L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Watch the Birdies

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. It's the first Friday of the merry, merry month of May and it is time for yours truly, Malodorous Manatee, to have the pleasure of sharing with you a recap of today's puzzle by Ms. Ann Margaret. Oops, Freudian slip. I meant to say a puzzle constructed by Jay Silverman.

At the (somewhat) traditional four places within the grid, each one marked with a star for our convenience, our puzzle setter has conjured up answers which, when we remove a type of bird, yield an appropriate answer to the clue as worded. Let's start with the reveal:

66 Across: Musical with the song "Put On a Happy Face," and a hint to making four answers match their starred clues: BYE BYE BIRDIE. It might have been clued as Musical with the song "Bye Bye Birdie" but that would lie outside of the traditions of crossword puzzles...even on a Monday.

Here are the places where the theme is applied, and how it is applied:

18 Across: *Promo for long-range basket shooters?: THREES A ~~CROW~~D. Say bye bye to the CROW and we get THREES AD. A basketball reference. An advertisement for three-point shots. Or, perhaps, something spotted in the local personal ads?

27 Across: *Easy-to-revisit search engine results?: B~~OWL~~ING PINS. Say bye bye to the OWL and we get BING PINS. BING, of course, is an online search engine and if you PIN something it makes it easy to get back to what you have pinned (saved).

42 Acrooss: *Frilly fabric from the Middle East?: LA~~WREN~~CE OF ARABIA. Say bye bye to the WREN and we are left with LACE OF ARABIA.

He's Not Dressed In Lace

But This Did Seem Appropriate

51 Across: *Award coveted by directors Anderson and Craven?: BEST WES~~TERN~~. Say bye bye to the TERN and we get BEST WES. The covetous directors are, of course, WES Anderson and WES Craven.

This is how it all looks in the completed grid:

Here, below, are the rest of the clues and their answers:

Across:

1. "I suppose it's true!": MUST BE. The puzzle starts right off with something someone might say. No $#1+ would have fit, and would have been an appropriate answer, but that would lie outside of the traditions of crossword puzzles . . . even on a Friday.

7. Cab opening: PEDI. A wine reference? Something about uncorking a Cabernet? No. Opening, in this case, means in front of. Four letters. Taxi cab? Closer but, again, no. A cab that must be pedaled to get you where you wish to go. PEDI as in foot.

A Pedicab

11. Middle ear?: COB. Not an anatomical reference. An agricultural/food reference. The middle of an ear of corn.

14. Beseech: ENTREAT.

16. Treasury Dept. concern: ECON. As in the phrase that James Carville is credited with having coined: "The ECONomy, stupid."

17. Oft-torn knee pt.: ACL. An anatomical reference and the first of several abbreviations, today. Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

20. Passable grade: CEE. A minor nit. Dee is passing. Cee is average.

21. Girl's name that means "small river": RIA. Anyone know anybody named RIA?

22. Hop back in horror: RECOIL.

23. Teensy bits: IOTAS. Can teensy bits be said to be frequent visitors?

25. Actor Omar: EPPS. Sharif was too long.

29. Title Pixar fish: DORY. Hands up for first thinking NEMO?

31. Tiller's tool: HOE.

32. Give or take: ABOUT. VERBS? Not this time. Sort of. More or less.

34. Bring on: INCUR. On the first day of college, the Dean addressed the students, pointing out some of the rules. "The female dormitory will be prohibited for all male students, and the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $50 the first time." He continued, "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $100. Being caught a third time will INCUR a hefty fine of $200. Are there any questions?" At this, a student in the crowd inquired, "How much for a season pass?"

38. Wild garlic: RAMP. New to this solver. From an online source: "The zesty spring green most commonly known as ramps goes by many names in English, such as ramson (British), buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wild leeks, wood garlic or bear’s garlic. Known as ‘Bärlauch’ (bear’s leek) in German, the name derives from the fact that brown bears like to eat the bulbs of the plant and dig up the ground to get at them, as do wild boar."

45. Actress Redgrave: LYNN.

Lynn Redgrave and Her Sister Vanessa

46. Eclipse: OUTDO. Did anyone here get to observe the recent solar OUTDO? Oh, used here as a verb. Isn't English a funny, and extremely flexible, language?

47. "The gloves are off!": ITS ON. An idiom for a clue and an idiom for an answer. Another example of things-people-might-say.

48. Some tense periods, briefly: OTS. OverTimeS Neither a reference to societal issues nor a reference to personal stress. A sports reference.

50. Gp. that includes the UAE and Gabon: OPEC. Well, even with the mixed messaging, two abbreviations out of three in the clue should have been enough of a tip off that the answer would be an abbreviation.

58. Totally on board: SOLD. Convinced.

61. Star part: CAMEO. Not a portion of a celestial body. A (small) role for a movie star.

62. Neatens: TIDIES. My ex-wife once remarked, "You think I have OCD when it comes to tidiness, but you are wrong. I just want to clear that up.”

64. Negative conjunction: NOR. Rearrange the letters in NOR Do We to make one word.

65. AI exec, perhaps: CTO. Chief Technology Officer The reference to Artificial Intelligence in the clue leads us to something technology related.

69. "Not a mouse!": EEK. Didn't they get this one backwards? EKE out a living. EEK a mouse! Oh, I get it. As in, "Please, please, please let it not be a mouse!"

70. Actress Skye: IONE. Three vowels out of four letters. A frequent visitor.

71. Follows shampoo bottle instructions: LATHERS. Not enough room for LATHER RINSE REPEAT. I have always thought that the last step was just a way to double sales.

72. Booze-free: DRY. As opposed to WET. An alcohol (or lack thereof) related idiom.

73. Horn sound: TOOT. BEEP would have fit but would not work.

The Playmates - 1958

74. Dusty or Cody of pro wrestling fame: RHODES. Father or son.

Down:

1. Reading length: METRE. Not the length of a Monopoly game railroad. Not a literary (book) reference. Ah, a unit of length in Reading, England, with the appropriate spelling.

2. Square: UNHIP. What does Huey Lewis have to say on the subject?

August 1987

3. Secure, in a way: STRAP DOWN.

4. Billie Joe Armstrong bandmate __ Cool: TRE. A Green Day reference.

That's Frank Edwin Wright III (aka Tre Cool)

On Drums

5. Suds: BEER. Obviously, not a cleanliness reference. Slang. Do beer puns make you hoppy?

6. Float past: EASE BY. Huh? Thanks perps.

7. Endangerment: PERIL. As in "The PERILs of Pauline".

8. Reason to boil water: E-COLI. Giardia used to suffice for a reason. Can you say tetraglycine hydroperiodide tablets?

9. Stock market name: DOW. Clued this way it could have referred to any listed stock.

10. Part of Roy G. Biv: INDIGO. Mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow.

11. Arizona roadside sights: CACTI.

12. Antarctic, for one: OCEAN. From the specific to the general.

13. Word after a sneeze: BLESS. Why Do We Say This?

15. Fajita-like fare: TACO. Okay, but quite imprecise. The Differences Between Tacos and Fajitas

19. Slow moo-ver: COW. Cute cluing. Cute song.

24. Runs: OPERATES. Not as in a foot race. As in she OPERATES the machine. See 28 Down.

Shirley Muldowney

26. Moment of unpleasantness: SOUR NOTE. An idiom with a musical genesis.

28. Drag org.: NHRA. Not cross dressing. A Drag Race reference. Again, not that kind of drag race.

30. GPS option: RTE. A Global Positioning System might show you a RouTE.

32. Everything: ALL.

33. Baffin, for one: BAY. Again, from the specific to the general.

34. Post-ER facility: ICU. A medical reference. Emergency Room Intensive Care Unit

35. Gain: NET. A bit imprecise. NET income, for example, can be a subset of gain (as in capital gains NET of taxes).

36. Mark Kurlansky book subtitled "A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World": COD. New to this solver.

37. Vehicle for E.T.: UFO. A pretty standard crossword pairing.

39. Ran away (with): ABSCONDED. The Dish ABSCONDED With The Spoon?

40. Mine, in Milan: MIO. Today's Italian lesson.

41. Hook's nemesis: PAN. Not a boxing reference. Not a golfing reference. Not a musical reference. Not a fishing reference,

Peter Pan and Captain Hook

43. Winning margin: NOSE.

44. Tear: RIP.

49. Cheap: TWO BIT. TWO BITs are a quarter of a dollar. The derogatory expression dates from the early twentieth century. With inflation, the expression should be updated to, say, five dollar.

50. Sign of poor service?: ONE BAR. Not at a restaurant or a retail store. A cellphone reception reference.

51. Covertly added to an email: BCCED. From the days when we used the stuff, Blind Carbon CopiED.

52. Foodie website: EATER. EATER serves as a local restaurant guide offering reviews and news.

53. __ quartz: SMOKY. New to this solver. Smokey The Bear retains the E and there was not room for him.