Wednesday, February 17 2020, Julian Lim

Theme:  LEG WORK

20. Give up on: WALK AWAY FROM.

33. Serve as a reminder: JOG ONE'S MEMORY.

41. Do an accountant's job: RUN THE NUMBERS. 

55. Write briefly and quickly: DASH OFF A NOTE.

Nice, tight theme - each phrase begins with a word describing physical activity that uses one's legs.

Across:

1. "__ All That": 1999 movie: SHE'S.

5. Diver's gear: FINS. More leg work.

9. "Fancy seeing you here!": OH HEY!

14. Hoof it on a bad knee, say: LIMP. Again with the leg work!

15. Ecstatic internet shout: WOOT.

16. Driver's choice: ROUTE.

17. Oberlin's state: OHIO. Home to home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students.

18. "We tried, but this won't work": IT'S USELESS.

22. Superman's makeup?: STEEL. Nice clue.

23. Fashion plate: FOP. A vain man excessively concerned with his looks, clothes, and manners.

 24. Kerfuffle: ADO.

27. Construction girder: I-BAR. Is this the same as an I-beam?

31. Dubuque denizen: IOWAN.

37. Mic __: triumphant move: DROP.

39. Finnish company that created Angry Birds: ROVIO.

40. James Patterson hero __ Cross: ALEX.

44. Cheapen: ABASE.

45. Subtle summons: PSST.

46. Run-of-the-mill: MEH. Blah.

47. Nonsense: ROT. Poppycock.

50. Yellowfins, e.g.: TUNAS.

59. Cause of a crash: FATAL ERROR.

62. Family __: TREE.

63. Cup or star: AWARD.

64. Emerald City princess: OZMA. From The Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 

65. "Haven't decided yet": I MAY.

66. Uses WhatsApp, say: TEXTS.

67. Eject: BOOT.

68. Tibetan title: LAMA. A teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. As in the Dalai Lama.

Down:

1. Slackens the pace: SLOWS.

2. Drum kit item with a pedal: HI HAT. (Seen at left.)

3. "Into the Wild" star Hirsch: EMILE.

4. Took the mic: SPOKE.

5. "Just saying," in 66-Across: FWIW. Acronym for For What It's Worth.

6. Kappa preceder: IOTA. Greek alphabet. See this table.

7. Meddlesome: NOSY.

8. Nonsense companion?: STUFF. It's a saying, "stuff and nonsense."

9. Black-and-white dessert: OREO PIE.

10. Ian who plays Bilbo Baggins: HOLM. Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit of the Shire, the main protagonist of The Hobbit and a secondary character in The Lord of the Rings.

11. It might be adjusted in Photoshop: HUE.

12. Kang and Kodos, on "The Simpsons": ETS. Extra Terrestrials

13. "Affirmative": YES.

19. Sellout letters: SRO. Standing Room Only.

21. Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego: ALI G.

24. Mil. truants: AWOLS. Away WithOut Leave. Looks strange in plural form.

25. "You wouldn't __!": DARE.

26. Black gemstone used to make beads: ONYX.

28. Snooze inducer: BORE. Haha.

29. Auth. unknown: ANON.

30. Gun: REV UP. We have new neighbors across the street. They have his and her hot rods and every morning about 5:30a outside my bedroom window they REV UP on their way to work. One of my least favorite sounds.

32. Actor Epps: OMAR.

33. Fish story notable: JONAH. Biblical story.

34. Backs (out): OPTS. Misleading clue.

35. Popular video game series, with "The": SIMS.

36. Unruly groups: MOBS.

37. Scot's Scotch order: DRAM. The fluid dram (or fluid drachm in British spelling) is defined as ​¹⁄₈ of a fluid ounce, and is exactly equal to: 3.6966911953125 ml in the US customary system.

38. Yahoo: RUBE. Funny word. 1 : an awkward unsophisticated person : rustic. 2 : a naive or inexperienced person.

42. Foreshadows: HERALDS.

43. R&B great James: ETTA. Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins. James' father was white and has never been identified but James speculated that he was the pool player, Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone. 

48. Ending with malt: OSE. Maltose is a sugar produced by the breakdown of starch.

49. Ache: THROB.

51. "__ we meet again": UNTIL.

52. Fashionista Kamali: NORMA. She is best known for the "sleeping bag" coat. Just no.

53. Likely roster for the big game: A TEAM.

54. "I'm outta here": SEE YA.

55. Bar flier: DART. Cute play on 'barfly.'

56. Rice-shaped pasta used in salads: ORZO.

57. Acronymic anxiety about being excluded from the fun: FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out.

58. Group with pledges: FRAT.

59. The 1% in 1% milk: FAT.

60. Flabbergast: AWE.

61. Sales __: TAX. Oregon has no sales tax. They make up for it by hiking up property taxes.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 54th anniversary to Husker Gary and his amazing wife Joann. Here's a picture of them with their grandson Hawkin, who plays French horn in the Lincoln Youth Symphony.

 

2) Happy birthday to Chairman Moe (Chris), our fantastic Friday sherpa! Margaret is from Minnesota.

Chris and his love Margaret

3) D-Otto lost electricity and internet early Monday morning. Luckily he has a generator. Anon-T just updated me with below message:

"Our power has been out since Monday at 8a which means no heat. We’re gathered with layers around an inefficient gas fireplace (exists mostly for looks) trying to stay warm.

A pipe valve popped off from the force of freezing water. The ice dam thawed today spewing water everywhere so I had to shut off water to the house. That might get fixed tomorrow.

Anyway, by Saturday all this cold should be over. :-)"

Thursday, November 19, 2020, Julian Lim

 

             

Good morning, once again, cruciverbalists.  As you have likely guessed from my reptilian friends, above, for today's theme our constructor, Julian Lim, has chosen a SALAD from the menu.

THEME:  SUPER SALAD ?  -  "I'll go with just the regular salad, please."

REVEAL:  36 ACROSS:  Steak go-with, perhaps, and a hint to 10 puzzle answers: SIDE SALAD.

This was a salad effort from Julian.  As if tossing ten (count 'em) theme answers into the grid was not, in and of itself, a sufficient recipe for success, he has skillfully placed all ten of the SALADs along the SIDEs of the grid.  Fortunately, this marine mammal spends copious time chomping on vegetation so the theme was recognized pretty quickly.  As an aSIDE, if you are helping a less-experienced solver work on a puzzle, you can fill in the perimeter for them.  Not only will they find it to be a help in working out the answers for themselves, but filling in those squares, and only those squares, can be an enjoyable way to hone one's own skills.

Rather than explore all ten of the theme answers here at the beginning of this recap, which would substantially disrupt the flow, we will address them in situ.  However, lettuce now take a look at the grid, the better to appreciate the accomplishment.  The overall success of the construction allows for a bit of forbearance when it comes to the quantity of three-letter fill . . . and a couple of other answers, too.

ACROSS :

1. Inaugural class MLB Hall of Famer: COBB.    COBB SALAD.   Ty COBB was elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.  Joining him were Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

Ty Cobb

5. Gift basket option: FRUIT.  FRUIT SALAD 

A Fruit Basket

10. Groanworthy humor: CORN.  CORN SALAD.  Before the expression "Dad Joke" became popular we used to call that type of humor CORNny.  For example:  Why don't they play poker in the jungle?  There are too many cheetahs.

14. Certain something: AURA.   Frank Zappa penned a line in which he rhymed AURA with Dora and flora but it is inappropriate for PG audiences.

15. Sunken ship finder: SONAR.  SOund NAvigation Ranging

16. Jai __: ALAI.

17. Dominic West alma mater: ETON.  This seems as if it is the five-hundredth way that we have seen ETON clued.  "The Wire" did not "air" under the sea so I had no idea who Dominic West is.

18. Tot's ache spot: TUMMY.  It is not the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but you were (sorta) forewarned.  Apologies for any ear worms.  Wait, that's insufficient.  Apologies.  Period.

In 1968, Joey Levine Had Love In His Tummy

19. 1933 Banking Act creation: Abbr.: FDIC.   The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

20. Pouch: SAC.  Often clued as Anatomical Sac.

21. Brother of Aaron: MOSES.  An Old Testament reference.

MOSES Gives Unto Us The Commandments

22. Like some survey questions: YES NO.  Survey question:  Have you seen this previously in crossword puzzles?  Please circle your answer:   YES     YES

23. Turkish title: AGA.  Often spelled AGHA, this honorific title was used more commonly during the time of the Ottoman Empire.

24. Is __: likely will: APT TO.

25. Sapporo rival: ASAHI.   Although now brewed in various places around the globe, ASAHI is a Japanese beer brand.  So is Sapporo.  ASHAHI's headquarters building is quite distinctive.

ASAHI Building, Tokyo

26. Brought back, in titles: REDUX.  Sometimes used today in reference to Java Script apps, the typical meaning of REDUX is to reference something revived or, as the clue says, "brought back".

28. Performed: DID.  By definition.

30. Had the role of: WAS.  Perhaps, a thespian or professional reference.

31. Mo. in which Oktoberfest begins: SEP.  "Mo." is used in the clue to tell us that the answer will be an abbreviation.  In this case the MOnth of SEPtember.  Oktoberfest officially begins at noon on the second to last Saturday in September.

32. Add: APPEND.   Again, by definition.

35. Abbr. in some vineyard names: STE.  As in SainTE, the French title for a female saint.  This time the clue was not the usual reference to STE. Jeanne D'Arc.  Merci.

Cuvee Ste Catherine Schlossberg

39. "Rugrats" infant: DIL.  Dylan Prescott "DIL" Pickles is a character in the "Rugrats" comic strip.

DIL Pickles

42. Trudeau's country: CANADA.  Is the plural of Trudeau Trudeaux?

Trudeau Fils et Pere

43. Night school subj.: ESL.  English as a Second Language.  A Crossword Staple.

46. Job listing inits.: EOE.  Equal Opportunity Employer.  Another Crossword Staple.

47. "__ dreaming?": AM I.  It is often clued along the lines of a French friend.

48. Behave badly: ACT UP.

50. Line of cut grass: SWATH.   A common sight on farms.  A SWATH can also be seen on baseball fields.

52. Lacking one's A game: NOT ON.  "A Game" is used in reference to performing at the very best of one's ability.  If twasn't for 54 Down, NOTON would be today's dubious prize winner.

56. Enero begins it: ANO.  Enero is Spanish for January and ANO is Spanish for year.

57. Mickey Mantle's number: SEVEN.

58. Reads quickly: SKIMS.  At first glance, I thought that it might be SCANS but these days that word is most commonly reserved for digitized documents and photographs.

59. Tatami, e.g.: MAT.  A traditional Japanese MAT at that.

60. Watches closely: EYES.   I have used the next image before but, with this clue and answer, 'tis worth a 26 Across:

Lab Redux Retriever

61. Prize money: PURSE.  When Floyd Mayweather fought Conor McGregor in August of 2017, the PURSE won by Mayweather was $275 million USD.

62. Pocket often filled: PITA.

63. Churn: ROIL.  ROILing seas move turbulently and violently.

64. Metallic sound: CLANG.

65. Hand or foot: UNIT.  The Hand is an ancient UNIT of measurement now standardized at four inches and used primarily for measuring the height of horses.

66. Cat food flavor: TUNA.  TUNA SALAD.  Do they make TUNA-flavored cat food?  I don't know.  Maybe we should ask him:

Rocket J. Cat

AKA Rocket Squirrel Blue Stanley

67. Naples staple: PASTA.  PASTA SALAD.  The regional cuisine of the Naples area favors paccheri and it must be cooked al dente.

Paccheri

68. __ Bell: TACO.  TACO SALAD.  TACO Bell has changed their advertising slogan several times over the decades but the food has stayed pretty consistent.

DOWN:

1. "The fault . . . is not in our stars" speaker:  CAESAR    CAESAR SALAD.

". .  . but in ourselves" continues the quotation.  Some real wisdom there.  A line from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar spoken in Act 1 Scene III but not by this CAESAR:

Sid Caesar

2. Power losses: OUTAGES.  In 1965, an OUTAGE caused 30 million people in eight U.S. states and two Canadian Provinces to lose electrical power.  Despite the urban myth, a comparison of the number of births in New York City nine months after the Great Blackout showed no increase associated with the OUTAGE.

3. Fashionable fabric in the Italian Renaissance: BROCADE.

A Woven Brocade Silk Lehanga

4. Make illegal: BAN.  An old joke goes, "My grandfather had the heart of a lion . . . and a lifetime BAN from the zoo."

5. Nikon setting: F-STOP.  A photographers' joke:  "I was watching a beautiful sunset with my girlfriend and thinking . . . 1/250s at F8."

6. Boot from bed: ROUST.

7. Yet to be satisfied: UNMET.  "Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect."  --  Margaret Mitchell

8. "There's no getting out of this one": I AM SO DEAD.  Well, likely not literally DEAD.  The quotation marks tell us that it is something somebody might say when they're in a difficult situation.  We have all heard alternative words spoken.

9. Handle in court: TRY.

Judge Judy TRYing a Trying Case

10. Cappuccino sellers: CAFES.  Okay, so lots of places sell Cappuccinos.  Neither Starbucks nor Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf would fit in the allotted space.

11. Adages: OLD SAWS.  From the Old English SAGU meaning "saying".

An OLD SAW

12. Gear for a drizzle: RAIN HAT.  This could have been many different things for you land-based mammals but this is the best answer:

13. From a coastal French city: NICOISE.   SALADE NICOISE originated in the city of Nice, France.  It is similar to our Cobb Salad (see 1 Across) but is made with tuna, green bean, and potatoes instead of bacon, chicken, and avocado.

21. Highest degree: MAX.  Often, the answer to this clue is the misuse of Nth.

22. One-third of et cetera?:  YADDA, YADDA, YADDA.

27. Happy times: UPS.  When the UPS driver arrives with that package from Amazon?

29. Visiting the Griffith Observatory, say: IN LA.

Griffith Observatory Los Angeles, California

32. Counting Crows frontman Duritz: ADAM.

Adam Duritz

33. Cape Cod, e.g.: PENINSULA.

34. Pro bono TV spot: PSA.  Public Service Announcement

37. Billionaire business mogul Carl: ICAHN.  As of 2020, Carl ICHAN's net worth is reported to be just under 15 Billion USD.

38. Tenth mo. in the original Roman calendar: DEC.  I am fascinated by humankind's repeated attempts to smash together, in their calendars, the timing of the orbit of our moon and the earth's orbit around the sun.

39. It's usually downed last: DESSERT.  DESSERT SALAD. 

Cranberry Ambrosia Salad

40. "Next one's on me":  I OWE YOU.

41. Keep as part of the manuscript: LEAVE IN.  Usually, we see STET.

44. Legs: STAMINA.  A bit of misdirection.  Not a body part.  In slang, something that "has legs" is something that lasts a long time.  It would have been more fun if the the answer had been ZZ Top.  Formed in 1969, ZZ Top has legs.

LEGS

45. Nut: LUNATIC.  This clue may have been intended to deceive us as into thinking of a Filbert (or some other seven-letter nut) or, perhaps,  something to do with hardware.

48. Q&A part: Abbr.: ANS.  . . . and the ANSwer is:  Fill

 

49. Ingredient in the Irish dish colcannon: POTATO.  POTATO SALAD. Colcannon is made with mashed POTATOes and kale or cabbage.

51. Model S manufacturer: TESLA.  The eponymous Nikola TESLA was a highly noteworthy inventor.   I wonder if,  one hundred years from now, people will move around in things called Musks.

Tesla Model S

53. Veggies whose seeds can be roasted and ground to make coffee: OKRAS.  I did not know this.

54. Quaint denial: TISNT.   This almost-never-seen contraction for It Is Not is, IMHO (In a Manatee's Humble Opinion), the nadir of today's construction.  Really, 'tis.

55. __-3 fatty acids: OMEGA.   OMEGA-3 fatty acids are generally believed to be beneficial to humans.  Walnuts, salmon, CVS, Walgreens and Shoppers Drug Mart are good sources.

61. Angel Dust letters: PCP.  Phenyl Cyclohexyl Piperidine  Quite the misnomer as PCP, with it's neurotoxic side effects, is the antithesis of angelic.

62. Knock, with "down": PUT.  To PUT down someone, or something,  is slang for criticizing.

__________________________________

________________________________________________

MM OUT

Saturday, July 4, 2020, Julian Lim

Themeless Saturday by Julian Lim

Another fine puzzle from our Singapore professor Julian Lim. As I look at his specialties at Duke University - University of Singapore I can find many traits of mine that could use remediation

Here is Professor Lim's tweet about a recent investigation of his: We did a non-inferiority analysis comparing group training via videoconferencing during the Covid-19 pandemic with similar content delivered in-person this year and last year. Abstract

After you digest that, here is an analysis of Julian's puzzle on the 244th birthday of our country.

Across:

1. Reward for giving, perhaps: TOTE BAG - How do I get this one?

8. Usually not eligible for tenure, as a professor: ADJUNCT - I was an ADJUNCT prof once and the dean came in to see why my adult students were laughing. He had never heard laughter from that room before

15. In sum: OVERALL.

16. Heedless of the consequences: BRASHLY.

17. Dug: WAS INTO

18. "The Meyerowitz Stories" co-star: SANDLER - I can easily recognize four of this group of five from the show. 

19. Xenomorphs, e.g.: ETS - Sigourney Weaver's antagonists in the Alien movies. Here under happier conditions.

20. Switch positions often: JOB HOP - Me? Not so much as I taught for 42 years and have subbed for 8.

22. Razor handle: ATRA - ATRA is the name, or handle, for this Gillette product  which has also has, uh, a handle and we see here often

23. Uses for snoozes: LIES ON - Lily LIES ON about anything in our house

25. Not lots: A FEW.

27. German article: EIN - This speech still gives me chills (irrespective of how some translate it)

28. Out of __: SORTS.

29. Range makeup: Abbr.: MTS - A range of MounTainS 

30. Make official: ENACT.

32. Tandoori bread: NAN - NAN bread being cooked in clay cylindrical oven called a tandoor 

33. "Looks to be the case": SO IT SEEMS

35. Safari, say: IPHONE APP - Safari is also the browser I use on my MacBook

37. Au naturel: UNCLOTHED - Reminiscent of yesterday's discussion about nudists and face masks

39. Racing Unsers: ALS - You'd have to blow up this image to see AL senior in the second generation and AL junior in the third generation 

42. Lectured: SPOKE.

43. Mate: PAL.

44. Flabbergast: FLOOR.

46. Sch. with a Phoenix campus: ASU - 13 minute drive between these the Phoenix and Tempe campuses 

47. "Ashes" (2018) singer: DION - The voice of an angel How old am I? The first DION singer for me is DION and the Belmonts

49. Shaky start?: SEISMO - The latest earthquakes in the USA as determined by SEISMOeters

50. Things to pick: NITS - We can have quite a crop here on certain days

52. Like some dramatic refueling: MIDAIR - Could you clean the windshield too?

54. Some tech sch. grads: EE'S - Electrical Engineers. Don't we have some Double E majors here?

55. Hip: CLUED IN.

57. 2010s TV series that explores hacktivism: MR. ROBOT.

59. More than vex: TORMENT.

60. Opposite of a scenic route: BEE LINE - From Orlando International, we took the BEE LINE west toward Disney or east toward KSC (corrected - hg)

61. Frames on a diamond: INNINGS.

62. Whole number: INTEGER.

Down:

1. Drying agents: TOWELS.

2. Standing acclaim, at times: OVATION - One that's hard to earn

3. Mosaic piece: TESSERA - An 800-yr-old Byzantine example of TESSERAS beautifully arranged despite wear

4. "__ tu": Verdi aria: ERI. "ERI tu che macchiavi quell'anima" (It was you who sullied that soul)

5. Pete Seeger wrote a book on how to play five-string ones: BANJOS.

6. Brown in the kitchen: ALTON - Not sauté it appears

7. Jell-O serving, say: GLOB - How many GLOBS in a cup?

8. Strong core components: ABS OF STEEL.

9. Fall loosely: DRAPE - An example on our deck

10. 1, at times: Abbr.: JANuary

11. Food and Nutrition Service org.: USDA - USDA inspectors who wear this badge have coveted jobs in this meatpacking town

12. Minnesota Wild, for one: NHL TEAM.

13. Mullahs or ministers: CLERICS.

14. Very tough boss: TYRANT - Who was worse than Ebenezer Scrooge?

21. Deferentially: HAT IN HAND - "Make your words sweet as you may have to eat them someday"

24. Dancer's boss, informally: ST NICK - Rudolph's too

26. Cry: WEEP 

29. Irrelevancies: MOOT POINTS - Your plane has already left, so why you missed the plane is a MOOT POINT.

31. Katmandu native: NEPALI.

33. "The Chi" airer, briefly: SHO - (the shy) chronicles life on the south side of Chicago

34. Blue: SAD.

36. Beseeched: PLED - A fun song from Godspell (hg)

37. 20th Greek letter: UPSILON - Can you name the two other 7-letter Greek letters?

38. Sign with a crossed-out horseshoe-shaped arrow: NO U TURN 

40. Take a licking: LOSE BIG.

41. "__ Like You": Adele hit: SOMEONE - Video in black and white

42. __ Spíritus: Cuban city meaning "Holy Spirit": SANCTI - This city of 465,00 is at least a four-hour drive from Havana

44. Polecat relative commonly kept as a pet: FERRET - I only had to let one kid bring his to class before I realize they have an unpleasant odor too.

45. Team listing: ROSTER - 1961 Yankee ROSTER. 

48. Using WhatsApp, say: IMING - My Apple IMING (Instant Messaging) works fine

49. Fire engine feature: SIREN - My hometown used a SIREN to summon volunteer firemen and also tell us when it was 7, 12 and 6 o'clock

51. Highway behemoth: SEMI.

53. Both ways at the start?: AMBI - Zach Galifianakas as an AMBIdextrous flute player on SNL

56. Man cave, for some: DEN.

58. World Cup "Way to go!": OLE.

Comments for Julian?