Friday, December 12, 2025, Harit Raghunathan & Joah Macosko

EXERCISING OUR MINDS

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of today's puzzle.  That recap consists of but a single word - Oy!  Okay, see y'all in a couple of weeks.

Alternatively, as Desi famously said to Lucy, "You've got some 'splainin to do".  I shall try my best.  Please bear with me as sorting this one out requires taking several distinct steps and describing those steps in prose seems, at the time of this writing, a bit daunting.

To suss out what is going on we have to go through various physical exercises (pull-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups, push-ups), cope with life's inevitable ups and downs, and then knit together fractured answers.  Not satisfied with these challenges, today's puzzle-setters provide no unifier.  That said, the ", literally" appended to the end of the themed clues did provided a sort of guideance.  Also, we do get circles and the circles indicate the points at which we need to rearrange things.  Let's take a look at the first pair of themed clues and answers:

7 Down.  Lats-working exercise, literally: LLUP.  

20 Across.  Lift system that offers a mechanical advantage: ROPEANDPEY.

WTF would not be an inappropriate reaction.  However, try this:  First, read the answer to the Down clue from bottom to top.  Literally, P  U  L  L going/reading upwards.  As a result, we get PULL as in PULL-UP which does answer the clue

Next, at the location of the circle, insert PULL into the answer for the crossing Across clue.  Finally, at the end of the Down clue's answer (read upward that would be the top, in this case the second L) return to the Across answer, et voila, we get:

ROPE AND PULLEY  - which is an appropriate answer to the Across clue

The next pair (numerically):

22  Down.  Abs-working exercise, literally: TIS.  . . . becomes SIT  when read from the bottom to the top (as in sit-up, the answer to the clue)

27 Across.  Puts everything on the line: RISKSALL.

This one was a bit different because both RISKS ALL and 'TIS could stand on their own whereas the others answers are, standing alone, nonsensical.  Still, after taking the necessary steps, we end up with a perfectly reasonable solution to the across clue:

RISKS IT ALL

Continuing along these lines:

31 Down.  Pecs-working exercise, literally: HSUP.  . . . which becomes PUSH (push-up)

46 Across.  Challenging HS class that covers Reconstruction and Prohibition: APISTORY.

Stitched together the result is:  AP US HISTORY

Similarly:

44 Down.  Biceps-working exercise, literally: NIHC. . . . becomes CHIN (chin-up)

57 Across.  Summer forecast in the Southwest: SCORCGHEAT.

Stitch 'em together to get: SCORCHING HEAT

The completed grid looks like this:

. . . and after a well-earned rest from all that exercise we'll take a look at the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Concocts: BREWS.

6. "O Captain! My Captain!," for one: ELEGY.  Walt Wh9tman's ELEGY for Abraham Lincoln.

11. Org. with Falcons and Ravens: NFL.

14. Navel type: OUTIE.  We can go ahead and fill in the I and the E before we know if it will be an INNIE or and OUTIE.

15. Outdoor screen annoyance: GLARE.  Not a reference to the screen on your window.  The screen on your electronics (e.g. cellphone or laptop).

16. Part of IPA: ALE.  Frequently imbibed here in the crossword world.

17. Collect: AMASS.

18. Busiest port in South Korea: BUSAN.  A bit obscure for many solvers.

19. Chaps: MEN.  Not a reference to Western Wear.

22. Schoolbook: TEXT.  As in textbook.

23. Fantasize about: DREAM OF.  Hmm, now just what was it that Major Nelson was fantasizing about?

 
24. Open the door for, say: SEE IN.  Sometimes we get ASK IN or ASK UP as answers.

26. Cartoon frame: CEL.

30. The "Thunder" of Marvel's "Love and Thunder": THOR.

33. "Thank you," in Swahili: ASANTE.  Also, a bit obscure.

35. "Excusez-__": MOI.  leçon de français d'aujourd'hui

36. Clambake leftovers: ASHES.  Shells was too long.

38. Smack: HIT.

39. Bit of witchcraft: SPELL.

41. "Everybody knows that!": DUH.  Well, duh!

42. Like some patches: IRON ON.  Versus sew-on.

45. Future atty.'s exam: LSAT.

48. __ Jima: IWO.  The site of a famous WWII battle and a well-known photograph.

50. Pay for: TREAT.

51. "Guilty as charged": THAT'S ME.  To be read as THAT WAS ME, I suppose.

55. Plant inspection org.: OSHA.

59. Lobster eggs: ROE.  I went to a sushi bar and ordered the salmon roe...It was a spawn-taneous decision.

60. Condition: STATE.  As in "a fine STATE of affairs".

61. __ Dakota: NORTH.  We can fill in the O and the TH before we know the full answer.

62. Wheels: CAR.  Slang.  As in "that's a nice set of wheels".

63. Tea option: PEKOE.

64. Top-notch: ELITE.

65. "Rules __ rules": ARE.   And, some would say, they are meant to be broken.

66. Sets loose: FREES.

67. Allude (to): REFER.  Is it hard to find a two letter pronoun that can be used to refer to oneself as an object?  Or is it just me?

Down:

1. Surf shop purchase: BOARD.

2. Hearsay: RUMOR.

3. Tour de France stage: ETAPE.  Literally "stage" in French.

4. Smart aleck: WISEACRE.

(n.) "one who thinks himself wise, one who makes pretension to affects wisdom," 1590s, a partial translation of Middle Dutch wijssegger "soothsayer" (without derogatory connotation).

The deprecatory sense of "one who pretends to know everything" may have come through confusion with obsolete English segger "sayer," which also had a sense of "braggart" (mid-15c.).

5. Halvah flavor: SESAME.

6. Staff lines with a notable mnemonic: EGBDF.  A musical reference.

8. Enters, as a hot tub: EASES INTO.

9. Most overcast: GRAYEST.  At least they didn't clue this one with a reference to age.

10. Japanese money: YEN.  156 JPY = 1 USD

11. "Who put you up to this?": NAME NAMES.

12. Show off at the gym: FLEX.  I flexed my glutes and got a cramp.  That was a pain in the butt.

13. Period after Ash Wednesday: LENT.  Tom Lehrer gave up LENT for her . . .

21. Po'boy city: NOLA.  New Orleans, Louisiana

25. Squeezes (out): EKES.

27. Hardly fair: RAINY.  Not a reference to a concept of ethics.

28. "Copacabana" showgirl: LOLA.  LOLA and NOLA.  Nice.  No, not the city.

I Have Used This Clip Before But It Is A Classic

29. Singsongy cadence: LILT.

30. Unveiling shout: TADA.

32. "Didn't expect to see you!": OH HI THERE.

34. Dessert with a sconelike texture: SHORTCAKE.

37. Location: SITE.

40. Narrative incongruity: PLOT HOLE.

43. Oven pan: ROASTER.

47. Sp. honorific: SRA.  SenoRA

49. Honus whose baseball card is one of the rarest and most expensive in the world: WAGNER.

51. Orchard makeup: TREES.  Today, we'll take all the easy ones we can get.

52. Font flourish: SERIF.

53. Not glossy: MATTE.

54. Upper regions of space: ETHER.  Before an operation, my doctor gave her patient the option to be knocked out with gas or a boat paddle.It was an ether/oar situation.

55. Killer whale: ORCA.

56. Fly high: SOAR.

58. __-Missouria Tribe: OTOE.  Frequent visitors.

60. Beach bottle no.: SPF.

________________________________________

M M Out
(with a CSO to Chairman Moe for the graphic)