Hi, Cornerites, Chairman Moe here. Honest to God, this puzzle sure was a pHun way to start a pHriday! And what a pleasure for yours truly to blog a Mark McClain puzzle, as his clever use of several "f" sounding words that start with the letters "pH" were inserted into a number (in this case, four) of "pHamiliar frases" [sic]. And while at pHirst I had this acidic taste in my mouth, once I got down to the base-ics I soon understood and realized the reveal: 35-Across. Chemistry class measurement (it's 5 for this puzzle's grid): pH NUMBER, and the whole chore was just "mildly" acidic! Kind of like the Black Coffee I drank whilst creating my blog ...
Mark and I briepHly chatted via e-mail regarding his puzzle. He had some interesting comments and shared how this went through a couple of iterations bepHore the pHinal grid. I kinda liked this version despite having a bit of trouble. But that just goes to show how dipHpHicult it is to construct a crossword puzzle. I am very happy that Mark has helped me along my new journey as a constructor ... but I digress ... let's pHind out how this whole thing came together!
16-Across. Analytical diagrams of Tuesday rush hour traffic in Paris?:
MARDI GRAPHS. MARDI is the French word for "Tuesday"; GRAPHS are
analytical diagrams; MARDI GRAS is also known as "Fat Tuesday" or a
celebration held the day before Ash Wednesday - last chance to "let your hair
down" before the season of Lent
30-Across. Deli favorite with a floral garnish?: BAGEL AND PHLOX. BAGEL
and LOX: LOX is a fillet of brined salmon, frequently served on a BAGEL with
cream cheese, and often garnished with tomato, sliced onion, capers, and fresh
dill. PHLOX are perennials and are a favorite choice of gardeners, ranging
from ground cover blooming in early spring to the tall plants which bloom from
mid- to late summer
Which of course reminded me of a Moe-Ku:
Biblical shepherds
Started gardening. Now they
Watch their PHLOX by night ...
38-Across. Rodent that's a Broadway star?: THEATER GOPHER. THEATER GOER is literally someone who "goes to the theater"! And a GOPHER is a pretty cute rodent. And one who had a supporting role in one of my pHavorite golpH movies:
58-Across. Mobile device for the unhip?: SQUARE PHONE. Maybe my least pHavorite, but it pHits. "SQUARE" ONE is slang for a person who is conventional and old-fashioned. This sense of the word "square" originated with the American jazz community; as opposed to SQUARE "ONE" which is the initial stage or starting point. SQUARE PHONE(s) actually DO exist, un-beknownst to this blogger until he googled it ...
But my pHavorite use of the words "hip" and "SQUARE" are found in the lyrics of this old classic:
Here is the grid:
On to the other clues and answers ...
Across:
1. Scrape remnant: SCAB. This would either be a SCAB or a SCAR ... I
guessed wrong but the perps corrected it later on
5. Get off topic: STRAY. This could've been clued as: "a wandering
dog". But I shouldn't STRAY from my appointed task. Maybe
ST-RAY-O-Sunshine will have something to add ...
10. Hurly-burly: ADO. Our "thesaurussaurus" doesn't include "ADO" but
it certainly means all that
13. Natural feeling: URGE. Has anyone really had an URGE to blog these puzzles?!
14. Sharing word: A PIECE. Google says this about that: "When you mean
“each” the expression is “apiece”: these pizzas are really cheap — only ten
dollars apiece.” But when “piece” actually refers to a piece of something, the
required two-word expression is “a piece ”: “This pizza is really expensive;
can we share A PIECE?”
15. Like the top stripe of a pride flag: RED. Pride Month is this June.
Universal Crossword is going to dedicate the month of June to crossword
constructors who identify as either LBGTQ. I think this is a great idea.
18. "I've heard enough, thanks": TMI. Text speak; or what my kids say
when their Dad (me) gets a bit too descriptive about one of his ailments, et
al
19. Amazed feeling: AWE. And the root word for this: (hopefully, what
the puzzles and blogs are!)
20. Apt rhyme for "sincerely": DEARLY. Found at the close of a letter,
perhaps? I think "sincerely" a bit too formal, and "DEARLY" a bit too
personal. I almost always use "kind regards" . . . you?
21. Port SSE of Sana'a: ADEN. Accoring to Wikipedia dot com, ADEN is a
city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern
approach to the Red Sea. Sana'a is landlocked - see map
22. Sports shoe feature: CLEAT. CLEAT refers to the "gripping" feature on the outer sole of a football shoe, e.g. Sometimes CLEATs are swapped out depending on the surface of the playing field, and/or the weather conditions
24. "Hurrah!": YAY. I finished today's puzzle. YAY!!
25. Code opener: AREA. The three digit numeric "code". Click
here
for detail, if you're so inclined. AREA codes were introduced way back in 1947
but weren't universally used until the 1960's/1970's. Does anyone recall their
first telephone number as a kid? Mine was 2-8696 (only 5 digits) and was
bereft of an AREA code. Once the code was accepted (in PA) our new number was
(717) 854-8696 ...
26. SoCal team: LAD. Los Angeles Dodgers, the
reigning MLB World Series champs
28. One of two tarot card groups: ARCANA. Learning "MOE-ment"; ARCANA,
as a plural noun, means "secrets or mysteries". In occult practices, the Major
ARCANA are the trump cards of a tarot pack. There are usually 21 such cards in
a standard 77-card pack. Of the three shown below, I am clearly "The Fool"!!
34. 30-day mo.: APR. Thirty days hath APRil, June, and September. All
the others have 31, except February which has 28 (or 29, during a leap
year)
36. N.J. town across from northern Manhattan: FT. LEE. Fort Lee was
named for General Charles Lee after George Washington and his troops had
camped at Mount Constitution overlooking Burdett's Landing, in defense of New
York City.
37. "... __ he drove out of sight": Moore: ERE. Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was a writer and American Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature, as well as Divinity and Biblical Learning, at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City. He anonymously wrote and published "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823, and its story is still told to wondering children at Christmastime
43. Charm: ENAMOR. "To be filled with a feeling of love for" ... when I
saw the clue I at first pencilled in AMULET, which is also defined as "a
charm"
44. Take advantage of: TAP. Many synonyms for this word "TAP". I prefer
this image, but the thesaurussaurus includes many others
45. Japanese noodle: UDON. Wikipedia dot com describes "UDON" as: "a
thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort
food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and
served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as kake UDON with a mild broth
called kakejiru made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. Sounds delightful!
46. Leaves for dim sum: TEA. Dim sum is a large range of small dishes
that Cantonese people traditionally enjoy in restaurants for breakfast and
lunch. And I am guessing that the beverage of choice would be TEA
49. Easy to pick up: LIGHT. As opposed to something that is difficult
to pick up (HEAVY)
53. Rascals: IMPS. Were these "Rascals" IMPS?
54. Come in: ARRIVE. Not the answer to when someone says "come in";
it's what you literally do (ARRIVE) when you come in (as a flight to an
airport, e.g.)
56. Blintz topping: ROE. BAGEL and LOX and now blintz with ROE? Oy,
vey! A blintz is a type of crepe and is often topped with ROE (fish
eggs/caviar). Any of our Jewish Cornerites care to add?
57. Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy org.: NBA. National
Basketball Association; Larry O'Brien was the Commissioner of
the NBA from 1975 - 1984; prior to that he was a Postmaster General in the
Johnson administration. The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the
championship trophy awarded annually by the National Basketball Association
(NBA) to the winner of the NBA Finals. The name of the trophy was the Walter
A. Brown Trophy until 1984. Wikipedia dot com
60. Swampy spot: FEN. Our Boston baseball fans will know that John
Taylor claimed the name FENway Park came from its location in the Fenway
neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth
century by filling in marshland or "fens", to create the Back Bay Fens urban
park. However, given that Taylor's family also owned the Fenway Realty
Company, the promotional value of the naming at the time has been cited as
well
61. Get-go: OUTSET. OUTSET, as in from the "get-go", or beginning
62. "Cupcake Wars" fixture: OVEN. "Cupcake Wars" is a Food Network show
that features a "bake-off" among noted cupcake/dessert chefs. I know that they
need an OVEN to produce these delights, but would it actually look like this?
