Today we have a familiar member of our Saturday Themeless Cadre as the Supply Chain Project Manager from Massachusetts, Joe Deeney, enters our puzzle supply chain and delivers a real challenge. His devilish cluing did not do me in but I did have one bad cell where my lack of facility with the Spanish language (¡Ay, carumba!) and ignorance of Mamet Dramas (Go figure) left me with vowel roulette and I chose the wrong one (see the red cell below)! I'll have to take one bad cell and try to get through the rest of my day. 😒 Here are Joe's comments:
Hi Gary,
All good here, hope you are well. I made this puzzle in January 2020. The seed was CEREAL AISLE, glad to see my clue [Total area?] survived. I don't usually try triple stack grids but I guess I was in the mood at that time. Other than that I don't remember much about the construction, though I suspect I couldn't talk myself out of stacking ICE LATTE on top of HOT TAMALE.
-Rich's [Crudely built city?] is an improvement over my original [Site of some crude buildings?] -I'd submitted the same clue for PEEPHOLE and EYEPIECES, [Looky here!], sorry to see it go for EYEPIECES but it was probably too much of a stretch -I've submitted [Do partner, for a monkey] as a clue for SEE several times over the years, glad to see a form of it finally appear in print as [Monkey's do partner?] -This one was a bit sports-heavy again after my sports-heavy March 31 puzzle - apologies to those who don't care for that, a quirk of the schedule that these appeared so close together
-Joe
Across:
1. Technique providing percussion with a string note: SLAP BASS - A chance for a Buddy Holly fun tune on Ed Sullivan with Joe Mauldin playing SLAP BASS.
9. Character in "The Iliad" but not "The Odyssey"?: ALPHA - Wow! It finally hit me The Iliadhas an A (ALPHA) but The Odyssey does not
14. Summer pick-me-up: ICED LATTE - I treat myself to one occasionally on my way to summer morning golf
15. Use as a bed: LIE ON - You made your bed and so now you're going to have to LIE ON it.
16. Spicy Mexican food: HOT TAMALE - If I had no conscience, I'd say, "Chili today but HOT TAMLE".
17. Extract metal from: SMELT - Also the past tense for SMELL in Britain
18. Surg. sites: ORS.
19. Ivy near an Acela stop: YALE - Yup, I see New Haven
20. Ado: HOOPLA.
21. Big rings: PEALS - Now that was a fun clue (after a struggle)!
25. Question of method: HOW - For this write-up, I learned HOW to type an ¡ on my Mac - Option +1
26. Durango, por ejemplo: ESTADO (a Mexican State)and 27. 1992 Mamet drama: OLEANNA (as if I would have an idea 😏)- Their intersection cost me a "got 'er done".
28. Crudely built city?: OIL TOWN - Cleverness from Rich. Here is Desdemona, TX that was built on crude oil money and is now a ghost town
31. Many of today's pro athletes: MILLENNIALS - Super Bowl Champ Tom Brady was born in 1977 and so is one of the last Gen-Xer's still playing pro sports. Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat was born in 1980 and so is one of the first MILLENNIALS to still be playing
34. Total area?: CEREAL AISLE - A very clever seed entry for Joe! You could also get some KIX and find some LIFE there too I'll bet
35. Result of an imagined draft: FANTASY TEAM - You pick a player at every position and score points for how well they do during the season
56. Lenses: EYEPIECES - Telescopes come with different EYEPIECES. You can choose an EYPIECE to see a large area or get high magnification of a smaller area
57. Touch-and-go: RISKY
58. Blessings: GODSENDS.
Down:
1. Makes a point?: SCORES - Kick a Point After Touchdown, cross home plate, make a Free Throw, kick a soccer goal...
2. Unleashes on: LETS AT.
3. Big letters in security services: ADT - A friend of mine only bought the sign
4. Is far from a good sport: PLAYS DIRTY.
5. Perennial #1 NCAA football team since 2008: BAMA - If you're a College FB fan you know about Nick Saban's juggernaut in Tuscaloosa
6. Even slightly: AT ALL.
7. Fifth-cen. pope called "The Great": ST LEO - A marble relief in St Peter's showing ST LEO repelling Attila The Hun as St Peter and St Paul appear in the sky
8. Monkey's do partner?: SEE - Monkey SEE, monkey do. Who is mimicking who?
9. As well: ALSO.
10. Long way to go?: LIMO - Last Saturday Stella Z. had 18. Big wheels?: LIMOS
11. Look here!: PEEPHOLE - Or a Norman Rockwell knothole
12. Depressions: HOLLOWS - Some of those Appalachian "hollers" can produce some mighty strong spirits
13. __ Jamison, one of two NBA players with 20,000+ points who's not in the Hall of Fame: ANTAWN.
