Thursday, August 21, 2025 Sean Ziebarth

 Theme:  Let's make some NOISE!

Prolific constructor Sean Ziebarth is a high school English teacher, surfer, and DJ.  In today's puzzle, he gives us a push in the right direction with some good advice, and suggests we make some noise in the process, hearing a little snap, crackle, and pop in common English phrases.  The theme clues and answers are:

17-Across. "Turn that frown upside down": CRACK A SMILE.  

30-Across. "Get your head on straight": SNAP OUT OF IT.

45-Across. "Get on that stage and wow the crowd": KNOCK 'EM DEAD.

61-Across. Words of wisdom, and what 17-, 30-, and 45-Across could be called?: SOUND ADVICE.

In addition to giving these phrases a fresh hearing, Sean has placed the theme entries in symmetrical rows Across.  Neato!  I'll bet it's fun to be in his class.

What else can we learn from Sean today?  Let's look at the rest of the clues and answers.

Across:

1. Best effort: A GAME.  One's highest level of play or performance.

6. Fools: CLODS.  I wasn't fond of this one, thinking that a clod is an oaf.  When I looked up synonyms of FOOL and of CLOD for today's blog, neither word listed the other.  But idiot is listed as a synonym for both clod and fool, so I suppose that if A=C and B=C, then A=B.

11. Make a mend: SEW.

14. Like much of central Illinois: RURAL.

15. "The Raven" writer, briefly: E A POE.  Edgar Allan Poe.

16. "Better. Guaranteed." gadget brand: OXO.  Favorite crossword utensils.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Whopper: LIE.

20. Luau performance: HULA.

21. Medium ability: ESP.  Extrasensory perception is an ability claimed by persons who say they are mediums, able to facilitate communication between the living and the dead.

22. Notes equivalent to C sharps: D FLATS.  These notes are the same black key on the piano (between the white keys C and D), and produce the same pitch.  The note will be written one way or the other depending on the key of a musical composition.

24. Immediately following: UPON.  "Upon hearing the news, she burst into tears."

26. Earlier: PRIOR.

27. Word with shell or shore: SEA.

30. [Theme clue]

34. Late: TARDY.

36. Sleep acronym: REM.  Rapid eye movement sleep is the stage of sleep where most dreams happen.

37. Peel: PARE.

38. Naan flour: ATTA.  If we ever have a Crossword Corner party, we are going to make naan with ATTA.  And eat many varieties of Oreos.  What else should be on the menu?

39. Addresses timeline errors, perhaps: EDITS.

41. Timeline units: ERAS.

42. Like much 1980s fashion: NEON.

43. "C'est la __!": VIE.  French for "That's life!"

44. Fess up (to): ADMIT.

45. [Theme clue]

49. __ as a fox: SLY.

50. Brand of riding mowers: DEERE.

51. YouTube journal: VLOG.  Video blog.

53. Too: OVERLY.

55. Needlework on a sleeve, for short: TAT.  A tattoo sleeve.

56. Turkey neighbor: IRAN.

60. Burrito option: WET.  A "wet burrito" is served covered in sauce, and must be eaten with a fork and knife.

61. [Theme clue]

64. Melissa of "The Fighter": LEO.  Melissa Leo is an American actress, and the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Critics' Choice Awards.  In 2010, she won several awards for her performance in the film The Fighter, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  DNK.

Melissa Leo

65. Come next: ENSUE.

66. Moves closer: NEARS.

67. Cheap tix option: SRO.  Standing Room Only.  No seat for you!

68. "The Wild Swans at Coole" writer: YEATS.  "The Wild Swans at Coole" is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), first published in 1917.

The first stanza of the poem:

The trees are in their autumn beauty,

The woodland paths are dry,

Under the October twilight the water

Mirrors a still sky;

Upon the brimming water among the stones

Are nine-and-fifty swans.

69. Selling point: ASSET.

Down:

1. Foot part: ARCH.

2. Hindu teacher: GURU.

3. North __ Sea: Central Asian lake: ARAL.  The Aral Sea was once the world’s third largest lake.  It started shrinking in the 1960s when the Soviet government diverted two of its main inlet rivers, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, to irrigate the surrounding desert region. The North Aral Sea was separated from the South Aral Sea in 1987-88 as water levels dropped.  Independent Kazakhstan has addressed environmental degradation by again allowing the Syr Darya River to flow into the lake.

4. Hong Kong neighbor: MACAU.  Macau is an autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong. A Portuguese territory until 1999, it is said to be the most densely populated region in the world. Its giant casinos and malls have earned it the nickname, "Las Vegas of Asia."

5. Utah's state animal: ELK.

6. General aviation company owned by Textron: CESSNA.  Textron Aviation sells Beechcraft and Cessna-branded aircraft, and supports older Hawker aircraft with parts and service.

7. Lava __: LAMP.  Lava lamps have been manufactured since 1963.

Cool array next to your water bed.

8. Maker of Talk to the Hand press-on nails: OPI.  OPI is a popular brand of nail polish, so this was an easy guess.

Hard to see, but the package says TALK TO THE HAND in the upper left corner.

9. Blues: DOLDRUMS.

10. Find appropriate: SEE FIT.

11. Green energy sources in some desert regions: SOLAR FARMS.

12. Way out: EXIT.

13. Heartaches: WOES.

18. Very long time: AEON.  Aeon is the more popular spelling in Britain.  On our side of the pond, a very long time is usually an eon.

23. Like a lasso: LOOPED.

25. Therapist's maj.: PSY.  A therapist's major course of study is psychology.

26. 68-Across, for one: POET.  Ah, yes, YEATS again.

27. Performed terribly: STANK.  Past tense of stink.  "The place stank like a sewer."  Or in slang, to be very bad at something.  "He stank at golf."

28. All gone: EATEN.

29. Luke Skywalker's loyal droid: ARTOO-DETOO.  Also written as R2-D2.

This vehicle with R2-D2 on the back was seen regularly in our neighborhood of Westchester, Los Angeles, when the kids were growing up.

31. Snooped around: PRIED.

32. Letter-shaped beam: I-RAIL.  An I-shaped rail.  Apparently used for things from curtains to trains.

33. On edge: TESTY.

35. Wearer of tap shoes: DANCER.

39. With no exceptions: EVERYONE.

40. Small coin: DIME.

44. Scene: ADO.

46. Plum who was the WNBA All-Star Game MVP in 2022: KELSEY.  Kelsey Plum is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. She is a four-time WNBA All-Star and was named the WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 2022.

Kelsey Plum

47. Sidesteps: EVADES.

48. Baja's opposite: ALTA.  Spanish low and high.

52. Caves in: GIVES.

53. Parliament birds: OWLS.  A group of owls is called a parliament, reflecting their perceived wisdom.

54. Suddenly shift direction: VEER.

55. Letter-shaped fastener: T-NUT.  T-nuts are threaded fasteners with prongs that dig into the material when tightened.  First I-rail, now this!  What am I, a gearhead?

57. Coastal inlets: RIAS.

58. Part of a plot: ACRE.

59. Small tree house: NEST.

62. Jenny Thompson's team: USA.  Jenny Thompson is a former competitive swimmer.  She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history, with twelve medals, including eight gold medals, earned in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Jenny Thompson

63. Genetic blueprint: DNA.

Here's the grid:

How did EVERYONE do today?

Did you SNAP OUT OF your DOLDRUMS and KNOCK 'EM DEAD?

Or was the puzzle OVERLY difficult, so that success EVADEd you?

Let us know in the comments.

-- NaomiZ