I think it was Sondheim who pointed out that Alice Faye is Pig Latin for phallus.
8
In 1973, Sondheim cowrote (with Anthony Perkins) a little-known mystery film, "The Last of Sheila," which may be relevant. It's fun, and I recommend it!
3
"The Last of Sheila" is more than fun, poly. It's truly wonderful!
Of course, it's Sondheim.
And I was of course delighted to see the clue for PERRY with the reference to the brilliant "Pacific Overtures." I haven't seen "Hamilton," but from what I've heard I think "Pacific Overtures" may have provided a bit of inspiration for some of the approach. (Not accusing Lin-Manuel Miranda of anything untoward; "inspiration" is a good thing. And I could be wrong.)
2
KUDU? Who knew?
Damn that AIRDAM.
GAPPY did not make me happy.
Absolutely wonderful wicked good Saturday!
1
TURN RIPE? Blech
1
Checking in late on this one. I put this puzzle down this morning and began pondering what the heck I could come up with for 1A. Finally, it came together. It was a toughie for me but I hate to give up. Wow,
Ketelone had me stumped earlier because I don't drink vodka and I can only think of a couple of brands that are familiar but I didn't even know that Holland had their own. Good challenge thanks to Ezersky/Shortz.
2
and Elke
Now that SHABBAT is 'out' (5:58 pm Pacific time)- I am starting to work on the Sunday puzzle ....
Just home from the movies. Nice challenging Saturday with just a couple clunky entries (GAPPY, EYEHAND). IFEELLOVE was automatic. Final square was the 'D' in AIRDAM, which is maaaaybe kinda sorta something I've heard of somewhere along the way. Pleased with myself for calling up ALICEFAYE.
Garage-rock classic "Little Black EGG" by the Nightcrawlers, 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W0ywTb9GCU
2
Agree with most that SW was challenging... GAPPY made NE a little difficult, as it wasn’t a usage I am familiar with.
All in all ... nice Saturday trial of one’s wits.
Hoping the Super Bowl tomorrow will be enjoyable with the underdogs Eagles pulling it off!
Not sure if I will have the time to do Sunday, hence streak will in jeopardy!
1
First, nice writeup Caitlin!
The SW corner was a bear. I finally got everything except for the letter at the crossing of OTB and TORII. I had no idea about the latter and went through the alphabet searching for something sensible for the former. I came up with nothing. After taking a break I remembered the acronym OTB from a previous puzzle. Whew!
1
Well that was agony--in a good way, of course. Had to come back to it three times, but I finally earned my gold star with no lookups, keeping my modest streak in tact. I had GLBT before LGBT (didn't that change at some point?), which threw me for a while. OCTET before OCTAD. And TORII is now #150 on the list I keep of English Words I Never Knew Existed Prior to NYT Crossword Puzzles.
1
Another great puzzle today, which I breezed through in under two hours with the help of more lookups than yesterday.
My favorite answer today was ALICE FAYE, who brought on another stroll down memory lane. Alice and her husband, bandleader Phil Harris, were members of a Bob Hope USO tour group that entertained this then Seaman 1st Class in the summer of 1944 at the former luxury Hotel Del Monte in Monterey CA. The hotel had been taken over by the Navy for use as a 3-month Primary Radio School for training future electronic technicians, a program I had been assigned to after gloriously flunking out of their V-12 college program at the end of my sophomore year. Other vets are always impressed when I tell them what tough duty that was. We slept in double decker bunks, four to a room, with private bath, and ate in the hotel dining room served by waitresses.
6
I seem to be getting worse with experience. I had to resort to Google for a few of today's entries. It still didn't help much as I discovered that OLIVE FAYE was a singer and dancer in the '30's and 40's - so that threw me nicely. Early on I had only the last three letters of 1A which put me off wanting to even continue on that one. Had SABBATH before SHABBAT and BREAD before YEAST. Had to "pass over" most of the north and therefore I DID UP from DID UP. I had also guessed RIPE for "Isn't bad?", so when TURN RIPE turned up, I realized it AIN'T good. "I HAND" it to the constructor. This puzzle nearly had me visiting the nearest TRAUMA center. Oh well, there's always Sunday.
