“Enough” by Myles Callum – 10:16
An “Olaf” is a term I coined for clues that provide lots of specific information that really don’t help you get the answer if the first couple words don’t get you there.
Online, this is termed 71D. [Briefly, a feature of each starred clue, and a chunk of its answer] – TMI for Too Much Information. The theme answers are all Olafs with TMI hidden inside. They also make good Jeopardy answers.
Theme answers:
23A. [*Cut from the tenderloin–its name means “dainty cut”!] – FILET MIGNON
25A. [*Sources of halite–that’s a type of evaporitic deposit!] – SALT MINES
35A. [*Midwest metropolis–it has a view of Canada to the south!] – DETROIT MICHIGAN. Yes, Windsor, Ontario is actually south of Detroit. Perhaps not a true Olaf, as I used the second half of the clue to solve.
55A. [*”The Night of the Hunter” star–his middle names are Charles Durman!] – ROBERT MITCHUM
76A. [*”Fine by me!”–that sounds like something Mr. Ed might say!] – I DON’T MIND A BIT. A five word sentence in 13 letters!
98A. [*High-ranking official–Canada’s Leona Aglukkaq is one!] – CABINET MINISTER. She is Minister of Health, and represents Nunavut.
114A. [*Flour-making plant–the Greek geographer Strabo wrote about one!] – GRIST MILL
116A. [*White liquid used in cooking–it’s called gata in the Philippines!] – COCONUT MILK
A cool set of theme answers overall.
Other stuff:
6A. [Notation used for Unix permissions] – OCTAL/ 7D. [Handle] – COGNOMEN. A name. I got this crossing wrong although I should have worked it out. 20A. [George who invented a logic system] – BOOLE completes the nerd section of our puzzle.
11A. [Pen holder?] – CELL. Prison humor.
15A. [Tweedledum, for one] – TWIN. I believe the other twin is Tweedledee.
27A. [El Greco’s home] – TOLEDO. Last week I said that I’m waiting for the [Ohio birthplace of Jeffrey’s mother] clue. Still waiting. DETROIT, MICHIGAN could have been clued [Home of Jeffrey’s mother after Toledo and before Montreal].
30A. [Best in a hot dog contest] – OUT EAT. Do you have to eat the 11D. [Sausage skin] – CASING?
42A. [Bobby Clarke, from 1969 to 1984] – FLYER. Hockey. Born in Flin Flon, Manitoba, which was never the home of Jeffrey’s mother.
43A. [“Fuzzy Wuzzy was ___”] – A BEAR. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t really fuzzy, wuzzy?
49A. [Kentucky college] – BEREA. Wiki, help! Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky (south of Lexington), founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students. Berea College is distinctive among post-secondary institutions for providing low-cost education to students from low-income families and for having been the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every admitted student is provided the equivalent of a four-year, full-tuition scholarship (currently worth $102,000; $25,500 per year). Should I have known this? Did you?
53A. [Hurricane’s cousin] – TYPHOON. Don’t go to that family reunion.
59A. [Rapper Snoop ___] – DOGG
70A. [Europe’s largest active volcano] – MT. ETNA. Shouldn’t there be an Abbr. sign?
72A. [Brawny competitor] – VIVA. Relax. They are just paper towels.
81A. [Creature on the British coat of arms] – UNICORN.
86A. [Animal house] – DEN. Who put ZOO? [Hand up]
87A. [Chocolate-caramel candies] – ROLOS/88A. [Candy wafer brand] – NECCO. I’m hungry.
92A. [Like the familiar shark fin] – DORSAL. Familiar as in swim fast if you see it.
120A. [Vancouver Olympics star Ohno] – APOLO
123A. [Home of the Quakers] – PENN. Like Quaker Sean and his brother Oats.
1D. [It’s just not right] – LEFT. Lefthandedness is right! We’d take over the world if we could just use scissors.
12D. [Verve] – ELAN/112D. [Tiger’s wife] – ELIN. 212D is ELUN.
13D. [Online chuckle] – LOL. Shout-out to Ryan Hecht.
24D. [Memento ___] – MORI. huh? Latin for “remember you must die”? This puzzle has suddenly taken a scary turn.
34D. [Relieves of weapons] – UNARMS
40D. [Statesman who sought Carthage’s destruction] – CATO. Now we have weapons and destruction. I’m scared.
48D. [Stock exchange?] – MOOS/82D. [Pigeon patter] – COOS. Now look, you’ve scared the animals. It’s noisy here.
64D. [“Strait Is the Gate” novelist] – Andre GIDE. Likely violent.
77D. [Cut in three] – TRISECT. On comes the gore. See also 91A. [“Empire” author] – VIDAL
83D. [Expiration notice] – OBIT. Casualties.
84D. [Got up] – ROSE. Wait. He’s alive!
95D. [Beatniks beat them] – BONGOS. Beatings.
102D. [Move boundaries, perhaps] – REMAP. A truce!
73A. [Informal farewell] – LATER! I leave you with 3 videos, just because I can.
i don’t think GIDE is particularly violent, but you used the line “on comes the gore” and then left out gore VIDAL.
i’ve seen BEREA a few times, so it’s probably worth noting. three vowels and all that. it’s no ELON (also left out of the ELAN/ELIN/ELUN minitheme), but it’s got some grid cred.
VIDAL is there now. It’s my post and I’ll retroactively fix it if I want to. thanks joon.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this hard at a write-up…Someone got hurt. Can’t figure out who, but I guess they made up in the end.
I head of BEREA a few years ago when my alma mater was considering changes to financial aid. Sounds like a pretty impressive place…
Great comments on the WSJ puzzle.
Very nice, and an interesting fact about Detroit, too. Liked the “Olaficity” of the theme. Don’t care for ELIN hiding in the puzzle, although it’s tempting fill. Feels like it’s dated already. Ah well. Gotta just roll with it.
I’m very thankful that the Nunavut cabinet minister wasn’t the answer instead, or I suspect a lot of solvers north and south of the border might have been a bit tweaked. (Meanwhile, somewhere, Peter Gordon grins evilly and begins constructing…)
That is a fun name though.
Now FLIN FLON, that I want to see sometime. I can vagely remember some hockey announcer describing that as a player’s hometown.