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Horse breed known dressage / TUE 5-30-17 / Rogen "Neighbors" / Simoleon / "Storage Wars" network / Justice Gorsuch / Boxer Drago / Madeline "Blazing Saddles" / Ex Trump / Religion Five Pillars /
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Constructor: Neville Fogarty
Relative difficulty: Average
 |
| You might've thought it was by Charlotte |
Theme answers:
- LIPIZZANER [ZANE GREY] (17A: Horse breed known for dressage [western writer])
- MILK OF MAGNESIA [AGNES GREY] (27A: Upset stomach remedy [Brontë governess])
- REAR LIT [EARL GREY] (39A: Like a silhouette [19th-century U.K. prime minister])
- HAMMERED IT HOME [MEREDITH GREY] (46A: Really made the point [TV surgeon played by Ellen Pompeo])
- GREY MATTER (63A: Brains ... or this puzzle's four shaded names?)
Word of the Day: LIPIZZANER (17A: Horse breed known for dressage) —
The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner (Czech: Lipicán, Croatian: Lipicanac, Hungarian: Lipicai, Italian: Lipizzano, Slovene: Lipicanec), is a breed of horse closely associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, where they demonstrate the haute école or "high school" movements of classical dressage, including the highly controlled, stylized jumps and other movements known as the "airs above the ground." The horses at the Spanish Riding School are trained using traditional methods that date back hundreds of years, based on the principles of classical dressage. The Lipizzan breed dates back to the 16th century, when it was developed with the support of the Habsburg nobility. The breed takes its name from one of the earliest stud farms established, located near the Karst Plateau village of Lipica (spelled "Lipizza" in Italian), in modern-day Slovenia. The breed has been endangered numerous times by warfare sweeping Europe, including during the War of the First Coalition, World War I and World War II. The rescue of the Lipizzans during World War II by American troops was made famous by the Disney movie Miracle of the White Stallions. Along with the Disney movie, Lipizzans have also starred or played supporting roles in many movies, TV shows, books and other media. (Wikipedia)
• • •
Laura here, guest-posting for Rex, and solving on West Coast time. It's still light out and my laptop and I are outside. (I am considering moving to California just to get the puzzle at 7pm on weeknights.) This one was quite a treat, though I suspect (and have already seen on Twitter) that there are a few entries that will stand out to solvers as somewhat more obscure than one would expect to find on a Tuesday. Case in point: LIPIZZANER, our Word of the Day, which I barely remembered from a brief tweenage obsession with horses. This was after I erased GOAT from 18D (Prize you don't want on "Let's Make a Deal"). (I was originally thinking of a probability puzzle called the Monty Hall problem.) |
| Let's get meta with an image from Rex's other blog |
"Tea, Earl Grey, hot": The Supercut
Bullets:
- 3D: Guitarist's key-changing aid (CAPO) — I was pleased to learn the term for the thing I have always referred to as "that clamp thingy on the neck of a guitar" (no musician, I). Also pleasing to see it clued as something other than "Mafia bigwig."
- 9D: Island wrap (SARONG) — Nothing, what sarong with you?!
- 57D: One side of a Stevenson character (HYDE) — Ya (or I) gotta like a puzzle that references the Rocky movies (6D: Boxer Drago of "Rocky IV" [IVAN]), Blazing Saddles (13D: Madeline KAHN), 1970s Broadway (15A: "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" musical [EVITA]), the BARD (51D: Shakespeare, for one), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Grey's Anatomy, and the youngest and arguably most obscure Brontë sister. Too bad Neville didn't clue DUNE (68A: Beach hill) as "Novel concerning the struggle for Arrakis."
"Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you."
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you."
Signed, Laura Braunstein, Sorceress of CrossWorld
[Follow Laura on Twitter]
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91 comments:
If one doesn't know LIPIZZANER I don't know how you get CAPO or ZONK. The rest of the puzzle was easy, but this crossing is more than a Tuesday.
I remember the booby prize being a goat. Is that defeating trumpet sound called a zonk?
On the easy side for me, but it seemed tougher while I was solving it. Only real problem was spelling LIPIZZANER. Wasn't sure if it was NEal or NEIL and was iffy on ZONK.
We stopped watching Grey's Anatomy when they ran over George with a bus. Classic shark jump. The Izzy/ Denny Duquette story line was also a bit over the top.
Cute, pretty good Tues. with not much gunk, liked it.
Wait, EARL GREY tea was named after an actual person?? I learned something (yes, I'm an idiot). However, I do know that when presented with the "Monte Hall Problem", you should always switch.
Seemed like a strange but serviceable Tuesday. Thx @WestCoastSorceress for filling in and the respite.
LIPIZZANER was the highlight of the puzzle for me. I'm glad to see it was a debut as I had no idea how to spell it. As soon as I read the clue I had a vague of what it would be. It was the scene in the movie "Patton" where George C. Scott rides one that's fixed it in my memory. I just had no idea how to spell it not to mention exactly how it sounded. Until I got the next theme entry I had no idea if word modification was part of the theme or not. It was straight up hidden word. From that point of view 46A was the standout. The constructor considered it his seed entry and it is the best however that horse term did it for me. Its not even in my Webster's so I had to write it in. A late week nugget like that is what makes the early week puzzles worth doing.
For some reason, I have never been confident when spelling that color. I looked it up numerous times and it just won't stick. Now, looking at GREY MATTER, I can see the bus with the dog logo. Mnemonic device, I hope.
I have heard that nothing works like Haley's M-O, but just realized that I have no idea who is Bronte's governess. I got no GREY squares in my print out. Thanks WS! Nobody's named MAG, but that was where I was headed.
But enough about my stupidity, I was quite the theater goer, late 80s, early 90s and was a subscriber at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. In 1986, we were in the second audience ever to see Sondheim's "Into the Woods" with the Broadway cast, minus Bernadette Peters. Months later I saw Sondheim at the intermission of a Penn and Teller show in NY. I could have spoken to him, he was looking at me, but was tongue tied. How about something like: You wrote "There's a Place for Us." That's one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Thanks!
I like puzzles with few three letter word answers. On the other hand, writing MER or ODE always pleases me.
Thought it was a fun puzzle with a clever theme. And a bonus with two references to Stevenson: one in the clues and one in the grid and on top of each other to boot. Personal Tuesday record. No hangups at all. HAMMERED IT HOME great answer. Very little crosswordese or odd proper names. Only small nit for me was A AND E, which N OON E would ever write.
I'll be a bit contrarian and say this was sort of meh. Nothing great about it, nothing terrible. Finished in average-ish time, so I guess calling it Medium is fair.
Only problem with LIPIZZANER was trying to decide if it was two Ps or two Zs. Like @puzzlehoarder I remember the scene in Patton, but IIRC, there was also an old Disney about them. (Which I have not actually seen.)
I have no idea who 2D is, but I think this is 2nd appearance in the puzzle this spring.
Somewhat bland puzzle except for LIPIZZANER and CAPO which I wasn't familiar with in this context, so I raced through the rest and still had a DNF. Hurts to DNF on a Tuesday.
Many of you might see this as a minor quibble, but I think this theme falls apart when it comes to how the shaded squares are clued. They are accurately "grey matters," but the other meaning of "grey matter" as a reference to the color of the squares doesn't work. The American spelling is "gray," Some may argue that Americans sometimes spell it "grey," but that's at best non-standard, and I don't think it quite works in this context, this being an American crossword puzzle.
LIPIZZANER was one of my first fills. We saw them training while visiting Dear Old Dad's hometown of Vienna Austria, quite spectacular.
The theme was pretty easy after ZANE and EARL, Zane was the giveaway, I'm sure GREY is the only ZANE I have heard of.
Getting used to the A AND E and R AND D clues. I'm on to you guys.
Pretty sure if I ever tasted MILK OF MAGNESIA I'd have to spit it out, sounds downright nasty.
I remembered LIPIZZANER from the movie Crimson Tide with the characters played by Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington arguing about their origin during a nuclear crisis. I also remember them from the Ed Sullivan show. Neither memory helped with the spelling, though!
This American always spells it "grey" by preference, so that's anecdotal evidence of two data points.
Does anyone remember champagne popsicles?
"Gray" and "grey" are both used in America. Equally often? Who knows. Often enough to be legit.
Agnes Grey was the governess in the novel by the youngest Bronte sister, Anne. I think I remember that she had trouble finishing it and her sister used the plot for Jane Eyre. Great misdirect, if the previous long answer was recalled from the Mary Stewart novel Airs Above the Ground.
Still and all, a quick puzzle, and an enjoyable one. Interesting theme.
I remember being irritated by that logic puzzle. Not the reasoning so much as the reasoning from most people: this is the answer, because I read it in a column written by someone in Mensa. Come ON.
For the second time recently: INERT can not be "sluggish"!
Only heard of ZANE and EARL, but that didn't halt my enjoyment of this, with a bit more grit in the cluing than the usual Tuesday, and some lovely answers: LIPIZZANER, HAMMERED_IT_HOME, BASE_TEN, and CAPO. Also, nice crosses of MILK_OF_MAGNESIA/SERUM, and BUCK/BASETEN.
I like that "grey" and "gray" are both acceptable spellings for the same thing -- one less rule to worry about.
When I was a girl (and read horse books and lined my dresser top,with horse figurines) my dad surprised me with tickets for just the two of us to see the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions at our local arena. I'm sure he had very little personal interest but it brought a lot of joy to his only daughter. I no longer have my dad, so it's great to start the day with those happy memories.
Finding Meredith in HAMMERED IT HOME totally rocks!
Yeah, that ZONK/LIPPIZZANER cross is just grossly unfair, but beyond that this is way too hard for a Tuesday. No idea who either AGNES or MEREDITH is. Barely know who ZANE is.
When [19th-century U.K. prime minister] is the best-known theme name you’re clutching at straws.
Gore-tex is chemically the same thing as Teflon.
There's some quantitative evidence here that "gray" is the standard American spelling. AP's stylebook also calls for "gray": http://writingexplained.org/grey-or-gray-difference
I almost quit with the guitar and the horse. I finished the rest with a bitter taste in my mouth. I think I could concoct a crossword puzzle that even Rex couldn't solve, but what's the point?
Yeah I also think Zonk/Lippizzaner is a dirty double-crosser: I knew "Lippizzaner' but was unsure of the spelling, and "Zonk" is just totally obscure. Ditto AGNES GREY, although obviously neither "Jane" nor "Eyre" fit. Altho 56D is clearly "send" not "sand, since AGNES and MERIDITH GREY were unknown to most, it seems only fair that 63A should have been clued "British brains."
Any puzzle with Neil Gorsuch is a winner. Yeah, I know our Prez is a buffoon sometimes, but the legacy of his Supreme Court will ensure his place in history as having steered this country back on course.
My "little grey cells" were not working this morning. I must have been ZONKed on the head. I misspelled Lipizzaner as LipINzaner, and never read the clue for 18D. As for Grey/Gray, I have always wondered why Oscar Wilde spelled DORIAN GRAY with an A. I would have liked this puzzle more if it had included a reference to one of my favorite movies: "Grey Gardens."
I remembered the horse only as a LIPIZZAN so the final 2 letters eluded me for a moment. The crosses fixed that easily enough.
I've never seen Grey's Anatomy...but do agree that finding Meredith in HAMMERED_IT_HOME is the CAT'S PAJAMAS.
Misspelling sITE had me wondering what the heck BUsK wuz.
Otherwise, this one played much easier for me than yesterday's...
Thanks Ms. Braunstein for the DUNE shout out. Thanks Mr. Fogarty...
Count me among those with INERT GREY MATTER this morning, wondering what MEREDITH, AGNES, EARL and ZANE had in common. Until my head slap moment.
I did get LIPIZZANER right away and liked seeing LEAPT in the puzzle. I remembered those leaping stallions from my tween years when all the girls were obsessed with horses. The only store in town had plastic horses that you could collect. We collected herds of them. Turns out they are still being sold on eBay and the LIPIZZAN stallion is one of the collectible breeds.
Hand up for not being able to spell lipizzaner!!! thought it was lipinzaner ...but nonk made no sense.
Thanks Laura for the good write-up and telling me what all the shaded names had to do with gray/grey!!
We don't watch "Let's Make a Deal" but our eyes are glued to the famous LIPIHZANER stallions whenever they appear on TV, so HONK was no problem for . . . . . What? No? A ZONK is an actual booby prize on a game show? OK, OK. DNF'd.
Yeah, "ZZ" spells a lot smoother than "HZ" I guess, shoulda known. And if we solved electronically we would have had a lack of Happy Pencil and corrected ourselves and felt smart like all of you. So there.
Fun puzz. We got circles instead of grey shades in our printed out AcrossLite so it took a bit to suss the GREY thing - kept trying to stretch EYRE out to five letters at 27A. MEREDITH new to us, but she filled easily enough. Seems like we're seeing a lot of SETH Rogen lately, maybe he has ACNE. Madeline KAHN always overdid comedy perfectly, didn't she?
@Laura - A+ for the substitute teacher today. With a Gold Star for the hideous SARONG pun.
It was Grey Advertising where I first worked and had been named for the color of the walls of the first office (or so office lore had it). But there was always someone who wanted to spell it Gray.
Thought the puzzle was fairly crunchy for Tuesday but enjoyed LIPIZZANER. Did not enjoy CAPO or ZONK. Never enjoyed MILKOFMAGNESIA when prescribed as a youngster.
Current TV shows and children's movies (who is Dory?) are total unknowns so even though I got the puzzle it was no special moment to reveal some woman named Meredith.
I think the theme coupled with the grey squares has potential but the lack of symmetry seemed odd and a little forced.
I sound like a spoiled brat.
Seeing those horses live was very cool.
Thanks for sitting in Laura.
Thank heavens I was 99% sure of LIPI?ZANER. It got me ZONK. ZONK is a "prize"? ZONK is a thing? I have no idea what that answer means. But I got it.
And thank you, Laura, for showing me the cover of "AGNES Grey". It's not so much that I thought Charlotte wrote it. It's that I'm embarrassed to say I've never heard of it. I wanted JANE or EYRE for that answer (27A), and was miffed that neither one fit. Anyone else have that reaction?
Most of the puzzle was clued in a straightforward, predictable way. But it's gratifying to see the best clue ever for AD IN (53D) appearing on a Tuesday. The fill was better than the cluing, and the theme was cleverer still. Let me echo Anon 6:29 though: INERT does not mean sluggish. Never has, never will.
It's Tuesday and I had to do some thinking. So I'm happy.
You write truth to that word!
Very easy, I suspect for those of us on the far side of 50, who remember being "zonked" as part of the vernacular during the Let's Make a Deal heyday. My only problem was believing that LIPIZZANER has two Zs. I went with 2 Ps, one Z for a bit.
As the proverbial city kid wanting a horse, I had long admired the LIPIZZANERs for their elegance and skill, and their riders for their magnificent dressage. There was a serial about a horse camp on the Mickey Mouse Club that I adored-begged my parents to send me to such a place. Alas...most were "BYOH" ....
Very little dreck and fun clues as well as a cohesive though easy theme. Liked it.
@CDilly -- Putting "for a bit" in that LIPIZZANER sentence: Good one!
Fun to learn something new, in this case the name of the prize on "Let's Make a Deal". But for me, ZONK will always be the nickname of the chill, perma-tanned Doonesbury character.
I breezed through the puzzle... except for the LIPPIZANER/ZONK cross.
I have never heard of that horse breed, and in fact can't really think of any horse breeds other than "horse." (Pony? Is that a horse breed?) Let's Make a Deal hasn't been popular since what, the 80's? Come on. I went with HONK as that seemed plausible. Like in that Price is Right game where they honk the car horn if you got the price of the car right ("Ladies do I have all five numbers right??" ... HONK!).
Good one for a Tuesday. The depth of theme was impressive and tied it all together beautifully. Note to self: read AGNES GREY.
CAPO, really? How unexpected.
Lipizzaners were on television quite frequently when I was a kid in the 50s. Maybe they were a favorite of Walt. They're off my radar now, their wonder supplanted by the exotic nature cinematography available today. Filming the Lipis was probably much safer and cost effective, although trickier to spell than gnu.
Hey All !
Put me in the NW Huh? group. Managed to get everything except the P of CAPO, after an alphabet run for the Z of ZONK. Not into horse breeds. I am flabbergasted that Neville found a normal expression to hide MEREDITH in.
Only real dreck was AANDE, ugh. A&E, like @M&A, is the real way. You wouldn't say MANDA, right? (Yo, @Masked One!)
Liked @Lauras writeup. I think Rex was like that at one point. You know the saying, Power corrupts, blah blah blah.
BUCK NOSE
RooMonster
DarrinV
Inert means static or motionless not sluggish .
@Laura,
Thanks for mentioning the Monte Hall problem. I've trotted it out so often, most of my closest co-workers roll their eyes. ( And they're the ones that like me). Anyway, for anyone unfamiliar with it, take a look. I guarantee you it'll make at least one acquaintance or friend's head explode. Great fun
Thanks for the nice puzzle Mr. Fogarty.
PS. For Mr. Fogarty, ( with a nod to QuasiMojo) was Hercule Poirot and his "little grey cells" ever in the picture?
Years ago I saw the LIPIZANNER show that @Kris probably did, though in a different arena. First, they were an American troupe, not the Royal Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School. After listening to the Master talk endlessly about the 'harmony of horse and rider', the trust and respect they had for the horses, and the horses for them, they did a group demo. The master's horse was acting up, so he left the arena, went behind the curtain separating the show are from the warm-up area, and beat the crap out of the horse. Literally stood there, holding the horse, and with all his strength, gave it 20+ lashes with his whip.
The LIPIZANNER also would fail miserably in modern dressage competition, where the ideal has changed to mirror the changing ability of the modern German dressage horse. In the past 20 years or so there have been only one or two Baroque horses who have achieved either national or international fame, and watching them get scored is heartbreaking. Baroque horse excel at collection, struggle at extension. They get scored miserably in movements requiring extension, yet also lose out to German horses in movements requiring collection even though, by comparison, the German horses are just pretending to do the collection movements.
I usually don't like shaded squares, but I guess this would have been really hard without them, as probably very few solvers would have known about AGNES Grey. I too tried Lippizaner first (only because Lippizzaner wouldn't fit), but ANIMAL fixed that; putting in an n or h never occurred to me, luckily.
@Two Ponies -- they're symmetrical if you include the revealer. Making the actual placement of the shaded squares symmetrical would probably be impossible.
The hardest part for me was REAR LIT. I was thinking more of making a bunny shadow with my hand, so I wanted something about projection. I should have thought of this song.
Oops, wrong version. Try this one.
Forgot to sign my post above. So I'll take the opportunity to add that the Lipizzaner Stallions serve as a metaphor in the movie Crimson Tide. It's one of those great star-studded and really heavy handed action pics. Takes place on the eponymously titled nuclear sub and Denzel Washington's character has different ideas about launching than the Captain played By gene Hackman. As I say, it's heavy-handed, obvious and, well all the more wonderful for it. But the Lipizzaner metaphor is actually kind of good owing to an interesting quirk of the breed.
Anon South Jersey
I liked this puzzle a lot. Have been to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna so Lipizzaner was a gimme. Is ad in a reference to tennis?
I guess all us girls at least sort of knew LIPIZZANER even if not how to spell it, and @Nancy it looks like everybody tried "jane" and "eyre"; certainly I did. I tried LIPpiZANER for a while but, yeah, ANpMAL fixed that.
