Theme answers:
- 20A: Promo after promo after promo? (AD INFINITUM).
- 35A: Thesis on promos? (COMMERCIAL PAPER).
- 52A: One who takes a promo off the air? (SPOT REMOVER).
I start a brand new job today so this is going to be quick. First time I've worked full-time outside the home since December 2003. Should be interesting!This puzzle was … a Tuesday puzzle. I mean, really. There's just not a lot to say about Tuesdays! The theme is cute but pretty thin (only three theme answers and no reveal), there's quite a bit of crosswordese, and the cluing is straightforward. Not all Tuesdays are as Scrabbly as this one is, and there are a couple cool words in the grid — ERSATZ, JOVE, LOOSE END — so overall, above average.
Bullets:
- 15A: Sport with mallets (POLO). Because "croquet" wouldn't fit.
- 16A: Like Andean pyramids (INCAN). Someday I will sit down and make myself learn the difference between the Incas and the Mayas. I know it must be simple, but I've just never taken the time.
- 48A: Keebler cookiemaker (ELF). It kind of cracks me up that this is stated as if it's true.
- 50A: Part of D.A.: Abbr. (ATT.). District ATTorney.
- 59A: Little laugh (TE-HEE). As I was typing this, I heard PuzzleSon remarking to PuzzleDaughter (sarcastically) "Tee Hee Hee." True story.
- 64A: "Winning __ everything" (ISN'T). It's the only thing! Second place is first loser! (Of course I'm kidding.)
- 2D: Scream bloody __ (MURDER). This is a great clue/answer combo.
- 3D: Voodoo and wizardry (MAGICS). On the other hand, this one is pretty bad. Plural MAGICS? Yuck.
- 21D: Darth, to Luke (FATHER). Spoiler alert!
- 31D: Banking giant (CHASE). I really wish there was no such thing as a banking giant.
Crosswordese 101: Amy chatted with us about EMS back in August of last year, but she didn't cover today's clue, 47A: Printers' widths. Whenever you see this clue, you know the answer will either be EMS or ENS, but you have to check the cross to know which one. It's a little more likely to be EMS but not enough that you should throw the M in there and feel like you're done. (By the way, these terms are used most often to refer to typographical dashes. If you're interested — and why wouldn't you be?! — you can read all about it here.)Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:
- 23A: Ike's WWII arena (ETO).
- 24A: Gumshoe (TEC).
- 26A: Old Olds creation (REO).
- 43A: Black Sea port (ODESSA).
- 49A: "__ Beso": Paul Anka hit (ESO).
- 61A: Aggressive Greek god (ARES).
- 4D: Yemeni port (ADEN).
- 7D: Jai __ (ALAI).
- 48D: Museum Folkwang city (ESSEN).
Everything Else — 1A: Jane Austen classic (EMMA); 5A: Lose it (SNAP); 9A: Marathoner's pants? (GASPS); 14A: Campus area (QUAD); 17A: More than suggest (URGE); 18A: Loud laugh (ROAR); 19A: Swordsman of lore (ZORRO); 25A: Chowed down (ATE); 27A: Bon mot expert (WIT); 28A: Artificial (ERSATZ); 30A: Put into words (SAY); 31A: Fourth century start (CCCI); 32A: Well-endowed, so to speak (CHESTY); 34A: Oil-yielding rock (SHALE); 39A: "Doe, __ ...": song lyric (A DEER); 40A: Metallic mixtures (ALLOYS); 41A: __ and turn (TOSS); 42A: Astern (AFT); 51A: Portuguese king (REI); 55A: Forest bucks (STAGS); 57A: __ Star State (LONE); 58A: "By __!" (JOVE); 60A: Knock off (DO IN); 62A: Sci-fi writer __ Scott Card (ORSON); 63A: Snow coaster (SLED); 1D: Put "=" between (EQUATE); 5D: Wine-and-soda drink (SPRITZER); 6D: Nary a soul (NO ONE); 8D: Actor's job (PORTRAYAL); 9D: Thingamajig (GIZMO); 10D: "Wheel of Fortune" purchase (AN O); 11D: Twist-off top (SCREW CAP); 12D: Word with board or physics (PARTICLE); 13D: More stuck-up (SNOOTIER); 22D: One-eighty (UEY); 29D: High points (ACMES); 30D: Long-legged bird (STILT); 33D: Building repair platforms (SCAFFOLDS); 34D: World of espionage (SPYDOM); 35D: Waits on hand and foot (CATERS TO); 36D: Dashboard gauge (ODOMETER); 37D: Saviors (MESSIAHS); 38D: Detail to tie up (LOOSE END); 42D: Matterhorn or Monte Leone (ALP); 44D: Really enjoys (SAVORS); 45D: Director Spielberg (STEVEN); 46D: Motionless (AT REST); 49D: "Sesame Street" regular (ERNIE); 53D: Saw or plane (TOOL); 54D: City east of Santa Barbara (OJAI); 56D: Political beginning? (GEO-).
27 comments:
@Puzzlegirl The very best to you on your new job... I just know you'll do well!
An enjoyable puzzle.
Speedy (5:23 online) for me, but with a few snags which slowed me down:
Had REV for UEY (that word always makes me chuckle).
Had STORK instead of STILT.
Wrote SPYING instead of SPYDOM.
Thought of SILKS instead of GASPS (got caught by a great misdirectional clue).
I failed to recognize the theme.
WOTD: “Portuguese King” (REI).
Word that I want to use in a conversation today: ERSATZ
I’ve always loved the classy look of the REO.
"Winning ISN’T everything, it's the only thing." This famous quote, usually attributed to Vince Lombardi, actually originated with college football coach Red Saunders, though Lombardi did say it as well. This saying has both educators and psychologists in a snit. What do you think about it?
Speaking of pride---
Texas, the LONE Star State’s pride. Of course, it’s Santa Claus! TEHEE !
Weird puzzle. Thin theme coverage, with massively open NE and SW corners. Enjoyed it, though theme did nothing for me. ERSATZ = great word.
rp
I tried to fit in MARIES instead of MURDER. Then I realized I'm dumb. Then I tried "By JOBE".
CHASE crossing COMMERCIAL PAPER is cute. CCCI is not, but I like SCREW CAP and PARTICLE. And ERSATZ CHESTY.
I really liked the theme puns today.
Really disliked ETO, CCCI, ESO, ATT, ANO. MAGICS is a weird plural, isn't it? Never heard of ORSON Scott Card. There's certainly a more Tuesday clue for ORSON.
Overall, better than average Tuesday fare for my taste.
Thank You PG and good luck with the new job!!
The theme didn't grab me - COMMERCIAL PAPER?? Never heard of that??
ORSON Scott Card is a great SciFi writer - loved many of his books :) Also really liked SPRITZER (always fun to say) and ERNIE (fav Sesame Street Character) Could have done without CCCI and ANO and couldn't get past Stork for STILT??
Happy Tuesday y'all
PuzzleGirl, Great write-up.
Much success at the new job.
(We all knew you'd get it).
OK, Three themes is pretty thin but they were good ones.
@Scully2066, As a (semi) retired, former CFO, COMMERCIAL PAPER was a gimmie.
@Seth G., Also liked that it crossed CHASE.
That brought out a TE-HEE (which I prefer as @PG wrote it Tee-Hee).
Some great Tuesday words. Just wondered if the CHESTY was ERSATZ.
SPRITZER sounds nice, but I will NEVER be seen having one.
All-in-all, this was a FUN offering.
cute theme, but i wish there had been a bit more of it. wide-open corners were nice, though.
i nominate OJAI for cw101. but maybe it's cw201.
Puzzle Girl - love your blog - always learn something new - and GOOD luck with your new job - we all know you will do well - your employers are lucky to have you.
The puzzle was easy, doable and quite a charm . Thanks for pointing out the diff between ens and ems dashes - we learn something new every day - what will we learn of next ?
Again have a great day, and the rest of the week !
@Tinbeni Ersatz & Chesty are practically synonyms here in southern California.
@Tinbeni Ersatz & Chesty are practically synonyms here in southern California.
CHESTY, CHESTier, CHESTiest - yes, it's measurable, even to the eyes. That's how I just these comparative/superlative adjectives.
Much Post-Googling for the dubious: OJAI, a town of 8K;
ORSON Scott Card, a Mormon Sci-Fier; UEY a term I still can't accept;
ETO an abbreviation I've never used nor seen.
But the Folkwang Museum is worth checking out. They have a German poster collection of 340,000. Wish they'd show more of them on the site.
COMMERICALPAPER is a sort of short-term, unsecured promissory note. Boring.
ERSATZ, a German word that got into English in the 40s with the shortage of many things; means substitute or phony. As opposed to Echt, the real thing. (Remember 4711 Echt Kolnische Wasser?)
Although the theme answers din't present much of a problem per se, they left me a little queasy. Mostly because I've never thought of ad, promo, commercial, and spot as being quite so interchangeable usage-wise.
All 3 theme entries refer to broadcasting, right?
Yet at 35A, don't "promo" and COMMERCIAL mean 2 different things in the context of broadcasting? I've always thought of a "promo" as anything from a longish announcement about a new or returning program usually aired at or before the beginning of a new season, to a one-liner on the order of "Tune in again at11:00PM for an update on today's top stories." In other words, aren't "promos" what networks, etc. use to "promote" their own programming?
On the other hand isn't a COMMERCIAL an actual paid ad for a product or service, or whatever?
And "ad" seems more general, in both content and placement. An "ad" could be either a broadcast "promo" or COMMERCIAL, but it could also be an inch-long entry in the Yellow Pages.
And SPOT seems to refer to length (e.g., 5-15 seconds as opposed to 30-60 seconds) or size (e.g, 1/8 page, as opposed to full spread). Or perhaps to type of contract, e.g., a SPOT placement, as opposed to a program sponsorship.
