Good Morning Cruciverbalists, Malodorous Manatee here with the lowdown on a Friday puzzle by Wendy L. Brandes. Not unlike the puzzle we solved two weeks ago, our constructor (and editor) have elected to go with a bit of "letter play". In this instance, as is often the case, the key to figuring out what is going on lies within the reveal. Today, that is located at:
52 Across. Cheer heard in the Bronx, or a phonetic hint for making the starred clues match their answers: LET'S GO YANKEES.
Well, that's crystal clear. Not! First, the reference in the clue is to New York Yankees baseball team aka the "Bronx Bombers" and not to a so-called "Bronx Cheer" aka raspberry (flatulence). Second, this solver, a lifelong Dodgers fan and son of a Brooklyn-born mother had to get past the fact that the answer is something that would never, ever pass his lips. Third, the answer seems to mean absolutely nothing. Of course that is never the case with these things. Okay, then, what does it mean? After a bit of head scratching the light bulb began to glow, albeit dimly. The first step was to notice the EA letter combination in each clue. Perhaps the key was to be found there. While the EA thing did prove to be something of a dead end it at least set this solver's feet on the right path. It's the E! Get rid of the E. YANK the EES! Or, if you prefer, Let's Go Yank EEs. Without the Es in the clues, the relationship between the clues and the answers does make sense. Here are the three places where this bit of legerdemain is employed:
20 Across. *Bean poles: STRIKE LEADERS. Bean Poles morphs into Ban Pols when we YANK (delete) the E's. Bob Dylan said it well. Ban Politicans is roughly equivalent to Strike (as is delete) your Leaders.
...and watch your parking meters
27. *Beat poet: WITCHES CAULDRON. Beat Poet morphs into Bat Pot when we yank the E's. Witches reportedly use bats (not in the baseball sense), or parts thereof, as ingredients when concocting their brews in their caldrons (large pots).
43. *Came clean: PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB. Came Clean morphs into Cam Clan. In this case a Clan (group) of Camera enthusiasts.
This how it all appears in the grid:
And, here, now, the rest of the story:
Across:
1. Like dumping someone via text: COLD. A bit of slang to start. Neil will explain. It should not require a renowned Astrophysicist to explain the first clue/answer but, hey, edification is to be found where one finds it.
5. Send to a specialist: REFER. Sometimes, within my HMO, trying to get a needed REFERal leads to a case of REFER madness.
10. Chris elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021: BOSH. Has Ch. Moe been keeping something from us? No. A proper noun that we either knew or perp'd.
14. Healing plant: ALOE. We apply quite a lot of this when solving puzzles. It often provides some relief.
15. Musical set in Argentina: EVITA.
16. Biblical preposition: UNTO. And lo, an angel appeared UNTO the prophet Isaiah, and said:
Angel: "Behold! I exceed ninety degrees!" Isaiah: "Uh... what?" But the angel gave no explanation and then vanished. Isaiah muttered: "What an obtuse angel."
17. Feature of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign: NEON.
18. Green energy option: SOLAR. Green as in eco-freindly.
19. Not superficial: DEEP.
23. Leave speechless: AWE.
25. Drink suffix: ADE. As in lemonaADE or GatorADE or PowerADE.
26. Another name for bingo: BEANO. New to this solver.
32. Zones: AREAS.
33. Word on Rhode Island's flag: HOPE. The state motto is, simply, HOPE.
34. 525,600 minutes: YEAR. The math checks out - if it's not a leap year.
35. Starts bubbling, maybe: BOILS. A watched pot never boils. The water does.
37. Slumps: DIPS. Hand up for first thinking SAGS.
41. "It's __ real": BEEN. But has it BEEN fun?
42. Greeting on a name tag: HELLO, my name is....
49. __ Hebrides: OUTER. See also 63 Across.
50. Assistance: AID.
51. G7 member: USA. The Pols change, the countries remain the same.
57. "Holidays Symphony" composer Charles: IVES. It took IVES from 1897 to 1913 to compose all four movements and the symphony is far too long to post here.
