Friday, May 31, 2024, Michele Govier

 

Good morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a puzzle that takes us into the wonderful world of our avian friends.  Our puzzle-setter today is Michèle Govier who has previously had crossword puzzles published by both the  Los Angeles Times and the NewYork Times.  At four places in the grid, Michèle has conjured up answers that are the names of two species of birds cleverly placed back to back so as to provide an appropriate response to the clue.  Let's start with the unifier:

73 Across:  Double birdie, which can also be found at 17-, 31-, 48-, and 62-Across?: EAGLE.  In golf scoring a birdie is one shot below par (e.g. a three on a par four hole) and an EAGLE is two shots below par so an EAGLE is, in effect, a double birdie.  For our purposes, Double Birdie refers to the two bird names.

Here are the places where the theme has been applied:

17 Across:  Ingest lather while getting one's mouth washed out with soap?: SWALLOW DOVE.                            

A  Swallow                                            A  Dove

To SWALLOW means, well, to swallow and Dove, of course is a brand of soap.

31 Across:  Loudly promote trips to Istanbul?: HAWK TURKEY.

A Hawk                                               A Turkey

To HAWK something is slang for avidly promoting something for sale and Istanbul, of course, is the capital city of TURKEY.

48 Across:  Successfully elude director Scorsese?: DUCK MARTIN.

A Duck                                                              A Martin

To DUCK something is to avoid or shirk (as in responsibility) and Martin Scorsese is a famous film director.

62 Across:  Say "Holy nightmare, Batman!"?: PARROT ROBIN.

A Parrot                                                              A Robin

To PARROT something is to repeat it verbatim.  ROBIN is Batman's sidekick.

Here are the other clues and answers:

Across:

1. Birthstones for some Scorpios: OPALS.  The most-often seen birthstone in our puzzles.

6. Consumes, in a way: READS.  An appropriately obtuse clue for a Friday.

11. Revenue sources for freemium apps: ADS.  Users of the app get access at no monetary cost but are subjected to ADS.

14. Jubilant cry: WAHOO.

15. "Dominicana" novelist Cruz: ANGIE.  Thanks, perps.

16. Matcha, e.g.: TEA.  A concentrated form of green TEA.

19. Clever one: WAG.

20. Show the way: LEAD.  Some of us are partial to this advice:

21. Cry at the end of a performance: ENCORE.  More, more!

23. Tourney game: SEMI.

26. French beans?: TETES.  In English, Bean is slang for head.  TETES means heads in French.

  

29. Seed coating: ARIL.  An ARIL, also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed

30. TikTok upload: CLIP.  A man went viral after posting a video CLIP on TikTok about how to stay cool in the summer without air conditioning.  He has many fans.

33. Sterling silver, e.g.: ALLOY.  A mixture of metals.

35. Theater boxes: LOGES.  A LOGE is an elevated seating area in a theater that is typically located at the side or rear of the stage. Loges are often reserved for special occasions or VIP guests. They offer a unique vantage point from which to watch a show and provide more privacy than a regular seat.

36. Virtual animal in an early 2000s fad: NEOPET.

38. Insist: DEMAND.  It is what this puzzle required.

43. Luster: SHEEN.

47. Proportion: RATIO.  

53. Sound off: RANT.  It might have been RAVE.  Put in the R and the A and let the perps decide.

54. Sufficient, in texts: ENUF.  Our "old friend" (new friend) textspeak.  Not a fan but maybe it is time to memorize this:  Glossary of Textspeak

  

55. Tiniest amount: TRACE.  An alternative to IOTA.

56. Kerfuffles: ADOS.  Fusses common in crossword puzzles.

57. Late sign: PISCES.  PISCES is the twelfth, and last, sign in the zodiac.  This solver did not previously know that but, then again, his moon is in Fresno.

59. Crossed (out): EXED.  This rest of this answer has been EXED out.

61. Brainpower nos.: IQS.  A friend recently scored a 175 on an IQ test that had just 3 simple questions:  1. His credit card number 2. His social security number 3. Uploading a scan of his birth certificate

68. Pool need: CUE.  Not a swimming reference.  A billiards/pocket billiards reference.

69. Omar of Congress: ILHAN.  Democrat, MN.

70. Accustom (to): INURE.  I've become INUREd to her face.

71. Apple TV+ role for Jason: TED.  Jason Sudeikis  stars in the show "Ted Lasso".

72. "Jurassic Park" dinosaur, e.g.: CLONE.  What is the best thing to do if you see a T-Rex CLONE?  Hope that it doesn't see you.

Down:

1. Pained cries: OWS.  Onomatopoeia.

2. Print maker: PAW.  Cute clue.  Not a reference to lithography.

3. "I've got it!": AHA.  Moments experienced solvers have experienced.

4. Sticky treat, in more ways than one: LOLLIPOP.  I did not grasp the "more ways than one" aspect.

The Chordettes

5. Only: SOLE.  I’m writing a book about a guy who sells shoe parts to Satan. It’s your basic “Sold my SOLE to the devil” novel.

6. Unfair treatment: RAW DEAL.  Idiomatic.

7. Word with tight or loose: END.  A loose END is something yet unfinished.  A tight END is a position player on a football team.

8. Long __: AGO.

9. Sold off: DIVESTED.  A current buzzword.

10. Observed: SEEN.

11. On the job: AT WORK.  As in:

12. Sweetie pie: DEARIE.  Slangy clue.  Slangy answer.

13. With wisdom: SAGELY.

18. Solemn recitation: OATH.

22. Sonata, for one: CAR.  Not a musical reference.  A Hyundai.

23. Create a PDF, perhaps: SCAN.  A computer tech reference that almost everyone knows.

24. "Legally Blonde" blonde: ELLE.  ELLE Woods is the protagonist.  REESE (Witherspoon) would not fit.

25. Actor Ventimiglia: MILO.  Total unknown to this solver.  Thanks perps.   Twenty miles would have been a better clue for me.  Of course, if you watched "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" this was not a problem.

  

27. Number of hearts for a Time Lord: TWO.  A "Dr. Who" reference.

28. ER graph: EKG.  Electrocardiogram.  Wait, wouldn't that be ECG?  Apparently, EKG was adopted as the standard abbreviation to avoid confusion with electroencephalogram.

32. Touchpad toucher: USER.  Remember, only USERs loose drugs.  Oh, a computer user!

34. Reply with an apostrophe: YES'M.  Yes ma'am.

37. "We're done here": THAT'S ALL.  Mel Blanc's epitaph:

39. Argentine soccer legend dubbed "El Pibe de Oro": MARADONA.

40. Not much: A TAD.  My teacher once asked "Name three famous Poles."  I replied, "North, South and TAD."

41. Spanish boy: NINO.

42. ...: DOTS.  Quite literally.  If one misread the . . . then they might have thought POLKA.

44. Goof: ERR.  A mistake frequently encountered in crossword puzzles.

45. Airport info: ETA.  Estimated Time of Arrival

46. "Good going!": NICE ONE.  Something someone might say.  BITCHIN' would have fit.  FAR OUT would not.  See also 58 Down.

48. Portray: DEPICT.

49. Singular: UNIQUE.

50. Used colorful language: CUSSED.  A good place for grawlix.

51. Crispy Colonel sandwich seller: KFC.  Before Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC (in 1991)  this writer would have to have typed out Kentucky Fried Chicken.

52. Coming right up: NEXT.

58. Way awesome: EPIC.  NEAT  DOPE  KEEN  PHAT 

60. Buffalo's lake: ERIE.  A place often visited in our puzzles.

63. Density symbol, in physics: RHO.

64. Oversaw: RAN.  As in to have once run a company or an international drug cartel.

65. Flu or fly: BUG.  If you got sick some would say that you caught a BUG.  A fly (the insect not the baseball hit or the trouser zipper) is, well, a BUG (at least in casual English usage if not scientifically).

66. Not online, for short: IRL.  In Real Life

67. Word with a maiden name: NEE.  From the French = born.

The completed grid:

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The New Riders of the Purple Sage - 1969

Last Lonely Eagle

I did not know that there was an Owsley Stanley Foundation but I do remember reading somewhere that Augustus Owsley Stanley III was an even better mechanic than he was a chemist.

Friday, May 17, 2024, Michael Torch

Good morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of today's puzzle by Michael Torch.  The theme of the puzzle is based on the placement of words within four of the responses.  In those places, Michael has taken common expressions that include the word BEFORE and rearranged the words to allow the omission of the word BEFORE while keeping the meaning the same.  To do so he has "literally" placed certain words before others.  Let's take a look at the first example:

17 Across:  Give unappreciated gifts, literally:  CAST PEARLS SWINE.

The expression is, of course, "cast pearls before swine" and it has come to mean to not present a thing of value to those who will fail to understand or appreciate it.  Here, our constructor has physically CAST (placed) the word PEARLS in front of (before) the word SWINE.  As a result we can read the answer as CAST PEARLS (BEFORE) SWINE.  Michael has, literally, cast pearls before swine.

Here is how the gimmick is applied at the other themed clues and answers.

25. Pre-chaos moment, literally: THE CALM (BEFORE) THE STORM.  In the answer, THE CALM, literally, comes before THE STORM.

43. 48 hours ago, literally: THE DAY (BEFORE) YESTERDAY.   You get the idea.

57. Overconfidence is dangerous, literally: PRIDE COMES (BEFORE) A FALL.  Cometh, goeth, who's quibbling!?

Here is the completed grid:

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

Across:

1. Radio format: TALK.  Hand up for first thinking AM FM.  TALK radio as opposed, say, to Top 40 radio or All News radio.

5. Johnny Chase's nickname on "Entourage": DRAMA.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

10. Hunk: SLAB.  Not as in Adonis.  A hunk, for example, of meat or concrete.

14. Land east of the Urals: ASIA.  I sometimes wonder whether we would consider Europe and Asia to be separate continents if the map makers who had the greatest influence were not, themselves, European.

15. Scout's task, briefly: RECON.  Not a reference involving Tonto's horse.  RECONnaisance.

16. Choice: A-ONE.  Used as an adjective.

20. Unsubscribe, with "out": OPT.  Why did the Maharishi Yogi OPT out of Novocaine during his root canal?  Because he wanted to transcend dental medication.

21. Boot: EXPEL.  Not a shoe reference.  Perhaps a shoo reference.

22. Took the top prize for: WON AT.

23. Drink suffix: ADE.  As in lemonade.  Or Gatorade.

24. Emmy nominee Lucy: LIU.  A frequent visitor.

34. "Boléro" composer: RAVEL.

35. Fields: AREAS.  As in AREAS of expertise.  Not as in comedienne Totie.

36. Highlands refusal: NAE.  Scottish.  "No more Glenmorangie for me, thanks" would not fit in  the allowable space.

37. Cupid counterpart: EROS.

38. Snide remarks: SNARK.  An answer that did not end with an S.

39. Orchid garlands: LEIS.  An answer that did end with an S.

40. Set as a price: ASK.

41. Cozy inn, informally: B AND B.  Bed AND Breakfast.

42. Modest hits?: BUNTS.  Not a musical or theatrical reference.  A baseball reference.

46. Scrubs ctrs.: ORS.  Medica personnel wear scrubs in Operating RoomS.  With the leading cap it could be a reference to the TV show.

47. Consumed: ATE.

48. Enjoy every bite of: SAVOR.

51. Leading the league: FIRST.  A possible baseball reference.

54. Place for a mud bath: SPA.  STYE was too long.

60. Middle East capital: RIAL.  Capital in the financial sense.

61. Trim: PRUNE.  What did the gum trees say after I PRUNEd them?  Eu-clipped-us!

62. Alien conveyances: UFOS.

63. Bulldog's home: YALE.

64. Turn off: REPEL.  What did the male magnet say to the female magnet?  He said : When I saw your backside I was repelled....However, after seeing you from the front, I now find you very attractive.

65. Many a tow job: REPO.   REPOsession.

Down:

1. Birria option: TACO.  A Mexican food reference,  Birria is a flavorful stew that originated in Jalisco.

2. Letters of urgency: ASAP.  What do you call very short proverbs?  ASAPs fables.

3. Enumerate: LIST.

4. Dennings of the MCU's "Thor" films: KAT.

5. School that's home to the Dragons: DREXEL.  Known for their women's basketball program.

6. Harvest: REAP.  As ye sow . . .

7. Plot piece: ACRE.  Not a literary reference.  A bit misleading as an ACRE, by itself, can be a fair sized plot.

8. Defoe's "__ Flanders": MOLL.  A literary reference.

9. Y or N, possibly: ANS.  Punt.  Yes    No    ANSwer

10. Showed the door: SAW OUT.

11. Pork cut: LOIN.  CHOP would have fit.

12. Golfer Nordqvist: ANNA.  Winner of the 2009 LPGA Championship and the 2021 Women's British Open.

13. __ red: BEET.   ERIK THE was too long (and red was not capitalized).

18. Elliptical part: PEDAL.  An exercise machine reference.

19. Reuben cheese: SWISS.  A sandwich reference.   For a number of years, the Yamaha FJR motorcycle community put together a Ruben Run to La Pine, OR.

23. Las Vegas team: ACES.  A basketball reference.

24. Security concern: LEAK.  Call the White House Plumbers.

25. Halloween option: TREAT. TRICK was also five letters.  Fill in the T and the R and find a perp.

26. Rather severe: HARSH.

27. Call to mind: EVOKE.

28. Third baseman Machado with two Gold Gloves: MANNY.  Obviously, a baseball reference.

29. Vocation: TRADE.

30. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme: HERBS.  Once again, Patti and the puzzle setter have teed it up.

31. Upright: ON END.

32. Condiment in Indian cuisine: RAITA.  A creamy yogurt-based sauce.

33. Tough to resolve: MESSY.  As in a MESSY situation.

38. Word with you or who: SAYS.  Before and after.  SAYS you and who SAYS.  Or, Simon.

39. Bass player?: LURE.  Not a music reference.  A fishing reference.

41. Fitness program that incorporates ballet, yoga, and Pilates: BARRE.  Another unknown for this solver.

42. Siamese fighting fish: BETTA.  ... and yet another unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

44. Marginal drawing: DOODLE.

45. Shoe decor: TASSEL.

48. Nimble: SPRY.

49. Covent Garden solo: ARIA.  Covent Garden is a London, England venue used for operas.

50. Glass vessel: VIAL.  I once made the mistake of drinking the liquid from a scientist’s test tube.  It was a VIAL substance.

51. Anterior: FORE.  Most often seen as a golf reference.

52. "My turn!": I'M UP.  Another possible baseball reference.

53. Artist Magritte: RENE.  Another frequent visitor.

54. Jewel box?: SAFE.  A place to store your jewelry.  Jewel box is often used as a CD case reference.

55. Tiny splash: PLOP.

56. Plus: ALSO.

58. Lifeguard skill: Abbr.: CPR.  An abbreviated answer to a non abbreviate clue.

59. Lab coat?: FUR.  Not a reference to what might be worn in a testing facility.  :

Not too far from my home they have torn down a strip mall and are building a medical facility.  Out in front is a sign that reads

I'll take two.

And, on that note . . .

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