Much A DO about Cheveux
This is Baylee Devereaux's 3rd visit to the Corner, the last reviewed by sumdaze on January 30, 2023. Some of you will have already noticed that there are circles in this puzzle, and for those who see them as unneeded, I decided make it easier for you to solve by removing them from the grid, comme ça ...
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Today's grid sans circles |
63A. Elegant hairstyle, as given by clues 17-, 30-, and 47-Across?: FRENCH TWIST.
Without all that clutter solving the themers should now be a piece of cake ...
17. Man in 1990s hip-hop fashion?: HAMMER PANTS. Named for the
eponymous M C Hammer?
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Hammer Pants |
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... send the kids outside |
47. Dog in a classic drawing game?: PICTIONARY. This one was really easy...
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All you have to do is picture it! |
... and suddenly the reveal started to make sense ...
63. Elegant
hairstyle, and what the circled letters give to 17-, 30-, and 47-Across?:
FRENCH TWIST.
... all three of
the actual themers were 5 letter
mots Français that twisted
UP and
DOWN (or
DOWN and
UP) above and below the FAUX themers (those referenced in the
reveal). They provide today's French lesson, spelled respectively ...
HOMME: "Man in 1990's hip-hop fashion?"
ECOLE: "School in a recreational vehicle?"
CHIEN: "Dog
in a classic drawing game?"
... very clever (and hard to construct I bet). And to think that I nearly missed it! The moral of
this saga is that circles are sometimes useful and may even be necessary
to solve a crossword puzzle, or at the very least to understand the theme. 😀
Most of the rest of the clues are lot easier, except for 1A ...
Across:
1. Market leader?: GROCER.
I got this answer only with the help of perps. The word "leader"
usually implies a prefix or perhaps the start of a meta-clue. After 2
or 3 false starts I gave up trying to figure out what the clue had to do
with a GROCER and googled it -- "A market leader
could be a product, brand, company, organization, group name which has
the highest percentage of total sales revenue of a particular market. The market leader dominates the market by influencing the customer loyalty towards it, distribution, pricing, etc." - indiatimes.com. I don't get it. Any ideas?
11. Borrow, but not really: BUM. At the very end of this Beatles classic John Lennon tries to BUM a cigarette. Listen for it ...
14. Mexican state on the Gulf of California: SONORA. SONORA -- officially the Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (English: Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. Looks like it's right down the road from Lucina and the Chairman ...
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| Pilates"All Fours" Exercise |
17. [Theme clue]
19. Donkey: ASS.
20. "Uncut Gems" actor Sandler: ADAM. Tomato Meter 91%, Audience Score 52%. Capsule reviews and a trailer (movie rated R, trailer PG (language)) ...
21. AirPod locale: EAR.
22. Loathes: HATES.
24. "Umbrella" singer, to fans: RIRI. As in Rhianna . Here's her song ...
25. Device that forms the "I" in the Pixar logo: LAMP. It wasn't always a LAMP.
29. Annoyance: PEST.
30. [Theme clue].
33. Pronoun choice: SHE.
35. Poker do-overs: REDEALS.
36. Scottish cap: TAM. Only $165, with free shipping ...
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| Scottish Tam |
41. Pt. of OED: ENG. Oxford English Dictionary.
42. Change one's locks?: DYE.
43. One on a shopping spree: SPENDER.
45. Lunar New Year: TET. 2024 is the Year of the Dragon which is especially lucky. Our soon to be born Vietnamese great-nephew will be doubly blessed!
47. [Theme clue]
50. When repeated, "Great speech!": HEAR. HEAR, HEAR is also a song by Atmosphere.
54. "Heavenly!": AHH. Short for ALLELUIA?
55. CBS Sports NFL analyst Tony: ROMO. Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers, where he made an Ohio Valley Conference championship appearance in 2001 and won the Walter Payton Award the following year. Romo signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003.
56. Hayworth of the silver screen: RITA. RITA Hayworth
(born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an
American actress. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top
stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films in total
over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe
Hayworth after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the
1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II. Here's a
dance number she performs as femme fatale Gilda,, perhaps her most famous role ...
57. Clear: ERASE.
59. "... and many more," for short: ETC.
61. Josh Gad's "Frozen" voice role: OLAF. OLAF is the snowman, who is of course literally -- "Frozen" ...
62. Yang partner: YIN. Yin and yang comprise a concept that originated in Chinese philosophy, describing opposite but interconnected, mutually perpetuating forces. The technology of yin and yang is the foundation of critical and deductive reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Confucian influenced traditional Chinese medicine. The "complementarity" of these two concepts has also resonated in the West, especially among scientists. The great Danish quantum physicist Niels Bohr even used it in the design of his family crest.
63. [Theme reveal]
67. L.L. Bean rival: REI. The door handles to every Recreational Equipment, Inc. store are ice axes. Here's the story.
68. __ chain: FOOD.
69. Detritus from the Digital Revolution: EWASTE. The e-waste problem has overwhelmed waste management protocols. Here's a look at how electronic waste has impacted the entire globe.
70. "Didn't mean to open that" key: ESC. It can mean other things as well.
71. Princes, e.g.: SONS. Nice clue.
72. Instrument near the end of the dictionary: ZITHER. The poster child for the ZITHER is the Johann Strauss Jr waltz Tales from the Vienna Woods ...
Down:
1. Seventh note in the A major scale: G SHARP. Not being a musician, and not being able to suss 1A (see above), I eventually had to look it up. Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 was written in A Major and Richard Wagner called it "the apotheosis of the dance". Here's the enchanting 2nd movement Allegretto, which you might recognize from its frequent use in movies and TV ...
2. Touring technician: ROADIE.
3. Really, really out there: ON MARS. Elon Musk is committed to colonizing MARS. We can all rest easier when he's really, really out there.
4. Goes all in: COMMITS.
5. Sonnet preposition: ERE.
6. Not so common: RARE.
7. Hieroglyph critter: SCARAB. SCARABS are beetle-shaped amulets and impression seals which were widely popular throughout ancient Egypt. They still survive in large numbers today. Through their inscriptions and typology, they prove to be an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world, and represent a significant body of ancient Egyptian art.
8. Snookums: HON.
9. Work on a wall: ART. This one is on the wall of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
10. Fit well together: MESH.
11. Huge amount: BOATLOAD. It's amazing the things you discover when you are annotating crossword puzzles.
12. Improper: UNSEEMLY. The Corner review team tries to avoid UNSEEMLY annotations, but some of us are EDGIER than others. 😁
13. Knotty tangle: MESS. Probably the most tangled MESS in history was the legendary Gordian Knot, undone by Alexander the Great with a single stroke of genius. The story was memorialized in a lost Restoration play, but the incidental music by Henry Purcell still survives. Here are two movements from the suite ...
18. __ Alto, California: PALO. Palo Alto (Spanish for 'tall stick') is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. It's also the home of the HP Garage and the birthplace of the term "Silicon Valley".
23. Ibuprofen target: ACHE.
26. Swampy spot: MIRE. This clue is all wet!
27. More than one needs: PLENTY. [No politics Bill. No politics.]
30. Streaker in the sky: METEOR. These streakers periodically fly by Earth in relatively large numbers called meteor showers. If you are blessed with skies unpolluted by light (or the streaks from Elon Musk's Starlink network) you may be able to photograph them. Here are some tips for doing that.
31. Lip: EDGE.
32. Denver-to-Wichita dir.: ESE.
34. "__ only known ... ": HAD I. We should always act as if we had. A song by Reba McEntire ...
36. Cookbook meas.: TSP.
37. Where busy bees buzz: APIARIES. What is an Apiary, and Why Are 2 Hives Better Than 1?
38. Pit crew member: MECHANIC.
40. Cube creator Rubik: ERNO. A Rubik’s Cube is an interesting puzzle invented by ERNO Rubik, which has 43 quintillion possible configurations. But with the use of certain algorithms, it can be solved easily. There are many variations of the Rubix cube nowadays but the most basic one is the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube. Here's how to solve it. Hand up if you were ever addicted to these?
44. Unspecified degrees: NTHS.
46. Try to bean: THROW AT. Watch Mr. Bean THROW sponges AT the Headmaster!
48. Makes right: AMENDS.
49. College military org.: ROTC.
51. "What Was I Made For?" singer Billie: EILISH. Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows. She and her brother were nominated for an Oscar for their song What Was I Made For, written for the soundtrack to the movie Barbie -- and this just in -- they won!
I had originally illustrated this clue with a scene from the movie, where Barbie has left the doll's world and entered the real world where she encounters an old woman at a bus stop -- very existential.
52. One small sip: A TASTE.
53. Roof timber: RAFTER.
57. "Reader, I married him" governess: EYRE. The first line of the last chapter of Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Brontë. Tracy Chevalier, novelist and author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, tells us why this quote is so famous.
58. Flunking grades: EFFS.
60. Bistro awning word: CHEZ. Did this one TWIST its way out of the grid? 😀
64. Youngster in the Hundred Acre Wood: ROO. Here's ROO in his mother KANGA's pouch. They live in the Hundred Acre Wood with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends.
65. Ages and ages: EON.
66. Bi- equivalent: TWI. The Wiki tells us that TWI is a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. I suspect however that this may also be a slang appropriation, coding for something else. 😀
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Pi Day everybody!
55. CBS Sports NFL analyst Tony: ROMO. Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers, where he made an Ohio Valley Conference championship appearance in 2001 and won the Walter Payton Award the following year. Romo signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003.
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| Tony Romo |
57. Clear: ERASE.
59. "... and many more," for short: ETC.
61. Josh Gad's "Frozen" voice role: OLAF. OLAF is the snowman, who is of course literally -- "Frozen" ...
62. Yang partner: YIN. Yin and yang comprise a concept that originated in Chinese philosophy, describing opposite but interconnected, mutually perpetuating forces. The technology of yin and yang is the foundation of critical and deductive reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Confucian influenced traditional Chinese medicine. The "complementarity" of these two concepts has also resonated in the West, especially among scientists. The great Danish quantum physicist Niels Bohr even used it in the design of his family crest.
67. L.L. Bean rival: REI. The door handles to every Recreational Equipment, Inc. store are ice axes. Here's the story.
69. Detritus from the Digital Revolution: EWASTE. The e-waste problem has overwhelmed waste management protocols. Here's a look at how electronic waste has impacted the entire globe.
 |
| Apparently the biggest problem is cellphones |
70. "Didn't mean to open that" key: ESC. It can mean other things as well.
71. Princes, e.g.: SONS. Nice clue.
72. Instrument near the end of the dictionary: ZITHER. The poster child for the ZITHER is the Johann Strauss Jr waltz Tales from the Vienna Woods ...
Down:
1. Seventh note in the A major scale: G SHARP. Not being a musician, and not being able to suss 1A (see above), I eventually had to look it up. Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 was written in A Major and Richard Wagner called it "the apotheosis of the dance". Here's the enchanting 2nd movement Allegretto, which you might recognize from its frequent use in movies and TV ...
2. Touring technician: ROADIE.
3. Really, really out there: ON MARS. Elon Musk is committed to colonizing MARS. We can all rest easier when he's really, really out there.
4. Goes all in: COMMITS.
5. Sonnet preposition: ERE.
6. Not so common: RARE.
7. Hieroglyph critter: SCARAB. SCARABS are beetle-shaped amulets and impression seals which were widely popular throughout ancient Egypt. They still survive in large numbers today. Through their inscriptions and typology, they prove to be an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world, and represent a significant body of ancient Egyptian art.
 |
| Scarab inscribed for King Hatshepsut c. 1479–1458 B.C., MOMA, NY, NY |
9. Work on a wall: ART. This one is on the wall of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
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| Woman Holding a Balance Jan Vermeer c. 1664 |
11. Huge amount: BOATLOAD. It's amazing the things you discover when you are annotating crossword puzzles.
12. Improper: UNSEEMLY. The Corner review team tries to avoid UNSEEMLY annotations, but some of us are EDGIER than others. 😁
13. Knotty tangle: MESS. Probably the most tangled MESS in history was the legendary Gordian Knot, undone by Alexander the Great with a single stroke of genius. The story was memorialized in a lost Restoration play, but the incidental music by Henry Purcell still survives. Here are two movements from the suite ...
18. __ Alto, California: PALO. Palo Alto (Spanish for 'tall stick') is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. It's also the home of the HP Garage and the birthplace of the term "Silicon Valley".
23. Ibuprofen target: ACHE.
26. Swampy spot: MIRE. This clue is all wet!
30. Streaker in the sky: METEOR. These streakers periodically fly by Earth in relatively large numbers called meteor showers. If you are blessed with skies unpolluted by light (or the streaks from Elon Musk's Starlink network) you may be able to photograph them. Here are some tips for doing that.
31. Lip: EDGE.
32. Denver-to-Wichita dir.: ESE.
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| 7 hr 20 min (520.3 mi) via I-70 E |
34. "__ only known ... ": HAD I. We should always act as if we had. A song by Reba McEntire ...
36. Cookbook meas.: TSP.
37. Where busy bees buzz: APIARIES. What is an Apiary, and Why Are 2 Hives Better Than 1?
38. Pit crew member: MECHANIC.
40. Cube creator Rubik: ERNO. A Rubik’s Cube is an interesting puzzle invented by ERNO Rubik, which has 43 quintillion possible configurations. But with the use of certain algorithms, it can be solved easily. There are many variations of the Rubix cube nowadays but the most basic one is the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube. Here's how to solve it. Hand up if you were ever addicted to these?
 |
| Rubik's Cube |
44. Unspecified degrees: NTHS.
46. Try to bean: THROW AT. Watch Mr. Bean THROW sponges AT the Headmaster!
48. Makes right: AMENDS.
49. College military org.: ROTC.
51. "What Was I Made For?" singer Billie: EILISH. Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows. She and her brother were nominated for an Oscar for their song What Was I Made For, written for the soundtrack to the movie Barbie -- and this just in -- they won!
I had originally illustrated this clue with a scene from the movie, where Barbie has left the doll's world and entered the real world where she encounters an old woman at a bus stop -- very existential.
52. One small sip: A TASTE.
53. Roof timber: RAFTER.
57. "Reader, I married him" governess: EYRE. The first line of the last chapter of Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Brontë. Tracy Chevalier, novelist and author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, tells us why this quote is so famous.
58. Flunking grades: EFFS.
60. Bistro awning word: CHEZ. Did this one TWIST its way out of the grid? 😀
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| Chez Fred, Paris |
64. Youngster in the Hundred Acre Wood: ROO. Here's ROO in his mother KANGA's pouch. They live in the Hundred Acre Wood with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends.
66. Bi- equivalent: TWI. The Wiki tells us that TWI is a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. I suspect however that this may also be a slang appropriation, coding for something else. 😀
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Pi Day everybody!
