Bubbles, Bubbles EveryWhere.
6-Across. Oscar-nominated Disney film set in Alaska: BROTHER BEAR. BOBA. Brother Bear was a 2003 animated Disney film. It was not on my radar.
26-Across. Hostile territory, idiomatically: BELLY OF THE BEAST. BOBA. For many people, having an IRS audit is like going into the Belly of the Beast.
43-Across. Canadian province that hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics: BRITISH COLUMBIA. BOBA. British Columbia is the western-most Canadian province.
And the unifier:
56-Across. Bubble tea option, or a feature of 16-, 26-, and 43-Across: POPPING BOBA. The Bubbles in Bubble Tea are typically made of tapioca pearls. In this puzzle, the word BOBA is spread out across each them clue, hence the bubbles (or boba) are being "popped."
Here's the Grid, so you can see all the "popped" bubbles.
Across:
1. Latte purveyors: CAFÉS. A latte is an espresso-based coffee drink consisting of roughly 1/3 espresso and 2/3 steamed milk, topped with a thin layer of foam. The full name of this Italian coffee is short for caffè latte, which literally means milk coffee.
6. __ one's time: BIDE.
10. Volcanic eruption residue: ASH.
13. Company name often said with a quack: AFLAC. AFLAC stands for American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus. The company, which was founded in 1955, specializes in supplemental insurance for individuals and groups.
14. Indiana NBAer: PACER.
15. Community leader?: CEE. As in the letter "C".
18. Programming language named for the first Countess of Lovelace: ADA. Ada Lovelace, Countess of Lovelace (née Augusta Ada Byron; Dec. 10, 1810 ~ Nov. 27, 1852) led a fascinating life. She was an English mathematician and writer. whom many consider to be the world's first computer programmer. Her work focused on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize its potential beyond pure calculation. She understood that computers could perform abstract operations, not just calculations. She was the only legitimate of the poet, Lord Byron. See also 60-Across.
19. Decisive periods, for short: OTs. As in OverTimes.
20. Tinkered (with): TOYED.
 |
| Cat toying with a mouse. |
21. Leave a mark on: SCAR. Did you know that Princess Eugenie has scar running the length of her spine?
22. Kimono sash: OBI. The Obi make an appearance in the puzzle quite often.
23. P-like Greek letter: RHO.
24. Peaceful protests: SIT-INS.
30. Esteems: VALUES.
31. Savory flavor: UMAMI. Everything you wanted to know about Umami but didn't know to ask.
32. Comics icon Lee: STAN. Stan Lee (né Stanley Martin Lieber; Dec. 28, 1922 ~ Nov. 12, 2018) was the creative leader of Marvel Comics. He started his career at Timely Publications, which later became Marvel Comics.
33. Startup co.'s milestone: IPO. As in Initial Public Offering.
34. Angel City FC org.: NWSL. Angel City FC is the Los Angeles area's first women's professional soccer team. The team first began playing in the 2022 season. It is a member of the National Women's Soccer League.
38. "Fear of Flying" author Jong: ERICA. Fear of Flying has nothing to do flying.
41. __ dust: pervasive orange powder: CHEETO.
47. Moving van sign, perhaps: RENT ME.
48. Tent stake: PEG.
49. Cozy lodging: INN.
50. Kauai, for one: ISLE. Kaua'i is the 4th largest island of the Hawaiian archipelago. It's called the Garden Isle and is known for its dramatic cliffs. Many Hollywood films and TV shows were filmed on this island, including scenes from South Pacific, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the opening credits of M*A*S*H.
51. __ Rica: COSTA. The coastlines of Costa Rica are on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
54. "I'll __ around": ASK.
55. Outstanding: DUE.
59. Dosage no.: AMT.
60. Pioneering computer: ENIAC. As in Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. The ENAIC was was the world's first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. It was a tad larger than my laptop. See also 18-Across, above.
61. "Opposites Attract" singer Paula: ABDUL. Paula Julie Abdul (b. June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, and choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers.
62. Arles article: LES. Today's French lesson. Arles is a city in southern France. It's known largely for being where Vincent Van Gogh (Mar. 30, 1853 ~ July 29, 1890) lived and painted.
63. Dangerous date for Caesar: IDES. We've had a lot of Julius Caesar in the past several Tuesdays. We learned a couple of weeks ago that Caesar died in Act III of the Shakespear play, Julius Caesar on the IDES of March.
64. Blockade: SIEGE.
Down:
1. Bus alternative: CAB.
2. Genre created by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti: AFROBEAT. Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that combines West African music with American funk and jazz. Fela Kuti (né Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; Oct. 15, 1938 ~ Aug. 2, 1997) is considered the creator of this musical genre.
3. Nautical convoy: FLOTILLA.
4. Sups or downs: EATS.
5. CalArts or Caltech: SCH. Both are schools in California.
6. Coddle: BABY.
7. Slurpee kin: ICEE. What's the difference?
8. Salt lake fed by the Jordan River: DEAD SEA. If you are ever in Israel, I highly recommend a stop at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea.
9. Mispronounce a word, say: ERR. But ... to Err is Human.
10. Prominent part of a giraffe's diet: ACACIA. Everything you might ever want to know about the relationship between the Giraffe and the Acacia Tree.
11. Impalas and Civics: SEDANS. An Impala is made by Chevrolet and and the Civic is made by Honda.
12. Publisher William Randolph __: HEARST. William Randolph Hearst (Apr. 29, 1863 ~ August. 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician. He created the country's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. He is also known for Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California.
14. Evidence: PROOF.
17. Institutional belief: ETHOS.
21. Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria: STEINEM. Gloria Marie Steinem (b. Mar. 25, 1934) will be 92 years old next month. She is American feminist, journalist, and political activist. In the 1960s and 1970s, she was a prominent leader of the women's rights movement.
22. "Duh," in a text: OBVS. Textspeak for Obvious.
23. Bread with caraway seeds: RYE. Yummers!
25. PC pioneer: IBM. Why is IBM called Big Blue?
27. Crescent moon shape: LUNETTE. The word Lunette comes from the French and means Little Moon.
28. Rapper Shakur: TUPAC. Tupac Amaru Shakur (né Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 ~ Sept. 8, 1996) was a talented rapper, actor and dancer. He was tragically murdered when he was just 25 years old. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
29. Med. care option: HMO. As in Health Maintenance Organization.
33. German personal pronoun: ICH. Today's German lesson.
35. Installment in an online series: WEBISODE. Suffered through a lot of Webisodes during the Covid era.
36. Invasive insect native to East Asia: STINK BUG. What do you know about Stink Bugs?
37. Advance, as funds: LOAN.
39. Outer edge: RIM.
40. Words to support a motion: I SECOND. Following Robert's Rules of Order.
41. Like a radio edit: CLEAN. A modified song to take out the profanity so it is family friendly.
42. Remain close to: HUG.
43. __ shower: BRIDAL.
44. Job application document: RESUME.
45. Shore recesses: INLETS.
46. Fiber-__ cable: OPTIC.
52. Mayberry moppet: OPIE. It's been a while since we've seen Opie Taylor in the puzzles. His alter ego, Ron Howard (b. Mar. 2, 1954), is almost 72 years old!
53. Me-time spots: SPAS.
54. "Broad City" star Jacobson: ABBI. I am not familiar with Broad City. Apparently it was a sit-com that ran for 5 years in the 2010s. Abbi Jacobson (b. 1984) was one of the co-creators.
56. Shar-__: wrinkly dog: PEI. The Shar-Pei is a dog breed from southern China. The dogs were used as property guardians.
57. Hybrid need: GAS.
58. Taphouse offering: ALE.
I think I need an Ale instead of Boba Tea after this puzzle!
חתולה
52 comments:
As I said yesterday,
when I don’t have anything to say (yet)
I’m not going to say anything.
I’ll get back to you.
Good morning!
Chewy cereal this morning. NWSL looked weird. It took forever to suss that S at the WEBISODE, ASK cross. D'oh. Maybe my brain isn't awake yet. Thanx for the challenge, Matthew, and for all the cartoons, Hahtoolah. (Yuk.)
Never saw the bubbles until I completed the puzzle and read the write up.
Perhaps BobA got it earlier.
FIW. Wasn't having a particularly good time near the end, so just threw in some letters. That gave me amBISODE and CHamTO, both that I knew must be wrong. "North America Soccer League" sounded fine to me, and had never heard of CHEETO dust. And, of course, I mispelled Gloria STEINaM.
I don't drink or pay attention to any kind of tea, so the theme left me cold. We've had BOBA and bubble tea here before, but to me it's mental floss - in one ear and out the other.
It is a huge leap to equate evidence with PROOF. If evidence equaled PROOF, no one would ever be found not guilty.
I've been around radio and TV a long time. I've heard of "radio version" but not "radio edit." Makes sense, though.
Thanks to Ha2la for bringing some fun to what for me was a rather blah start to the day. I don't really mind the stink bugs, I just escort them outside using a paper towel. And I vote for guess #4 - "Big Blue" because of the uniforms worn by their sales reps. (Remember the Charlie Chaplin look-alike in the IBM PC commercials?)
technically it was called a bed in not a sit in
FIR. As usual I ignored the circles. Just as well they didn't really matter anyway. I thought the theme was lame.
It's a good thing the perps were kind because there was a huge load of unknowns. Too many to mention and a ton of them proper names.
So overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Thank you, Matthew and Hahtoolah.
Like a brisket smoking on the pit, I hit a stall in that SE corner.
- At CH---O, I almost entered churro. But I knew the intersecting last name was either STEINEM or STEINaM, and that churro dust would be cinnamon color. :>)
- STINK BUG and WEBISODE played hard to get.
- There was a program on the PBS series Nature last evening that among other things, spoke to the relationship between elephants and the ACASIA tree.
- Who knew that there was a grinder for making CHEETO dust?
Wow! This was kind of tough for a Tuesday…more like a Friday to me..but I finally FIR in 22:48. The circles did help me a little after I got the theme.
SubGenius didn't call it, so I will ... WITP! The circles helped. I have never liked the BOBA (tapioca globules) in BOBA tea, so today's theme led me to search POPPING BOBA, which are actually fruit juice filled blobs that pop in your mouth. Sounds kid friendly. Many thanks to Matthew and Hahtoolah for a pleasant start to the day.
Took 6:09 today to Be dOne with this BlAck and white grid.
I didn't know the Actress of the Day (Abbi) or her show. I also didn't know "German personal pronoun," "Arles article," and that having the circles spread out means that they're popped (does it?). Speaking of that, ...
Oh joy, circles!
I didn’t think of it as a “walk in the park “ because of “lunette.” It wasn’t too bad though.
FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. The SE defeated me. One problem, I entered bLEAp for CLEAN. Orange dust meant nothing to me. Not getting the W NWSL, I couldn’t guess at WEBISODE. I didn’t know the name of the actress ABBI and POPPING didn’t po
.
The rest was fairly easy even though I didn’t know BROTHER BEAR, but easy to guess.
LUNETTE does mean a half moon in French but that is one of many meanings for this word but not the first one that would come to mind.
CSO to CanadianEh! for that beautiful Canadian province.
Thank you Hahtoolah for another great review.
A well-crafted and interesting puzzle today, Matthew. The circles were useful--in fact, they embodied the theme. And two grid-spanners, one of which is a CSO to CanadianEh. Hey, everyone--what is the capital of British Columbia? This city begins with a V, but interestingly, it's not Vancouver. CanadianEh, you're not allowed to answer!
Hahtoolah, your cartoons today were priceless. My favorite was probably "Mind the Gap." I also noted the poor cow in the police lineup. I say, "She's guilty, Lieutenant; don't believe that sweet innocent face!"
Thank you for explaining "clean" as a radio edit, now it makes sense. What still seems like a long shot to me is the popping Boba theme. Popping? Nope, I just don't get it...
maybe because I am into more pop resistant bubbles...
Musings
-The SE corner will not make my hall of fame. :-(
-D-Day featured a FLOTILA of about 7,000 vessels
-This amateur astronomer has never hear of LUNETTE
-Opie’s real father
-There may be a CLEAN version but the kids know both of them
Kind of another LA Times crossName puzzle today, but for a pleasant change, all the names except Abbi were familiar to me. Couldn't make sense of CLEAN for the radio edit, and never heard of BROTHER BEAR until Ha2la 'sprained them, but the perps were solid. ESP for NWSL (North West Short Line?) But all in all, pretty much a WITP.
As soon as BROTHERBEAR filled in, the gimmick became obvs, and I jumped ahead and filled in the circles.
I agree with KS that the theme was lame, although the clues were straightforward and the unknowns were easily perped.
This puzzle had the difficulty level of the "commuter crosswords" that used to appear in some daily newspapers.
I had only heard of Lunette as the crescent shaped mound of dirt thrown up when emplacing Civil War Era artillery.
The theme was soon evident. The boba globules are tapioca pearls made from the cassava root. I don't care for the texture of boba tea. I don't want to chew my tea. I like the clean taste of tea. I drink mine barefoot, nothing added, no sugar or milk.
Hand up for the difficult SE corner. Perps and a wag of the C gave me CLEAN. Cheeto was quite unexpected but fair. Cheetos are good, but the orange dust is annoying. The W in SWSL and WEBISODE was my downfall. The I in ABBI was tough until I guessed SEIGE. This corner was not Tuesday friendly , but I enjoyed the puzzle and Susan's writeup.
John and Yoko staged a bed-in, but few others have. Sit-ins were far more common.
Well the circles did help this one. My favorite clue was the "hybrid need". Yep, they need gas. My real favorite was Hahtoolah's review. Always a pleasure. A little crunchier than most Tuesdays but not a problem.
Hola! This was not the easiest of Tuesday puzzles but with P&P I finished it though I did BIDE my time. While solving, I had some great memories from trips to KAUAI, ALASKA, COSTA RICA and wading in the Jordan River as well as the DEAD SEA. We even stopped to tour HEARST Castle one year.
I've mentioned before that STAN Lee lived here in AZ in retirement.
As a member of the HOA Board, I often had to SECOND a motion.
ACACIA trees do well in our dry climate and we have some in our complex.
Thank you, Matthew and Susan; this one made me think more than usual. Have a beautiful day, everyone!
Victoria is the capital of BC. I forgot to mention BC and Victoria Island as one of our vacation spots.
Yuck. Awful
VICTORIA has a grand and imposing capitol building.
Easier’n yesterday methinks.
The easy wall-to-wall answers provided lots of perpage.
Inkovers: ethic/ETHOS, bleep/CLEAN
“Latte perveyor” latte Italian for “milk” so a “perveyor” would be teat? ☺️. My DD’s bridesmaids all wore Latte colored gowns and they cost … a latte!! 🙄
Smokey Robinson and the Miracle, “I SECOND that Emotion ”clip
WEBISODE, seriously?
OBI a CW original
BRIDAL and BABY “shower”. LUNETTEs is français for eye glasses (I remember from HS Fr. class.)
With my man cave projection TV on the blink I was watching a sci fi flick on my laptop when suddenly an unexpected monster appeared in 3D walking across the scene. A STINKBUG had landed on my screen!! 😳
H2LH: Loved the “cow over the moon” and “bed and breakfast” cartoons!!! 🤣
Miracles. At least 3 for sainthood
The BOBA in the circles was OBVS, but never having had a drink of bubble tea, the POPPING was filled by perps. As for the Pickles cartoon, the best place to put bubble wrap is in front or behind the tires on the right side of somebody's car.
BROTHER BEAR, NWSL, WEBISODE, AFROBEAT, LUNETTE, ABBI- not the usual Tuesday level fills. It took perps for those unknowns.
IBM- all the IBM employees would say it referred to "I've Been Moved" because IBM moved people around the country.
ADA- "She was the only legitimate of the poet, Lord Byron." Maybe the others' mothers should have predicted the words to ABDUL's song "Straight UP."
"Do you really wanna love me forever?
Or am I caught in a hit-and-run?
Or are you just having fun?"
Interesting Tuesday puzzle, many thanks for that, Matthew. And your pictures and commentary are always a pleasure, thanks for those too, Hahtoolah.
Well, people taking a RIDE to a CAFE while smoking and tossing out some ASH didn't prepare us for some of the playful and childish comments that followed. Sounds like kids might have TOYED with a BROTHER BEAR that had the BELLY OF THE BEAST while enjoying some EATS and drinking some POPPING BOBA (whatever that is) while riding on a FLOTILLA. Hope they all avoided running into that STINK BUG. Yes, I think we'd better get out of there and just learn how to work on that ENIAC (I've never heard of that, if it's a computer). I actually wish OPIE were here with us this morning. He'd be a lot of fun to play with!
Have a good, comfortable day coming up, and let's pray that the weather for the rest of the week will be a bit better than some of the predictions.
I just got back from the grocery and what did I see in a big display?
Dye-Free CHEETOS.
FIR in 12. WAAAAY too many names, 20, DNK 6, NWSL among them. When perps filled that, there was still no V-8. Needed Hahtoolah to 'splain it.
I filled both gridspanners instantly, which was a huge help. Last cell was the "W" in WEBISODE, since I was stumped with NWSL.
Since I had already filled the "B" for "BRITISHCOLUMBIA" I knew 43D couldn't be "GOLDEN".
3D I wanted to fill ARMADA, but it's too short. Once FLOTILLA popped into my pumpkin-head, CAFE finally occurred to me.
52A my bad eyes read "Mayberry MUPPET" which had my stumped for a few seconds, but I had the "O" from COSTA, so a more careful look at 52D made it obvious.
I did the CW several hours ago, then ran errands before coming here, so don't remember if there were any other comments floating around in my head.
Anyway, not a great CW, but not terrible either, and doable. Too many names, but other than that Thanx MG, I had fun filling this one.
Thanx too to Hahtoolah, great write-up and cartoons, as always.
At first glance I thought it read “muppet” too lol
Victoria sits on Vancouver Island, but Vancouver sits on the mainland. NYK
Without looking, is it Victoria? Seems to me that's where my Martin 242 (hot rod sailboat) was built.
Yeah, when I was a kid we all knew the "dirty" lyrics to Louie Louie.
Do you have to be Catholic? I have more than that. The first three: It was a miracle that I made it out of high school, it was a miracle that I graduated from college, and it was a miracle that I earned my MBA. (It's also a miracle that I can spel "miracle" without a mulligan.)
Great women's hockey now on USA Network. USA leads Canada 2-0 after one.
Great crossword but how old do you have to be to complete this thing?
What's Mayberry and who's Opie?
Who even remembers the 2010 Olympics?
How am I supposed to know the name of the first computer?
Does anyone even remember who Tupac Shakur is?
Thanks for all of the wonderful graphics, Cat !
See 27A in this review:
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/monday-february-24-2025-malaika-handa.html
Yes, 27A in this review:
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2025/02/monday-february-24-2025-malaika-handa.html
I canonize you St. Jinx of Norfolk. Your attribute will be a finished crossword puzzle.
A bit chewy for a Tuesday. Never cared for tea and am only aware of boba tea via crosswords, so meh. A siege and a blockade are similar in practice, though the former is done on land, and the latter is done on water. I feel no shame in looking up obscure unknowns for puzzles like this one, but do try to keep it to a minimum until all avenues have been exhausted. Today was still fun, but exhausting.
The last letter to fill was that W crossing NWSL and WEBISODE.
Italian: caffè latte. French: café au lait. Spanish: café con leche.
FLOTILLA is a nifty word.
BOBA tea can be dangerous, as sucking it up through a straw can propel the tapioca pearls into one's throat where they get stuck, choking the imbiber.
My late wife and I loved the city of Victoria and travelled there three times.
Good reading all your comments.
George Santayana said in his 1905 book The Life of Reason, or The Phases of Human Progress "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Amazing how strong the women are in hockey. Scary!
Surely you understand I was jesting with copious railleries!
No, you just came across as another A-Hole.
Your sagacity is suspicious
A little Cheeto crunch for a Tuesday. Once Cheeto was in place, that corrected Steinem. Boba tea is very popular where I live in the Bay Area. Thanks Matthew and Hahtoolah. The bed and breakfast cartoon was a favorite!
❤️
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