Wednesday February 24, 2021 Bryant White

 Theme: LET'S HANG OUT.  Here is today's theme song from my first trombone idol.  It's only 1 minute 38 seconds.

All the theme elements except the unifier are vertical, and that means something, as we shall soon see.

3 D. Blood-drinking mammal: VAMPIRE BAT.  They are pretty nasty looking, and I couldn't find a suitable pic of one hanging, but it is what they do, so use your imagination.

5 D. High light: CHANDELIER.  A ceiling- mounted light fixture that light hangs, shedding its light from above.

7. D Spelunking sight: STALACTITE. A hanging formation formed by the solidification of a dripping liquid.  I limestone caves these are mineral formations resulting from the drip of dissolved material from the ceiling.  Icicles are also stalactites, though rather more short-lived

9 D. Support for Tarzan: JUNGLE VINE.  Or, for George, though not without its mishaps.  Anyway something for a swinger to hang onto.

51. Loitering ... or how 3-, 5-, 7- and 9-Down might be seen?: HANGING AROUND.  Loitering is a less literal version of hanging.  More literally, It's the only thing these danglers have in common.  

Hi, gang, JazzBumpa here to hang out with you for a while.  There's a puzzle waiting so let's get down to it.

Across:

1. It may break and crash: WAVE.  The ocean variety

5. It has an eye on TV: CBS.  Network logo for the Columbia Broadcasting System.

8. Slightly open: AJAR.

12. Sea that's a victim of irrigation projects: ARAL.  It keeps shrinking.

13. Water park feature: CHUTE.  SLIDE also fits.  Either way, you travel down in or on it.

15. Heavyweight fight?: SUMO.  Japanese wrestlers

16. Capital founded by Pizarro: LIMA.  Peru.

17. They may draft briefs: PARAS.  PARA-legal, I assume.

18. Saloon door's lack: KNOB.  Swings both ways.

 

 19. Civil War topper: KEPI. A cap with a flat top and visor of French origin, typically associated with a military organization.  Read more here.

20. Tattoo joint?: ANKLE.  Flexing body part, not a tattoo parlor.  I guess ankles probably get more tattoos than knees.

It is written

21. Folklore monster: OGRE.

 

 22. Move furtively: SLINK.or SKULK

24. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA.  The Drug Enforcement Administration is tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S.

25. Verne who created Nemo: JULES.  In the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. 

26. Dodger rival of shortstop Rizzuto: REESE.    Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (1918 - 1999) played for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and then L.A. from 1940 to 1958.  He was a 10-time all-star and inducted into the Hall of fame in 1984.  Philip Francis Rizzuto (1917 – 2007) played for the Yankees from 1941 t0 1956.  He entered the Hall of Fame in 1994

28. Bucket of bolts: CRATE. Derisive terms for a decrepit automobile.

30. "Evita" narrator: CHE.  Ernesto "Che" Guevara [1928-1967] was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.

32. Gummy bear ingredient: GELATIN.  Of course.

34. YouTube clip, for short: VID.  Video for long.

37. Prefix with call: ROBO-.  An automated telephone call which delivers a recorded message, typically on behalf of a political party or telemarketing company.  And the reason why I let all call from unrecognized callers go to the answering machine.  They rarely leave a message.

39. Meek: TIMID.  Showing a lack of courage or confidence.

40. Tubes on the table: ZITI.  Extruded pasta tubes, usually with square cut ends.

41. Sonicare rival: ORAL-B.  Makers of electric tooth-brushes.. They are especially useful if you have electric teeth.

43. Get into a stew?: EAT.  Here indicating something you can chow down on.  Odd though, since the stew actually gets into you.

44. One who digs hard rock: MINER.  Ore retriever who might or might not also be a head banger.

45. Wedding reception hiree: CATERER.  One who supplies food and the necessary accessories.

47. Pressing: EXIGENT. Demanding and immediate.  I had to look it up.

49. Catch a bug, say: AIL.  Have an illness.  I have a vaccine appointment on Saturday.

50. Energy unit: ERG.  A tiny unit.  One of my professors defined this as the amount of energy it takes for one fly to do one push-up

58. Magic prop: WAND.  A long, thin stick, or rod.

59. Tech company that became a verb: XEROX.  A brand name for copying machines that morphed into a verb for making copies.

60. Source: ROOT.  That from which something comes.

62. Harper's Bazaar designer: ERTE.  Roman Petrovich Tyrtov [1892-1990] had an illustrious career that included designing costumes and stage sets.  Between 1915 and 1937, Erté designed over 200 covers for Harper's Bazaar, and his illustrations would also appear in such publications as Illustrated London News, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, and Vogue.

63. Absurd: INANE.  Silly

64. Swear to be true: AVOW.  

65. Tap serving: BEER.  Or ALES.  Good either way 

66. California's Point __ National Seashore: REYES.  A peninsula north-west of the Golden Gate with a vast expanse of protected coastline in Northern California’s Marin County with both beaches and a rocky headland.

67. Cook Islands export: TARO.  Colocasia esculenta is a tropical plant grown primarily for its edible corms.

Down:

1. Constitutional events: WALKS.  Going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. Source.

 2. Disney mermaid: ARIEL.  

 

 4. "Seinfeld" regular: ELAINE.

 

 6. Delta of "Designing Women": BURKE.

8. Try to date: ASK OUT.

10. Love, to Luigi: AMORE.  Literal, in Italian.

11. Judicial attire: ROBES.  Makes them look judicial, I suppose.

13. One working on bks.: CPA.  A Certified Public Accountant works on financial records.

14. Linguistic suffix: -ESE.  

23. It may be tapped: KEG.   For BEER or ale.

25. Fifth of 12, alphabetically: Abbr.: JAN.  When arranged this way, April,  August, December and February precede January.  Not sure why anyone would do this.

27. Place for shooting stars?: SET.  With movie cameras.

29. Free (of): RID.  out, out, damned spot.

30. Shoe that's full of holes: CROC. Confuse them with gaiters at your peril.

31. Dance that may involve a chair: HORA.  Though not always, it seems.

 

 

33. Reddit Q&A session: AMA.  Ask Me Anything.

35. Cal.-to-Fla. highway: I-TEN.  It spans 2460 miles from Santa Monica, CA to Jacksonville, FL

36. Gossip: DIRT.  I can dig it.

38. Poisonous flowering shrub: OLEANDER.

40. Terraced structure of ancient Mesopotamia: ZIGGURAT.  A terraced structure of successively receding levels,

42. Naval lockup: BRIG.  Shipboard jail.

44. Surrealist Joan: MIRO.   Joan Miró Ferra [1893 - 1983]  was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist.

 

46. Magical potion: ELIXIR.

 

 48. Persian king: XERXES.  [c. 518 – August 465 BCE,] commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. 

51. "__ Trigger": Bugs Bunny cartoon: HARE.  Not sure why I can't come up with the full cartoon. Here are the beginning and end.

 

 52. Stud fee, maybe: ANTE.  Stud poker, not what you're thinking.

53. Hawaiian goose: NENE.   Found only in Hawaii and crosswords.

From Wikipedia

54. Anatomy book author Henry: GRAY.  Gray's Anatomy is a textbook of human anatomy written by Gray and illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter.  It was first published in 1858.

55. Five-star: A-ONE.  First rate.

56. Smoked salmon: NOVA.  The name for this salmon comes from its origin, in Nova Scotia, Canada, where salmon is cured and then cold smoked. The color is a much deeper pink, almost a burnt orange, compared to other cured salmon. The fish flavor is also a bit more intense than lox or gravlax.

57. Cuckoo clock feature: DOOR.  Whence commeth the bird.

58. Baseball glove part: WEB.

61. Vegas snake eyes: TWO.  A pair of one-spot dice.

Thanks for hanging out today, friends.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Cool regards!

JzB

L.A. Times Crossword Wednesday, February 10, 2021 Catherine Cetta

Theme -- I can't do much better than the unifier, so let's start with that.

 56 A. Relatively unknown quality items ... and what can be found in 16-, 26- and 42-Across: HIDDEN GEMS.  Typically something great that most people don't know about.  Here, it's literally precious stones hidden in the theme fill.

16 A. Arose to catch the proverbial worm: GOT UP EARLY.  Arise before dawn - or, in my case, before 9:00 a.m.  Do that that and you might be able to catch an oyster with a perfect PEARL.  This is a small, spherical, usually white object that forms around a grain of sand inside the shellfish.  Pearls are commonly strung together as a necklace.

 

26 A. Award won twice by Adele and Kelly Clarkson: BEST POP ALBUM.   Awards in several categories are distributed annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position."  The 2020 winner was Billie Eilish for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?   An OPAL is a soft hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·nH2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. The gemstone opal shows a variable interplay of internal colors, 

42 A. Philanthropist who was a Time Person of the Year co-honoree in 2005: MELINDA GATES.  In 2000, she and her husband Bill Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization as of 2015.  Read more about her here.  "AGATE is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, consisting of a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate dates back to Ancient Greece in assorted jewelry and in the seal stones of Greek warriors." [Wikipedia]

Hi, Gang, JazzBumps here. These are all gems of the minor variety; no diamonds in the rough here.  Lets see what else of value we can discover in today's puzzle.

Across:

1. Not imagined: REAL.  No matter how wild your flights of fancy, there is always the REAL world to come back to.

5. On: ATOP.  

9. Arthur of tennis: ASHE.

13. Country quarters: INNS.  Establishments for the lodging and entertainment of travelers, generally smaller than hotels and with fewer amenities.

14. Be behind: TRAIL.  Lag

15. Skier's need, maybe: SNOW.   For several varieties of down-hill or cross-country skiing

18. Presidents' Day event: SALE.  Many holidays really.

19. Ivy League student: ELI.  Specifically at Yale U.

20. Dynamic prefix: AERO.  Designed to reduce air drag and/or wind resistance.

21. Sushi bar brews: SAKES.  A fermented rice beverage

22. Ristorante favorite: LASAGNA.  Layers of noodles, meat and cheese, usually with a tomato based sauce. 

24. "Holy smokes!": ZOWIE.  Golly!

30. Monks' wear: COWLS.  Long, hooded garments with wide sleeves, sometimes, just the hood. 

33. Total drubbing: ROUT.  Like a bad Super Bowl game.

34. Flatow of "Science Friday": IRA.  [b. 1949] A radio and television journalist and author.

 
35. Opposite of home: AWAY.  

36. Dozen dozen: GROSS.  That's 144 of anything.

38. Craftsy etailer: ETSY.  An American e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. 

39. Tiny, for short: LI'L.  Little, for long

40. "Not long": SOON. Li'l bit of time.

41. Guilty and not guilty: PLEAS.  Formal statements by or on behalf of a defendant or prisoner, stating guilt or innocence in response to a charge, offering an allegation of fact, or claiming that a point of law should apply.

46. Spectrum maker: PRISM.  Could be a brand name product or service, but not this time.  A PRISM will divide white light into color components, based on wave length.

Light Weight

47. Comment after a missed shot: NICE TRY.  Condolence or sarcasm?

51. Characteristic: TRAIT. A distinguishing quality of a person or thing.

53. Shred: IOTA.  Tiny amount

54. Tint: HUE. Coloration

55. "I didn't mean to do that": OOPS.  Utterance after an accident.

59. Unmitigated joy: GLEE. Originally, the specific joy of music and singing.

60. Seller, usually: OWNER. Or his/her agent.

61. Its symbol is Fe: IRON.  Elemental metal.

62. Some cameras, for short: SLRS.  Single Lens Reflex.

63. Amorously pursues: WOOS. 

64. Fiddling emperor: NERO.  While Rome burns.

Down:

1. Orion's left foot, some say: RIGEL.  Rigel is a blue supergiant that is the brightest star in the constellation Orion (the Hunter). Due to its measured size and brightness it is expected to end in a supernova one day. 

2. __ Gay: ENOLA.  a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb.

3. Naysayers: ANTIs.  Those with negative viewpoints.

4. Pelican State sch.: LSU.   Louisiana State University.

5. Biblical mount: ARARAT.  Legendary landing place of Noah's Arc. 

6. Tropical root vegetable: TARO.  A food staple in African, Oceanic and South Asian cultures.

7. Squeaky-wheel need: OIL.  Lubricant.

8. Tissue layer: PLY.  A single layer of any multiple layer construction, such as ply wood.

9. Attack: ASSAIL.

10. Hazard in many old Westerns: SNAKE BITE.  

11. Opening: HOLE.   An aperture or gap.

12. Lambs' moms: EWES.  Female sheep.

14. New drivers, typically: TEENS.  People between the ages of 13 and 19, inclusive.

17. Novel units: PAGES.  Not new and unusual things, but the two-sided papers bound into books.

21. Whack at a mosquito: SWAT.

23. With skill: ABLY.  

24. Family outing destinations: ZOOS.

25. Numbered piece: OPUS.  A separate composition or set of compositions by a particular composer, usually ordered by date of publication.

27. Outlet insert: PRONG.  A slender pointed or projecting part: such as a fang of a tooth ora point of an antler, or an electric plug.

28. Celestial bear: URSA.  Either the URSA MAJOR or URSA MINOR constellation.

29. First Black MLB team captain, 1964: MAYS.  Willie Howard Mays Jr., [b 1931] nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He spent almost all of his 22-season Major League Baseball career playing for the New York/San Francisco Giants before finishing his career with the New York Mets. [Wikipedia]

30. Not nervous: CALM.  Serene.

31. Something Mommy needs to kiss?: OWIE.  Booboo.

32. Computer screen background: WALLPAPER.

36. Odin and Thor: GODS.  In the Aesir.

37. Wander: ROAM.  

38. "Need anything __?": ELSE.

40. Sulky state: SNIT.

41. Pie nut: PECAN. 

43. Flowery van Gogh work: IRISES.   You can see it here.

44. Battery terminals: ANODES.  And Cathodes

45. Solution strength measure: TITER.  Determined by 2 conflicting methods.  Read about it here.

48. "Over __!": THERE.   A 1917 song written by George M. Cohan that was popular with the United States military and public during both world wars. It is a patriotic song designed to galvanize American young men to enlist and fight.

 

 49. Something from a mill?: RUMOR.  People who start and spread rumors.

50. Type of survey question: YES/NO.  As opposed to multiple guess.

51. Duds: TOGS.  Clothing.

52. Dinner table staple: ROLL.  A small, usually round or oblong individual loaf of bread served as a meal accompaniment (eaten plain or with butter)

53. License plate fig.: ID NO.  Identification Number.

56. "__ come?": HOW.  Said when asking how or why something happened or is the case.

57. Iconic WWII island, briefly: IWO.  An island 750 miles south of Tokyo. It was the site of an iconic WW II battle in February and March of 1945.

Raising the Flag

58. Winning game cry: GIN.   From a card game, not a martini, alas.

So goes another Wednesday.  Hope it was valuable.

Cool Regards!

JzB