Thursday, June 26, 2025, Roland Huget

 Theme:  There's something different about you!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Frequent constructor Roland Huget serves up a Thursday challenge.  The theme clues and answers are:

17-Across. *Technical team supervisor: PROJECT ENGINEER.

27-Across. *Special occasion mailing: GREETING CARD.

49-Across. *Place of monumental achievement?: ANCIENT EGYPT.

63-Across. Change studied by evolutionary biologists, or what can be found in the answer to each starred clue?: GENETIC MUTATION.

In the answers to each of the starred clues, the word GENETIC has been scrambled, or mutated, and spans both of the words in the answer.  I have a hard time unscrambling words, so I'm impressed with Mr. Huget for finding these scrambles!  I like seeing the theme answers placed symmetrically in the grid, and two of them span the grid.  It's also worth nothing that mutations involve scrambling of the genetic code.  All very impressive.  

Across:

1. Erie Canal city: UTICA.

The original Erie Canal ran right through downtown Utica.

6. True, in Italian: VERO.  Shared Latin roots give us the English words very, veracity, verify, and verdict.

10. Hippie event: BE-IN.  The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967.  Inspired by sit-ins and teach-ins, it gave rise to another Human Be-In in Denver later the same year.  Along with some very cool musical performances, the events focused on ideals of personal empowerment, communal living, ecological awareness, higher consciousness, and radical New Left political thinking.  Apparently all that universal love and grooviness didn't replace the existing culture.  

14. Pinned distinction: MEDAL.

15. Female gamete: OVUM.

16. The 411: INFO.  Dialing 411 used to get you to directory assistance, where a live person could help you find phone numbers and other information.  Now, whether or not you can reach 411 depends on your phone carrier, and sometimes, on whether you pay for 411 service.  But based on the way we oldsters used our corded phones back in the day, "the 411" is current slang for information or the latest news.  "What's the 411 on the party tonight?"

17. [Theme clue]

20. Storage tower: SILO.

21. Group taken for a drive?: HERD.  Herd of cattle, taken for a cattle drive.

22. Google Books __ Viewer: tool that tracks word usage frequency: NGRAM.  The Google Books Ngram Viewer is a search engine that charts the frequencies of any set of search strings using a yearly count of n-grams (sequences of adjacent symbols) found in printed sources published between 1500 and 2022 that are in Google's text database.  The program can search for a word or a phrase, and if found in 40 or more books, the results are displayed as a graph.

I used the Google Books Ngram Viewer to search Human Be-In.
It begins to register in 1978.

23. Go ahead: LEAD.  One meaning of the verb "lead" is to guide by going in advance.  I might lead a hike by going ahead of my friends on the trail.

25. Sky streakers: METEORS.

27. [Theme clue]

31. Poppin': LIT.  If you've been around the Crossword Corner a few times, you know that it's lit!  But did you know that it's poppin'?  Same deal.  It's awesome.  (But poppin' can also mean happenin' -- as in, what's poppin'?)

32. Blended juice prefix: CRAN.  The Ocean Spray agricultural cooperative used to make all its money at Thanksgiving through sales of cranberry juice and cranberry sauce.  The introduction of Cran-Apple juice in 1963 gave Ocean Spray a year-round product.  Now there's Cran-Grape, Cran-Pineapple, Cran-Raspberry, Cran-Strawberry, Cran-Mango, and more.

33. "Tough": TOO BAD.  An unsympathetic response to an unfortunate situation.

37. Way off: AFAR.

39. "That smarts!": YOW.

41. Staff member?: NOTE.  A staff is a set of five lines and four spaces on which notes are written to indicate their pitch.  The notes are represented by ovals on the staff.

The letter names of the notes are not normally indicated as above.

42. Indirect route: DETOUR.

45. Perfume application: MIST.

48. Slip into: DON.  "Don we now our gay apparel, fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!"

49. [Theme clue]

52. Sleep aid of folklore: SANDMAN.  The Sandman is a mythical character originating in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore who puts people to sleep and inspires dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.  I wonder whether people still tell little children that the crust in the corners of their eyes upon waking is from the Sandman?  What on earth did we picture when our parents said that?

55. No longer here: GONE.

56. Top-tier: ELITE.

57. Hawaiian coffee region: KONA.  If you're ever on the Big Island of Hawaii, you can tour a coffee plantation in the Kona area and learn all about coffee production.

coffee berries on the Big Island

59. Birds associated with wisdom: OWLS.  Because they know WHO!  Also, those big, forward-facing eyes, rotating heads, and serious looks just make them seem smart.

63. [Theme clue]

66. Lines that cross at (0,0): AXES.  In a two-dimensional coordinate system, the x-axis is the horizontal line, and the y-axis is the vertical line. They are perpendicular to each other and intersect at the origin (0,0), forming a coordinate plane.  The plural of axis is axes.

67. Lope or canter: GAIT.

68. Capital on the Red River: HANOI.  The capital of Vietnam.

One of several bridges over the Red River in Hanoi.

69. Shoemaker's form: LAST.  At LAST, my daughter's career as a shoe designer helps in the crossword puzzle!

Men's shoe lasts.

70. Bldg. units: APTS.  Building units can be apartments.

71. Contract negotiator: AGENT.

Down:

1. Some park workers: UMPS.  Ball park workers include umpires, officials responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport.

2. Garr of "Young Frankenstein": TERI.  She was fabulous.

Teri Garr

3. "Survivor" find: IDOL.  In spite of its 25 year history, I don't think I've ever watched an episode of Survivor.  Apparently, the "Hidden Immunity Idol" is a pocket-sized talisman that prevents the user from being voted out from Tribal Council.  This is not to be confused with the tribal Immunity Idol or the individual Immunity Necklace.

The not-so-hidden immunity idol.

4. Wheedle: CAJOLE.  Synonyms of cajole include coax, sweet-talk, and wheedle.  These are all about getting someone to do something by means of gentle urging, special attention, or flattery.

5. Schooner filler: ALE.  A schooner can be a sailing vessel or a rounded glass with a short stem.  Usually the one filled with ale is the glass.

A schooner of ale.

6. Gave a thumbs-down: VOTED NAY.  In a voice vote, the presiding officer asks those in favor to say "yea," and those opposed to say "nay."

A challenging aspect of horse politics.

7. At all: EVER.  Have you been to Utica at all?  Ever?

8. First hip-hop group to have music videos on MTV: RUN-DMC.  With the release of Run-D.M.C. (1984), Run-DMC became the first hip-hop group to achieve a Gold record. With subsequent albums, Run-DMC became the first hip-hop group to go platinum and then multi-platinum.  Run-DMC was the first hip-hop act to have their music videos broadcast on MTV, appear on American Bandstand, be on the cover of Rolling Stone, perform at Live Aid, and be nominated for a Grammy Award.

Run-DMC

9. Texter's gasp: OMG.  Oh my gosh!

10. Watched an entire season of, say: BINGED ON.  The joy of streaming -- watching a whole season of a television show in a single sitting, or within a short period of time.  

11. Año start: ENERO.  The Spanish year (año) begins with the month of January (Enero).

12. "Sorry to say ... ": I FEAR.

13. Expected results: NORMS.

18. Board head: CHAIR.

19. Emcee's piece: INTRO.  The emcee (or Master of Ceremonies) for an event usually gives an introduction to the proceedings.

24. Ellipsis alternative: Abbr.: ETC.  You can add "etc." to an incomplete list, or use the ellipsis to indicate things you're omitting, which is to say, you don't have to go on and on and on ...

26. Have something: EAT.

Eat!

27. Showy flower, briefly: GLAD.  Gladiolus is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the iris family, native to Eurasia and Africa.

Gladiolus are pretty, but my ethic is to plant things
that have co-evolved with local birds and insects.

28. Widespread: RIFE.

29. "L'__, c'est moi": Louis XIV: ÉTAT.  King Louis XIV of France supposedly said "L'État, c'est moi" (The state, it is me) in parliament, suggesting that his power was absolute.  However, the statement does not appear in the registers of parliament, and on his deathbed, Louis is known to have said "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours" (I am leaving, but the State will always remain).

Just a nice guy, misunderstood and misquoted.

30. Garden sentinel: GNOME.

34. __ positivity: BODY.  Body positivity is a social movement that promotes acceptance and appreciation of all body types and sizes.

35. Straddling: ATOP.

36. Slight progress: DENT.  As in, making a dent in my workload.

38. Consumer Reports task: ROAD TEST.  Consumer Reports rates automobiles, among other things, so one of their tasks is to take a car out for a road test.

40. Hand-tightened fasteners: WING NUTS.

43. Like some expectations: UNMET.  We've all had a few!  This is when anticipated outcomes or desired results do not materialize, leading to disappointment or frustration.  TOO BAD!

44. Classic TV brand: RCA.

46. Summer ermine: STOAT.

The white animal we call an ermine in winter is a brown animal called a stoat in summer.

47. Decimal value of hexadecimal A: TEN.  Hexadecimal (or hex) is a base-16 number system, meaning it uses 16 unique symbols to represent numbers. These symbols are the digits 0-9, and the letters A-F, where A represents 10, B is 11, and so on, up to F representing 15. This system is often used by software developers and system designers.

50. Mushroom that drips black liquid: INK CAP.  Coprinopsis atramentaria, also known as the common ink cap, tippler's bane, or inky cap, is a species of fungus.  It is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere.  It is edible, but poisonous when consumed with alcohol.

51. Location label: GEOTAG.  A geotag is a piece of data, usually in the form of coordinates (latitude and longitude), that is embedded within a digital file, like a photo or video, to indicate its geographical location.

52. "Love Story" novelist: SEGAL.  Erich Segal wrote a screenplay for Love Story, and Paramount required him to turn it into a novel before the movie came out, as part of the marketing campaign.  The novel and the film were both released in 1970.  A huge success in print and film, the tear jerking story is very unfair to the female protagonist who gives up everything and forgives all, in return for not much.

"Love means never having to say you're sorry."  What?!

53. Echo assistant: ALEXA.  Echo devices are smart speakers developed by Amazon, and Alexa is the voice assistant (or software) that powers these devices and compatible products.  I don't have smart speakers around the house.  It's bad enough that the robot vacuum sometimes thinks I've said his name and responds, "I'm here."  Then we keep quiet for five minutes hoping he'll go back to sleep.

54. Dressed to the __: NINES.  "To the nines" is an idiom meaning "to perfection" or "to the highest degree."  In modern English, the phrase most commonly appears as "dressed to the nines."  It seems to be Scottish in origin, and may refer to the nine muses.  The earliest written example of the phrase is from the 1719 Epistle to Ramsay by the Scottish poet William Hamilton:

The bonny Lines therein thou sent me,

How to the nines they did content me.

58. Drop: OMIT.

60. Product that gets pressed into service?: WINE.  Our inlaws in Italy use a little wine press like this one to squeeze the grapes that make the family wine:

61. Diving bird: LOON.  Bird clues always help me out.

62. Agitated state: SNIT.

64. "Hometown Proud" food market chain: IGA.  The Independent Grocers Alliance was founded in 1926 to bring family owned, local grocery stores together under the IGA brand.  I count 36 of them in California, but none in the Los Angeles area.

65. Epiphany cry: AHA.  An epiphany is a moment of sudden revelation or insight ... an AHA moment.

Here's the grid:

So ... any AHA moments for you today?  

Was your grid RIFE with errors?  Did you OMIT anything?  Or do you deserve a MEDAL?

-- NaomiZ