Thursday, June 12, 2025, Amie Walker, Amanda Rafkin

 Theme:  Love Of My Life

LOML and NaomiZ on their recent trip to Spain
checking out the Alcázar in Segovia where
Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon once held sway.

Constructors Amie Walker and Amanda Rafkin team up today to give us a pleasant diversion with a puzzling theme.  There are no circles, but we are asked to look at the beginning of each of the starred entries to find a secret message.

17-Across. *Elixirs that stir passion: LOVE POTIONS.

27-Across. *Steinbeck novella featuring George and Lennie: OF MICE AND MEN.

48-Across. *Franchise whose characters have "cutie marks": MY LITTLE PONY.

63-Across. *"Appreciate every moment": LIFE IS SHORT.

62-Down. Romantic initialism spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues: LOML.

I'm glad the ladies told us this was an initialism, because LOML did not look like an English spelling to me!  And I'm glad they said it was romantic, too.  That helped me to guess "Love Of My Life."  When I went online to confirm this solution, I found that according to Yahoo News UK, "The acronym LOML is universally believed to mean 'love of my life'. It is used in messages and comments constantly."  Not only that, but Taylor Swift released a song just last year titled "loml."  Learning new things is good mental exercise, and not a waste of precious brain cells, right?

On to the rest of the things we knew, or didn't:

Across:

1. Fire (up): REV.

4. Sound of an ungentle landing: THUD.

8. Ready to pour: ON TAP.

13. "Little Red Riding Hood" tool: AXE.

I had nightmares about this story for years.

14. Grey __ vodka: GOOSE.

15. Boatload: CARGO.

16. __ reel: GAG.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Fish sauce quality: UMAMI.  Umami is often described as a fifth taste sensation (not salty, sour, bitter, or sweet) that is savory and delicious.  Vague enough?  Oxford Languages says it corresponds to the flavor of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate.  Yum!

21. Takes a turn?: REVOLVES.

22. "Let's kick it up a __": NOTCH.

25. Worn-down pencil: NUB.

26. Jargon suffix: ESE.  Legalese, bureaucratese, journalese, computerese ...

27. [Theme clue]

31. Not post-: PRE.

32. Hindu festival: HOLI.  Holi is a major Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of spring in India and the blossoming of love. It is colorful!

33. Gave the star treatment to: RATED.  Oh, that kind of star treatment!  

37. Morrison who said, "The function of freedom is to free someone else": TONI.  Spoken at the Barnard College commencement ceremony, 1979.

39. Like cereal sitting in milk: SOGGY.

42. Clip: PACE.  Clip is usually used when speaking of a rapid pace:  a good clip, a fast clip.

43. Compress: SMUSH.  Informal for mash or push.  

45. Warmth: HEAT.

47. Pro's opposite: CON.

48. [Theme clue]

52. Rapper __ Nas X: LIL.  By now you all know him.

Lil Nas X

55. Particle: BIT.

56. Rounds in tourneys: SEMIS.

57. "That was off topic ... ": I DIGRESS.

60. Cultured __: PEARL.

63. [Theme clue]

66. WC: LOO.  WC (water closet) and loo are British terms for toilet or lavatory.

67. Put some chips on the table: ANTED.  Not snacks!  He put some chips (gaming tokens) on the table to play a round of cards.  In other words, he anted (sounds like ANTEED) up.

68. Capitol Hill staffers: AIDES.

69. Cash dispenser: ATM.

70. Wine vessels: CASKS.

71. Some "Modern Family" figures: DADS.

72. Marina __ Rey, California: DEL.  The other end of "the 90" from our place.  Speaking of which, save the 90!  Los Angeles city planners want to repurpose this short freeway by putting apartment buildings and businesses on it.  It's not continually jammed, so it must be ripe for further development.

Down:

1. Italian meat sauce: RAGÙ.  Yes, ragù (with a grave accent, leaning left) is a meat sauce typically served with pasta.  But RAGÚ (with an acute accent, leaning right) is a trademarked brand of bottled pasta sauces.  I counted 25 varieties of RAGÚ on their website, and only one contained meat.  

2. Test: EXAM.

3. List that may include black bean chili and mushroom pot pie: VEGAN MENU.  Traveling in Europe can be challenging for us.  We were happy to find places like Roots & Rolls in Barcelona, Mad Mad Vegan in Madrid, and Wild Food in Granada, where the menus are entirely vegan.

4. All __ well: TOO.  I know all TOO well that vegetarian options are limited in some places!

5. __ lane: HOV.  We can use the High Occupancy Vehicle lane in California if there are two or more people in the car -- or if it's a Clean Air Vehicle with a required decal.  To qualify for a decal, the vehicle must be: 1) 100% electric or hydrogen fuel cell powered, or 2) plug-in hybrid-electric meeting certain standards, or 3) compressed natural gas meeting state and federal emission standards.

6. Tech support caller: USER.

7. Rely (on): DEPEND.

8. National Black Cat Day month: OCTOBER.  Sure, but:

National Black Cat Appreciation Day is August 17th.

National Black Cat Day is October 27th.

October is Black Cat Awareness Month.

All of these events are meant to raise support for black cat adoptions and to dispel superstitions.

9. Get just right: NAIL.

10. Treasure stash: TROVE.

11. Nosy neighbor in "WandaVision": AGNES.  WandaVision is a TV miniseries created for Disney+, based on Marvel Comics, featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff (whose alter ego is Scarlet Witch) and Vision.  Nosy neighbor Agnes is secretly a witch herself, and an antagonist.  If we are going to get into complex fictional worlds, I'd rather listen to my granddaughter describe the tribes of dragons in the Wings of Fire books:  SkyWings, IceWings, NightWings, SeaWings, MudWings, SandWings, RainWings, HiveWings, LeafWings, SilkWings ....

12. Entourage: POSSE.

14. Bug: GLITCH.

18. Reproductive cell: OVUM.

20. Pronoun used in mock outrage: MOI.  Made famous by Miss Piggy, it's Frawnche for "Who, ME?"

23. Co. leaders: CEOs.  Company leaders are Chief Executive Officers.

24. Angel hair topper: HALO.  You were thinking ragù, right?  Not that kind of angel hair.

27. Elects (to): OPTS.

28. Gift tag word: FROM.

29. "See ya in the morning!": 'NIGHT.

30. __ trapped: stuck at home because of a tot's sleep schedule: NAP.  The clue defines this very well.  I'm not sure this phrase existed when I had little children, but I may experience the situation with the upcoming grandson.

34. Tex-Mex dish with an edible bowl: TACO SALAD.  I always called the salad in a fried tortilla bowl a tostada, though I'm aware that some skimpy tostadas are built on flat, fried tortillas.  Extremely brief research suggests that the meal in the yummy bowl is actually a TACO SALAD. 

El Pollo Loco calls this a Classic Tostada.  They're on my side!

35. Nobel Prize subj.: ECON.  Also phys., chem., med., lit., and peace.

36. Say no to: DENY.

38. Belief system: ISM.

40. Obtains: GETS.

41. Home of Grace Hopper College: YALE.  Grace Hopper College is a residential college of Yale University, opened in 1933 as one of the original eight undergraduate residential colleges.  It was originally named Calhoun College after US Vice President John C. Calhoun, but renamed in 2017 in honor of computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper.  If you knew this, you just might be a Yalie, AKA Eli.

44. Some Subarus: HYBRIDS.

46. Lures: TEMPTS.

49. "Completely false!": LIES.

50. "Such a shame": IT'S SAD.

51. Food in "Sweeney Todd" and "Waitress": PIE.  In the penny dreadful stories about Sweeney Todd (1846/47), the villainous barber of Fleet Street, Todd kills his customers, and his neighbor bakes their flesh into meat pies, which she sells.  Waitress was a 2015 stage musical and 2023 musical comedy movie, in which a waitress who bakes pies eventually finds a way to leave her abusive husband and run her own business.

52. Lavender kin: LILAC.

53. Tony winner Menzel: IDINA.  Idina Menzel is an American actress and singer. She has been nicknamed the "Queen of Broadway" for her commanding stage presence and powerful mezzo-soprano voice.  Having achieved mainstream success across stage, screen, and music, her accolades include a Tony Award and a Daytime Emmy Award.

Idina Menzel

54. Elevates: LIFTS.

58. __ chic: GEEK. According to Collins English Dictionary, geek chic is a fashion style believed to be characteristic of geeks, including the wearing of heavy-rimmed glasses and T-shirts with humorous slogans.

59. Branch of Islam: SHIA.

61. Repetitive learning method: ROTE.

62. [Theme clue]

64. Out of the ordinary: ODD.

65. Hi-__ graphics: RES.

Here's the grid:

One of the Loves Of My Life is solving the crossword puzzle with all of you here in the Corner ... the bloggers, the commenters, and those who read along.  

So ... was this puzzle a rare PEARL?  Or did it land with a THUD?

NaomiZ

Tuesday May 20, 2025 Amie Walker & Jess Shulman

RustyBrain again, back by popular (?) demand. Actually, I fooled Hahtoolah into thinking I have everything under control. Shhh!

Our constructors, Amie Walker and Jess Shulman, have teamed up before, most recently in March with their TRASH TALK theme. Let’s see if they’ve cleaned up their act:

3D. Quick way to meet a bunch of people: SPEED DATING. Sitting across from someone for several minutes is a better way to judge personal chemistry than simply looking at pictures swiping left or right on an app.

7D. Right this second: HERE AND NOW. Really? How do you expect me to find a pic of HERE AND NOW that does justice to an instantaneous moment on the infinite time continuum? Dear Amie and Jess, please change this clue so I have an easier time. Thank you.

21D. Gotham City searchlight: BAT SIGNAL. For nights when he forgets his Bat Beeper.

29D. Spot for doodling: SCRATCH PAD. “Doodlepuff better not doodle on her new scratch pad!”

And the Unifier:

25D “Anything fun on the agenda today?” or a hint to the starts of 3-, 7-, 21-, and 29-Down: WHATCHA UP TO. Are you UP TO SPEED? I’ve had it UP TO HERE! Next, is UP TO BAT. And finally, it’s UP TO SCRATCH. The first and last are adjective phrases, while the middle two are idioms, but they all sound legit. The themers are vertical, which seems to be the case lately. It makes them a little harder to process, which can add to difficulty. Since it’s a Tuesday, and we don’t want to get too befuddled, we have a nice hint where to look, and UP TO which also leads us up to the top of each stack. Two chances to win!

Okay, we’re now UP TO date.

Across:

1. Core muscles worked by crunches: ABS. Never see this clued as Anti-lock Braking System.

4. Sign between Cancer and Virgo: LEO. Hint: it’s the 3 letter one.

7. Assistant: HELPER.

13. Mario Kart circuit: LAP. I drive on I-95 everyday, so I don't need a video game to get my thrills.

14. Italian mountain: ALP. In the singular, an ALP is a high mountain pasture, like can be found in the Alps.

15. Accept as true: BELIEVE.

16. Shiver with fear: TREMBLE. Thunder claps cause our dog, FuzzyBrain, to TREMBLE. Unfortunately, we live in Florida, the lightning capital of the US, averaging 1.2 million strikes per year! We play soothing music during storms and that helps a little, but don’t get me started about the 4^th of July…

18. Put up, as a building: ERECTED. I loved my Erector Set as a boy. Pictured is young Otis, coming up (and down) with an idea.

19. Cookie with a Coca-Cola variety: OREO. When will these snack companies learn that nothing beats the original flavor? Except Doritos, of course, when they came up with Cool Ranch.

20. Podcast pause: AD BREAK.

22. "The Incredibles" supersuit designer Mode: EDNA. Pixar denied EDNA was modeled after the great (8 Oscars!) costume designer, Edith Head. Years later, the studio admitted, “Well, maybe...”

24. Like some solstice traditions: PAGAN. Many of our Christian holidays were originally part of ancient PAGAN rituals and festivals. Christianity was an easier sell to pagans by adapting their celebrations rather than tossing them out. “And you still get to decorate the tree.”

25. "SmackDown" org.: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment – not my cuppa tea.

28. Took care of a friend's pup, say: DOGSAT. This seems like a good place to insert a pic of FuzzyBrain, sitting.

30. Laconic reply to 25-Down, perhaps: NOTHIN. Laconic means terse or concise, thus a one-word answer. But when I noticed that this answer (dropped the G), and the referenced Revealer (WHATCHA for What are you) were both elided, I thought that would figure into the theme. Figured wrong.

32. "It just clicked!": AHA. Oho!

34. Heart charts, for short: ECGS. ElectroCardioGramS aka EKGs (from the German spelling).

 
35. Hates the thought of: DREADS.

36. Head, in French: TETE. French lesson du jour.

38. Era in power: REIGN.

40. Latin "Not you too!?": ET TU. Spoken by Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play as he is being assassinated and sees his friend Brutus among the conspirators. Little did he know his last words would become crosswordese.

41. Challenging riddle: ENIGMA. To Churchill in 1939, Russia was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Nowadays, their motives are much more transparent.

43. "Money doesn't __ on trees": GROW. I can’t wait until fall when I’ll rake it in.

45. Revolutionary Guevara: CHE. Much more than just a face on a TEE shirt.

46. California burger joint: IN-N-OUT. Watch out Golden Arches, the Golden Archers are aiming for you.

47. Fairly recent: NEWISH.

49. Pester: NAG. NAG pesterers are horse flies.

50. "Get off my lawn!": SCRAM. “Please, mister, I just wanna get my Frisbee back.”

52. Kid-lit's "Frog and __ Together": TOAD. "But they'll look sweet, upon the seat, of a bicycle built for TOAD."

54. Surprised greeting: OH HELLO. “OH, HELLO, Othello.”

56. Wait in hiding: LURK. I LURKed on this blog for several years, enjoying everyone’s take on the daily puzzle, before finally deciding to join in on the conversation. I’m glad I did! And if you haven’t made the leap yet, please do. All the best people are here!

58. Rumormongers: GOSSIPS.

61. "Come on in!": IT’S OPEN.

63. Warm up before cooking: PREHEAT. Here’s my new “smart” oven either telling me it’s 10:11pm or time to change the oil.

64. To the __ degree: NTH.

65. "__ Te Ching": TAO. The Tao Te Ching is classic Chinese text that guides adherents in finding wholeness and inner tranquility in harmony with Tao. The three main beliefs of Taoism are compassion, frugality, and humility. We could all use more of that in this world.

66. Secretary of state who negotiated the Alaska Purchase: SEWARD. William Seward served under Lincoln. Although his purchase of Alaska from Russia was derided as a “folly” at the time, the US has reaped many benefits from the land, more than covering the 2 cents per acre we paid (understatement of the year).

67. __ sauce: SOY.

68. Texter's "I'll be there soon!": OMW. On My Way, a continuation of last week’s textspeak theme.

Down:

1. Choir voice: ALTO. To sing higher than that, you'll need a riser.

2. Support for a ballerina: BARRE. "National Endowment for the Arts" didn’t fit.

3. [Theme]

4. Research setting: LAB. "Come up to the LAB and see what's on the slab."

5. Jazz legend Fitzgerald: ELLA.

6. Newspaper section with views: OP-ED PAGE. I thought OP-ED was short for “Opinions & Editorials” but just learned it’s “Opposite the Editorial Page.”

7. [Theme]

8. "The Luminaries" Booker Prize winner Catton: ELEANOR. Unknown ELEANOR – her award-winning novel falls under “theater-fiction,” a genre that incorporates people, practices and settings from the stage.

9. Kiss from a 10-Down: LICK.

10. Fur baby: PET.

11. Night before: EVE. The anticipation is killing me!

12. "Colorful" Taylor Swift era: RED. One of her 16 (!) eras highlighted on tour. They correspond to her 11 albums plus some additional errors, er, eras.

15. Icy nautical hazard: BERG. Like with many other things, it’s the part you can’t see that gets you.
 

17. Prefix with chrome or tone: MONO. I prefer stereo. Especially one for $1 million.

21. [Theme]

23. Get older: AGE.

25. [Theme]

26. Area component: WIDTH. When multiplied by the height or length of a rectangular object. If the object is not rectangular? Well, then you’re on your own.

27. Come after: ENSUE. Reviews of my favorite movies often include, “Hilarity ENSUEs when…”

29. [Theme]

31. Casual top: TEE. TEE, which is short for T-shirt, which is short for TEE shirt, or something like that. Anyway, you can make your own by coloring this one in, then cutting it out. Probably should enlarge it first, though. Money saving tips from yours truly.

32. Had food at home: ATE IN.

33. Body dye in some wedding traditions: HENNA. A natural reddish dye derived from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree. It’s used to make intricate and beautiful temporary tattoos.

37. Alter __: EGO. RustyBrain is my alterEGO, kinda like Batman except I don't wear a cape.

39. Movie creatures that multiply if they get wet: GREMLINS. And remember, kids, never refuel them after midnight!

42. More sentimental: MUSHIER. Think any Hallmark Channel movie.

44. Cleverness: WIT. Brevity is the soul of WIT, so

48. Alone: SOLO. Han SOLO, alone.

51. Chill: REST. I usually think of “chill” to mean relax or remain calm, but not because you are tired and need a REST.

53. Atlanta WNBA team: DREAM. The name of this Women's National Basketball Association team was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech.

54. Job inspection org.: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. I'm a contractor (where I puzzle things out every day), and I hope funding cuts don’t have a negative impact on worker safety.

55. Director Preminger: OTTO. The influential director never won an Academy Award.

57. Not just guess: KNOW. I guess I already KNOW this.

58. Rte. provider: GPS. Global Positioning Satellite. So many satellites have been launched over the years that they are falling back to earth at the rate of a dozen per day. They mostly burn up in the atmosphere, but that still seems like an incredible number.

59. Mine find: ORE.

60. Use a needle and thread: SEW. This clue is so-so.

62. Timid: SHY.

Stay tuned for Hahtoolah’s triumphant return next week. Same bat-time; same bat-channel.