L.A.Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Tuesday, April 9, 2014 Bernice Gordon

Theme: FANNY BONE.  Well, not really, but you know I wouldn't be able to resist.  What we have is a classic VOWEL PROGRESSION.  Each two-word theme answer begins with the letter combination F_N-, and the blank is filled in with a vowel.  Progressing through the puzzle in order, the theme answer vowels are A, E, I, O, and U, just like the alphabet.  Why? Y not?

17. Waist bag : FANNY PACK.  Not a trash container, but a carrying pouch worn around the waist.  You can read here why it is not called a FANNY PACK outside the U.S.A.

25. Herbal remedy for indigestion : FENNEL TEA.  I did not know that.

38. Renege : FINK OUT.   Slang term.

50. Piece of Le Creuset cookware : FONDUE POT.   Device for melting cheese, into which can be dipped bread chunks on skewers.  Tasty, and you can have fun doing it.

Ridiculously expensive

60. Sense of humor : FUNNY BONE.  And a good joke might tickle it, my theme title not withstanding.

Hi Gang, JzB here to guide your stroll through the alphabet, and this puzzle by Bernice Gordon.   Now 100 years old, she has been publishing puzzles since 1952, when I was the goofy little four-eyed kindergarden kid who hated finger painting.  You can read about her and some of her puzzles, including this one, in this Philadelphia Inquirer article. 

Lets see what we can find, and no JAY walking!

Across

1. Lead-in for bird or walk : JAY.  JAY birds I understand.  I've been told not to JAY walk since at least the first grade, but had to learn that a JAY is a beginner, or someone not very good at something.  So a JAY WALKER is one recklessly crossing a street away from a cross walk. Though this illustration looks dangerous, note that the umpire is calling the runner safe.

Wikipedia Commons

  

4. Nervous and irritable : UPSET.  Like a coach when his team loses to an inferior rival.

9. Thai cash : BAHT.  About 3.1 cents at the current exchange rate.

13. Musician Turner : IKE.  Also famous for his uncertain number of marriages [between 5 and 13] and beating Tina Turner.

14. Words Alice read on a cake : EAT ME.   Eating too much cake can make one too large, as she discovered.

15. Month in Madrid : ENERO.  Specifically, January.  Alliterative clues often hint at foreign language fill.

19. Once more : AGAIN.  

20. "It's __ bet": "No risk" : A SAFE.  I wanted A SURE, but can assure you that was wrong.

21. Everlasting, to a poet : ETERNE.

22. Cal. entry : APPT.   Calendar and appointment.  Note abrv. in cl. and ans. 

27. Custard dishes : QUICHES.  Would you eat one on a train?  Could I egg you on?

30. River in NW France : ORNE. 

31. "The Star-Spangled Banner," e.g. : ANTHEM.

32. Countdown-ending número : UNO.   When launching Spanish rockets [cohetes.]

33. Leveling wedge : SHIM.  A tapered spacer used to provide a better fit or level surface.

37. Pen name : BIC.  Cute misdirection.. BIC is a brand name.

41. Amin of Uganda : IDI. 

42. Twice vier : ACHT.   German, I fear.

44. Word of surprise : GEE.  GEE whiz golly wow!

45. __ Zee: area where the Hudson River widens : TAPPAN.  This wide spot in the river is named for the TAPPAN sub tribe of the Delaware people and the Dutch word Zee, meaning wide expanse of water.  In this region the river is about 5 miles wide.

47. Taj Mahal home : AGRA.  Popular cross word destination.

49. Heavenly higher-ups, in Christianity : SERAPHS.  The highest ranking angels.

54. Chess piece : ROOK. 

55. People with skill : ADEPTS.  Like Bernice.

56. Place to store valuables : VAULT.

59. Station : DEPOT.

64. Old hat : STALE.  Unfashionably out of date, passé.   Fashionably out of date is retro.

65. Popeye creator Segar : ELZIE.  I will never remember this.

66. Type of museum : WAX.  A place exhibiting WAX-constructed human likenesses, typically of the famous and infamous.

67. Kane's Rosebud, e.g. : SLED.  Citizen Kane.

68. Nobel-winning Irish poet : YEATS.   William Butler.  He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.

69. It may need a boost : EGO.  I suppose a Nobel Prize might do that for you.

Down

1. Peanut butter brand : JIF.  Because it spreads so quickly?

2. Alias, for short : A.K.A.  Also Known As.

3. Hankering : YEN.   I thought about going to Japan, but didn't have the YEN to travel.

4. They may be done by ones who have gone too far : UEYS.  U-turns.  Clever clue for a word with variant spellings

5. Family nickname : PAPA.   A SURE gave me PAPU.  I prefer Bumpa.

6. Support crews : STAFFS.  A SURE got in the way here, as well.

7. Game show personality : EMCEE. Master of Ceremonies, with the initials spelt out.  What do you call that kind of construction?

8. "__War": Shatner series : TEK.  This series of Sci-Fi novels was conceived by William Shatner and ghost written by Ron Goulart,

9. Defeated : BEATEN. Like everyone who played the U. Conn. men's basketball team. 

10. 49-Across, por ejemplo : ANGELES.  Spanish Angels.  "For example" rendered in Spanish hints at the language of the fill.

11. Soul partner : HEART.   Time for a retro musical interlude.  [I thought this was interesting.]

 

 

12. Puzzle video game with three heroes : TRINE.  Check it out.

16. Top draft status : ONE-A.   We've had an all volunteer army since 1973.

18. "Of course!" : NATCH.  Derived from "naturally," I presume.

21. Along the way : EN ROUTE.

22. Red Sea port on its own gulf : AQABA.  Jordan's only coastal city.

23. __ Wars: Rome vs. Carthage : PUNIC.  The PUNICS were the people of Carthage.

24. Tuner's concern : PITCH.  Piano tuner.  You can't tune a fish.

26. Words to Nanette? : NO, NO.  NO, NO, Nanette is the 1925 musical that gave us the songs Tea For Two and I Want to Be Happy.

28. Playboy nickname : HEF.  Hugh Hefner.

29. Political fugitives : EMIGRES. People who have migrated out, usually with a connotation of political or social self-exile.

32. Island instrument : UKE.  Hawaiian Islands, Ukelele.

34. River horse : HIPPO.  Short for hippopotamus, which is Greek for river horse.

35. Snake River state : IDAHO.  River snake is ποτάμι φίδι.

36. Belarus capital : MINSK.

39. Tide type : NEAP.  This occurs just afer the first and third quarters of the moon, when the sun and moon are at right angles relative to the earth, and their gravitational forces work against each other.  Thus, the difference between high and low tide is minimized.

40. Roofer's supply : TAR.  Tiles, shingles, nails and rolled EPDM won't fit.

43. Stage in a frog's life : TADPOLE.  A.K.A. Pollywog, this is the larval stage of toads and frogs.

46. Medicare section for physician services : PART B.  Part A covers hopitalization.

48. Destroyed the inside of, as a building : GUTTED.  My sister just bought a house, and the kitchen will be GUTTED and totally reconfigured.

49. Verse segment : STANZA.  Here, the word "Verse" means a poem.  A group of lines forming the basic metrical unit of a poem is called a STANZA, from the Latin for a stopping place, or, alternatively, a verse.  Confused?  I could be wurst.

50. Hula Hoop et al. : FADS.  Back to my childhood.  Less retro than NO, NO, Nanette, though.

51. "Golden Boy" dramatist : ODETS.  Clifford.  In this 1937 play, the hero is torn between commercial success and artistic fulfillment.

52. India neighbor : NEPAL.  Good place to get high.

53. Small egg : OVULE.  A small or immature ovum.

57. Workbook chapter : UNIT.

58. Strong alkalis : LYES.  LYE is sodium hydroxide (NaOH.)  And that's the truth.

60. "30 Rock" star : FEY.  Tina.

61. Be indebted to : OWE.

62. Pick on : NAG.

63. Outer: Pref. : EXO. 

All done.  Not quite everything from A to Z, but we did travel from A to U.  Hope you enjoyed the journey.

Cool regards!
JzB