google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 1, 2012 Robin Stears

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Apr 1, 2012

Sunday April 1, 2012 Robin Stears

Theme: Front Money - The first word of each theme entry can precede "Money". And a Dollar ($) sign is formed by black squares in the middle of the grid.

23A. Pride of a collection : PRIZE SPECIMEN. Prize money. The jackpot.

37A. Nexus One, for one : SMART PHONE. Smart money. Wise investors or investment. Boomer used to subscribe SmartMoney magazine. And 6D. 37-Across download : APP

102A. Accountant's creation : PAPER TRAIL. Paper money.

118A. Line in many a dairy ad? : MILK MOUSTACHE. Got Milk ad. Milk money. Not such money for me as a kid. Did not drink milk. Still don't.

13D. "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" inquirer : MAD HATTER. Mad money. Emergency fund. Or Jim Cramer's shouting program. He's so loud.

15D. 1994 Sony release : PLAYSTATION. Play money. Monopoly.

65D. Shoes with a basset hound logo : HUSH PUPPIES. Hush money. To buy silence.

81D. Aircraft carrier pilot's waiting area : READY ROOM. Ready money. Cash. Ready room is a new concept to me.

When I downloaded puzzle and saw the title, I thought the first word of each theme answer would be cabbage, clam, dough, etc, slang for money.

I was wondering why the grid has 83 black squares with only 8 theme entries of relatively short length. 74-78 is our Sunday norm. Then I found out the Dollar sign. No wonder. Great concept, Robin!

Across:

1. Golden Raspberry, e.g. : AWARD. Razzie awards. The worst actor/actress, etc.

6. "__ Fideles" : ADESTE

12. "__ doctor, not a bricklayer!": "Star Trek" line : I'M A

15. "Frontline" airer : PBS

18. What Fuzzbusters detect : RADAR

19. Some boas : PYTHONS

21. It can be hard to refold : MAP. What were you picturing?

22. Cut off : LOP. Thought of Irish Miss's finger story yesterday. Ouch! All your scar stories are scary.

25. Admire to excess : ADULATE. Then you start to "Worship".

27. Pacific Surfliner operator : AMTRAK. A blend of America and track.

28. Authority figure : HIERARCH. We see "Hierarchy" more often.

30. Thornfield Hall governess : EYRE (Jane)

31. Golfer's slice, say : MIS-HIT. I've never learned how to fade/draw.

34. U.S. document publisher : GPO

35. Taken down a peg : ABASED

41. "Scrumptious!" : YUM

42. Judges on "Top Chef" : TASTES. I like "Chopped". You, Steve?

43. Food spearer : TINE

44. Summoned : RANG

45. Bach work : PARTITA. No idea.What does the word mean?

47. Prefix for calling : AREA CODE

49. 401(k) relative : IRA

52. "Joyeux __!" : NOEL

53. Pro __: for now : TEM

56. Sister of Clotho : ATROPOS. One of the three Fates. Wiki said she chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears". And Clotho spun the thread and Lachesis measured the length.

57. The 5 in "10 ÷ 5," e.g. : DIVISOR

59. Loaded, in Logroño : RICO. Rich in Spanish.

60. 2012 rival of Mitt and Rick : NEWT

61. Like LAX, around the clock : OPEN

62. Methuselah's father : ENOCH. Methuselah is Noah's grandfather.

63. Chevy SUV : TAHOE

67. Isr. neighbor : SYR (Syria)

69. Org. with quarantine authority : CDC

72. Kroner spenders : DANES. Kroner is also the money unit in Norway.

73. Horse play : EQUUS. Rare UU combo.

74. DOJ employee : ATTY. Department of Justice.

78. Charged things : IONS

80. One of the deadly sins : LUST. Lusting long legs is a sin, Splynter.

81. "Fear Street" series author : R.L. STINE. Never read the book.

84. Less wasteful : GREENER

88. "Well, __-di-dah!" : LAH

89. Green of Austin Powers movies : SETH

90. Giant legend : OTT (Mel). NY Giants (1926-1947).

91. Stuffed, cylindrical dishes : ROULADES. From French "rouler", meaning "to roll". This looks tasty, Bill!

93. Slathered on, as Brylcreem : POMADED

96. "Categorical imperative" philosopher : KANT (Immanuel)

97. Data : INFO

98. Accustomed : INURED. I'm enured to the new D-Otto, who prefers naughtiness over NATTINESS, and G-string over G-STARS.

100. Killer in a classic "SNL" sketch series : BEE

104. __ Square, adjacent to the Boston Marathon finish line : COPLEY. Well, gimme for Barry G & Marti. Unknown to me.

105. Item in a lock : OAR. Boat!

106. 1987 Beatty flop : ISHTAR

107. "Real dogs eat meat" brand : ALPO

108. Upbraid : REPROACH

111. Whitman's dooryard bloomers : LILACS. "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.."

116. Colorful arc : RAINBOW

121. Somme one : UNE

122. Preschool group? : ROE. Clever clue. Fish swim in schools.

123. Custard-filled desserts : ECLAIRS

124. Divider of continents : OCEAN

125. Conscription org. : SSS

126. Hrs. in classifieds : AMs

127. Minute Maid Park team : ASTROS. Houston Astros.

128. Geeky types : NERDS

Down:

1. Instrument for Giuseppe's glissandi : ARPA. Italian for "harp"?

2. Not so hot : WARM

3. Mine entrance : ADIT. Haven't seen this word for a long time.

4. Motorola flip phone introduced in 2004 : RAZR

5. Emulated Alice : DREAMT

7. Salon supply : DYE

8. Artwork in a clichéd come-on : ETCHING

9. Islamic sectarian : SHI'ITE. And Sunni.

10. Large volume : TOME

11. Loafer's lack : ENERGY

12. "There's no step 3!" computer : iMAC

14. Kwik-E-Mart operator : APU

16. Sacred Indian fig : BO TREE. No clue. It's said Buddha achieved his enlightenment under this tree.

17. Earns a citation? : SPEEDS

20. Beat others to, as sale merchandise : SNAP UP

24. Train for a fight, say : SKIP ROPE. Boxing, right?

26. Slightest : LEAST

29. Appian Way builders : ROMANS

32. They're rarely seen on rainy days : SHADOWS

33. "Such a lonely word," to Billy Joel : HONESTY

36. Judge's determination : BAIL

37. Union Sq., e.g. : STA

38. "See, señor!" : MIRA. Spanish for "Look!". New to me also.

39. Work without __ : A NET

40. Back : REAR

46. Joey in a Milne book : ROO. Joey is baby kangaroo.

48. Volcanic formations : CONES

49. 2011 Colbie Caillat hit : I DO

50. Upholstery problem : RIP

51. Street sign abbr. : AVE

54. Brutus's "Behold!" : ECCE

55. Eponymous mineralogist : MOHS. Hence Mohs scale.

58. Forbes rival : INC

59. Messenger molecule : RNA

62. Father of Henry II : EDSEL

63. Squeal : TELL

64. Cyan : AQUA. Same as Tiffany Blue, right?

66. Tagged between bases : OUT

68. Hamelin critter : RAT

70. Word whose last two letters are an example of it : DIGRAPH. PH together represents one sound F.

71. Noble's crown : CORONET

75. Madre's hermano : TIO

76. Blowup cause : TNT. Love this clip CrossEyedDave linked yesterday. Did sound like a spoof.

77. On the other hand : YET

79. Some earth tones : NEUTRALS

82. Old Ford luxury car : LTD

83. 1984 Cyndi Lauper hit : SHE BOP. I skip those YouTube songs with ads.

85. "We wear short shorts" brand : NAIR

86. Tracy Turnblad's mom in "Hairspray" : EDNA

87. S&L offering : RE-FI

89. Hook's right hand : SMEE

92. Beethoven's fifth? : SOL. Oh, I see, "Do re mi fa SOL..."

94. DuPont acrylic : ORLON

95. "Oh, my" : DEAR ME

96. Region known for its wool : KASHMIR

98. Ill-fated son of Daedalus : ICARUS. Thanks to Lemonade, now I remember Daedalus.

99. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" family : NOLANS. Drew a blank. The only way I could nail this one is when the clue is "Pitcher Ryan and others".

101. Beethoven's Third : EROICA

102. Complain about : PICK AT

103. Neptune's largest moon : TRITON

109. Ladies on a lea : EWES

110. "__ fair in ..." : ALL'S. In love and war and crossword.

112. Valentine trim : LACE

113. Maker of Aspire computers : ACER. Finally the computer clue! Rich always clued ACER as tennis related.

114. Sudan neighbor : CHAD

115. D.C. 100 : SENS

117. Lingerie item : BRA. Lovely.

119. El Dorado treasure : ORO. Gold.

120. __ Nautilus : USS

Answer grid.

C.C.

34 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Fun puzzle, Robin! Fine write-up, CC!

All the way through w/o cheating or typos! Fantastic!

CC: The IMAC clue came first. So do not get your comment about ACER.

Must try to get to sleep! Have been trying with no success. Darn!

Happy Sunday, all!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I hate to admit that I didn't pay any attention to the theme while solving and never noticed the dollar sign (although I did think the grid looked a bit odd).

Mostly smooth solving, except for the parts that were insane. BO TREE, ROULADES (crossing DIGRAPHS), HIERARCH, ATROPOS, POMADED, NOLANS -- none of these were anywhere near my wheelhouse, let alone in it.

The NOLANS/COPLEY crossing could have been deadly if it weren't from the fact that I'm from Boston and know COPLEY Square quite well.

And thank heavens the foreign language of choice today was Spanish (MIRA, ORO, RICO, TIO) and not French (although UNE did sneak in).

Clue for MILK MOUSTACHE was brilliant. Hmmmm... My spell check wants it to be MUSTACHE. Go figure...

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

Thanks for pointing out the dollar sign – I can’t believe I missed that visual! It was a pretty fast solve for me today, so nothing really stood out. I even missed half of the theme entries until I read your write-up! And yes, I also knew COPLEY Place. It is getting plenty of press right now, because the Boston Marathon is coming up in a couple weeks.

I smiled when I saw POMADED, because it reminded me of this.

Have a relaxing day, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

Slathering on Brylcreme could lead to a very hot date. LOL Their motto is. "A little dab will do ya."
Link text

As a teacher, DIGRAPH was a gimme.

My puzzle says British dairy ad, I think to justify spelling MOUSTACHE with a U.

The usual plural of roulade in recipes is rouladeN (from the German), not ROULADES. This dish is made from thinly pounded beef steak and stuffed with pickles, onion, and bacon. YUM

desper-otto said...

Good morning C.C. and weekend warriors.

DNF for me today. Twice! I had PRIME SPECIMEN -- RAM-R sounded OK for a phone. And I also had ROULANES -- ENNA worked as a woman's name.

Had I gotten the theme, I probably could have sussed PRIZE. But, as usual, the theme totally escaped me. I see it at the top of the puzzle, and then promptly forget it.

C.C., thanks for the shoutout. Why is it always the not-so-nice stuff that people remember?

It was nice to see old friend ADIT again. He's been conspicuous in his absence.

PARTITA sounds like it could be a Tex-Mex snack.

Favorite clues: Father of Henry II and Beethoven's fifth.

Husker, here's a trivia question for you. What group performed Short Shorts back in the '50's?

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I got the Front Money theme, but the dollar sign was complete lost on me. I did notice that 49-D, 50-D and 51-D, looked a bit unusual in the grid, though.

I lived within walking distance of COPLEY Square when I lived in Boston.

Horse Play = EQUUS was a great pun clue.

I also liked They're Rarely Seen on Rainy Days = SHADOWS.

This was my initial thought for Cut Off.

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone.

QOD: April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. ~ Mark Twain.

Fly_Navy said...

Good morning,

I was doing fine until I got to
59A which, in the print version of the Roanoke Times, appeared as:
59. Loaded, in Logro-o

I thought the dash was a clue, which had me pulling my hair.

Then at 38D I saw:
38. "See, se-or!"

By now I had got RICO for 59A using the down clues, and I figured out what was going on. Someone at the paper found - more appealing than ñ.


Great puzzle, concur with Favorite clues: Father of Henry II and Beethoven's fifth.

Ken Adlum said...

Will someone please explain the following?

"Artwork in a clichéd come-on: ETCHING"

Also, loved the clue for "Edsel."

Anonymous said...

Pretty much WBS. Got stuck in the mid SE: on DIGRAPH, GREENER and ROULADES. Thought of GREENER but since I had DOIR for 'Short Shorts" sloganer, it wouldn't work. Thought sure Doir was correct. Finally I figured I would have to either give it up as DNF or take Doir out and try greener. Then saw Nair possibility and thought what does that have to do with shorts......OH Yeah!, I get it. Roulades exposed itself, & I had no idea of what that was.

My WOD: Bo tree, Partita, Pomaded, digraph, and roulades. I see spell-checker doesn't know what they are either.

Mikey said...

Ken: the "clichéd come-on" is "Would you like to come up to my place and see my etchings?" I never used it, probably would have worked about as well as the ones I did use, though.

Favorite was "Father of Henry II", which fell almost immediately.

I had the same problem with ROULADES as Yellowrocks did, having made Rouladen many times for festive meals where calories and cholesterol weren't issues. NOL didn't make any sense to me, and if I had puzzled over it some more I might have found SOL, but that was my last fill and I was tired of it.

But it was a pleasing puzzle overall, and I finished in time to get over to Sun 'n Fun for the last day.

Husker Gary said...

OMG, there is a $! A great Sunday offering where the middle east almost got me. I had to fight DATA (plural)/ITEM temptation before info came up. GOULASH, LOAN, RATE and NEET were also rejects so swat me on the backside and call me Alice, I got ‘er done. All right, I had mirO instead of mirA, but still… Caramba!

Musings
-Argyle, I loved your Jim Stafford link from yesterday!
-How did I exist before the iPhone came into my life?
-Hatters went mad from having hands in mercury all day to stiffen hides into hats
-I’ve had BOAS and PYTHONS at school. Aren’t they different?
-Newt’s Las Vegas sugar daddy cut him off. He should quit because egos are expensive to feed
-Canal lock, hair lock, padlock, nope, oar. DYE not GEL
-LILAC fragrance fills the air here way early in the year
-The Catholics and Protestants now have peace in Northern Ireland and the world would be safer if the Sunni and Shiites could do the same
-We had supper on the APIAN WAY in Rome
-I finally discarded Henry II as a king to get EDSEL. Great clue.
-I saw the PH ending first on DIGRAPH and tried to work in chemistry
-Danny and Kenickie POMADED all the way through Grease
-DO, I had to look up Short Shorts. No idea!!

Hahtoolah said...

Ken Adlum: Ya, wanna come up to my apartment as see my etchings?

Mikey said...

Forgot to mention: my Incredible Shrinking Newspaper Had an odd unprintable character where the "÷" should have been in 57A, but I'd seen similar problems before, so DIVISOR was a gimme.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Hand up for Croply Sq. Also for Scollay Sq that dissappeared when we went on a 6 month cruise.

Win one and move back into 8th place.

Getting ready to watch the race at Barber.

eddy

Lucina said...

Hello, passionate puzzlers. Great write up, C.C. I love it that you are frank about things!

Like others I noticed the odd shape of this puzzle but failed to see the $ and also thought the theme answers would be synonyms of MONEY, moolah, loot, etc.

What a nice surprise as it developed slowly quadrant by quadrant with many guesses and WAGs.

Loved the cluing for EDSEL and ROE, preschool group. DIGRAPH is a phonics term so very familiar.

I completely missed RICO because had DNA and DICE and thought no more about it.

I loved HAIRSPRAY on Broadway with Harvey Fierstone as EDNA. What a blast!

Have a fabulous Sunday, everyone!

Lucina said...

CED and C.C.:
I absolutely love that little Irish girl in the clip!

xyz said...

As with all my Sunday puzzles, done yesterday and rather quickly. Good theme and fill, no complaints here.

Did not notice the $ - clever!

Beethoven's Fifth had me thinking of IN [a key], then trying to remember if he had a drink problem ....

oh bother ...

Come over to see my ETCHINGs had me chuckling

eddyB said...

CC. Hooks and slices are easy to hit. Just move the right foot up or back a little. It will change
the direction the club face strikes the ball. Real handy to go around trees or cutting a dogleg.

eddy

Grumpy 1 said...

Happy april Fool's Day, all. Good write up, C.C. I got the theme but would not have noticed the $ in the middle if you had not pointed it out.

There were a lot of things I didn't know or coudn't recall, but fortunately, they crossed with enough that I did recall to push me in the right direction.

We headed over to the Naples airport this morning and took a flight on Air Force One. Now you may think that's an April Fool's trick, but it's true. Well... OK... the plane was designated Dominican Republic Air Force One from 1946 to 1949. The plane, a Ford Tri-motor, was manufactured in 1929 and was one of the first aircraft of Eastern Air Transport, which later became Eastern Airlines. I'll try to get some of the footage I shot up on YouTube later. The old girl is in pretty good shape for 83 years old. Of course, there propablty aren't too many of her parts that are originals. It was interesting to fly in a piece of history like that. We even managed to board without xrays, patdowns, wands or scans.

Merrry Contrary said...

my Times puzzle has ice cream. What's going on?

Anonymous said...

My LA Times puzzle is also ice cream. And last weeks Sunday puzzle was different than the one you solved. ?????

Bill G. said...

Fun puzzle but like many others, I completely missed the dollar sign.

I sure enjoyed chasing all the guitar videos on YouTube from yesterday. One good one would lead to several more.

Merry Contrary and Anon., the Sunday puzzle in the LA Times is always by Merl Reagle, not the one covered by this blog. Six days a week they are the same. On the seventh day, they are different. I've never understood why but it's been that way for all the time I've been doing crosswords. At first, I thought this Sunday puzzle might be an inferior product but it's not. It's just by a different constructor and sometimes better than the print puzzle in the LAT.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Like some of you, I didn't see the dollar sign and missed several of the theme answers.

I read that the Buddha achieved enlightenment while sitting under a BODHI tree, but I also have never heard of a BO tree.

.

.

.

.

Ha ha ha ha ha, I just got it:Henry II! Ha ha ha ha. Good one!

Equus is a somewhat disturbing yet interesting play, made into a movie starring Richard Burton. I think it was written by the same guy who wrote Amadeus.

Happy April Fool's Day.

Unemployed said...

$1 donation to CC for showing the dollar sign.

Avg Joe said...

BillG, If you want to spend a little more time on guitarists, this will take you a while.

Roy Buchanan Live

Yellowrocks said...

Mike @10:19, thanks for your support on ROULADEN. I got the answer immediately but found the S plural a little strange. Even stranger was "slathering" on Brylcreem. It has always been, “A little dab will do you. “ Does anyone else remember those commercials? SeeYR@8:33 LINK.

Six weeks after surgery my leg and foot are swelling more. An Ultrasound showed no clot, so it’s just extra RICE: Rest, Ice Compression, and Elevation. I am wearing a strong compression stocking now and only use the stairs twice a day. The computer is upstairs so that is limiting. I had been told that I could do any activity that I tolerated, very non specific and misleading. Apparently I can tolerate too much. I’m a “Doer. “

Irish Miss said...

Good afternoon all:

Great puzzle, Robin, and nice write-up, CC.

Little Miss Smart Aleck got off on the wrong foot by putting in Buster Brown for Hush Puppies. After that was corrected, it was smooth sailing but needed help with Atropos and Rico/RDA.

Overall it was a pleasant Sunday romp, or, as Lucina would say, sashay! CC, when I filled in lop my thoughts were the same as yours.

To fans of The Killing, there is a two hour premiere tonight at 8:00 on AMC. and to fans of Harry's Law and The Good Wife, they have both been pre-empted.

Happy Sunday, all.

Qli said...

I got a lot of the answers today, but it was a DNF anyway. I feel good about tackling a Sunday puzzle, though; don't usually take the time for it. I'm glad I did.
122D was my favorite clue (for ROE!), followed by 62D (for EDSEL).

Jayce said...

Yes, Yellowrocks, I definitely remember those "little dab'll do ya" commercials. My brother's girlfriend could recite it in a very sexy and flirtatious way.

I hope you try to go up and down stairs as much as possible, YR, because, as I understand it, it will strengthen your legs. The more I use stairs instead of elevators the better I feel.

When I see the word "lop" I always think of the character Lop-Eye Shing in "The Sand Pebbles." I loved that book. The movie wasn't all that good or bad, but Mako's character trying to pronounce "valve" is classic.

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed both reading the Sand Pebbles and watching the movie. One very violent part though and I don't like violence in movies. Sex is OK though...

No 'The Good Wife' and 'Harry's Law'? Aargh!

I heard there is supposed to be high surf today. I think Jordan and I will go have a look. I'll stop at the coffee shop on the way back where I'll have a macchiato and we will enjoy reading Calvin and Hobbes.

TarHeelFrank said...

This one was a real tester. Started at 8:24 EDT and finished at 9:47 EDT (Elapsed time 1:23)
I never got the clue until explained by CC - Thanks.

Surprisingly, I only missed one letter - the nexus at Enoch and Mohs.

I did however ace last Sunday's NYT crossword, which comes out in a local fish wrap on Thursday.

Argyle said...

Congratulations and welcome.

gauche gaucho said...

Ishtar: We get our word "Easter" from the name of this goddess ...as well as many of our Easter symbols of new life: chicks, eggs, bunnies..etc.
yet another mixing of pagan with Christendom.

Bill G. said...

Geez, many of us either have fun things to do tonight or went to bed early. Of course, that could be a fun thing too...