Friday, April 23, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

 Title: We must eliminate CR gas (dibenzoxazepine).

Once again I am blogging a Jeffrey Wechsler puzzle. (Thank you Moe for graciously offering to let me blog the April 2 and you would blog the the 9th and 16th so we would be on schedule for sharing the duties 50/50) and it turned out the 23rd is another JW).

Also, like last time, I am assigning a meaningful title to the puzzle, whether intended or not, because if you know of the risks of CR TEAR GAS  which is 10 times stronger than the original tear gas, you will understand the importance of a ban. I am very much against violence. Particularly if the often irreverent, sometimes entertaining comments offend and you want to beat the crap out of me. Back to real entertainment, as Jeffrey has removed the bigram - CR - from the beginning of four/five in the language phrases and the resultant phrases are clued to amuse. There are none better at this style. Once again to meet the creative need, Jeffrey uses a non-square grid this time 15 columns by 16 rows. I guess that the extra row was the result of double themers in the middle, but that is just a guess. This lead to a plethora of 5 and 6 letter fill and left the theme fill as the only long word or phrases. Which means it is time...

15A. Judicious use of an Egyptian goddess?:  {CR}ISIS MANAGEMENT  (14). I am not sure how you "use" a goddess but she was an interesting deity, the daughter of GEB and NUT.

20. Source of some cruise ship beer?:  {CR}AFT BREWERY (10). I think there are actual ships with breweries on board. CARNIVAL VISTA.

35A. With 40-Across, good advice for correcting a manuscript?: {CR}EDIT WHERE (9).

40A. See 35-Across:  {CR}EDIT IS DUE (9). Giving credit where credit is due. 

52A. What a theater hopes its "Bus Stop" revival will be?:  {CR}INGE WORTHY (10). William Motter Inge the author of BUS STOP was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, including PICNIC, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize.

58A. Audiophile's flat, say?: {CR}AMPED APARTMENT (14) Now that the theme is out there, I am amped to get to the rest, so away we go. 

Across:

1. Opening for recorded music: CD-SLOT. I hear the grumbling already when 1A is not simple. (Sorry D-O). The term seems clunky but it has about 76,200,000 results from Google. 

7. Pass: ELAPSE. Time, oh good good time

13. Placid: SERENE. Hopefully while the time passes.

14. Cheese-making sites: DAIRIES. Yes, you need milk.

                                  

17. In concert: AS ONE. We acted together.

18. Scott who played Danno on "Hawaii Five-0": CAAN. Son of James Caan this 5'5" actor has made his own way in Hollywood.

25. Caesar's last gasp: ET TU. I should have et only one.

26. Most exposed: BAREST. Maybe like THIS?

27. Like microbes, before microscopes: UNSEEN. Sneaky little guys.

29. Lover of Aphrodite: ARES. The war god; she was the ISIS of her people.

30. 39.37 inches, in Ipswich: METRE. Where are the Duke and Duchess hiding? SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

33. Really enjoy: SAVOR. No dinosaur but LINK.

42. Some brass: TUBAS. Don't confuse them with the SOUSAPHONE.  

43. Frisbees, e.g.: DISCS. Do you remember the PLUTO PLATTER? Growing up in Connecticut I knew that the Frisbee's name is a spin-off from a defunct Connecticut bakery, Frisbie Pie Co. New England college students often tossed empty pie tins around for fun, a habit that led them to refer to the Pluto Platter as a "frisbie."

44. Salon supply: GELS. Not for me.

45. One on a regimen, perhaps: DIETER. Or maybe a PILOT.

49. Mountain guide: SHERPA. A clear CSO to C.C. and her affectionate appellation for us.

51. Cornerstone word: ANNO. Latin year placed in building cornerstones. 

56. Evidence of surgery: SCAR.

57. Soffits are under them: EAVES. 

65. Big 12 rival of the Longhorns: SOONERS. Texas and Oklahoma.

66. Knowledgeable (in): VERSED. OKL is well versed along with others here.

67. Indications of humanity?: ERRORS. Who said "to err is human, to forgive divine" ? Answer below if I remember. 

68. Upper crust groups: ELITES. 

Down:

1. Franchise whose opening themes are songs by The Who: CSI.

2. Paris' Rue __ Martyrs: DES. Street of martyrs

3. Indian honorific: SRI. Not Indian but a Hindu honorific, do you think it is related to 41D. "Hey" assistant: SIRI?

4. Guitarist Paul: LES. Mr. Electric Guitar

5. Where Mark Watney was stranded for about 560 sols, in a 2015 film: ON MARS. Played by Matt Damon. Interesting movie.

6. Wonderland service: TEA SET.

7. Raring to go: EAGER.

8. Rest: LIE. 

9. Tentacle analog: ARM. Back in the day my young female friends would complain that their date was like an octopus.

10. Fragments: PIECES.

11. Law group: SENATE. Oddly this was hard.

12. Passed-down property: ESTATE. A common misconception.

14. Kierkegaard, e.g.: DANE. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (b. 1813, d. 1855) was a profound and prolific writer in the Danish “golden age” of intellectual and artistic activity. I kept trying to find a 4 letter word that meant philosopher. Eventually after rejecting many incorrect 4 letter words of frustration, the correct one surfaced.

16. "Get on it!": NOW. Make it so!

19. Field role of early TV: NUN. Silly Sally role.

20. Demean: ABASE.

21. Capacitance unit: FARAD. Named after Michael Faraday, this is the SI unit of electrical capacitance, equal to the capacitance of a capacitor in which one coulomb of charge causes a potential difference of one volt. Huh?

22. Roman fountain: TREVI. Much nicer than the one by our pool.

23. Stupefy: BESOT.

24. Nomadic shelter: YURT. 

28. Mature eft: NEWT. Cute reversal clue/fill. 

30. Just what the doctor ordered: MEDS. Nice!

31. U.S. Cabinet-level dept.: EDUC.

32. Family __: TIES. Poor Michael J. Fox, from Teen Wolf to physical struggles.

34. Theme park offering: RIDE. Charging a $100.00+ per day, sounds like being taken for a ride.

36. More vast: HUGER.

37. "The Great Movies" series author: EBERT.  His OBITUARY.

38. Actor Fiennes: RALPH. Actor Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. See 30A if you do not believe how much thought goes into finding entertaining fill.

39. One of ten in Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son": ESSAY. A book I found profoundly moving while in college, and now, in my dotage I ponder his words as I observe the division in our people. “You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.” This may be what keeps us apart.

45. Court figs.: DAS. District Attorneys.

46. If: IN CASE. My little Georgia boys learned "for case."

47. Captivate: ENAMOR. 'N AMOR? The Submariner?

48. Lethargy: TORPOR."lethargy, listlessness," c. 1600, from Latin torpor "numbness, sluggishness," from torpere "be numb, be inactive, be dull" (from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff").

49. Sharp turn: SWERVE. Onomotopoeia? LIST. I left out the fifth O until the final run through.

50. Hiker's stopover: HOSTEL.

53. Gets closer to: NEARS. Relax, I am almost done.

54. Openings: GAPS.

55. Mendes of fashion: EVA.  To SPANK or not?

59. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO. ENOugh is ENOugh!

60. "__ Rosenkavalier": DER. Literally the red knight (Spitzboov?) a complicated OPERA with Strauss' music.

61. CT scan relative: MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Mine for later today has been canceled as the blood work showing my levels for Bun and Creatinine was not reported in writing.

62. January Ga. hours: EST. Eastern Standard Time.

63. Previously called: NÉE. Only if you are a female; so many languages are gender specific. Does that make it harder for the new generations?

64. NFL scores: TDS. Or FGS.

We have slogged our way though another Friday with the help of the 24 plus fonts available as I solve and write. Jeffrey always manages to not only find and interesting and chalaenging theme, but he packs the rest which such variety. I had a great time, I hope you did. Until next time, I remain Lemonade.

Notes from C.C.:

Chairman Moe and  Mark McClain made today's Universal puzzle. Click here to solve. Congrats, Chris!