Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here, once again, after an extended sabbatical, with the recap of a Friday Puzzle by veteran constructor Kathy Lowden. Let's jump right in with the reveal:
73 Across. Stop by unannounced, and how to make the starred clues match their answers?: DROP IN. We are asked to drop (delete) the letters I and N from the starred clues. What then remains are the clues-to-be-solved.
Here are the four places where the gimmick is employed:
21 Across. *Hot point: SHABU SHABU. Hot Pot.
27 Across. *Main event: MOTHERS DAY. Ma Event. No, not the cellist YoYo. Yo Mama.
50 Across. *Chain-chain-chain: CUBAN DANCE. Hmm, a reference to Aretha Franklin? Nope. Cha-Cha-Cha. But, wait . . .
56. *Rhino: PI FOLLOWER. Rho. A Greek Alphabet reference.
This is how it all looks in the grid:
. . . and the rest of the story:
Across:1. Number with 101 digits: GOOGOL. The number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The tech behemoth got its name from a misspelling of GOOGOL.
7. Tenerife, por ejemplo: ISLA. Spanish language clue, Spanish language answer.
11. Oft-torn knee pt.: ACL.
14. Prisoner: INMATE. When INMATEs fall in love do they finish each others sentences?
15. Speak indistinctly: SLUR.
16. Fish eggs: ROE. Does the search for caviar require a ROE boat?
17. Cardiology implants: STENTS.
18. Song for one: SOLO. Anybody first try ARIA?
19. "That tastes go-o-o-od": MMM. Punt!
20. Work on one's abs, say: TONE. As in to TONE up one's abdominal muscles.
24. Broccoli part: STEM.
26. Psyched: EAGER.
33. Wine category: REDS. Reds, whites and rosé.
34. Disciplines: AREAS. AREAS of study or expertise.
35. Hoped: WISHED.
37. Cross piece?: PEN. Cross has several meanings and is also, as used here, a brand of writing implements. One of those clues that "trades on" the convention that all the clues start with a capital letter.
38. Patti with a plaque on the Apollo Theater's Walk of Fame: LABELLE.
41. Rank in judo: DAN.
44. Within the realm of possibility: DOABLE.
46. Future oak: ACORN.
48. Bakery worker: ICER. A specialist frequently found working in our puzzles
53. Mushroom with a honeycomb-like top: MOREL.
53. Mushroom with a honeycomb-like top: MOREL.
55. Burst of wind: GUST.
60. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTA. Spanish language clue, Spanish language answer.
64. "It's __-brainer!": A NO. This was an easy one.
65. European automaker: AUDI. OPEL, MINI and FIAT would have fit the space (among others).
66. Benders: SPREES. As in to go on a Shopping SPREE.
68. Lav: LOO. Please excuse me. I have to go powder my nose.
69. Hard-to-break plates: MAIL. As in chain mail.
70. Van Gogh's "The Potato __": EATERS.
71. Fitting: APT. Yes, it is.
72. Princess Anne, to Prince William: AUNT. This solver will confess to not really following this family's activities in any detail.
Down:
1. Crux: GIST. What do meteorologists, biologists, and archaeologists have in common? They all get the GIST of their field.
2. Not fooled by: ONTO.
3. Portentous sign: OMEN.
4. Elephant-headed god: GANESHA.
5. Mel in the Baseball Hall of Fame: OTT.
6. Secondary: LESSER.
How to choose the LESSER of two weevils.
7. Emmy nominee Rae: ISSA. A frequent visitor.
8. Messy type: SLOB. What’s the difference between a well dressed man on a bicycle and a slob on a unicycle? A wheel and attire.
10. Came up: AROSE. By any other name . . .
11. 1998 Michael Bay disaster film: ARMAGEDDON.
12. Systematically searched (through): COMBED.
As In "Comb The Desert"
13. Animals found only in Madagascar: LEMURS.
22. Letters for the Royal Navy: HMS. His or Her Majesty's Ship.
23. Rabbit's larger cousin: HARE.
25. Inventor Nikola: TESLA. The feud between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, known as the "War of Currents," revolved around their competing electrical systems: Tesla's alternating current (AC) and Edison's direct current (DC). This rivalry included public debates and business conflicts, ultimately leading to the widespread adoption of AC as the standard for electrical power transmission.
27. Document with a key: MAP. "Document" is, perhaps, a bit of a stretch.
28. Vein contents: ORE. A mining, and not a circulatory system, reference.
29. Novice: TENDERFOOT.
30. Dorky type: DWEEB.
31. Feel poorly: AIL.
32. Designer bag monogram: YSL.
36. Chairs: HEADS. Not the things we sit in. Leaders of a meeting, panel or group of people.
39. "The View" network: ABC.
40. __-ray disc: BLU.
42. Rainbow shape: ARC.
43. San Diego-to-Palm Springs dir.: NNE.
45. Sweet sandwich: OREO. A pretty straightforward clue for this food very often found in our puzzles.
47. Indulge: CATER TO.
48. Zambezi Valley antelope: IMPALA. Might have been clued with a Chevy reference.
49. Like many laundromats: COIN-OP.
51. "Just a number," so some say: AGE. Would that it were true.
52. Breastfed: NURSED. What kind of bees make milk? Boo bees.
54. Alpaca kin: LLAMA.
57. Island banquet: LUAU.
58. Norse god of war: ODIN. He's been around far longer than the Marvelverse.
59. Droop: WILT. Might have been clued with the single-word - Chamberlain.
61. Ooze: SEEP.
62. Garr of "Tootsie": TERI. This solver would have referenced Young Frankenstein (but you probably already guessed that).
63. Org.: ASSN. Abbreviated clue . . .
67. Nice round number?: PAR. After first thinking that the constructor was employing the Nice, France misdirection it slowly dawned on me that the reference was to a round of golf.
Well, that will wrap things up for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!
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47 comments:
I have to brag a little
and tell you folks that I figured out the gimmick before the reveal, although I personally am not familiar with “shabu shabu” (and spellcheck took three tries before it would allow me to type that). Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
The only thing that made this puzzle seem easy were the extremely friendly perps of standard crosswordese, which I needed for all the themers plus GANESHA and ARMAGEDDON. Perps entirely filled DROP IN so I didn’t see that it was the reveal. The theme totally escaped me, reading MM’s opening remarks I went back and perused the grid, failing to see the “in” in the clue. Oh well, FIR in two ticks under 10, so like SubG, I’m happy. Thanks to constructor Kathy for the challenge, and to MM for the write-up, welcome back!
Good morning!
Enjoyed this one, even though the theme made that whooshing sound flying over my head. Does GANESHA eat baba ganoush? The Wite-Out got a rest this morning. This one filled quickly, and like YP, d-o never saw the clue for DROP IN. [Sigh] Thanx, Kathy and punny Mal-Man. (Loved the "two weevils" and "a wheel and attire.")
Black cat Gomer is off his feed, so I sense a trip to the vet in my very near future.
Took 6:55 for me to get with IT.
Actually, I didn't know what the heck was going on with the theme clues/answers until I finished.
I knew today's actresses (Issa & Teri), but only was 1 for 2 on today's foreign language lessons (esta, not shabu shabu). I struggled in the bottom-right corner, as "Potato ____" meant nothing to me and "caterto" took a long time to get/parse.
I also was confusing "wabi sabi" (which I'd heard of), with "shabu shabu" (which I hadn't).
FIR, but that was mostly because of my good guesser, or should I say lucky guesser. What with the likes of Ganesha and shabu shabu (WTF), I almost didn't finish at all.
The theme took me a while to suss out and I must admit I stared at the reveal a long time trying to get it.
But overall this was not an enjoyable puzzle.
I too, had trouble with the LA Times site. Watched the Ad twice, but no puzzle. So I decided to drop in on the Chicago Tribune site...
The theme, once revealed, was quite cute. But I have trouble with plate and mail, and Shabu Shabu seems to me like someth8ng I should type instead of Thumper...
silly theme link is not so silly any more...
Join the club. I too watched the ad twice, but no puzzle.
Well that theme went right over my head. I kept trying to add “in” to the theme phrases, never thought to ad it to the clues instead. I FIR anyway but just blindly filling the answers.
Thank goodness not many names, so the rest of the CW was super easy. I knew GANESH and ARMAGEDDON was á cinch to guess.
Thank you Mal-Man for á nice Review.
I enjoyed Kathy's challenge today. We are all used to letter changes, or circles, in theme answers, but here Kathy reversed things by essentially directing us in the reveal, to change a couple letters in all four of the theme CLUES. Clever and refreshing, in my opinion.
And Kathy's construction was impressive, with six 10-letter words, four of which were the theme answers.
Interestingly, I found the rest of the fill fairly straightforward, and less challenging, than most Friday puzzles.
Jinx, no raised hand here regarding 72A. If we are miffed at news and developments from countries that have been our belligerents, we wouldn't have much to read, because the U.S. has been to war against virtually every major country in the world, including Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, China, Austria, the USSR, and Japan. The only major nation the U.S. has never warred against is France.
Kathy, thanks for an enjoyable and fresh, and lively puzzle, that was fun to solve. And MalMan, welcome back, and thanks for such an amusing and informative recap. I don't know how you do it.
The Washington Post site also has the LAT puzzles.
Good Morning:
Sorry, folks, this was a definite “the juice was not worth the squeeze” exercise. Maybe it’s just me being overly critical, but there wasn’t one ounce of enjoyment or satisfaction in this solve.
Thanks, MalMan, for soothing my ruffled feathers with your humor and puns.
Have a great day.
Help! I can no longer load the puzzle. Even past ones that I completed now show nothing. Any ideas?.
Enjoyable puzzle! Liked the "nice round number?" clue. Always enjoy the writeups, and dedication of the bloggers as I am definitely not an early riser.
Musings
-Unlike my dear friend Irish, I loved it! After doing themed crosswords for decades, we can get locked into the fact that the gimmick is in the fill and not the clue even though the relation is nonsensical at first. MA EVENT, uh clued me in” and elicited a groan of appreciation. To paraphrase Garth Brooks, I was “Lookin’ for the gimmick in all the wrong places” :-)
-Even after reluctantly accepting SHABUSHABU, I refused to come here and read MM’s review until I sussed out what Kathy was doing.
-Spell check accepted SHABUSHABU without a space or hyphen. Hmm…
-I knew immediately of how RHO followed Pi and first also thought of Aretha but…
-A torn ACL has pushed many a pro athlete into another line of work
-I’m always PSHYCHED to play golf and afterwards I am PSYCHED to do better next round. I had a nice round yesterday but it was in Stanton, NE not Nice, France!
-My SIL bought a very expensive AUDI and I have issues getting in.
-Netflix’s The Crown shows the real world of the quite dysfunctional royals.
-A very interesting MAP with a key
Pretty easy for a Friday puzzle thanks to fair perps, but a few annoying nits sucked some of the enjoyment out. There's a BIG difference between chain mail and plate armor. They are two completely different things. The Norse God of War is TYR. Odin is the Allfather. Shabushabu brings new meaning to the definition of OBSCURE. (Unless you are Japanese) Not sure if these were bad cluing or poor editing, but I have to Echo IM on this one. On the other hand, nice to see MM back. Those puns pumped a lot of the fun back in!
The LA Times site was buggy, so I made my way over to the Washington Post site, but almost wish I hadn’t. The gimmick was lame, in my opinion. I detest the “add/subtract” ploy almost as much as I dislike sneaky political digs in our comment section.
Despite the absurd gimmick, the puzzle filled in easily in just over seven minutes.
Was this puzzle DOABLE? Yes. Did I get the GIST of what was going on? Hell no, I'm not that smart. All three theme answers were filled by perps. SHABU SHABU made the least sense of the three, since the others had at least a word or two I knew. I didn't catch the PI as a word (letter). But the rest of the puzzle had some great, misleading clues for MAIL, PEN, MAP.
MMM- "Marvelous Malodorous Manatee" or "Scotch Brand tape maker" would have been a better clue because I wanted YUM. Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing's stock symbol? MMM on the NYSE.
GANESHA- I'm sure that unknown word was not initially in the puzzle. Thank You perps and MOTHERS DAY, which I got from clues instead of Ma-IN event.
ISSA & OTT- good old crossword standbys.
ISLA & ESTA- today's Spanish words
DAN- my rank is at the bottom in Judo, Karate, Jujitsu, and any other fighting sport. Didn't know that word.
Garth had “friends in low places,” but it was Johnny Lee who was “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places,” one of the many great country songs in Urban Cowboy.
Washington Post carries the LA Times puzzle as well.
I was ONTO the theme gimmick early on, when the SHABU SHABU/hot pot connection was immediately apparent. The “ma event” clue reduction was clever, but the others were rather straightforward. PI FOLLOWER did not immediately come to mind, but it added what seemed to be much-needed crunch.
But sloppiness led to an FIW. I didn’t follow up and never completed ARMAGEDDON after noticing what I had filled in seemed wrong. I had umm instead of MMM and figured tAN might be the judo rank. There weren’t many other obstacles. The hall-of-fame obtuse clue for OREO actually gave me trouble and delayed the parsing of the Greek letters. I had Rose before REDS, largely because the clue was singular, and the aforementioned uMM before MMM, but I solved those and smugly thought I had FIR.
Theme escaped me completely. It never occurred to me the reveal referred to the CLUE not the FILL, so it made no sense no matter how I parsed it. It took MalMan for the V-8 can to hit. Only 9 names, and...guess what...no DNKs among them, although I thought it was GANESH, not GANESHA, so that last "A" needed perps. "Chain Mail" is not "plates" = only nit to pick. Anyway, FIR in 15, which is excellent time for me on a Friday. I'm afraid of what the Saturday CW is gonna look like to balance this relatively easy Friday. Thanx KL for the entertaining CW, and for keeping the name count low, and not obscure. Ya got me with the theme. And thanx too to MalMan for the terrific and enlightening write-up. Next two days are the air show here in FLL, and right now Blue Angels are thundering low over my rooftop as they practice. They can't be more than 200' up! Terrifyingly loud. Wish this old man luck getting his afternoon siesta.
Fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Kathy. And thank you too for your helpful and fun comments and pictures, Mal Man--much appreciated.
Well, this puzzle was a nice OMEN for MOTHER'S DAY coming up before too long. Makes us EAGER not to hear any SLURS from anyone because we all WISH the mothers to get lovely cars in the MAIL, and to have lots of friends and family DROP IN to celebrate. Let's hope some of them show up with trays of food for all the EATERS, decorated with MORELS and OREO cookies. And hope everyone has fun performing a CUBAN DANCE to make mother applaud.
Have a good weekend, everybody.
Hola! I agree with Misty, a fun Friday puzzle. We seem to be immersed in Indian culture with GANESHA today and its elated words the past few days.
CUBAN DANCE reminds me of Celia Cruz and her love of DANCE.
I had the privilege of seeing PATTI LA BELLE on Broadway some years ago when I happened to be in New York visiting my friend there.
That's all the time I have for now as I'm expecting a friend.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
Jerry S, you probably deleted your cookies, which erased all the past puzzles that you had completed.
I enjoyed this puzzle and the DROP IN gimmick even though I didn't figure it out until filling the reveal.
I like MM's comment about MMM: "Punt!"
I was also bit by the nit that chain mail is not "plates," hard to break or not. And the ODIN is not the god of war.
I have heard of Ganesh but not GANESHA.
My DIL wants to be called LULU by her brand-new granddaughter (and presumably future grandchildren).
The first time we drove I-10 my wife and I were surprised by how hot it is in Palm Springs in summer.
Good reading you all.
Oh, and SHABUSHABU restaurants are very common around here. (I had always called it "hot pot").
Good news! For Cornerites that have noted here that they were afraid to check their retirement accounts, I just checked the S&P 500 and Dow and they are just about where they were the day before the last election. Not as great as they were a couple of months ago, but still not the disaster that I feared. And I only have to get two competitive quotes before buying a dozen eggs instead of the three that were required a few weeks ago.
They practice along the beach between Pensacola and Destin. A few years ago, we were vacationing in a 15th floor VRBO condo on the beach when they flew by close to the beach. The had to be less than 200' because they were BELOW us.
As Baron Rothschild said 200 years ago, "the time to buy is when there's blood in the street". I quit investing new money about 6 years ago but had to take a flyer on this ridiculous downturn, caused not by any economic factor but strictly by emotion. Market timing is for fools but I got lucky this time. I bought three times when the S&P was hitting rock bottom, April 7th, 11th, & 22nd. It's up over 10% in three weeks. As Steve Miller sang, I'll "Take the Money and Run" and pay the short-term capital gains tax.
Once I was taking a 2-day on-water sailboat racing class off Annapolis. Unknown to me, the next day was USNA's graduation. The Blue Angles practiced for the graduation event during the class. We didn't learn much that day, but it was a heck of a show from the good seats.
Frantic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Kathy and MalMan
I finally got the DROP IN theme, after trying to remove IN from the themers rather than the clues. I smiled at Ma event, coming up soon.
Several inkblots to change Thor to ODIN, and Yum to MMM.
Now I see that I had ENE /DAE instead of the N. Officially FIW.
Yes, Lucina, I thought of GILGAMESH, our recent learning experience, when GANESHA filled. (I too did not want the A on the end; I LIUed and found that GANESHA is the Sanskrit and Ganesh the English version.)
Wishing you all a great day.
I am posting this separately in case it is too political and is censored. But I think that you folks have heard my Canadian input here for a while, and will try to see our Canadian view of the monarchy.
While not appreciated by all Canadians (particularly the younger generations and Québécois), the Canadian monarchy functions as a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch serves as a figurehead, while the elected government holds the real power of governance. The monarch is the symbolic head of Canada, representing the country on the international stage and embodying national unity. The monarchy plays a significant role in Canada's identity and sense of belonging, representing continuity and tradition.
King Charles III (father of Prince William) is coming to Canada on May 26 and 27, and will read the Speech from the Throne for the opening of Parliament. Much attention has focused in recent weeks on Charles's role as head of state of Canada, particularly in the face of repeated taunts from U.S. President Donald Trump about it becoming the 51st state.
I like to head north and visit Canada often especially Toronto, Montreal and Québec Just hope we are still welcome there after all this recent nonsense. DW and I put off Canadian Rockies trip when Covid hit. Still debating whether we should reconsider.
(Finally caught a break, our PA is on vacation)
Went through at a fast clip for a Friday but figured I FIW. SHABUSH ABU?? What the hey? I was wrong I was right
Inkovers: yum/UMM, pacers/STENTS, inon/ONTO
Must be using the same erroneous CW database cuz this shows up a few times a year…. Once again ODIN is not the Norse god of war. He’s the King of the Gods. Týr is the god of war
IMPALA: (this time not the car.)
She/he “came up” smelling like …. AROSE.
Can cause a TENDERFOOT … ACORN
”Beware of poisonous‘shrooms” was the ____ of the story…. MOREL
Happy weekend
Not UMM but MMM
The Canadian Rockies are superb. They are particularly special for one coming from the flat semi tropical Gulf Coast.
CanadianEh! Thanks for the info about the monarchy, and thanks also for the info that GANESHA is the Sanskrit and Ganesh the English version.
Once when my wife and I were visiting her family in Toronto (actually, in Mississauga, to be exact), we drove to Montreal. It was a very long drive. Entering Québéc, it seemed almost like entering a different country, the roads and road signs being so different. We sure loved what we saw of Montreal, however. We walked to McGill University and took a look at the library there. We also walked to Crescent Street where we had a glorious dinner and met some extraordinary people. Staying at the Mayflower Hotel was pretty nice, too!
This was one of those mornings when I have an early appointment and cut the timing very close because I am having so much fun zipping through the crossword puzzle. I couldn't make out the theme until I read the reveal, and it said very clearly that the way to make the clues match was to DROP IN. So I went out the door, very pleased with the puzzle, and came home later to find equal delight in MalMan's review. MalMan, you were in top form following your sabbatical! "When INMATEs fall in love do they finish each others sentences?" "Does the search for caviar require a ROE boat?" LOL.
Many thanks to Kathy and MalMan for the fun.
Decades ago, a company for which I was working had some business dealings in Mississauga and I was the point person. As a result I spent a lot of time in and around Toronto. I still have the T-shirt from Schwartz's Hot Dogs!
MM, does that T-shirt still fit you?
Thanks for sharing your puzzle, Kathy! I completed the grid without understanding the gimmick but was determined to have it sorted before coming to The Corner. I liked the GOOGOL clue and ISSA crossing ISLA. Noted the CSO to editor Patti.
Welcome back to MalMan! Thanks for the puns -- esp. LESSER of two weevils.
D-Otto@5:33. Please follow-up with an update on Gomer (when there is news).
Jayce, my wife and I became grandparents in 2021, and there was much discussion about what she wanted to be called by our granddaughter.
I looked at the lettering on the beret she wearing (a random piece of head-ware she had been given that day as a semi-joke. I believe it was winery-related) and suggested “Lulu.”
Well, it stuck, and now there are two darling little girls calling her “Lulu!”
Yes, but it's a bit snug.
Thanks to all for the "welcome back" wishes.
Ray-o- you will be welcome in Canada . . . and your dollar goes further. Don’t forget Niagara Falls on your way to (or from) Toronto. And may I also suggest a slight detour to Niagara-on-the Lake via the Niagara Parkway (and maybe a play at the Shaw Festival, and a winery tour).
Yes, Monkey, the drive from Banff to Jasper is my favourite.
I’m happy to hear of your Canadian visits, Jayce and MalMan. Quebec City is even more unique than Montreal.
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