Tuesday, April 15, 2025 Victor Schmitt

The company you keep ...  The circles "repeat" an abbreviation for legal business.

15-Across. With some exceptions: IN CERTAIN CASES.  INC. is short for Incorporated.

27-Across. Place to pick up tickets at a theater, perhaps: WILL CALL COUNTER.  LLC is short for a Limited Liability Company.  A Limited Liability Company is a business structure that protects its owners from personal liability. The company combines the tax benefits of a partnership with the liability protection of a corporation.

41-Across. Thin Mint or Trefoil: GIRL SCOUT COOKIE.  CO is short for Company.

And the unifier:

55-Across. Goal of store loyalty programs, and what can be found in 15-, 27-, and 41-Across: REPEAT BUSINESS.

Here's the Grid so you can see the Repeated Businesses:

Across:

1. Spanish "more": MAS.  Today's Spanish Lesson.

4. Table salt, to a chemist: NaCl.  Table salt is an ionic compound composed of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) ions.

8. NBA great O'Neal, to fans: SHAQ.  Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (b. Mar. 6, 1972) played basketball for LSU before going professional.  There is a statue of him on the LSU campus.

12. "__ my words ... ": MARK.

13. French fashion monthly: ELLE.

14. __ Xtra: Dr Pepper rival: PIBB.

18. Queasiness: NAUSEA.

19. High degrees: NTHs.

20. GP's gp.: AMA.  A General Practitioner might be a member of the American Medical Association.

21. Mint-garnished rum cocktail: MOJITO.  Yummers!  This traditional Cuban cocktail is made of The cocktail white rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, and mint.

24. Will Ferrell holiday film: ELF.  Not a fan of Will Ferrell (né John William Ferrell; b. July 16, 1967).

31. Speaker output: AUDIO.

32. Impulse: URGE.

33. Tofu base: SOYBEAN.

36. Ancestry.com service: DNA TEST.

39. With 51-Down, soothing plant: ALOE.  //  And 51-Down. See 39-Across: VERA.

40. Boxing matches: BOUTS.

48. Fine and dandy: A-OK.

49. Gretel's brother: HANSEL.

50. Online addresses: Abbr.: IPs.  As in an Internet Protocol address.

51. Workshop clamp: VISE.

52. Pouch spun by a spider: EGG SAC.

60. At all: EVER.

61. Country road: LANE.

62. Son of Hera and Zeus: ARES.  It's all Greek to me.

63. TV warrior princess played by Lucy Lawless: XENA.  It's been over 25 years since Lucy Lawless (née Lucille Frances Ryan; b. Mar. 29, 1968) portrayed Xena: Warrior Princess. Lucy Lawless is from Auckland, New Zealand, which is also the country where Xena was filmed.

64. Southernmost Great Lake: ERIE.  Whenever I see Erie in the puzzle, I think of our old friend Abejo.

65. Tied the knot: WED.

Down:

1. Car with a clutch: MANUAL.

2. Circle segments: ARCS.

3. __-Ball: arcade game: SKEE.

4. Pickleball barrier: NET.

5. Pie __ mode: À LA.  Today's French lesson.

6. Medical center: CLINIC.

7. Gave for a while: LENT TO.

8. Mani-pedi spots: SPAs.

9. Casual hellos: HIs!

10. Fiver: ABE.  I never heard the term Abe as referring to a $5 bill, but it makes sense.

11. TD pass throwers, perhaps: QBs.  Think football.

12. Florida metropolitan area with an Art Deco District: MIAMI.  The Art Deco Historic District in Miami Beach is a known for its well-preserved Art Deco architecture, featuring pastel-colored buildings, geometric shapes, and intricate design details, making it a living museum of the 1930s. 

16. Holiday Inn competitor: RAMADA.

17. French pet name that also means "cabbage": CHOU.  Today's French lesson.  Children in France are sometimes called Mon petit chou, or Ma petite chou, which is a term of endearment.  It literally translates, however, to my little cabbage.

18. Casual denial: NAW.

22. Lena of "Chocolat": OLIN.  This Swedish actress used to make frequent appearances in the crossword puzzles.  Chocolat is a 2000 film, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Joanne Harris.  The film is about a young women who appears in a French village and opens a small chocolate shop.  Soon, she and her chocolate influence the lives of the townspeople of this repressed French community.  Lena Olin (née Lena Maria Jonna Olin; b. Mar. 22, 1955) was one of those impacted by the chocolate.

23. Former "Idol" judge, to fans: J.LO.

24. Raison d'__: ÊTRE.  More of today's French lesson.  This phrase translates to the "reason for being." 

25. Trio on a stool: LEGS.

26. Guitar ridge: FRET.

28. Tag: LABEL.

29. Billiards stick: CUE.

30. Bananas: NUT-SO.

33. Epic story: SAGA.  The Welsh author Ken Follett (b. June 5, 1949), is known for writing sagas.  He wrote Pillars of the Earth, which follows several families in medieval England.

34. Mixed bag: OLIO.

35. Big name in peppermint patties: YORK.

36. Pour affection (on): DOTE.

37. Cell centers: NUCLEI.

38. From __ Z: A TO.  We saw this phrase recently.

40. Help wait tables: BUS.  Did you ever wonder where the term To Bus Tables originated?  Bus in this sense is a shortened form of Omnibus.  Originally, the term was Omnibus Boy, the person who did many jobs in a restaurant, then it was shortened to Bus boy, and from there the word Bus became a verb.

42. Branch of Islam: SHIA.

43. Stronghold with a keep: CASTLE.  What exactly is a Castle Keep?

44. Sign of weak cellular service: ONE BAR.

45. Smooched: KISSED.

46. "Skip me": I PASS.

47. Keyboard key that exits full-screen mode: ESC.

53. Nibble (at): GNAW.

54. "Sommersby" actor Richard: GERE.  Sommersby was a 1993 film about a man who returned home after fighting in the Civil War.  He seemed very different and this aroused suspicion in his wife and others, but  his tobacco-growing scheme became profitable for the whole town, so everyone was happy. Then he was accused of the murder of a man killed many years before.  Richard Gere (né Richard Tiffany Gere; b. Aug. 31, 1949) portrayed Jack Sommersby.  Jody Foster portrayed his wife.

55. Harrison of "My Fair Lady": REX.  Sir Rex Harrison (né Reginald Carey Harrison; Mar. 5, 1908 ~ June 2, 1990) portrayed Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

56. New Year's __: EVE.

57. Calligrapher's tool: PEN.

58. Aussie's college: UNI.  Hello to our friend Kazie.  I hope she is doing well.  She used to make reference to her day at Uni.

59. "Catch my drift?": SEE.

We're all in Good Company here.  I hope this puzzle distracted you from the pain of paying your taxes today.

Many thanks to Tony who filled in for me last week.

חתולה

Chag Samech and Happy Easter!

Monday April 14, 2025 Jeanne Breen

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Today's theme is:  

Dick Clark and interviewees on American Bandstand

Let's begin with the unifier:

62. Classic David Bowie song with the lyric "Put on your red shoes," and an apt title for this puzzle: LET'S DANCE.  

The four themed clues each contain a word that names a DANCE style.

17 Across. Unexpected development in a story: PLOT TWIST.  

Chubby Checker (b. 1941) is a famous TWISTer.

24 Across. Textile pattern with round spots: POLKA DOTS.  

The polka dance traces its roots to the Czech Republic, specifically the region of Bohemia, in the early 1830s. The name “polka” is derived from the Czech word pulka, meaning “half,” referring to the dance's half-step movements.

38 Across. Hubbub: HUSTLE AND BUSTLE.  

John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977)

50 Across. Youth-oriented fashion magazine: TEEN VOGUE.  This one might have been the trickiest to suss. Youth gave us TEEN and fashion magazine (along with a few perps) gave us VOGUE.

Vogue, or 'voguing' is a type of improvisational dance inspired by the poses of models in fashion magazines. Its popularity surged when Madonna released her 1990 music video.

Here's the David Bowie song:  

This video was filmed in 1983 in the Australian outback (not the restaurant).

The themers and unifier were not as tight as we are used to seeing but I did not count that as a bad thing. Just as in DANCE moves, variety and a fresh approach can be a step in the right direction.

Next, grab a partner and we'll swing over to the other clues:

Across:

1. The "T" of the education acronym STEM: TECH.  Sci., TECH, Eng., & Math

5. Baroque composer of more than 200 cantatas: BACH.  Enjoy this beautiful music while you browse through the other answers:  

Bach - Cantata Jesu, der du meine Seele BWV 78 - Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society

9. Nest material: TWIGS.  In watching the Bear Valley Eagles' nest , I have learned that eagles are obsessive nest builders. Shadow (in the foreground) and his mate Jackie made 124 nest material deliveries in March alone. Mind you this was to an existing, functioning nest. They call Shadow the "branch manager". LOL!  

14. Cuatro y cuatro: OCHO.  4 + 4 = 8 in Spanish

On a related note,  ATE is slang used to mean someone did something exceptionally well. It is similar to "slayed" or "killed". Then that led to 4+4 as another way to say ate because ate is a homophone for eight. Given that ATE frequently appears in grids, it is possible we will see it clued this way...but probably not on a Monday.

15. Potatoes, in Indian cooking: ALOO.  

I stumbled upon this one last week while looking for po-tay-to / po-tah-to.

16. Desert pit stop: OASIS.

19. Me.-to-Fla. route: US ONE.  It ends in Key West, FL.  

20. Shade of many an Easter egg: PASTEL.  Talk about clues that are Easter eggs!  

21. Concert souvenirs, casually: MERCH.  MERCHandise

23. "I wouldn't __ you wrong!": STEER.

28. Purple palm berry: ACAI.

30. Out jogging, say: ON A RUN.

31. Place for a "me day": SPA.

34. Bonus: EXTRA.  

37. Ivy League school in Connecticut: YALE.

42. Flower in some van Gogh paintings: IRIS.  

43. Ice cream serving: SCOOP.  Before a SCOOP of ice-cream was served in a cone, it was served in a penny lick. Watch this video to learn why they were banned in London in 1899. (2:17 min.)  

44. Always, in verse: E'ER.  EvER

45. Call back: REDIAL.  We used to say this back in the day when phones had DIALs. Also, remember how you could dial *69 and it would automatically call back the number of the last incoming call?

48. Gift toppers: BOWS.

53. "That's possible": IT MAY.

57. Insinuate: GET AT.  

58. Disquiet: UNEASE.

59. Blue-gray shade: SLATE.

64. Praline nut: PECAN.  These are DH's favorites.

65. Breed of horse with a high-set tail: ARAB.  ARAB is short for ARABian. 

Imaging the Moors riding these flighty horses in battle against the European knights riding stout horses bred to carry the weight of their armor and pull wagons. Eventually Europeans bred the two horses, creating more well-rounded horse breeds.

Arabian horse

66. Massage target: KNOT.  A "me day" at a SPA could help.

67. Early web portal: YAHOO.

68. Some members of the fam: SIBS.  family and SIBlingS

69. Coll. entrance exams: SATS.

Down:

1. Collectibles brand with a "Cards 101" section on its website: TOPPS.  Cards 101 mimics an introductory college course's label -- as in PSYC 101.  TOPPS Cards 101 website

2. Panache: ECLAT.

3. Made a selection: CHOSE.  Notice that the past tense of the verb in the clue matches the past tense of the answer.

4. Drink served with dim sum: HOT TEA.  Dim sum is a traditional Chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes and is usually accompanied by TEA. Similar to the way the Spanish eat tapas, the dishes are shared among family and friends. Typically dim sum is consumed in restaurants for brunch.  

Life should be more like dim sum. We should all learn to get oolong.
(Yah, I did not come up with that on my own.)

5. Cry noisily: BAWL.

6. Boxer Muhammad: ALI.

7. Cran and vodka cocktail: COSMO.  Cranberry is shortened, so is COSMOpolitan.

8. Concierge's workplace: HOTEL.  Concierges assist HOTEL guests by providing local information, booking activities, making recommendations, etc.

9. Bird on a box of Froot Loops cereal: TOUCAN.  Compared to the size of their bodies, TOUCANs have the largest bills of all birds.  

I liked this 2 min. TOUCAN 101 video because 

it features several colorful varieties of this species.

10. Times to do laundry: WASHDAYS.  

11. Prefix meaning "equal": ISO-.  For example, an ISOsceles triangle has two equal sides.

12. Sloe __ fizz: GIN.

13. NNW opposite: SSE.  compass directions

18. Bygone Toyota model: TERCEL.  Toyota stopped production of the TERCEL for the American market in 1998.

22. "Citizen Kane" studio: RKO.

24. Pocket breads: PITAS.  As it turns out, I recently sent C.C. this pic of sourdough pita breads in my oven:  

The one on the left has been in for 5 min. and is ready to come out.
The one on the right just went in.
(I bake them on a pizza stone.)

25. Speechify: ORATE.

26. Wedding gown fabric: TULLE.  

27. Show scorn: SNEER.

29. Log chopper: AXE.

31. Jersey, for one: SHIRT.  I liked the ambiguity! I had SHoRe for a minute. 

32. Baby food, usually: PUREE.

33. Parenthetical remark: ASIDE.  Some say that parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

35. GOP org.: RNC.  Grand Old Party and Republican National Committee

36. Photoshop maker: ADOBE.  software

39. Chinese beer brand: TSINGTAO.  

Is it ever served with dim sum?

40. Fan's "I do not like this!": BOO.

41. Detectable by smell, in a way: UPWIND.  Def.: (adj. or adv.) in the direction from which the wind is blowing.

46. Lotion brand for sensitive skin: AVEENO.

47. Place to park a car: LOT.  

A LOT of cars
(See what I did there?)

49. Thick cuts of meat: STEAKS.

51. Extravagant parties: GALAS.

52. Wombs: UTERI.

54. Divine nourishment: MANNA.  

55. Fancy necktie: ASCOT.

56. Throws forcefully, in slang: YEETS.  The first known use of YEET as a verb was in 2017.

58. Some computer ports: USBs.

59. Secret agent: SPY.  

60. Grazing meadow: LEA.  

my dog, Meadow
I was trying to capture the rainbow in the background but it was more visible
to the naked eye than to the camera.

61. Düsseldorf "D'oh!": ACH.  This clue was fun! If you are watching Die Simpsons in Düsseldorf, Germany, Homer might say ACH!, instead of D'oh!

63. Soda can opener: TAB.  Sometimes opener in a clue refers to a prefix. This time it is simply the device used to open the container. 

She is happy because she used a TAB to open her Tab cola.

Before you close your browser TAB, you might want to check out the grid:  

That's all. Now it is time for me to Boogie on down the road....