A very nice Saturday offering today from Neville Fogarty. If I'm not mistaken, this is Neville's debut puzzle. No, wait. He had a puzzle in the Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month, and I remember enjoying that one too. And I guess while we're spending some time talking about Neville, I should let you know that he has an entertaining blog, if you're interested in that sort of thing.So, the puzzle. Lots of good stuff! I do just want to say right up front (to get it out of the way), that EXCITERS (3D: They'll get you going) is hideous. But you knew that. COOERS (56A: Doves and loves) is a little better, but not much. But if I start whining too much just give me two words: MONEY SHOT (6A: Angle on the Titanic sinking, to filmmakers). How awesome is that?! Now there's no doubt it would have been clued differently in, say, a BEQ puzzle, but even with this G-rated clue it's a great entry.
Bullets:
- 15A: Gwen's "Chicago" role, 1975 (ROXIE). Well, I knew one of them was named ROXIE. Oh, I just noticed this clue refers to the 1975 musical, not the 2002 movie. Gwen Verdon played ROXIE Hart in the 1975 version. Renée Zellweger was ROXIE in the movie.
- 19A: Vulnerable spot (BLIND SIDE). Speaking of movies, I never did see this one. I really want to read the book first. I heard the book is really good and it was written by Michael Lewis, the same guy who wrote Moneyball, which is one of my favorite books of all time.
- 22A: Takeout throw-in (CATSUP). This is one of those words that makes me cringe. I don't know why, but it really bugs me.
- 36A: Mess up, as power cords (ENSNARL). I am so looking forward to the day when everything is wireless so there won't be any ENSNARLments in my house!
- 54A: Letters seen near a tilde (ESC). The ESCape key is near the tilde key on a typical computer keyboard.
- 61A: TV show set at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (THE OFFICE).
- 1D: Traditional food at the Preakness (CRAB CAKE). The Preakness is always run at Pimlico in Maryland, so I guess that makes sense. They do like their CRAB CAKEs in Maryland.
- 4D: Team with a mascot named Roary (LIONS). Rex Parker's favorite team.
- 13D: Dan Aykroyd's birthplace (OTTAWA). I always forget he's Canadian.
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Everything Else — 1A: Small power source (C CELL); 16A: "Be right there!" ("IN A MINUTE!"); 17A: Big name in wrap (ALCOA); 18A: Out-of-court testifiers (DEPONENTS); 21A: Suggest (GET AT); 23A: 1942 FDR creation (OSS); 25A: Lea lady (EWE); 26A: Golden __ (AGE); 27A: It leads the way (PROW); 29A: Words in an infomercial disclaimer (PAID AD); 32A: Russell of "Felicity" (KERI); 34A: Actually (IN FACT); 39A: Came out with (UTTERED); 43A: Unstable situation (CRISIS); 45A: '70s attire making a comeback (MAXI); 46A: They can be rare (STEAKS); 49A: Charlie Brown never became one (TEEN); 52A: Decks, briefly (KOS); 53A: Many a startup ender, these days (COM); 58A: Make up (for) (ATONE); 63A: Ticketing agent? (METER MAID); 65A: Top level (ATTIC); 66A: Opened (PREMIERED); 67A: Drink garnish (TWIST); 68A: Words you may hear after being hurt (I'M SO SORRY); 69A: Measures of volume (SONES); 2D: Lip enhancer (COLLAGEN); 5D: Help cause, with "to" (LEAD UP); 6D: It's shorter than a 45-Across (MIDI); 7D: Barely losing (ONE DOWN); 8D: Barbers may shave them (NAPES); 9D: Genre of the 1997 album "Nothing Feels Good" (EMO); 10D: Qin dynasty family name (YING); 12D: Tried to trap (HUNTED); 14D: Stuck a toe in (TESTED); 20D: Three-mo. period (SPR.); 24D: Old footwear accessory (SPAT); 28D: Works on canvas (OILS); 30D: Routine (ACT); 31D: It may follow a bullet (ITEM); 33D: Old empire builder (INCA); 35D: Solder, say (FUSE); 37D: Old animal shelter (ARK); 38D: Get ready for a pledge (RISE); 40D: Win big (RAKE IT IN); 41D: Dispossess? (EXORCISE); 42D: Takes apart (DISSECTS); 44D: More fidgety (ITCHIER); 46D: Garlicky entrée (SCAMPI); 47D: Common way to carry a child? (TO TERM); 48D: Works on stage (EMOTES); 50D: Friendly start? (ECO-); 51D: Music to a dieter's ears (NO FATS); 55D: Name on a controversial 1998 report (STARR); 57D: Lesser __ evils (OF TWO); 59D: Marlin's son, in a 2003 film (NEMO); 60D: Greek goddess of discord (ERIS); 62D: Kayaker's obstacle (EDDY); 64D: __ periculo: at my own risk (MEO).
14 comments:
Neville Fogarty ??
that sure looks like Alan Ruck or his twin.
http://www.80s.com/saveferris/cast/ruck.html
good puzzle.
BTW, why is it that there's no WORD VERIFICATION code that shows up on the first attempt at a comment? You have to submit it once (because there's nothing there!), then it will tell you "The characters you entered didn't match the word verification. Please try again". Then you type in what you see, and your comment goes in.
Thanks for the write-up, PG! This is my first LAT puzzle since you started LA Crossword Confidential, but my third overall - I had a Tuesday puzzle in 2008 and 2009. But who's counting? :D
Yes, I was surprised myself that MONEY SHOT was going to be able to run. I'd love to see what BEQ would clue it as!
@D - That's not a picture of me - it's Neville Longbottom from "Harry Potter" :) We do look surprisingly a lot alike, though, if you ask me! I don't think I look as much like Ruck, but I do love "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." "Spin City" was pretty good, too.
I've got a couple more puzzles in the LAT pipeline right now - who knows - I might have two LAT puzzles this year!
Congratulations, Neville! I enjoyed this one. Moneyshot is my favorite, too.
Just one question: what is PAIDAD?
@D: Neville is a lot more handsome than this picture. Come to the Lollapuzzoola and you'll meet him.
Have fun today, PG! Can we see the march/rally anywhere on tv?
Thanks, mac! PAIDAD = PAID AD, as in "This has been a PAID AD for Nordic Track(tm)"
PuzzleGirl: Hope you and PuzzleFamily have fun with the RexClan in DC today.
Stop the Insanity ... my new motto.
Neville: Really liked your puzzle.
This was the perfect for when Gal-Pal and I were at the Hospital (yup, they moved him, doesn't look good) this morning. I think they're going to DISSECTs him, ugh.
CrazyCatLady: Love the Avatar.
SOOOOO ... you finally saved Zin from that tree.
Write-overs today, IN A SECOND for IN A MINUTE, CANADA for Ackroyd's OTTAWA (damn, I IN FACT knew where he's from) just thought it was a general question.
Unless we get rain, today or tomorrow, this will be the first month ever here in Tampa Bay that our guage read zero, zip, nada.
But man-o-man is it beautiful here today.
Fall in Fla is like SPR!
(No rain = Tinster can delay that work on his ARK ... I hate real work in any form or fashion!)
Time to get out of Villa Incognito, hmmm CRAB CAKEs for lunch sounds great to me.
Cheers to everyone at sunset.
An enjoyable puzzle. I even liked exciters because it can be a source of electricity for a motor and will "get you going."
I love garlic and shrimp which was the first word I tried and then scampi came in a duh! moment.
Wrestled with various forms of tote as in a bag or something to carry a child in. "To term" brought a smile.
Have always loved Gwen Verdon since seeing her as Lola in Damn Yankees. Thanks for the memory, Neville.
Come back soon, please.
Found this much more difficult than yesterday's. A very enjoyable challenge. The writeovers: oneMINUTE/INAMINUTE, headS/NAPES, saran/ALCOA, and dontWORRY/IMSOSORRY. Googles: ROXIE, KERI, and NEMO... all of which are pop culture, my nemesis.
Had the most trouble in the NE where I was unfamiliar with the term DEPONENTS, my WOTD. All in all, very tricky clueing of (mostly) well known words. Interestingly, I think there was only one foreign word, (MEO), and one partial, (OFTWO). Very well done Neville.
Great, challenging puzzle, Neville. It was quite the workout. Congrats! As far as that picture of chicken with broccoli cheese sauce on your blog - IM SO SORRY :>)
I had a lot of write-overs - BLIND spot instead of SIDE, saran instead of ALCOA, pates before NAPES and IN A second. Pretty much was able to get them all worked out eventually. One square was left blank, the I in the cross of PAID AD and ITEM. I really didn't like EXCITERS, but that was about my only nit.
I found out the other day that SCAMPI means shrimp in Italian.
@Tinbeni - Yes, I finally coaxed the little Zin to come down out of the tree.
@Mac - CNN said they would be checking in on the rally throughout the day and will have coverage tonight. Rex and PG have been tweeting.
@D- that always happens to me too.
Go Giants! My son sent me great pictures of the crazy flotilla out in McCovey Cove next to the ball park during the Thursday night game. Looked like a fun party.
Thank you all for your kind words!
EXCITERS was never my favorite either, but I didn't think it a stinker, either. Glad to hear how much the rest of the puzzle was enjoyed, though!
I'm slowly but surely getting more puzzles accepted - you haven't heard the last of me!
And CrazyCatLady - thanks for the commiseration! I assure you that dinner tasted much better than is looked, though! :D
Good puzzle today. EXCITERS is a bit ... Er, different but obtainable in the puzzle's other clues.
Vamos Gigantes,vamos!
Big-time DNF for me. Even after Googling everything Googlable, I was still lost. This is one of those where the challenge was all in the cluing; I'm looking at it now, going, why was that so hard?
Two cryptics I did get the gist of were "Common way to carry a child?" and "Ticketing agent?", but alas, I needed many crosses to get the actual answers. For the former I wanted IN UTERO, but it didn't fit. For the latter, I was looking for variants of "parking cop".
One I like, even though I didn't get it till late, is "Dispossess?" -> EXORCISE. It works on two levels: not only are you making the victim no-longer-possessed, but you're evicting (i.e. dispossessing) the demon from its home.
ENSNARL bugs me a bit because of the gratuitous EN-, but reminds me of a sport I heard about on radio a couple of years ago, that's all about UNsnarling: speedcabling. Watch the YouTube clip on that page; it tells the whole story. (Well almost; the one remaining question is, how do they ENSNARL those messes of cable? Answer: throw'em in a clothes dryer for a few minutes (on the no-heat setting, I hope!))
@D, @CCL: I don't have that word-verification problem. Must be a browser-dependent bug on the page. (I have a similar, but different problem: when I click "Name/URL", I have to hit Preview before the text-entry boxes appear. But that's not a bug; it's my own doing: I have Javascript disabled on this page.)
Well done, Neville. Tough but fair -- just what I like in a Saturday puzzle.
I always want to spell OTTAWA as OTTOWA, so that held me up in the NE for a while. I too had SARAN instead of ALCOA, and tried HEADS and NECKS before NAPES.
And if you're a Twitter-y sort, Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor of THE OFFICE) is worth following (@mindykaling).
KJG & Eric - tough but fair & answers that you know (even if the clues are tricky) are what I enjoy in a Saturday puzzle, too, so I'm glad you found it that way! :D
Excellent puzzle. The only gimmes for me were ROXIE and THE OFFICE. This could have been a DNF for me, but the ones I solved were so good, they increased my determination. Now that's what makes a good puzzle!
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