It's What We Do
Anybody who has worked in IT will tell you that if a program exhibits a new bug the first question you ask is "What changed?". And if constructor Catherine Cetta's theme for this puzzle bugged you, you need to do the same thing -- or as she puts it in her reveal fill you need to find the ...
58A. Modern innovator, and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues: CHANGE AGENT.
Each of the themers contains a word that causes change. In some cases it's more than one word ...
16A. *Period of connectivity that began in the 1990s: INTERNET AGE. We all know that AGE changes us, but even more than that it could certainly be argued that the INTERNET AGE is the most powerful change agent in recent times, beginning in 1965 and accelerating today at an ever increasing pace ...
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The Internet |
36. *"Let me stop you right there": DON'T GET ANY IDEAS. IDEAS are among the most powerful change agents and are the basis for many of humanity's innovations, including the sciences, technologies such as the Internet, philosophy, religion, and the arts. Here are some thinkers having IDEAS ...
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The Thinkers Baltimore Museum of Art |
22A. *Place for navel gazers?:ORANGE TREE.
I suppose these mostly just maintain the status quo, but as we saw last
Thursday, they help supply us with the oxygen we need to keep going,
and their roots change each another.
47A`. *Power source for some superheroes?:
MUTANT GENE. One of the most common causes of GENE MUTATIONS are called frame shift errors, where the enzymes reading a DNA sequence for a particular gene lose count of the DNA triplets that code for one of amino acids that comprise the protein being synthesized.
A
similar error can occur with humans when they miss the frame of
reference for a comment made by someone else. My favorite example of
this is in the 2009 film FRAMED, where the curator of the London Art Museum (played by Trevor Eve) interprets a comment by a young Welsh lad who is referring to DONATELLO (one of the Teenage MUTANT Ninja Turtles) not DONATELLO
(the Renaissance artist!). I've posted this before, but I'm posting
it again for the benefit of any of you who haven't seen this delightful
film ...*
Here's the grid ...
Across:
1. Stoppers: PLUGS.
6. Facebook verb: LIKE.
10. Food writer Drummond: REE. AKA the Pioneer Woman. Here she is just in time for some Spooky Halloween Brownies -- don't be afraid to try them ...
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| Hanoi Opera House |
15. Sargasso Sea spawner: EEL. I always thought this was a myth.
.
16. [Theme clue]
18. Maven: PRO.
19. Paper cutters: SCISSORS. But ROCKS break them. But PAPER covers rocks.
20. Send via UPS or USPS: SHIP.
21. Billie Eilish's "All the Good Girls Go to __": HELL.
22. [Theme clue]
26. Actress Jessica who co-founded The Honest Company: ALBA. Jessica ALBA was inspired by the 2008 birth of her first child and her own history of childhood illnesses to create The Honest Company, a an enterprise that provides an alternative to baby products with ingredients such as petrochemicals and synthetic fragrances. The company was launched in 2012 with 17 products and in 2021 it had revenues of 318.6 million.
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Jessica Alba |
29. Sprang up: AROSE.
32. Firm: Abbr.: CORP.
33. __ Lanka: SRI. The actual filming locale for the great series the Good Karma Hospital, which was set in India. Sadly this show has has ended its run, but you can still stream it.
36. [Theme clue]
40. Dead __ Scrolls: SEA. This unabridged video (19 min.) is for all the kids on the Corner who haven't yet discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew w/English subtitles) ...
41. Iraq neighbor: IRAN. IRANIAN activist Narges Mohammadi, who is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence protesting injustices in her country, was recently awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all".
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| Narges Mohammadi 2023 Peace Prize Nobelist |
43. "McSorley's Bar" painter: SLOAN. Apparently John Sloan spent a lot of time in this bar between 1912 and 1930 as he did a total five paintings of the place during that time. McSorley's Old Ale House, located in the East Village, Manhattan, opened in 1854 and you can still have a drink there today ...
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McSorley's Bar John Sloan, 1912 |
45. Fed. food stamper: USDA. U. S. Department of Agriculture
47. [Theme clue]
50. Helen of Troy's mother: LEDA. Here's their story, the origin of a series of events that led to the Trojan War ...
54. The Grand Ole __: OPRY. Musical opportunities in this puzzle are pretty slim picking, so I thought a little pickin' by the Hillbilly Thomists, live at the Grand Ole OPRY, might be nice. Here they are sippin', pickin', and preachin' about Bourbon, Bluegrass and the Bible ...
55. Places for hoops and studs: EAR LOBES. No, not places for tall men.
57. "__ to Dirt": Sharon Olds poem: ODE. Hear her give praise for the substance that gives us clay and soil.
58. [Theme reveal].
61. "Long," in Hawaiian: LOA. I didn't know this.
62. Cola with a red, white, and blue logo: PEPSI.
63. Sip: NURSE.
64. Inquire: ASK.
65. Avant-garde: ARTY. Websters defines ARTY as "showily or pretentiously artistic". "Avant-garde" may be an adjective for"cutting edge" or a noun describing change agents, especially in the arts -- people like Salvador Dali, Igor Stravinsky, or T. S. Eliot. But eventually they are accepted and pave way for the next generation.
66. Dissuade: DETER.
Down:
1. Lure with false emails: PHISH.
2. Jousting weapon: LANCE. Maryland's State Sport ...
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Jousting |
4. Brings up the rear: GOES LAST. The "derriere-garde", who protect the rear flank.
5. Knight titles: SIRS.
6. Mucho: LOTSA.
7. Three-time French Open winner Swiatek: IGA. IGA Natalia Świątek (born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for 75 weeks. Świątek is a four-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 2020, 2022, and 2023 and the US Open in 2022. She is the first player representing Poland to win a major singles title. She has won a total of 15 WTA Tour-level titles.
_(48199020336).jpg) |
| Iga Świątek 2019 French Open |
8. Barrel of beer: KEG.
9. Word with wash or wear: EYE.
10. Said another way: REPHRASED.
11. Like a haunted house: EERIE. It's only 19 days until All Hallows Eve! -- make some Spooky Halloween Brownies for the trick-or-treaters (see 10A)
12. Get to "I do" without the ado: ELOPE.
14. Utterer of "Yogi-isms": BERRA. Lawrence Peter "Yogi" BERRA
(May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional
baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He
played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all
but the last for the New York Yankees.While Yogi Berra’s role in the
history of baseball is immeasurable, his ongoing legacy rests also on his enormous contributions to the American language.
His so-called Yogi-isms – the unique and witty observations he became
famous for – made him a major contributor to the national repository of
wisdom, a source cited more often than Shakespeare (in the US at least) ...
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| Here's YOGI practicing some of his verbal ASANAS |
20. Messy room: STY.
23. Glowing gas: NEON. For years this neon sign dominated the skyline of the Baltimore Harbor. But things change.
24. "The Far Side" cartoonist Larson: GARY. GARY Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended with Larson's retirement on January 1, 1995. Here are 15 of the funniest The Far Side comics that will never get old.
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| Gary Larson |
25. Spotted: ESPIED.
27. American __: veterans' group: LEGION. The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It comprises state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, in turn,
made up of local posts. The organization was formed on March 15, 1919,
in Paris, France, by a thousand officers and men of the American
Expeditionary Forces and it was chartered on September 16, 1919, by the United States Congress. Veterans Day this year will be Saturday, Nov 11.
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| Official Website |
30. Caviar: ROE.
31. Racking up wins: ON A STREAK.
32. Soda container: CAN.
34. "Insecure" actress Issa: RAE. She got over her insecurities and eventually became President ...
35. Leb. neighbor: ISR.
37. Q.E.D. part: ERAT.
38. Sharp flavor: TANG. TANG is also the name of a Chinese Dynasty that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. The period is especially noted for its ceramics and for the invention of vitrified porcelain. Below is an inexpensive reproduction of an iconic Tang Dynasty horse that I purchased when my son and I visited China to adopt our grandson. A premium pair of originals sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for almost $4.2 million. I spotted this one on a shelf up near the ceiling in a dusty little shop in Guangzhou and when I beckoned to the clerk to get it down for me he said somewhat nervously "You know it's not an original right?". I assured him that I did!
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| Tang Dynasty horse |
44. __ of the land: LAY.
45. Dragon roll ingredient: UNAGI. If you don't like raw fish you can always try UNAGI, which is a type of sushi made with cooked EEL.
46. Desertlike: SERE. I doubt that the Atacama Desert has become any less SERE since last Thursday.
47. Bucks: MOOLA.
48. Beehives and some buns: UPDOS. If you're considering tying the knot, here are 11 UPDOS for doing it ...
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UPDOS |
51. Film critic Roger: EBERT. Roger Joseph EBERT ( June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. This site has reviews of the movies that led he and his buddy Gene Siskel to get into the review business and this site has Roger's Top 10 Movies of All Time. Both of them get my 👍👍.
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| Roger Ebert |
53. Starlike flower: ASTER.
56. Arrive at the airport safely: LAND. The feeling you get when you LAND safely (sorry, I couldn't resist) ...
58. IRS form expert: CPA. 1040 Good Buddy!
59. She/__ pronouns: HER.
60. Fitting: APT. I think this is an APT point to end this review ...
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
