July 5, 2011
Kevin Christian
Theme: It's a Doggy Dog World — Theme answers are all types of dogs clued without relation to their dogginess.
Theme answers:
- 9A: *Jake LaMotta, e.g. (BOXER).
- 17A: *Mexican neighbor of New Mexico (CHIHUAHUA).
- 24A: *Skiers' patron (SAINT BERNARD).
- 41A: *Like Hammett's falcon (MALTESE).
- 43A: *Piece of advice (POINTER).
- 54A: *Labrador was added to its provincial name in 2001 (NEWFOUNDLAND).
- 67A: *Beijing dialect (PEKINGESE).
- 58D: Steadfast belief (and parent of each answer to a starred clue?) (DOGMA).
Fun puzzle! I'm not a dog person, and even I liked it! Seven theme answers plus the reveal — you'd think the fill would suffer like crazy, but I found this a really smooth solve. Oh and don't forget the bonus non-theme entries:- 51A: Brand for a 58-Down (ALPO).
- 73A: Greetings from the answers to starred clues (BARKS).
Also a lot of Spanish today. In addition to OSO and ORO, which I already mentioned, there's also TACO (1D: Filled tortilla) right next to OCHO (2D: Cuatro times dos), both of which cross CHIHUAHUA, so that's pretty cool.I've never heard of "DE DE Dinah" (39D: "__ Dinah": 1958 Frankie Avalon hit) and once I found it on YouTube, I can kinda see why. EGGAR was another one I needed a lot of crosses for (12D: Samantha of "Doctor Dolittle"), although it does sound vaguely familiar now that I know it. I'm pretty sure [5D: Philly's signature sandwich] is a CHEESESTEAK, not a HOAGIE. Maybe Barry Silk is around and can enlighten us.
Other than that, my most amusing misstep was trying OOZILY where OOZING was supposed to go (20A: Like lava flows). I was reading "flows" as a verb in the clue, but I guess it's a noun. Me (as I was writing in OOZILY): "Wow. That's a terrible word." HAha! Nobody to blame but myself!Crosswordese 101 Round-up:
- 15A: Fall birthstone (OPAL).
- 19A: Feature of "butte" but not "but" (LONG U).
- 70A: Upright (ON END).
- 4D: Classic grape sodas (NEHIS).
- 10D: Yellow metal, in Mexico (ORO).
- 40D: La Salle of "ER" (ERIQ).
- 55D: 2010 Supreme Court appointee Kagan (ELENA).
- 63D: Bygone U.S. gas (ESSO).
- 68D: Inbound flight posting at 28-Across (ETA).
Everything Else — 1A: Word after boom or Bean (TOWN); 5A: Dickens's Uriah (HEEP); 14A: Aleve target (ACHE); 16A: "All systems __" (ARE GO); 21A: Austin-to-Dallas dir. (NNE); 23A: British golfer Poulter (IAN); 28A: NYC hub (JFK); 31A: Tolerate (BEAR); 33A: Sans serif typeface (ARIAL); 35A: Expansive (VAST); 37A: Ye __ Tea Shoppe (OLDE); 45A: Information storage unit (BYTE); 46A: Choice word (ELSE); 48A: __-wip: dessert topping (REDDI); 53A: Follow-up film: Abbr. (SEQ.); 59A: Pie __ mode (ALA); 60A: Suffix for glob (-ULE); 61A: Home builder's subcontractor (ROOFER); 65A: Get started (BEGIN); 70A: Upright (ON END); 71A: "They're __ again!" (AT IT); 72A: Desert tableland (MESA); 74A: Lord's partner (LADY); 75A: Tiny power source (ATOM); 3D: Ace (WHIZ); 6D: N.T. book after Galatians (EPH.); 7D: Seine contents (EAU); 8D: Backup strategy (PLAN B); 9D: Agricultural cubists? (BALERS); 11D: Seat of Greene County, Ohio (XENIA); 13D: Set of drinks for the table (ROUND); 18D: Lacking capacity (UNABLE); 22D: "Cool!" ("NEATO!"); 25D: Umbilical terminus (NAVEL); 26D: __ la la (TRA); 27D: Not a soul (NO ONE); 28D: Doorframe part (JAMB); 29D: Start to unravel (FRAY); 30D: Scot's skirt (KILT); 34D: Dined on, biblically (ATE OF); 36D: Witch's incantation (SPELL); 38D: Old Ford models (LTD'S); 42D: Asian Olympics city of 1988 (SEOUL); 44D: Like some patches (IRON-ON); 47D: Blue (SAD); 50D: Squeaks and creaks (SOUNDS); 52D: Equivalence (PARITY); 54D: Big wheel (NABOB); 56D: Staked amount (WAGER); 57D: Himalayan country (NEPAL); 62D: Acre's 43,560 square units (FEET); 64D: 500 sheets (REAM); 66D: Octopus's defense (INK); 69D: Joke around with (KID).
