April
showers bring....hey, wait, we're too early for the flowers~! This is
my second blog of an Emma Oxford puzzle this year ( see 67A.). Four
11-letter and one 13-letter spanners for the theme - scrambled, or
"wild" - flower names. No circles, but "in my opinion" ( see 59D. ) it
might have helped, as the first two themers are two-word scrambles, but
then the second two are just the first four letters. Your Experience
May Be/Might've Been Different - in fact, I'm coining a new term,
"YEMBD" - pronounced "yem-beady". Very few names, plenty of foreign
(read) French words, but a longer than usual solve time for me, as I did
not get the "ta-DA~!" at the end due to my "LIKE to serve" mistake,
which took a while to find.
18. *Be extremely helpful: LIVE TO SERVE - VIOLET- the original Willy Wonka
There's a valid argument for why she should have "won" the Chocolate Factory
29. *Staged a fireworks show: LIT UP THE SKY - TULIP - ah, there's an organ joke in there....
I do not have this record...
36. *Start of an instruction to an automated assistant: SIRI SET A TIMER - IRIS
The 'Monet' version; perhaps you're a Van Gogh type~?
44. *Sensitive area: SORE SUBJECT - ROSE - and the 'start' of the joke ....
Axl "ROSE is"on the piano - and, er, Slash is on piano, too....
58. Colorful elements of a meadow, and what can be found at the starts of the answers to the starred clues?: WILDFLOWERS
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Gasteyer of "Mean Girls": ANA
4. Stand-up individual?: COMIC
9. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner: MEALS
14. Place for a pint: PUB - Bzzzt~! Not BAR - AND - 20A. Some pints: ALES
15. Miso soup mushroom: ENOKI - perps, but then again, a crossword staple lately
16. Data processor's need: INPUT
17. Lenovo products: PCs - Lenovo is a Windows-based computer maker
22. Crying harder: TEARIER - meh.
23. Tempo similar to largo: LENTO
25. Prepares, as a sleeping bag: UNROLLS
33. Part of EVOO: OIL - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
34. Used DoorDash, say: ATE IN - had food delivered, that is; I made my own version of General Tso's chicken the other day~!
35. Auction site: eBAY
41. Very: MOST - as in "she is most attractive"
"Très OUI" - Frawnche #1
42. Rene of "Tin Cup": RUSSO
43. Death on the Nile cause, perhaps: ASP - "Very dangerous...you go first"
50. Frightening vision: DAYMARE - as opposed to NIGHTmare - a new word for me; more here
52. Part of TNT: NITRO - Everything you ever wanted to know about trinitrotoluene
53. Do over and over: ITERATE - so to REiterate is to do over and over AND OVER~?
57. "Begone!": SHOO
62. Convent figure: NUN
63. Adult stage in insects: IMAGO
64. Provide an address: ORATE - ooh, clever misdirection
65. Here, in France: ICI - Frawnche #2
66. Airport structure: TOWER
"We have no tower - just a bridge, Sir"
67. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" host Aisha: TYLER - strangely, this is the second time with this clue/answer for me in an Emma Oxford puzzle blog
68. "Evita" role: CHE
DOWN:
1. Revolt: APPALL - the "ick" revolt, not the political one
2. Atomic cores: NUCLEI - I read somewhere that our constructor Emma has atomic knowledge
3. Playing hooky, perhaps: ABSENT
4. Cartoon still: CEL
5. "Roger that, boss!": "ON IT~!"
6. Make emotional: MOVE - MOKE seemed like a possibility 😜
7. Maker of Ektorp sofas: IKEA - I have learned to default to "IKEA" when it's an oddly-named furniture clue....
8. Fruit type that tends to be in season in winter: CITRUS - I did not know this; read more here from "The CIA"
9. Kathy Bates film based on a Stephen King novel: MISERY - I am not a fan of this genre
10. Month after diciembre: ENERO - the Spanish spelling of January
11. Mo. after Mar.: APRil - the current "mid-spring" month - I have daffodils in my front yard
It would appear that I need to wash my siding
12. Hon: LUV - Thank God it was not the "other" three-letter cringe word
13. Sault __ Marie: STE - Frawnche #3
19. Sty sound: OINK
21. Queen Anne's house: STUART - I have had this type of misdirection before; not the actual house as in structure/style, but the "political" one - see the Wiki highlighted
36. Slugger Sammy: SOSA - an easy baseball reference, tho I am
not a fan like our blog host C.C. - I did like the link to the two guys
trying to hit 100mph fastballs, Chairman~!
37. Guessing game: I SPY
38. Ger. neighbor: AUStria
39. Nashville sch.: TSU - I WAGed this, figured it was something like "Tennessee State University"
40. ID on a Barnes & Noble buy: ISBN - ID is abbr., so too the International Standard Book Number
41. Outraged: MAD
44. Took, as an exam: SAT FOR
45. Baseball analyst Hershiser: OREL - does this mean he offers "Orel" exams~? ba-dum-tiss
46. Transplant: REROOT - I re-potted my houseplant a month ago,
and it's still in shock; I don't want to lose it, because it was my
mother's plant and I kept it when we sold the LI house after she passed
47. Pertaining to a certain culture: ETHNIC
48. Catcher's stance: CROUCH - ah; much better than "SQUAT", which was my first thought
49. Nickname for the Canadian $2 coin: TOONIE - I filled in LOONEY, as I have seen this before in Crosswords, but obviously had the wrong $ value, and spelling - but 50% correct~!
51. Small fly: MIDGE
54. Out of whack: AWRY
55. Blue-green shade: TEAL
56. Art Deco icon: ERTÉ - I happen to "MOKE" (😁) the Art Deco style - his Wiki
58. Cleverness: WIT
59. Brief "I would say ... ": IMO - In My Opinion
60. Order's partner: LAW - for those who are interested, the LAW & ORDER tab for the TV show theme from Ultimate Guitar; you'll have to create a log-in to see it if you don't already have one
Higgs Boson Large Hadron Collider Geneva Switzerland
Emma Oxford, our constructor today, is a graduate
student in particle physics and I thought the above splash screen
might make a nice welcome mat. And it's even tangentially related to one of the
themers. This is her second outing with the LAT, her first was on
Thursday March 25, 2021,
reviewed by my partner in crime Malodorous Manatee. Emma has long been solving crosswords, but only began
constructing them about a year ago. During this brief time she has also had puzzles published by Universal, WSJ, and Inkubator, as well as mini and "meta" puzzles on the constructor site
CrossHare,
under the username damefox
Outside of crosswords and physics,
Emma is a fan of baking, running, jigsaw puzzles, reading, keeping her cat
away from the houseplants, and as we'll soon see, she has very eclectic tastes in music. Check out
The Inkubator site where I found Emma's bio - it has some other names I'm sure you'll
recognize.
For today's outing she presents us with a classic theme: taking a common phrase, dropping a letter from the last
word, and cluing the rump with a punny riff. So that I can discuss both
shades of meaning together, I'll start with the reveal:
63A.
Decisive defeat, and a two-word hint to the answers to the
starred clues: ROUT (my italics). To make sense of the fill, you have to parse this
R OUT.
Here are the themers with the removed
R restored:
16A.
*Frying pans anyone can use?:
PUBLIC WORKS.
The Chinese WOK provides an ingenious way of
controlling heat when heating vegetables, sea foods, and meats that
cook at different rates.
This link will school you on its history and usage.
Some examples of PUBLIC WORKS projects are, but
are not limited to: Parks and recreational facilities; Public
education facilities (elementary schools, middle schools, high
schools, universities and community colleges, etc.); Health care
institutions (hospitals, community health care facilities,
etc.).
22A. *Group that attends Mass together every week?:
SUNDAY BRUNCH. My BIL
and SIL attend Mass with a Sunday BUNCH, who follow the
service with a pot luck Sunday BRUNCH in the under croft of the
Church.
