Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with an unambiguous puzzle from constructor Janice Luttrell.
Theme:
1. "Waves of grain" shade: AMBER. This is a reference to the song America the Beautiful.
26. Takes five: RESTS. Take five is an idiomatic phrase meaning to take a break (from work). It loosely refers to five minutes, but who's counting?
32. Greek salad fruit: OLIVE. and 55-Down. Greek salad cheese: FETA.
33. Sheep sounds: BAAS. Here are sheep sounds in other languages (I found these on the internet. Feel free to correct or add to them.):
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| (I hope I get some leeway with this one because we are officially in December now.) |
I'll be straight with you. I zipped through this one easy-peasy. My only correction was changing the final letter in PLAIN CLOTHES from a D to an S when I came across the MOOSE.
Here are the themers...
20 Across. Classic Allen Funt series with practical jokes: CANDID CAMERA. Allen Albert Funt (1914-1999) was an American television producer, director, writer and television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials. Its most notable run was from 1960 to 1967 on CBS. Here is a 1:46 min. clip.
27 Across. Shortest ways to travel: DIRECT ROUTES.
44. Like detectives sporting civvies: PLAIN CLOTHES. 
...and the reveal:
52 Across. "In all honesty, ... " and what the starts of 20-, 27-, and 44-Across might say?: LET ME BE FRANK.
CANDID, DIRECT, and PLAIN can all be FRANK because they are all synonyms for the word FRANK. 
Across:
1. "Waves of grain" shade: AMBER. This is a reference to the song America the Beautiful.
I liked this clue. It gets the puzzle off to a great start.
6. Exam: TEST.
10. Spiral: COIL.
14. Musical pace set by a conductor: TEMPO. and 40-Across. U2 lead singer: BONO.
6. Exam: TEST.
10. Spiral: COIL.
14. Musical pace set by a conductor: TEMPO. and 40-Across. U2 lead singer: BONO.
In the song Vertigo by U2, lead singer BONO sets the TEMPO with "Uno, dos, tres, catorce." (1, 2, 3, 14???)
15. Cuba, por ejemplo: ISLA. Translation: Cuba, for example, is an island. (The official language of Cuba is Spanish.)
16. Maui's scenic __ Highway: HANA. Sometimes called The Road to HANA, this is a 64.4- mile (103.6-km.) drive from Kahului (location of Maui's main airport) to just beyond HANA. They say it has 600 turns.
17. Proverb: MAXIM.
18. Stressfully close game: NAIL BITER. Here's a 1 min. example:
22. Extraterrestrial of 1980s TV: ALF.
25. Word with a maiden name: NÉE. and 48-Down. "Judy" star Zellweger: RENÉE.
15. Cuba, por ejemplo: ISLA. Translation: Cuba, for example, is an island. (The official language of Cuba is Spanish.)
16. Maui's scenic __ Highway: HANA. Sometimes called The Road to HANA, this is a 64.4- mile (103.6-km.) drive from Kahului (location of Maui's main airport) to just beyond HANA. They say it has 600 turns.
17. Proverb: MAXIM.
18. Stressfully close game: NAIL BITER. Here's a 1 min. example:
22. Extraterrestrial of 1980s TV: ALF.
25. Word with a maiden name: NÉE. and 48-Down. "Judy" star Zellweger: RENÉE.
There is an etymological connection. French née is the feminine of né, which means born, and is the past participle of naître (to be born) from the Latin nasci.
So RENÉE is a feminine name of French origin that means "to be reborn" or "born again".
I was named as an homage to my French grandmother but the accent mark was not included.
26. Takes five: RESTS. Take five is an idiomatic phrase meaning to take a break (from work). It loosely refers to five minutes, but who's counting?
32. Greek salad fruit: OLIVE. and 55-Down. Greek salad cheese: FETA.
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| Other common ingredients include cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, and green bell pepper. |
33. Sheep sounds: BAAS. Here are sheep sounds in other languages (I found these on the internet. Feel free to correct or add to them.):
34. Beaver creation: DAM. This is a time lapse video of an industrious beaver family building a DAM at Hallam Lake, Colorado (2:55 min.). Keep an eye on the rocks to the right. They start to disappear as the water rises. The video notes say, "Beavers build dams in order to create more swimmable areas in their environment. This becomes very important during the winter months when surface water freezes, and moving on land becomes more difficult."
Nature and the instinctual behaviors of animals are so amazing!
37. Assign stars to: RATE. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
38. Like pet parakeets: CAGED.
41. Prefix with system: ECO-. An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.
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| I used to have one of these self-sustaining EcoSpheres. |
42. Greasy: OILY.
43. Tropical fruit: MANGO.
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| What's not to love? |
47. Sandwich slices: BREAD. and 61-Down. Type of 47-Across: RYE.
My favorite Stitch character is Reuben, a.k.a. Experiment 625. He is the last failed prototype of Stitch (Experiment 626) and possesses all of Stitch's powers but prefers to make really good sandwiches.
50. __ Lingus: AER. This airline was founded by the Irish government in 1936. It was privatized between 2006 and 2015 and is now wholly owned by International Airlines Group.
51. Spanish "Bravo!": OLE.
57. Received from an estate: INHERITED.
58. Conclude by reasoning: INFER.
62. Banana covering: PEEL. Apparently monkeys start at the bottom when they PEEL a banana. Does anyone here do it that way?
63. Opposed to: ANTI.
64. Requiring constant validation, perhaps: NEEDY.
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| "Reuben" is a great name for a sandwich aficionado! |
50. __ Lingus: AER. This airline was founded by the Irish government in 1936. It was privatized between 2006 and 2015 and is now wholly owned by International Airlines Group.
51. Spanish "Bravo!": OLE.
57. Received from an estate: INHERITED.
58. Conclude by reasoning: INFER.
62. Banana covering: PEEL. Apparently monkeys start at the bottom when they PEEL a banana. Does anyone here do it that way?
64. Requiring constant validation, perhaps: NEEDY.
65. Blood bank fluids: SERA. SERA and serums are both plural forms of serum.
66. Old car from Sweden: SAAB. General Motors bought out SAAB Automobile in 2000. It went defunct in 2011. Today the Swedish SAAB company is active in defense and security.
(4 min. read)
67. Honking birds: GEESE. Here are GEESE sounds in other languages (I found these on the internet. Feel free to correct or add to them.):
67. Honking birds: GEESE. Here are GEESE sounds in other languages (I found these on the internet. Feel free to correct or add to them.):
1. 24/7 money source: ATM.
2. "Give __ break!": ME A. This one made me think of those old Kit Kat candy bar commercials.
3. Sport with wheelies, for short: BMX. bicycle/bike motocross
4. "Awesome, dude!": EPIC.
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| I thought IM☘ might like that this guy ran out of superlatives. |
5. Genre for novelists Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry: ROMANCE. I shelve a lot of Colleen Hoover books when I volunteer at my library but I am unfamiliar with the second author.
6. Dating app with a flame logo: TINDER.
8. Lost traction: SLID.
9. Mineral no longer used in bath powder: TALC.
10. Wind __: tinklers on porches: CHIMES. In Japan, the sound of a ふうりん, or "wind-bell" has a cooling effect during the hot Japanese summers. I like that a sound can make one feel cooler.
11. Hall's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame partner: OATES. Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Oates co-wrote this song and is the one playing lead guitar.
12. Chemically inactive: INERT. For example, an INERT gas does not readily undergo chemical reaction with other chemical substances.
13. "__ Theme": "Doctor Zhivago" music: LARAS. Such gorgeous, stirring music -- and fun instruments, too!
19. Exposes: BARES.
21. Pickleball court divider: NET.
22. Think the world of: ADORE.
23. Shrub with lavender flowers: LILAC. I cannot remember if I already shared this. I used to live in an old neighborhood in Colorado with a lot of old LILAC shrubs. I was told that the homes in the area used to have outhouses and the spring-blooming LILACs helped offset the smell when 'things' thawed out.
