Thursday, May 4, 2023, Max Schlenker

 

 ANIMAL CROSSING

Today's puzzle is brought to us by constructor Max Schlenker who has had previous settings published in Inkubator and Universal Crosswords and is making his debut today in the LA Times.  His theme concerns 4 zoologists who give us punny presentations on birds, spiders, snakes, and mollusks.  Trigger warning: some of these are a little creepy ...

17A. Teaching surface for an ornithologist?: BILL BOARD.   Ornithology is the study of birds, and birds have BILLS (aka beaks).  The famous naturalist Charles Darwin was also an ornithologist who made an extensive study of the differences between the beaks of various finches on different islands in the Galapagos Archipelago.  He concluded that the differences in the shapes and sizes of their beaks were the result of adaptations to different plant life on the different islands, and that over many years they had  evolved into different species via natural selection ...

Darwin and his famous finches

While this seemed like a good idea at the time, this article and this article seem to indicate that while the beaks of various Galapagos finches may be different, the birds are really all the same species (i.e. they can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, like different breeds of the species canis domesticus).

 
27A. Lecture given by an arachnologist?: WEB ADDRESS.  Probably the most famous web addresses were given not by an arachnologist, but by an actual arachnid.   Her name was Charlotte, and here she meets Wilbur the pig for the first time.  Her short, but highly effective web addresses (e.g. "RADIANT", "SOME PIG", and "TERRIFIC") end up saving Wilbur's bacon:

50A. Demonstration given by a herpetologist?:SCALE MODEL.  This intrepid herpetologist demonstrates the milking of a scaly looking King cobra to get the venom needed to make anti-venom.

64A. Classroom icebreaker for a marine biologist?: SHELL GAME.  Enough with the creepy crawly stuff!  Pour yourself an ice cold beer and let George Hastings give you a master class in shelling Chesapeake Bay Oysters.  He isn't a marine biologist, but he is a two time national oyster shucking champion ...

And if you're not into slurping Chesapeake Bay sushi, here's a recipe for Oyster and Shrimp Bisque.

Here's the grid ...

Here are the rest ...

Across:

1. Produce duds?: SEW.

4. "I'll show you!": CAN SO.

9. Graphic novel genre: MANGA.  Here's a Beginner's Guide to Manga from the New York Public Library ...

14. __-locka, Florida: OPA.  Opa-locka is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.  The city was developed by aviation pioneer Glenn  Curtiss. Inspired by the Arabic fairy tale collection One Thousand and One Nights, Opa-locka has the largest collection of Moorish Revival themed architecture in the Western Hemisphere. Its streets have  names such as Sharazad Boulevard, Sinbad Avenue, Sultan Avenue, Ali Baba Avenue, and Sesame Street.  Here's a musical theme inspired by those same fairy tales from Scheherazade written by Nicholai Rimsky-Korsakov:

15. Speak from a lectern: ORATE.

16. In progress, quaintly: AFOOT.  Shakespeare originally used this word in King Henry V, Act 3 Scene 1, circa 1597, in the phrase: "Before the game is AFOOT, thou still let'st slip".  But it is probably more famous for its use by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the story The Return of Sherlock Holmes. 

17. [Theme clue]

19. Source of some overhead footage: DRONE.  Here is some DRONE footage of the devastation in Turkey and Syria following the deadly earthquake on February 6, 2023:

20. Org. co-founded by Helen Keller: ACLU.  Helen Keller was an American educator and advocate for the blind and deaf.  Not as well known is that she was also a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Stricken by an illness at the age of 2, Keller was left blind and deaf. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate, and Keller went on to college, graduating in 1904. During her lifetime, she received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments.

21. __-ball pens: UNI.

22. Creamsicle flavor: ORANGE.

23. Writer Anaïs: NIN.  Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira NIN y Culmell (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) perhaps best known for the length of her name.  She was a French-born American and also known as a diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica.  Here she is as an innocent teenager, presumably before she got into all the latter stuff ...

Anaïs Nin

She was also known for her bons mots, this one presumably after she got into all the latter stuff ...

