HEavy MEtal, the song from Blue Öyster Cult
This is my first puzzle from Mike Peluso - he has been contributing crosswords since before the Corner, I would guess; his last construction for the LA Times was here, in 2023, on a sumdaze Monday. A simple add-in of the symbol for the element Iron, 'Fe', from the Latin "ferrum". The cluing was solid Friday-level, with just a hiccup for me at the crossing of two name-ish answers - that's YOU, square #5~! Standard grid, no circles, less than ten names, no Twurds, and eight "elemental" songs. The themers & reveal, which is what got me through the themers;
16. Slogan on a very thorough pet sitter's business card?: I WALK THE FELINE - The base phrase is from the Johnny Cash song "I Walk the Line" - I walked canine Cooper, but not the "feline" cats . . .
28. Upgrade one's cookie supply?: TRADE WAFERS - Trade Wars - no song for you~! - but think the outer layers of, say, 32A., an Oreo cookie . . .
48. Newest resident of the Land of Enchantment?: SANTA FE BABY - A Christmas Classic, the song "Santa Baby", tho I did not know that the "Land of Enchantment" was New Mexico - I DO know my ex-wife is down there, so it can't be that enchanted . . .
62. Treatment for anemia, or a treatment given to 16-, 28-, and 48-Across?: IRON SUPPLEMENT - the periodic chart square for Iron, "Fe"
Thanks Bill Nye, Science Guy~!
ACROSS:
1. Places to feel kneaded?: SPAs - I could go for a massage . . .
5. Peter or Paul, but not Mary: TSAR - I do the Downs clues first, and this was my last fill; I had _S_R, yet it took a minute - ah, Russian rulers . . . I solved this one before Moe's Wednesday dupe; name(ish)
9. Vocal quality: TONE - plenty in today's write-up
14. Land parcel: ACRE
15. On the road: AWAY
19. "Exodus" Oscar nominee Sal: MINEO - crossword staple, name #1
20. Anger: INCENSE
22. Snap: PHOTO - Friday vague cluing
24. Carson successor: LENO - Johnny & Jay, the Tonight Show, name #2
26. iPhone platform: iOS
27. Checkers side: RED
32. Sweet sandwich: OREO - the cookies part of OREOs can blended into my ice cream - see 3D.
34. Word on a bottle of Château Margaux: CRU - from the Frawnche for "growth"; more here
35. El Prado, por ejemplo: MUSEO - 'for example, museum', Español #1
36. Cause of statistical misrepresentation: BIAS - that's ALOT of clue for a four-letter answer . . .
38. Colon units: DOTS - Oh, that colon [:] . . . never mind . . .
40. Ordered from DoorDash, perhaps: ATE IN
43. Flight status abbr.: ARRivals
44. Part of many a lunch special: SOUP
"NO soup for YOU~!"
52. Mex. neighbor: USA - there's always that half second of hesitation when I think, "I don't know all those countries in Central America~!"
53. Green around the gills: ILL
54. From the top: ANEW
55. Late bloomer: ASTER
57. Toots and the Maytals, for one: SKA BAND - no clue, but I had perps; more here
Funky Kingston - not really my thing, but I can 'dig' it
60. Aptly named hybrids: UGLIs
66. Four-award acronym: EGOT - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony - somewhere last week I read that Steven Spielberg was a winner - so I wondered what he got his Grammy for; it's a bit of a stretch, but OK . . . the Wiki
Raiders March, Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Plum kin: SLOE
68. Major disappointment: BLOW
69. Gym reps: SETS - For me, training at the gym is three times a week, two SETS of three exercises, and within those, somewhere between 8-16 "REPetitions"; not quite the same thing, IMHO
70. Actress Daly: TYNE - name #3
71. Bajo opposite: ALTO - 'low & high', Español #2
1. Word with lift or lodge: SKI - ski lift, ski lodge
2. Political research center: PEW - never heard of this; named after the Pew family - the Wiki
3. Dessert option: À LA MODE - look, I made protein ice cream - my trainer got me excited to buy and try the Ninja Ice Creami
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The chocolate chips are an added indulgence 😁
4. Share, in a way: SPLIT - but not a banana split - bananas upset my stomach, and I don't know why . . .
5. "Doctor Who" actress Catherine: TATE - I know nothing about the series; it looks like she guest-starred in just three episodes; that's Friday vague - name #4
6. Think tank members, often: SCHOLARS - SCIENTISTS didn't fit
7. Modern art?: ARE - Shakespeare; "Where for art thou~?" - 21st century; "Where're you at~?"
8. Purify: REFINE
9. Softest mineral on the Mohs scale: TALC - This puzzle gets 4-1/2 of 5 ⭐ on the "other" Moe's Scale
10. Tot's scrape: OWIE
11. Childcare providers: NANNIES - There will be NO owies on this nanny's watch~!
12. Unsightly sight: EYESORE - Sightly sight - eye SURE~!
Spectacular view - and the city is pretty as well . . . 🙄
18. Sufficient, once: ENOW - ye olde sfelling of ENOUGH
21. Name on some Canadian pumps: ESSO - far right crossword-friendly letters, name(ish)
22. For: PRO
23. Pronoun option: HER - as last week, so again; YOU, OUR, SHE, HIS or HIM~?
25. College domain: EDU. - internet add-on for education
29. Sony record label: RCA - Eartha Kitt, "Santa Baby" was an RCA artist, and so are these girls
The Pointer Sisters, Neutron Dance - seems appropriate for an atomic theme . . .
30. Invoice no.: AMT - I charged $700 to build these custom maple pantry doors to fit an opening the previous contractor framed at 42"- 😖- too small for sliding doors, too big for bi-folds . . . and I always forget to take "before" pictures, and in this instance, would have been worth a laugh
Had to reconfigure the wood floor, too, as the other contractor's
wider opening left two wall-sized "gaps" in the T&G strips . . .🙄
31. Kerfuffle: FUSS
33. Passing thoughts?: OBITuary - Friday clever cluing
37. Food Network host Garten: INA - INA or UTA~? I always get "her" wrong; name #5
38. Tap: DRAW UPON - Spigot and Faucet were all wet in this instance
39. Bard's sphere: ORB
40. Used car caveat: "AS IS"
41. Hollywood innovation of the 1920s: TALKIES - Ah. Right.
42. Swell: ENLARGE - nailed it
43. Actor Vigoda: ABE - name #6
45. Generate more revenue than: OUTSELL
46. Tap: USE - Tap: Spinal . . . the "other" umlaut band name . . .
These guys still go to Eleven . . . Rock N Roll Creation
47. Target score at Augusta: PAR - Augusta being the PGA Tour's premier event in Georgia
49. Some coolers: FANS - I'm the "other" fan of PGA Augusta 2026 winner Rory McIlroy
50. Pledge rival: ENDUST - Pledge being the go-to cleaner for Consuela from Family Guy
No, no use Endust . . .
51. Second-oldest Ivy: YALE - There are only eight, and the list has only one four-letter entry . . . alright, maybe it could be PENN 😑
56. "The Lion King" lion: SIMBA - name #7, but I knew this one
58. Rolls-Royce trunk: BOOT - Brit-speak
59. Hill dwellers: ANTS - or POL(iticians)S~? I picked the correct one this time
61. Joy: GLEE
63. Practice, as a trade: PLY
64. "__ on my watch!": "NOT . . ."
65. Cube root of eight: TWO - ∛8 = 2; geez, now we gotta do math on Fridays~?
Splynter
Grid Flow 19.6, low again
That had a few
ReplyDeleteobscurities, but it wasn’t too bad.
And the gimmick was fun, especially
“Santa Fe Baby.”
FIR, so I’m happy.
Thank you, Mike and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI often start in the middle, especially late week. As it worked out, my first theme fill was SANTA FE BABY, and I smiled. "SANTA BABY" was the moniker that a group of ladies here often called C.C.'s longtime Monday AND Tuesday stalwart - Argyle. How reliable and hardworking? Argyle penned nearly 1000 reviews here. Fond memories.
As well, both "Land of Enchantment" and Santa Fe brought back memories of long-time commenter OwenKL. He lived in the Santa Fe area.
I liked each of the theme answers, and they all tied together perfectly with the reveal. Very nice, Mike. Splynter, you were in a song linking mood today. I like how you tied it all together.
FLN, inanehiker said she was 15A clue "On the road" on a cross country trip with her daughter and two preschool grands. She said, "Not for the faint of heart..." I can only imagine. Long road trips are a pleasure for me, but trying to keep two preschoolers busy and from becoming too fidgety for hours on end is far beyond my abilities.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteCaught the theme with the FEline and knew what we were looking for. RCA may be a Sony label, but when Eartha Kitt recorded it was still owned by the Radio Corporation of America, a CSO to I-M. DOTS reminded me that one of my clients skipped delivery yesterday due to an inspection of the other kind of colon. Sal Mineo died at 37, stabbed by a mugger outside his home and bled out. The Wite_Out came into play to correct ENgoRGE to ENLARGE. Nice one, Mike. Enjoyed your expo, Splynter.
FIR, but eta->ARR.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Mike for the fun Friday puzzle, and to Splynter for the interesting review and nylon vision. Remember George Strait's 1987 hit All My Ex's Live in Texas? (That's why I hang my hat in Tennessee.)
I'm having trouble logging on to my tax prep company's web site. Identical problem on both my PCs, different browsers, different ISPs. My daughter can log on just fine from her PC using my credentials, but I don't want to drive five hours to work on taxes. After several hours of work last night, it seems to be an error handling problem at the company's web site that affects some, but not all, users. I'll be back at it as soon as I post here.
Took 9:22 today to iron this one out.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the Actress of the Day (Tate), and it took a long time to remember "Mineo."
I didn't care for the French and Spanish clues being back-to-back, and I really disliked the French word crossing an abbreviation/initialism. "Enow" made no sense to me.
In Juliet's "Wherefore art thou" soliloquy, she is not asking where Romeo is. The word "wherefore" means "why." She is saying, why is your name Romeo (Monta gue) and mine Capulet? This is critical, because the Montagues and the Capulets are sworn enemies. As she adds, "What's in a name?" that keeps us apart?
ReplyDeleteFIR. This was a workout, but it is Friday after all.
ReplyDeleteThe last fill for me was "trade wafers". I understood the theme and knew "fe" had to fit in somewhere, but I banked on mess before fuss and thst got me stuck. Finally I saw the light and got the win.
Way too many obscurities for my liking and I'm still not getting uglis, Oh well! The perps were there to help.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
An UGLI is a hybrid fruit from Jamaica and if you see one in the store, you’ll see they are ugly.
DeleteNice Friday from Mike. My only hang up was MESS before FUSS which screwed up that area for a while.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, you do good work - both with wood and words!
Really neat puzzle. I had no trouble with it. Well, maybe just one: not knowing the actress in the north, I wanted to enter cATE, but then that would have given me cZAR. So I took a chance that someone’s first name would be TATE.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the theme and some of the tricky clueing, like the one for UGLIS, they are PLUM ugly, modern art, ARE.
Thank you Splynter for the thorough review and the tricky wood work photo.
FE Friday. Thanks for the fun, Mike and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed eventually and saw the IRON added theme.
16A was the weakest since more canines are walked than FELINEs, but the theme did require the FE.
Is it ETA or ETD? Neither - ARR.
It was the Apple IOS platform not the core today.
I smiled when I got the misdirection with OBIT, TSAR, ARE. Even OREO took a minute to see.
I created my own problem by rapidly entering an A in front of LOE. When I finally got SKABAND, I saw ENDUST and SLOE.
I noted MINEO and MUSEO., plus OREO. More final Os with PHOTO, LENO, ALTO.
Wishing you all a great day.
It was a FIR today but the North took a second pass after completing the bottom half almost completely by perps. I'd filled SANTA FE BABY without reading the clue and after perps had filled IRON SUPPL, the bell rang and I finished it with EMENT.
ReplyDeleteTATE, PEW, KNOT, & MINEO were unknown as clued but the FE-LINE opened it up, allowing completion. But without completing the South it would have been a DNF.
SKA BAND- it took perps to get it from the two unknown bands.
TYNE from Clint. "But how fast did you run the 100?" in "Dirty Harry'.
SCHOLARS & Think Tanks- where do these 'tanks' get the money to do their 'thinking'? Amazingly, different think tanks come up with different conclusions when studying the same thing. Usually to back the what the thoughts of what their benefactor thinks. What a coincidence?
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI got off on the wrong foot at 5A, thinking immediately of Pope rather than Tsar. Not knowing Tate didn’t help, but eventually it all got sorted out. Ska Band was unknown but it was surrounded by helpful perps. While the theme may not have been a Friday level, props for the execution and the overall clean grid, fill, and cluing.
Thanks, Mike, and thanks, Splynter, for the very informative overview and narrative. Your explanations add another layer to the solving experience. Any luck with the canine search?
Have a great day.
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ReplyDeleteCrossword
ReplyDeleteFrom “hairy” Mike “Peluso” Typical Friday but first time I can remember the South easier than the North so did the puzzle Bottom to Top. Took a while to FIR, held onto plot for ACRE too long.
Inkovers: ades/FANS, PAC/PEW, kale/KELP (kale forests? C’mon)
“Land of Enchantment” is on the NM license plate. Always get fooled for with the “Peter/Paul” clue
“Modern art” ARE a great clue. As TKen explained “Wherefore “art” thou Romeo” means “why are you Romeo?” not where. Juliette wishes Romeo was from a non rival family
Which Target store in Augusta? What? oh, never mind.🤭
“Hybrids” I was thinking cars, Innovations TALKIES IS plural.
“Colon units” sigmoids? Developed bleeding there after starting blood thinners, needed IRONSUPPLEMEMT (FEosol) for a month
Sty or stye …. EYESORE
In the USA you can no longer pay_____ … INCENSE.
Ticket again… REFINE
That’s ENOW for today 😊
Hola! I also started at the bottom on this puzzle and sashayed upward. Land of Enchantment is very familiar to me. As RayO noted, it's on the license plate and as our neighboring state, they are plentiful here.
ReplyDeleteMy last fill was the T in TSAR as Catherine TATE is unknown to me.
I WALK THE FELINE really made me laugh because I know the Johnny Cash song.
INCENSE to me does not mean anger, but the aromatic smoke used in church.
Thank you, splynter, for your witty remarks and thank you Mike Peluso for the puzzle.