Verbiage
New Beginnings
By Graham Meyer
Across
1. Chemist’s workplace
4. Thyroid, for one
9. North Pole name
14. Oscar-nominated role for Will Smith
15. The body’s largest artery
16. Must
17. Schedule abbr.
18. New beginner who instructs on good soaping technique?
20. Retreat
22. Most witty
23. New beginner who performs clog biopsies?
26. Concerning
27. He surrendered at Appomattox
28. Big swallow
32. It might have jets
35. “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie
38. Where the deer and the antelope play
39. New beginner who proves how big a wallet those pants can take?
44. Mason ___
45. Spiffy
46. Flower water?
47. Type of terrier
49. “Man of a Thousand Faces” Chaney
51. Bygone gas station name
55. New beginner who chronicles steaks?
60. Tarzan, for example
63. Really wet
64. New beginner who jumps rodents?
67. Govt. agency that screens pharmaceuticals
68. Seeing red
69. Michelangelo work in St. Peter’s
70. Hall of Fame quarterback Dawson
71. Alternate entrances, in spy movies
72. Key next to Shift
73. Ambulances’ destinations
Down
1. Greek letter that’s also the name of a gay/lesbian organization
2. Knot-tying sites?
3. Lion or tiger
4. African country that the equator runs through
5. Lazes around
6. Like Dickens’s Dodger
7. To the ___ degree
8. The one over there, in Brooklynese
9. Onetime wife of Xavier Cugat
10. Tightening a corset
11. First black man to win Wimbledon
12. Salt Lake City college athletes
13. Perform an Excel function
19. She’s a bleater
21. Mini mall store?
24. Power plant gizmo
25. ___ curl
29. Weapon for an action hero
30. Common word on California maps
31. It’s a crock
33. Sword defeater?
34. Had a burrito
36. Walked in front
37. Number on a foam finger
39. Bedtime wear, colloquially
40. Wine barrel wood
41. Tear up
42. The ocean’s full of it
43. Little brat
48. Clown Kelly
50. Snapple competitor
52. Quash
53. “Return to ___”
54. Liver and kidneys, for example
56. Gutter sites
57. Santa ___ winds
58. Homer and Horace, for two
59. She’s on at least one magazine cover every month
60. Tel ___
61. Examine in detail, with “over”
62. Panache
65. Co. that calls itself “Brown”
66. Adjective for Abner
January’s puzzle honors new beginnings. The world would be a poorer place without those who have the courage to leave their line of work and strike out into the great unknown. Woodrow Wilson. Herman Melville. Kevin Federline. It’s also for the new beginnings found by countless others who pursued their dreams without the promise of fame and fortune, or moved to a foreign country without knowing anyone, or finally quit using air-quotes. In this month’s puzzle, the long entries all show a career getting a new beginning. Good luck filling these positions.
