Thursday, March 20, 2025, Ricky J. Sirois

 Osterizers  

Today's constructor, veteran Ricky J. Sirois, presents us with four themers for another scrambled word game ...

17A. *Noisy yard implement: LEAF BLOWER.  We have a lot of trees on our yard, and we use a LEAF BLOWER to collect them and blow them onto a tarp, which we drag to the back of our lot for composting.  We use a RYOBI leaf blower.  This looks like a better one ... 

24A. *Like a skier without goggles, perhaps: SNOW BLIND.  You can buy a pair of these for $55 from REI ...

51A. *Hobnob (with): RUB ELBOWS.  Yep -- the pigeons agree ...

40A. *Path through Oz: YELLOW BRICK ROAD.  The road that Dorothy and Toto follow to meet the wonderful Wizard ...

64. Kitchen prep essential, and what can be found in the answer to each starred clue: MIXING BOWL.  Here's an assortment of bowls that we use for kitchen prep ...

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Carousel riders?: BAGS.  As we wait in great expectation in the baggage claim area ...

5. Instruments that may create a meditative sound bath: GONGS.  Brought to you by templesounds.net -- finally a musical instrument I think I could play! ... 

They even have easter eggs -- singing BOWLS! ...

10. Street snack in a shell: TACO.

14. Río contents: AGUA.  RIO is Spanish for river and AGUA is Spanish for water

15. "Stop the launch!": ABORT.  This word has a plethora of meanings.

16. Muscat's country: OMAN.  Muscat is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. The metropolitan area spans approximately 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi), making it the largest city by area on the Arabian Peninsula. 

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

17. [Theme clue]

19. Major Temecula Valley industry: WINE.  Temecula Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the Temecula Valley, located in southwestern Riverside County, California against the eastern slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains.  A CSO to CMOE to stop by and give us some tasting notes.

20. Lot timers: METERS.  And if yours times out you may get a visit from this lady ... 

21. Cooler filler: ICE.  Also an acronym for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, who've been getting a lot of press lately.

22. Subj. for an MBA: ECON.

23. Pitching stat: ERA.

24. [Theme clue]

26. Printer issue: JAM.  The Achilles heel in computer systems.

28. "You could've kept that to yourself": TMI.

30. Very short pencil: NUB.

31. Jai __: ALAI.  Here's how it's played ...

More about Jai Alai

33. "Preach!": AMEN.

36. Inner circle: CADRE.  Dino thinks these would be better clues ... 

40. [Theme clue]
 
43. Overhead space?: SCALP.  Or between the ears? 😀

44. Rival leader?: ARCH.  E.g. Sherlock Homes' nemesis ...

Professor James Moriarty

or The Master in Dr. Who, who has worn many faces over the last 60+ years of the saga ...  

45. Gulp: SWIG.

46. Steamed bun dipped in hoisin sauce: BAO.  Bao, aka BAOZI, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steamed. 

Meat filled BAO

48. Baby goat: KID.

50. Nashville-to-Louisville dir.: NNE.  

via I 65
3h 3m (176 mi)

51. [Theme clue]

56. Situp targets: ABS.

58. Brief "However": OTOH.  On The Other Hand ...

59. Banned Books Week org.: ALA.  American Library Association.

60. Like a clock with hands: ANALOG.  Actually this clock is DIGITAL ...

63. Selfish cry: MINE.

64. [Theme reveal]

66. Taiwanese laptop maker: ACER.

67. Turn away: AVERT.

68. Foil kin: EPEE.

69. Comic Bargatze: NATE.  What a relief -- a clean comic ...! 

70. Inkling: SENSE.

71. Story opening, in journalism lingo: LEDE.  In the days of paper journalism the purpose of the LEDE was to give the essential "who, what, where, when, and why of the story" -- the so-called "inverted pyramid".  In the digital days, these essentials are postponed until the end of the story, so that the reader can be exposed to as many ADS as possible -- what I call the "perverted pyramid".  Also this fill is a CSO to Jinx to show him that journalists are bad spelers too. 😀

Down:

 1. Salve: BALM.

2. Pulitzer winner James: AGEE.  Agee received the Pulitzer prize for his autobiographical novel A Death in the Family published posthumously in 1955. His name evokes for me Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a dreamlike "lyric rhapsody" set to excerpts from  an Agee prose poem by composer Samuel Barber.  It is sung here by the great soprano Renée Fleming, accompanied by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ...

Lyrics

3. Most populous Central American country: GUATEMALA.  With an estimated population of around 17.6 million, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America, the 4th most populous country in North America and the 11th most populous country in the Americas. Its capital and largest city, Guatemala City, is the most populous city in Central America.

4. Less of a gamble: SAFER.

5. Girls: GALS.

6. "Price flexible" abbr.: OBO.  Or Best Offer.

7. Lose-lose: NO WIN.

8. With 51-Down, wrestling style: GRECO.  See 51D.

9. Scattered: STREWN.

10. Bathroom drying racks: TOWEL BARS.

11. Pals, in Parma: AMICI.  Parma being a city in Italy, this is today's Italian lesson: "Friends".  

12. Officially accepted works: CANON.  One of the most significant historical events was the acceptance of the CANONICAL books of the Bible.  After Jesus Christ's appearance on Earth and subsequent departure, his disciples began to write down stories about his life and his teachings.  These writings were widely circulated among the rapidly growing number of nascent Christian churches.  Eventually it was decided to gather them together into what eventually became the New Testament.  As these writings made frequent references to the extant Hebrew scriptures, these were gathered into what became the Old Testament.  But questions quickly arose as to what specific writings should be included -- e.g. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas contained stories about Jesus' childhood that were clearly inconsistent with other Gospels.  The resolution as to which books were canonical began in a series of church councils in the 4th Century AD and were reaffirmed in the 15th and 16th centuries.

13. Standing straight, as hair: ON END.  Like this ...

,
18. Oktoberfest sausage, informally: BRAT.  Short for BRATWURST and today's German lesson: BRAT = "roast" and WURST = "sausage".

24. Mufasa's son in "The Lion King": SIMBA.  Simba is a fictional character in Disney's The Lion King franchise. First appearing as a lion cub in The Lion King (1994), the character flees his homeland when his father, King Mufasa, is murdered by his treacherous uncle, Scar, who also guilts Simba into believing he is responsible for Mufasa's death. Several years later, Simba returns home as an adult to reconcile his childhood trauma, confront Scar, and reclaim his birthright as King of the Pride Lands.

Simba

25. O'Neil who was the first African American coach in the MLB: BUCK.  John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was an American first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball.  Buck was formally enshrined  into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 24, 2022.

26. Blue birds: JAYS.  Nasty birds.

27. Actor Guinness: ALEC.  Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (1914–2000) was an English actor. In the British Film Institute listing of 1999 of the 100 most important British films of the 20th century, Guinness was singled out as the most noted actor, represented across nine films — six in starring roles and three in supporting roles.  If you look up the word "versatile" in the dictionary his picture is there.  He has played everything from numerous roles on the Shakespearian stage; a general in the Bolshevik army; a Jedi Knight; soldiers in war movies; as a real life Naval officer in WWII; many comic roles in films; and as a spymaster.  One of his less famous roles is a satire on espionage called Our Man in Havana ... 

29. Wide opening: MAW.

32. "Come find me when you're ready": I'LL BE HERE.

34. Fumble: ERR.

35. Stevie of Fleetwood Mac: NICKS.  Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac, and as a solo artist.  Here she sings her signature song Sara ... 

37. Skier's direction: DOWN SLOPE.  A CSO to Joseph -- I'm sure he doesn't leave home without a pair of 24As.

38. Wet weather: RAIN.

39. Trim, as grass: EDGE.

41. October birthstone: OPAL.

42. T'ai __ ch'uan: CHI.  Tai chi is an ancient Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners perform a series of deliberate, flowing motions while focusing on deep, slow breaths, often referred to as "meditation in motion".

A Beginner's Guide to Tai Chi

47. Barack and Michelle: OBAMAS.  Although the song pre-dates the OBAMAS,  I'm recently reminded of the hit Those Were the Days sung by Mary Hopkin ...

49. "Darn it!": DANG.

51. See 8-Down: ROMAN.  Greco-Roman is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1904. This style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it from freestyle wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws, because a wrestler cannot use trips to bring an opponent to the ground or hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. 

Even on the mat, a Greco-Roman wrestler

must still find ways to turn his opponent's

shoulders to the mat for a fall without using the legs.

