Old Icelandic saga / TUE 6-12-18 / Cat burglar's shoe purchase / Polynesian shindig / Loudly crying face for one / Makeba singer known as Mama Africa
Constructor: Samuel A. Donaldson and Tracy Gray
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:20)
THEME: JUST FOR KICKS (48A: Why the buyers of 20-, 28- and 42-Across are in the shoe store?) — ordinary, non-shoe-related two-word phrases are clued as if the second word in each phrase was a shoe
Theme answers:
SUCTION PUMPS (20A: Cat burglar's shoe purchase?)
WATER MOCCASINS (28A: Synchronized swimmer's shoe purchase?)
PARTY PLATFORMS (42A: Even coordinator's shoe purchase?)
Word of the Day: MIRIAM Makeba (25D: ___ Makeba, singer known as "Mama Africa") —
Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, actress, United Nations goodwill ambassador, and civil-rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa.
• • •
Dull but satisfactory. The whole conceit seems forced. Not the shoe part, but the revealer and its clue, and, well, just the whole idea of people going to a shoe store. I get the wordplay in the revealer ("kicks" = slang for shoes), but the JUST FOR part ... I don't get so much. I mean, if the premise is that you are "in the shoe store," then why else would you be there? That is why the store exists. That is what they sell. If you were in Wal-Mart JUST FOR KICKS (i.e. shoes), well, then, the JUST FOR makes sense, as there are so many other things one might purchase there. I'm just saying that these are shoe puns, which are fine, or at least, you know, the kind of thing one might build a theme around, but this particular revealer and the "shoppers in a shoe store" premise just feels forced, is all. As for the rest of the grid, it's glutted with repeaters. The grid is constructed for maximum crosswordese (i.e. hyper-dense with 3/4/5-letter words), and from IROC to URSA to EDDA to ABIE to etc., the puzzle really plays the hits. It's not a grotesque grid. It's clean, but dull clean. A beige countertop, well scrubbed. Longer Downs are more interesting, but longer answers are always more interesting, and these aren't particularly memorable. TBOONE seems really obnoxious, as name parts go. I would say the same about CTHOMAS or MEMMET. I think only J EDGAR can get away with this nonsense. On the whole, then, I don't know ... the puzzle works, but it's joyless. No BOOS, just a shrug.
I was slow to pick up the theme, as I had SUCTION and could think of nothing but CUPS. Even now, looking at SUCTION PUMPS, I keep thinking, "what ... is that? It sounds like a thing, but it also just sounds like ... a pump." Anyway, I'm not questioning its somethingness, just saying that PUMPS took every cross to get. After that, nothing was particularly tough, but then I know "ABIE Baby" because it's crosswordese and IROC because it's crosswordese and EDDA because well actually because I'm a medievalist but also because it's crosswordese. Particularly with something like "ABIE Baby," where it's a proper noun and bygone and crosswordese, I feel guilty for plunking it down immediately. This puzzle skews awfully old, now that I look at it. Who says WHO DAT? (besides ... maybe Saints fans? Bengals fans? I forget, one of those...) (quick check: WHO DAT? is Saints, WHO DEY? is Bengals, for some reason). Not much more to say. This is a placeholder puzzle. For a Tuesday ... well, that's above average. Not good. But above average, for sure.
When Rex says its filled with repeaters does he mean stuff that has ever occurred in a database crossword puzzle or does he just mean super common crosswordese specifically?
If it's the former, how much stuff is a puzzle suppose to have that is brand new?
Also didn't care for this in general, seems boring. Also did the constructor put himself into the center of his own puzzle?
According to the calendar on the wall it's Tuesday, so set your puzzle meter accordingly. Not sure I'm onboard with OFL's quibbles with the themers and the revealer. Anyway, KICKS is generic and the other shoes are more specific. I've only worn MOCCASINS, never PLATFORMS or PUMPS, but I'm certain if I ever do, my legs will look terrific.
The Moody Blues sang GO NOW, a rock song not part of a concept album. We survived that British Invasion, back when we were friendly, but can we stand the impending British Evacuation. I know those tied to an economy dependent on snow birds probably won't be seeing a Canadian Invasion next season. Hello, desert Southwest.
Folks call it World Music, generally sung in a foreign language. I heard the music of MIRIAM Makeba early on, and feel fortunate for the experience. Afro-beat, twangy guitar riffs, and that upbeat spirit are characteristic of that great artist. Embracing, not shunning, world culture would help. Get a passport and use it.
Easier than yesterday’s puzzle which I tagged as “super easy”. Kind of liked the theme. Especially liked SUCTION PUMPS, envisioning a burglar scaling a wall with high heels on.
Used to say “JUST FOR KICKS” changed it to JUST FOR giggles.
@jae I completely agree. This was great, just what I expect a Tuesday to be. Nothing wrong with the revealer at all—they’re out shopping JUST FOR KICKS so they go to a shoe store. Rex is quibbling just to quibble if he finds fault with that.
This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 1/2/2018 post for an explanation of my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio & percentage, the higher my solve time was relative to my norm for that day of the week. Your results may vary.
Meh. WHO DAT? The only thing I associate this phrase with is the New Orleans Saints. More puns. Two of them I found tolerable. SUCTION PUMPS, not so much. MIRIAM Makeba was a learning experience. Thanks to Will and/or the constructors for that. On the plus side, I'm always happy to see The Beatles in a puzzle. It seems a little weird for the constructor to put his famous namesake in the puzzle, but whatever.
Jeff Chen makes it his POW. Scorched-earth week ahead, I'm afraid.
We saw Rebel in the Rye, the biopic of J.D. Salinger a couple of nights ago. Pretty good movie. It lead me to go back to Nine Stories. I first read them more than fifty years ago. I read A Perfect Day for Bananafish yesterday and For Esme -- With Love and Squalor this afternoon. Both masterpieces, IMHO. He had a unique way of telling a story. Seven of the short stories ran in the New Yorker at about the time that The Catcher in the Rye was published, the other two were rejected. After I finish the book I'll try to guess which were the two before looking it up.
Fine, clean Tuesday, with not a lot of dreck. The guy goes by, is known by, T. BOONE Pickens. I don't understand the complaint.
By my standards, I TORE through this one. My only mistake, corrected when I didn't get the happy pencil, was to enter CaVE before COVE.
Some nice placements, especially CLAW over OUCH, and BEE at right angles to MICE (the latter sometimes hole up with the former during the winter), AIR DRY crossing SHIRTS, and ... KICKS intersecting KNEE (OUCH!). That kind of think can SEND you to the hospital.
I'm surprised that OFL didn't mention the wink at 39A: "Newsman Donaldson", the answer to which is SAM. Isn't that guy and the co-constructor of this puzzle the SAMe person? Is this a display of the "I ROC!" sentiment?
Gotta GO NOW. The EYES have ... I mean, HAD ... it.
Liked the theme with PARTY PLATFORMS being my favorite. Cluing for SHIRTS was cute. EMINEM was in last week’s trivia contest—knew it now but not then. Lots of CROSSWORDease as Rex mentioned. Thanks SAD/TG
Sheesh. Y’all are a tough crowd. A theme with real sole. Hah! Loved it. Makes me think of my beloved Tar Heels. I didn’t mind the reveal, but it really wasn’t necessary. Another themer there would’ve worked for me, too. @Larry – I think you’d want the reveal to be a general word for shoe.
The symmetry of WHAT A TREAT and SUPERSIZED jumped out at me. I don’t eat a lot of fast food, and I say this not in the braggy I don’t own a tv ‘cause I’m so evolved and sophisticated and stuff way but rather in the I fight tooth and nail every day to beat the weight back way. So anyway, the last time I ate fast food was during the WV teacher strike. Matt W and I went to Wendy’s one day, and I ordered a double cheeseburger. I didn’t know I had to specify that I wanted a bigger thing of fries because, ahem, no one told me, so I was crushed when I saw my paltry little thing of fries next to Matt’s big one ‘cause he spoke fast food language and knew to ask for a big one. The next day I was ready for’em, had been brooding for 24 hours about this, and I ordered a triple cheeseburger with supersized the fries. Man oh man was it delicious. Had a frosty, too. Totally out-ate Matt, my unlikely best friend at school who is young enough to be my son, a health and PE teacher from Calhoun County. He was impressed. Proud moment.
ROOK. Been studying up on my chess, specifically the Queen’s Gambit opening ‘cause this new teacher at school has started a chess club and he’s kind of an uppity know-it-all who used to teach college and won’t acknowledge all my subtle comments that I taught at a university, too, and that my university could whip his university’s ass which means I’m just generally superior to him in every way shape and form so there. It’s my plan to blind-side him with a non Ruy Lopez opening and just pray he Takes. That. Pawn. Wish me luck.
MOCCASINS – In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford puts on moccasins before the hunt, and Brennen F raised his hand to ask why someone would put snakes on his feet. He was serious. I swear.
One last thing – this half time deal. And all the commercials now during any game. Does this mean that the depth/quality of your bench doesn’t matter as much anymore ‘cause your starters get so much more rest? Doesn’t seem fair.
Tracy, SAM Donaldson – don’t listen to all the complainers. This is really cute and fun. And SAM – I’m always thrilled when the constructor sneaks his name into a grid. I just don’t understand why this is such an issue with some people. Bet they don’t own TVs. (@’merican – you weren’t too nasty about it, so my only poke at you was actually that slash in the above paragraph.)
slightly easier than usual Tuesdy and no big complaints here.
Small Complaints Section: -never heard of SUCTIONPUMPS, it's always suction cups or, in a cartoon, toilet plungers tied to feet -pretty boring
Small Praise Section: -JUSTFORKICKS is a great bad pun -JOJO
WHODAT has a much older legacy than just the Saints football time, though I think still relatively local to New Orleans. I've definitely heard very old jazz recordings with call and response vocals of "Who dat down dere?" and "Who dat up dere?".
Nice, easy, roll-off-the-tongue theme, which may mask the fact that additional theme answers are slim pickens (I see you TBOONE). I've been brain-craning to think of some more, and anything I've found has sounded strained , so props to the constructors for coming up with this theme, and squeezing everything out of it.
I see that leftish SAM BEE crossing OBAMA in the middle, but it's balanced off with Mr. Pickens (who once endorsed Guliani for president), satisfying my stasis-loving Libra sensibilities.
Anyway, this zippy solve and lovely theme left me with happy feet.
What does suction have to do with a cat burglar? Does he use a suction cup to cut a hole in a window? Seems extremely forced, unlike the other themers which are straighforward. Actually, "synchronized swimmer" is unnecessary, as "swimmer" is more than sufficiently descriptive.
Anita's gonna get her kicks. Tonight. We'll have our private little mix. Tonight.
Route 66:
Won't you get hip to this timely tip: When you make that California trip Get your kicks on route sixty-six. Get your kicks on route sixty-six. Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Cole Porter:
I get no kick from Champagne Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all So tell me why should it be true That I get a kick Out of you
Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil:
Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind Before you find out it's too late, girl, you better get straight And don't it seem like Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind Before you find out it's too late, girl, you better get straight No, but not with kicks
I’m with the crowd today, perfectly fine Tuesday but if this is the POW, uh-oh.
@Lewis - Did you notice her avatar? You know who.
Speaking of fries - free advice to everyone in North Carolina- If you’re not Canadian Do. Not. Call. It. Poutine. I’m from north Windsor and even there we apologize when we call something “poutine.” True poutine has an ineffable Canadianess that just can’t be replicated south of the border. I think we just aren’t polite enough. Rest Stop Poutine on the 401 is better than anything I’ve had in N.C.
@Anschau - Rex mentioned yesterday that “repeater” is synonymous with “crosswordese.” Personally, I don’t like it.
Are the Marx Brothers so much in the rear view mirror now that people don’t remember the Who Dat Man? song in A Day at the Races? A shame if true. Unlike many comedy teams (looking at you, Three Stooges), they were funny.
T BOONE, G FORCES … seems like there could be the seed a future theme there.
I was expecting Foster the People in Rex’s video link.
Count me as one who really enjoyed this puzzle. I liked all of the themers. I also liked the AIRDRY / SHIRTS cross. HIPPOS and HOOPLA are more fun words. Today’s SUPERSIZED reminded me of yesterday’s MCENTIRE (thanks to @Birchbark for that imagery!)
T. Boone Pickens is known as "T. Boone". Never seen him being referred as Boone Pickens. So Rex's complaint has no standing. Puzzle was OK. Theme went over my head.
Kitshef: Yes, it is a shame. Especially since most of the videos are either commercially available or can be viewed on You Tube. I have the entire Buster Keaton videos (with some commercials and TV appearnaces missing for the most part. I wonder how many young people are familiar with his work. I fear the correct answer would induce me to shout "What a shame." I have been watching his videos in chronological order, and soon will watch (for the first time) his later MGM movies. Interesting that Del Lord and Jules White, who directed so many 3 Stooges Shorts, directed Keaton at MGM. They favored violence, sometimes for no good reason, and the videos suffer from their preference. Just as the 3 Stooges pictures that were directed by Clyde Bruckman were so much better than those directed by White (no eye-poking with Bruckman), I expect those videos of Keaton that were directed by Bruckman to shine over those directed by White. Poor Buster, although his drinking problem might have guaranteed the swinging of the arc.
Back to the puzzle. Yes, Loren, those commenting here are a tough group. Mike lapses today into his "overthinking things" mode, but at least he doesn't deny it. Seems to me that Jeff tends to award the POW to a puzzle that he thinks is better than average for the day of the week on which ti's published. Many here dislike today's puzzle in general, but I actually think it is one of the better Tuesday puzzles. Many may complain that I set a low bar, but I think not. I enjoyed solving today's puzzle, which is all that matters to me. Why do buyers go into a shoe store? I just can't waste my time thinking about that. Lighten up.
Calman: Don't think your comment has been responded to yet. A cat burglar has to negotiate climbing in order to pilfer. That's why he a cat burgler and not just a burglar. While there are other ways to climb, using suctions cups (or shoes with suction cups) helps you achieve your goal. Am I overthinking this?
I just can't make suction pumps work for me. Sounds made up. I also agree with @ Calman that synchronized is not needed for that clue. Then there's Coin Ops. Shouldn't that be singular? Coin Op as an adjective sounds better. Ops goes with Special. @ Larry G. Travel really helps you keep a much-needed perspective on the world but I wouldn't recommend South Africa for your itinerary.
Okay, so today I read Rex to see what the dumb-seeming revealer was all about, and he tells me that KICKS is another word for shoes. It is? I Googled, and buried at the bottom of all the normal definitions was the fact that when someone has "cool shoes", you congratulate him on his KICKS. So now I've learned some new youth-speak. I promise you all I'll never use it.
Up until that point, I was thinking that cat burglars don't KICK and event coordinators don't KICK, and that only synchronized swimmers KICK. And therefore the revealer was ridiculous. The rest of the puzzle was fine -- mildly diverting and somewhat cute. Why shoes? Why not?
@z -- I hadn't seen her avatar, thanks for the heads up. As I was brainstorming, Tortilla Flats and Bonneville Flats crossed my mind, then I was trying to do something with "boots" as in British trunks. Tortilla Flats was actually the best I came up with, and I should have mentioned that, but it still wouldn't have worked in this puzzle, which needed 12s and 14s for themers.
Man, am I ever in the Jeff Chen and @Loren camp on this one. WHAT A TREAT! I can imagine a newbie having a ball with this. I was laughing at Rex's desperate attempt to rip the delightful theme - one of those "I'm-gonna-find-flaws" days for him.
I read the Wall Street Journal every day of my working life - he is, was, and always has been T BOONE Pickens, not sure what Rex is complaining about. How different are Rex and I? - He knows ABIE and IROC only from crosswords and EDDA from real life. I know EDDA only from crosswords and ABIE and IROC from real life.
@kitshef (7:41) - Finally, another male who doesn't find The Three Stooges funny (love the Marx Brothers, btw).
Had a neighbor whose daughter's boyfriend had a Camaro IROC-Z. Her driveway was on our side of the property. When said paramour would pick her up he'd never honk, he'd crank up the impressive stereo and rev that powerful engine - sort of a mating call, and she took forever to leave the house. My revenge? I mowed the lawn on that side of the house with my stereo speakers in the window playing my Janis Joplin album loud enough so I could hear it over the mower's engine. Great negotiating tactic, we quickly reached a volume accord.
PUMPS don't have straps so wouldn't stay on the burglars feet if they had SUCTION to the wall. Kick in a MOCCASIN and you'll hurt your toe and you can't kick in PLATFORMS. WATER equates to "synchronized swimmers"? and PARTY equates to "event coordinators"? Puzzle really doesn't work.
Found this just crunchy enough for Tuesday to provide some early in the week challenge. Totally disagree with OFL on all his nits. Lots of fresh stuff.. "WHATATREAT, GFORCE, WHODAT, TBOONE. Maybe college professors don't know him but anyone who has read the financial pages during the past four decades would know him very well.
Don't get CONS as "drawbacks." Puts one over on, negative votes OK, but ??? on drawbacks.
I'm just glad Stilleto didn't fit in here. Hand up for not knowing that KICKS refers to shoes. No matter, I thought this was cute in a fashion. The first pair of shoes that I remember owning was Mary Jane. They were white and had a little bow at the end. I only remember because every single family picture I have of me as a child, has me in those shoes. When I got into Junior High in Sarasota, Fl. everyone had to have Saddle Shoes. I rebelled. I wore white sneakers that I used to clean with white-out. Ah, yes...SUPERSIZED. I've been tempted but frankly, I hate fast food fries. Wasn't it McDonalds who started this obesity epidemic? Did it not bother anyone that the fries always tasted like their fried fish? Come to think of it, all restaurant fries smell of fish. I do love them though and I make my own...then you dip them in mayonnaise.... POW? OUCH.
@Rex Parker, Let me get this straight, a pseudonym is fine, but using one's actual first initial and middle name is obnoxious? Please explain to me a couple of my pals.
Thanks,
F. Scott Fitzgerald C. Evert Koop J. Paul Getty M. Night Shymalan A. Bartlett Giamatti G. Gordon Liddy R. Buckminster Fuller D. Wayne Lucas C. Montgomery Burns
Hey D. Wayne Lucas, C. Everett Koop,T. Rowe Price, T Coraghesson Boyle, E. Annie Proulx, M. Donald Grant, G. Gordon Liddy, L. Frank Baum, F. Lee Bailey, F. Murray Abraham , J Paul Getty, L Ron Hubbard, and of course F. Scott Fitzgerald - there’s some guy up in Binghamton who doesn’t like your names.
@LMS (5:42) - Best avatar ever - you've outdone yourself. Thanks for the heads up @Z and @Lewis.
@Rex - Are you and Lena going to stay with "New Grids on the Block"? I'd love to get your take on the last couple of New Yorker puzzles. Thought Anna Schectman's work last week was classic, and makes the case for your argument that we need more women constructing.
NADA bad Tuesday outing by two GREATS of the Cruciverbalistic Community, the duo of Donaldson and Gray! No EGGON their respective faces, because individually, they're both without PIER! I HAD better GONOW...at Wharf speed!
A suction pump is in fact a real thing. It is a device used to create a vacuum. Chemistry and physics labs all have them. Assuming you are not Amish nor opposed to modern electrical devices for some other reason you very likely have a suction pump in your home. It is the guts in your vacuum cleaner.
I just now realized what PARTY PLATFORMS were -- and I'm a political scientist. It's like not recognizing your neighbor downtown when you see him downtown because the context is different. Now I like th epuzzle a lot better.
Except for the revealer. I knew KICKS were shoes, but the phrase still doesn't tell you what's going on -- not that you need it to, since the clues do that.
The best thing about the puzzle is that it finally induced me to look up who Samuel A. Donaldson is.
The second-best thing was that it gave me an excuse to listen to MIRIAM Makeba singing the Click Song.
Hey All ! Theme was phrases that just happen to have shoe names. So SUCTION PUMPS refer to pumps that suction out water, like from a flooded basement, e.g. It's not related to suction cups. Just as WATER MOCCASINS are deadly sea creatures. They're puns, people.
It was a nice puz. Not sure if it's a POW, but I HAD a good time. Had an embarrassing DNF. Had atEAMS for GREATS, resulting in the Downs tFORCES - tOOK. Oof. EGG ON my face. :-)
Some of the stories @Loren shares are hilarious. I only wish I'd lived half as an exciting life as she has! And add me to the list of males who don't like The Three Stooges. Who thinks it's funny to get smacked around? OUCH.
@anonymous, not true. You can do front, side, rear, hook, crescent, leg and axe KICKS in bare feet and sometimes even knock someone out if you land one to the head. So MOCCASINS would just add padding or maybe skip if the mat was slick with sweat. As for PLATFORMS and PUMPS, have you never seen photos or videos of the the rockettes?
My favorite PLATFORMS were powder blue suede open toed sandals with cross crossing bands and a bow. My favorite MOCASSINS in high school were red and white fringed with dark blue suede.
Speaking of overthinking things, I am amazed at the number of folks who don't grok the theme. All of the full answers are things that are not shoes: SUCTION PUMPS (useful to get water out of basements), WATER MOCCASINS (deadly snakes), PARTY PLATFORMS. And all of the second words are indeed kinds of shoes, which the person described in the clue might decide to buy JUST FOR KICKS. Not for use in that person's named field, of course: synchronized swimmers don't wear shoes, and PUMPS are the last thing a cat burglar would wear on the job, and a party planner would probably find PLATFORM shoes slowed her down as she rushed around setting things up for a shindig. The choice of shoes just adds a touch of irony, of je ne sais quoi.
This was over too quickly; I stalled absolutely nowhere, which doesn't mean I was fast, just methodical. But it was fun! I don't usually try to find other themers, but in addition to the flats, there are Lady Slippers. I will pile on the point that Mr. Pickens is, indeed, always T BOONE. I loved the list of the famous who use their first initial. So take THAT, Mr. Parker.
No way I'll take on Loren's former University employer on the basis of reputation, but I have to mention that my former employer, Millikin University, was just named the best university in Illinois for getting its grads jobs. That's an honor worth something when you're school shopping. There are more than a few good schools in Illinois so this is a big deal.
Also fun to mention that two of the smallest tornadoes on record struck just down the road from me on Sunday. There's a giant branch from our old oak lying in the yard, courtesy of big wind. We'll take the wind; it arrived with lots of rain, something we needed badly.
@all the suction pump deniers, I guess y'all don't have a basement with a water table issue. I couldn't get by without a suction pump working 24/7 downstairs.
@Math Gent, I read and re-read Salinger's Glass family stories in Nine Stories and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters throughout my 30s (for some reason). A Perfect Day for Bananafish was a heartbreaker.
I don't know if you're interested, but Hapworth 16, 1924 was the last of what Salinger published in the New Yorker and starts with Seymour (from Bananafish) when he was 7. Widely criticized but still interesting, and available in the New Yorker's online archives.
This is the kind of puzzle I'd hope for on a Tuesday. A little pushback, especially over at suction cups v. suction pumps and Donald's lisp. I'd always thought of it as a sibilant s. Youtubed it and I guess it's more a slobbery lisp.
There is no such thing as a suction pump. There are pumps where atmospheric pressure pushes a fluid (water, air, whatever) into the intake of a pump, which then forces that material somewhere else.
a bit of physics. a regular pump, say the oil pump in your car, doesn't generate suction, since it's full of oil all the time. suction pumps, often sump pumps in basements, have to lift the liquid from site to pump gear first. once fluid is moving, all pumps work the same. your engine will, likely, overheat if the coolant drops too low, and starves the water pump body of fluid, since it's not designed to lift fluid into the body of the pump.
This was a fine Tuesday puzzle, in the MANE. I'll admit to being a bit mystified by the revealer, but after reading Xwordinfo, I did recall that KICKS is used to mean shoes these days, which made me like it better.
AIR DRY made me want to go home and hang out my bedding. There is nothing to me that smells as good as getting into bed with freshly air-dried sheets. So clean smelling and a nostalgia thing too, for when Mom had no dryer and everything was air-dried. We do have a collapsible clothes line so we make the effort in clement months.
Thanks, Sam and Tracy. I got the theme at WATER MOCCASINS, which made me smile.
And @kitshef, given the subject matter of "Pumped Up Kicks", I would have fallen off my chair if @Rex had linked to it. Perhaps you were being sarcastic?
@Teedmn - Sarcastic is too harsh a word, as I think it implies a degree of contempt that I do not feel towards Rex. Waggish, maybe? I like that word better anyway as it makes me think of dogs.
As a young puzzler, I appreciate EMINEM, WHO DAT, EMOJI, and JUST FOR KICKS. Keeps it feeling accessible for those of us not yet fluent in crosswordese.
@Lewis and @Mohair and @everyone else - Always check Muse’s avatar.
Regarding Rex’s “SUCTION PUMP” comment - a whole bunch of you are missing his point. Rex’s implied question is, “aren’t all pumps SUCTION PUMPS making the “suction” redundant?” Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about mechanical engineering to answer this question. I read the Wikipedia article and noted that many of the various types involve suction even though they have specialized names. But many of the various types make no mention of suction and it is plausible to me that no suction is involved, but I don’t know. So, engineering types out there, is there a pump that does not involve suction?
my resident ME isn't taking the question seriously. But here's what I'd offer. For some pumps, like sump pumps,the principle action involves sucking. But others, like a bicycle tire pump, while they do suck, are principally pumpers, pushing air out. And Mr. ME points to the pump that operates my fountain, which recirculates water. Or the heart, which recirculates blood. So I think suction, which may be a compnent of most if not all pumps, is still a reasonable qualifier because it specifies what the pump is intended to do. I probably am making no sense, but that's okay. I spent the day editing and my brain is fried.
I’m inclined to go along with Malsdemare’s husband and not take this too seriously. I’m an ME working mostly in the municipal water and wastewater field, and I design lot of pump systems. To answer @Z’s question, Archimedes' screw pumps don’t use suction and are useful for moving large amounts of water a short vertical distance. They’re used a lot at the entrance to wastewater treatment plants to lift the fluid from the gravity sewer collection system below grade to the treatment works above grade.
I started writing an explanation of why, IMO, “suction pump” is not a thing but decided against boring you all with it. @Science? Facts? (12:39) offered a nice concise explanation – it’s all about atmospheric pressure.
For the record, it being in my puzzle does not offend me.
Late comment so no one will read this but I'll chime in on the "suction pump"issue.
My only pump experience was as an engineer on a nuclear submarine, but fortunately they just happen to be the High Holy Vatican of pumps. Centrifugal, pumps, piston pumps, plunger pumps, gear pumps, you name it we had it.
Most everyone seems to be talking about liquid pumps which generally need a "suction head" of at least atmospheric pressure but oftentimes a lot more. Air pumps don't need a suction head, because they are suction pumps. Such as:
The supercharger on our Fairbanks-Morse ND8-1/8 diesel generator was a positive displacement roots blower air pump that could draw a vacuum in a compartment if ventilation was misaligned, and there was an auto-cutoff if this happened. It was a suction pump of the first magnitude. In case of a fire the first action was to snorkel and start the diesel and get its suction lined up to the affected compartment because it could suck in vast quantities and could clear the smoke quickly (which would be dense and deadly). The "Low Pressure Blower" up forward was also a roots blower that was a full-on suction pump with a positive displacement discharge.
In my fluid mechanics classes (I'm an engineer also), we show that conventional pumps like we use today put energy into the fluid. The result is a difference in pressure on the two sides of the pump, higher pressure on the outlet, lower pressure on the inlet, hence a suction from one side to the other. Without getting too math-ey, the energy equation is used to calculate the diffference in pressures. Pumps today are suction pumps.
The Archimedes screw has the same pressure on both ends (open water in a canal system usually) so it does not use a suction. Wikipedia says some screw pumps are inline and do generate a suction, but I've not dealt with those.
I just read @Bubblehead's comments and should have added that my comments apply to non-compressible pumps (liquids). Compressible fluid pumps have a whole different set of equations but still have a suction side, per Bubblehead. I've not dealt with those.
All pumps work the same way: They take a fluid and push it out the exhaust. Just think of a fan - the blade is at an angle, and when it spins around the angle pushes the air it encounters forward. Your vacuum cleaner is nothing but a fan with very confined hoses at either end, focusing the intensity of the work being performed.
For a pump to work the fluid being pushed forward has to be refreshed on a continuous basis, otherwise no pumping can take place. All pumps create low pressure on the input side of the machine, and whatever ambient pressure exists in the surrounding volume (atmospheric pressure, hydrostatic pressure from surrounding water, ...) presses the fluid into the area the pump has just evacuated. A vacuum cleaner works by atmospheric pressure forcing air into the area which has just had all the air there pumped out. The pump isn't sucking the air in (you can't pull a fluid any more than you can push on a string), the outside pressure is pushing the air in, and it then gets pushed out the exhaust by the fan.
Those fans you put in the window on a hot summer's day? One way it's an exhaust fan, turn it 180 degrees and it's an input fan. In truth it's neither an exhaust or an input fan, it's just a fan. That sump pump you having in your basement that you think is a suction pump? Hook it up to a nose connected to your outdoor faucet when you want to wash your car with a high pressure rinse. That "suction pump" just became a "high pressure pump" but it's really just a pump.
mp." Anyway, I'm not questioning its somethingness, just saying that PUMPS took every cross to get. After that, nothing was particularly tough, but then I know "ABIE Baby" because it's crosswordese and IROC because it's crosswordese and EDDA because well actually because I'm a medievalist but also because it's crosswordese. Particularly with something like "ABIE Baby," where it's a proper noun and bygone and crosswordese, I feel guilty for plunking it down immediately. 바카라사이트This puzzle skews awfully old, now that I look at it. Who says WHO DAT? (besides ... maybe Saints fans? Bengals fans? I forg
Man o Man - It sure seems to me that, based on what I’m gleaning here, a “pump” by definition uses some sort of pressure differential in a fluid, i.e. a pump sucks. @Banana Diaquiri - I did and it seems to me that there’s pressure differential created in a car’s oil pump. Based on everything I’ve seen so far the only ”pump” that doesn’t use suction is actually a screw, not a pump. Again, way out of my depth here, but “suction” does seem redundant.
we're getting into the weeds here. Compressible fluids like steam and air can not be "pumped". For example, steam in a power generation plant must be condensed (think of cooling towers) before it can be pumped back into the boiler to be reheated (very inefficient). It's all a matter of definition. Do air compressors, blowers and fans fall under the general definition of "pump"? For that matter, is a screw pump really a pump or is it a conveyor? @Z - "pumps suck" -- no, they do not, that was @Science? Facts? point. Pumps create a low-pressure zone in the volute on the "suction side" and atmospheric pressure pushes fluid into that zone. On the other side of that low pressure zone is the discharge side where the fluid is then pumped to a higher pressure.
@Bill L - Huh? Aren’t all fluids compressible? And pumps specifically move fluids. So it seems to me steam can be pumped. @Science? Facts? example seems muddled to me. There is a difference between a machine that pushes fluids and a device that pumps fluids. So, I’m still unswayed.
1 - your cars oil pump, and most liquid pumps, don't work by atm. pressure (or, its lack, vacuum), but simply pushing the liquid. there's a gear immersed in the oil, and contained in a shaped orifice. the gear spins, pushing the oil from the inlet side to the outlet side. there's no atm. in the pump. let atm. in, and the pump fails. it's no different from you pushing your rubber ducky from one side of the bathtub to the other.
2 - many liquids, water in particular, are incompressible. that's why the master cylinder of your car's brakes can push a 3 or 4 sq. in. piston with 100s of lbs of pressure to the calipers through a brake line the diameter of the lead in a common pencil: the pressure/area is constant no matter the area.
GEE, where have I been? I didn’t know KICKS was slang for shoes. Learnin’ something each day this week. I don’t see OFL’s point on TBOONE, that’s all you ever hear. WATERMOCCASINS has gotta BEE the highlight.
A coupla years ago a French artist, stage name “Jain”, released an album with a song in tribute to MIRIAM Makeba. 89.3 The Current gave it plenty of airplay and even HAD Jain in studio for an interview. Her song is not one of the GREATS, but Jain, yeah baby.
Neither is this puz one of the GREATS, EVEN for a Tuesday. It’s one of the OKAYS.
Decent puzzle which has generated a lot of discussion about SUCTION, a term which is regularly misused, but which has currency in the lexicon. Just as a "push" is a "pull" from a different perspective, or the term "centrifugal" is really "centripetal", it's a matter of direction of a force. Pressure differential is required for a pump to work. You can call it SUCTION or you can call it "compression" - push/pull. There you go.
Actually, when my wife was lactating, she used a SUCTION PUMP to express milk into bottles for later use.
In the Sixties, when I went through my folkie period, MIRIAM Makeba was a favourite of mine. Lovely voice.
The puzzle itself was a very good example of competent construction. While it didn't rise to the level of "excitement", it was enjoyable for its theme/revealer content and for a nice mix of clues/entries. Liked it.
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When Rex says its filled with repeaters does he mean stuff that has ever occurred in a database crossword puzzle or does he just mean super common crosswordese specifically?
ReplyDeleteIf it's the former, how much stuff is a puzzle suppose to have that is brand new?
Also didn't care for this in general, seems boring. Also did the constructor put himself into the center of his own puzzle?
Woah, I didn’t realize that till you mentioned it! Kinda cool but crossing with OBAMA isn’t exactly humble...
DeleteI know 'Beauty Spots-SPAS' was used last Sunday. I think he means recent clue/answer repeats.
DeleteAccording to the calendar on the wall it's Tuesday, so set your puzzle meter accordingly. Not sure I'm onboard with OFL's quibbles with the themers and the revealer. Anyway, KICKS is generic and the other shoes are more specific. I've only worn MOCCASINS, never PLATFORMS or PUMPS, but I'm certain if I ever do, my legs will look terrific.
ReplyDeleteThe Moody Blues sang GO NOW, a rock song not part of a concept album. We survived that British Invasion, back when we were friendly, but can we stand the impending British Evacuation. I know those tied to an economy dependent on snow birds probably won't be seeing a Canadian Invasion next season. Hello, desert Southwest.
