Thursday, December 31, 2020, Richard Shlakman & Brad Wilber

 

Happy New Year's Eve, cruciverbalists!  In what has been a trying year, our final puzzle seemed, fittingly, to be a bit trying for a Thursday.  Perhaps it was just the fatigue factor but it appeared to this solver as if this puzzle had more than its  fair share of "forced" fill (word fragments, abbreviations and the like) and these required some time to work through.  

Fortunately, the theme was fairly easy to identify and that helped out.  In other words:

That Part Made Cents

First, the unifier: 

67 Across: Items that can circulate or be tossed ... as illustrated in this puzzle's six sets of circles:  COINS. 

At six places within the grid, in both Across and Down answers, the word COIN can be formed by unscrambling adjacent circled letters.

17 Across:  Birder's gear: BINOCULARS

Watch The Birdie

30 Across:  California county where Fort Bragg is: MENDOCINO

The Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino

47 Across:  Barrier-breaking report: SONIC BOOM  A loud noise is sometimes called a "report" and the clue also refers to the sound barrier.

Chuck Yeager  -  B: 13 February 1923  D: 07 December 2020

63 Across:  State capital about 100 miles from Sacramento: CARSON CITY  By automobile, the state capital of Nevada, Carson City, is roughly 135 miles from Sacramento,  the state capital of California.

10 Down:  Chance to plead one's case: DAY IN COURT.

29 Down:  Tip of a toy arrow, often: SUCTION CUP.

Well, those are the themed answers.  Now, let's take a look at the rest of the puzzle:

Across:

1. Potential fodder in a libel lawsuit, briefly: BAD PR.  At the risk of being served with a libel lawsuit, I thought that BADPR (BAD Public Relations) was, to coin a phrase, a bad way to get the ball rolling.

6. Sackcloth material: HEMP.  The reference is often to "sackcloth and ashes" with the sackcloth traditionally being made from goat hair.

10. Reduces, as glare: DIMS.

14. Lexus competitor: ACURA.  An automobile reference.

15. Avocado shape: OVAL.  Avocados are, however, three dimensional and an oval is two dimensional.   Obovate would, perhaps, have been a more precise answer but it would have necessitated other changes.  Fruit Shapes

16. "Stress cannot exist in the presence of __": Mamet: A PIE.  The quote begins:  "We must have a pie."  I have no familiarity with this quote.  I have no difficulty embracing the philosophical stance.

19. Afghan constitution?: YARN.  A bit of misdirection in that the first impulse might be to assume that the clue was referring to the laws of the country that lies at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.  Instead, the clue refers to the composition of an eponymous knitted blanket.

Misdirection

20. Newspaper VIPs: EDS.  EDITORS  Being a writer is enjoyable but being an EDITOR is more rewording.

21. Possessed by Shakespeare?: HADST.  When we see constructors fall back on Elizabethan English may we assume that they got stuck?

22. Bathroom fixture: BIDET.  This is the first time that I recall seeing this particular bathroom fixture in a crossword puzzle.  A BIDET is a sensible idea if borderline inappropriate for a crossword puzzle.  If you do not know what one is then you might want to ask Mr. Hankey to explain.

23. Overwhelm: AWE.

24. "Young Sheldon" star Armitage: IAIN.  While I enjoy "The Big Bang Theory," I am far less familiar with the "Young Sheldon" spin-off and I was previously unaware of anyone named IAIN.  Still, I suppose it would be good to remember this constructor-friendly (four letters, three vowels) name. 

26. Laundry cycle: RINSE.

35. Nonalcoholic beer brand: O'DOUL'S.

37. Crimson, e.g.: RED.  There are many shades of red represented in the English language.

38. What the nose knows: ODOR.   The clue is nice play on words.  I once tried to buy perfume from a vending machine but it was out of ODOR.

39. Soft mineral: TALC.  What did the Moh's Scale say when it was feeling down?  "I don't want to TALC about it." 

40. Mortar and pestle stone: AGATE.

42. Sports org. whose name once included "Lawn": USTA. The United States (Lawn) Tennis Association

43. Shoot the breeze: CHAT.  CHAT is also French (masculine) for cat.

44. Bon __: MOT.  A Bon MOT is a witty remark.

45. Upset, as a plan: DERAIL.

50. Eye sores: STYES.  It seems like a good idea to eschew the graphics for this one.

51. Scandinavian royal name: OLAF.  We often have to wait a bit to determine if the answer is going to be OLAF or Olav.

52. Apr. addressee: IRS.  Our good friends at the Internal Revenue Service.

54. Fogg's creator: VERNE.  Phileas Fogg was a character featured in Jules VERNE's "Around The World In Eighty Days".  He also made an appearance in an episode  of "Have Gun Will Travel" (season 4, episode 12) .

57. Count with a band: BASIE.    ... and a one, and a two, and hit it ...

Count Basie - Blazing Saddles

59. "That __ close!": WAS.

62. Lindros in the Hockey Hall of Fame: ERIC.

Eric Lindros

65. Prego alternative: RAGU.  Very often, one of these brands of sauce is clued by referring to the other.

66. Polar chunk: FLOE.

68. "Don't dawdle!": ASAP.  As Soon As Possible

69. Bygone GM line: OLDS.  We often see Ransom Eli OLDS in puzzles.  It usually has something to do with, or the answer is, REO.

70. Ryegrass fungus: ERGOT.

Down:

1. Innocent: BABE.

That'll Do Pig.  That'll Do.

2. Prilosec target: ACID.  Oh, stomach ACID.  This could have been clued Orange Sunshine or Window Pane.

3. Hassles for payment: DUNS.

4. In favor of: PRO.

5. Ray who hosts the Yum-o! virtual cooking camp: RACHAEL.  We often see RACHAEL Ray's pet name for extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO, in crossword puzzles.

6. Poker variety: HOLD EM.

7. Mendes and Gabor: EVAS.

The Gabor Sisters

8. Taskmaster: MARTINET.  This is not a word that we often see, or hear, but it seems like a good addition to our crossword vocabulary.

9. Letters from a polite texter: PLS.  Texting "shorthand" has provided a great many possibilities for constructors but, PLS, enough already, with this sort of thing.

11. Tablet at a Genius Bar: IPAD.  To solve this, it helped to know that the tech support station at an Apple Store is called The Genius Bar.  Most people do.  If not, the perps likely filled it in.

12. Boggy area: MIRE.  Fen has too few letters and Swamp has too many.  Moor might have seemed to work out for a while.

13. Posted: SENT.

Gromit

18. Assembly line gp.: UAW.  The United Auto Workers Union

22. Prefix with mass: BIO.  The combined BIOmass of bacteria on Earth is more than a thousand times that of  the combined BIOmass of all humans.

25. Went on to say: ADDED.  Sometimes, too much is ADDED.

Joe Jones - 1960

26. University mil. programs: ROTCS.  Has anyone before seen the plural of Reserve Officer Train Corps ?

Navy ROTC

27. Twin Falls' state: IDAHO.

28. "Dunkirk" director Christopher: NOLAN.  One might have clued this answer with a reference to this gentleman:

Nolan Ryan

31. Muse of poetry: ERATO.  We often see one, or more, of the Nine Muses in crossword puzzles with ERATO being the most commonly spotted.

32. "My guess is ... ": ID SAY. 

33. Casual remark?: NO TIE.  This must be a reference to Casual Fridays.

34. Intense exams: ORALS.  An academia reference.  This clue really tees it up but this manatee shall, reluctantly, pass.

 

36. Latin steps: SAMBA.  A dance reference.  Both Tango and Rumba would have fit but neither would have worked out.

41. Cut-up: GOOFBALL.  Not a cooking reference.  Both the clue and the answer are synonyms for a silly person.

46. Bottom line: ESSENCE.  A bit of a stretch in the cluing but not completely goofy.

48. The Cavs, on ESPN crawls: CLE.  The CLEveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team.

49. Air balls, e.g.: MISSES.  In basketball jargon, a shot that MISSES everything, and hits neither the backboard nor the rim, is called an Air Ball.

53. __ Grande: RIO.  I first thought of TACO Grande by Weird Al.

54. __ Bradley bags: VERA.  VERA Bradley bags are well known in some circles.

55. Named stretches: ERAS.

56. Latvian seaport: RIGA.

58. J.Lo's partner: AROD.  Alex RODriguez played twenty-two seasons of major league baseball but he might be even more famous for his relationship with Jennifer Lopez.

59. Kristen of 2016's "Ghostbusters": WIIG.

Kristen Wiig Ghostbusters Vignette

60. 8 for O, e.g.: AT NO.  At no time would my first guess have been that this was a reference to the ATomic Number (NO) of Oxygen.  However, by the third or fourth guess it became clear.

