17A: Result of hitting the pause button on a movie (freeze frame).
38A: Extra (to spare).
61A: Old-time songwriters' locale (Tin Pan Alley). This should have been a gimme for anyone who did Thursday's puzzle. Today's clue was slightly different, and we didn't have to remember that Sn is the symbol for tin.
11D: Dairy Queen offering (banana split). That brings back childhood memories. A banana split was our special treat for an A and B report card. I ate plenty of them then, but I can't remember the last time I ate one.
25D: Attack before being attacked (first strike).
27D: Millinery accessories (hat pins). [Thanks to reader Howard B for pointing out that this was also a theme answer. How could I have missed it...crossing to spare so beautifully in the center?]
There were a few other answers that were in recent puzzles. Yesterday we had parrots as part of one of the long theme answers. Today it reappears as a noun at 56A, clued as Chatty birds. 48D: Playwright Sean (O'Casey) was in the puzzle on July 26...the one where all the words at the left margin were clued with a dash, and the clues for all of the two-word answers appeared on the right side. I'm probably not describing it any better now than I did when I blogged it!
I'm always excited to get sports-related answers of any kind. 29A: Hall-of-Fame QB Johnny (Unitas) and 46D: Baltimore nine (Orioles).
If I gave an award for the best Pope clue and answer, it would go to 14A: Pope before Paul V, whose papacy lasted less than four weeks (Leo XI). Not only is it good, but it looks good in the grid...LEOXI. It crosses at the X with 4D: Carry out, as an assignment (execute). And if that's not Scrabbly enough, sitting atop it is 1A: Do very well (at) (excel), crossing with 2D: Generation __ (thirty-something) (X-er). That, of course, reminds me of my favorite eighties show, thirtysomething, which Lifetime plugged as, The show that's just like life, only with better writers.
Moving from the eighties to a little bit of sixties history...6A: Alabama march city (Selma) and 28A: The "B" in L.B.J. (Baines). It was real life for many of us, not just something we read about years later. And it seems like it was just yesterday.
We also have a little bit of British humor in the northeast...11A: U.K. channel (BBC), crossing with 13D: John who starred in "A Fish Called Wanda" (Cleese). According to this article, he also wrote it, in addition to writing for BBC Radio. I loved Cleese as Basil Fawlty (in Fawlty Towers) and the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Fun words to see in the puzzle include 9D: "Goldilocks" character (Mama Bear), 67A: Online birthday greeting, e.g. (e-card), and 71A: Channel with cameras in the Capitol (C-Span), officially, the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network.
It's late...time to call it a night. Here's the completed grid.
See you tomorrow.
Linda G
14 comments:
I've been around the world, heard just about everything, but never the word "boatel" 12D. Is there really such a word? If it hadn't been for 33A "vale" I would still be trying to figure out what went into that last square. I have never seen this answer in a NYT puzzle before.
JD
JD, Not in my Webster's! I guess you'll get it via Google.
Linda, I've been thinking banana split all week -- now I'm going to get one!
Last but not least, don't forget hatPINS crossing the SPARE in the center.
Despite being a once-casual league bowler, I still didn't quite pick up the theme until after it was finished.
And BOATEL is insane, yes. For some reason, though, I like the look and sound of it - seems like a word better suited to a Dr. Seuss story than to a puzzle grid.
Have a great week. :)
There were little places along the water in Florida that were referred to as boatels. I always thought it sounded quaint.
Howard, thanks for pointing out the theme answer that I missed! I'll revise the post to add it.
jd -- fwiw, "boatel" has appeared in at least two nyt puzzles (once in '99, once in '00) -- and twice in the sun as well.
and linda -- thx for the shout out to two of my faves -- the baltimore orioles and the BALTIMORE colts!
;-)
janie
It's cool -- missing the pins is what makes a spare!
Linda,
I at first had a sense it was a theme puzzle but finished it without realizing the theme. Only upon reading the Blogs did I see the theme.
As to "Thirty Something" it too was my favorite show, at the time. I don't have Lifetime, does it hold up in reruns? The promo you mentioned is great.Years later I got to meet Melanie Mayron and actually had business contacts with her. If you would have told me at the time (when I watched the series) that I would meet her and even work with her, I'd have thought you were out of your mind. Even got invited to a shoot with her in a different series.
In retrospect, Donald, it's not so strange that I missed PINS. The few times I've bowled, I've often missed several : )
Profphil, I'm surprised that I saw the theme at all. It wasn't until I started to blog that I noticed STRIKE and SPARE...then it came together. I'm willing to bet that Melanie wasn't as ditzy as Melissa, but did she dress the same. I always thought of that as Melanie's style brought to life as Melissa. I don't watch TV any more so don't know about Lifeline, but I'll bet the series is available on DVD.
Melanie and Melissa are pretty similar. As I was star-struck at the time I'd have a hard time telling them apart. I too gave up TV for a while. I had no TV for 2 years but my Mom insisted that I have a TV for emergencies and gave me a small set. At first, I continued to not watch. The last 6 months or so, I'm back to watching. Although, I have some self-imposed rules as I often work at night and am home during the days and have work to do as well. I don't turn on the TV during the day, except for "Oprah" and then can only watch after 9PM (unless I'm home for Jeopardy). So far it's working. What's your story?
Another nice write-up Linda! Thanks.
As a side note I'm reading a biography of Ava. She was a bit of hellion. Just like you : )
Anyway, I'm enjoying it and only live about an hour from her museum in Smithfield NC.
Take Care.
Profphil, we stopped watching television when our girls came to live with us. Both had social and/or learning problems and didn't need the constant stimulation of television. We had hoped to foster a love of reading, which hasn't really happened. Now I'd love to get cable and start watching selected shows, but when would I have time to puzzle and blog? Priorities, you know ; )
Kitt, is the Ava book called Love is Nothing...or something like that? Orange had told me about it...whatever it's called, it's in my amazon shopping cart. I didn't know that they had an Ava museum. Wonder if I'll get to Smithfield some day...
Linda: Yes, it's called "Love is Nothing." The reason I discovered the book is it was in the library on a special table labelled NYT recommened books from 2006. I'm only on page 72 but I'm finding that she had a pretty fascinating life. She was born in rural NC and was buried there. And the museum is also in her hometown --as it were.
Anyway.....Sweet Babee (my cat) and I are off to bed (he loves to sleep!).
Talk to you soon!
Kitt
As to fostering a love of reading that's a hard one in our culture especially if one has learning disabilities/ADHD.
You are to be commended taking in children and animals, you must have a lot of love and patience.
As to fostering a love of reading, my nephews who are in their early twenties and avid readers but only mediocre students attributed their love of reading to being raised Sabbath observant in an Orthodox Jewish home. I was intrigued as they are no longer observant, one is an avowed atheist (can an athiest be aVOWed?) and don't observe the Sabbath. They claimed that their colege friends even the braniacs (science nerds and excellent students) almost never read for pleasure. They on the other hand were two of the few that did even when given the option to watch TV or play video games, which they do plenty of in addition to reading. When I asked them why they attribute their love of reading to the Sabbath, they responded that growing up with one day a week in which they were prohibited to watch TV, go to the mall or play video games or use their cell phones or computers taught them how to enjoy quiet time without the electronic stimulation and even prefer it on many an unenforced occassion. I said jokingly that the rabbis should use that as a selling pitch for strict Sabbath observance. I think in our hectic over stimulated culture somethong like the Sabbath is necessary to develop this skills even for non religious people. I have a nominally Catholic friend who makes a point of avoiding electronic devices for a few hours every Sunday.
fawlty towers = all time funniest tv show, imoo.
holy grail and wanda = 2 of my all time favorite movies.
ten points for mentioning them. minus 1 point for using the american spelling of *humour* in reference to them...
(remember in 'a fish called wanda' when cleese's character got caught in the buff? hahahahahahahaha)
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