sumdaze here. Today we have a fun Monday puzzle from constructor David Tuffs. David is a student at University of California, Santa Cruz, where he has been busy with finals.
David started constructing CWs during covid to keep from being bored. I reached out to him and asked what he thought might be a good title for today's puzzle. I liked how he incorporated some crosswordese into his response -- which is now our theme:
Scaredy Cats, et al
The last word of each of the 4 themers is something many pets fear. David certainly knows what my dog dislikes. I thought that anyone who is this Spot on about pets must have one of his own so I asked David to share a pic.
David's dog Penelope 7 yr old English Springer Spaniel Ahhhhhhh! Super cute!
23. Across* Experienced pro: SEASONED VET. A SEASONED VETeran is someone with years of experience.
This dog is about to change his opinion on VETs.
33. Across* 1990 action film with cameos by famous NASCAR drivers: DAYS OF THUNDER. I read that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman met on the set of this movie then got married 6 months later.
David told me that DAYS OF THUNDER was originally another movie: Tropic Thunder. I am not familiar with that movie so I am happy with the change.
44. Across* Absence of clear leadership: POWER VACUUM.
Cambridge Dictionary: a condition that exists when someone has lost control of something and no one has replaced them.
a cats & robot VACUUM video...naturally!
Then the reveal:
55. Across. Irritating behaviors, and what the ends of the answers to the starred clues may be?: PET PEEVES. I am pretty sure Cornerites well know the meaning of this term. 😘
(Oh, David Tuffs, your puzzle has opened the door to so many clever quips in the Comments section!)
While most solvers have their own PET PEEVES, the PEEVES in this puzzle, i.e., BATHs, going to the VET, THUNDER storms, and VACUUM cleaners, belong to household PETs.
Let's fetch the rest of the clues:
Across:
1. Touchdown signalers: REFS.
5. Similar (to): AKIN. Analogous, related, comparable, equivalent, and similar are all words akin to AKIN.
39. Balloon filler: AIR. Neither "clown" nor "helium" fit.
40. Poem of praise: ODE.
41. Drill insert: BIT.
16.27 min. of BIT bliss for all the Makers out there!
42. Plumber's challenge: CLOG.
47. Sixth sense letters: ESP. ExtraSensory Perception
Bill Murray's ESP scene in Ghostbusters (1984)
50. Sunburn balm: ALOE. Seeing "ALOE" in CWs always makes me think of my grandfather. Do you remember the dad with his Windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)? My grandfather was like that with his ALOE plant. Here's a 30 sec. clip:
51. Protect with plastic coating, as an ID card: LAMINATE. This is one of the two 8-letter fills. There are also two 9-letter fills. Nice work for a Monday puzzle, David!
56. Upright: ERECT. Can you hear the difference between an upright and a grand piano? Answer is at 5:13.
57. Traditional Indian wedding dress: SARI. Indian brides avoid wearing white because it is a symbol of mourning.
So gorgeous!
58. Ravioli option: MEAT.
59. Fail to make use of: WASTE. Waste not, want not.
60. Remove wrinkles from: IRON. Remember in the 1980s when crimp IRONs were used to add wrinkles to hair?
61. Norway's capital: OSLO.
Me (center), teaching a roping clinic outside of Oslo, Norway in 2003.
Down: 1. Puts one's feet up: RESTS. I first had "relax" but perps changed it. Looking at it now, I see that the verb form in the clue would have called for "relaxes". I'm learning!
2. Praise highly: EXTOL.
3. Passionate: FIERY.
4. ER doc's "Now!": STAT. Used as a directive to medical personnel during an emergency situation; is from the Latin word statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”
5. Walks along: AMBLES.
6. Fluffy-eared marsupials: KOALAS. I took this pic at the Taronga Zoo in Australia in 2009. There was a nearby sign which read, "Not drunk, just digesting." #Aussie humor
8. To the __ degree: NTH. Today's math lesson #2:
Basically, the nth term is a mathematical expression that enables us to find the value of any term in a sequence. The 'n' stands for the term number. So if I have 5+n and if n=1 then it would be 5+1 = 6. Likewise, if n=2, it would be 5+2=7. And so on. Since there are an infinite amount of values we can give to n, the sequence can go on to infinity. That idea of "going to infinity" has given us the idiom "nth degree", meaning "as much as possible" or "extremely".
9. Felt sorry for: PITIED.
10. Topple: UPEND. Anyone else have "upset" before UPEND? (I'll try not to be upset if I'm the only one.)
Prior to June 2011, the first 3 digits of SSNs were assigned according to US States. You can look up yours here.
18. Penny pinchers: MISERS.
"The Miser" Jan Steen (oil on panel, between 1641 and 1679)
21. Utter fiasco: SNAFU. The first known use of SNAFU was in 1941. Other words from 1941 include area code, bad-mouth, centerfold, Freudian slip, gung ho, long johns, optimize, ready room, thunder egg, and yikes. see more words
24. Texter's "however": OTOH. On The Other Hand
25. "Be it __ so humble ... ": EVER. There's no place like home.
26. Brewed beverage that may be hot or iced: TEA. Hot herbed for me, please.
27. Blue birds: JAYS. I love the blue JAYS that visit my yard. Sometimes they cause trouble, digging through my flower pots. I forgive them because I enjoy their antics and they help keep the more troublesome bugs under control.
30. Caused a disturbance: MADE WAVES. Katsushika Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also called The Great Wave) is an iconic example of Japanese art. I guess you can say he "MADE WAVES".more info
36. "Moonlight" actress Harris: NAOMIE. Naomi Melanie Harris is an English Actress born in 1976. She was nominated for an Oscar in 2017 for her work in Moonlight.
She also played Moneypenny in Skyfall (2012).
37. Lead-in to rock or Rocks: POP. Good clue! The upper case "R" is a hint to a product name.
OTOH, pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its (typically) guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music.
Example: I Feel Fine by The Beetles
Whose idea was it to put Ringo on the stationary bike???
5. Violently eject: SPEW - Mauna Loa is reminding Hawaiians that those islands were built by volcanoes
9. Literary heroine who had "very little to distress or vex her": EMMA - We have come to know Anya Taylor-Joy from The Queen's Gambit but she recently did a turn as EMMA in a 2020 movie
13. Bad link indicator: ERROR PAGE
15. "Sacred __": Bocelli album: ARIAS.
16. Largest plot on a block, typically: CORNER LOT - If you like to mow and blow snow (for those of us who do)
17. __ Hall: MONTY.
18. Grift: SCAM.
19. Quaker's parent: PEPSICO - One of hundreds of products in that fold
21. One-named singer who co-wrote Rihanna's "Diamonds": SIA - SIA used her hair covering her face as a gimmick at one time
24. Look over: EYEBALL - "Don't be EYEBALLIN' me boy!"
26. "Guilty Crown" protagonist __ Ouma: SHU - Okay...
27. Qualifying term: UNLESS.
29. In real time: LIVE.
30. Sea-__: TAC - We took off from there last week in Taylor Johnson's puzzle
31. Edible pockets: PITAS.
32. Cycle starter?: UNI.
33. __ Burger: BOCA.
34. Rough landings?: ETAS - The Estimated Time of Arrival is a rough guess.
35. Stimulates, in a way: WHETS.
37. Azadi Tower country: IRAN.
38. Surge: RISE.
39. Spa sound: AAH.
40. Bills: BEAKS - This conjured up an old joke
41. Ox with soft wool: YAK.
42. Magnitude: SIZE.
43. Rice porridge often topped with slices of century egg: CONGEE - Much learning for me. Was this submitted by Tony or C.C.? 🤔
48. Remote access?: CHANNEL - 😀 We now use our Allo to remotely access a new CHANNEL
50. Arendelle snowman: OLAF - Frozen is making big inroads into fills for crosswords
52. "Jesus Christ Superstar" king: HEROD - In HEROD's Song, he taunts Jesus with, "Prove to me that you're no fool, Walk across my swimming pool."
53. Tell all: NAME NAMES - In the 1952 HUAC hearings, our crossword acquaintance Elia Kazan NAMED NAMES of people he knew to have joined the Communist Party in the past. Hollywood reacted with great hatred and condemnation of Mr. Kazan.
58. Canopy makers: TREES.
59. Turning point?: USE BY DATE - Turn bad?
60. Bering Sea barker: SEAL.
61. Works on the road: TARS - Last Saturday, we were tarring roofs. I'm betting a lot of you know the movie that had this great scene tarring a road activity (*answer at bottom)
62. Breakaway group: SECT.
Down:
1. NCAA division: SEC - The Southeast Conference has won 13 of the 22 NCAA FB championships since 2000
2. Not prone to crushes, for short: ARO - This filled itself in but ARO is short for AROMANTIC as in not romantic, i.e. develop little or no romantic attractions. 5 things you should know about aromantic people
3. Sound of frustration: GRR.
4. "Daughters and __": intergenerational tale by Ivy Compton-Burnett: SONS - Daughters and Sons is an acidic comedy of cold deceptions, mistaken identities and family struggles for dominance.
7. Nwodim of "SNL": EGO - Talk about yer Saturday cluing. Her IMDB
8. Sign of tackiness?: WET PAINT - 😀
9. God who took a bow: EROS - Oh, that kind of bow. An ARO person could still be in for these activities.
10. Rental for a renter with too much stuff: MINI STORAGE.
11. Green tea treats: MATCHA CAKES - Tony says this is a familiar term for him because Houston has a sizable Asian population.
12. "Obviously ... ": AS YOU CAN SEE
14. Break: RECESS - A lot of memories are made here in grade school. Some of those memories keep people from coming back for reunions
15. More than enough: AMPLE.
20. Tupelo-born singer: ELVIS - We toured Elvis' shotgun birth house in Tupelo. The name stems from the fact that you can see straight through the house from the front door to the back door like the barrel of a shotgun.
21. "Below Deck" vessels: SUPER YACHTS - Nine seasons on Bravo
22. Message of endorsement: INITIAL HERE.
23. Winter destination in the Wasatch Mountains: ALTA SKI AREA - 40 minutes SE of Salt Lake City
25. Delaware's state bird: BLUE HEN - This bird from Kent County England is one of three American State birds that is not native to the country. It is also the name of a commenter that I wish visited us more often.
28. Lighten: EASE.
33. "Très __": BIEN - Ce puzzle est très BIEN
35. Sign away: WAIVE.
36. Coffee flavor: HAZEL NUT.
40. Green field?: BOTANY.
42. Ships off: SENDS.
43. Glitterati: CELEBS.
46. "Doom Patrol" actor Matt: BOMER - He plays the character called Negative Man in this TV series. You're welcome. 🤷
49. Sydelle of Netflix's "GLOW": NOEL - She plays Cherry "Junk Chain" Bang in the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling 🤷