Rebecca Goldstein has been creating square grids for a very long time, but today she has us going around in circles.
63A. Waste time and effort, in a way, or progress as this puzzle's circled letters do?: REINVENT THE WHEEL. Looks like we are going to build a WHEEL, one letter at a time.
:3D. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" novelist: L. FRANK BAUM. This gives us one letter of the word WHEEL.
6D. Smallest Central American country: EL SALVADOR. Now we have two letters, building a WHEEL from the bottom up.
9D. Durable material made from hagfish skin: EEL LEATHER. Three letters - we're halfway there!
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| Pacific hagfish are not eels, but they produce fine leather. |
12D. Sideways jump flourishes: HEEL CLICKS. With the four letters, we've almost come full circle.
I thought this worked out
Black hole department: I tried to discern some sort of image in all the black squares and large crosses, but they are simply part of the grid.
Mirror image department: Kudos to Rebecca for using the reflective symmetry to place INCAS opposite MAYAN, and the video game answers LUIGI and ATARI next to those.
All set? Let's roll!
Across:
1. Designation for some food carts: HALAL. HALAL is an Arabic term meaning "permissible" or "lawful" under Islamic law, governing all aspects of life including food.
6. Outer space?: EDGE.
10. Portal name with an exclamation point: YAHOO. YAHOO! was one of the Internet pioneers 32 years ago, but has lost relevance since. However, it's still worth $7.4 billion, so there's that.
15. Actress Woodard: ALFRE. I didn't know ALFRE, but she is very worthy. She has graced the stage and screen, winning four Emmy's, a Golden Globe, and three Screen Actors Guild awards. She's even been nominated for two Grammy's and and Oscar!
16. Tales as old as time: LORE.
17. Justice Kagan: ELENA. ELENA was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
18. Needing a nap: TIRED.
19. Pot filler: SOIL. Pot filler: ANTE.
20. Put in a seat, say: ELECT.
21. Travel approx.: ETA. Your Estimated Time of Arrival is an estimation and subject to change. I often drive to Miami, and the ETA is an hour. A half-hour later, I'm still an hour away as traffic builds up like I'm in a backwards time machine!
22. Crushes underfoot: TRAMPLES.
25. "__ Misérables": LES. "The Miserables" describes Russell Crowe's singing in the movie.
26. Orange variety: NAVEL.
28. Work __: ETHIC.
30. Kinds: ILKS.
32. Online image: AVATAR. Mine is a sunburst Fender Stratocaster. I have two from the 60s.
35. Poetry event: SLAM. A poetry SLAM is a competitive event in which poets perform original spoken-word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
38. Much-used pencils: NUBS. My dad always said, "Beware of people with long pencils and short erasers."
39. One with good taste?: PALATE.
40. Falafel bread: PITA. But it doesn't taste falafel.
41. Langley org.: CIA. I grew up in the Tidewater area of Virginia and my dad worked at Langley AFB, so when I hear Langley, the Central Intelligence Agency is not the first thing that comes to mind.
42. "The lady __ protest too much, methinks": DOTH. One of hundreds of quotes attributed to Shakespeare. "Words without thoughts never to heaven go."
43. Small island: CAY. CAY is pronounced "key" as in Key West.
44. Orinoco flow: AGUA. The Orinoco River flows through Columbia and Venezuela, hence the Spanish word for water. The phrase "Orinoco Flow" was made popular by a song from new-age artist Enya.
46. Having more wiggle room, say: LOOSER.
48. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.
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| Oops! Wrong picture! This is an orca. |
49. A lot alike: SIMILAR. I liked this a lot!
51. Arrives casually: ROLLS IN.
53. Free (of): RID.
54. Small tweak?: MOD. Just a little MODification.
55. Spots to let sleeping dogs lie: PET BEDS. This bed seemed so big when Buster was a pup. We adopted him during COVID, and he turns 6 today!
59. Small spot: SPECKLE. Small spot filler: SPACKLE
63. [theme]
66. Part of UAE: ARAB. United ARAB Emirates. The UAE has ARABs in it.
67. Not as grim: ROSIER. As in the Grim Reaper's kid sister, ROSIER Reaper.
68. Large vases: URNS.
69. Green carpet: MOSS.
70. Boggy places: SWAMPS. This one mired me down.
71. Teeny bit: MITE.
Down:
1. Abhor: HATE. This clue is detestable.
2. Settled: ALIT.
3. [theme]
4. "All bets __ off": ARE.
5. Streaming device, maybe: LED TV. This one seemed off, so I turned it on.
6. [theme]
7. Tragic fate: DOOM.
8. Strong hold: GRIP.
9. [theme]
10. "Oof": YEESH.
11. Every last one: ALL. ALL at ONCE.
12. [theme]
13. A single time: ONCE. ONCE and for ALL.
14. Quaker grains: OATS.
23. Sow's counterpart: REAP. Ah, the verb, not the noun. I wanted "boar."
24. To be, in Paris: ETRE.
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Vous êtes ici. |
29. Co. for surfers: ISP. An Internet Service Provider is a company that connects individuals and businesses to the internet.
30. Natives of pre-Columbian Peru: INCAS.
31. Super Mario brother: LUIGI.
33. Potatoes, in Urdu: ALOO.
34. Body art: TATS. People get TATS (tattoos) of the weirdest things...
36. Arcade pioneer: ATARI.
37. Like the ruins in Tulum: MAYAN.
45. Some short-term rentals: AIRBNBS. A very good friend lives just blocks from the Atlantic. Three houses surrounding him have become AIRBNBS, turning his quiet neighborhood into a party zone. Residential zoning laws need to be updated to prevent this.
46. Corporate structures: LADDERS.
47. Tots' playwear: ROMPERS. Tots' quandary - where should we wear our ROMPERS?
48. Buddy from way back when: OLD CHUM. OLD CHUM is also useful for luring orcas.
50. Actor Schreiber: LIEV. LIEV Schreiber is an acclaimed American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He's known for his roles as "Wolverine" in the X-Men series and the titular Ray Donovan in the TV series.
52. Theater eponym: LOEW.
55. Brit's stroller: PRAM.
56. Wireless router brand named for a Finnish architect: EERO. EERO Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer, famous for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA Terminal at JFK in NYC. He also designed iconic furniture. I guess if he were around today, he'd have come up with a router casing?
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| 1956 Tulip Chairs and Pedestal Table |
57. Spanish aunts: TIAS.
58. Winter coat?: SNOW.
59. Herding dog name: SHEP. Here's the most faithful border collie, SHEP. After watching his master's coffin leave on a train in Montana in 1936, he waited in vain for years at the station.
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| Now Buster wants a bronze statue! |
60. Russell of "The Diplomat": KERI.
61. Mardi Gras follower: LENT. LENT follower: EASTERTIDE, the 50 days following Easter, culminating in Pentecost.
62. "How __ can I say it ... ": ELSE.
64. Org. that operates AIT scanners: TSA. The Transportation Security Administration primarily monitors aviation, but also does rail and mass transit. And until recently, the organization worked without pay as they were used as pawns by Congress.
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| Advanced Imaging Technology |
65. Actor/comedian Meadows: TIM. Another SNL alum.
Rebecca spoke and now I'm tired. Wheel see you 'round!
Be good. RB
2 comments:
Not too easy, as befits a
Thursday, but I thought it was fair on the whole, and the reveal seemed unexpected and fresh. One thing: “mote” or “mite”? The lady was unlikely to be named “Kero” so I put in “Keri” and got it right,
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
This one had some crunch to it. Saw the circles, and promptly forgot to look at them again. I have never seen "HALAL" on a grocery cart. What would make a grocery cart un-HALAL? CAY and quay are pronounced the same. Home port for our ancient aircraft carrier was the North Island Quay Wall in San Diego. Thanx, Rebecca and Rusty.
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