Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's Friday recap. I.E. commentary. I.E. summary. Today's constructor, I.E. puzzle setter, is Katie Hale who recently visited us on both October 9th and November 27th of this year. In keeping with the trend that Ch. Moe commented on a week ago, today's puzzle once again exhibits wordplay. At five places within the grid Katie has added the letters I and E to common expressions and, thereby, created humorous definitions to the clues. Three of those five answers completely traverse the 15-square grid. Brava, Katie!
It is quite interesting that just yesterday one of the themed answers (at 25 Across) was "It Is What It Is". A mere coincidence? I do not know but, in any event, Id est quod id est.
Below are the five themed answers:
17 Across: Gourmet chefs' argument about plating?: FOODIE FIGHT. Foodie, i.e. gourmet
24 Across: Paying attention to the portraits in a social media feed?: SELFIE CONSCIOUS. SELF CONSCIOUS, i.e. aware.
38 Across: Photographers who specialize in permanent markers?: SHARPIE SHOOTERS. SHARPIE, i.e. marking pen. A photo shoot.
49 Across: Patches on one's favorite sweatshirt?: HOODIE ORNAMENTS. Well, I'll be darned. There actually are HOODIE (Christmas Tree) ORNAMENTS.
60. Exclamation before putting on one's favorite pajamas?: NIGHTIE TIME.
Here is how all of this looks in the grid. Please ignore the red and yellow highlighting at 58 Across. I have had to use a new .puz file solving site for this recap and I have not yet figured out how to format everything in the ways that I would prefer.
. . . and here is the rest of the story:
Across:
1. Obama daughter: SASHA. Malia is also five letters long with two A's in the same places as SASHA so it took a perp to determine which daughter it would be.
6. Tried to get home, say: SLID. A baseball reference.
10. Pester: NAG.
13. Removes, as a brooch: UNPINS. Or from the task bar.
15. Loosen (up): EASE. As restrictions. I.E. precautions.
16. End of a Harvard address: EDU. Not an address (speech) that might be delivered by an orator. In this case, an email address.
19. Formal accessory: TIE. A fashion accessory that can be traced to the Croats. Utterly useless for a manatee.
20. Romeo's last words: I DIE. "Here's to my love. (drinks the poison) O' true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I DIE."
21. High-sided cookware: WOK.
22. "The Princess Bride" co-star: ELWES.
28. X-ray kin: MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging
29. __ Hebrides: OUTER. A geographer reference. See 62 Down
30. Hong Kong neighbor: MACAU. . . . and another
34. Jenna's role on "The Office": PAM. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
35. Sketch: SKIT. Not a pencil drawing. A bit of acting.
42. Drug cop: NARC.
43. CBS forensic drama: CSI.
44. Sea Breeze need: VODKA.
45. Noble __: GASES. Hand up for initially thinking PRIZE. Wait, that's spelled Nobel. Colorless, odorless, tasteless and nonflammable. Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.
47. "Despicable Me" supervillain: GRU.
56. Blanched: ASHEN.
57. Have: EAT. As in consume food. Have certainly does have a good number of meanings depending on the context.
58. Wet bar?: SOAP. The clue is to be taken literally.
59. Mil. morale booster: USO. Abbreviated clue and answer.
64. Zero, in soccer: NIL. What do zero and NIL have in common. Absolutely nothing.
65. Fencing blade: EPEE. A weapon often seen in crossword puzzles. Four letters three of which are E's.
66. "I won't be long": ONE SEC. Abbreviated answer but not clue. But it is something that people might say so, perhaps, that convention does not apply.
67. "Ideas worth spreading" org.: TED.
68. Floor plan unit: ROOM.
69. Closing documents: DEEDS. A real estate reference.
Down:
1. Muslim mystics: SUFIS. All You Want to Know
2. Battery terminal: ANODE.
3. Ruin: SPOIL.
4. Film option, for short: HI DEF. HIgh DEFinition
5. Singer DiFranco: ANI. A frequent visitor due to two vowels out of three letters.
6. Omega rival: SEIKO. Wristwatch brands. See also 34 Down.
7. Streaming issue: LAG. A technical problem suffered frequently in our puzzles.
8. Kinda: ISH. I.E. sorta.
9. Get a hint of: DETECT. What are similar to windows but can instantly DETECT the most common computer problems? Mirrors.
10. Made professional connections: NETWORKED.
11. "Farewell, mon ami!": ADIEU. French in the clue. French in the answer.
12. Brand with a question mark in its logo: GUESS.
Andy Dufresne
18. Hubs: FOCI.
23. Leads up the garden path: LIES TO. Idiomatic. I.E. to deceive. I.E. to trick. Oddly, "leads down the garden path" has the same meaning.
25. "That's my cue!": I'M UP. Sometimes we get I'M ON.
26. Stewart's "The Daily Show" successor: NOAH.
Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart
27. Honbasho sport: SUMO. Honbasho was unknown but it sounded Japanese so this one filled quickly with the perps.
30. Bing provider: MSN. Microsoft's browser. MSN is the abbreviation for Microsoft Network.
31. Cry of discovery: AHA. AHA, it's not OHO.
32. Container store?: CARGO HOLD. Not a shop to go to purchase bins and organizers. A place to store containers.
33. Burlington __: London shopping destination: ARCADE. Opened in March, 1819.
34. Omega preceder: PSI. A rudimentary knowledge of the Greek alphabet can be helpful to solvers.
36. Bother: IRK.
37. Liquid-confiscating org., at times: TSA.
39. Slushy treat: ICEE.
40. Petrol brand: ESSO. A trading name for Exxon-Mobil. Originally used by its predecessor, Standard Oil. I.E. S.O. or, spelled out, ESSO.
41. Egg cell: OVUM.
46. Confessional visitor: SINNER.
47. Buzzing pest: GNAT.
48. Probability expression: RATIO.
49. Favorite hangout: HAUNT. I.E. club. I.E. stomping ground.
50. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" director Davis: OSSIE. Bette would have fit but it would not perp.
51. Take up again: RE-HEM. Not revisiting an old hobby. Shortening a skirt or a dress, for example.
52. Cosmetics name: ESTEE.
53. Cacophony: NOISE.
55. Technical details: SPECS. SPECificationS
61. Market debut, for short: IPO. Stock Market. Initial Public Offering
62. Grapher's prefix: GEO. GEOgrapher
63. Conclude: END. Fitting. I.E. apt. Indeed.
Katie Hale, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
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Notes from C.C.:
Happy birthday to our witty and caring Hahtoolah (Susan), whose images and comments always brightens our days.
