Ah, Spring! Just when some of us thought that the warmer weather might be here to stay, the cold weather makes a return appearance. Malodorous Manatee, here, with a puzzle from Grant Boroughs who must have experienced a brain freeze because he used the same wintry clue three times.
I Don't Wanna Sound Complaining but Freeze, Freeze Me, Oh Yeah, Like I Freeze You.
40 Across. In the event of a freeze, ...: WEAR WARM CLOTHES. When it's so very cold that water turns to ice, well, that's a deep freeze. Bundle up to stay warm.
59 Across. In the event of a "Freeze!," ...: DON'T MOVE A MUSCLE. When the cops, or the bad guys for that matter, tell you to stop right where you are they might yell "Freeze"!
Across:
1. Toddler's call: MOMMY.
6. The universal language, some say: MATH.
Tom Lehrer Explains It
10. "Time __ transfix the flourish set on youth": Shak.: DOTH. In his works, Shakespeare used a grand total of 31,534 different words thus providing crossword constructors with a vast pool from which to select something that will fit in their grids . . . . even if the word hasn't been heard in four hundred years.
14. Red tide cause: ALGAE.
15. Bio, in a way, is aptly part of it: OBIT. OBITuary. Both the clue and the answer are abbreviations that have become accepted usage.
16. Most populous Hawaiian island: OAHU. Maui is another four-letter Hawaiian island.
20. Little pigs or blind mice: TRIO. . . . . and the Oscar goes to
21. Smelting residue: SLAG.
22. Lowland: VALE.
22. Lowland: VALE.
25. Title choice on a form: MRS. Other options include Miss, Ms., Mr. and decline to state.
27. Destroy, as files: SHRED.
31. Bitterroot Range st.: IDA. "State" is abbreviated so the answer will be an abbreviation. But, you knew that. A segment of the Rocky Mountains, the Bitterroots run for approximately 300 miles along the IDAho and Montana state border.
32. Take on: ASSUME. As in "to assume the role of".
35. Close: NEAR. As in close the door? Nope, as in close at hand.
36. Rye fungus: ERGOT. This fungus seems to have developed a symbiotic relationship with crossword puzzles.
38. Underestimate, say: MISJUDGE. A woman asked her husband to take a spider outside instead of squashing it. He did. He and the spider walked a bit and then had a chat over a couple of beers. Upon returning home, the husband told his wife that he had MISJUDGEd the spider. "He's a nice guy," said the husband "and he wants to be a web developer."
43. Shelter securely: ENSCONCE.
44. Tech support callers: USERS.
45. Like those who leap before they look: RASH. At the drug store, I could not decide between the Lotrimin and the Tinactin. I mulled it over for a while because I did not want to make a RASH decision.
46. More evil: DARKER.
49. Brown brew: ALE.
50. Aerodynamic: SLEEK.
52. Parker's wind: SAX. Charlie "Bird" Parker was a world-renowned saxophone player
53. Ice cream brand: EDYS. West of the Rockies, and in Texas, it's called Dryer's. In the other parts of the country the same ice cream is called EDY'S.
54. Farm skyline sight: SILO.
57. Sharp barks: YAPS. Sometimes, YIPS.
66. Jug: EWER. Often seen in crossword puzzles.
Jim Kweskin and the Ewer Band
67. Michael Douglas' middle name: KIRK. Hmmm. Isn't that his father's name?
68. Daily delivery: PAPER. As in newspaper. A fast-fading ritual. Pew Research reported in January, 2021 that 86% of Americans now get there news online using their smartphones. The remaining 14% seem to get their news from "The Daily Show".
69. Sky and Storm org.: WNBA. Two teams in the Women's National Basketball Association. Organization is abbreviated so . . .
70. Mid-month day: IDES.
71. Turkey neighbor: SYRIA. Neither Yams nor Stuffing would fit.
Down:
1. Deface: MAR. Freddy Mercury, Venus Williams and Bruno MARs all walked into the same bar . . . but they didn't planet that way.
3. Old British sports cars: MGS. Some good friends of mine are purchasing this fully restored MG:
1950 MGTD
4. Finish choice: MATTE. Obviously not Poronkäristys (sautéed reindeer) - as that would have required a double n in the clue. A photo finish, or paint, choice.
5. Orbital period: YEAR. Different planets have YEARs of different lengths. It always irks me when, on Star Trek, far, far away and centuries from now, they refer to minutes, hours, days or YEARs - finite lengths of time that are defined by the movements of a single, infinitesimal spec of the universe: planet Earth - as if the units are the intergalactic standard measurements of time.
6. Drives: MOTORS. Aahhh, memories of waiting for the day when I would be tall enough to reach the sign at the Disneyland Autopia.
Circa 1955
7. Elementary sequence: ABC. If you headed down the Periodic Table rabbit hole then this one might not have been as easy as ABC.
8. Spanish relatives: TIOS. Uncles en ingles.
9. Web page standard: HTML. Hyper Text Markup Language
10. Baker's dozen: DOUGHNUTS. The preferred spelling. For some reason this made me think of The Bangles.
11. Cereal grain: OAT.
12. Start of many band names: THE. Why "band" ? Why not? Must be why 10 Down made me think of a band.
13. "Ben-__": HUR. Ben Gay? Ben Affleck? Ben There Done That?
18. Crater borders: RIMS.
Crater Lake, Oregon - Rim
19. Faux __: PAS. An embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation.
22. Nielsen ratings units: VIEWERS. The Nielsen TV Ratings attempt to measure ratings share and the total number of VIEWERS of a TV show.
23. Epinephrine-producing gland: ADRENAL.
24. "Cooking With Power" author: LAGASSE.
Emeril Lagasse
26. Seasons in the sun: SUMMERS. This marine mammal referenced Jacques Brel and the Terry Jacks song the last time this situation arose.
28. Member of a league in a Sherlock Holmes title: REDHEAD.
29. With enthusiasm: EAGERLY.
30. Ballroom attire: DRESSES.
30. Ballroom attire: DRESSES.
32. "Love on __-way Street": 1970 hit: A TWO. Originally recorded by Lezli Valentine. I was a student at U.C. Berkeley in 1970 and this is not the music to which we all listened. Grant (or Rich) could have gone with Lawrence Welk's much satirized "and a one and A TWO."
33. Open __ night: MIC. It's part of the lexicon, I guess, but here it's a truncated answer (MICrophone) to a non-abbreviated clue.
34. Non-native speaker's subj.: ESL. English as a Second Language
37. Theater section: ORCHESTRA.
41. "What else?": AND. Yes . . . ?
42. Electronics pioneer: RCA. Radio Corporation of America
47. Vessels with cockpits: KAYAKS.
48. Final, say: EXAM. LAST would have fit in the allotted space. As would TEST.
51. Kipling title orphan: KIM.
53. A 48-Down may include one: ESSAY.
55. Norse prankster: LOKI. I first learned about LOKI by reading Marvel comic books.
56. Poet banished by Augustus: OVID. Banish cOVID.
58. Baby seals: PUPS.
59. Beads on blades: DEW. As on blades of grass.
60. Have title to: OWN.
61. State east of Wyo.: NEB. So. Dakota also adjoins Wyo on the east but, since the clue did not specifically ask for an adjoining state, it could also have been many others.
62. Afore: ERE. Both the clue and the answer are considered to be archaic.
63. First aid skill, for short: CPR. "For Short" suggests an abbreviation. Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
64. 16-Across garland: LEI. In Hawaii, May First is Lei Day.
65. Timeline section: ERA. One of twenty-four three-letter answers in this cwd pzl.
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MM Out
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