1
I remember the listening to Phil Harris & ALICE FAYE on the radio. Wasn't it the same night as Jack Benny and Allen's Alley? Or was it Duffy's Tavern? Didn't remember that she had a signature song though.
Funny that people who don't remember ALICE FAYE didn't seem to have any problem with "Tobacco Road."
Post-solve Google of AIR DAM tried to tell me what a "spoiler" is. I still don't understand either, but that's okay. (I do know what a "cowcatcher" is.)
Never heard of TRAVEL BLOG, but I love it. Only heard of PIBB at XWP, so I was able to figure that one out. No problem with EYE-HAND vs. hand-eye.
The thing that took the longest was KAZAKHS. I was thinking maybe there was a WEST CORn(wall). And didn't parse the vodka correctly. When in Holland, I think you're supposed to drink genever. Also couldn't remember Tony DANZA's last name, although I knew who the reference was.
Problem with DBACK. Wanted R(azor)BACK, but I thiink that's Arkansas. Also, OCTet before OCTAD. (Note to self: Look up difference.) Didn't know there was a DRINK called a Sombrero and don't think I ever heard of "I FEEL LOVE."
Had the same hesitation as others at PAY A FEE as clued. SON OF ADAM was new to me.
An altogether fine Saturday, especially LGBT RIGHTS, the SE stack, TRAVEL BLOG, and, yes, GO ASK ANYONE.
Thanks Sam and Bryon, and everyone else.
And welcome, Caitlin. We know you'll take good care of us over the weekends.
1
DL,
The flaps that pop up on an airplane's wings when it lands were the original spoilers. They help the plane stay down by spoiling the wings aerodynamic lift.
Spoilers on a car do the same thing. They keep the car planted on the road at high speed, when the shape of the car (flat on the bottom and curved on top) make it a giant wing. "Spoiler" usually refer to the little duck-tail on the trunk lid. Some say it's called a spoiler because it spoils the looks of the car.
The air dam is a nosecone-shaped fairing below the area of the front bumper. It reduces drag but has a shape that reduces lift at high speed. Below 70 MPH or so, any spoiler is just a decoration. At 150 MPH, they're a critical component of the car's design. I'd say more, but statute of limitations and all.
I thought those hinged flaps on planes' wings were called ailerons.
In the interests of the picture-vs-thousand-words thingy, use the Google Images option, DL.
Leapy,
Flappy things on the wing include flaps, slats, ailerons, trim tabs and spoilers. They all do different things. Here's the spoiler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoiler_(aeronautics)
It's ahead of the aileron (at the end of the wing) and flap (next to the aileron on the inboard side).
1
With the "E" from SERRAS and "F" from FAIRS in place I immediately plopped in erniEFord. I wonder if he every sang with ALICEFAYE?
HALLPASS was worth the price of admission today. Best clue ever!
GAPPY is sappy just GOASKANYONE.
I loved the party going on in the SE corner.
Wonderful Saturday puzzle fellas, thank you very much!
And thank you, too, Caitlin, for your great writeup!
2
Nice spin, Caitlin. I thought 'klunky' instead of 'chunky'. Alice Faye? Air dam? Whatever that Dutch vodka was? I also never heard anyone say, 'turn ripe'. Have seen many better from Sam E., whom I usually like. I did like 1 across a lot!
A fine Saturday workout. The SW corner nearly defeated me. I was gratified when Bing confirmed my out-of-thin-AIR guess for ___DAM. But then even the trusty Webster Collegiate couldn't clear my mental block at the crossing of OCTA_ and _IDUP. I had to resort to the Unabridged. Kudos to all who did this one without lookups.
I had Pibb Zero for the longest, my husband's fav.
So ready to be in the garden. When the kale TURNSRIPE, we roast with olive oil and seasoning from the SPICERACK. Yum. The life of a PENSIONER!
1
My first thought for 1A: NYTIMES, but it was a letter short.
1
Great puzzle. Love Saturdays! My favorite clue/answer was: Thing held in a cannonball/knees.
But I cannot agree that asking is not cheating. It most certainly is. Why even Googling an answer is not right for the true puzzler. I see your point, but I will not abide. PB
5
Asking is not cheating in my book, but it means that solving is a team effort. And so I must share the glory. Googling is giving up, but sometimes I must give up. Not this week though, Yay!
2
Alice Faye and I attended the same elementary school (P.S. 69 on 54th Street). She was before my time, but the teachers kept bragging that they knew her. So I just needed a couple of crossing letters to think of her.
5
...that moment when I slid in the last letter and got the happy tune only to blanch and look wonderingly at GOASKANYONE, convinced I’d have to go back and find some letter to replace in that long string that didn’t make any sense ... until it did.
Like Rich said previously, I only remembered Alice Faye as the glamorous wife of bandleader Phil Harris on his zany radio show.
This one fought me all the way and won. I certainly didn't. I thought I knew 30's-40's cinema and music, but Alice Faye was just outside the wheelhouse (heard of, didn't remember). I guess I don't drink enough vodka to know brands. Had to look up both of these.
Got the ANYONE part of 9D, but was locked out of the northeast for a long time. SPICERACK gave me enough toehold that I could eventually work around to the GOASK part of 9D on crosses. Northwest was trouble too. I figured PIBB was somewhere in the Coca-Cola product, but I had to scratch and claw my way to the correct spelling. OLIGARCH took some doing as well.
Lots of obscure and misdirected material, as least to me, along with some "shoulda haddits." So it was a struggle all the way. I seem to remember finishing on an alphabet run, but at this late remove from last night, I can't remember where.
Anyway, it's done, and there you have it. I don't fault the puzzle. But I was a wrong fit for this one. Maybe I'll fit Sunday better.
Good write-up, Caitlin. Welcome to the rotation.
4
OLIGARCH happened to appear in two news articles I read early this morning. It was one of my first entries along with AINT (I'm on to the trick now) and ETNA.
For the record, I remembered where my alphabet run was: AIRDAM, at the D, crossing KUDU. Short run, but a run nonetheless, as the last letter in.
2
That was my last square too, Alan.
1
This might seem a bit too nit-picky, but Be Charged (36A) means IMO to incur a fee, not PAY A FEE. I mention it only because it hung me up for far too long.
5
In olden days, I would agree, NM, but for my NYT sub (and not a few other things), "incur" and PAY are simultaneous events.
3
If Neil DeGrasse Tyson is in the puzzle, there are only eight planets. He still takes a lot of heat for leading the dump Pluto charge.
5
Especially from 3rd graders, to hear him tell it.
I came here to see if this was considered a particularly easy Saturday puzzle. It was my fastest Saturday time--one half my average. No lookups. My first pass had only 3 entries and I resigned myself to a slog. Then somehow I had all of the NW and SW filled in and that gave me the energy to see how much more I could do before resorting to aids. Got KETELONE, TORII and many more unknowns from crosses. Had SHABB-- for a long time waiting to see if the end was os or AT (I had a hard time switching from Bas to Bat Mitzvah.) Had to run the alphabet for the my final letter, the G in GAPPY.
Martin: Thank you for the information about Inari. We prefer our Inari sushi without the vegetables so we wait while they make some up for us. I can still remember my Japanese cooking teacher showing us how to pour boiling water over the fried tofu to remove the oil.
Rampiak: Thank you for the explanation of GOASKANYONE.
3
Hi Reedie'65! Me too for the Shabbos/Shabbat, the Bas/Bat Mitzvah, and the alphabet run for that [disappointing] last G.
I envy your living in the AZORes.
1
Thanks. It is the best of both climates.
1
But the actual Azores are lovely, too! And temperate.
