Good morning to you, cruciverbalists, from your local manifestly malodorous marine mammal. It is now December and it has been a full week since this year's Thanksgiving holiday observances. Whatever the form your's may have taken let us hope that everyone has stayed well.
The August 1, 2020 Crossword Corner post has some comments by, and biographical information about, today's constructor, Kevin Salat. You may find it worth the time to peruse it. Here is a link:
THEME: It Is A Far, Far Better Rest
For today's puzzle, Kevin has created a theme that is good. No, it is better than that. In fact, it is quite literally:
At three locations in the puzzle Kevin has placed a synonym for CUT directly above the word REST. All are found among the Across clues/answers and the answer at 63 Across does double duty. It not only serves as part of the theme but it is also the reveal.
16 Across. Outshine: ECLIPSE.
18 Across. The Home of the highest terrestrial biodiversity: RAIN FOREST CANOPY.
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37 Across. ICU hookups: I V DRIPS. In the Intensive Care Unit they might hook you up to one or more IntraVenous DRIPS.
41 Across. Airbag, e.g.: PASSIVE RESTRAINT
_____
61 Across. Extra: SPARE.
63 Across. Superior ... or what this puzzle's circled letters represent?: A CUT ABOVE THE REST.
A look at the Answer Grid shows the placements. It would have been just a touch more elegant if Kevin, somehow, had found a way to work in a four letter synonym for CUT at 37 Across. Then all of the pairs would have stacked four letters over four letters. That, however, is a mere nit to pick.
Across:
1. It's not clear: BLUR. On the other hand, this graphic is clearly BLURry.
5. Strategic corporate name change: RE-BRAND. An almost, but not quite, made-up word (aren't they all) using RE. Not all RE-BRANDing represents an improvement.
12. Expert: PRO. This could have been clued as Con con.
Can Can
15. Arm bone: ULNA. Alternative clue: Bone commonly found in crossword puzzles.
17. Cornish game __: HEN. A straightforward fill-in-the--blank clue.
21. Partner of mirrors: SMOKE. The expression "SMOKE and Mirrors" is used to describe the obscuring or embellishing of the truth with misleading or irrelevant information.
22. What duct tape has a lot of: USES. You only need two items in your tool box. If it does not move and it should - USE the WD40. If it moves and it should not - USE the duct tape. There is a brand of Duct Taped called Duck Tape.
23. Computer operating system with a penguin mascot: LINUX.
25. Little helper?: ASST. In this instance, when combined with the question mark, "Little" tells us that the answer will be an abbreviated version of a synonym for helper - ASSistanT.
27. Identify: PEG. A legitimate answer, as in "I've got you PEGged" and just enough of a stretch to be quite clever.
28. Texter's segue: BTW. Shorthand for By The Way.
29. Building up: AMASSING.
34. 3-Down concern: SCAB. 3-Down's answer is UNION. A SCAB is a strikebreakers who works at a place where, and when, the unionized workers are on strike.
40. 19th Greek letter: TAU.
44. Craft measured in cubits: ARK. Recently, we asked the question "What's a cubit?" A cubit is an ancient measure of length approximately equal to a person's forearm. Noah was instructed to build an ARK that was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.
A Full-Scale Version of Noah's Ark
45. What chefs do often: RETASTE. Another almost-made-up word formed by sticking RE at the beginning. Is Linquish a word?
46. Single-file travelers, at times: ANTS.
47. "King Arthur's Song" musical: SPAMALOT. No it isn't. Yes it is.
King Arthur's Song
49. Red or Ross: SEA. The Red SEA borders Asia and Africa. The Ross Sea abuts Antarctica.
51. Were, now: ARE. A riff on verb tenses.
52. Baja's opposite: ALTA. In English, lower and upper. We often see Spanish words in the puzzles. French, also. Rarely, Slovene.
54. __ Mahal: TAJ. Probably a reference to the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah in Agra but it could also be a reference to this gentleman:
Taj Mahal - "Fishin' Bues"
57. Chew out: SCOLD.
59. Fast-food option: TO GO. In some jurisdictions, today, the only option is to order your meal TO GO. Also, the name of a dog hero in a 2019 Walt Disney movie. It was rated PG - for those here who might be curious.
66. Relations: KIN. Relations as in family relatives and not, for example, algebraic - reflexive, symmetric, transitive or anti symmetric. Can you think of other types of relations? I knew that you could.
67. Part of the CMYK color model: MAGENTA. Cyan, Yellow and Black (aka Key) are the other colors. One reason that black is referred to as "Key" in this model is because in the German version there is already a color that starts with the letter B (blau).
68. Bassoon cousin: OBOE. OBOEs often appear in crossword puzzles. One of the most famous OBOE passages is from Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. The OBOE plays the part of the Duck.
The Duck
69. It can cover a lot of ground: SOD. Installing rolls of SOD can provide a very nice form of instant gratification.
70. Specter: PHANTOM.
The Phantom of the Opera
71. Puts on: DONS. Doff and DON both date to the 14th century with Doff coming from a phrase meaning "to do off" and DON coming from one meaning "to do on".
Down:
1. Rupture: BURST.
2. Cub : bear :: cria : ___: LLAMA. While he is not familiar with the word "cria", this debonair dugong is familiar with the sophisticated art of poetry.
The one-L Lama, he's a priest
The two-L Llama, he's a beast
And I will bet a silk pajama
There isn't any three-L Lllama
--- Ogden Nash
3. Group with a rep: UNION.
4. Arrange in order: RANK.
Some USMC Ranks, In Order
5. Rock's __ Speedwagon: REO. The original REO Speedwagon was a truck designed in 1915 by Ransom E. Olds. The eponymous rock band was formed more than fifty years later, in 1967.
An REO Speedwagon Truck
6. Beige relatives: ECRUS. We abide the recurring appearance of ECRU because it is a very constructor-friendly combination of letters. But the plural somehow seems far less acceptable. Greens or Blues or Reds seem okay. Maybe that's because those words all have alternative meanings.
7. Hallowed: BLEST. An archaic form of Blessed. BLEST is (s)he who expects no gratitude for (s)he shall not be disappointed.
8. What yeast makes dough do: RISE. The current pandemic has resulted in a significant RISE in the number of people making bread at home.
9. Bldg. units: APTS. APartmenTS
10. Situation Room gp.: NSC. The gp abbreviation tells us that the answer, the National Security Council, will also be abbreviated.
11. "You're on!": DEAL. As in "It's a DEAL."
12. Do the minimum: PHONE IT IN. A colloquialism for dong something in a perfunctory or unenthusiastic manner.
13. Vile: REPUGNANT.
14. Black stone: ONYX. Have you ever searched online for a color photograph of ONYX?
19. Bowling a 300, e.g.: FEAT. The odds of a professional blower bowling a perfect game are said to be approximately 460 to 1. The odds for the average bowler are about 11,500 to 1.
20. Pinches: NIPS. NIPS has many definitions of which pinches is one.
26. Turn while seated: SWIVEL.
28. MLB scorecard entries: BBS. Base on BallS more commonly called Walks. Barry Bonds holds the Major League Baseball record with 2, 558.
29. Wonder Woman adversary: ARES. Long before Wonder Woman was just a glint in her mother's eyes, ARES was the Greek God of War. He often appears in crossword puzzles clued as a belligerent being or as the son of Zeus and/or Hera.
ARES
30. Drops above the ground: MIST. I got lost in the MIST today and didn't have the foggiest idea where I was.
31. H.S. exam for college credit: AP TEST. Advanced Placement Test It would be a safe bet that more than a few Cornerites have taken AP TESTS.
32. Georgia, once ABBR.: SSR The former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics eventually encompassed fifteen nominally independent republics. The clue was a bit of misdirection intended to have us think, I think, of the U.S. State of Georgia or, perhaps, of a Ray Charles song.
33. Courage: GUTS. Do you know what really takes GUTS? Digestion.
34. Apt rhyme for "aahs": SPAS.
35. Italian dish of thinly sliced raw meat or fish: CARPACCIO. By most accounts, the dish was named for the painter Vittore CARPACCIO who was known for the characteristic red and white tones of his work.
36. Do some informal polling: ASK AROUND.
38. Quash: VETO. Franklin Delano Roosevelt holds the record for a U.S. President. He issued 635 VETOs. Grover Cleveland and Harry Truman RANK second and third with 584 and 250, respectively.
39. "Fiddlesticks!": DRAT. Both are expressions of mild annoyance or irritation. In the 17th century, Fiddlesticks (originally Fydylstyks) was appropriated from it's original usage as musical instrument bows and began to be used to indicate absurdity.
42. George's musical brother: IRA. It is nice to see IRA with a Gershwin clue instead of a type of savings account.
43. Energizer size: AAA. To get this one it helped to know that Energizer is a brand of batteries.
48. Liquefy: MELT.
50. State of comfort: EASE. Also, the final word of Tom Lehrer's "It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier" (1959).
"At Ease"
52. Secret __: AGENT. Oxymoronically, there are many well-known Secret Agents - both in real life and from the world of entertainment. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created this one:
Maxwell Smart
53. Numbers game: LOTTO. The CFO of my children's school once described the California State LOTTO as "A tax on the stupid."
54. Fitness portmanteau: TAE BO. This portmanteau is a "mash up" of TAEkwondo and BOxing.
55. Burning issue?: ARSON. We have seen this play on words before. A clue meant to be taken quite literally.
56. Ballet leaps: JETES.
57. Upscale retailer: SAKS. In September 15, 1924 SAKS Fifth Avenue opened their most recognizable store located between Forty-ninth Street and Fiftieth Street.
SAKS Fifth Avenue
58. Slightly soggy: DAMP. It's a myth that people's joints hurt because it's cold and DAMP. 'Turns out that it's a mist ache.
59. Frat party costume: TOGA.
60. One may be self-cleaning: OVEN. There are several good reasons to never use your oven's the self-cleaning feature.
62. Spur: PROD. I never knew how a grown man could cry at his own wedding until my father-in-law PRODded me with his shotgun.
64. Cry of disgust: BAH.
65. Western omelet morsel: HAM. A Western Omelet has eggs, salt, butter, bell pepper, scallions, white cheese and, of course, HAM. If you did not know the recipe the perps very likely bailed you out.
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MM Out
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