63. Some replacement sites, for short: OR'S. Cute clue; Mark, yours or
Rich's? Operating RoomS, as in a hospital where you might
actually "KNEED" something replaced
64. Greeted wordlessly: WAVED. "NODS" didn't fit. Hi, y'all!
65. Forms a union: WEDS. As opposed to the abbr for WEDneSday
Down:
1. Shrub often toxic: SUMAC. And at times, we see this reference to
SUMAC in crossword puzzles: Yma Sumac, born September, 1922 – died November 1,
2008) was a Peruvian coloratura soprano. Here is a little clip from YouTube
2. Pub __: CRAWL. We old folks take Uber ...
3. Feel the same way: AGREE. I don't know how you all feel about the music embedded below; maybe we can AGREE to disagree ...
4. Board companion: BED. Hmm. Maybe I am missing this clue's meaning .
. . Room and Board, yes; BED and board? Anyone care to chirp in here and help
C-Moe??
5. Mist: SPRAY. STRAY and SPRAY in the same puzzle ... Moe-Ku 2:
I saw a rainbow
Onboard the Maid of the Mist
A SPRAY o Sunshine?
6. Headwear for kid-lit's Fancy Nancy: TIARA. Maybe if I had a granddaughter I would've known this. But Google saved the day for me
7. Comeback: REPLY. ECHO didn't fit ...
8. In some pain: ACHY. "Don't tell my heart, my ACHY breaky heart ..." sing it, Billy Ray ... line dance, anyone??
9. "I'd be glad to": YES.
10. Buyer and seller of oils: ART DEALER. The plural in oils gave this one away
But I wonder ... for this puzzle's theme ... had it been clued as
"Buyer and seller of gas", would the answer have been
pHART DEALER?
11. Conduct: DEMEANOR. Demeanor suggests a general tendency, whether
good or bad, of ones outward behavior. How would you all describe MY
demeanor??!
12. Frigga's husband: ODIN. ODIN (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (Rene Russo, I think) in Thor (Marvel Series)
14. Notable period: AGE. ERA fit, too. I would have personally
preferred a clue such as: "what good wines do well"
17. Luggage attachment: I.D. TAG. How to I.D. your luggage at the
airport baggage carousel? Use this TAG, perhaps?
21. Aqueduct support: ARCH. At first glance, I had this in mind, but neither BETTOR nor HORSE fit:
23. __ mode: ALA. Does anyone order pie ALA mode anymore? Curious ... are you hungry now??!
25. Strasbourg-born Dadaist: ARP. Hans Peter Wilhelm ARP (aka, Jean)
was a Dadaist-abstract painter born in Straßburg, Germany (Alsace-Lorraine) in
September 1886 and died in Basel Switzerland in June of 1966. In 1886, in what
is now known as Strasbourg, the German Empire controlled this land area west
of the Rhine River. The French regained the control of the region after WWI.
ARP was fluent in both German and French, and when he spoke German he referred
to himself as Hans; when speaking French, his moniker was Jean, as French law
required that he use a name more common in France. All of this and a whole lot
more is available at several Google sources, including Wikipedia dot com
27. Schedule for later: DEFER. Google dictionary defines it as: Source;
late Middle English (also in the sense ‘put on one side’): from Old French
differer ‘defer or differ’, from Latin differre, from dis- ‘apart’ + ferre
‘bring, carry’. I will leave the puns for Ray-O, et al
28. More than competent: ADEPT. Skillful. Is anyone who's able to leap
tall buildings in a single bound, ADEPT?
29. Tool in the Portland Timbers' logo: AXE. The Portland Timbers are an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. Their logo is shown below. A pHriday clue, for sure. Quick, can anyone name one of their star players?
30. Bakery containers: BREAD PANS. not BED PANS. Although I suppose you
could use a BREAD PAN if you had to "pinch a loaf" ... oh, I'm gonna catch
some $**t for that comment!!
31. Copier tray abbr.: LTR. As in LeTteR sized.
8-1/2" x 11" is the common LTR size
32. Eighth-grade subj., often: ALG. ALGebra in 8th grade? Not
when I was going to school. GEOmetry, maybe. ALGebra seemed to hit us around
9th grade. In its simplest form ALGebra uses symbols to represent numbers in
an equation. For example, x + 2 = 5; where "x" is the unknown. Trust
me, it gets MUCH harder than that!!
33. Modernist: NEO. NEO (prefix) from the Greek "neos", meaning new,
young, fresh, modern
34. Enjoyed a lot, with "up": ATE. I almost just let this one go with
no comment; but I 'googled' the phrase ATE UP, and saw some videos attached to
this "search" that were, well, not ones even I would choose. Learning moment,
though, and perhaps as the crossword puzzle lexicon grows we will also see new
acronyms I found; e.g., AUATC (ATE UP All Their Cake) and PDLIF (Please Don't
Live In Fear)
39. Book after Joel: AMOS. Old Testament I believe
40. It may be gross: TON. I tried to fit MOE in here - or even "MOI" -
but the perps wouldn't allow it. Oh, I get it; "gross" as in a number or
amount. A TON (2,000#) could be the "gross" weight allowed, e.g.
41. Simona who won Wimbledon in 2019: HALEP. I'm not a huge tennis fan.
Had to actually look this one up. Simona HALEP, age 29, is a
Romanian professional tennis player
42. Prefix with Pen: EPI. EPI-Pen is the brand name of an
auto-injectable device that delivers the drug epinephrine. It is a life-saving
medication used when someone is experiencing a severe allergic reaction, known
as anaphylaxis. EPIPen is just one of the brand names of devices known
generically as Epinephrine Auto-Injectors.
46. Channel for reality show fans: TruTV. Didn't we just have TRU on
Wednesday?
TruTV is an American basic cable channel owned by WarnerMedia under its Studios and Networks unit. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focused on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal dramas, and coverage of prominent criminal cases. I don't think Judge Wapner's show ran on this network . . .
47. Backspace over: ERASE. My "backspace" key is worn down to a nub now
that I am involved on this blog ...
48. Broadcast: AIRED. "The People's Court" (current version) is AIRED
via syndication and picked up by our local CBS network station KPHO. It is
available to watch on weekdays at 3:00 local time.
Here is a list of all of the cities AIRing this show.
Scroll up or down to find your city/state
50. Trees of a kind, often: GROVE. A GROVE is a small group of trees
with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia GROVE, or a small orchard
planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts
51. Improved: HONED. According to ESL dot com, HONED can be a synonym
for IMPROVED
52. Typical winter highs at the summit of Mt. Washington: TEENS. Mount
Washington is located in N Central New Hampshire, and rises to a summit peak
of 6,288'. There is a
Weather Observatory here, and as I was typing the blog, the temperature at the summit was 10 deg F,
with a wind chill of -15! Brr. Hoping our friend Picard has some photos
floating around the Internet he can share with us
53. Facts and figures: INFO. I didn't check the OED, but I am guessing
that INFO is an accepted word and not the abbreviation for INFOrmation
54. Teal relative: AQUA. Weird things surface when you google the words
AQUA Velva. Since when did they start making a cocktail from after shave? And
I wonder if this drink is popular at Aqueduct?
55. Nov. honoree: VET. A word which as a noun can be defined as an
abbr. for an animal doctor or a retired/discharged member of the military
services. As a verb it means to make a careful and critical examination of a
person or thing
58. Barnyard mom: SOW. MARE didn't fit but COW did. Has anyone else
noticed the plethora of 3-letter words in today's puzzle?
59. Method: HOW. Rhymes with 58-Down
OK, I'm done. Did this one pass the litmus test?
