BLACKTOP MARKET
Psst~! I gotch yer tarmac right here . . .
This is Wendy's 20th puzzle for the LA Times - she has one for each day of the week, but Friday is her most prolific, with eight constructions in total counting this post; her last was almost a year ago. The theme this time invloves the clever addition of "top" into the long fills, and in some nifty, awkward spots, no less. I found today's crossword Friday-level, struggled in the SE corner with crossing names ( Natick ), one semi-Twurd, and an incorrect guess on my part, but it all worked out in the end. A 15 x 16 grid with eight extra black boxes called cheater squares, nine names, ten more 3LWs than four-letter ones, a couple of Twurds, a couple of Frawnche, a couple of baseball, and a couple of cringe-worthy fills. The themers and the centered reveal;
20. Concern that one's sneakers are hopelessly out of style?: HIGH TOP ANXIETY - High Anxiety
27. Knocked over a bottle of booze?: TOPPLED THE FIFTH - my favorite of the themers, "Pled The Fifth" ( Amendment )
Baseball #1
46. "Project Runway" timer?: FABRIC STOP WATCH - Fabric Swatch
The cat wants a swatch of that outfit . . .
54. Going on and on about one's new cookware?: IN PAN TOPIC MODE - In Panic Mode
That's not breakfast sausage . . . 😆
35. Not well-balanced, or an apt title for this puzzle?:
TOP HEAVY
But
Wait,
There's
More~!
ACROSS:
1. Breaks down: SOBS
5. Virginie-Occidentale et Californie: ETATS - Frawnche #1, for states, West Virginia, and California; I am learning how to play Hotel California - just have to get better with the opening chord progression picking pattern
I have an Epiphone 6 &12-string with bolt-on necks,
so I could turn it upside down and play lefty
10. Chilean sea __: BASS
14. "Love ya!": "MWAH~!" - we've seen this before in crosswords - a "kissy" noise - 😘
15. Diana Taurasi's jersey number: THREE - WNBA, basketball, name #1
16. Joined with: WED TO - Twurd
17. Bach title: HERR - name(ish)
18. Settles: CALMS
19. Leader of a chipmunk band: ALVIN - name #2
23. Bakery allure: AROMA
25. First responder gp.: EMS - Emergency Medical Services
26. Indication that docs are included: ENCs - ooof - Enclosures
32. Forest carpet: MOSS
33. Chitchat: GAB
34. Web design lang.: CSS - I knew of "C", "C+", and a few other coding languages, but not this one
39. Phillipa of "Hamilton": SOO - learned by doing crosswords, still a name, #3
41. Tax return fig.: AGI - Adjusted Gross Income
42. Hit close to home?: BUNT - worthy of being a C.C. clue . . . baseball #2
52. Tyke: TOT
53. Pirouetting, say: ON TOE
59. Pont des Arts city: PARIS - Frawnche #2
60. Olympic gymnast Strug: KERRI - I was down to _ERRI, so a WAG of K, or T or . . . name #4
61. St. Louis landmark: ARCH
64. "My Brilliant Friend" novelist Ferrante: ELENA - semi-WAG, secretive identity, name #5
65. Etsy business: eTAIL - online Retail
66. Macaroni art need: GLUE
67. Curl counts: REPS - Workouts, not wigs
68. Al __: pasta specification: DENTE
69. Looks at: EYES - I see you checking out my asphalt . . .
1. "I can't believe u": SMH - Text-speak #1 for Smacking My Head -🤦♀️- S'edMH on a few fills today
2. Be behind, in a way: OWE
3. Does a pub crawl: BAR HOPS - frequently in my ute
4. Crayfish kin: SHRIMPS - Cringe. Perhaps we can have deers, sheeps and oxes, too . . .
5. Engrave: ETCH
6. "Don't be like __!": "THAT~!"
7. Folk singer Guthrie: ARLO - crossword staple, still a name, #6
10. Convictions: BELIEFS - nailed it
11. Onsets: ADVENTS
12. Knit or purl: STITCH - I learned to knit years ago, but lost interest once I did . . .
13. Some smart TVs: SONYs - I tried OLEDs
16. Buildup on a menorah, perhaps: WAX - Meh. I thought it was an oil lamp, but I'm not Jewish . . .
21. Miss: GAL - I went with "ERR". the other kind of miss - and how could I miss miss~?
black tights on blacktop
22. Research-funding org.: NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation - the website
23. Cash provider: ATM
24. Hopping pal of Pooh: ROO - from Winnie the Pooh books - name(ish)
28. Motivation for a vanity project: EGO - We had EGOs yesterday, too
29. Big name in sealant: DAP - I use this brand all the time
30. "Frankly," in texts: TBH - Text-speak #2, To Be Honest
31. In need of salt, say: ICY - took a moment, but once I thought 'blizzard' instead of 'bland', nailed it
35. Publisher with a mountain peak logo: TOR
36. Put away the groceries?: EAT - Har-har
37. Many moons __: AGO
38. A-lister: VIP - I tried PRO
39. Time commitment for some jrs.: SAT PREP - clever, but still Twurdish
40. Gets: OBTAINS - solid Friday clue/answer
42. Detail in a van Gogh self-portrait: BANDAGE
"What~? I can't hear you . . . "
43. Downright: UTTERLY
44. Cpl. or sgt.: NCO - military abbr, Non-Commissioned Officer
45. With 51-Across, Wyle drama: THE - 51A. See 45-Down: PITT - The IMDb; I had no clue, name #7
46. Closing number: FINALE - Dah~! Not ENCORE
47. Pugsley kin: ITT - PITT and ITT, plus a Monday dupe, name #8
48. Out of options: COOKED - Yeah, but meh. I think I would have preferred rOOKED - at least I can see a checkmate in chess being forced by a ROOK
Slash, the Cousin Itt of Rock N Roll
48. Out of options: COOKED - Yeah, but meh. I think I would have preferred rOOKED - at least I can see a checkmate in chess being forced by a ROOK
49. Rays home, for short: ST. PETE - [Devil] Rays, from Tampa Bay - baseball #3 - In the Ms. Wendy puzzle I blogged, 2024, Tropicana Field was a clue
50. Court: WOO - Nailed it - but SUE was my first thought
51. Three-time Oscar nominee Laurie: PIPER - vaguely remembered, but I still had to do the alphabet run with the crossing PITT, so Natick . . . Rotten Tomatoes link, name #9
55. Intel org.: NSA - No Such Agency - 🤫
56. Persia, today: IRAN - Iran today is a prickly place - Geo name #10
57. Lit __: CRIT - Abbr for Literary Criticism - this website came up when I Googled
58. Unit equal to 20 north-south blocks in New York City: MILE - Huh. Learning moment for me - I figured it was ACRE, but was waaaay off . . .
62. Pool necessity: CUE - Ah. That kind of pool; got me
Gonna need the girl, too, obviously . . .
63. Guys: HEs - Meh. I had MEN, so 33.3% correct
Splynter
Grid Flow 10.0 - the lowest recorded on Friday to date
Notes from C.C.:
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