Saturday, August 25, 2018, Patty Varol and Doug Peterson

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Patty Varol and Doug Peterson

What could be a better followup to yesterday's ICE CREAM puzzle than a day that celebrates one of the true delights made with it?  Latrobe, PA is famous for being the home of golfing legend Arnold Palmer but in 1904 an apprentice pharmacist in Latrobe, David Strickland, invented a banana triple ice cream sundae that sold for a dime which was twice the price of other sundaes and it was a huge hit. Strickler bought the drug store and although his invention endures, the building was torn down years ago.

Latrobe is celebrating The Great American Banana Split Festival yesterday, today and tomorrow with many events. I wonder if anyone washes down a banana split with an Arnold Palmer? 

On this day celebrating this legendary sweet treat, Patty Varol and Doug Peterson have concocted this lovely puzzle that entertained me greatly but took 23 minutes before I could put the cherry on top! Patty is our esteemed editor Rich's very able assistant as well as being a constructor herself and I have received some great feedback from her and some "thanks, but no thanks" notes as well. I blogged a puzzle Doug constructed with Neville Fogarty this past February.

Patty Varol                    Doug Peterson

Let's see what else Patty and Doug have for us today as this (soda) jerk tries to make sense of it:

Across:

1. Knot remover: NECK RUB 

8. Not pointless?: ON TOPIC - Politicians always steer debate back to their talking points rather than staying ON TOPIC

15. Took too many courses?: OVER ATE - We had Thanksgiving FOOD COMA recently which could include the portmanteau 21. Hybrid roast: TURDUCKEN (a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a turkey)

16. "Marvelous": HOW NICE.

17. Sent along: RELAYED - Norman Rockwell captures Americana as well as anyone

18. One pulling his weight around Christmas: BLITZEN  - But he wouldn't let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games

19. Caper: ANTIC.

20. Stuff on the deck: STAIN - After 15 years we have given up on STAINING and a 37. House coat: PAINT JOB and so we are installing a synthetic deck

22. Proactiv target: ZIT.

23. European underground nickname: THE TUBE.

25. Forbids: BANS.

26. Flood insurance, once upon a time: ARK - Professor Paul Esperante and others believe this could be the remains of Noah's ARK in Eastern Turkey near Mt. Ararat

29. Copycat's talent: APERY.

30. Alley goop: TAR - I like the play on Alley Oop! 

31. Toasting candidate: RYE BREAD

33. Grizabella the Glamour Cat's solo: MEMORY - The show stopper from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY 36. Single from Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks": TANGLED UP IN BLUE - Has never crossed my turntable, CD player or MP3 device

38. Some navels: INNIES.

39. Puerto Rico's __ de Morro: CASTILLO - CASTILLO (San Felipe) de Morro 

40. Hosp. sections: ERS where they are prepared to 58. Do an inside job?: OPERATE.

41. Warehouse supplies: SKIDS.

42. Darn things: SEW.

43. Vince with 18 CMA Awards: GILL - Not familiar with his work that got him those Country Music Awards

45. Lacking versatility: ONE NOTE - Can you decipher this equivalent phrase? (* answer below)

47. Raised eyebrow, e.g.: ARC.

48. Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor: TRENT - No idea

49. Stomach: ABIDE - Do you, like me, no longer ABIDE things you did years ago?

53. Brewery sugar: MALTOSE.

55. Where old records may be kept: JUKEBOX - Five plays for a quarter in my 6. Sporty truck, briefly: UTE (Yeah, I know it's a Utility Vehicle but I couldn't resist)

57. Congo line?: EQUATOR - Here are people in Zaire (Democratic Republic Of Congo) standing on said line

59. Fair rewards: RIBBONS.

60. Small restaurants: BISTROS.


Down:

1. "Brothers & Sisters" matriarch: NORA - NORA is played by...

2. Square: EVEN - The game is all EVEN at 3 runs apiece 

3. Gael, for one: CELT

4. Nocturnal Asian snake: KRAIT - India's deadliest, 10X more poisonous than a cobra

5. Singer ranked #10 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time: RAY CHARLES - Too many hits to pick a favorite but this one always moves me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GufSJChOFG8
7. Framework for retiring: BED STEAD - No IRA here

8. "Yowza!": OH BABY - Sounds like a Ray Charles lyric to me

9. "Honestly!": NO LIE - Truman won??

10. Matching: TWIN - The TWINS and their mother - Joyce, Martha and my bride  Joann

11. Toronto's prov.: ONT and 56. Org. with an "Odd News" web page: UPI headline in the Toronto Daily Star

12. Party bites from the toaster oven: PIZZA ROLLS - A fav around here

13. Maroon at a chalet, maybe: ICE IN - A meteorological event not a color scheme 

14. Coppers: CENTS  - A man in England was not allowed to pay a  £800 debt in 166 kg (365 lbs) of these 1 cent coppers

24. Olympic gear: EPEES.

25. Film fawn: BAMBI - Disney refused to let the National Forest Service use BAMBI in their anti fire PDA's and so Smokey the Bear was invented 

26. Basic studio class: ART I - My college class so-named was boring beyond belief because we just took notes

27. "Deadpool" actor Reynolds: RYAN - Deadpool is the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time

28. Group concerned with good breeding: KENNEL CLUB - Mutts not allowed

30. Camper's anchors: TENT STAKES - Not quite enough here. Definitely a 33. Bungle: MISDO.

32. Speakeasy circulator: B-GIRL - Father Mulcahy, "Why Hawkeye, I earned my way through divinity school as a B-GIRL in San Francisco!"

