Thursday, January 27, 2022, Bruce Venzke

A word ladder puzzle starts with a word at the bottom of the ladder and ends with a word at the top.  Or, in this case, vice versa.  You must form a sequence of words (a word ladder).  On every rung of the ladder you must place a new word that only differs from the previous word by a single letter. 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's puzzle by Bruce Venzke.  The Xwordinfo site lists nineteen puzzles attributed to him and he had an LAT puzzle reviewed here on January 3rd of this recently-commenced year.  Boomer refers to him as "the legend" and today's word ladder construction does not diminish his reputation in any manner.

A couple of preliminary thoughts:  GOAT is old-time slang for the person who messes up and thereby costs the team a win.  These days, though, it also has another, almost opposite meaning as the acronym for Greatest Of All Time.  Of course it can also mean, well, a goat.  This might have been a bit confusing theme-wise if, as I did, you solved 17 Across first among the #'ed clues having, at that point, no idea of where this was all headed.  Also confusing is the fact that, other than that they are all "marked" with the # sign (suggesting that they are related to each other in some way) there are no clues for the answers on the eight rungs of the ladder.   We are forced to "perp" one or more of those answers and then we must also recognize what it going on - i.e. that we are in the midst of solving a Word Ladder Puzzle.  Those unfamiliar with this type of construction may have felt like our friends above . . . or below.  Here are the steps on the ladder:

17 Across:  #1: GOAT  Commence at rung #1

20 Across:  #2: GOAD  Change the T to a D

26 Across:  #3: LOAD  Change the G to an L

30 Across:  #4: LORD  Change the A to an R

44 Across:  #5: LARD  Change the O to an A

51 Across:  #6: HARD  Change the L to an H

55 Across:  #7: HERD  Change the A to an E

58 Across:  #8: HERO  Change the D to an O, et voila! You've gone from being a GOAT to being a HERO in eight easy steps

The "reveal" comes at 36 Across:  What takes place in eight puzzle answers when read in sequence: CHANGE OF FORTUNE.

Here is how it appears in the grid:

The placement of the eight "rungs" within two sets of successive rows, both spanning the width of the puzzle, is quite impressive.

. . . and now for the rest of the story:

Across:

1. "The Divine Comedy," e.g.: EPIC.  In the traditional sense.

5. Bubbly brand: ASTI.   Franciacorta  è superiore.  How does a manatee know this, I hear you ask?  Our resident sommelier.

9. They're not gentlemen: CADS.  The etymology of CADS is a bit complicated.

13. Robusto! sauce maker: RAGU.

14. Letter on a dreidel: SHIN.  There are four letters on a dreidel.  Nun, Gimel, Hey and SHIN.  They are the first letters of  the Hebrew words Ness Gadol Hayah Sham which translates as A Great Miracle Happened There.

15. Archaeological site: RUINS.

Agrigento, Sicily Photo by MM

18. Continues despite hardship: SOLDIERS ON.  Idiomatic.

22. Common lot size: ONE ACRE. 1/640 of a square mile.

23. Go up: ASCEND.

27. __ & Perrins: Worcestershire sauce brand: LEA.

28. Terse memo from the boss: SEE ME.  We have seen this one before.

29. What Phobos orbits: MARS.  Our name for the the larger, and innermost, of the two natural satellites of MARS although the locals likely have a different name for it.

31. UFO passengers: ETS.  Unidentified Flying Objects are supposedly occupied by Extra TerrestrialS.  Perhaps they come from MARS.

32. Billiards backspin: DRAW.  Jargon.

34. School auxiliaries, for short: PTAS.  "For short" suggests abbrv.

41. Some reddish deer: ROES.  Roe, a deer, a reddish deer.

42. Like granola bars: OATY.  Not ricey or wheaty.

43. Hot __: ROD.

Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen - 1974

46. What many leaves do in autumn: TURN.  This muddled marine mammal first tried to make things work with FALL (which seemed like a nice bit of word play when paired with Autumn).

