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Dinosaur whose name means swift seizer / MON 4-4-22 / Handy Andy by another name / One-named singer called Queen of Pop / Loops into an online convo
Monday, April 4, 2022
Constructor: Derek J. Angell
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Theme answers:
- VELOCIRAPTOR (20A: Dinosaur whose name means "swift seizer")
- PTERODACTYL (36A: Dinosaur whose name means "winged finger")
- TRICERATOPS (42A: Dinosaur whose name means "three-horned face")
- BRONTOSAURUS (58A: Dinosaur whose name means "thunder lizard")
Brontosaurus (/ˌbrɒntəˈsɔːrəs/; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greekβροντή, brontē "thunder" and σαῦρος, sauros "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, B. excelsus, had long been considered a species of the closely related Apatosaurus and therefore invalid, researchers proposed in 2015 that Brontosaurus is a genus separate from Apatosaurus and that it contains three species: B. excelsus, B. yahnahpin, and B. parvus. (wikipedia)
• • •
Weird to see ODOR clued as a specifically bad smell (10D: Bad smell). ODOR = smell. "Bad" is just, like, your opinion, man. I wrote in SERBS instead of SLAVS, as I (too) frequently do (1D: Many Balkan inhabitants). Aren't SERBS "Balkan inhabitants"!? [checks anxiously ...] phew, yes, Serbia is indeed a Balkan state, so my initial answer, while wrong, was not Wrong wrong. When you are forbidden from tipping your hat, you are in a NO DOFF zone (4D: Fall asleep on the couch, perhaps). I just read the BRONTOSAURUS entry in my "Webster's Word Histories" book last week and thought I'd remembered reading that BRONTOSAURUS had been found to be a species of APATOSAURUS after all and thus invalid. But my "Webster's Word Histories" is from 1989 and it seems that in the intervening years BRONTOSAURUS has had its separate genus status restored. I am the farthest thing from a paleontologist, I'm just reading "Webster's Word Histories" and also the wikipedia entry for BRONTOSAURS (see above).
I solved this one's Downs first, then Acrosses, just 'cause I was bored, and there were a bunch of Downs I couldn't get at first glance. NOTOK (25D: Unacceptable) and "TRYME!" (26D: "I might, if you're willing to ask") wouldn't come without help, and same with EYEROLL (43D: Reaction of silent but obvious disapproval) and DAUBED (50D: Applied, as foundation or powder). Most other answers came pretty quickly, though. I spelled SUSIE with a "Z" at first (SUZIE), just as I spelled "SPYS" with a "Z" at first in Sunday's puzzle ("SPYZ"). I will probably continue to make both mistakes for the rest of my life. Some things you just have to accept about yourself. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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112 comments:
Medium. Between eighth grade and “Jurassic Park” I knew all four. Pretty smooth with some fine long downs. Just about right for a Monday, liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
Me too for SerbS before SLAVS
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #696 is a tad easier than #695 but it is still in the hours not minutes solving range. Good luck!
@Zed - #695 is a killer. I’ve seen every episode of “The Office” and still had no idea...but I made a lucky guess.
If you don't count the self-imposed head slap from wondering what a VELOCIRAPTOR has to do with "swift seltzer" - not to mention WTH swift seltzer even is - you could say I enjoyed this little dino trivia quiz. Easy peasy with nary an EYEROLL.
Well done on your sophomore effort, Mr. Angel! Good Monday.
🧠
🎉🎉.5
Note to @Wrecks:
Monday is Crosswords 101 day. It is not a graduate course in linguistics. There's nothing wrong with having a four dinosaur theme. Plus, I found the name definitions interesting (and the answers a challenge to spell correctly).
Pterodactyl is, famously, NOT a dinosaur but rather a flying reptile. It's spot on the reptile family tree makes it about equally related to crocodiles as it is to dinosaurs if that gives you some idea of the situation. Anyway, just thought this was kind of the job of the editor to make sure these things were at least accurate, not sure how such a bad mistake made it through to print.
Hey Rex, welcome to the Solve the Downs® club! I always try to solve Mondays by only looking at the across clues. I don't always succeed (often need to peek at a couple of across clues), but tonight I did, clean. Anyone who finds Monday too easy, seriously, try it it's kinda fun.
This theme was great for this method, because I easily saw they were all dino names, and they really helped with the downs that weren't obvious. E.g., for 4d I tried CAT NAP, then after VELOCIRAPTOR was in place I tried SNOOZE, then imagining what 23a SLY--- could be, finally got NOD OFF.
Hands up for SERBS before SLAVS. Also MAYBE before TRY ME, which was a problem because the Y fit with PTERODACTYL.
[Spelling Bee: Sat. pg-2, missed these words.
Sun. 8:30 to pg, then QB later.
My week, Mon. to Sun.: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -2, 0. Not bad!]
An easy puzzle with five dinosaurs in it. Six if you count Madonna. What's not to love?
I’m an AVID fan of TREX decking. But not if the ODOR might attract a VELOCIRAPTOR. Call me a PRUDE.
I’m a fer sher Dino fan, so this puzzle was fun, fun, fun for me, even though I pretty much agree with Rex about the meh-ness of the whole theme and the weakness of the fill. I wouldn’t mind imagining, say, a FETA-RAPTOR (fierce attacker of Greek cheese) or a LOCO-SAURUS. (bat-sit lizard).
Still, good fun for a Monday. Thanks Derek J. Angell.
A fine Monday puzzle. Had a little difficulty with the spelling as I’m not really up on my prehistoric creatures. Had to change a couple of letters after solve, an e to O and a o to A. In my own rule book, I’m not counting those and declaring myself a winner. Love my rule book.
@Robert 12:28 – the editors don't have time to be bothered with accuracy. But I'm sure they could tell you that PTERODACTYL anagrams to PROTECT LADY and TRY LACED POT.
Well, that was... a Monday (EYEROLL). Hand up for SerbS before SLAVS.
My five favorite clues from last weerk
(in order of appearance):
1. Vegas machine with the best odds (3)
2. Color not generated by light (5)(3)
3. Sci-fi effects that are beyond stunning (5)(4)
4. Flushes, e.g., in poker (4)
5. Clearer in hindsight? (4)(5)
ATM
SPRAY TAN
DEATH RAYS
TELLS
REAR WIPER
I loved this and would not have been surprised had it been Jeff's POW. It was smooth and enjoyable.
I had SHIN and LOCO before I looked at the 1D clue, so I didn’t fall into the SerbS trap. Had the first two letters at 36A and before reading the clue briefly considered PT one oh nine, wondering if the theme might connect the Dino with JFK
Thanks @Robert. Now I hate the puzzle.
@Rex. You ask "Why?" and "How is this a coherent theme?". Read constructor's note at XWORDINFO.
Luckiest second try ever!
Wordle 289 3/6
⬜⬜⬜🟦⬜
🟧🟧🟧⬜⬜
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
Starter from today's Xword.
Thx Derek, for this SAURing Mon. puz! :)
Med.
Only a moderate amt of pushback due to not knowing how to spell all the dinos and PTERODACTYL.
"Pterodactyls, the common name for pterosaurs, are an extinct group of winged reptiles. There was a genus of pterosaur called Pterodactylus – which is where the word “pterodactyl” comes from – but not all pterosaurs belong to this genus.
Are pterosaurs birds, dinosaurs, or mammals? The answer? D: none of the above! Because they flew and their front limbs stretch out to the sides, they are not dinosaurs. Instead, they’re a distant dinosaur cousin." (Orlando Science Center)
Had Rihanna before MADONNA. Thot I might get my rOTEL from a recent puz. lol
SerbS before SLAVS.
Fun solve; enjoyed it! :)
@jae
Looking forward to another great battle, courtesy of our friend Tim Croce! :)
@okanaganer 👍 for another great week of SBing! :)
Missed the latter of your two Sat. words; another one for the List.
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td pg: 5:51 (eventually got to 0 yd; -1 Sat.) / W: 4*
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Fun fact: we often see dinosaurs pictured together but Triceratops, Velociraptor and Trex roamed the earth closer in time to us (-70 million years ago) than they did to pterodactyl and Brontosaurus (-145 to 150 million years ago).
Lol roasted
Hi all, been away for a bit, tho can see OFL saying I didnt miss much. Nice to see you all again tho.
I thought this was a fine Monday. I happened to start with the acrosses, so SLAVS worked first (after swapping AVID for keen), but hand up for SerbS crossing my mind first. Learning what 4 common dinosaur names mean seems like a perfect way to start a Monday, so quite happy with this one. DAbBED sat there too long while I looked for what might be keeping the happy chimes off, but otherwise a fun breeze and just what I wanted for a start to the week.
I liked how the theme clues focused on the meaning of the dinosaur names. It added interest, to me anyway, seeing VELO for “swift”, for example, or DACTYL for “finger”, and TRI for “three”.
The grid is very cleanly filled, solid work. Filling a grid cleanly is an art and a labor, even if you have a program to help. High props here, Derek.
Some things popped out at me after solving. That PRNDL reminded me of DIRNDL of 3/26. There’s a lovely list of women’s first names, with COCO, PEARL, EDIE, MADONNA, SELA, SUSIE, HELEN, and wannabe ESTER. Also, rarely do you see a U-fest in a crossword, but here we have three-in-a-V in the SE. I liked the cross of EGGDYE and EYEROLL because all I could see was EGGROLL. And I smiled when I saw NTH, which can indicate the last in a series, balanced by FOIST (sorry). I also smiled at COCO / LOCO.
A splendid Monday puzzle. Thank you, Derek!
Add one more to the SerbS before SLAVS list. Liked MR FIXIT (Handy Andy by another name)--made me smile to think of a guy named Andy Fixit.
Speaking of names, there's a 6 letter Hidden Diagonal Word (HDW) that would make a decent Saturday entry: Irish revolutionary Patrick Henry _________
Answer PEARSE (begins at 45D square and moves SE)
There's also a diagonal ROO (hello, @Roo Monster)
Wonderful puzzle.
Very glad this ran on a Monday, as on other days handing you 46 free squares would ruin the fun. On a Monday, it’s not a big deal.
After the last hOTEL/MOTEL flap, I’m surprised we got _OTEL crossing some obscure singer from the ‘80s.
Dinosaurs are so yesterday, but it is Monday. 69A of PRNDL was a nice surprise.
Question from yesterday: I think @Gill I walked to a cupboard to look on a bottle of FEBREZE for the spelling. Many of you would rather DNF than Google during a puzzle. Is looking at a brand name in the cupboard different than Googling it? It seems wildly different, yet basically the same to me.
No one asks REX which is his favorite dinosaur any more, and it shows!
This was a perfectly fun, cute Monday theme. Pleasant and I even learned a little bit about a couple of these names.
Damn fine (lucky?) leap from your 2nd to the solve, I'd say!
And a note on Rex's commentary. No, these are not all from Greek. Some are from Greek (e.g. CERA); some are from Latin (e.g. VELO).
The names listed are mostly at the genus level. That is, there may be multiple species covered by that name. The exceptions are T REX (a species, and more of an easter egg than a themer) and, as mentioned PTERODACTYL.
Often, scientific names get called "Latin names". I've never heard them called "Greek". But neither is correct. However, they do follow Latin grammar. Adjectives must agree with nouns in gender, and adjectives come after the nouns they modify.
The hardest part was trying to spell the dinosaur names (and parsing together MR. FIX IT). Added crunch from the spelling situation - also, much of the fill looks awfully familiar (which Rex mentioned as a negative). Other than that, nothing but nits to pick.
Jeopardy puzzle - not my type of fun. I would add T REX as the fifth themer. Thought the fill was on the tricky side for a Monday - I liked seeing FOIST, HOVEL and EYE ROLL. Rex points out all ugly stuff.
Serbs doesn’t meet the Many condition.
I’ll pass on this one.
It is a source of constant amazement to me that people doing crosswords forget that words often have more than one meaning. I will fault Shortz for being a bit of a dinosaur, but not his perfectly acceptable use of the term today.
@kitshef - 🤣😂🤣
Was (Not Was) was a surprise, but this tune of theirs was always a favorite. Also, can anyone explain what “walk the dinosaur” might be a metaphor for? 🍆🦖🦕🍆
One of the queenly cats I live with is named Coco. She approves this puzzle. (Caroline is biding time until Sox Opening Day.)
I cut mondays a lot of slack, because, well, they’re mondays, but well, today, I pretty much agree with Rex. Oh. Wait. Rex is kind of a dinosaur word. Is that a secret message of some sort?
@Rex - VELOCIRAPTOR has Latin roots, not Greek. And the entries are not "clued by what their names mean (in Greek, presumably)" so much as they are clued by what their Greek-derived or Latin-derived names mean in English.
OFL said, "All dinosaurs have names that mean ... something. That's how the Greek naming process works, as I understand it. They aren't out here naming new dinosaurs "Jeff" or something. Greek names, meaning ... stuff."
In the 19th century, naming followed that convention (descriptive Greek names), but since then many are named for the place discovered (e.g. Denversaurus), and some are named for the discoverer, describer or some other person (e.g. Chassternbergia).
Now how did I know that OFL's review would start with "why these dinosaurs"? Lucky guess.
I got into dinosaurs and why they are called what they are called as a kid so these went right in. I think I predated the dinosaur craze that was prevalent when my kids were kids.
I actually had/may still have a work shirt reading MRFIXIT, as that was my job at our summer resort, from leaky faucets to leaky roofs. Much snappier title than Maintenance Guy.
First thing I thought of at PRNDL was @Joaauin's DRIRNDL/gearshift, but @Lewis beat me to it. I don't mind being on the same page with those two.
Nice enough Mondecito, DJA. Duly Judged Acceptable, at least by me, and I was amused to see the dinosaurs wandering around with all of M&A's moo cows. Thanks for the fun.
As a holder of a doctorate in classics, I enjoyed the etymological / taxonomical theme. You kind of needed ["King" of this puzzle?] to be the 59D clue for the sake of the theme, but it would have been fun to clue it also as [British glam rock band of old]. Also neat that TREX allows there to be another SAURUS in the grid by implication without violating the no-repeat principle.
I have a quibble with GOT being clued with [Fooled]. The latter is rather more suggestive of HAD than GOT. When we use "got" in expressions like "Got me there," or "I really got him that time," it does not really mean "fooled" so much as successfully baited them, or caught them off guard, which sometimes entails fooling them, but that's less the point than that they fell for your ruse. Like I said, a quibble.
Okay, I have a list of other, similarly nitpicky observations, but I have to leave for therapy soon.
Get your objections, but I kind of like the Dino theme. And with T-Rex thrown in at the bottom, I’d argue four themes. But after my 0 for 2 Wordle start, anything would cheer me up.
Wordle 289 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I think we need to appreciate this one as a good one to get the kids started on.
Hey @Robert. I want to let you know that tomatoes are fruit. My feelings for the pterodactyl are the same.
I had such a thing about dinosaurs when I was in the third and fourth grade so I loved this Monday puzzle! Did anyone actually check whether ALL the creatures in Jurassic Park were actually in the Jurassic period and not the Cretaceous? Just wondering.
The clue on MOTEL kind of vindicates my previous viewpoint but I’m not startin’ nuttin.”
I enjoyed this more than the usual Monday, a fun theme which appealed mightily to my inner child. I expect it will be panned by SOME as too easy and too simple a theme but its supposed to be clean and simple on Monday. Plus I thought the spelling of the dinosaur names might’ve been a tad tricky without some very obvious downs to fill in the blanks.
My cats often remind me of the two VELOCIRAPTORS from the kitchen scene in Jurassic Park. I feed them on a table top to keep my dogs from stealing their food. When it’s getting close to meal time and they see me head that way, they leap up on the table and start stalking me and making funny little noises until their food is ready.
NO TOK looks like the latest social media APP.
Did something stupid and lost my post. Luckily I have the time to enter my comment.
Started off with CALF at 1A which slowed me down a bit. Other than that, a valid theme that does not deserve the question "why" aimed at it. Sometimes asking a question says more about the one asking the question than preferable.
I got no joy from the theme answers but thought the crosses were fair (as in easy, not hard). So it felt like a Monday solve. So much for that.
Robert who posted at 12:28 AM: I once sent an email to Shortz complaining about a technical accuracy. He responded that crosswords do not have to be 100% accurate. Your comment assumes otherwise. Since its the editors and not the solvers who set the rules (which vary from site to site), one learns to live with things one disagrees with even when those things seem bad. In the end, a crossword is a puzzle and not a textbook. I derive no pleasure from observing that.
Rex wants 200 unique themes per year that pop and sizzle, or he whines. Give me a break. What a baby. Turn this blog over to someone who doesn't whine every day (except for one week a year when he begs for money.) I read the blog mostly for the comments but scan his write-up to confirm he hated the puzzle. He even hates Friday and Saturday if they aren't perfect in his mind. Go change your diaper.
Jeez Louize is there a dead horse that needs beating? Well, I say let the beatings commence!
In that previous puzzle Uhs was just as apt as Ums and hotel fit the clue only marginally less than MOTEL. Nobody (well, there’s always somebody so “almost nobody”) thought hADONNA is a pop star. sure, sure, the “highway interchange” is trying to signal the “motor hotel” MOTEL, but drive along the interstate these days and there will be a half dozen chain hOTELs. Want a MOTEL in all there 1950’s seediness? Get off the interstate and on a US highway. And if you do you might notice that the “interchanges” are more often intersections. Advice to constructors, if you need to go seedy make sure the cross isn’t a schrödinger square.
Boy, do I not know my dinosaurs!
I also thought this was a harder and more interesting Monday than usual because there were so many answers in the NW that, based on their clues, could have been something else. SLAVS/SERBS. SHIN/CALF. NOD OFF/SNOOZE. SLY ONE/SLY FOX. That last one was the only trap I fell into, though.
Someone will tell me what CCT means, yes?
In the meantime, I have a choice. I can rent "Jurassic Park" -- where it's my understanding that the dinosaurs are alive, in a foul mood, and very, very scary. Or I can SAURnter over to the Museum of Natural History, where the dinosaurs are dead and (I should think) stuffed and can't do you any harm at all.
I enjoyed this puzzle, btw. Now, off to the Museum...
Hey All !
The REX forgot about TREX.
Why isn't TRICERATOPS TTOPS? They deserve a cool name, too!
Do you know MADONNA and Beyonce are the same length?
For REX: if you impose (upon) a hot-tub party... Is it a MOIST FOIST?
Had fun with this DinoPuz today. Knew REX would either say "why these four?" Or "why dinosaurs? Is it National Say Hi To Dinosaurs Day?" (Googs for Dinosaur Day. Hmm, turns out it's both May 15 and June 1.) (Apparently one is National, the other is International.)
Anyway, do kinda agree the fill could've been slightly better, but hey, Dinosaurs! SHRED could be an alternate Themer, as related to a TREX.
Hi @TomT, thanks for the find!
I'm going to start a rumor the a RooMonster was a dinosaur. Prehistoric Rooster. Har. Slightly bigger than a VELOCIRAPTOR, with the same talons, and tusks like a saber tooth tiger. Combination of a herbivore and a carnivore, basically eating whatever it finds. Sharp feathers that could cut soft flesh.
Fairly easy MonPuz. MonDinoPuz. Actually had a spot of trouble in the NW for some reason. A lot of ELAPSEd time because the ole brain needed a few minutes break. Silly brain.
Speaking of silly brain..
yd -1, should'ves 1 (missed one of the easy ones again, bubbling just under the surface) Dang!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Speaking of National Days, looked up today, and it is...
Jeep 4x4 Day
National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day
National Hug A Newsperson Day
National School Librarian Day
National Vitamin C Day
National Walk Around Things Day
So Hug your Newsperson in the library whilst taking some Vitamin C as you walk around the desk headed to your Jeep. Then eat some Cordon Bleu for dinner.
