Thursday, November 28, 2024, Brent Sverdloff & Katie Hale

  Music of the Spheres

O vis eternitatis (O force of Eternity)
Hildegard von Bingen

I really liked this puzzle.  Today's constructors, Brent Sverdloff and Katie Hale, remind us that music is literally a universal language, a "force of eternity", recognized and appreciated not only here on Earth, but all over the Universe.  They demonstrate this with three theme clues filled with songs from different genres, each ending with the name of an extra-terrestrial body ... 

16. *Frank Sinatra song: FLY ME TO THE MOON.  A jazz standard written in 1954 by Bart Howard ...

29. *Beatles song: HERE COMES THE SUN.  A classic rock song written by Beatle George Harrison ...

49. *Bing Crosby song: SWINGING ON A STAR.  An American pop standard with music composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year.

Our constructors bring it all together with their reveal ...

61. Heavenly sounds, and what the answers to the starred clues could be called: CELESTIAL MUSIC.

... this is also a particularly apt description of the music by the Medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen that introduced this review.

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Bypasses: OMITS.

6. Out of alignment: BENT.

10. Pilot's fig.: ALT.  ALTITUDE.

13. One of 70 on a radiant-cut diamond: FACET.
 

Radiant-cut Diamond

14. Actor Sy of "Lupin": OMAR.  Lupin is a French mystery thriller television series about professional thief Assane Diop, the only son of an immigrant from Senegal who had come to France to seek a better life for himself and his child. Assane's father is framed for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace by his employer and dies in his prison cell, leaving the fourteen-year-old Assane to fend for himself on the streets of Paris. Twenty-five years later, inspired by a book about gentleman thief Arsène Lupin his father had given him on his birthday, Assane sets out to get revenge on the Pellegrini family ...

15. Class before chem, often: BIO.  

16. [Theme clue]

19. Kitten's call: MEW.

Kitten mewing

20. Nursery sch.: PRE K.  PRE Kindergarten.

21. Brickmaker's need: KILN.  I filled CLAY first.  In researching this clue I stumbled upon this interesting short video about the history of brickmaking in Baltimore (interesting to Baltimorons anyway 😀) ... 

22. Many a North African: ARAB.

24. Like a ghost story: EERIE.  Like a really spooky lake?

27. Loaded, in Lima: RICO.  Today's Spanish lesson: RICH.

29. [Theme clue]

32. Paragon: IDEAL.

33. Florence or Sydney: CITY.  Iconic cities ...

The Florence Cathedral

 

The Sydney Opera House

34. "The Penguin" network: HBO.  The Penguin is an American crime drama television miniseries developed by Lauren LeFranc. Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, it is a sequel spin-off from The Batman, a 2022 film. The series follows Oz Cobb's rise to power in Gotham City's criminal underworld.  Definitely not a family series.  Here's the first season trailer 

35. Nothing: NADA.  More Spanish: NADA = "Nothing".

38. Bath bubbles: SUDS. 

40. Sci-fi invaders: ETS.  They've been in the news since July 8, 1947 (two days after I was born😯) and are still in the news today -- here and here.

43. "Peter Pan" pooch: NANA.  NANA appears in the story's opening scene.  She is the Darling children's nursemaid ... 

45. Do a double take, say: REACT.

49. [Theme clue]

53. Bellagio's lake: COMO.  Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy.  It has an area of 146 square kilometres (56 sq mi), making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over 400 metres (1,300 ft) deep, it is the fifth-deepest lake in Europe and the deepest outside Norway; the bottom of the lake is 227 metres (745 ft) below sea level. One notable characteristic is its distinctive "Y" shape ... 

Lake Como

54. Colander cousin: SIEVE.

55. Supergirl, for one: HERO.  Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman.  Here's a preview of coming attractions for one of the upcoming spinoffs starring Australian actress Milly Alcock.   ... 

56. "Pick one" hand position: FIST.

58. Lumber mill array: SAWS.  Lumber mills do indeed have arrays of SAWS, but in researching this clue I encountered many more arrays of lumber mills.

