From the last puzzle I blogged for Jamey on 3/6/21: I’m a native Texan and worked at the University of Texas at Austin, my alma mater, for many years. While there, I moonlighted as a freelance writer for local nonprofits. Now semi-retired, I can devote more time to my real passion: taking it easy. :-) A few years ago, in the mood for a new hobby, I blithely plunged into crossword construction. How hard can it be, I remember thinking. Well, dozens of humbling rejections later, it somehow continues to be an enjoyable and stimulating diversion. That’s been especially true this past year.
Here's Jamey's note about this puzzle:
Hello again, Gary, and everyone else!
As a constructor I’m happy when I can find room for a couple of evocative entries like DRAGON BOAT and DOO-WOP GROUP. (Even if they require a dab of crossword glue to hold them in place … lookin’ at you, APERCU.) Clue-wise, I’m in debt to Rich for bringing in more splashes of color throughout. I like what he did with ELEPHANT EARS, for one example. By the way, to me elephant ears are ornamental plants with oversized heart-shaped leaves. But as the clue indicates, they’re also apparently a fairground treat akin to what we call funnel cakes in Texas. Let’s open it to the floor — what do you call these fried dough snacks where you live? (Besides “heart attack on a plate.”) Jamey
Across:
1. Signs of a sale: RED TAGS.
8. "Gimme a sec ... ": HOLD IT.
14. "Yowza!": BOY OH BOY.
15. Brief outline: APERCU - Jamey calls this gluey fill but it's what we bloggers attempt to provide
16. One on a binge: CAROUSER.
17. Get back: REGAIN - Wars have caused Germany and France to lose and REGAIN Alsace-Lorraine several times
18. Serves on a sailing vessel: CREWS - Sometimes those CREWS have to really lean into their work
19. Coach in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: SABAN.
21. "Whaddya know": GEE.
22. "This goes no further ... ": OFF THE RECORD - A patriotic song and dance
25. Lifelong chum: OLD PAL.
28. Went with again, editorially: RERAN.
29. It drains the east side of the San Juan Mountains: RIO GRANDE.
32. In the box: AT BAT - Late in the game that box is just a 35. Obfuscate: BLUR (noun)
36. "Wolves of the Calla," vis-à-vis Stephen King's "The Dark Tower": PART V - It was PART V of "The Dark Tower" series
38. Soft drink choice: COLA.
39. Clog cousin: SABOT - This company simply calls this footwear a SABOT clog. Some say the word sabotage comes from when Luddites threw their SABOTS into new machinery they wanted to stop from functioning.
41. Radio City, for one: MUSIC HALL.
43. Soap star Susan: LUCCI - She played Erica Kane from 1971 to 2011. She had good genes and good doctors
45. Stickpin kin: TIE TAC.
46. Organ-shaped treats that David Foster Wallace dubbed "cinnamon toast from hell": ELEPHANT EARS - Not all that negative: "An ELEPHANT EAR is an album-sized expanse of oil-fried dough slathered with butter and cinnamon-sugar, sort of cinnamon toast from hell, really and truly shaped like an ear, surprisingly yummy, it turns out, and undeniably elephant-sized"— David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1997.
7. Red wine grape: SYRAH - Interchangeable names for wines from the same SYRAH grape
8. Zimbabwe's capital: HARARE - The currency is HARARE can be very volatile. Some places accept American dollars and some don't. Next week they might again
10. KFC selection: LEG - Harare (pop. 1.3M) has four very successful KFC's and in this ad peg their prices to American dollars
9. 1968 to now, in pro tennis: OPEN ERA - This was when the big tournaments started to allow pros to participate
11. Traditional Chinese racing craft with a namesake festival: DRAGON BOAT - A tradition that is over 2,000 yrs old. The boats are human powered and have DRAGON decorations.
12. Not so affable: ICIER.
13. Well-pitched?: TUNED - On my iPhone
14. Secret message letters: BCC.
20. Some tête toppers: BERETS - Ce soldat de la Légion étrangère française a un BÉRET vert sur la TÊTE. (This French Foreign Legion soldier has a green BERET on his head)
27. Secret agent's onus: DOUBLE LIFE - Let's sing - "Secret agent man, secret agent man. They've given you a number and taken away your name."
30. T.S. Eliot's "The __ of Cats": NAMING - This poem became a musical number in Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Cats which was based on T.S. Eliot's Book Of Practical Cats.
31. R&B group __ Hill: DRU - Google his lyrics if must. I can't/won't print them
33. Ristorante menu preposition: ALLA - Salmone ALLA Grilica - Well-seasoned Salmon on the grill
34. Tailor's chalk: TALC - Be careful marking that inseam!
37. Résumé, briefly: VITA - We see it here often but usually as Curriculum VITA
40. Real name of superhero Black Panther: T'CHALLA.
42. Small round ornament: CIRCLET.
44. Probably didn't go up the river: CANOED - If Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty wanted to go up the river, they'd have to paddle faster than the current. But they had bigger problems
ahead.
46. Arm-wrestling support: ELBOW - WAL (World Arm Wrestling) completion
47. TV producer Michaels: LORNE - SNL
48. Natural dairy sources: TEATS - Yup, I've been to many dairies.
49. Actor Hudson who played Winston Zeddemore in "Ghostbusters" films: ERNIE.
ERNIE, Harold, Bill, Dan
53. Frozen treat brand: ICEE.
54. VA concern: PTSD - A problem that can be exacerbated around the Fourth Of July
55. Snake's sound: SSS.
57. Hip word in hip-hop handles: LIL - There's a bunch 'em and most of their lyrics are not printable in this venue either.
59. Forger's focus, maybe: ART - This firm in NYC is famous for making very high quality reproductions of art work but the owner must never represent it as an original. Why replicate?
Hello there, Cornerites, and welcome to another Friday version of Chairman Moe trying to make heads or tails out of what developed into a pretty clever crossword puzzle. Today's offering is a collaboration of two Crossword Puzzle "All-Stars", Kevin Christian and Tracy Bennett. They used a "p-o-w's" question to combine two separate team names of the Wowen's National Basketball Association. (51-Down, and the "reveal": Org. that includes each part of four puzzle answers: WNBA)
Kevin and Tracy managed to find 4 combinations (8 of the 12 teams in the WNBA) and the Chairman found one more - my "theme" title. And whilst I couldn't come up with an appropriate question (The SUN are the WNBA team in Connecticut, and The FEVER are the WNBA team in Indiana), "SUNS" FEVER is rampant here in the Valley of the Sun, as the Phoenix team (the SUNS) are playing in their first ever NBA Championship Finals, as we speak, and are leading the Milwaukee Bucks 2 games to 0. Count the Chairman as one who has hopped on the SUNS bandwagon . . . but I digress . . .
20-Across. Longing at a dull lecture? (N.Y., Atlanta): LIBERTY DREAM. The New York LIBERTY are one of the original eight teams that formed the WNBA in 1996, and play their home games in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center - a venue also used by the NBA's Brooklyn NETS. The Atlanta DREAM was one of the league's expansion teams in 2007, and play their games at the Gateway Center Arena, in College Park, GA
The "play-on-word's" question for the clue probably means having the freedom to doze off, but since this was the first clue in the set, and the use of N.Y. and Atlanta was at first confusing, I was thinking about things other than team names, quite honestly, and I am a sports fan. NY LIBERTY airport? MLK's "I have a DREAM" speech? WTH? Let's go on . . .
32-Across. Talented meteorologists? (Seattle, Las Vegas): STORM ACES. OK, Moe is confused. Airports? Well, Seattle is linked with Tacoma (SEATAC), but as I was solving the puzzle, the only letters I had were "____MACES", and this one sat a long time before filling in. The Seattle STORM joined the WNBA in 1999, and has been one of the better and more successful franchises. The Las Vegas ACES are one of the original teams of the WNBA, but the franchise has moved a few times. Starting out in Utah as the STARZZ as a charter league member, then moving to San Antonio TX, and finally to Las Vegas. Kevin and Tracy's clue fits well, as talented meteorologists are indeed, "storm aces"
38-Across. Lightning? (Chicago, L.A.): SKY SPARKS. The Chicago SKY are another expansion team, and the Los Angeles SPARKS are one of the founding eight. An easier clue to connect the two team names, as "lightning" flashes are very much "sky sparks"
48-Across. Feature of a Roman god's boots? (Phoenix, Dallas): MERCURY WINGS. The Phoenix MERCURY are one of the original eight, and have featured stars such as Nancy Lieberman and Diana Taurasi. The Dallas Wings began in 1998 in the first expansion of the league as the Detroit Shock. The franchise relocated to Tulsa, OK, and finally in Dallas in 2016. And let's not forget the other two WNBA teams: The Washington Mystics and Minnesota Lynx. The WNBA season is underway; here are the standings as of July 8:
And here a few of the current players in the league:
Across:
1. Motel arrival?: ROACH. I think it was Black Flag that introduced us to the "ROACH" Motel - a trap that lured the world's most reviled insect to its deadly fate ...
6. Amazed: WOWED. I am always WOWED when I can complete a Friday puzzle with no cheats (or a Saturday; sometimes Thursday and Sunday, too!)
11. One of three in the opening scene of "Macbeth": HAG. The video clip is but 0:50 in length . . . three, count 'em, three HAGs
17. Clear for better viewing: DEFOG. When I "Googled" the word DEFOG, and looked for an image, most all of what came up was related to THIS. Any of our Cornerites young enough to have known, or are familiar with this??!
18. River to the Caspian Sea: VOLGA. VOLGA: The longest river in Europe. When you look at the image below, you get a better perspective for just how long the VOLGA river is. From Google: "Rising in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow, the VOLGA discharges into the Caspian Sea, some 2,193 miles (3,530 kilometres) to the south. It drops slowly and majestically from its source 748 feet (228 metres) above sea level to its mouth 92 feet below sea level
19. Zip: VIM. "Code" wouldn't fit; "Nil" did but did not work with the perps
23. How J.Lo performs: IN HEELS. Not only does she perform in them, she also designs them
26. Where flight attendants often work: AISLE. But hopefully, not in high heels. Not sure of the current flight attendant "dress code", but I would think that most flight attendants who identify as she/her would be far safer performing their duties in flats, or minimal heels
27. Declines to: DOESN'T. "But ya DOESN'T have to call me Johnson!"
28. Gated water channel: SLUICE. I somehow recall SLUICE showing up in a recent LAT puzzle. July 4th, perhaps?
31. Humpty Dumpty-shaped: OVATE. OVATE: "having an oval outline or ovoid shape, like an egg"
35. WC: LAV. Water Closet, abbr. Anyone else put LOO in first? I did
36. "Rappa Ternt Sanga" artist: T-PAIN. Rap is not my style, so this one was all perps. Here is what I found out about the artist "T-PAIN"
37. Granola morsel: OAT. And what is it called when you are more OAT? OATER
41. Clerical home: MANSE. Or more specifically, "the house occupied by a minister of a Presbyterian church." Google
43. "See you later": BYE BYE. TA TA didn't fit
44. Hair-coloring style: DIP DYE. What??? Well, perhaps since the Chairman is selectively bald, this clue and answer had no meaning for him. However, and unlike the word we had on Monday in CC and Andy's puzzle, "ombré hair involves gradually fading your hair from one color into the next, DIP-DYED hair isn't so subtle. Your hair will shift straight from your natural roots into your color of choice, with no in-between shade to soften the look. Basically, it's perfect for those looking to make a statement. Like this person:
45. __ double: STUNT. "STUNT doubles are a cross between a body double and a stunt performer, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, such as jumping out of a building or from vehicle to vehicle, and for other sophisticated stunts (especially fight scenes). Believe it or not, I was a STUNT double for Richard Dreyfuss, but I only subbed for him on love scenes . . .
47. Popular cider apple: WINESAP. WINESAP is an old apple cultivar of unknown origin, dating at least to American colonial times. Its apples are sweet with a tangy finish. They are used for eating, cooking, and cider. Wikipedia
52. Plus: AND. One AND (+) two = three
53. Interminably: NO END. I'm sure there are those of you who say, "Is there NO END to the Chairman's recap today??!"
54. Mario's brother: LUIGI. From the Nintendo video games, c 1981 with Donkey Kong. Mario is depicted as a portly plumber who lives in the fictional land of the Mushroom Kingdom with LUIGI, his younger, taller brother. In the television series and film, Mario and Luigi are originally from Brooklyn, New York. LUIGI is the guy in green
58. Employ: USE. Crossword "fill" and one of several 3-letter words USEd today
59. "How about that!": I'LL BE. Well I'LL BE a monkey's uncle
60. Pillow stuffing: EIDER. I thought the word "EIDER" could only be USEd in "down" words
61. __-Z: GEN. JAY fit, but not with the perps. GEN-Z's: "GENeration Z, colloquially also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials (GEN Y) and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years. Most members of Generation Z are children of Generation X. Wikipedia
62. "The Gold-Bug" name: ALLAN. You'd have to have known that Edgar ALLAN Poe wrote this. I didn't and had to look it up
63. Took badly?: STOLE. Nice play-on-words clue
Down:
1. Great American Ball Park player: RED. Having lived in the Queen City (aka, Cincinnati) this one came immediately. Great American Ball Park replaced Riverfront Stadium (later called, Cinergy Field) as home to the Cincinnati REDs baseball team. Its first year of operation was 2003
2. Fútbol cheer: OLE. Favorite skin care brand of Fútbol fans?
3. Canine alert: ARF. Sandy's favorite expression
4. Most suave: COOLEST. Slang use of COOL for "fashionable" (suave) is by 1933, originally African-American vernacular; its modern use as a general term of approval is from the late 1940s, probably via bop talk and originally in reference to a style of jazz; the word is said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young
5. Keep-it-clean routine: HYGIENE. Not going to make this "personal"
6. Ripple-patterned hairstyle: WAVES. I had wavy hair once; now I have none! But this pretty lady has lovely WAVES in her hair
7. Compost emanation: ODOR. We tried a compost bin for awhile before starting a garden. The ODOR was fortunately contained in the side yard . . .
8. Mickey's maker: WALT. WALT Disney; creator of Mickey Mouse, et al
9. Like quiche: EGGY. Definition of EGGY (courtesy of Google): Adjective; covered with or dipped in egg. EGGY bread (cooking) Resembling eggs in some way. An EGGY smell/taste. Of or relating to an egg or eggs. A quiche is a French tart made with a simple pastry crust (with flour, butter and water) that is filled with a savory egg custard
10. Something taken by an archer: DEAD AIM. Rather a morbid phrase, eh?! Thank goodness this archer had a good AIM, but his son wasn't thrilled!!
11. What hungry diners often do: HAVE SECONDS. Our family (me, as a kid growing up) rarely had "SECONDS" at the dinner table, and when we did there was always a battle for them. Moe-ku:
The clock family Made sure their kids were fed. They Always HAVE SECONDS
12. If you don't like it, you can go to Helvetica: ARIAL. Cute clue. Helvetica and ARIAL fonts are pretty darn similar, if you ask me. Can you spot the differences?
13. Tot's "Mine!": GIMME. Well, the clip below is hardly the words of a tot; but when I see the word GIMME, I always think of the song that the Rolling Stones made famous in the late '60's. "War - children - is just a shot away; it's just a shot away". "Love - children - is just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away". And if you're needing a big Stones fix click on the link for a copy of the 1970 Documentary, based on the Stones' Tour in 1970. Caution: it's 1 hour and 30 minutes in length. The song below is about 4-1/2 minutes
21. Three-ingredient sammie: BLT. Interesting clue. "Sammie" is an abbreviation for the word "sandwich", and BLT is an abbreviation for Bacon Lettuce & Tomato
22. Costa __: RICA. Costa RICA is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds. ― Google. The Chairman visited there in 2008 or 2009 on a business trip, so he didn't get a chance to enjoy much of the beauty or culture. The few pics I saved are shown below
23. Beloved stars: IDOLS. Did any of you have an IDOL when you were a kid? As a boy growing up in the '50's and early '60's, I was a huge baseball fan, as well as a pretty good player. My baseball IDOL was Rocky Colavito, who may be one of the better players of his generation not to be inducted into the Major League Hall of Fame
24. Tennis ace Djokovic: NOVAK. The Chairman is not a huge tennis fan, though he's heard of him. Heard of him? I mean, c'mon Moe, NOVAK has only been the #1 professionally ranked men's tennis player in the WORLD for over 6 years now!! Like I said, not a tennis fan. It might have been the only "ball" sport in which Moe never participated. Meh. Now when MOE thinks of NOVAK, this person came to mind:
25. Considerable load: HEAVY BURDEN. This titan had quite a HEAVY BURDEN
28. Investment: STAKE. Let's see what the Thesaurusaurus has to say: yep, there it is at #8
29. Two-time Newbery Medal winner Lowry: LOIS. OK. Two things the Chairman will admit to not knowing: 1) who LOIS Lowry is, and 2) what a Newbery Medal is. Other than that, this clue was a breeze! Actually, LOIS won her Newbery Medals in 1990 for Number the Stars, and in 1994 for the book The Giver
30. Buffet server: URN. "Server" as in a thing, not a person. Nowadays, many if not all buffets are being staffed by people who plate and serve your food, rather than have a bunch of potential Covid carriers spread their germs among many dishes. An URN of course is the large coffee vessel used alongside a buffet
32. Nimble: SPRY. Believe it or not, I grew up not too far from SPRY Pennsylvania. I'll bet that Misty has heard of it
33. GPA booster: EASY "A". Moe needed a couple of EASY A courses to boost his GPA during his college years. He was a pretty good student; just a bit lazy at times . . . If the cartoon below were penned when I was in school, the teacher's comment would've been "Cliff Notes" instead of Wikipedia!
34. Expensive: STEEP. Again, the word associated with the clue has several meanings, and choosing this one allowed it to be more of a Friday clue/fill than if the constructor's had clued it as: "a 30% grade on a hillside"
36. Generous pickup: TAB. How about THIS TAB "pickup"?? The video is quite long, but skip through some of the video to see something totally weird!
39. Bring together: SYNC. Short for SYNChronize. According to Webster's, the word can also be spelled "SYNCH", and this use often appears in xword puzzles
40. Hanging basket bloomer: PETUNIA. Your gardening tip du jour from C Moe: Planting PETUNIAS in hanging baskets is a cinch, as long as you use a sturdy container with at least one drainage hole. Fill the container with a lightweight commercial potting mix, which will promote healthy drainage. Never use garden soil, which quickly becomes compacted and too heavy for proper drainage
44. Cacophony: DIN. A four-syllable clue for a one-syllable, three-letter word. Welcome to Friday!!
45. "The Hobbit" dragon: SMAUG. Did you ever wonder how they shot some of the animated scenes which use actor's voices? Watch the first and then the second
46. Not cool at all: TENSE. The antonym of 4-Down
47. Expand: WIDEN. I am guessing that part of the eventual "infrastructure" bill in Congress is the plan to both rebuild and WIDEN certain roads and bridges. I never could quite understand why, as a kid, when we took the PA Turnpike west of Harrisburg, the seven tunnels used were all only two-lanes wide when the highway itself was four. Until I discovered the history. Here is a brief snippet from Federal Highway Administration dot gov:
The Turnpike originally began as a railway route. The construction began in the 1880s but was never completed, even though a combined total of 4.5 miles of tunnel had been dug through seven mountains. Called the "Tunnel Highway" or "America's Super Highway," the seven-tunnel Pennsylvania Turnpike opened 60 years later in the fall of 1940 as a four-lane highway. For truckers, the down-hill travel on the low grades would be mechanically safer, and all motorists could enjoy a safe journey while also saving time. At a cost of more than $61 million, the 160-mile roadway took 770,000 tons of sand, 1,200,000 tons of stone, 50,000 tons of steel, and more than 300,000 tons of cement to complete.
The 24-foot wide lanes, divided into 12-foot lanes, accommodated the width of vehicles, but shrunk to 11.5 feet wide inside the tunnels where the double lanes ended and only one lane in each direction began. In 1941, after one year of operation, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission reported more than two million cars had traveled the road. By 1960, however, there were many more vehicles on the roadway causing congestion and delays at the tunnels. Some of these delays were as long as five miles.
49. Sushi prep verb: ROLL. Watch and learn; it seems to me that you're paying for the labor, not the ingredients:
50. Shout: YELL. Per Google, I checked to see just how "loud" a shout or YELL is: "Using everyday items you could probably measure sounds in the range of roughly 20 to 80 dB. ... Loud appliances such as a vacuum cleaner or power tools could exceed 80 dB. Human YELLS can be quite loud, possibly exceeding 100 dB (as of March 2019, the world record is 129 dB!). That's loud
55. Promising words: I DO. One of the sixteen three-letter fills used in today's puzzle. I like the clue; "I DO, I DO!"
56. Dab that'll do your do: GEL. But was the one that I recall really a GEL or was it something else? It definitely had a memorable commercial ad for TV:
57. Dander: IRE. Technically speaking, the word "dander" refers to tiny scales shed from human or animal skin or hair. Dander floats in the air, settles on surfaces, and makes up a good portion of household dust. Cat dander is a common cause of allergic reactions. But in the phrase "get one's[sic] dander up", "dander" refers to anger, or IRE. I hate to end on a negative, so I'll plea, "Thumper"
Here's the grid:
Please feel free to comment below . . .
Notes from C.C.:
Happy birthday to Dear Anon-T (Tony), who
turns 51 year old today. The First picture is Tony on Father's Day hiking At Wit's End
near Carmel. And of course, we just saw him and Leo a few days ago. Thanks for the care and attention you've given to each of us on the
blog over the year, Tony!
Regular contributorMark McClain
is back and he's found a way to predict the future using just these
themers:
17A. Leaping grab of a would-be homer, say:
CIRCUS CATCH. Alright sports fans, this panoply of plays
will keep you busy for quite a while, so don't forget to come back for the
rest of the puzzle:
29A. Christian house of worship in Egypt: COPTIC CHURCH.
The Egyptian Copts founded Christian churches as early as 50 AD. The Ethiopian Copts may have founded their Churches even earlier
as described in the encounter between St. Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in
The Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40. I had the privilege of meeting
two Ethiopian Copts at a conference a few years back. Sadly, they were
there to witness to the widespread persecution of Coptic Christians in their
country.
46A. Northern glacial formation: ARCTIC ICECAP. "Polar ice caps are
melting as global warming causes climate change. We lose Arctic sea ice at a
rate of almost 13% per decade, and over the past 30 years, the oldest and
thickest ice in the Arctic has declined by a stunning 95%." While it is a
matter of dispute as to whether global warming is anthropocentric in origin or
due to natural causes,
there is no disputing its impact.
62A. Souvenir of a Black Forest vacation:
CUCKOO CLOCK. Some of these can get pretty intricate, so be sure to
"mouse over"
the image in this ad to see the details of the clock. And they can be pretty pricey, so don't forget to take your checkbook.
Or just skip the vacation and buy the clock over the net.
And in case
you still can't see how Mark does it, here's the reveal:
37A.
Anticipates ... or, phonetically, what's found in puzzle answers of more than 10
letters: FORESEES. It's all in the grid:
That's nothing. We can 4C all the answers with just two C's: C.C.
Bournikel! And here's some stuff you haven't seen (excepting of course the
usual TLA's and Crosswordese):
21. "Fantastic!": SUPER. We saw the The Fantasticks off
Broadway years ago and it was really SUPER. I believe it still
holds the record (42 years) for the longest running off Broadway show. In
recent years it ran into some controversy for its use of an archaic term in one
of its songs, whose connotations have changed in recent years,
as explained in this article. However there is nothing controversial about this classic:
23. Go after, in a way: SUE. And here's another classic, the story
of the man that SUE went after ...
24. Division word: INTO.
27. Hardly at all: A BIT. Well is it or isn't it? (1)
Yes or (0) No?
33. Word with place or door: MAT. Add a T and you get a
MATT glaze:
34. Legal suspension: STAY.
35. __ de Cologne: EAU. Today's French Lesson
36. Many tax software users: EFILERS.
40. Deal with: ADDRESS.
42. Barge unit: TON.
43. Hitchcock's "__ Window": REAR. This film got mixed reviews when
it was released in 1954. Critics said it lacked that NOIR feel and
the pervasive air of DREAD typical of many of Hitchcock's earlier
films. DW and I decided to watch it to see for ourselves and we're really
glad we did. It's worth watching for many reasons: for its humor; its
early 50's edginess; for the chemistry between the stars,
James Stewart and Grace Kelly; and for Franz Waxman's score
and his peppering of the soundtrack with popular tunes of the day heard coming
from the courtyard below Stewart's REAR WINDOW. And Hitchcock does
manage to compress plenty of NOIR and ANGST into the last quarter
or so of the film.
Here's a good summary of the reasons to watch this masterpiece.
45. Cabbage option: RED.
50. Villainous look: LEER.
51. "The Burning Giraffe" artist: DALI. Dali painted this in 1937
after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
This article will clarify much of the painting's symbolism, but it refers to Dali simply as a "surrealist". But
as war approached in Europe, specifically in Spain,
Dalí clashed with members of the Surrealist movement. In a "trial"
held in 1934, he was expelled from the group. Dali left Spain
for America in 1940 and he subsequently abandoned many of the iconic
surrealist features of his earlier work and his paintings began to
dramatically increase in size (as compared to the
diminutive scale of "The Burning Giraffe"). To gain a better idea of
his the totality of his life's work I recommend a visit to the
Dali Museum in St. Petersburg
the next time you are in Florida. Or
visit it virtually.
The Burning Giraffe Basel Kunstmuseum 13 3/4" x 10
1/2"
52. "__ no surprise": ITS.
55. Press down: SMUSH.
58. Standard salary: BASE PAY.
61. Contest involving letter placement: BEE. Spelling bees are
something we start rehearsing for in elementary school, but only a few make it
to the
big time. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that they don't
have spelling bees in Germany, Italy, and Spain.
France maybe. I wonder why?
65. Thumbs-up vote: YEA.
66. Authorize: ALLOW.
67. SiriusXM channel 5 tune, say: OLDIE. My Mother used to sing
this OLDIE when she was growing up in WWII England. She brought it
to America and we'd all sing it around the dinner table after supper:
68. Contractor's no.: EST.
69. Grace word: BLESS. Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts ...
70. Lab activities: TESTS. My Labs didn't do any testing, but they
sure did a lot of licking and scratching.
Down:
1. Treaties: PACTS.
2. Parting word in Paris: ADIEU.
3. Michaels of "SNL": LORNE. Cruciverbalists owe this guy
big time. Not only has he been producing SNL since 1975, but
he is credited with the production of nearly 70 films and TV shows. The amount of CW FILL he has created boggles the mind. In
fact I'm almost certain there is some more besides this in this very puzzle!
4. Marine predator: ORCA. Alias
KILLER WHALE. The pic below shows how big they are compared to a human. However there
are no recorded killings of humans by Orcas in the wild. But there are
some rare instances of human deaths due to Orcas in captivity. They are
LARGE animals and they have BIG TEEF! They have been known to kill sea
mammals as large as Sperm Whales ...
5. Cold shoulder: SNUB. My Mom always applied
Vicks VapoRub to my snubbed shoulders:
6. Climber's endeavor: ASCENT. Since ALPS are such a CW
mainstay and Richard Strauss' "Eine Alpensinfonie" (An Alpine Symphony) was the
answer to a clue last week, I thought we'd listen to just a bit of it. It's not
really a classical 4 movement symphony, but rather a 1
1/2 hr
tone poem in 22 episodes.
Here's a 7 min. clip of the first 3 episodes with Herbert Von Karajan
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic: NIGHT, SUNRISE and ASCENT:
7. Meadow: LEA.
8. On topic: APT.
9. Lapel attachments: MICS. Always remember to remember whether
they're ON or OFF.
10. Locale of the surfing mecca Sunset Beach: OAHU.
11. Hard-to-find group: RARE BREED. Here's a
RARE BREED
and a CSO to our Spitzboov:
22. Six-time NBA All-Star __ Gasol: PAU. This will give you
hoopsters
some stats to chew on.
