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.

 

_______________________________________________________

Monday December 18, 2023 Jay Silverman

  

Hello Cornerites! 

sumdaze here. Since we are now only one week away from Christmas, today's title is a no-brainer:

Gingerbread House 

Note the WINDOW, DOOR, and ROOF.
Let's see how constructor Jay Silverman builds them into his three themers:

17 Across. Online customer service component: CHAT WINDOW.

It's on-line shopping season. If you have questions on a purchase, you might reach out via LiveChat:  

Warning: the Enter key acts like a Send key. If you press Enter and expect to go to another line, it will instead send your incomplete message. No worries though, just continue typing. It will be OK. I mess this up all the time and it still works out.

30 Across. Metaphorical feature of a poorly run company, perhaps: REVOLVING DOOR.  If you say that a situation is a REVOLVING DOOR, you mean that people (employees) or things are continuously coming and going -- usually not a good thing for a business.

Will Ferrell in Elf (2003)
More holiday cheer!

46 Across. Does a celebratory dance by pushing up one's palms: RAISES THE ROOF.  

Michael & Dwight (Steve Carell & Rainn Wilson) in The Office
They are basically miming pushing the roof upwards.
Warning: This gesture is considered dated. 

And the reveal:

61 Across. Welcome words from a bartender, and where to find the ends of 17-, 30-, and 46-Across?: ON THE HOUSE.

The "ends of 17-, 30-, and 46-Across" are WINDOW, DOOR, and ROOF. All can be found on a house.

"Welcome words", in this case, does not equate to "greetings". Instead, "welcome" means "good news to the listener." If a bartender says, "It's ON THE HOUSE," the listener is happy to hear that the drinks/snacks are free. Woohoo!!

Let's check out the rest of the neighborhood:

Across:
1. Curl up with a good book: READ.  Great start! This is one of my favorite things to do. I wonder if we have more book readers or tablet readers on The Corner.

5. Objects of worship: IDOLS.  

FYI:  Patty Berg

10. Furry "Return of the Jedi" creature: EWOK.  

These little guys live on the planet Endor. (See 12-D on 12/4/23.)

14. Off-roaders, for short: ATVS.  An all-terrain vehicle is a motorized off-highway vehicle.

15. "The Jungle Book" bear: BALOO.   

I always mix this one up with Sally's nickname for Linus.
(Wrong holiday but you get the idea.)

16. Abundant (with): RIFE.

19. Not 100% solid: IFFY.  IF I were to guess, I would triple all of the numbers on this ice thickness recommendations chart from The Old Farmer's Almanac. Eight inches seems very IFFY to me.  

20. Have lunch: EAT.

21. Thor's father: ODIN.  

Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Anthony Hopkins as ODIN
in Thor: Ragnarock (2017)
It is just a coincidence that I have pics of Chris Hemsworth two weeks in a row...really!

22. White Monopoly bills: ONES.  

23. [Don't touch my bone!]: SNARL.   and   18 Down. Wild canines: WOLVES.  

25. Raring to go: EAGER.  From Grammarist, "This idiom originated in the early 19th century as a term meaning to be at the ready or impatient to be off. Rare is likely a variant of the word rear, meaning to rise up or stand on one's hind legs. The word is used to describe a horse rising up in impatience or anxiety before plunging forward."

Similarly, champing at the bit means one is ready but must wait, as a horse for its rider.

28. Nevertheless, briefly: THO.  "Briefly" here means a shorter version of though.

33. One __ customer: PER.

34. Since Jan. 1: YTD.  Year To Date.  Accountants use this acronym a lot.

35. Woodwind instrument: OBOE.  

'Tis the season for Silver Bells -- a violin and OBOE duet

36. Books for those feeling lost?: ATLASES.  I like the misdirection that one might find these books in the self-help section.

40. Stanzas of six lines: SESTETS.  My last fix was to change SExTETS and xMOOCH to SESTETS and SMOOCH. In my defense, an XO can mean "kiss & hug".  

42. Unravel at the edge: FRAY.

43. Illuminated: LIT.  

Clark Griswold's house was LIT!
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

45. "The Walking Dead" network: AMC.

50. Like a famous Broadway couple: ODD.  Neil Simon's comedy, The Odd Couple, opened March 10, 1965 at the Plymouth Theater in NYC, starring Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison and Art Carney as Felix Unger.

51. Button on a game console: RESET.   and   4 Down. Mar.-to-Nov. hrs.: DST.

Most of us RESET our clocks in March for Daylight Savings Time.

52. Leaves out: OMITS.

55. Goes out, as the tide: EBBS.  The tides with the biggest difference between high and low water are called springs and those with the smallest are called neaps. Spring tides happen just after every full and new moon, when the sun, moon, and earth are in line.  Read more here.

57. Electrical adapter letters: AC/DC.  Here's a 2:45 min YouTube explanation:  

In case you were wondering, some Christmas lights use AC and some use DC.

59. Goopy hair stuff: GEL.  

60. Italian farewell: CIAO.

64. Early Peruvian: INCA.

65. "Doctor Who" actress Gillan: KAREN.  I know this Scottish actress from Doctor Who, Jumanji, and Guardians of the Galaxy but I thought Gillan was her first name so I was trying to think of a last name. I felt pretty silly when perps gave me KAREN.  

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in Doctor Who
-- not to be confused with Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully in The X-Files

66. Commedia dell'__: ARTE.  Britannica article

67. Inquires: ASKS.  From Dictionary.com:  While inquire means "to seek information in a formal way," enquire means "to ask in a general way." They can be used interchangeably. Also, they both originate from the same Latin word, meaning "to seek".

68. Backyard storage sites: SHEDS.  My dog SHEDS in the backyard...and the front yard...and in the house...and in the car....

69. Take a breather: REST.  

Down:
1. Track events: RACES.  There is a possibility of misdirection if you thought "track" was being used as a verb. Instead, it is short for Track & Field.  

 Michael Johnson's running posture inspires me!

He was a world record holder in 2 events and a 4-time Olympic gold medalist.

2. "Training Day" actor Hawke: ETHAN.  I think he also hawks furniture with his brother, Allen. (ba-dum-tsh)

3. James Cameron franchise featuring the Na'vi: AVATAR.  This clue references the 2009 and 2022 films.

Last week Vidwan reminded us that AVATAR is borrowed from Sanskrit. Here are 17 more words that come from Sanskrit.

5. "How much am __?": auctioneer's question: I BID.  This one did not feel right but it turns out that it is an expression used by an auctioneer when starting a bidding process for an object to be sold. It is more hoity-toity than this 1956 song by Leroy Van Dyke:  

My Great-uncle A.V. was a livestock auctioneer. I used to love watching him work!

6. "Get Out" actor Kaluuya: DANIEL.  his IMDb page

7. Discount clothing chain owned by Gap: OLD NAVY.

8. Brit's washroom: LOO.  The LOO in the British OLD NAVY is called the head because it was at the front of the ship, which is the last place the wind hit. That way the odor did not carry across the ship.

9. Piglet's mother: SOW.  Hand up for seeing the capital "P" and thinking of Winnie-the-Pooh's friends. Bzzt. This one is just a random baby pig's mother.

10. "__ Brockovich": ERIN.  Julia Roberts won the Best Actress Oscar for her work in this 2000 thriller/documentary.

11. Bride: WIFE TO BE.  Fun fill!

12. Outgrowth: OFFSHOOT.  Def:  anything conceived of as springing or proceeding from a main stock.

13. Lock opener: KEY.  

22. Assn.: ORG.  Association and ORGanization

24. Settles a debt: REPAYS.  Think of "REPAY a favor" as opposed to paying money owed the first time.

26. Skedaddles: GITS.  Both are slang for getting the heck out of there.  

Git Along Little Dogies starring Gene Autry, The Singing Cowboy (1937)

I like how his horse, Champion, made it into the page 1 credits (@ 1 min.).

27. Make cherished: ENDEAR.

29. Loads from a lode: ORES.

            and

31. Ultimatum words: OR ELSE.

32. Google or Yahoo: DOT-COM.  a company that relies largely or exclusively on internet commerce

36. Curly hairstyle: AFRO.

37. Used vehicles, sometimes: TRADE-INS.  used articles accepted by the retailer as payment for another item

38. Giving chill vibes: LAID BACK.  

39. Doesn't play, say: SITS.  

41. Kiss: SMOOCH.  See 40-Across.

44. London's Old Vic, for one: THEATRE.  British locale = British spelling

This 1,000-seat THEATRE's history goes back to 1818.
A Christmas Carol is playing there now through January 6.

47. Hosp. areas: ERS.  Emergency Rooms in hospitals

48. Made a long-lasting impression?: ETCHED.

            and

49. Shape: FIGURE.  The sport of FIGURE skating got its name because skaters tried to ETCH perfect shapes (e.g., circles) in the ice. Compulsory figures used to account for 60% of a skater's score in competitions. The last Olympics to include compulsory figures in scoring was in 1988 (Calgary). Read all about the origins and evolution of figure skating here.  

Skating by Vince Guaraldi

53. Exams: TESTS.

54. Wintry mix: SLEET.  

56. Constricting snakes: BOAS.  Who would prevail between a BOA constrictor and a giant ice spider?

58. Man caves, e.g.: DENS.  

60. Chef-training sch. based in N.Y.: CIA.  The Culinary Institute of America's primary campus is in Hyde Park, New York.

61. Approves: OKS.

62. Slangy "Pass": NAH.  No, thank you.

63. Rower's blade: OAR.

The grid is in the basement:

Today's puzzle had an extra bite to it but I'd say Jay hit a home run with this one. What do you think?