19-Across = *Failed-delivery words: RETURN TO SENDER
And for the record, I am not nor never have been an Elvis Presley fan. But somehow after solving this clever puzzle (a collaboration between Alexander Liebeskind and Jeffrey Chen) and getting the ACTUAL reveal, an earworm of Elvis' hit single just wouldn't subside
So let's follow the other entry clues and see if we can get on the right path:
37-Across = *Arrives back at square one: COMES FULL CIRCLE.
53-Across = *Bamboozled ... and what the circled letters, when connected in the proper sequence, can be?: THROWN FOR A LOOP
As for the SECOND "theme", it's what the reveal shows when you connect all of the circled letters after following the clues. And if you're really good at Scrabble or Jumble or any other "letter-unscramble" game, you might have looked at the letters randomly and come up with it. But if you actually "follow" the circles using the clues, you see that the letters form the word: BOOMERANG! And while the shape of the circles isn't a perfect boomerang it's pretty close. And looking back on the "hints" it makes perfect sense. (BTW, if I were a betting man I'd have wagered that OMK saw this immediately!)
Now if your on-line or paper/printed version contained no circles this would be a difficult puzzle to solve.
And instead of an earworm this second theme word made me think of this:
When blogger's (C.C.'s) husband
Leaves her a message, Siri
Says that BOOMERANG
The grid:
Across:
1. Spec. for tires: PSI.
The Brit's bamboozled;
Thought he was rich when he saw
There're POUNDS per SQUARE INCH . . .
4. Alphabetical lunch: BLT. So is a PBJ, just FTR
7. Show stoppers: ADS. Margaret and I differ in how we view and absorb ADS when they interrupt our TV shows. I pretty much ignore them, but I do agree that they're a nuisance
10. PC component: CPU. Wait, WHAT? Three abbr.'s in a row to start this puzzle? Hmmm
13. Close to a delivery: IN LABOR. One of my favorite clues in this puzzle. Almost made me break my water . . .
15. Searches, like a pig does for truffles: ROOTLES. I thought the word for this was ROOTS. But after checking one of the on-line dictionaries I stand corrected
And for those who prefer a video to a cartoon:
17. Attending: GOING TO. Seems too formal a clue for this phrase. GOING TO the prom, e.g., should feel a bit different than just "attending"
18. Starts up again: REBOOTS.
NFL Video game's main pursuit21. Perfect spot: EDEN. A crossword staple
Is just to let every player compute
So it should come as no shock
When punt's about to be blocked
You can unplug and then let him REBOOT
22. Lease alternative: OWN. Consumer Reports has an article that compares leasing vs owning for new cars
23. Bond, say: ASSET. Not JAMES? Ohh, as in a Municipal Bond, e.g.
26. Home of Triple-A baseball's Rainiers: TACOMA. For the non-baseball fans here, "Triple-A" is the highest level for the "development" of players for Major League Baseball. Tacoma has a long baseball history and has been the playing venue for many recognized baseball stars. From Wikipedia: The team (TACOMA Rainiers) became associated with the nearby Seattle Mariners in 1995, whose Triple-A team for the previous ten seasons had been the Calgary Cannons. Tacoma adopted the Rainiers name in part as a tribute to the Seattle Rainiers minor league teams that played in Seattle from 1938 to 1964 in the Pacific Coast League, and again from 1972 to 1976 in the Northwest League (NWL). The Tacoma Rainiers play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which hosted the baseball portion of the 1990 Goodwill Games. The Mariners' T-Mobile Park is about thirty miles (50 km) to the north.
Since their affiliation began with the Mariners in 1995, nearly all of the organization's home-grown prospects have passed through Tacoma, including Alex Rodriguez, Raul Ibanez, Felix Hernandez, J.J. Putz, Kyle Seager, Ken Griffey, Jr. (on rehab assignments), and more.