1
Is the Mini becoming a Midi?
The Saturday Mini is always a Midi.
--Maxie
3
A good Saturday challenge requiring only a couple of look-ups for proper names crossing one another. Not particularly down with EYEHAND or GOASKANYONE, but I can let that PASS in a puzzle RIPE for noodling.
1
Good morning. I’m a History docent at the Oakland Museum of California and I have a correction, Junipero Serra did not found San Francisco. Juan Baptista de Anza lead the expedition that established the locations for the presidio and the mission prior to Serra arriving. Love the puzzle anyway!
5
While Serra was not the first European to *find* San Francisco, I think it correct to call him the (European) *founder.* While, as you note, the "locations" had been established earlier, you are not stating or suggesting that he did not establish the presidio or the mission.
1
YES! I saw SERRA right away, it was the only thing that fit, but it ATE AT me for the rest of the puzzle. Thanks! And yes, good puzzle, even better with your input!
Also, Junipero Serra was not always held in high esteem. According to the NYT: "Indian historians and authors blame Father Serra for the suppression of their culture and the premature deaths at the missions of thousands of their ancestors."
3
Didn't anyone have LEAKY before GAPPY? Or LEND ME A HAND before GO ASK ANYONE? I certainly never heard of PIBB XTRA (had to google it later to find out what it was) or KETELONE. I liked the clues for KNEES, HALL PASS and SAT UP.
Nice Saturday all in all though I didn't get it without help.
2
GAPPY must be the grandfather in some old TV series. :-)
1
Scattered smog = GAPPY haze?
7
Alan J, please GTYR.
2
Welcome back, Caitlin!
Very tough Saturday for me, esp. the SW corner where the lonely Torii stood for several minutes with no company whatsoever.
Eventually the area code map led me to the trauma center, and the son of Adam brought me the obscure airdam, followed by the simply cooked kale, and at last "I feel love"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0h8Pjf4vNM
2
Quite a workout, with many false starts. I had only T_A at the end of 16A, so entered honesTeA, which is a (misspelling) of a Coca Cola product. My single Google was the date of it's acquisition, which was not 2001 (2008, if I recall correctly). Got a bit concerned when I had ____ASS for 1A. SW was last to fall.
Super Saturday puzzle. I held on to a few wrong answers for too long, like 'resolved' before HUNGOVER (uncharacteristically positive of me!), and 'hand eye' before EYE HAND. The latter was particularly problematic because I erroneously thought 'the' would be part of the NYT and thus the 'H' worked. Kept thinking along the lines of magazine for toilet paper. That pesky NW was the last to fall, but -- when HALL PASS filled itself in -- I laughed out loud.
Love STAGGERS under HUNGOVER.
Finally, I am embarrassed to say that I remember ALICE FAYE from old movies I watched after school on PIX and channel 9 in NEW York. And if you haven't seen The Shape of Water, you should. Richard Jenkins may not win the Oscar, but it won't be because he doesn't deserve it. His performance is beyond lovely, as is the film.
1
I had to Google to get TORII. I never knew what a (an?) EWER was until today. I'm sure I now have another tool in my crossword kit with that one.
A nice tough Saturday puzzle.
I Wiki'd TORII too. On EWER: there's a lovely anecdote Diane Ackerman gives in her book about her husbands speech therapy, after a stroke, where a therapist "corrected" his producing "ewer", because the therapist didn't know the word, and tells her patient he made it up, and the "real" word was "pitcher". Actually, the word was native for him -- a Brit, I think from the North. Anyone who has dealt with impediments and poorly carried out helping will have recognized that situation, and it has stayed with me ever since.
2
Welcome Caitlyn! I had the same thought for the planets. There were 9 when I was in school!! I loved HALL PASS and KETELONE right over HANGOVER!
If you associate KETEL ONE and HANGOVER with HALL PASS, Lisa G, I'm amazed that you recall *any* number of planets.
