French white sauce / WED 10-30-19 / Fishing basket / Repetition of words at starts of successive phrases in rhetoric / Longtime Apple program whose icon featured camera / Painter of melting pocket watches
Constructor: David Steinberg
Relative difficulty: Easy (not for me, I stumbled all over the NW, but everyone else seems to have torn through it) (4:26 on oversized 16x15 grid)
THEME: CAMOUFLAGE (35A: "Trick" used by the creatures found in rows 3, 5, 11 and 13) — you can find a chameleon, octopus, leaf insect, and leopard "camouflaged" in those rows (by having their names broken across black squares):
Theme answers:
BECHAMEL / EONLINE
POST DOC / TOP / USSR
PLEA / FIN / SECTION
GALILEO / PARDON ME
Word of the Day: ANAPHORA (14A: Repetition of words at the starts of successive phrases, in rhetoric) —
1: repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect (merriam-webster.com)Lincoln's "we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground" is an example of anaphora
• • •
Fat-fingered early-morning solve. Time ended up average, which should be good because the grid is oversized, but is comparatively bad, given all the very fast times I'm seeing online. I thought DAB was DAP and that pretty much tells you all you need to know about why I wasn't superfast—French white sauces that start with "P"?? [Crickets] [Tumbleweeds] I also forgot ANAPHORA, which is semi-hilarious, as I teach the concept occasionally (it's a poetic device). My brain was like "ANA- ... ANAPH- ... ANAPEST? ANAPHRASIS? ANAPHRASE? ANAGONYE!?" No no no and no. I was conflating a *lot* of different literary terms in my head. Stupid head. Also weirdly balked at IPHOTO because it seemed to easy given the clue (4D: Longtime Apple program whose icon featured a camera). Then I couldn't remember "COCO" (!???) which is a very popular movie that I definitely know about even if I haven't seen it. But again, all kinds of four-letter C-names came pouring forth, none of them "COCO." This made escaping the NW a lot harder. Sigh. After I got out of there, though, things did get Much easier, with only PROSHOP and my bizarre trouble spelling CAMOUFLAGE slowing me down at all. As for the theme, well, I didn't see it (get it ... 'cause it was CAMOUFLAGEd ... but seriously I didn't see it). It was fun to hunt the animal names, cool seeing them come into view. I thought INSECT was a real letdown of an answer, until I realized it was LEAF INSECT, which is not a category I knew existed and yet feels very much like a category that exists. I've seen insects on leaves, at any rate. Very cool that the animals use *every* word in the rows they occupy as part of their CAMOUFLAGE. Grid isn't loaded with memorable fill, but neither is it a mess. Very solid work.
Five things:
36D: Girl in a bonnet, maybe (LASS) — I ... don't know what to do with this. Do Irish girls typically wear bonnets? Is this clue from the Walter Scott universe? I don't think of bonnets as specifically Irish. Perhaps they are. Anyway, even with L- and then LA- I had no idea. "LADY?"
43D: Use, as a mattress (LIE ON) — Brain: "Ooh, you *know* the difference between 'lie' and 'lay,' so you've got this!" Fingers: "LAY ON!?!?! YES!?!?! GOOD!??!!" Brain: "No, you idiot."
50A: Org. that recognizes nearly 200 breeds (AKC) — so not KFC then? OK, fine.
57D: Part of Verizon Media (AOL) — hesitated here, even with the "L," as I have a hard time accepting that AOL still exists. The very letters scream "dial-up" to me.
51D: Muse of history (CLIO) — ironically, one of the many four-letter "C" names I wanted for "COCO"!
Hiding words between words is one of my favorite tricks. This puzzle pleased the heck out of me, its aha moment delicious. Thank god for BECHAMEL (8), PARDON ME (8) and E-ONLINE(7), GALILEO(7). You just flat *have* to have a chameleon and a leopard in an animal camo puzzle, right?
I, too, was let down with only the vague INSECT until I remembered it was David Steinberg and had another look. Hah. LEAF INSECT.
Like Rex, “lay on” before LIE ON.
“Tay clip” before TIE CLIP just kidding calm down. I dated a kinda sorta snob who read history at Oxford. He sniffed once that a proper gentleman wears no tie clip or tie tack. I always think of him when I see someone wearing one and try my best not to be judgy.
ANAPHORA - word of the day. It looks like it should mean the lack of something. Like writing with no naphors. I looked into it, and that ana is Greek for back. While on this e-excursion, I learned that Yoda speaks with anastrophe. You’re welcome.
LIDS – yeah. Eye shadow. If only that were it. I saw on YouTube that you can push back and in your upper eyelid that’s folding down over the main eyelid by using a little false eyelash glue dabbed back in the crease. This went very badly. One of my most epic copy-YouTube-makeup fails.
Ok. So I have to do this again ‘cause it’s one of my favorites, and there may be new people here. . . I read that a guy was arrested last week in a rice field in BALI for beating someone over the head with a small ceramic figurine. . .
. . .first documented case of knick-knack paddy whack.
I know it's easy when I finish and check the blog before Rex has posted. (And the paper delivery was a half hour late to boot.) Also enjoyed seeing bechamel; early on wondered if an H was camouflaged in camel.
Did this last night in the ER waiting for a spot in the CCU. A pleasant diversion, likely a personal downs only record but for fat fingers on a phone. Oh, and the monitor beeping at a pulse <50. Never saw the theme, didn't care.
I had a self-inflicted slowdown in the NE with CroatS/golf tee/Colic where CZECHS/PROSHOP/CROUP wound up, but other than that … this was astonishingly easy. Astonishing because I just don’t expect 'easy' from Steinberg.
The theme, surprisingly, helped when the end of GALILEO allowed me to fill in the beginning of PARDON ME immediately.
Some amazing fill here: ANAPHORA, ELISION, ALKALI, ANEMONE, BECHAMEL, GALILEO, DALI … stretches you in so many ways.
Hey All ! Agree with Rex on the spelling of CAMOUFLAGE. Where'd that U come from? Did @M&A have something to do with that?
Rex's write-up had me chuckling today. His hands doing something different than his brain wanting. Been there, done that.
Had a funny moment before getting theme, but after getting the revealer. In the 11 Row, had as 44D ALMOST, which gave me the ending LION for 47A, and I said, "Well, that's not very CAMOUFLAGEd." But figured out SECTION, and saw it was ATMOST.
Two letter FWE (finished with error)(forgot who coined that) with DAp and ELISeON/CLeO. pECHAMEL looked Frenchy enough for me.
Three F's today. Nice. Was happy 26A wasn't USSY. 🙃👍 PARDON ME.
Solid. But why is DALI in BALI? Seems more like Gauguin territory. One side eye during the solve. E-ONLINE is missing its exclamation point. Although I just looked and apparently now the logo is a capital E over a dot so it incorporates the exclamation point right into the letter E. I also learned that Tim McGraw lost 40 lbs. I can’t believe I missed that life changing news.
The lay/LIE thing was a question at bar trivia last night. We got that right. I also amazed people on my team by immediately getting “eland.” I did explain that I’m only an expert on African wildlife with useful letters. After gnu and eland I’m clueless.
@anoabob - late yesterday - Absolutely. I’m in the land of hot pepper free pico de gallo so I have to make my own if I want it made the right way. Serranos are the sweet spot and what I always use. Jalapeños would be fine in a pinch. Scotch Bonnets are too hot and override the other other flavors.
@JC66 - two in a row. I’m hoping the effect is cumulative.
@Rex. The 36D girl in a bonnet might be referring to "Blue Bonnet Margarine." She is wearing a blue bonnet and she's definitely a LASS? This was a lovely puzzle but I felt like I was dining in a foreign country. Here I am tasting lovely morsels and yet having absolutely no idea what each CAMOUFLAGE was. I wasn't about to ask the maitre'd what spices were infused....no sireee...I was going to figure them out by myself. I looked at a camel for row 3; I looked at a possible opossum for row 5; I got up and went for a walk. After digesting my wonderful meal, I came back and did some serious thinking. No need for DE CAF - another latte would do fine. Light bulb moment and I saw what clever David did here. I loved this puzzle.
Not the sort of theme that lights my fire I’m afraid. It’s a “Oh look, I see what he/she did there” event, except I forgot to go look as I “finished” in record time only to find that DUB and UNIPHORA wasn't correct and never will be. It was a Monday fill time for most of it and then slowed by a couple of crosses.
So Rex’s comments on the NW were right on the PESOS.
Also took several attempts to get CAMOUFLAGE correct which slowed me down.
Finally did anyone else note how the endings go ON and ON and ON in the SW?
This felt like a very good Monday puzzle. Smooth and tight. Easy as an old shoe. But that's because I never even noticed the theme. I finished this quickly but without any groans. Reminded me of Patrick Berry in its lack of junk.
I did put in DIP before DAB. I'm still at the barn dance, I guess.
The whole LIE vs LAY thing makes me cringe. I always explain to people (kind enough to listen) that you lay bricks and you lie on your back. I used to think it was that song "Lay Lady Lay" that messed us all up. But I saw a movie recently from the early 30s and the characters were "misusing" lay even then. No doubt Shakespeare did too. Perhaps in the tune "A Lover and his LASS."?
Animals that use CAMOUFLAGE are CAMOUFLAGED in this puzzle. What an inspired idea and how gorgeously executed! While this is quite possibly the easiest Steinberg puzzle I've ever done, I do believe, if memory serves (and in my case memory doesn't always serve) that this is my favorite DS puzzle ever. The cleverest and the most original. Once I had CHAMELEON, I could scarcely wait to see what the other animals would be. But I behaved myself and filled the puzzle in in orderly fashion.
I must go to Jeff Chen and see if he made this his POW. I'm pretty sure I would -- though I haven't seen all the other candidates yet. Really nifty.
Leaf insect seems too vague yet too specific at the same time. The other animals are great examples. The A of dab and anaphora was a guess. I don't give a hoot what dab is but anaphora is a great term. Despite not knowing things like Fortnite and Kael I still finished. That is a mark of a good puzzle for me. Another winner from D.S.
Except for the NW, just flew. Only slow downs were working around things like LASS EONLINE ELISION, but the crosses went in so quickly, it hardly mattered. My only har was PARDON ME crossing DOORMAT.
The NW I did not know 2D, 3D (my guess was IsHOot- brain: Cannot be right it would kill Rex), 14A, 17A. Plus the C in COCO was a hesitant guess and _IT rang no bell at all for Ball __. Took half the time of the rest of the puzzle to fill all that in. Would have been faster if I remembered there was a theme. Doh. So well hidden never even thought of it til I came here.
Aside from not knowing my nacho cheese sauce from a bechamel, I found this to be Monday easy. It was harder to find the “camouflaged” animals than it was to complete this puzzle. Disappointing to have the revealer take me on a word search; just me I guess as others seem to like the search.
In Lay Down Sally Sally is not lying down, the singer is telling her to lay down, after which she would be lying down. Clapton, meanwhile, is laying down some licks. So “lay” seems “correct.” Of course, I put “correct” in quote marks because there is so much sexual tension in the whole thing that worrying about the grammar of the thing seems a little limp to me.
Haven’t read the comments—but Rex seems to have missed the point that these animals CAMOUFLAGE themselves. Maybe because he didn’t know that LEAF I SECTs look like leaves.
Back this afternoon to say more. Great concept well executed.
Ah, that Steinberg quality, once again demonstrating that this hobby/addiction of ours is an art as well as a science. Thank you, David.
Every now and again I present a post-puzzle puzzle, and so...
Following the puzzle's theme (across and down) will elicit several commonly used initialisms often found as crossword answers. One of them, backwards, spells a noun that is an answer very often found in grids as well. What is the first letter of the famous name often found in the clues for this noun?
My neumonic for remembering lay/lie; hens lay, people lie. Didn't find the hidden creatures because I thought vertical rows. Didn't try very hard. Was just pleased to have finished and hear the happy music.
@Nancy has clairvoyant of the the day for her projection of Jeff Chen’s POW. Certainly a fun solve that brought back memories of sharing Granpa searches for those hidden Steinberg animals in real world settings with sprouts no longer engaged in such now outgrown activities. Unfortunately I have a rows/columns confusion that threw me in seeing the not so obvious CAMOUFLAGE(d) critters. And while I happily forgive Rex his rants, I wanna, I gotta, I indeed must scream when any POSTDOC allows a to/too/two confusion to hide itself among the spellcheck detritus. Sorry, I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity for ANAPHORA, or a snicker at a @LMS pun.
Great puzzle, love the theme. I must be the only one who didn't find this easy. My time was around the same as usual but I was very, very surprised when the solved box popped up because I had to go back and change so many answers along the way. ANAPHORA, CAMOUFLAGE (almost spelled it without the U here, jeez) and ELISION were tough answers. Couldn't remember if there was some silent letter in ANEMONE, and it took forever for me to parse E ONLINE. But this was really well executed and a fun solve so no complaints.
[ok. Steinberg puz. Always gonna be a masterpiece. But someone has to give this youngster trouble, so he can continue to "grow" … so M&A'll try to give him some serious snark … ]
DA?/?ECHAMEL was a nice nat-tick moment, right outta the gate. Plus, splatz A NAP HORA into yer NW mix, and U get a beefy camouflaged correct answer stew. Precious nanosecond carnage. Solvequest quakes.
Also … Immediately saw the Jaws of Themelessness in the puzgrid design, and thought "Themeless WedPuz wasteland?". Killed off all hope for a theme, leavin M&A powerful despressed. Plus, the day-um (hidden in shame) theme then ended up bein dissected varmints?!? yeeesh.
And another thing: Talk about Ow de Speration a la mais oui. EONLINE? No surprise, that this is a debut word; no one else would touch this with a ten-foot leaf insect. GAMER? Clued with whatever fortnite is? And don't even get m&e started again, on French white sauces of mystery. LEAF INSECT is quite a mega-outlier, in the desperate themer dept. Sounds too much like GREEN INSECT PAINT, in my critter colorin book.
staff weeject pick: Lotsa old, tired faves to choose from: EMO. AKC. ESL. ISH. AOL. Let's go with DAB -- sooo … now we just need to know what part of yerself (or yer partner?) you're supposed to dab at, while dancin around??? M&A recommends serious dabbin at that NW puzcorner, before U get to go out dancin.
Don't quit yer dayjob to become an animal husbandryist or nuthin, Steinbergmeister. And U don't spell "chamel" with an H. snort
Masked & Anonymo4Us
… and here's how to properly split yer peas: **gruntz**
Oh, @Loren, you just had to remind me of a good friend who loves punning. He liked to tell a very long, drawn out tale — that I will condense here — about what happened when his dog Patti, a lovely Alaskan Malamute, suddenly confronted a ceramic image of Balto, the sled dog. Said Jim, "It’s a knick-knack, Patti-wak, leave the dog alone." You're welcome.
I blew this pretty quickly, unusual for a Steinberg puzzle. But, typical of me, I was too impatient to suss out the camo animals and now I'm kicking myself because that's really a cool trick he pulled.
I really like POST DOC, ELISION, BECHAMEL, ANAPHORA, and Having PAULINE in there made me smile; that was my mom's name and you rarely see it any more.
hidden animals is cute as skill by/for the constructor, but offers no help in doing the puzzle (unless, until, someone here raises his/her hand with example?). after the fact, one can re-parse to find them, if so inclined, but otherwise pointless. I sure didn't waste the time.
Started out poorly with my first fill @16A golf bag and Colic in at 6D, thinking I was off to a great start. Not so fast, my dear, that doesn’t seem to be working for you. Was pretty sure Colombian coins didn’t start with a G, so I had to rethink that whole area.
ANAPHORA and the correct spelling of CAMOUFLAGE needed some help from crosses.
Avatar, Miss COCO happy to see her name in print again.
@Loren. One of my friends used to call my late kitty Paddy, Knick knack. Loved that,
An almost Tuesday easy Wednesday inspite of not knowing ANAPHORA, IPHOTO and EONLINE. Up north I was slow on getting PROSHOP as well and had to backfill the NE from the south using that eastern stairstep. Still the early week fill made it fly by.
My brain seems to have camouflaged itself today from puzzle solving - I went the @Roo Monster-@Gill I route and looked for anagrammed creatures after I saw the CAMEL in BECHAMEL. I found a LION in EONLINE, a COD in POST-DOC, a PUSS (hi @Roo), a FLEA in line 11 and finally saw the LEOPARD in line 13. I then went back to see if any other animals spanned the black squares but they continued to hide from me and I came away with a skewed feeling for this puzzle. Finding the fauna that actually DO. employ camouflage would have been so cool. The octopus is a fascinating creature!
Misreading the clue for 32D gave me an EW reaction (I read it as Some diaper changes) which morphed into "huh?" when DADS appeared. And I gave my uTMOST effort to DNF with AlMOST in at 44D. But SEClION has never been found on a ticket, plus I had already found my LION in the 3rd row. So in effect, the theme did help me even as it sailed over my head, har!
This was fun. I feel unused to seeing a Steinberg puzzle midweek. In addition to the excellent theme creatures, there's a spaced-out camel and dyslexic lion hanging out in Row 3, and I spot a contrary cod in Row 5. And the tie clip has lice crawling on it. I much prefer a tie pin anyway.
Not much else to say, except that stuffed peppers are delicious, and the puzzle was auspicious.
Late to the party, but not too late to say that there was nothing CAMOUFLAGED about the quality of this puzzle. Creative theme, solid fill, fun solve. Thank you, David Steinberg, for a welcome change of pace.
