Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Matthew Luter. Matthew has his own website: Matthew Luter Crosswords .
Let's start right off with the reveal:
60 Across: Suffer disgrace, or what the starred clues must do as a set to match their answers?: LOSE FACE.
This solver had to ponder things for a while until the "gimmick" reared its not-so-ugly head. It turned out to be quite straight forward. We are asked to drop (LOSE) parts of the FACE from the following clues and to then use what remains as the hint. All of the answers to the starred clues are comprised of two words:
17 Across: *Evil eyes: SUPER BAD.
24 Across: *Stuffy nose: STRAIT LACED.
36 Across: *Smart mouth: WELL DRESSED.
50 Across: *Double chin: MIRROR IMAGE.
This is how it all looks in the grid:
Here are the other clues and answers:
Across:
1. Billiard table accessory: RACK.
Nice
5. Natl. Pizza Mo.: OCT. Isn't every month?
8. Stay behind: SHADOW. FOLLOW would have fit the space and the OW would have worked but sent the solver off on a tangent.
14. Sultanate on the Arabian peninsula: OMAN. A frequent destination in our puzzles.
53. Flash __: MOB. A relatively recent phenomenon.
54. __ whim: ON A.
55. After expenses: NET.
56. Party bites: CANAPES.
58. Ride for a few days: RENTAL. Hand up for first trying LOANER.
61. __ planning: ESTATE.
62. Electric guitarist's need: AMP.
63. Mathematician Turing: ALAN. A frequent visitor. ALAN Turing
64. Insect's legs, e.g.: SESTET. By definition.
65. "As I __ saying ... ": WAS.
66. Riveted: RAPT. Not as in Rosie The Riveter.
Down:
1. Guitar-playing "Sesame Street" Muppet: ROSITA.
2. Protective talisman: AMULET.
3. Coated pill: CAPLET.
4. "Who __?": KNEW. We did.
5. Go around: ORBIT. Scientists recently spent 24 hours observing the moon ORBIT around earth. Then they got bored and called it a day.
6. Dos y dos: CUATRO. Today's arithmetic lesson en espaƱol.
7. Short "We'll announce this later": TBD. To Be Determined.
8. Parade VIP: ST. PAT. Abbreviated . . .
9. Brouhaha: HOOPLA.
10. Person who prefers platonic relationships, for short: ARO. From AROmantic. An ARO person may never develop a crush on a person, or envision themselves entering a romantic relationship with someone.
11. Led: DIRECTED.
12. Bracket favorite: ONE SEED. A sports reference.
13. Best of both __: WORLDS.
18. Mischievous type: RASCAL. A dog comes limping into the old west saloon. The bartender asks if he can help the dog with anything. The dog says, "I'm lookin' for the low down RASCAL who shot my paw."
21. Female kin: NIECE.
25. School space that's full of drawers: ART ROOM. Not drawers as in your kitchen or bathroom - or drawers as underwear. Used here literally. People who draw pictures,.
26. Actress Bassett: ANGELA. One T is the hound.
28. "In the event that ... ": IF EVER.
32. Org. with a summer All-Star break: MLB.
34. Umami source, briefly: MSG. Umami is the fifth basic taste (bitter, sweet, salt, sour, umami). It is a complex and savory flavor that comes from glutamate-rich foods like cheese, seaweed, and mushrooms (or added MonSodium Glutamate).
36. Calls for: WARRANTS. As in this WARRANTS a closer look.
37. Numeral: DIGIT. Choose any number between 2 and 8. Multiply by 4, and then add 3. Now reverse the DIGITS and close your eyes. Dark, wasn’t it?
38. Pleasantly calm: SERENE.
39. One official language of the U.N.: CHINESE.
42. Gooey sandwiches: S'MORES.
43. Act charitably: DONATE.
45. Seattle's airport-sharing neighbor: TACOMA.
47. Chevy model named for an animal: IMPALA.
48. Steel part of a work boot: TOE CAP.
49. __-minded: ABSENT.
51. Sublease: RE-LET.
52. Shocked sounds: GASPS. A Tibetan monk was preparing his morning toast when he saw, in the margarine, the face of Jesus. He GASPED and said,"I can't believe it's not Buddha."
57. Nowhere near: AFAR. Whence the three kings traveled.
59. Ink spot?: TAT. ... and a good excuse for a song.
Our constructor today is Dr. Matthew Luter, an Upper School English teacher at the St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Jackson, Mississippi. While he is new to the Corner, he is definitely not new to crosswords, both as a solver and a constructor. His latter efforts as an indie constructor are posted on his website, along with others by constructors whom I'm sure you'll recognize.
Today he invites us to to navigate these 4 themers without the aid of asterisks, circles, or a reveal. All you have to do is WATCH YOUR STEPS ...
24A. Activity with
steps: BALLROOM DANCING. From the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, 2020, and a CSO to YellowRocks ...
46A. Structure with steps: SPIRAL STAIRCASE. One of the most famous (and mysterious) SPIRAL STAIRCASES is the one in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, a former Roman Catholic church that is now used as a museum and a wedding chapel ...
Spiral Staircase Loretto Chapel Santa Fe, New Mexico
8. Britcom starring Jennifer Saunders, to fans: AB FAB. Jennifer discovers the Spice Girls ... 13. Meredith Grey's mother: ELLIS. Here they begin to confront their mortality ... 15. NYY rival: BOS.
16. Crack, in a sense: SOLVE. It's what we do, fellow crackers (and -T gets paid for it!)
17. Ludicrous: LAUGHABLE.
19. Utter nonsense: HOOEY.
20 [Theme clue]
22. Biblical craft of gopher wood: ARK. Gopher wood
or gopherwood is a term used once in the Bible for the material used to
construct Noah's ark. Genesis 6:14 states that Noah was instructed to
build the Ark of gofer (×ֹפֶ×Ø), commonly transliterated as gopher wood,
a word not otherwise used in the Bible or the Hebrew language in
general.
Noah's Ark
23. Funds for later yrs.: IRAS.
24. [Theme clue]
32. Written tribute: ODE.
33. Cosmonaut Gagarin: YURI. He's been landing here a lot lately (must be all those vowels).
Yuri Gagarin
34. __ Hawkins dance: SADIE. What is a Sadie Hawkins Dance and where did it come from? [and why did I find that in Y!sports?].
35. Fusses: ADOS.
37. Garb in sword-and-sandal pictures: TOGAS.
40. El __: climate pattern: NINO.
41. Adjusts for pitch: TUNES. Bobby Nunes of the National Youth Orchestra shows us how it's done ...
43. Rub elbows (with): HANG.
45. Composer Rorem: NED.
NED Miller Rorem
(October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of
contemporary classical music and a writer. Best known for his art songs, which
number over 500, Rorem was considered the leading American of his time writing
in that genre. Frequently described as a Neo-romantic composer, he showed
limited interest in the emerging modernist aesthetic of his lifetime.
Here's his song Early in the Morning sung by soprano
Susan Graham (lyrics) ...
46. [Theme clue]
50. Basic weightlifting lesson: GRIP. Today's weightlifting lesson is a CSO to our good friend and crossword constructor Stella Zawistowski. In addition to GRIP, as an alto in the Oratorio Society of New York Stella could tell us a lot about staying in TUNE.
51. Paving gunk: TAR.
52. [Theme clue]
59. Record of the year?: ANNAL.
60. Minnesota home to the Mayo Clinic: ROCHESTER. A CSO to C.C. -- she's less than 2 hours away from the Mayo Clinic. One of my nieces is a psychiatrist there.
61. Tearoom nibble: SCONE. Here's a recipe. I think they'd be good with 64A too.
Scones
62. "Or something like that": ISH.
63. Maker of iComfort mattresses: SERTA.
64. Foamy coffee shop order: LATTE. Today's Italian lesson: MILK
65. Yin-yang principle: TAO. Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy and religion
that instructs believers on how to exist in harmony with the universe.
One of the main ideas of Taoism is the belief in balancing forces, or yin and yang. These ideas represent matching pairs, such as light and dark, hot and cold, action and inaction, which work together toward a universal whole. Yin and yang show that everything in the universe is connected and that nothing makes sense by itself. This metaphysical principle has become popular with some physicists, such as the great Niels Bohr, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He was so intrigued with this idea that he incorporated it into his family crest.
The insignia Contraria Sunt Complementa is Latin for Opposites are complementary.
2. Jai __: ALAI. Rules of JAI ALAI explained ... 3. Oversupply: GLUT.
4. Lighthouse output: SIGNAL. Before the advent of Geo-positioning systems, the SIGNALS from lighthouses kept boats from foundering on rocky shores. The vagaries of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline required many of these beacons. Here's tour of Maryland lighthouses.
Concord Point Lighthouse
5. Flows back: EBBS.
6. Drop down?: MOLT. Favorite clue.
7. Password partner: USERID.
8. Waste receptacles near fireplaces: ASHCANS. Also Navy slang for the depth charges used in submarine warfare.
Mk VII depth charges
9. Data provider for retailers such as Barnes & Noble:
BOOKSCAN. BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales,
21. Legendary coach Parseghian: ARA. Ara Raoul Parseghian (May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish football program back from years of futility into national prominence in 1964 and is widely regarded alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy as a part of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame head coaches.
Ara Parseghian
24. Crafts: BOATS. If you like BOATS you might try
the PBS series Annika, starring award winning actress
Nicola Walker. She plays the Detective Inspector of the
Marine Homicide Unit in Scotland and is on the water a
lot. Here's the cinematographer discussion of just how hard it is to film
in that environment ...
29. Menzel who was named a Disney Legend in 2022: IDINA. Idina Kim Menzel
(born May 30, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Particularly
recognized for her work in musicals on Broadway, she has been nicknamed
the "Queen of Broadway" for her commanding stage presence, powerful
mezzo-soprano, and reputation as one of the most influential stage
actors of her generation. Here she is Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked. 30. Baseball rosters: NINES.
31. Crystalline stone: GEODE.
Amethyst/Calcite Geode Brazil, South America Smithsonian Natural History
Museum
48. Budget airline with yellow planes: SPIRIT. Spirit Airlines, Inc. (stylized as SPIRIT)
is a major United States ultra-low cost airline headquartered in
Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates
scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin
America. Spirit was the seventh largest passenger carrier in North
America as of 2023, as well as the largest ultra-low-cost carrier in
North America.
49. High-stress situations: CRISES.
52. Historic Peruvian: INCA.
53. Gordian __: mythological conundrum: KNOT. The cutting of the Gordian KNOT is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great in Gordium in Phrygia,
regarding a complex knot that tied an oxcart. Reputedly, whoever could
untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. In 333 BC Alexander was
challenged to untie the knot. Instead of untangling it laboriously as
expected, he dramatically cut through it with his sword, thus exercising
another form of mental genius. It is thus used as a metaphor for a
seemingly intractable problem which is solved by exercising an
unexpectedly direct, novel, rule-bending, decisive, and simple approach
that removes the perceived constraints This story has inspired many
works of art, including an opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Here is the Chaconne from his Gordian Knot Untied ... 54. First name in civil rights history: ROSA. ROSA Louise McCauley Parks
(February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the
civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery
bus boycott. It all started here ...
Rosa Parks
55. Lingering effect: ECHO. Not the Danish shoe brand.
56. De __ manera: otherwise, in Spanish: OTRA. "Other": OTRA. LecciĆ³n de espaƱol nĆŗmero 1.
57. Earns after taxes: NETS.
58. Mmes., across the Pyrenees: SRAS. SENORAS. LecciĆ³n de espaƱol nĆŗmero 2.
59. Communication method in "A Quiet Place," briefly: ASL. American Sign Language.A Quiet Place is a story about sightless aliens with sharp hearing and impenetrable armor plating who have taken over the planet and killed most of the human population. The Abbott family – mother Evelyn, father Lee, deaf daughter Regan, and sons Marcus and Beau
– live on their isolated farm in the middle of a forest in upstate New
York, and have survived by taking precautions such as laying sand paths
to avoid stepping on crunching leaves and using ASL when communicating. Rated S for SCARY ...
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Epilogue
I sometimes wonder whether all of the people on the Corner
are just figments of my imagination, or perhaps they live in one of
those crazy computer simulations that physicists are so fond of these
days. You may recall that I said we would be on the road last Thursday. Well we had actually arranged to meet a Cornerite IRL in Washington, D.C. Her name is NINA (rhymes with CAROLINA) but you may know her better as inanehiker. She is very real, and a delight to be with! Here are a few highlights of our get together ...
As we knew that this Picasso painting (The Lovers)
would be appearing in the review that very day, we arranged to have our
picture taken in front of it (as Nina put it, "very meta") ...
Bill, Nina, and Teri photo by Priscilla
The Lovers is in the East Wing, which is devoted to Modern Art. One of the docents there urged us to ascend the East Wing Tower to a walled patio overlooking D.C. to see this sculpture ...
The Hahn/Cock with Teri and Nina
The Hahn/Cock is a sculpture of a giant blue cockerel created by the German artist Katharina Fritsch. It was originally installed in London's Trafalgar Square on 25 July 2013 [imagine that!]. The fibreglass work stands 15.5 ft high and was subsequently acquired by Glenstone, a private museum in Potomac, MD, and was exhibited at the National Gallery following its 2016 reopening.
In March 2021, Glenstone permanently donated the piece to the National
Gallery, "in honor of the resilience of the American people during the
COVID-19 pandemic."
Here are two other memorable works of art that we saw in the West Wing ...
IMHO Salvador Dali
was the greatest artist of the 20th Century. The only work by Dali in
the National Gallery is the monumental painting (105 in × 65.6 in) The Sacrament of the Last Supper.
Completed in 1955, after nine months of work, it remains one of his
most popular compositions. Since its arrival at the National Gallery of
Art in Washington, D.C. in 1955, it replaced Renoir's A Girl with a Watering Can as the most popular piece in the museum ...
The Sacrament of the Last Supper
The Dali Museum
in St. Petersburg, Florida, has over 2,400 of his works and is the
largest in the world. I'd urge anyone visiting Florida to reserve a day
to visit it.
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