Thursday, November 11, 2021, Roland Huget

 

 Our constructor today is Roland Huget who has made many visits to the Corner (over 40).   Here's a review by Gary from December 5, 2020, with a bit of biographical information on Roland.  One piece of information he mentions in that review is no longer true, as he finally stopped by for a Sunday puzzle, blogged by C.C on August 22, 2021.

I should start with a SPOILER ALERT.  This puzzle is an extended CSO to one of our tangier reviewers, who tag teams on Fridays with one of our wackier reviewers.  I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.

Here are the themers:

20A Wind tunnel test object: AIRPLANE MODEL.  Here's a description of Wind Tunnels for grades K-4, a CSO to our Maître des avis, Husker.

34A. Keats work with the line, "She dwells with Beauty--Beauty that must die": ODE ON MELANCHOLY.  Here's the poem as published in  the spring of 1819 , although Keats shortened it before publication.

40A. Note instruction: PAYABLE ON DEMAND.  This usually applies to private loans, especially those between relatives. I've never loaned or have been loaned money with the stipulation that it be payable on demand, and if plan to you'd better read the fine print.

Here's the tasty reveal:

 50A. Tart drink concentrates, or what's literally found in 20-, 34- and 40-Across: LEMONADE MIXES.  I like mine with a sprig of mint, and toward evening a jigger of Stoli, the cruciverbalist's favorite. And of course chilled, with NO ICE.  Hi TIN!

 On to the main course:

Across:

1. __ cake: CRAB.  A subject near and dear to Marylanders' hearts.  The secret to good CRAB CAKES is good crab meat.  Teri insists on Jumbo Lump crab meat and uses this classic recipe from Old Bay Seasoning. BTW, the word CRAB is derived from the Greek Callinectes, meaning Beautiful Swimmers.

The Blue Crab

5. Floor plan unit: ROOM.  Something you might be urged "to get" if  you're caught in a PDA!

9. App runner: PHONE.   For an APP you may be interested in if you own a piano see 64A.

14. "It can't be true!": OH NO.

15. Humorist Bombeck: ERMA.  Erma Louise Bombeck (née Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist and columnist.

Erma Bombeck

16. Like some whiskey barrels: OAKEN.

17. Test version: BETA.  My 2012 Ford 150 was a BETA version.

18. Too much sun, they say: AGER.
 
19. Common chord: TRIAD.  In music, a triad is a set of three notes that can be stacked vertically in thirds.  The term "harmonic triad" was coined by Johannes Lippius in his Synopsis musicae novae (1612). Triads are the most common chords in Western music. 

Types of Triads

23. Article in Die Zeit: EIN.  Today's German lesson.  "Die Zeit" is "The Times" and "EIN" is an indefinite article.

24. "Saving Fish From Drowning" author Tan: AMY.  Tan's sixth novel, published in 2005.  It's the story of a group of tourists walking the Burma Road, narrated by Bibi Chen, who has died under mysterious circumstances.
 

Amy Tan

25. Snares with loops: LASSOS.  A.K.A. LARIAT, RIATA, or REATA  (trigger warning, contains verbification!).  Also TED LASSO, the protagonist of a popular streaming series.

29. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit: ADIA.  About the song.  The song:

31. Catch: NAB.

37. Was short: OWED.

38. TiVo predecessor: VCR. IMHO they've both been made obsolete by streaming.

39. Arabic for "commander": EMIR.  Had this guy last time.  Pass.

45. Mme., in Madrid: SRA.

46. Vega's constellation: LYRA.  VEGA is the brightest star in the constellation LYRA and the second brightest star in the Northern hemisphere,  SIRIUS in CANIS MAJOR being the brightest.   Here is a brief tutorial on the magnitudes celestial objects in the Northern hemisphere.

The Constellation Lyra
Vega is at the top

47. Drops in speaking: ELIDES.

48. Great Lakes' __ Canals: SOO.  The SOO Locks connect Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
 

49. Summer sign: LEO.

57. Showy bulb: TULIP.

58. Jazz guitar lick, say: RIFF.  Here's Wes Montgomery's riff on "Here's That Rainy Day", a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1953:
 

59. Daily delivery: MAIL.

61. Send over the moon: ELATE.

62. Play starter: ACT I.  With the exception of course of One-act plays.

63. One may be a lot: ACRE. We've got 2/3's of an ACRE and it's getting to be more than a lot.

64. Pitch adjuster: TUNER.   I'm not trying to put anyone out of a job, but if you own a piano and like to keep it "well-tempered", you might  want to consider these piano tuning apps.

65. Top-quality: BEST.

66. Shake off: SHED.

Down:

1. Cygnet's father: COB.  Also a popular way to eat "corn on".  It goes great with 1As!

2. Pampas bird: RHEA.   Rheas are large ratites, in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, distantly related to the ostrich and emu (of whom we seem to see more in these parts).

Rheas

3. Contrarian prefix: ANTI. I think the current era will go down in history as "The Age of Contrarianism".

4. Beast with tusks: BOAR.  It is always my hope that I don't BOAR you too much with these reviews.

5. Truthful representation, in art: REALISM.  My favorite realist painter is Will Wilson of Baltimore, a friend of a friend.  Here's a painting of his wife:
 

The Painter's Wife, 2012

6. Instrument with pipes: ORGAN.  The "King of Instruments".  In Bach's time organs were the most complex and sophisticated machines on Earth.  Johann Sebastian Bach not only knew how to fix them, he was the king of composers for them:
 

7. Sign: OMEN.

8. Stable parent: MARE  56D's better half.

9. River to Chesapeake Bay: POTOMAC.  The Potomac River  is found within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands into the Chesapeake Bay. The river (main stem and North Branch) is approximately 405 miles (652 km) long.

10. "The Revenant" Oscar nominee Tom: HARDY.  I've not seen this film and first filled it with HANKS, until I saw it wasn't working.  Apparently the movie and the book are based on a true story.

11. Dust Bowl migrant: OKIE.   A native or inhabitant of Oklahoma.  Millions of migrants from Oklahoma and surrounding states were displaced from their homelands by the Great Depression and the storms of the Dust Bowl.  The privations of this period were the inspirations for artists such as John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard, and photographer Dorothea Lange:

Migrant Mother
Florence Owens Thompson

12. Sci-fi author Stephenson: NEAL.  Neal Stephenson coined the term Metaverse back in 1992, and it is now seen by some social media futurists as a way to fix the mess they've made of the Internet.  The solution to the problems caused by technology, is always of course, more technology.  IMHO it's déjà vu all over again.
 

Neal Stephenson

13. Tight __: football position: END.

21. Lowly laborer: PEON.  A Spanish word with a long history and many associations.

22. Primary: MAIN.

25. Froot __: LOOPS.  A Kellogg's brand of children's cereal.
 

26. Ugly marketing battle: AD WAR.

27. "Gotta go!": SEE YA.  Also ciao, with a derivation you might not expect.

28. Cream __: SODA.

29. AA, on the NYSE: ALCOA.  Aluminum Company of America.  Aluminum is smelted from its ore Bauxite using a complex process co-discovered in 1886 by by two chemists, American Charles Martin Hall, and Frenchman Paul Héroult, both 22 at the time.

30. Rats relative: DARN.

31. Wanderer: NOMAD.  For some NOMADS, it's a way of life, moving their flocks from one pasture to another to graze.  For others it is hopefully temporary, the result of religious persecution or some privation, e.g., the OKIES at 11D.

32. 1955 Dior innovation: ALINE.  Art, music, and fashion seem to cycle from simplicity to complexity, and then back again, e.g. from the "classical" to the "romantic", and then a return to the "neoclassical".  French designer Christian Dior, rather than to keep an old style afloat returned to simplicity with his A-line dress.

33. "Turn! Turn! Turn!" band, with "The": BYRDS.  Lyrics by Qoheleth, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:

35. "Oh, when will they __ learn?": Seeger lyric: EVER.  From "Where have all the Flowers Gone", by Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) , an American folk singer and social activist.   Both this and the preceding song were very popular in the 60s.  I wonder if Roland intended these two clues back to back?

36. Sphere opener: HEMI.

41. Gag reel scene: BLOOPER.   I don't think Mama and Eunice were playing from the same script on this one:

42. City on the Rhône: LYON.    Lyon or Lyons is the third-largest city and second-largest urban area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, about 470 km (292 mi) southeast of Paris.

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Dennis Jarvis, Halifax, Canada

43. Judge appropriate: DEEM FIT. 

44. Wells' fruit eaters: ELOI.  A reference to H.G. Wells' Sci-Fi novel The Time Machine.  The ELOI were fruit eaters and the MORLOCKS were ELOI eaters.

48. Hit hard: SMITE. 

49. Some lanes allow only them: LEFTS.  In New Jersey you can only make LEFTS from the RIGHT LANE, via a JUG HANDLE.  We have one  in Maryland (that I know of) in Finksburg.

50. Humdinger: LULU.  Also the "opener" to LuluLemon sports apparel.  I wonder if Lemonade gets royalties from this company?

51. Dashing style: ELAN.  Iconic of this style was the Englishman T.E. Lawrence, who led the ARAB REVOLT against the Ottoman Empire during WWI.

T.E. Lawrence in 1918

52. Many a Mideast native: ARAB.  Most, but not all are ARABS, the notable exception being the natives of IRAN, who speak PERSIAN, known to its native IRANIAN speakers as FARSI.

53. Board game pieces: DICE.

54. Time to put up lights, briefly: XMAS.  Contrary to what some moderns might believe, Xmas was not originally intended as a secularization of Christmas.  Here's the real story.  But  nevertheless we sign our cards "Merry Christmas".

55. A head: EACH.  Also PER or A POP.

56. Equine parent: SIRE.  This refers specifically to the male horse.  The female is referred to as a BROOD MARE.  The history of horse breeding goes back thousands of years.  In fact the 52Ds are masters of the art and ARABIAN horses are highly valued for their speed and stamina.

57. First day of spring, in Hanoi: TET. 
 

Tết at the Saigon Tax Trade Center (2012)
courtesy of Prenn, Vietnam

60. Commanded: LED.  Also an acronym for Light Emitting Diode.  LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower power consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. 

Here's the grid:

waseeley

And thanks to Teri for proofreading and constructive criticism.

Cheers,
Bill