Theme: Edible Apparel - take a food item and the clue turns it into something to wear:
17A. Jewelry to wear for a good cry?: ONION RINGS. The first time I tried making onion rings all the batter ended up in the pan and the rings came out bald. Not what I was looking for!
61A. Warm stole to wear on Thanksgiving?: TURKEY WRAP. All stoles are wraps, but not all wraps are stoles. That's fashion sense for you.
10D. Headgear to wear while truffle hunting?: MUSHROOM CAP. Is a truffle a mushroom? Nice clue though. Here's a truffle pig - if the pig finds a truffle, you have to be quick before he eats the whole thing. That's an expensive piggy-snack!
24D. Shoes to wear when driving a junky car?: LEMON WEDGES. There are a few "how to" videos on YouTube which detail how to cut citrus wedges. How can the video run for 80 seconds? Are they teaching you how to make a knife first? Incroyable. Cut lemon(lime) north-south. Cut wedges. Don't cut yourself. Rinse. Repeat. What was that, five seconds?
Today we have an across-and-down theme from Susan. Nice plays on words for the theme entries and all "in the language" and some fun in the fill too. Let's go look:
Across:
1. Noisy with activity: ABUZZ.
6. A bit cracked: AJAR.
10. Fem. counterpart: MASC.
14. Southeast Asian capital: HANOI. Vietnam's capital city. The Old Quarter is very colorful - and moped-friendly!
15. Place to bowl: LANE.
16. Golden rule word: UNTO.
19. Toffee bar with a crown in its logo: SKOR. Assuming that Hershey's meant that the name of the bar makes you think "Swedish" (especially with the crown) you'd have thought they'd have named it SKÖR, with the umlaut, as that means "brittle" in Swedish, a good name for a brittle toffee bar covered in chocolate. But they didn't - the named it SKOR, which means "shoes" in Swedish. So if you think Hershey's chocolate tastes like old shoes (and I do), then apparently the company agrees with you.
20. Thus far: YET.
21. Procure: GET.
22. CenturyLink Field NFLer: SEAHAWK. Wow, that's some formidable Caps/Lowercase/Caps/LowerCase/Caps clueing.
24. Support under the table?: LEG.
25. "I wouldn't __ you wrong": STEER.
26. Poem often starting with "There": LIMERICK.
30. Lasso loops: NOOSES.
34. Sistine Chapel ceiling man: ADAM.
35. Giant Giant: MAYS.
37. __ Dame: NOTRE. It's sad looking at Notre Dame cathedral at the moment with no spire after the fire last year.
38. Like New York's Chrysler Building: DECO. I often stay at a hotel close to the Chrysler Building in Manhattan. Depending on the luck of the draw, I either get a view of the building looking south, or a generic view of Lexington Avenue looking north.
39. Church leader: ELDER.
41. Gold source: MINE.
42. Brings home: EARNS.
44. Extended ride?: LIMO.
45. "At the Movies" segment: CLIP.
46. Reduce speed: SLOW UP. You can slow down too, but you can't speed down, although you can speed up. What a confusing language we speak.
48. Breaks, as the law: VIOLATES.
50. Clear in class, maybe: ERASE. Mostly whiteboards now. When I was at school it was a dusty job to wipe off the chalkboard from the previous class, usually given to the kid who was last through the door. (Me).
52. Weather report backdrop: MAP.
53. Most loving: FONDEST.
56. Chivalrous title: SIR.
57. "Knives Out" actress __ de Armas: ANA. I should watch the movie, it's got a great cast and excellent reviews.
60. Awestruck: AGOG.
64. Turn over: CEDE.
65. Comics canine: ODIE. Garfield's doggie chum - or nemesis?
66. None too worldly: NAÏVE.
67. Light tops: TEES.
68. Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves: RYNE. Baseball. Imaginatively (!) nicknamed "Ryno" he played second base for the Phillies and the Cubs before retiring in 1997.
69. Dental exam component: X-RAYS. One part of a dental exam that doesn't make me sweat. I'm not particularly fond of dentists, I was tortured as a small child by them and I've never forgiven nor forgotten. My current team are great though!
Down:
1. Sea greeting: AHOY!
2. Curse: BANE.
3. Textbook section: UNIT.
4. Where the wild things are: ZOO. Not really, they're not exactly wild if they're in a zoo? Maybe wild at being incarcerated.
5. Witty retort: ZINGER.
6. Landed: ALIT.
7. "Surf City" duo __ and Dean: JAN. Still a fun ditty from 1963. The lyrics might not exactly be PC nowadays.
8. Inner turmoil: ANGST.
9. Viewed anew: RE-SEEN. I suppose so. It took me a while to come up with an example of usage.
11. "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" singer: ANKA.
12. Put in the overhead bin: STOW.
13. Popped top: CORK. I've got one in my hand right now. My Home Happy Hour chardonnay from the Central Coast.
18. Prevailing power: REGIME.
23. Ages and ages: AEON.
25. Perform a long jump?: SKYDIVE. No thanks. The only time I'm jumping out of an airplane is if it's on fire and it's on the ground.
26. Puts on cargo: LADES. The next time I'm putting my groceries in my trunk, I'm going to remind myself that I'm "lading". Sounds both strenuous and posh.
27. Best possible: IDEAL.
28. Computer shortcut: MACRO. I'm getting used to my new MacBook, and what is lovely is that I don't have to remember "shortcuts" to type accented words - no CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-NUMLOCK-ALT-00085 or something for an umlaut. I can type "U" and hold down the key until a little menu pops up with my dicritical choices for the letter. Saves me a lot of time, especially here on the blog!
29. Word with cold or close: CALL. Do you like getting cold calls? I only ask because I dislike making them, but that's part of my job. My mission is not to intrude, bore or over-promise. If I do that, I've had some quite pleasant conversations.
31. Long-legged wading bird: STILT. That's new to me. STORK didn't fit. STILT? Quite nice-looking though. Learning moment.
32. Banks on a diamond: ERNIE. More baseball. Without baseball, crosswords would be struggling.
33. Oozes: SEEPS.
36. Tractor-trailer: SEMI.
40. Rent sharer: ROOMIE.
43. "Of course!": SURE!
47. Church leader: PASTOR.
49. Vocal cords locale: LARYNX.
51. Cram, say: STUDY. If you're cramming, it's too late, Chillax, take the grade and vow not to backslide on your studies next semester.
53. It's the truth: FACT. Mostly true.
54. S-shaped molding: OGEE. I had a flat on the ground floor of a Victorian house in London way back when. I could recite the interior wall components as I had to replace most of them - baseboards, base caps, panel moulds, chair rails, ogees; plinths aprons and casings and then picture rails and crown mouldings. The crown mouldings were tricky, they were wet plaster which you shaped with a template. Oh, and the ceiling rose around the central pendant light. I'm not sure how I survived that experience.
55. Connecting point: NODE.
56. __-Ball: SKEE.
57. Puccini piece: ARIA.
58. Deep blue: NAVY.
59. Gibbons and gorillas: APES.
62. __ Tin Tin: RIN.
63. __ movie: WAR.
And with that, I guess I'm out of time and out of clues to chat about. Here's the grid!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Irish Miss (Agnes) and I made today's Universal puzzle. You can solve it here. It's edited by David Steinberg.
17A. Jewelry to wear for a good cry?: ONION RINGS. The first time I tried making onion rings all the batter ended up in the pan and the rings came out bald. Not what I was looking for!
61A. Warm stole to wear on Thanksgiving?: TURKEY WRAP. All stoles are wraps, but not all wraps are stoles. That's fashion sense for you.
10D. Headgear to wear while truffle hunting?: MUSHROOM CAP. Is a truffle a mushroom? Nice clue though. Here's a truffle pig - if the pig finds a truffle, you have to be quick before he eats the whole thing. That's an expensive piggy-snack!
24D. Shoes to wear when driving a junky car?: LEMON WEDGES. There are a few "how to" videos on YouTube which detail how to cut citrus wedges. How can the video run for 80 seconds? Are they teaching you how to make a knife first? Incroyable. Cut lemon(lime) north-south. Cut wedges. Don't cut yourself. Rinse. Repeat. What was that, five seconds?
Today we have an across-and-down theme from Susan. Nice plays on words for the theme entries and all "in the language" and some fun in the fill too. Let's go look:
Across:
1. Noisy with activity: ABUZZ.
6. A bit cracked: AJAR.
10. Fem. counterpart: MASC.
14. Southeast Asian capital: HANOI. Vietnam's capital city. The Old Quarter is very colorful - and moped-friendly!
15. Place to bowl: LANE.
16. Golden rule word: UNTO.
19. Toffee bar with a crown in its logo: SKOR. Assuming that Hershey's meant that the name of the bar makes you think "Swedish" (especially with the crown) you'd have thought they'd have named it SKÖR, with the umlaut, as that means "brittle" in Swedish, a good name for a brittle toffee bar covered in chocolate. But they didn't - the named it SKOR, which means "shoes" in Swedish. So if you think Hershey's chocolate tastes like old shoes (and I do), then apparently the company agrees with you.
20. Thus far: YET.
21. Procure: GET.
22. CenturyLink Field NFLer: SEAHAWK. Wow, that's some formidable Caps/Lowercase/Caps/LowerCase/Caps clueing.
24. Support under the table?: LEG.
25. "I wouldn't __ you wrong": STEER.
26. Poem often starting with "There": LIMERICK.
"There once was a man from the sticks
Who loved to compose limericks.
But he failed at his sport,
They were always too short."
30. Lasso loops: NOOSES.
34. Sistine Chapel ceiling man: ADAM.
35. Giant Giant: MAYS.
37. __ Dame: NOTRE. It's sad looking at Notre Dame cathedral at the moment with no spire after the fire last year.
38. Like New York's Chrysler Building: DECO. I often stay at a hotel close to the Chrysler Building in Manhattan. Depending on the luck of the draw, I either get a view of the building looking south, or a generic view of Lexington Avenue looking north.
39. Church leader: ELDER.
41. Gold source: MINE.
42. Brings home: EARNS.
44. Extended ride?: LIMO.
45. "At the Movies" segment: CLIP.
46. Reduce speed: SLOW UP. You can slow down too, but you can't speed down, although you can speed up. What a confusing language we speak.
48. Breaks, as the law: VIOLATES.
50. Clear in class, maybe: ERASE. Mostly whiteboards now. When I was at school it was a dusty job to wipe off the chalkboard from the previous class, usually given to the kid who was last through the door. (Me).
52. Weather report backdrop: MAP.
53. Most loving: FONDEST.
56. Chivalrous title: SIR.
57. "Knives Out" actress __ de Armas: ANA. I should watch the movie, it's got a great cast and excellent reviews.
60. Awestruck: AGOG.
64. Turn over: CEDE.
65. Comics canine: ODIE. Garfield's doggie chum - or nemesis?
66. None too worldly: NAÏVE.
67. Light tops: TEES.
68. Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves: RYNE. Baseball. Imaginatively (!) nicknamed "Ryno" he played second base for the Phillies and the Cubs before retiring in 1997.
69. Dental exam component: X-RAYS. One part of a dental exam that doesn't make me sweat. I'm not particularly fond of dentists, I was tortured as a small child by them and I've never forgiven nor forgotten. My current team are great though!
Down:
1. Sea greeting: AHOY!
2. Curse: BANE.
3. Textbook section: UNIT.
4. Where the wild things are: ZOO. Not really, they're not exactly wild if they're in a zoo? Maybe wild at being incarcerated.
5. Witty retort: ZINGER.
6. Landed: ALIT.
7. "Surf City" duo __ and Dean: JAN. Still a fun ditty from 1963. The lyrics might not exactly be PC nowadays.
8. Inner turmoil: ANGST.
9. Viewed anew: RE-SEEN. I suppose so. It took me a while to come up with an example of usage.
11. "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" singer: ANKA.
12. Put in the overhead bin: STOW.
13. Popped top: CORK. I've got one in my hand right now. My Home Happy Hour chardonnay from the Central Coast.
18. Prevailing power: REGIME.
23. Ages and ages: AEON.
25. Perform a long jump?: SKYDIVE. No thanks. The only time I'm jumping out of an airplane is if it's on fire and it's on the ground.
26. Puts on cargo: LADES. The next time I'm putting my groceries in my trunk, I'm going to remind myself that I'm "lading". Sounds both strenuous and posh.
27. Best possible: IDEAL.
28. Computer shortcut: MACRO. I'm getting used to my new MacBook, and what is lovely is that I don't have to remember "shortcuts" to type accented words - no CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-NUMLOCK-ALT-00085 or something for an umlaut. I can type "U" and hold down the key until a little menu pops up with my dicritical choices for the letter. Saves me a lot of time, especially here on the blog!
29. Word with cold or close: CALL. Do you like getting cold calls? I only ask because I dislike making them, but that's part of my job. My mission is not to intrude, bore or over-promise. If I do that, I've had some quite pleasant conversations.
31. Long-legged wading bird: STILT. That's new to me. STORK didn't fit. STILT? Quite nice-looking though. Learning moment.
32. Banks on a diamond: ERNIE. More baseball. Without baseball, crosswords would be struggling.
33. Oozes: SEEPS.
36. Tractor-trailer: SEMI.
40. Rent sharer: ROOMIE.
43. "Of course!": SURE!
47. Church leader: PASTOR.
49. Vocal cords locale: LARYNX.
51. Cram, say: STUDY. If you're cramming, it's too late, Chillax, take the grade and vow not to backslide on your studies next semester.
53. It's the truth: FACT. Mostly true.
54. S-shaped molding: OGEE. I had a flat on the ground floor of a Victorian house in London way back when. I could recite the interior wall components as I had to replace most of them - baseboards, base caps, panel moulds, chair rails, ogees; plinths aprons and casings and then picture rails and crown mouldings. The crown mouldings were tricky, they were wet plaster which you shaped with a template. Oh, and the ceiling rose around the central pendant light. I'm not sure how I survived that experience.
55. Connecting point: NODE.
56. __-Ball: SKEE.
57. Puccini piece: ARIA.
58. Deep blue: NAVY.
59. Gibbons and gorillas: APES.
62. __ Tin Tin: RIN.
63. __ movie: WAR.
And with that, I guess I'm out of time and out of clues to chat about. Here's the grid!
Steve
Irish Miss (Agnes) and I made today's Universal puzzle. You can solve it here. It's edited by David Steinberg.
