google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday August 21, 2011 Pamela Amick Klawitter

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Aug 21, 2011

Sunday August 21, 2011 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: Scrambled Signals - The first word of each common phrase is an anagram indicator. The last word is an anagram of another word referenced in the clue.

24A. 91-Across? : GARBLED SPEECH. And 91A. Aviary sounds : CHEEPS. SPEECH and CHEEPS anagram. GARBED is the anagram signal.

49A. 1-Down? : ALTERED STATES. And 1D. Tries : TASTES. STATES & TASTES anagram.
ALTERED is the signal.

92A. 111-Down? : SHIFTING GEARS. And 111D. Barracks bigwig : SARGE. GEARS & SARGE anagram. SHIFTING is the signal.

121A. 58-Across? : MIXED BLESSING. And 58A. Lack of sincerity : GLIBNESS. BLESSING & GLIBNESS anagram. MIXED is the signal.

3D. 129-Across? : TWISTED SISTER. 129A. Put up a fight : RESIST. SISTER & RESIST anagram. TWISTED is the signal.

61D. 79-Across? : CHANGE OF HEART. The only three-word theme entry. 79A. Milky Way planet : EARTH. HEART & EARTH anagram. CHANGE/CHANGE OF is the signal.

All the long theme entries are symmetrical, the short ones are not. Too impossible a task.

Just a great theme! Pamela is one of few constructors who consistently give us creative puzzles. Her grid is never boring. Always challenging though. This theme has a bit of Dan Finan flavor, another innovative constructor.

Across:

1. Popular tank fillers : TETRAS. Fish tank.

7. First word in many addresses : LADIES

13. Aurora borealis region : ARCTIC

19. If all goes wrong : AT WORST

21. Venue for newsgroups : USENET. Sounds so old.

22. Slain Tejano singer : SELENA. J-Lo played her in the movie "Selena".

23. Chills : SHIVERS

26. Immobilizes, as a perp : TASES

27. She played Dottie in "A League of Their Own" : GEENA. Not a fan.

29. Florentine evening : SERA

30. Where to see the Kon-Tiki : OSLO

31. Sinusitis doc : ENT

32. Give the go-ahead : OKAY

34. One with "Esq." on the door : ATT (Attorney).

36. Xing people? : PEDS. Ped Xing. In Chinese, Xing means "doable". Xin means "new". So, Xin Nian = New Year.

38. "Woo-__!" : HOO

39. Flow slowly : SEEP

41. Utah city on I-15 : OREM

43. Hi, in Honduras : HOLA. Chickie's signature greeting.

45. "__ Peculiar Man": Paul Simon song : A MOST

47. React to humidity, in a way : DROOP. Does this refer to flowers or people?

53. __ Friday : CASUAL

55. Stir up : AROUSE

56. Gave a whirl : SPUN

57. Actresses Gray and Moran : ERINs

60. With a cast of thousands : EPICAL. Always thought the adjective is still EPIC.

64. Japanese-American : NISEI. Ni = Two. Sei = Birth. Literally "second birth/generation".

65. Sharp dresser's standard? : NINES. Dressed to the nines.

66. Directional finish : ERN. Western, for example.

68. "I get it," humorously : AH SO

69. Grounded flier : SST

70. Three sheets to the wind : SAUCED. Drunk.

72. Beethoven's "Pathétique," e.g. : SONATA

75. Both of racing's Unsers : ALS

76. Seine summers : ETES. And 126A. Hot months in Chile : ENEROS. Hot!

78. Colour suffix : ISE. Colourise. British spelling. Not fond of this clue.

80. Things of passing interest? : LANES. Nice clue.

82. "Do I __ eat a peach?": Eliot : DARE TO. Definitely a "Yes" from Argyle. He even dared to link this clip. You wanna give it a go?

84. StubHub competition : SCALPERS

87. Wistful remark : OH GEE

88. Thing to play : ROLE

90. Colored ring : AREOLA. Splynter already gave you the correct link yesterday.

96. White Owl alternative : TE-AMO. Both cigar brands.

97. Future, for one : TENSE

98. Has second thoughts about : RUES

99. Members of the flock : EWES

101. Bay Area blues, briefly : SFPD

104. NYSE figure : ARB (Arbitrager)

105. Parking area : SPOT

107. Spinning toon : TAZ. Tasmanian Devil.

110. Beaux-__: architectural style : ARTS

112. __ polloi : HOI

113. No longer worth discussing : MOOT

115. Some tabernacle singers : ALTI. OK, plural for alto.

117. Lacking integrity : LOOSE

119. 1990s-2000s Irish leader : AHERN (Bertie). Unknown to me. Here, the guy on the right.

124. Arranged in sequence : SERIATE. This is a word?

127. "Stand By Me" director : REINER (Rob)

128. Largest African country : ALGERIA

130. Pull out : SECEDE

131. Rice creation : LESTAT. the vampire. Anne Rice.

Down:

2. Fuel gas : ETHANE

4. Drift : ROVE

5. Sandbox comeback : ARE SO

6. Abbr. on outdated maps : SSR

7. Vehicle for supine sledders : LUGE

8. Hatha yoga posture : ASANA

9. Clear of vermin : DERAT. Spell checker doesn't like it either.

10. Having five sharps, musically : IN B. Whatever.

11. Skinny swimmers : EELS. Yum!

12. Skyline highlight : STEEPLE

13. Big name in Syrian politics : ASSAD. His days are numbered, it seems.

14. Gym unit : REP

15. Geppetto's goldfish : CLEO. Do you all know this?

16. Opening stroke : TEE SHOT. "Fore!" I could picture Husker Gary shouting.

17. How a macro lens is used : IN CLOSE

18. (In) partnership : CAHOOTS

20. Fictional author of "The World According to Bensenhaver" : T S GARP

25. Hates the thought of : DREADS

28. Private __ : EYE

33. __-Aid : KOOL

35. This and that : THESE

37. Suddenly paid attention : SAT UP

40. Danish fruit? : PRUNE. Danish rolls have prune filing. Tricky clue.

42. Iwo Jima figure : MARINE. Our Marine is frolicking in Boca.

44. Unrefined finds : ORES

46. Craze : MANIA

48. Welcome desert sight : OASIS

50. Like lungs : LOBED

51. Winery casks : TUNS

52. Out of gas : SPENT

53. Perfumed, as a chancel : CENSED

54. Label founded in 1975 by Clive Davis : ARISTA

55. Eatery "just a half a mile from the railroad track" : ALICE'S. "Alice's Restaurant".

58. Serengeti roamers : GNUS

59. Popular Nissan : SENTRA

62. Dead to the world : ASLEEP

63. Red ink entries : LOSSES

67. Three cheers, maybe : RAHS

71. Garlicky spread : AIOLI

72. Palate stimulus : SAPOR. Sure looks bland.

73. "... otherwise, you'll be sorry!" : OR ELSE

74. Wailuku welcome : ALOHA

77. Feudal laborers : SERFS

79. Ancient home of Parmenides : ELEA. I only know it's "Zeno's home". Don't know Parmenides.

81. Reminders to conversation monopolizers : AHEMS

83. Rainy day brand : TOTES. Umbrella brand.

85. Exercise wheel site : CAGE. Oh for pets.

86. "Give it __!" : A REST

89. Join the club : ENROLL

91. "__ Magnifique": Porter tune : C'EST

92. Barely get the words out : STAMMER

93. TV's Buffy, e.g. : HEROINE

94. Where work piles up : IN BOXES. I have TO-DO folder for those piled-up work.

95. Alley boundaries : GUTTERS

96. Saint of Ávila : TERESA

100. Isn't anymore : WAS

102. Shylock's adversary : PORTIA

103. Give business to, as a café : DINE AT

106. Longtime beer experiencing a 2000s resurgence : PABST. Why the resurgence, Windhover?

108. Dress with a flare : A-LINE

109. Divided into districts : ZONED

114. Actress Garr : TERI

116. Words with a nod : I SEE

118. Grimm heavy : OGRE

120. Makes tracks : HIES

122. Bob and flip : DOS. I like this clue.

123. [Not my mistake] : SIC

125. Allen wrench shape : ELL

Answer grid.


C.C.

37 comments:

fermatprime said...

Salutations, fellow cruciverbalists!

Have not been able to blog last few days. Really aced Friday but switched to red letters early on for Saturday. However, today's was fun! It took awhile to get the theme, though. It was a grand theme! Must have been an enormous amount of work!

Thanks Pamela, CC.

Yes, SERIATE is a real word!

NC--I too collect stamps, although US has become too pricey for me, and doesn't increase in value much. Oddball valued plate blocks are exception to this, but who can get them? (One must buy way too many from USPS.) TANGANYIKA immediate. Collected world stamps as a kid. Get GB stamps from Royal Mail, but sometimes they run out before they get to me. Recent trains issues, case in point. Darn.

HG--Ursula Andress WAS Honey Ryder, but perhaps I misunderstood you, or Wiki is wrong again.

S-i-l bringing dinner tonight. Must get some sleep!

Cheers!

fermatprime said...

Whoops, that's Honey Rider!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Overall, a brilliant puzzle today. Normally I'm not too fond of clues that force you to look elsewhere in the puzzle for the answer, but I rather enjoyed the experience today because it was so well done and all the theme answers ended up being common phrases.

Many of the clues were fantastic as well. "Popular Tank fillers" for TETRAS got a smile from me right at the start and "Danish fruit" was a nice misdirection for PRUNE, for example.

Not all that glitters is gold, however. TEAMO was a complete unknown (I didn't think to parse it as TE AMO, not that it would have helped) and I kept thinking I had made a mistake. And the less said (or written) about EPICAL and SERIATE, the better...

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I struggled with today's puzzle mainly because I am not keen on anagrams. Between that and the cross-references, I must say this was not one of my better performances on a Sunday puzzle.

There were some clever puns. I liked Xing people, which PEDS immediately popped into my head.

QOD: Everybody's business is nobody's business, and nobody's business is my business. ~ Clara Barton

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Wow, this one must have been a bear to construct, but a fine offering for sure~!

I was very concerned that a major mistake had been made, as I could not get TETRAS to become STATES - then I realized it was matched to 1- DOWN instead of across....must be too early....

I had CLOSE UP, and IN TIGHT before IN CLOSE finally fixed it.

Liked seeing CAHOOTS, too.

Funny, but after wrapping a creepy scene on our movie shoot, we had to DE-RAT the set - it's tough to get them to co-operate, since rats are not fond of bright lights ~!

Volleyball bumped up to 1pm - gotta run ~!

Splynter

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Wow, this one must have been a bear to construct, but a fine offering for sure~!

I was very concerned that a major mistake had been made, as I could not get TETRAS to become STATES - then I realized it was matched to 1- DOWN instead of across....must be too early....

I had CLOSE UP, and IN TIGHT before IN CLOSE finally fixed it.

Liked seeing CAHOOTS, too.

Funny, but after wrapping a creepy scene on our movie shoot, we had to DE-RAT the set - it's tough to get them to co-operate, since rats are not fond of bright lights ~!

Volleyball bumped up to 1pm - gotta run ~!

Splynter

Anonymous said...

57. Actress Erin Gray

I've only had 2 crushes so far in my life. I watched Buck Rodgers and Silver Spoons just to see her.


Erin Gray

The other........ I watched Who's the Boss, Charmed and Romantically Challenged. I enjoy her work as an actress also.

Alyssa Milano


Fun Facts By Dave Letterman

In 1982, the World's Fastest Man and the Worlds Oldest Man were the same person.

One-third of explorers who've visited the both the North and South Poles developed bipolar disorder.

Mikey said...

I think the 36A clue refers to the common traffic sign PED XING, for "Pedestrian Crossing" -- at least I hope it did...

Figured out the theme fairly quickly, which was a big help. SE corner still took forever, thanks to SERIATE and my desire for the "Allen wrench shape" to be HEX. I've got lots of Allen wrenches that aren't ELL-shaped.

Now off to mow the lawn, thanks to the steady rains of late. Not enough to raise the lake, but it sure makes the grass grow.

Grumpy 1 said...

Aloha, hola, good morning, whatever! Great offering from Ms. Klawitter. Once I figured out the anagram thing it wasn't too difficult but i did rely heavily on perp help. The southeast area was the last to fall. I knew I was looking for a cigar brand but TE AMO wasn't one I'm familiar with. SERIATE, PORTIA, LESTAT, AHERN and TERESA, all intermeshed, had that corner looking very empty. Getting ALGERIA, along with the obvious ELL, HIES, and DINE AT, gave me enough to pick away at it. Finally being able to see TERESA was the key to my remaining unknowns.

I wasn't at all familiar with StubHub, so SCALPERS needed to take care of itself via perps. That wasn't too easy since the crossing E_EA and SA_OR weren't jumping out at me either. In the end I decided StubHub must have something to do with tickets and the competition could be SCALPERS. I got lucky on those wags.

Have a great Sunday, all.

Grumpy 1 said...

Mike, I tried hex before ELL also, but decided that a wrench requires a lever arm of some sort. The non-ell shaped ones I have would more properly be called allen bits or allen drivers so I am OK with the clue as written.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning C.C. and all.

My experience was similar to Grumpy's. At first I was annoyed with all the cross clueing, and did not remember Pamela's previous work. So I skipped around the long fills initially and then gradually began to see how the theming worked. That helped me get SHIFTING GEARS from SARGE, and MIXED BLESSING from GLIBNESS.. Gradually the solve came home. Favorite clueing: SIC. The theme was devilishly clever, and in hindsight, it was a well-composed, fun creation.

Enjoy the day

HeartRx said...

Good Morning C.C. et al.

Thanks for the detailed and interesting analysis of this one C.C. I agree that Pamela is brilliantly creative, and this puzzle just rocked!

I thought droop referred to hair, actually. Instead of spiky locks, I end up with wet noodles whenever it is really humid!

For the rest of the puzzle...what Grumpy 1 said !!

Today is "Paint the Door to the Porch" day. Yesterday was "Paint the Kitchen Steps" day. Tomorrow, maybe I should "Paint the Town"? Have a great one, everybody.

Husker Gary said...

Grumpy, STUBHUB is a place ticket holders can post their own tickets (athletics, concerts, theater, etc) online they are not going to use for sale or for professional ticket brokers. I have gotten some great seats from season ticket holders who were not going the night I wanted to go for a very reasonable price. You can even print out the tickets at home. As I said before, Husker tickets are outrageous now but I think tix to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will go down as the game draws closer. Not so much for the Ohio State game.

Husker Gary said...

Cross referencing was horrible and then wonderful. What a taxing, lovely exercise this morning!

Musings
-TWISTEDSISTER/RESIST gave me the theme
-NW fell last as I tried to fill every imaginable TANK before the aquarium and was burning BUTANE
-My cops used CUFFS before we TASEd(S)
-A League of Their Own and Field of Dreams are about baseball and family and are personal favs because baseball was the only connection between me and my dad and brother.
-C.C., this puzzle was xing!
-Humidity here has people drooping and corn growing
-I saw directORial finish first and thought CUT
-SAUCED not SOUSED and REPS not LAPS
-STUBHUB wants $250 for 2 tickets for me to take Hudson to Husker game
-I will not mention KOOLAID was invented in Nebraska again! Oops!
-Ferma, couldn’t remember Ursula’s character, but I do remember her, uh, swimwear. I found a picture of her from last year at 78 and she did not age like Jane Fonda.

Lemonade714 said...

Another example of the wonderful talents of our constructors. I love anagrams and this one satisfied on every level. To mention any clunkers on a 21 x 21 grid would be too picky.

Enjoy all

Lucina said...

Good day, C.C. and all puzzlers.

What a great puzzle today! At first on seeing the cross references I cringed, but then with GARBLED SPEECH and MIXEDBLESSING realized the cleverness of it.

So I quickly sashayed through most of it but could not suss TWISTED so had to look at C.C.'s blog for that.

And did Ggle TSGARP as I had no idea about it.

TE AMO? You could have fooled me.

Much fresh and lovely fill but I must run as today is a busy day. We are having August birthday parties and I am making turkey enchiladas to take.

Have a delightful Sunday, everyone!

Assling said...

I loved this puzzle, and am very impressed with its construction. However, I would have been even more impressed if SIGNALS could have been SCRAMBLED into a common word...

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I've decided to "Carol-ize" my crossword adventures and limit them to weekdays. Saturdays are just too difficult for me and Sundays are just too big and time consuming. (I know, I'm just a wuss.)

Today was my Waterloo. It was just too daunting for me. I don't "do" anagrams and after about a half an hour, I threw in the towel.

But I still checked out C.C. blog and links and your comments.

Thanks for the 82A link to Moulin Huge. Leave the health issues aside. They were sassy and entertaining. You could tell a lot of guys in the audience thought they were very sexy too. Vive la différence.

Have a great day everyone.

Bill G. said...

I really enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks. Thanks for the writeup too, C.C. When you said you weren't a fan, was that of Geena Davis or the movie? I liked the movie. "There's no crying in baseball!"

Was GLIBNESS a glitch for anyone else? I knew about being fluent and voluble but not about being insincere and shallow.

Today has started slowly so far. Not much going on except watching Sunday Morning on the DVR and doing the crossword. I guess that's enough for now.

Lucina said...

While the enchiladas are in the oven I want to comment on SELENA, the movie. Both my daughter and grand daughter love it and have watched it many times over.

Would anyone care to expand on CENSED? I understand incensed but am not familiar with CENSED and it simply worked itself out.

And again, I absolutely loved the theme answers. It was ALTEREDSTATES that led me to TASTES; backwards, I know, but anagrams will do that.

I'm also glad to know that someone besides Zeno resided in ELEA.

I do hope you are enjoying yourself today.

HeartRx said...

Lucina, sounds yummy...I'll be over for dinner!

CENSE is what you do with a CENSEr. And what do you put in the CENSEr? Why, INCENSE, of course !

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks CC

Just a short note on COLOURISE, I thought the clue was OK since COLOUR is the British spelling, and most Brits (although the OED disagrees) prefer -ISE to -IZE. I'm an OED type, me.

Also, we have had good old Bertie (great name!) Ahern in the LATXW within the past 6 months.


NC

Argyle said...

Censer.

Avg Joe said...

Good Sunday all.

It's all been said about the puzzle. I wasn't a huge fan, but found it OK.

But I did want to drop by and provide a link to an interesting editorial that was in our paper today, since it's been discussed here at great length. Leonard Pitts Jr. on The Help.

Jayce said...

Fabulous puzzle today. Well constructed, lots of fun to solve. Thank you all.

Jayce said...

Avg Joe, I read that piece by Leonard Pitts on The Help, and thought he made some very good points. He often does. Always good to see another person's point of view.

creature said...

The last three puzzle have been a delight for me.Today's takes the cake- all I can think is "how did she do it?"

Thanks, Pamela. Same to you, CC.

Everyone covers the puzzles so well. The blog has been fun to read and at the same time echoes most of my experiences.

Thanks, all.

WikWak said...

First thought: I just hate all these cross-references.

Second thought: Wait a minute--there has to be something going on here that I'm missing.

Third thought: But what?

===| Finishes Puzzle |===

Fourth thought: TEAMO?

Fifth thought? DOS? Like in the old computers?

===| Goes to blog |===

No more thinking... slaps self silly with V-8 can. What a great puzzle!

Lucina said...

Marti:
Not a crumb was left of the enchiladas so you would have to arrive early for a bite.

Thanks for CENSE and Argyle for censer. I am very familiar with incense and censer, just had not seen it as a verb.

AVGJoe:
Good article by Leonard Pitts. Thanks for posting it.

BigRedMyA-- said...

UT-Chattanooga? Who's next for the mighty Huskers, Little Sisters of the Poor?

Bill G. said...

Yes, I too enjoyed the article about The Help. I've gotten about three chapters into it and am enjoying it a lot.

I almost asked for an explanation for 122D, Bob and flip/DOS but the light bulb finally went on before I embarrassed myself. [Head slap]!

dodo said...

Evening all, Just need to sign in so I can see if my avatar has changed. I did the puzzle and it's right. A looong afternoon. Hope all are well and have enjoyed the weekend. Between trying to get all the entries back in my address book and fooling aroung with the picture/avatar, time has flown!

dodo said...

Wow! Yipee! Finally! I'm the one on the left in the romper!

Bill G. said...

Dodo, who is your friend?

Abejo said...

Good Evening, folks.

Thanks Ms Klawitter for a tough puzzle, but clever, nevertheless. Thanks, C.C. for the write-up.

Well, I got started this morning for a short while, went to church, then went to Dekalb for a meeting, then came home, then got into the puzzle a little more.

It was tough getting going. Had a problem with the theme for a while. Finally, after the puzzle was 3/4's done, I figured it out. That helped a little.

I wound up with a few words I got wrong and a couple missing. However, I did get some tough ones via the perps, ie: SERIATE, AIOLI, CLEO, ASANA, TSGARP, and maybe a couple more.

Thought STAMMER was interesting. The other day we had STUTTER for and answer and I thought it should have been STAMMER, since it was clued in the British context. Today we had STAMMER and I thought it would naturally been STUTTER. Oh well. So be it.

Yes, the theme was clever, with the anagrams and all. I guess I just have a desire for a straight puzzle. No foreign words, no theme, just clues and answers.

Nonetheless, I do enjoy this daily.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

I believe Xing people? refers to crossing people (crosswalks) or pedestrians abbreviated peds

windinpines said...

Hated this puzzle!! Yes, seriate is definitley a word. But epical? C'mon! The theme was just too obscure and difficult.