Ode to Joy. Ode to Joy is the fourth and final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
20-Across. * Lines on a family tree: RELATION SHIPS. Elation
36-Across. * Treated unseriously: MADE LIGHT OF. Delight
42-Across. * App with layered satellite images: GOOGLE EARTH. Glee
And the unifier:
57-Across. Feeling euphoric, and what the answers to the starred clues literally are: FILLED WITH JOY. Each theme answer is filled with a synonym for Joy.
Too soon? The stores don't seem to think so.
Across:
1. Material for a "No. 1" finger: FOAM.
5. Squarish: BOXY.
9. Maddow's channel: MSNBC. The company will soon be changing its name to MS NOW. Rachel Maddow (née Rachel Anne Maddow; b. Apr. 1, 1973) is a television news program host and liberal political commentator.
14. Give the __-over: ONCE.
15. Mountaineer's goal: ACME.
16. "Word has it ... ": I HEAR ...
17. What "vintage" often means: USED.
18. Perlman of "Barbie": RHEA. Rhea Perlman (née Rhea Jo Perlman; b. Mar. 31, 1948) is probably best known for her role as Carla on Cheers. She portrayed Ruth Handler (née Ruth Marianna Mosko; Nov. 4, 1916 ~ Apr. 27, 2002), the creator of the Barbie doll, in the 2023 movie, Barbie.
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| Ruth Handler on the left; Rhea Perlman on the right. |
19. "Impossible!": NO WAY!
23. Grimm offerings: TALES. Fairy Tales. The Brothers Grimm [Jacob (1785 ~ 1863) and William (1786 ~ 1859)] collected German folk tales and compiled them into the stories we sort of know. Disney sanitized the gory parts out of most of the tales.
24. Life hack, e.g.: TIP.
25. Far from festive: SAD.
28. Fills fully: SATES.
31. Having limits: FINITE.
33. Gift topper: BOW.
38. Cornell University's namesake: EZRA. Ezra Cornell (Jan. 11, 1807 ~ Dec. 9, 1874) and Andrew Dickson White (Nov. 7, 1832 ~ Nov. 4, 1918) were the co-founders of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Ezra Cornell was also the founder of Western Union.
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| He looks charming. |
40. NAACP co-founder __ B. Wells: IDA. Ida B. Wells (née Ida Bell Wells; July 16, 1862 ~ Mar. 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist and civil rights activist.
41. Fallon predecessor: LENO. Jimmy Fallon (né James Thomas Fallon; b. Sept. 1974) took over The Tonight Show after Jay Leno (né James Douglas Muir Leno; b. Apr. 28, 1950) retired.
47. Take a gander: SEE.
48. West Coast burger chain: IN-N-OUT.
49. Water nymph in Greek mythology: NAIAD.
51. Not pos.: NEG. Not Positive, but Negative.
52. Setting for a mad scientist: LAB.
54. Writer's first effort: DRAFT.
62. British pop singer Lewis: LEONA. I am not familiar with Leona Lewis (née Leona Louise Lewis; b. Apr. 3, 1985).
64. Get as a reward: EARN.
65. Unpartnered: LONE.
66. 2020 film about Shaggy's canine sidekick: SCOOB.
67. "The Star-Spangled Banner" topic: FLAG.
68. Really rankles: IRKS. A crossword staple.
69. A little eccentric: DOTTY.
70. Doesn't gulp down: SIPS.
71. Driver on a movie set: ADAM. Adam Driver (né Adam Douglas Driver; b. Nov. 19, 1983) is an American actor. He portrayed Enzo Ferrari (né Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari; Feb. 18, 1898 ~ Aug. 14, 1988) in the 2023 movie Ferrari.
Down:
1. Final __: March Madness round: FOUR. College Basketball.
2. First stage: ONSET.
3. Speedy Northeast Corridor train: ACELA. This is becoming a crossword staple.
4. Olympian's haul: MEDALS. A brief history of Olympic medals.
5. Worker with a daily grind?: BARISTA.
6. Nueve preceder: OCHO. Today's Spanish math class.
7. Superheroes trained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters: X-MEN.
8. Sourdough starter component: YEAST.
9. Little pet that may be pot-bellied: MINI PIG. More than you ever wanted to know about Mini Pig varieties.
10. Boutique: SHOP.
11. Vox, Axios, Reuters, et al.: NEWS SITES. I initially tried News Media.
12. Barnyard bleat: BAA.
13. React to a tearjerker: CRY.
21. Squad: TEAM.
22. Audiophile's apparatus: HI-FI.
26. Show remorse: ATONE. The Day of Atonement is next Wednesday.
27. Crusoe creator: DeFOE. Daniel Defoe (1660 ~ Apr. 24, 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is best known for his novel Robinson Crusoe, which was published in 1719. This novel has been translated into over 100 languages!
29. Actress Falco: EDIE. Edie Falco (née Edith Falco; b. July 5, 1963) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles. She portrayed Carmela Soprano in the HBO series The Sopranos.
30. Midsize car: SEDAN.
32. Org. with Kraken on ice: NHL. The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in the National Hockey League.
33. Get the ball rolling: BEGIN.
34. Stratospheric shield: OZONE.
35. Metaphor for a bad start: WRONG FOOT.
37. Fictional archaeologist Croft: LARA. Angelina Jolie (b. June 4, 1975) portrayed Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider movies.
39. In the past: AGO.
43. Newborn soother: LULLABY.
44. Citation abbr.: ET AL. Today's Latin lesson.
45. Old news?: TIDINGS. I bring Tidings of Joy.
46. Comedian Kevin: HART. Kevin Darnell Hart (b. July 6, 1979) is also an actor.
50. Mexican flower: DAHLIA. They are beautiful flowers.
53. Issues to gripe about: BEEFS.
55. Nordic cruise sight: FJORD.
56. Toy truck brand: TONKA. We had a Tonka jeep when we were kids.
58. Playing to break a tie, briefly: IN OT. As in In Over Time.
59. "Melting clocks" painter Salvador: DALI. There is a Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, because a wealthy couple who were friends and patrons of Salvador Dalí (né Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí Doménech; b. May 11, 1904 ~ Jan. 23, 1989) donated their collection of his works to the city.
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| The Persistence of Memory |
60. Lunch order in a wheat tortilla: WRAP.
61. Old-timey assent: YES'M.
62. Trippy drug: LSD.
63. Sustainability prefix: ECO-.
Here's the Grid:
And there you have it, Jeremiah:
L'Shanah Tovah to all who observe. May you have a sweet year.
17 comments:
Well, this was a fun
puzzle, both in its subject matter and just how easy it was. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Make room for Ben. This was an easy romp, after d-o changed NERF to FOAM, that is. At 1a, no less. (Have I ever mentioned...?) Rats. The circles were probably superfluous, but didn't detract from the experience. I enjoyed your expo, Hahtoolah.
FIR without erasure, after getting my WAG @ DAHLIA x NAIAD.
Interesting that the March Madness© Final Four© games are held in April.
NHL preseason games have started!
Mild guess at Kevin HART. Oh yeah, the guy in the Capital One commercials with Katherine what's-her-name who played the mom who lost a different Kevin in Home Alone.
Thanks to Ben for the fun puzzle, and to Ha2la for another fine review.
RHEA Pearlman was fabulous as the Armenian buzzkill in Mom.
Two days in a row we've come up just one letter short of a pangram. Yesterday it was a J; today it's Q.
I can't find a V.
Took 5:06 today to get a happy ... ending.
I knew the Actresses of the Day (Rhea & Edie).
Oh JOY, circles!
Musings
-Those Grimm Fairy Tales were really, uh, grim. They needed Disneyfication.
-FINAL FOUR – 68 teams now qualify and you can bet #69 is very upset
-EDIE played a woman who really didn’t want to know how Tony made his money
-A strong storm dropped a limb from out neighbor’s tree on our deck. There doesn’t seem to be any damage but I see how my day is going to play out.
FIR. As usual I ignored the circles. I'd already done the Jumble where one expects to find circles. Not in crosswords!
This was typically Tuesday easy with no problems whatsoever.
So overall, without the circles, this was an enjoyable puzzle.
Hola! Smooth sailing today. Thank you, Ben Zimmer! It's a JOY to finish a puzzle without one, not a single wite-out! It IRKS me when I have errors, but I had none today.
And welcome back, Hahtoolah. Thank you for an excellent analysis.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Good Morning:
The “happy” theme was obvious from the get-go, but the revealer was a pleasant and fitting surprise. For some reason, I thought there was an I in Fjord, but apparently not. I have a grand niece named Dahlia, so that’s always fun to fill in. CSO to Bill W at Cornell; hope you’re well, Bill. Overall, it was an east, quick, and enjoyable solve.
Thanks, Ben, for an upbeat start to the day and thanks, Hahtoolah, for providing many chuckles with such comics as the Blah Blah Sheep and the Mad Scientist’s “tiny” wife.
Have a great day.
Easy, not East, Mr. Smarty Pants Autocorrect!
I was just thinking about Bill W this morning, noting he hasn’t checked in for a while. I always enjoy his insightful comments, and he was also a very good blogger.
Meh,
Hart/water nymph? This does not fill me with joy...
HG, Disneyfication? (How Grimm can you get?) don't you know that every Disney film has at least one (if not more) parent dead?
So I went looking for a silly theme link anyway, hoping it would improve my mood. I did find the two things that cheer me up, but wouldn't you know it, ruined by a red hat...
Bah Humbug...
6:30 am I saw the huge branch had fallen on our deck overnight
7:30 am I took some pix and sent them to one of our elderly neighbor's son
8:30 am Second son had been texted from his brother and showed up with a trailer and a chain saw
9:30 am He and I had the branch removed and sawn up and hauled away.
I liked this puzzle. Only had to change FELT to FOAM and AGED to USED.
It just dawned on me that it’s Bill G, not Bill W. Sorry for the error.
Not exactly bliss or ecstasy but I did have a sense of accomplishment when I FIR in 11:46. Sans circles may have made finding the theme words a little harder, but not much. No problems with names today as I finally remembered LEONA and EZRA, the others were gimmes. NAIAD always looks weird, and I never knew how to pronounce it till I LIU today, NY ad, nyad also being a variation. I’ve never been to an IN-N-OUT, we don’t have them here, but I know they are hugely popular among burger aficionados. We planted some DAHLIAs this year and they are just now blooming beautiful red. I don’t find BOXY vehicles very attractive. Thank you Ben for the DELIGHTful puzzle, and to Hahtoolah for the expo, vids, and cartoons.
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