18-Across. Sequence of missed calls: PHONE TAG. Smart Phone.
21-Across. Place for Oreos: COOKIE JAR. Smart Cookie. A Smart Cookie is a clever person with good ideas.
38-Across. Let it slide: LOOK THE OTHER WAY. Smart Look.
52-Across. Wallet or purse alternative: MONEY BELT. Smart Money.
And the unifier:
58-Across. Fashionable group ... and what the starts of 18-, 21-, 38- and
52-Across form: SMART SET.
The word Smart can precede the first word of each theme
answer to give us a new concept.
Today is not only Mardi Gras, but it's a White Rabbit Day. Happy first
of March and Mardi Gras!
Across:
1. Gaming site whose machines originally took pennies: ARCADE.
That's why they were called Penny Arcades.
7. Invite (to): ASK.
10. Serve, as coffee: POUR.
14. Jumped: LEAPED.
15. Wide-angle
view: PANORAMA. Guess the panoramic city below.
17. Mom or dad: PARENT.
19. Pitcher's control, say: ASSET.
20. Wood-splitting tool: AXE.
25. Extra: SPARE.
30. New England cape: ANN. Cape Ann is north of Boston.
31. Fountain offerings: SODAS.
33. When tied NFL games may be decided: IN OT. As in
in Over Time.
34. Spanish folk hero: EL CID. We've seen El Cid before.
36. Does some self-grooming, as a bird: PREENS.
42. Counsel: ADVISE.
43. Things one can't do without: NEEDS.
44. Bearing: MIEN.
45. Salt or fresh follower: WATER. Ever wonder about the
differences between Fresh and Salt Water?
47. Mayo, por ejemplo: MES. Today's Spanish Lesson.
May is a Month. Hi, Lucina!
50. North Atlantic hazards: BERGS.
55. "What was __ do?": I TO.
57. Lord's home: MANOR.
63. Barely manage, with "by": SCRAPE. //
And 34-Down. Barely managing, with "by": EKING.
3. Novelist McCullers: CARSON. Carson McCullers (née Lula
Carson Smith; Feb. 19, 1917 ~ Sept. 29, 1967) was an American author whose
writings generally take place in the deep South. She is probably best
known for her 1940 novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which was
also made into a film. It was also made into a 1968 film, starring
Alan Arkin.
4. Sneak __: look secretly: A PEEK.
5. Teeth: Pref.: DENTI-.
6. Georgia summer hrs.: EDT. As in Eastern Daylight Time. Much of the country goes into Daylight Time soon.
58. Tasks in music, painting, etc.: ARTS PROJECTS.
Boomer here.
Today
is the day I STARt Radiation. Been there done that about three and a
half years ago. I don't remember many side effects but C.C. does. Last
week I had a taste of physical therapy and occupational therapy.
Things went well but I have more to come after I take care of a few
other appointments at the VA.
Boomer OT grip strength test, VA, 1/21/2022
Across:
1. Baghdad is its capital: IRAQ.
5. Really slow parties: DRAGS. Really FAST stock car races.
10. Bloke: CHAP. Ollie's buddy Stan.
14. Hindu spiritual adviser: GURU. While I was in the VA hospital recovering from surgery, I was visited by a couple of Catholic spiritual advisers.
15. Latin for "gold": AURUM.
16. British nobleman below a marquess: EARL. "Duke, Duke, Duke of EARL". Gene Chandler.
17. Rifle range rounds: AMMO. It's been a long time since I was on a rifle range.
18. Failure to exercise appropriate care: NEGLIGENCE. I did not hear this word, but I was told what might happen if I failed to exercise.
22. Nod up and down: AGREE. So I nodded up and down!
25. Enjoy the slopes: SKI. We have Olympic size ski slopes here in MN. I am sure we will see more in Beijing.
26. Nav. rank: ENS. Same as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army.
27. Bath bathroom: LOO. Skip to my ???
28. "To make a __ story short ... ": LONG.
32. Jessica with two Oscars and three Emmys: LANGE. Born in Cloquet, Minnesota but also lived in Stillwater, MN for a length of time.
38. Jai __: ALAI.
39. Formal "Door's open": ENTER.
40. Green Hornet's sidekick: KATO. Short for MANKATO, MN
47. Glide on a rink: SKATE. Lots of High School and College Hockey in our state. Waiting to see how players do in Beijing.
50. Soon, in Shakespeare: ANON.
51. Well output: OIL. Prices have risen drastically over the past year.
52. Tic-__-toe: TAC.
53. __ Lingus: AER.
56. Submit a résumé (for), as a job: APPLY. Not me. I had a job, but now I am too old.
63. Like hastily made plans: LAST SECOND. We do not do this. I
have all of my appointments in writing, and we usually leave an hour
before the appointed time and arrive early.
64. Berra or a bear: YOGI. Pride of the Yankees. O Booboo.
68. Dip __ in: test the water: A TOE. My TOES are pretty numb. I just use my hand.
69. Meeting leader: CHAIR.
70. Enjoy, as gum: CHEW.
71. Well-mannered man: GENT.
72. Works at, as a bar: TENDS. Used to be an afterwork stop and the bartenders knew us pretty well.
73. __ sapiens: HOMO.
Down:
1. Supermarket initials: IGA. We do not have these in our area, but I've heard of them.
2. Mojito liquor: RUM. "Away, away with RUM by gum, the song of the temperance union",
3. Chair's elbow rest: ARM. And sometimes I have to push up on the ARMS to get up. All of you over 70 -- tell the truth.
4. Repeat exactly: QUOTE.
5. Scully on "The X-Files": DANA.
6. Regretful sort: RUER.
7. 2012 Affleck film that won Best Picture: ARGO. Corn Starch.
8. Large bodies of water: GULFS. GULF of Mexico is huge.
9. Smug grin: SMIRK. Not that funny.
10. Chicken cacciatore quintet: CEES.
11. "Dear Evan __": 2015 musical: HANSEN.
12. Curving, like the sun crossing the sky: ARCING. Like a golf ball flying off a three wood.
13. Polite request starter: PLEASE.
19. What a plea deal concedes: GUILT. We have a trio of cops in trouble from the George Floyd incident on trial at this time.
21. Ward of "House": SELA.
22. __-Seltzer: ALKA. SPEE DEE's commercial.
23. Objective: GOAL. He shoots ! He SCORREES !!
24. Barrett of gossip: RONA.
29. Creme-filled cookie: OREO. One of my favorites, but not a treat for diabetics.
30. It's forbidden: NO NO.
31. Have to, in slang: GOTTA. Sometimes it's a NO NO but sometimes I just GOTTA have a piece of pie.
33. Questions: ASKS.
35. Main point: GIST.
36. Horse rider's strap: REIN. Also Santa guiding his sleigh.
37. Florence's river: ARNO.
41. Where division leaders sit, vis-à-vis the standings: ATOP. On TOP of Old Smokie?
42. What a dog wags: TAIL.
43. Paris airport: ORLY.
45. Jalopies: HEAPS. Mine was a 1953 Dodge.
46. Tiny biting insect: GNAT.
47. WWII prison camp: STALAG. Colonel Hogan lived there and made a TV show.
48. Self-defense technique: KARATE. Never tried it.
49. Responds to, as a tip: ACTS ON.
54. Build: ERECT. Myself and all kids my age had an ERECTOR set when we were young.
55. Tamiflu producer: ROCHE.
57. "Fooled you!": PSYCH.
59. Editor's "keep it": STET.
60. Folk singer Baez: JOAN. Song writer of folk music. I think she was a close personal friend of Bob Dylan.
61. Oklahoma city: ENID.
62. Some USN officers: CDRS. I believe our friend Spitzboov had this rank.
65. "I get it now!": OHO.
66. Diamond, for one: GEM. "Baseball Field" did not fit.
67. __ Jima: IWO. A major battle by U.S. forces in 1945.
Theme: CHANCE ENCOUNTER
(60. Bumping into someone, say ... and what the end of each answer to a
starred clue can have?) - The last word can precede "chance".
17. *Swing from the get-go: COME OUT FIGHTING. Fighting chance.
23. *Well-made: BUILT TO LAST. Last chance.
30. *Early pudginess usually lost by one's teens: BABY FAT. Fat chance.
43. *Continue to avoid, as alcohol: STAY OFF. Off chance (Thanks, Tony Express). Never had much of a
desire for the stuff. The doctor did not hurt my feelings when he told
me to STAY OFF because it does not agree with my meds.
47. *"Don't go yet": WAIT A SECOND. Second chance.
Boomer here.
Yep,
a fighting chance describes me trying to pick up a ten pin. There is
never a second chance in the same frame. The opponents generally think
"fat chance" that I will make it. It's their "last chance" before they
shut up. I hope everyone remembered to turn their clocks back an hour
yesterday to get some extra sleep.
Across:
1. Fictional hero raised by apes: TARZAN.
7. URL letters after two slashes: WWW. I know it's the World
Wide Web but I also think it has something to do with pro wrestling.
Speaking of which, did you know that when I moved to Brooklyn Park,
Minnesota, the mayor was Jesse (the body) Ventura. A few years later he
became governor of the whole state of Minnesota.
10. Prefix meaning "huge": MEGA. Very large
14. Single-celled creature: AMOEBA. Very Small
15. "So I was right all along": AHA. "I learned that our
government must be strong, It's always right and never wrong. Our
leaders are the finest men and so we elect them again and again" (Tom
Paxton)
16. Pizza cooker: OVEN. I was once a pizza BAKER and the oven was 500 degrees.
20. Bonuses for the waitstaff: TIPS. Also advice at the racetrack.
21. Whitewater ride: RAFT.
22. Mookie of the Dodgers: BETTS. Maybe he goes to casinos ??
25. Make amends: ATONE.
29. Wallach or Whitney: ELI.
33. Go out, as the tide: EBB. Happens every day when the moon comes up.
41. Dined: ATE. Notice that ATE and EAT have the same letters.
42. Can metal: TIN.
44. Pigs out (on), briefly: OD'S.
46. Bird homes: NESTS. I usually cheat when the golf ball lies in what looks like a bird NEST.
54. Lou Grant portrayer Ed: ASNER. Everyone remembers Lou Grant, however Mr. Asner also was the captain of the slave ship in "Roots"
55. __-Rooter: ROTO. We bought a new toilet from them and they did a very poor job installing it.
56. Worker protection org.: OSHA. Their rules and regulations seemed to be a pain to establish but I guess it was for the better.
63. Clark at the Daily Planet: KENT. I wonder what brand of cigarettes he smoked.
64. NW corner key: ESC. We have one but I have never heard it called that.
65. __ versus nurture: NATURE.
66. Valuable rocks: ORES. I think they come from Oregon.
67. 5G __: mobile standard: LTE.
68. Eats into: ERODES. I guess I ERODE a bowl of cereal every morning.
Down:
1. Diplomat's asset: TACT. And diplomacy.
2. Mine, in Metz: A MOI.
3. Blowout victory: ROMP. The Braves took home that trophy with the flags in a circle. Congratulations!
4. Pizzazz quartet: ZEES. Some kind of Pizza that I never made.
5. Blood-typing letters: ABO. I am O Neg and the VA sneaked some
out of my inside elbow last Friday. Of course I asked the lady to use
the same hole as previous.
6. Tiny Pacific republic near the equator: NAURU.
7. Pancake cousin: WAFFLE. We have a great WAFFLE baker. I make them instead of pancakes all the time. No syrup though - only fake sugar.
8. Wood shavers: WHITTLERS. I have never done this. I guess I am not old enough.
9. What happy tails do: WAG.
10. Roadside overnight stop: MOTEL. We do not use these much
anymore. I think the last time is when C.C. and I took a golf trip
years ago and drove to Myrtle Beach.
11. Broadway role played by Madonna in film: EVITA.
12. Restroom label: GENTS. Must be upscale. All I ever see is "MEN".
13. Common teen phase: ANGST.
18. Mai __: TAI.
19. "His Dark Materials" channel: HBO. I think I have this channel but I don't remember ever watching it.
23. Are suited for: BEFIT.
24. Dalai Lama's land: TIBET. A region in East Asia occupied by holy monks.
25. Palindromic "SOS" pop group: ABBA.
26. Sharp-tasting: TART.
27. Bassoon relative: OBOE.
28. "Miracle" NL team of 1969, on scoreboards: NYM. The "Miracle Mets" managed by Gil Hodges beat the heavily favored Orioles 4 games to 1.
31. Farewell to Felipe: ADIOS.
32. Most easily chewed, as meat: TENDEREST. Tenderloins are pretty expensive.
34. Not at all spicy: BLAND.
35. Sporty Pontiacs: GTOS. Sometimes called a GOAT. Greatest Of All Time?
36. Nimble-fingered: DEFT.
37. Some emailed files: PDFS.
40. Sailor's yes: AYE.
45. Wall-mounted light: SCONCE.
47. Amusingly eccentric: WACKO. Okay, who is attacking my blog entry.
48. Son of Jacob: ASHER.
49. Silly: INANE.
50. Campers' shelters: TENTS. Years ago I had occasions to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent. No more thank you.
51. Joan of __: ARC.
52. Not Rx: OTC. Over the Counter. I buy aspirin and vitamins. The VA sends me the expensive stuff.
53. "... said __ ever": NO ONE.
56. Aware of, as a plot: ONTO.
57. Kind of poker: STUD. Normally five cards and you do not get a draw.
58. "__ we go again!": HERE. THERE did not fit.
59. Greek war god: ARES.
61. Electric fish: EEL. I don't think these are fish.
62. Former Egypt-Syria confed.: UAR. United Arab Republic.
Today's puzzle was constructed by LA Times Crossword veteran
Jerry Edelstein, whose last appearance here was on
August 18, 2021. Today he appears in a MASTER's TOURNEY, turning the
last word of each themerinto the first half of the reveal.
Here are the seeds:
20A. Retiree's investment goal:
INCOME STREAM. A CSO to JzB.
42. Cornell's "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" and others:
ALMA MATERS. A CSO to any of our Cornell alums on the Corner. Hands up
please!
And the reveal:
54A. "Mona Lisa" and "Guernica" ... and, in a different way, the
last words of 20-, 34- and 42-Across:
MASTERPIECES. That is, the last word of each themer is an anagram of MASTER*. I found the contrasts between these
two masterpieces to be intriguingly dissonant.
Leonard da Vinci's
masterpiece, the
Mona Lisa, is one of the most well-known works of art in the world. It's
difficult to visit the painting in the Louvre because it's always surrounded
by enormous crowds. Instead we'll take a
virtual tour. After the brief intro, click the start button. You can
control the tour by clicking on the small menu icon on the right side
of the screen.
The Mona Lisa has inspired many other works
of art,
including this one. The painting is pretty high-maintenance, demanding one of the largest
insurance premiums of any painting in the world, and all for just 4.4 sq ft.
of canvas (poplar actually).
The painting suggests many emotions, but for me it is iconic of serenity.
Mona Lisa, The Louvre 30 in × 21 in
Pablo Picasso's masterpiece
Guernica, on the other hand, is iconic of the madness and horrors of war,
depicting the April 26, 1937, bombing of Guernica, a Basque
Country town in northern Spain which was bombed by Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists:
Guernica, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain 11 ft 5in high x25 ft 6 in wide
Across:
1. Lose it: GO MAD. Madness is a frequent theme in art, literature,
and music, e.g. the aforementioned Guernica or Shakespeare's
King Lear
(CSO to Ol' Man Keith) or Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Here's Lucia losing it after
just murdering her husband Arturo on their wedding night, the aftermath of an
"arranged" marriage:
6. Winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second-most in the Open Era:
GRAF. Stefanie Maria Graf (born 14 June 1969) is a German
former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377
weeks (only player, male or female, to be No. 1 for more than 7 years) and won
22 Grand Slam singles titles, which is the second-most since the introduction of
the Open Era in 1968 behind Serena Williams (23).
Steffi Graf
10. Not talk, with "up": CLAM.
14. Gulf State native: OMANI. A citizen of
OMAN, a country occupying the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula at
the confluence of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
15. Jedi who lived to be 900: YODA. See 23A. See also MASTER in 54A.
16. Dance with a chair: HORA. As a left hander, I'm also left
footed. In fact I'm so left footed that I have TWO of them. Maybe
this will help me the next time I'm invited to a Jewish wedding:
17. Ice shelf breakaways: BERGS.
18. Relaxing melodies: MOOD MUSIC. Winter's on its way and here's a
bit of MOOD MUSIC for relaxing with your sweetie:
22. __4: Toyota SUV: RAV.
23. Happy eating word: NOM. Yes it's in the
Scrabble Dictionary. The word originated as an an onomatopoeic adjective coined by the
Cookie Monster, a NOM DE PLUME of puppeteer, actor, and film maker
Frank Oz.
24. ABC early show, briefly: GMA.
27. Wandered: STRAYED.
31. Eclipse shadows: UMBRAS. From the Latin for
SHADOW.
46. It often follows a crash: REBOOT. AKA the "Blue Screen of Death" (BSOD).
Save this link in the unlikely event that this should ever happen to you. Oh, but you
won't have any way to access it will you? 😖
47. Overthrows: DEPOSES. Speaking of
BSODS, there are some tech companies I'd like to DEPOSE.
50. Federal benefits org. founded under FDR: SSA. So we're talking
about the "Federal benefit" of all that hard earned money that was withheld from
my paycheck for 53 years?
51. Hit hard: RAM. See 46A.
53. Write "ere" for this answer, say: ERR. Yeah, "This clue has on"
too. Just sayin' - this is a slippery slope!
3. Designer Jacobs: MARC.
Marc Jacobs
(born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer
for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly for
Marc by Marc Jacobs.
4. Wool from a rabbit: ANGORA. Awe, aren't they cute?
There's money to be made raising Angora rabbits,
if you want to try your luck.
5. Sudden loss of courage: DISMAY. The closest our friendly Thesaurus comes
to that is "disCOURAGEment". I think the cluer is stretching it
today:
6. Where to see rats and reps: GYMS. REPS I know about, but
GYM RAT? I'm unclear on the concept:
7. Cheer: ROOT.
8. Fancify: ADORN.
9. What many pop songs end with: FADE OUT. The greatest
FADEOUT
of all time:
10. Buddy: CHUM.
11. __ Altos, California: LOS.
12. Jackie's second: ARI.
Aristotle Socrates Onassis (January 20, 1906 – March 15, 1975), commonly called Ari , was
a shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned
shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest men. But before Jackie his
partner was Maria, considered by many to be the greatest soprano of the
20th century ...
... except of course for the even greater soprano Rosa Ponselle, singing this aria from La Traviata (check out some of the comments comparing her with Callas). When she retired from opera she came to Baltimore and used to sing in
our Church choir (really!). Sadly it was long before our time.
13.
Big __: MAC.
19. Me or you or a dog named Boo: MAMMAL. Let's see, we're:
warm blooded (✓), hairy (✓), ... I could go on, but I think
that narrows it down enough.
21. Daredevil Knievel: EVEL.
Robert Craig Knievel
(October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), professionally known as
Evel Knievel, was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the
course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps.
Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of
pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida, in 2007, aged 69, sans
BOOTS.
28. Puts on hold, as an agenda item: TABLES. Aside from a necessary noun
in the kitchen, TABLE can be verbified in American English, e.g., to
remove from item from consideration during a formal meeting or other procedure;
and in British English, curiously, its meaning is the opposite: it denotes
placing an item on an agenda. One can also "lay one's cards on the
TABLE" ("to be candid") and "under the TABLE" ("intoxicated" or
"secretive").
29. Wandering vacuum: ROOMBA. Robotic vacuum cleaners have been
around for a while. The next new thing is
robotic lawn mowers.
30. What you eat: DIET.
32. Fat meas.: BMI.
Body Mass Index, how you can tell whether you need to watch your 30D and tips on the
right approach.
35. Part of IOU: OWE.
36. Uncool one who lately is sort of cool: NERD. We've been over
this before, but I think there is a difference between the words GEEK and
NERD, but YMMV. As I think I'm both, it probably doesn't matter.
39. Seeing no evil?: AMORAL.
Today's Morality lesson: 'Unmoral', 'Immoral', 'Nonmoral', and
'Amoral' all have prefixes meaning "not."
So which to use when? Ted's quote in the latter link seemed timely at the time, but I guess times
change.
43. Not moving: AT A STOP.
44. Flow slowly: SEEP.
48. Having a tag on it, maybe: PRICED. Or the "it" on a playground?
49. Unsettling closing words: OR ELSE.
52. Site of the Cave of Zeus, in myth: Abbr.: MT IDA. Apparently
there is some dispute about the exact birthplace of Zeus: in a cave on
Mt Ida in Western Crete
or the
Psychro cave
further to the East. Another possibility is that Zeus and his twin
brother Jupiter were swapped at birth. This happens a lot in Gilbert and
Sullivan operettas, but it's the first time I've heard of it happening in
Greece.
54. Put together: MAKE. OTOH, MAKING a marble statue means
taking things apart, bit by bit.
55. Kuwaiti ruler: EMIR. Emir , sometimes transliterated
amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that
can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or
political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial
authority.
See here for
more on this frequent denizen of Crosswords.
56. Give a strong impression (of): REEK. Rhymes with LEEK,
featured at the annual
Polk County Tennessee Ramp Tramp Festival, where there's a whole lot of REEKING goin' on.
57. __ Nostra: COSA.
58. Even one time: EVER.
59. Like some knockouts: SEXY. This clue/fill is relevant to a
dispute currently going on within a prominent restaurant chain regarding new
"uniform" requirements, but as this is a family blog I won't reveal it.
60. Rockies bugler: ELK. With an S an
ORDER Without an S a MAMMAL (see
19D).
61. Sine __ non: QUA. The grid is the SINE QUA NON of a
review and after I dispatch the next clue, it will be forthwith.
62. Coffee hour sight: URN. Crosswordese.
waseeley
Cheers, Bill
And special thanks to Teri for proof reading this puzzle and for her
constructive suggestions. And thanks to TTP for his suggested correction of the reveal definition.