61. Betting aid: Abbr.: SYST.  As with PLS, above, I did not care much for this abbrvtn.

63. Fiscal exec: CFO.  Chief Financial Officer

64. __ anglais: English horn: COR.  By definition.   The COR Anglais originated in neither England nor France but, rather, in Silesia circa 1720.

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That completes the work on our puzzle, and completes our puzzle work for the year, leaving one more question:

_________________________________________

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MM OUT 

 

Notes from C.C.:

 

I'm very sad to inform you that Gail Grabowski, our regular L.A. Times crossword constructor passed away on Christmas eve.  See here for her obit.  Thanks for the link, TTP.  In addition to her many solos, Gail collaborated many puzzles with Bruce Venzke over the years.

 

 

Thursday, December 17, 2020, Jim Holland

 

Good morning, once again, cruciverbalists.  As you may recall from C.C.'s note on last Thursday's blog, Bill (waseeley) and yours truly will now be writing the recaps on alternating Thursdays.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bill, and Boomer, for shouldering much of the past and future work load.

Theme:  Equivalency - Perhaps, E Equals M C Squared ? - Not

He was, justifiably, a difficult man to impress but, be that as it may, today's theme is quite clever if you're into sort-of-weird-word-play.  For this crowd, that, however, is pretty much a given.  Remember, also, that this puzzle comes from the person who played around with vowel sounds and morphed The Grateful Dead into The Grateful Dud, referred to the Detroit baseball team's salary structure as Pay Per Tiger and introduced us to the vocal styling of the Three Tanners.

At three locations within the puzzle, Jim has placed quantitative answers which, when taken together with the key word(s) in the clue, combine to form an equivalent name for a well-known object or place.

17. Equivalent Stanley award?: EIGHT OUNCES.  MM's first reaction was "What the"?  However, the light slowly dawned.  There are EIGHT OUNCES in a full measuring cup.  Combine CUP with STANLEY, et voila, we get Stanley Cup which is the National Hockey League's trophy awarded to the playoff champions.  STANLEY EIGHT OUNCES = STANLEY CUP   

Lord Stanley's Cup

39. Equivalent Scotland locale?: THIRTY SIX INCHES.  A yard is a measurement defined as being three feet, or THIRTY-SIX INCHES, long.  Make the substitution and we get SCOTLAND YARD which is the headquarters locale of the London Metropolitan Police.  SCOTLAND THIRTY SIX INCHES = SCOTLAND YARD  

61. Equivalent type of horse?: FIVE NICKELS.  A nickel is worth five cents.  FIVE NICKELS are worth a quarter of a dollar.  Following along the previous path we come upon a QUARTER HORSE which is a breed of horse named for its dominance in quarter-mile races. FIVE NICKELS HORSE = QUARTER HORSE   

...and now on to the rest of today's puzzle

Across:

1. "Vice" (2018) Oscar nominee Amy: ADAMS.  Right off the bat, a reference with which this solver was totally unfamiliar and a proper noun at that.  Thanks, Jim (sarcasm) or perhaps the editor.  Thanks, perps (not sarcasm).

6. Pairing: UNION.  Two weeks ago we had SCAB.  Today we have UNION.

11. __ water: TAP.  A fill-in-the-blank with many possible answers (e.g. Evian, mineral, hot, potable, soda, seltzer, heavy, etc.).  Fortunately, the three-letter constraint put a cap on the number of possibilities. 

14. Jazz pianist Chick: COREA.  This one was a gimme and, for what seems like the ten thousandth time, reconfirmed my love/hate relationship with proper nouns in crossword puzzles.

15. Fit provider: HONDA.  Misdirection.  Neither a personal trainer nor a tailor but, rather, an automobile.  The Honda Motor Company describes their Fit model as "a small car ready for big adventures."

The Honda Fit

16. Gulf st.: ALA.  ALAbama  The abbreviation for "state" tells us that the answer is also an abbreviation.  Sometimes "st." might stand for "street" or "saint" but in that case it is usually capitalized.  Of course, by convention, the first word of every clue is capitalized and some sly constructors play on that.

19. Storage unit: BIN.  This one felt a bit "off" in that a bin is not really a unit of anything.  In this case, the BIN, itself, is the unit.  Still, "I Love You a BIN and a Peck" is not a song from Guys and Dolls.

20. __-Caps: candy: SNO.

21. Memo opener: IN RE.  IN RE means "in regard to" or "in the matter of".  

22. Went up: SCALED.  SCALE has several different meanings.  Music.  Reptile skin.  A device for weighing.  But in this instance it is a mountain climbing, or a workplace, reference.

24. Produce: CREATE.

26. Venue that may sell naming rights: ARENA.  I wonder how this has worked out for the sponsors who each paid handsomely (estimated at $20 million  - $25 million per year) to have the new NFL ARENAs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas named for them.

27. Forward, in a way: RE-MAIL.  Not "to the front" or an NBA player or overstepping the boundaries of good taste.  Instead, it is another almost-made-up word formed by sticking RE in front of a verb.  I am sure that you were able to RE-solve this one.

30. Take different paths: PART.  

32. Cake decorators: ICERS.

33. "The Ra Expeditions" author Heyerdahl: THOR.   Appropriate for a Thursday, n'est ce pas?  While Heyerdahl successfully demonstrated that it was possible for a primitive raft to sail across the Pacific Ocean, DNA evidence now shows that his theory about Polynesian origins was incorrect.

35. MSN and AOL: ISPS.  Internet Service ProviderS

42. Japanese sandal: ZORI.  When I was just a kid, in the summer we wore those cheap synthetic sandals that bruised the space between your big toe and the adjacent toe.  We called them ZORIs but had no idea as to the origin of the word.

43. Not taxing: EASY.  This one was.

44. Cuban boy in 2000 headlines: ELIAN.  ELIAN Gonzalez was the subject of a much-publicized custody battle involving the governments of the United States and Cuba.  Public opinion was, as they say, highly polarized.

45. Thickener in Asian desserts: AGAR.  I always forget which one is the thickening agent (AGAR) and which one is the banned apple growth-regulator spray (Alar). 

47. They may be special or secret: AGENTS.

Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers - 1966 

48. Passionate dance: TANGO.  From the sort-of-sublime to the ridiculous (unless you're into this sort of thing) - Tom Lehrer's The Masochism Tango.  I am not sure when he wrote it but I first heard it on a album that was released in 1959.

The Masochism Tango 

51. Bouts: SPELLS.  Perhaps, as in fainting SPELLS.

54. Off-topic: AFIELD.  Originally, the expression "Far AFIELD" referred to physically coming from a long ways away.  Now the term is also applied in reference to scientific, intellectual, and other, pursuits.

56. Ohio border lake: ERIE.

Lake Erie

57. Anonymous party: DOE.   John DOE.  Jane DOE.  Sometimes ROE.

60. __ service: LIP.  Again, the three letters made it a bit easier.  Although it could have been TEA service it clearly was not going to be POSTAL service or FOREST service or ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET service.

64. Mound stat: ERA.  A baseball reference.  A pitcher's Earned Run Average is computed by multiplying the total number of earned runs that the pitcher has given up by nine and then dividing that product by the total number of innings pitched.

65. Long-stemmed mushrooms: ENOKI.   Know your mushrooms, campers, some are toxic...and some are psychoactive.

Enoki Mushrooms

66. Some South Pacific carvings: TIKIS.   TIKI bars/lounges were very popular in the 1930's - 1960's.  Some are still operating.

67. Court unit of at least six games: SET.  A tennis reference.

68. Search for water: DOWSE.  DOWSing is a type of divination employed in an attempt to find groundwater.   Despite some anecdotal reports of success, it has never been proven to work. 

69. "Mad Men" pool member: STENO.  According to Hollywood's take on the corporate culture of the 1950's, women started their careers in the STENO Pool or Secretarial Pool and men started in the mail room (no pun intended).

Down:

1. Blackjack cards: ACES.  If a player's first two cards are an ACE and a picture card or a ten, then the player has a "natural blackjack".

Blackjack

2. "Whatcha __?": DOIN.  The slanginess of the clue clues us into the fact that the answer will also be slangy.  Still, not the high point of this puzzle.

3. Cornstarch brand: ARGO.

4. Indifferent reaction: MEH.  MEH.

5. Stephen Colbert, for one: SATIRIST.  Not to be confused with a slightly dyslexic sitarist.

6. Enterprise officer: UHURA.  A Star Trek reference.  UHURA was the communications officer aboard the Starship Enterprise.

Lieutenant Nyota UHURA

7. Large chamber group: NONET.  The more or less standard instrumentation of a NONET is flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass.  If Jim had needed a leading M we would have seen Monet.

8. Fortune competitor: INC.  First, we have to figure out that FORTUNE is referring to a magazine and not a pile of money.  INC. is also the name of a business-focused magazine.

9. 2016 work by Pulitzer poet Sharon Olds: ODES.  I am not familiar with this poet.  Thanks, again, perps. 

10. Org. with a long track record?: NASCAR.  A clue meant to be taken quite literally.  The "ORG" tells us it will be an abbreviation and the "track record" bit steers us in the right direction.  National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

11. Put on ice: TABLE.  We might think of cooling a beer or a soda but, nooooo.  Both the clue and answers are colloquialisms for delaying a decision.

12. Strange: ALIEN.

13. World Wildlife Fund logo animal: PANDA.

18. New law student: ONE L.  A first-year law school student is sometimes called a ONE L. 

23. Things, or written things: ARTICLES.  The thing is, this was a very well written clue.

24. Baby transport: CARRIAGE.  I always have trouble with that "extra" A.

25. Bond creator?: EPOXY.  More misdirection.  Re-misdirection?  Fortunately, neither Ian nor Fleming nor U.S. Treasury  was going to fit in the allotted space.

27. Big name in hotels and crackers: RITZ.  Should you elect to combine the two, it would be a good idea to tip the housekeeping staff generously if you leave crumbs all over the room.

Puttin' On The Ritz - Young Frankenstein

28. Lingering effect: ECHO.  One of the best-ever takes on ECHO is Stan Freberg's version of the Elvis classic Heartbreak Hotel.

29. Golda of Israel: MEIR.  Born in Kiev, and raised in Milwaukee, Golda Meir served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974.

31. MSNBC analyst Melber: ARI.  Another unfamiliar proper noun for this solver - probably because of my lack of cable/satellite television.

33. Romanov royals: TSARS.  A hundred years have passed and yet humans are still fascinated by the former Russian royal family.

34. Casual hellos: HIS.  Didn't we have a similar clue with the exact same answer last Friday?

36. __ guard: SHIN.  Another fill-in-the-blank clue.  Praetorian was not going to fit.

37. Fuel from a bog: PEAT.  This Marine mammal loves the qualities of PEATed Scotch Whisky and, even with flippers in lieu of hands, could write volumes on stills, malting barley, barrel aging, distilleries, etc.  Those of you who share this passion should feel free to email the Manatee.

38. Taxpayer IDs: SSNS.  Social Security NumberS

40. Pro vote: YEA.   Yes, although we always have to also consider that AYE might be the answer.

41. Pays no attention to: NEGLECTS.

46. Hit the links: GOLFED.  Several regular contributors here likely got this one in an instant.  Links became synonymous with GOLF because a links golf course is the oldest style of GOLF course.  Types of Golf Courses  This clue plays on the past tense/present tense duality of the verb - in this instance, "hit".  Bet, cut, fit, put, set, wed and hurt are other verbs that allow constructors to attempt to mislead us.

47. Others, to Ovid: ALII.  Et Al is the abbreviation not only for Et ALII (masculine plural) but also for Et Alia (neuter plural) and Et Aliae (feminine plural).

48. Grimm accounts: TALES.  A bit of playfulness with the double-m in the first word of the clue.  Always up for an MM (or an M&M) moment.

49. Pumped up: AFIRE.  I suppose it could be as in "She was AFIRE with enthusiasm."   Went through AMPED up and even FIRED up before getting this one.

50. Go after, puppy-style: NIP AT.

52. Sneaks a look: PEEKS.

53. Orange half of a "Sesame Street" duo: ERNIE.  There is still some debate as to whether or not Bert & ERNIE are a gay couple or if they are just best friends.  According to the writer, Mark Saltzman, they are a couple . . . and  writers can mold their characters into anything that they wish them to be.

Ernie & Bert

55. Purple pet in old cartoons: DINO.  The Flintstones' dog-like pet was a small dinosaur named DINO (dee no).  Not to be confused with one of these guys.

Dino Desi & Billy

57. Fake in the rink: DEKE.  In ice hockey, a DEKE is a move that causes an opposition player to move out of position.  The derivation is from decoy.

58. Lena of "The Reader": OLIN.  At least this proper noun has been seen several previous times and the actress is fairly well known.

59. Exxon, formerly: ESSO.  ESSO is the phonetic version of S. O. or Standard Oil.

62. Sacred promise: VOW.

63. Assembly-required boxful: KIT.  Also a young fox.  This fox was photographed a couple of years ago by yours truly roughly one hundred feet from where I composed this write-up.

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MM OUT