Missing the Point
Today's constructor (and neurosurgeon) Dr. Zachary David Levy, presents us with 3 three theme clues filled by two word metaphors ...
17A. Complicated and potentially sensitive subjects: THORNY QUESTIONS.
28A. Shrewd one: SHARP COOKIE.
46A. Fruity drink with a kick: SPIKED PUNCH.
... and this reveal ...
60A. Failing to grasp the obvious, maybe, and what 17-, 28-, and 46-Across are?: MISSING THE POINT. The reveal was not at all obvious to me and I consulted 2 other other Cornerites before Malodorous Manatee came up with a plausible and quite subtle interpretation -- the reveal is a meta clue: "All three answers contain an element of sharpness (thorn, sharp, spike - things that can jab/stab someone) but they are idioms that do not, in and of themselves, have anything to do with being jabbed/stabbed (difficult, smart, laced with alcohol). so they are missing the point." Thank you Joseph!
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. "When __ fly!": PIGS. "When pigs fly" is an adynaton, a way of saying that something will never happen. The phrase is often used for humorous effect, to scoff at over-ambition. But then never say never -- on November 4, 1909 British aviation pioneer (and humorist!) John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara made a flight in his aeroplane with small pig in a waste-paper basket tied to a wing-strut, proving that indeed "pigs can fly". The Baron's porcine pioneer was named Icarus II, who for this feat saved his bacon ... ๐
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| Icarus II |
9. Celebrate: LAUD. Clever clue. "Celebrate" here doesn't mean to throw a party, but rather to "praise", LAUD being a word from Latin meaning praise -- e.g. "Today we laud the Roman poet Ovid for his contribution of the word ODE to crosswordese". Lauds is also the old name for Morning Prayer, a set of Psalms and scripture readings that many Catholics begin each day in praise of God.
13. Each: A POP.
14. Pale as a ghost: ASHEN.
16. "Sesame Street" regular: ELMO. ELMO made some news recently when he asked on Twitter "How is everyone doing?" CNN reported that he received over 180 million responses ...
17. [Theme clue]
20. Events with mutton busting: RODEOS. A CSO to Chairman Moe for reminding me about Crossword Tracker, a database of clues and answers that reveals that this may be the first time this clue has ever been used for this fill. Google however does know about it -- Mutton busting is an event held at rodeos similar to bull riding or bronco busting, in which children ride or race sheep. Here are the Mutton Bustin' highlights from the San Antonio Rodeo on Feb. 10, 2024 ... 21. Color: DYE.
22. Shoe front: TOE. -- or P. Martin Shoemaker, the front (or editor) of the Treetops Tatler, a popular liner for the floors of bird cages. ๐
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| P. Martin Shoemaker |
23. Aquatic mammal: OTTER. Otters are one of the more adorable species of crosswordese. And of course English otters are the most adorable ๐...
24. Intimidates: DAUNTS.
27. Lav: LOO. Britspeak -- the LAV is where you'll find the LOO. The first is a place, the second is a euphemism, which may or may not have originated in Victorian times.
28. [Theme clue]
33. Trimmer's target: BEARD.
34. Civil rights org.: NAACP. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, Ida B. Wells, Lillian Wald, and Henry Moskowitz. Over the years, leaders of the organization have included Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins.
35. Flight assignment: GATE.
38. __ couture: HAUTE. Haute couture (French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. In France the creation of Haute couture is actually regulated by the state to insure the quality of clothing products, much like the Appellation system insures the quality of French wines. Here we see Haute couture fashion models walk the runway during New York Fashion Week.
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| Haute couture models |
42. Graphic that typically has HI and AK in insets: US MAP. Here's a contiguous US MAP with HI and AK not shown as insets ...
44. Gets rid of: OUSTS.
46. [Theme clue]
49. Topper: CAP.
52. Better half: SPOUSE. This expression has been around at least since the 1500's. My favorite diminutive for a SPOUSE is used by Welshmen who throughout their lives refer to their wives as "my new bride". Perhaps it has gone out of fashion, as Google's AI was unable to find it.
53. "I'm at your disposal": USE ME. 59A me!
55. Notable time: ERA.
58. Autograph, briefly: SIG. Here are some famous autographs.
60. [Theme reveal]
64. Notion: IDEA.
65. Gather, as information: GLEAN. Long before information was gleaned, the poor used to gather grain left over for the harvest, as shown in this famous painting. Can you find the Easter egg in the artist's last name?๐
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| The Gleaners Jean-Franรงois Millet |
66. Tropical tuber: TARO. Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures (similar to yams). Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. Here are some things you should know if you want to try it.
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| Taro roots |
68. Circular current: EDDY. An eddy is a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind resulting when the current of a fluid doubles back on itself.
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| An eddy |
Down:
1. Reconnaissance group: PATROL. As has been reported here before, the first known reconnaissance mission is reported in the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter 13. But the skills and technology at the disposal of recon teams has improved considerably since then. Probably the most famous modern recon patrol was Operation Neptune Spear conducted by Navy Seal Team 6 to assassinate Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
2. Bygone picture-editing app: IPHOTO. iPhoto is a discontinued digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. It was included with every Mac computer from 2002 to 2015, when it was replaced with Apple's Photos application
3. Treating properly: GOOD TO. Practicing the Golden Rule, common among many religions.
4. Free-for-all: SPREE.
5. Blurts out: SAYS.
6. Letters on some business cards: ESQ. In the United States, esquire (often shortened to Esq.) is a title of courtesy, given to a lawyer and commonly appended to his/her surname ( e.g. , John Smith, Esq. or John Smith, Esquire) when addressing the lawyer in written form. A CSO to Jason and Susan!
7. "Crazy Rich Asians" director Jon M. __: CHU. Crazy Rich Asians (note -- no comma after Crazy) is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. It follows a Chinese-American professor, Rachel, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick and is shocked to discover that Nick's family is one of the richest families in Singapore ...
8. Got ready for a drive: TEED UP. A golf ball TEED UP and ready to drive ...
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10. Tons: ALOT.
11. "Yeah, I don't think so": UM NO. Would you make up your mind!?
12. Rx information: DOSE.
15. Bass group?: NSYNC. Clever clue. This perped in, but I didn't know that Lance Bass was a singer in the boy band 'N Sync. Here's their It's Gonna Be Me ...
18. Like Loki: NORSE. The god Loki is a trickster in Norse mythology.
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| Loki |
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| The Tetons and the Snake River Ansel Adams |
24. Olympic swimmer Torres: DARA. Dara Grace Torres (born April 15, 1967) is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008), and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team.
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| Dara Torres |
26. Some dailies: SOAPS. Not news publications but soap operas, daytime dramas or soaps for short -- long-running radio or television serials, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns. The longest running American soap was the Guiding Light, with a combined run on radio and television from 1937 to 2009 with a total of 18,262 episodes. See 51D for more about soaps.
30. Penn of "House" and the White House: KAL. Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration as the Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement.
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| Kal Penn |
32. Ecol. watchdog: EPA.
33. Egg crackers: BEAKS. Among the birds that eat the eggs of other birds are the Fish Crow, the American Crow, and the Blue Jay.
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| Ovivorous Blue Jay |
35. Gloomy guy: GUS. The term Gloomy Gus originated from a comic strip character created by Frederick Burr Opper, an American cartoonist. The term was first used in 1904.
36. Nile reptile: ASP. Legend has it that Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt committed suicide by subjecting herself to the bite of an ASP. This famous painting shows her trying out different methods of execution on condemned prisoners, ostensibly to find the least painful method, should she ever need to take her own life.
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| Cleopatra testing poisons on condemned criminals Alexandre Cabanel 1823-1889 |
37. Short "Didn't need to hear that!": TMI.
39. Adjust: TUNE.
40. Top-left keyboard key: ESC. Among the many advantages of being a leftie. ๐
43. One side in the cola wars: PEPSI. We're non-aligned in these wars -- we don't drink colas.
45. Dull sound: THUMP.
47. Not just talking about: DOING. "Actions speak louder than words, but not nearly as often" -- Mark Twain, et alia.
48. Designer dog crossbreed with a black snout: PUGGLE. A puggle is a portmanteau of PUG and BEAGLE. The official breed originated in the 1990s in the United States, but it wasn't initially by design.
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| Puggle |
49. __ disease: gluten intolerance: CELIAC. Celiac disease is an illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten. Gluten is a protein found in foods containing wheat, barley or rye.
50. Detroit Lions Pro Bowl receiver __ St. Brown: AMONRA. Amon-Ra Julian Heru John St. Brown (born October 24, 1999) is a German-American professional football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans and was selected by the Lions in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft. St. Brown was voted to the Pro Bowl from 2022 to 2024, and was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and 2024.
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| Amon-Ra St. Brown |
51. Place name in 1960s TV: PEYTON. As in Peyton Place, an American prime-time soap opera that aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964, to June 2, 1969, for a total of 514 episodes It had an all star regular cast and many guest stars. With Peyton Place, ABC hoped to bring the success of the British serial Coronation Street to America. The latter started in 1960 and as of this post it's still running, with a total of 11,474 episodes. The next longest Brit soap is Emmerdale, which started in 1972 and is currently at 10,193 episodes. The Brits love their soaps!
55. Doha dignitary: EMIR. Doha is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar, an Arabic country located on the Persian Gulf. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani is Emir of Qatar, reigning since 2013.
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| Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani Emir of Qatar |
57. Way out there: ASEA.
59. Wee: EENY.
61. Down in the dumps: SAD.
62. "Ideas change everything" org.: TED. Sometimes for the better, sometimes to no effect, and sometimes for the worse.
63. Bamboozled: HAD.
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.
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