32. Order to leave: SCAT. Could you use this same "order" to Ella Fitzgerald when asking her to stay?
35. Eyeroll inducer, perhaps, briefly: PDA. "Public Display of Affection". Margaret and Moe
36. Not seen as much: RARER. It's RARER to see my hair now that I've decided to go totally bald
41. Worship: ADORE. I did a double-take when I first read this clue as I thought it said "Warship"!
42. Dubai's fed.: UAE. Fed. meaning "federation". United Arab Emirites
43. Information: DATA. Is TMI (too much information) DATA overload?
44. Diddles (around): MESSES. Hmm. We had "diddles" as a clue and "ROOTLES" as a word entry. I guess what goes around comes around (!)
46. __ opposite: POLAR. Named for the North and South POLES I would imagine. Despite my privilege of being "spam-immune" as a blogger, I will NOT bring up politics with this phrase. But maybe a cartoon instead?
48. Granola bit: OAT. Dunno why I penciled in ORT before OAT . . .
50. Folk tail?: LORE. Another great clue. Tail and tale are homophones, but in this context the word LORE can truly fit as it is the "tail" end of FOLKLORE
60. Incredulous response to an unexpected revelation: YOU WHAT?!.
61. Oxford campus: OLE MISS. When Margaret and I went on our cross-country road trip earlier this summer we stopped for a visit to this author's residence. OLE MISS is about the only "game in town" in this bucolic setting that is Oxford MS
63. Blow off some steam, maybe?: POLLUTE. As I was matriculating at the University of Pittsburgh, this was the image you got. Now that the steel mills no longer populate the city, the POLLUTE rate has gone way down
64. Many a door opening: KEY SLOT. Learning moment for me. I always thought it was called a KEY HOLE
65. Neruda wrote one to "things": ODE. So even if you didn't know who Pablo Neruda was, the clue is very helpful. Most ODEs are written "to" a thing, as in ODE to a Grecian Urn
66. Many a golfer's aim: PAR. A CSO to Husker Gary, TTP, Boomer, WC, et al. PAR is the "normal" score to shoot on any given hole on a golf course. The basis for this is the sum of how many shots you're expected to hit to reach the green (aka, putting surface) plus two putts. For an "average" golfer, a hole that measures 581 yards in length (a PAR 5) might require the use of a Driver, a Three Wood (now called a "metal"), and some iron club (4-Wedge) to reach the green. But if your name is Bryson DeChambeau, and you're able to hit a Driver 417 yards and cut the corner of the hole, you reduce this to a PAR 4. Open the link and you'll see how he managed to stun even his peers at the 5th hole at Whistling Straights during the Ryder Cup matches
67. Naval initials: USS. A CSO to Spitzboov (as well as any others who served in the Navy); The letters USS, or U.S.S., are short for UNITED STATES SHIP
68. 46-yr.-old satire: SNL. Short for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. A brief history is embedded below
Down:
1. Wilbur of "Charlotte's Web," e.g.: PIG. I wonder if Wilbur the PIG was able to spare himself from slaughter because of his ability to ROOTLE for truffles?
2. It might keep you up: SNORE. Not I. A CPAP is great for both the user and the partner!
3. "Fine, you got me": I LIED. I am a believer that it is often better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission
4. Many air rifles: BB GUNS. Jean Shepherd wrote 'A Christmas Story' and the main protagonist, Ralphie, coveted a Red Ryder BB GUN from Santa
5. Trilogy with hobbits: Abbr.: LOTR. Another abbr.? Lord Of The Rings
6. 1982 sci-fi film set in a computer: TRON. This seems pretty lame when you consider how far computer technology has progressed over the past four decades
7. Common keyboard symbol: ARROW. Yup, they're "flying" everywhere!
8. "It __ add up": DOESN'T. You could've fooled me!
9. Iced tea brand named for a Florida neighborhood: SOBE. SOuth BEach. This:
10. Lump: CLOD. Two definitions found. Wonder about synonyms? The Thesaurusaurus makes his cameo appearance
11. Best on drums: PETE. I got this little word play immediately. PETE Best was The Beatles drummer from 1960-1962. Some guy named RINGO took over. I guess he's better than Best?
