Theme: FOURced entry.
In today's puzzle by Beth Rubin and Owen Bergstein, the theme entries are arranged symmetrically among the Across answers.
16. Surfaces for playing board games: TABLETOPS. As kids, we played board games on the floor, but now that we are old and creaky, we play them on top of the table. In keeping with today's theme, we give a shout out to the FOUR TOPS, who helped establish the Motown sound in the 1960s.
29. Lateral handsprings: CARTWHEELS. Harking back to youth again, CARTWHEELS were popular with the girls, but this blogger never learned the trick. But I did see the theme here: FOUR WHEELS are typical of wheeled vehicles.
34. Collections of episodes overseen by showrunners: TV SEASONS. IMDb says: "Showrunner is the unofficial title given to the top-level creative decision maker and manager overseeing all episodes of an individual season of a television/episodic series." I didn't know that a showrunner typcially controls an entire season, but I did know the FOUR SEASONS.
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| Artist Diane Getty made this quilt called "Green's View" featuring one scene in four seasons. |
45. Triangular snack chips from PepsiCo: POPCORNERS. Have you seen or heard of PopCorners? Although this snack has only three corners, a typical room in a house has FOUR CORNERS. Four Corners is also the place where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet.
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| My kiddos at the Four Corners Monument in 1990. |
58. Round after the Elite Eight, and what the ends of 16-, 29-, 34-, and 45-Across are?: FINAL FOUR. In the NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. The winners advance to the Final Four. There are further distinctions made for the various Divisions. For purposes of today's puzzle, the FINAL part of each theme answer can be paired with the word FOUR to form a common phrase: FOUR TOPS, FOUR WHEELS, FOUR SEASONS, and FOUR CORNERS.
Let us now go FOURth to solve the rest of the puzzle:
Across:1. Misses: GALS.
5. Taj Mahal city: AGRA.
9. In addition: PLUS. Not "also" this time.
13. "The Reader" actress Lena: OLIN. In "The Reader," Swedish actress Lena Olin played a Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz death march at a trial in the 1960s, and as the woman's daughter twenty years later.
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| Lena Olin in "The Reader" |
14. Pedicure targets: TOES.
15. Tuscan city: SIENA. Since darling daughter married a Tuscan man, we have had the opportunity to visit a few Tuscan cities. I wouldn't know the towns of other regions in Italy off the top of my head.
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| The Ex, the Daughter, her F-I-L, NaomiZ, and the Groom in Siena before the wedding. |
P.S. I am not short! These people are tall.
16. [Theme clue]
18. Disconnected: APART.
19. Actor Vigoda: ABE. Abe Vigoda (1921-2016) was an American actor known for his roles in The Godfather and Barney Miller.
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| Abe Vigoda |
20. "Super cool": RAD.
21. Homeric journey: ODYSSEY.
23. Zeroes out for container weight, say: TARES. To TARE is to adjust a scale on which an empty container has been placed so as to reduce the displayed weight to zero. I do this with the kitchen scale to weigh what I'm going to put into a container without having to subtract the weight of the container. Until this moment, I didn't realize TARE could be used as a verb.
25. One that might get turned into stone?: SCREW. Really? To screw into stone, you generally have to drill a hole and sink an anchor in there for the screw. A little forced, if you ask me!
27. That girl: HER.
28. Big name in cinema: IMAX. IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio and steep stadium seating.
29. [Theme clue]
31. __ Alto, California: PALO.
32. "__ seen worse": I'VE.
33. Finishes up: ENDS.
34. [Theme clue]
38. Help (out): BAIL. You can BAIL someone out of jail by providing a security deposit, or BAIL them out of a predicament by lending assistance. You can also BAIL water out of a boat, and if you are in a boat with a friend, I guess you're bailing them out at the same time.
40. Rap battle VIPs: MCS. MC, or Master of Ceremonies, is a term used to describe a rapper who is also a performer with a variety of skills, including crowd control, stage presence, and hosting abilities.
41. Collection of Norse poems: EDDA. EDDA is an Old Norse term that has been applied by modern scholars to two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is known as the Prose Edda and an older collection of poems now known as the Poetic Edda. Both works were recorded in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching back into the Viking Age. The books provide the main sources for Norse mythology.
45. [Theme clue]
48. Greek god of war: ARES.
49. Freezer cubes: ICE.
50. Crystal-lined rock: GEODE. A hollow, spherical rock that contains masses of minerals, often in the form of crystals.
51. Material: CLOTH.
52. Like futuristic tech: NEXT-GEN.
54. Govt. org. employing ecologists: EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
56. Poker prize: POT.
57. Harsh light: GLARE.
58. [Theme reveal]
61. Bull on glue bottles: ELMER. The brand was introduced by Borden Inc., and Elmer was meant to be the mate of advertising mascot Elsie the Cow. The original Elmer's glue contained dairy products, but it is now synthetic.
62. Once more: ANEW.
63. Energy field read by a psychic: AURA.
64. Spinal column element: DISK.
65. Little bits: TADS.
66. Marketplace with personalized gifts: ETSY.
Down:
63. Energy field read by a psychic: AURA.
64. Spinal column element: DISK.
65. Little bits: TADS.
66. Marketplace with personalized gifts: ETSY.
Down:
1. "Care to share your expertise?": GOT A TIP? Right at 1-Down, you are going to annoy some solvers with this conversational prompt.
2. The Crimson Tide of the NCAA: ALABAMA. DH's cousin's daughter went to 'Bama, so I sorta knew this. Anyone else with a sports allergy find this difficult?
3. Generous: LIBERAL. Liberal usually means broad-minded or tolerant, but it can also mean generous. Perhaps you are liberal with the olive oil, or the salt, or pepper?
4. NBC skit show, for short: SNL. Saturday Night Live.
5. "__ baby!": "Way to go!": ATTA. We've had ATTA boy and ATTA girl in the puzzle before. I have not heard ATTA baby, but Urban Dictionary says it is "A congratulation for doing something beasty or awesome." I thought this was forced, but it seems I was just uninformed.
6. "Talked your way out of trouble there!": GOOD SAVE.
7. Gym unit: REP. Short for repetition. So commonly used in the gym that there was no prompt for an abbreviation, although I guess "gym" is short for "gymnasium."
4. NBC skit show, for short: SNL. Saturday Night Live.
5. "__ baby!": "Way to go!": ATTA. We've had ATTA boy and ATTA girl in the puzzle before. I have not heard ATTA baby, but Urban Dictionary says it is "A congratulation for doing something beasty or awesome." I thought this was forced, but it seems I was just uninformed.
6. "Talked your way out of trouble there!": GOOD SAVE.
7. Gym unit: REP. Short for repetition. So commonly used in the gym that there was no prompt for an abbreviation, although I guess "gym" is short for "gymnasium."
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| Forced reps require a spotter to assist. |
8. Arrange by category: ASSORT. To distribute into groups of a like kind. "Sort" means the same thing. Do you use ASSORT as a verb? Or do you sort things to create an assortment?
9. Gladys Knight & the __: PIPS. An American R&B, soul, and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s.
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| Gladys Knight & the Pips |
10. Like a dog in a crowded park, ideally: LEASHED.
11. Lets out, as a fishing line: UNREELS. Unwinds from a reel. Fishing with my dad, I performed this motion, but did not know this word. I thought this answer was forced, but maybe I should have been forced to learn more verbs.
12. Mythical forest folk: SATYRS. Lustful, drunken woodland gods. In Greek art they were depicted as men with horses' ears and tails, but in Roman art as men with goats' ears, tails, legs, and horns.
11. Lets out, as a fishing line: UNREELS. Unwinds from a reel. Fishing with my dad, I performed this motion, but did not know this word. I thought this answer was forced, but maybe I should have been forced to learn more verbs.
12. Mythical forest folk: SATYRS. Lustful, drunken woodland gods. In Greek art they were depicted as men with horses' ears and tails, but in Roman art as men with goats' ears, tails, legs, and horns.
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| Greek Satyr |
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| Roman Satyr |
15. Drink pourer's words: SAY WHEN.
17. Hectic hosp. areas: ERS. Emergency Rooms. Abbreviated clue calls for abbreviated answer.
22. Morning drops: DEW.
24. Otherworldly: EXOTIC. From another country; unusual; alien.
26. __ spinach: CREAMED. How to take a healthy vegetable and make it not that.
29. Lead-in to gender: CIS. Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, that is, someone who is not transgender.
30. Ratify with a stamp, quaintly: ENSEAL. Enseal is an obsolete verb that means to impress a document with a seal. As a teenager, I loved to seal the envelopes of letters I sent to friends with sealing wax, but obvs I was missing this verb.
17. Hectic hosp. areas: ERS. Emergency Rooms. Abbreviated clue calls for abbreviated answer.
22. Morning drops: DEW.
24. Otherworldly: EXOTIC. From another country; unusual; alien.
26. __ spinach: CREAMED. How to take a healthy vegetable and make it not that.
29. Lead-in to gender: CIS. Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, that is, someone who is not transgender.
30. Ratify with a stamp, quaintly: ENSEAL. Enseal is an obsolete verb that means to impress a document with a seal. As a teenager, I loved to seal the envelopes of letters I sent to friends with sealing wax, but obvs I was missing this verb.
35. Many a YouTuber: VLOGGER. Vlogger is a portmanteau of video and blogger. Anyone who posts video updates to an online journal or weblog can be described as a vlogger.
36. Sifted through, as candidates: SCREENED.
37. CIA predecessor: OSS. The Office of Strategic Services was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II.
38. Italian tenor Andrea: BOCELLI. Andrea Bocelli was born with congenital glaucoma, and lost his eyesight completely at age 12 after being hit in the eye with a football. He has had a brilliant singing career in spite of these difficulties.
36. Sifted through, as candidates: SCREENED.
37. CIA predecessor: OSS. The Office of Strategic Services was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II.
38. Italian tenor Andrea: BOCELLI. Andrea Bocelli was born with congenital glaucoma, and lost his eyesight completely at age 12 after being hit in the eye with a football. He has had a brilliant singing career in spite of these difficulties.
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| Andrea Bocelli |
39. HS tests taken for college credit: AP EXAMS. Many colleges offer course credits for High School Advanced Placement tests.
42. Quit school: DROP OUT.
43. Roundabout routes: DETOURS.
44. Container in a smoking lounge: ASHTRAY.
45. Made unwanted sounds, as an engine: PINGED. An engine can ping (or knock) due to an improper combustion process, because the engine is too hot, or because of improper gasoline octane.
46. Food Network host Drummond: REE. Anne Marie "Ree" Drummond is an American blogger, food writer, and television personality. Known for her blog, The Pioneer Woman, which documented her life in rural Oklahoma, Drummond has starred in her own television program, also titled The Pioneer Woman, on The Food Network since 2011.
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| Ree Drummond |
47. Like some yogurt: NONFAT.
51. Nev. neighbor: CAL. Nevada is next door to California.
53. Lengthy hike: TREK.
55. Rabbit's feet: PAWS.
59. Food Network host Garten: INA. Ina Garten is an American television cook and author. She is host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa and is a former staff member of the federal Office of Management and Budget.
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| Ina Garten |
60. Neopronoun sometimes spelled "fey": FAE. Fae/faer/faers are gender-neutral pronouns. Which would be great, as an alternative to using cisgender plurals for singular persons, but there are too many new ones to be practical. Besides fae/faer/faers, there are ze/zir/zirs, xe/xem/xyrs, ae/aer/aers, ve/ver/vers, ne/nem/nirs, and per/per/pers, among others!
Are we done yet? I found this to be a tough Tuesday. It was also:
Here's the grid:
Or did you finish with an ATTA baby?
-- NaomiZ
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 81st Birthday to dear JD! Here's a picture of Jill, Garlic Gal, Chickie and JD, all of them used to read our blog regularly.
