High-energy person metaphorically / MON 12-12-22 / Basketball rebound play / Snoopy and Gromit for two / Fliers that may consume thousands of insects in an hour / Obsolescent music purchases in brief

Monday, December 12, 2022

Constructor: Anthony J. Caruso and Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Monday)


THEME: GO FETCH (39A: Dog command ... or a hint to the starts of the answers to the four starred clues) — things a dog can fetch:

Theme answers:
  • BALL OF FIRE (16A: *High-energy person, metaphorically)
  • BONE CHINA (10D: *Some fine porcelain)
  • STICK TO IT (33D: *"Don't quit now!")
  • PAPER TRAIL (63A: *Documentation leading to proof)
Word of the Day: BONE CHINA (10D) —
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ashfeldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate. Bone china is the strongest of the porcelain or china ceramics, having very high mechanical and physical strength and chip resistance, and is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency. Its high strength allows it to be produced in thinner cross-sections than other types of porcelain. Like stoneware, it is vitrified, but is translucent due to differing mineral properties. (wikipedia)
• • •
***HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION*** (if it's mid-January 2023, that's you!) How is the new year treating you? Well, I hope. Me, uh, not great so far (COVID, you know), but I'm 95% better, and was never terribly sick to begin with, so I have every reason to believe things will turn around for me shortly, thank God (and vaccines). Anyway, it's early January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. I'm not sure what to say about this past year. This will sound weird, or melodramatic—or maybe it won't—but every time I try to write about 2022, all I can think is "well, my cat died." She (Olive) died this past October, very young, of a stupid congenital heart problem that we just couldn't fix (thank you all for your kind words of condolence, by the way). I'm looking at the photo I used for last year's fundraising pitch, and it's a picture of me sitting at my desk (this desk, the one I'm typing at right now, the one I write at every day) with Olive sitting on my shoulder, staring at me, and making me laugh. It's a joyous picture. Here, I'm just gonna post it again:


I love the photo both because you can tell how goofy she is, and how goofy she made me. Her loss hurt for the obvious reasons, but also because she was so much a part of my daily routine, my daily rhythms and rituals. She was everyday. Quotidian. Just ... on me, near me, being a weirdo, especially in the (very) early mornings when I was writing this blog. She took me out of myself. She also made me aware of how much the quotidian matters, how daily rituals break up and organize the day, mark time, ground you. They're easy to trivialize, these rituals, precisely because they *aren't* special. Feed the cats again, make the coffee again, solve the crossword again, etc. But losing Olive made me reevaluate the daily, the quotidian, the apparently trivial. In a fundamental way, those small daily things *are* life. No one day is so important, or so different from the others, but cumulatively, they add up, and through the days upon days you develop a practice—a practice of love, care, and attention given to the things that matter. If you're reading this, then crossword puzzles are undoubtedly an important ritual for you, just as writing about crosswords for you all is an important ritual for me. It gives me so much. I hope that even at my most critical, my genuine love for crosswords—for the way my brain lights up on crosswords—comes through. I also hope that the blog brings you entertainment, insight, laughter ... even (especially) if you disagree with me much (most? all?) of the time. 

[man, I really wear the hell 
out of this red fleece...]
The blog began years ago as an experiment in treating the ephemeral—the here-today, gone-tomorrow—like it really mattered. I wanted to stop and look at this 15x15 (or 21x21 thing) and take it seriously, listen to it, see what it was trying to do, think about what I liked or didn't like about it. In short, I gave the puzzle my time and attention. And I continue to do that, every day (Every! Day!). And it is work. A lot of work. Asking for money once a year (and only once a year) is an acknowledgment of that fact. There is nothing to subscribe to here ... no Substack or Kickstarter or Patreon ... and there are no ads, ever. I prefer to keep financial matters simple and direct. I have no "hustle" in me beyond putting my ass in this chair every morning and writing.

How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):

Second, a mailing address (checks should be made out to "Rex Parker"):

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I. Love. Snail Mail. I love seeing your gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my awful handwriting. It's all so wonderful. My daughter (Ella Egan) has designed a cat-related thank-you postcard for 2023, just as she has for the past two years, but this year, there's a bonus. Because this year ... the postcard is also a crossword puzzle! Yes, I made a little 9x9 blog-themed crossword puzzle for you all. It's light and goofy and I hope you enjoy it. It looks like this (clues blurred for your protection):

I had fun making this puzzle (thanks to Rachel Fabi and Neville Fogarty for proofing it for me!). For non-snail-mailers who want to solve the puzzle, don't worry: I'll make the puzzle available for everyone some time next month. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD."  Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support. Now on to today's puzzle...

