Our self-proclaimed "brawny brain" is back with another fun Saturday entry. Stella is a Brooklyn-based copywriter at a pharmaceutical advertising agency and a power lifter. This picture is of Stella and a fellow alto who sings with her in the Oratorio Society of New York. (Be sure to see the picture at the bottom of the write-up). Here's what Stella told me in her note on this Spring Equinox:
My seeds for this were INDIVIDUALISTIC and DIERESIS, the latter of which is definitely characteristic of my mild obsession with slightly obscure linguistic terms. (See my NYT puzzle of 10/31/20, in which ACCENT AIGU was one of the seeds.) I dearly love seasons 1 and 2 of "Stranger Things," so that's where my mind goes whenever I put EGGO in a grid these days!
Across:
1. Garbage delivery vehicle?: SPAMBOT - "A SPAMBOT is a program designed to collect, or harvest, e-mail addresses from the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam." You're welcome.
8. World Chess Champion Carlsen: MAGNUS - MAGNUS has a sponsor deal with Arctic Investments.
14. Susan Ruttan's "L.A. Law" role: ROXANNE - Susan is at the top next to another Susan who is a frequent cwd visitor - Ms. Dey
15. Used up a lot of: ATE INTO.
17. Like some stockings: TOELESS.
18. Attorney's knowledge base: CASE LAW - CASE LAW is law that is based on judicial decisions (e.g. Miranda Decision) rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. (Fourth Amendment: Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure)
19. "Anyone can play," on game boxes: ALL AGES - We spent many pleasant hours with our daughters playing this game for ALL AGES
20. Pretend: ACT LIKE.
21. "Who __?": New Orleans Saints chant: DAT - "Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints"
22. Slowed: ARRESTED - Friction with the atmosphere ARRESTED the speed of the Apollo Command Module for its return to Earth
23. Intelligence: SMARTS
26. Beginning of an apology: MEA - If Pete had just issued an early MEA culpa for betting, he'd still be in baseball.
27. One Pillar Pagoda city: HANOI.
28. Riding a Segway, say: ON WHEELS - Does this look safe to you?
34. Free-spirited: INDIVIDUALISTIC - I nominate Stella!
37. Bestowed on: VESTED IN - I retired with a nice state pension. Then I taught six more years and got VESTED IN another one.
38. "Absentia" co-star __ Katic: STANA - I watched Season One which was a variation of the 1960's TV show The Fugitive. Season Two jumped the shark for me and I bailed.
39. Permit: LET.
40. Dishonestly obtained: STOLEN.
41. Runs on: BLABBERS.
46. Term of affection: HON - I am typing this right next to our HON file cabinet. What? That's not relevant?
47. Big name in portable illumination: MAGLITE - Wow! Zombie stopping!
48. Bond first bought by FDR in 1941: SERIES E - FDR bought his six months before Pearl Harbor. LIBERTY fit too but those bonds were sold during WWI.
52. New York natives: ONEIDAS.
53. Emergency sorting systems: TRIAGES - Where I first heard the word
M*A*S*H
54. Tubular pastries: CANNOLI.
55. Fruit in some Chinese New Year customs: ORANGES - Hey. I know this brilliant woman from China who lives in Minneapolis:
Hi Gary,
The words on the red envelopes are 大吉大利, meaning "big fortune and great profit". I mentioned on the blog a few times, it's a common practice for older people to give red envelopes to kids during Spring Festival time in Xi'an. The envelopes usually contain yuan in an amount consisting of lucky 8's such as 88, 888. Different customs in other parts of China. In Guangzhou, it's a tradition to give a unmarried person a red packet. Oranges are also considered to be good luck.
C.C.H
Gary,
56. Hardly shines: STINKS.
57. Innocently charming: WINSOME.
Down:
1. Quinceañera honoree: Abbr.: SRTA - A tradition of introducing a young girl into society on her 15th birthday. Quince is Spanish for 15. Sidebar: I had 100 kids at a Disney Resort and two buses dropped off ninety 15-yr-old Argentinean girls who were celebrating their Quinceañera next to our rooms. Wow, that livened things up!
2. Group to select from: POOL - The NFL will soon take a dip in a POOL
3. "Beverly Hills Cop" cop Foley: AXEL - Eddie Murphy was great as AXEL but, come on, this movie had one of the best movie themes ever!
4. All thumbs: MALADROIT.
5. Less than 2% have this type: B-NEGATIVE - I'm A+. You?
6. Beginnings: ONSETS.
7. Rizzoli and Isles creator Gerritsen: TESS - She created the characters in her novels
8. Popular '90s dance: MACARENA - They must have lost a bet
9. How rush-hour traffic often moves: AT A CRAWL - The times below aren't even close to what it takes to get to see a Dodger spring training game at Camelback Ranch from Phoenix during rush hour
16. Wasn't square: OWED - Your bill 22. Comes (to): AMOUNTS to $15. Pay me what I'm OWED and we will be square
23. Homemade knife: SHIV - More like prisonmade
24. It may be braided for competition: MANE
25. Additions: ANDS.
29. One focused on the past: HISTORIAN.
30. Tallinn natives: ESTONIANS - There is American football in Estonia
31. Too many to name, for short: ET AL.
32. It may be a cue: LINE
33. Medical procedure: SCAN.
35. Chatter: IDLE TALK - Conversation at the stoplight?
36. Umlaut lookalike: DIERESIS - The two dots above the ï in naïve is called a DIERESIS and indicates the ï is pronounced separately. A seed entry for Stella.
43. Office plant, perhaps: AGENT - Be careful, somebody is listening and probably shooting video
44. Pancakes served with sour cream: BLINI.
45. Try to buy: BID ON.
48. Put overhead, maybe: STOW - Considering Stella's hobby, I thought this might be LIFT
49. Eleven's favorite breakfast brand, in "Stranger Things": EGGO - EGGO paid no money for product placement like the million dollars the Hershey Company paid to have Reese's Pieces in ET. The writers simply included them in the script and sagging EGGO sales consequently increased. p.s. I was a fan too.
`
50. Look: SEEM.
51. Ancient being?: ESSE - Ya can't enough Latin in a puzzle!
Here is an abbreviated group of the Stella's OSNY who performed Hadel's Messiah at the conductor's farm. The orchestra was inside a barn and the singers were just outside in a grassy area with many microphones. BTW, Stella is in the back near a tree and is the eighth person from the far right.
I've posted this link before but here's another chance to enjoy it.
Notes from C.C.:
1) Happy 83nd
birthday to Commander Al (Spitzboov), who is also a good friend to me
and Boomer off the blog. Spitzboov has met a few people on our blog,
including Argyle, Sallie and Grumpy.
Baby Spitzboov
In Uniform
3) Happy 85th birthday to John28man! Always happy to see you on the blog, John!
Hi, Cornerites, Chairman Moe here. Honest to God, this puzzle sure was
a pHun way to start a pHriday! And what a pleasure for yours truly to blog a
Mark McClain puzzle, as his clever use of several "f" sounding words that
start with the letters "pH" were inserted into a number (in this case, four)
of "pHamiliar frases" [sic]. And while at pHirst I had this acidic taste in my
mouth, once I got down to the base-ics I soon understood and realized the
reveal: 35-Across. Chemistry class measurement (it's 5 for this puzzle's
grid): pH NUMBER, and the whole chore was just "mildly" acidic! Kind of
like the Black Coffee I drank whilst creating my blog ...
Mark and I briepHly chatted via e-mail regarding his puzzle. He had some
interesting comments and shared how this went through a couple of iterations
bepHore the pHinal grid. I kinda liked this version despite having a bit of
trouble. But that just goes to show how dipHpHicult it is to construct a
crossword puzzle. I am very happy that Mark has helped me along my new journey
as a constructor ... but I digress ... let's pHind out how this whole thing
came together!
16-Across. Analytical diagrams of Tuesday rush hour traffic in Paris?:
MARDI GRAPHS. MARDI is the French word for "Tuesday"; GRAPHS are
analytical diagrams; MARDI GRAS is also known as "Fat Tuesday" or a
celebration held the day before Ash Wednesday - last chance to "let your hair
down" before the season of Lent
30-Across. Deli favorite with a floral garnish?: BAGEL AND PHLOX. BAGEL
and LOX: LOX is a fillet of brined salmon, frequently served on a BAGEL with
cream cheese, and often garnished with tomato, sliced onion, capers, and fresh
dill. PHLOX are perennials and are a favorite choice of gardeners, ranging
from ground cover blooming in early spring to the tall plants which bloom from
mid- to late summer
Which of course reminded me of a Moe-Ku:
Biblical shepherds Started gardening. Now they Watch their PHLOX
by night ...
38-Across. Rodent that's a Broadway star?: THEATER GOPHER. THEATER GOER
is literally someone who "goes to the theater"! And a GOPHER is a pretty cute
rodent. And one who had a supporting role in one of my pHavorite golpH movies:
58-Across. Mobile device for the unhip?: SQUARE PHONE. Maybe my least
pHavorite, but it pHits. "SQUARE" ONE is slang for a person who is
conventional and old-fashioned. This sense of the word "square" originated
with the American jazz community; as opposed to SQUARE "ONE" which is the
initial stage or starting point. SQUARE PHONE(s) actually DO exist,
un-beknownst to this blogger until he googled it ...
But my pHavorite use of the words "hip" and "SQUARE" are found in the lyrics
of this old classic:
Here is the grid:
On to the other clues and answers ...
Across:
1. Scrape remnant: SCAB. This would either be a SCAB or a SCAR ... I
guessed wrong but the perps corrected it later on
5. Get off topic: STRAY. This could've been clued as: "a wandering
dog". But I shouldn't STRAY from my appointed task. Maybe
ST-RAY-O-Sunshine will have something to add ...
10. Hurly-burly: ADO. Our "thesaurussaurus" doesn't include "ADO" but
it certainly means all that
13. Natural feeling: URGE. Has anyone really had an URGE to blog these
puzzles?!
14. Sharing word: A PIECE. Google says this about that: "When you mean
“each” the expression is “apiece”: these pizzas are really cheap — only ten
dollars apiece.” But when “piece” actually refers to a piece of something, the
required two-word expression is “a piece ”: “This pizza is really expensive;
can we share A PIECE?”
15. Like the top stripe of a pride flag: RED. Pride Month is this June.
Universal Crossword is going to dedicate the month of June to crossword
constructors who identify as either LBGTQ. I think this is a great idea.
18. "I've heard enough, thanks": TMI. Text speak; or what my kids say
when their Dad (me) gets a bit too descriptive about one of his ailments, et
al
19. Amazed feeling: AWE. And the root word for this: (hopefully, what
the puzzles and blogs are!)
20. Apt rhyme for "sincerely": DEARLY. Found at the close of a letter,
perhaps? I think "sincerely" a bit too formal, and "DEARLY" a bit too
personal. I almost always use "kind regards" . . . you?
21. Port SSE of Sana'a: ADEN. Accoring to Wikipedia dot com, ADEN is a
city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern
approach to the Red Sea. Sana'a is landlocked - see map
22. Sports shoe feature: CLEAT. CLEAT refers to the "gripping" feature
on the outer sole of a football shoe, e.g. Sometimes CLEATs are swapped out
depending on the surface of the playing field, and/or the weather conditions
24. "Hurrah!": YAY. I finished today's puzzle. YAY!!
25. Code opener: AREA. The three digit numeric "code". Click
here
for detail, if you're so inclined. AREA codes were introduced way back in 1947
but weren't universally used until the 1960's/1970's. Does anyone recall their
first telephone number as a kid? Mine was 2-8696 (only 5 digits) and was
bereft of an AREA code. Once the code was accepted (in PA) our new number was
(717) 854-8696 ...
26. SoCal team: LAD. Los Angeles Dodgers, the
reigning MLB World Series champs
28. One of two tarot card groups: ARCANA. Learning "MOE-ment"; ARCANA,
as a plural noun, means "secrets or mysteries". In occult practices, the Major
ARCANA are the trump cards of a tarot pack. There are usually 21 such cards in
a standard 77-card pack. Of the three shown below, I am clearly "The Fool"!!
34. 30-day mo.: APR. Thirty days hath APRil, June, and September. All
the others have 31, except February which has 28 (or 29, during a leap
year)
36. N.J. town across from northern Manhattan: FT. LEE. Fort Lee was
named for General Charles Lee after George Washington and his troops had
camped at Mount Constitution overlooking Burdett's Landing, in defense of New
York City.
37. "... __ he drove out of sight": Moore: ERE. Clement Clarke Moore
(July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was a writer and American Professor of
Oriental and Greek Literature, as well as Divinity and Biblical Learning, at
the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New
York City. He anonymously wrote and published "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in
1823, and its story is still told to wondering children at Christmastime
43. Charm: ENAMOR. "To be filled with a feeling of love for" ... when I
saw the clue I at first pencilled in AMULET, which is also defined as "a
charm"
44. Take advantage of: TAP. Many synonyms for this word "TAP". I prefer
this image, but the thesaurussaurus includes many others
45. Japanese noodle: UDON. Wikipedia dot com describes "UDON" as: "a
thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort
food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and
served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as kake UDON with a mild broth
called kakejiru made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. Sounds delightful!
46. Leaves for dim sum: TEA. Dim sum is a large range of small dishes
that Cantonese people traditionally enjoy in restaurants for breakfast and
lunch. And I am guessing that the beverage of choice would be TEA
49. Easy to pick up: LIGHT. As opposed to something that is difficult
to pick up (HEAVY)
53. Rascals: IMPS. Were these "Rascals" IMPS?
54. Come in: ARRIVE. Not the answer to when someone says "come in";
it's what you literally do (ARRIVE) when you come in (as a flight to an
airport, e.g.)
56. Blintz topping: ROE. BAGEL and LOX and now blintz with ROE? Oy,
vey! A blintz is a type of crepe and is often topped with ROE (fish
eggs/caviar). Any of our Jewish Cornerites care to add?
57. Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy org.: NBA. National
Basketball Association; Larry O'Brien was the Commissioner of
the NBA from 1975 - 1984; prior to that he was a Postmaster General in the
Johnson administration. The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the
championship trophy awarded annually by the National Basketball Association
(NBA) to the winner of the NBA Finals. The name of the trophy was the Walter
A. Brown Trophy until 1984. Wikipedia dot com
60. Swampy spot: FEN. Our Boston baseball fans will know that John
Taylor claimed the name FENway Park came from its location in the Fenway
neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth
century by filling in marshland or "fens", to create the Back Bay Fens urban
park. However, given that Taylor's family also owned the Fenway Realty
Company, the promotional value of the naming at the time has been cited as
well
61. Get-go: OUTSET. OUTSET, as in from the "get-go", or beginning
62. "Cupcake Wars" fixture: OVEN. "Cupcake Wars" is a Food Network show
that features a "bake-off" among noted cupcake/dessert chefs. I know that they
need an OVEN to produce these delights, but would it actually look like this?
63. Some replacement sites, for short: OR'S. Cute clue; Mark, yours or
Rich's? Operating RoomS, as in a hospital where you might
actually "KNEED" something replaced
64. Greeted wordlessly: WAVED. "NODS" didn't fit. Hi, y'all!
65. Forms a union: WEDS. As opposed to the abbr for WEDneSday
Down:
1. Shrub often toxic: SUMAC. And at times, we see this reference to
SUMAC in crossword puzzles: Yma Sumac, born September, 1922 – died November 1,
2008) was a Peruvian coloratura soprano. Here is a little clip from YouTube
2. Pub __: CRAWL. We old folks take Uber ...
3. Feel the same way: AGREE. I don't know how you all feel about the
music embedded below; maybe we can AGREE to disagree ...
4. Board companion: BED. Hmm. Maybe I am missing this clue's meaning .
. . Room and Board, yes; BED and board? Anyone care to chirp in here and help
C-Moe??
5. Mist: SPRAY. STRAY and SPRAY in the same puzzle ... Moe-Ku 2:
6. Headwear for kid-lit's Fancy Nancy: TIARA. Maybe if I had a
granddaughter I would've known this. But Google saved the day for me
7. Comeback: REPLY. ECHO didn't fit ...
8. In some pain: ACHY. "Don't tell my heart, my ACHY breaky heart ..."
sing it, Billy Ray ... line dance, anyone??
9. "I'd be glad to": YES.
10. Buyer and seller of oils: ART DEALER. The plural in oils gave this
one away
But I wonder ... for this puzzle's theme ... had it been clued as
"Buyer and seller of gas", would the answer have been
pHART DEALER?
11. Conduct: DEMEANOR. Demeanor suggests a general tendency, whether
good or bad, of ones outward behavior. How would you all describe MY
demeanor??!
12. Frigga's husband: ODIN. ODIN (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (Rene
Russo, I think) in Thor (Marvel Series)
14. Notable period: AGE. ERA fit, too. I would have personally
preferred a clue such as: "what good wines do well"
17. Luggage attachment: I.D. TAG. How to I.D. your luggage at the
airport baggage carousel? Use this TAG, perhaps?
21. Aqueduct support: ARCH. At first glance, I had this in mind, but
neither BETTOR nor HORSE fit:
23. __ mode: ALA. Does anyone order pie ALA mode anymore? Curious ...
are you hungry now??!
25. Strasbourg-born Dadaist: ARP. Hans Peter Wilhelm ARP (aka, Jean)
was a Dadaist-abstract painter born in Straßburg, Germany (Alsace-Lorraine) in
September 1886 and died in Basel Switzerland in June of 1966. In 1886, in what
is now known as Strasbourg, the German Empire controlled this land area west
of the Rhine River. The French regained the control of the region after WWI.
ARP was fluent in both German and French, and when he spoke German he referred
to himself as Hans; when speaking French, his moniker was Jean, as French law
required that he use a name more common in France. All of this and a whole lot
more is available at several Google sources, including Wikipedia dot com
27. Schedule for later: DEFER. Google dictionary defines it as: Source;
late Middle English (also in the sense ‘put on one side’): from Old French
differer ‘defer or differ’, from Latin differre, from dis- ‘apart’ + ferre
‘bring, carry’. I will leave the puns for Ray-O, et al
28. More than competent: ADEPT. Skillful. Is anyone who's able to leap
tall buildings in a single bound, ADEPT?
29. Tool in the Portland Timbers' logo: AXE. The Portland Timbers are
an American professional soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. Their logo is
shown below. A pHriday clue, for sure. Quick, can anyone name one of their
star players?
30. Bakery containers: BREAD PANS. not BED PANS. Although I suppose you
could use a BREAD PAN if you had to "pinch a loaf" ... oh, I'm gonna catch
some $**t for that comment!!
31. Copier tray abbr.: LTR. As in LeTteR sized.
8-1/2" x 11" is the common LTR size
32. Eighth-grade subj., often: ALG. ALGebra in 8th grade? Not
when I was going to school. GEOmetry, maybe. ALGebra seemed to hit us around
9th grade. In its simplest form ALGebra uses symbols to represent numbers in
an equation. For example, x + 2 = 5; where "x" is the unknown. Trust
me, it gets MUCH harder than that!!
33. Modernist: NEO. NEO (prefix) from the Greek "neos", meaning new,
young, fresh, modern
34. Enjoyed a lot, with "up": ATE. I almost just let this one go with
no comment; but I 'googled' the phrase ATE UP, and saw some videos attached to
this "search" that were, well, not ones even I would choose. Learning moment,
though, and perhaps as the crossword puzzle lexicon grows we will also see new
acronyms I found; e.g., AUATC (ATE UP All Their Cake) and PDLIF (Please Don't
Live In Fear)
39. Book after Joel: AMOS. Old Testament I believe
40. It may be gross: TON. I tried to fit MOE in here - or even "MOI" -
but the perps wouldn't allow it. Oh, I get it; "gross" as in a number or
amount. A TON (2,000#) could be the "gross" weight allowed, e.g.
41. Simona who won Wimbledon in 2019: HALEP. I'm not a huge tennis fan.
Had to actually look this one up. Simona HALEP, age 29, is a
Romanian professional tennis player
42. Prefix with Pen: EPI. EPI-Pen is the brand name of an
auto-injectable device that delivers the drug epinephrine. It is a life-saving
medication used when someone is experiencing a severe allergic reaction, known
as anaphylaxis. EPIPen is just one of the brand names of devices known
generically as Epinephrine Auto-Injectors.
46. Channel for reality show fans: TruTV. Didn't we just have TRU on
Wednesday?
TruTV is an American basic cable channel owned by WarnerMedia under its
Studios and Networks unit. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as
Court TV, a network that focused on crime-themed programs such as true crime
documentary series, legal dramas, and coverage of prominent criminal cases. I
don't think Judge Wapner's show ran on this network . . .
47. Backspace over: ERASE. My "backspace" key is worn down to a nub now
that I am involved on this blog ...
48. Broadcast: AIRED. "The People's Court" (current version) is AIRED
via syndication and picked up by our local CBS network station KPHO. It is
available to watch on weekdays at 3:00 local time.
Here is a list of all of the cities AIRing this show.
Scroll up or down to find your city/state
50. Trees of a kind, often: GROVE. A GROVE is a small group of trees
with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia GROVE, or a small orchard
planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts
51. Improved: HONED. According to ESL dot com, HONED can be a synonym
for IMPROVED
52. Typical winter highs at the summit of Mt. Washington: TEENS. Mount
Washington is located in N Central New Hampshire, and rises to a summit peak
of 6,288'. There is a
Weather Observatory here, and as I was typing the blog, the temperature at the summit was 10 deg F,
with a wind chill of -15! Brr. Hoping our friend Picard has some photos
floating around the Internet he can share with us
53. Facts and figures: INFO. I didn't check the OED, but I am guessing
that INFO is an accepted word and not the abbreviation for INFOrmation
54. Teal relative: AQUA. Weird things surface when you google the words
AQUA Velva. Since when did they start making a cocktail from after shave? And
I wonder if this drink is popular at Aqueduct?
55. Nov. honoree: VET. A word which as a noun can be defined as an
abbr. for an animal doctor or a retired/discharged member of the military
services. As a verb it means to make a careful and critical examination of a
person or thing
58. Barnyard mom: SOW. MARE didn't fit but COW did. Has anyone else
noticed the plethora of 3-letter words in today's puzzle?
Today's puzzle by Joe Deeney invites us to ideate on 4 theme clues and
not accept the first thought that they invoke, but to go further and expand
our minds a bit. The MIND is a mysterious domain, IMHO not
well-understood by modern science, and it has many ways to grasp
REALITY and UNREALITY. Each clue tips us off that we are about
to TRIP into Joe's world with the lead-in "No, no,[there's more]
...":
16. "No, no, more user-friendly than DOS. __!":
PICTURE WINDOWS. Not difficult
to do. MS WINDOWS revolutionized personal computing by creating a
"user friendly" operating system. The only problem is that the user
interface (UI) has become an end in itself, with a stable of millionaire
programmers who make a plethora of changes to every new release, whether they
are needed or not. END OF RANT.
25. "No, no, flatter
than sharks. __!":
FIGURE SKATES. Fascinating
fish. If you're ever in Baltimore, be sure and go see the
NATIONAL AQUARIUM. The centerpiece is a 2,200,000 gallon
POOL that can be observed from above and through glass below, and it's
filled with
SKATES, Black Tip reef sharks, many varieties of tropical fishes, and
wet-suited HUMANS who are constantly feeding all of the above at eye
level.
40. "No, no, bigger than Humvees. __!":
THINK TANKS. Speaking of pools, these
groups pool the MINDS of EXPERTS. However some of these pools are just
puddles actually. I knew a Professor of Microbiology at the University
of Maryland Medical School, whose business card simply said "Merrill Snyder,
PhD - EXPERT". Merrill defined an EXPERT as a "Drip under pressure!".
52.
"No, no, scarier than iguanas. __!":
IMAGINE DRAGONS. Imagine this
one ...
Wouldn't want to run into him in a dark jungle! Run away! Run
away! Oh and BTW, a KOMODO DRAGON's bite is poisonous and they
climb trees!
Across:
1. Winnipeg NHLer: JET. Okay sports fans. Here's
their schedule for the remainder of the year. Last Sunday the clue and the answer were
reversed.
4. Dwellings: ABODES. ADOBES fit, but don't perp; but
they're still dwellings. Magnificent dwellings.
10. Retirement outfit?: PJS. Cute clue. Actually some
non-retired ZOOMERS wear them to work.
13. Tailless primate: APE.
14. Low-ranked British peers: BARONS.
15. "La Bamba" star __ Diamond Phillips: LOU. I haven't seen this
film, but Phillips had a major role in the long running modern western crime
series
Longmire, which I believe is still streaming on NETFLIX. Phillips played
Henry Standing Bear. Great series, which I highly recommend.
19. Make the same point as: ECHO.
20. Ran: BLED.
21. Hogwarts letter carriers: OWLS. Everything I know about
Harry Potter, I've learned from CWDs (not very much).
22. Throws a bomb, in football: GOES LONG.
29. Some Strads: CELLI. A word on
one
of the greatest craftsmen of all time.
30. Hosiery hue: TAUPE.
32. "The Great" pope between Sixtus III and Hilarius:
ST LEO I. Pope Leo the Great is probably best knownfor
riding out from Rome to meet Attila the Hun in 452 and dissuading him from
sacking Rome. Just what he said to convince Attila to turn back is not
recorded. There is a monument to St. Leo the Great in St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome:
34. "Peanuts" character spelled with a hyphen until 1981: PIGPEN.
Pigpen first appeared in Peanuts almost 67 years ago, in a strip published on
July 13, 1954. Charles Schulz may have been initially inspired to create
Pigpen after visiting a friend’s home in the early 1950s. One of the kids in
the family came into the house looking very disheveled after a day of playing
outside, and the parent’s first reaction was to call the child a “pigpen.”
From his introduction in the strip to his final appearance in 1999, Pigpen,
the boy with his own perpetual cloud of dust, has proven to be one of the most
beloved characters in the comic strip’s history. Here's his debut
...
35. __ chi: TAI. My BIL is named Chi, but he practices
KARATE.
36. At home with: USED TO. There are a lot of people at home these
days and it can be hard to get USED TO.
46. Watchdog gp. created under Nixon: OSHA. Who'da thunk it?
49. Traffic signals?: HORNS. Leave it to George Gershwin to
use them as instruments in An American in Paris:
51. Two cents: INPUT.
57. Bottom line: NET.
58. Polite refusal: NO MAAM.
59. Numbered hwy.: RTE.
60. Asian honorific: SRI.
Shri (/ʃriː/; Devanagari: श्री, ISO: Śrī, Sanskrit pronunciation:
[ʃriː], Non-Sanskrit pronunciation: [sriː]), also transliterated as Shree,
Sri, or Sree, is a South Asian word denoting a title of respect used
before the name, primarily as an honorific:
61. Leaves befuddled: STUMPS. I was AT SEA, in a
HAZE as to what to do with this. But then this came to me:
62. Org. created in response to 9/11: TSA.
Down:
1. Mocking remark: JAPE.
2. Really cool: EPIC. Like AWESOME, man. Like this old
story about the
IRE OF ACHILLES.
3. Georgia __: TECH.
4. Disney monkey: ABU. I remember ALADDIN (from grade
school?), but not
ABU.
5. Mop manager?: BARBER. Formerly a much more important role at
court:
6. Promise of dire consequences: OR ELSE.
7. IKEA kit pieces: DOWELS. PEGS wouldn't cut it.
8. City about 250 miles NNW of Dallas, TX: ENID OK. Nobody said it
was actually in TEXAS😊.
9. Govt. ID: SSN.
10. Clear of snow: PLOW. My other BIL and I finally got to use our
snow blower this winter But they don't do so well with SLEET, which
we get a lot of as we're on Maryland's FALL LINE. In addition to
being a geological feature, it is also the line along which cold Northern
moisture laden air streaming down the Piedmont Plateau, meets the warmer air on
the coastal plain, resulting in slushy wet snows:
The Fall Line
11. Fleshy fold: JOWL.
12. Puzzle (out): SUSS. I hope you enigmatologist
SUSSERS are enjoying yourselves!.
17. Alt-tab function: TOGGLE. TOGGLE what? Not sure
this worked for me.
18. GI ID: DOG TAG.
23. Yves' eager assent: OUI OUI. Today's French lesson.
24. Turkey, for one: NATION. As I got the first 4 letters with
perps and as turkey's are NATIVE to North America, this clue gobbled up
some of my time.
25. Brine-cured Greek cheese: FETA.
26. Uneducated group: ILLITERATI. As opposed to the
LITERATI, like us 'uns.
27. Travel authorization for citizens of a 27-mem. union:
EU PASSPORT. Prior to BREXIT it would have been 28-mem.
28. Zoomed: SPED.
29. Winter hrs. in IL: CST.
31. Terminate: END. Wait, don't go! There are 16 more
clues left. I think you'll like the rest, especially the last one!
33. Wasn't present?: ISN'T. Well it could have become PRESENT
between THEN and NOW.
34. Education support gps.: PTAS.
37. Stretch (out): EKE. A usage of this word I'd not seen
before.
38. RB stoppers: DTS. Some other clues for this aren't PC
anymore.
41. With 42-Down, city on the Pearl River Delta: HONG. I knew this
because GUANGZHOU is on the Northern end of this delta. We had to
take our adopted grandson Ray there to clear him through the
American Consulate.
42. See 41-Down: KONG. KONG is on it too. Stopped over
in both places at once on a puddle jump from GUANGZHOU and had a WRAP in
the airport.
43. Starts to disperse, as a crowd: THINS.
44. Round-tripper: HOMER. See 2D for an EPIC by this
author.
47. Looks (for): HUNTS. As a kid, whenever we lost a baseball in
the grass, the Catholics on the team would start praying to St. Anthony.
And he always came through, as long as we HUNTED long enough.
48. Befuddled: AT SEA. See 61A.
50. Serious violations: SINS. Well not all SINS are serious,
but I won't go into that here.
51. Brand with a paw print on its logo: IAMS.
53. Punctuating word indicating sarcasm: NOT.
IS TOO!
54. Long-legged runner: EMU. A CSO to BOOMER, as BOOMING and
DRUMMING are some of the EMU's characteristic behaviors.
Unlike the Ostrich, I learned from
this article
that they are ENDEMIC to Australia.
55. Lake Mead creator: DAM. This is a
really cool website
about an EPIC National Recreation Area. Be sure and run the
video.
56. Genre for Master P or Heavy D: RAP. I don't know these
artists. The only rapper I've ever seen rap was this one (all you
constructors, perk up your ears!):
Here's the grid:
Here's hoping that Joe will stop by and update us on his new daughter, who I
believe will have her first birthday this April. I'll bet she's crawling
all over the place by now! Perhaps he could also chime in on the theme -
the depths of the mind being what they are, there may be a hidden level that
I've missed.
waseeley
Cheers, Bill
Notes from C.C.:
Special sweet treat today. The first picture is Melissa's daughter and her daughter Jaelyn. The second one is Jaelyn's little sister Harper, so cute. Look at her eyes!
27. *"I sussed that out a while ago": THE NOSE KNOWS.
44. *Family dinner reservation request, perhaps: TABLE FOR FOUR.
59. Retreated on the same trail ... and what each answer to a starred clue has?: DOUBLED BACK.
A puzzle for word nerds (that includes everyone here). The two words are both homonyms (words that sound alike but have different meanings, with same or different spellings) and homophones (a type of homonym that also sounds alike but has different meanings, and different spellings). See here. DOUBLED BACK indicates the repeated sound on the back of each phrase. Nicely done.
Melissa, here. This appears to be Enrique's debut on the Corner, but his NYT debut was in December 2020, and you can also see his work on the Brain Candy and Square Pursuits blogs, both in July of 2020. Hope he drops by today.
Across:
1. Slim advantage: EDGE.
5. Embraces: ADOPTS.
11. Intel seeker: SPY.
14. Many a character on HBO's "Euphoria": TEEN. Can't keep up with all the paid streaming services and shows any more.
15. Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans," e.g.: POP ART. A collision of commercial items (usually advertising or cartoons) and cultural icons. How Andy Warhol Came To Paint Campbell Soup Cans (Smithsonian).
16. Vientiane people: LAO. Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos, near the border with Thailand.
19. __ al-Fitr: end-of-Ramadan feast: EID.
20. Skater Midori: ITO. The first woman to land a triple axle in the Winter Olympics.
21. Author's representative: AGENT.
22. Northeast Corridor express train: ACELA. Amtrak high-speed train between Washington DC and Boston, traveling up to 150 mph.
24. Gliding ballet step: CHASSE. Quick gliding steps with one foot always leading. More word nerd stuff, according to Thesaurus.com, chasse is a synonym for sashay, as a noun or a verb.
26. Cut loose: DROP.
33. One-named "Body Party" singer: CIARA. I was unfamiliar with her.
36. Sicilian peak: ETNA.
37. Cut off: SNIP.
38. Chewy Hershey candy: ROLO.
39. Like some serious flaws: FATAL.
40. Christmas candle scent: PINE.
41. "__ cost you!": IT'LL.
42. Old Roman road: ITER.
43. Put in a bibliography: CITED.
47. Designer Saarinen: EERO.
48. Like Camembert: CREAMY.
52. Back in style: RETRO.
54. Quickness: HASTE.
57. Romance: WOO. I like this word.
58. Dept. phone number: EXT.
62. Grow older: AGE.
63. Aerie newborn: EAGLET.
64. Tennis icon Arthur: ASHE.
65. Former space station: MIR.
66. Renaissance fair rides: STEEDS. Horses.
67. "Watch __ space": THIS.
Down:
1. Work __: moral belief: ETHIC.
2. "Murder by __": 1976 Neil Simon spoof film: DEATH. Mystery-Comedy in which a group of five guests (all renowned detectives) are invited to dinner and challenged to solve an impending murder. The guests are (word nerd alert) pastiches of Charlie Chan, Nick & Nora Charles, Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, and Miss Marple.
3. Salami choice: GENOA.
4. Pierre's "fin," to Peter: END. Fin is French for end. English words that come from this Latin root word include final, finish, and definition.
5. Highest point in an orbit: APOGEE. Synonyms: apex, acme, zenith.
6. Taj Mahal feature: DOME.
7. Receptive: OPEN.
8. "What's __ is prologue": "The Tempest": PAST. The Shakespeare quote is inscribed on the base of one of two 65-ton statues (Future and Past) at the National Archives Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.
9. __TV: reality channel: TRU.
10. Namesake of a Venice basilica: ST. MARK.
11. "You can give me an answer tomorrow": SLEEP ON IT.
12. Sand transporter: PAIL.
13. Jedi Grand Master: YODA.
18. Obama daughter: SASHA.
23. Plot: CONSPIRE.
25. Park carriage, or one pushing it: STROLLER.
26. Agreement: DEAL.
28. "I like it": NEATO.
29. Mammal at an aquarium: OTTER.
30. Eat (up): SNARF.
31. Bistro pour: WINE.
32. Didn't dillydally: SPED.
33. Lit __: CRIT. Short for literary criticism. Not knowing CIARA, this filled in slowly.
34. Scintilla: IOTA.
35. Assurance after putting a Band-Aid on a boo-boo: ALL BETTER.
39. Inventory tracking method for a CPA: For anyone, but CPA (certified public accountant) indicates the answer is also an acronym. FIFO. First in, first out.
43. Like corned beef: CURED. So timely for St. Patrick's Day! I wonder if this cluing was intentional or coincidental?
45. Wears down: ERODES.
46. Large jazz combos: OCTETS.
49. Knee-deep (in): AWASH. Slightly different mental images, but it's fair.
50. Sweet Japanese rice cake: MOCHI.
51. Farm fittings: YOKES.
52. Paper package: REAM. 500 sheets.
53. VFW member: EX GI. Veteran.
54. Bigger than big: HUGE.
55. Qualified: ABLE.
56. Winter coaster: SLED.
60. Breakfast grain: OAT.
61. Club that may be flipped with joy: BAT. By a batter who just hit a home run.
` 
