10.04.2010

M O N D A Y   October 4, 2010—Lila Cherry

Today's puzzle was not available online by the time I had to leave for work this morning. I'll post it later this evening when I get home. Sorry!
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Okay, now that Angela has left for work, we can play. Amy here with a copy of my Diary of a Crossword Fiend post.



THEME: "Gooey Sammich"—Five theme entries begin with the words PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH
The theme is a gooey PB&J sammich:
  • 17a. [Sources of rowdy criticism] are PEANUT GALLERIES. Does that really take a plural? Singular feels much more familiar.
  • 25a. BUTTERBALL is a [Turkey brand].
  • 38a. The ampersand, or [&], may be informally called the AND SIGN.
  • 49a. [Colorful plastic footwear] is JELLYSHOES. Don’t eat ‘em, folks.
  • 59a. [Hawaii once comprised most of them] clues the SANDWICH ISLANDS.

I love some of the longer fill—STAND PAT, BEN STEIN the game show EMCEE, CHAMELEON, and PERCHANCE are terrific entries. Some of the short answers gave me more trouble, which I wasn’t expecting on a Monday (but then, it was before 7 a.m. when I was doing the puzzle, pre-breakfast and pre-caffeine):

  • 1a. COCKY means [Self-confident to a fault]. Clear enough, but I drew a blank on it and skipped the upper right corner until later.
  • 16a. [ROTC school WSW of Washington, D.C.] is VMI, or Virginia Military Institute. Voo Much Information!
  • 32a. [Recline, biblically] clues LIETH. These biblical verb answers are a category of fill that I don’t care for.
  • 2d. [Aptly named California coastal city] is indeed aptly named: OCEANSIDE. Too bad Oceanside is pretty much unknown to me.
  • 6d. [Severity, in Soho] clues RIGOUR with the British “U” spelling (there’s a Soho in London as well as in New York City).
  • 8d. This one was a gimme, but it troubled me. KIL. as [About .62 mi.] is awkward because km is the more widely accepted abbreviation for kilometer.
  • 19d. [Opener's next call, in bridge] is REBID. My kid was asking about bridge the other day. My husband told him it was a game for very old people. I said “Hey! Brendan Quigley plays bridge.” My husband said he was an exception. So you see that we are not a bridge-embracing household. Nautical, poker, bridge, and biblical verbs—among my least favorite categories of fill.
  • 48d. [Omega preceders], P*IS…is it PHIS or PSIS? I usually have to check the crossing to figure it out. It’s PSIS.
  • 60d. [All-Pro Patriots receiver Welker] is named WES…but I’ve never heard of him, I don’t think. Current player, or player of yore?
  • 62d. The CCU [Hosp. heart ward] doesn’t get much play in crosswords. It may stand for coronary care unit or cardiac care unit. Other *CUs besides the ICU include the SICU (surgical), MICU (medical), NICU (neonatal or neurological), and PICU (pediatric), none of which you are likely to encounter in crosswords.
Your assignment today is threefold, pupils. It's Blog-It-Yourself Day!
  1. Head to YouTube and watch a video that today's puzzle evokes.
  2. Do a Google image search on a word like JELLY or BUTTERBALL and find a goofy picture. No, better yet, find a hilarious picture to accompany the word REBID.
  3. Nominate your own Crosswordese 101 entry from today's puzzle and see if it's already been covered here. If it hasn't, make up lies about the word.
P.S. Constructor "Lila Cherry" is one of editor Rich Norris's noms de plume.

P.P.S. Sorry about the font madness!

26 comments:

Tinbeni said...

Got RIGOUR, slapped my head and said:
"Damn, it's the London SOHO!"

TATI Jacques, isn't he that guy we see all the time in movies (not the star) and identify as "What's his name?"

At 58 I still love a good PB & J. Nioe theme.

Best friend had a Heart Transplant. CCU was a gimmie.