14. "From your mouth to God's ears": I HOPE.
20. Rears: HEINIES - Oh, those rears.
22. Feel bad about: LAMENT.
24. Succeeded in: WON AT - Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to have WON AT The Masters last Sunday.
32. Performs surgery on, in a way: LASES - My dentist is looking into this. Yay!
33. Cambridgeshire cathedral city: ELY - The cathedral is at CB7 4DL in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England just south of the Prezzo Italian Restaurant
34. Like a sure thing: CAN'T MISS - 1919: "I know this guy named Charles Ponzi..."
35. Company founded in 1939 as Auto Avio Costruzioni: FERRARI - Enzo Ferrari got fired from Alfa-Romeo and was forbidden to use his name on a vehicle for at least four years. So he built the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 in 1939
36. Key of Beethoven's Violin Concerto: D-MAJOR - Had to be [A - G] [Major, Minor or Sharp]
38. Submission to a radio station, briefly: DEMO CD - For $500 this her DEMO CD can be yours
39. Garden guardians: GNOMES.
40. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES - He's on Donnie Wahlberg's right below
44. Moved between banks, maybe: WADED- I rowed first
47. Berserk: AMOK.
48. Refuse: DENY.
50. Amps (up): PEPS - Even tapes can be amped up!
53. Once-big storage unit that's now quite small: MEG - I remember when MEGabytes were huge computer storage units and then gigabytes and now you're a slacker without terabytes!
Theme: "There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes"
TGIF! Hello Cornerites and welcome to the blog. I chose today to inform, delight, and entertain you as best I can for the next 10 minutes or so. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!
First the inform: this was by far the hardest puzzle I've had to solve, not only as your blogger du jour, but perhaps ever. It kicked my skinny white (61-Across. Beast of burden:) ASS.
Second, the delight:
Third, the entertain: (go ahead and take your time; I could only find 6)
On to the puzzle: Today's constructor, Mark MacLachlan, "shifted" into (42-Down; Fifth, often, for a manual transmission:) TOP GEAR on this puzzle straight-away. I must've been having one of those evenings where my brain was in "reverse", as I didn't immediately get either (1-Across; Annie Lennox, e.g.:) SCOT, nor (1-Down; Snooze loudly:) SAW LOGS. I can always sense when a puzzle and I have no connection, and it's usually in the NW Corner. So after a lot of white space I finally looked up several clues to give me a toe hold, and eventually figure out this crossword puzzle. I got the "AHA" moment when I saw the (56-Across; Sign of deceit, and a phonetic hint to four puzzle answers:) "SHIFTY EYES".
All four entries have anagrammed words which change the meaning of the punned clue to a more familiar phrase, merely by shifting the letter "I". Didn't see that coming? Well, please read on . . .
16-Across. Cycling route for Broom Hilda?: WITCH TRAIL. Shift the "EYE" (phoenetic sound for the letter "I") in the word "TRAIL" and you complete the more recognizable phrase, "WITCH TRIAL".
Might this be the WITCH TRAIL she was referring to?
23-Across. Romantic locales for Miss Piggy?: DATING STIES. Put the "I" before the "T" in the word STIES (plural of "STY") and the word "SITES" appears. DATING SITES such as Zoosk, Tinder, eHarmony, Match dot com, et al, are the 21st Century's way of getting folks together, hopefully for romance. The piggies below aren't Muppets characters but they do look like they're in love!!
32-Across. Place to harvest your deepest secrets?: DIARY FARM. Shift the "I" with the "A" in DIARY and the word DAIRY appears. I've heard of a DAIRY FARM, but a DIARY FARM? This clue and solve seemed the "stretchiest" of the four, but it fits. I don't know why but DIARY FARM reminded me of this joke (I found a clean version)
48-Across. Equipment for identifying genuine island wreaths?: LEI DETECTOR. Shift the "E" and the "I" in LEI and the familiar LIE DETECTOR appears. This and 23-Across "tied" for the best of the four entries, IMO. And whilst the image below doesn't use the "DETECTOR" portion of the pun, I thought it appropriate! Wonder if their eggs are already "dyed" for Easter, e.g.?
There's more fill that needs an "I" examination . . . and I'm the lucky blogger today!
Across:
5. Phishing, say: SCAM. Since the puzzle's reveal is a homophone why not have one of the early clues be one as well? Had anyone here heard of the word "phishing" before the end of the last century? Moe-ku:
The band known as Phish Jams like Jerry Garcia. A Grateful Dead SCAM?
9. Start of many a "Jeopardy!" answer: WHO?. "Please state your answer in the form of a question" was a familiar piece of advice to the contestants playing "Jeopardy".
12. College fund-raising targets: ALUMS. ALUM-NI maybe. ALUMS? I'm gonna pull the grammar card on you, MacLachlan! And if I didn't Yellowrocks would! Here is what grammarly dot com has to say: "Alumni is always the plural. You have alumnus and alumna — or if you don't like gender discrimination, alum — to cover your singular noun bases. Alumnus for a male, alumna for a female, alumni for a group of males or mixed gender, and alumnae for a group of females". I couldn't find ALUMS as a plural for a group of college graduates. . .
However, had Mark used this reference I'd be OK with it: ALUMS: colorless astringent compounds that are a hydrated double sulfate of aluminum and potassium, used in solution medicinally and in dyeing and tanning
14. Flag bearer: POLE. Literally:
15. Crack from the wind, perhaps: CHAP. Wow! This clue and answer had me bamboozled! When I saw the clue this image appeared in my temporal lobe:
18. Instrument featured in "Waltz of the Flowers": HARP. OBOE also fits the letter count. But Tchaikovsky's piece from the Nutcracker features the HARP. Enjoy!
19. Old DJ's array: LPS. Long Playing RecordS. Though most used '45's I think. How about my original image of the Eagles "Take it to the Limit" (Side A) and "Lyin' Eyes" (Side B)?
20. Taper off: ABATE. Moe-ku:
You have just three casts With a worm; then it becomes An ABATED bait
21. One-up: OUTDO. Moe-ku:
If two hair stylists Compete, would you then say they'd OUTDO their updo's?
22. Bread grain: OAT. I prefer RYE and had that pencilled in for quite awhile
25. Maker of a fine cheddar?: GRATER. Cute clue. On Tuesday we had CHEESE GRATER as part of the "Shift Gears" entries. Did you hear that folks in Wisconsin use the term "Make America GRATE" when referring to their eponymous cheddar cheese?
27. Result of a missed deadline, maybe: LATE FEE. I always equate "LATE FEE" with the charge a library imposes when you forget to return a book on time . . .
28. Eye affliction: STYE. Moe-ku (and a reference to 23-Across):
Miss Piggy's eyes were Infected after her date. She got a sty STYE.
29. Sheer linen fabric: TOILE. I actually knew this one, but don't ask me why!
36. Part of a Braille character: DOT. Lots of DOTS
39. Like many dad jokes: STALE. I had CORNY and then SILLY before STALE fit. FTR, my "Dad jokes" are not STALE, but they are, sometimes, "fresh"!
40. Italian wine hub: ASTI. ASTI Spumante is a sparkling wine from that region in Italy and is almost always sweet. Where is it you ask? Here, with the ALPS in "repose" . . .
44. Logically flawed: INVALID. IN-VAL'-ID vs IN'-VUHLID: in this case the heteronym chosen by cluing is IN-VAL'-ID
46. Hit, as the gas: STEP ON. Mazda's commercials implore us to STEP ON it. Zoom, zoom!
51. Dungeons & Dragons genre, briefly: RPG. I had no clue. Never played Dungeons & Dragons though I know of it. So Role Playing Game was a complete WAG (Wild Ass Guess)
52. Hungarian mathematician Paul: ERDOS. Paul Erdős (note the umlaut over the "O") (born 26 March 1913 – died 20 September 1996) was a renowned Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. You knew that, right?