12. Cold War initials: USSR. Short for UNITED STATES SHIP REPAIR. Ok, I just made that up!
14. Predators named for their prey: ANTEATERS. Another clever clue. ANTEATERS also eat termites, in case you thought they were monophagous
16. Overwhelming homework amount: TON. How come we never see the word "HYPERBOLE" in crossword puzzles? Or is it only reserved for clues?
20. Equal, as a sum: TOTAL UP TO. 8-Down clearly says that it DOESN'T!
24. Beach lotion meas.: SPF. SPF stands for 'sun protection factor' and the 50 in SPF50 refers to the amount of protection the sun screen offers compared to unprotected skin. ... For example, when applied correctly, SPF30+ allows 3.3% of UVB rays to reach your skin while SPF 50+ allows only 2% to reach your skin
25. School URL ending: EDU. Here is a link to my daughter, the professor, at music dot uga dot edu
27. NFL's Cardinals, on scoreboards: ARI. Six and Oh, baby! I'm a Steeler fan at heart, so of course I loved watching the Cards knock off the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday! I've officially jumped on the ARIzona Cardinals "bandwagon". Of course there are probably less than 1% of you reading this who could care less!! ;^)
28. Bridge locales: CARDROOMS. I first put CARD TABLE but realized that the clue was plural; and therefore the answer should be, too. Oh, and CARDROOMS is one word, not two
29. Penguin predator: ORCA. The JETS and WILD also fit. Wonder who might "get" what Moe is referring to? Look at 27-Across for a hint . . .
30. Tuna __: MELT. A diner staple. Believe it or not I have never ordered one. Tuna Salad sandwich yes; Tuna MELT, no
31. Geometry figure: AREA. Here are a few "formulas" for calculating AREA, geometrically
32. Bit of trickery: SCAM. My iPhone (through T-Mobile) is set up to silence any call that appears to be "SCAM likely". I like that. But it's been awhile since a Moe-ku; and here's a different "take":
Engineer likes shrimp.
When he learned how to catch prawns
Did he just SCAMPI?
33. JavaScript lines, say: CODE. I may be the least geeky of our bloggers. But I knew this answer without hesitation. Though I'll be damned if I know why! For geeks or non-geeks
34. "Famous" cookie guy: AMOS.
38. "Get the picture?": SEE. Yes
39. Asian language: LAO. Just a snippet
40. Road Runner frame: CEL. Too easy for a Friday. Enjoy Wile E Coyote, sans Road Runner
45. Beethoven's "Waldstein," e.g.: SONATA.
47. Where to see strikes but not strikeouts: ALLEYS. Another CSO to our "themer" du jour BOOMER! Hoping that he is getting his share of strikes at one of his favorite Bowling ALLEYS
49. Subsequently: AFTER. But of course!
51. Stirs up: ROILS. ROILS the Royals
52. One of three companies in the Seiko Group: EPSON. The others?
53. This clue has on: TYPO. This is another VERY CLEVER clue! It most certainly does have a TYPO. I see one, do ewe?
54. Rain protection: HOOD. Not a rain protector, but I thought this "HOOD" cartoon was clever:
55. "No shirt, no shoes, no service," e.g.: RULE. "No politics, no religion and no personal attacks. Please limit your posts to FIVE per day." That's the RULE here
56. Symbol of wisdom: OWL. Not sure that I was too "wise" when I began smoking these instead of cigarettes. I don't do White OWL anymore but I do enjoy a stogie now and again . . .
57. Demolish: WHUP. Only in Jumanji!
58. Amazon Fire TV Stick alternative: ROKU. It's been 2-1/2 years since I "pulled the plug". No cable, no dish; just my little ROKU streaming device. Love it!
59. Brew choices: ALES. They're my favorite "brewski"
62. MLB's Cardinals, on scoreboards: STL. Only in Major League sports can a team get to the playoffs - as did the STL Cardinals this year - and still find reason to fire their manager
And with that, I am OUT! See you NEXT Friday, too, as Lemony and I will then be back on schedule. Cheers!
