Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the Friday recap. Our puzzle-setter today is Laura Dershewitz who, often co-authoring with Katherine Baicker, has previously created and published several puzzles for us to solve.
Today, things do not go bad . Things do not go south. Things do not go to blazes. Things do not go to pieces. Things do not go belly up. Things do not go awry. Things do not go off the rails. They do, however, go sideways. Although it can, and often is, applied to different types of situations, the definition of the idiom, as provided in today's reveal, will suffice:
31 Down: Completely fall apart, as a deal, or an apt title for this puzzle?: GO SIDEWAYS.
In the grid, the reveal and the themed clues/answers are placed vertically. This provides the opportunity/necessity to incorporate the word GO horizontally/SIDEWAYS into the answers. Let's have a look at the grid before taking a look the themers.
Here are the three themed clues and answers:
3 Down: Mid-March cry: ERIN G BRAGH.
9 Down: Gentle carnival ride: MERRY G ROUND. You are probably familiar with the tune but do you know the name of the song that Loony Tunes adopted as its theme song? It was written in 1937 and reached the #2 spot on the "Your Hit Parade" radio survey.
The Merry Go Round Broke Down
24 Down: Without a care in the world: HAPPY G LUCKY.
Here are the other clues and answers:
Across:
1. Use a Keurig, say: BREW. A coffee BREWing reference . . . and the first of (some might claim too) many proper nouns referenced in today's clues and answers.
10. Branded tees or mugs, maybe: SWAG. SWAG is the name for the stuff they give you at e.g. conventions, symposiums, reunions, etc.
14. Traditional wisdom: LORE. As one of the oldest living people in my family, my word is LORE.
15. "I'm not seeing it": WHERE.
WHERE Wolf?
16. Follow: TAIL. As in to follow a criminal suspect.
17. Bookworm: AVID READER.
19. Alan of "Marriage Story": ALDA. With STACY and WALT being clued the way that they were, this solver did not know two of the names in that NW stack. Alan ALDA helped out quite a bit.
20. Lunch option on the Shinkansen, say: BENTO. Shinkansen (the Japanese bullet train) alerts us to think of Japanese cuisine.
BENTO Box
21. Took away (from): DETRACTED. Did you come across anything today that either added to or DETRACTED from your puzzle-solving experience?
23. "Who knew?": GOSH. What did the fish say when the river stopped flowing? "GOSH dam it!"
25. With diffidence: SHYLY.
28. Ingest: EAT.
30. In the past: AGO. A few minutes AGO I came to the conclusion that tofu is overrated. It's just a curd to me.
31. Dollop: GOB. Given today's theme, that O after the G could be viewed as a bit misleading.
34. Sensitive subject: SORE SPOT.
37. Surname in a classic Styx song: ROBOTO. Domo arigato Mister ROBOTO.
39. Meat in Hawaiian cuisine: SPAM. How A Wartime Necessity Became A Hawaiian Delicacy
40. Teaser ad: PROMO.
42. Italian wine region: ASTI.
Asti Spumante Commercial
43. Divination: AUGURY. This word does not appear often in our puzzles . . . but we should have seen it coming.
45. Head-scratchers: TOUGHIES. Initially, I thought of POSERS but the word wasn't long enough.
47. Speedometer stat: MPH.
51. Dr. of rap: DRE. Née Andre Romell Young
52. French "Cheers!": SALUT.
54. Screwdriver, in a pinch: DIME.
56. Chewy candy bars introduced in 1921: BABY RUTHS. Many people believe that the candy was named after Babe Ruth the baseball player. It was, in fact, named after President Cleveland's daughter.
60. Full of the latest: NEWSY. Current and/or topical.
63. Triumphant cry: I WON. A big cat said this after every race that she ran. She was a cheetah.
64. Fresh start: CLEAN SLATE. A somewhat anachronistic figure of speech.
66. U2 singer: BONO. Not Sonny BONO. Paul David Hewson.
67. Little meower: KITTY. It might have been clued with a "Gunsmoke" reference but then it would have been yet another proper noun. Speaking of which,
68. Cannon of film: DYAN.
69. Toy on some holiday cards: SLED.
71. "Last four digits" IDs: SSNS.
Down:
1. Say too much: BLAB. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. Everyone I BLABbed to told me that they wouldn't say anything to anyone.
2. Wander about: ROVE. We never know, initially, if it is going to turn out to be ROVE or ROAM but we can fill in the R and the O. I sometimes wonder why this is rarely, if ever, clued with "Karl".
4. United with: WED TO.
5. Have loans: OWE.
6. African lake in four countries: CHAD.
7. Surrenders: CEDES.
8. First name in soul: ARETHA.
ARETHA Franklin - "Think"
10. Gwen __: Spider-Man's first love: STACY. A Marvel Comics reference.
11. Sky's "Breaking Bad" spouse: WALT. In times past, this might have been clued with a reference to Whitman or Disney or Kelly or Frazier.
12. Campaign staffer: AIDE.
18. Bunch of romantics?: ROSES. Not a group of impractical visionaries but, rather, a bouquet of flowers that a romantic person might give to their beloved.
22. __ gobi: South Asian potato dish: ALOO. The first of two South Asia Subcontinent references in a row.
26. State in northern India: ASSAM. The second.
27. Temporary, as a bar or restaurant: POP UP.
29. Publisher with a mountain peak logo: TOR. We sometimes see TOR clued with just the mountain peak reference. Self-published, as it were.
32. Marine mammal that uses rocks to crack shells: OTTER.
33. State capital in the Treasure Valley: BOISE. In a recent Sunday puzzle, BOISE was clued as "the City of Trees". With three vowels and an S it's a useful word for constructors.
35. Flightless bird: EMU.
36. Word with tater or tiny: TOT.
Tater TOT(s) Tiny TOT
38. "Curses!": BAH. How would a sheep say BAH?
41. Online admin: MOD. MODerator
44. Bring up, or something to bring up: REAR. Cute. Raise your children or be in last place. Alternatively, what you are sitting on as you read this.
46. Acquires: GAINS. What does a doctor get from a urine test? She GAINS whizdom.
49. Extend past: OUTLIE.
52. Church council: SYNOD.
53. Angle symbol, in trigonometry: THETA. By definition, much as Delta represents a difference or Pi represents the ratio of a circle's circumference and diameter.
55. Merges: MELDS.
56. Lobsterfest wear: BIBS.
58. Fillet's lack: BONE.
59. Coll. entrance exams: SATS.
61. Superfan: STAN. Current slang. The term comes from a song on an Eminem album. The song tells the story of an obsessed fan named, you guessed it, STAN. Possibly, a portmanteau derived from "stalker" and "fan".
62. Strong desires: YENS. YEN is the shortest of the bunch (URGE, ITCH, DESIRE, HANKERING, etc.) and was handy here because, including the S, only four letter could be used.
65. "The 1619 Project" publisher, for short: NYT. New York Times "The 1619 Project" focused on slavery and the founding of the United States.
That's it for today.
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