Thursday, February 2, 2023, Alexander Liebeskind & Jeff Chen

 

 This is Alexander Liebeskind's 4th appearance on the Corner, his most recent being on October 21, 2022 blogged by the Chairman.  And this is his third collaboration with Jeff Chen, who needs no introduction. Today they explore different ways to

LIFT OUR SPIRITS

 17A. Mexican tradition that will 62-Across?: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS.  Today's Spanish lesson: "The Day of the Dead", is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 (AKA All Saints and All Souls days) to commemorate the spirits of departed loved ones. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage.  Here the Tempest Quartet performs La Martiniana, a folk song popular during this celebration (lyrics):

27A. Celebratory moments to 62-Across?: WEDDING TOASTS.  These spirits are decidedly more animated than those in 17A, particularly after a few glasses of bubbly.  Here is soprano Zoryana Kushpler in the "trouser" role of Count Orlofsky toasting in the New Years Eve with the "Champagne Song" from Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus ("The Bat")

47A. Shopping outing that may 62-Across?: RETAIL THERAPY.  But you have to be careful not to get too much therapy or it may end up dampening your spirits:

And the reveal hinted at by each themer:

62A. See 17-, 27-, and 47-Across: LIFT ONES SPIRITS.

Here's the grid:

Here's the rest:

Across:

1. Colbert's network: CBS.

4. Chris of "Knives Out": EVANS.  Great flick.  Keeps you in suspense to the very end.  Here's a scene with Chris:

9. Organic jewelry source: AMBER.  CORAL and PEARL would have fit, but didn't perp. You can have this AMBER pendant for only $558. 

Beside their use in bling, AMBER nuggets can be unique time capsules containing fossils, e.g. this tiny snake that got stuck in a glob of sap 100 million years ago.  Particularly rich deposits of amber are found on the Southern shores of the Baltic Sea.

 Baltic Amber Deposits

14. Mine product: ORE.

15. Search engine name: YAHOO.

16. Singer's asset: VOICE.

17. [Theme clue]

20. "This meeting could've been an __": EMAIL.

21. Sharp: KEEN.

22. Monopoly payment: RENT.

  23. The "N" of the actor known as NPH: NEIL.  Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout his career, including a Tony Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for a Grammy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.  And he's the only actor I know who is monoacronymic.  Is that pronounced "nymph?".

25. Tetra- minus one: TRI.

27. [Theme clue]

33. Axe thrower's asset: AIM.  ARM didn't perp.  My oldest grandson has a pretty good AIM.  Here's a video of him hitting a target with an axe at 75 ft, ending with his proud father pacing off the distance ...

Here's a tutorial for noobs (this guy is throwing from 12'):

34. Sleep soundly?: SNORE.  [ ... zzzzz .... wake up Bill!] Oh yeah, we had this last week.

35. End of a piece by 65-Across: MORAL.   The Miser could have used a lesson in RETAIL THERAPY.

37. Espy: SPOT.

39. Balances (out): EVENS.

41. "Paper Girls" actor Corddry: NATE.  Paper Girls is an American science fiction drama television series created by Stephany Folsom. It is based on the 2015–2019 comic book series of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on July 29, 2022. In September 2022, the series was canceled after one season. Nate Corddry plays Larry, a farmer and member of the "STF Underground" (nowhere defined).  We may see Nate again, but I doubt there is much danger of "Paper Girls" becoming crosswordese.

42. Thompson of "SNL": KENAN.  Kenan Thompson (born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history.  Here he is on Late Night with Seth Meyers:

44. Devour with gusto: EAT UP.

46. At most: MAX.

[Theme clue]

50. Key above ~: ESC.  Seems to me that people who solve online have a distinct advantage when it comes to keyboard character position clues.

51. Karate school: DOJO.  It's more than that.  A dōjō (Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː(d)ʑoː]) is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.

52. Mix things up: STIR.

55. Place whose state quarter features an astronaut: OHIO.

59. Obama daughter: MALIA.  Malia Obama is the older daughter of former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.  Malia enrolled at Harvard University for the fall 2017 semester. Little is publicly known about her time at Harvard, although she was named a Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize winner for excellent undergraduate work and excellence in the art of teaching prior to her graduation in 2021.

Malia Obama

[Theme reveal]

65. Greek fabulist: AESOP.  Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.  See clue 35A for an example. 

66. Coach Jill who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019: ELLIS.  Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two FIFA Women's World Cups in 2015 and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups.

