Friday, March 17, 2023, Jess Shulman and Max Woghiren

 

Good morning Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here once again with a Friday recap.

Today's puzzle comes to us from the team of Ms. Jess Shulman and Mr. Max Woghiren.  Jess made her NYT puzzle debut just about one year ago.  I was not able to find a previous LAT puzzle by either constructor so this may well be their LAT debut.

I found the theme to be both clever and a bit convoluted (but, hey, it is Friday).  The reveal comes at:

63 Across:  "You're blocking the view!," and what is needed to complete the answers to the starred clues?: DOWN IN FRONT.

Actually, we needed two things.  First, it helped to be able to identify the unstated initial (FRONT) word of the three song titles that are the answers to the themed clues.  Second, in order to stop wondering WTF was going on, it was necessary for one to realize that the dropped words are words that can be substituted for the word DOWN.  In short, a "synonym" for DOWN (is) IN FRONT.

Here are the three themed clues/answers, once again starred for our convenience:

17 Across:  *Bilingual Ed Sheeran song featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B: (SOUTH) OF THE BORDER.  On most maps, SOUTH is DOWN.  DOWN SOUTH refers to being in, or going to, the southern part of the country.

29 Across:  *R.E.M. hit single on "Out of Time": (LOSING) MY RELIGION.  If your team is LOSING the game you are said to be DOWN (by a run or two or a by a touchdown or by a goal, etc.).

REM

47 Across:  *Carl Perkins rockabilly classic popularized by Elvis Presley: (BLUE) SUEDE SHOES.  The most direct application of the theme:  DOWN = SAD = BLUE.

Carl Perkins With Eric Clapton and George Harrison - 1985

Here are the rest of the, proper-noun-abundant, clues/answers:

Across:

1. Scarecrow innards: STRAW.

6. Italian port: GENOA.   Christopher Columbus' place of birth.  And, sometimes, berth.  Also a variety of salami.

11. Get better, maybe: AGE.  Like fine wine.

14. Gear bit: TOOTH.

15. Cheri of "Scary Movie": OTERI.   A not-infrequent visitor.

16. Musical about Henry VIII's many wives: SIX.

19. Fury: IRE.

20. "Oh, come on!": PUHLEASE.  A very appropriate reaction to this one.

21. Aims: GOALS.

23. "Love Stuff" singer King: ELLE.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

24. Tub gunk: SCUM.

Hot Tub Scum

26. Vane point: EAST.  Weather vane.

34. Poetic rhythm: METER.  IAMB did not contain enough letters to fill the squares.

36. Plenty: A LOT.  TONS.  GOBS.  LOTS.  WADS.  Perps dictated which it was.

37. Jazz org.: NBA.

Of the National Basketball Association

38. "¡Ay, Dios __!": MIO.  Today's Spanish lesson.  See 22 Down for the translation.

39. Anthem that ends, "We stand on guard for thee": O CANADA.

42. "Dear old" one: DAD.

David Nelson

43. Over thataway: YON.  Have you ever heard anyone in an oater say "They went YON" ?

44. "Shane" star Alan: LADD.   He went thataway.

Movie Poster - 1953

45. "Spider-Man" trilogy director: RAIMI.  Sam RAIMI.

51. Jet set jet: LEAR.

52. Wrote to online, briefly: IMED.  Instant MessagED

53. Feels bad: AILS.

55. TikTok upload: VIDEO.

58. Very nearly: AS GOOD AS.  Shouldn't the answer be ALMOST AS GOOD AS?

62. Rita Dove's "__ to My Right Knee": ODE.

66. Decathlon number: TEN.  By definition.

67. Top-flight: ELITE.

68. Under control: TAMED.

69. Put away: EAT.  Idiomatic

70. "I'm out": LATER.

71. Puts one over on: SNOWS.

Down:

1. "Cut it out!": STOP.  My girlfriend got mad at me because I would not stop singing "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees.  At first I thought that she was kidding.  But then I saw her face.

2. Food sold in blocks: TOFU.  Until recently, I didn't know that TOFU could taste so good.  It never o-curd to me.

3. "American Pastoral" Pulitzer winner: ROTH.  Perhaps better known for Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint.

4. Word in several ESPY Award categories: ATHLETE.

5. Cheese shape: WHEEL.

Parmigiano Reggiano - Photo by MM

6. Loosey-__: GOOSEY. Meaning completely relaxed.  The phrase, probably aided in longevity by the rhyme, dates from the first half of the 1900's.  In earlier usage, it sometimes denoted promiscuity (loose morals), diarrhea (loose bowels), and so on but since about 1950 it has mostly stuck to its present meaning.

7. Basic French verb: ETRE.  Today's French lesson - a language in which most verbs are conjugated with AVOIR (to have) or ETRE (to be).

8. Composer Rorem: NED.

Ned Rorem

9. Nickel source: ORE.  The metal not the coin.

10. Wind instrument?: AIR GUITAR.  Some AIR GUITAR players can actually play actual (in this instance bass, left-handed) guitars.

11. Much of an atlas: ASIA.

12. Mary Cassatt's "Little __ in a Blue Armchair": GIRL.  A painting (1878).

13. Former couples: EXES.

18. Lip __: BALM.  Hand up for first thinking SYNC.

22. "Srsly?!": OMG.  Seriously?

24. Actress Ward: SELA.

25. Dolt: CLOD.

26. Awards for "Schitt's Creek": EMMYS.  Clued the way it was, any of a shipload of tv shows could have been referenced.

27. Vowel set: A E I O U.  I once fell in love with a girl who knew only four vowels.  She didn't know I existed.

28. "The Favourite" actress Emma: STONE.

30. Total stranger: RANDO.  Oh puhlease!

31. __ folk: INDIE.  INDIE folk has its earliest origins in 1990's folk artists who displayed alternative rock influences in their music,

32. "Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA.  Not Barack.  Not Sasha.  Not Malia.  Michelle.

33. Low point: NADIR.

35. One to emulate: ROLE MODEL.

40. Docket item: CASE.  A trial court reference.

41. Ritalin target: Abbr.: ADHD.

46. Unsuccessful candidate: ALSO RAN.

48. Conk out: DIE.

49. Less taxing: EASIER.

50. Say "cheese" by rubbing one's palms together, e.g.: SIGN.  At first I thought they were talking about smiling for a photo.  But it would not have made any difference because the answer was going to be American SIGN Language in either case.

54. Many apartments in former industrial areas: LOFTS.

55. Rock the __: VOTE.  An organization whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young Americans.

56. Concept: IDEA.

57. Minor progress: DENT.  My friend sailed his boat into the dock at a rapid pace causing a dent in the hull.  He says that it's just a berth mark.

58. Chip in?: ANTE.

59. "__ arigato": DOMO.  Today's Japanese lesson.

60. Over again: ANEW.

61. Norms: Abbr.: STDS.  Not social diseases.  STanDardS.

64. São Paulo greeting: OLA.  Today's Portuguese lesson.

65. Card: WIT.  Not playing cards.  Idiomatic.  

Here is how this all looks in the grid.  Please pay no attention to the yellow/red highlighted squares at 3 Down.  The .puz file solving app that I had to use while away from home does not allow me  to override the app's highlighting of one's "current" place in the puzzle.

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Friday, March 3, 2023, Amie Walker

 

Good morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with this morning's review of a puzzle constructed by Amie Walker.  I had the pleasure of recapping one of Amie's puzzles last July and in that puzzle she added a letter or two to common expressions and, thereby, created new and different expressions.  In today's offering, she heads in the opposite direction and deletes a single letter to provide definitions for three themed clues (all of which are starred for our convenience).  The reveal comes at:

50 Across:  "Stay alert!," or a phonetic hint to the answers to the starred clues: KEEP AN EYE OUT.  The phonetic hint is that we must delete an I.  An "eye for an I" in the reveal, as it were.

The starred clues are found at:

19 Across:  *Relocation specialist?: MOVE PRODUCER.   Movie Producer before the deletion.

26 Across:  *Chiropractor who treats mollusks?: CLAM ADJUSTER.  Claim Adjuster adjusted.

Steve Martin - Claim Adjuster

42 Across:  *Lift for Mom's mom?: GRAN ELEVATOR.  Grain Elevator.  Lift being, in this case, British English for what we in the USA call an ELEVATOR.

This is how the completed grid looks:

. . . and here are the other clues and answers:

Across:

1. PC shortcut key: CTRL.  The classic being CTRL ALT DEL

5. __ Jansen: kid-lit detective with a photographic memory: CAM.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

8. More than a few: MANY.  

12. Seehorn of "Better Call Saul": RHEA.  A TV reference.

13. Repaired, maybe: TAPED.  Yes, maybe.  Not often the best way to repair something.

15. Facial tissue additive: ALOE.

16. God of war: ARES.  MARS would also have fit, and met the definition, but would not work out.

17. Market directives that have yet to be executed: OPEN ORDERS.  A financial market reference.

21. Study closely: PEER AT.  Hand up for first trying to make PERUSE work out.

22. Intended: MEANT.

31. Cattle breed: ANGUS.

34. Land divisions: ACRES.  There are 640 ACRES in a square mile.

35. Maker of Don't Bossa Nova Me Around nail polish: OPI.  This brand often appears.  It's probably one that I should commit to memory.

36. Light air: LILT.  Air as in a song.

37. Tennessee athlete: TITAN.  A professional football team.  Formerly the Houston Oilers.

38. "Kapow!": BLAM.

39. Skater Midori: ITO.  An American Olympian.

40. Cutoffs fabric: DENIM.

41. Walk quartet: BALLS.  A baseball reference.   The new baseball rules regarding allotted time to throw a pitch and for the batter to be ready to hit are going to seem a bit odd at first.

45. Tag line?: NOT IT.

Forgive the Animals for Not Knowing Their (There, They're) Contractions

46. Spectators on "Ted Lasso," e.g.: EXTRAS.  Some are done with CGI.  Another TV reference.

55. Evasive reply to "Why do you ask?": OH NO REASON.  The reply is often a lie.

58. Ancient letter: RUNE.   From Germanic alphabets used in the 3rd to the 13th centuries.

59. Lug: HAUL.  Hand up for TOTE (although that's often clued as a pledge drive giveaway).

60. Makes a baby blanket, say: KNITS.

61. Jazz legend James: ETTA.   This rare talent is a frequent visitor.

62. Bird in the starling family: MYNA.  To enforce the ban against exporting MYNA birds, a country trained lions to guard its frontiers.  One day two smugglers tried to sneak a MYNA bird out of the country while the border lions were sleeping. But the lions woke up and captured the smugglers, who were accused of transporting MYNAs across state lions.

63. Carry-on inspectors: Abbr.: TSA.

64. Cubicle surface: DESK.

Down:

1. Muscle woe: CRAMP.  I flexed my glutes and got a cramp.  That was a pain in the butt.

2. Pang: THROE.

3. Superman player: REEVE.  In the 1978 movie "Superman" and in three sequels.

4. Use an engraving machine, say: LASER CUT.  I found this one to be just a bit of a stretch.

5. Guitar accessory: CAPO.  Let's say that the guitarist knows how to play a song in the key of G but the singer wants to do it in A flat.  Put the CAPO on the first fret and play just as you would in G.

6. Mimicked: APED.

Humans Pretending to Be Apes Aping Human Choreography

7. Set of dishes?: MENU.  Word play.  Not plates.

8. Some ladies of Spain: MADRES.  Spain was a bit of misdirection except to let us know that the answer might be, and was, a Spanish word.  Some ladies everywhere are mothers.   A somewhat open-ended clue in that there are many, many possible answers.

9. Yard sale?: ALE.  As in a yard of ALE.  A yard is a tall beer glass holding 2 1/2 imperial pints.

10. "That's neither here __ there": NOR.

11. "Bingo!": YES.  Aha!  Oho! Yea!   Another open-ended clue,

13. Sandwich that might have queso fresco and crema: TORTA.  A Mexican street food lesson.

14. OB-GYN, e.g.: DOC.  Abbr/abbr

18. Brother in Roman lore: REMUS.  Romulus and REMUS had a wolf for a foster mother.  The legend says that they founded Rome (named for Romulus).

Romulus and Remus

20. Buddies: PALS.  Good PALS don't let you do stupid things . . . alone.

23. Lagoon border: ATOLL.   I often forget if it's one T and two L's or vice versa.

24. Landlocked country in South Asia: NEPAL.

25. Abridges: TRIMS.  An editing reference.  No one says that they're going to abridge the hedges.

27. Location of the fictional town Horseshoe Bay on The CW's "Nancy Drew": MAINE.  Another TV reference.

28. Play ender, often: ACT IV.  This clue and answer is always a bit of a punt whether it is ACT IV or ACT I or ACT II, etc.

29. Pulitzer category: DRAMA.  There are 21 categories.  Yet another open-ended clue.

30. Fox Sports NFL sideline reporter Hale: JEN.  Another TV reference.

31. Square up: ALIGN.

32. TNT component: NITRO.  triNITROtoluene

33. Rub it in: GLOAT.

37. __ Aviv: TEL.  A major Israeli city.

38. Exchanged: BARTERED.  SWAPPED did not quite fit.

40. Dissuade: DETER.

41. Like classic Volvos: BOXY.

1975 Volvo 240

43. Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA.  Born in 1856.  Musk was born in 1971.  NIKOLA should have trademarked his name.

44. Chilly temps: TEENS.  As you read this I will be at 9,000 feet in Colorado and TEENS will seem on the warm side.

47. Path: ROUTE.

48. Reunion attendees: AUNTS.  Again, an open-ended clue.  This could refer to a family reunion (and it did) or a school reunion or a military service reunion, etc.

49. Cookout choice: STEAK.  Lots of possible answers fit this clue, too.

51. Startled cry: EEK.  Often, EEK a mouse!  More often, we see EKE out a living.

52. Huff and puff: PANT.

53. Craigslist caveat: AS IS.  I saw an ad on Craig's List that read:  "Radio, $1.00., volume stuck on high."  I thought to myself, "I can't turn that down . . ."

54. __ bene: NOTA.

55. Resistance eponym: OHM.  We're talking physics here (electrical) not political resistance.

56. Pile near a pitchfork: HAY.

57. Convent figure: NUN.

Well, that wraps things up for today .  .  .  and, I might add, NUN too soon.

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