Phew! I just got Chairman Moe squared away, and now Malodorous Manatee
is taking a few Fridays off. I'd better oil the RustyBrain, this could
take awhile.
Brian Keller is an up-and-coming constructor who has
paired with Katie Hale, a freelance crossword editor who moved to
London so she could learn proper English.
20. Diamonds can cut glass, corundum can scratch most other minerals, et al.?: COOL HARD FACTS. I wanted COLD HARD FACTS for the longest time, which lead to 4D = SEA-something (like SEA-worthy?) and messed up the entire NW corner. The reason I wanted COLD HARD FACTS is it's a common expression, while COOL HARD FACTS is just a rather odd phrase.
34. Director's guidance to be more affable?: PLAY IT WARM. Got PLAY IT WARM quickly from perps, but again it's an odd phrase, while PLAY IT COOL is a very common expression.
41. Stuffed animals that go viral?: HOT FUZZIES. Here we go again. The expression is WARM FUZZIES not HOT FUZZIES. At this point, I was looking to swap temperatures between these answers. Take COOL from the first one to replace WARM in the second, then take WARM and move it down to third to replace HOT. Then move HOT to...? And I got lost going down a rabbit hole.
55. Increase pressure, or an apt title for this puzzle?: TURN UP THE HEAT. The themers progressively increase in temperature: COOL → WARM → HOT. In my fantasy revision, the progression would be: COLD → COOL → WARM which would make all the answers real phrases. But I guess "Some Like it Hot" (a must-see comedy classic!).
Across:
1. Signal and Line: APPS. Signal and Line are both messaging APPS (applications) for mobile phones. Signal was in the news recently because of it's improper use by the presidential staff.
5. Is into: DIGS. "I dig your new DIGS!"
9. Espresso or cappuccino, to Italians: CAFFE. Those Italians! It's like they have a different word for everything.
14. King's address: SIRE.
15. Lot of land: ACRE.
16. Group calling strikes: UNION. Umpires also call strikes and are part of a UNION - the MLBUA (Major League Baseball Umpires Association). I betcha C.C. knew that.
17. Heartfelt request: PLEA.
18. Plane section: TAIL. Plane sections are also common in geometry. In anatomy, the horizontal section is the "transverse plane."
19. Clichéd: TIRED. I'm sick and clichéd of this.
20. [theme]
23. Contented: AT PEACE.
24. Blanketed: COATED. I grew up in Williamsburg, Va. The occasional blanket of snow transformed the colonial area.
27. Crime lab evidence: DNA. DeoxyriboNucleic Acid - you can tell that I'm fun at parties.
28. Some Kellogg grads: MBAS. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is named after the inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, due to hefty endowments from his son. My first son, when he was little, asked for "chicken cereal." Took us a while to figure it out.
30. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA. Drug Enforcement Administration - the name sounds like they’re federally sanctioned drug dealers.
31. Quadri- doubled: OCTO.
34. [theme]
37. Staff leaders: CLEFS. We're all familiar with the treble and bass clef symbols, but that alto clef is just plain weird.
39. Colonial insect: ANT. Frequent visitors to Colonial Williamsburg. Uncles, too.
40. Take root: SET IN.
41. [theme]
44. Bottom of the barrel stuff: LEES.
45. Brink: EVE. Brink seemed to be an odd clue for EVE until I thought of "brink of collapse," meaning something imminent. Suitable for a Friday.
46. Votes of no confidence: NAYS.
47. "The __ and the Pussycat": OWL. "The OWL and the Pussy-Cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870. In it, he made up a "runcible spoon," now commonly called a spork.
49. Listing agent's field: REALTY.
51. Baja breaks: SIESTAS.
55. [theme]
58. Fast Amtrak train: ACELA. Although pretty slow compared to other nation's trains.
60. Euphoric feeling: GLEE.
61. Org. concerned with ergonomics: OSHA. The ever popular Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
62. Suddenly took interest: SAT UP.
63. Moon goddess: LUNA. The Roman goddess was often depicted with a crescent moon on her head. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Sol, those aren't horns!"
