Tuesday, February 16, 2021 Johh Witzke and Pawel Fludzinski

A Rose by Any Other Name.

17-Across. If Nicholson sang, danced and acted, he might be called __: JACK OF ALL TRADES.  Jack Nicholson (né John Joseph Nicholso; b. Apr. 22, 1937) is an actor who has a played wide range of roles, so he probably can sing and dance as well as act.

40-Across. If Robinson left En Vogue to sing in Jerry Garcia's group, she might be called __: DAWN OF THE DEAD.  Although I had heard of the group En Vogue, I was not familiar with Dawn Robinson (née Dawn Shreese Robinson; b. Nov. 24, 1965).

59-Across. If Tomlin came from San Fernando, she might be called __: LILY OF THE VALLEY.  Lily Tomlin (née Mary Gean Tomlin; b. Sept. 1, 1939) is an actress and stand-up comedian.  She played Ruth Ann on Rowan & Martin.

Across:

1. Tripoli's country: LIBYA.

6. College grad: ALUM.

10. Kill, as a dragon: SLAY.  St. George, the patron saint of England, is said to have been a dragon-slayer.  Surprising fact: Dragons don't exist!

14. Thorny plant: BRIAR.

15. Latina toon explorer: DORA.  Dora the Explorer

16. Scrabble piece: TILE.

20. GQ or Cosmo: MAG.  Both are magazines, one for men and the other for women.

21. Photographed: SHOT.

22. Inhumane: BARBARIC.

27. Salty drops: TEARS.

31. Big name in PCs: ACER.  I learned of Acer computers from doing the crossword puzzles.

32. __ pork: Chinese dish with pancakes: MOO SHU.  Hubby likes Moo Shu Chicken.

35. "High" afternoon meal: TEA.

36. Forbidden: TABOO.  Not to be confused with Tattoo, which is a common crossword word.

38. Series of missed calls: PHONE TAG.

43. Dog food seller: PET STORE.

44. Crop up: ARISE.

46. Soul, to Sartre: ÂME.  Today's French lesson.  Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21, 1905 ~ Apr. 15, 1980) was a French extentialialism philosopher.  I had to read some of his work in college, but I don't remember anything now.

47. Polar parka: ANORAK.  I need one today.  Icy rain is coming down now, even as I type this.  We covered all of our fruit trees last night.  Hope they will survive.

50. Passionate about: INTO.

51. Winona of "Stranger Things": RYDER.  Winona Ryder (née Winona Laura Horowitz; b. Oct. 29, 1971) was born in Winona, Minnesota.  She has starred in many movies and television shows, including Stranger Things, which is a sci-fi horror mystery television series.

53. Brings good luck to: SMILES ON.

55. Taunt: GIBE.

58. Drone or worker: BEE.

67. Trim, as a photo: CROP.  It's so easy to do on your computer.

68. Dry forecast: FAIR.

69. Religious doctrine: DOGMA.  Also the name of a 1999 movie that starred Matt Damon and Ben Aflack.

70. Credit card balance, say: DEBT.

71. Benchmarks: Abbr.: STDs.  As in Standards.

72. Jerk or twitch: SPASM.

Down:

1. JFK's successor: LBJ.  Lyndon Baines Johnson (Aug. 27, 1908 ~ Jan. 22, 1973) succeeded John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 ~ Nov. 22, 1963).  As a kid, I thought Johnson was really old, and yet he died at only 64.

2. Nest egg initials: IRA.  As in an Individual Retirement Account.

3. Flickable lighter: BIC.

4. Go on and on: YAK.

5. Kitchen allure: AROMA.

6. Samuel Barber's "__ for Strings": ADAGIO.  Samuel Osmond Barber, II (Mar. 9, 1910 ~ Jan. 23, 1981) was an American composer, conductor and pianist.  This piece has been used in a number of movies and television shows, from Platoon to episodes of The Simpsons.

7. Cyberchortle: LOL.  Laughing Out Loud.  Apparently this has been used for over 30 years.

8. Web addresses: URLs.  The Uniform Resource Locator has become a crossword staple.

9. Subject with numbers: MATH.

10. Georgia or Washington: STATE.  In this map, both states are the same color.

11. Pot cover: LID.

12. It may be blonde or pale: ALE.  Everything you wanted to know about beers, but were afraid to ask.

13. "Roundabout" rockers with a positive name: YES.

18. Word before hand or land: FARM.

19. Capitol feature: ROTUNDA.  It's a majestic building.  Photographs don't do it justice.

22. Cave hanger: BAT.

23. Plato's school, with "the": ACADEMY.

24. Paid back, as a purchase incentive: REBATED.

25. Tweezer targets: BROWS.

26. Whirlybirds: 'COPTERS.  Also the name of a carnival ride.

28. Realizes, as a goal: ATTAINS.

29. Entertains with a bedtime story: READS TO.

30. Give in to gravity: SAG.

33. Recital rebuke: SHH.

34. Flower bed tool: HOE.

37. Province on four Great Lakes: ONTARIO.  Hi, CanadianEh!  Is this your Province?  Ontario touches upon Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

39. Spooky: EERIE.  Not one of the Great Lakes.

41. Bass ending: -OON.  As in a Bassoon.

42. Pendulum direction?: FRO.  The Foucault Pendulum at the Boston Science Museum.

43. Links standard: PAR.

45. Seemingly forever: EON.  A crossword staple.

48. Orange-yellow gemstones: AMBERS.  They are often embeded with insects.

49. Ukraine's capital: KIEV.  The people of Ukraine prefer to spell the name of the capital as Kyiv.  Kiev is a transliteration of the Russian name, whereas Kyiv is the Ukrianian transliteration.

52. The Nile runs through it: EGYPT.  Several years, we took a boat ride up the Nile.

54. Detectives' aids: LEADS.

56. Bosom buds, in texts: BFFs.  Textspeak for Best Friends Forever.

57. Nouveau-Mexique, par exemple: ÉTAT.  More of today's French lesson.  Contrary to what some people think, New Mexico not a foreign country, but a State in the American Southwest.

Carte des États-Unis avec le Nouveau-Mexique en rouge.

59. TV screen type: LCD.  As in Liquid-Crystal Display.

60. Fury: IRE.

61. Easy throw: LOB.  Not to be confused with 63-Down: Cut (off): LOP.

62. Laid low: HID.

64. JFK alternative: LGA.  Both the LaGuardia Airport and the JFK Airports service the New York Area.  The airport in Newark also services the New York Area.

65. Maximum borders?: EMs.  As in the letter M.  Maximum.

66. Oft-candied veggie: YAM.  I'll pass on this dish.  I never understood why people liked yams with marshmellows.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

Happy Mardi Gras, Y'all!  You can still celebrate.  Only the parades have been cancelled.  This is the coldest Mardi Gras in recent memory, however.

Saturday, May 4, 2019, Pawel Fludzinski

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Pawel Fludzinski

This first Saturday in May marks the 145th Run For The Roses in Louisville, Kentucky. Not only is it a showcase for beautiful 3 year-old thoroughbreds competing to don the famous wreath of roses, it also a opportunity to imbibe mint juleps and display charming millinery. The favorite Omaha Beach has been withdrawn from the race and so I am rooting for the new favorite Game Winner who is owned by an Omaha couple. The Derby proclaims itself to be "The most exciting two minutes in sports".

The constructor today is our retired organic chemist, now living in New Mexico - Pawel Fludzinski. Here you see him with his lovely 12 year-old daughter in Hawaii last Christmas. 

I asked Pawel for some inside info on this challenging puzzle and he was very generous in his response: In constructing a themeless, I always start with 2 or 3 seed entries.  In this case, I very much wanted to use PERFECT CRIME and FARM TO TABLE.  I had those "in pocket" for a while, and were in several puzzles attempts that were rejected - not because of the seeds, but the rest of the fill. I then found 2 other 11-letter entries that would work in the puzzle, and then spent a great deal of time working on creating 9-stacks that are interesting.  I thought HEDGE FUND and WOLVERINE were interesting enough to justify ANTIVENIN (not a first choice), and HERBARIA was the only thing that would work as I was getting close to the end in the fill.  Not an obvious answer, but perhaps a good challenge for a Saturday.

He added: PS - I always look forward to seeing which of my clues survive - especially for the seed entries and longer entries (i.e. 9-stacks).  I never see the final clues until the puzzle is published.

Now let's get in the starting gate (flamboyant headware optional) for our run for linguistic roses:

Across:

1. One of the X-Men: WOLVERINE - Front and center

10. Prior's superior: ABBOT - ABBOT Michael is on the right. Prior Delisi is on the left in this Georgia monastery 

15. Essential supply for an ophiologist: ANTIVENIN - Alternate name for ANTIVENOM which I first wrote in and which Pawel said was not his first choice 55. Less-common spelling: Abbr.: VAR - ANTIVENIN for ANTIVENOM?

