Themeless Saturday by Erica Hsiung Wojcik and Brooke Husic
Erica is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Skidmore College. I plan on looking up some of her fascinating research topics such as: How do infants and toddlers learn the sounds, words, and grammar of their native language(s)? How do infants, toddlers and adults use patterns in the world around them to learn about language, objects, and events?
I have reviewed several of Brooke's collaborative puzzles, the one previous was with our friend Mary Lou Guizzo. Brooke received her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2019 from Stanford University and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department Of Mathematics And Computer Science at the Free University Berlin until 2021. Postdoc (2021-): Lewis-Sigler Institute / Center for Theoretical Science / Center for the Physics of Biological Function, Princeton University
On personal note, today marks the end of my 5th year of blogging Saturday puzzles on C.C.'s Crossword Corner. I have learned a lot and interacted with so many very smart and clever bloggers, commenters and constructors. 19. Starting from: SINCE 2017!
Now on we go to my 6th year and 261st Saturday write-up!
Across:
1. Ceremonial champagne opener: SABER.
6. Rich brown shade: MOCHA.
11. Brazen personal ad?: SHAMELESS PLUG - Many talk show guests are there to simply promote their latest project and work it into the conversation.
14. Gains star power: HITS THE BIG TIME - They credit appearing on Johnny Carson's Tonight show to HIT THE BIG TIME
15. Attacks, as a snow fort: PELTS.
16. First name in jumps: EVEL - In some of attempts, the jump was fine but the landing not so much.
17. Hub served by BART: SFO - This Bay Area Rapid Transit map shows you can take the red or yellow line out to The San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
18. Initial request for an answer?: RSVP.
19. "You're killing me, __!": SMALLS - I have this 1993 video of Sandlot but forgot this line. It is now slang for telling someone that they are disappointing you. The origin of the line
21. Something clasped for support: BRA.
23. Legal conclusion?: ESE -LEGALESE - Here they are essentially saying "today": In witness whereof, the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned.
24. Knee-slappers: RIOTS.
25. Workshop device: CLAMP.
27. Mystery-shrouded novelist Elena: FERRANTE - Did anyone else think of the piano duet of Ferrante and Teicher?
29. Fancy affair: SOIREE - SOIR is French for night and so SOIREE is an elegant evening party
30. Restless desire: ITCH.
31. Symbol held aloft in an Emmy statuette: ATOM - One of our favorite people with his Emmy
32. Indigenous Arizona people: APACHE - I'd thought I'd throw in a 1960 classic named for this tribe in Eastern Arizona with great pictures too.
35. Minibar tool: ICE TONGS.
39. Number of World Series wins for each of Chicago's teams: THREE - Cubs 1907, 1908 & 2016. White Sox - 1906, 1917 & 2005
40. Draws (away): SHIES.
41. Continuity problem: GAP - Many students suffered a continuity GAP during the Covid pandemic
42. See 45-Down: MAT and 45. With 42-Across, surface for shavasana: YOGA.
43. Having sex, perhaps: RATED-R - The wonderful movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles would have been easily rated PG-13 but the rental car scene between Steve Martin and the delightful Edie McClurg used the "f-word" eighteen times and thus received an R rating.
45. City in the Sonoran Desert: YUMA - They bill themselves as the hottest city in America.
46. Chest bone: RIB.
48. "Phooey!": DRAT.
49. Entrance hall: FOYER.
50. "Calm down, sport": EASY THERE TIGER - Slow your roll...
53. Triumphant declaration: NOT TODAY SATAN - You're not getting me today, Satan.
54. Animals in Serta ads: SHEEP.
55. A couple: MATES.
Down:
1. Chutzpah: SASS - Don't use "chutzpah" unless. you know how to pronounce it
2. Invoice no.: AMT.
3. Colossus: BEHEMOTH - Two beasts from the book of Job
4. Give a lift: ELEVATE.
5. Defies authority: REBELS - Make sure it's worth it.
Which is not to be confused with, "Bye Bye, Boobies"
Puzzling Thoughts:
Well, as if on cue, a Friday "play-on-words themed puzzle" once again showed itself here at the LA Times Crossword du jour. And today's was crafted by the daring duo of Matt Forest and Shannon Rapp - aka 'Norah Sharpe'. Shannon/Norah was featured just a couple of weeks ago at the Crossword Corner, as well as in late August.
I searched for "Matt Forest crossword puzzle(s)" at other venues, and I couldn't locate any (other than the link I provided to his website). I know that Shannon is not bashful so I hope she will stop by and give us some insight to their collaboration
Today's fun-filled grid involves removing 2 "T's" from the entries to get a punny phrase. And for this Stooge - who is known for his simple and sophomoric double entendres - this puzzle was "teed up" for him. Beginning with the second one @ 24-across!! So let's explore and see where the "h e double hockey sticks" the T's went!
18-across. *Haymaker's agenda?: BALE PLAN. Right off the bat, Matt and Shannon/Norah hit a home run. Haymaker has two meanings, methinks: First (for the clue) is a person who bundles hay; which leads us to the BALE PLAN. The second meaning for "haymaker" is a forceful blow, which might be part of another agenda when two T's were removed from "BATTLE PLAN". Get it? Good!
24-across. *Major uptick in swimsuit sales?: BIKINI BOOM. Ok, Cornerites; just close your eyes and picture a BIKINI. Got it? Good. I swear I inserted a picture here but it vanished. Give me a few moments to get to the BOTTOM of this ...
37-across. *"The whole team has earned happy hour!": WE DESERVE BEER. Didn't we recently have a puzzle that used BEER ME as an entry? Yes? Well, if so, WE DESERVE BETTER!! C'mon Patti, don't be so lazy!! ;^)
52-across. *Hungry hawk's polite request?: PREY PLEASE. Ha Ha!! And when the hungry hawk didn't get the PREY straight away, it probably followed up its request with "PRETTY PLEASE"
And the unifier: 60-across. Untangle carefully, and a phonetic hint for the answers to the starred clues?: TEASE OUT. True to the puzzle, the reveal also has a dual meaning, as the phrase "TEASE OUT" means: "to try to get information or understand a meaning that is hidden or not clear". [dictionary dot com] The phonetic meaning is what I used for the theme: "Ta Ta, tee tees"
But if you really want a stretch here is a short video clip of a different kind of untangling:
Here is the solved grid, and then on to the rest of the clues/entries!
Across:
1. Absolute: UTTER. Well, it looks like we found out where the "T's" went!! Both of them landed in this word. Otherwise the puzzle would've started out with the word "UER"
6. Short helper?: ASST. ELF didn't fit
10. IG or FB post: PIC. Instagram or Facebook post, briefly = PIC ... recall when you took photos with a camera and had to wait days or even weeks to get the prints back?
13. Breastfed: NURSED. This is what we did as babies; now, I use the term "NURSED" to refer to how I drink alcoholic beverages ... I can make a 2 oz. neat pour of whisky last almost as long as it takes me to write my blog!
15. Fruit cocktail fruit: PEAR. I think this one was in the puzzle I blogged a couple weeks ago ... oh, wait, that was PARE
16. Reddit tell-all session, for short: AMA. We older crossword puzzle solvers would understand this if the clue were: "Dr.'s Org." But today's generations know it as: "Reddit AMAs (which stands for “Ask Me Anything”)—whether they're timed around the news cycle or simply focused on a topic of great general interest—are Q&As designed to bring an authority on a subject to a community of interested people. And now you know
17. Facial hair, casually: STACHE. GOATEE fit; BEARDS fit; STUBBLE, not so much. Once upon a time the Chairman sported a "STACHE"; now, it's a full beard - neatly trimmed
20. West Coast sch. with more than 100 NCAA championships: USC. For anyone who follows College Football, this year's USC Trojans team had a chance to play for the National Championship. But the Utah Utes would have nothing of it, and clearly embarrassed them in the Pac-12 Conference Championship. FUN FACT: USC has the most NCAA championships in what sport? Check here for the answer...
21. Crispy Crunchies! fries maker: ORE-IDA.
23. Karate level: BELT. Here is a picture of their order:
26. Footprint maker: SOLE. Moe-ku:
A cobbler started New business. Of course, he's the SOLE proprietor
28. Vinaigrette ingredient: OIL. FUN FACT: according to [fine dining lovers dot com] "For a traditional vinaigrette, you'll need to mix about 3 tablespoons of OIL to 1 tablespoon of vinegar. You'll also want to add some salt and pepper to taste. Of course, for all four ingredients, the better the quality you use, the better your vinaigrette will taste
30. Lousy grade: DEE. I may have had one or two of these in my years as a student. Penmanship was one that I KNOW of, for sure
31. __-mo: SLO. CHAIRMAN wouldn't fit, and they spelled "MOE" incorrectly ...
