I had a nice tour through Carolyn's construction but worked from the bottom up. Carolyn's 100 open squares and only six 3-letter words made for a very engaging grid. I was alert to a lot of her cluing tricks such as how REF yoose was a noun and not a verb I didn't get the double meaning of Booties until the very last cell and that was a "palm slap" moment!
Carolyn is a mother of four and a former CEO of Rocketship Public Schools and lives in San Carlos, CA.
Across:
1. Warby Parker array: FRAMES. You can go to their web site and Click on Home Try-On to try on their lenses virtually as they take your picture and let you see the frames on your face.
35. Refuse to help in the garden?: COMPOST PILE 😀- "REF yooss" not "ree FYOOZ"!
37. Soak (up): SOP.
40. Make sound: HEAL - Sound is used as an adjective here
Faith healer?
41. Water choice: EVIAN.
42. "Wipeout" host John: CENA.
43. So far: AS YET.
45. Great heights: ALTITUDES - The highest ALTITUDES on Everest have an ominous name
47. Brought down the house: SLAYED - A comedian's "tongue-in-cheek" goal
Rodney Dangerfield "slaying" Johnny Carson
49. Least likely to pop open: TIGHTEST.
50. French endearment: MON AMI - Close enough...
51. "Toodles": CHEERIO - This British farewell predates the American cereal by many years
52. Boggy: SWAMPY.
53. Less likely to ramble: TERSER - The other speaker at Gettysburg was orator Edward Everett and he said of Lincoln's speech, "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."
Down:
1. Moen product: FAUCET.
2. Celebrity: RENOWN.
3. Creative gift: ART SET - I was content with my box of Crayola Crayons
4. Posts: MAILS - One posts a letter in England
5. Extension that makes something smaller?: ETTE.
6. Raison d'être: SOLE PURPOSE.
7. Old film channel: TCM - Turner Classic Movies recaptures Hollywood's Golden Era
8. Freedom to __: rights of public access: ROAM
9. Routinely insured against a crash: AUTO SAVED 😀 A computer crash not a financial one.
10. Collapsed dramatically: CRATERED.
11. Prizes: ESTEEMS - The verb not the noun
12. Domains: REALMS.
14. Prepares to go home: REPACKS - On the last January night of our field trip in Orlando, 100+ kids had to do this to go back home to winter in Nebraska.
17. Sets of slides: DECKS - A slide is a single page of a presentation. Collectively, a group of slides may be known as a slide deck.
20. "Video Games" singer Lana Del __: REY.
24. Time to enforce bedtime: SCHOOL NIGHT.
27. Italian ride, casually: LAMBO.
28. "The Little Mermaid" star Bailey: HALLE - Not HALLE Berry
29. Dessert ingredient also called ube: PURPLE YAM.
31. One of the two major Sanskrit epics in Hinduism: RAMAYANA - 🤔
32. __ nerve: SCIATIC - Starts up near your rump/bootie
33. Is underhanded: GOES LOW.
34. All over the lino, perhaps: SPILT
35. Deep fissures: CHASMS.
36. FDR power project: TVA - Harry Truman dedicates the huge TVA Kentucky Dam in 1944. He said “It is common sense hitched up to modern science and good management. And that’s about all there is to it.” TERSER than most politicians.
37. Meals that tell a story of liberation: SEDERS - The SEDER plate
38. Bodysuit: ONESIE.
39. Tacos al __: PASTOR - "Shepherd style"
42. More likely to win the annual Gerber Photo Search, perhaps: CUTER.
The original Gerber baby Ann Turner Smith in 1928 and 90 years later
44. Forecast no.: TEMP - Daily high TEMPS for Omaha in 1936, the heart of the "dirty 30's"
46. You, once: THEE - I'm betting there is a large number of peeps in our group who can recite most or all of this lovely poem.
48. Like some reno projects: DIY - Hmmm...
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 77th birthday to dear waseeley (Bill),
our faithful and caring Sherpa on Thursdays. Hope you and Teri are having
a great time in Ohio, Bill.
