Friday, February 21, 2025, Jeff Stillman

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, with the recap of a Friday Puzzle by Jeff Stillman who has previously had puzzles published by the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

Today's theme is quite straightforward.  At four places within the grid, Jeff has added the letter A to morph common expressions into witty answers to the out-of-necessity-somewhat-convoluted clues.  In each case, the A is the third letter of the "new" word and the first three letters form a word or acronym that could stand alone.  Here are the places where this occurs:

20 Across:  Say, "Everyone put your key in the ignition and turn," e.g.?: TEACH STARTUPS.  From Tech Startups.  (A cuppa, anyone?)

28 Across:  Brief reminder before a Disney musical featuring Belle?: BEAST IN SHOW.  From Best In Show. (Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

44 Across:  Sidewalk stand earnings arranged in tidy stacks of cash?: NEAT PROFITS.  From Net Profits. (National Educational Association)

55 Across:  One overseeing a reform program for kleptomaniacs?: DEAN OF THIEVES.  From Den Of Thieves. (Drug Enforcement Agency)

This is how it all looks in the grid:

... and the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Big production: EPIC.  The Waco Kid knows EPIC.

5. Half an island in French Polynesia: BORA.

9. Mediocre grade: C-PLUS.  Actually, just a little bit better than average.

14. Fish tacos fish, on menus: MAHI.

15. Bus alternative: UBER.  RAIL and LYFT would both fit but neither would work out.

16. Window treatment: DRAPE.  I don't know if I can afford new DRAPEs for my windows.  These are un-curtain times.

17. D.C. VIP: PRES.  PRESident

18. Kunis of "Family Guy": MILA.  She voices Meg.

With A Cameo

19. __ knife: BOWIE.

23. Ump's cry: YER OUT.  If your grid requires YER this is the way to pull it off.

24. Early late-night host: PAAR.  Jack PAAR followed Steve Allen and preceded Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show.

 

25. Rite Aid rival: CVS.  A drug store reference.

31. Cut with a beam: LASE.

35. Bull's-__: EYE.  Did anyone check with the cattle on this one?

36. Lyric poem: EPODE.  EPODE - Wikipedia

37. Tablet option: IPAD PRO.  Not a medicinal reference.

39. Bar sing-along: KARAOKE.   This guy comes up to me at the karaoke bar and asks, "Are you the guy who spends all night singing Neil Diamond songs?"  "I am", I said.

41. Actress Kemper: ELLIE.  Best known for her role in The Office.

42. Elevator part: CAR.  Ever pause to reflect on what is really going on when you are riding in an elevator CAR two hundred feet above the ground floor?

43. Bed support: SLAT.

48. Dejected: SAD.

49. VMI program: ROTC.  Reserve Officer Training Corps

50. Opening word?: SESAME.

58. The least bit: AT ALL.

60. After-lunch sandwich: OREO.  How do I clue thee . . . .

61. Some watch displays: LEDS.

62. Faithful: LOYAL.  What is a 3 letter word for playful, LOYAL, and unconditional love?  Dog.

63. Bound: LEAP.  Where do most people dine out on LEAP day?  IHOP

64. Empire State canal: ERIE.

65. "R u kidding me?": SRSLY.  Seriously?

66. Seals' meals: EELS.  How does it feel when they reel in the EEL with zeal?

67. Chips-in-a-can brand: STAX.  I might have clued this differently.

Down:

1. Without value: EMPTY.

2. French city, in song: PAREE.  Paris

3. "A little birdie tells me ... ": I HEAR.

4. Networking giant: CISCO.  Cisco - Wiki  Thirty years ago few people had ever heard of the company.  Fortunately, I knew someone who had.

5. Lousy piece of advice: BUM STEER.  It turns out that one need not bother checking with the cattle on this one.  From Wikipedia: Its origin is possibly from 19th-century American maritime humor and the difficulty of trying to steer a vessel in reverse.  A ship's stern is flat and lacks the pointed structure of a bow, and a ship is therefore difficult to maneuver in reverse when using the rudder, also found on the stern.

6. Account of life after death?: OBIT.  OBITuary

7. Turn for the worse: RELAPSE.  A bit odd in the cluing.  One could get worse without having previously been in that condition.

8. Turkey's highest peak: ARARAT.  Where many people believe Noah's ark landed.

9. Data recording device: CD BURNER.  Hey, at the time, it was a significant step forward!

10. Play thing: PROP.  Not a toy for a child to play with.  An item used in a stage play.

11. "The Paper Chase" setting: LAW SCHOOL.  A book and a movie.

12. Letters in the news: UPI.  Long before social media.

13. "Get it?": SEE.  Ya dig?

21. Busy airport: HUB.  A general response.  The answer could have been a specific airport but with only three letters the clue would require an abbreviation.

22. __ chi: TAI.

26. Salty dog option: VODKA.

FLATT would have fit.

27. Saccharine: SWEET.  From whence the artificial SWEETener got its name.

29. "Big Mouth" writer/voice actress Edebiri: AYO.  Unknown to this solver.  She plays a chef on The Bear.

30. Luxury home features: SPAS.  Novel cluing and almost on target.

31. Credit report entries: LIENS.  A legal claim on an asset.

32. Cop __: bargain in court: A PLEA.

33. Times of youthful innocence: SALAD DAYS.

Where does the noun salad days come from?

Earliest known use

early 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun salad days is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for salad days is from before 1616, in the writing of William Shakespeare, playwright and poet.

34. Perfect copy: EDIT.  Not perfect as in without flaws.  Perfect is used, here, as a verb as in "to make perfect" and copy is a body of writing.

38. Pregame event: PEP RALLY.

39. Ryssdal who hosts NPR's "Marketplace": KAI.  

40. Places to pick up paint: ART SHOPS.  Home Depot would not fit.

42. Like most aerosol cans, now: CFC FREE.  Without chlorofluorocarbons.

45. Former Mets pitcher Darling: RON.

46. "Smallville" actress Annette: O'TOOLE.  Not related to Peter.

47. Cinque e uno: SEI.  5 + 1 = 6  La lección de español y matemáticas de hoy.

51. Monica who won three consecutive French Opens: SELES.  Five letters with two E's and two S's - a construtor's friend.

52. Head off: AVERT.  A man was about to be hit by a Voyager minivan.  Fortunately, the driver stopped in time.  Chrysler AVERTed!

53. Radio and such: MEDIA.

54. County in the Greater Boston area: ESSEX.  Unknown to this solver but, in our puzzles, county names are often ESSEX.

56. Airline to Israel: EL AL.

57. Blue-green: TEAL.

58. Weather anchor Roker and actor Pacino: ALS.

59. Only Canadian MLB city, for short: TOR.  At one time there was also MON.

BBFN, for short.

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Friday, February 17, 2023, Jeff Stillman

 

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's puzzle recap.

Let's jump right into things with the reveal:

36 Across:   Ones fated to fail, or what the answers to the starred clues are, initially?: BORN LOSERS.

At four successive places in today's grid, starred for our convenience, our puzzle setter, Jeff Stillman, has removed the letters B, then O, then R and finally N from otherwise well-known brand names.  So, taken together, we lose BORN.   In each case, the Stillman-omitted letter "stands alone" in the name in that all but a single letter of a word has been omitted in the brand name.  So first, the marketing departments pared words down to a single letter or initial if you will (in two of the four cases, the letter coincidentally happens to be the initial letter of the word).  Then Jeff came along and removed those vestigial  letters.   It is far simpler than I have made it sound.

Here are the themed clues and answers:

*18 Across:  Children's apparel company: OSH KOSH GOSH.  Bye, bye B for By.

*27 Across:  Candy with a bee on its wrapper: BIT HONEY.  No O for Of here.

  

*51 Across:  Superstore for new parents: BABIES US.  That backwards R for aRe has been banished.

*61 Across:  Snack brand with Buttery Toffee and Almond Supreme flavors: CRUNCH MUNCH.  No N for aNd to be found,

Across:

1. Metric unit: GRAM.  Back in the sixties and seventies I became quite adept in dealing with the metric system.  I told my mother that I had learned it all in chemistry class.

5. Some workplace discrimination: Var.: AGISM.  Often spelled with the e not removed.  AGEISM.

10. Icy street risk: SKID.

14. "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" detective Diaz: ROSA.  A TV show reference.

15. Good-natured teasing: BANTER.  BANTER is often seen with the descriptive "good-natured".

17. Pre-stereo: MONO.  An audiophile reference.  Then came quad and surround sound.

20. Swivel around: SLUE.

21. Avenue that's the eastern border of Midway Airport: CICERO.  Easy if you knew your Chicago geography.  Not too hard to figure out even if you did not.

22. Basilica recesses: APSES.

24. Consumed: ATE.

25. Bewitches: ENAMORS.

Ella - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

29. Russo of "Thor": RENE.  A frequent visitor - or is that Magritte?

30. Shampoo ad buzzword: BODY.  A somewhat undefined term.  Not here.  In shampoo marketing,

32. Campus security?: TENURE.  Not security as in physical safety.  Job security.

33. QB stats: YDS.  A football reference.  QuarterBack is abbreviated so YarDS is also.

34. Sunday seating: PEWS.  A Sunday-go-to-meetin' reference.

35. Dealer's inventory: AUTOS.  Ah, it's not a drug reference.

40. Like some diets: VEGAN.  Hand up for first thinking of the trendy PALEO diet.

43. Barrels into: RAMS.

44. Half of cuatro: DOS.  A Spanish and math lesson mashup.

47. Roma locale: ITALIA.  An Italian lesson.  ROMA not ROME so ITALIA not ITALY (which would not fit in any event).

49. Remain undecided: PEND.

50. Landlord's income: RENT.

53. Herbal drink: SAGE TEA.  Personally, this is a type of tea that I have never (knowingly) tasted.

55. Kid: RIB.  Not a baby goat this week.

56. Math functions: SINES.

58. File menu option: SAVE AS.  It is always a good idea to periodically save one's work.

59. "C'est la vie": ALAS.

63. Jamboree shelter: TENT.  A scouting reference.

64. Put under: SEDATE.

65. French 101 verb: ETRE.  In French the verbs are conjugated with either ETRE (to be) of Avoir (to have).

66. Voiced: ORAL.

67. Jumps up and down to music: POGOS.

Paul Reubens Shows Us How

68. Origin: SEED.  As in the germ of an idea.  Both are biology metaphors.

Down:

1. Grub hub?: GROCERY.  Nice word play.  A nexus for food.

2. Prepared for use, as a violin bow: ROSINED.  Or a fiddle.

3. Depth charges, in navy slang: ASH CANS.  I learned this as a child from watching WWII movies.  Manatees are not fond of depth charges.  Wait a minute.   Do manatees watch movies?

4. Defiant response: MAKE ME.

5. Shock __: ABSORBER.  Hand up for first trying something along the lines of Shock and Awe.  An automobile suspension parts reference.

6. "This is a disaster!": GAH.  Today's punt,  GAH!

7. "Young Frankenstein" role: INGA.

8. Visit: STOP BY.

9. 2022 World Cup Golden Ball winner Lionel: MESSI.

10. Texting letters: SMS.  Short Message Service is a protocol used by cellphones to send and receive text messages.

11. Caffeine source for some soft drinks: KOLA NUT.

12. Prenatal: IN UTERO.  Also, a Nirvana album.

13. Makeup trend that imparts an innocent look: DOE EYES.

16. "Country Again" Grammy nominee Thomas: RHETT.  I wonder if he has a butler.

19. Spanish gold: ORO.  Another Spanish lesson.

23. Shrub cutters: SHEARS.  Garden SHEARS are cutting hedge technology.

26. Scattered, as seeds: SOWN.

28. Heavy load: ONUS.

31. ISP option: DSL.  Internet Service Provider.  Digital Subscriber Line.  For transmitting digital data over telephone lines.

34. Stable figures: PONIES.   A bit of word play.  Stable as in, well, a place to house horses.  Not as in a stable economy.

36. Island east of Java: BALI.

37. Redstone in Minecraft, e.g.: ORE.

38. __-serif: SANS.  Fonts without the little dashes at the ends of each letter.

39. Punctuation marks that set off a series within a phrase: EM DASHES.

40. Singer's wavering tone: VIBRATO.

41. Entity with net income?: E-TAILER.  Not net income as in what's left over after costs and taxes.  Net as in internet.

42. Dolce & __: GABBANA.  An Italian luxury fashion house.

44. Cold War warmup: DETENTE.  Not as in warming up before starting something,  Warmup as in a thaw or easing.

45. Plot size, perhaps: ONE ACRE.

46. Hidden: STASHED.

48. #LiveUplifted sneakers brand: ASICS.

49. Not genuine: PSEUDO.

50. Some Broadway fare: REVUES.  REVUES are variety shows with topical sketches, songs, dancing and comedians.

The New Zoo Revue

52. General Assembly figure, for short: UN REP.  United Nations REPresentative

54. Whale group: GAM.

57. Hitch: SNAG.

60. Mo. city whose MLS team will play its first game in 2023:  STL.  Missouri and Major League Soccer are abbreviated in the clue.  Therefore the answer is, too.  Jeff is also riffing on the name of the team with the "Mo. city" bit because the soccer team is calling itself the Saint Louis City Soccer Club.  More often, STL is clued with reference to the SainT Louis Cardinals baseball team.

62. Exec at a gaming startup, e.g.: CTO.  Chief Technology Officer

Here is the completed grid:

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