17. *Not so great: BELOW PAR.
23. *Roe delicacy: BELUGA CAVIAR. In 2005, the United States made it illegal to import beluga caviar and beluga sturgeon into the country, because of the animal's endangered status. However, caviar from beluga hybrid species are still for sale in the country.
38. *Laboratory vessel: BELL JAR. Also a book by Sylvia Plath. Animated book summary. The protagonist Esther Greenwood describes her depression as a feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath.
51. *Currency in San Ignacio: BELIZE DOLLAR. Wikipedia: The official value is pegged at BZ$2 = US$1.
61. Tight embraces, and what the answers to the starred clues literally have?: BEAR HUGS. The BE and AR are 'hugging' the letters in between.
Melissa here. I like how the theme answer BELL JAR is positioned right in the middle of the grid. Also interesting is that each theme phrase (except for the reveal answer) begins with BEL. The only other BE*AR words I can come up with are BEACHWEAR and BEGGAR. No L's.
Across:
1. __ signs: VITAL. Measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four main vital signs routinely monitored by medical professionals and health care providers are: Body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, blood pressure.
6. Feminine pronoun: SHE.
9. World Cup chant: USA.
12. With money at stake: ON A BET.
14. Guinness of "Doctor Zhivago": ALEC. Guinness played Lieutenant General Yevgraf Zhivago.
15. Task on a suburban summer to-do list: MOW.
16. Woke: CAME TO. Woke vs. Awoke: You can replace "awoke" with "woke." The reason is that they are the past participles of the verbs "awake" and "wake," which have identical meanings.
19. Singer DiFranco: ANI.
20. Put away: STORED.
22. Road trip game: I SPY.
26. Blog entry: POST.
27. Surround: ENVELOP. Like a BEAR HUG.
31. Drag show accessories: BOAS.
34. Q's neighbor: TAB. On a keyboard.
36. Fixes a crossword, say: EDITS.
37. Oblique neighbors: ABS. Abdominal muscles.
41. "__ but a scratch": TIS. In the wonderfully hilarious British cult classic film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur once defeated a guard on his quest for the Holy Grail. In the famous scene, the guard refuses to let Arthur pass and thus the battle begins. Arthur gravely wounds the guard, who continuously claims, “Tis but a scratch.
42. Part of a bath set gift basket: LOOFA.
44. Sea-__ airport: TAC. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
45. Rat's home: NEST.
46. "I'm going before you!": ME FIRST. No, no ... contigo abajo. (A little Spanish humor.)
49. Prepare, as potatoes: MASH.
56. London's __ Park: HYDE. History of Events in Hyde Park. There is also a Hyde Park in Chicago, Hyde Park Village in Florida, the Town of Hyde Park in NY, and a neighborhood in Boston.
59. "Gimme a minute": ONE SEC.
60. Abbreviation with a suggested price: OBO. Or best offer.
63. Beatles hairstyle: MOP TOP. In the early '60s, the Fab Four were wearing mop-top haircuts, a longish style with bangs that resembles a certain household tool. Rock legend has it that the revolutionary Brits were inspired by two young German photographers sporting mop tops who befriended them in Hamburg in 1960. The look was a dramatic departure from the very short, conservative cuts of the 1950s, and it was soon mimicked on both sides of the Atlantic. By the late '60s, the band had abandoned the style in favor of locks that were even longer.
65. Formula 1 need: CAR. F1 is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
66. Rhyme Syndicate founder: ICE-T. Rhyme Syndicate was an American hip hop collective of artists formed to unite East and West Coast rappers, DJs and record producers.
67. "Hey, bro": YO DUDE.
68. Coffee receptacle: URN.
69. Advanced deg.: PhD. Doctor of Philosophy, is a high-level degree earned after a period of three or more years of graduate-level study, culminating in the creation, submission, presentation and defense of a research dissertation.
70. Uses a surgical beam: LASES.
Down:
1. Lesson that may involve a thesaurus, for short: VOCAB.
2. Silly: INANE.
3. Language in Sri Lanka: TAMIL. Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia.
4. Pres. in a stovepipe hat: ABE.
5. "We're leaving now!": LET'S GO.
6. Oreo cookie packaging: SLEEVE.
7. Bottled up, as emotions: HELD IN.
8. Earth Day prefix: ECO. The prefix eco (often used with a hyphen) refers to ecology or to the environment: Because population is concentrated in urban settings, cities have large eco-footprints (ecological footprints). This product is eco-friendly (safe for the environment).
9. Work-from-home types: UMPS. Nice clue. Home base. Baseball.
10. Irish Spring, e.g.: SOAP.
11. Slightly off: AWRY.
13. Cookbook phrase: TO TASTE.
14. Pokémon species that evolves into Kadabra and Alakazam: ABRA. Kadabra evolves from Abra after accumulating enough experience, and evolves into Alakazam only when traded from one copy of a Pokémon game to another. The original Pokémon is a role-playing game based around building a small team of monsters to battle other monsters in a quest to become the best.
18. Full of energy: WIRED.
21. Eight-related: OCTAL.
24. Company with brown trucks: UPS.
25. State boldly: AVER.
28. Diet branding word: LITE.
29. "Try a Little Tenderness" singer Redding: OTIS.
30. Hushed summons: PSST.
31. Lip Smacker product: BALM.
32. Clarinet kin: OBOE. Oboe vs. Clarinet.
33. Starting from: AS OF.
35. Club alternative: BLT. Sandwich. A signature feature of a club sandwich is using three pieces of bread – with one slice used as a separator in the middle. It is an American classic, often served in delis, country clubs and other restaurants. It is often cut into quarters or halves and held together by cocktail sticks.
38. Unadorned: BARE.
39. Lily of "Downton Abbey": JAMES.
40. Starfleet school: ACADEMY. In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet Academy is where recruits to Starfleet's officer corps are trained.
43. Bran benefit: FIBER.
45. Org. for Oilers: NHL. Hockey.
47. Abandon good posture: SLOUCH.
48. Lightly shaded: TINGED.
50. "Awesome!": SO COOL.
52. Citrus bits: ZEST. The outermost layer of the peel known as the flavedo. This layer contains loads of natural oils that are full or flavor and not as acidic as the tart juice.
53. Sacred flower: LOTUS.
54. Quarters: ABODE.
55. Lures (in): ROPES.
56. Morehouse, for one: Abbr.: HBCU. “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary of Education.”
57. 12 months: YEAR.
58. "Fiddlesticks": DARN. Couldn't help but think of this ...
64. "Get a room!" elicitor, for short: PDA. Public Display of Affection.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteDARN, d-o don't know nuthin 'bout birthin' no Pokémon (Pokémen?). STOWED resulted in ABWA, and that looked just fine for the species. Bzzzzt. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln liked the play. Thanx, Katie and Melissa Bee.
🐰🐇
ReplyDeleteOtto tried to sell his OBOE,
Marked the ad as O.B.O.
Response was cold
Until it sold
For a nickel to a hobo.
In golf, BELOW PAR is chill!
In health, below par is ill.
Golf is hyped
For healthy life.
Is that guff just INANE swill?
{A, B-.}
Oops, kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!
ReplyDeleteThat's tomorrow.
FIR, but erased stowed for STORED (ha ha, DO) and ole for USA. I guess if all ten American soccer fans attended we could hear that chant. My favorite was "work-from-home types."
ReplyDeleteC-Eh got a backhand with the mispelt fibre, then, in the very next clue, a CSO with the Edmonton skaters.
I used to be able to OCTAL dabble (converting from base 10 to base 8) in my head. Couldn't do it now if my life depended on it.
Q's neighbor? M? 007? Miss Moneypenny? Oh, a keyboard! I had to order a corded one yesterday to be able to access my bios. My bluetooth wireless ones don't work until Windoze boots, which is much too late. I wonder how many perfectly good corded ones I've recycled over the years.
TIS but a scratch. Or as we say in the South, "That'll buff out."
If you were HIP (or wanted to be), you'll remember Dobie Gray's The In Crowd.
