11.24.2010

W E D N E S D A Y   November 24, 2010
Gareth Bain

Theme: Book 'em, Danno — Theme answers end with words that can be synonyms for "jail."

Theme answers:
  • 17A: Song involving body parts (HOKEY POKEY).
  • 25A: Driveshaft component (UNIVERSAL JOINT).
  • 41A: Gulped-down Mexican cocktail (TEQUILA SLAMMER).
  • 55A: Marker (FELT-TIP PEN).
  • 48D: Synonym for the ends of 17-, 25-, 41- and 55-Across (JAIL).
I wish there were more themes that could be built around HOKEY POKEY. That's one fabulous grid entry.

Bullets:
  • 6A: Blue (GLUM). I was thinking more along the lines of R-rated than sad.
  • 22A: Particular (FUSSY). Wednesday is when the cluing starts to get a little tricky. One-word clues can be so misleading!
  • 31A: McQueen or Martin (STEVE). I've been following Steve Martin on Twitter lately. He's pretty funny (obviously). And I really was just thinking about this SNL skit this morning:
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  • 35A: __ light: moviemaker's tool (KLIEG). I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering that it's I-before-E. For some reason I always think this word is an exception.
  • 37A: Hardy's "obscure" stonemason (JUDE). Whoa. No idea. Probably from a book I should have read.
  • 3D: Golfer's need, at times (RAKE). And sometimes the golfer himself is a RAKE! Thank you very much, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress.
  • 24D: Standard (FLAG). I'm not sure how this works. I think I had it figured out yesterday while I was solving, but now I can't remember.
  • 26D: Avoiding off-topic posting, say (NETIQUETTE). What a concept.
  • 53D: Breakfast tip components, usually (ONES). I thought I was looking for some type of food here. Wednesday is when I start overthinking the clues.
Crosswordese 101: 47D: "Show Boat" author EDNA Ferber shows up quite a bit in puzzles. She's almost always clued as a novelist, author, or writer. Other than "Show Boat," the title you're most likely likely to see in a clue is "Giant." Here are the other EDNAs you need to know for crosswords.
  • Dame EDNA Everage, a Barry Humphries character. Words to look out for: flamboyant, cross-dressing, and down under.
  • Actress EDNA Best. Look for the words movies, author, and theater.
  • Poet EDNA St. Vincent Millay.
  • EDNA Turnblad. She's the mom in "Hairspray." In the recent remake of the movie, she was played by John Travolta.
  • EDNA Krabappel is a teacher on "The Simpsons."
  • Mystery author EDNA Buchanan.
  • EDNA Garrett. That's Mrs. Garrett on "The Facts of Life" (who knew she had a first name??).
Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:
  • 16A: Actress Perlman (RHEA).
  • 40A: "Gymnopédies" composer (SATIE).
  • 46A: Spoonbill's kin (IBIS).
  • 60A: Sheltered, on a ship (ALEE).
  • 4D: Poetic preposition (ERE).
  • 50D: "The Good Earth" heroine (O-LAN).
[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.] Everything Else — 1A: Lots of plots (ACRES); 10A: Memo abbr. (ATTN.); 14A: Lewis's partner (CLARK); 15A: "Mona __ Smile": 2003 film (LISA); 19A: One of two on some wedding cakes (TIER); 20A: View (EYE); 21A: English Channel port (DOVER); 23A: Staff addition (HIRE); 24A: Business (FIRM); 32A: "The Bridge on the River __": 1957 Best Picture (KWAI); 33A: "Rather not!" ("NAH!"); 34A: Quote (CITE); 38A: Husband of Fatima (ALI); 39A: Mottled (PIED); 45A: "For __ us a child is born" (UNTO); 47A: Leave the cockpit suddenly (EJECT); 49A: Fawlty Towers, for one (HOTEL); 51A: Tabloid craft, briefly (UFO); 54A: Sports page info, e.g. (DATA); 57A: Quibbles (NITS); 58A: Like some hygiene (ORAL); 59A: Lasso feature (NOOSE); 61A: Hereditary unit (GENE); 62A: Ladies' men (GENTS); 1D: Dull pain (ACHE); 2D: Be overly sweet (CLOY); 5D: Execute a high jump? (SKYDIVE); 6D: "Lethal Weapon" co-star (GLOVER); 7D: Valley girl word (LIKE); 8D: Microsoft customer (USER); 9D: Kentucky Derby time (MAY); 10D: Maestro Toscanini (ARTURO); 11D: "Now!" ("THIS MINUTE!"); 12D: Pro shop bagful (TEES); 13D: __ a soul (NARY); 18D: Small opening (PORE); 22D: Island country since 1970 (FIJI); 23D: Swarm's home (HIVE); 25D: Functional (UTILE); 27D: Path to ruin, with "the" (SKIDS); 28D: Dazzle (AWE); 29D: Low point (NADIR); 30D: You, in a classic E.B. Browning poem (THEE); 31D: Sing like Satchmo (SCAT); 35D: Metric weight, for short (KILO); 36D: Grazing field (LEA); 37D: Jazz sessions (JAMS); 39D: Aniston's ex (PITT); 40D: Like the Cheshire Cat (SMILING); 42D: Remove from its box (UNCASE); 43D: Chicken __ (LITTLE); 44D: Help to perpetrate (ABET); 49D: __ and now (HERE); 51D: Shortly following (UPON); 52D: Suffix with slug (-FEST); 55D: Brit's pea-souper (FOG); 56D: "Lenore" poet (POE).

