Saturday, February, 17, 2024, Joe Deeney

Saturday Themeless by Joe Deeney

This is my eighth Joe Deeney Saturday Themeless puzzle and I had a lovely 16 minute solving experience! His impressive pinwheeled stacks of ten letter fills resulted in having only 68 blocks and a lot of wide-open  spaces. Wow! 

Joe has left the corporate world and is now freelancing at home while he figures out what is next for him. Above is a lovely picture of Joe doing an LA Times puzzle on his tablet while his daughter is offering her assistance.

Across:

1. Takes badly?: ROBS 😀

5. Leroy Anderson holiday tune that includes a trumpet "whinny": SLEIGH RIDE - That seasonal song also uses these percussion instruments.

15. Possibly a lot?: ACRE 😀

Before                                 After

16. Sphynx producer: CAT BREEDER 40. Litter peeps: MEWS - I'm sure Mama SPHYNX is hearing a lot of MEWS from her litter.

17. Top suits: CEO'S - Recently we saw that they belong in the C Suites with the CFO, COO, et al.

18. Natalie Dormer's "Elementary" role: IRENE ADLER - An adversary for Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes in this BBC series.

19. New Zealand birds also known as owl parrots: KAKAPOS - Also called the world's fattest parrot.

21. Glue brand that owns X-Acto: ELMERS.

22. Show leader?: ONE MAN - A great one!

23. Toot: SPREE - As in "on a toot!"

25. Take a __: FLIER - The Jets did just that on Aaron Rodgers and he got hurt on the season's first series and was lost for the year.

26. "J to __ L-O!": 2002 remix album: THA.

27. Knock on: RAP AT 

While I nodded, nearly napping, 

suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently RAPping, 

RAPping AT my chamber door.

31. Civil Rights Memorial architect: LIN - Her work has such grace and elegance

Located in Montgomery, Alabama

32. Crash support: IT HELP -

35. Fatty tuna, to a sushi chef: TORO.

36. Social insect: ANT.

37. Like some store-bought nuts: SHELLED.

39. Ready for the dryer: WET.

42. Museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria: UFFIZI.

43. Member of a peer group?: EYE 😀

44. French physician for whom a part of the brain is named: BROCA.

46. Offer: BID.

47. Oft-burned medium: CD ROM - Burning a CD used to be very common

49. 2004 remake starring Jude Law: ALFIE - What's it all about, ALFIE?

51. Prepares for a drive: TEES UP- If you can't bend over, this device will help you TEE UP the ball and take it out of the hole. Not for me yet.

52. "Fly!": BE FREE.

55. Stayed home: DIDN'T GO - They had tickets for the Titanic but didn't make it onboard 

Milton Hershey  J Pierpont Morgan Henry Clay Frick

56. "No need to wait": I'LL CATCH UP.

59. Central Asia's North __ Sea: ARAL.

60. Nickelodeon show with a paw print logo: BLUES CLUES - We watched a lot of BLUES CLUES with the original host Steve.

61. Cost of a dozen?: DIME 😀

62. Time for happy hour?: BEER THIRTY 😀

63. Gibbons, e.g.: APES.

Down:

1. Crown roast half: RACK OF LAMB and 11. 1-Down, e.g.: RED MEAT.

 

2. Carnival ride: OCEAN LINER - Their ships have grown considerably

 

3. Halved: BROKE IN TWO - Speaking of the Titanic

4. __ oil: SESAME.

5. Heir: SCION.

6. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS - Don't know the man but he's here in cwds a lot 

7. Bastille Day saison: ETE.

  

       

8. Arabic for "son of": IBN.

9. "Archer" voice actress Judy: GREER.

10. Shaman: HEALER - In an episode of Grey's Anatomy, a Hmong father would not let the surgeons operate until the Shaman arrived.

12. Run in place: IDLE - I can start my car from any where in the world with this iPhone app. The car will IDLE for 15 minutes while running the heater or a/c and then shut off unless someone with the key fob gets into the car to finish the starting process.

13. Does: DEER - We had Does cluing SHES recently 

14. Does wrong: ERRS.

20. "Ratatouille" city: PARIS.

23. Photo that speaks volumes?: SHELFIE - Below is one of mine. Send me a picture of your SHELFIE at gschlapfer@gmail.com and I'll post them next week.

24. Wan: PALLID - I have no idea why I remember this from Mrs. Thomsen's 11th grade English Class.

Why so pale and wan fond lover? 

      Prithee why so pale? 

Will, when looking well can’t move her, 

      Looking ill prevail? 

      Prithee why so pale? 

26. DOJ division: THE FBI.

28. Juice bar?: POWER STRIP 😀 This might be drawing too much juice

29. In question?: ARE YOU GAME? - Do you think these peeps asked this of each other in Pamplona? 

30. Pacific Northwest tribal carvings: TOTEM POLES.

33. Pt. of the week: THU.

34. __ dispenser: PEZ.

38. Like the ingredients in pico de gallo (translates to rooster's beak - hg), typically: DICED.

41. Harder to come by: SCARCER.

45. Div. that has produced 16 World Series champs since 1969: AL EAST - The Yankees have the most (7) but haven't won in 14 years. Chart 

48. "Gracias" response: DE NADA.

50. Go get: FETCH - I remember FETCH from my early Macs.

51. Buzzed: TIPSY.

52. Salad option: BIBB.

 
 

53. Catherine portrayer in "The Great": ELLE.

An interesting picture!

54. Exhaust pipe: FLUE.

55. Tune two croon: DUET - Not only were their DUETs my favorite but The Beatles and many others patterned themselves after them.

57. 10% of MDX: CLI - I'm surprised Joe didn't use X% of MDX (10% of 1510 = 151)

58. "Ben-__": HUR - Hollywood made versions in 1907, 1925, 1959 and 2016. The 1959 version starring Charlton Heston was the most successful version. I saw it on the Cinema 70 Big Screen as a 13-yr-old when it came out.

                      

 

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 71st birthday to our witty Chairman Moe (Chris). Here is a picture of Chris, his girlfriend Margaret, MM and MM's girlfriend Valerie. They finally met last August. Chris travels extensively every summer. Hope he can meet more of our blog regulars in the future.

 

Margaret, Chris,  Joseph and Valerie

2) Happy 58th anniversary to the sweetest couple I've ever met: Husker Gary and his wife Joann. Here's a picture of us from 2014 when Gary attended a wedding here in Minnesota. 

Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, C.C. & Joann

Friday, February 16, 2024 - Robin C. Stears

Theme: Expletives Un-Deleted

Puzzling thoughts:

FIR with a few corrections (see the grid for the little black triangles in the squares where I flubbed)

This one was a bit of a "slog", as it took me nearly twice as long as usual to solve

I was excited when I saw Robin C. Stears on the by-line, as I've had the pleasure to re-cap a couple of hers before

True to her love of Merl Reagle-type puzzles, Robin delights us with - gosh darn it all - a series of mild, homophonic expletives in her playful entries. No reveal; just a bit of frivolity mixed in with some elegant "fill". Certainly "FRY-day" worthy! 😉

The first of the five entries (17-across. Rather impressive exclamation of relief?): QUITE A PHEW! plays off the more familiar "quite a few", with a different parsing of the adverb "QUITE"

#2 of the entries also used a slightly different meaning of the adjective, BORDER (24-across. Astonished exclamation at the Four Corners Monument?): BORDER, GOLLY!. If I am understanding this one correctly, Robin is playing off of the animal, Border collie. As one who has ventured out to the spot where the Four Corners Monument resides, I might have uttered a slightly different "expletive"

#3 of the quintet is (35-across. Exasperated exclamation over a breath mint?): TIC TAC, D'OH!. When I discussed these entries with Robin (we are Facebook friends) she volunteered that the original entry for this one was something like, "cough up the d'oh".  I think I like the one that made the puzzle, better, and of course it led me to finding a video of the Simpsons and the eponymous breath mint ...

The fourth entry is (51-across. Quiet exclamation of dismissal from way back when?): OLD SOFT SHOO. [Idioms @ The Free Dictionary dot com] defines "OLD SOFT SHOE" as: "Something, such as a speech or explanation, delivered especially carefully and skillfully in order to convince or persuade; e.g., 'This salesperson keeps trying to give me the old soft-shoe, despite the fact that I already told him I don't want a new TV!'"

And speaking of Shoe (and shoo) and today's homophones, here is an old Shoe comic that fits the bill:

And finally, the fifth entry parodies the origin of words with (60-across. Etymological story about an equestrian's exclamation?): TALE OF WHOA. Ha! Ha! Get it? A TALE (as in the story of) that reins us in to the meaning of "whoa" ...

The flip side of this might be: (Clue - The letter "e"?) TAIL OF WOE

Here is the grid, and then off to the races!

Across:
1. Cravat kin: ASCOT. This one is for Irish Miss: 😘

To my admirer Agnes:  Love, Cary

6. "Masters of Illusion" host Dean: CAIN.  How about this for a homophonic play-on-words, and mild expletive? Clue: Causing trouble in the sugar fields? "RAISING CANE"

10. Swedish pop group: ABBA.  Or perhaps, a common poetic rhyme scheme?  

Three un-rhyming poetic lines (by yours, truly) is called a "Moe-ku"; 5 lines in an AABBA rhyme scheme is a "Moe-l'ick, but what should I call a 4-liner with an ABBA rhyme scheme? Maybe a "Moe-em??" Look for one later on... in the meantime, here is a little something to formulate today's earworm:

14. Fabric: CLOTH.  No one ever has referred to a priest or pastor as "a man of the fabric" ...

15. Land unit: ACRE.  Alternate entry for today? Clue - Angry expanse above one's waistline? BELLY ACRE ... sorry Robin for stepping on your homophones 😂

16. Subatomic particle with greater mass than an electron: MUON. One dictionary definition calls a MUON: "an unstable lepton that is common in the cosmic radiation near the earth's surface, has a mass about 207 times the mass of the electron, and exists in negative and positive forms" ...

19. Peruvian people who made rope bridges: INCA. Read all about them, here

20. Server with a spigot: URN.  I tried TAP first, to no avail

21. Unoccupied: FREE.  Not a welcome sign during an airplane flight when you gotta go ...

Hurry up in there / Ándale

22. Perfect little darling: ANGEL. What many dads call their daughters ... along with princess, sweetie, et al

23. "Science Friday" host Flatow: IRA. Glass, Gershwin, and Levin? Not happy ... but to the clue's credit, this website lists IRA Flatow as the most popular IRA

27. Get back: REGAIN.  Moe-ku:

First advertisement
For famous hair growth product:
"REGAIN with Rogaine"

29. __ de Janeiro: RIO.

30. Volleyball quartet?: ELS. Golfer "Ernie" is getting a little long-in-the-tooth ... the word "Volleyball" has four "L's"

31. Biblical garden: EDEN. Where "raising CAIN" occurred

32. Brian Setzer genre: SWING. [Wikipedia]: "Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. In 1987, he made a cameo appearance as Eddie Cochran in the film La Bamba". Here is another ditty for you to hum all day ...

34. "Park it!": SIT.  Have any dog owners ever been tempted to tell "Fido" to "park it"??!!

39. "The Gilded __": Julian Fellowes series: AGE. Filled by perps, IIRC

42. Splash: SLOSH. The thesaurussaurus confirms it:

43. Once, quaintly: ERST. I've been known to throw the word "erstwhile" into my blogs, every now and again

47. Photographer Goldin: NAN. More perps to the rescue ... an example of her work:

From "Joy and Fury"

48. Exhibition funding agcy. since 1965: NEA. National Educational Association

49. Moves furtively: SNEAKS.  Or, what I called my gym shoes back in the day ... 

Jack Purcell's were my SNEAKerS of choice

55. Future louse: NIT.  Where the figurative term literally got its meaning ... having a NIT to pick

56. "Correctamundo!": RIGHT.  Anyone remember "The Fonz"?? Fast forward to about the 3:00 mark to here his famous phrase ...

57. Station under the Garden: PENN. I knew this. Why? Madison Square Garden (arena home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers) is the venue above PENN Station ... don't believe me? Google it!!

58. Training course for an EMT: CPR. CPR should be taught to people other than EMT's; you'll never know when you'll need to perform it

59. Jai __: ALAI. Moe-ku:

Jai ALAI arena
Serves Chinese food at snack bar.
Features fronton soup

63. Governor of Georgia: KEMP.  [Wikipedia] "Brian Porter Kemp is an American politician serving since January 2019 as the 83rd governor of Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, Kemp served as the 27th secretary of state of Georgia from 2010 to 2018, and as a member of the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2007"

64. Paper clip shape: OVAL. So it is ... 

65. Devoured: ATE UP.

66. Dates: SEES.

67. Caresses: PETS.

68. Small pastries: TARTS. Moe-em:

For making desserts, I had lots of smarts
At Johnson and Wales, I practiced my arts.
My special sweet treats were pies shaped like hearts;
My degree, of course, was Bachelor of TARTS

Not exactly "ABBA", but as today's blogger, I make the rules around here!!! 😁😁

Down:

1. Get: ACQUIRE. Fun 1-down word; it doesn't appear nearly as often in major crossword puzzles as it should.  Nice way to get to a pan-gram

2. Spoke indistinctly: SLURRED.  For me, it's not an indistinct slur of my words ... when I have had too much to drink my slurring is QUITE noticeable

3. Neologism: COINAGE.  The word "COINAGE" has two distinct meanings:

    a) the "making" of COINS from various metals

    b) neologism - the forming of a new word (or phrase)

4. Hall of Famer Mel: OTT.  ERST and OTT in the same puzzle???  This is a nice "throwback" to old time crossword answers! 😀

5. Law org. led by Christopher A. Wray since 2017: THE FBI.  Question:  who would've gotten this answer immediately if the clue had a reference to J. Edgar Hoover?

6. Escapade: CAPER.  As our resident wit, Ray-O-Sunshine might ask:  What should you do to Supergirl if she were feeling a bit cold? ... CAPER

A different clue could've referred to the object pictured above 

7. Felt sore: ACHED. A never-ending "feeling" for the Chairman these days ... today, my neck and shoulders ACHED

8. Sore feeling: IRE.  A semi-clecho to the above answer - OR - the abbr. for the Emerald Isle

9. Still in the box: NEW. This could've been a fill-in-the-blank clue (Still ___ in the box).  Collectors know all about this condition for getting full value at auction ... what do you think the object below would be worth, "still NEW in the box"? 

This eBay listing has it for $5,800!!

10. __ acid: AMINO.  Ok, there is a fill-in-the-blank entry today ...

11. Botches: BUNGLES.  For TTP and waseeley (who I believe are fans of teams from the AFC North) - the nickname of the Cincinnati NFL football team who've now "BUNGLED" three Super Bowls

12. "Romanza" tenor Andrea: BOCELLI. Another video/audio clip (long):

 

13. Equity expert: ANALYST. And a "specific" ANALYST: (25-down. Psychoanalyst Fromm): ERICH.

18. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" memoirist Ralston: ARON. And here I thought the only ARON in crosswords was the middle name of Elvis Presley! [Wikipedia] "Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and motivational speaker, known for surviving a canyoneering"

22. Whisky __: Hollywood disco: A GOGO. Their website

26. Peel: RIND. A "zesty" word, if I do say so myself ...

28. Echidna snack: ANT. [Wikipedia] "Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae, living in Australia and New Guinea"

32. Brown ermine: STOAT.

33. Is in the past?: WAS. Past tense of "is" is WAS

36. "Nuh-uh!": IS NOT. It is IS NOT, isn't it??

37. Pitch setter: CLEF. Did anyone else try OBOE here first? I did

38. Happy sound: HEE. If a golfer tried to hit a happy sound, would they "tee" HEE?

39. Hooded gear: ANORAKS.

40. Sea fed by the Jordan: GALILEE. Where Jesus grew up

41. Final Avengers film in the Infinity Saga: ENDGAME. The trailer ... Margaret got me interested in the Avengers films during COVID

44. Major stock holder?: RANCHER. Stock, as in "livestock" - not stocks and bonds

45. Take a powder: SKIP OUT. Interesting clue

46. Features of some Mary Janes: T-STRAPS. An OLD HARD SHOE - see the T-STRAP?

Didn't we see "T-STRAP" earlier this week?

49. Prefix with -gram: SONO. I tried "MONO" first

50. Like some ice cream: NONFAT. What's the point??!

52. Uses UPS: SHIPS.

53. Wet impact sound: SPLAT.

54. Parts of a loaf or loafers: HEELS. Also, a part of Mary Janes - see photo in 46-down

60. Spinner: TOP. A kid's toy

61. Wide st.: AVE. At first, I thought this meant wide STATE (abbr.), and tried TEX

62. Coco Gauff's org.: WTA. Short for, Women's Tennis Association

And once again, the blog has come to an end ... please offer any comments below ...

Thanks Robin! I know you'll pay us a visit ...