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Constructors: Tony Orbach and Janie Smulyan
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: "Good to Go" — familiar phrases containing "GOOD" have "GOOD" removed, creating wacky phrases, clued "?"-style
Word of the Day: Michael ANSARA (79D: "Broken Arrow" co-star Michael) —
Michael Ansara (born April 15, 1922) is a stage, screen, and voice actor best known for his portrayal of Cochise in the American television series Broken Arrow, Kane in the 1979-81 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Commander Kang on three different Star Trek TV series. (wikipedia)
• • •
One last ultra-abbreviated write-up before I head home and resume a reasonably regular blogging regimen. Had lunch with today's constructors on Friday—It's Janie Smulyan's first published puzzle ... and she has another appearing tomorrow (in the LAT). So congrats to her. As I told the constructors on Friday, I couldn't finish this puzzle. TWO wrong (actually, blank) squares. If I'd known Keir DULLEA (or remembered it from puzzles past, or had any idea how to spell it, etc.), I would have had zero blanks (78A: Keir of "2001: A Space Odyssey"). But I had two, because DULLEA and ULLA (70D: "The Producers" character who sings "When You Got It, Flaunt It") and ANSARA were all complete mysteries to me. I do not think that obscure proper nouns should be intersecting like that. Any one might be fine on its own (though ULLA is ultra-awful, I think), but all linked up like that? And all of them "famous" for very limited, very specific reasons? Rough. Never mind that the remarkably odd APTERAL runs through there too (I somehow remembered/inferred that) (44D: Lacking a surrounding colonnade, as a temple). The theme is cute, in a way, though the "wacky" phrases aren't terribly wacky. I think the constructors must have been in love with COSTANZA as an answer (127A: TV character who worked for Steinbrenner), because I don't know how else you convince yourself that a corner with LEHAR, FAEROE, and DETERGED (!) is a good idea. There's some good fill in here (GABFEST, LIT OUT, LEG RESTS), though overall the fill was probably somewhat wobblier than I'd like (MNEM-, E MIN, PORC, ENOW, etc.).Theme answers:
- 23A: Start-press order for a New York daily? (LET THE TIMES ROLL)
- 39A: Flippered animal that runs a maid service? (HOUSEKEEPING SEAL)
- 48A: Request for candy from a kid at camp? (SHIP LOLLIPOP)
- 68A: Congratulatory phrase at a "Peanuts" barmitzvah? ("YOU'RE A MAN, CHARLIE BROWN")
- 88A: Jaded comment from a constantly updated person? (NO NEWS IS NEWS)
- 98A: 1970s, to a schmaltzy wedding band? (THE ERA OF 'FEELINGS')
- 120A: Amnesiac's vague recollection of having a hobby? (I'M INTO SOMETHING)
Bullets:
9A: "The Dublin Trilogy" drmatist (O'CASEY) — my ignorance of Irish literature continues unabated. I've heard of this guy, at least.- 26A: Sleuth Lupin (ARSENE) — never can remember this. He's basically the French Sherlock Holmes.
- 22A: Add-on meaning "galore" (A-GOGO) — I had O-RAMA
- 59A: Dewlapped creature (IGUANA) — "dewlaps" make me think only of TURKEYs.
- 93A: 1981 German-language hit film (DAS BOOT) — I remember it well despite never having seen it. Must've had a good ad campaign.
- 8D: Asian title that's an anagram of an English one (SRI) — that anagram, in case you couldn't quite work it out, is RIS.
- 38D: Hanauma Bay locale (OAHU) — never heard of the bay, but still easy; it was this or MAUI.
- 40D: Antipollution mascot Woodsy (OWL) — "Give a hoot, read a book!"—Krusty the Clown
[Tony Orbach, me, and Janie Smulyan @ the Ridgeway Diner, NYC, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011]
Well, back to Friday hard. DNF, as unable to sort out some holes in the bottom five grid lines. Symptomatic of the brick wall were 98D TRIPOD (I eventually saw 128A TORSO, but cold comfort there) and 83D RENDITION. Good answers both, albeit wrong.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, enjoyed and got all the theme answers.
OK, just hit ShowMeHowStupidIReallyAm.puz. Geez. OK, I’ll take 107A ALLE over ALII—I imagine the “alla breve” I know from music is etymologically connected somehow.
HOWEVER…this is where I wish I knew html well enough to change to like 48 point flashing-neon font. 115A FAEROE?!! 130A DETERGED?!! SERIOUSLY?!!
Someone talk me down, please.
Well sir, ris for sri? OK, a bit of humor.
ReplyDeleteI agree wirh defaulting wirh orama, until loreal washed up.
Faeroe was the tough one for me. It didn't match any spelling I knew of.
Deterged??? Are you kidding me? Is that even a word, my spell check sure doesn't like it.
ReplyDeleteOther than that I really liked this one. Loved LET THE TIMES ROLL and YOU'RE A MAN CHARLIE BROWN. It was time consuming but fun.
A few write overs, earns before REAPS at 33D, nite before EVES at 62A and a little spelling difficulty with FABERGE.
GOOD puzzle Tony and Janie, thank you.
Blogger ate my POST! Yes REx SRI -very risible! more meat than many a sunday but maybe SAFEST to just ignore the SE monstrocity!had no problem with DULLEA/ULLA/ANSARA but apteral was not optimal. could M ANSARA be LORNE GREEN's long lost brother?DULLEA played the angel in BARBARELLA!and if you didn't see the GENE Wilder/Zero Mostel PRODUCERS you need to
ReplyDeleteOK, this was tough because of the aforementioned crosses.
ReplyDelete1. DULLEA I kinda knew because my bride met him on a transatlantic cruise in '66 after he made David and Lisa but before 2001. That said, I was still iffy on the spelling but guessed right. (ULLA was a WTF).
2. The ALLE/FAEROE/LEHAR is a MAJOR (caps for emphasis) NATICK. First, google likes FAROE much better than FAEROE. Second, I had to go WWII axis slogans for ALLEs, which is not really pleasant. And third, could LEHAR be any more obscure? I guessed right but it was pretty much an educated coin flip.
I did like the puzzle. Caught the theme early which helped with the solve.
Medium- Challenging for me.
Finished one that Rex didn't. Yay.! So what if it took me an hour and a half. SW was a killer. For a long time I couldn't remember the Scoobie-Doo girl (and my grandchildren watch endless episodes over and over). "Wilma" just didn't work, and I also had "tripod" and never heard of ENSLER, but I knew HETERO and MCS must be right, and eventually TRIVET gave me VELMA and broke the logjam. For some reason, after a few crosses, DULLEA and ANSARA were in my memory bank. Great first (published) puzzle, but DETERGE, PARAS, FAEROE (sp?) and AGOGO are ugly.
ReplyDeletethis was the easiest sunday in a long time. sure, there were a couple obscure (and awful) answers that i didn't get, but i guessed all the long answers right off the bat - except for the 70s band one, which was pretty stupid. so even though there were some hard single clues, the puzzle was ruined by simple and guessable theme clues. a good puzzle isn't 95 percent full after 5 minutes, no longer how long it takes to get the other 5 percent.
ReplyDelete@Rex - If it's any consolation, Sean OCASEY was the Irish playwright that you last didn't know, which was how I knew him today.
ReplyDeleteI haven't the patience to complete Sunday puzzles, and the ULLA/DULLEA/ANSARA triple Natick was the place I chose to quit today.
Enjoyed the theme answers, but was stymied by the fill. I'd call this an easy-challenging.
ReplyDeleteI wish DETERGED hadn't been the last word to leave me with. And I hope this word isn't regurgitated for any puzzle in the future!
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I thought it was fun but too easy. I printed this out last night and was done way too quickly with nothing to noodle over this morning.
Did you know that Michael Ansara was once married to the beautiful Barbara Eden of "I Dream of Jeannie" fame?
Thank you @Rex for posting the great pic of the constructers! And congratulations to both, especially Janie for her debut!
Easy for me - I knew Franz LEHAR, and remembered Michael ANSARA after a bit (I know someone by that name, which makes it stick in my memory).
ReplyDeleteI really didn't like the cluing for SHIP LOLLIPOP - clever, but the phrase is so unnatural in that context. "Onboard candy" would have been better.
All for now, gotta go DETERGE some clothes.
DETERGED? Really? A bit embarrassed that I got that one.
ReplyDeleteDid not get DUL-E-/-NSARA/APTERA-. Bleh. Only got SLOVENE because Ljubljana made an appearance here not to long ago. A totally abstruse little section.
Great to see the picture of Janie - I actually spent a few minutes at the end of the tourney yesterday having a wonderful chat with her (and if memory serves, reminding me that I was fortunate enough to have lunch with her at last years event).
ReplyDeleteI love a puzzle where I can suss out the theme answers with very few crosses, and thought these were quite entertaining. Enjoyed this one in a medium time. Fortunately, I knew all three of the "triple Natick" answers.
Only marred by the oft mentioned DETERGED. There had to be a way to fix that... Oh well, into each puzzle, a little poop must fall.
Thanks Tony, Janie, and Rex - a fine start to my day!
ps - apologies to all my friends for rushing off yesterday, but figured getting home in time for my anniversary today was worth the sacrifice.
Nice photo. Tony's smile reminds me of his father's - one of my favorite actors.
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle with a fun theme and some dreadful fill: DETERGED, ULLA. Coming to hate AGOGO and ELHI
Yesterday was puppy homing day and I was so tired while doing this at 10 PM that I fell asleep at the keyboard. No idea what my time would have been. Finished easily this morning.
I had RENDITION for 83D, which made 107A ALLI - NOT German, so WTF. Then FAEROE told me 83D was wrong and RENDITION came easily.
But mostly a solid, spot on Sunday. Thanks, Mr. Orbach and Ms. Smulyan. Was 63D her sort of shorthand signature?
Enjoyed the theme, especially YOU'RE A MAN CHARLIE BROWN and THE ERA OF FEELINGS *however* could have done without the proper-name-and-other-detritus mash-up in the SW.
ReplyDeleteI had "head" for 111A Match part, but failed to diagnose a problem as it crossed Japanese, WOTD obscure actor, another proper name and a random key .... good grief. As the bar mitzvah boy would say.
Also DUdLEy Keir. So a total of six errors. One mistake for every yesterday Ellsbury RBI.
What? APTERAL isn't the word of the day? The rest of you knew that?
ReplyDeleteMy #@$%@ timer didn't work again, so I don't know how long this took me. (Once more, in AcrossLite, it wasn't timing as usual, and I was deep into the puzzle before I knew it. GRRR.) However, I know I enjoyed solving the puzzle. My worst part (APTERAL eventually came with crosses) was the SE, where ALLE and FAEROE only became visible after a lucky guess at LEHAR. (After reading here, I see I wasn't alone.) Also, I agree DETERGED is just ugly.
I knew ANSARA and DULLEA immediately. I'm guessing being a "senior" served me well there.
@retired_chemist--thanks for the remark about Tony Orbach's smile. I was trying to figure out why he looked so familiar.
I agree with imsdave--the theme answers were "sussable" with a few crosses, and that's probably why I enjoyed today's puzzle so much.
Keir DULLEA was HAL's co-star in Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
ReplyDeleteAnd, as @syndy mentioned, ULLA is the female lead in Mel Brooks' 1968 classic, as well as the remakes of, The Producers.
I lucked out with guesses for the miserable DULLEA/ULLA/ANSARA but was still a DNF thanks to EVEn for EVES and aRT for MRT.
ReplyDeleteHad no trouble with the theme answers, but not so cool with the fill, especially the already mentioned DETERGED - I don't care that the online Merriam-Webster says it dates from 1623, it should go back into obscurity.
I'm a Brit by birth and upbringing, so I grew up in the FAEROEs' neighborhood, but I still had to give thought to whether it was spelled with an 'i'. LJUBLJANA, on the other hand, I've visited, and it has a very pretty town center and is the base for some worthwhile day trips - google "Lake Bled".
A terrific puzzle; congrats to Tony and, especially, to Janie on her debut.
ReplyDeleteIt is always gratifying when solvers are shown special respect by constructors. One way it is done is by the constructors giving extra attention to the cluing of what are often throw-away answers.
Just to name a few examples from this puzzle, "Pour thing?" for EWER; the innovative clues at 7 and 8 down giving us TET and SRI and 9 down's "Unsettling last words" for ORELSE.
Still not convinced? How about "Swiss mix" for MUESLI, "Often-trimmed tree" for BONSAI or "Edwardian expletive" for EGAD.
The theme answers were fun, too, especially NONEWSISNEWS which sounds like something a puckish Yoda might tell the paparazzi when spotted leaving Lady Gaga's love nest in the wee hours of the morn.
felt the same way as most solvers - too many intersecting proper nouns, but fun theme. not crazy about hetero/straight.
