Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Robin Stears

A Riot a Minute:  The first word of each theme answer, including the unifier, is a description of a type laughter.  Several of these terms seemed a bit antiquated to me.

17-Across. Canned responses featured on many classic sitcoms: LAUGH TRACKS.

. 

28-Across. Alcohol, in 1920s speakeasy slang: GIGGLE WATER.  I was not familiar with this term.  It even predates my parents.

46-Across. Egg, in diner slang: CACKLEBERRY.  I was not familiar with this term, either.  Apparently, Cackleberry is a slang term for a hen's egg because it is a combination of the word "cackle" (the sound a hen makes), and "berry", which is roughly the shape of an egg.

And the unifier:

59-Across. Bozo, and a feature of 17-, 28-, and 46-Across: CHUCKLEHEAD.  Also known as a blockhead.

Any other laughs?

Across:

1. Curved segments: ARCS.

5. Happy shout: HOORAH!

11. Scoreboard figs.: PTS.  As in Points.

14. Actress Petty: LORI.  Lori Petty (b. October. 14, 1963) was in many films in the 1990s.

Then and now.

15. Saint of Ávila: TERESA.

16. Nev. neighbor: ARI.  Arizona is the neighbor of Nevada.  The Hoover dam is on the border of these two states.  Hi, Lucina!

19. Bled, as dyed fabric: RAN.

20. Fix a sloppy cartographer's work: REMAP.

21. Generic painkiller: ASPIRIN.  The active ingredient of aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid.  It is derived from willow bark and has been known to relieve pain for over 3,500 years.  Aspirin, that we purchase from the drug store was developed in the late 1890s by chemist Felix Hoffmann (Jan. 21, 1868 ~ Feb. 8, 1946) at Bayer.  Aspirin taken in large quantities, however, can cause gastric bleeding.

23. Fictional lion whose name is Turkish for "lion": ASLAN.  Aslan is a major character in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis (né Clive Staples Lewis; Nov. 29, 1898 ~ Nov. 22, 1963).

24. Course for intl. students: ESL.  As in English as a Second Language.  This has become a crossword staple.

26. Shape of a tornado: CONE.

27. Cowboys, on scoreboards: DAL.  Think football and the Dallas Cowboys.

32. Attempt: STAB.

34. "__ too shabby!": NOT.

35. Rather thick: DENSE.

36. Share a border with: ABUT.

38. Needs one more candle on one's cake: AGES.

39. Jackrabbits, e.g.: HARES.  Jackrabbits are hares, but are not rabbits.

41. Peach or coral: HUE.

42. Milky gemstone: OPAL.  Everything you ever wanted to know about opals.

49. Quaint "Hurry up!": HIE.

50. Rich person's suffix: -AIRE.  Hand up if you are a Billionaire.

51. Stat that may increase with a homer: ERA.  As in Earned Run Average.

52. Love, in Torino: AMORE.  Today's Italian lesson.

54. Before daybreak: PRE-DAWN.

57. Striped African antelope: ELAND.

58. Touchdown hr.: ETA.  Not football, but flying in a plane.  Estimated Time of Arrival.

63. Oil field structure: RIG.

64. Force: COMPEL.

65. Buy in, in poker: ANTE.  //  And 66-Across. Call, in poker: SEE.  //  And 1-Down.  Winner takes __: ALL.

67. __ rasa: blank slate: TABULA.  Today's Latin lesson.

68. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB.  Stay is career-making song Lisa Anne Loeb (b. Mar. 11, 1968).  The song was from the movie Reality Bites, and was the first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 for an artist without a recording contract.

Down:

2. Greets like a tiger: ROARS AT.

3. Villain de Vil of "101 Dalmatians": CRUELLA.

4. Greek letter on the AutoSum button in Excel: SIGMA.

5. URL intro: HTTP.  We had this recently.  HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

6. Poetic "above": O'ER.

7. Pop star Rita: ORA.  Rita Sahatçiu Ora makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzle.  She is a British singer, actress, television personality, and fashion icon.  She was born in Kosovo in 1990.

8. Think back to: RECALL.  Do you have total recall?

9. Gives a proper "Jeopardy!" response: ASKS.

10. Locking device: HASP.

11. Colorful, chatty birds: PARROTS.

12. Company noob: TRAINEE.

13. One seeking redemption: SINNER.

18. Put up, as art: HANG.

22. "Just watch me!": I CAN SO!

23. Some Super Bowl highlights: ADs.

24. Awards "quadruple crown": EGOT.  The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Awards is often seen in the puzzles. 

25. PD rank: SGT.  As in Sergeant in the Police Department.

29. Occupied: IN USE.

30. Groundskeeper's tool: EDGER.

31. Tiny: WEE.

33. Spoke in a husky voice?: BARKED.

37. "The Fresh Prince of __-Air": BEL.  A Will Smith sit-com that ran in the 1990s.

38. Subtle glow: AURA.

39. Scrunchie, for one: HAIR TIE.

40. Farm measure: ACREAGE.

41. Feminine pronoun: HER.

43. Bus. card info: PHONE NO.

44. Broadcast time: AIR DATE.

45. Gymnast Suni: LEE.  Suni Lee (née Sunisa Phabsomphou Lee; b. Mar. 9, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast.  In the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, she was the all-around gold medalist and won the bronze medal on the uneven bars bronze medalist.

46. Tangy buds in chicken piccata: CAPERS.  Everything you ever wanted to know about capers.

47. Deaden: BE NUMB.

48. Ivy university featured on "Gilmore Girls": YALE.  I never watched Gilmore Girls, but Yale was an obvious fit.

53. Taj __: Indian tourist site: MAHAL.

55. Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT.  As in Account.

56. "OMG!" kin: WHOA.  Really?

57. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA.  Ella Summer Reed Purnell (b. September 17, 1996) is a British actress who began her career as a child model.

60. PC core: CPU.  As in Central Processing Unit.

61. Kenan's former comedy partner: KEL.  Kenan and Kel was a sit-com from the late 1990s that starred Kenan Thompson (b. May 10, 1978) and Kel Mitchell (né Kel Johari Rice Mitchell; b. Aug. 25, 1978).  Kenan later went on to star on Saturday Night Live.

62. "Smitten Kitchen Every Day" cookbook writer Perelman: DEB.  I am not familiar with Smitten Kitchen Every Day.  Apparently, the Smitten Kitchen began as a cooking blog.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

White Rabbit on this First Day of July.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 Dan Kamman and Zhouqin Burnikel

Broken Noses.  Today's puzzle is brought to us by our blog hostess C.C. and Dan Kammann.  A Beak is an informal term used to describe a nose, often a large nose.  Each theme answer begins with the letter B and ends with the letters EAK, thus the word BEAK is "nosing" around the answer.

18-Across. Fast talker's torrent: BLUE STREAK.

24-Across. Short mental rest: BRAIN BREAK.

My idea of the perfect brain break.

38-Across. British dish named for frying sounds: BUBBLE AND SQUEAK.  Bubble and squeak is a hearty, one-pan recipe that makes the left over potatoes, vegetables, and meat.

54-Across. Lean red meat choice: BISON STEAK.

And the unifier:

60-Across. Do some snooping, and a feature of 18-, 24-, 38-, and 54-Across: NOSE AROUND.  A Nosey Parker is one who noses around.

What else can we nose around and find?

Across:

1. Horse hoof sound: CLOP.

5. Chore: TASK.

9. Shade-tolerant plant with broad leaves: HOSTA.

14. Great __: big dog: DANE.  Is it also a Top Dog?

15. Amazon berry enjoyed by toucans: ACAI.  This berry is becoming a crossword staple.

16. Yarns: TALES.

There is some tale in that yarn.

17. The "S" of GPS: Abbr.: SYST.  Global Positioning System

20. Raison d'__: ÊTRE.  Today's French lesson.

22. Mouse catcher: TRAP.

23. Earthbound Australian bird: EMU.

27. Come to a halt: STOP.

28. Actor Cariou: LEN.  I didn't recognize the name, but I do recognize the face of this Canadian actor.  Len Cariou (né Leonard Joseph Cariou; b. Sept. 30, 1939) often appeared along side Angela Lansbury (Oct. 16, 1925 ~ Oct. 11, 2022) in Murder She Wrote.

29. "That hits the spot": AAH!