33. Scrape (by): EKE. Eek! We had EKE again!!
35. DoorDash category: ASIAN. I can raise my hand when asked, "have you never used DoorDash?" A bit of a misleading clue but hey, it's Friday
41. Arya's sister on "Game of Thrones": SANSA. If you put this answer together with the answer for 23-across, you'd have SANSA-BELT. Any of the guys here recall those "beltless" trousers? I'm pretty sure (without looking it up) that SANSA-BELT means "without (SANS) A BELT! Anyway, that's MY story, and I'm sticking to it!!
42. Feel icky: AIL. Me, for about 2-1/2 weeks with COVID. I know of some other of our Cornerites who've recently gotten COVID, and hope they are no longer AILing
43. Part of FWIW: ITS. "FOR" also fits
44. Some 45s, briefly: EPS. Extended PlayS. Another of the deadly pluralized abbreviations. EPS can also mean, Earnings Per Share in the financial world. But this fit nicely with: (3-down. Album unit: TRACK), as EPS have several TRACKs as opposed to regular 45s which have one per side
45. "Tsk!": TUT. Moe-ku:
Ancient Egyptian King made a faux pas. They cried: "TUT, TUT, TUT, TUT, TUT"
48. High time: NOON. MIDNIGHT didn't fit; and FWIW, no one ever said, "It's NOON you got off of your a$$ and found a job!"
50. Switch on the radio?: AM/FM. If this were a switch on a CLOCK radio, the answer would be AM/PM
57. Narrate: TELL. As in the William Narrate Overture?? Get it? William TELL? Oh, never mind ...
58. Hall of Fame pitcher Fingers: ROLLIE. ROLLIE Fingers sported one of the more iconic STACHEs in all of Major League Baseball
59. Baby goat: KID. Try and get this tune out of your head after I enter some of the lyrics: "Mares eat oats and does eats oats, and little lambs eat ivy. A KID'll eat ivy, too, wouldn't you?"
62. Catch sight of: NOTICE.
64. Copier size: Abbr.: LTR. Generally 8-1/2" x 11" in its two dimensions
65. D.C. paper: WA PO. Short for, WAshington POst
66. Almond flour's lack: GLUTEN. Margaret makes the best banana muffins using almond flour
67. Language suffix: ESE. As in "PortuguESE, ChinESE, and EnglishESE"
68. Small songbird: WREN. Too bad this entry wasn't longer for today's "theme", as a Tufted Titmouse is a small songbird with two T's in its name
69. Finals, e.g.: EXAMS. ORALS fits but only if you are trying for a PhD
Down:
1. Get off a mailing list, informally: UNSUB. No; just no. UNSUBscribe, yes. To be fair, I checked the OneLook dot com lists for usage of the word "UNSUB". Curious to know YOUR thoughts about this abbreviation ... YEA or NAY?
2. Ethnic group in Rwanda: TUTSI. One of three, actually. The Hutu and Twa being the other two ethnic tribes. Whenever one of them gets up to leave, I wonder if you'll hear the song: "TOOT TOOT TUTSI, Goodbye" ...??
4. Corner key on a PC: ESC. TAB fits but it's not in the corner of a PC keyboard
5. Brush up on a fading skill, perhaps: RE-HONE.
6. Challenging sci. class featuring evolutionary studies: AP BIO. I ignored most of the AP courses as I didn't want any more "DEES" on my report card!
7. Jet ski brand: SEA-DOO.
8. Charcuterie choice: SALAMI. Dr. Mehmet Oz used the term "charcuterie" (or maybe it was crudite) when he was stumping for the PA Senate seat in this year's mid-terms. It didn't play well in Altoona
9. Three, in Rome: TRE. FUN FACT: As you may know, the Chairman is also a sommelier. In the wine-world of rating systems, there is a term used to categorize Italian wine. The best are given "Tre Bicchieri" (Three Glasses). Gambero Rosso is the reviewer and rater
10. Regimen based on the eating habits of early humans: PALEO DIET. As in what the hunter-gatherers might choose for their diet. "Paleo-friendly foods include meat, fish, eggs, seeds, nuts, fruits, and veggies, along with healthy fats and oils" [healthline dot com]
11. "You have my full attention!": I'M ALL EARS. Moe-ku:
When Dumbo was asked, "Are you paying attention?" He said, "I'M ALL EARS"!