Folks call it World Music, generally sung in a foreign language. I heard the music of MIRIAM Makeba early on, and feel fortunate for the experience. Afro-beat, twangy guitar riffs, and that upbeat spirit are characteristic of that great artist. Embracing, not shunning, world culture would help. Get a passport and use it.
Easier than yesterday’s puzzle which I tagged as “super easy”. Kind of liked the theme. Especially liked SUCTION PUMPS, envisioning a burglar scaling a wall with high heels on.
ReplyDeleteUsed to say “JUST FOR KICKS” changed it to JUST FOR giggles.
Onward...
I'll never forget, for some reason or another, one of my high school English teachers talking about Snorri Sturluson and the Prose and Poetic EDDAs
ReplyDeleteEasy-medium for me too. An excellent Tues. Smooth with a great reveal. Really liked it!
ReplyDelete@jae I completely agree. This was great, just what I expect a Tuesday to be. Nothing wrong with the revealer at all—they’re out shopping JUST FOR KICKS so they go to a shoe store. Rex is quibbling just to quibble if he finds fault with that.
DeleteThis week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 1/2/2018 post for an explanation of my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio & percentage, the higher my solve time was relative to my norm for that day of the week. Your results may vary.
ReplyDelete(Day, Solve time, 26-wk Median, Ratio, %, Rating)
Mon 4:21 4:30 0.97 38.1% Easy-Medium
Tue 5:38 5:26 1.04 60.0% Medium
Meh. WHO DAT? The only thing I associate this phrase with is the New Orleans Saints. More puns. Two of them I found tolerable. SUCTION PUMPS, not so much. MIRIAM Makeba was a learning experience. Thanks to Will and/or the constructors for that. On the plus side, I'm always happy to see The Beatles in a puzzle. It seems a little weird for the constructor to put his famous namesake in the puzzle, but whatever.
I agree with Rex. Pretty dull.
ReplyDeleteJeff Chen makes it his POW. Scorched-earth week ahead, I'm afraid.
We saw Rebel in the Rye, the biopic of J.D. Salinger a couple of nights ago. Pretty good movie. It lead me to go back to Nine Stories. I first read them more than fifty years ago. I read A Perfect Day for Bananafish yesterday and For Esme -- With Love and Squalor this afternoon. Both masterpieces, IMHO. He had a unique way of telling a story. Seven of the short stories ran in the New Yorker at about the time that The Catcher in the Rye was published, the other two were rejected. After I finish the book I'll try to guess which were the two before looking it up.
Fine, clean Tuesday, with not a lot of dreck. The guy goes by, is known by, T. BOONE Pickens. I don't understand the complaint.
ReplyDeleteBy my standards, I TORE through this one. My only mistake, corrected when I didn't get the happy pencil, was to enter CaVE before COVE.
Some nice placements, especially CLAW over OUCH, and BEE at right angles to MICE (the latter sometimes hole up with the former during the winter), AIR DRY crossing SHIRTS, and ... KICKS intersecting KNEE (OUCH!). That kind of think can SEND you to the hospital.
I'm surprised that OFL didn't mention the wink at 39A: "Newsman Donaldson", the answer to which is SAM. Isn't that guy and the co-constructor of this puzzle the SAMe person? Is this a display of the "I ROC!" sentiment?
Gotta GO NOW. The EYES have ... I mean, HAD ... it.
Liked the theme with PARTY PLATFORMS being my favorite.
ReplyDeleteCluing for SHIRTS was cute. EMINEM was in last week’s trivia contest—knew it now but not then.
Lots of CROSSWORDease as Rex mentioned.
Thanks SAD/TG
Jeff Chen called it his POW! This does not bode well.
ReplyDeletePost script: I think a better clue for 28A (WATER MOCCASINS) would have been "Herpetologist's shoe purchase?"
ReplyDeleteNO
DeleteSheesh. Y’all are a tough crowd. A theme with real sole. Hah! Loved it. Makes me think of my beloved Tar Heels. I didn’t mind the reveal, but it really wasn’t necessary. Another themer there would’ve worked for me, too. @Larry – I think you’d want the reveal to be a general word for shoe.
ReplyDeleteThe symmetry of WHAT A TREAT and SUPERSIZED jumped out at me. I don’t eat a lot of fast food, and I say this not in the braggy I don’t own a tv ‘cause I’m so evolved and sophisticated and stuff way but rather in the I fight tooth and nail every day to beat the weight back way. So anyway, the last time I ate fast food was during the WV teacher strike. Matt W and I went to Wendy’s one day, and I ordered a double cheeseburger. I didn’t know I had to specify that I wanted a bigger thing of fries because, ahem, no one told me, so I was crushed when I saw my paltry little thing of fries next to Matt’s big one ‘cause he spoke fast food language and knew to ask for a big one. The next day I was ready for’em, had been brooding for 24 hours about this, and I ordered a triple cheeseburger with supersized the fries. Man oh man was it delicious. Had a frosty, too. Totally out-ate Matt, my unlikely best friend at school who is young enough to be my son, a health and PE teacher from Calhoun County. He was impressed. Proud moment.
ROOK. Been studying up on my chess, specifically the Queen’s Gambit opening ‘cause this new teacher at school has started a chess club and he’s kind of an uppity know-it-all who used to teach college and won’t acknowledge all my subtle comments that I taught at a university, too, and that my university could whip his university’s ass which means I’m just generally superior to him in every way shape and form so there. It’s my plan to blind-side him with a non Ruy Lopez opening and just pray he Takes. That. Pawn. Wish me luck.
MOCCASINS – In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford puts on moccasins before the hunt, and Brennen F raised his hand to ask why someone would put snakes on his feet. He was serious. I swear.
One last thing – this half time deal. And all the commercials now during any game. Does this mean that the depth/quality of your bench doesn’t matter as much anymore ‘cause your starters get so much more rest? Doesn’t seem fair.
Tracy, SAM Donaldson – don’t listen to all the complainers. This is really cute and fun. And SAM – I’m always thrilled when the constructor sneaks his name into a grid. I just don’t understand why this is such an issue with some people. Bet they don’t own TVs. (@’merican – you weren’t too nasty about it, so my only poke at you was actually that slash in the above paragraph.)
slightly easier than usual Tuesdy and no big complaints here.
ReplyDeleteSmall Complaints Section:
-never heard of SUCTIONPUMPS, it's always suction cups or, in a cartoon, toilet plungers tied to feet
-pretty boring
Small Praise Section:
-JUSTFORKICKS is a great bad pun
-JOJO
WHODAT has a much older legacy than just the Saints football time, though I think still relatively local to New Orleans. I've definitely heard very old jazz recordings with call and response vocals of "Who dat down dere?" and "Who dat up dere?".
Nice, easy, roll-off-the-tongue theme, which may mask the fact that additional theme answers are slim pickens (I see you TBOONE). I've been brain-craning to think of some more, and anything I've found has sounded strained , so props to the constructors for coming up with this theme, and squeezing everything out of it.
ReplyDeleteI see that leftish SAM BEE crossing OBAMA in the middle, but it's balanced off with Mr. Pickens (who once endorsed Guliani for president), satisfying my stasis-loving Libra sensibilities.
Anyway, this zippy solve and lovely theme left me with happy feet.
What does suction have to do with a cat burglar? Does he use a suction cup to cut a hole in a window? Seems extremely forced, unlike the other themers which are straighforward. Actually, "synchronized swimmer" is unnecessary, as "swimmer" is more than sufficiently descriptive.
ReplyDeleteI liked it for a short time. Very cute them.
ReplyDeleteAll klutzes are clumsy, but are all OAFs klutzes? Socrates is a cat.
ReplyDeleteT Boone is how he is known, so what's your beef exactly?
ReplyDeleteWest Side Story:
ReplyDeleteAnita's gonna get her kicks. Tonight. We'll have our private little mix. Tonight.
Route 66:
Won't you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Cole Porter:
I get no kick from Champagne
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick
Out of you
Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil:
Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find
And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind
Before you find out it's too late, girl, you better get straight
And don't it seem like
Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find
And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind
Before you find out it's too late, girl, you better get straight
No, but not with kicks
I’m with the crowd today, perfectly fine Tuesday but if this is the POW, uh-oh.
ReplyDelete@Lewis - Did you notice her avatar? You know who.
Speaking of fries - free advice to everyone in North Carolina- If you’re not Canadian Do. Not. Call. It. Poutine. I’m from north Windsor and even there we apologize when we call something “poutine.” True poutine has an ineffable Canadianess that just can’t be replicated south of the border. I think we just aren’t polite enough. Rest Stop Poutine on the 401 is better than anything I’ve had in N.C.
@Anschau - Rex mentioned yesterday that “repeater” is synonymous with “crosswordese.” Personally, I don’t like it.
Are the Marx Brothers so much in the rear view mirror now that people don’t remember the Who Dat Man? song in A Day at the Races? A shame if true. Unlike many comedy teams (looking at you, Three Stooges), they were funny.
ReplyDeleteT BOONE, G FORCES … seems like there could be the seed a future theme there.
I was expecting Foster the People in Rex’s video link.
Count me as one who really enjoyed this puzzle. I liked all of the themers. I also liked the AIRDRY / SHIRTS cross. HIPPOS and HOOPLA are more fun words. Today’s SUPERSIZED reminded me of yesterday’s MCENTIRE (thanks to @Birchbark for that imagery!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fun puzzle!
Happy birthday Abie Baby, Happy birthday to you.--Hair
ReplyDeleteT. Boone Pickens is known as "T. Boone". Never seen him being referred as Boone Pickens. So Rex's complaint has no standing.
ReplyDeletePuzzle was OK. Theme went over my head.
Kitshef: Yes, it is a shame. Especially since most of the videos are either commercially available or can be viewed on You Tube. I have the entire Buster Keaton videos (with some commercials and TV appearnaces missing for the most part. I wonder how many young people are familiar with his work. I fear the correct answer would induce me to shout "What a shame." I have been watching his videos in chronological order, and soon will watch (for the first time) his later MGM movies. Interesting that Del Lord and Jules White, who directed so many 3 Stooges Shorts, directed Keaton at MGM. They favored violence, sometimes for no good reason, and the videos suffer from their preference. Just as the 3 Stooges pictures that were directed by Clyde Bruckman were so much better than those directed by White (no eye-poking with Bruckman), I expect those videos of Keaton that were directed by Bruckman to shine over those directed by White. Poor Buster, although his drinking problem might have guaranteed the swinging of the arc.
ReplyDeleteBack to the puzzle. Yes, Loren, those commenting here are a tough group. Mike lapses today into his "overthinking things" mode, but at least he doesn't deny it. Seems to me that Jeff tends to award the POW to a puzzle that he thinks is better than average for the day of the week on which ti's published. Many here dislike today's puzzle in general, but I actually think it is one of the better Tuesday puzzles. Many may complain that I set a low bar, but I think not. I enjoyed solving today's puzzle, which is all that matters to me. Why do buyers go into a shoe store? I just can't waste my time thinking about that. Lighten up.
Calman: Don't think your comment has been responded to yet. A cat burglar has to negotiate climbing in order to pilfer. That's why he a cat burgler and not just a burglar. While there are other ways to climb, using suctions cups (or shoes with suction cups) helps you achieve your goal. Am I overthinking this?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHow does one become a medievalist specializing in the history of comics who never read "The Great Gatsby" until 5 years ago ?
ReplyDeleteI just can't make suction pumps work for me. Sounds made up.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with @ Calman that synchronized is not needed for that clue.
Then there's Coin Ops. Shouldn't that be singular? Coin Op as an adjective sounds better. Ops goes with Special.
@ Larry G. Travel really helps you keep a much-needed perspective on the world but I wouldn't recommend South Africa for your itinerary.
Okay, so today I read Rex to see what the dumb-seeming revealer was all about, and he tells me that KICKS is another word for shoes. It is? I Googled, and buried at the bottom of all the normal definitions was the fact that when someone has "cool shoes", you congratulate him on his KICKS. So now I've learned some new youth-speak. I promise you all I'll never use it.
ReplyDeleteUp until that point, I was thinking that cat burglars don't KICK and event coordinators don't KICK, and that only synchronized swimmers KICK. And therefore the revealer was ridiculous. The rest of the puzzle was fine -- mildly diverting and somewhat cute. Why shoes? Why not?
@z -- I hadn't seen her avatar, thanks for the heads up. As I was brainstorming, Tortilla Flats and Bonneville Flats crossed my mind, then I was trying to do something with "boots" as in British trunks. Tortilla Flats was actually the best I came up with, and I should have mentioned that, but it still wouldn't have worked in this puzzle, which needed 12s and 14s for themers.
ReplyDeleteMan, am I ever in the Jeff Chen and @Loren camp on this one. WHAT A TREAT! I can imagine a newbie having a ball with this. I was laughing at Rex's desperate attempt to rip the delightful theme - one of those "I'm-gonna-find-flaws" days for him.
ReplyDeleteI read the Wall Street Journal every day of my working life - he is, was, and always has been T BOONE Pickens, not sure what Rex is complaining about. How different are Rex and I? - He knows ABIE and IROC only from crosswords and EDDA from real life. I know EDDA only from crosswords and ABIE and IROC from real life.
@kitshef (7:41) - Finally, another male who doesn't find The Three Stooges funny (love the Marx Brothers, btw).
Had a neighbor whose daughter's boyfriend had a Camaro IROC-Z. Her driveway was on our side of the property. When said paramour would pick her up he'd never honk, he'd crank up the impressive stereo and rev that powerful engine - sort of a mating call, and she took forever to leave the house. My revenge? I mowed the lawn on that side of the house with my stereo speakers in the window playing my Janis Joplin album loud enough so I could hear it over the mower's engine. Great negotiating tactic, we quickly reached a volume accord.
I had a non-suction pump once. It didn't suck.
ReplyDelete@'merican in Paris - Not the same person, just someone with the same name. But yeah, clearly intended to be quasi-self-referential.
ReplyDeletePUMPS don't have straps so wouldn't stay on the burglars feet if they had SUCTION to the wall.
ReplyDeleteKick in a MOCCASIN and you'll hurt your toe and you can't kick in PLATFORMS.
WATER equates to "synchronized swimmers"? and PARTY equates to "event coordinators"?
Puzzle really doesn't work.
@Larry Gilstrap, nice subtle tribute to AB, who left us way too soon.
ReplyDeleteWord on the street is that a certain Asian dictator who’s been in the news wears lifts.
Found this just crunchy enough for Tuesday to provide some early in the week challenge. Totally disagree with OFL on all his nits. Lots of fresh stuff.. "WHATATREAT, GFORCE, WHODAT, TBOONE. Maybe college professors don't know him but anyone who has read the financial pages during the past four decades would know him very well.
ReplyDeleteDon't get CONS as "drawbacks." Puts one over on, negative votes OK, but ??? on drawbacks.
A better answer for 28D would’ve been WHO DIS.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad Stilleto didn't fit in here.
ReplyDeleteHand up for not knowing that KICKS refers to shoes. No matter, I thought this was cute in a fashion.
The first pair of shoes that I remember owning was Mary Jane. They were white and had a little bow at the end. I only remember because every single family picture I have of me as a child, has me in those shoes. When I got into Junior High in Sarasota, Fl. everyone had to have Saddle Shoes. I rebelled. I wore white sneakers that I used to clean with white-out.
Ah, yes...SUPERSIZED. I've been tempted but frankly, I hate fast food fries. Wasn't it McDonalds who started this obesity epidemic? Did it not bother anyone that the fries always tasted like their fried fish? Come to think of it, all restaurant fries smell of fish. I do love them though and I make my own...then you dip them in mayonnaise....
POW? OUCH.
@Rex Parker,
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight, a pseudonym is fine, but using one's actual first initial and middle name is obnoxious? Please explain to me a couple of my pals.
Thanks,
F. Scott Fitzgerald
C. Evert Koop
J. Paul Getty
M. Night Shymalan
A. Bartlett Giamatti
G. Gordon Liddy
R. Buckminster Fuller
D. Wayne Lucas
C. Montgomery Burns
Hey D. Wayne Lucas, C. Everett Koop,T. Rowe Price, T Coraghesson Boyle, E. Annie Proulx, M. Donald Grant, G. Gordon Liddy, L. Frank Baum, F. Lee Bailey, F. Murray Abraham , J Paul Getty, L Ron Hubbard, and of course F. Scott Fitzgerald - there’s some guy up in Binghamton who doesn’t like your names.
ReplyDelete@Art O (9:22) -- Drawbacks, as in "Pros and CONS".
ReplyDelete@Mohair (8:54, last paragraph) -- Great negotiating tactic. We could use you in North Korea.
@Gill I - Fries with mayo. I'm salivating as I sit here. Also, mayo mixed with barbecue sauce if you want a little more KICK(s).
ReplyDeleteWHO DAT reminded me of this rather racist bit from a cartoon I remember from childhood.
ReplyDelete"WHO DAT?"
"WHO DAT?"
"WHO DAT say WHO DAT when I say WHO DAT?"
EMIR Bagatelle for a Tuesday, or should I say,for a Shoesday? OUCH!
ReplyDeleteSuction pumps suck unwanted fluid from boats, cellars, or work sites. The are a thing.
ReplyDelete@LMS (5:42) - Best avatar ever - you've outdone yourself. Thanks for the heads up @Z and @Lewis.
ReplyDelete@Rex - Are you and Lena going to stay with "New Grids on the Block"? I'd love to get your take on the last couple of New Yorker puzzles. Thought Anna Schectman's work last week was classic, and makes the case for your argument that we need more women constructing.
NADA bad Tuesday outing by two GREATS of the Cruciverbalistic Community, the duo of Donaldson and Gray! No EGGON their respective faces, because individually, they're both without PIER! I HAD better GONOW...at Wharf speed!
ReplyDeleteA suction pump is in fact a real thing. It is a device used to create a vacuum. Chemistry and physics labs all have them. Assuming you are not Amish nor opposed to modern electrical devices for some other reason you very likely have a suction pump in your home. It is the guts in your vacuum cleaner.
ReplyDeleteI just now realized what PARTY PLATFORMS were -- and I'm a political scientist. It's like not recognizing your neighbor downtown when you see him downtown because the context is different. Now I like th epuzzle a lot better.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the revealer. I knew KICKS were shoes, but the phrase still doesn't tell you what's going on -- not that you need it to, since the clues do that.
The best thing about the puzzle is that it finally induced me to look up who Samuel A. Donaldson is.
The second-best thing was that it gave me an excuse to listen to MIRIAM Makeba singing the Click Song.
Aside from his ridiculous overthinking of the theme, I have to agree with Rex that this was OK but kinda dull.
ReplyDeleteLiked PARTY PLATFORMS, JOJO, and SUPERSIZED. And at least now I know who Slim Shady really is.
Trans Trojan war hero’s shoe purchase — Achilles’ heels.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteTheme was phrases that just happen to have shoe names. So SUCTION PUMPS refer to pumps that suction out water, like from a flooded basement, e.g. It's not related to suction cups. Just as WATER MOCCASINS are deadly sea creatures. They're puns, people.
It was a nice puz. Not sure if it's a POW, but I HAD a good time. Had an embarrassing DNF. Had atEAMS for GREATS, resulting in the Downs tFORCES - tOOK. Oof. EGG ON my face. :-)
Some of the stories @Loren shares are hilarious. I only wish I'd lived half as an exciting life as she has! And add me to the list of males who don't like The Three Stooges. Who thinks it's funny to get smacked around? OUCH.
YOU WIN HOOPLA
RooMonster
DarrinV
LMS posts: She pays attention to the small stuff in her life and writes about it so charmingly. A life well lived, right?
Delete@anonymous, not true. You can do front, side, rear, hook, crescent, leg and axe KICKS in bare feet and sometimes even knock someone out if you land one to the head. So MOCCASINS would just add padding or maybe skip if the mat was slick with sweat. As for PLATFORMS and PUMPS, have you never seen photos or videos of the the rockettes?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite PLATFORMS were powder blue suede open toed sandals with cross crossing bands and a bow. My favorite MOCASSINS in high school were red and white fringed with dark blue suede.
Speaking of overthinking things, I am amazed at the number of folks who don't grok the theme. All of the full answers are things that are not shoes: SUCTION PUMPS (useful to get water out of basements), WATER MOCCASINS (deadly snakes), PARTY PLATFORMS. And all of the second words are indeed kinds of shoes, which the person described in the clue might decide to buy JUST FOR KICKS. Not for use in that person's named field, of course: synchronized swimmers don't wear shoes, and PUMPS are the last thing a cat burglar would wear on the job, and a party planner would probably find PLATFORM shoes slowed her down as she rushed around setting things up for a shindig. The choice of shoes just adds a touch of irony, of je ne sais quoi.
ReplyDeleteThis was over too quickly; I stalled absolutely nowhere, which doesn't mean I was fast, just methodical. But it was fun! I don't usually try to find other themers, but in addition to the flats, there are Lady Slippers. I will pile on the point that Mr. Pickens is, indeed, always T BOONE. I loved the list of the famous who use their first initial. So take THAT, Mr. Parker.
ReplyDeleteNo way I'll take on Loren's former University employer on the basis of reputation, but I have to mention that my former employer, Millikin University, was just named the best university in Illinois for getting its grads jobs. That's an honor worth something when you're school shopping. There are more than a few good schools in Illinois so this is a big deal.
Also fun to mention that two of the smallest tornadoes on record struck just down the road from me on Sunday. There's a giant branch from our old oak lying in the yard, courtesy of big wind. We'll take the wind; it arrived with lots of rain, something we needed badly.
@Joseph Michael, Achilles' heels is fantastic!
ReplyDelete@all the suction pump deniers, I guess y'all don't have a basement with a water table issue. I couldn't get by without a suction pump working 24/7 downstairs.
ReplyDelete@Math Gent, I read and re-read Salinger's Glass family stories in Nine Stories and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters throughout my 30s (for some reason). A Perfect Day for Bananafish was a heartbreaker.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you're interested, but Hapworth 16, 1924 was the last of what Salinger published in the New Yorker and starts with Seymour (from Bananafish) when he was 7. Widely criticized but still interesting, and available in the New Yorker's online archives.
This is the kind of puzzle I'd hope for on a Tuesday. A little pushback, especially over at suction cups v. suction pumps and Donald's lisp. I'd always thought of it as a sibilant s. Youtubed it and I guess it's more a slobbery lisp.
There is no such thing as a suction pump. There are pumps where atmospheric pressure pushes a fluid (water, air, whatever) into the intake of a pump, which then forces that material somewhere else.
ReplyDeletea bit of physics. a regular pump, say the oil pump in your car, doesn't generate suction, since it's full of oil all the time. suction pumps, often sump pumps in basements, have to lift the liquid from site to pump gear first. once fluid is moving, all pumps work the same. your engine will, likely, overheat if the coolant drops too low, and starves the water pump body of fluid, since it's not designed to lift fluid into the body of the pump.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fine Tuesday puzzle, in the MANE. I'll admit to being a bit mystified by the revealer, but after reading Xwordinfo, I did recall that KICKS is used to mean shoes these days, which made me like it better.
ReplyDeleteAIR DRY made me want to go home and hang out my bedding. There is nothing to me that smells as good as getting into bed with freshly air-dried sheets. So clean smelling and a nostalgia thing too, for when Mom had no dryer and everything was air-dried. We do have a collapsible clothes line so we make the effort in clement months.
Thanks, Sam and Tracy. I got the theme at WATER MOCCASINS, which made me smile.
And @kitshef, given the subject matter of "Pumped Up Kicks", I would have fallen off my chair if @Rex had linked to it. Perhaps you were being sarcastic?
Stanley Hudson, That certain Asian Dictator who wears lifts, obviously made a Korea choice!? ;-)
ReplyDelete@Teedmn - Sarcastic is too harsh a word, as I think it implies a degree of contempt that I do not feel towards Rex. Waggish, maybe? I like that word better anyway as it makes me think of dogs.
ReplyDelete@lms you seldom disappoint. Viva los zapatos!
ReplyDeleteOops. I absently filled in ROOD for castle, changing the JUST FOR *ICKS theme a bit!
ReplyDeleteWe have an upscale shoe store in our city named KICKS!
ReplyDelete@kitshef, after I hit the submit button, I realized I really wanted “facetious”, not sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteAs a young puzzler, I appreciate EMINEM, WHO DAT, EMOJI, and JUST FOR KICKS. Keeps it feeling accessible for those of us not yet fluent in crosswordese.
ReplyDelete@Lewis and @Mohair and @everyone else - Always check Muse’s avatar.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Rex’s “SUCTION PUMP” comment - a whole bunch of you are missing his point. Rex’s implied question is, “aren’t all pumps SUCTION PUMPS making the “suction” redundant?” Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about mechanical engineering to answer this question. I read the Wikipedia article and noted that many of the various types involve suction even though they have specialized names. But many of the various types make no mention of suction and it is plausible to me that no suction is involved, but I don’t know. So, engineering types out there, is there a pump that does not involve suction?
@Z:
ReplyDeleteSo, engineering types out there, is there a pump that does not involve suction?
if you bothered to read my earlier physics lesson... :)
my resident ME isn't taking the question seriously. But here's what I'd offer. For some pumps, like sump pumps,the principle action involves sucking. But others, like a bicycle tire pump, while they do suck, are principally pumpers, pushing air out. And Mr. ME points to the pump that operates my fountain, which recirculates water. Or the heart, which recirculates blood. So I think suction, which may be a compnent of most if not all pumps, is still a reasonable qualifier because it specifies what the pump is intended to do. I probably am making no sense, but that's okay. I spent the day editing and my brain is fried.
ReplyDeleteI’m inclined to go along with Malsdemare’s husband and not take this too seriously. I’m an ME working mostly in the municipal water and wastewater field, and I design lot of pump systems. To answer @Z’s question, Archimedes' screw pumps don’t use suction and are useful for moving large amounts of water a short vertical distance. They’re used a lot at the entrance to wastewater treatment plants to lift the fluid from the gravity sewer collection system below grade to the treatment works above grade.
ReplyDeleteI started writing an explanation of why, IMO, “suction pump” is not a thing but decided against boring you all with it. @Science? Facts? (12:39) offered a nice concise explanation – it’s all about atmospheric pressure.
For the record, it being in my puzzle does not offend me.
Late comment so no one will read this but I'll chime in on the "suction pump"issue.
ReplyDeleteMy only pump experience was as an engineer on a nuclear submarine, but fortunately they just happen to be the High Holy Vatican of pumps. Centrifugal, pumps, piston pumps, plunger pumps, gear pumps, you name it we had it.
Most everyone seems to be talking about liquid pumps which generally need a "suction head" of at least atmospheric pressure but oftentimes a lot more. Air pumps don't need a suction head, because they are suction pumps. Such as:
The supercharger on our Fairbanks-Morse ND8-1/8 diesel generator was a positive displacement roots blower air pump that could draw a vacuum in a compartment if ventilation was misaligned, and there was an auto-cutoff if this happened. It was a suction pump of the first magnitude. In case of a fire the first action was to snorkel and start the diesel and get its suction lined up to the affected compartment because it could suck in vast quantities and could clear the smoke quickly (which would be dense and deadly). The "Low Pressure Blower" up forward was also a roots blower that was a full-on suction pump with a positive displacement discharge.
Yep, those were suction pumps.
In my fluid mechanics classes (I'm an engineer also), we show that conventional pumps like we use today put energy into the fluid. The result is a difference in pressure on the two sides of the pump, higher pressure on the outlet, lower pressure on the inlet, hence a suction from one side to the other. Without getting too math-ey, the energy equation is used to calculate the diffference in pressures. Pumps today are suction pumps.
ReplyDeleteThe Archimedes screw has the same pressure on both ends (open water in a canal system usually) so it does not use a suction. Wikipedia says some screw pumps are inline and do generate a suction, but I've not dealt with those.
I just read @Bubblehead's comments and should have added that my comments apply to non-compressible pumps (liquids). Compressible fluid pumps have a whole different set of equations but still have a suction side, per Bubblehead. I've not dealt with those.
ReplyDeleteAll pumps work the same way: They take a fluid and push it out the exhaust. Just think of a fan - the blade is at an angle, and when it spins around the angle pushes the air it encounters forward. Your vacuum cleaner is nothing but a fan with very confined hoses at either end, focusing the intensity of the work being performed.
ReplyDeleteFor a pump to work the fluid being pushed forward has to be refreshed on a continuous basis, otherwise no pumping can take place. All pumps create low pressure on the input side of the machine, and whatever ambient pressure exists in the surrounding volume (atmospheric pressure, hydrostatic pressure from surrounding water, ...) presses the fluid into the area the pump has just evacuated. A vacuum cleaner works by atmospheric pressure forcing air into the area which has just had all the air there pumped out. The pump isn't sucking the air in (you can't pull a fluid any more than you can push on a string), the outside pressure is pushing the air in, and it then gets pushed out the exhaust by the fan.
Those fans you put in the window on a hot summer's day? One way it's an exhaust fan, turn it 180 degrees and it's an input fan. In truth it's neither an exhaust or an input fan, it's just a fan. That sump pump you having in your basement that you think is a suction pump? Hook it up to a nose connected to your outdoor faucet when you want to wash your car with a high pressure rinse. That "suction pump" just became a "high pressure pump" but it's really just a pump.
This whole PUMP conversation SUCKS.
ReplyDeletemp." Anyway, I'm not questioning its somethingness, just saying that PUMPS took every cross to get. After that, nothing was particularly tough, but then I know "ABIE Baby" because it's crosswordese and IROC because it's crosswordese and EDDA because well actually because I'm a medievalist but also because it's crosswordese. Particularly with something like "ABIE Baby," where it's a proper noun and bygone and crosswordese, I feel guilty for plunking it down immediately. 바카라사이트This puzzle skews awfully old, now that I look at it. Who says WHO DAT? (besides ... maybe Saints fans? Bengals fans? I forg
ReplyDeleteMan o Man - It sure seems to me that, based on what I’m gleaning here, a “pump” by definition uses some sort of pressure differential in a fluid, i.e. a pump sucks. @Banana Diaquiri - I did and it seems to me that there’s pressure differential created in a car’s oil pump. Based on everything I’ve seen so far the only ”pump” that doesn’t use suction is actually a screw, not a pump. Again, way out of my depth here, but “suction” does seem redundant.
ReplyDeletewe're getting into the weeds here. Compressible fluids like steam and air can not be "pumped". For example, steam in a power generation plant must be condensed (think of cooling towers) before it can be pumped back into the boiler to be reheated (very inefficient). It's all a matter of definition. Do air compressors, blowers and fans fall under the general definition of "pump"? For that matter, is a screw pump really a pump or is it a conveyor? @Z - "pumps suck" -- no, they do not, that was @Science? Facts? point. Pumps create a low-pressure zone in the volute on the "suction side" and atmospheric pressure pushes fluid into that zone. On the other side of that low pressure zone is the discharge side where the fluid is then pumped to a higher pressure.
ReplyDelete@Bill L - Huh? Aren’t all fluids compressible? And pumps specifically move fluids. So it seems to me steam can be pumped. @Science? Facts? example seems muddled to me. There is a difference between a machine that pushes fluids and a device that pumps fluids. So, I’m still unswayed.
ReplyDelete@Z:
ReplyDelete1 - your cars oil pump, and most liquid pumps, don't work by atm. pressure (or, its lack, vacuum), but simply pushing the liquid. there's a gear immersed in the oil, and contained in a shaped orifice. the gear spins, pushing the oil from the inlet side to the outlet side. there's no atm. in the pump. let atm. in, and the pump fails. it's no different from you pushing your rubber ducky from one side of the bathtub to the other.
2 - many liquids, water in particular, are incompressible. that's why the master cylinder of your car's brakes can push a 3 or 4 sq. in. piston with 100s of lbs of pressure to the calipers through a brake line the diameter of the lead in a common pencil: the pressure/area is constant no matter the area.
GONOW!
ReplyDeleteGEE, WHATATREAT YOUWIN if you are WHODAT girl picks,
you’re ONTAP to begin the DEED she’ll do JUSTFORKICKS.
--- JOJO OBAMA
Maybe it could have used another themer, but this one was fine for a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteGEE, where have I been? I didn’t know KICKS was slang for shoes. Learnin’ something each day this week. I don’t see OFL’s point on TBOONE, that’s all you ever hear. WATERMOCCASINS has gotta BEE the highlight.
ReplyDeleteA coupla years ago a French artist, stage name “Jain”, released an album with a song in tribute to MIRIAM Makeba. 89.3 The Current gave it plenty of airplay and even HAD Jain in studio for an interview. Her song is not one of the GREATS, but Jain, yeah baby.
Neither is this puz one of the GREATS, EVEN for a Tuesday. It’s one of the OKAYS.
@Rondo: 56 million views, and I never heard of her before...
ReplyDeleteJain - Makeba (Official Video)
Pretty neat and clean, but not a whole lot of KICK here, though sufficient for today.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't try too much kicking when wearing MOCCASINS.
So EMINEM has an alter ego named Slim Shady. News to me.
SAM has some prominence in the puzzle, but no room for Tracy?
"Just for kicks" means just for fun - for the heck of it, in my world. And remember, Kix are for kids. Silly rabbit.
ReplyDeleteFairly easy - most answers were a shoe-in. Did someone else say that? Must go read comments.
Diana (Shoeless Jo for Crosswords), Waiting
Decent puzzle which has generated a lot of discussion about SUCTION, a term which is regularly misused, but which has currency in the lexicon. Just as a "push" is a "pull" from a different perspective, or the term "centrifugal" is really "centripetal", it's a matter of direction of a force. Pressure differential is required for a pump to work. You can call it SUCTION or you can call it "compression" - push/pull. There you go.
ReplyDeleteActually, when my wife was lactating, she used a SUCTION PUMP to express milk into bottles for later use.
In the Sixties, when I went through my folkie period, MIRIAM Makeba was a favourite of mine. Lovely voice.
The puzzle itself was a very good example of competent construction. While it didn't rise to the level of "excitement", it was enjoyable for its theme/revealer content and for a nice mix of clues/entries. Liked it.