30. Dorky sort: NERD.

32. Hit "+" on a calculator: ADD.

33. Activist/filmmaker Newsome: BREE.  Bree Newsome (née Brittany Ann Byuarm Newsome; b. May 13, 1985) is best known for her act of civil disobedience when she removed a Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house in 2015.

35. Founded: Abbr.: ESTD.  As in Established.

43. Combustible heap in a funeral rite: PYRE.

44. God, in Notre-Dame: DIEU.  More of today's French lesson.

45. "Single Lady" comic Wong: ALI.  Ali Wong (née Alexandra Dawn Wong; Apr. 19,1982) makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.

46. Sale caveat: AS IS.

49. Word before a maiden name: NÉE.  A continuation of today's French lesson.

50. Utah's cap.: SLC.  This was my head-scratcher until I realized that the capital of Utah is Salt Lake City.

51. Beer ingredient: MALT.  To make beer, you need four basic ingredients: water, malted grains, hops, and yeast.  Malt is a cereal grain, most often barley, that has been steeped in water, allowed to germinate, and then dried, a process called malting. Malting converts the grain's starches into sugars, making it a key ingredient in beer.

57. Org. on tubes of toothpaste: ADA.  As in the American Dental Association.

58. Bonnet-sporting Berenstain Bear: MAMA.

59. Reseals, as a road: TARS.

64. Completely destroy: RAZE.

66. Cook on a barbecue: GRILL.

67. Campus sports gp.: NCAA.  As in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  Congratulations to the LSU baseball team the 2025 NCAA National Champions!  Geaux Tigers! 

Geaux Tigers!

68. Smell: ODOR.

69. Lower leg joint: ANKLE.

70. Watched warily: EYED.

71. General __ chicken: TSO'S.  One version of the origin of General Tso's Chicken.

Down:

1. LP successors: CDs.

2. Wore a hoodie over a sweater over a shirt, e.g.: LAYERED UP.

3. Ready when needed: ON STAND BY.

4. __ dish: shallow lab container: PETRI.

5. Soda can opener: TAB.

6. Oft-torn knee pt.: ACL.  As in the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, which is one of the major ligaments in the knee.  This injury appears often in the puzzles.

7. Fry in a pan: SAUTÉ.

8. "A Real Pain" Oscar winner Culkin: KIERAN.  I recognized Kieran Culkin (né Kieran Kyle Culkin; b. Sept. 30, 1982) from his portrayal of Roman Roy in Succession.

9. URL starter: HTTP.  HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

10. Rower's blade: OAR.

11. Icy rain: SLEET.

12. "I love you," in Spanish: TE AMO.  Today's Spanish lesson.

13. Invite to the roof deck, say: ASK UP.  //  And 31-Down. Ask for: REQUEST.

19. "For Pete's __!": SAKE.

21. Makes possible: ENABLES.

24. Spill the beans: BLAB.

25. Like many trees in winter: BARE.

26. Actress Perlman: RHEA.  Rhea Perlman (b. Mar. 31, 1948) is best known for her portrayal of Carla on Cheers.

27. SoCal home of the Aztecs: SDSU.  As in San Diego State University.

34. Put the kibosh on: END.  Kibosh is a fun word.

36. Promos intended to spark curiosity: TEASER ADS.

37. Texas attraction with lions and tigers: DALLAS ZOO.

39. Rotten kid: BRAT.

40. Purple pet on "The Flintstones": DINO.

41. Caught in the act: SEEN.

42. Field goal attempt: KICK.

47. Letter-shaped girder: I-BAR.

48. Gymnastics great Biles: SIMONE.  Simone biles (b. Mar. 14, 1997) has 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals.

51. "Tokyo Ghoul" genre: MANGA.

52. Deck out: ADORN.

53. Vision-improving surgery: LASIK.

55. Pert: SAUCY.

56. Deck with a Lovers card: TAROT.

58. Like brothers: MALE.

61. Building wing: ELL.

62. "Sorry, lassie": NAE.  Today's lesson in Scottish dialect.

63. Father: DAD.  We celebrated Father's Day earlier this month.

65. Hosp. triage areas: ERS.  As in Emergency Rooms.

Here's the grid:

חתולה