Toys to Grow On...
Wait, she's only been constructing for 3 years?!? Color me impressed.
Today's puzzle gives us all the BLOCKS to BUILD a structure. Let's take a look:
20. Smile broadly because of one's own achievement, say: BEAM WITH PRIDE. BEAMs are horizontal structural bits that supports laterally to its axis. //I had one (1) CivE class :-)
33. New York City district that's home to the Fearless Girl statue: WALL STREET. Walls make it a room (or an office).
Respect Les' Walls
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| Fearless Girl |
41. Desirable feature of kids' clothing: ROOM TO GROW. ROOM - a 'block' in a house / building made of four walls.
51. Amino acid, vis-à-vis protein: BUILDING BLOCK. Seems right up Rebecca's ally.
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| Organic Chemistry |
How much fun was that? Bits, pieces, parts, and BLOCKs to create & BUILD something. You know, like a nice Tuesday puzzle.
I also like how the theme BUILDS from a beam to a wall to a room.
Across:
1. Country music sound: TWANG. The genre is not my cuppa (though Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, & Dolly Parton are exceptions to the rule).
6. Coordinating pillowcase: SHAM.
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| DW says I can't use them - the pillow is a sham! |
10. Roasting rod: SPIT.
14. "Yippee!": WAHOO! Woot! was too short.
15. Basketball commentator Rebecca: LOBO. Can't get your name in the grid?, put it in the clue ;-)
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| Rebecca (not our Constructor) played 6 years in the WNBA but only one for Houston's Comets |
16. Long-haired lap dog, familiarly: PEKE.
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| One missed hair-cut away from Cousin ITT? |
17. Change with the times: ADAPT. Adjust, ADAPT, and Overcome. Semper Fi! Right, WC?
18. Major composition: OPUS. Not to be confused with...
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| Bloom County's OPUS |
19. Working hard: AT IT. Working hard or hardly working? If you love your job, it's both.
20. [See: theme]
23. Place for a scrub: SPA.
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| Not to be confused with ER Scrubs |
24. Devoutness: PIETY.
25. Grabbed a bite: ATE.
28. Chicken __ king: ALA.
30. Red carpet walker: VIP.
31. Electric key: FOB.
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| RKE Hack |
33. [See: theme]
36. Soup du __: JOUR. Soup of the day.
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| French Onion - A Recipe |
37. Sign of spring: ARIES. Cute. Not a robin (come a bob-bob-bobbin') but Astrological.
38. Lead-in to Z or Alpha: GEN. Apparently they're already classifying kids born in the early to mid '10s?!?
Read what I found on the interwebs: Alpha children are permanently connected. Such is their attention to new technologies that it becomes a way of life. Independents. They are independent when it comes to making their own decisions and managing their digital identities, and they expect their individual needs and preferences to be taken into account. Bah!
39. Koalas and emus, in Australia: FAUNA. Fauna == animals; flora is the plants.
40. Novelist Atkinson: KATE. A CSO to Dr. DW.
41. [See: theme]
43. WSW opposite: ENE. Compass directions.
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| Compass Rose |
44. Prohibit: BAN.
45. Rowboat need: OAR.
46. Cap letters at Busch Stadium: STL.
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| I've seen games at Busch Stadiums II & III. Busch I was b/f my time. |
47. Get ready to drive?: TEE UP. Golf. Not seat-belt up #PSA
49. Mike and __: fruit-flavored candy: IKE.
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| Great at the movies 'cuz no one else likes them and they're all mine! |
51. [See: theme]
56. Aquarium growth: ALGA.
57. Void's partner: NULL.
58. "Ta-da!": VOILA. WAHOO!
61. Thai currency: BAHT.
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| 1 Baht ~= 2.9¢ |
62. Leave out: OMIT.
63. "Black-ish" star Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS.
Interview - Ross' Mom is Diana Ross!
64. East, in Spanish: ESTE.
65. Recedes: EBBS. And then it flows.
66. Pomelo peels: RINDS.
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| Read More |
Down:
1. Pan Am rival: TWA. Rival airlines - both, sadly(?), defunct. DW's Aunt was a flight attendant back in Pan Am's glory-days. She was on Nixon's plane to China - I KID YOU NOT(12d). Visit Leo III at 1940 Air Terminal Museum to see flying posh.
2. Roll of dough: WAD. Total Baller!
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| Put one Benjamin [$100] on top, one on bottom, and fill the middle with Bahts :-) |
3. Literary captain described as a "grand, ungodly, god-like man": AHAB. Herman Melville's Moby-Dick Cap'n.
4. Casual rejections: NOPES. Still, a hard-no.
5. Skated by, say: GOT A PASS. Until you get to grad-school, you can skate-by with a few DEEs outside of your major. Ask me how I know :-)
6. React to a yellow light, say: SLOW. Rebecca doesn't drive in Houston where 'yellow' means "floor-it!" //seriously, don't be the first off the line at Green or you'll get TEE-boned.
7. Indigenous language in Arizona: HOPI. Hopi is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona, United States. The use of Hopi has gradually declined over the course of the 20th century. In 1990, it was estimated that more than 5,000 people could speak Hopi as a native language, but only 40 of them were monolingual in Hopi. [WikiP]. Language is culture and, unfortunately, HOPI is dying.
8. Touch borders with: ABUT. I'll let Ray-O handle this :-)
9. Slam-dancer's place: MOSH PIT. '90's Grunge music and slam-dancing.
10. Emergency tire: SPARE. The donut in your trunk.
11. Bite-sized treats whose name means "small ovens" in French: PETIT FOURS. Little tiny baby-cakes.
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| I Count 8 (not FOUR) of these :-) |
12. "Honest!": I KID YOU NOT.
13. Spot for un chapeau: TETE. More French - already? A French hat on your French head.
21. Home brewer's ingredient: MALT. Mmmm, beer.
22. Domino indent: PIP.
25. Up and about: AWAKE.
26. Some hairy pets: TARANTULAS. I'll refrain posting image citing The Breakfast Test.
27. Sweet Sixteen winners: ELITE EIGHT NCAA Basketball aka March Madness. I fill out the office-bracket every year but have no idea what I'm doing. This year, I should ask PK and then split the winnings ;-)
29. Alphabetically first noble gas: ARGON. Third lightest Noble Gas. In the Bohr model, noble gasses have a full valence shell of electrons in the outer ring and ergo, ARGON (et.al), is inert. Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, came up with this beautiful periodic-classification that makes inorganic chemistry calculations a snap.
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| Periodic Table |
30. Mobile payment app: VENMO. I don't use it but the kids today do to pass money to each other. I still don't know how VENMO makes money as it doesn't appear there's a vig associated with paying a buddy / PK for our March bracket. //My tangent made TTP (greatest proofreader, ever! [even caught no hyphen in proof-read ;-)]) give me this:
SNL's First CityWide Change Bank 2
32. Fighting chance?: BRAWL. I'll be honest, I filled it but I don't get it. Like, why the ?, huh? Where's the 'chance'?
34. Director Spike: LEE. We had Spike's Inside Man [movie] Wed, 12/28.
35. Fair-hiring initials: EEO. See also 12/28's memo: it's no longer EOE [Equal Opportunity Employer], apparently.
36. Spree: JAG. Binge.
39. Pay, reluctantly: FORK OVER. Can one FORK OVER a losing bet on VENMO or do they have a no gambling policy?
41. Soccer star and equal-pay advocate Megan: RAPINOE. Female soccer is more winning than males' and yet, until recently, were paid a heck of a lot less.
42. Donkey's need, in a party game: TAIL.
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| Eeyore's Tail-Pin |
44. Future flower: BUD. What to do?, what to do?...
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| Fast Times at Ridgemont High - this quote was not in AFI's Top 100(?!?) |
48. Overjoy: ELATE. Jeff Spicoli [Sean Penn - See: above] was always "elated."
50. Common lab culture: ECOLI. In the lab, there's a refrigerator for lunch and a refrigerator for samples; don't confuse them. //I bet Rebecca already knows this.
51. Paul Bunyan's blue ox: BABE. I did a consulting gig for IHS [Indian Health Service] in Bemidji, MN and I got to visit BABE.
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| Paul & Babe |
52. Feeling nothing: NUMB. Comfortably?
From Pink Floyd's The Wall [9m]
53. Smooth-talking: GLIB. Or Jive Talkin' with the Gibbs?
54. Nonkosher sammies: BLTS. I think the no pork rule had to do with trichinosis and was smart b/f meat-thermometers. My Jewish uncle (Mom's Sister's Hubby) ate ham - what say our Jewish Cornerites?
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| Yummers! |
55. Potter's oven: KILN. Waseeley will explain.
59. Jar topper: LID.
60. Donkey: ASS. Eeyore redux?
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| Can you help him with his TAIL? |
The Grid:
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| The Grid. Click to see mine (with blog scribble notes) |
WOs: N/A
ESPs: RAPINOE, ELLIS
Fav: I'll go w/ BLTs - goes great with Soup du JOUR. //Did I ever mention I love soup?
There you have it folks - my last pinch-hit for a while. I'll now return you to our regularly-scheduled programmed hosts.
I hope everyone had fun with the puzzle & post-game today.
Cheers, -T