Not sure why Rex thinks lasses are Irish? Those would be Colleens. And has he not heard of Scotch Bonnet peppers - thought to resemble tam o'shanter hats?
@Karl Grouch 11:58: isn't the correct spelling "pneumatic"? BTW speaking of French sauce, has anyone noticed that 'Mericans in Paris hasn't posted in a while?
By following the theme, which is finding camouflaged words, that is, where the word starts on one side of the black square and ends on the other, there are several initialisms, such as PSA, NGO, UPS, APR and REI. PSA backwards is ASP, and the famous person often in the clue for ASP is CLEOPATRA, and thus the correct answer is C.
I got slowed down by making a Bearnais[e] sauce and looked side-eyed at it realizing it was misspelled. Took myself off to other parts of the puzzle. It was a record time, but much, faster than average. Just over 2x Rex when my average is 3x Rex.
Happy that David made me work to find the hidden animals. Leaf insects are extremely cool. I thought leopard was a little weak compared to the other examples - two actually change colors and one is a ridiculous shape.
I thought Rex might give us Karma Chameleon , but alas it was not to be. I really found that video he posted disturbing.
What a lovely puzzle! What’s not to like? ANEMONE, ALKALI, ANAPHORA (bravo!) ELISION (bravo again!) BECHAMEL, and the hunt for the camouflaged species … LEAF INSECT! I missed the “leaf” part entirely until I read Rex, and that was going to be my only complaint: that insect was generic, whereas the others were specific. But I was wrong! Great puz, congrats to the constructor!
Haven't seen it mentioned so uncloaking (un-lurking?...) just long enough to note the visual echo of OPUS near the middle is kind of cool. You can get "octopus" following more than one path. Almost like a couple of arms.
By the way....BECHAMEL was originally invented in Tuscany. Balsamell was the glue that held several pastas together. Mr. Louis Béchamel, during his travels to Italy, fell in love with it and brought it back to France and made Louis XIV even fatter than he was. et voila and vive Italia.
I thought this was a fine puzzle, maybe a little bit on the easy side. But just to be a little contrarian, lots of animals are CAMOUFLAGed. Hey, even the anoa is CAMOUFLAGed. It is mostly black but there are white spots here and there. Its native habitat is in the forests of Indonesia and those spots help it blend in with the dappled sunlight breaking through the dense canopy. But if you dare TAKE AN OATH an go MANO A MANO with one, watch out for those razor sharp horns.
But no complaints here. I always enjoy the artful arrangement of words crossing one another more than the themes, and I thought the puzzle did very well in that regard.
'Lass' is Scottish. And there is a hot pepper named a 'scotch bonnet' for its resemblance to a Tam O'Shanter. Which is a men's hat. Make of that what you will.
Just to be geeky, "leaf insect" isn't a species; it's an order. Leaf and stick bugs are collectively called PHASMIDS (Order: Phasmatodea). Would love to see that turn up in a puzzle someday!
The NW SECTION (as well as the SE) is severely cut off from the rest of the grid, which means if you don't know ANAPHORA or BECHAMEL you are going to have a HARD time up there! What is DAB?? I DAB when I play bingo, not when I dance. (I remember dancing!) I managed to work it out, but the NW was yet again almost my Waterloo. The rest of it: pretty easy. I was happy enough to finish a DS, no matter what the day, so I didn't look for the CAMOUFLAGEd stuff. I hope that doesn't mean a DNF; I don't think it does. After all, I did solve every square correctly.
DOD competition is thin today, but I seem to recall an actress named Carol ALT. Yes, she'll do. NW: frightening; elsewhere: easy. So: medium. Birdie.
Started with a wince on seeing D.S.'s name, but with the clever, gettable theme and good crosses was able to relax through most of it...until getting back to a HARD NW.
Big problem: Wanted Dip instead of DAB; thus, iNAPHORA and pECHAMEL. These latter two didn't look right while Dip did.
DS puzzles are always good ones, and always somehow different from other constructors. This one was no exception, and I liked it. The CAMOUFLAGing of the themer animals, though mainly a construction feat, a meta tour de force in my opinion, is worthy of praise.
Side note @Spacey, Carol ALT, I believe was in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue years ago, and I also believe was married to a forward on the New York Rangers. Maybe...memory is fuzzy.
Reading LMS's comment up top with the "nick nack paddy wack" reference, I noticed that the song is nearly as ANAPHORA as it gets - "This old man, he played ...", etc. Only two words change from one verse to the next.
@rainy - re: yeah baby Carol ALT, you are correct about S.I. and correct that she married a hockey player, don't recall the team or the guy. As I recall one of her eyes was off a bit. You'd have to google for details.
.png)
Hiding words between words is one of my favorite tricks. This puzzle pleased the heck out of me, its aha moment delicious. Thank god for BECHAMEL (8), PARDON ME (8) and E-ONLINE(7), GALILEO(7). You just flat *have* to have a chameleon and a leopard in an animal camo puzzle, right?
ReplyDeleteI, too, was let down with only the vague INSECT until I remembered it was David Steinberg and had another look. Hah. LEAF INSECT.
Like Rex, “lay on” before LIE ON.
“Tay clip” before TIE CLIP just kidding calm down. I dated a kinda sorta snob who read history at Oxford. He sniffed once that a proper gentleman wears no tie clip or tie tack. I always think of him when I see someone wearing one and try my best not to be judgy.
ANAPHORA - word of the day. It looks like it should mean the lack of something. Like writing with no naphors. I looked into it, and that ana is Greek for back. While on this e-excursion, I learned that Yoda speaks with anastrophe. You’re welcome.
LIDS – yeah. Eye shadow. If only that were it. I saw on YouTube that you can push back and in your upper eyelid that’s folding down over the main eyelid by using a little false eyelash glue dabbed back in the crease. This went very badly. One of my most epic copy-YouTube-makeup fails.
Ok. So I have to do this again ‘cause it’s one of my favorites, and there may be new people here. . . I read that a guy was arrested last week in a rice field in BALI for beating someone over the head with a small ceramic figurine. . .
. . .first documented case of knick-knack paddy whack.
Thanks for the laugh. I love that type of story joke.
DeleteAnaphora. Finally a reason for those rhetoric classes (with special shout out to 'At Swim Two Birds').
DeleteI know it's easy when I finish and check the blog before Rex has posted. (And the paper delivery was a half hour late to boot.) Also enjoyed seeing bechamel; early on wondered if an H was camouflaged in camel.
ReplyDeleteLass is Scottish, not Irish. Not sure if that changes the bonnet malfunction or if it's a play on "bonnie."
ReplyDeleteDid this last night in the ER waiting for a spot in the CCU. A pleasant diversion, likely a personal downs only record but for fat fingers on a phone. Oh, and the monitor beeping at a pulse <50. Never saw the theme, didn't care.
ReplyDeleteGet well & feel better soon!
DeleteHad DAB from the get-go, changed it to DAP, had to turn on the red letters to get my B back. DNF.
ReplyDeleteI had a self-inflicted slowdown in the NE with CroatS/golf tee/Colic where CZECHS/PROSHOP/CROUP wound up, but other than that … this was astonishingly easy. Astonishing because I just don’t expect 'easy' from Steinberg.
ReplyDeleteThe theme, surprisingly, helped when the end of GALILEO allowed me to fill in the beginning of PARDON ME immediately.
Some amazing fill here: ANAPHORA, ELISION, ALKALI, ANEMONE, BECHAMEL, GALILEO, DALI … stretches you in so many ways.
Has anyone noticed that all four of the theme animals are known for their camouflage capabilities?
ReplyDeleteThe revealer say so....
DeleteNot I. Nice catch.
DeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteAgree with Rex on the spelling of CAMOUFLAGE. Where'd that U come from? Did @M&A have something to do with that?
Rex's write-up had me chuckling today. His hands doing something different than his brain wanting. Been there, done that.
Had a funny moment before getting theme, but after getting the revealer. In the 11 Row, had as 44D ALMOST, which gave me the ending LION for 47A, and I said, "Well, that's not very CAMOUFLAGEd." But figured out SECTION, and saw it was ATMOST.
Two letter FWE (finished with error)(forgot who coined that) with DAp and ELISeON/CLeO. pECHAMEL looked Frenchy enough for me.
Three F's today. Nice. Was happy 26A wasn't USSY. 🙃👍 PARDON ME.
Couple bonus animal related answers, FIN, AKC, STAG, TOTO, snake PIT, EGRET.
'Nother nice DS. Dreck-lite. Saw the 16 wide grid, so YAY for me.
DOOR MAT LEAPS
RooMonster
DarrinV
Solid. But why is DALI in BALI? Seems more like Gauguin territory. One side eye during the solve. E-ONLINE is missing its exclamation point. Although I just looked and apparently now the logo is a capital E over a dot so it incorporates the exclamation point right into the letter E. I also learned that Tim McGraw lost 40 lbs. I can’t believe I missed that life changing news.
ReplyDeleteThe lay/LIE thing was a question at bar trivia last night. We got that right. I also amazed people on my team by immediately getting “eland.” I did explain that I’m only an expert on African wildlife with useful letters. After gnu and eland I’m clueless.
@anoabob - late yesterday - Absolutely. I’m in the land of hot pepper free pico de gallo so I have to make my own if I want it made the right way. Serranos are the sweet spot and what I always use. Jalapeños would be fine in a pinch. Scotch Bonnets are too hot and override the other other flavors.
@JC66 - two in a row. I’m hoping the effect is cumulative.
Nice write up and a fun enough theme.
ReplyDelete***
One too few o's in the 'to' below though -
"Also weirdly balked at IPHOTO because it seemed to easy given the clue (4D: Longtime Apple program whose icon featured a camera)."
@Rex. The 36D girl in a bonnet might be referring to "Blue Bonnet Margarine." She is wearing a blue bonnet and she's definitely a LASS?
ReplyDeleteThis was a lovely puzzle but I felt like I was dining in a foreign country. Here I am tasting lovely morsels and yet having absolutely no idea what each CAMOUFLAGE was. I wasn't about to ask the maitre'd what spices were infused....no sireee...I was going to figure them out by myself.
I looked at a camel for row 3; I looked at a possible opossum for row 5; I got up and went for a walk. After digesting my wonderful meal, I came back and did some serious thinking. No need for DE CAF - another latte would do fine. Light bulb moment and I saw what clever David did here.
I loved this puzzle.
Not the sort of theme that lights my fire I’m afraid. It’s a “Oh look, I see what he/she did there” event, except I forgot to go look as I “finished” in record time only to find that DUB and UNIPHORA wasn't correct and never will be. It was a Monday fill time for most of it and then slowed by a couple of crosses.
ReplyDeleteSo Rex’s comments on the NW were right on the PESOS.
Also took several attempts to get CAMOUFLAGE correct which slowed me down.
Finally did anyone else note how the endings go ON and ON and ON in the SW?
Enjoyable except for that NW cross.
David
In wet Brevard
This felt like a very good Monday puzzle. Smooth and tight. Easy as an old shoe. But that's because I never even noticed the theme. I finished this quickly but without any groans. Reminded me of Patrick Berry in its lack of junk.
ReplyDeleteI did put in DIP before DAB. I'm still at the barn dance, I guess.
The whole LIE vs LAY thing makes me cringe. I always explain to people (kind enough to listen) that you lay bricks and you lie on your back. I used to think it was that song "Lay Lady Lay" that messed us all up. But I saw a movie recently from the early 30s and the characters were "misusing" lay even then. No doubt Shakespeare did too. Perhaps in the tune "A Lover and his LASS."?
Great clue for STUFFED.
PS thanks from yesterday @Mathgent
Animals that use CAMOUFLAGE are CAMOUFLAGED in this puzzle. What an inspired idea and how gorgeously executed! While this is quite possibly the easiest Steinberg puzzle I've ever done, I do believe, if memory serves (and in my case memory doesn't always serve) that this is my favorite DS puzzle ever. The cleverest and the most original. Once I had CHAMELEON, I could scarcely wait to see what the other animals would be. But I behaved myself and filled the puzzle in in orderly fashion.
ReplyDeleteI must go to Jeff Chen and see if he made this his POW. I'm pretty sure I would -- though I haven't seen all the other candidates yet. Really nifty.
I agree. Nice idea, brilliantly executed. Not tough to finish, but it was fun.
DeleteFun puzzle. Nice write up. Thanks for explaining the special including elegant use of all words.
ReplyDeleteNana always said "You lay southing down, and people lie down by themselves."
ReplyDelete@Quasi...don't forget Clapton's "Lay Down Sally."
Leaf insect seems too vague yet too specific at the same time. The other animals are great examples.
ReplyDeleteThe A of dab and anaphora was a guess. I don't give a hoot what dab is but anaphora is a great term.
Despite not knowing things like Fortnite and Kael I still finished. That is a mark of a good puzzle for me. Another winner from D.S.
Except for the NW, just flew. Only slow downs were working around things like LASS EONLINE ELISION, but the crosses went in so quickly, it hardly mattered. My only har was PARDON ME crossing DOORMAT.
ReplyDeleteThe NW I did not know 2D, 3D (my guess was IsHOot- brain: Cannot be right it would kill Rex), 14A, 17A. Plus the C in COCO was a hesitant guess and _IT rang no bell at all for Ball __. Took half the time of the rest of the puzzle to fill all that in. Would have been faster if I remembered there was a theme. Doh. So well hidden never even thought of it til I came here.
A fun clean puzzle. Thanks @LMS for the links.
Aside from not knowing my nacho cheese sauce from a bechamel, I found this to be Monday easy. It was harder to find the “camouflaged” animals than it was to complete this puzzle. Disappointing to have the revealer take me on a word search; just me I guess as others seem to like the search.
ReplyDeleteIn Lay Down Sally Sally is not lying down, the singer is telling her to lay down, after which she would be lying down. Clapton, meanwhile, is laying down some licks. So “lay” seems “correct.” Of course, I put “correct” in quote marks because there is so much sexual tension in the whole thing that worrying about the grammar of the thing seems a little limp to me.
ReplyDeleteHaven’t read the comments—but Rex seems to have missed the point that these animals CAMOUFLAGE themselves. Maybe because he didn’t know that LEAF I SECTs look like leaves.
ReplyDeleteBack this afternoon to say more. Great concept well executed.
Probably not a good idea to take usage lessons from song lyrics,
ReplyDeleteI'll take in anyone who's taking off the camouflage
ReplyDeleteIf you use FREON, your Air conditioner is likely to go soon .... (It's a dread OZONE-eating CFC) says the chemist in me, because it's ancient
ReplyDeleteAnother way to remember the LAY|LIE thing
LAY is active - get ____
LIE is passive - just lie there
NON-PC ^ ALERT! ouch
Jeff Chen did make this his POW. I'm glad he did.
ReplyDeleteAh, that Steinberg quality, once again demonstrating that this hobby/addiction of ours is an art as well as a science. Thank you, David.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and again I present a post-puzzle puzzle, and so...
Following the puzzle's theme (across and down) will elicit several commonly used initialisms often found as crossword answers. One of them, backwards, spells a noun that is an answer very often found in grids as well. What is the first letter of the famous name often found in the clues for this noun?
(Answer to come later this afternoon.)
My neumonic for remembering lay/lie; hens lay, people lie. Didn't find the hidden creatures because I thought vertical rows. Didn't try very hard. Was just pleased to have finished and hear the happy music.
ReplyDelete
DeleteJust for the record:
Neumonic is not a word.
Neumatic is a tire.
Mnemonic is what you meant😎
Sorry to come back but a row is (almost) always horizontal.
DeleteA column is vertical.
As for the colon, well that's more twisted.
@Nancy has clairvoyant of the the day for her projection of Jeff Chen’s POW. Certainly a fun solve that brought back memories of sharing Granpa searches for those hidden Steinberg animals in real world settings with sprouts no longer engaged in such now outgrown activities. Unfortunately I have a rows/columns confusion that threw me in seeing the not so obvious CAMOUFLAGE(d) critters. And while I happily forgive Rex his rants, I wanna, I gotta, I indeed must scream when any POSTDOC allows a to/too/two confusion to hide itself among the spellcheck detritus. Sorry, I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity for ANAPHORA, or a snicker at a @LMS pun.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle, love the theme. I must be the only one who didn't find this easy. My time was around the same as usual but I was very, very surprised when the solved box popped up because I had to go back and change so many answers along the way. ANAPHORA, CAMOUFLAGE (almost spelled it without the U here, jeez) and ELISION were tough answers. Couldn't remember if there was some silent letter in ANEMONE, and it took forever for me to parse E ONLINE. But this was really well executed and a fun solve so no complaints.
ReplyDelete@LMS: Give the dog a bone!
ReplyDelete[ok. Steinberg puz. Always gonna be a masterpiece. But someone has to give this youngster trouble, so he can continue to "grow" … so M&A'll try to give him some serious snark … ]
ReplyDeleteDA?/?ECHAMEL was a nice nat-tick moment, right outta the gate. Plus, splatz A NAP HORA into yer NW mix, and U get a beefy camouflaged correct answer stew. Precious nanosecond carnage. Solvequest quakes.
Also … Immediately saw the Jaws of Themelessness in the puzgrid design, and thought "Themeless WedPuz wasteland?". Killed off all hope for a theme, leavin M&A powerful despressed. Plus, the day-um (hidden in shame) theme then ended up bein dissected varmints?!? yeeesh.
And another thing: Talk about Ow de Speration a la mais oui. EONLINE? No surprise, that this is a debut word; no one else would touch this with a ten-foot leaf insect. GAMER? Clued with whatever fortnite is? And don't even get m&e started again, on French white sauces of mystery.
LEAF INSECT is quite a mega-outlier, in the desperate themer dept. Sounds too much like GREEN INSECT PAINT, in my critter colorin book.
staff weeject pick: Lotsa old, tired faves to choose from: EMO. AKC. ESL. ISH. AOL. Let's go with DAB -- sooo … now we just need to know what part of yerself (or yer partner?) you're supposed to dab at, while dancin around??? M&A recommends serious dabbin at that NW puzcorner, before U get to go out dancin.
Don't quit yer dayjob to become an animal husbandryist or nuthin, Steinbergmeister.
And U don't spell "chamel" with an H. snort
Masked & Anonymo4Us
… and here's how to properly split yer peas:
**gruntz**
Oh, @Loren, you just had to remind me of a good friend who loves punning. He liked to tell a very long, drawn out tale — that I will condense here — about what happened when his dog Patti, a lovely Alaskan Malamute, suddenly confronted a ceramic image of Balto, the sled dog. Said Jim, "It’s a knick-knack, Patti-wak, leave the dog alone." You're welcome.
ReplyDeleteI blew this pretty quickly, unusual for a Steinberg puzzle. But, typical of me, I was too impatient to suss out the camo animals and now I'm kicking myself because that's really a cool trick he pulled.
I really like POST DOC, ELISION, BECHAMEL, ANAPHORA, and Having PAULINE in there made me smile; that was my mom's name and you rarely see it any more.
Thanks, David.
Sally is not being told to lay down. She is being told to LIE down. Yesterday she lay down and in the past she has lain down.
ReplyDeleteShe lays (or I lay) the book on the table. Yesterday she laid it there and in the past she has laid it there.
hidden animals is cute as skill by/for the constructor, but offers no help in doing the puzzle (unless, until, someone here raises his/her hand with example?). after the fact, one can re-parse to find them, if so inclined, but otherwise pointless. I sure didn't waste the time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful puzzle, but the tune didn't come. I searched and searched and finally clicked "check puzzle".
ReplyDeleteI had spelled Siphon and Alkali with a f**king Y.
Damn!
@oldactor:
ReplyDeletewhen and where I learned English, it was with 'y'. only ALKALI made the secondary spelling (in these hear parts).
AL KALIne
ReplyDeleteOn the easy side. Clever and smooth, liked it a bunch. Plus I now know what ANAPHORA is.
ReplyDeleteStarted out poorly with my first fill @16A golf bag and Colic in at 6D, thinking I was off to a great start. Not so fast, my dear, that doesn’t seem to be working for you. Was pretty sure Colombian coins didn’t start with a G, so I had to rethink that whole area.
ReplyDeleteANAPHORA and the correct spelling of CAMOUFLAGE needed some help from crosses.
Avatar, Miss COCO happy to see her name in print again.
@Loren. One of my friends used to call my late kitty Paddy, Knick knack. Loved that,
Dylan's "Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed..."
ReplyDeletelie doesn't work here.
An almost Tuesday easy Wednesday inspite of not knowing ANAPHORA, IPHOTO and EONLINE. Up north I was slow on getting PROSHOP as well and had to backfill the NE from the south using that eastern stairstep. Still the early week fill made it fly by.
ReplyDelete@Armchair Editor - So what you’re saying is lay is never reflexive? You can only lay someone else. Tell it to Onan. And Clapton.
ReplyDeleteMy brain seems to have camouflaged itself today from puzzle solving - I went the @Roo Monster-@Gill I route and looked for anagrammed creatures after I saw the CAMEL in BECHAMEL. I found a LION in EONLINE, a COD in POST-DOC, a PUSS (hi @Roo), a FLEA in line 11 and finally saw the LEOPARD in line 13. I then went back to see if any other animals spanned the black squares but they continued to hide from me and I came away with a skewed feeling for this puzzle. Finding the fauna that actually DO. employ camouflage would have been so cool. The octopus is a fascinating creature!
ReplyDeleteMisreading the clue for 32D gave me an EW reaction (I read it as Some diaper changes) which morphed into "huh?" when DADS appeared. And I gave my uTMOST effort to DNF with AlMOST in at 44D. But SEClION has never been found on a ticket, plus I had already found my LION in the 3rd row. So in effect, the theme did help me even as it sailed over my head, har!
Thanks, David Steinberg!
Maybe the LASS is a British mechanic.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun. I feel unused to seeing a Steinberg puzzle midweek. In addition to the excellent theme creatures, there's a spaced-out camel and dyslexic lion hanging out in Row 3, and I spot a contrary cod in Row 5. And the tie clip has lice crawling on it. I much prefer a tie pin anyway.
ReplyDeleteNot much else to say, except that stuffed peppers are delicious, and the puzzle was auspicious.
Herbie Hancock's ode to the puzzle.
Late to the party, but not too late to say that there was nothing CAMOUFLAGED about the quality of this puzzle. Creative theme, solid fill, fun solve. Thank you, David Steinberg, for a welcome change of pace.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why Rex thinks lasses are Irish? Those would be Colleens. And has he not heard of Scotch Bonnet peppers - thought to resemble tam o'shanter hats?
ReplyDeleteFor American sports fans, two words imply heaven,
ReplyDeleteHang on to your hats, for tonight, it’s Game Seven.
Fun puzzle. I, too, was disappointed with INSECT. But then, .. . nifty!
@Karl Grouch 11:58: isn't the correct spelling "pneumatic"? BTW speaking of French sauce, has anyone noticed that 'Mericans in Paris hasn't posted in a while?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed.
Delete"Neumatic" also exists but can't remember exactly what it means, something religious I think.
Post-puzzle puzzle answer is C.
ReplyDeleteBy following the theme, which is finding camouflaged words, that is, where the word starts on one side of the black square and ends on the other, there are several initialisms, such as PSA, NGO, UPS, APR and REI. PSA backwards is ASP, and the famous person often in the clue for ASP is CLEOPATRA, and thus the correct answer is C.
I got slowed down by making a Bearnais[e] sauce and looked side-eyed at it realizing it was misspelled. Took myself off to other parts of the puzzle. It was a record time, but much, faster than average. Just over 2x Rex when my average is 3x Rex.
ReplyDeleteHappy that David made me work to find the hidden animals. Leaf insects are extremely cool. I thought leopard was a little weak compared to the other examples - two actually change colors and one is a ridiculous shape.
I thought Rex might give us Karma Chameleon , but alas it was not to be. I really found that video he posted disturbing.
What a lovely puzzle! What’s not to like? ANEMONE, ALKALI, ANAPHORA (bravo!) ELISION (bravo again!) BECHAMEL, and the hunt for the camouflaged species … LEAF INSECT! I missed the “leaf” part entirely until I read Rex, and that was going to be my only complaint: that insect was generic, whereas the others were specific. But I was wrong! Great puz, congrats to the constructor!
ReplyDelete@Lewis – What drugs did you take?
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen it mentioned so uncloaking (un-lurking?...) just long enough to note the visual echo of OPUS near the middle is kind of cool. You can get "octopus" following more than one path. Almost like a couple of arms.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Lewis, but the answer, as Joe Dipinto coyly hinted, is "T". DSL at 42A - 43A, reversed to LSD, oft clued with Timothy Leary.
ReplyDeleteOr possibly "B": SSA at 36D - 37D, reversed to ASS, as in Balaam's.
By the way....BECHAMEL was originally invented in Tuscany. Balsamell was the glue that held several pastas together. Mr. Louis Béchamel, during his travels to Italy, fell in love with it and brought it back to France and made Louis XIV even fatter than he was. et voila and vive Italia.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a fine puzzle, maybe a little bit on the easy side. But just to be a little contrarian, lots of animals are CAMOUFLAGed. Hey, even the anoa is CAMOUFLAGed. It is mostly black but there are white spots here and there. Its native habitat is in the forests of Indonesia and those spots help it blend in with the dappled sunlight breaking through the dense canopy. But if you dare TAKE AN OATH an go MANO A MANO with one, watch out for those razor sharp horns.
ReplyDeleteBut no complaints here. I always enjoy the artful arrangement of words crossing one another more than the themes, and I thought the puzzle did very well in that regard.
@kitshef -- Great catch and a great answer! And Joe, if that is what you were referring to, same goes for you!
ReplyDeleteThe NW had me flummoxed all day. I found the clues either Fri. Sat hard or Mon. Tues. easy. I guess that's why it was a Wed. puzzle.
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear, LEAF INSECT is an actual species, not a description of a type or family of insects. Flat green body, looks like a leaf.
ReplyDeleteNever knew Zip Code was an acronym. You learn something every day.
ReplyDelete@Lewis – actually, I was just being silly. I didn't understand how to play the game until you posted the solution.
ReplyDelete'Lass' is Scottish. And there is a hot pepper named a 'scotch bonnet' for its resemblance to a Tam O'Shanter. Which is a men's hat. Make of that what you will.
ReplyDeleteJust to be geeky, "leaf insect" isn't a species; it's an order. Leaf and stick bugs are collectively called PHASMIDS (Order: Phasmatodea). Would love to see that turn up in a puzzle someday!
ReplyDeleteThe NW SECTION (as well as the SE) is severely cut off from the rest of the grid, which means if you don't know ANAPHORA or BECHAMEL you are going to have a HARD time up there! What is DAB?? I DAB when I play bingo, not when I dance. (I remember dancing!) I managed to work it out, but the NW was yet again almost my Waterloo. The rest of it: pretty easy. I was happy enough to finish a DS, no matter what the day, so I didn't look for the CAMOUFLAGEd stuff. I hope that doesn't mean a DNF; I don't think it does. After all, I did solve every square correctly.
ReplyDeleteDOD competition is thin today, but I seem to recall an actress named Carol ALT. Yes, she'll do. NW: frightening; elsewhere: easy. So: medium. Birdie.
Lie as in recline, lay as in place.
ReplyDeleteCAD GOESSTAG, CHIPSIN
ReplyDeleteROB has MOORE EGRET than EGO
to PLEA to ANAPHORA match play.
ROB’s just a PROSHOP ROMEO
for any LASS on the L.P.G.A.
--- PAULINE BECHAMEL
FIN ISH TEE
ReplyDeleteThe DECAF’s FREON Sunday,
but I’ve had COCO, so PARDONME.
With GRIT I’ll SIPHON some way,
ATMOST I have the URGE to PEA.
--- CLIO CREEL
Started with a wince on seeing D.S.'s name, but with the clever, gettable theme and good crosses was able to relax through most of it...until getting back to a HARD NW.
ReplyDeleteBig problem: Wanted Dip instead of DAB; thus, iNAPHORA and pECHAMEL. These latter two didn't look right while Dip did.
Ended with a wince.
smooth as ever by the Mozart of crosswords
ReplyDeleteUsed my "leave it alone for a while" technique to finish strong.
Diana, LIW for Crosswords
DS puzzles are always good ones, and always somehow different from other constructors. This one was no exception, and I liked it. The CAMOUFLAGing of the themer animals, though mainly a construction feat, a meta tour de force in my opinion, is worthy of praise.
ReplyDeleteSide note @Spacey, Carol ALT, I believe was in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue years ago, and I also believe was married to a forward on the New York Rangers. Maybe...memory is fuzzy.
Reading LMS's comment up top with the "nick nack paddy wack" reference, I noticed that the song is nearly as ANAPHORA as it gets - "This old man, he played ...", etc. Only two words change from one verse to the next.
ReplyDelete@rainy - re: yeah baby Carol ALT, you are correct about S.I. and correct that she married a hockey player, don't recall the team or the guy. As I recall one of her eyes was off a bit. You'd have to google for details.
ReplyDeleteNice DS puz.