1919 and 1973=>"IRENE"). Tried HANGS ON / HIDDEN (wrong / wrong) (really SITS PAT / SECURE). Tried SPIN (wrong) next to SLOW (correct!). Finally, finally, went with FRÈRE over BLARE and from that -RE went with SECURE at 7D: Encrypted, perhaps). Also, after trying "TOP STORY..." (wrong), I decided to TEST "WE'RE LIVE!" (15A: Opening words from a TV news reporter). And that was that.
Clue on ICES OVER is just brutal (17A: Makes negotiating difficult, in a way). I was like "wow, I've never heard that expression before." And then I realized the "negotiating" was referring to driving. A car. Or truck, I guess. "W" from SLOW gave me the WORK part of GRUNT WORK (19A: Job for base pay?), and "K" gave me TERKEL (13D: 1985 Pulitzer winner for "The Good War"). Even as my brain kept trying to plug in football positions at 15D: Linemen, some other part of my brain was telling me "it's the 'Wichita Lineman' kind of 'lineman,' you idiot ... what the hell was Glen Campbell singing about!?!?" Did not figure out the answer til the very, very end (WIRERS).
Weird (which I just mistyped as "Wired"...): I was all set to tell you how today is Saturday the 14th and I have a very vivid memory of being at USC in the very early '80s with my mom, who was there for something having to do with her MPA, when they were filming a spoof horror movie called "Saturday the 14th" that featured Tommy Smothers ... only I found out just now that he wasn't in "Saturday the 14th" (1981). He was, however, in a different horror movie spoof called "Pandemonium" (1982), which was originally titled ... "Thursday the 12th!" That must have been the movie that was filming when I was in L.A. Anyway, the weird part is remembering the role Tommy Smothers played in this (slightly false) memory, and then calling up that Glen Campbell clip, and seeing that in it, he's performing on the Smothers Brothers show.Bullets:
- 1A: Organ appendages (PEDALS) — first thing I guessed; this led immediately to AVIAS, LARVAE, etc.
- 23A: Animal ordered to "be angry, and dispatch," in Shakespeare (ASP) — Cleo, presumably. Never saw this clue.
- 52A: Nissan's first hybrid vehicle (ALTIMA) — was thinking LEAF, but that's the all-electric model. This is just ... a model.
- 3D: Product whose name lost its period in the 1950s (DR PEPPER) — Periods being well-known symbols of Communism. Another triumph for HUAC.
- 25D: Title woman in a 1975 #1 hit ("MANDY") — if you were expecting that I'd play this, well, you were right (got it off the "Y," by the way):
- 26D: Pull from the ground, quickly? (ONE G) — wow, that is some good cluing right there.
- 33D: "Doubt" co-star, 2008 (AMY ADAMS) — massive celebrity crush.
- 43D: Entertainment giant with a 1995 I.P.O. (PIXAR) — off the "R." Just felt right.
- 34D: Emission in a cloud chamber (DELTA RAY) — it will surprise no one that I had no idea what this was. Very easy to get from crosses, though.
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65 comments:
I thought periods were symbols of slutty American decadence.
Nice! Fun stuff in this one. GRAPY and WIRERS feel a little icky but besides that really fun. WERE LIVE, WHAT GIVES, GRUNT WORK, GONE BAD over GOOD GAME, the velvety smoothness of the SE... all great stuff.
Also got NW corner in under a minute...
then came to a dead halt...
one of the few times in my life to do a puzzle in pencil and I was so happy about it...
At least you got GRAPY, I had soAPY for too long
(I really need to drink more...as I also tried esSen off the S and thought they had finally come up with a new clue for "Steel district in Germany)
Actually everything seemed drink related tonight, as TIPJAR was the key to the SE, off no letters but MAJOR visualization.
It didn't help that there are so many parts of speech that are 3 letter abbreviations... SUB, SYN...Oooooh, there is a "?"! SYL-ly me!
I think WHATGIVES is my favorite answer, tho I tried WHATeverS and thought it awfully ballsy of sweet Mike to pluralize WHATEVER!
And I too went a little Z-crazy, crossing fuzZY with WOOZY.
AMYADAMS sort of looks like Sandy, no? Your wife is lucky that your celebrity crushes all sort of look like her, otherwise it could lead to some insecurity there...I mean, it's no fun to be one "type" and find out your love prefers tiny Asian women or brassy redheads, or Hispanic men.
