Good Friday morning! Today I have the pleasure of recapping my fourth Gary Larson puzzle. To say that he is a prolific constructor is an understatement. I'm sure that if I had done some research I could share just how many crossword puzzles Gary has created. But it has to be in the hundreds. This one focuses on homophones and play-on-words. But unlike most homophonic words/phrases, Gary's are all about the sounds represented by certain letters.
"A," you ask? G, will U bear with me for a second? Here's an example:
16-Across. Submits a racy version of a film to the MPAA?: CHANCES R. Right off the bat, Gary hits a home run with a clever play-on-words. CHANCES "R", as in submitting an R-Rated movie to the Motion Picture Association of America. Or is it CHANCES ARE, a very iconic Johnny Mathis hit single?
And not to B undone, we next have: 25-Across. Trouble at the family rec center?: Y BOTHER. Y as in "why", or Y as in YMCA (a rec center, of sorts)? And Moe, Y bother putting this next video clip into the blog? B caws, it will remain as an earworm for the rest of the morning!!
Moving on 2 the next example: 36-Across. Filling in for rapper Cardi?: SPELLING B. As in the "artist" Cardi B. CAUTION: If you click on this link and listen to the video, you could be offended by her language. I don't think she was "chancing R". Here is an example of her work
Or maybe you thought of this SPELLING BEE?
Now that U C where Gary is going with the puzzle, here are the last two "themers":
49-Across. Deans, professors and undergrads?: U PEOPLE. Of the five, this was my least "favorite", but it still fits just fine. The "U" is a term used to abbr. University. Of which Deans, undergrads, and prof's are all a part of. On the flip side, there are so many images to choose from with the phrase: "YOU PEOPLE!" I finally decided on this (with a mini-SO to Canadian, Eh?):
And last, but not least, this: 60-Across. Mediocre bakery item in home ec class?: C BISCUIT. Brilliant. I can just imagine Gordon Ramsay reaming out a chef on an episode of "Hell's Kitchen" for making a mediocre BISCUIT, and giving it a "C" grade. The flip side of this answer is one of my favorite movies based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand. Here is a trailer:
Across:
1. Bad-mouth: DIS. My immediate thought was that the word for this clue should be spelled "DISS". But as we recappers are known to do, I found this on the internet, which explains it perfectly. Yellowrocks, you concur??
4. Times to call, in ads: AFTS. Since the word "ads" in the clue is an abbreviation, the implied word should be one as well. And the plural (times) makes it likewise. Not a big fan of pluralizing abbreviations, but I don't think that the word AFT - as in the rear of the boat - can have an S at the end. Moe rambling here . . .
8. Descendants of Muhammad, in Shi'ism: IMAMS. And Dictionary dot com agrees: IMAM is a title of various Muslim leaders, especially of one succeeding Muhammad as leader of Shiite Islam
13. Mag for execs: INC.
14. Down: BLUE. This is an example of a homonym. BLUE can be a description for sadness or one of the three primary colors
15. Irritate: GNAW AT.
18. Certain war hero: AIR ACE. His battles with the Red Baron are legendary!
19. Fictional spread near Jonesboro: TARA. Well I'll be darned! Just look here, then scroll down to Movies and Literature for confirmation of the clue
20. "La Dolce Vita" co-star: EKBERG. A former Miss Sweden. She made her home Italy after the movie was released
22. Sailor's pronoun: SHE. As I like to have my blogs be interactive, I defer to Spitzboov to expound on this. My first thought was that nearly everything seen by a sailor is referred to as "she", as the image below implies
23. Come down: ALIGHT. But if this were clued as a two-word answer
27. Wound up: TENSE. TENSE? I was thinking that if there were enough spaces, a fitting answer to "wound up" would be: PAST PARTICIPLE OF WIND UP
28. Scottish refusal: NAE. Here is something that if I were a Scot I would say NAE to
30. Serious observance: RITE. RITE of Passage and RITE of Spring were the first "RITES" that came to mind. But wanting to explore further (the last line is a hyperlink - open only if curious) . . .
I love traditions31. Work unit: ERG. Every time I see the word "ERG" used in an xword puzzle, I just want to say, "ARRGGH"
But sometimes they go too far
These RITES just seem wrong
32. Passionate: AVID. I do believe that all of the Crossword Corner bloggers are AVID
34. Started to overtake, with "on": GAINED. Word has it that they are nearly neck and neck!
38. Watercolor user: ARTIST. An ARTIST also uses oils, pen and ink, glass, tempera, bronze, and marble, to name a few others. And while many of the images below are quite ARTISTIC, if they were done in watercolor it might not be so tough to undo
41. Water color: AQUA. Not quite a clecho, but close! According to Pantone dot com, here is what AQUA looks like
42. On the __: famous: MAP. Check out these "famous" locations on America's show
45. Sailor's emergency container: BAIL. Sailors might also call their "emergency container" a PAIL; pretty sure Bert Reynolds called his a "Motorman's Friend" in the movie Semi-Tough
46. Frank McCourt memoir: TIS. As in "TIS:, A Memoir". Order it here if you like
47. Govt. security: T BILL. T BOND also fits. "T" for treasury. The letter "T" could've subbed for one of the other theme entries, I suppose. How about this instead? 47-Across (modified). Shirt sorter at an AA meeting?: T TOTALER
52. Qajar dynasty's domain: PERSIA. According to Wikipedia dot com: In the Western world, PERSIA (or one of its cognates) was historically the common name for Iran. On the Nowruz of 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the Persian term Iran (meaning the land of Aryans in Persian), the endonym of the country, in formal correspondence
53. Wilt: SAG. I don't think I ever saw this guy "SAG"
54. Ebert's partner in the 2000s: ROEPER. Richard ROEPER. Roger Ebert's film critic partner the year after Gene Siskel passed
57. Library ID: ISBN. International Standard Book Number. ISBNs were 10 digits in length up to the end of December 2006, but since 1 January 2007 they now always consist of 13 digits. ISBNs are calculated using a specific mathematical formula and include a check digit to validate the number. Akin to a UPC, in a sense. A bar code for books??
58. Win over: ENAMOR. I think of ENAMOR more of "being attracted to", or having deep feelings for. Wonder what the Thesaurussaurus has to say?
62. Muss: RUMPLE. RUMPLE - from the Old Dutch "rompel" (wrinkle).
It's impossible
To muss Iron Man. Guess you
Can't RUMPLE steel skin
63. "Roll Tide" school: BAMA. They have an exemplary record in college football: Since their first season in 1892 and going into this year, their overall record is 931 wins, 331 losses, and 43 ties, for a winning percentage of .730. I believe they trail only the University of Michigan for the most total victories. They claim 18 National Championships. The nickname "Crimson Tide" dates back to 1907 and probably was coined after the school's primary color, crimson. Certainly a polarizing team; kind of like the NY Yankees (baseball) or New England Patriots (recently, in pro football); you either like them or hate them. And again, there were far too many images to choose from with regard to BAMA and "Roll Tide" . . . here's one I chose due to the futility of trying to beat them
64. Witness: SEE. Or in this puzzle, the abbreviated answer would be "C"
65. Battle tactic: SIEGE. Could Gary Larson have spelled this Cge?
66. Kid stuff: SNAP. As in a breakfast cereal, perhaps?
67. Word in a recipe: ADD. We are trying not to ADD more salt to our dishes
Down:
1. Command: DICTATE. I wonder where the "command" button was on THIS keyboard that contains the root word, DICTATE?
2. Asthma sufferer's relief: INHALER.
3. Working hard to find, with "up": SCARING. Will the day after tomorrow be "normal", or will we find it hard, "SCARING up" trick-or-treaters?
4. Fox competitor: ABC. A nice mis-direction clue. Fox, as in the TV network. American Broadcasting Company
5. Sails force?: FLEET. Punny clue. Not SALES force. But not this, either!
6. Narwhal feature: TUSK. Would help to know what a Narwahl is
7. Macedonian's neighbor: SERB. SERB is the term used to identify a resident of SERBia
8. __ Montoya, "The Princess Bride" role: INIGO. Mandy Patinkin's role of this fictional character
9. Scrape, say: MAR. MAR and not EKE??!
10. Flooded with: AWASH IN. Merrium-Webster defines it as: flooded with or covered by water or another liquid. : floating in a large amount of water or another liquid
11. Tool for the jungle: MACHETE. Or for the Everglades, as this picture depicts
12. Guided: STEERED.
15. Duds: GARB.
Past century fad
That women wore in their hair?
A Greta GARB-bow
17. Won't leave alone: NAGS. Or, the colloquial term for old horses?
21. "__ of the Needle": Ken Follett novel: EYE. "I" of the Needle wouldn't fit
24. Piles: HEAPS. Kind of what my dirty clothes are in when I forget to toss them into the laundry basket
26. Common newspaper nickname: TRIB. Here is a list from Wikipedia
28. Zippo: NIL. This wouldn't fit!
29. Two-time loser to Ike: ADLAI. Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Raised in Bloomington, Illinois, Stevenson was a member of the Democratic Party, and twice (1952 and 1956) ran against Dwight David (IKE) Eisenhower for the US Presidency. He also failed to secure the nomination in 1960; the Dem's chose John F Kennedy instead
33. Check for accuracy: VET.
Animal doctor,
Turned investigator, now
VET's candidate's pets
34. Safari sight: GNU.
Serengeti TRIB
Headline reports "none were killed"
No GNUS is good news
35. Rock with bands: AGATE. Cute clue. I remember having these as a kid. AGATEs were used as "shooters"
36. Rural skyline feature: SILO. Did this guy go a bit overboard during the pandemic?!
37. Nos. averaging 100: IQS. Intelligence QuotientS. Based on a score of standardized tests to measure one's intelligence
38. Ones who take too much advantage of a privilege, e.g.: ABUSERS. The clue doesn't really speak to the "severity" of this noun, IMO. Not sure that "privilege" fits, but YMMV
39. Easter Island, to natives: RAPA NUI. Not a word that I knew, and IIRC, I had to LIU. The words RAPA NUI translate to the indiginous people of Easter Island
40. Draw: TIE GAME.
Ascot and Cravat
Played football. Would you guess it
Ends in a TIE GAME?
42. Pageant held in Memphis in 2020: MISS USA. Past winners
43. Said, "She was with me all day," say: ALIBIED. The verb form, past TENSE
44. Put in the ground: PLANTED. The verb form, past TENSE
46. Three-way joint: TEE. Not the implement that holds a golf ball? Not the name for a casual shirt? OH, this!
48. __-a-brac: BRIC. As in "BRIC-a-brac", miscellaneous objects and ornaments of little value. Originated in the Victorian Era
50. Worker, informally: PROLE. Short for PROLEtartiat
51. Stuff of legends: LORE. Like my blogs??!! LOL!!
52. __ ballerina: PRIMA. __ donna works, too. But this is what I think of when I see the word "PRIMA":
55. Banned pollutants, for short: PCBS. From Wikipedia dot com: PolyChlorinated BiphenylS, are organic chlorine compounds, now recognized as an environmental toxins and classified as a persistent organic pollutants
56. Meir contemporary: EBAN. Abba Solomon Meir EBAN was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. During his career, he served as Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. Later, he formed a Swedish rock band
59. It's usually higher on the hwy.: MPG. Miles Per Gallon. Tesla's measure theirs in MPKW
61. Weaken: SAP. Many definitions for this word; now don't be a SAP and believe EVERYTHING I included today!!
Here is the grid:
Comments are always welcome! See you again in a couple of weeks . . .
