Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, Jon Pennington

Theme: 

 

Dearly beloved,
We are gathered here today,
To get through this thing called life.

20. Orange-yellow hue in 1970s kitchens: HARVEST GOLD.

30. Place to purchase Pixel phones: GOOGLE STORE.

46. Make drowsy with a lullaby: SING TO SLEEP.

55. First track on Prince's "Purple Rain," and a hint to each set of circled letters: LET'S GO CRAZY.

CRAZY is a clue that the circled letters are anagrams of LET'S GO.

Story Behind The Song: Prince’s religious appeal, ‘Let’s Go Crazy!’

Across:

1. Caterer's coffee servers: URNS.

5. Golden Rule preposition: UNTO. Do unto others ...

9. Green pasta sauce: PESTO. Recipe.

14. Hammer or sickle: TOOL.

15. Amphibian that can regrow an appendage: NEWT. They can regenerate parts of their tails, jaws, ears, hearts, spines, eyes and brains.

16. Was sore: ACHED.

17. Much of an atlas: ASIA. Nice clue.

18. Way out: EXIT.

19. Unceasingly: NO END.

23. Aliens, for short: ETS. Extra Terrestrials. life which may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth.

24. [Error in original text]: SIC. Adverb. Used in brackets after a copied or quoted word that appears odd or erroneous to show that the word is quoted exactly as it stands in the original, as in a story must hold a child's interest and “enrich his [sic] life” or a hero of antient [sic] Rome.

25. Mapmaker's right: EAST.

 27. Crockpot topper: LID.

36. People of Pennsylvania's Lancaster County: AMISH.

38. Taxing trip: TREK.

39. Way off: AFAR.

40. Come-from-behind victory, perhaps: UPSET.

41. Coastal inlet: RIA. A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. 

42. Curly-tailed watchdog: AKITA.

43. Venison: DEER.

44. Chums: PALS.

45. Splinter groups: SECTS.

49. Bull's-__: EYE.

50. Many a techie: GEEK.

51. Karaoke aid: MIC.

53. "I've got it!": AHA.

62. Kingly: REGAL.

64. Pound or kilogram: UNIT.

65. Flute's orchestral neighbor: OBOE. See flute and oboe in the third row from the top?

66. French pancake: CREPE.

67. Church area with pews: NAVE.

68. Underhanded plan: PLOT.

69. Feast with bitter herbs: SEDER.

70. Got older: AGED.

71. Cargo hauler: SEMI.

Down:

1. Home of the Bonneville Salt Flats: UTAH. The famous salt flats stretch for over 30,000 acres and are found just west of Great Salt Lake. They are are a remnant of Lake Bonneville, which covered over one-third of Utah from 10,000 to 32,000 years ago.

2. Civil rights icon Parks: ROSA.

3. Pinot __: NOIR.

4. Some Balkans: SLAVS.

5. World Heritage Site gp.: UNESCO. Wikipedia: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture.

6. On deck: NEXT.

7. Snappable stick: TWIG.

8. "Homeland" actress Miranda: OTTO. Also known for Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings.

9. Stuffed critters given to some medal winners at the Beijing Olympics: PANDAS.

10. Writer Umberto: ECO. Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar first and a novelist later. He said he considers himself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. He wrote many novels that are considered classics today, including The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum, and Baudolino.

11. Floe, e.g.: SHEET OF ICE.

12. Pup shelter?: TENT.  A pup tent is so named because it is smaller in size than a standard tent, similar to how a puppy is smaller than an adult dog. The name “pup tent” likely originated from military use, where smaller tents were used for individual soldiers or a small group.

13. __ and ends: ODDS.

21. Cube root of 512: EIGHT.

22. Potato and __ soup: LEEK.

26. Anti-vampire weapon: STAKE. Vampire stakes.

27. Exalts: LAUDS.

28. Louvre Pyramid architect: IMPEI. 10 Things you did not know about Louvre Pyramid by I.M. Pei

29. Tuned out: DISENGAGED.

31. Others, in Spanish: OTRAS.

32. Cook over coals: GRILL. It's that time of year! 50 Best Grilling Recipes for Summer

33. Renter's contract: LEASE.

34. Shabby: RATTY.

35. Totally remove: ERASE.

37. Twilled fabric: SERGE. Serge is a type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both inner and outer surfaces via a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suits, greatcoats, and trench coats. Its counterpart, silk serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety.

42. Gelatinous tomato dish: ASPIC. I usually see ASPIC made with beef stock, rather tha=- tomato.

44. Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish: POKE. Yum.

47. Penn's silent partner: TELLER.

48. Was melodramatic: EMOTED.

52. Farmer's concerns: CROPS.

53. Rainbow shapes: ARCS.

54. "Present!": HERE.

56. Traditional fish in 44-Down: TUNA.

57. Cardigan problem: SNAG.

58. Donate: GIVE.

59. Start of a classic palindrome: ABLE. “Able was I ere I saw Elba.” Contrary to popular believe, Napoleon did not say this. Hhere are some cool Napoleonic anagrams and puns here though.

60. Videoconferencing platform: ZOOM.

61. Creature of Sherpa folklore: YETI.

63. Donkey Kong, e.g.: APE.

 

 

Note from Melissa bee: Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, and a belated happy birthday to you, Waseely - I don't get to the blog as often as I'd like to stay caught up. Sixty has been looming so large in my head I actually rushed things and told several people that I turned 60 last week. A dear friend (who was born the same year as I) corrected me, and now I feel like I have a free year!