Monday February 26, 2024 Chris Gross

  

Theme:                It's a Horse ... Of Course!  

Mr. Ed Theme

Howdy, everyone! sumdaze here with a puzzle by The Corner's own Chris Gross, a.k.a. Chairman Moe. I am sure I am not the only one delighted to see Chris' name on today's grid.

There are three themers. Each is a familiar, three-word phrase:

20 Across. "Focus on the future now": NO LOOKING BACK.

25 Across. "Never in a million years!": WHEN PIGS FLY.

45 Across. Easy to set up, as a computer: PLUG AND PLAY.

What do they have in common? It's a HORSE...of course!

Let's look at the reveal:

51 Across. Equestrian transport vehicles, and what the last words of 20-, 25-, and 45-Across can be: HORSE TRAILERS.

When we place the last words in each of the themed clues after (in other words trailing) the word HORSE, we get:

• HORSEBACK: (adj.) done while on a horse; (adv.) on a horse.
• HORSEFLY:  any of a family of large dipteran flies with bloodsucking females.
• HORSEPLAY:  rough play in which people push and hit each other or behave in a silly way. 

This theme set reminds me of the time I was HORSEBACK with my friend Kelli and her daughter. We were holding the herd and, to pass the time, PLAYed a game where we whacked HORSEFLies with our romals and kept score. We all got into the double digits. I have never been around that many HORSEFLies before or since that day.

I'll stop stalling now and move on to the other clues:

Across:
1. "Golly!": GOSH.

5. Infuriated with: MAD AT.  I thought I'd flip the script with this one and use it to cue a love song by Madness.  

Madness It Must Be Love  (1981)

Note:  Imagine my surprise when Madness turned up as a clue in last Saturday's puzzle!

 

10. Light on one's feet: SPRY.  

14. "It's __ you": "You decide": UP TO.  

15. Justice Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.

16. Metals from a mine: ORES.

17. "Jeopardy!" creator Griffin: MERV.  He also created Wheel of Fortune. Here' a fun 1:27 min. video about when Merv hired Pat Sajak.  

18. Piccata ingredient: LEMON.  

This is that -- LEMONs and all.
(Those little green things are capers.)

19. Christmas song: NOEL.  The first one, they say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.

23. Top-notch: A-ONE.

24. "__ you listening?": ARE.  This is a line from another Christmas song.

Sleigh bells ring ... 🎵

31. Barely lit: DIM.

34. Makes cursed: HEXES.  

35. Some clip-on accessories: TIES.

36. Game with Skip and Reverse cards: UNO.

37. "Need You Tonight" band: INXS.

38. Cover story: ALIBI.  A fun play on a magazine's cover story!

This Lefty Frizzell song always gets to me.  

Long Black Veil  (1959)

"The judge said son what is your ALIBI?

If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die."

40. Pakistani language: URDU.  This is what UNSECO says about URDU.

41. Theater sign on a busy night: SRO.  Standing Room Only

Last week we learned it can also mean Single Room Occupancy in the hotel biz.

42. Shortly: SOON.

43. "Delta of Venus" author Nin: ANAIS.  goodreads link

44. Family: KIN.

48. Deg. for an exec: MBA.  An executive might have a Master of Business degree.

50. Went by bike: RODE.  Watch these professional cyclists show what it takes to ride in the French Alps. (3:15 min.) 

57. Desert in southern Mongolia: GOBI.  It ranks #5 on this List of the 10 Largest Deserts.

58. Clueless gamers: NOOBS.  N00BS are "new" to something. IIRC, -T told us to spell it with two zeros -- but that wouldn't perp this time.

59. Go first: LEAD.     and its clecho     2 Down. Go first: OPEN.  (like when one band OPENs for the main attraction band)

61. Surrounded by: AMID.

62. Connecticut Ivy Leaguer: YALIE.  A student at Yale University is called a YALIE. Another nickname is Elis after Elihu Yale, the school's namesake.

63. Spanish "she": ELLA.  Spanish "he" is only two letters so él no está aquí.

64. Brazilian soccer legend: PELÉ.  Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23, 1940, Pelé was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999. He scored 1,279 goals in 1,363 games. The world mourned his passing on December 29, 2022.

65. Book of maps: ATLAS.  

66. Like purple hair: DYED.  

Are you sure it's not natural?

Down:
1. Bubble blower's mouthful: GUM.  Fun clue!  

3. Houston MLBer: STRO.  "Major League Baseball player" is abbreviated, so is "ASTRO".

4. Rush-hour traffic conveniences: HOV LANES.  High-Occupancy Vehicle. Nice fill! I checked Crossword Tracker. It showed HOVLANE but not it's plural.  

SoCal news anchors chat about this violator on "The 210".

5. Christopher of "Law & Order: SVU": MELONI.  

Oh, yeah, that guy.
Catch him in an 11-Down.

6. Pub barrel: ALE KEG.

7. "Cool for the Summer" singer Lovato: DEMI.

8. "We don't know who wrote this" abbreviation: ANON.  Multiple CSOs!

9. Cranberry juice quality: TANG.  Hand up for TArt before TANG.

10. Sunken ship finder: SONAR.

11. Many a TV crime drama: PROCEDURAL.  In television, this specifically refers to a genre of programs in which a problem is introduced, investigated, and solved all within the same episode. These shows tend to be hour-long dramas, and are often (though not always) police or crime related.

12. Assault the nose: REEK.  not a punch on the nose  

13. Fashion monogram: YSL.  

You can buy this YSL purse at Neiman Marcus for $1,790.

21. Unwelcome word from a barber: OOPS.  Cute!

22. Large coastal inlets: BAYS.   

I live next to this one.

25. Batter blender: WHISK.  Whimsical Wording!

26. "Three Bathers" painter Matisse: HENRI.  (Dec. 31, 1869 - Nov. 3, 1954) It turns out Matisse owned Cézanne's painting for forty years. article

(L to R) Three Bathers by Paul Cézanne (1879-1882)
Three Bathers by Henri Matisse (1907)
Henri Matisse's three cats (who look like they just finished bathing)

27. S&P 100 company that's a descendant of Standard Oil: EXXONMOBIL.  John D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company in 1870. Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999.  timeline

28. On-the-job risk for a beekeeper: STING.  I recommend The Honey Bus, a book by Meredith May about her beekeeper grandfather.

29. White lie: FIB.

30. Sweet-smelling garland: LEI.  My Yellow Ginger Lei is a Hawaiian classic.  

32. Nepal neighbor: INDIA.  

33. Hardly assertive: MOUSY.  Def.:  nervous, shy, or timid.

38. Email pioneer: AOL.  America Online

39. Baseball Hall of Famer Gehrig: LOU.  Boomer knew all about the cards.  

40. Still having a rind: UNPEELED.  The Orange Peel Theory  is trending. Basically you test someone's love for you by asking them to do something simple like peeling an orange for you. Personally, I do not think we should test others' love for us.

42. Health resorts: SPAS.

43. Not incl.: ADD'L.  If it is not included, there might be an ADDitionaL charge.

46. Saudi __: ARABIA.

47. Beeps and peeps: NOISES.

49. Wedding bouquet tosser: BRIDE.  

OOPS!

51. Base runner's goal: HOME.

52. Irish New Age singer: ENYA.  RosE and I are fans.  

Long Long Journey  (2005)

53. Precisely: TO A T.  Read as "To a Tee".  

Mr. T, accessorized TO A T

54. Tootsie __: ROLL.

55. Depend (on): RELY.

56. Cyber Monday event: SALE.

57. Generation __: GAP.  This can be an issue with XWD solvers.

60. Family guy: DAD.  or son or unc or pop or bro

Peter Griffin is the patriarch on the TV show Family Guy.

Well, that's enough horsing around from me. I'll attach the grid then I'm oat-a here!

Monday October 4, 2021 Chris Gross

Theme: ENDS IN A TIE (59. Concludes with no clear winner ... and what each answer to a starred clue does?)

17. *Yellow tomato with red swirls: BIG RAINBOW.

27. *"Our group doesn't agree": WE THINK NOT.

44. *Phillie Phanatic, notably: TEAM MASCOT.

Boomer here. Chris Gross is our own Chairman Moe, who blogs the Friday puzzles for our blog. This is the LA Times debut for Moe. Congrats!