I nominate August 13th as National F Day. Let it be so.
RooMonster No, I'm not Off My Meds Guy
Trivia: Eating pita bread gave T-Rexes the trots. (This is slyly referenced by the middle column.)
🟩 ← Check out the countdown #.
Most Mondays have an anti-Natick and today's is no exception. "The 'p' of m.p.h." crossing "Gem from an oyster." Or maybe better: "To the ___ degree" crossing "___ of Troy." Also a double partial!
Not a single red plus sign in the margins.
@jazzmachgo, @Pete, @jac, @jberg - Thank you for the music lesson on ARCO yesterday. Very much appreciated.
Re my CCt query. Oops. It should have been CCS.
This was due to my sloppy handwriting. I misread the "M" I had in TRY ME as an "N". So now what I'm seeing is ?ONE for "indefinite quality" which puzzled me. I ran the alphabet and came up with tONE. Now I see the answer is SOME.
@Roo Monster - Contrarian that I am, I refuse the notion that I have to walk around things today. Nope, not I. I shall walk through things today. Straight through, now wavering, no hesitancy. I have three walls and a fireplace between me and my front door, wish me luck getting out of the house.
@OffTheGrid - I took your advice, and read the constructors notes. How is "I owe this theme to my wife", with no further explications, an answer to the questions posed?
The Museum of Natural History and the Planetarium are two of the places that make NYC such a fantastic place to visit. While it is not practicable for me to go there any time soon, a trip to NYC with visits to there, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long stroll up and down Madison and Fifth Avenues and some meals at various restaurants would be an expensive and memorable experience.
This theme took me back in time to when my son was young. Dinosaurs were everything in his world and after a trip to the Smithsonian the “The Hadrosaur from Hackensack” tape played on repeat in the car. Needless to say I can still spell all the dino names today.
My favorite entry was SUSIE. The Everly Bros. won my heart with their 1960 release “Cathy’s Clown” but I got into trouble two years earlier at nine years old with my Dad over “Wake Up Little SUSIE”. My Dad was no PRUDE, but I was riding in the back seat of the car and began singing about SUSIE’s faux pas with her boyfriend in a loud voice. My father SNAPped and was angrier at me than ever before. I didn’t understand why or what was happening but I do now of course. It was NOTOK in the 1950s for me to have any idea what was going on with SUSIE and her boyfriend that fateful night and as it happens, I didn’t. But that was the first and only time I was afraid of my Dad and I’ve never forgotten it.
Congrats to Tyler Hinman on his ACPT win. I watched the video of the final and I would say he enjoyed himself. Loved the long red hair!
On the one hand, I agree with Rex about the theme. Ideally, theme entries should relate to each other in more ways than one, and/or should have a clever revealer that could mean something entirely different. At a minimum, you could replace "dinosaur" in the clue with "animal," so that we would have to figure out for ourselves that they were all (or mostly) dinosaurs.
On the other hand, any puzzle with FOIST in it is all right with me.
My thinking for 1D hinged on the word "Many." Of course it's literally true that many Balkan inhabitants are SerbS, but somehow the 'many' suggests that the puzzle is looking for something more general; hence SLAVS. It worked for me, anyway. Fortunately, 'calf' for 1A never occurred to me.
OTOH, how are TROTS "steady equestrian gaits?" Even leaving the horrible POC aside, when a horse trots you will bounce around more than for any other gait, unless you're riding English and know how to post (not me!) I guess maybe it's steady for the horse, though, there is that.
All our cars have had manual transmissions, supposedly because they handle better on ice but really because we're snobs -- so I needed to get the cross for the N in PRNDL.
TREX doesn't count as a theme answer because a) it's not spelled out, b) if it was spelled out, you'd have two sauruses in the grid, and c) it's symmetrical with PITA, a @Joe Dipinto points out. Also, it seems to be a Latin species in a Greek genus, making my head spin.
@jberg “ All our cars have had manual transmissions, supposedly because they handle better on ice but really because we're snobs -- so I needed to get the cross for the N in PRNDL.”
Incidentally, the N is one of two that manual and automatic have in common. :)
LISA DOUGLAS LEARNS TO DRIVE
(Green Acres)
What’s not to like when you have five dinosaurs to help you greet the day? I only knew three by name. Enjoyed learning about the swift seizer and the one with the three-horned face. Also liked the harder-than-usual resistance that this puzzle offered for a Monday. And thank you to all concerned for not giving 40A a Game of Thrones clue.
For the EYEROLL department, here are a few other dinosaur names that spring to mind from long, long, long ago:
* Dinosaur that just got a booster shot - Armisaur
* Sleeping dinosaur - Dinosnore
* Dinosaur with a great vocabulary- Thesaurus
Odor is unpleasant.
Aroma is pleasant.
"Just as you thought, the quick answer is yes, dinosaurs are reptiles."
here: https://www.activewild.com/are-dinosaurs-reptiles/
Well... almost noon, EDT, and no one has mentioned that grade school phenom, The Dinosaur Boy??? They often turn out to be the HS and College Valedictorians. Unlike, of course, that Trumpublican Senate poser in Georgia.
@jberg:
having been there, 'post' is still bouncing. once you can handle a canter, i.e. without landing on the ground every minute or two, that's steady.
I get putting a Z in Suzie, but why would you put a Z at the end of "SPY"?
@Trinch, @jberg:
Now that they're likely as rare as hen's teeth, it's also likely to no longer be true that the real reason for the manual over the Hydromatic was cost. Cheaper on the invoice and cheaper to maintain/repair. Careful enough with the clutch, and you'll never have to replace it.
Memories
Light the the corners of my mind......
Skipping and dancing through The Museum of Natural History with my 8 year old son. Visiting my brother for 8 days in NYC and spending hours everyday looking at bones. We bought t-shirts and toys and lots of trinkets and banners and anything the museum store could offer that would eventually hang in Jordan's room for many years....
Rex asks "But why, though?" Because why not?....
A Monday romp through those memories and having some fun.
good job, Derek.
@Gary J (12:52) “Six if you count Madonna“. 🤣🤣🤣
@Chicago Circa (8:54) You make an excellent point. This would be an especially good first puzzle for a budding crossword solver.
@Joseph Michael (11:09) I like your alternative dinosaurs. The only one I could remember was Tyrannosaurus Tex (dinosaur wearing cowboy boots).
@Zach (11:42) Re odor/aroma … my thoughts exactly.
Puzzle was quite fun. Felt like a refresher course in dinosaurs
Especially enjoyed comments from Zed 8:10 (read the whole link) Roomonster ( ttop and moist foist) and Joseph M's Armisaur, Dinosnore and Thesaurus
@Zed…🤣🤣🤣. Beat that dead horse! You MAY be bringing up a good point with lack of Natick/or DNF on this puzzle as opposed to the UM/UH conundrum but I still maintain a motel is an establishment near highway interchanges that have a free parking lot whether or not they are in “the style” of a city hotel. Even the old mom and pop MOTELS (a step up might have been a Best Western back in the day) were “motor-hotels” as per the word coinage in spite of the fact that the door opened out to the parking area. Seediness has nothing to do with the equation as there are very seedy city hotels as well as seedy interstate establishments that are accessed through a lobby with indoor room access. We must just agree to disagree on that one!
yep. Five themers, if U count TREX. @RP was probably upset because TREX got re-lo-gated to abbreve meat down in the puz basement.
This was a pretty good MonPuz, actually. Dinosaurs are cool, and for sure rate a tribute puz. M&A kinda got a chuckle outta MADONNA bein clued up sorta similar to how the dinosaurs were clued.
fave jurassic sparklers: MRFIXIT. PRNDL! FETA/PITA. EYEROLL. ECIGS. SLYFOX.
staff weeject pick: LES. The les is mor entry in the NE & SW weeject stacks.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Bonus performance} = ENCORE. Went in veloci-nanosecondly off the equally moo-ey {Like the score 4-4} = TIED entry.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Angell dude. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
p.s. Congratz to Tyler Hinman, for his 7th ACPT puzfest win! M&A knew U could do it. Was hopin for an Al Sanders comeback, too boot; maybe next year.
**gruntz**
MFCTM.
Lewis (5:30)
.
Nice quick puzzle - would have been even quicker if I hadn't written "dropoff" in 5D instead of NODOFF in 4D.
yd -1; today I need an 8 and a 9 and am still staring at the thing.
@Whatsername:
@Gary J (12:52) “Six if you count Madonna“.
If you recall that famous picture of her, she'd be a Biceratops.
Very easy and a fun nostalgia trip -- I'm with those who gained a leg up on the theme by having kids and grandkids fascinated by dinosaurs, hence countless hours of reading them dinosaur lore and accompanying them to the vast halls of natural history museums (favorite toddler-era stuffed animal for bedtime = a TRICERATOPS ["Tri" for short]; first ceramics project in grade-school art class = a stegosaurus ["Steggie"], still on my bookshelf). I liked the addition of the non-predatory SLY FOX.
@Hartley70 10:23 - Thank you for pointing out SUSIE - I'd missed it, as it went in from crosses. It doesn't matter if she was in fact a PRUDE - her "reputation is shot!". :)
I had fun trying to remember how these were spelled. If you can't have fun with dinosaurs, check for a pulse.
I would have left 59D TREX out. It's not symmetrically placed with any other themer and not completely spelled out so kind of muddies the thematic waters, so to speak.
@jberg long ago when outhouses were common, if you saw someone scurrying anxiously toward that house away from the house, you would say it looks like they have the TROTS! TROTS was a euphemism for having some intestinal distress such as diarrhea.
Whenever I see any PRE- entries in a grid, today 45D PRESOLD, I'm reminded of this classic George Carlin routine.
Thanks M&A for the heads up on Tyler Hinman's 7th (!) ACPT win. Mr. Hinman is also a topflight xword constructor. Since it is impossible to know for sure without direct knowledge who is responsible for writing the clue for any given puzzle entry, Tyler once quipped that "If you like the clue, give me credit; if you don't like the clue, blame the editor". George Carlin couldn't have said it better!
@Joseph Michael (11:09)-- That is SO clever!!!!
Have you ever thought of creating a crossword puzzle? That's the kind of playfulness that I love to see in puzzles.
If I knew the "famous" Madonna photo that Anonymous 2:16 is alluding to, I'd congratulate him on his playfulness too.
Easy, fun, kiddie-nostalgic Monday. Didn't get the happy music, though, and realized I had an errant "a" where an "i" should have been, then laughed thinking that 5D's Handy Andy might also have been a MR FaX IT.
@Joseph Michael 11:09 am, Whatsername 12:46 pm - Like all your alternative dinosaurs, not having heard of any before. Favorite, of course: Thesaurus.
@whatshername - oh, yes, I think I once saw a Tyrannosaurus Tex exhibit at the Alternative Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
There was a Philophosaurus exhibit as well (dinosaur contemplating he meaning of life).
I found @Hartley's "Susie" anecdote fascinating and realized that, even though I heard this song countless times in my youth, I had no memory of the lyrics at all. Had I ever even noticed them? So first I went to read the lyrics online and thought: I had no idea this is what that song is about! Then I went back to listen to the Everly Brothers. Well, that's the problem with rock -- even very mild '50s rock like this. Singers don't enunciate! It's all about the beat and the vamp and the vibe. Only because I'd just read the lyrics did I actually pick up on them.
For me, these lyrics were just wallpaper back in the day. Evidently @Hartley's father was paying closer attention.
It's OK to have a fun puzzle on a Monday, Rex.
Hmmm... I always thought the point of Wake Up Little Susie was that it was all innocent. They fell asleep watching a movie and when they woke up, they realized how late it was and knew that people would assume they were canoodling. But they weren't.
Anyhoo, this has all driven me back to my LPs to dig out The Very Best of the Everly Brothers to give it a spin.
@Zed
MADONNA is the the Queen of pop? I was trying to figure out which of the ONNA sisters it was. Damn twins. Never could keep them straight.
@Hartley70 and @ Nancy…Nance I believe I already said my only sis (and sib) was 11 years older than me. She had the 45 rpm of Wake Up Little Susie so I am VERY familiar with the lyrics. My recollection is that they both fell asleep at the theater and we’re worried that “shenanigans” happened before they actually got home. How times have changed! Btw, she an eclectic 45 collection. It included Elvis, Buddy Holly, as well as a “set” of 45s from The King and I (she had a crush on Yul Brynner).
Rex says he makes mistakes. Sure. IASWELL. But apparently he can type 50% faster than i can, so i can never keep up. (His handwriting, on the other hand...so to speak...
Ah, the nostalgia! This took me back to my grade 5 dinosaur triumph (which I haven’t thought of for a very long time). Every morning some kid would have to get up and make a speech to the class on a topic of her/his choosing. At the beginning of the month, a calendar would be posted and we’d all sign up for the day of our particular talk. One month, after all the days had been booked, the teacher told me that the day I’d signed up for was Parents Day, meaning that along with the class, everybody’s mom and dad would be in the audience. “Are you all right with that?” she asked me. “Sure,” I said with a shrug, ever cool, even the face of mortal terror.
Man, I pulled out all the stops for that speech. It was a dinosaur extravaganza. I hung huge sheets of Bristol board covered with dino pictures and notes all over the classroom. I completely drained the AV equipment room and the school library – I had slides, I had transparencies, I had illustrated tomes, and I had a polished oration that would have impressed even Cicero.
Then, on the morning of, I completely lost my nerve and fell back on that old chestnut, sick tummy. All credit to my mother, she was having none of it, and off we went (she, of course, to be one of the moms in the audience). Well, the anticipatory stage fright was fierce, but the minute I got up there, the ham in me took over and I performed like a seasoned pro. Actually got a standing ovation. It’s no wonder I ended up at the front of a classroom in later life. And to think…I owe it all to dinosaurs (and flying reptiles).
@ Nancy, thanks, yes, I do contemplate it now and then, but so far have not pursued it with much seriousness (or playfulness). However, I have always enjoyed your puzzles.
One more for the mix:
* Tarotdachtyl - dinosaur that can see the future
@Kitshef…you are right!
@Barbara S. Wonderful story that brought me back to stage fright and all kinds of things! I mean, it resolved for me also…so no sarcasm in this….🤣
What a great story, Barbara! There must indeed be some "ham" in you.
@Kitshef -- So Little Susie was completely innocent! Whew! I'm so relieved! And all the people who've been slandering her for years should be ashamed of themselves!
@Beezer -- Your sister, very close to my age, has exquisitely good taste in men. But no one, not even your sister, could have possibly had more of a crush on Yul Brynner than I did. I was lucky enough to see him onstage in the original Broadway production of "King and I" at age 11, though not with Gertrude Lawrence who had died an untimely death the year before. I saw him with the quite unmemorable Constance Carpenter, but it hardly mattered -- my eyes never left him. Next I saw him in the movie. And when he reappeared in the role in (I think) the early '80s, I went to see him again. I have never seen such animal magnetism on stage before or since.
