Theme: Bean Salad — Each theme answer hides a word that describes a type of bean.Another day, another Dan Naddor puzzle. That's what I always say! Let's get right to it, shall we?
Crosswordese 101: I think it's time for a little Art Appreciation lesson today so let's talk about Jean ARP (8D: Father of Dada). Arp was born in Strasbourg at a time when the area was known as Alsace-Lorraine. In late-week puzzles he is sometimes clued in relation to one of these two places. Also late in the week, a clue might refer to him as Hans — that was his name for some period of his life. The most important things you need to know about Jean ARP are (1) Along with Max ERNST, he was a founding member of the Dada movement and (2) he is also associated with surrealism. That should pretty much cover the various ways ARP will be clued. You'll also want to keep ERNST in mind. He is also typically clued with a reference to the Dada movement. Both artists are also sometimes clued as contemporaries of Joan MIRÓ and, less frequently, Paul KLEE.
Theme answers:
- 19A: *Parting words (KEEP IN TOUCH).
- 37A: *"That outfit looks fabulous!" ("IT'S SO YOU!").
- 57A: *Like unlikely chances (SLIM AND NONE).
- 3D: *18th century French painting style (ROCOCO ART).
- 33D: Picnic veggie dish, and a hint to words hidden in the answers to starred clues (BEAN SALAD).
- 1A: Deli offering (HERO). I really like to start off with a gimme at 1A. Boosts my confidence. But not today. This could have been a lot of things. Well, at least club and slaw. Maybe a few others.
- 11A: "__ pinch of ...": recipe words (ADD A). Ooh, that's an ugly partial there.
- 15A: Hardly the full gamut (A TO B). As opposed to the full gamut: A to Z.
- 16A: High leader? (SHERPA). See, he leads you when you're up high. I don't really get the question mark here. Usually, the question mark indicates that the phrase (or one or more words in the phase) has a figurative meaning, but that the answer interprets the phrase (or word) literally. In this case, I don't get the figurative meaning of the phrase.
- 24A: Nick name? (CLAUS). Santa CLAUS, another name for St. Nick.
- 25A: It's too close to call (DEAD HEAT). This is a cool phrase.
- 29A: One leaving a wake (HEARSE). Not the kind of wake left by a boat, but rather a funeral ritual.
- 31A: Playground retort (I AM SO). This is a tough clue because there are so many answers that fit. The most common are am not, is not, are too, can so, and is too. Also appearing somewhat less frequently: are so, am so, are not, and can too. I always just wait for crosses.
- 36A: Cause of inflation? (AIR). See, this question mark makes sense. When you think of inflation, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the economic phenomenon and not the one that has to do with, ya know, AIR.
- 41A: NLRB part: Abbr. (NATL). National Labor Relations Board.
- 46A: Nutrition author Davis (ADELLE). I remember having her books around the house when I was a kid. Before I look it up, here's my guess at one of her titles: "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit." And ... yes!
- 52A: "The Da Vinci Code" albino (SILAS). Scary lookin' dude.
- 60A: Hebrew for "skyward" (EL AL). The national airline of Israel and future Crosswordese 101 topic.
- 66A: Barbara who played Jeannie (EDEN). EDEN is more often clued as the Biblical garden, but I like this one better.
- 6D: NATO founding member (THE U.S.). Keep on parsin'!
- 9D: No. to which annual raises might be tied (CPI). Consumer Price Index.
- 13D: Russian villa (DACHA). I go through the same thinking process every time with this clue: "Dachau? No. DACHA."
- 14D: Buddhist who has attained Nirvana (ARHAT). I got it from crosses, but never heard of it. Sometimes ARHAT is used as a synonym for tathagata. Well, then! Now it's all crystal clear.
- 20D: Upscale Italian shoe brand (TOD'S). Never heard of them. Must be too upscale for me. The company is famous for its "D-bag." Whoever named that particular product should be fired.
- 22D: Kenyan tribesman (MASAI). Another answer that I got strictly from crosses.
- 26D: Gut course (EASY A). I've known the phrase EASY A for years, but learned "gut course" from crosswords.
- 27D: Former Archbishop of New York (EGAN). Wow, this clue is timely. Cardinal Egan's retirement became effective just last week!
- 31D: "Love __ Around": 1968 hit (IS ALL). Performed by the Troggs. Reached #7 on the U.S. Hot 100. Turns out I don't actually know this song. Here's the song that it put in my brain:
- 49D: Syrian leader (ASSAD). Bashar al-Assad, current President of Syria. Or his father, Hafez al-Assad, who was President of Syria from 1970 to 2000.
- 54D: Place for an ace? (HOLE). Again the question mark tripped me up. What other kind of ace could this clue be referring to? The card is the first thing that came to my mind which means the question mark made me think the answer would refer to a pilot or a tennis serve.
- 55D: Friend of Adelaide (MATE). I didn't understand this at all until I just looked it up. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. People refer to friends there as MATEs. Got it.
