Good morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap. It will be somewhat briefer than usual as as Valerie and I have been at Bass Lake (near Yosemite) this week with my grandchildren, a few good friends, and their grandchildren.
Our constructor today is Karen Lurie, or perhaps Karen Urie (see below). Karen has had several puzzles previously reviewed here, most recently less than two weeks ago on July 5th.
Let's start with the reveal:
51. "Oh, admit defeat already!," and advice that was followed to form the answers to the starred clues: JUST TAKE THE L. Just take the LOSS. Or, as applied in the grid, remove the letter L from the start of three common phrases. The results are three odd, but not nonsensical, phrases with entirely different meanings from the originals.
These are the starred clues and answers:
20. *Research on the ampersand?: AND MARK STUDY. A Landmark Study is an important and influential report on a topic of interest. An ampersand is this mark: &. We use it to symbolize the word AND. If you research the & symbol then you have have done an AND MARK STUDY.
31. *Ambien, for one?: AID TO REST. The common expression is Laid To Rest. From its funerary roots, the expression Laid To Rest is more often used to indicate that a situation has been resolved as in: At the end of this recap I hope to have Laid To Rest any lingering questions about the clues and answers. Ambien, of course, is a sleep medicine and, therefore an AID TO REST.
44. *Folds?: ENDS A HAND. Lends A Hand is pretty self-explanatory. Here, the clue is a poker reference. To Fold is to drop out of the betting at which point you have forfeited any money that you have previously bet on the poker hand.
Here is what this all looks like in the grid:
. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Karate match exchanges: BOWS. Exchanging BLOWS would not fit.
5. Exams for coll. credit: APS. A pluralization of the Advanced Placement exam. Meh.
8. Hydro __: bottle brand: FLASK.
13. Perfect copy: EDIT. Perfect, in this case is used as a verb (with the accent on the second syllable). A perfect (adjective) copy could be a clone.
14. __-portrait: SELF.
16. Otherworldly: EERIE. Things often get EERIE in our puzzles due to the word's high vowel content.
17. Wee: TINY. Recently, we have seen oh so many instances of EENSY, TEENSY, WEENSY, ITTY, ITSY BITSY and the like.
18. "Quite so": TRUE.
19. Without exception: EVERY.
23. Brief "If you ask me (and even if you didn't)": IMO. In My Opinion.
24. Current: HIP. Neither an electrical nor a hydraulic reference.
25. Rapper Lil __ X: NAS. He appears often.
28. Wan: ASHEN.
34. Brazilian city: RIO. RIO de Janeiro
35. Otherwise: ELSE.
37. World Heritage Site org.: UNESCO.
38. School units: CLASSES. CREDITS was a pretty good, but incorrect, first thought.
40. Chest of drawers: DRESSER. What did the Ikea DRESSER say to the aliens after landing on their planet? "I come in pieces."
41. Valiant: HEROIC.
42. Sound like a pig: OINK.
43. Press coverage: INK. A now somewhat outdated colloquialism as newspapers continue to lose subscribers.
46. Must-haves: NEEDS.
48. Shares again, on Twitter: RTS. ReTweetS? Meh.
49. Energy Star certifying org.: EPA.
50. Tammy Duckworth's title, briefly: SEN. SENator. Democrat from Illinois.
60. Fallon's predecessor: LENO. Hosts of "The Tonight Show"
Jimmy Fallon and Jay LENO
61. Tire swing holder: ROPE. TREE would have fit and the E would have worked.
62. Peabody, e.g.: AWARD. The Peabody is an AWARD given for excellence in radio broadcasting. The Sherman in an entirely different matter.
63. Shoots the breeze: YAKS. Also, large, hairy animals.
64. Continent with 11 time zones: ASIA.
65. Insurance spokeslizard: GECKO.
66. Root word?: RAH. To root, as in to cheer for a team.
67. "To Kill a Mockingbird" star: PECK. Gregory.
Down:
1. Pre-release software version: BETA.
2. Asgard god: ODIN. As I am sure that I have mentioned before, I first learned of ODIN and Loki and Thor from reading Marevel comic books as a child.
3. Leaf blower: WIND. A bit of misdirection if one first thought of those noisy, but water saving, devices. Also, the output of those devices.
4. Buffalo: STYMIE. Not used as the animal but, rather, as the verb.
5. Intro to physics?: ASTRO. Often clued with reference to the Houston, TX baseball team.*
6. Fringe benefit: PERK. Short, and intentionally misspelled, slang for perquisite.
7. Frozen drink: SLUSHIE.
8. Nurture: FEED.
9. "Schitt's Creek" co-creator: LEVY. Dan and Eugene LEVY. Either one.
10. "__ we done here?": ARE.
11. Lancelot or Mix-a-Lot: SIR. On the TV show "Two and a Half Men" it was SIR Craps-a-lot.
12. Vital: KEY. Synonyms for necessary/essential.
15. Really stinky: FETID.
21. Unrealistically common affliction in soap operas: AMNESIA. My girlfriend just told me that she has AMNESIA. Who does she think she is!?
22. Positive shift: UPTURN.
25. Scottish monster, affectionately: NESSIE. The Loch Ness Monster.
26. Rise: ASCEND.
27. Baby birds?: STORKS. Not chicks.
28. Sagittarius symbol: ARCHER.
29. Mum: SILENT.
30. Stockpiles: HOARDS. Why do dragons HOARD jewels and gold? Because cash is flammable.
31. Beast of burden in many fables: ASS. Karen and Patti have teed this one up. Who am I to pass on the chance?
The Rolling Stones
32. Support for a proposal?: ONE KNEE. A marriage proposal.
33. Hi-__ graphics: RES. RESolution.
36. Tres __ cake: dairy-soaked dessert: LECHES.
39. Sea plea, briefly: SOS. A rhyming clue.
40. Took care of: DID.
42. Really hot: ON A TEAR. Idiomatic for having success over a period of time.
45. In a fitting way: APTLY.
47. Set up: ENTRAP. If you ask a cop what their favorite movie is they have to tell you. Otherwise it's ENTRAPment.
50. Smidge: SKOSH. From the Japanese word sukoshi (pronounced skoh shee).
51. Weightlifting move: JERK.
52. Reverse: UNDO.
53. "Eso Beso" singer: ANKA. Paul ANKA wrote, and performed, many other songs but "Eso Besso" is the one that seems to appear most frequently in our puzzles. I wonder why that is. Lots of vowels and esses, I suppose.
54. Sprinkler attachment: HOSE. I do not attach a hose to my sprinklers. They must mean an attachment used for sprinkling.
57. Tattered cloth: RAG. Or a song by Scott Joplin.
58. Blow away: AWE.
59. Big name in laptops and lipstick: MAC. We are all familiar with the Apple MACintosh computer, the actual MACintosh apple, MAC and Cheese and the Big MAC. In keeping with recent trends, however, the author/editor elected to go with lipstick. Oh, well. What the L.
Big Mac Edition
Karen, you are invited to post whatever the L you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or anything else in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you.
