google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday June 8, 2014 Alan Olschwang

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Jun 8, 2014

Sunday June 8, 2014 Alan Olschwang

 Theme: "You Too" -U is added to each theme entry

23A. Being on hands and knees? : SCOURING POSITION. Scoring position.

45A. Follow the proverbial crowd? : VENTURE FOURTH. Venture forth. 
  
67A. Soda fountain? : SWEET SPOUT. Sweet spot.

71A. Town boor in a western capital? : SALEM'S LOUT. Salem's Lot.

92A. Auto equipment supplier? : RADIATOR HOUSE. Radiator hose.

117A. Prescription for extremely potent medicine? : OUNCE IN A BLUE MOON. Once in a blue moon.

14D. One hyping the spud industry? : TATER TOUT. Tater tot.

78D. Court case involving a British tennis player and a rake? : ROUE V. WADE. Roe V. Wade. Not familiar with Virginia Wade. Very accomplished career.

Alan Olschwang is the constructor who used to give us a quote/quip puzzle every Thursday in our old Tribune Media Daily days.

Read my interview with him here. He retired 4 years ago.

 Alan Olschwang, ACPT 2005

Across:
     
1. Bar stock : RYES. So many fun bars in Guangzhou/Hong Kong.

5. Work on copy : EDIT. And 46D. Work on copy : REVISE

9. Student of Socrates : PLATO

14. Lemony characteristic : TANG. Also the name of the big Chinese dynasty whose capital was in Xi'An.

18. Carefree walk : AMBLE

20. Cowboy quarterback Tony : ROMO

21. Red River capital : HANOI

22. Botanical cover : ARIL. Interested to see when Rich will clue it as "pomegranate seed".



26. Small monkey : TITI

27. Closet accessory : HANGER

28. Fill fully : SATE

29. Ain't the way it should be? : ISN'T.  Nice clue.

30. Bring home : EARN
 
31. Schooner drivers : SAILS

33. Many an outdoor eatery : CAFE

35. Red in a cellar : MERLOT

37. Story surprise : TWIST. Like the end of "Call Me Maybe". I think only Jayce watched the whole thing when I linked it two years ago.

41. Remains on the shelf : SITS

43. Beginning to exist : NASCENT

48. To such an extent : INSOFAR

52. '70s Israeli prime minister : MEIR. My "Call Me Maybe" guy Daniel Craig is in "Munich" too. Who is your "Call Me Maybe" guy or girl? 

53. Ahead of, in verse : ERE

54. Honey source : BEE

55. Seuss's "The 5000 Fingers of ___" : DR T

56. Indic language : URDU

57. Clear : ABSOLVE

59. Enduring work : CLASSIC

61. "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" author : STEIN. Who else could it be? I support some sex marriage!

62. High crime, briefly : DUI

63. Asserted one's innocence, perhaps : PLED

64. Frequent co-star of Sylvester : TALIA (Shire)

66. Bust gp. : DEA

73. __ de mer : MAL

74. Not natural : EERIE

75. Low wetlands : FENS

76. Little, in Lille : PEU. Un peu.

77. Activist Medgar : EVERS. I only learned today that he was assassinated.

79. Place to go when it rains : INDOORS

81. Stomach-related : GASTRIC

85. His show had a "Jaywalking" segment : LENO

86. "Haven't we __?" : MET. Our Splynter is too shy.

87. Family that's not kin : MOB. Great clue as well.

88. Hindu honorific : SRI

89. Lanford Wilson's "The __ Baltimore" : HOT L


90. Emotional wounds : TRAUMAS

95. Like clay pots : EARTHEN

97. "Right away!" : ASAP

98. Cohort of Threepio : ARTOO. 3PO &  R2-D2.

99. Support for the Lone Ranger? : SILVER. His horse.

 102. Finished a flight : ALIT

104. Leaves alone, in a way : STETS

106. Once more : ANEW

107. Pelvic bones : ILIA

109. Pouting grimace : MOUE


111. Butting heads : AT ODDS

116. Dial alternative : LAVA. Dove for me.

120. Toy on a hill : SLED

121. Stuck up? : TREED. Tricky clue.

122. Alike, to Alain : EGAL. Somehow Alain Delon was very popular in China in the late 1980s.

123. American of Japanese descent : NISEI. Ni=Two/Second. ISSEI is First-generation Japanese-American. Is = One/First. SANSEI is third-generation. San = Three/Third. SEI means "birth" literally.

124. Sailor's direction : ALEE

125. "The Gondoliers" lass : TESSA. Total unknown.

126. Idea beginning : GERM

127. __ pilot : TEST

Down:

1. Headlong : RASH

2. 1979 disco hit : YMCA

3. Odist's deep black : EBON

4. Vending machine tricker : SLUG

5. Directional finish : ERN. Like western.

6. Less-than-happy lot : DOG'S LIFE. Oh, I've got to share with you a story of how Jose Armenta, an ex-Marine dog handler, eventually adopted his dog Zenit. Nat Geo has a great article.  Click here.


7. Thickly applied paint : IMPASTO. This is a new word to me.

8. Binge : TOOT

9. Key letter : PHI

10. Queen of rap : LATIFAH. Queen Latifah.

11. Cordial flavorings : ANISES

12. Homer, for one : TOON

13. Topical medication : OINTMENT

15. Sans serif typeface : ARIAL

16. Big bang material : NITRO

17. Flash : GLINT

19. 1974 Top 10 hit whose title means "You are" : ERES TU

24. "The Stepford Wives" novelist Levin : IRA

25. Flash : SEC

32. Rhone feeder : ISERE

34. Gets in on the deal : ANTES

36. Neon borders? : ENS. Neon.

37. "Game of Thrones" rating : TV-MA

38. Super Bowl III coach Ewbank : WEEB. He stumped me last time. Here he was with Joe Namath (1965).


39. "Last one __ a rotten egg!" : IN IS

40. Proceeded confidently : STRODE

42. Lease prohibition : SUBLET

44. Group of friends : CIRCLE


47. Interpret : READ

49. Corleone traitor : FREDO. Michael Corleone's traitor.

50. It may be bid : ADIEU

51. Charge : RUN AT

55. Calls on a retro phone : DIALS

58. Guitar ancestors : LUTES

59. Filled (in) : CLUED

60. Getz and Kenton : STANS

61. Freelancer's supply: Abbr. : SASEs (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope)

63. Act rudely, maybe : POINT

65. Render less effective : IMPAIR

67. Extract metal from : SMELT

68. Be in doubt : WAVER

69. "Uncle Vanya" woman : ELENA. Has any of you read "Uncle Vanya"?

70. Clerical worker : PRIEST

71. Montenegro neighbor : SERBIA

72. Superman nemesis : LUTHOR (Lex)

75. Meat and potatoes : FOOD

80. Arabian peninsula native : OMANI

81. Feel (for) : GROPE

82. Game ended by the mercy rule : ROUT. I know the concept, not the term "Mercy rule".

83. "Wishing won't make __" : IT SO

84. Old African queen, familiarly : CLEO

86. Residence Inn company : MARRIOTT

88. Attorney regulator : STATE BAR

91. Author Rita __ Brown : MAE

92. Tightens, perhaps : RELACES

93. Take the edge off : ASSUAGE

94. Accelerate : HASTEN

96. Alaska Panhandle city : HAINES. Never heard of it. I don't even know that Alaska has a Panhandle as well.


99. Burrito dressing : SALSA. I love Pace Chunky salsa.

100. As a whole : IN ALL

101. Bad place for a breach : LEVEE

103. "I didn't need to hear that!" : TMI (Too Much Information)

105. Cross shape : TAU

108. End-of-the-line item : LURE. Oh, fishing.

110. Universal donor's type, briefly : O NEG

112. Don't mention : OMIT

113. Capsule contents : DOSE

114. Forest prancers : DOES

115. Agitated state : SNIT

118. Child expert LeShan : EDA

119. Advanced attorney's deg. : LLM. Master of Laws. LLD is Doctorate of Laws. LLB is Bachelor of Laws.
 
C.C. 


