Thursday, December 30 2021, August Miller

 

Okay, so it is one day early.  The sentiment still holds.  Happy New Year, Cruciverbalists!  

Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap.  I am back from the mountains (where the temperature dipped to minus 15°F one morning).  

A scientific journal once wrote, "The challenge to using manatees as experimental animals is not their ability to learn but the fact that they are difficult to motivate and move quite slowly."  I just might be an anomaly.  The empirical evidence seems to suggest that I can be properly motivated and can move quickly (when required) but, sometimes, seem not to learn from experience.  Therefore, in a few days it will be back to the type of cold weather that my parents, and millions of their closest friends, moved to SoCal to escape.  Of course, with vistas such as this who cares?

Teocali Mountain, Colorado - Photo by MM

Be that as it may ...

In 1983, an experimental non-narrative film was released that was called Koyaanisqatsi which is a Hopi word meaning Life Out of Balance.  Today, our puzzle constructor,  August Miller, presents his take on that theme.  In four places within the grid (17, 23, 37 and 47 Across - each clue being marked with an *), the letters of the word BALANCE can be found jumbled (and adjacent to each other) within the longer answers.  If your source used them, there are circles to indicate the location of the jumbled letters.  Here is how this looks in the completed puzzle:

The unifier comes at:

58 Across:  Create instability . . . or a hint to each set of circles: UPSET THE BALANCE.

For those who are interested, here is the trailer for the film:

As there are no themed answers (merely letters located within otherwise unrelated answers), let's dive right in

Across:

1. Spanish gal pal: CHICA.  This marine mammal first tried AMIGA . . . and both the I and the A worked out.  The rest did not.

6. Bygone dictator: TSAR .  . . making frequent appearances in crossword puzzles.

10. "__ Guy": 2019 Billie Eilish #1 hit: BAD.  I checked out the video on YouTube so you don't have to.  Not my style.  Apologies to any Eilish fans here.

13. Winter warmer: COCOA.   I prefer a good single malt (yeah, I know that it actually constricts the blood vessels).

14. Troll, at times: HATER.   Troll as in internet troll.

16. Summer cooler: ADE.  LemonADE (a CSO), LimeADE, OrangeADE, etc.  Sometimes FAN.

17. * 1971 road movie co-starring James Taylor: TWO LANE BLACKTOP.  The first of the locations.

20. Peddle: VEND.  SELL would have fit and the E would have worked.

21. Creator of the former messaging software AIM: AOL.  AOL Instant Messenger.  I confess to still having an AOL account.  I try to direct all of my "commercial" email (read: Junk) there.  Remember picking up these disks at various places around town?

22. Arab League headquarters city: CAIRO.  Egypt, not Illinois.

23. * Astronaut's insulator: SPACE BLANKET.  I often carried one with me in my backpacking days.  The second answer with jumbles.

Photo Not By MM - And Not of MM

27. Suffering: IN PAIN.

30. Like crab apples: TART.  Sour.  The dictionary lists three additional definitions for TART:  (1)  A pastry shell with shallow sides and no top crust. (2) A pie.  (3) A harlot.

31. Hit the __: BOOKS.  Study, or read

32. "That was close!": PHEW.  We've seen this spelled other ways in other puzzles.

34. "Nova" airer: PBS.

37. * Part ways for good: MAKE A CLEAN BREAK.  The third site.

41. Reserved: SHY.

42. Soccer legend Mia: HAMM.  Love that double M.

Mia Hamm

43. Wee, facetiously: EENSY.  Neither ITSY, BITSY, TEENY nor WEENY.  Apologies for the ear worm.

44. Flimsy: THIN.

46. Expressionless: GLASSY.  As in GLASSY Eyed

47.  * "Key Largo" co-star: LAUREN BACALL.  The fourth set of circles.

52. Ed of "Up": ASNER.  "Up" was a 2009 animated motion picture.  AKA Lou Grant.  "Up"also featured Dug the talking dog.

53. Turn sharply: ZAG.  ZIG?

54. Dash gauge: TACH.  TACHometer.  Do you prefer analog or digital?

62. Barely passing: DEE.  We were graded on the curve a couple of weeks ago, too.

63. Last critter in a kindergarten reader, maybe: ZEBRA.

64. Revise: ALTER.

65. Act like a human?: ERR.  To ERR is human.  To forgive is against company policy.

66. Ember: COAL.  As we were driving down the road "Sweet Caroline" came on the radio.  I said to Valerie, "Did you know that Neil Diamond used to be called Neil COAL"?  "Then the pressure got to him."

67. Loses one's grip, in a way: SKIDS.

Down:

1. Surveillance system, for short: CCTV.  Closed Circuit TeleVision

2. Suffragist Julia Ward __: HOWE.  She is, perhaps, better known for writing "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic".

Glory, Glory Harry Lewis

3. App symbol: ICON.

4. Chilled Japanese brew: COLD SAKE.  SAKE is made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran.

The Lucky Sake Cat

5. Energizer size: AAA.

The Energizer Bunny

6. 2000s Fox drama set in Newport Beach: THE OC.  As in Orange County, California.

7. Weasel family member known for its fur: SABLE.

8. Ga. airport: ATL.  Code for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

9. LGBT activist __ Carey: REA.  (Born 22 December 1966)

10. It's a dyeing art: BATIK.  It was more popular in the 60's but it's not a dying art.  Oh, dye-ing art!

11. Really dig: ADORE.  The clue is from an earlier time.

12. Where to get off: DEPOT.

Grand Central Station

15. Miniature vehicle with a remote, briefly: RC CAR.  Radio Controlled CAR

18. Tandoori bread: NAAN.  Smoking or Naan?

19. "Critique of Pure Reason" writer: KANT.  He visited us last Friday.  Apparently, he just KANT stay away.

24. City with a notable tower: PISA.

Photo By MM

25. Backup group: B-TEAM.  Not The A-Team

26. Many a home front: LAWN.  Brick? Aluminum Siding?  Not the Eastern Front.

27. Models for old clones: IBMS.  IBM PC Clones

28. Biblical boater: NOAH.

Noah's Ark

29. Slow: POKY.

32. Fallback: PLAN B.  Is the B-Team called upon to execute PLAN B?

33. Something to take up with your tailor?: HEM.  Two rival tailors had a contest to see who could cut and perfectly hem a six-foot long piece of fabric.  The result was a tie.

34. Uni-ball products: PENS.

35. Low pitch pro: BASS.

36. American vodka brand: SKYY.  Actually, SKYY is now owned by Gruppo Campari of Italy.

 
38. __ music: small talk: CHIN.

39. Male pseudonym used by all three Brontë sisters: BELL.  For me, a learning moment.

40. Heart-to-heart: REAL TALK.  As in "Let's have a ...."

44. Genealogy chart: TREE.

45. Frequency unit: HERTZ.  Not the car rental company.

46. Madly in love: GAGA.  Do a web search o GAGA and it returns all sorts of other pop culture stuff.

47. Magna cum __: LAUDE.  With High Honors

48. According to: AS PER.

49. Indy 500 family name: UNSER.  In 2015, five members of the UNSER family raced at the same time on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track.

Robby, Bobby, Al Sr.,  Al Jr., and Johnny

50. Hyundai sedan: AZERA.  Another automotive reference.

51. Plotting group: CABAL.

55. Not a fan of: ANTI.  Opposed

56. Looped in, on Gmail: CC'ED.  Remember Carbon Copies?

57. Towel term: HERS.

59. Many a noir hero: TEC.  Gritty film genre slang for DeTECtive

60. "Big Little Lies" network: HBO.

61. __ Cruces: LAS.  The Crosses.

. . . and with that geography lesson, it is time, now, to go work on my balance on a pair of skis.  I shall try not to cross my tips . . .

Thursday, December 16, 2021 Chris Sablich

 

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  This marine mammal is still up in the mountains so today's recap will, again, be a bit on the brief side.  A fortnight ago the recap was almost exclusively verbiage. Today, however, we'll lean more heavily on the adage that "a single picture is worth a thousand words." 

Today's puzzle setter is Chris Sablich (who previously had puzzles recapped by yours truly on 09 September and 26 August of this year).  This morning he and Daffy are not leaving much to our imagination.  Let's start with the reveal:

62 Across: 1996 Demi Moore film ... and a hint to how four puzzle answers were created: STRIPTEASE.

At four places within the grid Chris has dropped the letter T from a two-word expression and thereby morphed it into a different two-word expression with a different meaning.  Stripped Tees.

17 Across:  Polished orator?: ABLE TALKER.  Formerly, Table Talker.  Table talk is defined as casual conversation around, you guessed it, a table.

22 Across:  Indication that the coffee is ready?: URN SIGNAL.  Formerly, Turn Signal

38 Across:  Regret the choice of wall paint color?: RUE BLUE.  Formerly, True Blue

50 Across: Carol Burnett, at the end of an episode?: EAR JERKER.  Formerly, Tear Jerker.  Carol Burnett tugged her ear at the end of each show as a message to her grandmother that Carol was doing well and that she loved her grandmother.

. . . and now for the rest of the story . . .

Across:

1. First name in old horror films: BELA.

5. They're earned at U's: DEGS.  DEGreeS.  When the topic was raised last time about constructors taking the first three letters of any word to use for an answer it was not meant to be a road map.

9. Serious wound: GASH.  Let's skip this graphic.

13. Suit, so to speak: EXEC.  A Suit, in this case is a slang, and somewhat derogatory, term for a business EXECutive.

14. Artist Matisse: HENRI.

15. Start to freeze?: ANTI.

16. __ fail: EPIC.  A modern bit of slang.

19. Like C's, in some cases: SO SO.  Are we grading on the curve?

20. One way to go to a party: STAG.

The Dave Clark Five - 1965 - Over and Over

21. Steak __: DIANE  A preparation usually involving Cognac and mushrooms.

25.  One in a large octet.  PLANET  Formerly a large nonet.

28. Southernmost of the Southeast's Sea Islands: AMELIA.

32. Main line: AORTA.

33. Palindromic title: MA'AM.

36. Skiff movers: OARS.  A skiff is a small, usually flat-bottomed, rowboat.

37. Corp. money manager: CFO.  Chief Financial Officer

41. Is, once: WAS.  The past tense of is is was.

42. "__ Shanter": Burns poem: TAM O.

44. Dance movement: STEP.

45. Bridge along the Arno: PONTE.  Italian for bridge.

47. Golf lesson topic: STANCE.

49. Becomes aware of: SENSES.

54. Like some online purchases: IN APP.

57. Small case: ETUI.  Crosswordese,

58. Field unit: ACRE.

64. Post: MAIL.  As in The Box Tops' "My baby posted me a letter."

65. Cry of success: I WIN.

66. Sign of early spring: ARIES.  Zodiac.

67. Senior __: PROM.  Moment would not fit.

68. Errors, say: STAT.  A baseball reference.  Short for Statistic.  R  H  E  Runs, Hits, Errors

69. PC connections: DSLS.  Digital Subscriber LineS.  

70. Gels: SETS.

Down:

1. Half a sex-ed metaphor, with "the": BEES.

2. Trade show: EXPO.

3. Floral necklaces: LEIS.

4. Explanation: ACCOUNT.

5. Financial statement items: DEBTS.  Usually, Assets and Liabilities of which Debts is a subset.

6. China's Zhou __: ENLAI.

7. System of shorthand: GREGG.

8. Warm the bench: SIT.  A sports reference.  Not in the game.

9. Probe that visited Jupiter: GALILEO.  Named for a famous Pisan (but not Fibonacci).

10. "She's a Lady" songwriter: ANKA.

11. British WWII gun: STEN.

12. Put on: HIRE.  You're putting me on, right?

14. "Who __?!": "Join the club!": HASN'T.

18. NBA commissioner Silver: ADAM.

23. Bring up: REAR.  Not "bring up the rear".

24. First killer whale to perform with a human: NAMU.

25. Accords: PACTS.

26. For dieters, in ads: LO FAT.  Ad-speak for Low Fat.

27. Coffee asset: AROMA.

29. They may be manicured: LAWNS.

30. Steaming: IRATE.

31. Beasts of burden: ASSES.

33. Ran into: MET.

34. Half a sawbuck: ABE.  A sawbuck is a ten-dollar bill.

35. Zugspitze, e.g.: ALP.  Germany's highest point.

39. Manipulative sort: USER.

40. Olympics fencing event: EPEE.

43. Ice cream purchase: ONE PINT.

46. Parts of cloverleafs: ON RAMPS.

48. Yokum cartoonist: CAPP.

49. Irving Berlin's "Blue __": SKIES.

51. Signs of crowd displeasure: JEERS.

52. Online biz: ETAIL.  An E word, again.

53. Deceptions: RUSES.

54. Goddess usually depicted holding an ankh: ISIS.

55. Food package amt.: NT WT.  NeT WeighT

56. Bizet's "Habanera," e.g.: ARIA.

The Royal Opera

59. Diligence: CARE.

60. Comedy club hit: RIOT.

61. Stately trees: ELMS.

63. Bit: TAD.

And now, with a special "Thank you" to Shaun The Sheep for his appearances today . . . .

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Thursday, December 2, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

 

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, with a well-known animated "sea creature" to present a somewhat abbreviated recap.  This past week has been quite hectic what with Thanksgiving, several separate celebratory gatherings in honor of Valerie's (ahem, 31st) 39th birthday, Hanukkah gatherings, and a one-thousand mile drive from SoCal to Colorado.  All of this is welcomed, wonderful activity but, as a result, the time available to write and to unearth graphics has been far more limited than usual.

Today's puzzle setter is the prolific, and talented, Jeffrey Wechsler.  Today he has given us a puzzle with a FASTENER theme but without a reveal to tie it all together.  At four places within the grid Jeffrey has presented fastener homonyms in common, multi-word phrases that describe actions that might be undertaken.

17 Across:  Impress one's future employer, maybe: NAIL AN INTERVIEW

26 Across:  Gobble breakfast in one minute, say: BOLT DOWN A MEAL

43 Across:  Cause confusion and disarray: SCREW THINGS UP

55 Across:  Perform a sailing maneuver: TACK INTO THE WIND.

Coincidentally, I am reading a book about fasteners.  Riveting stuff.  And on that note, here are the other clues and answers:

Across:

1. Degas medium: PASTELS.  The French artist, Edgar Degas.

8. Panini cheese: ASIAGO.  Italian sandwich.  Italian cheese.

14. Examples of basic chemistry?: ALKALIS.  As in base, not acid.  An ALKAI is a type of base that can dissolve in water.

15. Libraries, often: LENDERS.  Of books.

19. First name in American folk music: PETE.  PETE Seeger

20. The Auld Sod: EIRE.  Ireland.  If lake ERIE doesn't do the job.

21. "__ did": "You caught me": SO I.  Punt.

22. Make restitution: ATONE.  We seem to do this often in our puzzles

24. Waits with a guitar: TOM.  Word play.  TOM Waits is a musician and songwriter.

25. Unsurpassed: BEST.  You're the Colosseum.  You're the Louvre Museum.

30. Wireless standard initials: LTE.  Look at the top of your cellphone screen.

31. __ Cabos: Baja area: LOS.  One of today's several geography lessons.

32. Seek information: ASK.  Inquire.

33. "I concur with that evaluation": YES IT IS.  How many iterations did it take to come up with this?

36. Counterpart of Row 1: COLUMN A.  Do we also get to choose two items from Column B?

40. Native American Heritage Mo.: NOV.  Abbreviated MOnth.  Abbreviated NOVember.

41. Women's campus gp.: SOR.  SORority.  Another punt.  Can constructors use the first three letter of any word?

42. Internet pioneer: AOL.  I still use an America On Line account for commercial email sources.

47. Hemingway moniker: PAPA.  Sobriquet.

49. __ Speedwagon: REO.  A truck in the 20's and 30's.  A rock band since 1967.

