Cruising with the August 9 crossword

[Thomps2525]

Jeffrey Wechsler came up with a very clever crossword for today: "Vacation spots" are ISLANDRETREATS and each of four sets of circled letters contain the name of an island "in retreat."

Carl Orff opus: CARMINABURANA.
Lombardy skiing destination: THEITALIANALPS
One of many standing in a Mexican bar: TEQUILABOTTLE
Gene Autry Easter song critter: PETERCOTTONTAIL

The islands: Aruba, Lanai, Bali and Crete.

Carmina Burana, a manuscript of 254 bawdy songs, satirical poems and dramatic texts from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, was written by two scribes in 1240. The title is Latin for "Songs From Beuern." In 1935-36, German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) set 24 of the poems to music. His cantata had its premiere in 1937 at the Frankfurt Opera House.

Gene Autry is best known for Back In The Saddle Again, South Of The Border, That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine, Here Comes Santa Claus and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer but he actually had 29 top-ten country hits between 1931 and 1951. One of those was Peter Cottontail, a #3 hit in 1950. It was written Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, who also wrote Frosty The Snowman. Here is Gene's 78 RPM recording of Peter Cottontail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XQLypAGqTc

"Kvetch's phrase" is OYGEVALT. The Yiddish word kvetshn literally means "to squeeze." It comes from the German quetschen, which in turn comes from the Medieval French esquasher, which is the source of the English word "squash." Figuratively, kvetshn means "to complain." Since the 1960s, "kvetch" has been used as a noun to refer to someone who complains a lot. "Oy, gevalt!" literally means "Oh, violence!" but figuratively is the equivalent of "Good grief!" or "Oh my God!"

"Cut out for marriage?" is a clever clue for ELOPE. "Boy of la casa" is NINO but that is wrong. The Spanish word is NIÑO. American crossword creators have a bad habit of omitting the tilde ( ~ ) when they use Spanish words.

That ends the discussion of today's "Island Retreats" crossword -- and I didn't even make one of my usual bad puns. Isle say goodbye for now.

Oops.