Wednesday, January 15, 2025 Mark McClain

 Theme:  Yes, you can go back.  If you are in Reverse.  Each two word theme fill contains the name of a travel passage, spelt backwards and spanning the two words.  This is indicated with the circled letters.

17. Sticky stuff in a dispenser: SCOTCH TAPE.    Scotch is a brand name used for tape and related products developed by 3M.    A path is a way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading.

22. Out of this world: TOTALLY AWESOME.   Extremely enjoyable or impressive.  A WAY is any track for traveling.

35. Cause of some springtime discomfort: POLLEN ALLERGIES.    A pollen allergy is an immune system reaction to pollen, a fine powder released by plants to fertilize other plants. Pollen allergies are also known as seasonal allergic rhinitis or hay fever.   A LANE is a narrow road, especially in a rural area, or a division of a road marked off with painted lines and intended to separate single lines of traffic according to speed or direction.

45. Fruit from the Sunshine State: FLORIDA ORANGES.  These are simply oranges grown in the state of Florida. Go figure.  A ROAD is a wide way leading from one place to another, especially one with a specially prepared surface which vehicles can use.  

53. Thoroughfare away from the main drag, or what can be found in each set of circled letters: BACK STREET.  This is a minor street remote from a main road.  Or, in the case of this puzzle, the name of any travel path concealed in a two word sequence and spelt in reverse.

Hi gang - JazzBumpa here, your travel guide for the day.  Let's embark on this puzzle journey.  With a little luck, nobody will get lost.

Across:

1. Philosophy test component: ESSAY.  A written work that expresses the author's thought on a given subject.

6. Water conveyer: PIPE.  A tube used to carry a fluid.

10. Royal __: seabird native to the Americas: TERN. A sleek seabird of warm saltwater coasts, with a tangerine-colored bill and ragged, ink-black crest against crisp white plumage.

14. India's first prime minister: NEHRU.  Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964)  was an Indian statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was second only to Mahatma Gandhi in leading the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s, and upon independence from Britain in 1947 served as India's first prime minister until his death in 1964.

15. Four or five: A FEW.  A small number of people or things.

16. French god: DIEU.  Literal

19. Seckel, e.g.: PEAR.    A pear of a small sweet juicy brownish-red variety, grown chiefly in the US.

20. Normandy city: CAEN.   Caen is a port city and capital of Calvados department in northern France's Normandy region. Its center features the Château de Caen, a circa-1060 castle built by William the Conqueror. I

21. Competes in a regatta: SAILS.  Travels in a boat with sails, especially as a sport or recreation.

27. Least likely to be seen: RAREST.  Most uncommon.

28. Family men: DADS.  Male parents.

29. Middle East flyer: EL AL.   Meaning "Upwards" or "To the sky," it is the flagship airlines of Israel.

30. Triangular-stemmed marsh grass: SEDGE. Any of a family (Cyperaceae, the sedge family) of usually tufted monocotyledonous marsh plants differing from the related grasses in having achenes ( small, dry one-seeded fruits that do not open to release the seed) and solid stems.  

32. __ Dhabi: ABU.   Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, sits off the mainland on an island in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Its focus on oil exports and commerce is reflected by the skyline’s modern towers and shopping megacenters such as Abu Dhabi and Marina malls. 

39. Tunisian tennis pro __ Jabeur: ONS.   Ons Jabeur (b. 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of world No. 2, achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the current Tunisian number one, and the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player in WTA and ATP rankings history. She has won five singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eleven singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. 

40. Tied up in knots: TENSE.  Displaying anxiety or nervousness.

41. Country on the Arabian Sea: OMAN.  Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The capital and largest city is Muscat.

42. Sharpen: WHET.  Sharpen the blade of a tool or weapon.

43. The movie industry: CINEMA.  The art or industry of producing movies.

50. Museum piece: RELIC.   An object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical or sentimental interest.

51. Zero-star reviews: PANS.  Severe criticisms.

52. Drop out: OMIT.  Leave out or exclude someone or something, either intentionally or forgetfully.

59. Symbol of peace: DOVE.  A stocky seed- or fruit-eating bird with a small head, short legs, and a cooing voice. Doves are generally smaller and more delicate than pigeons.  They are typically docile and highly intelligent. 

60. Garfield's housemate: ODIE.Garfield, an orange cat, and Odie, a yellow dog, are the cartoon pets of Jon Arbuckle.

61. Cause for some recalls: E COLI.  Escherichia coli is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus Escherichia that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. They can cause infections when contaminating foods.

62. Small notes: ONES.  Dollar bills.

63. Some imitative software: BOTS.    Software programs designed to automatically perform repetitive tasks on the internet, often mimicking human behavior, like interacting with websites, chatting with users, or collecting data.  They and can be used for both helpful and malicious purposes depending on its design.

64. Flip out: PANIC.  Sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.

Down:

1. 34-Down grad: ENS.  Ensign is the junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

2. "Hold on a __!": SEC.  Requesting someone to briefely wait.

3. "Your Honor" airer, briefly: SHO.   Showtime Networks, Inc. is a television company owned by American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its networks division that oversees the company's premium cable television channels, including its flagship namesake service, The Movie Channel, and Flix.

4. Museum piece: ART.   Art describes a diverse range of cultural activity centered around works utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, beauty, and/or technical proficiency.

5. Desert bloomers: YUCCAS.   Plants of the agave family with stiff swordlike leaves and spikes of white bell-shaped flowers that are dependent upon the yucca moth for fertilization, found especially in warm regions of North America and Mexico.

6. Dev of "Hotel Mumbai": PATEL.  Dev Patel [ b. 1990] is an English actor and filmmaker. He has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and nominations for an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Patel was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.

7. "Assuming there are some": IF ANY.  Anticipating the possible existance of a small quantity of something.

8. Frisky feeling: PEP.  Energy and high spirits.

9. Source of milk for manchego cheese: EWE.  Female sheep.

10. Completion worth six points, informally: TD PASS.  A ball thrown to an eligible receiver who is in or makes it into the end zone for a touchdown.

11. "Old MacDonald" letters: EI-EI-O.  Nonsense syllables in a children's song.

12. Monarch's territory: REALM.  Literally, the territory of a ruler.

13. Drink slowly: NURSE.   As defined, over an extended period.

18. Drill command: HALT.   Stop, soldiers!

21. Ceremonial feast during Passover: SEDER.  A Jewish ritual service and ceremonial dinner for the first night or first two nights of Passover.

22. Hawk's weapon: TALON.  The claw of a bird of prey.

23. Face-to-face exams: ORALS.  Spoken tests.

24. Spill the beans: TELL.  Disclose a secret or reveal something prematurely.

25. Perplex: ADDLE.  Make someone unable to think clearly; confuse.

26. Minimum __: WAGE.   The lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid

27. Credit union seizure: REPO.   Repossess a car or other item when a buyer defaults on payments.

30. North Pole VIP: SANTA.   That jolly old elf.

31. Couple of fellows?: ELS.  The word "fellow" contains a double letter "l."  

32. Singer-songwriter Mann: AIMEE.  Aimee Elizabeth Mann [ b. 1960] is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released ten studio albums as a solo artist. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often describing lost or lonely underdog characters.

33. Grins broadly: BEAMS.   Smiles with joy.

34. Annapolis inst.: USNA.   United States Naval Acadamy.

36. Code of conduct: ETHIC.  Aset of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct.

37. "__ a hand?": NEED.    Can I help you?

38. Large percussion instrument: GONG.  

42. Drops a line: WRITES.  Frex, a letter, post card or email.

43. Beer containers: CANS.    Small steel or aluminum containers in which food or drink is hermetically sealed for storage over long periods.
 
44. Foot part: INSTEP.   The part of a person's foot between the ball and the ankle.

45. Hobbit who inherits the One Ring from Bilbo: FRODO.   Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings and one of the protagonists in The Lord of the Rings. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as "uncle", and undertakes the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. He is mentioned in Tolkien's posthumously published works, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

46. Shade of yellow: LEMON.   A vivid yellow color characteristic of the lemon fruit. 

47. Shade of green: OLIVE.  A dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green olives. ...

48. Footnote abbr.: OP CIT.   Abbreviated form of opere citato (Latin, 'in the work cited'), a formula employed in scholarly footnotes and endnotes when referring to a quotation from a work of which the title has already been specified, this reference usually being preceded by the name of the work's author. 

49. Leaf collectors: RAKES.  An implement consisting of a pole with a crossbar toothed like a comb at the end, or with several tines held together by a crosspiece, used especially for drawing together cut grass or fallen leaves, or smoothing loose soil or gravel.

53. Weave's partner: BOB.   To bob and weave is to move quickly up and down and from side to side, usually in order to avoid hitting or being hit by something:

54. "Without further __ ... ": ADO.  A state of agitation or fuss, especially about something unimportant. Here, it is to do something without delay.

55. Classic TV brand: RCA.  The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, RCA became an independent company after the partners were required to divest their ownership as part of the settlement of a government antitrust suit.

56. Long, long time: EON.  An indefinite and very long period of time.  

57. Arch Manning's uncle: ELI.   Archibald Charles Manning (b. 2005) is an American football quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. He is a member of the Manning family, the oldest son of Cooper Manning, himself the eldest son of Archie Manning, and nephew to Cooper's NFL quarterback brothers, Peyton and Eli.

58. Start of a pencil game: TIC.  Continuing with tac and toe.

So we have arrived at our destination.  

Not everyone is so lucky.  A month ago my daughter Karen was driving with her daughter Emily [18] an son Nate [22] to a concert where I was playing.  In a residential neighborhood at a 4-way stop, a drunk driver traveling at high speed with her lights off in the dark hit them broadside.  Karen got broken ribs and some other minor injuries.  Nate got scrapes and bruises and was relatively unharmed.  Emily was severely injured, with a shattered pelvis, broken arm, and internal injuries.  She is still in the hospital and will be for some time. The bones are knitting properly, but she has had some complications with the soft tissue damage.  She's in remarkably good spirits, and is angry, of course. I'm happy to see she is channeling that energy into determination.  She'll get better, eventually, but it will be a long road.

The lesson here is to wear your seat belt - and have it low and tight across your lap.  It can be a life saver.

Cool regards!

Ron