33 comments:

Tinbeni said...

When the first theme was HOKEY POKEY I knew I was in for a FUN Wednesday.
Damn, these puzzles this week have been so good I can't wait to see what we will dine on tomorrow!

OK, at 3D, Golfer's need, at times, I put in TEES and then had to correct that err when 12D, was TEES.
Otherwise a smoooooooth ride.
Yup, I was SMILING when I finished.

Now I know a lot of y'all are traveling by car tomorrow so I'm curious as to what is the price of gas around our country.
SOOO ... what is your price for the 87 Octane?
Here in Tampa Bay, @Shell it is $ 2.799
When are they going to get rid of that "point 9" ... I'd pay $2.80 and not even blink.
(When I left Zagreb in July 2005 it was $5.25 per gal).

On a Thanksgiving note, I was told by the Salvation Army Captain to show-up at 11:00am ... well there goes seeing the Detroit game ...
Gal-Pal goes in at 5:00am to cook.
Being a Bus-Boy, helping my less fortunate American's, for 4 or 5 hours is a better job.

Van55 said...

I liked the puzzle. Wish I had something clever to say about why I liked it.

Al said...

Isn't it ironic how the embedded Hulu-hosted SNL clip for "don't buy stuff" has an advertisement link at the end to "Buy this episode today" on Amazon.com...

Avg Joe said...

PG, I was on the same wave on the blue clue. Wanted RACY as an answer, but eliminated that thru crosses.

The Standard clue threw me as well cuz I wanted NORM. It wasn't until after I'd finished that it finally hit me as in "Standard Bearer" i.e. a flag or pennant.

I always have trouble remembering KLIEG since it doesn't show up that often, but when the light finally goes on the spelling is less problematic since I'm pretty sure it's of German origin and the "second vowel is pronounced" rule kicks in.... At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

@Tinbeni, I live in Lincoln, NE. I filled up yesterday with 87 octane straight gas at a Shell and shelled out $2.879.

Happy Gobblerfest everybody.

Sfingi said...

@Tinbeni - In Utica, it's as much as $3.10. I get mine at BJs for under $3. I get the cheapest I can. I have 2 Fords, a focus and a Taurus. If I'm in Oneida Indian country, I get theirs. Price Chopper, a grocery store has a deal with Sunoco. It accumulates. I once saved $6 on a normally $22 fill-up. Up North, the price is worse. We're staying in town.

I did not like the word UNCASE, but otherwise, pretty good puzzle.
I wonder what it's like when you're making a puzzle and realize you're going to have to go with a word like that.

Trying to think what they call the joint these days. In NYS, they often just say Upstate, because that's where most of the 70 prisons are.

Kliegl was 2 brothers from Germany. Probably pronounced kleekel. The original carbon lights are collectible.

SethG said...

So with the O in place, my answer for Lethal Weapon was Mel...BROOKS. I are an idiot.

Anyway, when I saw the clue [Blue] and had BLUx, I filled in BLUE. Then I got to [Driveshaft component] with xxIVE... in place, so I assumed it was DRIVE something.

I need more coffee.

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

nice Gareth puzz and fun PG writeup

gonna go do the HOKEY POKEY now

Anonymous said...

Gosh, maybe Those Omega 3 thingies do work - this is the first time ever I've finished 3 CWP's in a row!

Happy Turkey Day!! Could be fun to do a tequila slammer or two, then try the hokey-pokey. :-/

Virginia

Jeffrey said...

$1.129 (Canadian) per litre in Victoria BC = US$4.19 per gallon. Don't you fell better now?

Tinbeni said...

Crosscan
I feel better being back in the USA for Thanksgiving.

Zagreb was priced in litre's also way back when ...
I thought, Huh?
First I have to convert Kuna to USD.
Then convert litre's to gals.

Thankfully, numbers and math come easy to me.
In college and Jamaica ... they became something else.

Yeah, my fave today was KILO.

A "Toast" to all at Sunset.

badrog said...

Is the universal joint really a part of the drive shaft? Part of the power train maybe, but wouldn't calling it part of the drive shaft be like calling the knee part of either the thighbone or part of the shinbone rather than part of the leg.
After all, a joint is a point of connection is a joint is a joint ... excuse me a moment while

CarolC said...

Puzzle Girl,

"Thank you, thank you very much" - RAKE, indeed!

Smooth solve, but who knew how many words could follow THIS and mean Now! After realizing INSTANT wouldn't fit I tried MOMENT and SECOND before settling on MINUTE. This even though I had an inkling that SATIE wrote Gymnopedies. Should have worked the crosses harder or trusted my instincts on SATIE.

Gas here at my local gas station in Southern California is $3.11 for regular.

@Sfingi, I agree with ugh on UNCASE.

I did enjoy Chicken LITTLE and that fast way to leave the cockpit EJECT. Granddaughters don't arrive until next week so I'll have to save the HOKEY POKEY until then.

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow all.

NETIQUETTE said...

@PG - It's like your not even here.

*David* said...

A Gareth puzzle that wasn't a bane for me. It went slower then it should've but other then the N in NETIQUETTE, it was a pretty smooth solve. UNIVERSAL JOINT didn't do much for me but I'm not much for being under the hood.

Anonymous said...

Gas here in Bullhead City, AZ is $2.67/gal.

Virginia

Anonymous said...

Overall, I liked this one. On 43D, had LIxxxx and put LIVERS. That caused for some interesting work in the SE. Once it was corrected, I was back on track.

@Tinbeni
In Riverview just outside Tampa, I saw 2.699 as of yesterday. We were in the Keys over the weekend and saw anywhere from 2.899 to 3.159 for regular.

Happy Turkey Day to all.

C said...

I enjoyed the puzzle today even though my brain has decided to start my vacation a day early. No problems with any clues though UNCASE is a non-standard word for an answer.

Nope, my only hiccup came from the Fawlty Towers clue. I had the E in place and my brain forced my hand to write BASEL, against my hands will no less. Well, after my hand finished up correcting that little mess while chiding the brain, HOTEL was entered and there was much peace within myself.

Happy thanksgiving all and see you all in December. I'm off to Tahiti. Please, no condolences, this is my cross to bear ;^)

Tuttle said...

1A I had ACTES
3D I had TAKE

I think those are perfectly cromulant answers.

CrazyCat said...

It's been so long since I filled up my Prius, I can't remember. $3 something I think.

Nice puzzle from Gareth. Loved HOKEY POKEY and NETIQUETTE. I read FELT TIP PEN as FELT TIPPEN and though WTH? Another word for the SLAMMER/JOINT/PEN/POKEY - Up the river?

Gotta go start cooking.

We're not French here said...

@Tuttle - Except that ACTES isn't, you know, a word.

Avg Joe said...

Captcha: phatidle

=a really gnarly time while not working? :-)

imsdave said...

Gas is $3.04.9 here in sunny and windy CT.

Enjoyed this puzzle a lot - solid theme and fill. GLUM was amusing to me, as I support general liability and umbrella insurance where I work. Our sourcing partners off-shore refer to us as the GLUM unit.

Heavy sigh.

Rube said...

Don't remember reading Jude the Obscure, but JUDE was a gimme. Probably was in a crossword somewhere.

Had two standard writeovers: _MINUTE/_Moment and KILO/Kgms. Sure wanted Martin for Lewis's partner.

Since the U-Joint is firmly attached to one end of the driveshaft, I have no trouble with the clue... although I can see the NIT(S).

Must... remember... OLAN!

Last I looked, gas was ~$3.399 at a Chevron here in the SF Bay area.

Good, but not great puzz, IMO.

John Wolfenden said...

Very entertaining writeup PG, I especially enjoyed the Steve Martin clip and the roundup of important EDNAs. I have yet to see the Simpsons' Edna Krabappel in a puzzle but look forward to it.

I'm on the UNCASE dislike bandwagon, but thought it was counterbalanced by some interesting words like PORE and UTILE. I've never seen CLOY as a verb but I liked it anyway. Really wanted "Suffix with slug" to be ABED.

Here in L.A. gas prices are hovering around $3.15/gal. Am I the only regular poster who actually lives in LaLaLand?

Anonymous said...

Yesterday a Shell station in San Francisco was $3.599. Usually, SF has the highest prices in California, although there's always Barstow.
emjay

John Wolfenden said...

Tuttle, now I'm trying to remember where I've heard the word cromulant. It was either the Simpsons or Futurama...

We're not French here said...

So, apparently I may not be French, but am an idiot anyway. ACTE was in fact cromulent. See, the one dictionary I found that had cromulent in it defined it as meaning fine or acceptable. It neglected to point out that it means exactly the opposite, that it was an ironic acceptance of something, i.e. saying ACTE was cromulent in fact means that ACTE is not correct.

Alas, a life wasted not watching the Simpsons.

CrazyCat said...

I forgot to mention INRE: gas that I'm in LA County.

We had Entr'acte last week. I remembered it finally.

Wasn't fond of UNCASE either.

Happy Thanksgiving fellow commenters and PuzzleGirl.

*David* said...

I am a native Angeleno, I live five miles away from where I was born.

Nighthawk said...

@PG- loved the EDNA list. I'm glad this puz had one I actually knew. St. Vincent Millay also, and, perhaps, on a Sat., Mrs. Turnblad. The others would have been complete blanks. I am now worried about a future puz that has EDNA crossing REATA.

I'll still need to see O-LAN a few more times to remember her.

My NITS were: UTILE - makes sense, but not sure it's much used, and IBIS - sure, it's a waterbird, but not really on the same branch of the zoological tree as a spoonbill. Teal, tern, mallard, wood duck, pintail, ringneck, gadwall, scaup, red head - close cousins. IBIS, flamingo, egret, heron, stork, crane - not so much. To me, kinda like cluing a JOEY as a "Possum kin." Just didn't seem a Wednesday level clue.

Oddly, liked the fairly colloquial NARY.

All in all though, smooth and easy.

Sfingi said...

@Anon745 - Have you done the NYT yet?
Thinking like a fish probably won't help.

@CrazyCat- up the river referred to up the Hudson River. Nowadays, they don't even know if they're on the Hudson or the East River; and if they're foreign they wouldn't know if it was the Amazon or Grande. So, Upstate covers it.

@Rube - JUDE the Obscure is one of the GLUMmest books you could ever ruin a day reading. Let me tell you now - a kid hangs all his siblings because his family is starving. Yeah. There've been a couple other books that I've thrown across the room because of babies dying, like Angela's Ashes. As a matter of fact, I don't read novels any more. Life is too short. Skip this one.

@Wolfenden - love slugabed. CLOYing is what part of speech, or how should it be used?

Speaking of slugs and waterfowl, my captcha is prawn, a real animule.

CrazyCat said...

@Sfingi When I was young, I spent an entire summer reading Hardy. I know I read "Jude the Obscure" but can't remember it. Maybe I blocked it. The ones I remember are The Mayor of Casterbridge, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. They were all depressing. The next summer I spent reading D.H. Lawrence. We never seem to see him in puzzles, do we?

Rube said...

@CCL, you're right about D.H. Lawrence. I remember the summer I read him -- also in my youth. We did have T.E. Lawrence recently however, with Aqaba as the answer.

@Sfingi, thanks for the advice. However, I too don't read much fiction these days. Just the occasional mystery of the wife's when on vacation.

See you all tomorrow.