Theme: "Family Matters" - All theme entries are in the pattern of MA*MA or PA* PA*.
27. NCAA basketball tournament nickname: MARCH MADNESS.
40. Artistic form for Degas: PASTEL PAINTING.
47. Sherwood Forest resident: MAID MARIAN.
64. Works on a car's alignment?: PARALLEL PARKS.
72. Broad appeal to all possible consumers: MASS MARKETING.
84. Chess piece with a clear path to promotion: PASSED PAWN.
94. Sailors qualified to captain any ship: MASTER MARINERS.
107. Decoration for a tropical cocktail: PAPER PARASOL.
Reveal:
122. Half of a 1960s pop group, and what's found in half of this puzzle's long answers: MAMAS.
125. Half of a 1960s pop group, and what's found in half of this puzzle's long answers: PAPAS.
Love
the title and execution. Every MA* MA* is followed by a PA* PA*. I did a
similar theme for the Crossword Club ages ago. The top themers are MA*
MA*. Bottoms are PA* PA*.
Read here about Jeff. He's mostly focused on weekday puzzles. I think this is his first Sunday for the LAT. Congrats, Jeff!
Across:
1. Pool equipment: RACKS.
6. __ Romeo: ALFA. Just had this last Sunday.
10. Gift card word: FROM.
14. Part of a flight: STAIR.
19. Prefix with linguistic: ETHNO.
20. Prom invitee: TEEN.
21. Oscar winner Malek: RAMI. He won an Oscar for his role in "Bohemian Rhapsody".
22. Potion-making goddess of myth: CIRCE. The sorceress in "Odyssey".
23. Greatly enjoyed: ATE UP.
24. Baker's fat: LARD.
25. Muslim wedding officiant: IMAM.
26. Set, as a security system: ARMED.
30. Last qualifier?: NOT LEAST. Last but not least.
32. Baby goats: KIDS. Also 44. Youngster: TYKE.
33. Barbecue entree: RIBS.
35. Hindu honorific: SRI.
36. Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding": NIA.
37. Theater walkways: AISLES.
45. "Couldn't agree more": SAME HERE.
46. Bio stat: AGE.
50. Clunker: DUD.
52. Ishmael's captain: AHAB.
56. Texting tech: SMS. Short Message Service.
57. Alma mater of Prince Harry and Prince William: ETON.
121. River to the North Sea: MEUSE. Unfamiliar to me. Wikipedia
says it's "rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the
Netherlands before draining into the North Sea."
123. Fails to be: ISN'T.
124. School session: TERM.
Down:
1. Copier insert: REAM.
2. Chapati flour: ATTA.
3. One-named "Mermaids" star: CHER.
4. Got to work, with "down": KNUCKLED.
5. Title role for Meryl: SOPHIE. "Sophie's Choice". Such a heavy read.
6. Book of legends?: ATLAS.
7. Malleable metal: LEAD.
8. Houseplant with spores: FERN.
9. Thumbelina creator: ANDERSEN. Hans Christian Andersen.
10. Wham-O toy: FRISBEE.
11. Slam (into): RAM.
12. Arabian Sea nation: OMAN.
13. Brunch cocktail: MIMOSA.
14. Taking on a climbing wall: SCALING.
15. Lose steam: TIRE.
16. Italian fashion brand: ARMANI.
17. Traps at a chalet, perhaps: ICES IN. And 39. Good time to go on a run?: SKI SEASON. Skin run.
18. Markdown marker: RED TAG.
28. GPs, e.g.: MDS.
29. Jedi foe: SITH.
31. Three-tone chord: TRIAD.
34. Camera letters: SLR.
37. PIN takers: ATMS.
38. Start and end of Popeye's credo: I YAM.
40. Discomfort: PAIN.
41. "I'm an open book" session, briefly: AMA. Ask Me Anything.
42. Go by bike: PEDAL.
43. Pots, cups, saucers, etc.: TEAWARE. Just want to share with you a few dim sum dishes from Guangzhou. Green Har Gow.
45. "You can't sit here" sign: SRO.
