MGWCC #162

crossword 4:38
puzzle 0:21 

surprise! you weren’t expecting matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest on a thursday, were you? well, our chief weapon is surprise. the 162nd episode, “Right Between the Eyes”, has us searching for an eight-letter kind of container. to guide us, we have four wacky theme answers:

• {Go-between who gets no respect?} is a MIMICKED LIAISON. the clue feels a bit imprecise to me. obama gets plenty of respect, but of course people also mimic him.
• to {Comment on a cook’s cumin and cardamom?} is to CRITIQUE SPICING.
• {Drop nuclear bombs on the Balearics?} no, don’t do that. that would ANNIHILATE IBIZA.
• {Southern politician in the pocket of drug companies?} is an OPIOID DIXIECRAT. that would be 1940s drug companies, i guess. but the song remains the same.

with the nudge from the rebus-style title (and no, i don’t mean rebus in the crossword sense), and perhaps the hint from the instructions that we want 8 letters, suggesting perhaps that we get one from each word of the theme answers, we notice that each of those eight words has two non-consecutive i’s. taking the letter bracketed by each pair of i’s gives us matchbox, which is indeed a container. and because i’m a great guy, i will spare you any links to youtube clips of rob thomas’s whiny voice.

edit: after i wrote up this post, i solved yesterday’s CS puzzle by patrick blindauer, “Write Between the Y’s”. very similar theme, though not quite the same.

odds & ends:

• {Zend ___ (sacred text)} AVESTA. whoa, high-falutin’! that’s zoroastrianism we’re talking about. and let’s see, “zend avesta” is 33% of everything i could possibly tell you about zoroastrianism.
• {Home to many Joshua trees} is UTAH, even though joshua tree national park is in california. but because i’m a great guy, i’ll share this clip.
• {Late Washington Wizards owner Pollin} is ABE. do people not from washington know this guy? i remember when he renamed the bullets. fine with me, but i could’ve gone with something a little less klannish for the new name. the speculation now is that the team will be renamed the monuments.
• {Pop pal} is SNAP, of the rice krispies elves. this one had me going. devious clue!
• {South African region, with “The”} KAROO? whoa, never heard of it. has ANG lee ever been in the KAROO?
• {“___ Swimming” (Malachy McCourt book)} clues the odd partial A MONK. i think i have vaguely heard of this, but i needed every crossing.
• {Isn’t airtight} LEAKS. i was just reading an article earlier today on salon about bradley manning. i don’t really know what to say about this or even what to think, but i thought it was an interesting read.
• {Anne and John} are TYLERS, anne the writer and john the president. {Largest first family} would be another way to clue this one, as john tyler managed to sire 15 kids, 8 by letitia tyler and 7 more by second wife julia, including one when he was 70.
• {Microsoft product} is XBOX. now that’s the kind of microsoft product i can get behind.
• {___ Vista, Calif.} is CHULA. i don’t believe i know this town.
• {Baltimore bird} is RAVEN. admit it: you wanted ORIOLE there. so did i. i don’t think ravens are even particularly associated with baltimore itself, except indirectly through poe. of course, there’s now the football team, too, but they’re blokes, not birds.
• {With hands on hips} is the awesome word AKIMBO.
• {Not how Romulus and Remus built their city} is a whimsical clue for IN A DAY. how did they build it, then? not on rock & roll, i hope?
• {What a Portuguese store’s “aberto” sign means} OPEN. another whimsical clue, i guess to remind us that matt went on vacation to portugal last week (hence the unusual schedule). i don’t know portuguese, but it’s a cognate of the spanish abierto. and actually, i don’t know spanish either (although i do know that word), but the french ouvert is also related, and i do know french.

peace out.