Moe and his girlfriend Margaret

    

Congrats to the Benilde Saint Margaret's High School Bowling team for chalking up a few victories in the best of five matches on Fridays. I get to be one of the coaches.

Across:

1. Card that loses to a trey: DEUCE.  Unless it is wild!

6. Equine control: REIN.

10. Dazzled: AWED.

14. Boo-boo: ERROR.  I miss those stupid ten pin spares frequently but I don't call it a Boo Boo.

15. Besides that: ELSE.  Nothing ELSE is more frustrating. Especially since I just bought a new plastic spare ball from Greg of A-Z Pro Shop.

 Greg & Boomer 9/28/2021

16. Waterslide cry: WHEE.  A bit East of Minnesota is a place called "Wisconsin Dells".  They have huge water park slides that I am afraid of but I like the Miniature Putt Putt golf.

19. Dismiss from work: FIRE.  You should not have started that FIRE in your waste basket!

20. __ coffee: cool drink: ICED.  Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis liked it HOT!

21. Anonymous Jane: DOE.  A Deer, A female deer.  Sound of Music.

22. One-on-one teacher: TUTOR.  I am ONE for about 12 young bowlers.

23. Mortarboard hanger: TASSEL.  Congratulations graduates!

25. Flier's seat choice: AISLE. You can use your cell phone to find the AISLE for the stuff you want to buy.

31. Heed, with "by": ABIDE.

35. Couple's pronoun: OURS.  Not always - "What's hers is hers and what's mine is hers too."

36. Currency for 19 states: EURO.  I bought a few of these when they were first issued.  I thought they might be worth something but they are lying in a box.

38. Dull movie, say: BORE.  "Go off to see the Wizard"  Never a dull moment!

39. "Spider-Man" actress Kirsten: DUNST.

40. Staircase part: STEP.

41. Fish that complains a lot?: CARP.  Catch one in Minnesota?  They are not good to eat but you are not allowed to toss them back into the lake. 

42. One less than nona-: OCTA.  Then how come OCTober is the tenth month?

43. Liability offset on a balance sheet: ASSET.  Seems as though September 2021 reduced a few sheets this year.

47. Environmentally friendly: GREEN.  A place to putt.

48. Highway divider: MEDIAN.  Much safer than a double yellow line.

53. Opposite of old age: YOUTH.  I am really offended clues with "Old Age" in them.

55. Long, long time: EON.  "What more could I do, I'm so inspired by you, I haven't been there for the Longest Time".  Billy Joel.

57. About, on a memo: IN RE.

58. Inuit word for "house": IGLU.  I used to spell it IGLOO.

62. Bosc or Anjou: PEAR.  Bosc and Anjou are a PAIR of PEARS.

63. Snail __: letter carrier's burden: MAIL.  It is not as bad here as it is in say rural Montana, but sometimes we get our MAIL around ten o'clock AM and the next day maybe at suppertime? 

64. Golfer Sam: SNEAD.  A little before my time, but I have some neat Arnie Palmer postage stamps.

65. Arid: SERE.  Is this the lady in the cell phone that tells others where to go?

66. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO.

67. Singer __ Rae Jepsen: CARLY.

Down:

1. Ledger entry: DEBIT.  Wall street hands them out frequently.

2. "Fear of Flying" author Jong: ERICA.

3. Impulses: URGES.  I get them twice a week, to BOWL.

4. Firewood units: CORDS.  As I have mentioned before, I do not use the basement fireplace in our home anymore.  Not worth the mess.

5. Victorian or Elizabethan: ERA.  We older folks are in the IRA ERA.

6. Janet __, attorney general after Barr: RENO.  Great Bowling Center, Buffets, and casinos, but it ain't that other city further south.  

7. Hamburg's river: ELBE.

8. Prefix with metric: ISO.

9. Never been used: NEW.  Now I know "What's New"?

10. Terrible quality: AWFULNESS.  Just throw it away and take the loss.

11. Low-visibility snow events: WHITEOUTS.  We have those in Minnesota.  A little rough on the driving but nowhere near the catastrophe of hurricane IDA in the South and East. 

12. Gateway Arch designer Saarinen: EERO.

13. Bucks in a forest: DEER.  Those are the animals with the horns.  You are not allowed to shoot DOES in Minnesota..

18. Doing nothing: IDLE.  I cannot remember the last time I did nothing.

22. "For shame!": TSK.

24. Meadow mom: EWE.  Those are the sheep without horns.

25. Respiratory cavity: AIR SAC.  Do not let Covid get in them.

26. MIT's "I": Abbr.: INST.

28. Froot Loops mascot __ Sam: TOUCAN.  Kellogg's seems to haff forgooten how to spell Fruit.

29. Fox-and-hounds pursuits: HUNTS.

30. Shade provider: TREE. We just had our back yard elm tree thinned out. It seems to have been providing too much shade.

31. Alphabet sequence symbolizing ease: ABC.  Monday puzzles for our faithful are found to be as easy as ABC. Not me.

32. Word with row or sail: BOAT.  "Gently down the stream",

33. Imperfect, as sale goods: IRREGULAR.

34. Arrival's opposite: DEPARTURE.  At least you do not have to go through a TSA line after an Arrival .

37. Choose (to): OPT.

39. Capitol feature: DOME.  Our Twins and Vikings used to share the Hubert H. Humphrey MetroDOME but it's gone now and both teams have new places to play.  No snow at U.S. Bank stadium in the late fall, but you never know about the Twins in open air Target Field.

43. Absorbed, as a cost: ATE.  I Absorbed breakfast this morning.

45. [Yawn]: MEH.

46. Upscale hotel: OMNI.

49. Ross or Rigg: DIANA.

50. Prefix meaning "between": INTER.  I thought an INTERSTATE Highway meant both states.

51. Sans-serif font: ARIAL.

52. Impoverished: NEEDY.

53. Golfer's putting jitters, with "the": YIPS.  I can miss putts without having YIPS.

54. Curved molding: OGEE.  OH GEE, I missed another ten pin.

55. Do some prose-tightening: EDIT.

56. Nobel Peace Prize city: OSLO.  Norway seldom receives headlines.  Many of my ancestors are from there.

59. Big Aussie bird: EMU.  I really do not like Liberty Mutual commercials!

60. Indian bread: NAN.

61. Pres. advisory group: NSC.  North and South Carolina??

Happy wishes to our sweet Irish Miss - may the doctors and meds bring a smile to your face and ours. 

 

Boomer

Friday April 12, 2024, Amie Walker and Wendy L. Brandes

Theme: "It had to be "U"

 

Puzzling thoughts:  

After solving this relatively easy collaborative puzzle (Amie Walker and Wendy L. Brandes) I did a quick head scratch:  what in the heck is the theme of this?  So, I looked at the reveal: 

40-across. "It was even funnier at the time," or a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: YOU HAD TO BE THERE

Was the word "YOU" (or the word "THERE") somehow connected to all of the three entries?  Let's examine them and see:

18-across. *Big moth: CHATTER BOX.  No, neither "YOU" nor "THERE" seemed to fit into this entry

24-across. *Theater debt: OPENING NIGHT. Nope, not here either, although "HAVING TO BE THERE" on OPENING NIGHT sort of makes sense

52-across. *Frozen state: ICE SCULPTURE.  Who, other than folks who live in the north and love the cold weather, would want to be "THERE" for an ICE SCULPTURE?  (well, maybe this guy - see video)

 

62-across. *Title bot: PRIZE FIGHT.  Maybe this one?  Uh, uh.  Nope

So what gives?  Well, look back at each of the four entry clUes:

*Big moth:  If the letter U is added to "moth" it becomes "mouth".  And a CHATTER BOX is indeed a "big mouth"

*Theater debt: If the letter U is added to "debt" it becomes "debut".  And an OPENING NIGHT is indeed a "theater debut"

*Frozen state: If the letter U is added to "state" it becomes "statue".  And an ICE SCULPTURE is indeed a "frozen statue"

*Title bot: If the letter U is added to "bot" it becomes "bout".   And a PRIZE FIGHT is indeed a "title bout"

And that, my friends, is how Amie and Wendy managed today's "add a letter"-themed puzzle! Adding the letter "U" allowed each of the clues to match their answers.  Well done, ladies!  

Here is the grid, and then we can tackle the rest of the "fill" ... 

 

Note from today's blogger:  If you would like to solve another puzzle today, please open the link below for one that's called "That's Heavy!"

 
Chris Gross Universal Puzzle

Across:

1. __ test: ACID.  BETA fits this, too, but I waited until I checked the other perps

5. Oft-poached pear: BOSC.  Strange clue but it works

9. With 9-Down, Thanksgiving dessert: PECAN (9-down. See 9-Across:) PIE.  PECAN PIE may not be the most popular Thanksgiving dessert (unless you're from the south) but it sure is tasty!

14. Arm bone: ULNA.  Moe-ku:

Some think the ULNA
Is the "funny bone". But that's
Not so humurus

15. Bar mixer: COLA. While the constructors did not choose to use a "clecho", it fits with (68-across. Fountain drinks:) SODAS.  Did anyone else flip these answers?  SODA and COLAS?

16. Fuming: IRATE.

17. Some baby shower honorees: DADS.  This must be a more "modern" answer; I had two kids and was not "honored" at either of their baby showers

20. "Da 5 Bloods" actor Whitlock Jr.: ISIAH.  This filled with perps and a WAG as I was not familiar with "Da 5 Bloods" movie - the trailer:

22. Cookbook writer Garten: INA.  She is fast becoming a part of crosswordese

23. Choose: OPT.

29. "Makes sense": I SEE.  What I may have uttered when I figured out today's theme

30. False front?: PSEUDO.  For some reason I initially spelled this "PSUEDO".  Across Lite (the puzzle software I use to solve these puzzles) does not have spellchecker installed

33. ETA provider: GPS.  Back in the day, GPS might have been clued: "Family doc's"

36. Parker products: PENS.  Moe-ku 2:

Spider-Man gave to
His groomsmen (as wedding gifts)
Peter Parker PENS

38. Made in Taiwan, say: ASIAN.

44. Cantaloupe, e.g.: MELON.

45. Close in anger: SLAM.

46. August hrs.: DST.

47. Beach city where Barbie's Dreamhouse is available for short-term rentals: MALIBU. This MALIBU resident had his fair share of "Barbie's".  For a show that was more than mildly misogynistic, it ran for multiple seasons on a major network ... this clip is from the Ashton Kucher years as being the star, and features MALIBU

50. Historic times: ERAS.

57. Toward the stern: AFT.

60. Spacewalk initials: EVA.  Not one of the Gabor sisters??  No, EVA stands for: ExtraVehicular Activity ... this, maybe (long):

61. Title with a tilde: SENOR. The tilde (~) is placed above the "N" in Se·ñor. It is an accent (~) placed over Spanish n when pronounced ny (as in señor) or Portuguese a or o when nasalized (as in São Paulo), or over a vowel in phonetic transcription, indicating nasalization

67. Falafel bread: PITA. Are falafel and hummus the same? [foodstruct dot com] says: "What are the main differences between Falafel and Hummus? Falafel is richer in Iron, Potassium, Vitamin B2, and Monounsaturated Fat, while Hummus is higher in Copper, and Vitamin B6. Hummus's daily need coverage for Copper is 30% higher. Hummus has 3 times less Vitamin B2 than Falafel. Falafel has 0.166mg of Vitamin B2, while Hummus has 0.064mg"

69. Char on a grill: SEAR. All you wanted to know about SEAR when grilling

70. "For real?": IT IS.

71. Setting for much of "The Mummy" franchise: EGYPT.  I may need to binge-watch this series.  "The Mummy" The movie "franchise" spans 8 decades 

72. Like a chimney sweep's clothes, maybe: ASHY.  Moe-ku 3:

Santa's ASHY coat
Caused sniffles. Was it 'cause he
Came down with the flue?

73. Wall St. index: NYSE.  NASDAC and S & P 500 did not fit into the four squares

Down:

1. Component of self-guided museum tours: AUDIO.  Who sells this?

2. Necklace fastener: CLASP.  I used to shudder when my ex asked me to help her put on or take off her necklace; I was never very good with THAT type of CLASP ... 

3. Nonstudio flick: INDIE.  As in, an "INDiEpendent" studio.  Last year's top Oscar-winner "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" was produced by INDIE studio A24

4. Fiji competitor: DASANI.  Not as in the island of Fiji (or a sports competition) but the bottled water.  But (off the top of my head; I did not research this) I believe that Fiji water actually comes from a source.  DASANI is bottled after reverse osmosis if I understand correctly

5. Secretly include, in a way: BCC.  Moe-ku 4:

When Johnny Hart sends
An e-mail, he will always
BCC BC

6. "I'm impressed!": OOH.  Your reaction to today's puzzle and/or blog??!!

7. Done in, as a dragon: SLAIN.  Here is the opposite (from a dragon's point-of-view)

8. Opposite of dogbane?: CATNIP.  Dogbane CATNIP

10. Add salt instead of sugar, say: ERR. As a kid, my older sister played an April Fool's "joke" on me by substituting salt into the sugar bowl.  Of course, unknowingly. I put a couple spoonfuls of this into my bowl of Cheerios ... 

11. Baja resort, familiarly: CABO.  CABO on Baja - things to do

12. Perched on: ATOP.  

13. "What else ya got?": NEXT.

19. Price points?: TAGS.  This reminded me of the 15 or so years I spent living in New England.  The term for offering things from your residence for sale differs in many parts of the country.  I had heard of "YARD SALE" and "GARAGE SALE", but when I lived in MA and CT, they called it a "TAG" SALE.  TAGS were required on each item to clearly mark at what price you were offering this

21. __ Heritage Month: September 15 to October 15: HISPANIC.  Why is it honored between two months? And those specific days?  Ides don't know ... can someone else help me?? 

25. Require: NEED.  When Margaret and I bought our house a couple years ago, we each separately wrote out our "wants and NEEDS; we matched on our NEEDS at 100%

26. Gallant guy: GENT.  

27. Products of thermal imaging: HEAT MAPS.  You know, if you add an "L" to MAPS and rearrange the letters, you get LAMPS ... which when placed behind HEAT gives a whole different product ...

28. Derriere: TUSH.  Ok, is it "TOUCH" or "TUSH" that ZZ Top is claiming they want to get when they are downtown ... 

31. Faded out: DIED.  I suppose this is a "kind way" to clue the word "DIED"

32. Sculler's tools: OARS.  When I was a member of the Jaycees (remember them fellow Boomers?) in MA, we helped sponsor an event on the Connecticut River for racing sculls.  Their ability to synchronize the OARS was amazing ... I couldn't find a video from that venue, but here is one you might want to watch 

33. Muscle building?: GYM.  Hah!  Muscle building in a muscle building!

34. Ada Limón work: POEM.  Unlike the Chairman, Ada chooses a much different kind of poetry than my haiku and limericks

Ada Limon

35. Toni Morrison's second novel: SULA. Fun fact:  SULA is also the name of a Russian river as well as the name of some Indonesian islands

37. "Help us!" letters: SOS.  And, an erstwhile hit song by the group "Abba"; both of which are answers often seen in xword puzzles

39. __ zero emissions: NET.  Can you be a climate hero?

41. Colorful Hindu festival: HOLI. This event has passed.  It was on March 25th. [Wikipedia] "Holi is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna

Moe-ku 5:

Radha and Krishna
Love to celebrate Spring with
Holly for HOLI

42. "Sacre __!": BLEU.

Moe-ku 6:

Camembert, BLEU, and
Roquefort were found on same plate.
A fromáge à trois?

43. Countess counterpart: EARL. What about the "duke of Earl?

48. Emmy-winning Ali Wong series: BEEF. A "Friday" clue, for sure

49. Certain travel doc.: US VISA. Don't think we will need one when we visit Italy later this year

51. Attempt to mediate: STEP IN. This sounds like something that would be more than to "mediate", IMO

53. Batting practice sites: CAGES. Could you make contact with this fastball? Not I

54. Harmony: UNITY. Does the Thesaurussaurus agree? Nope

55. Flatbreads made with atta flour: ROTIS. Not a word in my lexicon. [Wikipedia] "Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole wheat flour, traditionally known as gehu ka atta, and water that are combined into a dough. Its defining characteristic is that it is unleavened

56. Wipe clean: ERASE. "Wipe clean" is also a phrase a parent of a baby or toddler might use. So basically, they are just ERASING the poo??

57. Recess on a Catholic school campus?: APSE. Another paraphrased clue. The APSE is a recessed area in a chapel. Recess could also mean "a period of time when school kids get a break from classes"

58. Mesopotamian symbol of fertility: FROG. Ribbit, ribbit ... this guy?

59. Neat: TIDY.

63. Cook in the microwave: ZAP. Time for another comic strip?

64. Rough fig.: EST. Or, winter hours in Washington, D.C.

65. "Shows you!": HAH. The phrase I uttered when I "got" the theme today

66. Attempt: TRY. Hope that your attempt at the puzzle was a positive one

And we are done! Look forward to YOUR COMMENTS below. Hope, too that you are able to try MY PUZZLE @ Universal. See you in a couple of weeks

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 Jerry Edelstein

Three Letters, Six Words.  The circles give us the sign.

16-Across. Carrier to Cork and Shannon: AER LINGUS.

22-Across. She played Ika in "Quest for Fire": RAE DAWN CHONG.  Rae Dawn Chong (b. Feb. 28, 1961) is the daughter of Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame.

29-Across. "Really?": ARE YOU SURE?

41-Across. Best Actor nominee for "The Crying Game": STEPHEN REA.  Stephen Rea (b. Oct. 31, 1946) had been in many films, but is probably best know for 1992 film The Crying Game.

46-Across. Ignore, with "to": TURN A DEAF EAR.

59-Across. Period preceding Reagan's presidency: CARTER ERA.

President Jimmy Carter (b. Oct. 1, 1924)

Notice the symmetry.  In the first three answers, the theme "word" begins the phrase.  In the last three answers, the theme "word" ends the phrase.

Across:
1. Church seating: PEW.  The eytomology of the word pew.

4. The boy who cried wolf, e.g.: LIAR.  A reference to one of Aesop's fables.

8. Hint of hunger: PANG.

12. Señora Perón: EVA.  Eva Perón (né María Eva Duarte, May 7, 1919 ~ July 26, 1952) was the 2nd wife of Argentine President Juan Perón.  The musical Evita was based on her life.

13. Soften the effect of, as words: MINCE.  My mother made the best Minced pie.

14. Pen name: ALIAS.  //  And 37-Across. Letters before a pen name: AKA.  As in Also Known As.

18. Release: LET GO.

19. Streamlined, as a sports car: SLEEK.

20. Miner's find: ORE.  A crossword staple.

21. Kitchen protector with strings: APRON.  Cute clue.

25. Tiered Eastern temple: PAGODA.

The Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, China

28. "Definitely": YES.

33. Chomped: BIT.

36. Graduating group: CLASS.  There were 99 students in my high school graduating class.

38. Back of a hit 45 record: B-SIDE.  Here are 25 B-side hits that you have probably listened to.

40. Rocky crest: TOR.  I learned this word from doing the crossword puzzles.

43. Slippery, as a winter road: ICY.

45. Colossus island: RHODES.  The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It was said to have been a giant (colossus) statue of the Greek sun god Helios.  According to contemporary descriptions, it was about 108 feet tall, making it the tallest man-made structure in the ancient world.  Sadly, an earthquake that occurred in about 226 BCE was the statue's demise.  We can only speculate what the statue looked like.

52. Chinese, for example: ASIAN.

53. Baton Rouge sch.: LSU.  I'll that the CSO for Louisiana State University.

54. Snake secretion: VENOM.

58. Italian sauce with pine nuts: PESTO.  I misread this clue as being Italian sausage.

61. Tavern mug: STEIN.  The Maine Stein song is the song of my alma mater.

62. Killed time: IDLED.

63. Boomer's kid: X'ER.  Generation X.

64. Change for a ten: ONEs.

65. Prescribed medication amount: DOSE.

66. Mattel product: TOY.  This company makes lots and lots of toys.

Down:
1. "Split" veggies: PEAS.  What are Split Peas?  Split peas are often used in soup.

2. Daredevil Robbie's dad: EVEL.  Evel Knievel (né Robert Craig Knievel; Oct. 17, 1938 ~ Nov. 30, 2007) bragged that he could jump the Grand Canyon on his motorcycle.  He never actually attempted this stunt, however.

3. Suffix with hard or soft: WARE.  As in Hardware and Software.

4. "Hamilton" creator __-Manuel Miranda: LIN.  Not only did Lin-Manuel Miranda (b. Jan. 16, 1980), write Hamilton, he starred in the original musical as Alexander Hamilton.

5. "__ We Trust": U.S. motto: IN G~D.

6. Luxury Honda: ACURA.

7. Fix with thread: RESEW.

8. Regal abode: PALACE.  The Neuschwanstein Castle may be one of the most recognizable palaces in the world.  It was one of Mad King Ludwig II's castles.  He had this castle commissioned to honor composer Richard Wagner.

9. Hebrew A's: ALEPHs.  This spelling is a transliteration, so sometimes the "English" spelling varies.  In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter is written as:

10. Part of TNT: NITRO.  The full name of this chemical compound is Trinitrotoluene, or more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene.  Its the formula C₆H₂(NO₂)₃CH₃. 

11. Be unable to swallow: GAG ON.

13. Onetime Japanese emperors: MIKADOS.  The Mikado is also the name of an opera by Gilbert and Sullivan.

15. Neil Diamond work: SONG.

17. Composer Anderson and Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad" Brown: LEROYs.  Leroy Anderson (June 29, 1908 ~ May 18, 1975) was a New Englander and wrote many pieces that were played by the Boston Pops Orchestra.  Sadly, Jim Croce (né James Joseph Croce; Jan. 10, 1943 ~ Sept. 20, 1973) was killed when the small plane he was in crashed in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

23. Nice water?: EAU.  //  And 34-Across. Cannes concept: IDÉE.  Today's French lesson.  Both cities are on the French Riviera.  We frequented both cities when we lived in Aix-en-Provence.

24. "Science Guy" Bill: NYE.  Bill Nye (né William Sanford Nye; b. Nov. 27, 1955) makes frequent appearances in the crossword puzzles.

25. Agreement: PACT.

26. Woody's son: ARLO.  Arlo Guthrie (né Arlo Davy Guthrie; b. July 10, 1947) is best known for Alice's restaurant.

27. Camping equipment: GEAR.

30. Grabbed a chair: SAT.

31. Luau strings: UKE.

32. Eminem genre: RAP.  Marshall Bruce Mathers, III (b. Oct. 17, 1972) is better known by his Rap name of Eminem.  He always looks so angry.

33. Cardinal or oriole: BIRD.  Because Baseball Team didn't fit into the space provided.

35. Black or green beverages: TEAS.  Do you know the difference between Black and Green teas?

38. Acted properly: BEHAVED.

39. Noisy napper: SNORER.

41. Australian airport code: SYD.  As in the airport that services Sydney, Australia.  //  Not to be confused with 49-Down. Legendary Spanish hero: EL CID.  El Cid (né Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar; 1043 ~ July 10, 1099) was a Castilian knight and national folk hero.

42. Charlemagne's realm: Abbr.: HRE.  As in the Holy Roman Empire, which as we have noted before was neither Holy nor Roman.  Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the 1st Holy Roman Emperor after Charlemagne protected the Pope from his enemies.  Charlemagne is sometimes referred to as Charles I, as Charles was his given name.  Charlemagne comes from a corruption of the old French, Charles le Magne, meaning Charles the Great.  The territory of the HRE was largely in what is now Germany and France.

43. How football games rarely end: IN A TIE.

44. EOS cameras, e.g.: CANONs.  The EOS stands for Electro-Optical System.  

46. Brewpub lineup: TAPS.

47. Was of __: helped: USE TO.

48. Up: RISEN.

50. South American grilled meat dish: ASADO.

51. Rolls up, as a flag: FURLS.  Furl vs. Unfurl.

55. Deli counter call: NEXT.

56. Early Hydrox rival: OREO.  Did you know that the name Hydrox is derived from the word Hydrogen and Oxygen.  Hydrox cookies actually were "invented" 4 years before the Oreo cookie hit the market.  If you listen to podcasts, you can learn more about the cookie here.

57. Contrary girl of rhyme: MARY.

60. Golf ball holder: TEE.

Here's the Grid:

Notes from C.C.:

1) Chairman Moe (Chris Gross) and I made today's Universal puzzle, edited by David Steinberg. Click here to solve. Congrats on your crossword debut, Chris!

2) Happy birthday to Husker Gary's amazing wife Joann and her twin sister Joyce! Both turn 74 years old today.  Here they're with their mom Martha.