Today's veteran constructors Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa (19 & 4 LAT puzzles respectively including today's) present us with another scrambled word game. Their theme appears at first to be a bit of a downer, so to clear that up right away, let's start with the reveal ...
62A. "This doesn't feel right," and what
can be said about some letters in the answers to the starred clues?:
THE VIBES ARE OFF. This phrase generally connotes that the speaker is sensing
BAD VIBES, or an EDGY feeling of unease (e.g. see
69A). Quite honestly when this reviewer realized this he panicked
and started looking around for an antidote. So to calm everyone down
we'll start with some
GOOD VIBES
...
... from master vibraphonist
Gary Barton
leading
a quintet by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.
a quintet by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.
Now that we've relaxed a bit we can see that reveal doesn't really have anything to do with emotional turmoil. On the contrary it simply describes the parsing of four rather innocuous theme clues, each of which has an embedded acronym of the word VIBE spanning two words:
16A. *Players who cover wide receivers: DEFENSIVE BACKS. The timing of this clue is not so good as Super Bowl LV was a month and half ago. The big news that day was that Rhianna was the first pregnant woman to headline a half-time show. Oh and ICYI the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38 to 35. .
28A. *Film fanatic: MOVIE BUFF. The news here is not quite as stale, as the Oscars were awarded March 12. See 14A for more details.
39A. *Black Friday slogan: SAVE BIG. Mark your calendars, the next Black Friday is Fri, Nov 24, 2023. It's never too early to start getting in shape for that midnight mad dash ...
50A. *Couple in the honeymoon phase: LOVE BIRDS. One of our nieces married just this past fall. She's still in the honeymoon phase. Our nephew, her brother, married about a year ago. He's now in the parenting phase.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Acrobat format: PDF.
4. Mumford & Sons instrument: BANJO. Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. Here's their Hopeless Wanderer (lyrics)
9. ____ school: PREP.
13. Non opposite: OUI. Today's French lesson.
14. Burmese or Lao: ASIAN. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film that follows Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while being audited by the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. Michelle Yeoh was the first ASIAN actress to win an OSCAR.
15. Trading floor order: SELL.
16A [Theme clue].
19. Part of a winesap or a wineglass: STEM. Fruity clue. STEM is also an acronym for "Science Technology Engineering and Math". I would add an E to the end as Geeks should learn proper English.
20. Major headache: HASSLE.
21. Actress Shawkat: ALIA. Alia Martine Shawkat (/ˈæliə ˈʃɔːkæt/ AL-ee-ə SHAW-kat; Arabic: عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. The big news about Alia is that she's not dating Brad Pitt. OTOH she has been an actress for over 20 years.
24. Pals: AMIGOS. Today's Spanish lesson.
28A [Theme clue]
33. Uttered: SPOKE.
34. "... because you don't want to cross me": OR ELSE.
35. Burj Khalifa's fed.: UAE. Here are the 7 federated emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the largest being Abu Dhabi:
The
Burj Khalifas
is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the
world's tallest building with a total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, or
just over half a mile).
37. Frog's kid-lit friend: TOAD.
Frog and Toad
is a series of easy-reader children's books, written and illustrated by
Arnold Lobel. Each book contains five simple, often humorous, sometimes poignant,
short stories chronicling the exploits of an anthropomorphic frog and toad,
named Frog and Toad respectively.
38. "You're it!": TAG.
[Theme clue]
42. Go green, say?: DYE. As TOAD's companion might say "It's not easy bein' green ...". Here's Van Morrison's cover of the KERMIT classic (lyrics) ...
45. GQ or EW: MAG. Gentleman's Quarterly and Entertainment Weekly. As GQ usually doesn't pass the breakfast test, here's what EW is covering as of press time on the Corner (see also 28A).
46. Pampers product: DIAPER. I'm sure my nephew has been changing a lot of these lately (see 50A).
48. Chimney ducts: FLUES. [Usually] rectangular fire clay liners that protect the less heat resistant red brick of the chimney itself. FLUES also have an additional function in fuel burning downdraft kilns. They are usually equipped with dampers, which can be partially closed to temporarily reduce the amount of oxygen in the kiln, making possible the classic copper red(Sang de boeuf) and iron green celadon glazes developed by the Chinese over a 1000 years ago.
50. [Theme clue]
52. Plays matchmaker for: SETS UP. If I recall correctly both sets of Love Birds in 50A above were SET UP.
54. Greek war god: ARES. The antithesis of EROS, who was undoubtedly involved in the previous comment.
55. 18-Down units: TROOPS. My grandsons' TROOP is No. 420.
58. Actor Neeson: LIAM. William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
62. [Reveal clue]
66. Intense anger: RAGE.
67. Birthplace of the violin: ITALY. Cremona, ITALY to be exact. Antonio Stradivari's teacher, Andrea Amati is credited with inventing the modern violin and thus making this possible far in the future: Baltimorean Hilary Hahn performing the 1st movement cadenza to the Beethoven Violin Concerto:
68. Darjeeling, for one: TEA.
69. Neither calm nor collected: EDGY. Someone whose VIBES ARE OFF.
70. Like some foggy nights: EERIE.
71. Cribside chorus: AWS. I think our new great nephew (see 50A above) has been getting a lot of these lately.
Down:
1. Vanilla units: PODS. Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (V. planifolia). We use vanilla extract in baking, but you can also scrape the seeds from the pods:
2. Piece for two: DUET. The "Flower Duet" for soprano and mezzo-soprano in the first act of
Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé is sung by the characters Lakmé, daughter of a
Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers
by a river. You'll probably recognize it:
3. Marching band pipe: FIFE. Fifers were non-combatant foot soldiers who originally played the FIFE during combat. When played in its upper register, the fife is loud and piercing, yet also extremely small and portable. According to some reports, a band of fifes and drums can be heard up to 3 miles (4.8 km) away over artillery fire. Because of these qualities, European armies from the Renaissance on found it useful for signaling on the battlefield ... (click Watch on YouTube below to get this started [I thought Google owned both Blogger and YouTube!?]).
4. Block: BAN.
5. Donkey: ASS.
6. Hawaiian island whose population was 84 in the 2020 census: NIIHAU. Niʻihau (you get extra points if you included the apostrophe), anglicized as Niihau (/ˈniː(i)haʊ/ NEE-(ee-)how), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii.
7. Cup of joe: JAVA. Here's why some people call coffee a "cup of Joe"; here's why
it's also called JAVA; and here's why
the programming language is called JAVA.
8. Snack machine inserts: ONES.
9. Old Testament collection: PSALMS. In the Christian Old Testament and Hebrew Bible the PSALMS are a collection of 150 sacred songs and poems meant to be sung or recited. Tradition has it that many of them were written by King David, who was reputed to be a harpist and quite a dancer in his day. They are used extensively in the liturgies of both Christians and Jews. They are also the primary prayers in the 4 week Psalter of Catholic Divine Office, which is prayed by priests, religious, and laity around the world throughout each day.
10. Lengthy register printout from CVS: RECEIPT.
11. Mammals also known as wapiti: ELK. The ELK (Cervus canadensis), or wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia.
12. Letters from a polite texter: PLS. And the polite response is
THX.
17. Message in Outlook: EMAIL. Hand up if you still use this?
18. Org. with sashes and badges: BSA. Boy Scouts of America. If you (or more likely your Mom) sew enough badges on those sashes you become an Eagle Scout. *Hand up if you are an Eagle Scout? I never reached the rank, but two of my grandsons have. This medal is actually pinned to the uniform, not the sash ...
.png)
22. On sale, say: LESS.
23. Pronoun-shaped girder: I BEAM. Now even girders have pronouns. What's next?
25. Favorable optics, for short: GOOD PR. Or even poor optic if your PR person is a good enough spinner.
26. Approved: OKAYED.
27. Passover rituals: SEDERS. Passover will be here soon. What is it and how is it celebrated?
28. Recurring themes: MOTIFS.
29. Soothsayer: ORACLE. Pythia (/ˈpɪθiə/; Ancient Greek: Πυθία [pyːˈtʰíaː]) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Also a company owned by Larry Ellison who also owns Lanai, the seventh largest Hawaiian island (see also 6D):
30. Ride the couch: VEG OUT.
31. Fire, in Spanish: FUEGO. A lot of us know this Spanish word from our high school geography, as the Southern tip of Argentina was called Tierra del Fuego (the "Land of Fire"), by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, due to the bonfires kept lit on the shore by the indigenous people. Since he was actually Portuguese, I wonder why he didn't call it Terra de Fogo.
32. British Invasion adjective: FAB. As in the FAB FOUR.
36. Arctic Circle duck: EIDER. Eiders are large sea ducks in the genus Somateria. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilts—they have given the name to the type of quilt known as an eiderdown.
40. 2021 documentary about actor Kilmer: VAL.
Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor,
Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with
Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), as well as the
military action film Top Gun (1986), The Doors (1991) and
the fantasy film Batman Forever (1995). Here's a clip from his bio-pic
...
41. Taunt: GIBE.
44. Funds for a rainy day: NEST EGG. IRA was too short. The ducks in 36A produce NEST EGGS about once a year, regardless of the weather.
47. Market section: AISLE.
49. Introductory course: SURVEY.
51. Jane Fonda's alma mater: VASSAR. Vassar College (/ˈvæsər/ VASS-ər) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely following Elmira College. It became coeducational in 1969 and now has a gender ratio at the national average. The college is one of the historic Seven Sisters, the first elite women's colleges in the U.S., and has a historic relationship with Yale University, which suggested a merger before they both became coeducational.
53. Starchy luau dish: POI.
56. Award related to a Tony: OBIE. A made up homophone for the letters OB, short for Off Broadway musicals. Here are the winners for the 66th Annual OBIE Awards held on February 13, 2023. Years back we saw The Fantasticks, which holds the record for the longest running Off Broadway show. You'll probably remember this song ...
57. Slugger Alonso nicknamed "Polar Bear": PETE. Plays 1st Base
for the NY Mets.
A right handed batter he made his MLB debut during the 2019 season and broke
the major league record for the most home runs by a rookie with 53.
He's age 28, 6'3" and weighs 245 pounds.
Here are his stats.
59. Whit: IOTA.
60. Not many: A FEW.
61. Degs. for ballerinas: MFAS. Master of Fine Arts. You can get one here. Many operas have ballet scenes (they're required in French operas). We've seen only one full-length ballet and decided that they're too expensive and too addictive.
62. Uno e uno e uno: TRE. Today's Italian lesson: THREE. Sorry, no OPERA today.
63. "I've been __!": HAD.
64. "Moonlight" Oscar winner Mahershala: ALI. Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali. Here's the trailer:
65. Manhattan liquor: RYE.
*"Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!"
waseeley
Across:
1. Acrobat format: PDF.
4. Mumford & Sons instrument: BANJO. Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. Here's their Hopeless Wanderer (lyrics)
9. ____ school: PREP.
13. Non opposite: OUI. Today's French lesson.
14. Burmese or Lao: ASIAN. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film that follows Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while being audited by the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. Michelle Yeoh was the first ASIAN actress to win an OSCAR.
15. Trading floor order: SELL.
16A [Theme clue].
19. Part of a winesap or a wineglass: STEM. Fruity clue. STEM is also an acronym for "Science Technology Engineering and Math". I would add an E to the end as Geeks should learn proper English.
20. Major headache: HASSLE.
21. Actress Shawkat: ALIA. Alia Martine Shawkat (/ˈæliə ˈʃɔːkæt/ AL-ee-ə SHAW-kat; Arabic: عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. The big news about Alia is that she's not dating Brad Pitt. OTOH she has been an actress for over 20 years.
|
|
Alia Shawkat |
28A [Theme clue]
33. Uttered: SPOKE.
34. "... because you don't want to cross me": OR ELSE.
35. Burj Khalifa's fed.: UAE. Here are the 7 federated emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the largest being Abu Dhabi:
|
|
The United Arab Republic |
|
|
Burj Khalifas |
[Theme clue]
42. Go green, say?: DYE. As TOAD's companion might say "It's not easy bein' green ...". Here's Van Morrison's cover of the KERMIT classic (lyrics) ...
43. Gay __: ICON. My two favorite gay ICONS are the English mathematician
Alan Turing and the Russian
composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Sadly both of these men took their own lives. In Turing's
case this was doubly sad as he was driven to suicide by people who, due to
the Official Secrets Act, were completely unaware of the critical role he
played in
the breaking of the coding scheme of the Enigma machine
used by the Nazis for secure communications during WWII. In 2021 Great Britain at least partially atoned for this grave injustice by issuing this iconic currency:
On the obverse side of the note is Queen Elizabeth II.
Tchaikovsky is best known for his symphonies, ballets, and operas, but he also wrote songs. One of his best known songs is based on a poem by the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called None but the Lonely Heart (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, literally "Only he who knows longing") and expresses the poet's anguish at unrequited love. As the song has been covered by many different singers, I'll spare you the German version:
Tchaikovsky is best known for his symphonies, ballets, and operas, but he also wrote songs. One of his best known songs is based on a poem by the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called None but the Lonely Heart (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, literally "Only he who knows longing") and expresses the poet's anguish at unrequited love. As the song has been covered by many different singers, I'll spare you the German version:
45. GQ or EW: MAG. Gentleman's Quarterly and Entertainment Weekly. As GQ usually doesn't pass the breakfast test, here's what EW is covering as of press time on the Corner (see also 28A).
46. Pampers product: DIAPER. I'm sure my nephew has been changing a lot of these lately (see 50A).
48. Chimney ducts: FLUES. [Usually] rectangular fire clay liners that protect the less heat resistant red brick of the chimney itself. FLUES also have an additional function in fuel burning downdraft kilns. They are usually equipped with dampers, which can be partially closed to temporarily reduce the amount of oxygen in the kiln, making possible the classic copper red(Sang de boeuf) and iron green celadon glazes developed by the Chinese over a 1000 years ago.
52. Plays matchmaker for: SETS UP. If I recall correctly both sets of Love Birds in 50A above were SET UP.
54. Greek war god: ARES. The antithesis of EROS, who was undoubtedly involved in the previous comment.
55. 18-Down units: TROOPS. My grandsons' TROOP is No. 420.
58. Actor Neeson: LIAM. William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
|
|
Liam Neeson |
66. Intense anger: RAGE.
67. Birthplace of the violin: ITALY. Cremona, ITALY to be exact. Antonio Stradivari's teacher, Andrea Amati is credited with inventing the modern violin and thus making this possible far in the future: Baltimorean Hilary Hahn performing the 1st movement cadenza to the Beethoven Violin Concerto:
68. Darjeeling, for one: TEA.
69. Neither calm nor collected: EDGY. Someone whose VIBES ARE OFF.
70. Like some foggy nights: EERIE.
71. Cribside chorus: AWS. I think our new great nephew (see 50A above) has been getting a lot of these lately.
Down:
1. Vanilla units: PODS. Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (V. planifolia). We use vanilla extract in baking, but you can also scrape the seeds from the pods:
|
|
Vanilla Pods |
3. Marching band pipe: FIFE. Fifers were non-combatant foot soldiers who originally played the FIFE during combat. When played in its upper register, the fife is loud and piercing, yet also extremely small and portable. According to some reports, a band of fifes and drums can be heard up to 3 miles (4.8 km) away over artillery fire. Because of these qualities, European armies from the Renaissance on found it useful for signaling on the battlefield ... (click Watch on YouTube below to get this started [I thought Google owned both Blogger and YouTube!?]).
