Wednesday, Mar 5th, 2025 ~ Sala Wanetick & Emily Biegas

  COVER GIRLS

Emily and Sala - more here

Today's puzzle, from veteran constructors Sala and Emily, ( they appeared just last month as a duo as well ), failed to hit the mark for me this time.  The theme is kinda weak, and the 20-something names, including a crossing where I had no choice but to do an alphabet run, just sucked the life out of this one.  We have two 8-letter themers, and yet two Down answers are longer; a whopping 28 4LWs, and yet only 9 TLWs.  On top of that, the one musical entry that I can relate to is the first - the others are just not my thing; sorry 'bout that.  On a positive note, 17A., 40A., and the theme answer are unique fills, so there's that.  The themers;

17. Fleetwood Mac hit with the lyric "I'll settle for one day to believe in you": LITTLE LIES - a LIE can cover the truth . . .?

26. Taylor Swift hit that features a sweater metaphor: CARDIGAN - usually covers a shirt/blouse . . .?

40. Elvis Presley hit about someone who only looks like an angel: DEVIL IN DISGUISE - disguise as a cover up . . .?

50. Rihanna hit about friends who stick together rain or shine: UMBRELLA - under cover from the rain . . .~?

63. Musical remakes, and what 17-, 26-, 40-, and 50-Across all are, in a way: COVER SONGS - "songs" that have something that covers; I guess.  As for an actual cover song, if it's a "tribute" band, then all you do is cover songs.  I feel that if an artist is going to cover someone else's song, then it should have some variation on the original, i.e., Run-DMC covering Aerosmith as a rap song - I couldn't narrow it down to one great choice, but here's an example;

Flamenco Led Zeppelin - Rodrigo Y Gabriela

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Update a historic home, say: REHAB - I am in the business of updating "historic", and we would never refer to it as a 'rehab' - rehab is where I spent six weeks after detox.  'nuf said.

6. Quick look: PEEP

10. "Dream on": "AS IF."

14. Enlighten: EDIFY

15. Crooner Paul: ANKA - I know him, but name #1

16. Novela introduction?: TELE - Telenovela, a serialized drama in Latin American TV

19. Jai __: ALAI - this used to appear in lots of puzzles "back in the day" - it's only popped up once or twice in a long, long time

20. Pro vote: YEA - My yeS had to change to yeA

21. Ingrid's "Casablanca" role: ILSA - Oops, I thought it was ELSA - that's the "Frozen" girl - name #2

22. Strenuous: TIRING - Crosswords like this are not enjoyable, just TIRING

24. Prefix with tech: NANO - nanotech

28. Milwaukee team: BREWERS - Great logo - I like it when the letters/name is cleverly embedded in the image - here's another great logo

The m and b in the glove~?  That to me is a well-designed logo

31. "The Daily" podcast producer, briefly: NYT - no clue, but I had _YT already; name(ish)

32. Special glow: AURA

33. Paul of "The Batman": DANO - name #3 - I looked it up; he played the Riddler.  I did not see the movie

35. Venomous snake: ADDER

43. Be of __: help: USE TO

44. __ Point, California: DANA - DANO, DANA - Sheesh - name #4

45. Summer getaway: CAMP - I was never 'enrolled' camp, but from what I hear and read, it was not all that fun for many - SEND away, now that's more like it 

46. Govt. intel org.: NSA - I could explain the abbr., but then I'd have to....

48. Gets to giggle: TICKLES - tickles my fancy

55. For fear that: LEST

57. Quite bright: NEON

59. Alley-__: OOP

62. Actor Alda: ALAN - crossword staple, name #5

66. Rare rocks: GEMS

67. Sinister: EVIL

68. Verdi work: OPERA - name(ish)

69. "Gotcha": "I SEE."

Dr. Venkman, @ 0:50

70. "The Voice" host Carson: DALY - name #6

71. Elevates: RISES - meh.  rAises is a better match, e.g. stress from crossword solving RISES blood pressure~? 

DOWN:

1. Depend (on): RELY

2. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #7

3. Touched on something touchy: HIT A NERVE - let me count the (names) ways . . . .9LW

4. Back of the boat: AFT

5. Author credit: BYLINE

6. Buds: PALS

7. Pioneering computer: ENIAC - I had ATARI until that showed up three answers later; name(ish)

8. Scrape (by): EKE

9. Danish, e.g.: PASTRY

10. Pong platform: ATARI

11. Former baseball commissioner Bud: SELIG - I could not recall this name, # 8

12. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - name #9

13. Pretend: FEIGN - I think this "crossname" is pretending to be a crossword

18. "Euphoria" actor Jacob: ELORDI - name # 10, 3 of the 4 previous clues - tho a unique fill

23. Pet collar attachment: ID TAG

25. Stand by for: AWAIT

27. Designate as a successor: ANOINT - meh.  aPPoint fits better.  Anoint to me is religious ceremony

28. Grammy winner Erykah: BADU - even if I DO know this one, ugh; name #11

29. Feels remorse: RUES - he rues the day he said he'd blog Wednesdays . . . . 😜

30. Flip-flop, e.g.: SANDAL

34. Confidentiality contract, for short: NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement - I am seriously considering spending the money to get my board games produced - I need a patent lawyer - anyone at the Corner who can recommend one~?

36. Dodges: DUCKS - these DODGES are not  DUCKS or ADDERS - they're VIPERS

37. Landline sounds: DIAL TONES - the other 9LW, 'longer than theme' fill

38. "Twilight" vampire Cullen: ESME - name #12

39. Gym count: REPS - now this is a good one - the singular count clue and the plural reps answer

41. Not a people person, say: LONER - I am definitely NOT a "people person"

42. Mariner: SAILOR

47. Prepared to serve, as pie: SLICED

49. Black out: CENSOR

50. With 56-Across, grilled eel dish: UNAGI - AND - 56. See 50-Down: NIGIRI - no clue, and when the clues are circumreferential* like this, it's even worse - and name(ish)

51. Odometer units: MILES - my car allows me to track gas prices when I fill up, but every now and then, the same buttons I use to adjust the price end up changing my MPH to KPH; I look down and I am doing "58" in a 30 - Yikes~!

52. Not one's best effort: B-GAME

53. Flush: RINSE

54. Blacksmith's block: ANVIL

58. Wriggly: EELY

60. Fantasy monster: OGRE

61. Unpaid ads: PSAs - Public Service Announcements

64. Egg cells: OVA

65. Maker of Lincoln Park After Dark nail polish: OPI - I've learned that the answer regarding makeup, etc., is either OPI or EOS these days - and name(ish)

* I made this word up, but you get my meaning, yes~?

Splynter

Tuesday March 4, 2025 Roger Miller

I Love You, Let's Kiss.  The circles spell out a slang for Kiss and, because the circles are at the beginning and end of the phrase, the theme answer is "sealed" with a Kiss.

17-Across. *   Know what's going on at all times: NEVER MISS A TRICK.  Neck.

28-Across. *   Trained canine in an airport, say: SNIFFER DOG.  Snog.  Snog it a British slang for kiss, or making out.

50-Across. *   Literature Nobelist who wrote "The Good Earth": PEARL S BUCK.  Peck.

And the unifier:

63-Across. Love letter message often accompanied by a lipstick mark, and what the answers to the starred clues are, thanks to their circled letters: SEALED WITH A KISS.

Here's the Grid so you can see how the answers are Sealed with a Kiss.

Today's c

Across:

1. Stops on a suburban commuter train: TOWNS.

6. "Beat it!": SCAT.  Scat is also a vocal improvisation style where a singer uses nonsense syllables or wordless vocables to create melodies and rhythms. 

10. Intend: MEAN.

14. Silly: INANE.

15. "Pipe down!": HUSH.

16. Lhasa __: small dog: APSO.  These Tibetan dogs make frequent appearances in the puzzles.

20. Taproom brew: ALE.

21. Crooked: BENT.

22. Capital of Taiwan: TAIPEI.

23. Irritate: IRK.

25. Cat call: MEOW.

27. Without a break: ON END.

31. Terro trap insects: ANTS.  I am not familiar with this brand of ant traps, but it was easy enough to fill in the answer.

32. Therefore: HENCE.

33. "Sincerely __": letter ender: YOURS.

35. Unit of work: ERG.  An "erg" a unit of work in the centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system, representing the amount of work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter; it is equivalent to 10^-7 joules, the standard unit of work in the International System of Units (SI).   Clear as mud, right?

36. Spot for a seaweed wrap: SPA.

39. Chain letters?: DNA.  It's a double-helix chain.

 

40. Victoria's Secret purchase: BRA.

43. Crock-Pot concoctions: STEWS.  I have a crockpot, but I haven't used it in years.

45. Lawn-wrecking diggers: MOLES.

47. Chuck wagon fare: CHOW.

53. Puts a curse on: HEXES.

55. __ gin fizz: SLOE.  Sloe gin is a liqueur made by infusing gin with sloe berries and sugar, while regular gin is distilled from juniper berries and other botanicals.  Sloe gin is sweeter and has a lower alcohol content than gin.

56. Anger: IRE.

57. Prime minister between Churchill's two terms: ATTLEE.  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (Jan. 3, 1883 ~ October. 8, 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister from July 1945 to October 1951.

59. "__ in your shirt!": TUCK.

61. Sugar amt.: TSP.  Just a Teaspoon of Sugar.

66. Cleveland's lake: ERIE.

67. Vanished: GONE.  //  And 69-Across. Auction cry: SOLD.

68. Gets the lead out?: MINES.   Oh, quite literally mining for lead.

70. Pitcher with a big mouth: EWER.

71. Inner turmoil: ANGST.

Down:

1. Turner in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: TINA.  Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock; Nov. 26, 1939 ~ May 24, 2023) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

2. Zinger: ONE-LINER.  Groucho Marx (né Julius Henry Marx; Oct. 2, 1890 ~ Aug. 19, 1977) was known for his one-liners:  I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.

3. Having doubts: WAVERING.

4. Tampa-to-Jacksonville dir.: NNE.  As in North-North-East.

5. Croat neighbor: SERB.  Serbia and Croatia share a small border.

6. Black eye: SHINER.

7. Guardianship: CUSTODY.

8. Burro: ASS.

9. "Don't be like __!": THAT.

10. Mooring spots for small boats: MARINAS.

11. Injector for allergic emergencies: EPIPEN.

12. Mountaineer's climb: ASCENT.

13. Adult party invitation request: NO KIDS.

18. Widely shared social media post: MEME.

19. East Asian principle: TAO.

24. Fast-food chain with buckets: KFC.  Formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The Colonel's head on a stick figure.

26. Bonfire fuel: WOOD.

28. Pronoun that precedes "sells seashells" in a classic tongue twister: SHE.

29. End of Oktober?: -FEST.  As in Okoberfest.  Oktoberfest has been celebrated since the early 1800s as part of the official wedding festivities of the future King Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. 

30. Rev, as an engine: GUN.

34. Dodge trucks: RAMS.

And for Jinx:

37. Get-up-and-go: PEP.

38. Blows away: AWES.

40. Saying impulsively, with "out": BLURTING.

41. School playtimes: RECESSES.

42. Request: ASK.

43. Grew larger: SWELLED.

44. Soup cracker: SALTINE.  Because Oyster Cracker wouldn't fit.

46. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.  A reference to the Star Wars movies.

47. Runs after: CHASES.

48. Straight: HETERO.

49. Beefy soup ingredient: OX TAIL.

51. Wireless network device: ROUTER.

52. Solidarity leader Walesa: LECH.  Lech Wałęsa (b. Sept. 29, 1943) was also the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize.  He did not go to the ceremony to accept the prize, however, because he was afraid the Poland's government would not let him back into the country.  In 1990, he became the President of Poland.

54. "Get it?": SEE.

58. Barely beat: EDGE.

60. __ Sutra: KAMA.  The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment.

62. Furtive summons: PSST!

64. Blow away: WOW.

65. Family: KIN.

חתולה

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler !

Happy Mardi Gras!

And for those of you who thought of the other Roger Miller, here's a tribute: