Friday, June 28, 2024, Zachary David Levy

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists, Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of today's puzzle by oft-time puzzle setter Zachary David Levy.  After substituting for Ch. Moe last Friday yours truly is back in his usual time slot.

Last Friday we were asked to add Oh! to get the themed answers.  Today, at five (not the more common four) places in the grid Zachary has commanded us to get rid of you.  Or ewe.  In its stead we are further bade to substitute ooo as in the cow goes moo.  Except for one place where we swap "you" for "oh" (perhaps it was left over from last week).  I am still scratching my head about that seeming anomaly.

Let's start with the unifier . . .

67 Across:  Pointless, or a phonetic hint to five of this puzzle's long answers: NO USE.  But pronounced as in to use your common sense.  No yous.  No ewes.

. . . and then see how it is applied in order to produce answers to the themed clues. . .

17. Remark from a revolutionary?: THAT'S MY COUP.  From That's My Cue.  My K-YOU becomes My K-OOO.  Revolutionaries stage COUP de Etats.

25. Feature of a broken remote?: MOOT BUTTON.  From Mute Button.  M-YOU-T becomes M-OOO-T.  If the remote is broken then, I guess, this button is MOOT.

35. One gold doubloon?: A THING OF BOOTY.  From A Thing Of Beauty.  B-YOU-TEE becomes B-OOO-TEE.  Pirates' BOOTY.

49. Asset in bartending school?: POUR GENIUS.  From Pure Genius.  P-YOU-R becomes P-OH-R.  Being smart about what/how to POUR.   The one that does not quite match the others phonetically.  Perhaps P-OOO-F or Winnie the Pooh could have been employed somehow?

56. Nitwits from the past?: FOSSIL FOOLS.  From Fossil Fuels.  F-YOU-LS  becomes F-OOO-LS.  Old FOOLS from out of the past.

This is how it all appears in the grid:

The rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. "One-Punch Man" genre: ANIME.  Unfamiliar with the specific reference but quite familiar with both the use of genre and ANIME as crossword staples.

6. Diving acronym: SCUBA.  From Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

11. Pampering retreat: SPA.  Foot massages are good for the sole.

14. Wheel of Fortune setting: TAROT.  Hand up for trying to make something related to the TV show work out.

15. Goes the distance: LASTS.

16. Isn't missing: HAS.

19. PC "oops" key: ESC.

20. Serengeti pack animal: HYENA.  I was once attacked by a laughing hyena.  It's not as funny as it sounds.

21. "I feel seen!": SAME.  A bit of I-don't-know-what-kind-of-speak.  Seems to mean "You agree with me!"

22. Calligraphy array: INKS.  Hand up for PENS.

29. Karate belt level: DAN.  The DAN ranking system is used by many Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, and other martial arts organizations to indicate the level of a person's ability within a given system.

30. Alternative to seed: SOD.  Hand up for SOW (not the pig) but that would have been the verb and not the noun as we were intended to take the clue.

31. Didn't strike out, say: GOT A HIT.  A baseball reference.

32. Scare off: SPOOK.

34. Wales who co-founded Wikipedia: JIMMY.  Here is his Wikipedia page: Jimmy Wales

40. Book that may hold personal records: DIARY.  Odd use of the word records.  Unless you were setting them.  TMI.

41. Move furtively: SNEAK.  Why is leather armor the best armor to sneak around in?  It's made of hide.

43. Home of the world's busiest airport: ATLANTA.

46. "__ of course": BUT.  But, of course.

48. Brew in a 42-Down: ALE.  ALE in a KEG.

51. Remnant: DREG.  Often used in conjunction with wine.  Sometimes, society.

52. Cold, hard cash: COIN.  A coin (as opposed to a piece of paper money).  Apple Pay would be an appropriate answer but it was too long.

53. Overwhelmingly: BY FAR.

55. Greedy figure: HOG.  Colloquialism.

 A Ball HOG

62. 39-Down alum: ELI.

63. Many a seventh grader: TWEEN.    An age-related reference.

64. Match, in grammar: AGREE.  ... and in other fields, too.

65. Some ER figures: MDS.  Abbreviated clue -  Emergency Rooms.  Abbreviated answer - Medical DoctorS.  One of many abbreviations in today's clues and answers.

66. Metallic sound: CLANG.  Hand up for CLINK.

Down:

1. Parent company of Cricket Wireless: ATT.  The clue was not abbreviated but, then again, does anyone call it the American Telephone and Telegraph Company?

2. "Pass": NAH.  The quotations marks indicate that the answer will be something someone might say.

3. 403(b) alternative: IRA.  Often clued with a 401 (k) reference.

4. Some lepidopterans: MOTHS.  Lepidopterans is an order of winged insects that includes butterflies and moths.

5. "Keep Commerce Human" company: ETSY.  A new way to clue this common crossword answer.

6. Surreptitious assent: SLY NOD.

7. Crème de __: CACAO.  MENTHE and CASSIS were both six letters.

8. Service gp.: USO.  United Service Organizations is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families.

9. Window unit meas.: BTU.  As in widow-mounted air conditioner.  British Thermal Unit.

10. Egyptian snake: ASP.   A frequent slitherer.

11. Form-fitting dress: SHEATH.  Yesterday we had a shift dress.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

12. Dijon denial: PAS MOI.  "Not me", en français.

13. Way up: ASCENT.  What is the worst thing about going up the stairs behind someone?  The ASCENT.

18. Office posting: MEMO.  The posting bit threw me off a bit.  

21. Decide not to retire: STAY ON.

22. Licenses, e.g.: IDS.  Used, here, as a noun.  Can I say used in this recap?

23. County east of Sonoma: NAPA.

24. Tangled clump: KNOT.  What do you call a monkey caught up in a KNOT?  An orangutangle.

26. Cry at the end of the week: TGIF.  All together, now . . .

27. Get no laughs, say: BOMB.  Colloquialism for failure.

28. Maximal: UTMOST.

30. Activity where newcomers practice "pizza" and "french fries": SKIING.  This one the Manatee knew immediately.  In reality "wedge" and "parallel" but the kids prefer to call it Pizza and French Fries (from the shape the skis make).  For the uninitiated:

33. "Phooey": OH DARN.  It took a while to see if it would be OH DANG

34. Elation: JOY.

36. "Great" detective of kid-lit: NATE.

37. Nickname for Mom's mom: GRAN.

38. Salty drop: TEAR.  Not as in to TEAR a piece of paper.

39. New Haven school: YALE. A job interviewer asked me why I had a 4-year gap in my resume. I told him that was when I went to YALE. He looked impressed and told me I was hired.  Woohoo, I got the yob!

42. See 48-Across: KEG.  ALE in a KEG.

43. Tough HS science class: AP CHEM.  HS as in High School.  AP as in Advanced Placement.

44. Past a certain cutoff: TOO OLD.  Too close to home.

45. "__ Mansion": Nintendo series: LUIGIS.  A video game reference.

46. Believing, so to speak: BUYING.  Are you BUYING what Patti and Zachary are selling"?

47. Sports org. revived in 2022 after a 37-year hiatus: USFL.

50. Playwright Henrik: IBSEN.  A proper noun that this solver actually knew.

51. Jason Momoa's "Game of Thrones" role: DROGO.  A proper noun that this solver did not know.  Thanks, perps.

54. Sign-off from an admier: A FAN.  Not a ceiling FAN.

56. Org. concerned with price-fixing: FTC.

57. Rice University athlete: OWL.

58. __ salt: SEA.  PINK HIMALAYAN, EPSOM and CURING were all too long.

59. Tulsa sch.: ORU.  Hand up for first trying OSU.

60. French article: LES.  LES DES CES MES SES.   The leading perp will tell us.

61. Catch: SEE.  Last Friday it was Catches = Spots

Thanks for catching the recap.  See you in a couple of weeks

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