Feb 16, 2019

Saturday, February 16, 2019, Christopher Adams

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Christopher Adams

World Whale Day was started in 1980 on Maui. It reminds us of the challenges faced in our oceans across the globe. Observed annually on the third Sunday in February, World Whale Day celebrates these noble sea mammals.

My experience is limited to seeing Killer Whales in Sea World shows. The theme park has not obtained orcas from the wild for decades and now has also stopped breeding programs and theatrical shows with "Shamus" as well but will care for the ones remaining in their tanks as long as they live.  Sea World and Orcas

Christopher Adams
Today's constructor is Christopher Adams who appears to making his debut in LA Times. He is a Math/Physics guy and if you scroll down one screen here, you will find a nice bio of him 

The one odd take I have on Christopher's fun puzzle is that so many long fills were easy and helped with the shorter ones which he clued is some very unorthodox ways. I stared down the barrel of what seemed to be a Natick at AISH_/C_LDER but I correctly guessed the vowel that made the most sense. BTW, I will not say this was a whale of a puzzle and you can't make me.


1. High-tech accessory that may pose privacy issues: WEBCAM - Using these to communicate with our granddaughter during her semester in Grenoble was amazing to me! BTW, if you think you are not ever on a camera at any time... 

7. Not quite aligned: OFFSET - A definite possibility on California's Hayward Fault

13. No-nonsense marker: SHARPIE

14. Runs off, in a way: XEROXES - Every teacher's best friend to make worksheets

16. Leader of New Netherland before it was renamed New York: PETER STUYVESANT - The first very doable long fill

18. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr.: INST - A famous though fictional employee

19. The __ Man: Major Arcana card: HANGED - New learning for me. Major Arcana are the "picture cards" in a Tarot deck. All you need to know about the HANGED MAN

20. "Nixon in China" tenor role: MAO - Tenor John Duykers as MAO feels a song coming on 

21. Multiple of LXVII: CCI - CCI is a multiple of LXVII because III x LXVII = CCI (67 x 3 = 201)

22. Mobile maker: CALDER - I wonder what Alexander would charge for this tiny one he is holding

23. Flirtatious bat: WINK - Christopher! Here we see WINKING or flirtatious eye batting!

24. 1983 Streisand film: YENTL.

26. Spy novelist Deighton: LEN - A frequent crossword author/fill

27. "Clerks" clerk: DANTE - A 1994 film. A slightly less literate cluing for DANTE

28. Gandhi family notable: RAJIV - India's 6th Prime Minister who took office after his mother Indira Ghandi was assassinated in 1984

30. Exposes: BARES.

31. "The Card Players" artist: PAUL CEZANNE - Another easy long fill. Hmmm... I thought it might be dogs on velvet

33. Positive: CAN DO - As in CAN DO spirit

34. Contract with a flat fee?: LEASE like 
12. What letters need: TENANTS - Clever again! This is what an apartment LETTER in S.F. is charging a LETTEE (TENANT) for a studio apt.

35. Sweetly, in suites: DOLCE- dolce here means play this sweetly. 

36. Dizzy genre: BOP - Trumpet player Dizzy Gillespies' genre

37. Secret targets?: ODORS - Another fun deception 

41. Old senate setting: ROME - A senate scene in ROME on the Ides Of March, 44 A.D.

42. Japan, to natives: NIPPON - A derisive name for Japanese in WWII was Nips

44. Roof, e.g.: TOP 

45. PC space bar neighbor: ALT - Every Windows user knows the Ctrl + ALT + Delete mantra 

46. Homer, in baseball lingo: GO DEEP -  To homer is to GO DEEP. Homer is a verb here

47. Pieces for one: SOLI - I have sung many a SOLI

48. Historical role played by Sally Field in 2012: MARY TODD LINCOLN - "Uh, Mrs. Lincoln we need to talk about your spending..."

51. Coral relative: ANEMONE - Coral and ANEMONE are both animals of the the group called  cnidaria (from Greek knidē ‘nettle) and are found on and form reefs

52. Dr. Scholl's products: INSOLES.

53. Promo: TEASER - Some TEASERS for bad movies have the one, single funny scene in them

54. More adroit: NEATER - Adroit people can do much NEATER work


1. Word of origin: WHENCE - We love to travel but are always happy to return to the place from WHENCE we came

2. Dirties the dishes: EATS IN.

3. Poison frontman Michaels: BRET - If you're a fan, you know which one below is BRET

4. Bit of EMT expertise: CPR 

5. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" host Tyler: AISHA Here she is

6. Like gong sounds: METALLIC.

7. Space shuttle gas: OXYGEN - The -300˚F 
Liquid OXYGEN was at the top of the orange External Tank when upright on the launch pad

8. Contagious enthusiasm: FEVER - Husker FEVER has already generated a sellout of 90,000 people for the Spring Game/Scrimmage in April

9. Couples of golf: FRED -  Clever cluing for Freddie Couples

10. "Help wanted" sign?: SOS - I'll use any excuse to offer an ABBA song

11. Test taker: EXAMINEE - I was an Examiner for decades

13. Hot: SPICY.

15. Fuel: STOKE.

17. Like film in a camera: UNDEVELOPED - What? They still make film? 😏

22. Composer Debussy: CLAUDE Claude provided spectacular music for the last scene of Ocean's 11

23. Put on notice: WARNED.

25. Blank state: TRANCE.

27. Ted of "The Good Place": DANSON - I suppose, but the only sitcom this physics teacher has watched in the last decade has been Big Bang Theory. 

29. Eponymous 2001 pop album: JLO - Jennifer Lopez

30. Barnyard sound: BAA.

31. Coconut source: PALM TREE The difference between PALM TREES and coconut trees

32. Early transatlantic flier: ZEPPELIN - Here is the LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129) whose fate we all know

33. Nuclear reactor need: COOLANT.

35. Golden Globes genre: DRAMA.

36. Potential stock buyer: BIDDER - Here are some potential BIDDERS for stock 

38. 1962 Lawrence portrayer: O'TOOLE - Peter portrayed T.E. Lawrence 

39. Painting supply: ROLLER.

40. Pleasant rides: SPINS - Convertibles are built to take out for SPINS

42. 2007 #1 hit for Alicia Keys: NO ONE Here ya go

43. Put in one's two cents: OPINE - What we bloggers do here according to C.C.'s rules

46. Classic muscle cars: GTOS.

47. Andy Murray, by birth: SCOT  - A proud son of Glasgow

49. Soprano Sumac: YMA - A stalwart songbird in the crossword choir

50. "The Puzzle Palace" org.: NSA

Comment at will


OwenKL said...

FIRight, but don't know how I managed it! Probably WEEwS on tricky stuff.

One of my grand-daughters had these Sharpies on her Facebook page yesterday.

I'd like to fly in a ZEPPELIN
Looking up at METALLIC skin
HANGING below,
Cruising slow,
Hoping our OXYGEN's not getting thin!

What is more calm than an ANEMONE?
It doesn't have any dangerous enemy.
It doesn't have to go to work
It doesn't have any school to shirk,
And no tests means it's never an EXAMINEE!

On those TEASER nights when you cannot sleep,
Examine your subconscious, really GO DEEP.
If you visit that 'hood
That's under your hood,
Who might you meet? It's GOD! EEP!

OwenKL said...

{A, B+, B.}

TX Ms said...

HG - Thanks for the great recap and clips/links, and for calling attention World Whale Day. And thank you for 'splainin' CCI - (what- who'd thought?)

desper-otto said...

Good morning...sorta.

Yes, d-o labored to create another DNF. With _LO, I figured the eponymous musicians had to be ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). That made the Indian ruler RAE IV...hey, it could'a been. For lack of a single letter the quest was foiled. Bzzzzzt! Impressive debut, Christopher. Great expo, Husker.

AISHA: Meant nothing to me. I Drew a blank trying to think of Carey.

"Major Arcana" card: I just now figured out that it wasn't somebody's name. Are there Tarot cards that don't have a picture?

SOLI: I was asked to sing a solo once. Nobody ever asks twice.

SHARPIE: Every couple of years I pick up a case (12) on Amazon.

WHENCE: It was in '88 that I last visited the little town from WHENCE I came. By chance, it was on the date of my 25th H.S. reunion. I was unaware of that fact until much later.

BIDDER: One of the final events of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo each year is the auction of the prize steer. Last year's winner went for $410,000. That's expensive pot roast.

BobB said...

Always thought he was Peter Sturdevant. Had a neighbor by that name. Made the NE tough until I turned on the red letters.

Jerome D Gunderson said...

Once had a session with a tarot card reader. After a couple minutes of turning over cards she jumped up and told me to get the hell out of her house! Could not then and cannot now imagine why.

Yellowrocks said...

About average difficulty for a Saturday or maybe a bit easier. I was hung up for a while in the SW. I hesitated at the J in RAJIV (JL?) until I thought of JLO which gave me can do, which gave me coolant and finally changed dulce to dolce. Fun puzzle, Christopher. Knowing all the celebrities helped.
Gary, thanks for the cool links and pictures.
I liked the many mis-directions and puns.
Flirtatious bat - wink
Contract with a flat fee - lease
Blank state - trance
I like Whose Line Is It Anyway. I remember AISHA, but needed several perps.
NIPPON is one correct spelling and pronunciation, but NIHON is more common among the Japanese.
It "seems" Marco Polo is responsible for the name Japan.

TTP said...

Good morning. A very good puzzle by Christopher Adams. The icing on the cake was Husker Gary's review. I had the same thoughts. The longer answers made great headway into the solve, but some of the shorter clues kept me perplexed longer than they should have. To paraphrase Spitzboov from yesterday, you sometimes have to get a feel for the constructor's cluing style.

The spelling of Stuyvesant was as hard today as it was way back when, but today I had perp help.
I'm with Irish Miss on the Roman nNumeral math. Generally just work around it.
Funny woman AISHA Tyler was Ross' romantic interest on a few episodes of Friends.
An episode of Becker starring Ted Danson was on TV last night as I was solving the puzzle.
Had to change inserts to INSOLES and abalone to ANEMONE.
Big Ben will still GO DEEP on many of his passes this year, but it doesn't look probable that he'll be throwing any to Antonio Brown.
Enjoyed the clues "Sweetly, in suites" and "Dirties the dishes" but loved "What letters need" and "Contract with a flat fee".

D-O, I also favor Sharpie pens. As well as the Uniball pens. DW insists on them after a neighbor's check was lifted, washed and rewritten. Bought an 8 pack of those on Thursday. This way I won't have to look in her purse to find the five or six other ones resting on the bottom.

56 year old Mary Todd Lincoln spent the summer of 1875 Bellevue Place in nearby Batavia, Illinois. A little more background can be read about the trial and Mary's stay.

Anonymous said...

adroit=NEAT FOUL!

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Now that was a bit better for me. Thanks, Christopher. I did however finish wrong. I had a C for the D in FRED Couples. I never noticed it until I gave up parsing HANGED--turned on the red letters, and aha a typo!

Thanks, Gary. I was relying on you to fully explain the tech stuff. I'm with you on dogs at cards. . . . Then I had PAUL. Oh, those cards players.

The PUZZLE PALACE for me is White Mountain Puzzles in Jackson, New Hampshire. Especially this winter!!!

Have a Sunny Saturday, even if you have to make your own sunshine as we must here today. Hmmm. . . . Maybe a new puzzle. . . .

billocohoes said...

Didn't know "Puzzle Palace" and was confusing it with Memory Palace, so NSA looked odd.

Had ELO, then thought that they're too old for a 2001 album.

PETER's last name was known since about the fifth grade, spelling was easy because my daughter now lives in the town of STUYVESANT, NY.

I sense another grammar discussion coming - "from" is implied in it, so proper usage is "the place WHENCE I came." Same for hence and thence. If you want to say "from", use "from which".

Not thrilled with NEATER, neatness may be the result of adroitness but adroit describes ability. I won't get into "adroit" being a French microaggression against left-handers, like sinister.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Nope. Chalk it up to a learning day...

Wow Chris (can I call you Chris?), this was a beast for me. This is all I got after an hour+ (before copious cheating for extra play). After four Googles, I TITT. Thanks HG for the grid's solution (You knew 16a?!?). I'm still not Saturday worthy. Though, TTP called it out what Spitz said; knowing the constructor's wavelength helps (where's Silk?!)

Wonderful expo HG. I'da enjoy'd it more if I got 1/2 of the answers for your illustrations. //oh, that kind of suite... I was still thinking of the Cheating Pad :-)
Thanks for linking Chris' (still ok to call you that?) Bio.

[of what I got]
WO: fuelrod @33d. Then I saw 'Fuel' in 15d's clue and knew Rich wouldn't let that slip on a Sat.
Not enough play for a true ESP.
Fav: Clerks' clue. I'd link a clip but, while all funny, aren't family-friendly at all. Great movie Clerks ; GenX / thinker-drifter angst.

Mo and Indira are the only Gandhis I'm aware of... Neither fit.

{A+, B+, B+ //last line broke the A}

D-O: Soli comment is funny; Houston Livestock & Rodeo aside more so.

Jerome: You were too smart for her game(?) and thought you might be James Randi (URI GELLER's nemesis).

FLN - TTP: With DW, I have a way of digging my own grave. MIL even tries to warn me "that alley is going to be dark..." But I say dumb stuff anyway 'cuz I think, "one day, she'll laugh." DW still hasn't called me back :-)

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

Nice puzzle. Terrific write up Husker. It's apparent that you put much time into creating it. It is much appreciated.

Yellowrocks said...

Grammar Girl says, These days, “whence” is seldom used; in the Corpus of Contemporary American, it has a mere 500 or so hits, compared to the more than 400,000 for “where.” These days, “whence” is seldom used; in the Corpus of Contemporary American, it has a mere 500 or so hits, compared to the more than 400,000 for “where.”
Many other sources say "whence" is old fashioned and seldom used. They all say "from whence" is redundant.

However, there are current references from respected publications that still use "whence."
"The samples collected are destined for a national repository, whence they will be distributed for study." Economist May 17, 2018
And here, the BBC uses "from whence. "But it also is the spring from whence all this incredible work happens." BBC Apr 11, 2016

Personally I don't like whence and never use it. I find it too old fashioned.

If my son were more adroit, he would be neater. Adroit and neat are not really synonyms, but I get the connection.

Jerome D Gunderson said...

Need some advice. Never had a cell phone. Seriously thinking about getting one. Don't want one that does a jillion things. Only want to make a call, get a call. period. Don't want to sign up with any service. Is a throwaway the answer? Where might I find the best deal. How is air time paid? Thanks.

Husker Gary said...

-TTP, somehow Peter’s name stuck in my brain pan from Miss Jackson’s history class! A lot of other names slid right through.
-Jerome, for some reason I can’t imagine your sitting through a session of that nonsense without doing/saying something consciously or not that betrayed your skepticism
-That use of ADROIT clanged on my ear too!
-YR, for some reason “from whence” occasionally pops out of my aforementioned brain pan and into my speech
-I wonder why it is that when I sub, every teacher’s desk is lousy with Sharpies, markers, pens, etc. and I can’t find a single pencil to do the puzzle.

Anonymous T said...

Jerome - I'll double-check w/ Pop but I think he has an iPhone on a Tracfone 'plan'; pays his minutes/texts in advance.
Pop had a Trac flip-phone for years ("I just want to talk!," he'd say) but he keeps discovering new bits the iThing does. e.g.:
"Hey, I can take a picture and zoom in on something I can't read."
"I can take and send pictures from the hardware store to my client. Usually saves me a second trip."
"This thing is a pretty good tool. Still won't drive a nail though."

As I understand, he still has the Tracfone deal and there's no commitment to Big Cellular.

HG - In pencil? I imagined you dropping a SHARPIE to a grid in pure confidence.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

Jerome, a lot of depends on the carrier and their promotional offers. You'll want a carrier that provides adequate coverage in the area you wish to use the phone. Neighbors and friends should provide the most reliable information for this. Verizon and At&t usually are the best but more expensive . Tmobile and Sprint are less expensive and sometimes can provide the same quality service. Pick the provider and then check their promotions for the phone they are giving away for committing to their 1 or 2 year plan. Dont sign up for more than 2 years. I would still get the fancy phone they offer(usually a older model but adequate) for free. You say youll just use the phone application but it's nice to have the option of learning its other uses. Google maps is a safety app that has saved me more than once. And dont worry about a learning curve, the nicer phones make learning unnecessary. They are so simple to use I've never encountered anyone having trouble accessing any basic function. You might find texting easier to make simple calls and some friends may request it. In this case you're going to want a keyboard. If you have to use a dial pad to text you'll hate it and think its ridiculous. Have a keyboard and it becomes the better and more convenient option. Also having a camera comes in handy for for documentation and evidencw.


Elizabeth in Chicago said...

What a great puzzle! I chewed on it all morning until I finally got it . My only mistake was a spelling error that I have made before — anenome instead of anemone, which made “noome” instead of “no one”. Had me scratching my head for a bit until I finally figured it out. Thanks Christopher Adams, and congratulations on this clever puzzle.

Anonymous said...

If you get a smartphone of course you can only use the phone service and if in a year or so you decide to explore its other uses it'll be there for the taking. If the price is free then why not?!?!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Started off with mostly blank fill but then thought I should know the Dutch leader of New Netherland. With a possible P, Y, V, ANT; I was lucky to recall PETER STUYVESANT. I've always liked the verb STOKE and its use as a figure of speech. The other long acrosses came easily, too, as others have said. I was lucky to recall RAJIV - not many naves with a final V. AISHA / CALDER was a near Natick but went with the final A in Aisha. Other lucky WAG's: SCOTS, SPIN, CEZANNE,
So, FIR and no searches needed. A pretty good Saturday.

Husker: Excellent intro; many engaging visuals. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Soli=plural of solo When you sing one by yourself (the definition), you sing a solo, not a soli, even if you chose a song from a group of songs written to sing alone.

Anonymous said...

I got NOWHERE with this puzzle today. (sigh)
Crossword Fiend says PETER (16A) PAUL (31A) and MARY (48A) :-)

billocohoes said...

OK, I'll give up on the usage. I have to go from hence to an ATM machine, use my PIN number to get some cash money, and from thence to my next following appointment.

Yellowrocks said...

The word anemone referred to the flower first. Anemone means daughter of the wind and the flowers are sometimes called wind flowers. Some thought the flowers opened only when the wind blows.
The sea anemone was named after the flower which it was thought to resemble.


sea creature

Peter,Paul and Mary? Wow! I wonder if that was intentional.

If you like whence and thence it is a matter of personal choice to use them or not.

Anonymous said...


Look at Consumer Cellular for ideas on phones and plans. I think prepaids have a time limit on the usage - mine expired after a year. And imho, smart phones do have a learning curve but have nice features.

Misty said...

Great debut, Christopher--many thanks! I started out with getting a few names right away--LEN, DANSON, CLAUDE, O'TOOLE. That helped me fill in quite a bit before I had to do a little cheating at the end. Can't believe I got UNDERDEVELOPED early on, and was very happy when MARY TODD LINCOLN and PAUL CEZANNE filled in without having to look anything up. Couldn't believe we'd get a word with two Xes, but yes, XEROXES, of course. And I got 'Secret targets' instantly, and ODORS cracked me up when it turned out to be correct. Fun Saturday puzzle--thanks again, Christoper. And helpful and clever write-up, Husker Gary, thanks for that too.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Lucina said...

Wow! Que Bueno! This was a bit challenging but as has been said, solving the very long fill definitely aided with the rest.

I've read several books on early NY history so PETER STUYVESANT emerged quickly. However, AISHA is completely unknown and needed all five perps. Major Arcana? When HANGED man appeared, it still didn't click. Thank you, HG.

CALDER seeped out from a deep memory. NEATER and adroit seem unlike to me. I had DEFTER which seems closer in meaning. But ZEPPELIN changed that. NIPPON also emerged from a deep recess in my brain.

PETER, PAUL and MARY. Maybe there is a theme.

Also, I had DANTE but didn't know how it was connected to "Clerks" clerk.

When we went to the beach near Oceanside, CA, we looked for ANEMONE beds.

Thank you, Christopher Adams, for the clever and misdirected cluing! There is much to like in this puzzle.

And of course, thank you, Mr. Saturday, Gary, for an always illuminating and illuminated commentary!

Have a sensational Saturday, everyone!

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle a great deal. PETER STUYVESANT and PAUL CEZANNE filled immediately but it took several perps to get MARY TODD LINCOLN. Very clever to spot the Peter, Paul, and Mary! I love love love the clues for LEASE, WINK, and TENANTS. Flirtatious bat, indeed! Of course I was thinking of the animal. Awesome, just awesome.

The discussion about Nihon vs Nippon is interesting. I have heard the "r" sound in Chinese pronounced more or less as a soft "j" sound thousands of times. I suppose Messrs. Wade and Giles heard it that way, too, so they "Romanized" the word for person "ren" as "jen." Also, to the ears of English speakers, the Chinese "b" sounds like a "p" so Wade and Giles spelled the word for origin "ben" as "pen." So it's easy to see why Marco Polo heard "r ben" as "je pen." (Interesting that the Chinese called Japan "the origin of the sun" or more loosely "where the sun rises." Japan is still referred to as The Land Of the Rising Sun.) Yeah, I know: TMI.

I guess if I were more adroit I could install my own garage door, but I cannot accept that "adroit" would therefore mean "garage door." For the same reason I can't buy it that "more adroit" means "neater."

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...

Good wishes to you all.

desper-otto said...

Very adroit, Jayce.

oc4beach said...

I was able to get through the puzzle with a little help. HG's tour explained a lot of unknowns today.

The long clues were not a problem today. They helped fill in some of the shorter fill. AISHA and DANTE were the two look-ups that I needed today. I knew the others.