Everything Else — 5A: Charge (ATTACK); 17A: Close (NEAR); 18A: Viva __: by word of mouth (VOCE); 21A: Huge (ENORMOUS); 23A: Prankster's cry (GOTCHA); 27A: Self-seeker (EGOIST); 30A: Togo neighbor (GHANA); 32A: Cleanup hitters' stats (RBIS); 40A: SASE, e.g. (ENC); 43A: "__ la vista, baby!" (HASTA); 44A: "Cool!" (NEATO); 48A: "Don't delay!" (ACTNOW); 49A: Darling (ADORABLE); 53A: 100-member group (SENATE); 54A: Safeco Field contest, to the Mariners (HOMEGAME); 61A: Yours, in Tours (ATOI); 62A: Buck (DOLLAR); 63A: Pro __ (RATA); 64A: Hamlet, for one (DANE); 65A: Takes the wheel (STEERS); 1D: Eat (HAVE); 2D: Thames landmark (ETON); 4D: Ohio conservatory (OBERLIN); 5D: Invite to a movie, say (ASKOUT); 7D: Golfer's pocketful (TEES); 10D: Pocket Books logo (KANGAROO); 11D: Barfly's request (ANOTHER); 12D: Wimbledon tie (DEUCE); 25D: Reduce in grade (DEMOTE); 28D: Karmann __: sports car (GHIA); 29D: Pain in the neck (HASSLE); 34D: A fan of (INTO); 35D: Garbage barge (SCOW); 38D: Diver's sickness (THEBENDS); 39D: Reunion attendee (UNCLE); 42D: University of Wyoming site (LARAMIE); 45D: Stand with shelves (ETAGERE); 47D: Info to input (DATA); 48D: Shooters, before shooting (AIMERS); 50D: Atlanta-based airline (DELTA); 51D: Burger topper (ONION); 52D: Sub detector (SONAR); 56D: Flair (ELAN); 58D: E-mail address part (DOT); 59D: Phillies' div. (NLE).
32 comments:
This puzzle was harder than the NYT!
What KIND of bean salad??
3bean, 5bean, 7bean, 15bean??? Or as one of the answers said, "None bean"!
D-bag! Ha. That'll run you a thousand bucks or more.I always assumed DACHA was pronounced with the same Germanic CH sound as Dachau, but it turns out to be an English-style CH sound, rhyming with GOTCHA, which DACHA crosses. Nice!
Maybe "high leader" is supposed to mislead the solver into thinking of various supreme leaders, like Kim Jong-Il?
At the start I screwed up this one in so many ways. E.g. I wanted “high leader?” to be SIERRA; “Nick name?” to be ADAMS (as in Nick and Nora Adams); “deli offering” to be MAYO and I would never’ve guessed “eat” to be HAVE. So I wrestled with the crosses for a long time. That’s why, I suppose, I’d never make it as a speed solver. The hidden “beans” came to me only after I solved the darn thing and noticed “soy” in ITSSOYOU. Had fun though, after a not a few “argh” moments.
ATMAN, ARHAT. Future C101 material. Can't ever get them straight.
Thanks for having the author avatar at the top of the blog. Nice write-up. Have a great Thursday.
A TO B! That stumped me for a bit.
Good puzzle, lots of nice back and forth for me to solve, I like that.
Looks like its a 4-bean salad with pinto, soy, cocoa, and limas. Sounds disgusting. Please don't bring that to my picnic!
Another straightforward solve from the LAT although the theme answers were definitely well-hidden. Didn't help with the solve - rather, had to pick them out afterwards.
Also not a speed solver, although I hadn't realized just how slow I am until, inspired by this blog, I began timing myself recently. Where did that half-hour go? This puzzle wasn't workable for me from the upper left, so I filled in a few "I know that!" answers and then worked my way up from the bottom right. My favorite clue today was 24Across "Nick name?".
I REALLY like this blog!
This is a superbly crafted puzzle. It's easy to tell that Dan has a good time constructing with words and phrases like DEAD HEAT, GOTCHA, ITS SO YOU, SLIM AND NONE, KANGAROO and ACT NOW.
Perhaps little noticed, but a nice touch, there are only 6 three letter words, 3 plurals and a fairly wide open grid.
This puzzle is a good example of why Dan has carved out a niche in the rarified air of the construction world.
OOPS! Didn't mean to be anonymous. The above was posted by Jerome.
Fun tasty puzzle.I have some great recipes for bean salads - just add a pinch of this and a pinch of that!!
Thanks puzzle girl for the avatar
You know what's really sad, you know, existential anguish sad?
My suggestion to include the Avatars at the top may have been my best idea of the past week.
I really struggled with this puzzle and had to resort to the help of the red letters of doom more times than I'd like to admit.
I hope to improve the longer I keep at this though, I'm not one for giving up too easily. I didn't get the bean connection until I looked online and then it became clear.
The crosswordese was excellent today I've been stumped each time by Dada, only knowing the band not the movement. Thanks for the excellent write up!
~puzzled_in_pdx
Has no one else noticed that this grid is 15 x 16? Isn't that more than a little weird?
This one hurt my head a little. ADELLE? No. TOD'S? No. Well, rings a very very faint bell, but I'm still sayin' no.
Had SIERRA for SHERPA, which Totally made sense to me. I mean [High leader?] ... I guess the SIERRA in "HIGH SIERRA" is a High *follower* ... but in the phrase SIERRA NEVADA, it's a leader. I'm just sayin', it made sense, and at only two letters diff. from SHERPA, it suckered me in good ... ugh.
I contend that A TO B, as clued, is an expression no one has ever used.
I wish you'd done today's xwordese 101 as a treatise on Playground Retorts.
ARHAT is Crosswordese 501.
rp
15x16 *is* weird, but sometimes themes require it. WS almost never goes 15x16. Peter Gordon would do it a little more frequently (but he would publish somewhat more unorthodox puzzles, in general). No idea how frequently Rich goes there.
@Rex - Dorothy Parker famously used "A to B" to describe the gamut of Katherine Hepburn's acting ability, and it's been quoted ever since. So, in the history of the universe, you're off by 1.
As for the reason for the 15x16, the usual crossword symmetry rules mean that there's no way to have ITS SO YOU, an 8-letter entry, in the middle of the middle row. (There are 7 other squares in the row in a 15-square wide puzzle, and an equal number would need to be on each side of the entry. This is only true in the middle row.) Just so you know. (Which _would_ work as the central answer...)
I remember blogging ARHAT while Rex was in some sparsely populated awesome country somewhere, I just couldn't remember what it was anymore. I think I tried ARVAT first.
And yes, ADDA is ugly indeed.
Bah. I still say A TO B sucks. If one person said it once, it's not a common expression. And it's just terrible fill. (though it's at least different from the much more common ATOZ)
A TO B is in fact a way to describe a full gamut, or a complete cycle of some kind. If something gets you from point A to point B, it does the job.
ADDA,
rp
It's my sense that the L.A. Times crossword doesn't stray from 15x15 often at all. I wonder if this is a sign that Dan Naddor's pushing the boundaries a little more and maybe we'll get an oddball gimmick puzzle from the L.A. Times for a change.
When this blog reaches graduate-level seminars, we'll cover ATMAN and ARHAT. Until then, my only advice is to know that both words exist and to wait for the crossings. They show up seldom enough that I haven't bothered to look for any differences in how they're clued.
@Rex, not to worry! We should have another opportunity to touch on playground retorts soon, as these answers are increasingly common these days.
P.S. What Rex is trying to say is that constructors should be mulcted for using fill like ADDA or ATOB.
@Rex - I didn't say it didn't suck, just that you were off by one.
This was a bit tough, but tasty in the end. Beans. Tasty. (sigh)
@PuzzleGirl: ACE/HOLE doesn't sit right for me, either, for some reason. Hee!
Rex
I am glad you hated A TO B, it's so rare that we are on the same wavelength. On the other hand other than extreme NW this puzzle for me was loads of fun. HAHA
PG,
Alsace-Lorraine was a region that was sometimes German and sometimes French. JEAN Arp was his name for the Frenchies, and HANS Arp for the Germans. They both are the same as JOHN.
THis puzzle was Thursday perfect. EASY A and A TO B made me think for a moment. We get EGAN as a CARDINAL this time and yesterday he was the Governor of Alaska, he's getting around. I have never seen a karmann-GHIA sports car, it only exists in crosswords for me. Really solid puzzle.
CARDINAL was in today's CS puzzle, mixing them up now, its becoming a blur.
@Anonymous,
Ah, I see. Good. Thanks. I wonder if anyone looked at ATOB (as folks sometimes do with ATOZ) and thought "what the hell's an ATOB?" I once (non-) famously asked "what the hell's an ASOK?" Didn't win me any points with "Dilbert" fans.
rp
I bet you wanted beet salad Chefbea, didn't you?
Took me a while but managed to get through it after a bit of a struggle, but when finished I felt satisfied and full of beans.
In response to David, the Karmann Ghia was built by Volkswagen at its Karmann Coach Works, hence the name. It was basically a VW Beetle with an Italian designed body, and was produced in the 60s into the 70s. I had a 62 convertible and it was sporty only in comparison to the beetle upon which it was based. It ws a fairly common car, and I'm certain in the LA area there are still some to be found.
@chefwen you can always add beets to a bean salad!!!
I counted 13 LAT puzzles that are either 15x16 or 16x15 (based on an odd word count, via Karen's database). So Rich runs a supersized grid less often than Peter did, but more often than Will does. Most of the recent examples are Naddor's, no surprise. But I doubt this means we'll be seeing gimmicks in the LAT...
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