Friday, May 10, 2024, David B. Ritterskamp

 Theme: Your INITIAL reaction:

Puzzling thoughts:  

David Ritterskamp appears to be a fairly new constructor of xword puzzles.  This may be his LA Times debut.  If so, congratulations!

Today's puzzle has its reveal placed at the dead center of the grid:

34. With 36-Across, first encounter, or what the answers to the starred clues make?: INITIAL

36. See 34-Across: CONTACT

My initial reaction to this - as I slogged through the grid in a very pedestrian time of around 15 minutes or so - was "meh".  So, I stepped away from the computer and let this one sink in for a day or two before starting my blog

After reviewing the entries, I am still somewhat nonplussed.  No offense meant to David.  I just don't know how else to react to the puzzle

Here are the four entries and what I took from them:

16-across. *Sound made by bursting a cereal bag?: SPECIAL K POP.  Special-K is a brand of cereal (seemed to be more popular back in my youth) that catered to adults (mostly women) who were counting their breakfast calories

K-pop (short for Korean Popular Music) is characterized by a mixture of modern Western sounds and African-American influences (including sounds from Hip-hop, R&B, Jazz, black pop, soul, funk, techno, disco, house, and Afrobeats) [wikipedia]

The initial "K" is in contact with both the word Special and the word Pop.  The sound that is made from bursting a cereal bag is "POP"

29-across. *24-hour TV marathon that requires glasses?: THREE D DAY.  Three-D (as spelled out; better known as 3D) is the appearance of something that has (in its image) length, width, and depth.  Images on a flat screen surface (movies and tv) are seen in 2D (length and width).  But with 3D Glasses one can see the added "depth" feature  

D-day is most commonly referred to as the invasion of Normandy and nearby beaches by Allied troops in WWII.  This occurred on June 6, 1944.  

Fun fact: Here's what you get when you google the term D-DAY Marathon 

The initial "D" is in contact with both the word Three and the word Day.  The 24-hour period that requires 3D glasses is a DAY

43-across. *Many fan letters to N.W.A.?: EAZY E MAIL.  Eazy-E was a member of N.W.A. who died some thirty years ago  

E-mail is a popular means of communication 

The initial "E" is in contact with both Eazy and mail.  Fan letters used to be sent primarily by MAIL - as in the US Postal Service

59-across. *Bridge that plays a familiar note when crossed?: MIDDLE C SPAN. Middle C is a musical note that every piano student is familiar with.  Middle C (video); Middle C (more info about the note)

C-SPAN is a private nonprofit television network organization that is funded by its cable, satellite, and streaming affiliates.  They feature live broadcast of the US Government (think Congress hearings, e.g.) and other public affairs programming  

The initial "C" is in contact with the word Middle and the word Span.  Another definition/characteristic of the word SPAN is bridge.  If a bridge were to play a familiar note as it's being crossed, Middle C would suffice

I hope this is what David had in mind when he created this puzzle.  If any of you who visit here and read the blog have a different view, please comment below.  Here is the grid; you can see (by the black marks in the corners of some of the squares) where I made my errors:

Across:

1. Percolate: DRIP.  I had the word "BREW" to begin with, but changed it as the down words said otherwise ... had I seen this "CLECHO" I might have chosen: (66-across. Percolate:) SEEP.  

Not sure that I've seen the first across word and last across word be synonyms, but I'm sure it's happened. Was this accidental or planned??  Maybe David can stop by and let us know ... 

5. After, in Avignon: APRES.  I always think of this word when it applies to a winter sports activity:

10. Texting format initials: SMS.  Crossword-ese

13. Tiniest bit: IOTA.  Ditto

14. Flexible: PLIANT.  Good Friday word (good, as in acceptable!)

15. __ it on thick: LAY.  

18. Ancient: OLD.  Probably how my grandson sees me when I am being curmudgeonly 

19. Fix, in a way: CEMENT. Krazy-Glue didn't fit

20. Tags on Insta, say: ATS.  No clue; I rarely use Instagram so this is a foreign phrase.  Auto-tags?? (this is a WAG)

21. __ song: SWAN. Moe-ku:

Witty Mockingbird
Retired. Guess his last act?
He sang his SWAN song

22. California home of the National Yo-Yo Museum: CHICO.  I tried CHINO and got a black mark in the "N" square

24. "Us" director Jordan: PEELE.  His biography

25. Sales talk: PITCH.  SPIEL also fit - until it didn't

31. "Brave New World" drug: SOMA.  Here is why SOMA

32. __-ray: BLU.  Got this one!

33. Rooibos, for one: TEA.  I didn't get this one until perps came by ... I will likely see this again, so I had better commit this to memory

40. University extension: EDU.  Got this one, too

41. Baseball's Mattingly: DON.  Got this one; 

Fun Fact:  This past weekend, NYY captain Aaron Judge (the newest Yankee player to be featured in xword puzzles) was ejected for having an argument at home plate (with the ump) on a called third strike. This always carries an immediate ejection.  Almost exactly 30 years ago (May 12, 1994), DON Mattingly (who was also the Yankees' team captain at that time) was ejected for a called third strike.  They are only two Yankee captains to ever get ejected from a game by an umpire

The "hit man"; aka, "Donnie Baseball"

42. Sound reflection: ECHO.  Is this worth repeating?

47. Spot of land: ISLET.  Or, a spot/dot in the water on most atlases and globes

48. Some vines: IVIES.  "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat IVIES ..."

49. Bailey's Irish __: CREAM.  This used to be my go-to CREAMer for my coffee ... until I discovered Buffalo Trace Bourbon CREAM

51. Give for a time: LEND.  The past tense of LOAN.  We gotta pay attention to our tenses here when reading the clues and filling in the grid ...

52. Means to be cooler: FAN.  As opposed to "ways" to be cooler, which could be "HIP"

53. Irrigates: WATERS.  This video shows another type of "irrigation" @ 2:57 ... the patient appears to be in shock! 😕😧😮

58. Gerund suffix: ING.  [from Oxford Languages]: "a gerund in a form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing, e.g., asking in do you mind my asking you?"

61. Take advice from a personal injury lawyer, perhaps: SUE. Moe-ku 2:

Singer Johnny Cash
Employed a gentile lawyer:
He's a goy named SUE

62. Submits taxes sans paper: E-FILES. It has been my means of filing for over a decade now

63. Anti-fur gp.: PETA. Hmm?:

Does this pass the no-politics test??

64. Them alternative: HER.  They/them; she/her; he/him

65. Make big bangs?: TEASE. Moe-ku 3:

Character Penny
Liked to flirt with Leonard on:
The Big TEASE Theory ...

Down:
1. Compact __: DISC.  Or it could've been clued as: "the D in CD"

2. Wrangler's need: ROPE.  JEEP fit, but in the clue's context did not

3. Shipped pair?: ITEM.  Credit Margaret for explaining this to C-Moe:  "let's say you're shipping a pair of shoes in a box.  The UPS store would see that shipment as one 'ITEM'"

Seems plausible to me ...

4. Walk to and fro: PACE.

5. Tide shelfmate: ALL.  I think the clue is OK (ALL is a brand of laundry detergent; like Tide) provided they meant "store-shelfmate".  We only have one brand of detergent on the shelf in our laundry room, and a bar of Fels Naptha

6. Detective voiced by Ryan Reynolds: PIKACHU.  A Pokemon character

7. Kite, for one: RAPTOR.  Learning Moe-ment: [earthlife dot net]: "Kites are smaller raptors with long wings and weak legs which spend a great deal of time soaring. They occur naturally in the warmer regions of this world. In general they will take live prey but mostly feed on dead animals"

8. Father of Kenan: ENOS.  Most of we old folks will recall when a constructor wanted to use the word "ENOS", they would clue it as : Slugger Slaughter (or something similar)

9. Gas additive brand: STP.  Could this abbr. be clued any differently?  There must be a texting phrase linked to these letters ... Stop Typing Poorly, perhaps??

10. Got ready to stop: SLOWED.  Last week I slowed as I was making a right hand turn (green light) and got rear-ended. The guy who rear-ended me had no insurance card at the scene, but was cited by the police for causing the accident.  I am still waiting to hear from my insurance carrier to see if they were able to determine if he does have coverage.  In the meantime, my car is about 50/50 from being totaled (according to the body shop) ... arrgghh

11. UNESCO's __ Fund for Girls' Right to Education: MALALA.  Looks like a very worthy cause

12. "Finding Nemo" city: SYDNEY.  I visited Sydney once, but never found Nemo.  I did climb the Harbour Bridge, though.  No personal cameras allowed so I have no photo to share other than this "stock one":

 

I climbed it at night. Sydney Opera House to the left

14. Well-worn trail: PATH.  Margaret and I have hiked many of the trails nearby; they are quite well-worn.  Many are over 150 years old

 

Treasure Loop trail (path) in AZ

17. Move slowly: INCH.  Three Stooges, anyone??!

21. Gets ready for surgery: SEDATES.  Before or after they IRRIGATE the wound??  I was most recently SEDATED when I had my colonoscopy.  Interesting that the performing physician referred to the procedure as "surgery"

23. "__ cost ya!": IT'LL.  Not this blog, though.  It's free but I know that C. C. welcomes any donations

24. Hammer end: PEEN.  I started to create a Moe-ku and then said, "Nope" 😀

25. Penultimate Greek letter: PSI.  Don't you just love the word "penultimate"??!

26. F-, e.g.: ION.  In this case, a fluoride ION

27. "I'm covering my ears now!": TMI.

28. Like some retro frames: CAT-EYED.  My partner Margaret admits that she had a pair of these when she was a kid.  She refuses to EVER get another pair of these frames again ...

This is not Margaret, BTW. Though without glasses they do look similar

30. School near Heathrow: ETON.  Yet another way to clue this classic crossword entry

32. Scarecrow creator: BAUM.  The creator of "The Wizard of Oz", L. Frank BAUM

35. __ of March: IDES.

36. Natalie with nine Grammys: COLE.  Would not have been easy to parse if the clue were: "Natalie with nine "grammies" ... I had three grammies, growing up ...

37. Knee pt.: ACL.  I was at first "torn" by what to put here ... 😃

38. Marxist Guevara: CHE.

39. Tyke: TOT.

41. Oktoberfest outfits: DIRNDLS.  A German dress - famous in the Alps

43. Billie who is the youngest woman to win two Oscars: EILISH.  Best Song - for "Barbie" and "No Time to Die"

44. Way, or means: AVENUE.  Not "Means or Ways" - a federal committee responsible for taxes and tariffs

45. Snappy put-down: ZINGER.  I like Sheldon's word, better ... long

46. National park on Mount Desert Island: ACADIA.  Margaret has never been to Maine.  I have, but have never visited ACADIA National Park.  Bucket list item

47. Apple with a few cores: IMAC.  Probably the most clever clue in today's puzzle.  Computers have  "cores" (multiple) while an apple (fruit) has just one.  Apple is the computer company that makes the IMAC desktop model

Moe-ku 4:

My Apple IMAC
Had a faulty CPU:
Rotten to the core

50. Stupefies: AWES.

52. Revolutionary era pipe: FIFE. As in FIFE and drums corps

54. Baking amts.: TSPS.

55. Foil alternative: EPEE.  Saran wrap would not fit ...

56. Give a star, maybe: RATE.  To me, I will usually only RATE a product (or service) based on whether it totally pleased me (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) or totally pissed me off (⭐)

57. Lose it: SNAP.  When I was rear-ended last week I admit that I snapped

59. Crossed: MET.  Did anyone keep track of the TLWs today?? Irish Miss??

60. Greta of "The Morning Show": LEE.  Greta LEE plays Sheila Bak  Total unknown, to me

And there you have it!  Comments and questions are always welcome

Friday, May 3, 2024, Jay Silverman

Watch the Birdies

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  It's the first Friday of the merry, merry month of May and it is time for yours truly, Malodorous Manatee, to have the pleasure of sharing with you a recap of today's puzzle by Ms. Ann Margaret.  Oops, Freudian slip.  I meant to say a puzzle constructed by Jay Silverman.

At the (somewhat) traditional four places within the grid, each one marked with a star for our convenience,  our puzzle setter has conjured up answers which, when we remove a type of bird, yield an appropriate answer to the clue as worded.  Let's start with the reveal:

66 Across:  Musical with the song "Put On a Happy Face," and a hint to making four answers match their starred clues: BYE BYE BIRDIE.  It might have been clued as Musical with the song "Bye Bye Birdie" but that would lie outside of the traditions of crossword puzzles...even on a Monday.

