Even Stevens

Today's puzzle--"Breaking Even" by Billie Truitt--is another cute hidden-word puzzle. The theme answers contain the word "EVEN":

Jesse Ventura

17A: "You're probably mistaken": I BELIEVE NOT
27A: Former Minnesota governor: JESSE VENTURA. Also an actor, author, war veteran, and of course, a former professional wrestler.
43A: What "Venezuela" means in Spanish: LITTLE VENICE
58A: Fireplace facing, perhaps: STONE VENEER

Lots of alphabet soup for a rainy day:

11A: Measures of brightness (IQS)
38D: GMC category (SUV)
41A: Conservatory Subj. (MUS.)
48A: SutbHub buy: Abbr. (TKT)
57A: Game of Thrones airer (HBO)
62A: OPEC measures (BBLS)
65A: Where Ft. Collins is (COLO)

Let's get physical:

19A: Preceder of oil and drum (EAR)
42A: Middles (WAISTS)
50D: Sculpted from (TORSO)

The Name Game:

14A: I, Claudius character (NERO)
20A: Evita star (MADONNA)
22D: Portrayer of Luke and Leia's mom (NATALIE) (as in Portman)
32D: First shepherd (ABEL)

Notice the religious overtones here? Even the name "Natalie" is derived from the Latin "Natalia," which literally means "Christmas Day."

Dem's fighting words:

21A: Pineapple with a pin (GRENADE)
47A: Bop (CONK)
51A: Command center (WAR ROOM)
27D: Mounted duelist (JOUSTER)
48D: Karate derivative (TAE BO). Before I joined the gym, I used to follow Billy Blanks' workout videos. That is virtually impossible now since our downstairs neighbors complain about us walking around with shoes!

The unknown:

25D: Not too sweet (DEMI-SEC). I had to look up this word, which is a term for wines that use between 32 and 50 grams of natural sugar. Time to do some reasearch if I'm going to created wine-tasting games.

Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) is the author of today's cryptoquote:

If you're going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same either way.

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield was one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1950s (along with Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Russell). Although her acting career was short-lived, she was in several hit films, including "Will Success Spoil Rock Hudson?" and "The Girl Can't Help It," Before her movie career, she appeared on stage in classic plays such as "Bus Stop." By the 1960s, Mansfield was a has-been, but she actually turned down the role of Ginger Grant in "Gilligan's Island." She didn't want to be stereotyped. Her personal life was even more colorful than her acting career. She was married three times and had several affairs, including those with JFK and RFK. Jayne Mansfield died in a car crash in 1967 and left her acting legacy to her daughter, Mariska Hargitay.

Today's JUMBLE is a foodie paradise. In the picture, a woman is bringing her husband all sorts of yummy junk food. The caption reads: "His passion for high-calorie foods was _____."

Word list:

FINTU = UNFIT. You will become unfit after eating too much of this crap.
DUNOM = MOUND
TNNITE = INTENT
KAAILL = AKALAI (a toughie!)

Scrambled solution: UFTONITNAAE
Solution: INFATUATION

By serving all this junk food, this woman is doing a disservice to her husband!!

We had to prepare the house once more for the exterminator. Had they treated our house properly for bed bugs four years ago, we wouldn't have had to take everything apart. We haven't seen anything in two years, not since they put poison into the walls. My son was not happy having to wake up at 7:00 on his first day of spring break. Hopefully, we can all relax by going to see "If/Then" tonight.

Over vacation, I plan to work on some more puzzles and games for my upcoming Etsy shop.

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick