Billy is a new constructor here at the LA Times. He makes me feel very OLDE, but I had a good time with his devilish clues and got this nice note from him:
Hi Gary,
I'm happy to have my first (and hopefully not last) puzzle in the LA Times! I constructed this one a long time ago so hopefully I can still dredge up some interesting things about it.
I am a first year student at Carleton College (h.g. It's 45 min. from Minneapolis and Billy said he is very aware that C.C. is a big name in crosswords!), and I've had puzzles in the NYT, Atlantic, Universal, Crucinova, SPYSCAPE, and now the LAT.
I didn't start with a seed per se, but rather worked through a lot of possibilities for the center
stack, trying to get 3/3 hits. Then, I would make sure that the 5D/21D and 18D/24D slots would have a variety of good options. Most of the construction time was spent on this part of the grid. The other corners weren't too bad to deal with. I remember trying to get NAOMI OSAKA to work cleanly at 17A, but to no avail. The bottom left also went through a decent number of revisions before I settled on TORY PARTY.
Not much to report on the clue front. I found the fact in 30A interesting and felt the world absolutely needed to know. Props for the clue change on 34A (I'm pretty sure I wasn't clever enough to write that one).
Also, I just noticed that like half of the long answers start with T. Any solvers out there who particularly enjoy that letter of the alphabet are in luck.
-Billy
Across:
1. Jiggly edible: ASPIC - Hey it's great to get 1A right off the bat with JELLO. What...?
6. One swimming in a pod: ORCA - That boat might want to think about vacating the pod area
10. It's dangerous to trip on it: ACID - Oh, that kind of trip and that kind of ACID
14. Put away: STASH - What kids do to things in their school lockers
15. Sound from a boxer: WOOF - Last Saturday, C.C. had 47. Watched a boxer, say: PET SAT
16. Words of dismay: OH NO.
17. Allocate: PORTION OUT.
19. Endure: LAST.
20. Former MLB outfielder whose name sounds very similar to a Kellogg's cereal: COCO CRISP.
21. APB subject: PERP - An All Points Bulletin might be put out for a suspected PERPetrator
22. Spots on a screen: ADS - Ah, yes, ADvertisement spotS can be on your TV or computer screen
23. Half a candy bar?: KAT
WWII Version
24. Ring setting: CIRCUS
26. Stock room: PEN - Uh, that would be a livestock PEN
27. "Downton Abbey" countess: CORA - Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes based the fictional CORA Crawley on the real Countess Almina Herbert who was one of many wealthy Americans who married into the financially strapped British aristocracy
Countess Almina Countess CORA
29. Lure for some conquistadors: ORO
30. They hold less than 10% as much as their name suggests: TEN GALLON HATS - Billy thought this fun fact should be known by all. 😊
33. Ones battling demons: TORTURED SOULS.
34. They need to be blown up: AIR MATTRESSES - Fun cluing for which Billy does not take credit
35. Dorm room metaphor, maybe: STY - Mine was
36. Amontillado holder: CASK - "A complex and interesting sherry" and a Poe story
37. Fidget (with): TOY.
38. Maker of 49-Down: LIPTON and 49. 38-Across product: TEA - There is no chance you would find this TEA in C.C.'s house
40. Pride, for one: SIN.
41. Research bldg.: LIB - I first did my research in a science LAB but 42. "You're going down!": IT'S ON forced me into the LIBrary.
44. "Drive" band, with "The": CARS - Ah, the '80's
45. Conversation privée: TETE-A-TETE.
48. Cook Islands export: TARO - Makes sense
49. South side: TEXAS TOAST - My favorite! TEXAS TOAST filled in quickly but seeing "side" as a side dish took a little longer.
50. Start of a play: ACT I.
51. Norse name that means "eternal ruler": ERIK
52. Jackson 5 features: AFROS - On Ed Sullivan. They soon saw who the lead singer should be.
53. Suffers the consequences: PAYS.
54. Get in the game: ANTE.
55. Cheerful: SUNNY.
Down:
1. Humane gp. for 150+ years: ASPCA.
2. Stopped lying: STOOD - Fun clue
..and the bed is still made!
3. Paris play areas: PARCS - PARC Morceau in Paris
4. :: IS TO - Sometimes :: means "AS" in the analogy
5. Some antojitos: CHICKEN TACOS - Antojitos is another name for Mexican street food
C-Moe here reviewing a Friday physics farce constructed by Jeffrey Wechsler. Wechsler, who has more LA TIMES Friday crossword puzzles than you could shake a stick at, provides us with his OWN schtick with a quintet of fun and farcical physics-related phrases that have you groaning and giggling, all at the same time. First and foremost, let me start by saying that I never took Physics in either HS or College. The bulk of my Physics lexicon came through watching every episode of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. So please take my comments in today's recap with a grain of NaCl
And unlike the cartoon above, if you want to defy gravity (check out the non-physics definition) in today's puzzle you have to look "across" to find them. As in the following examples:
16-Across. Atomic physicist's favorite cookie?: FIG NEUTRON. So as this was the first of the five, I wondered, could this be so simple as FIG NEWTON? I mean, NEWTON is a physicist - albeit not an atomic physicist ... well, NEWTONS fit but the clue wasn't plural so that one stayed unsolved for awhile ...
22-Across. Atomic physicist's favorite Golden Age movie star?: QUARK GABLE. I actually "got" this as I was completing 22-Down (He directed Samuel in "Pulp Fiction"); the Q in QUENTIN helped me to correctly spell the word QUARK. Not sure how my phonics and physics got mixed up, but whatever ...
35-Across. Atomic physicist's favorite side dish?: BOSON BAKED BEANS. Well, now the "theme" has started to form for me as I was literally jumping all over the grid trying to get a few footholds. If memory serves I finished the puzzle on the far left coast ...
44-Across. Atomic physicist's favorite wall builder?: STONE MESON. Of the five, this one was the closest to being a homophone. The word "MESON" can be pronounced by any of these five sounds, according to Webster's: me-ˌzän, me-ˌsän, mā-zän, mā-ˌsän, mē-ˌzän, or mē-ˌsän ...
55-Across. Atomic physicist's favorite spy novelist?: ION FLEMING. Maybe the easiest of the five for me to figure out. You?
So there you have it; five funny physics phrases - atomic physics phrases - with no unifier other than the five "key" words are terms used in atomic physics:
NEUTRON - an uncharged elementary particle that has a mass nearly equal to that of the proton and is present in all known atomic nuclei except the hydrogen nucleus. "The conditions inside a neutron star are not powerful enough to create elements heavier than iron; only the collision of two neutron stars can do so." — Priyamvada Natarajan, The New York Review of Books, 15 June 2021
QUARK - any of several elementary particles that are postulated to come in pairs (as in the up and down varieties) of similar mass with one member having a charge of +²/₃ and the other a charge of −¹/₃ and are held to make up hadrons
The MESON field is characterized by a constant X = μ/h of the dimensions of a reciprocal length, μ being the meson mass, and as X -> 0 the theory of this paper goes over continuously into the theory of the preceding paper for the motion of a spinning particle in a Maxwell field. FUN FACT: "A MESON could consist of a red and an antired QUARK" - Elizabeth Fernandez, Forbes, 19 Sep. 2021
BOSON - a particle (such as a photon or meson) whose spin quantum number is zero or an integral number. "The BOSON is at the heart of physicists’ understanding of the universe, responsible for the mass in the atoms that make up galaxies, planets and people." — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2013
ION - an atom or group of atoms that carries a positive or negative electric charge as a result of having lost or gained one or more electrons; a charged subatomic particle (such as a free electron). "Since 1991, the cost of lithium-ION batteries has fallen by 97 percent, and analysts expect that price to keep dropping in the coming decades." — Matt Reynolds, Wired, 4 Jan. 2022
Wait a second, Moe, you said that Physics is fun. All those definitions and examples has made me yawn
OK. Then how about a fun video to liven things back up? This is worth 6 minutes of your time, trust me
Across:
1. Like Jack Sprat, one would expect: SLIM. Fun fact about the word SLIM: did you know that Jack Sprat had a brother named Jim? The evidence is shown below:
When waiting to make his transaction At convenience store; the distraction Of seeing SLIM Jim Brought on a strong whim He had a "need-jerky" reaction
5. Role in a Gershwin opera: BESS. BESS, only because PORGY wouldn't fit
9. Fellow: CHAP.
13. Her musical career started at age 16 at the Cotton Club: LENA HORNE. More facts about her
15. Pre-euro currency: LIRA. Lots of great info about the LIRA - both current and historic - is found here
17. "__ a girl who sang the blues": Don McLean lyric: I MET. A lyric from the hit song "American Pie". It appears toward the end of the song just before the final refrain:
"I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
They were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' This'll be the day that I die"
Source: Musixmatch
18. Musicologist's term: OPUS. OPUS - from the Latin, meaning 'work'; used to reference a musician's composition, e.g.
19. Deity with an eponymous day: THOR. Thursday, "THOR's day," gets its English name after the hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder, strength and protection
20. Gaping mouths: MAWS. MAW can also mean 'stomach'. And could this be a CSO to Misty? Our erstwhile Pennsylvania Dutch resident who most certainly remembers this traditional dish
21. Uncommon sense: ESP. ExtraSensory Perception
25. U.N. Security Council permanent member: RUS. From Wikipedia: "The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, RUSsia, the United Kingdom, and the United States
26. Poetic adverb: EER. Or a suffix (as in auctionEER) denoting a person engaged in an activity; or as an acronym for Energy Efficiency Rating
27. Say further: ADD. Moe-ku:
"Two plus two doesn't Equal three; It's four, dummy!" If I might just ADD ...
29. Word after look or sound: ALIKE. I started with ALIVE before the perps
34. "__ awake?": YOU. Margaret and I usually add the words 'for the day' after we ask one another, "YOU awake?"
38. Consume: USE. Wechsler had to USE a lot of 3-word entries in order to have 5 longish themers. Oops - wrong USE of the word USE as it was clued today!!
39. Lion __: TAMER. 'KING' wouldn't fit
40. Mounted, as gems: INSET. Not familiar with this term; all I could find for a definition of INSET (courtesy of RhymeZone dot com) was this:
noun: a small picture inserted within the bounds or a larger one
noun: a piece of material inset to strengthen or enlarge a garment
noun: an artifact that is inserted or is to be inserted
verb: set or place in
41. Rightmost bowling pin: TEN. A CSO to Boomer; I'm sure that he can tell us all about the number of times a TEN pin leave prevented him from stringing another strike ... these guys make picking up a corner pin spare look easy
42. Wrath: IRE. One of 19 3-letter words in today's puzzle
43. Not leave alone: NAG. "Alright, Moe, quit NAGging Jeffrey about all of the 3-letter's, OK?"
51. Move a bit: STIR. What usually happens after our conversation in 34-Across
52. Superior cousin?: ERIE. HURON, MICHIGAN, and ONTARIO are the other cousins
53. Takes charge of: OWNS. I OWNS today's recap
54. Filled food: PITA. This was not as easy to 'fill' as the clue might suggest
57. Painter Nolde: EMIL. I had no clue; all perps. This is one of his works:
58. As initially evident: ON ITS FACE. A crossword introduction today! No trace of this entry having been used before. So, what does this expression mean? Well, our resident attorneys may disagree, but Wikipedia uses this explanation: "Res ipsa loquitur".
Prima facie is often confused with res ipsa loquitur ('the thing speaks for itself', or literally 'the thing itself speaks'), the common law doctrine that when the facts make it self-evident that negligence or other responsibility lies with a party, it is not necessary to provide extraneous details, since any reasonable person would immediately find the facts of the case.
The difference between the two is that prima facie is a term meaning there is enough evidence for there to be a case to answer, while Res ipsa loquitur means that the facts are so obvious a party does not need to explain any more. For example: "There is a prima facie case that the defendant is liable. They controlled the pump. The pump was left on and flooded the plaintiff's house. The plaintiff was away and had left the house in the control of the defendant. Res ipsa loquitur."
In Canadian tort law, this doctrine has been subsumed by general negligence law
59. Cozy places: DENS. Was this guy the first 39-Across?
60. Comprehends: SEES. What I finally did as today's puzzle solved
61. Cretaceous giant: T-REX. The dinosaurs of the last 10 million years of the Cretaceous Period in North America are some of the best known in the world. They include tyrannosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus, diverse small theropods, ankylosaurs, bone-headed pachycephalosaurs, horned and frilled ceratopsians such as Triceratops, and “duckbilled” hadrosaurs. As copied from nps dot gov
Down:
1. Lingerie items: SLIPS. BRAS, PANTIES, NIGHTIES, et al, didn't fit. Does yours fit like this? The image said this was a "plus size" ... ladies??
2. Assistance, with "a": LEG UP. And a similar clue that fits the following image: (24-Down. Versatile mount: ARABIAN.
Any equestrians out there?
3. Accommodating places: INNS. BNBS fit, but INNS made more sense
4. W.C.'s "My Little Chickadee" co-star: MAE. As in MAE West, who played the role of Flower Belle Lee in "My Little Chickadee"
7. Coral reef visitor: SNORKELER. Picture is worth a thousand words
8. Snowe of ME, once: SEN. SENator Olympia Jean Snowe is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senator from Maine from 1995 to 2013
9. Begin a flight: CLIMB. One of the most exhilarating CLIMB's I have ever done is The Sydney Australia Harbor Bridge Climb. The toughest part of it I found was CLIMBing straight up four vertical ladders; each with about 30 steps or so. The operators of the CLIMB don't allow you to bring personal cameras or cellphones, so any pictures taken are by your guide. I have some pic's somewhere on a CD I think, but it was in 2008 when I did this
10. Region from the Sanskrit for "snow abode": HIMALAYAS. The word HIMALAYAS shows up more often (in crossword puzzles) than I thought. Was used 3 times last year by the NY Times Xword Puzzle
11. "Anything else?": ARE WE DONE?. Nope, we are not done; 25 more clues/words to recap
12. Light touches: PATS. A CSO to WC as our resident PAT'S fan (New England PATriotS)
14. Many Rwandans: HUTUS. Rwandan history. HUTUS and Tutsis have the same language; the same religion; the same culture. They have lived intermingled for centuries on the same land, in the most densely populated part of sub-Saharan Africa. Learning moment for MOE
16. Other side: FOE. MOE is not your FOE
23. Do a vet's job: GELD. No images! You'll just have to use your imagination
25. "Notorious" studio: RKO. Radio-Keith-Orpheum Studios operated from the late 1920's until it dissolved in 1959. Other notable films produced there include "Citizen Kane", "King Kong", "It's a Wonderful Life"
Irish Miss: this trailer is just for you, kiddo!!
28. Roomba target: DUST. For the cat lovers out there:
29. Lie next to: ABUT.
30. Falls behind: LOSES TIME. Kinda like after the autumnal equinox when Daylight Savings Time ends. We 'fall' behind and LOSE(S)TIME when we set our clocks back an hour
31. Possible "Finish your tax return yet?" reply: I SENT IT IN. 'I SENT IT IN' is another phrase/entry having its debut in a major crossword puzzle. But I am curious whether anyone actually "SENDS IT (their tax return) IN" anymore? That would imply mailing it. Sorry, but I have filed electronically for a decade or more
32. "Got any examples at all?": NAME ME ONE. Well lookie here! Another debut phrase. For as many 3-letter entries, JW redeemed himself by coming up with some fresh fill to fit into some otherwise, unfillable spots. As a fledgling constructor I have yet to figure out how and where and when to use them
33. Dick was his veep: IKE. Richard Nixon - Dwight Eisenhower's Vice President. Nicknames. IKE and DICK.
I don't think the US had another Dick in the White House until Cheney arrived in 2000 as Dubya's veep
36. __ minimum: BARE.
37. U.K. part: ENG. ENGland
43. Holiday songs: NOELS. I think I have finally rid my brain of all the Christmas songs, so they are no longer spinning in my head. "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" was the last NOEL to leave
45. Tests without papers: ORALS. What Doctoral students take more than any other academic group*
46. Orange Muppet: ERNIE. He's the only one I see who's orange; front row, center
47. Goes (through) carefully: SIFTS. Something the old prospectors from the 1840's and 1850's became skilled at when panning for gold
48. Safer way to think: TWICE. My first thought about 'TWICE' is a TWICE-baked potato. My second thought about the actual clue is how Santa's 'making a list and checking it TWICE...'
49. Wing: ANNEX. If the Thesaurusaurus says so, it's so
50. Umami source: MSG. MonoSodium Glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese. Here's what WebMD has to say about it
51. Broke the law, in a way: SPED. Moe recently had his first SPEDding ticket in well over a decade; maybe longer. They've gotten expensive
55. Apple product: IOS. Apple Computer's "Operating System. I have an iPhone and an Apple Watch. When I went to sync my watch with my phone, Apple required me to download the latest iOS (15.2) so they could communicate. Compared to iOS 14, the 15 version was horrible, IMO. Too many changes. Maybe the "kids" like it, but not this curmudgeon
56. Young newt: EFT. ARE WE DONE? Yes. See you in two weeks. Moe has left the building
*A MOE WAG
The grid:
Notes from C.C.:
1)
Happy 74th birthday to our sweet Janice (Madame DeFarge), who's always
been very caring and loving to me and many others on our blog.
2)
Our blog turns 14 years old today. So lucky to have such an incredible
my blogging team, who work so hard to make each blog post educating and
interesting!
This looks like a first for Michelle Kenney in the LA
Times. But she has been mentored by Jeff Chen, one of the best in the
business. For a snapshot of how she came to be here check this link at
XWord Info.
Today's theme seems subtle and multi-leveled. At the simplest level the themers
and the reveal are concerned with some common state changes in water, one of the most abundant substances on the planet. At a deeper level they seem to hint at state changes to our body politic,
something that constructors don't normally deal with in these grids.
But we reviewers have to tread lightly on such matters, so to
stay out of trouble I'll try to stick to literal, rather than
historic-metaphoric treatments of the themers and the reveal.
17A. Ended corruption:DRAINED THE SWAMP. The first attempt to do this was a long, long time ago, and we
don't seem to have made much progress:
27A. Vented: BLEW OFF STEAM. What's your favorite way to blow off steam?
63A. Historical turning
point ... and, as three words, a literal description of 17-, 27- and
48-Across: WATER SHED MOMENT. Let us hope that we are not on the verge of an
historical turning point.
I hope I haven't read too much into this. Now, let's turn our attention to the present moment, solving the rest of this puzzle.
Across:
1. Rearmost, as decks: AFT.
4. Winter wear: PARKA. A relative of the Anorak and today's Inuktitut lesson. A CSO to CanadianEh! (and you too Ray - O).
9. App with pics, familiarly: INSTA. As in Instagram, an
American photo and video sharing social networking service. The Corner
is my social media, but if you're interested in Instagram
this will tell you all about it.
14. Lead-in to gender: CIS. Gender used to be a simple
thing. Now, not so much.
15. Brown and Yale: IVIES. Ivy League universities.
16. Auctioned autos, often: REPOS. Repossess for failure to keep
up the payments.
20. __ fire: CEASE. Not likely any time soon.
21. Tofu source: SOYA.
22. First Nations tribe: CREE. The Creeare a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of that country's
largest First Nations. That's another one CanadianEh!!
23. Shindig: GALA. GALA sounds a little highfalutin
for a "Shindig" to me. Not for an apple though.
25. "__ in the Boys Room": 1973-'74 hit: SMOKIN. Passed on the
videos as all the smoke was FOGGING up my glasses. But here's the Brownsville
Station album:
32. Actor Somerhalder of "Lost": IAN.
Ian Joseph Somerhalder (born December 8, 1978) is an American
actor, model, activist and director best known for playing Boone Carlyle
in
Lost, a scifi/supernatural TV series.. Ian got his start in the TV series The Big Easy, a
CSO to our very own. Here he is ...
Ian (not George)
33. Lizard-approved coverage?: GEICO.
34. Place to get clean: REHAB.
38. Shakespearean verb: DOTH. And its negative DOTHN'T, language common during the reign of Elizabeth I.
40. Intense anger: WRATH. I think we covered that in 27A.
42. What some queens do: RULE. Britannia may RULE the waves, but its current monarch, Elizabeth II, is
having a rough time trying to RULE over a very
UNRULY family.
Queen Elizabeth II
43. Boston suburb named for an English county: ESSEX. Many
places in the US were named by people nostalgic for the old country.
And many were taken from place names used by the indigenous peoples.
51. Nielsen of "The Naked Gun" films: LESLIE. And speaking of Queen Elizabeth:
54. Caesar's 18-Down: VIDI. Veni, VIDIVici. I came, I SAW, I conquered.
Here's the backstory.
55. Swift steed: ARAB.
56. Sushi pairing: SAKE.
60. Brief but sharp pains: PANGS.
66. Timberlake's old crew: NSYNC.
Justin Randall Timberlake(born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer
and actor who got his start with the boy band NSYNC. Here's his
Mirrors (at first his high tenor made me think it was an alto doing the singing).
67. "Trade discount" quintet: AEIOU. Somehow I've lived most of
my adult life not thinking about the fact that there are "parts of speech"
(the latter phrase not one of them), that contain all of the vowels in
order. It turns out that there is a cottage industry that is tracking
down and cataloguing these words and phrases.
This article has a bit of the recent history.
68. Portuguese saint: SAO. In last Friday's puzzle it was clued as
"Brazil map word".
69. Sleeping giant: SERTA. Not SEALY. Not even
close.
70. Grabbed forty winks: SLEPT. I do this every day around
Noon. In fact it's about that time. See ya later.
71. Oil additive brand: STP. Helps your vehicle's engine
maintain Standard Temperature and Pressure.
Down:
1. "Back in Black" group: ACDC. For those of you who are not into heavy
metal, you might dig this version:
2. Kindle __: FIRE. It's how you start a FIRE. Derived from the word KINDLING, the small sticks you light first. Well actuallyyou use TINDER first. But that's a dating APP. Oh wait! Maybe Michelle meant this, a tablet that can also be used as an E-reader:
Amazon Fire
You can get one on Amazon. I can't say any more as it would violate our policy on product advertising.
3. Modern-day wand wielders: TSA AGENTS. Modern day MAGI? Arthur C.Clark once said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
4. Source of Yuletide coziness: PINE LOG. OAK LOGS are much less likely to create a chimney fire.
5. "__ Maria": AVE. The first words that the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mary in Luke 1:28. I don't think they were in Latin though. Probably Hebrew.
6. Divests: RIDS.
7. Low-carb, high-fat diet: KETO. I am not a dietitian, nor I do I play one on TV, so you should take the following articles with a grain of salt (unless of course you have HBP): Ketogenic dietand Paleo vs. Keto Diet.
8. Pale: ASHY.
9. Apr. addressee: IRS. It'll be here before we know it.
10. Often-hazed member: NEWCOMER.
11. Lively quality: SPARK.
12. Marisa of "The Wrestler" (2008): TOMEI. The Wrestler is a 2008 American sports psychological drama film
starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood. Rourke is
an over the hill wrestler and Tomei, a pole dancer at a local club, is
his love interest. You can find an interesting YouTube interview with
Marisa about her challenges in making the film, but I won't include it
here.
13. Sawatch Range resort: ASPEN. The Sawatch Range, a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains of North America, is located in the center of the U.S. state of Colorado. It has 243 named mountains with Mount Elbert both the highest and most prominent. The range hosts several other ski resorts in addition to ASPEN. Hi MalMan!
18. 54-Across, here: I SAW, i.e. VIDI.
19. Verb that sounds like multiple vowels: EASE i.e. EEEZ.
24. Not lots: A FEW.
26. Damage: MAR.
27. __ one's time: be patient: BIDE. Please be patient. We're getting there.
30. E to E, e.g.: SCALE. One of my few regrets in life is
that, despite being a big music fan, I never learned to play a musical
instrument (although I do warble a bit). But I can Google, and here is a
link I surfed up on the E Major SCALE and one on the twelve notes of Western music.
31. Carried: TOTED.
35. Arrogance: HUFFINESS.
36. Canadian shoe retailer: ALDO. The ALDO Group branded as ALDO,
is a Canadian multinational corporation retailer that owns and operates
a worldwide chain of shoe and accessories stores. The company was
founded by Aldo Bensadoun in 1972 and is headquartered in Montreal,
Canada. And that's a"hat trick"for CanadianEh!
37. Scary floater: BERG. Clever clue. Definitely not a MOTE in your eye.
39. Recklessly determined: HELL BENT. I'm HECK BENT on getting this review finished.
58. Ship stabilizer: KEEL. I wanted GYROSCOPE, but it was too long. There turn out to be LOTS of definitions for KEEL, but "RED OCHER"?
59. Falco of "Nurse Jackie": EDIE. Nurse Jackie, is an American medical comedy-drama television series that ran from June 8, 2009 to June 28, 2015.
The show starred Edie Falco
(atoning for abetting the Sopranos?) as the title character, Jackie
Peyton, an emergency department nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New
York City. For Jackie, "every day is a high wire act of juggling
patients, doctors, fellow nurses, and her own indiscretions."
Edie Falco
61. Pesky insect: GNAT.
62. "No más!": STOP. Today's Spanish lesson. Okay, okay! I'll skip the next two clues.
64. Early TV maker: RCA.
65. Swabbie's tool: MOP.
Here's the grid:
And thanks as always to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.
60. Novelty piano piece of 1921 ... and a hint to this puzzle's theme:KITTEN ON THE KEYS.
A-B-C-D-E-F-G. See the circled letters? See the CAT sitting atop each "key?" (Thanks, Owen!)
Melissa here. In 1921 Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey wrote his novelty piano solo Kitten on the Keys, inspired by hearing his grandmother's cat walk on the keyboard of her piano. It became a hit, and he went on to compose many other pieces in the genre.
Across:
1. Breaks in relations: RIFTS.
6. Update cartographically: REMAP.
11. Adorns with Charmin, for short: TPS. Toilet papers, as a verb.
14. Basketball Hall of Famer __ Thomas: ISIAH.
15. Sherlock Holmes' younger sister as depicted in a recent Nancy Springer book series: ENOLA.
16. Hot temper: IRE.
17. Using any available means: CATCH AS CATCH CAN. One of two grid-spanners.
20. He broke Babe's record in 1974: HANK.
21. Tulip-to-be: BULB.
22. Kitchen protection: MITTS.
23. Rocks in a bar: ICE. For drinks.
24. "Miss Saigon" setting: NAM. Vietnam. Miss Saigon is a coming-of-age stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover.
25. Clear out: VACATE. Hit the road, Jack.
26. A college applicant may have to write one: ESSAY.
28. City on the Ruhr: ESSEN. City in Western Germany.
31. Roman 151: CLI.
32. Ella's forte: SCAT.
34. Strain: TAX.
35. Swiss Army knife's assortment: USES.
36. Dashboard gauges: ODOMETERS. An instrument for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle.
39. Go for a rebound: JUMP. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game; if a shot is successfully made possession of the ball will change, otherwise the rebound allows the defensive team to take possession. Rebounds are also given to a player who tips in a missed shot on his team's offensive end. A rebound can be grabbed by either an offensive player or a defensive player.
48. Future docs' exams: MCATS. Medical College Admission Tests.
51. Cassiterite, e.g.: TIN ORE. Cassiterite is a reddish, brownish, or yellowish mineral consisting of tin dioxide. It is the main ore of tin.
53. A-lister: VIP. Very Important Person. Well, excuse us.
55. Govt. mortgage agcy.: FHA.
56. Golf goof: SLICE. A slice is a ball that curves away from the players dominant hand.
57. Slangy sweeties: BAES.
59. Stern's opposite: STEM. Nautical terminology.
63. Skater Midori: ITO.
64. Old Venetian coin: DUCAT. At today's gold prices, one ducat is worth $148.83.
65. Havana's __ Castle: MORRO. A fortress guarding Havana Bay, Cuba.
66. Leb. neighbor: SYR.
67. Soliloquy site: STAGE. An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
68. Elizabeth of "WandaVision": OLSEN. Miniseries on Disney+.
Down:
1. Singer Lionel: RICHIE. Blast from the past.
2. Jason of "Harry Potter" films: ISAACS. Played Lucius Malfoy.
3. Exercise goal: FITNESS.
4. Thumb-pressed nail: TACK. Thumbtack.
5. Theater rebuke: SHH.
6. Continue: RESUME.
7. Ltr. insert: ENCL. Enclosure.
8. Utah city with a Biblical name: MOAB.
9. __-rock: music genre: ALT. Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s.
10. Game with ghosts and a maze: PACMAN. Pacman doodle. Use your arrow keys to play.
11. Tiny breath mints: TIC TACS. Remember this scene with Patricia (Parker Posey) in You've Got Mail?
12. Talk nonsense: PRATTLE.
13. Martial arts instructors: SENSEIS. Teachers.
18. Attorney's gp.: ABA. American Bar Association.
19. Juice box brand: HI-C.
24. Long-distance swimmer Diana: NYAD.
25. Perturbed: VEXED.
27. "Rent-__": 1988 film: A-COP.
29. Curry of the NBA's Warriors: STEPH.
30. Warmed the bench: SAT.
33. Senate cover-ups?: TOGAE. Tricky one. Togae, a variation on the toga spelling, was a loose, one-piece outer garment worn in ancient Rome. The Roman Senate functioned as an advisory body to Rome's magistrates and was composed of the city's most experienced public servants and society's elite.
35. Dream Team org.: USOC. The National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
37. Yoga surface: MAT.
38. Frolic: ROMP.
39. Kawasaki watercraft: JET SKIS. Personal watercraft.
40. The U in "SUV": UTILITY. Sport Utility Vehicle.
41. Hall pass checker: MONITOR.
44. Roof supports: RAFTERS.
46. Belief systems: CREEDS.
47. "The Big Fib" host __ Nicole Brown: YVETTE. Game show on Disney+.
49. "And __ off!": THEY'RE.
50. Biblical strongman: SAMSON. The biblical account (in the book of Judges) states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey. However, if Samson's long hair were cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated and he would lose his strength.
52. Fall mo.: OCT. October.
54. Suffix like -like: ISH.
57. Fla. resort: BOCA.
58. Toilets for T.S. Eliot?: Abbr.: ANAG. Sneaky. Toilet is an anagram of T.S. Eliot.
59. Vodka brand that sounds like a toast: SKOL. Skol is derived from the Scandinavian word skål, which originally referred to a communal wooden bowl passed from person to person at social gatherings and later meant to toast. While definitive historical proof is lacking, many believe that the Vikings used the word skol to say “cheers!”