5. Donkey: ASS.
6. Hawaiian island whose population was 84 in the 2020 census: NIIHAU. Niʻihau (you get extra points if you included the apostrophe), anglicized as Niihau (/ˈniː(i)haʊ/ NEE-(ee-)how), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii.
9. Old Testament collection: PSALMS. In the Christian Old Testament and Hebrew Bible the PSALMS are a collection of 150 sacred songs and poems meant to be sung or recited. Tradition has it that many of them were written by King David, who was reputed to be a harpist and quite a dancer in his day. They are used extensively in the liturgies of both Christians and Jews. They are also the primary prayers in the 4 week Psalter of Catholic Divine Office, which is prayed by priests, religious, and laity around the world throughout each day.
|
10. Lengthy register printout from CVS: RECEIPT.
11. Mammals also known as wapiti: ELK. The ELK (Cervus canadensis), or wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia.
|
|
Bull Elk in Alberta, Canada |
17. Message in Outlook: EMAIL. Hand up if you still use this?
18. Org. with sashes and badges: BSA. Boy Scouts of America. If you (or more likely your Mom) sew enough badges on those sashes you become an Eagle Scout. *Hand up if you are an Eagle Scout? I never reached the rank, but two of my grandsons have. This medal is actually pinned to the uniform, not the sash ...
.png)
23. Pronoun-shaped girder: I BEAM. Now even girders have pronouns. What's next?
25. Favorable optics, for short: GOOD PR. Or even poor optic if your PR person is a good enough spinner.
26. Approved: OKAYED.
27. Passover rituals: SEDERS. Passover will be here soon. What is it and how is it celebrated?
28. Recurring themes: MOTIFS.
29. Soothsayer: ORACLE. Pythia (/ˈpɪθiə/; Ancient Greek: Πυθία [pyːˈtʰíaː]) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Also a company owned by Larry Ellison who also owns Lanai, the seventh largest Hawaiian island (see also 6D):
31. Fire, in Spanish: FUEGO. A lot of us know this Spanish word from our high school geography, as the Southern tip of Argentina was called Tierra del Fuego (the "Land of Fire"), by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, due to the bonfires kept lit on the shore by the indigenous people. Since he was actually Portuguese, I wonder why he didn't call it Terra de Fogo.
32. British Invasion adjective: FAB. As in the FAB FOUR.
36. Arctic Circle duck: EIDER. Eiders are large sea ducks in the genus Somateria. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilts—they have given the name to the type of quilt known as an eiderdown.
|
|
Eider Duck |
41. Taunt: GIBE.
44. Funds for a rainy day: NEST EGG. IRA was too short. The ducks in 36A produce NEST EGGS about once a year, regardless of the weather.
47. Market section: AISLE.
49. Introductory course: SURVEY.
51. Jane Fonda's alma mater: VASSAR. Vassar College (/ˈvæsər/ VASS-ər) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely following Elmira College. It became coeducational in 1969 and now has a gender ratio at the national average. The college is one of the historic Seven Sisters, the first elite women's colleges in the U.S., and has a historic relationship with Yale University, which suggested a merger before they both became coeducational.
56. Award related to a Tony: OBIE. A made up homophone for the letters OB, short for Off Broadway musicals. Here are the winners for the 66th Annual OBIE Awards held on February 13, 2023. Years back we saw The Fantasticks, which holds the record for the longest running Off Broadway show. You'll probably remember this song ...
|
|
Pete Alonso |
59. Whit: IOTA.
61. Degs. for ballerinas: MFAS. Master of Fine Arts. You can get one here. Many operas have ballet scenes (they're required in French operas). We've seen only one full-length ballet and decided that they're too expensive and too addictive.
62. Uno e uno e uno: TRE. Today's Italian lesson: THREE. Sorry, no OPERA today.
63. "I've been __!": HAD.
64. "Moonlight" Oscar winner Mahershala: ALI. Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali. Here's the trailer:
65. Manhattan liquor: RYE.
*"Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!"
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof
reading, for her constructive criticism.
