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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Friday, February 3, 2023, Katie Hale

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, with today's Friday puzzle recap.  Our puzzle setter, Katie Hale, has constructed a Puzzle wherein she literally uses the word literally correctly and not in the-centuries-old, and seemingly becoming more prevalent, mis-used way of figuratively.

For example, in Little Women Louisa May Alcott wrote that `The land literally flowed with milk and honey.'  Tom Sawyer was not turning somersaults on piles of money when Mark Twain described him as `literally rolling in wealth.'  Jay Gatsby was not shining when Fitzgerald wrote that he `literally glowed.'  Such examples are plentiful, even in the works of the authors we were taught to emulate.

Excuse me?  It's not possible that anyone could say that.  Oh, never mind.

On to the puzzle.  There is no "reveal" as the "gimmick" (if you will) is found within each of the clues in which Katie asks us to suss out the literal meanings of words from five languages other than English.  The French, Italian and Spanish may have been familiar to many of us Eurocentric American solvers.  The Turkish and Indonesian were likely less so.  Here are the five themed answers:

 16. Zevk, literally: TURKISH DELIGHT.  Zevk is TURKISH for pleasure.

24. Bise, literally: FRENCH KISS.  Today's French lesson.  Bise is FRENCH for kiss.

36. Cangkir, literally: CUP OF JAVA.  Cangkir is cup in Indonesian.

50. Quando, literally: WHEN IN ROME.  Quando is Italian for, yep, WHEN.  What is this world coming to?  Last week Sonny and Cher and this week:

Engelbert Humperdinck

58. La lluvia, literally: THE RAIN IN SPAIN.  Today's Spanish lesson:  Spanish for RAIN.  By George, I think she's got it:

Here is the completed grid:

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

Across:

1. Kid's parent: GOAT.  Neither a human child (clue) nor the Greatest Of All Time (answer).  An ovine reference.

5. Rebecca in the Basketball Hall of Fame: LOBO.  Our esteemed editor, as has been previously pointed out on this blog, seems partial to WNBA references.

9. Texter's "I don't understand": WDYM.

13. Actor Omar: EPPS.  Omar often visits us and more often it's his first name that is the answer.

14. Hyaluronic __: ACID.  It keeps body tissues hydrated.

15. Frost: HOAR.

19. Early ISP: AOL.  America On Line.  Remember all those discs they used to give away?  I still use their email service for other-than-personal (junk) email.

20. Fictional sleuth Wolfe: NERO.  Another frequent visitor.

21. Egyptian cobra: ASP.  Cleopatra's ASP is very well known.

22. St. __: Cornwall town: IVES.  Polygamy as a learning opportunity:

28. Sought out for advice: WENT TO.

30. Part of a vague ultimatum: OR ELSE.

31. Pianist Rubinstein: ARTUR.  

B:  1887  D: 1982

32. Philistine: BOOR.

35. Make a bad impression?: DENT.  A clue that was to be taken literally.

39. Reserve: BOOK.  Used as a verb as in to BOOK a table at a restaurant.

42. Noshes: EATS.  Today's Yiddish/German lesson.

43. Vigilant: AWARE.  What do you call a wolf who is cognizant of his surroundings? AWARE wolf.

47. Marquee time: TONITE.  Cutesy, intentional mis-spelling.  TONITE is also an explosive compound.

49. Plays loudly: BLARES.

54. Sails off course: YAWS.

55. "You __ do this!": CAN.  A straightforward fill-in-the-blank clue/answer.

56. Some ballpark figs.: ERAS.  A baseball park reference.  Earned Run Average.

57. Dust jacket paragraph: BIO.  BIOgraphy

63. Humdinger: LULU.  A real doozy.

64. Element used in a 5-Down: NEON.    It could have been clued as Colorado's new football coach.

65. Dressed: CLAD.

66. Ancient Briton: CELT.

67. Some digital natives, informally: GEN Y.  Digital native describes a person who has grown up in the digital age.

68. Moral lapses: SINS.  Golfer: "Caddy, do you think it is a sin to play golf on Sunday?"  Caddy: "The way you play, sir, its a sin any day of the week!"

Down:

1. Move past, as a breakup: GET OVER.

2. Luxurious: OPULENT.

3. Car loan fig.: APR.  Annual Percentage Rate.

4. Judgy sound: TSK.  Is it going to be TSK or TUT?  Only the perps know for sure.

5. Lithography tool: LASER.  We're not talking about 19th Century printmaking here.  All you might want to know:

Laser Lithography: An Overview

6. Prehistoric paint colour: OCHRE.  The extra u in colour leads us to the British spelling.

7. Compete for, in a way: BID ON.

8. First word of the European Union anthem's title: ODE.  "ODE to Joy", from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

9. Taken suddenly: WHISKED AWAY.  I can't find my eggbeater.  It's as if someone just WHISKED it AWAY.

10. Group celebration after a game-winning play, say: DOG PILE.  Also, an early search engine.

11. Slangy agreement: YAH.  Today's punt.

12. B.A. Baracus player: MR T.

17. Recon collection: INFO.  Reconnoiter is truncated, ergo INFOrmation is also.

18. Cowardly Lion portrayer: LAHR.

19. Big name in speakers: AIWA.  Not orators.  Music system speakers.

23. Longing for change, maybe: STUCK IN A RUT.

25. "Downton Abbey" countess played by Elizabeth McGovern: CORA.  Yet another frequent visitor.

26. Tax form digits: SSN.   Social Security Number

27. All ready: SET.  Hit It!

29. Capote nickname: TRU.

32. Fluffy wrap: BOA.  Sometimes clued with reference to the snake.

33. Again and again, in verse: OFT.  The OFT re-posted jokes are wrong.  A pirate's favorite letter is P.  Because without it he becomes irate.

34. Fresh-squeezed drinks, for short: OJS.  Orange Juices.  Rarely seen pluralized as here.

37. Hammer end: PEEN.  The end of a hammer head (not the shark) opposite the flat striking surface, often wedge-shaped or ball-shaped and used for chipping, indenting, and metalworking.

38. Actor Kilmer: VAL.

39. FYI kin: BTW.  For Your Information By The Way.

40. __ and aah: OOH.

41. Like yeast: ONE CELL.  Often clued with an amoeba.

44. Horse breed that originated on an Asian peninsula: ARABIAN.

45. Goes back to the start: REWINDS.

46. Exxon, in Canada and Europe: ESSO. Standard Oil (S.O.)

48. Jukebox musical whose first number is "Nutbush City Limits": TINA.  Nutbush, Tennessee is Tina Turner's rural home town.

49. "Porgy and __": BESS.  A Gershwin reference.

51. "Judy" star Zellweger: RENEE.  I didn't know Judy but I knew Zellweger.

52. Hunter slain by Artemis: ORION.  Often clued with reference to the constellation.

53. 2004 World Series MVP Ramirez: MANNY.  He played in the major leagues for nineteen seasons.  This year he received 32.% of the vote in the Hall of Fame balloting.  A player needs 75% to get in.

58. Indulgent attention, for short: TLC.  Tender Loving Care

59. Shade: HUE.

60. Gerund syllable: ING.  By definition.

61. IBMs, e.g.: PCS.  Personal ComputerS that aren't Apples.

62. Former boxer Laila: ALI.  A frequent visitor who, lately, seems to have replaced her father as the clue of choice.

Well, that's it for today.  Now I must go grab something to eat as I am so hungry that I could figuratively eat a horse.

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