Sunday, November 3, 2024, Emma Oxford

Theme:  "Cold Shoulders"

The circled "shoulders" (or edges) of each theme answer spell out something icy cold.

My search of the L.A.Times Crossword Corner archives suggests that Emma Oxford has published six crossword puzzles in the L.A. Times during the last two years, the last of which also had circles in the grid.  Today's puzzle is her first Sunday offering.

The theme clues and answers (all Across) are:

23. *Summertime activity that may precede piemaking: BERRY PICKING.  The circles spell out BERG.

36. *Fictional space force satirized in John Scalzi's "Redshirts": STARFLEET.  Redshirts is a 2012 novel by John Scalzi that satirizes Star Trek.  The circles spell out SLEET.

43. *Casper, for one: FRIENDLY GHOST.  The circles spell out FROST.

62. *Span needed for a system to return to equilibrium: RELAXATION TIME.  The circles spell out RIME.  Rime is a type of ice that forms when the moisture in fog freezes suddenly on an object.

69. *Nickname for a hotel in the middle of Lake Pichola: FLOATING PALACE.  Lake Palace (AKA Floating Palace) is a former royal residence, now turned into a hotel, on an island in Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India.  Popularly described as the Venice of the East, Lake Palace is made out of white marble.  The circles spell out FLOE, a sheet of floating ice.

90. *Charming rogue: HANDSOME DEVIL.  The circles spell out HAIL.

98. *"Take it slow": STEADY NOW.  The circles spell out SNOW.

111. Starts a conversation, or what the answer to each starred clue does to its circled letters: BREAKS THE ICE.

Having broken the ice, let's skate through the rest of the clues and answers.

Across:

1. Reveal: UNVEIL.

7. Antagonist of Rocky and Bullwinkle: BORIS.

Boris Badenov, from the cartoon TV series, "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show"

12. Check in point?: ATM.  You can deposit checks at an Automated Teller Machine.

15. 43,560 square feet: ACRE.

19. "Angel" singer Jon: SECADA.  Jon Secada is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter and record producer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, and recorded "Angel" in both English and Spanish.  Beautiful song!

20. See 56-Down: A-RONI.  Rice-A-Roni is a boxed mix that includes rice, pasta, and seasonings.  Those of us who watched television in the 1960s have "The San Franciso Treat" jingle burned into our brains.

21. Cons: SWINDLES.

23. [Theme clue]

25. Emerges: COMES OUT.

26. Expressionless: BLANK.

27. Reigning: IN POWER.

29. Federal loan agcy.: SBA.  The Small Business Administration is an agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

30. Coily hairstyle: AFRO.

33. Letters with a green check mark at the airport: TSA PRE.  The TSA PreCheck program expedites traveler screening through airport security checkpoints. 

36. [Theme clue]

38. Tilts: LEANS.

40. Missouri River Native: OTOE.

41. "Piece of cake!": EASY.

42. Eclectic online digest: UTNE.

43. [Theme clue]

46. "Spider-Man: __ the Spider-Verse": ACROSS.  A 2023 animated film.

48. __ Arbor, Michigan: ANN.

49. Vicinity: AREA.

50. Fermi paradox subjs.: ETs.  The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced ExtraTerrestrial life and the high likelihood of its existence.

51. "No probs!": ALL OK.

53. Corp. money managers: CFOs.  Chief Financial Officers.

54. Word said when pointing to a map: HERE.

55. Impetuous: RASH.

56. Grenadine: RED.  Grenadine syrup was originally prepared from pomegranate juice, sugar, and water, but today it's made from all kinds of drek.  It's also become a color name:  "Grenadine is a deep, muted, candy apple red with a ruby undertone."

59. Revolt: RISE UP.

62. [Theme clue]

65. Scent: ODOR.

66. Battery size: AAA.

67. Free (of): RID.

68. High point: ACME.  We always need perpendicular entries to know if it will be ACME or APEX.

69. [Theme clue]

75. Wail: SCREAM.

77. Permit: LET.

78. Kitchen extension?: ETTE.  As in kitchenette, a very small cooking area.

79. Woven silk projects: WEBS.  Spiders produce silk and use it to make webs to trap prey, and to build cocoons for their offspring, among other uses.

80. Ventimiglia of "Gilmore Girls": MILO.  While Milo Ventimiglia has had a successful acting career for almost 30 years, many of us here in the Corner sat up and took notice when, beginning in 2016, he starred opposite Mandy Moore in the NBC drama series "This Is Us," playing Jack Pearson, the patriarch of a middle-class family in late 1980s/early 1990s America.

Milo Ventimiglia

81. Like $2 bills, compared to most bills: RARER.

82. [I'm a cow!]: MOO.

83. One on a quest: HERO.  The hero's quest is a common template of stories involving a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.   A classic example is Odysseus in The Odyssey.  The same story structure is used in modern novels and films.

84. "Waterfalls" trio: TLC.  "Waterfalls" is a song by American hip-hop trio TLC, released in 1995.  The song was an international hit, and spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  I'm more into "rock en español," but even I recognize this song!

87. Wages: SALARY.

90. [Theme clue]

93. Pub offerings: ALES.

94. Country where Farsi is spoken: IRAN.

96. Prefix with -plasm: ECTO.  Ectoplasm is the thin, watery outer layer of a cell.  Unless you're into ghosts, in which case, ectoplasm is a substance that comes from the body of someone communicating with the spirit of a dead person, allowing the spirit to have a form.  In the Ghostbusters movies, it's called slime.

97. Brazilian dance: SAMBA.

98. [Theme clue]

101. If nothing changes: AS IT IS.

103. Sign of shock: GASP.

104. Bros: HEs.  Bros are hes as in male persons?  Sisters are shes?

105. One who asks too much: IMPOSER.

107. Helvetica alternative: ARIAL.  Fonts.

109. Biometric security measure: IRIS SCAN.  We had TSA PreCheck at 33 Across.  Another expedited screening program at airports is the CLEAR program, which uses iris-scanning, fingerprint-checking, and facial recognition.

111. [Theme clue]

117. Government health program: MEDICARE.

118. Carried: BORNE.

119. Acela operator: AMTRAK.  Crossword favorite Acela is Amtrak's passenger train service between Washington, DC and Boston, via 13 intermediate stops, including Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia. 

120. Inkling: IDEA.

121. Sow's spot: STY.

122. Brings around: SWAYS.

123. Used bookstore transaction: RESALE.

Down:

1. Computer connection letters: USB.  Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard which allows data exchange and delivery of power between many types of electronics.

How do I connect thee?  Let me count the ways.

2. Formerly known as: NÉE.  The French word née is a feminine adjective that means "born" and is used to indicate a woman's maiden name.

3. Old tape player: VCR.

4. Hammer or anvil: EAR BONE.

5. Pastoral poem: IDYL.

6. Drink like a cat: LAP AT.

7. Slangy term of agreement: BACK AT YA.

8. Mork's home: ORK.  "Mork & Mindy" was a television sitcom that aired on ABC from 1978 to 1982. It starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrestrial from the planet Ork, and Pam Dawber as Mindy, his human friend.

9. King of France: ROI.

10. Belly button type: INNIE.

11. Catcher's gesture to a pitcher: SIGN.

12. Broad ties: ASCOTS.

13. Bidirectional: TWO WAY.

14. One acting out?: MIMER.

15. Vlogger's revenue source: ADS.  A vlog is a blog in video format.  Both formats can be supported by advertising.

16. Not far from: CLOSE TO.

17. Corned beef sandwiches: REUBENS.

18. Pemberley and Mansfield Park: ESTATES.  Pemberley is the fictional estate of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."  Mansfield Park is an estate in Jane Austen's novel of the same name.

22. Brand for indoor sports: NERF.

24. Shoe pads: INSOLES.

28. Hurdle for college-bound sophs: PSAT. Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test -- a trial run for the SAT that high school seniors take.

30. The "A" of NATO?: ALFA.

31. "Charlotte's Web" girl: FERN.  Fern is a little girl in the novel "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White.  She pleads for the life of the runt of a litter of piglets, whom she names Wilbur.  When Wilbur grows, he is destined for slaughter until a spider named Charlotte spells out praises of the pig in her web above his pen.

32. Beach bummer: RAIN.

34. 1990s fad item: POG.  My daughter played with pogs (flat cardboard milk bottle caps) in the '90s.  The game involved stacking the discs face-down, and dropping a heavier object onto the pile.  The player would keep face-up caps, and restack the face-down caps.  Taking turns, eventually one player had more caps and would win.

35. Do a cobbler's job: RE-HEEL.

37. Read but never post: LURK.  Welcome, lurkers!  We are here for you.

39. Major mess-up: SNAFU.  "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up," or stronger language to that effect.

41. Thames Estuary county: ESSEX.

44. Release, as new music: DROP.

45. Spanish "other": OTRA.  Otra modifies feminine nouns.  And another thing ... !  ¡Y otra cosa...!  The masculine form is Otro.

46. "Another thing ... ": ALSO.  Hey, I just said that.

47. ESPN anchor Linda: COHN.  Linda Cohn is an American sportscaster who has anchored ESPN's SportsCenter since 1992.  That's a long run!

Linda Cohn

51. Saul Rubinek's "Warehouse 13" role: ARTIE.  "Warehouse 13" was a science fiction TV series that ran from 2009 to 2014 on the Syfy network.  Saul Rubinek as Artie Nielsen was the Special Agent in Charge at Warehouse 13, a storehouse for artifacts that have become charged with energy that can give them dangerous powers if misused.  Seems quite obscure!  Any fans here?

52. Set, as a table: LAID.  Brits are more likely to say "lay the table."  Americans usually say "set the table."

53. Michael of "Sacramento": CERA.  "Sacramento" is a 2024 comedy film starring Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Kristen Stewart and Maya Erskine.  It's about a couple of guys who take an impromtu road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento.  Has it even hit the theaters yet?

54. Pile: HEAP.

56. With 20-Across, "The San Francisco Treat": RICE.  See 20 Across.

57. Actress Thompson: EMMA.

58. Believe: DEEM.

59. "Ur 2 funny!": ROFL.  Texting abbreviation for Rolling On Floor Laughing.

Emoticon for ROFL

60. Not doing much: IDLE.

61. Flue dust: SOOT.

62. Killer party: RAGER.

63. Rainbows, e.g.: ARCS.

64. Staple in the Pacific Islands: TARO.  Taro is a root vegetable, and is a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures.

66. Penny-__: ANTE.

70. Little rip: TEAR.

71. "All in a day's work": I TRY.

72. "That's disappointing!": AW MAN.

73. R&B singer Bridges: LEON.  Todd Michael "Leon" Bridges is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.  His work has been nominated for four Grammy awards, and he won the most recent in 2019 for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song "Bet Ain't Worth the Hand."

Leon Bridges

74. Domiciles: ABODES.

75. King's address: SIRE.

76. Lumps of earth: CLODS.

80. Personal accounts: MEMOIRS.

81. Tabula __: RASA.  Latin phrase that means "blank slate" or "smooth or erased tablet."

83. Thrown-together bits of commentary: HOT TAKES.

84. "Better Call Saul" rating: TV-MA.  Mature Audience; may be unsuitable for children under 17.

85. Ad __: improvises: LIBS.

86. Thunder sound: CLAP.

87. Sushi kin: SASHIMI.  Sashimi is raw fish or meat sliced into thin pieces.  By contrast, sushi is made with seasoned rice, either shaped into mounds and topped with items such as raw or cooked seafood, or rolled in sheets of seaweed called nori around fillings of seafood, vegetables and other items. The essential difference is that sushi always includes rice, whereas sashimi is simply animal flesh.

Sashimi vs Sushi

88. Changed: ALTERED.

89. Sheltered place: LEE SIDE.

90. Hems and __: HAWS.

91. Physics dept.: SCI.

92. Aerie hatchlings: EAGLETS.  Aerie (a variant of eyrie) is the nest of an eagle, falcon, hawk, or other bird of prey.

I photographed this osprey on its huge nest atop a post in the middle of a Minnesota highway in 2023.

94. Sort of: IN PART.

95. "Normal People" author Sally: ROONEY.  Sally Rooney is an Irish author who has published four novels: Conversations with Friends (2017), Normal People (2018), Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021), and Intermezzo (2024). The first two were adapted into television miniseries.

99. 34-Down, for one: DISC.  Ah, yes, pogs.

100. Some workout spots: YMCAs.

101. Turn-only lane symbol: ARROW.

102. Indian lute: SITAR.

106. Falls back: EBBS.

108. Wistful sigh: AH ME.

110. "Breathe Me" singer: SIA.  "Breathe Me" is a 2004 song by Australian singer Sia featured on the album "Colour the Small One."  All I can say is, thank goodness for perpendicular entries.

112. Regency, for "Bridgerton": ERA.  Any Bridgerton fans here?  I prefer my historical dramas to be a little more historical.  

113. "__ luck?": ANY.

114. 401(k) kin: IRA.

115. Ripken of baseball: CAL.

116. __ out a victory: EKE.

Here's the grid:

Did you love it?  Or did you give it the Cold Shoulder?

NaomiZ

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 ~ Amie Walker

Polar Bear Club

Today we get another "downs theme." [See: last Monday].  This one from Amie Walker who, IIRC, we last saw set a puzzle for Star Wars Day (May the 4th). Today she lures us to the Polar Bear Plunge by calling it "therapy."

Let's see what I mean:

1. Temporary housing-cost regulation: RENT FREEZE.

4. "What's with the dad jokes all of a sudden?": YOU USED TO BE COOL. I've got Dad Jokes, but I'm still cool, right?

7. Streamlined date?: NETFLIX AND CHILL. Snuggle up and watch a movie at home.  Streamlined is a twist on streaming over the internet a program / film.

28. Post-workout water therapy option, or a description of the ends of 1-, 4-, and 7-Down: COLD PLUNGE. And there we have it... All the themers go down and end with a synonym for cold.

Across:
1. Not family-friendly, maybe: RACY. I was going with UN-PC first, but that depends on the family ;-)

5. Kylo of "Star Wars": REN.

8. __ pit: slam dancing spot: MOSH. The area in front of the stage where concert goers dance energetically and somewhat violently. You can also body-surf the crowd. Here's folks at a Nirvana concert running on stage and diving off into the audience.

Floyd The Barber (live)

12. Musical pace: TEMPO.

13. Gift at "no gifts" events: PRESENCE. "Just showing up is your gift to me." -Pop on Father's Day (we did get him a $$ grill too).

They agreed "No gifts" 

[WKRP @6:55 (I've been binging it (again) while DW's in Japan)]

15. Alaska's capital: JUNEAU.

16. Group that might divide and conquer?: MATH TEAM. I went to state twice (in IL & LA) with the Math Team. #Nerd!

17. Tunneling insects: ANTS.

18. __ and downs: UPS.

20. Indulgent meal: FEAST.

21. Pt. of HDTV: DEF. Hi DEFinition Television.

22. Tire inflation abbr.: PSI. Pounds / Square Inch.

23. Balkan native: SLAV.

24. __ on the side of caution: ERR.

25. Martial arts teacher: SENSEI.

27. MBA course: ECON. ECONomics is part of a Masters of Business Administration degree.

31. "My word!": EGAD.

33. Wicked spell: HEX.

34. Caramel-filled candy: ROLO.

Originally made by Mackintosh's in the UK in 1937.
Now produced by Nestle globally and Hershey's in the US.

35. Cookie with a Space Dunk variety: OREO. A new clue for an old x-word friend.

37. Princess Tiana costume topper: TIARA.

39. Whole bunch: SLEW.

40. Greek liqueur: OUZO. The Greek version of Sambuca. Both are anise [read: licorice] flavored booze. Goes great in evening coffee.

