Thursday, March 28, 2024, Emma Lawson, Amie Walker

 WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Today's veteran constructors Emma Lawson and Amie Walker present us with another vertical theme, sans circles or stars, but this one is a little dark. The reveal starts on the first row at 10D, so we know what's going on pretty much out of the gate ...

 10. Creedence Clearwater Revival hit with the line "I see trouble on the way," or what can be found in three long Down entries: BAD MOON RISING.  A song all about what could go wrong -- this MOON is not only BAD, it's RISING! (well maybe) ...

Credence Clearwater Revival
(things eventually went wrong with them)

8. Return correspondence?: RANSOM NOTE.  Clever clue, terrible business ...

Kidnap and Ransom

18. Bella Hadid and Precious Lee, for two: FASHION MODELS.  Fashion models with last name Hadid are becoming crosswordese -- last Thursday we had Gigi (see 59D), this week we have Bella.  Here is Bella ...

Bella Hadid

... and here is Precious ...

Precious Lee

28. Key information for a hotel guest?: ROOM NUMBER.  A true story about what could go wrong ...

We recently stayed in mid-priced hotel in a small town in Ohio and when we checked in we were issued  the usual key cards, which had our ROOM NUMBER digitally encoded in them.  The second morning after returning from breakfast, we made several attempts to get into our room and concluded that for some reason the cards had stopped working -- so we went back to the front desk.  The desk clerk knew exactly what had happened and explained  that the circuitry that detects the key card was powered by a battery inside the door (presumably to guard against power failures to the hotel grid).  When a battery ran down, it could be remotely recharged from the hotel front desk and new key cards would be issued.  The BUG (remember BUGS from last Thursday?) in the system was that the key card had be used  within 2 minutes of the recharge or it was invalidated.  The clerk recharged the battery from the front desk and headed off to our room -- unfortunately we were on the 3rd floor on the far end of the hotel and it proved to be physically impossible for anyone other than Usain Bolt to reach our room within 2 minutes.  After several attempts to do this he said that the IT Guy had a way to override the system -- but that it was after hours and he wasn't there, but that  they would page him and would let us know when he arrived. In the mean time the hotel offered us a different room, but all of our stuff was in that room, including my CPAP machine, without which I cannot sleep.  So we went to lunch, came back, read USA Today, solved the crossword (which SS could probably knock off in 30 seconds), tried to nap on the lobby sofas, etc, etc.  Eventually the IT Guy showed up and was able get the door open  and we were good to go.

We usually visit this small town in Ohio at least once a year and they don't have a lot of hotels, but if we have to stay at this one again, it will be contingent on the desk clerk demonstrating that he/she can reach our room within two minutes (or if Usain happens to be staying in the hotel that weekend!).

I guess it's pretty obvious by now what's going on with the theme.  I have a slight NIT about that, as unlike the UPSIDE DOWN CAKES in last Thursday's puzzle you can't really tell whether these MOONS are RISING or SETTING.  Nevertheless they ARE ALL BAD.

Here's the grid ...
 

Across:

1. Tap: PAT.  A CSO to PAT.

4. Garment that may be draped in the nivi style: SARI.  The true Story of the Nivi Drape.

Sari à la Nivi

8. Buyer's incentive: REBATE.

14. Hoopla: ADO.

15. Jeff Bridges sci-fi franchise: TRON.  The franchise began with the 1982 film TRON staring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape.  It back then it had SOTA animation for 1982. I believe that there were other films as well. Hand up if you saw the original? 

16. Toyota sedan since 1994: AVALON.  They looked like this, but Toyota is discontinuing them.

Toyota Avalon, RIP

17. Gets just right: PERFECTS.  Someone once said that "the perfect is the enemy of the good".

19. Silently agreed: NODDED.

20. Places to pray: ALTARS.  A famous place to pray.

21. __ de deux: PAS.  Here's the Pas de deux from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ...

23. Physics quantity: MASS.  Also a RITE than can be said at a 20A.

24. Rental agreement: LEASE.

25. Get off the partner track?: GO SOLO.  It's not all it's cracked up to be ...

27. Car alarm: HORN.  Here's the 3rd movement of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417, Rondo - allegro ...

29. Slick: SMOOTH. Or the Jefferson Airplane vocalist singing White Rabbit? 

32. Final Four game: SEMI.  March Madness is upon us!

35. Yahoo: OAF.

37. "Thanks, I got it": NO NEED.

39. Handi-Snacks cookie: OREO.  See 60A.

40. Have a loan from: OWE TO.

42. Like a dragon egg in Minecraft: RARE.  According to the Minecraft Wiki "A Dragon Egg is a decorative, egg-shaped block, which is dropped after defeating the Ender Dragon in the End. It is only dropped by the death of the first Ender Dragon, not by respawned Ender Dragons. It is also not possible to get from the creative inventory without commands. This do not apply [sic] to Bedrock Edition".  They look like this ...

Dragon's Egg

Egg shaped, but in a low-res digital sort of way.  Hand up if you're a Minecraft maven and can explain why they're so valuable?

43. Jackman's "The Greatest Showman" role: BARNUM.  The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, is a 2017 American fictionalized biographical musical drama about the life of P.T. Barnum.   I can never get enough of this portrayal by Rebecca Ferguson of BARNUM's love interest, the legendary Swedish Soprano Jenny Lind singing Never Enough (but actually sung by Loren Allred) ...

Not Loren Allred

45. "__ your heart out!": EAT.  Hearts were a favorite food of the Egyptian goddess Ammit, 'devourer of the dead and hearts' -- Chacun à son goût! 😀

46. Apple computer: IMAC.

47. Siete días: SEMANA. Today's Spanish lesson -- "Seven days" make a "week".

49. Centipede's multitude: LEGS.  A word with a multitude of synonyms ...

Plus  a CSO to MOE.

51. Body of work: OEUVRE.  Today's French lesson:

or an hors-d'oeuvre .

53. Firm: RIGID.

57. Chatted privately, briefly: DMED.  Digital Messaging not in an open "chat room"

60. "It's not really working for me": MEH. This doesn't really work for me either -- but conductor Zubin MEHTA does -- here he leads the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the last 3 minutes of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "The Resurrection" ...

61. Admonition to bickering kids: BE NICE.
 
62. Electric guitar effect: REVERB.  Not a new thing -- back in the Renaissance the stringed instruments had reverb, and in this Dr. Who clip from The Magician's Apprentice episode, time traveling Peter Capaldi shows off his REVERB chops on the electric lute (no stunt double), while treating us to a few bad puns  ...

64. "Back so soon?": YOU AGAIN.  Yeah, it's Thursday again. 😀

66. Audrey Tautou role: AMELIE.  Amélie is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film, a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy, introverted and quirky waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better while dealing with her own isolation ...

67. Long for: MISS.

68. Vox populi, vox __: DEI.  Today's Latin lesson: "Voice of the people, voice of God".  A metaphor for democratic government used in a 1709 English political tract titled with this phrase.

69. Flexor counterpart: TENSOR.  Both are types of muscles.  It seems that the EXTENSOR has a stretch on today's fill.  Here are some examples ...

70. "Who __ could it be?": ELSE.

71. Parka part: ARM.  HOOD didn't fit.

Down:
1. Vatican-related: PAPAL. E.g. PAPAL BULL. It's not widely known but most Popes DO have a sense of humor ...

2. "I Drink Wine" singer: ADELE.  Not until the end of Lent we don't!  I don't think ADELE is observing Lent 😀 ...

Lyrics

3. Sandwich on a bolillo: TORTA.  In Mexico a TORTA is a kind of sandwich served on  white sandwich rolls similar to a small baguette called a bolillo.  A CSO to Lucina -- anything to add?

Torta on a bolillo

4. Typical opening?: STEREO.

5. Story shapes: ARCS.

6. Deteriorate: ROT.

7. What a mood board might provide, informally: INSPO.  A mood board is a collection of visual materials that evoke a particular theme, style or concept. Designers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers and all types of creative professionals create mood boards to communicate and give them inspiration or "INSPO" (also a vaccine! 😀) and vision for a project.  Here's how to make mood board using a product called Milanote.  Here's an example ...

8. [Theme clue]

9. Former Bolivian president Morales: EVO.  Juan EVO Morales Ayma (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan ˈeβo moˈɾales ˈajma]; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero (coca leaf) activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. He was his country's first president to come from its indigenous population.  Not to be confused with a Rachel Ray favorite 😀 ...

Evo Morales

10. [Theme reveal]

11. "M*A*S*H" star: ALDA.  Alan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, author, screenwriter, podcast host and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the CBS wartime sitcom M*A*S*H (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series. But he's done a LOT of other things as well.

Alan Alda

12. The ten in "hang ten": TOES.  Prehensile TOES that is.  "Hang ten" is slang for any of several maneuvers used in sports where all ten toes or fingers are used to accomplish the maneuver. In basketball it's hanging on the hoop after dunking the ball.   In surfing, the sport it's most commonly associated with, it's also called "nose riding", as it's done by perching on the very front of the surfboard ...

"Hanging ten"
How does she do that!!!?

13. Split __: ENDS.

18. [Theme clue]

22. Burro: ASS.  And the origin of the word burrito (the clue not the fill!)

25. Chew (on): GNAW.

26. Lav: LOO.  British slang.

28. [Theme clue].

30. Cubs or Bears: TEAM.

31. Juno's Greek counterpart: HERA.  While HERA and JUNO played the same role in Roman and Greek mythology, they were very different goddesses.

Hera vs. Juno

32. Cry loudly: SOB.

33. "-zoic" periods: ERAS. Here is simplified chart of Earth's geological ERAS, courtesy of the British Geological Survey ...

Nowadays when people hear the word ERAS they're more likely to think of this (Ms Swift has better PR men than the geologists😀) ...

34. No more than: MERE.  Could also be clued as "French for Mother".

36. Extra charge: FEE.

38. Advent mo.: DEC.  It can actually begin in late NOV. --  Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (always falling between 27 November and 3 December), and ends on Christmas Eve on 24 December.  It is the beginning of the liturgical New Year.

41. Yarn: TALE.

44. Dubai's fed.: UAE.  Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the country's seven emirates.

48. Madison in NYC: AVE.

50. Axle coating: GREASE.  Messy.  How about a 1978 film about a sheila from Down Under who becomes hopelessly devoted to an American greaser instead? ...

52. Pay to play, e.g.: RHYME.

54. Food Network chef De Laurentiis: GIADA. Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, entrepreneur, writer, and television personality. She was the host of Food Network's program called Giada at Home (2008–2015) .  Here's her recipe for Pasta with chicken and broccoli rabe.

Giada De Laurentiis

55. Less friendly: ICIER.

56. "Canadian tuxedo" fabric: DENIM.  So why is it called a "Canadian tuxedo"?

57. "Dang!": DRAT.

58. Many a viral post: MEME.  The word MEME is a portmanteau of mime and gene and first appeared in a book by biologist Richard Dawkins.  Here was Dawkins' first attempt, but for some reason it didn't go viral ...

59. Level: EVEN.

61. Peck: BUSS. Often seen in PDAs.

63. __ de Janeiro: RIO.  Sadly, last year we lost Astrud Gilberto, an icon of RIO culture.  Here she is singing Stan Getz's arrangement of The Girl from Ipanema ...

65. Cruet liquid: OIL.

Cheers,
Bill

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

waseeley