Puzzling thoughts:
Full confession ... yours truly, Chairman Moe, was on a recent holiday visiting some of my family back east. And upon return, and with a deadline to meet for his blog, Moe is going all "Cliff Notes" with the recap. Probably not fair to Ms. Brandes and Ms. Walker, as their puzzle today had a very interesting theme and reveal ... but Moe will give it his best shot, as always ... on to the themers:
18 across. *Place that experiments with soup recipes?: PHOTO LAB. Notice, too, the TWO circles ... more about those, later
32 across. *Curling team's specialty?: PERFORMING ARTS. Notice, too, the three circles ... circles, FOUR a change - more about that in a MOE-ment
39 across. *Penalty boxes?: TEMPERATE ZONES. Notice, too, the three circles in letters seven, EIGHT, and nine (in this entry)
And the reveal? 57 across. Balances, or, phonetically, how to make 18-, 32-, and 39-Across match their clues?: EVENS OUT.
So, if you look at the circled letters in each entry they spell out "TO", "FOR", and "ATE". Each of those are the phonetic pronunciation of "TWO", "FOUR", and "EIGHT". Three "EVEN" numbers. And when you take the "EVEN (number)S OUT", the entries match their clues ... a PHO LAB might be where a soup chef - not to be confused with a "sous" chef - would experiment with different recipes and ingredients. Wonder if this guy ever experimented there??
The second entry had Moe a bit confused as his original thought about "curling" was the Olympic sport. But Wendy and Amie had other ideas ... when the letters "FOR" are removed, the "curling team" specialty is PERMING ARTS ... this, maybe?
Fittingly, to throw me off (after I thought curling was the ice rink sport), was the clue "penalty boxes?" that led to TEMPER ZONES (when the letters "A, T, and E" were erased). And as anyone who has witnessed a hockey game, the penalty box is kind of a "time out" spot for players who engaged in a brief moment of bad temper ...
Here is the completed grid; then on to the rest of the clues!
Across:
1. Tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Or if split into a two-word answer, the clue might've been: German boy's affirmative to his father?
7. Cannabis compound: THC. TetraHydroCannibanol (C21H30O2). I did a double-take here; thought it said "cannibal compound" and I was thinking "POT". How about a cannibal on cannabis?
10. Grabber in an arcade game: CLAW.
14. Out of bed: ARISEN.
15. Ingredient replaced by applesauce in some recipes: OIL. Any cooks/bakers out here who can confirm this?
16. Participated in a bike-a-thon, say: RODE.
17. Check again: RE-TEST.
20. Oscar of "Moon Knight": ISAAC. All perps for this man with two first names
21. Geological periods: EPOCHS.
22. ABBA classic: SOS.
23. Humble homes: HUTS. HOVELS wouldn't fit
25. Fate: KISMET. [vocabulary dot com] "When you encounter something by chance that seems like it was meant to be, then it could be kismet, your destiny". KISMET is also the name of a Broadway musical which debuted in my birth year
29. Trait carrier: GENE.
30. Gimlet need: GIN. [clecho alert!!] 61 across. Gimlet need: LIME
31. Spanish bear: OSO.
36. Big rig: SEMI.
37. "Montero" singer Lil __ X: NAS.
38. Employs: USES.
44. Brown, for one: IVY. This clue threw me off until the perps arrived; Brown is the name of an IVY League school located in Rhode Island
45. 128 oz.: GAL. Actress Gadot would've worked, too
46. Swag bag contents: LOOT.
47. Accept an extension: RE-SIGN. Note the hyphen, as RESIGN would mean to quit
49. "Eww!": BLEH. Glad to see that the constructors didn't use a five-letter word for this clue ...
50. Boy: LAD.
53. "Beats me!": NO CLUE. What I usually say when trying to solve a Saturday puzzle; here, at Newsday, or at NYT Crosswords
55. Boxer Ali: LAILA. She is as famous as her dad when it comes to crossword puzzle clues for Ali
60. Silverware wrap: NAPKIN. Too fancy for me; I prefer my silverware to be unwrapped
62. Old lang.: LAT. LAT is also the name of the newspaper that syndicates this puzzle
63. Cool-weather lining: FLEECE. The verb meaning is much different ... as this now decade-old Moe-l'ick suggests [a bit risque]:
A young hooker ran into a priest,
Shortly after her "John" had deceased;
She confessed, she had sinned,
But she felt no chagrin,
There were scores from his flock she had FLEECEd
64. Goad: SPUR.
65. Expected: DUE.
66. Girls: LASSES.
Down:
1. City Hemingway called "a moveable feast": PARIS. Once again, perps to the rescue
2. Defensive retort: ARE SO. AM, TOO fits
3. Flatbreads served with labneh: PITAS. Labneh is a yogurt-based spread
4. On the briny: ASEA. Crossword-ese
5. Response in the kitchen: YES, CHEF. Does this entry seem forced to you? I've not worked in a kitchen at a restaurant, so I wouldn't know if this retort is common ...
6. Pantry pest: ANT. And if not in the pantry, then surely at a picnic ...
7. Issuer of a Mickey Mantle card sold for a record amount: TOPPS. [espn dot com] "The wait is over. After more than a month of fanfare, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card with a 9.5 grade from grader SGC -- the "finest known example" of a 1952 TOPPS Mantle -- has sold with Heritage Auctions for $12.6 million including buyer's premium. It's the most ever paid for any sports item, card or memorabilia"
8. Sunny greeting: HI HO.
9. Press for time?: CLOCK IN. Clever clue
10. Symbol on the Swiss flag: CROSS.
11. "haha": LOL.
12. Poet laureate Limón: ADA. Another proper name filled by perps and a WAG
13. Part of a mitt: WEB. This; the part between the thumb and first finger:
19. Whatsis: THING.
21. Never-ending: ETERNAL.
24. __, dos, tres: UNO.
26. Code creator: MORSE. SOS is ... --- ...
27. "The Hundred Dresses" Newbery honoree Eleanor: ESTES. Another proper name
28. Shovel pass, e.g.: TOSS. Shovel pass as in football; a humorous look:
29. "Get a __!": GRIP.
30. Princess of "Enchanted" and "Disenchanted": GISELLE. Is it me or were there a bunch of obscure proper names in today's puzzle? Maybe that is a (32 down. Pet-ty offense?:) PEEVE. [Another clever clue]
33. TV awards: EMMYS.
34. Small rug: MAT.
35. May, to Peter Parker: AUNT. Spiderman reference
36. Mix things up: STIR.
40. Easy-to-make waffles: EGGOS.
41. Lost heat, as a shower: RAN COLD.
42. "Special Ops: Lioness" actress Saldaña: ZOE. [see my response to 30 down]
43. "Fan-cee!": OOH LA LA!. Like a NAPKIN-wrapped around silverware
48. __ Hebrides: INNER. Islands off of Scotland; I recently found a new single-malt Scotch whisky from the Isle of Raasay which is located in the INNER Hebrides (MalMan, please note)
49. Montana city named for a landform: BUTTE.
50. Taps a heart button, say: LIKES. An option on Facebook
51. Writer Munro: ALICE. [wikipedia dot com] "Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013"
52. Many Lego House employees: DANES. Lego building blocks were invented/created in Denmark; Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen
54. Feast with haupia and poi: LUAU.
56. Gibbons, e.g.: APES.
57. Lauryn Hill trio?: ELS. Ahh, clever; there are 3 "L's" in this clue Lauryn HiLL
58. Short "Kind of a big deal": VIP. Odd clue; but I guess a VIP is "kind of a big deal", person-wise
59. Outback bird: EMU.
60. Giants and Titans org.: NFL.
Sorry to be so brief and have no Moe-ku's or Moe-l'icks ... maybe next year ... Wishing all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas (three days from now). See you in 2024!