Thanks to melissa for the fun review.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Katie Hale, and thank you, Melissa.
Solved this one last evening. Had to water the gardens this morning early. Started at 4:45 AM and just came in at 6:45 We need rain.
Also crawled up in the attic to check the power fan in the attic on the other side of my house. Had to do that early. Not working. No wonder that side of the house has been so hot. Another to-do.
Thanks for the recap, Melissa. Nice!
I didn't get the congrats message. My "Club alternative" was BaT (I was watching the Pirates beat the Giants on MLB TV at the time.) I felt that BElA JAR was wrong when I saw that's what I had. Reading the clue for it gave me BELL and BLT. D'OH!
Other than that, I don't have much to say. FIR, so I'm happy.
Also spotted another bear in bottom left of puzzle😁
ReplyDeleteMe too, D Otto, with the same reasoning I STOWED and accepted ABwA for a FIW today.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, I put "ole" before USA was indicated by perps. UMPS surprised me too since I hadn't thought of baseball. Oh, and I tried to "peel" and "pare" my potatoes forgetting how often I MASH them.
The theme is a clever variation of an often used pattern and helped fill themers slow to come to mind: BELL JAR and BELIZE DOLLAR.
Thanks Katie and Melissa B for an enjoyable start to the day!
Took 5:43 today for me to finish, but I don't want to besmear anyone's reputation.
ReplyDeleteCan I interest anyone in a Bartlett Pear?
I went with bat as the club alternative first, too.
Below par is sometimes great.
I didn't know today's actress (James), or the Sri Lankan language.
Good Morning… I guess. Hesitated when I saw Katie Hale’s name on top, and sure enough, FIW. I, too, fell into the STOwED / ABwA trap. And VIrAL -> VITAL for the UNK TAMIL.
ReplyDeleteWO: ole -> USA
The rest of the puzzle filled smoothly with reliance on perps, so thanks for that, Katie.
Thanks, Melissa for revealing the theme, and wealth of info in your recap.
FIR. Nice mid week puzzle with a clever theme. It took a bit to get a foothold in the NW, but once vocab went in I was off to the finish.
ReplyDeletePlaying along, I remember Beldar Conehead: Coneheads Family Feud - SNL.
ReplyDeleteNothing difficult about this puzzle, but it took me much jumping from section to section and much longer than yesterday's puzzle, with one boo-boo. STOWED instead of STORED. It seems I had good company in this.
ReplyDeleteI saw the BEL beginnings, but not the AR endings, before I came to the BEAR HUG. (The L was superfluous.) Nice theme.
BAT before BLT, one of my favorite sandwiches. BELL JAR corrected that.
HEP or HIP took a while.
So many signs to choose from. VITAL took some time to suss.
In the hospital they tell a patient to rest and then wake her up constantly with vitals and meds. Not to mention the roommate who uses the call bell over and over all night. necessitating turning on a bright light and long conversations with the staff.
OKL I really liked the first one. I enjoy reading the best ones aloud, my rating criterion.
Anonymous, interesting that below par or under par in golf is great and in the rest of life it is bad.
Lucina, I hope your meds are helping you rebound from being below par. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Clever puzzle today - I needed the reveal to see the connection in the theme answers- but if I had stepped back I would have at least seen the the BE beginnings.
ReplyDeleteI live a couple of block away from an HBCU - Lincoln University. Neat story how it started in 1866- two regiments of black Union soldiers pooled together a small stipend that each was given at the end of the Civil War to start the Lincoln Institute so that blacks would have a place to go for higher education. Now it is one of the state schools for Missouri.
Jinx- my son in cybersecurity encouraged me to have a corded keyboard at my desktop - so you are cutting edge :)
Thanks Melissa & Katie for a fun morning jaunt
Good a.m. This was not a BEAR of a puzzle but the BEAR HUGS were nice theme fills. But I managed to FIW. Don't know anything about Pokemon and I STOWED, not STORED, to get ABWA instead of ABRA. Should have paid attention to the KADABRA in the clue. I'm also ignorant about all Downton Abbey and Star Trek but did manage to fill JAMES and ACADEMY.
ReplyDeleteOTIS- one of my favorites. Saw him in 1968 or 1969. "Try A little Tenderness" was not an original from OTIS. It was composed in 1932 during the Great Depression.
PhD- Piled High and Deep as a few PhD's I knew called it.
BELIZE DOLLAR- when I was there last year they preferred US$.
ZEST- wanted PULP but the perps wouldn't allow it. DARN.
When I see some of the early times some Cornerites post, I think they are racing to say ME FIRST. I CAME TO that realization a few years back. I'm an early riser but not in a race to do anything these days.
I was speeding through, well kind of, then I ran into the SE and stopped. MASH never came to me, I kept trying to peel or pare my potatoes. I was so curious I quit and looked at M-B’s nice write and answers. So DNF today.
ReplyDeleteI used to love good caviar. I have not had any in decades.
I just saw a video of a black bear stealing and eating some 50 cupcakes from a bakery in Connecticut. That bear is going to be sick, that little glutton.
Where did the Black Knight with one leg work? IHOP.
ReplyDeleteGroan!😊
DeleteGot CC's mini puzzle book delivered yesterday. Well done. Great for killing 5 to 10 minutes while waiting for something in the oven or passes the time during commercial breaks on TV. I keep it setting on my desk. Yes, coffee drinking is encouraged. GC
ReplyDeleteYour fiddle dee dee link, made me think of a different one...
ReplyDeleteI'm not into hugs...
Well,
maybe little ones...
Nice, well done theme with BE---AR
ReplyDeleteOriginally I had AWAY for Road Trip Game (as in sports when you have an Away Game). After the crosses gave me ISPY I kept thinking, what the heck is an ispy?? Brain not working this morning. Came here to look it up. Oh, I SPY (with my little eye...) My only excuse is with no grandkids, I haven't taken a young one on a road trip in a long time.
DOH! "Q's neighbor". I got TAB from perps, but just stared at it and scratched my head. It took Melissa Bee to 'splain it. Other than that, I did work my way through this CW to a FIR, but it took longer than a typical Wednesday. That seems to be a trend for me: "Took longer to fill than a typical (fill in the day of the week)." Are the CWs getting more difficult, or am I getting dopier? Clever theme, which took me a while to see after the fill. Thanx for the fun, KH. Thanx too to Melissa Bee for the terrific write-up. Melissa, please know that all your time and effort is appreciated. New tires for my Jeep today, a set of Michelin Crossclimate2 All Season tires, from Costco. Very cool tread design, see if you can have a look on the 'net. Just short of $1k for the set of four.
ReplyDeleteLol … yesterday I knew Kawaii cutness culture because my kids collected Pokemon cards… and today my memories got “stowed”… go figure!!
ReplyDeleteA fun puzzle. Thanks Katie and Melissa. kkFlorida
I meant to ask: Looking at the picture of Lincoln with his generals, the generals both have their right hands tucked into their jackets. I have noticed this on a lot of pictures and paintings from that era, including a painting of Napolean. Does anyone know why?
ReplyDeleteAND....here's a link to my new tires, have a look at the tread design: https://www.michelinman.com/auto/tires/michelin-crossclimate2
ReplyDeleteSometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. Thought I had this one, but I got "stowed" away like DO and others. MB, your pic of that club sam'wich is making me drool. Must be time for lunch!
ReplyDeleteHusker, great sports fan that I am, methinks the NHL Oilers are from Edmonton, Alberta.
ReplyDeleteAmused by the TAB clue when I finally got it. In our case here, EDITS are often not an improvement. Enjoyed the BEAR HUGS, which helped with the solve.
ReplyDeleteHere we had a brief DRAG SHOW at our Winter Solstice party with our Solstice seamstress Bella Donna.
My friend Gary is working as the sound engineer and I like the amused look on his face.
But I was the one wearing the BOA, not the DRAG performer nor my DW.
From Yesterday:
Tante Nique Glad you liked my friend's EPIGRAMs. I first saw Ashleigh's Pot Shots EPIGRAM cards at the Chicago airport when I was a kid. I was delighted when I got to meet him in person.
I figured “Abra” as in “abracadabra “ and I was right. Like others, I didn’t get the gimmick until the reveal but I got it then. Other than that, no serious problems. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteD-O you are right about Edmonton, but Houston is on the make for one of the several failing existing NHL teams.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIW; had a cluster of mistakes in the middle of the grid. I wanted to WASH my potatoes (never thought of MASHing them); had BAT and no BLT; never thought of BELL JAR ...
The UMPS clue was a good mis-lead
Ray-O: thanks for the "shout-out"! Fortunately, Moe does not have to MOW; no grass in our yard - just "desert rocks"
My Facebook memory from 6 years ago was one of my punnier limericks:
Here's a riddle where all of us groaned,
About pot farm that somebody owned.
Group of gulls came and ate
All the plants; and their fate
Was that there were no terns left un-stoned.
Picard @11:56am
ReplyDeleteA handsome guy but with all that facial hair you'd make one "fugley" Soltice Sister Drag queen.
🥴
Sorry according to The Oxford English Dictionary and the King's English it's spelt fugly...my bad.
ReplyDeleteRay-O Thanks for your observation. I looked up the origin of "fugly" and it is as I suspected. It is a combination of "F-ing" and "ugly"
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I was not aiming for the DRAG look. I just like the lighting effects of my cool BOA. It constantly changes color. It just happened to be pink at that instant.
But it is odd to see exactly the look you describe: DRAG with facial hair. Not sure I call it Fugly. Just weird and creepy. It is surprisingly common around here.
Lucina Good to hear you are feeling better. Any idea how you got COVID?
Thanks for your puzzle, Katie! You likely made -T's day with the TIS clue. Melissa helped with the MP clip.
ReplyDeleteFAV: Work-from-home types
Add me to the list of those FIW at ABwA/STOwED. H-Gary, you're right. The clueing was there but I glossed over it.
Thanks, Melissa for your work on the review. Loved the music today!
ReplyDeleteWell…a well clued puzzle with a lack of unwatched shows and unknown actors.
I’m guessing the editor is on vacation.
Also, and I’m not trying to be “that guy”, but can we stop with the hints of puzzles to come?
C-Moe@1:03. I meant to mention that I liked your "turn of phrase" in your limerick.
ReplyDeleteI knew BELL JAR was familiar but didn't read it
ReplyDeleteI had arisen for woke. MASH just wouldn't come to me because I was thinking of the NFL which had the Houston Oilers. CAR/gas
HYDE Park is actually one of several boroughs of Boston
I had a strange cookie odyssey at Publix. I had a $5 "perk" but not sure how much I had to buy to get it. $20? Bought some more. Nope? $30? Got 4 Sausalito at 5 apiece. Nope. Finally read fine print. $30 purchase after 6/2/23
I UMPed softball 74-79. I was unfriended several times because I was unbiased. 1 player in 50 knows what he thinks he knows*
And there's drive-thru Pokémon where players travel to pick up pieces
Morehouse fielded top caliber bball teams until SEC and ACC integrated
Owen, until carts became ubiquitous golf at least had the walking aspect. Rachet that up to A-
HG, those Oilers are in Edmonton as D-Otto already said
Picard it's just entertainment but states want to ban it. Tennessee (per NPR, eh Tony) is waiting on the courts.
What's Drag? I know it when I see it to paraphrase Felix
And… Next to that beautiful woman anything looks good
Poor NHL, they don't get the big gambling $$ because games are too easily fixed
FIR but that N?L / MASH took as long as the rest of the xword
Lucina, no one knows where covid comes from but I hope the lost weight is welcome. Once the appetite goes it's slow to comeback
WC
Kudos to Melissa, Owen and C-Moe for entertainment. Ok, you too RayO
DeleteI liked this puzzle. Once I grokked the BE-AR gimmick I prefilled those first 2 and last 2 letters. Hand up for STOWED and ABWA, and for BAT before BLT. ITS has to be changed to TIS. Yeah, I, too, thought it was spelled LOOFAH.
ReplyDeleteABRA is also a character in "East of Eden."
Excellent write-up, melissa bee.
I am proud to announce that our granddaughter, Emilie Doering, will be performing the role of Grace in the upcoming presentation of the play "Into the Breeches" at the Beverly O'Neill Theatre at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA. Opening day is June 7. Closing day is June 25. Here's the website for more information. LW, our son (Emilie's father), and I will be attending the 2:00 matinee on the afternoon of the 25th.
Good wishes to you all.
Jayce, exciting show apparently very popular. OMK perhaps will enlighten us re. The Henriad(Shakespeare) which the "Breech" gang will try to enact
ReplyDeleteLet us know how it went. That menu for the dinner/show combo looks enticing. It reminds me of Stirrups the restaurant at the new World Equestrian Center in Ocala(price-ey)
WC
Hi All:
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's 'cuz I haven't slept well since DW left (she's landing!) or I'm just to dim for Katie's grid - it took me a while....
Thanks again asst. EDITor, Katie. I love your puzzles.
Thanks mb for the fantastic expo (anything w/ Python += ;-))
WOs: Hidden -> HELD IN, ole -> USA, BaLL JAR -- hand-up for STOwED.
ESPs: ABRA, VITAL _signs* took a long bit even though it's a great RUSH song. I'm sure there was others.
Fav: Katie provided so much sparkle, but I'm going w/ HBCU. I went to LA Tech -- just down the road from Grambling... Great marching bands (and Prairie View A&M are no SLOUCH either) [cite 20m+]
Who else waited on HIP or HeP?
{A+, B} //wait, are we going to have Bugs / Elmer doing Wagner?
Jinx - I just got my home's ergonomic keyboard . It's the same I bought for the office but weird standing and typing on it. //all my typos are it's fault ;-)
TTP - LOL coneheads.
I'll read everyone after @8:25a later - gotta GO get DW. She just landed.
Cheers, -T
*Should I be worried? My BP dropped from 135/98 116bpm to 82/36 96bpms. Dermatology Dr. put me on valacyclovir for a "don't be so ugly" procedure tomorrow (poke me in the face w/ needles(?!?)) -- I'm not sure I like this med.
I think that I corrected all of the comments that were originally posted and then deleted by their authors. By corrected, I mean deleted. So if some of you had a typing error, and decided to delete and re-post your comment, you might want to check to see if your re-post is still there.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably better to let minor typos stand, rather than deleting them and reposting the corrected comment. Proofing your comments before posting is a good idea.
Wilbur Charles, thanks for that observation.
ReplyDeleteTTP - OCTAL is easy... Just cut off two fingers ;-)
ReplyDeleteNice set of wheels, unclefred.
Picard - I enjoyed the videos. Eldest & I went to Rent last week and there were children(!) in the audience. I guess the legislation (thankfully) hasn't made it all the way through Texas.
Lucina - glad to read you're on the mend.
Cheers, -T
ooh - major typo in my earlier post - BP earlier was 82/56. It's back to normal (for me) 141/84 106bpm. Whew! -T
ReplyDeleteOops! Well, the old Houston Oilers weren't using that either! :-)
ReplyDeleteHG - oy! That was another ink-over... I had NFL b/f NHL thinking of "Luv Ya Blue" b/f perps didn't work. Houston's hockey team was the Aeros. -T
ReplyDelete* From earlier re. Bias. Having a firsthand look I finally concluded that teams actually SEE what they want or expect to see
ReplyDeleteThe bang-bang play at first is a prime example. They WANT their guy to be safe so thats what they see, eg. BIAS
As ump I called what ACTUALLY happened. There's an amazing amount of emotion in these "rec" softball games. I had to steel myself to call balls and strikes, safe or out exactly not according to expectations.
WC
Well. I definitely feel better tonight and hope by tomorrow to be back to normal. It's time to go to the nail salon, do some grocery shopping and other errands although since Mark has been cooking, it's been quite a treat! Also, the calls from my family have been lovely.
ReplyDeleteI've been solving C.C.'s puzzle book during commercials and they are quite fun little gems.