25. Carol contraction: TIS.
26. Numeric prefix: OCTA.
28. In this way: THUS.
29. So__: CAL. A CSO to all you SOCAL Cornerites.
30. Cheri of "SNL": OTERI. I told ya so.
31. Uncouth fellow: CAD.
32. Many-headed monster: HYDRA. Hercules slaying the
HYDRA. The second of
his 12 labors; and it was all uphill from there.
33. Chopped pie filling: MINCE MEAT. My Mother loved to make
MINCE MEAT pies at Christmas, but I never really cared for them as a kid.
I do eat them now, but they're not my first choice for pastries. Here's
everything you might want to know about Mince Meat pies
from the makers of Scottish Shortbread (which I do care for).
36. Bibliography abbr.: ET AL. Short for ET ALIA ("and
other") or ET ALII ("and others")
47. __TV: Turner channel: TRU. Hand up if you use this
channel.
48. Some pipe joints: ELBOWS.
49. Parma parting: CIAO. Italian CLECHO of 2D.
52. Touch and others: IPODS. I have two IPOD Nanos, both
tuned to WBJC 91.5 FM (also streamable at www.wbjc.com).
They're really nice to listen to while gardening.
53. Unspoken: TACIT.
54. Guitarist John who played with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake:
SYKES. Here's Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town" with lead
vocalist Philip Lynott and John Sykes on guitar and backup vocals:
60. Fashion magazine since 1945: ELLE. As luck would have it, this
was the only cover I could find that was suitable for Corner viewing and it
featured the accomplished actress Emma Stone. She was
named world's highest paid actress in 2017 and named by Time as one of the
"100 most influential people in the world". And to top it all off, she HAS had "her picture on the cover of the
Rolling Stone". Unfortunately I think that one might not be suitable for
Corner viewing!
61. Parting, or half of one: BYE. I'll save the other half until
the next two clues bid us ADIEU.
63. NFL's Browns, on sports crawls: CLE.
64. Decks, briefly: KOS. That about KNOCKS it
OUT.
Theme: AND WHAT TO MY WONDERING EYES SHOULD APREAR? Theme answers are all on or two-word phrases that are [more or less] synonyms for AMAZED.
17 A. Amazed: TAKEN ABACK. Surprised or shocked.
39 A. Amazed: STUNNED So shocked that one is temporarily unable to react;
62 A. Amazed: GOBSMACKED. Utterly astonished.
11 D. Amazed: BOWLED OVER. Amaze, astonish, astound,
29 D. Amazed: DUMBSTRUCK. So shocked or surprised as to be unable to speak.
Hi Gang, the Amazing JAzzBumps here to shock and astound you. Or maybe not. Anyway, I'll lead you through today's AMAZNG puzzle. One might choose to quibble with these equivalences, but I'm just going to let them be. Let's see what surprises are in store.
Across:
1. Tomato used for paste: ROMA. Oval shaped, meaty variety with less liquid content than most.
5. Comic strip frame: PANEL.
10. Cookbook abbr.: TBSP. Tablespoon
14. Issue with a URL: E-MAG. Electronic Magazine
15. Colleague of Amy and Sonia: ELENA. Justice Kagan.
16. Roast, on le menu: ROTI. Is this French?
19. Wilson of "Zoolander": OWEN. [b 1968]. One of this actors that I find to be rather annoying.
20. Boring lecture feature: DRONE. A low continuous humming sound, or a semi-articulate speaker with little change in pitch or inflection.
21. Agatha contemporary: ERLE. Mystery writers Christie and Stanley Gardner, respectively.
22. Blue Bonnet, e.g.: OLEO. Can't believe it's not butter.
23. Small change: DIMES.
25. Swear off sinning: REPENT. Feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin. Does this mean I'll never do it again? Only maybe.
27. Shout from Speedy Gonzales: ANDALE. In context, a rather non-specific expression of enthusiasm.
30. Set, as a price: ASKED. To which a prospective buyer might counter with a bid.
31. Herr's home: HAUS. House auf Deutsch.
32. A or Ray, say: ALER. Baseball player in the American League. Inferior fill, IMHO.
35. Chip away at: ERODE. OK. Now I am going to quibble. "Chip away" implies some sort of percussive action removing discrete chunks, while "ERODE" means a gradual wearing away at a micro level. Not equivalent.
38. Branch: ARM. as of, for example, a body of water.
41. "101 Dalmatians" villain Cruella de __: VIL.
42. __ Ludington, 1777 militia-alerting rider: SYBIL. Sybil Ludington[April 5, 1761 – February 26, 1839,] was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. On April 26, 1777, at age 16, she made an all-night horseback ride to alert militia forces in the towns of Putnam County, New York, and Danbury, Connecticut, of the approach of British forces. I did not know that.
44. "Well done!": GOOD.
45. Widen, as a hole opening: REAM. to enlarge, shape, or smooth out (a hole) with a rotating finishing tool.
46. Attempts: STABS. Tries [which also fits, I discovered.]
48. Very: EVER SO.
50. __ music: orchestrates: SETS TO. Actually, this cold mean simply sitting a melody for a set of words. Orchestration wold be considerably more elaborate. Another iffy equivalence.
52. Ate: DINED.
54. End for soft or silver: -WARE. Sadly, I need perps.
55. GPS options: RTES. Routes to get you were you are going.
57. Bob Marley, e.g.: RASTA. Short fo Rastafari, also known as the Rastafari movement or Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion.
61. Lago contents: AGUA. Spanish lake water
64. Foul weather gear for Brits: MACS. Short for Macintosh - a full length waterproof coat.
65. Permeate: IMBUE. Fill with [something.]
66. A fisherman may spin one: TALE. About the one that got away.
67. Jet black: INKY. Ebon also fits.
68. Until now: AS YET. Will it continue?
69. British submachine gun: STEN. A family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War.
3. Great white shark relative: MAKO. A fast and dangerous predator.
4. Ulterior motives, perhaps: AGENDAS. Sometimes considered hidden.
5. Patch veggie: PEA. The small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit,[2] since they contain seeds and develop from the ovary of a (pea) flower.
6. "Three Tall Women" Pulitzer playwright: ALBEE. Tis play by Edward Albee [1928-1916] won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1994.
7. Approaches: NEARS.
8. Something in addition to the letter: Abbr.: ENCL. An ENCLOSURE.
9. Celtic rivals: LAKERS. U.S. Professional basketball teams,
10. State cop: TROOPER.
12. Dutch painter Jan: STEEN. [1626 - 1679] From the Dutch golden age, he was one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humor and abundance of color.
13. Burgundy grape: PINOT. Fro wine-making
18. Astronaut Armstrong: NEIL. [1930-2012] He was the first person to walk on the moon.
24. Protein provider: MEAT. Nutrition.
26. Barely managed, with "out": EKED.
27. Cries of discovery: AHAS. Eurekas doesn't fit.
28. __ a one: NARY. Totally absent.
30. River near Arezzo: ARNO. In the Tuscany region of Italy
33. Carries with effort: LUGS. Schlepps
34. "Another Green World" musician: ENO. Brian [b 1948] was a pioneer in ambient music. This was his 3rd studio album, released in 1975.
36. "Buenos __": DIAS. A good gad in Spain.
37. Red Muppet: ELMO.
39. Bed board: SLAT. It supports the box springs.
40. Biblical plot: EDEN. The early garden.
43. "Piece of cake": IT'S EASY.
45. Censors for security reasons: REDACTS. Conceals portions of a text.
47. Noble Italian house that produced two popes: BORGIA.A Spanish-Aragonese family that rose to prominence during the Italian renaissance. The Borgias became prominent in ecclesiastical and political affairs in the 15th and 16th centuries, producing two popes: Alfons de Borja, who ruled as Pope Callixtus III during 1455–1458, and Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia, as Pope Alexander VI, during 1492–1503.
Especially during the reign of Alexander VI, they were suspected of many crimes, including adultery, incest, simony, theft, bribery, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning).
49. Aloe __: VERA. An evergreen perennial cultivated for commercial products, mainly as a topical skin treatment.
51. Eddie __, Olympic gold-medalist in boxing and bobsledding: EAGAN. He [1897 - 1967] is notable as being the only person to win a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in different disciplines.
52. Disney Channel star __ Ryan: DEBBY. She [b 1993] started acting in professional theatres at the age of seven, and has since starred in several Disney productions.
53. It's debatable: ISSUE. An important topic or problem for debate or discussion.
56. Whiskered males: TOMS. Cats, I suppose. But most males can be whiskered, and so are female cats. So - ???
58. 32-card game: SKAT. A three-handed trick-taking card game with bidding, played with 32 cards. It is the official game of Germany.
59. Marketing leader?: TELE-. Cutesey affix clue.
60. Yemeni port: ADEN. Its natural harbor lies in the crater of a dormant volcano, which now forms a peninsula joined to the mainland by a low isthmus.
63. Bumped into: MET. With a little luck, nobody was harmed.
That wraps up another Wednesday. I had my nits, but over-all not too bad.
46. Organ-shaped treats that David Foster Wallace dubbed "cinnamon toast from hell": ELEPHANT EARS - Not all that negative: "An ELEPHANT EAR is an album-sized expanse of oil-fried dough slathered with butter and cinnamon-sugar, sort of cinnamon toast from hell, really and truly shaped like an ear, surprisingly yummy, it turns out, and undeniably elephant-sized"— David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1997.
