Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024, Michael B. Berg

 ALL IN THE FAMILY

 I never knew the first line....

Splynter reporting for duty - another quick solve this Wednesday, albeit containing circles, but with very few names, a small number of 3LWs, and a theme that, while I don't use the term, was understandable - synonyms for family, "found" across two words in the theme answers.  I suppose AA would be my version of a 'found family', and certainly the 20 employees at the Pipe Organ company.  Some alliteration going on, as well - CLAN, KIN, CREW, KITH.  One eleven-, two thirteen-letter, and one spanner for the theme answers, and an 11-letter reveal;

16. Road division: TRAFFIC LANE - Keep your LaSalle between the lines~!

A GM/Cadillac Concept Car - very cool, and clearly where the Corvette came from

23. Task that's a piece of cake: WALK IN THE PARK

36. Home of Christopher Robin's friends: HUNDRED ACRE WOOD

46. Japanese dramatic form with elaborate costumes: KABUKI THEATER

Gene Simmons, before KISS

58. Closely knit community that provides social support, or what 16-, 23-, 36-, and 46-Across contain?: FOUND FAMILY

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Adele's "Water __ the Bridge": UNDER

6. Salsa choice: MILD - AND - 6D. Salsa choice: MELON - never heard of this variation

A recipe for you

10. Covertly include on an email: BCC - I get this a lot in crosswords

13. "Nope" and "Get Out" director Jordan: PEELE - filled via perps; his IMDb

14. Mountaintop nest: AERIE

15. Sound from a warm tub: AHH - I seriously want to swap my cast iron bathtub to a Jacuzzi

18. Reed of the Velvet Underground: LOU - before my time, but I know of him

19. Like most prime numbers: ODD

20. Thai neighbor: LAO

21. Band output: MUSIC - this is a song about "family", right~?

I crossed my old man. . . .Don't Take Me Alive, Steely Dan

28. Accurate: TRUE

29. Burgundies: REDS - quit wining - get it~?

30. Dough: MOOLA - bread, cheese, cash, fundage~!

31. Open a tad: AJAR

33. Fundraiser for STEM programs: PTA - STEM is "new" for me in crosswords; I don't recall seeing it during my last blogging stint - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

40. Gp.: ORG

41. Walkman maker: SONY - the original iPod

I still have one

42. Quite a distance: MILES

43. "Stat!": ASAP

45. AirPlay tablet: iPAD - I'm a PC

52. Soccer Hall of Famer Lalas: ALEXI - More here

53. Aardvark's snack: ANT

54. Vegan milk choice: OAT - I make my mac N cheese with Soy Milk

57. Streamlet: RIA - learned by doing crosswords

63. Apple on a teacher's desk, perhaps: MAC - clever - could be both computer AND fruit

64. Simmers with rage: FUMES - >😡<

65. Low point: NADIR

66. Pokémon trainer Ketchum: ASH - no idea, but glad to see a non-tree/bat clue for "ASH"

67. Small samples: SIPS

68. Pic-sharing app: INSTAgram - I am still planning to do a better Organ blog, and an Instagram page, too - here's the latest from The National Cathedral organ renovation

DOWN:

1. As many as: UP TO

2. One with deep knowledge of a subject: NERD - of what subject can you say you're proud to be a NERD~?

3. Completely mistaken: DEAD WRONG - I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken

4. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear" film: ELF - sorry, but I simply cannot stand this "holiday classic".  At All.  Period.  End of Comment.

5. NBA official: REFeree - also hockey, football, etc.

7. 401(k) alternative: IRA

8. Songwriter/actor __-Manuel Miranda: LIN - Filled via perps

9. Considered: DEEMED

10. Model material: BALSA - oh, those models . . . .

11. Gospel singers: CHOIR - CHOIR is also a division/chamber of some pipe organs; the main divisions are Great, Swell, Pedal; and additionally, Choir, Solo, Positiv & Antiphonal

12. Toss away: CHUCK

14. Fruit from a Brazilian palm: ACAI

17. Sort: ILK

22. FedEx rival: UPS - UPS wins~!

Sumo Delivery vans

24. "__ Lang Syne": AULD

25. TV producer Norman: LEAR - Creator of "All in the FOUND Family"~?

26. "Fast Car" singer Chapman: TRACY

27. Munich mister: HERR - and the funny female equivalent. . . .

Blücher~!

28. Series of gigs: TOUR

30. Old electrical unit: MHO - learning moment for me - the Wiki

31. Bring home from the pound: ADOPT - I would SO love to adopt a dog - but if I am in the field for work, I'd need to find a dog-sitter, and I'm not a big fan of that idea

This would be my pick - a Schnauzer

32. Abbr. at the start of a day planner: JANuary

33. Pictures that don't need to be shaken: POLAROIDS - Ah.  This is true - the "instant" photos of old did NOT need to be shaken - more info here

34. Pigeon-__: TOED - I went with HOLE first; pigeon-TOED, like last week's "TOE-IN" of a car's alignment, describes someone who walks with their toes pointing "in"

35. Spots that may be classified: ADs - and advertisement is referred to as a "spot"

37. "Titans" actor Morales: ESAI - something something crossword Morales = ESAI

38. Radiate: EMIT

39. Diaper bag cloth: WIPE - oh, duh; I parsed it differently, and was trying to think of the fabric a diaper bag is made from

43. Stereo input letters: AUX

44. Flat-bottomed boats: SKIFFS

46. Cosmic fate: KARMA

47. Name on a false document: ALIAS

48. Sandy spot: BEACH - I am not a summer person, and having lived in a place made of, and surrounded by sand, desperately needed to move north - the irony is that I USED TO live in Connecticut, because Long Island was made by a glacier scraping off the surface of CT.

49. Jockey rival: HANES - possibly Splynter's most beloved product~?

I couldn't decide - but the center image includes a crossword reference

50. Loose __: ENDS

51. DOJ branch: ATF - Department of Justice, and the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms now includes Explosives in their wheelhouse - should they change the name to "FETA, FEAT"~? Or better yet, "FATE"!?

55. Touched down: ALIT

56. Supermodel Banks: TYRA

59. Yes, from Yves: OUI - Frawnche

60. Strike caller?: UMPire - Baseball for C.C.

61. Vader, as a boy: ANIkin - Skywalker, the father of the Star Wars "family"

62. Guy: MAN - and one last family "guy"

 Be safe and enjoy being with your family this Fourth of July~! 

Since I can rarely get to read the comments on the day, I decided to add a "FLW" to the end of my blog. . . .

 

From Last Week - CED, I loved your "Laser Bird"~!  TTP - I watched the clip, but that's not the quite it; it really does sound like "pew-pew" - I have been waiting to capture a sound bite from my window, so I can add it here, but I think "mating season" may be over.  zzzzzzz - send me an email.

Splynter

Thursday, January 18, 2024, Michael B. Berg

 

 

The Language of Love*

Today's constructor Michael B. Berg made his debut in the New York Times just last year (be sure to read his note about how he got into the construction business).  Now that he's ready for the big time (😀)  he has come to teach us a little bit about romance.  Some say love is a battleground -- and  if it is, Michael's theme describes where it all takes place ...

16A. "Don't switch to memory foam": KEEP IT DOWN.  It keeps you much warmer, and sometimes it gets hot.

25A. "Pray we can hold on to the smaller one, which is more comfortable than the king": GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.  And more than that it brings lovers closer together.

42A. "Please double-stitch the new sham": MAKE A STRONG CASE.  True love is the best.

The themers are all references to the boudoir of course and in this reveal Doris Day  tells us all about the language spoken there ...

56A. Nighttime heart-to-heart that's taken literally in this puzzle: PILLOW TALK.

I think I've suggested enough about the theme.  Here's the grid ...
 

Across:

1. "General Hospital," for one: SOAP.  Jacklyn Zeman (March 6, 1953 – May 9, 2023) portrayed nurse Bobbie Spencer on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital for 45 years. Prior to that she played Lana McClain in One Life to Live.

Jacklyn Zeman

5. Care: MIND.

9. Bogus offer: SCAM.

13. Wheel shaft: AXLE.

14. Admit: COP TO.

15. Latin bear: URSA.  MAJOR is the big one and MINOR is the little one.  The tail of the little one is the NORTH STAR ...

16. [Theme clue]

18. Softball clubs: BATS.  Not the ones who live in belfries. 😁

19. SASE, perhaps: ENC.  Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes.  Aspiring novelists buy them by the pound.

20. R&B's __ Hill: DRU.  Dru Hill is an American R&B group, whose repertoire included soul, hip hop soul and gospel music. The group was founded in Baltimore in 1992 by Tamir Ruffin, and as of 2023, is still active. Dru Hill recorded seven top 40 hits, and is best known for the R&B number-one hits In My Bed, How Deep Is Your Love, and Never Make a Promise: the last a bit of R&B pillow talk ...

21. Data transfer unit: TERABIT.  A trillion bits. 

23. Vend: SELL.

24. Laura of the "Jurassic Park" films: DERN.  Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967), who plays Dr. Ellie Sattler, is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.  Here are a few memorable scenes with Dr. Sattler from Jurassic Park ...

25. [Theme clue]

32. Makes the first bid: OPENS.

33. Srs.' nest eggs: IRAS.

34. Rain-__ gum: BLO.  It's also available in a JUM BLO size and it doesn't lose its flavor on the bed post over night ...

35. Pastures: LEAS.

36. Brunch staple: BAGEL.

38. Void partner: NULL.

39. Coastal raptor: ERN.  A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ERN, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described with this label.  They are also frequent flyers through crosswords puzzles ...

Sea Eagle or Ern

40. Mammoth: HUGE.

41. HS class with a big reading list: AP LIT.  Advanced Placement Literature.

42. [Theme clue]

46. Poet of ancient Rome: OVID.  Publius Ovidius Naso (21 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as OVID was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature.  In keeping with today's theme here's a poem from Ovid's The Art Of Love: Book Two.

Ovid

47. Rackets: DINS.

48. See 59-Across: BLOOMER.

51. PC file suffix: EXE.

52. Xiao long __: soup dumpling: BAO.  Here's a recipe.
 

Xiao long Bao

55. Sow sound: OINK.

56. [Theme reveal]

59. With 48-Across, one who is eventually successful: LATE.

60. "Finding Dory" setting: OCEAN.

61. Peru's capital: LIMA.

62. Stretches between forces, briefly: DMZS.  An outmoded concept.  Nowadays the forces are fair game no matter where they're found.

63. Gender-fluid pronoun: THEY.

64. Sculpting material: CLAY.  CLAY is soil composed of the dust from igneous rocks mixed with water.  One of the things that can be sculpted from it is a 25D.

Down:

1. Quaff with sushi: SAKE. SAKE is a wine made from rice, water, yeast, and a mold called koji.

2. Rice paddy team: OXEN.  And speaking of rice  ...

Balinese rice farmer
preparing his paddy for planting

3. Oscar winner Guinness: ALEC.  Sir Alec Guinness,  CH CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English Shakespearean actor probably most famous in the US for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas' original 1977 Star Wars trilogy.  But his career really began in 1946 with a series of collaborations with Director David Lean that included The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957 Oscar and BAFTA), Dr. Zhivago, and Lawrence of Arabia.  In 1959, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts.

Sir Alec Guinness

4. Liveliness: PEP.

5. Self-contained unit: MODULE.  A MODULE can be easily replaced with any unit that accepts the same inputs, produces the same outputs and has an interface compatible with the units it is intended to work. This concept is widely used in electronics and software development and simplifies development and maintenance.

6. Wall St. announcement: IPO.  Initial Public Offering -- what it is and how it works.
 
7. Packaging meas.: NT WT.  The amount that you get after the packaging is removed.

8. Signed, sealed, and delivered agreement: DONE DEAL.

9. Outback maker: SUBARU.

10. Cosmic cloud that resembles a crustacean: CRAB NEBULA.  Apparently it can get pretty crabby.

Crab Nebula
Messier 1
Hubble Telescope

11. Sparkling wine region: ASTI.

12. Sloop pole: MAST.  A CSO to Jinx.  See also 36D.

14. PC paste combo: CTRL-V.   Pastes whatever is on the memory "clipboard".  The former gets filled by highlighting a portion of text and clicking CTRL-C ("Copy"). 

17. Dot journal entries: IDEAS.

22. Nonelective courses, informally: REQS.

23. Nine-digit IDs: SSNS.

25. 64-Across creature of Jewish folklore: GOLEM.  A GOLEM (/ˈɡoʊləm/ GOH-ləm; Hebrew: ‎גּוֹלֶם, romanized: gōlem) is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. It can be a victim or villain, man or woman—or sometimes both. Over the centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair.  There has been some suggestion that the Golem was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's Gollum in the Lord of the Rings.

Golem

26. Word with glasses or gloves: OPERA.  I've used binoculars at OPERAS, but I never wear gloves.

27. Novelist who wrote the "Odd Thomas" thrillers: DEAN KOONTZ.  Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list including Odd Thomas.  The protagonist is a twenty-year-old short-order cook named Odd Thomas, who can communicate with the dead and helps to solve crimes.

Why such an odd name?

28. Big cat in "Life of Pi": TIGER.  A 2001 novel by Yann Martel about Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel from Pondicherry, India, who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger which raises questions about the nature of reality and how it is perceived and told. It's also a film adaptation directed by Ang Lee. Here's a trailer ...

29. Otto I's realm: Abbr.: HRE. The Holy Roman Empire has been described as neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.

Holy Roman Empire
circa 1512 - 1806
Superimposed over modern states

30. New York Harbor's __ Island: ELLIS.  Europe's gateway to America.
 

Ellis Island

31. "Tropic Thunder" actor: NOLTE.  Tropic Thunder is a 2008 satirical action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, who wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel, and Brandon T. Jackson as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film. When their frustrated director (Steve Coogan) drops them in the middle of a jungle and dies in an accident, they are forced to rely on their acting skills to survive the real action and danger.  Even though Nick NOLTE's role in the film was a minor one,  the only other 5 letter actor was Jack BLACK former was easily perped. 😁

36. Place to watch Greyhounds: BUS DEPOT.  A CSO to Zoё.

37. Actor's rep: AGT.
 
38. Background figures in video games, for short: NPCS.  A non-player character (NPC), is any character in a video game that is not controlled by a player.[

40. Actor Corey: HAIM.  Corey Ian Haim (December 23, 1971 – March 10, 2010) was a Canadian actor. He starred in a number of 1980s films, such as Silver Bullet (1985), Murphy's Romance (1985), and Lucas (1986). Haim's early success led to money and fame. He had difficulty breaking away from the trauma of his experience as a child actor and was troubled by drug addiction throughout his adult life. He died of pneumonia on March 10, 2010.

Corey Haim

41. Vice president under 45-Down: AGNEW.  I once shook his hand at a high school Student Council meeting.   I guess I'm just one degree of separation in time and space from an ex-President of the United States! 

43. Conjures: EVOKES.
 
44. Beck album with the single "Where It's At": ODELAY.  Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck (not to be confused with the binonymous Jeff Beck born in 1944 😀) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.  Beck rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style.  This is "Where It's At" ...

45. President who resigned in 1974: NIXON.

48. Daring: BOLD.

49. Actor Neeson: LIAM.  William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed seventh on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.

Liam Neeson

50. Buttery: RICH.

52. Cut out early: BAIL.

53. __ mater: ALMA.

54. Approve: OKAY.

57. Director Spike: LEE.  A common surname among movie directors.

58. "Waterfalls" trio: TLC.  TLC is an American girl group formed in 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The group's best-known line-up was composed of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. The group enjoyed success during the 1990s, with nine top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number-one singles: Creep, No Scrubs, Unpretty and Waterfalls ...

Cheers,
Bill

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

waseeley

* This review is dedicated to the memory of Professor Keith Fowler, who loved language, Shakespeare, acting, crossword puzzles, and diagonals.

OMK