Theme: "Shh!" — Theme answers are five different ways of shushing someone, clued in relation to a profession.
Theme answers:
Crosswordese 101: STET [36A: Editor's "leave it in"]. This word is actually familiar to me because I worked as an editor a hundred years ago. Here's how it's used. Say I'm reading a document and marking changes as I go. All of a sudden, I realize that I made a mistake.
Hard to imagine, I know, but stay with me here. Of course, I've been using a pen all along so I can't just erase it. I could look for some wite-out and try to fix it that way, but we all know how messy that can be. So what I do instead is place a row of dots underneath the part where I made the mistake and write the word STET near it. That indicates to whoever is making the revisions that everything above the dots should stay the way it was before I messed it up with my stupid mistake. Try not to confuse STET with STAT, which can be clued either as a shortened form of the word statistic or as a doctor's order meaning "immediately."I think I like this theme because (a) my secret dream job used to be blackjack dealer but now it's librarian and (b) I do love my peace and quiet. There are days when as soon as I get the PuzzleFamily out the door in the morning I just sit down on the couch and ... sit there. Enjoying the quiet. It's heavenly. Our favorite way of shushing around here is to say "Shut yer yappers," but I don't think there's a clue that would make that one fit into this puzzle. Sigh.
Stuff to talk about:
- 1A: Iranian ruler until 1979 (SHAH). And look who's over in the other corner! 10A: Clarinetist Artie (SHAW).
- 17A: McGregor of "Moulin Rouge!" (EWAN). I see this guy's name all the time in puzzles but don't remember him from any movies. Can't even picture him, actually. When I see his name I picture Colin Farrell or Cary Elwes.
- 14A: Like takeout orders (TO-GO). Still waiting to see for here in the puzzle.
- 18A: Prepare to drive (TEE UP). Golf!
- 38A: Red coin? (CENT).Like in the saying "Not one red cent...."
- 39A: Agt.'s cut (PCT). Agents get a percentage of any income they acquire for their clients.
- 54A: Polite "I think," in chat rooms (IMHO). Were we just talking about this here? It stands for in my humble opinion. Here's a glossary of the most common internet acronyms.
- 62A: Proctor __: kitchen appliance brand (SILEX). Totally different company than Procter & Gamble.
- 63A: TV's Dick Van __ (DYKE). Now there's a word you don't see in the puzzle very often. Not that there's anything wrong with it.
- 11D: Wind chill factor's opposite (HEAT INDEX). Growing up in Fargo, North Dakota, I was extremely familiar with the wind chill factor. Heat index? Not so much.
- 21D: Fix, as hair (DO UP). Sorry, but this one doesn't work for me. I might do my hair or put my hair up (if it was long enough, I mean), but I would never DO UP my hair.
- 38D: Bare fixture of rhyme (CUPBOARD). Old Mother Hubbard.
- 47D: Dental crown alternative (ONLAY). I don't know what this is.
- 56D: Law, in Lyon (LOI). French!
Everything Else — 5A: Prickly plants (CACTI); 15A: Deprive of weapons (UNARM); 16A: Prefix with space (AERO); 19A: Deficiency (LACK); 22A: Abhor (LOATHE); 24A: "Later, alligator!" ("SEE YOU!"); 25A: "CSI" city (MIAMI); 31A: Greek fabulist (AESOP); 34A: City bonds, for short (MUNIS); 35A: __-wop (DOO); 40A: Corn breads (PONES); 41A: Prom rentals (TUXES); 45A: Salon services (PERMS); 46A: Shady areas (ARBORS); 50A: Subdued shade (PASTEL); 55A: Privileged group (ELITE); 57A: Goya's "Duchess of __" (ALBA); 58A: "We gotta get movin'!" (C'MON); 59A: "There's __ in sight" (NO END); 60A: "Kills bugs dead" spray (RAID); 61A: "Keystone" bunch of film (KOPS); 1D: Hitchcock's "The 39 __" (STEPS); 2D: "Deal or No Deal" host Mandel (HOWIE); 3D: Wide open (AGAPE); 4D: Attraction for Winnie the Pooh (HONEYPOT); 5D: Snip from the newspaper (CUT OUT); 6D: From square one (ANEW); 7D: Normandy city (CAEN); 8D: Show about Capote (TRU); 9D: Not expressly stated (IMPLICIT); 10D: Lunchbox meat (SALAMI); 12D: Semicircular entrance (ARCH); 13D: Left the land of Nod (WOKE); 23D: Wine barrel woods (OAKS); 25D: Single-principle believer (MONIST); 27D: Almost perfect, gradewise (A-MINUS); 28D: Perfect (SUPER); 29D: Actress Skye (IONE); 30D: Tater __ (TOTS); 31D: Once-sacred slitherers (ASPS); 32D: Inscribe (ETCH); 33D: Go into business (SET UP SHOP); 37D: Attachment for closeups (ZOOM LENS); 40D: Ceremonial heap (PYRE); 41D: Like Granny Smith apples (TART); 43D: Wyoming range (TETONS); 44D: Like adult movies (RATED X); 48D: Man with a cube (RUBIK); 49D: Prospector's tool (SPADE); 50D: Prospector's tool (PICK); 51D: Shells and bullets (AMMO); 52D: Jessica of "7th Heaven" (BIEL); 53D: __ Reader: eclectic magazine (UTNE).
