Puzzling thoughts:
Well, well, well ... today marks my 75th recap here at The Corner, and what a fitting puzzle "theme" to have ... it's all about the (64-across. Measure of grossness avoided in the answers to the starred clues?:) ICK FACTOR.
Those of you who have followed Chairman Moe over the past few years will know how the word "gross" connects to him. And though the Chairman grew up in the (61-down. Eventful times:) ERAS where "gross" meant large, great, and 12 dozen (144), the generations that followed came to know "gross" as being, well, ICKY.
Today's offering is by Ruth Bloomfield Margolin. Ruth celebrates her LA Times puzzle debut today while managing to find three phrases that can be sussed with or without the word (letters) ICK. How, you ask?
For starters, we have: 17-across. *Litter collection vehicles?: P(ICK)UP TRUCKS. One of a litter of dogs is called a PUP. Additionally, a vehicle that might be used to collect litter (aka "trash") is a PICKUP TRUCK ... what does a PUP PICKUP TRUCK look like? This!!
Next, Ruth gave us: 24-across. *Malcolm's status at the end of "Macbeth"?: ALIVE AND K(ICK)ING. I had to dig through Google to confirm that Malcom was indeed both KING as well as being "ALIVE AND KICKING" at the play's end. What does a KICKING KING look like?
And last but not least we have: 52-across. *Source of friction when a messy person lives with a neatnik?: ST(ICK)Y SITUATION. While the phrase "STY SITUATION" seemed a bit forced, the "ICK" fits, as this messy roommate might indeed cause a source of friction. I immediately thought of:
In what seems to be a common Friday event, today's crossword puzzle adds/subtracts a word to create a grouping of punny entries. It wasn't what I'd call "Friday tough"; and honestly, I wondered if Patti had this queued up just for me, given the "gross" connection ... but it may have been coincidental 😉
The grid, and then a new twist (for at least half of my bi-weekly recap):
Across:
1. Rum mixer: COKE.
Unlike SNL
Skit, the Billy Goat Tavern
Serves COKE; no Pepsi
5. Tarot suit: CUPS.
We heard there's a bar
Where the patrons play Tarot.
They're all in their CUPS
9. Destructive bug: BORER.
Tahitian island
Has destructive bugs. It's now
Called: BORER BORER
14. Receptive: OPEN. A brief pause from Moe-ku's, as this word was somewthat uninspiring
15. Draft choice: ONE A.
Army needed a
Steak sauce. They held a draft and
A.1. was ONE A
16. New car option: LEASE. Not every entry in today's puzzle will be a Moe-ku, (see 23-, 31-, 32-, and 41-across for the continuation of this sentence)
19. Laudatory poet: ODIST.
Orchestra hired
Wind player who wrote poems:
ODIST oboist
20. First baseball team to play in a dome: ASTROS.
Original name
For this team was floral-based.
Was called: "ASTER-ROSE"
21. "Birthplace of Aviation": OHIO.
Dayton was the home
Of Orville and Wilbur Wright
The Founders of Flight
Fun Fact: Chairman Moe's birthplace is also OHIO
23. __ salt: SEA. and not all will be winners 😜
27. Writer who populated the Hundred Acre Wood: A. A. MILNE. Home of Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, et al
30. Shade in four-color printing: CYAN.
Japanese printers
Bid farewell to blue when they
Said:"CYAN-ara"
31. Actor Reeves: KEANU. and once in awhile I will just toss in a photograph;
32. Mission control org.: NASA. or maybe a simple link,
35. Scale abbr.: LBS..
Mormon Church scales have
Weird measurements. Not LB'S;
They're in LDS
37. Fish sticks fish: COD.
In Massachusetts
There are special fishing "sticks"
Called "rods for a COD"
38. *"Arf" or "meow"?: PET LINE.
A retractable
Leash for barking dogs is called
A PET LINE zipline
41. "Tubular!": RAD. because even MOE needs a break during his recaps
43. Trawling need: NET. You know, when I started this recap, I really thought it would be cool to "Moe-ku" each and every entry ... [continued in 45-across]
45. Future atty.'s exam: LSAT. but I am nearly 2 hours into blogging, and have only completed about 1/4 of it ...
46. Quick-as-lightning Bolt: USAIN. Another Moe-ku "break" ... the capital letter "B" in "BOLT" gave this away
48. City near the heel of Italy's boot: BARI. A CSO to my fellow Friday blogger, Malodorous Manatee who was in BARI on the day I was writing my recap
50. Supplementary items: ADDENDA.
How you terminate
"Legal dispute"? It's simple.
You just ADD "END A"
Get it?? END A legal dispute ...
56. __-di-dah: LAH. Or what (LAH-di-dah) Moe's puns are, mostly
57. See 26-Down: PENN. (26-down. With 57-Across, co-star in the "Harold & Kumar" film series:) KAL.
58. Regret not wearing a coat, say: FREEZE. A Moe-l'ick for a change:
When the man saw the snow-covered trees,
He decided to do as he please.
He said, "I am a Czech!"
And besides, what the heck,
He went coatless, 'cause Czechs never FREEZE
62. Degrade: ABASE. Another "break in the action" ... I left this one for Ray-O-Sunshine to pun!
66. Forbidden things: NO-NO'S.
When cramming for test
Use caffeine to stay awake.
NoDoz aren't NO-NO'S
67. "America the Beautiful" pronoun: THEE. This entry was not meant to be parodied. THEE appears @2:19
68. "Frozen" princess: ANNA.
Chiquita opted
To name fruit for a princess:
ANNA's banana
69. Beckett title character who is not in the cast: GODOT.
Beckett was seeking
A new sour bread starter:
Looking for GODOT??
70. Rise sky-high: SOAR.
An injured eagle
Continued his lofty climb
Yes, he would SOAR sore
71. Fifth Avenue retailer: SAKS.
Big Apple merchant
Decides it would be clever
To call their bags SAKS
OK, before we transition to the "down" clues/entries, Moe realizes that he has spent nearly three hours coining these punny -Ku's. There might be few more, but his creativity tank is on empty ...
Down:
1. __ Mundial de Fútbol: COPA. COPA in Spanish means "CUP" - as in a drinking vessel or trophy (the meaning in today's clue)
2. Major work: OPUS. Beethoven's Magnum OPUS (Symphony No 9 in D minor, Opus 125, also known as Beethoven's Ninth) is an hour and a half long performance. Here is a 3 minute clip:
3. Maintained: KEPT. This definition of KEPT is not one that is used as much anymore
4. Board, in a way: ENTRAIN.
Could we honestly
Say that Moses did this? He
ENTRAINed the entrails
5. Reunion attendee: COUSIN; with (6-down. 5-Down's dad, for short:) UNC. Was her dad a Tar Heel perhaps??!
7. Tea type: PEKOE.
What kind of tea do
Ghosts drink? Why of course you would
Call it PEKOE boo
8. Obama daughter: SASHA. With sister Malia
9. __ Mary: BLOODY. I like mine with LOTS of additives
10. Wordsmith's ref.: OED. Oxford English Dictionary
11. Post production?: RAISIN BRAN. Very clever clue! Post is the company that produces RAISIN BRAN, along with Kellogg's
12. Steel city north of Cologne: ESSEN. The word "ESSEN" in German means to eat or munch
13. Put on sale, say: RE-TAG. So in the childhood game, would this mean that if you "RE-TAG", the new "IT" person is marked down??!
18. Arrive, as in a limo: ROLL UP. I had ROLL IN before the perps fixed it
22. Like some ancient Peruvian pottery: INCAN.
Potter from Lima
Decided to repackage
Ancient pots IN CAN
25. Air ducts: VENTS. Another pun opportunity for R-O-S??
27. Pedigree registry since 1884: Abbr.: AKC. American Kennel Club
28. Long, long time: AEON. Fun fact: an AEON and an EON are the same length of time [a billion years]. AEON is used more by the British; we Colonists prefer EON
29. Like all ancient Peruvian pottery: MADE BY HAND. Almost a clecho to 22-down
33. In the style of: A LA.
What's "the style of"
Called in S. California?
It's A LA L.A.
34. Occupy, as a desk: SIT AT. "WORK FROM" didn't fit
36. "__ no one ever": SAID. Chairman Moe might be the one exception to this statement ...
39. Top-tier: ELITE.
Monospaced typeface
Was disliked by other fonts;
Was just too ELITE
40. Author Welty: EUDORA. The Optimist's Daughter won her a Pulitzer Prize
