Theme:"Made to Measure" - Common phrases are reinterpreted as if they're units of measurement.
23. Increments of time spent on an assembly line?: FACTORY SECONDS.
28. Units of weight equivalent to roughly seven times that of a human?: DOG POUNDS.
43. Percentages of alcohol in shipboard grog?: GALLEY PROOFS.
65. Units of force required to bite into a Mediterranean fruit?: FIG NEWTONS.
72. Volumes of topping poured over movie theater popcorn?: BUTTER CUPS.
93. Lengths to which some teenagers will go to procure fake IDs?: MINOR LEAGUES.
109. Areas of land bought and sold by savvy real estate investors?: WISE ACRES.
118. Thermometer readings at a major golf tournament? : MASTER'S DEGREES.
Chuckled at a few clues. Definitely some grin-worthy moments. The units of measurement are, of course, playfully repurposed from phrases that originally had nothing to do with actual measuring.
Gary Larson & Amy Ensz are a husband-and-wife team. Can you imagine the wordplay flying around their home?
Across:
1. Limp Bizkit genre: RAP METAL. Nu metal band.
9. "Welcome to Hawaii!": ALOHA.
14. Without bias: JUSTLY.
20. "Maybe it's true": I GUESS SO.
21. Pitney's partner: BOWES.
22. Course absent at a dim sum or tapas restaurant: ENTREE. Generous portions at the dim sum place. We normally ordered 3 or 4 baskets then yakked for hours.
25. "Seinfeld" role for Julia: ELAINE.
26. Priceless?: FREE. Nice clue also.
27. Slightest: LEAST.
30. Get a bunch of: AMASS.
32. Viscount's superior: EARL.
33. Discombobulate: ABASH.
34. Capital that replaced Istanbul: ANKARA.
38. Paddock pace: TROT.
41. Spilled the beans: TOLD.
46. Washstand toppers: BASINS. 86. Wash up: LAVE.
50. Stunt performer Knievel: EVEL.
51. Swiss chocolate brand: LINDT.
52. Three-spot in a hand: TREY.
54. WWE wrestler __ "Freakin" Rollins: SETH. Unknown to me.
56. Went back and forth: SEESAWED.
59. Transitions: SEGUES.
61. "Whoopee!": YAHOO.
62. Feathery wrap: BOA.
63. D.C. baseball team: NATS.
64. "Heavens to Betsy": DEAR ME.
74. Divvies up: ALLOTS.
75. Like a phone in need of a charge: DEAD.
77. Fly catcher: WEB.
78. Pride members: LIONS.
79. Sent an emoji: TEXTED.
81. Italian dessert: TIRAMISU. Want some?
87. Tick off: LIST.
88. Bishop's agent: VICAR.
90. Seemingly forever: EONS. Been over 8 weeks since I took Methotrexate. Alas, no improvement yet. Sure hope there's some alternative when I see the RA doctor again on 4/23.
91. Hold back: DETAIN.
96. Origin: SEED.
98. World Cup cheers: OLES.
99. Chalkboard accessory: ERASER.
100. Persian potentates: SHAHS. Followed by
104. Many a Riyadh resident: ARAB.
106. Diving positions: TUCKS. Pike and tuck.
111. Condition: SHAPE.
113. Some PC ports: USBS.
117. Figure skating biopic: I TONYA. Played by Margot Robbie.
122. Chops finely: MINCES.
123. Mystery prize?: EDGAR. The Edgar Awards.
124. Eroding: EATING AT.
125. Knights' mounts: STEEDS.
126. Coffee order: LATTE.
127. Some sporty Pontiacs: TRANS AMS.
Down:
2. Biology lab supply: AGAR.
3. Purple shade: PUCE.
4. Ration (out): METE.
5. Spanish "that": ESO.
6. Original Dungeons & Dragons co.: TSR. Short for Tactical Studies Rules.
7. Safe places: ASYLA. I dreamed of ICE agents visiting my house one night.
8. Takes the count: LOSES.
9. Primer material: ABCS.
10. Spoils: LOOT.
11. Have possession of: OWN.
12. "__ Gabler": Ibsen play: HEDDA.
13. Classify: ASSORT.
14. Military vehicle: JEEP.
15. Vents: UNLOADS. Guess how much does it cost to change a
Federal Pacific panel these days? $5K at least. I have to replace it if I
want to sell the house, as it's regarded as a fire hazard. But I don't
need to if I continue to live here.
18. Advances: LENDS.
19. "Good grief": YEESH. 30. "__ you joking?": ARE. The panel!
24. Singer Sheena: EASTON.
29. Geography class spheres: GLOBES.
31. Kentucky Derby month: MAY.
32. Dark forest hypothesis subjs.: ETS.
34. Keeps in a cellar, perhaps: AGES.
35. Pews locale: NAVE.
36. "Castle and Sun" painter Paul: KLEE.
37. "__ Well That Ends Well": ALL'S.
39. Engine parts: RODS.
40. As a rule: OFTEN.
42. Nonprofessional: LAY.
44. Tennis skirt fold: PLEAT.
45. Clear (of): RID.
47. Oscar of "Dune": ISAAC.
48. Jacket named for an Indian prime minister: NEHRU.
49. Walk noisily: STOMP.
52. Ballet attire: TUTU.
53. Sabbath activity: REST.
55. Tilling tools: HOES.
57. Helps run a scam: ABETS.
58. Blows away: WOWS.
60. Make small talk: GAB.
61. __ Buena Island, California: YERBA.
64. Bambi, e.g.: DEER.
65. Pumpkin spice season: FALL. Lately I've been loving pumpkin millet congee. It soothes my stomach and brings me back to my childhood.
66. Trojan War saga: ILIAD.
67. Part of a fitting simile?: GLOVE. Fit like a glove.
68. Nine-piece band: NONET.
69. Poetic exaltations: ODES.
70. Call from a till: NEXT.
71. Did nothing: SAT.
73. Flower girl's dance move, perhaps: TWIRL.
76. Pitchfork wielder: DEVIL.
79. Quality of one who can't sing on pitch: TIN EAR.
80. Chow down: DINE.
81. 2022 Cate Blanchett drama: TAR. It's heavy.
82. Ginormous: MEGA.
83. Letters of debt: IOUS.
84. Old-fashioned blade: SNEE.
85. Space race initials: USSR.
87. Golf ball position: LIE.
89. One who shares the bill: CO-STAR.
92. Evaluated: ASSAYED.
93. Unruly group: MOB.
94. Sound of surprise: EEK.
95. Horace's "__ Poetica": ARS.
97. Multitool maker: DREMEL. We had this before.
100. Stays afloat: SWIMS. Been taking a break. Sure hope the ankle swelling goes away soon.
101. Water-skier's "Go!": HIT IT.
102. Collectively: AS ONE.
103. Thus: HENCE.
105. Carne __: ASADA. This looks delicious.
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107. Unexpected sports outcome: UPSET.
108. Chest material: CEDAR.
110. Pop's Mama: CASS.
111. On the double: STAT.
112. "Take this!": HERE.
113. Banquet coffeepots: URNS.
114. Genesis creator: SEGA.
115. Skyscraper support: BEAM.
116. Fast fliers no longer flying, briefly: SSTS.
119. Title of a Beatles song?: SGT. Pepper!
120. Pilot's approx.: ETA.
121. __ rummy: GIN.
C.C.
24 comments:
0ne possible Natick: crossing “Seth” and “Isaac.” And one across took a lot of perps. Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got the theme early, even though d-o forgot to read the puzzle title. Again. Still, it was a DNF due to one bad cell. ASYLi/AMiSS. AMiSS looked fine, so I never read the clue. Bzzzzzzt. Thanx, Gary, Amy, and C.C. (Sure hope you get some relief from those RA symptoms. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.)
Impressive array of eight themers, which I’m familiar with all but GALLEY PROOFS. Like d-o, I didn’t look at the puzzle title to see how they all tied in. Took perps to get RAP METAL, ENTREE, ABASH, SETH, HEDDA, STAUB, TRINA, ISAAC, YERBA, ETS and TSR. Yikes became YEESH, plum became PUCE. Last fill was a WAG to get the T in the unknown TAR/TIRIMISU cross, the only Italian dessert I know is spumoni. Somehow with all that, I was able to FIR w/out help in 28:43. My DREMEL is an indispensable tool in some home projects. Thank you Gary and Amy for the fun solve, and to C.C. for the recap. Hope you will be prescribed something effective to deal with your RA.
Good Morning:
I thought the theme was very fresh and I enjoyed figuring out the answers. I liked Dog Pound, Wise Acres, and Masters Degrees the best, but all themers were solid. Some of the cluing was exceptionally clever, but I was stymied for a while by unknowns, i.e., Staub, Trina, Dremel, Yerba, etc., and reading Carne as Came didn’t help my progress, either. Sunday grids aren’t always as challenging as this one was for me, but it’s certainly preferable to the easy-peasy fill in the blanks offerings. My finish time was almost the same as YP’s.
Thanks, Gary and Amy, for a fun Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for your professional opinion and commentary. I hope you get some relief soon from your RA pain.
Have a great day.
FIR, but NW corner was brutal. I hung on to HARD ROCK/DOLE way too long, but sorted that out. Still no congrats until I circled back and discovered I misspelled VICAR as VICoR. Both ToR and TAR as a movie title meant the same (nothing) to me, but managed to straighten that out. Pretty nice Sunday puzzle.
FIR. I had some doubts at the crossing of Staub, Trina and abash. It just didn't look right, but I went with it and got the win.
Thr theme became obvious to me early on and that helped a lot.
There were a few proper names I didn't know, usually always are, but the perps for the most part were fair.
So overall a somewhat enjoyable puzzle.
Musings
-Teaching various measures was a big part of my career and Gary and Amy had a fun exercise about them!
-The MASTER'S inclusion was timely and should have a great last round today. Go Rory!
-Without bias: Good luck in today’s media
-Johnny Carson was the master of SEGUES
-YAHOO had to replace WAHOO which is a 20-minute drive from my chair
-Our blackout saw many devices go DEAD and people had to scramble to charge them elsewhere
-Paul Anka’s ESO Beso (Ooo that kiss) bails me out every time
-$20 to eat at McDonalds with no drinks? ARE you kidding?
-People with a TIN EAR usually don’t know they have one
-I think of a singer telling the band to HIT IT for a song
Same problem as John M27: ToR vs TAR so bzzzt. Missed by 1 letter. But I really liked the themers. I agree with CC that they were clever and funny, providing many aha moments. Great Sunday puzzle.
My eldest brother's high school friend's dad (that's a mouthful!) owned a Pontiac dealership. When his buddy pulled up to our house in his brand new '70 TRANS AM (singular) I thought a spaceship had landed in our driveway! White with the blue phoenix on the hood, it's still my favorite muscle car.
Chow down seems the opposite of DINE
Wow! Á puzzle by my favorite duo. I invariably like their puzzles. This morning included. Lots of fun theme answers and very few unknowns. I’m happy.
Thank you CC. I hope your ankle heals quickly.
Sheesh. Definitely not in my wheelhouse today. Dog POUNDS? Still not gokking that clue.
An old saying is that 1 human year equals 7 dog years. The clue suggests that ratio carries over to weight, thus 1 human pound is 7 dog pounds. Ha ha!
I liked this puzzle. ROOT became SEAT which then became SEED.
Tough but delightful Sunday puzzle, many thanks, Gary and Amy. And your commentary is always a big help, C.C.--thanks for that too--and take good care of yourself for the rest of the day.
Well, it's a good think I have a MASTER'S DEGREE or I would never have been enough of a WISE ACRE to manage this puzzle. I did SEE SAW back and forth, trying to figure things out, and sighing 'DEAR ME' every time I couldn't get things. But I at least stayed put and put my ABCs together and slowly things fell into place. I don't OWN a JEEP but still got those items, and I do enjoy FIG NEWTONS and BUTTERCUPS for dessert, with a generous topping of TIRAMISU at the end. But now I'd better put down my ERASER and get some REST.
Have a rest of a lovely Sunday, everybody.
The last Pontiac Firebird was built in 2002. The car in the picture is a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro with minor badging changes.
I didn't really get 'Tick off' / 'list'? I can see that you could tick off items on a list but that seems too weak an association. Luckily the perps saved me.
Hola As usual on Sunday the puzzle takes me a long while since I leave for Mass after I start the solve. But it was fun today! DOG POUNDS was fun and I got it! That's not always the case for me. One of my sisters loves FIG NEWTONS so that was a fast fill. If we've had DREMEL before I don't recall. I did remember PUCE and that helped with RAP METAL which is alien to me as is most modern music.
I'm working on my Easter menu so bye for now. Have a lovely day, everyone!
As in "On a roll with his audience, Jinx ticked off the reasons why he'll never be able to FIR a Saturday LAT crossword puzzle."
FIW, with abuse instead of ABASH. About the only rapper I know is IceT, and then I don't know any of his "music." And YEESH seems like something more suitable for the Mutts comic strip.
Home sweet home, returning from my first multiday respite break. Great spiritual recharge. Dewinterized my RV, and everything survived except that the water valve for the ice maker has an electrical fault. Fortunately, I had old fashioned ice cube trays, which worked fine. Last winter I had the fix-it shop re-seal the roof, and I think they sealed all three of my powered ceiling vents in the process. I'll have to take it back to them to fix that knucklehead error.
Thanks to Gary and Amy for the fun workout. Favorites were "parts of a fitting simile" for GLOVE, and "pop's Mama" for CASS. And thanks to CC for the fun review.
A great CW, by “metes and bounds.”. (Hands up if know ESO measure.)
Welcome home, Jinx. Hope your little break give you a boost!
Thanks to Gary & Amy for the Sunday fun! I had a one box FIW with ANgARA. We've had KLEE before but I just could not bring it up.
FAVs: Clues for COSTAR, GLOVE, SGT, and CASS. Good stuff!
Thanks also to C.C.! That congee looks yummy. Do you use kabocha pumpkin? I sure hope your ankle swelling subsides soon. The weather is warming up and I know you like to get outside.
Mucho fun in the Gary & Amy show today! Loved the “weighty” theme fills, some good giggles ensuing as I solved ‘em (WISE ACRES and DOG POUNDS) and though this certainly wasn’t a cake-walk, it was nice workout for a Sunday. Other than that Natick-ish intersection of SETH and ISAAC, no complaints. Plus 20A gave us a rare look at a triple-consonant sequence (IGUESSSO)! 😃
Bonus points for the MASTERS DEGREES entry — very timely. Rory McIlroy totally broke down upon sinking his winning putt on the first playoff hole 👍🏽
Thanks for your review today, C.C. — I hope your ankle heals quickly.
====> Darren / L.A.
Very late working the puzzle today. It was a DNF. Limp Bizkit and RAP METAL are unknowns, along with TSR and the Spanish word. I just can't remember those Spanish words, other than numbers, asada, and a few others. I left two blank squares. The other unknowns came from perps.
Measurements? What measurements. Didn't notice. Sunday's puzzle's theme is printed but I never look at it because I won't consider a FIR if I use it.
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