Here are the places where the theme is applied, and how it is applied:

18 Across:  *Promo for long-range basket shooters?: THREES A CROWD.  Say bye bye to the CROW and we get THREES AD.  A basketball reference.  An advertisement for three-point shots.  Or, perhaps, something spotted in the local personal ads?

27 Across:  *Easy-to-revisit search engine results?: BOWLING PINS.  Say bye bye to the OWL and we get BING PINS.  BING, of course, is an online search engine and if you PIN something it makes it easy to get back to what you have pinned (saved).

42 Acrooss:  *Frilly fabric from the Middle East?: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.  Say bye bye to the WREN and we are left with LACE OF ARABIA.

He's Not Dressed In Lace

But This Did Seem Appropriate

51  Across: *Award coveted by directors Anderson and Craven?: BEST WESTERN.  Say bye bye to the TERN and we get BEST WES.  The covetous directors are, of course, WES Anderson and WES Craven.

This is how it all looks in the completed grid:

Here, below, are the rest of the clues and their answers:

Across:

1. "I suppose it's true!":  MUST BE.  The puzzle starts right off with something someone might say.  No $#1+ would have fit, and would have been an appropriate answer, but that would lie outside of the traditions of crossword puzzles . . . even on a Friday.

7. Cab opening: PEDI. A wine reference?  Something about uncorking a Cabernet?  No.  Opening, in this case, means in front of.   Four letters.  Taxi cab?  Closer but, again, no.  A cab that must be pedaled to get you where you wish to go.  PEDI as in foot.

A Pedicab

11. Middle ear?: COB. Not an anatomical reference.  An agricultural/food reference.  The middle of an ear of corn.

14. Beseech: ENTREAT.

16. Treasury Dept. concern: ECON.  As in the phrase that James Carville is credited with having coined:  "The ECONomy, stupid."

17. Oft-torn knee pt.: ACL.  An anatomical reference and the first of several abbreviations, today.  Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

20. Passable grade: CEE.  A minor nit.  Dee is passing.  Cee is average.

21. Girl's name that means "small river": RIA.  Anyone know anybody named RIA?

22. Hop back in horror: RECOIL.

23. Teensy bits: IOTAS.  Can teensy bits be said to be frequent visitors?

25. Actor Omar: EPPS. Sharif was too long.

29. Title Pixar fish: DORY.  Hands up for first thinking NEMO?

31. Tiller's tool: HOE.

32. Give or take: ABOUT.  VERBS?  Not this time.  Sort of.  More or less.

34. Bring on: INCUR.   On the first day of college, the Dean addressed the students, pointing out some of the rules. "The female dormitory will be prohibited for all male students, and the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $50 the first time." He continued, "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $100. Being caught a third time will INCUR a hefty fine of $200. Are there any questions?" At this, a student in the crowd inquired, "How much for a season pass?"

38. Wild garlic: RAMP.  New to this solver.  From an online source:  "The zesty spring green most commonly known as ramps goes by many names in English, such as ramson (British), buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wild leeks, wood garlic or bear’s garlic.  Known as ‘Bärlauch’ (bear’s leek) in German, the name derives from the fact that brown bears like to eat the bulbs of the plant and dig up the ground to get at them, as do wild boar."

45. Actress Redgrave: LYNN.

Lynn Redgrave and Her Sister Vanessa

46. Eclipse: OUTDO.  Did anyone here get to observe the recent solar OUTDO?  Oh, used here as a verb.  Isn't English a funny, and extremely flexible, language?

47. "The gloves are off!": ITS ON.  An idiom for a clue and an idiom for an answer.  Another example of things-people-might-say.

48. Some tense periods, briefly: OTS.  OverTimeS  Neither a reference to societal issues nor a reference to personal stress.  A sports reference.

50. Gp. that includes the UAE and Gabon: OPEC.  Well, even with the mixed messaging, two abbreviations out of three in the clue should have been enough of a tip off that the answer would be an abbreviation.

58. Totally on board: SOLD.  Convinced.

61. Star part: CAMEO.  Not a portion of a celestial body.  A (small) role for a movie star.

62. Neatens: TIDIES.  My ex-wife once remarked, "You think I have OCD when it comes to tidiness, but you are wrong.  I just want to clear that up.”

64. Negative conjunction: NOR.  Rearrange the letters in NOR Do We to make one word.

65. AI exec, perhaps: CTO.  Chief Technology Officer   The reference to Artificial Intelligence in the clue leads us to something technology related.

69. "Not a mouse!": EEK.  Didn't they get this one backwards?  EKE out a living.  EEK a mouse!  Oh, I get it.   As in, "Please, please, please let it not be a mouse!"

70. Actress Skye: IONE.  Three vowels out of four letters.  A frequent visitor.

71. Follows shampoo bottle instructions: LATHERS.  Not enough room for LATHER RINSE REPEAT.  I have always thought that the last step was just a way to double sales.

72. Booze-free: DRY.  As opposed to WET.  An alcohol (or lack thereof) related idiom.

73. Horn sound: TOOT.  BEEP would have fit but would not work.

The Playmates - 1958

74. Dusty or Cody of pro wrestling fame: RHODES.  Father or son.

Down:

1. Reading length: METRE.  Not the length of a Monopoly game railroad.  Not a literary (book) reference.  Ah, a unit of length in Reading, England, with the appropriate spelling.

2. Square: UNHIP.  What does Huey Lewis have to say on the subject?

August 1987

3. Secure, in a way: STRAP DOWN.

4. Billie Joe Armstrong bandmate __ Cool: TRE.  A Green Day reference.  

That's Frank Edwin Wright III (aka Tre Cool) 

On Drums

5. Suds: BEER.   Obviously, not a cleanliness reference.  Slang.  Do beer puns make you hoppy?

6. Float past: EASE BY.  Huh?  Thanks perps.

7. Endangerment: PERIL.  As in "The PERILs of Pauline".

8. Reason to boil water: E-COLI.  Giardia used to suffice for a reason.  Can you say tetraglycine hydroperiodide tablets?

9. Stock market name: DOW.  Clued this way it could have referred to any listed stock.

10. Part of Roy G. Biv: INDIGO. Mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow.

11. Arizona roadside sights: CACTI.

12. Antarctic, for one: OCEAN.  From the specific to the general.

13. Word after a sneeze: BLESS.  Why Do We Say This?

15. Fajita-like fare: TACO.  Okay, but quite imprecise.  The Differences Between Tacos and Fajitas

19. Slow moo-ver: COW.  Cute cluing.  Cute song.

24. Runs: OPERATES.  Not as in a foot race.  As in she OPERATES the machine.  See 28 Down.  

Shirley Muldowney

26. Moment of unpleasantness: SOUR NOTE.  An idiom with a musical genesis.

28. Drag org.: NHRA.  Not cross dressing.  A Drag Race reference.  Again, not that kind of drag race.

30. GPS option: RTE.   A  Global Positioning System might show you a  RouTE.

32. Everything: ALL.

33. Baffin, for one: BAY.  Again, from the specific to the general.

34. Post-ER facility: ICU.  A medical reference.  Emergency Room   Intensive Care Unit

35. Gain: NET.  A bit imprecise.  NET income, for example, can be a subset of gain (as in capital gains NET of taxes).

36. Mark Kurlansky book subtitled "A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World": COD.  New to this solver.

37. Vehicle for E.T.: UFO.   A pretty standard crossword pairing.

39. Ran away (with): ABSCONDED.  The Dish ABSCONDED With The Spoon?

40. Mine, in Milan: MIO.  Today's Italian lesson.

41. Hook's nemesis: PAN.  Not a boxing reference.  Not a golfing reference.  Not a musical reference.  Not a fishing reference,

Peter Pan and Captain Hook

43. Winning margin: NOSE.

44. Tear: RIP.

49. Cheap: TWO BIT.  TWO BITs are a quarter of a dollar.  The derogatory expression dates from the early twentieth century.  With inflation, the expression should be updated to, say, five dollar.

50. Sign of poor service?: ONE BAR.  Not at a restaurant or a retail store.  A cellphone reception reference.

51. Covertly added to an email: BCCED.  From the days when we used the stuff, Blind Carbon CopiED.

52. Foodie website: EATER.  EATER serves as a local restaurant guide offering reviews and news.

53. __ quartz: SMOKY.  New to this solver.  Smokey The Bear retains the E and there was not room for him.

54. Memo taker: STENO.  Memorandum  STENOgrapher

55. Lhasa locale: TIBET.  Not where your dog hangs out.

56. Big name in frozen treats: EDY.

57. Cambodian currency: RIEL.  In my experience, the US Dollar is the de facto currency of Cambodia.

59. Valley with many vineyards: LOIRE.  A French wine reference.  NAPA was too short.

60. __ the part: DRESS

63. "Star Wars" bad guys: SITH.

