Thursday, January 4, 2024, Jesse Goldberg
Unpuzzle?
Today's constructor, veteran Jesse Goldberg invites us solvers to "unpuzzle" four themers each consisting of pairs of inflectional morphemes, the first word of each pair being prefixed by "Un" ...
17A. Unprincipled principles: DOUBLE STANDARDS. Compartmentalization is something which most of us do to one degree or another.
27A. Unforced force: VOLUNTEER ARMY. Some thoughts on the evolution of an all volunteer army, circa 2006.
44A. Unfinished finish: CLIFF HANGER. A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode. One of the earliest films to use this device was the 1914 silent melodrama The Perils of Pauline, about an ambitious young heiress with an independent nature and a desire for adventure. Here's episode 6 where her nemeses, who are trying to get her inheritance, conspire to set Pauline aloft in a balloon, but she manages to rescue herself by ...
59A. Unnamed name: JOHN DOE. John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the United States and the United Kingdom when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often used to refer to a corpse whose identity is unknown or cannot be confirmed.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Report card period: TERM.
5. Minor celebs: D LIST.
10. Boundary building of some quads: DORM.
14. __-Z: classic Camaro: IROC. IROC stands for International Race of Champions. This 1986 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z with only 28,338 miles sold for $27,000 on December 2nd of this year. Sounds like a steal ...
16. Flatpack furniture seller: IKEA.
17. [Theme clue]
20. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTEE.
21. Only Canadian NBA city, for short: TOR. A CSO to CanadianEh!
22. Illinois toll-paying convenience: I PASS. A service of the Illinois Tollway. Adjacent states often have cooperative agreements that recognize each other's automated toll payment systems. Maryland uses the EZPass system. We make yearly trips through Pennsylvania to Ohio, and thus far I've not succeeded in getting PA to bill our EZPass account for using their rather long turnpike.
23. Planet's turning point: AXIS. The Earth's AXIS tilts about 23.5 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic. Due to this axial tilt, the sun shines on different latitudes at different angles throughout the year. This causes the seasons.
27. [Theme clue]
32. Supporter: FAN. I'm a big FAN of WBJC-FM, our local radio station.
33. Blake who was a longtime coach on "The Voice": SHELTON. Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. Here's Austin, his first big hit. It's not about the city, but about a love he thought he'd lost ...
34. Long reference work, for short: OED. Oxford English Dictionary. New words are added to it quarterly. Here's and index to the many words added over the last year.
36. Savanna predator: LION. Today's Swahili lesson: LION = anapumuamoto: "He who breathes fire". According to the Kratt Brothers they're predators, but they're also prideful members of families ...
39. Court postponement: STAY.
40. Out of fashion: UNCOOL. Would UNCOOL cool be IN fashion?
42. Counter: OPPOSE.
.
44. [Theme clue].
48. Easily broken: FRAIL.
50. Youngest woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, familiarly: AOC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of the Democratic Party.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez |
54. "You snooze, you __": LOSE.
55. Like one of the houses destroyed by the Big Bad Wolf: STRAW.
57. "Ordinary Grace" novelist William __ Krueger: KENT. William Kent Krueger (born November 16, 1950) is an American novelist and crime writer, best known for his series of novels featuring Cork O'Connor, which are set mainly in Minnesota. In 2005 and 2006, he won back-to-back Anthony Awards for best novel. In 2014, his stand-alone book Ordinary Grace won the Edgar Award for Best Novel of 2013. In 2019, This Tender Land was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly six months.
59. [Theme clue]
61. Sharp __ tack: AS A.
62. Binding words: I DO.
63. Shoreline changer: EROSION.
64. Used an excavator: DUG.
65. Cheadle of the "Avengers" films: DON.
66. 50-Across, for one: Abbr.: DEM. Democrat. REP didn't perp.
67. Solve a KenKen puzzle, say: ADD. KenKen and KenDoku are trademarked names for a style of arithmetic and logic puzzle invented in 2004 by Japanese math teacher Tetsuya Miyamoto, who intended the puzzles to be an instruction-free method of training the brain. The name derives from the Japanese word for cleverness (賢, ken, kashiko). Here are the rules.
68. Go out with: SEE.
Down:
1. Shoreline changer: TIDE.
2. God of love: EROS.
3. Drubbing: ROUT.
4. Ally in a courtroom: MCBEAL. Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy drama television series, originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997, to May 20, 2002.The series stars Calista Flockhart in the title role as a lawyer working in the Boston law firm Cage and Fish, with other lawyers whose lives and loves are eccentric, humorous, and dramatic. Although ostensibly a legal drama, the main focus of the series was the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, often using legal proceedings as plot devices to contrast or reinforce a character's drama. The show also used vivid, dramatic fantasy sequences for Ally's and other characters' wishful thinking.
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| Calista Flockhart |
 |
| Dwight David Eisenhower |
7. Not against: INTO.
8. Hester Prynne's mark: SCARLET A. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne. She conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married, refuses to identify him, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As punishment, she must always wear a scarlet letter 'A' (for "adultery"). At the end of the novel the father silently and publicly reveals his identity.
9. Face value?: TEN. On a scale of 1 to 10, a TEN would be a very beautiful face.
10. Huggies product: DIAPER.
11. Vegetable pod also called lady's fingers: OKRA.
12. Malbecs, e.g.: REDS. Malbec is the most important red grape variety of Argentina, but it also produces excellent wine in many other countries around the world.
 |
| Malbec grapes |
18. Infiniti rival: LEXUS. LEXUS is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese global brands in market value. Lexus is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan.
19. Backless sofa: DIVAN.
26. Decal type: IRON ON.
27. Self-centered: VAIN.
28. From time to time: ON OCCASION.
29. Younger "ManningCast" host: ELI. Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli, colloquially known as the Manningcast, is an American alternate live television broadcast of Monday Night Football hosted by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning, both former quarterbacks from the National Football League.
31. Some congressional votes: YEAS.
32. Seasonal bug: FLU.
35. Get the gray out, say: DYE.
37. "Honest to God!": NO LIE.
39. Smidgen: SPECK.
41. Lubricate: OIL.
43. Jordan Spieth's org.: PGA. Jordan Alexander Spieth (born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a three-time major winner and the 2015 FedEx Cup champion.
 |
| Jordan Spieth |
46. Traffic cacophony: HORNS. Like the sound track to Gershwin's American In Paris ...
47. Only national park in New England: ACADIA.
48. In flux: FLUID.
49. Repetitive musical movement: RONDO. A RONDO is a musical form that contains a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or "couplets". Here's the Rondeau (French spelling) from Henry Purcell's Abdelazer Suite.
52. Come after: ENSUE.
53. Frightful site?: STAGE. For those who suffer from STAGE Fright. 😬
55. Bent out of shape: SORE.
56. Material for old golf clubs and tennis rackets: WOOD. Before Titanium was discovered? 😀
59. "The West Wing" prez: JED. The West Wing is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series has been ranked among the best television shows of all time in publications such as Time, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, and the New York Daily News. The Writers Guild of America ranked it no. 10 in its "101 Best-Written TV Series" list.
The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where the Oval Office and offices of presidential senior personnel are located, during the fictitious Democratic administration of President Josiah ("Jed") Bartlet. Here Senator Arnold (Alan Alda) and Jed (Martin Sheen) chat about politics and religion over ice cream ...
60. Wind up or wind down: END. A review meta clue?
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
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