Viewing the above nonsense from a different angle, I can remember (many decades ago) wondering whether the growing number of "promos" meant that networks were having a hard time selling actual COMMERCIALs and were just filling empty air time, or that perhaps somebody was supplying hard data proving that "promos" actually do increase viewer/listener-ship.
And then there's Japanese broadcasting, where a COMMERCIAL is (or at least once was) referred to as CM (for "commercial message", pronounced shee-em), not only in scripts and schedules, but in everyday conversation among the general public.
I loved this one! True, the theme coverage is thin, but it's solid and left a lot of room for big chunks of open space.
Jeff
@PG,I'll raise my SPRITZER to your new job, Cheers!
MAGICS annoyed me, along with CCCI.(Get me my VOODOO word doll!)
Missed TEC & UEY entirely, as they got filled in with the crosses.
Pairings: A DEER & STAGS; ALAI& OJAI; ESSEN & LOOSE END; ADEN & ADINFINITUM;
ANON 8:17-TEHEE on ERSATZ CHESTY comment!
Nice Tuesday solve.
I did like the triple stack 8s in the corners and the triple stack 6s in the other, unfortunately the fill there wasn't that great.
PuzzleGirl:
re: Inca-v-Maya (and Aztec)
Incas - Andes Mountains, South America.
Mayas - Central America up through central Mexico.
Aztec - Central Mexico on up. Primarily Tenochtitlan
(now Mexico City area).
@ddbmc
Nice catch on the A DEER and STAGS.
Your Sox are continuing their pesky ways. Tonight I'm going to cheer on 'the Sox' ... the Chi-SOX.
(Homer crashes car into a deer)
Homer: D'oh!
Marge: A deer!
Lisa: A female deer!
Tinbeni beat me to the explanation of Inca v. Maya... by a lot but hey, I have to wait til afternoon to check this most days.
If you are now confused about Maya v. Aztec, since they both say Central Mexico, the Mayans lived and flourished (and mostly fell as a civilization) long before the Aztecs.
Also, fun fact, the Aztecs called themselves Mexica (Meh-sheek-ah), and never actually "Aztec", which explains why it's Mexico, not Azteco.
If you still have trouble, watch the Emperors New Groove. That's based on Incans, it'll explain everything. (Joking, but they are in a mountain region which could make you think Andes/S. America).
A word to the wise:
A UEY in Chicago is considered illegal on every main street whether it’s posted or not… I found that out the hard way… thank you, officer McGillicutty!
EMS and ENS are a printer’s measure, but back in the days of loose type they were also pieces of blank type used for spacings. I remember taking Print Shop in high school and getting my tray of lead type issued at the beginning of the semester. They weigh the tray before your first class and after your last class and the difference in weight you had to pay for. It happens that my tray started as way heavier than everybody else’s. Guess who got all their EM QUADs stolen? Yep, you got it, I had to pay $16 for the losses… my first lesson in what’s not fair.
Setting a newsletter in loose lead type… yikes! That makes me feel sooo old!
And no, I didn’t know Ben Franklin!
Now regarding Keebler and elves:
We lived real close to the Keebler cookie plant in Elmhurst Illinois. Their ADS boast that their cookies were made by elves. I’ll let you in on a trade secret… we toured their plant and guess what? There isn’t even one ELF in their plant. Shouldn’t their COMMERCIALS be considered deceptive advertising?
Then just south of us were the Oak Brook POLO grounds. We used to walk over there on Sunday afternoons and watch a POLO match with our kids. They loved seeing and petting the POLO ponies. Remember this funny episode of Ed Norton and Ralph Kramden and the POLO Ponies in the Honeymooners?
@JNH
Did you know Guttenberg?
And just because you didn't see them doesn't mean the Kibbler ELF wasn't there. (Maybe he was on a coffee break, dunkin' some of those cookies).
Well they are quite small and maybe they had them safely hidden from the general public. You know they worry a lot about them being kidnapped and wisked off to the North Pole.
Tuesday puzzle, Tuesday difficulty, no complaints. I enjoyed the puzzle for what it was.
OJAI was a gimme as I went to school in Santa Barbara but even more of a gimme in that Jamie Sommers, the Bionic woman, called OJAI her home town in the all too short lived Bionic Woman show. Even as important, Steve Austen, the Bionic Man, was originally from OJAI. See, OJAI is a lot more important than one would think ...
OK, best I got at trying to justify OJAI ;^)
Knock it out of the park in your new job, PG.
Went to Sound of Music singalong at the Hollywood Bowl with the kids last weekend and they had a pre-show costume contest including DO a DEER. The winner? A 3-year-old whose grandma had made a "drop of golden sun" costume.
Really wanted SNOOTIER to be SNOTTIER.
@Wolfenden - I had SNObbIER first.
Comments from Hubster - During dubya dubya 2, we never said eee-tee-oh.
Dubya dubya 2 takes longer to say than World War Two and UTEY is harder to say than Yoo Turn.
These are not improvements.
And we did know Guttenberg. Called him GooTee. He could print a mean book.
Maybe you never called it the ETO, but they did. See this, or this.
Bum = 'HEINIE? That was one on me.
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