Friday, December 23, 2022,Lewis Rothlein

 

Good day, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here wishing everyone a Merry Xmas Eve Eve and a Happy 5th day/upcoming 6th night of Chanukah.

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song

Today's puzzle setter is Lewis Rothlein.  On August 13, 2022, Husker Gary recapped one of Lewis' puzzles and provided some biographical information on the author.  Here is a link to that:  13 August 2022 LAT Crossword Corner.  Lewis has also had puzzles published in a well-known east coast newspaper.

Today, Lewis plays with his words by adding an additional word to the middle of a common compound word or expression and, thereby, completely changing the original meaning.  Let's start with the reveal which does a good job of describing what is going on:

35 Across:  Pivotal element, and what each word in quotes in the starred clues literally is to its answer?: CENTERPIECE.

A CENTERPIECE usually graces a table at, say, a wedding or a company holiday party.  In this case, thought Lewis uses it as the center (as in between) point between two other words.

Here are the themed clues/answers:

17 Across:  *Begin to chase, with "off": TAKE AFTER.  If you TAKE AFTER someone you emulate them.  If you TAKE OFF AFTER someone you chase them.

24 Across:  *Try to delay, with "for": PLAY TIME.  PLAY TIME is, of course, a time for having fun.  If you PLAY FOR TIME you are stalling,

47 Across:  *Gaining prominence, with "and": UPCOMING.  An UPCOMING event will be here soon.   If you are UP AND COMING your fame and/or fortune is ascendant

55 Across:  *Do some creative accounting, with "the": COOKBOOKS.  We all love COOKBOOKS here on the Corner but if you COOK THE BOOKS you may be committing a felony.  Hi SBF!  Did you have a good year?

Here is how this all looks in the grid:

Across:

1. Common foundation: SLAB.  A common and cost effective way to build.  Just hope that you never need to access the plumbing embedded in the SLAB.

5. Singer in the biopic "Walk the Line": CASH.  Johnny Cash.  The title of the biopic was taken from the eponymous title of the song (written by Johnny R Cash).

9. 1980s cloning target: IBM PC.  Hand up for first thinking of DOLLY the SHEEP.  Burn those ROM.

14. Coil in a garden: HOSE.   Fortunately,  not a garden (garter) snake.

15. "The __ for home lives in all of us": Angelou: ACHE.  Not familiar with the poem but it was not too hard to suss once a perp or two kicked in.

16. Half a comedy duo: MEARA.  So many duos from which to choose (Chong, Lewis, Burns, Allen, etc. but the puzzle setter went with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

On The Carol Burnett Show

19. "Your table's ready" buzzer: PAGER.

20. Illuminates: EDIFIES.

21. Seductive quality: ALLURE.  The world's first great fisherman possessed something that no one before him ever had.  ALLURE.

23. One ensuring accuracy on a grand scale?: TUNER.  As in tuning a Grand Piano.

26. Vare Trophy org.: LPGA.

27. Praises: LAUDS.

29. Up to, briefly: 'TIL.  Un TIL

30. Start of an adage about humanity: TO ERR.

32. Solar __: SYSTEM.  PLEXUS  would have fit the allotted space.

37. Emergency signals: FLARES.

39. WWII Polish resistance hero Sendler: IRENA.  Born 15 February 1910.  Under the pretext of conducting sanitary inspections she, and others within the Social Welfare Department, snuck food, clothing and other necessities into the Warsaw Ghetto.  She helped smuggle out residents when the liquidation of the population within the Ghetto was ordered.  She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and sentenced to death by firing squad.  She escaped this fate because the guards escorting her were bribed and she "escaped".

40. Illuminated: LIT.

41. Country roads: LANES.  Today's let's pass on the John Denver moment.

43. Coarse file: RASP.

50. Revere alternative: BY SEA.  The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere is a poem by Henry Wadswoth Longfellow.  It contains the lines:

51. Rumbled, as thunder: ROLLED.

52. Less tender: TOUGHER.

54. McCartney of Wings: LINDA.  Paul was too short.  He's about 5'10" tall.

57. Broke off: ENDED.  I broke up with a girl once because she was having hallucinations.  She said, "I can't see you anymore."  Which was weird because I was standing right in front of her.  Then she said, "You don't understand.  I'm seeing someone else."  Which was really odd because there were just the two of us in the room.  I had to break it off after that.

58. Exhort: URGE.  

59. Layered cookie: OREO.  How do I clue thee?  Let me count the ways.

60. Torment: AGONY.  Tom Lehrer on the subject:

The Masochism Tango

61. Walked (on): TROD.

62. Laura of "Big Little Lies": DERN.

Down:

1. Type of village in Isaac Bashevis Singer stories: SHTETL.  Yiddish for town.

2. Pack, as a moving van: LOAD UP.

3. __ price: ASKING.

4. Tower of London figure: BEEFEATER.  Not, for example, the height or age of the tower,

5. Cozy eatery: CAFE.

6. Show parts: ACTS.  A part of a show.  E.G.  ACT two Scene three.

7. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE.  Unfamiliar with this duo outside of crossword puzzles.

8. Announce grandly: HERALD.  Hark the HERALD Tibune sings . . .

Mr. Lehrer, Again - A Christmas Carol

9. Intimate: IMPLY.  Not intimate (accent on the first syllable) as in close (as in near by not as in shut).  Intimate (accent on the final syllable) as in to hint at.  Isn't the English language a real . . .

10. Corker: BEAUT.

11. "The Treachery of Images" painter: MAGRITTE.  Call it art and that's what it becomes.  Rene MAGRITTE.

12. Early delivery: PREEMIE.  Natal reference not UPS or FEDEX.

13. Wheels: CAR.  Slang.

18. Cause of inflation: AIR.  Literally, not financially.

22. Scottish girls: LASSIES.  I choose to believe in female minotaurs. It's a lass half bull mindset.

24. Good vibrations?: PURRING.  See also 35 Down.

25. Dartboard wood: ELM.

27. Leaves be: LETS LIE.

28. "All bets __ off": ARE.

31. Common Scrabble tile value: ONE.

33. Nikkei index currency: YEN.  The Nikkei is Japan's equivalent of the NYSE.

34. Impressive and then some: SCARY GOOD.

35. Tower for a pet who likes to climb and hide: CAT CONDO.

36. Not post-: PRE.   PRE means before and POST means after.  To use both at the same time would be preposterous.

37. Target of an annual vaccine: FLU.

38. Facial piercing: LIP RING

42. Scene-ending phrase: AND CUT.  Hollywood-ese.

44. Washed up, maybe: ASHORE.  Cute.  Washed Up, of course has its own meaning - to be no longer skillful or successful.  In this case washed ASHORE.

45. One on a quest: SEEKER.

46. Marrying sort?: PARSON.  I could have gone with Parson Brown from the song  "Winter Wonderland" but instead chose this  John Forster song (it'll become clear with the last line):

48. Of yore: OLDEN.  What was the major activity of OLDEN day peasants?  Serfing.

49. Word said with a curtsy: M'LADY.

50. Buster: BUB.  MAC PAL BRO 

52. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO.

53. Authorized: OK'ED.

54. Place to ruminate: LEA. Not ruminate as in to turn a matter over in your mind.  Ruminate as in to chew cud, the source of the previous idiomatic use of the word.  LEA = pasture or meadow.

56. "Catch-22" pilot who crashes repeatedly: ORR.  Often clued with the hockey player.  In this case, a reference to the Joseph Heller novel.

Lewis Rothlein, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the comments section below.  We'd love to hear from you. 

That's all for today's recap.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

Milo Minderbinder out . . .

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Friday, December 9, 2022, Katie Hale

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's Friday recap.  I.E. commentary.  I.E. summary.  Today's. constructor, i.e. puzzle setter, is Katie Hale who recently visited us on both October 9th and November 27th of this year.  At five places within the grid Katie has added the letters I and E to common expressions and, thereby, created humorous definitions to the clues.  Three of those five answers completely traverse the 15-square grid.  Brava, Katie!

Below are the five themed answers:

17 Across:  Gourmet chefs' argument about plating?: FOODIE FIGHT.  Foodie, i.e. gourmet

24 Across:  Paying attention to the portraits in a social media feed?: SELFIE CONSCIOUS.  SELF CONSCIOUS, i.e. aware.

38 Across:  Photographers who specialize in permanent markers?: SHARPIE SHOOTERS.  SHARPIE, i.e. marking pen

49 Across:  Patches on one's favorite sweatshirt?: HOODIE ORNAMENTS.  Well, I'll be darned.  There actually are HOODIE (Christmas Tree) ORNAMENTS.

60. Exclamation before putting on one's favorite pajamas?: NIGHTIE TIME.

Here is how all of this looks in the grid.  Please ignore the red and yellow highlighting at 58 Across.  I have had to use a new .puz file solving site for this recap and I have not yet figured out how to format everything in the ways that I would prefer.  Id est quod id est.

. . . and here is the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Obama daughter: SASHA.  Malia is also five letters long with two A's in the same places as SASHA so it took a perp to determine which daughter it would be.

6. Tried to get home, say: SLID.  A baseball reference.

10. Pester: NAG.

13. Removes, as a brooch: UNPINS.  Or from the task bar.

 15. Loosen (up): EASE.   As restrictions.  I.E. precautions.

16. End of a Harvard address: EDU.  Not an address that might be delivered by an orator.  In this case, an email address.

19. Formal accessory: TIE.  A fashion accessory that can be traced to the Croats.  Utterly useless for a manatee.

20. Romeo's last words: I DIE.  "Here's to my love. (drinks the poison)  O' true apothecary, thy drugs are quick.  Thus with a kiss I DIE."

21. High-sided cookware: WOK.

22. "The Princess Bride" co-star: ELWES.

28. X-ray kin: MRI.  Magnetic Resonance Imaging

29. __ Hebrides: OUTER.  A geographer reference.  See 62 Down

30. Hong Kong neighbor: MACAU.  . . . and another

34. Jenna's role on "The Office": PAM.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks perps.

35. Sketch: SKIT.  Not a pencil drawing.  A bit of acting.

42. Drug cop: NARC.

43. CBS forensic drama: CSI.  

44. Sea Breeze need: VODKA.

45. Noble __: GASES.  Hand up for initially thinking PRIZE.  Wait, that's spelled Nobel.  Colorless, odorless, tasteless and nonflammable.   Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.

47. "Despicable Me" supervillain: GRU.

56. Blanched: ASHEN.

57. Have: EAT.  As in consume food.  Have certainly does have a good number of meanings depending on the context.

58. Wet bar?: SOAP.  The clue is to be taken literally.

59. Mil. morale booster: USO.  Abbreviated clue and answer.

Certificate from 1947

64. Zero, in soccer: NIL.  What do zero and NIL have in common.  Absolutely nothing.

65. Fencing blade: EPEE.  A weapon often seen in crossword puzzles.  Four letters three of which are E's.

66. "I won't be long": ONE SEC.  Abbreviated answer but not clue.  But it is something that people might say so, perhaps, that  convention does not apply.

67. "Ideas worth spreading" org.: TED.

68. Floor plan unit: ROOM.

69. Closing documents: DEEDS.  A real estate reference.

Down:

1. Muslim mystics: SUFIS.  All You Want to Know

2. Battery terminal: ANODE.

3. Ruin: SPOIL.

  

4. Film option, for short: HI DEF.  HIgh DEFinition

5. Singer DiFranco: ANI.  A frequent visitor due to two vowels out of three letters.

6. Omega rival: SEIKO.  Wristwatch brands.  See also 34 Down.

7. Streaming issue: LAG.  A technical problem suffered frequently in our puzzles.

8. Kinda: ISH.  I.E.  sorta.

9. Get a hint of: DETECT.  What are similar to windows but can instantly DETECT the most common computer problems?  Mirrors.

10. Made professional connections: NETWORKED.

11. "Farewell, mon ami!": ADIEU.  French in the clue.  French in the answer.

12. Brand with a question mark in its logo: GUESS.

14. Waste line: SEWER.

Andy Dufresne

18. Hubs: FOCI.

23. Leads up the garden path: LIES TO.  Idiomatic.   I.E. to deceive.  I.E. to trick.  Oddly, leads down the garden path has the same meaning.

25. "That's my cue!": I'M UP.  Sometimes we get I'M ON.

26. Stewart's "The Daily Show" successor: NOAH.

Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart

27. Honbasho sport: SUMO.  Honbasho was unknown but it sounded Japanese so this one filled quickly with the perps.

30. Bing provider: MSN.  Microsoft's browser.  MSN is the abbreviation for Microsoft Network.

31. Cry of discovery: AHA.  AHA, it's not OHO.

32. Container store?: CARGO HOLD.  Not a shop to go to purchase bins and organizers.  A place to store containers.

33. Burlington __: London shopping destination: ARCADE.  Opened in March, 1819.

34. Omega preceder: PSI.  A rudimentary knowledge of the Greek alphabet can be helpful to solvers.

36. Bother: IRK.

37. Liquid-confiscating org., at times: TSA.

39. Slushy treat: ICEE.

40. Petrol brand: ESSO.  A trading name for Exxon-Mobil.  Originally used by its predecessor, Standard Oil.  I.E. S.O. or, spelled out, ESSO.

41. Egg cell: OVUM.

46. Confessional visitor: SINNER.

Oy!

47. Buzzing pest: GNAT.

48. Probability expression: RATIO.

49. Favorite hangout: HAUNT.  I.E. club.  I.E. stomping ground.

50. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" director Davis: OSSIE.  Bette would have fit but it would not perp.

51. Take up again: RE-HEM.  Not revisiting an old hobby.  Shortening a skirt or a dress, for example.

52. Cosmetics name: ESTEE.

53. Cacophony: NOISE.

54. Domesticated: TAMED.

55. Technical details: SPECS.  SPECificationS

61. Market debut, for short: IPO.  Stock Market.  Initial Public Offering

62. Grapher's prefix: GEO.  GEOgrapher

63. Conclude: END.  Fitting.  I.E. apt.  Indeed.

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