Theme: "Stuffed" — Five Thanksgiving dishes that are short a few "leftover" letters.
[Note: This is the syndicated L.A. Times puzzle. It does not appear in the actual newspaper, but is available for free at cruciverb.com.]
Theme answers:
- 23A: Thursday meat (TURKEY WINGS AND DRUMSTIcks).
- 35A: Thursday veggie (MASHED POTATOES WITH GRAvy).
- 55A: Thursday condiment (HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCe).
- 77A: Thursday veggie (CANDIED YAMS WITH MARSHMallow).
- 91A: Thursday dessert (PUMPKIN PECAN PIE A LA MODe).
- 111A: This weekend's fridge contents, probably, and what's missing from five long puzzle answers? (THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS).
Hey, folks. Doug here again. OK, I thought the theme was a bit confusing today. I was having trouble figuring out the "leftovers" concept. My theory is that the missing letters from each theme entry are "leftover" for another day, just like most families have some leftover turkey, stuffing, pie, etc., after the big Thursday dinner. (The CANDIED YAMS must not have been very popular, since that one has 5 uneaten letters.) Hey, maybe you can look for all the leftover letters in Monday's grid.
Bullets:
- 14A: Monkees' jacket type (NEHRU). I'm glad this referred to the musical Monkees and not actual monkeys. I hate to see monkeys wearing clothes. Well, the little organ grinder monkeys are kind of cute, but clothed chimpanzees creep me out. "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp" gave me nightmares.
- 28A: Net weight factors (TARES). One of those crossword words you just have to memorize. Please see this delightful Crosswordese 101 entry: TARE.
- 67A: Secretary of state under Reagan (SHULTZ). That would be George Shultz. Also Secretary of the Treasury under Nixon. He's been around forever. And he's certainly not my favorite S(c)hultz.
- 106A: More's allegorical island (UTOPIA). The titular island in "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More. The full title of the book is "Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia" or "A Truly Golden Little Book, No Less Beneficial Than Entertaining, of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia." Now that's catchy.
- 10D: In order that (SOASTO). One of those entries that looks bizarre in the grid until you realize it's "so as to."
- 12D: Sly Foxx (REDD). I used to watch "Sanford and Son" all the time with my grandfather. He loved Redd Foxx and had quite a few of his LPs, but I was never allowed to listen to them. Then I heard a few of his routines when I was older. Some of the dirtiest, funniest stuff you'll ever hear.
- 16D: "__ Hers": 1994 Pulp album (HISN). Pulp is a band? My knowledge of '90s popular music is pretty much nonexistent.
- 36D: Certain Dwarf's periodic outburst (ACHOO). I love this Sneezy clue for ACHOO.
- 42D: The sun, e.g. (G STAR). Apparently stars are classified using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M. And G stars are "yellow." OK, unless you're an astrophysicist, my advice is to write STAR in the grid and wait for the crossing answer to give you the first letter.
- 57D: Like Steven Wright's humor (DRY). Classic.
- 68D: Narrowly defined verse (HAIKU). My all-time favorite crossword clue for HAIKU was written by Bob Klahn: "A poem like this / Of 17 syllables / Split 5-7-5."
- 108D: Ale brewer Slosberg (PETE). This guy's the Pete behind Pete's Wicked Ale.
Thanks for hanging out with me on a Sunday. PuzzleGirl will be back in the driver's seat tomorrow.
Crosswordese 101 Round-up:
- 8D: Flamboyant Dame (EDNA). (Edna's been showing up a lot lately.)
Everything Else — 1A: Insect catchers (WEBS); 5A: Something blown before a fight? (FUSE); 9A: Seize by force (USURP); 19A: Marine hue (AQUA); 20A: Exalt (LAUD); 21A: Long time follower? (NOSEE); 22A: Allium plant (ONION); 27A: Singing hindrance (TINEAR); 29A: Early Greek Cynic (DIOGENES); 30A: Sweeping matter (SOOT); 32A: Curse (OATH); 34A: __-relief (BAS); 45A: Bruins' sch. (UCLA); 46A: Lays eggs in water (SPAWNS); 47A: Jalisco hundred (CIEN); 48A: Fleur de __: sea salt (SEL); 49A: They're raised at bars (SHOTS); 51A: Connecting symbol between musical notes (TIE); 52A: Auto for Otto, maybe (AUDI); 53A: Arch opening? (MATRI); 60A: Half an attention-getter (YOO); 61A: Concur (AGREE); 62A: Decipher, as music (READ); 63A: Everlasting, to the bard (ETERNE); 64A: Jenny's sound (BRAY); 65A: Vise feature (JAW); 66A: Certain fed (NARC);70A: Try (STAB); 72A: Jacket line (TITLE); 74A: Lyricist Gershwin (IRA); 81A: Mountain spine (RIDGE); 82A: Postnatal bed (CRIB); 83A: AQI monitor (EPA); 84A: "... __ down in green pastures" (TOLIE); 85A: Alias (AKA); 86A: __-garou: werewolf (LOUP); 87A: Flaws (FAULTS); 90A: "Death in Venice" author (MANN); 96A: Lip (RIM); 97A: Neil Diamond's "__ Said" (IAMI); 98A: King of rhyme (COLE); 99A: Remain calm (STAYCOOL); 104A: Succeed in (WINAT); 114A: Azerbaijani neighbor (IRANI); 115A: Gas that both protects and pollutes (OZONE); 116A: Hot rod rod (AXLE); 117A: Mounted on (ATOP); 118A: "Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon" author Robert (ROSEN); 119A: Georgia gridders, familiarly (DAWGS); 120A: Macho guy (STUD); 121A: Peephole feature, often (LENS); 1D: One with his name in lights? (WATT); 2D: Same: Pref. (EQUI); 3D: Blow a 5-Across (BURN); 4D: Sushi bar drink (SAKE); 5D: Trout fishing gear (FLYRODS); 6D: Detroit labor gp. (UAW); 7D: Fit perfectly (SUITTOATEE); 9D: Dethrones (UNSEATS); 11D: JFK served in it (USN); 13D: Foot at the head? (PEDI); 14D: Chewy candy (NOUGAT); 15D: Catch, as in a net (ENMESH); 17D: Learning style (ROTE); 18D: Colleges, Down Under (UNIS); 24D: Lighten up (EASE); 25D: Pun, usually (GROANER); 26D: The American one is in the thrush family (ROBIN); 31D: Like an ant. (OPP); 33D: Mother of Hector in the "Iliad" (HECUBA); 35D: Oozing schmaltz (MUSHY); 37D: NFL ref's aid (SLOMO); 38D: Detest (HATE); 39D: Doubly (TWICE); 40D: Took up (with) (SIDED); 41D: Stream blocker (WEIR); 43D: Show over (RERUN); 44D: Pulitzer winner Walker (ALICE); 50D: Smug sort (SMARTIE); 52D: Again (ANEW); 53D: "It's on me" (MYTREAT); 54D: "Be there in __" (ASEC); 56D: Riveted (AGAZE); 58D: Lawrence's men (ARABS); 59D: King's domain (REALM); 64D: Sch. campus unit (BLDG); 65D: Doorway part (JAMB); 66D: Ultimate (NTH); 67D: Morsel (SCRAP); 69D: Allow to flow (UNDAM); 70D: Waffle topper (SYRUP); 71D: Southeast Asian island metropolis (TAIPEI); 72D: Tilt skywards (TIPUP); 73D: It's used for emphasis (ITALICTEXT); 74D: Faith of more than one billion (ISLAM); 75D: African lumberer (RHINO); 76D: Alter, as an agreement (AMEND); 78D: Pest control brand (DCON); 79D: Making independent (from) (WEANING); 80D: "Arrivederci __" (ROMA); 86D: Stretches on the road (LIMOS); 87D: Biblical hardships (FAMINES); 88D: Columbia Records jazz producer Macero (TEO); 89D: Toasted (SALUTED); 92D: Hawthorne's "A" wearer (PRYNNE); 93D: Begin to take effect (KICKIN); 94D: Cornfield chatter (CAWING); 95D: Mother of Apollo (LETO); 99D: Arouse (STIR); 100D: Via, old-style (THRO); 101D: Small batteries (AAAS); 102D: Prayer start (OGOD); 103D: Gershwin title girl who can make "all the clouds ... roll away" (LIZA); 105D: Sadly (ALAS); 107D: __ Office (OVAL); 109D: Fe, in chemistry (IRON); 110D: Deadly slitherers (ASPS); 112D: Altar agreement (VOW);113D: H1N1 virus, e.g. (FLU).
10 comments:
Fine Sunday fare. My favorite haiku (admittedly cribbed from a t-shirt I saw at a bowling alley)?
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator
Thank you Doug, for allowing us to be “hanging out” with you. It’s so refreshing to get a nice writeup on Sunday puzzles.
And… I want to thank John Lampkin for a very entertaining and humorous puzzle. You’re still my favorite (living) constructor.
What a cool crosswor puzzl !
At first I was a little disturbed by the abrupt truncation of the theme phrases, but then I noticed the puzzle title “Stuffed”… very cute!
I never thought about the “leftover letters” going into Monday’s puzzle… is that true?
Took me a little over an hour, which is good for me, but I did have a couple of errors: NETS instead of WEBS for 1A and THRU instead of THRO for 100D.
Most clever clue: “One with his name in lights” (WATT).
Best entries: FLY RODS, TIN EAR, GSTAR, HECUBA, SUIT-TO-A -TEE, DIOGENES, and PRYNNE. Sure am glad that Doug explained that G STAR thing.
WOTD: LOUP-garou … I should have known this because I’m related to a werewolf.
Speaking of clothed monkeys that creep you out, how about those flying monkeys in the Wizard of OZ? I still have nightmares about them.
Loved that Steven Wright vid-clip.
If you’re into really really good jazz, the names TEO Macero and Miles Davis are household words.
Here’s one for CrazyCatLady---
Cat HAIKU poem:
You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you.
Have a pleasant “leftover” Sunday y’all.
The writeup was great.
But Steven Wright's comedy
Was sublime, thank you!
captcha: downessl-snuggled in a down blanket?
Great write-up, as usual, Puzzle Girl.
LMAO
Seriously, Doug, you've done a great job filling in this weekend.
I liked this puzzle a lot. It didn't take long to suss out the theme. But finding the theme didn't help with the solve (not that it necessarily should). Fresh and topical fare. Excellent Sunday fun.
So, @JNH, you wonder if we'll see the "leftover letters" in tomorrows puzzle. I'll bet we do, but like most good cooks, the leftovers will be unrecognizable, i.e. distributed all over the grid.
At first, I thought of a rebus, but UNIcksS just wouldn't parse. Then thought an added column, but no. Then gave up and waited to see what was up. Can't decide whether this is innovative, clever, or lazy. The bototom line is that once you got the theme and concept, much of the theme answers just fell into place.
I think I've seen LETO as the mother of Apollo recently in a puzz.
I agree, WATT had the best clue. Liked seeing DIOGENES and just now noted that "Cynic" is capitalized. Interesting.
There seems to be an inordinate number of 3 & 4 letter words, but many of them are fresh. A slightly better than average Sunday puzzle IMO. I don't think there are any new words that are not proper nouns... (too lazy to look over the entire grid).
Despite the lack of comments, your Sunday writeups are appreciated, Doug.
I wasn't too thrilled with the theme, once I caught on. I would rather have seen "CKSVYEALLOWE" show up in grid as the theme revealer, clued as "Thanksgiving leftovers?"
I caught on right quickly - perhaps because my eyes went right to the last theme answer's clue on the printed page? That was a giveaway, so everything fell easily.
I would've liked all of the truncations to have been of the same length - seems more elegant. I don't mind a little bit of finagling of the food descriptions, but I think that making all of the original entries the same length (22 gets my vote) would've sealed this puzzle for me.
Still a fun solve, though - appreciated that there weren't any impossible crossings for me!
Doug P - Thanks so much for filling in this weekend! I really enjoy your commentary.
Hi Guys! I'm late catching up to the puzzles. This was a slogfest for me. I didn't understand the theme, um I mean I do now but not at the time of solving. Actually, I didn't enjoy it. I had extreme trouble all over the place. NW NE SE SW, You name it. I had problems in all quadrants. Anyways, I finally got through it with no Googles. No for fantasy clues and answers. 21A: Long time follower? (NOSEE)
One day I'd like to see this. 21A: Long time preceder? (Meloveyou)
All for now.
Skipped the Sunday paper puzzle this week?
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