Good Morning, Cruciverbalists, Malodorous Manatee here . . . and, yes, you read that correctly . . . . with a recap of a Wednesday puzzle. As C.C. mentioned late last year, I have gone from recapping on alternate Fridays to recapping the final Wednesday puzzle each month. Call it semi-retirement or a new adventure . . . or both. As the fates would have it, for this, my first Wednesday foray, we get a puzzle co-constructed by C.C. I have reviewed something like 125 puzzles here on the corner and this is first C.C. puzzle I have had the privilege to recap. To make things even more special, C.C's co-constructor is our own Brian "Rusty Brain" Russell who is making his debut. What a nice way to enter the Wonderful World of Wednesday.
Brian describes the genesis of the puzzle, and its evolution, as follows:
"My initial inspiration was the old joke, “How do you make a jam sandwich? Take two pieces of bread and jam them together!” It got me thinking about different kinds of jams, and here we are. Creating a crossword is a great learning experience. While I came up with phrases and clues, C.C. is the mastermind that pulled it together on a grid. Hope you enjoy!"
With that in mind, let's dive right in starting with the unifier:
63 Across: Impromptu jazz performance, or an apt title for this puzzle: JAM SESSION. In this case a JAM is a group of musicians playing together more or less making it up as they go along. However, at four other places in the grid, C.C. and Brian have asked us to come up with answers that riff on the word JAM in its various other forms
17 Across: Filled pastry: JELLY DONUT. Jelly, marmalade, confiture, etc. In other words - JAM.
24 Across: Office machine: LASER PRINTER. We are all familiar with printer jams. Bottleneck, congestion, stoppage. In other words - JAM.
39 Across: High-flying NBA All-Star event: SLAM DUNK CONTEST. Stuff, push, cram. In other words - JAM. A basketball reference. A slam dunk is also called a "jam" and that formed the basis of a successful electronic game:
51 Across: Rush hour gridlock: TRAFFIC SNARL. AKA a traffic jam. This one could have referenced a musical moment by Steve Winwood and Dave Mason.
This is how it all appears in the grid:
. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Violin players: BOWS. Not the musicians. What they often hold in their hands.
5. Discussion site: FORUM. As in an online FORUM, or I suppose an ancient form of FORUM.
10. Omelet need: EGGS.
14. Potatoes, in Indian dishes: ALOO. This has become a crossword staple.
15. Remove from memory: ERASE.
16. Young stallion: COLT. By definition.
19. Clarinet kin: OBOE. Frequently heard in our puzzles.
20. Promotional cost: AD FEE.
21. Field expert: REF. A REFerence to a REFeree (on, for example, a football field).
23. Night before: EVE.
29. __ Martin cognac: REMY.
32. Charlottesville sch.: UVA.
33. Slow-cooked dish: STEW. Security professionals advise to never use ‘beef stew’ as a password. It isn’t stroganoff.
34. "Peace" shape: VEE.
35. Camera component: LENS. What is the best type of lens to use for photographing cars? Auto focus.
37. "Gotcha": I SEE.
44. Keep a sauce from congealing, say: STIR.
45. Screw feature: SLOT. Oh, the noun.
46. __ sequitur: NON
47. Tech in key cards: RFID.
49. Prove human, in a way: ERR. A misstep frequently occuring in our puzzles.
50. Attention-getting hiss: PSST. A sound often heard in our puzzles.
55. Gut punch reaction: OOF.
56. Sheridan of "Ready Player One": TYE. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
57. Tree that's tapped: MAPLE. For sap from which to make syrup.
61. Ride-hailing company whose cars once featured big pink mustaches: LYFT. From Wiki: "The Lyft pink mustache was a large, fuzzy icon that drivers attached to their cars to identify themselves as part of the Lyft ride-sharing service. It was replaced in 2015 by a smaller, glowing dashboard version called the "glowstache" to create a more subtle appearance."
67. In __ land: LA LA. Slang for being out of touch with reality.
68. Acting award won by Ke Huy Quan in 2023: OSCAR. For his role in "Everything Everywhere All At Once".
69. Patch up: MEND. How do you mend a broken Jack O'lantern? With a pumpkin patch.
70. Winter slider: SLED. People ask me why I keep bringing my sled to places like yard sales and flea markets. I tell them the answer is simple...Toboggan!
71. Rosary components: BEADS.
72. Mount Olympus figure: ARES. One of twelve.
Down:
1. Mexican peninsula, informally: BAJA. Una de las lecciones de español de hoy. BAJA California.
2. Screen on some handheld games, for short: OLED. Organic Light-Emitting Diode
3. Canine in some fairy tales: WOLF.
4. Exclusively: SOLELY. I hear that Google is set to come out with a new browser that manages search results based SOLELY on your DNA. The browser is going to be called Google Chromosome.
5. Provided with kibble, say: FED.
6. El Dorado building material: ORO. Una de las lecciones de español de hoy. El dorado is the legendary city of gold. ORO is gold in Spanish.
7. Legged it: RAN.
8. Take illegitimately: USURP.
9. Units of length: METERS. So many to choose from. Thanks, perps, for narrowing things down.
10. Earth-friendly prefix: ECO.
11. Intermediaries: GO BETWEENS. Liaisons.
12. Baseball fielder's need: GLOVE. MITT was not long enough.
13. Take the wheel: STEER.
18. Vote of approval: YEA. We never know if it will turn out to be AYE or YEA. At least there's not a three-letter word with the same letters that begins with E and means a vote of approval.
22. Mesh with a group: FIT IN.
25. Chekov colleague: SULU. Not a Russian novelist reference. A "Star Trek" reference. Pavel Checkov and Hikaru SULU.
26. Makes level: EVENS.
27. Irritates deeply: RANKLES. From the Web: "The word “rankle” isn’t just another random slang—it has roots going way back to Old English and Middle French! Originally,rankledescribed a physical wound that kept festering or burning inside. Imagine a sore that just won’t heal, constantly annoying you—that’s literally what rankling felt like. Fast forward to today, and we’re mainly using it to describe emotional or mental irritation rather than literal wounds. The idea of an “annoyance that won’t heal” stuck around pretty well!"
28. Cheep digs?: NEST. Cheep not cheap.
29. Campers on wheels, briefly: RVS. Recreational VehicleS
30. Slippery swimmers: EELS. What a shocker !
31. Fundraising event where one can win a round: MEAT RAFFLE. Round as in a beef round roast. From Wiki: "A meat raffle is a tradition of raffling off meat, often in pubs and bars in Australia, in some areas of Britain and the US, and in Western Canada." New to this solver.
36. Treat with contempt: SCORN.
38. Those, in Havana: ESOS. Una de las lecciones de español de hoy. The language of Havana, Cuba is, of course, Spanish.
40. Annoy slightly: MIFF.
41. Train of thought: DRIFT. As in "Do you catch my DRIFT?"
42. __ vez: again, in Spanish: OTRA. Una de las lecciones de español de hoy. Literally, another time.
43. Blasting material: TNT. TriNitroToluene
48. Home project done solo: DIY JOB. Do It Yourself
50. Blood bank supply: PLASMA.
51. Charges on roads: TOLLS.
52. Fit for a queen: ROYAL Add an E and we get:
53. Stop: CEASE.
54. Suite divs.: RMS. RooMS 58. Place to dock: PIER. I never wanted to go to the docks, but after my friends pestered me for an hour I finally gave into PIER pressure.
59. Unaccompanied: LONE.
The LONE Ranger
60. Stops: ENDS.
62. Little bit: TAD. The teacher asked, "Name three famous Poles!" Tommy proudly answered, "North, South and TAD."
64. Former Lynyrd Skynyrd label: MCA. This solver did not know the label but it was pretty clear, after a couple of perps, that it was going to be something like either RCA or MCA. And, since it's been teed up:
65. Like lyrics full of heartache: SAD. One of the saddest:
Who are the masterminds behind this scheme? None other than our blogmistress, Zhouquin "C.C." Burnikel, and our commenter extraordinaire, Agnes "Irish Miss" Davidson. How did they frame us? Let us count the ways, beginning with the big reveal:
36-Down. Scapegoating scheme, or what the ends of the answers to the starred clues may be part of?: FRAME JOB. A scapegoating scheme blames an innocent person for the wrongdoings of others. Similarly, a FRAME JOB arranges evidence to point to an innocent person as the one responsible for a crime. Why would Irish Miss and C.C. do this to us? The good news is, they didn't. They just hung a framed picture on the wall for our enjoyment, and scattered their tools around the grid.
16-Across. *Statistical measure of certainty: CONFIDENCE LEVEL. A LEVEL is a handy tool for making sure a framed picture hangs straight on the wall.
CONFIDENCE LEVEL and LEVEL TOOL
22-Down. *Earlobe sparkler: DIAMOND STUD. A STUD is a vertical wood beam that is part of the substructure of a wall. If the framed picture is heavy, it's a good idea to attach one of the picture hangers to a stud in the wall.
DIAMOND STUD and WALL STUDS
23-Down. *Fashion accessory attached at a salon: ACRYLIC NAIL. A NAIL is essential to fasten a picture hanger to a wall.
ACRYLIC NAILS and NAIL FASTENERS
33-Down. *"U Can't Touch This" rapper: MC HAMMER. A HAMMER is a handy tool for driving a nail into a wall.
MC HAMMER and HAMMER TOOL
This FRAME JOB turned out to be a satisfying task. But "hang" on -- there's more to do.
Across:
1. Golf scorecard number: PAR. PAR is the number of strokes that a proficient golfer should require to complete a hole, a round, or a tournament.
4. Prefix with task or vitamin: MULTI.
9. Pt. of LLC: LTD. An LLC is a Limited Liability Company. A part (abbreviated "pt.") of this phrase is the word "Limited," abbreviated as LTD.
12. "Look __ this way ... ": AT IT.
14. Sci-fi author Asimov: ISAAC. Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. Considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he wrote or edited more than 500 books.
15. "The __ the merrier!": MORE.
16. [Theme clue]
19. "Yum Yum Bedlam" rap duo __ Clown Posse: INSANE. Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo formed in Detroit in 1989. Thank you, perpendicular entries.
Insane Clown Posse
20. Try to chomp on: BITE AT.
21. Experience grief: FEEL SAD.
23. Calgary's province: ALBERTA. It's only fair to have the occasional gimme for our friend CanadianEh!
24. NFL distances: Abbr.: YDS. NFL is an abbreviation for National Football League. YDS is an abbreviation for yards. Although American football is largely incomprehensible to this blogger, it's clearly an outlet for tribal instincts, where the capture of territory is measured in yards.
25. Air pressure fig.: PSI. Pounds per Square Inch. By now, you've noticed that an abbreviation in the clue calls for an abbreviation in the answer.
26. Nasty mutt: CUR.
Bad dogs have had bad experiences. They can be helped, but some people create this behavior on purpose.
27. Method: Abbr.: SYS. System.
28. Lucked out at last: GOT A BREAK.
31. Entice: TEMPT.
34. Mother's Day month: MAY.
35. Sorts (through): SIFTS.
39. Marine mammal feared by sharks: ORCA. Orcas (AKA killer whales) are fearsome creatures.
40. Turnpike charges: TOLLS.
42. Sound from a leaky tap: DRIP.
43. "Hard pass": NAH.
44. Mark left by a swimsuit: TAN LINE.
Tan lines left by various recreational outfits.
46. "__ questions?": ANY.
47. Grammy, for one: AWARD.
49. Insurance case: CLAIM.
51. Like most races: TIMED.
53. __ Antonio Spurs: SAN. A professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas, the Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
55. "Will __": ABC police drama starring Ramón Rodríguez: TRENT. Will Trent is a police procedural TV series based on novels by Karin Slaughter. The series, starring Ramón Rodríguez in the title role, premiered on January 3, 2023, on ABC, and was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on January 6, 2026.
Ramón Rodríguez as Will Trent. Cute dog!
58. Italy's capital: ROME.
59. Rib-eye, for one: STEAK.
61. Not quite closed: AJAR.
62. Blown away: AWED. Blown away, as in very impressed.
63. Collectible trinket: CURIO.
64. Chore list heading: TO DO.
65. The red planet: MARS.
66. Adored stars: IDOLS.
67. Site with bidding wars: EBAY. When you shop for a CURIO on EBAY, it's very easy to get caught up in a bidding war.
Down:
1. Soothe, as a fussy baby: PACIFY. Our young folks went to the hospital thinking they would not use a pacifier for their baby. The hospital staff supplied this model, and our grandson has been happily sucking on one ever since:
2. Did penance (for): ATONED.
3. Washes the suds off: RINSES.
4. Fertile Crescent's region: MIDEAST. The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, together with northern Kuwait, south-eastern Turkey, and western Iran. It is believed to be the first region where farming emerged as people began to clear natural vegetation to grow domesticated plants as crops. Alas, modern irrigation projects have drained the marshes and made the Crescent much less fertile.
Map of the Fertile Crescent
5. Bring into play: USE.
6. PC-to-PC hookup: LAN. A Local Area Network is a collection of devices connected together in one physical location, such as a building, office, or home. The LAN is made up of cables, access points, switches, routers, and other components that enable devices to connect to internal servers, web servers, and other LANs. I'm glad our business has a "techspert" to manage the LAN!
7. Tic-__-toe: TAC.
8. Cool tone on a palette: ICE BLUE.
9. Romeo and Juliet, e.g.: LOVERS.
10. Goal of a peace summit, perhaps: TREATY.
11. Triangular river formations: DELTAS. A river delta is a landform, typically triangular, created by the deposit of sediments carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges into a body of slower-moving water such as an ocean, a sea, a lake, or a reservoir -- in other words, at the river mouth.
The Nile river delta as seen from a satellite.
13. Nonstick cookware brand: T-FAL. T-Fal is a popular brand of nonstick cookware. DH and I recently gave up on nonstick and opted for good, old-fashioned stainless steel pots and pans.
15. Ration (out): METE.
17. Cool place to hang: IN SPOT.
I'm in with the in crowd, I go where the in crowd goes ...
18. Most October babies: LIBRAS.
22. [Theme clue]
23. [Theme clue]
28. Academic transcript no.: GPA. Grade Point Average. "No." is an abbreviation, so you know the answer will also be an abbreviation.
29. Masquerade event: BALL.
30. Baby goat: KID.
And they both say maa!
31. Freight weight: TON.
32. Period of history: ERA.
33. [Theme clue]
36. [Theme reveal]
37. Ceiling metal: TIN. Tin ceilings are decorated with tin tiles that have designs pressed into them. This architectural detail was popular in North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was used as an affordable alternative to the beautiful plasterwork used in European homes.
Tin ceiling with tiles from Penn Metal Ceiling Company's 1896 catalog.
38. Undercover agent: SPY.
40. Roofing goo: TAR.
41. Sketch show that inspired "30 Rock," for short: SNL. Saturday Night Live.
44. Small amount: TAD.
45. Gulp down: EAT.
48. Garden invaders: WEEDS. Weeds are wild plants growing where they are not wanted, and in competition with cultivated plants. Always a problem for me after winter rains in Los Angeles.
I have an urge to kill the spurge. Spotted spurge, that is. (Euphorbia maculata.)
50. Hot under the collar: IRATE.
51. Shuttle on rails: TRAM.
52. Corn Belt state: IOWA.
A corn belt I'd like to see.
54. Prefix with dynamic: AERO.
56. Zilch: NADA.
57. "Iliad" city: TROY. Homer's Iliad is an epic poem that tells the story of the Trojan War, in which Greek armies beseiged the city of Troy after Paris, son of the Trojan king, and Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus, ran off together. What a lot of trouble those LOVERS caused!
The fall of Troy came when Greeks entered the city hidden inside a wooden horse. That story appears in Homer's Odyssey.
59. Physics or chem: SCI. Science.
60. Some UFC victories: KOS. Ultimate Fighting Championship (mixed martial arts) victories can be knockouts.
Here's the finished grid:
Solvers, did you work AT IT until you GOT A BREAK?
Did you USE a computer interface where your solving was TIMED?
Can you CLAIM an AWARD for your best solving time ever?
Or did you get NADA and FEEL SAD or even IRATE?
That's a TON of questions. MAY we hear from you in the comments?
67. Small matter?: FINE PRINT. Fine is a synonym for small. But, in contracts, it's no small matter. Youngest will tell you all about it in few more semesters :-)
87. Private matter?: BASIC TRAINING. Ha! A military Private.
111. Sensitive matter?: TOUCH PANEL. Some Touch Panels are sensitive while others, like the printer at my office, havta be whacked with a knuckle to get it's attention.
115. Grave matter?: BURIAL SITE. Yep.
35. Gray matter?: HUMAN ANATOMY. This was my favorite of the themers. I kept thinking of Poirot's "little gray cells" but "brain" didn't fit. Gray's Anatomy is the reference book of human anatomy. Oh, it's also a TV show with Dr.s hooking up -- I've never seen an episode but it was in the zeitgeist.
45. Encourage a comedian: LAUGH. This fill is why HYENA wasn't clued as a laughing carnivore @18a. When setting a grid, it's easy to miss a dupe like this - that's how you know C.C.'s a pro.
46. "Is that true about me?": AM I.
47. [See: Theme]
51. Nintendo Switch avatar: MII. I guess a MII for your WII :-)
52. Dull learning method: ROTE.
54. Popped the question: ASKED. But the answer is always 42*
65. First woman, in Greek myth: PANDORA. She had a box with all the evils, but, when she opened it, all save hope escaped. Just like Eve, she's blamed for all the evils in the world.
85. Crepe served with sambar: DOSA. Wanna hear a funny? I didn't know this fill but, after completing the puzzle, we went to an Indian restaurant and Eldest ordered it w/o hesitation. DOSAs are delicious.
Dosa
86. "Vive le __!": ROI. Long live the [French] King!
87. [See: Theme]
90. Utility closet tool: MOP.
91. Not on a major label: INDIE. Think music.
93. Vietnamese New Year: TET.
94. "Interstellar" actress Burstyn: ELLEN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Her Wikipedia page.
99. Symptoms: SIGNS. Is my failing eyesight a sign of aging? That's what I'm chalking it up to.
101. Moth-repellent wood: CEDAR. I put cedar chips in my sweater storage bags. Living in Houston, I need sweaters about 3 weeks a year so,... [I have sweaters from brick-n-mortars that closed in the '90's].
103. Recycle bin, e.g.: ICON. Cute. An ICON on your "desktop."
105. Pet doc: VET.
106. Result of a good pitch: SALE. Nice clue. I was thinking C.C. would go with baseball's strike or foul and only perps saved me from filling foul.
107. Stack-selling chain: IHOP. International House of Pancakes.
111. [See: Theme]
115. [See: Theme]
117. Lift with a bent elbow: CURL.
118. Unholy things: EVILS. The crossing of apse @104d stalled this fill far too long.
119. Word said with a sigh: ALAS. I could have prefaced above's response w/ this fill :-)
120. Karate rank indicators: BELTS.
121. Distance between markers: MILE. Highways. In some states, especially on long bridges [looking at you I-10 over LA swamps], I've seen 1/10 mile markers.
122. Refuse to admit: DENY.
123. Mixed-breed dog: MUTT.
124. Spot to boop a doggo: SNOOT.
Down:
1. "Well, hello there": OH, HI.
2. House calls?: AYES. Think Congress.
3. Mammal that barks and claps: SEAL.
4. Play the market: INVEST.
5. Blurt out: SAY.
6. Pork in a burrito: CARNITAS.
Yummers!
7. Roasting pan holder: OVEN RACK. Not an insulated pot holder.
8. Partiality: BIAS.
9. "Unholy" singer Smith: SAM.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's ok to dupe a clue [see: 118a]
10. Respectful reference in court: HER HONOR. It's remarkable that, coming from a language w/o (I think) gendered pronouns, C.C. "gets it." In college, I worked at a wastewater testing lab w/ a guy from China (a PhD candidate in ChemE) who kept using "its" for him/her. I was befuddled until he explained Chinese doesn't use gendered pronouns (and it's silly that English does, he said).
11. Sch. whose mascot is a buckeye nut: OSU.
Brutus Buckeye
12. Cake mix instruction: STIR. Youngest has been building from scratch since she was 9 yrs old. And her cakes get quite elaborate.
Youngest's Mardi Gras Cupcakes
13. These, in Tijuana: ESTOS. English to Spanish.
14. Smith College graduate: ALUMNA. Smith is an all girls college; ALUMNA is gendered alumni.
15. Introductory food for keiki: POI. Keiki is Hawaiian for offspring. Poi is a taro dish. You do the math :-)
16. Pipe plastic, for short: PVC. Polyvinyl chloride - hard plastic.
17. "What did I say!?": SEE. Oh, I usually ask that question not 'cuz I was right but when someone gets peeved at me :-)
20. Degs. for graphic designers: BFAS. We got a Fine Arts major that didn't go to grad school :-)
23. Org. in many spy thrillers: CIA. Central Intelligence Agency.
25. Unit of energy: JOULE. I know the EEs got this. To everyone else, it's 0.0009478 BTUs.
28. "Being the Ricardos" role: DESI. I 🩷 Lucy.
31. Key above Caps Lock: TAB.
32. "Chores finished!": ALL DONE.
33. Early Boston settlers: PURITANS.
35. [See: Theme]
36. Gerontologist's focus: AGING.
37. "Totally agree!," on social media: THIS. In the Discord channels I frequent, it's an pointy-up finger emoji [☝].
38. Rural businesses: FARMS.
39. Word on receipts: AMOUNT.
40. [See: Theme]
42. Practice depicted in the Japanese film "Flower and Sword": IKEBANA. It's the art of arranging flowers.
44. Mum: SILENT.
48. Young lady: LASS.
49. DJ's stack in the 1990s: CDS. 90's Disk Jockeys with Compact Disks instead of vinyl -- unless they were a Rap DJ that needed to scratch a sample :-)
50. Decked out: CLAD.
53. Sincere: EARNEST.
56. Hot-headed deity?: FIRE GOD.
58. Jumped: LEAPT.
60. __-Bismol: PEPTO. Susan Stamberg's Mother-in-law's cranberry relish recipe results in the hue of Pepto.
62. More tender: SORER. Not a fillet but your own muscles after exercise.
WOs: Pilgrims was started but too many boxes @33d; LPs -> CDs; APSE -> NAVE; BurCH->BEECH; Trek->TRIP.
ESPs: DOSA, SAM as clued, LEONI, ELLEN, DOPED, IKEBANA, NIN and probably others. Fav: I'm going w/ FANTA 'cuz of this Gabriel Iglesias bit. //Don't watch too long unless you start from the beginning.
