THEME: Get out of town ... — three long theme answers begin with phrases that (in different contexts) mean depart
After Dan Naddor, I feel like I've reviewed Pancho Harrison's puzzles more than I have anyone else's. Not complaining — he does solid work. Nice touch today (and something that adds a little elegance to this "phrases that start/end with...") is the fact of the "depart" words/phrases are not used that way in the answers in which they appear. Another way to liven up this type of puzzle is to have some type of theme-revealing answer (a cute or at least in-the-language phrase that gives purpose / shape to the theme). As is typical for a Monday puzzle, I had almost no trouble filling this one in quickly. A couple of little hiccups — I went with LISTS over TILTS at 26D: Leans to one side at first, and I couldn't make heads or tails of 43A: Fella (KIDDO). I would never use those two words (fella/KIDDO) interchangeably. "Fella" implies any guy, where KIDDO is specifically used for a young person, and seems more affectionate than "fella." I'm sure they're on some synonym list somewhere, but they feel quite different to me.
[be patient with video; takes a few seconds to show up]
Theme answers:
- 20A: Shed some pounds (TAKE OFF WEIGHT)
- 38A: Divide earnings equally (SPLIT THE PROFITS)
- 57A: Talk to the answering machine (LEAVE A MESSAGE)
There's a nice combo of old skool / nu skool sports clues in the northern regions, with the very contemporary 1A: Vikings quarterback Brett (FAVRE) balanced against the much older and not nearly as well known 10A: 1960s-'70s NBA center Thurmond (NATE) in the opposite corner. This is one of two possible '70s NBA clues for NATE, the other being ["Tiny" Archibald] (a 6'1" All-Star Celtic guard from when I was a kid). Did you know "Nate Archibald" is a character on "Gossip Girl?" WTF!? I hope he was named after the guard, and that that is mentioned on the show — otherwise I call foul. Interesting factoid: NATE Thurmond is the first person in NBA history to record a quadruple-double (double digits in points, rebounds, assists, and blocks).Crosswordese 101: Jean-Paul MARAT (54D: French Revolution journalist) — he was killed in his bath by Charlotte Corday, and is most often clued as [Corday victim]. Soviet-born MARAT Safin won a couple of tennis Grand Slam titles, so he's fair cluing game as well. He only just retired from the game earlier this year. But back to Jean-Paul MARAT — you may know him from this (very) famous painting:
["Death of Marat" by Jacques-Louis David, 1793]What else?
- 66A: Former Lacoste partner (IZOD) — wow, I completely forgot about that. Those names were linked when I was a kid and cared (briefly) about the brand name of polo shirts. Strongly associated with the early '80s preppy look. Partnership ended in '93.
- 2D: Pound _____: cover one's route, cop-style (A BEAT) — easily the ugliest thing about the grid. The price you pay for getting a "V," "K," and "F," into that tiny section, I guess.
- 47D: Dwarf who needs tissues (SNEEZY) — had much of this, read the clue, saw "Dwarf" and though "... there's a Dwarf called SLEAZY?" Then decided to really read the clue.
See you Friday,
~RP
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]
P.S. I just released a free puzzle on my other site — easy if you follow baseball, it's a tough (but doable) challenge if you don't. You can easily download either the .pdf or the .puz version of the puzzle here, at Orange's crosswordfiend.com forum. Thanks!
