Thursday, April 7, 2022, Bruce Haight

A Marvelous Morning to all of you cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with an mm mm good puzzle by Bruce Haight.  Let's start with the reveal because, while the theme is, ultimately, quite simple it's application is a bit less so and also exhibits unstated, but much appreciated by this author, alliteration.

61 Across:  Country leaders, and along with names in parentheses, a hint to 18-, 24-, 39- and 49-Across: HEADS OF STATE.

At four places within the grid, Bruce has started the answers with a two-letter USPS abbreviation for a  U.S. state name.  Left unsaid is that in all cases both words of the two-word answers start with the letter M.  MM.  He still holds "in reserve" an additional four states starting with M so, perhaps, we'll see a M&M Part II puzzle at some point in the future employing the other four.  On the other hand (see 32 Across), he has used all of the M-followed-by-a-vowel abbreviations so the Part II puzzle (employing (MT, MS, MD, and MN) would be more difficult to create.

Here are the themed answers:

18 Across:  Bracketology event (Cambridge): MARCH MADNESS.  Cambridge, MA (Massachusetts).  Tne NCAA basketball championship tournament concluded earlier this week.  Quite the comeback, Jayhawks.

24 Across:  Series that included Bugs and Daffy (Augusta): MERRIE MELODIES.  Augusta, ME (Maine)

39 Across:  Risky operations often with code names (Ann Arbor): MILITARY MISSIONS.  Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan)

49Across:  Science class visual aid (Joplin): MOLECULAR MODEL.  Joplin, MO (Missouri)

Here is how this looks in the grid:

. . . . and now for the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Reminder trademark: POST IT.

7. 1994 National Women's Hall of Fame inductee: OPRAH.  OPRAH Winfrey.  Is there another?

12. One having a ball: DEB.  DEButant

15. Kia model: OPTIMA.

2022 KIA OPTIMA

16. Magna cum __: LAUDE.

17. Get rid of: AXE.

20. Narrow waterway: RIA.  Often seen in crossword puzzles if rarely elsewhere.

21. Soup served with chopsticks: PHO.  Vietnamese.  Pronounced Fuh.

22. Chill-inducing: EERIE.  Spooky, not cold.

23. Sensed: FELT.

29. Paso __, Calif.: ROBLES.  While still overshadowed by it's more famous northern counterparts (e.g. Napa, Sonoma) there are several world class wineries in the Paso ROBLES area.

31. Radamès' love: AIDA.  An opera reference.

32. Texter's "But ... ": OTOH.

33. Lured: BAITED.

36. Frat letter: TAU.  One of twenty-four letters in the Greek alphabet although only six of them have three letter "names".

43. Tire pressure fig.: PSI.  Pounds per Square Inch

44. 12-step offshoot: ALANON.  Alcoholics Anonymous

45. A, B or C, but not X, Y or Z: NOTE.   A music theory reference.

46. Move like water: FLOW.

47. Acted as an informant, in Ipswich: NARKED.  An English English slang reference

55. Second word of many limericks: ONCE.   Nice interplay of Second and ONCE.  I think that I have shared this one once before:

There ONCE was a girl from Madras

Who had a magnificent ass

Not rounded and pink

As well you may think

It was gray, had long ears and ate grass

56. "Cheers" server: DIANE.  DIANE Chambers was a character on the TV show.

57. More than -er: EST.  EST as in the hostess with the most-est, e.g.  Not an Erhard Seminar Training reference.  Did you get it?

60. Pot part: LID.  This clue either refers to a kitchen item or a dope deal.  Our grandchildren will probably never know what "down to seeds and stems, again" means.  See also 37 down.

65. Group of scenes: ACT.  As in a stage play.

66. Triumphant cry: I RULE.  I have never heard anyone actually say this.

67. Anti-anxiety med: ATIVAN.  Trade name for Lorazepam.  

68. Gun, as an engine: REV.

69. Player in 18-Across: CAGER.  Slang for basketball player.

70. Firmly held ideas: TENETS.  Not to be confused with TENANTS.

Down:

1. Fanfare:  POMP.  Depending on the circumstances.

2. Large deep-water fish: OPAH.  Not OPRAH.

3. The Blue Fairy helped Pinocchio escape from him, in the Disney film: STROMBOLI.  Not, in this case, the pastry.

Stromboli

4. Eye twitch, maybe: TIC.

5. Arrival cry: I'M HERE.  If you are a cat it's likely "FEED ME".

6. They might hold chairs at a circus: TAMERS.

7. iHeartRadio fare: OLDIE.

8. "The Hunger Games" land: PANEM.  Not being a fan of the referenced opus I had to rely on the perps.

9. French way: RUE.  Français for street.

10. Some taxi toppers: ADS.

11. Fellows: HES.  

12. "__ say it?": DARE I.  Apparently, yes.  Or not.

13. Banish: EXILE.

14. Rhythms: BEATS.

19. NFL's Cardinals, on scoreboards: ARI.

23. OTC watchdog: FDA.

25. K-12, in brief: ELHI.  A term sometimes seen in crossword puzzles.  Elementary School through High School.

26. __ kitchen: EAT IN.  I first tried HELL'S.  I failed to notice that kitchen was not capitalized.

27. "Balderdash!": LIES.  Can you believe this?

28. Numbers with a colon: ODDS.  Ratios would not fit.

29. Lopsided win: ROMP.  Had to wait just a bit to see if it would be ROUT.

30. Publisher Chandler: OTIS.  Los Angeles Times publisher from 1960 to 1980.  My how the editorial slant of the newspaper has changed subsequently.

33. Game delay cause: BRAWL.  Rain would not fit.

34. Writer Rand: AYN.  She also visited us on Tuesday.

35. "If u ask me ... ": IMO.  In My Opinion.  OTOH, . . .

36. Said goodbye to, with "of": TOOK LEAVE.  Often used with "of one's senses".

37. Part of a pot: ANTE.  A card game reference.  See also 60 Across.

38. Exploited: USED.

40. Locker room powder: TALC.  The subject of recent law suits.

41. MLB family name: ALOU.  Major League Baseball

Felipe, Jesus and Matty ALOU

42. About: IN RE.

46. Charge: FEE.  Not run at.  A bit of misdirection.

47. Milk for losers: NONFAT.  Is this what the 1% drink?  The 2%?

48. Carol opener: ADESTE.

Adeste fideles - Luciano Pavarotti

49. It might be crowned: MOLAR.  A dental reference.

50. Cooled by rocks, in a way: ON ICE.  Rocks being slang for, well, ice cubes.

51. High-def screen: LCDTV.  Abbreviated clue.  Abbreviated answer.  This stands for Liquid Crystal Display TeleVision.

52. Flummox: ADDLE.

53. Choral platform: RISER.

54. World leader with a distinctive suit: MAO.

58. Assists, e.g.: STAT.  STATistic.

59. Till stack: TENS.  Till as in cash drawer.  Might have been ONES.

61. Brand with a Grabbin' Grape flavor: HI-C.

62. Laundry brand: ERA.  Fab!

63. Mo. named for an emperor: AUG.  AUGustus Caesar.  JULius (July) was the other possibility.

64. Pewter, mostly: TIN.  Pewter is a malleable alloy consisting of TIN (85-99%), antimony (5-10%), copper (2%), bismuth and sometimes silver.

And on that metallic note . . .

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Thursday, February 10, 2022, Bruce Haight

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the good news.  No, our salty aquatic friend, above, is not swimming through the neighborhood distributing copies of "The Watchtower" but, rather, sharing the GOOD NEWS from today's veteran puzzle-setter, Bruce Haight.  Here is a link to a 2015 interview for those interested in learning a bit more about him.  Bruce Haight Interview

At five places within the grid Bruce has deployed answers that are idiomatic expressions for very good outcomes.  He (and/or Rich) has cleverly clued those answers with references to occupations/activities.  There is no unifier/reveal so let's start with those five clues and answers:

18  Across:  Good news for the clean-up crew?: TIDY PROFIT.  If you clean up something up you make it TIDY.

24 Across:  Good news for the elephant trainer?: HUGE SUCCESS. An elephant is HUGE.

40 Across:  Good news for the curling team?: SWEEPING VICTORY.  Curling is a sport that uses brooms to steer the stones by SWEEPING the ice ahead of the sliding stone .

53 Across:  Good news for the baker?: BREAD WINNER.  Bakers may bake bread.  A BREAD WINNER brings income into a family.  As Publishers Clearing House used to say, "You may already be a WINNER."  That said, I have never heard anyone call a successful outcome a "bread winner" so this one may be a wee bit different from the other four.

63 Across:  Good news for the horror film producer?: MONSTER HIT.  A Monster Smash?  How about a Monster's Mash:

Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Cryptkickers

Across:

1. The Scotch kind might be double-coated: TAPE.  A initial bit of misdirection for this fan of uisge-beatha.  Others were much more likely to have instantly been on the puzzle-setter's wave length.

5. Poor benefits: ALMS.

9. Ludwig wrote für her: ELISE.  Für Elise is one of Ludwig von Beethoven's most famous and popular compositions.

Bill & Ted "Recruit" Beethoven . . .and others

14. Genesis plot: EDEN.  Two weeks ago this answer was clued as "Biblical Plot".  Again, it's a place and not a cabal.

15. Christmas Eve no-no: PEEK.   We send Santa a list and are then supposed to act surprised.

16. Places for curlers: RINKS.  Not the hair salon.  Ice rinks.  See 40 Across, above or, er below?  Two curling references in a single puzzle.  Cool!

17. Rock's Lofgren: NILS.  NILS Lofgren is a well-known musician.  A member of both Crazy Horse (Neil Young) and Bruce Springsteen's E Street band.

20. Get ready to drive: TEE UP.  A golf reference.

22. Brewery letters: IPA.

23. Scruff: NAPE.

28. Title for Nick Faldo: SIR.  SIR Nicholas Alexander Faldo is an English professional golfer and commentator.

29. [Ah, me!]: SIGH.  Alas would have fit.  So would several other four-letter words.

30. Winningest baseball southpaw: SPAHN.  Southpaw is baseball lingo for a left-handed pitcher.

Why is a baseball game a good place to go on a hot day?  Because there are lots of fans.

32. Delta's primary hub: Abbr.: ATL.  Delta Airline's hub is in ATLanta.

35. Taylor of "Mystic Pizza": LILI.

38. Sends out: EMITS.

44. Quarters with stories: HOTEL.  This one took a while to suss out because a hotel can be a single-story building.

45. Clearance caveat: AS IS.

46. 1, 2, 3, etc.: Abbr.: NOS.  Numbers

47. Choice cut: FILET.  An animal protein reference.

49. Water-diverting feature: EAVE.

All About Eaves

52. Word with tip or tub: HOT.  Word with tamale or sauce.

59. Thereabouts: OR SO.

61. Ma's his sis: UNC.  UNCle   Clever clue.  A bit of a punt of an answer.

62. Prayer hands, e.g.: EMOJI.

67. Scrapes (out): EKES.  Not to be confused with EEKS!  MICE!

68. "The __ Holmes Mysteries," series about Sherlock's teenage sister: ENOLA.  Often clued with reference to the airplane that dropped the A-Bomb.

69. Accident report?: OOPS.  The ? tips us off to something whimsical.

70. __ burn: cutting remark, in slang: SICK.  A learning moment.

71. Attach, as a patch: SEW ON.  My mother used the iron-on kind.  They didn't stay in place for very long.

72. Kindle competitor: NOOK.  An E-book reader made by Lenovo and sold by Barnes & Noble.

73. Roles, metaphorically: HATS.

Down:

1. Like J, in a way: TENTH.  J is the tenth letter of our alphabet.

2. Sayonara kin: ADIEU.  Now, where did I put my Japanese / French dictionary?

3. Co-owner of the Pequod: PELEG.  Captain Bildad and Captain PELEG were the owners of the whaling ship at the heart of Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

4. Comes later: ENSUES.  Pun enters a bar.  A fight ENSUES killing almost a dozen people.  Pun in.  Ten dead.

5. Like the name Robin Banks, for a yegg: APT.  Robbing Banks.  Yegg is slang for a burglar, particularly a safecracker.

6. Hula hoop?: LEI.  A Hawaiian reference.

7. MASH worker: MEDIC.  Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

8. FaceTime rival: SKYPE.  We have all become more familiar with SKYPE and ZOOM over the past couple of years.

9. Stumble: ERR.

10. Meaning of "Simba" in Swahili: LION.  Disney introduced many of us.

11. Trendy: IN FASHION.

12. Command to bypass pre-TV-episode material: SKIP INTRO.  A streaming reference.

13. Aromatic compound: ESTER.  An fragrant organic compound often detected in crossword puzzles.

19. Mountain __: PASS.  Mountain HIGH, Mountain BIKE, Mountain LION, Mountain  GOAT.  Which did you first think of?

21. Chi follower: PSI.  I should have paid more attention in school when the Greek alphabet was discussed.

25. Not-so-cute fruit: UGLI.

26. Table tennis powerhouse: CHINA.  Where, or where, has "Ping Pong Diplomacy" led us!?

27. Bit of design info: SPEC.  INFOrmation is abbreviated, so, therefore, is SPECification.

31. Oz. or lb.: AMT.  AMounT

32. Firing result: ASH.  At first I thought it would be something work related.  A bit of an odd use of the word "firing".  Ceramic ASHtray would have made more sense.

33. Sale phrase: TWO FOR ONE.  Similar to BOGO.

34. When tripled, a holiday song: LET IT SNOW.  Lyrics by Sammy Cahn.  Music by Jule Styne.  Recorded by just about everyone.  Sinatra?  Dean Martin?  Michael Buble?  Boyz II Men?  Jessica Simpson?  Nah, let's go with Leon Redbone:

36. Some smartphones: LGS.  Some TV's, too.

37. Like Wrigley Field's walls: IVIED.  Another baseball reference.  Right up there with curling, today.  This clue/answer made me think of Tom Lehrer's line about ivy covered professors in ivy covered halls.

39. __ admin: computer boss: SYS.   SYStem Administrator.  More abbreviations.

41. Unadon fish: EEL.  A sushi reference.  Unagi would not fit.

42. Working-class Roman: PLEB.

43. "__ the Light": 1972 hit: I SAW.  This one led to some post-answer head scratching because the clue refers to the date of the Todd Rundgren song.  Hank Williams wrote, and recorded, a song of the same name decades earlier.  One with which us sea creatures are far more familiar.

48. Loyal: TRUE.  An Axiom is something believed to be TRUE without question.  You can trust me on this one.

50. Battle: VIE.  I have a friend who is a big fan of the works of Karl Marx.  If that makes her a Communist then So Vie T.  What, no Dracula?

51. Tangle up: ENMESH.

52. Lakes mnemonic: HOMES.  Also, SuperMan Helps Every One, Sally Made Henry Eat Oreos and SHO ME.

54. 2001 bankruptcy: ENRON.  Likely the largest, most complicated and most notorious accounting scandal of all time.   Arthur Anderson, LLP was the auditor.  That firm is no longer in business.

55. Blessing lead-in: ACHOO.  The response to a sneeze is often "Bless You".  This custom dates back to a time when it was thought that when someone sneezed their soul left their body therefore requiring protection lest the Devil snatch that soul.

56. Finnish tech giant: NOKIA.

57. Oust: EJECT.  One of the prerequisites for becoming a Kamikaze pilot was a fear of EJECTion.

58. Hazards: RISKS.

60. 1952 Olympics host: OSLO.  We often visit OSLO in our puzzles.  It has been clued many different ways.

64. Color like khaki: TAN.  Why did I divide  SIN by TAN?  Just COS.

65. Wall St. event: IPO.  Initial Public Offering  Street is abbreviated hinting at an abbreviation for the answer.  The last of eight abbreviated answers in today's puzzle.

66. Scolding syllable: TSK.  Whether it turns out to be TSK or TUT we can fill in that leading T.

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