Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Sala Wanetick & Dena R. Verkuil

 

Good Morning, Cruciverblists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of a puzzle co-authored by Sala Wanetick and Dena R. Verkuil.  I recently (May 27th of this year) blogged one of Sala's puzzles.  Dena made her L. A. Times crossword debut in September, 2025 and has also had puzzles published in the N.Y. Times.

Today, they team up in the hope that we will all have a blast working out the answers.  Let's start with the unifier:

64 Across:  Finish dramatically, or what the answers to the starred clues do: END WITH A BANG.

Each of the answers to the four starred clues are comprised of two words.  In each case, the second word is, more or less a description of, well, as the clue put it, something dramatic.  Some are more dramatic than others but we surely get the gist of it.

Here are the four starred clues and answers:

18 Across:  *Time of financial growth: ECONOMIC BOOM.  

26 Across:  *What may follow kids in a candy store?: SUGAR CRASH.  . . . after the sugar high.  This one might have been linked to 18 Across.

40 Across:  *Handshake alternative: FIST BUMP.

Nares Bump

54 Across: . *Stressful contest?: POETRY SLAM.  In this case, stress refers to how poets create meaningful experiences for readers.  A SLAM is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.

This is how everything appears in the completed grid:

Here are the rest of the clues and their answers:

Across:

1. Getting off the fence: OPTING.  Someone who is undecided as to how to proceed is said to be sitting on the fence.

7. Indian state known for silk and tea: ASSAM.  A place frequently visited in our puzzles.  Five letters and four of those are A and S.

12. Nothing special: MEH.  We can take it or leave it.

15. Subdued: LOW KEY.

16. High wispy clouds: CIRRI.  Plural of CIRRUS

17. 'Twas the night before Christmas?: EVE.  Not sure about that question mark.  The preceding night really is the EVE.

20. Antidiscrimination HR initiative: DEI.  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

21. Replace with a grawlix, say: CENSOR.  This solver had never come across the word grawlix although I was certainly familiar with the c0ncept.

22. Helping: AIDING.

24. Gush: SPEW.

29. Elixirs: TONICS.  What is a Genie's favorite drink?  A Djinn and TONIC.

32. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.

Paul Ehrlich

33. Past regulation, briefly: IN OT.  Regulation, in this case, refers to the normal length of a sporting contest (e.g. four quarters, three periods, sixty minutes).  It the score is tied at the end of regulation it goes INto OverTime.

34. Blooper reel bit: OUTTAKE.

36. Sounding shocked: AGASP.

39. TD's six: PTS.  A  football reference.  A TouchDown scores six PoinTS

42. Knight's title: SIR.

45. Italian scooter: VESPA.

46. Try to be like: EMULATE.

48. Eye ailment: STYE.

51. Puppy's bark: YIP.  Have you heard about the zoo where the only animal is a single dog?  It's a Shih Tzu.

53. Speechified: ORATED.

58. Antacid brand: TUMS.

 

59. "Let me check": I'LL SEE.

60. Someone who has a trying job?: TESTER.  One who tries things out.

63. Manicure choice: GEL.  More often clued with a reference to hair.

69. Andrea Gibson's "__ to the Public Panic Attack": ODE.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.  If you wish to listen to this ODE, here it is:

70. Oktoberfest mug: STEIN.  What's the smallest amount of beer you can order at an Oktoberfest gathering?  Ein STEIN.

71. Soul legend Franklin: ARETHA.

72. Craggy hill: TOR.

73. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  Supreme Court Justices often visit our puzzles.   We know many of them by their first names.  Samuel and Ruth and ELENA come to mind.

74. "Let's hear it!": DO TELL.  Gossip.

Down:

1. Fútbol chant: OLE.  Often heard at the FIFA World Cup games.

2. Abbr. that includes many racial identities: POC.  Person Of Color

3. Opinion: TWO CENTS.  There are several theories as to the origin of this expression.

4. "Didn't fool me!": I KNEW IT.   Yes, we did.

5. Gas in bright signs: NEON.

6. Fitness centers: GYMS.

7. Accumulate, as sick time: ACCRUE.

8. Sis or bro: SIB.  Abbreviations.  Sister.  Brother.  SIBlings.

9. "No seats" sign: SRO.  Standing Room Only

10. Like fans after great plays: AROAR.

11. Mirror: MIMIC.  Used as a verb.

12. Freeway divider: MEDIAN.

13. "And yet ... ": EVEN SO.

14. Progress that may be measured on a doorframe: HEIGHT.

19. Siri platform: IOS.  An Apple reference.

23. Coffee option: DRIP.   

24. "Quit it!": STOP.

25. Sulky look: POUT.  Y0u better watch out, you better not cry . . .

27. Snatch quickly: GRAB.  Trying to GRAB some toilet paper at Costco during the pandemic was quite traumatic.  I came away with TPSD.

28. Exchange words: ARGUE.

30. Bistro: CAFE.

31. Hits the slopes: SKIS.

35. Awards such as Best Play and Best Team: ESPYS.  The ESPY Awards (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, and often referred to as the ESPYs) is an annual American awards show produced by ESPN since 1993, recognizing individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony.

37. Paintballs, e.g.: AMMO.

38. Egg (on): SPUR.  The clue makes use of the idiom.

41. Long part of a comet: TAIL.

42. Drench: SATURATE.

43. Article: ITEM.

44. Cincinnati MLBers: REDS.

45. Doberman docs: VETS.  VETerinarianS

Not this Doberman

This Doberman

47. Dishonorable wager: LATE BET.  Considered to be dishonorable because the outcome may have been discernible before the wager was placed.

48. Faucet: SPIGOT.

49. Ohio city on Lake Erie: TOLEDO.

50. Loud person: YELLER.  Also the Labrador of movie renown.

52. Green film on copper: PATINA.

55. Actress Witherspoon: REESE.

56. Film starring Barbra Streisand as a woman who pretends to be a yeshiva boy: YENTL.

57. "Have we __?": MET.

61. Herring kin: SHAD.

62. Dim sum root vegetable: TARO.  If your book is made of root vegetables...You’re doing a taro reading!

65. Department head?: DEE.  The first letter of the word Department.

66. Finish first: WIN.

67. Org. emulated in "Heated Rivalry": NHL.  National Hockey League

68. Lass: GAL.  This one reminded yours truly of one of his favorite limericks:

There once was a GAL from Kilglass
Who had a magnificent ass
Not round and pink as you probably think
It was brown, had long ears and ate grass

On that note, it's probably time to haul outta here.  Everyone have a great rest of the week . . . and beyond.

___________________________________________________________

M M OUT
With A Bang

Thursday, September 18, 2025, J.R. Willard, Dena R. Verkuil

Theme:  This puzzle isn't all there!

Today's puzzle appears to be an L.A. Times debut for each of our two constructors.  Dena R. Verkuil has had three puzzles published in the New York Times, and JP Willard co-created a puzzle with Lynn Watson for Universal crossword.  Did these newbies ERR somewhere?  They left three clues blank!

The explanation is found here:

59-Across. Is completely unaware, or what can be said about 17-, 26-, and 47- Across: DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE.  It is true that 17-, 26-, and 47- Across don't have clues.  It is also true that "doesn't have a clue" is an expression meaning to have no knowledge, understanding, or idea about something, or to be out of touch with reality.  The following theme entries have no clues, but they do have answers, all of which are expressions meaning essentially the same thing.

17-Across.        : ON ANOTHER PLANET.

26-Across.        : IN LA LA LAND.

47-Across.        : OUT TO LUNCH.

I hope you didn't draw total blanks on the theme answers!  On to more traditional clues!

Across:

1. Norimaki or gunkanmaki: SUSHI.  Norimaki consists of rice and fillings tightly rolled in a sheet of nori seaweed.  Gunkanmaki is an oval mound of rice wrapped in nori to create a little vessel for soft, creamy, or loose ingredients.  I took an educated guess on this one.

Norimaki     and     Gunkanmaki

6. Swiss Army Knife's array: USES.  A Swiss army knife has many uses, but do the uses consitute an array?  I questioned this, thinking that "array" best described physical objects, like the blades and tools on a Swiss army knife, but I learned that you can have an array of problems, or styles, or options, or other things that exist as concepts.

10. Yemen's Gulf of __: ADEN.

14. Budget-friendly: CHEAP.

15. Home of the Shipibo-Conibo people: PERU.  An indigenous group living along the Ucayali River in the headwaters of the Amazon.  

I took this photo of a local fisherman on the Ucayali River in 2018.
I love that a butterfly landed on his cap.

16. Wrapped garment: CAPE.

17. [Theme clue]

20. Blabbed: TOLD.

21. Tear (up): RIP.

22. Zigs and zags: DODGES.

23. Send: MAIL.

25. Actress Essman: SUSIE.  Susie Essman plays Susie Greene on Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Susie Essman on Curb Your Enthusiasm

26. [Theme clue]

30. Part of a circumference: ARC.

32. Like some grapes and tennis players: SEEDED.  Tennis players are ranked, or "seeded," according to past performance, and distributed across tournaments so that the best players do not face each other until later rounds.  Seeded grapes, well ... we don't have to eat those anymore, thanks to selective breeding.

33. Union fees: DUES.

35. Cry noisily: SOB.

37. Rubber tree goo: LATEX.  Proteins in latex can cause skin irritation.  DH can't tolerate bandages made with latex.

38. Playground game: TAG.

39. Kick back: CHILL.

41. Funny bone spot: ARM.

42. Succinct "No time to waste!": ASAP.

44. Get down: BOOGIE.  Some sources say "get down and boogie" means to get up and dance.  

45. 5-Down regulators: Abbr.: SEC.  Transactions on the New York Stock Exchange are regulated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

47. [Theme clue]

49. Gleam: GLINT.

51. Frees (of): RIDS.

52. Galápagos lizard: IGUANA.  Iguanas in the Galápagos islands eat algae in the ocean.  They are the only lizards that spend any part of their lives in a marine environment.

I took this photo of a marine iguana on Española in the Galápagos in 2016.
I kvetch about having to work at my age, but someone has to pay for all this galavanting.

54. Casual greetings: HIS.

55. Make at work: EARN.

59. [Theme clue]

62. Gal: LASS.

63. Start of a classic palindrome implausibly attributed to Napoleon: ABLE.  Although this palindrome first appeared in print almost 30 years after Napoleon's death, it was written as though he might have said it -- especially if  Napoleon had been fond of inventing phrases that read the same way backwards and forwards -- in English, no less:

       “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”

64. Pointe shoe fabric: SATIN.  My late sister was a dancer; she had pink satin pointe shoes hanging by their ribbons in various rooms of her home.

65. "Keep Commerce Human" website: ETSY.  I have never encountered this slogan for Etsy, but I do recommend the site for handmade items and craft supplies.

66. Low on the Mohs' scale: SOFT.  The Mohs scale ranks the hardness of minerals from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest).  

67. "Poor Things" Oscar winner: STONE.  If you enjoy a steampunk aesthetic, blending the Victorian era with futuristic and fantastical elements, you just might love Emma Stone in Poor Things.  I did.

Down:

1. One who may be loched in?: SCOT.

2. "Not for all the tea in China": UH NO.  Seasoned solvers have come to expect silly answers like this one.  "No way" and "Not on your life" wouldn't fit.

3. Elephant __: SEAL.

4. Crafted with care: HANDMADE.  Like much of the merchandise on ETSY.

5. NYSE debut: IPO.  An Initial Public Offering is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public.

6. Like their walks to school (in the snow, both ways), per some grandparents: UPHILL.

7. Flow slowly: SEEP.

8. Fumble: ERR.

9. "Yo, bro!": SUP DUDE.

10. Maine attraction: ACADIA.  It was rainy and cold when DH and I visited Acadia National Park in October 2019, and the leaves had not yet changed to autumn colors.  So here is someone else's (enhanced?) photo of the view from Cadillac Mountain:

11. Posting with a hazard symbol, e.g.: DANGER SIGN.

You come in here, stuff's gonna fall on you!

12. Duel-purpose tool?: ÉPÉE.

13. Catches: NETS.

18. Simple chord: TRIAD.

19. __ Angeles: LOS.

24. Speaker of the house?: ALEXA.  Amazon Echo smart speaker hardware is inhabited by Alexa voice assistance software.

25. Formfitting: SNUG.

26. Puerto Rico, por ejemplo: ISLA.  Puerto Rico, for example:  island.

27. Comes close: NEARS.

28. "I bet I know what you're going to say": LET ME GUESS.

29. Modify to fit: ADAPT.

31. Infant's ailment: COLIC.

34. Reprimand: SCOLD.

36. "This tastes terrible": BLEH.

38. Like a bed sheet with no creases: TAUT.

40. Purrr-fect roommate: HOUSE CAT.

43. Some Bach works: SONATAS.

44. Capital city with a New Year's Eve Potato Drop: BOISE.  We may have to switch to this broadcast on New Year's Eve!

46. Sophisticated: CLASSY.

48. Spot for a hot pot: TRIVET.

50. Place to stay: INN.

52. Not engaged: IDLE.

53. Kid at a petting zoo: GOAT.  When eldest son was in nursery school (more than 40 years ago), his class made a field trip to the L.A. Zoo.  The dear boy told me he was catching the GOAT in this photo with the string in his hand.

54. 13.1 miles of a marathon, e.g.: HALF.  A marathon is a foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres, or about 26 miles and 385 yards.

56. Midrange voice: ALTO.

57. Total: RUIN.  In this case, TOTAL is a verb, meaning to damage beyond repair.  To give almost equal billing to eldest daughter, she totaled my car when she was 17.  Bless the airbags in that old Corolla.

58. Hawaii's state bird: NENE.  Who's seen a NENE?  ME ME!

We took my mama to the Big Island and saw this Nene, or Hawaiian Goose.

60. "The White Lotus" airer: HBO.

61. Pack animal: ASS.

Here's the grid:

As this post NEARS its end, LET ME GUESS ...

Did you ADAPT easily to the missing clues?

Or did they RUIN the puzzle for you?

Let us know in the comments below!  

-- NaomiZ