Tuesday, August 4, 2026

QOD:  What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.  ~  Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

I Double Dare You:  The word Check can follow the first and second word of each theme answer.

16-Across. *  Video game boost that may repair damage: HEALTH SPELL.  Health Check / Spell Check.  I am not familiar with the term Health Spell as it refers to video games.

23-Across. *  Waterproof garment: RAIN COAT.  Rain Check / Coat Check

34-Across. *  Internal setting controlled by thermoregulation: BODY TEMPERATURE.  Body Check / Temperature Check

49-Across. *  High-intensity workout program: CROSSFIT.  Cross Check / Fit Check

And the unifier:

59-Across. Go over twice, or what can be found in the answer to each starred clue: DOUBLE CHECK.

Here's the Grid, so you can Double Check my responses.

Across:

1. Corn cores: COBS.

5. Pet rehoming org.: ASPCA.  As in the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  The ASPCA has been around for over 150 years.

10. Sandwich letters: BLT.  As in the Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich.

13. Opera solo: ARIA.  A crossword staple.

14. Replacements for flat tires: SPARES.  Here's to you, Desper-Otto!

15. "__ la la!": OOH.

18. __ Lanka: SRI.

19. "Absolutely out of the question!": NO SIREE.

20. Wall surface: PLASTER.

22. Quick snooze: NAP.

24. Unleashed: FREED.

27. Cry for attention?: HEY.

28. "You're __ human": ONLY.

29. Charged particle: ION.

30. Barely gets (by): EKES.

32. Vietnamese soup: PHO.  Pho is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and some sort of meat. 

40. Span of epoch proportions?: EON.

41. Frozen dessert brand: EDY'S.

42. NBC show that inspired "30 Rock," for short: SNL.  The Saturday Night Live abbreviation is a crossword staple.

43. Dull pain: ACHE.

46. Superhero franchise initials: MCU.  As in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

47. Steel girder: I-BEAM.

52. Kissing in the open, for short: PDA.  As in Public Display of Affection.

53. Beeper on the road: CAR HORN.

54. Promo in a magazine: PRINT AD.

58. Sci-fi visitors: ETs.  As in ExtraTerrestrials.

61. Alumna bio word: NÉE.  Today's French lesson.

62. Add to a kitty: ANTE UP.

63. Lo __: noodle dish: MEIN.  Lo Mein was part of the theme of last week's puzzle.

64. Take a crack at: TRY.

65. Cook in a basket: STEAM.

66. Annual May auto race, informally: INDY.

Down:

1. "High Hopes" lyricist Sammy: CAHN.  Sammy Cahn (né Samuel Cohen; June 18, 1913 ~ Jan. 15, 1993), was a lyricist and songwriter.  He is also known for the song, Let it Snow!

2. "Milk's Favorite Cookie" brand: OREO.  A crossword staple.

3. Skewed view: BIAS.

4. __ solution: contacts wearer's need: SALINE.

5. Cathedral recess: APSE.  Another crossword staple.

6. Sticky tree juice: SAP.

7. Purchase in advance: PRE-PAY.

8. String section instruments: CELLI.  Today's Italian lesson.  Celli is the Italian plural for Cello.

9. Lion of Narnia: ASLAN.  A reference to C.S. Lewis's novels The Chronicles of Narnia. 

10. Paul Revere House city: BOSTON.  The Paul Revere House is a historic house museum at 19 North Square in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts.

11. Cosmetics giant: L'ORÉAL.

12. Two points, in tennis: THIRTY.  Anyone know why tennis has such a weird scoring system?

14. TV soccer analyst Messing: SHEP.  Shep Norman Messing (b. Oct. 9, 1949) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper.

Back in his soccer-playing days.

17. Swap with: TRADE TO.

21. "Amscray!": SCOOT.

23. High regard: RESPECT.

24. Bit of baloney: FIB.

25. Milne youngling: ROO.

26. Infinity sign's lack: END.  There is no beginning, either.

27. Stitched border: HEM.

31. "Jeopardy!" host Jennings: KEN.  For years, Ken Jennings (né Kenneth Wayne Jennings, III; b. May 23, 1974) co-hosted a podcast called Omnibus.

32. Be nosy: PRY.

33. Like some Orthodox Jews: HASIDIC.  They are not equivalent terms.  Hasidic Judaism is a specific 18th-century mystical branch focused on joyful spirituality, distinct clothing, and a hereditary leader called a Rebbe.

35. "For crying out loud!": YEESH!

36. School URL suffix: EDU.

37. Draw upon: USE.

38. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA.

 

39. Shade tree with serrated leaves: ELM.

43. Regional speech pattern: ACCENT.

44. Meteorite's mark: CRATER.

45. Rocking toy, in baby talk: HORSEY.

46. Very hard to see: MINUTE.

48. Vietnamese sandwich: BÁNH MÌ.  It looks like a po-boy.

50. Combo meal drinks: SODAS.

51. Moving line on a weather map: FRONT.

52. Work overseen by a sous-chef: PREP.  Today's French lesson.  The word sous means under.  The sous-chef is second-in-command in the kitchen.

54. Deep purple: PLUM.

55. Adolescent: TEEN.

56. Tart: ACID.

57. Big Apple fashion letters: DKNY.  DKNY stands for Donna Karan New York.  The fashion company was founded by fashion designer Donna Karan (née Donna Ivy Fake; b. Oct. 2, 1948) in the late 1980s.

60. Arthur of "The Golden Girls": BEA.  Did you know that Bea Arthur (née Beatrice Arthur; May 13, 1922 ~ April. 25, 2009) served in the military during World War II?  She served in the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve and worked as a typist, truck driver, and dispatcher.

I Dare You to Complete this Puzzle.

חתולה

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

QOD:  Time is a created thing.  To say “I don’t have time” is like saying “I don’t want to.”  ~  Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher  

Out and Out.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase Out and Out probably originated in Middle English sometime between 1150 and 1500.  Yeah, that's a pretty big spread of time.  The further alleges that its earliest evidence of the phrase, however, is from about 1300.  Go figure.  At any rate, the word OUT can follow each of the two words in the theme answers to give us a new concept.

17-Across. *  Martial arts achievement: BLACK BELT.  Black Out / Belt Out  A Black Out may either be a temporary loss of consciousness or a power outage.  Belt Out means to sing a song loudly and forcefully.

Black Out

23-Across. *  Target range in sports betting: POINT SPREAD.   Point Out / Spread Out.  To Point Out is to direct someone's attention toward, especially by extending one's finger.  Spread Out is to move items apart from each other, or to place over a large area.  I spread out all my papers whenever I am working at my desk.

35-Across. *  Toolmaking period when bronze was replaced with steel: IRON AGE.  Iron Out / Age Out.  To Iron Out is to resolve or settle differences.  To Age Out is to reach an age where an individual is no longer part of a particular group or situation and must leave it.  For example, a child may age out of foster care.

49-Across. *  Simple drawing of a person: STICK FIGURE.  Stick Out / Figure Out.  To Stick Out is to be noticable.  To attend a fancy gala wearing torn jeans will make you stick out.  To Figure Out is to solve a problem.

And the unifier:

58-Across. Complete, or what can follow both parts of the answers to the starred clues: OUT AND OUT.  Vocabulary.com defines Out-and-Out as "absolute" or "complete," often in a bad way.   For example:  What you just told me is an Out and Out lie.

Across:

1. Young fellow: LAD.

4. Did plenty of nothing: IDLED.

9. Firepit remains: ASHES.

14. "__ we good?": ARE.

15. Habitats threatened by coral bleaching: REEFS.  Everything you wanted to know about Coral Bleaching.  Did you know that most of the world's species of coral can be found in Australia's Great Barrier Reef?

16. Large tree branch: BOUGH.  This is a word found in a common childhood lullaby.

Rock a bye baby, on the tree top,

When the wind blows the cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

19. Burn a bit: SINGE.

20. TV room fixture: SOFA.

21. Sheep sound: BAA.

22. Increased rapidly: SURGED.

26. Tuskegee __: WWII aviators: AIRMEN.  The Tuskegee Airmen was a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II.  They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces.

28. Everything pizza, no anchovies, e.g.: ORDER.

29. Ushered through the door: LED IN.

30. Japanese sash that might be tied in tateya musubi style: OBI.  The style of the knot in the obi has symbolic meaning.

31. __ opera: SOAP.  A soap opera, or daytime drama, is typically a long-running television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality.  The term "soap opera" originated in the 1930s from radio dramas that were originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers.

34. Dollop: GOB.

39. Clickable link: URL.  The Uniform Resource Locator has become a crossword staple.

40. Freshly: ANEW.

42. __ de la Cité: Notre-Dame home: ÎLE.  The Île de la Cité is one of two natural islands in the Seine, in central Paris.  In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the area governor for the Roman Empire. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace on the island.  Construction of the Notre-Dame Cathedral began in 1163.  Sadly, in April 2019, a fire destroyed much of the Cathedral.  It has undergone massive reconstruction and is anticipated to reopen this December.

43. Not quite right: WONKY.

45. "Creed" actress Thompson: TESSA.  I am not familiar with Tessa Thompson (née Tessa Lynne Thompson; b. Oct 3, 1983).  Apparently, she began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company.  Perhaps our friend Keith knew of her.   She celebrated her 41st birthday just last week.  [Name # 1.]

47. Atonement: AMENDS.

51. Red Icee flavor: CHERRY.

52. D.C. baseballer: NAT.  As in the Washington Nationals.

53. Shows understanding: NODS.

57. Pushy crowd: HORDE.

60. Sub-par performance?: EAGLE.  A golfing reference.  Not as in a poor performance, but rather a score of two strokes under par on a hole.  It's a significant accomplishment that demonstrates a golfer's skill and strategic thinking.

61. Controls one's food intake: DIETS.

62. San Diego __ Safari Park: ZOO.

63. Boxer Patterson: FLOYD.  Floyd Patterson (Jan. 4, 1935 ~ May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972.  At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title of world heavyweight champion.  He was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it.  [Name # 2.]

64. On the briny: AT SEA.

65. Clairvoyant's claim: ESP.  As in ExtraSensory Perception.

Down:

1. Hands-on classes: LABS.

2. "Collapsed in Sunbeams" singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO.  Arlo Parks (née Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, b. Aug. 9, 2000), is an English singer and songwriter.  Collapsed in Sunbeams was her debut album.  [Name # 3.]

3. Like one who might communicate in ASL or BSL: DEAF.  As in American Sign Language and British Sign Language.  Two countries separated by a language.  What's the difference, you ask.  ASL focuses more on facial expressions, while BSL relies more on hand and body movements.

4. Vex: IRK.

5. "Little" name in snack cakes: DEBBIE.  The history of the Little Debbie snack cakes.  [Name adjacent.]

6. Country singer Womack: LEE ANN.  Lee Ann Womack (b. Aug. 19, 1966) is primarily a country singer, but some of her songs have crossed over to the pop music hits.  [Name # 4.]

7. Note in the C minor scale: E FLAT.

8. "Spring forward" hrs.: DST.  As in Daylight Saving Time.

9. Wildly impractical: ABSURD.

10. Swanky evening dos: SOIRÉES.  Today's French lesson.  A Soirée is just another way of saying a fancy evening affair.

11. Lingered: HUNG AROUND.

12. Goaded, with "on": EGGED.

13. Leave behind: SHED.

18. Blue Grotto island: CAPRI.  The Blue Grotto is a sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, southern Italy. Sunlight shining through an underwater cavity is reflected back upward through the seawater below the cavern, giving the water a blue glow that illuminates the cavern.

22. Rosemary piece: SPRIG.  I grow Rosemary in my garden.

24. Prefix meaning "all": OMNI-.  As in Omnipresent, which means everywhere.

25. Udon alternative: SOBA.  Both Soba and Udon are Japanese noodles, but are made of different flours.

26. Ages and ages: AEON.  Eon is the American version, while Aeon is the British version.

27. "That's my cue to leave": I'D BETTER GO.

29. Queens airport code: LGA.  As in LaGuardia Airport.  It's the airport I generally use when I have to go into NYC.  The airport was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939.  It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia (Dec. 11, 1882 ~ Sept. 20, 1947).

30. Dollar bill: ONE.

32. Torah chests: ARKs.

Torah Ark in the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam.

33. Tissue layer: PLY.

36. Potentially disastrous: RISKY.

37. "Frozen" snowman: OLAF.  Frozen is a Disney animated movie that is based on the fairy tale The Snow Queen.  [Name # 5, fictional.]

38. Washbasin jug: EWER.

41. In an odd way: WEIRDLY.

44. Upturned: ONEND.

46. Bitter rant: SCREED.  A Screed is a long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious.

47. Stripy marbles: AGATES.  This word appears with some frequency in the puzzles.

48. Have a life-changing experience?: MUTATE.

49. Mussel habitat: SHOAL.  We had Shoal in a recent Tuesday puzzle.  The Isles of Shoals are a group of Islands between Maine and New Hampshire.

50. Nunatsiavut people: INUIT.  The Nunatsiavummiut are the people of Nunatsiavut, an autonomous region in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

51. Culinary institute grad: CHEF.

54. Move like slime: OOZE.

55. Pairs: DUOs.

56. "Enough!": STOP!

58. Tennis champion Tokito: ODA.  I do not follow tennis, so was not familiar with Tokito Oda (b. May 8, 2006).  He is a Japanese professional wheelchair tennis player.  He has won four major singles titles. In 2023, he won the French Open, becoming the youngest man to win a major tennis tournament. [Name # 6.]

59. Govt. intel org.: NSA.  As in the National Security Agency.

And the Grid:

חתולה