16. Home of Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights": PRADO - Madrid, Spain's famous art museum

17. Vehicle in the 2012 film "Arbitrage": HEDGE FUND - Rotten Tomatoes opinion

18. New Mexico school athletes: LOBOS - In his last puzzle Pawel referenced Alamogordo, N.M. and today he uses the mascot of his now home state, The University of New Mexico

19. Italy's equivalent of the BBC: RAI - Radio Audizioni Italiane is the national public broadcasting company of Italy

20. Some necklaces: CHOKERS - Also athletes who fail at the end of a game

22. Its solution refutes its existence: PERFECT CRIME - The man on the bed (and his girlfriend in the background) thought they had committed the PERFECT CRIME. The man tried to cover up the murder by shooting himself, but Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov to the left) saw right through them in Death On The Nile

27. Not on edge: AT EASE.

28. Collections of plant specimens: HERBARIA and 31. Canonized Archbishop of Canterbury: ANSELM were my downfall as I chose an "E" at their confluence

32. Flow __: CHART.

33. Fill a hold: LADE.

34. Ireland's __ Féin: SINN - English: "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves") is a political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Wikipedia) 

35. Follower of the old school?: MARM - Here's a School MARM and her charges on the treeless prairie near Dundy, NE

36. Favor, slangily: SOLID - "Hey buddy, would you do me a SOLID (favor)?"

37. Jokers: WAGS.

38. "Everybody Loves __": Johnny Cash novelty song: A NUT - Here sung with 3/4 of the Monkees

39. Pound, e.g.: POET - Ezra. UNIT felt the fury of my delete key! Do you think Pawel did that on purpose? 😏

40. Brawl: MELEE.

41. One with a family practice?: NEPOTIST - An interesting take on the word

43. Gap-related: HIATAL.

44. Becomes an overnight sensation in: TAKES BY STORM - Yeah, I'd say they did!

46. Department store staple: APPAREL.

49. Names: IDS.

50. "Grand Hotel" star (1932): GARBO - Yes, Rotten Tomatoes reviews older movies too

51. Like 24/7 news channels: ITERATIVE - Over and over and over...

57. Listing: ATILT - Leaning like a boat

58. Erin Brockovich, for one: PARALEGAL - real and reel versions 

59. Classic battlers: SEXES.

60. Reacts to a blow: SEES STARS - A comic book staple

And down the stretch we come... 

Down:

1. Nursery noise: WAH.

2. White Monopoly bill: ONE.

3. Inc., in Ipswich: LTD.

4. Bookie's cut: VIG - Wazzat?

5. High point of Hillary's career: EVEREST - Sir Edmund and his sherpa Tenzig Norgay 

6. Put a new front on, as a building: REFACE - Voila!

7. Nunavut native: INUIT.

8. "Under a Glass Bell" author: NIN.

9. Where a gaffer or grip is recognized: END CREDIT - From the funniest movie ever made - Airplane.  Who is that worst boy?

10. Equanimity: APLOMB.

11. Started to perspire: BROKE A SWEAT - 

12. Diamond immortal, with "The": BABE - Last Saturday it was Babe Ruth Day

13. Fridge-cleaning motivation: ODOR - This milk smell bad to you?

14. Not sleep well: TOSS - Let Bobby Lewis tell the melodic tale

21. Took on: HIRED.

22. Iconic dot-eater: PACMAN - Trapped!

23. Flammable gas: ETHANE.

24. Rise on hind legs: REAR UP - Hi Yo Silver!

25. "Knowing where your food comes from" movement: FARM TO TABLE - Info

26. Aspen abodes: CHALETS - Not A-FRAMES as it turns out

29. Grand Canal span: RIALTO - Our gondolier took us under the famous RIALTO Bridge in Venice 

30. Ready to roll: IN GEAR.

33. Part of a blabbing metaphor: LOOSE LIPS - "LOOSE LIPS might sink ships" from WWII

36. Abrupt increase: SPIKE - Have you bought gas lately?

40. Prayer books: MISSALS - Our paper MISSALettes are now both in English and Spanish 

42. Occult decks: TAROTS.

43. Hard-to-overcome evils: HYDRAS 

45. Brew in Brest: BIERE - How BEER is spelled in this French city that is 400 miles west of Paris

46. Ottoman officers: AGAS - Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini became the Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims or Aga Khan IV in 1957. Here he is shown in the celebration of his 60th yr in that capacity 

47. Crown: PATE.

48. Grand __: PRIX.

52. Inventor's monogram: TAE - The Wizard Of Menlo Park

53. Hanoi holiday: TET 

54. Franchise-based supermarket chain: IGA - Here is an Independent Grocery Association store in Nyah West, Victoria, Australia (pop. 552)

56. Local boundaries?: ELS - Yup, LocaL starts with an "L" and ends with an "L". No Ernie Els for our friend Pawel! (Jeffrey had 62. Divided trio?: DEES yesterday)

Now it's time to comment and have a mint julep!