Theme: Say your piece.
Constructor Mark Tomek appears to be rather new to crossword authorship, and today marks Mark's debut in the Los Angeles Times! Congratulations! I finished this puzzle thinking, "I love Mondays!"
The four theme answers are common phrases that mean "speak at length."
18-Across. Ramble at length: PRATTLE ON.
23-Across. Chat at length: CHEW THE FAT.
41-Across. Blather at length: TALK A BLUE STREAK.
54-Across. Jabber at length: BABBLE AWAY.
The reveal:
65-Across. Hidden bar of the Prohibition era, or an apt title for this puzzle?: SPEAKEASY.
The theme answers, together with the reveal, occupy symmetrical spaces in the puzzle, and 41-Across spans the grid. Just lovely.
The rest of the grid is nice, too. But don't let me prattle on. Let's have a look.
Across:1. Not together: APART.
6. Nile cobra: ASP.
9. Adjust to one's surroundings: ADAPT.
14. Printer cartridge: TONER.
15. "The Producers" filmmaker Brooks: MEL. Mel Brooks won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 1967 film The Producers. His theatrical adaptation of The Producers ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007 and won 12 Tony Awards, and then he adapted the theatrical version as another film in 2005.
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| Mel Brooks as Hitler. Comedy is an enemy of fascism. |
16. "The Hunchback of __ Dame": NOTRE. The 1831 novel by Victor Hugo is set in 15th century Paris. It has been adapted many times, notably as a 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, a 1939 sound film with Charles Laughton, a 1956 film with Anthony Quinn, and a 1996 animated film with Tom Hulce.
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| Lon Chaney as The Hunchback of Notre Dame |
17. Perennial with yellow flowers: TANSY. Native to Europe and Asia, the tansy is invasive where it has been introduced to other continents, and is considered a noxious weed. It's toxic, too.
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| Tansy |
18. [Theme clue]
20. Most chilly: ICIEST.
22. Struggling at bat, say: IN A SLUMP.
23. [Theme clue]
25. Fluffy lapdog, familiarly: POM. The Pomeranian is a toy dog breed descended from the German Spitz.
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| Pomeranian dog |
26. Catch some rays: SUN.
27. Actress Mendes: EVA. Eva Mendes is a retired American actress with a long list of film credits. She has two daughters with Ryan Gosling.
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| Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling |
30. Woeful word: ALAS.
34. Make fun of: MOCK.
37. Figure __: skater's pattern: EIGHT.
41. [Theme clue]
44. Brooded: MOPED.
45. French cleric: ABBÉ. The French word for "abbot."
46. Risk-taker's hashtag: YOLO. You only live once.
47. Try to win over: WOO.
49. "Now I've seen it __!": ALL.
51. Theater chain letters: AMC. AMC Theatres (originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema) was founded in 1920 and was pivotal in promoting multi-screen theaters from the early 1960s onward.
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| AMC theater lobby |
54. [Theme clue]
61. __ Springs, New York: SARATOGA. A city of about 30,000 people, Saratoga Springs is noted for its mineral springs and a horse racing track. There's a Disney resort there, too.
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| Spring water in downtown Saratoga Springs |
64. IV drip solution: SALINE.
65. [Theme clue]
67. Signals of hunger: PANGS.
68. Notification: ALERT.
69. Round Table title: SIR. There were twelve knights at King Arthur's round table, including Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and Sir Tristan.
70. Comedy show host: EMCEE.
71. Pound sounds: YELPS. POMs are noted barkers, too.
72. Letters from a polite texter: PLS. Texting abbreviation for "please."
73. Active types: DOERS.
Down:
1. Storage space that often has a slanted ceiling: ATTIC.
2. Eggs Benedict recipe instruction: POACH.
3. "__ Get Your Gun": ANNIE. Annie Get Your Gun was a 1946 Broadway musical based on the life of Annie Oakley. It featured hit songs by Irving Berlin including "There's No Business Like Show Business." A 1950 film version followed.
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| Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley in the 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun |
4. Fix again, as a torn seam: RESEW.
5. Clandestine meetings: TRYSTS.
6. Musician's sound booster: AMP.
7. Letter embellishment: SERIF. A serif is a decorative stroke added to letters in traditional typefaces. A modern font without serifs is "sans serif."
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| Sans serif on the left; serif on the right. |
8. First-choice tactic: PLAN A.
9. Picnic pests: ANTS.
10. American Girl product: DOLL.
11. Gobbled down: ATE UP.
12. "Coming soon" ad: PROMO.
13. Evening news hr.: TEN PM.
19. London art gallery: TATE. The Tate Gallery opened with a single site in 1897 and now includes Tate Britain (in London), Tate Modern (also in London), Tate Liverpool, and Tate St Ives (Cornwall).
 |
| Staircases inside Tate Britain (on the left) and Tate Modern (on the right). |
21. "Green" digit for a gardener: THUMB.
24. Sherlock's sister, per three Netflix films: ENOLA. The character of Enola Holmes was created by American author Nancy Springer for her young adult novels, The Enola Holmes Mysteries. When the first film was released in 2020, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle filed a lawsuit against Netflix for misrepresenting the character of Sherlock Holmes. The lawsuit was dismissed since most of the Sherlock Holmes stories were already in the public domain, and the rest have entered the public domain since then.
24. Sherlock's sister, per three Netflix films: ENOLA. The character of Enola Holmes was created by American author Nancy Springer for her young adult novels, The Enola Holmes Mysteries. When the first film was released in 2020, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle filed a lawsuit against Netflix for misrepresenting the character of Sherlock Holmes. The lawsuit was dismissed since most of the Sherlock Holmes stories were already in the public domain, and the rest have entered the public domain since then.
 |
| Starring Millie Bobby Brown |
28. Nov. honoree: VET. Veterans Day is observed annually on November 11.
29. Spacious, in a way: AIRY.
30. 20s source: ATM. You can get $20 bills at an Automated Teller Machine.
31. Language spoken in Vientiane: LAO. Lao is the official language of Laos, of which Vientiane is the capital.
32. European peak: ALP.
33. Distort, as data: SKEW.
35. Chicago MLBer: CUB. The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago.
 |
| How today's blogger really feels about the professional sports stuff. |
36. Shish __: KEBAB.
38. Prefix with thermal: GEO.
39. Sci-fi computer villain: HAL. From the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke, a noted science fiction author. Here's a 54 second reminder.
40. Boxing ref's ruling, for short: TKO. Technical Knockout. A decision that one of the boxers can no longer safely continue the match.
42. Brouhaha: ADO.
43. Flies off the shelves: SELLS.
48. Orchestra woodwind: OBOE.
50. Bounded: LEAPED.
51. Analyze for purity: ASSAY.
52. Baseball bat wood: MAPLE.
53. Fishing basket: CREEL. My father was a fly fisherman and carried a creel like this one:
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| If Daddy was going to keep a fish to eat it, he killed it with a sharp blow to the head and popped it into the creel. |
55. Audibly stunned: AGASP. Killing creatures leaves me AGASP. Hence, vegetarian.
56. Pizza Margherita herb: BASIL.
57. Avis rival: ALAMO.
58. React to a cringey faux pas: WINCE.
59. Emotion voiced by Lewis Black in the "Inside Out" films: ANGER. Lewis Black does anger well.
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| Lewis Black |
60. Positive responses: YESES.
62. Senior advocacy group: AARP. American Association of Retired Persons.
63. Times Sq. sales booth: TKTS. The TKTS Discount Booth in Times Square offers same-day and next-day matinee Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets at a discount.
66. Calendar divs.: YRS. Calendars divisions are years. Could have been wks or mos, but it wasn't.
Here's the grid:
Solvers,
Did you utter YESES out loud when reading the answers here today?
Or did you WINCE if you discovered you had gone awry?
YOLO. Take a chance on sharing your reactions in the comments.
-- NaomiZ
