Tuesday, November 24, 2020

QOD:   Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.  ~  Baruch Spinoza (Nov. 24, 1632 ~ Feb. 21, 1677), Dutch-Jewish philosopher

Bell Bottom Blues.  In today's puzzle, the theme clues are all in the Down position.  The last or "Bottom" word in each theme answer it a type of Bell.  Note, too, that the theme answers are closely related to their corresponding Bell.

3-Down. "Tuesday" special with fowl filling: CHICKEN TACO.  Can you get a Chicken Taco at TACO BELL?

5-Down. Underwater snorkeling done behind metal bars: SHARK CAGE DIVING.  Aristotle recorded accounts of Diving Bells way back in the 4th Century BCE.

9-Down. 19th-century French gift to New York City: STATUE OF LIBERTY.  A brief history of the Statue of Liberty.  In 1915, the Liberty Bell travelled across the United States.

And the Unifier:

25-Down. '70s fashion trend ... and features of 3-, 5- and 9-Down: BELL BOTTOMS.

Across:

1. Risqué: RACY.

5. Blunders: SLIPS.

10. Occupied: BUSY.

14. Return from a cave?: ECHO.  Fun clue.

15. Lets loose on: HAS AT.

16. App downloader: USER.

17. Waikiki neckwear: LEIs.

18. Property valuations: APPRAISALS.

20. Fruit tree grouping: ORCHARD.  When I was a kid, the whole family would go to the university orchards and pick apples.  That was always so much fun.

22. Corner PC key: CTRL.   On the Mac, the Control Key is near the corner.

23. Hose problem: KINK.  My initial answer was Leak.

24. Eco-friendly, as a container: REUSABLE.  Due the the pandemic, Trader Joe's doesn't allow customers to bring their own bags anymore. 

28. "That's what __ said!": SHE.

30. Eaves dropping?: ICICLE.

32. Not e'en once: NE'ER.

33. Author Fleming: IAN.  Ian Fleming (né Ian Lancaster Fleming; May 28, 1908 ~ Aug. 12, 1964) was a British naval intelligence officer during World War II.  In 1952, his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published.  He died of a massive heart attack at age 53.  The first actor to portray James Bond on Screen was Sean Connery (Aug. 25, 1930 ~ Oct. 31, 2020), who recently died at age 90.

34. Actress Rooney __: MARA.  Rooney Mara (née Patricia Rooney Mara; b. Apr. 17, 1985) is probably best known for her role as Lisbeth Salander in the movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I found the novel too disturbing, so had no desire to see the movie.

35. End of a threat: OR ELSE.

37. Wile E. Coyote explosive: TNT.

38. It precedes beauty, per a saying: AGE.

39. Photog's deg.: MFA.  As in a Master of Fine Arts degree.  Many years ago, I lived across the park from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  There was a school associated with the museum and I took some photography classes there.  I wasn't very good, but it was fun to learn the arts of developing film.

40. Partnership abbr.: LLC.  Technically, an LLC is a Limited Liability Company.  The clue cries out for an LLP, which is a Limited Liability Partnership.  For those interested, you can read about the differences LLC vs LLP.

41. Not up to the task: UNABLE.

43. Ego: SELF.

44. Vegas action: BET.

45. Fashion designer Rabanne: PACO.  Paco Rabanne (né Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo; b. Feb. 18, 1934) is a Basque fashion designer.  He opened his fashion house in the mid-1960s.  He later began a perfume line, which is where I have seen his name at the cosmetics counter.

46. Mild expletive: DANG IT!

48. Words before "vey" and "gevalt": OYs.  Oy isn't just a word, it is an entire vocabulary.  As a stand-alone, it can mean anything from surprise to joy to horror.  Oy Vey literally means "oh, the pain", but it, too can express any thing from delight to woe and sadness.  The phrase Oy Gevalt is more of a cry of help or protest.

49. Lola in a Manilow song, e.g.: SHOW GIRL.

51. Sing strongly: BELT.  What Barry Manilow was doing above.

53. "Chuck" star Zachary: LEVI.  I am familiar with neither Chuck nor Zachary Levi (né Zachary Levi Pugh; b. Sept. 29, 1980), but he was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

54. Deserved: MERITED.

57. Officially give, as a exam: ADMINISTER.

61. "Get out of the way!": MOVE.

62. Item of interest?: LOAN.

63. SALT topic: N-TEST.  The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were about attempts to control nuclear weapons.

64. Sign of things to come: OMEN.

65. Slack-jawed: AGOG.

66. Beaujolais grape: GAMAY.  Everything you wanted to know about Gamay Wine, but were afraid to ask.

67. Nine-digit IDs: SSNs.  As in Social Security Numbers.  This has become a crossword staple.

Down:

1. Realtor's move: RE-LO.  As in Relocation.  This has become a crossword staple.

2. Taiwanese laptop brand: ACER.  I learned of this brand of laptop from doing the crossword puzzles.  It appears with some frequency.

4. Super Mario's dinosaur: YOSHI.  I have heard of Super Mario, but didn't know he had a dinasaur.

6. W. Coast cop force: LAPD.  As in the Los Angeles Police Department.

7. Web access co.: ISP.  As in Internet Service Provider.  We see this often in the puzzles.

8. Package: PARCEL.  With the holidays coming up, and with the pandemic, there will be fewer gatherings and more sending of parcels to family and friends.

10. Road section for public transit vehicles: BUS LANE.

11. 50-st. country: USA.

12. French salt: SEL.  Today's French lesson.

13. Wall cal. periods: YRs.  As in Years.

19. Org. that handles returns: IRS.  As in the Internal Revenue Service.

21. Kangaroo or kinkajou: ANIMAL.  My first thought was Mammal, but I wasn't sure whether or not a  Kinkajou was a mammal,  It is, but the perps led me to Animal as the correct answer.  The Kinkajou is a cute little critter.

24. Early electronics co.: RCA.

26. TV journalist Stahl: LESLEY.  Lesley Rene Stahl (b. Dec. 16, 1941) is a long-time journalist and a reporter on 60 Minutes.

27. Puts up: ERECTS.

28. Crunch cousins: SIT UPS.

29. ESPN journalist Storm: HANNAH.  Hannah Storm (née Hannah Lynn Storne; b. June 13, 1962) began her career as the first female host on CNN Sports Tonight, where she worked from 1989 until 1992.

31. Wrath: IRE.

36. Roof support beam: RAFTER.

39. Ryan of "You've Got Mail": MEG.  Meg Ryan (née Margaret Mary Emily Hyra; b. Nov. 19, 1961) just celebrated her 59th birthday.  She starred in You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks.

42. Game with strikes and a ball: BOWLING.  Hi. Boomer!

43. NBC revue that gave us "More Cowbell": SNL.  As in Saturday Night Live.

47. Label for two "Aretha" albums: ARISTA.

50. Mil. head honcho: GEN.  As in a General.

52. Stretches at a wedding?: LIMOs.  As in a Limousine.

54. Tableland: MESA.  Hi, Lucina!

55. Like some oxymoronic odds: EVEN.  Funny!

56. Lairs: DENS.

57. Mobile home: Abbr.: ALA.  Cute clue!  The city of Mobile is on the Alabama coast.  The George Wallace Tunnel on I-10 goes through mobile.  The traffic is always back-up there.

58. Boxer or Borzoi: DOG.  I wasn't fooled by this clue even thought I was not familiar with the Borzoi.  The dog is also known as the Russian Hunting Sighthound, but I never heard of that either.

59. Chairman mentioned in the Beatles' "Revolution": MAO.

60. Pro __: TEM.  Today's Latin lesson.  The phrase means "for the time being."

Here's the Grid:

Happy Thanksgiving!  It will be a quiet one for us with no family gathering, but we are thankful for all the little joys in our lives.