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Marx's collaborator on "The Communist Manifesto" / MON 7-8-19 / Al who created Lil' Abner / "For Better or for Worse" mom / 1980s tennis champ Ivan
Monday, July 8, 2019
Constructor: Ned White
Relative difficulty: Hard
THEME: P AND G — Theme answers start with P and contain G.
Theme answers:
- POINT GUARD (18A: *Basketball position for Magic Johnson or Steph Curry)
- PAY GRADE (20A: *Level on the military wage scale)
- PAINT GUN (26A: *Alternative to a brush when coating the side of a house)
- P AND G (36A: Consumer products giant, for short...or a hint to the answers to the eight starred clues)
- POP GROUP (41A: *The Beach Boys or Backstreet Boys)
- PEA GREEN (52A: *Shade akin to olive)
- PARTY GIRLS (54A: *Sorority types who go out a lot)
- PUB GAMES (4D: *Darts and snooker)
- PAN GRAVY (37D: *Roast accompaniment prepared with drippings)
Word of the Day: GHETTO (42D: Run-down area) —
A ghetto (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɡetto]), often the ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, typically as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure.[1] Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other areas of the city. Versions of the ghetto appear across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people. The term was originally used for the Venetian Ghetto in Venice, Italy, as early as 1516, to describe the part of the city where Jews were restricted to live and thus segregated from other peoples. However, early societies may have formed their own versions of the same structure; words resembling "ghetto" in meaning appear in Hebrew, Yiddish, Italian, Germanic, Old French, and Latin. Ghettos in many cities have also been nicknamed "the hood", which is colloquial slang for "neighborhood" after it is shortened to 'hood.[2]
(Wikipedia)
• • •
Hey, it's a surprise Annabel Monday! Cool huh? Rex asked me
to fill in this week, which is why he filled in for me last week. Happy
to be here! I went camping this weekend. Also, my summer job is going great! I love working at the library. I've been doing some filing, analyzing some data...it's really cool.
Anyway,
this week's puzzle! I had a surprisingly difficult time for a Monday.
Too many proper nouns, I think; that always throws me off. By the way,
what are GRAN and NANA doing right next to each other? Who says POP
GROUPS rather than BOY BANDS? I mean, I don't know that I'd call the
Beach Boys a BOY BAND but hey, they're a band, they're all boys. I do
have to note that nobody has said IMING since long before Myspace died.
And do people actually say PAN GRAVY? I always just say gravy. Anyway, you can probably tell I can have a bunch of little gripes about the puzzle (and not just because of the Eagles reference!) so I'll tell you my absolute favorite thing about it: between AABA and ENGELS it briefly gave me a chance to flex my English-major muscles. Oh, so briefly.
The theme was fun, even if I found
the corporation aspect a little weird. It helped me confirm PEA GREEN
and solve PAY GRADE, so that was nice. And you have to give Ned White props for sneaking Products Giant into P AND G's clue. I do have one question: What exactly are, uh...PARTY GIRLS? Like, just girls that go out to party? Would PARTY BOYS be a potential clue? I dunno. Just seems weird. But hey, it was a Perfectly Good theme for a Monday! Simple and Monday-y, just how I like 'em.
- OREO (31A: ____ O'S [breakfast cereal]) — When I had almost all the letters of OREO (forget which ones I had missing) I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what the answer could possibly be instead. Surely they hadn't made a cereal that was literally just Oreos? But yeah, this is a thing, and I hope I'm never in any store that has it or else I have no idea how I'm supposed to stick to any sort of diet that isn't composed entirely of Oreo products.
- PROM (52D: School event with a king and a queen) — I was going to post an embarrassing prom picture, but I don't have any because I've always looked cute. So instead I'll share my new favorite musical:
- PRIUS (39A: Toyota hybrid) — This is the kind of car I have!! Her name is Rey (after the Star Wars character) and she's turning fifteen next year and I love her so much.
- PAINT GUN (26A: *Alternative to a brush when coating the side of a house) — Seems like a pretty weird way to paint a house but ooookay?
Also, yeah, I know you all know what ghetto means. I just thought it was a good word to pause on for a minute. Help your community, even those who live in run-down areas.
Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired.
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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80 comments:
On the tough side for a Mon. ELIE, LENDL, BENNY HILL, NIN, ELLY, BAIUL...seem more mid week.
