July 21, 2011
Claiborne Thompson
Theme: Drinkin' in the Kitchen — Quip from a smashed chef. *Hic*
Theme answers:
- 17A: Start of a quip (I LIKE TO COOK).
- 25A: Quip, part 2 (WITH WINE).
- 32A: Quip, part 3 (SOMETIMES).
- 46A: Quip, part 4 (I EVEN PUT).
- 52A: End of quip (IT IN THE FOOD).
We got ourselves a quip puzzle today, and I thought the joke was pretty good. Some solvers hate quote/quip puzzles, but I don't mind seeing one every now and then. I'd say there are at most 1 or 2 quote puzzles a year in the L.A. Times, so they certainly aren't overdoing them.
The timing of today's quip is perfect, because I recently discovered a hilarious video series on YouTube called "My Drunk Kitchen." This episode will teach you how to make pancakes. There's adult language (swearing) and adult beverages (champagne) in the clip, so don't watch it around children, etc.
- 21A: Spanish possessive (NUESTRO) / 50A: You are, in Yucatán (ESTÁS) / 37D: Italian horse (CAVALLO). I know Spanish pretty well, so I had no trouble with these. Horse in Spanish is caballo, by the way.
- 28A: "them" author (OATES). A novel about giant ants? Cool!
- 31A: Word in a current account (AMPERE). Ampere is a measure of electric current. We're learning a lot of physics this week.
- 6D: Reading pen? (GAOL). Reading is a city in England, and a pen is a jail. And for some reason those crazy Brits spell it "gaol."
- 11D: Member of an ancient Asia Minor empire (HITTITE). You know, there are some tough answers in this puzzle.
- 33D: Forest safety concern (OPEN FIRE). Usually this is clued as "Start shooting." Today's clue makes me think of chestnuts.
- 39D: Inventing family (EDISONS). Were there other inventors in the family besides Thomas? Let's check Wikipedia... Yep, his son Theodore Edison registered over 80 patents. And his other kids were probably inventors too. Even the pets were inventing stuff over at Edison's house. Didn't Edison's cat invent the self-cleaning litter box?
- 39A: River wriggler (EEL).
- 48A: Hawks' homes (AERIES).
- 59A: Ike's WWII domain (ETO).
- 7D: Fabled flier (ROC).
- 40D: Prior to (ERE).
- 50D: French 101 verb (ÊTRE).
Everything Else — 1A: Grafton's "A" (ALIBI); 6A: Mill fill (GRIST); 11A: Witchy woman (HAG); 14A: Aristotle forte (LOGIC); 15A: Major outlet (AORTA); 16A: Chemical ending (-IDE); 19A: Lot (TON); 20A: First name in hair products (VIDAL); 23A: Like the 4-Down in a 1960 chart-topper (TEENIE); 26A: Bear (BRUIN); 27A: Champagne designation (SEC); 29A: Payoff (SOP); 30A: Acquire (GET); 35A: Take willingly (ACCEPT); 38A: Dreyer's partner in ice cream (EDY); 39A: River wriggler (EEL); 42A: Don't just want (CRAVE); 43A: Top-secret org. (NSA); 44A: PETCO Park player (PADRE); 48A: Hawks' homes (AERIES); 49A: Outclassed by a large margin, as competitors (DWARFED); 51A: Mid-seventh-century date (DCL); 56A: Deborah's "The King and I" costar (YUL); 57A: Thumbs-up person, perhaps (RATER); 58A: "Amazing" magician (RANDI); 59A: Ike's WWII domain (ETO); 60A: Alex's mom on "Family Ties" (ELYSE); 61A: Words of reassurance (IT'S OK); 1D: Poetic pugilist (ALI); 2D: Online chuckle (LOL); 3D: "Tell me already" (I GIVE UP); 4D: See 23-Across (BIKINI); 5D: Stranded in winter, perhaps (ICED IN); 6D: Reading pen? (GAOL); 7D: Fabled flier (ROC); 8D: Like many "Twilight Zone" episodes (IRONIC); 9D: Pub choice (STOUT); 10D: Pay after taxes (TAKE-HOME); 12D: Beautifier (ADORNER); 13D: Columbus, by birth (GENOESE); 18D: __ Bo (TAE); 22D: Exchanges (SWAPS); 23D: "Conan" channel (TBS); 24D: Handel cantata "__ e Leandro" (ERO); 25D: Least arid (WETTEST); 27D: Go out with (SEE); 30D: It's eight hours later than PST (GMT); 31D: Singer Grant (AMY); 32D: Cut (SEVER); 34D: Actress Lupino (IDA); 35D: Wool-coloring agent (ACID DYE); 36D: Close-cropped hair style (CREW CUT); 40D: Prior to (ERE); 41D: French article (LES); 43D: Feature of one who is barely sleeping? (NUDITY); 44D: "Great" czar (PETER I); 45D: Former PLO leader (ARAFAT); 47D: Corolla part (PETAL); 48D: Pompeii burier (ASH); 50D: French 101 verb (ÊTRE); 53D: Nintendo's Super __ (NES); 54D: Meter lead-in (ODO-); 55D: Hägar creator Browne (DIK).
