Theme: "ALL righty then ..."
Puzzling thoughts:
Today's Friday offering from Zachary Edward-Brown (who, after doing some research, appears to be a newbie constructor - having had published puzzles this year in both Universal and AV Club) features the type of puzzle that our Irish Miss 🍀loves almost as much as she does a puzzle that contains a plethora of three-letter words, abbreviations, and uncommon names: the add/subtract a word/letter with corny clues 😜
Ok, that being said ... let's look at the "good", the "bad", and the "so-so" that Zachary provided us today:
As my theme heading suggests, the word ALL appears once in three of the across entries and twice in another. We'll get to that in a Moe-ment ...
As the reveal in 53-down. states: "Bold poker play, and an apt title for this puzzle:" ALL IN is the bold move Zachary uses to change the meaning of the entry phrases. How? Let's check out the entries:
18-across. Performance in which dancers avoid center stage?: SIDE BALLET. In this example, the word all changes the familiar term side bet to fit the clue. A side bet is usually one made at a Texas Hold'em table after one of the players goes "all in". A side bet can be made by the remaining players who have called the "all in" bet, and that wager does not affect the outcome of the other
31-across. Fearlessness shared by characters such as Rocky and Rambo?: HEART OF STALLONE. By far, my favorite of the entries. Perhaps my all-time favorite add/subtract clue/answer. Well done Zachary! How about a little Rolling Stones "Heart of Stone" to bring this one home?
40-across. Decide it's time to harvest oniony bulbs?: CALL THE SHALLOTS. This entry is the outlier as it has the word ALL in two places of the answer: after the first letter (Call) and word of the phrase, and again in the word shallots. "Call the shots" is the phrase that's being punned, and in keeping with what appears to be a gambling theme (the reveal is a poker term, as is the first entry), this phrase, too, can be used in various forms of wagering. Have you ever played "HORSE" in basketball?
58-across. Vehicle built for Yao Ming and Shaq?: TALL-MOBILE. And then this entry threw all of the monkey wrenches into the mix, as the word, minus the "all", T-Mobile, has nothing to do with gambling. It is a wireless phone carrier service and internet provider ... although some users of that provider might say that you're "gambling" with getting good coverage
So, the good: HEART OF STALLONE (as well as the phrase "SNAIL MAIL" and the word "HOLYOKE")
The bad: TALL-MOBILE (as well as the entries of "HTC", "EEL POT", "T-BEAM", "ODOR EATER" and "E-BOAT")
The so-so: SIDE BALLET (that phrase just doesn't make any sense) and CALL THE SHALLOTS (due to its use of the word "all" twice) as well as the entries: "IMAGO" "A LOT" "ESAU", "ABC NEWS", and "BEEP" (as clued)
Overall rating for this one: ⭐⭐ and 1/2⭐
Perhaps one of the clued entries that was left on the cutting room floor:
00-across. Convention activity for clowns that involves creating blown-up animals from colorful latex?: BALLOONDOGGLE
Here is the grid ...
Across:
1. "Casablanca" role: ILSA. Some SparkNotes for ILSA Lund
5. Postop therapy: REHAB.
10. Sound from R2-D2: BEEP. meh
14. Family nickname: NANA. My maternal grandparents were called "NANA and Gramps"
15. Insect stage: IMAGO.
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IMAGO = The adult stage |
16. Syllables repeated in Rihanna's "Umbrella": ELLA. Fast forward the video to the 1:20 mark to find the refrain that repeats the syllables, ella ella eh eh eh
17. Place for Jazz players to practice: UTAH. Utah Jazz basketball team (NBA)
[entry #1]
20. Take to the hills?: SKI. Something my fellow Friday co-blogger, Malodorous Manatee, has done often this past ski season
21. Like supernovas: HOT. Hot? Ya think?
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Literally, an exploding star |
22. Some flight destinations: ATTICS. Not a fan of the plural use of the word attic, but the clue was very clever
23. Underwater trap: EEL POT. Moe-ku #1
25. Digging: INTO.
27. Pig's place: STY.
28. Needs to: MUST. As opposed to "wants to" --- and its somewhat related clue/answer from 25-down: Refuses to bargain: INSISTS.
29. Holiday melodies: NOELS. Some biblical history on the use and meaning of the word Noel
[entry #2]
37. Voyage: TRIP.
38. Flair who was the first wrestler to complete the WCW's Triple Crown: RIC.
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Also known as, "The Nature Boy" |
39. Noisy commotions: ADOS.
[entry #3]
45. WWII craft: E-BOAT. German "fast attack craft" known as Schnellboot. The British donned it "E"-Boat with the "E" standing for enemy
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Schnellboot |
46. Oaf: BOOR. I tried "clod" until I knew it wasn't correct
47. Dockworker's gp.: ILA.
50. Part of BPOE: ELKS.
51. Purchase that's worth a shot: CAMERA. I really wanted the word here to be "whisky"
54. Amount after deductions: NET PAY. Moe-ku #2:
56. "Your point being?": AND.
57. Feel sick: AIL.
[entry #4]
61. Etc. kin: ET. AL. Fun Faux Fact: the abbreviation et. al. really stands for (Extraterrestrial Aliens)
62. Biblical twin of Jacob: ESAU. Moe-ku #3
63. "Bam!": KAPOW.
64. Alien-seeking org.: SETI. Fun Fact: This doesn't mean: Seeking English Translators Intergalactically
65. Suffix that means "without": LESS. Moe-ku #4:
66. Les __-Unis: ETATS. Mandatory foreign phrase entry
67. Prefix in some juice names: CRAN.
Down:
1. Unavailable: IN USE. As opposed to this:
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Not in use |
2. Potato pancake: LATKE. Not to be confused with:
 |
Any "Taxi" fans out here?? |
3. Delivery for those who haven't gone paperless: SNAIL MAIL.
4. Spa sigh: AAH. If you didn't look carefully, you might have thought the clue said: "Spa sign"
5. Starchy dish that requires attentive stirring: RISOTTO. How to be a risotto master:
6. Radiate: EMIT.
7. Bore: HAD. Took me a while to suss this ... think of birthing a child, and now re-read the clue and entry ...
8. Grow old: AGE.
9. Bubbly drink?: BOBA TEA. In this case, I think the word "bubbly" should have been in quotes, and the clue does not include a question mark. The "bubbles" in boba tea refer to tapioca beads, not CO²
11. "Black-ish" star Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS. This person. To be perfectly honest, I have never seen this actor in any of her movies and/or television series
12. Put in office: ELECT.
13. Gullible one: PATSY.
19. Bikini, for one: ATOLL. Here is some interesting history regarding the atoll called Bikini
21. Emcee: HOST.
24. Color of Fear in the "Inside Out" films: PURPLE. This one solved via perps, but I have seen this animated short from Pixar. Just didn't recall that the Color of Fear was purple
26. "Take it down a __, please": NOTCH. "It's creepin' a bit"
30. Super G event, e.g.: SLALOM.
31. Taiwanese electronics co.: HTC. High Tech Computer corporation
32. Cy Young stat: ERA. All of Cy Young's stat's
33. "Let your __ flag fly": FREAK. An idiomatic phrase that refers to being singular and expressive
34. Shoe insert: ODOR EATER. A lot of us carp about certain words or phrases in crossword puzzles being erroneously pluralized; but in this case, I've never heard of the branded name product used to mask the smell in one's shoes called by its singular ... they're always referred to as "Odor-Eaters"
35. "Psych!": NOT. For those who are not into either internet jargon nor youthful slang:
36. Start of spring: ESS. The letter ess is also the start of start
41. Construction girder: T-BEAM. Here <== is a link to many of the different kinds of construction girders, including the t-beam, as well as the i-beam and h-beam ... "Beam me up, Scotty"
42. "The Paper City" of Massachusetts: HOLYOKE. So why, in my intro, did I target this word in the "good" category? Well, for starters, that is the city where C-Moe spent some of his early career in sales. Holyoke is situated on the Connecticut River, in Western Massachusetts, and was, in the 1870's a leading producer of various paper and textile products. Paper mills in Holyoke produced everything from paper napkins to cotton-fiber printing paper, as well as wall coverings (textile-based wallpaper) used during the early 20th century. The city is also home to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame ... most folks, when looking at the city's name, would pronounce it "holy - oak". But true natives say it as: "whole'-yolk"
43. "GMA" production co.: ABC NEWS. Good Morning America = "GMA"
44. Burden: LOAD. Onus fit, too
47. Brand of chips: INTEL. Moe-ku #5:
48. New car option: LEASE. Remember when new car options included: automatic transmission, AM/FM radios, A/C, power brakes and power steering, power windows, carpeting, cloth-interior, white-walled tires, et al?? And soon after, cruise-control and cassette-radios were options? The question now is: what isn't included
52. Vaquero's rope: RIATA. Only the second foreign phrase used in today's puzzle; kudos!
55. Bonus: PLUS. Let's see if the Thesaurussaurus agrees:
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Yup! |
56. Very much: A LOT. OK, I included this in the "so-so" group of entries today. I am not a big fan of using a lot in crossword puzzles. How could Zachary have avoided this? Here is how I might have constructed the bottom center of the grid. The new look would get rid of ETATS, BAT, IPA, and most importantly, the dreaded "a lot":
59. Critter under Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas: BAT. Learning Moe-ment <=== every crossword puzzle should have at least one of these as a clue, IMO. I had no idea that a ginormous colony of bats was a feature of the capital city of TX
60. Hoppy brew, briefly: IPA. So, if Zachary had used C-Moe's version, the clue would have been: URL addresses: IPS
61. Key above ~: ESC. Fitting clue/answer for the last one of the puzzle ... it's now time to escape this blog and wait for your comments and thoughts to today's puzzle
