Friday August 1, 2025 Kyle Beakley & David Levinson Wilk

Here's the ghost of Chairman present - as envisioned by RustyBrain. Two Friday's down; one to Moe!

Kyle Beakley is a TV writer who has teamed up with 30-year veteran constructor David Levinson Wilk, who also writes for TV. I may not be the sharpest spoon in the drawer, but I'll bet they met working on a TV show. 

The theme of this one is easy in retrospect, but hard to describe. Each answer is an unclued famous battle. Hidden inside circles(!) is the actual answer. The list of battles made for a rather somber puzzle. With Purple Heart Day coming up on August 7th, let's remember the brave men and women who have been wounded or killed in action while serving in the U.S. military.

31. With 42-Across, encouraging words to someone making a good effort, and an apt description of this puzzle's circled letters: THAT'S HALF THE BATTLE. The revealer is stretched across two lines, and informs us that some sort of battle is involved. Cleverly, exactly HALF the letters of each themer are circled to form the clued word. HATS off for finding four battles that hide words that fit this constraint.

17. Zooplankton eaten by whales: BUNKER HILL. → KRILL. The Battle of BUNKER HILL, Mass. is from the American Revolutionary War - June 17, 1775.

25. Berets, bonnets, etc.: HASTINGS. → HATS. The Battle of HASTINGS was between Norman-French and English Anglo-Saxons - October 14, 1066.

52. More than a few: NORMANDY. → MANY. The Battle of NORMANDY was an Allied invasion of German-occupied France during World War II, beginning on June 6, 1944 (D-Day).

59. Art museum named for an oil magnate: GETTYSBURG. → GETTY. The Battle of GETTYSBURG, PA was a turning point in the American Civil War - July1-3, 1863.

While I appreciate the symmetry of the revealer in the center, I prefer the "aha" moment to be at the end, assuming I haven't figured it out already. In this case, I was at sea with 17A, wanting Beluga kill or something. Then, with the start of 25A in place, I wanted Hat ___ or Haberdash, and moved on. Nothing fit until the revealer, when it became obvious. Unfortunately, once I knew the trick, I filled in all the circles (the clues were very straightforward) and that immediately led to their matching battle. If the reveler had been at the end, it would have made for a tougher Friday. 

Battling on:

Across:

1. Pyramid city with the Great Sphinx: GIZA. Pyramid game with the Great Strahan: Hollywood.

5. Carry (off): CART. This is a grocery CART, unless you're from the South, then it's a buggy.

9. Border: EDGE.

13. Full house components, perhaps: ACES. The infamous "Dead Man's Hand" would be a full house if jacks were wild. 

14. See-through dish: ASPIC. I don't find the see-through aspect of aspic appealing.

16. Shelved item: BOOK.

17. [theme]

19. Hidden mic: WIRE. This one bugged me.

20. Waste time: DALLY.

21. Make a beeline for: DASH TO. These are a little different. When I dash to the store, I don't necessarily travel in a straight line. But close enough for crosswords.

23. Sidewalk artist's supply: CHALK. I'm always amazed by the talents of these street artists and their willingness to create such temporary showpieces.

25. [theme]

27. Belafonte song starter: DAY-O. "Daylight come and me wanna go home."

28. Educational ad: PSA. Public Service Announcement.

30. Didn't play: SAT OUT. I had a radio that SAT OUT in the rain. It didn't play after that.

31. [theme]

34. Banister post: NEWEL. If you're lucky enough to have two of these, the second one is called a re-NEWEL post.

35. Email pioneer: AOL. My oldest brother still uses his American On Line account. If it ain't broke...

36. Snack brand based in Hanover, Pennsylvania: UTZ. Ruining appetites before dinner for over 100 years (according to moms everywhere).

38. "Forrest Gump" role, for short: LT. DAN. Although various CGI effects were used to erase Lieutenant DAN's legs, some scenes used a modified wheelchair with a slanted seat so actor Gary Sinise could fold his legs underneath.

42. [theme]

48. Some silver cups: AWARDS. Get some plates, too, so you can have tea and scones.

50. St. with 14 HBCUs: ALA. ALAbama is home to the most Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are 101 HBCUs in total, mostly in the South.

51. Shoe support: HEEL. 

52. [theme]

54. Full-bosomed: BUXOM. I'd better leave this one up to your imagination.

55. Sunflower shade: YELLOW. Flowers are safe though. Yes, I can show you flowers.

56. Gush: SPURT.

58. Mexican coin: PESO.

59. [theme]

63. Info in a bank: DATA. Here's DATA in a snow bank.

64. City served by Incheon International Airport: SEOUL. Located in the capital of South Korea, Incheon is one of the busiest airports in the world. In addition to outstanding architecture, it features indoor gardens, a golf course, spa, ice skating rink, casino, a video game center and a museum. That would take some of the sting out of a cancelled flight!

65. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's lake: ERIE. The R&R HOF is in Cleveland, Ohio. "Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice." - Joe Walsh (inducted in 1988 with the Eagles).

66. Three-time AL MVP in the 2000s: AROD. Heeee's back...great players with short nicknames will be with us forever!

67. Fossil, perhaps: BONE.

68. Comedian Foxx: REDD. The popular actor and stand-up comedian was know for his raunchy nightclub act. Amazingly, he put out over 50 records. (Hey! I managed to squeeze in an unlikely album!)

Down:

1. Yak: GAB. I guess, I never spoke with one. 

2. Hosp. area: ICU. Intensive Care Unit in a hospital. 

3. "Dune" actress: ZENDAYA. She's one of a handful of celebs that go by a single name.

4. Make demands (of): ASK A LOT.

5. Planetary scientist Sagan: CARL. "That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

6. Wan: ASHY.

7. Tech sch. in upstate New York: RPI. My dad's alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. A wonderful father and engineer, his pencil holder still sits on my desk. (I wonder if Irish Miss has seen one of these?)

8. Oscar winner Swinton: TILDA. She signs her name: ~ Swinton (probably).

9. Writer who studied under William Strunk Jr. at Cornell: E.B. WHITE. Elwyn Brooks WHITE was the author of highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little, and his masterpiece, Charlotte's Web.

10. "Why are you waiting!?": DO IT NOW. "And if you're the first caller, we'll throw in another piece of garbage at no extra cost!"

11. Ignore orders: GO ROGUE.

12. Squeeze (out): EKE. Always used with earning a living and never with earning the last bit of toothpaste in the tube.

15. "__ dismissed!": CLASS. Wanted "case(s) dismissed" at first.

18. Great Plains grazer: ELK. Great Plains geezer: also an ELK (sometimes).

22. Poem part: STANZA.

23. Summer hrs. in 26-Down: CDT. Central Daylight Time in St. Louis, Mo.

24. Derisive laugh: HAH. We're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you. Yeah, right.

25. Actor Holbrook: HAL.

26. Mo. town: STL. St. Louis, Missouri, the "Gateway to the West." Mo. town is a fun misdirect to Detroit, the Motor City.

28. Vietnamese soup: PHO. Pronounced "fuh", PHO has taken our area by storm, with new restaurants opening everywhere. It comes in many varieties and is delish! Where has it been my whole life?

29. Pretzel topping: SALT. And a little mustard doesn't hurt.

32. Birkenstock product: SANDAL. Wear them with socks! [see DWEEB]

33. Stoke: FUEL.

37. Scheduling abbr.: TBA. To Be Announced, similar to "TBD" - To Be Determined.

38. PC hookup: LAN. Local Area Network. Not to be confused with a Politically Correct hookup which is between two consenting adults.

39. 24-month: TWO YEAR. 

40. Bravely decides one can: DARES TO. 

41. Carrying capacity: ARMLOAD. I hope I got her enough. Don't want to appear cheap.

43. __ fever: HAY. 

44. 9-Down's "Is Sex Necessary?" collaborator James: THURBER. Who'da thunk? White and Thurber wrote alternate chapters, combining them into a spoof of popular books about Freudian sexual theories. Being fledgling authors, they held little hope of publication but Harper's, which had published White's first book of poetry, came out with a small printing of 2,500 copies in November 1929. The humorous book became a bestseller and launched both their careers.

45. Feel: TEXTURE.

46. Papal name chosen by Robert Prevost: LEO. Not a summer Zodiac sign this time!

47. Shade tree: ELM.

49. Southampton smooches: SNOGS.

53. Nerdy type: DWEEB. Of course, I live in Florida where we never wears socks, so this couldn't happen to me.

54. City vehicle: BUS.

56. Amaze: STUN.

57. Gomer of 1960s TV: PYLE. Played to perfection by actor Jim Nabors, his stint in the Marines was a spin off of the Andy Griffin Show. Shazam!

58. Smooching at the movies, say: PDA. Public Display of Affection, although I remember being in the back of a darkened theater and thinking we were virtually in private. What I can't remember is what movie was playing...

60. Overly: TOO.

61. Purge (of): RID.

62. HS equivalency test: GED. General Educational Development test. I thought it was Graduate Equivalency Diploma, or something like that. I would have failed the test!

Notes from C.C.:

Today we celebrate the 81st birthday of Tehachapi Ken. Wishing you a wonderful day, Ken!

Friday July 18, 2025 Tracy Gray

Hi everyone, it’s RustyBrain on the first of three fortnightly visits. Our illustrious Chairman is no Scrooge, but you may think of these reviews as the spirits of Moe past, present and future!

Tracy Gray serves up a double scoop of goodness today. She's a veteran constructor so we expect nothing less. Let's get started on the double with the revealer: 

53. Request to a bartender, and what must be done to the last words of 20-, 30-, 36-, and 47-Across for the answers to match their clues: MAKE IT A DOUBLE. By doubling the last word of each answer, we end up with wacky phrases.

20. Casual departure from a pub crawl after just one drink?: FIRST ROUND BYE. → FIRST ROUND BYE-BYE. In a tournament, the top seeded players often get to skip the preliminary rounds. Here, it's re-imagined as a bar-hopper who drops out early. Good thing, too, as you'd have to be drunk to follow this map!

30. Big name in transparent Band-Aids for toddlers?: PEEKABOO. → PEEK A BOO-BOO. Cute! And a good idea for bandages that match any skin color instead of generic flesh-tone. 

36. Confident shout from a Moulin Rouge dancer?: OH YES I CAN. → OH YES, I CANCAN. My favorite of the bunch! It's rare that I actually chuckle at an answer, but this one conjured up a delightful image. She sure cancan!

47. Question of quality?: IS THAT SO. → IS THAT SO SO. Odd to see this posed as a question, but then again, everyone's a critic.

Double your pleasure, double your fun! A bit easy for a Friday, but I'm traveling in the Pacific Northwest (beautiful vistas everywhere!) so I'm a happy camper. Okay, let's go-go:

Across:

1. Chill (with): HANG. Cool beans.

5. Storied meanies: OGRES. I like the use of "storied" here.

10. Au naturel: BARE. My one erasure, I had nude. 

14. Ancient theaters: ODEA. Plural of odeum, the theaters of Greece and Rome. 

15. Steaming mad: IRATE.

16. Limburger feature: ODOR. Does anyone remember a children's story called "Giant Grummer's Christmas"? He planned to steal presents but Prince Toppsy Turvy knew he liked Limburger, the smelliest cheese. The prince outsmarted the giant by delivering wheels of the stinky cheese that he ate then fell asleep and missed Christmas. Since childhood, the thought of the world's smelliest cheese has intrigued me - although not enough to actually try it!

17. __ history: ORAL. It's something my dentist keeps track of. 

18. Get connected: LOG ON.

19. Blu-ray kin: DVDS. These are two types of optical discs for storing data, usually movies.

20. [theme]

23. Easily fooled sort: SAP.

24. Mai tai liquor: RUM. Just add a fruit salad and an umbrella!

25. Celebrity with a book club: OPRAH. Counterintuitively, while her book club increased sales of individual titles, it caused a short-term overall decrease in sales for the book industry as a whole. Since Oprah's selections were often longer and more difficult classics that demanded greater time and energy to read, those people who were reading from her list were not buying their usual fare of books.

28. "Rub-a-dub-dub" location, in a classic rhyme: IN A TUB. How many of you know the next lines?

30. [theme]

33. Cartomancy deck: TAROT. Cartomancy is a form of divination using cards, TAROT being one type of deck. It involves interpreting the symbols and meanings associated with each card to provide guidance or predict outcomes.

34. O'Reilly purchase: PART. O'Reilly's is a huge chain of auto PART stores.

35. Bora Bora, e.g.: ISLE.

36. [theme]

39. "Stop living in the __!": PAST. Also, a classic Jethro Tull album. Hey, I had to include at least one!

42. Olympic event with masks: EPEE. I dream that someday they'll come up with a sword that is spelled with all E's to help our constructors out of tight corners.

43. Crete's highest pt.: MT IDA. Point is abbrev. so Mount is MT. Speaking of mountains, here are some I'm looking at - the Olympics in Washington State. Pictures don't do it justice; their scope is almost too vast to comprehend.

47. [theme]

49. Decathlon equipment: DISCUS. Essay question for extra credit: What other equipment is needed for a decathlon? Please DISCUS.

50. "Chopped" contestants: CHEFS. I like "The Bear," a TV series about a restaurant in Chicago. Everyone in the kitchen addresses each other as CHEF. Now I have some friends that also call each other CHEF! 

51. "Corduroy" writer/illustrator Freeman: DON. "Corduroy" is a childhood classic that tells the heartwarming story of a teddy bear and a little girl finding friendship.

52. Center of Dallas?: ELS. They're letterally in the middle!

53. [theme]

58. Prefix with conductor: SEMI. This guy's a full conductor.

60. Banjo sound: TWANG.

61. __ plaid: fabric also known as Prince of Wales check: GLEN. Don't stare at it too long...you are getting sleepy...very sleepy...

62. "Your turn," in radio lingo: OVER. 

63. Decadent dessert: TORTE.

64. Blow hard: GUST. Not unlike a windbag at your party. He's an uninvited GUST.

65. "Downton Abbey" title: LADY. Not my cup of tea.

66. Got in on a deal: ANTED. Better clue than usual for this crosswordese.

67. Gels: SETS. 

Down:

1. Travels on foot: HOOFS IT. Fun answer.

2. Girls in Tech founder Gascoigne: ADRIANA. ADRIANA Gascoigne is an American technology executive and activist. Girls in Tech is a global non-profit dedicated to empowering, educating, and mentoring women in the technology industry.

3. Decent, in golf: NEAR PAR. I don't play golf, mainly because when I hit a ball, I like someone to try and hit it back, not for me to go chase after it. In any case, NEAR PAR seems better than "decent."

4. "Archie's Pals 'n' __": classic comic book series: GALS. One of the GALS from the long running comic was Josie, who later went on to fame as the leader of the Pussycats. 

5. Massage option: OIL RUB.

6. Stable figure: GROOM. The happy couple.

7. Newman's Own rival: RAGU. I don't know how they fare in a taste-test, but Newman's donates most of their profits to charities if that helps you pick one. 

8. Historic British school: ETON.

9. Pop in the mail: SEND. Pop up in the mail: SPAM

10. Temporary art media: BODY PAINTS.

11. Some modifiers: ADVERBS. This is totally correct.

12. Eye cell that plays a role in night vision: ROD. The photo-receptor counterpart of a ROD is a "cone," which provides color perception.

13. Hosp. areas: ERS. Emergency Rooms aka the waiting area.

21. "Facts!": TRUTH.

22. __ choy: BOK. BOK choy is a type of Chinese cabbage that is sometimes called spoon cabbage because of its shape.

26. Early ISP: AOL. America On-Line has been chugging away as an Internet Service Provider since 1989.

27. Garden tool: HOE.

29. Visitor who leaves money under a kid's pillow: TOOTH FAIRY. What's the current exchange rate?

30. Public walkway: PASEO. PASEO means "stroll" in Spanish, but I'm more familiar with the Toyota model which, now that I think about it, is a rather uninspiring name for a car. 

31. Cleveland's lake: ERIE.

32. "The rest is obvious" abbr.: ETC.

34. Spices (up): PEPS. "Let's take it up a notch!"

37. Still: YET.

38. __ acid: AMINO.

39. Snap: PIC.

40. Bat wood, once: ASH.

41. Like some glasses: STEMMED. I wanted STEaMED, like when I walk out from air conditioning into Florida humidity and my glasses fog up.

44. Glacial hue: ICE BLUE. Shades of blue in July on Mount Rainier as we flew into Seattle.

45. Least exciting: DULLEST.

46. Says yes: ASSENTS.

48. "Shoot!": ASK. "Shoot" also means "darn," but not like socks - unless you shoot yourself in the foot.

49. Managed to avoid: DODGED. 

51. "Inferno" poet: DANTE.

54. James of blues: ETTA. OK, you twisted my arm. One more album because she is sooo good!

55. Victor's shout: I WON. Another Victor shouted, "It's alive!"

56. Acerbic: TART.

57. Fleecy boots: UGGS.

58. Santiago sun: SOL. 

59. "Hadestown" Tony nominee Noblezada: EVA. I thought she was nominated for the Noble-zada Prize. Seriously, though, why didn't this clue mention any of the awards she actually won? Like the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album?

And remember, kiddies, never double dip your chip!