12. Water flask: CANTEEN. Brings back memories of my Boy Scout camping days
14. Puts down: DERIDES. My "Ray-O-Sunshine" pun: "Disney attractions that are less costly than an "E" ....DE-RIDES
19. "Call the Midwife" airer: PBS. Perps filled this one in
22. Transport with hill-assist mode: E-BIKE. These aren't cheap
29. Course component of 6-Down: LAB. Since I never took AP BIO, the only LAB I knew of was either a Chocolate or Golden one
31. Where some day traders trade?: SWAP MEETS. FUN FACT: This is the point in which (as I was writing my blog) my 2 oz. pour of whisky ended ...
32. Scattered light effect in a photo: LENS FLARE. Any photographers out there? I know this has happened to me
34. Hurler's stat: ERA. ROLLIE Fingers' ERA was 2.91. That means he gave up 2.91 runs per game, on average. Any number under 3 is considered very good
36. Pont Neuf's river: SEINE. Frawnch
38. "Mangia!": EAT. What Gambero Rosso might say after opening a bottle of wine. The Italians live for drinking wine with their meals
39. Old 45, perhaps: VINYL. Another record-based clue/answer. FUN FACT: "PVC (polyvinyl chloride), the material that VINYL records are made of, is clear in its natural form, allowing records to be manufactured in just about any color imaginable. Despite this endless array of choices, black is still overwhelmingly the most common option, leaving the burning question: why? Click here for the answer
40. Leaving unceremoniously?: ELOPING. Cute clue! No "ceremony" for those who are ELOPING, unless you count the folks who gather at the chapels in Las Vegas
41. "Grey's Anatomy" setting: SEATTLE. This one stumped me for a bit as I wasn't thinking of the city where the fictional hospital was. And look! A pair of "T's" entered this word, too! Remove them and you have SEALE, as in Bobby SEALE, founder of the Black Panthers
46. Ruckus: UPROAR. Moe started getting "lazy" about now
47. Traveling ensemble: TROUPE. He wanted more whisky but sensed the end was near
49. Estadio shout: OLE OLE. And just didn't bother with ancillary information for this, and the previous two clues
51. Org. with Earthquakes and Fire: MLS. Major League Soccer teams. The Earthquakes are in San Jose, and the FIRE are in Chicago (of course!)
53. "Rocketman" icon John: ELTON. I've watched this movie 3 times - excellent BIO - PIC
54. Japanese breed: AKITA, goes well with (55-down. Biting remark?: SIC 'EM).
56. Happy places: EDENS. Until Adam and Eve took a bite of an apple ...
61. "Ick": EWW.
63. Formal duds: TUX. FUN FACT: C-Moe had a part-time, then full-time job in college working at a TUXedo rental store
If you are still wanting to solve another crossword puzzle, check out this one from yours truly
This marks the 138th puzzle that Dr. Ed Sessa has had published in the LA Times, including the one that appeared this past Sunday, the day of after Boomer's passing.
As soon as I saw that Dr. Ed was today's constructor, I
knew that many Cornerites would wonder how he is faring in the aftermath of
hurricane Ian. I immediately got in touch with Husker Gary and asked
him to contact Dr. Ed for an update. This is the reply Husker received a few days later:
Hi Gary,
Like countless others down here our home got hit with a storm surge:
damaged roof and six feet of muddy water in the house destroying pretty
much everything. My wife and I are now in our third apartment which will
be home for up to a year, giving us a chance to decide where to go on a
more permanent basis. But certainly not back into any flood zone. Thanks
for asking and warm regards to all the wonderful people on the LA Times
site.
My heart goes out to Boomer for all that he has gone
through.
Regards.
Ed
And special thanks to Gary. We are still praying for Dr. Ed and all of
the victims of hurricane Ian, and also for Boomer and C.C.
On to the review ...
As our Tuesday blogger might tell you, when it comes to themes,
"There's more than one way to skin a
חתול". And as is usual for me, in my initial attempt to explain this
one I immediately got down in the weeds, but then thought better of it, came
up for air and decided to title this puzzle
Seoul Train
Puzzle themes are a major interest of Dr. Ed
(per C.C.'s 2/4/2011 interview with him) and today he presents us with what
appears at first to be a simple rhyming scheme: 4 two-word themers (2
across, 2 down) with one of the words rhyming with the first word of the title above.
On closer inspection we see however that there are
3 different letter sequences used to rhyme the theme words.
One obvious lesson that Dr. Ed gives us here is the vagaries of
English spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps another (which I
found down in the weeds) is to give us a short course in
the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA (no not the ALE)). Despite the differences in spelling, the IPA code for each of the theme fill rhyming parts is the same:"oʊl". We usually see IPA codes following the definitions of words in a dictionary to tell us how to pronounce them. The following clue explanations each start with the IPA code for the
theme word in each fill, which were generated with this
online translator
(try it, it's fun!).
18A. K-pop, e.g.?: SEOUL MUSIC. soʊl, i.e. music from Korea. Here is Jung Kook (né
Jeon Jung-kook) of BTS (a.k.a. the Bangtan Boys) singing his song
Dreamers (lyrics) at the opening ceremony of the recent
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
(the victor of which will be decided 3 days after this puzzle drops):
62A. Survey of hairdressers?: BARBER POLL. poʊl. The really funny thing about this clue is that such surveys actually do exist: questionnaires designed for gathering hairdresser best practices and
making them available to those interested in becoming hairdressers or barbers,
or in improving their services. Of course this is not a new idea. In
olden days the services of the barber were provided by the town
factotum, who doubled as the dentist, minor surgeon, and all around
dogsbody. Here's the classic description of how the job was done,
brought to us by the late, great Russian baritone
Dimitri Hvorostovsky, with Largo Al Factotum from Rossini's
Barber of Seville:
4D. Golfer who's too afraid to make a putt?: HOLE CHICKEN.
hoʊl. First he's got to get to the green!
27D. 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels?:
TOOTSIE ROLE. ɹoʊl (don't ask me what the funny
lead in is). Dustin Hoffman played her. The hardest part
was learning to walk on high heels (as a kid I tried wearing a pair of heels while
trick-or-treating one Halloween - I had blisters for a week!):
Here's the grid:
Here are theɹɛstof the clues (no, I'm not kidding, that's just another one of those funky IPA characters) ... Across:
5. French friends: AMIS. Last week this was clued with "Inside Story" novelist Martin.
9. "It's Good" root beer brand: BARQS.
Barq's/ˈbɑːrks/
is an American brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the
beginning of the 20th century.
14. Miami River locale: OHIO. If that's not misdirection, then I
don't know what is ...
If you subscribe to Acorn, be sure to stream
Joey, a
short film about a
lonely clown working in a forgotten seaside resort who falls in love. Very touching.
16. Lose strength: ABATE.
17. Pedestrian street: MALL.
20. Cat voiced by Debra Messing in "Garfield: The Movie":
ARLENE.
Debra Lynn Messing
(born August 15, 1968) is an American actress who found her breakthrough role
as Grace Adler, an interior designer, on the NBC sitcom
Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020):
Debra Messing
22. Lackluster: DRAB.
23. Suitable: APT.
24. Come down: DESCEND. "What ASCENDS must
DESCEND", or something like that.
26. Catch sight of: SPOT. Or maybe another often seen four letter noun, clued as "Teenager's concern".
28. Cannot stand: HATES.
30. Give comfort to: SOOTHE.
34. Implied: TACIT. "silent, unspoken" from French tacite and directly from Latin tacitus "that is passed over in silence". NOD was too short.
40. Desktop since 1998: IMAC. The
iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal
computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003.
iMac G3
The iMac was the first major new product release for Apple after
Steve Jobs, who had been the company's original co-founder, returned to help the
financially troubled company in 1996 as its interim CEO after eleven years away.
41. Leaves in the library: PAGES. We have a Kindle, but I don't use it
much. Perhaps because I read mostly non-fiction, I find real books much
easier to navigate and search, and I frequently thumb back to the index. Hand up if you prefer real books?
42. Work long and hard: TOIL.
43. NPR's Tiny __ Concerts: DESK.
Tiny Desk Concerts
is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of
All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. Not all
of them are available on YouTube. This one is, and it features 3 short
works performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The first two are by Maurice Ravel and the last is an original work
by one of the performers. The playlist is in the first YouTube
comment:
45. Places of refuge: ASYLA. The plural of ASYLUM and
today's Latin lesson. BTW, if you read C.C.'s interview of Dr. Ed at the
start of the review, you found that prior to entering med school, he majored
in English and also studied Latin and Greek.
46. Jumps in: ENTERS.
48. Torah teacher: RABBI. The word
RABBI
originates from the
Hebrew
meaning "teacher." The term has evolved over Jewish history to include many
roles and meanings. Today it usually refers to those who have received
rabbinical ordination and are educated in matters of halacha (Jewish
law). They are the ones knowledgeable enough to answer
halachic questions. Most countries have a chief rabbi they rely on to
settle halachic disputes
50. "Darn it!": NUTS.
52. Generous: LIBERAL. I don't think we can infer from this
clue/fill an antonym of "Stingy: CONSERVATIVE".
3. Soprano dubbed "America's Queen of Opera" by Time magazine:
SILLS.
Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007), (nicknamed "Bubbles"!), was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and
1970s and was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura roles in
live opera and recordings. Here she plays party girl Violetta in
Verdi's La Traviata, singing Sempre Libere ("Always Free"):
5. Missing: ABSENT.
6. Server of Duff beer in Springfield: MOE. MOE's, the place
where everybody knows your name ...
7. Polo brand: IZOD. Their logo is a little creepy too, although it doesn't surface here as often as that erielake.
8. Turns in a bad way: SOURS. This usually doesn't turn out so bad, but that doesn't mean its good for you ...
13. Offshoot group: SECT. For some reason I always thought that the Mennonites, being more LIBERAL were an offshoot of the Amish, who were more CONSERVATIVE. It turns out to have been the other way around.
19. Runs out: LAPSES. Not to worry. Eventually this review will LAPSE.
21. Clutter-free: NEAT. Here's a tip from Teri's favorite NEATNESS maven the "Minimal Mom", entitled 3 Bins That Will Transform Your Home:
25. Tattoo alternative for the squeamish: DECAL. HENNA didn't perp.
29. Rock candy, essentially: SUGAR.
31. "Iliad" city: TROY. Myth has it that the cause of the Trojan War was The Judgement of Paris, which has a tie in to 47D.
32. Heavy downpour?: HAIL.
33. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA. A Showtime series which premiered in 2021. A fictional account of a team of New Jersey high school soccer players traveling to
Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane
crashes deep in the wilderness and the remaining team members are left
to survive for nineteen months. The series chronicles their attempts to
survive while also tracking their current lives in 2021.
47. Flemish artist Peter Paul __: RUBENS. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (/ˈruːbənz/; Dutch: [ˈrybə(n)s]; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Two of his most famous paintings depict The Judgement of Paris, which as we saw in 31D was one of the causes of the Trojan War. Here is the first:
The Judgement of Paris Peter Paul Rubens 1636
49. Sent an invoice to: BILLED.
51. Splendid: SUPER.
53. Made over: REDID.
54. Put on a pedestal: ADORE.
55. Actress Sophia: LOREN. Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone(born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren (/ləˈrɛn/lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]),
is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as
one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.
Sophia Loren
56. Stand watch for, say: ABET.
57. Squirrel away: SAVE. The clue phrase is derived from the propensity of squirrels to SAVE acorns for the winter months. A lot of people find them cute, but as they can easily get over a garden fence to take bites out of your ripening tomatoes I think of them more as bushy tailed rats.
Eastern Gray Squirrel
58. Kardashian matriarch: KRIS. Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton/ˈhoʊtən/HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian;
born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and
businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television
series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021).
Kris Jenner
60. Moved fast: TORE.
63. Carlsbad Caverns dweller: BAT.
64. "In the Heights" creator __-Manuel Miranda: LIN. In the Heights is a musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in
the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in
Upper Manhattan, New York City. It has also been made into a movie.
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri
for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. And thanks for her more than minimal effort in explaining clue 21D.
waseeley
Dr Ed Sessa, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you. And welcome back!
