A Friendly Word of Advice. Each of the theme answers is in the Down position to create a Column of Advice.
4-Down. "Things are going well, so avoid sudden changes": DON'T ROCK THE BOAT.
8-Down. "If you rush, you won't do it right": HASTE MAKES WASTE.
17-Down. "Relax and take things as they come": ONE DAY AT A TIME.
And the unifier:
9-Down. "Dear Abby," "Ask Amy," et al., and an apt description of 4-, 8-, and 17-Down: ADVICE COLUMNS.
In The Graduate, the advice Dustin Hoffman was given was Plastics. My advice to you is AirTags. We were just vacationing and were flying from one tiny island to another. Our luggage was inadvertently taken by another guest's cab driver to the ferry station. We were heading to the airport. Fortunately, the AirTags in allowed us to locate our luggage, which we were able to retrieve before it headed off to a location unknown.
Here's the Grid so you can more easily find the Advice Columns.
What other advice does today's puzzle give us?
Across:
1. Basic bed: COT.
4. Vader's title: DARTH. A Star Wars reference.
9. Tablet downloads: APPS.
13. Language similar to Thai: LAO. // And 5-Down. Like 13-Across: ASIAN.
14. Tennis champion Naomi: OSAKA. Naomi Osaka (b. Oct. 16, 1997) is a Japanese professional tennis player and has been ranked as the world's number 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association.
15. Self-improvement icon Carnegie: DALE. Dale Carnegie taught courses in self-improvement and is probably best known for being the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People. I don't believe he wrote advice columns, however.
16. "The Simpsons" bus driver: OTTO.
18. Yucatán boys: NIÑOS. Today's Spanish lesson. It's a short flight from New Orleans to the Yucatán.
19. Scenic sight: VIEW.
20. "Game" of missed connections: PHONE TAG.
22. Classic Fords: T-BIRDS.
24. Acquire with effort: EARN.
25. Former Ford div.: MERC. Mercury was a division of Ford Motor Company until 2011, when Ford phased out the brand.
26. "No choice, sorry": I HAD TO.
29. In a melancholy way: SOMBERLY.
33. Astronauts org.: NASA.
34. Brownie ingredient: COCOA.
36. Farewell accompanied by an air kiss: CIAO. Today's Italian lesson.
37. DVD holder: TRAY. It took me a minute to figure out this clue. We haven't used DVDs in centuries!
38. Rap: KNOCK.
39. The Grand Ole __: OPRY.
40. Div. of Labor: OSHA.
41. Church donation: TITHE. A Tithe is traditionally considered one tenth of annual produce or earnings for the support of the Church.
42. Italian lake: LAGO. I confidently wrote in Como, until the perps let me to realize that we were looking for a more generic Italian lake. This is a continuation of today's Italian lesson.
43. Impassioned to the extreme: WHITE HOT.
45. Lightly fries in oil: SAUTÉS.
47. Prayer ending: AMEN.
48. Did the first stage of a triathlon: SWAM. The three stages of a triathlon are: swimming, cycling, and running, all in sequence.
49. Spot for a therapeutic cold plunge: ICE TUB.
52. Colorful reef dweller: SEA SNAKE.
56. Full-length skirt: MAXI.
57. Hockey Hall of Famer Adam: OATES. Adam Robert Oates (b. Aug. 27, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
59. Iditarod vehicle: SLED. This Alaskan race has an interesting history.
60. British baby carriage: PRAM.
61. Change with the times: ADAPT.
62. Wooden pin: PEG.
63. Equivalent: SAME.
64. Succinct: TERSE.
65. Foxy: SLY.
Down:
1. Hoofbeat sound: CLOP.
2. Pledge in court: OATH.
3. Dorothy Gale's pup: TOTO.
6. Called up: RANG.
7. MMA decision: TKO. As in Mixed Martial Arts and a Technical KnockOut.
10. Connect via Bluetooth, say: PAIR. What, exactly, is Bluetooth? Bluetooth technology is named after Danish and Norwegian King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson. He was known for uniting (pairing) Norway and Denmark in 958.
11. Swore: PLED.
12. Stitches (up): SEWS.
21. Consume: EAT.
23. Texter's "Gimme a sec": BRB. Textspeak for Be Right Back.
25. Freeloading sort: MOOCH.
26. Following behind: IN TOW.
27. Like an arctic winter: HARSH.
28. Beer with sushi, maybe: ASAHI.
29. "The Great Gatsby" novelist F. __ Fitzgerald: SCOTT. The Great Gatsby, which was published in 1925, focuses millionaire Jay Gatsby and his pursuit of love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man who becomes acquainted with Gatsby and witnesses his extravagant life and the tragic consequences of his desire. The novel has been adapted into many movie versions. The Great Gatsby is arguably the best known novel by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Sept. 24, 1896 ~ Dec. 21, 1940).
30. Open eagerly, as a present: RIP AT.
31. Not quite jumbo: LARGE.
32. Up-and-down toys: YOYOs.
35. Pungent bulb: ONION.
44. Bird on the Australian coat of arms: EMU. The Australian shield is held up by the native Australian animals the kangaroo and the emu, which were chosen to symbolize a nation moving forward, based on the fact that neither animal can move backwards easily.
46. Small batteries: AAs.
48. Oozes: SEEPS.
49. Real troublemakers: IMPS.
50. Chanel model Delevingne: CARA. Cara Jocelyn Delevingne (b. Aug. 12, 1992) is an English model and actress.
51. Academic hurdle: EXAM.
52. Betelgeuse, for one: STAR. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star located in the constellation Orion. The name Betelguese is derived from the Arabic term bat al-jawzāʾ, which means “the giant's shoulder."
53. Mont Blanc's range: ALPS. Also the name of an expensive pen.
54. On an even __: stable: KEEL.
55. With just a bit of spice: EDGY.
58. Citrus drink suffix: -ADE. And a shout-out to our friend Lemonade.
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Many thanks to Rusty Brain for taking the Tuesday spot while I was away.
Many thanks to Rusty Brain for taking the Tuesday spot while I was away.
See you next week!
חתולה