48. Rendezvous request: MEET ME.
49. Bamboozled: AT SEA.
51. Company that operates London river boats: UBER. Uber Boat. New clue angle. Also 64. Boat boarding spot: PIER.
53. Composition of some violin bows: HORSEHAIR.
54. __-Seltzer: ALKA.
55. Vanquish: BEST.
58. "The Sopranos" restaurateur: ARTIE.
59. Farm storage place: BARN.
60. Color guard's charge: FLAG.
61. Showed leniency toward: SPARED.
63. Takes a chance: RISKS IT.
65. Kitchen pests: ANTS. I hate fruit flies. So hard to fully eliminate them.
66. Austrian actress Lenya: LOTTE.
67. Iowa town west of Cedar Rapids: AMES.
68. Surfer's curl: WAVE.
69. Bond villain in a Nehru jacket: DR NO.
73. Eucalyptus eater: KOALA. Eucalyptus leaves do not provide enough energy. Koala sleeps a ton. We also have 78. Burro: ASS. And 81. Serengeti grazers: GNUS.
77. Lat. and Lith., once: SSRS.
80. Outstanding: OWED.
83. Go-__: KARTS.
84. Like firewood sold at hardware stores: PRE-SPLIT.
85. __ Lingus: AER.
86. Amenity at some McDonald's restaurants: PLAY AREA.
88. Tyrants: DESPOTS.
90. Train board abbr.: ARR.
91. Very small role: BIT PART.
92. Draft status: ONE A.
94. PI played by Selleck: MAGNUM.
95. Microscopic creature: AMOEBA
96. "Abbott Elementary," e.g.: SITCOM.
97. Fiber-rich cereal: MUESLI. What do you have for breakfast these days?
98. Fluffy accessory: BOA.
99. Cloverleaf element: ON RAMP.
103. Involuntary twitch: SPASM.
105. Sch. near Beverly Hills: UCLA.
106. Golfer's stands: TEES.
108. Gutter spot: EAVE.
110. Ladled course: SOUP. This is a typical Cantonese daily soup. Pork ribs with lotus root, corn & dates.
I found this puzzle a little harder to solve than last week's, but at
least the only round things in it are slices of pineapple (see recipe above).
😀 Today constructor Robin Stears, last seen here on February 16th, returns to challenge us with a vertical theme. These almost always have
something to do with the order of the words or letters in the clue, which the
reveal tells us ...
10. Desserts flipped after baking, and what can
be found in the answers to the starred clues:
UPSIDE DOWN CAKES. Here are the themers, but you'll have to turn your head 90 degrees to
the left to see the CAKEs in these fills ...
3D. *Act the mediator:
SEEK A COMPROMISE. Today this might be
clued -- "Negotiation strategy now out of fashion".
8D. *Illinois alma mater of Ronald Reagan:
EUREKA COLLEGE. It is also the
home of the
Reagan Museum
honoring its most distinguished alumnus.
Eureka College Campus 300 E College Ave, Eureka, IL 61530
17. *"Malcolm in the Middle" actress:
JANE KACZMAREK.
Malcolm in the Middle
is an American sitcom series that ran for 7 seasons starting in 2000, running
for 151 episodes. The series is a dark-humored family comedy that follows the
Wilkersons, a dysfunctional lower-middle-class family, and stars
Frankie Muniz in the lead role as Malcolm, a child prodigy. The
ensemble cast included Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston as
Malcolm's parents, Lois and Hal. Apparently Lois had some anger management
problems ...
You can relax your neck now and see that the
CAKES are revealed to be
UPSIDE DOWN ...
The rest of this stuff is RIGHT SIDE UP (well maybe not all of it)
... Across:
1. Puzzle (out): SUSS. It's what we do!
5. Synonymous: SAME.
9. Software glitches: BUGS. I'm reminded of a few of the "rules" of
programming --
"If carpenters built buildings the way programmers build programs, the first
woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization".
"Any sufficiently complex program contains at least one BUG". This is
the sine qua non for a program to be called complicated..
"If you find one BUG in a program, there are undoubtedly more."
15. Fall birthstone: OPAL.
OPAL is a hydrated amorphous form of silica
(SiO2·nH2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is
usually between 6% and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as
a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are considered
minerals. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the
fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite,
sandstone, rhyolite, marl, and basalt. It's the birthstone of people
born in October.
