Theme answers:
- 17A: *"That's a certainty!" ("BANK ON IT!").
- 22A: *Say "Well done," say (PAY A COMPLIMENT).
- 34A: *Cover the night's check (SPRING FOR DINNER).
- 46A: *Generate sales leads (DRUM UP BUSINESS).
- 54A: Attendance check, and a hint to the puzzle theme in the first words of the starred answers (ROLL CALL).
What we have today is a perfectly serviceable Tuesday. It's got a fine theme, with fine theme answers. The fill, most of which is short, is fine. Other than the theme, the longest answers in the grid are NO OUTLET and HELSINKI, which are ... fine. Unfortunately, it's just really hard to get excited about Tuesdays. If I show up here on a Tuesday and I'm not complaining about a weak theme and griping about a bunch of answers that I don't like, then I think we can call it a success.Bullets:
- 1A: Homey (COZY). Wanted this answer to be "bro" or "buddy" or something like that.
- 21A: Mousse user (SALON). HAha! Misread this as "Mouse user," which I'm sure is exactly what I was supposed to do!
- 30A: Bozo (JERK). I think of a bozo as more of a dummy than a JERK, but either way "bozo" is an excellent put-down.
- 31A: Remark from Rex (ARF). I don't get why dogs are so often named Rex in CrossWorld. Is that really a typical dog name? Spot, Fido, Rover? Sure. Rex? Not so much.
- 42A: "Brave New World" drug (SOMA). We'll cover this in Crosswordese 301.
- 51A: Nae sayer (SCOT). "Nae" is how they say the word "no" in Scotland.
- 1D: Chard alternative (CAB) and 3D: Chard alternative (ZIN). Is chard a leafy green vegetable? Hold on .... Yes. Yes it is. Was anyone else tricked by this or was it just me because I'm not a wine drinker?
- 5D: Chandler's "Friends" ex-girlfriend with an annoying laugh (JANICE). Great clue! By far my favorite thing in the whole puzzle.
- 56D: Poetic pugilist (ALI). I thought I was looking for a boxer that appeared in a poem, not a boxer who himself was prone to lapsing into poetry.
Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:
- 14A: Converse competitor (AVIA).
- 41A: Long-tongued cartoon dog (ODIE).
- 60A: Doctor of music? (DRE).
- 62A: Some dadaist paintings (ERNSTS).
- 2D: Egg cells (OVA).
- 8D: No more seats, on a sign (SRO).
- 24D: Rumored Himalayan beast (YETI).
Everything Else — 5A: Boeing product (JET); 8A: Shoulder wraps (SHAWLS); 15A: Fuss (ADO); 16A: Immensely popular (RED HOT); 19A: "Ripe" part of life (OLD AGE); 20A: Ceremonial act (RITE); 27A: Rock examiner? (JEWELER); 28A: A seeming eternity (EONS); 39A: Function (USE); 40A: Suave to a fault (OILY); 43A: Obvious (EVIDENT); 50A: Knock one's knuckles against (RAP AT); 52A: To excess (OVERLY); 59A: Blew off steam (VENTED); 61A: Skin lotion additive (ALOE); 63A: Verizon rival (AT&T); 64A: Coquette (MINX); 4D: Himalayan beast (YAK); 6D: Magazine VIP (EDITOR); 7D: Carved pole (TOTEM); 9D: Capital east of Oslo (HELSINKI); 10D: "Mysterious and spooky" TV family name (ADDAMS); 11D: Ahab's quarry (WHALE); 12D: Start one's work day, maybe (LOG ON); 13D: Angioplasty implant (STENT); 18D: Like much family history (ORAL); 22D: Offenders, in copspeak (PERPS); 23D: Enlightened (AWARE); 25D: Word with group or pressure (PEER); 26D: British nobleman (LORD); 27D: Son of God, in a Bach cantata (JESU); 30D: Elation (JOY); 31D: Bolivian range (ANDES); 32D: Stagecoach controls (REINS); 33D: Fuss (FRET); 35D: Sign at a cul-de-sac (NO OUTLET); 36D: Hobbling gait (GIMP); 37D: Love handles, so to speak (FLAB); 38D: Botanical branch point (NODE); 42D: Stings (SMARTS); 43D: Companion (ESCORT); 44D: Purple shade (VIOLET); 45D: Worldwide: Abbr. (INTL.); 46D: Took the wheel (DROVE); 47D: Ecstatic film critic, e.g. (RAVER); 48D: Sch. founded by Franklin (U. PENN.); 49D: Dietary standard often measured in mg. (USRDA); 53D: NFL rushing nos. (YDS.); 55D: "Overhead" engine part (CAM); 57D: "Man of a Thousand Faces" Chaney (LON); 58D: Archvillain Luthor (LEX).
31 comments:
yes, the Chard clues were stinkers
(...I'm not an abbreviated wine drinker either)
PuzzleGirl, I must be on your wavelength today.
I looked at Homey, saw the Bozo/JERK clue/ans. and thought of "Homey the Clown."
COZY came later.