30 comments:
Making me spell CHIHUAHUA right off the bat after a long weekend was cruel.
No, and I mean none, agricultural bales are cubes. Some are round, the rest are of dimension Width = Height, Length = 2xWidth. That way you can form a stable stack of bales. If they were cubes, you could only stack them one on top of the other, which is highly unstable.
Nard Dog Challenge: Beat my score of 17/20.
I don't like LONG U much as an entry, but I like SILENT K. Why is this?
Long U got me. Also, I had no idea there was a "g" in "Pekingese".
none of the cubist paintings are cubes either. what should we do?
2 ft.x3 ft.x5 ft.=30 cubic feet. The volume of any three-dimensional object is expressed in cubic quantities. Hence, even a cylindrical bale is, technically, a cube.
Three little muck-ups for me today: OOZILY for OOZING (a la PuzzleGirl), DREAM whip for REDDI whip, and CANTONESE for PEKINGESE.
And now I'm not sure what to have for dinner; HOAGIEs or TACOs. [sigh] Decisions, decisions... Hm, perhaps I can fabricate some sort of HOAGIE/TACO hybrid...
Liked the theme - What's not to love?
Some fill was tiresome, esp. NNE, LONGU, TRA, etc. Also, had trouble with the spelling of EGGAR crossing IAN (sports guy I never heard of).
Had ooo before TRA and Each before ELSE.
@Pete - agree on shape of bales. For those who don't drive through the countryside much, most are in long white plastic tubular sheaths for the last few decades. Surreal would be better - like Peer Gynt's Boyg.
@Pete - I'm looking at about 20 ton of baled hay in my field right now, and it's exactly as described. Not a cube in sight.
Okay, I admit it--I'm a dog person. So I loved this puzzle although I didn't get the theme until pretty late. It was that "Steadfast belief" that threw me, but I had to LOL when it turned out to be "Dogma." Great way to start the week!
MN
Cute theme - a little "hair of the dog" after a long weekend.
I've known dogs named BEAR and LADY.
HOAGIES and Cheesesteaks are both signature Philly sandwiches.
It would have been fun if 61A could have been WOOFER. But then PARITY would become PAWITY - sounds like Tweetyese.
Hand up for oozily with same reaction! Need to have more faith in constructors!
ps i do believe i'm, how you say, batter up
@slypet:
I respectfully beg to disagree, volume expressed in cubic units does not a cube make.
Really liked this today, loads of theme and bonus, and agree with @Pete - CHIHUAHUA - challenging spelling bee word to set off the week.
Liked "butte" in one clue and MESA in another answer too. Had tibet for NEPAL first, which made NEWFOUNDLAND look a bit weird for a couple of minutes.
I'm old enough to remember bales of hay being oblong, so didn't think twice about that one.
NABOB is a great word.
I just had LTD in a BEQ crossword from last week which at that time had me scratching my head, not so today. Toughest section to crack was NE with EGGAR, BALERS, and LONG U. I put in MILE for FEET as my only erase of the day, I 'm not sure what I was thinking, dog days of summer are slowing my synapses.
Extra bonus it's a panagram. @PG, is it you or ACME that loves panagrams? I've said it before but I'll repeat goodbye Ms Verdugo hello Ms Kagan.
What's not to like here? Dogs!
