Aladdin character who's transformed into elephant / FRI 1-6-16 / Targets of snuffers / Synagogue holding / Hit Fox drama starting in 2015 / Weekly magazine publisher since 1896 / Venomous swimmer

Friday, January 6, 2017

Constructor: Jacob Stulberg

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (the NE alone took it into "Challenging" territory for me)


THEME: none 

Word of the Day: LEE ANN Womack (38A: Singer Womack with the 2000 hit "I Hope You Dance") —
Lee Ann Womack (born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song. // When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette,[2] except for the way Womack's music mixed an old fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It wasn't until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. (wikipedia)
• • •

This was a fairly ordinary Friday puzzle for a while, and then I hit the NE and (due solely to the sequence in which I read / tried answers) all of my wheels came off. I very rarely get "stuck" on Fridays, in the true sense of "absolutely not moving," "in freefall," etc. but that happened in the NE repeatedly today. And since I wasn't that warmly disposed toward the puzzle before hitting the NE—I have a tenacious and virulent prejudice against "ONE'S" answers, and BOWL A STRIKE was doubly terrible in that it seemed like Not the right phrase (bowlingball.com (!) uses "throw a strike"), *and* its clue was trying to do that cutesy faux-clever thing where it echoes the phrasing of a nearby (in this case, a crossing) clue (in this case, SPARE (48D: Get 10 from two?)). Also there were a handful of those how-do-you-spell-it proper nouns you often seen in crosswords—e.g. KEENEN, ODAMAE—that make solving irritating. But most of the rest of it was holding up OK. Nothing exciting, nothing terrible. And, in fact, that's pretty much how I felt about the puzzle at the end of it all. It's just that "average" puzzles are a lot less pleasant to solve when you hit a brick wall, and so solving pleasure plummeted once I hit the NW. It's not that struggle is a bad thing. It can be a very satisfying thing when the answers that fall into place make you think "Ooh, good one." And there was one of those in the NW, but too many of the others made me go "Oh ... really?" But as I said up front, in an alternate universe (such as you might find in, say, DC COMICS—that was the "good one," btw: 12D: Flash source), I would've sailed through this in half the time it took me. See if you can spot the tiny, lethal mistakes:


I did the fairly routine solving thing where you put in the terminal "S" for a plural. This is a useful habit ... sometimes. Today, the cautionary tale. With plurals, mostly "S," ... but sometimes "I" (and sometimes something totally different like "N," but more on that some other time). You can also see that yet another how-do-you-spell it name gave me trouble, as I had LEEANN's name written with a terminal "E" for some reason (38A: Singer Womack with the 2000 hit "I Hope You Dance")—that was better than my earlier guess, CEE CEE (I confused Womack with Winans. Whoops) (Also, for the record, it's CECE, not CEECEE Winans). You should also mentally add YTD to this grid at 16A: Fig. in annual reports, because I had that in there for a bit too. Sigh. Now if I had just started with CAV (18A: Quicken Loans Arena athlete, for short) and then looked at 14D: Peaceful protests, I feel very certain that the "V" alone would've given me LOVE-INS (14D: Peaceful protests), and that corner would've been much much easier. Still hard, but solving the terminal "I" thing alone at 25A would've been huge. But instead I had YTD in there and that wrong terminal "S" and so pfft.


Other clues were hard as hell. 12A: Browsing letters ... that could be lots of things (also, is DSL still a thing? I've had a cable modem forever so I have no idea). The "Fig." in "annual reports" was a CEO!? Again, hyper-vague cluing. What the hell is a "snuffer" I wondered, til the bitter end. SNUFFER is one of those horrible made-up -ER words that constructors try to foist on you from time to time, like GAGGER or DISLIKER. Without that "W," LOW-END (an adjective!?) became near-impossible. And, ugh, I had so many wrong things for 21A: "No way" man (JOSÉ). most notably ANTI (?). Without the "J," JULIAN became near-impossible (misspelling of LEEANN was also screwing things up there). And then the very fine DC COMICS clue was also hard. Phew. First thing to fall for me, into all that emptiness (besides CAV) was AEOLIAN (29A: Windblown)—I had had Coleridge's harp in my head from the second I looked at that clue, but somehow all my first thought were AER... something. This made terminal "S" problem look like a problem, and from there LOVE-INS fell. Usually, at that point, the whole corner crumbles. Not here. I inched my way, limply (and fittingly) back to LOW-END. At that point, I could remember none of the rest of the puzzle, and my time was up in the Saturday range. Oh well.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

PS in BOWL A STRIKE's ... let's say, defense ... artofmanliness.com (!!) says BOWL A STRIKE

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

137 comments:

Anonymous 6:26 AM  

Inauguration day coming soon. 100 percent chance of snowflakes.

OWM 6:34 AM  

I imagine it was in the order. I am in no way in OFL's league when it comes to solving speed, and while the NE definitely put up resistance, for me it was because I had a hard time believing that something would start with "DCC". Peaceful protests had to be Something-INS, so I started with INS and assumed Love. I had mAV instead of CAV for awhile, since I have no idea where the arena is and thought first about dallas. JOSE was for some reason a gimme, which gave us JULIAN. Had LOW-N- forever before I figured out LOWEND.

Charles in Austin 6:41 AM  

Why "faux clever," Rex?

Loren Muse Smith 6:47 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Loren Muse Smith 6:49 AM  

Man oh man was this beastly hard for me. Even for a Saturday. A big problem was that once I had OCTANT and AEOLIAN in, I got a little scared and more willing to accept words I wasn’t too familiar with.

I was also scared because it felt kind of math-y – OCTANT and all the clues with what felt like math in them. “Numbers game, 10 from one, 10 from two, numero, one eighth”…

@OWM – me, too, for “Mav” first. And that was after “Nat.”

I guess my most ridiculous mistake was that synagogues have a “shroud.” As in Turin. Right. Uh – helloooo? Are they hiding this proof of Jesus from everyone? Sheesh.

There are nine entries that end in Y. Cool.

Poetry clues make me feel like an outsider. I had “then” before THEY but got ERE easily enough. I totally understand that as an English teacher, I have to up my game with Dickinson and Whitman. Of course I cover some poetry, but the whole time I do, I feel like I felt back when I used to find myself trapped in a closed patio umbrella with a grumpy bat. Hah. Just kidding, @Hartley 70.

I’m becoming more confident in what I do bring to the table, though, and am happy to report that I had A Moment yesterday in class. I have been “getting” kids for a while with that old joke about the difference between an elephant and a henway. What’s a henway? About six pounds. You know that one, right? I’ve taken that idea and completely run it into the ground. (The best was rushing up to Ben H -inventive, gifted class disrupter- and asking, Quick! I need some sminame before I punch lunch numbers. Do you have any I could borrow? When he said What’s sminame?, when I saw the realization dawn on him as to just what he was saying, I cackled and hurried on. Good times.)

Anyway, a student yesterday – shy guy – raised his hand, and his buddies said, Mrs. Smith! Nicholas has a question! Nicholas never has a question, and his buddies were too gleeful. I was on full alert. I went over…

Yes? Nicholas?
Sniff sniff – I smell sup-dog. Do you smell it?
My heart sang, but I acted like I totally stepped into it. What’s sup-dog?

They all howled that he had gotten me. I was unspeakably proud, prouder than if he had quoted Dickinson.

This is a long-winded way of explaining that I feel defensive and dumb about not being comfortable with poetry. Just wanted to justify that I am teaching useful stuff to these kids. My newest game is

Knock, knock
Who’s there?
I eat cowp.


… you do the math.

Steve Hardgrave 7:10 AM  

Surely I'm not the only one to have a Natick at AEOLIAN/ODAMAE? Man, that was a "type every letter of alphabet until the happy pencil appears" crossing.

razerx 7:11 AM  

I am a comic book nerd so after getting CEO and CAV I got the fill pretty easily. After getting ALUMNI something SNAKE was obvious. Great clue for JOSE.

Glimmerglass 7:32 AM  

Geez, Rex. I'm still looking for the day you write, "It was a hard puzzle for me because I made some mistakes and ruined my Friday time average, but I gotta TIP my HAT to the constructor. All the clues were fair, and the arcane words were spread out where I could eventually work them out from crosses. " But not today.

Irene 7:33 AM  

Loved it, although I never did get the NE corner. There should be a limit to abbreviations. On the other hand this was clever cluing (Jose!) and Bowl a strike came right back from my bowling days.

Leapfinger 7:33 AM  

Loved the thorny-punny solve, esp thought [Close to the bottom] LOW_END was hilarious. Yet somehow, my spirits are FLAGON, so without further a due, here's 'No Way" JOSE and a CASTOFF thousands:

NOSILY, NOSILY, NOSILY on word,
Into da PISTIL poked the WICKS-leak NERD.
DE PLOY didn't work although he thUNDERed
And JULIAN bLEWD his LOWEND all asUNDERed.
With Assange in his heart
But his back-Sessa in sling
May his BOW LAST RIKEr's Isle very soon be gracing.

The lesson is AMPLIFY say so myself.

Hope the previous doesn't bunch anyone's pantEASE; the idea just CRYPT into my mind with that A-E-I-O-ULIAN JULIAN/WICKS area. Hey, I'm not arguing, I'm just THESISing.

In other news, we're coming into a bunch of snow and some really cold temps, so I'm prepping for the AGE O'FREASON.

OVER THE MOON and UNDER THE SUN,
A SCROLL down Stulberg Lane is a FRYday well begun.

Dorothy Biggs 7:53 AM  

Just for the record, 12D (Flash source) is perfectly spaced for "usbdrive." First mistake. Also, 55A (Period following the Renaissance) is perfectly spaced for "reformation." Off the top of my head, I'm not sure where the reformation fits in terms of the Renaissance, but it sure looked good fitting in there all neat and tidy-like. Second mistake.

So, this one created lots of problems. Unlike yesterday, however, I finished today. But it took a while.

I don't think I've ever seen Frosted OAT Flakes. They make flakes out of oats now? I've seen OAT squares and lots and lots of cereals that are oaten...but not flakes. Hell, I've seen quinoa, amaranth, spelt, and a ton of other flakes...but OATs??

For a long time at 37D I had --S-OFF. My inner 12 year old was really hoping for some different letters there.

DIPSOS? Somehow I'm familiar with calling lushes "sots," or a bunch of other names, but where and in what context is someone called a DIPSO? Do any of you here regularly call drunks, DIPSOS?

And finally, a shout out to 27A...which, I guess, is a complete sentence in Spanish. Nice. Now I'm supposed to know sentences?

ODAMAE...did not know. I've seen the movie. I know Whoopi is in it. Didn't know her name. At all.

Oh yeah, and OCTANT. Seriously? OCTANT? Have xword puzzles just become finding words that are words by no one uses and just putting them into a grid?

Old Lady 8:17 AM  

DIPSOS - short for dipsomaniacs. Not all that uncommon.

Anonymous 8:22 AM  

Yes,I too enjoyed the OVER/UNDER THE celestial bodies pairing. I feel that snuffer, more so candlesnuffer, is solidly well within "thing" territory.

Random line from some old noir film--chlorine exclaims sottedly, "I'm a DIPSOmaniac and I like it! I like it!" Words to that effect.

I am not a robot 8:39 AM  

A few erasures. A lot of deep thought. Google. A little more Google. Voila! Nothing filled in but the look-ups. Couldn't even get the threes.

Dr. Z 8:45 AM  

Have spent my 65+ years mistakenly calling a candle extinguisher a 'snufter', not a 'snuffer'.
This ('Saturday time' for me, as well) puzzle sent me Googling for snufter after I finished. BTW, dipsos was my last fill in; I got the jingle when I changed it from ditsos (poetic license for ditzos?)
Anyway, other than an ad on Etsy for a candle snufTer, snufter is a vessel containing a pleasant or therapeutic aroma for inhaling.
Kinda like a brandy snifter with vowel movement.
Good luck tomorrow 😎

da kine 8:50 AM  

I also had trouble in the NE. SNUFFER is not a made-up crossword clue. It's one of those things that looks like a thimble on he end of a metal pole to put a candle out.

gruffed 8:55 AM  

Best thing about hard crossword puzzles - you can stare at one (like today's)and see nothing at all, then make a pass and get a foothold, then keep going and voila, after a half hour or so you actually solve it without having to Google anything. Very satisfying, if I must say.

Dolgo 9:10 AM  

Your joke reminds me of the old Mizzurrah one--"I went hunting and got two rabbits and a lot fur." "What's a lot fur?" "To cook the rabbits in."

Yeah, I know
TERRIBLR. But it reflects my mood after battling with this puzzle.

Dolgo 9:18 AM  

This is my first DNF in a long time. And I got Odamae, Aeolian, AND dipsos (though I first spelled it with a "y." Good one, though Jacob! It was great to be RESLLY challenged for a change. Slept like a baby, even with it unfinished. Woke up about 5:30 and spent more effort, but then had to give up and find out what Rex and the rest of had to say.

Vanessa 9:23 AM  

SNUFFER is a thing, and I was amused because the only person I've ever known who actually had one had the last name of WICKS.

Nancy 9:26 AM  

Ah, yes, FLAGON:
The pellet with the poison's in the FLAGON with the dragon.
The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.

--Danny Kaye in "The Court Jester"
So already I loved this puzzle, because that nutty patter song cracks me up every single time. If you've never seen the movie (or at least that scene), Google it now. As for the rest of the puzzle, I wrestled mightily with it in every single section and enjoyed every minute of the struggle. I got in via the SE, which was a bit easier then everything else, but couldn't even handle that until I changed CPR to SPF for "lifeguard's concern, in brief". I should have known he'd be more interested in his suntan than in saving my life. Not good.

It's so annoying to have things that you know -- or knew once -- on the tip of your tongue -- and not be able to access them. ODA MAE and MY PRETTY fell into that category. It's such an age-related thing. And not the AGE OF REASON, either. The age of forgetfulness. Or as the late Nora Ephron wrote: "I Remember Nothing."

I don't like "Suitable for printing" for CAMERA READY at all. I think it should be "suitable for shooting" or "suitable for filming". Printing is what you do for books (remember them?), not photos. But mostly I just loved this puzzle.

Anonymous 9:28 AM  

For what it's worth, I had CAV and LOVEINS but still needed to google a bunch to finish this. Having JUDEAN calendar didn't help.
--Twangster

Anonymous 9:34 AM  

Tough one. Admire OVERTHEMOON & UNDERTHESUN.
Don't know what CEO is doing in an annual report unless it is a line item for his compensation. His letter is not part of the report.
Quibble about WICKS. Snuff the flame not the wick.

Z 9:37 AM  

I haven't gone longer than 35 on a Friday in awhile, and I would love to say, "good job, tip of the hat to the constructor," but I'm just not feeling it. The PPP isn't a big issue, but there is just too much arcane stuff here. OVER THE MOON sounds like something someone's grandmother would say. HATS were last tipped sometime before I was a teenager. AEOLIAN is the kind of word creative writing teachers tell you not to use because it's obscure. DIPSOS? WICKS? CRYPT? Which century is it?." Apparently the century that saw the debut of MY PRETTY and OVER THE MOON in the same year, you know, the one that ended 17 years ago. Even the "pop" culture is more like "grand pop culture," ODAMAE was busy seeing Patrick Swayze's ghost before any of my adult sons were born.

All a long way of saying I agree with Rex, too few "Aha" moments and too many "Really?" moments.

@Malsdamere - Bravo.

r.alphbunker 9:45 AM  

At least Rex found it challenging also. I give myself 45 minutes to solve a Friday and ran out of time. I broke the stalemate by googling the Emily Dickinson phrase. I was plagued throughout by plausible wrong answers including:

32A. {Targets of snuffers} NOSES-->WICKS
12A. {Browsing inits.} URL-->DSL
60A. {In this world} DOWNTOEARTH-->UNDERTHESUN
55A. {Period following the Renaissance} ENLIGHTENMENT-->AGEOFREASON
35A. {Unhealthy} WAN-->ILL
24D. {Without regard for privacy} OPENLY-->NOSILY
30A. {Lushes} TOPERS-->DIPSOS
31D. {Cry after a score, maybe} RAH-->OLE
47A. {Lifeguard's concern, in brief} CPR-->SPF
30D. {Place in battle formation} DRAWUP-->DEPLOY
28D. {Ovary's place} UTERUS-->PISTIL
59A. {Fish ___} ROE-->FRY
20A. {Line on a bill} DUE-->SUM

The lifeguard and the ovary clues were particularly devious.

Details are here.

jackj 9:53 AM  


Rex wrote- "(also, is DSL still a thing? I've had a cable modem forever so I have no idea)"

Delicious justice, bitten in the butt by LOCAL CALL syndrome.

Maruchka 9:57 AM  

I'm sadly with @Dolgo - first DNF in AGEs. I do agree with OFL that the clueing is a bit squishy. But - mea culpa for [Jean] ARP and not remembering that ovaries can be non-mammalian. Odd that the longer crosses went more EASily intuitive.

Fav of the day - LOVE INS. Was at Golden Gate Park for the Human Be-IN. Leary, Kandel, Ginsberg, et.al. It went a bit squishy, too. And a prelude to the demise of the Haight vibe, alas.

Lee Coller 9:59 AM  

That clue for DSL doesn't make any sense. Browsing Inits? That's like cluing electricity as coolant (it does run the compressor on my freezer).

1820 Stone Colonial House 10:03 AM  

@ Nancy, In my day, page layouts that were ready for printing were called CAMERA READY, Because the pages were literally photographed to generate the film to drive the presses. Since the advent of design and layout software, the term is probably archaic and should have been referenced as such.

Glenn Patton 10:10 AM  

Interesting that we have LOVEINS (plural) in the NYT and LOVE IN (singular) in the Chronicle of Higher Education today.

mathgent 10:12 AM  

I went to St.Monica elementary school and was terribly jealous of the altar boys who had the fun of extinguishing the candles with a snuffer after mass had ended. I had transferred in from public school and didn't get invited to join that elite group.

As is usually the case, I agree with @Nancy (9:26) on the puzzle. It hurt so good.

I didn't notice OVERTHEMOON and UNDERTHESUN until I read Jeff Chen. Very, very nice.

Liked JOSE. But too many threes, including TRE with its terrible clue. Put me down for an A minus.

JB 10:13 AM  

Snuffers were one of my favorite little household tchokes to play with as a kid. Totally a real word.

Glenn Patton 10:18 AM  

And, Nancy (9:26), "camera ready" is very much a "thing" in the printing/copying business. In response to your request to put an ad in the newspaper, the ad rep might say "I can get it in the Sunday edition if you can get me camera-ready copy by noon today."

Anonymous 10:19 AM  

Did anyone else put in DICKPICS for 12D Flash Source? IEO is a financial term, and ... well I have no excuse for the rest of the down.

Greg 10:19 AM  

It's already been covered, but I came here feeling obligated to say this, so here I go... a snuffer is absolutely a thing in the exact context that it is used in this puzzle. It still took me a long time to get it, but it is by all means a fair, and good-challenging, clue.

Greg 10:21 AM  

@Anonymous 10:19 that is possibly the best misdirect I have ever seen --C----- with that clue?! DICKPICS is so, so much better than the actual answer.

Churlish Nabob 10:22 AM  

@Charles in Austin asks, "Why 'faux clever,' Rex?"

Because cry baby couldn't immediately think of the answer?

jberg 10:30 AM  

I'm writing this over a DSL, and I own not one but two candle snuffers, which I use (well one of them) every night after dinner to put the candles out. It still took me some time to get that because my venomous swimmer was some kind of SNAil. Toss out before CAST OFF, and writing NERD at 21A instead of 22D were my other biggest problems -- but it finally came together. I enjoyed it, despite having no idea about Elisabeth SHUE or how to spell KEENEN. (Fortunately, it was the last E, not the first one, that I was unsure of).

mac 10:32 AM  

Tough Friday for me too! Oddly enough, the word I puzzled over the longest was nosily. Even when it was
in place.

CPR for SPF held me up in that area. I like the Age of Reason.

Satisfying puzzle!

evil doug 10:42 AM  

TIP ONE'S cap makes more sense. Baseball players do it all the time when fans demand an encore for a heroic hit, farewell game, so forth.

Pretty convoluted way to get a boring answer--THEY--into the grid via some obscure Dickinson line. I wanted "ne'er" or some similar poetic term.

They use these two-headed gizmos at my church - - one side is ignited to light altar candles, and I learned today the other end is a snuffer.

Always had a thing for Elisabeth Shue...

Mr. Benson 10:42 AM  

The cute "get 10" clues aren't even accurate, since strikes and spares also add points from subsequent frames. "Get at least 10" would have been more accurate, but wouldn't have the same ring.

Anonymous 10:45 AM  

Very hard. I had similar wrong answers to what Rex had. I also took forever to get the bowling clues and barely finished even after googling some answers. I certainly hope the lifeguards are more concerned about cpr in real life than spf!

Dr. Z 10:47 AM  

The '10' probably referred to number of pins, not point score...

GILL I. 10:47 AM  

I'm feeling like @Z today. DIPSOS? Yikes...! I think Frank Sinatra may have used that word a lot. He probably called Sammy Davis or maybe it was Dean Martin a bunch of DIPSOS.
It did feel "oldish" but I rather enjoyed this incredible struggle. My proudest moment was getting OVER THE MOON just off the O in OCTANT. Then I just stared and couldn't get my butt moving. Like @Nancy, I had trouble dredging up names that I knew I knew. ODA MAE...good grief I must have watched "Ghost" a hundred times yet I couldn't remember Whoopi's name in it. Same with MY PRETTY. I wanted Smeagol's Precious.
I'm asuming "Numero su unorologio" - 27A is Italian because it doesn't make any Spanish sense to me. Hand up for snuffers being in this real world even though I wanted NARCS for some stupid reason.
Finished this with Google help for DC COMICS KEENEN LEEANN and the spelling of AEOLIAN. Oh, and I never can get SODUKO SUDOKO SUDOKU spelled correctly SO SUE ME.
@Malsdemare....I'm with you in spirit....!

JFe 10:49 AM  

@malsdamere
Your eloquence crushed the snide remarks. Safe travels.

Malsdemare 11:04 AM  

Hoo boy, what a mess. Stared at this for a long time 'Til I got VAINER and MESSY, which gave me OVERTHEMOON, CAMERAREADY,and TIPSONESHAT. And then after a scattering of useless stuff, crickets for a long time. Unlike REX, I got most of the NE after a bit of a fight, (had Jack for JOSE, no idea why) and then slowly fought my way through the SW, smiled at UNDERTHESUN, got the rest of the SE and then bombed big at LEEANN (totally meaningless clue for me) and putting in day for ANY. That day effectively hid ARP and PRO and made me pull DIPSOS. So no gold star here, but it was fun. AEOLIAN is new for me, and I thought the BOWLASTRIKE/SPARE and FIT/ILL contrasts were fun. I loved the clue for ALUMNI even if it does exclude more than half of the graduates. I refuse to accept that antidiluvian notion that somehow I'm included in terms that refer to males. But that's just me. Sorry, REX, I actually have a SNUFFER, and that's exactly what it's called.

Thanks to all for the "attagirls" for marching and to the anonymice: tthppt!

Anonymous 11:21 AM  

It's a term used in publishing to indicate that a page layout is ready to be printed.

evil doug 11:25 AM  

Mals,

I'm a big fan of peaceful demonstration, so I hope you have a safe journey.

What I'm *not* a fan of is hyperbolic presumption and exaggeration:

"So I'm going to march with my daughters and my seventy-six year old sister as evidence that a whole lot of us won't sit idly by while 20 million people lose their health insurance, the elderly get vouchers instead of medicare, public education gets gutted, the cabinet gets filled by high flying financiers, and racism becomes the norm."

Those of us who didn't vote for Trump have cause for carefully watching how he does the job. We had cause 8 years ago, too, when a backbencher with little experience was elected. But when you ignore logic and refuse to participate in honest debate, you sow the wind--and if this devolves into chaos and civil war there are many who will be more than happy to engage with you....

So best wishes, stay safe (and warm!), and help us all stay on the honest and objective path.

Doug

WhoisMark 11:31 AM  

On "Survivor" Jeff Probst uses a SNUFFER to extinguish the torch flame. The host also has said he keeps the SNUFFER from each season as a souvenir.

I gave up on my paper solve as I had DAY at 23A for lead-in to one or time and from there could not work out HANSARP, PRO, NOSILY, OR DIPSOS.

Loren Muse Smith 11:41 AM  

@Mark Barrett - first, right under your name was "Survivor" and I just saw "Burnett" and was beside myself that we had a fancy famous person reading these comments. Second- I tried "day" first, too, for ANY.

Lewis 11:50 AM  

Very little time to comment, just to say that this felt like a Saturday puzzle, and a brutal one at that. There were several answers out of my knowledge bank, and several I just didn't figure out. Yet I liked the puzzle. I liked how deep down tough it was, with no fault in the cluing or fill. Come at me again any time, Jacob!

Arlene 11:52 AM  

I've developed my own technique when Fridays and Saturdays become too challenging. I fill in what I can, and since I now solve online, I "cheat" and just check the puzzle for errors, and continue. For some reason, just checking for errors has allowed me to keep going and complete even tough puzzles.

It worked perfectly for this puzzle - and hearing the finishing music is a day-brightener.

Of course, this isn't a competitive strategy - but for my own gratification and peace of mind.
Try it - for those who tend to give up and fling the thing!

Noam D. Elkies 11:54 AM  

@malsdemare the clue for 25A:ALUMNI is agnostic on whether the term is limited to males. If "alumni" are males only then it's still true that the collection of alumni grows every May (and June), as do the sets of alumnae, and of course of alums (which includes both alumni and alumnae, as well as the few graduates who don't consider themselves either male or female, and the many graduates so clueless about Latin that they refer to themselves as "an alumni"). The clue is fine either way. I thought that the politically questionable clue/entry pair was "Lushes"=30A:DIPSOS (alcoholism isn't cute).

NDE

old timer 11:57 AM  

@Maruchka, I was at the Human Be-In too. First time I saw the Grateful Dead. I loved the poets and the vibe, and started visiting the Haight more often. Managed to get myself a job in SF that summer, and spent some time on Hippie Hill in my off hours.

This puzzle was too hard for me to do without help. I Googled for ODA MAE and for the correct spelling of Ms. Womack's name (like OFL I had put in "Leanne" first).

I was suitably impressed when I found UNDER THE SUN at the bottom. And with BOWL A STRIKE crossing SPARE. OFL was wise to correct himself on that one. Everyone says "BOWL A STRIKE". And when you bowl either a strike or a spare, you get 10 points for that frame, and then can get extra points in the next frame, so the clues one for ten and two for ten are perfectly correct.

I thought most of the clues were fair, but OCTANT was too obscure (though gettable on crosses) as was ODAMAE. Couple of very clever misdirects: HANS where most people would have confidently written in JEAN, and SPF where the first thing that comes to mind is CPR. Of course lifeguards have to think about sunscreen every day, while they use CPR only once in a blue MOON. A good lifeguard (my daughter was one for a few summers) rescues people before CPR becomes necessary,

triggerfinger 12:05 PM  

Fantastic puzzle...thanks Jacob. Difficult but solveable. Perfect!

puzzle hoarder 12:09 PM  

This was a challenging but in the end doable Friday. I started with OAHU, NERD and RESOD. My only problem with the NW was an ETA/ODA write over. The SW was the easiest as MYPRETTY was a gimmie. The issues in the SE were figuring out the bowling theme and remembering that SHUE is spelled with a U. Where I had real problems were the center and the NE. I was convinced that 38A was LONNIE. I conflated today's clue name with Bobby Womack and Bonnie Koloc. That killed some time. My biggest mistake was that based on ALUMNI and AEOLIAN I entered SEASNAKE at 13D and GOLDMINE at 12D. I thought What a brilliant clue. I could just hear Mick Jagger singing "flashin from the mines" only it didn't work. Which of these two perfect seeming entries is wrong? Luckily we've had the DCCOMIC and the JOSE tricks before but it was quite a time suck.

Masked and Anonymous 12:12 PM  

Over: the moon.
Under: the sun.
Inside: put up a fight. Even pulled a PISTIL on me, one time.

@Evil: yep. SHUE fetish. I can dig it.

@RP: yep. Hard puz with a capital HAR. Precious nanoseconds fell like snowflakes in an avalanche. I somehow prefer BOWLA to THROWA, STRIKE-wise. THROWA could also be a baseball STRIKE; wobbly.

Ain't that ultrafast-movin dude in DCCOMICS called **The** Flash? Did he just go by "Flash", among friends? There was a comic book Flash Gordon, too, soo … maybe that woulda got confusin. Sure confuses the M&A, anyhoo.

Got CAV/LOVEINS as a package deal, which really helped the cause, in my NW cornerquest.

staff moo-cow stampede lost in translation clue: {Numero su un orologio}. is this Spanish? Italian? Crosswordese? Figured on numero = number, soo … guessed the E part of TRE.

Thanx, Mr. Stulberg. Feisty clues and names. (Feisto un us oralsurgerio odamayo.)

Masked & Anonymo5Us


**gruntz**

QuasiMojo 12:14 PM  

@Nancy, I'm surprised at you. Photographs are indeed "printed." They call individual photographs "prints," n'est-ce pas?

I tore through this one today, with only a few hiccoughs. I knew LeeAnn Womack from past misadventures into the excessively formulaic world of pop country music.

As a former avid bowler, I can accept "bowl a strike." Perhaps a pro would insist on saying "throw" but the average league bowler, as I was, although I did break 200 once, would probably race back up the alley and tell his buddy, "Hey, did ya see that? I just bowled a strike!" Or maybe he'd say "got a strike." Unless it was the third in a row and then he's shout to the everyone "under the sun" -- "Hey, I got a turkey!"

Stuartwm 12:23 PM  

While it's usually "candle snuffer", I don't think that makes "snuffer" an invented word.

Jessica Evans 12:26 PM  

Hi everyone! You don't know me, but I feel like I know all of you, so I thought I would introduce myself. I've been solving the syndicate-run puzzles for several years--so I've lurked this forum but never commented, since I was weeks behind. I finally swallowed my pride and got a subscription, so I can actually do the day-of puzzle now :)

Thought I would share two things. This could be long, so bear with me.

1-Although I've been doing this puzzle for over a decade and have certainly improved, it will still be quite a while before I an finish a Saturday or even a Friday without looking up a lot of stuff. Point is, I'm no expert. Sometimes it's easy for expert solvers to forget what it's like to be a beginning/hobbyist/let's-face-it-not-so-great-of-a solver. So I want to acknowledge all the encouragement and positive comments on this site. Except for @Rex. (Just kidding Rex)
(A special shout-out to @Lewis --even when I don't have time to read many comments, I always scroll through to find yours, because you always put a positive spin on even bad puzzles, and it makes me happy.)

2-Being a few weeks behind, I was not looking forward to the November 9th puzzle, because I didn't want to get tossed back into the despair of that day. I actually skipped the puzzle for a few days because of it. Yesterday I got curious and read those posts. There were some comments that implied it was inappropriate to be griev-y on this forum. But I say, like or not we are a community, (a slightly nerdy one, but still), and it's entirely appropriate to share experience with friends.

That's all. Happy solving!

Anonymous 12:35 PM  

@Mals, I think anonymice is a nasty sort of blanket term, although I know it's meant to be fun. Most offer intelligent and insightful comments. Can someone come up with something that doesn't paint a large group with the same brush or use anonymouse?

Malsdemare 12:45 PM  

@Noam - I know it's a fair clue and I recognize that the other more inclusive variations didn't fit. I was just nit-picking.

Fellow bloggers, I want to continue the conversation with another blogger and this is the only way to do so. I apologize for being off-topic.

@doug - I appreciate the thoughtful reply. Perhaps there was a bit of hyperbole in some of what I wrote, but thus far, Congress' maneuvers and the cabinet choices have not been reassuring. I tried to be my usual cautiously optimistic self after the election, but I'm finding it much harder to muster it these days. There's a lot at stake and I'm losing faith in our government; I find that very depressing.

I don't expect violence or chaos on the march, but I will be with good people and we will look out for one another. I've written letters, sent emails, made phone calls to our elected officials and will continue to do so concisely, politely, reasonably. I'm donating money to groups that will need it, use it well I will debate anyone who uses actual fact in her reasoning, unlike anonymous's perpetuation of the debunked story that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts. I'm marching to give a physical public presence to that communication. I don't want to stay home and let others do the work for me. I don't want to be saying one day, "If only I'd . . ."

DeeJay 12:48 PM  

My thoughts exactly. And, while we're at it, why don't we assign puzzles in the low time tercile "easy," the mid tercile "medium" and high tercile "challenging?"

Carola 12:48 PM  

Medium for me, although it began in the "impossible" range. First run through the Acrosses: nope, nope, nope, nope....WICKS! I'm in the snuffer-owning crowd and use ours every evening at the end of dinner; I feel it gussies up even the most questionable crockpot meal. Otherwise my Across ideas were a possible but not-written in urL, TSK, SPF, and OAT. The Downs saved me: first in was LOVE-INS, which led to AEOLIAN, and off I went.

The NW caused me some trouble, partly because of a slightly misidentified OrAMAE. A guess at the ever-handy HANS ARP let me see the THE and then the rest of OVER THE MOON. In the SE, a lame guess at TusSle slowed me down for a while. In the SW, I almost wrote in Pelvis for the ovary's place, but the unlikely V-ending for a word stayed my hand. Favorite entry: MY PRETTY. I can just hear Margaret Hamilton.

Suzy 12:53 PM  

Oda Mae was a gimme, just about the only one in this tough but well done puzzle. Haven't hear the word dipso in a very
long time. Saw Julian right away, but took forever to see Jose-- clever cluing! And I still have a long, silver candle snuffer which
my granddaughters love using!! Thank you, Mr. Stulberg!

Maruchka 12:59 PM  

@Old Timer - Cool! Glad your varieties of experience were groovy. We housed a few teeny waifs, whose were not so great. Thankful for the free clinic and Diggers..

RooMonster 1:04 PM  

Hey All !
Tough FriPuz! Pissed at myself for needing to Goog LEEANN. Knew it, but the ole brain refused to let it come out. Then had to Goog for the Birds in an Aquarium thingie. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw Jean ARP did it. So wrote it in, to find the crosses weren't jibing. Got the ONES, so ReGoogled (har) to find Jean ARP made a sculpture titled Birds in an Aquarium, while a HANS ARP made a painting with the same name! No fair!

Managed to suss everything out, except that little weeject (@M&A) stack in NE, and leaving blank AMP____. Ugh. LOVEINS wasn't gonna happen. Had nAt for CAV, so the LOVE part was out of my ken. And DCCOMICS, while clever, was WOEful, as was thinking of either a camera flash, or lightning. THEN having THEN for THEy threw off the DEPLOY, and an O in PISToL, no clue what DIPSOS is, and wanting NO-something instead of seeing it as a start to NOSILY sealed my fate in the center. Many writeovers. Still feel Ozk about leaving some squares blank. Better to do that then blow a brain fuse!

Liked the Bowling clues! The Big Lebowski does have some funny moments, but also (I think) tried just a bit too hard for corny-funny-oddness.

LEWD as clued is weird. UNDER THE SUN seems iffy. Maybe I'm just a DIPSO NERD.

OLE!
RooMonster
DarrinV

I am not a robot 1:08 PM  

Oh dear God @Malsdemare and @Evil, what a civilized exchange. See what they did there kids? That's called a conversation. Respectful discourse between thoughtful people. Standing O. Thank you.

Teedmn 1:12 PM  

NE definitely the hard spot today even though I avoided all of @Rex's problems. 32A went in as WICKS after I decided no NYTimes puzzle clue would be dealing with "snuff" films. The only other thing ever snuffed are candles so that wasn't a problem. I then threw in SNAKE off the K. However, none of the crosses were working for me so I crossed all of that out, only to write it all back in when LOW END came into view off the D of ETD.

Chapter closed, no? No. 12A, 16A, and 18A were all empty and I had ALUMNa in at 14D. I finally put in urL at 12A, giving me LOVE INS and cleaned up; whew, that was close.

Also having daY at 23A gave me daY time and daY one but also gave me HANS d_ _ and a_SILY as being without regard to privacy. An aha moment seeing ARP cleared that up.

I was OVER THE MOON that that went in immediately at 1A and most of the puzzle was that easy so I sort of welcomed the NE IMPEDancE.

Nice Friday challenge, thanks Mr. Stulberg.

thfenn 1:16 PM  

Is Malsdemare's first comment the one that's deleted at the top? People are referring to an entry I can't see...

Finished, but not without lots of cheating. Pretty much what NCA President and Z said, plus plenty of other places that stumped me. It's tough when you find the nerve to go with REFORMATION and it's still wrong. EXCLUDE before CASTOFF and TUSSLE before THESIS were other setbacks for me. Didn't do badly, but am back to feeling like I'm not quite up to it, so will keep trying.

My house is full of sisters, daughters, and friends coming into town to march the weekend in question. Can only hope it's peaceful and effective, and that I can still see the Chinese ballet that night.

Arden 1:19 PM  

Really enjoyable puzzle. I do it on paper so no happy pencil to check if I am right. Only trouble spot: I knew Odamae ( from crosswords, not the movie) and didn't trust it because...aoeolian????

Stanley Hudson 1:22 PM  

@Malsdemare, you rock sister! My wife and some of her friends will also be in the March, all the way from NorCal.

And as for the Anons/Anonymice/whatevers who seem to have a problem with Americans exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech--don't let the bastards get you down.

Trombone Tom 1:29 PM  

Late to the party. Lots of great comments today.

I found this a tough but doable puzzle. Hand up for keeping CPR in until the very end when SPF replaced it.

No problem with recognizing snuffer's connection with WICK.

Liked the crossing bowling clues, which were hard to figure out.

Thank you, Jacob Stulberg for an enjoyable workout!

Anonymous 1:42 PM  

Gregory Nuttle :

I agree wholeheartedly! DICKPICS could have been alternately clues Anthony's Forte or Huma's Downfall, no?

Foamfollower 2:01 PM  

Precisely!
I'm was so young, smug, and self-righteous I actually participated in Love-Ins during the 60's, little suspecting my self-righteousness would turn to self-satisfaction today because of it.

RooMonster 2:04 PM  

Just to be a smart ass....
Why can't you just blow out the candles?
:-)

RooMonster

Crane Poole 2:04 PM  

Gnarf! Glad I'm not the only one who struggled. ANIONS and OCTANT (by Tommy James & the Shondells). ROLL (not BOWL) A STRIKE, ABU. Dhabi's not good enough, gotta be Disney where I'm a-fluent. Gridlock in the Northeast where I was misled by the cluing for CEO and DSL. AEOLIAN rhapsody was a late arrival. WIVES before WICKS (that's terrible), then WILLS (better, still evil). So disappointed LOVE INS and JOSE did not come sooner. Great clue for JOSE. ILL at EASE. Good day to you all. - TIPSON E. SHAT.

Numinous 2:07 PM  

I had trouble with AEOLEAN because I've owned several Aulos recorders which can, or at least could, be had for five bucks. So I tried to spell it AuLEAN. But then, ODA MAu just didn't look right.

I've owned a snuffer or two but I generally prefer blowing a candle out or pinching it between thumb and finger. Impatience in snuffing will kill the flame but leave the WICKS smoldering which is not a good thing. I have a reproduction of a 2nd century Roman oil lamp which I got from the British Museum via Amazon. It burns olive oil for fuel. Finding replacement WICKS for it was quite a challenge. I don't think a snuffer would work well on it.

This puzzle kept me going for a while. I'll agree that it was challenging, especially in the NE. Still, I managed without a slew of googling. I did have to look up ODA MAu. Lately I've found that Fridays, for me, often involve a lot of googling while Saturdays are more often completed with none. It's usually the PPP causes that.

OCTANT: an OCTANT was, I believe, a device used for ocean navigation and was similar to a quadrant. The more recent form is, of course, the sextant.

As has already been mentioned, if you bowl a strike, you get ten pins. If you bowl a spare, you get ten pins in two rolls of the ball.

@Malsdemare, you rock! I admire your dedication and your courage. I also appreciated your polite conversation with @Evil Doug.

Numinous 2:15 PM  

@Roo, there is a why! Blowing out a candle, especially the short fat ones, will leave the wick smoldering which shortens it and can make the candle difficult to relight. Also, if the wick is too short, it won't melt enough wax to burn properly and the wick will dwindle and become useless thereby ruining the candle.

DigitalDan 2:17 PM  

DSL doesn't cut it as "browsing inits." Any more than AIR would. You can't browse if you can't breathe. You can't browse if you don't have an Internet. You can't browse if you can't read. You can't browse if there is no light. You can't browse ... The only TLA that would truly fit there would be WWW.

Anonymous 2:21 PM  

@Anon with first comment of the day. LMAO!

@Lee Coller 9:59 AM:

You can't go to a website until you open your BROWSER. You can't open your BROWSER without an internet connection. Cable, DSL, and WiFi are all connectivity options.

@@Evil Doug 10:42AM

Oh yeah! Ms.Shue in Leaving Las Vegas. Yowza! She shoulda got an Oscar. Also, excellent remark to Mals and good advice!

Larry Gilstrap 2:27 PM  

Yes, this Friday puzzle was hard, and the NE sat bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard for what seemed like days, but AEOLIAN blew through the harp strings of my mind and, Et Voila!

Remember the AGE OF REASON? Boy, those were the good old days. I once was in a bowling league. Beer and French fries between frames seemed appropriate. I rarely knocked down all the pins, but when I did, "throw" was the verb, not BOWL. Speaking of COMICS, did you ever see Jimmy Hatlo's TIP of the Hatlo HAT? Definitely some edgy stuff.

All the years I taught in ELHI (hate that), school ended in June, not May. How many weeks comprise an academic year in college these days? If I were paying big bucks to send Junior off to university, I would hope he was putting in some hard time. Do I detect some bitterness?

Z 2:34 PM  

@Anon12:35 - See what I did there? You posed a perfectly valid request in a perfectly reasonable way. I acknowledge it by identifying you as best I am able (save being too lazy to spell out "anonymous" every time). You are not an "anonymouse." You are correct that it is a "nasty term," so I do regret that you think it is a blanket term and that it applies to every anonymous comment, it does not. I do doubt that I will stop using it, though, as it so perfectly captures the essential character of a certain type of poster, better I feel than "troll."

@thefenn - @malsdemare late comments yesterday may be of interest to you.

@Jessica Evans - Welcome.

@Evil Doug - Here's the difference between you and me, I thought @malsdemare's comment was understated.

Malsdemare 2:36 PM  

@thfenn - if you're still looking, the comments are about a thread that started yesterday late afternoon when I mentioned I had just gotten tickets for the women's march on D.C.

Chuck Chagrin 3:33 PM  

Okay, I might have been a desultory student back in the really Dark Ages, but the Renaissance was followed by the Reformation and the Counter Reformation. As for Hans nee Jean Arp, this cute but no cigar.

Chuck Chagrin 3:34 PM  

Okay, I might have been a desultory student back in the really Dark Ages, but the Renaissance was followed by the Reformation and the Counter Reformation. As for Hans nee Jean Arp, this cute but no cigar.

Anonymous 4:28 PM  

in re Mark Shuper, 3:33/4. I know something about the 16th-18th c., and I too never considered the "Age of Reason" to "follow" the Renaissance. So my first answer for 55A was Reformation. The clouds parted when I realized at last that would not work, and I wrote in Age of Reform, with *theory* for 43D. I didn't figure everything out until the clouds really parted and I realized two of the clues referred to bowling.
Usually the Renaissance is followed by the Reformation. Normally Counter-Reformation not considered a separate era. Then there is the nebulous 17th century, sometime called the Age of Doubt or the Age of Skepticism (sometimes dated back to Montaigne). The doubt were about the validity not only of Christian truths (whether in Protestant or Catholic varieties), but also about the "truths" of classical antiquity. Hence Montaigne's skepticism, and 17th-c. philosophers (Bacon, Descartes, et al.) saying that for learning we essentially needed to start afresh. Then, at last, in the 18th c. came the Enlightenment or Age of Reason.

Anonymous 4:49 PM  

@Jessica Evans:

Welcome Jessica. I hope you enjoy participating in this forum, but I offer a word to the wise. Please accept it in the spirit with which it is intended.

First off, from reading your post, I would venture to guess that you are relatively young? At least relative to the majority of regular posters here. Most of us are old and some of us are very old. We're retired and have a lot of time to waste on blogging.

If you've been lurking for a long time, you already know that the vast majority of regular posters here have a decidedly Liberal bent. You may take a certain comfort in that fact, but this blog is not an actual "safe space." Although some may have you believe otherwise, it really is inappropriate to be "griev-y" on this forum.

Don't get me wrong. You can definitely exercise your freedom of speech here. Just don't expect your viewpoints to go unchallenged, and remember that snark begets snark. Also remember that many people follow Rexs' blog. Not all of them post, and not all of them hold your views.

You said, "But I say, like or not we are a community, (a slightly nerdy one, but still), and it's entirely appropriate to share experience with friends."

To address your points above, I say yes, we are a community,(although the term clique has been bandied about recently)but we are first and foremost a crossword community. Secondly, all cruciverbalists are not nerds, just as all martial arts participants are not alpha-males. And finally, sharing your ideology and political viewpoint "experience" with friends is what Facebook is for. Why would you come to a crossword blog to do so?

I shouldn't even have to be telling you all this, but if you look at all the posts over the last 24 hours, you'll see why I am. If that's what you're looking for here, go ahead and feed the narrative. If that narrative goes on long enough, I have no doubt that Rex with eventually moderate this board again. Your choice?

Phil 5:09 PM  

Couldn't get the dc comics. Don't know comics but should have got it.
In my defense DSL has nothing ti do with browsing. URL HTTP HTTPS HTM HTML and in iffy second place is COM EDU etc. But browsing is done on the internet and DSL is a way to hook up to the internet over phone lines however that is way to big of a chasm to jump. Even had CEO but had to take it out for some strange riA SNAKE.
Yeah you got me JS had to fib to do it congrats.

Mohair Sam 5:24 PM  

Got a late start and this brutal challenge just buried us. We marched through the South like Sherman, but DIPSOS and points North were just too much. Worst DNF in a while. Forgot ODAMAE's name, know ARP as Jean, couldn't suss ANIONS, our brains don't think in DCCOMICS speak, JOSE clue just too good for us (a beauty), didn't know AEOLIAN, URL for DSL (agree with @Lee Coller that the clue is off here) - we never had a chance.

Only real complaint is RESOD. To me calling RESODding lawn maintenance is like calling buying a new car auto maintenance.

@Evil - The Heck with "Leaving Las Vegas" - I'll bet your Shue crush goes all the back to "The Karate Kid"

@Malesdemare - (yesterday) - You've got a tip from my hat for that work on the Navajo reservation. History has been particularly cruel to those people.

Anonymous 5:56 PM  

Gee, Anon 4:49, if your intent was to frighten poor Jessica Evans out of her skull about this blog and discourage her from ever, ever returning to it, you could not have done a better job. I don't know yet whether Jessica will prove a wonderful addition to this community or turn out to be the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but it seems to me that nothing she said in her initial post merited the over-the-top and rather alarming warning you leveled at her. Jessica, hang around for a bit, have faith in the people here, and see what transpires. It's likely to be much better than Anon 4:49 would lead you to believe.

Anonymous 6:06 PM  

How funny that a simple crossword blog sheds light on personality. Its possible to see in this blog what Anon@4:49 believes and what Anon@5:56 believes. They're both true at different times. Is it nature? Does it depend on serotonin? Is it nurture, people brought in a happy environment are more prone to have a sunnier outlook. Likely both or one at any time?

Perspective? I worked with a man who told me that "my problem" was that I always saw the glass as half empty. He thought this because every impulsive idea he had was my job to carry out, whether it was a good idea or not. My response to that day's very ill conceived impulse was, "What glass!"

My 20 something daughter recently told me that advice people gave seemed to be based mostly on their personal experience and not really the thing she was asking about. So interesting.

old timer 6:09 PM  

@Anonymous at 4:49, I like your style, and encourage you to come up with a nom de blog, as I have, because usually most folks here pay no attention to the anonymice.

While I'm back, my mother and stepfather loved candles on the dinner table. And we did have a snuffer, which I inherited eventually. My job, and one I enjoyed as a boy, was to use it. Also to set the table, and for a time, help with the dishes. Both my mother and stepfather had "good" china. We used my stepfather's almost every night, but my mother's on holidays. Once in a very blue moon, we used my great-grandmother's china, which was (and is) precious and delicate. When we have guests, we use the china bought for us as a wedding present, and for the last several decades, I have made it a habit to use a cup and saucer from that set every Sunday morning. No use in having good china if you never use it.

Andrew Heinegg 6:19 PM  

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!!

jae 6:21 PM  

NW and SE easy, NE tough, and SW medium-tough, so medium-tough over all for me too. I thought this was going to be a breeze when OVER THE MOON worked with no crosses. Alas, I had enough erasures...toperS > DIPSOS, msn > DSL, sting ray > SEA SNAKE, and me too for cPr > SPF...to make it more of a challenge, especially @everyone in the NE.

Solid with some zip, liked it a lot.

RooMonster 6:41 PM  

@Mike Sharper 3:33, @Anon 4:28
Clue didn't say IMMEDIATELY after, just after. One of those technically correct clues.

@Anon 4:49, @Anon 5:56, @Anon 6:09, youse guys speak fluenty. Seriously, although everyones views are different, you(s) expressed yours thoughtfully and eqsy to read. Consider taking a name, and volunteer on a regular basis. No one here will know who you are in real life unless you want them to.
Just sayin... :-)

Roo

Malsdemare 6:53 PM  

@Mohair Sam - kudos undeserved. I got more from that year than I will ever be able to repay.

Anonymous 7:10 PM  

Make Crosswords Great Again. No more banning words or clues. Bring back Hitler, Osama, and Tiffany Trump. Don't be fascists.

johnnymcguirk 7:27 PM  

It's funny in the old days the people who wanted to ban books, words, etc. were right wing John Birch Society types. Now they're left wing Progressives. That should be their motto: "Progressives-the new John Birch Society "

Happy Pencil 7:39 PM  

Here's what I have never understood about my wonderful neighbours to the south: all the time it's "But the Constitution this" or "But the Constitution that," and yet as soon as someone wants to exercise his or her right to freedom of speech or freedom of religion or freedom to assemble peacefully, someone comes along to try to shut it down. What on earth are you all so afraid of?

Malsdemare, good for you for going to Washington and expressing your concerns about the direction your country is headed -- which is exactly what Trump supporters would have had the right to do had the outcome been different. And to those attempting to disparage you, I echo the words of Joe Biden: "Grow up!"

johnnymcguirk 7:44 PM  

Protests are the hallmarks of a free society. I can't believe anyone would disparage them, nor have I heard (read) anyone doing that (citation please).

Mohair Sam 7:58 PM  

@Malsdemare - I've done business with many tribes, been to many reservations, made many Native friends, and researched their history extensively. I've also been to the Arizona side of that Navajo reservation. I know those kudos are well deserved - keep 'em.

@Jessica Evans - Welcome. Don't listen to anybody, post what you wanna post. Bring a thick skin.

Anonymous 8:18 PM  

Anon@ 5:56

With all due respect, you need better reading comprehension skills. I told Jessica the truth. If that truth doesn't correspond with your world view or ideology, so be it.

Anon@ 6:06:
Excellent post! Wouldn't it be nice if our world view was tied directly to our serotonin levels?

@old timer 6:09;

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have my reasons for staying anonymous.

Hartley70 8:30 PM  

Great Friday puzzle that got me but good. The top half was a cinch and those stack clues gave me the entries without needing crosses but oh the bottom drove me round the bend.

The last time I bowled it cost 25 cents a game and the duck pins were only a dime. I was about ten years old. Those two clues made no sense to me and I kept thinking of a clock. Oh and in desperation I had to ask Mr. Hartley why pelvis wasn't the correct answer for 28 down. He fired back with PISTIL and I about fell off my chair. In our house I am the vocab maven. He did a happy dance all around the room, and it might have been more decorous if he had finished dressing. Still, it made his day.

I am a member of the "silver snuffer" club. It's a safety issue here. Our extended family likes to celebrate our holidays occasionally with a trip to the ER, no bats involved, @Loren. My enthusiastic young son blew out the dinner candles one Christmas Eve and got way too close to the WICK. Some wax and burnt wick flew back into his eye. I let his father and grandfather handle that one and our son had no lasting damage, but for many years after, that snuffer was part of our table decor. I think of it fondly.

Cassieopia 8:53 PM  

Agree with @gruffed and @Lewis, although I had to Google. Stared at the puzz waaaay too long before finding even one full answer, but I have learned in those cases to drop the puzzle and come back to it later. Somehow the brain rearranges itself and word start to appear. For this puzzle, I had to do that for about four times. But I really enjoyed the process, I thought the clues were great, and despite the difficulty I had a lot of fun with this puzzle. Really a nice Friday!

Happy Pencil 9:24 PM  

Seriously, @johnnymcguirk?

"Women's March on Washington LOL good luck with that."

"You're tiilting at windmills and will accomplish nothing other than to feed your ego."

I can't be bothered looking for the comment from the guy who doesn't know how to spell California, or from the sad sack who's still peddling the tired old Planned Parenthood lies, but hopefully this is enough to satisfy you.

johnnymcguirk 9:40 PM  

I hadn't read those, point taken, have a nice night . I still haven't seen anyone looking to shut down protests but you've done enough leg work

Happy Pencil 9:49 PM  

You have a nice night as well. That's my three posts and I haven't even said anything about the puzzle yet!

johnnymcguirk 9:53 PM  

It was a bear. I finished without Google but my friend at work helped me

Z 9:58 PM  

Mansplaining is unseemly, don't you think?

Hey all, Hidden Figures was a fine use of a couple of hours of our time tonight. No explosions, 3-D zombies, animation, or light sabers, so I'm a little surprised it got made.

Anonymous 10:47 PM  

@Roo: @numinous provided a couple of good reasons to use a snuffer but @Hartley provided a better one. It is safer.

In church as several mentioned the altar boys use them, with a lighter as well. The candles are often well above mouth level so you might need a small step ladder to light them and later snuff them.

As mentioned by many, it is just plain fun for children.

I do realize you said it facetiously but the above is a nice summary.

@ofl FYI: DSL is Digital Subscriber Line no mater what the speed or medium. So an ATandT customer with fiber optic Internet connection is still using DSL. Even on old fashioned twisted pair wires you can get tens of megabits/sec, and that is still DSL as well. Wouldn't expect an English teacher to know that.

You are a cable company subscriber and your connection is digital. Though is is never called dsl functionally it is.

Dorothy Biggs 10:58 PM  

Funny, @evil doug, you heckle me for talking any politics at all here. And yet...and yet.

Chim cham 11:08 PM  

I don't get it.

Anonymous 12:15 AM  

You use a snuffer rather than blowing out the candle so you don't blow hot wax all over the place.

Jared 1:03 AM  

NE corner was brutal and I'm glad Rex had trouble with it as well. Learned a new word today in AEOLIAN

+wordphan 1:59 AM  

I don't get it. Rex's blog is getting bloggy.

andrea carla michaels 4:09 AM  

Candle snuffer might be a class thing in that homes where you dined in candlelight on China also had those wonderful little silver snuffers...
That said, my mind went to snuff films...
So I'm thrilled that @Mark Barrett's made the Survivor connection... Love that trivia!

Just got to see "Wizard of Oz" at the Paramount Theater in Oakland for its 85th birthday, the last of these grand old theaters. Magnificent. I'd never seen it on a big screen!
As a child in the 60s, we didn't have a color TV so it was many years before I realized that the film went from Black and White in Kansas to full technicolor in Oz.
that's a big thing to be unaware of!!!

Still missing major things. Like with this puzzl
I missed the parallel OVERTHEMOON/UNDERTHESUN and the perfect placement.
I wanted HEREONEARTH... One more 11 and you have an early week puzzle but what is a fourth with MOON SUN EARTH? Mars?

Working on an astropun puzzle as I write this so shocked I didn't notice that nifty piece of construction by Jacob Stulberg.
Those mini-themes in a tough puzzle is what makes a lovely Friday

Tita 9:40 AM  

I have two SNUFFERS.
I had to come back here to see what I missed. What a day to quit sniffing glue!

Welcome @Jessica. What @Mohair said re: skin.
And... all of us need to be better at not feeding the anonymice. No, that is not a blanket term. Some Anons contribute great posts. You know who you are. Then there are the mice. You know who you are too. The pot-stirrers and grenade throwers. Trolling tactics turn people away, as opposed to reasoned dissention that thinking people read and may even be swayed by.
Oh damn...I just did what I said not to do. I'm so weak when it comes to the ignoring of trolls. Especially when they directly attack one of my clique friends. Or me!!

And yes, you will get better and better at crosswords by reading, and by posting. The insight gained from the behind-the-curtain peek into construction is a big part of that.

Joe Bleaux 12:19 PM  

@Evan Jordan -- My guess is that "TERRIBLR" wasn't Dolgo's worst typo, and that "Lot fur" was supposed to have been "Pot fur."

Aketi 1:37 PM  
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ShortShrift 4:24 PM  

And great clue for CEO, too. What OFL calls 'vague' I'd call 'nice': a dash of Friday misdirection to enliven an xword staple.

mhiggy05 8:50 PM  

Glad somebody brought up the egregious number of abbrevs in the NE. Three stacked on each other- too much for my liking.

Anonymous 12:22 PM  

Nothing to like here. Not fun, not fair - nasty. Rejected.

Burma Shave 12:50 PM  

DIPSOS WICKS

ATFIRST ILL at EASE, MYPRETTY LEEANN lost just her SHUEs,
but feeling VAINER than ANY PRO, she CASTOFF her jeans, too.
To AMPLIFY her FIT LOWEND, she stood LEWD and steady,
ERE I get OVERTHEMOON she’ll be CAMERAREADY.

--- JULIAN KEENAN AMES

Anonymous 1:19 PM  

I hate being a syndicated solver - I don't get to join the conversation.

NCA President - Numero su un orologio is ITALIAN, not Spanish. Three in spanish is tres; in Italian, it's tre.

BS2 1:47 PM  

It's KEENEN. I had to write over it in the puzzle, too.

spacecraft 1:52 PM  

Me too in the NE. The place looks like a war zone. My bugaboo was the only term I could think of for "windblown" that begins "AE:" AErated. But the aha! of JULIAN and JOSE set me to writing heavily over. Yeah, now that it's filled in, AEOLIAN is vaguely (vowelly?) familiar. Now if only people actually USED that word.

The NW, though, had its own headaches. I would never clue RESOD as any form of "maintaining." You mow, you trim, you reseed, maybe. But RESOD? That's like, starting over from square one. Bad clue. OCTANT is another one of those Real Words that No One Ever Uses.

But I did finish despite the MESSY NE. Oh, also misspelled KEENaN; soon remedied. So pretty tough overall, and not that rewarding except for two prime DOD candidates: LEEANN Womack and Elisabeth SHUE. I'll let @rondo have the former. I want SHUE; she oozes sex out of every pore. If you saw her in "Leaving Las Vegas" you'd agree. Par.

Diana,LIW 2:00 PM  

I don't think I had my "thinking cap" on while I played with this puzzle. dnf in a couple of places, including the dreaded ODAMAE/AEOLIAN cross. Must have been all that bubbly at the open house.

As I got bits of BOWLASTRIKE, I wasn't sussing out what it was spelling. (bow last ?ike????) Doing the puzzle last evening and this morning made it a disjointed affair. Didn't see the lovely OVERTHEMOON/UNDERTHESUN until I came here. Liked the puzzle much more after it was done than while playing it.

Wouldn't it be fun to see a puzzle that relied solely on words instead of names?

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

leftcoastTAM 3:05 PM  

Started at the top and ended at the top--not "finished", not "completed", just ended. Too much cleverness, too much obscurity, too many elusive, irksome clues, not to speak of their answers.

My list of WOEs is just too long.

rondo 3:10 PM  

Worked this one out mostly SW to NE. Two key write-overs with cPr at first for SPF and the LEEANN I knew best didn’t spell it like that, yet we did everything UNDERTHESUN, for which I almost wrote in “terrestrial” which would FIT. Couldn’t recall AEOLIAN for the longest time, but it finally registered and bang, done.

Another puz with OLE and not his pal Sven.

Yes, OFL, there are things called snuffers. As a former acolyte I have used them. That long tool used to light and extinguish candles has a wax WICK on one side to light the candle WICKS; flip it over and the other side is a snuffer to put the candles out. If you knocked one over, you would have to put ze kendle beck.

Thanks @spacey, I will gladly take yeah baby LEEANN Womack since she reminds me of my former paramour Leanne (see above), an unfortunate victim of a drunk, speeding driver. MYPRETTY friend was taken from us FAR too early.

Definitely a challenge. Anyone for another FLAGON?

rain forest 3:40 PM  

Challenging here. I popped in JOSE, JULIAN, DEPLOY, AEOLIAN (remembered aeolian harps), and jeanARP (damn). That Jean made the NW quite difficult, but I had a sort of momentum going, particularly in the SW. I liked the bowling clues/answers, and then UNDER THE SUN, made me twig to 1A where I had started to write in OVERWHELMED, which gave me HANS, and then was stuck again.

Over to the NE which really put up a fight, and the answer which IMPEDEd me the most was WICKS, because I just couldn't get past 'snuffer' referring to someone who sniffs snuff. How much snuff can a snuffer sniff? Anyway, I chanced SEA SNAKE, and that was almost yer rodeo right there.

No one needs more of the solve travelogue, but let's just say I plodded to the end, somewhat triumphantly. Got 'er.

Tough but fair, I say.

Z 4:12 PM  

@BS2 - Son #2 is Keenan Z. so it looked like an improvement to me.
Keep up the good work.

Teedmn 7:37 PM  

Ha, @rondo, "put ze kendle beck", made me laugh. Though I don't think I ever saw one of the altar boys knock over a candle. Not being able to get one lit, that was a common problem.

sdcheezhd 8:51 PM  

I did a lot of junior bowling back in Wisconsin. BOWLASTRIKE doesn't work for me. Throw doesn't either. Should be roll a strike. I liked the coordinated clues though. JOSE, CAV and ALUMNI were all gimmes so the NE was fine; NE today was much tougher for me.

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