Thursday, June 20, 2024, Joseph Marquez

Bucket Hats

Today's splash screen is an Irish Rain hat, with the wool so tightly woven that it is completely water proof.  If it looks familiar, it's the same type of hat that I wear in my Blogger avatar (sans the feather, which I lost years ago).  I bought the first one from Avoca Weavers in Ireland 25 years ago and I'm now on my third.  They are also available in the USA and via mail order from Ireland.

They go by other names as well.   Our constructor Joseph Marquez, who is making his LAT debut today, calls them Bucket Hats. I've not heard that term before, but I suspect that if need be my hat could actually hold water like a bucket. 😀.

Joseph's puzzle uses sets of of circled squares arranged in the shape of buckets to contain the name of 4 different types of hats.  Since this becomes obvious almost immediately, we'll start with the reveal --

65A. Headwear featured four times in this puzzle: BUCKET HAT.  --  and as shown by the grid --

From left to right and top to bottom our buckets are lined with the following types of hats ...

The classic BEANIE is of course equipped with a propeller ...

 The classic FEDORA was favored by NOIR detectives ...

Humphrey Bogart
a.k.a Sam Spade

PANAMA hats originated in Ecuador, a long time ago and were the favorite of the 5th Dr. Who, who often sported one to cricket matches ...

Peter Davison

The eponymous BOWLER hat was designed in 1849 by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler, and was made famous by the great comedian of the silent era Charlie Chaplin ...

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE
(16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977)

FWIW, here's a similar puzzle I blogged sometime back  using circled grid squares to depict a grid spanning bowl of clam chowder.

Here are the rest of the clues ...

Across:

1. "Such a pity!": ALAS.

5. Caramel custard: FLAN.  Here's Mary's recipe for a Creme Caramel Custard.

Yummy!

9. Championship game: FINAL.

14. Quick meal: BITE.

15. Country great McEntire: REBA. She's really Somebody ...

16. "Feliz año nuevo" month: ENERO.  Today's Spanish lesson: "January".

17. Ballpark figures: ESTIMATES.  UMPS struck out on this one.

19. Adulated ones: IDOLS.  Like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Rhianna, and ... Franz Liszt!

20. Climactic beginning?: ANTI.

21. Challenge for 64-Down students: SLANG.  And IDIOMS.

23. Garden vessel: POT.  Here's a nice one, complete with a drain hole, so you don't need an earthenware liner ...

You can buy one online here.

24. Chromebook maker: ACER.

26. Reclusive one: LONER.

28. Mythological event depicted in a 2017 "Thor" film: RAGNARÖK.  Definitely Thursday cluing.  In Norse mythology, the Ragnarök is a prediction of the end of the world, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse gods will perish.  It will entail a catastrophic series of natural disasters, including the burning of the world, and culminates in the submersion of the world underwater. 

The trailer for the 2017 film was a bit too commercialized, camp, and violent for my taste.  I think the majesty of the RAGNARÖK is much better depicted in Richard Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, a retelling of the exact same story.  Here is the closing scene from the final act of the 4th opera, Die Götterdämmerung ("The Twilight of the Gods"), where the Valkyrie Brunhilde spurs her mighty steed to leap onto her husband Siegfried's enormous funeral pyre.  The fire then spreads to Valhalla, the hall of the gods, consuming it and ultimately causing it to tumble beneath the waves of the Rhine.  This challenging piece of stagecraft is imaginatively depicted here with a moving tableaux of Art Deco scrims ...

32. Share on social media: REPOST.

35. "Xanadu" rock gp.: ELO.  The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography.  They wrote many of the songs for the musical Xanadu, including the hit single Magic sung by Olivia Newton-John.

36. Saintly ring: HALO.  Most people have one, but they are much brighter on a few of those people. 😀

37. Baghdad currency: DINAR.  This is how many DINARS a DOLLAR will get you.

38. Heaps and heaps: ALOT.  The above may seem like A LOT, but it's still just a DOLLAR.

40. Gross figures: SLOBS.

43. __-switching: CODE.  In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation.

44. Gold-loving king: MIDAS.  In the classic version of the Greek myth MIDAS dies of hunger, but this one has a happy happy ending ...

46. Courtroom entry: PLEA.  They're negotiable.
 
48. Home of the world's tallest building, briefly: UAE.  The Burj Khalifa.  Dubai has plans to complete an even taller structure in 2025 called the Dubai Creek Tower.  The Japanese are planning a structure to be completed in 2050 that will far outstrip these efforts.  But then these sorts of projects have been going on for thousands of years and are one of the reasons that the Arabs, the Japanese, and many other peoples can't seem to talk to one another. 😀

Burj Khalifa
2,722 ft (0.52 mi)

49. Blind dates, e.g.: SETUPS.  Blind dates may have better results if they're set up by a professional.

51. Enhances: AUGMENTS.

53. Different: OTHER.

55. California wine region: NAPA.

56. __ choy: BOK.

58. Like some change: EXACT.  Here's an oldie, but goodie ...

60. JD-to-be's hurdle: LSAT.  Law School Admission Test.

63. Dogpatch name: ABNER.  Here's how it all started ...

First Li'l Abner by Al Capp for August 19, 1934
(click to enlarge)

65. [Theme reveal]

68. Baggy: LOOSE.

69. Like one of Picasso's periods: BLUE.  The Blue Period comprises the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1901 and 1904. During this time, Picasso painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. These sombre works, inspired by Spain and painted in Barcelona and Paris, are now some of his most popular works, although he had difficulty selling them at the time. 

Le Gourmet (The Greedy Child), 1901
National Gallery of Art, Wash., D.C.

70. Trickster of Asgard: LOKI.  Loki is a god in Norse mythology and Asgard is another name for Valhalla, the home of the Norse gods.  He presumably met his fate in clue 28A.

Loki

71. Cries like a kitten: MEWLS.

72. Barely noticeable: ITTY.

73. All those in favor: AYES.

Down:

1. Civil War POTUS: ABE.

2. "Abbott Elementary" actress __ Ann Walter: LISA.  Lisa Ann Walter (born August 3, 1963) is an American actress, comedian, and television producer, best known for her roles as Chessy the housekeeper in the romantic comedy film The Parent Trap (1998) and Melissa Schemmenti on the Peabody Award winning ABC mockumentary sitcom Abbott Elementary (2021–present), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Lisa Ann Walter

3. Memo abbr.: ATTN.

4. Staple of some plant-based diets: SEITAN.  Seitan  is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat and is used as a meat substitute in vegan diets.  It is made from vital wheat gluten, a flour-like substance primarily consisting of gluten extracted from wheat flour. Here's Sam's recipe for seitan based "vegan chicken".

5. Title for a monk: FRA.  Short for Frate: "Brother", which I believe is short for Fratello -- today's Italian lesson. Brother Ray - O?

6. "Time to go!": LETS ROLL.  "Let's Roll" were the last recorded words of passenger Todd Beamer on board United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks in 2001, just moments before he and other passengers attempted to storm the cockpit and retake the plane from the hijackers. The slogan subsequently became a battle cry for American forces during the war on terror.

Todd Beamer
Nov. 24, 1968 - Sept 11, 2001

7. One of Eve's sons: ABEL.  ABEL was the very first murder victim in the Old Testament, but there was no mystery as to who had killed him -- there were no other suspects beside his brother CAIN.

Cain Slaying Abel
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1600

8. Sounding congested: NASAL.

9. Pretended: FEIGNED.

10. Third-party abbr.: IND.  Only one Independent candidate has won the presidency.*

11. Self-identifier such as "ze" or "hir": NEO PRONOUN.  Here's everything you need to know about NEO PRONOUNS, although I can't guarantee that they won't have changed by the time this review drops.

12. "My Soft Machine" singer Parks: ARLO.   Here's Arlo Parks' Purple Phase from her album My Soft Machine ...

13. Played scissors against rock, say: LOST.  According to the rules of Rochambeau, rock beats scissors ...

18. Book between Jonah and Nahum: MICAH.  The 3 books mentioned in the clue and answer are three of the 12 Minor Prophets of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible).  MICAH lived in the region of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem in 722 BC.  His prophecies were largely concerned with the decadence and corruption of the inhabitants of Israel, and like all the prophets he was rewarded for his efforts with execution.  This manuscript page in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore shows him being cast from a cliff (often a precursor to stoning) and then buried ...

The Death and Burial
of the Prophet Micah

22. Neither partner: NOR.

25. Notable times: ERAS.  The most notable ERA these days seems to be Taylor Swift's Eras Tour -- it even has its own Wiki page.   Here's her song Eyes Open re-released during the tour ...

27. Awesome: EPIC.

28. Paper orders: REAMS.

29. Classic TV's "Kate & __": ALLIE.  Kate & Allie is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from March 19, 1984, to May 22, 1989, starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced mothers who decide to live together in the same home.  Here are the opening credits ...

30. "Thanks for the info": GOOD TO KNOW.

31. Turtlelike Mario Bros. foe: KOOPA.  Koopas are a category of turtle-like creatures that form the Turtle Tribe.  There are many different types of Koopas, the most common being Koopa Troopas.  I DNK this.  Hand up if you did?  They look harmless enough ...

Koopa Troopa

33. Nobelist Anwar: SADAT.  Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981.  In 1978, Sadat and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed a peace treaty in cooperation with United States President Jimmy Carter, for which they were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.  Menachem Begin died of a heart attack on 3 March 1992.

Anwar Sadat

34. Forest denizens: TREES.

39. Not slack: TAUT.

41. Hairstyle with a uniform length: BLUNT CUT.  They come in short, medium, and long lengths ...

A blunt cut

42. Streets of Rage game company: SEGA.  A 4 letter video game company. Saturday cluing might be RUST, NIOH, or DIRT.

45. Baseballs and basketballs, but not rugby balls: SPHERES.  Here's a rugby ball ...

Rugby ball

Notice that the ends don't come to a point like an American football ...
 

American Football

English footballs are SPHERES ...

English Football

47. Substantial: AMPLE.

50. Health class topic: SEX.  Since y'all have probably had that course, any further comment would probably be TMI. 😁

52. Nabe south of Pasadena: EAST LA.

54. Bar mitzvah figure: RABBI.

56. Application to chapped lips: BALM.  A key ingredient in BALM is of course is ALOE.

57. Clarinet kin: OBOE.  Probably the most popular work for this instrument is Gabriel's Oboe, from the soundtrack to the 1986 film The Mission.  Here it is conducted by the composer Ennio Morricone ...

Click on the Watch on Youtube link to start it

59. Fringe group: CULT.  They come in all shapes and sizes and there are a lot of them around these days.

61. Nautical call: AHOY.

62. Swipe: TAKE.  Sometimes you have to swipe a movie scene more than once to get a good TAKE. 😀

64. Subj. for some citizenship applicants: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

66. __ lime pie: KEY.  Here's Sally's recipe.
 

Key Lime Pie

67. Poetic contraction: TIS.  ALAS, TIS the end of this review.

Cheers,
Bill

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

waseeley

*President George Washington. Click the link to see the also-rans.