41. Not new: OLD.

42. Requirement: NEED.

44. Chicken __: trifling amount: FEED. Gramps had this tiny wooden box he made with "Three Piece Chicken Dinner" printed on the top. You open it and there are three kernels of corn inside! #GrampsJoke

45. Mixes thoroughly: BLENDS.

47. Kiss in a crowded room, for short: PDA. Public Display of Affection. eg me smooching DW full-on at a restaurant.

50. Totally wows: AWES.

52. Pretend: ACT.

53. "haha": LOL.

54. No-frills: BASIC.

56. "Ew, whyyy": UGH.

57. Taurus symbol: BULL.

58. Works too hard too fast, maybe: BURNS OUT. I attended a talk at a Cybersecurity conference on Burnout. The guy was the Musical Director for Hamilton. He'd suffered a heart attack and came up w/ a triangle of work/life balance-y stuff. No mention of "Have a beer. It'll all be just fine." :-)

60. "I wish!": IF ONLY.

62. Reason to branch out during yoga class?: TREE POSE. An Ektorp (X-word slang coin'd by Emma Oxford for "a clue whose answer you can get from context without actually knowing it." Splynter proved the rule by entering IKEA at the clue: "Maker of EKTORP sofas").

63. Pines (for): LONGS. Yearns was too long. Cue Python.

Pining for the Fjords [@1:38 of The Dead Parrot Sketch]

64. Crunchy picnic dish: SLAW.

65. Birth announcement abbr.: LBS. How many Pounds the baby weighed. I have no idea why this is important -- perhaps to spot the next heavy-weight champ?

66. Vein rich with ore deposits: LODE.

Down:
1. [See: theme]

2. Iowa college town: AMES.

3. Tax prep pro: CPA. Certified Public Accountant.

4. [See: theme]

5. Record speeds, for short: RPMS. Rotations Per Minute (per is used here in the abbr. but not in PSI... wonder why).

6. Stretch of history: ERA.

7. [See: theme]

8. Set of interactive virtual spaces: METAVERSE. Oy! Don't get me started.

9. Small bills: ONES.

10. "Shoo!": SCAT.

11. Dress edge: HEM.

12. Old TV knob: TUNER.

14. __ butter: skin care ingredient: SHEA.

15. Green gem: JADE.

19. Brooch: PIN.

22. Ad with an educational message: PSA. Public Service Announcement.

23. Clairvoyant: SEER.

26. Concealer specification: SHADE. A makeup c/a.

28. [See: theme]

29. Fotbol cheer: OLE.

30. This second: NOW.

32. "All better!": GOOD AS NEW.

35. "Yikes": OOF.

36. Be sorry about: RUE.

38. Hardships: ILLS.

43. Approximate fig.: EST. ESTimate.

46. Bother relentlessly: NAG.

48. Tea party attendees, often: DOLLS. Not Daddy?!?... the number of times I sat in that tiny chair wearing a TIARA wishing there was beer in my cup...

49. Friend: ALLY.

51. Trace of smoke: WISP.

54. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" singer Ives: BURL. I oft hum this song throughout the year - much to the chagrin of my family.

55. Field of study: AREA.

56. Great Basin people: UTES. Cue Vinny.

My Cousin Vinny clip

57. Open up to, with "with": BOND.

58. "Dynamite" K-pop group: BTS. BTS is an abbreviation for K- (Korean) Bangtan Sonyeondan which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts [WikiP]. DW has really gotten into K-Dramas; it's mostly light-fluff.

59. PC port letters: USB. Universal Serial Bus.

61. __ Fighters: "Learn to Fly" rock band: FOO. The front-man for Foo Fighters, known as the nicest guy in Rock & Roll -- Dave Grohl, was the drummer for Nirvana [see: 8d].
There are 3 songs that I know of titled Learning to Fly: Pink Floyd's ('87), Tom Petty's ('91), and the Foo Fighters' ('99). Google says Sheppard ('21) and Christina Aguilera ('23) also have a song titled Learning to Fly. Since the clue is about Foo Fighters (and the Video is funny (Jack Black ++the band members play the main roles)), I'll leave you with 'em b/f the grid.

And the Grid:

Da' Grid

WOs: REy -> REN, Serb -> SLAV
ESPs: N/A - Clean (of obscure names) Grid.
Fav: I'll go w/ MATH TEAM //yeah, I'm a #Geek.

Cheers!
-T

Dave Grohl's bar bill - 'cuz he just had to.

Thursday, May 30, 2024, Emma Oxford

 

The Stuff of Genius*

... and the staff of life.  People literally "broke" bread for their meals for thousands of years.  But all that changed in 1928 when Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the bread slicer.  And constructor Emma Oxford has come up with the best invention since then -- sliced crosswords!  Well maybe not 😀.  But she does present us with the following fill for four pairs of theme clues, each with some of the letters circled (shown in RED below), sliced by a black square, and when sandwiched back together give us  four kinds of bread ...

17A. Radio City, for one: MUSIC HALL and  19A. In the lead: AHEAD -- CHALLAH BREAD.  Here's a recipe.

Challah Bread

32A. Arizona people: HOPI. and 34A. Drink mix made popular by NASA: TANG -- PITA BREAD.  It's not widely known that Otto also invented the bread stacker 😀.  Michelle tells you how to make your own stack without a machine.

46A. Dynamic start?: AERO. and 49A. Neat as a pin: TIDY-- ROTI BREAD.  And it's even less widely known that Otto also invented the bread peeler 😀.  Here's Karen's recipe.

Roti Bread

62A. Saint __: Caribbean island: LUCIA and 64A. Army unit: BATTALION -- which when sandwiched back together we get CIABATTA.  Looks like Otto's back in the slicer business.  Here's Gemma's recipe.

Ciabatta Bread

And slicing the puzzle right across the middle we have Emma's reveal ...

39. Basis of comparison for many innovations that's depicted four times in this puzzle: SLICED BREAD.  But who actually coined the phrase "That's the best thing since sliced bread?"

While the circles made the theme pretty obvious from the get go , the results were pretty nourishing (albeit some people's tastes may vary😀).

I noticed that there were no guys represented in the recipes, so I'm tossing in James Beard's Brown Bread (one of our favorites).  We just use a bread knife to slice it ...

Brown Bread

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:
 

1. Elbows: JABS.

5. Tibetan monk: LAMA.  LAMA is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru, meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "highest principle", and less literally "highest mother" or "highest father" to show the close relationship between teacher and student.  Among the Tibetan lamas, the highest ranked is the 14th Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama

9. Brand paired with devil horns for a Halloween costume: PRADA. Must be a very exclusive party.  A reference to this film perhaps?

14. "Yeah, sure": I BET.

15. Hertz rival: AVIS. ... and a Rara AVIS, is a rare bird.  Here are some recent sightings of rare birds by the American Birding Association, including this one ...

Blue Rock-Thrush
sighted by Jason Talbott
25 Apr 2024
San Francisco, CA

16. Like highways and running tracks: LANED.  And let us not forget BOWLING VENUES!

17. [Theme clue]
19. [Theme clue]

20. Gait between a walk and a canter: TROT.

21. Held on to: KEPT.

23. Verizon acquisition of 2006: MCI.  MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company before Verizon bought them in 2006.   For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T.   Teri did some consulting for them back in the day.

24. Stop on a crawl: PUB.  Some of my English cousins took me on a PUB crawl one night, but that's all I can remember. 😀

26. "__ the season ... ": TIS.

28. Beach problem: EROSION.

30. Accord, perhaps: TRUCE.  There are two places in the world that need a TRUCE right now.

32. [Theme clue]
34. [Theme clue]

35. Cooper of CNN: ANDERSON.  Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator currently anchoring the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°.  His mother was socialite Gloria Vanderbilt and  his great, great grandfather was business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune.

Anderson Cooper

37. Poetic tribute: ODE.  ODES comprise 90% of the poetry in crosswords, the other 10% consisting of SONNETS, ELEGIES, IDYLLS, and a MOEKU or two every other Friday. 😀

39. [Theme reveal]

42. Sign of summer: LEO.  Has anyone heard from LEO III lately?

43. Petroleum jelly brand: VASELINE.  As distinguished from VICKS VapoRub.  Whatever you do, don't put the latter on sunburned skin. Ouch!

46. [Theme clue]
49. [Theme clue]

51. Pre-univ. warmup exams: PSATS.  Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Tests.  What the PSAT is and what to know about the exam (if you are a High School Junior or the helicopter parent of one).

52. Dressed for work, perhaps: IN A SUIT.  Or being SUED?

54. Fam member: SIS.  I have four.

56. Psychoactive constituent of cannabis: THC.  Shouldn't this clue have had some indication that this was short for Tetrahydrocannabinol?

Tetrahydrocannabinol

57. OB-GYNs, e.g.: MDS.

58. Like some Fr. nouns: MASC.  Today's French lesson -- but not a short one.  All French nouns are either MASCULINE or FEMININE (none being NEUTER, e.g. as in German).  The corresponding definite articles for these are LE and LA and the indefinite articles are UN and UNE.  In most cases, which of these articles to use for a given noun is a matter of memorization.  While that's easy for la jeune fille ("the young girl") and  le garcon ("the boy"), they must be memorized for nouns that don't have any associated real gender, e.g. HAT ("le chapeau") and DAY ("la jour").  But there are some general rules (and lots of exceptions) for figuring out the gender of a French noun ...

60. Warm, so to speak: NEAR.. Used a lot in party games -- "You're getting warmer", "You're getting colder", "You're freezing!". 

62. [Theme clue] .
64. [Theme clue]

68. Exams often given by committee: ORALS.

69. Way, way off: AFAR.  E.g. "You're in the next county!"

70. Up to the task: ABLE.  E.g. "Napoleon WAS ABLE to conquer Europe (and lose it) ERE he SAW ELBA".

71. "The War of the Worlds" writer: WELLS.   H. G. WELLS visited the Corner a week or so back in his Time Machine.  His War of the Worlds was made famous by an hour long radio broadcast on Halloween of 1938 by dramatist Orson Wells (no relation to the novelist) using a script derived from the novel.  The scale of the panic Wells created is disputed.  Here is a clip from that broadcast ...

72. Product preview: DEMO.

73. Absolutely must have: NEED.  Air? Water? Food?

Down:

1. Parsons of "Hidden Figures": JIM.  Jim Parsons is best known for playing Sheldon in the sitcom  The Big Bang Theory.  In Hidden Figures he played Paul Stafford, head engineer in the Space Task Group. In this interview he talks about the hard time he had accepting his role in the new movie and what a contrast it was to the part he played in TBBT ...

2. __ Dhabi: ABU.

3. Chums: BEST BUDS.  They say that Apple AirPods are the best, but they're expensive and I'm afraid I'd lose them. 😀

4. Step in a sauce recipe: STIR.  We've used cream sauce for years to serve over asparagus on toast, pastas, etc.  The only problem with it is the need to constantly STIR the mixture of flour, butter, and whole milk until it thickens to keep the milk from scorching.  Much easier to make, and just as tasty, is velouté sauce, which uses  chicken or vegetable stock instead of milk. Here's a recipe.  After the roux has thickened Teri stirs in a 1/2 cup of cream to per cup of sauce.

Velouté sauce

5. Actress Christine: LAHTI.  Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film Swing Shift. Her other film roles include ...And Justice for All (1979), Housekeeping (1987), Running on Empty (1988), Leaving Normal (1992), and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019). For her directorial debut with the 1995 short film Lieberman in Love, she won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Christine Lahti

6. Janelle's "Abbott Elementary" role: AVA.  Not the Janelle in Hidden Figures, but rather comedian Janelle James as Ava Coleman, in the mockumentary Abbott Elementary.  She plays the tone-deaf principal, who got her job by blackmailing the superintendent. 

Janelle James

7. Latte ingredient: MILK. 

8. Out like a light: ASLEEP.

9. "Allegory of the cave" philosopher: PLATO.  The "Allegory of the cave" is recounted in PLATO's Republic in a dialogue between his brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, and is narrated by the latter.  In the allegory, Plato describes people that have spent their lives chained in a cave facing a blank wall. They watch shadows projected onto the wall by objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and they give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality but not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects outside the cave represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: natural science; deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and the theory of forms. 
 
10. Stadium cheer: RAH.

11. Iron deficiency: ANEMIA.

12. Church minister: DEACON.  A DEACON is a Christian official generally associated with services of some kind, such as preaching and performing specific rites such as baptisms and marriages.  These services vary among theological and denominational traditions, such as the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, Methodism, Anglicanism, and Mormonism.  The office was created very early in the history of the Church, as is described in the Acts of the Apostles 6:1-5.  The intent of the office was to offload some of the work of the Presbyters (priests) and Bishops.  Among the first seven deacons was St. Stephen.  If we follow the above citation from Acts a little further, we find that he was also the first Christian martyr -- from the Greek word for "witness".

The Stoning of St. Stephen
Luigi Garzi (1638–1721)

13. __ machine: ADDING.

18. Clique: COTERIE. "An intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose".  Merriam-Websters.  If they cluster around a personality like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, the inner circle is called a POSSE.  They seem to have an affinity for the mononymous.

22. Monastic leaders: PRIORS.

24. School org.: PTA.  Parent Teacher Associations are not just a USA thing.

25. Self-serve dispenser: URN.

27. Steve Madden creation: SHOE. As I think product ads should be kept to a minimum in reviews, I decided on a Jeff McNally creation instead.  Here's a recent one from his rag, tag band of avian journalists ...

29. Moves without a sound: STEALS.  -- STEALTHILY.

31. Large strings: CELLOS.  Here a large group of large strings (a CELLO choir) from The Young Artists Orchestra of Las Vegas plays Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola's Libertango ...

33. Like some movie rentals: ON DVD.  You can't rent them from Netflix anymore, but here are still some other sources.

36. Nova __: SCOTIA.  One of Canada's Maritime provinces, and a CSO to CanadianEh!

38. Bathysphere realm: DEEP SEA.  The Bathysphere (from Ancient Greek βαθύς (bathús) 'deep', and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') was a unique spherical deep-sea submersible which was unpowered and lowered into the ocean on a cable, and was used to conduct a series of dives off the coast of Bermuda from 1930 to 1934. These dives were chronicled by explorer William Beebe in his book Half Mile Down.  

The Bathysphere
The National Geographic museum in 2009

We saw a friend recently, who mentioned that her son-in-law is a deep water geologist, and that these days all of this type of work is done by tethered drones.

40. Dark horses: BAYS.

41. Rant: DIATRIBE.  Notice how deftly I avoid one in 50D below.  😀

44. Advanced degree?: NTH.  And the NTH time we've seen NTH!.

45. Key above ~: ESC.  A CSO to Splynter ~ is his favorite separator.  And just above it, perennially on the lam is

46. Temper expectations: AIM LOW.  A guaranteed way to succeed!

47. Put up with: ENDURE.

48. Rogue: RASCAL. Here are two shots of my son's cat RASCAL, which he titled Royal Rascal and Roaring Rascal, respectively ...

I believe these were taken when Rascal was young -- he's much bigger now.  He'll be 13 this year and spends most of his time in the woods hunting -- it also gets him away from all the riffraff kitties that my granddaughters keep adopting.

50. "Things don't look good": ITS BAD.  As there are no discussions of politics on the Corner, we'll move on to the next clue ...

53. Amherst campus, familiarly: U MASS. A college in Amherst, Mass.  And  it is also the approximate atomic weight of  Uranium (U  MASS = 238.03).  It's not an integer because U is actually a mixture of 3 isotopes ...

55. Overture: INTRO.  There are basically two kinds of overtures: opera overtures and standalone concert overtures.  Brahms' Academic  Festival Overture  is of the latter type and was composed on the occasion of him receiving an honorary degree from the University of Breslau.  The university administration didn't take too kindly to it, but the students loved it, as it is essentially a pastiche of student drinking songs popular at the time.😀  Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi does the honors ...

59. Bistro: CAFE.

61. Actor Ruck: ALAN. Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Frye in John Hughes' film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), as well as television roles as Stuart Bondek on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996–2002) and Connor Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018–2023.

Alan Ruck

63. Under the weather: ILL. I worked in ILLINOIS for a year and a half and I don't recall ever being under the weather, although it did rain sometimes. 💧💧💧

65. Hat that may match a kilt: TAM.  Here ya go ...

66. Part of a World Cup chant: OLE.

67. "Game of Thrones" patriarch Stark: NED.  NED  (né Eddard)  was played by Sean Bean, who among many other roles played Boromir in the  movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.  He is best remembered for his heroic death defending the other members of the Fellowship of the Ring from Orcs. In the Game of Thrones, it appears that Sean went over to the Dark Side ...

Ned Stark

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

* "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" - Thomas Edison

Thursday, May 9, 2024, Joe Rodini

 

 No Smoking!

I'm going out on a limb here to tell you that today's constructor Joe Rodini, is using his debut on the Corner to present us with an elaborate Public Service Announcement.  He tries three times to light a CIGAR in the following 3 theme clues, but it gets dimmer and dimmer after each attempt... ...

17A. *Opera buffa by Mozart: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.  Some people think that The Marriage of Figaro is the greatest opera ever written, and far be it for me to argue with them.  This opera was revolutionary, not just musically, but in its veiled attack on the aristocracy (it was actually banned in Vienna).  The plot revolves around Count Almaviva's attempt to exercise his Droit du seigneur -- that is his right as a Lord to "break in" any of his servant girls on the night of their wedding.  The servant in this case it is Susanna, Figaro's fiancee (the same Figaro as in Rossini's The Barber of Seville).  The opera ends with an embarrassing moonlight tryst between the Count and his own wife, the Countess Rosina, whom he has been tricked into thinking is Susanna.  Here's how the opera begins ...

29A. *Landscape options in dry climates: ROCK GARDENS.

A Rock Garden in San Diego

39A. *One skilled at manipulating characters: ASCII ARTIST.  The Tsunami was a popular image in the ASCII Age, for those who foresaw the emergence of graphic computer interfaces and the coming Internet ...

 And finally Joe reveals what he's really trying to warn us about ...

54. "Not quite!," and what can be said about a letter string in the answer to each starred clue: CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR.  ... or as this Veggie Tale tells us ...

... if you smoke, it will end up being your Silent Night!

I fear that there may be a whole other layer hidden in the ashes of this theme, and if there is, I'm sure you'll point it out!

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Department concerned with wages: LABOR.

6. "Word": I DIG.

10. Kazakhstan's North __ Sea: ARAL.  Four letter sea?  Could this be an EKTORP?*

14. D-Day beach name: OMAHA.  OMAHA was the code name for one of 5 beaches where Allied Forces came ashore on during D-Day, the June 6th, 1944.  It was the most heavily defended beach by the Germans, everything went wrong on that beach, and it took the heaviest casualties (e.g. compare American losses on Omaha vs Utah).  On a D-Day tour of the beaches some years back our guide told us that the Allied air forces were supposed to carpet bomb the bluffs above Omaha beach with sorties running parallel to it.  He speculated that due to inter-service rivalry they ignored this decision and flew instead in from the sea at right angles to the beach, and many of their bombs landed in the fields beyond the bluffs.  As this scene from Saving Private Ryan shows us, the results were disastrous ...

Anyone not a minor, feel free to click on the
Watch on YouTube link above

15. Sushi wrapper: NORI. 

16. Get a better rate, for short: REFI.  REFInance.
.
17. [Theme clue]

20. "Your point being?": AND?

21. They mean nothing: ZEROS.  Yes they do, but they are also one of the most significant discoveries of early mathematicians.  While there are many claims of "first" to this invention, e.g. this one, it seems likely that it was discovered independently by mathematicians around the world.

22. End zone marker: PYLON.  Sports usage.  But here our friendly Thesaurus.plus shows us only 10 of its 61 synonyms ...

23. Leaves at the altar: JILTS.

24. Tropical trees: PALMS.

25. Vegan milk source: ALMOND.

28. Mountainous region of the Levant: JUDEA.  Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, JUDEA is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob (one of the "Genesis twins" who never seems to make it into crossword fill  😀) who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated.

29. [Theme clue]

32. "CSI" evidence: DNA.   Deoxyribonucleic Acid is gathered during a crime scene investigation because each individual's DNA is unique, and like finger prints, it can help identify who was at the scene. It has a half sibling called Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) -- for more on both DNA and RNA see 59A.

35. __ in handy: COME.

36. Missay, say: ERR.  Is there a wrong way to clue this?

37. God of love: EROS.  Specifically the Greek god of love, the Roman god being CUPID or Amor.  Their holiday is celebrated every February 14th. 💕

38. Swanky hotel amenity: SPA.

39A [Theme clue]

43. Memos: NOTES.

45. Crow's-nest cry: LAND HO.

46. Race town near Windsor Castle: ASCOT.  The Ascot Racecourse was founded by Queen Anne in 1711, and has since received the support of a further twelve monarchs. The Ascot summer race meeting officially became a Royal week in 1911 and is always visited by the King and Queen.

The Ascot Races

47. Red carpet brand: PRADA.

49. Pertaining to bees: APIAN.

50. __ Sound Machine: MIAMI.  Miami Sound Machine was an American Latin pop band of Latin-influenced music that featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami Latin Boys before becoming the Miami Sound Machine in 1977.  Their Rhythm is Gonna Get You ...

51. Explosive letters: TNT.  A preview of coming attractions ...

54. [Theme reveal]

57. "Get your own!": MINE.

58. Free of fizz: FLAT.  Another versatile word ...

59. Protein-building acid: AMINO.  There are two main classes of proteins: 1. structural proteins used to build muscle, tissues, organs, etc; and 2. enzymes (suffixed with ase), which act as catalysts (facilitators) mediating the myriad biological reactions that comprise metabolism.  Proteins are essentially long strings of AMINO acids (a.k.a. "polypeptides") folded into specific 3D shapes suited to their purposes.  The process by which this occurs is called protein synthesis. The order of the amino acids in a protein is defined by the GENES, sequences of  DNA nucleotides (the famous "stair steps" in DNA's helical structure) specific to each protein.  Here's a visual explanation of protein synthesis provided by the Amoeba Sisters ...

Among the most important enzymes is RNA Polymerase, discovered  6 years after the the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953, and which is required in the synthesis of DNA and RNA.  Simply put, DNA is required to make enzymes, but enzymes are required to make DNA.  How did that happen?  Scientists have been working on this "chicken and egg"problem at least since 1959.

60. Online crafts site: ETSY.

61. __ up: tell all: FESS.

62. Lite: LO FAT.

Down:

1. Kirke of "Mozart in the Jungle": LOLA.  Lola Kirke plays oboist Hailey Rutledge in the Amazon Prime TV series based on the 2005 memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, by real life oboist Blair Tindall ...

2. "Preach!": AMEN.

3. Boston or Chicago: BAND.  CITY fits, but doesn't perp.  Boston is an American rock band formed in 1975 by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that experienced significant commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s.  Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1967.  Self-described as a "rock and roll band with horns," their songs often combine elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music.  Here are Boston and Chicago's greatest hits ...

More Than a Feeling

 Saturday in the Park

4. Cry of discovery: OHO.

5. Poking fun at: RAZZING.

6. Like noble gases: INERT.  Snobs that they are, noble gases' exhibit INERTNESS, a tendency not to react with other chemical substances, which results from their electron configuration: their outer shell of valence electrons is "full", giving them little tendency to participate in chemical reactions.

7. Long-extinct flightless birds: DODOS.  Their name is synonymous with "stupid", but their extinction was not caused by stupidity.

Dodo

8. Eye part: IRIS.

9. Many a moving meme: GIF.  LIFE IS SHORT ...

10. Sock pattern: ARGYLE.  ARGYLE is the handle for D. Scott Nichols, of Argyle, NY, a long time blogger on the Corner, who passed away on May 1, 2018.   He was also known affectionately as our Santa.  Here's C.C. In Memoriam. It's worth reading for what the regular commenters had to say about him.  Some of them have passed on as well.

Argyle

11. La Liga team that plays in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium: REAL MADRID.  Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly referred to as REAL MADRID, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football.

12. Curly hairstyles: AFROS.

13. Wildebeest hunter: LION.

18. Nintendo princess: ZELDA. Princess Zelda is a character in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video game series.

Princess Zelda

19. Tablets at some checkout counters: IPADS.  5 major benefits of using IPADS in retail.

23. Routine element: JOKE.  While this guy is best known for his standup, he starts this routine kneeling ...

24. Many a 23-Down: PUN. 

25. Circle parts: ARCS.

26. Roller coaster feature: LOOP.

27. Supersize suburban homes: MCMANSIONS.  What's the difference between a McMANSION and just a big house?

Some McMansions under construction near me
(BTW, the flag on the right is a CSO to Anonymous -T)

28. Ryan of "Bosch": JERI.  I couldn't find any clips of her from Bosch, but it turns out that Jeri Ryan can sing.  I believe this performance was on Star Trek Voyager's  holadeck ...

30. Suggestions, informally: RECS.  TIPS would have fit too.

31. Soft & __: DRI.

33. Have a snack: NOSH.

34. Apropos of: AS TO.

37. Sicilian mount: ETNA.  Mount ETNA erupts frequently in crosswords, and this past December it obliged us with an actual eruption ...

39. Back up an apology, say: ATONE.    Sometimes an apology is not enough -- the theme of the book/movie ATONEMENT (highly recommended) ...

40. Gel: SET.

41. Avis rival: ALAMO.
 
42. Far beyond the norm: RADICAL.  Dude!

44. Irish dramatist Seán: O'CASEY.  Seán O'Casey (born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.

Seán O'Casey

46. College-level HS English course: AP LIT.  You might just read one of 44A's plays there.

47. Falafel holders: PITAS.  Here's a recipe.

Falafels

48. Tirades: RANTS.

49. Cartoon maker of Invisible Paint and Instant Road: ACME.

50. Stubborn beast: MULE.

51. "Yay, the weekend's almost here!": TGIF.  The day after Thursday!

52. Grandmother's nickname: NANA.

53. Moderate gait: TROT.

55. Lifelong pal, briefly: BFF.

56. "If u ask me ... ": IMO.  I know u didn't, but I drew the short straw today.

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

*EKTORP was defined by Emma Oxford  in a comment to  her April 17th, 2024 puzzle as "a clue whose answer you can get from context without actually knowing it."

 

Notes from C.C.:

Renee (sumdaze) and I made today's USA Today puzzle. Click here to solve. Congrats on your debut, Renee! You're simply amazing.