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 Pádraigín Ní 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.
You were probably thinking of a balaclava mask instead of the Greek baklava pastry.
DeleteA FIW today. One wrong letter. Not a gamer, don't subscribe to Netflix, and guessed NEVA and NARF. And then we have BIASED people calling someone (and crossing) a NERD who might participate in HACKATHONS.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of CAVA wine but KAVA from the South Seas, nope.
Beethoven's "ODE to Joy" I know but "Ode to Whiteness"; somebody in love with their skin.
MYLES next to KAVA- thank you perps
FIR. This was a little crunchy for a Tuesday. It seemed to me that some of the clues were a bit off the mark. And added to this was a bunch of proper names few would know. Thank heavens for perps!
ReplyDeleteThe best part of today's puzzle was the theme. It was clear and simple, and helped quite a bit with the solve.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI liked the theme and the reveal very much but, IMO, this had too many non-Tuesday level C/As, i.e., Myles, Lydia, Kava, plus the niche references of Hackathons, Instacart, Nerf, etc.
I went astray at Baird/Weeun and Gala/Bash but, overall, the rest of the fill was pretty much easily discernible.
Thanks, Adam, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for your many learning moments and the array of cute comics, the favorite being young Jock and his wee Lassie! 🤣
Have a great day.
I just noticed that I was Anonymous. Well, I’m not, I’m Irish Miss!
DeleteI really liked the theme, easy to fill, and the reveal is so timely. But as already mentioned the rest of the cluing was crunchy. So, DNF. I had my own little Natick in the center with the crossing of KAVA, MYLES, LYDIA, and SALVE just didn’t come to me. Another in the WEST the crossing of NEVE and NERF. That filled with a WAG.
ReplyDeleteI not only acted in ANTON Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in college, but then many years later taught it.
Thank you Hahtoolah for the fun and informative review.
I FIW with two errors. I had a few guesses, but guessed right on Neve and Nerf. Didn't like having a gamer clue crossed with actress I'd never heard of. I didn't know the latin crossed with a drink and an NFL player and guessed wrong. I was a die hard Browns fan growing up, and then after moving to Houston, was an Oiler season ticket holder. When the NFL shafted both Houston and Cleveland in the mid-90's, I quit watching the NFL, and haven't seen a game in 30 years. That is probably a good thing too, as 30 years later, neither cities teams have made it to the Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteI'll see your 30 years and raise it by 50.
DeleteTook 4 flat today to walk on cloud nine.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actresses of the Day (Tomei & Neve), but not the golfer (Lydia), the Polynesian drink (kava), the Scottish (weeun), or the Spanish (papi, not pepe). And, had to wait to see if it was "hep" or "hip."
Weeun - really?
nice unique fill, maybe a tad harder than usual for a tues but still got it in a smidge under 6 minutes. Fun fact, the opposite of NERF is "buff", for when you make a character/ability/weapon stronger.
ReplyDeleteTerrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Adam and Hahtoolah (great cartoons).
ReplyDeleteOfficially a FIW since I chose an A instead of the E in the cross of NEVE and NERF. I see that I am not alone.
Another hand up for Bairn before WEEUN; that NW corner was the last to fall
But I did get the SKY HIGH theme.
I pluralized ALEC to fit the space, but perps changed my S to a K.
My first thought for the ecstatic pig was a mud puddle but it didn’t fit the theme.
I noted our A words ALIT and ALEE. we also had ALARM, ALECK and ALIA.
Yikes, now I see ABODE, AVER, ASIDE, ANA.
I was scratching my head at HACK AT THONS until I parsed it correctly. LOL!
I love BAKLAVA in small amounts. Too much can be sickly sweet.
Wishing you all a great day.
Strange how some CWs some people find difficult and others find easy. Several comments today that this was a bit rough for a Tuesday, but I found it easier than yesterday. FIR in 10. 12 names, only 4 DNKs.
ReplyDeleteI noticed and liked the symmetry of the CW theme clues, and the reveal being smack in the middle of the CW. Excellent work, AS, thanx.
As always, Hahtoolah's write-up is witty, informative and filled with great 'toons. I liked them all, but the brushes is very good, only outdone by the lion in the elevator. Thanx, Hahtoolah for the 'toons and all your work on the write-up.
Impressed by the theme. Relatively long answers: common expressions with both ecstatic and air born meaning. “Exorbitant prices” SKY HIGH like gas and diesel, Et ALIA
ReplyDeleteInkovers: laddy/WEEUN (not yet potty trained? 😄), ball/BASH
Not pumice but BASALT. SAFESPACES cuz I realized too late spots was too short. “ODE to My Whiteness” sounds like a political anthem.
HACKATHONS? A meeting of low quality white collar workers? 🤨. Initial thought for “TV camera sign”was a cue card, so I was confused at first when HIMOM perped
Mentioned recently: an ABODE could be made of a mud brick anagram ergo “humble”
KAVA: “coffee” in most Slavic languages. Including my Polish in-laws. Pairs well with BAKLAVA which our Lebanese neighbors made called “baklawa” slightly different Ingredients .
Great toons H2LH, each funnier than the next. 😄
I found some tough sledding south of the equator, with bad entries like HAPPY AS A CLAM and IN DOG HEAVEN (which should be a thing!) slowing me down. None of which was Adam's fault so no foul.
ReplyDeleteMy sons plus DIL have participated in several HACKATHONS, and even won one.
Great review Hahtoolah, I always enjoy Larson's cartoons!
Musings
ReplyDelete-My ATM now asks what denominations I would like to have
-Lil Abner is definitely throwing a bone to us older solvers
-I have ridden in many a team school bus as a coach. Not fun.
-I love this MOO joke!
-Chekov Principle: Any seemingly small detail that appears early in a movie or TV show will come back to be important.
-My good friend and former colleague, who was also the father of former Nebraska US senator Ben Sasse, died yesterday after a long struggle with a long list of medical issues. These events get more and more frequent as we pass 75 or so.
My favorite cow cartoon (assuming it works.)
DeleteI'm really sorry for your loss.
DeleteI greatly appreciate all of the feedback here, both the positive and the constructive criticism on some of the crosses. You all taking the time to post reactions really helps me think about where I can improve as a constructor in the future. Here are a few musings that I have from what I've read so far:
ReplyDelete- The center of the grid went through two rounds of revisions to meet LAT standards. In the process, 2 additional proper names went in, and 45A went APSE-->ARIA-->ALIA. In retrospect, I probably should have asked to pull the grid back and regrid, but instead boil-the-frog syndrome took over.
- I should likely be more careful about long bonus entries that are fun but not in everyone's wheelhouse in early-week puzzles. Both HACKATHONS and SAFE SPACES are things I come across quite frequently in my life and felt interesting/fresh - indeed, my son came home yesterday upset that they'd just had an assembly where the Vice Principal had lectured the school vaguely about "safe spaces" rather than addressing head-on an incident many were upset about! But for a Tuesday puzzle, it's probably not great to have a pair of long bonuses that may be unfamiliar to many (there are similar debates going on elsewhere about an antipodean bird long bonus crossing 3 proper names in today's NYT).
- I solve enough crosswords, perhaps six a day on average, that I realize from this that I'm prone to overestimate what is known to solvers that are not as deep in the rabbit hole as I am. If I see Shannon Olds in a clue, I now have a Pavlovian instinct to reach for ODE (BTW, for those concerned about the title, I encourage you to click the helpful link that Hahtoolah added. The poem is, at least to my ear, a touching description of the poet coming to terms with what her whiteness has given her over the years without her always having realized it). Similarly, although I am not a gamer, I've seen NERF enough times in crosswords, not to mention hearing it from my son, that it didn't even occur to me that was a potentially tough cross.
Again, I'm extremely grateful for all the comments here. One of the nice things about construction for me is that I find it easy to simultaneously be proud of what I've accomplished while also knowing I'm still in the early stages of honing my craft. Hearing the candid and heartfelt reactions to puzzles that get shared here is a fantastic way to help me continue to improve.
Thank you for popping in, Adam. I appreciate hearing from constructors.
DeleteWhat a great posting Adam! Thanks!
Delete