48. Part of la famille: FRERE.  Today's French lesson.  Brother.

50. Bonding and binding words: I DO.  For those into bondage, I suppose.

52. Wears out: DOES IN.  If a female deer strays is that a DOE SIN?

53. Ones who belong: MEMBERS.

56. Spies: OPERATIVES.

62. Barbershop accessory: STROP.

The Barber on the Left Is Stropping a Straight Razor

63. Final critical moment: NICK.  In the NICK of time.  From the Latin nictare.  To wink.

64. Jump that's often a triple: AXEL.  Not to be confused with AXLE.

Midori Ito - 1992

65. Farm females: SOWS.  Often, EWES.  Sometimes HENS.

66. Comic book shrieks: EEKS.  Not to be confused with EKES.

67. Take care of: TEND.

Down:

1. Bit of work: ERG.  Equal to the work done by a force of one dyne acting through a distance of one centimetre.  Got it?

2. Kung __ chicken: PAO.

3. Market chain with a red oval logo: IGA.

4. Jewelry piece that's been cleaved or shaped: CUT GEM.  A bit of a punt.

5. Long-time Syrian president: ASSAD.  First Hafez al-Asaad and then Bashar al-Assad.  Like father like son.

6. Wearing wingtips, say: SHOD.  Not a bird reference.

7. Up to, in ads: TIL.  UnTIL

8. Like some pools: INDOOR.  This could have several answers.  Thanks, perps.

9. Belief: CREED.

10. Subtle glow: AURA.

11. Real estate transaction requirements: DISCLOSURES.

12. One might keep you up: SNORER.   A snoring person might keep you awake.

16. Golf's Slammin' Sammy: SNEAD.  Decades ago someone came up with the idea to resolve all of the strife in the Middle East by holding a winner-take-all golf tournament.  One of the countries decided to cheat and imported Slammin' Sammy to play for them under the alias of Sheikh SNEAD.  Afterwards, when asked to explain his disappointing second place finish, Sheikh Snead replied "I just could not beat Rabbi Palmer."

19. Behind the eight ball: IN A SPOT.  Idiomatic.

21. Tense: ON EDGE.  Idiomatic.

23. "Wait __!": A SEC.  Wait!  Wait!  Don't tell Me!

24. Green of Austin Powers films: SETH.  #1 of four proper nouns in a row (the first three are actors).

25. He was The Joker on TV's "Batman": CESAR ROMERO.  #2

26. London-born Rat Packer: LAWFORD.  #3

29. Chinese chairman: MAO.  #4  Not to be confused with our own Chairman Moe.

30. Map line: Abbr.: LAT.  LATitude

33. Remedy for a freeze: RESTART.  A computer reference.  The technique would not be applicable here:

Elk Avenue, Crested Butte, Colorado

35. Attempt to get: TRY FOR.

37. Doze: NOD.  This mindless marine mammal first tried to make NAP work.

38. Devotee: FAN.

39. Negative words of agreement?: NOR I.  What to reply when asked if  you, also, do not want some dried edible seaweed.

40. Biblical plot: EDEN.  Ah, a parcel of land rather than a conspiracy.

44. Long rides?: LIMOS.  Nice word play.

45. Masters: ADEPTS.  Noun or verb?  Noun.

47. Bearish: URSINE.  Tautological.

49. Cardinal's headgear: RED HAT.  Not a reference to the College of Cardinals.  Or, perhaps, it is.

St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Cap

51. A lot more than a little: HEAPS.  Slang.

52. Classroom furniture: DESKS.

54. Sweat spot: BROW.   "By the sweat of your brow you will produce food to eat . . ."  Genesis 3:19  

55. "Dang!": HECK.  DRAT  DARN  RATS  DAMN (or a couple of omissions)

57. Compete: VIE.  Solver:  "What's a three-letter word for compete?"  Dracula:  "VIE"  Solver:  "It's for a crossword."

59. Application file suffix: EXE.  Another computer reference.

60. Cartoon canine: REN.

61. Overdone: OLD.  Used too often.  Like OREO?

__________________________________________