Wednesday, September 16, 2026 Daniel Hrynick

Theme:  Rude dismissal - or - this theme sucks!

17 A. Prohibition of some single-use products: PLASTIC STRAW BAN.    A government or business rule that restricts or prohibits the distribution, sale, or use of single-use plastic drinking straws.

26 A. Spiral burners that deter biting pests: MOSQUITO COILS.  They are only temporarily and marginally effective over a limited area.   Better to wear light colored clothing and use a topical repellant.  These nasty suckers are mostly active at dawn and dusk.  You have been warned.

43 A. Liquid in a vampire slayer's vial: HOLY WATER.    Water that a member of the clergy has blessed for a religious or spiritual purpose.  It acts as a powerful repellent and weapon against vampires in pop culture and modern folklore.  It burns them like acid on contact.

53 A. "Later, chumps!," or what can be said while putting 17-, 26-, and 43-Across to good use?: SO LONG, SUCKERS.  Here is the rude dismissal.  What the items described by the theme entries accomplish is repelling or avoiding things that suck.  Mosquitos and vampires "vant to suck your blood."  The plastic straw doesn't really fit, because is does not provide the sucking. It is an item through which one may suck something, such as a milk shake.  That's my nit for the day.

Hi, Gang - JazzBumpa here.  Let's put on our insect repellant and see what we can discover.

Across:

1. Image in a botanical print: LEAF.  Took me a while to catch on to this clue.  Here are some examples.

5. Feminist Frequency founder Sarkeesian: ANITA.   Anita Sarkeesian [b. 1983] is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture.

10. Hardly hard: SOFT.  Describes something that easily yields to pressure, feels smooth, or is gentle and soothing to the senses,  Softly soft, maybe.  Clever clue.

14. Jessica of "Sin City": ALBA.  Jessica Marie Alba [b. April 28, 1981] is an American actress and businesswoman. She rose to prominence at age 19 for portraying Max Guevara, the lead character in the television series Dark Angel, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Her cinematic breakthrough came shortly after with the lead role in Honey.   Images.

15. __ New Year: LUNAR.   A major multi-day festival that marks the start of a new year based on the traditional lunisolar calendar, typically falling between late January and mid-February.   The date changes every year depending on the new moon. In 2026, it began on February 17, and in 2027 it falls on Saturday, February 6.

16. Wagon rod: AXLE.    A central rod, bar, or shaft that connects a pair of wheels to help them rotate and move a vehicle or machine.

20. __ Domingo: Caribbean capital: SANTO.    Founded in 1496, Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic, serving as the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas.

21. Permit: LET.  Allow.

22. Grinds to a halt: STOPS.   Gradually slows down and completely stops moving, working, or functioning

23. German article: DER.   The, in masculine nominative singular case.

24. Earth-friendly prefix: ECO.  Originating from ecology, the scientific study of how living organisms interact with each other and with their physical environment.

25. Female moose: COW.  Does a moose cow moo?

30. Bottled, as emotions: PENT UP.    Feelings, energy, or demand that are held inside and not expressed, vented, or released. 

31. Add to an email: ATTACH.   To include and send a separate document or photo with an electronic message.

33. Subject of a miner dispute, maybe: ORE.  Note: miner, not minor -- deep joke.  Can you dig it?

34. Shuns: ESCHEWS.   Deliberately avoids, shuns, or abstains from something, usually for moral, practical, or personal reasons.   Many years ago there was a popular bumper sticker in the Ann Arbor area that said " Eschew obfuscation."

38. Splash of color in an ornamental pond: KOI.   Brightly colored, ornamental varieties of the common carp

39. Ties the knot: WEDS.   Accepts the ball and chain.

41. Granola bar fleck: OAT.    An annual cereal grass (Avena sativa) or its edible seed, which is commonly used for human food (like oatmeal or porridge) and animal feed

42. Groks: GETS.   Understands.  The word is a neologism (a newly coined word) invented by American science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land. In the book's fictional Martian language, it literally translates to "to drink," but it symbolically means to blend or merge with a concept or person so thoroughly that the observer and the observed become one.

48. Home of the College World Series: OMAHA.   Omaha is a city in the U.S. state of Nebraska, on the Missouri River close to the Iowa border. A stop on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, it's known for its pioneer history, museums and cultural centers. 

50. Cover story: ALIBI.   An alibi is proof or a claim that a person was somewhere else when a crime or event happened, meaning they could not have done it.

57. Actor James __ Jones: EARL.   James Earl Jones [1931 - 2024] was an American actor. A pioneer for Black actors in the entertainment industry, he was acclaimed for his performances on stage and screen. Jones is one of the few performers to achieve the EGOT [Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards]

58. Liquid-Plumr rival: DRANO.    A popular brand of chemical drain opener. 

59. Battery unit: VOLT.    The standard international unit of measurement for electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force.

61. Distort: SKEW.    To twist, bias, or cause something to be slanted, inaccurate, or uneven.

62. Shoutout to a parent: HI, MOM.  What - no love for Dad?!?

63. __ out a living: EKED.   Managed to get by with great difficulty, 

64. Like muted colors: PALE.  Describes a very light color that won't attract mosquitos.

65. Ukrainian port on the Black Sea: ODESA.    A major port city and transport hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea in southwestern Ukraine.

66. Tennis match units: SETS.   A set in tennis is a group of individual games that players must win to move closer to winning the overall match.  This usually involves winning 6 games.

Down:

1. Track circuits: LAPS.  Each LAP is one complete trip around a track or course during a race or exercise.

2. Spanish pronoun: ELLA.  The third-person singular feminine personal pronoun.

3. Like ghost towns: ABANDONED.    Left behind, no longer used, or deserted.

4. Like a race winner: FASTEST.  Moving, acting, or happening with the greatest degree of speed or in the shortest amount of time.

5. Boxer Muhammad: ALI.   Muhammad Ali [formerly known as Cassius Clay Jr. 1942 - 2016] was an American professional boxer and activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "the Greatest", he is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.

6. Atomic centers: NUCLEI.   The tiny, dense, positively charged centers of atoms made of protons and neutrons.

7. Bug: INSECT.  Six-legged creepy crawler or flyer.

8. Bit of henna art: TATTOO.  A tattoo is a permanent design, mark, or word etched into the skin using needles and ink.

9. Train board abbr.: ARR.    The scheduled or estimated arrival time.

10. Took care of a situation: SAW TO IT.  Took full responsibility for making sure a specific task or action was successfully completed.

11. U-shaped body formed by a river diversion: OXBOW LAKE.   An oxbow lake forms when a meandering river erodes through the neck of one of its meanders. This takes place because meanders tend to grow and become more curved over time. The river then follows a shorter course that bypasses the meander. The entrances to the abandoned meander eventually silt up, forming an oxbow lake.

12. Cardboard carton part: FLAP.   A box flap is a flat extension of a container that folds over the opening to close, cover, and secure the contents.

13. Till stack: TENS.  Ten dollar bills in a cash box.

18. Rotational force: TORQUE.  Torque is the rotational equivalent of a linear force—essentially the twisting power that makes things spin around an axis or pivot point.

19. Broad neckties: ASCOTS.   Wide, traditional men's neckties that look like short scarfs.

26. Trifling: MERE.    An adjective meaning "nothing more than" or "only," used to emphasize how small, insignificant, or limited something is.

27. Company with brown trucks: UPS.  United Parcel Service.

28. Cry from a crow's nest: CAW.   Crows are not song birds.  They're squakers.

29. Glaswegian, e.g.: SCOT.  Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.

30. "Ka-blammo!": POW.  Cartoonish explosion onomatopoeia.

32. The "H" of HMS: HIS.  Or HER Royal Majesty.

35. Demure: COY.   Quiet, shy, modest and reserved.  But COY suggests that this is flirty or performative.

36. Hem and __: HAW.   Hesitating, stalling, or taking a long time to make a decision because you are unsure, evasive, or unwilling to commit.

37. Greek vowel: ETA.   Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, written as Η in uppercase and η in lowercase.  It sounds like a long E.

40. "Ready to get moving?": SHALL WE?   A polite suggestion to start or do something.  

42. Mourns: GRIEVES.   Feels or shows deep sadness and sorrow, especially because someone has died. 

44. "Well, well, well!": OHO.   Expression of mock surprise when discovering about somebody.

45. Cry from a crow's nest: LAND HO.  A crow's nest is a small, partly enclosed platform high up on a ship's mast where a sailor stands as a lookout.  LAND HO is a traditional nautical call shouted by a sailor or lookout to announce that land is finally visible.  Note the clecho.

46. Puget Sound city: TACOMA.   Tacoma is a vibrant port city in Washington State, located on the shores of Puget Sound about 30 miles south of Seattle.  

47. Large deer: ELK.    (Also called wapiti) is a massive animal belonging to the deer family (Cervidae), weighing up to 1,100 pounds and standing about 5 feet tall at the shoulder.

48. Financial center in Honshu: OSAKA.   Osaka is a major financial center of Japan and is recognized as one of its most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities. It is home to the Osaka Exchange and the headquarters of multinational electronics corporations such as Panasonic and Sharp.

49. Gourmet mushroom: MOREL.   The common morel, often called the white or gray morel. Its color varies from light cream to gray to yellowish-brown depending on habitat and age. The hollow cap is attached to the stalk at base. The common morel is perhaps the easiest of all edible spring mushrooms to recognize, and is therefore widely collected.

51. Insolvent: BROKE.  Lacking funds.

52. Typically uninhabited key: ISLET.    A tiny, often rocky or sandy, uninhabited island in a sea, lake, or river.

54. Sudoku diagram: GRID.    A network of evenly spaced horizontal and perpendicular lines used to organize, locate, or distribute things.  The layout for some games and puzzles.

55. "I feel seen!": SAME.   A powerful sense of connection that makes you feel less alone in your struggles or thoughts.

56. Chicago-style pizza chain, familiarly: UNOS.   Pizzeria Uno.  It's good.  Detroit style from Buddy's is better.

57. Seer's gift: ESP.  Extra Sensory Perception.   A supposed mental ability to receive information without using the normal physical senses

60. Scores equal to two FGs: TDS.  Touchdowns -  six-point scoring plays in American football where a player possesses the ball in the opponent's end zone. 

That wraps up another Wednesday.  Actually, this puzzle did not suck.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Cool regards!

JzB