25. Challenging words: DARE ME. 

27. [Theme clue]

31. Not hard: EASY.

34. Obsess over: ADORE.

35. Spanish "these": ESTOS.  Spanish lesson #1.

37. "That's all __ wrote": SHE.  A peculiarly American idiom which appeared during WWII.  It may be a reference to Dear John Letters received by overseas GIs, or it may have originated with this song ...
 

38. Private aid gp.: NGO.  Non Governmental Organization.

39. "Is that it?": AND.  That's all she wrote?

41. GOP org.: RNC.  Republican National Committee.

42. Relations: KIN.

43. AOC's political party: DEM.  This clue complies with the Corner's equal time requirements (see 41A above).  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist.

44. Spa feature: SAUNA.

46. Proxy: AGENT.  Here are several synonyms for "Proxy" ...

For those interested, software applications called proxy agents are commonly using in network management for providing firewalls and related services.  If you need more than that, see -T.

48. Sidewalk stand drinks: ADES.

50. [Theme clue]

52. Roof support beam: RAFTER.  Or one of these Class 5 White Water RAFTING crazies ...

Hand up if you've done any white water RAFTING?  sumdaze?

54. PD dispatch: APB.  Police Department.  All Points Bulletin.

55. "It'd be my pleasure!": GLADLY.

57. Sign of puppy love?: WAG.

59. Fresh: ANEW.

63. Repetitive musical piece: RONDO.  A RONDO is similar to a theme and variations, with the original theme repeating after each variation.  Here's Mozart's - Rondo Alla Turca played by Marnie Laird

64. [Theme clue]

66. __-Saxon: ANGLO.  The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group that inhabited much of what is now England in the Early Middle Ages, and spoke Old English. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century.

67. Edited, with "down": PARED.

68. Female sib: SIS.

69. Scrooge, at first: MISER.  A reference to Ebenezer Scrooge, the protagonist of Charles Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol.  Some pictures really are worth a thousand words ...

Ebenezer Scrooge

70. Dental visit freebie: FLOSS.  Would you believe, my hands are bigger than my mouth and I find these much easier to use:

Flossers

71. Sculpture, e.g.: ART.  Here's a stoneware sculpture created by potter Olin Russum ("Russ"), one of my teachers.  It was first thrown on a kick wheel in multiple sections, reshaped after it dried to "leather hard", and was then textured. The glazes were brushed on the dried raw clay and finally it was once-fired to Cone 11 (2359 F).  His young daughter named it "Beastie" and she used to roll it down the hill next to his studio.  We later bought it at an estate sale.

Beastie

Down:

1. Buckwheat noodles often served chilled: SOBA.  Despite its name, buckwheat is not closely related to wheat. It is not a cereal, nor is it even a member of the grass family. Buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb, and is known as a pseudocereal because its seeds' culinary use is the same as cereals, owing to their high starch content.

Japanese Buckwheat flowers

2. Mind-blowing: EPIC.

3. Safe spot: WALL.

4. Ear piece?: COB.

5. Circa: AROUND.

6. Flatbread served with saag paneer: NAAN.  "saag" = spinach.  "paneer" = cheese.  The cheese can be either fermented or curdled with lemon juice.  Here's a recipe.

Saag Paneer

7. Takes steps: STRIDES.

8. Ref. work whose "Concise" version has more than 1,700 pages: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary. We have a copy of the compact version, which requires a magnifying glass to read the fine print (in box above the volumes). Sadly paper dictionaries have been made obsolete by the Internet.

Compact OED

9. Niña's mother: MADRE.  Spanish lesson #2.  A Niña is a little girl.

10. Angular abode: A FRAME.  An A-frame house or other A-frame building is an architectural house or building style featuring steeply-angled sides (roofline) that usually begin at or near the foundation line, and meet at the top in the shape of the letter A.  Here is the first modern A frame house built in the US in 1934:

The Bennati House
Lake Arrowhead, CA

11. "We don't care what you think!": NO ONE ASKED.  Another popular American anthem.

12. Big bell: GONG.  Back by popular demand ...

This instrument was also featured in Puccini's last opera.  Suitors foolish enough to vie for the hand in marriage of the "Ice Princess" Turandot would announce their intention by striking a GONG in the palace courtyard three times. They were then required to answer three riddles that Turandot posed to them.  Those that failed would loose their head.
 
13. Suit to __: A TEE.

18. Like the Igbo calendar: LUNAR.  Igbo ("ee boo") is a language group in the Nigeria.  The Igbo invented a calendar called Iguafo Igbo (Igbo Calendar) so as to be aware of days and years. The calendar has four "market days" namely Eke, Afor, Nkwo and Orie. These days make a week. In the Igbo calendar, four days make a week, seven weeks make one month and thirteen months make a year.  This widgit converts Gregorian Calendar dates to Igbo market days.  We have several Nigerian families in our church, but I don't think any of them use the Iguafo Igbo.  Here is our month of May, with line 2 being the first week of Igbo month and our May 4th being market day Eke :

22. Director Welles: ORSON.  Actor and director ORSON Welles (1915-1985) was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He is perhaps best known for his radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, which caused a major panic and for his classic movie Citizen Kane, considered one of the greatest movies of all time.  Here is the beginning of War of the Worlds broadcast (this was radio - you're just imagining the visuals):

24. Brainstorms: IDEAS.

26. __ projection: ASTRAL.  This is a song about a man who lived and died on an ASTRAL plane ...

27. Sykes of "The Upshaws": WANDA.  The Upshaws is an American sitcom created by Regina Y. Hicks and Wanda Sykes. The series stars Sykes, Mike Epps, Kim Fields and Page Kennedy.

Wanda Sykes

28. Trimmed, in a way: EDGED.

29. Australian hunting tools: BOOMERANGS.  A BOOMERANG is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning boomerang is designed as a weapon to be thrown straight and is traditionally used by some Aboriginal Australians for hunting.

Australian Aboriginal Boomerangs

30. Cut back: REDUCE.

32. Perform well: SHINE.

33. Streisand directorial debut: YENTL.  YENTL is a 1983 American romantic musical drama film directed, co-written, co-produced by, and starring American entertainer Barbra Streisand. It is based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy.  The film incorporates music to tell the story of an Ashkenazi Jewish girl in Poland who decides to dress and live like a boy so that she can receive an education in Talmudic law after her father dies.  Here she asks Where is it Written? (lyrics):

36. Mischief maker: SCAMP.  Till Eulenspiegel is one of the most famous SCAMPS in music history and  may have been based on an historical person.  He was immortalized in Richard Strauss' tone poem Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks where he pays the ultimate price for his mischief, but rises again in the end.  Here's conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the Berlin Philharmonic playing Til's theme ...

40. Mean-spirited: NASTY.

45. Tusked Arctic swimmer: NARWHAL.  The NARWHAL, also known as a narwhale, is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada and Russia.  Here's a quick introduction to these mysterious "Unicorns of the Sea".
 

47. Portable emergency kit: GO BAG.   Here is the AARP's recommendations on the contents of a GO BAG.

49. Jockey's seat: SADDLE.

51. Philadelphia team: EAGLES.

53. Trapdoor locale: FLOOR.

55. Mono- and sono- follower: GRAM.

56. Love of "The Real": LONI.  Loni Love (born July 14, 1971) is an American comedian, television host, actress, author, and former electrical engineer. While working as an electrical engineer in the early 2000s, she switched to music engineering, until later launching a career in stand-up comedy. She was the runner-up on Star Search 2003 and was named among the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both Variety and Comedy Central in 2009. She was one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show The Real, which ran from July 15, 2013 and ended on June 3, 2022

Loni Love

58. Nestlé bar with a bubbly texture: AERO.

60. Hubble org.: NASA.  The Space Telescope Science Institute on the JHU campus in Baltimore, MD has the NASA contracts to provide down link services for both the Hubble Telescope and  the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).  Here is a gallery of some of the first images received from the JWST.

61. Gulf States dignitary: EMIR.

62. Basketball legend Jerry: WEST.  Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks [!!!]; "the Logo", in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo; "Mr. Outside", in reference to his perimeter play with the Los Angeles Lakers; and "Zeke from Cabin Creek", for the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia.

Jerry West 1972

64. Letters on a sunscreen bottle: SPF.   Sun Protection Factor  My dermatologist recommends that I use at least SPF 50.

65. Mormon letters: LDS. Latter Day Saints.  Their history and beliefs.

Cheers,
Bill

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

waseeley