Friday, December 1, 2023, Katie Hale

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap of a puzzle by Katie Hale.  The theme of this creation seemed to me to be simultaneously a tad "forced" (but, hey, it's a crossword puzzle) and quite clever (which is the stuff that keeps us coming back to solve them day after day).  Let's go straight to the reveal as it seems, with a nod to Maria, to be a very good place to start:

38 Across:  Classic demonstration, and a way to describe the relationship between each starred clue and its answer: TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE.  A TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE of something is, as the clue says, a classic or perfectly illustrative instance of something.  In the case of today's puzzle, however, our puzzle setter has creatively combined abbreviations used in texting with book titles.  TEXT and BOOK.  The TEXTing abbreviations form the clues and the BOOKs form the answers.  One might say that we are dealing with Literal (literary) examples:

Here are the four places where the theme is employed:

16 Across:  *LOL OMG: THE DIVINE COMEDY.  LOL and OMG = "Laughing Out Loud" and "Oh My God" in text-speak.  Either/both could be a reaction to something comedic.  The reference is to this book:

22 Across:  *CU soon: ON THE ROAD.  CU = "See You" in text-speak.   As in, e.g, "I am on the road but will see you soon."  The reference is to this book:

51 Across:  *SRY: ATONEMENT.  SRY is text-speak for "(I'm) Sorry" and atonement is the act of making amends for one's misdeeds.  The reference is to this book:

62 Across:  *TMI: NOTES ON A SCANDAL.  TMI = text-speak for Too Much Information.  The reference is to this book:

In each instance the perps were a big help in sussing out the correct answers.  Here is how the completed grid looks (please ignore the yellow and orange highlighting as it is a product of the Crossword Nexus solver and in this instance has no meaning):

, , , and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Welcome gifts at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel: LEIS.  The hotel lies on the Hawaiian island of, well, Hawaii (The Big Island).

5. Deputy: AIDE.

9. Some parents: MOMS.  DADS would also fit.

13. Mount near Taormina: ETNA.  Taormina is a town in Sicily where A-listers like to hang out.

14. Passing remark?: I'M OUT.  "I pass."

15. Nike rival: AVIA.  An athletic shoe reference.

19. __ year: GAP.  When I took my GAP year(s) we simply called it dropping out.

20. Actress Collette: TONI.

21. Fatal flaw of some Greek heroes: HUBRIS.

25. Fuel for some grills: GAS.  See also 27 Across.  Some prefer wood pellets.

26. Youngest March sister: AMY.  Another literary reference.  In this case to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

27. Some barbecue remains: ASH.  See also 25 Across.

29. Young chap: LAD.

32. Tesfaye whose stage name is the Weeknd: ABEL.  I suppose that Weend is no sillier than e.g. Beatles, Kinks or Zombies but it does seem that way.

35. Bandleader's cue: HIT IT.

37. Old-fashioned before: ERE.  Able was I ERE I saw Elba.

42. Indifferent review: MEH.

43. Queues: LINES.  British English.

44. Fission target: ATOM.

45. Hindu title: SRI.  Remember this guy?

Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh

46. Well-worn: OLD.  No comment.

47. Place for a paraffin body wrap: SPA.

49. __ choy: BOK.  The vegetable.

57. Tiny slice: SLIVER.  A man walks into a bar with a SLIVER of metal on his tie.  The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't want your tie pin here."

60. Can of worms, maybe: BAIT.  Used literally not idiomatically.    As an idiom it means a situation that causes a lot of problems when you start to deal with it.

61. "Narcos" org.: DEA.

65. Not buttoned: OPEN.

66. Actor Rami: MALEK.  An American actor best known for his role as Elliot Alderson in 'Mr. Robot' and Freddie Mercury in 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

67. Send for onboarding: HIRE.   Onboarding sounds, to me, like something that Alexander Haig would have conjured up (see:  Vietnamification).  

68. Some twins: BEDS.  Hand up for first trying BOYS.

69. Beltmaking tools: AWLS.  For making holes.

70. Not so much: LESS.

Down:

1. Abandon one's inhibitions: LET GO.

2. Hawke of "The Northman": ETHAN.

3. Clumsy: INEPT.  How does a socially inept cat walk away from a conversation?  On her faux pas.

4. Like a tear-jerker: SAD.

5. __ acid: AMINO.  Lysergic Diethylamide was too long.

6. Ancient Aegean region: IONIA.  Often visited in our puzzles.

7. Not yet settled: DUE.

8. Make a lasting impression?: ETCH.

9. Green arboreal snake: MAMBA.  Was Rosemary Clooney singing about a snake?

Mambo Italiano

10. Had to scramble to get out the door, perhaps: OVERSLEPT.

11. Calf-length skirt: MIDI.

12. Voices: SAYS.  In the clue, voices is used as a verb.  Do we hear voices raised in protest?

14. Cream relative: IVORY.  Cream, here, is used as a color and not as a dairy product and Blind Faith was too long.

17. Part of a collection: ITEM.

18. Really must, informally: OUGHTA.

23. "Come no further": HALT.

24. Palm fruits: DATES.

28. Number of suspects in Clue: SIX.  The answer was going to be a number three letters in length.  One, two, six and ten were the suspects.

30. "Alligator Boy" in a 2021 Netflix animated film: ARLO.  Unknown to this solver.  

31. Judge to be: DEEM.

32. Places for taking notes?: ATMS.  We can take banknotes out of ATMS (Automatic Teller MachineS).

33. __ garden: BEER.  Hands up for those who first tried ROSE.

34. Put on display: EXHIBITED.  One of those clues where the verb can be either present or past tense.

35. Accord maker: HONDA.  Not as in treaty or pact.

1976 Honda Accord

36. Barinholtz of "History of the World, Part II": IKE.  Ah, the TV series not the movie.

39. Chaps: BLOKES.

40. Safflower __: OIL.  Pretty crude ____   if you ask me.

41. Polite address: MA'AM.

47. Former weekend programming block that featured "Clarissa Explains It All": SNICK.  Short for Saturday Night Nickelodeon.

48. Anti-fur gp.: PETA.

50. Bakery features: OVENS.  Aromas was too many letters.

52. Kids' batting game: T-BALL.

53. Fertile spots: OASES.

54. __ Bauer: EDDIE.  Me and EDDIE have a clothes relationship.

55. Gets warmer?: NEARS.  As in the kids game Hot And Cold.

56. Chaucer works: TALES.  Yet another book reference.

57. Nose-in-the-air type: SNOB.

58. Casual gait: LOPE.  When you turn off Auto-correct all LOPE is host,.

59. Oblong tomato: ROMA.  The most common variety of tomatoes used in crossword puzzles.

63. "Yup" opposite: NAW.

64. Bruins' org.: NHL.  The Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.  Being a UCLA "product" (a year of undergrad, two years of grad school and a few years of teaching) the puzzle-appropriate response was not the first thing that came to mind.

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