Thursday, February 23 2023, Dan Caprera

 

Constructor and (funny) comedian Dan Caprera is visiting us for the third time, the last  on November 21, 2022, reviewed by our beloved friend Boomer not long before he departed Minnesota for a sunnier clime.  Dan has also created three puzzles for that other newspaper, this one edited by Jeff Chen.  Today Dan has gotten himself into a bit of a sticky situation presenting us with a visual theme, consisting of 3 pairs of juxtaposed, stacked fill.  To make the theme easier the see, the top of each stack is equipped with "goggles", which I'm sure will raise the eyebrows of at least one solver.  The question is, without the reveal

CAN YOU SEE THEM NOW?

First themer pair:

16A. Rides in the sand: DUNE BUGGIES.   A dune buggy is a recreational motor vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes, beaches, off road or desert recreation.  Oh and incidentally DUNE is also the title of a SCI-FI novel by Frank Herbert, which was recently made into an amazing film, starring Timothée Chalamet and the mononymic actress Zendaya, who visited the Corner just this past Saturday ...

19A. Lagavulin, for one: SCOTCH.   This clue sounded at first like an injectable antibiotic of some sort, but I guess the fill could be used for medicinal purposes.  The Lagavulin distillery is a malt whisky distillery in the village of Lagavulin on the south of the island of Islay, Scotland.  It distills spirits that will become Islay single malt Scotch whisky.

                       Lagavulin

Second themer pair:

28A. Hypothetical regions of space-time: WHITE HOLES.   Here physicist Ethan Siegel [Geek Alert!] explains how this might be possible [End Geek Alert].   Oh, and it just so happens that HOLES is also the title of a 1998 young adult novel written by Louis Sachar. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert in Texas, after being falsely accused of theft.

White hole
artist's conception

33A. Crawl on a news program: TICKER.  Ticker tape was the earliest, dedicated electrical financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines and was in use from around 1870 through 1970.  Prior to the use of punched cards ticker tape [aka paper tape] was also used for outputting, saving, and inputting computer data.  The fancy name for a news program crawl these days is a CHYRON.

Watching the ticker tape, 1918

Third themer pair:

44A. "Little Women" star: EMMA WATSON.  Little Women, is a 2019 American coming-of-age period drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig. It is the seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott.  And [is there a pattern here?] EMMA is also the name of the inimitable matchmaker in the eponymous Jane Austen story. 

50A. Air line: DUCT.  RED Green calls it the "handyman's secret weapon".  Here's the trailer from the Possum Lodge's production of the suspense film Duct Tape Forever ...

Come to think of it RED might qualify as the bottom half a themer too.

If you haven't SEEN the relationship between the themer pairs yet, maybe you can HEAR them in Dan's reveal:

58A. Audible.com predecessor, and three literal occurrences in this puzzle: BOOKS ON TAPE.
 
The grid should help untangle all that tape:

Now that we've got that all tied up ...

Across:
1. Green producers?: ATMS.  The cluing for this is going bankrupt.  It won't be long before we'll be seeing "Eco producers?:" (see 15A).

5. Sun screen?: CLOUD.

10. "I Think You Should Leave" star Robinson: TIM.  I Think You Should Leave is an American sketch comedy series created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, with Robinson also starring in most of the sketches. The first season premiered on Netflix on April 23, 2019, while the second season was released on July 6, 2021. I didn't find any of the sketches very funny and many had a hint of school boy vulgarity, but YMMV.  You can find them on YouTube.

13. "Aw, crud": DRAT.

14. Sounding rough: HOARSE.

15. __ hotel: sustainable lodging: ECO.  An ECO hotel, or a green hotel, is an environmentally sustainable hotel or accommodation that has made important environmental improvements to its structure in order to minimize its impact on the natural environment. The basic definition of an eco-friendly hotel is an environmentally responsible lodging that follows the practices of green living.  But beware of green washing.

16. [Theme clue]

18. Mountain __: DEW.  Before it was a soft drink it was distilled in hidden mountain valleys:

19. [Theme clue]

20. Formal orders: EDICTS.

22. Succinct: TERSE.  I'm working on this, but it's a struggle.

23. "A League of Their __": OWN.  A League of Their Own is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Rosie O'Donnell, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, and Bill Pullman.

