John Lampkin has created several crosswords containing phrases with short words inserted or removed. He's done that again with today's crossword, which includes these clues and answers:
Snoop: BUSY
Tattoos: ART
Bumper repair site: SHOP
Star or nebula: HEAVENLY
Circadian rhythm: CLOCK
Nonverbal communication: LANGUAGE
Hypothetical object that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation: BLACK
Coveted journalism award: PEA
"Classic 1956 film...and why those answers aren't quite themselves?" is INVASIONOFTHEBODYSNATCHERS. That title occupied two lines of the grid. The word BODY has been snatched from the eight theme answers. Very cute.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was adapted from Jack Finney's 1954 science fiction novel
The Body Snatchers and starred Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The plot involved alien plant spores that fall from space and grow into large seed pods, each of which can turn into a duplicate of a human being, with the same appearance, memories and characteristics but devoid of emotion. The "pod people" start to replace the
real people. The movie was remade in 1978 with Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright.
The Peabody Awards, named for American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody. were created in 1940 by the National Association Of Broadcasters to honor excellence in radio broadcasting. The Awards now honor excellence in television and online media as well as in radio.
http://www.peabodyawards.com/awards"Dose people" is DEM, which is awkward. "Eye-rolling word" is PUHLEASE, which is awkward. "First course in German?" is SUPPE, which is not used in English. "Jake __, first Congressman to fly in space" is GARN. From 1974 to 1993, Edwin Jacob "Jake" Garn served as a United States Senator representing Utah. He flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a Payload Specialist during a NASA mission in April 1985. (Yesterday -- May 31, 2018 -- Garn's wife Kathleen suddenly collapsed while they were having dinner. She did not survive.)
And of course the theme of today's crossword reminded me of this question: Why did the skeleton go to the movies by himself? He had no body to go with.