58. "Inferno" poet: DANTE. I tried to read the book but it took an eternity for anything to happen.
59. Pride constituent: LION. Not a reference to sexual preference (refreshing after what we've grown accustom to seeing recently in our puzzles. Can I say that?). Here, kitty, kitty.
62. Actress Spelling: TORI.
63. __ Hebrides: INNER. See also 49 Across. The southernmost of the INNER Hebrides is Islay, famous for its peated whisky.
64. Movie concessions purchase: SODA. Popcorn was far too long to fit.
65. Latin infinitive: ESSE.
66. "Yikes!": EGADS. Something that someone might say.
67. Concludes: ENDS. This one appropriately concludes today's Across clues.
Down:
1. "__ you not?": CAN.
2. Chant heard at Angel City FC games: OLE. A football (soccer) reference. Often clued with a Spanish or Mexican flavored reference.
3. Leaves to steep: LOOSE TEA. Not as in departs for the kitchen. What is steeped. Tea leaves.
4. Impress accidentally?: DENT. An automobile accident will often create quite an impression.
5. Dwell: RESIDE. Someone told me as a kid that huge reptiles RESIDE in the sewers...What a croc that turned out to be.
6. Brings to mind: EVOKES.
7. Single __: FILE.
8. Bibliography abbr.: ET AL.
9. Like white peacocks: RARE. True, but . . . .
10. Blossomed: BUDDED.
11. In __ and out ...: ONE EAR.
12. Omelet bar burner: STERNO.
13. Boards: HOPS ON. As in she HOPS ON the bus. And another one . . .
21. Fan sounds: RAHS. E.G. sports fans. Not something used to cool the room.
22. Qualified: ABLE.
23. On vacation: AWAY. Okay, but next Yuletide are we going to sing "On vacation in a manger..."?
24. Medium of many a Calder mobile: WIRE.
28. Mustang, for one: CAR. The Ford Motor Company likes to name their productions models after horses.
29. Home of the Terracotta Army: CHINA. This solver first thought of XIAN but it was too short so settled for the less specific answer.
The date stamp says 2008
So it must have been at least 16 years ago
30. Email pioneer: AOL. Remember all of those free floppy discs?
31. FedEx rival: UPS.
35. Plead: BEG. As a youngster, my daughter BEGged me to play as a horse. I begrudgingly agreed...I didn't really want to be a neigh sayer.
36. Not 'neath: O'ER. OvER
37. Human Rights Day mo.: DEC. Only twelve from which to choose (as long as the editor sticks with English) so a single perp'd square usually let's us know.
38. Sleight of hand: ILLUSION.
Teller Shows Us How
39. Asset: PLUS. What's the best thing about living in Switzerland? I don't know, but the flag is a big PLUS.
40. Udon kin: SOBA. When it's a generic noodle reference we have to figure out which of these two it is likely going to be. This time things had already been narrowed down.
41. Five-time Wimbledon winner Björn: BORG.
Bjorn Cy-Borg
42. __ Park: University of Chicago locale: HYDE. Sometimes clued with an FDR reference. Other times with a nod to Dr. Jekyll.
43. Like someone who writes thank-you notes: POLITE.
44. __ rancheros: HUEVOS. I understand that blanquillos is often the preferred word as HUEVOS has another meaning in some contexts.
47. Cooled off like an overheated boxer?: PANTED. Not a prize fighter reference.
48. Ones on a path to the top?: HIKERS. Hiking puns can be hillarious.
53. Garfield frenemy: ODIE. ODIE is the dog.
54. Yin and __: YANG.
55. "Object Lessons" novelist Quindlen: ANNA.
56. Alternatively: ELSE.
60. Quirky: ODD. You know what's ODD? Every other number.
61. Rapper on the "King's Disease" trilogy of albums: NAS. As a frequent visitor, NAS has become my initial guess for three-letter rap-related answers even though I am completely unfamiliar with his body of work.
That will conclude the chain YANKing for today except, perhaps, for this:
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