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1965 Yardbirds hit / SAT 7-19-14 / Cap'n 1904 novel / Company with the King David Club
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Constructor: Barry C. Silk
Relative difficulty: Saturdayish
THEME: No theme
Word of the Day: ERI [54D - "Cap'n ___"(1904 novel)] —
The Golden Boys is a romantic comedy, set on Cape Cod in 1905, about three 70-year-old retired sea captains who try to lure an attractive middle-aged woman into marriage. Developed under the working title Chatham, the film is an adaptation of the Joseph Lincoln novel Cap’n Eri. It stars David Carradine, Rip Torn, Bruce Dern, and Mariel Hemingway. It only made $43,600 at the box office. Ouch! (Wikipedia)
• • •
Hey, crossword fans. Doug here again. Wow, I lucked out this weekend. I got a Livengood yesterday and a Silk today. Score! Today's puzzle is a classic Barry C. Silk production. Some sports stuff, some oldies music, and a nice wide-open grid pattern. All in all, a spot-on Saturday puzzle for your solving enjoyment.Were any of you bothered by GO ALL OUT (15A: Pour it on) crossing GO TO YOUR ROOM (8D: Call for a timeout)? I didn't notice the GO duplication while solving, and it doesn't bother me much. I've found that editors tend to be pretty forgiving about minor duplications. And both entries are fun, so really the only reason I mentioned it was to fill up a little space. We substitute bloggers have to meet our quotas.
Bullets:
- PRETZEL LOOP (27A: Roller coaster feature with a food name) — Now that's a fun answer. Other roller coaster elements I found on Wikipedia: batwing, butterfly inversion, cobra roll, demonic knot, hammerhead turn, Norwegian loop, and the dreaded wraparound Immelman.
- WILD CARD TEAM (20D: Underdog playoffs participant) — Great entry. Reminds me of the time the Yankees declined the Wild Card.
- ESAU (25D: Biblical venison preparer) — I thought I'd solved all the ESAU clues, but whaddya know, here's a new one.
- FOR YOUR LOVE (1965 Yardbirds hit) — OK, I admit I didn't know this song. I dig the lead singer's bongo playing.
- ODESSAN (47A: Dweller near the Potemkin Stairs) —Somehow this was the first entry I filled in today. I've had a lot of Odessa facts drilled into my head over the years by crosswords.
- YOUNGER (24A: Like Princess Leia vis-à-vis Luke Skywalker) — They're twins, and I guess Luke was born first. I'm not going to check Wookieepedia to verify. And as you can see, they're quite close.
- VAINER (43D: Like Cinderella's stepsisters vis-à-vis Cinderella) — We all tried UGLIER first, right?
- C SHARP (1D: D preceder) — This is embarrassing, but I didn't know if it was C SHARP or E SHARP until I got the crossing letter from COSMOS. I can never figure out the musical note clues. In my world, they're all just letters randomly followed by SHARP, FLAT, MAJOR, or MINOR.
Signed, Doug Peterson, Warrior Prince of CrossWorld
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79 comments:
Easy-medium again for me and not quite as lively as yesterday's.
Liked the '65 songs mini theme because that was the decade I imprinted on musically.
Was pretty sure 1d was something SHARP, but put in calzOne before RAVIOLI anyway. At least it gave me OZMA.
A Russian geography clue with a 6+ letter answer is usually ODESSA related. Same goes for Texas.
Neil deGrasse Tyson's COSMOS update is well worth watching.
Solid Sat. Liked it and thanks again Doug.
Another enjoyable puzzle! My first entry for 1down was CMINUS - that corrected pretty easily. My first few passes were pretty grim, but it started to come together fairly quickly after that. It actually ended up about exactly the same time as yesterday with no googles.
I know you filthy Americans can't stand futbol, but please stop call us that do GOAL LOUTS!
Hey, Luis - It's GO ALL OUT you idiot. As for calling people filthy Americans, well, you can jut bite me!
Tried GALAXY at 1A until some OCULAR adjustment brought COSMOS into focus. Was transfixed by CARL SAGAN's masterpiece of the same name, so liked that connection A LOT.
I would pooh-pooh YOUNGER LOUNGERS, VAINER DINERS ENDERS, or OSE AGT ESA AMI LEA SSR EMO ELAL OZMA ERNO ERI, but you might say GO TO YOUR ROOM, LIE UP (!) in BED and get over your ATTITUDE.
Love the word schuss. All the others are downhill from there.
Anyone remember that The Yardbirds evolved into Led Zeppelin? Anyone care?
Was thinking of a more graphic clue for hurler...
Can we think of Carl Sagan without the Johnny Carson "billions and billions" parody quip?
Fun puzzle.
@Ravini
Not to mention Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck!
I found this crazy easy for a Saturday while yesterday's puzzle was a real challenge. One across had to start with a c, so cosmos was obvious, and two across schuss just came out of nowhere to me. After that, there was just no looking back.
I really enjoyed this Saturday puzzle. Every once in a while I'm able to hop on Barry Silk's train of thought and the ride is just so smooth as...
I too had C-minus at first but my fun PRETZELRIDE set me derecho.
Those Cinderella sisters were meaNER for a while and an American St Patrick's Day order is always CORNBEEF!...
Favorite mondegreen "Foyer LOVE, I'll give you Diet Sprite."
"I'M A LOSER, and I love someone who's mean to me."
Thank you for a Barry good puzzle. And I Doug the write-up.
p.s. Go to George's site and download Tim Croce's "Look Both Way." It's a wowzer!
Easy Saturday, must have hit my sweet spot. Finished this one while my wife sleeps on, rare for an end of week puzzle.
AMADEUS a gimme, and RAVIOLI (nice clue), ATTITUDE and IMALOSER were probables. Then my "galaxy" (hi @anoa) became COSMOS when 31d counted nine letters (who else but SAGAN?), CSHARP now a gimme and we were off and running.
Lots of fun Barry Silkish clues, my favorite was 17a (One who winds up in a field). And yes Mr. Peterson, ESAU clue was happily different - but didn't fool me a bit once I got the E.
It's my understanding that in England from 1968 thru 1975 it was illegal to start a rock group without having been a former member of The Yard Birds or The Hollies. Mark Bolan excepted.
Was going to make a clever comment on GOAL LOUT but @Luis Suarez beat me to it. Bite me Luis.
@Gill I. P. beat me to the comment about this being smooth, but it really did slide by much quicker than yesterday. Nice one Mr. Silk.
Anyone else see "Photo Sphere" as the Captcha multiple times here recently?
Love the broody teens image - anyone having one at home will. Anyone remember how important and novel that"rebel" image was when you were a teen? Every generation thinks that they are the ones who have created the image.
I SCHUSSed down this slope in near-record time (for me) for a Saturday. The super clean, SOLID fill and wide-open easy-flowing grid design was a pleasure.
I did not know who IRIS HALE was. Or what a GOAL LOUT is. Maybe a horrible New York COSMOS player who never scored one? Or one who was A MADE US citizen? The PRETZEL LOOP clue: "Roller coaster feature with a wood frame" was confusing as heck. Why do you need a wood frame to make a PRETZEL LOOP? It's simple. Pick up the left end of the rolled-out dough, make circular motion with it, north first, then a south-easterly turn until it crosses over the horizontal center and about a half-inch below it, and gently press down where the two cross. Repeat the process with the right end, going in the opposite direction until the two ends cross each other, and tada! you have a pretzel with two neat loops. I cannot imagine needing a wood frame for this simple design.
I did not know the Oxford English Dictionary came male or female. Is there a male equivalent to the LASS OED called LAD OED? Inquiring minds...
But don't believe a word of this. I can LIE UP a storm.
I was never told: GO TO YOUR ROOM because I never had a room when I was YOUNGER, hence I never WROTE ON its walls. But I was smacked plenty of times for my ATTITUDE. Hey BUD, enough about your childhood, nobody cares.
Here is the Prelude in C-SHARP minor subtitled "THERE BELS of Moscow", the most overplayed classical piece in history. Alongside William BELS overturn (you know the one: to the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump, where the father shoots the apple off his son's head. That's how "apple turnover" originated), and PachelBELS huge cannon. Oh wait, THE REBELS were in yesterday's puzzle. Never mind...
Thank you Mr. Silk. Enjoy your weekend at least as much as I enjoyed this puzzle.
This was un peu de soie, smooth as ever.
Jeff Chen mentions a trick of grid design that helps the solver, but I noticed something else. As noted, there's that brilliant shot Silk makes with COSMOS-CARLSAGAN, but then he adds moire with the COSMOS-OSMOSE-OZMA-OSE re-echo. He gets a little jOCULAR with the CAR-GASUP combo, then gives us the SOLID but not the liquid [unless you count the IRISHALE]. In other words, the various entries go well together, and there's probably something subliminal going on in these solves.
Another velvety touch is the placement. Just look:
*PRETZELLOOP, with HURLER near by, ALOT of RAVIOLI between. [Sorry about the morning mess.]
*GOTOYOURROOM crossing ATTITUDE
*MULTITASKING crossing ALOT
IMALOSER crossing WOEISME
*TATTOOS crossing WROTEON
*IUD crossing FORYOURLOVE: That HOTITEM is good for safe sex, of a kind. For safer sex, it's better to use...um, an ERASER, which will also keep that ELISA test negative.
The only other crossing that I thought might be significant is WARRIOR x LEARY; Will Shortz might be. Given the clue [Brave, e.g.], there could be objections...
So, a typically smooth piece of material, nothing raw, nothing watered down. I'm sure weave all enjoyed it very much.
Gotta bolt.
[ho,ho,ho, my captcha says 'bolt']
Not bad, but I'm slower than most.
Thanks for the Yardbird's video. Never seen that one. Great song that I still play on guitar. That's a young Jeff Beck playing guitar in the video!
For all you first time or relatively new solvers, I say stick with it, there is hope ! Two years ago, this puzzle would have been impossible for me. Fridays and Saturdays have become doable for me. After twenty minutes of nothing, I kept "schussing" away and finally finished in 56 minutes without googling! I love it! Solving every day and struggling with these seemingly impossible puzzles is a learning process. Casco kid, how did you do?
Yay! I finished, but this one was (like all Saturdays) hard for me. I had printed out a bunch of Fridays and Saturdays from 2009 to occupy myself in Maine, and I think I tackled two Silks among them. I tell you, practice really does help a ton with mastering themelesses. I used to never ever ever finish a Saturday. Something really helpful I've learned is not to panic at clues with things like "King David Club," "Republic of Pisa," Potemkin Stairs" – just calm down and trust they're common crossword answers cleverly disguised as toughies.
When I got AMADEUS off only that second A, I felt really smart and satisfied. Then I come here, and it's lots of people's gimme.
Before TEAM fell, I really thought it would be "draw" or "pick."
Me, too, for "minus" before SHARP and "uglier" before VAINER. I found myself staring out the window wondering what the __ER adjective would be in describing me vis-à-vis a sister.
@AliasZ – that's C SHARP minor at its very best. One of my absolute favorites.
I knew "his fanny" or "her fanny" wouldn't go for ATTITUDE, but it's what I would say. "Boy, she really showed her fanny at the DINER, didn't she?"
@Leapfinger – Nice catch on those crosses!
LIE UP. Hmm. This seems like a weird thing to say. At least in the present tense. Past tense, fine: Last night I lay UP hours with itchy shins, and I'm not making that up. (Anyone who wants a miracle cure for a bug bite or any itch, email me.) (Little-known fact - The Itchy Shins were actually a short-lived rock group that Jeff Beck formed when he was let go by Yardbirds.) Anyway, the transitive "laid up" seems to me to be much more in the language. Thinking about working "lain up" into a conversation? I would rearrange my sentence if I were you.
GO TO YOUR ROOM. Heard that one a lot in Chattanooga. My first musing as a little linguist was when, having been sent to my room for showing my fanny, I stood at my bedroom door after just one minute calling, "Mom? (tone sliding up like a question). . . Mom? (tone back down)" She would try to ignore me, giving me the opportunity to repeat the call over and over, and I kept wondering, marveling, really, that the can-I-come-out-now?-two-word call was always with the same intonation. Wonder if a kid in the Maasai tribe uses that intonation when calling a mom who's trying mightily to ignore her.
My favorite part of today's puzzle was the clue for ERASER. "Tip for slips" is genius. One more word of advice – after you squelch the urge to say "lain up," go put a slip on under that dress. The skirt just, uh, lies better, and that's a fact. Hi, Mom.
Barry – another winner! Doug – terrific write-up, as usual. Off to print off the Saturday Stumper – will I see your name again, Doug?
Wonderful Saturday crunchiness from BCS. It played tough for me, so was just workout I wanted.
I dropped in FORYOURLOVE right away. I'm not sure I could name another Yardbirds song, but I do know that for a brief period Clapton, Beck and Page were all in the group together -- has any other band ever had such a collection of guitar talent? Someone above mentioned Marc Bolan, and looking now at the stacked WARRIOR FORYOURLOVE reminds me of "Jeepster".
When it comes to the science of music, however, IMALOSER, and I slowed myself by putting CM--OR at 1D. I also kept reading the 6D clue as "Letters in old aliases" which needless to say was not helpful.
Great clues abound, my favorites being those for ATE (great subtlety) and ELAL (original clue for an overused entry).
No issue at all with GOTOYOURROOM and GOALLOUT. LIEUP and GASUP were slightly disappointing, but who cares when the rest is so great?
This was either one of the easiest Saturdays in a long, long time, or I'm just on the same wavelength as Barry Silk. I don't think I've ever finished a Saturday without a single write-over; everything just fell into place. SSR and OSE yielded COSMOS and then C SHARP, and so on. No dead ends or needing to reboot in a different sector. Maybe it helped having read all the Oz books as a kid (and rereading some of them with my daughter years later) since I'm not sure I would have gotten PRETZEL LOOP without OZMA, and that, coupled with MULTITASK, offered so many avenues for going forward. Very enjoyable; over too soon.
RAVIOLI is plural; "something" in the clue is singular! @jae: Odessa aint in Russia, there's a war going on right now over just such matters. Never heard the ODESSA Steps called the "Potemkin Stairs," but of course inferable from the colossally great movie. Had to memorize Gray's elegy in Jr. Hi. AMADEUS was a giveaway. As to the "brave" WARRIOR connection, of course there will be objections. Tyson's COSMOS is a pale shadow compared to CARL SAGAN's monumental opus. The Republic of Pisa was a formidable power in the Renaissance. Look at a map and you'll see how far away from ELBA Pisa is, but that little city controlled that island.
I have never in my life heard anyone say "I LAY UP last night." You can lie awake; you can toss and turn; you can be up all night, but you can not LIE UP -- an oxymoron, if ever I heard one.
And once again, I struggled with arcane pop song titles, having to get all the rest of the answers to solve them. Two in one puzzle, yet. Can we PLEASE have a moratorium on song titles? They're seemingly in every puzzle now, and they're a real irritant.
Other than that, I liked the puzzle, which I found a challenge but was able to solve eventually.
@# Fred Romagnolo: Just out of curiousity then, what is one RAVIOL* called?
Never mind. The mighty Internet answered my question: RAVIOLO. Who knew? (Except Fred, I guess.)
I'm with @wreck, @Gill I.P. and @loren muse smith with minor before SHARP. Great misdirection there.
I also had BEatit before BEGONE.
The observations in the comments are wonderful today so I have nothing to add other than I agree that Barry Silk always delivers the best puzzles and Doug blogs equally as well! My hat's off to both!
The only nit I have is that it was over too soon. With COSMOS and its original host plus Tim LEARY and a couple of '60s rock songs providing some strategic letters I was able to work back through the grid without any major problems. Loved it.
I don't get EMO as "Like some broody teens." From the puzzles I've learned that EMO is a rock music genre. Does it also refer to a kind of behavior?
I guess "Something pocketed in Italy?" can refer to either the singular and the plural, but I first put in RAVIOLO.
For "D preceder" I first tried CDXCIX but the Xs wouldn't work going across.
I enjoyed the many devilish clues.
Oh, and PRETZELLOOP was fabulous!
Easy. This is the first time I've called a Silk puzzle easy; usually they're medium challenging for me. I liked it. Agree with @LMS and others about LIEUP. Unfamiliar with OCULAR as a noun. Had EATERS before DINERS. Is FOTO a word now? Last square filled in was a guess at LAMA/ELISA.
@mathguy - EMO (short for emotional) is a type of angry mope rock. Don't confuse it with Brian ENO, by the way, whose music is a bit more like muzak. He used to be with the glam band Roxy Music.
@Gill is so right. Once you're into Barry's COSMOS, it's 'What LARKs!' Or lurks..
Getting there is not always smooth. Had [green] for IRISH ALE, until LASSOED settled in; [escape] for OSMOSE, and then came CARL SAGAN and me old brain kicked in the Birds song. C SHARP took the longest to accept. Wanted C [grade] instead, but RAVIOLI set me on the right path.
Speaking of the Birds - Prof. LEARY TURNed on TUNEd IN a generation, and then DROPped OUT of sight. I remember the first SF Be-In and thinking, there's a con man. And yet, my first trip was both glorious and revelatory. Did one more (horrid) and stopped. Too many didn't.
On to Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
@John Child - Yes, I have, too. It's odd, and I'm missing the lovely addresses. Phish?
"See if you can't make the credenza LIE UP against the wall a little closer."
EMOtional?
Threw in NEBULA first off, before the crosses changed it to COSMOS. Also tried I'M A LOVER/LONER, cuz I didn't remember that number and couldn't believe the Beatles were LOSERs.
Liked the bit about the VAINER Sisters and the YOUNGER Brothers. All of them LOUNGERS, no?
Back to BED.
Wonderful. Loved COSMOS, SCHUSS, TALISMAN, RAVIOLI over PRETZEL and HOT ITEM over I'M A LOSER.
Began slowly with only COSMOS, ODESSAN, ENDER'S, ESAU and OZMA. Having graded papers for many more years than I've studies music, my C-minus stayed in until the bitter end. Lame try: having Luke and Leia be "related." Very fun to solve.
Why are "saw" sights GORE? I guess it's blood if one is careless with the saw. But then why the quotation marks around the 'saw'?
@Carole - 'Saw' is a film series (Roman numeral-ed, no less) that is, I'm told, chock full of unmitigated GORE. Never saw Saw, the chop-up in Fargo was more than enough, but cleverer, I'm guessing.
@Carole Shmurak It's the movie "Saw", which is full of gore.
Medium. 1:34. One google -- for the meaning of celle-la -- and now I wonder if I could have solved without it. ESA made ESAU sussable, which made CRAM visible. So probably not.
LOUNGE_S drove me crazy. LOUNGEeS? LOUNGEtS? Those pesky British are not above re-frankifying a word translated from French, so LOUNGEiS?
Northwest was last. HURLER went in off the E in OSE, but came out when nothing crossed. mirroR for OCULAR pushed out HURLER as well as lots for A LOT. Wanted Slalom for SCHUSS.
Elsewhere, I wanted ERdO for ERNO, sue me for ITS me. FORYOURLady made the south east slow slow slow.
I guessed giants and dwarfs were astrophysical, so I guessed CARLSAGAN off the patterned out R, even before I had WARRIOR, but COSMOS took forever to appear as I wanted galaxy, clouds, nebula, or really a synonym for star catalogue. Until COSMOS was in place, most of the downs were invisible.
So, one google and no errors is my best Saturday ever. A LARK, but hardly a [Romp.]
Experiencing a PRETZELLOOP would turn me into a HURLER, especially if I ate RAVIOLI first.
I was clueless during most of this puzzle, but ESAU was one of the few answers I had immediately (Catholic school). My only quibble is the ESA/ESAU cross.
Google was my enabler today! DNF for me.
A MADE US
B Bade Us
J Jade Us
Life Lade Us
Time Staid Us
Age Fade Us
Great Silk puzzle and a fun write-up!
Yes, hand up for "uglier". Enders Game was new to me, only heard of Game Enders.
Smooth as always, Mr. Silk. I loved the clues for ELTON, BUD, WROTEON, BED, ERASER, FOTOS, RAVIOLI, and HURLER.
Those devilish clues plus all the multiword answers make Silk's puzzles special. I always smile when I see his name.
Doug, very nice write-ups, with good insight.
@George -- what record did Tim's puzzle tie?
POST PUZZLE PUZZLE (PPP): How many single-word verbs can you find among the answers, that if you switch one letter it becomes another verb? I have found five, and there very well may be more.
If you wish to post an answer, just write how many you found, and later this afternoon I'll post my answers and if you wish, you can post yours.
Fastest Saturday ever for me (21 and change). Was really on this puzzle's wavelength from the start, when COSMOS immediately popped into my head after reading the first clue. Sometimes I truly don't know where the answers come from. It seems like there are times where the harder I try (the more the gears grind), the more elusive the answers are. Whereas there are other times when I look at a clue or at the grid, and an answer pops into my head and won't let go. Sometimes it can take me upwards of a minute to figure out why that answer is, indeed, correct. So was there some subconscious part of my brain that knew the answer right off? Does this happen to anyone else? Is this how the speed solvers can solve so quickly - their solving brain is essentially working on autopilot, while their "conscious" brain stays out of the way?
@George Barany - Big thanks for posting re: Tim Croce's jaw-dropping "Look Both Ways". I'm even more delighted to have found your website & its treasure trove of puzzles!
Sometimes if you happen to know a lot about a topic, it just makes it irritatingly harder to see an answer. I've been playing the piano for 45 years, and my reaction to the idea that CSHARP precedes D is -- What key are you in? Major or minor? Natural minor or harmonic minor? Sure, CSHARP is a chromatic half-step below D, but in what sense is that 'preceding'? (Harrumph)
The astronomy clues also got me. I own two telescopes and quite a few OCULARS of varying focal length, but I never call them anything but eyepieces, as I think most telescope users would. OCULAR wouldn't come to me until I had several of the crosses. It's just annoying when too much familiarity with the topic gets in the way.
@Davidph, we called them OCULARS on microscopes with no problem, yet for some reason, the clues keep relating the term to telescopes, and annoying some people in the process.
@Lewis, so far, I have 11 that are strictly legit [in my book] and a couple more that might get some push-back.
Like everyone else, I want to call this smooth (as Silk). After being stuck a bit start, I went through this easily for a Saturday. Nice clues, nice answers, nice puzzle.
Leapfinger said:
"we called them OCULARS on microscopes with no problem, yet for some reason, the clues keep relating the term to telescopes, and annoying some people in the process."
An ocular is an eyepiece for any optical instrument. Works for telescope, microscope, binoculars, et cetera.
Are we especially verbose today?
@DanP - Eno is like Muzak? Next you're going to tell me McDonalds makes burgers.
SSR doesn't seem very Silkan, otherwise a fine puzzle.
I only wish I had seen the clue on Amadeus sooner; I'd already basically gotten it from crosses but I would have been able to drop that right in.
I also really don't like ERI as an answer. Why not just change BEGONE to I'M GONE (you could keep the same clue!), then you've got IED and MRI, both of which are far better answers than a title fragment for a book that doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page.
POST PUZZLE PUZZLE (PPP) solution:
Here are five I found, and it sounds like there are a fair number more:
SHROVE -- strove
SPED -- aped
MAP -- tap, zap, cap, etc.
BUD -- bum, bid
ATE -- are
So, this is a group project, feel free to post what others you came up with!
45 min, no googles. Thanks, Mr. Silk.
EMO is what moody teens might listen to. I pride myself in having an open mind, musically, & listened to my kid's stuff (she's 25 yrs younger) when she was a teenager, & picked up on The Cure, Morrissey, & such.
Tried bowLER at 17A, thinking cricket. & 21A was cannoli or some such spelling, long before RAVIOLI.
Hi, @Joseph Welling. Just to clarify, I was responding to some of the content in @Davidph's comment. My experience is with microscopes, and I've only rarely used a telescope, so I have no opinion in that regard.
I remember, however, when OCULAR was clued to the telescope some months ago, a handful of people [mostly amateur astronomers] made the same objection. Googling for 'telescope oculars' brought up almost exclusively references to 'eye-pieces' in both articles and catalogues. Today, the first time that search uses the word 'ocular', it's referring to a plug-in.
On the other hand, I agree with your closing statement; the lens in the same location has the same function. I don't suppose kaleidoscope is included among the 'etc.'
@Lewis, I had MAP, SHROVE and BUD as you did.
Alternates:
SPED/sued
ATE/age
Others, ranging from valid to questionable:
LARK/park
GAS/has [one can gas something]
CRAM/clam
BED/bid
GORE/ bore, tore
RAMP/ camp, tamp
MULTITASK/ multitase, multicask [!]
LASSOED/ lassied
BEGONE/ begore, betone
Apologies for going beyond accepted limits.
@leapfinger -- No apology necessary, fun is welcomed! Your list is terrific, and through RAMP it is perfectly legitimate. I believe you are a born wordsmith. These sorts of things, and certainly puns seem to fly out of you effortlessly.
Hey All!
@George Barany, the Look Both Ways puz, WoW! How difficult that must have been to construct! I know Tim must have gone through many iterations to try to get most of the downs to make any sense! The downs do suffer a bit, but to be able to get all those acrosses in is amazing! I've constructed many puzzles myself (although Mr. Shortz has yet to accept one!) and even your run of the mill Monday-Tuesday puzzles take a while and some tweaking. I can't imagine how long this on took!
Anyway, on to todays puz... I thought it was pretty staright forward for a Saturday, I usually don't do well on a Sat. puzzle, can't tell you I finished without a google or four! @OhioBoy, had IMALOSER in grid, so IMGONE would have been worse than the two already repeats, GO and UP (or maybe not really, as I'm thinking ahead of writing!)
Loved learing RAVIOLI is plural! I guess you need to be Italian to know raviolo! (I'm not!)
Wasn't FORYOURLOVE or something really similar also a Beatles' song?
And I agree with @jdv about FOTOS, when did that become acceptable usage??
RooMonster
DarrinV
Medium here. No ugliER - I had mesNER, eventually corrected by guessing FOR YOUR LOVE (didn't know it) and finding the V made sense for 43D. Before ODESSAN, rusSiAN.
Favorite writeover 4D: Be a juggler? Off the K, cook a booK. Soon fixed.
As usual for a Barry Silk puzzle, I stared for a few minutes at a HEAP of white space, then got a couple of answers, then a few more, and then things started to click. Once finished I could see how truly nicely constructed this puzzle was. Interesting answers, challenging clues, stuff I didn't know but enjoyed learning.
Italian vs. Latin tip:
First declension singular -A (It), -A (LAT); plural, -E (It), -AE (Lat). Second declension singular -O (It), -US (Lat); plural, -I (It), -I (Lat). So, LIRA, LIRE; RAVIOLO, RAVIOLI. That's the thing about RAVIOLI - you can't eat just one.
Thanks, Mr. Silk.
ummm - meaNER, not mesNER.
@Lewis: Posting before looking at other answers (even though I'm late enough in the day that they're up):
HURL to curl
WROTE to write
LOOP to hoop
CRAM to clam
LOVE to live
GONE to hone
DINE to line
TASK to tase
ROOM to roam
BUD to bid
TEAM to ream
RAMP to romp
BED to bud
Thirteen, if I count correctly.
As to the original puzzle. Smooth as, well, you know. I also had galaxy instead of COSMOS at first, which slowed me down a bit, but aside from that it was fun seeing this steadily come together. Lively cluing, good long and medium fill, precious little to take issue with. Excellent themeless.
@susierah, I think my solving experience will improve when I start making bolder leaps to the right answers and stop making crazy leaps to dead ends. And when I learn the difference between bold and crazy. ;)
Today, CARLSAGAN was a bold leap while MIRROR as a telescope part was crazy. SLALOM as a way to run downhill? Crazy. WILDCARDTEAMS? Bold.
Kinda hard to tell crazy from bold, huh? But I'm just a first grader with a lot to learn.
@RooMonster - I think foto comes from Fotomats, which were drive-up kiosks for film processing years ago. Perhaps before your time.
Actually, FOTO is just a nickname for photo and the clue was "snaps" - also a nick name for photos - so it is ok as clued.
This 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.
All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)
Mon 5:37, 6:02, 0.93, 18%, Easy
Tue 7:46, 8:14, 0.94, 32%, Easy-Medium
Wed 8:13, 9:40, 0.85, 16%, Easy
Thu 17:37, 17:28, 1.01, 56%, Medium
Fri 19:31, 20:33, 0.95, 41%, Medium
Sat 21:14, 25:17, 0.84, 17%, Easy
Top 100 solvers
Mon 3:47, 3:55, 0.97, 28%, Easy-Medium
Tue 5:04, 5:21, 0.95, 28%, Easy-Medium
Wed 5:19, 6:08, 0.87, 15%, Easy
Thu 11:25, 10:31, 1.09, 64%, Medium-Challenging
Fri 13:48, 13:48, 1.00, 50%, Medium
Sat 14:41, 16:43, 0.88, 29%, Easy-Medium
I think this is the first Saturday I've ever finished without Googling. Now that's a confidence booster!
YAY!
Congratulations, @Arlene - way to go!
ATE - age, ace, ape, etc.
BED - bid, bud, beg, bet, etc.
BUD - see above
MAP - mop, maw, mar, lap, tap, zap, etc.
CRAM - clam, crab, etc.
GORE - gone, tore, wore, etc.
RAMP - camp, damp, rasp, etc.
SPED - shed, seed, sled, spew, etc.
OSMOSE - cosmos, ozma (just kidding)
@wreck - of course the clue is correct. I just point out that there is a precedent for the spelling, since he asked.
Nice job, @Arlene.
BTW - was reading the comments on my iPhone earlier, which made everyone's comments look much longer.
Love the photosphere ad captcha. The captcha robot must be getting bored.
@stevej and @aliasz -- I'm coming in late, just saw your excellent answers, and thank you for sharing!
I'm old enough to remember when an ATTITUDE could be good or bad. Nowadays it always means bad. (And don't even get me started on "transit.")
On a completely different subject, now I want a camera that will produce a "photo sphere."
Easy Saturday. 16 minutes and only delay was Multitask. Enjoyed it . Loved Attitude. Good review. Thanks BCS.
Nice one.
Crossword Synchronicity? - One reason I did this puzzle today (8/3/14) is that on 7/29/14 I was nearing the end of my vacation in Piombino, Italy, looking across the water at the Island of 10 A, ELBA!
@SiS - did you know that shipping alcohol without a license is illegal? Hopefully your shoes don't arrive with federal marshals. Tiger fans are in a bit of a panic these days. Giving up three touchdowns to the twinkies will do that. At least we blocked an extra point.
ITS me...but who AMI? Quite an unusual clue for the latter, as it assumes amnesia. No matter; in it goes, AMID the other FOTOS (?). Taking some license there, eh, Barry?
Cluing made this less Silk-y than it should have been--and I took longer than I should have, because, duh!, I kept trying to fit the 8-letter UNIVERSE and the 7-letter GALAXY into the six-letter COSMOS. Then the double-duh! CARLSAGAN (of course! my namesake and hero!) hit, how obtuse could I be, which led immediately to 1a. From then on it was cleanup.
Is ENDERS Game a thing? Never heard of it. I remember FORYOURLOVE, a very rare pop song in that it changes beat. That's a "brave" leap for those young WARRIORs to make.
With the centrally placed gimmes AMADEUS and WILDCARDTEAM, I really should've gotten this done sooner. Oh well, I'll just GOTO [my] ROOM and LIEUP (???).
1005: IMALOSER (and I'm not what I appear to be).
Dam good puzzle. Wonderful write-up and comments. Enuf said.
Ron Diego 9:15 8/23
Can't believe I finished a Saturday with no help! Very entertaining. At first glance didn't think I had a chance but as usual just slogged through and eventually it breaks.
@ spacecraft - only way I knew ENDERS game is that Harrison Ford starred in the movie not to long ago.
How could any puzzle including rock classics IMALOSER and FORYOURLOVE not receive SOLID reviews?
Only quibbles are with LIEUP (ugh) and the obscure EMO and AGT clues.
Shall now BEGONE to GASUP my CAR as prices are being marked up as we speak.
5152 - yes, I know, IMALOSER...
Started, this one It's a good thing I got yesterday's puzzle, because this one left me gasping for air! My plain "vanilla" told me that "pvt" was right - HAH. Got that there was some BRIDGE, put the CARDINALS in the wrong city. Knew ARRAS from old puzzle days but that wasn't much help with the crosses. Same with a hesitant guess on ORZO, which I never eat with a spoon. Off to do the LAT!
Going away for a couple of days to take grandson to Knott's Berry Farm. So see you later next week.
A mere 753!"no way"! Then I got SPED, way down there at the bottom, and things gradually unfolded. The songs were entirely unknown to me, and one eventually proved my undoing. Had IMALlSEt, knew something was wrong, but couldn't work it out , so two bad squares on my record! Other "ouch" was how long it took me to get COSMOS, even with CARLSAGAN in place. Kept wanting "heaven", finally got moving again by starting the telescope thing with OCU... and gradually piecing out the remaining parts. Enjoyed the workout!
491
It's pretty obvious my iPad is doing strange things, the above post is somehow a pairing of part of yesterday's comments with most of today's. I won't try to straighten it out, just wanted you to know I'm not really that confused. I thi one comes out crazy, so be it!
A nice little fairly easy themeless. My only hold-up was writing in SCHISM for SCHUSS (hey, a "Run down a mountainside" could be a schism, which is a word for something is split apart). That led to "Be a juggler?" being to MILTITATE ... and everyone knows that the first juggler was some dude named Milt Juggle, right? And that made the central west section rather difficult .. Once I got that sorted out, what little I had left fell right into place.
My only other comment is that it is horrifying that the guest blogger had never heard of "For Your Love" before - that was my first entry, and what I thought was an absolute gimme.
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