With all the snow we've had, water is now my problem. But not the outside water. The solenoid fill valve on my whole house humidifier is leaking and the water softener is overflowing when it recycles. I have turned both units off and will call the appropriate repairmen on Monday morning. The continuing care living option, where there is someone to take care of everything, is starting to look better. It's a good thing my ShopVac can vacuum up the water on the floor.

Have fun today.

Yuman said...

Do any if you have an Amazon Echo? My daughter convinced me I needed one and I resisted for several months but I finally relented. It comes in very handy when doing crossword puzzles. For example, I couldn’t remember the artist for “The CardPlayers” asked Alexa and she immediately gave me the answer. Alexa has many practical uses, and lots of fun ones. Last night while doing dishes I played Jeopardy. All you have to do is download the app and plug it in. They are on sale right now for $69 marked down from $99

Michael said...

The death of spelling, example #775543543:

Having no idea who 5d is, perps led me to AESHA, because SHARPEE looked like a good answer for 13a.

I was wrong, but this led me to note that both of these errors are also perfectly legitimate, at least in current usage. Look, for example, at the names of NFL and college footballers, or the tweets of a certain unnamed potentate. It's open season on spelling ... and let's not try to pronounce the results.

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce, interesting addition to the Nippon, Nihon discussion.
Gary, with all the wonderful pictures and links it must take you hours to do the expo, a labor of love. We certainly do appreciate it.

I wish all the annual financial reporting for Alan would use the same time period.
Social Security representative payee, one account, Sept 1-Aug.31.
Another social security account, Oct. 1 -Sept. 30
Guardianship, Jan 10 - Jan 9 the next year.
IRS and Medicaid, Jan. 1 - Dec.31
When Alan goes to the group home they will handle all his money. This year should be a partial year, difficult to parse. After that I think I am home free.

oc4beach, what a mess. Every time something like that happens, I am tempted by the continuing care option.

Alan has a Consumer Cellular Doro 626 flip phone costing just under $50. The monthly fee is $15 plus taxes, etc. This satisfies his limited usage needs and keeps us connected. There is no contract. The only problem with this phone and many Consumer Cellular phones is that the battery runs down quickly. We charge it overnight a couple times a week.

Cesar Milan said...

A question for pet owners out there:

Have you ever been with your pet outside in the early morning or late night, in the rain or cold, maybe on a trip at a rest area or just in a general hurry and looks down at the procrastinator and begged for 46a GODEEP in reverse?

Lucina said...

My friend, Mark, also has a cell phone from Consumer Cellular for his limited use. I don't recall the cost but I'm sure it's very low.

That's interesting information about Chinese and Japanese pronunciation. I only know that speakers of those languages have a very bad time with English, r and l especially.

I think I would really like to have an Echo but if it depends on a smart phone I'm out of luck.

Mike Sherline said...

From the thesaurus on my MacBook - one sense of neat shows adroit, but adroit doesn't show neat anywhere. I couldn't see it while doing the puzzle either.

neat adjective (after 4 other senses)
5. his neat footwork: skillful, deft, dexterous, adroit, adept, expert; informal nifty. ANTONYMS clumsy.

adroit adjective
an adroit politician | adroit social commentary: skillful, adept, dexterous, deft, nimble, able, capable, skilled, expert, masterly, masterful, master, practiced, handy, polished, slick, proficient, accomplished, gifted, talented; quick-witted, quick-thinking, clever, smart, sharp, cunning, wily, resourceful, astute, shrewd, canny; informal nifty, crack, mean, ace, A1, clueful, on the ball, savvy, crackerjack. ANTONYMS inept, clumsy.

Mike Sherline said...

Well the other day it was not watching commercials, today it was ignoring sports and pop "culture" in general. An unusually high number of shows, movies, songs, and people I've never heard of: 3d the clue indicated it must be a band. 5d - last time I knew it was Drew Carey, but I also knew he'd gone on to some TV game show. 9d - after pondering, figured Couples could be a person's name. 42d - I thought I heard she was actually a trained pianist, but the clip of this song was torture, despite how pretty she is. How terribly amusical can a song be and become a #1 hit? Good grief. 27a - Clerk - huh?
I shamed myself @ 35a - a musician, I couldn't think of anything but candy on the pillow in a hotel room - even after getting some of it, I was thinking DULCE at first. (Kicking self).
A lot of the clues were very clever. I thought 23a Flirtatious bat might be a cartoon character, and when WINK showed up I wasn't disabused of that thought. Nice gif, Husker, but it's showing a BLINK (both eyes), not a Wink (one eye).
My favorite was 36a Dizzy genre - thought of Dizzie Gillespie in about 2 seconds. I generally love clues about real music. (But still kicking myself over 35a).

Ol' Man Keith said...

An exceptionally bright Xwd today from Mr. Adams!
Yes, I needed a few helps to wrestle it to submission, but I enjoyed the "journey" (the label we're giving to almost any process or path these days)--and every time I wanted to challenge the cluing I ended up agreeing with it.

Hard to choose a fave clue, but I guess the hint for 23A (WINK) has to be among everyone's top contenders.

As HG said, the long fills were easy and a major help.
In the personal connection department I enjoyed seeing HANGED on top of CALDER. I once used the "HANGED Man" image in an experimental German DRAMA in a university show, and Alexander CALDER's mobiles were the inspiration for our earlier design of a professional production of HMS Pinafore.

Jayce ~
No, not TMI. I enjoyed your riff on "Nihon/NIPPON" & "ren/jen." You are right about the way Anglophone ears can mis-hear many Asian sounds. In my experience with Asian exchange students, our mis-hearing is based on the different manner in which our nationalities articulate consonants. The same phoneme will gain or lose overtones depending on where in the mouth it is shaped. As a general rule (meaning there are significant exceptions) European speakers use the forward parts of the mouth to form consonants, while Asian speakers often form them toward the throat.

Yuman said...

Jayce, all you need is WiFi

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce, having studied Japanese for a few years, I can point out the hiragana symbol for Ho and Po are almost identical and the difference in pronunciation is not as great as it is in English. Nihon Nippon.

AnonymousPVX said...

This Saturday puzzle took some effort.

Not much happened the first two passes, then just tried to work what I had. As usual, working from the bottom...SE, me some traction and I built thensolve from there.


Have a great weekend.

Wilbur Charles said...

I blew it like D-O on the JLO/ELO. RAJIV is on TBBT. Duh.

I was completely stuck. I handed it to Phil, as in, you'll never get one. He said "Dad, what's this RET? You want ALT. "

Then strangely the other half fell into place. I need to do Saturday at 7:00 am.

Bob, you're thinking of Tom Sturdivant
He may have played for the Redsox too.
I translated LXVII as 47. Boy, when Mr S. is in town...
-T, I didn't even get that far in the first hour. I didn't like that X in OXYGEN
My brain works funny. I have to load it up and let it percolate

Wow, until I read Jayce I thought WINK was a cartoon bat. I see Mike had the same idea

Wait a SEC. CALDER does or doesn't make "Mobil" phones??? I was so late I haven't hit HG's links yet

I misspelled the blimp and the film state.


PS. The other day we had ANNS as an answer vis a vis a person . I still don't get it

Husker Gary said...

-WC, The clue/fill was “65. Wilson of Heart et al.: ANNS” on Feb. 13. As you can see it referenced ANN Wilson of the group Heart but the et al made it plural to include other ANNS as well.
-Mike, I thought about that bat/wink idea when I blogged it. One eye indicates a wink but the fill BAT seems to be using both eyes in a sequence. If only one eye is batting I think you have a tic.

Mike Sherline said...

Husker @1928 Boy am I dense today (well, maybe not just today). Of course she's BATTING her eyes! Which makes the c/a even more obfuscated - is the flirt bit a bat or a wink?

Anonymous T said...

Waited all day for this says...

Mike S. A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat...


Loved reading y'all and learning today.

Cheers, -T

Mike Sherline said...

-T HAR! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink......say no more.

Big Easy said...

Out of town until 9:00pm today but this was a very easy puzzle for a Saturday. Under 10 minutes. WHENCE was all perps; ditto for CALDER, DANTE,NEATER, BRET Michael (or Poison), NO ONE, HANGED, AISHA, & DANSON. Didn't know MARY TODD LINCOLN or PAUL CEZANNE but there were so many perps in place that they were easy to guess. Never heard of either DANTE or "Clerks". STUYVESANT was a gimme; only the correct spelling took perps.

Never heard of a mobile ( other than Alabama) or CALDER. I saw the photo and looked at other comments and still don't know what a 'mobile' is.
After reading some comments, and looking up its definition, I still don't know how Adroit relates to NEAT. Tidy whiskey with no ice. Maybe just a 'neat' way of doing something.

Anonymous T said...

Mike S. - Nice, er, Adroit; well played.

Nothing apropos says...

Yo, Fipper, pass the puffer. [Smithsonian]

Thought some y'all would find it interesting.

Cheers, -T

billocohoes said...

BE, a “mobile” by Alexander Calder is a sculpture that moves, the whole and its parts hanging by wires, so they may spin in a breeze or if pushed. Similar to wind chimes but usually silent. A lot of them are hung over babies’ cribs

CrossEyedDave said...

Just lurking today,
but had to opine....

Jerome D. Gunderson @ 8:05,
She read the Tarots, and kicked you out?
If you paid in advance, I would not give it a second thought.
However, if she kicked you out when you owed her money, I would be deeply concerned...

Jerome again@ 10:07 Re: Cell Phones...
Ignorance is bliss, enjoy while you can.
However, once you get a smartphone, you will be forever tied to it
hook, line, and sinker...
I cannot imagine living without it now.

Make phone calls? It is the last thing I do with it!
Texting is awesome! Imagine Morse coding with anyone in the world!
And it's a flashlight!
And it's a Camera!
And it's a calculator!
And I can use the camera to zoom in on a menu in a dark restaurant
when I forgot my glasses.
(not to mention, find splinters etc...)
And it's a clock, timer alarm...
And it will tell you the Weather, and show you live and future radar pictures.
And it is a GPS that will direct you anywhere!
And it has maps that show where you are in real time!
And it even can be used as a level to hang pictures evenly!
And I can just talk to Siri and ask her a million things,
like to remind me on tuesday at 9am that I have a dentist appt at 10am,
set timers/alarms, and remind me that I dropped and lost the nut to my motorcycle
battery and need to get a new one if I ever want to use it again...

Boarding a plane? it has your boarding pass...

Want to play solitaire? (I play pinball games on mine...)

Use apps like Shazam to listen to a song you don't know the name of on the radio,
and it will tell you in seconds exactly what you are listening to...

I use a free app called star walk, that I hold the camera up to the night sky
and it shows me what constellations and stars I am looking at in real time!

See a plant and don't know what it is. Take a picture using garden answers
and it will tell you what it is, and how to take care of it. Is it edible?
Is it poisonous?

Hook up your Fitbit to it and it will give you maps of your walks/hikes/biking/runs
showing heart rates, elevation climbs, calories burned, mileage, and even how well you slept.

Yuman @ 2:14
Amazon Echo?
DW got me one for Xmas because she could not think of what else I did not already need.
It immediately started the whole house fighting over who was going to use it.
(but it's my present!)
It is like Star Trek, where you ask the computer to do something,
like turn on lights, play music etc...
I am still playing with mine, but never thought to use it to cheat on crossword puzzles...
The biggest time saver so far for me was that I have a Hoover Rogue 970 Vacuum
(with the buggiest software ever.)
that takes several steps with the Ipad or Smartphone to get going.
But now I just say, "Alexa, start a rogue mission."
& within seconds, my house is being vacuumed!

fermatprime said...


Thanks to Christopher and Gary!

Took me awhile but I finally prevailed. Wrote down the letters I had for whence (__ENCE) and finally got it. Did not know: BRET, FRED, CALDER, DANTE and NEATER.

No rain today. Hooray!

See you tomorrow!

fermatprime said...

Yes, Jayce! Still doing keto. Haven't been to Facey lately to be weighed lately (They have a wheelchair scale.)
Was kissed by Shamu when I was a lot younger and prettier.

chris adams said...

constructor here! thanks everybody for the kind comments; much appreciated. one correction: this is not my LAT debut; that was june 28, 2018 (a thursday). otherwise, some quick thoughts based on the comments, and on what i (vaguely) recall from construction. peter stuyvesant, being 15 letters, was the seed entry; the peter / paul / mary thing was intentional after that, and the names dictated the shape of the grid. iirc, i could've filled it without the squares in the four corners, but i liked some of the fill better this way. as for nippon, my original clue was in the same vein as what was published, though today i'd probably go for something like "ANA part" to specify nippon over nihon.

Anonymous T said...

Chris (I guess I can call you that)...

After @11:27 & Lucina said it, I too wondered about the PP&M 'theme' (on a Sat?). Subversive - well done.

I wasn't keen enough to hit your thought process, but (after a few cheats) had fun. Keep puzzling us Chris. A few more and I'll learn your game/mind and solve you.

Thanks for dropping into the Corner. It's always nice, er, Adroit [care to explain?] for the constructor to comment.

Cheers, -T