Jill Ellis

67. Minnow catcher: NET.

68. Brings (out): TROTS.

69. Sierra __: LEONE.  Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a secular nation with the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of thoughts and religion). Muslims make up about three-quarters of the population, though with an influential Christian minority. Religious tolerance in the West African nation is very high and is generally considered a norm and part of Sierra Leone's cultural identity.

Sierra Leone

70. Rock subgenre: EMO.

Down:

1. Morse __: CODE.  Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the inventors of the telegraph.

2. Hat part: BRIM.

3. Creature that may shelter clownfish: SEA ANEMONE.  Sea anemones are a group of predatory marine invertebrates of the order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the Anemone, a terrestrial flowering plant.  Some species of sea anemone live in association with clownfish, hermit crabs, small fish, or other animals to their mutual benefit, AKA symbiosis:

4. Shadowy places?: EYELIDS.

5. Kilmer of "Top Gun: Maverick": VAL.

6. "Oh, I got it now": AH OK.

7. Wine quality: NOSE.  Here's a little help on  how to make scents of wine.  Perhaps the Chairman will stop by and give us a sip of his wisdom on the bewildering vocabulary of wine aromas.

8. Not all: SOME.

9. "__ Maria": AVE.  AVE MARIA is the Latin title for a song originally written in German by Franz Schubert in 1825 entitled  "Ellens dritter Gesang" ("Ellen's Third Song"). It is a setting of one of seven songs from Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake.  The song was Ellen's prayer to the Virgin Mary popularly known as the Hail Mary, with the words originally taken from 2 sections of the Gospel of Luke. The song is often sung at Catholic WEDDINGS (before all the TOASTS at the reception afterwards!).  Here is Luciano Pavarotti singing it in concert (lyrics):

  10. "Song of Solomon" writer Toni: MORRISON.  Song of Solomon is Morrison's third novel and one of her most commercially successful. Published in 1977, the novel — tentatively titled Milkman Dead — was condensed in Redbook. It was later chosen as a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, which had not selected a novel written by a black author since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940.

Toni Morrison
February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019
Pulitzer Prize 1987
Nobel Prize 1993

The novel explores the quest for cultural identity. Based on the African-American folktale about enslaved Africans who escape slavery by flying back to Africa, it tells the story of Macon "Milkman" Dead, a young man alienated from himself and estranged from his family, his community, and his historical and cultural roots. Milkman is mentally enslaved and spiritually dead, but with the help of his eccentric aunt, Pilate, and his best friend, Guitar Bains, he embarks on a physical and spiritual journey that enables him to reconnect with his past and realize his self-worth.

11. Light snack: BITE.

12. MBA course: ECON.

13. Take a breather: REST.

18. Lost power: DIED.

19. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO.  "... as you would have them do UNTO you."  A fragment of the Gospel of Matthew (7:12), often called The Golden Rule.  By and large I find this to be the rule around here.

24. One-third of a haiku: LINE.  Or of a MOEKU.

26. Aries symbol: RAM.  Aries (♈︎) is the first astrological sign in the zodiac, spanning the first 30 degrees of celestial longitude (0°≤ λ <30°), and originates from the constellation.

27. Blade that might move quickly in a storm: WIPER.

28. "Song of Solomon," for one: NOVEL.  See 10D.

29. "Two thumbs up!": GREAT.

30. Sophomore's grade: TENTH.

31. Springy backyard apparatus: TRAMPOLINE.

32. Kebab often served with peanut sauce: SATAY.  Here's a recipe.  Superbowl finger food.

Satay Chicken

33. Question: ASK.

36. NYC ave.: LEX.  Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street.

Lexington Avenue
Looking Northward from the
top floors of the Chrysler Building

38. Ore-Ida nugget: TATER TOT.

40. Took to court: SUED.

43. "Old Town Road" rapper Lil __ X: NAS.  As Lil has finally achieved the status of crosswordese, I've decided to riff his middle name for the acronym for the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. New members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the National Academy is one of the highest honors in the scientific field.

National Academy of Sciences
Washington, D.C.

 

 

45. "Cross your heart?": PROMISE.  Here's some vintage CW with George Strait's 1992 I Cross My Heart, a PROMISE to his lady love ...

48. Image on a menu bar: ICON.

49. Cracked open: AJAR.  Dad: "When is a door not a door?"  "When it's A JAR"!

52. Shutter board: SLAT.

53. Arena level: TIER.

54. "Assuming that's true ... ": IF SO.  An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments.

56. Stiletto, for one: HEEL.  A readily available weapon of self-defense should one encounter a HEEL while afoot.:

57. __ of Wight: ISLE.  The Isle of Wight is an obscure vacation getaway off the coast of Hampshire, England made famous by a line in this song ...

58. Norwegian capital: OSLO. Not the EURO and not the KRONE, OSLO is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of 702,543 in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, and the metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,546,706 in 2021

60. Object: ITEM.

61. Regarding: AS TO.

63. Special __: commando tactics: OPS.

64. One of 10 in a lane: PIN.  A CSO to a Dear Soul.  And our constructors (or Patti!) even got the name of his favorite venue right!

Cheers,
Bill

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

 

waseeley

Wednesday, July 13, 2022 Alexander Liebeskind and Jeff Chen

 Theme:  A made to ORDER puzzle.    As you will soon see, there's a place for everything, and everything is in its place. 

20 A. *Fried fare traditionally wrapped in newspaper: FISH AND CHIPS.  A dinner ORDER at a sea food restaurant; typically breaded ocean fish served with French fries and coleslaw.

31 A. *Missing nothing: FROM A TO Z.  Not only thorough, but in proper ORDER.

37 A. *With 40-Across, defenders of the Holy Grail: KNIGHTS.  

40 A. See 37-Across: TEMPLAR.  A christian military ORDER that was founded in 1119, headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.  They became rich and powerful, and King Phillip IV of France was deeply in their debt.  He had many of them tortured to yield false confessions, and they were executed.  Under political pressure, Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312.

47 A. *Monkeys, e.g.: PRIMATES.  Not to be confused with British clergy, these are any members of an ORDER (Primates) of mammals that are characterized especially by advanced development of binocular vision resulting in stereoscopic depth perception, specialization of the hands and feet for grasping, and enlargement of the cerebral hemispheres, that include humans, apes, monkeys, the Librarian at Unseen University, and related forms (such as lemurs and tarsiers.)

54. "Do it now!," and what can be said about the answers to the starred clues: THAT'S AN ORDER! An emphatic statement from someone expecting obedience -- and the clever unifier for this puzzle.  Each theme answer describes a type of ORDER, and each is quite different from the others. 

Hi, Gang - JazzBumpa here to keep everything in ORDER as we wend our way through today's offering.  Let's wee what we can find.

Across:

1. Monastery figure: ABBOT.  The leader of an order of monks, not monkeys.  Certainly a primate, but not necessarily a primate.

6. Move quickly, as clouds: SCUD.  Move fast in a straight line because or as if driven by the wind.

10. Speak up?: PRAY.  Assuming that up is the direction in which prayers go.

14. Jazz singer Vaughan known as "The Divine One": SARAH.   Sarah Lois Vaughan (1924 – 1990) was an American jazz singer.  Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", she won four Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award.[2] She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989.  Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".

15. Despise: HATE.   Feel contempt or a deep repugnance for.

16. Lingerie trim: LACE.  A fine open fabric, typically one of cotton or silk, made by looping, twisting, or knitting thread in patterns and used especially for trimming garments.

Magnolia, Honey

17. Speak from a lectern: ORATE.  Make a speech, especially pompously or at length.

18. "C'est la vie": ALAS.  Oh, well  .  .  .

19. Bronze, Iron, et al.: AGES.   Distinct historical periods.

23. "Allow me": MAY I.  Watch, and learn.

24. Pal: AMIGA.  Female friend, in Spanish.

28. Rx: SCRIP.  A doctor's order to provide a specific medication to a certain patient.

34. Colorful South Asian garments: SARIS.  Garments consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.

Source

35. Veer off course, as a rocket: YAW.  A twisting or oscillation of a moving ship or aircraft around a vertical axis.

36. __ Dhabi: ABU.   Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, sits off the mainland on an island in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf.

43. Golf hole meas.: YDS.  Yards.

44. "Bingo!": AHA.  Eureka!

46. Straight up: NO ICE.   A way to serve hard liquor.

50. Pfizer rival: MERCK.  Drug companies.

51. Lightens up: EASES.

52. Grocery cart unit: ITEM.  Becomes easier or less strict.

61. __ carotene: BETA.  An organic, strongly colored red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids, synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units and thus having 40 carbons.

64. Travel aimlessly: ROAM.  Wander about.

65. Clamor: NOISE.   Racket

66. Depleted Asian lake: ARAL.     An endorheic [having no outflow to other bodies of water] lake lying between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan in the south which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up by the 2010s. 

67. Journey: TRIP.   Travel from hither to yon.

68. Familiar "Who's there?" reply: IT'S ME.  Do you recognize my voice?

69. Jokes: GAGS.   Jests, quips, japes.

70. __ cracker: SODA.  A thin, usually square cracker usually made from white flour, sometimes yeast, and baking soda, with most varieties lightly sprinkled with coarse salt. It has perforations over its surface, as well as a distinctively dry and crisp texture.

71. Like dry mud on cleats: CAKED.  Encrusted on a surface.

Down:

1. Starting from: AS OF.   Beginning at a certain date or time.

2. Italian port on the Adriatic: BARI. 

Possible destination

3. Garments with hooks: BRAS.   A bra, short for brassiere or brassière, is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover women's breasts. 

4. Part of a swearing-in ceremony: OATH.   The actual swearing part.

5. Community with barn raisings: THE AMISH.  a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins.  They are closely related to Mennonite churches, another Anabaptist denomination. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency.  [Wikipedia]

6. Suitable for hosta: SHADY.   Shetered from direct sunlight.

7. Turn to stone: CALCIFY.   Specifically, if it involves the presence or addition of calcium containing compounds.  A more general term would be petrify.

8. Four Corners state: UTAH.  The locality in the southwestern United States at the intersection of 37°N with 109°W where four states—Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah—come together, the only such place in the country.

9. Javier's "Being the Ricardos" role: DESI.  A role in the movie about Desi and Lucy Ricardo.

10. Flat panel TV type: PLASMA.    A television display technology in which each pixel on the screen is illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma (charged gas). The plasma is encased between two thin sheets of glass. Plasma displays are generally considered to offer better dark-room viewing and wider viewing angles than LCD.

11. Ride (on): RAG. Not sure I understand this.  It might mean to harshly criticize someone.  Help me out if I'm missing something.

12. Card worth four points in evaluating a bridge hand: ACE.  Kings are 3, Queens 2, and Jacks 1.  Traditionally it takes 12 or more high card points and a sufficiently strong suit to open the bidding.

13. "Bingo!": YES.  You nailed it!

21. Snooze: NAP.  Daytime sleep session.

22. Cooking spray: PAM.  A mixture of vegetable oil and other ingredients intended to prevent cooking food from sticking to a pan or skillet.

25. Slanted, as some writing: ITALIC.   It looks like this.

26. "Retreat!!": GO BACK.  Withdraw from a position or location for strategic or tactical reasons.

27. Sky blue: AZURE.   Bright blue in color like a cloudless sky.

28. Oh of "Killing Eve": SANDRA. Sandra Miju Oh [b. 1971] is a Canadian–American actress. She has received numerous accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and twelve Primetime Emmy Award nominations. In 2019, Time magazine named Oh one of the 100 most influential people in the world

From Grey's Anatomy

29. Urgent event: CRISIS.   A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.

30. Fix badly?: RIG.  Cobble up a non-standard way of repairing or constructing something.

32. Tell (on): RAT.  Sing, squeal.

33. Be in debt: OWE.  

34. Zoom alternative: SKYPE.   A computer program that you can use to make voice calls or video calls on the internet.

38. Tit for __: TAT.   An English saying meaning "equivalent retaliation".

39. __ shed: SHE.   Like man cave, she shed is a term used to describe a place a woman can escape to, usually a small building placed in the backyard.  Never hear this term before.

41. "Super heroes must eat oats" for the Great Lakes, e.g.: MNEMONIC.   A device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something.

42. __ favor: POR.  "Please" in Spanish.

45. "Let me repeat ... ": AS I SAID.  

48. Bronze, iron, et al.: METALS.  And a clecho!

49. Fire pit residue: ASH.  Burnt wood residue.

50. Chaps: MEN.  Dudes.

53. Super Bowl LV city: TAMPA.  In Florida.

55. The "A" in many degrees: ARTS.  As I'm B.A. or M.A.

56. Fatty tuna, at a sushi bar: TORO.   A pale, fatty cut of tuna used for sushi and sashimi.  Not to be confused with a lawn mower of the same name.

57. Personnel list: ROTA.   A list showing when each of a number of people has to do a particular job.

58. Spine component: DISK.    The soft pad positioned in between each of the vertebrae of the spine. The vertebral disc acts as a spacer, shock absorber, and part of the cartilaginous joints that allow movement in the spine.

59. "Twilight" vampire Cullen: ESME.  Ported by Elizabeth Reaser.  You can read about her here.

60. Wetlands plant: REED.   A tall, slender-leaved plant of the grass family, which grows in water or on marshy ground.

61. Sack: BAG.  a flexible container made of a strong material such as burlap, thick paper, or plastic, used for storing and carrying goods.

62. "It's the end of an __": ERA.   A long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic.

63. Label: TAG.   A small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it.

We can always count on Jeff for a quality puzzle.  Looks like this is Alexander's first entry in the L.A. Times - so congrats, good job, and we hope to see you again!

Cool regards,

JzB