64. Designer Cassini: OLEG.
65. Book maker: PRESS. Here's a book made for me by an old friend in Williamsburg's bookbinders shop (he needed the practice). The PRESS, however, was in the print shop. Pages were printed, then delivered for binding. Creating the marbled endpapers was yet another craft.
66. Dr. Frankenstein's assistant: IGOR. "It's pronounced eye-gore."
67. Tiny bits: TADS.
Down:
1. Pet welfare org.: ASPCA. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - but you already knew that.
2. Series opener?: PILOT. "What's our vector, Victor?" This one wasn't series-ous. (Hey, they all can't be good!)
3. Scrub-up stop: PRE-OP. I found this one hard to parse, especially with my COLD error.
4. Leakproof: SEALED OFF. And this one, too, for the same reason.
5. Fixed point in a mobile contract: DATA CAP. America OnLine, who is discontinuing its dial-up service soon (wait, they still have it?), once sent out promotional CDs offering 10 hours of free service! At 56 kilobits per second, you could download about two minutes of high-def video before hitting the DATA CAP. An entire movie in standard def would take several days!
6. "My thoughts are with you": I CARE.
7. Calendar page, maybe: GRID.
8. __-control: SELF.
9. Save on spending: CUT COSTS.
10. Singer Baker: ANITA. ANITA Baker is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter known for her soulful ballads and three-octave vocal range.
11. What one might Bumble into?: FIRST DATE. Fun clue. Hopefully, they've heard the "birds and the bees" lecture already.
12. Cheetah, to Wonder Woman: FOE.
13. Wrap up: END.
21. Kylo's father: HAN. HAN Solo. In the Star Wars universe, Kylo Ren's real name is Ben Solo. I guess that's true, but it's like finding out Yoda's real name is Joe.
22. Berry in a yogurt bowl: ACAI. After years as a common crossword clue, I thought you'd might like to see some. ACAI berries are about the size of grapes and nutritionally similar to blueberries.
25. Uncanny: EERIE.
26. Consigns to hell: DAMNS. Confines to hall: DORMS.
28. Buffing and painting services: MANIS. I don't know about my nails, but my car could sure use the help.
29. Tera- finisher: BYTE.
31. Shade in the desert: OCHER. I'm always on the lookout for a twisted clue, especially at the end of the week, so I wasn't fooled into thinking oasis.
32. Orange studder, at Christmas: CLOVE. CLOVE oranges, also known as pomanders, release a pleasant, spicy scent as the fruit dries. I remember these festive holiday decorations from my youth in Williamsburg.
33. Private meeting: TETE-A-TETE.
35. Averse to work: LAZY. I know I should finish up my crossword review, but first I think I'll sit back in my La-Z-Boy and watch the late... night... mooovie... zzzz...
36. "Gosh darn it": WELL SHOOT.
38. South-facing gardens, maybe: SUNTRAPS. New to me. A SUNTRAP is a location, often in a garden or outdoor space, that is strategically designed to capture and retain sunlight beneficial for plants.
42. "Pillowtalk" singer: ZAYN. ZAYN Malik is an English singer-songwriter who went solo after a successful career as part of the five-piece boy band One Direction. Yes, this is him as a child (tats added later - I hope).
43. "Rumor has it": SO I HEAR. Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" was released nearly 50 (!) years ago. I'm getting old...
48. Teeny-tiny: WEE.
50. Humdingers: LULUS.
51. Dictation taker: STENO.
52. Physicist Nikola: TESLA. Few people know that he invented the TESLA coil while working as a "special effects" tech in early horror films. Well, that's what IGOR told me, anyway.
53. Reacted to a laser show, perhaps: AAHED. Ooh, AAHED is bad.
54. Bambi and others: STAGS. STAGS usually refer to mature male deer, so including a fawn or young buck like Bambi is a stretch.
56. Knobbly citrus: UGLI.
57. Socket filler: PLUG.
58. Egyptian viper: ASP.
59. Token in The Game of Life: CAR. When Monopoly first replaced the flat iron with a cat in 2013, I was mad they didn't nix the thimble instead. Every other token was a miniature version of something, but the thimble was virtually life-size so should be the odd man out. Also, if lost, it could easily be replaced by a real one.
11 comments:
I noted the progressive
“heating up” as I did the puzzle, so the reveal was no surprise to me. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
The SW was the only tricky-ish section, I had OCHRE x RIM. Also, even after I got TETE-A-TETE, I was still convinced that the "private" there was a military misdirection and the clue looked a bit odd. It's not, it's a straightforward clue.
Good morning!
My take on the theme is a little different than RB's. I agree that the COLD, COOL, WARM expressions are more common, but the themers are what you get when you TURN UP THE HEAT. "Orange studder" was, and continues to be, a mystery. The SW almost did me in. With SUNscAPe, OCHre, and rim (EVE), nothing was working down there. TÈTE À TÈTE finally broke the logjam. Phew, disaster avoided.
Oops, I forgot to thank Brian and Katie for the amusement -- d-o was amused. Thanx for subbing again, RB -- good job.
I didn't know that Bumble was an online dating app where women initiate the first date. Was trying to think of a literary or media character. All I got was the Bumblebee movie.
So now I get the bee picture.
DNF, Googling "orange studder." My high point was getting SIESTA without a single perp. Guessed that Wonder Woman named her son Cheetah, then erased son for FOE (what does Forge Of Empires have to do with Wonder Woman?) Also, oasis->OCHER, and sun wraps->SUN TRAPS.
Who can forget the dark song EVE of Destruction by Barry Mcguire. Well. 60 years later, the world's still hanging in there.
SELF control. I don't understand the concept.
Yesterday I watched an episode of The Games that Built America that featured the invention of The Game of Life and Monopoly. The original Game of Life was very dark, and included a "suicide" square. The original Monopoly concept was that players would choose tokens (such as the thimble) from items they had in the house. It wasn't until Parker Brothers bought the rights that the game shipped with game tokens.
Does MANI need an indication in the clue that the fill will be an abbreviation, or is MANI like "fridge," a word unto itself?
Thanks to Brian and Katie for the challenging Friday grid, and to RB for another fine subbing. BTW - I once worked with a guy who was married to a Katie. One day I saw him coming out of a motel room with Edith, one of our co-workers. I took him aside and said "I know it's none of my business, but I just want to remind you of that wise old saying - 'you can't have your Kate and Edith too.'"
Jinx, that's so convoluted it almost qualifies as a shaggy dog story.
Good Morning:
My postings have been hit or miss this week due to personal circumstances, but I’ve kept up with the daily offerings and comments. I found today’s on the challenging side, with unknowns of Sun Traps, MBAs, Zayn etc., plus the not readily parsed Well, Shoot, Data Cap, First Date., etc. I fell into the Oasis/Ocher trap and my ignorance of Star Wars caused a Ren/Han error, not to mention thinking Cheetah was an animal. All in all, even though I completed this w/o help, it took an inordinate amount of time with no sense of satisfaction or enjoyment. IOW, for me, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
Thanks, Brian and Katie, and thanks, RB, for the entertaining and humorous review. Thanks, also, for subbing for the Chairman and his partner in crime, MalMan, in the coming weeks.
Have a great day.
FIR. I had some trouble with the area around tete-a-tete, but i persisted and finished it. My biggest problem was when I threw down oasis for desert shade. I wasn't thinking of a color. Once I repaired that things fell into place.
After I had the reveal the theme became obvious, but not before. I'm unfamiliar with the phrase "play it warm." That had me flummoxed for a bit.
But overall this was an enjoyable puzzle.
Took 12:16 today to finish this tepid puzzle.
Jinx, I certainly haven't forgotten "Eve of Destruction." It's on a playlist of mine.
The clue/answer for "clove" means nothing to me.
Speaking of, if we didn't add "acai" and "ugli" to the Corner meal plan, we should.
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