Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (you know ... *slightly* tougher than your avg. Mon.)
THEME: COME TO PAPA (
59A: Casino cry ... or a hint for 16-, 23-, 37- and 45-Across) — two-word phrases where both words begin with "PA-"
Theme answers:
- 16A: Comedian with a mock 1968 presidential campaign (PAT PAULSEN)
- 23A: Money that doesn't completely satisfy a debt (PART PAYMENT)
- 37A: Tricky task in a driver's test (PARALLEL PARKING)
- 45A: Event that might have a pillow fight (PAJAMA PARTY)
Word of the Day: PAT PAULSEN—
Patrick Layton "Pat" Paulsen (July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997) was an American comedianand satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers TV shows, and for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and1996, which had primarily comedic rather than political objectives, although his campaigns generated some protest votes for him. (wikipedia)
• • •
Well, I've never heard of
PAT PAULSEN, so there's that. Looks like he had mock presidential campaigns in six different election years (?!), as late as 1996 (!?!?!), and somehow I still managed to miss him completely. His name alone accounts for most of the puzzle's difficulty for me. I mean, it's an easy puzzle, still (3:08 for me), but not having heard of a theme answer on a Monday!? That doesn't happen to me very often—and when it does, it's almost always a proper noun well known to older people but not to me (though once there was a scientific term, I think). I also didn't know that
PAOLO guy (
48D: Renaissance painter Veronese), and took a while to come up with
EARTHY and
CLAIMS and
PUPIL (I was reversing the roles on that last one, frowny face). The revealer on this one is great, the theme answers a bit dull (where are your PATTI PAGEs, your PAST PARTICIPLES, your ... uh ... PACIFIC PALISADES if it were one letter shorter!?). The fill is mostly just fine. I approve the theme and the answer "
LIKE I CARE," which is fantastically snappy and colloquial.
Gonna go have another of these
blackberry bourbon fizzes and possibly dinner. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. please enjoy this headline
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I would have revised the west side of the puzzle to get the AMOR/IRA/MAO crossings, and replace it with something that's more Monday-ish. Something like HAS/SPOT/ANT. Gives a partial, but then partials aren't that bad really, are they?
ReplyDeleteOverall, the "don't let two obscurities cross" rule is basically followed to the letter.
RLESS/ADLER isn't exactly Monday fill (RLESS? WTH does that even mean?). But it's a tough grid section, so I can let it slide.
Above average for a Monday for me, but for me above average really isn't that good. /:
IMUS CREATE a NICE NIPPY OPERA with AMORE. YES, SETH, LIKE I CARE....I ADMIT the TWERP MAO CLAIMS a YEN for LADIES (SNORT) and CLARA does ACT AS ONE EARTHY PUPIL with EASY POISE but are you APT you ARTY PUPIL?
ReplyDeleteOf course I loved it.
Watching the Tony awards. I so miss New York.....
Now this was anything but dull. Easy and zippy with LOTS to like. PAT PAULSEN (which was a gimme) and COME TO PAPA are great bookends and stuff like LIKE I CARE and CYBER just ice the cake. A cut above the typical Mon. for me.
ReplyDeleteI found it mostly NICE and EASY, even though I wasn't familiar with the reveal and ran into some trouble in the NE with Atlas where TITAN belonged. Lots to like: PAJAMA PARTY, where someone might say, "LIKE I CARE," SNEER + SNORT and RED ROUGE. Felt that CUTS SHORT, LOP, TRIM, and NIP(PY) were all APT for PART(ial) PAYMENT
ReplyDeletePaulsen, I believe, was the originator of the great piece of word play: "we're upping our standards, so up yours!" as a campaign slogan.
ReplyDeleteWow, Rex ... you're not all that much younger than me and you've never heard of PAT PAULSEN? Amazing. You need to Netflix yourself some Smothers Brothers episodes. I needed zero crosses for that one (including the unusual last vowel).
ReplyDelete@Sarah
ReplyDeleteRegarding RLESS see http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/faqoysterseason.htm
It was fun trying to guess what the revealer was as I filled in the downs. COMETOPAPA is not an expression that I have heard very often.
@r.alph, maybe you don't hear "COMETOPAPA" in real casinos, but in movies like Guys & Dolls. Nice puzzle for us old farts for whom PATPTAULSEN was a gimme.
ReplyDeleteI mean PATPAULSEN. And I should confess I spelled his name wrong first thing, ending in "on".
ReplyDeleteI'm still floored that English is not Zhouqin's first language, yet she continues to produce lovely puzzles and clearly sees patterns in English in a different way.
ReplyDeletePATPAULSEN would be known if you have seen the "Smothers Brothers" so you'd need to be at least 50 I'd imagine. I still managed to spell it -SON, but TWoRP didn't cut it!
I reluctantly agree with @Sarah that the RLESS/ADLER cross has no business in a Monday puzzle, )along with PAOLO, LOEWE and the phrase "Sang Froid"!)
But the thing that sort of bugged me is I want to say PARTial PAYMENT. Not PART PAYMENT. I guess editors are REALLY against PARTIALS!
Zhouqin Burnikel writes the LA Times Crossword Corner and is smarter than smart. She impresses me with her new found knowledge and mastering the English language in such a short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteLoved this Monday offering. Pat Paulsen was a very funny guy, did not know that he was no longer around, I guess I don't pay too much attention to people passing, too depressing.
I have never said "COME TO PAPA" I have said "COME TO MAMA", it works!
Zhouqin, under her nom de blog CC, also authors the LA Times today...
ReplyDelete@Garath - What am I, the stealth commenter?
ReplyDelete@chefwen: You didn't mention that she wrote today's LA Times, which is what my comment was about...
ReplyDeleteWell ya LOIN something everyday. Like so many others, I never knew people yelled COME TO PAPA in casino.
ReplyDeletePAT PAULSEN – boy I had forgotten about him! It’s funny that the minute I got him, I thought Laugh-In, but I guess it was The Smothers Brothers instead. @Acme - I spelled his name with an o here when I was typing.
Doesn’t it seem like every time you’re PARALLEL PARKING, you have an audience?
@Gill I.P. – funny!
@Carola –I saw it as a mini barber shop theme – "Just a TRIM in the back, but the bangs, I'd like CUT SHORT. Just don't LOP off my EAR."
Are we going to SNORT and SNEER at the TWERP? Is a TWERP like a dweeb? I think I’d rather be a dweeb than a TWERP.
I liked this one just fine. Thanks, Zhouqin. Remarkable that this isn’t your native language. I’ve been working for several weeks on a Chinese 21x21, but it’s just going so slow. . .and if anyone believes that, you can send me PART PAYMENT on some nice waterfront property in Iowa.
Somehow I’m reminded of when my husband was a skycap at the Raleigh Durham airport. That was back when there were no computers, and skycaps could check extra luggage for free, PARK cars. . . all for a bigger tip. A man pulled up in an obvious hurry, flashed a fifty at N. Hinkle, another skycap, and asked him to check six huge bags and park his car. When N. had checked the bags, the man put the fifty back into his own pocket and went to get his flight. N. tore the correct routing tags off the bags, got the book out, studied for a while, stapled together several tags and sent those six bags to Pago Pago. SNORT.
@Lauren. That skycap story is scary! And I guess that is why I still do not like to use the curbside check-in!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed finding an extremely long lived excellent comedic sketch that Rex didnt know!! And I too struggled to make partial payment work!
I still am reluctant to eat shell fish during r-less months. I wonder if the Chinese have a similar adage for mussels or other dietary components?
A little tough for a Monday, but fun. I thought the theme was just a basic double-P one, so when COME TO PAPA emerged it really improved the puzzle, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteNext we should have "Baby needs a new pair of shoes" as a theme!
Vaguely remember PAT PAULSEN and his hangdog look, but forgot his schtick.
LIKE I CARE was great. AOLER just amuses me now.
Page Pago works with the theme, interesting.
ReplyDeleteWay to go C.C.
@sanfranman59-My thought exactly.
ReplyDeleteI left that E blank rather than put in the "o" because I had a feeling. Then we got another non-Anglo spelling with PAOLO. Pao Gasol would have been the trifecta.
May, June, July, and August are R-LESS? All Righty Then.
Nine minutes, so challenging. PAOLO/RLESS/ADLER/ELISE did me in. I finally realized that P-O had to be PAOLO, then remembered ELISE from watching Bugs Bunny. AD-ER had to need an L despite RLESS making no sense to me.
PARTPAYMENT gets over 1,000,000 hits on Google. Not a ton, but *way* more than I would have expected. So I guess it's basically legit.
ReplyDeleteFine Monday puzzle. Like @acme, PARTial PAYMENT was really the only thing that bugged me. Never heard anyone say it. I resisted putting it in for a little bit until it was the only possibility left.
ReplyDeleteI was so sure PAYPAL would find its way in there somehow.
ReplyDeleteI got a chuckle out of RLESS.
Also find fLOPpy-EARed Dachshunds endEARing.
ARTY/TWERP was fun.
Ay, sonny, I remember PATPAULSEN, and that answer went in with only the first P.
Of course, that was long before I learned to PARALLELPARK.
I also remember that gal ELISE - she was a real pip.
@lms - great skycap story.
@r.alph - thanks for the RLESS info - am I happy to know that farm-raised oysters are gneetically sterilized? Well, I'm not wild about htem at all, but it does just pile on to the pile of reasons why farm-raised seafood is a bad idea.
Sad thing is, agri-biz farm-raised livestock of any ilk is really just as bad.
One nit to pick - with Ma Bell - (see, that's how old I am) - why DO we need to dial that stinking ONE???
Ms. Burnikel - a fun Monday. And being one who tries to speak other languages, I am wildly envious of your mastery of this one.
Easy, even for a Monday, if you are old enough to remember the Smothers Brothers program. If not, then I guess not. Despite being so easy, I found this zippy and fun.
ReplyDeleteRex, Nice headline. 31D was my biggest chuckle as I thought: "At last fill I am confident of!"
ReplyDeleteI am more of a "Baby needs new shoes" casino shouter but then I could never figure out craps.
🌟🌟2 Stars) I would have added a half but no PARTIAL stars available.
A few non-Monday bits but mostly right on for today. Loved the reveal and LIKEICARE.
ReplyDelete@Gareth, thanks for the heads up but unfortunately Cruciverb won't give me the LA Times at this moment. I'll check back.
I didn't know that Zhouquin is CC Burnikel. She wrote me a lovely email when my puzzle was published in the LA Times! She's a class act all the way around.
36D is incorrect. Augusta National is not a "PGA Org" because officially The Masters is not a PGA Tour event. It is an invitational tournament run by Augusta National. In fact, none of the four major golf tournaments are administered by the PGA Tour.
ReplyDeleteUmm, the PGA Championship is.
DeleteDitto what acme said, to the smallest detail. Also ditto what sanfranman59 said...I don't think I'm *that* much older than our fearless leader, but I have no problem recalling Mr. Paulsen. Then again, my parents never missed The Smothers Brothers, so that may account for it.
ReplyDelete@Ellen, @Loren, I think the place people shout "Come to Papa!" is alleys, not casinos - the latter are way too refined.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, what everyone said. As for the oysters, I guess the reason they are sterilized is to prevent the spread of all the other bad things about aquaculture - the unplanned spread of new species into the wild,, where they may prove destructive. It never works, though.
@Rex, that Blackberry bourbon fizz sounds great. Can you do something similar with an iPhone?
Zhouqin Burnikel - if your middle initial is J i ain't playing scrabble with you :) just jesting, you are amazing, txs!!
ReplyDeleteThe combination of PAT PAULSEN, PAJAMA PARTY, and COME TO PAPA is great...
ReplyDeleteExactly duped my pace car tushnet's time today...half a minute or so behind the Paulsen-savvy sanfranman59...
As Father’s Day nears, we get our first intro to the yang side of things, courtesy of C. C. Burnikel’s COMETOPAPA puzzle while, concurrently, the New York Times Store bombards us with ads touting goodies which the father’s of the world just have to have.
ReplyDeleteOf the five PA PA theme entries, (including the reveal), the best for me was PAT PAULSEN, the deadpan, double-speak comic featured on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS-TV in the mid-60’s who famously ran for President of the U.S. as both a Democrat and a Republican beginning in 1968 and continuing through his final campaign in 1996 when he lost to Bill Clinton a second time. (Only his untimely death in 1997 kept him from a spirited run against Dubya).
In addition to the theme entries, Ms. Burnikel gave us some interesting fill to contend with and the teenager’s shrug of LIKEICARE (when, of course, nothing is more important to them) was a clever treat and RLESS, the traditional “months when you shouldn’t eat oysters clue” was fun but maybe could have been clued as “Feature of New England Speak”.
There were other clever entries spread around the puzzle, CYBER (café), CUTSHORT, EARTHY and TWERP, most notably, but there were also two bits of fill that seem more suited for a weekend themeless puzzle.
Those outliers were ADLER, cluing “Psychologist Alfred” and PAOLO, cluing “Renaissance painter Veronese”, (who was considered the equal of Titian and Tintoretto in his time (16th century) but isn’t held in quite the same esteem these days). (Both were gettable from the crossing entries so no big deal).
All in all, another nice piece of work from C. C. who is visiting from her usual haunt at the LA Times puzzle site. Thanks!
Easy fun puzzle for me. Loved the Smothers brothers and of course knew Pat Poulsen. I remember when he "ran" for president.
ReplyDelete@jberg, maybe that's why I was thinking of "Guys and Dolls"--alley gambling, not casino. I don't hang out in either place, and have also never been able to figure out craps. Though I think it was in high school some teacher explained it. Must have been in Math Club (I was a NERD but not a TWERP).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if raspberries would work in that Bourbon fizz? I think they have more fiber--important consideration for those of us old enough to remember PAT PAULSEN.
Another hand up for the one-letter write-over at PAULSEN/PAULSON.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that without the reveal many would have considered this a #1 puzzle.
Just the sort of Monday I like.
ReplyDeleteRemembering Pat Paulsen gave me a grin.
Funny headline Rex. You really should look for some Pat Paulsen videos. Funny guy.
R-less is a bit tricky for a Monday but regular solvers have seen it plenty of times.
I noticed only the P/P aspect of the themes, not the PA/PA. This left me wondering what version of PEEPEE was going to pass the (allegedly non-existent) breakfast test in the reveal.
ReplyDeleteNice Monday puzzle!
ReplyDeleteI needed every cross for Pat Paulsen, and automatically wrote in "partial" at 23A. What an odd word pajama is!
Like I care and Come to Papa are just great.
Liked the theme, the revealer and that it wasn't too EASY!
ReplyDeleteLiked the SNORT, SNEER and LIKE I CARE combo. Hand up for wanting PARTial PAYMENT.
@LMS- "Well ya LOIN something every day"...Perfect! Come to Brooklyn!
Fastest MOnday ever. By more than 30 seconds. I am not a fan of easy puzzles mostly, but this one was a lot of fun. Enjoyed the theme, though it wasn't until I went to bed that I realized that it was PA-PA instead of P-P. Didn't need it anyway.
ReplyDeleteQuite free of crosswordese and clunkers. RLESS is excellent IMO.
Thanks, Zhouquin.
Being older, I remember Pat Paulsen, so I was able to do this in less than 10 minutes using only the across clues. So I would rate this as very easy. Years ago when the Mon & Tue puzzles got too easy for me, instead of timing myself, I started increasing the challenge by attempting to solve using only the across clues. So I'm an oddball now. I haven't honed the speed skill, just the deduction skill. -skeptic53
ReplyDeletePaulsen was a very funny man, widely introduced on the Smothers Brothers show. Best deadpan in the business.
ReplyDeleteWent lookin for the puz revealer, first thing. Huh... "Casino cry", in 10 letters? Top choices...
ReplyDelete1. NO MORE BETS
2. HEY - JACKPOT
3. WHAT A LOSER
4. B. B. FIZZ, PLIZ
5. CRAPS, U LOSE
6. CRAPS, AGAIN
7. CASH A CHECK?
8. WAYNE NEWTN
9. WANNA PARTY?
10. THE HARD WAY
11. EEEOOLEVEN
12. HEY - I'M BROKE
See there? Exhaustive list. No PAPAs. But enjoyed the puz, anyhoo. Thanks, CC.
Nothin else to say, 'cept: See POT, Page 4A.
Just checked Wordplay re Ms. Burnikel.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is remarkable, given that the constructor's native language is Chinese. It is top drawer in any case, but amazing in that circumstance.
Very easy and fun. Pat Paulsen was a hoot and an easy answer. Revealer was great, best part of the puzzle.
ReplyDelete@Rex headline too funny for words!
Wow, neat that CC has the LA Times puzzle too!!!
ReplyDeleteThose double headers are rare. Thanks for heads up @Gareth!
Apparently, Z lives in Minnesota married to a bowler! I'm sure that's not what she dreamed about as a little girl in China! Life and love take you funny places...
And as @jackj pointed out, this would have been perfect for NEXT Monday, right after Father's Day. Tho, I'm sort of glad it's not ;)
It's fun having the name of a hurricane, but only if she wreaks minimal damage!
Palo Alto area folks, come to Books, Inc tonight for a "No Kidding" reading, discussion with feisty women!
@Acme-
ReplyDeleteDoes the winky face mean we're going to have a puz from You next Monday? A PA's Day Puz...hmmm??
It's not always fun to have the same name as a hurricane...I was thinking of changing my name!
@Rex-
It's funny that you remember PATTI PAGE, but not PAT PAULSEN. I'm told she's from the 50's!
PS
ReplyDeleteAs I confided to @chefwen, I had only heard the phrase "Come to Mama" so I stayed up till 2 am to see if I could make that work as a puzzle
(residuals to be sent to @Zhouqin! Love that she has a U but NOT after the Q!)
@Masked and Anonymo4us
How about
Come to mama : Etta James Hit
Come to meme: Computer viral video
Come to mimi: Screaming cannon's shout
Come to moo moo: Heiffer 's cry
Come to muu muu: Hawaiian Air slogan
@Hurricane Andrea darlin...
ReplyDeletehar. thUUmbsUUp.
But don't stop there...
Come to my my: Stop by, but only for expressin consternation.
Come to mm mm: Eventually express yummy sounds.
Come to m&a m&a: Unlikely casino cry.
@Gareth - Oops, you were talking about the puzzle that I just printed out. Sorry! I thought you were also commenting on her blog.
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe I almost DNF a Monday. That South section was the last to go because I can’t recall ever hearing the term “non-oyster month”, but I looked at 56A and thought it was ADLER. From there I figured the term meant R-LESS. Then PAOLO and ELISE both looked like good answers. No write-overs today so there is that. Agree that 23A should be PARTIAL.
ReplyDeleteSide note: This partial discussion reminds me of commercials for “partial zero emissions vehicles”. What the hell does that mean? How do you have a partial of zero?
@Anonymous 10:48am
ReplyDeleteActually the PGA Championship is run by the Professional Golfers Association which is the group for teaching pros (the people who work at local clubs) and is different from the PGA Tour. The biggest tournament run by the PGA Tour is The Player's Championship which some think should be elevated to major tournament status.
Sorry. Down clues took a looong time to dream up...
ReplyDeleteTWO BITS
Down:
1. Possible lunch hour
2. Convict processed just prior to Beagle Boy #28674
3. Zip code for Nathalie, Virginia
4. x, in the equation (x - 1) / 20 = 1024
5. String of pearls look-alike?
6. Top weight, in pounds, when 13-Down occurs (hint: 6.1445 tons)
7. House after 8191, on a postal route
8. MMMMXCVII
9. Super Bowl LXXXIII year [I'm definitely gonna get deductions, from old 4-Oh]
10. Area for a 64 by 96 -foot lot, adding 1 extra sq. ft. for tax assessment purposes
11. Handful, digit-wise
12. Mileage for a 29,235,360-foot trip
13. Stardate on which Captain Kirk finally joins Weightwatchers (hint: 1199 years after "Star Trek" began on TV)
14. Population of a town that has 3 more men than women, and 2,472 women
15. Bach's year of birth
Problems? Everything will be fine, if U go to Page 4A.
@tita -- your comment re factory raised livestock is right on the money
ReplyDelete@anonymous 8:55 -- your comment about the PGA is very informative, but why did you have to give it anonymously?
@loren -- your posts are always filled with sparkle, thank you for that!
Some of you real old timers (or jazz standard enthusiasts) will remember the final verse of Gershwin's song Embraceable You:
"I love all the many charms about you
above all i want my arms about
Don't be a naughty baby...
COME TO PAPA COME TO PAPA do
My sweet embraceable you... "
oops, there should be a 'you' after "I want my arms about"
ReplyDeleteDo they still make one parallel park at the DMV in order to get one's license? i had thought that had gone the way of cursive.
ReplyDelete@Lewis
ReplyDeleteI commented anonymously because I don't want anyone to know that I'm so knowledgeable about golf. (just kidding)
I was posting my comment while on my way to work from my phone and it kept crashing or acting up in other ways. I was about to throw my phone across the bus in frustration but I tried it one last time and chose the anonymous option to see if it would work and it did.
I have posted a few times in the past using this name.
Just did the LA Times puzzle. Wow!!! 2 great puzzles today
ReplyDeleteMidday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation of my method and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak to my method):
ReplyDeleteAll solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 6:15, 6:12, 1.01, 57%, Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 4:02, 3:49, 1.06, 79%, Medium-Challenging
Re 2:50 post - Somebody's got issues.
ReplyDelete@bird re: PZEV - leave to some guy on Page 4A to come with that crap.
Puzzle was fun except for the Southern Cross of ADLER/ELISE/PAOLO/RLESS on a Monday. Oh, and can we retire AOLER and variations there of?
Wha? I think you posted on the wrong blog, Einstein...
ReplyDeleteWell, now Anon 2:50 is gone. What a gem it was.
Delete@Lewis. You nailed it with the COME TO PAPA line from My Embraceable You. It was the first thing that came to mind after filling a59. Never have heard the shout in any casino. Maybe I've been going to the wrong joints.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise a pretty fast solve--except I did get delayed by RLESS and CEL in the same block. Didn't kno w cel was a collectible frame and that there might be a word beginning with RL. Great to learn when not to eat oyster though.
I'll know now when to serve oysters at my next PAJAMA PARTY. You' re all invited.
Palisades Parkway
ReplyDeletePagan Parrish
Parisian Patois
Parachute Pants
Partial Paragraph
Paul & Pat's Partner Palimony
Painful Pace
Padded Partition
Pancake Palace
Paternal Pandemonium
Panda Pandemic
Pabst Payment
@joho - You can get the LA Times puzzle at the American Mensa site. No ads and it's free.
ReplyDeleteAlso wanted PARTial PAYMENT.
ReplyDeleteWas kind of skeeved out by COME TO PAPA being a hint to PAJAMA PARTY, but then I got the theme...
Been absent for a while (darn MS!).
N.E.A.D.S. may have a dog for me next month! I'll keep everyone posted...
@Jen CT - Good to see you! Fingers crossed for next month.
ReplyDelete@jenCt - good luck - glad u r back
ReplyDeleteVideo Rant about Trolls that I ran across elsewhere. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteDNF Monday with that Rless -- really? had Adler and then wouldn't keep it in because L doesn't follow an initial R in any word I know!!
ReplyDeleteIn 1968, I wrote in for Eldrdge Cleaver. That was the first year Paulsen ran. I was just angry with HHH.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know COME TO PAPA, but then, I don't gamble.
Pretty good puzzle.
Today's local headline:
"Marking 200 years 'only happens once in a lifetime'"
For vampires, I guess. That was Leno-worthy, as was Rex's.
Regarding the music video I posted - I had no one special in mind, although the now missing hockey post certainly would have been my first nominee. I ran across it at the Political Irony blog (politicalirony.com if you're interested) and thought some here would find it amusing.
ReplyDeleteThis week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.
ReplyDeleteAll solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 6:13, 6:12, 1.00, 52%, Medium
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:55, 3:49, 1.03, 65%, Medium-Challenging
Thanks @z. Im sorry I missed the now-missing post, but by all accounts it's better gone. Welcome backm@JenCT. See you all on the Tuesday blog.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme was going to be pee pee, until I got to the end
ReplyDeleteHmm...so many liked the revealer; I thought it was a bit off. The PAs in the theme answers are separated, so I was somehow expecting the PAPA of 59a to carry the split through. Don't ask me how, though.
ReplyDeleteWe 73-year-olds know all about the hilarious PATPAULSEN. It had to be tough to NEVER crack a smile while your audiences were ROFL. And to my recollection, he never did.
I'm with the PARTialPAYMENT seekers. That's a legitimate phrase; what's here is, IMHO, not.
Ah, but all ills are instantly forgiven, erased by the absolutely angelic face of SELA Ward. I can give no other vote but double thumbs up!
[P.S. SELA: call me!]
Sorry - I was just on the phone with Sela...
ReplyDeleteLiked this one; am very familiar with the revealer phrase, which works well, I think; I gave my daughter some cash in PARTPAYMENT for her wedding dress, actually using that term. I'd have provided full payment if I wasn't also funding the bar-ouch! This marriage better last!
PAT PAULSEN! So funny.
I liked it. Kudos to Zhouqin Burnikel! (had to cut/paste to get the spelling right)
ReplyDeleteAs I filled in PAT PAULSEN I instantly thought that most folks under 50 will have no idea who this guy is. :-)
Loved PAJAMA PARTY and the revealer.
@spacecraft, in some puzzles the revealer refers to a phrase hidden inside theme entries. But lots of puzzles do have a revealer that refers to the starts of words instead. Today the PAPA refers to the fact that all phrases have the pattern PA---- PA----. I know I've seen other examples like this but can't think of any right now.
A good start for the week-even though I shook my head at TWoRP thinking, momentarily that it must be some regional thing. This was a fun reminder of Mr PAULSEN and the great TV shows that all seemed to happen at once: The Smother Brothers, Laugh In, Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. They let us enjoy some of the greatest talents around, no canned laughter needed! Oops, how could I forget Carol Burnett? Maybe I'll reminisce over a "cup of tea with ?" Damg, can't remember her name (Goldie?), she was the hippie with the great wink and a cuppa of something that I doubt was tea!
ReplyDeleteI got off to a poor start by misreading the clue for 2d as S(p)litting ____ and entering Intwo, which seemed reasonable until IMUS came along and made me re-read the clue. No idea about Sang-froid until POISE appeared from the crosses. I was certain AOLER would inspire a rant from @Spacecraft - apparently SELA really mellowed him out.
ReplyDeleteIf you missed the video @Z posted at 7:10pm you really should go back and check it out - not that it applies to anybody on this blog, of course, and most certainly not to anyone in Syncity!
Of course I misread the clue as Sp(l)itting, not whatever I typed above.
ReplyDelete@DMG - I think it was Goldie Hawn who played the hippy part?
Same here on Sp(l)itting - IMUS told me it wasn't HAIRS.
ReplyDeleteToo young to know PATPAULSEN but not Patti Page? Hmmmmmmm.
@Diri: Goldie Hawn was on Laugh In where she played the ultimate ditsy blonde, and was particularly loved for the weekly party scene where she danced wearing a bikini and her body was covered with written remarks, some pushing the limit, that the camera would zoom in on. The person I'm thinking of was on the Smothers show and, among other things, did a spaced out skit called Tea Time with ????? It occurs to me that it could have been Barbara, but that's my name, and I have to think that would have stuck with me. I suppose I could actually look it up somewhere?
ReplyDeleteDid look it up. The sketch was called Tea Tome with Goldie, and featured a performer Wiki defines as '"resident hippie Leigh French". Amazing what's out there, including some show links that I'm going to lcheck out.
ReplyDelete@DMG - don't you love it when the puzzle inspires you to look something up and learn something new, or maybe take a trip down memory lane?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the medium/challenging rating -- my first ever no write over puzzle. No peeks - no googles!! Easy peasy for me. BUT I don't time myself. I guess that's the difference.
ReplyDeleteI got slowed by the two "wrong" answers. I've never heard "part payment", even from people I consider undereducated; it's "partial".
ReplyDeleteThe Augusta clue is simply incorrect. As an earlier posted pointed out, the PGA does not run the tournament; they're merely a partner in the promotion. They are certainly not an "Augusta National org." in any sense of umbrella or ownership, even less so than a "Pumpkin Ridge org." or "Pebble Beach org."