Antony and Cleopatra > Act V, scene II
CLEOPATRA: This proves me base:
If she first meet the curled Antony,
He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss
Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou
mortal wretch,
[To an asp, which she applies to her breast]
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
Unpolicied!
CHARMIAN: O eastern star!
CLEOPATRA: Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?
CHARMIAN: O, break! O, break!
CLEOPATRA: As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,--
O Antony!--Nay, I will take thee too.
[Applying another asp to her arm]
What should I stay--
[Dies]
stoopid dogs if only I had known the dog I too would have sailed through the SE but NOT! I had TIPJAR all alonely Started with MISTY went to MOLLY then MINDY-threw in ULTIMA which gave me TUG ??for 50 down, good lord! But my favorite answer is DELTA RAY I think it's KINDA GLOSSY
PS whats wrong with a wine being GRAPY I like a nice spring wine!
Nice puz, Mike. In spite of crashing and burning (and cheating) in the NE, it wasn't all GRUNTWORK. I knew that 1919 was too early for ANNIE, but couldn't think of IRENE. :( Don't tell my History of Musical Theater Professor; he'd never forgive me!
My grandpa's favorite song is in here, though. This one's for him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-wJNpWgss8
I agree with Medium.
I didn't get a foothold until the SE and worked my way backwards.
Very nice puzzle. Great cluing. (Except I was praying it wouldn't be MANDY - now I'll have that stoopid song in my head all day)
Whoa, 34D:δ_RAY? I thought they stopped after α, β, and γ (Helium nuclei, electrons, and photons respectively). Now I know ε more. [I see that the entry appeared once before in xwordinfo's memory, in a Nosowsky puzzle seven Junes ago where it was clued as an "alpha particle's emission".]
NDE
I'm in awe of Rex and the others who found this only "medium." The only word I knew for sure was BASENJIS. The rest of it was very slow. Seven (?) clues, and a whole lot of tricky ones and doubtful ones (I say WHAT GIVES when I have a question, not when I doubt). I spent a lot of time running the alphabet. Not quite a record slow Saturday for me, but close to it. However, I did finish it correctly.
I had the exact same solving experience as Rex. The SW fell so fast I thought, this can't be a Saturday! Then the rest went slowly and steadily until the NE. I was stuck there for more than AWHILE. I finally finished but with one error there: hERELIVE and another at SYn. Rats!
Did anybody else read it O NEG instead of ONE G? I kept wondering what does blood have to do with this? I also wanted weEd at first.
Fun puzzle, thanks, Mike!
Definitely hard for me. I struggled with the NE, but the NW was only slightly easier. Got the whole bottom half before making a dent in the top.
I am (or used to be) a physicist, and I either never knew DELTARAY or had forgotten it.
Good puzzle, but the cluing was just not on my wavelength -- much of it seems strained even after getting the right answer.
As for having a crush on AMYADAMS, get in line, buddy.
Total Fail for me. No time today to struggle, left the entire NE blank, except for ANNIE! Somewhat reassuring that REX had a hard time there also, the difference being that he conquered in the end.
Also, although I got it from crosses, was unfamiliar with DELTARAY, and again comforted that NDE and David L also did not know it offhand.
For me the hardest part was the bottom right, since I'd never heard of BASENJIS. For a while I had BAREFEET.
While solving this puzzle, it reminded me of a Stan Newman Saturday Stumper, very , very tough and no fun at all in the solve.
A look back after finishing the puzzle reveals some brilliant cluing which calls for a rethink of the criticism.
ICESOVER, GOODGAME, WERELIVE and GRUNTWORK all fill the bill as winners and the best of all was ALMANACS which, even with ALM__A_S kept itself secret for far too long.
The only sour notes were GRAPY and FLITE which, I guess, have to be suffered to preserve the essence of the puzzle.
confused about "oneg". Please enlighten
Rex, I agree that the clue for ONE G is awsomeness personified.
I guess you can become quickly rusty if you've been away from puzzles for a couple of weeks. This one knocked me around and I have the bruises to show it.
But it's good to be back (well partway back, brainwise)
@lxp: ONE G= Gravity, or how much pull the earth exerts on us. The quickly refers to the abbreviation...
@lxp: it refers to the pull of gravity.
My solving experience about the same as Rex's, killing off the NW, but my last fill was ICESOVER. I liked lots of the clues/answers, too many to list.
