A great puzzle, but broken. A sailing ship can "shear off" if it encounters another ship it wants to avoid. This involves turning the sails to make full use of the "wind shear". Why else bring "boats" into it.
The ONLY time a ship can change direction by "sheering off" is if it carrying a flock of sheep, and the crew pulls all the sheep over to one side of the ship, sheers them and throws the wool overboard to lighten the load ... doesn't happen very often.
This mistake took an hour from my life because the cross-clue needed the "ee", so I spent time checking whether "steered" could work or whether Dianetics or Diabetics had anything to do with studying nutrition.
It's not good when the constructor uses English improperly.
1
"Shear" is what you do to take the wool from sheep. You might need a new dictionary, nvrijn.
"Sheer" as a sudden change of course can apply to vessels but also to any moving thing, such as a careering horse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plCTGKrhByk
During my bridge watches on a destroyer in the early 50s, we used the term "sheer off" whenever we had to spin the wheel to avoid some obstruction. But then, Navy members are not noted for using English properly.
I am delighted to have finished yet another Saturday puzzle, despite having masterCRIMINALS and struggling to fit downs around magnet for far too long. Especially as I had to forego Thursday and Friday’s due to working all day and evening those two days and ending my 15-day streak. Sniff ! Tant pis, I did once, I can do it again, right ?
I read Papillon a couple of decades ago and found it even more gritty than the film, and visiting the penal colony museum at St Martin-en-Ré (off France’s Atlantic coast) from where the prisoner ships would leave was a really moving, spine-chilling experience.
Ooops, 2am must go to bed. Bonne nuit.
2
Really absurdly easy; Thursday-level, at best. A friend and I each had *by far* our best times ever. there was barely a Saturday-worthy clue in the bunch.
To paraphrase Emma, "Very badly done, Mr Shortz."
This one was a toughie. I don't like "super symmetrical" puzzles because they play like numbers of mini-puzzles: few connections between the areas. Nevertheless, each section fell in its due time but the NE looked hopeless. I had NO guesses for any clue! I resorted to a blatant look-up of "ear shells" to get ABALONE. After that, the section slowly fell together. An example of how important the crosses can be to help with the unknowns!
1
Aahhh! It finally came back to me. Last week a puzzle had AUBADE as an answer, and I tried to remember a song that expressed aubade, but my old tied brain refused to cooperate. Then, while sitting on the deck, enjoying a cup of coffee, it popped into my head. Pat Metheny / Charlie Haden "Spiritual" from the album "Beyond the Missouri Sky".
So sorry, I'm too stupid to figure how to link.
2
Edna, I tried to post but it has been held up for 20 minutes. Maybe it will come through. If not, consider this a duplicate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k_DF_RohcM
2
Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k_DF_RohcM
Thank you, Robert.
I really loved the grid, with the four 15s. Terrific!
Not that they were all gimmes. I'd heard of k.d. lang but never of "CONSTANT CRAVING." I followed a link posted by another commenter and discovered I'd never heard the song at all, so it was okay.
Likewise, I'd heard of Radiohead and of ALTERNATIVE ROCK (thanks Jimbo) but didn't know they went together.
Wanted REPEAT OFFENDERS before CAREER CRIMINALS, and only went with PRIOR ENGAGEMENT after PREVIOUS COMMITMENT couldn't squeeze in.
I've seen ads for the movie "MALL COP," with the guy riding around on a Segway. Do real security people in real shopping malls really use them?
Didn't know the non-nautical meaning of CAPSTAN. Actually, I didn't know the nautical meaning either, but I knew there was one. But SPROCKET didn't fit.
NOT IT? I can see it is something that a player is (isn't) on a playground, but a declaration? I know "You're It!"
Re the reference in the column, may all drones please be forever banned from public parks and anywhere else innocent people may be trying to enjoy themselves.
KNISHES before KNESSET.
And on that note, I shall retire until the Sunday puzzle posts.
Thanks Roland, Will, and all for a reasonably crunchy and entirely entertaining puzzle.
2
If we're getting ready to play tag, Deadline, we'll all blurt out "Not it!" The last one to so declare is "It."
(To that last one, we all then say "You're It!")
No backsies.
1
I guess even the rules of tag differ in different localities.
I don't remember how the original It was determined in my long-ago childhood, but it wasn't that way. Then when It tagged someone else, that player yelled "You're It." Then it went on in that vein with the new It.
1
Down South where I was hatched and fledged we said NOT IT and commenced to play Tag, Blind Man’s Bluff or Hide ‘n Seek.
Hungry but I see in the centre: dietetics, constant craving, tangerine, cried and regime.
5
Another exceptionally easy puzzle for an easy week. It took me eight minutes to fill out the NW SE and SW. The NE took another eight because I had never heard of CAPSTAN or ANDIRON, so I resorted to filling in a few random letters. I like learning new words.
Considering a Saturday takes me about 45-60 minutes on average, this one was a breeze.
4
The NE corner took about as long to complete as the rest of the puzzle did, which wasn't long. 31A and 35A were gimmes, the two grid-spanning downs filled in with a couple crosses in place. SOREN, REESE and STARR presented no problems, but LOUELLA was not in the memory banks. Deciphering the clue for ANDIRON then unlocked the NE.
The story goes that Keith Richards' daughter noticed a melodic similarity between the Rolling Stones' 1997 single "Anybody Seen My Baby" and k.d. lang's "CONSTANT CRAVING." Indeed, the choruses of both songs follow a similar chord progression. To avoid any legal complications, lang got a songwriting credit on the Stones song. Have a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hze4NCmmMnk
Did anyone else immediately fill in "REPEAT OFFENDERS" for 8D, albeit with a gnawing feeling that it was too much of a definition, and too easy for a Saturday? But still a perfect fit (i.e., word-for-word)! Still, that gnawing feeling kept my mind ajar, so I was not too phased as the crosses slowly destroyed and then corrected both words.
1
Well, I'm finally hooked. This is the second Friday and Saturday puzzles in a row l've done and it really ain't that bad. The strange thing is I haven't needed to do any lookups. But Mrs W had to remind me that Massenet is French in order to understand 46A.
OK. Like Deb I much preferred SHEARED (actually my first entry there was STEERED) and was futilely trying to remember all the conductor nicknames ...
Post-puzzle parsing can be fun. For instance 2D can be regarded as guilty tripping.
Last, I was actually indulging in that fruit when I filled in 34A. Is that serenidpity or what?
2
A supremely satisfying and deft feat of construction and editing, Messrs. Huget, Shortz, et al.
I’m glad I’m more of a glass-half-full sort because, despite a hopeful start with “beautifully constructed,” today’s blog echoes with half-emptiness: mean, forbidding, lowbrow, less trendy/more academic, upper-crustier. The one that sent me over the edge, however, was inflict: I for one am eagerly awaiting seeing & hearing ms. lang commemorate the 25th anniversary [sigh, tempus fugit] of “ingenue” in a few days. In the meantime I will inflict Miss Chatelaine’s “CONSTANT CRAVING” upon you here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCtYqJFjEng, from Late Night with David Letterman.
1
Some fancy footwork with the 'deft feat', for sure!! No wet.blanket, by any means.
;-D
Very enjoyable puzzle for me today. The fun really began when I plugged in the last dubious letter in SHEoRED, which I had no confidence would work. But I like the detective work of resolving the “almost there” teaser.
I opted early for ObE in 20a, which lead to bIoTETICS for 21d, which didn’t seem quite right either. But the “bIo” part looked legit, since we are dealing nutrition, hence biology. Couldn’t bIoTETICS be some newish field possibly related to biogenetic research? As for 28a, I knew about wind SHEaR, but how could that relate to changing course?
But the original miss on OdE was really the source of my problem. Somehow when you get two out of three letters confirmed in a bit of crosswordese it pretty much confirms that entry. It took several minutes of pondering before the vision of DIETETICS appeared like a bold from the blue. Finally success! Of course, ODE and ObE are both honors as others have noted. So my bad for quickly seeing one but being blind to the other. The clue for SHEERED was a new usage of that word for me. I asked an experienced ocean research captain friend of mine about its contemporary usage among seamen. He knew about it, but said that “veered” is much more common as a term for a vessel suddenly deviating from its course.
Finally, the “diet” idea is reinforced in 40d. Now I’ve always thought that for anyone who was really serious about losing weight, the Diet of Worms would be a really good choice.
2
I don't know about that Diet of Worms. How long could anyone stay on it? I mean, it wouldn't take long for me to drop out and resume a Diet of Bacon-Cheeseburgers-and-Fries, if all it had to offer was Worms.
4
I sort of backed into SHEERED, because I thought the airplane problem was "wind sheer." Now I learn it is "shear" and I feel almost as if I'd cheated.
Went down a lot of blind alleys on this one. Couldn't let go of REPEAT PRISONERS; PREVIOUS instead of PRIOR, THAIS. Actually wrote TUMBREL before TUMBLER - wonder where my subconscious was. I had M___COP and MALL eventually popped into my head. Got the V in VERE from Caitlin (thank you). I don't know why that helped me with the NE corner but I finally cleared that up.
Surprised no one linked to 'Tangerine' a hit from the 40's I think. (I don't understand why the link didn't turn blue but that is the url .)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JDUnZv1N0
2
A rewarding toughie. Unfortunately for me, REPEATOFFENDERS fit just perfectly and I thought I was off to the races. Ach du lieber! Took me forever to suss out CONSTANTCRAVING, even though I have the album. Ach! But thanks Mr. Huget for a nice challenge.
2
The NE corner caused me much grief because I put AURICLE for 'ear shell' (as in 'your shell-like ear') instead of ABALONE (which was a reference I was not aware of). NESTEGG fit as did NOG and PORE but none of the other downs. Finally broke down and checked to get the solve. Had to check TORTONI - another new one for me.
Sometimes one's mind is on the setter's wavelength and it's an easy solve, but at other times t can be a slog. It was a good puzzle, though!
4
Hands up for AURICLE
3
I entered AURICLE too,and then had to spend frustrating minutes sorting myself out. Drat! I really thought I'd finally gotten one on the first go.
2
Astonishingly straightforward clues! I thought for sure the long entries would be tricksy somehow, and reluctantly wrote in several answers, assuming they would lead me down the garden path. But the only one that did was ATatime / ATONEGO (which made the NE hard) . Eventually looked up Billy Budd and everything fell into place.
1
Ooookay, I already see a couple of slightly snotty Comments related to the wheelhouses of certain Frequent Flyers here...... To an extent, they're right: k.d. lang and Radiohead are Unknowns to me. However, I have a long history of Solving for the Unknowns (aka x, y, z, etc.) For that matter, also foreign to me are SLEEPing IN, PERVS, and MALLs, not to mention the Dodgers, most Jazz genres, and criminals imprisoned on Devil's Island (aside from Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov.)
So, one need not have her wheelhouse catered to in order to DOT the i and cross the (SILENT) T.
So there.
14
And pity those living an ocean away from brand names for sweets and soaps, and geographical items, and.... Crosses beats unknowns (almost) every time!
1
Laura, at least you got "Petrol measure."
2
Unless you have to remember if it's LITER or LITRE, which always gets me.
In the mini puzzle this clue and answer appears: Carrier of genetic info RNA. Unless you're a virus WRONG.
1
Well, Tensace, you are right of course , in one sense but .......Well, in a very general sense, would you not say that the RNA carry the genetic information from the DNA to the site/function of protein synthesis?
2
Loosely. But in that sense by merely holding a textbook I'm the carrier of knowledge.
1
RNA does indeed "carry" genetic info (as "messenger RNA" – mRNA), where is it has been transcribed from chromosomal DNA in the nucleus. It then exits the nucleus and ends up at ribosomes (structural units made of RNA and protein), where it is translated into protein (by another class of structural/enzymatic molecules – tRNA).
End of science class.
3
PORE: best clue! Tried fluf, then pill, before getting best egg, and P — E , revealed itself as pore. Very funny.
For 4 year olds, quoting my grand niece: if you cross a kangaroo with a sheep, you have a ......wholly jumper.
2
(for those on this side of the pond, it would be wooly jumper :)
3
Oops woolly not wholly
I sent an oops comment for nest not best and woolly not wholly but they went to, well, where some go!
What is Radiohead doing here? They don't belong here.
5
I’ll bet ANY K.D. Lang hit doesn’t fit into the wheelhouse of many NYT crossword solvers, especially those on this blog.
I'm a solver, and k.d.lang and Massenet are both in my wheelhouse. Not so much Radiohead. But we had an 8 minute faster time than average today.
2
Then I'm one of the lucky few - I'm seeing k.d. lang in Boston Thursday on her tour commemorating the 25th anniversary of "ingenue", source of CONSTANT CRAVING!
3
Surprisingly they do -- and they come up frequently enough to get imprinted. In my case I now have a personal mental library of names of musicians I have never had the experience of listening to.
I have a theory that certain public personality names are far more popular in the NYT crosswords than seems reasonable from the relative frequency of their real life performance appearances. For instance, ESAI Morales, and UMA Thurman.
3
I had to edit REDACTS to REWORKS to REWORDS.
4
I had REVISES for the longest time.
Almost like the punishment fititng the crime in this case ...
2
A Saturday that allowed me to keep plugging away until completion. I fell for the ObE trap, even though I wanted DIETETICS from the start. Unusual to have 'diet' in a clue with DIETETICS as an answer. Musical mini theme with CONSTANT CRAVING, TANGERINE, LE CID, BEBOP, and ALTERNATIVE ROCK. PIPE down, you kids! Liked going from the DOTTED I to the SILENT T.
4
Nonono! The clue was nutrition science!!!!!!
Laura, see Knesset clue. I thought as you did, and had to search for that myself.
I think the distance between the two (both in position and in meaning) make it all right, CS.
Thank you leap finger. Apologies, CS. Maybe the diet clue opened a little brain path to dietetics?
I didn't get my paper today & want to print the puzzle. Anyone know how to do that?
I think if you click on "crosswords & games", you will see three options and the middle one allows you to print the puzzle.
1
Thanks. That didn't work (or I'm too ignorant about how to do it). I wish they'd make it transparent for anyone who has a print subscription. It's really annoying. But as w/ the revamp of Times Wire, I think they're catering solely to apps.
1
I'm surprised. I often print it out. When you click on the crosswords & games heading over the title of today's blog, and then place your cursor on the middle box, you should have an option to print.
1
The caption of the photo could have been one of Deb's new phrases "Hi kids!"
The puzzle's dazzling. A little easier than most Saturdays. Those 4 long crossings were a wonder to behold.
The first gimme was CONSTANT CRAVING because...I'm ashamed to say, that's the only song I remember by k.d. lang.
I don't ever hear anyone say AT ONE GO, but IN ONE GO is common heard. That took a little longer than I would have liked.
MALL COP was a chuckle because it's so unfortunately true. I liked the DOTTED I and SILENT T and the clue for KNESSET.
NE corner was last to fall. Thank goodness for thinking up NOT IT, which gave me NEST EGG, I knew SLOOP was a one-masted ship because I used to play a game called Pirates! - it was one of my favorite ships due to its maneuverability to avoid cannon fire. And when I used to work at the World Financial Center, there would be some sloops docked at the little North Cove Yacht Harbor right next to it. That led me to PORE (another clue I liked). and remembering ANDIRON being related to fireplaces, and so on.
3
Regardless of the caption, I don't understand what today's picture has to do with today's puzzle.
I've heard AT ONE GO fairly frequently, IN ONE GO never.
NEST, EGGS in NEST, NESTEGG (14D). Mr. Bill. Bill on Bird, Bird lays EGG in NEST. NESTEGG. :)
2
Also, Mr. Bill's eyes are dots.
Oh, Noooooooooooooooooooo!
3
So what do I do for the rest of the day?
1
First, maybe read the comments?
(Deja vu)
2
Maybe the joke would be clearer if the comment had been worded this way:
And what do _I_ do for the rest of the _day_?
2
Well, AP, that would have clarified that you did read the comments before posting, but I would have hoped for a better joke from one who REWORDS an earlier post.
JMNSHO
2
Well , take up reel did not fit for 8A and controlled jibe does not begin with an S at 28A sooo.... I used the right answers.
Off to collect the sap from trees tapped last weekend and then spend a few hours wrapped in a maple infused fog. I am sure the 12 year old to whom I was explaining turgor pressure, hydronics, their relationship to heat and cold and flowing sap is still asleep in the Sugar House. Honestly kids these days. There may be some locally harvested and prepared corned beef etc. on the dinner menu as well. Why I live in The Shire in one paragraph.
The puz was fun. Made more so by the fact that all the long fill popped into my head.
Thanks Roland.
3
Deb writes: ... “super symmetrical” puzzle — so called because it’s symmetrical about the horizontal, vertical and diagonal axes.
Question for those closer to (or still in) geometry class:
Isn't any square (such as this 15x15 puzzle) that exhibits reflection symmetry on its horizontal and vertical axes *axiomatically* diagonally symmetrical?
Barry, do your eyes deceive you? I believe Caitlin, our weekend warrior, wrote "super symmetrical" puzzle.
1
I wonder whether *this* reply correcting "Deb" to "Caitlin" will show up before or after the earlier correction I tried to post...
(just another day without avatars)
Barry.
No. The black squares can be easily arranged so that the pattern is symmetrical with respect to reflection in both the horizontal and vertical mirror planes but not in the diagonal mirror planes.
For example, imagine that there are black squares in place of the first and last letters of TANGERINE. Reflection symmetry in both planes would be retained but the "perfect symmetry" would be spoiled
1
Isn't the answer to the epitome of completeness, ironically perhaps, incomplete without the crossing of Ts, even the SILENT ones?
I started thinking about that phrase and wondered where it came from. Did people print some letters only partially and plan to come back and dot the I or cross the T later. That's like writing n for m and planning to add another hump later.
Then, my aha moment! Or duh moment. That's exactly what we used to do in cursive, which of course has gone the way of eight-track players(did they have CAPSTANS?) and civility. For you kids out there wondering what cursive is, it's how we wrote on our cave walls as we waited for the dinosaurs to EVAC the area.
5
The one-humper n and the two-humper m ---that's a little like the camel and the dromedary, isn't it?
This one looked harder at first than it was (for me). I guess I was mentally in sync with the constructor and editor today. I set a new Saturday record.
As for DIET meaning a parliament, the key concept is "day." The German word for their parliament is "Bundestag" ("Tag" being the word for "day"). A conference is sometimes referred to as a "Tagung." As a non-native-speaking German teacher, I have always used the mnemonic trick of thinking that all participants come together on the same day.
DIET and Tag mean the same thing. Carpet diem.
5
Well, you could carpet your diem, if you didn't get messed up by autocorrect, but you know what I meant.
4
I see that nobody on the overnight shift mentioned the three slight pauses I encountered in my swift solve last night: wanting AFT before AGO, POPS before PHIL, and REWORKS before REWORDS.
4
Hands up for AFT and REWORKS. I backed into PHIL on the acrosses, so never got a chance to think POPS.
5
I had REVISES before REWORD. Never thought REWORKS. I let the crossings take care of AGO and PHIL...just POPped into my head.
Nice puzzle for the most part. Just enough early gimmes in most areas to be able to get going. Very satisfying to get each of the fifteens with just a few crosses even though I'd never heard of the song at 31a. And some other nice 'aha' moments as various answers finally dawned on me.
Like a couple of others, ended up in the NE and got completely stuck. Mostly CAPSTAN, but some other things weren't dawning on me either. Was patient and ran the alphabet on various squares, but just wasn't getting it. Ended with a few failed checks up there. Finally seeing REWORDS ended up being the key. Doesn't look as hard as I made it after the fact.
Also had OBE before ODE and somehow left it there even after I had the rest of 21d filled in; didn't bother re-parsing it.
Noted CAREERCRIMINALS next to PRIOR. CONVICTION would have fit as a replacement for ENGAGEMENT and might have been a nice touch, though it would have changed everything else, of course.
2
Help me understand why ODE is "It's an honor"? This seems obvious to everyone here but me. I also don't get OBE as an alternative.
An ode is customarily written in honor of its subject. So if you're the subject of such a poem, it's an honor.
For OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire
This is an honor (or "honour") of a different sort altogether.
6
A similar experience to others, started with previous, but finally had to abandon that as ENGAGEMENT became more likely, took a while to think of PRIOR for some reason. My first section was the NE with lucky guesses, SLOOP, ANDIRON, NEST EGG, ABALONE. However there was no way I was going to get the middle without looking up 31A, and I hate to look up such long answers even on a Saturday. Not complaining as there was plenty of non pop culture in today's puzzle. I'm getting good at recognising the SILENT T type of clue, but the DOTTED I was my last fill.
Like yesterday, more fun than usual for a late week puzzle, thanks Roland.
3
This seemed a little intimidating at first (I think I only got 2 “sure-things” on my first go-through), but it actually came together fairly quickly. BEEHIVE was one of the first words I wrote in, but I was struggling to think of a jazz genre with the letters H__OP. Figuring out that it was supposed to be BEBOP led me to AIRBASE.
I just couldn’t figure out the last letter in CAPST_N and _NDIRON. I’ve never heard either of these words, but just plugged in an A and that seemed to do the trick.