• • •

Pretty dull example of an old-fashioned theme. It's true that each of the fetched items have been clued as unfetched items (i.e. this STICK is not a fetched STICK, this PAPER is not a fetched (news) PAPER, etc.), but that's pretty standard. There's nothing here you couldn't have seen 20+ years ago, except maybe EMOPOP, which is maybe the worst thing in the grid, since the word is just EMO, they call it EMO, just EMO. Crosswordese abounds (IBIS TAT ALOE ALBA I haven't even left the SW corner but you get the idea). It's not that the puzzle is terribly made, it's just ... hard to find anything positive to say about it. Frankly, it's hard to find anything to say about it—it's about as drab a piece of work as I've seen in a while. I've seen puzzles I really disliked that had more imagination and ambition than this one. I love a simple, snappy theme, but this isn't that. It's a tired first-worder. I couldn't even find a very interesting word to be Word of the Day today, so you're stuck with BONE CHINA, sorry. A BALL OF FIRE, this isn't. Speaking of BALL OF FIRE, have you seen it? The 1941 Howard Hawks movie with Barbara Stanwyck as a showgirl hiding out from the mob in a big house with fuddy-duddy lexicographers (including Gary Cooper)? Yes? No? Well, if no, you should fix that. It's in the Criterion Channel's "Screwball Comedy" collection this month. Yes sir, Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper, a can't-lose combination. (This is how I amuse myself when the puzzle does nothing for me—remembering great movies).


Speaking of screwball comedies currently showing on the Criterion Channel—I just (re-)watched Easy Living (1937), which opens with cranky steel magnate Edward Arnold throwing his wife's extremely expensive fur coat from the top of his Manhattan home onto the street below, where it lands on the head of poor Jean Arthur as she passes by on a double-decker bus. When she looks around to see What The Hell just happened, the man seated behind her looks at her intently and says, in a rather ominous voice: "KISMET"! (50A: Fate). And yes, kismet, fate, that fur coat drives the whole damn case-of-mistaken-identity plot, complete with misunderstanding after misunderstanding after misunderstanding, and two big dogs, and Ray Milland and even a crossword puzzle—you think I'm kidding? Look:


Again, highly recommended. OK, yes, the puzzle. Uh ... I bought a portable cassette / CD player literally just today (to replace my old one, which is still sitting here on my home desktop, broken), so to the clue on CDS I say "obsolescent, shmobsolescent"! (31A: Obsolescent music purchases, in brief). Not much trouble solving this one today, but it didn't feel any easier than Mondays usually feel. I don't think CABINs are by definition "cozy," so I had an unusual amount of hesitation straight out of the gate (1A: Cozy home in the woods). I thought the dice were CUBED as opposed to CUBIC (1D: Shaped like dice). I had CHINA and kept wanting it to be FINE CHINA despite the fact that "fine" was right there in the clue and therefore obviously off-limits for the answer. I had the BEA- at 23D: Snoopy and Gromit, for two and, well, I confess I did not know Gromit was a beagle, so I could only imagine some kind of BEASTS, BEASTIES, something like that. I am now very much out of things to say about this puzzle. Hope you found much more to enjoy about it than I did. I'll be away for a few days while I relocate myself to the other side of the globe. But you'll be in good hands. See you soon. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

71 comments:

jae 12:18 AM  

Medium. I got off to a slow start because, like @Rex, “cozy home” does not evoke CABIN based on my limited experience. “Rustic home” maybe? Smooth grid, solid Monday but I agree with @Rex, this was on the drab side. Didn’t hate it.

I only know EMOPOP from Xwords.

I also agree with @Rex on CDs. I just hooked up my CD player to a bluetooth transmitter and that’s all we listen to now.


@bocamp & pabloinnh - Croce’s Freestyle # 768 was pretty easy...a tough NYT Saturday. Good luck!

okanaganer 12:54 AM  

Rex your wandering off to comment on classic movies is just fine by me. I am currently watching Roman Holiday with Greg Peck and an oh so young Audrey Hepburn. Ahhh.

Mondays I solve by looking at only the down clues, which is usually helped by all the themers being acrosses. But that obviously wasn't the case here, and it was made worse by several blanks in the southwest at 33, 47, 52, and 60 down. Then I thought STICK TO IT! So KIS-E- must be KISSES, and -A--R TRAIL obviously VAPOR TRAIL... nope! Somehow I sorted it out and finished clean and correct without looking at any across clues. I've said it before: if Mondays are too quick and easy for you, try this method; it actually makes me look forward to this day! Variety is a good thing.

[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, my last word was this 5er which is typical SB arcana and looks vaguely familiar.
@Barbara S from yd: I too was Fri -4, missed these. If they are the same 4 you missed, then I am right now hearing the Twilight Zone theme! Sat I was also -1 but somehow I missed this silly should've 5er stupid brain.]

egsforbreakfast 1:06 AM  

On Saturday we learned that over half the earth’s crust is FELDSPAR. Only today, however, did I learn from Rex’s BONECHINA WOTD that that makes the crust Feldspathic. I guess a long pole on a ship is spathic.

