This is Alexander Liebeskind's 4th appearance on the Corner, his most recent being on October 21, 2022 blogged by the Chairman. And this is his third collaboration with Jeff Chen, who needs no introduction. Today they explore different ways to
LIFT OUR SPIRITS
17A. Mexican tradition that will 62-Across?: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS. Today's Spanish lesson: "The Day of the Dead", is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 (AKA All Saints and All Souls days) to commemorate the spirits of departed loved ones. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. Here the Tempest Quartet performs La Martiniana, a folk song popular during this celebration (lyrics):
27A. Celebratory moments to 62-Across?: WEDDING TOASTS. These spirits are decidedly more animated than those in 17A, particularly after a few glasses of bubbly. Here is soprano Zoryana Kushpler in the "trouser" role of Count Orlofsky toasting in the New Years Eve with the "Champagne Song" from Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus ("The Bat")
47A. Shopping outing that may 62-Across?: RETAIL THERAPY. But you have to be careful not to get too much therapy or it may end up dampening your spirits:
And the reveal hinted at by each themer:
62A. See 17-, 27-, and 47-Across: LIFT ONES SPIRITS.
Here's the grid:
Across:
1. Colbert's network: CBS.
4. Chris of "Knives Out": EVANS. Great flick. Keeps you in suspense to the very end. Here's a scene with Chris:
9. Organic jewelry source: AMBER. CORAL and PEARL would have fit, but didn't perp. You can have this AMBER pendant for only $558.
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Baltic Amber Deposits |
15. Search engine name: YAHOO.
16. Singer's asset: VOICE.
17. [Theme clue]
20. "This meeting could've been an __": EMAIL.
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22. Monopoly payment: RENT.
23. The "N" of the actor known as NPH: NEIL. Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout his career, including a Tony Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for a Grammy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. And he's the only actor I know who is monoacronymic. Is that pronounced "nymph?".
25. Tetra- minus one: TRI.
27. [Theme clue]
33. Axe thrower's asset: AIM. ARM didn't perp. My oldest grandson has a pretty good AIM. Here's a video of him hitting a target with an axe at 75 ft, ending with his proud father pacing off the distance ...
Here's a tutorial for noobs (this guy is throwing from 12'):
34. Sleep soundly?: SNORE. [ ... zzzzz .... wake up Bill!] Oh yeah, we had this last week.
35. End of a piece by 65-Across: MORAL. The Miser could have used a lesson in RETAIL THERAPY.
37. Espy: SPOT.
39. Balances (out): EVENS.
41. "Paper Girls" actor Corddry: NATE. Paper Girls is an American science fiction drama television series created by Stephany Folsom. It is based on the 2015–2019 comic book series of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on July 29, 2022. In September 2022, the series was canceled after one season. Nate Corddry plays Larry, a farmer and member of the "STF Underground" (nowhere defined). We may see Nate again, but I doubt there is much danger of "Paper Girls" becoming crosswordese.
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42. Thompson of "SNL": KENAN. Kenan Thompson (born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. Here he is on Late Night with Seth Meyers:
44. Devour with gusto: EAT UP.
46. At most: MAX.
[Theme clue]
50. Key above ~: ESC. Seems to me that people who solve online have a distinct advantage when it comes to keyboard character position clues.
51. Karate school: DOJO. It's more than that. A dōjō (Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː(d)ʑoː]) is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese.
52. Mix things up: STIR.
55. Place whose state quarter features an astronaut: OHIO.
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Malia Obama |
65. Greek fabulist: AESOP. Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media. See clue 35A for an example.
66. Coach Jill who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019: ELLIS. Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two FIFA Women's World Cups in 2015 and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups.
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Jill Ellis |
68. Brings (out): TROTS.
69. Sierra __: LEONE. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a secular nation with the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of thoughts and religion). Muslims make up about three-quarters of the population, though with an influential Christian minority. Religious tolerance in the West African nation is very high and is generally considered a norm and part of Sierra Leone's cultural identity.
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Sierra Leone |
Down:
1. Morse __: CODE. Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the inventors of the telegraph.
3. Creature that may shelter clownfish: SEA ANEMONE. Sea anemones are a group of predatory marine invertebrates of the order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the Anemone, a terrestrial flowering plant. Some species of sea anemone live in association with clownfish, hermit crabs, small fish, or other animals to their mutual benefit, AKA symbiosis:
4. Shadowy places?: EYELIDS.
5. Kilmer of "Top Gun: Maverick": VAL.
6. "Oh, I got it now": AH OK.
7. Wine quality: NOSE. Here's a little help on how to make scents of wine. Perhaps the Chairman will stop by and give us a sip of his wisdom on the bewildering vocabulary of wine aromas.
9. "__ Maria": AVE. AVE MARIA is the Latin title for a song originally written in German by Franz Schubert in 1825 entitled "Ellens dritter Gesang" ("Ellen's Third Song"). It is a setting of one of seven songs from Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake. The song was Ellen's prayer to the Virgin Mary popularly known as the Hail Mary, with the words originally taken from 2 sections of the Gospel of Luke. The song is often sung at Catholic WEDDINGS (before all the TOASTS at the reception afterwards!). Here is Luciano Pavarotti singing it in concert (lyrics):
10. "Song of Solomon" writer Toni: MORRISON. Song of Solomon is Morrison's third novel and one of her most commercially successful. Published in 1977, the novel — tentatively titled Milkman Dead — was condensed in Redbook. It was later chosen as a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, which had not selected a novel written by a black author since Richard Wright's Native Son in 1940.
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Toni Morrison February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019 Pulitzer Prize 1987 Nobel Prize 1993 |
The novel explores the quest for cultural identity. Based on the African-American folktale about enslaved Africans who escape slavery by flying back to Africa, it tells the story of Macon "Milkman" Dead, a young man alienated from himself and estranged from his family, his community, and his historical and cultural roots. Milkman is mentally enslaved and spiritually dead, but with the help of his eccentric aunt, Pilate, and his best friend, Guitar Bains, he embarks on a physical and spiritual journey that enables him to reconnect with his past and realize his self-worth.
11. Light snack: BITE.
12. MBA course: ECON.
13. Take a breather: REST.
18. Lost power: DIED.
19. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO. "... as you would have them do UNTO you." A fragment of the Gospel of Matthew (7:12), often called The Golden Rule. By and large I find this to be the rule around here.
24. One-third of a haiku: LINE. Or of a MOEKU.
26. Aries symbol: RAM. Aries (♈︎) is the first astrological sign in the zodiac, spanning the first 30 degrees of celestial longitude (0°≤ λ <30°), and originates from the constellation.
28. "Song of Solomon," for one: NOVEL. See 10D.
29. "Two thumbs up!": GREAT.
30. Sophomore's grade: TENTH.
31. Springy backyard apparatus: TRAMPOLINE.
32. Kebab often served with peanut sauce: SATAY. Here's a recipe. Superbowl finger food.
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Satay Chicken |
36. NYC ave.: LEX. Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street.
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Lexington Avenue Looking Northward from the top floors of the Chrysler Building |
40. Took to court: SUED.
43. "Old Town Road" rapper Lil __ X: NAS. As Lil has finally achieved the status of crosswordese, I've decided to riff his middle name for the acronym for the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. New members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the National Academy is one of the highest honors in the scientific field.
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| National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C. |
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48. Image on a menu bar: ICON.
49. Cracked open: AJAR. Dad: "When is a door not a door?" "When it's A JAR"!
52. Shutter board: SLAT.
53. Arena level: TIER.
54. "Assuming that's true ... ": IF SO. An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments.
56. Stiletto, for one: HEEL. A readily available weapon of self-defense should one encounter a HEEL while afoot.:
58. Norwegian capital: OSLO. Not the EURO and not the KRONE, OSLO is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of 702,543 in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, and the metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,546,706 in 2021
60. Object: ITEM.
61. Regarding: AS TO.
63. Special __: commando tactics: OPS.
64. One of 10 in a lane: PIN. A CSO to a Dear Soul. And our constructors (or Patti!) even got the name of his favorite venue right!
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
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