It's Taco Tuesday!
Hi All!First, the elephant in the room: circles vs. no circles. Personally, I don't care.
Or, as DW told the Girls when they were little, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."
If you've ever attempted Stella's Saturday puzzles, you know she doesn't go easy on the solver. There's one or two "This is a Tuesday?"s in today's, but overall she constructed a smooth, light on the A&E, and cruft-free grid with a bit of crunch.
So, let's grab a tortilla, toss in some carne, onion, & cilantro and take a stroll.
 |
| Fajita beef, onion, & cilantro breakfast taco. |
17. Toyota pickup since 1995: TACOMA TRUCK.
 |
| Rear view of the 2025 model |
26. Sarcastic "Great idea!": WHAT A CONCEPT. Not!
45. Requires sacrifice to achieve: COMES AT A COST.
61. Portable Tex-Mex snack, or a progression depicted in this puzzle: WALKING TACO.
Get it? The [circled] TACO "walks" from left to right in the grid. Cute.
 |
| Er, more like a stumbling TACO after leaving the pub :-) |
Across:
1. Treadmill settings: PACES. ??? All my treadmill says is "speed" and "incline."6. Learn to fit in: ADAPT. Adjust, ADAPT, Overcome.
11. Fuel for some stoves: GAS. I've got a glass cooktop. You?
14. Enticing scent: AROMA.
15. Brings to the ground: RAZES.
16. "How We Do (Party)" singer Rita: ORA.
Not my cuppa, but you might like it.
19. Decimal base: TEN. As a child of the '70's, I got the experimental "new math" and the metric system (this was in '77 through '80 (?)). However, both came in quite handy whilst pursing degrees in EE & CS [#6d_STEAM - I married for the Arts :-) ] .
20. "Rooster" network: HBO. Home Box Office. I'd not known of this show but, from the trailer, it looks good.
21. Coin slot directive: INSERT.
 |
| Donkey Kong's Directive |
22. Bullfrog relative: TOAD.
23. Ironman race, for short: TRI. TRIathlon.
24. "Well, sort of": ISH.
26. [See: Theme]
32. Pre-1917 Russian ruler: TSAR.
34. Molecule part: ATOM.
35. Land parcels: ACRES.
37. Pancake topper: SYRUP. Here's my go-to from grocer H-E-B.
 |
| I'm a sucker for cute packaging :-) |
39. Take legal action against: SUE.
40. Large herbivore in India's Kaziranga National Park: RHINO.
This Rhino's in Oregon's Zoo.
41. "Cowboy Bebop" genre: ANIME. With a perp & an educated guess...
42. "Logically, this means ... ": ERGO. #Latin
44. "Toy Story" boy: ANDY.
 |
| Fun Fact: On Buzz Lightyear's boot, Andy's N is not written backwards [cite]. |
45. [See: Theme]
48. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.
Brian Eno was commissioned by Microsoft for Win95's 3.25 second
startup sound that he composed it on his Mac.
49. Before, in classic ballads: ERE.
50. Confident and courageous: BOLD.
53. Rum cocktail: MAI TAI. A recipe.
57. Embrace: HUG.
60. Cry of realization: AHA.
 |
61. [See: Theme]
63. Grab a chair: SIT.
64. Common feature of flannel shirts: PLAID.
 |
| For the fans like me: Python's Lumberjack Song |
65. Volunteer's offer: I WILL.
66. Earth-turning tool: HOE.
67. Actress/writer Kaling: MINDY. I would have known "Mork's friend" who, according to WikiP, Kaling was named after.
 |
| Mindy Kaling |
68. Vanlifer, for one: NOMAD. Not sure that Matt Foley was considered a nomad :-)
Down:
1. Hiker's trail: PATH.2. Many a Yemeni: ARAB.
3. Pixar film set in Mexico: COCO.
Coco's Trailer
4. Punk subgenre: EMO.
5. Wiley of "The Handmaid's Tale": SAMIRA. You say so...
6. The "A" of STEAM: ARTS. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths.
7. Truth or __: DARE.
8. C te d'__, France: AZUR.
9. Substance that makes jelly gel: PECTIN.
10. "You should know better!": TSK.
11. Favorite choice: GO-TO.
12. District: AREA.
13. Temporary castle material: SAND.
 |
| Here's some more really cool ephemeral sculptures.. |
18. Maria's friend in "West Side Story": ANITA.
22. TV quiz show with Cash Builder rounds: THE CHASE. No clue. A few Googles later I learned that this is another US import of a UK game show. Here's the US trailer...
23. Played monotonously: THRUMMED.
25. Surgical memento: SCAR.
26. Nintendo character in purple overalls: WARIO. On autopilot, I first ink'd mARIO.
27. Completely lost: AT SEA.
28. Tennis venue: COURT.
29. Last Greek letter: OMEGA.
30. "Read the fine __": PRINT.
31. Care for: TEND.
32. Airport org. with wands: TSA.
33. Match, as a laptop and the cloud: SYNC.
36. Tofu base: SOY.
38. Part of a hammer: PEEN.
43. Bounding main: OCEAN.
46. Mogadishu native: SOMALI.
47. Starting point: ORIGIN.
50. Wild party: BASH.
51. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's state: OHIO. DJ Donna Halper introduced RUSH to the US when she played Working Man on Cleveland, OHIO's WMMS.
 |
| Crossword's fav architect, I.M. Pei (and Co.), designed the RRHOF. |
52. Not on time: LATE.
54. Astronaut Shepard: ALAN. Husker Gary, can you hit the ball "Miles and miles and miles"?
Alan Shepard slices it ;-)
55. "Just joking!": I KID.
56. In apple-pie order: TIDY.
57. Pop band with sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana: HAIM.
58. Home of the NCAA's Bruins: UCLA.
59. Top Olympic prize: GOLD.
61. Typist's stat: WPM. Words Per Minute. With copious use of the backspace key, I get about 42 wpm.
62. "It takes __ to tango": TWO.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
My solve:
WO: mARIO -> WARIO
ESPs: ORA, ANIME (as clued), MINDY, SAMIRA, HAIM
Fav: SUE x-ing COURT made me chortle.
Cheers, -T
 |
| Most every workday am, I get breakfast tacos from Moderno's across from the office *chef's kiss*. |
