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.
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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.
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| 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:
12 comments:
Might have been more appropriate on Valentine’s Day, but it was still a lot of fun, and not too difficult either. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Failed to notice the circles or the theme, but zipped through this one in fine Tuesday time. Dang me! (Oh, I guess that's a different Roger Miller.) I was happy to retire my expired-in-2007 EPIPEN for a 2024 NEFFY nasal spray -- preferable to jabbing a needle in my thigh. Thanx for the exercise, Roger, and for the expo, Hahtoolah.
Good Morning, Crossword friends. Dang me! Desper-Otto. That Roger Miller (Jan. 2, 1936 ~ Oct. 25, 1992) died over 30 years ago, but I went back and added a song just for you.
FIR, but grub->CHOW and slav->SERB.
I got ants in my motor home after staying in an infested campground in Wildwood, FL. Called my golfing buddy who owns a pest control company, and he told me to spray the ones I saw with vinegar and water, and to get Terro ANT traps. I did, and it fixed the problem.
MARINA del Rey is the largest small boat harbor in the US. I read its history, which included outrage that public funds were going to build a recreational facility for wealthy people. In reality, the construction bonds were paid off in just a few years, and the MARINA has become a major source of income for Los Angeles County. Among other things, the county gets a cut of slip rentals, without the burden of actually operating the business.
The Crossy Award for the longest clue for an easy answer goes to..."pronoun that precedes 'sells seashells' in a classic tongue twister" for SHE.
RAM Trucks is a division of Dodge, but if you want a King of the Road, ya gotta find an old Peterbilt 379. (Old truckers don't take pills, they just get a new Peterbilt.)
Thanks to Roger Miller for the fun. easy Tuesday puzzle. And thanks to Ha2la for another funny, punny narrative.
FIR. Circles are a waste of crossword space, and they weren't needed to finish this puzzle. I didn't even bother to try to figure out the theme.
The cluing was very fair and required a minimum amount of effort to solve.
Overall this was an OK puzzle, no fuss, no muss.
Took 4:59 today for me to make out.
Has anyone said "neck" for kiss in the past 40+ years? Or "snog" on this side of the Atlantic?
Jinx, that's a good comment on the oddly long clue for "she."
I'm surprised we didn't get "English I word".
The reveal clue is awfully long too, and it seems redundant with the asterisks/stars and circles.
Oh joy, circles!
Good Morning:
No unknowns, no w/os, no problems. This was a straightforward, easy Tuesday solve. It was fun to see Irk and Ire in the same puzzle. The clue for the reveal was long but probably necessarily so, whereas the clue for She was not. I don’t understand this penchant of Patti’s.
Thanks, Roger, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for an outstanding review that is chock full of fun and facts. All of the comics were delightfully apropos but the one that struck my laugh out loud button was the Panda, post-concealer application! Other favorites were the amorous Giraffes and Seals, all of the frisky kittens, the Push/Hush door, and the Seaweed/Sea Kelp. The photo of the LhasaApso was frosting on the cake!
Happy Mardi Gras!
Musings
-A nice diversion before we are hit with 4” of snow being driven by 60 mph tonight.
-Cue Brian Hyland, “I’ll send you all my love every day in a letter, [reveal]”
-Musical fans know what show is referred to with the conductor saying, “Next stop, River City, Iowa”
-SHOO had to SCAT and GRUB was replaced with CHOW
-That MEOW and that action wake me every morning. It does not IRK me at all.
-A prof once told me that an ERG is the equivalence of an ANT doing one pushup
-Eyewitness testimony can be sketchy. DNA evidence is a Go To Jail card.
-“TUCK in your shirt” and other admonitions are no longer relevant in schools
-This famous vehicle had a descent and ASCENT stage
-Lunchrooms and RECESSES are a huge part of school learning
-Guess what we called our colleague whose last name was Oberg
-We built these HETERODYNE receivers in our physics labs
-Dick Clark pitching Clearasil and Roger Miller lip-synching on Bandstand was a treat.
-Cartoons were spot on today, Hahtoolah!
WOW! For some reason I found this hard for a Tues. Eventually FIR but with multiple erasures.
It didn't help that when I saw the circles, I jumped down the revealer. Filled it in instantly and surmised the gimmick. But... I thought the hidden bookends would be SWAK - the common acronym. Before going hog wild and filling in all the circles (I'm no fool! LOL), I did a couple tests in my head. Went up to 42D = ASK confirming the last circled letter was K. Just in case, I tested the first themer as well and saw it crossed with Naked (I know, only 5 letters, but it was just a quick cross check) giving me another K in last position. I then confidently entered SW & AK in all the circles and and all hell broke out.
This was a Tuesday run - a lot of crosswordese but an amusing theme.
The theme reminded me of one of the Oscar nominated animated short entitled "Yuck". French film set in a summer RV park where a bunch of kids roaming the park see people kissing and their lips light up when they are thinking romantic thoughts or kissing and they are grossed out about it until they are shocked that their lips start lighting up too. Very sweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P662Q7aIbr8
I always wonder how Croatia has all that coastline when Bosnia & Herzegovina who have SERBs as well as SERBia have almost none. Probably related to language or a river border.
Thanks H2lah for the fun blog and Roger for the puzzle
Roger's entry today struck me as an exemplary Tuesday challenge. It was straightforward and well-constructed, with its reveal and one of the theme answers both being grid-spanners.
He had the best interests of the solver in mind, by abstaining from annoying crosswordese junk like conversational nonenties (except for PSST), pop culture entries, or resorting to vowel-rich words that Crossword Compiler spits out, like ACAI and OREO.
The theme was cute and imaginative, and included circles that proved useful.
So thanks, Roger, for an enjoyable and satisfying diversion; and thanks, Hahtoolah, for your witty and colorful recap.
Fun puzzle.
I use my crock pot for just one recipe, beef barley vegetable soup. I make it for company and for pot lucks, always to rave reviews. I have so little cabinet space here, I have to store the pot on a high shelf. Maintenance cheerfully gets it down for me. Great staff here.
My finance and I went to different colleges for two years. All our letters had SWAK on the envelope, not written out in words and no lipstick prints, the same for most of my friends.
I liked gets the lead out/mines and pitcher with a big mouth/ewer.
I read the excellent book, The Good Earth, twice. It meant even more after a hiatus of decades.
I suppose the terms necking and petting are old fashioned. Nowadays it's making out, often followed by hooking up.
Cute theme, cute cartoons.
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