Good day, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here wishing everyone a Merry Xmas Eve Eve and a Happy 5th day/upcoming 6th night of Chanukah.
On that note, presenting the recently-named recipient of the 2023 Mark Twain Prize For American Humor:
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song
Today's puzzle setter is Lewis Rothlein. On August 13, 2022, Husker Gary recapped one of Lewis' puzzles and provided some biographical information on the author. Here is a link to that: 13 August 2022 LAT Crossword Corner. Lewis has also had puzzles published in that well-known east coast newspaper.
Today, Lewis plays with his words by adding an additional word to the middle of a common compound word or expression and, thereby, completely changing the original meaning. Let's start with the reveal which does a good job of describing what is going on:
35 Across: Pivotal element, and what each word in quotes in the starred clues literally is to its answer?: CENTERPIECE.
A CENTERPIECE usually graces a table at, say, a wedding or a company holiday party. In this case, thought Lewis uses it as the center (as in between) point between two other words.
Here are the themed clues/answers:
17 Across: *Begin to chase, with "off": TAKE AFTER. If you TAKE AFTER someone you emulate them. If you TAKE OFF AFTER someone you chase them.
24 Across: *Try to delay, with "for": PLAY TIME. PLAY TIME is, of course, a time for having fun. If you PLAY FOR TIME you are stalling,
47 Across: *Gaining prominence, with "and": UPCOMING. An UPCOMING event will be here soon. If you are UP AND COMING your fame and/or fortune is ascendant
55 Across: *Do some creative accounting, with "the": COOKBOOKS. We all love COOKBOOKS here on the Corner but if you COOK THE BOOKS you may be committing a felony. Hi, SBF! Did you have a good year?
Here is how this all looks in the grid:
Across:
1. Common foundation: SLAB. A common and cost effective way to build. Just hope that you never need to access the plumbing embedded in the SLAB.
5. Singer in the biopic "Walk the Line": CASH. Johnny Cash. The title of the biopic was taken from the eponymous title of the song (written by Johnny R Cash).
9. 1980s cloning target: IBM PC. Hand up for first thinking of DOLLY the SHEEP. Burn those ROM.
14. Coil in a garden: HOSE. Fortunately, not a garden (garter) snake.
15. "The __ for home lives in all of us": Angelou: ACHE. Not familiar with the poem but it was not too hard to suss once a perp or two kicked in.
16. Half a comedy duo: MEARA. So many (five-letter) duos from which to choose (Chong, Lewis, Burns, Allen, etc. but the puzzle setter went with Jerry Stiller and Anne MEARA.
On The Carol Burnett Show
19. "Your table's ready" buzzer: PAGER.
20. Illuminates: EDIFIES.
21. Seductive quality: ALLURE. The world's first great fisherman possessed something that no one before him ever had. ALLURE.
23. One ensuring accuracy on a grand scale?: TUNER. As in tuning a Grand Piano.
26. Vare Trophy org.: LPGA.
29. Up to, briefly: 'TIL. Un TIL "Briefly" hints at truncation.
30. Start of an adage about humanity: TO ERR.
32. Solar __: SYSTEM. PLEXUS would have fit the allotted space.
37. Emergency signals: FLARES.
37. Emergency signals: FLARES.
39. WWII Polish resistance hero Sendler: IRENA. Born 15 February 1910. Under the pretext of conducting sanitary inspections she, and others within the Social Welfare Department, smuggled food, clothing and other necessities into the Warsaw Ghetto. She helped smuggle out residents when the liquidation of the population within the Ghetto was ordered. She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and sentenced to death by firing squad. She escaped this fate because the guards escorting her were bribed and she "escaped".
Irena Sendler
40. Illuminated: LIT. Often used to mean drunk or drugged.
41. Country roads: LANES. Today's let's pass on the John Denver moment.
43. Coarse file: RASP.
50. Revere alternative: BY SEA. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere is a poem by Henry Wadswoth Longfellow. It contains the lines:
51. Rumbled, as thunder: ROLLED.
52. Less tender: TOUGHER.
54. McCartney of Wings: LINDA. Paul was too short (he's actually about 5'10" tall).
57. Broke off: ENDED. I broke up with a girl once because she was having hallucinations. She said, "I can't see you anymore." Which was weird because I was standing right in front of her. Then she said, "You don't understand. I'm seeing someone else." Which was really odd because there were just the two of us in the room. I had to break it off after that.
58. Exhort: URGE.
59. Layered cookie: OREO. How do I clue thee? Let me count the ways.
60. Torment: AGONY. Tom Lehrer on the subject:
The Masochism Tango
61. Walked (on): TROD.
62. Laura of "Big Little Lies": DERN.
Down:
1. Type of village in Isaac Bashevis Singer stories: SHTETL. Yiddish for town.
2. Pack, as a moving van: LOAD UP.
3. __ price: ASKING.
4. Tower of London figure: BEEFEATER. Not, for example, the height or age of the tower,
5. Cozy eatery: CAFE.
6. Show parts: ACTS. A part of a show. E.G. ACT two Scene three.
7. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE. Unfamiliar with this duo outside of crossword puzzles.
8. Announce grandly: HERALD. Hark the HERALD Tribune sings . . .
7. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE. Unfamiliar with this duo outside of crossword puzzles.
8. Announce grandly: HERALD. Hark the HERALD Tribune sings . . .
Mr. Lehrer, Again - A Christmas Carol
9. Intimate: IMPLY. Not intimate (accent on the first syllable) as in close (as in near by not as in shut). Intimate (accent on the final syllable) as in to hint at. Isn't the English language a real . . .
10. Corker: BEAUT.
11. "The Treachery of Images" painter: MAGRITTE. Call it art and that's what it becomes. Rene MAGRITTE.
12. Early delivery: PREEMIE. Natal reference, not UPS or FEDEX.
13. Wheels: CAR. Slang.
18. Cause of inflation: AIR. Literally, not financially.
22. Scottish girls: LASSIES. I choose to believe in female Minotaurs. It's a lass half bull mindset.
24. Good vibrations?: PURRING. See also 35 Down.
I Didn't Know That!
27. Leaves be: LETS LIE.
28. "All bets __ off": ARE.
31. Common Scrabble tile value: ONE.
33. Nikkei index currency: YEN. The Nikkei is Japan's equivalent of the NYSE.
34. Impressive and then some: SCARY GOOD. This one involved some head scratching followed by an Aha! moment.
35. Tower for a pet who likes to climb and hide: CAT CONDO.
36. Not post-: PRE. PRE means before and POST means after. To use both at the same time would be preposterous.
37. Target of an annual vaccine: FLU. What's the difference between the avian FLU and the swine FLU? One requires tweetment and for the other you need oinkment.
38. Facial piercing: LIP RING
42. Scene-ending phrase: AND CUT. Hollywood-ese.
44. Washed up, maybe: ASHORE. Cute. Washed Up, of course has its own meaning - to be no longer skillful or successful. In this case washed ASHORE.
45. One on a quest: SEEKER.
46. Marrying sort?: PARSON. I could have gone with Parson Brown from the song "Winter Wonderland" but instead chose this John Forster song (it'll become clear with the last line):
48. Of yore: OLDEN. What was the major activity of OLDEN day peasants? Serfing.
49. Word said with a curtsy: M'LADY.
50. Buster: BUB. MAC PAL BRO
52. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO.
53. Authorized: OK'ED.
53. Authorized: OK'ED.
54. Place to ruminate: LEA. Not ruminate as in to turn a matter over in your mind. Ruminate as in to chew cud, the source of the previous idiomatic use of the word. LEA = pasture or meadow.
56. "Catch-22" pilot who crashes repeatedly: ORR. Often clued with reference to the hockey player. In this case, a reference to the Joseph Heller novel.
Lewis Rothlein, 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.
That's all for today's recap. Have a great weekend, everyone. Happy Holidays!
Milo Minderbinder out . . .
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Notes from C.C.:
Happy 78th birthday to dear Misty, who's been with our blog for over 9
years. Here is a picture of Misty and her husband Rowland celebrating their 15th wedding
anniversary in 2009.