Those BASENJIS are good looking dogs.
Soapy. The W in SLOW gave me somethWING instead of somethWORK. TAG was my first answer.
The NW was finished in right about my total time for yesterday's puzzle. The NE was finished much, much later. Mike Nothnagel is a beast.
Completed the puzzle but still didn't understand One G and was still unfamiliar with Basenjis ... thanks for the explanations, y'all!
Macbeth > Act III, scene I
MACBETH: Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,Basenjis,
Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept
All by the name of dogs: the valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive
Particular addition. from the bill
That writes them all alike: and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,
Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.
really? Basenjis were named in MacBeth???!!!
wow. well, actually, bow wow. Oh wait, they don't bark.
Pretty good puzzle. I especially liked WHAT GIVES, GRUNT WORK, GOOD GAME. Excellent cluing for the above and for ONE G.
I thought of 17A in a nautical senese of negotiating a difficult channel that ICES OVER.
A couple of quibbles. I think one STANDS PAT or SITS TIGHT. Never heard of SITS PAT. And in my vocabulary WAN never quite gets to "Ghasly".
"Ghastly".
I thought "massive celebrity crush" meant Amy's crush on Julia.
Or rather Julie's.
GRATIANO: Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio--
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks--
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say 'I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no basenji bark!'
O my Antonio, I do know of these
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing; when, I am very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.
Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile:
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.
While we're on quibbles, at the bars I go to you just hand the bartender the tip or leave it on the bar. I've seen tip jars in stores, coffee shops, and at banquets but can't recall the last time I saw one in a bar.
Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the basenji in the night-time."
"The basenji did nothing in the night-time."
"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. …..
"Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance of the silence of the Basenji, for one true inference invariably suggests others. The Simpson incident had shown me that a basenji was kept in the stables, and yet, though someone had been in and had fetched out a horse, he had not barked to arouse the two lads in the loft. Obviously the midnight visitor was someone whom the basenji knew well.
Epic fail here. I could NOT find a way in to the puzzle. Had Chuang TZU which kept me from TERKEL. Darn those alternative spellings. Plopped in AVIAS and STEAK, but then doubted myself when nothing else appeared certain in the NW. Had faith crossing FoxTV for the believer's trait and the entertainment IPO. Had Rex's problem with not being able to decide which French relative applied here. Remembered Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep in "Doubt," neither of which fit. TIP JAR appeared, which somehow gave me BASENJIS, and I fought my way through the SE, but couldn't make much headway. Even after major Googling (such as I could--not much to look up), my grid was depressingly bare. Finally gave up and came here so I can get on with a VERY busy day. Sigh. At least I got a smile out of the write-up and some of your comments. I missed this yesterday while Blogger was indisposed.
I did discover something interesting, though. Former Tarzan actor Lex Barker (?!) popped up in one of my searches because his life exactly spanned the interval between the two IRENEs on Broadway. Is that his face on the avatar for our fearless leader? He was one handsome guy! But that avatar looks like a sci fi comic illustration to me, and I can't find that Lex ever made a sci fi flick. Have I learned the source of something?
In hindsight, this puzzle was not as hard as I first thought, except, of course, the NE. Everything else came together without too much trouble (although LADEn created a real problem crossing ?LEEn). In the NE I only was thinking FEMME and FILLE, and having soAPY wine didn't help. Once FRERE came to me, I got GRAPY, but that is about where it ended. I had SECURE lightly penciled in, as well as WIRERS, but "knew" they couldn't be right. The U made me think of GUARDDUTY, even though it was in the wrong place, further messing me up. Finally just threw in the towel and Googled TERKEL and IRENE. That was enough to get the rest and I had to smile at ICESOVER.
Everything a Saturday should be.
I did not care for WAN with "Ghastly", but a clear reference wasn't hard to find: RH 2nd; *resembling a ghost, esp. in being very pale: a ghastly look to his face. ... Syn. ...pallid...
I wouldn't use it that way (ghastly is much worse than WAN), but dictionaries don't much distinguish between current usage and once upon a time. By the time a dictionary says 'obscure' or 'archaic', it's probably hundreds of years out of style:))
.........................
I ground out the North Crossword in today's two-fer. The South Crossword just wouldn't go. Not a fan of closed grids. As has happened many times before, I woke in the morning, picked up the crossword, and had a major breakthrough. It's a bizarre phenomenon. It started to crack immediately and fell completely in about ten minutes. Total time? Well...if the Rex Blog were an exclusive club I'd be bounced out:))
How much is that basenji in the window? The one with the waggily TA-ailail !How much is that Basenji in the window I do hope that Basenji's for sale!