52. College city near Syracuse: UTICA.  Utica is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, approximately 95 mi west-northwest of Albany, 55 mi east of Syracuse and 240 mi northwest of New York City.  Among the colleges and universities in and around Utica are SUNY Polytechnic Institute, one of 14 doctorate-granting universities of the State University of New York (SUNY), Mohawk Valley Community College, and Empire State College.  And a CSO to Ray - O - Sunshine.

53. Lisa of "A Different World": BONET.  Lisa Michelle Bonet (born November 16, 1967) is an American actress. She portrayed Denise Huxtable on the sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread acclaim and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1986; she reprised the role of Denise in the 1987 season of the spinoff series A Different World. 

Lisa Bonet

54. __ oil: OLIVE.

55. Pallid: WAXEN.  That works for Dino ...

57. Biblical tower spot: BABEL.  The Tower of Babel is an origin myth and parable in the Book of Genesis chapter 11 meant to explain the existence of different languages and cultures.  According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language migrates to Shinar (Lower Mesopotamia), where they agree to build a great city with a tower that would reach the sky. God, observing these efforts and remarking on humanity's power in unity, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other and scatters them around the world, leaving the city unfinished.

The Tower of Babel
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563

Like many such stories in the Bible, this one constitutes what is a called a "bookend" -- one of a pair of parallel stories, the later one completing the first.  In this instance the second bookend occurs in the New Testament book The Acts of the Apostles on the Feast of Pentecost, when the Apostles are gathered together to address a crowd of visitors to Jerusalem.  The crowd is astonished that despite their being from many different countries, and speaking many different languages, they are all somehow able to understand the Galilean Aramaic language spoken by the Apostles. 

60. Pay to play: ANTE.

61. Had to pay: OWED.  See 65D ...

62. Delight: GLEE.

65. Auditing agcy.: IRS.  Timely clue.

Cheers, 

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, March 13, 2025, Catherine Cetta

     The Sounds of Music 

Today our constructor Catherine Cetta presents us with a reveal that tells us all we need to know about her clever, elegant, musical theme ...

56. "By the way ...," and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters: ON A SIDE NOTE.  That is, the circles each contain a NOTE of the musical scale in descending order along on the left then right SIDE of the grid -- represented by the syllables TI, DO, SOL, LA, MI, FA, DO, and RE.   This system has been around since the 11th Century and is called Solfège -- the use of mnemonics in teaching the sounds in a musical scale. 

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. "Casablanca" heroine: ILSA.  Here she cajoles Sam into playing As Time Goes By ...

Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer cajoled that tune into a delightful 10 series romcom -- I think this is episode 1.

5. Is generally positive: HOPES.

10. Mavens: PROS.

14. Subject with lots of problems: MATH.  That's how you learn MATH -- by solving lots of problems, and the more problems you solve the more MATH you learn.

15. Weasel out of: EVADE.

16. "Rats!": DARN.

17. Attachments: TIES.

18. Old thing: RELIC.  My favorite relic is the Shroud of Turin, a sheet of linen 14' 3" long by 3' 7" wide containing a highly detailed image of a crucified man, which has several unique properties.  It is believed by some to be the burial shroud of Christ, certainly a debatable question, but as yet no one has come up with a satisfactory explanation for how it was created.   But there is no question that it is the most studied artifact of all time. Based on radiocarbon data collected in 1988 from a sample taken from a single location on the cloth, skeptics claim that it was created in the Middle Ages.  Others say that the carbon-14 measurements may have been accurate for the 2.5 sq. in. sample taken from one of the corners, but that it is probably not representative of the age of the whole 50 sq ft. cloth. The skeptics have been challenged by David Rolfe, a British documentary film producer and researcher on the Shroud of Turin, who has offered a million dollars to anyone who can replicate it, the only stipulation being that they can use only technologies extant in the Middle Ages.  FWIW, Teri and I were fortunate to see the Shroud in Turin, Italy in 2000; I have read several dozen books on the subject, both pro and con; and I still have no idea on how it was made.

19. Classic pet name: FIDO.

20. Amanda Gorman's "__ to Our Ocean": ODE.  In June 2020, Lonely Whale collaborated with Atmos and Future Earth to produce Ode to Our Ocean — a poem by Amanda Gorman written for World Oceans Day.

Amanda Gorman

21. Civil rights leader __ Scott King: CORETTA.  Coretta Scott King (née Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968.

Coretta Scott King
1964

23. Hem but not haw?: SEW.

24. A as in Aristotle: ALPHA. ALPHA is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, the alphabet used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Aristotle
Marble portrait bust,
Roman copy (2nd century bce)
 of a Greek original (c. 325 bce)

26. Hasty getaway: LAM.

27. Hate the thought of: DREAD.

29. Footprint makers: SOLES.

30. Fútbol cheer: OLE.

31. Birthing coach: DOULA.  Doula vs midwife: what's the difference?

32. Dweeb: TWERP.  I think either the clue or the fill is a stretch ...

33. Kylo who is Darth Vader's grandson: REN.  Kylo Ren (born Ben Solo) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was introduced in The Force Awakens (2015), the first film of the sequel trilogy as the main antagonist. He subsequently appeared in The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).  Looks like a bad dude ... 

Kylo Ren

34. "What a butterfingers I am!": OOPSY.

35. Fuse together: MELD.  WELD fit, but didn't perp.

37. Coffee containers: URNS.  The preferred containers for holding coffee in crosswords.

39. Whole: ENTIRE.

42. "Don't be led __": ASTRAY.  Good advice!

46. Fog: MIST.

47. Tea region of India: ASSAM.  Actually there are three regions in India that cultivate tea, but NILGIRI and DARJEELING wouldn't fit.  Here's a lovely lady plucking tea in an Assam tea garden ...

Assam tea garden

51. Couch: SOFA.

52. Baseball Hall of Famer nicknamed "Master Melvin": OTT.  Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958) was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from 1926 through 1947.  He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Though unusually slight in stature for a power hitter, at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m), 170 pounds (77 kg), Ott led the National League in home runs a then-record six times. He was an All-Star for 11 consecutive seasons, and was the first National League player to surpass 500 career home runs.
 

Ott was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.

53. Round figures: SPHERES.

55. Farm pen: STY.

56. [Theme reveal]

59. Naturally curly styles: AFROS.  AFROS commonly style our crossword grids and my favorite wearer of them is Keith Jarrett.  Known primarily as a jazz pianist and improvisor, he is also equally at home playing classical piano.  I was first introduced to him with his performances of the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues.  Here is Keith playing the latter's Op. 87: No. 1 in C Major ... 

 
 61. Fashion's Diane __ Fürstenberg: VON.  Diane von Fürstenberg (née Diane Simone Michele Halfin; 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. Following their separation in 1972 and divorce in 1983, she has continued to use his family name. 

Diane von Furstenberg

62. __-toothed tiger: SABER.  The scientific name for this beast is the Smilodon, an extinct genus of felids. It is one of the best known predators of prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats, The hundreds of specimens obtained from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles constitute the largest collection of Smilodon fossils.  

Painting of Smilodon populator
the American Museum of Natural History
Charles R. Knight

65. Mosque toppers: DOMES.  The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is the world's oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture, the earliest archaeologically attested religious structure to be built by a Muslim ruler and its inscriptions contain the earliest epigraphic proclamations of Islam and of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. 

Dome of the Rock
 Temple Mount
Old City of Jerusalem

66. Terminus: END.

67. Cornflower kin: AZURE.  Both are shades of blue -- here are a few others.

68. "Rly?": SRSLY.  Text speak: "Really?":"Seriously!".  Seriously meh! 

  69. __ race: RAT.  ... the RATS appear to be winning.

70. Sidestep: DODGE.

Down:

 1. Lament from someone in big trouble: I'M TOAST. The birth of an idiom ...  

2. Knocked out of action: LAID LOW.

3. Church tower topper: STEEPLE.  Ulm Minster is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is the tallest church in the world.  The church is the fifth-tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.53 metres. 

Ulm Minster
Lutheran church

4. Satisfied sounds: AHS.

5. Sub: HERO.

6. Authoritative ruler: OVERLORD.  A timely clue.

7. Hoppy brew: PALE ALE.

8. Word feature: EDIT MENU.  Microsoft Word that is.  I intended to illustrate this clue with a screen shot of the Word EDIT MENU, but Word has become so bloated with features that I couldn't find it.  The product seems to have overtaken by adverts for Microsoft's AI product, CO-PILOT.  Just tell it what you want and it will do the rest.

9. Offshoot: SECT.

10. Many an attachment: PDF.  Portable Document Format, a freeware product original developed by Adobe Acrobat, which has become an industry standard for document portability -- regardless of who you're sending it to, there is a good chance that they'll be able to read it.

Adobe Acrobat

11. Elevate: RAISE UP.

12. Major hassles: ORDEALS.  Or this could have been clued "Major ordeals:" HASSLES. 

13. Unscheduled winter break: SNOW DAY.  As retired folks we no longer break for SNOW DAYS --  but we can't break from SNOW SHOVELING! 

21. Wyoming's second-most populous city: CASPER.  Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to the development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field. 

Casper skyline

22. Extras: ADD ONS.

25. Recluse: HERMIT.

28. Dove bars?: ROOSTS.  These ROOSTS are often found in Dovecotes.

36. By __ and bounds: LEAPS.

38. Japanese noodle dish: RAMEN.

39. Panic! at the Disco genre: EMO.  Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004 by childhood friends Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson, and Brendon Urie. Following several lineup changes, Panic! at the Disco operated as the solo project of front man Urie from 2015 until its discontinuation in 2023.  Here's their House of Memories ... 

40. Trivial objection: NIT.

41. Threatening NOAA forecasts: T STORMS.  The number of T STORMS that NOAA is allowed to forecast has recently been reduced by circumstances beyond its control -- weather is so chaotic! 😕

43. Last on-screen message in a classic film: ROSE BUD.  The film referred to in the clue is the 1941 drama Citizen Kane, a thinly veiled biopic of the publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst.  The film was directed by Orson Wells to a score by Bernard Hermann.  Near the end of the film, as Kane dies his enigmatic last words are ROSE BUD.  Reporters and others launch a search for the meaning of these words, but are unable to discover them.  The very last scene shows workmen wandering through his warehouse, inspecting and disposing of various artifacts from his life -- but only we see the name ROSE BUD on his childhood sled as it is consumed by flames in the fireplace.  Some commentators describe Kane's words as his recollection of his childhood innocence at the moment of his death  ... 

 44. Toward the rudder: AFT.

45. "Oh, happy day!": YAY.  What kids SAY on 13Ds! 😀

48. Cold response: SHIVER.  What I do on 13Ds! 😕

49. City in Arizona's Verde Valley region: SEDONA.  Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031.  And CSOS to Lucina, CMOE, and Prof. M.

Cathedral Rock
Coconino National Forest
Sedona, AZ

50. Political philosopher Hannah: ARENDT.  Another timely clue. Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century.  She is probably best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann; for her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems; and perhaps most of all for the phrase "the banality of evil."

Hannah Arendt

53. Cheeky: SASSY.

54. "Makes me want to cry": SO SAD.

57. Carolers' tune: NOEL.  Here was the first one ...

58. Maker of Zen K-Cup pods: TAZO.  Tazo Tea Company (TAZO) is a tea and herbal tea blender and distributor founded in Portland, Oregon. It is now a Lipton Teas and Infusions division and is based in Kent, Washington.  This Britaphile finds the idea of getting green tea from plastic cups to be not very green, and quite frankly revolting! 😖

59. Some internet search results: ADS.

60. Supporting: FOR.

63. Bit of energy: ERG.  The ERG is a unit of energy equal to 10−7 joules (100 nJ). It is not an SI unit, instead originating from the centimeter–gram–second system of units (CGS). Its name is derived from ergon (ἔργον), a Greek word meaning 'work' or 'task'.

64. "The Pioneer Woman" host Drummond: REE.  Anne Marie "Ree" Drummond (née Smith, born January 6, 1969) is an American blogger, author, food writer, and television personality. Drummond became known for her blog, The Pioneer Woman, which documented her life in rural Oklahoma, and her cookbook.  Here's how she makes Orange Chicken ... 

And her recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo looks good too ...
 

Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo

Cheers, 

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Thursday, March 6, 2025, Adam Simpson

 Is There an Echo in Here?

Today's constructor is Adam Simpson who has appeared in the New York Times, and here on Saturday November 5, 2022, reviewed by Husker Gary.  His simple theme answers today sound the same at the beginning and the end ...

20A. Arm of the North Atlantic Ocean: CARIBBEAN SEA.  I'm sorry I couldn't find an up-to-date version of this map.😀
 

28A Chakra associated with higher consciousness: INNER EYE.   Chakra is a Sanskrit term denoting one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient Hindu or Buddhist meditation practices. The INNER EYE is also called the "Mind's eye" or the "Third eye".    Here's a Western-oriented beginner's guide from Healthline.  

The Seven Chakras

 36A Perfect for no one else: UNIQUELY YOU.  This might have been clued as "Bespoke" 

48A Crude nickname: TEXAS TEA.  "Crude" as in crude oil.  It may also refer to a cocktail made from tequila, bourbon whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, and flavorings -- here's a recipe. WARNING: it is highly recommended that you refrain from horseback riding for at least one hour after imbibing ... 

Texas Tea
... and in this case 3 hours!

Here's the reveal ...

56A. Sharp device in a classic desk set, or a literal and phonetic description of the ends of 20-, 28-, 36-, and 48-Across?: LETTER OPENER.  Each theme fill opens with a circled single letter and ends with a three letter homophone for the opening letter.  I found the circles helpful with the solve but YMMV.

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Green blob on a taco, familiarly: GUAC.  Short for guacamole.  Here's a recipe.

Guacamole

5. Un-locked: BALD.  Clever clue!

9. They're opened at bars: TABS.  CAPS and TAPS fit but didn't perp.

13. Not behind: ANTI.

14. English horn kin: OBOE.  Here's the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto 1- Rondo Pastorale performed by oboist Zully Casallas ... 
  

15. Natives of the Central Plains: OTOES.  The Otoe (Chiwere: Jiwére) are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa, Missouria, and Ho-Chunk tribes.

Members of the modern
Otoe-Missouria Tribe

17. Attendee: GOER.  Meh.

18. Airport transport, for some: UBER. I wouldn't depend on this service unless I had a lot of wait time at the airport after check-in.

19. Singer/actress Mandy: MOORE.  Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single Candy, which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut studio album, So Real (1999), received platinum certification. Here's the title track from her reissue of So Real, I Wanna Be With You (2000), which became Moore's first top 40 single, peaking at 24 on the chart ...

20. [Theme clue]

23. Like some rebates: MAIL IN.  

26. As of now: YET.

27. Blast letters: TNT.  Cue Wile E. Coyote ...

28. [Theme clue]

31. Bumps in the night, e.g.: NOISES.

33. Preserve, in a way: CAN.  The original preservation method used glass jars, a method still used today in home canning.  The process for canning was invented by a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert (17 November 1749 – 1 June 1841), a French confectioner and inventor who, in the early 19th century, invented airtight food preservation on commission from the French government which was looking for a way to supply the military with food during the Winter months. 

Appert canning jar

34. Cleaned the slate: ERASED.

36. [Theme clue]

41. Brand of dryer sheets: BOUNCE.  The first dryer sheers were invented in the late 1960s, by Conrad Gaiser and his wife Audrey, who called the brand Tumble Puff.  They sold their invention to Proctor and Gamble, whose marketing mavens changed the name to Bounce ... 

42. MoMA locale: NYC.  The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is in New York City.  According to the Internet sage, this is the most popular work of art on display there ... 

 The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh.
 Saint Rémy, June 1889

45. Ethically responsible: HUMANE.

48. [Theme clue]

52. "Memories of John Lennon" editor: ONO.  Yoko Ono turned 93 this past February 18.

Amazon link

53. Resting place: BED.

55. Confront aggressively: ACCOST.

56. [Theme reveal].

60. Caterpillar, for one: LARVA.  A great place to go larva watching is the Butterfly House in the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton Maryland.  But don't go now, as they're asleep in their pupae for the winter.

Larva watcher
Butterfly house
Ladew Topiary Gardens

61. __ Scotia: NOVA.

62. "You had the right __!": IDEA.

66. Alicia Keys album with the hit "No One": AS I AM.  This lady has a remarkable bio -- Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 , was signed by Columbia Records at 15, and  later signed with J Records to release her debut studio album, Songs in A Minor (2001). The album met with critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide and winning five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.  Here's the clue song, No One ... 

67. Like most items at a yard sale: USED.  And they're sold AS IS, which is USED often in crosswords.

68. [Keep scritching my head]: PURR.  My last fill -- I finally realized that [the imperative] is coming from a cat!

69. Tips: ENDS. Like aglets for shoe laces or telomeres for chromosomes.  They basically have the same function -- to keep the ends from unraveling.

70. Drive-__: THRU.

71. Kings or Wizards: TEAM.  NBA teams to be exact.  The Sacramento Kings are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and the Washington Wizards are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference

Down:

1. Funny bit: GAG.

2. Game with Reverse cards: UNO. Or NO U in reverse --  what do Uno reverse cards mean and how are they being used IRL? 

UNO reverse card

3. Swallowed: ATE.

4. Ring: CIRCLE.

5. Damon role: BOURNE.  The Bourne franchise consists of action-thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series. The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon.  Here's a fan trailer ... 

6. Comedian Jacobson: ABBI.  Abbi Jacobson (born 1984) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and illustrator. She co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series Broad City (2014–2019) with Ilana Glazer, based on the web series of the same name.  This is the story of how Abbi met Ilana ...

7. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB.  Lisa Anne Loeb (born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with Stay (I Missed You) from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract.  Here's the clue song ...  

8. Bowler: DERBY.  The Kirwood DERBY was used as a long running 1D in the greatest cartoon series of all time -- Rocky and Bullwinkle ...

9. Like marinara: TOMATOEY.  SAUCY wasn't filling enough.

10. Lots and lots: A TON.

11. Promotes: BOOSTS.

12. Calm and collected: SERENE.  If you're not calm and collected try re-reading the link in 28A -- it might help you become more SERENE.

16. Ushers to a table: SEATS.  An improvement over the verb USH that we saw last week.

21. Run on TV: AIR.

22. Itty-bitty: EENSY.

23. MC's aid: MIC.  Master of Ceremonies is abbreviated, so Microphone is abbreviated.

24. De Armas of "Knives Out": ANA.  In this scene, Marta (played by Ana) "accidentally" gives Harlan (played by Christopher Plummer) an overdose of morphine.  But like just about everything else in this movie, that's not what actually happened ...

25. Indigenous people of Labrador: INNU.  The Innu and their territory.

Mary Jane Nuna and
Annie Michel
Sheshatshiu Innu Federal Reserve, 1963

29. "Beef" Emmy winner Steven: YEUN.  Beef is an American comedy-drama television anthology series created by Lee Sung Jin for Netflix. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, respectively; two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. 

30. Construct: ERECT.

32. Binding words: I DO.

35. Not aweather: ALEE.

37. Org. for Kings and Wizards: NBA.  For details on these TEAMS, see clue 71A.

38. Rays made of charged particles: ION BEAMS.  An ion beam is a stream of charged particles. Ion beams have many uses in electronics manufacturing (principally ion implantation) and other industries. There are many ion beam sources, some derived from the mercury vapor thrusters developed by NASA in the 1960s. The most widely used ion beams are of singly-charged ions. 

Ion beam rocket

39. "__ Eye": makeover series on Netflix: QUEER.  

40. "Once more __ the breach": UNTO.  From Shakespeare's history play Henry V.  The full quote is

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead -- Act 3 Scene 1.   

The play recounts the Battle of Agincourt in the Hundred Years War, where the British won the day, despite being outnumbered by the French by at least two to one. There have been several adaptations of this play, including the 1989 film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh ...  

43. "Absolutely!": YES.

44. Curtain climber, maybe: CAT.

45. Slangy "I'd like to hear from you!": HOLLA.  DNK this slang -- sounds as if it must be yelled to be heard ...

46. Discomfort: UNEASE.

47. Ibuprofen brand: MOTRIN.  Here's everything you need to know about Ibuprofen.

49. Musical film featuring a roller-skating Olivia Newton-John: XANADU.  Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film starring Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty in China. The city appears in the 1816 poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge quoted in the film.  Here's the Magic scene with Newton-John and Beck ... 

50. Blackjack card: ACE.  Blackjack is a casino banking game.  It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as "twenty-one".  Here are the rules.

Ace of Spades

51. Play lines: SCRIPT.

54. Dunkin' treat: DONUT.

57. Spot on the air: TV AD.

58. One of the Spice Girls: POSH.  The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice").

Victoria Beckham
"Posh Spice"

59. At any time: EVER.

63. Scheduled: DUE.

64. Period piece: ERA.  A period piece is a drama that transports us to a past era and can be thought of as synonymous with that ERA.  E.g. Teri and I recently watched a period piece called Doctor Thorne, a 2016 four-part television drama series adaptation of the 1858 Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, scripted by Julian Fellowes and intended to transport us to Victorian England.  Here's a trailer ...

65. Upper limb: ARM.  AKA the humerus, not to be confused with the "funny bone", which is just below it in the upper end of the ULNA in the lower arm.😀

Cheers, 

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley