Theme: PIZZA ( 69. Popular pie, and what the ends of 17-, 30-, 45- and 61-Across have in common)
17. Crème de la crème: UPPER CRUST. Pizza crust.
30. Spar without a partner: SHADOW BOX. Pizza box.
45. Extremely lame, in modern slang: WEAK SAUCE. Pizza sauce.
61. Business manager skilled at reducing expenses: COST CUTTER. Pizza cutter.
Boomer
here. WWWWW - Wow, What A Wild Week on Wall Street! I felt like I was
on a bicycle with no brakes coasting down Lombard Street in San
Francisco. However, we have seen this before around 2008 and we
survived. I hope all will stay safe from the coronavirus and I hope if
you were hurt in this correction, that those nasty numbers last week
will start bouncing back today.
I
made thousands of pizzas as a chef for a pizza restaurant in Hopkins,
MN. I've also eaten quite a few but I cut them out of the diet for
now. Not healthy enough.
Across:
1. Photographer Adams: ANSEL. Always outdoor scenes. We found one at a garage sale once.
6. "Happy Motoring" company: ESSO. Fill 'er up in Canada eh?
10. Cuba, por ejemplo: ISLA.
14. 2000s first lady Bush: LAURA.
15. Matty of baseball: ALOU. Also Jesus and Felipe.
16. Twice-monthly tide: NEAP. Depends on full or new moon. It amazes me that the moon can have an effect on the ocean.
19. Kvetch like a fish?: CARP. In Minnesota, if you happen to catch one of these mud-eating fish, it is against DNR rules to toss them back in the lake.
20. West of "My Little Chickadee": MAE. "When I'm good I am very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better." Mae West.
21. Mr. Peanut prop: CANE.
"Ain't no more CANE on the Brazos my boy, Oh, Oh, Oh. Well we done
ground it all to molasses. Oh, Oh, Oh. (Chad Mitchell Trio).
22. Dental hygienist's gizmo: SCALER. In Minnesota, we use these to clean fish.
24. Essen's river: RUHR. Quite a distance Northeast from my temporary home in Hardheim. (1969)
26. Russian space station for 15 years: MIR.
27. Hurry-scurry: ADO. Much ado about nothing.
28. "__ Yankees": DAMN. You can say that again! I am a Twins fan.
33. Rascal: SCAMP.
35. "Honor Thy Father" author Gay: TALESE. What about thy Mother??
36. Hawaiian porch: LANAI.
37. Ab __: from day one: OVO.
38. Uses a sieve: SIFTS.
We used to use an aluminum with a squeeze handle. I never knew why my
Mom sifted flour. It always seemed pretty sifted to me out of the bag.
42. Apply, as a brake: STEP ON.
We had to do that quickly Saturday morning. Some car was stalled in
the middle of our lane. C.C, saved us because I was watching the rear
view mirror at some idiot tailgating us.
44. Flynn of "Captain Blood": ERROL. From Australia, he led three lives with three different wives.
48. Hunky-__: fine: DORY. I don't think I have heard this since Ike was President.
49. Toronto's prov.: ONT. Home of the Blue Jays. That team has a whole country rooting for them since the Expos moved to Washington.
50. Dada co-founder: ARP.
51. Either H in H2O: ATOM.
53. Home of the NHL's Senators: OTTAWA. A lot more Canadian cities have a hockey team.
55. A head: EACH.
57. "Aladdin" monkey: ABU.
60. Old phone feature: DIAL. Absolutely old. We went through several in my life, and Graybar sold millions of them.
64. Shortest-named Great Lake: ERIE. 4th largest great lake
65. Sci-fi's Jabba the __: HUTT. Aaron Rodgers "3-19, 3-19, HUTT HUTT !
66. Mars has two: MOONS.
Amazing. There are only three moons between Mercury and Jupiter.
Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus all have dozens. I am surprised they don't
run into each other.
67. Aloha State bird: NENE.
68. Jazz and Disco periods: ERAS. Pitching statistics too.
Down:
1. Grad: ALUM. Short for alumnus, not aluminum.
2. Auto parts giant: NAPA.
3. Clark Kent, really: SUPERMAN. "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a bird (wiping your eye).
4. "... __ he drove out of sight": Moore: ERE. "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night"
5. Tree that rhymes with a month: LARCH.
6. Deserve: EARN.
I guess it's deserved. Lend some of your money to a bank and you will
earn interest. Just not as high as the poor guy who borrows it.
7. Pivot around: SLUE.
8. "Help!"-ful soap pad brand: SOS. ...---... or a Competitor of Brillo.
9. Not in the house: OUTSIDE. "Ball one", says the umpire.
10. Ancient Andean: INCA. Inka Dinka Do - Jimmy Durante
11. Aquanaut's base: SEA LAB.
12. Texas city in a cowboy song: LAREDO. Johnny Cash did the song. But Laredo is unique with a bridge across the Rio Grande.
13. Estimated: Abbr.: APPROX.
18. Wheels, so to speak: CAR. I call my wheels a van.
23. Game stick with a netted pocket: CROSSE.
Never played it. Add "LA" and you have a great city in Wisconsin.
Close to Minnesota just on the east side of the Mississippi.
25. Expose: UNMASK. We would do this on Halloween when our face got sweaty.
26. Sam who owned Cheers: MALONE. "Where everybody knows your name."
28. ISP alternative: DSL.
29. Fed. law known as Obamacare: ACA. It's "Affordable Care". However some people still cannot afford it. But I don't think the U.S can afford an alternative.
30. Clog: STOP UP.
31. "Wreaked" state: HAVOC.
32. Creepy sort: WEIRDO.
34. Tool for two lumberjacks: PIT SAW. I don't see many any more. It takes two persons to use it and I think power saws have taken over.
39. Completely, alphabetically speaking: FROM A TO Z.
40. A.L.'s Blue Jays: TOR. Mentioned them before.
41. Scheming: SLY. And the Family Stone. "Everyday People."
43. Pain in a canal: EARACHE.
45. Made of oak, say: WOODEN.
Coach John Wooden - famous coach of UCLA. His teams won something like
10 NCAA national championships. I remember Lew Alcindor (AKA) Kareem
and Bill Walton helping.
46. Complete: ENTIRE.
There once was a girl from St. Paul, who went to a newspaper ball. Her
dress caught on fire, and burned her ENTIRE front page, sports section
and all.
47. Reach, as a goal: ATTAIN. A whole bunch of major league teams are in Spring Training hoping to ATTAIN that fancy trophy for their stadium display case.
51. NC State's conf.: ACC.
52. Dull sound: THUMP. Sounds like a ball going in the gutter.
54. On the safe side, at sea: ALEE.
55. Spanish "this": ESTA.
56. Lawyers: Abbr.: ATTS. Most abbreviate ATTY(s)
58. Mercedes-__: BENZ.
59. Big Dipper bear: URSA. Major.
62. Lord's Prayer start: OUR.
We say this in church. So many stories. I went to an all-boys
Catholic School. I coach bowling there now and it is co-ed. When young
ladies would come to our sock hop dances, they had to recite the Lord's
prayer to get in. If they said debts instead of trespasses they were
not allowed. If they got by that and ended with "For thine is the power
etc." they were refused. Now we say that at the end of the prayer. I
am wondering though, after the prayer we are asked to offer a sign of
peace and everyone shakes hands. I wonder if that might be adjusted due
to coronavirus.
63. You, in French: TOI.
Boomer
