Friday, March 22, 2024, Katie Hale

Greetings, Cruciverbalists. Anomalous Moderate here with a recap of today's puzzle by Katie Hale.  As was the case with the puzzle I reviewed this past December 29th, Lisa Simpson leads the way to anagram-ville (well, it's kinda close to Margaritaville).  At five places in the grid Katie has a bit of fun by rearranging the initial three or four letters of everyday vocabulary and thereby produces humorous themed answers.  After the first few of these were figured out by this solver (not in top-to-bottom order) I thought that the theme would have an electronics angle (STEM, USB, RCA) but this was not to be.

Here are the five he terms, er themers:

18 Across:  Shirts for a coders vs. physicists softball game?: STEM JERSEYS.  (New York) METS JERSEYS has been rearranged.  A tech reference.

24 Across:  Break-even transactions involving vintage TVs and turntables?: RCA WASHES.  CAR WASHES  RCA was an early brand of TVs and other electronic gear (although I do not recall ever seeing an RCA turntable).  A break-even transactions is sometimes referred to as "a wash".  Six of one a twenty-fourth of a gross of the other.

38 Across:  One issuing tickets to the over-50 crowd?: AARP TROOPER.  PARATROOPER  If anyone here needs AARP explained please drop me a line.

51 Across:  Animated image of an apple falling on Sir Isaac?: GIF NEWTON.  FIG NEWTON  A popular cookie morphs into an animated illustration of an aha moment in the history of physics.  Here, now, a GIF:

59. Lab work focused on data storage devices?: USB CULTURES.  SUBCULTURES

This is how all of this appears in the grid:

Here are the rest of the clues and answers:

So, Cars:  Oops, Across:

1. Trailhead posting: MAP.  My hiking friends and I used to rely heavily on the USGS contour maps.

4. Courtroom drama on NBC from 1986 to 1994: LA LAW.  Today's first TV show reference.

9. Lariat: ROPE.  Drop the L from the clue and we could form RIATA.

13. Spring mo.: APR.  APRIL.  This could have been clued with a credit card interest rate reference.

14. Vague afternoon time: ONE-ISH.  Probably not Katie's favorite fill.

16. Multicolored gem: OPAL.  We have all seen some so-so posts on blogs but here are some gems:  emeralds, sapphires, OPALs, rubies

17. "Gotta __!": JET.  New to this solver.  "I gotta JET is, apparently, a phrase that means "I have to go (quickly)".

20. Miner concern: ORES.  Often found in crossword puzzles but rarely seen pluralized.

22. Water coolers: ICE.  The use of the plural in the clue lead to a bit of head scratching but, I guess, ICES would not be not used in this context.

23. Water movers: MAINS.  Not the first water conduit that came to mind but the clue is on target.

27. Dead set on: WED TO.  Pairing Dead with WED might be perceived as a slippery slope.

29. Tangy red spice: SUMAC.  Popular in middle-eastern cuisine.

30. "Jingle Bells" contraction: O'ER.

32. CSNY's "__ House": OUR.  It was very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard.

33. Making one's hair stand on end?: TEASING.  A clue to be taken literally.

37. Doesn't take well?: ROBS.   Don't take this wrongly . . .

40. Mark left by a bumper: DENT.  If a plane has a small DENT does that make it an airline fracture?

42. Afternoon rests: SIESTAS.

43. Sprint: RUN.  Did the clue jog your memory?

44. Dudes: MEN.  By definition.

45. Romance novelist Dare: TESSA.  Unknown to this solver although I am aware that Romance Novels exist and I have heard such books referred to as "bodice rippers".

49. Make space on the whiteboard: ERASE.  Clued many ways.

55. "__ you a barrel of laughs": AREN'T.  See also 63 Across.

57. Nintendo character option: MII.  Completely unknown to this solver.  Thanks perps.  MII is a customizable avatar used on several Nintendo video game consoles.

58. Artemis org.: NASA.  With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.

62. Gov. or sen.: POL.  POLitician.  We see POLs quite often.

63. Barrel of laughs: RIOT.  See also 55 Across.

64. Big-box shop: COSTCO.  I was in one just prior to starting to work on this write-up.

65. 68-Across restroom: LOO.  We often go there in our puzzles.

66. Drummer Ulrich: LARS.  Of Metallica.

67. "Anything Goes" star Merman: ETHEL.

68. U.K. part: ENG.  United Kingdom.  ENGland

Down:

1. Focuses in college: MAJORS.  If marine biology was the right major for you then your grades were probably above c-level.

2. Brief sketch: APERCU.

3. Comms experts: PR TEAM.  COMMunicationS experts - Public Relations TEAM

4. Rock's __ Lonely Boys: LOS.

5. Opposition parties: ANTIS.  ANTIS is a word not often heard, seen or used.

6. Hanger-on: LEECH.  Idiomatically and literally.  Ugh.

7. Teegarden of "Friday Night Lights": AIMEE.

8. Financial paper, for short: WSJ.  The Wall Street Journal

9. "The Jetsons" maid: ROSIE.  That's ROSIE in the back.  You know the other names from the song.  Another TV reference.

10. What love is, per a "Frozen" song: OPEN DOOR.

11. Earnings report: PAY STUB.  Of a sort, I suppose, for an individual but not for a company.

12. Lapel edges?: ELS.  Lapel begins and ends with the letter L.

15. Take up, in a way: HEM.  See also 37 Down.

19. Playful "grr" alternative: RAWR.  Used to express anger, flirtation or affection.

21. Try to hit: SWAT AT.

25. Lenovo rival: ACER.  DELL and SONY would also have fit the allotted space.

26. Wireless speaker brand: SONOS.  Hand up for ANKER.

28. RN workplaces: ORS.  Registered Nurse.  Operating RoomS.

31. Elton John accomplishment, briefly: EGOT.  Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony.   Elton John is the most recent person to complete this feat and, of all who have done so (less than twenty people) he was the oldest at "completion".

34. Basilica alcove: APSE.  Do you struggle to find domed recesses in cathedrals?  There's an APSE for that.

35. Result of angering a wasp, probably: STING.  Not the ethnic kind of WASP.

36. Fury: IRE.

37. Taken up, in a way: RE-SEWN.  See also 15 Down.

38. University of Michigan city: ANN ARBOR.  Go Blue!

39. Spread out at a cocktail party: PATE.  Not splayed.  An edible spread that might be put out (served).

40. Rap's Dr. __: DRE.

41. "1984" superstate: EURASIA.

44. Maitre d' offering: MENU.

46. Paper clip alternative: STAPLE.  Alternatively:  You shouldn't eat stationery.  It might become a dietary STAPLE.

47. "Time to go already?": SO SOON.

48. Like a watch with hands: ANALOG.

50. Factions: SECTS.

52. "You can't stop me": I MUST.

53. Colin of "1917": FIRTH.  An actor/motion picture reference.

54. Extended family member: NIECE.  In Nice, nièce.

56. "No Scrubs" group: TLC.  A music/"girl group" reference.

59. Clickable link: URL.  Here's One

60. Little piggy: TOE.

61. Mexican lager: SOL.  Aaahhh, a nice cold beer to wrap things up.

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Friday, February 9, 2024, Caroline Hand, Katie Hale

 

Good morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of  today's puzzle which, fittingly, was constructed by not one but two puzzle setters.  If you woke up feeling poorly this morning then this puzzle may not have been for you.  However, if you woke up fooling peerly then you may have found that the solving went smeethly and agrooably.  Let's start with the reveal:

66  Across:  Tennis match with teams of men and women, or what 18- and 25-Across and 42- and 55-Across literally have: MIXED DOUBLES.

At two places (four clues/answers) Caroline and Katie intentionally mix up the double vowels (oo and ee) from two clues/answers and, thereby, create amusing responses to the carefully worded clues.  The first pair is at:

18 Across:  Plays a trick on Miami's basketball team?: FOOLS THE HEAT     and

25 Across:  Spring occasion when people get really emotional?: APRIL FEELS DAY

FEELS THE HEAT and APRIL FOOLS DAY have traded double vowels

The second pair is at:

42 Across:  Orange rinds of epic proportions?: OLYMPIC SIZE PEELS and

55 Across:  Wagers about how many ingredients are in a bottle of shampoo?: CHEMICAL POOLS

OLYMPIC SIZE POOLS and CHEMICAL PEELS have engaged in a bit of vowel swapping.

Here is how this all looks in the grid:

.... and, now that we're done with the vowels' key party, let's have a look at the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Baldelli who was AL Manager of the Year in 2019: ROCCO.  Things start off with a reference to the Minnesota Twins.

6. Leave the dishes for tomorrow, say: SOAK.  SOAKing is a great way to avoid difficult scrubbing (dibbicult sruffing?).

10. Fistful of dollars: WAD.

Clint Probably Got This Answer Quickly

13. Nook purchases: E-BOOKS.  NOOK is Barnes and Noble's electronic reading platform/device.

15. Subject: TOPIC.  Current events are a fish's favorite TOPIC of discussion.

17. Spa brand: OPI.  Usually clued with a reference to nail polish.

20. Molecular messenger: RNA.

21. Dump, as stock: SELL.

22. Breakdown helpers: AAA.

23. Monarch: RULER.

30. Cuban dance: MAMBO.  O, possibilmente, italiano

33. Comforts: SOLACES.  

34. Rita on Avicii's "Lonely Together": ORA.

35. UFC fighting style: MMA.  Mixed Martial Arts

38. Prefix with gender: CIS.

"Mongo CIS" Just Does Not Seem Right

39. Some UPenn degs.: MBAS.  Many schools offer MBA degrees.  The UPenn bit was not very helpful.

46. Hands together time: NOON.  Analog, not digital.

47. Not awesome: MEH.

48. Big fuss: ADO.

49. Writer Joe Hill, to Stephen King: SON.  This solver did not know that.  This Joe Hill, I know:

50. Amends last year's tax return, say: RE-FILES.

53. The Chi-__: R&B quartet: LITES.

59. Titan, once: OILER.  The Tennessee Titans football team started out in 1960 as the Houston Oilers before relocating to Nashville in 1997.

60. Prefix in some genre names: ALT.

61. __ Rios, Jamaica: OCHO.

65. School opening?: PRE.  Some solvers might feel that the southwest, with its PRE, SEC and EST stack, was a bit 47 Across.

71. Wall St. regulator: SEC.

72. Cutting: SNIDE.  A fairly ambiguous clue.

73. Writes to: EMAILS.  Can we read EMAILS on our EBOOKS?

74. D.C. hrs.: EST.  Anybody remember Werner Erhard?

75. African antelopes: GNUS.

76. Teaser: PROMO.  As in teaser ad.

Down:

1. Bowl game officials: REFS.  A football reference.

2. Cor anglais kin: OBOE.  Clued many ways but not as many ways as OREO

3. Awesome: COOL.  Slang.

4. Work together briefly?: COLLAB.  A punt (or slang depending on your perspective).  COLLABoration "in brief".

5. Allows: OKS.

6. Gets home, in a way: STEALS.  Another baseball reference.

7. __ and aah: OOH.  What goes OOH OOH?  A cow with no lips.

8. Imitate: APE.  Used as a verb.  See also 36 Down.

9. Telluride maker: KIA.  An automotive reference.

10. Advertising exaggeration, perhaps: WORLD'S BEST.

11. CPAP target: APNEA. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure used to treat breathing problems.

12. Log with a lock: DIARY.

14. Guest __: STAR.

16. Copy shortcut: CTRL C.  A computer user's technique.

19. Japanese "yes": HAI.

24. "I can help!": USE ME.  We have seen this several times in our puzzles.  Has anyone actually heard a person say "USE ME" ?

26. Pageantry: POMP.

27. Areas of interest: FOCI.  Plural of FOCUS.

28. "Hamilton" role for Phillipa Soo: ELIZA.

29. Made less harsh: EASED.

30. Eclipse participant: MOON.

31. "Hope" singer Parks: ARLO.

32. City executive-to-be: MAYOR ELECT.

36. Imitate: MIMIC.  See also 8 Down.

37. Amtrak choice: ACELA.  A train ride often taken in our puzzles.

40. Healing plant: ALOE.  A constructor's friend.

41. Bank acct. application digits: SSNS.  

43. Greek muse of memory: MNEME.  Inspiration for:

44. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" poet Silverstein: SHEL.

45. Straw __: POLL.

51. Gels: FIRMS.

52. Some kings and queens: SPADES.  A playing card reference.

54. Weather map line: ISOBAR.  Where do meteorologists relax after work?

55. Grove: COPSE.

A small COPSE set among a field of dandelions.

56. Brings on: HIRES.  They could have gone with the root beer.

57. Far from current: OLD.

58. Chiwere speakers: OTOE.  OTOE visit us often.  All About These Friends of Crossword Constructors

62. Advertiser's honor: CLIO.  The CLIO awards are named for the Greek goddess CLIO, the mythological muse known as "the proclaimer, glorifier and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments.

63. Big wheel at sea: HELM.  A big steering wheel.

64. __ buco: OSSO.

67. Dutch bank: ING.

68. Mark, as a box: X IN.  Punt

69. Part of a prof's address: EDU.  The ending for a university's email address.  dot EDU

70. Plate official: UMP.  Yet another baseball reference.

Y'er Out!

Okay.  If you say so.

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Friday, December 1, 2023, Katie Hale

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap of a puzzle by Katie Hale.  The theme of this creation seemed to me to be simultaneously a tad "forced" and quite clever.  Let's go straight to the reveal as it seems to be the best place to start:

38 Across:  Classic demonstration, and a way to describe the relationship between each starred clue and its answer: TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE.  A TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE of something is, as the clue says, a classic or perfectly illustrative instance of something.  In the case of today's puzzle, however, our puzzle setter has creatively combined abbreviations used in texting with book titles.  TEXT and BOOK.  The TEXTing abbreviations form the clues and the BOOKs form the answers.  One might say that we are dealing with Literal (literary) examples:

Here are the four places where the theme is employed:

16 Across:  *LOL OMG: THE DIVINE COMEDY.  LOL and OMG = "Laughing Out Loud" and "Oh My God" in text-speak.  Either/both could be a reaction to something comedic.  The reference is to this book:

22 Across:  *CU soon: ON THE ROAD.  CU = "See You" in text-speak.   As in, e.g, "I am on the road but will see you soon."  The reference is to this book:

51 Across:  *SRY: ATONEMENT.  SRY is text-speak for "(I'm) Sorry" and atonement is the act of making amends for one's misdeeds.  The reference is to this book:

62 Across:  *TMI: NOTES ON A SCANDAL.  TMI = text-speak for Too Much Information.  The reference is to this book:

In each instance the perps were a big help in sussing out the correct answers.  Here is how the completed grid looks (please ignore the yellow and orange highlighting as it is a product of the Crossword Nexus solver and in this instance has no meaning):

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

Across:

1. Welcome gifts at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel: LEIS.  The hotel lies on the Hawaiian island of, well, Hawaii (The Big Island).

5. Deputy: AIDE.

9. Some parents: MOMS.  DADS would also fit.

13. Mount near Taormina: ETNA.  Taormina is a town in Sicily where A-listers like to hang out.

14. Passing remark?: I'M OUT.  "I pass."

15. Nike rival: AVIA.  An athletic shoe reference.

19. __ year: GAP.  When I took my GAP year(s) we simply called it dropping out.

20. Actress Collette: TONI.

21. Fatal flaw of some Greek heroes: HUBRIS.

25. Fuel for some grills: GAS.  See also 27 Across.  Some prefer wood pellets.

26. Youngest March sister: AMY.  Another literary reference.  In this case to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

27. Some barbecue remains: ASH.  See also 25 Across.

29. Young chap: LAD.

32. Tesfaye whose stage name is the Weeknd: ABEL.  I suppose that Weend is no sillier than e.g. Beatles, Kinks or Zombies but it does seem that way.

35. Bandleader's cue: HIT IT.

37. Old-fashioned before: ERE.  Able was I ERE I saw Elba.

42. Indifferent review: MEH.

43. Queues: LINES.  British English.

44. Fission target: ATOM.

45. Hindu title: SRI.  Remember this guy?

Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh

46. Well-worn: OLD.  No comment.

47. Place for a paraffin body wrap: SPA.

49. __ choy: BOK.  The vegetable.

57. Tiny slice: SLIVER.  A man walks into a bar with a SLIVER of metal on his tie.  The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't want your tie pin here."

60. Can of worms, maybe: BAIT.  Used literally not idiomatically.    As an idiom it means a situation that causes a lot of problems when you start to deal with it.

61. "Narcos" org.: DEA.

65. Not buttoned: OPEN.

66. Actor Rami: MALEK.  An American actor best known for his role as Elliot Alderson in 'Mr. Robot' and Freddie Mercury in 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

67. Send for onboarding: HIRE.   Onboarding sounds, to me, like something that Alexander Haig would have conjured up (see:  Vietnamification).  

68. Some twins: BEDS.  Hand up for first trying BOYS.

69. Beltmaking tools: AWLS.  For making holes.

70. Not so much: LESS.

Down:

1. Abandon one's inhibitions: LET GO.

2. Hawke of "The Northman": ETHAN.

3. Clumsy: INEPT.  How does a socially inept cat walk away from a conversation?  On her faux pas.

4. Like a tear-jerker: SAD.

5. __ acid: AMINO.  Lysergic Diethylamide was too long.

6. Ancient Aegean region: IONIA.  Often visited in our puzzles.

7. Not yet settled: DUE.

8. Make a lasting impression?: ETCH.

9. Green arboreal snake: MAMBA.  Was Rosemary Clooney singing about a snake?

Mambo Italiano

10. Had to scramble to get out the door, perhaps: OVERSLEPT.

11. Calf-length skirt: MIDI.

12. Voices: SAYS.  In the clue, voices is used as a verb.  Do we hear voices raised in protest?

14. Cream relative: IVORY.  Cream, here, is used as a color and not as a dairy product and Blind Faith was too long.

17. Part of a collection: ITEM.

18. Really must, informally: OUGHTA.

23. "Come no further": HALT.

24. Palm fruits: DATES.

28. Number of suspects in Clue: SIX.  The answer was going to be a number three letters in length.  One, two, six and ten were the suspects.

30. "Alligator Boy" in a 2021 Netflix animated film: ARLO.  Unknown to this solver.  

31. Judge to be: DEEM.

32. Places for taking notes?: ATMS.  We can take banknotes out of ATMS (Automatic Teller MachineS).

33. __ garden: BEER.  Hands up for those who first tried ROSE.

34. Put on display: EXHIBITED.  One of those clues where the verb can be either present or past tense.

35. Accord maker: HONDA.  Not as in treaty or pact.

1976 Honda Accord

36. Barinholtz of "History of the World, Part II": IKE.  Ah, the TV series not the movie.

39. Chaps: BLOKES.

40. Safflower __: OIL.  Pretty crude ____   if you ask me.

41. Polite address: MA'AM.

47. Former weekend programming block that featured "Clarissa Explains It All": SNICK.  Short for Saturday Night Nickelodeon.

48. Anti-fur gp.: PETA.

50. Bakery features: OVENS.  Aromas was too many letters.

52. Kids' batting game: T-BALL.

53. Fertile spots: OASES.

54. __ Bauer: EDDIE.  Me and EDDIE have a clothes relationship.

55. Gets warmer?: NEARS.  As in the kids game Hot And Cold.

56. Chaucer works: TALES.  Yet another book reference.

57. Nose-in-the-air type: SNOB.

58. Casual gait: LOPE.  When you turn off Auto-correct all LOPE is host,.

59. Oblong tomato: ROMA.  The most common variety of tomatoes used in crossword puzzles.

63. "Yup" opposite: NAW.

64. Bruins' org.: NHL.  The Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.  Being a UCLA "product" (a year of undergrad, two years of grad school and a few years of teaching) the puzzle-appropriate response was not the first thing that came to mind.

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