The first thing that caught my eye in Doug's grid was the 109 open squares! That's a lot of cells for his fiendish cluing to take its toll on entertain us solvers.
I can't remember another puzzle that frustrated the bejabbers out of me but was so rewarding when I ran the cluing through my personal Enigma machine and obtained a hard earned "got 'er done"!
The entire southeast corner mocked me with white boxes and then cell by cell and I broke through where Doug was headed. Let's see what master constructor Doug has for us with special attention to that bedeviling corner.
Doug's collaboration with with Jeff Chen
Across:
1. British cartoon whose logo features a curly tail: PEPPA PIG - It runs in English, Swedish and here in Welsh:
9. Company offering Viewliner Bedrooms: AMTRAK.
15. Cape Canaveral's 321, for one: AREA CODE - I don't how many of my 40 trips to KSC I had made before it hit me that its AREA CODE was part of a launch countdown.
16. Period of devotion: NOVENA.
17. Nearest the back: REARMOST - The part of the auditorium that fills first for a teacher's meeting.
18. Private __: SECTOR - Every year of my career I saw great teachers leave for the Private SECTOR
19. Tool akin to a staple gun: TACKER.
20. Shelter named for a senator: ROTH IRA.
21. Bean sprout?: IDEA - Here bean is a metaphor for head, so...
22. Printer color: CYAN.
24. Art student's subj.: ANAT - Michalangelo dissected many bodies to view underlying tissue to make his art more realistic.
25. Orthodox leader?: NEO - NEO-orthodoxy. / (ˌniːəʊˈɔːθəˌdɒksɪ) / noun. a movement in 20th-century Protestantism, reasserting certain older traditional Christian doctrines.
26. Hedgehog relative: SHREW.
28. Clog buster: SNAKE - I bought this 25' one and it did no good. My plumber said he needed 40' of his industrial SNAKE to open our drain.
29. 1993 Jack Lemmon comedy: GRUMPY OLD MEN - Yeah, right, 😯, "still hot" Ann Margaret fell for these two guys.
32. Rentals used on rugs: STEAM CLEANERS.
35. Top 40 hit on the soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Christmas": LINUS AND LUCY.
37. Studio bed: FUTON.
40. Stock reducers: SALES.
41. "My __": Usher/Alicia Keys duet: BOO - BOO is slang for girlfriend or boyfriend. This song has a video I choose not to post here.
42. Tofu nutrient: IRON.
43. Darlings: PETS - One of many euphemisms for a loved one
44. Bobby of R&B's Famous Flames: BYRD - Bobby Byrd started the Famous Flames in 1953 and one member of the group was a guy named James Brown. Hmmm... I wonder what became of him.
Bobby (2nd from left) James (4th from left)
45. They swell with pride: GAY BARS - GAY pride
47. Tick by: ELAPSE.
49. Do some warehouse work: UNCASE.
50. Nick name in Paris?: PERE NOEL - These cells filled cell by cell and then BAM, Father (PERE) Christmas (NOEL) for St. Nick hit me like a ton of mistletoe! 😁
52. Venetian marketplace: RIALTO.
Shopping in the RIALTO Bridge area
53. One MCU character: UNIVERSE - Another bolt of lightning hit me when Marvel (Comic) Cinematic UNIVERSE hit me!
54. Frostbite preventer: EARLAP.
55. Stood firm: RESISTED.
Down:
1. Occasion to say 3-Down: PARTING - She could have just said, "See ya, Romeo."
3. "See ya": PEACE OUT - What Juliet could have said?
2. Literary devices: E-READERS.
4. Arctic hunter's wear: PARKA 13. Arctic hunter's wear: ANORAK - We all know about a parka but an ANORAK is a pull over, waterproof, hooded jacket.
5. Culmination: ACME - Playing in the Super Bowl is the ACME of a football season
6. Barely passable: POOR.
7. Docs with DOBs, often: IDS - If you have a prolonged stay in a hospital, you'll have recited your Date Of Birth over and over.
8. Appreciate: GET
9. Actor Mount who plays Captain Pike in recent "Star Trek" series: ANSON - Not ANSON Williams for Happy Days
10. Name on some magnums: MOET.
11. Remote possibility?: TV CHANNEL - ...and so much more. Example: This red button gets me closed captioning
12. Cone holder: RETINA.
14. Summer Olympics debut of 2021: KARATE.
20. Reasons for grievances: RAW DEALS.
22. Sources of saffron: CROCUSES.
23. Chews out: YELLS AT.
26. Tenerife's country: SPAIN - Tenerife is the largest of Spain's Canary Island (862 miles SW of Gibraltar) and its landscape is dominated by the active volcano Mt. Teide which is also Spain's highest mountain
27. Mass performance: HYMN.
28. Fires off: SENDS.
30. Summer salad morsel: MELON BALL.
31. Locks in a barn?: MANE - 😀
33. Fortified red wine: RUBY PORT.
34. Filmmaker who helped launch the African Film Heritage Project: SCORSESE.
36. Was in peak form, vocally?: YODELED - Peak? Vocal? Hmmm...
A Swiss group YODELING in the Alps
37. Sculpture, often: FIGURE - Even if it's a bean
38. Muse on the U.S. Naval Observatory's seal: URANIA - The goddess of astronomy and stars
39. A little buggy, perhaps: TOY CAR.
43. Before going under, say: PRE-OP - I have received videos and printed literature about what I have to do before my 2/15/23 procedure.
44. Curses: BANES.
46. Hound of whodunits: ASTA - Nick and Nora Childs' pooch
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee, here, with today's Friday puzzle recap. Our puzzle setter, Katie Hale, has constructed a Puzzle wherein she literally uses the word literally correctly and not in the-centuries-old, and seemingly becoming more prevalent, mis-used way of figuratively.
For example, in Little Women Louisa May Alcott wrote that `The land literally flowed with milk and honey.' Tom Sawyer was not turning somersaults on piles of money when Mark Twain described him as `literally rolling in wealth.' Jay Gatsby was not shining when Fitzgerald wrote that he `literally glowed.' Such examples are plentiful, even in the works of the authors we were taught to emulate.
Excuse me? It's not possible that anyone could say that. Oh, never mind.
On to the puzzle. There is no "reveal" as the "gimmick" (if you will) is found within each of the clues in which Katie asks us to suss out the literal meanings of words from five languages other than English. The French, Italian and Spanish may have been familiar to many of us Eurocentric American solvers. The Turkish and Indonesian were likely less so. Here are the five themed answers:
16. Zevk, literally: TURKISH DELIGHT. Zevk is TURKISH for pleasure.
24. Bise, literally: FRENCH KISS. Today's French lesson. Bise is FRENCH for kiss.
36. Cangkir, literally: CUP OF JAVA. Cangkir is cup in Indonesian. The island of Java, Indonesia is the world's most populous island.
50. Quando, literally: WHEN IN ROME. Quando is Italian for, yep, WHEN. What is this world coming to? Last week Sonny and Cher and this week:
Engelbert Humperdinck
58. La lluvia, literally: THE RAIN IN SPAIN. Today's Spanish lesson: Spanish for RAIN. By George, I think she's got it:
Here is the completed grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Kid's parent: GOAT. Neither a human child (clue) nor the Greatest Of All Time (answer). An ovine reference.
5. Rebecca in the Basketball Hall of Fame: LOBO. Our esteemed editor, as has been previously pointed out on this blog, seems partial to WNBA references.
9. Texter's "I don't understand": WDYM.
13. Actor Omar: EPPS. Omar often visits us and more often it's his first name that is the answer.
14. Hyaluronic __: ACID. It keeps body tissues hydrated.
15. Frost: HOAR.
19. Early ISP: AOL. America On Line. Remember all those discs they used to give away? I still use their email service for other-than-personal (junk) email.
20. Fictional sleuth Wolfe: NERO. Another frequent visitor.
21. Egyptian cobra: ASP. Cleopatra's ASP is very well known.
22. St. __: Cornwall town: IVES. Polygamy as a learning opportunity:
28. Sought out for advice: WENT TO.
30. Part of a vague ultimatum: OR ELSE.
31. Pianist Rubinstein: ARTUR.
B: 1887 D: 1982
32. Philistine: BOOR.
35. Make a bad impression?: DENT. A clue that was to be taken literally.
39. Reserve: BOOK. Used as a verb as in to BOOK a table at a restaurant.
42. Noshes: EATS. Today's Yiddish/German lesson.
43. Vigilant: AWARE. What do you call a wolf who is cognizant of his surroundings? AWARE wolf.
47. Marquee time: TONITE. Cutesy, intentional mis-spelling. TONITE is also an explosive compound.
49. Plays loudly: BLARES.
54. Sails off course: YAWS.
55. "You __ do this!": CAN. A straightforward fill-in-the-blank clue/answer.
56. Some ballpark figs.: ERAS. A baseball park reference. Earned Run Average.
57. Dust jacket paragraph: BIO. BIOgraphy
63. Humdinger: LULU. A real doozy.
64. Element used in a 5-Down: NEON. It could have been clued as Colorado's new football coach.
65. Dressed: CLAD.
66. Ancient Briton: CELT.
67. Some digital natives, informally: GEN Y. Digital native describes a person who has grown up in the digital age.
68. Moral lapses: SINS. Golfer: "Caddy, do you think it is a sin to play golf on Sunday?" Caddy: "The way you play, sir, its a sin any day of the week!"
Down:
1. Move past, as a breakup: GET OVER.
2. Luxurious: OPULENT.
3. Car loan fig.: APR. Annual Percentage Rate.
4. Judgy sound: TSK. Is it going to be TSK or TUT? Only the perps know for sure.
5. Lithography tool: LASER. We're not talking about 19th Century printmaking here. All you might want to know:
6. Prehistoric paint colour: OCHRE. The extra u in colour leads us to the British spelling.
7. Compete for, in a way: BID ON.
8. First word of the European Union anthem's title: ODE. "ODE to Joy", from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
9. Taken suddenly: WHISKED AWAY. I can't find my eggbeater. It's as if someone just WHISKED it AWAY.
10. Group celebration after a game-winning play, say: DOG PILE. Also, an early search engine.
11. Slangy agreement: YAH. Today's punt.
12. B.A. Baracus player: MR T.
17. Recon collection: INFO. Reconnoiter is truncated, ergo INFOrmation is also.
18. Cowardly Lion portrayer: LAHR.
19. Big name in speakers: AIWA. Not orators. Music system speakers.
23. Longing for change, maybe: STUCK IN A RUT.
25. "Downton Abbey" countess played by Elizabeth McGovern: CORA. Yet another frequent visitor.
26. Tax form digits: SSN. Social Security Number
27. All ready: SET. Hit It!
29. Capote nickname: TRU.
32. Fluffy wrap: BOA. Sometimes clued with reference to the snake.
33. Again and again, in verse: OFT. The OFT re-posted jokes are wrong. A pirate's favorite letter is P. Because without it he becomes irate.
34. Fresh-squeezed drinks, for short: OJS. Orange Juices. Rarely seen pluralized as here.
37. Hammer end: PEEN. The end of a hammer head (not the shark) opposite the flat striking surface, often wedge-shaped or ball-shaped and used for chipping, indenting, and metalworking.
38. Actor Kilmer: VAL.
39. FYI kin: BTW. For Your Information By The Way.
40. __ and aah: OOH.
41. Like yeast: ONE CELL. Often clued with an amoeba.
44. Horse breed that originated on an Asian peninsula: ARABIAN.
45. Goes back to the start: REWINDS.
46. Exxon, in Canada and Europe: ESSO. Standard Oil (S.O.)
48. Jukebox musical whose first number is "Nutbush City Limits": TINA. Nutbush, Tennessee is Tina Turner's rural home town.
49. "Porgy and __": BESS. A Gershwin reference.
51. "Judy" star Zellweger: RENEE. I didn't know Judy but I knew Zellweger.
52. Hunter slain by Artemis: ORION. Often clued with reference to the constellation.
53. 2004 World Series MVP Ramirez: MANNY. He played in the major leagues for nineteen seasons. This year he received 32.% of the vote in the Hall of Fame balloting. A player needs 75% to get in.
58. Indulgent attention, for short: TLC. Tender Loving Care
59. Shade: HUE.
60. Gerund syllable: ING. By definition.
61. IBMs, e.g.: PCS. Personal ComputerS that aren't Apples.
62. Former boxer Laila: ALI. A frequent visitor who, lately, seems to have replaced her father as the clue of choice.
Well, that's it for today. Now I must go grab something to eat as I am so hungry that I could figuratively eat a horse.
This is Alexander Liebeskind's 4th appearance on the Corner, his most recent being on October 21, 2022
blogged by the Chairman. And this is his third collaboration with Jeff
Chen, who needs no introduction. Today they explore different ways to
LIFT OUR SPIRITS
17A. Mexican tradition that will 62-Across?: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS. Today's Spanish lesson: "The Day of the Dead", is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 (AKAAll Saints and All Souls days) to commemorate the spirits
of departed loved ones. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it
largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by
people of Mexican heritage. Here the Tempest Quartet performs La Martiniana, a folk song popular during this celebration (lyrics):
27A. Celebratory moments to 62-Across?: WEDDING TOASTS. These spirits are decidedly more animated than those in 17A, particularly after a few glasses of bubbly. Here is soprano Zoryana Kushpler in the "trouser" role of Count Orlofsky toasting in the New Years Eve with the "Champagne Song" from Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus ("The Bat")
47A. Shopping outing that may 62-Across?: RETAIL THERAPY. But you have to be careful not to get too much therapy or it may end up dampeningyourspirits:
And the reveal hinted at by each themer:
62A. See 17-, 27-, and 47-Across: LIFT ONES SPIRITS.
Here's the grid:
Here's the rest:
Across:
1. Colbert's network: CBS.
4. Chris of "Knives Out": EVANS. Great flick. Keeps you in suspense to the very end. Here's a scene with Chris:
9. Organic jewelry source: AMBER. CORAL and PEARL would have fit, but didn't perp. You can have this AMBERpendant for only $558.
Beside their use in bling, AMBER nuggets can be unique time capsules containing fossils, e.g. this tiny snake that got stuck in a glob of sap 100 million years ago. Particularly rich deposits of amber are found on the Southern shores of the Baltic Sea.
Baltic Amber Deposits
14. Mine product: ORE.
15. Search engine name: YAHOO.
16. Singer's asset: VOICE.
17. [Theme clue]
20. "This meeting could've been an __": EMAIL.
21. Sharp: KEEN.
22. Monopoly payment: RENT.
23. The "N" of the actor known as NPH: NEIL. Neil Patrick Harris
(born June 15, 1973)
is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host.
Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and
musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout his
career, including a Tony Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and
nominations for a Grammy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
And he's the only actor I know who is monoacronymic. Is that pronounced
"nymph?".
25. Tetra- minus one: TRI.
27. [Theme clue]
33. Axe thrower's asset: AIM. ARM didn't perp. My oldest grandson has a pretty good AIM. Here's a video of him hitting a target with an axe at 75 ft, ending with his proud father pacing off the distance ... Here's a tutorial for noobs (this guy is throwing from 12'): 34. Sleep soundly?: SNORE. [ ... zzzzz .... wake up Bill!] Oh yeah, we had this last week.
35. End of a piece by 65-Across: MORAL. The Miser could have used a lesson in RETAIL THERAPY.
37. Espy: SPOT.
39. Balances (out): EVENS.
41. "Paper Girls" actor Corddry: NATE. Paper Girls is an American science fiction drama television series created by Stephany Folsom. It is based on the 2015–2019 comic book series of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on July 29, 2022. In September 2022, the series was canceled after one season. Nate Corddry plays Larry, a farmer and member of the "STF Underground" (nowhere defined). We may see Nate again, but I doubt there is much danger of "Paper Girls" becoming crosswordese.
42. Thompson of "SNL": KENAN. Kenan Thompson (born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. Here he is on Late Night with Seth Meyers:
44. Devour with gusto: EAT UP.
46. At most: MAX.
[Theme clue]
50. Key above ~: ESC. Seems to me that people who solve online have a distinct advantage when it comes to keyboard character position clues.
51. Karate school: DOJO. It's more than that. A dōjō (Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː(d)ʑoː])
is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning or
meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has
been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software
development. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.
52. Mix things up: STIR.
55. Place whose state quarter features an astronaut: OHIO.
59. Obama daughter: MALIA. Malia Obama
is the older daughter of former U.S. President Barack Obama and first
lady Michelle Obama. Malia enrolled at Harvard University for the fall
2017 semester. Little is publicly known about her time at Harvard,
although she was named a Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize winner for excellent undergraduate work and excellence in the art of teaching prior to her graduation in 2021.
Malia Obama
[Theme reveal]
65. Greek fabulist: AESOP. Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece
between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated
with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources
and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media. See clue 35A for an example.
66. Coach Jill who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019: ELLIS. Jillian Anne Ellis(born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team
from 2014 to October 2019 and won two FIFA Women's World Cups in 2015
and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups.
Jill Ellis
67. Minnow catcher: NET.
68. Brings (out): TROTS.
69. Sierra __: LEONE. Sierra Leone
is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a
directly elected president serving a five-year term with a maximum of
two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a
secular nation with the constitution providing for the separation of
state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of
thoughts and religion). Muslims make up about three-quarters of the
population, though with an influential Christian
minority. Religious tolerance in the West African nation is very high
and is generally considered a norm and part of Sierra Leone's cultural
identity.
Sierra Leone
70. Rock subgenre: EMO.
Down:
1. Morse __: CODE. Morse code
is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as
standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the inventors of the telegraph.
2. Hat part: BRIM.
3. Creature that may shelter clownfish: SEA ANEMONE. Sea anemones are a group of predatory marine invertebrates of the order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the Anemone,
a terrestrial flowering plant. Some species of sea anemone live in
association with clownfish, hermit crabs, small fish, or other animals
to their mutual benefit, AKAsymbiosis: 4. Shadowy places?: EYELIDS.
5. Kilmer of "Top Gun: Maverick": VAL.
6. "Oh, I got it now": AH OK.
7. Wine quality: NOSE. Here's a little help on how to make scents of wine. Perhaps the Chairman will stop by and give us a sip of his wisdom on the bewildering vocabulary of wine aromas.
8. Not all: SOME.
9. "__ Maria": AVE. AVE MARIA is the Latin title for a song originally written in German by Franz Schubert in 1825 entitled "Ellens dritter Gesang" ("Ellen's Third Song"). It is a setting of one of seven songs from Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake. The song was Ellen's prayer to the Virgin Mary popularly known as the Hail Mary, with the words originally taken from 2 sections of the Gospel of Luke. The song is often sung at Catholic WEDDINGS (before all the TOASTS at the reception afterwards!). Here is Luciano Pavarotti singing it in concert (lyrics): 10. "Song of Solomon" writer Toni: MORRISON. Song of Solomonis Morrison's third novel and one of her most
commercially successful. Published in 1977, the novel — tentatively
titled Milkman Dead — was condensed in Redbook. It was later
chosen as a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, which had not
selected a novel written by a black author since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940.
Toni Morrison February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019 Pulitzer Prize 1987 Nobel Prize 1993
The novel explores the quest for cultural identity.
Based on the African-American folktale about enslaved Africans who
escape slavery by flying back to Africa, it tells the story of Macon
"Milkman" Dead, a young man alienated from himself and estranged from
his family, his community, and his historical and cultural roots.
Milkman is mentally enslaved and spiritually dead, but with the help of
his eccentric aunt, Pilate, and his best friend, Guitar Bains, he
embarks on a physical and spiritual journey that enables him to
reconnect with his past and realize his self-worth.
11. Light snack: BITE.
12. MBA course: ECON.
13. Take a breather: REST.
18. Lost power: DIED.
19. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO. "... as you would have them do UNTO you." A fragment of the Gospel of Matthew (7:12), often called The Golden Rule. By and large I find this to be the rule around here.
27. Blade that might move quickly in a storm: WIPER.
28. "Song of Solomon," for one: NOVEL. See 10D.
29. "Two thumbs up!": GREAT.
30. Sophomore's grade: TENTH.
31. Springy backyard apparatus: TRAMPOLINE.
32. Kebab often served with peanut sauce: SATAY. Here's a recipe. Superbowl finger food.
Satay Chicken
33. Question: ASK.
36. NYC ave.: LEX. Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex",
is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York
City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to
Gramercy Park at East 21st Street.
Lexington Avenue Looking Northward from the top floors of the Chrysler Building
38. Ore-Ida nugget: TATER TOT.
40. Took to court: SUED.
43. "Old Town Road" rapper Lil __ X: NAS. As Lil has finally achieved the status of crosswordese, I've decided to riff his middle name for the acronym for the prestigious National Academy of Sciences(NAS), a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. New members of the organization are elected annually by current
members, based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in
original research. Election to the National Academy is one of the
highest honors in the scientific field.
National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C.
45. "Cross your heart?": PROMISE. Here's some vintage CW with George Strait's 1992 I Cross My Heart, a PROMISE to his lady love ... 48. Image on a menu bar: ICON.
49. Cracked open: AJAR. Dad: "When is a door not a door?" "When it's A JAR"!
52. Shutter board: SLAT.
53. Arena level: TIER.
54. "Assuming that's true ... ": IF SO. An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments.
56. Stiletto, for one: HEEL. A readily available weapon of self-defense should one encounter a HEEL while afoot.:
57. __ of Wight: ISLE. The Isle of Wight is an obscure vacation getaway off the coast of Hampshire, England made famous by a line in this song ...
58. Norwegian capital: OSLO. Not the EURO and not the KRONE,OSLO is the capital and most populous city of Norway.
It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of
Oslo had a population of 702,543 in 2022, while the city's greater urban
area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, and the metropolitan area
had an estimated population of 1,546,706 in 2021
60. Object: ITEM.
61. Regarding: AS TO.
63. Special __: commando tactics: OPS.
64. One of 10 in a lane: PIN. A CSO to a Dear Soul. And our constructors (or Patti!) even got the name of his favorite venue right!
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
Theme: There's no better way to put it than the 58A reveal below.
20. Forgettable band with a memorable song: ONE HIT WONDER.
32. "Pipe down!": KEEP QUIET.
45. Spot for spare change: COIN PURSE.
58. Element of irony, and what can be found in each set of circled letters?: TWISTED HUMOR.
Let's put the grid up here so we can see the circles.
The circled letters can be unscrambled to make a word relating to HUMOR: WIT, QUIP, and PUN.
Across:
1. Unexpected obstacle: SNAG.
5. "Pronto!" letters: ASAP.
9. Suffers after a Pure Barre class, say: ACHES. A strenuous, low-impact workout based on dance, Pilates, yoga and low-impact rehabilitation exercises.
14. __ Top ice cream: HALO. Less cream and sugar than regular ice cream. I've never tried it. If you haven't either, you might want to read this first: A Dietitian’s Review of Halo Top: Nutrition, Ingredients, and Best Flavors.
15. Four Corners state: UTAH. The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico.
16. "If only!": I HOPE.
17. "Will do!": ON IT.
18. Emperor after Claudius: NERO. Anyone actually know this from memory?
19. __ touch: MAGIC.
23. Jazz pianist McCoy: TYNER. Did not know his name. He worked with The John Coltrane Quartet. He left Coltrane's group in 1965, becoming uneasy with the increasingly atonal and noisy direction of the saxophonist's music. “He had two drummers at that time,” Mr. Tyner said in 1976, “and I couldn't hear what I was doing.”
24. Unnecessary: NEEDLESS.
38. Musical ability: EAR. Are you TONE DEAF or MUSICALLY GIFTED? (A FUN test for non-musicians)
39. Old PC platform: MS DOS.
41. Snaky fish: EEL.
42. Shopping cart fillers: ITEMS.
48. Cook's Illustrated offering: RECIPE. From my last blog, I know we have at least a few fans of America's Test Kitchen here. Cook's Illustrated is an American cooking magazine published every two months by the America's Test Kitchen company.
50. Lake bird with a wild laugh: LOON. Loons always make me think of the movie On Golden Pond. 51. Sotheby's auctions, e.g.: ART SALES.
68. Simpson daughter voiced by Yeardley Smith: LISA. Did not know her name.
69. Came to a close: ENDED.
70. Shout: YELL. Anyone remember Rita Moreno's opening YELL from The Electric Company?
71. Opening for a hotel key card: SLOT.
Down:
1. "Ask me anything!": SHOOT.
2. Mary Poppins, for one: NANNY.
3. Out of this world?: ALIEN. Nice clue.
4. Went to a tutoring session, say: GOT HELP.
5. Many a godmother: AUNT.
6. Fret (over): STEW. Couldn't squeeze worry into 4 letters.
7. Judge who hit 62 home runs in 2022: AARON. Those of us who don't follow baseball wouldn't know this one. Plays for the NY Yankees. He is 6 feet 7 inches tall!
8. Galaxy, for one: PHONE. Sneaky.
9. Set one's sights on: AIMED AT.
10. "All the Birds in the Sky" Nebula winner __ Jane Anders: CHARLIE. Science Fiction is not my genre and I've not heard of this.
11. Monopolize: HOG.
12. Prefix with dermis: EPI. Meaning: upon or above.
13. Triple __: orange-flavored liqueur: SEC. Meaning, "triple distilled," triple sec is made from the dried peels of bitter and sweet oranges. 'Sec' is French for dry so 'triple sec' literally means 'triple dry.'
21. Baghdad's country: IRAQ.
22. Room that may have a sectional sofa: DEN. Sectionals have gotten very popular in the last 5 years or so.
25. Respected leader: ELDER.
26. Cucumber salad, coconut rice, etc.: SIDES.
27. Panache: STYLE.
29. Bacardi liquor: RUM. Again with the booze!
30. Blu-ray buy: DISC. Blu-ray is the advanced version of DVDs. It is named "Blu-ray" because blue laser is used to read the disc, which enables to store the information at greater density compared to red-laser used in DVD. Seems like the trend is towards streaming services, and maybe both will phase out like VHS cassettes.
40. __-cone: SNO. I feel pretty certain that SNO-CONE is a brand name, but google finds both SNOW CONE and SNO CONE with no obvious distinction. All I could find was this article, about sno-balls vs sno-cones. Now I'm more confused than ever. From the article: "Editor’s Note: In my 35 years on this planet I’ve never once eaten anything called a sno-ball. Nor have I ever eaten a sno-cone served in an actual cone." But what about this sno-ball?
43. Error: MISTAKE.
44. Brought about, as a movement: SPAWNED.
46. Like a red-carpet event: POSH.
47. Opens, as a fern frond: UNCURLS. 49. Former quarterback Manning: ELI. NY Giants quarterback for 16 seasons, retired from NFL in 2019. 52. Writing contest entry, maybe: ESSAY.
53. Long look: STARE. 55. "Reply all" medium: EMAIL.
56. "Untrue!": NOT SO. Is too!
57. October 31 option: TREAT. Halloween - trick or treat?
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