40 comments:
I would say "BUTTON IT" - "BUTTON UP" sounds weird. That said, I like this theme. Never heard of SILEX or ONLAY and thought KOPS was COPS.
rp
You might add that STET is the jussive subjunctive of Latin infinitive STARE -- meaning "let it stand/stay". Sorry -- I have to feel that my Latin major was worth something. Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Thank you, thank you for the internet acronym glossary. As a 60 something year old Facebook user I don't always understand what the younger set is saying!
Had to Google onlay - it's more conservative than a crown - less grinding off of the tooth.
Fun puzzle. Loved Zip it ... my husband is a mail carrier!!
I knew proctor silex but never heard of onlay. If toothdoc comes here maybe he will explain
Very smooth grid with five entries (not an easy feat) with Scrabble-y letters that doesn't seemed forced. Although the theme wasn't the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, overall approved.
@PG - Thanks for confirming a long held belief of mine - that if something needs doing, I should just sit around waiting for someone else to do it.
Yesterday I thought of suggesting that someone find a link to an internet acronym glossary, did nothing about it, and bam, there it is today!
You're like having a second wife!
I have heard BUTTON IT UP. Do you BUTTON UP in preparation for a storm?
I know Keystone KOPS and still spelled it with a C.
Now that you mention it, I think BUTTON UP is more something you would say to your teenage daughter before she leaves the house.
@Brad: Wow. "Jussive subjective"?? I've never even heard of that. Yay Latin major!
@Anon6:55: I have a corollary to that one. When I get a voice-mail from my mom asking me for computer help, I wait at least an hour before calling her back. Nine out of ten times I get another message that says "Never mind, I figured it out."
@BEQ: Nice to see you hanging out with us more often these days.
I would like to say that this puzzle - why is everyone saying "Shh!" to me?
Oh well.
Lots of multiple word answers, (CUTOUT, SETUPSHOP, TOGO etc.) which I like. I find they lead to funny misreadings when I fill them in by the crosses. This morning I was frowning over DOUP, which does look like a word that I wouldn't know (maybe a golf term) until I checked the clue. I agree with Puzzlegirl that "do up" sounds awkward, although in my part of the world long hair styled up is called an "updo".
Nice Tuesday. Loved the short ZIPIT in the center. I've lived in Chicago and West Palm Beach, so I'm aware of both chill factors and HEAT INDEXes. I know a great Dick van DYKE joke that would take too long to type out. EWAN is a great actor, and he sang really well in "Moulin Rouge."
I first put in BUTTON IT and I do like any theme that keeps the noise down. I always enjoy the same hint for two different answers ala Klahn and we get on opposite lower sides and numerically sequential PROSPECTOR'S TOOLS.
New words were MONIST and SILEX(which I seem to remember from another puzzle). Toughest cross was SILEX/LOI for moi.
I just watched Ewan in Big Fish, and not too long ago in Trainspotting. He is not funny looking.
And speaking of potting, why does HONEYPOT only make me think of this? Was ALBA originally clued along with Jessica BIEL? And if a MONIST is a single-principle believer, and STAT is a statistic or immediately, is...er, never mind.
DO UP one's hair seems very in-the-language to me, not that i've ever done it myself. (i tried COMB there, which i have done, if only a handful of times in my life. probably single-digits.)
Pones are new to me. Anyone here ever baked a pone?
@anonymous 8:57 Yes I have baked corn pone. Its like corn bread only individual cakes. We had this discussion last week.... maybe it was the nytimes puzzle
You don't remember Ewan McGregor? Perhaps from a little blockbuster called Star Wars: The Phantom Menace? Played Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role earlier defined by Sir Alec Guiness. My geek heart is breaking about now.