As far as I can tell, the A LIST contains no B EAGLES. But, OTOH, LA BRAT, whoever that is, probably did make the list. And BTW, is the A LIST kept in UNIT E?

To point out the obvious, there’s NOEL in Christmas.

The theme today is no BALLOFFIRE, but is perfectly serviceable for a Monday. Thanks,


Loren Muse Smith 1:13 AM  

Rex – like your FINE deal, I actually entered “abloom” instead of IN LEAF, with “bloom” right there in the clue. Oops.

Pretty tight set of themers, imo. Are there any other iconic things a dog FETCHes for people? Sippers? Of course super dogs can be taught to fetch all kinds of stuff, but the STICK, BALL, PAPER, BONE are the biggies. Now that I think about it, doesn’t a dog hide its BONE? Like, why would he even consider bringing it back to anyone?

When I was little we were visiting this guy, David, who had a Weimaraner named Bandit. We were all sitting in his living room, and David, acting distracted, started patting his shirt pockets and looking around the room. He said, Bandit, run out to my truck and get my tobacco.. That dog jumped up, disappeared for a minute, and came back with the tobacco pouch for David. I was stunned. In retrospect, I get that Bandit had been trained to do exactly that, “tobacco” being the trigger word. But still. Impressive.

Cool that BEAGLES crosses the reveal.

Also – FIASCO and SNAFUS share the grid, as do NORMA and UNITE. I sure wish NC had a teacher union. I could use like a 30-minute duty-free lunch.

My box office dud is a milk dud. Man, I love those things.

Safe travels, Rex!

chefwen 2:47 AM  

@Loren, how about Malted Milk Balls? I can eat those until the whole bag is gone.

Our dog, Robbie loves to FETCH golf balls that we throw off of the lanai, he’ll bring then back and the game suddenly turns into “keep away”. He won’t give you back the ball to throw again, which he truly wants you to do. Strange pup. So the other dogs will get some balls in the yard and bring them up to throw for Rob. This goes on for hours. Robbie is a little on the strange side, but lovable, unless you ask the kitty.

Lewis 5:48 AM  

My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):

1. Some computing platforms (5)
2. Natural rubber (5)
3. Statement in a closing argument? (7)(8)
4. Mug shot subject? (5)(3)
5. Post-merger acquisitions? (6)


DESKS
LOOFA
APOLOGY ACCEPTED
LATTE ART
IN-LAWS

OffTheGrid 5:59 AM  

Good enough Monday puzz. and theme. The second theme was Things Gone Wrong. As observed above, SNAFU and FIASCO. But there's also FLOP which a critic PANS. Whose FAULT is it that we're in this DIRE state of being lost ATSEA? What a MESS!

Grouch 6:11 AM  

My only complaint is the clue for ROPE. hemp was an obvious and correct response. ROPE is not a material. ROPE is the "correct" answer in the puzzle but not IRL.

Anonymous 6:24 AM  

Candy aficionado as a kid, with the extra poundage to prove it, I couldn't do malted milk balls. Horrible sensation! I dreaded seeing them at the trick-or-treating door--self-centered ingrate that I was. That is, until I tried sucking on one instead of chewing. Yum!! More pounds. Please tell me my discovery landed on your way.

Wanderlust 6:51 AM  

After yesterday’s explosion of moral outrage at the idea of stepping on a bug, I almost expect to see today’s BATS vilified for consuming thousands of insects an hour. I was truly STUNned at the number of people who said it is wrong to kill a bug - I don’t give it a second thought if the bug is a pest. And BATS and spiders are among my favorite creatures because they kill the bugs I don’t like.

I thought the theme was great. My dog is more of a tugger than a fetcher, but she does her dogly duty of fetching sticks, balls, frisbees and such. And @LMS is right, though it didn’t occur to me while solving - if you throw a bone for her, she is not bringing it back.

Thanks for the movie recommendations, Rex. Barbara Stanwyck might be my favorite Golden Age actress. Check her out also in “The Lady Eve.” I’ve never even heard of “Easy Living,” so I’ll add it to the list to see.

SouthsideJohnny 6:54 AM  

Seemed like the cluing was a touch more difficult than an average Monday (knowing Oxfam, for example and even CHAD clued as a country east of another country, which reminds of one of those “seat of blank county” clues). I’m fine with the theme, but that is because I don’t get charged up about them in general and this one was well-behaved which is usually all I ask anyway.

Bob Mills 7:08 AM  

Nice, easy Monday with enough variety to make it enjoyable.

kitshef 7:18 AM  

BONE seems like an outlier [I see others have said this], while 'slipper' is missing from the iconic list. Tough to find a non-slipper phrase for 'slipper' -- maybe slipper chair?

I always assumed CASABA and cassava had the same origin. Nope. CASABA is from a town in Turkiye; cassava from a Taino word.

Milk duds and malted milk balls are both heavenly, but Junior Mints tops my list.

Mary in NE 7:21 AM  

Sad news about the death Saturday Zhouquin (CC) Burnikel's husband Boomeer (Doug).

Barbara S. 7:31 AM  

[SB: @okanaganer
Good grief, you ARE hearing the theme from the Twilight Zone and so am I -- or at least four-fifths of it. This is the only difference in our Friday and Saturday misses. I got the G-word and missed the T-word. (Deedee-deedee-deedee-deedee-deedee-deedee-weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

mathgent 7:39 AM  

I suppose making spaghetti sauce is messy. I have't made any for years. Out butcher shop up the street makes a great Bolognese for $12 a quart.

I thought that we were done with The Queen of Boring Crosswords. USA TODAY was buying all her stuff for a while. But collaboration helped -- this one wasn't bad.

Lewis 7:44 AM  

Any grid that CC (Zhouqin’s nickname) has a hand in will be impeccably constructed, and nigh spotless. Spotless, but not sterile – look at some of the lovely answers: BALL OF FIRE, KISMET, PAPER TRAIL, IN LEAF, FIASCO, PFFT, and BONE CHINA.

Aside from the 52 squares devoted to dogs (I’m counting BEAGLES), we also have BATS, IBIS, RAT, FOALS, and there’s a hippo in HIPHOP – a veritable faunic boom.

Despite the answer NOEL, there are actually a hefty 13, and I liked SALTS abutting AT SEA.

The theme melted my heart, reminding me of our dog Chester, who was never into fetching, but man, he had the most fetching smile.

So, for me, a lot to see and feel, just from a group of letters thrown into a box, the magic of crosswords. CC, your high-standard streak remains intact – I so admire and adore your work – and Anthony, congratulations on your NYT debut. Thank you both for a rich Monday outing!

Twangster 7:49 AM  

The clue on CDs definitely caught my eye. On the one hand, they still make them in 2022 and they still play. On the other, they are much less used than before.

A few weeks ago I went to a book sale at university and they had boxes and boxes of CDs selling for 4-for-a-dollar. Many were brand new, and some were 2-, 3- or even 4-CD sets (still for a quarter). I went home with about 150, mostly jazz.

Geezer 8:02 AM  

@mathgent. I find your 7:39 post rather mean. At least Rex never makes it personal.

GAC 8:14 AM  

Dogs are so great - truly man's best friend. In DC there's a saying: "if you need a friend, get a dog." Meant as a commentary on political life in DC, but a recognition of the greatness of dogs. We had, early this century for 7 years, Penny, a Cocker spaniel who was "the best dog ever". One more note: really enjoyed what OffTheGrid said.

mmorgan 8:25 AM  

Can’t really disagree with Rex on this. I’m usually very excited by CC’s work, but I guess they can’t all be gems. Really enjoyed Rex’s write-up of Easy Living!

Son Volt 8:35 AM  

Fantastic Monday grid - cute theme and well filled. Like the center revealer - especially with BEAGLES crossing it. BALL OF FIRE - STICK TO IT are really nice. Unlike Rex - thought the short stuff was fine.

Learned the background of the FIASChi drinking chianti in Siena years ago.

You’re a BUM you’re a punk

Enjoyable Monday solve.

AJ KIMMEL 8:45 AM  

Thanks for pointing that out about CDs. I release my music on CDs and about 10 billion independent record labels are releasing on CDs .. and vinyl ... and cassettes.

pabloinnh 8:51 AM  

Thought this was OK standard Monday stuff, except the revealer was in the middle, instead of at the end, where it belongs, so I'm lodging a mild protest.

I liked seeing BEAGLES, as our family had a BEAGLE for as long as I could remember, since we both became members at a very young age. Also liked seeing a shout out to one of my favorite bands, DIRE Straits.

I got a CD player that plugs into my laptop to play the few CD's I still have. Works fine.

On a sad note, our Christmas candle holders shaped like the letters N, O, E, and L, have disappeared after our move this year. This is disheartening, as one of our favorite holiday pastimes was rearranging them, usually to spell LEON.

Good solid Mondecito, AJC and CC. Anyone Just Coming to this experience would find it Completely Charming, and thanks for all the fun.



TaylorSlow 8:58 AM  

@Offthegrid: Never noticed the "sub-theme." Nice!

I think Rex went a bit off the rails in his critique of what was a pretty good, pretty standard Monday, with an enjoyable theme. Yes, lots of crosswordese, but scant PPP, and some standout answers--BONE CHINA, BEAGLES, PFFT.

But I did enjoy the movie reviews. I've seen "Easy Living." That opening scene is unforgettable! I wish the Criterion Channel were a bit less expensive. I understand that one of my all-time favorite movies, "Tampopo," is available there. I have it only on a video cassette, which is a truly obsolescent medium, as opposed to CDs, which are very much alive. My stack of Christmas CDs is getting its annual workout as we speak. People these days seem overly eager to declare something obsolete. Technology moves fast; why force it to move faster?

Whatsername 8:58 AM  

I thoroughly enjoyed starting my day and week off with an iconic BEAGLE and a nice game of GO FETCH. Few things in life bring more pure and simple joy than throwing a BALL with a four-legged friend. I could not find a single BONE to pick in this sweet Monday. Almost anyone can relate to the charming theme and even a first-time solver should be able to STICK the landing fairly easily, which is how it should be. So thank you for this, constructors and congratulations to Anthony. A big wag of the tail for a very fine debut!

@Loren, @chefwen: I have two words for you: Junior Mints. 😋

@Rex P: Wherever “the other side of the globe” may be, I wish you pleasant travels and a safe return home.

Anonymous 8:58 AM  

Isn't the phrase "pro bono" (pro bono publico) and not pro bona?

Liveprof 9:13 AM  

Idea for a cartoon:

Man lying on the couch in his shrink's office. He's saying:

"I thought all those notes starting with "Adieu" were her Wordle tries. It turns out she left me two weeks ago."

RooMonster 9:20 AM  

Hey All !
First off, condolences to @CC. Seek out friends and family for comfort in these hard times. It's too much to go through alone.

Nice puz. Always like the "around the puz theme", ala two Across and two Down. Nice TACTIC.

SNAFUS too risky for the NYT? Discuss. Can FUBAR be far behind? (Or, have we had that recently? Bad memory, and all that.)

If you don't like a dog [who doesn't like dogs?] , would you tell it to GO FETCH in a lake?

Some writeovers, CUBed-CUBIC, bomb-FLOP.

Mini-mini Spanish food theme, ASADA, SALSA. (Maybe CaSABA?)

Today got good FOALS (F GOALS). 😁

Seven F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

Gary Jugert 9:24 AM  

Still love me a Monday and this is no exception.

A pretty grid with a list of things we make dogs chase. I guess the dogs are okay with it.

🦖 says it's an old fashioned puzzle, but I rather like the fill. I also wear clothing from the 20th century.

Uniclues:

1 Sun expands and swallows up the human race (nothing personal, just physics) then fizzles out.
2 Popular conception of industry leaders.
3 Wait for the season, gobble way too many of them down, puke.
4 Three days of thumpa-thumpa-diddly-diddly-thump.
5 "Ye shall be deluged with crass consumerism set to Mariah Carey on repeat."
6 They allow them to use recording and amplification equipment.
7 "I guess you had to be there."
8 Sauté on low in oil after it eats the cheese (if the dunce ever finds it). Serves one-ish.
9 Some preferred mild, others medium, and mostly men who drive pickup trucks preferred hot.

1 BALL OF FIRE ENDS
2 IDLE "IT'S ME" CEOS
3 CASABA TACTIC
4 HIP HOP FEST (~)
5 NOEL DECREE (~)
6 EMO POP FIASCO (~)
7 SPEECH CLOSER
8 LAB RAT RECIPE (~)
9 SALSA POLL MESS (~)

NYDenizen 9:41 AM  

DULL! DULL! DULL AS A DOORKNOB!!

GrouchoMarx 10:04 AM  

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's hard to read.

Anonymous 10:05 AM  

Long long ago (20s and 30s) roadside lodging composed of individual units often advertised them as “cozy cabins”

bocamp 10:06 AM  

Thx, Anthony & CC; excellent early week puz! :)

Med-tough.

Dnf at BONe / SeLSA. :(

Had CASAvA but vEAGELS wasn't having it.

Otherwise a fun adventure, but still on the hard side for a Mon.

Thx, @jae; on it! 🤞
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏

jberg 10:17 AM  

I liked the puzzle fine, despite the ridiculously overspecific clue for PANS. The theme was good -- on the BONE thing, I took it to be one of those rubber chew toys that are bone-shaped; but frisbee would have been a good alternative.

The clue said "obsolescent," not obsolete. I do have a $20 gadget that I can plug into a usb port on my computer, but it would be a clumsy way to play anything -- I use it for copying the CDs digitally, after which I get rid of them. In another decade or so you will only be able to buy one from some specialized maker, for lots of money (like my turntable). If you spend less than $10 a month on CDs you may not want to invest in the player, and if you spend more than that you could get the premium version of spotify.