3
Last letter in was #9 G, and GAPPY did not make me hAPPY. But EYE HAND it to the Ezerden Walsky team, there were no other EW-ERS (except maybe that COOKED KALE). The entries, the clues, the DRINKing mini theme -- Lewis would be raving about it. He'd like the RIGHT/HAND cross and that YEAST is EAST and WEST CORK is WEST.
Me, I thought that the STAGGERS was some kind of nasty disease that cattle fall prey to. I picked up on KETEL ONE because Chicago John used to drink it before he turned to Scotch. Howie had his bedtime Armagnac and MacKnight his occasional Jameson, so I'm waiting on those. Amazed myself by remembering Father Junipero SERRA from a distant puzzle; seems it's only people I know whose names I forget.
Almost had LIBERAcES...
And thel burning question: GO ASK ANYONE -- AIN'T a HUN GOVERnor apt to BLOW away A LEUT of KAZAKHS? His TORII shows that the PAX ARTS were BERATED by the SON OF A DAM .
Final memo: SPICER (ACK!) and COVE-FEES, to boot? This too sHALL PASS.
7
" I don’t think I ever used a HALL PASS."
I did, but the ones I used to go to the "toilet" were not "paper." In my [NYC public] elementary school, each classroom had two wooden boards ("boys" and "girls") sitting on the blackboard chalk tray near the door for use as bathroom passes. In junior high and high school. toilet visits took place during "change of period;" no wood, no paper.
4
Now you mention it, Barry, I remember those big wooden things in elementary school. I think the idea was that only one boy or one girl could take a pee break at a time, at least from the same class.
Doin't remember intermediate school, but I think by high school they were gone. We did have to get paper HALL PASSes to go elsewhere, such as if we were sent to or summoned by our counselor.
1
Re: "As a little bonus for no real reason, here’s a Saturday grid..."
Caitlin,
Next time, please preface such a link as: "As a little bonus for XWP paid subscribers..." The puzzle is behind the firewall.
Thanks.
According to Google, the plural of TORII is TORII.
What if they were Roman?
1
Toriii, of course. Actually, when I finally located the word on a Wiki page, I thought, alas me, that it *was* plural. Slowly dawned that I was in the wrong language.
(File away for future reference - all Japanese nouns are unchanged in the plural.)
1
When we saw Torii, we immediately associated with an excellent Japanese inspired winery, Torii Mor, in the Willamette Valley.
I would have liked to see GO ASK ALICE FAYE.
4
Sounds like a Jeopardy before and after!
1
Well, I got about 2/3 of this one and tried to be patient and stick it out, but was just too stuck in a couple of areas. Some complete unknowns or things I was never going to guess - COOKEDKALE, TORII, KETELONE, KUDU, AIRDAM and some others and and some of those crossing each other. Had TRAVELOGUE at 28d; I see in retrospect why that doesn't exactly work but I didn't see it at the time and that helped doom me in that area. I still don't exactly see how GOASKANYONE works with that clue, but without the GO I was never going to finish that corner and it never dawned on me.
I do remember ALICEFAYE and got it with enough crosses, but didn't associate her with that song. I think a reference to Phil Harris would have gotten me there more quickly.
Interesting memory blip at 7d. If I type 'end of' in google, one of the first pop-up suggestions will add 'Shabbat in Jerusalem' because I used to do that search every Saturday (Hi Viv). But I stared at it and couldn't remember until I finally made the association with that search string.
I remember the terms HALLPASS and hall monitor, but I honestly have no memory of those being used in my schools (still thought it was a clever clue). My primary association with 'toilets' in my high school is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9zWw0Ru28w
Some day I'll finish a Saturday on my own.
1
"What? You don't believe me? GOASKANYONE; they'll back me up!" ... I think that's how it's supposed to work. Something seems off about it to me, but I can't figure out what.
1
Thank you, ad absurdum. That does make sense.
Objection withdrawn.
(Hat tip to Rampiak who explained GO ASK ANYONE earlier.)
Sequence or series?
2
Welcome Caitin.
AIRDAMS are an expensive (as noted) conceit for most cars.
Cooking kale eliminates most of the vitamins.
Ahh, as Pater oft opined: “You would complain if you were hung with a new rope.”
Nice puzle
2
Did you point out that you wouldn't complain for long?
(Maybe wiser not to, eh?)
2
Reminds me of the Smothers Brothers (very short) version of 'Hangman (slack your rope).'
..
4
Welcome back, Caitlin.
This was a long, hard, educational grind, I finally solved it without “check” or “reveal” but with several Google guess confirmations, one or two of which actually corrected my spelling. Only two ab initio searches: Vodka brands and Shinto architecture.
It was nice to recall Alice FAYE and “You’ll Never Know”: I completely forgot that they went together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI_VQ55EX9U
Speaking of old-time singers, Tony DANZA, whom I never knew, reminded me of Mario Lanza, whom I remember fondly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypHcP-O_10s
One nit. As far as I could ascertain, KAZAKHS means tree people, not wanderers.
2
Like Cossacks, Kazakhs comes from a word meaning “nomad.”
I apologize profusely for my confusing typo: FREE, not TREE.
The source for my objection to the clue:
THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD “KAZAKH”
in “The National Dugital History of Kazakhstan”
http://e-history.kz/en/publications/view/1273
“Thus, there are two main conclusions: — the word "Kazakh" comes from the names of tribes — "kas" ("kaspi") and "sak"; — the word "Kazakh" means "a free man"”.
First, a big welcome to Caitlin as the weekend blogger! It will be nice to be seeing/reading you on a regular basis. The puzzle was going just fine until I hit the SW corner. Key before MAP and OCTet before OCTAD really help me up to the point that I saved my work and went out to run. I guess the cold air (about 15 degrees) worked because I realized it was MAP not key, and then I had TRAUMA. It still took some work because I was drawing a blank on TORII.
3
And even then there's always trouble with Torii Spelling.
heehee
11
Which one do you have trouble Spelling, D.C.?
Good puzzle - except for the EYE HAND thing. Faster than my average time.
Some really great entries in the grid.
Solving-wise for me, a bit of a slog going over everything about ten times. Solved in a counterclockwise direction starting in the SE.
On 8D, once I moved that H from the end to the second position, things started to fall into place.
I thought all British retirees are simply called PENSIONERS like we call them retirees (i.e. no longer working people), but I guess not.
Some entries that were in other recent puzzles:
ATE AT - 1/30/18
OCTAD - 1/22/18
SOFIA - 1/28/18
PAX - 1/30/18
SCROD - 1/22/18
Oddly, the KALE is COOKED but the EGG is in a SALAD.
And I think there is a mini-product placement/ad: 26D, 35D 54A. 9D.
"Good puzzle - except for the EYE HAND thing."
Should have been clued: "Kind of coordination, kind of."
1
Google says it's a wash between EYE-HAND and HAND-EYE coordination:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=eye-hand+coordination%2Cha...
Apparently, EYE-HAND was more popular until about 20 years ago. And it makes more sense, since the EYE detects what the HAND has to coordinate with first.
EYE-HAND sounds funny though. And nowadays, EYE-HAND sounds like iHand. Not sure what that would be. Maybe an app/internet enabled prosthetic, maybe a remote actuated hand, like telesurgeons use to operate on people thousands of miles away?
Faster than usual solve for me... second Saturday in a row! I wonder, is it me?! :)
OCTET and topi in the SW held me up for a bit.
@Caitlin re 9D... I thought that ‘backup’ referred to getting confirmation... as in “ask anyone - they’ll tell you it’s true”!
5
Thank you for clearing that up for me, Rampiak. I didn't understand the backup part until now!
1
I too had to eliminate Pluto to change “the planets e.g,” from a nonAD to an OCTAD. SAD. Sometimes old clues have new answers as experience leads us astray.
Favorite clue - Request for backup!
Welcome to your new regular gig, Caitlin. Thanks, Sam and Byron, for a satisfying Saturday treat.
3
Nice Saturday puzzle! But for my part, just slogged through this, never seemed to get momentum until the end. Maybe if I hadn't been so set on GOASTERNNOW for "Request for backup?" or fitting the G in NATGEO into LGBTQ somehow. Incidentally, is NatGeo now accepted as one word? I.e., not needing an abbrev signal? Apparently. "Toilet pass?" was a nice clue, also "Isn't bad?" -- the all=important question mark. (I've been sensitized by Baby Boomer / Boomer Baby.) Knew vaguely from somewhere that spoilers are sometimes AIRDAMs, but have never seen it in use, had to rely on the crosses (and that's why they call them crossword puzzles). Is Provincetown known for SCROD, or is that just one of those generic "seafood area" clues?
An air dam is a spoiler mounted at the lower front edge of the car. It must be relatively close to the ground to be effective. My wife and/or I have cracked them on the concrete barrier at the front of a parking place more than once. The $3,000+ bill to get one replaced and the front of the car painted prompts me to add an "n" to "dam." I'm sure I'm not the only one.
4
Nat geo is definitely an abbreviation, so I agree that it should have been clued as such.
2
Those concrete bars are exactly what I was thinking of, Martin. Besides which, if you (ahem) run across one of those indecisive squirrels that keeps dashing left and right, you're far less likely to harm it if you aren't sporting an airdam.
I love Kyoto. There are over 1,000 ancient temples and shrines, each one more beautiful than the last one. (Temples are Buddhist and shrines are Shinto.)
Deb's pic is the main Inari shrine in Japan. Inari is the protector of the rice harvest, and his messenger is a fox. Most Inari shrines have a statue of a fox. You might know "inari-zushi," a fish-less sushi consisting of a seasoned pocket of thin fried tofu stuffed with sushi rice mixed with vegetables. They look like little footballs. They're called that because fried tofu is supposed to be loved by foxes, especially the mythological messengers of kamis (Shinto spirits).
10
Caitlin's pic, of course.
5
I am (again) backing up Martin's opinion. Kyoto has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the universe. The shrines, temples, parks, palaces are all simply stunning and the connective tissue in terms of streets, shops, and people, make visiting there a real joy.
David,
I can't answer the question, "What's your favorite foreign city?" The top two are easy: Paris and Kyoto. But ranking them is like picking my favorite parent.
I needed a couple of lookups, but it was easier than most Saturdays. My average looks a bit better now!
1
Crank up the SCROD Skirmish! !
1
Yeah, I'm waiting for FB too.
1
Well, you *could* "catch" SCROD in a P'town restaurant...
(Just the facts, ma'am)
1
Scrod is not a catch of fish
But what you get when you make a dish.
3
had to change Nonet to Octet to OCTAD! Poor demoted dejected Pluto! LOL
7
Nice Saturday workout. 10 Down made me smile.
3
This one took me about half the time that yesterday's did.
2
I succeeded at this one without looking anything up, which really surprised me, especially when I was buried deep in the WEST CORK - DANZA - KAZAKHS area. Luckily, the cluing for NEW gave me NATGEO and I realized I had to reverse HAND-EYE.
Things that fell into place fairly easily: SHABBAT, YEAST, HUNGOVER. Things I got with a few crosses: ALICE FAYE, LGBT RIGHTS, KETEL ONE (didn't know it was Netherlandish). Things I learned: there was a Pueblo Revolt, SON OF ADAM.
I'm seriously glad the constructors didn't use the original grid that was linked in their comments. Although if the clue for DIECISEIS was something basic like "16 in Spanish" I might have figured it out. I haven't seen any recent Star Wars films, so SAW GERRERA would have been totally lost on me.
2
"All sons of Adam rise up with me
Go love the blessed Trinitie..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwV1zER4-i0
1
And then there's this bit of C. S. Lewis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhxMor9E3KM&t=112s