53. Frodo's home, with "the": SHIRE. From "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy
54. Wine statistic: AGE. AGE, as in the period from the vintage year (actual year of the grape's harvest) to when the wine is "ready" for drinking. Some wines "AGE" better than others and is due in part to the grape varietal used (and where it grows), and the winemaker's vinification process. A CSO to yours truly as the blog's resident sommelier
As a side note, I used to buy wines that would AGE gracefully for years, maybe decades. But now that I am at a fairly "advanced" AGE (68) I don't even buy green bananas anymore!!
55. Baskerville Hall setting: MOOR. Baskerville Hall is the ancestral home of the Baskerville family. The place is an impressive manor located in Devonshire, England. Some say it's haunted. The word "MOOR" means: "a tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath". This?
58. Beast of burden: MULE. "Clecho" with 61-Across. "Moe" info: "ASS vs MULE: An ASS is either a male or female donkey. A MULE is the result of breeding between a male donkey and a female horse
59. Massage deeply: ROLF. Massaging technique named for its "inventor", Ida Rolf. Ida Rolf was re-invented in the 1977 movie "Semi-Tough" starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristoffersen, and Lotte Lenya as "Clara Pelf". I've posted the video clip of Reynolds getting "pelfed", but if you really want to know about the ROLF technique, click here
60. Workout output: SWEAT. I would imagine that actor Reynolds had a SWEAT or two as he anticipated Lenya's next move during the ROLF/PELF scene
62. Needs to settle: OWES. Hmm. OK it's Friday so the cluing should be a bit tougher. Of course I was thinking that "settle" meant to come to rest. Did I mention before that this was one of the hardest puzzles I've ever solved?
63. Drops the ball: ERRS. CELEBRATES NEW YEAR'S EVE was too many letters to fill this small area . . .
Down:
2. Some website images: CLIP ART. Is it one word or two? CLIP ART looks better to my "I" than CLIPART. But I digress . . . guess what folks? We use CLIP ART in our blogs! Clip art are simple pictures and symbols made available for computer users to add to their documents. But once again, my brain's temporal lobe thought up this image and I am pretty sure that "clippers" had a role:
3. Linger longer than, as a welcome: OUTSTAY. I've heard both OUTSTAY and OVERSTAY, but either way, as Ben Franklin said, "Fish and houseguests smell after three days . . ."
4. Film buff's choice: TMC. Turner Classic Movies
5. Jack in a rhyme: SPRAT. "Jack SPRAT would eat no fat, his wife would eat no lean . . ." or something like that
6. Kinkajou cousin: COATI. First off, it would've helped to know what a Kinkajou is! Wikipedia says: "The kinkajou is a tropical rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus Potos and is also known as the "honey bear". And now you know
How about a Moe-klu?
Certain Israeli's ROLFing practice has the name: "Ida's Kinkajou"
OY!
7. Sci-fi subject: ALIEN LIFE. WHO doesn't remember the most eponymous Alien Life Form from the 1986-1990 TV sitcom?
8. First name of two Spice Girls: MEL. Wikipedia says: "The Spice Girls are an English pop girl group formed in 1994. The group comprises Melanie Brown, also known as MEL B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie Chisholm, MEL C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham née Adams ("Posh Spice")
9. Hypotheticals: WHAT IFS. Are there hypothethicals in Jeopardy? For example, ANSWER: "The speed of light." QUESTION (as posed by a contestant): "WHAT IF I say, 'very fast'??
10. Monster Angus Thickburger seller: HARDEE'S. HARDEE'S is a "fast-food" restaurant chain that started as a single facility by Wilbur Hardee in Greenville, NC in 1960. Wikipedia has lots more info than I can type here. FTR, I worked at one of their restaurants in York, PA in the summer between my sophomore and junior year in college. Minimum wage then was $1.65 per hour I think . . .
11. Adversary: OPPOSER. Our visit from the Thesaurussaurus
13. Protect from light: SHADE. I sure hope that no one will "throw" SHADE at me!!
15. Certain jumper's need: CHUTE. Or the equally familiar PARACHUTE. Both are acceptable, but why would you jump out of a perfectly safe airline, e.g.??
17. Way up the slope: T-BAR. Moe-ku:
Ski slopes in England Are busy at 4:00 PM. Long lines at T-BAR
Are my "dad jokes" getting a bit too STALE right now??!!!
21. KitchenAid competitor: OSTER. I wanted another Moe-ku (OSTER Oyster) but I'm done for today! Here is an OSTER appliance CLIP ART I found:
24. Apple variety: GALA. GALA apples are a hybrid that originated in New Zealand back in the 1930's. It is one of the more popular varieties and is one I almost always buy. Of course the "clue" today had me thinking of PDA's, and I had IPAD/IPOD/IMAC in mind. Each found their way into the puzzle before I realized it was an orchard fruit variety. Anybody else fall for that?
26. Rocker Nugent: TED. TED Nugent (Theodore Anthony, by birth) gained fame first as a lead guitarist for the band he formed called The Amboy Dukes, but is best known for his solo work. Here is a sample of his guitar prowess:
29. Convention center attraction: TRADE SHOW. If I had a nickel for every TRADE SHOW I attended or worked during my 35+ year career . . . I'd have about $5!!
30. Olive __: OYL. This became a "SHIFTY EYE" for me in a different way . . . I had this answered as OIL (with an I) at first
33. British __: ISLES. Wow, this clue seemed quite easy actually. One of the few spots I filled before cheating
34. Fighting: AT IT. My sister (older) and I were always AT IT when we were kids; we are much more cordial now
35. Astronaut Jemison: MAE. MAE Carol Jemison (October 17, 1956 - ) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Wikipedia. Love this quote:
36. Word from the Greek for "two assumptions": DILEMMA. Another word I looked up to get a foothold on the Western border of the puzzle. DILEMMA: early 16th century (denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives): via Latin from Greek dilēmma, from di- ‘twice’ + lēmma ‘premise’. Caught between a rock and a hard spot, perhaps? Or maybe this:
37. Oppressive: ONEROUS.
38. Tube tops?: TV IDOLS. Once again, the "literal" clue appeared - "tube top" - as in the strapless clothing item worn by women; followed closely by the plastic lid one might find on a tube of toothpaste. But it wasn't until I found INVALID (the key "perp") before I knew that "tube" meant the slang word for television, and that "tops" meant stars or IDOLS. Meh. Maybe if they clued it "boob tube tops" I'd have had a chance of getting it the first go around . . .
41. Device that delivers a coat: SPRAYER. I liked this clue! And since we recently had a painting job to do that required a base "coat" (which we applied with a SPRAYER) it was crystal clear
43. Downs: INGESTS. Third person present. INGESTS means to take into the body (food, drink, e.g.) by swallowing; could also mean (with regards to information) "absorbing". As in "they spent their day by INGESTing the contents of the Encyclopedia Brittanica
45. Cherish: ADORE. Another "oldie but goodie":
46. Type: SORT. Got this straight away, too. Dunno why but it just seemed to "fit"
47. Part of a full house, maybe: TREYS. Look carefully: which is the better hand?
49. Easter Island's country: CHILE. Another gimme. See map here. Scroll to show just how far off of the coast of CHILE this island "LEIS". About 2,000 miles I reckon
50. Little disputes: TIFFS. Most of the time when my sister and I were "AT IT" we were having TIFFS
56. Box office sign: SRO. Standing Room Only
57. Female in a field: EWE. This cleu was "meh" for me. EWE?
The Grid: (72 words and 36 blocks - very difficult)
Today we have a return engagement by Mike Peluso. Old timers will remember that Mike has published here many times over the years. He has visited at least 5 times in the past year, the most recent being December 27, 2020. This is a WORKING PERSON's puzzle, but even the retirees on the corner
have to solve it. The reveal best describes the TASK at hand:
36. Comment about routine work ... and hint to the ends of the answers to
starred clues:IT'S A JOB. That is the last word is a "type" of JOB.
And here are the themers:
17. *Closest to the rail, at Churchill Downs:ON THE INSIDE. e.g. INSIDE JOB is a documentary on the 2008 financial crisis,
still available for streaming from Amazon Prime. Haven't seen it, but I
think they name names.
53. *It may be used with a grunt or two:
ELBOW GREASE. e.g. I did a GREASE JOB on my tiller the other
day using WD40. Did a spritz or two, but not much grunting (other
than to drag the beast out of the shed).
11. *Suzanne
Somers' "Three's Company" role: CHRISSY SNOW. e.g. Oxford Languages defines a SNOW JOB as "deception or concealment of one's real motive in an attempt to flatter or
persuade". I've never seen "Three's Company" and as a legally blonde male, I much prefer dumb
brunette jokes, but HERE'S CHRISSY ...
25. *Barely triumphs: WINS BY A NOSE. e.g. a NOSE JOB never
occurred to Cyrano de Bergerac but he won anyway. My favorite
movie version of this story is titled with the object of his affections,
ROXANNE, and stars
Daryl Hannah and Steve Martin:
Hey, the work's just getting started:
Across:
1. Mail in: REMIT. Not a themer, but often a metaphor for minimal
effort on a JOB. Same with "phone in".
15. Font that's a homophone for a mermaid: ARIAL. The font is
rather dull, so here's Ariel. She is the first non-human Disney princess,
and even
has her own wiki.
16. Color: HUE. There are varying ways to define HUES, one of the
most common being as factions of
RED, GREEN, andBLUE.
"RGB" is a digital standard for this approach.
19. Mitch McConnell's org.: RNC. The Republican
National Committee, the titular governing board of the Republican
Party.
20. Balance sheet category: ASSETS versus LIABILITIES.
21. "Love Story" author Segal: ERICH.
23. The Big Easy, locally: NAWLINS. A CSO to our very own Big Easy!
26. Works: OPUSES. But there's really only one
OPUS:
31. "Dandy for your teeth" old toothpaste: IPANA. And here's
Bucky!
32. Guffaw: YUK. I don't see anything funny about this at
all:
Mr Yuk
35. Ambulance letters: EMS.
38. Wee, in Dundee: SMA. New to me.
39. Apply gently: DAB.
40. Novgorod nos: NYETS. No, NOT the New York Mets!
41. Financial news channel: CNBC.
42. Judge of baseball, for one: YANKEE. UMPIRE didn't perp, so I
had to use perps to get this. As I'm not a YANKEE fan so I hadn't heard of Aaron Judge. AL Rookie of the Year for 2017:
44. Pakistani metropolis: LAHORE.
46. Jolson classic: SWANEE. Jolson is best known for his appearance
in the "Jazz Singer", the first "talking picture". But he performed in
many Broadway musicals prior to this, including the hit Sinbad in
1918. At some point he included George Gershwin's Swanee in the song
list. It was a smash hit and helped launch Gershwin's career.
48. Dispensed (with): DID AWAY.
49. Privilege of playing first, in golf: HONOR. All of you golfers
may know this term, but this lefthander certainly didn't.
This explains it. I do find it very relaxing to watch. All those greens, and an
occasional patch of brown.
50. Kid's retort: ARE NOT. ARE TOO!
52. Latin 101 verb: AMO. Okay, let's not get too personal here.
58. Network soliciting donors: PBS. Use to donate. Now I just
sponge off of people with JOBS.
59. Spry: AGILE.
60. Stubborn: BALKY. This was a stubborn clue, especially crossing
the NATICK ADORBS (see 45D).
Down:
1. Pi follower: RHO. Don't get 'em too close though. You might start a FIRE.
2. Ages and ages: EON.
3. Casper winter hrs.: MST.
4. Consumes eagerly: INHALES. Unlike some politicians of a certain
age who didn't ...
5. Connects logically: TIES IN. Personally I think
everythingTIES IN.
6. See-through sheets: PANES. I have some friends like that, but I
can't see thru 'em.
7. Once, old-style: ERST.
8. Social reformer Jacob: RIIS. And a gluey one at that.
9. Magazine with "The Lighter Side of..." features: MAD. [considered inserting a cover, but didn't want to blow my PG RATING.]
10. Where apnea might be diagnosed: SLEEP LAB. I can speak from
personal experience, I predict that the person who invents a low-cost, paste on,
disposable, blue-tooth EKG sensor will become a
BRAZILIANAIRE. Those of you who've been there know what I
mean. There's a CSO for ya' Anon-T (and I want a finder's fee)!
12. Prevention unit: OUNCE. Always a good investment.
13. Many Microsoft employees: TECHS. And a lot of them have nothing better
to do than lard on useless new features to the next release of Windows.
18. "It __ fair!": ISN'T. IS TOO!
22. Tire track: RUT.
23. Famous: NOTED.
24. Bakery draw: AROMA. This is starting to make me hungry.
26. Napa prefix: OENO.
OENOLOGY is the science and study of wine and wine making. This is
distinct from viticulture, the agricultural endeavor of vine-growing, and the
agricultural endeavor of grape-harvesting. The English word oenology derives
from the word oinos, "wine" and the suffix –logia, "study of" from the Ancient
Greek language. - Wikipedia.
28. Overflow: SPATE.
29. Some mil. brass: MAJS.
31. "Understood": I SEE. Most of the time I really don't though.
34. Country singer Musgraves with six Grammys: KACEY. New to me,
but I was glad to make her acquaintance. Here's Merry-go-Round from
her breakthrough album, Same Trailer Different Park released in 2013:
36. Cochlea site: INNER EAR. Here's
your inner ear explained. And here's a 'pitcher', and "they have BIG EARS" (as my Dad often
said to Mom when I was in the room). The COCHLEA is the part that looks
like a conch shell on the right:
37. Child: TYKE.
41. Loire Valley sight: CHATEAU. In addition to a CASTLE,
also an Appellation Contrôlée, an official designation for French wines,
certifying that the grapes in a vintage were grown, pressed, barrelled, and
bottled on the CHATEAU estate. This is the highest standard. The next highest I believe are COMMUNITY appellations, where the grapes are all from the same community in a REGION. Here is a map of the wine
communities in the LOIRE VALLEYREGION (C MOE for more on
appellations):
43. 2021, por ejemplo: ANO. Today's leccion de Español.
44. __ cod: Pacific Coast catch: LING. I'd not heard of this
fish, and it's not really a cod, but those in the know
consider it a delicacy
...
Lingcod
45. "Totes __!": really cute: ADORBS. New to me. "Totes adorbs" is a slang abbreviation of "totally adorable" that's evolved among the 20 and
under age group here in the States", per the
Cambridge English Dictionary.
46. Fitness magazine: SHAPE.
47. Development sites: WOMBS. More often UTERI, but itdidn't perp.
48. Like morning grass: DEWED. Wet morning grass always brings to my mind
this song, the lyrics by
Eleanor Farjeon (13 February 1881 –5 June 1965), set to an old Scottish tune called "Bunessan", and sung by Cat
Stevens:
50. Somewhat: A BIT. A humble but very versatile word. With just a series of
the values "0" or "1", they can be used to create
vast universes, or little ones like the Corner.
51. Part: ROLE.
54. JFK alternative: LGA. A
remarkable story began here
on January 15th, 2009. If you haven't seen the movie SULLY, I
highly recommend it.
Miracle on the Hudson
55. Pacino and Capone: ALS.
56. Water __: SKI.
57. Hurricane center: EYE. Hurricane Andrew (1995) had a "pinhole" eye, the most destructive type. A CSO to Spitz or any other Cornerites
with tales to tell about these storms.
Hurricane Andrew
Here's the grid:
To get some insight into Mike Peluso's background, inspiration, and theme preferences here's C.C.'s interview with him from the early days (2009).
Gramagram sounds like a telegram from your grandmother, but it's actually a word that sounds like letters. Example: Seedy (CD), or excellency (XLNC). In today's puzzle, we find three words with NME embedded (each crossing two words), which sounds like the word enemy.
17. Monument on one end of the National Mall: LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
29. Singer of the 2019 #1 hit "Señorita": SHAWN MENDES.
44. Local political gathering: TOWN MEETING.
59. Upscale restaurant's offering: DEGUSTATION MENU. Dégustation is the careful, appreciative tasting of various food,
focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good
company. Dégustation is more likely to involve sampling small portions
of all of a chef's signature dishes in one sitting.
67. Foe found phonetically in four puzzle answers: ENEMY.
Melissa here. I have heard of 59A but did not remember the phrase. That and a few other unknowns made this a little tougher than a typical Wednesday for me.
Across:
1. Treble symbol: G-CLEF. The leading G tripped me up here - I don't read music. According to Wikipedia: The only G-clef still in use is the treble
clef, with the G-clef placed on the second line. This is the most
common clef in use and is generally the first clef learned by music
students. For this reason, the terms "G-clef" and "treble clef" are often seen as synonymous.
6. "Do the __!": MATH.
10. Toppers with visors: CAPS.
14. Siri's Amazon counterpart: ALEXA. She's very nosey. I never talk to her but she continues to try.
15. Felipe of baseball: ALOU. Former Major League Baseball outfielder, first baseman, and manager. He managed the Montreal Expos and the San Francisco Giants.
16. "The Thin Man" canine role: ASTA.
20. Cathedral recess: APSE.
21. Expected-in hr.: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.
22. At first, say: ON BASE. More baseball. Or romance ;).
23. Falsehood source: LIAR.
25. Rice-like pasta: ORZO.
26. Eleven-yr.-old insurance law: ACA. Obama's Affordable Care Act.
34. Mall cop's ride: SEGWAY.
36. "Brava!": OLE.
37. Schoolbook: TEXT.
38. O. __: HENRY. William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer.
39. __ rub: BBQ spices: DRY.
40. One with a need for speed: RACER.
41. Bread spread: OLEO. Aka margarine.
42. Bro's sib: SIS.
43. Mexican state south of Veracruz: OAXACA.
47. "Acid": LSD.
48. Capricorn critter: GOAT. Horoscope.
49. Poker variety: STUD. Stud poker is any of a number of poker variants in which each player receives a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple betting rounds.
51. Chosen groups: ELITES.
54. Watched: SAW.
55. File format for digital books: EPUB.
62. Christian on a label: DIOR. French fashion designer. Died in 1957.
63. "Marriage Story" actor Alan: ALDA.
64. "We didn't do it": NOT US.
65. Tall tale: YARN.
66. Itchy red area: RASH.
Down:
1. Lavish party: GALA.
2. Film segment: CLIP.
3. Many a Zeiss product: LENS.
4. Shine: EXCEL.
5. Toy retailer __ Schwarz: FAO. Some think of the scene in Big, when Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia play the piano with their feet. I always think of a line in the song A Secretary is Not a Toy, from the original 1967 movie How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: "And you'll find nothing like her at F.A.O. Schwartz!" Sadly, that lyric was left out in the movie, but the full version was included in the Time Life collection of musicals on vinyl. Still a funny scene.
6. Meditation word: MANTRA.
7. __ mater: ALMA.
8. Piggy in a crib: TOE. Cute.
9. "It's weird, but just do it": HUMOR ME. Snort ... that made me laugh.
18. Patrick __, Vermont senator since 1975: LEAHY.
19. Cinq plus six: ONZE.
24. Words to an old chap: I SAY.
25. Sole: ONLY.
26. Had __: was still in the running: A SHOT.
27. Songwriter Green: CEELO. Sign language class final to a Ceelo tune. Don't view if bad language offends you.
28. Nixon's first veep: AGNEW.
30. Razzie Award adjective: WORST.
31. Hot rod attachment: DECAL. That was
32. Management bigwigs: EXECS.
33. Highly coveted violin: STRAD.
35. Right that isn't right, e.g.: WRONG TURN. Like the clue. Reminds me of a scene from The Long Long Trailer, with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. "You didn't let me finish, I was trying to tell you to turn left. What I was trying to tell you was 'Turn right here, left.'"
39. Paleo __: DIET. Every year a new diet or two. This one is still fairly popular.
45. Springfield bar: MOES. Everything I know about The Simpsons I learned from crosswords, and I never remember this.
46. Old Testament prophet: ISAIAH.
50. Exorcist's target: DEMON.
51. Jacuzzi effect: EDDY.
52. Kylo Ren's mother: LEIA. Once it filled in, it made sense, but I had no idea who Kylo Ren was.
53. Composer Stravinsky: IGOR.
54. Criteria: Abbr.: STDS.
56. Best of the Beatles, once: PETE. Replaced by Ringo Star as the drummer in 1962.
57. Word on U.S. coins: UNUM. E pluribus unum – Latin for "Out of many, one" – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on coins and on the Great Seal.
-Rich's [Crudely built city?] is an improvement over my original [Site of some crude buildings?]
14. Summer pick-me-up: ICED LATTE - I treat myself to one occasionally on my way to summer morning golf
3. Big letters in security services: ADT - A friend of mine only bought the sign