1
Chad (may I call you Chad, Chadwick?)
I am guessing you are young (lucky you!) so-- Welcome.
Drones do not leave the hive as a rule; they lounge about eating and sleeping while the workers (all sterile females) do the chores: seek the nectar and pollen, tend the larvae, assist the queen, make the wax and build the cells, store the honey they produce, fan the entrance for air-conditioning, and more! The drones leave the hive only to mate with the queen (and only one manages to do that.) No wonder they are thrown out at the onset of Winter, eh?
CAPSTAN is a naval term (to me) but my DHubby has still got a reel-to-reel tape deck, so.... same principle.
ANDIRON is unknown to you? Have you no experience with a fireplace? That is so surprising to me, but then I guess this can happen. We had cast iron ones with decorative cats in front; their eyes were transparent green marbles so that the fire lit them up. Quite enchanting, I always thought.
One reason to love Xwords is that we learn new ones all the time; last week it was AUBADE.
8
I remember visiting my grandmother when she still lived in a 2nd floor walk up in Brooklyn, NY, and I was confused about where her living room was because it had no fireplace. I was only 6 at the time but was convinced everyone had a fireplace. Where else would you hang the stockings at Christmas? She said the people on the first floor had a fireplace and were nice enough to just bring her the gifts Santa left. I believed it.
9
Hit a major roadblock in the the NE. Brutal. Finally got SLOOP, gave up on IKE and to ABE and things started to fall. But couldn’t get past TORTINI/PIRE. The clue for PORE was brilliant.
2
I was proud of getting CONSTANTCRAVING as my first fill and ALTERNATIVEROCK as my second, but also got clobbered in the NE as I held on to SPUMONI for way too long. Oh well, a good start but at least a better finish than UVa.
3
Gorgeous looking grid, whether blank or filled in. Just gorgeous. I did not know CAPSTAN, CONSTANT CRAVING, and LOUELLA, and had I known just these three words, the puzzle would have bowed quickly (for a Saturday), instead of being as tough as it was for me. I loved the toughness and grinding through it, actually, and the ping of joy at figuring out the clues to ETAILER (Merchant with tiny shopping carts), ODE (It's an honor) and KNESSET (Mideast diet?).
I love EGG crossing NOG and the sweet heartwarming feel of TANGERINE smack dab in the center.
2
Oops -- four words, not three!
Hooray for the EGG crossing NOG, which had me checking the 3s for NUT and MEG. Nonesuch, but we did have us some RUMS.
The NE kept me from a very fast solve today. IKE before ABE and then CAPSTAN and ABALONE required most of the crosses.
1
Hard but rewarding.
Due to my prior unfamiality with both 31A and 35A, the four corners and central bloc each had to filled separately, with full utilization of the crosses. One look-up was required: ABALONE
Bad guesses: BEEHIVE before AIR BASE, THAIS before EL CID.
Familiar words in surprising contexts: ABALONE, CAPSTAN.
An old accuaintaince: LOUELLA
Several entries drew smiles; two – DOTTED I and ALL RISE – drew chuckles. .
4
I really didn't want to let go of REPEAT OFFENDERS
6
After a few false starts in this puzzle, I managed to wangle and wrangle my way through without lookups. I thought the honor at 20A might be OBE, but then that would have been an "honour," wouldn't it? Other wrong turns have already been mentioned by others.
Caitlin, for a fictional small town PHILharmonic, try "New Horizons in Music Appreciation" from P.D.Q. Bach's Peter Shickele, in which we hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (1st movement) with play-by-play sports commentary.
https://youtu.be/f0vHpeUO5mw
The fictional PHILharmonic orchestra named in this clip is attributed to a real-life small town, New York Mills, Minnesota.
Massenet sure loved him some five-letter opera titles, eh? MANON, THAÏS, SAPHO, LE CID. Actually, out of thirty-plus titles, that's pretty small number. Plenty of longer ones too, as well as the four-letter ROMA. At the other end of the scale, try La coupe du roi de Thulé, or Le jongleur de Notre-Dame.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operas_by_Massenet
6
Better clue for 34A could have been 'Zeppelin love song'. Would have sat nicely between the k.d. lang and Radiohead clues.
6
Clever!
Good puzzle. Groaned at myself for puzzling over PORE so long; got hung up briefly wanting CANNOLI (matching O - I !); liked SHEER; and for once seemed to see SILENTT coming. Slight "hmm": cluing of PHIL as "Man's nickname *in* " an orchestra? But such a clean puzzle overall that wotthehell. And props to Deb for a TIL in TORTONI.
1
Nice puzzle - got a few answer here and there and gradually worked through to finish in fairly decent time, well below my Saturday average. Just so k.d. lang gets some equal time, here she is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i16deO9QW-M
10
For a change, I flew through a corner on a Saturday. I actually saw the movies MALLCOP and CLEOpatra. I used to listed to k.d. lang, and I know a little Spanish. I also recommend the book "The Meaning of Everything", which tells the story of how the OED can to be.
4
Thank you David for recommending “The Meaning of Everything”. Downloaded, started reading and enjoying it !
After a slow start, things went pretty well. My hang ups were OBE before ODE, but I couldn't figure out what BIETETI-CS could turn into. Then I had one mistake after filling the grid which was my usual problem remembering whether it was INERO or ENERO. MEDIVAC looked right to me but I finally realized MED EVAC made sense too so I tried that and life was good. Also tried PRIOR COMMITMENT first.
4
I meant BIETETI-S. Guessed at LECID (from el cid the movie) and then realized it must ODE/DIETETICS.
Me too with OBE for ODE.
2
Hand up for OBE
1
René Belbenoît did not escape from Devil's Island. He never set foot on Devil’s Island. Devil's Island (Île du Diable) is a small island off the coast of French Guiana which was used as a prison for political and other prominent convicts such as Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Belbenoît was a common thief who was transported to the penal colony on the mainland in 1922; he escaped in 1937. "Devil's Island" as a designation for the entire penal colony is a misnomer.
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If memory serves, Devil's Island figures in Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo".
I couldn't remember Papillon's real first name, so just had to find the wanted RENE via crosses.
So what do I do the rest of the night?
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The mini. But what now?
Crostic?
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Great answer! I have been solving the puzzles for three years digitally, and on paper before that. I want to try the acrostics, but how? Not on the app. Web search only finds a few older wordplay blogs by Caitlin, but no links to the puzzle. Half an hour later, I found today’s acrostic! It’s cumbersome to work through my phone’s browser. Too much scrolling up and down. And over. I think I’m halfway through but I’m not sure. Must be a better way!
Caitlin, I know you are the digital guru for wordplay. Is there a better way? I must be missing something!
My drones headed home to the BEEHIVE first.
Less than 2/3 of Sat. average time, which means quicker than Thurs. average.
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Mine too!
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I must have offended the emus. In a missing reply, I pointed out that I tried BEEHIVE too, then realized the drones don't need to come home to the hive since (I believe) they never leave it to start with. I may have indulged in some edgy wording for comic effect which may have snagged the language-appropriateness filter. Oh, well! It may show up sometime Monday.
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I tried BEEHIVE too, but then, don't the drones (and their queen) live their entire lazy*** aristocratic lives inside the hive, being attended hand and foot by their indentured servants, the worker bees? If you're always home, there's no need to come home.
It's the workers who do all the coming home, because they're the ones who do all the real work, right? The workers who go out into the world at large gathering the makings for honey and royal jelly, and then come home to the hive to cleanup after the bosses, feed them, and midwive their young, while the upper crust sit around on their royal bums all day making baby bees and sending out angry Tweets to keep the rest of the hive in line?
Entomologists can correct me where I've gone wrong (which I'm sure I probably have on some points...maybe about the Tweets).
Nicely challenging! I wanted PRIOR COMMITMENT first (actually I wanted PREVIOUS something that wouldn't fit first). Figured Radiohead would have ALTERNATIVE in it somewhere. At first I was not at all sure of being able to fill in all five areas, but I had letters in each area and was able to build on them. THAIS before LE CID--isn't it always THAIS? Not today! I thought some of the cluing was very sly--KNESSET and ANDIRON especially.
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MANON was my alternative to Thais but neither worked. LE CID has some fine music but is rarely done nowadays. Finally got ANDIRON after REWORKS was abandoned. A very good puzzle.
I started with PREVIOUS and then went to PRIOR engagement before making the final COMMITMENT.
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My mother told me that Manon Lescaut means "But, no, let's go."
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very quick Saturday. Liked to see Massenet's opera LE CID. Actually listened to Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte as I solved the puzzle.
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Very quick solve. And so to bed.
See you in the morning, if I don't SLEEP IN.
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