Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-07-2025, #7

   

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Yoga poses

Can we consider basic Yoga as an expected crossword-solver's knowledge? Interesting question. This holds true for any of our theme-based crosswords. We'll ponder this. In the meantime, go enjoy some Yoga!

Clues

• Picture top left: Cobra. Back bends are important for your. back-health.
• Picture top right: Warrior. This is actually Warrior-I posture. There is also Warrior-II (sideways) and Warrior-III (one legged) poses.  
• Picture middle left: Cow. This is half of the pair Cat-Cow  (back arched upward -  Back arched downward) poses.
• Picture bottom left: Chair pose.
• Picture middle right: Aum. Common start/end of Yoga sessions. Another common spelling is Om. And, of course, not to be confused with Ohm (measure of electrical resistance).

 The picture at the bottom right is a common symbol of Peace-Love-Yoga. 

Some other relevant clues:

• FO - "Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an english man" - This is the first line in the chant of the Giant in the English fairy tale "Jack and the beanstalk".
• SIFU - In many dujos, at the end of Kong-Fu practice, the students say "Xiexie sifu", which means "Thank you master".

Levels

The levels achieved follow various poses:

• Happy Baby - Relaxing pose to get you smiling.
• Warrior-I  - Front facing
• Warrior-II - Side facing
• Warrior-III - One legged Lassie and Old-Yeller (Classics)
• Shavasana - The english name is 'Corpse', but this is the common relaxation pose at the end of a Yoga session. Yes, you might fall asleep during this pose , only to be awaken by the closing bell.

How hard was it?

If you are doing Yoga, or did Yoga, it was pretty straightforward. If not, hopefully you knew some of the poses, and there was the EASY version this time around.

This Cluely was not too hard. The level rating is 2-laps around the block .

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-06-2025, #6

  

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Man's (and everyone's) best friend

We have a new puppy at home, so this is a perfect time to focus on dogs. Our puppy is named Echo, and she is a Hungarian Vizsla (yes, like the pictured puppy). 

Clues

• Picture top left: Shar-pei. South China dog, bred mainly for property guarding.
• Picture top middle: Hungarian Vizsla. Hunting dog from (well) Hungary, and used mainly for pointing and retrieving. 
• Picture top right: Pug. Originally from China, this breed is characterized by wrinkly short-muzzled face, and a curled tail.
• Picture middle left: Bulldog. British dog, of the mastiff type, usually bred for companion. 

The other themed clues were the Corgi, Queen Elizabeth II favorite breed, and Shiba-Inu, a Japanese breed. 

 The picture at the top middle is of the AKC, American Kennel Club.

Levels

The levels achieved follow various characters in the series:

• Scooby-Doo and Snoopy (Cartoons)
• Air-Bud and Beethoven (Movies-1)
• Toto and Bruiser (Movies-2)  - Toto is from "The Wizard of Oz", and Bruiser is from "Legally Blond"
• Lassie and Old-Yeller (Classics)
• Laika (First space dog) - The first animal to orbit earth, in 1957, on board of a Russian rocket.

How hard was it?

If you are a fan of Dogs, it was pretty straightforward. If not, hopefully you knew some of the breeds.

This Cluely not too hard. The level rating is 1-lap around the block .

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-05-2025, #5

 

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: The one with friends

Celebrating 30 years anniversary to the first airing of the TV sitcom Friends, Sep-22-1994. 

Admittedly, only the pictures follow the theme, and the reason for that is that this is also our first 7x7 cluely! The usual ones were 8x8 ,so in our efforts to make it easier, we are trying smaller sizes.

Clues

• Picture top right: Rachel. This is Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston.
• Picture bottom left: Phoebe. This is Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow.
• Smaller picture at bottom left: Gunther. Played by James Michael Tyler, Gunther is the barista at Central Perk.
• Picture bottom right: Central Perk. 

 Hopefully making it smaller grid also helped making it easier. You'll b e the judge of that.

Levels

The levels achieved follow various characters in the series:

•  Ugly Naked Guy - The one seen from the window.
•  Janice - With her high pitched voice and signature laughter.
•  Dr. Leonard Green - Overbearing Rachel's father.
•  Judy Geller - Monica's mom.
•  Marcel the monkey - Ross's pet!!

How hard was it?

If you are a fan of Friends, it was pretty straightforward. If not, you need to guess 3 names...

