Theme: SWEET DREAMS.
17. Balancing point: CENTER OF GRAVITY.
28. Be convenient: COME IN HANDY.
49. Transports to a new location: CARRIES AWAY.
62. Anti-aging procedure: COSMETIC SURGERY.
37. Sweets ... and, in three parts, a hint to the four longest Across
answers: CANDY.
Melissa here. Took forever to suss this theme. First I saw
CENTER OF GRAVITY = CAVITY, and COME IN HANDY = CANDY, but
couldn't make anything like that work for the other two themers. Stared at
it forever until finally seeing C AND Y. Three parts. Urban dictionary says C&Y is short for
CANDY. That totally hurt my brain.
Across:
1. Instances of night vision?: DREAMS. Just heard Stevie Nicks
interviewed on NPR, referencing a recent viral TikTok video, which inspired the lieutenant governor of Montana, Jimmy Fallon, and
Mick Fleetwood himself to record their own tributes. It now has more than
35 million views.
7. What crooks may beat: RAPS.
11. QB targets: TES. Football - quarterbacks and tight ends.
14. Washing aid for pupils: EYE CUP. Pupils ... nice misdirection.
15. Balm ingredient: ALOE.
16. Mil. branch disbanded in 1978: WAC.
Women's Army Corps
(WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army.
20. "Pronto!": ASAP. As soon as possible.
21. If all goes wrong: AT WORST.
22. "Four score and seven years __ ... ": AGO. One score is 20
years.
25. "A Walk Among the Tombstones" star Neeson: LIAM.
27. Islamic deity: ALLAH.
32. Fr. holy woman: STE. French - abbreviation of sainte, the feminine form of saint.
33. Tailless cat: MANX.
34. Like Erik the Red: NORSE.
36. Director Kazan: ELIA.
39. Veers off sharply: ZIGS.
43. Phil or Steve with Olympic slalom medals in the same race:
MAHRE. A little obscure unless you're a fan. The twin
brothers retired from skiing after the 1984 Olympics at age 26.
45. Knight neighbor: ROOK. Chess.
46. Cut for an agt.: PCT. An agent's cut is a percentage.
53. 2000s first lady Bush: LAURA.
55. Low on the Mohs scale: SOFT. The
Mohs scale
of mineral hardness (/moʊz/) is a qualitative ordinal scale
characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the
ability of harder material to scratch softer material.
56. Ending for Gator: ADE.
57. Pinball players' haunts: ARCADES.
60. Usually fuzzy tabloid pics: UFOS.
The Trent UFO Photos.
67. Jimmy Eat World genre: EMO. The band's name came from a crayon drawing made after an incident between
Linton's younger brothers, Jim and Ed Linton, who fought frequently. Jim
usually won, but Ed sought revenge by drawing a picture of Jim shoving the
Earth into his mouth; the picture bore the caption "Jimmy eat
world".
68. Bull or boar: MALE.
69. Parlor piece: SETTEE.
70. Identity thief's target: Abbr.: SSN.
71. Sommer of movies: ELKE.
72. English teacher's stack to grade: ESSAYS.
Down:
1. Solstice mo.: DEC.
2. Corned beef bread: RYE. First saw this as "Corned beef
brand."
3. Poetic twilight: EEN.
4. Official records: ACTA. New to me. Acta = recorded proceedings. From Latin ācta (“register of events”), plural of āctum.
5. Oaty breakfast mix: MUESLI.
6. Injury often iced: SPRAIN.
7. Battle of Britain gp.: RAF. Royal Air Force. Always makes me
think of
Roald Dahl.
8. Fish food plant: ALGA.
9. Left on a cruise: PORT. Ohhh, left as in left vs. right. I sure
as hell would not leave any ruby port on a cruise. 🤣
10. Shipping routes: SEAWAYS.
11. Wields, as a baton: TWIRLS. Hm. I usually think of wield as a
weapon - but this definition clears it up: to use (a weapon, instrument, etc.) effectively; handle or employ
actively.
12. Torments: EATS AT.
13. Grim Reaper tool: SCYTHE.
18. Fish with vermilion fins: OPAH. Aka moonfish.
19. Spine abbr., maybe: VOL.
22. Cartoon maker of Dehydrated Boulders: ACME. Wile E. Coyote.
23. Rink success: GOAL.
24. All: Pref.: OMNI.
26. Miss in an advice column: MANNERS.
Dear Miss Manners.
29. Midterm, e.g.: EXAM.
30. Drop off: NOD.
31. Hang out on a line: DRY.
35. Vampire Weekend lead vocalist Koenig: EZRA. An
interesting and accomplished artist.
37. "__-ching!": CHA.
38. Flight board abbr.: ARR. Arrival.
40. Davenport's home: IOWA. Also in FL, NY, and WA.
41. Provoke: GOAD.
42. Scottish isle: SKYE. Beautiful.
44. Scholar's world: ACADEME. "The campus activity, life, and interests of a college or university; the academic world."
46. Finishes second: PLACES.
47. Billiards shots: CAROMS.
48. Jojo's Arizona home, in the Beatles' "Get Back": TUCSON. "Jojo
left his home in Tucson, Arizona ...." 🎵♪♩
50. Markers in a pot: IOUS. I owe yous.
51. Flow out: EFFUSE.
52. Mall directory listings: STORES.
54. Farm butter: RAM. Sometimes butter, sometimes scratcher.
58. Lat. shortener: ET. AL.
59. Hose material: SILK. Pantyhose.
61. Some PX patrons: SGTS. PX = Post Exchange (US Army base retail store).
63. Biscuit middle?: CEE.
64. One of four rhyming Greek letters: ETA.
65. Daisy Ridley's role in three "Star Wars" films: REY.
66. "I agree": YES.
38 comments:
Good morning!
Got the puzzle, but didn't get the theme. I decided there must be a reveal...oh, there it is...C and Y. OK. Wasn't aware of that meaning of EFFUSE. Thanx, Bryant and Melissa Bee.
Easy puzzle again. No difficult fill. Perps gave me TES, and EMO was a lucky WAG. I didn't get the theme although it is not obscure. DREAMS was an easy, clever start. Thanks Bryant and mb.
I watched the 1984 Olympics and saw the MAHRE brothers' great performance.
I used to be a night owl. After so many years of getting up early I have become a lark, an early bird.
I knew this meaning of EFFUSE, but IMO the second meaning is much more common in my sphere.
1. give off (a liquid, light, smell, or quality).
2. talk in an unrestrained, excited manner. Think of effusive.
David is coming again today. We may be able to finish except for the the scant things I am still using.
FIR, but did not get the theme.
I too saw CANDY and CAVITY. Never thought of C and Y.
If I FIR it can't be that hard. Tomorrow, JeffWesh is back to his Thurs realm. As I was solving I stopped and said "I'll bet....
Talk about a distinctive style.
Wasn't ELKE in that Ritter sitcom? Three's Company?
YR, how is Tim doing?
WC
As did others, FIR but without getting the theme.
WC, wrong Sommer.
Didn't get the theme at first, but when it hit me, I chuckled.
Good morning everyone.
FIR w/o getting theme help. After finishing, stared at CANDY for some time and finally got the C AND Y linking to the long fill. Didn't think it was that special. Totally hurt my brain, too, Melissa. Lucky with the few WAGS like MAHRE that were needed. Only wite-out was I had SEA lane before SEA WAYS. Easy for a Wednesday IMO.
WC, Suzanne Somers in Three's Company
Today I FIW after a record breaking (for me) string of ten FIRs. My bad square was at TES and EATS AT. Sports lack of knowledge got me plus assuming I needed a consonant. Even did an alphabet run (not paying attention to vowels) to come up with BATS AT. My only WO was sWIngs/TWIRLS. Perps quickly fixed that. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
I didn't get the theme until the reveal, but it helped with the last two themers where I could prefill the C and Y. Clever idea which I could understand, thanks to previous puzzles. Thanks Bryant and thanks M Bee for a good review. I enjoyed your links.
Thinking of all you veterans today.
Good Morning:
Quick and easy solve with only a few hiccups:WRs>RBs>TEs and needed perps for Ezra and Rey. Several cute duos: Rye/Rey, Rye/Dry, Goal/Goad, and Et al/Eta. It took a few minutes for the C and Y theme to register, but it finally did. The theme itself is meh, but the four themers are strong and solidly in the language. CSO to our Arizona contingent at Tucson and to our esteemed retired members of Academe, Misty and OMK.
Thanks, Bryant, for a mid-week treat and thanks, Melissa, for the expo and fun links.
FLN
Moe and CC, I enjoyed solving your collaboration. Congrats to Moe on the debut and to CC for her generous mentoring efforts.
HG, sorry about the cash loss, but it could have been worse. I couldn’t tell you how much cash is in my wallet if my life depended on it.
Does anyone have any news about Owen and PK? They are both greatly missed and their prolonged absence is worrisome.
Have a great day.
Hola!
No. I didn't get the theme. Thank you, Melissa, for explaining it. I was stuck at TES. Sports clues are ALWAYS my downfall. Drat!
Again we see a plethora of three letter fill but many are abbreviations.
Over all this was fairly easy but not particularly smooth or sparkly. The misdirections were not a barrier.
Over the weekend we drove through TUCSON (silent C for those who don't know it). It's about two hours away from Phoenix.
I had no idea about Daisy Dudley or her role as REY but the perps filled it. Same with EZRA.
Once nylon was developed, SILK was abandoned for hose.
The Monterey Aquarium in California has an impressive group of OPAHs.
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Musings
-Nit Alert: It disappoints me to run into the reveal before I get a chance to look for it
-I’ve been doing this “new” CENTER OF GRAVITY gender difference demo for 50 years.
-Do you have a drawer full of stuff that you thought would “COME IN HANDY” but never has?
-AGO – I saw it clued as “The sixth word in a famous Lincoln Address” once
-Caddies for PGA players get between 5% - 8% of a golfers winnings. Hmmm… 8% of $1M…
-Do you use ADE as a stand-alone word for a beverage?
-Roy Orbison’s operatic In Dreams is a beautiful EMO song
-I looked it up: ELKE is not Norse but is German. I’ll take her over Erik The Red any day!
-I so admire teachers who take hours to meticulously grade ESSAYS
-The RAF’s 1940 bombing of Berlin is akin to Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo in 1942; damage was mostly psychological
-EZRA was the name we had for the 11’ python that bit me
-Mom called our couch a davenport or duffold
-Loved the Seinfeld routine!
-Thanks, Irish, I remembered last night the thief also took $100 worth of coupons
This was a pretty fast Wednesday - I had CANDY early and with the first theme answer already in place I could place the C and Y in the other long theme answers which moved the solve along.
I had KELP before ALGA since it was that area's first fill. I also had to think a second to remember solstice vs equinox to hone in on DEC or JUN vs MAR or SEP.
Thanks Melissa and Bryant!
We're baaaack. Enjoyable ride thru the SW Adirondacks stupendous scenery, lakes, rivers and high peaks, ferry across Lake Champlain. Stayed at the the von Trapp family Lodge in Stowe. . Perfect weather, spectacular mountains views, great food and beer. 3 days...short 'n sweet.
On to the puzzle. Good Humpday challenge. FIR with lots of perpwalking. But the theme left scratch marks on my skull ...Doubt this IS REALLY the theme....but...
CANDY: I thought cavity and CARRIES caries (dentspeak for cavities) as well.
CANDY: bars often have a special sweet CENTER?
CANDY:..too much may lead to gastric SURGERY? (lol)
C and Y. Ahh...ooh (and other CW words of surprise)...Sheesh!!
Fish food plant..Cannery my first thought.... Have seen ACTA used in titles of scholarly journals but never realized what it meant.
ACTA Scientific Dental Sciences. ...
ACTA Scientific Medical Sciences (ASMS) ...
ACTA Radiologica
Many others....
Shippling routes SEAlanes too long. QB targets: tds/TES .Rink success.. gold/GOAL... shoulda waited for IOWA for ZIGS. I zagged instead. Cut for an agt. COMission/PCT. VOL an abbrev for spine? Like a book? wha? Academia/ACADEME
Lat. Shortener? Etta/ETAL (Marietta, little Mary). ETA not too popular right now. Jimmy Eat World? Huh?
The old grammar school joke.... you ask; "how do you spell EYECUP?" Victim answers: "I-C-U-P" ...and everybody laughs.
Reinforced ramps for Noah.....ARCADES
Serious profanity...EFFUSE
Wapiti-like....ELKE
"When he thinketh on his beloved, he".... SCYTHE.
Now more Novemberish: rainy and 50s
Thor and his day await.
Wan Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Bryant and melissa bee.
I got the C AND Y theme early and like inanehiker, filled the Cs and Ys into the themers.
But I FIWed, not once but thrice!! Hand up for B ATS AT instead of EATS AT (I was thinking of a cat tormenting a mouse by batting); originally my QB was targeting TDS, and TES or TBS were equally unknown. Then I misspelled SETTEE as SETTiE, with REY unknown. But worst of all was my feeble EYEs UP (American eye drop brand?) and unknown ACTA.
Is it Gee or Haw, ZIG or Zag?
Nice misdirection with PORT; I was trying to make Asea fit the spot. Another hand up for wanting SEA lanes before WAYS. Another misdirection with spine - oh a book, not my back.
I am more familiar with Academia than ACADEME (synonyms I believe).
I was trying to get an L in 51 D thinking of Effluent (sewage that flows out). EFFUSE perped.
Remembrance Day in Canada today. Off to virtual services at 11am. (Some of today's clues/answers were appropriate - WAC, SGTS, RAF and even SILK (for the parachutes).
"Short days AGO we lived."
FlandersFields
Wishing you all a great day.
Theme? What theme? Another fairly fast romp although not quite as easy as Monday and Tuesday. Knew the correct spelling of Mahre from being a sports nut. No real hang-ups at all. Hey, Husker Gary, ANY Roy Orbison song is beautiful. I'm his biggest fan. 15 CDs prove it.
Mr. White tripped me up today (TES, ACTA) and went over my head at the same time (C-AND-Y). Thanks to Melissa for clarifying! Apparently there's a joke -- how do you spell CANDY with just two letters -- to which the answer is the above mentioned C-AND-Y. Ow.
Happy VETERANS Day and a salute to all our Vets! Thank you for your service.
Ray-O:
Welcome back! I'm glad you enjoyed that trip and stayed at the Von Trapp Lodge. We considered it but it was out of our way.
Thanx for remembering Remembrance Day CanadianEh. I'm surprised that the Xwd gods didn't make Veteran's Day the puzzle theme today. DW lost her Uncle Vincent somewhere in the region of Calvados, Fr 58 days after D Day. We've visited his grave site in the American Cemetery in Brittany twice, but after much research and searching have been unable to visit the actual battle site where he died, most likely in the Forest of St Severus. At age 21 Vincent was already a veteran of the North Africa and Italian campaigns. He didn't go ashore on June 6th, presumably because the powers that were didn't want battle hardened fighters consumed as canon fodder. We'll never forget him and all the other valiant soldiers who have died for Democracy.
60A UFOs: For anyone really interested in this topic and willing to keep an open mind I'd strongly recommend "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record", by journalist Leslie Kean. Kean doesn't present a lot of fuzzy photographs, but she does paint some pretty vivid descriptions based on interviews with a large sample of ostensibly very responsible people who have "gone on record". Interesting book.
Bill
Fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks Bryant. I zipped through the top but the bottom was a bit tougher. And thanks for your always delightful commentary, Melissa.
Loved seeing the scholarly items, though I first put in ACADEMY. But I knew Sommer's first name couldn't start with a Y, so what? Oh, ELKE, okay. But those ESSAYS were no problem--wish I had kept track of how many of them I graded over the years--hundreds, for sure. And thank you for the kind shout-out, Irish Miss.
For some reason I got DREAMS instantly as the night vision instances, and got ALOE, AGO, LIAM, and ALLAH right after that. Then STE, MANX, and ELIA. Great funny zipping through that top half.
Have a good Wednesday, everybody.
Musings 2
-Shankers, I have no CD’s but I’d have to go downstairs to count my Roy LP’s. There was a time my voice could stretch to at least hit the notes he sang but those days have past. He is the master and once opened for the Beatles.
-His movie was a prime example of jumping the shark. MGM quickly cancelled the four other films they had contracted to make with Roy.
-Our beautiful bird buffet this morning
Delightful cluing today with Mr. White's pzl!
I started 4D with ACTS. Along with just about everyone else, I found ACTA to be the toughest call. But I let it ride--& was victorious!
ACTA wasn't the only entry with a variable ending. I started to fill 44D with ACADEMIA, which wouldn't fit, then realized it needed the shorter version.
I join with Misty in thanking Irish Miss for her friendly shout-out!
~ OMK
____________
DR: Just one diagonal, on the far side.
Its anagram offers the general address for a sexual bully, either the street where he lives or the general course in life he has taken to satisfy his painful pleasures, his...
"SADISM ROAD"!
All I know is that the QuarterBack tries to throw the ball to someone who can catch it. To me Tight End has always sounded like an uncomfortable medical condition.
>>Roy
A late go at this one, but FIR. The Isle of SKYE was one of my favorites on my last European trip. The sunset was unbelievable. I really miss Europe. My bio for today: U.S. Army 1961-64; in Thailand for all of 1963.
Just got back from the Dentist. Been a year.
Waiting room is closed. Had to call from the parking lot. Hygienist came up to the car in the pouring rain to check temp. Had a what looked like a nasal swab, not a Covid test but a sniff test to determine if my sense of smell was intact.
The examining room had a negative pressure air flow ventilator running like the hospitals use for TB patients. UV lighting. The closed door sealed with a zippered plastic shield. An additional negative pressure device held under my mouth.
But: "Look Ma, no cavities!" (I do need a crown though)
Gotta love it when my first two fills get the two grid spanners! Had a little trouble with the other two longs, but after I finally figured out the reveal, everything was fine. My problem with the reveal was that I put in the wrong Phil at first, and it took me a while to straighten out my mistake. Didn't see the theme, though.
Alas, I did have a FIW today. I stuck in LORD for KNIGHT NEIGHBOR (didn’t even think of chess at the time), and I never went back and fixed the mess that it made in that section.
I thought the clues for PORT, PLACES and CEE were neat. YOU ARE HERE didn’t fit for 52D.
Elke Sommer starred with Peter Sellers in “A Shot in the Dark.” It is still one of my favorite movies.
Oh, I forgot. Here is my favorite meme on Facebook today:
McDonald's called out, "Order Number 867!"
I yelled, "5309"!
Nobody laughed, and then I felt old and ate my burger in the playground area.
LEO III, that sounds a bit like the waiting room scene in the Beetlejuice movie...and that was funny, too.
Puzzling thoughts:
I did get the theme after re-reading the clue for 37 across. The three parts gave in away when I saw C AND Y. Kinda reminds me of the answer to a crossword clue: Live Rescue Network: A AND E.
Misspelled CAROM (had an E, fourth letter); had ASEA before PORT (thanks for the explain, melissa...your recap allowed the V-8 can to hit my cranium!); and for some unknown reason, I put the answer to 64 down in the 63 down slot.
Phil and Steve MAHRE are a bit old for some solvers to know or remember; ACADEME is a word I hardly use; GOAL and GOAD are in symmetry with the grid
IM @ 8:44 —> thanks. Yes, CC is amazing with her skills and mentoring re construction of puzzles
HG @ 9:00!—> my partner Margaret and I took the chair/wall challenge. She passed; I failed. Did it again by standing closer to the wall and I passed. Prettt interesting though
I disliked much more of this puzzle than I liked. Final fill was the E crossing EATSAT and TES, which seems to have been a stumbling block for several of you too. Reading Melissa's review gave me far more satisfaction than working this puzzle.
I love that picture of the Dehydrated Boulders.
Before they died, my parents and my mother's sister (my aunt) lived in Tucson. We visited often and I grew quite fond of the place. Beautiful desert country. I think the Sonora desert is one of the world's most beautiful.
Good wishes to you all.
Happy Veteran's Day to all my Brothers (and Sisters!) in Arms.
//Hungry Mother: Army Reserves|Desert Storm (Fort Hood - never in theater of ops) '87-93
FIW - had ACADEMy | yLKE (ELKE really doesn't seem any better... //oh, fiiiine Misty... *EYE-roll* :-) )
Thanks Bryant for the fine grid. Got 'C AND Y' early which fixed SCaTHE and CE----F---V--Y became obvious.
Wonderful expo mb - loved the visuals. Thanks.
WOs: RBs -> TEs, SCaTHE, REa->REY
ESPs: EEN, ACTA, MAHRE, yLKE, EZRA
Fav: ACME Dehydrated Boulders
Runner up - LIAM NEESON[s] [if you've not seen the characters b/f, there's two LIAM sketches b/f his cameo]
LOL DR OMK.
Welcome back Ray-O.
HG - I have that drawer(s?) of HANDies. I usually find something specific ~3 days after I needed it.
//I'd expect that behavior in NYC or something but grabbin' the cash - in Nebraska?!?
(And a little more innocence dies...)
C. Moe - one explanation I've heard re: wall / chair challenge is MALEs have bigger feet and thus are further from the wall. Maybe I'll play with this later.
IM - I was wondering about PK too; I assumed OKL is having too much fun at Jumble.
LIU - EZRA's Vampire Weekend isn't that bad. [5:23]
Lucina - I've been to Monterey's Aquarium 2x. Once in '98 w/ just DW and again in '06(ish?) with my kids and college chums' w/ their kids in tow. Amazing place!
MManatee - I thought Beetlejuice at LeoIII's comment too! (we watch it every Halloween)
Cheers, -T
Realize many cornerites are vets. Thank you for your service.
Boomer - It may be your time to cash in... I just heard record prices re: Baseball Cards on APM's (NPR) Marketplace.
Now, if my oil stocks would recover... :-)
Cheers, -T
FYI - YouTube is down. Been about 36 minutes so far. [don't read all the Tweets - morons (I'd link Blazing Saddles but, um, YouTube is... oh, nevermind) most 'em]
TL;DR - Everyone's fun links don't work at this time.
Cheers, -T
You're welcome for the service ... but when I enlisted in 1962 (Army Security Agency; Vietnamese linguist; mostly at Ft. Meade, MD) EVERYONE served, either drafted or enlisted. It was unremarkable to have served, expected, unavoidable -- which is why the idiom still sounds funny to me.
Anon-T, You've got to remember that these are just farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know....."
Michael:
Both Grandpas were WWII. In fact, Pop's side - 5 brothers went to ETO & Pacific and 5 came home.
My youngest Bro enlisted 22 years ago. Iraq, Afghanistan (x2), Africa. He's got ~7mo before full retirement [and has no idea what to do next - "I only know how to kill, Bro"] //he'll probably get a civilian gig doing the same logistics he's been doing since losing his high-freq hearing in Iraq during a firefight (on his birthday! - RPG whizzed by...)]
My younger Bro enlisted 'cuz he was a F-up and needed an out [Stripes]. He went into a dental MOS, served in Germany, and is now a CEO of a national dental group.
I enlisted 'cuz I needed to pay for college (gonna design and/or destroy computers, me :-)) and I was told Uncle Sam would repay my student loans. Um, OK. But tomfoolery ensued - student-loan servicer (Wachovia, Wachovia, Wachovia! //yes, I do that dance every time I think of them)
would re-sell the loans and the Army said "Nope, those are 'new'" (?!?). Only got 5k of the 10k they said they'd repay.
But no worries. All in all - I'm glad I had the experience with a diverse group of folk and did my part as a 92B [Medical Lab Tech] to ensure the guys at the front could do theirs.
Army's done (mostly) right by us; and us by them.
Oh, lighter note - YouTube is back online.
Cheers, -T
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