Tuesday, July 29, 2025

QOD:  Trying to be popular in high school is like trying to be mayor in a city that won’t exist in four years.  ~  Jenny Holzer (b. July 29, 1950), American conceptional artist

Get Down!  The circles are all in the Down position and spell out a type of common type of a System.

4-Down. Unauthorized rock recordings: BOOTLEG ALBUMS.  Legal System.  A Legal System is the framework of rules, procedures, and institutions that a community uses to interpret and enforce their laws.

8-Down. "SNL" sketch featuring Christopher Walken and a percussion instrument: MORE COWBELL.  Ecosystem.  An Ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.

25-Down. Retail rep's quota: SALES TARGET.  Star System.  A Star system is a group of planets, meteors, or other objects that orbit a large star. 

And the unifier:

19-Down. Grammy-winning metal band, or what can be found three times in this puzzle?: SYSTEM OF A DOWN.  Hand up if you knew of this Armenian-American band.  Apparently it has been active since the mid-1990s.

Here's the Grid:

Across:

1. Wound cover: SCAB.

5. Fox or ox: ANIMAL.

11. Tub: VAT.

14. Christmas pageant headwear: HALO.

15. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" star Lombard: CAROLE.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a 1941 film.  Tragically, the following year Carole Lombard (née Jane Alice Peters; Oct. 6, 1908 ~ Jan. 16, 1942) was killed in a plane crash.

16. Australian bird: EMU.

17. Silicon Valley city Palo __: ALTO.

18. 1920s dance craze that originated in South Carolina: CHARLESTON.

20. Oregon Trail river: PLATTE.  The Platte River originates in the Rocky Mountains as two main tributaries, the North Platte and the South Platte, in Colorado and Wyoming.  It flows through Nebraska and eventually empties into the Missouri River near Plattsmouth, Nebraska

22. Letters that end a proof: QED.  Today's Latin lesson.  QED is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase Quod Erat Demonstrandum, which roughly translates to that which was to be proved.

23. Oxen harness: YOKE.

24. Aviator hat features: EARLAPS.

26. T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical __": CATS.

28. "At Last" singer James: ETTA.  Our old friend Etta James (née Jamesettta Hawkins; Jan. 25, 1938 ~ Jan. 20, 2012) is back to grace us with song.

29. Raw bar mollusks: OYSTERS.  For a fascinating look into the history of oysters, I recommend The Big Oyster, by Mark Kurlansky.

33. Male deer: STAG.  I tried Buck first, but the perps objected.

36. Reuben sammie side: SLAW.

38. Orange __ tea: PEKOE.  Everything you didn't know you needed to know about Orange Pekoe Tea.

39. Like ice caps: POLAR.

41. Wane: EBB.

42. Troutlike fish in the Great Lakes: SMELT.  Yummers!

43. Use TurboTax, say: E-FILE.

44. Oracle: SEER.

46. Poems of praise: ODES.

47. Give up, informally: CUT BAIT.

49. Laze: LOAF.

51. Arm bone: ULNA.

52. Celebrity chef Emeril: LAGASSE.  Although Emeril Lagasse (né Emeril John Lagassé, III; b. Oct. 15, 1959) is known for Creole and Cajun cuisine, he was actually born in Fall River, Massachusetts and is of French and Portuguese descent.

56. Like some margins of victory: SLIM.

59. Globe: ORB.

61. Mellow: SEDATE.

62. The "MO" of FOMO: MISSING OUT.  Fear Of Missing Out.

65. Foreboding sign: OMEN.

66. MLB official: UMP.

67. South Dakota's capital: PIERRE.  Unless you are from South Dakota, this is probably more than you ever though you would know about Pierre.

68. Troubles: WOES.

69. Identity celebrated during Pride Month: GAY.  June is Gay Pride Month.

70. Show up for: ATTEND.

71. __ a soul: NARY.

Down:

1. Circle or triangle: SHAPE.

2. __ lily: trumpet-shaped flower: CALLA.  They are beautiful flowers.

3. Religious platform: ALTAR.

5. Says yes to: ACCEPTS.

6. "Nope": NAH.

7. Country where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet: IRAQ.

9. From sunrise to sunset: ALL DAY.

10. Olympic gymnast Suni: LEE.  Her given name is Sunisa Phabsomphou Lee (b. Mar. 9, 2003).  She participated in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

11. Presidential power: VETO.

12. Out of control: AMOK.

13. Melody: TUNE.

21. Tit for __: TAT.

27. Recipe amts.: TSPS.  As in Teaspoons.

30. Just managed, with "out": EKED.

31. Actor's part: ROLE.

32. Production designer's creations: SETS.

33. Job detail, for short: SPEC.  This is becoming a crossword staple.

34. Pad thai protein option: TOFU.  Yummers!  I love pad thai.

35. Landed: ALIT.

37. "The Godfather" actor Vigoda: ABE.  Abraham Vigoda (Feb. 24, 1921 ~ Jan. 26, 2016) portrayed Salvadore Tessio in The Godfather and Phil Fish in the sitcom Barney Miller.

40. Not imagined: REAL.

45. Like some nuts: ROASTED.

48. Complicit: IN ON IT.

50. Life time: AGE.

53. South Pacific island group: SAMOA.

54. Take the wheel: STEER.

55. Itty-bitty: EENSY.

56. Self-satisfied: SMUG.

57. Peru's capital: LIMA.

58. Classic road trip game: I SPY.  I Spy with my Little Eye ...

60. Tire through tedium: BORE.

63. Hoppy brew letters: IPA.  As in India Pale Ale.  Everything you ever wanted to know about IPA.

64. Coffee server in a diner: URN.

That's it for this week.

חתולה

Friday, July 29, 2022

QOD:  An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on.  ~  Alexis de Tocqueville (July 29, 1805 ~ Apr. 16, 1859), French diplomat

Thursday, July 29, 2021

QOD:  Despotism corrupts the person who submits to it for more than the person who imposes it.  ~  Alexis de Tocqueville (July 29, 1805 ~ Apr. 16, 1859), French diplomat

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

QOD:  Married couples redo their houses because then can’t redo their partners.  ~  Giles Coren (né Giles Robin Patrick Coren; b. July 29, 1969), British columnist and food writer

Monday, July 29, 2019

QOD:  Take the high road.  No matter how much strife, and consternation, frustration and anger you might be confronted with ~ don’t go to that level.  ~  Tim Gunn (né Timothy MacKenzie Gunn; b. July 29, 1953)

Just String Along.  The word String can precede the first word of each theme answer.

17-Across. *  Music course for budding composers: THEORY CLASS.  String Theory.



24-Across. *  Meatless taqueria item: BEAN BURRITO.  String Bean.  David Akeman (June 17, 1915 ~ Nov. 10, 1973), known as String Bean, was a musician and comedian on Hee Haw.  He and his wife were murdered by burglars in 1973.

Oh, a String Bean is also a vegetable.

39-Across. *  Closet accessory for neckwear: TIE RACK.  String Tie.

51-Across. *  Marshall Islands site of nuclear testing: BIKINI ATOLL.  String Bikini.

It looks complicated to get all those strings just right.

And the unifier:

62-Across. Like the starting team, and a hint to the answers to starred clues: FIRST STRING.

Hahtoolah, here.  Boomer and I are switching days for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow.  Fear not, however, Boomer will be back in his Monday position next week.  And a big Thank You, to Boomer for filling in for me last week while I was attending a conference in NYC.

Across:
1. Polio vaccine pioneer: SABIN.  Albert Sabin (né Abram Saperstein; Aug. 26, 1906 ~ Mar. 3, 1993) was born in Baiłstok, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire).  His family left the old country and ultimately found their way to the United States.  In 1930, he became a US citizen.  He is best known for the development of the oral polio vaccine.  He also developed vaccines against other viral diseases, including vaccines for encephalitis and dengue fever.

6. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E. COLI.  The scientific name for this bacteria is Escherichia coli.   It is a group of bacteria that lives in the intestines of healthy people and animals.  Although often associated with illness, most varieties of E. coli are harmless.  It is a common bacteria used in high school and college biology labs.

11. Blot gently: DAB.  A little DAB'll do ya!

14. Budget prefix: ECONO.  Think of an Econo Lodge.

15. Gas in flashtubes: XENON.  Xenon in an inert gas.  It's chemical symbol is Xe and its atomic number is 54.

16. Pitcher's stat: ERA.  As in an Earned Run Average.

19. Animation frame: CEL.  This has become a crossword staple.

20. Mannheim mister: HERR.  Today's German lesson.

21. Non-discrimination want-ad letters: EOE.  As in Equal Opportunity Employer.

22. Rub out a pencil mark: ERASE.

28. Castilian hero: EL CID.  El Cid (né Rodrigo Díaz; born about 1043 ~ died 1099) was a Castilian military leader in medieval Spain.  His name, El Cid, is Spanish Arabic meaning "lord".  Over the centuries, he has become a mythical figure.

31. Gate securer: LATCH.

32. "Get lost!": BEAT IT!



34. AT&T news channel: CNN.  As in the Cable News Network.

35. Entrepreneur Musk: ELON.  Elon Musk (né Elon Reeve Musk; b. June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur who was born in South Africa.  He now holds South African, Canadian and US citizenship.  He is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla.

38. Tire inflator: AIR.

42. Señora Perón: EVA.  Eva Perón (née María Eva Duarte; May 7, 1919 ~ July 26, 1952) was the wife of Juan Perón.  Everything I know about her I learned from the musical Evita, so I take that with a grain of salt.

43. Washington MLB team: NATS. As in the Washington Nationals, the baseball team of Washington, D.C.

45. Bath tissue layer: PLY.

46. Like contentious discussions: HEATED.

48. Car music source: RADIO.  Car radios have so many options today.

50. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  Elena Kagan (b. Apr. 28, 1960) is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  When she assumed the office in August 2010, she was only the 4th woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.  Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she was the first female dean of the Harvard Law School.

55. The "HD" in HDTV, briefly: HI-DEF.  As in High Definition.

56. "Wayne's World" catchword: NOT.  When you go to the dentist, you are having a good time ... NOT!

57. Director Kazan: ELIA.  Elia Kazan (né Elias Kazantzoglou; Sept. 7, 1909 ~ Sept. 28, 2003), was born in Istanbul, Turkey to Greek parent.  The family immigrated to the United States in 1913.  His first feature film was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  He is probably best known for directing On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire.

61. Incubation target: EGG.  On the farm, the mother hen is the incubator.

66. "The Simpsons" bartender: MOE.  Did you know that Moe actually has a surname?  His full name is Moammar Morris Szyslak, but he generally goes by just Moe.

67. Host onstage: EMCEE.

68. Banded marble: AGATE.  Agate is a crossword staple.  It is a translucent variety of quarts and is sometimes used as a semiprecious stone.

69. "__ now or never": IT'S.



70. Author Dahl: ROALD.  In addition to being a novelist, Roald Dahl (Sept. 16, 1916 ~ Nov. 23, 1990) was a flying ace and intelligence officer during World War II.  He is best known to me for writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  There was a fascinating article in the Smithsonian about Roald Dahl a few years ago.  He had a very unique work space.

71. Sandwiches on pita: GYROS.  Yummers!

Down:
1. Eve's third son: SETH.  After Cain slew Abel, Adam and Eve had another child.  See Genesis 4:8.

2. Tooth pain: ACHE.  See 56-Across.

3. Dutch South African: BOER.  The word Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans noun for farmer, and refers to the Dutch and Huguenot population that settled in South Africa in the late 17th century.

4. Circling the sun, as a planet: IN ORBIT.

5. Oslo's land: Abbr.: NOR.  Oslo is the capital of Norway.

6. Former inmate: EX-CON.

7. Tabloid figure, for short: CELEB.  As in a Celebrity.

8. Words before whim or hunch: ON A.  As in the phrase On a Whim, or On a Hunch.

9. __ Angeles: LOS.

10. Newspaper ad, often: INSERT.  These generally take up the bulk of the Sunday paper.

11. Track-and-field competitor in 10 events: DECATHLETE.  Can you name the 10 events in a Decathlon?  I'll give you a hint:  it consists 4 track events and 6 field events.  The Decathlon became an Olympic event in the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games.

12. Childish rebuttal: ARE SO!

13. Cotton unit: BALE.

18. Vote for passage: YEA.

23. Uncle Ben's boxful: RICE.

25. Fix, as text: EDIT.

26. Wrist-to-elbow bone: ULNA.

27. Big spread with cattle, say: RANCH.  One of the largest cattle ranches in the United States is the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii.

28. Abba of Israel: EBAN.  Abba Eban (né Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; Feb. 2, 1915 ~ Nov. 17, 2002) makes frequent guest appearances in the crosswords.  He was born in South Africa, but was not a Boer.

29. "Star Wars" heroine: LEIA.  She was portrayed by Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; Oct. 21, 1956 ~ Dec. 27, 2016).

30. Printer toner containers: CARTRIDGES.

33. Second-chance basket: TIP IN.


34. Shed tears: CRY.

36. Pizza parlor appliance: OVEN.

37. Spanish "nothing": NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

40. H.G. Wells race: ELOI.  These fictional post-humans from the 1985 novel The Time Machine, have become a crossword staple.

41. Fall (over): KEEL.



44. "For Pete's __!": SAKE.

47. Reaction to pollen, e.g.: ALLERGY.

49. "I beg to __": "I don't agree": DIFFER.

51. Archie Bunker type: BIGOT.

52. Adams with a camera: ANSEL.  Ansel Adams (né Ansel Easton Adams; Feb. 20, 1902 ~ Apr. 22, 1984) was known for his black-and-white landscape photography, much of which was of the American West and the National Parks.

53. Hauled: TOTED.

54. Extra NBA periods: OTs.  As in Over Times.

55. Prefix with sphere meaning "half": HEMI-.  Think of a Hemisphere.

58. Tall story teller: LIAR.

59. Whip __ shape: INTO.

60. "For __ 3-5": toy box spec: AGES.  My grand-niece just turned 6 months, so I'll have to wait a bit to find toys in the 3-5 age range.

63. Texter's "I think": IMO.  Textspeak for In My Opinion.

64. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  RCA was originally founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America.

65. "You're it!" game: TAG.

Here's the Grid:

The 10 events making up the decathlon include: 100-meter sprint, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, 1500-meter run, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and the pole vault.