Thursday, January 23, 2025, Zhoughin Burnikel
Questionable Clues?
Today C.C. clues her puzzle themers with 5 one-word punny questions (3 across and 2 down), each ending with "words?" and then fills them with an idiomatic or in the language phrase ...
17A. Keywords?: OPEN SESAME. This phrase entered the Western world from an Arabic folk tale Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, about a poor woodcutter who discovers the secret treasure of a thieves' den, overhears them, and enters with the magic phrase "open sesame", the key to opening the cave. Here's a cartoon summary of the story ...
39A. Crosswords?: I SAID NO. A phrase often said by cross
parents when talking to a disappointed child.
62A. Safewords?: JUST IN CASE. A phrase indicating that you're not taking any chances.
11D. Catchwords?: ROGER THAT. A phrase used in military, CB radio, and airline communications to acknowledge successful receipt of a message -- do you catch my drift?
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| Rolex Daytona |
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Vase flaw: CHIP.
5. Fragrance: AROMA. SCENT fit, but didn't perp.
10. Like a thesis defense: ORAL. Some things to know if you have to defend a Ph.D. thesis. Hand up if you've ever defended one?
14. Bar mitzvah dance: HORA. Here is a tutorial on how to do the Hora, followed by a demonstration ...
16. Wrap for onigiri: NORI. We've been eating sushi for decades and we've eaten lots of nigiri, but we've never seen onigiri (Japanese rice balls) in restaurants. This recipe shows you how to make your own.
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| Onigiri |
17. [Theme clue]
19. Seemingly forever: AGES. But they seem to go by ever so quickly. 😀
20. Word with code or colony: PENAL. Some of the most famous penal colonies were founded by the British in Australia in the state of New South Wales beginning in 1788 and later on the island state of Tasmania. Over the next 80 years, more than 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in lieu of being given the death penalty, a sentence given for many petty crimes. Many of the deportees were sentenced to labor camps, but others were held in prison. Today, about 20% of Australians are descendants of convicts, including plenty of prominent citizens.
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Port Arthur Prison Island of Tasmania |
22. Kilt detail: PLEAT. PLAID fit, but didn't perp. Here, sporting his kilt, is Scottish actor David Tennant, who aside from playing Macbeth and lots of other Shakespearean roles on the stage, is much more famous for have played the 10th Dr. Who. Whovian trivia: David's wife Georgia is the daughter of the 5th Dr. Who, actor Peter Davison, making the 5th Doctor Who the 10th Doctor Who's father-in-law.
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David Tennant in his Silver Mist kilt, crafted by Glasgow-based MacGregor and MacDuff |
25. More crafty: SLIER. I've been reading this book to my youngest grandsons about a legendary fox called Star -- none was more crafty than the one known to the local farmers as the Haunt Fox.
27. Laughing relative of a meerkat: HYENA. Both meerkats and hyenas are members of the suborder Feliformia within the Carnivora order. These researchers explain that hyenas are highly intelligent, social creatures, and among their many types of vocations why they sometimes "laugh" ...
30. Wildlife tracking device: EAR TAG. EAR TAGS are also used for keeping track of domestic animals, but the National Band & Tag Company supplies them for a wide variety of wild animals for research conservation efforts.
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| Ear Tags |
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| Fajitas |
38. __ of averages: LAW. Today's math lesson -- the Law of Averages is the commonly held belief that a particular outcome or event will, over certain periods of time, occur at a frequency that is similar to its probability. Depending on context or application it can be considered a valid common-sense observation or a misunderstanding of probability. This notion can lead to the gambler's fallacy when one becomes convinced that a particular outcome must come soon simply because it has not occurred recently (e.g. believing that because three consecutive coin flips yielded heads, the next coin flip must be virtually guaranteed to be tails)
39. [Theme clue]
41. Path of a fly ball: ARC. A line drive traces an ARC as well, but as it is flying much faster it has less time to drop.
42. Three-note chords: TRIADS. In music, a TRIAD is a set of three notes (or "pitch classes") that can be stacked vertically in thirds. Triads are the most common chords in Western music. This wiki contains examples of 4 triads that you can click on the hear what they sound like.
44. No longer trendy: OUT. PASSÊ was too long.
45. Corp. scientific execs: CTOS. Chief Technology Officers.
46. "Why not": OK SURE.
47. Green: MOOLA. Both slang for money.
49. Worked as a secret agent: SPIED. The Secret Agent is novel by Joseph Conrad that was adapted for a TV series starring Toby Jones as a secret agent. It was so scary that we had to stop watching it! ...
54. Parents honored in May: MAMAS.
56. __ de parfum: EAU. Today's French lesson: "parfum" = perfume and EAU = "Water", i.e. watered down perfume. Everything you need to know about the real stuff.
59. "Good heavens!": OH GOD. Thank God for perps. 😀
61. Purple berry high in fat: ACAI. Acai Berries 101: A Complete Guide.
62. [Theme clue]
64. Acronym after a lengthy post: TLDR. "Too Long Don't Read" -- the commenter is telling you that a post is not worth your time. Here's a newsletter called TLDR for anyone who doesn't have the time to keep up with the fast pace of technology -- e.g. CTOS.
65. Felt a workout later: ACHED.
66. Foreboding sign: OMEN.
67. Brings legal action against: SUES.
68. Lets tears flow: WEEPS.
69. Libya-to-Algeria direction: WEST. A 4 letter direction -- if you remembered that both countries are South of the Mediterranean all you needed was a perp for either of the first two letters ...
1. Pork cut: CHOP. LOIN fit but didn't perp.
2. Crossed one's fingers: HOPED. Or if they're crossed behind one's back: LIED.
3. Leader of the girl group Red Velvet: IRENE. DNK Red Velvet, but perped IRENE, which is the stage name for Korean Bae Joo-hyun who started the group in 2014. Here's Ice Cream Cake, their first big hit ...
5. Enjoyed a mochi doughnut, say: ATE. Misdirection? CHEW wouldn't fit but mochi doughnuts are chewier than the American varieties.
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| Mochi doughnuts |
7. Beauty brand with a Retinol 24 line: OLAY. Thank you perps. Available from Amazon for only $15.29 / Fl Oz.
8. Silent performers: MIMES. We haven't heard from Marcel Marceau in a while ...
... come to think of it, we've never heard from him. 😀
9. Tailless primate: APE.
10. Ready for action: ON ALERT.
11. [Theme clue]
12. 63, for a 7x9 rectangle: AREA.
13. Reminder on the fridge: LIST.
18. Defeat, as a dragon: SLAY. It's a little known fact that sometimes the dragon wins ...
22. Steinway product: PIANO. Vladimir Horowitz, widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, performed on a Steinway piano. And unlike most pianists he actually had his personal piano transported to his concerts. Here he is making his long awaited return to Carnegie Hall on May 9, 1965. Among many other works he performed are these two short pieces by Domenico Scarlatti, Sonata in E & Sonata in G ...
24. "As I remember it ... ": LETS SEE. IIRC was too short.
26. Primitive shelters: LEAN TOS. This one was built by a group of 14 year olds during a wilderness survival course. Unlike most of the others I surveyed, the moss covering made it relatively impervious to water ...
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| A primitive lean to |
28. Org. that awards grants to orchestras: NEA. National Endowment for the Arts. I found lots of links on how to apply for an NEA grant, but no examples of an orchestra partially or fully funded by one.
29. Self-evident truth: AXIOM. An axiom is a statement which is assumed to be true without question, and which does not require proof. Axioms are used as premises or starting points for further reasoning or arguments, usually in logic or in mathematics. But then here is a slightly different opinion from a June 11, 2024 Math Stack Exchange discussion ...
32. Yukon and Sierra: GMCS. Thank you perps.
33. Midrange voice: ALTO. One of the most popular altos today is the British singer/songwriter Adele. Here's a hit from her second album 21 called Set Fire to the Rain ...
35. [Theme clue]
39. Elba who played Luther: IDRIS. Idrissa Akuna Elba, OBE (born 6 September 1972) is an English actor, rapper, singer and DJ. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and six Emmy Awards. His films have grossed over $9.8 billion at the global box office, making him one of the top 20 highest-grossing actors. Teri and I watched a few episodes of Luther, but we had to stop. It was like taking a bath in adrenaline ...
43. Live-in nannies: AU PAIRS. An au pair is a person, usually a female, working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some housework, and receive a monetary allowance or stipend for personal use. An au pair program is considered a form of cultural exchange that gives the family and the au pairs a chance to experience and learn new cultures.
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An au pair from Ecuador living with a family in Holland |
You heard it here first: The Au Pair is an upcoming British television drama series starring David Suchet (Poirot), Sally Bretton (Beyond Paradise), and Kenny Doughty (Vera).
45. Reliable moneymaker: CASH COW. See 53D.
48. Lake bird with an eerie call: LOON. They are such beautiful birds ...
50. Tie score in tennis: DEUCE.
52. Peak performance: A GAME.
53. Amounts of medicine: DOSES. See 45D.
54. Judo class surfaces: MATS.
55. Org. with a Women's Rights Project: ACLU. In 1961 the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a jury selection system that discriminated against women on the grounds that "women are at the center of home and family life". A decade later, the newly established ACLU Women's Rights Project took the case of Reed v. Reed to the Supreme Court, challenging the automatic preference of men over women as administrators of estates. In Reed, the Supreme Court saw sex discrimination in a new light, and agreed with the ACLU. For the first time, the Court held that a classification based on sex was unconstitutional, in violation of the equal protection clause. But there is still a lot of work to be done.
57. "Days of Grace" memoirist Arthur: ASHE. I was surprised that there isn't a separate Wiki page for Days of Grace. Here's the Goodreads review for Arthur Ashe's bestseller.
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| Amazon link |
58. Sch. that publishes the bilingual magazine Minero: UTEP. The University of Texas at El Paso. Here's the current edition of Minero, which seems to be mostly in English -- I was unable to find either a translate button or a separate version in Spanish.
60. Ding on a bumper: DENT.
62. Mouth part: JAW. LIP didn't perp and MANDIBLE was too long.
63. Cards shown to bouncers: IDS. I used to get carded a lot, but lately not so much. 😀
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive
criticism.
waseeley
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