Good Morning, Cruciverbalists, Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Wayne Bergman, an LAT, NYT and WSJ veteran constructor. Today, Wayne takes a dive down the rabbit hole that is automatic spelling correction on our electronic devices. To do this, he takes the names of four well-known car makes/models and imagines how spell check might alter them in order to "make sense" - at least according to the spell checker's view of the world. The use of car makes/models presents an opportunity for an amusing double entendre focused on AUTO which, today bounces back and forth between automatic and automobile.
The reveal is quite straightforward . . .
61 Across: Texting feature that sometimes goes awry, and what was used on 17-, 28-, and 46-Across?: AUTO CORRECT. In this instance, as is too often the case, it's AUTO INCORRECT as the names of the automobile manufacturers have become improperly altered.
. . . and the gimmick is employed at these four places:
17 Across: Antelope who really loves bubble gum?: CHEWY IMPALA. An impala is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa.
 |
| '59 Chevy Impala |
Alternatively,
28 Across: Expert on the hunt for the perfect eating utensil?: FORK EXPLORER.
46 Across: One who organizes hecklers at a comedy club?: JEER WRANGLER. Round 'em up.
 |
| Jeep Wrangler |
Here is how everything appears in the grid:
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. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Startle: ALARM. Used, here, as a verb. As in "That really startled me!"
6. Get straight: ALIGN. A clue to be taken quite literally (not, for example, as "get straight" is used in the Paul Revere and the Raiders' song).
11. Place for de-stressing: SPA. A wordplay riff on distressing.
14. Brown hue: COCOA.
15. Antler points: TINES. As in Fork Explorer?
16. Silken trap: WEB.
16. Silken trap: WEB.
19. Winter hazard: ICE. Also, a name in the news.
20. Sun-Maid morsel: RAISIN. Sun-Maid is a play on words (sun made) that we learned early on (although most of us would have preferred finding a Hostess cupcake rather than RAISINs in our lunch bags).
21. "General Hospital" network: ABC. General Hospital is an American daytime television soap opera which has been broadcast on ABC TV since April 1, 1963.
22. Quiet summons: PSST. Frequently heard in our puzzles.
23. Crumb carrier: ANT. Why be satisfied with a few crumbs?
24. Old Pontiac: GTO. Would auto correct change this to the Pontiac GOT?
26. "Wonderwall" band: OASIS. Five letters - three vowels, two esses. A constructor's friend often clued with references to the desert.
26. "Wonderwall" band: OASIS. Five letters - three vowels, two esses. A constructor's friend often clued with references to the desert.
32. Personal pronoun: SHE.
34. Magic, on ESPN crawls: ORL. The ORLando, Florida NBA team.
34. Magic, on ESPN crawls: ORL. The ORLando, Florida NBA team.
35. Spanish title: SENORA.
36. Walks like a hippo: PLODS. What do you do with a hippo with three balls? Walk him and pitch to the rhino.
38. Hawks, on ESPN crawls: ATL. The ATLanta, Georgia NBA team.
40. Put off: DELAY. One television outlet had to DELAY televising the 'World Origami Championships' but it's currently available on paperview.
41. Ineffective shepherd of rhyme: BO PEEP.
43. Alley-__: OOP. A basketball play and an old cartoon strip.
45. Overhead trains: ELS. Chicago is famous for its ELevated TrainS.
49. Quartet voice: TENOR. Bass, tenor and alto appear so often in our puzzles that it might be helpful to take a look at the overlapping ranges:
50. Coltrane's horn: SAX. John Coltrane. Would that be a TENOR SAX?
51. Big primate: APE. What do APEs use to fix things? Gorilla Glue.
54. "Ragnarok" hero: THOR. Ragnarok is a Norse myth that depicts the cataclysmic destruction of the gods and the world, followed by a new age of rebirth. The name was appropriated for a 2022 motion picture.
56. Family room: DEN. Everyone knows Las Vegas is Sin City but are you familiar with Den City? Mass over volume.
58. Metaphor for fitting items into a tight space: TETRIS. This solver used to play until his wrist began to hurt severely. Then he took a couple of aspirin and kept on playing.
60. Greet warmly: HUG.
63. In the past: AGO.
64. Sound during allergy season: ACHOO.
63. In the past: AGO.
64. Sound during allergy season: ACHOO.
Men In Tights - 1993
65. Name on some compact trucks: TONKA. Very compact (toy) trucks.
66. Unionize?: WED. Cute, or cutesy, cluing.
66. Unionize?: WED. Cute, or cutesy, cluing.
67. Bob Marley's "Get Up, __ Up": STAND.
68. Hotel bookings: STAYS.
Down:
1. West African capital: ACCRA. Often visited in our puzzles.
2. "Mean Girls" star: LOHAN. Lindsay. With four Golden Raspberry Awards and seven "official" arrests.
3. Stick the landing, so to speak: ACE IT. Meh. ACE IT is usually reserved for exams in our puzzles . . . but NAIL IT wouldn't fit.
4. Tiffs: ROWS. Tiffs is only one of several possible definitions of ROWS.
5. Request to be excused: MAY I GO.
6. Scratch removal device?: ATM. Scratch, in this case, is used as slang for money.
7. "New Love" singer Dua __: LIPA. A frequent visitor.
8. Ready for shipping: IN A BOX. Anybody remember the SNL bit with Justin Timberlake?
9. Some oral meds: GEL CAPS. Abbreviated clue . . .
10. Intel org.: NSA. Abbreviated clue . . .
11. Snack cake with a swirl: SWISS ROLL.
12. Bench press targets, for short: PECS. PECtoral muscleS.
13. Criminally aid: ABET. There is an annual day devoted to puns. Abet and Aid Punsters Day
18. Foreword: INTRO. Not an abbreviated clue but I guess INTRO is now an accepted form of the word INTROduction.
22. First of a kind: PIONEER.
25. Oft-pickled pod: OKRA. I have a friend who always baits his hooks with OKRA when fly fishing . . . He's really into podcasting!
27. Arctic coaster: SLED.
28. Tennis great Roger: FEDERER.
29. Pop icon John: ELTON. Covered, here, by Country Gazette (Byron Berline, Roger Bush, and Alan Munde):
30. Notable stretches: ERAS.
31. Bright line: RAY. A little RAY of sunshine, a little bit of soul (The Turtles).
32. Blackthorn fruit: SLOE. As in a SLOE gin fizz.
33. Fervently wish: HOPE TO GOD.
Animal House - 1978
36. Brown bag sando: PBJ. Sando = Sandwich PBJ = Peanut Butter and Jelly
37. Stitched: SEWN.
39. Records: LOGS.
39. Records: LOGS.
42. Result of multiplying: PRODUCT.
44. "Theory of Forms" philosopher: PLATO. This solver was not familiar with the title but his limited knowledge of philosophers actually made the answer easier to perp. LOCKE didn't work out and Aristotle wouldn't fit.
47. Franklin who received honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale: ARETHA. This solver thought, initially, that Franklin was being used as a first name. The next thought was Benjamin.
The Blues Brothers - 1980
48. Wields, as influence: EXERTS.
51. Taylor Swift concert venue: ARENA. Anagrams to, or when read backwards, AN ERA. Apropos.
52. Hard to please: PICKY.
53. "¿Cómo __?": ESTAS. S'up?
54. Become friendlier: THAW. As in detente.
55. King-size: HUGE.
54. Become friendlier: THAW. As in detente.
55. King-size: HUGE.
57. Morning's end: NOON.
59. Home run pace: TROT.
59. Home run pace: TROT.
61. Some Energizers: AAS. Energizer, capitalized, is a brand name of batteries.
62. Atlantic food fish: COD. My girlfriend tried giving me some flatfish last night instead of COD! Know your plaice woman!
. . . and on that note
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