Saturday Themeless by Rachel Fabi and Rebecca Goldstein
Rachel is a Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University.
Rebecca is a research scientist at Merck, developing cancer immunotherapies.
Today we have a lovely challenge from two constructors who are prominent in the Medical field.
Like last week there were some respites along the way that made the solve very smooth.
Across:
1. Poor, unfortunate souls: WAIFS - Did anyone else's imagination run to Dickens?
6. Catch a ride to the beach?: SURF - 😀 From the ocean side
10. Small songbird: WREN.
14. Walk in the park, say: AMBLE.
15. Chiwere speaker: OTOE.
16. Spot that generates a lot of buzz: HIVE 😀
17. Cap: LIMIT.
18. Commercial pest control?: BODEGA CAT - This one is a mouse catcher and a greeter.
20. Aegean spot called the "Island of the Poets": LESBOS.
22. Tour de France crowds: PELOTONS - either the whole pack of 219 riders from 22 teams participating in the Tour de France, or the V-shaped main pack of riders drafting off one another. Peloton literally means little ball or platoon.
23. Nosy one: BUTTINSKI.
There's a witch in there!
25. Fall back: RETREAT - Many of the thousands of British troops who escaped at Dunkirk, France back to England in 1940 would cross the channel the other way to Normandy, France in 1944 on D-Day.
26. Sort of up: ASTIR.
30. Eur. kingdom: NOR.
31. Explorer Bancroft who was the first woman to complete an expedition to the North Pole: ANN. This, of course, is NOT the ANNE Bancroft who played Mrs. Robinson.
32. Stevenson villain: MR. HYDE - This 1886 first edition will run you $6,500.
33. Analog reminders: POST ITS - A funny take on them.
35. Stuck again: RETAPED - Patrick Mahomes reinsured a sprained ankle but just had the trainer RETAPE it right over his shoe so he could finish the game.
36. Iroquois Confederacy nation known as the "People of the Standing Stone": ONEIDA.
37. Pussy foot: PAW.
38. __ milk: PEA.
39. Mule sound: LONG U (ū) 😀 Nice meta clue.
40. Got one's exercise on track?: RAN LAPS - Many tracks ask casual runners to avoid the inner lane where most competitors run in a meet.
42. "Just listen!": INDULGE ME.
44. Feature of pugs and Pekingese: SNUB NOSE.
47. "Gracias" reply: DE NADA.
51. Element of environmental economics: CARBON TAX - Here ya go
53. Open-source operating system: LINUX.
54. Right hand, often: AIDE.
55. Apt rhyme for crocodile: NILE.
56. Gathered documents: INTEL.
NCIS agents doing just that
57. Bubbly spec: BRUT.
58. Nailed (it): ACED.
59. Likely to bend over backwards, maybe: AGILE.
Down:
1. Missing element in an open floor plan: WALL.
2. Parisian pal: AMIE.
3. "Think" PCs: IBMS - IBM's one word famous motto
4. Twit: FLIBBERTIGIBBET - Describing the main character in The Sound Of Music.
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!
5. Take a first step: SET OUT.
6. Sound of distress: SOB.
7. Perfect: UTOPIAN.
8. Gopher, e.g.: RODENT.
9. Emotions, slangily: FEELS - Slang strikes again
10. "Nothing. makes. sense.": WHAT IS HAPPENING? - Name the great movie with this scene. *Answer at bottom.
11. Part of P.R.: RICO.
12. Emmy nominee __ Rachel Wood: EVAN.
13. Clears: NETS.
19. Vehicle operated without a license: GO KART.
21. Layers on layers: STRATA.
24. Hamilton bills: TENS.
49. Head-to-head combat: DUEL - The gentleman on the above-mentioned $10 bill took second place in this famous DUEL.
25. Nevada senator Jacky: ROSEN.
27. Sorts: TYPES - It takes all sorts...
28. Exclamation point?: IDEA.
29. Cab, for one: RED - Cabernet wine of course
30. "That's so wrong": NONO.
32. Sounded pitiful: MEWLED - Kitties come to mind
33. D.C. insider: POL.
34. [Shrug]: I DUNNO.
35. Called up: RANG - A Brit might say, "I RANG you up" to say they had made a call.
37. Light beer?: PALE ALE.
40. __ chic: RUSTIC.
41. Joni Mitchell song with the lyrics "A ghost of aviation / She was swallowed by the sky": AMELIA - A true renaissance woman
43. "The Secret History" novelist Tartt: DONNA.
44. Natural bandage: SCAB.
45. "Monsoon Wedding" director Mira __: NAIR - Time off for a depilatory today
46. Language from which "cummerbund" is derived: URDU.
59A. "Booksmart" or "Dumb and Dumber": BUDDY COMEDY.
And the reveal:
38A. Childhood companion depicted five times in this puzzle, thanks to some Down clues: IMAGINARY FRIEND.
The key to the theme is that when you're solving the down entries which cross the "friend" part of the themer, you ignore the "friend letter" - they're invisible. The actual down entries are all still bona fide crossword vocabulary, but unless you ignore that one letter they don't make sense in the context of the clues.
Hi all, Steve here again pinch-hitting. Once I saw the pattern around the theme starting to emerge I thought it was brilliant. There are fully 23 down clue/answers which need to be manipulated to complete the puzzle and honestly I didn't find one that seemed to be a stretch. It also crossed my mind that it's a clever way to use two-letter fill words which usually are not allowed. Very cunning!
My theme title refers to the 1950's movie starring Jimmy Stewart, but Ella's reveal almost makes a title redundant!
Across
1. Email option that protects privacy: BCC. Ask the kids today and they'll have no idea it stands for "Blind Carbon Copy", let alone have ever heard of carbon paper.
4. Hands down: BY FAR.
9. Syrup source: MAPLE. Not sure about this, surely "Maple Tree"? Maybe I'm being pedantic.
14. "There it is!": AHA!
15. Compact cosmetic: ROUGE. The "G" was my final fill, wasn't sure about the name crossing.
16. Build a new room, say: ADD ON.
17. "Da 5 Bloods" setting, for short: 'NAM.
20. Nutrition regimen: DIET.
22. North America's tallest peak: DENALI. 20,310 feet (or 20,320 depending on when you last looked it up). The mountain was re-measured in 2015 using improved measuring technology.
26. Hushes: SILENCES.
30. Vanity cases: EGOS.
32. Pt. of USNA: NAV. Seems an arbitrary abbreviation for "Navy", simply chopping off the last letter.
33. "Selma" director DuVernay: AVA.
34. "Selma" actor David: OYELOWO. Nice proximity of these two.
37. Small bird with a big voice: WREN.
42. Helgenberger of "CSI": MARG.
43. West Coast sch. whose application process may include an audition: CAL ARTS. A couple of friends of mine went to Cal Arts to study animation.
44. Break off: END.
45. Cynical start?: CEE. C for Cynic.
48. Epiphany trio: MAGI.
49. Finishes a gin rummy turn, e.g.: DISCARDS.
56. Aye-aye or dik-dik: ANIMAL. I knew dik-dik, but the other was new to me. I discover it is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is a long-fingered lemur from Madagascar.
58. Flight board info: GATE.
64. No-frills bed: COT.
65. Slow tempo: LARGO.
66. Future esposa, perhaps: NOVIA. The bride, in Spanish.
67. Roxy Music name: ENO. Brian Eno, the legendary producer, ambient music component and ex glam rocker with Roxy Music. Seems like a good excuse for a music link. Eno is the guy with the long blond hair playing a very rudimentary synth.
68. 12-year-old, e.g.: TWEEN.
69. Ridley of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy: DAISY.
70. TV room: DEN.
Down:
1. Wedding __: BAND(B). The first of the "invisible" letter down entries. BANDB parses to B AND B by the way, took me a moment to see that.
2. Hindi word for "tea": CHAI(R).
3. Showed up: CAME(O).
4. Exclamation during a polar bear plunge: BRR.
5. "__ had one job!": YOU.
6. Endow: FUND.
7. Moorehead of "Bewitched": AGNES.
8. Restrain: REIN IN.
9. Bullet train technology: MAG-LEV.
10. Server's edge, in tennis: AD(M)IN.
11. Law enforcement org.: PD(A).
12. __ and behold: LO(T).
13. Dash used in date ranges: EN(E).
19. "The Lion King" lion: NALA.
21. Option in a classic paradoxical dilemma: THE EGG.
24. Wrinkled tangelo: UGLI.
25. Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the __ Squad": GOON.
27. Web store icon: CAR(E)T.
28. 12/24 and 12/31: EVE(N)S.
29. __ Antonio: SAN(D).
31. Budget carrier HQ'd in Dallas: SWA. Southwest Airlines. They used to be fun to fly with when I first moved to the USA, now not so much, they've got much more corporate.
34. Muscat resident: OMANI.
35. Fabric measures: YARDS.
36. Tolkien monster: ORC.
37. Twist, as a wet rag: W(I)RING.
38. Cyberchatted with, briefly: IM'ED. Could be an IM, a PM or a DM.
39. Orange tuber: YAM.
40. __ of luxury: (F)LAP.
41. Number of candles, perhaps: (R)AGE.
45. Big name in cameras: CAN(Y)ON.
46. Actor Bana: ERIC.
47. Astronomer Halley: EDMOND. I knew the ED part, but flip-flopped between EDWARD and EDMUND before the cross rescued me.
50. Batting __: CA(D)GE.
51. South Pacific island group: SAMOA.
53. Finished perfectly: (P)ACED.
54. Musical pitch: (A)TONE.
55. Historic British school: (L)ETON. You'd think it was the only school in the UK if you went by crosswordese. It is quite historic, but the school in the town where I grew up, Winchester College, was founded in 1382, whereas Eton didn't come along until 1440. The King's School in Canterbury was founded in 597, so has both beaten by a good half a millenium.
57. __ Strauss & Co.: LEVI. I'm wearing a pair of Levi 511's today.
59. USN officer: (B)LT.
60. "How cute!": (U)AW. United Auto Workers union in case you're wondering.
61. Do, __, mi: (D)RE.
62. Knock: DIS.
63. "Huzzah!": YAY!
And with a final Huzzah! for finishing the puzzle, here's the grid:
Brian is not a
Grinch,
but he does rather deviously replace the original
eponym
for the following four towns with more recent and famous faux fill. And
just WHO are these displaced persons? --
16A. *Nobel-winning mathematician portrayed in "A Beautiful Mind":
JOHN NASH.
NASHVILLE, Tennesseewas originally named for
Francis Nash (c. 1742 – October 7, 1777), a hero of the Revolutionary War. But Brian has replaced him with the
brilliant mathematician and game theorist
John Forbes Nash, portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind ...
We will return to Nashville, Tenn. when we get to
clue 24D.
23A. *"Captain America: The First Avenger"
star: CHRIS EVANS.
EVANSVILLE, Indiana
was originally named for
General Robert Morgan EVANS
(February 17, 1782 – December 14, 1842) a hero of the War of 1812.
But Brian has replaced him with
Superhero Captain America, played by Chris EVANS ...
37A. *Gospel legend with the hit "Move On Up a Little Higher":
MAHALIA JACKSON.
Andrew JACKSON, the 7th President of the United States, and the eponym supplanted in this case,
has no less four American cities named for him:
Jacksonville, Alabama;
Jacksonville, Florida;
Jacksonville, Illinois; and
Jacksonville, North Carolina, so he is not quite so obscure as the others. Brian has replaced him with
Mahalia JACKSON
(born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) the American
gospel singer, is widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the
20th century. Here's the clue song (lyrics)...
50A. *Tennis great for whom the ESPY Courage Award is named:
ARTHUR ASHE. In 1792, Buncombe County, North Carolina was
established with a city called "Morristown" as its county seat. In 1797,
that city was renamed ASHEVILLE
after North Carolina
Governor Samuel ASHE.
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) started to play tennis at age six.
He was the first black player selected to the
United States Davis Cup team. He would later win three
Grand Slam singles titles and was the only black man ever to win
the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the
Australian Open. Here is a brief bio-clip about this remarkable athlete
...
Here's the reveal ...
61. Town targeted by the Grinch, and an
apt description of the ends of the answers to the starred clues?:
WHO-VILLE.
Whoville,
sometimes written as WHO-VILLE is a fictional town created by author
Dr. Seuss. I read Brian's usage of WHO as a pronoun for the eponyms for
each of the towns, all ending in VILLE, in the theme clues.
YMMV.
Here's the grid ...
Across:
1. Have more than a snack: DINE.
5. Fib: LIE.
8. Blind components: SLATS.
13. Four-award acronym: EGOT.
14. Far from ne'er: OFT.
15. Words: TERMS. What this game is all about.
16.
[Theme clue]
18. Website bigwig, for short: ADMIN.
19. "Raise your glass!": A TOAST. Here's a toast ("brindiso") to a courtesan
in Verdi's opera
La Traviata
...
20. __-gritty: NITTY. And here's a toast to a different
character ...
22. A-lister: VIP.
23. [Theme clue]
27. Some Pac-12 athletes: UTES.
29. Green prefix: ECO.
30. Green prefix?: NEO. Also a character in the film
The Matrix ...
31. Tool with teeth: COMB.
34. Casual eatery: BISTRO.
37. [Theme clue]
41. Sheepish ones?: OVINES. Plural 44As.
42. McFlurry cookie: OREO. Last week we had Blizzards, this
week it's McFlurry; on my birthday we had Cookies and Cream, all
with this infinitely clueable confection.
43. Fellows: MEN.
44. Sheepish one?: EWE. A singular 41A.
46. Absence: LACK.
50. [Theme clue]
55. Meditative discipline: ZEN.
ZEN is a
school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the
Tang dynasty, known as the Chán School, and later developed into various sub-schools
and branches. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became
Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism, and east to
Japan, becoming Japanese Zen.
From a manuscript depicting the bodhisattva
Maitreya, an important figure in Mahāyāna
56. Rigorous: HARSH.
57. Like bargain-basement items: ON SALE.
59. Handling brilliantly: ACING.
61. [Theme reveal]
63. Kayak kin: CANOE.
64. Arctic diving bird: AUK.
Auks are seabirds that look somewhat like penguins, but they can fly. There is an entire taxonomic family that people often refer
to as “auks,” the Alcidae family. There are many different birds in the
Alcidae family, including puffins, auklets, and murres, but there are only two
species of “true” auks.
Auks
65. Bargain: DEAL.
66. Voices against: ANTIS.
67. "Listen!": HEY. "Use your 68As!"
68. Good listeners?: EARS.
Down:
1. "This seems familiar" feeling: DÉJÀ VU. That feeling
is described in a 1970 album and song of the same name
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (lyrics) ...
In his books Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation,
Children Who Remember Previous Lives, and numerous other works,
University of Virginia psychiatristIan Stevenson
has extensively documented evidence that the feeling of
DÉJÀ VU may have some basic
in fact.
24. McEntire in the Country Music Hall of Fame: REBA.
REBA Nell McEntire
(born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country and gospel music
singer and actress. Dubbed "the Queen of Country" [with Dolly as the
"Empress" of course!], she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the
1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. She is an actress in films
and television. She starred in the television series Reba, which aired
for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a clothing
line. Here she is with I'll Fly Away (It wouldn't surprise if she did!) ...
25. Archie's boss, in detective fiction: NERO. NERO Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Here are some reflections on the character and the stories ...
There
have been many adaptations of these stories, including some in German,
Russian, and Italian. Not many of them are available on streaming
services, but I did manage to find this DVD series available on Amazon.
26. In short order: SOON.
28. Digitize, in a way: SCAN.
32. Flamenco shout: OLE.
33. Scrooges: MISERS.
35. Raw-bar need: ICE.
36. "__, Vikings": Minnesota fight song: SKOL. By request from a Vikings fan upstairs ...
37. NYC home of van Gogh's "Starry Night": MOMA. In the
Museum of Modern Art, and the inspiration for Don McLean's classic song Vincent ...
38. Assert as true: AVER.
39. Comment said with a nudge: HINT HINT. This calls for a little
Python ...
40. Trader __: JOES. Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. It is named after its founder, Joe Coulombe.
The company began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area chain known as
Pronto Market convenience stores. We shop at our local TJ's at least once a week.
45. Guitar pedal: WAH WAH
. Last week it was CAPO, this week
it's the WAH WAH pedal. You guitar geeks might find this interesting ...
47. Rhododendron variety: AZALEA.
48. Basement: CELLAR. Or a verb meaning "to age a wine".
49. Pays respect, in a way: KNEELS.
51. Capital on the Red River Delta: HANOI. Not this Red River, this Red River ...
62. Shade: HUE. Or another Vietnamese city, this one on the Perfume River ...
Huế
Cheers, Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Postscript:
Last Thursday was my 76th birthday and I thank C.C. for leading off a chorus of much appreciated birthday wishes from the Corner!
We
were out of town all last week, one of the main reasons being to spend
my birthday with my son, DIL, and a rare assembly of all eight
grandchildren at Catholic Family Land in Bloomingdale, OH ...
Here's Teri, my son, and me (the gift to my left was a Shortz edition of crosswords puzzles) ...
On this trip to Ohio, we took some earlier advice from TTP who encouraged us to visit the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, OH ("The Pottery Capital of the Nation"). And we're so glad we did. A video in the museum informed us that the English potter James Bennett established the area's first commercial pottery in 1840 and encouraged others to immigrate to East Liverpool from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK (my Mother's home town). James also had a brother named Edwin Bennett, who settled in Baltimore, MD
and established a successful pottery there. Small world. Thank you
TTP! Here's a picture taken by an MoC staff member of Teri and me.
She's holding a large "pot holder" (aka a "trivet") she purchased at the
gift shop ...
Now let's see if I can tie all this back into today's puzzle theme:
"Prussian officer who taught American Revolutionary War soldiers close bayonet tactics": STEUBEN. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben is the eponym for the town of STEUBENVILLE, OH, our base of operations for all these adventures. Were it not for the good Baron, America literally might not celebrate the Fourth of July each year:
