Theme: Wham!
Robin Stears is a longtime pro at crossword construction. This marvelous Monday is my first opportunity to blog one of her puzzles.
The theme clues and answers are:
17-Across. *Spinach eater who's smitten with Olive Oyl: POPEYE THE SAILOR.
26-Across. *"I Don't Like Mondays" new wave band: BOOMTOWN RATS.
48-Across. *"Mighty Morphin" heroes of 1990s television: POWER RANGERS.
63-Across. Has a thrilling opening, or what the answer to each starred clue does: STARTS WITH A BANG.
Every one of the starred clues opens with the sound of a BANG: POP, BOOM, or POW. This puzzle is banging! Popping! (Booming is not the same, and powing is not a thing!) Wham, bam, thank you, Robin!
Across:1. "Forever Your Girl" singer Abdul: PAULA. Paula Abdul began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18, became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, and then choreographed music videos for Janet Jackson. She went on to become a very popular singer, talent show judge, and choreograher for films, television, and award programs.
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| Paula Abdul |
6. Radio band toggle: AM/FM.
10. Rotating roasting rod: SPIT.
10. Rotating roasting rod: SPIT.
 |
| piggies on spits -- eww! |
14. Online moderator, briefly: ADMIN. I'm an ADMIN for a Facebook group that shares daily photos of clouds around the world. Someone's gotta enforce the rules!
15. King, queen, or jack: CARD.
16. Hawaiian dance: HULA.
17. [Theme clue]
20. Office helper: Abbr.: ASST. The abbreviation for "assistant."
21. Self-storage rental: UNIT.
22. Looped rope at a 31-Across: LASSO.
23. Other, in Spanish: OTRO. I appreciate it when the answer is masculine, as it is today. When the answer turns out to be OTRA, as it often does, I think there should be a hint that we're looking for a feminine adjective. Otro hombre (other man), otra mujer (other woman).
25. Short choral compositions: MOTETS. Musical compositions in which various voices sing distinct words and melodies at the same time. Having evolved from the 13th century to the present, there have been tremendous changes in the form over time.
26. [Theme clue]
31. Official state sport of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Texas: RODEO. And Alaska has dog mushing as its state sport! In the category of sports not based on animal abuse, we have surfing (California), skiing (Colorado), outrigger canoe paddling (Hawaii), jousting (Maryland), archery (Missouri) and stock car racing (North Carolina), among others.
32. Lithium-__ battery: ION. A rechargeable energy storage device.
33. Lyft rival: UBER.
37. Mattel game with colorful cards: UNO. The goal is to be the first person to get rid of all the cards in your hand.
15. King, queen, or jack: CARD.
16. Hawaiian dance: HULA.
17. [Theme clue]
20. Office helper: Abbr.: ASST. The abbreviation for "assistant."
21. Self-storage rental: UNIT.
22. Looped rope at a 31-Across: LASSO.
23. Other, in Spanish: OTRO. I appreciate it when the answer is masculine, as it is today. When the answer turns out to be OTRA, as it often does, I think there should be a hint that we're looking for a feminine adjective. Otro hombre (other man), otra mujer (other woman).
25. Short choral compositions: MOTETS. Musical compositions in which various voices sing distinct words and melodies at the same time. Having evolved from the 13th century to the present, there have been tremendous changes in the form over time.
26. [Theme clue]
31. Official state sport of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Texas: RODEO. And Alaska has dog mushing as its state sport! In the category of sports not based on animal abuse, we have surfing (California), skiing (Colorado), outrigger canoe paddling (Hawaii), jousting (Maryland), archery (Missouri) and stock car racing (North Carolina), among others.
32. Lithium-__ battery: ION. A rechargeable energy storage device.
33. Lyft rival: UBER.
37. Mattel game with colorful cards: UNO. The goal is to be the first person to get rid of all the cards in your hand.
 |
| Uno |
38. "The __ of the Opera": PHANTOM. The Phantom of the Opera is a story created by French novelist Gaston Leroux as a 1910 serialized novel. It follows a disfigured musical genius who lives in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House and becomes infatuated with a young chorus singer. There was a 1925 silent horror film version starring Lon Chaney, a 1935 Technicolor version starring Claude Rains, a 1986 Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and a 2004 film starring Gerard Butler.
 |
| Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera, 1925 |
42. St. crosser: AVE. Streets are typically narrow roads with closely spaced buildings on both sides, whereas avenues are often wider thoroughfares with large scale landscaping, but this usage varies regionally. In Los Angeles, streets usally run east-west, and avenues run north-south. The house where I grew up was on a north-south avenue, but it was a narrow road with closely spaced houses, fitting the description of a street.
43. Skater Lipinski: TARA. Tara Lipinski was the 1997 U.S. national champion and world champion in women's singles figure skating, a two-time Champions Series Final champion (1997–1998), and the 1998 Olympic champion. She was the youngest single skater Olympic champion and World champion ever (at age 15), and is currently a commentator on the sport.
45. Have bills to pay: OWE.
46. Lubricated: OILED.
48. [Theme clue]
52. College grounds: CAMPUS.
55. Auth. unknown: ANON. An unknown AUTHor is ANONymous.
56. Opera solos: ARIAS.
57. Failed to float: SANK.
59. Slender woodwind: OBOE.
63. [Theme clue]
66. Heavy book: TOME.
67. Slowly grow dim: FADE.
68. Student of Socrates: PLATO. Socrates taught Plato; Plato taught Aristotle. The three of them are credited with creating the foundations of Western philosophy.
 |
| Three hard headed guys. |
69. Garden dirt: SOIL.
70. Pundit piece: OP-ED. An op-ed (short for "opposite the editorial page") is a piece of opinion journalism written by an outside contributor who is not on a publication's editorial board. A pundit is a person who has deep knowledge about a specific subject and shares opinions, analysis, or commentary through mass media.
71. Mexican bucks: PESOS.
Down:
1. Smurf with a white beard and red hat: PAPA. The Smurfs is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. There was an American Saturday morning cartoon series from 1981 to 1989 which continued in reruns and TV specials for several years, and is still broadcast on the cable Boomerang channel.
2. Noisy commotions: ADOS.
3. Baseball officials: UMPS. Umpires also officiate at tennis, cricket, badminton, and field hockey games.
4. "I can't handle the truth!": LIE TO ME. In the TV drama series Lie to Me (2009-2011), crime solving psychologists detected deception by analyzing microexpressions, body language, and vocal tones.
3. Baseball officials: UMPS. Umpires also officiate at tennis, cricket, badminton, and field hockey games.
4. "I can't handle the truth!": LIE TO ME. In the TV drama series Lie to Me (2009-2011), crime solving psychologists detected deception by analyzing microexpressions, body language, and vocal tones.
5. "__ ideas?": ANY.
6. "Don't wait or you'll miss out!": ACT NOW.
7. Fish often grilled for tacos, informally: MAHI. The fish formally known as mahi-mahi.
 |
| human being with future fish taco filling |
8. Ridge on a guitar fingerboard: FRET. Frets are usually thin metal strips inserted in the neck of a guitar, providing guidance for finger placement to create musical notes.
 |
| frets |
9. Rx writers: MDS. Medical doctors can write a prescription (Rx).
10. Japanese massage technique whose name means "finger pressure": SHIATSU. Practitioners use thumbs, fingers, palms, elbows, knees, or feet to apply pressure along energy pathways called meridians.
11. Heart rate: PULSE.
12. "You beat me": I LOST.
13. Starchy roots used in poi: TAROS. Taro is a tropical plant grown for its starchy roots (tubers), which are a major food staple in the Pacific Islands, Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia. In Hawaii, cooked taro roots are mashed into poi.
 |
| taro on the left, poi on the right |
18. Continental currency: EURO.
19. Like crazy: A LOT.
24. Sporty car roof: T-TOP.
 |
| Corvette T-top |
25. Spanish hand: MANO. Give me your hand: Dame la mano.
26. Dry, as champagne: BRUT. Sparkling wines are labeled according to the amount of residual sugar per liter after fermentation.
27. Actress Chaplin: OONA. Oona Chaplin is a granddaughter of English filmmaker and actor Charlie Chaplin, and great-granddaughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neill. She had roles in HBO's Game of Thrones, BBC's The Crimson Field and Taboo, and the Avatar films.
 |
| As Talisa Maegyr in Game of Thrones, Oona Chaplin got to be married to Robb Stark -- for a minute. She was first to die at the Red Wedding (Game of Thrones, season 3, episode 9). |
28. Febreze target: ODOR. Isn't it better to clean up the mess than to cover the odor with this sort of thing?
29. Bay Area NFLer: NINER. The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
30. Decompose: ROT. Febreze is not really the solution to that.
34. Hay bundle: BALE.
35. Penultimate word in many fairy tales: EVER. "... and they lived happily EVER after." Not the ultimate (last) word, but the penultimate (next-to-last) word.
36. Maroon, crimson, ruby, and the like: REDS.
39. "__ it going?": HOW'S.
40. Astonishment: AWE.
41. Stereo alternative: MONO. Monophonic audio recordings use one channel, and stereophonic recordings use two. Mono is great for voice recordings and public address systems. For music and movies, it's nice to have different sounds playing on separate channels to mimic a natural sound environment.
44. Clothes: APPAREL.
47. Dishonorable: IGNOBLE.
49. Depose: OUST.
50. __ and raved: RANTED.
51. Egyptian cross with a top loop: ANKH. The ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that represents "life" or "breath of life."
 |
| A god offering the breath of life to a deceased pharoah? |
52. Acting ensembles: CASTS.
53. Threepio pal: ARTOO. Artoo (technically R2-D2) and Threepio (technically C-3PO) are fictional droids in the Star Wars movies.
 |
| R2-D2 and C-3PO |
54. "The Golden Girls" city: MIAMI. The Golden Girls, starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992. The four older ladies shared a house in Miami, Florida.
57. Trade: SWAP.
58. Office helper: AIDE.
60. Sheep sounds: BAAS.
61. "I'm __ your tricks!": ONTO.
62. Inner selves: EGOS.
64. Bay Area hub, for short: SFO. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the primary international airport serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
65. iPad download: APP. An app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
58. Office helper: AIDE.
60. Sheep sounds: BAAS.
61. "I'm __ your tricks!": ONTO.
62. Inner selves: EGOS.
64. Bay Area hub, for short: SFO. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the primary international airport serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
65. iPad download: APP. An app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
Here's the grid:
Solvers,
Did you get A BANG out of today's puzzle?
Tell me in the comments section! But don't LIE TO ME!
ACT NOW!
-- NaomiZ
Very easy, as befits a
ReplyDeleteMonday. I admit it gave me pause when I first looked at the puzzle and saw the first themed fill spanned the grid, but that entry turned out to be no problem, and neither was the rest of the puzzle.
FIR, so I’m happy.
FIR, but areto->ARTOO. DNK BOOMTOWN RATS or SHIATSU.
ReplyDeleteNever heard I Don’t Like Mondays, but I’ll never forget The Carpenters’ big hit Rainy Days and Mondays .
Sts don’t cross AVEs in Phoenix. There the street numbers get larger as you go east from Central, and AVE numbers get larger as you go west from Central. Makes navigation very easy.
Not ONTO your tricks, but in her song You Turn Me On I'm A Radio, Joni Mitchel sang:
I know you don't like weak women, you get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women, 'cause they're hip to your tricks.
Thanks to Robin for the fun Monday romp, and to NaomiZ for another fine review.
FLN – Ojai Guy, I had kind of the opposite of your experience. Once I started watching hockey it became impossible for me to watch baseball, and to get bored quickly watching NBA and NFL games. Too slow.
Oops -
DeleteRainy Days and Mondays.
Speedy Gonzales' most popular exclamation was "ándele", = "hurry up", "let's go", "come on".
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteZipped right through this one. It should be Wile E. Coyote's favorite crossword. MANO evokes memories of MANOS The Hands Of Fate -- possibly the worst movie ever made. I suffered through it once when it was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This one was another winner from Robin. Enjoyed your expo, NaomiZ.
Off to another medical appt this morning. Just one more (hopefully) this year.
RE: Manos. Yeah, a horrible movie but one of the funniest mistings they ever did.
DeleteWonderful writeup, NaomiZ! Thanks so much for all your positive comments. This was a fun puzzle to make, and I'm delighted it was a fun puzzle to solve as well. I love making easy puzzles!
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm here, I'm publishing a new daily mini crossword on my Patreon (link included) all about women for women and people who like women! women's history, sports, pop culture, music and literature -- all things feminine! It's free for all my Patreon members, including the free members.
What a delight to have you join us here this morning, Robin! Thank you! My understanding is that it's harder to make an easy puzzle than a difficult one. Congratulations!
DeleteYou understand correctly! I make a lot of easy puzzles for the Redstone Games app using a specialized word list I created from Common Core vocabulary lists and the Zipf Distribution of the English language -- easier words have higher scores and difficult words have lower scores. I can't imagine trying to make an easy puzzle with a basic word list!
DeleteFIR but why always SPANISH words! 😠 I don't live in the Southwest and I took high school German back in the 60's
ReplyDeleteThis Canadian took French back in the 60’s. But I have learned some basic Spanish (and German) doing CWs. Lucina is always helpful with the Spanish.
DeleteEasy Monday but fun. NaomiZ, you should take Willie and Waylon's advice and also stay out of Texas, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota (probably Mexico and Spain, too). And Kentucky - don't they use whips on horses there? I do thank you for your dedication in providing reviews and always appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteIn horse racing, the whip is a communications tool. Using the whip is called "asking him (or her) to run," and is the equivalent of the last-lap bell in human's distance track racing. The whip is too short and too flexible to actually hurt the horse.
DeleteNice to know. Thank you!
DeleteFor the most part, a fun puzzle that I finished right, but only with the help of my wife. I didn’t like the crossing of a Japanese massage technique, with a Spanish word, with a band that I have never heard of. Plus I still don’t understand the clue “crazy" for the answer "a lot." Was impossible for me to even make an educated guess with so many missing letters. My wife knew “mano”, and that allowed me to luckily finish the grid. Again many thanks for the daily write ups, the blog has helped me improve my solving skills over the years since I started doing crossword puzzles.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Although this is a Monday there were a few somewhat difficult answers.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of Popeye and the reveal, the long answers were a mystery to me. Fortunately they weren't vital to the solve.
Overall an okay puzzle.
No comment today as we had to euthanize Lily last night. This is a very sad place today and we will try to be somewhat comforted by all our memories of her.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry, H.Gary. I enjoyed your accounts of Lily's antics.
DeleteSo sorry Husker for the loss of your beloved Lily.
DeleteSorry for losing your dear Lily - hugs to you both
DeleteIt's sad, HG. Lily was a special cat, a member of the family.
DeleteOh gosh, HG! Our four footed friends are the best. They leave big holes in our hearts.
DeleteGary and Joann, Darling Lily will be missed but not forgotten.
DeleteI’m so sorry to hear that. She was family to you, and undoubtedly so sweet and lovable.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about Lily. It is so hard to lose a beloved pet.
DeleteMy sympathies for your loss of Lily. I’ve had to do the same for my cat of many years. A sad day, but good memories!
DeleteReally easy Monday CW. My only nit is three oral phrases one after the other at 4, 5, 6 down. I don’t care much for that type of clue. Otherwise, fun theme even though I didn’t know t he band and the TV heroes, they were easy to WAG. My only unknown was TARA.
ReplyDeleteThe expression MANO a MANO is well known when two adversaries are fighting.
I’ve had many fish tacos, but never with MAHI.
Thank you NaomiZ for your POWerful review.
D'oh, I knew better, but I always thought of it as "man-to-man."
DeleteMahi-Mahi tacos are tender and delicious. Yummy!
DeleteMarvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Robin (thanks for dropping by) and NaomiZ.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed in very good time and saw the BANG theme early in the solve.
(My first thought, after the first themer, was that we were going to have a Missing Man theme.)
No inkblots, and any unknowns perped easily.
I noted ASST and AIDE. We had TAROS and TARA.
Wishing you all a great day.
Don’t ask me why I notice these things , but today we had a plethora of O endings!
ReplyDeleteOTRO, RODEO, UNO, PLATO, EURO, MONO SFO
Plus plurals: PESOS, TAROS, EGOS
and the long O sound: OBOE, (OWE Easter Egg)
and the long /uː/ sound: LASSO, ADOS, ARTOO, ONTO
Nice catch CanadianEh!
DeleteI always pronounce LASSO with a long O sound.
DeleteCan you play the OBOE while eating an Oreo?
DeleteFIR in 9. Last cell to fill was the 25 cell: MANO crossing MOTETS. I wasn't really sure, but MANO sounded right.
ReplyDeleteWI does not have a state sport, but should, and it should be football. WI is the home, after all to my Green Bay Packers. And yes, they are mine: I own one share! Who watched yesterdays slaughter of the Patriots? I hope they play as well the rest of the season.
SUNK/SANK = only W/O. 14 names, 2 DNKs.
Thanx RS, terrific CW and start to the week I even got the theme, and thanx too for stopping by the blog.
Thanx also to NaomiZ for the terrific write-up, and for the sparkling wine chart.
Wham, bam, thank you for an entertaining 3:30 today.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actress of the Day (Oona), did ok on the Spanish lesson (mano), but didn't know "motets" and heavily resisted "a lot" for "like crazy." I also didn't know the band.
HG: I am sorry for the loss of your pet. They are family members, and the pain of the loss is real.
Robin Stears us in the right direction, thanks for the cameo. But ALOT of Inkovers for a Monday: emcee/ADMIN, transformers/ POWERRANGERS, attires/APPARELS, sunk/SANK. Except for the song title, gettable long theme answers helped move along to the finish
ReplyDeleteNever sure how to spell ahnk. MANO is “hand” in Spanish and Italian, feminine gender even though it ends in O for some crazy Latin reason.
“College grounds” is plural; shouldn’t it be campi 😄. “You beat me” can be present or past tense, I LOST to I lose
The new dentist was heard to FRET, “I can’t handle the tooth” 😊
Have a great day
I liked this puzzle A LOT.
ReplyDeleteNoticed MANO and MONO.
'Twas good reading all your comments.
Nice catch on MANO/MONO.
DeleteBig Easy
ReplyDeleteSeeing the BANG beginnings was easy but I'll call it a DNF due to two things. BOOMTOWN RATS was unknown and I wasn't sure of the massage technique was SHIAT-ZU or SU and maybe the band could have been RAT-Z instead of RATS. Left that cell blank. You don't know what you don't know.
PAULA- a "Cold Hearted Snake" is the only song I know by her.
LIE TO ME- Just like Fleetwood Mac's band sang.
Sometimes MONO sounds better than stereo, especially if you have SiriusXM.
The rest of the puzzle was Monday easy.
Let me FADE from the scene.
Great puzzle and great recap - kudos to both Naomi and Robin!
ReplyDeleteOf course, I could not resist finding a haiku (aka, Moe-ku) that fits today (first is from 2019:
Masseuse coined a new
Procedure for dogs. Calls it:
Shih Tzu SHIATSU
And a follow-up (created today) might be:
Masseuse went fishing;
Long struggle to catch one was:
MANO y MAHI
Enjoyed today’s puzzle and review! Thanks Robbin and NaomiZ. I liked the banging theme.
ReplyDelete