60. Planner page: DAY.

61. [Theme reveal]

65. Red state: IRE.  The red states are not in a red state these days. 😀

66. Hong __: KONG.  My son, new grandson, and I ate lunch in Hong Kong during a one hour stopover from China to bring my grandson home.

67. "Peter Grimes," for one: OPERA.  Peter Grimes is a tragic opera in 3 acts written by English composer Benjamin Britten in 1945.  It is a dark, brooding story, set in a small fishing village on the East coast of England.  Peter Grimes is a fisherman, a loner, estranged from the villagers and is accused of the deaths of his two young apprentices.  The ending is ambiguous and we never really know if the accusations are true.  In the last scene Grimes rows out to sea and drowns himself by scuttling his boat.  It's not an opera I would recommend to those unacquainted with the genre. 

The overall mood of the work is perhaps best expressed by a haunting, standalone instrumental work which is often performed as a concert piece -- The Four Sea Interludes that separate the acts.  Here Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo leads the orchestra ...

68. Donkey: ASS.

69. No great shakes: SO SO.

70. "We have the __!": Arby's slogan: MEATS.

Down:

1. Put up for sale: OFFERED.

2. Risk of spreading spam: MALWARE.  Malware (a portmanteau of malicious software) is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. 

3. Like a hostile greeting: ICY.

4. Office part-timer: TEMP.

5. Start to type?: STEREO.

6. Goodreads suggestion, briefly: BOOK REC.  Helping you decide what to read next ...

7. CPR expert: EMT.  An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is an expert in Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  The first step in helping someone who has had a heart attack and who has no pulse (their heart has stopped) is to call 911.  Leave your phone on for instructions from the dispatcher and begin CPR immediately ...

8. Casual pass: NAH.  "Not interested".

9. Long journey: TREK.

10. Put an end to: ABOLISH.

11. Simba, when lifted up by Rafiki: LION CUB.  Rafiki is a baboon who knows a secret about Simba's father ... 

12. Two thousand pounds: TON.

17. Abound (with): TEEM.

18. Mucky spot: MIRE.

19. Hawaiian catch, on menus: MAHI.  Here's a recipe for pan fried MAHI-MAHI ...

Mahi-Mahi

23. Kidney __: BEAN.

25. Egyptian goddess of healing: ISIS.  Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world.  Her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head.

Isis

26. Shakespearean rebuke: ET TU.  Today's Latin lesson: "AND YOU ... (Brutus!)".

28. Artist Yoko: ONO.  Yoko Ono (born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.

Yoko and John Lennon
when they married in 1969

30. "The Trolley Song" sound: CLANG.  The Trolley Song is a song written by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis ...

31. Many-headed mythical monster: HYDRA.  The Hydra was a serpentine lake monster with 9 heads in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna, reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld.  In the canonical Hydra myth, the monster is killed by Heracles (Hercules) as the second of his Twelve Labors. 

Heracles battling the Hydra

36. Keynote's spot: DAIS.

37. MMXXIII, MMXXIV, etc.: ANNI.  Today's Latin lesson: "Years".

39. Informal gathering: SESH.

40. Key hit in panic: ESC.

41. Groupon deals, perhaps: TWO FERS.  Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering discounted activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Groupon was launched in November 2008, its name being a portmanteau of "group" and "coupon". Groupon's first deal was a two-pizzas-for-the-price-of-one offer at the Motel Bar, a restaurant on the first floor of the company's building in Chicago.  By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide, nearly 48.1 million active customers and featured more than 425,000 active deals globally in 48 countries.

42. "Fit as a fiddle" and "free as a bird": SIMILES.  A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things using words such as "like a", "as a".  Similes are often confused with metaphors which are rhetorical comparisons of two things without any connectors.  They may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas.  

44. "It used to be that ... ": AGES AGO.  LONG AGO fit, but didn't perp.

46. Was taken down quite a few notches: ATE DIRT.  An evocative metaphor ...

47. Birthplace of Simón Bolívar: CARACAS.  Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco (his friends just called him Sy 😀) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as El Libertador, or the Liberator of America.

Simón Bolívar
24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830

48. Former quarterback Aikman: TROY.  Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.  Aikman was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

Troy Aikman

50. Snout: NOSE.

51. Track shape: OVAL.

52. One taking maternity leave: NEW MOM.

57. Disapproving sounds: TSKS.

59. Tenant's contact, briefly: SUPE.  Superintendent.  I've heard "super" before, but never "supe".
.
61. Org. in "Argo": CIA.  Argo is a 2012 American biographical historical drama thriller film based on real events, directed, produced by, and starring Ben Affleck. The screenplay was adapted from the 1999 memoir The Master of Disguise by U.S. C.I.A. operative Tony Mendez and the 2007 Wired article The Great Escape: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran.  Here's a trailer ...

62. Moreover: TOO.

63. Helpful connections: INS.

64. Dog or wolf preceder: SEA.  There were many references for both Sea Dog and Sea Wolf, but here are two I found interesting ...

The Sea Dogs were a group of English privateers and explorers authorized by Queen Elizabeth I to raid England's enemies, whether they were formally at war with them or not. Active from 1560 until Elizabeth's death in 1603, the Sea Dogs primarily attacked Spanish targets both on land and at sea, particularly during the Anglo-Spanish War. Probably the most famous of these was Sir Francis Drake, who lead the British navy in their defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.  The defeat is commemorated in a poem called Drake's Drum by Sir Henry Newbolt and set to music by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.  My favorite recording of Drake's Drum is a  stirring rendition by Sir John Shirley-Quirk, which sadly is no longer available on Youtube. Here is an MP3 file of Sir John singing Drake's Drum, copied from one of my old CD's: 

Lyrics

The Sea-Wolf is a 1941 film starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield, based on a 1904 novel by Jack London,   It begins when fiction writer Humphrey Van Weyden and escaped convict Ruth Webster are rescued when a ferry they are traveling on collides with another vessel and sinks. They are rescued from drowning by the Ghost, a seal-hunting ship. The Ghost's captain is Wolf Larsen, who delights in abusing his crew ...

Cheers, and a Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to you and your loved ones!

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, November 21, 2024, Owen Bergstein & Shannon Rapp

  Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Today's constructors are Owen Bergstein and Shannon Rapp. Shannon is a veteran and Owen is taking his opening bow on the Corner.  Their theme was a little unusual today as it is ROW based rather than CLUE based.  To make that a little clearer I'll start with the reveal ...

62A. Tune that can soothe an aching heart, and a feature of rows 3, 5, 8, and 11 in this puzzle: BREAKUP SONG.  To try to make that a bit clearer I've snipped the aforementioned 4 rows out of the grid to make them easier to annotate (don't worry I'll put them back in a bit).  Also I've left the original clues and fill in their original locations below.

Here's ROW 3:
 

The first thing we observe is that our constructors' "break up songs" are not necessarily sad songs (a la maestro Neil Sedaka in our opening number).  They are merely "broken up" by a BLACK space.  The second thing is that they are genres of songs, not specific songs.  This is the a cappella group Pentatonix with a Christmas CAROL ...

Here's ROW 5:
 

Our genre is the DIRGE, a lament often sung at funerals.  Here's Buffy Sainte-Marie's rendition of the haunting Lyke Wake Dirge ...

Lyrics and explanation

Here's ROW 8:

An ANTHEM is a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause.  Here is a famous one by Canadian Leonard Cohen called simply Anthem.  He is one of my favorite poet/songwriters, but as he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, here is a cover of the song by fellow Canadian singer Eleuthera (and a CSO to CanadianEh!) ... 

Here's ROW 11:
 

Our final genre is one of the oldest musical forms, the BALLAD, a song that tells a story.  Here's a modern one by Bobbie Gentry -- her 1967 hit Ode to Billy Joe MacAllister ...

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Volleyball official: REF.