Had RAP ON before the PERPS showed it was RAP AT as I knocked my knuckles on my clipboard.
JESU was a learning moment.
LOG ON brought a smile. It is how I "go-to-work" everyday (after that 15 foot commute, traffic was horrible this morning, geez!).
Jeff, thanks for a FUN Tuesday.
I like spring rolls.
Thank you PG as always -
I have to agree - the puzzle was OK for a Tuesday and we did get that tasty treat - SPRINGROLL out of it.
Never did get the wine clues - came in the crosses but did enjoy seeing JEWELER and SALON (clever clue)
Happy Tuesday all!
Thanks, PG, for making me feel a little better about my first DNF in quite a while. Wouldn't know a CABfandel from a ZINernet. And D, I too would have expected abbrev.-al punc. with them.
If-anybody-cares: Re 27D, although "JESU Joy of Man's Desiring" is not itself the title of Bach's cantata (text by Salomo Franck), it is indeed, as clued, "from" the BWV147 (and the shorter BWV147a) cantata "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben" (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life) where it is the opening Chorus. It was apparently scored by Bach to be bolder (faster and louder(?)) than the 'romantic' arrangements for various instruments (and solo voices) that are so prevalent at weddings, etc. today. That's not a complaint, by the way!
The second forgettable puzzle of the week for me.
The chard clues stumped me for a bit because I have never heard or used "chard" as short for " Chardonnay.". I too thought of chard the green veggie.
Absolute worst clue was Chard alternative. You would not alternate a red wine for a white. Any other white varietal would be an alternative to Chardonnay....just sayin'
Only got those two clues after filling the crosses and grouched at hubby right away, and I'm a winemaker!!!!!
Hey, Pzl Grl! Got me too on the Chard alt.Couldn't find a spinach-like substance that remotely resembled CAB or ZIN.One bad clue does not a bad puzzle make. Or something like that.C-ya!!
Stefania's comment was the nail in the coffin of any assertion that the Chard alternatives belonged in a Tues puzzle. With no indication that Chard was an abbreviation, it could only be a natural supposition that it was an abbreviation to an oenophile, instead of meaning simply, chard (did anyone even check whether chard was a thing or not?). Add the fact that an oenophile would never substitute a ZIN for a Chard, and you've got an unforgivable mess. That corner could have been so easily re-written, there's no excuse for that.
I too was totally flummoxed by the Chard clue. We've been into leafy green vegies around this house for some years now and all I could think of was kale, spinach, etc. Also, in my circles chard is not an accepted abbreviation. (Although cab & zin are.) Furthermore, as pointed out by @Stefania, cabernets and zinfandels are NOT alternatives to chardonays. This is either the best or worst clue of the month.
GET'EM, Anonymous!!!!
OK puzzle for a Tuesday. We aren't hitting the highs of last weeks puzzles but we are expected a bit of a lull.
As to the Chard clue. I am OK with the clue (once I got past the hard 'CH' and replaced it with the softer 'SH' sound) I liked the variance of the cluing. Now, do many people use the shortened Chard for Chardonnay? Not really and that's the tricky part of the clue. As to swapping a chardonnay for a ZIN or CAB, yes, I would do it at any time if that's what I wanted to drink. Wine doesn't always have to be drunk with food and whites don't always have to go with fish. A nice spicy fish dish and a spicy ZIN is a good thing, IMO, a battle royale on the palate.
I left 1D and 3D blank at their middle letters because I didn't know the Converse competitor (AVIA) and couldn't see beyond chard = veggie. Grrrr. Otherwise a fine puzzle and enjoyed the 'ROLL'CALL theme. Got a chuckle at "Stagecoach controls' (REINS) and @PG's picture of Homey the Clown.
Fun Tuesday level puzzle. I got the chard alternative clues right away because I already had COZY in place (just got back from a long weekend in a *very* COZY cabin in the local mountains).
I am a frequent chard imbiber (unoaked), but if I'm having say, wine and cheese in a COZY cabin on a cold day, I would switch to a CAB or an old vine ZIN. Not a big ADO. Also what @C says is true. It's fun to mix things up a bit with food and wine pairings. Coq au vin is a good example of a chicken dish usually made and served with a full bodied red. Maybe it's a CA thing, but I almost always refer to my chardonnay as "chard."
Liked RED HOT over OLD AGE and YAK over YETI.
Time to PAY A COMPLIMENT to both Jeff and PG - good work. Thanks!
Okay, here's my confused thinking for your entertainment. I thought the first alternative for chard might be RAB as in broccoli rabe or raab (forgetting how it was spelled) and when ZIN came to me I thought, how clever that Chard is the veggie first and the wine second. So how did I think ROZY might be homey? Didn't. On my smallish monitor and with my weak eyes I thought 'homey' was 'horney' and had no clue what that meant (but thought it would be a rather rude clue 1 if it was a strange spelling of 'horny'). Go ahead and laugh, I'm a Larry S.
Chard sucked I was thinking leafy veggie as well. It's one thing to have one chard but to put two chards in there with little room to finesse is hard! Then you got homey which I think is like bro and you got a whole lot of funky stuff going on in my head. Not cool Jeff, you're on my list until next time, homey.
By the way, you know that little cat in my avatar picture? Her name is Zinfandel - ZIN or Zinnie for short.
Hand up on the Chard clues. It was missing a period.
Liked PEER next to its alternative LORD.
Otherwise, decent, but not thrilling puz.
Well, pace CrazyCatLady, this CA wine imbiber never uses Chard for Chardonnay, but CAB and ZIN are common. Maybe its an Orange County thing, as opposed to the academic atmosphere of Claremont.
Other than the Chard clues, it was a good CW, if I may PAYACOMPLIMENT.
The clue was misleading and it looks like a lot of people thought it was the leafy green too.
If someone were to ask me for an alternative to Chardonnay I would start with other whites, like Viognier, Chenin Blanc, or Sylvaner.
An alternative to pepsi, is coke. At least that's how I read the clue.
I don't consider myself an Oenophile by definition "An oenophile (/ˈiːnəfaɪl/) is a lover of wine. In the strictest sense, ... Oenophiles are also known as wine aficionados or connoisseurs."
I'm merely a winemaker and viticulturist by trade.
It's almost noon, I think I'll open a cab and pour a glass, or should I start with a chard today?
There's nothing wrong with the chard clue... once. Twice in the same block is unforgivable since it pretty much destroys your chances of getting it from the crosses. Especially if, like me, you spelled COZY with an S like you'd suddenly awoken on the wrong side of the ocean. I'm all like "what do taxis and sin have in common with an obscure vegetable!?"
What else... ERNSTS threw me because I prefer his later surrealist stuff to his early dada works. Liked the SE corner. Even though it was a lot of trivia (four three-letter proper names), it was trivia I knew!
Only whiff of a nit I could find is JET. To be pedantic - extraordinarily pedantic - Boeing makes airplanes while GE and Rolls Royce make the JETs that power them.
C'mon folks, two wine answers off identical clues?
And MOI? is suppopse to know this?
NAE !!!
If it had been Pinch and Dewar's off Scotch part (and it wasn't pine needles) you can BANK ON IT there would not been an ADO of these Chard alternatives.
Well, it's time to leave the office.
I hope my 15 foot commute is clear sailing.
Cheers !!!
Found this hard for a Tuesday, because I didn't get the whole CHARD thing nor the YDS thing.
Do people really say CHARD?
Did like the other mini-theme, Himalayan beasts.
Many do-overs.
Since I didn't get YDS (sports), I had NOegress for NOOUTLET for a while.
As Barnum and Bailey had it - "This way to the Egress." Scare the Holloweeners.
For shoulder wraps, I had StoleS, then SHrugS, then SHAWLS. First tries are oldster stuff.
RAPon before RAPAT.
EaRl before LORD.
Captcha - waxoil. Like a word!
@JIMMIE I doubt it has anything to with Claremont LOL. It's probably wine slang I've picked up along the way from my 20 something daughter who's the asst. manager of a tasting room at a winery up in Paso Robles. She has a degree in wine and viticulture from SLO. She also calls Sauvignon Blanc, Sauv Blanc and Pinot Noir, Pinot. When working, of course, she calls all wines by their full and correct names.
@Stefinia I like your alternative selections, especially the Viognier.
For the record I'm very fond the leafy green chard too.
@PG My first thought at 31A Remark from Rex was that it was a shout out to Rex Parker, but alas it was just ARF.
@CCL I think the Rex clue was a shout out to Parker. I checked a list of top dog names and Rex came in as #54 on one list and not in the top 100 on another. Fido and Rover aren't even around, try Buddy if you're looking for popular.
I had no problems w/ the Chard clues, since Rolling Rock and Heineken wouldn't fit. Is someone who is OVERLY suave OILY, or do they just need to get to the SALON? Lost my virginity with a girl named ERNST, brought a smile to my face. SOMA great memories. Would've been pretty weird if her first name was VIOLET, but it was Karen. And no, she was not a WHALE, LOL. Have a great day all.
I'm still upset about the nasty "British" comment being SARKY, not SNARKY as I am used to hear. (In one of last week's puzzles !
McBeal
Just to pine in here, "Chard" stunk! Horribly! My first DNF in weeks. I was double stuck on the Bro theme with Homey and the leafy green theme with chard.
I'll now go skulk off and imbibe in my less "oily" drink of preference, "The Beast" :-)
Avg Joe
Larry S: You are not the only one who misread the first clue. I, too, thought it was "Horney". Then with 2 Chard alternatives in the downs, I was really off to a bad start. I do like Bach clue.
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Went through this puzzle like a breeze, then couldn’t understand the cab/zin/chard thing until I thought about it for hours - finally got it when I woke at 2 AM. (Of course, in the morning, my son took one glance and said "they're wines"!)
I wish crossword clues had the first word start with small or large letters as needed. When they’re all capitalized, how can we know if Chard means the wine or the beet? Since I hate beets, and at first had the "cosy" spelling, all I could think was “It should be a sin to serve beets, and if it happens, take a cab to get away!”
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