Saturday, October 16, 2021, Bill Pipal

 Saturday Themeless by Bill Pipal

Today we have another new constructor. This is a picture of Bill and his rescue dog who got too hot on a walk and so he carried her. How great is that?

 I punched through in the middle and worked out from there. NEMEA, ELISHA, AUDRE and RENE took some finagling. 

Here are some generous notes from Bill: 

I currently reside in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with my wife and rescue dog.  Proud double-Illini working as an in-house attorney for a tech start-up in Chicago. Like many, I started constructing crossword puzzles during the pandemic and was lucky to meet so many kind people in the crosswording community who helped me learn from mistakes and improve my construction skills.  A big thank you to the test solvers of this puzzle (and all of my puzzles).  Specifically, my sister-in law, Alie, and my father-in law, Tom.  Most importantly, while not a crossword enthsuiast herself, my wife was incredibly supportive of me in this time consuming hobby and encouraged me to keep trying even after some rejections started coming in on earlier puzzles.

-Only one seed entry CANCEL CULTURE!  Built the rest of the grid around that thirteen-letter entry.

-I struggled to come up with a good clue for CANCEL CULTURE and proposed [A bad take might make you a victim of it].  Love Rich's clue and wish I had thought of it.  I clued PIANO BAR as [Good place to see a duel?] and wish that had made the cut!

I had fun cluing TV REMOTE, DREAM BIG, and APPLE PIE.

-After I put in the seed entry, I worked counter-clockwise to fill up the rest of the grid.  I almost scrapped this version because I had trouble even getting the middle part of the puzzle in good shape, but once I found AMICLEAR I felt good about the middle.  The NW corner proved to be the most difficult section as I was trying my best to avoid NEGEV and ENROBE, but felt those were good options, especially to get DRY SPELL and IN A PANIC as entries.

-This is my first 15x15 puzzle that has been published so this is a big thrill for me!  I am most excited for my friends and family to get the chance to solve it!

Across:

1. Term of address in old Westerns: KEMOSABE - How old do you have to be to get this reference? Uh, I qualify!!

9. Survives, maybe: ADAPTS - Very famous ADAPTORS 

15. Freaking out: IN A PANIC.

16. DNA sample source: SALIVA - Spit in a tube and send it in for DNA analysis

17. Writer's challenge: DRY SPELL - Getting through one

18. Ascent, for one: SUBARU - Car brand and model. Google if you must, they all look alike.

19. Crowd around: MOB - Treatment received by Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles,...

20. Show confidence in, with "by": SWEAR - I SWEAR by my eight-yr-old Cadillac but my son-in-law will not drive a domestic car and even flew to Chicago to get a new Audi to drive back to Lincoln 

22. "Seinfeld" surname: BENES - Seinfeld, Kramer, Costanza and BENES

23. Touch: ABUT - HGTV's International House Hunters showed some houses that really do ABUT each other in Paris

25. Short piece: STUB.

27. 2018 film for which Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director: ROMA - No idea for me. 

28. Beersheba's region: NEGEV - Beersheba (also called Be'er Sheva) is a little over an hour SSE of Tel Aviv via the Toll Road Hwy 6 on the north edge of the NEGEV Desert.

30. Organic fuel source: PEAT BOG - A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss.

32. "The Color of Money" game: NINE BALL - Who else could get billing above Tom Cruise? 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. 36. Enjoyed, with "up": ATE - I ATE up this movie but the original, The Hustler, got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes

37. Controversial phenomenon in response to controversial actions: CANCEL CULTURE -Google if you must. This forum is not for political issues.

40. Disheveled do: MOP.

41. "Capisce?": AM I CLEAR.

Yes, Mr. Soprano!

42. They make a lot of calls: UMPIRES - Replay shows them right 94+% of the time

44. Inflexible: RIGID.

48. Kids' song locale: DELL - There's this farmer who lives in one...

49. Cries of success: AHAS.

52. Tireless assistant: SIRI - SIRI on my iPhone  is a bottomless supply of useful and useless information! 

53. Puppy: WHELP - As a noun a WHELP is a synonym for a puppy and as a verb it means to give birth to puppies. Below is a WHELP Box that is used for mom's comfort and containing the puppies.

55. L.A.'s __ Museum of the American West: AUTRY - I almost asked SIRI about the LA Museum of the American West but cowboy actor Gene AUTRY finally came to my mind. _ _T _ Y almost led me to GETTY

58. Outlaw: BAN.

59. Fix: REPAIR.

61. "Anything's possible": DREAM BIG.

63. Alicia Keys label: ARISTA - I found at least four labels for which Alicia records

64. Got off the leash: RAN LOOSE.

65. View secretly: PEEK AT.

66. Penciled-in item: EYELINER.

Down:

1. Oscar winner as Woolf in 2002: KIDMAN - Nicole as Virginia Woolf in the movie The Hours (79% on Rotten Tomatoes)

   Woolf                     KIDMAN 
                                 as Woolf

2. Dress for court, maybe: ENROBE - An unfortunate word that Bill told us he used as a last resort 

3. Common name for a cockchafer: MAYBUG - Also called a Doodlebug or Maybeetle 

4. Covert __: OPS.

5. Drains: SAPS.

6. One way to begin: ANEW.

7. Gymnast who won four golds in Rio: BILES.

8. Brilliance: ECLAT - A word I have never heard or used except in crosswords. 

9. Biblical mount: ASS.

10. Slap (on): DAUB - This guy is DAUBING a thick substance onto a stick frame called a wattle to make a wall

11. Renaissance painter Dürer: ALBERT - Bill wrote me that he clued it as "MLB slugger Pujols" but Rich selected "the more obscure reference" 

12. Setting for a Billy Joel classic: PIANO BAR - I like Rich's cluing here

13. One hiding in the cushions?: TV REMOTE - I like Bill's cluing here

14. Breakfast link: SAUSAGE.

21. "Drag Race" host: RUPAUL - Constructor Stella Zawistowski told me she is a big fan 

24. Ark. neighbor: TENN - We crossed the Mississippi River from ARK. to get to Memphis, TENN.

26. Ball charmer: BELLE - Cinderella for example 

29. Church official: VICAR - Miss Marple investigates foul play at his house

31. Union setting: ALTAR.

33. Site of Hercules' first labor: NEMEA.

34. "24" actress Cuthbert: ELISHA - ELISHA and her NHL hockey player husband Dion Phaneuf

35. Discreetly send a dupe to: BCC - Blind Carbon Copy:  "My client" does not know I am sending this to "My boss" as well as to her.

37. Curt summons: COME HERE.

38. Slice of Americana?: APPLE PIE - A one time ad claimed Chevrolet was as American as Baseball, Hot Dogs and APPLE PIE

39. "Trinity" novelist: URIS - Leon's more well known novel Exodus is not used today

40. Spa treatment whose effects are temporary, per the FDA: MUD WRAP - Is the mud being DAUBED on?

43. "Lemme check": I'LL ASK.

45. Small Asian ape: GIBBON - You know that Bonobo at the zoo that you said resembles Uncle Fred? Well...

46. Announcement that suggests strength: I RAISE.

47. Homer or jack: DINGER - All three are slang for a home run

50. Feminist poet Lorde: AUDRE - Here ya go

51. Many a pound adoptee: STRAY - So appropriate for our dog adopter/constructor Bill! 

54. It's a wrap: PITA.

56. Surrealist Magritte: RENE - Of his most famous painting,  Son Of Man (1964), he said this was a take on a self portrait where we strain to see what we can't see.

57. Dixie bunch?: Y'ALL.

60. Snitch: RAT.

62. "You can't mean me!": MOI.

Notes from C.C.

1) Congrats on your debut, Bill!

2) Happy Birthday to our foodie Blue Hen, who gave us this amazing risotto recipe a few years ago.

3) Happy birthday to CrossEyedDave, who never fails to delight us with his amazing links.

Friday, October 15, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

 Title: Jeffrey was playing with a Yo-Yo again!

Welcome to a double dose of me. Chris (MOE) thought it would be fun if I deciphered another JW puzzle and the request really fit into my near future as I will be busy on the 22nd and 29th out of town. I was tasked with one of Mr. Wechsler's visual themes, which without the circles would have been a near impossible challenge, but we have them so here we go. 

 25A. With 38-Across, what the highlighted squares suggest: AROUND THE (9). 38A See 25-Across: WORLD (5).

47A. With 49-Across, author of the novel suggested by this puzzle's theme; the movie debuted 10/17/1956: JULES (5). 49A. See 47-Across: VERNE (5). 80 days anyone?

Oh and the circled squares (doesn't that remind you of HOLLYWOOD SQUARES?

 
Back to the puzzle...the circles spell the magic magellan word CIRCUMNAVIGATION! Nifty!

Of course now you have to solve the entire grid to fill in the circles so that leaves work to do and a grid to examine. This one is chockful of longer words AFFIRMS, CURE ALL, NAILS IT (a C.C. favorite) RUNAWAY, SNIDELY, SONATAS (for Waseely and JzB)  SWOLLEN, TAURINE (we all need vitamins and supplements) ADHERENTS, and MISJUDGED which has appeared only once before in puzzledom. HERE in one of Splynter's first blogs.  Also, DREFT making its LAT debut though we have seen it in reader comments HERE which includes one of Boomer's first blogs. We continue our trend of non-traditional Fridays, and I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Off to the races.

Across:

1. "More matter, with __ art": "Hamlet": LESS. This is obvious unless it isn't. Not one of Will's more famous quotations which some may find IRING at 1 Across.

5. Early music label: RCA. Radio Corporation of America.

8. Indulgent places: SPAS.

12. Playwright Chekhov: ANTON. He only lived to be 44 but he also was a well respected short story writer.

14. See 15-Across: OUT. I do not favor these reverse referentials.

15. With 14-Across, deal-breaking words: I WANT. Take your cup and clang it on the bars, works everytime.

16. Combined: IN ONE.

17. Play area: SET. Play as in production, not where you children go.

18. Partially, informally: SORTA.

19. Take off: RUN AWAY. A human would run away, and an airplane would just use the RUNWAY.

21. Gets an A+, say: NAILS IT. Yes, that is doing pretty well.

23. Cut back, in a way: DIETED. So much talk about diets... what did people do before influencers. 

24. Spite: MALICE. 

29. Added things: SUMS. A really simple clue/fill.

32. Brief alarm: SOS. Save Our Ship.

33. Parents can relax during them: NAPS. Anyone can.

37.  "Enough!": TMI. Too Much Information.

40.   Joanne of film: DRU. She was another Howard Hughes discovery.

41.  Daytona Beach-based sports org.: NASCAR. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.

44.  Bacon serving: RASHER. Oxford defines it as “a thin slice or strip of bacon, or (less commonly) of other meat,” either cooked or intended to be cooked “by grilling, broiling, or frying.”

50.  Bullish?: TAURINE. We all know TAURUS the bull, so...

52.  Validates: AFFIRMS. A favorite word for lawyers.

55.  Quaint store sign word: OLDE.

56.  Tapir feature: SNOUT.

58.   Campus figure: DEAN. John was very big when I was in college.

59.   Try to expose: DIG AT. Another Watergate reference?

61.   Sick: ILL. I am a bit under the weather.

62.   Prefix with meter: PENTA. PENTAMETER. Iambic OKL or Moe?

63.   Dagger-shapedsymbols: OBELI. 

64.   Bran type: OAT.

65.   Vary: ALTER.

66.   Sneak, maybe: SIDLE.

67.   Natl. park sights: RVS.

68. Disinfectant brand: LYSOL. Kills Covid, but please do not drink.

Down:

1. Scottish estate holder: LAIRD. Macbeth was such a Lord.

      
2. Been-there-done-that feeling: ENNUI. I like this definition.

3. Pit: STONE. Peach ayone.

4. Brahms piano trio: SONATAS. This is more for Bill and Ron.

5. Optimistic: ROSY.

6. Prompt: CUE.

7. Routing abbr.: ATTN.

8. In danger of flooding, as a river: SWOLLEN. Be careful all cornerites.

9. Indian follower of Zoroastrianism: PARSI.  A very old Religion which some consider the precursor of Judaism.

10. Bit of silliness: ANTIC. This word goes all the way back to 1520s.

11. City-__: STATE. Not as common as in history but we still have three - Singapore, Monaco, and the Vatican - the modern independent city-states.

13. More of a surprise: NEWER. A completely original clue for a common fill that does not make sense to me, nor sound like JW.

15. NBA legend Thomas: ISIAH. Do not be confused.

20. Disturbance: ADO. It is, or forget it.

22. Receipt fig.: AMT. 

26. It offered soldiers Hope: Abbr.: USO. The capital H tells us it means Bob's TOURS 

27. Fish-fowl link: NOR.  This has a long HISTORY. 

28. Web transmission technology: abr.: DSL. Digital Subscriber Line.

29. An express might skip yours: Abbr.: STN. Different abbreviations for abbreviation.

30. Thurman on screen: UMA. Constructors love her letters, movie goers love her...

31. Didn't read right: MISJUDGED.

34. Followers: ADHERENTS. They stick to their guns.

35. Face front?: PRE. PREFACE.

36. Face front?: SUR. SURFACE. Nice misdirection for a clecho.

38. Small songbirds: WRENS.

39. P&G detergent brand: DREFT. It is interesting as we have had two references to this old-timey detergent recently but it never appeared as fill before.

42. Snake oil, purportedly: CURE ALL. Also an old-timey product that was marketed as a panacea. When I was very little I wondered where they found the "cea" to put in the pan. 

43. __ Ewoldt, first Asian-American to play Christine in Broadway's "Phantom": ALI. Not Muhammed nor his daughter.

45. Boxer's speech?: ARF. Three letters, it can't be woof. 54D. Cur's warning: SNARL.

46. Dudley's toon foe: SNIDELY. Mr. Whiplash.

48. __ moment: SENIOR. When I was young, I would...ah...anyway.

49. Events for Biles: VAULTS.

50. Chore list items: TO DOS. Or they can be honey dos.

51. Criminal defense: ALIBI. I was in Boston having lunch with the Bishop.

53. San __, Northern California city: MATEO. We have one in Florida. LINK  

57. Name of five Norwegian kings: OLAV. Olav is the modern equivalent in Norwegian, formerly often spelt Olaf. His name in Icelandic is Ólafur, in Faroese Ólavur, in Danish Olav, in Swedish Olof, in Finnish Olavi. Olave was the traditional spelling in England, preserved in the name of medieval churches dedicated to him.

60. Secure (to): TIE. 

62. Sidekick: PAL. Nobody I kicked in the side ever became my pal.

Fun puzzle to write-up with a variety of topics and a task to keep even the best solvers by collecting the letters to find the theme. Since many do not care about finding one, this should be a bit of a walk in the park. Enjoy Moe and his ebullient write-ups and I will see you in November.

Lemonade out.

Thursday, October 14, 2021 Jim Holland

Today we get a return visit from constructor Jim Holland, whose last puzzle here was on December 17, 2020 and who started with us nearly 10 years ago on December 18, 2011.  Perhaps Lemony can add some spice to this from his secret stash.

Jim is not revealing his theme, but it appears to involve adding an S to common phrases, thus transforming them into PUNISHING new ones:

17A. Fan on a farm?: SWINE COOLER.  A riff on WINE COOLER, for those who use a thermometer to check their wine temperatures.  Very expensive.  We keep the REDS in the cellar because it's cool, and we keep WHITES and ROSÉS in the refrigerator.

 27. Hors d'oeuvres for a horror movie?: SCREAM CHEESE. A take on CREAM CHEESE. Teri makes a delicious dish with cream cheese, cream, butter, shrimp, fresh peas, and pasta.  Yummy!

49A. Surveillance snacks?: STAKEOUT FOOD.  A riff on TAKEOUT FOOD. Cops can get pretty hungry on a 7 x 24 stake out, and the Brit bobbies seem to prefer  CHINESE or KEBABS (see 50D for a recipe).

64A. Finishing touch for a gastropod?: SNAIL POLISH.  A take on NAIL POLISH. My NAILS are galvanized, so they don't need to be polished.

And if that weren't enough, here's some more polysemous punishment ...

Across:

1. Geometry numbers: AREAS.

6. Shows displeasure (at): CARPS.  I don't mean to be KOI about it, but if you eat a CARP, you'll probably CARP about it for days.

11. Part of A&E?: AND.  AND?  Is that all?

14. Absorb: SOP UP.  In case you've been wondering what the difference is between absorb and adsorb?

15. Ferrell's "SNL" cheerleading partner: OTERI.  We did that clip in a previous review where CHERI appeared.  She is well known for her impersonations, especially of BABA WAWA and here she is seen interviewing herself:

16. Card-beats-card game: WAR.  As it's a perennial favorite, here's a quote from Ambrose Bierce:
 

19. Shakespearean title noun: ADO.  As in Much Ado About Nothing, the story of Beatrice and Benedick.  Which Begins here ...

 

... followed by Much Ado about literally Nothing (you'll have to read the play to find out what it Isn't)  ...

...and then Ends here ...
 

20. Bee attraction: NECTAR.

21. Wrestling place: MAT.

22. "Armageddon" author: URIS.  Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 (Baltimore, MD – June 21, 2003 (Shelter Island, NY)) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including Exodus (published in 1958) and Trinity (published in 1976).  Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, is a chronicle which ends with the lifting of the Berlin Blockade in 1949.
 

Uris in Israel in the 1950s

23. Chain founded by Ingvar Kamprad: IKEA. As the founder's name sounded suspiciously Sveedish, it had to be IKEA.  Which painfully reminds me, three IKEA drawers in one of my office cabinets have been jammed shut for years and will have to be opened somehow before we can sell this house!

25. Movie trailers: TEASERS.  You've been teased enough for one day.

31. "Gotcha!": OHO.

32. Head of Paris: TETE.  Today's French lesson. LOO was too short.

33. Like some escapes: NARROW.

37. Done in: BEAT.

39. AOL, e.g.: ISP.  Internet Service Provider.  One of the earliest.  And I'm pretty sure we had it two weeks ago.

41. Aria, say: SOLO.  Here's Mimi pouring her heart out in the eponymous La Bohème:
 

42. Watch all night, maybe: STREAM.  BINGE might have been better, but you need to be able STREAM to do it.

45. Topers: SOTS.  Those who tope too much.

48. High flier until 2001: MIR. The Russian space station Mir ended its mission on 23 March 2001, when it was "deorbited", entered the atmosphere and was destroyed.  The next time you see MIR, it'll probably be clued "Deorbited in 2001".

52. Make like the original: RESTORE.

55. Hurry away: FLEE.

56. Place for a bid: EBAY.

57. Arabic "son of": IBN. Today's Arabic lesson.  Everything you want to know about Arabic name structures, of which IBN is only a small part.

59. Syrup once used as a poison remedy: IPECAC.  No longer used for these reasons.  IPECAC causes vomiting and has been abused by bulimics, notably singer Karen Carpenter who probably died as a result of it.

63. No-frills bed: COT.  The plural COTS is a also an acronym for Commercial Off-the-shelf Software, a better alternative to "rolling your own", unless you really know what you're doing.  Of course you still need to know what you're doing to implement COTS based systems.  These people will sell you a COTS product to help you implement your COTS products!  Something I like to call the "Cybernetic Imperative".

66. Aussie school: UNI.

67. Cellist Casals: PABLO.  Pau Casals i Defilló ( 29 December 1876 – 22 October 1973), usually known in English by his Spanish name Pablo Casals was a Catalan and Puerto Rican cellist, composer, and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century and one of the greatest cellists of all time. Click here to hear him play Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: IV. Sarabande.

Pablo Casals
with his Stradivarius Cello

 

 

 

68. Capone henchman known as "The Enforcer": NITTI.  Francesco Raffaele Nitto,  January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-born American gangster in Chicago. Nitti was in charge of all money flowing through the operation. He later succeeded Capone as boss of the Chicago Outfit. No mug shot for him!

69. Whiskey choice: RYE.  One brand was originally distilled just up the road from where we live in Pikesville, MD, now produced in Louisville, Kentucky:

70. Sales rep's friendly personality, e.g.: ASSET.

71. Early computer: ENIAC.  Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer made in 1945.  It was Turing-complete and able to solve "a large class of numerical problems" through reprogramming.  Here's a comparison of the ENIAC to your cell phone.

Down:

1. Part of NCAA: Abbr.: ASSN.  The sponsors of March Madness. This was prepared to help students of English as a Second Language understand this madness (but maybe useful to sports noobs on the Corner as well, e.g. yours truly).

2. "Dirty Jobs" host Mike: ROWE.  You never know what kind of "dirt" you can surf up on somebody on the Internet.  Here is philosopher Mike Rowe, in a church in Baltimore, describing a "tough job" he once had: that of auditioning for the role of the philosopher Shaunard, singing his heart out as he set off to  the Paris streets to sell his trusty overcoat to buy medicine for la Bohème, whom we met in 41A, and who is now dying:

3. Large-scale tale: EPIC.  For example The Epic of Gilgamesh. a lengthy poem from ancient Mesopotamia c. 2100 BC, and probably the origin of the story of Noah's flood in the Hebrew Bible.  Gilgamesh is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts:

The Deluge tablet
of the Gilgamesh epic

"Ahem", I can hear Vidwan saying,  "You call those Epics?  I'll give you Epics!"

4. Pretzel chain __ Anne's: AUNTIE.

5. Deliver an address for: SPEAK AT.  I could try the groaner about the Gettysburg Address, but MalMan beat me to it last Thursday.

6. Soft cry: COO. The cry of a Pigeon or Mourning Dove perhaps?

7. __ smasher: ATOM.  The first cyclotron ("atom smasher"), invented by Ernest Lawrence and colleagues in 1931, was a mere 4" in diameter.   Its modern successor, the CERN Large Hadron Collider, first turned on in September of 2008 is 17 miles across.  Here's an aerial view:

8. Tell: RELATE.

9. Many a junior high student: PRETEEN.

10. Polite title: SIR.  Or MAAM. Like my Mom always said, "Mind your manners!"

11. Clued in: AWARE.  I hope everyone was clued in on this clue.

12. Zenith's opposite: NADIR.  More Arabic. The NADIR at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing in the direction of the force of gravity at that location. The direction opposite of the NADIR is the ZENITH.

13. Slag: DROSS.

18. Liqueur word: CREME.

22. Password creators: USERS.  There are as many ways to create passwords as there are USERS (who are just another SYSTEM component in the eyes of many programmers).  My passwords are constructed from acronyms derived from selected verses of PSALMS, and are probably still hackable.  A CSO for your method.

24. "Hamlet" beginning: ACT I.  Or to be more specific “Who's there?”

26. Solid-rock link: AS A.  Not always, e.g. Pumice, which is more like solidified foam.  Still solid I guess, but not something you'd want to build a house on.

27. Emotional outbursts: SOBS.

28. Guitarist Atkins: CHET.  Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician, occasional vocalist, songwriter, and record producer who helped create the Nashville sound.  My Dad's kind of music:
 

29. "I am woman, hear me __ ... ": Helen Reddy lyric: ROAR.  Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 1941 – 29 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, songwriter, author, actress, and activist. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a show-business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four.  Her feminist anthem "I am woman" is her most famous song, but she did write lots of others and also covered songs by others, like this number one hit written by Alan O'Day:

30. "Steppenwolf" author: HESSE.  Hermann Karl Hesse (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (my favorite novel), each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
 

Hermann Hesse

34. Former Dallas QB Tony: ROMO.  Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is a former American football quarterback and analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.

Romo before the 2008 Pro Bow

35. Hodgepodge: OLIO.  This review perhaps?  It's just a smorgasbord, so sample what you like.

36. "Agreed!": WORD.  Has anyone heard "WORD!" used as slang for AGREED?  Or could it be the most generic definition for "Agreed!",  a WORD?  Our favorite extinct reptile doesn't seem to AGREE:

38. Irritable: TESTY.  I used to be a LAB TECH and I was TESTY all day.

40. Sound accompanying a disappearance: POOF.  This is the second time I've had this in a month.  I can't seem to make it disappear.

43. From __ Z: A TO.  The entire GAMUT.

44. Places to tie up: MARINAS.  Often pretty swanky places.  Here's the Baltimore Inner Harbor Marina.  That's the Rusty Scupper restaurant in the foreground.  Great crab cakes:
 

46. Spring bloom: TULIP.  You can get the blooms or the bulbs year round from Holland, the TULIP capital of the world.

47. Start of a job: STEP ONE.  Begin at the beginning.

50. Skewered foods: KEBABS.  Here's a recipe!
 

51. "You've Lost That Lovin' __": 1964 hit: FEELIN.  "Blue-eyed Soul" by The Righteous Brothers:

52. Arise anew: RECUR.

53. Dark wood: EBONY.  Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, which also contains the persimmons. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. It is also considered an endangered species:
 

Rough Ebony

54. "Sonatine Bureaucratique" composer: SATIE. The Sonatine bureaucratique (Bureaucratic sonatina) is a 1917 piano composition by Erik Satie. The final entry in his "humoristic" piano music of the 1910s, it is Satie's only full-scale parody of a single musical work: the Sonatina Op. 36 N° 1 (1797) by Muzio Clementi.  The score is annotated with satirical remarks above the musical notes, which you'll see if you follow along:

58. Africa's Blue __: NILE.  The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately 1,450 km (900 mi) through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile, and supplies about 80% of the water in the Nile during the rainy season.

The Course of the Blue Nile

60. __ Field: Mets' home: CITI.  The home of the New York Mets.

61. Whodunit dog: ASTA.  The Cornerite's favorite puzzle pooch and pursuer of perps.  But even ASTA (alias SKIPPY) was guilty of a misdemeanor.
 

Asta in the Director's Chair

62. Geek __: CHIC.  I used to be a GEEK, but nobody has EVER accused me of being CHIC.  Apparently such a thing really does exist: for girls and for guys. 

64. Place for a peel: SPA.  Doesn't sound very appeeling to me.

65. "'Salem's __": Stephen King novel: LOT.  King's second novel.  Scary stuff!.

 

Here's the grid:

waseeley

Cheers,
Bill

And thanks as always to Teri for proofreading and constructive criticism.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021, August Miller

Theme: THAT'S ABOUT IT

16. *Progressive Era muckraker: IDA TARBELL.

28. *12-time 35-Down All Star and TV analyst: ISIAH THOMAS.

34. *Australian swimmer with five Olympic golds: IAN THORPE.

 

46. *First daughter and senior adviser to #45: IVANKA TRUMP. 

59. '00s Britcom about an underappreciated computer support squad ... or what the answers to starred clues comprise?: THE IT CROWD.

Good morning all, Melissa here, and happy Wednesday. This is about as straightforward a theme as it gets, each two-word phrase begins with letters I (first word) and T (second word).

Across:

1. Mires: BOGS.

5. Loving smack: KISS. Ever heard of a loving smerp?

9. Kind of coach or jacket: LIFE.

13. "Bolero" composer: RAVEL.

14. Spots to clear up: ACNE.

15. Not at one's desk: AWAY. A rare occurrence for many. Except for you lucky retired folks!

18. Socially aware: WOKE.

19. Tundra deer: CARIBOU.

20. Plane engine type: FANJET. The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion.

22. CNN anchor Burnett: ERIN.

23. "Your turn": OK GO.

26. Whack, biblically: SMITE. Past tense, smote. This is a long-ish clip (5 mins), in which Archangel Michael (played by John Travolta) describes how he smote a bank.

27. Stephen of "Citizen X": REA. 1995 film based on Robert Cullum's non-fiction book The Killer Department, published in 1993.

30. Wall St. "500": SANDP. The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices.

32. PreCheck org.: TSA. That'll be extra.

33. Crave, e.g.: WANT.

38. Tijuana home: CASA. Spanish.

41. Gen-Z sweetheart: BAE.

42. Prompts: URGES.

50. Fig. of interest to a dietitian: RDA. Recommended Dietary Allowance of essential nutrients.

51. Slangy "Absolutely!": TOTES. Sub for totally.

52. Petro-Canada competitor: ESSO.

53. Leave early: BAIL.

54. Appliance connection, briefly: AC PLUG.

56. Mass-times-velocity measures: MOMENTA. Plural form of momentum.

58. Swimming great Torres: DARA. Twelve-time Olympic medalist.

62. Early garden spot: EDEN.

63. Muscat's land: OMAN. Oman's port capital. The allures of Muscat, Oman.

64. Book with roads: ATLAS. Nice clue.

65. Easy gait: LOPE.

66. X-rated material: SMUT. Seeing this word more and more, it was in the last puzzle I blogged, too.

67. "__ she blows!": THAR.

Down:

1. Shady part of town: BAD AREA.

2. Of a certain reproductive gland: OVARIAN.

3. Arrive: GET IN.

4. Thick slice: SLAB. Who else thought of bacon?

5. Japanese dance-drama: KABUKI. How to enjoy your first Kabuki experience to the fullest.

6. Party bucket item: ICE.

 

7. NBC skit show: SNL. Saturday Night Live.

8. Lead-in to made or love: SELF.

9. Blades that cut blades: LAWN MOWER.

10. WWII flag-raising island: IWO JIMA. Iconic.

11. Faux glow: FAKE TAN.

12. Evaluation with a capital E?: EYE TEST.

13. Kitchen cutters: RICERS. Food is pushed or pressured through a metal or plastic plate with many small holes, producing a smoother result than mashing, but coarser than pureeing or passing through a sieve or tamis.

17. Outback hoppers: ROOS. Kangaroos.

21. Outdoor grill residue: ASH.

24. Amasses: GATHERS.

25. Very, very: OH SO.

28. Pub drink, briefly: IPA. India pale ale is a hoppy beer style within the broader category of pale ale.

29. Roofing goo: TAR. Haha. Smells terrible, I hate getting stuck behind one of those with the hot, smoking tar wafting behind it.

31. "Unfaithful" Oscar nominee: DIANE LANE. 2002 Erotic thriller.

35. Hoops org.: NBA.

36. London gallery: TATE. A family of four art galleries in London, Liverpool, and Cornwall, known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives. Tate Modern is the one in London. See here.

37. Yipping adoptee: PUP.

38. Fortress: CITADEL.

39. Much of guacamole: AVOCADO.

40. H.S. course pioneered by Stanley Kaplan: SAT PREP. Interesting fellow. In 1984, Stanley Kaplan sold his company to The Washington Post Company for $45 million.

43. Crunchy bar stuff: GRANOLA. Ohhh, that kind of bar. I was thinking bar like saloon - peanuts or pretzels.

44. Battle waged on Wikipedia: EDIT WAR.

45. Tossed courses: SALADS. Another sneaky misdirection - courses of a meal.

47. The NCAA's Wildcats: KSU. Kansas State University.

48. Govt. moneymaker: US MINT.

49. Academic: MOOT. 1. Subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty. 2. Having little or no practical relevance, typically because the subject is too uncertain to allow a decision.

53. Sailor's quarters: BERTH. A fixed bed or bunk on a ship, train, or other means of transport.

55. Sporty muscle cars: GTOS.

57. Future MD's exam: MCAT. Kaplan of 40D can help with that, too!

60. "Let's see ... ": HMM.

61. Lac contents: EAU. Eau is the French word for water, and lac is French for lake.

Melissa