Thursday, March 13, 2025, Catherine Cetta
The Sounds of Music
Today our constructor Catherine Cetta presents us with a reveal that tells us all we need to know about her clever, elegant, musical theme ...
56. "By the way ...," and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters:
ON A SIDE NOTE. That is, the circles each contain a
NOTE of the musical scale in descending order along on the left then right
SIDE of the grid -- represented by the syllables
TI, DO, SOL, LA, MI, FA, DO, and RE. This system has been around since the 11th Century and is
called
Solfège -- the use of mnemonics in teaching the sounds in a musical
scale.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
1. "Casablanca" heroine: ILSA. Here she cajoles Sam into playing As Time Goes By ...
5. Is generally positive: HOPES.
10. Mavens: PROS.
14. Subject with lots of problems: MATH. That's how you learn MATH -- by solving lots of problems, and the more problems you solve the more MATH you learn.
15. Weasel out of: EVADE.
16. "Rats!": DARN.
17. Attachments: TIES.
18. Old thing: RELIC. My favorite relic is the Shroud of Turin, a sheet of linen 14' 3" long by 3' 7" wide containing a highly detailed image of a crucified man, which has several unique properties. It is believed by some to be the burial shroud of Christ, certainly a debatable question, but as yet no one has come up with a satisfactory explanation for how it was created. But there is no question that it is the most studied artifact of all time. Based on radiocarbon data collected in 1988 from a sample taken from a single location on the cloth, skeptics claim that it was created in the Middle Ages. Others say that the carbon-14 measurements may have been accurate for the 2.5 sq. in. sample taken from one of the corners, but that it is probably not representative of the age of the whole 50 sq ft. cloth. The skeptics have been challenged by David Rolfe, a British documentary film producer and researcher on the Shroud of Turin, who has offered a million dollars to anyone who can replicate it, the only stipulation being that they can use only technologies extant in the Middle Ages. FWIW, Teri and I were fortunate to see the Shroud in Turin, Italy in 2000; I have read several dozen books on the subject, both pro and con; and I still have no idea on how it was made.
19. Classic pet name: FIDO.
20. Amanda Gorman's "__ to Our Ocean": ODE. In June 2020, Lonely Whale collaborated with Atmos and Future Earth to produce Ode to Our Ocean — a poem by Amanda Gorman written for World Oceans Day.
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| Amanda Gorman |
21. Civil rights leader __ Scott King: CORETTA. Coretta Scott King (née Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968.
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Coretta Scott King 1964 |
24. A as in Aristotle: ALPHA. ALPHA is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, the alphabet used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
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| Aristotle Marble portrait bust, Roman copy (2nd century bce) of a Greek original (c. 325 bce) |
26. Hasty getaway: LAM.
27. Hate the thought of: DREAD.
29. Footprint makers: SOLES.
30. Fútbol cheer: OLE.
31. Birthing coach: DOULA. Doula vs midwife: what's the difference?
32. Dweeb: TWERP. I think either the clue or the fill is a stretch ...
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| Kylo Ren |
35. Fuse together: MELD. WELD fit, but didn't perp.
37. Coffee containers: URNS. The preferred containers for holding coffee in crosswords.
39. Whole: ENTIRE.
42. "Don't be led __": ASTRAY. Good advice!
46. Fog: MIST.
47. Tea region of India: ASSAM. Actually there are three regions in India that cultivate tea, but NILGIRI and DARJEELING wouldn't fit. Here's a lovely lady plucking tea in an Assam tea garden ...
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| Assam tea garden |
52. Baseball Hall of Famer nicknamed "Master Melvin": OTT. Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958) was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from 1926 through 1947. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Though unusually slight in stature for a power hitter, at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m), 170 pounds (77 kg), Ott led the National League in home runs a then-record six times. He was an All-Star for 11 consecutive seasons, and was the first National League player to surpass 500 career home runs.
55. Farm pen: STY.
56. [Theme reveal]
59. Naturally curly styles: AFROS. AFROS commonly style our crossword grids and my favorite wearer of them is Keith Jarrett. Known primarily as a jazz pianist and improvisor, he is also equally at home playing classical piano. I was first introduced to him with his performances of the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues. Here is Keith playing the latter's Op. 87: No. 1 in C Major ...
61. Fashion's Diane __ Fürstenberg: VON. Diane von Fürstenberg (née Diane Simone Michele Halfin; 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. Following their separation in 1972 and divorce in 1983, she has continued to use his family name.
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| Diane von Furstenberg |
62. __-toothed tiger: SABER. The scientific name for this beast is the Smilodon, an extinct genus of felids. It is one of the best known predators of prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats, The hundreds of specimens obtained from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles constitute the largest collection of Smilodon fossils.
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Painting of Smilodon populator the American Museum of Natural History Charles R. Knight |
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Dome of the Rock Temple Mount Old City of Jerusalem |
67. Cornflower kin: AZURE. Both are shades of blue -- here are a few others.
68. "Rly?": SRSLY. Text speak: "Really?":"Seriously!". Seriously meh!
69. __ race: RAT. ... the RATS appear to be winning.
70. Sidestep: DODGE.
Down:
1. Lament from someone in big trouble: I'M TOAST. The birth of an idiom ...
2. Knocked out of action: LAID LOW.
3. Church tower topper: STEEPLE. Ulm Minster is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is the tallest church in the world. The church is the fifth-tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.53 metres.
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Ulm Minster Lutheran church |
5. Sub: HERO.
6. Authoritative ruler: OVERLORD. A timely clue.
7. Hoppy brew: PALE ALE.
8. Word feature: EDIT MENU. Microsoft Word that is. I intended to illustrate this clue with a screen shot of the Word EDIT MENU, but Word has become so bloated with features that I couldn't find it. The product seems to have overtaken by adverts for Microsoft's AI product, CO-PILOT. Just tell it what you want and it will do the rest.
9. Offshoot: SECT.
10. Many an attachment: PDF. Portable Document Format, a freeware product original developed by Adobe Acrobat, which has become an industry standard for document portability -- regardless of who you're sending it to, there is a good chance that they'll be able to read it.
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| Adobe Acrobat |
12. Major hassles: ORDEALS. Or this could have been clued "Major ordeals:" HASSLES.
13. Unscheduled winter break: SNOW DAY. As retired folks we no longer break for SNOW DAYS -- but we can't break from SNOW SHOVELING!
21. Wyoming's second-most populous city: CASPER. Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to the development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field.
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| Casper skyline |
25. Recluse: HERMIT.
28. Dove bars?: ROOSTS. These ROOSTS are often found in Dovecotes.
36. By __ and bounds: LEAPS.
38. Japanese noodle dish: RAMEN.
39. Panic! at the Disco genre: EMO. Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004 by childhood friends Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson, and Brendon Urie. Following several lineup changes, Panic! at the Disco operated as the solo project of front man Urie from 2015 until its discontinuation in 2023. Here's their House of Memories ...
41. Threatening NOAA forecasts: T STORMS. The number of T STORMS that NOAA is allowed to forecast has recently been reduced by circumstances beyond its control -- weather is so chaotic! 😕
43. Last on-screen message in a classic film: ROSE BUD. The film referred to in the clue is the 1941 drama Citizen Kane, a thinly veiled biopic of the publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst. The film was directed by Orson Wells to a score by Bernard Hermann. Near the end of the film, as Kane dies his enigmatic last words are ROSE BUD. Reporters and others launch a search for the meaning of these words, but are unable to discover them. The very last scene shows workmen wandering through his warehouse, inspecting and disposing of various artifacts from his life -- but only we see the name ROSE BUD on his childhood sled as it is consumed by flames in the fireplace. Some commentators describe Kane's words as his recollection of his childhood innocence at the moment of his death ...
44. Toward the rudder: AFT.
45. "Oh, happy day!": YAY. What kids SAY on 13Ds! 😀
48. Cold response: SHIVER. What I do on 13Ds! 😕
49. City in Arizona's Verde Valley region: SEDONA. Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. And CSOS to Lucina, CMOE, and Prof. M.
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| Cathedral Rock Coconino National Forest Sedona, AZ |
50. Political philosopher Hannah: ARENDT. Another timely clue. Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century. She is probably best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann; for her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems; and perhaps most of all for the phrase "the banality of evil."
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| Hanna Arendt |
54. "Makes me want to cry": SO SAD.
57. Carolers' tune: NOEL. Here was the first one ...
58. Maker of Zen K-Cup pods: TAZO. Tazo Tea Company (TAZO) is a tea and herbal tea blender and distributor founded in Portland, Oregon. It is now a Lipton Teas and Infusions division and is based in Kent, Washington. This Britaphile finds the idea of getting green tea from plastic cups to be not very green, and quite frankly revolting! 😖
60. Supporting: FOR.
63. Bit of energy: ERG. The ERG is a unit of energy equal to 10−7 joules (100 nJ). It is not an SI unit, instead originating from the centimeter–gram–second system of units (CGS). Its name is derived from ergon (ἔργον), a Greek word meaning 'work' or 'task'.
64. "The Pioneer Woman" host Drummond: REE. Anne Marie "Ree" Drummond (née Smith, born January 6, 1969) is an American blogger, author, food writer, and television personality. Drummond became known for her blog, The Pioneer Woman, which documented her life in rural Oklahoma, and her cookbook. Here's how she makes Orange Chicken ...
And her recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo looks good too ...
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| Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo |
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
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