Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Daniel Raymon

Theme: I'LL SECOND THAT (38. "Amen!" ... or a hint to the start of four other long answers) - First words are all "twos".

17. Mole, perhaps: DOUBLE AGENT.

21. Either Bush 43 daughter: TWIN SISTER.

58. Braille is one: BINARY CODE.

64. Olympic event featuring death spirals: PAIR SKATING.

Boomer here again, filling in another blog gap.  

When I saw this theme, I could not help but think of a PAIR of our TWINS suffering a shortage of DOUBLES.  But I could not fit BINARY onto the baseball field.

Across:

1. Prepare to get up from one's plane seat: UNBELT.  Or maybe raise a glass from your seat at the bar and order UN BELT.

7. Sucker for a flame: MOTH.  I just do not see too many MOTHS any more.

11. Camera letters: SLR.

14. Hoi __: POLLOI.

15. Mine, in Montreal: A MOI.  I guess they still speak French in Montreal. I have relatives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and when they visited here their English was fine.

16. Rival: VIE.

19. Señora Perón: EVA.

20. Palindromic woman's name: ANNA.  Also ELLE.

23. Bit of body ink: TAT. Talked about this on Monday.

24. "The Black Cat" author: POE.  The poor Black Cat is blamed for a multitude of bad luck.

25. Locker room powders: TALCS.

26. Belgian expressionist James: ENSOR.

28. Stun: DAZE.  Sometimes for a festival it replaces the word DAYS.

32. Diamond Head locale: OAHU.  Why are there Interstate Highways in Hawaii ?

33. 1974 musical based on a 1900 novel, with "The": WIZ.  A Michael Jackson movie that does not have the Magic of Minnesota's Judy Garland as Dorothy.

35. eBay offers: BIDS.  C.C. and I have been putting some of my baseball cards out there with a little bit of success.

37. Drop off for a bit: NAP.

42. Meter preceder: ODO.  We have not yet reached 3000 miles on the ODOmeter of our Santa Fe.

43. Lake formed by the Hoover Dam: MEAD.  I have been there years ago.  I never took C.C. there on our Graybar reunion trips.  I never went down in the dam for a tour. We have one of these on the Mississippi near our home and when you've seen one, you've seen them all. It's kind of fun to bring popcorn and toss it into lake MEAD and watch the fish go for it.  

44. "Told __!": YOU.  Told me WHAT ??

45. Lox variety: NOVA.  Chevrolet used to make these.  I am not sure if they are still around.

47. Burst forth: SPEW.

49. Language in which "w" and "y" are considered vowels: WELSH.  Must be the Queen's English.

53. 2010 Barack appointee: ELENA.  Ms. Kagan of the Supreme Court.

55. Parrot: APE.

57. Bothered a lot, with "at": ATE.  I like restaurants but I ATE AT home for many months and I am sure you all know why.

62. Sooner State city: ENID.  OOOHHHklahoma where the wind blows sweeping down the plain.

63. Vivid dye: AZO.

66. Volleyball scoring unit: SET.  Also a number of complete SETS of Topps Heritage Chrome baseball cards

67. Small advantage: EDGE.  On the greens, there are small holes with EDGEs.  Words cannot describe how a ball can turn 90 degrees around the hole without dropping in.  I have run out of CROSS WORDS to say when this happens.

68. With 56-Down, type of black tea with another color in its name: ORANGE. 56. See 68-Across: PEKOE.

69. Journal's end?: ESE. Journalese.

70. Gaelic gal: LASS.

71. Persuasive pieces: ESSAYS.  I think these are easier to write than to construct a Crossword.

Down:

1. Reason for a restart: UPDATE.  No restart here, keep going with the down words that are left.

2. Political pundit Peggy: NOONAN.

3. Numbs: BLUNTS.

4. Idris of "Luther": ELBA.

5. "Kidding!" letters: LOL.  Ha Ha, do people still use LOL for Laughing Out Loud.  I do not really believe that they were laughing anyway.

6. Associate with: TIE TO.

7. Ancient trio: MAGI.  "Field and Fountain, Moor and Mountain, following yonder Star."

8. Black cat, to some: OMEN.

9. Quite a lot: TONS.  Yes, I still have TONS of baseball cards.

10. "Start the music!": HIT IT.  Or what fans may yell at Target Field to those guys with TC on their caps.

11. __ Savitskaya, first woman to perform a spacewalk: SVETLANA. Soviet cosmonaut.

12. Modern customer support option: LIVE CHAT.

13. Reacts in fear, as a horse: REARS UP.  First you place a tee in the ground.  Then you grab your driver and REAR UP.

18. Wonderstruck: AWED.  The guys in your threesome will be AWED when you swing.

22. __ Tomé and Príncipe: SAO.