26 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Took a little while to figure out what was going on with the theme, but once I got it things went pretty smoothly for me.

Struggled a bit in the North when I had TEAR instead of TOOT at 8D and didn't want to let it go (it didn't help that I couldn't remember IMPASTO at first). Similar problem down south with LLD instead of LLM. I thought GERD looked awfully strange until the light bulb went off.

I think the only complete unknown today was HAINES, but the perps took care of it.

HeartRx said...

Good morning everyone!

I woke up today to the alarming sounds of a cat racing around the next room. When we got up to investigate, we found a bat flying around, desperately trying to find an exit!! Now, I love bats - they eat tons of insects - but just not inside my house. I shooed the cat out, opened the windows and slammed the door. I'm sitting here trying to work up the courage to peek in the room to see if my unwelcome visitor is still in there.

So the puzzle was a nice diversion today. I quickly got the theme at SCOURING POSITION. It seemed that VENTURE FOURTH was an outlier, since it did not have a sound change like the others. But still, a fun puzzle…

…now to go check on that bat!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

OK, I watched Carly Rae right up to the twisty end. Cute. C.C., I enjoyed your "some sex" marriage comment.

This one was zipping right along until I got to New Mexico. I was sure that panhandle city had to be JUNEAU, the capital. I wasn't sure about TESSA and had no idea about TREED. I stared at that area for a full five minutes before the light came on. So, in the end I won the game, but it went into overtime.

TTP said...


A wonderful Sunday challenge. Thank you Alan Olschwang.

And another informative and thought provoking write up from CC.

CC, of course I remember the twist in the Carly Rae Jepson "Call Me Maybe" video. What a turn of events. But I also found that so many of the video parodies were great fun.

I was going to comment that I can never remember how to enter the answer for "American of Japanese descent." Now I know why. The answer can and does change. Thank you for explaining that.

Some of the many favorite clues:
Ain't the way it should be
Clerical worker
Schooner drivers
Vending machine tricker
Big bang material

I also liked the east edge grid section where I momentarily had the Tolkien character mixed up with the Puzo betrayer. Also had RUN UP instead of AT for "Charge."

We haven't heard from Blue Iris lately. Hope all is well. A nurse would never make the mistake that I did. I entered O POS for "universal donor's type, briefly", and then entered SEED for "idea beginning" to prove it. D'OH !

"High crime, briefly" threw me for a loop. I was thinking treason or homicide, and laughed at the reveal. That one took a while to resolve, because I had the more crossword-common LYRES instead of LUTES.

Hope everyone has a pleasant day ! ADIEU !

Yellowrocks said...

Great challenge today. Interesting expo,CC. I needed a little red letter help. I transposed SASES to SSAES, Duh. So I had TALIS and SALEMALOUT before TALIA and SALEMS LOT.
Like TTP, I had O POS and SEED. Seeing the red letters, I changed it to NEG and completed the bottom middle section. Still lots of fun.My favorite clues match TTP's.

RYES, CSO to Tin.

My Japanese DIL had never heard of ISSEI, NISEI, SANSEI. These words are not used in Japan because they refer to people who do not live in Japan. They are the fisrt, second, and third generation of Japanese who have emigrated abroad. They also do not refer to the many Japanese who temporarily live in the U.S. to work for Japanese companies, sometimes for many years,and eventually return to Japan.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Really struggled with this, as it was being worked on in the wee hours in lieu of sleeping. Lots of unknowns, Impasto being the biggest blocker. Never heard of either Haines or the Alaska Panhandle. And was that guy really named Weeb?

Got there eventually.

Al Cyone said...

Well, this took awhile. I was "sure" of WEBE [sic] but coulddn't make either ABBA or EBAN work (and, come to think of it, I don't think he was ever Prime Minister). Eventually I gave WEEB a try and that gave me MEIR which led to VENTUREFOURTH (the last of the theme fills).

I had SALTS before SAILS and LOIRE before ISERE so that didn't help either. I should refrain from guessing as once a letter is filled in I forget that it's only tentative.

Anyway, a typo-hunt at the end eventually led to the desired "TaDa!".

[51:32]

Husker Gary said...

Learning and laughing (is there an “L” verb indicating clever?), how ya gonna beat it? OUNCE IN A BLUE MOON? Are you kidding me? Off the chain!

Musings
-Every section contained a speed bump but always yielded (e.g. LURE/TESSA/HAINES/TREED)
-California Chrome did VENTURE FOURTH (place) yesterday
-ROMO has the reputation of choking at big moments like this (:43)
-You’re not likely to steal these hotel HANGERS
-Oh, the Schooner that requires wind, not pioneers or alcohol
-TALIA and fictional FREDO were in The Godfather. Don’t get in the boat FREDO!
-Without this stuff, I have serious GASTRIC issues
-My kin are not a MOB? Who knew?
-LAVA : DIAL = Sandpaper : Silk
-Liberté, ÉGALité, Fraternité. N'est–ce pas?
-This book shows they were NASA’s Stepford Wives in public but not in private CIRCLES
-That SASE will get you the rejection letter much faster
-Grandson’s league has a 5 run/inning “Mercy Rule”
-I know Marti (“Batgirl”) can name a song with OINTMENT(‘s) in the lyric
-Who is told musically that’s “It's time for jumping down from the Shelf - a little bit”

TTP said...

Marti,

I once had a bat that found a home in our garage.

Our garage has no windows. When the doors are shut, it is completely dark even during the brightest days. Very cave-like. There had been times when I would go down to the garage to get something out of the other fridge, and think that I saw something. One day I was certain I saw a bat. Nothing else could have moved that fast and changed direction so quickly.

Given that there's no attic, that the ceiling was completely drywalled, and the walls were all concrete, I was pretty certain there was no place for the bat to be living and hibernating during the day, especially when the garage doors were open. Au contraire, mon cheri.

The little guy had a spacious home behind the 4' x 4' 2 inch deep box-framed sign of my favorite football team. There was a 1/4" gap along one side edge here the concrete was was not perfectly smooth. Of course I wasn't certain that his home was there when I first pulled the frame off of the french cleat that was holding it tight to the wall. He scared the guano out of me as he took off. He'd had a home there for quite some time. I left the sign down and the lights and a radio on until I was sure he changed his address.

Good luck getting that bat out of your house.

Husker Gary said...

Addendum
Marti, bats do not attack people as these two girls find out walking through the Lied Jungle (1:49) at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.

thehondohurricane said...

HG

It be "Georgy Girl"

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I must be still licking my wounds from yesterday's nightmare because I struggled mightily with this one. Another DNF due to Webb/Weeb, and not knowing Threepio's friend Artoo.

On the plus side, I caught the theme with the first entry and that helped with the (almost) solve. Kudos to Alan and thanks to CC for the fun expo.

Have a relaxing Sunday.

Steve said...

Once I'd stopped being an asshat trying to figure out how SCOUTING POSITION fit the theme and saw sense then everything was fine.

Minor quibble about Fredo being a "traitor". He had a difference of opinion about Mo Greene, but Michael set him straight and that was that. The real traitor was Michael's brother-in-law Carlo who set Sonny up to be shot at the Jones Beach causeway tollbooth.

C.C. - I can't say for sure that I went to every bar in Lan Kwai Fong and Tsim Sha Tsui during my trips to HOng Kong but I probably came close! My favorite was The Keg at the top of LKF, also the smallest bar in town!

One of my girlfriends is fifth-generation Japanese/American - does that make her a gosei?

PK said...

HI Y'all! This was an amusing but challenging puzzle. Thanks, Alan. Great one, C.C. This had a lot of TWISTS, I'd VENTURE to say. I caught onto the theme early, which helped a lot. I've finally advanced to liking a challenging puzzle and learning new things. Took me long enough to reach this stage.

The learning moment was that Alaska has a panhandle and HAINES is a city there. I'd never really studied the juxtaposition to British Columbia.

Not knowing HAINES or TESSA and couldn't come up with TREED, that was the last block to fill.

I tried Lord & Lady Baltimore before vaguely remembering the title with the "E" unlit.

I had not heard of the Seuss book of DR. T. WEEB, FREDO & EDA were also unknowns.

I can sympathize with Marti "going batty" today. Nothing appealing about the creatures. Good luck finding out how it got in too.

CanadianEh! said...

Weekend workout today with some WAGS and Google to finish.

Hand up for RUN UP before RUN AT for CHARGE. Wanted NO PETS for LEASE PROHIBITION and TYPIST for CLERICAL WORKER (smiled when I saw the misdirection to PRIEST). Had BOSNIA before SERBIA, and was trying to fit WINNIPEG in for the RED RIVER CAPITAL. (And Fargo N.D. is not the capital!)
I was aware of the Alaskan panhandle but HAINES was not as well-known.

I must learn the AMERICAN OF JAPANESE DESCENT information for future CWs. Thanks C.C.

Smiled at all the MOB associated clues (TALIA, FREDO) and also the CSOs to Lemonade (14A), Tinbeni (1A) and Marti (35A).

CanadianEh! said...

Marti, I had a bat wake me up in the middle of the night by dive-bombing my head while camping in our tent-trailer. DH did not believe me until it dive-bombed his head and I made him get up and chase it out the door before the kids were awakened. I hid my head in my sleeping bag until I nearly suffocated I was so worried it might happen again. LOL!

JJM said...

I had to red letter 3 cells. Oh well.
Going out for a bike ride now.

To OwenKL: I used to do the Diamgramless puzzle in the Chicago Sun-Times all the time. My Dad got me started on them when I was a kid. Haven't done one in a while though. As long as they're symmetrical, I'm OK. Once they get non-symmetrical, I'm in trouble.

Lemonade714 said...

Well it is rainy afternoon, so no shade here is SoFla. today or Tang. I do not recall ever seeing the word IMPASTO, though when I was young and my father was taking painting lessons one summer he used that technique. I did not go to the classes and he never mentioned the word that I recall.

Seemed to be a simple Sunday otherwise, not easy but straight forward. I think the Corleone traitor meant which of the Corleones was a traitor, clearly FREDO. Like seeing MOB also in the puzzle.

Splynter, it is my guess that most of the people do not read the write ups which we work on, but but enough do read them and enjoy them.

Lemonade714 said...

For no apparent reason other than synaptic activity, the Alan Delon reference brought to mind the wonderful KING OF HEARTS which starred Alan Bates and Genvieve Bujold. If you have not seen it, it is a classic

Jayce said...

Gosh, has it been two years already?

Anonymous said...

Lemon and Splynter, and all the regular bloggers,the highlight of my morning is reading the witty and erudite blogs of all of you. Of course we read them. I can hardly wait to solve the puzzle so I can read your blogs. Thank you for all your wit and wisdom.
Yellowrocks







Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. Enjoyed the puzzle. I also had No Pets instead of SUBLET. I didn't know HAINES or IMPASTO. Thanks Alan and CC.

I too read all the writeups and all the posts though after some of the comments, I can see mine go unread sometimes.

We just got back from lunch with Jordan. He's a big fan of Lobster Bisque. Also a Lebni appetizer at this particular restaurant. We over-ordered and brought some home.

Anonymous said...

Bill G., could you share with us the software you have that lets you know which of your posts are unread?

Better yet, could you stop crying about it? Just because people don't comment on a particular post doesn't mean it wasn't read.

You've been whining about this for a long, long time. It's time to stop, wouldn't you say?

Unknown said...

This was a fun puzzle. Caught onto the theme pretty early on. IMPASTO and HAINES were solved by perps. I had two write-overs: DEER before DOES and LUTHER before LUTHOR.

Marti, good luck getting the bat out of your house. They can make quite a mess. We have them outside, and they drip guano down the walls. It's really tough to clean off.

Prairie Woman said...

I read the write ups and the comments each day unless the number of comments grows time-consuming. Although I do take great pleasure in skipping those comments made by Anonymous. I enjoy reading but do not post often.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the irony!