Palindromes on Parade
Happy Hump Day Cornerites. Today, we get words vertically spelled the same forwards & backwards hidden (oooh, another little puzzle for us to solve - sans circles!) in the starred clues. They...17d. Move like tides and stock prices, or what the hidden words do in the answers to the starred clues?: RISE AND FALL.
3d. *Forensic expert on many a crime drama: DNA ANALYST. NAAN - Indian bread (not Rupees)
8d. *"Is this a smile on my face?": HOW MAD AM I. MADAM (I'm Adam).
29d. *Warning from the paranoid: TRUST NO ONE. NOON as in high- for a shoot-out.
 |
| Trust No One |
33d. *Like Viola and Sebastian's ship at the start of "Twelfth Night": LOST AT SEA. Shakespeare & STATS.
Cute, eh? I think we need appropriate music here:
They Might Be Giants - I Palindrome I
Across:
1. Remove for security reasons, say: REDACT.
7. "Aw, darn it!": OH HELL. Saucy fill (we're allowed to ink that? Sweet.)
13. "Atlas Shrugged" author: AYN RAND. RUSH's 2112 acknowledged her "genius" in the liner notes. I will be kind to the reader and not embed a link as I'm sure no one has 16:08 to listen.
15. Roster newbie: ROOKIE.
16. Trucker in a union: TEAMSTER. I should have been paid OT moving Youngest into her first apartment last week. Six hours of driving and 3 hours moving her goods in 104F heat.
18. __ manual: OWNERS. I had "online" first. Who else gets into the Catch-22 of needing to access online support when your online thing isn't working in the first place?
19. Five dollar face, for short: ABE. USoA's 16th Prez.
20. Olive center: PIT.
22. Small plateaus: MESAS.
23. Mama's mama: NANA. An anagram of NAAN! :-)
25. "No worries": IT'S OKAY. Don't know if anyone heard about a "suspicious package" found at Defcon. I was there just leaving the Vetcon party (for .mil vets) and going to the ChillOut Zone when we were evacuated.
I must say, panic never ensued. The Goons were assertively polite telling everyone to find a door and the venue evacuated calmly. On the way out, I asked two Goons I know, WTF? One said, "It's now or later. Go. Be safe." Nerds are the best.
27. Tony-winning musical "Dear __ Hansen": EVAN. I handed-out an award?
28. Enjoyed some gum, say: CHEWED.
29. Some ESPN highlights: TDS. Touchdowns are in the short-reel of the Football game on ESPN.
32. Without restraint: WILDLY.
34. "True Blood" star Paquin: ANNA. Another anagram of NAAN!
35. Sleep cycle letters: REM.
36. Final authority: SAY SO. What you have, to tell your kids, when too many "why" questions follow your request.
37. Clinic staffers: Abbr.: RNS. Registered Nurses.
38. Lab rodent: MOUSE. Or wait...
40. Tiebreaker periods, briefly: OTS. Over-Times.
41. Skidded: SLID.
SLED
43. Strands in a tree: TINSEL. Oh, Christmas and not a dog treeing a cat who subsequently waits on the fireman.
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| Probably not what she had in mind... |
44. Converged: MET. Estimates are there were ~30k hackers who converged at/on Vegas for Defcon.
45. Skor bar center: TOFFEE. Skor is Hershey's go at the Heath toffee bar.
47. Key in a PC reboot combo: CTRL.
48. Taxi money: CAB FARE.
49. Tolkien tree creatures: ENTS. Lord of The Rings reference.
50. Vision: SIGHT.
53. Pro's 35mm camera, maybe: SLR. Single-lens Reflex.
54. Pigeon sound: COO.
55. "Spider-Man: __ the Spider-Verse": ACROSS. Marvel (or DC?) movie franchise.
 |
| Can't remember which Universe, just say "Both" |
57. Neighborhood diner?: LOCAVORE. Cute. Not the local grill but someone who dines on near-sourced yummies.
61. Grunts and groans: NOISES.
62. Restored to mint condition: LIKE NEW.
63. Make sympathetic: ENDEAR.
64. Perfectly calm: SERENE.
Down:
1. Lab rodent: RAT. [from 38a] ...for it.
We have RAT & MOUSE clecho'd in a grid. This calls for
I gotta link an interview with the voices
2. Hurricane center: EYE. California is starting to dry out. Last recorded TS in CA was 1934 (so I read).
3. [See: theme]
4. Accessories worn by soccer captains: ARM BANDS.
5. "__ closed!": CASE.
6. Explosive initials: TNT. It's dynamite fill!
7. Spanish gold: ORO.
8. [See: theme]
9. Baklava sweetener: HONEY.
10. Barely gets (by): EKES.
11. Old Italian bread?: LIRA. Not stale focaccia.
12. "More or __": LESS.
14. Profundity: DEPTH.
17. [See: theme].
21. Small dots on a map: TOWNS.
23. California governor Gavin: NEWSOM. There were thoughts he might run for President in 2024. We'll see.
24. Fly: AVIATE.
25. Unwelcoming: ICY.
26. "Detective Pikachu" actor Watanabe: KEN. Pokemon reference.
29. [See: theme]
30. Climate for much of Nevada: DESERT. In Vegas, it was nice to occasionally step outside to warm up from the over-AC'd conference halls.
31. Requires Febreze, maybe: SMELLS. Some of the folks at Defcon needed a spritz.
33. [See: theme]
37. Jazz licks: RIFFS.
Charlie Parker & His Trio
39. Quick appraisal: ONCE OVER.
42. High tennis shot: LOB.
43. Shape of a "timeout" hand signal: TEE.
46. CBS News correspondent Barnett: ERROL.
48. Picked: CHOSE. Hand-up if you were always last on playground divvying up.
50. Of sound mind: SANE.
51. Envelope opened with a click, e.g.: ICON. Your email ICON.
52. Sudoku diagram: GRID. This could have been meta-clued as we were solving ;-)
54. Dessert with icing: CAKE.
56. Abbreviation on old Russian maps: SSR. Stealing from my last expo: "Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, is Latin alphabet transliteration of Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (СССР) //yeah, I Googled the translation."
58. Prefix with gender: CIS.
59. Driver's "Star Wars" role: REN.
60. Barnyard female: EWE.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
WO: online -> OWNERS
ESPs: EVAN, KEN, ERROL
Fav: LOCAVORE
There you have it folks -- another Wednesday in 2023's books. Christmas is only 124 days away, so get your TINSEL [43a] now.
Thanks for the fun Catherine!
Cheers, -T
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