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Venerable monk of Middle Ages / MON 7-15-19 / Magical powder in Peter Pan / Style of collarless shirt / Aquarium accessory
Monday, July 15, 2019
Constructor: Ed Sessa
Relative difficulty: Easy (2:45)
Theme answers:
- BUZZ WORDS (17A: Trendy terms)
- BOB SAGET (26A: First host of "America's Funniest Home Videos")
- PIXIE DUST (36A: Magical powder in "Peter Pan")
- CREW NECK (51A: Style of collarless shirt)
India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India.Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over 3.3 million records in the US and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album. [...] Arie released her debut album Acoustic Soul on March 27, 2001. The album was met with positive reviews and commercial success. "Acoustic Soul" debuted at number ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Within months, without the concentrated radio airplay that typically powers pop and rap albums, Acoustic Soul was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA), selling 2,180,000 copies in the U.S. and 3,000,000 copies worldwide. The album was also certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry and platinum by Music Canada. The album was promoted with the release of the lead single "Video". "Video" attained commercial success peaking at forty seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 and becoming her highest charting song in the region to date. The album's second single "Brown Skin" failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but it became her highest charting single in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 29. (wikipedia)
• • •
But overall I thought the theme held up pretty well, and the grid was certainly adequate. It's chock-a-block with names from the Crosswordese Pantheon—everyone from India.ARIE to OPIE is there, including both parts of ANG LEE's name. But with only a stray FUM or ABU mucking things up, I didn't really mind the ELSA ELIE REA onslaught. I got slowed down by 4D: Some Moroccan headwear, as I had FEZ and then wanted ... FEZHAT (!?). Also got thrown by the clue on LIZARDS (3D: Chameleons, e.g.), as I was thinking more ... metaphorically, I guess. Went looking for things / people that change appearance, blend in, etc. I never know which [Atlanta-based channel] the puzzle is going to want. I think today I went with TNT? TNN? I forget. Not TBS, at any rate. And I always have trouble between "A" and "L" at the end of YENT_ (21A: Busybody, from the Yiddish). I really should only go with YENTL when the clue specifically refers to the play or movie. Maybe I learned something today. Probably not, but ... maybe.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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65 comments:
I had no idea what the theme was until I was 95% done; then the reveal provided me a nice “aha” moment. Perhaps the fact that I have not had a haircut in 19 years is a factor.
“Of all the things I’ve ever lost, I miss my hair the least.” — Joaquin Santiago
That ELIE/KAHLO/REA area is killer on a Monday. I anticipate a lot of DNFs because of that.
Pretty easy for me as well. Sitting in my cabin on the MSC Poesia heading toward Stockholm.
A fun and easy start to the week.
I’m sure it’s already been said, I don’t think we were meant to add CUT to the themers, it’s just that they’re all SHORT hair do’s. CREW is the only one I would add CUT to, maybe BUZZ too, but a PIXIE is just a PIXIE and a BOB is just a style.
Never saw BEDE with the ST. In front, always THE VENERABLE BEDE.
Speaking of Bobs, there is a great book by Jane Smiley called Horse Heaven. One of the main horses in the book is named Justa Bob. Highly recommend to any horse lovers out there.
Enjoyed this puzzle very much - especially after changing sOdA to COLA and fairyDUST to PIXIEDUST!
According to Quora, in the original story Peter Pan and The Lost Boys did not need PIXIEDUST in order to fly, but Barrie added this requirement after receiving reports of children injuring themselves attempting to fly from their beds.
To go along with St. Bede, we have the lesser known St. Outer and St. Reet.
And vowel-sounding endings galore, from PREGO / GEO / KAHLO, to ARIE / OPIE / PIXIE, and finally to GAZA / YENTA / ELSA / AREA / COLA / ARUGULA.
Nice aha moment at the end but the funniest moment for me was reading @ Lewis' lesser known saints. Good catch!
I feel like a did a puzzle with this theme within the last three months, although in that case some of the haircuts were less "real" (e.g. "natural" was one).
Felt a little proper-name heavy, but enjoyable overall.
When Wimbledon came out with the 5th set tie-breaker rules, I sez to mrsshef I sez, "I like that idea for all matches except for the finals. Those marathon matches in the earlier rounds play havoc with the scheduling and wear out the competitors so that the winner is at a disadvantage in the next round. But," sez I to mrsshef, "in the final there is no next round, and I don't know what the players' next matches might be, but there is no way possible they can be more important than the final at Wimbledon". Mrsshef said "streuth! yer too right by 'alf, chook!".
Fine Monday puzzle.
I did think there was a difference between a CREW cut and a BUZZ cut. Here is the best example I found. Having said that, when I googled “crew cut” images, a whole lot of what I would have called BUZZ cuts appeared, so it seems whatever distinction there once was has disappeared like a receding hairline.
@Lewis - Sounds like a venerable theme to me.
Hair and food for our Monday.
We have our ARUGULA, UNEATEN HAM, EDAM on TOAST a side of WASABI and a TWIX and REESES for dessert. Then, hair. Nobody seems to want hair anymore. You have a few little strands on the top of your pate and the old plastered down comb over now gets the BUZZ. Go bald or go home. I like the look but only if you have the right kind of head. Sinead O'connor has the right head - too bad she's such a jerk. The best baldie in the world (to me) was Yul Brynner. But he was a jerk as well. Then you have a 6 month old Japanese baby by the name of Chance who has enough hair to make about 4 wigs. She's adorable and if I could remember how to embed, I'd show you a picture.
I liked the puzzle; it was cool beans. And I really liked that @Lewis made me laugh with his saints. Good start to the day. I still have my hair.....just don't let it grow on my chinny chin chin.
I'm with @Joaquin in that I finished and said I wonder if there's a theme, and, yep, there it was. I think this happens when I'm not stuck on anything and don't stop to look at what I've done.
My do-wop group does "Earth Angel", but we never got around to "Sh-Boom", which was the more famous (and better) hit by The CREWCUTS, who I discover today are Canadian.
Good solid Monday.
PHEW, this one took longer than average for me. Finally had to ask Mrs. 'mericans the name of Ms. K_H_O. That finally enabled me to fill in that crunch of proper names. Also, I tried COtan and COSin before I finally saw COSEC.
Not much to say otherwise. I agree with @Rex and others that if we're talkin' venerable, it's simply BEDE, not ST. BEDE.
Interesting to see several GEOgraphic clues for a change, such as STREET, GAZA, TEL (Aviv) and the USSR. YENTA sounds as if it should be a place name.
At least the puzzle wasn't over-stuffed with BUZZWORDS. There was some free PR for EPCOT, PREGO, MGS, and REESES
So much for truth in advertising. Here's something probably many of you are not aware of about WASABI:
"Wasabi favours growing conditions that restrict its wide cultivation (among other things, it is quite intolerant of direct sunlight, requires an air temperature between 8°C (46°F) and 20 °C (70°F), and prefers high humidity in summer). This makes it impossible for growers to fully satisfy commercial demand, which makes wasabi quite expensive. Therefore, outside Japan, it is rare to find real wasabi plants. Due to its high cost, a common substitute is a mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch, and green food coloring or spinach powder. Often packages are labeled as wasabi while the ingredients do not actually include any part of the wasabi plant. The primary difference between the two is color, with Wasabi being naturally green.[18] In Japan, horseradish is referred to as seiyō wasabi (西洋わさび, "western wasabi"). In the United States, true wasabi is generally found only at specialty grocers and high-end restaurants." [Source: Wikipedia]
RAIDS was uncomfortable to see this weekend.
Welcome back, Sir Rex. Glad you're easing back in with a non-commital "it was OK" review before your vacation joy wears off and you return to "acerbia". :)
First hit on Google, "A bob cut or bob is a short- to medium-length haircut for women (and occasionally men) in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head.
A crew cut had a slight bang that when styled with some kind of gluey looking stick, stood up. A buzz cut was army style. The crew cut was popular right around the same time crew neck sweaters were actually cool. Long about the time Opie was on TV. Even longer ago that Bob Saget was on TV.
@kitshef (7:34) -- Thank you for making Middle English relevant again. With that, ther is namoore to seye.
Two gal hairstyles and two guy hairstyles. Very diplomatic. Very even-handed. Rex should be pleased.
A cute theme, which I didn't see until I got to the revealer. And some quite nice fill too. But marred by some of the dullest clues anyone could possibly come up with. Gimme after gimme, beginning with 1A and 1D. This is the problem with constructing a Monday puzzle. Either you've got to dumb it down or someone else may well do it for you. Too bad -- this could have been so much more interesting. I solved it with my mind mostly elsewhere.
@Lewis -- Add me to the list of those highly amused by your "lesser-known saints." ST OUTER is my fave.