But it was in a TV interview that I realized it wasn't all that particular role or any role -- that it was...HIM!!!! He was devastating: spontaneous, warm, funny, smart, magnetic and beyond charming. I only had that off-camera reaction to one other actor and that's James Garner. Everyone else I loved on screen fell at least somewhat short in interviews and disappointed me: Henry Fonda was taciturn and icy cold and the exact opposite of "Mr. Roberts". Harrison Ford seemed dull and not much of a conversationalist. Redford was rather earnest and appeared to lack humor. Newman seemed delightful and quite real, but surprisingly enough he didn't make my pulse race. No, it's Brynner and Garner by a wide margin.
(BTW, evidently Yul was once mean to our @GILL in the supermarket and it had something to do with avocados...or tomatoes...or melons...or squash -- I forget. But even if @GILL won't ever forgive you, Yul, I will. And I bet @Beezer's sister will too.)
And your mother!💖
@Barbara S, 5:09pm... love stories like those.
[Spelling Bee: td (Mon.) 2:25 to pg (fast!) then another ~15 min to QB. No goofy words!]
@Nancy:
here's a collage of decolletage:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/madonna-cone-bra-remember-when/index.html
I knew you just wanted to know.
They fell asleep. Missed the 10 pm ETA by 6 hours.
It was probably the ooh la la line.
Well, what are we gonna tell your mama?
What are we gonna tell your pa'?
What are we gonna tell our friends when they say
"Ooh, la, la"
Don’t kid me! We all know SUSIE may be pure as the driven snow, but she and her fellow weren’t at the Odeon where the usher would have awakened them and booted them out at the end of the feature. Oh no. I think they were at that den of iniquity… The Drive-In movie theatre where you could easily have a snooze and a cuddle in your family’s new Rambler. It’s worth noting the song was banned by the archbishop of Boston in 1957 and that alone would have given a father pause.
Hey, my IRA just lost $5000.
Thanks.
@Barbara S: Wonderful story!
Oh good gravy, @Nancy...I thought you had some terrible memory...NOPE.
Yes, indeedy...Handsome and very short Yul, gave me the stink eye over by the tomatoes. I was gushing like Little Suzie in the back seat of the car. All I wanted was a little ink signing....He wanted to squish his vegetable and be left alone.
By the way...he was pretty unhandsome in person and he was still bald and I think he was wearing high heels.
@Riding with Biden:
Well, just sing a few bars of "Putin on the Ritz"
@Nancy
Cary Grant?
@albatross -- Cary, who I absolutely adored on the screen, didn't quite have the easy self-deprecating humor of James Garner. Never have I seen anyone who was less caught up with being a "movie star" than Garner. He was just so endearing. I sort of thought that Cary might have been a little too aware of which was his better profile. Still, even if he was a bit vain, I would have made allowances. I'm good that way.
I really wish I could find both the Brynner interview and the Garner interview that blew me away at the time. There are YouTube interviews with both of them that you can watch, but not the ones that I saw.
Hell, @GILL, I don't care if Yul was short. I'm short.
If you begin with “ideal” and then follow with “roust” you take care of the vowels and a few more. I start every one with that pair. Leads to quicker solves.
Ideal followed by roust held a lot with these. Try it.
EYEROLL WELL
I GOT to the MOTEL with COCO,
she'd NODOFF yet want SOME more,
I'm no PRUDE, but that BIRD is LOCO,
she said, "TRYME for SOME ENCOREs."
--- KEN "ACE" PEARL
Not the greatest puzzle ever but hey it’s Monday. And it’s only Derek Angell’s second NYTXW so give the guy a break. Yes, it could have used a snappier reveal than 59D, but even so. It wasn’t too bad for a Monday.
Tried Phrazle today. Like Wordle only phrases are used…
Phrazle 41: 6/6
⬜ ⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟪🟪
🟩 ⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩 🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜
🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩
#phrazle
https://solitaired.com/phrazle
@kitshef: You may not like MADONNA (I certainly don't) but she is hardly "obscure."
The title of this puzzle should be "Up Jurassic Park."
Hand up for SerbS. Intriguing how many of us did that. Both answers fit perfectly WELL. When I GOT to BRONTOSAURUS I thought: come on now, amid all these myriad four-letter fills you gotta give me a TREX...and he didn't disappoint! In fact he turned it into a revealer of sorts. I don't understand OFF's count of four. And BTW, O Fearless One, I'll have you know that my #1 dream girl and permanent DOD--including today--SELA Ward is NOT "wearisome" fill! Bite your tongue!! It would take me longer than the universe has to find her "wearisome."
This grid, despite those four themers, feels chopped up; a ton of 3-4-5s. Still, Mr. Angell did pretty WELL with the fill, PRNDL and EXED aside. Birdie.
On the 18th tee, I remain 3-under, having played the 17th conservatively to ensure myself of a 100% cinch par:
BBBYB
GBGBG
BBYBY
GGGGG
Hey @Spacey - my hand is up for Serbs too. Easily changed.
Not really up on my dinosaurs, but I can add them to the Periodic Table sphere of knowledge.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
Thank you! My first thought when I read this clue.
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