24. __-Lay snacks: FRITO. Frito-Lay is a subsidiary of PepsiCo. They make all these...and more.
28. New Year's __: EVE. 
29. Reproductive health doc: OB/GYN. Doctor is shortened, so is obstetrics/gynecology.
30. Persian Gulf fed.: UAE. United Arab Emirates
31. Smidgen: TAD.
34. "Tiny Bubbles" singer: DON HO. (1930-2007) Né Donald Tai Lloyd Ho was a Hawaiian entertainer best known for this song, written by Massachusetts-born Leon Pober.
10. Wind __: tinklers on porches: CHIMES. In Japan, the sound of a ふうりん, or "wind-bell" has a cooling effect during the hot Japanese summers. I like that a sound can make one feel cooler.
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| The piece of paper ensures is will make a sound in even the slightest breeze. |
11. Hall's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame partner: OATES. Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Oates co-wrote this song and is the one playing lead guitar.
Daryl Hall & John Oates ~ I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) ~ 1981
<complete with an 1980s-style sax solo>
The lyrics are said to be about the music business and being pushed around by big labels.
12. Chemically inactive: INERT. For example, an INERT gas does not readily undergo chemical reaction with other chemical substances.
13. "__ Theme": "Doctor Zhivago" music: LARAS. Such gorgeous, stirring music -- and fun instruments, too!
19. Exposes: BARES.
21. Pickleball court divider: NET.
22. Think the world of: ADORE.
23. Shrub with lavender flowers: LILAC. I cannot remember if I already shared this. I used to live in an old neighborhood in Colorado with a lot of old LILAC shrubs. I was told that the homes in the area used to have outhouses and the spring-blooming LILACs helped offset the smell when 'things' thawed out.
24. __-Lay snacks: FRITO. Frito-Lay is a subsidiary of PepsiCo. They make all these...and more.
29. Reproductive health doc: OB/GYN. Doctor is shortened, so is obstetrics/gynecology.
30. Persian Gulf fed.: UAE. United Arab Emirates
31. Smidgen: TAD.
34. "Tiny Bubbles" singer: DON HO. (1930-2007) Né Donald Tai Lloyd Ho was a Hawaiian entertainer best known for this song, written by Massachusetts-born Leon Pober.
35. __ hair pasta: ANGEL. Probably not a first choice for people with trichophobia.
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| It's fine (like one might imagine an angel's hair to be) so you only need to boil it for 3-4 minutes. |
38. Spy org.: CIA.
39. Boxer Muhammad: ALI.
40. Baseball club: BAT. Perhaps a bit of misdirection here, sending some solvers toward searching for three-letter abbreviations for names of MBA teams (clubs).
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| SLC atop a BAT |
42. More mature: OLDER. For a fruit fly, that would be 40-50 days. Age really is relative.
43. Break of day: MORNING. Sunrise here today is not until 7:02 a.m. Oof!
44. Anderson of "Baywatch": PAMELA.
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| Pamela played C.J. Parker for five seasons (1992-97) on the TV series, Baywatch. |
45. "Invasion of Privacy" rapper: CARDI B.
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| Cardi B is a 32-year old American rapper. She is married to Offset. #H-Gary'sShrugEmoticon |
46. __ & Perrins steak sauce: LEA. Lea & Perrins is in Worcester, England and is best known as the producer of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. It is a United Kingdom-based subsidiary of Kraft Heinz (an American company).
47. Radar screen flashes: BLIPS.
49. Bygone anesthetic: ETHER.
53. Objectivity spoiler: BIAS.
54. Sicilian volcano: ETNA. Speaking of Italian volcanos, did you happen to read this recent news story about DNA and Pompeii?
56. Leg joint: KNEE. We use our KNEEs to kneel.
59. Service charge: FEE.
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| This comic isn't that funny because it is probably true.... |
60. Magazine VIPs: EDS. Editors are very important people in the magazine world.
I will be forthcoming with today's grid:
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| All four of the themed entries have 12 letters. |
Outspoken readers are welcome to join the comments below...
17 comments:
In spite of some fairly long answers, I would say this puzzle was another Monday “walk in the park.”
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got the SAAB in the garage in under 6 minutes; ergo it must be Monday. Janice is a pro constructor, and this one shows it. Tried ADAGE before MAXIM elbowed in -- my only Wite-Out moment. Couldn't parse CARDI B, and wondered who CAR DIB could be. Great expo, accent-free Renee. ("A wreath of Franklins." Cute. Reminds me of whirled peas.)
FRANK: In Long Kiss Goodnight Samuel L. Jackson says, "I'm always frank and earnest with women. Uh, in New York I'm Frank, and Chicago I'm Ernest."
DON HO: An epithet for Miss Hawaii in Miss Congeniality.
FIR without erasure. Hand up for wondering who the heck CAR DIB was.
I think I've mentioned my giant wind CHIMES before. They were made by the owner of a local machine shop, who had one at his shop. He wasn't trying to market them, but agreed to make a set for me. He told me that it took a lot longer to get them tuned just right than it took to fabricate them. I still have them, but they are so loud that I tether them at night and in high wind.
One of my all-time favorite jazz tunes is Take Five by Dave Brubeck.
FLN - Picard, what a shot! The single-engine SR-22 carries a chute in case of engine failure, and Cirrus claims it has saved 249 lives. (We recently lost one trying to land at First Flight airport in Kitty Hawk. No NTSB report yet, but it got into a flat spin at low altitude, an unrecoverable situation that a chute can't help. The pilot had borrowed the plane from a friend.
Thanks to Janis for the fun, easy start to the week. Speaking for the weak, it was a lot of fun. And thanks to sumdaze for yet another fine and funny review.
Took 3:17 today, sincerely.
I knew today's actress (Pamela) and today's foreign language lesson (isla), so it must be a Monday.
The Road to Hana is gorgeous but can be treacherous - a real nailbiter in many spots, especially when traversing a one-lane bridge with visibility of just a few feet in front of your car due to the curves and mountains obstructing your view.
FIR. My only mistake was misspelling Lea, I put Lee, but that was very soon corrected.
I got the theme early on which led me to the reveal and the aforementioned correction.
Nice easy Monday puzzle, and overall, quite enjoyable.
Getting right to the point, I FIR in 7:15, several fills all perps, words I didn’t see till the review, definitely a Monday-esque puzzle easing us into the CW week. Thank you Janice your construction, and to sumdaze for your sparkling assessment! Like you, I thought it should have been PLAIN CLOTHED to match the clue. Also, your photo of the salad has me craving one from a nearby Greek restaurant, lots of Calamata OLIVEs and FETA 😋.
Easy puzzle and theme. Quick work on a Monday
Had a HS chem teacher who pronounced inactive chemicals as “inearth” which is I guess is technically correct cuz that’s where they’re found 😏
“Beaver creation“ (“hey Wally”) shoulda been CBS. 😀
I hear Hall and OATES are at each others’ ThrOATES with legal wranglings.
Prairie apparel …. PLAINCLOTHES
Entrail…. INERT.
AAA benefit….. FRITO
Francis Albert Sinatra plea to his Mom: “ _____ “ LETMEBEFRANK
Ate the last piece of pumpkin pie. Ready to segue into the Christmas cookies. 😋
EPIC CW this Monday morning. My only unknown was CARDI B.
Yesterday we had ORK, today it’s ALF.
Thank you sumdaze for the nice recap and that CANDID CAMERA clip was hilarious. Poor little girl.
Musings
-Six minutes is about as fast as I can go.
-The hardest math class for me was when the shortest distance between points is not a straight line.
-For M*A*S*Hophiles:
Henry: I'm gonna be frank with you, Pierce.
Hawkeye: You're gonna be Frank [Burns] with me?
Henry: I mean blunt.
Hawkeye: Oh, that's good.
-A golf partner said the HANA Highway to get to Charles Lindbergh’s grave was horrible.
-My Greek wife hates OLIVES and FETA cheese
-The sight and scent of LILAC bushes signals our long winter is over
-Good luck in finding a news source without BIAS.
-My subbling “lesson plans” for today is to show a welding video six times today.
-Renee, your write-up had a nice blend of info and silliness.
This was a quick walk in the park. I soon saw the synonyms beginning the theme entries. TO BE FRANK was an excellent reveal.
Only CARDIB needed all perps. I vaguely remember seeing it before, but I find it not memorable.
As for give me a break and take five, I need a longer break than five minutes, every 20 minutes or so when active. PT is helping with my bad back. The joys of the Golden Age.
Jinx, what do the neighbors think of your giant wind chimes?
I love wind chimes, but use relatively gentle ones.
There are many references for plain clothes policemen, but I can’t find any for plain clothed policemen,
I dislike most romance novels, those which give a moment-to-moment description of every move, again and again. Ugh! TMI. I liked the beginning books of The Clan of the Cave Bear. There was just a little of this kind of thing. The last few were full of this. I didn’t finish them.
I am too chicken to drive across the one lane bridge on the Road it Hana.
There's so much to do today after taking a big break from Wednesday though Sunday. Fortunately, all of it is sitting down at the computer.
OOPS. The Road TO Hana
Good Morning! What a nice puzzle to start the week! Straightforward theme – Boom! I was hoping for an Easter egg, but I didn’t see one. So many FRANKs who might have appeared.... Sumdaze gave us FRANKLIN, so that was close.
Perps for HANA and CARDIB.
WO for BMX, not W (too hasty reading the clue), and one other - a stupid spelling error.
Thanks, sumdaze, for the fun and info. Now back to familiar routines after our holiday weekend, until the Christmas frenzy begins. Whew!
Thank you, Janice, and thank you, sumdaze.
I had the same type over, needing to change CLOTHEd to CLOTHES because of the MOOSE.
I did not notice that the three theme answers and the reveal were all 12 characters. Neat!
CANDID CAMERA - Series with practical jokes - There's a Canadian program (programme?) called Just For Laughs Gags that airs on early morning cable TV. It uses a hidden camera format, playing pranks on unsuspecting subjects while hidden cameras capture the subjects' responses. While some segments have included brief dialogue, most do not contain any sound or dialogue. It reminds me of Candid Camera
This is a link to their very popular Just For Laughs Gags YouTube channel.
Good Morning:
This was a nice, easy start to the week, as a Monday should be.The theme was hidden, to me, until the surprise reveal. No w/os and no unknowns, although Cardi B was filled in by perps, not familiarity with the clued song. Ditto for Hana.
Thanks, Janice, and thanks, sumdaze, for the chuckles and interesting facts in your commentary. Loved the A Wreath of Franklins, the Candid Camera little girl, the Needy “Sheets”, and my favorite, the beautiful and haunting Lara’s Theme, performed by the dynamic and charming André Rieu. Appreciate your CSO at the Epic entry and the superlative reference which was quite timely as my “Awesome-addicted” great-nephew was home for Thanksgiving and I heard quite a few “Awesomes”, none of which deserved the over-used (Hi, HG) and exaggerated superlative!
Have a great day.
A nice, pleasant start to the week, after a hectic long weekend. CAR DIB was my only unknown, everything else was pretty much right down my alley. Nice recap, sumdaze...loved the PLANE clothes! And oh, wait...you're supposed to PEEL it first? D'oh!
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Janice and sumdaze.
I FIRed in very good time and saw the FRANK theme at the reveal.
No inkblots. Only a slight hesitation for the A in the HANA/OATES cross.
CAR DIB filled with perps and I did not parse CARDI B until I came here. LOL!
PAMELA has returned to Vancouver Island, and has eschewed makeup.
https://www.today.com/style/beauty/pamela-anderson-makeup-free-rcna118487
Wishing you all a great day.
Hand up for not parsing CARDI B.
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