Tuesday, November 21, 2023 Natasha Erickson

It's Raining Men!

18-Across. *  Dude who knows his ABCs?: ALPHA MALE.

24-Across. *  Dude whose favorite season is autumn?: FALL GUY.

38-Across. *  Dude who always pipes up to support a proposed motion?: SECOND GENTLEMAN.  Douglas Craig Emhoff (b. Oct. 13, 1964) is the Second Gentleman by virtue of his marriage to Kamala Harris (b. Oct. 20, 1964), the Vice-President.

51-Across. *  Dude who attends every formal dance?: BALL BOY.

59-Across. *  Dude who refuses to use even numbers?: ODD FELLOW.  What is the origin of the name Odd Fellow?

Lots of Dudes in today's puzzle.

Across:

1. Shielded from the sun: SHADY.

6. Cauliflower unit: HEAD.  It comes in a variety of colors.

10. Answer an invite, briefly: RSVP.  Today's French lesson.  Répondez S'il Vous Plaît, which means: Respond, if you please.  You really should respond, whether you please or not.

14. Lake boat: CANOE.

 

15. Red Muppet: ELMO.  The Muppets like to visit in the crossword puzzles.  [Name # 1, fictional]

16. October birthstone: OPAL.  The Opal has become a crossword staple.

17. Strength: ASSET.

20. Rd. with a no.: RTE.  A Road with a number is a Route.

21. Farm division: ACRE.

23. Tied, as sneakers: LACED.

26. Just one of __ days: THOSE.  I just had a week of those days.

28. Goal for many community college students: AA DEGREE.  A community college grants Associate of Arts degrees which is a two-year course of study.

30. Businesses: Abbr.: COs.  As in Companies.

33. Cover story: ALIBI.  Cute clue

36. "That really hurt!": OOF!

37. Dark blue shade: NAVY.  //  Immediately followed by 42-Across. Seaside town structure: PIER, which together gives us Chicago's Navy Pier.

43. Lab rodent: RAT.

44. Waldorf salad fruit: APPLE.  Yummers!  It's a very easy to make.

45. Spanish condiment: SAL.  Today's Spanish lesson.  This condiment is known in the sciences as NaCl.

46. HBO teen drama starring Zendaya: EUPHORIA.  I am not familiar with this television drama.  It's apparently a drama about teen angst as they struggle with love, loss, sex, and addiction.  Zendaya (née Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman; b. Sept. 1, 1996) stars as Rue Bennett, a drug-addicted teen in Euphoria.  Zendaya was also named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2022.  [Name # 2.]

49. Many Omanis: ARABS.

55. North African capital: TUNIS.  It's the capital of Tunisia and is on the Mediterranean Sea.

57. "Levitating" singer Dua __: LIPA.  Dua Lipa (b. Aug. 22, 1995) is a British-Albanian singer-songwriter.  [Name # 3.]

58. Log chopper: AXE.

62. Naturally lit courtyards: ATRIA.  Today's Latin lesson.

64. Work hard: TOIL.

65. Mystical glow: AURA.  A crossword staple.

66. Lets use for now: LENDS.

67. At some earlier time: ONCE.

68. "Frozen" reindeer: SVEN.  [Name # 4, fictional.]

69. "That's plenty for me": I'M SET.

Down:

1. Winter neck warmer: SCARF.

2. "__ luego": HASTA.

3. Photographer Adams: ANSEL.  Ansel Adams (né Ansel Easton Adams; Feb. 20, 1902 ~ Apr. 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer best known for his photos of the American West.  Most of his work was in black-and-white, which added to the drama of his images.  [Name # 5.]

4. Fawn's mother: DOE.

5. "For the millionth time ... ": YET AGAIN.

6. Quaint "Listen up!": HEAR, YE!

7. Fashion magazine with a French name: ELLE.  The first issue of Elle magazine was published exactly 78 years ago today (November 21, 1945).  It was originally only published in France.  It didn't make it to the United States until 1985.  [Name adjacent]

8. Band's sound booster: AMP.

9. Play-__: kids' clay: DOH.

10. Tomatoes in marinara sauce: ROMAs.  Everything you wanted to know about Roma tomatoes but didn't know to ask.

11. Out-of-this-world summer program?: SPACE CAMP.

12. "Shining __": comedy horror series starring Courteney Cox: VALE.  I have never heard of this television series.

13. Begged: PLED.

19. Spiky succulent: ALOE.  A fresh new clue for this crossword staple.

22. Cow's mouthful: CUD.  Everything you wanted to know about a Cow and her Cud, but didn't know to ask.

25. Repair bill line: LABOR.

26. Jumbo suffix: TRON.  Did you known that Jumbotron was a registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation.  The company stopped making the devices in the early 2000s, and because a trademark must be registered every 10 years to remain in effect, it has now become a generic term for a large screen display.

27. Weight: HEFT.

29. "Pride __ before ... ": GOETH.

31. Shape of many racetracks: OVAL.

32. "Auld Lang __": SYNE.  Never thought I'd hear him singing this song.

33. Nile snakes: ASPs.

34. Princess "in a galaxy far, far away": LEIA.  Princess Leia was portrayed by Carrie Fisher (Oct. 21, 1956 ~ Dec. 27, 2016).  [Name # 6, fictional.]

35. Reykjavík language: ICELANDIC.  Keep a close eye on Iceland.  It seems like a volcanic eruption may be imminent.

37. Kathmandu's country: NEPAL.

39. Defeat thoroughly: DRUB.

40. Empty spaces: GAPS.

41. Retired boxer who wrote the cookbook "Food for Life": LAILA ALI.  I was not aware that Laila Ali (née Laila Amaria Ali; Dec. 30, 1977) had written a cookbook.  In her boxing career, she was sometimes called She Bee Stingin'.  [Name # 7.]

46. Alleviate: EASE.

47. Jedi Kenobi: OBI-WAN.  In the initial movie series, Obi-Wan Kenobi was portrayed by Alec Guinness (né Alec Guinness de Cuffe; Apr. 2, 1914 ~ Aug. 5, 2000).  [Name # 8, fictional.]

48. Latto's music genre: RAP.  Hand up if you knew Latto, or Big Latto as she is also sometimes known, who's given name is Alyssa Michelle Stephens (b. Dec. 22, 1998 )[Name # 9.]

50. Rummage (through): RIFLE.  What's the difference between Rummage and Rifle?

52. Horse abodes: BARNS.

53. Iron __: rust: OXIDE.

54. Leavening agent: YEAST.

55. "The Wizard of Oz" dog: TOTO.  [Name # 10, fictional.]

56. Japanese noodle: UDON.  Yummers!  More food.

57. Passed-down stories: LORE.

60. __ Vegas Aces: LAS.  Women's professional basketball team.

61. Candy heart word: LUV.

63. President pro __: TEM.

Here's the Grid:

 

חתולה

Friday, June 9, 2023, Natasha Erickson

 

Good Morning,  Cruceverbalists!  Malodorous Manatee here with another Friday recap.  Does anybody remember the stage show version of Peter Pan?  For some reason, after sussing out today's theme, the "I Won't Grow Up" song from that show became an ear worm for me.  "I Won't Glow Up" would be such an easy spoof.

I had never heard of GLOW UP before encountering it in today's puzzle.  There seem to be some worthy concepts wrapped up in a GLOW UP:

The Ultimate Guide to How To Glow Up

In any event, our puzzle setter, Natasha Erickson, has, in this puzzle, riffed on the Glow Up "label".  At four places (all Down clues/answers instead of the far more commonly seen Across) Natasha has employed a word that is roughly analogous to GLOW.  The UP gimmick is that we have to spell out the word from the bottom up instead of from the top down.  Quite disconcerting, at first.  We sense pretty quickly that something fishy is going on but it takes a while to sort it out.  The reveal helps but comes at what would likely have been one of the last places a solver would reach:

51 Down:  Positive personal transformation, in slang, and what the answer to each starred clue literally has?: GLOW UP.  A synonym for GLOW is to be placed in the squares from the bottom UP.

Here are the four themed clues/answers, all starred for our convenience (or, for at least one of us, annoyance):

5 Down:  *Possible symptom before a bad headache: MIGRAINE ARUA.  Read ARUA from the bottom up and we get MIGRAINE AURA.

10 Down:  *Quick-to-wake sorts: THGIL SLEEPERS.  Similarly, THGIL becomes LIGHT SLEEPERS, and so on.

18 Down:  *Small sign that things will improve: REMMILG OF HOPE.  GLIMMER OF HOPE

22 Down:  *Morning exhortation: RISE AND ENIHS.  RISE AND SHINE.

Here is how this all looks in the grid:

. . . and here is the rest of the story:

Across:

1. CIO partner: AFL.  In 1955, the two unions merged.

4. Mosey: AMBLE.

9. Literary musketeer: ATHOS.  The Three Musketeers were ATHOS, Porthos and D'artagnan

14. Natori Feathers undergarment: BRA.  A learning moment.  That's okay.  We all enjoy learning.

Natori Feathers BRA

15. "Ta-da!": DID IT.

16. __ Island: RHODE.  The State.

17. Life, for one: BOARD GAME.  Lots of possible answers for the clue.  E.G., prison term.  We have seen the answer that was used several times previously.

19. Concur: AGREE.

20. Fashion magazine that's also a French pronoun: ELLE.  A frequently-referenced mag on this blog.

21. Reuben bread: RYE.  Just add corned beef, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut.

22. Softball stat: RBIS.  Run Batted In S

23. Thailand, once: SIAM.

24. "Same here": AS AM I. Was it going to be SO DO I?

26. Toy company based in Billund, Denmark: LEGO.  It was enough to know that LEGO is a Danish company.

29. Garlicky dish: SCAMPI.

31. Ocho menos seis: DOS.  Today's Spanish cum math lesson.

32. Jazz style: SCAT.  Often clued with a reference to Ella.

33. Solar wind particle: ION.  The solar wind continuously flows outward from the sun and consists primarily of protons and electrons in a plasma state.

34. Christmas __: EVE.  

35. Hideout: LAIR.  How did the canine scientist get into her secret lair?  Through the labra door.

36. Serranos, e.g.: CHILIES.

40. More than willing: EAGER TO.

42. __ Kong: HONG.  Was it going to be KING?

43. Courses for coll. credit: APS.  Advanced Placement courseS

45. Formerly, in bios: NEE.  A mom takes her young son to the doctor one day.  She tells the doctor that her child's knee hurts and the doctor refers her to a nephrologist becuase it 's a kid knee problem.

46. Petrol brand: ESSO.   "Petrol" in lieu of "Gasoline" alerts us to think Canadian.

47. Issa of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse": RAE.  Didn't John Lennon compose a song of roughly the same name?

48. Olympian's violation: DOPING.

The All Drug Olympics

52. Utah's Capitol __ National Park: REEF.

53. Water bill basis: USAGE.  The California legislature is toying with mandating an income based system for utility bills.  I am not sure how that will encourage conservation.

55. Sci. that studies biodiversity: ECOL.  ECOLogy

56. __ egg: vegan baking ingredient: CHIA.  I had never heard of a CHIA egg.  CHIA Pet, yes.  Another learning moment.  Thanks, perps.

58. Radar __: GUN.

Radar O'Reilly Would Not Fit

59. Silver State city: RENO.  There are lots of cities in Nevada.  ELKO is another with four letters.

60. Blacksmith's wear: APRON.

62. Bit of Valentine's decor: CUPID'S BOW.  Also the name of a certain part of one's lips and a form of lip enhancement surgery.

64. Snuck: CREPT.  Two somewhat odd past tense words.

65. Whereas, briefly: ALTHO.  "Briefly"hints that the word might be truncated.

66. Canberra sch.: ANU.  It's mascot should be the EMU.

67. Place to have reservations: HOTEL.  Cute.  Not reservations as in doubts or second thoughts about something.

68. Camera option: FLASH.  On / Off / Automatic

69. Rep. group: GOP.  The moniker Grand Old Party for the Republican Party first appeared in print around 1884.

Down:

1. Convent leader: ABBESS.

2. Cavort: FROLIC.

3. Playmate of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, and Po: LAA LAA.

4. Verb on a dipstick: ADD.  Is your car down a quart of oil.  Perhaps you should check.

6. Annual milestones, briefly: B'DAYS.  BirthDAYS

7. Tart citrus drink: LIMEADE.  LEMONADE was too long.

8. Summer in Monaco: ETE.  A French lesson often presented in crossword puzzles.

9. Many a Yemeni: ARAB.

11. Early rail transportation: HORSE CAR.  I have watched thousands of TV westerns but cannot recall any references to this.

12. Amanda Gorman's "__ to Our Ocean": ODE.  Didn't know the work but it's almost always ODE.

13. "Catch my drift?": SEE.  See?

25. "Get out of the way!": MOVE.

27. Pace: GAIT.

28. Other, in Mazatlán: OTRO.  What was that last letter going to be?  An A or an O?  What will constructors do if the Latinx concept catches on.

30. Taro dish: POI.  I couple of years ago I went to Hawaii where I got really sick.  Upon my return my boy asked me what had caused the illness.  I replied, "POI, son."

36. "If I Could Turn Back Time" singer: CHER.

37. Spigot attachment: HOSE.

38. Away from prying eyes: IN SECRET.

39. Beauty spots?: SPAS.

41. Logical start?: GEO.  ECO?  NEO?  THEO was too long.

44. Bird that cries "Mine! Mine! Mine!" in "Finding Nemo": SEAGULL.

49. Sprain treatment: ICE BAG.

50. "You're doing it all wrong!": NO NO NO.  Anything said here would be redundant.

54. Sanjay of CNN: GUPTA.

57. Like some LAX flights: INTL.  LAX is the code for Los Angeles INTernationaL Airport

60. German "Drat!": ACH.

61. Whiz: PRO.  Coulda' been ACE.

62. Half-__: coffee spec: CAF.

63. [Head slap]: DOH.

Well, that will Sew Up things for today.  Glad that you were able to Show Up.  Have a great weekend, everyone.  I hope that no one gets nauseous and feels like they have to . . . oh, never mind.  Maybe you can stream this flick:

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