36A. *Discussion about what fruit to bake for dessert?:
PIE CHART. Make mine
CHERRY (topped with home made
whipped cream).
46A. *Fitting motto for Pisa's tower keeper?:
LIVE AND LEARN.
Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) whom many
consider to be the first experimental scientist,lived in Pisa and legend has it
that he used the Leaning Tower to conduct
a series of revolutionary experiments on gravity and acceleration. Here's the picture worth a thousand words.
Galileo's Experiment
Galileo's findings at the LEANing Tower were the very beginning of experimental physics,
and eventually led to the state of the art stuff that Emma is LEARNING.
55A. *Devil on one's shoulder?:
CLOSE FRIEND. We've all heard
the first one whispering in our ear, "You can't do that, you're not good enough". Add the
R back and you'll hear the second one saying, "I know you
can do it. I'm pulling for you!"
Here's the grid:
And here's all the 'est:
Across:
1. "You Shook Me All Night Long" band: ACDC. As I'm not a particular fan of Heavy Metal, I originally
intended to use this clue to focus on the dispute between
Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison over the best way to transmit electricity
over long distances. I suppose, had Edison won this one, the band might have been called
DCAC. They've popped up on my watch twice now, and both times
I've used the Muppets to cover for them. This time I've decided to let
the band sing for themselves. As comedian Garrison
Keillor used to say, "they're not bad", although I'm not sure he'd have said that about ACDC. But they are pretty naughty, so
there will be no lyrics with this clip. Not a problem unless you read lips:
5. Apiphobe's phobia: BEES.
Fear of bees, technically known as melissophobia (from Ancient Greek:
μέλισσα,
melissa, "honey bee" + , Ancient Greek: φόβος,
phobos, "fear") and also known as apiphobia (from Latin:
apis for "honey bee" + Ancient Greek:
φόβος,
phobos, "fear"), is one of the common fears among people and is a kind of
specific phobia. Not a CSO to our
Melissa Bee.
9. "I __ confused": AM SO. On the theme for this puzzle, not so
much. Unlike the last two.
13. Wintry mess: SLUSH.
14. Sole: ONLY. Also a flat fish.
15. Mountain cat: PUMA.
Puma is a genus in the family Felidaewhose only extant species is the cougar (also known as the puma,
mountain lion, and panther). The only large cat that purrs. Not a sound you'd like to hear on a mountain path.
Cougar
18. "Oh, please!": AS IF.
19. Revealing session on Reddit, for short: AMA.
Ask Me Anything.
25. Treeless plain: STEPPE. Sounds pretty bleak, but if you
look closely enough steppes abound with life. Chemist and composer Alexander Borodin
(12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887) painted a beautiful sound portrait of
that life in his Steppes of Central Asia, here conducted by
Vladimir Ashkenazy (7:07 min.)
28. Districts: AREAS.
29. Like some dental floss: WAXY.
30. Shortcomings: VICES. I guess that depends on how short.
32. "The Last O.G." network: TBS.
The Last O.G. is an American comedy television series, starring Tracy Morgan. It was created by Jordan Peele and John
Carcieri and premiered on March 31, 2018. The series follows ex-convict Tray
(the O.G. or "original gangster") who is released from prison after
serving fifteen years, and returns to Brooklyn to find that his old
neighborhood has changed and that his
ex-girlfriend is raising their children with another man. The
co-stars are Tiffany Haddish, Allen Maldonado, Ryan Gaul, Taylor
Christian Mosby,
Dante Hoagland, and Cedric the Entertainer.
Tracy Morgan 2009
35. Bother: ADO.
38. In the style of: ALA.
39. Spoil: MAR.
40. Man of many words?: ROGET. I tried all the online thesauri and none
would cough up a synonym for ROGET. But here's a link about Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer.
41. Wild beasts also called wildebeests: GNUS. Also a recursive
("self-referential") pun on AT&T's old Unix operating system:
GNU is NOT UNIX.
GNU is an extensive collection of free software
(383 packages as of January 2022), which can be used as a stand alone operating system,
or parts of it can be used in other operating systems. The use of the
completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popularly known
as
Linux. Here's their logo:
GNU is NOT UNIX
42. Water filter brand: BRITA.
44. Some surprise hits: B SIDES. The best place to look for B
sides that made it big are Beatles songs.
There are so many to chose from, but here's one of my favorites, the B-Side for the 1969 single Get Back (lyrics):
59. Catholic leader: POPE.
The POPE (Latin:
papa) is the bishop of Rome (or historically the
patriarch of Rome. He is believed by Catholics to be a
successor to the Apostle Peter, the closest of Jesus Christ's
disciples. Interestingly enough, his diocesan church is not
St. Peter's Basilica, but rather the
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. Pope Francis is the current bishop of Rome. He is the first
Pope to take that name:
61. URL starter: HTTP. URL stands for
Uniform Resource Locator, the symbolic Internet address for an
object such as a file or webpage. HTTP stands for
HyperText Transport Protocol, the rules that govern the transfer of copies of Hypermedia (e.g. web
pages) across the Internet.
Note that HTTP is not the only URL "starter". See 3D for a clecho.
62. Spy-fi country: USSR. All that "spy-fi stuff" came to an end
on December 26, 1991,
the day the Soviet Union fell. And if you believe that, perhaps I can interest you in a bridge I own
in New York.
Down:
1. Grad: ALUM.
2. Gloria Estefan's birthplace: CUBA.
Gloria Estefan (Spanish: [ˈɡloɾja esˈtefan]; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; 1 September 1957) is a
Cuban and American singer, actress, and businesswoman. She has been married to Emilio Estefan Gómez since 1978. A contralto (hand up if you can name a pop music soprano?), Gloria
started her career as the lead singer in the group Miami Latin Boys, which
later became known as Miami Sound Machine. Here's her breakout song
"Conga" (lyrics):
3. ISP option: DSL. Pet peeve: as used in crossword puzzles, the term ISP (Internet Service Provider) is very ambiguous. Today it was filled with DSL, tomorrow
it could be AOL. The two are very different however. The
latter is a service that the customer actually "sees", whereas the
former provides its services "under the covers". As it turns
out, it takes
7 different types of hierarchically layered services to move information from point A to point B
on the Internet. These services are commonly described by the OSI Model defined by the
International Standards Organization. Here's the big picture:
4. "Things'll turn around, you'll see": CHIN UP. Or as my Mom
would say "Stiff upper lip!"
5. Showed respect, in a way: BOWED.
6. Sherlock's sister, per a 2020 Netflix film: ENOLA.
Enola Holmes is a 2020 mystery film based on the first book in
the young adult fiction series of the same name,
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer. I've not seen
the film, as we're still waiting for the flick's revenues to fall and for Netflix to DROP it on Prime. Here's the trailer:
7. Caribou kin: ELK. If it has an S on the end then it's a
bunch of old guys sitting around drinking beer in a lodge.
8. Pt. of GPS: SYS. Global Positioning System. Hand
up if you travel without one of these?
21. Word in many Wi-Fi network names: GUEST. E.g. if you're staying in a hotel.
Wi-Fi provides internet services at OSI Layers 1-2 (see 3D)
22. Intel collector: SPY.
23. Luxury vessel: YACHT.
24. La __ Tar Pits: BREA. More Spanish.
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is an active paleontological research
site in urban Los Angeles.
Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also
called asphaltum, bitumen, pitch, or tar; brea in Spanish) has seeped
up from the ground for tens of thousands of years. Over many centuries, the
tar preserved the bones of trapped animals. The George C. Page Museum is
dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the
animals that died there. La Brea Tar Pits is a registered National
Natural Landmark. Below a Saber-tooth cat is attacking a Dire Wolf trapped in the mire. The tiger will probably be caught in the pit too before it's all over.
Saber-tooth tiger Dire Wolf
25. Did the breaststroke, e.g.: SWAM. Diner, "What's this
fly doing in my soup?". Waiter, "Looks like the breaststroke sir."
26. "Voilà!": TADA.
