Thursday, April 18, 2024, Hoang-Kim Vu, Jessica Zetzman

 Farmers' Market

Each Spring we can't wait for the Misty Valley truck farm to open, and we usually stop there on Sundays after church.  Their Eastern Shore Silver Queen corn is to die for and their cantaloupes are the sweetest!

And it looks like today's veteran constructors Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman do their shopping for themers at a local farmer's market, ever on the look out for fresh, tasty local puns. And depending on the venue you might hear  these quips [followed by unpunned explanations] ...

17. At the market, farmers often __: SWAP MEATS.  "I'll trade you a pound of this HAM for that T-BONE steak".   [per Merriam-Websters].

28. At the orchard, farmers are often __: WORKING IN PEARS.  "BOSC me no questions ANJOU'll get no lies".  [How small farmers can work together to improve their situation].

48. In the field, farmers often specialize in __: BEET GENERATION.  "If money is the ROOT of all evil -- give me some of the ROOT!".   [There was nothing prosaic about the beat poets].

65. At the state fair, farmers often __: SHOW THYME. "THYME Flies Like an Arrow; Fruit Flies Like a Banana".  Something like this phrase was used by Jazzbumpa in a recent review.  Quote Investigator reveals that its actual origin may have been in [an early experiment in automated language translation] *(see below for another one).

Here's the field after it's been plowed ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Page, in a way: PING.  A versatile word.  The clue implies sending a signal just to see if someone or something is there.  It could be an underwater object ...

... it could be an Internet utility used to see if a network device is reachable.  Of course the duffers on the Corner will know it as a brand of premium golf clubs.

5. Weary response to incessant cries of "Look at me, look at me!": I SAW.

9. Timesheet units: HOURS.  The HOURS have been a metaphor for life throughout the ages.  Here's the finale from the ballet The Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda.

If you want something a little deeper here's the Act II trio from the The Hours based on the Virginia Woolf  novel Mrs. Dalloway.  The performers are Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, and Joyce DiDonato, as Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, and Virginia Woolf respectively ...

14. __ list: TO DO.  If you create one, be sure to lay in a supply of these ...

15. Wrestler John who has fulfilled more than 650 Make-A-Wish requests: CENA.   On September 27, 2022 John Cena set a new Guinness World record by granting 650 Make-A-Wish wishes.

John Cena

16. Alt, perhaps: INDIE.  Here are the Traveling Wilburys, an "INDIE" band who escaped fame to ride under the rock radar ...

17. [Theme clue]

19. Hurry along: SCOOT.

20. Broth in Japanese cuisine: DASHI.  UMAMI in a bottle.

21. Place where two sides come together: SEAM.

23. Unwelcome picnic guests: ANTS.

24. Red Muppet: ELMO.

26. Gear for a grip: BOOM.  What's a grip, a best boy grip and a key grip?  What's a BOOM?  They sound like different specialties to me: video and audio respectively.

28. [Theme clue]

34. Turf: SOD.

35. MiLB level: AAA.  Minor League Baseball.  Rookie 2nd Baseman Jackson Holliday recently came up from the Orioles AAA farm team and his first ML hit helped the O's beat the Brewers.

36. Bit at the bottom of a tub: KERNEL.  Not a bathtub.  This kind of tub ...

37. Sends sprawling: TRIPS.

40. Pres. whose library is in Austin, Texas: LBJ. Lyndon Baines Johnson August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973) was the 36th President.  He was John F. Kennedy's Vice President and assumed the Presidency after the latter's assassination on November 22, 1963.

Lyndon Baines Johnson

42. Oyster layer: NACRE.  AKA Mother of Pearl.

43. In dreamland: ASLEEP.

45. "Don't __ me down!": LET.  From a rehearsal for the album Let it Be  ...

47. Ate: HAD.

48. [Theme clue]

52. Epic tale: SAGA.

53. Composer Jerome: KERN.  Here's Fred Astaire playing an old Jerome Kern standard ...

54. "Why not __?": BOTH.

57. U.S. Pacific island: GUAM.  Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States in the North Pacific Ocean, the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands. It lies about 5,800 miles west of San Francisco and 1,600 miles east of Manila.

59. Southern, for one: OCEAN.  AKA the Antarctic Ocean, it's about 6258 miles South of Guam.

63. Groupthink?: ETHOS.  I just wish there were more than two.  😒

65. [Theme clue]

67. Familiar plot device: TROPE.  This is not the correct clue for TROPE.  Somebody changed the original meaning of the word while we weren't looking (not the fault of the constructors or the editor).  Pay attention, this can get confusing ...!

