Theme: Field day.
Caroline Hand has published crossword puzzles in several major newspapers over the last couple of years. You might say she is having quite a field day! Today she treats us to a field day as well, with four echoing theme clues, and no reveal. The theme clues and answers, symmetrically placed in rows Across, are:
20. Field: GRASSY PASTURE. A straightforward type of field.
27. Field: LINCOLN ACTRESS. Sally Field played Mary Todd Lincoln in the 2012 Spielberg film.
43. Field: CATCH A GROUNDER. Scoop up a baseball that is rolling on the ground and return it to play.
51. Field: BRANCH OF STUDY. Discipline, area, specialty, subject, domain.
Having fielded these clues, it's time to dig into the rest of them.
Across:1. Oodles and oodles (of): GOBS.
5. Language of poet Nima Yooshij: FARSI. Nima Yooshij (1895 - 1960) is considered the father of modern Persian poetry.
 |
| Nima Yooshij |
10. Future esq.'s exam: LSAT. Law School Admission Test.
14. Share a border: ABUT.
15. Sweet sandwiches: OREOS.
16. Empire centered at Cuzco: INCA.
17. iPhone speaker: SIRI.
18. Marner of fiction: SILAS. Silas Marner is a novel published in 1861 by English author George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann Evans. The main character is a humble weaver who suffers various misfortunes, but whose life is given new meaning when he adopts a little orphan girl. The novel impressed me a lot when I was a young girl given to reading Victorian novels.
19. Extol the good points of: TOUT.
20. [Theme clue]
23. Cooling syst. meas.: BTU. British Thermal Unit is a measure of heat.
25. Jockey (for): VIE.
26. Rite place: ALTAR.
27. [Theme clue]
32. Furnish with funds: ENDOW.
33. Tortilla dough: MASA. Masa is dough made from corn that has been soaked in limewater, washed, and hulled. The dried corn is ground up and reconstituted with water to make dough for tortillas.
34. "The Banana Boat Song" opener: DAY-O. Harry Belafonte and others adapted this Jamaican song about dock workers loading bananas onto ships at night and looking forward to daylight when they could go home.
Day-o, day-o
Daylight come and me wan' go home ...
Work all night on a drink of rum
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Stack banana till de morning come
Daylight come and me wan' go home
35. Marinade of vinegar and spices: ADOBO. Adobo is an indigenous Filipino cooking process in which meat, seafood, or vegetables are browned in oil, and then marinated and simmered in vinegar, salt or soy sauce, and garlic. Spanish or Mexcian adobo is a red chili sauce. The two types of adobo take their names from the Spanish adobar, to marinate.
37. Tracy Marrow's stage name: ICE T. We've seen Ice T here a few times recently. He looks tough, but is apparently grid-friendly.
 |
| Ice T |
41. Words of clarification: AS IN.
42. Flip out: GO APE.
43. [Theme clue]
48. Like some seals: EARED. True seals, like harbor seals, have no external ear flaps. Eared seals like sea lions and fur seals do have external ear flaps. But all seals have ear openings.
49. Sharing word: OUR.
50. Cozy burrow: DEN.
51. [Theme clue]
56. Microsoft's web browser: EDGE.
57. Contact, in a way: EMAIL.
58. Spa supplies: OILS.
61. Barrel of laughs: RIOT.
62. Pasta often served alla vodka: PENNE. Penne (a tube shaped pasta) is served with a sauce of heavy cream, tomatoes, and a splash of vodka.
 |
| penne alla vodka |
63. Simple fastener: SNAP.
64. Weight units for whales: TONS.
65. Emotional state: ANGST.
66. Like some batters: EGGY.
Down:
1. Fun time: GAS.
2. Kimono sash: OBI.
 |
| A woman wearing a kimono with an obi at her waist. |
3. Dry red wine: BURGUNDY.
4. __ the pot: STIR.
5. Accessory brand known for watches: FOSSIL. When youngest daughter was in high school, she longed for a nice watch. I pictured something dainty, but she chose something like this:
6. No longer in bed: ARISEN.
7. Lean (on): RELY.
8. Stuff available in bars: SOAP.
9. Rae of "American Fiction": ISSA. I remember her from her HBO show, Insecure. And from crossword puzzles.
7. Lean (on): RELY.
8. Stuff available in bars: SOAP.
9. Rae of "American Fiction": ISSA. I remember her from her HBO show, Insecure. And from crossword puzzles.
10. Younger, as a sibling: LITTLE. No matter how old you get, your little sister is your little sister.
11. Rooting parts: SNOUTS.
12. Legends, for example: ACURAS. Honda introduced its luxury car brand, Acura, with the Legend sedan in 1985. It was manufactured through 1995.
13. Home run, in baseball slang: TATER. Perhaps from hitting a ball over the fence into the potato fields, back in the day.
21. Declare without shame: AVOW.
22. Indie pop duo Tegan and __: SARA. CanadianEh!, do you know these Canadian twin sisters?
 |
| Tegan and Sara |
23. Came out in the wash?: BLED.
24. Jukebox musical whose second act begins with "Private Dancer": TINA. A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which most of the songs are well-known popular songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Tina: The Tina Turner Musical depicts her life from humble beginnings to rock 'n roll superstar. It's been on stages around the world since 2018.
28. Baby's noise: COO.
29. In the middle of: AMONG.
30. Hailed ride: CAB.
31. "The Search for General __": food documentary: TSO. I learned from puzzles about the Chinese American dish called General Tso's chicken.
35. Hosiery shade: ASH. This vintage package says the color is Ash. I guess I'd call it taupe.
36. Domingo, por ejemplo: DIA. Sunday, for example: Day. (Spanish.)
37. Physicist's particle: ION.
38. Summer gig for an aspiring golfer, perhaps: CADDYING.
39. Foil kin: ÉPÉE. Types of swords used in fencing.
40. Beach bird: TERN.
41. Current options: AC/DC.
42. Buddhist teacher: GURU.
43. Elliptical workout, e.g., informally: CARDIO. Cardiovascular exercise elevates your heart rate. An elliptical machine allows you to achieve that while being gentle on your joints.
44. Old kingdom of Spain: ARAGON.
45. Core convictions: TENETS.
46. Prepares to bow: ROSINS. Violin rosin is made from pine resins. A violinist applies rosin to his bow -- or "rosins" the bow -- to create friction between the bow hair and the strings, and thereby create sound.
 |
| NaomiZ on cello, big brother and little sister on violin, 1966 |
47. Retail store: OUTLET.
48. Longtime "At the Movies" co-host: EBERT.
52. Filter letters: HEPA.
53. Prophetic sign: OMEN.
54. Venom source: FANG.
55. Capful, perhaps: DOSE.
59. Trail behind: LAG.
60. Figure in a covert op: SPY.
48. Longtime "At the Movies" co-host: EBERT.
52. Filter letters: HEPA.
53. Prophetic sign: OMEN.
54. Venom source: FANG.
55. Capful, perhaps: DOSE.
59. Trail behind: LAG.
60. Figure in a covert op: SPY.
Here's the grid:
Solvers, did you have a field day with Caroline's puzzle?
Was it a GAS? Or did it cause you ANGST?
I am on the EDGE of my seat waiting to know.
-- NaomiZ
3 comments:
I didn’t know what
“Lincoln actress” meant until I came on this site. Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle of varied meanings of a single word. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Didn't know that Caroline is an old hand at cw creation. Wasn't familiar with FOSSIL, and briefly tried AVALON, but the perps set me straight. Nicely done, Caroline and NaomiZ. (Do you still play the cello? I remember when Hermione Gingold did her cello shtick on TV back in the day.)
FIW, missing with LINgOLN ACTRESS x gOO. Shoulda, coulda. Hand up for not remembering the movie, but I knew i must be Sally Field. I
got EARED without benefit of perp, so I got that goin' for me. Which is nice. (Fitting to pay homage to CADDYshack today. You probably know that every line delivered by Bill Murray's Carl Spackler was unscripted.)
I think I linked to The Banna Boat Song last week. Harry's finest achievement, IMO.
I'm just a country boy, but is there any type of PASTURE other than a GRASSY one? Kinda seems like making an appointment with the "tooth dentist."
Is bow a verb when it refers to a musical instrument? Easy fill, but why not prepare a bow instead of prepare to bow? Seems a little too cute to me, for no real purpose, not even much of a misdirection.
Baseball has many terms besides TATER for a home run. "Homer" (of course,) "dinger," "four-bagger," "big fly," "moon shot," "went yard," and probably ones I don't remember from the days before my divorce from MLB.
Thanks to Caroline for the fun Thursday challenge. My favorite was the clue for ACURAS. And thanks to NaomiZ for another fun narrative, and FLN the interesting information on God's name. (Makes me wonder if it should even be capitalized.)
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