Sunday May 14, 2023 Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

Theme: "Hidden Figures" - Each set of circled letters is a movie embedded in another movie.

27. Will Smith title role in a beauty pageant movie?: MISS CONGENIALITY. Ali.

37. Salma Hayek Pinault title role in a body swapping movie?: FREAKY FRIDAY. Frida.

45. Jamie Foxx title role in a globe-trotting movie?: EAT PRAY LOVE. Ray.

68. Dev Patel title role in a boxing movie?: MILLION DOLLAR BABY. Lion.

87. Benicio del Toro title role in a crime thriller movie?: JACK REACHER. Che.

96. Angelina Jolie title role in a space robot movie?: THE IRON GIANT. Gia.

Reveal:

110. Multifeed television setting, and what six of this puzzle's answers display: PICTURE IN PICTURE.

When I first saw the title, I figured "one, two, three, four, etc" were hidden inside. So pleasantly  surprised by Enrique's approach.

I'm not famliar with movie "Lion". Only wish it were a person's name like the other five embedded movies, "Hidden Figures" title would have been perfect. 

Clean and sparkly fill, a hallmark of Enrique. 

Across:

1. __ donna: PRIMA.

6. Dalai Lama's homeland: TIBET. This puzzle was probably edited before the Dalai Lama controversy.

11. Greenlighted: OK'ED.

15. Porpoise kin: ORCA.

19. Celebrate wildly: REVEL. Yesterday was the first time Carmen's granddaughter visited her and Lao Pan. They were ecstatic.

20. Still in it to win it: ALIVE.

21. "When in __ ... ": ROME.

22. Go yachting, say: SAIL.

23. "The L Word" co-creator Chaiken: ILENE. Grid-friendly letter combo.

24. Gastric ailment: ULCER.

25. Point after deuce: AD IN.

26. Mojito garnish: MINT. Never had mojito. 

30. Fun run dist.: ONE-K.

31. Unpaid TV ads: PSAS.

32. Perched upon: ATOP.

33. TV pioneer: RCA.

34. "I can help however you see fit": USE ME.

35. Drum kit pieces: HI-HATS.

41. "Where __ sign?": DO I.

42. Online icon: AVATAR.

44. Unagi and anago: EELS. You can find frozen unagi at our Asian store.

49. Fencing blade: EPEE.

51. That girl: SHE.

54. [I'm trying to scare you!]: BOO.

55. Orderly: NEAT.

56. Square and Squarespace space?: IT SECTOR. Great clue/fill.

59. Misses a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, say: BLOWS IT. Is it weird that I only start to like "Lose Yourself" now?

62. Cause and __: EFFECT.

67. Sophisticated: SUAVE.

72. Luxury car brand: ACURA. Same letter count as LEXUS.

74. Moolah: DO RE MI.

75. Abates: EASES UP.

78. App used for selfie retouching: FACETUNE. I like the before picture though.

81. Tandoori bread: NAAN.

83. "__ Te Ching": philosophical text: TAO.

84. Texter's "Not gonna lie ... ": TBH. To Be Honest.

85. Ritzy: POSH.

91. Extinct bird: DODO.

93. Franklin known as the "Queen of Soul": ARETHA.

95. Sushi garnish: ROE.

100. Overpowering odor: STENCH.

103. Lemon slice: WEDGE.

104. Nonprofit 34-Down ending: ORG. 34. Clickable address: URL.

105. Read quickly: SKIM.

107. Sudsy stuff: SOAP. I got a small sample of this shower gel. Smells amazing.

109. Part of the HOMES mnemonic: ERIE.

115. "I'm down!": LET'S.

116. French for "mine": A MOI.

117. Largish jazz combo: OCTET.

118. Viscounts' superiors: EARLS.

119. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner __ Thanh Nguyen: VIET. This is the same as Chinese "Yue".  The Nam is Vietnam just means "south".

120. Global extremity: POLE.

121. Big spender at a casino: WHALE.

122. Beginning phase: ONSET.

123. Ultimate goals: ENDS.

124. "No ifs, __, or buts": ANDS.

125. In a way: SORTA.

126. Comes (from): STEMS.

Down:

1. Gussy up: PRIMP.

2. Hot dog topper: RELISH.

3. "Me and my big mouth!": I'VE SAID TOO MUCH. Great debut entry. Partnered with another great entry: 51. Keeps on keeping on: STAYS THE COURSE.

4. Place to find boxers and bow ties, say: MEN'S SHOP.

5. Comedian Mapa: ALEC. He's of a Filipino-American. Here with his husband and their kid.

 

6. Shouts "neener neener" at, say: TAUNTS.

7. Volunteer's offer: I'LL GO.

8. __ curls: BICEP.

9. Well-matched: EVEN.

10. Actress Garr: TERI.

11. Brushing, flossing, etc.: ORAL CARE.

12. Type of bear important to the Alutiiq people: KODIAK. They live in the Kodiak Island, right?

13. Throw off: EMIT.

14. Say no to: DENY.

15. Absorption process: OSMOSIS.

16. Drizzled: RAINED.

17. Movie house: CINEMA. My sister-in-law Connie attends all kinds of film festivals.

18. Element of some computer shortcuts: ALT KEY.

28. Vegan milk choice: OAT. I grew up drinking soy milk.  Standard breakfast for many: soy milk and youtiao.

29. Part of town: AREA.

36. Broadcast: AIR.

37. Most-loved, informally: FAV.

38. GPS suggestion: RTE.

39. Throw forcefully, in slang: YEET. Learned from doing crosswords.

40. Hidden costs, often: FEES.

42. Pie __ mode: A LA.

43. Action urged by some political ads: VOTE NO.

45. Recede: EBB.

46. Web portal co.: AOL.

47. Indigo plant: ANIL. Pretty.

48. Bigfoot kin: YETI.

50. Stuffed pocket: PITA.

52. Carpool lane letters: HOV.

53. Before, in poetry: ERE.

57. Those, in Spanish: ESAS. Also 77. __ favor: POR.

58. Die shape: CUBE.

60. Transfer, as money: WIRE.

61. Venetian blind part: SLAT.

63. Four-term pres.: FDR.

64. Counter person?: FOE. Love the clue.

65. National Mall tree: ELM. Also the first word of a park reserve I've been loving lately. Gorgeous trails inside. I spotted a mama black bear and her two cubs two weeks ago. The trails have since greened up nicely and one of the cubs was sadly deserted last week. 

66. Secure, as a playoff berth: CLINCH.

69. Poems of praise: ODES.

70. Raise, as kids: REAR.

71. Source of misery: BANE.

72. Toward the stern: AFT.

73. Alternative to zin or pinot: CAB.

76. Abu Dhabi's fed.: UAE.

79. High bun, e.g.: UPDO. And 86. Pony accessories?: HAIR TIES.

80. Midday: NOON.

82. Nickname preceder: AKA.

87. MSNBC political analyst Psaki: JEN. The former White House press secretary.

88. QB passing stat: ATT.

89. "You __ so busted!": ARE.

90. Unrelenting: CONSTANT.

91. Processes: DIGESTS.

92. Mother lode material: ORE.

94. Hearty meat and tomato sauce: RAGU. Boomer loved this.

96. Midday: TWELVE.

97. On these pages: HEREIN.

98. Prepped for publication: EDITED.

99. Yield no further clues, as a trail: GO COLD.

100. Hydrate while down with the flu, maybe: SIP TEA. The Chinese way. Ginger & date tea.

101. Brief "Spare me the details": TMI.

102. Apollo Theater locale: HARLEM.

105. Anoushka Shankar's instrument: SITAR.

106. Posed in a team photo, maybe: KNELT.

108. Annoying ones: PESTS.

110. Family nickname: PAPA.

111. "Time for me to take the stage!": I'M ON.

112. Spats: ROWS.

113. Reverberating sound: ECHO.

114. Business bigwigs: CEOS.

Look whose selfie landed in my email box last week? Splynter! He does not comment these days but he still reads the blog. He writes to me when he spots a mistake in my blog post or just wants to cheer me up.

Saturday, May 13, 2023, Rich Norris

Saturday Themeless by Rich Norris

Our former editor shows up with another engaging puzzle. I sailed along pretty good but POPO is not in in my vocab and so I'll take one bad cell (COPO/CBS) and try to get on with my life.

I wonder if Rich was familiar with all the proper names he employed. 🤨

Across:

1. Erosion control supply: STRAW MATS - These are ubiquitous around here as bypass highways with overpasses are being built all around our town and good spring rains are bringing the STRAW MATS to life.

10. Composer Bruckner: ANTON - All you'd ever want to know

15. Ahead of its time: PROPHETIC - Some claiming to be prophets are really looking for a profit

16. Held up: BORNE.

17. Pizza sauce choice: RED TOMATO.

18. Condition: STATE - The value of a dime depends on its STATE or condition

19. "__, Chef": Marcus Samuelsson memoir: YES - This is the story of his rise as an adopted child from Ethiopia who became a very successful chef in NYC. (pub. 2012)

20. Nabokov novel: LOLITA - A middle-aged man having relations with a 14-yr-old girl, what could possibly go wrong?

22. Condition that can interfere with focusing, briefly: ADHD.

23. Reagle of "Wordplay": MERL.

24. Go along: AGREE.

26. Pupil of Beethoven: CZERNY.

29. Things that are worth looking into?: MIRRORS 😀

31. Trope intro: HELIO - HELIO(Greek: helios/sun) tropes (Greek: trepan/turn) are plants whose flowers follow the sun across the sky. The prime example is the state flower of Kansas.

32. Summer Olympics racer since 1936: CANOE - Ernst Krebs canoeing in the 1936 Olympics for Deutschland 

33. Pac-12 athlete: UTE - Next year, USC and UCLA join the Big Ten and the Utah UTES, et. al. will be left behind

35. Round figure: ORB.

36. Like many '50s cars: TWO TONE - Oh, you mean back when cars had personality?

38. HBO __: MAX.

39. Court: WOO.

40. Romance novelist Brenda: HIATT.

41. Poor showing: NO ONE.

43. Chirp: TWEEDLE - Lewis Carroll invented TWEEDLE Dee and TWEEDLE Dum to encounter Alice in Through The Looking Glass

45. Coastal features of Washington and Alaska: FJORDS - Kenai FJORDS National Park, Home of the most beautiful FJORDS in Alaska

46. Bridget Riley genre: OP ART.

47. Rebuke, maybe: SLAP.

48. Fluffy rug: SHAG.

49. Last-minute, often: HECTIC.

52. "Death in Paradise" airer: PBS - A BBC import

55. Model 3 maker: TESLA.

57. Inescapable situation: BLACK HOLE - Not even light can escape

59. Some deco works: ERTE'S.

60. One who makes the rounds?: 😀 BARKEEPER.

61. Circular defense mechanisms: MOATS 😀

62. Anxiously awaits: SWEATS OUT - 1969 draft lottery

Down:

1. Agile: SPRY.

2. Corner: TREE.

3. Fish sticks?: RODS 😀 

4. Keenly intelligent: APT.

5. Totally different, slangily: WHOLE NOTHER.

6. Broadway classic with the lyrics "I can smile at the old days / I was beautiful then": MEMORY - The show-stopping song from Cats

7. In any way: AT ALL.

8. South American monkey: TITI.

9. Shetland native: SCOT - A SCOT who lives in the Shetland Islands has a cost of living nearly double the rest of the U.K. However, golf is reasonable at the Shetland Golf Course: £30 per day, £80 per week; £130 per fortnight

10. Six-pack contents?: ABS.

11. Tig with a recurring role on "Star Trek: Discovery": NOTARO - She is standing under the K in this picture

12. News about a possible exchange: TRADE RUMOR - These rumors were around all winter and he didn't go to any of these teams. If you care at all, you know where he went.

13. Testifying: ON THE STAND.

14. Sine qua non: NEED.

21. Vice president after Thomas: AARON Burr.

23. Hosp. scan: MRI.

25. Prize that may need to be altered if a player wins it again: GREEN JACKET - Here we see the 2019 Master's winner, Tiger Woods, helping the 2020 winner into his GREEN JACKET.

26. Eats: CHOW.

27. Process of dramatic character change: ZERO TO HERO - Tom was the 199th player picked in the 2000 NFL draft and sat out his entire rookie year. The next year the Patriots' starting QB got hurt and Brady finally got to play and became the Greatest Of All Time.

28. Gomiti, for one: ELBOW PASTA.

 
29. Lacking luster: MATTE.

30. Trying to resolve a tie, briefly: IN OT - Notre Dame coach (and cwd fill) Ara Parseghian was forever blamed for not trying to win this game in 1966 and "settled for a tie". It was another 30 years before the NCAA instituted rules so games could go IN(to) OT(overtime) 

32. __-fired: COAL - Our electricity is mostly generated in this plant 1/4 mile south of where I am sitting

34. Former union members?: EXES - That would be former marital union members 

37. Side to side?: WIDTH.

42. Alley follower: OOP.

44. Aerie newborn: EAGLET - EAGLETS born in this aerie are a short flight from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

45. Title horse in a Mary O'Hara children's novel: FLICKA - My Friend Flicka was part of my b/w television childhood

47. Unsettling look: STARE.

48. Half-note feature: STEM.

50. Weakens: EBBS.

51. White __: hard seltzer brand: CLAW.

52. The law: POPO - From reduplication of the abbreviation PO (“police officer”), originally in reference to partnered bike officers in Southern California whose paired shirts would read POPO

53. Fromage hue: BLEU - My Greek wife hates BLEU cheese and olives in the Greek salad

54. Barcelona-born muralist: SERT.

56. Jenny, e.g.: ASS- Here's a link to the site below

58. Dads and lads: HES.