25. 2021 U.S. Open champ Jon: RAHM.  Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994)[2] is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first achieving that rank after winning the Memorial Tournament in July 2020.  In June 2021, Rahm became the first Spanish golfer to win the U.S. Open.

Jon Rahm

27. __ buco: OSSO.  Ossobuco or osso buco translates in Italian as “bone with a hole” (osso=bone, buco=hole), a reference to the marrow hole at the center of the cross-cut veal shank.  Here's a recipe.

Osso buco

28. [Theme clue]

31. Some tandoori breads: NAANS.  The bread of crosswords.  They're not Italian, but I think they might go well with Osso buco.

[Theme clue]

34. Show stoppers?: ADS.

37. Progressive agent played by Stephanie Courtney: FLO.  When comedienne Stephanie Courtney landed the part of FLO, she had no expectations that the Progressive Insurance commercial in 2008 would amount to anything long-lasting ... [long pause].  But as a cord cutter who never watches commercial television I've never actually seen one of her ads (see preceding clue).  I have to admit though that she's a lot better looking [damning with faint praise] than that lizard who hawks that other insurance company:

Stephanie Courtney

That said, we buy our insurance from that other company.  They have better rates.

38. Feminine pronoun: SHE.  We're having a special this month on feminine pronouns.  This one is simply first person singular. 

39. Fuel additive brand: STP.

40. Sneaky sort: WEASEL.  A species indigenous to the city of Washington, D.C.

42. Paté holder: TOAST. 

44. [Theme clue]
 
46. Insect that dates to the Jurassic era: WASP.  I hate to be a gnat picker, but this clue should read Jurassic period (the 2nd in the Mesozoic Era) , and  more importantly the WASP discovered by Dr. George Poinar, Jr. in 2016 is only Jurassic by association:  Professor Emeritus of entomology at Oregon State University, Dr Poinar is famous for having consulted to author/film maker Michael Crichton on the Jurassic Park film series.  As the Jurassic Period ended circa 140 mya, whereas the fossil Dr. Poinar discovered was approximately 100 million years old, thus dating it squarely in the middle of the Cretaceous period (the 3rd in the Mesozoic era):

Cretaceous Period Wasp

50. [Theme clue]

51. __ flour: OAT.

52. Roughly: CIRCA.

53. Prayer beads: ROSARY.  The ROSARY is usually associated with Catholicism, but prayer beads are used by many other religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.  When praying the Rosary they are used for counting rote prayers (the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be), while meditating on 20 key events in the life of Christ, his Mother, and his followers.  These events are collectively called Mysteries and are divided into the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous Mysteries, recited on different days of the week.  The Rosary has a long history and has often been represented in Christian art*, and even in music.  Here is a musical meditation on the mystery of the Resurrection (the first of the 5 Glorious Mysteries) in Baroque composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonatas (6:25 min):

*The Luminous Mysteries were added to Rosary prayers by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and do not appear in art prior to this time.

56. Benny the Bull, for one: MASCOT.  The MASCOT for the NBA Chicago Bulls:

Benny the Bull

57. "My man!": BRO.

58. [Theme reveal]

61. "Big spider! Big spider!": EEK.

62. Think the world of: ESTEEM.

63. Biblical garden: EDEN.

64. Part of some sports drink names: ADE.

65. Dispensed, as cards: DEALT.

66. Pause in music: REST.  Rests are intervals of silence in pieces of music, marked by symbols indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol and name corresponds with a particular note value, indicating how long the silence should last, generally as a multiplier of a measure or whole note:

Down:

1. Expands upon: ADDS TO.

2. Armistices: TRUCES.  Hope and pray for a permanent one in Ukraine.

3. Estate homes: MANORS.  We all know this one:

Highclere Castle

4. Hatmaker since 1865: STETSON.  The John B. Stetson Company, founded by John B. Stetson in 1865, was the maker of the Stetson cowboy hats, but ceased manufacturing in 1970. Stetson hats are now being manufactured in Garland, Texas, by Hatco, Inc., who also produce Resistol and Charlie 1 Horse hats.

Stetson hat

5. Bit player: COG.  A computer programmer?

6. Gaming annoyance: LAG.

7. Turn (toward): ORIENT.  I've always been AWED by phototropism, the ability of plants to ORIENT themselves toward light.  Be sure to click on the picture of the tomato seedlings in this link to see a brief time lapse video of phototropism in action.

8. Exploited: USED.

9. Member of the South Asian diaspora: DESI.  DESI is a word used to describe the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora, derived from Sanskrit देश (deśá), meaning "land, country". Deshi traces its origin specifically to the people of the countries India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

10. Internet addresses?: TED TALKS. Clever clue.  A TED talk is a recorded public-speaking presentation that was originally given at the main TED (technology, entertainment and design) annual event or one of its many satellite events around the world.  Here are the 25 most viewed TED Talks of all time.

11. Much of Greenland: ICE SHEET.

12. Cut the lawn: MOW.

14. "What the?": HUH.

17. Letters in early dates: BCE.  BC and AD, BCE and CE: What’s the Difference?

21. Gator kin: CROC. 

23. Words of disbelief: OH NO.

24. State whose motto is "Forward": Abbr.: WIS.  Reflecting Wisconsin's continuous drive to be a national leader, the state adopted "Forward" as the official state motto in 1851.  Here are some of the state's other symbols.

26. Car sticker abbr.: MSRP.  Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.  If you can get it that low these days, consider yourself lucky.

28. Half a Northwest city: WALLA.  Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two suburbs, the town of College Place and unincorporated Walla Walla East, is about 45,000.

Walla Walla, Washington

29. __ Allen furniture: ETHAN.  The history of Ethan Allen furniture.

30. Zooms, quaintly: HIES.  There was a whole lotta HIEING going on during the pandemic.

32. Several: A FEW.

34. Wonder-struck: AWED.

35. Showed reluctance: DEMURRED.

36. "A Change Is Gonna Come" singer: SAM COOKE.  You can count on it.

38. Flue buildup: SOOT.

41. Exams for college-bound srs.: SATS.

42. PreCheck org.: TSA.  Transportation Safety Administration, the agency with wands.

43. Party game that can get awkward: TWISTER.  Twister is a game of physical skill produced by Milton Bradley Company and Winning Moves Games USA. It is played on a large plastic mat that is spread on the floor or ground. The mat has four rows of six large colored circles on it with a different color in each row: red, yellow, green and blue. A spinner tells players where they have to place their hand or foot. The game promotes itself as "the game that ties you up in knots".   Here's the original 1966 version.  I bet that a set in mint condition would go for a pretty penny on eBay:

45. Camry, for one: TOYOTA.  We're on our fourth TOYOTA and third Camry.

47. Place to play: ARCADE.  Not just a place to play.  When we were kids sometimes we'd take the No. 19 bus to downtown Hamilton in Baltimore to see movies at the Arcade Theatre. 

The Arcade Theatre, circa 1980.

48. Cases, with "out": SCOPES.  Or the SCOPES “monkey trial” a moniker that journalist H. L. Mencken (the "Bard of Baltimore") applied to the 1925 prosecution of a criminal action brought by the state of Tennessee against high school teacher John T. Scopes for violating the state’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools.

49. Unmistakable: PATENT.  I used to work in one half of this agency, headquartered in Alexandria, VA.
 

US Patent and Trade Office HQ
(the architect needed a special PATENT in order
to construct this building on a hill! 😀)

52. Many a pop-top: CAN.  This is for all of you Parrotheads ...

54. Reading while propped up by pillows, say: ABED.  It's at the top of this list of ways that constructors can change nouns into adjectives.

55. Stood up: ROSE.  Or a flower:

56. Tat that can be misread as WOW: MOM. 

57. "Maude" star Arthur: BEA.  My MOM's twin brother was named ARTHUR and his wife was my Aunt BEA.

59. "Kenan & __": late-'90s Nickelodeon show: KEL.  And now for something completely different ...

60. Congeal, as glue: SET.  Well, I think we're all SET!

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.  

 

waseeley