Friday, May 21, 2021, Bruce Haight

  Title: AYE YI EYE! 

Bruce does a quick turnaround from last week's joint effort with Kevin Christian and delivers a 'sounds like' pun puzzle. The key to a successful pun puzzle is the wit involved and if any make you smile or laugh when you suss what they are parallelling. I have no intention of influencing your opinions, as I perceive my role to be that of guide, but I look forward to your feedback. Well I may suggest my favorite...I also have my nits, will they appear? Not if I use my nit medecine. 

We can also find a variety of non-proper noun words sprinkled  in like HOLY SEE, IN A SNAP, LUCIDLY, LOCKSTEP and SODA LIME which an interesting chemical combination and the brand name SKI-DOOS.  So we start with the theme:

17A. Assorted caustic solutions?: PACK OF LYES (10). Pack of Lies. Of course we all know lye is a caustic, as are many of your criticisms.

23A. Receiving annoying questions?: GETTING WHYS  (11). Wise. With so many teachers in the audience, did you get 'annoying questions'? If so what took the cake? And why is it cake?

34A. Agreements just between us?: PRIVATE  AYES (11). Eyes. 

This cute fill, sadly reminds me and perhaps most of the longtime posters of a dear friend who died who signed on as Clear Ayes. 

48A. Quick and unexpected exits?: IMPULSE BYES (11). Buys.  I really enjoyed this pairing and confess that while I was always able to resist infomercials, now Amazon gets more of my money that it should.

57A. Pretense of being a brute?: TOUGH GUISE (10). Guys are supposed to be tough, or so we were taught. The ETYMOLOGY  reveals that this word is related to the root word for WISE. Many times you can just research too much.

Across:

1. Bill collectors?: TILLS. I was not fooled by the clue, but it did take the "T" in 1 down for for this to fill. I wonder if younger people know that the noun till means the same as "cash register?" 

6. "Get back to us" letters: RSVP. We get some French, but I doubt you need to know répondez s'il vous plaît to understand the letters.

10. Not much: A TAD. One on Lincoln's chilcren?

14. Elitist: SNOOT. This  person who shows contempt for those considered to be of a lower social class, "looks down his nose at...

15. Resort WNW of Breckenridge: VAIL. There are many fine ski resorts in Colorado, with Vail and Aspen likely the most famous. 

16. '80s-'90s group, informally: GEN-Y. I started trying to think of a musical group. Now we call them MILLENIALS.

19. Very bright: NEON. During the 70s these colors became "dayglo."

20. Some snowmobiles: SKI-DOOS. Back in Colorado for a ride through the snow, the number one maker of snowmobiles was created in Canada (Eh!) back in the 50s. The story goes that the printer screwed up the promotional brochures which were supposed to say SKI-DOG, after the Dogs which pulled the sleds. He did not have the money for a reprint.

21. 2018 CVS Health acquisition: AETNA. CVS is a Rhode Island based company, Woonsocket, RI to be precise; and AETNA was about 70 miles west if you take Connecticut route 44 through my home town of Putnam. One of my uncles and many cousins live(d) in Woonsocket. Anyway, the PRESS RELEASE about the purchase explains it. 

22. Type units: ENS. But not EMS

26. Buccaneer's buds: MATEYS. I do not see Tom Brady calling his Tampa Bay teammates mateys.

28. Mil. category: NCO. Non-commisioned officer. This terminology always seemed oxymoronic to me, but I never was permitted to serve.

29. Vitals checker, briefly: EMT. Emergency Medical Technicians.

30. Letters seen between * and #: OPER. Only if you have a  landline. 

31. Prized smokes: CUBANS. You need to know the real deal.

38. Got on the board: SCORED. Tom Brady or Tom Cruise?

39. Mineral hardness scale: MOHS. Friedrich Mohs, a German mineralogist, developed the scale in 1812. He selected ten minerals of distinctly different hardness that ranged from a very soft mineral (talc) to a very hard mineral (diamond). 

42. Singer/songwriter __ Mia: PIA. I never had heard of Pia Mia Perez who was born September 19, 1996 in Guam, which is a territory of the United States. She is of Chamorro, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian descent. Watch the 

VIDEO and you decide.

45. Jungfrau, e.g.: ALP.  Literally "young maiden" perhaps if marti were still here she could tell us if this deserves its place as one of the best places in the Swiss mountains.

46. Soap dish?: TV IDOL. A fun clue/fill combo.

52. Sisters pop duo __ & AJ: ALY. More young woman music which I would never have known in a million years but I recently binge watch a 2001-2004 Simon Baker series called  The GUARDIAN. To make a short story long it is about a young lawyer who gets in trouble with the law and because his father is a very successful Pittsburg attorney, he does not go to jail but has to do community service at a free clinic that helps abandoned or troubled children. (hi Moe). The father, played by the awesome Dabney Coleman gets 'involved' with a troubled woman (Farrah Fawcett in one of her final roles) who has a young daughter who is left alone when her mother dies. Whew. The daughter was played by AJ Michala, who with her older sister Aly make up the pop duo. 

53. Con artist's aide: SHILL. This is  "one who acts as a decoy for a gambler, auctioneer, etc.," 1916, probably originally circus or carnival argot, probably a shortened form of shillaber. Which brings us back to Simon Baker, whose character in THE MENTALIST grew up in a carnival.

54. With a sound mind: LUCIDLY. Basically this means clear headed with its origins from the Latin for "shine." A CSO to Lucina.

56. Romeo or Juliet: TEEN. Another fun red herring.

60. Doomed boat in "Jaws": ORCA. I did not recall this but it was easily inferable.

61. Longtime syrup brand: KARO. I think it has been more popular in the south and west.

62. Celebs: NAMES.  Friday difficult. 

63. Look the wrong way?: LEER. Rather a wrong look.

64. Space balls?: ORBS.  Love the movie.

65. Power-saving mode: SLEEP. For both computers and humans.

Down:

1. Five-mL medicine dose: TSP. A Conversion LINK.

2. Just like that: IN A SNAP. in a trice, in a twinkling, in two shakes of a lamb's tail, twinkling etc.

3. Rigid pattern: LOCK STEP. A standard method or procedure that is mindlessly adhered to or that minimizes individuality as opposed to...

4. Trickster in "American Gods": LOKI. I know Loki from THOR and mythology, but I have not sampled this show. I may now. 

5. Stick-in-the-mud: STODGY. Not LOKI.

6. Motorhome stopover, for short: RV LOT. But maybe a visitor to an RV Lot.

7. Speak, as thou might: SAYST. Biblical, which was full of...

8. Battle: VIE. This word.

9. Polite texting letters: PLS.

10. "Nattering nabobs of negativism" speaker: AGNEW. Our dishonest but educated vice-president under Mr. Nixon; I think from Maryland.

11. Raise canines?: TEETHE. Funny.

12. Assumed moniker: ANONYM. Without the ITY it is the "AN" prefix like from ANODE, so it means 'not the name'. Six years of Latin helps .

13. Hereditary ruler: DYNAST. Without the Y, it is the person.

18. Nemeses: FOES.

21. Intense suffering: AGONY. Ah, but wait for the ecstasy, but not MMDA.

22. Kind of rock: EMO.

24. Retired, maybe: IN BED. Not yet.

25. Sports scholarship org.: NCAA.

27. Isn't right: ERRS.

31. Seize like Caesar: CARPE. DIEM bro' 

32. Pac-12 athlete: UTE. Utah athletes. CSO to Becky now?

33. Prefix with arid or dry: SEMI.  Random.

35. Words that might expose a bluff: I CALL. Very fun.

36. Lady __: Tenn. college team: VOLS. Volunteers,

37. Gas-absorbing mixture: SODA LIME. Soda lime absorbs carbon dioxide which is invaluable in rebreathing machines like spacecrafts.

40. Vatican jurisdiction: HOLY SEE. The Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes), also called the See of Rome, is the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, which includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome with universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the worldwide Catholic Church, as well as a sovereign entity of international law, governing the Vatican City.

41. Like some winks: SLY. Mine are always friendly...

42. One traditionally drawn at dawn: PISTOL. Love this wit.

43. Incoming words: I'M HERE. But we are nearing the finish line.

44. Distribution word: APIECE. Two words or one?

46. Stock sector: TECH.

47. Churchillian gestures: V-SIGNS.

49. Type of nerve or artery: ULNAR. Also random

50. Jacket material?: BLURB.On a book.

51. Short-lived '80s-'90s cars that sounded like they should always work: YUGOS. You go Hugo.

55. Twin: DUAL. Not duel.

57. Fight decision: TKO. Technical Knock Out.

58. Blade in the water: OAR.

59. Medium strength?: ESP. And the final witicism, what a medium must have.

Well I barely made the finish line, but here we are. I turn the reins over to Moe for next week and see if he can whip you all into shape. Thank you from Bruce to Zendaya. Lemonade out.

Friday, May 14, 2021, Kevin Christian and Bruce Haight

Theme: How to avoid a lot of 3-letter fill in a crossword puzzle? Use them in the entries!!!!"

Looks like we have an "all-star" collaboration today, as Kevin Christian and Bruce Haight - two renowned crossword constructors - joined forces to create a clever puzzle that features four commonly used crossword "exclamations", each of which is a 3-letter word. All four of the entries are "clechos", and if your printed puzzle did not provide the circles, it may have been more difficult to "get". And while there is no "symmetry" in the placement of the circled "reveal" in each phrase, I think that finding four phrases such as these is quite unique.

As the entries tell us:

16-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters: AINT GONNA HAPPEN, "NAH"!

27-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters: HOLD EVERY THING, "HEY"!

So, as an aside, I was losing "steam" when I finally solved the puzzle, and of course, thought of this when I saw the answers to 16-A and 27-A:

47-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters: LOOK WHAT I FOUND, "OHO"!

And if Kevin and Bruce left out one of the "O's" in LOOK, I could've inserted this:

57-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters: THAT HITS THE SPOT, "AHH"!

Could this image be better captioned as "AWW, THAT HITS THE SPOT?!"

Across:
1. Captain Kirk's home state: IOWA. I guess if you're a "Trekkie" you know this: Riverside, IOWA is where James Tiberius Kirk was born, on March 22, 2233. It was there he was raised by his parents, George and Winona Kirk

5. Court case determination: FACT. I'm guessing that Sgt Joe Friday was stating this, just in case it went to court

9. Rudiments: ABC'S. "Rudiments" = "basics", of which learning the "ABC's" are

13. Old-fashioned way to settle a dispute: DUEL. Most famous one, I guess, was Burr v Hamilton

14. Mila of "Bad Moms": KUNIS. Milena Markovna KUNIS is an American actress and producer, originally from the Ukraine. Married actor Ashton Kutcher in 2015; they have two children

15. Unhappy look: MOUE. Might you say that Moe has a MOUE?

19. __ the line: TOES. Obeys. Of course I used the past tense first, TOED

20. Tag sale reminder: AS IS. Is it "tag sale", "yard sale", or "garage sale"? Depends where you're from. I remember "tag sale" being the phrase when I lived in New England ...

21. Certain sib: SIS. "BRO" also fits

22. Monte Carlo attractions: CASINOS. Monte Carlo is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo CASINO is located. Wikipedia. There are 4 of them

25. Nutty confection: PRALINE. PRALINE is a form of confection containing at a minimum culinary nuts, usually almonds and hazelnuts, and sugar; cream is a common third ingredient. More Wikipedia

29. Game with Reverse cards: UNO. Plays a lot like "Crazy Eights"

30. Amos who covered Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit": TORI. Nirvana is the band that originally recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in 1991. TORI Amos "covered" (meaning that she, too recorded this song - with permission, of course) a year later. Kurt Cobain is credited with the lyrics; Nirvana with the music. Here is TORI's version:

31. Singer whose "Breathe Me" was part of the "Six Feet Under" series finale: SIA. "Breathe Me" and its remixes have been featured in many TV shows and movie soundtracks, most notably "Everyone's Waiting", the series finale of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. Wikipedia. SIA is: Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, born 18 December 1975, and is from Adelaide, South Australia

32. Litter peeps: MEWS. MEWS, MEOW, MEWL are used to describe sounds made by cats/kittens

34. Campy wrap: BOA.

36. Cougar maker, for short: MERC. I got this one straight away. MERC - short for MERCury (a division of Ford Motors) - was the maker of the Cougar; a luxury sports car

40. Chicken general: TSO. Moe-ku:

I ordered Chinese;
Forgot the name of the dish.
You know, TSO and TSO

43. Normandy beach: JUNO. Did you know this was JUNO and not ST LO??

46. Me. neighbor: QUE. Is this a nitpick on my part? I did get the answer (QUE, as in short for QUEbec) but somehow wanted the clue to be ME instead of Me.

51. Wayne Manor feature: BATPOLE. I had BAT CAVE at first. "To the BATPOLES"

52. Out together: ON A DATE. Another one that filled itself in quite quickly; the expression "out ON A DATE" usually means being together

53. QB stat: ATT. Abbr for ATTempt, as in a QuarterBacks passing statistic

54. Go out with a bang: SLAM.

56. Neutrogena shampoo brand: T-GEL. What's in T-GEL you ask? Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Polysorbate 20, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Bishydroxyethyl Dihydroxypropyl Stearammonium Chloride, Fragrance, Cocamide MEA, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, DMDM Hydantoin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Triethanolamine.

Yeah, I want to put THAT on my head

62. Cut down: HEWN. The past participle of "HEW"

63. Some Sunnis: KURDS. SUNNI: the larger of the two main branches of Islam, which differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna, its conception of religious leadership, and its acceptance of the first three caliphs. KURDS are an ethnic group of Muslims native to Kurdistan, a mountainous region of Western Asia. About 98% of KURDS are Sunni, according to Wikipedia

64. Wedding dress option: SARI. I wonder if iPhone assistant Siri would wear one to her wedding?

65. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT. Old school clue and answer. I smell ERAT ...

66. "House" actor: EPPS. As in Omar EPPS. He is most widely recognized for his work as Dr. Eric Foreman on the hit series, "House, M.D."

67. They have it when things pass: AYES. Cute clue. "The AYES have it!"

Down:
1. Civil rights pioneer __ B. Wells: IDA. Was born during the Civil War; was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A whole lot more can be found here

2. All-vowel avowal: OUI. Very clever clue. I never even thought of the French word for "yes" but it certainly fits

3. Didn't rush things: WENT SLOW. For our resident grammarians: is this OK or should it be WENT SLOWLY?

4. Mint in a tin: ALTOID. I know they still sell these, but it's been since forever that a tin of these candy breath mints found its way into Moe's shopping cart

5. Party goal: FUN. Well, it was FUN up until her Daddy took the T-Bird away

6. Chlumsky of "Veep": ANNA. Anna Maria Chlumsky is an American actress. She co-starred on the HBO series "Veep", playing the role of Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer

7. Govt. agent: CIA SPY. This answer seems like a "made up" phrase to me, but it fits

8. Gift shop stock: T-SHIRTS. I often wondered, what does a T-SHIRT really cost?

9. Jack (up): AMP. Seems to me that T-SHIRT prices are jacked up, but that's another definition. Here is our Thesaurussaurus's take:

OOPS! AMP didn't make the list . . .

10. Visits suddenly: BOPS IN. This brings back memories of my youth. We used the term "BOP IN" more informally than this clue suggests, but I'll be damned if I could find the origin of this expression via Google search. Best definition I found to suggest the clue is: BOP (verb) "move or travel energetically", as in "we've been bopping around the Mall all morning"

11. Prompting: CUEING. I put CLUING in at first; but CUEING is a term used in theater when an actor knows when to speak their lines

12. Gut feeling: SENSE. "Indigestion" wouldn't fit

14. Pristina's country: KOSOVO. Learning moment for those who are geographically challenged? Pristina is the capital of KOSOVO and the seat of the eponymous municipality and district. Here is a map, courtesy of Google:

17. "The Maids" playwright Jean: GENET. I had no clue; all perps. This puzzle was full of PPP

18. Japanese beer brand: ASAHI. I've drank it before; not bad

22. Pal: CHUM. The word CHUM has several different meanings

23. Top-notch: A-ONE. But is this a Top-Notch sauce?

24. 14-Down native: SERB. 14-Down = KOSOVO. Hmm. This is what I found on Google: "KOSOVO is a mainly ethnic Albanian territory that was formerly a province in SERBia. It declared independence in 2008. SERBia has refused to recognize Kosovo's statehood and still considers it part of SERBia, even though it has no formal control there. ... The dispute over Kosovo is centuries-old"

26. Actor Hemsworth: LIAM. Luke also fit, but not Chris

28. Spanish wine: RIOJA. How geeky would you like Moe to be today regarding wine? So, RIOJA is a name for a wine region of N Spain; not too far from Pamplona. The primary grape grown there is Tempranillo, although Grenache (Garnacha) and Carignan are also harvested, as well as a couple other red and white grape varietals, but to a lesser degree. There are many laws that govern the producers of wines in RIOJA, but I will save that for another time

33. "Enough!": STOP! That's an exclamation, too!

35. Start to focus?: AUTO. A feature of many cameras

37. Workplace concern: EQUAL PAY. EQUAL PAY deserves a one-word comment: "yes"

38. Littlest in the litter: RUNT. Isn't THIS the truth?!

39. Give away: CEDE. This is quickly becoming a staple word for crossword fill

41. Smidgen: SKOSH. OTOH, SKOSH is not

42. Solemn and wise, supposedly: OWL LIKE. This guy, perhaps?

44. Often critical innings: NINTHS. As in the NINTH inning in baseball; a classic

45. Adult: OF AGE. 18 or 21? Thoughts?

47. Agitated state: LATHER.

48. River to the St. Lawrence: OTTAWA. And the nation's capital city. A CSO to Canadian, Eh!

49. Intensify: HEAT UP. It is starting to itensify, temperture-wise here in TVOTS

50. Ukrainian city: ODESSA. A port city on the Black Sea

51. Immerse (in): BATHE. Literal: wash by immersing one's body in water

55. Car ad fig.: MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

58. Demo letters: TNT. Tri Nitro Toluene; as in short for "demolition"

59. QB stats: TDS. Clecho. TouchDowns, via the pass. Peyton Manning holds the record for a single season with 55 TDS; 2013 with the Denver Broncos

60. Miner concern: ORE. Nice play-on-words. Not "minor" concern, but "miner", as in someone who works in a mine

61. "__ the season ... ": TIS. to be jolly, FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA

And with that, the grid:

Moe has left the building . . .

Thursday March 4, 2021 Bruce Haight

 

 

Today's puzzle was constructed by Bruce Haight.  As an ophthalmologist, Bruce spends a lot of time staring intently into the faces of his patients.  He experiences them FACE TO FACE, the theme of this puzzle.  Like his experiences with his patients, this puzzle's themers are multi-layered: he first asks us to look at 4 common-place objects and phrases and then to take a closer look.  We then see that these objects are word pairs consisting of 4 pairs of  "FACE types".  Let's take a look at each of the theme clues and answers and peel off some of their "makeup".  It turns out there's a lot more here than meets the EYE:

17. Circuitous: ROUND ABOUT.  ROUND ABOUTS are used to speed-up the flow of traffic at intersections, especially in major cities.  Here is Washington State's illustrated MANUAL of rules for traversing ROUNDABOUTS (whatever happened to STOP on RED and GO on GREEN?).  ROUND ABOUTS can be real white knuckle experiences, especially when driving in England!  Or even worse in Harbin, China where my son and I visited when he adopted Ray, our 2nd oldest grandson.  I'm pretty sure this pic was PHOTO SHOPPED to remove all the traffic, which day and night was always 6 lanes deep and bumper-to-bumper all the way around.  Our driver Soong had a preternatural ability to make sharp left turns through to the center, zip around to the desired exit, and make a sharp right turn to get out.  And we're all alive to tell about it!
 

Roundabout in Harbin China

But wait there's more: ROUND also describes a common SHAPE for a face:

 

and ABOUT FACE is a military drill command to "do a 180" turn on the heels facing the way you came.

26. Unfilled, as a schedule slot: LEFT OPEN.   Simple enough, but a LEFT FACE is also a drill command to turn LEFT 90 DEGREES.  And if you do and look down, you'll be facing an OPEN FACE HAM and CHEESE sandwich:

36. No-frills card game: STRAIGHT POKER.  A variant of POKER, along with STUD and TEXAS HOLD EM.  BUT you need a STRAIGHT FACE (a.k.a. a POKER FACE) or your REVEAL will TELL on you and give away your HAND:
 

49. Short nightgown: BABY DOLL.  As clued, a type of LINGERIE (as this is a family blog I'll skip the pic for this (BLUSH)).   But it's also a CHILD'S TOY:
 

 ... and a BABY FACE:

 and DOLL FACE (I hear the originals are worth a fortune):
 

I think that's most of the MASCARA, so here's the reveal:

 60. In person ... and like 17-, 26-, 36- and 49-Across?: FACE TO FACE.

Oh yes, and there were other clues ...

Across:

1. Logo of The Hartford: STAG.   The Hartford Insurance Co. logo is derived from this iconic painting by English painter Sir Edward Landseer.  The word HART is an archaic synonym for STAG:
 

The Monarch of the Glen

5. Less noble: BASER. Seems to me there must be a less BASE word for less NOBLE.

10. Pueblo people: HOPI.  Just a little of the Hopi's history, customs, culture, and spirituality.

14. Thick book: TOME.  Repeat after me: 3 letters and it's OED, 4 letters and it's TOME

15. Amazon assistant: ALEXA.
 

16. Spoonbill kin: IBIS.  The National Aquarium in Baltimore has several of these stunning birds in its rooftop rain forest.
 

Scarlet Ibis

19. Daily vitamin, e.g.: PILL.  Also a pejorative for hard to swallow people ...

20. Puzzled: AT SEA.  Spitzboov can explain this a lot better than I can.

21. Some German imports: AUDIS.

23. PreCheck org.: TSA.  Expedited security checking courtesy of the Transportation Safety Administration.

24. Plump: FLESHY. 

28. Many MIT grads: EES.  I believe Dash T is a Double E.  Don't know his shoe size.

29. Roleo surface: LOG.  A portmanteau of RODEOS and LOG ROLLING contests.

31. "Expand on that," in improv comedy: YES AND.  All you want to know about it ...

32. Lummox: BIG APE. GALOOT didn't perp.  Apparently a distant synonym for a famous PHILISTINE.

35. Quite a stretch: AGES.

40. Emperor after Galba: OTHO.  Reigned in the Year of 4 Emperors (69 AD) .  OTHO lasted 3 months.

41. State bordering Arizona: SONORA.  But not one of the Estados Unidos.

42. Like a quarter's edge: REEDED.  Aside from describing OBOES, SAXES and such, this is also specialized adjective describing the RIDGED rims of COINS.

45. Podcast interruptions: ADS.

46. "LOTR" menace: ORC.  Really really mean MEANIES.

52. Turin title: SIGNOR.

54. "__ have what she's having": quip from "When Harry Met Sally...": I'LL.  A truly classic SCENE if you haven't SEEN it!

55. Super sexy: SO HOT.  Particularly when attired in a 49A.

57. "I'll pass": NOT ME.  And so will I.

58. "On the double!": STAT.  FROM the Latin STATIM, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”  Hands up everyone who swagged ASAP first?  MDs want it STAT, MBAs want it ASAP.

62. "Howdy ... you just get here?": OH HI.

63. "Looking 4 Myself" R&B singer: USHER.  Heard of him.  Never heard him.

64. Each: A POP.  The origin of this phrase seems obscure.

65. Wall St. index: NYSE.  It's the New York Stock EXCHANGE, but is it an INDEX?  Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), or Standard and Poors (S&P 500), or the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASDAQ)?

66. Fresh: SASSY.  Not really CW fresh, but still very GLUEY.

67. __ Martin Cognac: REMY.  All you want to know about Rémy Martin.  I would have taken you directly to their website, but you have to be older than 21 to login to it.  A CSO to CMOE to take a shot at this one.

Down:

1. Attack from above: STRAFE.  My Mother was never strafed, but she told me that Stoke-on-Trent, England where she grew up was regularly bombed during WWII.  Here family would black out the windows and all huddle under a big oak table in the basement

2. Mosey: TOOTLE.  As of 2001, the third largest selling children's book in the English speaking world:

3. Tickles: AMUSES.  I'm sure Tootle, tickles a lot of little children.

4. Parental units?: GENES.  Before anyone knew how they worked (and we're still a long way off  from that), the existence of discreet units of inheritance was demonstrated by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk living in 19th century Bohemia. His discoveries were made around the same time as Charles Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species, but Darwin  died before Mendel's work became widely known around 1900 and thus the former knew nothing about the latter. The term GENE was actually coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen in 1909.

5. Ewes do it: BAA.  As do lambs and rams.

6. "L.A.'s Finest" actress Jessica: ALBA.  If she's the "Finest" actress in L.A. how come she was nominated or won 5 Golden Raspberry Awards between 2006 and 2011?

7. Gangnam District city: SEOUL.  More than you want to know about Gangnam Style ...

8. Ooze with: EXUDE.

9. Formally approve: RATIFY.

10. Trendy: HIP.

11. Where to find departure info?: OBIT PAGE.  Clever clue.

12. Beer named for a Czech city: PILSENER.  Constructors tend to prefer ALES, not only because of their taste, but because they are SHORTER and much GLUIER.  But Stella Artois and Pilsner Urquell are pretty refreshing after a hot summer day in the garden.

13. Christmas and Easter: ISLANDS.  Clever clue.  I struggled with it for awhile.

18. Mexico's national flower: DAHLIA.

22. Office address abbr.: STE.  Short for street?

25. "You can observe a lot by watching" speaker: YOGI.  Wanted YODA.

27. 2020 US Open winner Naomi: OSAKA.

30. Pranks: GAGS.

32. "The Pianist" Oscar winner Adrien: BRODY.  Brody won an OSCAR for Best Actor in 2002 at age 29, making him the youngest actor to win in that category.  Here is the performance of the Chopin Nocturne No. 20 from the original soundtrack, performed not by Brody, but by pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman.
 

33. Beef broth soup: PHO.  Today's Vietnamese lesson.  I've had Pho ("fuh")  several times, as one of my sisters is a gourmet cook married to a Vietnamese born physician/scientist.  Delicious, but a lot of work.  Here's the recipe she uses.

34. Italian volcano: ETNA.

36. Like ninjas: STEALTHY.

37. Ennui: THE BLAHS.

38. Sci-fi vehicles: PODS.  Hands up everyone who swagged UFOS?  When it perped I was immediately reminded of a horror film called The Invasion of the Body Snatchers that came out when  I was 9 years old.  I had nightmares about it for years. The aliens in this film arrived in the form of seed PODS from outer space, captured human bodies, and then walked zombie-like among us.  In fact they may STILL be walking among us!  Very scary!
 

39. "Twelfth Night" duke: ORSINO.

40. "Only the Lonely" crooner: ORBISON.  Roy.  A torch song often follows a long and torturous path from its origin to the throat of a singer.  This song actually had its beginnings in the 18th Century from the pen of the great German polymath and poet  JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE in his 1796 poem Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt ("Only those who know longing").  The gauntlet was later picked up by the Russian PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY in a song setting called  "None but the Lonely Heart".  His version became popular around the world and was eventually used in English translation by none other than FRANK SINATRA, circa 1958.  Orbison followed with his rendition in 1960 "Only the Lonely", which shot to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one in the UK and Australia:
 

43. Slate slate, briefly: EDS.  An Ezine.  Editors.

44. Inept one: DOOFUS.   I felt like a DOOFUS at times as I TOOTLED all over the landscape of this puzzle.

46. Saved, in a way: ON TAPE.  TAPE can save you in more ways than one.  I picked this flowchart up years ago from the hilarious Canadian skit comedy series, THE RED GREEN SHOW.  Although they used DUCT TAPE way more than WD40 (another CSO to DASH T):
 

47. Hallmark Channel fare: ROM COM.  See 54A.  Then see the flick if you haven't seen it.  I considered posting the YouTube clip here, but then again this IS a family blog.

48. Goosebumps-inducing: CREEPY.  Those 38As were pretty CREEPY to a 9 year old.

50. Potala Palace city: LHASA. The home of the LHASA APSO in the land of the DALAI LAMA.

51. Scottish vacation sites: LOCHS.  Fine if you don't mind PLESIOSAURS popping up on your beach:

Nessie

53. Accomplish much: GO FAR.

56. Golf course areas: TEES.

59. Draw: TIE.  While I was TOOTLING around down here ...

61. Sample: TRY.      ... I got TIED up for TRYING.

Here's the grid:

 While putting this together I've been nagged by thoughts of a 5th themer pair: ROCK FACES.  Thought about illustrating it with a ditty from ROD STEWART and his house band FACES.  But Dw suggested this instead:
 

waseeley

Cheers,
Bill

s

Friday, February 5, 2021, Bruce Haight

Theme: The clue and solve that Bruce didn't use:

Nickelodean remake starring an emotionally unstable songbird and his dimwitted cat?

Wren and Stimpy

Hello Cornerites! It's Chairman Moe here recapping his second straight Bruce Haight Friday Crossword Puzzle. And this one was quite a doozy! While it didn't make me sick to my stomach, I did feel like a Wretch midway through ...

So, if you hadn't figured it out by now, Bruce looked at using a silent "W" in his four puzzle answers to offer a pun of a familiar phrase. Not an easy task, as there are precious few words that begin "WR" where the "R" word is an actual word. How do I know this? Well, as I began blogging I found this list of words beginning with wr where the w is silent. Not a lot of choices, and aside from MY punny addition, Bruce chose all of the others.

Well, maybe not ... I wonder if this one ever made the short list?

A Moe-ku:

Couple with COVID
Had to ink their vows. It was
The "Write" of Marriage

17-Across. Kitty Hawk?: WRIGHT PLACE. This one didn't strike for me immediately, although I did eventually think of the Wright Brothers. Kitty Hawk, NC was the PLACE where the brothers trialed their first airplane flight. Their Memorial there is shown below:

22-Across. Englishman Charles' ripped-up early essay attempts?: WRACK OF LAMB. Charles Lamb, aka "Elia" (a favorite crossword puzzle word) was not the first "Charles" to come to mind. Prince Charles wouldn't fit. So I "wracked" my brain trying to figure this one out, but how did Bruce know that the Chairman's most favorite meat dish is this:

38-Across. Good insurance risk?: WRECKLESS DRIVER. Very clever! I wonder if this was the "seed entry"? Regardless, it was by far MY favorite pun among the four.

47-Across. Pre-Christmas affair?: WRAP SESSION. The word "affair" threw me off. Dictionary dot com defines "Rap Session" as: a usually informal or unstructured group discussion, attended especially by people with shared interests, concerns, or problems. The pun is clever but I didn't think of how this made sense, given the clue. As far as a WRAP SESSION, I usually left the Christmas present "wrapping" to my kids or the wrapping department found at most major Department Stores . . . Maybe this couple were having a mini-wrap session. Love the sweaters!

And of course the unifier: 59-Across. Winning, in sports slang ... and what each of four puzzle answers is doing?: GETTING THE "W". And while this all makes sense NOW, my first impression of the W and R came from this erstwhile "hare hunter" (shown below), although his was replacing the R for a W, and that form of speech impediment is known as rhotacism.

On to the "Wrest" . . .

Across:
1. 3.0 and 4.0, briefly: GPAS. As in Grade Point AverageS. I think I finally graduated with a GPA slightly higher than 3.0, but not by much. Never an "A" student, I, but this song came to mind:

5. "The Fall" guy?: CAMUS. Perps filled this one for me. You? Never connected the clue to a book and its author.

10. AOL rival: MSN. I had this in, then erased it, and finally put it back in once the perps fell into place

13. James' evil golfing opponent, in a 1964 film: AURIC. I got this one straight away. And similar to the last Haight puzzle, GOLF is at the fore! AURIC Goldfinger was JAMES Bond's foil in the eponymous movie based on Ian Fleming's book. Here is a scene worth watching all the way through:

15. Up to one's neck: AWASH. Also, a 500 mile long river in Ethiopia . . . who knew? Picard maybe?

16. Subj. of a "delayed" notice: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival or ETA: the 6th letter of the Greek Alphabet

19. Monk's title: DOM. Here is MY favorite DOM:

20. Asset for a musician: KEEN EAR. Moe-ku:

Famed actor starred in
A musical, and was then
Billed, as Greg KEEN EAR

21. One with all the answers?: SIRI. She may have all the answers, but don't try getting too friendly with her. Just ask Raj on TBBT:

27. Tight gp.: BFFS. Texting talk; Best FriendS Forever (BFSF) might be more grammatically correct though

31. Some voting machine parts: LEVERS. LEVERS seem so old-fashioned re voting machines, and now that many folks are voting via snail mail maybe the lever shown below is the new "retro" LEVER . . .

32. Arcade plumber: MARIO. Pac Man reference

34. 2010s White House name: MALIA. Wait a darn minute! Didn't we see her yesterday? MALIA Ann Obama, born July 4, 1998. As waseeley said, she's of legal age now. Do we feel old or what?!

35. 1860s White House name: ABE. CLecho . . . and do you "get" why I emboldened the "CL"?

41. "Didn't I tell you?": SEE. Didn't I tell you?" It will be all right!! Sing it, sister!!

42. U.S. laundry soap since 1918: RINSO. DREFT also fit, but it wasn't introduced until 1933. PUREX, too, but that was in 1923. RINSO, OTOH, was the first mass-marketed laundry detergent, so this "fit the bill"

43. Mound stats: SAVES. Mariano Rivera - whose STATUE (see 44-across) is shown below - is the Major League Baseball pitcher who has the most total SAVES in a career, and was a first ballot unanimous inductee in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

According to mlb dot com, this is what constitutes getting a SAVE: A relief pitcher recording a save must preserve his team's lead while doing one of the following: Enter the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitch at least one inning. Enter the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases. Pitch at least three innings.

44. It might be a bust: STATUE. I hope I won't be censored here, but does this STATUE contain two busts? Or is it three?

46. Where Ford gets an F: NYSE. "F" is the New York Stock Exchange symbol for The Ford Motor Company

52. Forgets the lyrics, maybe: HUMS. And when my belly "HUMS", sometimes I take:

53. Evil laugh: MWA HA HA. Used twice, previously, in the LA Times Crossword Puzzles; May 7, 2018 and Aug. 16, 2014

58. "59-Down" need: AMP. Well, if you "got" 59-Down. Part of a band tour: GIG, then you could've gotten 58-Across. Mine took a few perps to fill

63. Bit of online mirth: LOL. More texting talk; Laugh(ing) Out Loud may be considered a bit of "mirth"

64. Bury: INURN. Literally, when a dead person's ashes (cremation) are placed IN an URN. When this vessel is placed into a burial plot (aka "crypt" or "mausoleum") it is INURNed

65. Gooey goody: S'MORE. Moe-L'ick. This is an archived one that I don't think I posted here before. It was a limerick "smack-down" in which I answered another's (Kirk Miller). Follow along . . . mine is the second one:

There's a marshmallow salesman named Mel
Who's successful. The way to excel
Is to use a technique
That is rather unique
For his job. You should learn the soft sell.

You know, Mel sells his treats, door-to-door;
Which of course, many people, abhor.
If they’re unwilling to budge,
He’ll add Graham crackers and fudge,
And of course, then they all want S'MORE.

66. Poetic conjunction: ERE. Crossword-ese

67. Shoot for the stars: GO BIG. Yesterday's Arizona Republic newspaper had a headline on the Nation's News page (AP article by Lisa Mascaro and Josh Boak) entitled: "Biden urges House to 'go big' on aid".

But when I first saw the answer, my thoughts were, "GO BIG, or go home!"

68. Corrosive chemicals: LYES. I'll tee this one up for Ray-O-Sunshine. Don't let me down, buddy!

Down:
1. Rubberneck: GAWK. What is it about driving past an accident that makes us all want to rubberneck/GAWK?

2. Sheer: PURE. There it is! First synonym listed!

3. R&B's India.__: ARIE. According to Wikipedia: India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India. Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over 3.3 million records in the US and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 23 nominations, including Best Rhythm and Blues Album.

4. Take the offer: SIGN. "Get them to SIGN on the line which is dotted . . . . . "

5. Three-time Best Director of the 1930s: CAPRA. Frank Russell CAPRA was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who was best known for these two films (for which he won an Oscar) in the 1930's (It Happened One Night (1934), and You Can't Take It with You (1938)); he was also the Director for "It's a Wonderful Life" which has become a classic film shown during the Christmas Holidays

6. Spiked punch?: AWL. Cartoonist Leo Cullum had this "punny" version of the word "AWL". See below:

7. Kid's cry: MAA. But I am sure that some of you parents, when your kid cried "MAA", knew it was DAD's turn to find out what was wrong . . .

8. Neil Armstrong alma mater: USC. Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) from Wapakoneta, OH, earned is BS from Purdue University and his MS from the University of Southern California; who's iconic marching band tune played often at their football games. "Fight On"!

9. __-crab soup: SHE. SHE-Crab Soup, also called She Crab Bisque, is made with female crabs. Makes sense. In addition, the roe of the female crab is added to the recipe. Unless you live in an area where crabs are regularly harvested, you will probably have a more difficult time finding “female” crabs. Click on this link for the recipe

10. Smart regarding marketing: MEDIA SAVVY. Defined as having a good understanding of the influence of the internet, newspapers, television, etc. and how to use it effectively. These people are media-savvy and they are not going to say anything on camera that makes them look stupid.

The Blog's "no politics" rule kept me from saying more!

11. Picnic spoiler: STORM. Well, ANTS didn't fit!

12. Desert along Africa's southwest coast: NAMIB. In Namibia. One picture = lot of Moe's words:

14. Mull (over): CHEW. Thesaurus +

18. Sailing moniker: TAR. CSO to Spitzboov?

21. Shooting option, briefly: SLR. Single Lens Reflex. This explains it better than can I

23. School meetings: CLASSES. I couldn't get anything with the letters "PTA" to fit. I guess in the broadest sense of the clue, school meetings could mean CLASSES. Does this clue make it fit just for a Friday puzzle?

24. "That '70s Show" role: KELSO. Ashton Kutcher as Michael KELSO was the dumb pretty boy of the group, who hopes to coast through life on his good looks. The show ran from 1998 to 2006 on Fox Network. I never watched it. Kutcher later starred in Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen was written out of the show

25. The "Tristia" poet: OVID. Publius Ovidius Naso known as OVID in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. One of his works was "The Metamorphoses"

26. Quake causes: FEARS. I didn't quite get this clue and answer, but I found this clip on The Weather Channel

27. Autobahn autos: BMWS. The BMW - short for Bavarian Motor Works - is one of several German Autos that can be found driving on the Autobahn. I put in AUDI first, as I drove that brand for over 17 years, and actually drove my A5 on several Autobahns, as I took the "European Delivery Option" when I bought it

28. One may be taken for a ride: FARE. Clever clue! Taxicab drivers still accept a FARE from passengers, while Uber and Lyft drivers get their $ after the passenger's "FARE" is collected by the APP. Tips are optional ...

29. Shopper's lure: FREE SAMPLE. Another great clue and fill. FREE SAMPLE? Of course! But you'll not find one at this merchant now that we are in a pandemic . . . at least not here in Arizona . . .

30. Quote qualifier: SIC. SIC is a Latin term meaning “thus.” It is used to indicate that something incorrectly written is intentionally being left as it was in the original, thus the quote qualifier. SIC is usually italicized and always surrounded by brackets to indicate that it was not part of the original. Place [sic] right after the errer [sic]

33. Gumbo pods: OKRAS. I would've bet that the plural for OKRA was OKRA (as in Deer/Deer). Word Hippo agrees, sort of, but OKRAS is/are acceptable

34. Screen lists: MENUS. Simply stated, MENUS are a set of options presented to the user of a computer application to help the user find information or execute a program function.

For my appetizer, I will have "File"/Save As

For my main course I will have "Edit"/Undo

And for dessert, "Help"/About

36. Fliers with combs: BEES. Ouch! This one hurt! If it weren't for the perps, this might have stayed in its hive. Not even sure what I considered at first . . . but this flier might need a comb (Note: Meant ONLY in good humor and spirits!)

37. Source of "clan" and "slogan": ERSE. Word origins. Clan and slogan are words that originate from Gaelic (also known as "ERSE"). All words come from somewhere, no? ERSE is also a very popular crossword answer. We probably had it earlier this week ...

39. Miller option: LITE. OK, I will admit to being a "beer snob" as I find most all LITE beers, including Miller's, to be quite watery and unappealing. But clearly I am in the minority as Miller's iconic brand sells somewhere north of 100 million cases annually

40. Evan : Welsh :: __ : Scottish: IAN. AKA, "John". Here are other names for John

45. Pranks, in a way, informally: TP'S. This one is a stretch for me, but back on June 6, 2018, the LA Times allowed it with this clue: "Pulls a Charmin shenanigan, briefly". I posted a cartoon before, regarding this. Check 46-Across

47. More than a high roller, in casino lingo: WHALE. One of two words that C Moe had to look up in order to solve the puzzle. The other was NAMIB. Interesting that the two words I "missed" were in the exact opposite corner location from each other. Critical corners though, as the other words in those corners didn't fall for me straight away.

I've been to many casinos in my lifetime but can't honestly say I've heard the term "WHALE" before. But then, I usually played Blackjack at a $5 or $10 table ... I was a minnow! Click on this link to read 5 crazy tales of Las Vegas WHALEs

48. Buzz: RUMOR.

49. Cyberchatting: I'MING. Abbr. for Instant MessagING

50. Have mastery over: OWN. Would our cat owners here agree?

51. Badgers: NAGS.

Think of an upper midwest team in the NCAA . . .

Moe-ku:

Madison athletes
Who are pesterers are called
The Wisconsin NAGS

54. Webmaster's code: HTML. HyperText Markup Language. Our blog is done this way. Had HTTP yesterday

55. Call from a bridge: AHOY. Spitz, do you have any knowledge of this; its origin perhaps? Was the phrase actually used aboard ship?

56. "__ goes!": HERE. Possibly the phrase I uttered when posting my first blog

57. Floors: AWES. Another Friday clue, perhaps. "Stuns" is a word I would use to describe AWES, but "floors" is perfectly acceptable. "To cause an unpleasant surprise for"

60. "The Realistic Joneses" playwright Will: ENO. Will ENO is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. His play, Thom Pain was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. Total unknown to me

61. Slow boat: TUB. Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a . . .

62. TNT component?: TRI. TRI Nitro Toluene. Invented by Alfred Nobel of the Nobel Peace Prize fame. Go figure!

And with that, POOF! We're done! Here is the grid. I highlighted the "W's"; "AWL" seven of them. Did anyone else "get the Win?" Please add any thoughts and comments below . . .

C-Moe (and yes, this emoji is pretty accurate . . .)