Good morning, campers, it’s RustyBrain. Summer
is upon us and Chairman Moe is taking some well-deserved time off.
I couldn’t find much about today’s constructor, Jeremy Venook, except he seems
to be a brilliant fellow. He’s published a number of scholarly articles, but this may
be his debut puzzle. If so, congrats! Let’s see if this one hits the spot.
17. Person who's always available to help: JOHNNY ON THE. The first themer is obviously missing SPOT, but instead is followed by a black square, i.e. a blank SPOT. Cool. JOHNNY ON THE SPOT is a man who is there when really needed. “Johnny” (like Jack) being so common a name it stood for “man.” Heeeere's the man:
27. Theater employee who follows the stars closely: LIGHT OPERATOR. This themer started with a black square, so I tagged SPOT onto the beginning of LIGHT OPERATOR. A SPOTLIGHT OPERATOR uses a followspot to keep the “stars” on stage well lit. So far, so good.
44. Portable Wi-Fi source: HOT CONNECTION. The blank SPOT on the last themer is at the end again, so HOT CONNECTION SPOT? No, it’s a HOTSPOT CONNECTION. Turns out the black squares were just red herrings, to me, at least. Commonly known as a HOTSPOT, it’s a physical location or an antenna that people use to access the Internet, typically via Wi-Fi.
59. Comment to a less-than-thorough cleaner, or an apt title for this puzzle?: MISSED A SPOT.
The revealer is spot on! This is a common idiom, often used jokingly, and fully explains what is happening here.
I tried to read the tea leaves hidden in the black squares, but to no avail. The SPOT could be anywhere, which is fine. But let’s see what that leaves us. A “LIGHT OPERATOR” is a real job. A “HOT CONNECTION” is a real thing. A “JOHNNY ON THE” is…? I’d like the written part of the answer to be a complete phrase on its own, then be modified by the revealer into something fun. In the end, I guess I was looking for a little more out of a Friday.
And now, see Spot run:
Across:
1. Recklessly hasty: RASH.
5. Site that calls itself "the heart of the internet": REDDIT. I thought they were "the front page of the internet." In any case, REDDIT is a clever name suggesting "I read it" past tense.
11. Filmmaker Lee: ANG. Crossword's favorite director (don't tell Spike).
14. Fundamentals: ABCS. ABCs are the basic building blocks of many learned skills.
15. Declaration from a sure-handed player?: I RAISE. Also from a bluffer. Poker is the rare game where the best hand doesn't necessarily win.
16. __ shu pork: MOO. I like to roll my own, kinda like a Chinese fajita.
17. [Theme]
19. Total: ADD. If you "total" your car, it will ADD to your insurance premium.
20. Queerplatonic orientation, casually: ARO. ARO is the shortened version of "aromantic," which refers to individuals who experience little to no romantic attraction.
21. Lets up: EASES.
22. Narratives: TALES. Tall TALES are "yarns".
26. __ and haw: HEM.
27. [Theme]
34. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" painter Hieronymus: BOSCH. The Dutch painter's macabre imagery is often interpreted as a visual translation of metaphors found in the Bible. I'd love to see the original 7ft x 13ft triptych (3 panels depicting Paradise, The Garden, and Hell) to see all the intricate details. Hard to believe it's over 500 years old!
36. Range between Europe and Asia: URALS.
37. Messenger molecule: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid, in case you want to impress someone at your next party.
38. Missouri River Native: OTOE.
39. Coke or Pepsi: BRAND. And the cola war battles on...
40. Stay out all night: CAMP. My first thought was a rave, an all-night dance event.
41. Hilton-owned hotel chain: TRU. The name came about because they leave Capote novels in the drawers instead of Gideon Bibles. TRU story.
42. Tortuga's country: HAITI. "Tortuga" is Spanish for "turtle." This island, part of HAITI, was named La Tortuga by Christopher Columbus due to its turtle-like shape.
43. Backs (away): SHIES.
44. [Theme]
47. Large deer: ELK. Similar to Moose, they often meet at a watering hole.
48. Defiant confirmation: I DID SO.
51. Lure: DECOY. I was visiting Orlando and saw this duck being attacked by a bird. On a return visit, I noticed the duck was still there. I guess the bird wasn't the only one fooled.
54. Gala, for one: APPLE. It wouldn't be a gala without APPLE bobbing!
57. Sprite: ELF.
59. [Theme]
62. The Brewers, in box scores: MIL. The Milwaukee baseball team, named after "the beer that made Milwaukee famous," sorta. CC knows much more about this than I do (about baseball, not drinking). Anyway, they have a clever logo using their initials to look like a glove.
63. Real __: ESTATE.
64. Browser button: HOME.
65. Long fish with no pelvic fins: EEL. One of many ways to clue this popular x-word fish.
66. Invisible pollution: NOISES. Good clue. Have I mentioned that RightBrain and I hate going to noisy restaurants?
67. Alma mater of many British prime ministers: ETON.
Down:
1. Indian royals: RAJAS.
2. Call off, as a mission: ABORT.
3. Cry at the beginning of summer break: SCHOOL'S OUT. When the kids were young, I cued up the Alice Cooper song and played it when they walked in the door on the last day. We'd dance a silly jig and it became an annual tradition, because that's what cool dads do (or so I'm told).
4. Sales channel: HSN. Home Shopping Network, which I now call "Amazon."
5. Capital of Saudi Arabia: RIYADH. Awesome skyline.
6. Greek matchmaker: EROS.
7. Great __: DANE.
8. Morse taps: DITS. DITS and dahs are dots and dashes. Ta da!
9. "Or so": ISH. ~ (see TILDES below).
10. Wavers: TEETERS.
11. International lawyer Clooney: AMAL. Seen here with her little-known husband.
12. Lymph __: NODE.
13. Deities: GODS.
18. Speak horse-ly: NEIGH. I used to live next to a horse farm. They were noisy NEIGHbors.
23. Tell-all sesh on 5-Across: AMA. Sesh is short for session, so on REDDIT, AMA is short for Ask Me Anything.
25. Targets of insecticidal shampoo: LICE. I have a nit to pick with this one.
26. Contained: HELD.
28. Shrouded locale?: TURIN. This relic, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus, is shrouded in mystery.
29. Speechify: ORATE.
30. Lose one's cool: PANIC.
31. End of the line: TRAIN DEPOT. Actually, a DEPOT can be anywhere along the line, the one at the end is the "terminal." Here's one at local Tradewinds Park that we frequented when the kids were little. The models are one-eighth life-size and the track is over a mile long! Note: this isn't Gulliver's family traveling, it's the trains that are small.
32. "I'm buying": ON ME. My two favorite words (when someone else says them).
33. Performs like Ice Spice: RAPS.
34. Ideal option for the indecisive: BOTH. The eternal question - like Coke vs. Pepsi.
35. Other, in Oaxaca: OTRO. Today's lección de español (Spanish lesson).
39. Rely (on): BANK.
40. "Parasite" star Woo-shik: CHOI. I also saw him in the zombie thriller "Train to Busan." South Korea is producing a lot of popular movies, TV and music these days.
42. Some saints: HOLY MEN.
43. Record half: SIDE A. Had to wait to see which side we were on.
45. Corp. VIP: CEO. A Chief Executive Officer is a Very Important Person, that's why he/she is worth 1000 times more than everyone else?
46. Symbols indicating similarity, in geometry: TILDES. In mathematics, TILDES (~) often indicate "approximately" or "about." For example, "~20" would mean "approximately 20".
49. Sportscast tech: SLO-MO. Sloooow Mooootion...
50. Over and over: OFTEN. Not this one again!
51. Common mosque feature: DOME. A DOME, called qubba in Arabic, can improve the acoustics within the mosque, helping the Imam's voice resonate effectively. The onion-shaped ones are especially beautiful.
52. Shallowest Great Lake: ERIE. Hint: it's the four-letter one.
53. Nucleus holder: CELL. Wanted "atom" at first.
54. Italian bubbly: ASTI.
55. Unpaid TV ads: PSAS. Public Service Announcements.
56. Mets slugger Alonso: PETE. The 6'-3" first baseman is nicknamed "Polar Bear." I'm not sure why.
60. Equi- kin: ISO. An equilateral triangle has three equal length sides, while an ISOsceles triangle has just two.
61. Pronoun option: SHE.
Out, damned spot! Over and out!
