Monday December 30, 2024 Janice Luttrell

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here, blogging my fourth and final Janice Luttrell puzzle for the year. This time Janice takes a shot at a puzzle with three currency words used in other contexts.

Theme:    

BANK SHOT

These are the themed clues & answers:

16 Across. Form submitted to the post office before moving: CHANGE OF ADDRESS.  

There was a lot of this going on these past few (hectic) weeks.

25 Across. Actor who played the U.S. president in "Independence Day": BILL PULLMAN.  (b. Dec. 17, 1953.  Note:  This was a 41-Down year.)

Pullman, in the 1996 film and today
He usually plays very likable characters.

43 Across. Part of a hotel lobby: CHECK-IN DESK.  

55 Across. "You can count on that!," and a hint to the starts of 16-, 25-, and 43-Across: TAKE IT TO THE BANK.  

CHANGE, BILLs, and CHECKs are all things you can TAKE TO THE BANK.

CHANGE also made me think about dropping coins into a piggy BANK.

Across:

1. Fancy-schmancy: POSH.  According to Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English by Ben Yagoda, POSH came from the British military as a term to mean "superior clothing, or articles of attire other than those issued by and strictly conforming to regulations."

5. Work out details ahead of time: PLAN.  Spontaneous events turn out better if you PLAN a bit first.

9. Falsehoods: LIES.  

People do this. They say, "Only joking," when they really meant it.

13. Capri, for one: ISLE.  Yes, Capri pants are named after this ISLE.

14. Krispy __: KREME.    

Dexter knew that no one suspects the doughnut guy.

15. Golden State sch.: UCLA.  I know that California's nickname is The Golden State and that UCLA is short for University of California, Los Angles; but is there another connection between these two terms other than "California"? Could this clue could refer to any CA school?

19. Wood-cutting tool: SAW.  It can also be a musical instrument. In this 56 sec. video, a woman plays Somewhere Over the Rainbow on a SAW. Just amazing!  

20. Thoroughly engrossed: RAPT.  I felt utterly RAPT watching this raptor fly.  

21. "How Do I Live" singer LeAnn: RIMES.

22. Source of harm: BANE.  

Gophers!!!

23. Carne __ tacos: steak dish: ASADA.  ASADo or ASADA? "Meat" is a feminine noun in Spanish so the last letter is an "A".

29. Taxi: CAB.

32. Gemstone with bands of color: AGATE.  

for example

33. "Othello" villain: IAGO.  Shakespeare

34. "Ben-__": HUR.  Hollywood

35. Smokehouse fare: RIBS.  

I bet Fred was on a paleo diet.

36. Sudden shocks: JOLTS.  

38. Have a meal: DINE.

39. Time for last-minute wrapping: EVE.  as in "the night before you give the gift"

40. Soft drink: SODA.

41. __ Barbara, California: SANTA.  CSO to Picard!  This 3:41 min. video shows highlights of this gorgeous area.  

42. "Lust for Life" singer Lana __ Rey: DEL.

46. Large water pipes: MAINS.  They replaced the one on my street last summer. It is an extremely noisy process.

48. Rough figs. from the cockpit: ETAS.  These rough figures from airplane pilots are Estimated Times of Arrival. 

Note: Pluralizing initialisms can get tricky.

49. Accessory that may match mittens: SCARF.  

51. Potato __ race: SACK.  

52. Greyhound vehicle: BUS.  CSO to Jinx & Zoe!  

The Bus

I stumbled upon this Billy Jonas record several years ago when I was in Ashville, NC.

It's a bit different -- but it makes you think about the people around you and their stories.

59. "You said it!": AMEN.

60. "Yippee!": OH BOY.

61. No-frills grocery chain: ALDI.  Aldi and Trader Joe's are owned by the same people.

62. Filmmaker Ephron: NORA.

63. Deadpool player Reynolds: RYAN.  Deadpool is a Marvel Comics character. He is the wisecracking alter ego of Wade Wilson, a Canadian by birth. Ryan Reynolds (also Canadian) played Deadpool in four movies. Here is the trailer for the first one (2016):  

64. Hilarious person: RIOT.  

Down:

1. Snapshots, casually: PICS.

2. Workplace standards org.: OSHA.

3. Cabbage side often made with mayo: SLAW.     and     22 Down. Sandwiches often made with mayo: BLTS.

Speaking of mayo, How about "Beverage made with mayo"? I am not telling 9-Acrosses. Last month this "mayonnaise-style drink", now sold in Japan, was in the news. I avoid mayo; so, when I lived there, I learned to identify this word on packaging early on.  

4. Cornish game __: HEN.  They can be male, too!  all your questions answered here

5. Move forward: PROPEL.  Def.: (verb) to drive forward or onward by or as if by means of a force that imparts motion.

6. "L," on an earbud: LEFT.  I love, love, love my bone conduction headphones. This 44 sec. video explains how they differ from earbuds.  

7. Doctors org.: AMA.  organization and American Medical Association

8. Actor Beatty: NED.  (1937-2021)  He has 163 actor credits on IMDb.

Ned voiced the character Lotso in Toy Story 3 (2010).

9. Cheaply sensational: LURID.  

10. Hotel fixture that fills buckets: ICE MACHINE.

11. "What __ is new?": ELSE.

12. Back talk: SASS.

14. Actor Reeves: KEANU.  his IMDb page

17. Purple flavor: GRAPE.  I thought of Jolly Ranchers.  

18. Clog-busting brand: DRANO.

23. Amo, amas, __: AMAT.  Latin for "I love", "you (singular) love", and "he/she/it loves"

24. Droops: SAGS.  This is a 2006 John Mayer song called Gravity:  

Oh, graity is working against me

And gravity wants to bring me down.

Oh twice as much ain't twice as good

And can't sustain like one half could

It's wanting more

That's gonna send me to my knees

25. __ one's soul: BARED.

26. "Uncle!": I GIVE.  Last Monday we had 5-Across. "I give up!" as the clue for UNCLE.

27. Small printer with a built-in keyboard: LABEL MAKER.   Did anyone else think of this 1995 Seinfeld episode with guest star Bryan Cranston?  (5:14 min.)

28. Fragrant shrub: LILAC.

30. Mom's sisters: AUNTS.     and     38 Down. Fathers: DADS.

31. Short holiday: BREAK.

36. "Grease" star Travolta: JOHN.  (b. Feb. 18, 1954)

Travolta, now & then

37. Poems of praise: ODES.

40. Futuristic genre: SCI-FI.

41. Slithering reptile in the Chinese zodiac: SNAKE.  SNAKE years are 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, and 2025.

44. Diane of "Book Club": KEATON.  (b. Jan. 5, 1946)

45. Like a mosquito bite: ITCHY.  My mosquito repellent trick is to stand next to DH. They are attracted to him so they leave me alone.

47. Sports venue: ARENA.  Here is some timely trivia around the new Gladiator II movie:  The distinction between ARENA, amphitheater, and colosseum is that the ARENA floor is the elliptical space in the center of the Colosseum, toward which the 360 degree seats of the amphitheater face.  

49. Lee of Marvel Comics: STAN.  (1922-2018)

50. Covert ops garb, for short: CAMO.  Ops is short for "operations", so did we need for short in the clue?

51. Japanese noodle: SOBA.  

These SOBA noodles have a mayonnaise sauce.

52. Indonesian island in the Coral Triangle: BALI.  

53. Word processor command: UNDO.  A word processor is a device that uses computerized and/or text editing equipment to produce type-written documents (such as business letters). Microsoft Word is an example of word processing software.  

54. Comedy sketch: SKIT.

56. The Blue Jays, on ESPN crawls: TOR.  as in TORonto

57. Quaker possessive: THY.  

58. Saloon: BAR.  This is the saloon scene from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).

Warning:  This is a Coen brothers film so expect the bad guy to meet a violent end.

And now for a grid you can bank on:

That's it. I'm all cashed out. Happy New Year, everyone!

Monday December 23, 2024 Zhouqin Burnikel

  

Happy Monday, everyone. Christmas came early in the form of a puzzle by none other than our talented blogmistress, Zhouqin Burnikel.

Theme:  

We'll kick things off with the reveal:

35 Across. "We've made some progress," and what one might say about the answer to each starred clue: IT'S A START.

Each of the starred clues is a START to something. We have:

1 Across. *With 65-Across, faceoff in a hockey game: PUCK.     and     65 Across. See 1-Across: DROP.

In hockey, a PUCK DROP STARTs play.

18 Across. *Ceremonial toss made memorable by Simone Biles at the 2019 World Series: FIRST PITCH.

In baseball, it is common to invite a celebrity to throw a FIRST (unofficial) PITCH at the START of a game.

23 Across. *TV show pilot, typically: EPISODE I.

In TV-land, the first EPISODE at the START of a TV series is called a pilot.

54 Across. *Auction action: OPENING BID.

At auctions, the OPENING BID STARTs the bidding process.

49. *Musical introduction: OVERTURE.

In theater, an OVERTURE is an orchestral piece played at the START of an opera, play, ballet, etc.

I like the range of STARTS in this puzzle. Also impressive is the placement of a two-part themer in the top-left and bottom-right corners. Let's look at that now.  

Across:

5. "I give up!": UNCLE.  I tried to find the reason we say UNCLE to mean "I give up!" but I could find no definitive answer -- only speculation. After reading a few sources, I cried UNCLE.

10. "Eternals" star Gemma: CHAN.  (b. Nov. 29, 1982 in London)  Eternals is a 2021 fantasy/action film.

CHAN as Sersi in Eternals

14. "__ yours": affectionate sign-off: EVER.

15. Gaming rookies: NOOBS.  N00BS (spelled with zeros instead of Os) is an example of leet. Basically, leet is a gamer's writing system that replaces letters with numbers or other characters. Some say it is derived from the word elite.  1337

16. Search for wild game: HUNT.  

17. Fancy fundraiser: GALA.     and     26 Down. Broadway background: SET.

I liked the alliteration in these two clues, as well as in the 54-Across themer.

20. Alpine event: SUPER-G.  It stands for Super Giant Slalom. 

This is Mikaela Shiffrin winning the Bronze for the Women's Super-G 

at the 2021 FIX World Alpine Ski Championships. (1:13 min.)

22. __ A Sketch: ETCH.  

25. Dried poblano peppers: ANCHOS.  

The ANCHO is on the left.

27. Bridge support: TRUSS.  waseeley gave told us about "trusses" last Thursday so today I'll point you towards  The World's 10 Longest Continuous TRUSS bridges.  (I have ridden my  bike across #5 many times.)

28. "Nice to see you!": HI THERE.  

29. Square root of cuatro: DOS.  matemáticas españolas

The square root of a negative number is an imaginary number, denoted by i.
The answer should be 2i.
The answer "lost an i".

30. 2001 film with a Seussian title: I AM SAM.  I did not hesitate on this one because the soundtrack for this Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer movie is on my Top 5 Soundtracks of All Time list. Every song is a Beatles cover. It is difficult to choose just one. Here is Sarah McLachlan with Blackbird.  

34. Mgr.'s helper: ASST.  manager and assistant

37. "Hunny" bear: POOH.  

40. "Abracadabra!": PRESTO.  I like the parity between the clue and answer.

41. Take up or take in: SEW.  A tailor might take up a hem or take in a suit that is too large.

44. Baltimore baseballers: ORIOLES.  CSO to waseeley!

46. Houston baseballer: ASTRO.  CSO to -T!  

I liked that these two answers were on the same line.

48. Ballpoint alternative: GEL PEN.  

I 💙 these pens!

52. "Zoolander" actor Wilson: OWEN.  

Owen (right) starred with Ben Stiller (left) in this 2001 comedy.

53. __ Coors: MOLSON.  This one was ESP for me. I did know of Coors beer but I did not know that in 2005 Molson of Canada merged with Coors of the U.S. to form Molson Coors Brewing Co. (now Molson Coors Beverage Co.).

57. Joint protected by a patella: KNEE.  A patella is a KNEEcap.

60. Spanakopita dough: FILO.  The Greeks deserve a Nobel Prize for inventing such a delicious pie with spinach as a main ingredient.  

61. Ludicrous display: FARCE.  Def.: (noun) an empty or patently ridiculous act, proceeding, or situation.  

62. Unagi Day fish: EELS.  Mark your calendars. The next Unagi Day will be July 19, 2025.

63. Hand puppet material: FELT.  FELT is believed to be the world's oldest fabric.  more about FELT

64. Support one's team, in a way: CHEER.

Down:

1. Knob on a viola: PEG.  

A viola has four strings so it needs four PEGs.

2. The ACC's Cavaliers: UVA.  Atlantic Coast Conference and University of Virginia

3. Fahrenheit counterpart: CELSIUS.  

4. Bluegrass-country singer Alison: KRAUSS.  (b. July 23, 1971 in Decatur, IL)  

Sawing on the Strings  (2008)

5. Ravenous, probably: UNFED.

6. Bête __: NOIRE.  Def.: (noun) a person or thing strongly detested or avoided.    

This translates from French to black beast.

7. Short-legged canine: CORGI.  The Pembroke Welsh Corgi was #11 on the  American Kennel Club's most popular dogs of 2023 list. Here is a collection of cute CORGI actions (2:18 min.):

8. Dumbbell abbr.: LBS.  pounds

9. Superlative suffix: -EST.  This is the bestest suffix.

10. Make small talk: CHITCHAT.  Have you heard of ablaut reduplication? It is why CHITCHAT sounds natural to native English speakers but chatchit does not. We had a puzzle containing several of these terms on Nov. 6, 2024.

11. Homes for pet rabbits: HUTCHES.

12. Newsroom stars: ANCHORS.  Cue Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004):  

13. Unspecified degree: NTH.  not to be confused with the degrees in 3-Down

19. __-up demand: PENT.  According to Investopedia, this describes a rapid increase in demand for a service or product, usually following a period of subdued spending.

21. Theorize: POSIT.  Perhaps potentially perky people pencil positive POSITs on Post-its.  

23. Flight takeoff hr.: ETD.  "Hour" is abbreviated, so is "Estimated Time of Departure".

24. Full-time athlete: PRO.  Last week 17-year old golfer Blades Brown announced he was skipping college to turn PRO.  ESPN article

25. Direct toward: AIM AT.

28. Bowlers and fedoras: HATS.  

Bowlers (l.) and fedoras (r.) are often made of FELT.

31. Colorado skiing mecca: ASPEN.  

32. Snickers producer: MARS.  This was the candy bar -- not snickers as in "hee hee".

33. NNW reversal: SSE.

35. "That would be terrible!": I HOPE NOT.  

"Christmas is cancelled" scene from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

36. Sounds like a lion: ROARS.

37. 1990s collectible disc: POG. We've had this one a few times lately. I hope everyone remembered it this time.  in case you forgot

38. Creamy dessert made with cookies: OREO PIE.  

39. Derrick setting: OIL WELL.  

41. Real knockout: STUNNER.  Something that is stunning to see can be a STUNNER.

42. Miss a cue: ERR.

43. "__ betide our enemies": WOE.  This time of year we say, "Glad tidings!" but here is a darker use.

45. Heidi Klum's model daughter: LENI.  Leni Olumi Klum (b. May 4, 2004) is Heidi's oldest child. Seal adopted her in 2009.

Seal, Leni, and Heidi

47. Really psyched: STOKED.  The first known use of this slang word was in 1965. M-W

49. Color technique with a blended effect: OMBRE.  

50. Alto or soprano: VOICE.

51. Revered tribal figure: ELDER.

54. Like weird vibes: OFF.  

This one is for Jayce.

55. Org. with Cardinals and Saints: NFC.  I had to make a trade from the National Football League to the National Football Conference.

FYI, The AFC + The NFC = The NFL

56. "So frustrating!": GAH.

58. "Strange Magic" rock gp.: ELO.

59. Precognition letters: ESP.  Precognition is a noun meaning "clairvoyance relating to an event or state not yet experienced". So, the opposite of déjà vu???

Happy Holidays to everyone! 🎄I will be away for a few days but I will be back before the START of the new year.

 

Note from C.C.:

 

Happy 80th birthday to Margot, our caring and loving Misty. Here is a picture of Misty and her husband Rowland celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary in 2009.