google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday

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Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts

Mar 28, 2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024, Emma Lawson, Amie Walker

 WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Today's veteran constructors Emma Lawson and Amie Walker present us with another vertical theme, sans circles or stars, but this one is a little dark. The reveal starts on the first row at 10D, so we know what's going on pretty much out of the gate ...

 10. Creedence Clearwater Revival hit with the line "I see trouble on the way," or what can be found in three long Down entries: BAD MOON RISING.  A song all about what could go wrong -- this MOON is not only BAD, it's RISING! (well maybe) ...

Credence Clearwater Revival
(things eventually went wrong with them)

8. Return correspondence?: RANSOM NOTE.  Clever clue, terrible business ...

18. Bella Hadid and Precious Lee, for two: FASHION MODELS.  Fashion models with last name Hadid are becoming crosswordese -- last Thursday we had Gigi (see 59D), this week we have Bella.  Here is Bella ...
Bella Hadid
... and here is Precious ...
Precious Lee

28. Key information for a hotel guest?: ROOM NUMBER.  A true story about what could go wrong ...

We recently stayed in mid-priced hotel in a small town in Ohio and when we checked in we were issued  the usual key cards, which had our ROOM NUMBER digitally encoded in them.  The second morning after returning from breakfast, we made several attempts to get into our room and concluded that for some reason the cards had stopped working -- so we went back to the front desk.  The desk clerk knew exactly what had happened and explained  that the circuitry that detects the key card was powered by a battery inside the door (presumably to guard against power failures to the hotel grid).  When a battery ran down, it could be remotely recharged from the hotel front desk and new key cards would be issued.  The BUG (remember BUGS from last Thursday?) in the system was that the key card had be used  within 2 minutes of the recharge or it was invalidated.  The clerk recharged the battery from the front desk and headed off to our room -- unfortunately we were on the 3rd floor on the far end of the hotel and it proved to be physically impossible for anyone other than Usain Bolt to reach our room within 2 minutes.  After several attempts to do this he said that the IT Guy had a way to override the system -- but that it was after hours and he wasn't there, but that  they would page him and would let us know when he arrived. In the mean time the hotel offered us a different room, but all of our stuff was in that room, including my CPAP machine, without which I cannot sleep.  So we went to lunch, came back, read USA Today, solved the crossword (which SS could probably knock off in 30 seconds), tried to nap on the lobby sofas, etc, etc.  Eventually the IT Guy showed up and was able get the door open  and we were good to go.

We usually visit this small town in Ohio at least once a year and they don't have a lot of hotels, but if we have to stay at this one again, it will be contingent on the desk clerk demonstrating that he/she can reach our room within two minutes (or if Usain happens to be staying in the hotel that weekend!).

I guess it's pretty obvious by now what's going on with the theme.  I have a slight NIT about that, as unlike the UPSIDE DOWN CAKES in last Thursday's puzzle you can't really tell whether these MOONS are RISING or SETTING.  Nevertheless they ARE ALL BAD.

Here's the grid ...
 
Across:

1. Tap: PAT.  A CSO to PAT.

4. Garment that may be draped in the nivi style: SARI.  The true Story of the Nivi Drape.
Sari à la Nivi
8. Buyer's incentive: REBATE.

14. Hoopla: ADO.

15. Jeff Bridges sci-fi franchise: TRONThe franchise began with the 1982 film TRON staring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape.  It back then it had SOTA animation for 1982. I believe that there were other films as well. Hand up if you saw the original? 
16. Toyota sedan since 1994: AVALON.  They looked like this, but Toyota is discontinuing them.
Toyota Avalon, RIP
17. Gets just right: PERFECTS.  Someone once said that "the perfect is the enemy of the good".

19. Silently agreed: NODDED.

20. Places to pray: ALTARSA famous place to pray.

21. __ de deux: PAS.  Here's the Pas de deux from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ...

23. Physics quantity: MASS.  Also a RITE than can be said at a 20A.

24. Rental agreement: LEASE.

25. Get off the partner track?: GO SOLO.  It's not all it's cracked up to be ...

27. Car alarm: HORN.  Here's the 3rd movement of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417, Rondo - allegro ...

29. Slick: SMOOTH. Or the Jefferson Airplane vocalist singing White Rabbit

32. Final Four game: SEMI.  March Madness is upon us!

35. Yahoo: OAF.

37. "Thanks, I got it": NO NEED.

39. Handi-Snacks cookie: OREO.  See 60A.

40. Have a loan from: OWE TO.

42. Like a dragon egg in Minecraft: RARE.  According to the Minecraft Wiki "A Dragon Egg is a decorative, egg-shaped block, which is dropped after defeating the Ender Dragon in the End. It is only dropped by the death of the first Ender Dragon, not by respawned Ender Dragons. It is also not possible to get from the creative inventory without commands. This do not apply [sic] to Bedrock Edition".  They look like this ...
Dragon's Egg
Egg shaped, but in a low-res digital sort of way.  Hand up if you're a Minecraft maven and can explain why they're so valuable?

43. Jackman's "The Greatest Showman" role: BARNUMThe Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, is a 2017 American fictionalized biographical musical drama about the life of P.T. Barnum.   I can never get enough of this portrayal by Rebecca Ferguson of BARNUM's love interest, the legendary Swedish Soprano Jenny Lind singing Never Enough (but actually sung by Loren Allred) ...
Not Loren Allred
45. "__ your heart out!": EAT.  Hearts were a favorite food of the Egyptian goddess Ammit, 'devourer of the dead and hearts' -- Chacun à son goût! 😀

46. Apple computer: IMAC.

47. Siete días: SEMANA. Today's Spanish lesson -- "Seven days" make a "week".

49. Centipede's multitude: LEGS.  A word with a multitude of synonyms ...
Plus  a CSO to MOE.

51. Body of work: OEUVRE.  Today's French lesson:
or an hors-d'oeuvre .

53. Firm: RIGID.

57. Chatted privately, briefly: DMEDDigital Messaging not in an open "chat room"

60. "It's not really working for me": MEH. This doesn't really work for me either -- but conductor Zubin MEHTA does -- here he leads the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the last 3 minutes of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "The Resurrection" ...

61. Admonition to bickering kids: BE NICE.
 
62. Electric guitar effect: REVERB.  Not a new thing -- back in the Renaissance the stringed instruments had reverb, and in this Dr. Who clip from The Magician's Apprentice episode, time traveling Peter Capaldi shows off his REVERB chops on the electric lute (no stunt double), while treating us to a few bad puns  ...

64. "Back so soon?": YOU AGAIN.  Yeah, it's Thursday again. 😀

66. Audrey Tautou role: AMELIEAmélie is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film, a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy, introverted and quirky waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better while dealing with her own isolation ...

67. Long for: MISS.

68. Vox populi, vox __: DEI.  Today's Latin lesson: "Voice of the people, voice of God".  A metaphor for democratic government used in a 1709 English political tract titled with this phrase.

69. Flexor counterpart: TENSOR.  Both are types of muscles.  It seems that the EXTENSOR has a stretch on today's fill.  Here are some examples ...
70. "Who __ could it be?": ELSE.

71. Parka part: ARMHOOD didn't fit.

Down:
1. Vatican-related: PAPAL. E.g. PAPAL BULL. It's not widely known but most Popes DO have a sense of humor ...
2. "I Drink Wine" singer: ADELE.  Not until the end of Lent we don't!  I don't think ADELE is observing Lent 😀 ...

3. Sandwich on a bolillo: TORTA.  In Mexico a TORTA is a kind of sandwich served on  white sandwich rolls similar to a small baguette called a bolillo.  A CSO to Lucina -- anything to add?
Torta on a bolillo
4. Typical opening?: STEREO.

5. Story shapes: ARCS.

6. Deteriorate: ROT.

7. What a mood board might provide, informally: INSPO.  A mood board is a collection of visual materials that evoke a particular theme, style or concept. Designers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers and all types of creative professionals create mood boards to communicate and give them inspiration or "INSPO" (also a vaccine! 😀) and vision for a project.  Here's how to make mood board using a product called Milanote.  Here's an example ...
8. [Theme clue]

9. Former Bolivian president Morales: EVOJuan EVO Morales Ayma (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan ˈeβo moˈɾales ˈajma]; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero (coca leaf) activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. He was his country's first president to come from its indigenous population.  Not to be confused with a Rachel Ray favorite 😀 ...
Evo Morales
10. [Theme reveal]

11. "M*A*S*H" star: ALDAAlan Alda (born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, author, screenwriter, podcast host and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the CBS wartime sitcom M*A*S*H (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series. But he's done a LOT of other things as well.
Alan Alda
12. The ten in "hang ten": TOES.  Prehensile TOES that is.  "Hang ten" is slang for any of several maneuvers used in sports where all ten toes or fingers are used to accomplish the maneuver. In basketball it's hanging on the hoop after dunking the ball.   In surfing, the sport it's most commonly associated with, it's also called "nose riding", as it's done by perching on the very front of the surfboard ...
"Hanging ten"
How does she do that!!!?
13. Split __: ENDS.

18. [Theme clue]

22. Burro: ASS.  And the origin of the word burrito (the clue not the fill!)

25. Chew (on): GNAW.

26. Lav: LOO.  British slang.

28. [Theme clue].

30. Cubs or Bears: TEAM.

31. Juno's Greek counterpart: HERA.  While HERA and JUNO played the same role in Roman and Greek mythology, they were very different goddesses.
Hera vs. Juno
32. Cry loudly: SOB.

33. "-zoic" periods: ERAS. Here is simplified chart of Earth's geological ERAS, courtesy of the British Geological Survey ...
Nowadays when people hear the word ERAS they're more likely to think of this (Ms Swift has better PR men than the geologists😀) ...
34. No more than: MERE.  Could also be clued as "French for Mother".

36. Extra charge: FEE.

38. Advent mo.: DEC.  It can actually begin in late NOV. --  Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (always falling between 27 November and 3 December), and ends on Christmas Eve on 24 December.  It is the beginning of the liturgical New Year.

41. Yarn: TALE.

44. Dubai's fed.: UAEDubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the country's seven emirates.

48. Madison in NYC: AVE.

50. Axle coating: GREASE.  Messy.  How about a 1978 film about a sheila from Down Under who becomes hopelessly devoted to an American greaser instead? ...
52. Pay to play, e.g.: RHYME.

54. Food Network chef De Laurentiis: GIADA. Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian American chef, entrepreneur, writer, and television personality. She was the host of Food Network's program called Giada at Home (2008–2015) .  Here's her recipe for Pasta with chicken and broccoli rabe.
Giada De Laurentiis
55. Less friendly: ICIER.

56. "Canadian tuxedo" fabric: DENIMSo why is it called a "Canadian tuxedo"?

57. "Dang!": DRAT.

58. Many a viral post: MEME.  The word MEME is a portmanteau of mime and gene and first appeared in a book by biologist Richard Dawkins.  Here was Dawkins' first attempt, but for some reason it didn't go viral ...
59. Level: EVEN.

61. Peck: BUSS. Often seen in PDAs.

63. __ de Janeiro: RIO.  Sadly, last year we lost Astrud Gilberto, an icon of RIO culture.  Here she is singing Stan Getz's arrangement of The Girl from Ipanema ...

65. Cruet liquid: OIL.

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley





Mar 14, 2024

Thursday, March 14, 2024, Baylee Devereaux

 

 Much A DO about Cheveux

This is Baylee Devereaux's 3rd visit to the Corner, the last reviewed by sumdaze on January 30, 2023.  Some of you will have already noticed that there are circles in this puzzle, and for those who see them as unneeded, I decided make it easier for you to solve by removing them from the grid, comme ça ...

Today's grid sans circles
And to make it even easier I decided to remove the superfluous reference in the reveal to circles, comme ça ...

63A. Elegant hairstyle, as given by clues 17-, 30-, and 47-Across?: FRENCH TWIST.

Without all that clutter solving the themers should now be a piece of cake ...

17. Man in 1990s hip-hop fashion?: HAMMER PANTS.  Named for the eponymous M C Hammer?

Hammer Pants
30. School in a recreational vehicle?: MOBILE HOME.  All the best recreational vehicles are now equipped with them, but if you can't afford one you can  just ...
... send the kids outside

47. Dog in a classic drawing game?: PICTIONARY.  This one was really easy...
All you have to do is picture it!
But the one thing that bothered me was the reveal.  GALLIC IRONY perhaps?  Or a clever reference to Monsieur O'HENRI?  And then there was the constructor's name -- sounds suspiciously FRENCH doesn't it?  There just had to be more to this theme.  So I decided to put the circles back in ...

... and then light them up and fill the grid ...

... and suddenly the reveal started to make sense ...

63. Elegant hairstyle, and what the circled letters give to 17-, 30-, and 47-Across?: FRENCH TWIST.

... all three of the actual themers were 5 letter mots Français that twisted UP and DOWN (or DOWN and UP) above and below the FAUX themers (those referenced in the reveal).  They provide today's French lesson, spelled respectively ...

HOMME: "Man in 1990's hip-hop fashion?"
ECOLE:   "School in a recreational vehicle?"
CHIEN:    "Dog in a classic drawing game?"

... very clever (and hard to construct I bet).  And to think that I nearly missed it!  The moral of this saga is that circles are sometimes useful and may even be necessary to solve a crossword puzzle, or at the very least to understand the theme. 😀

Most of the rest of the clues are lot easier, except for 1A ...

Across:

1. Market leader?: GROCER. I got this answer only with the help of perps.  The word "leader" usually implies a prefix or perhaps the start of a meta-clue.  After 2 or 3 false starts I gave up trying to figure out what the clue had to do with a GROCER and googled it --  "A market leader could be a product, brand, company, organization, group name which has the highest percentage of total sales revenue of a particular market. The market leader dominates the market by influencing the customer loyalty towards it, distribution, pricing, etc."  - indiatimes.com.  I don't get it.  Any ideas?

7. Bogus: SHAM.

11. Borrow, but not really: BUM.  At the very end of this Beatles classic John Lennon tries to BUM a cigarette.  Listen for it ...

14. Mexican state on the Gulf of California: SONORA. SONORA -- officially the Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (English: Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico.   Looks like it's right down the road from Lucina and the Chairman ...
15. Pilates target: CORE.  The CORE or trunk is the axial (central) part of an organism's body. In common parlance, the term is broadly considered to be synonymous with the torso, but academically it also includes the head and neckPilates is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. It is similar to yoga in that both disciplines develop strength, flexibility and fitness. Pilates, however, emphasizes core strength where yoga emphasizes flexibility.
Pilates"All Fours" Exercise
16. Half and half: ONE.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Donkey: ASS.

20. "Uncut Gems" actor Sandler: ADAM.  Tomato Meter 91%, Audience Score 52%.   Capsule reviews and  a trailer (movie rated R, trailer PG (language))  ...
21. AirPod locale: EAR.

22. Loathes: HATES.

24. "Umbrella" singer, to fans: RIRI.  As in Rhianna .  Here's her song ...

25. Device that forms the "I" in the Pixar logo: LAMPIt wasn't always a LAMP.
28. The Browns, on sports tickers: CLEThe Cleveland Browns.

29. Annoyance: PEST.

30. [Theme clue].

33. Pronoun choice: SHE.

35. Poker do-overs: REDEALS.

36. Scottish cap: TAM.  Only $165, with free shipping ...
Scottish Tam
39. Dug in: ATE.  If you don't watch out, you can gain a lot of weight on the Corner!

41. Pt. of OED: ENGOxford English Dictionary.

42. Change one's locks?: DYE.

43. One on a shopping spree: SPENDER.

45. Lunar New Year: TET2024 is the Year of the Dragon which is especially lucky.  Our soon to be born Vietnamese great-nephew will be doubly blessed!

47. [Theme clue]

50. When repeated, "Great speech!": HEARHEAR, HEAR is also a song by Atmosphere.
54. "Heavenly!": AHH.  Short for ALLELUIA?

55. CBS Sports NFL analyst Tony: ROMOAntonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers, where he made an Ohio Valley Conference championship appearance in 2001 and won the Walter Payton Award the following year. Romo signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003.
Tony Romo
56. Hayworth of the silver screen: RITARITA Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II. Here's a dance number she performs as femme fatale Gilda,, perhaps her most famous role ...

57. Clear: ERASE.

59. "... and many more," for short: ETC.

61. Josh Gad's "Frozen" voice role: OLAFOLAF is the snowman, who is of course literally -- "Frozen" ...
62. Yang partner: YINYin and yang comprise a concept that originated in Chinese philosophy, describing opposite but interconnected, mutually perpetuating forces. The technology of yin and yang is the foundation of critical and deductive reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Confucian influenced traditional Chinese medicine. The "complementarity" of these two concepts has also resonated in the West, especially among scientists.  The great Danish quantum physicist Niels Bohr even used it in the design of his family crest.
63. [Theme reveal]

67. L.L. Bean rival: REI.  The door handles to every Recreational Equipment, Inc. store are ice axesHere's the story.
68. __ chain: FOOD.

69. Detritus from the Digital Revolution: EWASTE.  The e-waste problem has overwhelmed waste management protocols. Here's a look at how electronic waste has impacted the entire globe.
Apparently the biggest problem is cellphones

70. "Didn't mean to open that" key: ESCIt can mean other things as well.

71. Princes, e.g.: SONS.  Nice clue.

72. Instrument near the end of the dictionary: ZITHER.  The poster child for the ZITHER is the Johann Strauss Jr waltz Tales from the Vienna Woods ...
 
Down:

1. Seventh note in the A major scale: G SHARP.  Not being a musician, and not being able to suss 1A (see above), I eventually had to look it up.  Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 was written in A Major and  Richard Wagner called it "the apotheosis of the dance".   Here's the enchanting 2nd movement Allegretto, which you might recognize from its frequent use in movies and TV ...
2. Touring technician: ROADIE.

3. Really, really out there: ON MARS.  Elon Musk is committed to colonizing MARS.  We can all rest easier when he's really, really out there.

4. Goes all in: COMMITS.

5. Sonnet preposition: ERE.

6. Not so common: RARE.

7. Hieroglyph critter: SCARABSCARABS are beetle-shaped amulets and impression seals which were widely popular throughout ancient Egypt. They still survive in large numbers today. Through their inscriptions and typology, they prove to be an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world, and represent a significant body of ancient Egyptian art.
Scarab
inscribed for King Hatshepsut
c. 1479–1458 B.C.,
MOMA, NY, NY
8. Snookums: HON.

9. Work on a wall: ART.  This one is on the wall of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Woman Holding a Balance
Jan Vermeer
c. 1664
10. Fit well together: MESH.

11. Huge amount: BOATLOAD.  It's amazing the things you discover when you are annotating crossword puzzles.

12. Improper: UNSEEMLY.  The Corner review team tries to avoid  UNSEEMLY annotations, but some of us are EDGIER than others. 😁

13. Knotty tangle: MESS.  Probably the most tangled MESS in history was the legendary Gordian Knot, undone by Alexander the Great with a single stroke of genius.  The story was memorialized in a lost Restoration play, but the incidental music by Henry Purcell still survives.  Here are two movements from the suite ...

18. __ Alto, California: PALOPalo Alto  (Spanish for 'tall stick') is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.  It's also the home of the HP Garage and the birthplace of the term "Silicon Valley".

23. Ibuprofen target: ACHE.

26. Swampy spot: MIRE. This clue is all wet!
27. More than one needs: PLENTY.  [No politics Bill.  No politics.]

30. Streaker in the sky: METEOR. These streakers periodically fly by Earth in relatively large numbers called meteor showers.  If you are blessed with skies unpolluted by light (or the streaks from Elon Musk's Starlink network) you may be able to photograph them.  Here are some tips for doing that.

31. Lip: EDGE.

32. Denver-to-Wichita dir.: ESE
7 hr 20 min (520.3 mi) via I-70 E

34. "__ only known ... ": HAD I.  We should always act as if we had.  A song by Reba McEntire ... 

36. Cookbook meas.: TSP.

37. Where busy bees buzz: APIARIESWhat is an Apiary, and Why Are 2 Hives Better Than 1?

38. Pit crew member: MECHANIC.

40. Cube creator Rubik: ERNO. A Rubik’s Cube is an interesting puzzle invented by ERNO Rubik, which has 43 quintillion possible configurations. But with the use of certain algorithms, it can be solved easily. There are many variations of the Rubix cube nowadays but the most basic one is the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube.  Here's how to solve it.   Hand up if you were ever addicted to these?
Rubik's Cube

44. Unspecified degrees: NTHS.

46. Try to bean: THROW AT.  Watch Mr. Bean THROW sponges AT the Headmaster!

48. Makes right: AMENDS.

49. College military org.: ROTC.

51. "What Was I Made For?" singer Billie: EILISHBillie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows.  She and her brother were nominated for an Oscar for their song What Was I Made For, written for the soundtrack to the movie Barbie -- and this just in -- they won
I had originally illustrated this clue with a scene from the movie, where Barbie has left the doll's world and entered the real world where she encounters an old woman at a bus stop -- very existential.

52. One small sip: A TASTE.

53. Roof timber: RAFTER.

57. "Reader, I married him" governess: EYREThe first line of the last chapter of Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Brontë.   Tracy Chevalier, novelist and author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, tells us why this quote is so famous.

58. Flunking grades: EFFS.

60. Bistro awning word: CHEZ.  Did this one TWIST its way out of the grid? 😀
Chez Fred, Paris

64. Youngster in the Hundred Acre Wood: ROO.  Here's  ROO in his mother KANGA's pouch.  They live in the Hundred Acre Wood with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends.
 
65. Ages and ages: EON.

66. Bi- equivalent: TWI.  The Wiki tells us that TWI  is a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana.  I suspect however that this may also be a slang appropriation, coding for something else. 😀

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

Oh, I almost forgot.  Happy Pi Day everybody!
 






Mar 7, 2024

Thursday, March 7, 2024, Alan Massengill, Doug Peterson

 Games People Play

A classic song by Joe South
and a classic on transactional analysis
by psychiatrist Eric Berne

Our constructors today, Alan Massengill and Doug Peterson, clue their themers with 4 leading questions about popular game shows, resulting in 4 in the language phrases.  No stars, circles, or reveal ...

17. Mistake by a contestant on "The Price Is Right"?: COST OVERRUN.  "The Price Is Right" is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes.  Contestants are selected from the studio audience: the announcer calls their name, inviting them to "Come on down!", the show's famous catchphrase.

27. Very long response by a contestant on "Jeopardy!"?: ESSAY QUESTION. Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
47. Prior results considered by a contestant on "Deal or No Deal"?: CASE HISTORIES.  "Deal or No Deal" is an American version of a game show of Dutch origin of the same name.  A contestant chooses one briefcase from a selection of 26. Each briefcase contains a cash value from $0.01 to $1,000,000. Over the course of the game, the contestant eliminates cases from the game, periodically being presented with a "deal" from The Banker to take a cash amount to quit the game. Should the contestant refuse every deal, they are given the chance to trade the case they chose at the outset for the only one left in play at the time; they then win the amount in the selected case.
63. Pre-show training for a contestant on "Wheel of Fortune"?: SPIN CLASSES.  "Wheel of Fortune" is an American television game show also created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983. It stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts, who have hosted the nighttime version since its inception.

Here's the grid ...

Across:

1. Entrepreneur Blakely who founded Spanx: SARA. Spanx, Inc. is an American underwear maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The company manufactures mainly pantyhose and other underwear for women and, since 2010, produces male underwear as well. Spanx specializes in foundation garments intended to make people appear thinner or more shapely --  and they're also onomatopoetic! 😀
Sara Blakely
5. Mischievous kids: SCAMPS.  One of the most notorious SCAMPS in history is Till Eulenspiegel.  His life is memorialized in this brief tone poem by Richard Strauss entitled Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.  Things do not go well for him in the end, but his spirit lives on ...

11. Personal pronoun: SHE.

14. Malevolence: EVIL.  We were visited by EVIL in last Thursday's puzzle. One of the things that Hannah Arendt taught us about it is its banality, i.e. its commonness.  Today marks the commemoration of the Christian saints Perpetua and Felicity, women who were martyred for the entertainment of Roman emperor  Septimius Severus during his birthday party in 203 AD.
15. 7UP nickname, with "the": UNCOLA.

16. Male cat: TOM.
.
17. [Theme clue]

19. "__ bet!": YOU.

20. Blazer fabric: TWEED.  Fabric created on a 44A.

21. Betty or Veronica: TEEN.  Spin offs from the Archie Comics series.
22. Edelweiss range: ALPS.  Edelweiss is not an area in the ALPS, but a region where the flower is particularly abundant.  It is also the name of this song made famous by Roger's and Hammerstein's Sound of Music.
23. __ Bravo: RIO. Rio Bravo is a 1959 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.  Here's Get Along Home Cindy sung by Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan and Dean Martin.
25. Like neither Jack nor Jill, apparently: AGILE.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Up Jack got, and home did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
He went to bed to mend his head,
With vinegar and brown paper
27. [Theme clue]

32. Chinese tea: CHAThe etymology of words for tea.
Tea
34. Quaint 19-Across?: THOU.  "Thou bet" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

35. Computer shortcut: MACROA macro is an automated input sequence that imitates keystrokes or mouse actions and can be invoked with a single CTRL key. A macro is typically used to replace a repetitive series of keyboard and mouse actions and used often in spreadsheets and word processing applications like MS Excel and MS Word.   MACROS are also used to encapsulate logic in some programming languages.
 
36. Scratchy sound: RASP.

38. Pecks and pounds: UNITS.

41. Rocky __: ROAD.  Lots of things answered this clue/fill including an ice cream, a confection made of chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts and one of the roads to Dublin ...

42. "For sure!": OH YES.

44. Textile machine: LOOMA LOOM is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same.
A simple treadle floor loom.

46. 70-Across's div.: NLE.  National League East

47. [Theme clue]

51. "Bring it!": TRY ME.

52. Wee bit: TAD.
 
53. "Uptown Funk" singer Bruno: MARS.  Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical styles, including pop, R&B, funk, soul, reggae, disco, and rock.  Very funky!
55. North African seaport: ORANORAN is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is 432 km (268 mi) west-southwest from Algiers. The total population of the city was 803,329 in 2008, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second-largest city in Algeria.
 

58. Royal bride's accessory: TIARA
Princess Diana
1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997
62. Common verb: ARE.

63. [Theme clue]

65. Small pedestal: TEE.  Cute. 😀

66. Bully: MEANIE.  This particular variety is blue ...
67. Farm grunt: OINK.

68. Topper: HAT.

69. Lest: UNLESS.

70. 2019 World Series champs: NATS.  The Washington Nationals.

Down:

1. Ticket abbr.: SECT.

2. Profess without shame: AVOW. If you wanted AVER this might help.

3. Stand up: RISE.

4. Sizes up, maybe: ALTERS.

5. Explorer, e.g.: SUV.  It takes a stomping and keeps on romping ...

6. Tech review site: CNET.  Their motto is "Your guide to a better future" and maybe "the more things you have the better!".

7. Good-sized building site: ACRE.

8. Mad scientist in an H.G. Wells classic: MOREAU.  The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection.
First Edition Cover
9. Drop like a stone: PLUNGE.

10. Hokkaido honorific: SAN.  E.g. Cho Cho SAN, the honorable Madama Butterfly.  Her last words were "If you cannot live with honor, you must die with honor".  Here she is waiting for the beautiful day (Un bel dì, vedremo) when her faithless husband returns to Nagasaki to retrieve "his" child ,accompanied by his "American wife" ...
11. Billy Porter and Lady Gaga, for two: STYLE ICONS.

12. Earring shape: HOOP.

13. Some native Australians: EMUS.  The first time I've heard it clued this way.

18. Pindar, for one: ODISTPindar (Greek: Πίνδαρος; Latin: Pindarus; c. 518 BC – c. 438 BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence, characteristics which, as Horace rightly held, make him inimitable.  Here is one of his victory odes ..

Creatures of a day! What is anyone?
What is anyone not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blessed are their days. (Pythian 8)

22. Communion table: ALTAR.  Here is the high ALTAR at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore where we attend Mass ...
Cathedral Sanctuary

24. Birthplace of 53-Across: OAHUBruno Mars.

26. Doctrine: ISM

27. Financial independence: EASY STREET.

28. Hither and __: YON.

29. Patterned spread: QUILT.   Here's a QUILT created by Teri's sister Rose ...
Barn and Windmills
30. Face-to-face exam: ORAL.  I wonder if the face-to-face exams at Gallaudet University are DIGITAL?

31. Lymph __: NODE.  Lymph NODES are a part of the Lymphatic System, a group of organs, vessels and tissues that protect you from infection and keep a healthy balance of fluids throughout your body. Lymphatic system organs include your bone marrow, thymus and lymph nodes. Swollen lymph nodes are a sign of common infections, like strep throat, but also more serious diseases like cancer.
32. Footwear sometimes decorated with charms: CROC.  Here's a pair for little Taylor Swift fans ...
33. "I got it": HA HA.

37. Jury makeup: PEERS.

39. Excessively: TOO.

40. Database command: SORT.  In SQL, the most common database language, records are SORTED with the ORDER BY clause.  Here is a list of the basic SQL commands.

43. Reserved: SHY.  Also in debt.

45. Mazda two-seater: MIATA.  Review of the 2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata
2024 Mazda Miata
48. Wide receiver's shout: IM OPEN.

49. Episodic story: SERIAL.

50. New Jersey township named for an inventor: EDISONEDISON is a township located in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.  In 1876, Thomas Edison set up his home and research laboratory in a neighborhood called "Menlo Park". While there he earned the nickname "the Wizard of Menlo Park". Before his death at age 83 in 1931, the prolific inventor amassed a record 1,093 patents for creations including the phonograph, a stock ticker, the motion-picture camera, the incandescent light bulb, a mechanical vote counter, the alkaline storage battery including one for an electric car, and the first commercial electric light.
Edison Tower
A monument to the light bulb?
53. "Do the __!": MATH.

54. Quarter: AREA.

56. Photographer Geddes: ANNEAnne Elizabeth Geddes MNZM* (born 1956) is an Australian-born, New York City-based portrait photographer known primarily for her elaborately-staged photographs of infants. Here's her website.
Anne Geddes
*New Zealand Order of Merit

57. CBS maritime drama: NCISNCIS is an American military police procedural television series and the first installment in the NCIS media franchise. The series revolves around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, combining elements of the military drama and police procedural genres with comedy.  Here's an extended trailer for the 2024 season that also contains a bit of history for the entire series.
59. K2 locale: ASIAK2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain in ASIA (and also on Earth), after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft).  Here are some rest stops on the way up ...

60. Lease: RENT.

61. Is inquisitive: ASKS.

63. Eric Dickerson's alma mater: Abbr.: SMU. Eric Demetric Dickerson (born September 2, 1960) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Dickerson played college football for the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University and was recognized as an All-American. He was selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft and played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders, and Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. During his NFL career, he rushed for over 13,000 yards. He holds the NFL's single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards, set in 1984. Dickerson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and, in 2019, was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. He wore prescription goggles throughout his career due to myopia ...
Interesting Instagram posts

64. Primus lead singer Claypool: LESPrimus is an American rock band formed in El Sobrante, California in 1984. The band is currently composed of bassist/vocalist LES Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander.  To describe them as strange would be a bit of an understatement. One interesting thing about them is that they do a lot of purely instrumental work and remind me a little of the modern German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (of whom I am not a big fan!).  I had trouble connecting with their work, but finally found this recent opus.  Here is the first 5 minutes or so of Conspiranoia (2022) ...


Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley