Theme: It's a wrap!
Puzzling thoughts:
It's
the Chairman here, with my lone August appearance as your bi-weekly Friday
blogger. I have just one week between trips (on August 2 we were on our trip to Bryce
Canyon and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon) so I will be brief in the summary of the clues/answers, but not the intro. This puzzle needs a lot of explaining
I won't lie; Ella Dershowitz gave me several fits, a few head scratches, and many four-letter (and longer) utterances. The four theme entries were names of groups (artists, as clued) that cover the genres of pop, soul, alt rock, and rock, respectively. Three of these groups are ones with which I am familiar (and of those, only one will I occasionally listen to); the fourth group sounds like a Halloween prank!
But I digress ... all of the theme entries actually DO "connect" with the reveal (which occurs in the center of the grid): a two-word entry that is separated by a black square (block). How, you ask? Please read on ...
17-across. "Son of a Preacher Man" artist: INGFIELDUSTYSPR. Well, I DID know that Dusty Springfield is the pop artist who sang "Son of a Preacher Man". But when I tried to fit it into this 15-letter space, I came up one letter short. DustySpringfiel was as far as I could get. It looked silly, but I left it in place ... for a short while
28-across. "September" artist: DANDFIREARTHWIN. Once again, I KNEW that Earth Wind and Fire was the soul band that gave us this melodic, post-disco riff. I started the fill with Earthwindandfir before realizing that the final "e" of fire was extinguished
Earth wind and fir could have been a pun if clued differently, but it wasn't
42-across. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" artist: PUMPKINSMASHING. I had to look up this clue, as I was never into the alt rock group Smashing Pumpkins. But as with the first two theme entries, I was one "seed" short of fitting this group into the 15-letter space when the final "s" of Pumpkins was omitted
Pumpkin Smashing could have been a funnier entry had it been clued differently
55-across. "Crash Into Me" artist: HEWSBANDAVEMATT. Another one I had to look up. The rock group Dave Matthews Band is one with which I am familiar, but I can't name a single song title of theirs. They were a popular band when my kids were growing up. And after counting the letters of the artist's name, I knew that this 16-letter entry would not squeeze into the 15 spaces that Ella allowed in her grid
Not to be deterred, I started working the verticals. Most were fair, and slowly I began seeing where (and eventually, how) the letters from each of these musical artists began to fit. But that still didn't make this puzzle any easier to solve or suss (theme-wise) once the reveal appeared:
34-across. With 38-Across, annual compilation often shared on social media, and an apt place for four of this puzzle's long answers?: SPOTIFY (38-across. See 34-Across:) WRAPPED
What in the hell is Spotify Wrapped??? Without going into another full paragraph, I will just provide a link. Fortunately, while I was solving the puzzle, my Gen-Y daughter was visiting. She helped dad understand the reveal
When you read the info on Spotify Wrapped it typically shows the names of 5 bands as the ones that you most often listen to. Today's puzzle offered just 4 bands. Not sure if this was by choice or accident, but in fairness to the reveal, Ella should have listed a fifth band somewhere in the grid (unless I somehow missed one)
To help those who still don't know WTF is going on, the only way to put the entire name of each group/band/artist into the corresponding space is to wrap the letters around the grid. When you look at the first and last letter of each (D for Dusty Springfield; E for Earth Wind and Fire; S for Smashing Pumpkins; and D for Dave Matthews Band) it allows you to wrap the complete name into the grid
To my surprise - and my only real "like" about this puzzle - is that each of the artist's names have the first and last letter in the same spot (dead center) of the 15 letter space ...
I can't WAIT to hear what you all think of this! π
Conversely, I KNOW that Anonymous -T will probably like this way more than I π
My overall rating: ⭐⭐
Since my introduction is so long, I chose just one of these hit songs to be today's earworm. Enjoy a little soul and R & B:
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The Grid |
Across:
1. Function: USE.
4. Try: STAB. A fitting entry; I wanted to stab myself several times today as I tried solving the puzzle
8. One skilled at reading others: EMPATH.
14. Seasonal drink: NOG.
15. Kylo Ren's mother: LEIA. A Star Wars reference
16. One Down Under, casually: AUSSIE.
20. Some online animation: POPUPS.
21. Gown cut: SLIT. Since I am not Splynter I won't offer a gratuitous photo image of a slit gown and fishnet stockings π.
Question: Ladies, if you wore a gown with a slit, would it be a (4-down. Minor goof:) to have your SLIP be visible?
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| Oops, I lied! I hope Splynter won't be mad at me |
22. Middle East sultanate: OMAN. I wish this had been clued to reveal a two-word phrase; as in "What did you utter as you slogged through today's puzzle?" "O, Man!"
23. Actor Postlethwaite: PETE. Perps to the rescue. Not familiar with this actor
24. Antidepressant, for short: SSRI. I'm on a low dose of fluoxetine, FWIW
32. Toured national parks, perhaps: RV'ED. We toured the two National Parks I mentioned in my intro above with a four-wheeler and stayed at their lodges. No "glamping" for us
33. Jazz drummer Max: ROACH. Let me be the first to say that this is certainly qualifies as a Friday clue. The word roach is more familiar to me as either an insect or a marijuana cigarette
40. Arm bones: ULNAS.
41. Best Choreography, for one: TONY. As in the award, and a CSO to one of our blog regulars
49. "Peter Pan" pirate: SMEE.
