Theme: Mumbo Jumbo Idiom Jumble
Puzzling thoughts:
Today's idiomatic/anagram puzzle is presented by none other than Winston Emmons, no stranger to the LA Times crossword puzzles. Winston uses 5 "theme" entries. Each answer to these entries is an unscrambled word/phrase that comes as a result of answering the second part of the clue (as well as the first part)
Wait just a darn second, Moe. That doesn't make any sense! Well, you're right; it doesn't. But if you carefully rearrange the letters in the theme answers, you can achieve both halves of the clue's meaning
Please look again at the cartoon above. The carolers are singing "Listen Thing", which is an anagram for "Silent Night" (re-arrange the letters). And while there is no clue associated with the cartoon, all we need to do is use that bit of logic to understand what's going on in each clue and answer:
15-across. Cleanliness is next to ... a minimalist approach?: DOING LESS.
The obvious answer to the first part of the clue is "GODLINESS". It was so obvious to me that I typed it into the white squares. The phrase: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is a proverb that implies that practicing cleanliness is akin to worshipping or performing religious obligations
The obvious answer to the second part of the clue, "a minimalist approach", is DOING LESS. I never thought of "doing less" as being a form of "Godliness", but when you rearrange the letters in doing less you can spell the word Godliness, and now we have answered both parts of the clue correctly
19-across. Going to hell in a ... damaged armored vehicle?: BASHED TANK.
The phrase "Going to hell in a "HAND BASKET" is well-known idiomatic phrase that means "to be rapidly deteriorating - on course for disaster;"
a BASHED TANK is indeed a damaged armored vehicle, but the phrase "bashed tank" is not one we often use ... but rearranging bashed tank also gives us handbasket
34-across. Don't throw the baby out with the ... decorative Halloween ring?: BAT WREATH.
"Don't throw the baby out with the "BATHWATER" is an idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good or of value is eliminated when trying to get rid of something unwanted. A slightly different explanation suggests this flexible catchphrase has to do with discarding the essential while retaining the superfluous because of excessive zeal."[wikipedia]
Not this, I hope ...
A BAT WREATH is not the most popular Halloween "ring", but I did find an image:
And as you might suspect by now, a quick rearrangement of bat wreath = bath water
50-across. The only thing we have to fear is ... feeling better quickly?: FAST RELIEF.
The first half of the clue cites FDR's speech (featured below) with the iconic idiomatic phrase: "The only thing we have to fear is FEAR ITSELF."
And last, but not least, we have: 56-across. Famous ... weapon that would dissolve in water?: SALT SWORD.
Unscramble SALT SWORD and you get (famous ...) "LAST WORDS".
This is the only thing I could find for Salt Sword. I am guessing it is a reference to Salt and Sanctuary (unfamiliar, to me), but I suppose that, literally, a salt sword could dissolve in water. But it's a stretch, and of course, YMMV
Certainly, this was a very interesting puzzle and theme. As always, your comments below will let us know how you liked or disliked this puzzle. I floundered with it for over 20 minutes, but once I "got it" it made sense
BTW, this is a puzzle that is **admiral toe** for those who enjoy solving the daily Jumble™. If only Old Man Keith was still alive he would have been smiling **area rote** 😁, as he was extremely fond of finding the diagonal anagrams of the daily puzzle
Here is the grid, and then "To depart ... or what might come with a bundle of shingles? **ROOF FACT SHEET** (let's see how many of you get this - as well as the other two anagrams I used in the intro!!)
Across:
1. Ointment amount: DAB. How many of you recall this old jingle?
4. PIN point: ATM. Sometimes clues can get too cutesy. But I get it ... an ATM is a "point" for where a PIN is entered ... meh
7. Prone to micromanage, perhaps: BOSSY. Don't have a "cow" over this one!
12. Napping racer of fable: HARE. The tortoise and the HARE
13. "Vive le __!": ROI. "Long live the king!" [Frawnche]
14. Gas brand with a torch logo: AMOCO. Shouldn't the clue have been: "Erstwhile gas brand with a torch logo?" Didn't BP take over AMOCO?
17. More vast: WIDER. A little contemporary music to soothe and relax the soul ...
18. Muppet who had a meltdown over a rock named Rocco: ELMO.
Elmo vs Rocco
21. Nabisco wafer cookies: NILLA'S. Good old Vanilla Wafer cookies ...
Here is a recipe for NILLA's in banana pudding
23. Like some receptions: ICY.
 |
| Speaking of an ICY reception ... |
24. Architect who designed air traffic control towers for the FAA in the 1960s: PEI. The only three-letter architect that I know of
25. Squalid: SEEDY.
 |
Might you call this, squalid squash? |
26. As much as: UP TO.
What Merrium-Webster says
28. Angry: SORE.
29. Make a typo, say: ERR.
30. Genesis twin: ESAU.
32. Like an old mattress, maybe: LUMPY. Or maybe like this character from Leave it to Beaver:
36. Bart in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: STARR.
38. Mongolian desert: GOBI. [Brittanica dot com]:
- The Gobi Desert is a great desert and semidesert region of Central Asia that stretches across large parts of Mongolia and China.
- Much of the Gobi is not sandy desert but bare rock.
- The Gobi is the 5th largest desert in the world, covering over half a million square miles.
- The Gobi’s fauna is varied and includes camels, kulan, and dzeren.
- The Gobi’s Yol Valley houses an ice field, even during summer.
- Ancient tales in Mongolia speak of lost cities buried beneath Gobi’s sands.
- The Gobi’s Taklamakan area is often called the “Place of No Return” due to its harsh conditions.
- The Gobi is surrounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands of Mongolia.
- The Himalayas block weather and starves the desert of rainfall from the South.
39. Altar constellation: ARA. I know of the erstwhile Notre Dame football coach (ARA Parseghian) but not the constellation. And further down the grid we had a similar sounding clue with a much different meaning (59-across. Alter __): EGO.
42. Arts and crafts bit: BEAD.
Was Manhattan really sold for $24 worth of BEADs and trinkets?
43. Not covered: OPEN.
 |
| Covered vs "OPEN" |
45. Solitary sort: LONER.
47. Urgent care ctrs.: ERS.
48. MIT's domain: EDU. [Oxford English Dictionary 3rd definition of domain]:
- computinga distinct subset of the internet with addresses sharing a common suffix or under the control of a particular organization or individual
49. Grammatical gender: NEUTER. As someone who studied German in HS and briefly in college, I became all to familiar with the grammatical "genders" ... In der deutschen Grammatik ist das Wort für Neutrum "das"
54. Pad __: THAI. Moe-ku:
Bangkok's Apple Stores
Pair street food with Tablets. Serve
Pad THAI with i-Pads
55. Monteverdi work: OPERA. [Britannica dot com lists these] "Notable Works: “L’Arianna”, “La favola d’Orfeo”, “Licoris Who Feigned Madness”, “Madrigals of War and Love”, “Movete al mio bel suon”, and “The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda”
58. Some Redfin transactions: RELO'S.
Find your RELO for sale here:
60. Ont. neighbor: MINN. Four-letter state abbreviations went by the wayside when the USPS decided to further abbreviate them to two-letter ones ... MINN became MN because MICH laid claim to MI
61. L'Oréal polish brand: ESSIE. Thank you, perps. Maybe our resident mani-pediites can chime in on this not-so-famous-to-me brand ...
62. Icarus, to Daedalus: SON.
63. Muddy pen: STY.
Down:
1. German auto pioneer: DAIMLER.
DAIMLER story
2. "Baked the Right Way" bread brand: ARNOLD. Also, the name of the pig on "Green Acres":
3. Beseech: BEG. Applying this loftier clue word to an old phrase I came to know all too well:
"Tis better to beseech for forgiveness than to ask for permission ..."
4. Turf: AREA.
Slang definition for "turf"
5. Throw: TOSS. There is a certain skill involved in this relatively new game:
6. Out-of-bounds golf shot, e.g.: MISHIT. TTP, HG, and any other golfers ... care to share one of your MISHITs that might have turned out to be positive?
7. Ribald: BAWDY. Moe-ku #2:
A spotted horse was
Quite BAWDY with the fillies.
A ribald piebald??
8. Skip over: OMIT.
9. Diner drink: SODA POP. ICE CREAM SODA wouldn't fit; nor COFFEE. ICED TEA did. Anyone try that first?
10. Tourist's diversion: SCENERY. Perhaps Picard can provide us with some SCENERY that caused a diversion for him?
11. Long-haired terrier, familiarly: YORKIE. My first thought - after viewing a few images of a YORKIE - was, "is Toto (the dog from Wizard of Oz) a Yorkshire Terrier?? [hepper dot com says]
"Toto’s breed is never mentioned in the books, and many scholars insist that he was supposed to be a mutt. He’s described as having long, silky hair — just like a Yorkie. One other thing worth noting is the fact that the book’s illustrator, W.W. Denslow, was the proud owner of a Yorkshire Terrier"
So now you know
12. More sacred: HOLIER.
15. Thick: DENSE.
16. Birth announcement abbr.: LBS. Is there any proof that babies who are born weighing 7 lbs 11 ozs turn out to be great craps players??
20. Clean water company: ECOLAB.
ECOLAB
22. Per annum: A YEAR. This word seemed a bit "forced" to me - nitpick
26. Detroit labor org.: UAW.
Tennessee VW plant's workers join UAW
27. Rid (of): PURGE. Something I do every time I move (which happened over 7 times the last 14 years), and yet I still have a lot of "stuff". And another similar clue: (48-down. Get rid of): ERASE.
28. Texter's "How disappointing": SMH. 🤦
31. Went boldly: STRODE.
33. Practical: UTILE. Or, the clue could've been "Scrabble™ square worth 1 point": U-TILE
34. Base: BAD. It is better to show an antonym for "base" to know how this adjective can mean "BAD":
35. Proterozoic, e.g.: EON. [Britannica dot com says]: "Proterozoic eon, the younger of the two divisions of precambrian time, the older being the archean eon. The proterozoic eon extended from 2.5 billion to 541 million years ago"
36. Colorful shawls: SERAPES. As seen on ETSY:
37. Mortarboard attachments: TASSELS. I somehow recall that a TASSEL on a mortarboard is in one position before graduation and another position afterward
39. Ramos of "In the Heights": ANTHONY.
He is just a kid ...
40. Gain again: RE-EARN. As in someone's confidence, perhaps
41. Secret alternative: ARRID. does TRYST also fit??! 😉 In this clue's case, it was referring to a woman's deodorant/anti-perspirant brand called "Secret". But if you didn't get this one, don't sweat it ...
42. One side of a comparison ad: BEFORE. Clever; the old before and after comparison ... the image below is of one that always seemed to be on the back cover of comic book magazines, back in the day:
My inspiration for getting a set of barbells |
44. Signs of life: PULSES. I just checked mine ... yep, still alive ... 69 bpm @ resting rate
46. Dupe: OUTWIT.
One of the three basic strategies in this "game"
49. Asset on a blockchain, for short: NFT.
It helps to know what a "blockchain" is
51. Starship Enterprise counselor: TROI. Once again, I will defer to Picard to elaborate on Deanna TROI
52. Othello advisor: IAGO. Another crossword staple proper name/fictional character. Three vowels and one consonant
53. Entrepreneur Musk: ELON. Another crossword staple proper name/actual person
57. Texting letters: SMS. Short Message/Messaging Service abbreviation
And we have come to the conclusion of today's blog. Please add your thoughts below. See you next month ...
**For those who were unable to unscramble the words in my intro:**
admiral toe = tailor made
area rote = ear to ear
ROOF FACT SHEET = OFF TO THE RACES
Notes from C.C.:
Today we celebrate the 90th birthday of Parsan, who lives in the same area as Agnes. Happy birthday, Parsan!
