Thursday, May 16, 2024, Alan Levin

 

Cooking Competitions

  This one is between Chef and his wife Janice over the price of turkeys ...

Today veteran constructor Alan Levin dishes up four cooking contests with in the language clues that bake into 4 punny game shows by changing just a single ingredient ...

17A. Contestants must perfect a ras el hanout today on ...: THE SPICE IS RIGHT.   The Price is Right.  And  to spice things up a bit Alan gives us today's Arabic lesson: رأس الحانوت = ras el hanout, a Middle Eastern spice blend. When I attempted to save the logo that follows I got a prompt that it existed already.  Then I recalled that the watchword  for The Price is Right -- "COME ON DOWN" was used as the reveal in Trent Evan's April 6, 2023 puzzle.

 

25A. Contestants flatten a confit de canard today on ...: PRESS YOUR DUCK.  Press Your Luck. If you should happen to have a duck handy, here's a recipe for Confit de Canard (confit is French for candied). As it turns out pressed duck is actually a different dish, an Asian specialty.  Here's the Bald chef's recipe for Chinese Pressed Duck.

424. Contestants work in teams to create a Michelin star-worthy dinner today on ...: LETS MAKE A MEAL.  Let's Make a Deal is still going strong  The fill for this actually makes some sense.

56A. Contestants race to prepare baby's first bottle on ...: THE NEWLY FED GAME.  The Newly Wed Game was an American television game show that put newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know or do not know each other (e.g. when the crying baby wakes up at 2 AM, who handles the bottle?).

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest

Across:

1. First president born after 1960: OBAMA.  The 44th President of the United States.

President Barack Obama

6. Disparages: RIPS.

10. Damsonlike fruit: SLOE.  SLOE (Prunus spinosa) is a species of flowering plant in the rose family native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa.  The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.

Sloe berries
a.k.a. "Blackthorn"

14. Commands a crew, informally: COXES.  A COXSWAIN is in charge of a crew, especially of rowing teams.

The coxswain of this sculling boat is in the stern

15. __ chamber: ECHO.

16. Miami team: HEAT.

17. [Theme clue]

20. Appointed: ORDAINED.  In most Christian churches people are ordained to one of three positions: bishops, priests, and deacons.  In the Catholic church the first two require celibacy.  Deacons may be either permanent or transitional. Permanent deacons may marry, whereas a transitional deacon is temporary position for a seminarian during the last year of their formation.  The following year they are ordained to the priesthood.  Ordinations are performed with the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  One of the many actions that take place during this rite is the laying on of hands ...

The Laying on of Hands

21. Come next: ENSUE.  Clue 21A will ENSUE
.
22. Patient care pros: RNS.  Registered nurses are on the front lines of medical care.  This is what it takes to become one.

23. Brit's pal: MATE.

25. [Theme clue]

31. No longer listening, say: BORED.

33. Type of 32-Down: ALTO.  Also called the English Horn.  Here is a solo featuring this instrument from the second movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "New World", played by  Vivian Kong ...

34. Ground-breaking tool: HOE.

35. Bibliography space saver: IBID.  Today's Latin lesson: ibidem; "in the same place" -- used to indicate that a reference is from the same source as a previous reference.

36. Jet off for: FLY TO.  Don't know where I'm going and  when I'll get back again ...

38. River's edge: BANK.

39. Chaney of old horror films: LON.  Scary looking guy ...

Lon Chaney Jr.

40. Reunion invitee: ALUM.

41. Put out, as a flame: DOUSE.

42. [Theme clue]

46. Fade: WANE.

47. Ocasek of the Cars: RIC.   The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader.  Here's Just what I needed ...

Lyrics

48. "Being the Ricardos" role for Bardem: ARNAZ.  Being the Ricardos is a 2021 American biographical drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, about the relationship between I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as Ball and Arnaz. Kidman received an Oscar for Best Actress that year.  Hand up if you've seen it?

51. Locals at the 2016 Summer Olympics: CARIOCAS.  A Saturday level clue that you could only hope to get with perps.  I didn't.  The term is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial.

56. [Theme clue]

59. Yacht wood: TEAK.

60. Sammy with 609 homers: SOSA.

61. Bert's bestie: ERNIE.  Bert and Ernie go fishing ...

62. __ a one: NARY.

63. Power unit: WATT.

64. Title pages?: DEEDS.

Down:

1. Pod prefix: OCTO.  More Latin (or Ancient Greek: "ὀκτώ • (oktṓ)"): EIGHT.  One of the many definitions for the clue "pod" is "foot", so that in this case it refers to that remarkable, highly intelligent creature, the octopus, a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda.

2. Physicist played by Branagh in "Oppenheimer": BOHR.    Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh's casting in this role was criticized by some Danes, as Niels BOHR was Danish -- but director Christopher Nolan defended it on personal grounds.   

As to Bohr himself, his groundbreaking work on atomic theory and quantum mechanics in the  first quarter of the 20th Century not only gained him a Nobel Prize, but made the atomic bomb possible.  He was in fact a hero to J. R. Oppenheimer.

Niels Bohr

3. Canceled abruptly: AXED.

4. Flat-topped hill: MESA.  Today's Spanish lesson: "mesa" = table.  A mesa is a flat-topped mountain or hill. It is a wide, flat, elevated landform with steep sides.  Spanish explorers of the American southwest, where many mesas are found, used the word because the tops of mesas look like the tops of tables. Not to be confused with buttes and plateaus ...
 

Plateau, butte, and Mesa

5. Aimed high: ASPIRED.

6. Playground time: RECESS.

7. Like some tea: ICED.

8. Greek letter that sounds like "fie": PHI.  Among the many uses for this letter, it represents the wave function in quantum mechanics which was developed by Erwin Schrödinger, a colleague of Niels Bohr (see 2D).

Phi

9. Mayday call: SOS.

10. Buffed: SHINED.

11. Bench supports: LEGS.  Or the "tears of wine" running down the sides of a glass.  A CSO to MOE.

12. Island called "The Gathering Place": OAHU.  The Hawaiian Islands and their nicknames, explained.

13. Pal follower: ETTE.  This can be either a flat surface that an artist uses to mix paints, or the range of colors in a painting, e.g.

Some believe that Vincent van Gogh was the greatest artist who ever lived, and I definitely believe that Vincent and the Doctor was the greatest episode of the time traveler series Dr. Who that was ever produced (you can stream the whole episode on Amazon Prime for a nominal amount) ...

18. Stagecoach stopovers: INNS.

19. Evocative of the past: RETRO.

23. Lose a layer: MOLT.  As they get bigger, 38Ds do this

24. Self-: AUTO. 

25. Museum gift shop purchase: PRINT.  Like this one ...

Irises
Vincent van Gogh
May 1889

26. Flushed: RED.

27. "I'm the best!": YAY ME.  The crossword antonym to I TRY.

28. Relocation rental: UHAUL.  U-Haul Holding Company is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington, who began it in a garage owned by Carty's family, and expanded it through franchising with gas stations.

29. Scams: CONS.

30. Palmer of "Nope": KEKE.  NOPE (stylized in all caps) is a 2022 American neo-Western science fiction horror film written, directed, and produced by Jordan Peele.  It stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as horse-wrangling siblings attempting to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object in Agua Dulce, California.  Hand up if you've ever been there?  Two hands up if you saw any UFOs? 😀

 31. Tab: BILL. For some reason people always expect me to pick this up. 😀

32. Bassoon cousin: OBOE.  Here is Valerie Xu playing an excerpt from the OBOE solo in Richard Strauss's tone poem Don Juan ...

36. Dessert made in a ramekin: FLAN.  Here's a recipe for an easy to make Spanish Flan.

37. Gospel that includes the parable of the Prodigal Son: LUKE.  Two sons figure in this parable: the prodigal son and the faithful son.  When we visited Lourdes in 1999 there were giant posters of this famous painting by Rembrandt all around the grotto, inviting people back to the Church.  I accepted the invitation.

Return of the Prodigal Son
The faithful son can be seen in the background,
just above the father's left shoulder.
He is not happy about the prodigal son's return.

38. Pet snake, perhaps: BOA.  Eventually they get very big ...

Pet boa

40. Outstrip expectations: AMAZE.

41. Returned a verdict: DECIDED.

43. Like a penthouse: SWANKY.

44. Palestinian leader who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize: ARAFAT.  The Nobel Peace Prize 1994 was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".  Here's the Nobel Prize Committee press release.

Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist the following year.

45. Swampy earth: MIRE.

48. Abbr. before an addressee: ATTN.

49. Emmy nominee Seehorn: RHEA.  Presumably named for Rhea a mother goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Titan daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, himself a son of Gaia.

Rhea

50. In the area: NEAR.

51. Dermatological complaint: CYST.  A cyst is a small pocket of tissue often filled with fluid or pus. It can occur due to an injury, infection, or other issues. They’re usually benign but may need treatment for complications.

52. Scary character: OGRE.  See 39A.

53. Peppermint shape: CANE.

54. During: AMID.

55. Realizes: SEES.

57. OH-to-OK heading: WSW.  Oklahoma is West South West of Ohio.

14 hr 27 min (972.5 mi) via I-70 W and I-44 W

58. Mauna __: LOA.  Not KEA.  You have to wait for perps on this.  MAUNA LOA is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume.  Its last eruption was in 2022, lasting from November 27 to December 13. Here's some news footage of the event ...

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Friday March 15, 2024, 2024 - Alan Levin

 Theme: Ides and Go Seek

 

Puzzling thoughts:  

Blogging a puzzle on the Ides of March?  Be prepared, then, fellow Cornerites for some puns (and jokes) to "celebrate" the 2068th year of Julias Caesar's assassination.  For starters:

This is a story about a Roman. His name was Herman. His name was Roman Herman. The fad of the era was berries. People collected berries. They were a status symbol. One day, while Roman Herman was roaming the outskirts of Rome, he spied a berry. It was the most beautiful berry he had ever seen. He took the berry and brought it to his wife, who loved berries. She saw the berry. She praised it. She said, "That's an awfully nice berry you got there Herman!" Pretty soon, word got around about the berry. People came from all over Rome to see the berry, and to praise it. One night, there was a menacing knock on the door. It was late. Herman opened it. He said, "Who are you?" They said, "We've come for your berry." He says "It's not my berry, it's my wife's berry. Have you come to praise her berry?" "No, we've come to seize her berry, not to praise it." 

OK, I digress ... on this year's Ides of March, our constructor du jour (Alan Levin) decides to tease us with a series of entries whose clues contain the "aha" behind the reveal:

58-across. When read as three words, suitable sponsor for "Sesame Street" and an alternate answer for 18-, 20-, 30-, 36-, 46-, and 53-Across: THE LETTER S.  

Wait, what??  THE LETTER S?? What does that have to do with the 6 entries??  Well, let me try to use the KISS method, as I highlight the key word(s) in each clue for you ...

18-across. It concludes The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds": CAROLINE, NO.  Forget about the final song track on the Beach Boys' album "Pet Sounds" and think about the last letter of the album's name; "Sounds" ends/concludes with THE LETTER S

20-across. Character seen at the beginning and end of "Star Wars": AR-TOO DE-TOO.  R2-D2 (the droid) is quite a character. Additionally, the movie title (name), "Star Wars" begins and ends with THE LETTER (aka, CHARACTER) S 

30-across. It comes early in September: LABOR DAY.  LABOR DAY is not only celebrated early in September (the first Monday, traditionally, in the US), but THE LETTER S also comes early in the "word" SEPTEMBER

This year's LABOR DAY is 9/2

36-across. One is used in basketball but not in hockey: SHOT CLOCK.  This is probably my most favorite of Alan's ... the "SHOT CLOCK" is a timer that sits above each backboard at a basketball game.  In the NBA, e.g., the team with possession has 24 seconds to attempt a SHOT, and at the very least, hit the rim of the net (or make the basket), or else they would turn the ball over to the other team  

In hockey, the only CLOCK is the one on the scoreboard that ticks down the minutes/seconds (20:00, to be exact) in each of three periods.  The skaters/players on each team have no sense of urgency to take a shot; hence, there is no SHOT CLOCK  

So what makes this clue/answer even more amazing is that the word "basketball" contains THE LETTER S; the word "hockey" does not ... very, very clever

The SHOT CLOCK is above the backboard for easy visibility

46-across. What can be seen in two places in Missouri: MLB TEAMS.  At first, I was a bit miffed at this answer (before I solved the puzzle) because the clue contains no abbreviated word(s).  Usually, if part of a crossword answer should be abbreviated, an abbreviation appears in the clue.  

But after further review I get it.  Both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals are MLB TEAMS in the state of Missouri.  And guess what?  THE LETTER S also is seen in two places in the "word" Missouri.  Nice!  

 

53-across. One can't print dollars without it: SPECIAL INK.  Try printing the word "dollars" without THE LETTER S; it can't be done.  The word would be "dollar".  Try printing a sheet of US Dollars without SPECIAL INK (or special paper) and you'd be arrested for counterfeiting, if caught

Lots of SPECIAL INK used

                                    

I highlighted all 14 of THE LETTER ESSES found in today's puzzle.  Can't wait for the rest of the clues/words to see what else is in store ... 

The Grid

Across:

1. Cotillion VIPs: DEBS.  More information about a Cotillion vs a Debutante

5. Fades: DIMS.  Many lighting sources come with some sort of DIMming device these days

9. Redolence: AROMA.  Its literal meaning; mostly used as an adjective (redolent) 

14. Strip of wood: SLAT.

15. Legendary: EPIC. 

16. Participated in a regatta, maybe: ROWED.  My first thought was that a regatta was a boat race for sailing vessels, not rowing vessels ... but this image below shows the type of boat referred to:

17. Prefix between giga- and peta-: TERA. A GIGA-byte is 1 billion bytes; a TERA-byte is 1,000 gigabytes; but a PETA byte is what happens when a worker at the SPCA doesn't pay attention to the rescue's bark ...

22. Gain an advantage: ONE UP.  Who wants to ONE UP the Chairman today on dad jokes??!😏

23. Collection of vineyards, perhaps: ESTATE.  This one is right up the Chairman's alley

28. Tune from "10": BOLERO.  Been a lonnnnggggg time since I saw this EPIC film starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore ... the clip below is definitely NSFW [be warned!]

32. W-2 org.: IRS.  One month - to the day - and our 2023 1040 tax returns are due

33. Benefit: AVAIL. Many of us AVAIL ourselves of the blog to see where we went wrong (or succeeded)

35. Nose (out): EDGE.  Also a horse racing term; when a horse "wins by a nose" and EDGEs out its rival

Also known as a "photo finish", but the inside horse EDGEd out the other

39. Hearty partner: HALE. 

42. Animal also called a forest giraffe: OKAPI.  Fun facts about it in this short video clip:

43. Boxer's warning: GRR.  Maybe THIS is the warning made by a dog prior to giving one a "peta-byte"

49. Dinner-and-a-show platform: TV TRAY.  Margaret and I still use this device

Tables for two??

51. Small accident: MISHAP.

52. One-named K-pop singer: IRENE.  This filled in with perps; Her

62. Powdery mineral: TALC.  I'm sure the sales of this powder plummeted once the discovery of its connection to cervical cancer was made public

64. Inbox filler: EMAIL.

65. Cut down to size: CROP.  Most of my images in this blog are CROPped from its original size

66. Poetic tributes: ODES.

67. Study aids: NOTES.  I was a prolific NOTES taker when I was in school

68. Physicist Bethe portrayed in "Oppenheimer": HANS.  The movie "Oppenheimer" is bound to provide us with many new clues/entries this year in xword puzzles

69. Moon landing org.: NASA.

Down:
1. Summer hrs.: DST.  Not here in AZ (except for the Navajo Nation) ... apparently there is a bill before the Senate (and/or House) that would make DST permanent ... YMMV ... having more daylight here in the desert SW during the summer would not be welcomed

2. Roosevelt whom Truman called the "First Lady of the World": ELEANOR.  FDR's wife

3. Crude carriers: BARRELS.  TANKERS also fit as an answer

4. Square figure?: STATUE. Nice misdirection for a clue ... square, as in "town square", where many statues reside, though many that had to do with Civil War figures (CSA) have been torn down/removed.  

Here is a joke related to square figures ... (just one cuss word)

For decades, two heroic statues, one male and one female, faced each other in a town square until one day, an angel came down from heaven. "You've been such exemplary statues," the angel said, "that I'm going to give you a special gift. I'm going to bring you both to life for thirty minutes, during which time you can do anything you want." 

And with a clap of his hands, the angel brought the statues to life. The two approached each other a bit shyly and dashed for the bushes, from whence there came a good deal of giggling, laughter, and shaking of branches. Fifteen minutes later, the two statues emerged from the bushes with wide grins on their faces. 

"You still have fifteen more minutes," said the angel, winking at them. Grinning even more broadly, the female statue turned to the male statue and said, "Great! Only this time you hold the pigeon down and I'll shit on its head!"
[Jokes4us dot com]

5. Ert 's style: DECO.  as in Art DECO

6. Tablet since 2010: iPAD.  No tablets in the Moe household; just PC's and cellphones

7. Marshy spot: MIRE.  BOG didn't fit

8. Dundee resident: SCOT.

9. Melodic passage: ARIOSO.  Here is a nice Bach ARIOSO:

10. Director Howard: RON.  He's come a long way from playing Opie

11. Have debts: OWE. Mine include just a car payment and mortgage payment; credit cards, no

12. Guys: MEN.  MALES was too long to fit

13. Flap: ADO.  Had to check all of the synonyms ... does the thesaurussaurus agree?

Nope; ADO didn't make it

19. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB. Lots of proper names in today's puzzle; who kept track of them? Not I

21. 2021 interviewer of Meghan and Harry: OPRAH.

22. Kimono sash: OBI.  Lots of 3-letter words (TLW) today; who kept track of them?  Irish Miss, perhaps?

24. Arduous journey: TREK.

25. Append: ADD.  

26. Graffiti signature: TAG.  This, maybe??

27. Needle hole: EYE.

29. Lacto-__ vegetarian: OVO.  One who consumes dairy and eggs in their non-meat diet

30. Soundly defeats: LICKS.  I have been known to "soundly defeat" a lollipop ...

31. Penne __ vodka: ALLA.  Italian for "with"

34. Speck: ATOM.  IOTA fits, too

36. MacFarlane or Green of "Family Guy": SETH.  The man of many voices.  Does anyone else here watch The Graham Norton show?  It's one of our favorites - shown on BBC America 

37. Elect (to): OPT.  OPT in or OPT out; that's the "election"

38. Polite: CIVIL.  Unlike the CIVIL War, which was anything but "polite"

39. "Let me see ... ": HMM.  HMM and GRR in the same puzzle?? ARRGGHH

40. Mahershala with two Oscars: ALI.  Not the "boxer's" family member

41. Nt. wt. units: LBS.

43. Southernmost of the Windward Islands: GRENADA.

Grenada is situated to the northeast of Venezuela; to the northwest of Trinidad and Tobago; and to the southwest of Saint Vincent and Grenadines.

44. Really irks: RANKLES.

45. Saloon pour: RYE.  As opposed to a "salon" pour, which would've been DYE.  RYE is one of the Chairman's favorite whiskies - especially when used to make a Manhattan cocktail

47. Stands in front of artists: EASELS. MODELS could've answered this clue, too ... yes??

48. Dr. visit: APPT.  I like to make mine (APPT.'s) mid-morning

50. Son of Poseidon: TRITON.

54. Engrave: ETCH.

55. "Life & Beth" actor Michael: CERA. Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor and musician. He is known for his awkward, offbeat characters in coming of age comedy films and for portraying George Michael Bluth in the sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019). He is also known for voicing Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears

56. Curling __: IRON.  RINK also fit, though I bet most Canadians refer to the surface for curling as a sheet

57. Egyptian snakes: ASPS.  Cleo's foil

58. Number of digits on a keypad: TEN. Note: the final five clues in today's puzzle yield TLWs, Irish Miss ...

59. Med. care provider: HMO.

60. "Don't let it get cold": EAT.

61. Whopper: LIE.

63. Farm-share program, for short: CSA.  Clues that match this answer to the group that split from the USA in 1861 are no longer allowed, methinks

And there you have it!  The IDES of March puzzle fell with no additional stab wounds.  Curious to know YOUR thoughts ... in the comments section below.  

On another note, the Chairman and Margaret will be attending the funeral of her mom today, so I won't be coming here until tomorrow, or much later tonight to see your comments.  Her mom passed peacefully a few weeks ago (at the age of 94).  May she RIP; she is now reunited with the love of her life who passed away in 2019, just a few days after their 68th wedding anniversary