68. Overhanging part of a roof: EAVE.

69. New York canal: ERIE.  It's EERIE just how often this word shows up in crosswords. 

70. Put up: HOUSE.

71. Still 43-Across: ABED.

72. Acorn, essentially: SEED.  SEEDS are how farmers markets get their start. 

Down:

1. Condition that may be treated with SSRIs: PTSD.  Selective serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are a treatment for depression, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

2. State that holds quadrennial caucuses: IOWA.

3. Confidentiality docs: NDAS. Confidential? Not a chance - "Information is like heat -- it always gets out!"

4. Garden tunneler: GOPHER.  We've never had GOPHERS in our garden, but I have had to deal with some pretty pesky GROUND HOGS.  Not a pretty story.

5. Freezer cubes: ICE.

6. Not always available: SEASONAL.  The foods available at farmers' markets are SEASONAL, which is why they taste so fresh.

7. Pre-deal payment: ANTE.

8. Pungent condiment: WASABI. AKA Japanese Dristan.   It's made from a Japanese horseradish and is the perfect excuse to eat sushi.  Most of the stuff you get in the restaurants is made from the dried, ground herb mixed into a paste.  We've only had fresh WASABI once, in the Omiza Restaurant on Main Street in landlocked Doylestown, PA.  It's like a completely different condiment ...

Wasabi japonica

9. Short hellos: HIS.

10. Recorded, say: ON CAMERA.  The editing of this review is ON CAMERA and will soon show up in suggestions by Google for new pages for me to view.

11. Noodle in Japanese cuisine: UDON.  A side dish for your WASABI.

12. Really great comedy act, e.g.: RIOT.  Between sumdaze and Hahtoolah, there's a RIOT on the Corner every Monday and Tuesday.

13. Hardens, in a way: SETS.

18. Cereal partner: MILK.

22. Part of an order, perhaps: MONK.  Clever clue.  There's a whole song cycle devoted to MONKS.  Here's the great Leontyne Price singing The Desire for Hermitage from Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs, accompanied by the composer ...

Lyrics

25. "Mamma __!": MIA.

27. Doing business: OPEN.

28. Inferior: WORSE.

29. "Swan Lake" role for Misty Copeland: ODILE.  Sorry, I couldn't find Misty doing ODILE (the Black Swan), so you'll have to settle for her ODETTE (the White Swan) ...

30. Overhanging part of a roof: GABLE.  What is the difference is between an EAVE and a GABLE end roof of a house?

31. Pepper used in mole sauce: ANCHO.  Some mole recipes.

32. Aired again: RERAN.

33. Iditarod vehicle: SLED.  The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (/aɪˈdɪtərɒd/), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.

34. Attempt: STAB.

38. Rescue supply spots: PET SHOPS.  A CSO to PAT.

39. Genesis name: SEGA.  Who knew that EVE had triplets?  😀

41. "Really uncool, bro": JERK MOVE.  Not the first thing that entered my mind.

44. Simon of the "Mission: Impossible" film series: PEGG.  Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter.  Pegg is one of the few performers to have achieved what has been called the "Holy Grail of Nerd-dom": playing popular supporting characters in Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars. He currently stars as Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible film series (2006–present).

Simon Pegg

46. __ kwon do: TAE.  Tae kwon do is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving punching and kicking techniques. The literal translation "kicking", "punching", and "the art or way of".  It sometimes involves the use of weapons.

Ouch!

49. Queasiness: NAUSEA.

50. Relaxed gait: TROT.

51. Crawls (along): INCHES.

54. "Little Women" woman: BETH.

55. "Al __ lado del río": Oscar-winning song by Jorge Drexler: OTRO.  Al otro lado del río (transl. "On the Other Side of the River") is a song by Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler from the soundtrack album for the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004).  It received the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 77th Academy Awards, becoming the first Spanish language song, the second in a foreign language, to receive such an honor, and the first by a Uruguayan artist ...

56. Quaint pronoun: THOU.  Also slang for a GRAND.

58. Literary captain: AHAB.  The protagonist of the great American novel, Hermann Melville's Moby Dick.  You can buy this first edition for only US$ 87,771.81 ...

Moby Dick 1851
Hermann Melville

 60. Literary governess: EYRE.  Jane Eyre is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.  A first edition of this work can set you back as much as US$ 100,000.  But this one is a steal for only US$ 65,000 ...

Jane Eyre 1847
Charlotte Brontë

Our constructors are very literary!

61. Dijon companion: AMIE.  Today's French lesson: Dijon is a city that serves as the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.  As of 2017 the commune had a population of 156,920.

62. "__ a lift?": NEED.

64. Date: SEE.  Before you can 66D you usually have to do this (unless you buy a mail-order spouse!)

66. Make it official, in a way: WED.  ELOPE was too long.

* My favorite automated language translation story goes something like this:  The inventors were showing off their new program to some dignitaries, one of whom suggested "Show us the translation of 'Out of sight, out of mind' into Chinese".  The inventors ran it through their program and out popped some Chinese.  Dignitaries: "But how do we know that it's correct?  Translate it back to English".  The program responded: "Invisible Idiot". 😁

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley