Good Morning, Cruciverbalisits! Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Jess Rucks. From Jess' website:
Jess Rucks (she/her) is a crossword constructor living Colorado; she is a Minnesotan at heart. Her puzzles have been published in The New York Times, Apple News+, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Universal, AVCX, AVCX+, Boswords, Puzzmo, and The Inkubator. She runs the monthly Constructor Spotlight feature at Daily Crossword Links. Jess is also a licensed school counselor and a licensed professional counselor candidate who provides clinical play-based therapy to elementary students in schools.
Today, Jess takes us on a visit to the third dimension. Well, to 3-D anyway. Each of the four themed-answers consists of words containing the letter D three times. For those seeking an introduction to said letter:
Yep, that's it. Simple and yet quite elegant. Here are the places where the gimmick is employed:
16 Down: 3D film?: DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. A 1999 satirical mockumentary movie.
25 Down: 3D puzzle?: WORD LADDER. A type of puzzle progression with which most crossword solvers are familiar
47 Down: 3D animation?: DONALDDUCK. No introduction needed.
59 Dow: . 3D printing?: DAVID COPPERFIELD. Printing? That threw this solver for a while. Aha! A book is printed.
This is how is all looks in the grid:
... and now for the rest of the story:
Across:
1. Blush wine: ROSE. ROSE wines incorporate some color from the skins of the grapes but not enough to qualify as a RED wine.
5. Howling canine: WOLF. Not a tooth ache.
9. [She said what!?]: GASP.
13. Loot: BOOTY. Not being used, in this instance, as in "to shake one's BOOTY".
14. Geometry calculation: AREA. Width times length.
15. Harmonizer, often: ALTO. See also 21 Across. Very clever of Jess to work this pair, and 6/23 Down, and also 58/60 Down into the puzzles. Brava!
19. Buffoons: OAFS. What is the difference between a cat on a couch and a dim witted cow? One is a cat loaf and the other is a cattle OAF.
20. Some ER pros: RNS. Registered NurseS
21. Soprano's part, usually: MELODY. See Also 15 Across
22. Hairy Addams cousin: ITT.
23. Forever and a day: EON. A time span often spent in our puzzles . . . but, fortunately, not in solving them.
24. Sweet start?: SEMI.
29. Fragrant latte: CHAI. Frequently served up in our puzzles.
33. Drag icon with 14 Emmys: RU PAUL.
34. Throw on the floor: RUG. Throw is not used in the clue as a verb. A throw RUG.
35. D.C. summer hrs.: EDT. Eastern Daylight Time
36. Globes: ORBS. If the theme had been 2D instead of 3D I could have gone with the John Hartford song here. Oh, 'common, I'm not the only one who thought of that!
37. Hieroglyph beetle: SCARAB.
40. __ Pueblo, New Mexico: TAOS. A World Heritage Site.
41. "Seize the Awkward" spot, e.g.: PSA. Public Service Announcement
42. Fix, in a bad way: RIG. As in to rig an election. There was also a line from Stan Freberg - "You mean to tell me that, on top of everything else, this ship is RIGged!?"
43. Hang out after checking for rain?: AIR DRY. Hang something on the clothesline to dry.
45. Basic French verb: ETRE. Être meaning "to be" and avoir meaning "to have" form the bedrock of French conjugation.
49. Step on someone's toes, perhaps: TRIP. A clue to be taken literally and not idiomatically. Still, a bit of a stretch.
51. Alias indicator: AKA. Also Known As.
52. Cuban ingredient: HAM. As in a Cuban sandwich.
54. Native Nebraskans: OMAHAS. . . . and an eponymous city... and, without the S, the title of a Moby Grape song.
65. Animal whose name means "eater of bark" in Algonquian: MOOSE.
Thanks, perps.
66. Entitled men?: SIRS. Men with titles.
67. Snow day toy: SLED. Hi, Calvin! Hi, Hobbes!
68. Field for Kahlo y Burga: ARTE. Today's Spanish lesson. Art, in English.
Down:
1. High point of hospitality?: ROOF TOP BAR. Another clue meant to be taken literally.
2. "My b!": OOPS. "My bad!" What’s the most terrifying word in nuclear physics? Oops!
3. Norm: Abbr.: STD. STandarD.
4. "What-ev-er!" expressions: EYE ROLLS.
5. Gum balls?: WADS. My aunt always put a WAD of Copenhagen between her cheek and gun before swimming . . . She liked taking a dip.
6. Nonprofit domain: ORG. See also 23 Down. A .ORG domain extension is short for organization, and it was initially intended for non-profit organizations. Over time, however, it has expanded to include other groups, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, educational institutions, and community-driven projects.
7. Nocturnal cat?: LEO. You can see the LEO constellation at night.
8. Seed money investor?: FARMER. Cute play on words. FARMERS invest money in seeds.
9. Celtic language: GAELIC. The only GAELIC that this solver knows is Sláinte !
10. Potatoes, in Urdu: ALOO. And now for something completely different...
11. __ finder: STUD. A handy device to have if one is hanging something heavy on the wall of their home.
12. Small bouquet: POSY.
13. Sausage that may be boiled in bier: BRATWURST. Bier, with the German spelling, was the tip off.
16. "__ dare?": DO I.
17. Karenina of literature: ANNA.
18. Ruby, e.g.: GEM.
23. Academic domain: EDU. See also 6 Down. The ending for an online domain associated with a school or university.
24. Creator of Sonic and Knuckles: SEGA. A video game reference.
26. Dorm figs.: RAS. Resident AdvisorS or Assistants Domitory
27. Sink hole: DRAIN. Another clue to be taken literally. A hole in the sink.
28. Hindu goddess whose name means "impassable": DURGA. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps. From Wikipedia:
Durga is a principal Hindu goddess, worshipped as a central aspect of the supreme goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga is seen as a motherly figure and often depicted as a beautiful woman, riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon and often defeating demons.
30. Dish that resembles a jellied meatloaf: HEAD CHEESE. Despite its name it is neither cheese nor a dairy product.
31. Endearingly nerdy: ADORKABLE. A portmanteau. Adorable / Dork
32. Teeny: ITSY.
A ReggaeSka Cover
33. Lasso: ROPE.
38. __ rotation: CROP.
39. Many unhappy returns?: BAD KARMA
40. "Ur so right": TRU. IMHO not the best moment in the puzzle. TRU?
44. Investigative journalist __ B. Wells: IDA. A frequent visitor.
46. Moral philosophy: ETHICS. What do you call a guy who believes in ETHICal treatment of spiders? PETA Parker.
47. Spots for hustlers: DISCOS. Do the Hustle.
48. Tahoe, for one: LAKE. Lots of ways to clue LAKE.
50. "Gnarly!": RAD. Power Thesaurus lists 584 synonyms for gnarly.
53. Fit to be tied: MAD.
54. Some Keats works: ODES. ODE to a cold:
When your nose is runny
Some people think it's funny
But it'snot
55. Dress choice: MAXI.
56. Assert: AVER. To AVERis to affirm and to AVOW is to openly declare.
57. Ignored the signs, perhaps: SPED.
58. Real hoot: RIOT. See also 60 Down
60. Real hooter: OWL. See also 58 Down
61. March 14 dessert: PIE. March 14th, or 3/14 or 314 or 3.14 or
62. Not against: FOR. Straightforward.
. . . and, on that positive note . . . well, maybe not just quite yet. If you've got six minutes to spare let Weird Al bracket today's journey through the third dimension:
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