Monday December 16, 2024 Janice Luttrell

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. I am happy to say that Janice Luttrell is back with another one of her Monday delights.

Theme:  

The themed questions are:

20 Across. Above-the-street rumblers: ELEVATED TRAINS.  

36 Across. Possibly unattainable entry on a bucket list: LOFTY GOAL.  

46 Across. Really big ask: TALL ORDER.  

And the reveal:

56 Across. Like most televisions, and what can be found at the start of 20-, 36-, or 46-Across: HIGH DEFINITION.

HDTVs became ubiquitous on June 12, 2009 when the FCC required all high-power analog U.S. television stations to turn off their signals and move to a digital-only transmission. This Nielson article has the data on American viewers at that time.

Today's themed answers are all two-word phrases such that the first word is a synonym for the word "high". But what about the DEFINITION part? Well, as adjectives, ELEVATED, LOFTY, and TALL further DEFINE their respective nouns (TRAINS, GOAL, and ORDER). For example, it is not just any ORDER. It is a TALL ORDER.

Works for me!

It's high time we looked at the other clues....

Across:

1. Words to a bride and groom: TOAST.  Here's one Hugh Grant gave in the 1994 film, Four Weddings and a Funeral (3 min.).  

6. Actress Ferris: PAM.  her IMDb page

9. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" singer Mariah: CAREY.  How fun to have a holiday tune this time of year!  

14. Mole sauce chile: ANCHO.  Blogger says chile is misspelled so I looked it up. One source said that chile is the Spanish spelling and that chili used to be the preferred English spelling but now people tend to write chile so as to avoid confusion with the spicy stew chili. Fair enough.

15. Short "As I see it": IMO.  Writing "IMO" is shorter than writing "In My Opinion".

16. Urgent: ACUTE.  This made me think of ACUTE care in the medical world.

17. Ross who ran for president twice: PEROT.  (1930-2019) He ran as an Independent in 1992, losing to Bill Clinton. Perot again lost to Clinton in 1996 but this time as the leader of the Reform Party.

18. Petty peeve: NIT.  I liked the cute play on pet peeve.

19. Downton Abbey staffers: MAIDS.  

I saw every episode of this show.

23. Younger "ManningCast" brother: ELI.  ELI and his older brother Peyton were both successful NFL quarterbacks.

24. Team's adjective: OUR.  Remember, there is no "I" in "team".  

25. Govt. ID issuer: SSA. Government...identification...It is clear we need an abbreviation here. Social Security Administration

28. Stool supports: LEGS.  

31. Surf shop array: BOARDS.  

39. Gooey campfire treat: S'MORE.  It is short for "I want some more."

40. Crafts partner: ARTS.  

41. Draped garments in Hindi films: SARIS.  Sorry, I do not know which film this is.  

43. Boo-boo: OWIE.  

44. Stand in good __: STEAD.  Merriam-Webster says this is an idiom that means to be useful or helpful to someone or something. The entry has this example sentence:  His language skills will stand him in good stead when he is traveling.

48. Vice president Kamala: HARRIS.  Vice Presidents since Walter Mondale have lived with their families on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.  

50. Horse's foot: HOOF.

51. Golf hole meas.: YDS.  Golfers may correct me but I think this means that they measure the distance from their ball to the holes in yards.

52. "Cheers" bartender: SAM.   ...not to be confused with a 3-letter word for the actor who played a bartender on Cheers -- Ted.

54. Nonprofit org. with a Directors Series: AFI.  The American Film Institute was not on my radar so my last box was a mental alphabet run for something that might work for the crossing of this answer and 42-Down. SLOAN seemed like my best option.

64. Greek fable writer: AESOP.  

65. Party bowlful: DIP.

66. See 68-Across: CARTE.     and     68-Across. With 66-Across, like some menus: À LA.

À LA CARTE menus list the prices for each item separately. For example, if a salad does not come with your entrée, you can order one separately or À LA CARTE.

67. Airline based in Atlanta: DELTA.  In 1941, DELTA's headquarters moved to Atlanta from Monroe, LA where the company started as a crop dusting business over - you guessed it - the Mississippi River Delta region.  Delta Airlines history

69. Fill with joy: ELATE.  On the other hand, if you fill with helium, you infLATE.  

70. Classic theater name: ODEON.  Def. (noun):  a building used for musical performances (especially in ancient Greece or Rome).

Note:  If you are new to solving crossword puzzles, this one, 72-Across, 2-Down, and 10-Down are good to memorize for future solves. (I'll highlight them, for your convenience.)

71. Young chap: LAD.  "Chap" tips us off that a British expression will be spot on.

72. Church council: SYNOD.  A SYNOD can be the governing group (as in this clue). It can also refer to the district governed by a SYNOD.

Down:

1. Scotch __: TAPE.  This 1:37 min. video shows how to wrap a present without tape!  

(This seems like something CED might like.)

2. Law school newbie: ONE-L.

3. Land measure: ACRE.  

'Tis the season!

4. Push rudely: SHOVE.

5. In all respects: TOTALLY.  

This is Crush, the sea turtle in Finding Nemo (2003).

6. Cone-bearing tree: PINE.  I come bearing a guide to the most popular Christmas trees of 2024.

7. Bundled in with: AMID.

8. Inspirational slogan: MOTTO.  

from Ripley's Believe It or Not!

9. Chevy muscle cars: CAMAROS.  The first generation of the Chevy Camaro hit the showrooms in 1966 as a 1967 model. Here is the 1969 model:

10. Berry in some purple smoothies: ACAI.

11. Wreckage: RUIN.

12. Takeoff guesses: Abbr.: ETDS.  An airplane pilot can provide Estimated Time of Departures.

13. "Absolutely!": YES.

21. Supermodel Cheryl: TIEGS.  Cheryl was born on September 25, 1947 in Breckenridge, MN. Some say she was America's first supermodel. It feel like that term is used a lot more loosely nowadays.

22. Barbecue chef's spice blend: RUB.  There are a lot of opinions on this topic. Here is an article that seemed informative.

25. Reduce, as prices: SLASH.  

26. "More or less": SORTA.  I kinda got this one. 😜

27. Photo caption following a makeover: AFTER.  Makeovers usually have before and AFTER photos so we can appreciate the changes.

29. Farm animal with horns: GOAT.  Speaking of farm animals with horns....  

(Yes, I realize that a Venn diagram showing the population of readers
who like both math and cattle will have a slim overlap.)

30. Comedian Silverman: SARAH.  (b. December 1, 1970) You have probably seen SARAH on various late-night comedy shows. Here are 30 seconds of her act that do not include swear words.  

32. Love, in Spanish: AMOR.

33. Loud and disorderly: ROWDY.  This brought to mind Roderick George Toombs, better known as the Canadian wrestler and actor, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015).  

Rowdy (left) with Hulk Hogan

34. Toweled (off): DRIED.  To towel off is to dry oneself (or something) with a towel.  

35. Clairvoyants: SEERS.

37. Former Russian ruler: TSAR.

38. Stitch's pal: LILO.  

This movie came out in 2002.

42. Memorial __ Kettering: SLOAN.  This is a cancer center with multiple locations. It is named for Alfred P. Sloan and Charles F. Kettering. They were two former General Motors executives who donated large sums towards cancer research and treatment.

45. Portable washing receptacle: DISHPAN.  In the '70s, Madge taught us that DISHPAN hands were a fate worse than death. There were multiple versions of this scenario:  

Even as a kid I thought, "How do they not know that

their hands are in dish soap? Haven't they seen her other commercials?"

47. Workplaces: OFFICES.

49. Bummed out: SAD.  😞

53. Olympian's prize: MEDAL.  

The Making of the Paris 2024 medals explained (1:45 min.)

55. Country shaped like a boot: ITALY.  

56. Pay attention to: HEED.  Think "HEED the warning signs".

57. Cruise stop: ISLE.  Cruise ships sometimes stop at islands.

58. Attend, as a party: GO TO.

59. Sportswear brand: FILA.  Fila became primarily associated with tennis after it signed an endorsement deal with Björn Borg in 1975.  

60. Apple tablet: iPAD.

61. Tehran's country: IRAN.  

62. __ the Orange: Syracuse mascot: OTTO.  A bit of a squeeze, but perps left little room for error on this one.

63. "__ I go on?": NEED.  Just one more, if you don't mind.

64. Hubbub: ADO.  Without further ADO, I present the grid:

Monday December 9, 2024 Renee Thomason

  

Happy Monday, everyone. Today we have a puzzle by...well...I constructed this one. 

Title:                    There was a time...

I always like it when, on British detective shows, the boss asks how the case is going and the reply is, "Nothing yet, sir, but it's still EARLY DAYS". I was thinking about that and wondered if it might have puzzle possibilities. Next I made a list of words that could come before DAYS. When I realized HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE had 15 letters, I knew I had to make it work because HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE across the middle was just so fun.

There are four themed clues:

16 Across. Disney princess with a jealous stepmother: SNOW WHITE.

24 Across. Truly exhausted: DOG TIRED.

38 Across. First line of a nursery rhyme about the cow that jumped over the moon: HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE.

47 Across. Competitive countenance: GAME FACE.

(Note:  I liked this clue much more than the one I submitted. Mine was too connected to a specific game. It is better to have more separation between the clue meaning and the reveal meaning. This clue does a better job of that.)

Then the reveal:

61 Across. Beginning stages, and what the starts of 16-, 24-, 38-, and 47-Across literally are?: EARLY DAYS.

According to Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English by Ben Yagoda (2024), "(It's) early days" is an expression which describes an early stage in an event or process, often implying too early. Yagoda writes that Americans typically say "the early days of" but began using this Britishism around 1980. Yagoda has an "adoption scale" for each of the terms in his book. He places EARLY DAYS in the middle of his scale with the label "Taking Hold".  

<Click to enlarge.>

As for the gimmick, the words SNOW, DOG, HEY, and GAME can all come before (early) DAYS to create a new in-the-language phrase. We have:

SNOW DAYS  ~  Kids watch the scrolling list at the bottom of the news to see if school will be closed due to inclement weather.  

DOG DAYS    ~  These are the hot summer days when Sirius, known as the DOG star can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere.  

Sirius is sort of like the dog's tag around its neck.

HEYDAYS  ~  Def. (noun) the period of one's greatest popularity, vigor, or prosperity.  

Lonesome River Band  ~  Heyday  ~  2022

Can you work out who "I" is in this song?

GAME DAYS  ~  Simply put, GAME DAYS are the days on which a sports team plays a game. At my school, the players and cheer squads wore their jerseys to regular classes on GAME DAYS. Sometimes we had an alternate class schedule to make time for a pep rally.

It is not too late for the other clues....

Across:

1. Includes on a 51-Down: CCS.     and     51-Down. Paperless message: EMAIL.

4. DEA agent: NARC.

8. Rowing team: CREW.

12. Quaker __: big name in cereal: OATS.  

IMO, these OATS really are of a higher quality than the store brand.

14. Letter-shaped ski lift: T-BAR.

15. New Zealand native: MAORI.

18. "The Maltese Falcon" actress Mary: ASTOR.  (1906-1987)  Née Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke from Quincy, IL, Mary played Brigid O-Shaughnessy opposite Humphry Bogart's Sam Spade in this 1941 film.

19. Synagogue scroll: TORAH.

20. Actor Danson: TED.  This it the trailer for Ted Danson's new show, A Man on the Inside. Irish Miss was just recently telling us about it.

21. __ Island: The Ocean State: RHODE.  Though just 37 miles (60 km.) wide and 48 miles (77 km.) long, Rhode Island boasts 400 miles (644 km.) of shoreline.

22. Iron-deficient, perhaps: ANEMIC.  

They had me at "dark chocolate".

26. Elphaba's broom in "Wicked," for one: PROP.  Wicked (the musical) as been made into a motion picture. The movie version was released on Nov. 22 and grossed over $114 million the first weekend -- the biggest opening ever for a Broadway film adaptation. Here is the trailer: 

28. __-Manuel Miranda of "Hamilton": LIN.

29. Word before down or out: WORE.  WORE down and WORE out

32. 1980s president Ronald: REAGAN.  (1911-2004)

Before he was the 40th president of the United States,
he enlisted in the 322nd Calvary Regiment in Des Moines, IA in 1937.
He then transferred to a Los Angeles regiment where he served as a second lieutenant.

35. Nile snake: ASP.  While Cleopatra was out feeding her pet ass, she unfortunately missed the PSA about how some sap let an ASP loose in a pile of ash.

41. Silver deposit: ORE.  Silver is represented on the periodic table as Ag. Do you know which country is named for its silver deposits? (answer below)  

42. Like radiator pipes: COILED.  Here is an Industrial Products Video for anyone curious to know more:

43. Scent: ODOR.

44. Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman: DEB.  website

45. Bingo kin: KENO.

52. Sweet denial: NO, DEAR.  

Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger toy.
He becomes a real tiger when he and Calvin are alone.

56. Rare Italian violin: AMATI.

57. Med. plan option: HMO.  "Medical" is abbreviated, so is "Health Maintenance Organization".

59. Taco topping: SALSA.  I like this one from Trader Joe's.  

60. Skeleton pieces: BONES.  

63. Noon nourishment: LUNCH.

64. Small, medium, or large: SIZE.

65. Pedometer unit: STEP.

66. The "E" of QED: ERAT.  QED is a Latin abbreviation for quod ERAT demonstrandum or "Which was demonstrated".  We wrote it at the end of our math proofs. My teacher used to joke that it means Quite Easily Done.

67. Arduous journey: SLOG.  Def. (noun) a long, exhausting march or hike.

68. Some CGI beings: ETS.  Computer-generated Imagery and Extraterrestrials  

Down:

1. __ Rica: COSTA.  Costa Rica is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire circle and has over 200 volcanic formations traced back over 65 million years. Of these formations, around 100 of them show signs of activity but only five are classified as active.

2. Source material for fan fiction: CANON.  When fans talk about works of fiction or when they write spin-off stories, CANON is another way of saying the original source material. For example, CANON says that Superman came from the planet Krypton. If someone wanted to write a story about Superman, the story should not alter that fact.

3. Big-box __: STORE.  

4. Utmost degree: NTH.  Here on The Corner we love and value Hahtoolah to the NTH degree and therefore wish her the happiest of birthdays today!  

5. "Isn't this all just __ much?": A BIT.  not at ALL

6. Like books on Goodreads: RATED.  The book that inspired 26-Across was RATED 3.54 stars on Goodreads.

7. Guiding principle: CREDO.  

8. Redeem for money: CASH IN.

9. Piece in a model helicopter kit: ROTOR.  DH is a helicopter pilot but I have never ridden in one.

10. Go away gradually: ERODE.

11. Full of energy: WIRED.  Think of a classroom full of seven-year-olds on a windy November 1st.

13. Up to one's eyeballs: SWAMPED.  

15. "Shaken, not stirred" cocktail: MARTINI.  Apparently someone counted all the drinks James Bond ordered in Ian Fleming's novels. It turns out that the book version of 007 prefers bourbon.

a compilation of shaken, not stirred Bond scenes

17. Fan noise: WHIR.  "Applause" does not fit.

23. Spanish city with Moorish architecture: CORDOBA.  I love reading about the series of occupations that influenced the culture and architecture of SE Spain. Here is a 2:08 min. travel video:  

25. Make happy: GLADDEN.     and     53-Down. Make really happy: ELATE.  😁

27. Mani counterpart: PEDI.

29. One of a journalist's five W's: WHO.  

30. Above, in verse: O'ER.

31. Pumpernickel flour: RYE.  As a general rule, the RYE flour in my pumpernickel bread is 40% or less of the total flour. More than that, it is difficult to get a good rise. I also add 1/2 cup of corn meal to my pumpernickel bread.

33. 100%: ALL.  

34. Many a techie or Trekkie: GEEK.

35. Do some sums: ADD.

36. __-mo replay: SLO.  Be forewarned, someday I hope to construct a later-in-the-week grid where I clue SLO as "Cal Poly State Univ.'s town" as a CSO to my big bro who graduated  from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.

37. For each: PER.  

2 for $5 or $2.50 PER each

39. Use a rod and reel on a frozen lake: ICE FISH.  

40. Thingamajigs: DOODADS.   

I'm not familiar with that last one.

44. Pick up on: DETECT.  Dogs are excellent at this. DETECTion dogs are trained to DETECT and alert to the presence of certain scents for which they have been trained to recognize. Examples include medical conditions, endangered plants, explosives, narcotics, live humans, human remains, and weapons. Here's a 2:30 min. video about testing for the qualities that make a dog a good candidate to be a DETECTion dog:  

Don't you just love to watch a dog enjoying his work?

46. Like a busybody: NOSY.  

47. Clark of classic Hollywood: GABLE.  (1901-1960)

48. Love, in French: AMOUR.

49. Heaven-sent food: MANNA.

50. "The Queen's Gambit" activity: CHESS.  The Queen's Gambit was a 2020 TV miniseries based on Walter Tevis' 1983 novel of the same name. The title refers to a classic CHESS opening series of moves.

54. So far: AS YET.

55. Speaks hoarsely: RASPS.

58. Pasta that can be used to make risotto: ORZO.  

It looks like grains of rice.

62. __ of lamb: LEG.

Here's the grid:  

*Answer to 41-Across question:  Argentina's name is derived from the Latin word for silver, argentum. 

Thank you for doing my early-in-the-week EARLY DAYS puzzle!

Thank you, also, to the LAT editors for all of their work!

Notes from C.C.:

1) How cool is this, Renee!

2) Happy Birthday to dear Susan (Hahtoolah), our incomparable Tuesday Sherpa. Her posts and pics always brighten our day. Her caring emails and letters sustain me in the most difficult times.