Opal
16. Thing: ITEM.
17. Wag: JOKER. A species commonly seen around the Corner, but I'm not
naming any names. 😁
18. Like an unswept hearth: ASHY.
19. Watering hole where servers may wear leis: TIKI BAR. The term
TIKI is the
Maori
word for the first human. A
TIKI BAR
is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially
rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. These
"watering holes" are a part of
Tiki culture, an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by
Oceanian art with influences from Australasia, Melanesia,
Micronesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean Islands, and
Hawaii.
A typical Tiki mug
21. Animal Planet's "Crikey! It's the Irwins" co-star: TERRI.
Terri Raines Irwin
AM (née Raines, born July 20, 1964) is an American-Australian conservationist,
television personality, author and zookeeper who is the owner of Australia Zoo
in Beerwah, Queensland. She is the widow of conservationist Steve Irwin.
23. Dead __ Scrolls: SEA. The
Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of ancient Jewish
manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of
10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the
West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, here ...
Dead Sea Scrolls Location
24. "The Memory of Trees" singer: ENYA. I remember the miles and
miles of woods behind my home, where we used to play when we were young.
As a first step toward building the ring road around Baltimore (I 695),
those woods were cut down and turned into acres and acres of logs stacked 30'
high. Then we played by climbing up the piles and tunneling thru them for
a few months. Then they were hauled away and gone. I've never heard this
piece by ENYA. Thank you Robin.
26. Youngsters: KIDDOS.
29. Quote: CITE. Coincidentally here are some quotes by Albert
Einstein that I ran across just today. He has often been CITED, so
you may have already heard some of them ...
31. Linguist Chomsky: NOAM.
Avram Noam Chomsky
(born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known
for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes
called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in
analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive
science. OTOH,
he has his critics. Perhaps his most famous critic is novelist
Tom Wolfe
(March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)
who, while not a linguist, did make over $60 million in his lifetime, so he
arguably knew something about words. In his book
The Kingdom of Speech, Wolfe takes to task not only Chomsky, but another cultural icon that I've
vaguely referred to in clue 70A below. While Wolfe got a lot of
heat from the intelligentsia for this book, it was rated by readers with a
majority of the ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐reviews, including mine. 😀
34. Language related to Czech: SLOVAK.
Some sources suggest that Czech has 94% of the intelligibility of
Slovak
meaning that if you have a strong base in Czech, understanding
SLOVAK should be doable, but speaking it is another thing entirely.
I've always wondered why the musical opus that put Czech composer
Antonin Dvorak
on the map is called the
Slavonic Dancesand now we know. He wrote 16 altogether and here is
No.1, Furiant, C major, conducted by German maestro
Wolfgang Sawallisch
...
36. SHO subsidiary: TMC.
The Movie Channel
(TMC) is an American premium television network owned by Showtime
Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global operated through its Paramount Media
Networks division. The network's programming mainly features first-run
theatrically released and independently produced motion pictures, and during
promotional breaks between films, special behind-the-scenes features and movie
trivia.
37. Yemeni port: ADEN.
Aden
(Arabic: عَدَنْ, romanized: ʿAdan, Old South Arabian: 𐩲𐩵𐩬) is a port city
located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, positioned near
the eastern approach to the Red Sea. With its strategic location on the
coastline, Aden serves as a gateway between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea,
making it a crucial maritime hub connecting Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East.
Aden, Yemen Gulf of Aden
38. Residence: HOME.
39. Pal: AMIGO. Today's Spanish lesson.
41. F-150 maker: FORD. Great trucks. We recently gave ours to
our son. Given the amount we were using it it just didn't justify the
insurance costs. When we need it we just borrow it back from him -- along
with a grandson (or granddaughter) to do the heavy lifting. It looked sort of
like this (without the view)...
49. President __: PRO TEM.
The president pro tempore of the United States Senate
(often shortened to president PRO TEM) is the second-highest-ranking
official of the United States Senate, after the vice president. According to
Article One, Section Three of the United States Constitution, the vice president
of the United States is the president of the Senate (despite not being a
senator), and the Senate must choose a president pro tempore to act in the vice
president's absence. The Honorable Patty Murphy of Washington
is the incumbent PRO TEM of the Senate.
Senator Patricia Lynn Murray
51. Pedicure targets: TOES. And a CSO to
Lucina.
53. Saturn or Mercury: CAR. Not a god and not a planet.
56. Asia's __ Peninsula: MALAY. The MALAY Peninsula is a
part of
Malaysia, a country of Southeast Asia, lying just north of the Equator, that is
composed of two non-contiguous regions: Peninsular Malaysia, also called
West Malaysia, which is on the Malay Peninsula, and East Malaysia,
which is on the island of Borneo ...
58. Verification tool for online alcohol retailers, e.g.: AGE GATE.
One may have popped up if you tried to open 7D's website.
60. Not that: THIS.
62. Way to go: ROUTE.
64. Furniture retailer that sells FIXA tool kits: IKEA. Two
IKEA drawers in my office are jammed shut. I don't think they have
a kit for that.
65. Remove from power: OUST. Should OUST be
OUSTED from the crosswordese dictionary?
66. Lip: EDGE.
67. Clockwork part: GEAR.
68. __ of life: TREE. The
Tree of Life
is a widespread archetype common to many religions, mythologies, and folktales.
The tree of life is a common idea in cultures throughout the world. It
represents, at times, the source of life, a force that connects all lives, or
the cycle of life and death itself. Common features of various myths include
supernatural guardians protecting the tree and its fruits that grant those who
eat them immortality.
69. "Clue" actress Madeline: KAHN.
Madeline Gail Kahn
(née Wolfson; September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999 -- her early death from
cancer was a big loss to American comedy) was an American actress, comedian, and
singer. She is known for comedic roles in films directed by
Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including
What's Up, Doc? (1972), Blazing Saddles (1974),
Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977),
History of the World, Part I (1981), and her Academy Award–nominated role
in Paper Moon (1973). Here Madeline plays Mrs. White in
Clue and we're treated to all her big scenes ...
Here's a bonus clip of
Madeline Kahn teaching Grover to sing -- compliments of Chairman Moe -- it popped up after his
Muppets Letter S video last Friday.
70. Systems of principles: ISMS. There are many, many
ISMS, but I can think of only one that consists simply of the name of a
scientist + ISM. Hand up if you can name a second one?
Down:
1. Funny sketches: SKITS. Mr. Bean seems to draw a crowd
wherever he goes ...
The above image is
Copyright: (c) ADAGP, Paris, although why anyone would want to
plagiarize it I haven't a clue.
27. Judith Weir composition: OPERA.
Dame Judith WeirDBE HonFRSE* (born 11 May 1954) is a British composer serving as
Master of the King's Music. Appointed in 2014 by
Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.
While I was tempted to include one of her operatic works, I decided instead on
this lovely setting of the first seven verses of
Psalm 42 - Like as the Hart
that she composed for the Queen's funeral ...
30. Tony winner Judith: IVEY.
Judith Lee Ivey
(born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She
twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for
Steaming (1981) and Hurlyburly (1984). She also received
Best Actress In A Play nomination for
Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (1992) and another
Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for
The Heiress.
Judith Ivey
32. Astonished letters: OMG.
34. Subject of a late-night countdown: SHEEP. 🐑🐑🐑
35. Also-ran: LOSER.
37. Three or four: A FEW.
40. Soccer star Hamm: MIA. Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March
17, 1972) is an American former professional soccer player,
two-time Olympic gold medalist and
two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she
played as a forward for the United States national team from 1987 to 2004. Hamm
was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first
professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for
the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003. She played college soccer for
the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team win four
NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.
Mia Hamm
45. Let (up): EASE.
47. Cartoon frame: CEL.
50. Officiate at a cook-off, say: TASTE.
52. Like some granola: OATEN.
54. First-stringers: A TEAM.
55. Brings up: REARS.
57. Jedi with an unusual speech pattern: YODA. Nearly finished I
think is this review.
59. Supermodel Hadid: GIGI.
Jelena Noura "Gigi" Hadid, born April 23, 1995, is an American fashion model and television personality.
In 2016, she was named International Model of the Year by the British
Fashion Council.
Jelena Noura Hadid
60. Small fry: TOT.
61. "Ben-__": HUR.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
is a novel by Lew Wallace (an American lawyer, Civil War general,
governor of New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, and
author!), published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and
considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth
century". It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet
Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. The book also inspired other
novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture
productions.
This first edition
can be yours for only $30,000 ...
Wallace's book was the basis for this award winning film starring
Charleston Heston. Here's the famous chariot race scene ...
63. Exasperated cry: UGH. Exasperation lesson #2.
Cheers, Bill
And
as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
----------------------------------------------
As today is the 339th
birthday of my favorite Lutheran saint, I thought it appropriate to end with a
little bit of Johann Sebastian Bach for the coming celebration of
Easter. Here's his
Sheep May Safely Graze, from the Hunt Cantata, BWV 208, performed at the
Toronto Bach Festival
(and a CSO to CanadianEh!!)
Our constructor, Jeff Stillman, gives us three sets of circles, highlighting the fact that the letters Y, E, A, and R have been scrambled. Eventually, he puts them in order at ...
51 Across. Celebratory shout heard before "Auld Lang Syne" is played, and an apt title for this puzzle?: HAPPY NEW YEAR.
I put up the Rolling in the New Year image because it sort of feels like the letters in the circles are rolling into their proper place. I really cannot say if that is what Jeff had in mind. Perhaps he is simply saying that 51-A was a "new" way to arrange the letters from the circles. If there is another layer, I missed it. Whoosh!
Nonetheless, I am a fan of holiday-themed puzzles so I am giving Jeff's puzzle a thumbs up. 👍 Notice that his circles always span two words. Additionally, it is nice to see two 15-letter answers on a Monday puzzle. Here's the grid:
There are 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 ways to arrange the letters Y, E, A, and R.
Let's keep on rollin' with the other clues:
Across: 1. Underground areas explored by spelunkers: CAVES. A spelunker is someone who makes a hobby of exploring CAVES.
trailer for Ancient Caves, a 2020 IMAX documentary
6. Car-buying necessity, for many: LOAN.
10. Degs. for some entrepreneurs: MBAS. Master of Business Administration degrees
14. Stuffy "Me too": AS AM I. I started with AS do I, but perps told me that choice was an outlier.
15. Competent: ABLE.
16. Noble rank above viscount: EARL.
17. Stuck in the muck: MIRED.
That poor duck had bad luck!
18. French champagne brand: MOET. a nice fit for a New Year's grid
19. "Well, would you look at that!": MY MY.
20. Make a polite visit: PAY RESPECT TO.
23. "__ whiz!": GEE.
24. Runs easily with long strides: LOPES.
Watch as British equestrian Ben Maher keeps his horse, Explosion W, in an smooth LOPE
between jumps to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
27. False start punishment, in football: FIVE YARD PENALTY. False start is when an offensive player does it. Offsides is when a defensive player does it. Do the players get fined?
34. County Clare's nat.: IRE. I did not know this one but "County Clare" just sounds like it lies in the nation of IREland. (Hi Irish Miss! ☘)
35. Internet letters: EMAILS. This was my favorite clue because I fell for the "letters" misdirection and was trying to think of an initialism.
36. "The Banana Boat Song" opener: DAY-O. as in "It's New Year's DAY-O"
This one never gets old.
Harry Belafonte released Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) in 1956.
37. Trails behind: LAGS. To LAG behind is to fail to keep pace with one's peers.
39. Color TV pioneer: RCA. I think of Misty when I see RCA in a puzzle because she has such fond memories of her father. I can feel her smile through the internet.
40. "Barbie" actor Liu: SIMU. He is a Canadian actor born in Harbin, China on April 19, 1989. Last week CanadianEh! reminded us about his book, We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story. It's on my library queue.
Simu Liu rocks the Ken hair.
41. La __: Real Madrid's division: LIGA. European fútbol
45. Naught: NIL. Those on Santa's naughty list get NIL for Christmas.
46. Incredibly hard to hold: SLIPPERY AS AN EEL.
Wow, this one took me on a trip down memory lane to Bozo Under the Sea, a 78 RPM record I used to listen to at my grandmother's house while reading its accompanying book. I remember this picture of him touching an electric EEL.
49. Photo app filter shade: SEPIA. Last Friday, ZDL's puzzle had a good clue for this word -- Retro tone.
50. Time period often named for a monarch: ERA.
58. Crèche trio: MAGI. Most western Christian churches celebrate Three Kings' Day on January 6.
Click to expand.
61. Moisturizer brand: OLAY.
62. Missouri River tributary: OSAGE.
63. Minnesota representative Ilhan: OMAR. Minnesota has eight congressional districts. Rep. Ilhan Omar's district is #5 (Minneapolis).
64. Junction point: NODE. I knowed this one. Did you knowed it, too?
65. Spoke wildly: RAVED. I was trying to make ranted fit.
66. Sheepherding pig in a 1995 film: BABE.
67. Smack: SWAT.
68. Austin Powers player Mike: MYERS. Canadian-American actor Mike Myers made three Austin Powers movies. They were released in 1997, 1999, and 2002. Here's the trailer from the first one, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Down: 1. Training __: NFL preseason practice time: CAMP. This link goes to the 2023 training CAMP details for every NFL team. Scroll through it to get a feel for the whens & wheres.
2. Tibet's continent: ASIA. This 3:22 min. video lists four reasons to visit Tibet. You might also find these 2024 Tibet travel restrictions interesting. 3. "Your mileage may __": VARY. In other words, you might have a different experience in a particular situation.
The Proclaimers I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (1988)
Yes, they're twins.
But I would walk 500 miles And I would walk 500 more Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles To fall down at your door
4. Come to light: EMERGE.
5. Judgmental glance: SIDE-EYE. The term is about a physical act that communicates any number of things (e.g., suspicion, scorn, annoyance, jealousy, and veiled curiosity).
Here is some serious 17th century SIDE-EYE.
Detail from The Fortune Teller French artist Georges de La Tour (circa 1630)
10. Note-worthy purchases?: MEMO PADS. "Note-worthy". Good one!
11. Green __, Wisconsin: BAY. IIRC, unclefred is a Packers fan.
12. Escort's offering: ARM.
13. Devious: SLY.
21. Tailor's line of stitches: SEAM.
22. Freight weight: TON.
25. "Seinfeld" character who worked for Pendant Publishing: ELAINE. and 53 Down. When tripled, phrase spoken by 25-Down: YADA.
This is the clip (1 min.):
"No, I mentioned the bisque."
26. Really frustrate: STYMIE. Def.: (verb) to prevent or hinder the progress of.
27. Jam-packs: FILLS. This reminded me of the well-known story about the jar with rocks. Here is a 2 min. version: 28. Vowel-shaped track segments: I-RAILS.
Is this an I-RAIL? The cross section of the rail resembles a letter "I".
29. Carrot or celery, informally: VEGGIE.
30. Not so common: RARER.
31. Hazardous: DICEY.
32. Initial strategy: PLAN A.
33. "__ be sorry!": YOU'LL.
38. Blue gem: SAPPHIRE. Note to self: 2P's
42. Some cards in the board game Clue: WEAPONS. Can you name all six? (*answers below)
43. "Now it's clear!": I SEE.
44. Overly catchy song: EARWORM. Here is an aptly named EARWORM:
Kylie Minogue Can't Get You Out of My Head (2001)
La-la-la, la-la-la-la-la
47. Actress Zadora: PIA.
48. Come out against: NAYSAY.
52. Furrow former: PLOW.
54. No, in Russian: NYET.
55. Icicle site: EAVE.
56. Ripening agent: AGER. When used on some apples, the result is a Golden AGER. 😜
57. Cincinnati MLB team: REDS. The team name originated from the high red socks or stockings the team wore with its knee-length pants.
58. Unruly crowd: MOB.
59. GP's gp.: AMA. General Practitioner and American Medical Association
60. Chitchat: GAB.
my friend Julie & me at lunch yesterday 😀
*The six CLUE weapons are: wrench, lead pipe, rope, knife, revolver, and candlestick.
That's all for today. Wishing everyone health & happiness in the new year!
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