Wednesday April 1, 2020 Debra Hamel

Theme: "Who's What" Rephrased - The second word in each theme entry changes its original meaning.

 

17. Mythical hunter's shots of liquor?: ORION'S BELTS.

27. First mortal woman's moving supply?: PANDORA'S BOXES.

48. Greek hero's stilettos?: ACHILLES' HEELS.

63. Early man's computers?: ADAM'S APPLES.

Boomer here again. Melissa will be back next Wednesday.

Happy to be here and healthy. We are in a phase of a lock down, however we are allowed to travel to grocery stores, post office, banks, and gas stations.  With those kind of limits, I'm afraid the bank or gas station won't see me for awhile. Not sure if golf courses will open.  I have heard a few up here in MN have special rules.  But the high temps are in the 40s and some low 50s, so we won't worry about cow pasture pool for awhile.

Across:

1. Like some questionable characters: SHADY.  The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane, Has the town in a whirl.

6. Buffalo team: BILLS.  I prefer Benjamins

11. Pro with a gurney, briefly: EMT. Electrical Metallic Tubing.

14. Grade of tea leaves: PEKOE.

15. Parting mot: ADIEU.  ADIEU, ADIEU my friend ADIEU, I can no longer stay with you.

16. Menagerie: ZOO.  We have two zoos in the Twin Cities.  I wonder if they have to keep the monkeys six feet apart.

19. With 22-Across, Lady Gaga, Madonna et al.: POP. 22. See 19-Across: STARS.  I like Diet Pepsi.  I'm not allowed to eat chocolate stars.

20. Work the bar: TEND.  I guess you would call the guy a legal Tender.

21. Remove from power: OUST.

24. Law school accrediting org.: ABA.  American Bar Association.  I wonder if the Bartender is a member.

26. Numbered ballpark souvenir: JERSEY.  I have a few unnumbered Twins JERSEYS.

33. Amherst sch.: UMASS.

34. "That was close!": PHEW.

35. He or I: ELEM. H is Helium. I is Iodine.

38. Plywood wood: FIR.  We have a huge pine tree in the yard.  I don't think it qualifies as a FIR.

39. Chicken soup, some say: CURE ALL.  Take with Abiraterone and Prednisone.

42. "Selma" director DuVernay: AVA.

43. Plant with fronds: FERN. We have an Asiatic Lily.  Maybe it's time to add a Fern.

45. Tablet: PILL.  See 39A.

46. Capp chap: ABNER.  Daisy Mae's Beau. I hope the virus does not cancel Sadie Hawkins Day.

51. Paper or plastic, say: OPTION.  Our grocery stores still offer that option.  In St. Paul you need to pay for either one.  I think it's .05 or .07.

53. Letters for William or Catherine: HRH. His/Her Royal Highness.

54. Mill fodder: GRIST.

55. Shop clamp: VISE.

58. Free speech org.: ACLU.  Civil Liberties.  Stay in your house and like it.

62. N.L. West, for one: DIV.  I had to stop and think what sport they were talking about.

66. Genesis name: EVE.  I know Adam and EVE, Cain and Abel, but then I can't name another pioneer until NOAH.

67. Lazybones: IDLER.

68. Lyric poem: EPODE.

69. Where Schumer is a sen.: NYS.  New York State.  I like Chuck.

70. Stalks in a marsh: REEDS.

71. Royal-ly made?: TYPED.  Of course I remember using a Royal Manual Typewriter.  ding.

Down:

1. Shout target: SPOT.  See Dick, See Jane.  See SPOT, See SPOT run

2. "Take it": HERE.

3. Similar (to): AKIN.

4. Whatsits: DOODADS.  Used to love getting DOODADS on Halloween.

5. Currency with the ISO code JPY: YEN.  I think it takes about 108 YEN to buy a dollar.

6. Hindu title of respect: BABU.  I think he was Luke Skywalker's buddy.

7. Mid-month day: IDES.  We just passed the Ides of March a couple of weeks ago. "How many eggs did you have for breakfast Caesar ??"  "Et tu Brute".

8. Light air: LILT.

9. Chair umpire's call: LET.  LET'S LET the ref call it and serve again.

10. Harry, Duke of __: SUSSEX.

11. Toll plaza choice in many states: EZ PASS LANE.  The only one's I've ever seen in MN is at the MSP airport parking ramp.  You can use it if you used a credit card to get in.

12. Mandy of "This Is Us": MOORE.

13. __-turvy: TOPSY.

18. Rise dramatically: SOAR.  Like a Rory McIlroy pitching wedge.

23. Willow, but not Buffy: TREE. Something Mr. McIlroy might use that wedge to get a ball over.

25. Bartlett alternative: BOSC.

26. Bit of slack facial flesh: JOWL.

27. __ pastry: PUFF.  The magic dragon, lived by the sea. Peter, Paul, and Mary.

28. Parisian gal pal: AMIE.

29. Stories: NARRATIVES.

30. Time for fooling: APRIL.  Absolutely!!  Today is the Day.

31. Narrow racing boat: SHELL.  All the Shell gas stations were changed to something called "Super USA"  Gas is around $1.70 per gallon.  Of course I had a discount at Holiday and paid $1.59 eight days ago.  Since then I made a trip to a grocery store.  I may have gas in the tank for months before I need to fill up again.  Gas stations are open but never busy.  I wonder if they will get a few bucks on the stimulus law.

32. Memphis music festival street: BEALE.

36. Robbie's daredevil father: EVEL.  Tried a trip across the Snake River canyon years ago.  Evel left us in 2007.

37. Where Mark Watney grew potatoes in a 2015 film: MARS. The movie is "The Martian".

40. __ the air: UP IN.  I've knocked down a ten pin, a 5 pin and a 7 pin but I never had to shoot at a U PIN.

41. Comic actor Bert: LAHR.  Cowardly Lion in one of my favorite vintage movies. If a movie was released before I was born, may I call it "Vintage"??

44. Mark Harmon TV drama: NCIS.

47. Advice from Bobby McFerrin: BE HAPPY.  Don't Worry, BE HAPPY !

49. Bloviator's output: HOT AIR.

50. Kind of butter used in skin care: SHEA.  No Mets Game today.

51. Poet Nash: OGDEN.  "Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker"

52. In on, with "to": PRIVY.

55. Lowland: VALE.

56. Wrote online, briefly: IM'ED. Instant Messaging.

57. Old pol. divisions: SSRS (Soviet Socialist Republics). 

59. Sound made by hitting coconut halves together: CLOP.  "The Horses are entering the track".

60. News article intro: LEDE.

61. Employed: USED.  Actually, USED cars are on someone's lot, waiting to be employed.

64. Ike's monogram: DDE.  Between HST and JFK.

65. Adopt-a-thon adoptee: PET.

Boomer 

Thursday, February 27th 2020 Debra Hamel

Theme: Compass Pinots - I mean pitons - no, wait, piston? Anagrams of the primary compass points modify a well-known directional phrase; and hinted at by the circled N, E, S, W at the center of the puzzle.

17A. Authentic piece of a holy relic?: TRUE THORN. True North. The magnetic inclination (the difference between True North and Magnetic North) changes over time and also depends on where you are on the globe, but if you were standing at the North Pole and pulled out a compass, it would point you towards Ellesmere Island in northern Canada, more than 300 miles away.

58A. Biblical pronouns read by James Earl Jones?: DEEP THOUS. Deep South.

11D. Place reserved for one reconciling a dispute?: MIDDLE SEAT. Middle East. Funnily, the middle seat occupant on the airplane sometimes is the cause of a dispute over the armrest.

28D. Unwelcome leftovers?: THE OLD STEW. The Old West. Depends how old. Some stews get better left for a couple of days to let the flavors develop. Obviously, there's a tipping point :)

Right then, let's dig into this one. The anagrams don't seem forced in the four theme entries which is great, Debra did have a clever observation that there are anagrams to be had; and the circled letters highlighted in the grid do give you a nudge towards finding the compass points. A great way to solve an anagram is to write the letters in a circle; perhaps that was a subtle hint too, I'm not sure if this was Debra's intention. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I liked it.

Now, let's get to a couple of niggles - I'm thinking that if you're going to use "THE old west" you should also have "THE deep south" and "THE Middle East". These don't really stand on their own, unlike "True North" which doesn't need the definite article. I like consistency and to me this falls a little short. Also, if you're going to use "?" in the clue as the device to hint at the theme entries, you absolutely shouldn't have a clue like 20A. Your mileage may vary, naturally.

Moving right along ...

Across:

1. Ottoman bigwigs: AGAS

5. Wildly: AMOK. Amok is a funny word, you only ever see it paired with "run". I suppose "walking amok" doesn't have the same ring to it.

9. Peaks: ACMES

14. At hand: NIGH

15. Animated explorer: DORA

16. Patterned fabric: TOILE

19. Comedian Izzard: EDDIE. One of my favorite stand-up comics, I've linked to him before. How Britain built its Empire (TV-MA for language).

20. Sound investments?: STEREOS. See intro comment.

21. Like some deliveries: SAME-DAY

23. Indy guide: PACE CAR. Nice clue - "Lonely Planet" would be my first guess, despite having way too many letters. Since 2002, Chevrolet has had the exclusive rights to provide the pace car at the Indianapolis 500, they've all been Corvettes or Camaros, unsuprisingly. I wouldn't want to pace a field of IndyCars in a Chevy Spark.

25. She walked into Rick's gin joint: ILSA. "Play it, Sam".

26. Disastrous: FATAL Yep. Pretty much covers it.

29. Comedian Garofalo: JANEANE. Thank you, crosses.

31. Folk legend Phil: OCHS

32. __ Jose: SAN. Do you know the way?

33. Connects with: TIES TO

36. Arles article: UNE. It seems a shame to consign Arles to a crossword clue. I lived there for a few weeks, and who doesn't appreciate a nice Roman adqueduct?

37. __ West Records: Nashville label: NEW. Thank you, crosses.

38. Rosy-fingered goddess who rises in the east: EOS, Thank you, crosswords.

39. AirPod spot: EAR. Pops up again.

40. Get back in business: RE-OPEN

42. Product prefix that evokes winter: SNO-

43. Die down: WANE

44. Herbie, in Disney films: LOVE BUG

46. Outset: GET-GO

47. They don't last: FADS

49. Part of Curaçao: CEDILLA. The diacritical mark under the "C". The spendidly-named map-maker Heironymus Cock named it "Quraçao" on his 1562 map of the region, but that variant didn't catch on, so Curaçao it is.

51. Rather: INSTEAD

53. Apparel brand with a spinnaker logo: NAUTICA

57. Mesh: FIT IN

60. Red-pencil: EMEND. I had the first "E" already in place, so I wasn't tempted by AMEND.

61. December 24 and 31: EVES

62. "At Last" singer James: ETTA. A lovely song.

63. Georgia team, in sports headlines: DAWGS. Bulldogs, to give them their formal name.

64. Take a chance: DARE

65. Hoarse laugh: RASP

Down:

1. Tiny colonists: ANTS

2. Structural engineering piece: GIRT. Thank you, crosses. Want to know your studs and joists from your girts? Here you go ..

3. Chills and fever: AGUE

4. Tibetan leaders: SHERPAS. Not the Dalai Lamas then. I'm not sure I'd call a sherpa a leader, but I guess they are in the mountain guiding sense.

5. Specially formed: AD HOC

6. Saskatchewan city with a 34-foot animal statue named Mac at its tourist info center: MOOSE JAW. Here's Mac, with his "cute" Lego model which looks to be about eight feet tall!

7. NHL great Bobby: ORR

8. Dodge City native: KANSAN

9. "Up and __!": AT 'EM! Funny, I talked about this last week - we had "Up and About" then.

10. Cough medicine ingredient: CODEINE

12. Inventor Howe: ELIAS. He invented and patented the lockstitch sewing machine, and was involved in a protracted lawsuit for five years with Isaac Singer, who was producing and selling machines which violated Howe's patents. Howe won, and made a lot of money over the years with royalties from Singer. He was granted a patent in 1851 for an "automatic, continuous clothing closure", the zipper as we know it today. He didn't exploit the invention, possibly because he was making money from the sewing machine royalties.

13. "Peace out": SEE YA!

18. Marsh duck: TEAL. They can't walk straight, but they can fly in a corkscrew motion at speeds in excess of 50 mph. That's some achievement! The English expression "drunk as a duck" refers to the teal's characteristic waddle on land.

22. Schoolyard retort: ARE TOO!

24. U.S. neighbor to the north: CAN.

26. One of two in Hank Aaron's uniform number: FOUR. There's a mint-condition "Hammerin' Hank" 1954 rookie card on eBay at the moment going for $37,500 if you're interested!

27. Proactiv+ target: ACNE

30. First words in an alphabet book: A IS ... for ...

32. Largest of New York's Finger Lakes: SENECA. I don't know any of the Finger Lakes off the top of my head, but I had enough letters from the crosses to fill this in without a thought.

34. Tart taste: TANG

35. Mega Stuf cookie: OREO

37. Great Basin st.: NEV. National Park in eastern Nevada close to the Utah border.

38. One may be civil: ENGINEER. I used to go to football matches back in England with a friend who was a civil engineer. His language was anything but civil when his team was losing (which was often!)

41. Message board item: POSTING

42. South, in Avignon: SUD

43. Local news segment: WEATHER

45. Settled in for the night, with "down": BEDDED

46. Surfeit: GLUT

47. Fluted on the march: FIFED. I fell for the "PIPED" trap at first, but didn't take long to correct it.

48. Jungian inner self: ANIMA. I think I knew this, but the crosses filled it in for me.

50. Momentary error: LAPSE

52. Fades to black: ENDS

54. Bit: IOTA

55. Stops shooting: CUTS. I like that movie and TV directors still have megaphones; I saw a lot in use when I worked on the lot at Warner Bros.



56. "Stat!": ASAP!

59. Gabor of "Green Acres": EVA. Her sister, Magda, was briefly married to George Sanders, who had been previously married to the third sister, Zsa Zsa. Keepin' it in the family!

I think that about covers it for today. Here's the grid, with the circled "compass rose" in the center.

Steve

Tuesday, October 8, 2019 Debra Hamel

But is it erasable?  The first word of each theme answer can proceed the word Pencil to give us a new concept.

17-Across. Ocular arch-shaping cosmetic: EYEBROW WAX.  Eyebrow Pencil.

26-Across. Robby the Robot, e.g.: MECHANICAL MAN.  Mechanical Pencil.

48-Across. Backyard cooker: CHARCOAL GRILL.  Charcoal Pencil.  Everything you wanted to know about the difference between a charcoal pencil vs. a graphite pencil but were afraid to ask.

And the Unifier:

65. Tentative "It's a date" ... or a hint to the starts of 17-, 26-, and 48-Across: PENCIL ME IN.  If you "pencil in" an appointment in your date book, you can always erase the date and cancel your plans if you get a better offer.

Across:

1. How headless chickens may run: AMOK.  Did you know a turtle can swim without a head?

5. Argo and Titanic: SHIPS.

10. Email asking for money, perhaps: SCAM.

14. Pedi partner: MANI.  As a Pedicure and Manicure.

15. "A Confederacy of Dunces" author John Kennedy __: TOOLE.  John Kennedy Toole (Dec. 17, 1937 ~ Mar. 26, 1969) was from New Orleans.  Sadly, he died by suicide at age 31.  His most well-known novel was A Confederacy of Dunces, which was published after his death.

16. Gyro bread: PITA.  Yummers!

19. Like Felix Unger, e.g.: ANAL.  Hmm ...

20. Forbidden regions: NO-GO AREAS.

21. Mom's brother: UNCLE.  My mother had no brothers, thus I have no maternal uncles.

22. __ Lanka: SRI.  The island country off the coast of India.  Between 1948 and 1972, the country was known as Ceylon.  The name Sri Lanka means "Resplendent Island" in Sanskrit.

23. 1/60 of an hr.: MIN.  There are 60 Minutes in an Hour.

25. "The cow is of the bovine __; / One end is moo, the other, milk": Ogden Nash: ILK.

32. Miss. neighbor: ALA.  Louisiana and Arkansas are also neighbors of Mississippi, but the answer today is Alabama.

33. High school stat: GPA.  As in the Grade Point Average.

34. Loewe's lyricist: LERNER.  Alan Jay Lerner (Aug. 31, 1918 ~ June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist who collaborated with Frederick Loewe (June 10, 1901 ~ Feb. 14, 1988), who was a composer.  Together they created many well known Broadway musicals, including My Fair Lady and Camelot.

Lerner is on the right.

37. Dog pack leader: ALPHA.

40. One or more: ANY.

42. Spanish "I love you": TE AMO.  Today's Spanish lesson, obviously.

43. Get by: MANAGE.

45. Article in Die Zeit: DER.  Today's German lesson.

47. Up to, briefly: 'TIL.  Short for Until.

52. N, E, S or W: DIR.  N(orth), E(ast), S(outh) or W(est) are all Directions.

54. Golf teacher: PRO.

55. Portuguese saint: SÃO.  Today's Portuguese lesson.

56. UPS driver's assignment: ROUTE.

58. Not one to pass up a porterhouse: MEAT LOVER.

64. King of Siam's Broadway dance partner: ANNA.  Anna and the King of Siam was a musical by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.  It was loosely based on the true story of Anna Leonowens (Nov. 5, 1831 ~ Jan. 19, 1915), who was a tutor to the children of King Mongkut.  Russian-born Yul Brynner (July 11, 1920 ~ Oct. 10, 1985) played the role of the King.

66. The Stones' Jagger: MICK.

Sir Michael Philip Jagger (b. July 26, 1943).

67. One-eighty: U-TURN.

68. Distort, as rules: BEND.  Bending the law doesn't exactly break the law, but it could be considered inappropriate or unfair.

69. Throbbing pain: ACHE.

70. Pro bono promise: NO FEE.

71. Boats like Noah's: ARKS.  Not all Arks, however, would be laden with animals.

Down:

1. Last word before digging in?: AMEN.  Cute clue.  A reference to saying Grace before a meal.

2. BLT condiment: MAYO.  A Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich would have Mayonnaise in it as well.

3. 10 C-notes: ONE-G.  Ten C-notes *$100 bills) are worth One-Grand ($1,000).

4. Put the __ on: squelch: KIBOSH.

5. Attic function: STORING.  I initially tried Storage.

6. Sewing machine inventor Elias: HOWE.  Elias Howe (July 9, 1819 ~ Oct. 3, 1867) is credited with creating the modern sewing machine.  Isaac Merritt Singer (Oct. 27, 1811 ~ July 23, 1875), however, has his name associated with the machine.  Howe was a nice family man, but Singer was quite the cad.  Singer is believed to have fathered at least 24 children with various wives and mistresses.

Elias Howe and his Sewing Machine.

7. Corn Belt state: IOWA.

8. Outmoded TV type: PLASMA.

9. __ symbol: SEX.

10. Wing measurement: SPAN.  The Albatros has the largest wingspan of any living bird.

11. Where Reds play: CINCINNATI.  A baseball reference to the Cincinnati Reds.

12. In the least: AT ALL.

13. 2018 Best Actor Rami __: MALEK.  Rami Said Malek (b. May 12, 1981) plays Elliot Alderson on the television series Mr. Robot.  He won the 2018 Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Malek is on the right.

18. Hard to find, to Caesar: RARA.  Today's Latin lesson.

21. Like some expectations: UNMET.

24. Feeling poorly: ILL.

26. Palindromic address: MA'AM.

27. "Enchanted" film title girl: ELLA.

28. Naval officer on a cereal box: CAP'N CRUNCH.  This cereal has been around since 1963.  We used to eat it as kids.

29. Beer initialism: IPA.  As in India Pale Ale.  Here's the history of India Pale Ale.

30. "I'm on it!": CAN DO!

31. "We __ Farmers": insurance slogan: ARE.

35. Pianist Gilels: EMIL.  I am not familiar with Emil Gilels (Oct. 19, 1916 ~ Oct. 14, 1985).  He was a Soviet musician.  It's a long piece, but worth listening to.

 

36. Winning streak: ROLL.

38. "Yeah, right!": HAH!

39. With jaw dropped: AGAPE.

41. Affirmative vote: YEA.

44. Do something human?: ERR.

46. Stephen King's kid lit counterpart: R.L. STINE.  Today is the birthday of R.L. Stine (né Robert Lawrence Stine; Oct. 8, 1943).  He turns 76 today.  Happy Birthday!  He is best known for his Goosebumps series of horror fiction for children.

49. Awaken: COME TO.

50. Sometimes it's unmitigated: GALL.

51. Self-moving vacuum: ROOMBA.

52. Certain queen's bailiwick: DRAMA.  Cute clue.  We all know someone who is a big DRAMA QUEEN.

53. Greek column type: IONIC.  There were 3 major styles of columns in ancient Greek architecture: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.  (If Debra Hamel, today's constructor, is who I think she is, then she is a historian specializing in Ancient Greece.)

57. Word before part or heart: TAKE.  As in the phrases Take Part and Take Heart.

59. Sufficient, in texts: ENUF.  Meh!

60. "Back forty" unit: ACRE.  The most remote area of the farm.

61. Swerve: VEER.

62. Kindle technology: E-INK.  I don't have a Kindle.  I do have a Nook, but I really prefer to read an actual book with pages that I can flip back and forth.

63. Gps. of drinks: RNDS.  As in Rounds.  "I'll get the next Round!"

65. "The lowest form of humor ~ when  you don't think of it first": Oscar Levant:  PUN.

Here's the Grid:

QOD:  Read.  Read.  Read.  Just don’t read one type of book.  Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.  ~ R.L. Stine (né Robert Lawrence Stine; b. Oct. 8, 1943).  See 46-Down.
    

Notes from C.C.:

Happy 78 birthday to dear Jayce, who's been with our blog for over a decade. Thanks for understanding so deeply my 🥣安 and other problems, Jayce. So glad you found us. Here's his wedding picture again. Young and Beautiful.