Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 30, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 4:15, faster than average.

Theme: CANADA!  As far as I can tell, November 30 isn't a special day in Canada, so the puzzle doesn't have any chronological significance.  In addition to the four highlighted theme answers, there are a couple of bonus Canada clues, such as RAIN being clued as "weather often associated with Vancouver," and of course the de rigueur answer ENE being clued as "Toronto-to-Montreal dir."  And OTTAWA, "capital of 71 Across."

SAYING SORRY?  Blame CANADA!

"Life is short and this is long, per Hippocrates:" ART.  Or, more succinctly, ars longa, vita brevis, as written in his Aphorisms.  While this is often taken to mean that fine art is eternal, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was actually talking about the physician's craft.

The only clue that totally stumped me today was "____-crab soup."  It's SHE-crab soup!  What the heck is that?  Apparently a thick bisque made with a gravid female crab, so that the roe adds to the flavor.

Airport LGA is clued as having "many flights to Toronto Pearson."

"DC player, formerly a Montreal Expo" is NAT, as in the Washington Nationals, a MLB team, which came up on December 4, 2017, but not that they were the Expos until 2005.

Zeno of ELEA has come up a few times.  We last saw him on November 15, 2018, I think.

And now the Canada-centric Monday has come to an END.  Just think, not one eh in the puzzle.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 29, 2020

My time: 14:00, a new record!  Beating my old time by 47 seconds!

Theme: "Six-Pack," a title which indicates that the eight themed answers (four Across, four Down) are neologism portmanteaus.  That is, they are new coinages, of two words packed into one answer, each one sharing six letters.  

For example, "very short-lived gemstones" is EPHEMERALDS, which is a portmanteau of ephemeral (very short-lived) and emeralds (gemstones).  They share the six letters E, M, E, R, A, L.  

"Pounding on a pie topping" is HAMMERINGUE, which is a blend of hammering and meringue.  They share the six letters M, E, R, I, N, G.

And so forth for the other themed answers: Gilgamesh / game show, Superman / permanent, Obamacare / macarena, Airedale / red alert, etc.

And now, the fill.

"Its logo has a blue, red, orange, yellow and green M" is GMAIL.  I use it all the time and I didn't think of that.  Some people hate it.

Sports!  I know nothing about it.  Nicolas PEPE is a French soccer winger for Arsenal and plays Nationally for the Ivory Coast. 

I like "handed a hand" for DEALT IN and "ask to be handed a hand" for ANTE.

BEN Vereen is a stage and film actor who won a Tony for his role as the Leading Player in "Pippin," a musical in which a performance troupe, led by a Leading Player, tells the story of Pippin, the son of Charlemagne, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance. 

I have not heard of the singer HER (a backronym for Having Everything Revealed) or her 2019 Song of the Year nominee, "Hard Place." 

I'm quite familiar with the Three Musketeers, but I didn't know ARAMIS was a cologne.  It was started in 1966.

In chess, the SLAV Defense is an opening in which the queen's and white bishop's pawns are moved forward.

I know the RHINE is a German river, but being a geography numbskull, I could not have told you that Rotterdam is where it empties to the North sea.

I did not know that MOCHA was named for a Mideast city.  Al-Makha, Yemen, to be exact.

"Having four sharps" means IN E, which I sort of got into on September 26, 2018, but I didn't and won't remember.

Designer ALDO Gucci came up on December 19, 2017.

Maya Angelou's And Still I RISE was in the puzzle on October 1, 2018.

Theater material SCRIM came up on August 15 as a clue, for which the answer was linen.

Clever clues: "Snoopy sort?" is BEAGLE.  "You can scratch with it" is CUE BALL.  "Beat box?" is METRONOME.  "Leaders of the pack?" is ACES.

This was a pleasurable Sunday puzzle.  I had absolutely no idea while solving that I was on track to my fastest Sunday time.  I was too caught up in the solving.  And now, our revels are AT AN END.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 28, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:40, five minutes faster than average.

Okay, let's look at what I didn't know about.  ARE YOU GAME?

Donna TARTT is an American author, best known for her novel The Goldfinch.  She also wrote The Secret History, an inverted detective story in which the narrator explores the circumstances and lasting effects of a classmate's death on the academically and socially isolated group of Classics students of which he was a part. 

The official drink of Puerto Rico is the PINA COLADA.  Makes sense, I guess.  It was invented there.  The Caribe Hilton Hotel, one of the most famous in San Juan, is the setting for two of the origin stories of the piña colada. 

Shellfish have lots of IRON?  I was going to say salt.

Running backs and defensive ends are RUSHERS.  I was going to say players.

I kept reading "study pills" (PLACEBOS) as a verb and object, like the answer would be something akin to pharmacology.

I have not heard of Nevada senator Jacky ROSEN.  A Democrat, she was a Congresswoman before being elected to the senate in 2019.

The Old English word for OCT, Winterfylleth, came up on Winterfylleth 4.

Simeon II, ruler of Bulgaria and last figure to call himself TSAR, last appeared on May 5, 2018.

Clever clues: "Move to a later date, say" is TIME TRAVEL (that one gave me a lot of trouble).  "Firm requirement, for short" is MBA.  "Style guide?" is DRESS CODE.  "Really dig" is PROBE.  "One who passes the bar?" is TEETORALER (I immediately wanted to put alcoholic, which fits).

This was a very nice Saturday puzzle.  I liked the modern, fun fill, like DROP A LINE, SMART MONEY, FROG PRINCE, POWER SUITS, etc.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 27, 2020

My time: 8:21, a new record by five seconds!

This surprised me, as I thought while doing it that there might be lots that I wasn't familiar with in this puzzle.  But it turns out that for the most part the clues were just deceptively vague.  If I had known, I'd have tried to go even faster!

I thought there might be a sneak theme going for a minute, with EEK-A-MOUSE and BILL THE CAT, but no such luck.

I believe I have stated that I dislike blank clues.  "_____ others" is such a boring, brainless clue for AMONG.  Same with "_____ lines" for ENEMY.  Snore!

"Supermarket chain inits." is IGA.  I don't think they have those in the places I've lived.  It was founded in the United States as the Independent Grocers Alliance in 1926. The headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.

Although I enjoy his work, I had no idea that ANTS were a recurring motif in Salvador Dali's paintings.  The ant, one of the animals most admired by Dalí, was represented in his artistic repertoire from the late nineteen-twenties until nearly the end of his career as a painter.  he was horrified and entranced by them.  Supposedly he said, "I have reached the conclusion that the ant is a superior being. To be truly familiar with something, one must eat it, and these ants eat time."

Never heard of the DORAL, "famed Miami golf resort." Ugh, it's a Trump property.  Fuck that evil vicious murderous traitor.

I had no idea that Michael Faraday discovered and named IONS.  (By the way, that's a great clue for a very common crossword answer.  That's the kind of informative clue the puzzle ought to have for every answer, not some stupid blank.) The word ion comes from the Greek meaning "going." This term was introduced by Faraday for the then-unknown species that goes from one electrode to the other through an aqueous medium. Faraday did not know the nature of these species, but he knew that since metals dissolved into and entered a solution at one electrode and new metal came forth from a solution at the other electrode, that some kind of substance has moved through the solution in a current.

APSE is the "feature of Notre-Dame supported by flaying buttresses."

I had to think quite a bit as to why TOOL SHED is "structure near a bed?"  Before I filled in the answer, I was ready for it to be a wordplay about a river bed, but I think it refers to a garden bed.  

"Harpist's home key" is C FLAT.  So what?

Big cosmetics chain ULTA last appeared on April 9, 2018.

Clever clues: "Classic British rock group" is STONEHENGE.  "Response to an air offensive?" is BLEEP.  "1000 in the military" had me trying to think of things like milliad? battalion? but it's TEN AM.  "Blond in a bar?" is ALE.  "Page seen in a wedding album" is RING BEARER.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 26, 2020

My time: 10:20, nearly five minutes faster than average.

Theme: The solver must take literally the answer at 71 Across, LONG.  The four Across themed answers all start with 'Long," which is omitted in the grid, and instead the second word is reproduced with each letter appearing twice.  (The finished version online gives you giant, long versions of the letters, as above).

So, for example, "some winter wear" is long johns, but you skip the long part and enter the johns like so: JJOOHHNNSS.  The tricky clue "oboe or flute sound" refers to those words' long vowel, appearing in the grid as VVOOWWEELL.

Did you know a little less than eight million Americans live on [Long] IISSLLAANNDD?  So many!

And so forth.

I don't think I'm familiar with Strawberry Fields Memorial, in Central Park, New York, but it makes sense that it was funded by Yoko ONO. 

I had no idea what the puzzle meant by "the Midshipmen," whose colors are gold and NAVY BLUE.  It's the Navy academy athletics team.

With just a little jog of the memory, it came to me that Abercrombie & Fitch's logo has a MOOSE.

I remembered right off that Beyoncé voiced NALA, from its appearance on October 27!

The fact that UNIX was developed at Bell labs last appeared on October 14, 2018.

Early TV network DUMONT was last seen on September 14, 2017.

Clever clue: "More than calls" is RAISES.  "Needle maker" is PINE.  "Mystery writer, for short" is ANON.  "It's commonly used to make a product" is TIMES SIGN.

Welp, that's it for this Thanksgiving Thursday.  No Turkey theme here, though I bet some will think this theme is a turkey.  Have a good lloonngg weekend!

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 25, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:59, nearly three minutes faster than average.

Theme: Three pairs of words that are "flipped" version of each other.  For example, MALE HEIR and AIRMAIL.

This took longer than it might have as PLAIN-TOE, as in a type of shoe, the flip of TOWPLANE, and THYME TEA, the flipped version of TEE TIME, are not in my wheelhouse.  I won't say those those pairs are a bit labored, because the terms exist, but I would have tried to go with more common "flipped" pairs.

The Arizona city TEMPE came up recently, but today it's noted as being "on the Salt River."  The Salt River is a tributary of the Gila.

Never heard of the company Bethlehem STEEL.  The company's roots trace to 1857 with the establishment of the Bethlehem Iron Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Bethlehem Steel was formed in 1904, and existed through the decline of American steel manufacturing during the 1970s until its bankruptcy in 2001 and final dissolution in 2003. 

Eldest von Trapp daughter in "The Sound of Music" is LEISL von Trapp.  She is 16 going on 17, and in love with Rolf, the telegram delivery boy.  She was played by the actress Charmian Carr here.  In real life, the eldest of the real Von Trapp children was Rupert Von Trapp and Agathe Von Trapp was the eldest girl. The female character of Liesl was created for the movie.

University of New Mexico mascot LOBO last appeared on September 23, when I wrote "maybe one day I'll remember."  Not today!

John Jordan Buck O'NEIL, first African-American coach in the MLB, came up on October 20, 2017.

Cable news anchor ARI Melber was in the blog on August 27.

Clever clue: "Signed, sealed, or delivered" is PAST TENSE.

This was a pretty average Wednesday puzzle.  The theme was a little cutesy, and as I said, relied on some rather abstruse words.  On the other hand, kudos for putting in nice fill like VORTEX, VARIETY ACT, and ARID ZONE.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 24, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:09, one and a half minutes faster than average. 

I actually finished all but one square about a minute earlier, because I put *MAR for TAR ("sully, as reputation"), and couldn't find the error for a bit.

Theme: ocean creature puns.  WHALE, I'LL BE DARNED!  They're rather silly.

I didn't know that SLOE is a fruit tree.  Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or SLOE, is a species of flowering plant native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa.  The fruits have been used to make sloe gin in Britain, and the wood used for making walking sticks or the shillelagh by the Irish.  

Apparently Chelsea in NY, NY has the zip code 10001.  No wonder they're so full of themselves over there.

AHAB, son of Omri, was the husband of Jezebel, as shown on December 12, 2017.

Not much new to me this time around.  YAHOO?

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 23, 2020

My time: 4:27, one minute faster than average.

Theme: IDS.  That is, "two forms of them are found in 18-, 38- and 60-Across," but this is misleading.  It's meant to be a play on the common request for "two forms of ID" like in the TSA line, but what these answers actually have are two instances of "ID" within them: DIDGERIDOO, BRIDESMAID, and the clunky MID-OCEAN RIDGE.  (Clunky it may be, but it is a genuine term in geology.)

I put a bad answer for the clue "sign of a wound's healing," *SCAR, when that comes after the real answer, SCAB.  For "minor fender damage" I put the common *DENT but it turned out to be DING.  Mistakes like those and the answer MID-OCEAN RIDGE all slowed me down.

I didn't know that OBAMA was once president of the Harvard Law Review.  He was the "first black elected to head the review," according to the Times in 1990.

OSAKA came up on January 2, 2018 as Japan's second largest metropolis; today it's clued as "third-largest city in Japan."  Apparently Yokohama has a million more people.

TEMPE is the city located between Phoenix and Mesa, running west to east on I-10.

More geography: Oakland and Alameda, south of Oakland, are both located in the EAST BAY, which a region on the coast of the San Francisco Bay.

I'm unfamiliar with both tennis players ANDY Murray, a Briton with three Grand Slams, and ANDY Roddick, an American who has won a single Grand Slam.

The racecar-driving Unsers, ALS father and son both, came up on December 3, 2018.

This was a just okay Monday.  I thought the clues were fairly vague for a Monday, which is fien because I like a little challenge.  But mainly, the "joke" of the theme was, as I noted, based on misuse of the word "form."  Oh well, THAT'LL DO.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 22, 2020

My time: 20:11, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: "It All Adds Up."  In five places, where a Down clue intersects with an Across clue is indicated by circled letters that make (rather uneven, except in the middle) plus signs.  Both these Down and Across answers contain the same letter strings which read as written-out digits (but don't represent numbers in their original form).  The trick is that these letter strings are replaced with other letter strings that represent different digits, addends of the original letter string.  That is, if you add the numbers written out in the Across and Down circled squares together, they add up to the original letter string.

You're confused, understandably.  Here's the first example I cracked.  The show "Days of our Lives" ("whose iconic hourglass is in the Smithsonian collection") contain the letter string F-OUR, or four.  But because it crosses a Down whose similar letter string reads out four, those letters are replaced with TWO.  Add both Across and Down circled letters — TWO and TWO — to read the answer as their sum, four.  So it's in the puzzle as DAYS O(TWO) LIVES and should be read as DAYS O[f Our] LIVES.

The crossing Down clue is "1943 Pulitzer Prize winning Thornton Wilder play, with The" which is "The Skin of Our Teeth," appearing as SKIN O(TWO) TEETH, to be read as SKIN O[f Our] TEETH.

Another example.  "Bygone office group" is steno pool.  But it appears as S(ONE)O POOL, to be read as S[ten]O POOL because it crosses with (NINE)DED BAR, which is read as [ten]DED BAR ("made the rounds?").  Why?  NINE plus ONE is ten, so the circled letters are read as ten.

In the last such clue pair, "neither gains nor loses" is BREAK(ZERO), to be read as BREAK[s even].  The crossing Down clue keeps its letter string seven in PRESS EVENT.  That's because SEVEN and ZERO make seven, which is the original letter string for both phrases.

I hope that's all clear. It took me a few minutes to figure out.

I have never heard the term SUN TRAP to refer to a sheltered balcony that gets lots of natural light. 

The Council of TRENT was held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento, in northern Italy).  It was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, prompted by the Protestant Reformation.  It has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.  Basically it drew up a list of purported heresies and condemned them.

Con MOTO means with animation, or in a spirited manner, in music.

I guessed that EDEN was the name of the "town near Buffalo that sounds like paradise," but couldn't be sure without crossfill.  It is in Erie County.

I've heard of Thai BAHT but not the hundredth-part coin, the satang.

We've all heard of the sitcom "F TROOP" but not that it took place at Fort Courage.  It was set from 1865 to 1867 or so.

ZAC Posen is an American clothes designer about whom nothing interesting is known.

ETA represented as H came up on January 16, 2018.

"Longtime CBS News correspondent" LARA / LOGAN last appeared on November 1, 2017.

I remembered OLGA, the eldest of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," last seen on September 19!

However, I forgot country singer K.T. OSLIN, from August 31, 2018 (when I also forgot her).

"INSECURE," the TV show starring Issa Rae, came up on July 3, 2018, with the star as the answer, natch.

Clever clues: "Don's partner in the underworld" is CAPO.  "Melting point?" is ICICLE.  "Pieces of gangs" is GATS.  "Wanders around the head of a line?" is TSA.  "Something that's helpful in a dash?" is GPS.

Holy TOLEDO (and Holy SEE)!  That's a lot of old stuff, not much new stuff, and a pretty complicated theme!  I'm exhausted.  And that's THE LAS(ONE)RD, or rather, with an extra ONE added in, THE LAS[t wo]RD.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 21, 2020

My time: 17:10, over twice my best time but still three minutes faster than average.  For 1 Down I put "in *LIEU of" but it turned out to be WANT, and that slowed me down.

I like the clue "1, 2, 3, 4... 11, 12, 14, etc" for FLOORS.

"Composer whose name is one letter off from an international peace grp." is Georges ENESCO, really the Francophone version of, more properly, George Enescu, a Romanian composer and pianist.  His most well-known compositions are the two "Romanian Rhapsodies."

Cleopatra says "Come, though mortal wretch" to her ASP before committing suicide in "Antony and Cleopatra," act V, scene 2.  "Come, thou mortal wretch,  / With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool, / Be angry and despatch."

"1980s cable competitor of CMT" is TNN, The Nashville Network, which no longer operates under that name.

"Bird that sometimes sings in a duet" is WREN.  This is a science fact I had no idea of!

It turns out that Cal Ripkin Jr. and Pee Wee Reese, like Alex Rodriguez, Rich Aurilia, and Ernie Banks, played SHORTSTOP.

Judith RESNIK was the second American woman, first Jewish woman, and fourth woman overall in space.  A crater on the moon is named for her.

I have never heard of the North Star, a.k.a. Polaris, referred to as Alpha URSAE Minoris.

"Machine in particle physics lab, in brief" is LINAC.  This stands for linear particle accelerator, which accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beamline.  It is used in radiation therapy against tumors.

For "___-fi" I put *SCI but that's a trap.  It's the little-used SPY-fi (ugh).  That's a terrible term, but it would be fine to use it in the puzzle if they had bothered to think of a real clue.  Blank clues are just the worst.

The lead agent on "NCIS" is called Leroy Jethro GIBBS.  He's played by Mark Harmon.  Ha ha!  Jethro!

We've all heard of BURNING MAN, but we don't know that it's held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.  But only since 1990!  At first it was held on Baker Beach in San Francisco.  Then the Man told them they couldn't burn effigies on the beach.

And finally, the Kendrick Lamar song "DNA" went three times platinum, but I've never heard of it.  I'm not hip.  It does: "I was born like this, since one like this / Immaculate conception I transform like this Perform like this, was Yeshua new weapon." Okay then.

Clever clues: "Times table?" is NEWS DESK. "90s kid?" is A STUDENT.  "Expert on feet" is POET.

This was a challenging Saturday!  Quite a humdinger, or BEAUT, as they say.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 20, 2020

My time: 10:38, five minutes faster than average.

CARE is an NGO headquartered in Geneva that fights to conquer world hunger.  Founded by Arthur Ringland and Dr. Lincoln Clark, CARE began as an amalgam of 22 charities agreeing to funnel food packages from Americans to loved ones in Europe. CARE stands for Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe. 

"Like presidents with Bibles, maybe."  SWORN IN.  Or posing in front of a church with a borrowed bible they're holding upside down, after dispersing a peaceful crowd with a show of physical force.

Never heard of the 2009 hit "Kiss Me THRU the Phone," unsurprisingly.  It is by someone named Soulja Boy Tellem.  "Kiss Me thru The Phone" was 2009's eighth best selling single with over 5.7 million copies sold worldwide.  Good Lord.

"Spanish opposite of odio" is AMOR.  That took me a bit; I initially thought odio might mean "odor."

AMOR?? YOOHOO, CUDDLEBUDDY!

Ahem.

ADIA Barnes is a women's basketball coach for the Arizona Wildcats.

"Little Rhody" is a nickname for Rhode Island.  That's the OCEAN STATE. 

German philosopher ERNST Bloch was a 20th-century Marxist thinker.  His greatest work, The Principle of Hope, tries to provide an encyclopedic account of mankind's and nature's orientation towards a socially and technologically improved future. 

In other German history, the second Chancellor of West Germany after Conrad Adenauer was Ludwig ERHART, from 1963-66.  He is known for leading the West German postwar "economic miracle" of as recovery as Minister of Economic Affairs. In his tenure as Chancellor, however, Erhard lacked support from Adenauer, who remained chairman of the party until 1966, and failed to win the public's confidence in his handling of a budget deficit and his direction of foreign policy. His popularity waned, and he resigned his chancellorship. 

I've never heard of the Italian dish saltimbocca, which consists consists of veal that has been lined, wrapped with prosciutto and SAGE, and then marinated in wine, oil, or saltwater, depending on the region or one's own taste.

IBANKERS last appeared on July 29.

On September 20, DARTS was clued as the game in which you start with 501 points, and today it's clued as "game in which the object is to end with zero points."

Clever clues: "Place name in Manhattan" is ASTOR, as in Astor Place, a one-block street in Manhattan.  'Digital identifiers" is TOE TAGS.  "Counter offer, for short?" is BLT.

That was a satisfying Friday puzzle.  TGIF, am I right?

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 19, 2020

My time: 9:56, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: CAN I BUY A VOWEL?  Like, so I can figure out these damned clues about "Wheel Of Fortune?"  ("It debuted on 1/6/75.")   Or, as it's rendered in the puzzle, WHL F FRTN, vowel-less?  

The thing is, I sensed very early on that this would be about "Wheel Of Fortune."  I saw the V in the Merv Griffin (MRV GRFFN) answer.  I saw the beginning V in the co-host, Vanna White (VNN WHT).  I just didn't see how they could fit.  It took a while, but the Down crosses convinced me that Merv Griffin lacked vowels in the puzzle.  Then I filled in the other Wheel-related answers fairly easily, and the capper, CAN I BUY A VOWEL, came last.

The other Wheel-related answers, that is, except for RSTLN[e], which are the letters you get for free in the final solo guessing puzzle.  I'm not a Wheel-watcher, so I didn't know the exact letters to put.

The other nswrs are B[a]NKR[u]PT and P[a]T S[a]J[a]K.

Oh, and a bonus theme clue is SPIN, "turn in a popular game show."

Now, on to the fll.

I'm so clueless about sports I didn't even know that the 76ers were PHI.  That's Philadelphia.

"Noted 'retiree' of '03" is SST.  That refers to the Concorde, which ended in 2003. 

I didn't know that UAE has no rivers, but it sure makes sense.  However, it does have wadis!

IRMA was the memorable hurricane of 2017.  The first Category 5 hurricane of the 2017 season, Irma caused widespread and catastrophic damage throughout its long lifetime, particularly in the northeastern Caribbean and the Florida Keys.  It was the most intense hurricane to strike the continental United States since Katrina in 2005.  The word "Irmageddon" was coined soon after the hurricane to describe the damage caused by the hurricane.

For the channel that airs "Love It or List It," I knew of the show, but I put *HDTV at first.  I was thinking, "Home Development TV?" as I typed it in.  It's HGTV, or Home and Garden TV.

I don't know actor NEAL McDonough by name, but I know his face.  He plays Dum-Dum Dugan in the Marvel movies, and Damien Darhk, whoever that is, in the DC shows.

"Where nearly half of the US's publicly traded cos. are incorporated" is DEL. Apparently more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies incorporate in Delaware.  Delaware has a special court, the Court of Chancery, to rule on corporate law disputes without juries. Corporate cases do not get stuck on dockets behind the multitude of non-corporate cases. Instead, Delaware corporations can expect their legal disputes to be addressed promptly and expertly by judges who specialize in corporate law.

"City that rhymes with Rosanna in a #1 George Strait country hit" is TEXARKANA, and the song in question is "All My Ex's Live in Texas." It goes: "Rosanna's down in Texarkana / Wanted me to push her broom / Sweet Eileen's in Abilene / She forgot I hung the moon."

"Little waves, in Spain" is TILDES.  This is extremely lame.  I thought that the etymology might be Spanish words meaning something like "little waves," but no.  It seems to just be a bad description of them.

ISU, Iowa State University, home to the Cyclones, is in Ames.

Pachelbel's Canon in D is in D MAJ, as noted on April 18, 2018.  I really hate key questions.

"Cheese in moussaka" was a clue for FETA on August 9, 2017.

Clever clues: "They turn on machines" is COGS.  "Groundwork of a plant manager?" is SEED BED.  "Something there's almost no point to?" is EPEE.  "Round things?" is BEERS.  "One way to the top" is T-BAR.

Well, this was an unusual Thursday!  I found it to be a confounding and ultimately satisfying challenge.  Why, I might OPINE that this is the bst pzzl f th wk!

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 18, 2020

My time: 6:29, three minutes faster than average.

Theme: TWO PEAS IN A POD, or rather two P's in a circled square. 

The first one I got was "betting game in which you could lose your shirt?" which is funny, and pretty obviously STRI[P P]OKER.  I saw it was too long for the squares given, but noting the CO[PP]ERTOP "signature feature of a Duracell battery" at the cross, I caught on, and started just dribbling PP everywhere there was a circled square.  It really helped with the solve.  Actually, the capper explanation answer came last.

Never heard of CREVE Coeur, Missouri. It's named for the lake of the same name.  Supposedly, the tale goes that the lake "formed itself into a broken heart" after an Indian princess's unrequited love for a French fur trapper led her to jump from a ledge overlooking the lake.

It's probably come up before, but I should remember that LEGATO means smoothly in music.

I feel really dumb about this one.  I saw "Adkins, for Adele" and put *DIET PLAN.  In my defense, I'd been reading about her weight loss recently.  In my prosecution, the diet is spelled Atkins, idiot.  Adkins is her LAST NAME.  Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, to be exact.

RIGA, the capital of Latvia, has been an answer pretty often. 

"Farm-share program CSA" just came up on November 1.

1974 Spanish language hit "ERES TU" appeared on March 12, 2018.

Clever clue: "What might be taken to go?" is EX-LAX.

I thought this was unusually easy.  Anyway, that ends another wild Wednesday!  Where's the WRA[P P]ARTY?

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 17, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 5:45, about two minutes faster than average.

Theme: GROW A SPINE.  Clued as "show some courage... as this puzzle's theme can do."  It's more clearly rendered as GROW A "SPINE," because the four themed Across answers end with progressively longer words that serve as sections of the word spine: I, PI, PIN, SPIN, SPINE.  It's interesting that the word chain begins with the middle letter and is extended, alternately, on the left and right sides.  No need to anagram!

And now, make no bones about it, it's time for the fill.

"Ferry or wherry" is BOAT.  A wherry is a cargo boat meant to sail down a canal.

"Bugler in the Rockies" is ELK.  This was mighty confusing to me until I found out that an elk's call is known as a bugle.

I read LIFE OF PI, but didn't see the movie.  It was directed by Ang Lee.

"What a chop shot imparts" is BACKSPIN.  I have a hard time parsing and even reading "chop shot."  I keep reading it as cheap shot, chop shop, chip shot, etc.  Is it a typo for chip shot?  No, I finally find out.  It's a stroke in table tennis.

LATERGRAM is one of those bits of social media slang that I can't keep up with.  It's all so sus.

"Lady of Camelot" is ENID.  Also known as Enide, she is the wife of Erec in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec and Enide, and that of Geraint in the Welsh Romance of Geraint and Enid, as researched on November 9, 2017.

That's it!  There's nothing ELSE except to bemoan our dying democracy.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 16, 2020

My time: 4:52, forty seconds faster than average.

Theme: BABY STEPS — the second words of the five themed Across answers describe an infant's typical mobile development.  JELLY ROLL, HOUSE SIT, PUB CRAWL, etc.

"Not an original, informally" had me stuck for a bit.  I put *RETRO, naturally enough, I thought, but that got me *STRING TIDE on the intersecting Down.  It's REPRO, as in short for reproduction.

"Seize the day, and put no trust in the morrow" was written by HORACE, the famous carpe diem of the Odes, book one. 

"Shore phenomenon around the time of the new and full moons" is SPRING TIDE.  I'm not familiar with this nomenclature.  It's not named for the season but from the sense of spring meaning to jump or leap forth.  It's the tide of maximal range, near the time of new and full moon when the Sun and Moon are in syzygy — i.e., aligned with the Earth. Spring tides result in high waters that are higher than average, low waters that are lower than average, slack water time that is shorter than average, and stronger tidal currents than average. Neaps result in less extreme tidal conditions. There is about a seven-day interval between springs and neaps. 

For "shed tears" I had *WEEP for a while, and that held me up.  But "shed" can also be past tense and it's WEPT, argh.

I loved the theme!  I like it when words are used two different ways.  This was a just-right Monday.  A little challenging, not too hard.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 15, 2020

My time: 22:28, about three minutes faster than average.

The title of today's Sunday is "Theme Schmeme," and indeed, there doesn't seem to be one.  There was not a lot of new material today at all.  Actually, I'm quite surprised that my time wasn't shorter.

"Source of a trendy health juice" seemed like it had to be *ACAI, that crossword constant, but it's ALOE.  Eww, gross. 

Never heard of figure skater Johnny WEIR.  He was the youngest U.S. National champion since 1991, in 2004 the first skater to win U.S. Nationals three times in a row since Brian Boitano in the late 1980s and the first American to win Cup of Russia in 2007.

"Big Little Lies" in an HBO series staring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Laura DERN.

REBA is the name of the mail lady on Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

I had some trouble with "quagmire" because I kept wanting to put some form of morass but it's MARE'S NEST.  I am dubious as to the equivalence of the clue and answer.   I don't think of a state of confusion as a quagmire.

"Poses" is a devious clue for ASKS because it usually means *SITS.

ALLA breve meaning CUT TIME appeared on January 13, 2018.  It's also known as 2/2 time or cut time.

Director GRETA Gerwig was in the blog on August 22.

Clever clues: "Round number?" is BAR TAB.  "Line delivered in costume" is a fun way to get to TRICK OR TREAT.  "Hearing aid?" is COURT REPORTER.  "Barely afloat?" is SKINNY DIPPING.  "Place you may go just for kicks?" is SHOE STORE.

I only had TEENSY WEENSY bit of trouble with this one.  Quite a fun Sunday, with all the puns and cleverness.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 14, 2020

My time: 11:49, eight minutes faster than average.

SO IT'S COME TO THIS.  Fill analysis time.

Apparently the word GEISHA derives from the Japanese terms gei "art, performance" plus sha "person."So, "art-doer," sort of.

Continuing the Japanese theme, the name of its ANTHEM is "Kimigayo."  The title means "His Imperial Majesty's Reign." The lyrics of "Kimigayo" are the oldest among the world's national anthems, and with a length of 32 characters, they are also the world's shortest. The lyrics are from a waka poem written by an unnamed author in the Heian period (794–1185), and the current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed by John William Fenton eleven years earlier.

I'm not a show tune person, so couldn't instantly come up with "HE'S the Wizard." But, as I assumed, it's from "The Wiz."

"My Violent Monster Just Scared Us Nuts" has got to be the worst MNOMENIC ever.

I'm sure I've heard before that PALO is Spanish for "stick," but I forgot.  Ha ha!  PALO Alto means Old Stick.

ERIC IDLE played Sir Robin (full title: Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Harry the Haggler in Life of Brian.

I put *MEDUSA for "mythical figure associated with snakes," but it's ATHENA, who includes the snake (supposed hisser of secret wisdom) among her symbols, along with the better known owl. 

I didn't know the NIH was headquartered in Bathesda.  But on the other hand, who cares?

"Bath water?" is a nice pun clue for AVON.  The AVON River flows through the city of Bath, England.

In more river news, the PLATTE is a tributary of the Missouri, mostly located in Nebraska.

The National Day of Prayer is celebrated on the first Thursday in MAY, by law, as an act of Congress, because we live in a theocracy.

Clever clues: "Lane hugger?" is KENT!  As in Clark KENT; that's pretty devious.  "Fresh bread?" is NEW MONEY.  "Do makeup?" is ATONE.

You have to be pretty ASTUTE to parse some of these well-written clues!  Like "Achilles" for an example of TENDON and "Polish" for an example of EUROPEAN.  And the fill is pretty interesting.  This was a very satisfying Saturday.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 13, 2020

 

My time: 10:11, five minutes faster than average.  I'M ON A ROLL!

All right! On to the fill of this spooooky Friday the 13th puzzle! Just kidding, it isn't at all spooooky.  LET'S DANCE!

Apparently TUPAC had a song titled "Dear Mama." 

Oh, how many times in this blog have I bemoaned the fact that I don't know the Greek letters in order?  Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, ZETA, ETA, Theta.

Actress and comedian Awkwafina appeared on October 1 clued s her birth name, NORA Lum.  Today the clue is the show she co-created, "NORA From Queens."

I believe I have mentioned how much I hate clues that ask what key something is in.  Dvorak's "Serenade for Strings" is in E MAJ.  Okay, so?

NO ONE would indeed be a very disappointing turnout. 

"I-" is type of ANION, or a negatively charged ion due to having more electrons than protons. I- is iodide.

"Heart" is EMOTION... I had a hard time parsing that, but it's as in "He played piano with a lot of heart."

Most common papal name is JOHN.  There have been twenty Pope Johns, which is interesting because the latest one was John XXIII.

Types of edible SEAWEED in Japanese cuisine include hijiki and arame.  Hijiki supposedly has a forestal, umami, mushroomy taste. Arame is a mild-tasting kelp.

Clever clues: "Place for a monitor" is HALL.  "Park in NYC" is AVE — Park Avenue, not a park named Avenue.  "Line upon arrival" had me thinking of line of people to get in somewhere, but it's a spoken line: HERE WE ARE! "Early tablet user" is MOSES.  "It may be measured in feet" is POEM.

I liked this puzzle!  There was some good fill, like HERE WE ARE, SCHNOZ, EASY AS PIE, NO WORRIES, UP TO YOU, and so forth.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 12, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 9:41, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: phrases with the word "to" plus a word that is a homophone of a letter, but then written, Prince-style, with the letter in place of the word, and then, even more cryptically, the "to" being thought of as 2, so the letter doubled.  So "to be" = "2 B" = "BB."  Got it?

The first one I got was "famous question asked around 1600," when I saw it begin with two B's, both of which I was fairly certain were right.  It's To be or not to be, rendered as BB OR NOT BB.

I like TALK UU LATER (talk 2 u later), and appreciate the Shelley quote of AA SKYLARK (To a Skylark).

In the fill:

I knew that SNL had some special taped shows due to the coronavirus, but I didn't get it from the clue "_____ At Home."  But, that's what they were called.

Never heard of TASHA Alexander, writer of mystery historical fiction, best known for her Lady Emily series.

Megan Rapinoe won an ESPY in 2018, but I'm not sure that's worth taking note of. 

Pope John Paul II's laic name was KAROL Józef Wojtyła.  He's a saint now!

I know Jessica TANDY but not that she played the original Blanche DuBois on Broadway.

Apparently HIT AND RUN is a strategy in baseball.  It uses a stolen base attempt to try to place the defending infielders out of position for an attempted base hit. The hit and run takes advantage of this difference by having the baserunner attempt to steal as soon as the pitch is thrown; the batter then attempts to hit the ball into one of the resulting gaps in the infield defense.  The name "hit and run" is therefore a potential misnomer in that the chronological order of the offensive play is "run and hit," with the runner beginning the steal attempt before the batter makes contact.

Utah must be one of the puzzle's very favorite locations (California might be the first).  MOAB is clued here as "near Canyonlands and Arches National Parks."

The connective tissues known as IT BANDS, or iliotibial band, so carefully watched by long-stance runners, came up on February 13, 2019.

The oddly-spelled singer EYDIE Gorme last appeared on September 7, 2017.

Thick soup noodle UDON hasn't been in the blog since November 29, 2017.

Clever clues: I was puzzled by "Parts of come circles, in France" because I had an A and I thought, *ARC is the same in French and English.  But it's AMIS, as in a circle of friends.  "Skinny?' is DERMAL.

And that concludes this entry.  I think this was a fun Thursday.  Now I'M GONE!  TALK UU LATER!

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 11, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:47, three minutes faster than average.

Theme: publishing house DOUBLEDAY, which indicates that each of the four themed answers is made up of two types of day.

For example, Evander "the Real Deal" HOLYFIELD contains holy day and field day.  BUSINESS SCHOOL ("producer of a lot of suits?") has business day and school day.  VETERANS MEMORIAL refers to Veterans Day (that's today!) and Memorial Day.

That's that and now for the fill!

"Converted into fuel, as coal" is COKED.  A better clue for this answer would be "Like Donald Trump Jr. when he gives his speeches, with 'up'."

"Paid to play: var." is ANTEED.  Var is right! 

OBOE is a crossword mainstay, but it's never been clued as the instrument in "I Got You, Babe."  That's originality! It's played by George Poole of the famed Wrecking Crew.

Sammy with four Oscars is songwriter Sammy CAHN, last seen on August 18, 2018.  The Oscars were for "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954), "All the Way" (1957), "High Hopes" (1960), and "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963). 

I've heard the name Taylor DAYNE but couldn't have told you that she sang "Tell It To My Heart." Actually I thought it was a guy before I looked her up.

The Cedar Point amusement park, "Roller Coaster Capital of the World," is near Sandusky, OHIO.

EVA Mendes is one of those actresses whose movies I have seen but whose name and face I don't recall.

Evil piece of shit Carl ICAHN was last seen on December 4, 2018.  ICAHN not stand the guy.

Tarzan portrayer Ron ELY appeared in the blog on February 7, 2018. 

NaOH, the chemical formula for lye, was in the puzzle just a few days ago, August 31.

Clever clues: "Gift that comes with a hitch?" is WEDDING PRESENT, ha!  I thought "it's found beneath the crust" would be a layer of the earth joke, but it's PIE PAN.

Hey, wouldn't it be nice if America were stronger than one incompetent snowflake's fragile ego?

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 10, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:38, one minute faster than average.

Theme: puns, kind of, about jobs involving drinks.  A "barista?" is a GROUNDSKEEPER, ha ha, and a "sommelier?" is a PORT AUTHORITY.  Those are fine, but "bartender?" is DRAFTSPERSON, which (while I try to use inclusive language) still sounds clunky to me.  I had to stop and think, what the heck is a DRAFTSPERSON?  And FOUNTAINHEAD for "soda jerk?" is pretty weak.  They're the head of the soda fountain?  Like, in charge of it?

I'm just grumpy today.

I was alive to hear one of those "Who Wears Short Shorts" ad campaigns, and they're burned into my consciousness, but I didn't remember it was for NAIR.  I was too young to know what it was about.  The original is a 1957 song by the Royal Teens.

RIOS de las Amazonas is, I guess, the rivers of the Amazon?  I don't know why it's plural.

One of the campuses of U. MASS is in Amherst, where Emily Dickinson was born!

That's it.  Hey, looks like that ugly orange traitor's dirty, underhanded, unsubstantiated, UNFAIR lies are being supported by all his cowardly party members!  Democracy crumbles because of one snowflake's ego. 

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 9, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 4:46, about 45 seconds faster than average.

Theme: phrases that start with PALL, PELL, PILL, POLL, and PULL.

For "thing with pads and claws" I put *CAT but it's PAW.

I doubt very many Americans have heard of OLGA Tokarczuk, winner of the 2018 Nobel prize in Literature.  She won the Man Booker prize for her novel Flights. She also had an intriguing-sounding one called Drive Your Plow Over the Bones Of the Dead.

The clue "melted chocolate, e.g." for GOO is an odd choice.

ENOL has appeared twice on this blog as "hydroxyl-bearing compound," and today as "unstable chemical compound." 

The OTTER is said to have the thickest fur of any mammals?  That astonishes me.  I would have guessed bear.

David Ortiz's nickname Big PAPI last appeared on September 3.

Clever clue: "Raiser of the dead?" is a tricky one for PALLBEARER.  "Necessity for a teacher" is PUPIL.

Whew!  Another Monday in the bag.  It's easy to get jaded, but making puzzles like this is no small feat.  I SALUTE you, crossword makers!

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 8, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 19:44, about five minutes faster than average.

Theme: "Wait, What?"  This title clued me in faster than it would have if I hadn't read it that in the seven well-known phrases, the long /ā/ sound is be replaced with a short /ŭ/ sound.  Then these new phrases are clued as written.

So you get "compliment to a runway model?" is YOU GOT THAT STRUT (rather than you got that straight).  "Easily offended by foul language?" is CUSS SENSITIVE (instead of case sensitive).

My favorites, and the ones I filled out with no trouble as soon as I got the theme, were WHY THE LONG FUSS ("question to a tantrum thrower?) and RUDDERS OF THE LOST ARK ("relics proving how Noah steered his boat?").  The theme is pretty random, but the clues are well-worded and the answers gave me a chuckle.  THE NUMB OF THE GUM!  Ha!

Okay, let's get started.  There was some confusing and clever cluing, but not all that much new-to-me stuff for a Sunday.

"Org. that awards the Safer Choice label" is EPA.  Supposedly it awards this label to products that contain ingredients that are safer for human health and the environment. 

I thought the "world capital established in 1535" might be *ROMA (knowing it's much older, but thinking it was made the capital of a unified Italy then, perhaps?) but it's LIMA.  It was founded by Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535. The city was established on the valley of the Rímac River in an area populated by the Ichma polity.

"Jackanapes" for IMP slowed me down quite a bit, because I forgot it's singular despite the final -s.

IDRIS Elba played Macavity in the film version of Cats.  Man, that was a star-studded crapshow!  Macavity is an infamous criminal in the cat world and is very dangerous. He possesses magical powers and wants to be chosen by Old Deuteronomy to be reborn, at any cost. He is willing to threaten the lives of others to get what he wants. 

"Cover for 'little piggies'" is a fun way to get to BOOTEES, but that spelling?  Really?  I prefer BOOTIES.

"Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" ("Josephine Die Sanngerin") is the last story KAFKA ever wrote.  Josephine is a singer whom the people ("mouse folk") adore.  When she sings, they forget how to sing (the old ways).  More than any other story of Kafka's, this one reflects his growing interest in, and defense of, traditional Jewish ways above all, his positive view of the orthodox and Zionist sense of community.

Never heard of LORI Lightfoot, the current mayor of Chicago.  Taking office in May 2019, she is the first openly lesbian African-American woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States.

Actor Dev PATEL has appeared in the blog so many times, I once claimed I knew him right off the bat, but I forgot again.

Tennis feat SERENA Slam appeared on August 5, 2018, but I forgot that too.

Teri Garr's character INGA last came up on June 28, 2018.

Clever clues: "Something to do for recovery?" is SUE.  "Drivers' org., no matter how you slice it?" is PGA.  "Drink after drink?" is CHASER.  "Sign of summer" is LEO.  "4th order?" is FIREWORKS.  "Willing subject" is ESTATE.  "Showy basket" is DUNK.

Not-clever clue: "Rap producers' favorite vegetables?" for BEETS.

That does it for this Celebratory Sunday.  There may be a tiny glimmer of hope.  For now.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzle solved: November 7, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

My time: 17:28, about two and a half minutes faster than average.  I'm amazed, because this seemed very tough!  I remained IN ERROR for quite a while on a few things.

I had the most trouble in the northwest and southeast corners.  In the northwest, the problem was mainly "flatten like a bug."  I tried *SQUASH and *SQUISH before having to tear it all out and start anew, and fell upon the unlikelier SMOOSH. 

It also didn't help that directly under SMOOSH, "many a bug" had me drawing a blank.  It's HEXAPOD, which of course means "six-legged."

In the southeast, "bumptious" had me putting *SNOBBY and then trying *SNOBBY but it's SNOTTY, which doesn't really mean proud, which "bumptious" does.

Above SNOTTY is "marathon runner's wear," or RACE BIB, not a word that comes to me quickly, and also "rubber production?" for which I put *ERASERS but it's ERASURE, which works better as a joke.

"Tart taproom offering" is SOUR ALE, which certainly follows, but I've never heard the term.  Even though I used to enjoy a nice Belgian lambic.

It's not clever, but "chain restaurant, or what a kangaroo might say" for IHOP make me chuckle.

"It's administered for shedding" had me fixated on hair and pets but it's WEIGHT LOSS PILL.

I forgot all about HETTY Green, the "Witch of Wall Street." She made a fortune as a fanancier but was notorious for being a miser.  According to her longstanding "World's Greatest Miser" entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, she died of apoplexy after arguing with a maid over the virtues of skimmed milk. True or not, that's a great story.

"Hebrew name meaning 'ascent'" is ELI.  I thought that meant "God."  It turns out there are two branches of the same name, derived from two separate Hebrew roots.

Eponym of the NHL's points leader award is ART ROSS, an early twentieth-century player turned coach, after whom is named the ART ROSS Trophy.  It was first awarded in 1948.

I was dubious about my answer *UTES to "some travelers along the Oregon Trail," and of course it turned out to be OXEN.  

"Mix-and-match children's clothing brand" is GARANIMALS, which I vaguely remembered from ads from my own childhood.  I don't know if I ever wore any, though.  I did wear Underoos.  Remember Underoos?

I've never read the stupid-sounding Da Vinci Code, so "Priory of SION" was a new one to me.  Apparently it was a real society, founded in 1956, apparently set up to do good deeds and encourage study.

SAMOS, an island in the Aegean Sea, came up on December 6, 2017 as an ancient member of the Ionian League.

Clever clues: I thought "star attraction" would be something about gravity, but it's CELEBRITY CRUSH.  "Guard's place" is SHIN.  I had no idea what three-letter word could be a "sporting blade" but it's OAR.  "Final exam?" is AUTOPSY.  "Look inside, say" is MRI SCAN.

This was a tough one!  I do like a nice challenging Saturday.  I'm out!  (DROP THE MIC.)

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: November 6, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 10:41, five minutes faster than average.

We open with EMMA Chamberlain, a YouTube social influencer!  That will enrage the traditionalists who are still fuming that "The Simpsons" is ever referred to in the puzzle!  Such PHILISTINES the puzzle panders to!  Apparently EMMA just posts funny videos. 

"Abbr. on a family tree" is DESC.  This is short for descent. 

Perhaps Will Shortz felt that the election dispute would be at its BITTER END by the time this puzzle was published.  Well, it isn't, and the answer is a little too raw, Will Shortz!

I was thinking something like pottery for "crafts created on a rotating platform" but it's SPIN ART.

The answer to "easy-listening music" turns out to be EAR CANDY.  I don't see those as having a huge amount of overlap, though.  EAR CANDY is pleasant but perhaps shallow music, bubblegum pop. I think of easy listening as 70s type of AOR rock, like standards and vocal rock.

I dislike bland clues like "political ____" for ARENA.  Or "____value" for RESALE.  What a nothingburger of a clue.  BLAH.  Or the worst offender, "now ____ the future" for OR IN.  Not challenging, just frustrating, teaches nothing.

"Rutherford and Shackleton, for two" is ERNESTS.  Ernest Rutherford was a British physicist who is considered the father of nuclear physics.  He discovered the concept of radioactive half-life and came up with the model of an atom that bears his name.

My knowledge of roots led me to pretty quickly get NAVELGAZERS for omphaloskeptics.  The first part is straightforward; "-skeptics" might make you think that it refers to people who don't believe in bellybuttons, but it comes from a Proto-Indian root meaning "to observe."

"!, in some programming languages" is NOT.  For example, in the C languages.  I don't know anything about programming.

"ACC basketball powerhouse" is UVA, a periodic answer in this blog.  Their sports team is the Cavaliers, like their newspaper.

Clever clue: "Loaded questions?" is BAR TRIVIA.  "Strip at the beach?" is TAN LINE.  "Sides of a conversion" is FAITHS.  Take a long, good look at yourself" is EGOSURF.  "Pickup order?" is TAXI.

Well, CIAO.  I hope the country doesn't succumb to Vatican Law enforced by fascist redcaps by the end of the year.