Everything Else — 1A: Vikings quarterback Brett (FAVRE); 6A: Recipe amt. (TBSP.); 10A: 1960s-'70s NBA center Thurmond (NATE); 14A: Former Apple laptop (IBOOK); 15A: Eurasian boundary river (URAL); 16A: Expel (OUST); 17A: Marsh grass (SEDGE); 18A: Italia's capital (ROMA); 19A: "I'll be there in __" (A SEC); 20A: Shed some pounds (TAKE OFF WEIGHT); 23A: City square memorial (STATUE); 24A: Suffix with Gator (-ADE); 25A: Some NFL blockers (RTS); 28A: Begins (STARTS); 31A: Woodsy route (TRAIL); 33A: Bear: Sp. (OSO); 36A: Logger's tool (SAW); 37A: Either of two Modesto-based vintner brothers (GALLO); 38A: Divide earnings equally (SPLIT THE PROFITS); 43A: Fella (KIDDO); 44A: Charlotte of "The Facts of Life" (RAE); 45A: Fireplace residue (ASH); 46A: Ancient Indo-European (ARYAN); 47A: "Blue" evergreen (SPRUCE); 50A: Fish-to-be (ROE); 51A: Topeka is its cap. (KAN.); 53A: Mariner (SEAMAN); 57A: Talk to the answering machine (LEAVE A MESSAGE); 61A: Post-shower powder (TALC); 63A: Move, to a Realtor (RELO); 64A: Scatter, as seed (STREW); 65A: Impressionist (APER); 66A: Former Lacoste partner (IZOD); 67A: Draws closer (NEARS); 68A: Ashram advisor (GURU); 69A: Caustic fluids (LYES); 70A: __-craftsy (ARTSY); 1D: Dukes in boxing gloves (FISTS); 2D: Pound __: cover one's route, cop-style (A BEAT); 3D: Screwdriver liquor (VODKA); 4D: Classic thesaurus (ROGET'S); 5D: Barely make, as a living (EKE OUT); 6D: Gang land (TURF); 7D: Often furrowed facial feature (BROW); 8D: Identical to, with "the" (SAME AS); 9D: Checkered pattern (PLAID); 10D: Biblical helmsman (NOAH); 11D: Koala's home (AUSTRALIA); 12D: Prufrock creator's monogram (TSE); 13D: Abbr. covering unlisted items (ETC.); 21D: Famine's opposite (FEAST); 22D: Beginning, informally (GETGO); 26D: Leans to one side (TILTS); 27D: Wade through the shallows (SLOSH); 29D: Pep rally yell (RAH); 30D: Insignificant one (TWERP); 32D: WWII Brit. fliers (RAF); 33D: Schindler of "Schindler's List" (OSKAR); 34D: Former veep Agnew (SPIRO); 35D: Classic boy-and-dog Disney film (OLD YELLER); 39D: Actress Lupino (IDA); 40D: Big name in little trucks (TONKA); 41D: Golfer's goal (PAR); 42D: Put into service again (REUSE); 47D: Dwarf who needs tissues (SNEEZY); 48D: Big name in small planes (CESSNA); 49D: Day to put all your eggs in one basket (EASTER); 52D: Pop singer Lavigne (AVRIL); 54D: French Revolution journalist (MARAT); 55D: Golden __: senior citizens (AGERS); 56D: Full of the latest happenings (NEWSY); 58D: Stocking hue (ECRU); 59D: Shaving gel additive (ALOE); 60D: Stylish '60s Brits (MODS); 61D: "You're it!" game (TAG); 62D: "The Simpsons" Squishee seller (APU).
20 comments:
Not one of my favorite puzzles. Thought the theme was pretty limp. Also because it has too many footballish clues... well, I guess it is timely, but for me it's a big UGH!
I did like seeing Golden AGERS instead of geezers though, which we've seen too much of lately. And TSE for T. S. Eliot instead of that "half an African fly" crap. Not sure I would ever call a "Fella" a KIDDO, but then I don't think I'd call a guy a "Fella" either. I do not like seeing "Checkered" for PLAID.
For (47d), I entered SNOTTY instead of SNEEZY (Dwarf who needs tissues).
Fav words:
TWERP
MARAT (French Revolution journalist). Very nice Rex writeup on this, especially the JLD painting.
SEDGE for marsh grass, although technically it's not in the same family as grasses...it's in the genus, Carex. Carex is a huge genus of more than 1500 species of perennials with triangular, grass-like stems and panicles of flowerheads in short spikes. In Botany 101 we were taught that sedges have edges, grasses are round.
ARTSY-craftsy, I would have preferred seeing ARTSY-fartsy (my son's favorite expression).
