Good Morning Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with your Friday puzzle recap. Today's puzzle comes to us courtesy of previously-published Wendy L. Brandes.
Let's start with the reveal:
52 Across: Chophouse order, and an apt title for this puzzle?: NEW YORK STRIP.
What the constructor has done is remove (strip) the NY (New York) from recognizable word patterns and, thereby, created new, humorous definitions for four clues. Here are the four themed-answers:
20 Across: Dinner roll that provides an unexpected boost?: ENERGIZER BUN. ENERGIZER BUNNY.
27 Across: Outlandish stories about Vietnamese soup?:PHO BALONEY. PHONY BALONEY PHO, of course is a Vietnamese soup. BALONEY, in addition to being a lunch meat, is slang for nonsense.
37 Across: Valued at one fancy ballpoint?: COSTS A PRETTY PEN. COSTS A PRETTY PENNY. Ballpoint pen.
46 Across: Golfers who just need to dance, dance, dance before every drive?: TEE BOPPERS. TEENY BOPPERS. May the gods forgive me: I never thought that I would cite the following anywhere, anytime , for any reason:
This is how it all looks in the grid . . .
and here are the rest of the clues and answers . . .
Across:
1. Meet portion, or portion of meat: LEG. For example, a leg of a relay race or a chicken leg.
4. Film franchise featuring Lightning McQueen: CARS.
8. Regarding: ABOUT.
13. Portfolio options, for short: IRAS. Individual Retirement AccountS
15. Perched on: ATOP. The god of thunder rides to the top of the mountain atop his noble steed.
Upon reaching the summit, he gets off his horse, raises his hammer to the sky and yells, "I am Thor!" The horse turns around and says, "That'th cuth you forgot your thaddle thilly!"
16. Deteriorating: WORSE. A bit of a head scratching moment because the clue is a gerund but the answer is not. WORSEning?
17. "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of __": NIMH.
18. NYC gallery with a Bell helicopter on display: MOMA.
19. Melted together: FUSED.
23. Pool necessity: CUE. Not a swimming pool.
24. Had as a regular customer: SOLD TO.
32. Bulky boats: ARKS.
Noah's Ark
34. Lithium-__ battery: ION.
35. Seized auto: REPO. Derived from REPOssession.
36. Tease mercilessly: RIDE.
42. Texter's "But ... ": OTOH.
43. "Monday Night Football" commentator Aikman: TROY. I would have clued this with a reference to UCLA.
44. Young man: LAD.
When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney's firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
45. Anklebones: TALI. Plural, in Latin, of TALUS
49. Stretching muscle: TENSOR.
51. Common Market letters: EEC.
58. Silky fabric: SATIN. Letters I've Written Never Meaning To Send (mail).
61. The "genu-" in "genuflect": KNEE.
Tom Lehrer -1967
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
62. American tennis phenom Gauff: COCO.
63. Begins: OPENS. COMMENCES was far too long and STARTS would not fit either.
64. Low-pH stuff: ACID.
65. Is shy: OWES. Not a reference to social interaction but, rather, a financial reference.
66. Play area: STAGE. Not a reference to children on the schoolyard but, rather, a theatrical reference.
67. Egg layers: HENS. This clue is to be taken literally and not, in this case, idiomatically as in "to lay an egg" meaning to do something poorly.
68. After taxes: NET.
Down:
1. Command to a prompter: LINE. The use of "Command" threw me off a bit. I think of it as more of a request.
2. Actress Moriarty who plays Starlight on "The Boys": ERIN.
3. PlayStation, for one: GAME CONSOLE.
4. Strappy top, for short: CAMI. CAMIsole
5. Comprehensive: ATOZ. From A TO Z.
6. Trevi Fountain city: ROME. Was the answer going to be ROME or ROMA?
7. Like Greenland's population: SPARSE. 0.14 people per square kilometer. For comparison the USA population density is 34.05 per square kilometer.
8. "Zero stars": AWFUL.
9. Edge: BOUNDARY. I just found out that my girlfriend is mad at me. According to her diary, I have "BOUNDARY issues".
10. Sterile work environs: ORS. Operating RoomS
11. Employ: USE. I once saw a car with a bumper sticker that said:
12. "Thank you for coming to my __ Talk": TED. A phrase that has become a part of the urban lexicon. The phrase parodies the popular TED talk series, where in some cases the statements made by the performers are very obscure and meaningless.
14. Azalea, e.g.: SHRUB. I bought a new SHRUB trimmer last week. It's cutting hedge technology.
21. Park and drive: GEARS. VERBS would have fit. An automotive reference.
22. "If I Were a __": Beyoncé ballad: BOY. If she were, she probably would not look like this:
25. Horseracing achievement: TRIPLE CROWN.
26. "Will do, hon": OK DEAR.
27. Crochet loop: PICOT. A learning moment. Thanks, perps.
28. Heckle: HOOT AT.
29. Seydoux of "No Time to Die": LEA.
30. On the facing pg.: OPP. Punt! OPPosite
31. Compass dirección: NORTE. Spanish in the clue . . .
33. Mails: SENDS. Baby You Mail me?
Sam Cooke
38. Watering down: THINNING.
39. Tarzan creator's monogram: ERB.
40. Also: TOO. It can mean overly, too.
41. Blood groups: TYPES.
By Percent of US Population
46. AAA job: TOW.
47. Neo-soul artist Badu: ERYKAH. Troy, Coco, Erin, Lea and now ERYKAH. Okay, that's enough of this for today.
48. Boxer's favorite store, maybe?: PETCO. Not a pugilistic reference. A canine reference.
50. Feel: SENSE.
53. "... cut __": end of a carpentry maxim: ONCE. Measure twice . . .
54. Bridle strap: REIN. Neither RAIN nor REIGN.
55. Canvas shoe brand: KEDS.
56. Frozen treat brand: ICEE. SLURPEE wouldn't fit. SQUISHEE is almost never seen in our puzzles.
57. Station: POST. One of those words that can either be a noun or a verb.
You have to dial your Wayback Machine to
September 16, 2013
to find veteran Jerry Edelstein's first LA Times puzzle, blogged by the inimitable
Argyle. This marks Jerry's 39th appearance here, and today he schools
us in a little business management with a lesson about
The C Team
As there are no circles, no stars, and no question marks you have to put your
ear to the ground and listen very closely to hear the 4 homophonic themers:
20A.
C's: MEDIOCRE GRADES. Hand up if you never got one of these in college (I got some even worse). Don't
be shy ...
33A. Seas:
GLOBAL SEPTET. Our GLOBE is girt with Seven Oceans,
traditionally called "The Seven Seas",
but some sources cite others:
The Seven Seas
43A. Sees: GETS THE POINT.
58A. Seize: CAPTURE BY FORCE. "Well it seemed like a good idea at the time." - V. Putin
And
Jerry even threw in a pseudo-reveal, kinda sorta ...
28A. VIP with a
corner office, perhaps:
CEO. "Leader of Executive Officers? abbr."
5. 35-Down company founded in Milwaukee in 1844: PABST. The
Pabst Brewing Company
is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in
1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is
currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over two dozen brands
of beer and malt liquor:
15. "Love Me Like You Do" Grammy nominee Goulding: ELLIE.
Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding, born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. "Love Me Like You Do" was included in the soundtrack to the 2015 film
Fifty Shades of Grey.
16. Cut: PARE.
17. Missing: AWOL.
18. Spa amenity: SAUNA. The word
sauna
is an ancient Finnish word referring to both the traditional Finnish bath and to
the bathhouse itself.
Modern Finnish Sauna
19. Doesn't just assume: ASKS.
[Theme clue]
23. Start to mature?: PRE. PREMATURE, as in too soon.
24. Eyeglass frames: RIMS. I'm running out of doctors to see. I think my next one will be an optometrist.
25. Gift with an aloha: LEI. The traditional greeting and gift to
arrivals in HAWAII.
Hawaii Lei
26. Matter of debate: ISSUE.
[Theme clue] Kinda. Sorta.
30. Dec. 31: NYE. New Years
Eve.
[Theme clue]
38. Antlered deer: STAG.
41. Retro photo hue: SEPIA. A word derived from thebrown melanin-containing pigmentfromthe ink of cuttlefishes. It was used in old photographic
prints and is a setting on most smart phone cameras. Leonardo da Vinci
also used the pigment to make ink:
Water Wheels pen & ink by Leonardo da Vinci
42. Burial isle of many Scottish kings: IONA. Also the name of the
ABBEY
on the island where early Scottish kings, as well as kings of Ireland,
Norway, and France are buried.
Iona Scotland
[Theme clue]
46. Skin art, for short: TAT.
47. Unit of corn: EAR.
48. Titan with a heavy load: ATLAS.
Atlas was one of the most famous Titans, the son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia (or, possibly,
Clymene). He was the leader of the Titan rebellion against Zeus, and he
got a fitting punishment after the end of the
Titanomachy: he was condemned to eternally hold up the sky. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it ...
Atlas
52. "Hellboy" actor Perlman: RON.
Hellboy is a 2004 American superhero film
written and directed by Guillermo del Toro from a story by the latter and by Peter
Briggs. I think he's a good guy.
54. Comfort Revolution bra-maker: BALI. None of the pics passed the breakfast test.
57. Tolkien terror: ORC. Definitely
bad guys.
[Theme clue]
62. Clicking devices: MICE.
63. Poet Dove and actress Moreno: RITAS. We've seen
Ms Dove
before as a clue for her home state of OHIO.
Rita Dove
Rita Moreno
(born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican
actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the
entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and
theater projects throughout her extensive career spanning over seven
decades. She is one of just
17 EGOT winners.
Rita Moreno
64. "Less" Pulitzer winner Andrew __ Greer: SEAN. "A generous
book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about
growing older and the essential nature of love".
Here's Greer on "Less" and so much more.
Andrew Sean Greer
65. "It's for you," on an env.: ATTN.
66. "Wrong!": NOT SO.
67. "Smooth Operator" singer: SADE.
Helen Folasade AduCBE
(Yoruba: Fọláṣadé Adú born 16 January 1959), known
professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade (shah-DAY), is a Nigerian-born British singer, known as the lead singer of her eponymous
band.
68. Crime novelist Gerritsen: TESS.
Tess Gerritsen
(born Terry Tom; June 12, 1953) is the pseudonym of
Terry Gerritsen, an American novelist and retired general physician. -
"She has an imagination that allows her to conjure up depths of human behavior
so dark and frightening that she makes Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft seem
like goody-two-shoes..." - Chicago Trib.
5. "GoodFellas" Oscar winner: PESCI.
GoodFellas is a 1990 American biographical crime film
directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1985
nonfiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Starring
Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci,
Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, the film narrates the rise and
fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends and family from 1955 to
1980.
6. Heist obstacle: ALARM.
7. St. Louis team: BLUES. The
St. Louis Blues
are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, MO. The Blues compete in
the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in
the Western Conference. Here's the latest
Blues news.
8. Compete on "The Voice": SING. Here's Bryce Leatherwood,
winner of the 2022 competition, singing Justin Moore's "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away":
9. Rip: TEAR.
10. Digging tool: SPADE.
11. Gradually become familiar with: EASE INTO.
12. Slow-moving boats: ARKS.
13. Paul in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: LES.
Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as
Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and
inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his
prototype, called the Log, served as inspiration for the
Gibson Les Paul. While Paul is mainly known for jazz and
popular music, he had an early career in country music. In the 1950s, he and his
wife, singer and guitarist Mary Ford, recorded numerous records, selling
millions of copies. Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of
artists with a permanent exhibit in the R&R HOF. He is prominently
named by the music museum on its website as an "architect" and a "key
inductee". He is the only inductee in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame AND the
National Inventors Hall of Fame. My Dad played the guitar and my
Mom Mary sang and we watched every one of their shows on TV, so it was
hard to stop with just one selection:
Here are Les and Mary performing How High the Moon:
And here's their The World is Waiting for Sunrise
And Teri found this tribute to Lucina:
21. Former pitcher Hershiser: OREL.
Orel Leonard Hershiser IV
(born September 16, 1958) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18
seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 2000. He later became a
pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 2002 to 2005 and a broadcast color
analyst for the Dodgers. He is also a professional poker player.
Here are his stats.
Orel Hershiser
22. Body wash ingredient: ALOE.
27. Some slouchy boots: UGGS. UGH, not again!
28. Ad writer's award: CLIO. The
Clio Awardsis an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence
in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel
of advertising professionals. For some reason they're named for the
Greek Muse of History. Nobody asked me but I think they should put some of their creative
excellence into a better logo:
29. Actor Morales: ESAI.
Esai Manuel Morales Jr.
(born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the
films Bad Boys with Sean Penn and La Bamba with Lou Diamond
Phillips (1987).
Esai Morales
31. Desire: YEN.
32. Schedule abbr.: ETA. Or the 7th letter of the Greek Alphabet
...
34. Hazmat monitor: OSHA. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of
Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine
workplaces. OSHA's mission is to "assure safe and healthy working conditions for
working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing
training, outreach, education, and assistance" The agency is also charged with
enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations.
35. Heady stuff?: BEER. For example:
36. Smartphone download: APP.
37. The Panthers of the ACC: PITT. The
Pittsburgh Panthers
football
program is the intercollegiate football team of the
University of Pittsburgh. Pitt competes as a member of the
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
40. Has some pull?: ATTRACTS. Gravity? Magnetism? Political connections? Let's leave the latter unconnected.
44. Collapsible shelter: TENT.
45. Gullible sort: NAIF.
Forrest Gump has been rated by at least one source as the #1 NAIF character in film history.
Here's a short clip of one of 25 great quotes from the film that proves
that sometimes gullibility pays off. Forrest has made a bit of money
in the shrimping business and on the advice of his boat's first mate he
has invested it in a fruit company (it's only a few seconds long so you
may have to replay it to get the gag):
49. World's largest cosmetics company: LOREAL. Here's one of their lip smacking ads.
50. Game keeper?: ARCADE. The ?gave Jerry's game away and we knew right away he wasn't talking about lions and tigers, and bears. Here's a short history of ARCADE gaming.
51. Movie parts: SCENES. See trailer for 54D.
53. Makes the first bet: OPENS.
54. Actress Davis played by Susan Sarandon in TV's "Feud":
BETTE. Feud is an American television series that premiered on March 5, 2017. The eight episodes document the well-known rivalry between Hollywood actresses Joan Crawford and Bette Davis during and after the production of their 1962 psychological horror thriller film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon
star as respectively Crawford and Davis, supported by an all-star cast.
This movie was so over the top that the trailer itself has 4 episodes:
55. Humiliate: ABASE. The opposite of ANACID. Either one will burn you.
56. Disinfectant brand: LYSOL. The first Lysol Brand Antiseptic Disinfectant
was introduced in 1889 by Gustav Raupenstrauch to help end a cholera
epidemic happening in Germany. In 1918, during the Spanish flu
pandemic, Lysol advertised it as an effective countermeasure to the
virus. And it has helped a lot of us to get through the COVID
pandemic. OTOH in 1911, poisoning by drinking Lysol was the most common
means of suicide in Australia and New York.
58. Quote: CITE.
59. Large garden planters: URNS. Very versatile containers. They can be used to serve coffee, ashes, and plants.
Mount OSSA is in the region of Thessaly in West central Greece.
62. Little rug: MAT.
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
And I have to add one very important member to Jerry's C TEAM, our inspiring Corner MaestraC.C. Burnikel.
Some months back in one of her reviews she included a picture of a dish
she called "Pine nuts and corn stir fry", which inspired me to come up
with this recipe:
