Theme: 62. "C'mon, get serious!" ... and an admonition evidently ignored by the starts of the answers to starred clues: DON'T BE SILLY. - The first part of each theme entry can follow "Silly".
17. *Cage for a bunny:RABBIT HUTCH. Silly Rabbit.
26. *Tool for filling in holes in the wall: PUTTY KNIFE. Silly Putty.
49. *Skin response to fear or cold: GOOSEFLESH. Silly goose.
Boomer here.
Silly
Rabbit - Trix are for kids. Who has never had that little egg with
Silly Putty in it, and copied a comic? Silly String comes in a spray
can. Careful - do not spray on your hair. And my friend Andrea is a
silly goose from Minnesota. Hello!!
Boomer, C.C., Tom Pepper, Andrea Carla Michaels
May 26, 2021
Across:
1. Mexican dip: SALSA.
6. Kitten-lifting spot: NAPE. I am pretty sure that those cats don't like it, but they have no choice.
10. "Notorious" Supreme Court justice, initially: RBG. We lost Ruth a little over a year ago.
13. Gold miner's staked-out land: CLAIM. I have a claim on my backyard, but all I found is dirt and grass.
14. Polishes, as text: EDITS. I am polishing this blog right now. Hope I don't screw it up.
16. Botch the job, say: ERR. "To ERR is human", unless you're a shortstop.
19. Actress Zadora: PIA.
20. Moody music genre: EMO.
21. __ Grey tea: EARL. "As I, walk through this world, Nothing can stop the Duke of EARL."
22. Wasn't feeling well: AILED.
24. Early bird's reward: WORM. I am not that early. I settle for Wheat Chex.
29. Blackjack card: ACE. Get a face card and you win!
31. "Superman"' actor Christopher: REEVE.
32. Hooded snake: COBRA.
35. Final Four org.: NCAA. A big hit for Basketball fans, and office "Pick Winners", which I never won.
37. Dutch cheese town: EDAM.
43. "The jig __": IS UP. My golf scores are UP, bowling scores are Down.
44. Double-reed wind: OBOE.
45. Trio in H2O: ATOMS. Three atoms. Two Hydrogen and one Oxygen and you're all wet.
46. Barnes' bookselling partner: NOBLE. We have stopped there
many times. They have the Beckett baseball card price guide plus
Sudoku. They also have a coffee bar but I don't pay their price for
coffee.
48. Italian three: TRE.
53. Applies with a Q-tip: DABS. "A little one will do ya" (Brylcreem commercial).
57. Finance whiz Suze: ORMAN. We do not do much with financial planners. Sometimes I watch CNBC but you just cannot predict the tricky DOW.
58. Christmas song: NOEL. "The first NOEL, the Angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay". (19 days and counting,)
60. Rapper __ Kim: LIL.
61. Oral health initials: ADA.
66. Part of mph: PER. OR Price per Gallon. It's about $3.10 in Minnesota but I have heard we are lower then most USA states at this time.
67. Promised to tell the truth: SWORE. Or hit a bad golf shot, or leave a split. (#@!&%#@)
68. "There's no such thing as a free lunch," e.g.: ADAGE. This has been a LONG Medicare Ad AGE. Hopefully it ends on Wednesday.
69. Hosp. triage areas: ERS. My first trip to the VA emergency
room was for pain I could not take anymore. Then the bad news - three
years ago. The "C" word.
70. Still-life subject: EWER. "It's a still life water color, of a
now-late afternoon .. . and we sit and drink our coffee". Dangling
Conversation. Simon and Garfunkel.
71. Printer supply: TONER.
Down:
1. Carpenter's fastener: SCREW.
2. Mission to remember: ALAMO. "High up, Santa Ana, We're killing your soldiers below. So the rest of Texas will know --- And remember the ALAMO."
3. Materials partner on a repair bill: LABOR.
4. Member of the fam: SIB.
5. Gallic girlfriend: AMIE.
6. Indira Gandhi's father: NEHRU. Also a funny looking jacket that I never wore.
7. Grownup: ADULT. Classification for some Movies that I never went to.
8. Racetrack stop: PIT. Wow -- can those guys ever change tires in seconds!
9. And so on, briefly: ETC.
10. Answered, as an email: REPLIED TO. Easier than answering regular mail.
11. Lawyer's filing: BRIEF. Yes but they are hardly ever BRIEF.
12. Student's mark: GRADE. My High School always gave numerical grades. 100 was great - 70 was passing. Below 70 was trouble.
15. Ice cream drink: SHAKE. Used to be 20 cents at McDonald's in the 1960s. Now I cannot afford them any more.
18. Scotch or masking: TAPE. I like the Curad stuff to strengthen my bowling hand.
23. Played the market: INVESTED. Believe me, it is NOT playing. However sometimes I PLAY Craps. About the same results.
25. California county that contains parts of Yosemite National Park: MARIPOSA.
27. Copy on transparent paper: TRACE.
28. "You betcha!": YEAH.
30. Recycle bin item: CAN. We recycle so much paper that there is hardly room for CANS.
32. CBS forensic series: CSI.
33. NFL tiebreakers: OTS. I sat through a few of these this year.
34. Multiple Grammy winner featured on "Uptown Funk": BRUNO MARS.
35. Prize since 1901: NOBEL.
36. __-Magnon: CRO. This was not the best looking guy to maybe put on a coin.
38. Vaccination spot: ARM. C.C. was sore for a day or two. I
did not have any side effects but I wish people would Knuckle down and
get their shots. Last week we had an Omicron case here in Minn.
39. More, in Madrid: MAS.
41. Game with putting: GOLF. Of course our courses are closed
for the season, but our fall is lasting a long time. No complaints. We
had a day of 52 degrees with a bit of rain. No kidding and no snow!
42. Lend an __: listen: EAR. What? Huh? You talkin' to me?
47. Is flexible: BENDS.
48. You, biblically: THEE. "America, America, God shed his grace on THEE!"
49. Flip out: GO APE.
50. Trial judge's demand: ORDER. I think I have most of the "LAW and ORDER" episodes memorized.
51. Between, in French: ENTRE.
52. Like a designated driver: SOBER. Like me forever.
54. Poe's middle name: ALLAN. Edgar.
55. Ship's hull region: BILGE. These must be most of those parked in the Pacific Ocean that have Christmas gifts on them.
56. More cunning: SLYER.
59. Aspiring DA's exam: LSAT.
63. Be obligated to: OWE. "I OWE- I OWE, so off to work I go"
64. "Don't delay!": NOW.
65. Pre-marital (just barely) promise: I DO.
Boomer
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
84th birthday to Lucina! Lucina used to travel to CA regularly and met
up with our California blog regulars JD, Chickie, Clear Ayes and Garlic
Gal. Sadly both Dodo and Clear Ayes have passed away. JD, Chickie and
Garlic Gal are still in close contact.
L-R back row: Chickie, Clear Ayes, Garlic Gal
Front: JD, Lucina, Dodo (June 23, 2011)
Hello there, Cornerites, and welcome to another Friday version of Chairman Moe trying to make heads or tails out of what developed into a pretty clever crossword puzzle. Today's offering is a collaboration of two Crossword Puzzle "All-Stars", Kevin Christian and Tracy Bennett. They used a "p-o-w's" question to combine two separate team names of the Wowen's National Basketball Association. (51-Down, and the "reveal": Org. that includes each part of four puzzle answers: WNBA)
Kevin and Tracy managed to find 4 combinations (8 of the 12 teams in the WNBA) and the Chairman found one more - my "theme" title. And whilst I couldn't come up with an appropriate question (The SUN are the WNBA team in Connecticut, and The FEVER are the WNBA team in Indiana), "SUNS" FEVER is rampant here in the Valley of the Sun, as the Phoenix team (the SUNS) are playing in their first ever NBA Championship Finals, as we speak, and are leading the Milwaukee Bucks 2 games to 0. Count the Chairman as one who has hopped on the SUNS bandwagon . . . but I digress . . .
20-Across. Longing at a dull lecture? (N.Y., Atlanta): LIBERTY DREAM. The New York LIBERTY are one of the original eight teams that formed the WNBA in 1996, and play their home games in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center - a venue also used by the NBA's Brooklyn NETS. The Atlanta DREAM was one of the league's expansion teams in 2007, and play their games at the Gateway Center Arena, in College Park, GA
The "play-on-word's" question for the clue probably means having the freedom to doze off, but since this was the first clue in the set, and the use of N.Y. and Atlanta was at first confusing, I was thinking about things other than team names, quite honestly, and I am a sports fan. NY LIBERTY airport? MLK's "I have a DREAM" speech? WTH? Let's go on . . .
32-Across. Talented meteorologists? (Seattle, Las Vegas): STORM ACES. OK, Moe is confused. Airports? Well, Seattle is linked with Tacoma (SEATAC), but as I was solving the puzzle, the only letters I had were "____MACES", and this one sat a long time before filling in. The Seattle STORM joined the WNBA in 1999, and has been one of the better and more successful franchises. The Las Vegas ACES are one of the original teams of the WNBA, but the franchise has moved a few times. Starting out in Utah as the STARZZ as a charter league member, then moving to San Antonio TX, and finally to Las Vegas. Kevin and Tracy's clue fits well, as talented meteorologists are indeed, "storm aces"
38-Across. Lightning? (Chicago, L.A.): SKY SPARKS. The Chicago SKY are another expansion team, and the Los Angeles SPARKS are one of the founding eight. An easier clue to connect the two team names, as "lightning" flashes are very much "sky sparks"
48-Across. Feature of a Roman god's boots? (Phoenix, Dallas): MERCURY WINGS. The Phoenix MERCURY are one of the original eight, and have featured stars such as Nancy Lieberman and Diana Taurasi. The Dallas Wings began in 1998 in the first expansion of the league as the Detroit Shock. The franchise relocated to Tulsa, OK, and finally in Dallas in 2016. And let's not forget the other two WNBA teams: The Washington Mystics and Minnesota Lynx. The WNBA season is underway; here are the standings as of July 8:
And here a few of the current players in the league:
Across:
1. Motel arrival?: ROACH. I think it was Black Flag that introduced us to the "ROACH" Motel - a trap that lured the world's most reviled insect to its deadly fate ...
6. Amazed: WOWED. I am always WOWED when I can complete a Friday puzzle with no cheats (or a Saturday; sometimes Thursday and Sunday, too!)
11. One of three in the opening scene of "Macbeth": HAG. The video clip is but 0:50 in length . . . three, count 'em, three HAGs
17. Clear for better viewing: DEFOG. When I "Googled" the word DEFOG, and looked for an image, most all of what came up was related to THIS. Any of our Cornerites young enough to have known, or are familiar with this??!
18. River to the Caspian Sea: VOLGA. VOLGA: The longest river in Europe. When you look at the image below, you get a better perspective for just how long the VOLGA river is. From Google: "Rising in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow, the VOLGA discharges into the Caspian Sea, some 2,193 miles (3,530 kilometres) to the south. It drops slowly and majestically from its source 748 feet (228 metres) above sea level to its mouth 92 feet below sea level
19. Zip: VIM. "Code" wouldn't fit; "Nil" did but did not work with the perps
23. How J.Lo performs: IN HEELS. Not only does she perform in them, she also designs them
26. Where flight attendants often work: AISLE. But hopefully, not in high heels. Not sure of the current flight attendant "dress code", but I would think that most flight attendants who identify as she/her would be far safer performing their duties in flats, or minimal heels
27. Declines to: DOESN'T. "But ya DOESN'T have to call me Johnson!"
28. Gated water channel: SLUICE. I somehow recall SLUICE showing up in a recent LAT puzzle. July 4th, perhaps?
31. Humpty Dumpty-shaped: OVATE. OVATE: "having an oval outline or ovoid shape, like an egg"
35. WC: LAV. Water Closet, abbr. Anyone else put LOO in first? I did
36. "Rappa Ternt Sanga" artist: T-PAIN. Rap is not my style, so this one was all perps. Here is what I found out about the artist "T-PAIN"
37. Granola morsel: OAT. And what is it called when you are more OAT? OATER
41. Clerical home: MANSE. Or more specifically, "the house occupied by a minister of a Presbyterian church." Google
45. __ double: STUNT. "STUNT doubles are a cross between a body double and a stunt performer, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, such as jumping out of a building or from vehicle to vehicle, and for other sophisticated stunts (especially fight scenes). Believe it or not, I was a STUNT double for Richard Dreyfuss, but I only subbed for him on love scenes . . .
47. Popular cider apple: WINESAP. WINESAP is an old apple cultivar of unknown origin, dating at least to American colonial times. Its apples are sweet with a tangy finish. They are used for eating, cooking, and cider. Wikipedia
52. Plus: AND. One AND (+) two = three
53. Interminably: NO END. I'm sure there are those of you who say, "Is there NO END to the Chairman's recap today??!"
54. Mario's brother: LUIGI. From the Nintendo video games, c 1981 with Donkey Kong. Mario is depicted as a portly plumber who lives in the fictional land of the Mushroom Kingdom with LUIGI, his younger, taller brother. In the television series and film, Mario and Luigi are originally from Brooklyn, New York. LUIGI is the guy in green
58. Employ: USE. Crossword "fill" and one of several 3-letter words USEd today
59. "How about that!": I'LL BE. Well I'LL BE a monkey's uncle
60. Pillow stuffing: EIDER. I thought the word "EIDER" could only be USEd in "down" words
61. __-Z: GEN. JAY fit, but not with the perps. GEN-Z's: "GENeration Z, colloquially also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials (GEN Y) and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years. Most members of Generation Z are children of Generation X. Wikipedia
62. "The Gold-Bug" name: ALLAN. You'd have to have known that Edgar ALLAN Poe wrote this. I didn't and had to look it up
63. Took badly?: STOLE. Nice play-on-words clue
Down:
1. Great American Ball Park player: RED. Having lived in the Queen City (aka, Cincinnati) this one came immediately. Great American Ball Park replaced Riverfront Stadium (later called, Cinergy Field) as home to the Cincinnati REDs baseball team. Its first year of operation was 2003
2. Fútbol cheer: OLE. Favorite skin care brand of Fútbol fans?
3. Canine alert: ARF. Sandy's favorite expression
4. Most suave: COOLEST. Slang use of COOL for "fashionable" (suave) is by 1933, originally African-American vernacular; its modern use as a general term of approval is from the late 1940s, probably via bop talk and originally in reference to a style of jazz; the word is said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young
5. Keep-it-clean routine: HYGIENE. Not going to make this "personal"
6. Ripple-patterned hairstyle: WAVES. I had wavy hair once; now I have none! But this pretty lady has lovely WAVES in her hair
7. Compost emanation: ODOR. We tried a compost bin for awhile before starting a garden. The ODOR was fortunately contained in the side yard . . .
8. Mickey's maker: WALT. WALT Disney; creator of Mickey Mouse, et al
9. Like quiche: EGGY. Definition of EGGY (courtesy of Google): Adjective; covered with or dipped in egg. EGGY bread (cooking) Resembling eggs in some way. An EGGY smell/taste. Of or relating to an egg or eggs. A quiche is a French tart made with a simple pastry crust (with flour, butter and water) that is filled with a savory egg custard
10. Something taken by an archer: DEAD AIM. Rather a morbid phrase, eh?! Thank goodness this archer had a good AIM, but his son wasn't thrilled!!
11. What hungry diners often do: HAVE SECONDS. Our family (me, as a kid growing up) rarely had "SECONDS" at the dinner table, and when we did there was always a battle for them. Moe-ku:
The clock family Made sure their kids were fed. They Always HAVE SECONDS
12. If you don't like it, you can go to Helvetica: ARIAL. Cute clue. Helvetica and ARIAL fonts are pretty darn similar, if you ask me. Can you spot the differences?
13. Tot's "Mine!": GIMME. Well, the clip below is hardly the words of a tot; but when I see the word GIMME, I always think of the song that the Rolling Stones made famous in the late '60's. "War - children - is just a shot away; it's just a shot away". "Love - children - is just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away". And if you're needing a big Stones fix click on the link for a copy of the 1970 Documentary, based on the Stones' Tour in 1970. Caution: it's 1 hour and 30 minutes in length. The song below is about 4-1/2 minutes
21. Three-ingredient sammie: BLT. Interesting clue. "Sammie" is an abbreviation for the word "sandwich", and BLT is an abbreviation for Bacon Lettuce & Tomato
22. Costa __: RICA. Costa RICA is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds. ― Google. The Chairman visited there in 2008 or 2009 on a business trip, so he didn't get a chance to enjoy much of the beauty or culture. The few pics I saved are shown below
23. Beloved stars: IDOLS. Did any of you have an IDOL when you were a kid? As a boy growing up in the '50's and early '60's, I was a huge baseball fan, as well as a pretty good player. My baseball IDOL was Rocky Colavito, who may be one of the better players of his generation not to be inducted into the Major League Hall of Fame
24. Tennis ace Djokovic: NOVAK. The Chairman is not a huge tennis fan, though he's heard of him. Heard of him? I mean, c'mon Moe, NOVAK has only been the #1 professionally ranked men's tennis player in the WORLD for over 6 years now!! Like I said, not a tennis fan. It might have been the only "ball" sport in which Moe never participated. Meh. Now when MOE thinks of NOVAK, this person came to mind:
25. Considerable load: HEAVY BURDEN. This titan had quite a HEAVY BURDEN
28. Investment: STAKE. Let's see what the Thesaurusaurus has to say: yep, there it is at #8
29. Two-time Newbery Medal winner Lowry: LOIS. OK. Two things the Chairman will admit to not knowing: 1) who LOIS Lowry is, and 2) what a Newbery Medal is. Other than that, this clue was a breeze! Actually, LOIS won her Newbery Medals in 1990 for Number the Stars, and in 1994 for the book The Giver
30. Buffet server: URN. "Server" as in a thing, not a person. Nowadays, many if not all buffets are being staffed by people who plate and serve your food, rather than have a bunch of potential Covid carriers spread their germs among many dishes. An URN of course is the large coffee vessel used alongside a buffet
32. Nimble: SPRY. Believe it or not, I grew up not too far from SPRY Pennsylvania. I'll bet that Misty has heard of it
33. GPA booster: EASY "A". Moe needed a couple of EASY A courses to boost his GPA during his college years. He was a pretty good student; just a bit lazy at times . . . If the cartoon below were penned when I was in school, the teacher's comment would've been "Cliff Notes" instead of Wikipedia!
34. Expensive: STEEP. Again, the word associated with the clue has several meanings, and choosing this one allowed it to be more of a Friday clue/fill than if the constructor's had clued it as: "a 30% grade on a hillside"
36. Generous pickup: TAB. How about THIS TAB "pickup"?? The video is quite long, but skip through some of the video to see something totally weird!
39. Bring together: SYNC. Short for SYNChronize. According to Webster's, the word can also be spelled "SYNCH", and this use often appears in xword puzzles
40. Hanging basket bloomer: PETUNIA. Your gardening tip du jour from C Moe: Planting PETUNIAS in hanging baskets is a cinch, as long as you use a sturdy container with at least one drainage hole. Fill the container with a lightweight commercial potting mix, which will promote healthy drainage. Never use garden soil, which quickly becomes compacted and too heavy for proper drainage
44. Cacophony: DIN. A four-syllable clue for a one-syllable, three-letter word. Welcome to Friday!!
45. "The Hobbit" dragon: SMAUG. Did you ever wonder how they shot some of the animated scenes which use actor's voices? Watch the first and then the second
46. Not cool at all: TENSE. The antonym of 4-Down
47. Expand: WIDEN. I am guessing that part of the eventual "infrastructure" bill in Congress is the plan to both rebuild and WIDEN certain roads and bridges. I never could quite understand why, as a kid, when we took the PA Turnpike west of Harrisburg, the seven tunnels used were all only two-lanes wide when the highway itself was four. Until I discovered the history. Here is a brief snippet from Federal Highway Administration dot gov:
The Turnpike originally began as a railway route. The construction began in the 1880s but was never completed, even though a combined total of 4.5 miles of tunnel had been dug through seven mountains. Called the "Tunnel Highway" or "America's Super Highway," the seven-tunnel Pennsylvania Turnpike opened 60 years later in the fall of 1940 as a four-lane highway. For truckers, the down-hill travel on the low grades would be mechanically safer, and all motorists could enjoy a safe journey while also saving time. At a cost of more than $61 million, the 160-mile roadway took 770,000 tons of sand, 1,200,000 tons of stone, 50,000 tons of steel, and more than 300,000 tons of cement to complete.
The 24-foot wide lanes, divided into 12-foot lanes, accommodated the width of vehicles, but shrunk to 11.5 feet wide inside the tunnels where the double lanes ended and only one lane in each direction began. In 1941, after one year of operation, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission reported more than two million cars had traveled the road. By 1960, however, there were many more vehicles on the roadway causing congestion and delays at the tunnels. Some of these delays were as long as five miles.
49. Sushi prep verb: ROLL. Watch and learn; it seems to me that you're paying for the labor, not the ingredients:
50. Shout: YELL. Per Google, I checked to see just how "loud" a shout or YELL is: "Using everyday items you could probably measure sounds in the range of roughly 20 to 80 dB. ... Loud appliances such as a vacuum cleaner or power tools could exceed 80 dB. Human YELLS can be quite loud, possibly exceeding 100 dB (as of March 2019, the world record is 129 dB!). That's loud
55. Promising words: I DO. One of the sixteen three-letter fills used in today's puzzle. I like the clue; "I DO, I DO!"
56. Dab that'll do your do: GEL. But was the one that I recall really a GEL or was it something else? It definitely had a memorable commercial ad for TV:
57. Dander: IRE. Technically speaking, the word "dander" refers to tiny scales shed from human or animal skin or hair. Dander floats in the air, settles on surfaces, and makes up a good portion of household dust. Cat dander is a common cause of allergic reactions. But in the phrase "get one's[sic] dander up", "dander" refers to anger, or IRE. I hate to end on a negative, so I'll plea, "Thumper"
Here's the grid:
Please feel free to comment below . . .
Notes from C.C.:
Happy birthday to Dear Anon-T (Tony), who
turns 51 year old today. The First picture is Tony on Father's Day hiking At Wit's End
near Carmel. And of course, we just saw him and Leo a few days ago. Thanks for the care and attention you've given to each of us on the
blog over the year, Tony!
Theme: To Kill a Vampire. The last word of each theme fill is something that a vampire cannot abide.
17. Netflix series about unintended consequences of new technology: BLACK MIRROR. A British dystopian science fiction series with stand alone episodes.
As the legend goes, a vampire will not reflect in a MIRROR. This is because, traditionally, MIRRORS were backed with a thin layer of silver, which, due to its purity, is incompatible with creatures of darkness. Cf silver bullets and were-wolves.
29. Campground support: TENT STAKE. A spike designed to hold the tent to the ground, either directly or by connecting to ropes.
A STAKE through the heart will take the un from the undead. Decapitation also works. Leaving nothing to chance, a diligent vampire hunter will do both.
48. Part of a southpaw's ring repertoire: LEFT CROSS. I boxing, a power punch delivered with the dominant hand when the opponent leads with the opposite hand.
The idea that a vampire cannot abide the CROSS stems from folk lore in Christian Europe. Evidently, since vampires are taken to be agents of Satan, the crucifix is anathema to them. Ditto holy water and the eucharist host. But Anne Rice discarded these concepts in her more modern vampire novels.
61. On earth: UNDER THE SUN. On earth; in existence (used in expressions emphasizing the large number of something.)
Since vampires are creatures of darkness, they cannot abide direct SUNlight. Light reflected by the moon, however, is perfectly acceptable to all sorts of macabre and nocturnal entities.
And the unifier - 46. Classic Lugosi character with an aversion to the ends of 17-, 29-, 48- and 61-Across: DRACULA. The prototypical vampire, from Bram Stoker's novel, and its various adaptations.
Hi Gang - JazzBumpa here, STAKing a claim to to this vampiric puzzle. Let's avoid getting CROSSED up, and finish it before the SUN goes down.
Across:
1. Digital money: ECASH. Originally a digital-based system that facilitated the transfer of funds anonymously. eCash was created by Dr. David Chaum under his company, DigiCash, in 1990. Though there was interest in the platform from large banks, eCash never took off and DigiCash filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Apparently the term is now used generically for a variety of electronic money transfers.
6. Welcomed at the door: SAW IN. According to legend, a vampire can Olly enter a home if invited.
11. "Happy little trees" painter Ross: BOB. He [1942-1995] died young from a lymphoma. His TV show lived on long after his passing.
14. Elder Obama daughter: MALIA. She [b 1998] is to the left in this family photo.
19. Cal. airport not in its namesake city: SFO. It is located 13 miles from downtown San Francisco.
20. Arcing shot: LOB.
21. Like money in a poker game: AT RISK. Or the stock market.
22. Some "Rocky" settings: GYMS. Movies about a boxer.
23. Historic chapters: ERAS. Long and distinct periods of history having a particular feature or characteristic.
25. "__ la France!": VIVE. An expression of French patriotism, on a par with God Bless America.
26. Embezzler's dread: AUDIT. When the cooked books don't match the expected recipe.
27. Actors sans lines: MIMES. Those using the theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression, and movement.
31. Google: SEARCH. Exploring the inter-tubes.
33. Uses a needle: SEWS. Making a mend, perhaps.
34. "__ out!": YER. Umpires declaration in baseball.
35. Dutch colonist: BOER. A member of the Dutch and Huguenot population that settled in southern Africa in the late 17th century.
37. Per __: DIEM. Per diem is a Latin phrase that translates to “by the day.” The term also refers to the amount of money paid to employees for 2 different types of “day” scenarios. The most common use of the term per diem refers to expenses a company reimburses an employee when they travel on business. Another type of per diem is for employees who receive a set amount of pay for a single days’ work.
39. "Get a room!" elicitor, for short: PDA. Public Displays of Affection. Stop it - you're making me sick!
42. Pants, briefly: TROU. Short for trousers.
44. Fashions: TRENDS. That come and they go.
51. Insignificant person: TWERP. A silly or annoying person. Might or might not be insignificant.
52. TV host with her "OWN" network: OPRAH. Needs no introduction
53. Fruity antacid: TUMS. I prefer the old-fashioned minty-chalk version.
55. ROFL relative: LMAO. Laughing My Aft-regions Off
65. Hirsch of "Into the Wild": EMILE. [b 1985] Since then he has gone on to other movies, an assault conviction for an event he claims not to remember due to substance involvement, and a rehab stint.
66. Hibernation location: DEN. If you are a bear.
67. Itty-bitty: EENSY. teeny-tiny.
68. "Alas!": SO SAD.
Down:
1. Insignias: EMBLEMS.
2. Some diet soda has one: CALORIE. A measure of the energy content of ingestibles.
3. College football powerhouse: ALABAMA. The Crimson Tide.
4. [not my mistake]: SIC. Sic is a Latin term meaning “thus.” It is used to indicate that something incorrectly written is intentionally being left as it was in the original. [Sic] is usually italicized and always surrounded by brackets to indicate that it was not part of the original. If it ends up being unintentionally funny, it's {sic} humor.
5. Maori dance with rhythmic chanting: HAKA. If, like me, you knew noting about this, you can learn more here.
6. Exorcist's target: SPIRIT. Presumably of the evil variety.
7. Gets in: ARRIVES.
8. Took a downturn: WORSENED.
9. "Everything's fine!": I'M OK.
10. Postal motto word: NOR. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" Until recently.
11. Reason to skip lunch, maybe: BUSY DAY. If it's really busy, I might miss my nap. But lunch?!? Hardly.
12. How some candid comments are made: OFF MIKE. Or so the speaker hopes.
13. Enthusiastic supporter: BOOSTER.
18. "Jersey Shore" airer: MTV.
22. __ check: test of character: GUT. An evaluation or test of a person's resolve, commitment, or priorities, typically with respect to a particular course of action.
24. Belgrade resident: SERB. City and citizen of Serbia.
26. Aver: ASSERT. Avow, proclaim..
28. Rusty nail liquor: SCOTCH. The Rusty Nail is a cocktail made from Drambuie and SCOTCH whisky. Drambuie is a liqueur with a SCOTCH whisky base. The classic recipe is two parts Scotch to one part Drambuie, over ice. Modern versions are as dry as 5 to 1. A lemon twist is optional.
30. Silly person: TWIT.
32. Munich address: HERR. Meaning Mister or Sir.
36. Cheered for: ROOTED ON. For your favorite sports team
38. Whimper: MEWL.
39. Was overcome with emotion, informally: PLOTZED. I was unfamiliar with this Yiddish term.
40. Corrupt: DEPRAVE. This equivalence is legit, but I would never use them interchangeably
41. Like some violets: AFRICAN. The various pecies and cultivars are commonly called African violets (although they are not closely related to true violets) or saintpaulias. They are commonly used as indoor houseplants, but can also be kept as outdoor plants in certain climates.
49. Line on many bills: TAX. Sales tax, in this instance.
50. Condescending: SMIRKY. characterized by or having a smirk, especially so as to seem irritatingly smug or conceited.. Could be condescending, by not necessarily.
54. "Quiet on the __!": director's cry: SET.
57. Pay to play: ANTE. An initial bet before the cards are dealt.
58. Sows, e.g.: SHES. Females.
61. Operate: USE. Run also fits. Need perps.
62. Punk rock offshoot: EMO. A style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects.
So ends another Wednesday. Now, go out and get some SUN.
Theme: How to avoid a lot of 3-letter fill in a crossword puzzle? Use them in
the entries!!!!"
Looks like we have an "all-star" collaboration today, as Kevin Christian and
Bruce Haight - two renowned crossword constructors - joined forces to create a
clever puzzle that features four commonly used crossword "exclamations", each
of which is a 3-letter word. All four of the entries are "clechos", and if
your printed puzzle did not provide the circles, it may have been more
difficult to "get". And while there is no "symmetry" in the placement of the
circled "reveal" in each phrase, I think that finding four phrases such as
these is quite unique.
As the entries tell us:
16-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
AINT GONNA HAPPEN, "NAH"!
27-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
HOLD EVERY THING, "HEY"!
So, as an aside, I was losing "steam" when I finally solved the puzzle, and of
course, thought of this when I saw the answers to 16-A and 27-A:
47-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
LOOK WHAT I FOUND, "OHO"!
And if Kevin and Bruce left out one of the "O's" in LOOK, I could've inserted
this:
57-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
THAT HITS THE SPOT, "AHH"!
Could this image be better captioned as "AWW, THAT HITS THE SPOT?!"
Across:
1. Captain Kirk's home state: IOWA. I guess if you're a "Trekkie" you
know this: Riverside, IOWA is where James Tiberius Kirk was born, on March 22,
2233. It was there he was raised by his parents, George and Winona Kirk
5. Court case determination: FACT. I'm guessing that Sgt Joe Friday was
stating this, just in case it went to court
9. Rudiments: ABC'S. "Rudiments" = "basics", of which learning the
"ABC's" are
13. Old-fashioned way to settle a dispute: DUEL. Most famous one, I
guess, was Burr v Hamilton
14. Mila of "Bad Moms": KUNIS. Milena Markovna KUNIS is an American
actress and producer, originally from the Ukraine. Married actor Ashton
Kutcher in 2015; they have two children
15. Unhappy look: MOUE. Might you say that Moe has a MOUE?
19. __ the line: TOES. Obeys. Of course I used the past tense first,
TOED
20. Tag sale reminder: AS IS. Is it "tag sale", "yard sale", or "garage
sale"? Depends where you're from. I remember "tag sale" being the phrase when
I lived in New England ...
25. Nutty confection: PRALINE. PRALINE is a form of confection
containing at a minimum culinary nuts, usually almonds and hazelnuts, and
sugar; cream is a common third ingredient. More Wikipedia
29. Game with Reverse cards: UNO. Plays a lot like "Crazy Eights"
30. Amos who covered Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit": TORI. Nirvana
is the band that originally recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in 1991. TORI
Amos "covered" (meaning that she, too recorded this song - with permission, of
course) a year later. Kurt Cobain is credited with the lyrics; Nirvana with
the music. Here is TORI's version:
31. Singer whose "Breathe Me" was part of the "Six Feet Under" series finale:
SIA. "Breathe Me" and its remixes have been featured in many TV shows
and movie soundtracks, most notably "Everyone's Waiting", the series finale of
the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. Wikipedia. SIA is: Sia Kate Isobelle
Furler, born 18 December 1975, and is from Adelaide, South Australia
32. Litter peeps: MEWS. MEWS, MEOW, MEWL are used to describe sounds
made by cats/kittens
34. Campy wrap: BOA.
36. Cougar maker, for short: MERC. I got this one straight away. MERC -
short for MERCury (a division of Ford Motors) - was the maker of the Cougar;
a luxury sports car
40. Chicken general: TSO. Moe-ku:
I ordered Chinese; Forgot the name of the dish. You know, TSO and
TSO
43. Normandy beach: JUNO. Did you know this was JUNO and not ST LO??
46. Me. neighbor: QUE. Is this a nitpick on my part? I did get the answer
(QUE, as in short for QUEbec) but somehow wanted the clue to be ME instead of
Me.
51. Wayne Manor feature: BATPOLE. I had BAT CAVE at first. "To the
BATPOLES"
52. Out together: ON A DATE. Another one that filled itself in quite
quickly; the expression "out ON A DATE" usually means being together
53. QB stat: ATT. Abbr for ATTempt, as in a QuarterBacks
passing statistic
63. Some Sunnis: KURDS. SUNNI: the larger of the two main branches of
Islam, which differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna, its
conception of religious leadership, and its acceptance of the first three
caliphs. KURDS are an ethnic group of Muslims native to Kurdistan, a
mountainous region of Western Asia. About 98% of KURDS are Sunni, according to
Wikipedia
64. Wedding dress option: SARI. I wonder if iPhone assistant Siri would
wear one to her wedding?
65. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT. Old school clue and answer. I smell ERAT ...
66. "House" actor: EPPS. As in Omar EPPS. He is most widely recognized
for his work as Dr. Eric Foreman on the hit series, "House, M.D."
67. They have it when things pass: AYES. Cute clue. "The AYES have
it!"
Down:
1. Civil rights pioneer __ B. Wells: IDA. Was born during the Civil
War; was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP). A whole lot more can be found
here
2. All-vowel avowal: OUI. Very clever clue. I never even thought of the
French word for "yes" but it certainly fits
3. Didn't rush things: WENT SLOW. For our resident grammarians: is this
OK or should it be WENT SLOWLY?
4. Mint in a tin: ALTOID. I know they still sell these, but it's been
since forever that a tin of these candy breath mints found its way into Moe's
shopping cart
5. Party goal: FUN. Well, it was FUN up until her Daddy took the T-Bird
away
6. Chlumsky of "Veep": ANNA. Anna Maria Chlumsky is an American
actress. She co-starred on the HBO series "Veep", playing the role of Chief of
Staff Amy Brookheimer
7. Govt. agent: CIA SPY. This answer seems like a "made up" phrase to
me, but it fits
9. Jack (up): AMP. Seems to me that T-SHIRT prices are jacked up, but
that's another definition. Here is our Thesaurussaurus's take:
OOPS! AMP didn't make the list . . .
10. Visits suddenly: BOPS IN. This brings back memories of my youth. We
used the term "BOP IN" more informally than this clue suggests, but I'll be
damned if I could find the origin of this expression via Google search. Best
definition I found to suggest the clue is: BOP (verb) "move or travel
energetically", as in "we've been bopping around the Mall all morning"
11. Prompting: CUEING. I put CLUING in at first; but CUEING is a term
used in theater when an actor knows when to speak their lines
12. Gut feeling: SENSE. "Indigestion" wouldn't fit
14. Pristina's country: KOSOVO. Learning moment for those who are
geographically challenged? Pristina is the capital of KOSOVO and the seat of
the eponymous municipality and district. Here is a map, courtesy of Google:
17. "The Maids" playwright Jean: GENET. I had no clue; all perps. This
puzzle was full of PPP
18. Japanese beer brand: ASAHI. I've drank it before; not bad
22. Pal: CHUM. The word
CHUM has several
different meanings
23. Top-notch: A-ONE. But is this a Top-Notch sauce?
24. 14-Down native: SERB. 14-Down = KOSOVO. Hmm. This is what I found
on Google: "KOSOVO is a mainly ethnic Albanian territory that was formerly a
province in SERBia. It declared independence in 2008. SERBia has refused to
recognize Kosovo's statehood and still considers it part of SERBia, even
though it has no formal control there. ... The dispute over Kosovo is
centuries-old"
28. Spanish wine: RIOJA. How geeky would you like Moe to be today
regarding wine? So, RIOJA is a name for a wine region of N Spain; not too far
from Pamplona. The
primary grape grown there is Tempranillo, although Grenache (Garnacha) and Carignan are also harvested, as well as a
couple other red and white grape varietals, but to a lesser degree. There are
many laws that govern the producers of wines in RIOJA, but I will save that
for another time
33. "Enough!": STOP! That's an exclamation, too!
35. Start to focus?: AUTO. A feature of many cameras
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