@Frog Prince Kisser (5:21) -- The PIXIE DUST derivation is of the most interesting pieces of information I've ever been given on this blog. Who knew?
@GILL (8:09) -- I'm a hair person. I can be turned on by really good hair, though not as much as by a really wonderful smile and a really mellifluous voice. And I agree that only a man with the right-shaped head can look good bald. I also agree with you that Yul Brynner had precisely that perfectly-shaped head. So much so that he was one of my heartthrobs growing up, his baldness notwithstanding. So why do you say that he was "a jerk"? I never knew that. Please say it's not so -- that you were only kidding. Please, Gill!!!! Sob.
The grid shape was tough for a Monday, though the puzzle was so easy that apparently no one noticed. There are only 2 connections between the NE and the central diagonal swath, and 2 more between that and the SW.
I saw the crossing ZZs first, and thought that might be thematic -- then I got PIXIE DUST and was muttering "don't tell me the theme is high scrabble value!" All that sent my mind off in the wrong direction, so I needed the revealer to see the actual theme -- whereupon I went back and put in BOB at the start of 25A, even though I've never heard of the guy or seen that show.
The toughest part of the puzzle was getting the right trig ratio: I went with COtan. Fortunately, the crosses were pretty clear.
Like Rex, I dug in my heels a bit at ST. BEDE. I always figured he was called "Venerable" because he hadn't been canonized. I'm not a Catholic, nor even much of a Protestant, but I thought "Venerable" was something like "Blessed," a phase you had to go through to get to sainthood. No idea if that's correct; anyway, that was enough to make me look him up. According to Wikipedia, he became a saint in 1899, when Leo XIII named him a Doctor of the Church. If they have it right, that would mean that for well over a millennium he was called Venerable B because St. B didn't apply. But I may be misunderstanding completely.
@Gill, @Nancy, it's all very well to tell men not to go bald unless they have the right-shaped head, but some of us don't really have much choice about it. I've still got a few wisps up there to confuse things, but I'm afraid their days are numbered. My father had a continually receding forehead, while my mother's father had a bald spot that grew out from the center. I seem to have inherited from both of them. Or else St. Ress is doing it to me.
@anon (0056hrs) ELIE/KAHLO/REA standard rote errr cross-word-ese, OK, maybe Tuesday, not Monday, but get on the bus anyway
Having had both a CREWCUT which generally has a need for wax or GEL to keep the longer hairs on top vertical, where a BUZZCUT is akin to a pre-shave for COPS, NARCS, ICE and SWAT members I can speak to this. (From when Basketball was a team sport circa mid '60's). And now to get someone's knickers surely in a wad, a BUZZ also went by BUTCH, at least in CT and SoFLA. My crewcut was a chick-magnet (oooh, that's sexist, so sorry)
I believe a CREW CUT comes from Naval or nautical origin, dressier than a BUZZ, too lazy to BING.
BTW, Anyone else really tired of 'Tough Guys' with shaved heads?
Rex,
There is no deception in using the venerable St. Bede. None. That you have a PhD continues to astound me. Of course Bede is commonly referred to as The venerable Bede. He is however a canonized saint. And has been for well over a century. He is fact a doctor of the Church, and frequently referred to as the venerable St. Bede. Sometimes, St. Bede the venerable.
And before you open your gob Z, note that in Holland, Pa. (much nicer than Holland, Mich) there is a parish called, wait for it...St. Bede The Venerable.
Reading the clue for the reveal, I asked myself what in the world BUZZ, BOB, PIXIE, and CREW have to do with time and was delighted with the answer, an inspired repurposing of the term. It made me curious about the first use of SHORTCUT as a time saver. According to the OED, it dates from 1593: Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus "Therefore the shortest cut for coniuring Is stoutly to abiure the Trinitie." The first one-word usage cited is from 1873: H. Spencer Study Sociol. "Between infancy and maturity there is no shortcut by which there may be avoided the tedious process of growth and development."
Actually a nice tribute puzzle to the moon landing anniversary, with BUZZ(Aldrin)WORDS, they had left GEO to look for PIXIE DUST, there was the YESNO décision that Neil Armstrong had to make as their fuel was running low and there seemed to be no good landing site, because the module wouldn’t have been stable if they touched down in a FISSURE and landed all ANGLEE.
@Lewis
Good one!
@Pabloinnh
When I think of Earth Angel, I think of The Penguins.
@GILL I & @Nancy
I've been without hair on my head for years. When we finally meet, I sure hope you like the shape of my head.
Can't hear FEZ w/o thinking of one of my 60s heroes. Country Joe. "The one with the FEZ he turns and he says we'd like to help you make your trip." What a fun L.P..
Place for a pooped pooch: DOGwash.
Nice collection of compound words, themes ANF fillers. A fine Monday. And an enjoyable Rex review. Man needed a vacation or maybe just more sleep.
I am skeptical about the PIXIEDUST story involving kids leaping into the air. Sounds like an urban legend kind of thing. Anyone have a more credible reference on that?
Easy smooth Mon., liked it.
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. Note below F, perhaps? (5)
2. Its head is usually at the bottom (3)
3. Medicine cabinet glass (6)
4. Jet popular in the 1960s and '70s (6)
5. How balloons are priced? (4)
SEE ME
MOP
EYE CUP
NAMATH
APOP
A cut above, for a MonPuz.
@Lewis: ST OUTER. har. Kinda reminds M&A of a real old "M&A for Sainthood" runtpuz, from back before electricity and such…
**gruntz**
fave fiilins (in the puz -- not in my salad): ARUGULA. WASABI.
staff weeject pick: FUM. It also had our fave moo-cow eazy-E fill-in-the-blanks kidlit-level MonPuz clue.
Thanx for the fun tonsorial operation, Mr. Sessa.
Welcome home, @RP.
Masked & Anonym8Us
**gruntz**
@jberg - As far as I can tell, you are correct. Veneration is the first degree of sanctity, Beatification the second, and canonization the third.
@anon10:15 - LOL. If you say so it must be true. You might want to look up the definition of "frequently," though, because you don't seem to be using it correctly.
When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V
-- the Shangri-Las, "Give Him A Great Big Kiss"
The first thing I noticed was the two Steely Dan songs intersecting in the top left, "The FEZ" and "Through With BUZZ". I got a crewcut every summer as a lad, but from sources online it now appears that I was really getting a buzz cut, as all my hair was razed to the exact same short length. I always thought a buzz cut had the flat military-style top with corners at the sides. But probably the terminology has evolved.
So this was a good Monday outing. Arugula will never go symmetrically uneaten by me. I guess now is as good a time as any to ask: does anyone actually eat EDAM cheese? I've never even *seen* it. From its perpetual puzzle appearances you'd think it was the go-to cheese for buffets, wine-tastings and the like.
Rex, don't forget the matchmaker character in "Fiddler On the Roof". She would be YENTE with an "E".
Can't hear FEZ w/o thinking of one of my 60s heroes. Country Joe. "The one with the FEZ he turns and he says we'd like to help you make your trip." What a fun L.P..
Place for a pooped pooch: DOGwash.
Nice collection of compound words, themes ANF fillers. A fine Monday. And an enjoyable Rex review. Man needed a vacation or maybe just more sleep.
I thought so. I went to, what we called, Palestine High (back before The Troubles) because all the Jewish kids in my city and neighboring towns went there. Often instead of prep schools, of which there were legion in my part of effete New England. Any way, Yiddish-isms were part of everyday experience, and I learned it as YENTe. So, here's how its etymology is given on the innterTubes
Yiddish yente, originally a female personal name, earlier Yentl ≪ Old Italian
I hear an echo.
Nice hair discussion today. In high school for a while, I had what we in the southern Adirondacks called a "flattop". And to keep it upright, I needed "butch wax". I remember hearing of, but never actually seeing the deluxe version with long sideburns, which was called
a "flattop with fenders". I think it was a style favored by juvenile delinquents.
@JC66-The Penguins for sure. I was trying to pick another Crew Cuts song that might be familiar. When I think of "Earth Angel", I think of The Charades, with yours truly singing lead and my three backups doing some goofy choreography in the background. Pretty sure I'm the only one that thinks that, though.
@Carola (10:22) -- I like that the very first coinage in Marlowe implies the downsides of taking the wrong "short cut" -- here, Faustus' soul open for the claiming.
I'm sort of rethinking getting my haircut tomorrow.
@ OffTheGrid 10:59 AM
See also: www.theguardian.com
Top 10 things you didn’t know about Peter Pan (excerpts)
“1. Peter Pan was originally a play. . . .
2. JM Barrie was constantly updating the story. The script was rewritten and changed each year. . . .
3. Fairy Dust was added later for health and safety reasons. Originally Peter and the Lost Boys could fly unaided, but after several reports of children injuring themselves attempting to fly from their beds, JM Barrie added Fairy Dust as a necessary factor for flying.”
etc.
Super easy - if I get a sub-six-minute solve, and I did, then this was easy. All of the names were in my data base and I had no writeovers, a rare occasion for me.
REPAST - it occurs to me that it is a weird term for a meal. Google says: "late Middle English: from Old French, based on late Latin repascere, from re- (expressing intensive force) + pascere ‘to feed’." I did not know that re- could be expressing intensive force, and how does that turn into meal? To feed with intensive force? Where's @Loren when we need her?
Ed Sessa, nice Monday, thanks.
Well, COLA gives me the opportunity to rant. Here, in San Francisco, MacDonald's applies a "surcharge" of 19 cts. in addition to the price of soft drinks. It was imposed on them by a law to keep kids from drinking sugary beverages. Tell that to the kids! It's just The inclusion of COLA gives me the opportunity for a rant. In San Francisco there is a law that requires McDonald's to impose a "surtax on sugary beverages, in addition to the price of the beverage. This is another way for government to garner more money. Like the return fees on bottled drinks, which very few go to the bother of returning, so the government gets a new tax. The worst, from my viewpoint, is the parcel tax on your home: unlike property tax, it is uniform. I have to pay the same on my cottage, 600 SQ. FT. that either Dianne Feinstein, or Nancy Pelosi have to pay on their mansions! What ever happened to the idea of taxation based on worth? Uniform taxes are an additional burden on the poor.
@Z,
I count at least seven St. Bede the Venerable parishes in the first 3 pages of google results. Seems to be used frequently to me.
As for steps in canonization, hoo boy. what you don't know about Catholicism.
@Nancy...So here's the scoop on Yul. When I was a young, star struck teen, I happened on Yul in the grocery store in the Palisades. He was in the produce section squeezing a plum or maybe a melon. Anyway, shy me goes up to him, drool coming out of my mouth and I said to him that I thought he was the handsomest man on earth and would he sign an autograph for me. He looked at me like I was about to throw him a little turd that might land on his plum. He then walked away. By the way, he was shorter than I.
@Birchbark: For you and thoughts for your haircut tomorrow: Chance
Nyah, Nyah is not a BOAST. It’s a taunt.
“I won the spelling bee. Nyah, Nyah”??? No.
“You can’t catch me, Nyah, Nyah”. Yes, as every 5 year old knows.
@JK Lowden -- the answer is GLOAT, not BOAST.
@Anon 10:15, 1:25 - You could have defended the clue well had you not simply wished to be insulting, hence your failure. The clue, "Venerable" monk of the Middle Ages perfectly clues St. Bede. St. Bede was The Venerable Bede throughout the Middle Ages, and his name today is St Bede. This whole Venerable St. Bede or St. Bede the Venerable vs St. Bede is arrant nonsense - it is St. Bede. All Saints have at one time or another been Venerated (Hi @Z, @Jberg). If there's another St. Bede who spent over a millenia being referred to as The Dastardly Bede before his Saintliness was discerned and we now have to distinguish one from the other, then fine, let's go with St. Bede the Dastardly vs St. Bede the Venerated for convenience. But there's no St. Bede the Dastardly, so it's just St. Bede. Unless you call Prince William Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus, in which case you're a nut-job.
P.S. I'm a "Buzz what's left with a #3, I don't care what you do with the back, whatever sideburns I have is just lazy shaving, do my eyebrows, for god's sake don't show me the back with the second mirror, now shut up and there's a big tip in it for you" guy myself.
@@mericans in Paris - yep, wasabi is rare outside Japan, but an enterprising family in Ireland seems to have cracked it: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/turning-japanese-co-armagh-dad-and-son-crack-secret-to-growing-wasabi-37700775.html
@Gill I. (2:14) -- Usually when they ask, I say something along the lines of "Up to you. Short." But that is only because I'd never appreciated the possibilities until clicking on the link you shared. Thank you in advance.
@TeedMn (1:07) -- Re "Re": Rebar (reinforced bar) and reverb come to mind. Maybe in the sense of doubling down by doubling back?
Pete,
Arrant nonses. Take it up with the various diocese who disagree and have named their churches St Bede the venerable.
All saints are venerated. Um, no. You need a remedial lesson in canon law. May I suggest Ed Condon? He's excelllent. And even on twitter.
And, a small matter but a millennia ? Um you mean a millennium. or a millennium and a half. But surely not two thousand years.
Rather than pretending SIDEB is an acceptable alternative to the term everyone uses (BSIDE), reclue it as"lesser-played half of a 45, The"
I never heard of St Bede and certainly don't care. It's astounding that he became the pivot point for today's puzzle. It's all just Catholic bullshit, anyway.
Bede was called Venerable not that long after his death. He did not go through the canonization process now in use in the Catholic Church, which requires proof of a miracle to be called "Blessed" and another to be called a Saint, all with the ultimate approval of the Pope.
At the end of the 19th Century, the Pope declared him a "Doctor of the Church", i.e., a great teacher of the faith, and in the same class therefore as the early Fathers. Since then, some have treated him as a Saint, and he has I believe his own day in the Church Calendar. But he is still usually referred to as "the Venerable Bede."
So apparently, after doing the Monpuz on Sunday afternoon, I thought I was commenting on the Sunpuz but gave away a couple of Monpuz clues. My bad, and all that. Moderator axed my entry, so there's that.
So I'm pretty sure I'm commenting on Monday's puzzle in Monday's comments, today.
Solid puzzle. Nothing to sneer at, nay, not even at which to sniff. Good stuff in all areas.
Random thoughts on the passing parade:
Do you recognize OLD SAWS as such when you hear them?
BUZZWORDS Bingo is a fun game. Keep a tally of the buzzwords used at the next meeting you must attend. It's flippin' hilarious. Make 'em wonder what you're snickering about. You can GLOAT about being in the know.
BOB SAGET - is he still around? Is he doing the reboot of whatever show it was he was in?
USSR - a blast from the past. We used to play with them there Soviets in the northwestern Pacific, back in the day. Thankfully everyone knew the rules and noone went ROGUE.
On to Tuesday!!!
ROGUE WASABI HAM REESES
Mark, in Mickey's North 40
@Birchbark, good point on the re-. Now if I can just figure why it would have applied to eating, as in repast.
It’s fairy dust not pixie dust
disagree with THEMAGI issue rex has.
As clued they are referred to as The Magi. Google (favored by Rex for supporting his opinions): magi has quite a few references to non trio magi’s whereas ‘the magi’ pops up the wiki page of the trio as number one hit for me. YMMV due to tracking by google.
No Mention of the timely ICE paired w RAIDS in the NE?
PUREST GELCAP
Heed OLDSAWS like these BUZZWORDS:
"Don't GLOAT ATALL over SHORTCUTS."
Turning THEMAGI into LIZARDS
WAS misuse of PIXIEDUST.
--- GEO. KAHLO
Be careful when making SHORTCUTS with OLDSAWS, ya gotta sharpen them first. Don't want any missing digits. YES this was easy. NO, NO write-overs.
Went to EPCOT c. 1991. Did all of that futuristic stuff come true?
After earthquakes do geologists become FISSURE men?
Looks like the circled yeah baby is India ARIE.
Not much ATALL for BILGE. OK Mon-puz.
A serviceable Monday, not too bad on the fill (upgrade if no SIDEB). I like that it took crosses to get the revealer--almost every one--and then looking back over the grid to get it. Oh yeah, haircuts. Mine grows only around a ring at ear level. I have to get regular trims, paying the same price as a guy with a full head of hair. Feels like being a California taxpayer.
Okay, by default, India ARIE for DOD. One of Ed's better products; birdie.
Good Monday puzzle - easy with a decent theme/revealer combo and with acceptable fill including good, if straightforward, cluing. The first words of all the themers are, in fact, SHORT CUTS. I think the mythical "beginning solver" would be satistied with this one.
GEO appeared en passent as it were, but GEOcache is something I didn't know. I do now. GEOcaching is a sort of GPS-driven treasure-hunting "game", I think, otherwise known as a waste of time.
Unlike this puzzle.
Did something wrong and comment disappeared. Your loss.
SHORTCUTS, neat and clean. But this puzzle is not easy for a Monday it's medium/tough FOR A MONDAY. (To Rex, almost everthing is easy.)
Making it medium/tough are mostly downs crossing the themers and the revealer:
ARUGULA
WASABI
REPAST
ABUT ("geographically")
COSEC
KAHLO
FISSURE
And, ala REX, the Venerable [ST.] BEDE
Besides, the theme and revealer don't just announce themselves without some thought.
So, more than a run-of-the-mill Monday, isn't it?
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