Super Heroes
They all started here ...
This was the first issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series Action Comics. It features the first appearance of several comic-book heroes—most notably the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation, Superman—and sold for 10 cents (equivalent to $2 in 2023). On April 7, 2024, a copy of Action Comics #1 was auctioned for $6 million, becoming the most expensive comic book ever. In the intervening years since 1938 the market for comics, animation, and gaming that originated with that $2.00 publication has exploded, and will reach an estimated $400 billion dollars by the end of this year.
Today our veteran constructors Gary Larson and Amy Ensz take us on a brief tour of the super hero universe that got its start on that day in June 2023 (although I doubt that they'll be getting any of the aforementioned largesse!). Each themer is clued with a punny reference to the alter ego of a famous super hero and then filled with a two word play on the superhero's name, the first word of which can be followed by MAN or WOMAN giving the hero's name ...
They all started here ...
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| Action Comics #1 June 1938 |
Today our veteran constructors Gary Larson and Amy Ensz take us on a brief tour of the super hero universe that got its start on that day in June 2023 (although I doubt that they'll be getting any of the aforementioned largesse!). Each themer is clued with a punny reference to the alter ego of a famous super hero and then filled with a two word play on the superhero's name, the first word of which can be followed by MAN or WOMAN giving the hero's name ...
17. Window treatment for Tony Stark's house?: IRON CURTAIN. Tony Stark is the alter ego for the superhero IRON MAN.
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| Iron Man |
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| Spider Man |
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| Wonder Woman |
64. Vivid mental image for Clark Kent ?: SUPER VISION. Clark Kent is the alter ego for the superhero SUPERMAN. Here are the opening credits and some snippets from the 1953 series starring George Reeves ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Digital whiz: TECHIE. A CSO to Tony.
7. Greeting on deck: AHOY.
11. "Bright Dead Things" poet Lim贸n: ADA. Ada Lim贸n became the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States in July of 2022. She is the author of several poetry collections, including The Hurting Kind (2022); The Carrying (2018), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry; and Bright Dead Things (2015), a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Books Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Here are 5 poems from Bright Dead Things.
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| Ada Lim贸n |
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| Arachne and Athena |
16. Not gross: NET.
17. [Theme clue]
19. ISP option: DSL. Digital Subscriber Line is a family of telecommunications hardware and protocols for transmitting Internet Services over telephone lines.
20. "Bleeding Love" singer Lewis: LEONA. Leona Louise Lewis OBE (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model, and activist. She won the British talent show The X Factor in 2006, and was awarded a £1 million recording contract. The following year her debut studio album Spirit was certified 10× platinum in the UK and became the fourth best-selling album of the 2000s, and one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Here's the lead song from the album, Bleeding Love, which spent seven weeks at number one in the UK and was the best-selling single of 2007 ...
21. Make: EARN.
22. Number of divas: ARIA. Here are nine of the greatest divas (a couple of the ARIAS don't open).
23. Ear part: CANAL. My Mother taught me that "you should never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow". 馃榾
25. Nautical equilibrium: SEA LEGS. If you don't have them you might get SEA SICKNESS. Here are some WebMD recommendations for dealing with any kind of motion sickness.
27. Shade of blonde: ASH.
29, [Theme clue]
31. Singer Celine: DION. C茅line Marie Claudette Dion CC OQ (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer (CSO CanadianEh!). Referred to as the "Queen of Power Ballads", she is noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals. Her music has incorporated genres such as pop, rock, R&B, chanson, and classical music. Her recordings have been mainly in English and French, although she has also sung in several other languages including Japanese, Italian, German, Mandarin, Spanish and Neapolitan. She has had a number of health problems in recent years, but recently returned to center stage at this year's Paris Olympics with a stunning performance of Hymne 脿 l'amour. But the biggest hit of her career was My Heart Will Go On from the 1997 film Titanic.
33. Merch item: TEE.
34. Wrap (up): SEW.
35. Prepared to sing the national anthem: STOOD.
37. Broadcast-monitoring org.: FCC. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security. It does not however have jurisdiction over content transmitted over the Internet. Tis a pity.
43. Alley-__: OOP. A very versatile clue ...
- An alley-oop in basketball is an offensive play in which one player passes the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid-air and dunks or lays it in before touching the ground;
- Drop the dash and we get a comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades. It is in still in syndication to this day;
- And from the sublime to the ridiculous (and with apologies to all the musicians cited above and below) ... a 1957 song by the Hollywood Argyles based on the comic ...
47. Qdoba bite: TACO. Qdoba (kew-DOH-b蓹), operating under that name since 1999, is a chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada serving Mexican-style cuisine.
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| Qdoba Mexican Eats |
53. Gym unit: REP.
54. Asylum seeker, perhaps: EMIGREE. If perhaps one is granted asylum, only then does one become an EMIGREE.
55. NPR weekend host __ Simon: SCOTT. Scott Simon, was born in Chicago, Illinois, in March of 1952. He has been with NPR for over four decades, beginning in 1977 as Chicago bureau chief. His career also encompasses writing and television. He has hosted the Saturday edition of Weekend Edition since its inception in 1985, excepting a period in 1992 and 1993 when Alex Chadwick hosted the show.
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| Scott Simon |
57. Croupier's tool: RAKE. I guess that's where the term "rake in the money" comes from.
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| Croupier's Rake |
60. __ cotta: TERRA. Today's Italian lesson: "Baked Earth" -- low-fire, typically unglazed pottery, aka EARTHEN WARE. Fired terra cotta is porous and is ideal for flower pots and planters ...
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| Terra cotta planters |
63. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO. In addition to his major contributions to crosswordese, Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is for some reason a member of the mononymous entertainers club馃榾 Eno is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. While he describes himself as a "non-musician" he has experimented with many musical genres, and has been a major influence on other musicians. Eno co-produced The Unforgettable Fire (1984), The Joshua Tree (1987), Achtung Baby (1991), and All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) for U2, with his frequent collaborator Daniel Lanois. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2019 for his contributions as a synthesizer sideman to the band Roxy Music. Here is one of early experiments with minimalism -- By This River from his 1977 album Before and After Science ...
64. [Theme clue]
66. Engine need: OIL.
67. Handwriting on the wall: OMEN. This phrase originated from the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: 诪ְ谞ֵ讗 诪ְ谞ֵ讗 转ְּ拽ֵ诇 讜ּ驻ַ专ְ住ִ讬谉 (m蓹n膿 m蓹n膿 t蓹q膿l 奴p̄ars墨n, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”). It was not a good OMEN for King Belshazzar, who was killed that very same night.
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| Belshazzar's Feast National Gallery, London Rembrandt, 1635 |
69. Secretive group, initially: NSA. If this keeps up they'll be investigating the LA Times next. 馃榾
70. Pointy-headed Muppet: BERT. Bert and his buddy Ernie go fishing ...
71. Tennis great who won four Australian Opens between 1995 and 2003: AGASSI. You can read all about those matches and many others in Andre Agassi's 2011 entry in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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| Andre Agassi |
1. Part of a cat costume: TAIL.
2. Raison d'__: ETRE. Today's French lesson #1: "Reason for being". Some people think we have none, but IMHO we do.
3. Tot's name for a train: CHOO CHOO.
4. Medium for the body art of mehndi: HENNA. Henna is a reddish dye prepared from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree. It has been used since at least the ancient Egyptian period as a hair and body dye, notably in the temporary body art of mehndi (or "henna tattoo") resulting from the staining of the skin using dyes from the henna plant. After henna stains reach their peak color, they hold for a few days, then gradually wear off by way of exfoliation, typically within one to three weeks.
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| Mehndi designs |
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| A few varieties of potatoes in modern day Peru |
7. Wasatch Mountains ski resort: ALTA. Alta is a ski area in the western United States, located in the town of Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, in Salt Lake County. With a skiable area of 2,614 acres (10.58 km2), Alta's base elevation is 8,530 ft (2,600 m) and rises to 11,068 ft (3,374 m) for a vertical gain of 2,538 ft (774 m). One of the oldest ski resorts in the country, it opened its first lift in early 1939.
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| Little Cottonwood Canyon, Alta |
9. Editorial writers, e.g.: OPINERS. A fancy name for "talking heads" -- which reminds me of this song by the eponymous band, a cover of the Al Green classic ...
10. Urge: YEN.
11. "We Need To Talk" co-host Kremer: ANDREA. Andrea Kremer (born February 25, 1959) is a multi-Emmy Award-winning American television sports journalist. In 2014, Kremer joined the team of We Need to Talk, the first all-female nationally televised weekly sports show. Airing in prime time, the weekly show featured a rotating group of female panelists discussing all topics and news in sports. At the conclusion of the program's inaugural season, the show won a Gracie Grand Award for On Air Talent: Sports Program.
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| Andrea Kremer |
13. Classic song with the line "My love has come along": AT LAST. While Etta James didn't write the song, she made it a hit, and torch singers have been covering it ever since ... 18. __ pitcher: RELIEF. Mariano Rivera is at the top of this list for the top 10 relief pitchers of all time. Here he is with tip of the cap to the crowd with his 602nd career save coming in a 6-4 win over the Twins on Sept. 19, 2011, breaking the record previously held by Padres closer Trevor Hoffman.
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| Mariano Rivera |
24. Just right: APT.
26. Pretended to be: APED.
27. Revenue sources for freemium apps: ADS.
28. Take a load off: SIT. What you do after you finish the reason you 35A.
30. Home style: DECOR.
32. Pest: NOODGE. Today's Yiddish lesson:
36. Go-getter: DOER. St. James famously told his readers to be DOERS in Chapter 1:22-24 of his Epistle.
38. Salad often made with anchovies: CAESAR. Here's Natasha's recipe for a CAESAR salad.
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| Caesar Salad |
40. Road excursions: CAR TRIPS.
41. Untouched serve: ACE. Andre Agassi scored 4,082 ACES during his career.
42. Hack (off): LOP. This week's dose of Monte Python (WARNING: the following scene contains acts of violence and loss of blood馃槯) ...
44. Suppose: PRESUME.
46. Washington's Sea-__ Airport: TAC. Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is the primary international airport serving Seattle and its metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington.
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| Seattle Tacoma International Airport |
48. "That's our cue!": WERE ON.
49. Muscat residents: OMANIS. Muscat is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was 1.72 million as of September 2022.
50. Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA. Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system and for the invention of an early AC induction motor, the patents for which made him a wealthy man.
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| Nikola Tesla |
52. Overly indulgent: DOTING. I know a grandmother to whom this adjective might be applied. Hint -- if the preceding statement doesn't appear in the final copy, you'll know who it is.馃榾
56. Thompson of "Westworld": TESSA. Tessa Lynne Thompson (born October 3, 1983) is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College, appearing in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Following her role in Veronica Mars (2005–2006), her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned (2009) and Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010). The trailer for Westworld was Rated R, so you'll just have to settle for this JPEG ...
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| Tessa Thompson |
61. Outback hoppers: ROOS. Like this denizen of the Hundred Acre Wood ...
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| Roo |
64. Cry noisily: SOB. Often because of abuse by some SOB!
65. By way of: VIA. Today's Latin lesson: "By way of".
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