There aren't a lot of crossword puzzle constructors with their own Wikipedia page but Erik Agard is one. Erik provides us today with a very clever combination of entries (and their clues) that delivers big time when the reveal appears
How, you ask? Let's explore ...
19-across. Athlete making a living in alleys: PRO BOWLER. A game of bowling consists of 10 FRAMES.
From [elite sporting guide dot com] "A frame in bowling refers to a turn or opportunity for a bowler to throw the ball down the lane and attempt to knock down the pins. It consists of two throws, except for the tenth frame, which can have up to three throws under certain conditions. The objective of each frame is to score as many points as possible by knocking down pins, with strikes and spares playing a significant role in determining the final score"
A "perfect score" is 300 (12 strikes in a row). Our dear blogger, Boomer, was a BOWLER - a good one at that - who had multiple 300 games throughout his lifetime. Boomer would likely take umbrage of Erik's clue as he detested the word "alley" to describe the bowling surface. He preferred the word "lane". But in this case, I give Erik the benefit of the doubt as the play-on-wording of the clue better fits the answer
Here is a typical bowling scorecard that shows all of the "frames":
24-across. Professional who calls the shots: MOVIE DIRECTOR. Another use of play-on-wording for the clue. In this case a "shot" is one in a series of FRAMESthat make up a movie
The MOVIE DIRECTOR is the professional on set who sets the action for filming FRAMES. Here is a clip from one of my favorite ad lib shows:
40-across. Professional whose website might have a contact page?: OPTICIAN. Two things about this entry:
1) this is my favorite clue/entry of the quartet
2) this entry - 8 letters in length and placed dead center in the grid - explains why Erik needed a 16x15 pattern for the puzzle
If it didn't make sense to you as you filled in the letters (I had something else penciled in before OPTICIAN) I understand. It wasn't until I saw the play-on-wording of the previous two entries that I realized that the word "contact" referred to contact lenses. In addition to dispensing contact lenses, an OPTICIAN also fits you for eyeglasses, which of course consists of a pair of lenses and FRAMES. I think I may have used this image before ...
52-across. Met someone?: MUSEUM CURATOR. My second most favorite clue/entry. In this case, the word "Met" is a proper name abbreviation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The word "someone" refers to a person @ the Met, in this case the museum curator
While a museum curator's job does involve the organizing of the artwork, I doubt that they have much to do with choosing the FRAME that surrounds each piece. Despite the cleverness of the clue and entry, this one was a bit of a stretch. But hey, when you have the renown of Erik Agard I'm sure that Patti did not question this
And of course, the reveal:
59-across. Basic structure, or what a 19-, 24-, 40-, and 52-Across do?: FRAMEWORK. All of these professions involve working in or with FRAMES
All-in-all a very good and clever effort. I'd expect nothing less! It took me a bit longer than usual for a Friday solve, and I had a couple of spots where I had incorrect letters which slowed me down
Today, I've placed the grid at the end of the blog. Here is how the rest of the clues/entries contributed to today's fun:
Across: 1. Split apart: SUNDER. In the words of desper-otto, "have I ever told you how not having the correct entry in 1-across ...?" Well, hand up for trying "TEAR UP" as my first choice. The NW corner was my last section to fill as a couple of Naticks appeared and I had to look up one of the answers. From a grammar standpoint, the more familiar asunder is either an adjective or adverb; sunder is a transitive verb
7. Spit take sound: PFFT. If some of you (my hand is up) had trouble understanding the clue, here is a definition of "spit take": "(especially as a comic technique) an act of suddenly spitting out liquid one is drinking in response to something funny or surprising" - meh
11. PC accessories: MICE. Moe-ku #1:
Logitech rejects Are sold in triple packets And called "Three Blind MICE"
15. Disquietude: UNEASE. It's clues and fill like this that makes me ask the Thesaurussaurus if he's ok with it:
Moe, uneasiness and UNEASE are pretty similar
16. Atmosphere: AURA. I threw this at the pigeons to see what they had to say:
17. Stench: ODOR. I'm actually happy to see this clued as "stench". Too often, lately, odor has been clued as aroma. An odor stinks. Period
18. Some notes: SHARPS. Neither MEMOS nor FLATS would fit ... this clue refers to musical notes, not Post-it notes
21. Do some character-building?: WRITE. Either Erik or Patti was really into the play-on-words cluing today. And that's just fine with me. In this case, the "character" would refer to a person within a novel perhaps
23. Is stunned: REELS. Did anyone try TASED, at first?
30. Stores up: AMASSES. Moe-ku #2 (with apology to my RC friends):
Whenever the Pope Presides at the Eucharist They're called "A" MASSES
31. Kung __ chicken: PAO. If this were an Incredibles character, it would be Kung POW Chicken ... OK, maybe that's a stretch!
32. Screen type: LCD. Since when is the Lowest Common Denominator called a type of screen?
35. Some WNBA fouls: TECHS. Meh; I call "foul" on this one. I've been a fan of basketball for 6+ decades and have NEVER heard a technical foul called a tech
36. Coffee Meets Bagel alternative: HINGE. Solved by perps. Turns out they are both dating apps. Had I known that I probably would've tried inserting ZOOSK first, as I actually once had an account with them
38. "I knew it!": AHA. Yes, I did. I didn't fall for OHO
39. __ mode: ALA. I think a good Friday puzzle should have fewer than 7 clues that are "gimmies"
43. Leslie's love on "Parks and Rec": BEN. Solved by perps. I never watched "Parks and Rec"
44. Vietnamese New Year: TET. This would be an example of a "gimmie" clue/answer
45. Robs of hobnobbing: SHUNS. I never hobnobbed very well
46. Had the guts: DARED. Moe-'lick #1:
At the nudist beach, someone was scared To allow their whole bod to be bared. So they felt like a newb Only baring their boob; But that's truly the most that they DARED
48. Polished off: ATE. My "reward" as a kid was to get dessert if I polished off my plate of dinner
49. Tabletop game with campaigns, for short: D N D. I spread out the letters in the solve to reveal that this is an abbreviation for Dungeons and Dragons
50. Overpraise: ADULATE. I'm not going to give plaudits to Erik or Patti for this clue/solve😉
55. Post-workout afflictions: ACHES. Nothing that 3 Advil won't cure, for me
70. Nocturnal hunters: OWLS. BATS fit too, if you consider seeking out insects to eat as "hunting"
71. Spidey's traps: WEBS.
72. Calm: SEDATE. My demeanor (as I write my blog) whenever a puzzle fits my "wheelhouse". I am quite sedate today; thanks Erik!
Down: 1. Questionable, for short: SUS. Oops - I now recall that I wasn't too sedate when I had the crossing of sunder and sus. I can only guess that sus is an abbr. for suspect or maybe suspicious
2. Granite State sch.: UNH. University of New Hampshire
4. Poet Mahmoud who wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence: DARWISH. No clue on this. There are crossword puzzle solving moments when I feel totally ignorant. This was one of them
5. Hot shots?: ESPRESSOS. Another play-on-word clue. Espresso is normally served hot, and as a "shot". Want to know more (from a barista's point of view)? Click here
8. Husky's hair: FUR. We have a few huskies in our neighborhood
I can't imagine how they take the 110+ degree summer temps with all of that fur
9. To opposite: FRO. As in the expression, "to and fro"???
10. Letters before Q?: TAB. Look at your keyboard on your laptop or desktop ... just to the left (before) the letter Q is the tab key. The letters t a b are before the letter Q. This certainly wasn't a "gimmie"
11. Shed occupant: MOWER. Many homeowners keep their lawn mower in an outdoor shed
12. Inactive: IDLE. What I tried to be for a few days after clearing out mom's apartment
13. "I May Destroy You" star Michaela: COEL. No clue on this. There are crossword puzzle solving moments when I feel totally ignorant. This was another one of them
14. Goofs: ERRS. I had a few of them today. When you get to the image of the completed grid my errors will show as a black triangle in the corner of the letter's square
24. Half a "Lion King" phrase: MATATA. It was either Hakuna or Matata
25. Denver dish: OMELET. I don't think that an omelet is found only in the capital of Colorado. In this case, it refers to the recipe for a Denver (style) OMELET
26. Leave empty: VACATE. I left a few pieces of furniture and a couple of small appliances behind, so I didn't completely vacate my mom's apartment ... the retirement village said that they would repurpose all of it within their facility
28. "My turn next?": CAN I. Whatever happened to our manners?? Shouldn't this be may I
29. Praetor's wrap: TOGA.
They're all wearing togae [sic]
32. Rodent in a study: LAB RAT. "Gimmie"
33. Orange puff: CHEETO. My error here (see grid pic) was to use the word CHEESE/Cheeto
34. Common allergen: DANDER. Moe-ku #4:
North Pole reindeer's name Changes when pollen's present: Donder's now DANDER
36. Member of the third-largest religious group: HINDU. I had HINDI/HINDU; I somehow thought that a member's name was the same as the language ...
37. Marathon need: ENDURANCE. GAS PUMPS did not fit
41. Advanced degs.: PhDS. Gimmie
42. Use a fork, say: TUNE. Not sure what I was thinking when I used the word TINE/tune. Maybe I thought that you could tine a piece of food (referring to one of the spears on a fork). I never said I was the sharpest knife in the drawer
47. Taken aback: ALARMED. The clue brought back a memory of one of my earliest Moe-'licks. I had one of my fellow "limerick and haiku" email members put this into a cartoon image:
50. "Cathy" cry: ACK. I had EEK/ACK. Then, as the perps appeared, I realized that the cartoon character "Cathy" said:
51. W.E.B. who wrote "The Souls of Black Folk": Du BOIS. This gentleman
52. Group chat fodder: MEMES. This?
53. Employ: USE. "Gimmie"
54. Has as a salary: MAKES. Did anyone try EARNS first?
55. Prefix with pessimist or Panamanian: AFRO. Friday clue for sure
56. Bird that can make tools: CROW. As in a crowbar, perhaps?? Can I crow about this discovery??!
57. College building: HALL. As an undergrad @ the University of Pittsburgh, we had many named HALLs
60. "Impressive!": WOW. What y'all must've been saying over-and-over again as you read the blog today!😀
61. "You __ me!": OWE. Not any more; all my debts and debtors have been paid
62. Tease: RIB. Kind of a "gimmie"
64. Powerhouse of women's soccer: USA. Seemed like a "gimmie". Here is a bit of info about their prowess
65. Bit of ink: TAT. This clue and answer are quickly becoming crossword-ese
66. One who might have a ram beau: EWE. And we end with another play-on-word clue that employs a homophone. Are you fond of this Rambeau??
On a personal note, my "biography" here (what's contained behind the blue "Chairman Moe") says that I started posting July 2014. One decade down; another one begun
Here is the grid. Hope you all are having a great 4th of July Holiday weekend!
Today we are privileged to have with us constructors Tom Pepper and Zhouqin Burnikel. By my count this is Tom and C.C.'s 7th collaboration.
The above clip was performed by Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad Project and is their take on the Goin' Home theme from Antonin Dvorak's
9th Symphony ("From the New World"). I selected it for our intro as
the first half of Yo-Yo Ma's surname is a homophone of the 1st syllable
of the 1st word of Tom and C.C.'s 4 theme fills ...
17A. Hatha to Ashtanga?: YOGAS RANGE. This is the only themer that is not pulling our legs. I think RANGE here refers to the level of difficulty of the particular school of yoga, with HATHA being relatively easy, ranging through ASHTANGA which is the hardest. I believe there are also other comparison schemes for the various schools of yoga.
Yoga Mandala
29A. Stuffed teddies that look like a green Jedi master?: YODA BEARS. Actually there are such creatures, but they inhabit the Amazon, not the Star Wars Universe 😀.
46A. Tex-Mex snack that improves the performance of an Alpine singer?: YODEL TACO.
This was a stretch -- I don't think they're a Tex-Mex thing, but the
following product might soothe a throat after consuming a TACO containing too many red hot chili peppers 😀...
62A. Dice toss style named after a "Hamlet" jester?: YORICK ROLL. Or Scottish sushi made with stuff dug up from an old grave yard? 💀
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ... . Across:
1. Cronies: PALS.
5. Bird in the National Audubon Society logo: EGRET. Heron fit, but didn't perp. Apparently there has been some controversy recently at the Audubon Society.
10. Above, in Augsburg: UBER. Today's German lesson: ABOVE.
15. Writer Mary who specializes in popular science: ROACH. Mary
Roach (born March 20, 1959) is an American author specializing in
popular science and humor. She in known for her offbeat titles, on
curious subjects, e.g.
The only one of these I explored in any depth was the last: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. As it turns out a copy of the entire book is available online at Google Books (see
below). This is a topic that I have read extensively about, and I
expected that Roach would be skeptical about it, as most modern
scientists base their beliefs on a metaphysics of philosophical materialism. However this was not the case. During her research for the book she eventually encountered the writings of Dr. Ian Stevenson, a tenured Psychiatrist at the University of Virginia. Roach's discussion of Stevenson's writings begins around page 24 in the Google books edition.
Her account of his findings concludes with this statement on page 30 --
"If you take the work of Ian Stevenson at face value, it would be hard
to reach any conclusion other than this: Reincarnation happens". If
you're interested in this topic see the Stevenson link above for an
extensive bibliography of his researches.
16. Party with glow sticks: RAVE. Back in the 60's our RAVES used strobe lights and lava lamps. 😀
17. [Theme clue]
19. Change the locks?: SNIP. You could change someone's locks (hair) by snipping it.
20. "I said ENOUGH!": STOP NOW.
21. Insta, X, TikTok, etc., informally: SOCIALS. Social media. Although quite a few of them seem to be 31D-SOCIALS.
23. Runs smoothly: PURRS. Like a contented kitty.
25. Wilson of Heart: ANN. Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead singer of the rock band Heart, which is still going strong. Here she sings These Dreams ...
41. Mother of Clytemnestra: LEDA. In Greek mythology the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces (make that RAPES) Leda, a Spartan queen. Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. Clytemnestra would later marry Agamemnon, a Greek leader of the Trojan War. Clytemnestra would subsequently die at the hands of her son Orestes for the slaying of Agamemnon. All of this violence is powerfully compressed in William Butler Yeats' 15 line poem: Leda and the Swan.
42. Storefront sign abbr.: HRS.
43. Java spot: ASIA. No, not a CAFE, nor a sweat where programmers write CODE, but an island in the Indonesian Archipelago.
50. Condition often treated with ERP: OCD. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy is a behavioral therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorders that gradually exposes people to situations designed to provoke a person's obsessions in a safe environment.
51. Flower at the center of a financial bubble in the 1630s: TULIP. The crash of 1637 may have been more fiction than fact.
Tulip field in Holland
53. Marshy habitat: WETLAND.
57. Artificial surface sports injury: TURF TOE. No, it's not an injury caused by artificial turf. It can happen on any kind of turf.
61. "lol 2 funny": HA HA. . 62. [Theme clue].
64. Dollar alternative: AVIS. EURO fit, but HERTZ didn't, but both would have been wrong. 😀
65. Moved stealthily: SLUNK. The past tense of SLINK.
66. __ Spunkmeyer cookies: OTIS.
67. Chaotic situation: MESS.
68. Mournful verse: ELEGY. This is a poet's elegy for another poet, the one who wrote Leda and the Swan at 41A.
69. Unit that might be edited or spliced: GENE. A GENE is a segment of DNA
that codes for one or more proteins -- it is analogous to a set of
records in a database. However doing anything with that data, such as
editing it or splicing it, requires the use of enzymes (proteins) and RNA (which also can function as an enzyme). RNA is the unsung hero of molecular biology and in this book by Nobel prize winning biochemist Thomas R. Cech, he gives credit where credit is due for the vital role that RNA plays in catalyzing all that goes on in life ...
Down:
1. Is worth it: PAYS.
2. Tons: ALOT.
3. Italian lake: LAGO. Today's Italian lesson. In 1927 heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post built a winter retreat in Florida called Mar-a-Lago, but it has since changed hands.
4. Stir-fry ingredient: SNAP PEAS. You can either stir-fry them or just snack on them fresh from the garden.
Sugar Snaps
5. Overthrow, e.g.: ERROR. OUST was too short, but an OVERTHROW is scored as an ERROR, at least in baseball.
6. Fall apart, as plans: GO AWRY.
7. Operated: RAN.
8. Heart charts, for short: ECGS. Electro Cardio Gram --You're more likely to see this abbreviated as EKG -- this is why.
9. James of "The White Lotus": THEO. The White Lotus
is an American black comedy drama anthology television series created
by Mike White for HBO. It follows the guests and employees of the
fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose interactions are affected by
their various psychosocial dysfunctions. It must be a lot of fun to act
in.
Theo James
10. Like Boo Boo and Smokey: URSINE. Looks like they're both MINORS. 😀
18. Gives the cold shoulder to: SNUBS. Being SNUBBED at
the Oscars is a term we've seen a lot of lately. But the recognition of
just receiving a nomination is considered a reward by some.
22. Semi areas: CABS. Or some RED wines.
24. One-person project: SOLO ACT. Here's one everybody knows ... 26. Like an easy job: CUSHY.
27. First calendario page: ENERO.
28. "Bring it on!": LETS DO THIS.
30. Dict. entry: DEF. Hand up if you still use a paper Dict?
31. Start to matter?: ANTI. The Big Bang should have created
equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early universe. But today,
everything we see from the smallest life forms on Earth to the largest
stellar objects is made almost entirely of matter. So what happened?
32. Sirius business: RADIO. Our new car came with Sirius Radio, but we didn't subscribe. But we do donate $15 a month to WBJC FM. You can too if you go to their website and click on the Blue Donate button. 😀
33. Whacks: SWATS.
35. It's right there on the map!: EAST. And WEST is left there on the map!
52. Like the number eight, in China: LUCKY. I wonder who came up with this clue? 😀
53. "Kapow!": WHAM.
54. Icicle holder: EAVE.
55. Big Board abbr.: NYSE. New York Stock Exchange.
56. Woody of "Toy Story," for one: DOLL.
Woody
58. Reusable shopping bag: TOTE.
59. Lena of "The Reader": OLIN. The Reader
is a 2008 German-American romantic drama film about the events of the
Holocaust and its aftermath. The film tells the story of Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), a German lawyer who, as a 15-year-old in 1958, has a sexual relationship with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a prison guard in one of the death camps. Lena Olin
plays a Holocaust survivor named Llana. I found the plot of this film
to be very difficult to understand (see Wiki article above). Here is a
scene that occurred many years later in New York, where Llana and
Michael are discussing a secret he knew that Hannah took to the grave,
but which he seems unwilling to reveal. Two great actors ....
60. "Anyone __?": ELSE.
63. Regret: RUE. Could also be clued "French street" or "Bitter herb'".
Cheers, Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
As you read this Teri and I will have left town for a visit to Ohio for a week to be with family and friends and ending with a concert on July 6th at the Blossom Music Festival near the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And then we'll be Goin' Home.