ReplyDeleteAfter yesterday's brain drain at Lollapuzzoola, DNF for this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like there were more abbreviations than usual - no?
Had a bruising derm. visit (literally!) on Friday, followed by a lovely family reunion & a fun time at Lollapuzzoola on Sunday.
Especially enjoyed finally meeting my favorite constructor Andrea C.M., sitting with the always gracious Rex & his wife, and seeing mac, imsdave, Bob Kerfuffle, Tony Orbach, Lawrence, Patrick Blindauer, Liz Gorski, Dan Feyer, Brian Cimmet, and many others whose names I've forgotten already.
Thanks to all the Lollapuzzoola organizers, constructors, and volunteers for the good time & especially all the munchies!
Lucky for me I had just looked up Keir DULLEA after the JUNO launch to Jupiter this week. By the time it get there (2016) Keir will be 80 and HAL will need about 2001 upgrades to find the monolith.
ReplyDeleteKeir and I were good friends back in the day and I still hesitated on the spelling.
ReplyDeleteRude Noel Coward quote:
Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow.
What's wrong with DETERGED? DETERGE is a verb in good standing. Basically, it means "to cleanse the body of filth." Get with it, people. Crosswords are about language. Just because it's new to you doesn't mean it's bad.
ReplyDeleteOne for two on the proper name Naticks. Got ENSLER/VELMA. Failed on the awful DULLEA/ULLA. Didn't consider FAEROE/LEHAR a Natick because LEHAR might be the crosswordiest of al composers.
ReplyDeleteFAEROE & FARO in the same puzzle??
Too many proper names.
Who knew CHARLIE BROWN was Jewish? :)
Late signing in today; took some extra sleep after a great day at LP 4 yesterday. All the good things JenCT, Rex and others have said or will say!
ReplyDeleteMy grid today looks a little messy because I began by entering ERA OF FEELINGS at 98 A, had spaces left over, had to start over with THE.
Hand up for RENDITION before RENDERING.
Otherwise, a very nice puzzle, done the way I like them: Without a timer running!
Pictorial proof that Rex can't be bought with a sandwich! I did try to point him toward the ULLA Veggie Burger, thinking that might help the cause - alas.
ReplyDeleteAs always, happy to hear the ---- and the bad comments. Also, hats off to Janie for a great idea and a neat debut, the thrill of which will not soon be deterged from her co-constructor!
1st, had a wonderful time in NYC yesterday - terrific event, loved meeting Rex, Andrea, Dave, Jill and others, as well as a few of the frequent constructors. I'm so happy I made the last-second decision to participate! And as well as I normally complete these puzzles, I was quite humbled by many of the bigwigs, esp. the Final 3s.
ReplyDeleteHad very little trouble today - the source of trouble for so many, Keir DULLEA, was easy as he lives/lived in my former town of Westport, CT, and I've seen the dang movie 5-6 times. Never heard of ULLA or APTERAL but knowing DULLEA made that a confident section.
Had one brief write over (RENDERING for RENDITION) and one double writeover (CUSACK for nothing for CUSACK). I brainlocked and read 27A as prefix for form vs suffix, and wanted UNI)
Decent theme, really love YOU'RE A MAN CHARLIE BROWN, other ones are clever but unspectacular.
Always disappointing when I've missed yet another tourney. But congrats to those who were there and enjoyed each others' company...perhaps one of the best parts of attending. At least I went zip lining in our great northern temperate rain forest instead!
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle today with DULLEA and ANSARA as gimmes. Liked the theme, not much on the fill. And I've never...not even once....seen Charlie Brown with a yarmulke!
Thanks, Rex, for the photo of you, Tony and Janie. Happy times!
I had the same problems as most but my downfall came with the M in MrT. I should have seen that one. @Foodie made a comment about how we all help one another and that came home for me this week. I tried to access Acrosslite on a new Apple with Lion and couldn't get anywhere until I remembered a post from @Glitch about an update. I don't think the Times has posted this yet. Once again, friends of Rex to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteWell after trying for 3 hours i gave up with about 10 empties. Time to go deterge up.
ReplyDeleteTo me, all the theme answers were amusing, and THE ERA OF 'FEELINGS' (when I finally parsed it) was hilarious. Haven't thought of that song in decades, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteSo I didn't mind some wrestling with Michael Arigato and Ulla Dullea. Nice comment from @jackj on the better-than-average clues for familiar terms.
