Monday June 2, 2025 Zachary David Levy

  

Happy first Monday in June, everyone! sumdaze here. Today's theme is:

Solve Or Snafu?

The four themed clues are:

17 Across. Stark choice between success and failure: SINK OR SWIM.  

27 Across. Hunting dog's prized ability: SENSE OF SMELL.  

<sniffy (adj.) having or expressing a haughty attitude>

45 Across. Take baby steps, so to speak: START OUT SLOW.  

60 Across. Footwear without laces: SLIP ON SHOE.  

The unifier is found in the center of the grid:  

38 Across. Mayday call, or a pattern found in 17-, 27-, 45-, and 60-Across: SOS.  

No SOS is needed on this desSerted island.

I stumbled upon the S-O-S theme halfway through my solve so I used that schema to help fill squares. Doing so made the puzzle fit a Monday level despite what, in isolation, felt like some later-in-the-week level clues. Here is the completed grid:

I am impressed that ZDL did not reuse an O-word.

And now for the 72 other clues....

Across:

1. Greek pocket breads: PITAS.  

PITAS stuffed with falafel & tzatziki sauce

6. Word processor menu heading: EDIT.

10. Close pals, briefly: BFFS.  Best Friends Forever

14. "Would love to, but alas": I CAN'T.  I prefer clues where the style of the clue matches the style of the answer. Alas and CAN'T are not a good fit. Perhaps "Not gonna happen" would have been a better match.

15. Bilingual cartoon explorer on Nickelodeon: DORA.     and     47 Down. Thieving fox often scolded by 15-Across: SWIPER.  

Oh, I get it. Swiper is a thief who swipes (steals) stuff.

16. Western Pennsylvania city: ERIE.  At first I thought, "How am I supposed to know a 4-letter Pennsylvanian city name?" but then I thought, "Wait a minute....."  

Population = about 93,000 people

19. Latte spot: CAFÉ.  

not a laundry emergency variety of spot 

20. "Totally agree with you both": ME, THREE.  This one took me a bit to parse but I loved it after I finally saw how both indicated there were three people involved. ME, THREE is an extension of me, too.

21. Used the hose on: SPRAYED.  

Don't try this at home.
(We're not supposed to drink from the hose anymore.)

23. Lode load: ORE.  I like this homophone clue!

24. Not spicy: MILD.  The other day, my neighbor brought over some end-of-season mustard greens from his garden. I added two huge leaves to my smoothie. Yikes! It was spicy -- something I do not aim for in my smoothies.

26. Internet co. once known for mailing CDs: AOL.  I do remember when America Online used to send unsolicited advertising Compact Discs in the mail. I hung them in my garden to keep the birds out of my tomatoes.

32. Goatees, e.g.: BEARDS.

35. Lacking color: PALE.

36. Org. offering travel advice: AAA.  Organization and American Automobile Association

37. Starchy root in poi: TARO.  Poi is a traditional food in the Polynesian diet made from mashed TARO roots.

39. Percussion instrument: DRUM.  

Animal on the DRUMs

40. "__ your head!": USE.

41. Norse god who wields the hammer Mjölnir: THOR.  pronunciation:  miyOl-near

10 Things You Might Not Know about Thor's Hammer

43. Meeting outline: AGENDA.

48. Long stretch: EON.

49. Thwack: SWAT.

50. Canine "I'm happy to see you!": WAG.  Anyone have to take a WAG at this one?

53. Chinese canine: SHAR PEI.  The AKC describes them as loyal to family members but standoffish with strangers.

57. Ape: IMITATE.  We sometimes see this clue & answer reversed.

59. Bowling alley assignment: LANE.  Seeing "bowling" and "LANE" on a Monday reminds us of Boomer ... and his preference for bowling lanes.  😄

62. Sicilian volcano: ETNA.

63. Goodyear product: TIRE.  

Click to enlarge.

64. Home Depot purchases: TOOLS.  

65. Proof of ownership: DEED.

66. 12 months: YEAR.  pretty straightforward

67. "__ Mio": classic Italian song: O SOLE.  I like how happy Luciano Pavarotti seems to be at the thought of sharing this beautiful song with the audience.

Down:

1. "__ Beach and all the clams we can eat!": PISMO.  This one really surprised me because I am not sure how well known PISMO Beach is outside of California. (I guess I will find out in the Comments.) When I was growing up, my family often went on clamming trips to PISMO. We used to make cioppino (with the red broth) on the beach. This photo is of a PISMO clam I found in my grandfather's shed after he passed away. He had cleaned it out, glued it back together, and labeled it as being from 1971. You would be hard-pressed to find one this size today.  more about Pismo clams

 

The clue might refer to a Bugs Bunny skit called Ali Baba Bunny.

2. Not as friendly: ICIER.

3. Aunt, in French: TANTE.  Hi Monkey! I think we might have missed your birthday. Happy late birthday!!!  

4. Egyptian cross: ANKH.  I can always picture this but I forget how to spell it. I need a memory trick.  

5. Huffed and puffed: STORMED.  

Nice kicks, Mr. Wolf.

6. Old Ford models: EDSELS.  While not successful on the car lots, EDSELS found a second life in XWD puzzles.

7. __ Jones Industrial Average: DOW.

8. Colorful eye part: IRIS.

9. City across the bay from St. Petersburg: TAMPA, FL.  I quickly started to fill in T-A-M-P-A then wondered what to do with the two extra boxes.  

10. "Relax": BE CALM.  

11. Brouhaha: FRAY.  

12. High-pitched wind instrument: FIFE.

13. Crop starter: SEED.

18. Horse riding straps: REINS.  

22. Valentine bloom: ROSE.  CSO to RosE!

25. Conducts (oneself): DEPORTS.  Def:  (verb) to behave or comport (oneself) especially in accord with a code.

27. Sign at a sellout: SRO.  Standing Room Only

28. Post-WWII alliance: OAS.  The Organization of American States was established in 1948 as a regional organization aimed at fostering cooperation among countries in the Americas. Its origins trace back to earlier agreements that sought mutual defense and collaboration against aggression.

29. Make, as a salary: EARN.

30. Praise: LAUD.  You have probably heard the recommendation, Praise LAUD-ly in public. Criticize in private.

31. The Dalai __: LAMA.  

32. AC measures: BTUS.  Air Conditioning & the abbreviation for its measurement

33. Toward sunrise: EAST.

34. Region: AREA.

38. Tiny amount: SOU.  I was unfamiliar with this word. It is pronounced like the girl's name, Sue. I found this Cambridge Dictionary definition:  a very small amount of money. Ex.:  I don't have a sou. Vocabulary.com supports that by saying a SOU is "a former French coin of low denomination" and offering the example sentence He hasn't a SOU to his name. I am wondering if SOU always refers to a tiny amount of money.

39. Dawn droplets: DEW.  

Grateful Dead   ~   Morning Dew

a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson

41. Sporty car roof: T-TOP.

42. The best policy, per a proverb: HONESTY.  

43. Historic Texas site: ALAMO.

44. Took up, as a hobby: GOT INTO.

46. Look over again: REREAD.  What book have you REREAD lately? I just finished Simon Rich's latest book of short stories, Glory Days. Now I want to go back and REREAD his first book, Ant Farm.

50. "Yippee!": WAHOO.  WAHOO is an interjection used to express exuberance or enthusiasm, or to attract attention.

51. Ring-shaped island: ATOLL.  Basically, their shape is formed because of a volcano but there is more to it than just that.  Learn from National Geographic.

Click to enlarge.

52. Honking birds: GEESE.  It's gosling season!  So cute!

53. Snow day vehicle: SLED.

54. More than dislike: HATE.

55. Bancroft of "The Graduate": ANNE.  [1931-2005]  She was married to a Corner favorite, Mel Brooks, from 1964 until her death.

Bancroft with Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
Their eyes tell us so much about what they are thinking.

56. "Would __ to You?": BBC panel show: I LIE.  Here is a 3 min. clip to give you a taste of what the show is like (if you're interested):  

British humour

58. General __ chicken: TSO'S.  

61. 401(k) kin: IRA.

Signing Off Speedily,

sumdaze

Thursday, January 30, 2025, Zachary David Levy

 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 ... 😀

Icarus II

5. Religious offshoot: SECT.  There are approximately 10,000 religions in the world.  Christianity alone has an estimated 45,000 sects; in Genesis 1:28 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob said "Be fruitful and multiply", but I don't think that is what He had in mind!

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. 😀

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 😀...

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.

Haute couture models

41. __ bargain: PLEA.  

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. 

59. Bring on: EMPLOY.

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?😀

The Gleaners
Jean-François 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.

Taro roots

67. Used books?: READ.

68. Circular current: EDDY.  An eddy is a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind resulting when the current of a fluid doubles back on itself. 

An eddy

69. Look over: SCAN.

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 ...

9. Aloha shirt accessory: LEI.

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. 

Loki

19. Wyoming peak: TETON.  The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately 40 miles (64 km) in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, and most of the east side of the range is within Grand Teton National Park. 

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.

Dara Torres

25. No walk in the park: ARDUOUS.

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.

29. Sarcastic laugh: HAH.

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.

Kal Penn

31. Solid block: ICE.  BRICK and CONCRETE didn't fit so it had to be ICE right?.

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.

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.

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. 😀

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.

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.  

Amon-Ra St. Brown

I'd never heard of an actual saint with the surname of Brown, but the Wikipedia reveals that there were several in Europe called Bruno, which is Italian for 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!

54. Blemishes: SPOTS.

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.

Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani
Emir of Qatar

56. Lift: RIDE.

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.

waseeley