Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's pacer. Excuse me, recap. Our puzzle setter, Luke Schreiber has executed a pretty straightforward theme. Or is it a straightbackward theme? At four places, Luke presents us with single-word clues followed by a question mark. To answer these clues we are required to reverse the letters of the clue, place that reversed rendition at the end of the allotted squares, conjure up something that explains the reversal and then place that explanation at the head of the answer. The four themed answers are found at:
21 Across: EMIT?: TURN BACK TIME. Turn TIME backwards and you get EMIT
39 Across: LOOP?: REFLECTING POOL. POOL as seen in a mirror, or reflecting pool, will appear to be reversed. It won't read LOOP but the letters will be in that order.
52 Across: SPOT?: FLIP TOPS. Flip TOPS around and you get SPOT.
63 Across: RAW?: REVOLUTIONARY WAR. This one is a bit less straightforward but Luke has made up for that by having the answer span the entire grid.
The grid is 16 squares wide, instead of the usual 15, and the symmetry is atypical and really quite elegant in and of itself.
Here is how all of this appears in the grid:
Here are the other clues and answers:
Across:
1. Moussaka ingredient: LAMB. Eggplant was too long.
5. Harmonious church groups: CHOIRS. Singing in harmony.
11. Parachute necessity: CORD. Do not forget to pull the ripCORD.
15. Cookie with a Java Chip flavor: OREO. My niece recently sent me a link to a puzzle source and, in one of those puzzles, there was a great clue for OREO: Cookie whose clue is almost moot since you likely knew what the answer was after reading "cookie".
16. Solitary sort: HERMIT. We could go with a song by Herman's Hermits but this fits the clue pretty well:
Johnny Cash
18. Wolverine, for one: XMAN.
19. Esoteric information: ARCANA. Specialized knowledge that is mysterious to the uninitiated.
20. A few: SOME.
24. Not quite aligned: OFFSET.
OFFSET Wrenches
26. Inventor who said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work": EDISON. Thomas Alva EDISON.
29. Slugger Judge who was AP Athlete of the Year in 2022: AARON. A baseball reference.
30. Ankle-length attire: MAXI.
34. Mouthwash brand: SCOPE. Listerine was too long. Act was too short.
35. Feudal estate: FIEF.
36. Selena or Selena Gomez: LATINA. SINGER would have fit.
38. Katniss Everdeen portrayer, to fans: J LAW. a "Hunger Games" reference. The character is portrayed by Jennifer LAWrence.
42. Overhang: EAVE. EAVEs hang around our puzzles quite regularly.
43. Midwestern Native: SAUK. New to this solver. Those in the Green Bay, Wisconsin or Northern New York State areas may be more familiar with the SAUK.
44. Five-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer Ian: THORPE. Jim Thorpe, it turns out, was a member of the SAUK (aka Sac and Fox) peoples. Luke, however, has gone with Ian who is Australian.
47. Comes down hard?: SLEETS. A hard rain's a-gonna fall. Literally.
Figuratively
51. "Just a Geek" memoirist Wheaton: WIL.
57. Tate Modern filler: ART. A museum reference.
58. Verdi aria that translates to "It was you": ERI TU.
60. Lisa Halaby's royal name: NOOR. An American-born Jordanian who was the fourth wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She was Queen NOOR of Jordan from 1978 until the king's death in 1999.
61. Sunlit lobbies: ATRIA. Plural of ATRIum. Stadium / Stadia
66. Intense: KEEN. What do you call someone who really likes to talk about cereals? A KEEN oat speaker.
67. Some green sauces: PESTOS. Rarely seen pluralized.
Basil and Roasted Tomato PESTOS
68. Senate position: PAGE. Go-fers, albeit esteemed, for the senators.
69. Divisions in an outdated atlas: Abbr.: SSRS. Soviet Socialist RepublicS
70. Plumes: CRESTS.
Mount CRESTed Butte, Colorado
71. Exxon constituents?: EXES. In the middle of the word. Often clued with reference to past partners.
George Strait
Down:
1. Bagel topping: LOX.
2. Branch: ARM. The U.S. Army is a branch of the armed forces.
3. Vegetarian: MEAT FREE. A woman came up to me and said that she recognized me from the local vegetarian restaurant. This confused me as I had never met herbivore. Perhaps it was a missed steak.
4. Pot sweetener: BONUS OFFER. Hand up for trying to think of something related to poker.
5. Root words?: CHANT. As in to root for your favorite sports team.
6. Cilantro, e.g.: HERB. I really need to plant some HERBs of my own. I have been living on borrowed thyme.
7. Wolf of the sea: ORCA. They swim through our puzzles on a regular basis.
8. Apple since 1998: IMAC. Not a fruit reference.
9. Curling spot: RINK.
The Physics of Curling
10. Washington, but not Washington, D.C.: STATE. Nor George.
11. Life itself, to a crepehanger: COSMIC JOKE.
12. Recital piece for a double-reed woodwind: OBOE SOLO.
13. "Collapse Into Now" band: REM. The clue is the name of one of REM's albums.
14. Go green, perhaps: DYE. Hand up for first trying to think (overthink?) of something ecologically related.
22. Kylo __: "The Last Jedi" villain: REN. A Star Wars reference.
23. Picks out, for short: IDS. We had IDS as, IDentufieS in the puzzle that I recapped two Fridays ago.
24. Lummox: OAF. What do you call a healthcare worker who does not self isolate after contracting COVID? A Hippocratic OAF.
25. Just: FAIR. Not "Just" as in merely.
27. Iridescent gem: OPAL.
28. Not old: NEW. Now, this one is straightforward.
30. Spice cookie spice: MACE. Also, a brand of self-defense pepper spray.
31. QB stat: ATT. A football reference. Passing ATTempts.
32. Roman dozen: XII. Roman Numeral
33. Accommodating places: INNS. Places to procure accommodations for the night.
36. Flatten: LEVEL.
37. Shocked: AGASP.
40. Squiggly baby, to a sitter: LAPFUL. Nice wordplay employing babysitter and anyone who happens to be seated.
41. Radio wave-emitting star: PULSAR.
44. Dances provocatively: TWERKS. Today's let's pass on the video moment.
46. "Last Week Tonight" host John: OLIVER.
48. Swab target: EAR WAX. A Q-tip™ reference.
49. Emergency priority system: TRIAGE.
50. Unblinking looks: STARES.
53. __ Miami CF: INTER. A Major League Soccer reference.
55. Friendly horn sounds: TOOTS. As opposed to an unfriendly horn sound?
56. " ... but I could be wrong": OR NOT. "I take back everything that I just said."
59. Heavy weights: TONS. SNOT?
62. Variety: TYPE.
64. Lines at the register?: UPC. Universal Product Code aka Bar Code
65. Donkey: ASS.
Well, that will wrap things up for today. Time, now, to get my donkey back on the slopes.
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