This Cluely was certainly the smallest so far (7x7), and not too hard. The level rating is 1-lap run on the school's playground.

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-04-2025, #4

  

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Creatures

The theme are creatures: Some animals you can see today, some extinct, and some mythological.

This was meant to be an easy one!! Hopefully it was.

Clues

• Picture top left: Gryphon. There are many different spelling of it. A very known one, especially to fans of Harry Potter, is Griffin (the shield of the house of Gryffindor). We had to choose one spelling, so there goes.
• Picture bottom left: Osprey. Also known as fish hawk. Osprey is a beautiful, very large, prey bird.
• Picture top right: TRex. 
• Picture middle-right: Eel. Eels are real fish, using gills and fins to breathe under water. 

    Other clues of special interest:

• Epipen - Epipens are auto-injectors of epinephrine, which are used to treat serious allergic reactions to insects, foods.

The goal was to make this one easier, and hopefully you enjoyed it.

Levels

The levels achieved follow various baby-animal names:

• Puppy - baby Dog
• Kitten - baby Cat
• Duckling - baby Duck
• Fawn - baby Deer
• Joey - baby Kangaroo
• Cygnet - baby Swan

How hard was it?

With plenty of images of known animals, and creatures, it wasn't too hard.

This Cluely was certainly the easiest so far. The level rating is 1-lap run on the track.

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-03-2025, #3

 

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Know thyself

The theme is based on the philosophical maxim inscribed on the entrance to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, ancient Greece. This cluely deals with the physical manifestation of this maxim, the human anatomy. In this respect, we focus on bones and muscle(s).

BTW, hopefully you got to see the little motion-video in the top left for the hip joint. It was only there for the first few seconds. Having the joint rotating is very distracting for puzzle solvers... It will be incorporated better in the upcoming app. At any rate, if you missed it, navigate again to the page (=refresh) and pay attention to the hip-joint picture.

Clues

• Picture top left: Hip Joint. This is the joint connecting the Femur (upper bone of the leg) to the Pelvis. The structure is knows as ball-and-socket, where the ball is formed by the head of the Femur bone.
• Picture top right: Ulna. There are two parallel bones in your arm: Ulna is on the pinky-side, and Radius (which we will need at the lower left) on the thumb-side.
• Shin bone: Tibia. The lower leg is composed from two bones, Fibula and Tibia, with Tibia being the shin and the bigger one.
• Arm bone: Radius. We already had the Ulna at the top right clue.
• Large muscle in upper-arm: Tricep. The upper arm has two main muscles: Bicep and Tricep. The Tricep (at the back of the arm) is the larger one, with three (hence tri) muscle heads.

    Other clues of special interest:

• Dar es Saleem - Largest city in Tanzania.
• Pb - Is the element lead, with atomic number 82.
• Ural - Mountain range that stretches from north to south on the west side of Russia, and the east side of Europe.
• Puja - A Hindu religious ritual.  (There are also Pujas in Buddhism and other religions)
• RA - Resident Advisor in college dorms.
• Maru - Circle in Japanese, and a common ending to ship-names in Japan.
• Po - Longest river in Italy, stretches from west to east in North italy.
• AT - Appalachian Trail. One of the three North-to-South long trail in the USA, the other two being the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in the center, along the Rocky mountains, and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on the west.

Levels

The levels achieved follow the longest bones in our skeletal system:

• Ulna and Radius (inner lower arm) 11-in avg.
• Humerus (upper arm) 14-in avg.
• Fibula (lower leg) 16-in avg.
• Tibia (shinbone) 17-in avg.
• Femur (thighbone) 20-in avg.

How hard was it?

Turns out this was harder then usual. Most people kind-off sorta know the names of the bones and muscles, but have hard time pin-pointing their location. And, there was also some geography in play with Dar-es-Saleem and the Po river. Maru was another hurdle, though it is often used to describe Japanese merchant ships.

This Cluely was certainly harder than the first two. But, as we keep saying, this is an opportunity to learn. The level rating is 10-Kilometer run (with a few uphills thrown in).

Next one should be easier!

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-02-2025, #2

 

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Look up!

The theme is based on the constellations of stars known as the Western Zodiac , also known as the twelve signs used in Astrology. These are the signs determining your Horoscope! Today's sign, it being first half of September, is Virgo.

Just in case, here is the list (From Britannica)

♈ Aries (Ram): March 21–April 19

♉ Taurus (Bull): April 20–May 20

♊ Gemini (Twins): May 21–June 21

♋ Cancer (Crab): June 22–July 22

♌ Leo (Lion): July 23–August 22

♍ Virgo (Virgin): August 23–September 22

♎ Libra (Balance): September 23–October 23

♏ Scorpius (Scorpion): October 24–November 21

♐ Sagittarius (Archer): November 22–December 21

♑ Capricornus (Goat): December 22–January 19

♒ Aquarius (Water Bearer): January 20–February 18

♓ Pisces (Fish): February 19–March 20

There is also an East Asian Zodiac, aka Chinese Zodiac, which is similar, but assigns one of 12 signs to each year.

Clues

• Picture top left: Zodiac. One of the many ways to describe the 12-signs of the year.
• Picture top right: Libra. Balance, often depicted as balance-scales.
• Bottom left: Crab. (aka as Cancer). This is probably less familiar then the Libra sign, or less obvious then other symbols.
• The rest of the theme's clues, with the light-yellow background, are
• Lion - This is the Leo sign.
• Virgo - The Maiden sign.

    Other clues of special interest:

• Yehudi Menuhin (1916 - 1999) - A famous virtuoso violinist, who spent most of his career as a musician (and conductor) in Britian. The same generation as Jascha Heifetz, and almost 40 years before Itzhak Perlman. All very famous Jewish violinists. 
•  - The AUStralian flag!
• SI - Periodic-table symbol for Silicon, is the main component of glass.
• UR - aka Ur Kasdim, commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldees, is mentioned in the Bible as the birth place of Abraham.
• IO - Last but not the least, Jupiter's moon. Jupiter has 95 (wow!) moons, but the two most famous ones are Io (thanks to it's volcanic activity) and Europa (which is comparable in size to our moon). Io and Europa are the third and forth in size among Jupiter's moons.

Levels

The levels achieved follow the common associations in Astrology to different heavenly bodies:

• The Moon - Shy and Tender
• The Sun - Music and athleticism
• Mercury - Prudent and loveable
• Jupiter - Charming
• Venus - Amorousness and Passion

How hard was it?

The crab-sign might be hard if you are not into Astrology, or were not born in the end of June/beginning of July. But, the fact it was highlighted as one of the theme clues, narrowed down the options.

This Cluely was certainly a little harder than the first one, and thus earns the level of a 5-Kilometer jog.

We're still waiting (or are we?) for a Marathon one!

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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Solution for Today's Cluely, Jan-01-2025, #1

Solution, notes, and explanations

Theme: Music to my ears

The theme follows the movie "The sound of Music" from 1965. Julie Andrews is starring as Maria, the free-spirited nun turned a nanny, and Christopher Plummer as the retired navy officer Captain Georg von Trapp. And, of course, his 7 children.

Clues

• Picture top left: Maria. This is the famous opening scene, where Maria sings "The hills are alive with the sound of music".
• Picture top right: Captain Georg von-Trapp, the retired navy officer and father of 7.
• The rest of the theme's clues, with the light-yellow background, are based on the "Do-Re-Mi" song, written by (you guessed it) Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Doe, a deer, a female deer.

Ray, a drop of golden sun.

Me, a name I call myself.

Far, a long, long way to run.

Sew, a needle pulling thread,

La, a note to follow sew,

Tea, a drink with jam and bread!

• Two greek letters appear this time:
• Ψ -  The greek letter psi.
• 𝛑 - The greek letter pi, and since we have many of these, it is in plural, pis.
• "Tao Te Ching" - The book is considered to be the foundational work of Taosim, written by Lao Tzu (Laozi).
• Aweary - This is the adjective form of weary. It is considered archaic these days, but still can be found in classical poems and literature.
• The flag at the bottom right, 🇦🇹, is the flag of Austria, where most of the story takes place.

Levels

The levels achieved follow the 5 girls of the family (there are also two boys, Friedrich and Kurt): 

• Gretl von Trapp, age 5
• Marta von Trapp, age 7
• Brigitta von Trapp, age 10
• Louisa von Trapp, age 13
• Liesl von Trapp, age 16

How hard was it?

Other than the unusual spelling of AYE (here spelled as AY), the rest was reasonably direct.

This Cluely was very enjoyable, reminded us of a great movie, and not too hard to solve, and thus earns the level of a 1-Kilometer jog.

'till the next one,

 Zachi (waddling along).

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