Didn't care for the IN RED clue, How stop signs are painted. Was thinking of the method or kind of paint.

I guest the editor, Rich, didn't catch the awkward KIL for KM, written by himself.
Frankly, I think he needs to get someone to edit HIS puzzles.

Jeffrey said...

Song of the day has to be Karma Chameleon

Sfingi said...

Oh, good.

Wanted Ampersand before ANDSIGN, but it didn't fit. Then I realized there was a theme.

Didn't know VMI, WES (sports) or the heart ward (CCU), but got on crosses, as a Mon. should provide.

There are many strange pictures of Jacques TATI. This one's goofy enough.

But not TATI Rosalino, whoever that is.

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

A fun Monday level puzzle. Thanks Lila (umm, I mean Rich).
And thanks Amy, for standing in for Puzzlegirl.
1. Okay here’s one part of the do-it-yourself writeup:
A video of Pat Paulsen (presidential candidate) whose motto back in 1968e as “We Can’t STAND PAT”. Omigosh, if he had won we would have elected the first dead president. I liked him! But then, I always like the underdogs. Hey, I’m a diehard Chicago Cubs fan and I wanna buy an Edsel.
2. Now what could be funnier than a ZIT photo?… many ZITS. Well it’s not very funny if you have them on your wedding day! But still, the name ZIT is sooo funny!
3. Here’s my candidate for CW101: AMOI
This word has been used over a hundred times in the past ten years and I’m surprised that it never made the list.

Well the theme today had me drooling… no not the BUTTERBALL turkey.
IT WAS THE GOOEY PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH !
My preference for Thanksgiving dinner.
That and sitting and arguing with BEN STEIN, instead of my relatives… now that would be a perfect Thanksgiving for me.

What the heck are JELLY SHOES? Never heard of them.

Van55 said...

With the exception of KIL, I liked this puzzle. Too bad Rich has to do all the LAT Mondays himself these days. :)

C said...

Good puzzle, I sixth the declaration that KIL is an awkward answer when KM is the universal norm (except in cross word puzzles, of course)

I nominate SISAL for CW 101. It's actually pronounced SIZE-ALL and is used in the clothes manufacturing community to describe clothes that fit all shapes and sizes like muu-muu's, serapes and capes.

OK, not really, it truly is a plant fiber used for making ropes, rugs, etc. Boring.

Sfingi said...

@John - Loved the video. Wished it ran slower. Laughed and cried. He was even making fun of things before they happened - Bush in his flight suit, for instance.
But, I forget how this relates to today's CW.

I seventh it. The next person will have 8 it.

Tinbeni said...

Orange, forgot to mention, Thank you for filling in for PuzzleGirl.

JNH
Thanks for the Paulsen clip.
I always could STAND PAT.
Leader of the Straight Talking American Gov't., or
STAG Party. Something we will never have.

Liked World SERIES in the grid.
Sorry about your Cubs. There's always next year.

CW101 today is IMP. Surprised that pesky kid wasn't already listed.

BTW - Happy 53rd Sputnik Day!

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

Sorry for all my silliness. I get that way on "blue" Mondays. But I was just thinking about ZIT and as how there are only two Z-words in CW101, maybe that should be the candidate. @Tinbeni, I forgot about the STAG Party, but of course back then STAG parties meant something entirely different... oh, to be young again!
Okay I'll throw my vote in to kill KIL. Geez, Rich, couldn't you have made it RALED/LIL? There's a zillion thing you could do with LIL or LI'L.

KJGooster said...

I liked the bottom row. Ripped from the headlines of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle: NED SPURS STEER. Must be quite a cowpoke.

SethG said...

What is raled? If he wanted an easy change, its a t instead of the k.

Crosscan, I much prefer Run Runaway.

UNCLE is a relative, similar to AUNT (though sometimes crossed with ANT). Generally the brother of one's father or mother, your UNCLE may also be a man married to your parent's sibling. It may also be a cry of surrender. My UNCLEs include KALMAN and FREDDIE and MURRAY, while other famous uncles include BUCK, JESSE, JESSE, and WIGGILY IN CONNECTICUT.

Jeff Chen said...

Nice Monday puzzle, clever theme! I like having no theme reveal on something like this.

I think I would I chosen RAGED / GIL to avoid KIL, but it's hard to argue with COCKY RAKED ASS across the top. Especially when NED SPURS STEER.

Jeff

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KJGooster said...

@JNH: Sorry to nitpick, but that's what we do here ;). RALE is a noun, with no verb form. You might say a patient has RALES (crackles in their lungs), but you wouldn't say he/she RALED or was RALING. Unless there's another definition I'm unaware of.

John Wolfenden said...

I'll follow with another nickpick, since I hate it when the grammar of clues is wrong: LIETH should be clued "Reclines, biblically" not "Recline."

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

Well maybe my doctor is wrong because he said "she RALED because she has too much fluid in her lung". Now I looked it up in the dictionary and it says it is both a noun and a verb. See definition 2 here.

CrazyCat said...

Hi everyone. Just back from my TRIP. Stayed in a cottage a few miles south of OCEANSIDE with a dysfunctional internet connection. Instead of making a big ADO, I just said UNCLE and lived without a computer for six days. AVILA is also a coastal CA town. I was totally confused by RIGOUR. Glad that got cleared up. Don't get me started about the COCKY ASS that lives down the street.

I liked this ODE to the PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH.
Amy, thanks for subbing today.

Really? said...

Mosby's Dental Dictionary? That's the only cite you can find?

I'm thinking there's a good reason raled has never appeared in the puzzle...

KJGooster said...

@JNH: OK, I'll buy it. But in 18 years in medicine I don't think I've ever heard anyone use it as a verb. Of course if common usage were a criteria for a crossword, constructors would have a real challenge.

3 and out...

Orange said...

Mosby's Dental Dictionary is great for dental terminology but not a trusted reference for medical terminology. I checked both the Dorland and Stedman's medical dictionaries (which KJGooster surely respects) and "rale" is strictly a noun there. It's seldom used in the singular; just "rales." RALED ≠ a real word. I don't doubt that JNH's doctor used it as a verb, but doctors aren't right about everything, especially when it comes to the language.

Orange said...

P.S. Considering having a PBCC sandwich for supper tonight. (CC = chocolate chips. Don't knock it till you've tried it.)

hazel said...

Welcome back, @CrazyCat!

Very nice theme - I like my PB&Js on white bread with potato chips. My dogs like their PB (in the form of Gooberlicious dog treats) neat, without the J.

I'm hopeful that the SERIES/TED are good omens for the Braves' postseason chances. They play at the Turner Field, which is nicknamed The TED.

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

Far better than PB&J:
Peanut Butter and Fresh Tomato Sandwich... yummm!
And if you're Elvis it's Peanut Butter and Banana

CrazyCat said...

PB and CC sounds pretty darn good, especially on a nice crusty baguette. PB and tomatoes? Not sure about that, but I'll take your word @JNH. My favorite is the retro Wonder Bread, chunky Skippy and Welch's grape jelly. My dogs like PB in their Kong Balls.

Interesting fact about OCEANSIDE: It's just south of Camp Pendelton Marine Corps Base which is huge. San Clemente is on the northern border. The base includes 17 miles of undeveloped coastline and there's now a large vineyard there right next to the 5.

Sfingi said...

Hubster likes his PB spread on an apple as he bites his way down to the core.
I prefer mine on any kind of toast, but favorite jelly is Ginger.

I know a Cuban who hates peanut butter, and can't believe we eat it; but he also hates squirrels - who like PB on crackers. This same treat is the mouse's downfall.

There's a wonderful chapter on George Washington Carver in The Secret Life of Plants. We need to salute this saintly man every time we have our PB.

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