4. Nirvana genre: GRUNGE.  And right out of the gate we have an Easter Egg.   Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture which emerged during the mid-1980s in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal.  While Nirvana was the most commercially successful grunge group, there were many others, including several all female bands, e.g. L7.  Here's their Pretend We're Dead ...

10. Style alternative to MLA: APA. -- Modern Language Association vs American Psychological Association -- what's the difference?

13. "It's __ good": ALL.

14. Service provider based in Tehran: IRAN AIR.  Iran Air, officially known as The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the flag carrier of Iran, which is headquartered at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. As of 2024, it operates scheduled services to 72 destinations in Asia and Europe.  No service to the US as yet.

15. Gentle touch: PAT.

16. Transportation for those who are plugged in?: ELECTRIC CAR. [Half of a clue song]

18. World Cup cheer: OLE.  [The other half]

19. Former union members?: EXES.  All of George Strait's EXES live in Texas ...

20. Fix, as a sock: DARN.  Hand up if you still DARN socks?

21. Earnest request: PLEA.

22. Low point: NADIR.  [Half of a clue song]  The opposite of ZENITH.

24. "Take it elsewhere, lovebirds!": GET A ROOM.  [The other half]

26. Sequenced sequence: GENOME.  A GENOME consists of the sequence of all of the GENES in the DNA of a species, determined by a process called DNA sequencing.  A  massive 13 year multi-disciplinary project to sequence the entire human genome began in 1990 and gave rise to a new science -- GENOMICS.  Here is a brief overview of the project ...

28. __/her pronouns: SHE.

29. GLAAD, for one: NGO. GLAAD is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since expanded to queer, bisexual, and transgender people.

31. Lends a hand: AIDS.

33. Actress Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS.  Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and Black-ish (2014–2022) receiving nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the latter.  Ross is a daughter of actress and Motown recording artist Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein.

Tracee Ellis Ross

37. Cake decorator's substance: FONDANT.  [Half of a clue song]  Fondant icing, is an icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries. It is made from sugar, water, gelatin, vegetable oil or shortening, and glycerol. It does not have the texture of most icings; rolled fondant is akin to modelling clay, while poured fondant is a thick liquid. 

Wedding cake covered
and decorated with fondant

40. Toxic plant in the carrot family: HEMLOCK.  [The other half]  Conium maculatum, known as poison hemlock is a highly poisonous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. It is herbaceous without woody parts and has a biennial lifecycle.   It is a hardy plant capable of living in a variety of environments.  It is purported to have been used as the method for the execution for the philosopher Socrates, who was accused of the corruption of youth.

Poison Hemlock

42. Last one to cross the finish line: LOSER.  And all the others following the WINNER.

43. TikTok mashup, e.g.: EDIT.  TikTok allows users to create short videos, from 15 seconds up to a minute and which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music. To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms. 

45. Non opposite: OUI.  Today's French Lesson: "Yes".

46. Short time out?: NAP.  I try to get a "short time out" every day.

48. Focused while working: ON TASK.

51. Game also known as table soccer: FOOSBALL. [Half of a clue song]  Today's German lesson: "table soccer" =  "tischfußball"  The funny letter than looks like a B is actually a double S in German and so it was transliterated to English as Foosball,  a tabletop game loosely based on football (soccer on the other side of the Pond).  Its object is to move the ball into the opponent's goal by manipulating rods which have figures attached resembling football players of two opposing teams. Although its rules often vary by country and region when the game is played casually, competitive-level table football is played according to a unified code. Here's a brief clip from a competition ...

55. Pueblo material: ADOBE.  [The other half]  Adobe is a building material made from earth and organic materials.  Adobe is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of earthen construction, or various architectural styles like Pueblo Revival or Territorial Revival.  We tend to associate adobe with the American Southwest, but similar construction techniques are used throughout the world, e.g. in the Citadel of Bam in Kerman Province, Iran: the world's largest adobe structure, dating to at least 500 BC ...

Citadel of Bam, Iran

57. Woodwind commonly made of grenadilla wood: OBOE.  Let's see -- a 4 letter word for a woodwind. I wonder what that could be?  And a CSO to sumdaze for  reminding me that it's called an EKTORP.  Oh yes -- grenadilla wood?

Grenadilla wood cross section

58. Marketer's introduction?: TELE.  Classic misdirection -- TELE goes on the front end. 😀

60. Laundry pile emanation: ODOR.

61. Track unit: LAP.

62. [Theme reveal]

65. Private online convos: DMS.  Direct Messages -- A DM is a private mode of communication between social media users.

66. Lawn sign phrase: FOR RENT.

67. Korean automaker: KIA.  Kia Corporation was founded in May 1944 and is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. 

Kia Headquarters
Seoul, South Korea

68. "Gee ... ": SAY.

69. Thomas of the WNBA or Thompson of the NWSL: ALYSSA.  Alyssa Thomas of the Women's National Basketball Association ...

Alyssa Thomas

Alyssa Thompson of the National Women's Soccer League.

Alyssa Thompson

70. Equinox mo.: SEP.

Down:

 1. Issa of "Insecure": RAE.

2. Actress Pompeo: ELLEN.  Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is an American actress. One of the world's highest-paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on Forbes' year-end lists. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination.  She is best known for starring as the title character Dr. Meredith Grey in the long running ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy.

Ellen Pompeo

3. Geometric paper toys: FLEXAGONS.  In geometry, flexagons are flat models discovered by the British mathematician Arthur H. Stone in 1939 and were made popular by mathematician Martin Gardner in his Scientific American articles on mathematical games.  Flexagons are usually constructed by folding strips of paper, that can be flexed or folded in certain ways to reveal faces besides the two that were originally on the back and front.  They are usually square or rectangular (tetraflexagons) or hexagonal (hexaflexagons).  

Hexaflexagon

The geometry of flexagons can be extended to the folding of 3 dimensional surfaces studied in a branch of mathematics called knot theory.  The simplest example of such a fold is the trefoil knot ...
 

4. [I'm mad!]: GRR.

5. Brand with anti-ant products: RAID.

6. Free: UNCAGED.

7. Shiny shell material: NACRE.  Also known as mother-of-pearl --  this is how it gives birth.

8. Titans: GIANTS.

9. Make a blunder: ERR.

10. Olympian Ohno: APOLO.  Apolo Anton Ohno (born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019.   Here he wins 1,500-Meter Gold In 2002 ...

11. Diet inspired by hunter-gatherers: PALEO.  What is it and why is it so popular?  I'm sorry, but as writing hadn't been invented yet, I can't give you any recipes. 😀

12. Starters: A TEAM.

14. "Score!": ITS IN.

17. Give up: CEDE.

21. Green shampoo brand: PRELL.

23. Speckled horse: ROAN.  There are many breeds of ROAN horses.  This one is an Appaloosa ...

Appaloosa horse

25. "Beg pardon": AHEM.

27. Plant pest: MITE.  Of the many species of mites spider mites are the ones who are most damaging to plants.  They are members of the family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. Spider mites generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells as they feed.  Spider mites are known to feed on several hundred species of plants.  They look like this close up ...

Spider mite

29. Gp. with Lions and Bears: NFL.  National Football League.

30. Gunk: GOO.

32. __ guard: SHIN.

34. Compilations for fashion influencers: LOOK BOOKS.  In the over 50 men that Elaine Benes dated in the Seinfeld series, one of the most fashionable was J. Peterson, purveyor of his own eponymous LOOK BOOK ...

35. Critical hosp. area: ICU.  Intensive Care Unit -- the hospital destination for those with life threatening injuries transferred from the ER, or those recovering from serious surgeries.

36. Enjoy the slopes: SKI.

38. Thick: DENSE.

39. Many an Egyptian: ARAB.

41. Jazz legend James: ETTA. Here her Somethings Got a Hold On Me ...

44. Hong Kong currency: DOLLARS.  Here's how many Hong Kong Dollars you can get for one US Dollar.

47. Keep the beat?: PATROL.  A policeman making the rounds of the neighborhood -- from the idiom "pounding the beat".

49. Add to the family: ADOPT.

50. Rolls up to the front door?: SODS.  Up to the front porch, maybe. 😀 Also insulting British slang ...

51. Plays with 3-Down, e.g.: FOLDS.  Folds and unfolds a FLEXAGON.

52. "The Light We Carry" writer Michelle: OBAMA.  The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times is a nonfiction book written by Michelle Obama and published on November 15, 2022.  According to the Associated Press, the author "shares the contents of her 'personal toolbox' - the habits and practices, attitudes and beliefs, and even physical objects that she uses to overcome her feelings of fear, helplessness and self-doubt." 

53. "My bad!": OOPSY.

54. Untrusting: LEERY.

56. Bert's buddy: ERNIE.   Ernie gets Bert to exercise ... 

 59. __ out a living: EKES.

62. Deg. for creatives: BFA.  Bachelor of Fine Arts.

63. Spanish article: UNA.  Today's Spanish lesson: "One".

64. Space: GAP.

Cheers,

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, November 14, 2024, Lynn Lempel

 

 A SIMPLE THEME

Today veteran Lynn Lempel returns with a simple letter insertion theme.  Each of her 3 themers is clued with a perfectly reasonable question and the resulting 2 word fill is a pun on the clue, prefixed with the letter 

... which when removed results in a new in the language phrase.  This was a helpful theme and if you found the reveal it made the puzzle easier to solve.  Here are Lynn's themers ...

16A. Reason for copyright suits filed by Atari?: APING PONG.  I recall playing Atari's PONG in college back in the 60's at a local eatery in College Park, MD.   It was one of the very first video games.  I'm sure it was often imitated, but I don't know if Atari actually sued anyone for APING it. It was played on a computer controlled CRT mounted in a table top and looked like this ...

24A. Where squirrels stash treats?: ACORN HOLE.  Where else would they stash them?  OTOH Corn Hole is a game -- here's how it's played ... 

34A. Shenanigans in the physics lab?: ATOM FOOLERY.  The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists tell us that these shenanigans are a very dangerous game that the world is playing with itself.  But drop the A and Merriam Websters tells us it's all just playful or foolish behavior.  Let's hope MW is right!

47A. Rueful remark after losing on the Strip?: ALAS VEGAS.  Stop me if I've told you this before ... I don't gamble, but I was on a business trip in VEGAS years ago and decided to play the slots just for the thrill of it.  I cashed in a 5 dollar bill for nickels and played the slots until they were all gone.  After plugging my last nickel into that one armed bandit, I hit the jackpot and got them all back!  The next day I stacked them into neat piles and left them for the maid.  VEGAS has a way of bringing out generosity in people. 😀

Here's Lynn's reveal ...

57A. "Haven't seen that before," and an apt title for this puzzle: IT'S A FIRST.  Need I say more?

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:
1. Hit-the-water sound: PLOP.  Like this ...

5. Falafel bread: PITA.  Here's Dr. Sonali's recipe.

Falafel sandwiches

9. Bio. branch: ECOL.  Ecology (from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos) 'house' and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology addresses the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes that span the entire planet. 

Ecologists study many diverse and complex relations
 among species, such as predation and pollination.
The diversity of life is organized into different habits,

from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems.

13. Waiter's place: LINE.  CAFE fit, but didn't perp.

14. Japanese noodle: UDON.  SOBA fit, but didn't perp.  Here is the difference between the two.

15. Wassail spice: CLOVE.  Wassail is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation either involved in door-to-door charity-giving or used to ensure a good harvest the following year.  Here's Lauren's recipe.

Wassail

16. [Theme clue]

18. "The Right Kind of Wrong" singer LeAnn: RIMES.  Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and other musical genres.

19. Prehistoric tools: STONES.  This is a broad area of study and anyone wishing for a deep dive of prehistoric tools around the world might find this Wikipedia article interesting.  Closer to home are the stone tools developed by the Clovis culture, during the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years ago.  These indigenous Americans created spear points, hand axes, and other tools call Clovis points by flaking cryptocrystalline varieties of quart such as flint, chert, jasper, and chalcedony with deer antlers. Clovis points got their name from the high concentration of tools found in Clovis, New Mexico.  The tools were not only very functional, but many were quite beautiful ...

Clovis points explained

20. Pelvic bones: ILIA.  The ilium (pl.: ilia) is the uppermost and largest region of the coxal bone, and appears in most vertebrates including mammals and birds.

22. Dash of flavor?: MRS.  A Dash a day helps keep salt away.

23. "Impression, Sunrise" artist: MONET.  Impression, Sunrise is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet's hometown and is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement.

Impression, Sunrise
Claude Monet, 1872

24. [Theme clue]

  26. Vague quantity: ANY.

27. Kid-lit girl with a blueberry pail: SAL. Blueberries for Sal is a classic children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey in 1948. The story is set in Maine, following the adventures of a young girl named Sal and a bear cub named Little Bear as they both go blueberry picking with their respective mothers before winter. The book was awarded the Caldecott Honor in 1949.

First Edition cover

29. Allen who was the 2017 NFL Comeback Player of the Year: KEENAN.  Keenan Alexander Allen (born April 27, 1992) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears before leaving after his junior year. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft.  Allen won multiple rookie honors after setting Chargers' records for receptions and receiving yards by a rookie. In 2017, he was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Keenan Allen
Rookie year 2013

30. Amble: STROLL.

33. "The Sound of Music" range: ALPS.  Here's the inspiring finale of the movie ...

... in reality their hike in the ALPS was a diversion to keep the Nazis from realizing that they were leaving the country.  At some point in the hike they were able to reach a train station and they left the country by rail.

34. [Theme clue]

37. "12 Monkeys" network: SYFY.  12 Monkeys is a 1995 American science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetée. It stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer (who BTW also starred in 33A). Set in a post-apocalyptic future devastated by disease, the film follows a convict who is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.  Here's a trailer

39. Aboriginal emblems: TOTEMS.  Reports by European explorers of the totems of the Northwest coast Indigenous peoples date back at least to the 18th century.  They were a highly developed art at that time and the tradition of creating is returning.

40. Liquefies: PUREES.

43. "Gross!": UGH.

44. "1883" actor Elliott: SAM.  1883 is an American Western drama miniseries created by Taylor Sheridan that premiered on December 19, 2021, on Paramount+. 

47. [Theme clue].

50. Scale mark: OUNCE.

52. Retailer with an "Uncommon Path" blog: REI.  New to camping?  There's an app for that.

53. Make at work: EARN.

54. Worth remembering: OF NOTE.

55. Church official: ELDER.  In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices. In other Christian traditions (e.g., Presbyterianism, Churches of Christ, Plymouth Brethren), an elder may be a lay person serving as an administrator in a local congregation, or be ordained and serving in preaching (teaching during church gatherings) or pastoral roles.

57. [Theme reveal]

59. Like a cloud forest: MOSSY.  A cloud forest is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests.  Olympic National Park in Washington State, has a cloud forest called the Hoh Rainforest.  It's the wettest destination in the lower 48 US states, receiving 12–14 feet of rain per year, plus 30 inches of fog and mist. It is blanketed by moss and ferns.  

Hoh Rainforest
Olympic National Park

60. "Now you see it, now you don't!": POOF.

61. Side: TEAM.

62. Versatile celeb's feat: EGOT.  Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony -- here's a list of the winners.

63. Terminal points: ENDS.

64. Irish Gaelic: ERSE.  A Celtic language spoken in Scotland and Ireland.  What is Irish?

Pct. of those who said they could speak Irish
 in the Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland censuses of 2011

Down:

1. Resource stored in some banks: PLASMA.  In this case, blood banks.  Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but which contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume.  

2. Tazo alternative: LIPTON.  Lipton is a brand named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton who started an eponymous grocery retail business in the United Kingdom in 1871. The brand was used for various consumer goods sold in Lipton stores, including tea from 1890 for which the brand is now best known.  It was the brand preferred by my English Mum whenever she had a spot of tea.

3. Like a classic French soup: ONIONY.  Here's Jenn's classic recipe made with caramelized onions, rich beef broth, and toasty bread topped with melted cheese.

French onion soup

4. Pasta with lisce and rigate versions: PENNE.  DNK these variations.  Lisce (smooth) vs rigate (ridged) PENNE pastas both have ends cut like a quill pen, "penne" being Italian for "quilled".  

Rigate Penne pasta

And since the pasta's ready, here's a recipe for Penne Puttanesca (anchovies optional) to go with the French onion soup.

5. Young seals: PUPS. 

Awwwh!

6. Union agreement?: I DO.  And after 55 years we still do!

7. Fizzy mixer: TONIC.

8. __-Frisian: West Germanic language group: ANGLO.  Thank you perps! The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (English, Scots, Fingallian, and Yola) and Frisian (North Frisian, East Frisian, and West Frisian) varieties of the West Germanic languages.  Here is the distribution of the modern versions of these languages ...

Perhaps the best way to describe the relationships between these languages is this family tree ...

9. Country quartet __ Young Band: ELI.  Eli Young Band is an American country music band composed of members who met while students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas: Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (drums). Here's their Crazy Girl, the Billboard top country song of 2011 ...

10. As a rule: COMMONLY.

11. Cover some of the same territory: OVERLAP.

12. Diminishes: LESSENS.

15. Marsh bird: CRANE.  One particular species of this marsh bird, the Whooping Crane, was of special interest to Marylanders.   By 1964 only 42 of the birds were left in the wild and their prospects were grim.  In a effort to help the species survive, the Maryland Patuxent Wildlife Research Center established a breeding program using eggs taken from the remaining wild birds (it had been discovered that they usually laid 2 eggs, but only one would survive and removing the 2nd egg didn't harm the wild birds' prospects).  By the time the program ended in 2017 the Center had managed to rear 72 birds in captivity.  While we never got to see any of these magnificent creatures in Maryland, years later we were thrilled to see many in Texas on an aquatic birding trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where they migrate each Winter.  They are still endangered and the work to save them continues to this day.

Whooping Cranes
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

17. Reaches: GETS TO.

21. Peeve: IRK.  A verb. IRKS could also be a synonym for 17D

24. Up in the air: ALOFT.

25. Learns via the grapevine: HEARS.  That's where Marvin Gaye heard it ...

28. Sleeve tattoo spot: ARM.  If you're not into pain you can buy these a set of 6 of these faux tattoos from Amazon for only $4.99 + taxes and handling ...

Faux sleeve tattoos

30. Eye sores: STYES.

31. Bath bathroom: LOO. LAV fit but didn't perp.  Opinions are divided among Brits over which is preferred.

32. Seated yoga pose: LOTUS.  It's more than just sitting cross legged ...

34. "Sorry, but it's true": AFRAID SO.

35. Part of a right triangle: LEG.

36. Second Gentleman Doug: EMHOFF.  Not for long.  He didn't make it to First Gentleman, so his days as Second Gentleman are numbered.

37. "Stop with all those details!": SPARE ME.  TMI was too short.

38. Cake also called bûche de Noël: YULE LOG.  Here's Sally's recipe.  You've only got 41 days to make yours ...

bûche de Noël
Yule Log

41. Not just some: EVERY.

42. Copious quantity: SEA.

44. Unpopular camper: SNORER. 

45. Fills in for: ACTS AS.  In As You Like It Shakespeare suggests that we're all acting as ourselves.

46. Terse invitation to get together: MEET ME. 

48. Complain: GRIPE.

49. Writer Chekhov: ANTON.  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. His career as a playwright produced four classic plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard.  Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

Anton Chekhov

51. Wed: UNITE.

54. lummoxes: OAFS.  Our dinosaur agrees, finding only one 4 letter synonym for "lummoxes".

56. Inexact fig.: EST.

58. Grass farm output: SOD.

Cheers,

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley