Thursday, March 25, 2021, Emma Oxford

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, wishing everyone a wonderful Thursday.  It need not be as joyous as it seems to be for our friend, above, for it to still be quite pleasant.

I, for one, am pleased to report that, in contrast to last Thursday's mind-expanding theme, today we are presented with a quite straightforward, easy-to-describe theme.  At four places in the grid, our constructor, Emma Oxford, has placed definitions of KING.  This solver found the theme entries to be helpful in completing the puzzle.  Of course, there are many definitions of KING that were not used in this puzzle (e.g. a type of salmon, a chess piece and Stephen King) and perhaps Emma will treat us all to a King-theme-redux at some point in the future.

WE THREE FOUR KINGS   (with a few more strewn about)

17 Across. King: HIGHEST FACE CARD.

King David?

33 Across. King: MALE MONARCH.

King Melvin Kaminsky

41 Across. King: TYPE OF COBRA. 

King Cobra

57 Across. King: POWERFUL CHECKER.

Like The Man Said, "King Me"

The completed grid .  .  .  .

.  .  .  .  and the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Pacific island called "The Gathering Place": OAHU.

King Kalakaua Lived Here

5. Lots of land: ACRES.

 

10. Workshop gadget: VISE.  A clamp, not a bad habit.

14. Cold-shoulder: SHUN.  Rarely used, as it seems to be used in the clue, as a verb.  Or, perhaps as in "he received the cold-shoulder"?,

15. Material from the French for a Scandinavian country: SUEDE.  This marine mammal was not previously cognizant of the etymology.  Then again, he also did not know that The Police had recorded a song called King of Pain.  As a result, for years he wondered what had inspired this:

Weird Al, King of Suede

16. MLB shortstop who agreed to play third because Jeter was already the shortstop: AROD.  Alex RODriguez.  Wow, that certainly is one lengthy clue.  Not to be confused with Chi Chi.

Les Nessman - WKRP

20. Used, as china: ATE ON.  Small "c" china originated in the Jaingxi province of capital "C" China.

21. Belief ending: ISM.

22. Mudville dud: CASEY.  CASEY At The Bat is the "Ballad of The Republic" written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer.  Mudville in the clue, of course, is a reference to the town.   And The Mighty Casey, of course, struck out.

The Might Casey

23. Theater section: LOGE.

25. "Queer Eye" fashion expert __ France: TAN.  Often, we see Amy.  "Queer Eye" is an American reality television series.  Tanveer Wasim France (nee Safdar) was on the show.

26. Clara Bow nickname: IT GIRL.

29. By the seashore: COASTAL.  She sells seashells by the seashore.

35. Society newbie: DEB.  Slang/shortened form of  DEButant.

37. Kuwaiti ruler: EMIR.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Kuwait

King Salmon and Friends

38. Name synonymous with synonyms: ROGET.  Created in 1805 by Peter Mark ROGET and released to the public in 1852.

39. Frosty glaze: HOAR.  When humid air skips the droplet stage and goes directly to crystallization it forms HOAR frost.

Hoar frost

40. Place to relax: DEN.  Or, perhaps, not relax.  See also 65 Across.

Daniel In The King of Beast's Den

43. Disco lights: STROBES.

45. Pressing: URGENT.

46. "Who now the price of his dear blood doth __?": Shak.: OWE.  A quote from Shakespeare could be used to clue just about any word in the English language.

47. Roman commoner: PLEB.  Shortened form of Plebian.  Those citizens of Rome who were not Patricians were PLEBians.

48. Part of a 13-piece suit?: SPADE.  Not clothing but (another) playing card reference.  I wondered, but only for a very brief moment, if the clue contained a typo.

51. 19th-century mystery writer with just one complete novel: POE.  I didn't know that.  The novel was The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

53. Ristorante order: PASTA.  Ristorante, Italian for restaurant, tells us the type of cuisine that we should be thinking of (of which we should be thinking?).

60. Short mystery writer?: ANON.  Short, get it?, for ANONymous and, as an unknown, such an author would be a mystery.

61. Patch plant: BRIAR.

62. 23rd-century captain: KIRK.  The Star Trek television series ran for only three seasons (1966 - 1969) in the 20th-century before being canceled due to low ratings.  The show was, however, set in the 23rd century.  One of the best-ever spoofs of the show was written by Bobby "Boris" Pickett.  Yes, he of The Monster Mash.  He still owes me royalties.

Star Drek

63. Unfreeze: MELT.  Thaw was another four-letter-possibly-correct response.

64. Golfer's set: IRONS.  Metal golf clubs.  Called IRONS to distinguish them from "woods" which used to actually be made from wood.

King Cobra Irons

65. Relaxing spots: SPAS.  See also 40 Across.

Down:

1. Job safety org.: OSHA. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  We've seen OSHA before.  Remember the cowboy?

2. "It's __!": SRO show headline: A HIT.  Standing Room Only means that all the seats have been sold.  This Broadway show had its share of sold out performances:

3. Very significant: HUGE.  King-sized?

4. Less saintly: UNHOLIER.  As Cheddar is to Swiss?

5. Obstinate mount: ASS.  It seems as if this answer shows up every week.

6. __ pie: CUTIE.  Apple, Berry, Peach, and Fruit - any of these five-letter words might have sent us down the wrong path.

7. Touchdown signalers: REFS.  Not an airport reference.  A football reference.

8. Dutch cheese: EDAM.  I know that we had this two weeks ago.  M - A - D - E  backwards.

9. Champagne label word: SEC.  Used to denote the level of residual sugar (for SEC, it is 17 to 32 grams per liter) in the wine.

10. Unoccupied: VACANT.

11. Some S&L plans: IRAS.  Individual Retirement AccountS are a crossword-ese staple.

12. Ticked off: SORE.  

13. Water whirled: EDDY.

18. 3-Down, poetically: ENORM.  Poetically !?  I thought that this was Valley-girl speak.

Frank and Moon Unit Zappa

19. Cybercurrency: ECASH.  Egad, another "E" word !

24. "Hallelujah!": GLORY BE.

25. Diplomatic: TACTFUL.

26. Chatted with, but not IRL: IMED.  Instant MessagED as opposed to talking In Real Life.

27. Subdues: TAMES.

28. Shimmer: GLINT.

Astronaut Photograph of Sun Glint

29. Pet store array: CAGES.  Today's "I prefer to skip the graphics" moment.

30. Snack with Red Velvet and Key Lime Pie varieties: OREO.  I have thought about constructing a crossword puzzle using only OREO for all of the answers but cluing it seventy-five different ways.

31. Acrobat maker: ADOBE.  Developed by ADOBE, Inc., Acrobat is a computer standard for viewing, creating, printing and manipulating PDF (Portable Document Format) files.

32. Absorb: LEARN.

34. "Ain't gonna happen": NOPE.  The clue is slangy, ergo the answer is slangy.

36. Frank's cousin: BRAT.  The wurst pun today.  Not your daughter to your brother's son, Frank.

39. Ridges with steeply sloped sides: HOGBACKS.  Named for the resemblance to, you guess it, the backs of some hogs.

41. Loom: TOWER.  Used as a verb as in "to TOWER over something".  A bit of misdirection as one might have thought of a device used for weaving.

42. French pancake: CREPE.

Une Crepe au noisette s'il vous plait !

44. Capybara, for one: RODENT.  Capybaras are the largest living RODENTs on Earth.  They are semi-aquatic and are found throughout most South American countries.   An adult Capybara weighs 75 - 150 pounds and can grow to be 3.5 to 4.5 feet in length.

47. Praline nut: PECAN.

Pralines

48. Unwanted email: SPAM.   In prior puzzle write-ups, I have used Hormel and Monty Python graphics for this SPAM.  What, now?  Hmmmm.  I guess that we could go with the current "junk email" use of the word, as clued.

49. Fried Dixie bread: PONE.  Tom Lehrer referred to Corn PONE in his classic I Wanna Go Back to Dixie:

Live - 1967

50. Badly off base: AWOL.  Absent WithOut Leave   For some, a bit of misdirection in that the clue refers to a military base and not a baseball game.

51. Sound of a contented cat: PURR.

Rocky The Flying Cat

52. Medley: OLIO.

They might have added "often found in crossword puzzles".

54. Decide not to go to: SKIP.   I first tried to see if STAY would work.

55. Giga- x 1,000: TERA.  In one sense, computer jargon.

56. Sacred cabinets: ARKS.

The Ark of the Covenant

58. "The Sopranos" org.: FBI.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Mafia would not fit.  Mob would fit but all of the perps would have to change.

59. Store door nos.: HRS.  Hours.  Punt!  It's time to leave, now .  .  .  .  .

Happy (just a tad early) Pesach

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MM OUT

Thursday, March 11, 2021, Craig Stowe

  

Malodorous Manatee, here, wishing a Good Morning to all you cruciverbalists.  Today, much like our friend, above, the constructor, Craig Stowe, seems to have leaned a bit too heavily on the keyboard.    As a result, we have characters (letters) that are repetitious, redundant, and repetitive.  Or, not.  Craig must enjoy repetition because he has had puzzles published in the LA Times in January and February of this year.  With this one in March, he now has a 2021 LAT Hat Trick.

LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS, WE GET LOTS AND LOTS OF LETTERS

Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Patti Page

At three places in the grid, Craig has substituted multiple identical letters for the more common name of an event, a product, and a group of drug sniffing dogs.  A clever and well executed, if none-too-subtle, theme.

20 Across.  Meeting of powerful nations: GGGGGGG SUMMIT.  Seven, count 'em, Gees.  The Group of Seven, or G7, SUMMIT meetings are held between the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, The United Kingdom and Japan to discuss international economic and monetary issues.  Russia used to be part of what was then called the Group of Eight (with 40 across G8 would have been interesting) but Russia got kicked out after annexing the Crimea.

40 Across.  Campbell's concoction: VVVVVVVV JUICE.  Eight (an octad) Vees.  V8 JUICE is made from vegetables and fruits by Campbell (known mostly for their soup)

.

59 Across.  Team at a drug bust: KKKKKKKKK UNIT.  Nine Kays.  Dogs in the police K-9 (canine as in dog not tooth, although there is a relationship) UNIT are trained to sniff out drugs and other contraband.

Brian Griffin K-9 Cop

.  .  .  .  and now, sufficiently invigorated, let us move on to the rest of today's puzzle.  We'll leave the completed puzzle for the end of the recap because, today, locating the theme answers requires neither circles nor highlighting.

Across:

1. John follower: ACTS.  A reference to the books of the Bible (New Testament).

5. Whack, biblically: SMITE.  A nice juxtaposition with 1 Across.

10. Behold, to Cicero: ECCE.  "Cicero" is a tip-off that the answer will have something to do with the Roman Empire or the Latin language.

14. Young Adult novel by Carl Hiaasen about an owl habitat: HOOT.  Carl Hiaasen writes very humorous books.  My favorite was written in collaboration with Dave Barry and eleven other authors who each wrote one chapter of:

15. Wore: HAD ON.   What, I hear you asking is a HADON ?

16. Devise, with "up": DRUM.  Our first, of many, idioms today, to DRUM up something means to bring about by persistent effort.

17. Blue-green: AQUAMARINE.  There are other blue-green colors.

19. Garage occupant: AUTO.  A garage is a good place to park an AUTOmobile.

22. One looking at a lot of tickets: USHER.  Or, for an answer, a compulsive speeder.  Or, for a clue, an entertainer.

USHER

24. Berliner's "Blimey!": ACH.  Our German language lesson for today.

25. School contest: BEE.  On Monday it would have been clued as Spelling Contest.

26. "It's __ good": ALL.  NO didn't have enough letters.  NOT was not good.  Another idiomatic expression.

27. 2016 US Open champ Wawrinka: STAN.  A tennis reference unknown to this author (it could have been golf for all I knew - they both have US Opens).  Thanks, perps.

Stan Wawrinka

31. Possessive pronoun: OUR.  His?  Her?   Its?

33. Landlocked Asian country: LAOS.  While on a visit to Cambodia, our group of ten intrepid travelers took a day trip to LAOS.  At an open air market a vendor was selling some of the local libations.  He offered us a sample of this one.  Only one member of our party was curious enough, brave enough, and stupid enough to take him up on the offer.  Guess who that was.

Yes, Those Are Real Snakes

35. Native Nebraskan: OTOE.  One of the North American tribes.  OTO, Cree would also have fit the space.

37. Carpenter's tool: RASP.  Sometimes clued as "a hoarse voice".

43. Spotted: SEEN.  As opposed to Spotted like a leopard, for example

44. Breeze (through): SAIL.  Yet another idiom in today's puzzle.

45. Vegas rollers: DICE.  Also used in Yahtzee.

47. Ping-Pong table need: NET.

49. Messy one: SLOB.

51. Goat's cry: MAA.  Often, BAA.

Goat Sounds

52. Braying beast: ASS.  Some constructors are reluctant to include ASS in their puzzles due to a couple of its many connotations.  Today's "I will pass on the graphic" moment.

55. Trig. function: COS.  COSine.  In Trigonometry, the ratio of the side adjacent to an acute angle to the hypotenuse (in a right triangle).  It would have been cool if I had remembered that from the tenth grade but I had to look it up. 

57. "I can take __!": A HINT.  Idiomatic?  On the cusp.  

64. Green on a weather map: RAIN.  The first time I ever saw four-color weather radar was on a small plane taking off from Mobile, Alabama in 1980.  On the cockpit display, we could see a violent storm (lots of red) closing in on us in real time.  The pilot started the takeoff roll as we were closing the cabin door and we took off just ahead of the incoming weather.

65. Largest portion: LIONS SHARE.

68. Miranda __ of "Homeland": OTTO.  A proper noun that was unknown to this mindless marine mammal.

69. "Solutions and Other Problems" writer Brosh: ALLIE.  See 68 Across, above.

70. Wheelhouse: AREA.  The idiom "in one's wheelhouse" is synonymous with "right up one's alley" or AREA of expertise or interest.

71. Retreat: NEST.

2020 - 2021 A.D.

72. Blind parts: SLATS.  As in window covering.

73. Old autocrat: TSAR.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

Down:

1. "Got it!": AHA.  We can at least put in the H until we figure out if it's going to be AHA or OHO.

2. __ au vin: COQ.  C'est francais, n'est-ce pas?  A chicken dish made with Brandy and wine.

3. Compassionate but strict approach: TOUGH LOVE.

4. Put on: STAGE.  As clued, a verb.  As a noun:

5. Carpet type: SHAG.

Now or Later

6. "All Rise" actress Helgenberger: MARG.  This proper noun was known from CSI and not from the clue or from Ryan's Hope.

Marg Helgenberger

7. "Got it": I DIG. Wow, 50's hipster slang!

8. Island kingdom whose capital is Nuku'alofa: TONGA.  This was easier than if the clue had been "Capital of the Island Kingdom of Tonga".

9. "Romanian Rhapsodies" composer: ENESCO.  George ENESCO, often spelled Enescu, composed the two Romanian Rhapsodies in 1901.  He was born in Romania but also lived in France.  Therefore, the spelling variations.

For Two Clarinets and a Piano

10. Answer to the riddle "What cheese is made backward?": EDAM.  An oldie but a goody.  M A D E < - - - > E D A M 

11. Roomba pickup: CRUMB.  True, but a bit of a stretch.  A Roomba is an automated vacuum cleaner that can pick up all sorts of things in addition to CRUMBs.

12. Term of affection: CUTIE.

13. Gush on stage: EMOTE.  A lot of actors seem to over do it in crossword puzzles.

18. Diamond VIPs: MGRS.  A baseball reference.  ManaGeRS.    My mother, who hailed from Brooklyn introduced me to this book:

21. Freedom, in Swahili: UHURU.  Not to be confused with UHURa.

Shown, Here, On The Right

22. Chi.-based flier: UAL.  United AirLines is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

23. Some Balkans: SLAVS.  There were many other ways to draft this clue as SLAVS  include Belarusians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, Czechs, Kashubs, Poles, Slovaks, Sorbs, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenes, and others.

28. "Mazel __!": TOV.  A Hebrew / Yiddish expression of congratulations.  Literally, good fortune.

You've Almost Finished The Puzzle, Mazel Tov!

29. Quads on roads: ATVS.  All Terrain VehicleS.

Fun For Everyone

30. Breakout stars?: NOVAS.  A NOVA, plural sometimes NOVAE, is a transient astronomical event that causes the appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star.

A Nova In The Andromeda Galaxy

32. Surprise attack: RAID.

34. Cinematographer Nykvist: SVEN.  SVEN Nykvist is best know for his work with Ingmar Bergman.  Even with no idea who they were looking for, the name in the clue was a hint that the answer would very likely be a Scandinavian name.

36. Sermon subject: EVIL.

Dr. Evil

38. Curved sabers: SCIMITARS.

39. Butter __: PECAN.  Knife?  Finger?  No a sweet.

41. Jersey type: V NECK.  We have seen this clue and answer before.

42. "On the Floor" singer: JLO.  I confess that I would not recognize Jennifer LOpez if I bumped into her on the street.  I am even less familiar with her music.

46. Put away: EAT.  Yet another of today's idioms.

48. Stein's partner: TOKLAS.  Alice B TOKLAS and Gertrude Stein were a couple for forty years.  I did see the 1968 movie.

50. Makes illegal: BANS.  We never know, until the perps, if it will be BANS or BARS but we can fill in three of the four letters and that usually helps.

52. LeBron's hometown: AKRON.  LeBron James, arguably one of the best ever professional basketball players, was born in AKRON, Ohio.

53. Do lutzes, say: SKATE.   Today, not the fish but a jump done on a pair of ice SKATEs.

The Russian Explains It

54. Vaudeville fare: SKITS.  Short comedy sketches of humorous writing.  Often, parodies.

56. Ability: SKILL.  Our third-in-a-row answer consisting of five letters and starting with SK.

58. Percussion pair: HI HAT.  A HI HAT is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal that is often heard in x-word puzzles.

A Hi Hat 

60. One in a sailor's repertoire: KNOT.

61. Beverage nut: KOLA.  I seem to recall having KOLA in the last puzzle that I blogged.  This time, no Koala riff.

62. Make mittens, say: KNIT.

63. Exploits: USES.  The answer could have been DEEDS but not of the type used in a game of Monopoly.

66. Irish actor Stephen: REA.  He visits us often.

67. Mr. Potato Head piece: EAR.  Mr., Miss, Mrs., Ms., NB and other Potato Heads have been in the news lately with all of their various pieces.  Back in the day we used real potatoes.  Did I spell that correctly, Dan?

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MM Out