Friday, March 31, 2023, Rena Cohen

Good Morning Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the Friday recap.

Today's puzzle comes to us courtesy of Rena Cohen and, in what seems to be an abundance of riches, we get not only starred clues but circles, too, each of which may have been either annoying or helpful depending on your personal proclivities.

Let's start with the unifier:

61 Across:  Lifts for one's self-esteem, and what's been given to the answers to the starred clues: EGO BOOSTS.

Ego.  Self.  Myself.  ME.  At four places in the puzzle (circled in case any of us found ourselves in danger of having an identity crisis) ME is "boosted" (raised) above the clue/answer on which we are working.  The letters ME are then integrated (in sequence - up right down right) into the answer below.  A metaphor for the whole self if you will?  It would have been fun if synonyms for ID and SUPER EGO had somehow been worked into the puzzle.  A picture being worth a thousand words, here is how things look in the grid:

Here are the four themed clues/answers (each starred for our convenience).  Without the ME the answers border on gibberish

17 Across:  *Brunch station for custom orders: OMELETTE BAR.

23 Across:  *TV competition won by singer Noah Thompson in 2022: AMERICAN IDOL.

37 Across:  *Many a retired pro athlete: SPORTS COMMENTATOR.  Retired (?) football player Tom Brady recently signed on as a COMMENTATOR for the sum of $375 million.

48 Across:  *Masquerade:  COSTUME PARTY

Across:

1. Lead characters in "Mike & Molly"?: EMS.  The leading letter (character) in both names is M.

4. Pockets for falafel: PITAS.   What did the hummus say to the PITA bread when she got sick?  I falafel.

9. Hawkeye: IOWAN.

14. "That's Not All Folks" memoirist Blanc: MEL.  Mel's book title may have included the word "Not" but his epitaph does not: 

15. Not quite right: ACUTE.  A geometry reference.  A right angle is 90 degrees.  An ACUTE angle is less than 90 degrees.

16. Evade, as the truth: SKIRT.

19. Gate part: LATCH.

20. Christ the __: Rio landmark: REDEEMER.  A very famous statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

21. 400 meters, on a standard track: LAP.

22. Polite assent: YESM.  Shortened form of YES Ma'am.  What would be a polite dissent?  NOM?  Nom.

28. Write: PEN.  Noun or verb?  Verb.  T0 write something.

30. "Most likely ... ": ODDS ARE.

31. Checked thoroughly?: MATED.  A chess reference.  Checkmate.

34. Peak: ACME.  We often need to choose between ACME and APEX.

36. Irish actor Stephen: REA.   A frequent visitor.

41. Drop off: NOD.  To NOD off to sleep.  See also 38 Down.

42. Roman moon goddess: LUNA.

43. Actress Spacek: SISSY.

44. Late __: BLOOMER.

47. Shining example: GEM.

51. Former home of the Mets: SHEA.  SHEA Stadium 1964 - 2009

55. Asian festival: TET.

Tet 2017 Year of the Rooster - Photo By MM

56. Military shelter: ARMY TENT.

58. Book that's all mapped out?: ATLAS.  An ATLAS being a book of maps.

62. Southern twang: DRAWL.  What happens to Texans when they stop doing drugs?  They suffer with DRAWL.

63. Flower part: SEPAL.

64. "Happy now?": SEE.

65. Burj Khalifa's city: DUBAI.  The world's tallest building.

66. Barilla rival: PREGO.  A pasta sauce reference.

67. Hurler's stat: ERA.   A baseball reference.  Earned Run Average.

Down:

1. Georgia school whose unofficial mascot is Dooley the Skeleton: EMORY.

2. Wild brawl: MELEE.  The word's origins are French.

3. Bobrun runners: SLEDS.  BobSLEDS.

4. Bánh mì spread: PATE.

5. Marvel hero with super cool powers?: ICEMAN.  Cool as in cold as in ICE.  We shall pass on the Eugene O'Neill inspired jokes.

6. Rutabaga, e.g.: TUBER.

7. Game company featured in "Ready Player One": ATARI.

8. Spanish 101 verb: SER.  To be.

9. Christmas or Easter: ISLAND.  Nice word play.  Not Nice as in the city in France.  Nice as in pleasant.  Both Christmas and Easter are the names of holidays and ISLANDs.

10. Giraffe kin: OKAPIS.  Seen most often in crossword puzzles.

11. Quipster: WIT.  Hand up for first thinking WAG.

12. Part of a circle: ARC.

13. Ultimate power?: NTH.  A mathematics reference.  NTH can mean either unspecified or largest.

18. Disposition: TEMPER.

21. Encumbered: LADEN.

24. Date component, often: COMMA.  Not a social setting,  E.G. March 31 COMMA 2023.

25. Board game?: DARTS.  More wordplay.  Think dartboard.

26. Cookies that can illustrate phases of the moon: OREOS.  I had not thought of that. . . but OREOS are always a good guess if the clue references cookies.

27. "The Sandlot" actor Denis: LEARY.

29. D.C. clock setting during baseball season: EDT.  Eastern Daylight Time

31. Rachel Maddow's channel: MSNBC.

32. Speed skater Ohno: APOLO.  A frequent visitor.

33. Ruckuses: TODOS.

34. "Precision Crafted Performance" sloganeer: ACURA.

35. Scam: CON.  Both the clue and the answer can be used as a noun or as a verb.

38. Dropped off: SLEPT.  See also 41 Across.

39. "Four Quartets" monogram: TSE.

40. Has as a goal: AIMS TO.

45. Parliament site in North America: OTTAWA.

46. Cereal mix: MUESLI.  This blogger's personal favorite.

47. Backpack in a locker, maybe: GYM BAG.

49. Epic bash: RAGER.  Relatively recent slang. 

50. Familiar theme: TROPE.

52. "Steppenwolf" author: HESSE.  Many here have likely all read the book.  About the same time we all likely were listening to this:

Steppenwolf - 1968

53. Key in: ENTER.

54. Lost: AT SEA.  Idiomatic.

57. "Carpe diem" acronym: YOLO.  You Only Live Once

58. Do some sums: ADD.

59. Capote nickname: TRU.

60. CSI setting: LAB.  A TV show reference.  Crime Scene Investigation.  LABoratory.

61. Unproven ability: ESP.

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Friday, March 17, 2023, Jess Shulman and Max Woghiren

 

Good morning Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here once again with a Friday recap.

Today's puzzle comes to us from the team of Ms. Jess Shulman and Mr. Max Woghiren.  Jess made her NYT puzzle debut just about one year ago.  I was not able to find a previous LAT puzzle by either constructor so this may well be their LAT debut.

I found the theme to be both clever and a bit convoluted (but, hey, it is Friday).  The reveal comes at:

63 Across:  "You're blocking the view!," and what is needed to complete the answers to the starred clues?: DOWN IN FRONT.

Actually, we needed two things.  First, it helped to be able to identify the unstated initial (FRONT) word of the three song titles that are the answers to the themed clues.  Second, in order to stop wondering WTF was going on, it was necessary for one to realize that the dropped words are words that can be substituted for the word DOWN.  In short, a "synonym" for DOWN (is) IN FRONT.

Here are the three themed clues/answers, once again starred for our convenience:

17 Across:  *Bilingual Ed Sheeran song featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B: (SOUTH) OF THE BORDER.  On most maps, SOUTH is DOWN.  DOWN SOUTH refers to being in, or going to, the southern part of the country.

29 Across:  *R.E.M. hit single on "Out of Time": (LOSING) MY RELIGION.  If your team is LOSING the game you are said to be DOWN (by a run or two or a by a touchdown or by a goal, etc.).

REM

47 Across:  *Carl Perkins rockabilly classic popularized by Elvis Presley: (BLUE) SUEDE SHOES.  The most direct application of the theme:  DOWN = SAD = BLUE.

Carl Perkins With Eric Clapton and George Harrison - 1985

Here are the rest of the, proper-noun-abundant, clues/answers:

Across:

1. Scarecrow innards: STRAW.

6. Italian port: GENOA.   Christopher Columbus' place of birth.  And, sometimes, berth.  Also a variety of salami.

11. Get better, maybe: AGE.  Like fine wine.

14. Gear bit: TOOTH.

15. Cheri of "Scary Movie": OTERI.   A not-infrequent visitor.

16. Musical about Henry VIII's many wives: SIX.

19. Fury: IRE.

20. "Oh, come on!": PUHLEASE.  A very appropriate reaction to this one.

21. Aims: GOALS.

23. "Love Stuff" singer King: ELLE.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

24. Tub gunk: SCUM.

Hot Tub Scum

26. Vane point: EAST.  Weather vane.

34. Poetic rhythm: METER.  IAMB did not contain enough letters to fill the squares.

36. Plenty: A LOT.  TONS.  GOBS.  LOTS.  WADS.  Perps dictated which it was.

37. Jazz org.: NBA.

Of the National Basketball Association

38. "¡Ay, Dios __!": MIO.  Today's Spanish lesson.  See 22 Down for the translation.

39. Anthem that ends, "We stand on guard for thee": O CANADA.

42. "Dear old" one: DAD.

David Nelson

43. Over thataway: YON.  Have you ever heard anyone in an oater say "They went YON" ?

44. "Shane" star Alan: LADD.   He went thataway.

Movie Poster - 1953

45. "Spider-Man" trilogy director: RAIMI.  Sam RAIMI.

51. Jet set jet: LEAR.

52. Wrote to online, briefly: IMED.  Instant MessagED

53. Feels bad: AILS.

55. TikTok upload: VIDEO.

58. Very nearly: AS GOOD AS.  Shouldn't the answer be ALMOST AS GOOD AS?

62. Rita Dove's "__ to My Right Knee": ODE.

66. Decathlon number: TEN.  By definition.

67. Top-flight: ELITE.

68. Under control: TAMED.

69. Put away: EAT.  Idiomatic

70. "I'm out": LATER.

71. Puts one over on: SNOWS.

Down:

1. "Cut it out!": STOP.  My girlfriend got mad at me because I would not stop singing "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees.  At first I thought that she was kidding.  But then I saw her face.

2. Food sold in blocks: TOFU.  Until recently, I didn't know that TOFU could taste so good.  It never o-curd to me.

3. "American Pastoral" Pulitzer winner: ROTH.  Perhaps better known for Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint.

4. Word in several ESPY Award categories: ATHLETE.

5. Cheese shape: WHEEL.

Parmigiano Reggiano - Photo by MM

6. Loosey-__: GOOSEY. Meaning completely relaxed.  The phrase, probably aided in longevity by the rhyme, dates from the first half of the 1900's.  In earlier usage, it sometimes denoted promiscuity (loose morals), diarrhea (loose bowels), and so on but since about 1950 it has mostly stuck to its present meaning.

7. Basic French verb: ETRE.  Today's French lesson - a language in which most verbs are conjugated with AVOIR (to have) or ETRE (to be).

8. Composer Rorem: NED.

Ned Rorem

9. Nickel source: ORE.  The metal not the coin.

10. Wind instrument?: AIR GUITAR.  Some AIR GUITAR players can actually play actual (in this instance bass, left-handed) guitars.

11. Much of an atlas: ASIA.

12. Mary Cassatt's "Little __ in a Blue Armchair": GIRL.  A painting (1878).

13. Former couples: EXES.

18. Lip __: BALM.  Hand up for first thinking SYNC.

22. "Srsly?!": OMG.  Seriously?

24. Actress Ward: SELA.

25. Dolt: CLOD.

26. Awards for "Schitt's Creek": EMMYS.  Clued the way it was, any of a shipload of tv shows could have been referenced.

27. Vowel set: A E I O U.  I once fell in love with a girl who knew only four vowels.  She didn't know I existed.

28. "The Favourite" actress Emma: STONE.

30. Total stranger: RANDO.  Oh puhlease!

31. __ folk: INDIE.  INDIE folk has its earliest origins in 1990's folk artists who displayed alternative rock influences in their music,

32. "Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA.  Not Barack.  Not Sasha.  Not Malia.  Michelle.

33. Low point: NADIR.

35. One to emulate: ROLE MODEL.

40. Docket item: CASE.  A trial court reference.

41. Ritalin target: Abbr.: ADHD.

46. Unsuccessful candidate: ALSO RAN.

48. Conk out: DIE.

49. Less taxing: EASIER.

50. Say "cheese" by rubbing one's palms together, e.g.: SIGN.  At first I thought they were talking about smiling for a photo.  But it would not have made any difference because the answer was going to be American SIGN Language in either case.

54. Many apartments in former industrial areas: LOFTS.

55. Rock the __: VOTE.  An organization whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young Americans.

56. Concept: IDEA.

57. Minor progress: DENT.  My friend sailed his boat into the dock at a rapid pace causing a dent in the hull.  He says that it's just a berth mark.

58. Chip in?: ANTE.

59. "__ arigato": DOMO.  Today's Japanese lesson.

60. Over again: ANEW.

61. Norms: Abbr.: STDS.  Not social diseases.  STanDardS.

64. São Paulo greeting: OLA.  Today's Portuguese lesson.

65. Card: WIT.  Not playing cards.  Idiomatic.  

Here is how this all looks in the grid.  Please pay no attention to the yellow/red highlighted squares at 3 Down.  The .puz file solving app that I had to use while away from home does not allow me  to override the app's highlighting of one's "current" place in the puzzle.

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