Thursday, February 13, 2025, Kevin Christian & Drew Schmenner

  

State Raps

It appears to me that our veteran constructors Kevin Christian and Drew Schmenner have given us another "modern lingo" Thursday theme for today's offering.  We'll start with our themers, which are all the titles of songs ...

17. Katy Perry song whose lyrics mention Venice Beach and Palm Springs: CALIFORNIA GURLS.  This song was co-written with rapper Snoop Dogg and served as the lead single for her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010).  If you want to know why it's spelled that way, read this.   I'd rate the official video an R for all the skin, but this PG-rated video just has the music,  lyrics, and a few suggestive double-entendres ...

23. Stevie Ray Vaughan blues cover with the line "I'm standin' out in the rain": TEXAS FLOOD.  In 1983 Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded this song originally by blues musician Larry Davis ...

54. Title song of a 1961 film featuring a lei-wearing Elvis Presley: BLUE HAWAII.  Blue Hawaii is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley.  Here's the title song ...

61. "Just an old sweet song" performed by Ray Charles: GEORGIA ON MY MIND.  Georgia on My Mind is a 1930 song written by Hoagy Carmichael (1899–1981), and Stuart Gorrell (1901–1963), and first recorded that same year by Hoagy Carmichael. The song has been most often associated with soul singer Ray Charles (1930–2004), a native of the U.S. state of Georgia ...

... and the enigmatic reveal ...

37A Regulatory legal associations, and what 17-, 23-, 54-, and 61-Across are?: STATE BARS.  Obviously the literal meaning -- state bar associations has nothing to do with music, so I started by assuming that each of the states named in the songs must have a famous BAR in them named after the song titles -- this sent me down a rabbit hole but all I came back with were some bunnies in a so-called "men's club" called "California Girls" in Anaheim, CA 🙃.

I finally hit pay dirt when I asked the Internet sage if the "word BARS might be slang for the words to a song and got this response ...

'the term "bars" is often used as hip-hop slang to refer to a song or a rapper's lyrics within a song, -- essentially meaning the musical bars of a song that are especially good, e.g. "the hook".

... each themer then associates a name of a state with the "bars" of a song.  Hand up if you've got another explanation!  😀

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Two-time NBA MVP Malone: KARL.  Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spent his first 18 seasons (1985–2003) in the NBA with the Utah Jazz.  He was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, a 14-time NBA All-Star, and a 14-time member of the All-NBA Team, which include 11 consecutive First Team selection. His 36,928 career points scored rank third all-time in NBA history behind LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Karl Malone

5. "Parks and __": REC.  Parks and Recreation (also known as Parks and Rec) is an American political satire mockumentary television sitcom. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons.  The series stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana ... 

8. Gray shade: SLATE.  The National Slate Association begs to differ -- consider the nuanced tiles on this slate roof ...

13. Pet peeve?: FLEA.  Pet peeves are all a matter of perspective ...

14. "The Little Mermaid" prince: ERIC.  The Little Mermaid is loosely based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson, but the notion of a water nymph who falls in love with a human dates back at least to ancient Greece and the Myth of the Ondine.  This is an enduring story that has been repeated in such works as Dvorak's opera Rusalka and German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's 1811 novella Undine.  The Disney studios have produced several versions of the myth and the Prince in these stories finally has a name: ERIC.   The original animated version was made in 1989 and a live action version in was released in 2023.  Here's a pic from the second version after Ariel (Halle Berry) has saved Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from drowning ... 

Prince Eric and Ariel

16. Mongolian, e.g.: ASIAN.  Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of 1,564,116 square kilometres (603,909 square miles), with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's most sparsely populated sovereign state.  Apparently Alexander Borodin was slightly mistaken when he titled this tone poem as In the Steppes of Central Asia.

17. [Theme clue]

20. Like fraternity brothers: MALE. -- And sorority sisters are FEMALE.  Vive la différence!

21. Pantry array: CANS.

22. Seasonal illness: FLU.  Have you had your flu shot?  Rumor has it that they're no longer PC. 🙃

23. [Theme clue]

26. D-rated: POOR.

27. Poem of praise: ODE.  A brief article on ODES by the Poetry Foundation.

28. Hot toddy option: TEA.

29. __ solution: SALINE.  Saline solution is a mixture of water and salt (sodium chloride) that has many different uses for your health.  Normal saline solution is a mixture of water and salt with a salt concentration of 0.9% -- for every 1 liter (1,000 milliliters) of water, there are 9 grams of salt. Normal saline is one type of IV fluid that healthcare providers give people in a hospital. This is because normal saline and human blood have the same balance of water and salt.

31. Zilch: NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson: NOTHING.

33. Writer/actress Fey: TINA.  Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She was a cast member and head writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2006. After her departure from SNL, she created the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013, 2020) and the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). Here's a clip from the pilot episode of 30 Rock in which she starred ... 

36. __ in comparison: PALED.

37. [Theme reveal]

40. Wash away suds: RINSE.

43. Cornerstone number: YEAR.  Here is the cornerstone of the Roosevelt Arch at the main entrance to Yellowstone National Park, the first National Park.  The Arch was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 24, 1903. Here are some interesting facts about the structure.

Yellowstone National Park
April 24, 1903

44. Cat prey: MICE. BIRD fit but wouldn't fly.

48. Skin care brand: AVEENO.  I don't usually hype products, but I find this lotion to be very helpful in restoring moisture to my hands after a session of throwing pots ...
 

50. Old film channel: TCM.  The channel isn't "old" (as in former), but the movies are.  Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Ted Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atlanta, Georgia.

52. Kraken's realm, briefly: NHL.  Thank you perps.  The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference.  The Pacific Northwest region has a history of Scandinavian immigrants and ancestry, connecting Seattle to the team name which is derived from a legendary sea monster of Nordic mythology. 

Kraken Logo

53. Spoils: ROTS.

54. [Theme clue].

58. "And so on" abbr.: ETC.

59. With, at le restaurant: AVEC.  Today's French lesson -- AVEC = "with"

60. __ América: quadrennial soccer tournament: COPA.  The Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial football (European for "soccer") tournament contested among national teams from South America. It is the oldest still-running continental football competition. The competition determines the champions of South America. Since the 1990s, teams from North America and Asia have also been invited to compete.

61. [Theme clue]

66. Come next: ENSUE.  A clue about jeans will ENSUE ...

67. Jeans spot that might wear out first: KNEE.  They might wear out before that if they're distressed ... 

68. Type of saxophone: ALTO. Here's Charlie Parker ("The Bird") on alto sax, Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums at Carnegie Hall in December of 1947 ...

69. Maker of apple products: MOTTS.  Mott's is an American company, founded in 1842 involved primarily in producing apple-based products, particularly juices and sauces.

70. "Stat!": NOW.  When ASAP is not fast enough!!!

71. German "no": NEIN.  Today's German lesson: NEIN = "no" and JA = "yes".

Down:

 1. Fast-food chain owned by Yum! Brands: KFC.  The original recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is a closely guarded secret, but a nephew of Colonel Harlan Sanders who used to make it as a kid outed it to the Chicago Tribune.
 
2. San Francisco Bay city: ALAMEDA.  There's a lot to see and do there.

3. Chill: RELAXED.

4. Boxer Ali: LAILA.  Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female super middleweight titles, and the IWBF light heavyweight title. Ali is widely regarded by many within the sport as one of the greatest female professional boxers of all time. She is the daughter of boxer Muhammad Ali.  Here she is at a charity fashion show for Heart Truth in 2011 ...

Laila Ali

5. __ Speedwagon: REO.  As the clue doesn't have a space between speed and wagon, the preferred spelling of the vehicle created by Ransom E. Olds in 1915, then it must be the name of the band that started in Illinois in the Sixties.  Here's their Roll With the Changes -- timely advice? ...

6. Make a mistake: ERR.

7. Dos y tres: CINCO.  Today's combined math and Spanish lesson: "2 and 3 = 5".

8. Gives in to gravity: SAGS.

9. The Tigers of the SEC: LSU.  Louisiana State University (commonly referred to as LSU) is an American public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The university was founded in 1860 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy. The current LSU main campus was dedicated in 1926 and consists of more than 250 buildings constructed in the style of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, occupying a 650-acre (260 ha) plateau on the banks of the Mississippi River.  

And a CSO to our favorite Tiger, Hahtoolah!

10. Plane feature with a lift-to-drag ratio: AIRFOIL.  An airfoil is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foils of similar function designed with water as the working fluid are called hydrofoils.  When oriented at a suitable angle, a solid body moving through a fluid deflects the oncoming fluid (for fixed-wing aircraft, a downward force), resulting in a force on the airfoil in the direction opposite to the deflection. This force is known as aerodynamic force and can be resolved into two components: lift (perpendicular to the remote freestream velocity) and drag (parallel to the freestream velocity).  The explanation I learned in HS physics was that the upper curve of the airfoil, being longer than the lower curve makes the air thinner on top than on the bottom.   The difference between these air densities  creates a vacuum effect literally "sucking" the wing upward.  The mathematics of airfoils can get pretty complicated and I confess that I don't begin to understand them.  

Airfoil geometry

11. Beer, slangily: TALL ONE.  Here's a pint of lager in a tall one ... 

12. Made certain: ENSURED.

15. Milan farewell: CIAO.  Today's Italian lesson:  CIAO = "Ta Ta!".  Google translate indicates that it's also like ALOHA -- it can be used for "Hi" as well.

18. Celebratory suffix: FEST.  11D's are frequently consumed at these celebrations.

19. "No ifs, __, or buts": ANDS.

23. Boatload: TON.

24. Greek cheese: FETA.  Feta (Greek: φέτα, féta) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine.

Feta cheese

25. Parishioners: LAITY.  FLOCK fit but didn't perp. The term LAITY refers to the people in a religious congregation who attend services and may even participate in the services as lectors, acolytes, or sacristans,  but are not ordained, as distinct from the clergy who lead the services and are ordained. 

26. Ecto- or endo- finish: PLASM.  The ectoplasm and endoplasm are components of the cytoplasm -- everything inside a cell membrane except for the nucleus.  Shown circled in this diagram are the cytoplasm and its components, the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticula.  Not labelled is the ectoplasm, which is the space between the plasma membrane and the cytoplasm.

30. Car loan fig.: APR.  Annual Percentage Rate.

32. Donkeys: ASSES.

34. Bridal bio word: NEE.

35. Lessen: ABATE.

38. X, at times: TEN.  -- also the social media company now usually referred to as "X, formerly known as Twitter".   The owner of the company is very interested in efficiency these days, and I'm sure that he intended to shorten the name, but it seems as if he has actually lengthened it. 😀

39. Prefix with enemy: ARCH.  See 43A for an alternate use of this word.

40. Red diamond, e.g.: RARE GEM.  A red diamond is a diamond which displays red color and exhibits the same mineral properties as colorless diamonds. Red diamonds are commonly known as the most expensive and the rarest diamond color in the world, even more so than pink or blue diamonds, as very few red diamonds have been found.  The largest and most perfect in the world is the Moussaieff Red Diamond. 

The Moussaieff Diamond

41. Words of dissension: I VOTE NO.

42. Sales figure: NET COST. 

45. Heaped: IN A PILE.

46. Trattoria red: CHIANTI.  This wine comes with its own Italian lesson -- Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ("flask"; pl.: fiaschi). However, the fiasco is now only used by a few makers of the wine; most Chianti is bottled in more standard-shaped wine bottles.  

A fiasco of Chianti

Fiasco of course is also a modern term for a "complete, and utter failure" and is apparently somehow related to bottles (flasks) through a long chain of associations.   However my attempts to understand this chain were a complete, and utter failure. 😀

47. Yale student: ELI.  e.g. our constructor for January 9, 2025, Jem Burch.

49. Terse "Of course!": OBVI.  Meh.

51. "Shameless" star William H. __: MACY.  Shameless is an American black comedy drama television series starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. The series is set in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.  With the premiere of the ninth season on September 9, 2018, Shameless became the longest-running original-scripted series in Showtime's history. In January 2020, the series was renewed for its eleventh and final season. 

55. Faucet problem: LEAK.

56. The NCAA's Huskies: UCONN.  The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, the school became a public land grant college, then took its current name in 1939. Over the following decade, social work, nursing, and graduate programs were established. During the 1960s, UConn Health was established for new medical and dental schools. UConn is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.  I think their name "Huskies" derives from the phonetic similarity between UConn and Yukon, a land of ice and snow. Here's their sports teams' logo ...
 

57. Barnard attendee: WOMAN.  At first this seemed like a simple thing to explain -- but given the nuances of the transgender movement, and the fact that Columbia University, which is coeducational, is just across the street and Barnard students are free to attend classes there, and that Barnard is actually a college of Columbia -- things got complicated pretty quickly.

59. Long time: AGES.

62. Boring routine: RUT.  The social-media company owner that I referred to in 38D has had some success in moving ruts underground, although speculation is that he may have gotten bored with the whole thing. 😀

63. "The Matrix" character who chooses the red pill: NEO.  An adventurous sort who got his start in a different Sci-Fi film.

The red pill and blue pill are metaphorical terms representing a choice between learning an unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in the contented experience of ordinary reality with the blue pill. The pills were used as props in the 1999 film The Matrix.

64. Kitten's sound: MEW.

[mew, mew, ...]

65. Actor Cheadle: DON.  Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and 11 Primetime Emmy Awards. He is one of a few actors to have received nominations for the EGOT.  His performance in Hotel Ruanda got him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor ... 

Cheers, 

Bill

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

waseeley