Tuesday, October 10, 2023

QOD:  Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone.  ~  Lin Yutang (Oct. 10, 1895 ~ Mar. 26, 1976), Chinese novelist and translator

Not Ready for Prime Time.  The first word in each theme answer is an Ordinal, not a Prime number.

16-Across. Junior: THIRD YEAR.

22-Across. Age of Attila's reign: FIFTH CENTURY.  Attila the Hun lived sometime around 400 to 450 CE.  [Name # 1.]

34-Across. Like some Adventist Protestants: SEVENTH DAY.

48-Across. Almost too late: ELEVENTH HOUR.

And the clue and answer that ties the puzzle together:

58-Across. Popular television programming block, and an apt title for this puzzle: PRIME TIME.  Prime Time for television watching is considered to be between 8:00 to 11:00 pm Eastern and Pacific Time / 7:00 to 10:00 Central/Mountain Time.   Note, too, as Inanehiker pointed out, that the second word in each theme answer relates to Time.

A Prime Number is whole number greater than 1 that cannot be exactly divided by any whole number other than itself and 1.  Three, Five, Seven and Eleven are all Prime Numbers.  The numbers in each theme answer are actually Ordinal Numbers, not Prime Numbers. Ordinal numbers indicate the position of something.  Thus, the unifier technically incorrect, although the base of the ordinal number are prime numbers.

Across:

1. Chess piece that's often the first to be played: PAWN.

5. [I'm shocked!]: GASP.

9. "I'm Every Woman" singer Chaka __: KHAN.  Chaka Khan (née Yvette Marie Stevens; b. Mar. 23, 1953) is known as the Queen of Funk.  [Name # 2.]

13. Gobi locale: ASIA.  The Gobi Desert is the Fifth (a prime ordinal number) desert in the world.  It is located in northern China and southern Mongolia. It's known for its dunes, mountains and rare animals such as snow leopards and Bactrian camels.  In the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, the Khongoryn Els sand dunes are said to sing when the wind blows. The park also features the deep ice field of Yolyn Am canyon.  Dinosaur fossils have been found at the red "Flaming Cliffs" of Bayanzag.

14. "__ girl!": ATTA.

15. Sweet sandwich: S'MORE.  Common dessert around Girl Scout campfires.

18. "No kidding!": THAT SO?

19. Black and blue, say: BICOLOR.  Strange clue and answer.

Black and Blue watch face

20. Top: SHIRT.

21. Stomach: GUT.

26. Question that introduces doubt: OR IS IT?

28. Writers McEwan and Fleming: IANs.  Both of the Ians are British novelists.  Ian McEwan (né Ian Russell McEwan; b. June 12, 1948) is probably best known for his 2001 novel Atonement.  I read it, but have no desire to read any of his other books.  Ian Fleming (né Ian Lancaster Fleming; b. May 28, 1908 ~ Aug. 12, 1964) is best known for being the creator of James Bond, but he also wrote the children's book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.  [Names # 3 and 4.]

29. Pollen gatherer: BEE.

30. Bagless vacuum pioneer: DYSON.  The Dyson vacuum cleaner was invented by, and named after, Sir James Dyson (b. May 2, 1947).  [Name # 5.]

31. Japanese box lunch: BENTO.  Yummers!

33. Warning with a URL: NSFW.  Not Suitable For Work appeared in last Tuesday's puzzle.

37. Ticklish Muppet: ELMO.  This puppet is a character on Sesame Street.  [Name # 6, fictional.]

40. Came to light: AROSE.

41. Changes direction: VEERS.

45. Campground inits.: KOA.  KOA = Kampgrounds Of America.

46. Mashed avocado, for short: GUAC.  Yummers!  Hubby makes the best Guacamole.

47. Litter box user: PET CAT.

52. Lucy of "Charlie's Angels": LIU.  Lucy Alexis Liu (b. Dec. 2, 1968) also starred in the television show Elementary.  [Name # 7.]

53. Squander: WASTE.

54. Fingertip-to-fingertip measurement: ARM SPAN.

56. Chooses: ELECTS.

60. Mojave landforms: MESAs.  Do you know the difference between a Plateau and a Mesa?

61. Fencing sword: ÉPÉE.  A crossword staple.

62. North __ Sea: lake fed by the Syr Darya river: ARAL.

63. Like a cereal bar: OATY.

64. Opinion sampling: POLL.

65. Govt.-issued IDs: SSNs.  As in Social Security Numbers.

Down:

1. Gentle touch: PAT.

2. San Francisco street crossing Haight: ASHBURY.  The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco was the home of the 1960s counterculture movement.

3. Arm pain from playing too much Nintendo: WIIITIS.  Wiiitis an actual medical condition and is the subject of several medical journals!

4. DEA agent: NARC.

5. Bookstore section with Jeanette Winterson and Andrew Sean Greer: GAY LIT.  Jeanette Winterson (b. Jan. 21, 1960) is a British novelist and Andrew Sean Greer (b. Nov. 21, 1970) is an American novelist.  [Names # 8 and 9.]

6. Tasted, quaintly: ATE OF.

7. Get-go: START.

8. Average: PAR.

9. Target rival: K-MART.  I hardly thing that K-Mart is a serious rival of Target.  According to an April 2022 article in Forbes, there were only 3 K-Marts in operation.  [Name adjacent.]

10. Jacuzzis: HOT TUBS.

11. Talk Like a Pirate Day sounds: ARs.  Talk Like a Pirate Day was exactly 2 weeks ago, on September 19.

12. New prefix: NEO-.

15. Lower legs: SHINS.

17. Get by: DO FINE.

18. Official approval: THE NOD.

20. Rip into: SCATHE.

21. Mars, for one: GOD.  Roman mythology.

23. Clues: HINTS.

24. One who makes sure fighting between the Sharks and the Jets doesn't get out of hand?: REF.  Not a reference to West Side Story, but a reference to the two professional National Hockey League teams ~ the San Jose Sharks and the Winnipeg Jets.

25. Archery wood: YEW.

27. Average: SO-SO.

31. Rip into: BERATE.

32. Cain's oldest son: ENOCH.  A Biblical reference.  You can read about him in Genesis 4:17-18.  After that, he pretty much disappears.  [Name # 10.]

33. Russian "no": NYET.

35. Crows about: VAUNTS.  Not a Tuesday word.

36. Disinclined (to): AVERSE.

37. __ out a living: EKE.

38. "ur soooo funny!": LOL.  Textspeak for Laughing Out Loud.

39. "I'm No Angel" star: MAE WEST.  Mae West (née Mary Jane West; Aug. 17, 1893 ~ Nov. 22, 1980) was known for her bawdy double entendres.  The video is a little hard to understand, but it has one of Mae's signature lines.  [Name # 11.]

42. Oblong pastries: ECLAIRS.  Yummers!

43. 1988 Best Picture: RAIN MAN.  This movie starred Dustin Hoffman (né Dustin Lee Hoffman; b. Auug. 8, 1937) as Raymond "Rain Man" Babbitt and Tom Cruise (né Thomas Cruise Mapother, IV; b. July 3, 1962) as his younger brother, Charlie Babbitt.

44. "The Simpsons" disco guy: STU.  [Name # 12, fictional.]

46. Knight's tales: GESTS.  Probably the most famous gest is the La Chanson de Roland, or Song of Roland, and epic poem written sometime between 1040 and 1115.

47. Wallop: PUMMEL.

49. Brief holiday?: VACAY.

50. Silent Marx brother: HARPO.  Harpo Marx (né Adolph Marx; Nov. 23, 1888 ~ Sept. 28, 1964) was the second oldest of the five Marx Brothers.  Although his given name was Adolph, he changed it to Arthur around 1911.  [Name # 13.]

51. Bay window: ORIEL.

55. Education advocacy gps.: PTAs.  The Parent Teacher Associations have become a crossword staple.

56. Punk subgenre: EMO.  Everything you wanted to know about EMO music but didn't know to ask.

57. Grassy expanse: LEA.

58. High spirits: PEP.

59. High trains: ELs.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

Monday, October 9, 2023

QOD:  Every child is an artist until he’s told he’s not.  ~  John Lennon (né John Winston Lennon; Oct. 9, 1940 ~ Dec. 8, 1980), British musician

Sunday, October 8, 2023

QOD:  I decided to learn to play the drums, which is the best medicine.  For me, at least ~ maybe not so much for those around me.  ~  Bubba Wallace (né William Darrell Wallace, Jr.; b. Oct. 8, 1993), African-American professional stock car race and NASCA driver

Friday, October 6, 2023

QOD:  It’s not a mistake.  It’s a FLOURISH!  ~  Larry Arrington, dancer

Thursday, October 5, 2023

QOD:  When old dreams die, new ones come to take their place.  God pity a one-dream man.  ~  ~  Robert H. Goddard (né Robert Hutchings Goddard; Oct. 5, 1882 ~ Aug. 10, 1945), American rocket scientist

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

QOD:  Political correctness is tyranny with manners.  ~  Charlton Heston (né John Charles Carter; Oct. 4, 1923 ~ Apr. 5, 2008), American actor

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

QOD:  There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.  ~  Gore Vidal (né Eugene Louis Gore Vidal; Oct. 3, 1925 ~ July 31, 2012), American writer

Swingers:  The word Swing can be placed before the first word of each theme answer to give an entirely new concept.

OR

17-Across. *  Capital letter creator: SHIFT KEY.  Swing Shift.  The Swing Shift is a work shift that occurs between the day and night shifts, typically from about 4:00 pm to Midnight.  It is called the Swing Shift because is is between day and night.  It was also the name of a 1984 rom-com movie that starred Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

25-Across. *  Group that plays in foursomes: BRIDGE CLUB.  Swing Bridge

36-Across. *  Say something that doesn't need to be said: STATE THE OBVIOUS.  Swing State  We'll probably be hearing a lot about Swing State in the coming year.  A Swing State is defined as a US State where the two major political parties have similar levels of support among voters, thus it is viewed as critical in determining the overall result of a presidential election.

44-Across. *  Classic Motown hit about a wedding ring: BAND OF GOLD.  Swing Band.  Instead of the Motown hit, I'll give you some swing from Brian Setzer.

And now for the unifier:

55-Across. Playground fixture, or an apt description of the beginnings of the starred clues: SWING SET.

Across:

1. Humble home: HUT.

4. Guest speaker's platform: DAIS.  I thought I knew what a Dais was, but apparently I was confusing it with a Podium.  Did you know the difference?

8. One of Santa's reindeer: DASHER.  After getting the "D" and "ER" in place, I had several choices:  Dasher, Dancer or Donner, as per the song Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  But did you know that in the original 1823 poem we now know as "Twas the Night Before Christmas", the reindeer names were: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Dunder and Blixem.  The final two names were changed in 1949. [Name # 1, fictional.]

14. Sense of self: EGO.

15. Labor agcy.: OSHA.  As in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

16. Protect in glass, say: ENCASE.

19. Legendary Kentucky basketball coach Rupp: ADOLPH.  Since very few people are named Adolph these days, his name alone indicates that he did not coach recently.  Adolph Fredrick Rupp (Sept. 2, 1901 ~ Dec. 10, 1977) played basketball for the University of Kansas in the early 1920s.  After coaching high school basketball for a few years, he moved to the University of Kentucky, where he coached the game for over 40 years.  [Name # 2, real person.]

20. __ Angeles Guitar Quartet: LOS.  Everything you wanted to know about the LAQG but didn't know to ask.  [Name adjacent.]

21. "Now I get it!": AHA!

23. Ma's ma: NANA.  The most popular names for Grandmother by State.  

24. Bygone Russian space station: MIR.  This Russian space station orbited the earth from 1986 until 2001.

28. Danced to "La cumparsita," say: TANGOED.  The musical piece was written in early 1916 by an 18-year old architecture student  Gerardo Hernán Matos Rodríguez (Mar. 18, 1897 ~ Apr. 25, 1948).  The title of the piece means Little parade.  Although the piece is not a Tuesday-level clue, Tango was the first thing that popped into my brain.

30. Chip's partner: DALE.  Chip and Dale are chipmunk cartoon characters.  They are named in reference to the 18th century furniture maker, Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779).  [Name # 3, fictional.]

31. Bullion bars: INGOTS.  This word has been in the news recently.

32. Raison d'__: ÊTRE.  Today's French lesson.

33. Singer Sumac: YMA.  We haven't see Ms. Sumac in quite a while.  She used to appear with some frequency.  Her full name was Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo (Sept. 13, 1922 ~ Nov. 1, 2008).  No wonder she went by Yma.  Her stage name means How Beautiful in Quechua language, which is spoken by the indigenous people of Peru.  [Name # 4, real person.]

39. Head cover: HAT.

40. Peek: LOOK.

41. Duration: LENGTH.

42. Bravo preceder: ALFA.  A reference to the NATO phonetic alphabet.

43. Able to feel: SENSATE.

48. Covert __: OPS.

49. "This seems bad!": UH, OH!

50. NBA legend Ming: YAO.  At 7-feet, 5-inches, Yao Ming (b. 12, 1980) had to become a basketball player.  After playing basketball for the Shanghai Sharks for several years, he was drafted by the Houston Rockets, where he played for nearly a decade.  His wife, Ye Li, is over 6 feet tall, and played professional basketball in China women's national basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics.  [Name #5, real person.]

51. "It's __-win situation": A NO.

52. Walks leisurely: MOSEYS.

59. Christie sleuth Hercule: POIROT.  Agatha Christie (née Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller; Sept. 15, 1890 ~ Jan. 12, 1976) created the fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot 1920, when he appeared in her first published novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.  He was so popular that he appeared in 33 of Christie's novels and many more short stories.   [Name # 6, real person and Name # 7, fictional.]

60. Panache: ELAN.

61. Corn serving: EAR.

62. Burnout cause: STRESS.

63. "Auld Lang __": SYNE.  Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind?  Why is this song sung on New Year's Eve?

64. Oinker's pen: STY.

Down:

1. Steers and rams: HEs.  Male cattle and sheep.

2. Cry of disgust: UGH!

3. Working hard on: TOILING AT.

4. Morse Code components: DOTS. and Dashes.

5. All one has to do, sometimes: ASK.

6. "Rumor has it ... ": I HEARD ...

7. Be friendly, in a way: SAY, "HI."

8. Narc's org.: DEA.  DEA = Drug Enforcement Administration.

9. Plus: AND.

10. Wall-mounted light: SCONCE.

11. Prepared in accordance with Muslim law: HALAL.

12. College sports channel: ESPNU.

13. Post-injury regimen: REHAB.

18. Had a memory lapse: FORGOT.

22. Supplement: ADD TO.

24. __ ray: tropical swimmer: MANTA.

25. Most well-to-do: BEST OFF.  Richest also fits into the spaces provided.

26. Difficult to understand: GARBLED.

27. Vegas natural: ELEVEN.  Everything you wanted to know about the Game of Craps.

28. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez: TISH.  The Addams Family is a fictional cartoon family that was created by Charles Samuel Addams (Jan. 7, 1912 ~ Sept. 29, 1988).  He was known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams.  The Addams Family was a television show that ran for only 2 years in the mid-1960s.  It was also adapted into a 1991 movie.  [Name # 8, fictional.]

29. Verdi opera with Desdemona and Iago: OTELLO.  Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813 ~ Jan. 27, 1910) was an Italian composer best known for writing operas.  Otello is one of his best known operas.  You can read a summary of the Opera here.  [Name # 9, real, Names # 10 and 11, fictional.]

32. "A mouse!": EEK!

33. Asanas: YOGA POSES.

34. Mixed breeds: MUTTS.

35. Tennis legend Arthur: ASHE.  Arthur Ashe (né Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.; July 10, 1943 ~ Feb. 6, 1993) makes frequent appearances in the puzzles.  [Name # 12, real person.]

37. Composer Carmichael: HOAGY.  Did you know that in addition to being a composer and musician, Hoagy Carmichael (né Hoagland Howard Carmichael; Nov. 22, 1899 ~ Dec. 27, 1981) briefly practiced law.  [Name # 13, real person.]

38. Joyous way to break out: IN SONG.

42. Cling (to): ADHERE.

43. __ but surely: SLOWLY.

44. Speed deterrents: BUMPS.

45. Give __: care: A HOOT.

46. Polite denial: NO, SIR.

47. Fertile desert spots: OASES.

51. "The Accidental Tourist" novelist Tyler: ANNE.  Anne Tyler (b. Oct. 25, 1941) is a prolific writer.  She has published 24 novels and is best known for The Accidental Tourist and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, both of which were adapted into movie versions.  [Name # 14, real person.]

53. Some "Rocky" dialogue: YOs.  [Name # 15, fictional.]

54. GPS lines: STS.  As in Streets.

56. Actor McKellen: IAN.  That's Sir Ian McKellen (né Ian Murray McKellen; b. May 25, 1939), to you.  He performs on the state and in movies.  [Name # 15, real person.]

57. "Mangia!": EAT.  Today's Italian lesson.

58. Give it a go: TRY.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה