Thursday, March 6, 2025, Adam Simpson

 Is There an Echo in Here?

Today's constructor is Adam Simpson who has appeared in the New York Times, and here on Saturday November 5, 2022, reviewed by Husker Gary.  His simple theme answers today sound the same at the beginning and the end ...

20A. Arm of the North Atlantic Ocean: CARIBBEAN SEA.  I'm sorry I couldn't find an up-to-date version of this map.😀
 

28A Chakra associated with higher consciousness: INNER EYE.   Chakra is a Sanskrit term denoting one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient Hindu or Buddhist meditation practices. The INNER EYE is also called the "Mind's eye" or the "Third eye".    Here's a Western-oriented beginner's guide from Healthline.  

The Seven Chakras

 36A Perfect for no one else: UNIQUELY YOU.  This might have been clued as "Bespoke" 

48A Crude nickname: TEXAS TEA.  "Crude" as in crude oil.  It may also refer to a cocktail made from tequila, bourbon whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, and flavorings -- here's a recipe. WARNING: it is highly recommended that you refrain from horseback riding for at least one hour after imbibing ... 

Texas Tea
... and in this case 3 hours!

Here's the reveal ...

56A. Sharp device in a classic desk set, or a literal and phonetic description of the ends of 20-, 28-, 36-, and 48-Across?: LETTER OPENER.  Each theme fill opens with a circled single letter and ends with a three letter homophone for the opening letter.  I found the circles helpful with the solve but YMMV.

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Green blob on a taco, familiarly: GUAC.  Short for guacamole.  Here's a recipe.

Guacamole

5. Un-locked: BALD.  Clever clue!

9. They're opened at bars: TABS.  CAPS and TAPS fit but didn't perp.

13. Not behind: ANTI.

14. English horn kin: OBOE.  Here's the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto 1- Rondo Pastorale performed by oboist Zully Casallas ... 
  

15. Natives of the Central Plains: OTOES.  The Otoe (Chiwere: Jiwére) are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa, Missouria, and Ho-Chunk tribes.

Members of the modern
Otoe-Missouria Tribe

17. Attendee: GOER.  Meh.

18. Airport transport, for some: UBER. I wouldn't depend on this service unless I had a lot of wait time at the airport after check-in.

19. Singer/actress Mandy: MOORE.  Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single Candy, which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut studio album, So Real (1999), received platinum certification. Here's the title track from her reissue of So Real, I Wanna Be With You (2000), which became Moore's first top 40 single, peaking at 24 on the chart ...

20. [Theme clue]

23. Like some rebates: MAIL IN.  

26. As of now: YET.

27. Blast letters: TNT.  Cue Wile E. Coyote ...

28. [Theme clue]

31. Bumps in the night, e.g.: NOISES.

33. Preserve, in a way: CAN.  The original preservation method used glass jars, a method still used today in home canning.  The process for canning was invented by a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert (17 November 1749 – 1 June 1841), a French confectioner and inventor who, in the early 19th century, invented airtight food preservation on commission from the French government which was looking for a way to supply the military with food during the Winter months. 

Appert canning jar

34. Cleaned the slate: ERASED.

36. [Theme clue]

41. Brand of dryer sheets: BOUNCE.  The first dryer sheers were invented in the late 1960s, by Conrad Gaiser and his wife Audrey, who called the brand Tumble Puff.  They sold their invention to Proctor and Gamble, whose marketing mavens changed the name to Bounce ... 

42. MoMA locale: NYC.  The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is in New York City.  According to the Internet sage, this is the most popular work of art on display there ... 

 The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh.
 Saint Rémy, June 1889

45. Ethically responsible: HUMANE.

48. [Theme clue]

52. "Memories of John Lennon" editor: ONO.  Yoko Ono turned 93 this past February 18.

Amazon link

53. Resting place: BED.

55. Confront aggressively: ACCOST.

56. [Theme reveal].

60. Caterpillar, for one: LARVA.  A great place to go larva watching is the Butterfly House in the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton Maryland.  But don't go now, as they're asleep in their pupae for the winter.

Larva watcher
Butterfly house
Ladew Topiary Gardens

61. __ Scotia: NOVA.

62. "You had the right __!": IDEA.

66. Alicia Keys album with the hit "No One": AS I AM.  This lady has a remarkable bio -- Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 , was signed by Columbia Records at 15, and  later signed with J Records to release her debut studio album, Songs in A Minor (2001). The album met with critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide and winning five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.  Here's the clue song, No One ... 

67. Like most items at a yard sale: USED.  And they're sold AS IS, which is USED often in crosswords.

68. [Keep scritching my head]: PURR.  My last fill -- I finally realized that [the imperative] is coming from a cat!

69. Tips: ENDS. Like aglets for shoe laces or telomeres for chromosomes.  They basically have the same function -- to keep the ends from unraveling.

70. Drive-__: THRU.

71. Kings or Wizards: TEAM.  NBA teams to be exact.  The Sacramento Kings are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and the Washington Wizards are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference

Down:

1. Funny bit: GAG.

2. Game with Reverse cards: UNO. Or NO U in reverse --  what do Uno reverse cards mean and how are they being used IRL? 

UNO reverse card

3. Swallowed: ATE.

4. Ring: CIRCLE.

5. Damon role: BOURNE.  The Bourne franchise consists of action-thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series. The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon.  Here's a fan trailer ... 

6. Comedian Jacobson: ABBI.  Abbi Jacobson (born 1984) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and illustrator. She co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series Broad City (2014–2019) with Ilana Glazer, based on the web series of the same name.  This is the story of how Abbi met Ilana ...

7. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB.  Lisa Anne Loeb (born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with Stay (I Missed You) from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract.  Here's the clue song ...  

8. Bowler: DERBY.  The Kirwood DERBY was used as a long running 1D in the greatest cartoon series of all time -- Rocky and Bullwinkle ...

9. Like marinara: TOMATOEY.  SAUCY wasn't filling enough.

10. Lots and lots: A TON.

11. Promotes: BOOSTS.

12. Calm and collected: SERENE.  If you're not calm and collected try re-reading the link in 28A -- it might help you become more SERENE.

16. Ushers to a table: SEATS.  An improvement over the verb USH that we saw last week.

21. Run on TV: AIR.

22. Itty-bitty: EENSY.

23. MC's aid: MIC.  Master of Ceremonies is abbreviated, so Microphone is abbreviated.

24. De Armas of "Knives Out": ANA.  In this scene, Marta (played by Ana) "accidentally" gives Harlan (played by Christopher Plummer) an overdose of morphine.  But like just about everything else in this movie, that's not what actually happened ...

25. Indigenous people of Labrador: INNU.  The Innu and their territory.

Mary Jane Nuna and
Annie Michel
Sheshatshiu Innu Federal Reserve, 1963

29. "Beef" Emmy winner Steven: YEUN.  Beef is an American comedy-drama television anthology series created by Lee Sung Jin for Netflix. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, respectively; two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. 

30. Construct: ERECT.

32. Binding words: I DO.

35. Not aweather: ALEE.

37. Org. for Kings and Wizards: NBA.  For details on these TEAMS, see clue 71A.

38. Rays made of charged particles: ION BEAMS.  An ion beam is a stream of charged particles. Ion beams have many uses in electronics manufacturing (principally ion implantation) and other industries. There are many ion beam sources, some derived from the mercury vapor thrusters developed by NASA in the 1960s. The most widely used ion beams are of singly-charged ions. 

Ion beam rocket

39. "__ Eye": makeover series on Netflix: QUEER.  

40. "Once more __ the breach": UNTO.  From Shakespeare's history play Henry V.  The full quote is

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead -- Act 3 Scene 1.   

The play recounts the Battle of Agincourt in the Hundred Years War, where the British won the day, despite being outnumbered by the French by at least two to one. There have been several adaptations of this play, including the 1989 film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh ...  

43. "Absolutely!": YES.

44. Curtain climber, maybe: CAT.

45. Slangy "I'd like to hear from you!": HOLLA.  DNK this slang -- sounds as if it must be yelled to be heard ...

46. Discomfort: UNEASE.

47. Ibuprofen brand: MOTRIN.  Here's everything you need to know about Ibuprofen.

49. Musical film featuring a roller-skating Olivia Newton-John: XANADU.  Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film starring Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty in China. The city appears in the 1816 poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge quoted in the film.  Here's the Magic scene with Newton-John and Beck ... 

50. Blackjack card: ACE.  Blackjack is a casino banking game.  It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as "twenty-one".  Here are the rules.

Ace of Spades

51. Play lines: SCRIPT.

54. Dunkin' treat: DONUT.

57. Spot on the air: TV AD.

58. One of the Spice Girls: POSH.  The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice").

Victoria Beckham
"Posh Spice"

59. At any time: EVER.

63. Scheduled: DUE.

64. Period piece: ERA.  A period piece is a drama that transports us to a past era and can be thought of as synonymous with that ERA.  E.g. Teri and I recently watched a period piece called Doctor Thorne, a 2016 four-part television drama series adaptation of the 1858 Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, scripted by Julian Fellowes and intended to transport us to Victorian England.  Here's a trailer ...

65. Upper limb: ARM.  AKA the humerus, not to be confused with the "funny bone", which is just below it in the upper end of the ULNA in the lower arm.😀

Cheers, 

Bill

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

waseeley

 

Wednesday, Mar 5th, 2025 ~ Sala Wanetick & Emily Biegas

  COVER GIRLS

Emily and Sala - more here

Today's puzzle, from veteran constructors Sala and Emily, ( they appeared just last month as a duo as well ), failed to hit the mark for me this time.  The theme is kinda weak, and the 20-something names, including a crossing where I had no choice but to do an alphabet run, just sucked the life out of this one.  We have two 8-letter themers, and yet two Down answers are longer; a whopping 28 4LWs, and yet only 9 TLWs.  On top of that, the one musical entry that I can relate to is the first - the others are just not my thing; sorry 'bout that.  On a positive note, 17A., 40A., and the theme answer are unique fills, so there's that.  The themers;

17. Fleetwood Mac hit with the lyric "I'll settle for one day to believe in you": LITTLE LIES - a LIE can cover the truth . . .?

26. Taylor Swift hit that features a sweater metaphor: CARDIGAN - usually covers a shirt/blouse . . .?

40. Elvis Presley hit about someone who only looks like an angel: DEVIL IN DISGUISE - disguise as a cover up . . .?

50. Rihanna hit about friends who stick together rain or shine: UMBRELLA - under cover from the rain . . .~?

63. Musical remakes, and what 17-, 26-, 40-, and 50-Across all are, in a way: COVER SONGS - "songs" that have something that covers; I guess.  As for an actual cover song, if it's a "tribute" band, then all you do is cover songs.  I feel that if an artist is going to cover someone else's song, then it should have some variation on the original, i.e., Run-DMC covering Aerosmith as a rap song - I couldn't narrow it down to one great choice, but here's an example;

Flamenco Led Zeppelin - Rodrigo Y Gabriela

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Update a historic home, say: REHAB - I am in the business of updating "historic", and we would never refer to it as a 'rehab' - rehab is where I spent six weeks after detox.  'nuf said.

6. Quick look: PEEP

10. "Dream on": "AS IF."

14. Enlighten: EDIFY

15. Crooner Paul: ANKA - I know him, but name #1

16. Novela introduction?: TELE - Telenovela, a serialized drama in Latin American TV

19. Jai __: ALAI - this used to appear in lots of puzzles "back in the day" - it's only popped up once or twice in a long, long time

20. Pro vote: YEA - My yeS had to change to yeA

21. Ingrid's "Casablanca" role: ILSA - Oops, I thought it was ELSA - that's the "Frozen" girl - name #2

22. Strenuous: TIRING - Crosswords like this are not enjoyable, just TIRING

24. Prefix with tech: NANO - nanotech

28. Milwaukee team: BREWERS - Great logo - I like it when the letters/name is cleverly embedded in the image - here's another great logo

The m and b in the glove~?  That to me is a well-designed logo

31. "The Daily" podcast producer, briefly: NYT - no clue, but I had _YT already; name(ish)

32. Special glow: AURA

33. Paul of "The Batman": DANO - name #3 - I looked it up; he played the Riddler.  I did not see the movie

35. Venomous snake: ADDER

43. Be of __: help: USE TO

44. __ Point, California: DANA - DANO, DANA - Sheesh - name #4

45. Summer getaway: CAMP - I was never 'enrolled' camp, but from what I hear and read, it was not all that fun for many - SEND away, now that's more like it 

46. Govt. intel org.: NSA - I could explain the abbr., but then I'd have to....

48. Gets to giggle: TICKLES - tickles my fancy

55. For fear that: LEST

57. Quite bright: NEON

59. Alley-__: OOP

62. Actor Alda: ALAN - crossword staple, name #5

66. Rare rocks: GEMS

67. Sinister: EVIL

68. Verdi work: OPERA - name(ish)

69. "Gotcha": "I SEE."

Dr. Venkman, @ 0:50

70. "The Voice" host Carson: DALY - name #6

71. Elevates: RISES - meh.  rAises is a better match, e.g. stress from crossword solving RISES blood pressure~? 

DOWN:

1. Depend (on): RELY

2. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #7

3. Touched on something touchy: HIT A NERVE - let me count the (names) ways . . . .9LW

4. Back of the boat: AFT

5. Author credit: BYLINE

6. Buds: PALS

7. Pioneering computer: ENIAC - I had ATARI until that showed up three answers later; name(ish)

8. Scrape (by): EKE

9. Danish, e.g.: PASTRY

10. Pong platform: ATARI

11. Former baseball commissioner Bud: SELIG - I could not recall this name, # 8

12. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - name #9

13. Pretend: FEIGN - I think this "crossname" is pretending to be a crossword

18. "Euphoria" actor Jacob: ELORDI - name # 10, 3 of the 4 previous clues - tho a unique fill

23. Pet collar attachment: ID TAG

25. Stand by for: AWAIT

27. Designate as a successor: ANOINT - meh.  aPPoint fits better.  Anoint to me is religious ceremony

28. Grammy winner Erykah: BADU - even if I DO know this one, ugh; name #11

29. Feels remorse: RUES - he rues the day he said he'd blog Wednesdays . . . . 😜

30. Flip-flop, e.g.: SANDAL

34. Confidentiality contract, for short: NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement - I am seriously considering spending the money to get my board games produced - I need a patent lawyer - anyone at the Corner who can recommend one~?

36. Dodges: DUCKS - these DODGES are not  DUCKS or ADDERS - they're VIPERS

37. Landline sounds: DIAL TONES - the other 9LW, 'longer than theme' fill

38. "Twilight" vampire Cullen: ESME - name #12

39. Gym count: REPS - now this is a good one - the singular count clue and the plural reps answer

41. Not a people person, say: LONER - I am definitely NOT a "people person"

42. Mariner: SAILOR

47. Prepared to serve, as pie: SLICED

49. Black out: CENSOR

50. With 56-Across, grilled eel dish: UNAGI - AND - 56. See 50-Down: NIGIRI - no clue, and when the clues are circumreferential* like this, it's even worse - and name(ish)

51. Odometer units: MILES - my car allows me to track gas prices when I fill up, but every now and then, the same buttons I use to adjust the price end up changing my MPH to KPH; I look down and I am doing "58" in a 30 - Yikes~!

52. Not one's best effort: B-GAME

53. Flush: RINSE

54. Blacksmith's block: ANVIL

58. Wriggly: EELY

60. Fantasy monster: OGRE

61. Unpaid ads: PSAs - Public Service Announcements

64. Egg cells: OVA

65. Maker of Lincoln Park After Dark nail polish: OPI - I've learned that the answer regarding makeup, etc., is either OPI or EOS these days - and name(ish)

* I made this word up, but you get my meaning, yes~?

Splynter

Tuesday March 4, 2025 Roger Miller

I Love You, Let's Kiss.  The circles spell out a slang for Kiss and, because the circles are at the beginning and end of the phrase, the theme answer is "sealed" with a Kiss.

17-Across. *   Know what's going on at all times: NEVER MISS A TRICK.  Neck.

28-Across. *   Trained canine in an airport, say: SNIFFER DOG.  Snog.  Snog it a British slang for kiss, or making out.

50-Across. *   Literature Nobelist who wrote "The Good Earth": PEARL S BUCK.  Peck.

And the unifier:

63-Across. Love letter message often accompanied by a lipstick mark, and what the answers to the starred clues are, thanks to their circled letters: SEALED WITH A KISS.

Here's the Grid so you can see how the answers are Sealed with a Kiss.

Today's c

Across:

1. Stops on a suburban commuter train: TOWNS.

6. "Beat it!": SCAT.  Scat is also a vocal improvisation style where a singer uses nonsense syllables or wordless vocables to create melodies and rhythms. 

10. Intend: MEAN.

14. Silly: INANE.

15. "Pipe down!": HUSH.

16. Lhasa __: small dog: APSO.  These Tibetan dogs make frequent appearances in the puzzles.

20. Taproom brew: ALE.

21. Crooked: BENT.

22. Capital of Taiwan: TAIPEI.

23. Irritate: IRK.

25. Cat call: MEOW.

27. Without a break: ON END.

31. Terro trap insects: ANTS.  I am not familiar with this brand of ant traps, but it was easy enough to fill in the answer.

32. Therefore: HENCE.

33. "Sincerely __": letter ender: YOURS.

35. Unit of work: ERG.  An "erg" a unit of work in the centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system, representing the amount of work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter; it is equivalent to 10^-7 joules, the standard unit of work in the International System of Units (SI).   Clear as mud, right?

36. Spot for a seaweed wrap: SPA.

39. Chain letters?: DNA.  It's a double-helix chain.

 

40. Victoria's Secret purchase: BRA.

43. Crock-Pot concoctions: STEWS.  I have a crockpot, but I haven't used it in years.

45. Lawn-wrecking diggers: MOLES.

47. Chuck wagon fare: CHOW.

53. Puts a curse on: HEXES.

55. __ gin fizz: SLOE.  Sloe gin is a liqueur made by infusing gin with sloe berries and sugar, while regular gin is distilled from juniper berries and other botanicals.  Sloe gin is sweeter and has a lower alcohol content than gin.

56. Anger: IRE.

57. Prime minister between Churchill's two terms: ATTLEE.  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (Jan. 3, 1883 ~ October. 8, 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister from July 1945 to October 1951.

59. "__ in your shirt!": TUCK.

61. Sugar amt.: TSP.  Just a Teaspoon of Sugar.

66. Cleveland's lake: ERIE.

67. Vanished: GONE.  //  And 69-Across. Auction cry: SOLD.

68. Gets the lead out?: MINES.   Oh, quite literally mining for lead.

70. Pitcher with a big mouth: EWER.

71. Inner turmoil: ANGST.

Down:

1. Turner in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: TINA.  Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock; Nov. 26, 1939 ~ May 24, 2023) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

2. Zinger: ONE-LINER.  Groucho Marx (né Julius Henry Marx; Oct. 2, 1890 ~ Aug. 19, 1977) was known for his one-liners:  I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.

3. Having doubts: WAVERING.

4. Tampa-to-Jacksonville dir.: NNE.  As in North-North-East.

5. Croat neighbor: SERB.  Serbia and Croatia share a small border.

6. Black eye: SHINER.

7. Guardianship: CUSTODY.

8. Burro: ASS.

9. "Don't be like __!": THAT.

10. Mooring spots for small boats: MARINAS.

11. Injector for allergic emergencies: EPIPEN.

12. Mountaineer's climb: ASCENT.

13. Adult party invitation request: NO KIDS.

18. Widely shared social media post: MEME.

19. East Asian principle: TAO.

24. Fast-food chain with buckets: KFC.  Formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Colonel's head on a stick figure.

26. Bonfire fuel: WOOD.

28. Pronoun that precedes "sells seashells" in a classic tongue twister: SHE.

29. End of Oktober?: -FEST.  As in Okoberfest.  Oktoberfest has been celebrated since the early 1800s as part of the official wedding festivities of the future King Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. 

30. Rev, as an engine: GUN.

34. Dodge trucks: RAMS.

And for Jinx:

37. Get-up-and-go: PEP.

38. Blows away: AWES.

40. Saying impulsively, with "out": BLURTING.

41. School playtimes: RECESSES.

42. Request: ASK.

43. Grew larger: SWELLED.

44. Soup cracker: SALTINE.  Because Oyster Cracker wouldn't fit.

46. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.  A reference to the Star Wars movies.

47. Runs after: CHASES.

48. Straight: HETERO.

49. Beefy soup ingredient: OX TAIL.

51. Wireless network device: ROUTER.

52. Solidarity leader Walesa: LECH.  Lech Wałęsa (b. Sept. 29, 1943) was also the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize.  He did not go to the ceremony to accept the prize, however, because he was afraid the Poland's government would not let him back into the country.  In 1990, he became the President of Poland.

54. "Get it?": SEE.

58. Barely beat: EDGE.

60. __ Sutra: KAMA.  The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment.

62. Furtive summons: PSST!

64. Blow away: WOW.

65. Family: KIN.

חתולה

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler !

Happy Mardi Gras!

And for those of you who thought of the other Roger Miller, here's a tribute: