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.

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MM OUT

Thursday, November 5, 2020, Jerry Edelstein

 

Good morning, once again, cruciverbalists.  After taking last week off to be the subject of an alien probe, this Manatee has once again put flipper to keyboard to recap a puzzle.  The aliens, in turn, have continued to act a bit otherworldly.  In the Manatee's last write-up, we shared a theme of Jumping Jacks and one of those Jacks was Jack Sprat.  Well, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction as today our constructor, Jerry Edelstein, reveals today's theme to be none other than:

57. ACROSS - Nursery rhyme guy whose last name inspired the answers to starred clues?:  JACK SPRAT.

Eerie coincidence aside, this was one of the more straightforward themes that we have seen in a while.  All of the theme answers below are anagrams of SPRAT.  That is, if Sprat is a "word".  If SPRAT isn't a word then, per last week's comments, all the theme answers are Jumbles of S P R A T.  

17. ACROSS   *Helmet part: CHIN STRAP.

23. ACROSS  *Diamond protectors: INFIELD TARPS.

35. ACROSS  *Unlikely roles for mimes: SPEAKING PARTS.

46. ACROSS  *Crustacean catchers: LOBSTER TRAPS.

ACROSS:

1. Competition prize: MEDAL.

6. "Sistas" and "Being Mary Jane" cable channel: BET.  The Black Entertainment Television networks.

9. Toaster, often: EMCEE.  Were we duped, initially, to think of a kitchen appliance?   In this instance, the TOASTER is the person who makes a toast to the Toastee.

14. Like Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis: ALONE.   In 1927, at the age of twenty-five, Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York, USA to Paris, France.  The flight took more than thirty-three hours and he did it ALONE in his plane which was named The Spirit of St. Louis.  We could spend days, here, discussing the Spirit of Lindbergh, himself.

Charles Lindbergh

15. Former boxer Laila who wrote "Food for Life": ALI.  Laila ALI is the daughter of Muhammad ALI.  Nature or nurture?

Muhammad and Laila ALI

 

16. Ancient Greek physician: GALEN.  Although he did not discover circulation, GALEN did discover that arteries carried blood.

1

Claudius GALEN 129 AD - 210 AD

19. Pick at the polls: ELECT.  More than enough has been written on this topic recently.

20. In __: as found: SITU.  Latin for "on site" or "in position".

21. Tate Modern collection: ART.  In its present incarnation, the Tate Modern was opened on May 11, 2000.  It holds the national collection of British ART as well as international modern and contemporary ART.

22. Taj Mahal location: ASIA.  Using this approach a virtually unlimited number of clues could be used for this answer.  But, it cannot be denied that Agra is, indeed, located in ASIA.  I first put in AGRA because that is where the Taj Mahal is located and two of the letters worked.

The Taj Mahal

28. Chip raw material: POTATO.  Silicon would not fit.  Both POTATO chips and Silicon chips have enriched this Manatee's life immensely.

30. Hosp. areas: ORS.  Operating Rooms

31. Half a cocktail: TAI.  One version of the classic Mai TAI is made with three types of rum (light, gold, and dark), pineapple juice and orange juice.

32. Neat as __: A PIN.  Just how neat is a pin?  The expression was originally meant as in "As neat as a new metal pin."  That doesn't really explain much, does it?

33. Artist Yoko: ONO.  Oh, no!   ONO again!?

34. Scuttlebutt: DIRT.  Scuttlebutt has a derivation similar to that of trading gossip (DIRT) around the office water cooler.  Scuttlebutt is a nautical term for a cask used to serve drinking water on a ship.

39. Pol. units until 1991: SSRS.  The Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicS was formed in 1922 and it dissolved in 1991.  It's various components live on in crossword puzzles.

40. "The Sign" pop group __ of Base: ACE.  A Swedish music group.

41. Start to commute?: TELE.  The question mark tips us off that we are not to take this clue literally.  Many people are TELEcommuting during the COVID crisis.

42. Previously: AGO.  Did you know that The Rolling Stones covered "Going to A GO Go" ?

Next week, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cover "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy".

43. Polished off: ATE.

I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole Thing

44. Sign usually seen at night: CLOSED.

49. Teases: RIBS.  Yes, when used as a transitive verb.  I prefer these RIBS:

50. Golfer Poulter or Woosnam: IAN.  The first name of both gentlemen.

51. Hybrid Jamaican fruit: UGLI.  An UGLI is a cross between a tangerine and a grapefuit.  The name is a registered trademark.  Would a competitor really wish to steal it?

55. Pickling solution: BRINE.

Preparing to BRINE a Brisket

to Make Corned Beef

59. Gulps down: CHUGS.

60. Boat on a 40-day mission: ARK. What's a cubit?

Noah's ARK

61. Clinton running mate: KAINE.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton's running mate was U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.  Did you remember the answer to this one?  Perps came to the rescue for this solver.

62. Halley's __: COMET.

Halley's COMET

63. Grill fuel: GAS.

64. Ski resort that shares its name with a tree: ASPEN.

ASPEN Colorado 

DOWN:

1. Brits' raincoats: MACS.  Abbreviated version of a MACkintosh which is named for its Scottish inventor, Charles Macintosh.  The K was added later.

2. Pre-college, briefly: ELHI.  I have never heard this word used outside of crossword puzzles where it has appeared (too) many times.

3. "Stop stalling!": DO IT.

4. Recurring payments: ANNUITIES.  To purchase ANNUITIES you pay a lump sum of money to an insurance company (or other issuer) and they guarantee to pay you periodic fixed sums of money that can last a lifetime.

5. Article in Elle France: LES.  This Manatee never knows, until the perps, if it is going to be LES, CES, MES, or DES.  There are other possibilities, also.

6. Spanish district: BARRIO.  A BARRIO is a district of a town in Spain or other Spanish-speaking countries. 

7. Get a big grin out of: ELATE.  It means "to make someone happy".

8. Money left on the table: TIP.  A bit of misdirection.  As an expression relating to business dealings, to "leave money on the table" means not to take in money that is available.  Here we are supposed to take the clue quite literally.

9. Expels: EGESTS.  There will be no graphics for this one!

10. Former first daughter: MALIA.

Malia Obama

11. Proof of legal ownership: CLEAR TITLE.   CLEAR TITLE means that there are no other claims on TITLE.  This is one form of legal ownership but by no means the only form.

12. Continental trade gp.: EEC.   The European Economic Community existed from 1958 until 2009 when the institutions of the EEC were absorbed into the European Union.

13. Sinus doc: ENT.  Ear Nose and Throat specialist.

18. 1920s chief justice: TAFT.  William Howard TAFT also served as President of the United States from 1909 - 1913.  He is considered to have been the most obese U.S. President (and Chief Justice).

22. __ in the bucket: A DROP.   "A DROP in the bucket" is an idiomatic expression that means an insignificant amount.

24. Grammy: NANA.  Another bit of misdirection by the constructor.  A Grammy Award?  Nope.   Grammy and NANA are synonyms for grandmother.

25. Word with Beach or Island: LONG.  Valerie, and her sister Denise, hail from Rockville Center, LONG Island twenty five miles east of Manhattan.  The City of LONG Beach lies South of Los Angeles.

The Long Island Sisters

26. Grammatically analyzed: PARSED.

27. Convene: SIT.   Meet would not fit in the allotted space.

28. One way to earn $200: PASS GO.  A reference to the game Monopoly which was first broadly marketed in 1935.

29. Cause of disgrace: OPPROBRIUM.  I do not believe that I have ever before seen OPPRORIUM worked into in a crossword puzzle.  Bravo, Jerry!  The definition is "the public disgrace arising from someone's shameful conduct."

33. Number of Eagles' Super Bowl wins: ONE.  The Bengals, Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Falcons, Jaguars, Lions, Panthers, Texans, Titans and Vikings combined have ONE less Superbowl win than that.

34. Play the part of in costume: DRESS UP AS.

36. Beckinsale and Winslet: KATES.  Coulda' had a hat trick with Hudson.

37. Bakery employee: ICER.  Or, a hockey player hitting the puck over the center line and the opponent's goal line.

38. Resting on: ATOP.

A TOP

39. Cantina condiment: SAL.  SAL is Spanish for salt.  Cantina was the tip off for the use of a Spanish word as the answer.

43. Ideally: AT BEST.

44. Finally spills the beans: CRACKS.  No, it's not a food service reference.  Almost everyone CRACKS under enough pressure.

45. Slender: LANK.  LANKy is seen in usage far more often.

47. Burn a bit: SINGE.

48. Crown: TIARA.

Miss Piggy Wearing A TIARA

52. Golf lesson subject: GRIP.

53. Country road: LANE.

54. Hwy. through San Antonio and Houston: I TEN.   Interstate Highway TEN is 2,460 miles long and runs from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL.

55. Email option, briefly: BCC.  When you Blind Carbon Copy someone they can see the email but their identity is concealed from the other recipients.  The reference to Carbon Copy seems a bit archaic today.

56. Pi follower: RHO.  All that I know about the Greek Alphabet, which is not much, I have learned from solving crossword puzzles.

57. Beemer rival: JAG.  The clue and the answer are slangy terms for BMW and Jaguar automobiles, respectively.

58. Reggae Kin: SKA.  SKA music is a bit "punchier" than Reggae music which evolved from SKA.

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MM OUT