I have actually seen the movie version of "Scooby-Doo." It's pretty good. Linda Cardellini ("Freaks and Geeks") plays Velma.
Good puzzle! Congratulations, Janie and Tony!
ReplyDeleteThis took me a little longer than most Sundays, but in the end the only mistake I had was the M in Mr. T.
Keir Dullea was a gimme, he's a local and I met him a couple of years ago when a small cinema showed 2001 etc., after which he spoke about the background of the film production. I would not have gotten Ansara otherwise. I needed a lot of crosses to get apteral, and only just realised that the wedding band didn't go on a finger....
What a job it must be to create one of these Sunday monsters!
Presumably the kernel was the one grid-spanning entry 68A:YOU'RE_A_[GOOD]_MAN_etc., but alas none of the others felt at the same level. [GOOD] SHIP LOLLIPOP!? Apparently it's a real thing, or was a few ice ages ago, but I had no idea what it was going for.
ReplyDeleteBesides the mess of proper-name obscurities noted already, there was also a heaping serving of foreign-language entries, covering French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Latin, and arguably Greek (80A:Ω). I happened to recognize them, even 116D:ONZE, but it's still rather a lot for an English-language puzzle.
26A:ARSENE looks like a compound of arsenic, but it seems I was thinking of "arsine" = AsH₃. Our friends across the Atlantic can still titter about the initial "arse". Meanwhile the constructors and/or Will got away with crossing 99D:HETERO (as clued) with 125A:ERECT ;-) plus there's 47A:AROUSES, distant enough for plausible deniability.
130A:DETERGE has been seen before; not sure what the problem is there, since it's inferable from the hyper-familiar "detergent". Maybe "deterge" grates because it seems like a risible back-formation, but it seems that the word is legitimate, just much less common.
[While I'm at it: why is 89D:E-VITES any better than "e-tail"? I have no problem with either but "e-tail" usually incites e-kvetching.]
68A:NO_NEWS_IS_NEWS could be read as either "nothing that shows up on the news is actually new" or "when once in a blue moon my newsfeed is silent, that is news"...
—NDE
P.S. Looking back I see MANET:A79 as well as 105A:RENOIR :-)
DEET urge: The sudden desire to apply insect repellent.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSomething not nice about "straight=hetero"? What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteEasy puzzle really. I knew, strangely, all the names;deterged held me up, but got it in the end, after thinking how ridiculous it would be if that was correct.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet several of you (including Rex) at Lollapuzzoola yesterday. What a great selection of puzzles we all got to feast on! I had planned to stick around after and say hello to a few more of you that I spotted, but I had some urgent personal business come up and had to go. Hope to be at the ACPT next year.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have a problem with ULLA -- that character refers to herself in the third person repeatedly, so if you've ever seen the show, her name will stick in your brain ("Ulla knows you had to shtup every old lady in New York!" is a memorable line) -- but I have never heard of DULLEA or ANSARA. That's one of the most Naticky Naticks that ever Naticked. I got it on a raw guess -- I had DULLE_ and _NSARA, so that blank had to be a vowel, with A seeming the most plausible. So lucky me. But still, ouch.
Other than that ugly little area, I liked today's puzzle a lot. Compared to most word-deletion themes, the entries here had a lot of zing and the phrases weren't all that "wacky," honestly. I especially loved THE ERA OF FEELINGS. Great debut, Janie!
Re: COSTANZA, I suspect at least one of the constructors is a reasonable fan of Seinfeld. There were two other Seinfeldian entries, like YADA [YADA YADA]. Can't recall the third offhand.
ReplyDeleteYOU'RE A MAN, CHARLIE BROWN: Fantastic. Just relived reading all those Peanuts compilations as a kid.
I was lucky enough to meet David as we were walking out of the same parking garage yesterday morning. Crossing the street, we were chatting, and then DougP and PG heard my (probably grating) voice and turned around to say hi. Got to the door and got a big hug from ACME. Then I got to sit with Mac, BobK, Jandan, Peter (who doesn't comment, but we do all the local tourneys together), Karen from the Cape, and a new wonderful friend. Seeing Robert, Jen (from CT), Dan Feyer, and all the wonderful and warm constructors just blew me away.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Rex and Sandy is always a delight (especially the Sandy part), and i will never forget Rex's expression when he saw me getting up early on puzzle 4.
Bottom line folks, IT IS NOT ABOUT SOLVING PUZZLES. These tournaments are about enriching your life meeting incredible people.
Ah, even #31 couldn't decipher the tangle at DULLEA/ULLA/ANSARA. I did get SLOVENE, thanks to @Rex for a mention in discussing SLOVEN a few puzzles back. I finally gave up and searched for Keir D, as I knew that none of these people were rattling around in my sub-conscious to surface later.
ReplyDeleteI did manage to dredge up LEHAR, know him only from crosswords, and that broke the rest of the tangle in the SE.
Fun theme! Congratulations to Ms. Smulyan, and I look forward to her LAT grid. Thanks for the picture, @Rex.
I have a house guest, so won't continue with the list of what I learned and hope to remember, besides noting the chuckle I get at ARSENE Lupin.
Captcha is almost a clue for OLIO: mismsh
Am I the only one who noticed the irony in the Ensler/Erect intersection?!?!
ReplyDeletedear rexites -- sooooo great reading the range of comments about tony's and my puzzle -- and lappin' up the love and congrats, too! also a treat to sit down to lunch w/ rex and sandy on friday, and then on saturday, to get to see so many of you at lolla-p. what with today's debut, can you say "perfect weekend"?
ReplyDeleteposted this at amy's blog, but i feel like it bears repeating: tony's and my goal was to provide some real smiles along with the solve -- and i get the sense that for many of you, we accomplished our mission! ;-) while there was lotso back-and-forthing in creating the puzzle, when i tell you tony took the idea i presented him and ran with it -- well, trust me, it wouldn'a happened without him. so you'll have to forgive my "mutual admiration society"-like tone , but once again: thank you, tony o.!!
;-)
p.s. sandy -- glad i put some lipstick on, and you *are* good w/ a camera. love that pic!
Fun puzzle. Made me smile through most of my flight to DC this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteNice work, T.O. and Janie!
PS: Is that Keir DULLEA in the picture behind Janie?
I'm feeling very good, as a relative newcomer. as finished without error, succeeding without any googling. My guesses at the naticks were right on. Time can't compare to others but that's fine with me. It was a fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that lulla.... is over as whenever I saw it mentioned I was compelled to try and pronounce it to myself.
Neat coincidence: the front page article in today's NYT travel section is on Slovenia. Leaves out Lake Bled and the Julian Alps, but is otherwise a good piece: http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/travel/in-slovenia-visiting-ljubjana-piran-and-maribor.html?ref=travel
ReplyDeleteThought this was a cute puzzle and finished it all, despite FAEROE, APTERAL, and DETERGED. Harder, I thought, than the average Sunday, but doable. Most interesting to me was the name of the constructor, Jane Smulyan, whom I know from the BMI Musical Theater Workshop. Didn't know she constructed puzzles, but I found her phone number from my old BMI list and, since I can't find an email address for her, will call her her right now and congratulate her on a nice job. (Assuming that's still her phone number).
ReplyDeleteDid this yesterday and got theme early with LET THE TIMES ROLL. Only now noticed I did't finish with 98A/89, 90, 91D incomplete. Found the wacky answers amusing. Thanks Tony and congrats Janie.
ReplyDeleteFelling sooo sorry for myself that I missed you all at Lolla. Wait'll next year.
@Rex: ULLA pretty funny, actually, as her name kind of echos her persona in THE PRODUCERS as a sexpot. Also who remembers when that hysterical Anne Bancroft skit appeared where she introduced all the two syllable names at the cocktail party?
@syndy: John Phillip Law played the angel in BARBARELLA. "Decrucify that Malmoth," is the line I remember.
Well, off to another week. Have fun.
I can't help thinking that if Michael hadn't been busy making friends with Tony and Jane, Rex would have torn this puzzle apart.
ReplyDeleteHooray to Janie on a mahvelous debut! Huzzah to Tony for another job well done! Congrats to you both.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's the great Charles Gersch behind Janie.
@Noam: what was that you played on the piano at the end of the tourney? I really liked it.
@pauer: Thanks! It's the song clued at 40A in Andrew Carla Michaels' round-1 puzzle, "40A:With 42-Across, Frank Sinatra signature song". 40A and 42A constitute the central pair of theme entries; each is 7 letters long, and 42A is clued "With 40-Across, location of Lollapuzzoola 4". The other theme pairs work similarly, and the solver is advised "Before you turn in your completed puzzle, be certain to double-check your work" :-) :-)
ReplyDeleteNDE
P.S. captcha = reste, one of the bits of French crosswordese that didn't appear here, nor indeed in any NYTimes puzzle since 2003 per xwordinfo.
P.P.S. From the same puzzle, many solvers' favorite clue of the entire tournament (23A, three letters): "Lawyers' org. with 410,000 members that is headquartered in — why are you still reading this clue?"
Hi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this is obvious to many (all?), but could someone please explain 102 Down? "LIT OUT" answer I only got by crosses, but don't understand at all. Thanks very much! I appreciate the help.
Huckleberry Finn, in the last sentence of the novel, says "But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory..."
ReplyDelete@Noam
ReplyDeleteThat ABA joke you love was Patrick's addition to my dry clue "Lawyer's org" so I can't take any credit!!!!
My highlight of Lollapuzzoola 4 besides giving IMSDave a hug, and meeting JenCT and riding up with Vega-my-new-best-friend laughing our heads off with Puzzle Girl and Mala, was meeting Noam!!!
AND he was me in a game we were playing, so odd!!!!!!!!
LOVED LOVED LOVED this puzzle and no sandwich bribes were involved! COngrats Janie and huzzahs to Tony!
THE ERA OF FEELINGS!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
I loved all the theme answers and thought the puzzle was fabulous from beginning till end...well, almost the end, that DETERGED was like good to the last drop. Actually TOTHELASTDROP.
Anyway, Great clues, () job!!!
Since so many of you have mentioned personally knowing Keir DULLEA, I feel I get to mention that Annette Benning was sitting alone at the breakfast table next to us this morning at E.A.T. on the upper East Side. One of the few actresses I have ever seen that looks younger, taller, and prettier in real life!
DETERGED?!? I left that block unfilled until the very end because I could not believe that word existed.
ReplyDeleteFinished this pretty quick (under 1 hr), for me.
ReplyDeleteAudibly groaned for DETERGE and HETERO.
2001 ASO is a fav movie of mine, so DULLEA made things easier.
Crossed my fingers on the E in Lehar, though.
'Dullea' and 'Lehar' were slam-dunks for me. "David and Lisa", "The Merry Widow"? Both beautiful, Dullea's face and Lehar's music.
ReplyDeleteI echo everyone's frustration with 'deterged', though!
Theme answers flowed in easily and were a big help.
Enjoyed the puzzle very much! No googling necessary makes it a good one in my book!
@slypett: lie to me and tell me you have ever said the word DETERGED in your life before you saw this puzzle. Same goes for DESCRY. Yes, these are words, our dictionaries tell us so, but we have much more familiar words that mean the same thing. Don't our poor brains have enough to juggle?
ReplyDeleteOK, same old rant is over. To the rest: I finished it! And with no help, thank you. I watch 2001 every chance I get, so DULLEA was a gimme. SE was the most trouble; had RENDITION--which even fit with the cross at IMINTOSOMETHING. But there's no islands that start FAET-so I had to regroup and come up with the more awkward RENDERING. Not that a participle can never be used as a noun, it's just more natural to use rendition in that spot. And you already know what I think of DETERGED.
I have never heard the expression AGOGO used to mean "galore." Pussy Agogo? Nah. But aside from that and a few ugly fills (EMIN, ULA and poor, overworked MRT--can't we give him a month off?), I enjoyed this puzzle. Got a shoehorn in at the North, and quickly saw ROLL at the end of the first long entry. "Let the good times roll," I thought--and there it was! Just "good to go!" Down in the SW I too first thought of TRIPOD, but when TORSO occurred to me I saw right away it must be TRIVET. ENSLER I had to get from crosses, no clue who that is. Also liked the double ___egg clues. A very "good" debut!
Well, I guessed DUndEe for Keir's last name, so DNF. But enjoyed it well enough, despite the Naticks. Didn't think "the era of good feelings" qualified as a phrase until I googled it later! (And apparently, just who "won" the War of 1812 is a matter of some dispute. Ah, things seemed so simple in grade four...)
ReplyDeletecaptcha: endeol... and beol
I drove right into the pileup that derailed Rex and so many others last week, but by the time I arrived in syndicated time they had all picked themselves up and left the area.
ReplyDeleteToo bad IMONTOSOMETHING(good) didn't elicit a Herman's Hermit music video - you don't hear much about them these days (I guess some would say, with good reason). Yes, I know the song was "I'm into Something Good", but it's still close enough, I think.
Weak theme, from my perspective, but a nice challenge.
ReplyDeleteHand up for proper noun natick and for the Denmark/wherever-the-heck-Heloise-lives natick.
And I haven't flown in quite a while but I have never seen LEG RESTS on an airplane. Foot rests yes, but not leg rests. Must be a first class thing.
@THEMUTMAN 4:05 PM
Am I the only one who noticed the irony in the Ensler/Erect intersection?!?!
Not only that but when you follow ERECT straight across, you go right between I'M INTO SOMETHING and INSERT.
Weak theme, from my perspective, but a nice challenge.
ReplyDeleteHand up for proper noun natick and for the Denmark/wherever-the-heck-Heloise-lives natick.
And I haven't flown in quite a while but I have never seen LEG RESTS on an airplane. Foot rests yes, but not leg rests. Must be a first class thing.
@THEMUTMAN 4:05 PM
Am I the only one who noticed the irony in the Ensler/Erect intersection?!?!
Not only that but when you follow ERECT straight across, you go right between I'M INTO SOMETHING and INSERT.
Finished with one error - FAEREE. DULLEA and ANSARA were both gimmes (due to my advanced age, no doubt). Had some trouble in the NE as I confidently wrote in ARBOR instead of BOWER, but still managed to finish the puzzle in my usual Sunday time of 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I've seen DETERGE(D) in at least one other NYT puzzle before, so I'm kind of surprised at the outcry over it.
Now I'm off to listen to some Jethro Tull to try to wipe that dreaded 70's tune "Feelings" out of my brain. Ack.
captcha=deafthar: Sylvester, describing Marlee Matlin
Went for a long, tiring bike ride yesterday, so I'm late even by syndicated standards.
ReplyDelete"Airline amenities" ... airlines give amenities? In this universe?
I thought Hercule Poirot was the the French Sherlock Holmes. No, wait, he's Belgian. Never mind.
I enjoyed this, got the themes fairly easily. A relief after last Sunday's bruise-fest (for me, at least).
FAEROE/LEHAR was a natick of naticks, but I guessed correctly. Opera singers/composers mean nothing to me unless their first name is Otis or Lightnin'.
I lost interest in the franchise after Rocky I, so had to run the alpha(and omega)bet to get the MRT/MNEM cross. Couldn't imagine that ART Garfunkel played opposite Sly in that one.
Can never remember the difference between TRIVET and privet.
captcha "acking": Bill the Cat breaks into a computer network
Syndication here, and obviously the least smart person in the room...but I don't get "ship lollipop". "Good ship lollipop", yes. But I do not understand a kid at camp asking for candy by saying "ship lollipop"? Help, anyone????
ReplyDeleteHoney, would you like me to ship that lollipop by USPS, FedEx, or special courier?
ReplyDeleteWould someone please explain "DNF" and "Natick"?
ReplyDelete@Hil - DNF = Did Not Finish
ReplyDeleteFor Natick, see Rex's FAQs.
Ok its August 21, and this is just appearing in NM. That annoys me. But anyway. I really enjoyed doing this puzzle. The thing I liked the most was that while doing it, I could TELL that it was done by a WOMAN. If I'm not mistaken, these puzzles are mostly done by MEN, which sex thinks differently than half the population of the world. I say, have a man and A WOMAN construct the puzzle for Sunday. Come on peeps, its the 21st Century now! Let's get women in there. It's like McSorely's in the 70's. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me that most puzzles are full of sports stuff and stuff men think about. But THIS ONE had feminine thoughts. Eggs, fashion, seduction, washing things (deterged, ha!), DNA, these are things women can relate to. And I learned a lot about yin/yang trying to figure out FEM. FEM! Yes! And things women notice like beer going to the torso. Yes! Bring it! The only thing that bugged me was ELHI which, c'mon, that's not a word.
The rest was great and I enjoyed being allowed to exercise my feminine brain cells!!! Thanks Janie!
A final word, my husband says the puzzle comes by stage coach. So, there ya go.
ReplyDelete@Emma - If its any consolation, next Sundays' puzzle (for you, this Sunday for most syndicated solvers like me and last Sunday for the prime-time crowd) was constructed by s woman, Paula Gamache - I think you'll like it.
ReplyDelete...DETERGED I got,egad, but really? REALLY?
ReplyDelete...ARSENE? EWER?
...I didn't finish