The Language of Love*
Today's constructor Michael B. Berg made his debut in the New York Times just last year (be sure to read his note about how he got into the construction business). Now that he's ready for the big time (๐) he has come to teach us a little bit about romance. Some say love is a battleground -- and if it is, Michael's theme describes where it all takes place ...
16A. "Don't switch to memory foam": KEEP IT DOWN. It keeps you much warmer, and sometimes it gets hot.
25A. "Pray we can hold on to the smaller one, which is more comfortable than the king": GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. And more than that it brings lovers closer together.
42A. "Please double-stitch the new sham": MAKE A STRONG CASE. True love is the best.
The themers are all references to the boudoir of course and in this reveal Doris Day tells us all about the language spoken there ...
56A. Nighttime heart-to-heart that's taken literally in this puzzle: PILLOW TALK.
1. "General Hospital," for one: SOAP.
Jacklyn Zeman
(March 6, 1953 – May 9, 2023) portrayed nurse Bobbie Spencer on the ABC
daytime soap opera General Hospital for 45 years. Prior to that
she played Lana McClain in One Life to Live.
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| Jacklyn Zeman |
9. Bogus offer: SCAM.
13. Wheel shaft: AXLE.
14. Admit: COP TO.
15. Latin bear: URSA. MAJOR is the big one and MINOR is the little one. The tail of the little one is the NORTH STAR ...
16. [Theme clue]
18. Softball clubs: BATS. Not the ones who live in belfries. ๐
19. SASE, perhaps: ENC. Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes. Aspiring novelists buy them by the pound.
20. R&B's __ Hill: DRU. Dru Hill is an American R&B group, whose repertoire included soul, hip hop soul and gospel music. The group was founded in Baltimore in 1992 by Tamir Ruffin, and as of 2023, is still active. Dru Hill recorded seven top 40 hits, and is best known for the R&B number-one hits In My Bed, How Deep Is Your Love, and Never Make a Promise: the last a bit of R&B pillow talk ...
23. Vend: SELL.
24. Laura of the "Jurassic Park" films: DERN. Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967), who plays Dr. Ellie Sattler, is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Here are a few memorable scenes with Dr. Sattler from Jurassic Park ...
25. [Theme clue]
32. Makes the first bid: OPENS.
33. Srs.' nest eggs: IRAS.
34. Rain-__ gum: BLO. It's also available in a JUM BLO size and it doesn't lose its flavor on the bed post over night ...
36. Brunch staple: BAGEL.
38. Void partner: NULL.
39. Coastal raptor: ERN. A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ERN, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described with this label. They are also frequent flyers through crosswords puzzles ...
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| Sea Eagle or Ern |
41. HS class with a big reading list: AP LIT. Advanced Placement Literature.
42. [Theme clue]
46. Poet of ancient Rome: OVID. Publius Ovidius Naso (21 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as OVID was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. In keeping with today's theme here's a poem from Ovid's The Art Of Love: Book Two.
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| Ovid |
48. See 59-Across: BLOOMER.
51. PC file suffix: EXE.
52. Xiao long __: soup dumpling: BAO. Here's a recipe.
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| Xiao long Bao |
56. [Theme reveal]
59. With 48-Across, one who is eventually successful: LATE.
60. "Finding Dory" setting: OCEAN.
61. Peru's capital: LIMA.
62. Stretches between forces, briefly: DMZS. An outmoded concept. Nowadays the forces are fair game no matter where they're found.
63. Gender-fluid pronoun: THEY.
64. Sculpting material: CLAY. CLAY is soil composed of the dust from igneous rocks mixed with water. One of the things that can be sculpted from it is a 25D.
Down:
1. Quaff with sushi: SAKE. SAKE is a wine made from rice, water, yeast, and a mold called koji.
2. Rice paddy team: OXEN. And speaking of rice ...
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| Balinese rice farmer preparing his paddy for planting |
3. Oscar winner Guinness: ALEC. Sir Alec Guinness, CH CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English Shakespearean actor probably most famous in the US for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas' original 1977 Star Wars trilogy. But his career really began in 1946 with a series of collaborations with Director David Lean that included The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957 Oscar and BAFTA), Dr. Zhivago, and Lawrence of Arabia. In 1959, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts.
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| Sir Alec Guinness |
5. Self-contained unit: MODULE. A MODULE can be easily replaced with any unit that accepts the same inputs, produces the same outputs and has an interface compatible with the units it is intended to work. This concept is widely used in electronics and software development and simplifies development and maintenance.
6. Wall St. announcement: IPO. Initial Public Offering -- what it is and how it works.
7. Packaging meas.: NT WT. The amount that you get after the packaging is removed.
8. Signed, sealed, and delivered agreement: DONE DEAL.
9. Outback maker: SUBARU.
10. Cosmic cloud that resembles a crustacean: CRAB NEBULA. Apparently it can get pretty crabby.
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| Crab Nebula Messier 1 Hubble Telescope |
12. Sloop pole: MAST. A CSO to Jinx. See also 36D.
14. PC paste combo: CTRL-V. Pastes whatever is on the memory "clipboard". The former gets filled by highlighting a portion of text and clicking CTRL-C ("Copy").
17. Dot journal entries: IDEAS.
22. Nonelective courses, informally: REQS.
23. Nine-digit IDs: SSNS.
25. 64-Across creature of Jewish folklore: GOLEM. A GOLEM (/หษกoสlษm/ GOH-lษm; Hebrew: ืּืֹืֶื, romanized: gลlem) is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. It can be a victim or villain, man or woman—or sometimes both. Over the centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair. There has been some suggestion that the Golem was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's Gollum in the Lord of the Rings.
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| Golem |
27. Novelist who wrote the "Odd Thomas" thrillers: DEAN KOONTZ. Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list including Odd Thomas. The protagonist is a twenty-year-old short-order cook named Odd Thomas, who can communicate with the dead and helps to solve crimes.
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| Why such an odd name? |
28. Big cat in "Life of Pi": TIGER. A 2001 novel by Yann Martel about Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel from Pondicherry, India, who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger which raises questions about the nature of reality and how it is perceived and told. It's also a film adaptation directed by Ang Lee. Here's a trailer ...
29. Otto I's realm: Abbr.: HRE. The Holy Roman Empire has been described as neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.
.svg.png) |
| Holy Roman Empire circa 1512 - 1806 Superimposed over modern states |
30. New York Harbor's __ Island: ELLIS. Europe's gateway to America.
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| Ellis Island |
36. Place to watch Greyhounds: BUS DEPOT. A CSO to Zoั.
37. Actor's rep: AGT.
38. Background figures in video games, for short: NPCS. A non-player character (NPC), is any character in a video game that is not controlled by a player.[
40. Actor Corey: HAIM. Corey Ian Haim (December 23, 1971 – March 10, 2010) was a Canadian actor. He starred in a number of 1980s films, such as Silver Bullet (1985), Murphy's Romance (1985), and Lucas (1986). Haim's early success led to money and fame. He had difficulty breaking away from the trauma of his experience as a child actor and was troubled by drug addiction throughout his adult life. He died of pneumonia on March 10, 2010.
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| Corey Haim |
43. Conjures: EVOKES.
44. Beck album with the single "Where It's At": ODELAY. Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck (not to be confused with the binonymous Jeff Beck born in 1944 ๐) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Beck rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style. This is "Where It's At" ...
45. President who resigned in 1974: NIXON.
48. Daring: BOLD.
49. Actor Neeson: LIAM. William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed seventh on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
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| Liam Neeson |
52. Cut out early: BAIL.
53. __ mater: ALMA.
54. Approve: OKAY.
57. Director Spike: LEE. A common surname among movie directors.
58. "Waterfalls" trio: TLC. TLC is an American girl group formed in 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The group's best-known line-up was composed of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. The group enjoyed success during the 1990s, with nine top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number-one singles: Creep, No Scrubs, Unpretty and Waterfalls ...
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
* This review is dedicated to the memory of Professor Keith Fowler, who loved language, Shakespeare, acting, crossword puzzles, and diagonals.
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| OMK |