67. Teo __ of "Past Lives": YOO.  This might have been misleadingly clued as "German-born Actor".

68. Pi follower: RHO.  A Greek alphabet reference.

Well, it's time now.  Say Bye Bye, Ann.

 

_______________________________________________________

Friday April 26, 2024, Winston Emmons

 Theme: Mumbo Jumbo Idiom Jumble

Puzzling thoughts:

Today's idiomatic/anagram puzzle is presented by none other than Winston Emmons, no stranger to the LA Times crossword puzzles.  Winston uses 5 "theme" entries.  Each answer to these entries is an unscrambled word/phrase that comes as a result of answering the second part of the clue (as well as the first part)

Wait just a darn second, Moe.  That doesn't make any sense!  Well, you're right; it doesn't.  But if you carefully rearrange the letters in the theme answers, you can achieve both halves of the clue's meaning

Please look again at the cartoon above.  The carolers are singing "Listen Thing", which is an anagram for "Silent Night" (re-arrange the letters).  And while there is no clue associated with the cartoon, all we need to do is use that bit of logic to understand what's going on in each clue and answer:

15-across. Cleanliness is next to ... a minimalist approach?: DOING LESS.  

The obvious answer to the first part of the clue is "GODLINESS".  It was so obvious to me that I typed it into the white squares.  The phrase: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is a proverb that implies that practicing cleanliness is akin to worshipping or performing religious obligations

The obvious answer to the second part of the clue, "a minimalist approach", is DOING LESS.  I never thought of "doing less" as being a form of "Godliness", but when you rearrange the letters in doing less you can spell the word Godliness, and now we have answered both parts of the clue correctly

19-across. Going to hell in a ... damaged armored vehicle?: BASHED TANK.  

The phrase "Going to hell in a "HAND BASKET" is well-known idiomatic phrase that means "to be rapidly deteriorating - on course for disaster;" 

a BASHED TANK is indeed a damaged armored vehicle, but the phrase "bashed tank" is not one we often use ... but rearranging bashed tank also gives us handbasket

34-across. Don't throw the baby out with the ... decorative Halloween ring?: BAT WREATH.  

"Don't throw the baby out with the "BATHWATER" is an idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good or of value is eliminated when trying to get rid of something unwanted. A slightly different explanation suggests this flexible catchphrase has to do with discarding the essential while retaining the superfluous because of excessive zeal."[wikipedia] 

Not this, I hope ...

 

 A BAT WREATH is not the most popular Halloween "ring", but I did find an image:

And as you might suspect by now, a quick rearrangement of bat wreath = bath water

50-across. The only thing we have to fear is ... feeling better quickly?: FAST RELIEF.  

The first half of the clue cites FDR's speech (featured below) with the iconic idiomatic phrase: "The only thing we have to fear is FEAR ITSELF."  

The second half of the clue (feeling better quickly) yields FAST RELIEF.  And if you really want "fast relief" you might want to take Brioschi 

Once again, the rearranging of fast relief = fear itself

And last, but not least, we have: 56-across. Famous ... weapon that would dissolve in water?: SALT SWORD.  

Unscramble SALT SWORD and you get (famous ...) "LAST WORDS".  

This is the only thing I could find for Salt Sword.  I am guessing it is a reference to Salt and Sanctuary (unfamiliar, to me), but I suppose that, literally, a salt sword could dissolve in water.  But it's a stretch, and of course, YMMV

Certainly, this was a very interesting puzzle and theme.  As always, your comments below will let us know how you liked or disliked this puzzle.  I floundered with it for over 20 minutes, but once I "got it" it made sense

BTW, this is a puzzle that is **admiral toe** for those who enjoy solving the daily Jumble™.  If only Old Man Keith was still alive he would have been smiling **area rote** 😁, as he was extremely fond of finding the diagonal anagrams of the daily puzzle

Here is the grid, and then "To depart ... or what might come with a bundle of shingles? **ROOF FACT SHEET** (let's see how many of you get this - as well as the other two anagrams I used in the intro!!)

 

Across:
1. Ointment amount: DAB. How many of you recall this old jingle?

4. PIN point: ATM.  Sometimes clues can get too cutesy.  But I get it ... an ATM is a "point" for where a PIN is entered ... meh

7. Prone to micromanage, perhaps: BOSSY.  Don't have a "cow" over this one!

 

12. Napping racer of fable: HARE.  The tortoise and the HARE

13. "Vive le __!": ROI.  "Long live the king!" [Frawnche]

14. Gas brand with a torch logo: AMOCO.  Shouldn't the clue have been: "Erstwhile gas brand with a torch logo?"  Didn't BP take over AMOCO?

17. More vast: WIDER.  A little contemporary music to soothe and relax the soul ... 

18. Muppet who had a meltdown over a rock named Rocco: ELMO.  

Elmo vs Rocco

21. Nabisco wafer cookies: NILLA'S.  Good old Vanilla Wafer cookies ... 

Here is a recipe for NILLA's in banana pudding

23. Like some receptions: ICY.

Speaking of an ICY reception ...

24. Architect who designed air traffic control towers for the FAA in the 1960s: PEI.  The only three-letter architect that I know of

25. Squalid: SEEDY.  

Might you call this, squalid squash?

26. As much as: UP TO.  

What Merrium-Webster says

28. Angry: SORE.

29. Make a typo, say: ERR.

30. Genesis twin: ESAU.

32. Like an old mattress, maybe: LUMPY.  Or maybe like this character from Leave it to Beaver:

36. Bart in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: STARR. 

38. Mongolian desert: GOBI.  [Brittanica dot com]:

• The Gobi Desert is a great desert and semidesert region of Central Asia that stretches across large parts of Mongolia and China.
• Much of the Gobi is not sandy desert but bare rock.
• The Gobi is the 5th largest desert in the world, covering over half a million square miles.
• The Gobi’s fauna is varied and includes camels, kulan, and dzeren.
• The Gobi’s Yol Valley houses an ice field, even during summer.
• Ancient tales in Mongolia speak of lost cities buried beneath Gobi’s sands.
• The Gobi’s Taklamakan area is often called the “Place of No Return” due to its harsh conditions.
• The Gobi is surrounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands of Mongolia.
• The Himalayas block weather and starves the desert of rainfall from the South.

39. Altar constellation: ARA.  I know of the erstwhile Notre Dame football coach (ARA Parseghian) but not the constellation.  And further down the grid we had a similar sounding clue with a much different meaning (59-across. Alter __): EGO.

42. Arts and crafts bit: BEAD.  

Was Manhattan really sold for $24 worth of BEADs and trinkets?

43. Not covered: OPEN.  

Covered vs "OPEN"

45. Solitary sort: LONER.

47. Urgent care ctrs.: ERS.

48. MIT's domain: EDU.  [Oxford English Dictionary 3rd definition of domain]: 

• computing
  a distinct subset of the internet with addresses sharing a common suffix or under the control of a particular organization or individual

49. Grammatical gender: NEUTER.  As someone who studied German in HS and briefly in college, I became all to familiar with the grammatical "genders" ... In der deutschen Grammatik ist das Wort für Neutrum "das"

54. Pad __: THAI. Moe-ku:

Bangkok's Apple Stores
Pair street food with Tablets. Serve
Pad THAI with i-Pads

55. Monteverdi work: OPERA. [Britannica dot com lists these] "Notable Works: “L’Arianna”, “La favola d’Orfeo”, “Licoris Who Feigned Madness”, “Madrigals of War and Love”, “Movete al mio bel suon”, and “The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda”

58. Some Redfin transactions: RELO'S.  

Find your RELO for sale here:

60. Ont. neighbor: MINN.  Four-letter state abbreviations went by the wayside when the USPS decided to further abbreviate them to two-letter ones ... MINN became MN because MICH laid claim to MI

61. L'Oréal polish brand: ESSIE.  Thank you, perps.  Maybe our resident mani-pediites can chime in on this not-so-famous-to-me brand ...

62. Icarus, to Daedalus: SON.  

63. Muddy pen: STY.

Down:
1. German auto pioneer: DAIMLER. 

DAIMLER story

2. "Baked the Right Way" bread brand: ARNOLD.  Also, the name of the pig on "Green Acres":

3. Beseech: BEG.  Applying this loftier clue word to an old phrase I came to know all too well:

"Tis better to beseech for forgiveness than to ask for permission ..."

4. Turf: AREA.  

Slang definition for "turf"

5. Throw: TOSS.  There is a certain skill involved in this relatively new game:

6. Out-of-bounds golf shot, e.g.: MISHIT.  TTP, HG, and any other golfers ... care to share one of your MISHITs that might have turned out to be positive?  

7. Ribald: BAWDY. Moe-ku #2:

A spotted horse was
Quite BAWDY with the fillies.
A ribald piebald??

8. Skip over: OMIT.

9. Diner drink: SODA POP. ICE CREAM SODA wouldn't fit; nor COFFEE.  ICED TEA did.  Anyone try that first?

10. Tourist's diversion: SCENERY. Perhaps Picard can provide us with some SCENERY that caused a diversion for him?

11. Long-haired terrier, familiarly: YORKIE.  My first thought - after viewing a few images of a YORKIE - was, "is Toto (the dog from Wizard of Oz) a Yorkshire Terrier??  [hepper dot com says]

"Toto’s breed is never mentioned in the books, and many scholars insist that he was supposed to be a mutt. He’s described as having long, silky hair — just like a Yorkie. One other thing worth noting is the fact that the book’s illustrator, W.W. Denslow, was the proud owner of a Yorkshire Terrier"

So now you know

12. More sacred: HOLIER.

15. Thick: DENSE.

16. Birth announcement abbr.: LBS.  Is there any proof that babies who are born weighing 7 lbs 11 ozs turn out to be great craps players??

20. Clean water company: ECOLAB.  

ECOLAB

22. Per annum: A YEAR.  This word seemed a bit "forced" to me - nitpick 

26. Detroit labor org.: UAW.  

Tennessee VW plant's workers join UAW

27. Rid (of): PURGE.  Something I do every time I move (which happened over 7 times the last 14 years), and yet I still have a lot of "stuff".  And another similar clue: (48-down. Get rid of): ERASE.

28. Texter's "How disappointing": SMH. 🤦

31. Went boldly: STRODE.  

33. Practical: UTILE. Or, the clue could've been "Scrabble™ square worth 1 point": U-TILE

34. Base: BAD. It is better to show an antonym for "base" to know how this adjective can mean "BAD":

35. Proterozoic, e.g.: EON.  [Britannica dot com says]: "Proterozoic eon, the younger of the two divisions of precambrian time, the older being the archean eon. The proterozoic eon extended from 2.5 billion to 541 million years ago"

36. Colorful shawls: SERAPES.  As seen on ETSY:

37. Mortarboard attachments: TASSELS.  I somehow recall that a TASSEL on a mortarboard is in one position before graduation and another position afterward 

39. Ramos of "In the Heights": ANTHONY.  

He is just a kid ...

40. Gain again: RE-EARN.  As in someone's confidence, perhaps

41. Secret alternative: ARRID.  does TRYST also fit??! 😉 In this clue's case, it was referring to a woman's deodorant/anti-perspirant brand called "Secret".  But if you didn't get this one, don't sweat it ...

42. One side of a comparison ad: BEFORE.  Clever; the old before and after comparison ... the image below is of one that always seemed to be on the back cover of comic book magazines, back in the day:

My inspiration for getting a set of barbells

44. Signs of life: PULSES.  I just checked mine ... yep, still alive ... 69 bpm @ resting rate

46. Dupe: OUTWIT.  

One of the three basic strategies in this "game"


49. Asset on a blockchain, for short: NFT.  

It helps to know what a "blockchain" is

51. Starship Enterprise counselor: TROI.  Once again, I will defer to Picard to elaborate on Deanna TROI

52. Othello advisor: IAGO.  Another crossword staple proper name/fictional character.  Three vowels and one consonant 

53. Entrepreneur Musk: ELON. Another crossword staple proper name/actual person

57. Texting letters: SMS.  Short Message/Messaging Service abbreviation 

And we have come to the conclusion of today's blog.  Please add your thoughts below.  See you next month ... 

**For those who were unable to unscramble the words in my intro:**

admiral toe = tailor made

area rote = ear to ear

ROOF FACT SHEET = OFF TO THE RACES

Notes from C.C.:

Today we celebrate the 90th birthday of Parsan, who lives in the same area as Agnes. Happy birthday, Parsan!