31 comments:
43D: Cute. That one had me scratching my head.
Still don't get 29A though.
29A - SOP can be defined as "something given to pacify or quiet, or as a bribe" (from dictionary.com)
Tough clue, but it works.
Edison's cat most certainly did not invent the self cleaning litter box, mine did, and the bastard Edison stole yet another idea from me.
His dog did invent licking himself, at least in the canine universe. I'd tell you where he got the idea, but this is a family blog.
Tesla loved his pigeon best.
I had to Google Petco Park. Even with the letters, A-RE, I couldn't guess PADRE. Sports.
Also Googled Elyse (forgot - except that the actress came out) and NES (youth).
NSA National Security Agency - Googled after solve.
Is this a quote from the French Chef?
NUDITY was cute.
Check out the Sicilian poet Salvatore Quasimodo, The Horses of Moon and Volcanoes, Cavalli di luna e di vulcani. Nobel Lit 1959.
There are ways to guess the Italian from the Spanish and vice versa, ala the Grimm's and Verner's Laws. Sometimes it doesn't work, but the V-B thing is common.
I had a problem with the SOP crossing as well used to seeing ERI versus ERO and don't think of sopping my gravy with a payoff. I also didn't like the cluing for DWARFED when was the last time you heard Scully say "them Dodgers completed dwarfed the Giants" OK the score was 1-0. Let's try the Tour de France, nope still doesn't really work.
This puzzle worked me with the quips crossing the long fill in the NE and SW. I felt there were lots of partials and more foreign words then usual combining that with a quip puzzle left me flat afterwards.
Yay for the giant ant reference! Exactly what I always think when I see that book. Um, on topic? Count me as one who hates the quote/quip puzzles; I'm glad there are so few.
George Worthing Yates wrote the story
Them, about the giant ants.
Joyce Carol Oates wrote a novel titled Them, about something completely different
Had a few slowdowns caused by buzzCUT (CREWCUT), campFIRE (OPENFIRE) and GRain (GRIST). I thought this puzzle was a little hard for a Thursday (I googled twice) but enjoyed a quote puzzle for a change.
@Sfingi: I think this is a WC Fields quote.
Anon 8:58: Doug knows that.
Hard puzzle for a Thursday, but ultimately very satisfying. It helped to know that Oscar Wilde wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" about his incarceration for homosexuality there. But I didn't know Conan's channel and so put "tip" for "sop" and "weenie" for "teenie." Now, of course, I'll have "The Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" in my head all day!
MN
I have that quote/quip on the shelf in my kitchen. Made the solving easier except for the Spanish. Fun Thursday puzzle complete with WINE and NUDITY.
Doug - that clip made me LOL. Thanks!
Not real hot on the clue for 49A. GM "dwarfs" Ferrari. Is anyone going to argue that Chevrolet "outclasses" the Scuderia Italiana?
I usually hate quip puzzles, but this one, being a W.C. Fields quote that is common as dirt, was so easy I didn't mind.
Cool that YATES and OATES are only one letter off and both wrote about "them"
OK puzzle. Found it on the easier side but enjoyable to solve.
My question is more related to the blog, how does Doug P fit into the Puzzle pantheon? Puzzle Sub? Puzzle Dude? Puzzle Pinch Hitter? Puzzle Temp?
This was my drunk puzzle-solving for me, so the theme was pretty perfect. Also count me as someone that enjoys the quip/quote themes.
I'm glad others found it somewhat difficult for a Thurs. I wasn't sure if that was the puzzle or the beer! Probably a bit of both.
That TBS/ERO/SOP combo caused me problems but eventually came together. PETER I the czar gave me a misstep. I confidently filled in PETER and then took it out once I realized I had a space left. GENOESE also gave me a spot of trouble. I knew that Columbus was from Genoa, but couldn't remember what people from Genoa were called.
ELYSE brought back nostalgia, but was still hard to dig out of the nether reaches of my brain from back when I was a teen.
My new foreign word learned from crossword puzzles (which is where I get nearly all of my foreign language words) of the day: CAVALLO
Right, the Oates novel THEM is about crime, drugs, in a Detroit ghetto, whereas the movie has the giant ants.
I enjoyed GAOL, AMPERE, clues that make you rethink first answers.
Also, I used to hero-worship Muhammad Ali and still remain very fond of him, but isn't it time that some other clues for ALI were used for crosswords?
And can I tell you my Muhammad Ali story? No? Too bad, here it is anyway.
So, I'm a teen, so this must have been mid-1980s. I'm in LaGuardia Airport baggage claim with my mom, having just flown back home from somewhere. As we are waiting for our bags to come onto the carousel, I notice some commotion coming down the corridor abutting the area we are in. As the commotion gets closer, I realize that it's Muhammad Ali and entourage coming towards us. I'm at the height of my Ali fandom at this stage, so I start excitedly tugging on my mom's sleeve, saying "Oh my god, Mom, look who it is! Look who it is!" My mom is peering and not recognizing for a bit until he's only a few feet away, and then says loudly, "Oh my goodness. It's Cassius Clay!" Horrified, I say, "No MOM! It's not Cassius Clay!" (meaning, of course, that I knew Ali had rejected that name as his "slave name) and my Mom says to me indignantly and more loudly, "I know Cassius Clay when I see him!" Ali glanced in our direction and I had images of him standing over my mom, saying "What's my name?! What's my name?!" (as he did when he had knocked, er, Floyd Patterson (or was it Liston?) to the canvas because Patterson (or Liston) had been taunting him with "Cassius" prior to the fight. Anyway, entourage continued on without incident and it turns out my mom had no idea that Cassius Clay and Muhammad Ali were one and the same. The kicker? My mom did her master's thesis on black Muslims in America. (although that was prior to Ali's conversion, so we'll forgive her)
I thought the puzzle was excessivly "cute" and rather sloppy in some cases. Our intact circulation system is a closed system. Our Aorta IS NOT an outlet. Also, the clue for nudity is a little too cute.
"Tell me already" is not a phrase I use or have heard anyone use (at least beyond the 3rd grade). It sounds like it is one of the many NYC largely rude phrases that are overused in crossword puzzles. Remember, most of the country is far more civil than New York city denizens.
There are too many foreign words - in particular one that has two possible last letters and one case of crossing each other.
Cranky much, sjok?
I do hope in the future that puzzle creators will cease any and all cuteness and eliminate phrases that might be uttered only by children or the hopelessly citified. After all, these are crossword puzzles we're talking about, not some silly game.
As my third-grader would say, So there!
Count me in the group that dislikes multi-line quote puzzles. I was about to throw this one out when I realized I had solved the NW corner before realizing that it was a quote. Continued on with a frown and, after finishing, still was not pleased, despite the clever clue for NUDITY.
I'm not familiar with ERO y Leandro but if you Google it, you will find that it's Hero y Leandro. Looks much better that way.
Much too easy for a Thursday. Of course, knowing the quote simplified solving. Did learn that the Corolla of a flower is the petals in their entirety -- the high point of this puzzle.
"Them" was about a lower class, dysfunctional family. Expensive people was about a nouveau riche upwardly mobile suburban dysfunctional family.
@Rojo - quite a story!
@Rojo-Great story. By the way, it was the Ernie Terrell fight on Feb. 6, 1967 in Houston during which Ali kept taunting Terrell with the question "What's my name?" Terrell had refused to call him anything but Cassius Clay during the weigh in, and Ali started the taunt of "What's my name?" then. Pretty cool about your Mom and her thesis.
This was a tough one for me. Had trouble really getting traction, I think because the quip was opaque until the end. I agree with others, sounds like a Fieldsism.
Had to look up TBS, ERO, and SOP. Plus OATES and DWARFED was just not coming. NUDITY was a surprise, but cute clue. Got RANDI with crosses, but who the heck is s/he?
@Rojo, as a Mom who has mortified her son in public more than once, I identify here with your mother.
I had CAvALLO first.
Oddly, I had more trouble with 16A than anywhere else. ItE, InE, kept looking for some brand name facial care product at 12D instead of ADORNER.
@Nighthawk - Thanks for the clarification on which fight(er) that was. I think I confuse the "What's my name story?" with that iconic photo of Ali (and I can never remember if that's Patterson or Liston lying on the canvas).... Hmmm.... let's see if I can find it.... Ah, yes, this one: http://www.celebritiesfans.com/Pic/muhammadali.jpg
Sonny Liston apparently. (Incidentally, I've met Patterson a number of times and a more down-to-earth charming fellow you will not find. He used to come in and volunteer occasionally at the soup kitchen where I worked as the dishwasher)
@CoffeeLvr I'll convey your solidarity to my mom. :P
Nice crunchy Thursday! Quip puzzles can be tough when you don't know what they're about.
Hittite was filled in hesitation; no idea how I knew it. That happens sometimes; I think my brain stores stuff without telling me. It's a great coincidence about the Oates and Yates titles "Them", although I wouldn't put it past Joyce to have planned it. She is amazingly smart and has a great sense of humor.
Oscar Wilde's poem, "Ballad of Reading Gaol" is actually about a condemned man awaiting his hanging.
"...I never saw a man who looked
so wistfully at the day."
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."
If you only read one poem in your entire life, this one would have to rank near the top of the list.
@len: thank you so much.
After googling I also got YATES for "them" and the quote came up as "add it to the food", not "put it in the food". Too many foreign words for me. I thought this was a kinda sloppy mess but I for some reason I like it for the most part.
I was going to comment about something. But then I got caught up in My Drunk Kitchen. And now it's 2 hours later and I've forgotten everything I thought about this puzzle.
@Vega - I love the part where the cheese is trapped. :)
July 21, 2011 10:55 AM
> sjok said... "Tell me already" is not a phrase I use or have
> heard anyone use (at least beyond the 3rd grade).
> It sounds like it is one of the many NYC largely rude
> phrases that are overused in crossword puzzles.
I'm Canadian (Toronto), have no connection to NYC, and I am familiar with that phrase. So gag me with a spoon... :)
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