Theme: I wish it would rain
Puzzling thoughts: Happy New Year Crossword Cornerites! I know you've heard this said over and over the past week, but as this is Chairman Moe's first appearance as a blogger in 2026, I figured it was OK for me to reiterate
As C.C. mentioned at the end of December, I will be doing just one blog a month; the first Wednesday. Today's puzzle is by none other than a noted crossword constructor, Joe Deeney. I am not certain, but this might be the first Deeney puzzle that I have recapped
I am pretty sure that Mr. Deeney did not intentionally cast a cloud on the expanded 16x15 grid, but his goal was to have a bit of rain fall on us with four entries and a reveal. 60 letters make up the five longest clue answers, so trying to squeeze that into a 15x15 grid would be impossible
The reveal: 64-across. Perfectly satisfactory, or an apt description of 18-, 26-, 39-, and 54-Across: RIGHT AS RAIN. All four of the entries have a type of rain on the RIGHT side of the phrase
18-across. 1991 operation that ended with the liberation of Kuwait: DESERT STORM
26-across. Celestial event such as the Perseids: METEOR SHOWER
39-across. Communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing: BIT TORRENT. This was an unknown and filled in via perps
54-across. Sweet finish for fried chicken: HONEY DRIZZLE
STORM, SHOWER, TORRENT, and DRIZZLE are all terms associated with rain
Here is the grid:
Across:
1. Running sport: TRACK.
6. Thrown for a loop: AWED.
10. Lure (in): ROPE.
14. Moves like a fleeing deer: BOUNDS.
16. Sushi wrapper: NORI.
17. Rep on arm day: CURL. There are such things as an "arm day"? My idea of a curl with my arm is lifting a pint of IPA or a bottle of ________
[entry]
20. Molecule part: ATOM.
21. Focus to win a contest?: STARE. I think I could out-stare most anyone if challenged
22. Flower bed tool: HOE.
23. Sault __ Marie: STE.
24. Sushi option: AHI. I tried eel before ahi
[entry]
30. "Succession" actor Culkin: KIERAN.
 |
| Macaulay (left) and Kieran - the Culkin brothers |
32. Steal from: ROB.
33. Prototype: Abbr.: ORIG. Short for original
34. Basilica niche: APSE. This word seems to find its niche only in crossword puzzles
35. __ economy: GIG. I was an Economics major in college and don't recall this ...
33. Prototype: Abbr.: ORIG. Short for original
34. Basilica niche: APSE. This word seems to find its niche only in crossword puzzles
35. __ economy: GIG. I was an Economics major in college and don't recall this ...
37. Structure whose roof begins near its foundation: A-FRAME. I tried lean to at first
[entry]
42. Two __ and a lie: icebreaker game: TRUTHS. Is this anything like truth or dare?
 |
| The rules |
44. Leb. neighbor: ISR. I tried SYR at first
45. Frittata need: EGGS. Along with other ingredients
49. Lucky acorns, eventually: OAKS. Just imagine if ALL of the fallen acorns turned into oak trees. Want to try to grow your own? Here is a brief tutorial, courtesy of YouTube
50. Superlative suffix: EST.
52. Balance sheet column: ASSETS. DEBITS also fit but I chose to be positive
[entry]
57. Large load: TON.
58. Cards, in NFL scores: ARI. CSO to all of us who live in ARIzona, although the way the Card(inal)s have been playing the past few years none of us are probably following them as intently
59. "__ got it!": I'VE.
60. Freeze over: ICE UP.
62. Make a bad impression?: DENT. With all of the fancy cameras on automobiles these days, a simple dent still requires a lot of cash to repair, especially if it's on the front or rear bumper
[reveal and theme entry]
68. Puts away the dishes?: EATS.
69. Taiwanese computer company: ACER. A decent, entry level machine
70. Stewpot with a conical lid: TAGINE. Never used one
71. Chow for a sow: SLOP.
72. Surrender, as territory: CEDE.
73. Stiletto alternative: WEDGE. I tried HEELS at first
Down:
1. Up in the air, briefly: TBD. To Be Determined
2. Fish-to-be: ROE. I wonder if the same tutorial for growing an oak from an acorn would work for growing a fish from a roe?
3. Down Under denizens: AUSSIES.
4. Site with tech reviews: CNET.
5. Hwang Dong-hyuk's "Squid Game," e.g.: K-DRAMA. We don't subscribe to Netflix (believe it or not) so this one had to fill in by itself
6. Hill worker: ANT. SEN and REP also fit
7. Happy holler: WOO HOO. I had YOO HOO at first
8. Representation of uncertainty on a graph: ERROR BARS. A function of Excel
9. Assists, in hoops lingo: DIMES. All you ever wanted to know about this phrase can be found in the hyperlink
10. Type of A/V connector: RCA. The history of RCA cables
11. Best in a pool: OUTSWIM. Not a commonly used word in crossword puzzles - according to Crossword Tracker it's been seen just four times, between 2008 and 2014
12. Mentee: PROTÉGÉ. Merriam-Webster defines this as: "one who is protected or trained or whose career is furthered by a person of experience, prominence, or influence"
13. __ Fudd: ELMER. One of many Warner-Brothers cartoon characters voiced by Mel Blanc
11. Best in a pool: OUTSWIM. Not a commonly used word in crossword puzzles - according to Crossword Tracker it's been seen just four times, between 2008 and 2014
12. Mentee: PROTÉGÉ. Merriam-Webster defines this as: "one who is protected or trained or whose career is furthered by a person of experience, prominence, or influence"
13. __ Fudd: ELMER. One of many Warner-Brothers cartoon characters voiced by Mel Blanc
15. Area of expertise: STRENGTH.
19. Good to go: SET.
24. Alias lead-in: AKA. William H. Bonney, Jr. - AKA, "Billy the Kid" Kind of resembles (67-across. Once called:) NEE.
25. With it: HIP. Moe-ku:
Maynard G Krebs shaved
His goatee, when prepping for
A hip replacement
27. Conclusion starter: ERGO.
28. Beeper?: HORN.
29. Provides an address: ORATES.
31. Chew out: REBUKE. Our Thesaurussaurus concurs
27. Conclusion starter: ERGO.
28. Beeper?: HORN.
29. Provides an address: ORATES.
31. Chew out: REBUKE. Our Thesaurussaurus concurs
36. Hardware and software support: I.T. SERVICE. According to Crossword Tracker, this phrase has been used just once before (in 2019) and was clued as: PC support
38. Feline in an alley: FERAL CAT. Moe-ku:
"Talladega Nights"
Actor's known for being hip:
A true, Ferrell Cat
40. Wee: ITSY. As in the itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie-yellow-polka-dot-bikini
40. Wee: ITSY. As in the itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie-yellow-polka-dot-bikini
41. Nabisco cracker: RITZ. Or, the last word in an Irving Berlin song, made famous by Dr. Frankenstein and the monster:
42. Painfully close to home: TOO REAL.
43. Met by chance: RAN INTO.
46. Make bank: GET PAID. Not counting the theme entries, Mr. Deeney used a total of nine two-word phrases in this puzzle
47. Classic Pontiac: GTO. One of many General Motors' A-Body cars of the 1960's
48. Oft-protected fig.: SSN. Never give out your Social Security Number to a stranger; but since I know all of you through many recaps I've done, here's mine: 123-45-6789
51. Completely surrounded: SIEGED.
53. Move back and forth: SEESAW. A Moe-ku from the archives:
Jacob and his twin
Discovered the first fulcrum,
Called: Esau's SEESAW
54. God of the underworld: HADES. More info on HADES
55. Nobel-winning physicist Paul: DIRAC.
54. God of the underworld: HADES. More info on HADES
55. Nobel-winning physicist Paul: DIRAC.
 |
| P.A.M. Dirac was an English theoretical physicist who was one of the founders of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics |
56. Skin blemish: ZIT. Everything was going rather smoothly in today's puzzle until this one popped up
61. Encourage: URGE.
63. Baking meas.: TSP.
65. Ancient Eur. realm: HRE. Holy Roman Empire
66. Bank corp. with an orange lion logo: ING.
See you again on February 4th
47 comments:
Only because I knew it
had to be associated with rain did I get “bit torrent.” And there were other difficulties as well but I persevered and got the win.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Friday came early this week. D-o failed the test with HeP/KeERAN. Bzzzzt. HONEY DRIZZLE, BIT TORRENT, and ERROR BARS all filled in via perps. Thanx, Joe and C-Moe. (We have Netflix, but have never watched Squid Game. I'm currently rewatching The West Wing.)
FIR, getting my SWAGs @ KIERAN x HIP and TAGINE x ING. Knew it had to be hep/HIP and img/ING.
The only Culkin I know of is Kevin McCallister.
I finally remembered the TV commercials with someone sitting on a bench, and to the person's left was ING. Viewers were expectING to see the rest of a gerund when the person leaves, but when he does, they see that stand-alone ING. Must have been effective if I remember it after all these years. Now if I can just find my car keys...
I faintly remember BIT TORRENT from back in the days of newsgroups and MIME, before blogs and PDFs.
Ironically, all of my passwords are identical to our Chairman's SSN.
Mohs surgery tomorrow. I printed out a fistful of David Bywaters puzzles to while away the hours. Early check-in time, so don't know when or if I'll be able to spew my gibberish before Friday.
Who you callin' a HOE?
Thanks to Joe for the fun Wednesday exercise. Lots of sparkle to offset the occasional KDRAMA drags. And thanks to our Chairman for the fun. You worked hard on this one - why don't you take the rest of the month off?
FIR. I had to take a WAG at the crossing of ING and tagine (?). And thank goodness for perps because that was the only way Dirac got filled.
I got the theme early on with shower and storm, and a good thing I did because bit torrent was a complete unknown.
So overall a so-so puzzle.
Paul Dirac is famous for predicting antimatter (aka the positron, antimatter version of the electron) when his equation combining quantum mechanics with relativity showed what seemed to be negative energy. My favorite weird science fact is that a banana emits about 1 positron every 75 minutes.
Good Morning:
Knowing the theme helped me to get the unknown Bit Torrent. Other unknowns, such as Dirac, Error Bars, Dimes, and IT Service, were perp dependent. I, too, had Yoo Hoo at first. Kieran Culkin was excellent in Succession. Like DO, I have Netflix but Squid Game’s premise never appealed to me.
Thanks, Joe, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Moe, for a very thorough and enlightening review. Enjoyed the Moe-kus, as usual, and the Bees and Pigs comics. Also enjoyed Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle’s Puttin on the Ritz routine. Peter Boyle was hilarious in The Dream Team.
Have a great day.
Wow! A very crunchy puzzle for a Wed. to FIR. Unknowns galore for me but somehow I managed to conquer the grid. K-DRAMA, KIERAN and 'Succession', DIMES, Two TRUTHS and a lie, TAGINE, HONEY DRIZZLE, ERROR BARS, DIRAC, and the RCA connector. I'd already filled RIGHT AS RAIN mostly by perps but didn't notice the water vapors.
ING pulled out of retail banking in the US many years ago after paying some money laundering fines, aka extorsion by the federal government.
EGGS was a guess.
Lebanon has three possibilities, SYR, ISR, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Error Bars in EXCEL. I quit using EXCEL 20 years ago. It's a wonderful program-for a business user- but has become too complicated for the casual user to use. I use Google Drive Sheets.
DH just had Mohs surgery on his cheek. All went very smoothly. Less than a month after 12 stitches removed, I can barely see the scar. So, good luck.
This was a tough Wednesday! Happily, Chairman Moe is an old Friday man, and handled it like a pro. I, too, FIR and enjoyed it, but like others, needed perps for DIMES, BIT TORRENT, and DIRAC. WOOHOO! Thanks, Joe and Moe.
I don’t need to go to the gym this morning, I got quite a work out with this puzzle. For me too, knowing the theme led me to get unknown BIT TORRENT.
K DRAMA was all perps. I don’t subscribe to Netflix, or anything for that matter, so I’m not up on a lot of current culture.
Lots of unknowns, but perps were kind. I’m very familiar with TAGINE and love this Moroccan way to cook.
C-Moe, thank you for your great review.
Mine is on the top of my head. No need to shave the area; nature took care of that. They'll just use a little Novocain, and since (as everyone here knows) I'm already a numbskull, I'm hoping it won't be a big deal.
Musings
-RAIN is a big commerce variable here on the Great Plains. Fortunately, Nebraska sits on the Ogallala Aquifer and can always make it rain to insure good crops. This past summer most of the pivots did not even have to turn once.
-My great, smart friend Irish did not mention not knowing TAGINE so, as usual, I bow to her knowledge.
-My home school easily won the girl’s state TRACK meet with three girls who were in nine events four years ago
-Rep on arm day was fun.
-A handyman we use is part of a GIG economy and has a 6-month waiting list
-Achievement test data we share with kids always have ERROR BARS to indicate a range of possible scores
-The Omaha World Herald recently had an article saying our state has 81 pay phones still in use
-Dropping a dime is also slang for ratting out someone
-OUTSWIM: A champion swimmer told me last year that the water in some pools is "faster" than others
-It’s a very common occurrence to RUN INTO one of my 15,000 former students and have them ask, “Do you remember me, Mr. Schlapfer?”
-SEESAWS of my misspent yute were 16’ long 2x12’s on very hard ground with no handles
-D-O, I’m also rewatching 25-year-old West Wing and am amazed that “the more government changes the more it stays the same.”
Nothing makes me crankier than a puzzle that is completely off my wavelength, and all the answers are completely valid and I can't complain about it... make bank? Never heard of it! Dimes? (I'll pay you a dime for every sports clue you omit from your puzzles.) Arm day? (You're killing me!)Mentee? (Bite me!) if you asked me, I would say this puzzle is all wet...
Speaking of asking me, I have been charged with doing every second Wednesday. So I sincerely apologize if Wednesdays suddenly seem harder, I think it might be my fault. (When I bought my first motorcycle, it rained every weekend for the entire summer...) I had to play whack a vowel with the red letters just to finish the NE corner!
One curiosity, every time I get a saulte blank Marie clue I put in "soo" instead of "ste." This time I looked it up, and it turns out the two are related!
Wait a sec,
Steal from: rob
Well, yes, but technically, steal and rob are two different things...
Ah... I got to complain about something, I feel soo much better...
Did you watch The series “Succession” ? Kieran played Roman Roy, got a Emmy for Lead actor
Fairly str8forward with a few blips but easy theme
Inkovers: rice/NORI, yahhoo/WOOHOO (who wuz the blogster WOO usta say that all the time?)
Not chalet but AFRAME, never heard the term KDRAMA
Fascinating how you can turn SLOP into something as delicious as bacon 😋
Isn’t it beSIEGED. TAGINE? Did anyone know this pre CW? “Rep on arm day” had
me scratching my head. totally perp dependent .
A rock band depends on the ____ “economy” …. GIG
Caused a ____ when they _____ my car “by chance” … DENT, RANINTO
Horse mouthpiece for lease: BITTORRENT
After days of steady snow precipitation has now turned to DRIZZLE with above freezing temperatures . So when it freezes again I’ll be able to ice skate to work.
One of my favorite quotes ever in Sports Illustrated came from colorful Benny Anders, a point guard on the U of Houston's memorable Phi Slama Jama teams featuring Clyde Drexler and (H)Akeem Olajuwon, who grew up in Nigeria and, though then new to basketball, was already a powerful center. Or as Anders put it, "I drop a dime on the Big Swahili, he got to put it in the hole" ("If I make a nifty pass to Olajuwon, you can count on him to make a basket.")
Took 7:24 to open the flood gates.
I didn't know the following: bit torrent, tagine, error bars, Kdrama, or Dirac.
Those seemed like Friday or Saturday words to me.
"Succession" is an excellent show. "Squid Games" didn't initially appeal to me but sucked me in anyway. Season 1 was really well done. Season 2 lost its way.
Evidently, I missed C.C.'s email with the mix-up of reviewers. So, each reviewer seems random to me. I do appreciate the work you all do.
Jinx @ 7:32 => Good luck with the surgery. Since I am taking the month off, I'll assume your surgery went well when I see your posts in the Comments section in February! ;^)
NaomiZ @ 10:31 => you know, until you and others mentioned it, I just assumed that the Wednesday puzzles were "Friday-tough" - maybe Patti decided to mix things up with the constructors and use harder-to-solve puzzles midweek
Gary @ 10:39 => I often wondered if former students were easily recognized by their teachers ... I'd guess that the more remarkable ones were and those who just "took up space" in the classroom were less so
Anonymous @ 11:19 => I'd like to hope that we reviewers are anything but "random" ;^)
Hi, Ray-O! Monkey at 10:31 AM cooks with a TAGINE. I don't, but I was familiar with it pre-CW! And in ancient times when I was interested in bodybuilding, I did have "arm days" and "leg days." I still do curls occasionally!
HG, knowing tagine is a result of being a Food Network fan back in the days when the emphasis was on cooking not entertainment.
Thanks for reminding me that I promised myself I’d get to the gym this year. Too lazy to get up early and too burnt out after work.
That’s “rando” in crosswardese. (auto correct: “Rambo”)
Close, but no cigar. FIW, with a bad WAG at TAGINE/ING. I guessed R. Fortunately, the rest of the puzzle had decent perps as I had never heard of a lot of entries. DIME, KIERAN, KDRAMA, BITTORRENT, for a few, never lit up my radar screen, but it felt like a fair outing anyway.
More puzzling thoughts:
How coincidental that today here in the desert SW we are getting RAIN! It's currently just a DRIZZLE but we did have SHOWERS overnight. The forecast is for rain again tomorrow. I think this year's weather pattern will provide us with more rain than normal - which for us is a good thing
As I read the comments from you solvers, I now recall the difficulty of today's puzzle. We reviewers get the puzzles a week or so before they publish; thus, we don't have to rush through our recap. I had forgotten how much tougher this one seemed being that it was a Wednesday
Wet Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Joe and CMoe (rhyming team).
I finished in good time and saw the RIGH5 AS RAIN theme, but arrived here knowing that I probably erred at 1Across.
Sure enough my A Race should have been TRACK (negating my grumble about words with abbreviated initial vowels (A Race,, CNET, E Drama). And ABD for Aboard seemed as good as TBD for To Be Determined.
Hand up for SYRbefore ISR.
Gotta run.
Wishing you all a great day.
I too had SYR before ISR and stray CAT. That took a while to get resolved.
Ray-O. no, I don't have premium movie channels and don't watch streaming shows.
At first I thought that if (country star) KD Lang married Paula Rama, her name might be KD Rama.
I ear bananas for the potassium, but I’ll take a few positrons,too.
Eat, not ear!
“Horse mouth piece for lease” LMAO!
I had berate until AKA indicated REBUKE was more likely.
I know KD's Constant Craving wouldn't be for a Paul.
Crunchy Wednesday. Boo!
There is an alternative to Moh's surgery now. Google it.
Friday come on a Wednesday this week. A real struggle. Lots of things I DNK, like TAGINE and others. Finally ended up with one letter wrong, where I put HEP instead of HIP, because I DNK KIERAN. HEP = HIP in my book. I forgot to note my start time, but would guess I easily spent 20+ minutes struggling with this CW. Only 11 names, and only DNK 4. Also DNK ING. Not a big fan of this CW, it wasn't fun to do. Thanx but no thanx, JD. Thanx to CMoe for the terrific write-up and the Moekus. There is now an alternative to Moh's surgery. Google it. I've had Moh's twice. Next time it'll be the alternative.
On the daily review page there is a column on the right that lists all the contributors and which days they cover.
Pretty much everything has been said, but in my ideal world, the rain would build up from DRIZZLE, to SHOWER, to STORM, to TORRENT.
U. Fred - interesting. If I get cancer on my face, I'll consider it. My late wife and very much alive son both had Mohs and plastic surgeries on their noses, and it was pretty grotesque at first. Looked fine fairly quickly, but for a while...
I wrote "Paula," not "Paul," for that reason.
I enjoyed solving this puzzle.
Anarkie
I never can get “hip” and “hep” straight. That was my only mistake. The perp didn’t help. No idea what “bit torrent” is, but it filled in that way. Fun puzzle and funny blog. Thanks to all!
Hi All!
Like D-O, I went with HeP for the FIW.
Thanks Joe for the needed rain.
Fun expo, C. Moe. I enjoyed the Moe-kus & the Most Interesting Man meme.
WOs: yell at -> REBUKE
ESP: DIMES
FIW/DNK: KeERAN
Fav: Blur's Song 2 WOO HOO!
EATS over SLOP is cute.
ING is now Voya - they have my IRA.
DW loves her K-DRAMAs on Netflix
Jinx, I knew TAGINE b/f the puzzle. Eldest loves to cook with hers.
Cheers!
-T
Tough Wednesday. Pushed through with a bit of erasing, but like many other hep cats got Culkined..
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