Theme: LOOSE ENDS
17. *Close contest: TIGHT GAME. TIGHT END / ENDGAME
25. *Good thing to go out on: HIGH NOTE. HIGH END / ENDNOTE
50. *Area with no cell service: DEAD ZONE. DEAD END / END ZONE
59. *Military academy on the Hudson: WEST POINT. WEST END / ENDPOINT
36. Get by ... or what the answers to the starred clues literally do: MAKE ENDS MEET.
Melissa here. How many ENDS can you cram in one puzzle? Can you see past the END of your nose? Would you go to the ENDS of the earth to finish this puzzle? To the bitter END? Or did you get the short END of the stick? Don't go off the deep END. There are at least ten more END idioms, but I'm going to spare you - so it's not the END of the world. Sorry. Let's get on with it ...
Across:
1. Anti-art art movement: DADA. Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature.
5. Israeli diplomat Abba: EBAN. Foreign minister of Israel (1966–74) whose exceptional oratorical gifts in the service of Israel won him the widespread admiration of diplomats and increased support for his country from American Jewry. See here.
9. "Jack Ryan" actress Cornish: ABBIE. I don't know anything about this show ... but I found this: The character was never written out of the show, she just disappeared. There was not a single reference of her throughout Season 2, and the only clue given was Ryan (John Krasinski) sleeping with another woman early on in the season, and then later on saying he's single. Then there's this: Abbie Cornish will be returning for the fourth season of popular Amazon show "Jack Ryan." The spy thriller series, based on the character from several Tom Clancy novels, was recently renewed for a fourth season.
14. Massive: EPIC.
15. __ monster: GILA.
16. Dern of "Big Little Lies": LAURA. Love her.
19. Hub: CENTER.
20. Remote possibilities?: AAS. What? Does it mean remote learning? As in AA degree?
21. Boring gadgets: AWLS. Haha, good one.
22. Knock on: RAP AT.
23. Peanut butter choice: CRUNCHY.
28. LPN's needle: HYPO. Hypodermic. "Relating to the region immediately beneath the skin."
29. Has had enough: IS DONE.
31. From the top: ANEW.
32. Tater morsel: TOT. Taco Time calls their tater tots "Mexi fries." Funny. There's nothing Mexican about tater tots.
34. Horned buglers: ELK. Well this stumped me for a bit as I saw "Horned burglers."
35. Urchin's stinger: SPINE. Yee-ouch! The attack of the sea urchin.
39. Many Dubai residents: ARABS.
41. Compete: VIE.
42. Slack-jawed state: AWE.
43. The Big Easy, for short: NOLA. New Orleans.
44. "One Day More" musical, to fans: LES MIZ.
46. Pool regimen: LAPS. In common usage, a “lap” means a completion of the course. In a pool, the “course” is the pool itself, from one end to the other. Therefore, a lap is one length. Some people think a “lap” is two lengths of the pool.
52. With no chill: TENSELY. Chill - relaxed or easygoing.
54. Feudal domains: FIEFS. The estate or domain of a feudal lord.
55. Reebok competitor: FILA.
56. Sprint: RUN.
57. Betwixt: AMIDST. In the space separating two people or things; in between.
61. 59-Across student: CADET.
62. __ Domini: ANNO. Latin for "in the year of the lord," refering specifically to the birth of Jesus Christ.
63. Genre featuring sitars: RAGA. A raga or raag is a melodic framework for improvisation akin to a melodic mode in Indian classical music.
64. Regions: AREAS.
65. Set at a sports bar: HDTV. High Definition Television is a television display technology that provides picture quality similar to 35 mm. movies with sound quality similar to that of today's compact disc.
66. Soccer star Morgan on the San Diego Wave: ALEX. CONCACAF Player of the Year in the years 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2019, Alex was awarded the Silver Boot after her team, the US Women's soccer team, won the 2019 World Cup. In addition, Alex has earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012.