24. Spectrum maker: PRISM.

27. Potterverse courier: OWL.  The OWL and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat.  

29. Cabin or castle: ABODE.  Our Castle is a comfortable three level home where the top floor is always warmer than the basement.  We got used to it.

30. Chard alternative: ZIN.

31. Water whirled: EDDY.  I never knew what causes these things.

34. Pizza pieces?: ZEES.  Actually in Minnesota, they come in triangles.

36. "Dred" novelist: STOWE.

38. Reveres: IDOLIZES.  Years ago, I was among fans that Idolized Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew.

39. Heart-y message?: LOVE NOTE.

40. Upper limit: CAP.  I still wear a cap with TC on the front.

41. Color: HUE.

42. __ hit: baseball single: ONE BASE.  Yes we see a lot of singles.  The "Bombas" boys are history.

46. Carrier to Tokyo: ANA.  A lot of Olympians will be taking a flight on this airline.  Not too many fans though.

48. Rolls of money: WADS.  Those guys went to outer space.

50. Pacific weather phenomenon: LA NINA.

51. Cheap: STINGY.  It's tough to be STINGY these days.  Gas and food are going up so stingy folks must stay home and stop eating.

52. Risk-offsetting investments: HEDGES.  I invested $5.00 in Minnesota lottery tickets Monday and I "won" $2.00.  That's about as close as I get to HEDGE investing.

54. Cosmetician Adrien: ARPEL.

59. When tripled, "et cetera": YADA.

60. Smokes, briefly: CIGS.  Not me, anymore.  When I quit they were about one dollar per pack.  Now when we go to Las Vegas they have vending machines offering a pack for $10.00.  Now I can lose $10.00 worth of quarters in the slot machine and stay healthy.

61. Crude metals: ORES.

62. JFK board data: ETAS.  Their guess for Time of Arrival.

65. Cue followers: ARS.

Boomer

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Yoni Glatt

You can say that again!

20-Across. "That's what we agreed on": A DEAL IS A DEAL.

29-Across. "Can't argue with the truth": FACTS ARE FACTS.

47-Across. "Can't fight City Hall": RULES ARE RULES.

And the unifier:

56-Across. "That's life" ... and a summing-up of 20-, 29- and 47-Across: IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Across:

1. FX for some Marvel characters: CGI.  As in Computer Generated Imagery.

4. '30s veep John __ Garner: NANCE.  John Nance Garner, III (Nov. 22, 1868 ~ Nov. 7, 1967) was a politician from Texas.  He was known as Cactus Jack.  He got the nickname when he tried to get the Texas legislature to name the prickly pear cactus as the State Flower.  (The cactus lost out, however, to the Bluebell.)  I imagine he also had a prickly personality.  He served as Vice President during the first 2 terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) presidency.  Roosevelt and Garner parted ways after FDR's second term.  They had a number of disagreements, and Garner famously described the Vice Presidency as "not being worth a bucket of warm p**s."

9. Different: OTHER.

14. __ & Hammer baking soda: ARM.

15. Throw for __: upset: A LOOP.

16. Lumbering critter seen on safaris: RHINO.

17. Make like Drake: RAP.  Aubrey Drake Graham (b. Oct. 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper who goes by his middle name.

18. Hot dog topper: CHILI.  This would not be my choice.

19. Gave up formally: CEDED.

23. La., once: TERR.  The State of Louisiana is actually only a tiny portion of the Louisiana Territory.

24. Latin word for "brought back" used in titles: REDUX.

25. Haleakala National Park locale: MAUI.

32. Period of time: SPELL.

34. Bollywood wrap: SARI.  The Hollywood of India that is based in Mumbai.

35. Who, in Paris: QUI.  Today's French lesson.

36. Tic-__-toe: TAC.

37. Drink suffix: -ADE.  Hi, Lemonade!

40. Inc.'s U.K. cousin: LTD.  Both are business entities.

41. Coffee dispenser: URN.

42. Pertinent: APT.

43. Ostracize: SHUN.

45. Barely making, with "out": EKING.

51. One-named "Pillowtalk" singer: ZAYN.  I am not familiar with Zayn (né Zain Javadd Malik; b. Jan. 12, 1993).  Apparently before he went solo, he was in the boy band, One Direction.

52. Pitney __: BOWES.  Pitney Bowes is a technology company that specializes on postage meters and other mailing services.

53. Puerto __: RICO.   Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States.

59. Baby Yoda's real name: GROGU.  Hand up if you knew this!

62. Workout regimen: TAE BO.

63. Rollover acronym: IRA.  As in Individual Retirement Account.

64. Wavy dos: PERMS.

65. HR assessments: EVALS.  As in employee Evaluations that the Human Resource maintains.

66. Mork's home planet: ORK.  A reference to the late '70s sit-com, Mork and Mindy.  It was too silly for me

67. Tiptoe deviously: SNEAK.

68. "For __ sake!": PETE'S.

69. Long of "Empire": NIA.  Nia Talita Long (b. Oct. 30, 1970) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.

Down:

1. Jeweler's measure: CARAT.  The Hope Diamond is 45.52 carats.

2. Test score: GRADE.

Sadly, this is all too true in the college setting.

3. In a flawed way: IMPERFECTLY.

4. Salt formula: NaCl.

5. Trumpet great with a statue in New Orleans: AL HIRT.  Al Hirt (né Alois Maxwell Hirt; Nov. 7, 1922 ~ Apr. 27, 1999) was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.

6. Creaks and shrieks: NOISES.

7. Piña __: rum drinks: COLADAS.  Yummers!

8. Anesthetic injection that eases pain: EPIDURAL.  Yet just the thought of having an epidural gives me the willies.

9. Black-and-white ocean predator: ORCA.

10. Louise's title pal: THELMA.  The 1991 movie, Thelma and Louise, which starred Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, was also one of Brad Pitt's early films.

11. Kept out of sight: HID.

12. L.A.-to-Chicago dir.: ENE.  East-NorthEast.

13. Curtain holder: ROD.

21. Devastated sea: ARAL.  This sea has drastically been disappearing very rapidly.

22. Use, as influence: EXERT.

26. Corporate expansion tactic: ACQUISITION.

27. Turnpike no-no, usually: U-TURN.

28. "Of Thee __": I SING.

30. Many a Zoom session: CLASS.  I am Zoomed out!

31. Castro of Cuba: FIDEL.

32. Cable network that's a homophone for movie headliners: STARZ.  It's logo has changed a few times over the past 20+ years.

33. __ New Guinea: PAPUA.  Interesting facts about Papua New Guinea.

38. Abu __: DHABI.  Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates.  It is actually located on an island in the Persian Gulf.  The name means "Father (Abu) of the Gazelle (Dhabi)".

39. Tricky basketball footwork named for the continent of its origin: EURO STEP.  This is a new one for me.

44. '70s-'80s genre associated with the Knack's "My Sharona": NEW WAVE.  My Sharona made The Knacks a One-Hit-Wonder.

46. Actress Russell: KERI.  Keri Russell (b. Mar. 23, 1976) portrayed the female Russian spy in The Americans, a show we binged on last year.

48. Real puzzle: ENIGMA.

49. Nuke, as leftovers: REHEAT.

50. Of service: USABLE.

54. Clouds that sound like a virtual assistant: CIRRI.

55. Japanese port: OSAKA.  Anyone going to the Olympics this week?

57. Warthog weapon: TUSK.  Everything you wanted to know about Warthogs, but didn't know to ask.

58. Throw easily: TOSS.

59. Navig. technology: GPS.  As in the Global Positioning System.  The GPS has certainly reduced arguments when traveling on a long road trip!

60. Stimpy's sidekick: REN.  These cartoon creatures make frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.

61. Iron mine output: ORE.  A crossword staple.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

 

Monday July 19, 2021 Paul Coulter

Theme: SEASIDE RESORT (52. Coastal vacation center, major elements of which are placed as they might look on a picture postcard)

20. The Gulf Stream and others: OCEAN CURRENTS.

33. Summer Olympics sport played on sand: BEACH VOLLEYBALL.

41. 2010s HBO show set in Atlantic City: BOARDWALK EMPIRE.

Boomer here.  

C.C. and I have had the pleasure of visiting both oceans that are east and west in the United States. We visited my sisters in San Francisco and had an outdoor brunch looking out over the Pacific at the retired Alcatraz. Then, below, we had a great trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where we got in a few rounds of golf and a walk on the Atlantic Beach.  

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, May 2002

Across:

1. Smoothie superfruit: ACAI.

5. Chatter on and on: PRATE.

10. Daily paper fodder: NEWS.  "Though it never made the New York Times, in the Daily NEWS the caption read"  Simon and Garfunkel. 

14. "Scram, fly!": SHOO.

15. Moray fisher: EELER.  I suppose if you call a person catching a fish a fisher, You might call someone desperate enough to try for a Moray an EELER.

16. __ B'rith: B'NAI.  Sons of the Covenant.

17. Windshield glare reducer: TINT. I remember when it was a broad strip of blue/green across the top of the windshield.  Now they just lie and tell you it's in there.

18. Environs: AREAS.

19. Includes in the recipe: ADDS.

23. "Heaven forbid!": OH NO.  Apolo OHNO will not be in Tokyo.  He was an Olympic skater.

24. Running shoe brand: AVIA.  Pretty fancy and expensive.  We will probably see some of them in Tokyo.

26. Hank Aaron's 2,297, briefly: RBIS.  Hank had the most as he passed Babe Ruth.  However Mr. Pujols is third right now and continues to add.  Albert is very popular in my baseball card world.

29. Spring mo.: APR.  Normally is welcomed In Minnesota with a temperature that allows golf. 

31. Eggy seasonal drink: NOG.  I have never had this but I have heard it may have something other than eggs mixed in.

38. Facial spots, maybe: ACNE.

39. "May I take your __?": server's offer: ORDER.  I took a few orders from guys with stripes on their sleeves.

40. Suit to __: A TEE.  Indeed I will be matching a golf ball and a driver to this today.

44. Yang partner: YIN.

45. Handspeak.com subj.: ASL.

46. All-purpose vehicles, for short: UTES.  I think this has changed to SUVS.

47. "Shane" star Alan: LADD.  Also Charlie's Angel Cheryl.

49. "Battle Cry" author Leon: URIS.

59. __ one's nose into: meddle: POKE.  My nose is not that big.

61. Gymnast Comaneci: NADIA. Yeah, the Olympics will miss her but Tony the Tiger said she was GREAT.

62. Operatic song: ARIA.  I will no longer bore you with Benjamin Britten, Now I only sing "God Bless America" in Church.

63. Like the Sahara: ARID.

64. __ 99, Maxwell Smart's co-worker: AGENT.  Barbara Feldon.

65. Annie Lennox, by birth: SCOT.

66. Lions' homes: DENS.  Also a meeting place for Cub Scouts.

67. Prickly heath shrub: GORSE.

68. Bowler and boater: HATS.  I keep sayin here that I am a BOWLER but I am not a HAT

Down:

1. Concerning: AS TO.

2. Fashionably smart: CHIC.  Home of the Cubs.

3. See 22-Down: A ONE. 22. With 3-Down, zero: NARY.

4. Letter before kappa: IOTA.  I do not have an IOTA of knowledge of the Greek alphabet. Besides Alpha, Beta and Oh Yeah, O.M.E.G.A. (Older More Energetic Graybar Alumni.)

5. Cobbler fruit: PEACH.

6. "Peanuts" comic strip these days, e.g.: RERUN.  Yes I watch "Law and Order" a lot.

7. Last Olds model: ALERO.  Good Old Oldsmobile.  I owned several in my lifetime.

8. Drop of sadness, often: TEAR.  I think I shed a TEAR when GM discontinued the Olds.

9. Gaelic language: ERSE.

10. Hoops cable channel: NBA TV.  I do not visit there.  Spend time on the MLB channel though.  "Quick Pitch" for all of the last night's action.

11. Produces no winner: ENDS IN A TIE.  That's why we have Extra Innings.

12. Gum, after use: WAD.  I prefer a WAD of bills in my pocket.

13. Female sib: SIS.  I have three. The youngest is visiting Minnesota in a few days.

21. On-the-run snack: NOSH.

25. Desktop Gold users: AOL-ERS.

26. Shrink back in fear: RECOIL.  When I first learned to use a shotgun, it hurt for the rest of the day.

27. Slippery slapstick prop: BANANA SKIN.

28. Cupcake decorator: ICER.  Also a hockey defenseman when in trouble.

29. Fashion model Wek: ALEK.

30. Dad in Dijon: PERE.

32. Delight: GLEE.  I think I may have mention my High School GLEE club in the past. Our 55th reunion was delayed last year due to Covid.  It has been rescheduled for August.

33. Newborn: BABY.

34. Wedding exchange: VOWS.

35. Said aloud: ORAL.  I think ORAL Roberts is well named.

36. "Bad" cholesterol, initially: LDL. Low-Density Lipoprotein.

37. Pres. Clinton, religiously: BAPT.  I am not sure that religious choice of a President of the U.S. should be publicized and scrutinized.  

42. Arp's art: DADA.

43. Poet's inspiration: MUSE.  I really like Minnesotan Robert Zimmerman's work.  Of course you probably know him as Bob Dylan.

48. Accomplishments: DEEDS.

49. Organ with milk: UDDER.  I have a deceased cousin whose husband is a dairy farmer in California.  I think his business is good.

50. Stagecoach driver's controls: REINS.

51. About to explode: IRATE.  Miss a three foot putt, or a 5 pin.

53. Unexpected issue: SNAG.

54. "Otello" baritone: IAGO.  Sorry but I will never know why Shakespeare is so famous.

55. Pageant adornment: SASH.

56. Aptly named "Jaws" boat: ORCA.  Also JAWS was an apt name for a big fish. 

57. Life-of-the-party type: RIOT.

58. Ink on skin: TATS.  I never bought one of these.  I just could not see a reason.  Sorry if I offended any reader with some ink.

59. Low-tech note-taking aid: PAD.

60. Cal.'s northern neighbor: ORE.  Boy, did they ever get HOT up there recently. 

Boomer