Wednesday, November 11, 2020, Bryant White

Theme: SWEET DREAMS.

17. Balancing point: CENTER OF GRAVITY.

28. Be convenient: COME IN HANDY.

49. Transports to a new location: CARRIES AWAY.

62. Anti-aging procedure: COSMETIC SURGERY.

37. Sweets ... and, in three parts, a hint to the four longest Across answers: CANDY.

Melissa here. Took forever to suss this theme. First I saw CENTER OF GRAVITY = CAVITY, and COME IN HANDY = CANDY, but couldn't make anything like that work for the other two themers. Stared at it forever until finally seeing C AND Y. Three parts. Urban dictionary says C&Y is short for CANDY. That totally hurt my brain.

Across:

1. Instances of night vision?: DREAMS. Just heard Stevie Nicks interviewed on NPR, referencing a recent viral TikTok video, which inspired the lieutenant governor of Montana, Jimmy Fallon, and Mick Fleetwood himself to record their own tributes. It now has more than 35 million views.

7. What crooks may beat: RAPS.

11. QB targets: TES. Football - quarterbacks and tight ends.

14. Washing aid for pupils: EYE CUP. Pupils ... nice misdirection.

15. Balm ingredient: ALOE.

16. Mil. branch disbanded in 1978: WAC. Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army.

20. "Pronto!": ASAP. As soon as possible.

21. If all goes wrong: AT WORST.

22. "Four score and seven years __ ... ": AGO. One score is 20 years.

25. "A Walk Among the Tombstones" star Neeson: LIAM.

27. Islamic deity: ALLAH.

32. Fr. holy woman: STE. French - abbreviation of sainte, the feminine form of saint.

33. Tailless cat: MANX.

34. Like Erik the Red: NORSE.

36. Director Kazan: ELIA.

39. Veers off sharply: ZIGS.

43. Phil or Steve with Olympic slalom medals in the same race: MAHRE. A little obscure unless you're a fan. The twin brothers retired from skiing after the 1984 Olympics at age 26.

45. Knight neighbor: ROOK. Chess.

46. Cut for an agt.: PCT. An agent's cut is a percentage.

53. 2000s first lady Bush: LAURA.

55. Low on the Mohs scale: SOFT. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness (/moʊz/) is a qualitative ordinal scale characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material.

56. Ending for Gator: ADE.

57. Pinball players' haunts: ARCADES.

60. Usually fuzzy tabloid pics: UFOS. The Trent UFO Photos.

67. Jimmy Eat World genre: EMO. The band's name came from a crayon drawing made after an incident between Linton's younger brothers, Jim and Ed Linton, who fought frequently. Jim usually won, but Ed sought revenge by drawing a picture of Jim shoving the Earth into his mouth; the picture bore the caption "Jimmy eat world".

68. Bull or boar: MALE.

69. Parlor piece: SETTEE.

70. Identity thief's target: Abbr.: SSN.

71. Sommer of movies: ELKE.

72. English teacher's stack to grade: ESSAYS.

Down:

1. Solstice mo.: DEC.

2. Corned beef bread: RYE. First saw this as "Corned beef brand." 

3. Poetic twilight: EEN.

4. Official records: ACTA. New to me. Acta = recorded proceedings.  From Latin ācta (“register of events”), plural of āctum.

5. Oaty breakfast mix: MUESLI.

6. Injury often iced: SPRAIN.

7. Battle of Britain gp.: RAF. Royal Air Force. Always makes me think of Roald Dahl.

8. Fish food plant: ALGA.

9. Left on a cruise: PORT. Ohhh, left as in left vs. right. I sure as hell would not leave any ruby port on a cruise. 🤣

10. Shipping routes: SEAWAYS.

11. Wields, as a baton: TWIRLS. Hm. I usually think of wield as a weapon - but this definition clears it up: to use (a weapon, instrument, etc.) effectively; handle or employ actively. 

12. Torments: EATS AT.

13. Grim Reaper tool: SCYTHE.

18. Fish with vermilion fins: OPAH. Aka moonfish.

19. Spine abbr., maybe: VOL.

22. Cartoon maker of Dehydrated Boulders: ACME. Wile E. Coyote.

23. Rink success: GOAL.

24. All: Pref.: OMNI.

26. Miss in an advice column: MANNERS. Dear Miss Manners.

29. Midterm, e.g.: EXAM.

30. Drop off: NOD.

31. Hang out on a line: DRY.

35. Vampire Weekend lead vocalist Koenig: EZRA. An interesting and accomplished artist.

37. "__-ching!": CHA.

38. Flight board abbr.: ARR. Arrival.

40. Davenport's home: IOWA. Also in FL, NY, and WA.

41. Provoke: GOAD.

42. Scottish isle: SKYE. Beautiful.

44. Scholar's world: ACADEME. "The campus activity, life, and interests of a college or university; the academic world."

46. Finishes second: PLACES.

47. Billiards shots: CAROMS.

48. Jojo's Arizona home, in the Beatles' "Get Back": TUCSON. "Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona ...." 🎵♪♩

50. Markers in a pot: IOUS. I owe yous.

51. Flow out: EFFUSE.

52. Mall directory listings: STORES.

54. Farm butter: RAM. Sometimes butter, sometimes scratcher.

58. Lat. shortener: ET. AL.

59. Hose material: SILK. Pantyhose.

61. Some PX patrons: SGTS. PX = Post Exchange (US Army base retail store).

63. Biscuit middle?: CEE.

64. One of four rhyming Greek letters: ETA.

65. Daisy Ridley's role in three "Star Wars" films: REY.

66. "I agree": YES.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020, Bryant White

Theme: (TWENTY) FOUR SHADES OF GREEN

 

Hi all, Melissa here. The second word of each theme answer is a shade of green. See the chart above, where all four of our shades appear. The artichoke shade seems more like a shade of grey, but it does look a lot like the color of a cooked artichoke heart.

16. *Orson Welles' role in "The Third Man": HARRY LIME

23. *James T. Kirk player, in recent "Star Trek" films: CHRIS PINE.

50. *"Pogo" cartoonist: WALT KELLY.

59. *"Damn Yankees!" star: TAB HUNTER.

35. Dollar bill, e.g. ... and what the ends of the answers to starred clues have in common: GREENBACK.

Across:

1. School of thought: ISM.

4. 1972 Kentucky Derby winner __ Ridge: RIVA. 

8. Landlocked African country: MALI.

12. Sense of balance: STABILITY.

15. Half of a folk-rock duo: SIMON. Simon & Garfunkel. The Harmony Game, a 2011 documentary that tells the story of their landmark album ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

17. Public square: PLAZA. Seeing PLAZA just below SIMON makes me think of Neil SIMON's PLAZA  Suite - on Broadway March - July.

18. Court answers: PLEAS.

19. Org. promoting fluoridation: ADA. American Dental Association.

21. State of calm attentiveness: ZEN.

22. Fair-haired: BLOND.

26. Kareem, once: LEW. NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.

27. Deli order: HERO. Nice clue.

29. Police trickery: STING. Not always police - as in the 1973 movie The Sting, inspired by real-life cons, brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff, and documented by David Maurer in his book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

30. Koala's hangout: TREE.

32. Crest container: TUBE.

34. "Bus Stop" playwright: INGE. William.

38. Curly top: AFRO.

40. Landlocked Asian country: LAOS.

41. "Elephant Boy" boy: SABU. 1937 Movie based on Rudyard Kipling's "Toomai, of the Elephants," from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Sabu was the young Indian actor who played Toomai.

45. Jigsaw unit: PIECE. Puzzle piece.

47. Color printer refills: INKS. Ink and toner has to be some of the most overpriced office supplies ever invented. Come in for the free printer - come back soon to buy the $250 ink.

49. "What's shakin'?": SUP. Short for 'what's up?'

52. Finds the right words, say: EDITS. As an editor, I like this clue.

54. Step into character: ACT. Favorite clue of the day.

55. It may need massaging: EGO.

56. Crouch down: SQUAT.

57. Word with ice or cookie: SHEET.

63. Wetland birds: TERNS.

64. Pushing to the limit: STRAINING.

65. "Put a tiger in your tank" brand: ESSO.

66. Babe in the woods: FAWN. Also, the paper-shredding legend from the  Iran-Contra hearings.

67. LP successors: CDS. From long-playing vinyl records to compact discs.

Down:

1. "More or less" suffix: ISH.

2. Desktop item: STAPLER.

3. "The Big Sleep" private eye: MARLOWE. Detective Philip Marlowe is a fictional character who first appeared under that name in the 1939 novel, The Big Sleep,  twice adapted to film.

4. Most populous Arabian Peninsula city: RIYADH. Capital of Saudi Arabia and the largest city on the Arabian Peninsula.

5. Pandora's boxful: ILLS. From the ancient Greek story about a character named Pandora, who was given a box as a wedding gift but was ordered not to open it. Eventually, curiosity overcame her and she opened the box, releasing death, evil, and misery into the world.

6. Sundial seven: VII.

7. PIN point: ATM. PIN = Personal Identification Number.

8. End of a soldier's URL: MIL. From Wikipedia: The domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from military.

9. Jaw-dropping: AMAZING. 😮

10. Cough drop: LOZENGE.

11. Absurd: INANE.

13. WWII light machine gun: BREN. Made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992.

14. Class ring number: YEAR.

 15. Acting fitfully: SPASTIC.

20. Talk smack about: DIS.

22. Deli order: BLT. Clecho of 27a.

23. Pitiless: CRUEL.

24. Boot stud: HOBNAIL. In footwear, a hobnail is a short nail with a thick head used to increase the durability of boot soles.

25. Legendary Hollywood hot dog restaurant: PINKS. Can't go to Hollywood without stopping here for a dog. My daughter in front of the famous painted logo, way back in 2004.

28. French summer: ETE.

31. "Snowy" bird: EGRET.

33. Black shade: EBONY.

36. Houston NBA team: ROCKETS.

37. "Try me": ASK.

38. Cochise followers: APACHES. According to Tom Brown, Jr., the famous tracker, the Apache were desert-dwellers and therefore excellent trackers. In his books and classes, track patterns that he calls "pressure releases" are described using geological terms like ridge, peak, and plateau, as variations in prints could be clearly seen in sand.

39. Instagram overlays: FILTERS.

42. Like some lions: ASIATIC.

43. Rifle handle: BUTT END. That was tricky.

44. Good times: UPS. For some reason I could only see UPS as the delivery service, until I finally realized it was not an acronym.

46. Brain scan inits.: EEG. An electroencephalogram is a test used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain.

48. Costume spangle: SEQUIN.

50. Fritter away: WASTE.

51. They may be drawn: LOTS. Drawing lots = making a chance decision by using lots (straws or pebbles etc.) that are thrown or drawn.

53. Country duo Brooks & __: DUNN.

56. Bandleader Artie: SHAW.

58. Rock producer Brian: ENO.

60. DOJ division: ATF. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

61. Bikini half: BRA.

62. Some NFL linemen: RGS. Right guards are positioned on the right of the offensive line.