I started wondering if ELATE is ever found IRL. I've only seen the past participle used as an adjective, e.g., I was ELATEd at the news. Still fair enough in a puzzle.

My condolences to CC, if she's reading this.

Joseph Michael 10:17 AM  

Misread the clue for 1A as “Oozy home in the woods” and figured it might be a SWAMP.. So I did not get off to a good start, but once I saw my error, it was easy sailing after that.

I like dogs too much to be critical of this puzzle. So to the constructors, I’ll just say “Good boy, good girl.”

Pete 10:22 AM  

My dogs totally fetch BONES, and that's a big problem for me. I live in an areas with a massive over-population of deer, and a massive over-population of arrogant drivers who assume it's the deer's obligation to get the hell out of their way then they're driving home at dusk. Throw the two together, add a couple of dozen irresponsible hunters, and I can't take my dogs anywhere for a run and not be within 300 yards of a deer carcass. My guys are very good about being off leash, except when they can smell a deer carcass, at which point the go and grab a part or two. They return with it, then play their favorite game, with is to be clear that there's no way in hell they'll give up their treasures to me.

I loved Barbara Stanwick in BALLOFFIRE, liked her in Meat John Doe, and hated her in everything else she did.


PS to anyone who still has an AOL email address: I understand, you're high-school sweetheart only has your decades AOL address, and you're living with hope upon hope they reach out to you. That's fine, but it's no reason to still only use your AOL email. Get real email address, and forward all your AOL email to your new GMAIL or IMAIL or whatever account, so you can present yourself as someone who has actually been conscious in the 21st century.

Michelle Turner 10:28 AM  

Thumbs up for Tampopo! Another fun movie from the same space in my brain is A Taxing Woman.

RChas 10:31 AM  

Hi Rex, long time reader first time commenter. Where did you get a cassette/cd player? All cassette machines stink these days, do I am interested. I too am tired of cds being clued as obsolete! And "arty" being clued in such a disparaging way.

Beezer 10:35 AM  

This is a well-done easy Monday puzzle to my way of thinking and I would just say that MAYBE some folks should just skip the Monday puzzle because I think it is intended to be solvable and, therefore, satisfying to new solvers. I thought the theme was cute, but having a dog, I’m always envious of folks who have had the patience to teach their dog to GOFETCH *anything*. I am delighted if my dog just doesn’t get into trouble.

My condolences to @CC. Upon checking Google I see that her husband had collaborated with her on puzzles in the past.

@Whatsername…I believe @Rex is going to New Zealand where his wife’s family lives.

To all movie candy fans…Raisinets for me! Plus, you have the added bonus of THINKING it is somewhat “nutritious” 🤣

Nancy 10:35 AM  

I completely missed the theme, but then I wasn't really looking for it. The theme answers were well chosen and disguised the theme well. What also helped disguise the theme was that the themers were in both the Acrosses and the Downs. A smooth Monday -- better than many.

Diego 10:37 AM  

I LOVE dogs—and cats!—so thumbs up for the theme.
Seems like a swell puzzle for beginners and therefore Monday-appropriate.
I didn’t find it dull at all and noticed the exact symmetry and plentiful theme-related material.
So, way above par for this day of the week.

Beezer 10:48 AM  

@Andrew from yesterday. Thanks for the Utne Reader info/link yesterday!

Carola 11:17 AM  

Not being the most observant pup in the litter, I got to the end thinking, "Only three theme answers? That seems thin." Then I noticed the STICK, overlooked even though I'd picked up its parallel BONE. So, nice job on the theme, with its solid phrases and artful disguising of the FETCHable items. I also liked the pile-up of FIASCO and SNAFUS and the cross of LAB RAT and TRAIL. And, weighing in: Mild Duds all the way.

@egsforbreakfast 1:06: The A LIST in UNIT E - Lol. I always enjoy your word re-parsings.

@RChas 10:31: You might take a look at ebay.com. I had good luck finding a refurbished Denon cassette deck there - solid as a rock, works great.

Anonymous 11:20 AM  

Rex,
Nope. Sugarpuss O'Shea doesn't fall in with a bunch of lexicographers. Those folks create dictionaries. She fell in with a group writing the definitive encyclopedia.

As for Stanwyck, she's probably the greatest film actress in film history. Hard not to put Double Indemnity at the top of her list, but Remember the Night, and The Lady Eve are awfully close.

Pete,
How did you come up with a couple of dozen irresponsible hunters as responsible for dead deer? And thanks for the gratuitous advice on an email address, but hard pass.

GILL I. 11:25 AM  

In a cozy CABIN in the woods of a town called PFFT, there lived NGO. He was originally from CHINA but his SPEECH was BONA fide CUBIC. His HIP HOP parents though, thought he was a BUM. Why? you might ask...Well this is his story:

NGO owned two BEAGLES named CHAD and OLIVE. His TACTIC was to tie them up to a POLL USING a ROPE and BAIT them to GO FETCH a CASABA BALL that smelled of ASADA SALSA. This TACTIC didn't work, and frankly, turned into a FIASCO.

The folks of PFFT would UNITE in a TIFF. They thought NGO's TACTIC was a RECIPE for KISMET gone bad. They would FIRE up PANS of SEA BATS hoping to lure the pups away. It was a MESS.

The IDLE DEA was called to HOP on the TRAIL to TIGHTEN up this MESS. His TACTIC was to GO FETCH some CEOS on the ALIST of PFFT and ask them to UNITE against NGO. The situation was DIRE....

A POP named EMO had an idea. He would FIRE up the CABIN using a STICK of ACIDS. The BALL OF FIRE would be the BAIT needed to STUN NGO and get him to flee PFFT like a RAT lost AT SEA. It worked.

The BEAGLES were no longer PENT up. All the DIRE SNAFUS came to an end. A sweet CHAD named OTIS adopted the BEAGLES. They now wore a VEST with their new names : HIP and HOP.

HIP and HOP would ELATE the folks of PFFT. GEICO the gecko would parade along . A RAT named TIP IN and a FOAL named IN LEAF would join in the fun.

A NOEL would be sung at the end of the day. The town of PFFT needed CLOSURE. All SANFUS were left behind...no PAPER TRAILS of an UPDO in sight and everyone ended up taking a HIT of ALOE gin at the HIP HOP Inn.

Anonymous 11:28 AM  

Thumbs up for all the movie candy mentioned so far. I'll add Jujubes. If I tried to eat them now I'd probably lose all my fillings and maybe dislodge a crown. Hmmmm.......maybe they ruined my teeth in the first place. HAR!

Whatsername 11:37 AM  

@Pete (10:22) I can relate about trying to walk your dog past the roadkill. Yuck! My farmer brother once saw a coyote carrying a bone from a deer carcass and watched a bald eagle swoop down and snatch it right out of the coyote’s mouth.

@RChas (10:31) Welcome! Hope you’ll drop in again.

@Beezer (10:35) I’d eat Raisinets if there were no Junior Mints and BTW, I apply that same nutrition logic to Skittles. And M&Ms. 🤞

TaylorSlow 11:52 AM  

@jberg: TIL, from you, the fine disctinction between "obsolete" and "obsolescent." Thank you!

@Michelle Turner: I've seen most of Juzo Itami's films, and "A Taxing Woman" is another favorite.

Joe Dipinto 12:02 PM  

@Pete — "Christmas In Connecticut" will start turning up on TV shortly. That's a good Barbara Stanwyck film. It also features Sydney Greenstreet and S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, both from "Casablanca".

(I always thought B.S. seemed miscast in "Double Indemnity". She just doesn't really project femme fatale vibes.)

original version

Anonymous 12:07 PM  

Yes, it was straightforward. It's Monday. Yes, the theme is simple. It's Monday. With a lot of 6 & 7 letter clues and even BEAGLES to complement the theme. If this is not a good Monday I think the standard is much too high.

Note that if the cluing difficulty were increased with an identical grid for say, Wednesday, I would start to agree with Rex. But it's Monday.

Joe Dipinto 12:41 PM  

replying @myself – I see S.Z. Sakall was in "Ball Of Fire" too.

Joaquin 12:48 PM  

GAC (8:14) said "We had ... a Cocker spaniel who was 'the best dog ever'".

IRL - “Everyone thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong.”

Teedmn 1:03 PM  

I'm with Rex on his Gromit statement - I had BEA in place but needed all the crosses to see that Gromit was a BEAGLE. Refreshing my memory post-solve using Google, I see that Gromit looks as much like a beagle as Snoopy does but that's not how I had pictured him in my head. Nothing on the official website specifies his breed so...

The movie critic PANS FLOP in the upper center. Nice!

Thanks, Anthony and C.C.

Anoa Bob 1:14 PM  

My go-to GO FETCH was always a tennis BALL (never OF FIRE of course). If you had a humungus sized dog, maybe you could use baseBALL BATS. Do BEAGLES like to GO FETCH? I'm guessing not. They seem too laid back for that sort of thing.

When I lived in Japan I would come back home to visit each year for a week or so. The jet lag was awful. I was awake all night and near comatose during the days. I was totally AT SEA. I would finally start to make the transition to local time around the last day of my visit. Then I would return to Japan and the ordeal would begin all over again. It was a real FIASCO. I hope Our Fearless Leader has devised a TACTIC to avoid this MESS on his visit to New Zealand. Maybe STUN his internal circadian clock into the new time zone by listening to EMO POP HIP HOP for 48 hours straight on his new CD/cassette player.

