Theme: "It had to be "U"
Puzzling thoughts:
After solving this relatively easy collaborative puzzle (Amie Walker and Wendy L. Brandes) I did a quick head scratch: what in the heck is the theme of this? So, I looked at the reveal:
40-across. "It was even funnier at the time," or a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: YOU HAD TO BE THERE
Was the word "YOU" (or the word "THERE") somehow connected to all of the three entries? Let's examine them and see:
18-across. *Big moth: CHATTER BOX. No, neither "YOU" nor "THERE" seemed to fit into this entry
24-across. *Theater debt: OPENING NIGHT. Nope, not here either, although "HAVING TO BE THERE" on OPENING NIGHT sort of makes sense
52-across. *Frozen state: ICE SCULPTURE. Who, other than folks who live in the north and love the cold weather, would want to be "THERE" for an ICE SCULPTURE? (well, maybe this guy - see video)
62-across. *Title bot: PRIZE FIGHT. Maybe this one? Uh, uh. Nope
So what gives? Well, look back at each of the four entry clUes:
*Big moth: If the letter U is added to "moth" it becomes "mouth". And a CHATTER BOX is indeed a "big mouth"
*Theater debt: If the letter U is added to "debt" it becomes "debut". And an OPENING NIGHT is indeed a "theater debut"
*Frozen state: If the letter U is added to "state" it becomes "statue". And an ICE SCULPTURE is indeed a "frozen statue"
*Title bot: If the letter U is added to "bot" it becomes "bout". And a PRIZE FIGHT is indeed a "title bout"
And that, my friends, is how Amie and Wendy managed today's "add a letter"-themed puzzle! Adding the letter "U" allowed each of the clues to match their answers. Well done, ladies!
Here is the grid, and then we can tackle the rest of the "fill" ...
Note from today's blogger: If you would like to solve another puzzle today, please open the link below for one that's called "That's Heavy!"
Across:
1. __ test: ACID. BETA fits this, too, but I waited until I checked the other perps
5. Oft-poached pear: BOSC. Strange clue but it works
9. With 9-Down, Thanksgiving dessert: PECAN (9-down. See 9-Across:) PIE. PECAN PIE may not be the most popular Thanksgiving dessert (unless you're from the south) but it sure is tasty!
14. Arm bone: ULNA. Moe-ku:
Some think the ULNA
Is the "funny bone". But that's
Not so humurus
15. Bar mixer: COLA. While the constructors did not choose to use a "clecho", it fits with (68-across. Fountain drinks:) SODAS. Did anyone else flip these answers? SODA and COLAS?
16. Fuming: IRATE.
17. Some baby shower honorees: DADS. This must be a more "modern" answer; I had two kids and was not "honored" at either of their baby showers
20. "Da 5 Bloods" actor Whitlock Jr.: ISIAH. This filled with perps and a WAG as I was not familiar with "Da 5 Bloods" movie - the trailer:
22. Cookbook writer Garten: INA. She is fast becoming a part of crosswordese
23. Choose: OPT.
29. "Makes sense": I SEE. What I may have uttered when I figured out today's theme
30. False front?: PSEUDO. For some reason I initially spelled this "PSUEDO". Across Lite (the puzzle software I use to solve these puzzles) does not have spellchecker installed
33. ETA provider: GPS. Back in the day, GPS might have been clued: "Family doc's"
Spider-Man gave to
His groomsmen (as wedding gifts)
Peter Parker PENS
38. Made in Taiwan, say: ASIAN.
44. Cantaloupe, e.g.: MELON.
45. Close in anger: SLAM.
46. August hrs.: DST.
47. Beach city where Barbie's Dreamhouse is available for short-term rentals: MALIBU. This MALIBU resident had his fair share of "Barbie's". For a show that was more than mildly misogynistic, it ran for multiple seasons on a major network ... this clip is from the Ashton Kucher years as being the star, and features MALIBU
50. Historic times: ERAS.
57. Toward the stern: AFT.
60. Spacewalk initials: EVA. Not one of the Gabor sisters?? No, EVA stands for: ExtraVehicular Activity ... this, maybe (long):
61. Title with a tilde: SENOR. The tilde (~) is placed above the "N" in Se·ñor. It is an accent (~) placed over Spanish n when pronounced ny (as in señor) or Portuguese a or o when nasalized (as in São Paulo), or over a vowel in phonetic transcription, indicating nasalization
67. Falafel bread: PITA. Are falafel and hummus the same? [foodstruct dot com] says: "What are the main differences between Falafel and Hummus? Falafel is richer in Iron, Potassium, Vitamin B2, and Monounsaturated Fat, while Hummus is higher in Copper, and Vitamin B6. Hummus's daily need coverage for Copper is 30% higher. Hummus has 3 times less Vitamin B2 than Falafel. Falafel has 0.166mg of Vitamin B2, while Hummus has 0.064mg"
69. Char on a grill: SEAR. All you wanted to know about SEAR when grilling
70. "For real?": IT IS.
71. Setting for much of "The Mummy" franchise: EGYPT. I may need to binge-watch this series. "The Mummy" The movie "franchise" spans 8 decades
72. Like a chimney sweep's clothes, maybe: ASHY. Moe-ku 3:
Santa's ASHY coat
Caused sniffles. Was it 'cause he
Came down with the flue?
73. Wall St. index: NYSE. NASDAC and S & P 500 did not fit into the four squares
Down:
1. Component of self-guided museum tours: AUDIO. Who sells this?
2. Necklace fastener: CLASP. I used to shudder when my ex asked me to help her put on or take off her necklace; I was never very good with THAT type of CLASP ...
3. Nonstudio flick: INDIE. As in, an "INDiEpendent" studio. Last year's top Oscar-winner "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" was produced by INDIE studio A24
4. Fiji competitor: DASANI. Not as in the island of Fiji (or a sports competition) but the bottled water. But (off the top of my head; I did not research this) I believe that Fiji water actually comes from a source. DASANI is bottled after reverse osmosis if I understand correctly
5. Secretly include, in a way: BCC. Moe-ku 4:
When Johnny Hart sends
An e-mail, he will always
BCC BC
6. "I'm impressed!": OOH. Your reaction to today's puzzle and/or blog??!!
7. Done in, as a dragon: SLAIN. Here is the opposite (from a dragon's point-of-view)
8. Opposite of dogbane?: CATNIP. Dogbane CATNIP
10. Add salt instead of sugar, say: ERR. As a kid, my older sister played an April Fool's "joke" on me by substituting salt into the sugar bowl. Of course, unknowingly. I put a couple spoonfuls of this into my bowl of Cheerios ...
11. Baja resort, familiarly: CABO. CABO on Baja - things to do
12. Perched on: ATOP.
13. "What else ya got?": NEXT.
19. Price points?: TAGS. This reminded me of the 15 or so years I spent living in New England. The term for offering things from your residence for sale differs in many parts of the country. I had heard of "YARD SALE" and "GARAGE SALE", but when I lived in MA and CT, they called it a "TAG" SALE. TAGS were required on each item to clearly mark at what price you were offering this
21. __ Heritage Month: September 15 to October 15: HISPANIC. Why is it honored between two months? And those specific days? Ides don't know ... can someone else help me??
25. Require: NEED. When Margaret and I bought our house a couple years ago, we each separately wrote out our "wants and NEEDS; we matched on our NEEDS at 100%
26. Gallant guy: GENT.
27. Products of thermal imaging: HEAT MAPS. You know, if you add an "L" to MAPS and rearrange the letters, you get LAMPS ... which when placed behind HEAT gives a whole different product ...
28. Derriere: TUSH. Ok, is it "TOUCH" or "TUSH" that ZZ Top is claiming they want to get when they are downtown ...
31. Faded out: DIED. I suppose this is a "kind way" to clue the word "DIED"
32. Sculler's tools: OARS. When I was a member of the Jaycees (remember them fellow Boomers?) in MA, we helped sponsor an event on the Connecticut River for racing sculls. Their ability to synchronize the OARS was amazing ... I couldn't find a video from that venue, but here is one you might want to watch
33. Muscle building?: GYM. Hah! Muscle building in a muscle building!
34. Ada Limón work: POEM. Unlike the Chairman, Ada chooses a much different kind of poetry than my haiku and limericks
Ada Limon
35. Toni Morrison's second novel: SULA. Fun fact: SULA is also the name of a Russian river as well as the name of some Indonesian islands
37. "Help us!" letters: SOS. And, an erstwhile hit song by the group "Abba"; both of which are answers often seen in xword puzzles
39. __ zero emissions: NET. Can you be a climate hero?
41. Colorful Hindu festival: HOLI. This event has passed. It was on March 25th. [Wikipedia] "Holi is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as
the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and
divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna
Moe-ku 5:
Radha and Krishna
Love to celebrate Spring with
Holly for HOLI
42. "Sacre __!": BLEU.
Moe-ku 6:
Camembert, BLEU, and
Roquefort were found on same plate.
A fromáge à trois?
43. Countess counterpart: EARL. What about the "duke of Earl?
48. Emmy-winning Ali Wong series: BEEF. A "Friday" clue, for sure
49. Certain travel doc.: US VISA. Don't think we will need one when we visit Italy later this year
51. Attempt to mediate: STEP IN. This sounds like something that would be more than to "mediate", IMO
53. Batting practice sites: CAGES. Could you make contact with this fastball? Not I
54. Harmony: UNITY. Does the Thesaurussaurus agree? Nope
55. Flatbreads made with atta flour: ROTIS. Not a word in my lexicon. [Wikipedia] "Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole wheat flour, traditionally known as gehu ka atta, and water that are combined into a dough. Its defining characteristic is that it is unleavened
56. Wipe clean: ERASE. "Wipe clean" is also a phrase a parent of a baby or toddler might use. So basically, they are just ERASING the poo??
57. Recess on a Catholic school campus?: APSE. Another paraphrased clue. The APSE is a recessed area in a chapel. Recess could also mean "a period of time when school kids get a break from classes"
58. Mesopotamian symbol of fertility: FROG. Ribbit, ribbit ... this guy?
59. Neat: TIDY.
63. Cook in the microwave: ZAP. Time for another comic strip?
64. Rough fig.: EST. Or, winter hours in Washington, D.C.
65. "Shows you!": HAH. The phrase I uttered when I "got" the theme today
66. Attempt: TRY. Hope that your attempt at the puzzle was a positive one
And we are done! Look forward to YOUR COMMENTS below. Hope, too that you are able to try MY PUZZLE @ Universal. See you in a couple of weeks