I had ICES A COP for 17A...
Cluing seemed a bit of an understatement.
Needed to google TERKEL, MOSEL, and IRENE to finish the NE corner. Rest of puzzle didn't put up much of a fight.
Saturday puzzles teach you not to become complacent!
Had to get BASENJIS from the crosses. I'm amazed how many people here knew it! Medium/Challenging for me. I used to dread seeing M Nothnagel's name on a puzzle, but either I'm getting a little better he's being kinder.
Really enjoyed this solve.
@Rex: thanks for the "Lineman" clip. Absolutely beautiful. Glen Cambell is seriously under rated - due in part no doubt, because when tv directors cut to close up on lines like "and I need you more than want you", Glen obliges with ever so sincere puppy dog look. So a simple almost perfect country song TEETERS toward schmatz.
Great clips today Rex! And Mr Nothnagel, a brilliant, brilliant puzzle!
First, a digression:
Judging by your lyrics, I'd say you're infatuated with a woman named Mindy...or a man named Andy.
Lisa, look behind you!
Dad, I'm not gonna fall for that.
No, Lisa, I'm 100% serious! You have to look behind you before it's too late!
(Turns head) Huh?
(Running away) Sucker!
Andrea, I had your exact experience, except that I never broke through. Couldn't get enough outside of the SE and NW to give me any of the long acrosses and, well, you know.
The ONEG clue is almost unbelievable it's so brilliant. Followed closely by 'Make it?'. Great, great cluing and interesting longs today. Kudos!
You guys can have Amy Adams. I'll take Emily Blunt.
Btw, what was O'Reilly talking about? There was no way Inside Edition went on the air live.
"I'll write it myself"? Easy, Proust. Not exactly "Remembrance of Things Past". He is blowhardia personified.
WHEW! Fun, medium-challenging puzzle for me. I actually had little problem with the NE, after divining GRUNT WORK over GUARD DUTY. Blew thru the NW and did a decent job on the SW, slowed up by reeeally wanting IMATALOSS for WHATGIVES, and trusting that LADED was OK (was fixed on laden being the only acceptable past tense answer).
But it was the SE that almost proved my undoing, even with AMYADAMS and TIPJAR (nice!!!) coming quickly. I just couldn't figure out DELTA for DELTA RAY, and I have never heard of BASENJI, ever. Also wanted GOOD TIME for GOOD GAME (that kinda works too!). But it was one of the easiest clues, KILL, that got me across the real finish line. Didn't get it till the end, but it gave me KINDA, then DELTA RAY, then the rest of the SE.
I forgot to say I read all of Studs Terkel's books and enjoyed interviews on radio and tv.
If you click on Thursday in the archive you get Wednesday. I guess Blogger ate Thursday.
A long, slow grind for me - wasn't sure I'd finish, though I did. South was pretty fast, though I had FAITH for PIETY, and LADEN for LADED - still not sure the latter means the same thing. Also noted that the recent turn to raciness continues with 46D. I'd tried ALTIMA a couple of days ago for OPTIMA, so I was glad to get to use it today.
This is the second puzzle where I've written PUMAS for 5-letter sneakers ending with AS. I should really learn that it's going to be AVIAS.
NE, though - I'm with @Mel Ott, you stand, not sit PAT. Think of "St. James Infirmary:"
'Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my eyelids,
'So the boys will know I dies sitting pat."
Uh-uh.
And a quibble: Isn't Mosel the German for the English Moselle? Perhaps the clue needed a language hint. (But that's just sour, if GRAPY, grapes, since I had RHINE for a long time.)
BeSENJIS, BiSINJIS, BASENJIS. GOOD GAME!
Hopyr! (It starts at 4 p.m. at Emilia's on the Plaza) -- jesser
Got the NW in a minute and thought I would cruise ... but like Andrea, came to a dead halt after that, and very slowly pieced together the rest, with Grapy, Blare, Tipjar, TopFlite.
Got MOSEL right away but then changed to RHINE, and back again once MANDY swam into my head. ...
Mistakes that set me back were NFLERS instead of WIRERS ... INCODE instead of SECURE ... SAMOYED instead of BASENJI only because it was the only long dog name I could think of, not because I know anything about breed barkiness. BASENJI only came after i got the B in GONE BAD.
Thought GOOD GAME was the best clue/answer.
Typical Nothnagel puzzle: Hard but fair.
I had 'will' for the longest time for 'means of inheritance', which was messing up my SW corner. But then 'Pixar' rescued me as it made it clear that 'fire exit' was the answer to 49 across.
I was ready to give up on the NE corner until I figured out 'wirers' for 'linemen'. The puzzle was pretty easy except for that corner.
Small world!
I was an undergrad at USC in the early 80's (B.F.A, theatre, class of '84) and an extra in "Pandemonium" to boot.
I'd forgotten about that.
Never was an extra again; hellish experience...
Also, 'oneg' with the clue 'pull from the ground, quickly?' WTF?? What does that even mean?
Okay, I read through the comments and now I see it refers to gravity.
I'm with Mel Ott and jberg regarding SITS PAT. After a little Googling, it seems that sit pat is common in Australia.
Also agree with Glimmerglass on WHAT GIVES.
Didn't like the cluing for WAN. "Ghostly" would make sense to me, and I understand that ghastly can be a synonym for ghostly - but I'm not sure it's a synonym for ghostly in the sense of "pale."
Like several others here, I thought the clues for ONE G, ALMANACS, and ICES OVER were clever.
I thought 21D was a little obscure. I got it because I used to play golf with Top Flite balls, but I don't think that's a sufficiently famous brand name to expect the typical non-golfing crossword solver to get it from this clue.
Loved this puzzle for its fresh clue/answer combos and its excellent, plausible array of "false friends," like BLAST for BLARE, SECRET for SECURE, ASS for ASP, and GOAT for TEAT. The appearance of GOATS as the correct answer to another clue (Womanizers, 31D) was an enjoyable bit of mischief, practically saying to the solver (at least this one) "Gotcha at 46D, didn't I?" If you're there, M.N., I'd love to know if I'm right, as I thoroughly enjoy such insights into the working mind of the constructor.
Can anyone explain Goat ?
Great puzzle. Medium for me too except for NE which took for ever. I made pretty much every misstep mentioned here including NFLERS. SITSPAT and PIVOTS do not leap to mind given the clues (but thats Sat.). It finally opened up when I saw AVERSE.
@Tobias -- Lecherous old GOAT?? Maybe?
Too bad the filmdom Benji was not a BASENJI (if only he'd starred in the silent era) then one could say BASENJI, AS in BENJI.
Why, Rex, thank you for solving my puzzle! Really appreciate the puzzle, and especially the clues, but I was not up for a Mike Nothnagel today.
Where do I begin? Sits pat didn't sit right with me.
For grapy I had corky.
Mandy! Ski trip many moons ago, the only music around for a week.
Gamma ray for Delta ray.
Soeur for frere.
My favorite and hardest to let go: sue for 42A!
@twangster: LOL at your bare feet, and @Tobias: don't know why, but your question about the goat with your picture next to me struck me as so funny!
@Bard, Thane and all of you quoters: as ever, thank you. You add a lot.
The day was not a total loss: had a lovely, unexpected visit with Andrea!
Captcha: promista!
It's true that Basenjis don't bark, but they DO make all kinds of other awful squeaky and grunty kinds of noises - so am unsure whether Sherlock was correct in his deduction.
Enjoyed the puzzle, and was amazed that I could finish it. Hardest for me was 24D - not be fast. D'oh.
This puzzle took me over an hour, even with Google. Man, Saturdays are rough. My one consolation was that I finished the NE only slightly behind the SE. Been working on an oral history project, so Studs was on my mind, I guess. The NW was my albatross. Sat there looking at "steak" with nothing else for a long time. Great puzzle and "tip jar" and "one g" are really wonderful clues. One fell right away the other only from crosses, but loved them both.
Maybe this was already dealt with above but wan is a ghastly answer for ghastly: synonyms for wan are pekid pale and sickly at worst. Ghastly is just way too strong to use- could not get my mind around ONE G and could not get myself to believe wan- otherwise would have finished
Apropos of TOBIAS D's comments GOATS are supposed to be randy; in Othello Shakespeare says " we'te they prime as Goats if I recall" when Iago is trying to convince Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him...
Greetings from the future (syndi-land).
Wow—I finished with no help, which is unusual! I fully expected Rex to rank it easy. I start and stop, and don’t time myself, but it didn’t seem very hard. I thought it was going to be, but BASENJI gave me a toehold.
Had weNt BAD for GONE BAD. Had PAIntwork (as in basecoat?) for GRUNTWORK, which gave me plonk for GRAPY! (you mean there’s something wrong with wine in boxes???)
@mac, I had suE for OWE, too (thinking they hadn’t yet settled out of court, which is what I guess you were thinking), then had ruE (because ruing is such an unsettling emotion).
Had a KINDA typo with PIXel before PIXAR.
@twangster-- I laughed out loud at bare feet for dogs that don't bark.
@garrett-- another LOL, though with a wince.
Do not know Amy Adams. Shows my snobby side to be vaguely pleased with myself for that.
Loved the clue for 50A.
captcha= bralatol A tonic for whiny children?
@Red Valerian - Nice to see a syndi-solver speaking up on a Saturday session (I like alliteration)! My daily doesn't publish on Saturday so no puzzle for me. (I tried to get them to publish the Sat puz along with Friday's but apparently their contract with NYT doesn't allow that.) Congratulations on finishing without help.
Interesting you consider us to be in the prime-timers' future - I always considered it their past, since we comment on things they said five weeks prior. All a matter of perspective, I guess.
I'm guessing your dog is not a BASENJI?
(Jeez - even the captchas are harder on Saturday!)
Thanks @Dirigonzo! I was way so pleased with myself.
I agree about the perspective issue. I feel as though I'm writing to people in the past. Most of them aren't going to read it. But here I am, knowing what I know (about blogs that were down, people who died, weather that happened, whatever) that they couldn't have known. It's sort of as though I'm from the future. Except if they come back to check, we're back in the present! or something.
Anyhow, the whole time lag is very weird. Makes me want to subscribe on-line, but I don't have time, plus I live on the West Coast.
Could you persuade your paper to include the Saturday puzzle with the Sunday? Mine includes the Sunday with the Saturday, which would seem to be jumping the gun somewhat. Anyhow, worth a try, no?
You guessed right--my dog is not a Basenji, as I see yours are not, too. (was that English?) Yours are beauts--yellow and black (or is it brown?) labs, right? Lovely long limbs and very shiny coats. My dog is a rescue dog (i.e., from a municipal shelter). Don't know what she is, but I'd wager a lot of Malinois (a.k.a. Belgian Shepherd). The pic in the atavar was taken in our van while camping last fall in the Rockies. It was a mite cold.
ok, gotta fly. this blog thing is great, but... urk! (how does Rex do it?)
captcha=reggsh... I (hic) reggsh against the machine...
@Red Valerian - Labs they are, black (m) and yellow (f) littermates - I also have a Cocker Spaniel (not pictured) from the shelter who thinks he's a Lab (I haven't told him he's adopted.)
See you back here tomorrow (I get the Sunday puzzle in another paper).
And you are right - whether we are in the future or the past, there are not enough hours in the day for us mere mortals to write a blog every day - RP is truly a special kind of person to post his write up 7 days a week.
THANKS
~RP
Started this on the train on my way to a Saturday afternoon beer tasting. Finished with a slight hangover.
NW was a piece of cake. Worked my way back up to NE without incident, then down to SW from LADED, but hit a wall after TEAT. Jumped over to SE and worked my way up from GLOSSY to HEAT, but hit a wall there as well (more of a ceiling, I suppose). Didn't know the dog breed or the actress, but reasoned DELTARAY. And that's where it got a little wierd.
Eve ADAMS sounded correct, as did the past tense ED at the end of 31A, so I penned that in.
Had inAne at 40A crossed with incurs (36D).
the r at the end of 49A gave me FIREdoor and the obvious answer to 45A became WHAT hIt us (which fits the clue way better than WHAT GIVES).
Now I'm staring at 36a reading I _ I _ _ _ VE, and all I can see is I'M IN LOVE. I suppose that works on a couple of levels as a Finish line but I didn't think either would be appropriate for a NYT puzzle.
It finally came together this morning when PIXAR clicked in. That gave me EXIT instead of door, and I worked my way up from there fairly easily. Pretty messy looking, but in the end I had a complete Saturday solve, and got to taste some amazing beers in between.
Now it's out to the driveway to fetch my Sunday puzzle.
Sorry, but ONEG is just not kosher. Ruined my day.
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