Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's puzzle recap. As you read this I am in Utah helping to celebrate a very good friend's 70th birthday. After that, it is on to Colorado, wind and weather permitting. Many small towns in Colorado have become "Zoom Towns" over the past few years so, if the internet "pipeline" is not overtaxed, I should be able to work on my next couple of blogs remotely.
Today's constructor is frequent-visitor Zachary David Levy who presented us with quite a bit to ponder, theme-wise. There was no "reveal". In the electronic version from which I was working, there were no asterisks. There were no circles. There was, seemingly, no common thread. There were helpful questions marks but those, as we all know, can serve various purposes. This solver will admit to rereading what were pretty obviously the five themed answers several times without finding that elusive common thread.
Then I recalled the words of Lisa Simpson. Lisa has/had been known to hang out with Will Shortz and Merl Reagle (RIP) so it pays to check in with her now and then. As a result of her inspiration, it dawned on me that the last two words (and in one case, three words, when you include the A) of each clue were anagrams of the answers (or, if you prefer, vice versa):
17 Across: The worst description of poor purses?: PROSPEROUS. PORO yields POOR, RSPEUS yields PURSES. Prosperous being an antonym of poor.
25 Across: Completely unlike a docile man?:DEMONIACAL. A yields A, DEOICL yields DOCILE, and MNA yields MAN. A demoniacal man is not likely to be docile.
36 Across: The furthest thing from tidier rooms?: DORMITORIES. DITRIE yields TIDIER, and ORMOS yields ROOMS. Dormitories are, stereo-typically, messy.
50 Across: The opposite of one who is not against?: ANTAGONIST. ONT yields NOT, and ANTAGIS yields AGAINST. Double negative. Triple?
59 Across: Treated with a decided lack of due respect?: PERSECUTED. EUD yields DUE, and PRSECTE yields RESPECT.
After that DAMNED clever (if a bit MADDENing) start, let's have a look at the rest of the clues and the answers:
Across:
1. Sponge (off): MOOCH. Clued as a verb.
6. Degs. for CFOs: MBAS. Some Chief Financial Officers hold Master of Business Administration degreeS. Most MBAs are not CFOs.
10. 1040 ID figs.: SSNS. A reference to the IRS Form 1040. Social Security NumberS
14. Place to perform: VENUE. Some hold more people than do others.
Grateful Dead at Giants Stadium - 1978
15. Additionally: ALSO. MORE, STILL, PLUS ?
16. Shiny sticker?: EPEE. Not a sticker that you would put on e.g. a notebook. Not a reflector sticker. You can stick someone with a sword.
19. __ chips: PITA. What did the PITA chip say to the hummus when she was ill? I falafel.
20. Breading choice: PANKO.
21. Has quite a kick: ZINGS. This one seemed a bit off to me having never heard anyone say "this zings." I mean, the hot sauce or the whiskey might have a quite a kick but it ZINGS? Still, it made a great song in the 1930's (without that S):
22. Rx writer: DOC. Abbreviated clue, abbreviated answer: DOCtor. Zachary/Patti could have gone with the rabbit.
28. Investment firm figure: ANALYST.
Only Buy Me Stocks That Go Up
31. Agent, informally: REP. Not a secret agent. A business agent. REPresentative.
32. Simu of "Kim's Convenience": LIU. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, again, perps.
33. Italian birthplace of Paganini: GENOA. Anche, Cristoforo Colombo.
34. Element in some smoky whiskies: PEAT. Ah, this one is near and dear. Distilleries use hot smoke from burning PEAT to stop the germination of barley at a certain point resulting in malted barley that is then used to make whisky. The PEAT smoke imparts a distinctive, if polarizing, flavor.
A Peat-Burning Oven. Laphroaig Distillery
Island of Islay, Scotland
Malting Floor, Laphroaig Distillery
Isle of Islay, Scotland
(photos by MM)
35. Filmmaker Lee: ANG. Spike would not fit.
40. Call (out): CRY.
42. Swimmer Torres who won 12 Olympic medals: DARA.
43. Literary form: ESSAY. Hand up for first thinking PROSE.
46. Consists of: HAS. This puzzle HAS 225 squares,
47. Letters before a pen name: AKA. Also Known As
48. Spartan: AUSTERE. Not a reference to MSU.
53. Patch, perhaps: SEW. I tried to think of something witty to say here but I ran out of material.
54. Size for fries: LARGE. Supersize me.
55. Cut a rug: DANCE. Idiomatic from an earlier era.
Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) In "Top Secret"
58. Gloating cry: I WIN. Sometimes it's I WON.
64. Promontory: CAPE. A geographical reference (Cape Ann, Cape Horn, Cape Cod, etc.). Often clued with references to comic book superheros.
65. Pennsylvania city across from Presque Isle State Park: ERIE. Four letters. Three vowels. An often-used constructor's friend.
66. Sports news: TRADE. Some have, supposedly, lead to curses.
67. Seers?: EYES. Not SEERS as in tellers of the future. What we see with.
68. Over and done with: PAST. The PAST, the present and the future walked into a bar. Things got a little tense.
69. Madonna hit that begins, "Strike a pose": VOGUE. Not the Madonna celebrated earlier this week.
Down:
1. 2023 World Series honor for Corey Seager: MVP.Most Valuable Player. It would have been nice if the Dodgers had re-signed Corey.
2. Poetic contraction: O'ER. As in "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
3. "Double Fantasy" singer: ONO. Many ways to clue Yoko Ono. Some would go with breakerupperofthebeatles.
4. Astrological delineation: CUSP. Is your moon in Fresno?
5. __ filter: HEPA. HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate air, and a HEPAfilter is a specially designed air filter that excels at capturing tiny particles in the air.
6. Word with fish or meat: MARKET. Or with stock (but that would have been more of a giveaway).
7. Sign of spring: BLOOM. I might have gone with a clue along these lines:
8. Tempe sch.: ASU.
9. Scouring brand: SOS.
10. Retro tone: SEPIA. For photographs.
11. SoulCycle offering: SPIN CLASSES. This solver was not familiar with SoulCycle but the "cycle" part was helpful and the perps made it clear.
12. Bottom line: NET GAIN.
13. Shell-less gastropod: SEA SLUG. Some are far more visually intriguing than the land varieties.
18. Comes to a halt: ENDS. What starts with W and ENDS with T. Really, it does.
21. Some plastic fasteners: ZIP TIES. Very useful for oh so many applications.
22. Peace Nobelist Hammarskjöld: DAG. Secretary General of the United Nations (1953 - 1961).
23. Single: ONE.
One
24. Peppermint pattern: CANDY STRIPE.
26. Ice cream cookie: OREO. Clue-able in oh so many ways.
27. In the ballpark: NEAR. Idiomatic.
29. Liverpool lav: LOO. In London, if you pay money to live in a bathroom you can tell your friends that you are a LOO tenant.
30. Gridiron stat: YARDAGE. A football reference. Inspired by the lines on the football field. Gridiron derives from griddle and grid. It was also a medieval instrument of torture.
34. Educational org.: PTA.
37. Shortfin shark: MAKO. The K from 47 across was a big help with this one.
38. Turkey neighbor: IRAN. YAMS would have fit.
39. NYC hrs.: EST. Eastern Standard Time
40. Ceremonial goblet: CHALICE. The film, "The Court Jester" with Danny Kay taught me this one at an early age.
41. Bolted: RAN AWAY. Not a hardware reference.
44. Equal: ARE. As in two and two ARE four.
45. Evergreen shrub: YEW. Often clued with a reference to archery.
48. How cutlery is typically sold: AS A SET.
49. Alternative magazine name: UTNE. The "UTNE Reader" is oft cited in crossword puzzles.
51. Hong Kong politician and social activist Chow: AGNES.
52. "Luther" star Elba: IDRIS. This solver did not know "Luther" but IDRIS Elba has been a frequent visitor the past few years.
56. Video surveillance letters: CCTV. Closed Circuit TeleVision
57. Irish capital: EURO. Not the capital city. Money.
59. Oomph: PEP.
60. Bullpen fig.: ERA. A baseball reference. Relief pitchers, a subset of whom are called "closers" warm up in the "bullpen". Earner Run Average. Roughly, how many runs, on average, the pitcher gives up for every nine innings he pitches (ERA excludes runs the pitcher would not have allowed had somebody not messed up).
61. __ sale: TAG. AKA Yard Sale or Garage Sale.
62. Georgetown closer: EDU. Not a baseball reference. The ending of an email address.
63. Barely passing mark: DEE. A B C D F Aren't we grading on the curve here?
Here is the completed grid:
That will wrap things up for today. Thanks, again, Lisa (and friends).
