In poker, a flush is all cards of the same suit. Today, we have postfixes that uses SUIT in different contexts.
Good morning solvers! And welcome to another Janice Monday.
Let's start w/ the reveal:
57. Do the same, and what the ends of 17-, 25-, and 42-Across can do: FOLLOW SUIT.
17. "Just act naturally!": BE YOURSELF. SUIT YOURSELF.
Suit Yourself
25. Vietnam War film directed by Stanley Kubrick: FULL METAL JACKET. SUIT JACKET.
42. Quickly resolved legal matter: OPEN AND SHUT CASE. SUITCASE.
Pretty simple gimmick but cute nonetheless. Let's see what else suits Janice's puzzle...
Across:
1. Dot-__: online businesses: COMS. Another financial bubble that pop'd.
5. Capital of South Korea: SEOUL.
10. Clever remark: QUIP.
14. Shape of many a car logo: OVAL.
15. Inner circle: CADRE.
16. Caterer's coffee servers: URNS.
17. [See: Theme]
19. AirPods holders: EARS. Ha! I kept trying to think if there was a name for their little recharger pods.
20. Chocolaty treats that may have walnuts: BROWNIES.
21. Portable device with a touchscreen: TABLET.
23. Baby bear: CUB.
24. __ farewell: said goodbye: BADE.
25. [See: Theme]
33. Between ports: ASEA.
34. Second-string players: B-TEAM. Ask ChatGPT to produce an image...
“I love it when a cookout comes together.”
35. Lamb's mother: EWE.
36. Sow's opposite: REAP.
37. Renewable energy option: SOLAR.
38. Safari park roarer: LION.
39. Gloomy __: pessimistic sort: GUS.
40. Comedian Wyatt: CENAC. Wyatt Cenac was a writer and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from '08 to 2012. He continues to do standup and other projects.
Wyatt Cenac
41. Annoys: IRKS.
42. [See: Theme]
46. Finishes up: ENDS.
47. Part of FTW and BTW: THE. For THE Win & By THE Way #TextSpeak
48. Talks back to: SASSES.
51. Morton who plays Circe in "The Odyssey": SAMANTHA.
Samantha Morton
56. Help in wrongdoing: ABET.
57. [See: Theme]
59. Genuine: REAL.
60. Face-to-face exams: ORALS.
61. Prefix with skeleton: ENDO.
62. Like a couch potato: IDLE.
63. Move, as a root-bound houseplant: REPOT.
64. Consider to be: DEEM.
Down:
1. Salad with bacon and eggs: COBB.
Yummers
2. "Back to you," in radio lingo: OVER.
Oveur Over
3. BLT spread: MAYO.
Two Airplane! clips FTW!
4. Insincere round of applause: SLOW CLAP.
Colbert is not impressed
5. Book copier of old: SCRIBE.
6. Loosen (up): EASE.
7. Poems of praise: ODES.
8. Address that often starts with "www": URL. Technically, it starts with the scheme which, nowadays, is most oft the protocol HTTPS. I have, however, used ftp:// and gopher:// .
The URL Format
9. Not quite closed: LEFT AJAR. When is a door not a door? When it's AJAR! *rim-shot* 😄
10. Montreal's province: QUEBEC.
11. Eurasian border river: URAL.
12. Memo heading: INRE.
13. Soft "Hey, you!": PSST.
18. E pluribus __: UNUM. Latin.
22. Singer Lambert: ADAM.
24. Laundry whitener: BLEACH.
25. North Dakota city: FARGO.
26. Spend all of: USE UP. No more. It's gone.
27. Rental contract: LEASE.
28. Govt.-issued investments: T-BONDS.
29. Book of maps: ATLAS.
30. Knightley of "Bend It Like Beckham": KEIRA.
Keira Knightley
31. Furry "Star Wars" creatures: EWOKS.
32. Uptight: TENSE.
37. Summons: SENDS FOR.
38. Officially permitted to drive, say: LICENSED.
40. Walking stick: CANE.
43. Big name in milk chocolate: NESTLE.
44. Ultimate: UTMOST.
45. Melt: THAW.
48. South Asian silk dress: SARI.
49. Tucked in for the night: ABED.
50. Barking marine mammal: SEAL.
51. Smack: SLAP.
52. French greeting: ALLO.
53. Song: TUNE.
54. Keep out of sight: HIDE.
55. Tiny particle: ATOM.
58. Mine yield: ORE.
The Grid:
The Grid
WOs: N/A
ESPs: SAMANTHA, KEIRA, ALLO Fav: SLOW CLAP
As PER C.C., it's Anon T subbing on this final August Sunday. September starts in two days and the weather will begin cooling off enough to get back to weekend biking and after work pickleball.
C.C. has provided us an Insert Three Letters puzzle that turns normal phrases into a A BIT of whimsy. Let's us play...
23. Bonus for never giving up?: PERSEVERANCE PAY. SEVERANCE PAY - your layoff package. The PERSERVERANCE PAY is what you keep getting to stay w/ the company that just laid off 20% of your team.
39. Big spender?: PRODIGAL PERSON. The parable of the PRODIGAL SON who was a spendthrift PERSON.
58. Device that might buzz during a night out?: SOCIAL BEEPER. A SOCIAL BEE lives in a colony. A BEEPER set to silent mode "buzzes" when it vibrates.
83. Elaborately embroidered falsehoods?: GRAND PERJURY. A GRAND JURY will indict a ham sandwich for PERJURY.
101. Green light for a lunar expedition?: MOON PERMISSION. This is my fav. JFK gave PERMISSION for the MOON MISSION at Houston's Rice University.
JFK's Moon Challenge
119. People who pack picnic lunches?: HAMPER OPERATORS. A picnic HAMPER is another name for a picnic basket and a HAM is an amateur radio OPERATOR.
32. Special offers at a body shop?: BUMPER DEALS. A BUM DEAL the car's BUMPER.
46. Gathering for chile lovers?: PEPPER RALLY. A PEP RALLY for PEPPERs.
Across:
1. Draw of a dim sum cart: AROMA.
Yum!
6. Space balls?: ORBS.
Another Mel Brooks Classic
10. "Sesame Street" basics: ABCS. I grew up on Sesame Street #GenX
14. Zipper alternative: SNAPS. Fasteners.
19. Mushroom with a pitted cap: MOREL.
Morel Mushrooms
20. Home of the Nazca Lines: PERU. I first read that as lions and was wondering which NCAA school I was looking for :-)
88. "Tropic Thunder" actor Nick: NOLTE. A very funny movie (R-LV) with a surprise in the credits.
Nolte is at 1:05
89. Gooey lump: GLOB.
90. Sock end: TOE.
91. Dining hall offerings: MEALS.
94. Swahili for "lion": SIMBA.
Simba is presented - Lion King
96. Washington Spirit player Morgan: ESME.
99. Mollusk often pan-seared: SCALLOP.
101. [See: Theme]
105. Baton Rouge sch.: LSU. Geaux Tigers!
106. Hip-hop's Salt-N-__: PEPA. Female rappers from the late '80's / early 90's.
109. Loads and loads: A TON.
110. Mean: INTEND.
111. Gave the once-over: EYED.
112. Virtual persona: AVATAR. Mine is a gray-shaded "-T" w/ the word "Anonymous" spelled out in the top crossbar.
114. Nonglossy lipstick option: MATTE. Non-glossy anything is MATTE. Or flat. Or eggshell. Or satin. Or, no, that's it... satin is when it starts getting a sheen. It all has to do with how much light is reflected by the (war) paint.
116. Blissful spots: EDENS.
118. Starbucks size: VENTI. I'm the grump that just asks for a large.
119. [See: Theme]
124. Fizzled out: ENDED.
125. Slushy treat: ICEE.
126. Singer India.__: ARIE.
127. Vibe: TENOR.
128. Great balls of fire: STARS.
129. Fuse together: MELD.
130. Give conditionally: LEND.
131. Canary feed: SEEDS.
Tweety popped his SEEDS
Down:
1. Electric violin hookup: AMP. Having AMP here nixes ampED at 47a.
2. Orange sushi topping: ROE.
Yummers!
3. Hockey great Bobby: ORR.
4. Like a bad breakup: MESSY.
5. Sir __ Guinness: ALEC.
6. Anxiety-reducing feature of some tests: OPEN NOTES.
7. Double-check, in a way: REREAD.
8. Garment once called a corselet-gorge: BRA.
9. Optical effects caused by ice crystals: SUNDOGS. A halo caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sundogs typically appear as a pair of subtly colored patches of light, around 22° to the left and right of the Sun [WikiP].
Sundogs
10. Help in a burglary: ABET.
11. Girl who lost her sheep: BO PEEP.
12. Morally pure: CHASTE.
13. Vegan milk option: SOY. More like soy juice.
14. Deep carpet: SHAG.
15. Tells all: NAMES NAMES. Dirty rat!
16. Dress shape: A-LINE.
17. Trousers: PANTS.
18. Wade clumsily: SLOSH. I remember the joy of sloshing through puddles in my yellow goulashes. I didn't have to clean up the mess :-)
24. Zigs or zags: VEERS.
25. Color similar to salmon: CORAL. Turn in your man card if you can see the difference ;-)
29. Org.: ASSN.
30. Yawn-inducing: BLAH. Not Bore :-(
31. Light as can be: AIRY.
32. [See: Theme]
34. Nintendo virtual personae: MIIS. You create a Mii AVATAR on your Wii.
69. Gracefully refined: ELEGANT. [See: Steve above]
71. Clearasil rival: OXY.
73. Gotham City hero: BATMAN.
76. Power source for a warp drive in "Star Trek": ANTIMATTER.
Spock mentions antimatter at 1:08
78. Offline, online: IRL. In Real Life aka Meat Space.
80. "Away from work" letters: OOO. Out Of Office. Could just be WFH that day #ThursdayCallback
82. Casting need: REEL.
84. Promotional sample: DEMO.
85. Lyft alternative: UBER. Rideshares.
87. "You got that right!": YES INDEED.
90. Take for a spin, perhaps: TEST. Do you scare the dealer a bit when you take a test drive? I want to see what the machine will do on a short on-ramp in Houston traffic :->
92. Come up short: LOSE.
93. Tater: SPUD. The Idaho tuber.
95. Hog with tusks: BOAR.
97. Strike down, biblically: SMITE. Old Testament had a lot of smote folks runnin' around.
102. Pulpy refuse: POMACE. Pomace, pumace, or marc is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit. [WikiP]
103. Molar cover: ENAMEL. Teeth.
104. Enter via cracks: SEEP IN.
106. Covers a lot of ground?: PAVES. Cute.
107. Special occasion: EVENT.
108. Bear in a bamboo forest: PANDA.
111. Lauder of cosmetics: ESTEE.
113. Lends a hand: AIDS. and ABETs?
115. Pranked with Charmin: TPED. Rollin' the trees.
117. D.C. ballplayers: NATS. The Washington Nationals.
119. "That's the guy!": HIM. Who, me?
120. Minecraft block: ORE.
121. Lowest sudoku number: ONE.
122. Casting need: ROD.
Everyone needs ROD Stewart in their movie, no?
123. Soon-to-be alums: SRS. Seniors ready to graduate get the ask for the alumni fund before getting their diploma. #TrueStory
Hi All!
Today we get a letter-substitution puzzle from our very own C.C.. Each themed clue is straight forward but the fill seems a bit of(?). Let's dig in and see what she has in store.
23. *Command to turn: FACE LIFT. In the Army, it was "LEFT, FACE." //Drill gave the direction first to give us a moment to remember our left from our right :-)
He Flunked Flanks
29. *Recovers somewhat: FEELS BITTER. FEELS BETTER. If you've only somewhat recovered from defeat, you may still feel bitter.
45. *Flourishing: LIVING WILL. LIVING WELL - yeah, I'm doin' alright.
49. *Perform a daring act: BILL THE CAT. The expression "BELL THE CAT" derives from a fable about mice agreeing that putting a bell on the cat is a great idea. The hitch - it's a great idea if someone else is dumb enough to try - so no one does.
94. *Person who works a lot?: AUTO DIALER. An AUTO DEALER works the car lot a lot.
96. *Ink-filled tool for illustrators: DRAWING PIN. A PEN for DRAWING pictures.
112. *Places to drop envelopes: LITTER BOXES. Put your post in a LETTER BOX.
Letters go here -- dogs, maybe, but not cats.
123. Start of a spelling rule, or a rule to keep in mind while answering the starred clues: I BEFORE E.
I before E except after C (unless it sounds like an A as in neighbor and weigh (unless the word is just weird)).
//I found this silly sentence on Reddit: I before E except when your "foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from weird feisty caffeinated weightlifters."
One can always count on the internet for giggles.
Ahem.
I forgot to read the Sunday Title first. As I came upon 29a, I thought, "What's the theme?"
I read "9 to 5" (?) and thought, "I'll title the puzzle 'I Before E.'" Then I got to 123a, and realized that's where C.C. was already going. Alas.
But wait, what is 9 to 5? Simple, it's like a substitution cipher. Take the 9th letter of the alphabet and put it where the 5th letter goes. 9 to 5. Cute. But it gets better...
Everything's better w/ Dolly
Across:
1. Do something: ACT.
4. Career fair haul: SWAG.
Cybersecurity SWAG for the bath.
8. Claim forcefully: ASSERT.
14. Insert, as a link: EMBED. I was thinking a chain's LINK b/f an HTML hyperLINK.
19. Prepping period: LEAD TIME. The more lead time, the more you better prepare.
21. Mammals with big calves: WHALES. Ha!
22. Stains with ash: SOOTS.
23. [See: Theme]
24. Winter cap feature: EARLAP. LAP or FLAP? I looked it up: Earlap - A flap connected to headgear to protect the ear from cold or physical harm. From Old English ēarlæppa.
25. Jam: SNARL. Think traffic, not preserves.
26. Clarifying phrase: AS IN. PAT - P as in Pterodactyl, A as in Aisle, and T as in Tsunami. //Thanks RustyB!
27. Too sure of oneself: SMUG. Can you think of a three letter donkey-related word for this trait? I can ;-)
33. Small camping shelter: PUP TENT. A small triangular shelter fit more for a dog than humans. In the Army, you & a buddy carried half-shelters.
They're pretty small
35. Slowpoke's place: REAR.
36. "Despacito" singer Fonsi: LUIS. A Puerto Rican singer.
39. Part of LAPD: LOS.
40. Nonprofit org. with a school for aspiring moviemakers: AFI. American Film Institute (which named Blazing Saddles the Funniest Film of All Time on Brooks' 100th Birthday //thanks Ray-O!).
42. Infatuated: GAGA. Is Lady GAGA infatuated with herself or ladies?
45. [See: Theme]
49. [See: Theme]
52. Dedicated poem: ODE.
53. Tudyk of "Firefly": ALAN. I've never seen Firefly, but Alan was great in Resident Alien. [TV-MA]
Alan Tudyk
54. Emulate Alysa Liu: ICE SKATE.
Alysa won gold in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic games
56. Bark beetle target: ELM.
57. Fancy-schmancy: POSH. If you get too fancy in our hacker Discord channel, someone will inevitably post this:
Ooh La La
59. Previously: ONCE.
61. Relaxed sigh: AHH.
62. Novel at the center of Bloomsday celebrations: ULYSSES. Bloomsday is a commemoration of James Joyce.
64. Westernmost city in Texas: EL PASO. I did Basic there [Ft. Bliss] in '88... In July!
66. McIntosh or Macintosh: APPLE. Cute - the fruit and computer, respectively.
80. Vidal of hair care: SASSOON. If you don't look good, we don't look good. #Tagline
83. Vader's childhood nickname: ANI. Star Wars franchise.
84. Southernmost Ivy: PENN.
86. Party leader?: HOST. Ha!
87. Software-driven F/X: CGI. Computer Generated Images create the special effects (F/X).
88. Improviser's concluding phrase: AND SCENE.
Colbert
91. Fat-heavy diet: KETO.
93. "Look what I found!": OHO.
94. [See: Theme]
96. [See: Theme]
99. Org. running many missions: NASA.
100. Snack for a frog: FLY.
101. Of vital importance: KEY.
102. Speak unclearly: SLUR.
103. Ione of "La Brea": SKYE.
Ione Skye
105. Lions and tigers: FELINES.
109. Gets the picture: SEES.
112. [See: Theme]
115. High-five sound: SLAP.
118. Starts to work together: GELS.
120. In flames: AFIRE.
121. Make public: EXPOSE.
123. [See: Theme]
125. Spot of land: ISLET.
126. Lower in fat: LEANER. Opposite of KETO.
127. Trial spin on a bike: TEST RIDE.
128. Parts in a play: ROLES.
129. Daisylike flowers: ASTERS.
A Purple Daisy - Gregor [98d], you have some 'splain' to do.
130. Tuck away: STOW.
131. Telepath's ability: ESP.
Down:
1. __ Romeo: motorsport brand: ALFA.
'86 Alfa Spider
2. Discontinue: CEASE.
3. Implicit: TACIT.
4. Busiest airport in MO: STL. St. Louis, Missouri's Lambert International Airport. When visiting Pop, we'll sometimes opt for STL instead of connecting into SPI through ORD.
5. Nintendo consoles that debuted in 2006: WIIS.
6. Switch on the radio?: AMFM. Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation are methods of imposing information onto a carrier wave.
7. "Rise and shine!": GET UP.
8. Dazzle: AWE.
9. Vertical passages: SHAFTS.
10. Draped wedding garment: SAREE. I looked it up - sari and saree are both acceptable spellings of the same dress.
11. Discovery astronaut Ochoa: ELLEN.
She was the director at JSC, Houston.
12. "I'm gonna be straight with you ... ": REAL TALK.
13. Cough syrup amts.: TSPS.
14. OPI rival: ESSIE. Youngest uses Holo Taco.
Her Starry Night Nails
15. Sequence of film cuts: MONTAGE.
16. Regattas: BOAT RACES.
17. Raison d'__: ETRE.
18. High-end camera initials: DSLR. Digital Single-Lens Reflex.
20. National park north of Anchorage: DENALI. Before and after it was Mt. McKinley.
28. Shorebird with webbed feet: GULL.
30. Easily broken: BRITTLE.
32. Salade niçoise fish: TUNA.
Yummers!
34. __-sci: POLI. Political Science.
37. Nome dome home: IGLOO.
38. Bird with a long neck: SWAN.
41. Display flagrantly: FLAUNT. Should I EMBED [14a] Brooks' The Producers' [2005] Uma? Heck yeah!
43. Destructive wind: GALE.
44. Bank lobby devices: ATMS.
45. Leisurely gait: LOPE.
46. Subjects of fan clubs: IDOLS.
47. "Roman Holiday" scooter: VESPA.
Hepburn & Peck on a Vespa
48. Like some heated posts: IN CAPS. e.g. I'M YELLING AT YOU!!!!
49. Command: BEHEST.
50. "Kinda": ISH.
51. "What's up, bro!": HEY MAN. The opening lyric to...
Suffragette City
55. Reports by hotline: CALLS IN.
58. Head lights?: HALOS. Cute - a ring of overhead light.
60. Prefix with graph or gram: EPI.
63. Electronica instrument: SYNTH.
Geddy's Steampunk-themed Synth (it's a mini-MOOG underneath)
65. Hybrid thoroughfare with frequent access points: STROAD. A portmanteau of Street and Road. Trying to figure out what stroad means took me down a traffic engineering labyrinth. Google at your own peril.
67. Smoothing tool: PLANER.
68. Shout of discovery: EUREKA. What Archimedes famously shouted when he realized he could calculate the volume of any shape by putting it in a bath (with rubber duckies, I presume).
70. Open-toed shoe: SANDAL.
71. Alley-__: OOP.
73. Scouting unit: TROOP.
74. Gimbap alternative: SUSHI. Gimbap is Korea's take on sushi. WikiP has the History of the dish.
Looks good (& the fish is cooked :-))
76. Cypress, for one: CONIFER. Needled trees.
78. Up to: UNTIL.
79. Ian Fleming's alma mater: ETON. A POSH school.
80. Glance over: SCAN.
81. Amazon contents: AGUA.
82. Quits fidgeting: SITS STILL. Yeah, not my strong suit. #ADHD
83. Card with a single pip: ACE.
85. Front page material: NEWS.
89. Cunning folks: SLY FOXES.
90. Garden with forbidden fruit: EDEN.
92. Responsibility: ONUS.
95. Home for a squirrel: OAK TREE. Which is, famously, not a conifer.
97. Some deli loaves: RYES. Ok, no!, C.C., you can't get away w/ RYE w/o me mentioning
98. Genetics pioneer Mendel: GREGOR. Of crossbreeding pea [and daisies?] fame.
101. Piehole: KISSER. Your maw, yap, trap, mouth.
104. Throws, in slang: YEETS. What the kids say when wanting to forcefully dispose of something. E.g. "Yeet it off the balcony."
106. Kiwi in Kyoto, say: EXPAT. LOL! A New Zealander in Japan.
107. Sierra __, Africa: LEONE.
108. Features of some skirts: SLITS. Where's Splynter when we need him? :-)
110. Quietly unnerving: EERIE.
111. Snow day rides: SLEDS.
112. Dragon's place: LAIR. When I played video games, Dragon's Lair cost $1 whilst the other games were $0.25. Ergo, I only watched arcade buddies blow $$$ just to die at this scene (again).
Dragon's Lair - a LaserDisc "cutscene" video game.
113. "In that case ... ": IF SO.
114. Grammy-winning banjoist Fleck: BELA. Not Steve Martin? Ok, let's hear him.
Good day Cornerites! Today, Scott & Katherine give us some things you can scratch. Let's take a look...
17. Old 45, perhaps: VINYL RECORD. Run DMC talked about doing Walk this Way w/ Aerosmith. They had no idea who Aerosmith was except it was the scratch on Track 4 of that Toys in the Attic album which all street rappers used. Here's a 45 where the B-side is the bigger hit -- it better not be scratched...
A-Side
B-Side
24. Hiker's annoyance: INSECT BITE. Those make ya' scratch.
35. Lucky purchase, one hopes: LOTTERY TICKET. The Big Money!
We had LOTERIA in my last Tuesday expo
48. Yen for adventure: TRAVEL ITCH. If you've got the time & scratch, scratch that itch.
57. "Never mind!," or what could be said about 17-, 24-, 35-, or 48-Across: SCRATCH THAT.
Close enough.
Across:
1. "Heated Rivalry" co-star Williams: HUDSON. A TV show of two hockey players on rival teams hiding their romance. Heard of it but never seen it.
7. Mountain goat with long horns: IBEX.
Alpine ibex
11. Pigpen: STY.
No. This is Pig-Pen
14. Boxer's punch combo: ONE-TWO.
15. The whole __ yards: NINE. Here's Words Unravelled on idioms. //Listen long enough and you'll hear our sports BAGEL explanation.
16. Red letters?: IOU. An "I Owe You" means you're in the red.
17. [See: Theme]
19. Male turkey: TOM.
20. Dark deeds: EVILS.
21. Oscar winner Malek: RAMI. I liked him best in the first season of Mr. Robot.
22. Population fig., often: EST. An ESTimate.
23. Hard to track down: RARE.
24. [See: Theme]
27. Put points on the board: SCORED.
29. African American folk magic: HOODOO.
I had to check to see if Harvey Korman said Hoodoo or Voodoo.
30. More than wants: NEEDS. OK, I NEEDed to check Korman's words ;-)
34. Preppy tops: POLOS.
35. [See: Theme]
39. Sherri's twin on "The Simpsons": TERRI.
The Twins
40. "Stuart Little" actress Davis: GEENA.
41. Writer/editor Dave who founded McSweeney's Publishing: EGGERS.
43. X-ray follow-up, perhaps: CT SCAN. A Computed Tomography SCAN.
48. [See: Theme]
52. "__ from New York ... !": LIVE. Chevy Chase first said it back in '75.
63. Greek peak: OSSA. Oh, not a look [peek] under the toga but...
this kinda peak.
64. Female sibling: SISTER. As you're reading this, I'm with one of mine in Dallas.
Down:
1. Watches overprotectively: HOVERS.
2. Pioneering mainframe: UNIVAC. What?!? A singular VACuum tube? Counts to one, does it? ;-)
3. Robert of "Killers of the Flower Moon": DENIRO. I know who DeNiro is but not in this context. After reading the WikiP, I should probably see the movie.
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