Thursday, February 13, 2025, Kevin Christian & Drew Schmenner

  

State Raps

It appears to me that our veteran constructors Kevin Christian and Drew Schmenner have given us another "modern lingo" Thursday theme for today's offering.  We'll start with our themers, which are all the titles of songs ...

17. Katy Perry song whose lyrics mention Venice Beach and Palm Springs: CALIFORNIA GURLS.  This song was co-written with rapper Snoop Dogg and served as the lead single for her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010).  If you want to know why it's spelled that way, read this.   I'd rate the official video an R for all the skin, but this PG-rated video just has the music,  lyrics, and a few suggestive double-entendres ...

23. Stevie Ray Vaughan blues cover with the line "I'm standin' out in the rain": TEXAS FLOOD.  In 1983 Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded this song originally by blues musician Larry Davis ...

54. Title song of a 1961 film featuring a lei-wearing Elvis Presley: BLUE HAWAII.  Blue Hawaii is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley.  Here's the title song ...

61. "Just an old sweet song" performed by Ray Charles: GEORGIA ON MY MIND.  Georgia on My Mind is a 1930 song written by Hoagy Carmichael (1899–1981), and Stuart Gorrell (1901–1963), and first recorded that same year by Hoagy Carmichael. The song has been most often associated with soul singer Ray Charles (1930–2004), a native of the U.S. state of Georgia ...

... and the enigmatic reveal ...

37A Regulatory legal associations, and what 17-, 23-, 54-, and 61-Across are?: STATE BARS.  Obviously the literal meaning -- state bar associations has nothing to do with music, so I started by assuming that each of the states named in the songs must have a famous BAR in them named after the song titles -- this sent me down a rabbit hole but all I came back with were some bunnies in a so-called "men's club" called "California Girls" in Anaheim, CA 🙃.

I finally hit pay dirt when I asked the Internet sage if the "word BARS might be slang for the words to a song and got this response ...

'the term "bars" is often used as hip-hop slang to refer to a song or a rapper's lyrics within a song, -- essentially meaning the musical bars of a song that are especially good, e.g. "the hook".

... each themer then associates a name of a state with the "bars" of a song.  Hand up if you've got another explanation!  😀

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Two-time NBA MVP Malone: KARL.  Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spent his first 18 seasons (1985–2003) in the NBA with the Utah Jazz.  He was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, a 14-time NBA All-Star, and a 14-time member of the All-NBA Team, which include 11 consecutive First Team selection. His 36,928 career points scored rank third all-time in NBA history behind LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Karl Malone

5. "Parks and __": REC.  Parks and Recreation (also known as Parks and Rec) is an American political satire mockumentary television sitcom. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons.  The series stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana ... 

8. Gray shade: SLATE.  The National Slate Association begs to differ -- consider the nuanced tiles on this slate roof ...

13. Pet peeve?: FLEA.  Pet peeves are all a matter of perspective ...

14. "The Little Mermaid" prince: ERIC.  The Little Mermaid is loosely based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson, but the notion of a water nymph who falls in love with a human dates back at least to ancient Greece and the Myth of the Ondine.  This is an enduring story that has been repeated in such works as Dvorak's opera Rusalka and German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's 1811 novella Undine.  The Disney studios have produced several versions of the myth and the Prince in these stories finally has a name: ERIC.   The original animated version was made in 1989 and a live action version in was released in 2023.  Here's a pic from the second version after Ariel (Halle Bailey) has saved Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from drowning ... 

Prince Eric and Ariel

16. Mongolian, e.g.: ASIAN.  Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of 1,564,116 square kilometres (603,909 square miles), with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's most sparsely populated sovereign state.  Apparently Alexander Borodin was slightly mistaken when he titled this tone poem as In the Steppes of Central Asia.

17. [Theme clue]

20. Like fraternity brothers: MALE. -- And sorority sisters are FEMALE.  Vive la différence!

21. Pantry array: CANS.

22. Seasonal illness: FLU.  Have you had your flu shot?  Rumor has it that they're no longer PC. 🙃

23. [Theme clue]

26. D-rated: POOR.

27. Poem of praise: ODE.  A brief article on ODES by the Poetry Foundation.

28. Hot toddy option: TEA.

29. __ solution: SALINE.  Saline solution is a mixture of water and salt (sodium chloride) that has many different uses for your health.  Normal saline solution is a mixture of water and salt with a salt concentration of 0.9% -- for every 1 liter (1,000 milliliters) of water, there are 9 grams of salt. Normal saline is one type of IV fluid that healthcare providers give people in a hospital. This is because normal saline and human blood have the same balance of water and salt.

31. Zilch: NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson: NOTHING.

33. Writer/actress Fey: TINA.  Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She was a cast member and head writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2006. After her departure from SNL, she created the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013, 2020) and the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). Here's a clip from the pilot episode of 30 Rock in which she starred ... 

36. __ in comparison: PALED.

37. [Theme reveal]

40. Wash away suds: RINSE.

43. Cornerstone number: YEAR.  Here is the cornerstone of the Roosevelt Arch at the main entrance to Yellowstone National Park, the first National Park.  The Arch was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 24, 1903. Here are some interesting facts about the structure.

Yellowstone National Park
April 24, 1903

44. Cat prey: MICE. BIRD fit but wouldn't fly.

48. Skin care brand: AVEENO.  I don't usually hype products, but I find this lotion to be very helpful in restoring moisture to my hands after a session of throwing pots ...
 

50. Old film channel: TCM.  The channel isn't "old" (as in former), but the movies are.  Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Ted Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atlanta, Georgia.

52. Kraken's realm, briefly: NHL.  Thank you perps.  The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference.  The Pacific Northwest region has a history of Scandinavian immigrants and ancestry, connecting Seattle to the team name which is derived from a legendary sea monster of Nordic mythology. 

Kraken Logo

53. Spoils: ROTS.

54. [Theme clue].

58. "And so on" abbr.: ETC.

59. With, at le restaurant: AVEC.  Today's French lesson -- AVEC = "with"

60. __ América: quadrennial soccer tournament: COPA.  The Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial football (European for "soccer") tournament contested among national teams from South America. It is the oldest still-running continental football competition. The competition determines the champions of South America. Since the 1990s, teams from North America and Asia have also been invited to compete.

61. [Theme clue]

66. Come next: ENSUE.  A clue about jeans will ENSUE ...

67. Jeans spot that might wear out first: KNEE.  They might wear out before that if they're distressed ... 

68. Type of saxophone: ALTO. Here's Charlie Parker ("The Bird") on alto sax, Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums at Carnegie Hall in December of 1947 ...

69. Maker of apple products: MOTTS.  Mott's is an American company, founded in 1842 involved primarily in producing apple-based products, particularly juices and sauces.

70. "Stat!": NOW.  When ASAP is not fast enough!!!

71. German "no": NEIN.  Today's German lesson: NEIN = "no" and JA = "yes".

Down:

 1. Fast-food chain owned by Yum! Brands: KFC.  The original recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is a closely guarded secret, but a nephew of Colonel Harlan Sanders who used to make it as a kid outed it to the Chicago Tribune.
 
2. San Francisco Bay city: ALAMEDA.  There's a lot to see and do there.

3. Chill: RELAXED.

4. Boxer Ali: LAILA.  Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female super middleweight titles, and the IWBF light heavyweight title. Ali is widely regarded by many within the sport as one of the greatest female professional boxers of all time. She is the daughter of boxer Muhammad Ali.  Here she is at a charity fashion show for Heart Truth in 2011 ...

Laila Ali

5. __ Speedwagon: REO.  As the clue doesn't have a space between speed and wagon, the preferred spelling of the vehicle created by Ransom E. Olds in 1915, then it must be the name of the band that started in Illinois in the Sixties.  Here's their Roll With the Changes -- timely advice? ...

6. Make a mistake: ERR.

7. Dos y tres: CINCO.  Today's combined math and Spanish lesson: "2 and 3 = 5".

8. Gives in to gravity: SAGS.

9. The Tigers of the SEC: LSU.  Louisiana State University (commonly referred to as LSU) is an American public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The university was founded in 1860 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy. The current LSU main campus was dedicated in 1926 and consists of more than 250 buildings constructed in the style of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, occupying a 650-acre (260 ha) plateau on the banks of the Mississippi River.  

And a CSO to our favorite Tiger, Hahtoolah!

10. Plane feature with a lift-to-drag ratio: AIRFOIL.  An airfoil is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foils of similar function designed with water as the working fluid are called hydrofoils.  When oriented at a suitable angle, a solid body moving through a fluid deflects the oncoming fluid (for fixed-wing aircraft, a downward force), resulting in a force on the airfoil in the direction opposite to the deflection. This force is known as aerodynamic force and can be resolved into two components: lift (perpendicular to the remote freestream velocity) and drag (parallel to the freestream velocity).  The explanation I learned in HS physics was that the upper curve of the airfoil, being longer than the lower curve makes the air thinner on top than on the bottom.   The difference between these air densities  creates a vacuum effect literally "sucking" the wing upward.  The mathematics of airfoils can get pretty complicated and I confess that I don't begin to understand them.  

Airfoil geometry

11. Beer, slangily: TALL ONE.  Here's a pint of lager in a tall one ... 

12. Made certain: ENSURED.

15. Milan farewell: CIAO.  Today's Italian lesson:  CIAO = "Ta Ta!".  Google translate indicates that it's also like ALOHA -- it can be used for "Hi" as well.

18. Celebratory suffix: FEST.  11D's are frequently consumed at these celebrations.

19. "No ifs, __, or buts": ANDS.

23. Boatload: TON.

24. Greek cheese: FETA.  Feta (Greek: φέτα, féta) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine.

Feta cheese

25. Parishioners: LAITY.  FLOCK fit but didn't perp. The term LAITY refers to the people in a religious congregation who attend services and may even participate in the services as lectors, acolytes, or sacristans,  but are not ordained, as distinct from the clergy who lead the services and are ordained. 

26. Ecto- or endo- finish: PLASM.  The ectoplasm and endoplasm are components of the cytoplasm -- everything inside a cell membrane except for the nucleus.  Shown circled in this diagram are the cytoplasm and its components, the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticula.  Not labelled is the ectoplasm, which is the space between the plasma membrane and the cytoplasm.

30. Car loan fig.: APR.  Annual Percentage Rate.

32. Donkeys: ASSES.

34. Bridal bio word: NEE.

35. Lessen: ABATE.

38. X, at times: TEN.  -- also the social media company now usually referred to as "X, formerly known as Twitter".   The owner of the company is very interested in efficiency these days, and I'm sure that he intended to shorten the name, but it seems as if he has actually lengthened it. 😀

39. Prefix with enemy: ARCH.  See 43A for an alternate use of this word.

40. Red diamond, e.g.: RARE GEM.  A red diamond is a diamond which displays red color and exhibits the same mineral properties as colorless diamonds. Red diamonds are commonly known as the most expensive and the rarest diamond color in the world, even more so than pink or blue diamonds, as very few red diamonds have been found.  The largest and most perfect in the world is the Moussaieff Red Diamond. 

The Moussaieff Diamond

41. Words of dissension: I VOTE NO.

42. Sales figure: NET COST. 

45. Heaped: IN A PILE.

46. Trattoria red: CHIANTI.  This wine comes with its own Italian lesson -- Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ("flask"; pl.: fiaschi). However, the fiasco is now only used by a few makers of the wine; most Chianti is bottled in more standard-shaped wine bottles.  

A fiasco of Chianti

Fiasco of course is also a modern term for a "complete, and utter failure" and is apparently somehow related to bottles (flasks) through a long chain of associations.   However my attempts to understand this chain were a complete, and utter failure. 😀

47. Yale student: ELI.  e.g. our constructor for January 9, 2025, Jem Burch.

49. Terse "Of course!": OBVI.  Meh.

51. "Shameless" star William H. __: MACY.  Shameless is an American black comedy drama television series starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. The series is set in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.  With the premiere of the ninth season on September 9, 2018, Shameless became the longest-running original-scripted series in Showtime's history. In January 2020, the series was renewed for its eleventh and final season. 

55. Faucet problem: LEAK.

56. The NCAA's Huskies: UCONN.  The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, the school became a public land grant college, then took its current name in 1939. Over the following decade, social work, nursing, and graduate programs were established. During the 1960s, UConn Health was established for new medical and dental schools. UConn is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.  I think their name "Huskies" derives from the phonetic similarity between UConn and Yukon, a land of ice and snow. Here's their sports teams' logo ...
 

57. Barnard attendee: WOMAN.  At first this seemed like a simple thing to explain -- but given the nuances of the transgender movement, and the fact that Columbia University, which is coeducational, is just across the street and Barnard students are free to attend classes there, and that Barnard is actually a college of Columbia -- things got complicated pretty quickly.

59. Long time: AGES.

62. Boring routine: RUT.  The social-media company owner that I referred to in 38D has had some success in moving ruts underground, although speculation is that he may have gotten bored with the whole thing. 😀

63. "The Matrix" character who chooses the red pill: NEO.  An adventurous sort who got his start in a different Sci-Fi film.

The red pill and blue pill are metaphorical terms representing a choice between learning an unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in the contented experience of ordinary reality with the blue pill. The pills were used as props in the 1999 film The Matrix.

64. Kitten's sound: MEW.

[mew, mew, ...]

65. Actor Cheadle: DON.  Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and 11 Primetime Emmy Awards. He is one of a few actors to have received nominations for the EGOT.  His performance in Hotel Ruanda got him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor ... 

Cheers, 

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, December 26, 2024, Kevin Christian & Doug Peterson

Just Some Singers
in a Rock and Roll Band

Veterans Kevin Christian and Doug Peterson team up today with a simple theme consisting of 5 two word question clues, each beginning with a play on the last name of a pop singer.  They fill each clue with a two word in the language phrase beginning with the singer's first name.  I couldn't find any pattern in the second word of the fill and there was no reveal.  Here are the themers ...

17. Iggy's therapist?: POP PSYCHOLOGIST.  You can see why Iggy Pop might need a psychologist -- he was A Real Wild Child ...

23. Taylor's comeback?: SWIFT RECOVERY.  Taylor came back from her recent ERAs Tour and apparently finding the last leg to be rather torturous she was in need of some RECOVERY  ... 

39. Donna's time off?: SUMMER VACATIONS.  Known as the "Queen of Disco", Donna Summer's life was tragically cut short by lung cancer, even though she was not a smoker.  After getting thru this song you can see why she might need a VACATION ...

51. Fiona's rapidly changing backup band?: APPLE TURNOVER.  Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter.   Classically trained on piano as a child, she began composing her own songs when she was eight years old. Her debut album, Tidal, containing songs written when she was in her teens, was released in 1996 and received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single Criminal.  Here she tells us The Way Things Are ...

61. Al's state-of-the-art recording equipment?: GREEN TECHNOLOGY.  Al Greene (born April 13, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer.  Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and is referred to on the museum's site as being "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music" and is considered by some to be "The Last of the Great Soul Singers".  Here's his Take Me to the River ... 

Lyrics

Here's the grid ...

Despite the simplicity of the theme, I did find some clever cluing and IMO I didn't find any pop culture references that couldn't be resolved with perps.

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Rock blaster?: AMP.  TNT fit, but didn't perp.

4. Plus: BONUS.

9. Celery unit: STALK.

14. Fragrant garland: LEI. A perfect accessory for sitting on a 16A.

15. Are: EXIST.

16. Sunporch: LANAI.  A lanai or lānai is a type of roofed, open-sided veranda, patio, or porch originating in Hawaii. Many homes, apartment buildings, hotels and restaurants in Hawaii are built with one or more lānais.  

Albert Spencer Wilcox Beach House
Hanalei, Hawaii

17. [Theme clue]

20. __ equity: SWEAT.  Sweat equity refers to work one does to build up value without a salary. This ownership interest, or increase in value, is created as a direct result of hard work by the owner. For example, homeowners who renovate or repair their house themselves are investing in sweat equity that increases the value of their home.

21. Tide competitor: ERA.  Here are the best and worst laundry detergents for your money.  Spoiler alert: the best, most economical detergent is neither Tide nor Era.  And you can save even more money on laundry detergent by rolling your own.

22. Came across: MET.

23. [Theme clue]

28. Far away: NOT NEAR.

30. "Cobra __": Netflix series about a dojo: KAI.  Cobra Kai is an American martial arts comedy drama television series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg. It serves as a sequel to the original The Karate Kid films created by Robert Mark Kamen.  Here's a preview of Season 6 ...

31. Primatologist's subject: APE.  Probably the most famous primatologist Dame Jane Goodall, who for 60 years has been studying chimpanzees, a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. 

Eastern chimpanzee
Kibale National Park, Uganda

32. Chocolate-and-caramel candy: ROLO.  Approximately 24.2 million pounds of ROLO® Candy are sold annually. 

35. Square quartet: SIDES.  Squares have four sides.

39. [Theme clue]

43. Evaluate: ASSAY. Usually specifying a quantitative evaluation, e.g. measuring the percentage of gold in an ore.

44. Even once: EVER.  If it has EVER happened, then it has happened at least ONCE.

45. 2016 Super Bowl MVP Miller: VON.  Vonnie B'VSean Miller (born March 26, 1989) is an American professional football linebacker for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL).  At the conclusion of the 2015 NFL season, Miller was named Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl 50.  In 2021, Miller was traded to the Los Angeles Rams and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl LVI. 

Von Miller

46. Apr. 15 addressee: IRS.  

48. Word on some Oscars: ACTRESS.  The Oscar for Best Actress award has been presented 97 times, to 79 actresses.  The recipient of the most awards is Katherine Hepburn, with 4.

Katherine Hepburn

51. [Theme clue]

56. Wedding notice word: NEE.  Today's French lesson: Feminine adjective --"Née = Born".

57. Honest prez: ABE.  Did Lincoln really deserve the nickname, Honest Abe?

Abraham Lincoln

58. Attacks with vigor: HAS AT.

61. [Theme clue]

66. "Mercy!": LORDY.

67. Judges' attire: ROBES.  Here are nine ...

The Supreme Court of the United States

68. Prune: LOP.

69. Happen next: ENSUE.  70A ENSUES ...

70. Elitist sort: SNOOT.  See 71A.

71. __ trip: EGO. See 70A.

Down:

 1. Jungfrau's range: ALPS.  Today's German lesson: "Jungfrau (YOONG-frow) = maiden, virgin".  The Jungfrau ALP, at 4,158 meters (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Swiss Alps and definitely not a climb for children.  It is located in the Bernese portion of the range.

Jungfrau Alp

2. 13-Down greeting: MEOW.

3. Mouthpieces for some smokers: PIPE STEMS.  This is not a pipe ...

4. Ride-or-die pal: BESTIE.  Or abbreviated BFF.

5. Stridex shelfmate: OXY.  Both products are used in the treatment of ACNE, a mild form of crosswordese.  The jury seems out as to which product is best, but as OXY is imported from South Africa it costs more ...

6. Actor Cage, informally: NIC.  Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards.  The first movie we ever saw him in was Moonstruck, co-starring with Cher.  

7. Playbill carrier: USHER.

8. Put away: STORE.

9. __-mo: SLO.

10. See 12-Down: TAG.

11. "Demon Slayer" genre: ANIME.  Thank you perps.  Demon Slayer: Blade of Demon Destruction is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga (comic book) series of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a Demon Slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister, Nezuko, is turned into a demon. 

12. With 10-Down, game with light weapons?: LASER.  Laser tag is a recreational shooting sport where participants use infrared-emitting light guns to tag designated targets. Infrared-sensitive signaling devices are commonly worn by each player to register hits.  In late 1970s and early 1980s, the United States Army deployed a system using lasers for combat training.  But laser tag didn't begin to take off until 1984 when George Carter III, inspired by the Star Wars movies, invented the first affordable system. So how do laser tag systems actually work ...?
 

13. Cat, affectionately: KITTY.

18. Front-row chess piece: PAWN.  This term also refers to a person who does not have any real power, but is used by others to achieve something, e.g. "The refugees were pawns in an international political dispute".

19. Deficiency: LACK.

24. Jamie of "M*A*S*H": FARR.  Jamie Farr (born Jameel Joseph Farah; July 1, 1934) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Corporal Klinger, a soldier who tried getting discharged from the army by cross-dressing.  You have to wonder who kept him supplied with duds -- "Hot Lips" Hoolihan maybe?

Jamie Farr and Loretta Swit

 25. Cache: TROVE.  E.g. a TREASURE TROVE, the subject of Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island.  There have been several adaptations of this novel including our favorite, this 1990 film with Charlton Heston as the obsessive pirate Long John Silver ...

26. Hops drier: OAST.  An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas, e.g. Kent and Sussex, England. Many redundant oasts have been converted into tourist inns.  

Oasts
Maidstone, Kent, England

27. Two before X: VIII. Today's math lesson (in base BCE):  "X (formerly known as Twitter) - II = VIII". 😀

28. Org. that oversees the Artemis moon program: NASA.  The Artemis moon program is named for the eponymous Greek goddess, the twin sister of Apollo, who was of course the namesake of the Apollo moon program.  Here is the Artemis Program logo, which tells the story in a nutshell ...

29. Major work: OPUS. The plural of OPUS is OPERA, which has come to mean a musical drama or comedy telling a story via a series of works such as an overture, arias, and interludes.  Ludwig van Beethoven, whose birthday we celebrated just 10 days ago, wrote only one opera, entitled Fidelio.  He wrote a total of 4 overtures to it, finally settling on this one ... 

33. Loo: LAV.  A Brit place to sit. 😀

34. Surname of heist masterminds played by Sinatra, Clooney, and Bullock: OCEAN.  Frank Sinatra played Danny Ocean in the 1960 film Ocean's 11.  In Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen Danny was played by George Clooney.  In Ocean's Eight women stole the franchise and Sandra Bullock played Debbie Ocean.  Got that?  Hand up if you've seen any of these flicks and put both yer hands up if I got any of that wrong!

36. Flatfish named for an English port: DOVER SOLE.  The town of Dover, England, directly across English Channel from Calais, France is famous for it's White Cliffs -- my Mother used to sing us this song about them.  As Dover was also a major fishing port in the late 19th century and a delicate white fish  called "King of Sole" was common in the town markets, the name was eventually changed to Dover Sole, a flat fish with a white underside.  Here's a simple recipe with capers, parsley, and butter.

37. Mireille of "Hanna": ENOS.  Hanna is a sci-fi TV series about a young girl played by Esme Creed-Miles raised in the wilds of Finland by her father, an ex-CIA man, to make her the perfect assassin. She has been receiving injections of DNA since birth as a part of a program called ULTRAX to make her a super-soldier.  Mireille Enos plays Marissa Wiegler, the CIA operative put in charge of the original UTRAX program, but who turns from a foe to an ally and mother figure to Hanna.  Here's a trailer ...

38. Hyphenated IDs: SSNS.

40. Lancelot's strong suit?: MAIL.  Well it must have been chain mail because it certainly wasn't Lancelot's fidelity to King Arthur. 

41. Literary governess: EYRE. Jane Eyre  is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847. It is a coming of age story that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall. The novel revolutionized prose fiction, being the first to focus on the moral and spiritual development of its protagonist through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are colored by a psychological intensity.  

First Edition, vol 1.

42. With the bow, in music: ARCO.  "arco" a the literal score notation and it indicates when to return to bowing the violin after an interlude of "pizz", that is pizzicato -- plucking the strings with the fingers.  If you listen carefully and look closely at this score of Edvard Grieg's -Anitra's Dance from his Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, you'll hear and see the alternation between pizz and arco ...

47. ESPN datum: STAT.

49. Ryan Seacrest, for one: TV HOST.  Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest co-hosted and served as executive producer of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and has hosted other media including American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He became co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2005, and became the sole host following Clark's death in 2012.

Ryan Seacrest

50. Concrete: REAL.

51. A matter of degrees?: ANGLE.  An ACUTE clue ... 😀

52. "Evita" name: PERON.  The quoting of "Evita" probably indicates that this is a reference to the musical based on the life of Eva Perón, an Argentine politician, activist, actress, and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 1946 until her death in July 1952, as the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón.

Eva and Juan Perón

53. Scholarly article reviewers: PEERS.  Peer review is a quality control system for academic publications.  It is especially important for scientific publications, which can have widespread societal impact on medicine, health, and public policy.  In recent decades this process has come under severe stress due to the high stakes economic importance of some scientific disciplines, and the "publish or perish" phenomenon.  These are the probable causes of what concerned scientists call the reproducibility crisis -- the retraction of articles after publication due to the failure of other scientists' to get the same results using the same methodology.  This problem has become so serious that in 2010 two longtime health journalists, Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus, founded Retraction Watch, “a site dedicated to reporting on scientific retractions and related issues” to bring to light how many scientific papers are withdrawn yearly and why.

54. Gets taken for a ride, in a way: UBERS.

55. Intel gathered by scouts: RECON.  One of the first RECON missions is recorded in the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible.  In the painting below the scouts are shown returning from Canaan with grapes (sans the rumored milk and honey) and with bad news about the fortified cities and the race of giants they found there ...

The Grapes of Canaan
by James Tissot. 

59. Awestruck: AGOG.  Awesome - two vowels and two gerund endings!

60. Autocorrect target: TYPO.  I'd prefer DWIM ("Do What I Mean") to "autocorrect".

62. College domain: EDU.

63. Dec. 31: NYE.

64. "The White Lotus" network: HBO. The White Lotus is an American black comedy drama anthology television series created by Mike White for HBO.  "It follows the guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose interactions are affected by their various psychosocial dysfunctions".  While I've not seen it, I suspect that like all satires it's on the edge of becoming what it parodies.  Here's the season 1 trailer (language) ... 

65. Opposite of paleo-: NEO.

Cheers, 

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Monday December 11, 2023 Kevin Christian

  

Hello Cornerites!

sumdaze here. Veteran constructor Kevin Christian keeps us entertained with a fast & fun Monday solve. Our theme is:                       HOSERS

Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted Great White North on SCTV in the early 1980s. Bob is played by Rick Moranis (left) and Doug is played by Dave Thomas (right).
They introduced this impressionable Lower 48-er to the Canadian term "hoser" (an unsophisticated, rural person).

Now, for the actual puzzle.... We have 4 themers and a unifier:

17 Across. Baskin-Robbins option: WAFFLE CONE.  

25 Across. Lemon-lime soda brand discontinued in early 2023: SIERRA MIST.  

a PepsiCo product

37 Across. Wet postgame celebration: CHAMPAGNE SHOWER.  

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, Wedding Crashers (2005)

47 Across. Wealthy executive's plane: PRIVATE JET.

This themer answered the, "Are we doing 'foods'?" question.

59 Across. Backyard item with settings found at the ends of 17-, 25-, 37-, and 47-Across: GARDEN HOSE.

Technically, we are talking about an attachment to a GARDEN HOSE. Close enough! Works for me!  

CONE, MIST, SHOWER, and JET are all settings on a spray nozzle for a GARDEN HOSE.
(They seem to be specifically designed to land on the lever when I set them down so either I or my dog gets sprayed.)

Across:

1. Sheets of paper: PAGES.  Hand up for first thinking "reams", but I waited for perps.

6. Indian prince: RAJA.

10. Walk back and forth anxiously: PACE.

14. Walled city near Madrid: AVILA.  

You can take a train from Madrid to Avila for about 15 Euros.

15. List-shortening abbr.: ET AL.

16. MC or Visa alternative: AMEX.  credit cards

19. Green gemstone: JADE.  

This past summer I was at an art fair where all the booths sold JADE. I saw some unpolished JADE and thought to myself, "Huh, I have a 6 lb. (2.7 kg.), bright green rock. I wonder if it is JADE?" I went home and did some research and found this video online. Prospector Dan shows three tests. I do not have the tools for Test #1 "Light Passing Through" (at 15 min.) or Test #2 "Hardness" (at 17 min.), so I decided to do Test #3 "Specific Gravity Test" (at 20:25 min.) When DH got home, I said, "We're going to do a Science experiment!" Our calculations equaled 3. My rock is JADE!

20. Minor complaint: NIT.  

knitters' NITs ???

21. North Carolina campus: ELON.  I learned this one from doing XWDs.

22. Dasani product: WATER.  Easter egg #1!  

pricier than water from your GARDEN HOSE

23. Piggy bank opening: SLOT.  

28. __ monitor: prenatal device: FETAL.  "FETAL" is an adjective which means "relating to a fetus."

30. Smidgen: IOTA.  

PSI'm sorry for the bad puns.

31. One over par, in golf: BOGEY.  

Are the top two real? I do not remember hearing of them.

33. "Back in Black" rock band: AC🗲DC.

34. Part of TNT: TRI.  Trinitrotoluene

41. Corn discard: COB.

42. "Yeah, right": I BET.

43. "Circle of Friends" novelist Binchy: MAEVE.  She was an Irish novelist and playwright. (1939-2012). 

44. Aspire laptop maker: ACER.

45. Big name in farm equipment: DEERE.

51. Put in the overhead bin: STOW.  

Hmm....Is Earl a hoser?

54. Within the rules: LEGAL.

55. Part of TLC: CARE.  Tender Loving CARE

Sending some TLC out to C.C. this week. 💜

57. Latvia, once: Abbr.: SSR.  In the past, Latvia was part of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

58. "Put a lid __!": ON IT.  This idiom means to stop something before it gets out of control.

62. Sandals brand owned by Deckers: TEVA.  Deckers was founded in Santa Barbara (Hi Picard!) in 1973.  It acquired the UGG brand in 1995, TEVA in 2002, and Hoka (a running shoe brand) in 2012.

TEVAs are great for water activities!

63. Figure skating leap: AXEL.

64. "Coming along?": YOU IN?

65. Fortuneteller: SEER.

66. Like grass at dawn: DEWY.  

Huey, Dewey, & Louie on DEWY grass???

67. Adds to the poker pot: ANTES.

Down:
1. Chess pieces that are often moved first: PAWNS.  

2. To no __: in vain: AVAIL.

3. Ability to speak persuasively: GIFT OF GAB.  One source traces the origin of this idiom to the Middle English word 'gob', which means mouth, and 'gabbe' which means idle talk.

4. Santa's helper: ELF.  With Christmas just 2 weeks away, I need some ELF help!

5. Black Friday event: SALE.  Black Friday Around the World

6. Shrink back in fear: RECOIL.  Easter egg #2!  (sort of)

After you finish watering, it is good to RE-COIL your GARDEN HOSE.
(OK...it's just "coil" -- but this is more fun!)

7. Make amends: ATONE.

8. Middle Brady girl: JAN.  

Being the middle child, JAN sometimes got tired of her older sister, Marcia, getting all the attention.

9. Pub brew: ALE.

10. __ party: sleepover: PAJAMA.  I started filling in S-L-U-M-B-E then ran out of boxes.

11. Valuable violin: AMATI.  AMATI is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived from about 1538 to 1740. In May 2013, an auction record $654,588 was paid for an AMATI violin.

12. Gives over (to): CEDES.

13. Apply, as pressure: EXERT.  I was thinking "massages"....

18. Actress Pataky: ELSA.  She was born in Madrid on July 18, 1976 and is mostly known for being in the Fast & Furious movies.

sexy Elsa with her hunky husband Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

22. "Don't think I won't!": WATCH ME.  Fun clue & fill!

24. Overflow (with): TEEM.

26. Grain grown in a paddy: RICE.  

I took this picture of a farmer harvesting his RICE in Japan.

27. Towel holders: RODS.

29. Usual: TYPICAL.

31. Include on an email surreptitiously: BCC.

32. "Caught you!": OHO.  an exclamation used to show pleased surprise or recognition

33. Picnic invader: ANT.  They frequently invade XWD puzzles as well.

34. Announces on X: TWEETS OUT.  Now that Twitter has been renamed X, I guess it would not sound right to say "Xes OUT".

35. Gun, as an engine: REV.  Vroom! Vroom!

36. Wrath: IRE.

38. Help in wrongdoing: ABET.

39. Richard of "Sommersby": GERE.  his IMBd page

40. Rowboat set: OARS.

44. Gamer's virtual persona: AVATAR.  An AVATAR is a personalized graphical illustration that represents a computer user. Sometimes it is a character or alter ego that represents that user.  

Here is an excellent example ... and choice!

45. Lethal: DEADLY.  

46. "To be," in French: ETRE.

47. Parcels of land: PLOTS.

48. Actress Zellweger: RENÉE.  her IMBd page

49. "Uncle!": I GIVE.  

50. Preppy clothing brand: J.CREW.  This company turned 40 this year. It filed for bankruptcy in 2020 but it is still selling its Cape Cod look.

52. "Grumpy Old Men" actor Davis: OSSIE.  (1917 - 2005)  He led a distinguished life.  

Ossie Davis played Chuck in Grumpy Old Men (1993).

53. Small chirpy birds: WRENS.  

Wren ten tin ???

56. Irish New Age singer: ENYA.  IIRC, RosE also likes ENYA's music. Since it is December, I am choosing Christmas Secrets (2006).  

59. Wander (about): GAD.  Def:  (verb) go around from one place to another, in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment.

While GADding about the internet, I accidentally came across this history video entitled The Sunken Town of Gad, West Virginia (17:46 min.) Some of you might find it interesting. The town was lost to the Summersville Dam in 1966. I especially liked the interviews with the former residents. (Watch for the water skiers in the background at 5:34 min.!)

60. Logger's tool: AXE.  The other day I watched firefighters loading up their truck after a false alarm. One carried a large AXE.  #NotJustAStereotype

61. Sweetie: HON.  Bs make HON.

That's all for today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a great week, everyone!

Oops! I just realized I forgot to add the grid. Better late than never....