50. Maine college town: ORONO.  Often visited in crossword puzzles.

51. La Corse, par exemple: ILE.  French clue (the island of Corsica), French answer.

52. Key: MAIN.  Key as in music?  As in a lock?  As in an island?  Francis Scott?

54. Reindeer in "Frozen": SVEN.  SVEN, Elsa, Olaf and Anna have become crossword staples.

60. Cretan princess who aided Theseus: ARIADNE.  Went, first with MINI (52 Down) and Arianne.

61. Trivial detail: MINUTIA.  From Latin.  Interesting to see this word and the next in sequence.

62. Occupation: METIER.  From Old French (which is from Latin).

63. Gathering places for many unions: CHAPELS.  Not labor related.  Well, maybe nine months later.

Down:

1. Kitchen implement: PAN.  Not a pot this this time.

2. Inspired by: ALA.  A LA mode.  In the style of.

3. Winter Olympics equipment: SKI POLES.  I will likely be using a pair as you read this.

4. Skill: TALENT.  Aptitude.

5. Over the moon: ELATED.  Idiomatic.

6. Stanza part: LINE.  A line in a poem though STANZA sounds like a Nissan model.

7. Money for some AARP members: SSI.  Supplemental Security Income.

8. Nissan model: ALTIMA.  MAXIMA worked with three of the perps.  SENTRA with only one.

9. One looking ahead: SEER.  More word play.

10. Memo intro: IN RE.  Even in my coat and tie days I never started a memo with this.

11. Really, e.g.: Abbr.: ADV.  Really? Yes.  Used, here, as an ADVerb.

12. Real last name of Dr. Seuss: GEISEL.  Theodor (no final e) GEISEL

13. Circular snacks: OREOS.  Very often used.  Often chuckle at the myriad ways it is clued.

16. "M*A*S*H" actress: SWIT.  Loretta SWIT.  Major Margaret Houlihan.

18. Classic Vegas sights: NEONS.  First thought of SLOTS.

22. With dexterity: ABLY.  Deftly.

23. Roomy bag: TOTE.  Often clued as a promotional giveaway.

24. Ark units: TWOS.  What's a cubit?

25. Capital of Azerbaijan: BAKU.  Often visited here, but not as often as ORONO.

27. Green shade: OLIVE.   Many shades.  Few with five letters.

28. Native New Zealander: MAORI.  Frequent visitor to crossword puzzles.

29. Course concerned with idioms: Abbr.: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

34. Ancient Andean: INCA.  Atahualpa was one.

35. Blue Jays, in crawls: TOR.  TORonto.

36. Salmon variety: COHO.  Does Nova qualify?

37. Multi-use hardboard product: MASONITE.  Also an attorney in The Flintstones.  Perry Masonite.

38. Lamp, e.g.; light, only sometimes: NOUN.  Light can be used as a noun or as a verb or as an adjective.

39. Iams alternative: ALPO.  Dog food brands.

41. __ pad: STENO.  Crash? 

43. Hard cash?: SPECIE.  SPECIE is coined money.  Some times it's cold.

44. Jo, in "Little Women": WRITER.  Never read the novel.  Heard dozens of book reports on it.

45. Nine-day prayer ritual: NOVENA.  An ancient devotion.

46. Matured: GREW UP.  Crosses SCREW UP.

47. Hummus go-with: PITA.  The bread.  Not your bothersome co-worker.

48. Frighten: ALARM.  First tried SCARE.  The second A and the R worked.

52. Dress length: MIDI.  Went, first with MINI and Arianne.  Ariaxne was not considered.

53. Pulitzer novelist Tyler: ANNE.  Not Ann Taylor.

54. __ Tzu: dog breed: SHIH.  Best in show?

56. "Krazy __": KAT.  A comic book character.

57. Cinephile's TV choice: TMC.  The Movie Channel.  Not to be confused with TCM.

58. Soccer score word: NIL.  Zero.

59. Court figs.: DAS.  District AttorneyS

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HAVE A HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HANUKKAH

  Adam Sandler

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