Down:
1. Take off: DETACH.
2. Beekeeper's setup: APIARY. A location where beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Below is the largest apiary in NYC.
4. Hamburger beef?: ACH. Ohhhhh. A German expression of annoyance.
5. Omelet specification: EGG WHITE.
7. Donations: ALMS. Something (such as money or food) given freely to relieve the poor.
8. "You wish, laddie!": NAE. Scottish form of no.
9. Hebrew letter before "beth": ALEPH.
10. Skins that can be marinated and fried to make vegan "bacon": BANANA PEELS. The best banana peel bacon.
11. "Zip your lip": BUTTON IT.
13. Unit of maize: EAR. Corn.
18. Tic-__-toe: TAC.
19. Shark diver's enclosure: CAGE. No thank you.
22. Roller derby spots: RINKS.
24. "That just might work!": NOT A BAD IDEA.
26. Point value of "five" in Scrabble: TEN. The face value of Scrabble tiles.
27. Woolly mama: EWE.
30. Role for Lena on "Master of None": DENISE. Wikipedia.
33. Greenlights: OKS.
35. Make use of a Singer: SEW. Singer sewing machine (brand).
36. In bad faith, in legal jargon: MALAFIDE. Carried out in bad faith or with intent to deceive.
37. Makes level: EVENS.
38. Cry heard after stomping on a glass: MAZEL TOV. Jewish phrase used to express congratulations for a happy and significant occasion or event.
39. "What's more ... ": AND.
40. Sushi topper: ROE.
45. "You're wrong about that": IT ISN'T. The Podcast That Explains Why We’re All Wrong.
47. Like drone footage: AERIAL.
49. Linguistics subject: SYNTAX. The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
51. Grates, as citrus: ZESTS. Verb.
53. Drop off for a bit: NAP.
55. Ward (off): FEND.
57. 2010 health law, for short: ACA. Affordable Care Act.
58. Damage: MAR.
59. Sob syllable: WAH.
60. Rita featured on Iggy Azalea's "Black Widow": ORA.
FIRight. Wednesday, so it took several passes, but I got the grid. Finally.
ReplyDeleteThe theme, tho, even with the reveal, took me a long time to suss. I had noticed, before the reveal, that the first and last pairs of letters made a word (TIME, DONE, WENT) but that was for only 3 of 4 themers. The idea of adding END to the tail of the first word and to the head of the last word took a long while to sink in. I was about to report that for the second time this week, after years of figuring them out, that I'd met a theme I couldn't understand.
A remote is powered by batteries. They may be AAA or possibly AA'S.
ReplyDeleteFIR in the Mach-3 speed of 29, and never saw the theme. Even after reading Melissa’s excellent explanation, I had to re-read it to finally have the V-8 can hit. Very clever. I got really discouraged at how very long it was taking me while I worked on this CW. Thanx for the challenge, RG. Thanx for the outstanding write-up and the theme reveal, Melissa.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I didn't grasp the theme until the reveal, but I got it then. And in spite of the plethora of proper names, I also FIR, so I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteExcept for a couple of unknowns, as clued, Alex and Denise, and the completely unknown, Malefide, I thought this was an easy Wednesday. The theme, however, was not only well hidden, but was difficult to parse until I finally saw how it worked. Very clever matchups. Learning moment was the Banana Peel/Bacon trick, which I wasn’t aware of, nor to I care to try. CSOs to our Louisiana contingent (NOLA), Wilbur (Nae), and Lemony, Hahtoolah, and MalMan (Aleph, Bialys, and Mazel Tov).
Thanks, Rebecca, for a fun solve and thanks, Melissa, for all of the interesting facts and the expert analysis of the theme.
Have a great day.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteMy errors both came at the start...DEpArt/DETACH, CLOSE rAcE/GAME. Thank you, Wite-Out. Failed to read the full reveal clue, so failed to get the theme. Again. We had proper names crossing at ORA/ALEX, but that A was easy to infer. No foul. Thanx, Rebecca and Melissa Bee.
FIR, but erased abas for EBAN, huge for EPIC, avia for FILA and launch for DETACH.
ReplyDeleteI've seen GILA (spoken HEla) monsters, and driven through GILA Bend. Both are scary.
Anyone tried BANANA bacon IRL? I thought I might try turkey bacon, but haven't yet.
Thanks to Rebecca for the fun challenge. My favorite was "unit of maize" for EAR. Very creative. And thanks to Melissa B for the clever and informative tour.
FLN - Thanks, TTP, for those resources. I'm not married to any technology, but I am married to my functional requirements.
Irish Miss, you're back! I had been missing your wit and wisdom. I'm so glad to see you again!
ReplyDeleteI needed 6:43 to get to the ends.
ReplyDeleteVery clever theme, but it was lost on me until reading the review here.
I recommend the "Jack Ryan" series on Amazon Prime. It's a good mix of being well-written with good action sequences. I think there's only about 6-7 episodes per season.
I didn't know aleph, Bialys, malefide (opposite of bona fide, I guess), or Denise. I struggled to remember apiary.
FIR, but I still take exception to the crossing of proper names. Took a WAG at Ora and Alex; guessed right. Never got the theme until coming here. I just didn't see it. Must be a senior moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rebecca. I really liked this puzzle (CODE for a I got a FIR), despite it being more Thursday/Fridayish than Wednesdayish. The P&P wasn't excessive and there were fair perps for the newer stuff.
ReplyDeleteThank you Melissa for the funny review, especially the intro, and thanks for 'splaining the theme, which, despite the reveal, sailed completely over my head (although I didn't spend a lot of time trying to DIG IT UP).
There were a lot of clever clues and fill. Just a few favs:
1A DADA. So if DADA is ART, is it anti-DADA?
43A NOLA. A CSO to George.
65A HDTV. Thought it was going to be a CSO to NORM, CLIFF, WOODY, et. al.
4D ACH. Favorite MIZ-direction.
6D BIALYS, 9D ALEPH, & 38D MAZELTOV. A CSO to Lemony, Picard, Malman, and Hahtoolah (I can't wait until she gets back!)
36D MALAFIDE. Does the DOJ know about this? It may be just what they need to nail a prominent perp.
40D ROE. Best pic. Looks mouthwatering.
Cheers,
Bill
Subgenius @ 7:21 ~ Your kind words made my day. Thank you. 😉
ReplyDeleteThanks to Bill W’s reminder, I apologize to Picard for forgetting to include him in my CSOs. I’ll blame this oversight on my early-bird (for me) post. 🫢
ReplyDeleteI thought the stubborn, mostly blank SE corner would do me in. Then AERIAL for "drone footage" and LAPS in the "pool" popped into my hollow noggin and I perped my way to FIR..but a bad week for picking up on themes, sheesh 🙄.(BTW, Canada Eh would you say "drone metrage"?)
ReplyDeleteIRE is a fine clued as long as one doesn't get ired over it. In these here parts we have a close not a TIGHT GAME.
"You're wrong about that, its V not an F": MAZELTOV. ORA, DENISE, "Rita", "Morgan", ABBIE (and I watched "Jack Ryan")... unknowns..🤨..
but ...learned from an old LAT puzzle that ZESTS can be a verb.
"Sports bar" HDTV, never HGTV..😄
hamburger beef: "ACH! no pickles?"
Mountain gorilla nest..APIARY
Government levy on a brothel"...SYNTAX
What some necklines do....PLUNGE.
Disney mermaid...AERIAL
Anon T thought you already moved?
Irish M where've you been hiding? Hope not another 🍉 attack? 😃
Hi Y'all! Enjoyed this puzzle, thanks, Rebecca. From so many Jewish clues, one surmises she's Jewish if her name doesn't give it away. Okay with me. I knew most of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melissa, for explaining the theme. Guess I wasn't the only puzzled solver.
With no chill? What? Why can't the younger generation just learn the elders' language? Okay, I know about rebellion.
BANANA PEELS bacon? Never in a million years would I think of that. Someone must have been very hungry. No thanks! Sounds hard to chew.
Knew MALFeasance but it didn't fit. MALA went in and waited for FIDE to perp.
DNK: ORA, DENISE, RITA, MORGAN, ABBIE. WAGs & perps.
A very fine puzzle construction, a bit CRUNCHY as it should be for a mid week grid, but very fair and doable. Managed a FIR in 20:26, a few DNK’s being BIALYS and MALAFIDE but those were perpable, a sign of good editing by Patti. Had to do an A-run to get the N in the TEN/SPINE crossing as I was looking for a scrabble word with a value of 5, and not the value of the word five, and I was thinking “street urchin” and not sea urchin 🤦🏻♂️. Thank you Rebecca, I appreciate the time and thought you must have put into this one! Also noticed the grid was 16X15 instead of the standard 15X15.
ReplyDeleteMelissa ~~ thanks for another sparkling review, very informative and picturesque!
Never heard of MALA FIDE, only it's opposite, bona FIDE.
ReplyDeleteThe title character of Mel Brooks' "The Producers" is Max BIALYStock, hinting that he's a bagel, or zero.
Managed to FIR, even with the plethora of...you know whats. The themers were pretty easey so that helped a lot. TC
ReplyDeleteVery easy with perps and wags. I crossed my fingers when writing A in ORA in, but the A in ALEX seemed logical.
ReplyDeleteBanana peel bacon? I will pass. We do not like food like turkey hot dogs or Impossible hamburgers. I'd rather eat something else, but real, in place of ersatz.
Ach in German has so many meanings other than a complaint. My Grandmother who seldom complained used ACH many times a day in other senses.
With the reveal I stopped after I found the left END phrase, like tight end and didn't look for the right END phrase, like end game. That made the theme even more clever.
Billocohoes, interesting bit about the Producers character.
MAL suggested Malafide. I have heard or read it before.
Xxxxxxxxx By now someone has pointed out AA Batteries for the 'remote'
ReplyDeleteI see Big Easy got a CSO (if there's NAE CSOs there's NAE xwords)
As L E S M I perped I was sure I had an error
ALEX Morgan with perps I did know. Not obscure
South Boston has the L Street Brownies who swim naked every day, regardless*
Like Jinx I too had huge and Avia. Plus anon/ANEW
I looked back and made ends meet plus FIR- I'm on a streak
Old fashioned Wednesday difficulty and a mix of Dad clues and new slang, pop-cul (latter not overdone)
WC
** of who spots 'em
FIR despite never "groking" the theme. Thanks for explaining that, melissa, and for the rest of the information and entertainment.
ReplyDeleteOne of the two main characters in The Producers was, of course, Max Bialystock.
Welcome back, IM.
Make ends meat?
ReplyDeleteisn't that how Bologna is made?
Musings
ReplyDelete-I loved the gimmick!
-OR_/_LEX. No Trebek here with Patti but the “A” had to be.
-ABBIE Hoffman took a backseat to an obscure actress whose name was “gettable”
-Who’s that RAPping AT my chamber door?
-Eight teams will VIE for the College World Series title in Omaha this month for the 72nd year
-Candidates are busy DIGGING UP dirt on their opponents for this fall’s elections
-New Coke: At first: “NOT A BAD IDEA”. Soon: “IT ISN’T”
-I was happy to learn BIALYS. It also reminded me of Max in The Producers
-BANANA PEELS were clued much harder than “Slippery slapstick prop”
-MALAFIDE was easier to suss out than I thought.
-This amazing drone AERIAL footage from last month shows one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports
Loved this puzzle. Had no problems with it. I was out of town this past week, so did the puzzle on line using the convenient “red letters”. This morning I was back to doing it on paper, and right off I wondered where my “red letters” were. But I managed without them.
ReplyDeleteI liked Melissa’s endless end bons mots.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Rebecca and melissa bee.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed and saw the END theme.
A few inkblots in the SE corner, but not too CRUNCHY.
I wondered if we were going to have a pangram when I saw the Zs and X. NAE, we were short Q and J.
Nike changed to the unknown to me FILA.
When the more common expression in Canada of Polar Bear Dip was too short, and replaced by PLUNGE, I wanted Dip for 53D “drop off for a bit”. Nice misdirection with NAP.
I wanted BUTTON Up before IT. We had DIGS UP already.
Why did the rhyme in TIGHT GAME crossing EGG WHITE make me smile. Maybe the expression “Tightie-whities “!
I thought of the Greek china-smashing at weddings, but Ms. Goldstein had glass breaking, MOZEL TOV.
Vegan “bacon” doesn’t aPEEL to me.
This Canadian is familiar with ACA, WEST POINT as part of my American stuff to remember for CW fill. But CENTER still makes my nose wrinkle. LOL! (And my Canadian/British spellcheck doesn’t like it either.) (Ray-o, LOL re metrage. Unit if measure or another kind of IRE?)
Wishing you all a great day.
WC - Those nekkid swimmers really piss me off. If we were intended to swim nekkid, we would have been born that way!
ReplyDeleteFIR today, luckily catching an error while proofreading. I too thought a long time about the theme before getting it, having first tried using letters at both ends, like OwenKL. And FILA was my third shoe brand try, but I had heard of it. Thanks, Rebecca, for a Wednesday puzzle with no impossible Natick for me today. ALEX seemed most likely.
ReplyDeleteMelissa B, you did it again: a fine review with plenty of information and pictures. Thanks!
Hope everyone is doing well, especially Boomer and C.C. with their busy schedule.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteWEES. What most of you said about this clever puzzle from Ms. Goldstein and I did go out on a HIGH NOTE.
No idea about ABBIE but easily perped and I love LAURA Dern.
In The Producers was the first time I recall hearing BIALYS. It's not a term I'm familiar with; for me it's tortillas. Even though we had seats in the nose bleed section, it was worth it to see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. We bought the last two tickets available!
I've owned FILA shoes in the past.
My daughter took an AERIAL PLUNGE with a parachute, of course. She loves taking chances!
CSO to Hahtoolah and Big Easy at NOLA.
Nor would I ever be hungry enough to eat BANANA PEELS.
Thank you, Melissa, for your amusing narrative. One of my cousins who has had many hobbies, had an APIARY for a while.
I've never seen or read any Jack Ryan works, but ABBIE filled in quickly.
RINKS reminds me of taking my daughter skating every Friday night when she was a teenager. Those years just flew by so quickly. She just celebrated her 45th birthday.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! It's already 95 degrees here!
thanks owenkl and wilbur - batteries. of course.
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of an issue with 34-A Horned buglers: ELK. Elk actually have antlers, not horns.
ReplyDeleteThe difference is simply stated on treehugger.com: "Antlers are found on cervids, are made of bone, are typically branched, and are shed every year. Horns are found on bovids, are made of a bony core with a keratin sheath, are not branched and are a permanent part of the animal."
I liked this puzzle and melissa's write-up.
ReplyDeleteI remember ALEX Morgan from when her team played in (and won?) the World Cup. On the other hand, I didn't know FILA, which perped in. Same with DENISE and ABBIE.
I, too, would not choose to eat baconized BANANA PEEEL or in any other form.
About horns vs. antlers, I often (but not always) just let such sloppiness slide, having resigned myself to the fact that in crosswording sometimes the priority of having a "clever" clue is higher than having an accurately factual one. I recall much discussion about how DSL was so often clued as an Internet Service Provider. On the other hand, sometimes making a clue highly factual results in it being highly specific (and therefore often obscure) also, e.g. today's inclusion of the reference to "San Diego Wave" in the clue to ALEX Morgan.
Good wishes to you all.
Anon @ 2:30 pm
ReplyDeleteMale ELK have antlers but at times are horny also...
🤣🤣🤣
Pleasant PZL.
ReplyDeleteBut an asymmetrical grid (16A x 15D) removes it from a diagonal report.
~ OMK
FLN Late to the party to congratulate C.C. and Boomer on yesterday's Universal puzzle. FIRed and got all five tools. Clever theme.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank You Rebecca Goldstein for a very nice CW puzzle, that I enoyed ..... and Thank YOu Melissa Bee, for a charming blog review.
One note: 38, Down ... Cry heard after stomping on a glass ... MAZEL TOV ... this occurs during a jewish wedding, immediately after the ceremony has concluded.
A wine glass ( that can be sacrified - ) is wrapped in a couple of napkins, and the grooms is asked to stomp on it, and break it.
And the customary Mazel Tov ( Good Luck - ) is said all around.
The rite points to the significance that happiness, and marriage, are delicate and Fragile ... and ( both ) partners must work hard to keep it that way.
If, the champagne glass has not shatterred too much, .... the pieces maybe collected and put together with a glue, specially made for glass, .... and re-assembled like a jigsaw puzzle, and kept as a momento.
Have a great rest of the week, you folks,
I have seen that shattering of glass only in movies. Interesting point, Vidwan, about the re-assembling of the glass.
ReplyDeleteSo, just how does raising the interest rate lower the price of food and gasoline?
ReplyDeleteJayce, good question!
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteArggg! I misspelt MAsoLTOV and DNF'd it at EbAN.
Thanks for the grid, Rebecca. Thank you for the wonderful expo, mb. I appreciate your effort / links.
WO: ChUNCkY [sic]
ESPs: plethora of names //LOL (not an Aussie) Subgenius. I wrote plethora b/f reading #UsInThePeanutGallery
Fav: the clues at 35a/d (Stinger/Singer) tickled me somehow
Other fun: Last night, I ZESTed lemons sous chefin' for Eldest as she built lemon curd. Yummers!
ORA - a CSO to MIL. Let's see if she catches it.
IM - Nice to see you back. Everything OK? Need some chips shipped?
D-O: I almost entered strips @1d ;-)
Ray-O: no. 1/4 of my stuff is at the new house while we "stage" to make it look like humans don't live here. Apparently a couple from Seattle will wonder around my place tomorrow.
I'm late tonight. We took Sis for sushi (her concept was shrimp & crab). The joint just got toro (fatty tuna) and blue-fin this morning (always a treat!). Sis loved it; said it was one of the top 5 meals she's had in her life [and her DH can chef-up a dish - he wrote the entire menu at his pub].
Jayce / PK - I think the thinking is to slow demand to tamp down inflation. It's not going to happen re: commodities like oil & grain -- 1/4 global production of both are on hold until peace breaks out between Ukraine & Russia. My $0.02.
I enjoyed reading y'all today!
Cheers, -T
"So, just how does raising the interest rate lower the price of food and gasoline?"
ReplyDeleteIt's macro economic theory. Gas price is not in the inflation index. Along with raising interest rates(To dampen demand in a macro sense) gas prices rise as another step in reducing net income ie. Demand.
It's all highly regressive and painful to low income people. Prices at the pump reflect futures prices which are easy to manipulate. The real disgrace is the price at the pump doesn't reflect the price under the pump. Diesel around Ocala jumped 35cents overnight a week ago
WC
Dear -T: I wouldn't stay-up-late for that 'peace eruption'. Almost all evidence available continues to show Russian Federation obstreperousness. Gloomy times ahead, IMHO.
ReplyDelete