Pretty much a smooth solve, although I had "pain" before ACHE, erEct before ONEND, rIb before KID (could not think of LADY the first time through!), and OSo before OSA. A Spanish acquaintance pointed out that the gender can be either a few months back, so I often leave the third square blank for the cross, but today I took a chance.
I grew up on forty acres just outside a city. We had about 15 head of cattle, two horses, and a pony at any given time. My Dad's job assignment changed, and he had to travel Monday through Friday three weeks out of the month. That left me (and later my younger bro) to feed the animals during the winter months. During the course of a decade or so, there were changes in the availability of the kind of hay bales he wanted.
First, the rectangular bales began to be bound with wire instead of twine. He was concerned about this for safety reasons, and would go out and clip the wires on the weekend before he left. He didn't want the wires springing back into my face, and he didn't want them out in the field with the animals.
Then, he began having trouble finding the rectangular bales at all. The huge round bales weren't practical for such a small herd as ours. The price of the rectangular bales actually went up as they became less available.
I remember when I got strong enough and tall enough that I could pick up an entire bale (twine bound) and throw it over the fence. As the typical weight of a bale was 60 pounds, depending on moisture content, I was quite proud of myself. I know I couldn't do it today!
I also made the OOZIly mistake until I fixed it with crosses. Thanks for clarifyng the 'flow' as a noun disctinction.
I agree, being measured in cubic units does not make something a cube.
Can someone please clarify the Newfoundland / Labrador clue?
New (doggie) clue for 74A: She shared a spaghetti kiss with Tramp.
I had the same thought as @Mari about the G in PEKINGESE.
@pg: liked pix of people with dog names, LOL.
Made one mistake -- spelled the typeface as ARIeL and failed to notice the resulting incorrect cross.
Definitely a dog family here, so I liked this one.
First time I was ever over 100mph in a car was in my friend's dad's LTD. No seatbelt, naturally, since I can still remember leaning up between the split-bench front seats to see the speedometer.
@mppuzzler: Since 2001, the Canadian province formerly called "Newfoundland" has had the official name of "Newfoundland and Labrador."
I'll leave you with a couple lines from Modern Family, which (I'm guessing) is where PG got her title:
Jay (explaining that Gloria is improperly saying "doggy dog world"): Well, it's "dog eat dog world."
Gloria: That doesn't make any sense. Who wants to live in a world where dogs eat each other? "Doggy Dog World" is a beautiful world of little puppies!
@mppuzzler - Until late 2001, the province of Canada which included Labrador and the island of Newfoundland was called simply Newfoundland. In December of 2001 its name was officially chandged to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Tight, smooth and fun today.
Best clue/answer: 58D - DOGMA.
Does the fact that the NE corner is squared up with BALERS and ROUND on either side put the debate to rest?
@CoffeeLvr-great story. Not living on a farm and not knowing what I getting into, I once agreed to help a friend who's dad had a small farm pick up hay bales. It sounded simple for a 16 year old. One bale seemed light enough to be manageable. But after a few days, and having thrown 100s of them up onto the flatbed for stacking, I was one tired puppy.
Maybe if you think of a square bale as three hay cubes bound together by twine you could accept it. Bale
That was one fun puzzle! And I also think Lady is part of the theme.
CoffeeLvr: what a great story!
Yes...LADY and the Tramp would have topped this one off. Fun puzzle. Crosswordese ASTA would have fit right in.....
My favorite clue was "Lords partner" and while LADY is an okay answer I think she is more a wife. His partner might be another Lord or even a lad.
The cube debate is fun. Let's move on to how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
@Mokus - The 'angels on a pin' question has been answered - As many as choose to.
Fun puzzle - loved the theme. I thought ROOF was a nice little sideways nod to the theme, as well.
I think my favorite clue today was "Agricultural Cubists" Made for some good reading today.
I must mention that in Canada, the name is pronounced NewfinLAND, accent on the 3rd.
And FRAY can be rearranged to ARFY.
rrroof.
Ah, the old hoagie-versus-cheesesteak-signature-sandwich conundrum. As a vegetarian from Philly, I'm sticking with the hoagie.
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