Uncanny Valleys
An uncanny valley is a robot eerily too close to human likeness. Masahiro Mori (of Tokyo Institute of Tech) coined the phrase in the early '70's but I think The Twilight Zone (the one w/ a Robot Mom [that's your cue CED - find us the episode if you're over Covid]) beat him to the punch by 20(ish) years.Todays' offering by August contains three (3) four-letter synonyms for valleys. But, with circles in the grid, they are not terribly hidden. The only thing uncanny is WADI - I don't recall hearing that word [see: 47a - not a good Bible reader, me].
Let's check out the Themers...
19. High price to pay, metaphorically: AN ARM AND A LEG.
29. Star cluster that resembles a bird of prey: EAGLE NEBULA. Messier-16 (who'd love to see crosswords expand to include numbers?) didn't fit.
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| Looks like a Klingon Bird of Prey decloaking. Source |
47. Health regimen modeled on the cuisine of Japan's Ryukyu Islands: OKINAWA DIET. New to me: "The Okinawa diet gets its name from the traditional eating style of those living on Japan’s Okinawa island. The diet is low-calorie and carb-based typically, but today consists of more protein and fat." Also new to me, WADI: "a valley that is dry except in the rainy season" It's Arabic and (according to the internet) in the Bible 11 times.
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| A wadi |
And the reveal:
53. Salad dressing brand, and a feature of 19-, 29-, and 47-Across?: HIDDEN VALLEY.
Across:
1. Athletic brand that shares its name with a big cat: PUMA. My ankle-socks are Pumas. Get 6 pair for ~25 bucks at Amazon.
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| Over the ankle socks. |
5. Cold desert in Asia: GOBI.
9. "Shucks!": DARN.
13. Asked for proof of age, say: IDED. "Papers Please," said the bouncer.
14. Admissions hurdle: EXAM.
15. "Let's Dance" singer David: BOWIE. Musical interlude.
R.I.P David Bowie
16. Like 9-Downs: TO GO. We'll get to DOGGY BAG in a bit.
17. Semester: TERM.
18. Super cool digs?: IGLOO.
19. [See: Theme]
22. Bell bottoms option: LEES. Lee brand jeans. I think Mom dressed me in bell bottoms when I was 6yrs old #Bicentenial #'76.
23. Pudge on an infant: BABY FAT. I was a little FAT spaghetti eatin' BABY.
//Mom has a picture of me fast asleep in my spaghetti.
27. Eclectic musician Brian: ENO.
29. [See: Theme]
32. Oscar nod, briefly: NOM. NOMination.
33. Key mistake?: TYPO. Cute.
34. "Shucks!": DRAT IT. Um, yeah, not what I exclaim.
35. Letting in a draft, maybe: AJAR.
37. Part of the "Law & Order" franchise, familiarly: SVU. Special Victim's Unit. IIRC, we had this last Wednesday.
39. Blow hard: GUST. Cute.
40. Mediterranean microstate: MONACO.
43. One-named Irish singer: ENYA.
46. Tuna roll topping: ROE. Wait for 55d...
47. [See: Theme]
49. Cease: END.
50. Screamed, perhaps: REACTED. Eek!
51. "One __ at a time": STEP. "Day" was too short.
53. [See: Theme]
58. Guiding belief: CREDO.
61. "Out! Out!": SHOO.
62. Made it: CAME. Do I link Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It"? Um, no :-)
//Did you know he wrote the "Like a Good Neighbor" jingle for State Farm? I heard that on NPR's Fresh Air last week.
63. "Hadestown" playwright Mitchell: ANAIS.
//Youngest knows the musical.
64. Lawsuit basis: TORT.
65. Cash for cards: ANTE. Deal me in.
66. Bend out of shape: WARP. Or what you have to do to space-time to go WARP Factor 8. #StarTrek
67. Boo-boo: OWIE. A "B" short of 15a.
68. Covert convo start: PSST.
Down:
1. Bread with tzatziki: PITA. Food!
2. Japanese soup noodle: UDON. More food!
3. Grandiose delusions: MEGALOMANIA.
4. Really dig: ADORE.
5. Have one's voice heard: GET A SAY.
6. Beasts that pulled covered wagons: OXEN.
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| (people of a certain age get it) |
7. Avon product?: BARD. Cute Shakespeare reference.
8. Third No. 1 hit for the Black Eyed Peas: IMMA BE. Do I offend your (and my) auditory sense? No, HG did that Saturday with his link when it appeared in Ryan's grid.
9. Stuffed diner's request: DOGGY BAG. 16a - TO GO.
10. Piercing tool: AWL.
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| Pokie tools |
11. Kia model: RIO.
12. Recent prefix: NEO.
15. "Sorry" singer Justin: BIEBER. Oy! I know he's Canadian so probably a nice kid but... #noLink
20. __ and greet: MEET. #CorpHappyHour (I'm awful at these things until a 2nd beer)
21. Get, as a job: LAND. And then you have to go to [see: above]
24. "Where do you see yourself in five years" subject: FUTURE PLANS. Oy! That's an interview question before LANDing a gig. I must be a drifter 'cuz I can mostly plan for ~6 months ahead but life seems to take me where it goes. //Tell God your plans and s/he'll giggle (or something like that).
25. Brie of "Community": ALISON. This fill made me think of The Lemonheads who I saw at Bricktown Brewery in OKC in the '90s .
Alice is Starting to Happen
26. Heavily inked: TATTED. My (Army) Bro is tat'd up chest, shoulders, & back. Peed himself on his first tat, he did :-)
27. Utterly charm: ENAMOR.
28. "I swear!": NO JOKE. Anyone else hear Joe Biden's voice in the fill?... "No joke, folks. This is for real." :-)
30. Apple Maps tech: GPS. Global Positioning System. A group of satellites orbiting in Medium Earth Orbit. Read more.
31. Really dug: LOVED. If you missed last Wednesday (or many of my posts), I really dig RUSH.
36. Party bowlful from 53-Across: RANCH DIP. Hidden Valley makes a decent RANCH DIP but I like my crudités bare or with hummus.
38. College, to Brits: UNI. I learned this from BBC programmes.
41. Open-air enclosures for some pets: CATIOS. Portmanteau of Cat & Patio (I assume(?))
42. Had to pay: OWED. Oy! I just got my Christmas Amex bill. I guess I'll be back in the office come January.
44. Political endorsement: YES VOTE.
45. Poori flour: ATTA. We've had it enough in the fill, I should remember it by now.
48. Lengthens: ADDS TO.
52. Yosemite peak, familiarly: EL CAP. El Capitan - a big rock in Yosemite. I've seen it IRL and have no clue why folks would try to free-solo it.
Totally Mental!
54. DIY site: E-HOW.
55. Tuna roll wrap: NORI. Basically, seaweed. Nori is red alga (green when dried); Wakame (why am I giving constructors ideas?!?)/kelp is brown. Nori provides a wonderful chew in a sushi roll or around unagi (eel).
56. 911 responders: Abbr.: EMTS. Did we need Abbr. after 911? Emergency Medical Technicians.
//Story: In the Army Reserves, I was with a field medical unit. Many of the nurses worked their day-job as EMTs. Being a 92B (medical lab tech), during training exercises, I oft played the victim that needed care. I learned more about first aid than I ever did in Boy Scouts.
Oooh, wait... More story: One of our Scout Masters tried to show us how to fell a tree. We'd already notch'd it pretty good. His first axe swing bounced out of the notch and straight into his ankle; I took a woodchip out of his wound (I knew I really wasn't supposed to do that but it seemed the right thing at the time).
We used our cravats to stop the beading, built a stretcher out of branches and our shirts, and hiked his butt out of the woods. Later that night we had to treat him (again) for shock and send him back to the (remote-a**) hospital.
////Too graphic? -- imagine if you were 11yrs old!
57. Chuck, slangily: YEET. Someone under 30yrs-old, please explain. I only know YEET as excitement or Whoot!
//Youngest (first-read editor) knew this as "to throw." She said it is a thing and then giggled at me.
Then, my Angel Editor let me know that Merriam-Webster added it to the dictionary in 2022 as toss forcefully with the usage: "We just don't yeet it into the dictionary the first time we encounter it." [Cite]
58. Cry from a crow: CAW.
59. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA. mRNA technology is pretty magic, what, with telling your cells how to identify bad proteins. I just hope the tech doesn't go all I Am Legend on us.
Spoiler: a vaccine turns people into night stalking Zombies and Will Smith
hunts for the antidote while trying to stay alive.
60. Unit of corn: EAR.
The Grid:
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| The Grid |
WO: open->AJAR
ESPs: IMMA BE (I did this puzzle b/f Sat's), ANAIS, ALISON, ATTA, and YEET as clued.
Fav: I'll go with David BOWIE and leave you with him & Mick.
Dancing in the Streets
Well, that was fun. You now have 4 days to bake cookies & pour milk for Santa and get some carrots* (with hummus) for the reindeer.
Cheers, -T
*nibble 'em like a squirrel might to mess with your (grand?)children's little brains come Christmas morning :-)
