Thursday, October 17, 2024, Bryant Shain

 IT's ALL Really Simple!

Today's constructor Bryant Shain rejoins us today after a long absence (recapped by a beloved reviewer) to treat us to a relatively uncommon vertical theme.  He gives us these 3 down clues and a down reveal indicated by asterisks.  If you don't see the embedded words in each of the themers (I didn't) IT's ALL given away by the reveal ...

3D. *Party boss: POLITICAL LEADER.  As we are in the thick of an election year, and as the Corner doesn't generally do politics, I decided to go to a great General who later became a great President, whom I trust most will agree was one of the best political leaders in American history -- Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969).

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

22D. *"Let's go already!": QUIT STALLING.  Sorry, but I've got more important clues to explain right now ... 😀

9D. *Runs out of free content, in a way: HITS A PAYWALL.  In 1989 computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who was working at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland at the time, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) as a means of organizing and distributing research papers to interested scientists around the world.  At the time, access to the underlying Internet was largely supported by grants and was restricted to universities, and thus the information transmitted over it was generally considered to be in the public domain.  Eventually the WWW spread to the world of commerce and other means had to be found to support the development of content, e.g. advertising and PAYWALLS.  Here is a visualization by the Opte Project showing the explosive growth of the Internet between 1997 and 2021 ...   

And the theme reveal ...

11D. Explains in meticulous detail, and what the answer to each starred clue literally does?: BREAKS IT ALL DOWN.  Some of us reviewers tend to break IT ALL down into a bit too much detail, but I'm not naming any names. 😀

Here's the grid ... 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. In the know about: HIP TO.  A modern adjective.

6. Tub sessions: BATHS.  While a lot of people take showers these days, in the past these people didn't.

11. Troop gp.: BSA. Boy Scouts of America.

14. Novel format: EBOOK.  As the traditional format of many novels was the TOME, older readers are turning to EBOOKS because they are generally lighter and many have novel features such as the ability to search the book for specific passages, look up related content on the Internet, and bundled subscriptions to content.

15. Set with 95 printable characters: ASCII.  ASCII is an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. ASCII has just 128 code points, of which only 95 are printable characters, which severely limit its scope. The set of available punctuation had significant impact on the syntax of computer languages and text markup.  While it is still in wide use, it has been superseded by Unicode, which supports myriad character sets in languages all over the world. 

16. Shofar horn source: RAM.  A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth. The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur; it is also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah.

Shofar
by Alphonse Lévy
The caption says: "To a good year".

17. Pooh's creator: MILNE.  Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-the-Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. He served in both world wars, as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second World War.  His stories about the 100 Acre Woods were famously adapted in this Disney series ...

18. Food regimens: DIETS.  Hand up if you know one that works?

19. Wane: EBB.

20. Omega preceder: PSI.  May also be clued "Meas. of tire pressure".

21. Comes to: EQUALS.

23. Like a 16-Across: MALE.

24. Protein option: TOFU.  What is TOFU, and is it healthy?  If you decide it's for you, here's a recipe for Garlic Sesame Tofu.

Garlic Sesame Tofu

26. Crypto.com Arena player: LA LAKER.  I think they'd have better attendance at their games if their arena wasn't so hard to find. 😀

28. Old-timey theaters: DRIVE INS.  I'm told that they were a great place to neck, but that was way before my time. 😁

32. Dutch ovens, e.g.: POTS.  A Dutch oven, Dutch pot (US English), or casserole dish (international) is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid.  You can buy this one from Amazon for only $49.99.

Dutch Oven

33. Houston university: RICE.  Rice University, officially William Marsh Rice University, is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It sits on a 300-acre (120 ha) campus adjacent to the Houston Museum District and the Texas Medical Center.   

34. Naval destroyer, in slang: TIN CAN.  And they used ASH CANS (depth charges) to destroy submarines.

36. Chapel vow: I DO.

39. In the distance: AFAR.

40. Like most fish: SCALY.

41. "No more of that!": STOP.

42. Glycerin-based goop: GEL.

43. Eschewed cooked foods: ATE RAW.  On alternate Friday's we eschew cooked foods ...

Sushi Platter

44. Visible air pollution: HAZE.

45. Novelist Scottoline known for legal thrillers: LISA.  Lisa Scottoline was born in Philadelphia  in 1955 and earned a B.A. in English magna cum laude (in three years) from the University of Pennsylvania, then graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She clerked for judges at the state and federal appellate courts and later became a litigator in Philadelphia.  After the birth of her daughter, she left the law firm and started writing. Final Appeal received an Edgar Award, for excellence in crime fiction. She has since written 30 bestselling novels, including Look Again and Don't Go, both which reached number two on The New York Times Best Seller list.
 

Lisa Scottoline

47. Like some cast-iron 32-Across: ENAMELED.  Our 32-Across is just plain old stainless steel.

49. Target of a strike, perhaps: CUE BALL.  This is for all you pool sharks out there ...

52. Lounge: LOLL.  

53. Dutch semisoft cheese: EDAM.  The crosswordese cheese.

Edam Cheese

54. Pigeonholes: LABELS.  I'd be suspicious of LABELS if I were you.  LABELS are very sneaky and LABELS tend to be dishonest -- LABELS are simply not to be trusted.  The only good thing I have to say about a LABEL is that once you've pigeonholed one, at least you finally know who they really are!

57. Pops: DAD.  A CSO to Tony's father.

60. Do sums: ADD.

61. One who goes for the gold?: MINER.  Mining rare earth elements may be more profitable.

62. Fern-to-be: SPORE.  How to grow ferns from spores.

Ferns showing sporangia
containing developing spores

64. Catch: SEE.

65. Natives of Pre-Columbian Peru: INCAS.  The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu, lit. "land of four parts" centered in the Andean Mountains), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.  The Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 AD and by 1572 AD, the last Inca state was fully conquered.

Inca Empire
circ 1525 AD

66. Mets closer Diaz: EDWIN.  Edwin Orlando Díaz Laboy (born March 22, 1994) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets. He has previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners. Within two months of his MLB debut, Díaz broke the Mariners' record for consecutive strikeouts and was named the team's closer. 

Edwin Diaz

67. Make a left instead of a right, say: ERR.

68. Go-between: AGENT.

69. Stray adopted by Annie: SANDY.  All I ever heard him say was ARF!

Annie and Sandy

 Down:

1. Rope fiber: HEMP.  Hemp (Cannabis sativa) was grown extensively throughout the world during the days of wooden sailing ships to make rope.  As it turns out, the leaves of some strains of the hemp plant are also used for the cultivation of marijuana, an hallucinogen.  Thus the legality of growing the plant has fluctuated over time: it was legal in the 18th and 19th centuries, then production was effectively banned in the mid-20th century, and it returned as a legal crop in the 21st century. By 2019, the United States had become the world's third largest producer of hemp, behind China and Canada.

Two uses for Hemp

2. Sacred Nile wader: IBIS.  The African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) is a species of ibis, a wading bird of the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to much of Africa, as well as small parts of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. It is especially known for its role in Ancient Egyptian religion, where it was linked to the god Thoth. The species is currently extinct in Egypt.

Sacred Ibis
Lake Ziway, Ethiopia

3. [Theme clue]

4. Approximate weight of the Liberty Bell: TON.  Perped.

5. Michael of "Caddyshack": OKEEFE.  Michael O'Keefe (born Raymond Peter O'Keefe Jr.; April 24, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Danny Noonan in Caddyshack, Ben Meechum in The Great Santini, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Darryl Palmer in the Neil Simon movie The Slugger's Wife. 

Michael O'Keefe

6. Grammy winner Erykah: BADU.  Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971),[2] known professionally as Erykah Badu is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut album Baduizm (1997), placed her at the forefront of the neo soul movement, earning her the nickname "Queen of Neo Soul" by music critics.  Here's On & On, the Grammy winner from that first album ...

7. Setting for Best Picture winners "The Last Emperor" and "Parasite": ASIA. The Last Emperor is a 1987 epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the final Emperor of China.  Here's a trailer for the first film ...

Incidentally the Academy Award winning soundtrack for the film was co-written by  Ryuichi Sakamoto,  David Byrne, and Cong Su.  You may remember Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Byrne from the new wave band The Talking Heads.

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the film with Han Jin-won. The film follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family ...

8. Infection fighter: T CELL.  T cells are a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes. They help your immune system fight germs and protect you from disease. 

9. [Theme clue]

10. Bro kin: SIS.

11. [Theme reveal]

12. Fine fur: SABLE.  The sable (Martes zibellina) is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kazakhstan, China, North Korea and Hokkaido, Japan.  Here are some pictures ...

Before

After
Sable Bomber Jacket
$6,300.00

I think Sables need to go on strike for higher pay!

13. Yellow shade: AMBER.  Named for the gem AMBER, the petrified sap of prehistoric trees.

Baltic Amber Pendant

22. [Theme clue]

23. Pilates roll: MAT.  MAKI was too long.

Sushi Roll

25. Finished: OVER.

27. Chaney of classic horror: LON.  Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters and for his groundbreaking artistry with makeup.  Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".  Here's a trailer from the Hunchback of Notre Dame ...

28. Downer: DRAG.

29. Lousy (with): RIFE.  A bit of a stretch, but ...

... the dinosaur seems to be roughly in agreement with the pigeons ...
 

30. "Well done!": NICE.

31. Catch: SNARE.

35. Family: CLAN.  A clan is an extended family. Your clan might include your parents and siblings, but also your cousins and second cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. Families that are related to each other, whether through marriage or as distant cousins, are members of the same clan.

37. Nod off: DOZE.

38. Opinion piece: OP ED.  An op-ed piece is a short newspaper column that represents a writer's strong, informed, and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted audience. It is a written prose piece that expresses the opinion of an author or entity with no affiliation with the publication's editorial board. The term is short for "opposite the editorial page", referring to the practice of newspapers placing op-eds on the opposite side of their editorial page.

41. "Falling Up" poet/illustrator Silverstein: SHEL.  Sheldon Allan Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. His illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented Playboy.  As a children's author, some of his most acclaimed works include The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic. His works have been translated into more than 47 languages and have sold more than 20 million copies.  As a songwriter, Silverstein wrote the 1969 Johnny Cash track "A Boy Named Sue", which peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Shel Silverstein

43. Simile's center: AS A.  What are similes? -- definition and examples.

46. PC pioneer: IBM.  IBM's PC, released in 1981, was indeed a pioneering computer, but it was not the first commercially successful personal computer.  That PC is generally considered to be the Altair 8800, introduced in 1975. This was followed by the Apple Computer II in 1977 (the Apple Computer 1 was really just a prototype), and the Radio Shack TRS-80 also in 1977.  IBM's contribution to the PC  world was two-fold: 1. Their name -- they were giants in the mainframe and mini-computer fields, and were in effect endorsing the idea of a "personal computer"; and 2. And more importantly, as they had previously done in the mainframe world, they introduced a standardized operating system called MS-DOS. IBM had purchased the latter from the nascent Microsoft Corporation, who had in turn purchased it from Seattle software engineer Tim Patterson -- whom they didn't bother to inform that they were currently negotiating the sale of MS-DOS to IBM!  The IBM PC, introduced in 1981, would then go on to revolutionize computing and networking throughout the world. 

The IBM PC

48. Fuzzy growths in a terrarium: MOSSES.  Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta.  Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. They may also grow on trees, usually on the North side.

Clumps of moss on the ground
 and at the base of trees
Allegheny National Forest, PA

49. "No more of that!": CEASE.

50. Calf's suckling spot: UDDER.  "Did you hear the one about the cow that jumped over the barbed wire fence? -- UDDER destruction!"  😀

51. Medieval Times prop: LANCE.  The LANCE is also used in Modern Times as a prop in jousting, Maryland's state sport ...

55. Noodle: BEAN.  Mr. Bean is really off his noodle on this one ...

56. Once, in the past: ERST.

58. Cactus-friendly: ARID.

59. Refuse: DENY.

61. Soccer great Hamm: MIA.  Here's a short bio-pic of MIA's career ...

63. Activity that might elicit stares, for short: PDA.  -- or the comment "Get a room!" 

Well, that wraps IT ALL up for this review!

Cheers,

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

And thanks for the help, C.C.  You made IT it ALL come together!

waseeley

Wednesday Febraury 27, 2019 Bryant Shain

Theme: SHUFFLEBOARD (54. Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters- Three types of boards are scrambled inside each theme answer.

20. Particular: HARD TO PLEASE. Dartboard.

28. Hospital bigwig: CHIEF SURGEON. Surfboard.

44. Formally accuse of wrongdoing: PRESS CHARGES. Chessboard.

Boomer here. 

Melissa lost her internet connection due to the bad weather, so Manager C.C. called me off the bench to pinch hit. Of course, Spring training baseball is in session but I looked out of the dugout and I did not see spring yet here in Minnesota. Continued snow and cold as March comes in like a lion but hopefully will go out like a lamb.  

One more note to follow up on Monday - I am not a big NBA fan however Timberwolves All-Star, Karl Anthony Towns survived a car accident when the car in which he was a passenger was hit from behind by a semi truck. Karl passed  concussion protocol and returned to the court Monday vs. Sacramento and scored 34 points with 21 rebounds, so it seems he is okay.  My bowling is getting better, but nothing over 600 yet.

Across:

1. Old Russian ruler: TSAR.  I think this a Bulgarian word for king.

5. Landlocked African nation: MALI.

9. Wedding registry category: CHINA.  C.C.'s native country. The wedding registry is DISHES.

14. Famous final question: ET TU.  How many eggs did you have for breakfast Caesar ?

15. "Ducky" Mallard's alma mater, on "NCIS": ETON.

16. Support people: AIDES.

17. Prefix in juice names: CRAN. "Raspberries, Strawberries, the good wine we brew." The Kingston Trio did not mention cranberries. Not close enough to Thanksgiving,

18. Tends to the lawn: MOWS.  I have heard of this, but we are shoveling the lawn here these days.

19. '50s four-wheeled failure: EDSEL. Strange name.  Edsel Ford was Henry Ford's son and Henry Ford II's father.  I believe the model came out in 1958, when I was a kid and everyone visited car dealerships to view the new models.  I remember some dealerships had canvas tarps over their new models until THE day! The Ford Edsel had a nose on the grill and did not seem to entice acceptance by the public. 

23. Kitchen counter?: TIMER.  I use mine frequently.

24. "__ thought": IT'S A.  __ bird, __ plane, it's Superman !

25. Place to unwind: SPA.

31. Gig gear: AMP.  Okay, but when I see this word, I think of electric current.

34. Lessen: EASE.

35. Tweak, as text: EDIT.

36. Some trucks: DIESELS. Actually auto makers tried to make cars run on diesel but it did not seem to catch on. 

38. The North Pole, for Santa: ADDRESS.  Every time we see Santa in a clue, we think of Argyle.  Interesting, the pastor of my church is father Tom Santa.  In a previous sermon he read some interesting mail that he received around Christmastime.

41. Opposite of endo-: ECTO.

42. Flat-bottomed vessel: SCOW.  I spell this BOAT.

43. Daisy Ridley's "The Last Jedi" role: REY.

49. Blue Jays' home: Abbr.: TOR.  My only touch in Toronto was a plane change on the way to New Hampshire.

50. Mimicked: APED.

51. Small lizard: GECKO. Not a car insurance ad.

57. Fluffy-eared "bear": KOALA. Not a soft drink.

60. Hair-removal brand: NAIR.

61. Vintage ski lift: T BAR.  I wish they had these on some of the golf courses that I have played.

62. Arouse, as wrath: INCUR.

63. Basic French verb: ETRE.  Still do not like foreign words in puzzles.

64. Theta follower: IOTA.  I am not sure if Greek letters are foreign words.  This one means a little bit.

65. Tank fish: TETRA.  You won't catch these fish in Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. I think this is another Greek prefix meaning four or five.  I think a TETRA blast would mean 5 strikes in a row, without leaving a TETRA pin.

66. "Keep it __": REAL.  This is a confusing word.  I see it in front of "Real Estate".  Is there a "Fake Estate"?

67. Provide job support for?: ABET.  Five dollars on the Pass Line please.

Down:

1. __ support: TECH.  Someone just called trying to sell me tech support.  I lied and said I don't have a computer.  That always makes them go away.

2. Classic Fender guitar, for short: STRAT.  Earlier this month we remembered the death of Buddy Holly 60 years ago on February 3, in Iowa.  Buddy made his Fender Stratocaster famous, Oh Boy!

3. Arcade pioneer: ATARI. Yup, I had a bunch of these old video game cartridges.

4. "Walk This Way" rap trio: RUN DMC.

5. Many a D.C. landmark: MEMORIAL. I have never visited D.C.  I bet it would be very interesting.

6. Perched on: ATOP. Old Smokie ?

7. Good-for-nothing: LOWLIFE.

8. Mini-maps: INSETS.  Sometimes on line, you can enlarge them.

9. 14-Across speaker: CAESAR.  He's the one who ET TU eggs.

10. Go underground: HIDE.

11. Cards checked at the door: IDS.  Saw this in a previous puzzle.  I've told you about the IDS tower - the tallest building in Minneapolis.

12. French word in bios: NEE. I think it means "Ma'am, what was your surname before you got hitched."

13. Syst. for the hearing-impaired: ASL.

21. Giggle: TE HEE.

22. Sun Devils' sch.: ASU.  I heard that it snowed this year in the state of Arizona.

25. Passover feast: SEDER.

26. Self-assurance: POISE.  There seems to be a lot of self-assured POISE going on in the MLB millionaires baseball camps this spring.  We shall see.

27. On pins and needles: ANTSY.

29. Curvy letter: ESS.

30. Berlin's home: Abbr.: GER.  How can GER be an abbreviation for Deutschland ?

31. Showing mastery: ADEPT.

32. Prefix with brewery: MICRO. If you like a craft beer. My keyboard says it can also be a prefix for soft.

33. Rocker Frampton: PETER. Pumpkin eater.

37. Scrubbing brand: SOS.  These are made from steel wool. Be careful.

38. Unlike this ans.: ACR (Across)

39. Technically flawed comic poetry: DOGGEREL.

40. Nerdy sort: DWEEB.

42. Tragic end: SAD FATE.  See the Buddy Holly story above.

45. Much of North Africa: SAHARA.  Formerly a casino in Las Vegas.  The Sahara Avenue is still there but the casino is gone.

46. PC brain: CPU.

47. Noted bunny lover: HEFNER.  The last of the Playboy mansions has closed and Hugh left us in 2017.  Quite a story.

48. Nova __: SCOTIA.

52. Skewered meat: KABOB. Shish ?

53. Give a political speech: ORATE. Did not care much for the orations at the Oscars. Nobody thanked me.

54. Put-down: SLUR.

55. Turkey bacon?: LIRA.  Old Italian bacon as well.

56. "Well, shoot": DRAT.

57. Modeling convenience: KIT.  I loved these things when I was a kid. Glued together a lot of planes and cars.

58. Tip jar bill: ONE.  This is an expensive task for our government to print these bills. They have tried Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea, and President golden dollars, but nothing catches on.  People stubbornly continue to fill their wallets with dollar bills that last about two years, and scorn the coins which will last a lifetime.

59. Perform: ACT.

Boomer

Notes from C.C.:

The 42nd American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (March 22 to March 24) will be held at the Stamford Marriott in Stamford, Connecticut. For those who attend, don't miss the Cru Dinner organized by the great Mike Alpern, who welcomed his first grandson a few months ago.

The Cru Dinner (6 pm to 8 pm, Friday, March 22)  officially kicks off the tournament and is a great opportunity to meet with constructors and fellow solvers. The space is limited, esp this year, so be sure to contact with Mike as soon as possible.