34. Word with home or slide: RULE - I might as well show my math students a buggy whip as much as a slide RULE. Equatorial CONGO gained home RULE from Belgium

35. Stinging response: YEOW.

41. Ugly looks: SNEERS.

43. Xbox devotee: GAMER - How many hours/day is too many?

44. Kirkuk native: IRAQI - McDonalds is not allowed in Northern Iraq so... 

45. Name on "The Magnificent Ambersons" theater poster: ORSON - Mercury Players ORSON Wells, Agnes Morehead, Joseph Cotten, et al moved on to this project after Citizen Kane.

46. Pulitzer-winning film critic: EBERT - Of the above movie, EBERT wrote, "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942, a masterpiece with its ending hacked to pieces by the studio...)

48. Terry's role in the original "Wizard of Oz": TOTO - Terry/TOTO's memorial at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (for Agnes)

50. Structural beam: I-BAR - A baby I-BEAM?

51. Inflict on: DO TO - "What did you DO TO your hair?"

52. They're split: EXES - George Strait sings that all his EXES live in Texas while he hangs his hat in Tennessee. 

54. Check for drinks: TAB = Jay Z's bar TAB that included an $11,000 tip. I've never heard of Ace Of Spades Champagne. 

*45 Across deciphered is "One Trick Pony"
If you can't get away to Latrobe, PA for the festivities today, why not leave a comment:

DA GRID:

Saturday, June 16, 2018, Neville Fogarty & Andy Kravis

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Neville Fogarty and Andy Kravis

Today celebrates National Ladies Day At Baseball Games. In 1883 the St. Louis Browns (who later became the Baltimore Orioles) decided to try to attract more fans to their baseball games and so on June 16 of that year they decided to let women in free IF they were accompanied by man and it was a huge success. This picture of much later vintage shows a large female crowd who managed to get in by themselves. Yes, C.C., there was a time when women couldn't go to ball games alone!

I first thought this day might be a celebration of women playing baseball themselves as shown in the movie A League Of Their Own. However that was not the case. This day was for attracting ladies to the park not to, EGADS, play! That would be as unthinkable as letting them vote in 1883! 😮

     Neville Fogarty                Andy Kravis

On this All-American Day, we have a Neville Fogarty and Andy Kravis puzzle that I managed to knock out in 22 minutes while having a good time. Talk about being on sympathetic wavelengths.

The section in yellow fell as fast as I could write as the fills going down were right up my alley, er, grid. The two long down fills at 11 and 12 took some time for this non drinker who really should have known the Doris Day song subtitled What Will Be Will Be (a good attitude on the golf course). 

The other two long fills were very gettable as well. ECHO CHAMBER reflects my general disdain for public figures who only talk in environs where there beliefs are echoed back to them with very little disagreement.

The rest was a nice breezy Saturday stroll with foreign words and geometry thrown in for a little spice 










Now for the rest of the puzzle - PLAY BALL! Ladies welcome, escorted or otherwise!

Across:

1. Weight-training equipment: SQUAT RACKS - Here a young lady has taken a reasonable amount of weight off the RACK behind her and is doing SQUATS with the barbell

11. Cotton cleaner: Q-TIP - My ENT says "Keep these out of your ears!"

15. Traditional November race: TURKEY TROT - That's the spirit! 

16. Social containers: URNS - Does that URN contain coffee or grandma?

17. Something a customer is happy to send back: REBATE FORM - A very common document in our house

18. One in Berlin: EINS - In Germany, Lawrence Welk would go, "Und eine Eins, und eine Zwei, und eine Drei..." (or something like that)

19. G8 member: USA - Much in the news last week concerning letting Russia back in to go from G7 back to G8

20. What an enemy exploits: WEAK SPOT - The worst pass defender on a football team is going to be busy all day 

22. Needle holder: TONE ARM - Ah the "high fidelity" instrument of  of my yute with TONE ARM poised to play more Four Seasons and Roy Orbison




27. Sharon of Israel: ARIEL.

28. Rewards for a big promotion?: CLIOS - Got Milk won a CLIO Award for this hilarious promotion 

30. Laker teammate of Magic: KAREEM - His "Sky Hook" has been called absolutely unblockable 

33. "Aha!": SO THAT'S IT - Says Brad Loahus above,"You can't block it!"

37. Flip: SASSY - History's most famous "flip" comment - Qu’ils mangent de la brioche

35. Interpret: TRANSLATE - How I got the translation for 37 Across above

38. Zaragoza's river: EBRO - Earlier in the week the clue might have been, "38. Large Spanish river"

39. Fabulous fellow?: AESOP - Earlier in the week the clue might have been "39. Man of many fables"

41. Map's blue areas: SEAS - 2/3 of the Earth's surface

42. Motel arrival?: ROACH  - At the Black Flag Roach Motel™, roaches check in but they never check out

44. Like some diamonds: SQUARE CUT - V-shaped prongs are recommended to protect the sharp corners of the stone

46. Role for Heston or Huston: BEN HUR - I saw the incredible Charlton Heston version when I was 13 as my friend's religious mother thought he and I could stand the realism

48. Weasel relative: OTTER - _ T _ _ _ was not a STOAT. All three are in the family Mustelidae 

49. "Fuller House" actor: SAGET.

51. Chords are part of them: SECANTS - A circular path with a CHORD shortcut that becomes a SECANT when extended both ways beyond the circumference of the circle (almost a straight line)

55. Cannes Film Festival award: PALME D'OR - Very little was expected of this wonderful movie until it won some PALME D'OR honors and then it made good money and got 6 Oscar nominations

58. Leave slack-jawed: AWE.

59. Many a Syrian: ARAB.

60. Booted, in old football: DROP KICKED - Drew Brees executing one in an All Star Game. He simply dropped the ball on its point and then kicked it through the uprights for 3 points

65. Give credit to: CITE - I could have CITED Bobby Bare above for singing, Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goal Posts Of Life

66. "Count me in!": I AM SO THERE.

67. Visionary: SEER.

68. 1999 Pacino/Crowe film about a whistleblower: THE INSIDER - ok


Down:

1. Runway gait: STRUT - Not a great gait here

2. Nacho cheese: QUESO.

3. Name of eight popes: URBAN - URBAN II called for the 1st Crusade against the Muslims

4. Handle letters: AKA.

5. Vietnamese holiday: TET - America's pyrrhic victory in this huge battle cost a great deal in men and materiel, fueled the anti-war movement in the USA and helped LBJ decide to not run for reelection three months later in March of '68

6. Deli selection: RYE.

7. DOJ division: ATF - It started in 1886 in the Treasury Dept. to collect income taxes and since then has become an agency for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

8. Bird that's hard to eat?: CROW - The Chicago Daily Tribune had a generous helping of CROW in 1948

9. Peninsula partly defined by the Yalu River: KOREA which is where 21. Souls, e.g.: KIAS  are manufactured

10. Gospel writer: ST MARK - The debate goes on as to whether ST MARK's or Alexander The Great's remains are buried under the altar at ST MARK's Basilica in Venice

11. Subtitle of #48 in AFI's "100 Years...100 Songs": QUE SERA SERA - The neighborhood:

12. Cosmopolitan essential: TRIPLE SEC - Meaning "Triple Distilled", it is a strong , sweet and colorless orange flavored liqueur

13. __ way, shape or form: IN NO.

14. Covert call: PSST - This is cat speak for, "PSST, get up and feed me!" I get it at 4:30 am everyday 

23. Place where it all comes back to you?: ECHO CHAMBER - Where politicians like to give speeches

24. __ king: ALA - I complained about Chicken ALA King in high school like everyone else but secretly loved it

25. British vocalist __ Ora: RITA, 29. "Thong Song" singer: SISQO and 56. Grammy winner India.__: ARIE. Google them if they interest you

26. Law recipient: MOSES - Take two tablets and call me in the morning

31. Genesis brother: ESAU which I'm sure can be found in the 50. Jewish authority: TORAH.

32. Classic PC adventure game: MYST.

33. President Aleksandar Vucic, for one: SERB - The president of Serbia for a year now

34. It has a brief solo in the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth: OBOE - A lovely contrast to the stirring theme 

36. Talks up: TOUTS - Fugue For Tinhorns - best song by/about TOUTS

40. Crown: PATE - aka Head 43. Very significant: HUGE - Human Growth Hormone made Barry Bonds' PATE get HUGE

45. Remote button: REC  - I can't seem to find that button on this remote

47. Social news website: REDDIT - not a consumer

52. Blunt, as truth: NAKED.

53. Quaint contraction: TWERE - My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose - And fare thee weel, my only love? And fare thee well awhile, And will come again, my dear, Tho' 'TWERE ten thousand mile 

54. Jewish meal: SEDER.

55. Campaign donation orgs.: PACS - Super PACS are the mother's milk of political contributions 

57. "Quo Vadis" setting: ROME - The church below, just outside of ROME, was built on the site where the story goes that Peter encountered a visage of Christ and asked him, "Quo Vadis, Domine?" meaning Where are you going Lord?

The Domine QUO VADIS church on the Apian Way

61. Letter with a silent letter: PSI.

62. "__-Tiki": KON. - This was a raft built in 1947 by Thor Hyerdall to cross the Pacific Ocean using only materials available to Pre-Columbian natives of South America to show they could have settled the Polynesian Islands. The KON -Tiki took 101 days to make the crossing.

The Kon Tiki in the Norwegian Maritime Museum
in our favorite crossword city of Oslo

63. Cousin of hers: IT'S - 

64. City with two MLB teams: CHI - NYC could have worked despite the fact that the Yankees play in the Bronx and the Mets play in Queens.

So get out of the dugout and celebrate this day by posting some pithy comments: