Numerology
I believe that today's constructor Boaz Moser is making his debut on the Corner about a year and two months after first appearing in the New York Times. His theme is about numerology, the meaning behind numbers. We'll start with the reveal ...58. "You're not fooling me!," or what 18-, 28-, and 43-Across might say?: I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER. and here are the theme clues ...
18A. Physician who specializes in perioperative care: ANESTHESIOLOGIST. Right off the bat I missed the meaning of this number. I fell for the old silent B in NUMBER trick, i.e. "I've got the stuff that numbs you". A tip of the hat to C.C. for the life raft (Teri also suggested that perhaps the anesthesiologist was saying "Count to 10 ..." after giving you a shot of propofol!).
28A. One who never draws a blank?: BINGO CALLER. The guy who calls out the next "B 12". He never draws a blank because he doesn't need to -- every card has a built-in wild space in the center. If you're interested in a part time gig as a bingo caller here are the qualifications.
43A. Tribute act: COVER ARTIST. And for their next number here are the Fab Four playing the first Beatles song I ever heard -- I Wanna Hold Your Hand ...
Here's the grid ...
I hope that has primed you for the rest of the review 😀 ...
Across:1. At the stern: AFT.
4. Revolutionary tool?: LATHE. The LATHE was certainly revolutionary when it was invented, circa 1300 BC, most likely in Egypt. A lathe is a machine tool that rotates a wood or metal workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object with symmetry about that axis. Teri's dad was a machinist who used a lathe in the creation of prototypes for Black and Decker electric tools.
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| A modern metal lathe |
9. Ebbs: ABATES.
15. Place to pick up trinkets and tchotchkes: CURIO SHOP. Not all CURIO SHOPS sell cheap goods: e.g. this Curio Shop is selling this18th Century Compagnie Des Indes Porcelain Tureen for only $2,200 ...
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| Porcelain Tureen 18th Century |
18. [Theme clue]
20. Use one's gray matter: IDEATE. The construction, solving, and reviewing of crossword puzzles takes a lot of IDEATION, as does the extensive commenting on them that occurs after the fact.
21. Change: ALTER.
22. Start of a protestor's cry, perhaps: BUT.
23. Pair: TWO.
24. Pretzel shape: KNOT. According to this article, legend has it that the pretzel was invented by a monk experimenting with leftover bread dough in or around the year 610 AD and was presented to little children as a reward for learning their prayers. This one is really just a loose overhand knot.
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| Pretzel |
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| Hurricane Helene devastation |
26. Prefix with thermal: GEO. Here are some basics of geothermal energy. This geothermal power station in Iceland shown below produces approximately 120 MW of electrical power; it also delivers around 1,100 litres (290 US gal) of hot water per second, around half of the space heating and hot water needs of the capital city of Reykjavík.
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| Geothermal Power Station Nesjavellir, Iceland |
31. Fried turnovers: EMPANADAS. Here's a recipe for beef empanadas.
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| Beef Empanadas |
34. Taking after: A LA. E.g. Apple Pie A LA Mode. Today's French lesson: "In fashion"
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| Apple Pie a la Mode |
35. Seafood paella option: MUSSELS. Here's Yvette's recipe. I think adding some scallops would be a nice touch ...
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| Seafood Paella |
36. Supports: TRUSSES. Here are some general synonyms for TRUSS ...
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| Truss components |
41. Genre with retrofuturistic technology: STEAM PUNK. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American frontier, where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
And of course it has spawned its own genre of music. Here's the steampunk band Abney Park with their video Airship Pirates ... 43. [Theme clue]
47. __ latte: SOY.
48. Toss, slangily: YEET. Some definitions from the Urban Dictionary.
49. Big stretches: EONS.
50. Not awesome: MEH. meh.
52. Convent figure: NUN. Some of them sing ...
53. Like some orange juice: PULPY.
55. Tricolor cat: CALICO. Here are two of the cats that own my grandchildren: a bicolor and a tricolor calico cat. I believe they're litter mates ...
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| Brooksie and Winchester |
61. Haitian language: CREOLE. To be clear Haitians do not speak a language called CREOLE. In this case the term is used as an adjective. They speak creole languages, a linguistic term for stable natural languages that develop from the process of different languages mixing and simplifying into a new form (often a pidgin). The new forms then expand and elaborate into a full-fledged language with native speakers, all within a fairly brief period. At present there are 3 main dialects of the Haitian creole.
I would be remiss here if I didn't include a creole dish -- here's Lauren's recipe for Shrimp Creole made from a mix of shrimp, tomatoes, spices, and rice ...
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| Shrimp Creole |
63. "__ you right!": SERVES.
64. Darts about: FLITS.
65. Speed Wagon maker: REO. The initials for early auto designer Ransom E. Olds and an eponym for the band REO Speed Wagon. Here's their poignant video of Can't Fight This Feeling ... Down:
1. Amazon berry: ACAI.
2. Slush __: FUND. "Slush fund" was originally a nautical term for the cash that a ship's crew raised by selling fat (slush) scraped from cooking pots to tallow makers. This cash was kept separate from the ship's accounts and used to make small purchases for the crew.
Nowadays a slush fund is an account used for miscellaneous income and expenses, particularly when these are corrupt or illegal. I'm really glad that none of that goes on today in the US. 😁
3. Canopy makeup: TREE TOPS. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms (epiphytes, lianas, arboreal animals, etc.). The communities that inhabit the canopy layer are thought to be involved in maintaining forest diversity, resilience, and functioning. Shade trees normally have a dense canopy that blocks light from lower growing plants.
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| Forest canopy Andaman Islands, Myanmar |
5. Tennis great Arthur: ASHE. Here's his story ...
6. English article: THE.
7. Church cry of praise: HOSANNA. These folks have really got the spirit! ... 8. Postscripts: EPILOGS.
9. Fit: ABLE.
10. Classless one: BOOR. Even a high-class aristocrat can be a BOOR.
11. Summer mo.: AUG.
12. Like some elders: TRIBAL. Elders, in Indigenous North American cultures, are repositories of cultural and philosophical knowledge within their tribal communities, as well as the transmitters of this storehouse of information. They are regarded as living libraries, with information on a wide variety of practical, spiritual and ceremonial topics, including "basic beliefs and teachings, encouraging...faith in the Great Spirit, the Creator". Here's an example of Indigenous Elders helping archeologists decode ancient rock art.
13. Secure: ENSURE.
14. Dog for pheasant hunters: SETTER. Both Irish setters and English setters are used for hunting pheasants. The hunters in this video prefer English setters. Trigger warning: some pheasants were harmed in the making of this video ...
16. "That didn't escape my attention": I SAW. My DIL has a plaque in her kitchen that says "I SAW THAT! -- God".
19. Director Preminger: OTTO. Otto Ludwig Preminger (5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gained attention for film noir mysteries such as Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945), while in the 1950s and 1960s, he directed high-profile adaptations of popular novels and stage works. Several of these later films pushed the boundaries of censorship by dealing with themes which were then taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955), rape (Anatomy of a Murder, 1959) and homosexuality (Advise & Consent, 1962). He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. He also had several acting roles.
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| Otto Preminger |
25. Fastener: CLASP. Often to attach 26Ds.
26. Glam rock?: GEM. One of the more glam rocks in the world is the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's gem and minerals wing in D.C.. This storied blue gem weighs 45.52 carats and is worth an estimated $350 million.
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| The Hope Diamond |
27. Australian avian: EMU.
28. Light wood: BALSA. The balsa tree, Ochroma pyramidale, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, due to its softness and its high strength compared to its low density. The name balsa is the Spanish word for "raft" and the Portuguese word for "ferry". Balsa wood played a historical role in Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition where it was used to build the raft used to cross the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands.
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| Balsa Tree Costa Rica |
30. Classless one?: ALUM. A clecho to 10D.
32. To date: AS YET.
33. Approach: NEAR.
36. Crime novelist Gerritsen: TESS. Terry ("Tess") Gerritsen (born June 12, 1953) is the child of a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese-American seafood chef. While growing up in San Diego she longed to be a writer, but her family had reservations about the sustainability of a writing career, prompting Gerritsen to choose a career in medicine. She received her medical degree from UCSF in 1979 and started work as a physician in Honolulu, Hawaii. While on maternity leave she submitted a short story to a statewide fiction contest in the magazine Honolulu and won first prize. She pursued writing part time and eventually wrote several romantic novels, medical thrillers, and crime thrillers. She is probably best known for her Rizzoli and Isles series of crime novels, which were eventually adapted into a popular TV series of the same name.
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| Tess Gerritsen |
37. Place to order rolls: SUSHI BAR. My favorite is the Rainbow Roll ...
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| Rainbow Roll |
38. "Music for Airports" composer Brian: ENO. Here is the first 4:34 min of the 48:39 min album. If you want to relax for a while, here's the whole album.
39. Big __ Country: SKY. Big Sky Country is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter and guitarist, Chris Whitley. It was the second single to be released from his 1991 début album, Living with the Law, and became a hit single in the United States.
41. Visit on the way: STOP OFF.
42. Link-shortening service: TINY URL. TinyURL is a URL shortening web service, which provides short aliases for redirection of long URLs. Kevin Gilbertson, a web developer, launched the service in January 2002 as a way to post links in newsgroup postings which frequently had long, cumbersome addresses.
43. Critics of good-faith efforts: CYNICS. Modern cynicism has been defined as an attitude of distrust toward claimed ethical and social values and a rejection of the need to be socially involved. It is pessimistic about the capacity of human beings to make correct ethical choices. IMO this is a form of psychological projection -- attributing to others characteristics that cynics have themselves.
44. Canon: OEUVRE. The Dinosaur isn't buying it ...
46. Depend (on): RELY.
50. Heavy hammers: MAULS. Here's a maul for splitting logs ...
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| Splitting Maul |
51. Red Muppet: ELMO. ELMO is the Muppet who always refers to himself in the 3rd person. Here he teaches Elmo's Song to other Muppets ...
53. Propulsion aid: POLE. A POLE is used to propel a flat bottom boat called "skiff" in shallow waters. Here's how it's done ...
54. Versatile vehicles, for short: UTES. And a versatile bit of crosswordese -- not only are UTES short for Sports Utility Vehicles, but sports fans will know them as the University of Utah football team, and they are also the oldest residents of Colorado, and their vehicles are horses ...
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| Southern Ute Indian Tribe |
55. Tech review site acquired by Ziff Davis in 2024: CNET. CNET is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts and videos on global technology and consumer electronics. CNET has the highest readership among web news sites. It has over 200 million readers per month. It was among the 200 most visited websites globally in 2015.
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57. Ish: OR SO.
59. End of a congressional address: GOV. Mercifully short!
60. Retailer that sells crampons and chalk bags: REI. Recreational Equipment, Inc., doing business as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation founded in 1938. It was formerly governed, and continues to brand itself, as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells camping gear, hiking, climbing, cycling, water, running, fitness, snow, travel equipment, and men, women and kids clothing. It also offers services such as outdoor-oriented vacations and courses. Unlike other outdoor sports stores, it does not sell hunting or fishing equipment.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
And we wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah to all those who celebrate them!
And we wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah to all those who celebrate them!
waseeley
