Monday April 14, 2025 Jeanne Breen

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Today's theme is:  

Dick Clark and interviewees on American Bandstand

Let's begin with the unifier:

62. Classic David Bowie song with the lyric "Put on your red shoes," and an apt title for this puzzle: LET'S DANCE.  

The four themed clues each contain a word that names a DANCE style.

17 Across. Unexpected development in a story: PLOT TWIST.  

Chubby Checker (b. 1941) is a famous TWISTer.

24 Across. Textile pattern with round spots: POLKA DOTS.  

The polka dance traces its roots to the Czech Republic, specifically the region of Bohemia, in the early 1830s. The name “polka” is derived from the Czech word pulka, meaning “half,” referring to the dance's half-step movements.

38 Across. Hubbub: HUSTLE AND BUSTLE.  

John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977)

50 Across. Youth-oriented fashion magazine: TEEN VOGUE.  This one might have been the trickiest to suss. Youth gave us TEEN and fashion magazine (along with a few perps) gave us VOGUE.

Vogue, or 'voguing' is a type of improvisational dance inspired by the poses of models in fashion magazines. Its popularity surged when Madonna released her 1990 music video.

Here's the David Bowie song:  

This video was filmed in 1983 in the Australian outback (not the restaurant).

The themers and unifier were not as tight as we are used to seeing but I did not count that as a bad thing. Just as in DANCE moves, variety and a fresh approach can be a step in the right direction.

Next, grab a partner and we'll swing over to the other clues:

Across:

1. The "T" of the education acronym STEM: TECH.  Sci., TECH, Eng., & Math

5. Baroque composer of more than 200 cantatas: BACH.  Enjoy this beautiful music while you browse through the other answers:  

Bach - Cantata Jesu, der du meine Seele BWV 78 - Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society

9. Nest material: TWIGS.  In watching the Bear Valley Eagles' nest , I have learned that eagles are obsessive nest builders. Shadow (in the foreground) and his mate Jackie made 124 nest material deliveries in March alone. Mind you this was to an existing, functioning nest. They call Shadow the "branch manager". LOL!  

14. Cuatro y cuatro: OCHO.  4 + 4 = 8 in Spanish

On a related note,  ATE is slang used to mean someone did something exceptionally well. It is similar to "slayed" or "killed". Then that led to 4+4 as another way to say ate because ate is a homophone for eight. Given that ATE frequently appears in grids, it is possible we will see it clued this way...but probably not on a Monday.

15. Potatoes, in Indian cooking: ALOO.  

I stumbled upon this one last week while looking for po-tay-to / po-tah-to.

16. Desert pit stop: OASIS.

19. Me.-to-Fla. route: US ONE.  It ends in Key West, FL.  

20. Shade of many an Easter egg: PASTEL.  Talk about clues that are Easter eggs!  

21. Concert souvenirs, casually: MERCH.  MERCHandise

23. "I wouldn't __ you wrong!": STEER.

28. Purple palm berry: ACAI.

30. Out jogging, say: ON A RUN.

31. Place for a "me day": SPA.

34. Bonus: EXTRA.  

37. Ivy League school in Connecticut: YALE.

42. Flower in some van Gogh paintings: IRIS.  

43. Ice cream serving: SCOOP.  Before a SCOOP of ice-cream was served in a cone, it was served in a penny lick. Watch this video to learn why they were banned in London in 1899. (2:17 min.)  

44. Always, in verse: E'ER.  EvER

45. Call back: REDIAL.  We used to say this back in the day when phones had DIALs. Also, remember how you could dial *69 and it would automatically call back the number of the last incoming call?

48. Gift toppers: BOWS.

53. "That's possible": IT MAY.

57. Insinuate: GET AT.  

58. Disquiet: UNEASE.

59. Blue-gray shade: SLATE.

64. Praline nut: PECAN.  These are DH's favorites.

65. Breed of horse with a high-set tail: ARAB.  ARAB is short for ARABian. 

Imaging the Moors riding these flighty horses in battle against the European knights riding stout horses bred to carry the weight of their armor and pull wagons. Eventually Europeans bred the two horses, creating more well-rounded horse breeds.

Arabian horse

66. Massage target: KNOT.  A "me day" at a SPA could help.

67. Early web portal: YAHOO.

68. Some members of the fam: SIBS.  family and SIBlingS

69. Coll. entrance exams: SATS.

Down:

1. Collectibles brand with a "Cards 101" section on its website: TOPPS.  Cards 101 mimics an introductory college course's label -- as in PSYC 101.  TOPPS Cards 101 website

2. Panache: ECLAT.

3. Made a selection: CHOSE.  Notice that the past tense of the verb in the clue matches the past tense of the answer.

4. Drink served with dim sum: HOT TEA.  Dim sum is a traditional Chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes and is usually accompanied by TEA. Similar to the way the Spanish eat tapas, the dishes are shared among family and friends. Typically dim sum is consumed in restaurants for brunch.  

Life should be more like dim sum. We should all learn to get oolong.
(Yah, I did not come up with that on my own.)

5. Cry noisily: BAWL.

6. Boxer Muhammad: ALI.

7. Cran and vodka cocktail: COSMO.  Cranberry is shortened, so is COSMOpolitan.

8. Concierge's workplace: HOTEL.  Concierges assist HOTEL guests by providing local information, booking activities, making recommendations, etc.

9. Bird on a box of Froot Loops cereal: TOUCAN.  Compared to the size of their bodies, TOUCANs have the largest bills of all birds.  

I liked this 2 min. TOUCAN 101 video because 

it features several colorful varieties of this species.

10. Times to do laundry: WASHDAYS.  

11. Prefix meaning "equal": ISO-.  For example, an ISOsceles triangle has two equal sides.

12. Sloe __ fizz: GIN.

13. NNW opposite: SSE.  compass directions

18. Bygone Toyota model: TERCEL.  Toyota stopped production of the TERCEL for the American market in 1998.

22. "Citizen Kane" studio: RKO.

24. Pocket breads: PITAS.  As it turns out, I recently sent C.C. this pic of sourdough pita breads in my oven:  

The one on the left has been in for 5 min. and is ready to come out.
The one on the right just went in.
(I bake them on a pizza stone.)

25. Speechify: ORATE.

26. Wedding gown fabric: TULLE.  

27. Show scorn: SNEER.

29. Log chopper: AXE.

31. Jersey, for one: SHIRT.  I liked the ambiguity! I had SHoRe for a minute. 

32. Baby food, usually: PUREE.

33. Parenthetical remark: ASIDE.  Some say that parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

35. GOP org.: RNC.  Grand Old Party and Republican National Committee

36. Photoshop maker: ADOBE.  software

39. Chinese beer brand: TSINGTAO.  

Is it ever served with dim sum?

40. Fan's "I do not like this!": BOO.

41. Detectable by smell, in a way: UPWIND.  Def.: (adj. or adv.) in the direction from which the wind is blowing.

46. Lotion brand for sensitive skin: AVEENO.

47. Place to park a car: LOT.  

A LOT of cars
(See what I did there?)

49. Thick cuts of meat: STEAKS.

51. Extravagant parties: GALAS.

52. Wombs: UTERI.

54. Divine nourishment: MANNA.  

55. Fancy necktie: ASCOT.

56. Throws forcefully, in slang: YEETS.  The first known use of YEET as a verb was in 2017.

58. Some computer ports: USBs.

59. Secret agent: SPY.  

60. Grazing meadow: LEA.  

my dog, Meadow
I was trying to capture the rainbow in the background but it was more visible
to the naked eye than to the camera.

61. Düsseldorf "D'oh!": ACH.  This clue was fun! If you are watching Die Simpsons in Düsseldorf, Germany, Homer might say ACH!, instead of D'oh!

63. Soda can opener: TAB.  Sometimes opener in a clue refers to a prefix. This time it is simply the device used to open the container. 

She is happy because she used a TAB to open her Tab cola.

Before you close your browser TAB, you might want to check out the grid:  

That's all. Now it is time for me to Boogie on down the road....  

Saturday, November 23, 2024, Jeanne Breen, John Lieb

 Themeless Saturday by Jeanne Green & John Lieb

Jeanne and John served up a tough pre-Thanksgiving event for me. The fun fill of I'M HERE ALL WEEK was a big speed bump but after hunting and pecking around the edges, I earned a big DOH! when I finally figured it out. As you can see by the graphic, the red cells show the unique fill for this puzzle.

 

John shared this picture of him as Elvis in an outfit he wore for a special day at his school a few years ago when I did his first LA Puzzle.

 

Across:

1. Vittles: CHOW.

5. Schools that don't play in bowl games: IVIES - Columbia pulled a huge upset in 1934 Rose Bowl but the IVIES, who give no athletic scholarships and have high academic standards, quit going to bowls in 1945.

10. Blown away: AWED.

14. Bring on: HIRE - Schools are always looking to HIRE more substitute teachers 

15. Classic infomercial brand: GINSU.

16. "That's ... really off the mark": UH NO.

17. Team that went to the NBA Finals with Durant, Harden, and Westbrook, familiarly: OKC THUNDER.

Durant      Westbrook               Hardin

19. Part of some cleansing rituals: SAGE.

20. Naval garb: PEACOATS.

21. Further: FOSTER - C.C. worked with me years ago to FOSTER my blogging skills

23. Attraction north of Syracuse: ETNA.

24. Category on a spa menu: FACIALS.

25. Product with Ground Ball Grape and Wild Pitch Watermelon flavors: BIG LEAGUE CHEW - So young kids could emulate MLB players who used to be able to "dip"

29. Key chain?: ATOLL.

30. Hit makers?: EPEES 😀

31. Backing: AID - Candidates require a lot of backing or AID to run

34. "¡__ mío!": DIOS - Add "Oh" and you have the Spanish version of OMG

35. Take to task: SCOLD.

36. Petrol choice: ESSO - This Canadian petrol costs $1.62/litre 

37. Cap. of America: USD 1 U.S. Dollar is $1.39 in Canada

38. Goes over: SPANS - The Royal Gorge bridge that SPANS the Arkansas River in Colorado is the scariest structure I have ever walked on

39. Aromatic hydrocarbon: ESTER.

40. Alternative to a rim shot: I'M HERE ALL WEEK - What a comedian might hear or say if a joke goes over big

 

43. Taxonomy rank: SPECIES.

45. Bye line: TATA.

46. Source of pain for some runners, familiarly: IT BAND - Iliotibial band

47. "Right ... hadn't thought of that": AH GOTCHA.

51. Athlete also known as "Fräulein Forehand": GRAF.

52. Placed: RECOGNIZED - I have trouble placing or recognizing most of my 14,000 former students.

54. Wizard: MAGE - We are more accustomed to them in plural form

55. "I'm free to help": USE ME.

56. Scruff of the neck: NAPE.

57. Architectural area whose name comes from the Greek for "vault": APSE - from the Latin apsis, "arch or vault," and the Greek root hapsis, "arch or loop." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

58. Inquired (into): NOSED.

59. Shiraz locale: IRAN.

Down:

1. Baltimore __: infield hit with a high bounce: CHOP.

2. State park activity: HIKE.

3. One may catch some rays: ORCA - I suppose Shamu might have a ray over for lunch

4. Electrochemistry devices: WET CELLS - When I started teaching, the science store room only had these horrible Bell System dry cells that hadn't been used in many years.

5. Williams title reptile: IGUANA - If you look closely you can see Tennessee Williams' name on this poster.

6. Some collectibles from the Roaring Twenties: VINTAGE CARS.

7. Some voters, briefly: IND'S - Teddy Roosevelt got the most electoral votes running as an INDependent (Progressive) candidate in the 1912 presidential election.

8. -speak: ESE - We speak crosswordESE here

9. Arose: SURFACED.

10. Oz dweller: AUSSIE - Australia is sometimes called "Oz" because the first three letters of  when pronounced make a hissing sound like OZ.

11. Cry over spilled milk?: WHAT A WASTE.

12. Georgia of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": ENGEL - I think you all know the cast below

13. People of action: DOERS.

18. Suite spot: HOTEL 😀

22. Folk singer Phil: OCHS - I remember the folk music era so well. My favorite song of Phil's was There But For Fortune - There But For Fortune

24. Is completely comfortable: FEELS AT HOME - Our Lily

25. Singer Erykah: BADU - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

26. "Really?": IT IS.

27. Signs that the party's over?: GOODIE BAGS.

28. Clinging to a lead: UP ONE.

32. "Clearly": I SEE.

33. Diary writer in a Rachel Renée Russell series: DORK ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

35. Gamer's mad dash to complete a level: SPEED RUN - Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. We have solvers here that do the same with our puzzles.

36. Africa's last absolute monarchy: ESWATINI - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Changed from Swaziland in 2018.

38. Area guarded in many sports: SHIN.

39. John with an EGOT: ELTON.

41. Computer security brand: MCAFEE.

42. Fell behind: LAGGED.

43. Scylla's head?: SIGMA - Σκύλλα A meta gimmick but done in Greek this time

44. Plumbing piece: P-TRAP 

47. Fab: ACES.

48. House of Fabergé patron: CZAR - Nicholas III commissioned the House of Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife in 1885

49. __ filter: HEPA.

50. "Rectify" star Young: ADEN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

53. Spanish "that": ESO - Paul Anka always saves me for this cluing