Straight forward theme, liked it except The Beach Boys and The Backstreet Boys do not belong together in a clue. It’s like cluing the Beatles and the Monkees together. Please don’t.
Maybe it's a generational thing, Annabel; you found this "hard" and I found it super easy, even for a Monday. But I am more than five older than you - decades, that is, not years!
Just last night I made PAN GRAVY and Yorkshire Puds from the drippings of a roast that we had. Good stuff,
Fun little Monday puzzle. Not up on my sports venues so I had to wait for crosses to get SAFECO. That was my only slowdown.
Was never in a sorority, but can fit in with any PARTY GIRL.
Pretty Good puzzle and write-up.
Thanks for both!
Double-letter mini-theme:
CAPP, MOOD, BOOR, GOONY, BENNY, HILL, ANNA, EMMYS, YELL, GHETTO, ELLY, EENIE, GREEN
Annabel, great writeup as always, but this is gonna bug me: the theme answers don't just contain G. They're two-word phrases whose words start with P and G.
Quite junk-free for being so theme dense (eight theme answers!), and there is a suggestion at 24D for a similar future theme (B AND S, Bobby Socks et al). In thinking about and briefly investigating B&S, I came across an Australian tradition -- the Bachelor and Spinster Ball -- an event which goes well beyond just hanging out at the barby. Here's a short article about it: https://tinyurl.com/y9jpz65f .
Welcome back Annabel. Fun factoid: Al CAPP was Oliver Sacks' cousin.
Other PG types. Pam Grier; Peter Gunn; Primo Geniture; Pearly Gates...
Didn't we have this theme before? I don't get the charm of this type of theme but found this a solid Monday (although I wasn't crazy about the Mom with two Moms) I would have had a record time but I threw in UBOAT without reading the clue and couldn't find my error for a long time.
Happy new week everyone.
Boy was that ever dated...a LULU, clued as a doozy? What a humdinger...stuff my NANA or GRAN would have said.
BENNY HILL, Al CAPP, ILIE Nastase...good thing they had Ivan LENDL from the 80s and Oksana BAIUL from the 90s to keep things fresh.
#bakedmaleska
I guess you're not familiar with the Elvis Costello song "Party Girl"? It's a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYQHIZnTpCY
Nice theme, which helped, but some tricky fill. Tuesdayish here, but about a half cup of coffee for solve time.
Never really cared for the word GHETTO. Seems unusually harsh and pejorative in its present meaning. People live there, and 1) they may think about it differently and 2) they may not have a choice, so don't add to their burden.
Nice Monday puz but maybe too many names. Baiul? That's pretty obscure on any day of the week.
The clue for Benny Hill says "onetime" comic. Is he dead or just not funny anymore?
@ chefwen, If I had to make a last meal request roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and gravy would be part of it.
After PAYGRADE and POINTGUARD I was looking for a revealer along the lines of "Rated PG", but that result did not obtain, and PANDG if of course perfectly fine. I think the Beach Boys were a group of males singing harmonies together long before "boy bands" were so named.
Like those foreign last names, BAIUL, LENDL. Must be invaluable to constructors in some cases.
Also would like to see UBOLT clued as"f. runner", just for a change.
Easy Monday, but maybe that's true just for us old retired types. Thanks NW, and Annabel, try some PANGRAVY. There's really a difference.
SAFECO crossing FREY? We're in total Natick territory here. No way to get it from the crosses.
If P AND G is Proctor and Gamble, what is B AND S (24D)? [Oh, I see Lewis has answered this already]
A ton of themers yet only MDT, RNA, AABA and UBOLT bothered me as fill. Nice job by Mr. White keeping it clean.
@chefwen – thanks for starting my day off with some serious salivating.
I don't think of Oksana Baiul as obscure. She defeated Nancy Kerrigan for the gold medal in the 1994 Olympics after Kerrigan had been attacked in that Tonya Harding mess.
Baiul skated brilliantly and sobbed copiously in her feathery outfit after she won. I think a lot of people will remember it.
That being said, this was a difficult Monday. It's P&G. Not P and G. Those "and" things in instances like this are kind of annoying in puzzles.
"Party girls" is sexist and disgusting. Does frat boy really parallel it? I don't think so. This is one where I wouldn't quibble w/@rex over his outrage.
Easy peasy, but I’m just starting my first month on Medicare so could be a generational thing...and college boyfriend’s first job was with P and G which made it even easier. Always good to start a new week with a solved xword...and a snowy poem, too.
PANDG? It's a crummy commercial?
Both tough and strange for a Monday — combination of blandness and obscure (to me) sports figures. After getting POINT and PAINT I had a sinking feeling it was going to be a word ladder. At least we were spared that.
I always wince a bit at any hint of commercialism in a puzzle, so a whole theme built around a corporate behemoth is a bit much... except that I do have a fondness for ampersand answers (RandD, AandE, etc.). So, okay, I can kinda deal with this. And PROLOGUE is kinda sorta related to the theme.
Nice write up and surprise visit, Annabel! Congratulations on your advancement from tired college student to just plain old tired!
Oksana BAIUL is mostly remembered today either for her drinking problems or for being the person who won gold medal in the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding Olympics. But before she messed up her knee, she was an exceptionally beautiful skater.
@Quasi — interesting factoid about AL CAPP and Oliver Sacks... who’da thunk? (I saw Al Capp host an evening of musical acts in the 60s, after his politics had turned... he was dripping with scorn and hostility to all those rebellious young people on the stage and in the audience. A sad, dark life, but a brilliant cartoonist and storyteller.)
Amen to @Irene (7:11 AM).
Sign me up for the PARTY GIRL GROUP. I can Veni, VIDI and Vici with the best. I MING, I do.
Oof Monday. I'm stale. Haven't done a puzzle in about two weeks. Funny how quickly the rust settles in.
Let's SEE...What did I like? Well, there was a smile or two. I love slapstick - anyone that finds elephant jokes funny, has to. You have to be in the right frame of mind - like drinking a lot and being with your sister. BENNY HILL didn't ever really tickle the ribs. The Brits have a strange sense of humour. About the only thing that made me laugh about him was his Mr. Chow Mein character. He couldn't get away with it now because the PC police would throw him to the hounds.
Love me some PAN GRAVY. Had lots of it these last few days. Family from England and Spain here for a visit and they were Picky Gourmands. Favorite cheeses: Parmigiano Gouda.
@pabloinnh. Usain Bolt was in a puzzle not too long ago.
Adding to @Dorothy Biggs; Watch THIS (PRECEEDED OF COURSE BY A CRUMMY COMMERCIAL)
I'm not on initial-giving terms with Procter & Gamble -- we have never been properly introduced -- and therefore PANDG seemed like gibberish to me. As it was coming in, I'm thinking to myself: There's really a consumer product giant named PANDA? How come I've never heard of them? But Procter and Gamble did eventually dawn on me. (Is Dawn a P&G product, btw?)
Anyhow, I saw a mini-theme in the puzzle: It's the 2nd week of Wimbledon right now and both ILIE Nastase and Ivan LENDL are in the grid. Can't remember if either, or both, ever won Wimbledon. Anyway, any puzzle with both ILIE and LENDL can't be too bad. And this was a nice densely themed puzzle with, as @Lewis says, very little junk. Nice job. Off to watch the amazing Coco Gauff play now. Bye (pun intended).
OREO'S
We're all going to die.
Just wondering if Lana Del Ray was responding to Elvis Costello. I don’t hear PARTY GIRL as inherently pejorative (unlike “frat boy”). In fact, when used pejoratively it is more likely to reflect poorly on the term user than the object of their scorn.
Seeing Al CAPP at 1A (d. 1979) set off my “dated puzzle” alarm. Yelp* and Steph Curry are about the only pop culture from this century, otherwise the pop-cultural center of this puzzle is roughly 1975.
Annabel’s write-up made me wonder how old I was when I learned the difference between gravy and PAN GRAVY. Definitely post-children, so I’m guessing 35 to 40. As for using a PAINT GUN, I used one on a job while in college.
@JoeDiPinto late yesterday- A perfect example of why I avoid “wrong.” It felt off, but a careful reading of the note shows that the meaning you found works.
Hey All !
Work busy busy busy, no time to post about YesterPuz, which took me a bit to see what in tarhooties was happening, but figured it out and thought it an enjoyable romp.
Of course I liked today's puz, y'all probably know I'm a fan of densely themed puzs, and boy howdy, this puz has 9 themers! (@Lewis, you forgot about the Revealer.) And resulting fill is not terrible! I'm sure this was tough to fill cleanly. I can imagine Ned trying all sorts of combos, almost tearing out his hair to make things work.
We even get a little GREEN PAINT!
And 2 F's. Good enough respect (pounds chest twice).
I SEE SANTA.
SPAM SCAM.
FUN LULU
BOOR MOOD
IM not IMING. NO LIE.
Gotta get ready for another FUN day at Work. Har...
YELL MAYO
RooMonster
DarrinV
Easy, except for had-no-idea BENNY HILL. Seeing the P&Gs early really helped things zip along, especially with so many theme answers.
Liked: NO LIE x I LIE, SCAM and SPAM in opposite corners.
There are definitely better ways to clue GHETTO without demeaning a neighborhood where people live, like "Site of Warsaw Uprising."
@Nancy - I can understand not remembering ILIE, but the inability to win Wimbledon was a defining element of LENDL's career.
Nastase won Wimbledon three times, but never in singles.
@mmorgan. Yes it took me by surprise, knowing nothing about who Al Capp was. Interesting anecdote. I guess some get cranky as they age. :-) btw Abba Eban, also a crossword fixture, was Oliver Sacks' uncle. Or great uncle. I am not sure exactly. Sacks led a very interesting life.
I so wanted the revealer to be "Popular British tea" -- PG TIPS. But maybe that would be too obscure for an American audience (though not as obscure to me as BENNY HILL).
I took a guess on SAFECO/FREY, figuring a ballpark was likely to be named for some kind of corporate sponsor. But I almost went with HILs/BAIUs, literally changing it as this page opened to the L, on the ground that Oksana sounds Turkish, and BAIUL goes better with that.
@Annabel, no one is explaining it to you, so let me try. PAN GRAVY is made with the drippings in the pan and some kind of liquid, but no flour or cornstarch is added to thicken it. At least, that's how I use the word.
Also, just follow Michael Pollan's shopping advice, and never leave the edges of the supermarket -- the only part where actual food is sold.
This was the easiest Times puzzle I've solved in months. I don't think Annabel would remember Benny Hill. Also, I don't see why Magic is in the point guard clue. Steph Curry, of course. But MJ famously played every position and was know more as a forward than a PG. This slowed me down three seconds.
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. No longer either hot or cool? (5)
2. Illustration, for example: Abbr. (3)
3. Someone who might repossess your car when you go bankrupt (8)
4. Go down, so to speak (5)
5. Veto on movie night (6)
PASSE
SYN
PAT SAJAK
OCCUR
SEEN IT
Surprise, indeed: Welcome.
Only difficulties were PLAYA & BAIUL, but each easily getable via crosses.
1) PAN GRAVY is, as Annabel said and in reality, just plain gravy - gravy made from the drippings of the roasted meat. It is, unfortunately necessarily, a retronym to differentiate it from crap that comes from a pan.
2) A Party-Girl, at least to someone as old as the author of this puzzle must be, is a demi call girl. Holly Golightly was a Party Girl. You go to a party, hook up with some old rich dude, he gives you $1020 so you can "tip the ladies room attendant" and you're set for the evening.
@kitshef (9:55) -- Yes, but I've told you -- and everyone else within hearing distance -- about my incredibly fuzzy memory. And this is exactly the kind of thing I never remember. I should remember the ups and downs of LENDL's career 40 years ago? I can barely remember the match I watched five days ago.
What’s weird about a paint gun to deserve an "oookay"? Sounds like partygirl speak way to dismiss the unfamiliar. It’s a spray nozzle connected to an air compressor that delivers a smooth, efficient, and even coat of paint. Saves a lot of time.
Nice Monday theme, good comments today. Nice write up.
I was waiting to see OFL blow a gasket yesterday, oh well...
I think the recent clue was "Lightning Bolt" with the answer being USAIN.
Beach Boys a pop group, Backstreet Boys a boy band and a pop group.
Ghettos exist, is "run-down" a particularly disparaging way to clue them?
@Suzie Q, Benny Hill was a staple of late night PBS in my area. Died in ‘92, and would be considered unfunny in today’s political climate: main gags were slapping a short,old, and bald man on the head repeatedly and chasing women with ample cleavage around with the film sped up.
OREO O's have been around for a while. Look at other cereals instead of just grabbing your Grape Nuts! :-)
AL CAPP was the Shmoo guy, wasn't he?
RooMonster
Former P and G CEO Al Lafley was my Frat Boy Bro years ago—Psi U. Good memories.
PPPs galore, plainly geriatric but pretty good.
A Pretty Good Monday puzzle. Felt a little heavy on proper nouns, and some LULUs at that (BAIUL, ILIE, LENDL) but managed to avoid an excess of crosswordese in spite of a dense theme.
Must now get back to reading I, MING, the autobiography of a Flash Gordon villain.
Thank you @Doug Garr! I wanted to cram in “small forward” since Magic was named but I guess that is part of the misdirection. Super easy but fun Monday puzzle.
@Burtonkd. I wondered about Claire's comment on PAINTGUN, too. Maybe she was thinking of paint ball guns? That would be a "weird" way to paint a house.
Remove Brian Wilson and all that’s left is a Boy Band, so no problem here pairing them with the Backstreet Boys. Makes me wonder if there’s any other group with as big a gap between the creative center and the rest of the group.
@burtonkd - My interpretation was that Annabel was picturing a PAINTball GUN as opposed to a PAINT GUN.
@Doug Garr - Magic was the POINT GUARD that transformed the position. Yeah Yeah, played center, could do just about anything on the court. But a POINT GUARD first.
@Just a couple of things - That definition is still hanging around, but probably isn’t a Gray Lady approved usage.
A *bad* Natick at 33 A/D; two super-obscure proper names (never, never ever, heard of Oxsana what's-her-face; barely heard of BENNY HILL). Totally out of bounds for a Monday. The rot continues....
@Z Call girl absolutely has a negative connotation. Just look up the term, and you’ll see references to it being a euphemism for call-girl (as @Just a couple of things said), or that it describes a girl who cares about partying and little else. That’s certainly not a positive term.
@Doug Garr No idea who “considers MJ more of a forward than PG.” That’s absolutely incorrect. He still holds the record for most assists per game in NBA history, the record for most assists (both per game and overall) in a single NBA season, and has been widely heralded as one of (if not the) greatest point guards of all time.
To several people, the Beach Boys absolutely were a boy band. They completely fit the definition.
@jberg - Bravo on the PG Tips!
I'm in G today. Yesterday I was in F-sharp but I moved up a half step.
So, this was fine for a Monday. GOONY is a word? Okay. I prefer Pine Green to PEA GREEN. I don't think of PARTY GIRLS as sorority types at.all. Is there a PUNTA DEL REY? Cause that's what I wrote in first at 3d.
Lyrics to Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto":
♪ The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto
The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto
The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto
The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto ♪
What else? I LIE! crossing NO LIE! is inspired. U. BOLT -- How Usain signs his name when he's in a hurry? (Which he always is, come to think of it.)
@Quasi -- I met Oliver Sacks once, but I didn't realize it at the time because I mistook him for a hat. Hahahaha
Cue exit music:
♪Na na na na, na na na na
Hey hey hey, goodbye ♪
This solved mostly like a themeless - even after getting the revealer, I kept forgetting it so knowing P AND G ahead of time only helped me plop PEA in front of GREEN at 52A without reading the clue.
Is GOONY really = "foolish"? Yes according to all the online sources but I had GOOfY and only the ridiculousness of PAIfT GUN led me to change it. One of the sources mentions GOONeY birds, so I must concede I have seen it in that context, but only with the "e" in place.
OREO O's were Oaty first. I was looking at cereal boxes in Target the other day. I wanted plain bran flakes. Nearly every cereal there had some sort of honey, chocolate, special grain something in it. Crazy. And no plain bran flakes.
Thanks, Ned White, for the Monday puzzle.
@birchbark, thank you for your helpful answer on "pith" yesterday. (Don't bring cattails into the house without spraying them with adhesive - if they explode, you will know what 220,000 seeds looks like). After I read your comment, I looked up what pith helmets were made of - the center of sola plants which grow in Indian swamps.
@z
Pete Townsend and The Who just for starters.
The only reason the Beach Boys and the Backstreet Boys are together in that clue is so the editors could get their precious alliteration in.
It's sad, really. They try so hard and yet no one even notices the dazzling wit of their clueäge.
@Blue Stater - I've been following this blog for about a year, and every comment you've written in that time has been essentially the same. You could save time and just post GOML (Get off my lawn). I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the good old days are never coming back.
I’m with Joaquin! I’m a novice when it comes to the Times puzzle- and this was one of the easiest Min. Puzzles ever for me. But then, I too, am of the same age as Joaquin-!
I didn't remember when Oksana BAIUL skated, or where, or against who, and am highly impressed with those like @Lorelei and @kitshef who do. (These are things that people whose memories are sharp, rather than fuzzy, do remember.) But I certainly remember BAIUL. I remember rooting for her with every fiber of my being -- in fact, I don't ever remember rooting for any female figure skater so intensely. She was simply the most exquisite skater I had ever seen, bar none.
The most exquisite male figure skater I ever saw was Robin Cousins.
Unlike tennis, a sport I know intimately and can analyze masterfully, the "fine points" of figure skating escape me. I really can't distinguish a triple axle from a triple lutz from a triple toe loop -- something about which edge you take off on and which you land on I think -- and how well it's performed technically goes right over my head. But while the technique is not for me to judge, the artistry can be assessed by anyone. Those of you who like watching figure skating but never saw BAIUL should probably look for her on YouTube. If my memory is correct about her artistry, you're in for a treat.
Welcome back, to @Annabel (@Blu'Bel, alum version). Tired librarian.
The themer set exists. Some wily constructioneer needs to make it so. The gauntlet is cast. And here U are:
MARK ANTHONY (11)
MESSED AROUND (12)
MIDDLE AMERICA (13)
MAILING ADDRESS (14)
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (15)
(Surely a world with 445+ seasons of "Big Brother" tv shows is ready for a puz with themers of all *different* lengths, yes?)
This was a kinda FUN little MonPuz. Yer featured liter of P&G's, with a P-U runt, too boot. Solid fill, with just a wee splash of desperaabation. Mountains of themers. Lotsa U's and a FUN staff weeject pick. day-um. Mondaytime Rodeo.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {School event with a king and a queen} = PROM.
Darn near scrabble-twerk-free puzgrid! Sorta qualifies as a P&G "P-ANd-none-GRAM".
Thanx, Mr. White. Mighty Pleasurable & Good.
Masked & Anonym8Us
Well... a PARTYGIRL, at least in movies through sometime in the 50s (and, may haps in real life too) was a hooker. Sometimes professional, sometimes for fun. Have there ever been PARTYboys?? Sure, they're called hustlers. The was a famous movie made on the subject, something about a late night date with a horseman?
Pangravy crossing peagreen evoked the old Garrison Keillor oneliner from one of his yearly joke shows: what’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup? Anybody can roast beef.
Hugs sisters & brothers,
juanito
I do remember BAIUL, but not the actual experience of watching her skate. I despise figure skating as a 'sport', since scoring is purely subjective, and there have been multiple scoring scandals over the years. Yes, it takes much time and effort to get to the Worlds or Olympics, but the world would be better off if those folks put as much effort into being teachers or engineers or physicians.
pricy instead of pricey???
@anon12:56 - Yes, the PARTY GIRL as code for prostitute usage is still around. I already said that. But the NYTX not going there is hardly surprising. Also, it’s not the most common usage anymore. Unless you think Lana Del Rey singing about getting horny men to pay for her drinks is some sly reference, neither of the songs I referenced earlier have anything to do with the world’s oldest profession.
@anon1:33 - Are you serious? I thought Keith Moon’s and John Entwhistle’s musical genius bona fides were pretty much beyond debate.
Magic most definitely a POINTGUARD even when he jumped center substituting for Kareem.
Capp was the shmoo guy, a brilliant satirist, a resentful amputee, and a Weinstein-type sexual predator.
I believe OREO was clued as a breakfast food cereal at least once recently.
I think PARTYGIRLS is quite accurately clued. The older call girl usage is not really applicable to the college scene. A major purpose of sororities and fraternities in college is partying and drinking. Some more so than others. I think PARTYGIRLS implies more of an interest in partying than studying, but does not mean they are dumb or incapable of academic achievement. The same could be said of party boys. Let's just say they would not let studies get in the way of partying.
I suppose you could call the Beach Boys a boyband, but only retrospectively. But then so were The Beatles and the Stones. Which maybe stretches the meaning a little too much? Mmm.
Surprisingly difficult and slow solve for Monday for this baby boomer. Happy to have solved it with no cheats. I knew Glenn Frey but not sure why. Eagles football? No. Eagles popgroup.
@anon 3:15
Yes, I wondered about that too. Alternative spelling or just purly wrong. Har.
Re Anon 3:02
Hustlers evokes one of best movies re such: The Sting. Won Acad Award for writing/screenplay as I recall, and deserved it. Same guy wrote Major League, as I recall, ‘nother classic...as we enter AllStar Break.
The web has this:
"So the bottom line is: both spellings are correct, but if you want to be on the safe side, pricey is the way to go. According to NOAD [New Oxford American Dictionary], this is just a variant spelling. So at least in America it's spelled both ways. "Pricey" is definitely more commonly used in American English."
He’s been dead for more than 25 years, so I would say “one time” can apply here ;)
I thought this was one of the easiest puzzles of the year. Near-record time.
If you want to be REALLY old-time, clue 14 A as: Tubbie's friend Little _______
My mom didn't like those raunchy comics, so I had Little ____. I had MAD magazine tucked away in a corner.
I heard MAD was folding, and I'm sad. Many of us 13 year old boys learned a lot about life from its pages.
Just for the record, MJ was primarily a shooting guard. Neither he nor Magic were prototypical for their position. They matched him up with point guards like John paxson or Steve Kerr who were great spot up shooters, so their roles were in effect reversed. He moved to small forward in his 2nd comeback with the Wizards.
Hard for a Monday for me, and I knew all of the proper nouns. But knowing who Benny Hill is didn't make it a gimme considering how many British comics there are. Nice to see a fairly junk free grid. And nice write-up, Annabel!
I quit; DNF. I have standards. SEAAIR over MDT was, let's say, not promising; then I discovered that the theme REVEALER, right smack in the MIDDLE OF THE GRID, was--wait for it--an AMPERSANDWICH!! No. Just...no. This isn't a bogey, or a double-bogey, or even an "other." It's a WD (withdrew). Next!
ARTS UNIT
PARTYGIRLS play PUBGAMES, they’re FUN but obscene,
with the CLAP’S PAIN aflame, NOLIE you’ll PEAGREEN.
--- BENNY LENDL
Perhaps I have no standards, but I hung in there, just like Patrick Reed in the Northern Trust tournament yesterday, and kudos to him. I did like this puzzle, a Monday that put up a bit of a fight.
Re @Z's question about the creative gap between a group's front man and the rest of the band: I think Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits qualifies, as does John Fogerty of CCR.
Or how about Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, although Walter Becker is great.
A very theme-heavy puzzle which yet let the non-theme entries breathe with no crap, unless you have personal enmity with time zones and so-called "ampersandwiches", even though this one was perfectly appropriate.
Nice start to the week.
Tough for a Monday. Maybe a good thing from time to time, but probably overdone today.
Nearly dnf'd, but getting P AND G about half way through, together with a number of crosses, came to the rescue.
Some unknown names added to the slower time: BENNY HILL, Glenn FREY, and ELLY.
Apart from the Monday mismatch, enjoyed the challenge.
Nice write-up by Annabel.
Ohno! Stayed with PvtGRADE/AURvE!!!
PROLOGUE:
I solved this puzzle using mostly the down and across clues, and not in any particular order. I say ‘mostly’ because INPART I simply filled in the obvious squares; heck, I practically constructed it myself. It might have been a record time except I was still groggy and in a bad MOOD from getting up early, so I had a couple of stiff drinks to put the edge back on. I can’t really blame the time of day for the solve, but you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning. And shame on the NYTX editors for leaving in the entire name of that prurient British comic BENNY HILL, as well as that commie rat bastard Comrade ENGELS. We need more answers like PRIUS; how Pro-environment AND Green (PANDG) can you get? But really, this puzzle skewed so old that it had both my GRAN and NANA in it.
That was for anybody missing the usual Rex rant. Seriously, folks, did you notice how few three letter answers there were? Looks like 6. SEE, it can be done, even on a Monday.
And yes, I remember Oksana BAIUL, a yeah baby among girl skaters, sadly becoming a PARTYGIRL after Olympic fame. I hope she is better now.
Didn’t much like things like IMING and AABA, but you’ll have that. Would ILIE? NOLIE.
Uh - who is Oliver Sacks? Anybody know?
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