Theme: "Lily Tomlin" — Theme answers are familiar phrases the first word of which is a type of lily.
Theme answers:
- 18A: Father of Sam and Charlie (TIGER WOODS).
- 20A: South Pacific site of large stone statues (EASTER ISLAND).
- 35A: Continuously (DAY AFTER DAY).
- 54A: Asian draft animal (WATER BUFFALO).
- 57A: "All of Me" actress whose first name is a hint to this puzzle's theme (LILY TOMLIN).
I'm running late this morning so this will be quick. I thought this was a perfectly serviceable puzzle. No major complaints. Well, I'm not crazy about seeing TIGER WOODS in my grid these days but you probably shouldn't get me started. Haven't seen "The Soloist," with Jamie Foxx co-starring Robert DOWNEY, Jr., but it looks pretty interesting (9D: "The Soloist" co-star). I'm not sure that FALSE FACE is a thing (34A: Mask), and the last letter I put in the grid was the X at the cross of NO-TAX and MEAT AX (64A: Feature of Oregon sales / 43D: Spareribs separator). I couldn't make sense of either of those clues. Sorry to blog and run, but that's just how it is today. Have fun in the comments.
Crosswordese 101: ADELA Rogers St. Johns is an author/writer/journalist. Do I know anything about her? Why no. No, I don't. I just know that's her name and so far that has served me pretty well.Everything Else — 1A: Tsp. and tbsp. (AMTS.); 5A: Old orchard spray (ALAR); 9A: Abu __ (DHABI); 14A: Separate by color, say (SORT); 15A: Angle function (SINE); 16A: Barely flowed (OOZED); 17A: Hairy "pet" (CHIA); 22A: Casual evenings (NITES); 23A: Dull (TIRESOME); 27A: One might be snappy (DRESSER); 30A: Anti vote (NAY); 31A: __ Kan: Alpo rival (KAL); 32A: Some game enders (MATES); 34A: They come and go (FADS); 39A: Enter (GO IN); 41A: Search stealthily (PROWL); 42A: Abate (EBB); 43A: Rosemary's portrayer (MIA); 46A: Hides (STASHES); 50A: Mind (LISTEN TO); 53A: Clinton Labor secretary Robert (REICH); 60A: __ on the shoulder (A TAP); 61A: Author __ Rogers St. Johns (ADELA); 62A: __ sci (POLI); 63A: Pointed end (CUSP); 65A: Singles (ONES); 66A: Latin I word (ESSE); 1D: Go up (ASCEND); 2D: Angora fabric (MOHAIR); 3D: Sad, to Sarkozy (TRISTE); 4D: Churchill or Roosevelt, e.g. (STATESMAN); 5D: Star sci. (ASTR.); 6D: 10% of DXXX (LIII); 7D: Apprehension (ANGST); 8D: Catch from a pier (REEL IN); 10D: Robbery accessories (HOODS); 11D: Nitrogen-based dye (AZO); 12D: Something that goes with breakfast? (BED); 13D: Psyche parts (IDS); 19D: Avis lead-in (RARA); 21D: Samuel Johnson work (ESSAY); 24D: "You bet" ("OKAY"); 25D: Alfred E. Neuman is its mascot (MAD); 26D: Overhead transports (ELS); 28D: LAX posting (ETA); 29D: Court decision maker (REF); 33D: Indy 500 advertiser (STP); 34D: Mask (FALSE FACE); 35D: Ownership call (DIBS); 36D: Speech hesitations (ERS); 37D: Malarkey (ROT); 38D: Happy, for one (DWARF); 39D: Hair stiffener (GEL); 40D: Geisha's sash (OBI); 44D: Keen on (INTO); 45D: Musical direction after ritardando, perhaps (A TEMPO); 47D: Gap (HIATUS); 48D: Mercedes sedan category (E CLASS); 49D: Quaint retail word (SHOPPE); 51D: Tony winner Tharp (TWYLA); 52D: Sweater synthetic (ORLON); 55D: Peevishness (BILE); 56D: Les États-__ (UNIS); 57D: Data-sharing syst. (LAN); 58D: Chapel vow (I DO); 59D: Ease, with "up" (LET).
18 comments:
Happy Earth Day y’all!
This puzzle was easy in places and difficult in others. Lots of fresh new puzzle words, but still, a lot of crappy 3 & 4 letter words too.
Once I headed down to 57A to pick up the theme key, then all the other four theme words quickly fell in place. This is a CW strategy that I’ve adopted and it has worked well for me in speeding up solution.
DAY AFTER DAY
This song just kept going thru my mind the whole time I was working the puzzle. Rod Stewart is a huge fave of mine.
Now I have to learn more about those mysterious stone figures on EASTER ISLAND.
I too wasn't happy to see TIGER WOODS in this puzzle.
I learned a few things today: that MOHAIR is angora, that AZO is a dye, and that Oregon has NOTAX on sales (wow, I’m going there to buy my new car).
Hmmm, I smell that new Gevalia coffee brewing!
~ John
It was fairly easy, theme was OK.
Well, Oregon has no sales tax. The first thing I thought of about spareribs was to ask myself, "Are there miniature meat axes. There are. This Asian one has a tenderizer on the reverse of the head.
Small Meat Ax
John, give a shout if you come out (to buy that new car).
Sfingi, interesting pic.
Have a great Thursday!
I also had a song going through my mind the whole time I was working the puzzle. It...wasn't Rod Stewart. And it has a swear word. Wait a minute, honey, I'm gonna Add It Up.
Decent enough puzzle, but nothing to write home about for my taste.
@SethG, I got a question for you. Is the line "Mo my my my my my mo my mum," as lyricsfreak.com has it, or "Mo my momma momma mo my mum," as I always assumed?
Don't forget if you buy something in one state, you still have to report and pay USE tax for it in the state you live. Unless you keep the item in the state you purchased it for a certain time period typically 6-12 months.
I found this puzzle not too difficult except the SW where I put in FALSIFIED, EPEE, and RUBIN to muck it up. E CLASS got me out of all of those errata.
Orange, I don't think he says momma. He does do "Mo my my my my my mo my mother" before "I would love to love you lover". And my hunch is confirmed with the original lyrics, here, which do not include "momma".
Incidentally, when I saw them play in Melbourne, in 2007, their rendition was remarkably similar to the 1988 version I linked to.
Hey, didn't Elton John sing about mohair?
A pleasant solve with some minor misdirection making it fun. Having lived and worked in Oregon, NOTAX was a gimme off of the A. Speaking of TWYLA, every time I see Tharp I think of Marie Tharp a geologist/oceanographer of the '50s and '60s. She was instrumental in revealing the mountain chains that underly the world's oceans. Unfortunately, because she did not have a PhD, she received very little credit for her work. Probably no relation.
Did not like FALSEFACE, but can accept it. Have seen the word AZO and now I know what it means, WOTD.
Gotta go get the Toyota smogged.
A few months ago, I frequently didn't notice or didn't get the themes. I've made enough progress that now I can catch even the not-so-obvious theme answers, like 17A CHIA LILY (very popular as gifts).
@SethG, yes, in "Bennie and the Jets", from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Today was a slog in Thurday time.
One 'Mug of Java.'
Wanted coffee for that "something with Breakfast" thought "cup of 'Joe'?" before BED.
Never saw "The Solist" so DOWNEY was all crosses.
AZO was a learning moment.
To think, I was bailed out by Abu DHABI.
At "Father of Sam and Charlie" I kept thinking: WTF
"Well I know it wasn't me!"
So I searched out the theme reveal, got LILY TOMLIN and TIGER and the other lilies fell.
Off --O--E had 'ye olde' before SHOPPE.
GOIN, INTO & IDO were the BILE factor.
TRISTE & UNIS, new Non-English.
NO TAX, a gimmie.
It was very easy for a Thursday, except that I also got stuck and put it Adele instead of Adela. I didn't know about Oregon's no tax policy so I was stumped until I read the blog. Everything else went fairly smoothly. Looking for the theme answers helps.
Now that the Violent Femmes have taken over my brain, words all fail the magic prize, nothing I can say ... bad about this puzzle.
Enjoyable.
@Orange, no momma in the section you referred to, lyricfreaks.com is pretty close on this one.
Boy, I know this is really going to date me, but does anyone ever remember seeing Adela Rogers St. John on Art Linkletter's House Party? She appeared now and then as a guest and I guess I paid attention. At least, I THINK that was the show she was on.
@David - pay cash and catch me if you can.
Trouble spots were 1) trying a few different spellings for DHABI before hitting on the right one and 2) entering ADELE and (incredibly) seeing the resulting MEATEX, not even thinking of MEAT AX, and figuring, well, meatex must be a butchering term I'm not aware of. Big d'oh and a red face.
Enjoyed the puzzle; didn't figure out the theme until I got to the LILY TOMLIN clue. I got the NO TAX in Oregon easily. I order a fair amount of stuff via the internet (Amazon, etc.) so have to keep those receipts set aside in order to pay the use tax in California as @*David* mentioned. One also has to pay the difference between what the out-of-state vendor charged for their state sales tax (when they do) and the rate in the CA county where I live. I suspect a lot of this use tax is not collected; there's got to be a better way. CA needs every cent it can get.
Decent but easy Thursday puzzle. I put in the X and N of the Oregon sales feature last, and I too figured that this puzzle must have been constructed before Tiger Woods' messy activities got found out.
This Is Earth day so I was looking for an earth day sort of theme. Struck out on that but idea except Lily could be earthy at times… remember one ringy dingy in PG’s photo.
A Lily Tomlin quote from many years ago:
“When we talk to God we’re praying. When God talks to us, we’re schizophrenic.”
Liked this puzzle a lot mainly because it filled itself in. I had to read the clues to the crosses to be sure they were right. (that rarely happens
for me)
Oregon has no sales tax? NJ 7% not fair!
New WOTD AZO
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