July 11, 2011
Ed Sessa
Theme: " … and I'm not gonna take it any more!" — Each theme answer is a familiar phrase that begins with a word that can be a synonym for "angry."
Theme answers:
- 17A: Rhetorical question on a sultry day (HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?).
- 26A: Shellfish order (STEAMED CLAMS).
- 38A: Pitcher's malady (SORE ARM).
- 48A: Off one's rocker (MAD AS A HATTER).
- 63A: What you're solving (in more ways than one, based on the starts of 17-, 26-, 38- and 48-Across) (CROSSWORD PUZZLE).
This puzzle really kept me going today. And that's saying a lot for a Monday. First of all, I made a mistake right out of the gate by trying DOZEN for BATCH (1A: Cookie quantity). Monday and I'm hosing up 1-Across? Yikes! Then I winced a little when I saw the ugly plural BAHS (1D: Scroogean outbursts), but had to chuckle when I got to D'OHS (8D: Homer Simpson outbursts). The next chuckle came at HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? That's just an awesome awesome phrase to find in the grid. It's one of those questions that I'm pretty sure is still asked unironically from time to time, which is enough to make me roll my eyes. Not that it takes much to make me roll my eyes.
Despite a clunker here and there (I'm looking at you ACRED), the theme is what really makes this puzzle shine. First of all, it's totally tight. The "angry" words are all used in a "non-angry" context, and the phrases are all well-known. Okay, SORE ARM just kinda sits there, but the reveal answer more than makes up for that little nit. It's a CROSSWORD PUZZLE and the theme is CROSS WORDS. Love it.Bullets:
- 6A: Partner of a mani, salon-wise (PEDI). Just had one yesterday. Aaaaahhhhhhh.
- 21A: Illness suffix (-OSIS). I tried -OTIS here first.
- 23A: Enjoy a chaise longue, say (LAZE). There is apparently a rule now that every grid has to include either LAZE or LOLL.
- 43A: "Sexual Healing" singer Marvin (GAYE). A man that could even make the National Anthem sexy.
- 71A: U.S.-Canada defense acronym (NORAD). I'm sure someone will be kind enough to tell us in the comments what this stands for. This is the organization that tracks Santa Claus every year, isn't it?
- 7D: Vet (EX-G.I.). This one was tough for me. I first went down the "animal doctor" road, then switched to the "investigate" definition and really only got to "veteran" once I had the whole thing pretty much filled in by crosses.
- 10D: How lovers walk (ABREAST). Heh heh. You said breast.
- 18D: Slimy stuff (OOZE). Goopy stuff!
- 24D: Writers Lowell and Tan (AMYS). And, of course, crossword blogger and all-time cool chick Reynaldo.
- 47D: "What craziness!" ("IT'S A ZOO!"). Another great colloquial phrase. Extra points for its exclamatory-ness.
- 25D: Neet rival (NAIR).
- 30D: Hawaii's Mauna __ (LOA).
- 40D: "The Crying Game" actor Stephen (REA).
- 58D: Folk singer Guthrie (ARLO).
- 60D: Drug kingpin (CZAR).
Everything Else — 10A: "Dancing Queen" group (ABBA); 14A: Hawaiian hi (ALOHA); 15A: Neural conductor (AXON); 16A: Area outside the city, briefly (BURB); 20A: Appear to be (SEEM); 22A: Blood lines (VEINS); 25A: Subtlety (NUANCE); 31A: Striped cat (TABBY); 32A: __ polloi (HOI); 33A: Deck swabbers (TARS); 37A: Cavity fillers' org. (ADA); 42A: Tennis do-over (LET); 45A: Meaning of a wd. (DEF.); 46A: Shrek's love (FIONA); 52A: Boutonniere spots (LAPELS); 55A: Striped fish (BASS); 56A: Earthy tone (OCHRE); 57A: Lion's den (LAIR); 59A: West Point, e.g.: Abbr. (ACAD.); 66A: Lottery-like game (KENO); 67A: Look at leeringly (OGLE); 68A: Italian white wine (SOAVE); 69A: Original sin site (EDEN); 70A: Carpenter's supply (WOOD); 2D: Natural balm (ALOE); 3D: Shopping bag (TOTE); 4D: Class with flasks and beakers (CHEM LAB); 5D: Solo in "Star Wars" (HAN); 6D: Stopped briefly (PAUSED); 9D: Having one flat, musically (IN F); 11D: Poker tournament entrance fee (BUY-IN); 12D: Rodeo bucker (BRONC); 13D: Nasty treatment (ABUSE); 19D: Latin egg (OVUM); 26D: Party without women (STAG); 27D: Exclamation with a flourish (TA-DA); 28D: Cybermarketplace (EBAY); 29D: Master slicers and dicers (CHEFS); 34D: Scads (A LOT); 35D: Russo of "Get Shorty" (RENE); 36D: Marquee luminary (STAR); 39D: Las Vegas numbers (ODDS); 41D: Advanced degs. for writers (MFA'S); 44D: "Nature" author (EMERSON); 49D: Brewpub pints (ALES); 50D: Tolerated (ABIDED); 51D: Heavenly music maker (HARP); 52D: "Social contract" philosopher John (LOCKE); 53D: Like a big landowner (ACRED); 54D: Call up (PHONE); 57D: Nike's Swoosh, e.g. (LOGO); 61D: Edison's middle name (ALVA); 62D: Ownership document (DEED); 64D: "Golly!" ("WOW!"); 65D: Mil. branch with ships (USN).
16 comments:
Pretty good puzzle.
@PuzzleGirl - I also moaned at ACRED; couldn't even pronounce it, at first.
Never heard of "mani" and PEDI for manicure and pedicure. Guess it's the result of texting.
When I saw AX_O in ITSAZOO, thought of the Italian word for crazy person: pazzo.
Hubster finished dead last in yesterday's 15k Utica Boilermaker - 11,044th. I think about 2,000 didn't finish. I actually called the hospital to see if he was there. His feet hurt, but he's OK. Most of his burn has already turned to a tan. I saw some runners with cellphone armbands, which would have helped. And, learn my phone number.
@PG had the same as you in having dozen before BATCH.
Didn't like INF or DOHS (don't mind DOH, but plural?)
Loved seeing FIONA (nice looking word) and NUANCE.
When I got to the reveal, I'm thinking, "oh no, you didn't make it that easy did you? CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Really?" As far as themes go, I agree that the theme was tight, just felt blech about the theme.
Liked BAHS and DOHS together, I thought that saved each one individually.
As @badams52, liked NUANCED.
My girlfriends all seem to regularly head off for a MANI/PEDI, more often that the growth rate would require. Being in LA, the nail salon has a good quantity of guys in there also.
Funny - when I saw "Las Vegas numbers" I wanted to put KENO in there, and then wow - it pops up further down the grid.
Nice Monday, enjoyed it.
@Steve, Andrea Carla Michaels would call your impulse to put in KENO for "Las Vegas numbers" a Malapop.
(thanks to @mac, @Jim and @joho for helping me understand this one)
Malapop refers to a particularly good answer that pops up in the wrong place in a puzzle. Sometimes that word later turns up in the right place somewhere else in the same puzzle. Invented by @acme, this is a play on the character of Mrs. Malaprop from Sheridan's "The Rivals." Mrs. M. regularly misuses similar-sounding words in absurd or humorous ways ( e.g. Pineapple when she means pinnacle, or allegory for alligator).
I can confirm that people still say "HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU," as we swelter here in the Midwest.
I found this tougher than the usual Monday. SOAVE! NORAD! BTW: it is an acroynm for NORth American Aerospace Defense Command. And the A stands for Aerospace.
I found BURB hard to see, as I think of it as "the BURBs." Also -OSIS.
I think the biggest slow down is that I couldn't get STEAMED CLAMS or MAD AS A HATTER without crosses. I didn't really read the clue for 63A closely, so left it for crosses too. I had wrongly entered "lord" instead of CZAR, so that did not help with seeing PUZZLE.
Good puzzle, more like Tuesday in my mind. Glad Ed didn't try to put Angry Birds in the grid.
NORAD: North American Aerospace Defence Command
Like @pg & @CoffeeLvr, I thought this was unusally tough for a Monday. Had 4 writeovers, like DOHS/meHS and LAZE/doZE, (can't read the rest but they ended up being BURBS and ACAD). Must have been caused by doing this late last night.
Not much to love here, but not much to hate -- except ACRED, (BAH(s), humbug),
I was cruising along the crosses starting at 1, got 'HOTENOUGH...' without any crosses, thinking I might finish this puzzle without any downs when I realized that DOZEN wasn't going to work for me. I was Icarus, I flew too close to the crossword puzzle sun and came crashing down to earth. I was propped up, though, by realizing our hostess and others fell into the same trap.
Good puzzle for a Monday. Some nice answers. Two Monday's in a row where I never heard of the answer (SOAVE). I like this trend.
I almost fell into the dozen trap too, but checked 1 D and saw BAHS. My other mess up was putting in ITUS, before OSIS. Once I started filling in the downs I changed it to OTIS which then gave me PAUTED. Finally fixed that.
I had a mani/PEDI this weekend. The young woman who did my toes is working on her masters in microbiology. The guy in the chair next to me was about 6'4" and 250lbs. HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? Was a question being asked a lot around here last week. This week is supposed to be better. I liked seeing TABBY and SOAVE (cats and wine). Thought this was fun Monday CROSSWORD PUZZLE.
I like when Marvin Gaye sings "Lets Get It On."
Too bad ACRED wasn't Akers, as in Michelle, as a salute to the '99s twelve years ago yesterday and to yesterday's amazing US v. Brazil win!
I'm sittin' on de fence about what NORAD really means.
NUANCE and SOAVE were a nice balance to BAHS and DOHS.
One day, we're going to see TABBY clued as "Building shell material." But I'm not holding my breath.
Plenty hot enough for me, thank you very much. The question that has me headscratching today is: if you can "smelt" in a "smelter", you might "swelt" if you are in a "swelter", and you might "sweat" in a "sweater." But with all those missing from the All-Star Game, who will "bring the heat?"
Don't know why, this puzzle was very smooth for me. Theme, as usual, was of no help whatsover, since it isn't on the web version.
Oh, are they supposed to publish the theme with the puzzle? Our newspaper doesn't put the theme, so I never know it ahead of time.
Quoting from the FAQ, which is available here:
The only puzzles that are published with titles are the Sunday puzzles (both syndicated and calendar). What you're seeing at the top of my blog Monday through Saturday is a title I just made up.
Nice Monday puzzle, but I also thought dozen and itis.... All came out well, though.
We're in Holland, and I'm planning a soccer party on Wednesday. USA-France! Never knew women's soccer could be so exciting!
Luckily, I didn't fall into the DOZEN/BATCH trap, thanks to a quick cross-check with 1D.
On the other hand, I threw in ITIS for OSIS without a second though, which bogged me down a little.
A really nice puzzle today, especially for a Monday. Got my brain all warmed up.
One thing though; ABREAST? Like, "side-by-side"? Isn't that how most folks walk with each other. I wanted something a little more intimate in there, like "arm-in-arm", though it's a bit too long...
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