27. Outrageous, as a price: EXORBITANT. For example, the price of a gallon of
gasoline these days.
44. "Molto __!": BENE. Very good! Today's Italian
lesson.
45. Had done, as a portrait: SAT FOR.
46. Diet-friendly: LO FAT.
47. Comes out, as an album: DROPS. We use this to describe the
arrival of a new streaming series or episode. DNK this usage originated with
albums.
48. __ tag: LASER.
49. Namesake of a speed ratio: MACH.
Ernst Mach
(/mɑːx/MAHKH; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was a Moravian-born Austrian physicist
and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves. The ratio of
one's speed to that of sound is named the Mach number in his honour.
Ernst Mach
51. List that may be accessed by scanning a QR code: MENU.
The usage of these has increased as a result of the pandemic. If you
live in the vicinity of Rockaway, NY and have a yen for Irish food, try
the
QR code in this link
(above the SCAN MEbar). Just scan it with Google Lens or
iPhone Live Text and see what you get.
52. One of a kind: UNIT.
53. Rx writers: MDS. Let's C? CSO's to
inanehiker and Ray - O. Anyone else?
55. PC core: CPU. Central Processing Unit, the component of a
computer that actually processes the machine instructions in a program or
app.
56. Grammy winners __ Lonely Boys: LOS.
Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo,
Texas, who had their first hit nearly twenty years ago. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining
elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country, and
Tejano. Here's their song Heaven (lyrics)
Guitarist
Henry Garza wrote the lyrics and in his own words he states,“Losing a son, when I was 18 years old.
That’s where the music comes from, deep inside. What God has entrusted us with
is to make the music".
57. "As I see it" shorthand: IMO or sometimes IMHO. As I see it, I've
certainly got a lot to be humble about.
waseeley
And thanks as always to Teri for proof reading and constructive suggestions.
Cheers, Bill
Emma, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about
this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you. Perhaps you could even share a bit about the Higgs Boson.
Good morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's state-of-the-puzzle recap. That is, I am here for those of you who have come out of any food-induced stupors that may have been caused by yesterday's feasting. If you have not yet recovered then you have probably yet to solve the puzzle and are probably also not reading this so . . . never mind.
Today's puzzle setter is Emma Oxford. I have previously recapped Emma's puzzles and they are always a pleasure. The clues are often very clever. Her themes are always creative and today's is no exception. To grasp what she has accomplished today it helps if you, first of all, know the nicknames for various (in this case six) constituent states of these United States. Second, it helped to know the postal abbreviations for those states. Third, you need to like to play with words - in this case by breaking them apart at out-of-the ordinary places. Here are the six themed clues and answers:
16 Across: Flower of the Hoosier State?: IN CARNATION. The Hoosier State is the nickname for Indiana and its postal abbreviation is IN. INCARNATION becomes Indiana Carnation.
24 Across: Basement access in the Palmetto State?: SC AREA WAY. The Palmetto State is the nickname for South Carolina and its postal abbreviation is SC. SCARE AWAY becomes South Carolina Area Way.
30 Across: Clothing in the Sunshine State?: FL ATTIRE. The Sunshine State is the nickname for Florida and its postal abbreviation is FL. FLAT TIRE becomes Florida Attire.
44 Across: Girls from the Show-Me State?: MO LASSES. The Show Me State is the nickname for Missouri and its postal abbreviation is MO. MOLASSES becomes Missouri Lasses.
50 Across: Psychedelics from the Evergreen State?: WA SHROOMS. The Evergreen State is the nickname for Washington and its postal abbreviation is WA. WASHROOMS becomes Washington Shrooms (slang for mushrooms of the psychoactive type).
62 Across: Fortified wines from the Ocean State?: RI VERMOUTHS. The Ocean State is the nickname for Rhode Island and its postal abbreviation is RI. RIVER MOUTHS becomes Rhode Island Vermouths.
Here is how this looks in the grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Spanish home: CASA. La lección de español de hoy
5. Yelped about?: RATED. Clever. Nothing to do with a dog complaining. Having used the food review app, Yelp.
10. Fix: JAM. Hand up for thinking this had something to do with repair work. Then thinking it might be pet related. Nope, Fix is used, here, as in to be in a fix or predicament. That's probably better than being in a pickle.
13. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA. A web search reveals that she has both a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. I wouldn't know her from Eve.
14. Take from commercial to residential, maybe: REZONE.
15. PC core: CPU. Central Processing Unit
18. Some triage pros: RNS. and 65. Some triage pros: DRS. Professionals is abbreviated to PROS in both clues. Registered NurseS and DoctoRS. See also 59 Down.
19. Opposite of paleo-: NEO.
20. Stand for a presentation: EASEL. Again, it is not as if we are at a performance of Handel's "Messiah" and getting out of our seats in a show of respect. Literally, a stand on which you might place your presentation.
21. Clog fillers: FEET. Not the hairs in your sink. The shoes.
22. Boot: EXPEL. Not the shoe. Used, here, as a verb. Oust.
27. Three-line verse: HAIKU.
Our own Chairman Moe
Often writes HAIKU verses
For our enjoyment
29. Screen __: TEST. Hand up for first writing in SHOT (well, the second T worked).
33. Rise to the occasion: STEP UP.
37. Refrigerator drawer: BIN.
38. Word before toast or after peach: MELBA. Created as a surname by opera diva Nellie Melba (born Helen Mitchell) after her hometown of Melbourne Australia. Such was her fame that several food dishes were named after her.
40. Comm. system in the film "CODA": ASL. Comm as in communications.
41. Entirely: IN TOTO. Also, where a dog treat might be located in Kansas.
47. Without: SANS. From the Old French via Middle English.
49. Sore spots: WELTS. When Gandhi was on his first hunger strike people would routinely bring him locally-made bread in an attempt to get him to eat. What people don't understand, though, is that Gandhi was actually a very temperamental man and, prone to anger, he would hurl the bread at his friends sometimes leaving bruises and WELTS. He justified this behavior by saying that it was all part of his philosophy of naan-violence.
54. Banks known as "Mr. Cub": ERNIE.
57. Think piece?: IDEA. The result of cogitating, perhaps.
58. Social outcast, metaphorically: LEPER.
60. Portuguese greeting: OLA. Lição de hoje de Portougese.
61. __ sequitur: NON.
66. Clinches the deal: ICES IT. Idiomatic. Sometimes we get SEWS UP.
67. Veal or venison: MEAT.
68. "Happy now?": SEE. Ah, the things people say in crossword puzzles.
69. Bathroom fixture: BIDET. More French. Today's let's-skip-the-visual-aid moment.
70. IDs on tax forms: SSNS. Social Security NumberS
Down:
1. Michael who plays Alfred in "The Dark Knight" trilogy: CAINE. See also 30 Down. Michael CAINE was in that movie too.
2. Building addition: ANNEX. Putin is griping about all of the land he is trying so hard to ANNEX. Oh, Crimea river, Vladimir.
3. Lackey: SYCOPHANT.
4. Level just below the majors: AAA. A baseball reference. The Triple A teams are comprised (with a few exceptions) of the best players in the minor leagues. Below AAA is AA, A, and other tiers. Altogether there are 209 minor league teams in 19 leagues spread across 44 states and 4 provinces.
5. Instill confidence in: REASSURE. People keep telling me that alcohol isn't a solution but I've asked my chemist friends and they all REASSURE me that it is.
6. Xipe Totec worshipper: AZTEC. Hand up for no idea what Xipe Totec was except that it sounded Mesoamerican. The Z from REZONE was the hint that led quickly to AZTEC.
7. Labor over: TOIL AT.
8. Eclectic musician Brian: ENO. Among other accomplishments, frequent visitor Brian ENO is known as the creator of "ambient" music.
9. Lair: DEN.
10. Banana Republic alternative: J CREW. Hand up for first thinking of types of governments.
11. Sleep clinic study: APNEA.
12. Dank and damp: MUSTY.
14. Messenger __: RNA. Pigeon would not fit.
17. On again: RELIT. Like a light bulb or a candle.
21. Destiny: FATE. "Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him." - Groucho Marx
23. Nosh on: EAT. From the Yiddish nashn.
25. Flea market transaction: RESALE.
26. Educated guess, basically: Abbr.: EST. ESTimate
28. Traditional garment for Japan's Coming of Age Day: KIMONO. Despite not being familiar with Coming of Age Day this one filled quickly.
30. Org. in "Miss Congeniality": FBI. A 2000 film featuring Sandra Bullock as an undercover FBI agent.
31. Three-time Tony winner __-Manuel Miranda: LIN.
32. West __: upscale furniture store: ELM.
34. Misbehave in class, in a way: PASS NOTES.
35. Purpose: USE.
36. "Thx" counterpart: PLS. PLeaSe and Thanks.
39. Spar above a ship's figurehead: BOWSPRIT.
42. Job safety org.: OSHA.
43. Pitch: TAR. Neither a baseball reference nor a sales spiel reference. Pitch is the black viscous substance obtained as a residue through the distillation of organic substances.
45. Last new Olds: ALERO. Oldsmobile. A new olds. Cute.
46. Orch. section: STR. and 50. Orchestra section: WINDS. In the first of these two, almost identical, clues ORCHestra is abbreviated so STRings is also.
48. Cracked, as a mystery: SOLVED.
51. Love to bits: ADORE.
52. First word in a Jane Austen title: SENSE.
53. Attorney general under Reagan: MEESE. Edwin MEESE. A polarizing figure in his day.
55. Minnesota representative Omar: ILHAN. A well-publicized figure due the the fact that she has also been seen as polarizing.
56. Bridge positions: EASTS. We need one of the first two letters to see if it will be EASTS or WESTS.
59. Triage pro: EMT. Emergency Medical Technician. See also 18 and 65 Across. Is the use of the same clue three separate times a new record?
62. Saguaro segment: RIB. Saguaro is a ribbed cactus that looks like this:
63. Here, on Métro maps: ICI. C'est francais n'est ce pas? ICI is the French equivalent of here.
64. Verbal hesitations: UMS. Hmm, a bit of a punt to wrap up a very, very entertaining puzzle.
Thanks for the wonderful grid, Emma. Please feel free to stop by The Crossword Corner and share anything you'd like about the puzzle.
Thanks, again, Lisa for your help a couple of weeks ago.
This week, however, you may be missing the mark.
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here from the land of frozen (and decidedly not warm) waters to bring you today's recap. Our puzzle setter is Emma Oxford and, at four places within the grid, she has provided us with amusing takes on familiar two-letter abbreviations. Let's take a look:
18 ACROSS: Big bash honoring detectives?: PI DAY CELEBRATION. PI DAY comes on March 14th of each year because 3 can stand for March the value of Pi (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter) is roughly 3.14. In this case, however, P.I. is referring to Private Investigator. PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR DAY CELEBRATION.
27 ACROSS: Take steps to prevent patients leaving mid-appendectomy?: FIGHT OR FLIGHT. We are all, of course, familiar with the FIGHT OR FLIGHT response but, in the puzzle, O.R. is used as the abbreviation for Operating Room. FIGHT OPERATING ROOM FLIGHT.
47 ACROSS: Certain facial recognition pro?: THE WIZARD OF ID. The WIZARD OF ID is a cartoon strip by Parker and Hart. In this answer, though, the reference is to identification as in (e.g.) I.D. Card. THE WIZARD OF IDENTIFICATION.
The Wizard of ID
63 ACROSS: Really annoy the computer help desk?: TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT. A familiar expression recast as TAKE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO THE LIMIT.
This is how it appears in the grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Chasm: ABYSS.
6. Every which way: AMOK. A little bit of a stretch definition-wise.
10. Worry about: SWEAT. Both FRET and STEW were too short.
15. "Better in Time" singer Lewis: LEONA. This could have been clued with a reference to the Queen Of Mean - LEONA Hemsley.
16. Placemat, in some restaurants: MENU. Serving double duty.
17. Shelf: LEDGE.
21. Running wild: ON A TEAR.
22. Try and fail to walk on ice: SLIP. Thanks for the reminder to put on those cleats.
23. __-Magnon: CRO. What did CRO-Magnons call Rock, Paper, Scissors? Rock.
24. Rock gp. sometimes joined by Young: CSN. More abbreviations.
25. Signifies: MEANS. MEAN sure does have a lot of meanings.
67. Home of the Blue Devils: DUKE. DUKE University.
68. "Into the Woods" song sung by two princes: AGONY. Last week, I went from AGONY to ecstasy in a span of a few days. At this rate, I’ll finish reading the dictionary in a month or so.
69. [I have no idea]: SHRUG.
70. Missouri River Native: OTOE. Frequent visitors.
71. Pick up: SENSE.
Down:
1. Pet food brand: ALPO.
2. Form of nonviolent protest: BE IN. The first Human Be-In (get it?) was held in Golden Gate Park in 1967.
3. Jedi voiced by Tom Kane on "The Clone Wars": YODA.
4. Seize: SNATCH. I will not seize the moment, but, rather, let this moment pass.
5. "What __ thou?": SAYEST. SAYEST is an archaic second person singular of say.
6. Pt. of USA: AMER. United States of AMERica
7. First name of two Spice Girls: MEL. MELanie Brown went by the stage name of Scary Spice and MELanie Chisholm went by the name of Sporty Spice.
8. Reflexive pronoun: ONESELF.
9. __ Khan: KUBLAI. Mongol general and grandson of Genghis.
10. Paul Newman hockey film: SLAP SHOT.
11. Sopping: WET.
12. Decree: EDICT.
13. Ancient Greek marketplace: AGORA.
14. Hero in operas, typically: TENOR. See also 52 Down.
19. __ oil: CANOLA. RAPESEED (from which CANOLA oil is made) was more a more difficult name to merchandise.
May the Schwartz Be With You
20. Key spot: RING. Not a reference to something important. Not a reference to a small island.
25. Juilliard deg.: MFA. Master of Fine Arts
27. Gasohol, e.g.: FUEL. A mixture of gasoline and alcohol.
28. Division word: INTO.
29. Yummy: GOOD. Some things do not get better with age:
30. "Sons of Anarchy" actor Perlman: RON.
31. Furthermore: TOO. AND would have fit the allotted space. ALSO would not.
35. Univ. lecturer: PROF. PROFessor
36. iPad speaker: SIRI. "She" speaks out loud. Not the audio speaker built into your iPad.
37. Gridiron unit: YARD. I recently found a round, black piece of plastic with a hole in the middle and grooves on both sides. I picked it up and threw it. It flew for more than 300 yards. I'm sure that must have been a record.
39. Wind up with: NET. If you ever wonder "What's my NET worth?" it's probably less than you paid for it.
40. Getting some air: INHALING. Not out for a walk.
41. "One __ time!": AT A.
42. Foray: SORTIE.
44. Call from a coach: TIMEOUT.
45. Wt. units: OZS. OZ, as the abbreviation for ounce, came from the Italian onza meaning ounce.
48. Coup d'__: ETAT. One of Today's French lessons although thoroughly incorporated into English usage. French for "stroke of state". A coup d'ETAT is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.
49. Is unacceptable: WON'T DO.
50. Mavericks city: DALLAS. A basketball reference.
51. Do a favor for: OBLIGE. They are then OBLIGatEd to you.
52. Unlikely heroines in operas, typically: ALTOS. See also 14 Down.
53. Get to: REACH. I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him fifty bucks that he couldn't reach the meat on the top shelf. He declined the bet saying, "No, the steaks are too high."
54. Creative sort: MAKER. Earlier in the week this might have been clued as Coffee ______ .
59. Cry of delight: WHEE.
60. "That's my cue!": I"M ON. What are you on, dude?