50. Utah city with a biblical name: MOAB. A city/town quite close to this National Park
51. Taiwanese laptop company: ACER. I owned one once and wasn't that thrilled with it. I am a Lenovo lad
52. Frankenstein associate: IGOR. Easiest clue / entry today
53. Mother __: TERESA. There is another six-letter word that fits here, and was one of many expletive utterances I said during the solve
60. Live feed from the San Diego Zoo: APE CAM. Green paint, IMO
61. Interview-style exam: ORAL. Did no reference to a doctorate degree make this clue/answer tougher?
62. "Huh!": GEE.
63. Much political humor: SATIRE. Oh, don't we all long for some political satire these days instead of only the mudslinging ads we are seeing?
64. CVS orders: MEDS. I get my meds through CVS. They are my insurance company's preferred pharmacy
65. Wood __ mushrooms: EAR. These:
Down:
1. Simple camera stand: UNI-POD. Anyone else try tripod first?
2. California wine limo destination: SONOMA. A CSO to moi, your resident sommelier
3. Small skillet: EGG PAN. Yes, they do exist
5. Merch table tops: TEES. As in T-shirtS
6. Not thrive: AIL.
7. Inherently evil sort: BAD SEED. Trying hard not to be one today
8. Less arduous: EASIER.
9. Many a shelter dog: MUTT. Or maybe one of the two guys in this duo:
10. Social science subj.: PSY. Anyone else try bio first?
11. Donkey: ASS.
12. Gratuity: TIP.
13. Gender-specific pronoun: HER.
18. Subsidize: FUND.
19. Sephora rival: ULTA.
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| A cosmetics store |
23. Target: PREY. Not a reference to Target, as in the store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, MN
24. Boutique: SHOP.
25. Trade: SWAP. This should've been the time where I'd swap this puzzle with another blogger
26. Onigiri component: RICE. Japanese RICE bowls.
A nice side dish to this might be: (54-down. Unadon fish:) EELS. [justonecookbook.com] says:
"Unadon, or Grilled Eel Rice Bowl, is a beloved Japanese dish consisting of steamed rice topped with grilled eels glazed with a sweetened soy-based sauce (called tare) and caramelized, preferably over a charcoal fire. When grilled unagi is served in a big rice bowl called donburi, we call it Unadon (ι°»δΈΌ), a short for unagi donburi"
27. Very clear, picture-wise: IN HD. Note, I added a hyphen to the word "picturewise" in the clue to correct the error
29. Search after a metal detector beeps, perhaps: FRISK. I am hoping now that I have a Global Entry Pass, I won't have to be frisked again when going through a TSA line
30. Abbr. in reproductive health: IVF. Both of Gov. Tim Walz's children were conceived via In Vetro Fertilization; something we all learned with no political satire (or mudslinging)
31. Food court stack: TRAYS.
34. Dines late: SUPS. I hope that this word NEVER gets clued as: "What's goings on, familiarly?" S'ups
35. Chutney fruit: PLUM.
36. "I got this one": ON ME.
37. Cassette: TAPE.
38. Room to grow?: WOMB. Cute clue
39. Genetic messenger: RNA. As opposed to DNA, the genetic reproducer
41. Russia, once: TSARDOM. Certainly, a less popular term in crossword puzzles than the person (TSAR) who ruled over it
43. "Count me in!": I'M GAME.
44. Midday: NOON.
45. Injure: HARM.
46. Cooling-off period?: ICE AGE. Cute clue, but not as cute as 38-across
47. "Keeping it real since forever!" drink brand: NESTEA. More perps. I forgot this jingle
48. Handy tool for making latkes: GRATER. What does the grater say when having its picture taken?
(c'mon, I know you'll say it!)
52. Construction beam: I-BAR.
53. Campaign expense: TV AD.
55. Possesses: HAS.
56. Emissions-monitoring org.: EPA. Speaking of "emissions", I had a few sophomoric chuckles when I saw this comic's bit: Warning! There is some off-color language spoken at the very end of the video
57. Damp: WET.
58. Poli-__: SCI.
59. "Odds __ ... ": ARE. What are the odds that C-Moe will go through an entire blog without a Moe-ku or Moe-l'ick?
See you again in late September (the 27th) when we get back from the next vacation trip. The very capable and witty blogger Naomi will be subbing for me on August 30 and September 13. Ciao!
Notes from C.C.:
1) Have a great vacation, Chris!
2) Happy
74th birthday to our witty Friday Sherpa MM! Hope it's a beautiful day
where you're, Joseph! Thanks for the time and effort you put into all
your writeups. Here is a picture of MM, Chair Moe and their loved
ones. They met last year.
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| Margaret, Chris, Joseph and Valerie |
