What, me worry? The profession in each theme clue has a major worry, which is explained in the answer.
19-Across. Worry for a campaign manager?: PRIMARY CONCERN. Thank goodness the election is over and we don't have to worry about the next primaries for another year or so.
25-Across. Worry for a stunt performer?: DOUBLE TROUBLE.
43-Across. Worry for a winemaker?: PRESSING ISSUE.
52-Across. Worry for a dry cleaner?: DELICATE MATTER.
Here's the Grid:
What other concerns can be found in today's puzzle?
Across:
1. Largest of the Three Bears: PAPA.
5. Golf ball prop: TEE.
8. Moon's path: ORBIT.
13. Last (and next) U.S. state to host the Winter Olympics: UTAH. The Winter Olympics were last held in Utah in 2002. The games will return to Utah in 2034. I'll probably be too old by then to compete in the down hill racing. At least, that's my excuse.
14. Drive-__ window: THRU.
15. "Still Alice" Oscar winner Julianne: MOORE. Julianne Moore (née Julie Anne Smith; b. Dec. 3, 1960) is a talented actress. She made many independent films in the 1990s. Still Alice was a 2914 film about a professor, played by Julianne Moore, who developed Alzheimer's disease.
16. Lacking color: PALE.
17. Name in a will: HEIR. Technically speaking, one is not an heir while the donor is still alive. An heir is specifically a person legally entitled to inherit from someone after they have died
18. Physicist Newton: ISAAC. That's Sir Isaac Newton (Jan. 4, 1643 ~ Mar. 31, 1727) to you.
22. __ and yang: YIN.
23. Day on Mars: SOL. For a detailed explanation of what this means, check out this site.
24. "Your Song" singer Rita: ORA. Rita Ora (née Rita Sahatçiu Ora; b. Nov. 26, 1990) makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles. She is a British singer. She was born in Pristina, Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo), but her family moved to England when she was just an infant.
32. Quibbles: CARPS.
34. Gradually withdraw: WEAN.
35. AirPod holder: EAR.
36. Universal modes of transport?: UFOs.
37. Trojan War epic by Homer: ILIAD. Hand up if you have read The Iliad in the original Greek.
39. Tex-Mex snack: TACO. Yummers!
40. Froot Loops mascot Toucan __: SAM.
41. Actor Alda: ALAN. Alan Alda (né Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; b. Jan. 28, 1936) is probably best remembered for portraying Hawkeye Pierce on the long-running sit-com M*A*S*H.
42. Roof overhangs: EAVES. At the place to hang the icicles.
47. Federal org. employing ecologists: EPA. As in the Environmental Protection Agency.
48. Feline: CAT. As if I needed an excuse to post a cat cartoon ...
49. "Notorious" SCOTUS justice: RBG. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (née Joan Ruth Bader; b. Mar. 15, 1933 ~ Sept. 18, 2020) became known as Notorious RGB due to her many scathing dissenting opinions.
57. Taylor Swift album with the hit "Cruel Summer": LOVER.
58. Grumpy sort: CRAB.
59. Source of misery: BANE.
60. Pie serving: SLICE.
61. Enormous: MEGA.
62. Web developer's creation: SITE.
63. Shoulder muscles, briefly: DELTS. Short for Deltoid muscles.
64. PC file suffix: EXE.
65. Walk heavily: PLOD.
Down:
1. Young dog: PUPPY.
2. Video game pioneer: ATARI. Atari has been around since the early 1970's. The name Atari comes from a term in the board game Go.
3. Eve, but not Adam: PALINDROME. However, Madam, I am Adam is a palindrome.
4. "Beg pardon": AHEM.
5. "__ Never Catch Us": Jessica Goodman bestseller: THEY'LL. They'll Never Catch Us is a young adult thriller.
6. Actor Stoltz: ERIC. Eric Cameron Stoltz (b. Sept. 30, 1961) has been in many films since the 1980s.
7. French money: EURO. One side of the Euro coin is the "national" side and has a symbol of its country of origin.
8. Letter between xi and pi: OMICRON. // And 39-Down. Letter between sigma and upsilon: TAU.
9. Capital of Dominica: ROSEAU. Dominica is an island in the Caribbean.
10. Wild hog with tusks: BOAR.
11. Tehran's country: IRAN. I strongly recommend the book The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali. A novel that follows events in Iran, from the 1953 coup, through the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and after.
12. Sleuth, in old slang: TEC.
14. Pulsate: THROB.
20. Tech giant based in Taiwan: ASUS. I am not familiar with this company.
21. Santa-tracking org.: NORAD.
26. Photo __: some PR events: OPS.
27. Basketball Hall of Famer Patrick: EWING. Although Patrick Aloysius Ewing (b. Aug. 5, 1962) was born in Jamaica, his family moved to Boston when he was a young child. He was a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin where he learned to play basketball. He never played for the Boston Celtics, however.
28. Lipton product: TEA.
29. Canadian treat that resembles a certain animal part: BEAVERTAIL. Hi, CanadianEh!
30. Lingerie trim: LACE. Followed by 31-Down. Greek Cupid: EROS.
32. Turning point: CUSP.
33. Miles off: AFAR.
37. Hipbone-related: ILIAC. Not to be confused with 37-Across.
38. PC-to-PC hookup: LAN. As in Local Area Network.
41. Has high hopes: ASPIRES.
42. "¿Cómo está usted?": ESTA. Today's Spanish lesson. I am doing very well, thank you.
44. Exclusive: SELECT.
45. Stretch of glacial growth: ICE AGE.
46. Brazilian dance: SAMBA.
50. Japanese box lunch: BENTO.
51. Avarice: GREED.
52. Mete (out): DOLE.
53. Like Doctor Doom: EVIL. A reference to one of the supervillains in Marvel Comics history.
54. Pinnacle: ACME.
55. Sue at Chicago's Field Museum, e.g.: T-REX. Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex is at the Field Museum in Chicago. The dino skeleton was found in South Dakota by Susan Hendrickson in 1990.
56. Baking amt.: TBSP. As in a Tablespoon.
57. 1960s hallucinogen, for short: LSD.
חתולה
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 80th birthday to Husker Gary's wife Joann and her twin sister Joyce! Here's a lovely picture of them with their mom Martha, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 100.
Gary and Joann had to say goodbye to their beloved cat Lily on Sunday. Such a sad time for them. Hope all the happy memories of Lily bring them some comfort.
I thought it was well done
ReplyDeleteand quite clever.
(And not that difficult,)
FIR, so I’m happy.
FIW, missing my WAG @ AbUS x bOL. Oh yeah, ASUS makes tech stuff, AbUS makes security devices. So SUE me. Also, huge->MEGA (which is a prefix, not a word,) and acer -> the equally wrong AbUS. Waited for erik / ERIC.
ReplyDelete"Blah, blah, blah singer Rita" will always be ORA.
I know BENTO only from crosswords.
Even though Patti doesn't know it, a TACO isn't a snack any more than is a pizza is a snack.
My favorite Julian MOORE role was Amber Waves in Boogie Nights, with Bert Reynolds, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, and Mark Wahlberg. Reynolds and Macy remain clothed during the entire movie.
Thanks to Joe for the fun but challenging TACO Tuesday puzzle. And thanks to Ha2la for another fine narrative. My hand is down for ILIAD - it's all Greek to me.
Everyone remembers Mark’s member
DeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteHand up for ACER before ASUS. D'oh -- the "emergency" laptop on my desk is an ASUS. The clue led me to ILIAL not ILIAC. Enjoyable puzzle, Joe. Hahtoolah, you outdid yourself with the cartoons today. (I recognize that "Cat on the counter" -- his name is Gomer. The alien Thanksgiving was a riot.)
FIR. This seemed a tad crunchy for a Tuesday. The NE corner was especially challenging with the meeting of omicron, Roseau, and Moore.
ReplyDeleteThe best part of today's presentation was the theme. It was quite clever and fun.
But overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
I had no trouble with this neat theme. In fact, this whole puzzle was easy enough except, I DNF. Two little squares got me: A__US crossing __OL and TRE__ crossing E__E.
ReplyDeleteROSEAU and BEAVER TAIL needed perps and ERIC was a WAG. The rest, piece of cake. So enjoyable CW for this cool, lovely morning.
Thank you Hahtoolah for such a fun, informative review. I cracked up at the aliens’ interpretation of human’s fall customs.
Those exact two squares got me too, Monkey! The rest was smooth sailing and I did enjoy it.
DeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI loved this theme and its perfect execution. The themers were all solid, in the language phrases and fit the cluing to a tee. I had no issues with the solve itself, but there were several C/As that were above Tuesday level of difficulty, i.e., Omicron, Roseau, Asus, Sol, Beaver Tail, etc. Wednesday would have been a more suitable placement, IMO, but that’s an editorial decision, not the constructor’s.
Thanks, Joe, for such a fun and enjoyable solve and thanks, Hahtoolah, for the usual facts and fun-filled review. I second DO’s compliment and I, too, thought the Thanksgiving comic was hilarious.
Happy 80th Birthday to Joann and Joyce. 🎂🎉🎊🎈
After PRIMARY and DOUBLE, I was expecting triple something to follow. Wrong path.
ReplyDeleteThe occupation theme? Meh.
Capital of Dominica? I didn't know it was a real country and looked it up on the map after ROSEAU was filled by perps. Population of country-9,600.
"Still Alice" and Juliane MOORE were booth unknowns and MOORE and ROSEAU took the guess of O.
I think ORA is outnumbering ORR and OTT in crossword land.
I could think of a better clue for LOVER than a Taylor Swift album. All perps on that one.
THEY'LL was an easy guess to complete Never Catch Us. Guess what, not matter what you did, you'll usually get caught. Even those in prison who claim they are innocent.
DOLE cartoon. I guess the cop doesn't think pineapples on pizza.
"think pineapples on pizza" is a good idea. My brain is ahead of my fingers.
DeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Thanks for all the lovely expressions of sympathy for the loss of Lily.
-Today is my lovely bride’s 80th birthday and I think it's also her twin sister’s too! :-)
-DOUBLE _ _ O _ _ _ _ cried out for DOUBLE JEOPARDY but that was not to be
-The only people that are sad to see campaign ads end are TV stations for whom they are a cash cow
-Our town of 30,000 is down to just one dry cleaner
-ISAAC’s law of gravity calculates the exact ORBIT path of the Moon and all other heavenly bodies
-The four stars of M*A*S*H that are still living
-Permanent lights hung under the EAVES are becoming very popular in our neighborhood
-ERIC Stoltz was famously replaced as the lead after a few weeks in Back To The Future because he was too serious for the role of Marty McFly
-Hahtoolah, your cartoons brightened up my day.
Happy birthday to Joyce and Joanne.
DeleteI actually thought this was more like a Thursday puzzle, and struggled with the west and southeast. Finally, the light came on somehow, I finished it right. Never heard of Asus and only knew it was the right answer when I came to the blog..
ReplyDeleteI didn't post yesterday, after reading about Lily. I just never know what to say in these situations. But having lost beloved beloved family members before, I know what it is like...
ReplyDeleteSo today, I went thru the old Blog pictures, but only found pics of people. Then I did a Blog search for Lily, and only came up with Tomlin...
I am not remembering how I found The first Blog pic in the comments of Lily.
But in doing so, I googled "Husker Gary cat Lily, an A.I. responded with this!<\a>
I did it a couple of times, and it always responds with something slightly different, depending on if you are signed in or not...
Thanks Dave! Things are still very sad around here but might be 20% better. Time is the only cure.
DeleteHola! I found this an easy solve except for SOL/ASUS with neither of which I am familiar. Sadly, I left with a blank space. But the rest of the puzzle filled very quickly. I read "Still Alice" for our book club but did not see the movie. And I don't know any of Taylor Swift's songs, but LOVER perped easily. However, I am a big fan of Alan ALDA. He is a terrific actor IMO. I'm very sorry to hear about Gary's cat, Lily. It's so hard to lose a pet.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and her husband's dancing lessons continue with the SAMBA and other exotic dances. They will have a demonstration in the near future.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Happy birthday to Joyce and Joanne!
ReplyDeleteTook 4:20 today to solve a worry for an epidemiologist (bubonic plague).
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actress of the Day (Moore), but not her movie. I didn't know the final letter of the Actor of the Day (Eric). I didn't know: Asus, Roseau, Lover, and beaver tail.
Went fast. The long gettable theme answers providing perpage. But I DNF. 😟, didn’t even bother with a WAG at A_US x _ OL (like Monkey et Alia)
ReplyDeleteInkover: trod/PLOD.
“Still Alice” great film. MOORE plays a woman slowly descending into the abyss of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Mambo or SAMBA, plus the usual apex or ACME. Small Greek o o micron, big Greek O O MEGA. Liked ILIAD/ILIAC one written with both Greek letters.
PALIN DROME: “I can see Russia from my house”
ROSEAU: a learning moment.
“Sleuth” TEC? I guess another learning moment 🤨. LOVER could have had a more Tuesday-like clue
Happy B day to the two ladies. 🎂🎂
The funniest part of PALIN DROME is that Palin never said that "quote." It was said by (crossword favorite) Tina Fey, who did a better PALIN than PALIN, on (crossword favorite) SNL.
DeleteFIR in 10. 18 names, DNK 4. Only 2 W/Os, ACER/ASUS, DINO/TREX. Best clue = "Universal modes of transport". It had me thinking Universal Amusement Park and TRAM, but perps hated TRAM. Anyway, it's singular; clue is plural. Very clever clue.
ReplyDeleteDominica I had to look up on a map and was surprised to discover an island in the Caribbean that I had not been to.
Overall a fun Tuesday level CW, thanx JM. Terrific theme, too. Too many names, but only a few were too obscure. Try to ease up on the names in the future please.
Hahtoolah, terrific write-up. And, as usual, a plethora of great cartoons. Women with Mace and the UFO aliens really brought a grin. Thanx for all your hard work.
Reading other comments, it never ceases to surprise me that some find a CW easy, some find the same CW difficult.
Oy, just gave that map a second look, and there are actually several islands I have not been to. Hmmm.
Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Joe and Hahtoolah.
ReplyDeleteI finished in very good time, and saw the occupational theme.
But I arrived here to discover that I FIWed, by having hUmP instead of CUSP. HARPS made sense for “quibbles” but I had wondered about my mAM toucan.
No inkblots, but I did contemplate Acer before ASUS.
I had no idea about TREX when it perped. Thanks to Hahtoolah for parsing it for me. D’uh.
I did get all the other names either by perps or WAGs. And this Canadian has learned about RBG doing CWs,
Apparently you Americans need to learn about BEAVERTAILS. I prefer the classic version with just cinnamon and sugar toppings. They are iconic, eaten outside with hot chocolate after skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, at Carnivale in Quebec City, or Fall Fairs. They are MEGA size and yummy.
We had CAT today in memory of dear Lily.
Happy Birthday to Joann and Joyce.
Wishing you all a great day.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the puzzle of worrywart professionals, Joe. 'Twas fun.
LOL expo, Hahtoolah! The Primary Concern comic is the epitome of my phone the last 3 weeks.
The ETs observing our Holiday trappings is ROTFLOL.
WOs: apex -> ACME, trOD -> PLOD
ESPs: MOOR, ILIAC, LOVER & TREX as clued
Fav: UFO's clue
HG - My condolences re: Lily - I missed the sad news earlier this week.
On the brighter side, extend my Happy Birthday wishes to Joann & Joyce!
As for difficulty - I guess most of this was in my wheelhouse. OMICRON, SOL, TAU is all known. Acer almost went in but SOL told me it was ASUS. In college, I memorized the Greek Alphabet 'cuz most of it (as symbols) was in my math & engineering classes. When I pack a lunch for work, I do it in one of my two BENTO style lunchboxes. Finally, as a kid, Toucan SAM graced my cereal box :-)
Y'all have a good day!
Cheers, -T
I forgot to mention that I have been to the Field Museum in Chicago and was vastly impressed by the gigantic skeleton of Lucy. As I am short of stature, I am pleased to share my name with such an awesome creature. However, I'm glad humans did not exist at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle.
ReplyDeletestymied by the sol/asus until I reasoned out “double” to go with the “a”. Then my computer building mother board memory (mine, not the expensive kind) kicked in.
ReplyDeleteOjai Guy. Tough Tuesday. FIW. TREX was the killer. Did not know PC file suffix, so had a tree named Sue.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Joe and Hahtoolah for all the fun! FAVs were PALINDROME; NORAD (I was a volunteer, helping to keep Santa safe and children informed, back in 2019.); and Hahtoolah's cartoons.
ReplyDeleteI'm finally getting caught up on the puzzles & comments after the house reno work plus some travel. Not a PRESSING ISSUE though. By the time I get here, anything I thought to say has usually been said.
Happy B-Day to J. and J. I'm sure it isn't news when I say that some b-days are better than others....
Thank you for the reference to The Lion Wimen of Tehran. Another book that my Iranian friend recommends is Stolen Revolution by Torbati.
ReplyDeleteIranian Women
ReplyDelete