Up, Up, and Away ...
17-Across. Ecstatic, like a nursery rhyme cow?: OVER THE MOON.
24-Across. Ecstatic, like a tightrope performer?: WALKING ON AIR.
51-Across. Ecstatic, like a songbird?: HAPPY AS A LARK.
62-Across. Ecstatic, like a big pig?: IN HOG HEAVEN
And the unifier:
39-Across. Like exorbitant prices, and like 17-, 24-, 51-, and 62-Across?: SKY HIGH.
Here's the Grid:
Across:
1. Stories and Reels app, familiarly: INSTA.
6. 20s dispensers: ATMs. A crossword staple.
13. Tot, to a Scot: WEE'UN.
16. Santa __, California: ANA.
19. North Atlantic fish: COD. For the definitive word on Cod and the Cod industry, I recommend Mark Kurlansky's book, Cod.
20. Weaken, in gaming slang: NERF. According to Webster's Dictionary, with respect to gaming, to nerf means to intentionally reduce the power, damage, range, or effectiveness of a character, weapon, ability, or item in a video game.
21. Low card in cribbage: ACE. *
22. Chicken __ masala: TIKKA. Yummers! Chicken tikka masala is a curried dish made with charred, marinated chicken chunks (tikka) simmered in a rich, spiced tomato and cream sauce (masala).
28. Volcanic rock: BASALT. Basalt is a dark, fine-grained, extrusive igneous rock formed by the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava. It is rich in iron and magnesium. Basalt makes up more than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth and forms the majority of the planet's ocean floors.
31. "... but I may be wrong": OR NOT.
32. Scare: ALARM.
33. Shark called the "cheetah of the ocean": MAKO. The Mako shark is fastest known species of shark, reaching moving speeds of 31 mph with bursts up to 46 mph. It looks pretty scary.
35. Larger __ life: THAN.
38. Animated response?: GIF. As in Graphics Interchange Format.
42. World Cup shout: OLÉ. A crossword staple.
43. Ladder rung: STEP.
45. Et __: and others: ALIA. Today's Latin lesson. Et alia is a Latin phrase that translates to and others.
46. "Li'l" resident of Dogpatch: ABNER. Li'l Abner was an American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonists Al Capp. It ran from August 1934, through November 1977.
48. Skin soother: SALVE.
50. Unfairly partisan: BIASED.
55. "Let me repeat ... ": I SAID.
56. Team transport: BUS.
57. Tardy: LATE.
61. Karaoke aid: MIC.
66. Sharon Olds' "__ to My Whiteness": ODE. I am neither familiar with Sharon Olds (b. 1942) nor her poem.
67. Tolerate: ABIDE.
68. "Worth __ penny!": EVERY.
69. Month, in Mexico: MES. Today's Spanish lesson.
70. Parroted: APED.
71. Cosmic fate: KARMA.
Down:
1. Victorious cry: I WON!
2. Campbell of "The Lincoln Lawyer": NEVE. Neve Adrianne Campbell (b. Oct.3, 1973) is a Canadian actress. She is probably best known for being a scream queen in many horror films. She portrays Maggie McPherson on the Netflix drama series The Lincoln Lawyer.
3. Prophetic one: SEER.
4. Power struggle within a company, e.g.: TURF WAR.
5. Kitchen pest: ANT.
6. Smart __: ALECK.
7. Oscar winner Marisa: TOMEI. Marisa Tomei (b. 1964) is a talented actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mona Lisa Vito in the 1992 comedy film My Cousin Vinny. I can't believe the movie came out over 30 years ago!
8. "I'm a cow!": MOO.
9. NorCal airport: SFO. As in the San Francisco/Oakland International Airport.
10. Collaborative coding events: HACKATHONS. Okay, it's a real thing.
11. Japanese mushroom: ENOKI.
12. Plane-tracking tech: RADAR.
15. Writer Chekhov: ANTON. Anton Chekhov (Jan. 29, 1860 ~ July 15, 1904) was a Russian playwright and physician. He wrote a number of plays such as The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, and The Seagull, that are still produced today. To aspiring writers, he is known for saying the following: "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there." This is known as Chekhov's Principle.
18. Sentry's shout: HALT.
23. Playing to break a tie, for short: IN OT. As in In Over Time.
25. Offerings to Buddhist monks: ALMS.
26. Pioneer in mobile phone technology: NOKIA. A brief history of Nokia.
27. Shipboard booze: GROG.
28. Reusable totes, e.g.: BAGS.
29. Came to rest: ALIT.
30. Judgment-free environments: SAFE SPACES.
33. NFLer Garrett who made a record 23 sacks in 2025: MYLES. Myles Lorenz Garrett (b. Dec. 29, 1995), plays for the Los Angeles Rams.
34. Poke bowl tuna: AHI. Yummers! One of our favorite restaurants prepared the most wonderful Ahi towers.
36. Not aweather: ALEE.
37. Trivia champion, perhaps: NERD. Not to be confused with 20-Across.
40. Intoxicating Polynesian drink: KAVA. A kava drink is a non-alcoholic, psychoactive beverage made from the crushed or powdered root of Piper methysticum, a pepper plant native to the South Pacific. I am familiar with neither this drink nor the pepper.
41. Brush target: HAIR.
44. Daddy, in Spanish: PAPI.
47. Layered pastry with honey and nuts: BAKLAVA. It's too sweet for me.
49. Golfer Ko in the LPGA Hall of Fame: LYDIA. That's Dame Lydia Bo-Gyung Ko (b. Apr. 24, 1997) to you. Until 2017, she was the youngest ever to win an LPGA Tour event. She won the event when she was just 15 years old.
50. Major shindig: BASH.
51. Classic handmade sign for TV cameras: HI, MOM!
52. Brief digression: ASIDE.
53. "Humble" quarters: ABODE.
54. Raced on a sled: LUGED.
58. Affirm as true: AVER.
59. Time in office: TERM.
60. Irish New Age singer: ENYA. Her given name is Eithne PádraigĂn NĂ Bhraonáin (May 17, 1961). No wonder she goes by Enya.
63. Org. with Hornets and Bulls: NBA. As in the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls in basketball.
64. Cool: HIP.
65. Shriek after a squeak: EEK.
~~~~~~
* Einstein and Bohr debate about G'd playing dice.
חתולה
Maybe it’s just me,
ReplyDeletebut for a Tuesday, I found this puzzle awfully tough. But anyway, I got through it.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteMy SAFE plACES kept me from being HAPPY AS A LARK for quite some time. Whew. LIL ABNER reminds me that a lady we often see on our morning march through the 'hood named her dog Daisy Mae. She was abused before the lady adopted her, and she's still very skittish -- the dog, not the lady. ANTON was timely -- Walter Koenig, the original Chekov on TV's Star Trek, reportedly died yesterday at 90. Interesting Tuesday. Thanx, Adam and Hahtoolah.
FIR, but sake->KAVA, and baclava->BAKLAVA.
ReplyDeleteGIF is a standard that can be used for animation, but also for other purposes. Didn't like the clue. And isn't the usage backwards when BAGS are reusable totes? While I'm picking nits, something misfired on Ha2la's narrative of NEVE.
I miss playing cribbage. "Two for his majesty's nobs." I'll bet God never gets mugged. (For those who don't play, if you miss claiming points you are due, your opponent can declare "muggins" or just "mugs" and steal the points you overlooked. Best not used when playing against your spouse. Or God, for that matter.)
Thanks to Adam for the fun Tuesday puzzle, and to Ha2la for another fine review. My favorite was the explanation of GROG.