Friday, March 31, 2023, Rena Cohen

Good Morning Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the Friday recap.

Today's puzzle comes to us courtesy of Rena Cohen and, in what seems to be an abundance of riches, we get not only starred clues but circles, too, each of which may have been either annoying or helpful depending on your personal proclivities.

Let's start with the unifier:

61 Across:  Lifts for one's self-esteem, and what's been given to the answers to the starred clues: EGO BOOSTS.

Ego.  Self.  Myself.  ME.  At four places in the puzzle (circled in case any of us found ourselves in danger of having an identity crisis) ME is "boosted" (raised) above the clue/answer on which we are working.  The letters ME are then integrated (in sequence - up right down right) into the answer below.  A metaphor for the whole self if you will?  It would have been fun if synonyms for ID and SUPER EGO had somehow been worked into the puzzle.  A picture being worth a thousand words, here is how things look in the grid:

Here are the four themed clues/answers (each starred for our convenience).  Without the ME the answers border on gibberish

17 Across:  *Brunch station for custom orders: OMELETTE BAR.

23 Across:  *TV competition won by singer Noah Thompson in 2022: AMERICAN IDOL.

37 Across:  *Many a retired pro athlete: SPORTS COMMENTATOR.  Retired (?) football player Tom Brady recently signed on as a COMMENTATOR for the sum of $375 million.

48 Across:  *Masquerade:  COSTUME PARTY

Across:

1. Lead characters in "Mike & Molly"?: EMS.  The leading letter (character) in both names is M.

4. Pockets for falafel: PITAS.   What did the hummus say to the PITA bread when she got sick?  I falafel.

9. Hawkeye: IOWAN.

14. "That's Not All Folks" memoirist Blanc: MEL.  Mel's book title may have included the word "Not" but his epitaph does not: 

15. Not quite right: ACUTE.  A geometry reference.  A right angle is 90 degrees.  An ACUTE angle is less than 90 degrees.

16. Evade, as the truth: SKIRT.

19. Gate part: LATCH.

20. Christ the __: Rio landmark: REDEEMER.  A very famous statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

21. 400 meters, on a standard track: LAP.

22. Polite assent: YESM.  Shortened form of YES Ma'am.  What would be a polite dissent?  NOM?  Nom.

28. Write: PEN.  Noun or verb?  Verb.  T0 write something.

30. "Most likely ... ": ODDS ARE.

31. Checked thoroughly?: MATED.  A chess reference.  Checkmate.

34. Peak: ACME.  We often need to choose between ACME and APEX.

36. Irish actor Stephen: REA.   A frequent visitor.

41. Drop off: NOD.  To NOD off to sleep.  See also 38 Down.

42. Roman moon goddess: LUNA.

43. Actress Spacek: SISSY.

44. Late __: BLOOMER.

47. Shining example: GEM.

51. Former home of the Mets: SHEA.  SHEA Stadium 1964 - 2009

55. Asian festival: TET.

Tet 2017 Year of the Rooster - Photo By MM

56. Military shelter: ARMY TENT.

58. Book that's all mapped out?: ATLAS.  An ATLAS being a book of maps.

62. Southern twang: DRAWL.  What happens to Texans when they stop doing drugs?  They suffer with DRAWL.

63. Flower part: SEPAL.

64. "Happy now?": SEE.

65. Burj Khalifa's city: DUBAI.  The world's tallest building.

66. Barilla rival: PREGO.  A pasta sauce reference.

67. Hurler's stat: ERA.   A baseball reference.  Earned Run Average.

Down:

1. Georgia school whose unofficial mascot is Dooley the Skeleton: EMORY.

2. Wild brawl: MELEE.  The word's origins are French.

3. Bobrun runners: SLEDS.  BobSLEDS.

4. Bánh mì spread: PATE.

5. Marvel hero with super cool powers?: ICEMAN.  Cool as in cold as in ICE.  We shall pass on the Eugene O'Neill inspired jokes.

6. Rutabaga, e.g.: TUBER.

7. Game company featured in "Ready Player One": ATARI.

8. Spanish 101 verb: SER.  To be.

9. Christmas or Easter: ISLAND.  Nice word play.  Not Nice as in the city in France.  Nice as in pleasant.  Both Christmas and Easter are the names of holidays and ISLANDs.

10. Giraffe kin: OKAPIS.  Seen most often in crossword puzzles.

11. Quipster: WIT.  Hand up for first thinking WAG.

12. Part of a circle: ARC.

13. Ultimate power?: NTH.  A mathematics reference.  NTH can mean either unspecified or largest.

18. Disposition: TEMPER.

21. Encumbered: LADEN.

24. Date component, often: COMMA.  Not a social setting,  E.G. March 31 COMMA 2023.

25. Board game?: DARTS.  More wordplay.  Think dartboard.

26. Cookies that can illustrate phases of the moon: OREOS.  I had not thought of that. . . but OREOS are always a good guess if the clue references cookies.

27. "The Sandlot" actor Denis: LEARY.

29. D.C. clock setting during baseball season: EDT.  Eastern Daylight Time

31. Rachel Maddow's channel: MSNBC.

32. Speed skater Ohno: APOLO.  A frequent visitor.

33. Ruckuses: TODOS.

34. "Precision Crafted Performance" sloganeer: ACURA.

35. Scam: CON.  Both the clue and the answer can be used as either a noun or as a verb.

38. Dropped off: SLEPT.  See also 41 Across.

39. "Four Quartets" monogram: TSE.

40. Has as a goal: AIMS TO.

45. Parliament site in North America: OTTAWA.

46. Cereal mix: MUESLI.  This blogger's personal favorite.

47. Backpack in a locker, maybe: GYM BAG.

49. Epic bash: RAGER.  Relatively recent slang. 

50. Familiar theme: TROPE.

52. "Steppenwolf" author: HESSE.  Many here likely read the book.  About the same time we were listening to this:

Steppenwolf - 1968

53. Key in: ENTER.

54. Lost: AT SEA.  Idiomatic.

57. "Carpe diem" acronym: YOLO.  You Only Live Once

58. Do some sums: ADD.

59. Capote nickname: TRU.

60. CSI setting: LAB.  A TV show reference.  Crime Scene Investigation.  LABoratory.  Also, an abbreviated dog.

61. Unproven ability: ESP.

. . . and now it is time for ME to go

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