Thursday, July 13, 2023 Brian Callahan

 

Guess Who's Back in Town?

Today's constructor is Brian Callahan, back for his second solo appearance on the Corner, the first blogged by sumdaze on April 24, 2023.   

Brian is not a Grinch,  but he does rather deviously replace the original eponym for the following four towns with more recent and famous faux fill.  And just WHO are these displaced persons? --

16A. *Nobel-winning mathematician portrayed in "A Beautiful Mind": JOHN NASH.  NASHVILLE, Tennessee was originally named for Francis Nash (c. 1742 – October 7, 1777), a hero of the Revolutionary War.  But Brian has replaced him with the brilliant mathematician and game theorist John Forbes Nash, portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind ...

Incidentally, Nash's Nobel Prize, awarded in 1994, was for Economics for his contributions to game theory, and not for Mathematics, as there is no Nobel Prize for Mathematics.

We will return to Nashville, Tenn. when we get to clue 24D. 

23A. *"Captain America: The First Avenger" star: CHRIS EVANS.  EVANSVILLE, Indiana was originally named for General Robert Morgan EVANS (February 17, 1782 – December 14, 1842) a hero of the War of 1812.  But Brian has replaced him with Superhero Captain America, played by Chris EVANS ...
 

37A. *Gospel legend with the hit "Move On Up a Little Higher": MAHALIA JACKSON.  Andrew JACKSON, the 7th President of the United States, and the eponym supplanted in this case, has no less four American cities named for him: Jacksonville, Alabama; Jacksonville, Florida; Jacksonville, Illinois; and Jacksonville, North Carolina, so he is not quite so obscure as the others.  Brian has replaced him with Mahalia JACKSON (born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) the American gospel singer, is widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century.  Here's the clue song (lyrics)...

50A. *Tennis great for whom the ESPY Courage Award is named: ARTHUR ASHE.  In 1792, Buncombe County, North Carolina was established with a city called "Morristown" as its county seat. In 1797, that city was renamed ASHEVILLE after North Carolina Governor Samuel ASHE. 

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) started to play tennis at age six.  He was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team.   He would later win three Grand Slam singles titles and was  the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Here is a brief bio-clip about this remarkable athlete ...

Here's the reveal ...

61. Town targeted by the Grinch, and an apt description of the ends of the answers to the starred clues?: WHO-VILLE.  Whoville, sometimes written as WHO-VILLE is a fictional town created by author Dr. Seuss.  I read Brian's usage of WHO as a pronoun for the eponyms for each of the towns, all ending in VILLE, in the theme clues.  YMMV.

Here's the grid ...
 

Across:

1. Have more than a snack: DINE.

5. Fib: LIE.

8. Blind components: SLATS.

13. Four-award acronym: EGOT.

14. Far from ne'er: OFT.

15. Words: TERMS.  What this game is all about.

16. [Theme clue]

18. Website bigwig, for short: ADMIN.

19. "Raise your glass!": A TOAST.  Here's a toast ("brindiso") to a courtesan in Verdi's opera La Traviata ...

20. __-gritty: NITTY.  And here's a toast to a different character ...

22. A-lister: VIP.

23. [Theme clue]

27. Some Pac-12 athletes: UTES.

29. Green prefix: ECO.

30. Green prefix?: NEO.  Also a character in the film The Matrix ...

31. Tool with teeth: COMB.

34. Casual eatery: BISTRO.

37. [Theme clue]

41. Sheepish ones?: OVINES.  Plural 44As.

42. McFlurry cookie: OREO.  Last week we had Blizzards, this week it's McFlurry; on my birthday we had Cookies and Cream, all with this infinitely clueable confection.

43. Fellows: MEN.

44. Sheepish one?: EWE.  A singular 41A.

46. Absence: LACK.

50. [Theme clue]

55. Meditative discipline: ZEN.  ZEN is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chán School, and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism, and east to Japan, becoming Japanese Zen.

From a manuscript depicting
the bodhisattva Maitreya,
an important figure in Mahāyāna

56. Rigorous: HARSH.

57. Like bargain-basement items: ON SALE.

59. Handling brilliantly: ACING.

61. [Theme reveal]

63. Kayak kin: CANOE.

64. Arctic diving bird: AUK.  Auks are seabirds that look somewhat like penguins, but they can fly. There is an entire taxonomic family that people often refer to as “auks,” the Alcidae family. There are many different birds in the Alcidae family, including puffins, auklets, and murres, but there are only two species of “true” auks.

Auks

65. Bargain: DEAL.

66. Voices against: ANTIS.

67. "Listen!": HEY.  "Use your 68As!"

68. Good listeners?: EARS.

Down:

1. "This seems familiar" feeling: DÉJÀ  VU.  That feeling is described in a 1970 album and song of the same name Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (lyrics) ...

In his books Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation,  Children Who Remember Previous Lives, and numerous other works, University of Virginia psychiatrist Ian Stevenson has extensively documented evidence that the feeling of DÉJÀ  VU may have some basic in fact.

2. "Let me handle this": I GOT IT.

3. Pessimist's phrase: NO HOPE.

4. Volcano between Messina and Catania: ETNA.

5. Reluctant: LOATH.

6. Conditions: IFS.

7. Sharing a cultural identity: ETHNIC. 

8. Condition: STATE.

9. Insignia or LG product, for short: LED TV.

10. Colonial soldiers?: ARMY ANTS.

11. Brief "That's wildly personal": TMI.

12. Personal ID: SSN.

17. Defense advisory gp.: NSC.  National Security Council. 

21. Meteorologist's pressure line: ISOBAR.  How to read a weather chart.

24. McEntire in the Country Music Hall of Fame: REBA.  REBA Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country and gospel music singer and actress. Dubbed "the Queen of Country" [with Dolly as the "Empress" of course!], she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. She is an actress in films and television. She starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a clothing line.  Here she is with I'll Fly Away (It wouldn't surprise if she did!) ...

25. Archie's boss, in detective fiction: NERO.  NERO Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout.  Here are some reflections on the character and the stories ...

There have been many adaptations of these stories, including some in German, Russian, and Italian.  Not many of them are available on streaming services, but I did manage to find this DVD series available on Amazon.

26. In short order: SOON.

28. Digitize, in a way: SCAN.

32. Flamenco shout: OLE.

33. Scrooges: MISERS.

35. Raw-bar need: ICE.

36. "__, Vikings": Minnesota fight song: SKOL.  By request from a Vikings fan upstairs ...

37. NYC home of van Gogh's "Starry Night": MOMA.  In the Museum of Modern Art, and the inspiration for Don McLean's classic song Vincent ...

38. Assert as true: AVER.

39. Comment said with a nudge: HINT HINT.  This calls for a little Python ...

40. Trader __: JOES.  Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. It is named after its founder, Joe Coulombe. The company began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area chain known as Pronto Market convenience stores.  We shop at our local TJ's at least once a week.

45. Guitar pedal: WAH WAH .  Last week it was CAPO, this week it's the WAH WAH pedal.  You guitar geeks might find this interesting ...

47. Rhododendron variety: AZALEA.

48. Basement: CELLAR.  Or a verb meaning "to age a wine".

49. Pays respect, in a way: KNEELS.

51. Capital on the Red River Delta: HANOI.  Not this Red River, this Red River ...

Red River Delta

52. Strong desires: URGES.

53. What absent-minded students play?: HOOKY.

54. Ltr. holder: ENV.

58. __ hustle: SIDE.

59. Obama-era legislation, initially: ACA. Affordable Care Act.

60. Spam container: CAN.  Or most of my inbox.

62. Shade: HUE.  Or another Vietnamese city, this one on the Perfume River ...

Huế

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley 

Postscript:

Last Thursday was my 76th birthday and I thank C.C. for leading off a chorus of much appreciated birthday wishes from the Corner!

We were out of town all last week, one of the main reasons being to spend my birthday with my son, DIL, and a rare assembly of all eight grandchildren at Catholic Family Land in Bloomingdale, OH ...

Here's Teri, my son, and me (the gift to my left was a Shortz edition of crosswords puzzles) ...

On this trip to Ohio, we took some earlier advice from TTP who encouraged us to visit the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, OH ("The Pottery Capital of the Nation").  And we're so glad we did.  A video in the museum informed us that the English potter James Bennett established the area's first commercial pottery in 1840 and encouraged others  to immigrate to East Liverpool from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK (my Mother's home town).  James also had a brother named Edwin Bennett, who settled in Baltimore, MD and established a successful pottery there. Small world.  Thank you TTP!  Here's a picture taken by an MoC staff member of Teri and me.  She's holding a large "pot holder" (aka a "trivet") she purchased at the gift shop ...

Now let's see if I can tie all this back into today's puzzle theme:

"Prussian officer who taught American Revolutionary War soldiers close bayonet tactics": STEUBEN.   Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben is the eponym for the town of STEUBENVILLE, OH, our base of operations for all these adventures.  Were it not for the good Baron, America literally might not celebrate the Fourth of July each year:

Baron von Steuben