Anonymous 2:19 PM  

My dog fetches a 15A ROPE. Then she brings it back but sometimes wants to play tug-of-war.

The Joker 3:22 PM  

@Anoa. A beagle might fetch but it would take forever, what with having to smell every blade of grass along the way.

Barbara S. 4:03 PM  

@Joe Dipinto (12:02, 12:41 PM)
Just, just, just saw Christmas in Connecticut. I liked Barbara S. and was reminded again of her lovely speaking voice. It was hard to warm up to Dennis Morgan, but perhaps you can't blame a guy for being bland. Sydney Greenstreet was great, especially when flummoxed. And thank you, thank you, thank you for mentioning that S.Z. Sakall was in Casablanca. I couldn't place him while watching and then forgot to look him up afterwards. "Cuddles"? This what Wikipedia says: "His rotund cuteness caused studio head Jack Warner to bestow on Sakall the nickname 'Cuddles'." Parts of his life weren't cute, though. He got out of Hungary just in time after it joined the Axis, but lost a bunch of his family to the death camps.

Anonymous 4:17 PM  

And also a star turn by Gene Krupa on drums early in the movie. He and Stanwyck have a ball—as do all in Ball of Fire! Coincidentally, I watched it again last night—third time and still great.

Anonymous 4:37 PM  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_and_Gromit

Anonymous 6:16 PM  

Yes. That bono is a masculine noun, public GOOD
Bona fide is correct because fide is feminine.. GOOD faith.

dgd 6:33 PM  

I read in the Times that several of the actors were Jewish and came from Eastern Europe, including the actor playing the Gestapo officer.If memory serves, the director was Jewish, and from Hungary.
One of my favorite movies.

albatross shell 9:16 PM  

If your going for a screwball comedies connected to today's puzzle I might go with one of the best, the Hawks-Hepburn-Grant Bringing Up Baby, where the Dog does bury, not fetch the bone. I do catch BALL OF FIRE every decade or three. Easy Living not so often.

It seems to me that much in the electronic world becomes obsolescent about 6 months past the release date. Unplanned obsolescence. The planning is no longer necessary.

CUBIC CASABA would save shipping space.

I found the theme solid old-fashioned but not dull. Certainly an adequate Monday.

Having just enjoyed reading Louise Penny's World of Curiosities I am reminded by her poet Ruth Zardo that like BONE CHINA, I am FINE: Fucked-up Insecure Neurotic Egotistical. Don't ask. I am FINE.

Anne 10:53 PM  

I have wondered for years... How do you post comments before "Rex" has submitted his? (We're on to the next puzzle, so I don't stay awake for an answer.)

Joe Dipinto 11:00 PM  

@dgd – Conrad Veidt, who portrayed Major Strasser in "Casablanca", was not Jewish but he opposed the Nazis and declared himself a Jew to the regime (his wife was Jewish), knowing he would not be permitted to work in Germany again. Later, when he started getting roles in Hollywood, he made it a contractual point that he would only play a Nazi if the character was presented unsympathetically.

dgd 1:26 AM  

Thanks.
My memory was faulty. I should have reread the article.

spacecraft 12:50 PM  

When I was a kid, we used to drop a nickel in the juke and hit Jerry Lee Lewis. Then we'd time it perfectly: chant "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick! Jack jump over the candleSTICK!" just in time for Jerry to chime in with "Goodness gracious, great BALLs OF FIRE!" Then we'd laugh like anything. (It didn't take all that much to make an 11-year-old laugh, back then.)

So thanks for that memory, constructors, the highlight of this rather pedestrian puzzle. Theme is cute--aren't all dogs and babies cute?--and having the G of BEAGLES kick off the revealer is a nice touch. Otherwise it's a crosswordese-filled yawner. NGO means nothing to me except I need two more numbers for BINGO. Par.

Wordle birdie after a whiffed start: BBBBB YBGBB GGGGG.

thefogman 1:59 PM  

Meh. Just meh. Next!

Burma Shave 2:00 PM  

BUM KISMET

NORMA was A BALLOFFIRE,
USING ACIDS every night,
that FIASCO made thing DIRE,
'twas her FAULT we didn't UNITE.

--- NOEL OTIS ALBA, DEA

rondo 2:24 PM  

Today's little inkFEST was Poof before PFFT. No other SNAFUS. Also do not agree that CDS are obsolete. Not as good as vinyl but far superior to MP3.
Surprising wordle birdie: BBBBB YYBBB GGGGG

Diana, LIW 2:58 PM  

I agree with @Rondo on the CD question - Mr. W has quite a collection and he listens to them daily.

This puzzle went to the dogs in the best possible way. Thanks, CC and Anthony.

@Spacey - NGO is a Non Governmental Organization - now you'll hear it all the time.

Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords

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