Big Fish was a pretty neat movie too.
I am from KY and can assure you that pones are frequently served at dinner. Especially, on the First Saturday of May!
One more vote for "onlay = ?"... I realize it's a real word (thanks, Wikipedia), but with all the dental work I've had done, including what are clearly several onlays, no one ever used that word in my hearing.
enjoyed this more than the NYT today- and breezed through it. Liked all of the theme answers except the often mentioned BUTTON UP- I have never heard it used that way. Also didn't love 'SUPER" as an answer for 'perfect'
wish I had timed myself, might have bested my record.
@ Jeff in Chicago: I grew up in Chicago and was subjected to the wind chill factor, as well as the heat index right there - no need to go to Florida.
@ Crosscan: Don't be talking Shh! now.
- - Robert
PG-
"You're like having a second wife"
- strangely, no one ever says this to me. "You're like having a mean, drunk uncle," sure. But second wife, no. It's nice we have a balance of voices here.
This puzzle is growing on me.
And somebody tell Crosscan to shut up.
rp
[ ----- ]
Crosscan, I heard those dashes. Hush, now.
Or should I say, "Shut your pie hole!" like the guy who delivers dessert to the prisoners in solitary.
@James 6:58 a.m.
The Keystone Kops has been spelled both ways. I think it started life as Cops and somehow acquired the K instead, along the way.
I'll shut Crosscan. I'll stuff a red tuber in his mouth!!
Oops.
I thought "IMHO" meant "I Make Hot Onions".
Uh-oh. I think I've got some apologizing to do on some other sites.
Still, "ROFLMAO" does mean "Ran Over Four Lesbians Making An Omelette", right?
Of all the days I get busy with patients and don't do the puzzle until the afternoon. For those who care, an ONLAY is an indirect restoration (i.e. made out of your mouth) that replaces at least 1 cusp (the "bumps" on your teeth). It is an alternative to a crown in that it is less invasive but it can't always be used. Another bit o' dental crosswordese is INLAY which is an indirect filling.
@Rex - You took "Your like having a second wife" as a good thing?
Thank you for being there for me every morning PG.
I went to my dentist for an onlay, and he always says, "OK, open your Pie Hole". Then when he has both hands in my mouth, asks me how I'm doin'. He's UCLA trained and practices in the San Diego area, not the south liked I'd expect to hear 'Pie Hole'. Then follows with "OK, shut your pie hole". So if todays puzzle maker used that term, shut your pie hole, I'd have been on it! John the Urban Camper
I hear "shut your pie hole" as having a working-class English vibe to it. Can any Southerners confirm Southern usage of the phrase?
Dang, now I'm thinking of Georgia pecan pie.
Yep, I'm into Pecan Pie to fill my pie hole. Feeding me is a great way to shhh, button or zip my trap.
Shut your cake-hole is an old English phrase that can be found in the OED. It appears that we Americans want our pie and eat it too, hence we have modified it from the original phrase.
Did anyone else put down HONEY JAR before POT? Of course, now I've got the Christopher Robin song in my head for the rest of the day.
Cute puzzle.
My favorite puzzle today. Not the deepest puzzle of all time or anything, but smooth fill and a cute theme. For some reason, the word "hosier" really threw me off; that was the last theme one I figured out. Seemed like there were a lot of entries that consisted of phrases containing the word up: TEE UP, SET UP SHOP, DO UP, and BUTTON UP.
This is all so funny. You have your doctors and dentists talk to you this way? Anybody mentions my pie hole, they are going to be replaced. By the way, I have this cute white ceramic bird that you stick into this hole to prevent the crust from rising too much.
Monist was my word of the day.
@Crosscan: poor you.
I think the only expression I know button related is: "buttoned up". I got this one, but it wasn't natural.
Rich and I had some back and forth discussion about BUTTON UP, so there was some concern as to whether people were familiar with it. BUTTON IT is probably better, and I have heard both expressions here in Ohio. Maybe it's a regional thing. BUTTON UP was the first expression that came to mind.
"Shut your pie hole"! That is a new one on me. I think one would have to be careful where one says that.
'Pie Hole' was the name of the bakery on Pushing Daisies. Every someone someone would have to shut the Pie Hole. They had fun with the entendres on that (cancelled) show.
PG -- You would be a great librarian! But 'Shushing 101' is no longer a pre-requisite course...
From a "southerner"..."Shut your pie-hole" is not a "southern thang"! It seems to me to be a younger generation "thang"...
I really enjoyed this puzzle...
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