I found this easier than Monday, though. Theme kind of clever, and I'm very impressed with a string that includes MEREDITH even though I only ever watched a couple of episodes of Grey's Anatomy. And can never remember when it's "gray" and when it's "grey". I mean, "gray" might be American, but the bus line is "Greyhound". And peoples' names are whatever their parents' were, so in each case the spelling is one or the other. The color, in this country, may be "gray", but I keep insisting my Prius is "silver". A) classier-sounding, and B) everyone can spell "silver."
@Larry G. (1:08) -- It's very fortunate that you didn't get to pay Sondheim that compliment for There's a Place for Us, (actual title: "Somewhere"). He would not have been pleased. Trained as a composer, Sondheim's ambition from the beginning was to write both words AND music. His mentor Oscar Hammerstein advised him to agree to write lyrics only, in order to have the opportunity to work with the already established Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins when he was still young and unknown. He did so reluctantly. And, many years later, he has described himself as "embarrassed" by many of the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story. Lenny was pushing him to be more "poetic," Lenny's ideas of poetic being very different from Sondheim's. While Sondheim has often referred to "I Feel Pretty" as the lyric that makes him cringe the most, I strongly suspect that "Somewhere" wouldn't have exactly been one of his faves, either. (We'll find a new way of living./We'll find a way of forgiving. Dear God! This mawkishness...from Sondheim?) So, @Larry, you would have been complimenting Sondheim on a song whose music he didn't write and whose lyrics embarrassed him. Should you ever run into him again, much better to compliment him on something from Company or Sunday in the Park or Night Music.
Thanks, @Laura, for your review of @Neville Fogarty's interesting puzzle. Count me among those who considers "gray" the preferred American spelling, but cute touch to shade gray rather than the usual circles for puzzles of this type. Then again, Agatha Christie's fictional detective, Hercule Poirot, referred to "little grey cells."
More random thoughts, I admire the horse species, never quite sure of how it is spelled, so the ZONK crossing had me with holding my breath. Small trap with MARLA (Tiffany's mother), since Trump's other ex (the mother of Ivanka, Eric, and Donald, Jr.) is also five letters. The ADLAI Stevenson who ran for President twice against Eisenhower is the son of Cleveland's vice President, and father of another Senator from Illinois, though no relation to the author of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HYDE."
Re GORE-TEX, its inventor is a Ph.D. graduate of the University of Minnesota, in Chemical Engineering. No relation, as far as I know, to W's opponent in the 2000 Presidential race. A retired colleague in Chemistry, Gary Gray (rhymes with Dr. Dre, I suppose) has his first name and last name anagrams of each other -- how rare is that?
Finally, please spare twenty seconds to watch this demonstration, which I usually accompany by the following joke: What do you get from mixing vodka with MILK OF MAGNESIA?
(spoiler space: read the blurb to the video for a brief explanation of what's going on).
The answer to the joke ... drumroll ...
(more spoiler space)
a Phillips screwdriver.
A very pleasant Tuesday surprise!
It reminded me of the excellent scene in Crimson Tide when Gene Hackman says that you can teach a LIPIZZANER to do almost anything. With a cattle prod and the right voltage, you can teach one to deal cards, he said.
We saw Get Shorty last night. Hadn't seen it for some time. A lot of wonderful actors in it including Hackman and Bette Midler, who wasn't listed in the credits.
The Monte Hall problem is almost impossible to explain, even to mathematicians. The only way I was able to understand it was to simulate the choice using a deck of cards.
I guess I'm in the minority, but I have never heard of LIPIZZANER, which sounds like something you apply to your mouth.
And, though I am familiar with "Let's Make a Deal," I have no idea what a ZONK is or why it would be a prize on a game show.
GORETEX was another mystery to me, though gettable from the crosses.
So, all in all, this was a mean Tuesday. But the excellent theme made up for it and I appreciated the organic use of "grey" squares to support it.
Big smile here. LIPIZZANER yes! I learned dressage on that majestic horse. My instructor was a wonderful elderly German; he was soft spoken and kind and he loved his horses. He would make me lead off when we were in the ring and when we'd do the figure eight he's make a little soft slap with his whip to let you know your horse wasn't leading with the right foot. Then in Spain I got to try the Andalusian and best of all the Freisan. If you enjoy riding, the most glorious experience is sitting on an English saddle with these horses.
@Anony of South Jersey....the LIPIZZANERs I believe were the first horses used in dressage training. You don't see them much more when the Olympic FLAME is lit. You're more apt to see Warmbloods.
@Ellen...Gr[A]y>>>American...Gr[E}y>>>English.
I didn't have any GREY shaded area but this was easy to figure out...and I enjoyed it.
I will shamelessly admit that I watch "Let's Make a Deal" followed by "The Price is Right." I knew ZONK because I'm always yelling at those damn fascist money grubbing contestants that if they give up their $100 dollars and choose the box, they will get ZONKed... and they always do. Nobody listens to me...I always want someone to win car and I get all happy when they do.
MILK OF MAGNESIA...FINIS.
@George Barany, cool experiment MILK OF MAGNESIA. Looks much safer than when my son made plasma with a sliced grape in the microwave or the infamous rainbow flame experiment which had disastrous results in a NY City high school a few years ago.
@GillI, I'm jealous about your riding experiences. :)
@George Baranay...good one.
I'm surprised no one has brought up fifty shades!!!!!
@GILL (10:33) -- I'm jealous too! I went and Googled pictures of Andalusian and Friesian horses and they're the most magnificent creatures I've ever seen. They also look high-spirited; you must be a superb rider.
I wanted to sign up for horseback riding at Camp Pinecliffe my first year there. My friend Barbara had already done so and was talking about nothing else. My father wouldn't allow it, saying that there were something like a dozen new sports I'd be taking up -- every single one of them included in the price of the camp -- and that horseback riding was the only activity not included. He said that if I still wanted to ride the next summer, we could discuss it. That summer, I discovered all manner of land sports and water sports -- most especially tennis, which I fell in love with -- and I never mentioned horseback riding again. Which is probably just as well because 1) horseback riding in NYC is prohibitively expensive and 2) good balance has never been my strong suit. Still, @GILL, there is no tennis court that's anywhere near as beautiful as those Andalusian and Friesian horses.
This was fun - but over too soon!
Hands up for misspelling LIPIZZANER with an N instead of a Z, and not knowing ZONK at all. Nor did I know any of those GREYs other than EARL GREY, who was the chief of the Whig party at the time of the great Reform Bill, and remained prominent for decades thereafter. (I can't remember whether it was him for whom the tea blend was named, though -- there have been many Earls GREY over the years.)
So the puzzle was Monday simple top and bottom, and fiendish in the middle.
not shaded on computer version so theme not that obvious. still got it. pretty easy.
Nice, fun, enjoyable puzzle. Knew LIPIZZANER as soon as FEZ dropped and from there I was just the little engine that could, plunking in letters until, suddenly, there was the charming reveal.
You can add my voice to the sluggish/INERT complaint, but I think that's my only ouch. Wanted Jane or Eyre, have not read Agnes Grey, may have to give it a try.
@George Barony. Very cool experiment. A belated welcome back; we missed you.
@south jersey. Thanks for the details about the Lipizzan. I wondered about that dressage specification; when I was riding, it was the warmbloods--specifically the Hanovarian--that the premier riders loved. I learned on Arabs and knew that wouldn't work. @Gill. I too am smokin' jealous of your riding. An Andalusian! Oh my!
@Nancy. The anecdote about Sondheim is grand. Thanks for sharing. I have no good stories today so I'll close with thank yousto Mr. Fogarty and Laura for a lovely writeup.
Greayt TuesPuz. M&A always looks forward to them grey (sp?) areas.
Funny how some different grid layouts like today's can produce so few weejects (8). This grid made up for it with lots and lotsa 4-letter answers (44), tho. staff weeject pick: FEZ was kinda neat.
Like others, I sorted had a fuzzy image of what LIPIZZANER (sp?) spelled out as. M&A sorta tried to chant/croak out a rough L sound + P sound + N sound + Z sound + a NER, to go by. Somewhat rite (sp?). Had no idea, on the crossin ZONK. Don't watch many TV game shows. What happens to the contestant, when they ZONK him/her? Can they walk off on their own, afterwards?
Nice finisher with XBOX product placement. Was worth it, to splatz in the ATAB to get it. AANDE may not have been worth it, to get REGGAE, tho. (yo, @Roo) Also, nice product placement on TMOBILE and GORETEX, too boot.
They are right (rite?)(sp?) this very minute interviewin this expert doctor dude on some radio talk show. Name is Ahmed Ickball (sp?). That name has plumb blown M&A's train of thought way off the tracks. Sure hopin that doc's name becomes famous someday. GREY is an ok name for a TuesPuz themebase, but ICKBALL …
Seems like a real nice guy, btw. Talks like he knows what he knows.
Thanx, Mr. Fogarty. Didn't know AGNES and MEREDITH, tho. Do know a JOEL GREY (sp?). Seems like the kid on Father Knows Best was a GREY (sp?), also; Billy? Bally? Zonky? Sure do know an ICKBALL (sp?) now. But, I digress.
And thanx, Sorceress (with sp's?!?) darlin for a primo subjob.
Masked & Anonym007Us
zonk:
**gruntz**
When I went to school, we were taught that OUR is a possessive adjective: Our dog is small.
The list of possessive adjectives: MY, YOUR, HIS, HER, ITS, OUR, YOUR, THEIR
I have a dog named LIPS.
Shameful story ahead alert....
@Nancy: Parallels!
I too was shipped off to summer camp. My parents sent me to Circle "F" Dude Ranch Camp for Boys and Girls. Riding was included and tennis was up there as an aside along with archery, canoeing, and all swim sports. I tried tennis but I was the hated red-headed kid who only wanted to hit the tennis ball as hard as I could and I didn't care where it landed. FAIL! I was the queen of barrel racing though.
@Malsdemare. My dad bought me my own horse when I was seven. We lived on a small finca in the outskirts of Havana and everybody rode. He was a giant but gentle jumper - white with a long mane and so easy to ride bareback. I named him Hi-Yo Silver but everyone else called him George. When I got good enough, my dad bought me an Arabian. Gitano was his name and he was beautiful. Long chestnut mane and feisty. I learned to ride him on an English saddle and to this day, I won't ride anything else. Anyway, he bit the tip of my right finger off. Little bastard didn't like the way I was putting the bit in him. He got his comeuppance... my dad had him gelded and I have a finger that always makes for good conversation.
pleasure to have a commenter other than Rex. Rex is a grouch who finds things to complain about. Laura finds the pleasant things about puzzle to praise.
Hard to spell lippazaner
@Larry G...see @Gill's mnemonic the she beat me to.
@Gill...very wonderful story! Talk about a conversation piece... and yes, jealous, in spite of that, of your horsey experiences.
I have seen the LIPIZZANERs in Vienna.
But...
We were too cheap to pay for the show, so we wa Chex the practice, for free.
Well...it was one of the most uneventful things ever! After 2 phours that felt like 12, husband finally left, saying "meet you at the first bräuerei on the left"...
I refused to leave, knowing that the moment I did, the horses would all start doing cartwheels and dealing cards (wink-wink @mathgent).
Well, you guessed it...no ballet, no cartwheels...only the repetitive review of minute nuances in a specific dance step.
Saddest thing is, that the highlight of the 3hour event was when one of those beautiful horses pooped. Because then we got to see the poor unfortunates whose job it was to clean up said poop.
Oh...it was wonderful seeing the young, still black-coated horses too.
I later saw LIPIZZANER-style antics by 8-12 year old kids on dirt bikes at Edinburgh Castle. They were a lot more interesting!
Puzzle was a fine Tuesday. Themers were fun to guess.
Technical DNF as I skimmed over the clue for 56D and continued on. When I came to the revealer, I plonked down GRaY MATTER with never a look back at the downs. New text message button: SaND. :-(
I was a bit iffy on the spelling of LIPIZZANER and had never heard of the ZONK prize but I was happy to find I spelled it correctly. Everything I know about LIPIZZANER horses (which is next to nothing), I learned in my teens from reading Mary Stewart's romance novel, "The Airs Above the Ground". I see now where the title comes from, after reading the "Word of the Day" blurb. I love it when a connection like that is made (and this one was 40 years coming). My favorite of those "ahas" was when I was in my twenties and I ran into a reference to the Pushkin play, "Boris Godunov" and I realized that Boris Badenov (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) was a literary pun, which I thought was so cool.
Hand up for not having read "AGNES GREY". I guess I should complete the Bronte trifecta - I loved "Jane Eyre" and absolutely hated "Wuthering Heights". I suppose "AGNES GREY" will just be "meh"?
Thanks for a diverting Tuesday puzzle, Neville Fogarty.
@Nancy and Larry...great story and insight on Sondheim!
25A...a great nephew, at age of 4, was learning the ropes around working on cars. NUTs and bolts were part of lesson 1.
Later, was on the kiddie roller coaster at Playland. Turned to his dad and said..."This ride makes my bolts tingle!"
@BarbieBarbie - I belatedly responded to your Firesign Theater acknowledgement on the Monday blog. Great to read of another FT fan!
With the shaded squares, I was SURE the revealer was going to be SHADES OF GREY, with a clue along the lines of "Now we just need 46 more . . . "
Missed my own pun! Nice
Catch!
The combination of NEIL (thought it might be NEAL) and ZONK (really?!) brought this puzzle to a screeching halt for me.
He is the Supreme Court Judge apppointed by President Trump. He will have a pivotal role in determining the direction of American democracy.
@Wordsmith 3:06-- All downhill. The direction is all downhill. Nuff said.
Really liked this Tuesday puzzle with all of the not-seen-everyday words and phrases:
- BASETEN
- MILKOFMAGNESIA
- HAMMEREDITHOME
- GORETEX
- HYDE
- SARONG
and of course the topic o' the day, LIPIZZANER. Loved @Gill's story. I too went through a horsey phase in my early teens, but an IRATE MEAN GREY mare chomped hard on my left - uh, "chest" - and unlike Gill, I did not have the GUTS to persevere with that particular hobby after that incident. I still appreciate the beauty of horses, though, and if you haven't seen the movie BUCK about the real-life horse whisperer, do so.
This was an incredibly pleasant and enjoyable Tuesday solve, so thank you Neville Fogarty!
I spent so much energy deciding on "ZONK" that I didn't notice that my IRKS for {Pains} gave REAN for {Bend to one side}. It also gave KAPIZZANER for the horse.
FWIW, GRAYMATTER is in Jeff Chen's word list but not GREYMATTER.
The following explanation of the Monte Hall problem works well for me.
The contestant has a 2/3 chance to pick the door that does not, I repeat, does not, have the car behind it. If the door they chose is indeed empty then Monte Hall will open the other empty door which means the last remaining door has the car behind it. So if the contestant "succeeds" in picking an empty door initially (2/3 chance to do this) they are guaranteed to choose the door with the car if they switch. Therefore there is a 2/3 chance that switching will get the car which is higher than the initial 1/3 chance.
Details of my solve are here.
Get this LIPIZZANER junk out of here Will Shortz! Ridiculous.
Rest of the puzzle was OK.
Remarkably few ad hominems in the comments today.
I wonder why?
@CDilly52--I believe the serial about the horse camp on the Mickey Mouse Club was "Spin and Marty."
LIPIZZANNER was a gimme from having read Mary Stewart's Airs Above the Ground in high school which involved a stolen horse if I recall correctly. The spelling is tricky if you aren't used to German, but there are enough different ways you might have run into them I think it's fair enough, even for a Tuesday. There was also a traveling show of the horses in the late 60s that I saw for a birthday present.
Got 'capo', bit could not get 'zonk'. That first 'z' eluded me to the end.
Gray Matters is a cartoon by Stuart Carlson. I believe it is an American cartoon, but Gray is spelled with an 'a'. My Mom was a Brit, and I still spell some words British style.
LIPIZZANER was the one to throw me off, I had the variation "LIPPIZANER" which MIRED the down clues into a GREYMATTER.
@George B: that joke is decades old, but the weird thing is that just the other day I lost my Phillips screwdriver! Went for it in the toolbox (where else?) and it wasn't there. Have you been...never mind.
I do watch LMAD, because game shows are one rare place where we Don't Know What's Gonna Happen Next. Ergo, ZONK was a gimme--and @Steve, they're trombones, sounded in the pattern of the first three notes to "Ebb Tide." The entry gave me a start, though, as I always imagined those beautiful horses spelled with one Z and two P's.
I was just starting to like this puzzle--and then he goes and throws 66-across at me. Oh well. It must have been fun digging out all those names; REARLIT is a term that doesn't jump right out at you, but very gettable from crosses...this puz was Monday-easy except for that and GORETEX, a term only vaguely familiar after it too went in on crosses.
A strong DOD day, with Maddie KAHN and Barb EDEN, but if you've ever seen MARLA Maples, the competition is over. I can take your TMOBILE, and your TREX and even your XBOX, but that abomination at 66a just ruins the experience. Sorry: bogey.
Ha ha @Teedmn - SaND me an email sometime. Gritty!
Clever way to hide the grey - beats Clairol. (Sorry if I'm repeating others, haven't read all the posts yet.)
Learned about the ZONK. Was the tea named after the prime minister?
I remember M.O.M. from when I was little. Blgghh. Just the threat of that "treatment" made you deny and gastronomic distress. (I was not one of those kids who chewed on chalk.)
Off to read the comments.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
PS - It was a clean and kinda EZ solve.
HYDE SARONG UNIT?
MEREDITH AND AGNES USED to BLAB, AND each chatter,
I MEAN, how IRATE, AND how I'm DUNE when I had her.
They'd BUCK and I'd RAM
as in SLOMO I_SLAM,
if I HAMMEREDITHOME, do shades of GREYMATTER?
--- NEIL LIPIZZANER
This seemed very easy until hitting some resistance around the GREY names, particularly that breed of horse.
Thought I had it solved with the "P" in the crossing of CAPO and that breed of horse Sounded vaguely right for both words, and it was.
Right next to the CAPO, though, had entered NEaL for the new guy, NEIL, on the Supreme Court. ZONK!
End of story.
Nice write-up by Laura B.
Less than a 10 minute walk through the park. Toughest thing was how many Ps and Zs in the horses. Knew the ampersandwich would draw a comment.
Madeline KAHN deserves a yeah baby for her collective work with Mel Brooks. "Taffeta, dear."
Too nice to be inside. Finished this puz with EASE, well actually with MER, but EASE was in the same area. Enjoy the 4th all!
@Burma Shave: Wickedly witty.
I found this sprightly and enjoyable today. Knew 3 of the Greys, not knowing AGNES, and the theme was, if straightforward, tight with a nice revealer.
I know @Spacey hates ampersandwiches, but if you really want to get A&E into your grid, the only way is to use one of them, unless you cross it with another entry that uses "&" which probably isn't allowed. I'd like to see someone do it one day. A&E crossed by AT&T would be nice, I think. In any case, I'm used to seeing them spelled out, so no biggie.
Otherwise, very little dreck and some new stuff in a pretty easy puzzle. I think that backLIT is more common than REARLIT, but the meaning is clear.
Liked it.
Just read M&A, seemingly for the first time. (Have had some trouble getting and staying with him before.) Pretty damn funny.
@Lefty - I sometimes skip M&A (or MandA) as he can be more difficult to suss out than the puzzle. So I went back to read him today - I agree. He CAN be awfully funny, but a lot of work, IMEHO.
Wonder who he really is? Wouldn't it be funny if he is Will Shortz? Or @Rex? Or...?
Lady Di
@Lady Di-- Yeah, sometimes a lot of work, but now I think he is worth the effort. Shortz or Rex? They're probably not within M&A's scope of zaniness.
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