Hey, Rex, "kiddo", I'm still wearing those ancient IZOD shirts with the little alligator logos.
Well, today I hit the Mother Road (Route 66) for more research & photography, so I better get cuttin'.
~ JNH
KIDDO can also refer to a female. Hunphrey Bogart's "Here's looking at you kid(do)" isn't that far off the mark!
An enjoyable puzzle and writeup.
Rex great write-up again on a typical ho-hum but cleaver, at times, Monday LAT.
Also put in lists first for 26d TILTS.
Absolutely hated the RTS 25a for 'Some NFL Blockers' meaning the Right Tackle's. I have never ever heard a sport fan say "See it's the RT!" This goes with the ultra-weak TES for Tight-Ends last week.
If it wasn't for the crosses I will probably miss almost every 'The Simpsons' cluing. (This also applies to all "Rap" artist's & songs, too.)
Liked the little trucks & small planes. Tonka & Cessna.
Marat / Corday CW101 I learned from CW's long ago, nice painting though RP.
I'm with @JNH - checkered and plaid are definitely NOT the same thing. Ask the Scots..."by the way, what does one wear under those checkered skirts?" Nah!
Otherwise an OK but quite simple Monday LAT. Finished the puzzle way before my first cup of coffee.
Anonymous 8:30 is me, Carol. Don't know why it didn't take my name. I don't like to be Anonymous even if no one likes my comment.
One of the few things I remember from touring the Louvre was the quantity of Jacque-Louis David paintings.
Very nice Monday puzzle. My favorite clue: Dwarf who needs tissues (SNEEZY). Only error was spelling OSKAR with a C, but KIDDO fixed that.
@RP: Thanks for reporting the interesting factoid on Nate Thurmond. He is one of only four NBA players ever to officially record a quadruple double. This has only been possible since the 1973-'74 season when the NBA began recording blocked shots and steals. So far there is no official accomplishment of a quintuple double in the NBA, although there have been several "five-by-fives" recorded (at least five points, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals in a single game.) I've always felt the NBA must employ an army of statisticians -- the variety of statistics kept is extensive.
Re: KIDDO. How about - Thurman's role in the Kill Bill movies?
Dunno if its a local thing or not, but there was this comedy show - sort of a 'man in the street' thing - where a guy wearing a kilt asks unsuspecting female passersby to hold a ladder for him, and then he climbs up. The ladies expressions and behavior are of course the point, and priceless I might add.
Here it is:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Just-for-laughs-Upskirt
"This is one of two possible '70s NBA clues for NATE, the other being ["Tiny" Archibald] (a 6'1" All-Star Celtic guard from when I was a kid)."
Well, it's not a 70s NBA clue, but we used to have a pretty good team up here in Seattle, and NATE "Mac-10" McMillan played his entire career here, then became head coach for 5 years. He now coaches the Blazers.
Those were the days, with Kemp, Payton, Detlef, Perkins... Should have won it all in '94 but we got ousted by Denver (#8 seed) in the first round.
What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt? Shoes and sox.
And do you know it's love by the gleam in his eye, or the tilt in kilt?
@John - I agree with everything you said.
@Shrub - That Oscar/Oskar thing: Grandpa Fritz's half-brother was either Oskar Drees or Oscar Drees. He was, believe it or not, a Turner - not as in Ike and Tina, but as in Turnverein. In other words some sort of acrobat or tumbler, and certainly a health nut. (Verein is club.) When the internet came into my home, I discovered there were 2 community gyms named after him. The one in Bremen was called the Oskar Drees Saal (and Strasse) and the one in Bremerhaven, the Oscar Drees Halle. I don't know what it all means. Maybe @Mac does?
Thanx for the Marat masterpiece. He's of the same school - Classic Revival, very smooth and cool - as Ingres, another cw fellow.
Good Monday puzzle. It seems that the puzzles are gradually ramping up, to be a couple days behind equivalent NYTimes editions. This is a good thing!
How 'come QBS is OK (to me at least) but RTS is not? Maybe because the position is Tackle, and "right" is just a modifier.
Thanks Rex and Pancho, and underappreciated editor.
Well, back to Cyber Monday!
QB has a Q. So there's that. Plus it's one, definitive position, not "Any lineman" with four possible results (RG LG LG RT). Soooo ... QB = good, random linemen, less so.
rp
Vive le Favre!
That's my obligatory post-weekend sports shout-out.
I learned two new things today. One is about NATE Thurmond, the other -- quite interesting -- is that RP tunes into 'Gossip Girl.' Hey, why not? Btw, I do agree that RTS is a dodgy bit of fill, but no big deal.
Note the crossing of OSKAR and ARYAN.
I once heard one of the SchindlerJuden [Schindler's Jews] give a very moving speech; this was before Spielberg's blockbuster film. Schindler died nearly penniless & is buried in Jerusalem, according to Wikipedia.
@JNH: thanks for info on SEDGE and its genus. My idea of botany is not overwatering the jade tree we semi-bonsai'd. @SFingi: your family is fascinating, yourself included. All we have in mine are lapsed Lutheran pastors and liquored-up schoolmasters. @GLowe: that kilt clip is classic.
RP: am going to take a stab at the baseball puzzle. Glad to see you're on a constructing streak.
split interrupted
I'm thinking, after Thanksgiving, I need to "Take off" weight as my pants might "split" and there's no profit in that!
Brett Favre. Shouldn't he be clued as "I'm in. I'm out. I'm in. I'm out. What's the salary, again? I'm in!"
When I see Thurmond, I think Strom or Munson. Interesting info on Nate Thurmond. Not someone I knew any thing about, along with Jean Paul Marat. His assassination led to his apotheosis....(no, I won't remember this word!) "A published essay on curing a friend of gleets (gonorrhea) probably helped him to secure his referees for an honorary medical degree from the St. Andrews University in June 1775."(Wiki) Gleets? Season's Gleetings is just wrong!
I know "aper" is a big CW word, but heck, do you ever say "You're such an aper?" Or "What an aper!" Copy cat, yes. Aper? Not so much.
Kiddo and fella are words you'd hear in an "Andy Hardy/Judy Garland" movie. Fun and old timey.
Alex Trebek showed Schindler's grave site in Jerusalem, last week on Jeopardy. "Prayer" rocks are placed on the grave.
@Sfingi and "tilts," @Glowe and "kilts and ladders" =laughs!
Easy Monday puzzle, no real hold-ups.
As I was scrolling down, looking at the painting, I stopped and it said, underneath, What else? That was a little startling.
@Sfingi: a turner is a gymnast. He must have been a good one, to have a hall, a street and a stadium named after him. Your family is enormous! Are you related to Genghis Khan??
@ddbmc
Heck, I wouldn't have thought of Nate, Strom, or Munson... it would be UMA for me! And with a nice video clip of her anytime.
As for kiddo and fella, I think that if I were ever to go into a gay bar, I might hear those words used (hopefully not referring to me).
@*David*
I used to work for a company that sent me to Paris a lot. They insisted on putting me up in the Ritz or the Intercontinental, which is near the Louvre. Every evening I'd sneak into the Louvre thru a basement entrance (so I didn't have to pay). After a while I got a real education on French Art (and history). I do recall how prolific Jacque-Louis David was.
@GLowe
Don't you wonder what exactly they were seeing under that guys kilts? That must have been a Brit-vid.
shrub5 revealed as a hoops fan!
Super write-up RP and special thanks for the Dvid masterpiece of Marat. I'm also w you on KIDDO...I have served as Chairman of our city's Environmental Protection Commission for 10 years, charged with protecting waterways, wetlands, upland review areas, and I'm ashamed (?) to say I've never heard of SEDGE
Hmm
Another identical answer herein w today's nyt..
I enjoyed seeing "ade" as the Gator ending. FYI, Gatorade was invented at the University of Florida to help hydration problems for our sports teams as Gainesville is inarguably the hottest and most humid place in the South. And you thought the Gators just win national championships! Go Gators Beat 'Bama
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