Friday April 12, 2024, Amie Walker and Wendy L. Brandes

Theme: "It had to be "U"

 

Puzzling thoughts:  

After solving this relatively easy collaborative puzzle (Amie Walker and Wendy L. Brandes) I did a quick head scratch:  what in the heck is the theme of this?  So, I looked at the reveal: 

40-across. "It was even funnier at the time," or a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: YOU HAD TO BE THERE

Was the word "YOU" (or the word "THERE") somehow connected to all of the three entries?  Let's examine them and see:

18-across. *Big moth: CHATTER BOX.  No, neither "YOU" nor "THERE" seemed to fit into this entry

24-across. *Theater debt: OPENING NIGHT. Nope, not here either, although "HAVING TO BE THERE" on OPENING NIGHT sort of makes sense

52-across. *Frozen state: ICE SCULPTURE.  Who, other than folks who live in the north and love the cold weather, would want to be "THERE" for an ICE SCULPTURE?  (well, maybe this guy - see video)

 

62-across. *Title bot: PRIZE FIGHT.  Maybe this one?  Uh, uh.  Nope

So what gives?  Well, look back at each of the four entry clUes:

*Big moth:  If the letter U is added to "moth" it becomes "mouth".  And a CHATTER BOX is indeed a "big mouth"

*Theater debt: If the letter U is added to "debt" it becomes "debut".  And an OPENING NIGHT is indeed a "theater debut"

*Frozen state: If the letter U is added to "state" it becomes "statue".  And an ICE SCULPTURE is indeed a "frozen statue"

*Title bot: If the letter U is added to "bot" it becomes "bout".   And a PRIZE FIGHT is indeed a "title bout"

And that, my friends, is how Amie and Wendy managed today's "add a letter"-themed puzzle! Adding the letter "U" allowed each of the clues to match their answers.  Well done, ladies!  

Here is the grid, and then we can tackle the rest of the "fill" ... 

 

Note from today's blogger:  If you would like to solve another puzzle today, please open the link below for one that's called "That's Heavy!"

 
Chris Gross Universal Puzzle

Across:

1. __ test: ACID.  BETA fits this, too, but I waited until I checked the other perps

5. Oft-poached pear: BOSC.  Strange clue but it works

9. With 9-Down, Thanksgiving dessert: PECAN (9-down. See 9-Across:) PIE.  PECAN PIE may not be the most popular Thanksgiving dessert (unless you're from the south) but it sure is tasty!

14. Arm bone: ULNA.  Moe-ku:

Some think the ULNA
Is the "funny bone". But that's
Not so humurus

15. Bar mixer: COLA. While the constructors did not choose to use a "clecho", it fits with (68-across. Fountain drinks:) SODAS.  Did anyone else flip these answers?  SODA and COLAS?

16. Fuming: IRATE.

17. Some baby shower honorees: DADS.  This must be a more "modern" answer; I had two kids and was not "honored" at either of their baby showers

20. "Da 5 Bloods" actor Whitlock Jr.: ISIAH.  This filled with perps and a WAG as I was not familiar with "Da 5 Bloods" movie - the trailer:

22. Cookbook writer Garten: INA.  She is fast becoming a part of crosswordese

23. Choose: OPT.

29. "Makes sense": I SEE.  What I may have uttered when I figured out today's theme

30. False front?: PSEUDO.  For some reason I initially spelled this "PSUEDO".  Across Lite (the puzzle software I use to solve these puzzles) does not have spellchecker installed

33. ETA provider: GPS.  Back in the day, GPS might have been clued: "Family doc's"

36. Parker products: PENS.  Moe-ku 2:

Spider-Man gave to
His groomsmen (as wedding gifts)
Peter Parker PENS

38. Made in Taiwan, say: ASIAN.

44. Cantaloupe, e.g.: MELON.

45. Close in anger: SLAM.

46. August hrs.: DST.

47. Beach city where Barbie's Dreamhouse is available for short-term rentals: MALIBU. This MALIBU resident had his fair share of "Barbie's".  For a show that was more than mildly misogynistic, it ran for multiple seasons on a major network ... this clip is from the Ashton Kucher years as being the star, and features MALIBU

50. Historic times: ERAS.

57. Toward the stern: AFT.

60. Spacewalk initials: EVA.  Not one of the Gabor sisters??  No, EVA stands for: ExtraVehicular Activity ... this, maybe (long):

61. Title with a tilde: SENOR. The tilde (~) is placed above the "N" in Se·ñor. It is an accent (~) placed over Spanish n when pronounced ny (as in señor) or Portuguese a or o when nasalized (as in São Paulo), or over a vowel in phonetic transcription, indicating nasalization

67. Falafel bread: PITA. Are falafel and hummus the same? [foodstruct dot com] says: "What are the main differences between Falafel and Hummus? Falafel is richer in Iron, Potassium, Vitamin B2, and Monounsaturated Fat, while Hummus is higher in Copper, and Vitamin B6. Hummus's daily need coverage for Copper is 30% higher. Hummus has 3 times less Vitamin B2 than Falafel. Falafel has 0.166mg of Vitamin B2, while Hummus has 0.064mg"

69. Char on a grill: SEAR. All you wanted to know about SEAR when grilling

70. "For real?": IT IS.

71. Setting for much of "The Mummy" franchise: EGYPT.  I may need to binge-watch this series.  "The Mummy" The movie "franchise" spans 8 decades 

72. Like a chimney sweep's clothes, maybe: ASHY.  Moe-ku 3:

Santa's ASHY coat
Caused sniffles. Was it 'cause he
Came down with the flue?

73. Wall St. index: NYSE.  NASDAC and S & P 500 did not fit into the four squares

Down:

1. Component of self-guided museum tours: AUDIO.  Who sells this?

2. Necklace fastener: CLASP.  I used to shudder when my ex asked me to help her put on or take off her necklace; I was never very good with THAT type of CLASP ... 

3. Nonstudio flick: INDIE.  As in, an "INDiEpendent" studio.  Last year's top Oscar-winner "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" was produced by INDIE studio A24

4. Fiji competitor: DASANI.  Not as in the island of Fiji (or a sports competition) but the bottled water.  But (off the top of my head; I did not research this) I believe that Fiji water actually comes from a source.  DASANI is bottled after reverse osmosis if I understand correctly

5. Secretly include, in a way: BCC.  Moe-ku 4:

When Johnny Hart sends
An e-mail, he will always
BCC BC

6. "I'm impressed!": OOH.  Your reaction to today's puzzle and/or blog??!!

7. Done in, as a dragon: SLAIN.  Here is the opposite (from a dragon's point-of-view)

8. Opposite of dogbane?: CATNIP.  Dogbane CATNIP

10. Add salt instead of sugar, say: ERR. As a kid, my older sister played an April Fool's "joke" on me by substituting salt into the sugar bowl.  Of course, unknowingly. I put a couple spoonfuls of this into my bowl of Cheerios ... 

11. Baja resort, familiarly: CABO.  CABO on Baja - things to do

12. Perched on: ATOP.  

13. "What else ya got?": NEXT.

19. Price points?: TAGS.  This reminded me of the 15 or so years I spent living in New England.  The term for offering things from your residence for sale differs in many parts of the country.  I had heard of "YARD SALE" and "GARAGE SALE", but when I lived in MA and CT, they called it a "TAG" SALE.  TAGS were required on each item to clearly mark at what price you were offering this

21. __ Heritage Month: September 15 to October 15: HISPANIC.  Why is it honored between two months? And those specific days?  Ides don't know ... can someone else help me?? 

25. Require: NEED.  When Margaret and I bought our house a couple years ago, we each separately wrote out our "wants and NEEDS; we matched on our NEEDS at 100%

26. Gallant guy: GENT.  

27. Products of thermal imaging: HEAT MAPS.  You know, if you add an "L" to MAPS and rearrange the letters, you get LAMPS ... which when placed behind HEAT gives a whole different product ...

28. Derriere: TUSH.  Ok, is it "TOUCH" or "TUSH" that ZZ Top is claiming they want to get when they are downtown ... 

31. Faded out: DIED.  I suppose this is a "kind way" to clue the word "DIED"

32. Sculler's tools: OARS.  When I was a member of the Jaycees (remember them fellow Boomers?) in MA, we helped sponsor an event on the Connecticut River for racing sculls.  Their ability to synchronize the OARS was amazing ... I couldn't find a video from that venue, but here is one you might want to watch 

33. Muscle building?: GYM.  Hah!  Muscle building in a muscle building!

34. Ada Limón work: POEM.  Unlike the Chairman, Ada chooses a much different kind of poetry than my haiku and limericks

Ada Limon

35. Toni Morrison's second novel: SULA. Fun fact:  SULA is also the name of a Russian river as well as the name of some Indonesian islands

37. "Help us!" letters: SOS.  And, an erstwhile hit song by the group "Abba"; both of which are answers often seen in xword puzzles

39. __ zero emissions: NET.  Can you be a climate hero?

41. Colorful Hindu festival: HOLI. This event has passed.  It was on March 25th. [Wikipedia] "Holi is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna

Moe-ku 5:

Radha and Krishna
Love to celebrate Spring with
Holly for HOLI

42. "Sacre __!": BLEU.

Moe-ku 6:

Camembert, BLEU, and
Roquefort were found on same plate.
A fromáge à trois?

43. Countess counterpart: EARL. What about the "duke of Earl?

48. Emmy-winning Ali Wong series: BEEF. A "Friday" clue, for sure

49. Certain travel doc.: US VISA. Don't think we will need one when we visit Italy later this year

51. Attempt to mediate: STEP IN. This sounds like something that would be more than to "mediate", IMO

53. Batting practice sites: CAGES. Could you make contact with this fastball? Not I

54. Harmony: UNITY. Does the Thesaurussaurus agree? Nope

55. Flatbreads made with atta flour: ROTIS. Not a word in my lexicon. [Wikipedia] "Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole wheat flour, traditionally known as gehu ka atta, and water that are combined into a dough. Its defining characteristic is that it is unleavened

56. Wipe clean: ERASE. "Wipe clean" is also a phrase a parent of a baby or toddler might use. So basically, they are just ERASING the poo??

57. Recess on a Catholic school campus?: APSE. Another paraphrased clue. The APSE is a recessed area in a chapel. Recess could also mean "a period of time when school kids get a break from classes"

58. Mesopotamian symbol of fertility: FROG. Ribbit, ribbit ... this guy?

59. Neat: TIDY.

63. Cook in the microwave: ZAP. Time for another comic strip?

64. Rough fig.: EST. Or, winter hours in Washington, D.C.

65. "Shows you!": HAH. The phrase I uttered when I "got" the theme today

66. Attempt: TRY. Hope that your attempt at the puzzle was a positive one

And we are done! Look forward to YOUR COMMENTS below. Hope, too that you are able to try MY PUZZLE @ Universal. See you in a couple of weeks

Friday, December 22, 2023, Wendy L. Brandes & Amie Walker

Theme: WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

Puzzling thoughts:

Full confession ... yours truly, Chairman Moe, was on a recent holiday visiting some of my family back east. And upon return, and with a deadline to meet for his blog, Moe is going all "Cliff Notes" with the recap. Probably not fair to Ms. Brandes and Ms. Walker, as their puzzle today had a very interesting theme and reveal ... but Moe will give it his best shot, as always ... on to the themers:

18 across. *Place that experiments with soup recipes?: PHOTO LAB. Notice, too, the TWO circles ... more about those, later

32 across. *Curling team's specialty?: PERFORMING ARTS. Notice, too, the three circles ... circles, FOUR a change - more about that in a MOE-ment

39 across. *Penalty boxes?: TEMPERATE ZONES. Notice, too, the three circles in letters seven, EIGHT, and nine (in this entry)

And the reveal? 57 across. Balances, or, phonetically, how to make 18-, 32-, and 39-Across match their clues?: EVENS OUT.

So, if you look at the circled letters in each entry they spell out "TO", "FOR", and "ATE". Each of those are the phonetic pronunciation of "TWO", "FOUR", and "EIGHT". Three "EVEN" numbers. And when you take the "EVEN (number)S OUT", the entries match their clues ... a PHO LAB might be where a soup chef - not to be confused with a "sous" chef - would experiment with different recipes and ingredients. Wonder if this guy ever experimented there??

The second entry had Moe a bit confused as his original thought about "curling" was the Olympic sport. But Wendy and Amie had other ideas ... when the letters "FOR" are removed, the "curling team" specialty is PERMING ARTS ... this, maybe?

Fittingly, to throw me off (after I thought curling was the ice rink sport), was the clue "penalty boxes?" that led to TEMPER ZONES (when the letters "A, T, and E" were erased). And as anyone who has witnessed a hockey game, the penalty box is kind of a "time out" spot for players who engaged in a brief moment of bad temper ...

Here is the completed grid; then on to the rest of the clues!

Across:
1. Tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Or if split into a two-word answer, the clue might've been: German boy's affirmative to his father?

7. Cannabis compound: THC. TetraHydroCannibanol (C21H30O2). I did a double-take here; thought it said "cannibal compound" and I was thinking "POT". How about a cannibal on cannabis?

10. Grabber in an arcade game: CLAW.

14. Out of bed: ARISEN.

15. Ingredient replaced by applesauce in some recipes: OIL. Any cooks/bakers out here who can confirm this?

16. Participated in a bike-a-thon, say: RODE.

17. Check again: RE-TEST.

20. Oscar of "Moon Knight": ISAAC. All perps for this man with two first names

21. Geological periods: EPOCHS.

22. ABBA classic: SOS.

23. Humble homes: HUTS. HOVELS wouldn't fit

25. Fate: KISMET. [vocabulary dot com] "When you encounter something by chance that seems like it was meant to be, then it could be kismet, your destiny". KISMET is also the name of a Broadway musical which debuted in my birth year

29. Trait carrier: GENE.

30. Gimlet need: GIN. [clecho alert!!] 61 across. Gimlet need: LIME

31. Spanish bear: OSO.

36. Big rig: SEMI.

37. "Montero" singer Lil __ X: NAS.

38. Employs: USES.

44. Brown, for one: IVY. This clue threw me off until the perps arrived; Brown is the name of an IVY League school located in Rhode Island

45. 128 oz.: GAL. Actress Gadot would've worked, too

46. Swag bag contents: LOOT.

47. Accept an extension: RE-SIGN. Note the hyphen, as RESIGN would mean to quit

49. "Eww!": BLEH. Glad to see that the constructors didn't use a five-letter word for this clue ...

50. Boy: LAD.

53. "Beats me!": NO CLUE. What I usually say when trying to solve a Saturday puzzle; here, at Newsday, or at NYT Crosswords

55. Boxer Ali: LAILA. She is as famous as her dad when it comes to crossword puzzle clues for Ali

60. Silverware wrap: NAPKIN. Too fancy for me; I prefer my silverware to be unwrapped

62. Old lang.: LAT. LAT is also the name of the newspaper that syndicates this puzzle

63. Cool-weather lining: FLEECE. The verb meaning is much different ... as this now decade-old Moe-l'ick suggests [a bit risque]:

A young hooker ran into a priest,
Shortly after her "John" had deceased;
She confessed, she had sinned,
But she felt no chagrin,
There were scores from his flock she had FLEECEd

64. Goad: SPUR.

65. Expected: DUE.

66. Girls: LASSES.

Down:
1. City Hemingway called "a moveable feast": PARIS. Once again, perps to the rescue

2. Defensive retort: ARE SO. AM, TOO fits

3. Flatbreads served with labneh: PITAS. Labneh is a yogurt-based spread

4. On the briny: ASEA. Crossword-ese

5. Response in the kitchen: YES, CHEF. Does this entry seem forced to you? I've not worked in a kitchen at a restaurant, so I wouldn't know if this retort is common ...

6. Pantry pest: ANT. And if not in the pantry, then surely at a picnic ...

7. Issuer of a Mickey Mantle card sold for a record amount: TOPPS. [espn dot com] "The wait is over. After more than a month of fanfare, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card with a 9.5 grade from grader SGC -- the "finest known example" of a 1952 TOPPS Mantle -- has sold with Heritage Auctions for $12.6 million including buyer's premium. It's the most ever paid for any sports item, card or memorabilia"

8. Sunny greeting: HI HO.

9. Press for time?: CLOCK IN. Clever clue

10. Symbol on the Swiss flag: CROSS.

11. "haha": LOL.

12. Poet laureate Limón: ADA. Another proper name filled by perps and a WAG

13. Part of a mitt: WEB. This; the part between the thumb and first finger:

19. Whatsis: THING.

21. Never-ending: ETERNAL.

24. __, dos, tres: UNO.

26. Code creator: MORSE. SOS is ... --- ...

27. "The Hundred Dresses" Newbery honoree Eleanor: ESTES. Another proper name

28. Shovel pass, e.g.: TOSS. Shovel pass as in football; a humorous look:

29. "Get a __!": GRIP.

30. Princess of "Enchanted" and "Disenchanted": GISELLE. Is it me or were there a bunch of obscure proper names in today's puzzle? Maybe that is a (32 down. Pet-ty offense?:) PEEVE. [Another clever clue]

33. TV awards: EMMYS.

34. Small rug: MAT.

35. May, to Peter Parker: AUNT. Spiderman reference

36. Mix things up: STIR.

40. Easy-to-make waffles: EGGOS.

41. Lost heat, as a shower: RAN COLD.

42. "Special Ops: Lioness" actress Saldaña: ZOE. [see my response to 30 down]

43. "Fan-cee!": OOH LA LA!. Like a NAPKIN-wrapped around silverware

48. __ Hebrides: INNER. Islands off of Scotland; I recently found a new single-malt Scotch whisky from the Isle of Raasay which is located in the INNER Hebrides (MalMan, please note)

49. Montana city named for a landform: BUTTE.

50. Taps a heart button, say: LIKES. An option on Facebook

51. Writer Munro: ALICE. [wikipedia dot com] "Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013"

52. Many Lego House employees: DANES. Lego building blocks were invented/created in Denmark; Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen

54. Feast with haupia and poi: LUAU.

56. Gibbons, e.g.: APES.

57. Lauryn Hill trio?: ELS. Ahh, clever; there are 3 "L's" in this clue Lauryn HiLL

58. Short "Kind of a big deal": VIP. Odd clue; but I guess a VIP is "kind of a big deal", person-wise

59. Outback bird: EMU.

60. Giants and Titans org.: NFL.

Sorry to be so brief and have no Moe-ku's or Moe-l'icks ... maybe next year ... Wishing all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas (three days from now). See you in 2024!