google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, August 28, 2015, Jeffrey Wechsler

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Aug 28, 2015

Friday, August 28, 2015, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: A Jeffrey Jumble tribute to Owen and Moe and perhaps suggest s that you TRY POE!

Adhering to the strict interpretation, we have a word jumble (not an anagram) puzzle that features 63 theme squares including the reveal and a grid spanner in the middle. To make this all work, there is the unusual use of six cheater squares, three in the NW and three in the SE. There are many 3 and 4 letter fill and an overall difficulty that did not seem like a Friday. As usual with JW there were lots of sparkly fill CREDOS, FRERES, KIMMEL, PLINTH, BASE TEN, EACH ONE, GEOLOGY, MCENROE, REELS IN, ARISTOCRACY, YOU ARE WRONG and a reveal which is very revealing and amusing. As I have said before, the joy in this type of puzzle comes from the phrasing of the reveal and I really enjoyed the image of the letters from Poetry moving about. Anyway, it is time we move about the puzzle.

16A. Formal dissent : MINORITY REPORT (14). Also a movie with TOM CRUISE. Now a TV pilot that ran this SUMMER.

22A. Lead role in many a Western : STEREOTYPE (10). White hat, ruggedly handsome.

37A. Independence Day VIPs : PYROTECHNICIANS (15). They make our fireworks work.

50A. Vegan diet component : SOY PROTEIN (10). They get their protein where they can.

58A. Metaphor for ballet ... or what this puzzle's circles literally contain : POETRY IN MOTION (14).

Across

1. "It came without ribbons. It came without __": The Grinch : TAGS. We start with Dr. Seuss. Who has appeared in many of JW's recent Fridays.
5. Glutton : PIG. Hog also fits.

8. Be at loggerheads : CLASH. Hmmm. A HUM .

13. Layered snack : OREO. How many clues are there for this American classic cookie?

14. Sch. with residence halls named Acadian and Beauregard : LSU. A CSO to our Louisiana solvers.

15. Crystal __ : RADIO. We have had this clue/fill before and it brought back memories for some of you. Bill G.?

19. Decimal system foundation : BASE TEN. I will defer to our math mavens.

20. Educator LeShan : EDA.

21. Fig. in TV's "Suits" : ATT. This abbreviation for attorney....as foolish as the premise of the show.

28. Cheap sauce : HOOCH. Interesting HISTORY .

31. Transports : HAULS.

32. Appreciative cry : OLE.

33. Rocky prominence : CRAG.

35. Org. of former Soviet republics : CIS. Is this still operational? LINK Commonwealth of Independent States.

36. Paired : DUAL. Carburetors?

41. It's found in bars : SOAP. I guess Jeffrey was cleaning up his CLUING to be g-rated.

42. "I see what's going on!" : O HO. Not safe to yell on street corners?

43. In the area : NEAR.

44. Obedience trials org. : AKCAmerican Kennel Club.

45. __ steak : FLANK.
47. Dropped off : SLEPT.

53. "Quadrophenia" group, with "The" : WHO.
54. Med. recording : EEGElectroEncephaloGram.

55. Four-time US Open winner : MCENROE. The other US Open. John has established a healthy career making fun of his own antics in commercials. The HBO documentary about him and Borg was great.

63. Word on a menu : CARTE. A la.

64. One rarely without a comb? : BEE. Honeycomb humor.

65. Klein of fashion : ANNE.
66. Stopovers : STAYS.

67. Ware lead-in : MAL. All you windows users know this term.

68. Long-term appeal : LEGS. Splynter are you out there?

Down

1. Burger go-with : TOMATO. Not my first thought.

2. Reign of Terror victims : ARISTOCRACY. The French revolution was so bloody. LINK.

3. Biological determinant : GENE.

4. Laundry woe at the Claus home? : SOOT. All those damn chimneys!

5. Public monument support : PLINTH. A really cool word.
6. Real ending? : IST. Ity, ism?

7. Dude : GUY. My wife says, man-guy.

8. Words to live by : CREDOS. From the Latin to believe.

9. Gently massage, wave-style : LAP AT. The waves lap at the shore?

10. Big deal : ADO.

11. Title for Edward Elgar : SIR. The prolific composer of pomp and circumstance music.

12. Popular : HOT.

17. __ judicata: decided case : RES. Literally the thing adjudicated.

18. Catches : REELS IN.

19. "What nonsense!" : BAH.

23. All : EACH ONE. Do not get this one. Each and every?

24. Archaeological site : RUIN. Not necessarily.

25. "What nonsense!" : YOU ARE WRONG. Nice.

26. Work out the details : PLAN.

27. Unadon fillets : EELS. For C.C.?

29. Corn, for example : CROP. So vague needed perps.

30. One may be passed : HAT. So vague needed perps. Once unearthed I enjoyed it.

34. Rocky field? : GEOLOGY.  I have a nephew who has his degree in geology and works in Everglades.

36. Ivory alternative : DIAL. Soap not Jade.

37. Spots for Smokey: Abbr. : PSASPublic Service Announcements.

38. Mother of Sean : YOKO. Not sure why this came immediately, there are many Seans.

39. Shoot the breeze : CHAT. Cat in French.

40. These, to Thérèse : CES. French.

45. Monastère members : FRERES. Our French lesson continues.

46. Late-night host since 2003 : KIMMEL. Wow, time flies, I still remember him from Ben Stein' s show.

48. Obsolescent public conveniences : PHONES. I know people who invested heavily in pay phones in the 70s.

49. Word with dance or shoe : TOE. Another stumper.

51. Small-minded : PETTY. Not Tom.

52. Sgt., e.g. : NCONon Commissioned Officer

56. List substitute : ETAL.

57. Diamond complement : NINE. Baseball team.

58. See 61-Down : PCSPersonal Computers.

59. Bit in a horse's mouth? : OAT. Tricky, nice misdirection.

60. Baseball stat : ERAEarned Run Average.

61. Longtime maker of 58-Down : IBM. International Business Machine. Sold the business to Lenovo in 2005.

62. Org. supporting exhibitions : NEANational Education Association.

No naticks, and a great reveal; hope you all unraveled this one. See you in September. To each of you who sent birthday wishes, thank you very much, it is great to celebrate with my extended family here. Lemonade out.

45 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIW. Searched in vain for the problem that nixed the ta-da, but finally gave up and turned on the reds. the error was an unknown foreign word crossing my misspelling of PYROTECHNItIANS. BAH.

Now POETRY IN MOTION is BALLET,
And sculpture is POETRY in clay.
If you haven't an allergy
To stretching an analogy,
Then a limerick is POETRY at play!

There once was a ballerina from Moscow
Who doused every meal with chow-chow.
Her tongue was contented,
But inside it fermented,
Till her nickname on stage was Krakow!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Jeffrey and Lemon!

No circles, so theme was lost to me.

I cannot get puzzles from cruciverb. I download them, but they do not open. Can anyone help? (I am using Yosemite on my Mac.)

A bit of a struggle, but no cheats. CIS was all perps. Took the longest time to remember Ms. Ono's first name. (Gosh).

BASE TEN was a gimme.

Season finale of Suits was pretty depressing!

Cheers!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

ON the tough side for me this morning. No circles, of course, so I had no idea what was going on with the theme. That didn't really cause me any problems, but it did suck some of the joy out of the puzzle.

First problem was caused by entering ARISTOCRATS instead of ARISTOCRACY. Then, I had BLADE instead of FLANK. The latter mistake stayed with me until the bitter end (making me think the French monks were BRERES). It wasn't until I finally realized that 23D must be EACH ONE that I fixed the problem and got 'er done.

TOE took entirely too long to enter. I've heard of a TOE shoe in ballet, but a TOE dance? Or is it supposed to be shoe TOE and dance TOE? Either way, I had TO_ and really couldn't get it until I finally got MCENROE.

TTP said...

Good morning all. Thank you Jeffrey and Lemonade.

No circles for me. Sped down the left third. Then bottom to top on the right, but slower.
TOMATO was my first thought.
A couple of those clues were rocky...
With PY-O in place, filled in PYROTECHNICIANS. Almost too easy.
US Open clue ? Hmmm. USGA or USTA ?
MCENROE often emphatically told the line and chair umpire, "YOU ARE WRONG!" Wait, was that a STEREOTYPE ?
FLANK steak directly over SOY PROTEIN. Not on my CARTE. I'll have the prior.
AKA "The only band that matters" The CLASH - Rock the Casbah

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

One again I suffered a self-inflicted TOE injury. I had PYROTECHNIC PROS giving me OPAL as the ivory substitute. I stuck with it far too long. Well done, Mr. Wechsler. Lemon, thanx for the expo on HOOCH. Interesting.

In his song New Math, Tom Lehrer explains quite succinctly that "Base eight is just like BASE TEN....if you're missing two fingers."

What would a Friday be without a little Bubble Gum?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Zoomed right through, the vague clues having been quickly augmented by perps. Needed the reveal to figure out what the circled letters spelled. Must've taken forever to come up with the right phrases - cleverly done, Jeff Wex!

HeartRx said...

Good morning, and happy belated birthday, Lemony! I was up to my chimney in contractors yesterday and never even had time to check in. Three trips to the hardware store for supplies, and chasing down sheet copper kept me busy. (That stuff is expensive!!)

At least I got to do a puzzle this morning, but it was looking pretty dismal at first. Hand up for ARISTOCRAts, Barry G.! Some of my circles weren't filled in when I got to the reveal, but once that was in I could go back and finish it all up. Nice!

Avg Joe said...

I normally don't enjoy either anagrams or jumbled words, but this one worked in my demented mind. The circles didn't help that much with those fills, but it did help with the reveal. A lot. Like the consistency of the 4 theme answers with circles being 2 with two words and 2 with one word.

Couldn't decide between Pah! and Bah!, but went with the more likely. Flank steak was my first guess, but that was just because I made Flank Steak Pad Thai this past Sunday. Threw AKC and Who in without a second thought, serving as anchors in those places. My plinth started as a pillar, which slowed things considerably. But it all worked out. Enjoyed it greatly. Thanks Jeffrey. And thank you Lemon.

unclefred said...

DNF. Bah, humbug!! I hate it a lot when I struggle for an hour and finally give up. Thanks for the terrific write-up, though, Lemonade.

Anonymous said...

"Word with dance or shoe : TOE. Another stumper."

Hand up.

Husker Gary said...

I got that the circled letters were not words and I saw they were anagrams for POETRY but it took the reveal to put it all together on this fabulous puzzle well summed by yesterday’s birthday boy.

Musings
-MINORITY REPORTS are very common in congress due to being at Loggerheads
-Hey, this could have been the theme (2:33) for us lowbrows!
-My Crystal RADIO’s antenna to listen to Husker games
-We used to teach different number BASES to JH kids. I taught for 101010 (base 2) years.
-Need a job.There’s always HAULING positions.
-The shortstop must touch second base not just be NEAR it for a double play
-What must it have cost to get McEnroe to pitch this stuff?
-A STAY at a D.C. hotel is 3x as expensive in October as it is today
-A “good” salesman REELS IN prospects
-Uncovering the RUINS of 79 AD Pompeii began in 1748
-Bumper CORN crops have done this to prices paid to the growers
-The HAT was passed at baseball games to pay umpires when in my yute
-Sheldon (TBBT) dismissively calls GEOLOGISTS “the dirt people”
-KIMMEL’s monologues don’t make it for me. No Carson he.

Anonymous said...

NEA -- National Endowment for the Arts

Barry G. said...

According to Merriam-Webster:

TOE DANCE: a dance executed on the tips of the toes by means of a ballet slipper with a reinforced toe.

I guess that's what you get for a Friday puzzle these days.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Another fun and clever theme with some Friday bite. W/o's were Swiss/Flank, Smiley/Kimmel, tap/toe, KGB/CIS, and Soeurs/Freres. None of these errors lasted very long due to perps.

Thanks, Jeffrey, for entertaining us so artfully and thanks, Lemony, for educating us so effectively.

Owen, I loved the first limerick!

Have a great day.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I did not find this one easy at all. In fact, it looked hopeless. Got a couple TOE-holds, made a few swags, got a few startling insights, and filled a lot of it in one letter at a time. I did get all the theme entries, and then the reveal. After that, filling came along. NE was last to fall.

How anyone could come up with a theme like this is utterly baffling to me. Congrats Jeffrey, for concocting this gem.

My only quibble would be with TES, but i don't think there is any avoiding it.

Convince someone that they are wrong, and they'll probably never forgive you.

Cool regards!
JzB (SLEPT late this morning)

C6D6 Peg said...

True test of patience to get this one. Figured out the theme early on, but had problems with the other vague clues. Finally got-er done! Thanks, JW, for a nice challenge!

Very nice write-up, Lemonade. Interesting to see if Splynter replies to your "legs" picture!

VirginiaSycamore said...

The Puzzle Society page did not show the circles so that didn’t help me. I did a pass across and down, with not many sure fills. Eda LeShan was one because I read all her books, "Your 1 Year Old", "Your 2 Year Old", etc. to get tips on raising my sons.

When I realized that 37A, Fourth of July VIPs wasn’t going to be FOUNDING FATHERS, I gave up andand turned on the red letters!

Where is the 27D clue for EELS, “unadon,” from? What does it mean? One tooth? It is not the Order or Family for eels which are Anguilliformes and Anguillidae.

Following desper-otto at 6:57, here is a good version of New Math by lipsynchORswim
NEW_MATH

Does it feel like it should be Labor Day weekend to anyone besides myself. The Cleveland Air Show is still a whole week away.

Anonymous said...

Base Ten, because there are ten (deci) symbols (0-9). Each column is ten times the previous column. Binary system has but two symbols (0,1)

CrossEyedDave said...

Ah! Good to be back home, ( if only for a short time.)
I did discover that if you load the LATimes Crossword in 4G on yr Iphone at the Airport, it still works in airplane mode at 33,000 feet!

So much for yesterday...

Today I could not get started in ink, ( I think I had Who, & that's about it....)
So it was a Red Letter day! (No circles, but it was easy to find the poetry.)

Owen, Sorry but I was blasting the last Beach Boys link when I tried to read yr poem...
(Ever try to read poetry while listening to a song?)
(I promise to go back & reread...)
Wait! was it Frankie Valli? Wait again! Who is this Tillotson guy from 1960?
Oh crap, my whole world just got flipped. Now I gotta research who did what before when...

Minority Report seemed strange, (but now I have to see this movie!)

Being a PBS nerd, National Endowment of the Arts makes more sense to me.

To catch up!:

HBD TinBeni!

HBD Montana! (Sorry about Patrice, but every other Montana cake had Hanna on it...)

&, of course, HBD Lemonade714! (Blow those candles out before the lemon slices get fried!)

Finally, thanks to Irish Miss for making me learn how to use my Iphone on vacation.
This poetry is for you, From Mr. Meow...

Misty said...

I can't believe I got a Friday puzzle without cheating--and a Jeffrey Wechsler at that! Woo-hoo! Started out with an almost blank page, but slowly, slowly it filled in. Thank goodness I had circles and once I got the theme it really helped with some of the more difficult long clues. I wouldn't have dreamed that that long 25D would start with a "Y" if I didn't know that I had to fit the word POETRY into the circles. So this was a total delight in the end, and a great way to look forward to the weekend. And thanks for the fun expo, too, Lemonade.

Have a great day, everybody!

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle but needed a little help in a couple of places. Thanks Jeffrey and Lemon.

Fermatprime: Dunno about your browser. Where do you have it set to put things you download? The puzzles should be there ready to be dropped on the Across Lite program. For me, I have downloads show up on my desktop.

I LOVED crystal radios. Fun to build and it seemed like I was getting something for free out of thin air. Sort of like sailing in a sailboat.

I LOVE legs! Splynter doesn't get to claim them all for himself.

Unleasantly hot again. It's supposed to start cooling off tomorrow.

We helped our local son come up with the down payment on a house he wanted to buy in nearby San Pedro. In order to come up with the cash to transfer to him, I had to sell some underperforming stocks and mutual funds. I have a call in to our tax guy to get the forms to send off to the IRS, etc. to prepay the long term capital gains. I keep telling myself, it's only money.

Steve said...

Cracking puzzle - loved it! Thanks for the expo, Lemony.

Although ... I think there may come a time when OREO should be quietly dropped from the allowable puzzle lexicon due to overuse (although I confess I've used it myself!)

Batman said...

MCENROE? KIMMEL? Been in the news lately? Why yes they have! Started many the talk radio debates this past week. Add in Trump and old fart from yesterday's blog and you have an obvious link!

Boo LuQuette AKA Boudreaux in Eunice, La. said...

A lot of white when I turned on red letters. No circles for me either.

LSU was a gimmie since I attended there. Hands up for gold intead of soap.

I had AKC so YOKO was a gimme since I had the K.

Loggerheads is a resort north of Lake Charles on the river and is a very nice place to get away for a few days. When I cliked on the HUM link it brings me to my You Tube launch page ??.

I agree with National Endowment for the Arts

Enjoy the weekend !!!

Anonymous said...

Would've bet the CORN farm that Husker was going to link this picture of the bank of payPHONES at Augusta as they don't allow cell phones. Imagine what the kids think when they see this antiquated sight. "what are those people doing over there with those things?"

coneyro said...

TGIF all..

This puzzle rocked my brain.

After filling in my first set of circles, the word, POETRY, didn't jump right out, but it helped with the others answers. Felt stupid when the "aha" finally came.

I agree the OREO is being overused already. Time for a new favorite cookie clue.

For 49D I first thought "tap" dance or shoe, but MCENROE cross proved me wrong.

For all the "Suits" fans....I knew that Mike was going to quit; the only logical conclusion. Harvey is finally getting to acknowledge his inner turmoil. I can't wait for the new episodes. For all its silliness, this show is "da bomb". Louis rocks! In fact, I love them all!

SOY is touted as a "health food". Actually, for many people it is dangerous to consume. Anyone with a thyroid problem should steer clear. Fyi, please read up on SOY, and ask your physician about it.

Another week ending...A new month is upon us. The lazy days of summer 2015, will soon be a memory. There are so many wonderful events to come as this year winds down. I wish everyone continued health and happiness.

AnonymousPVX said...

Not sure, is UNADON Japanese?

Otherwise kind of a toughie but I stuck with it. Even some of the fill was tough!

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

OLE, OLE, OLE. I finished a Jeffrey Wechsler w/o help!! Thank you, Jeffrey and Lemonade for today's challenge and expose`.

WEES. It started slowly but gained momentum as the links connected together and seeing the circled letters definitely helped. Like TTP, once PYRO_ emerged so did the rest of the word.

The only reason I know FRERES is from the song I learned long ago, FRERE Jacques.

Thought of our LA regulars at LSU. Nice CSO.

Great fun today!

Have a superb day, everyone! Yes, it's still hot here.

Irish Miss said...

CED @ 11:11 - FINALLY, all is right again on the Corner! Thank you for the poem-it made me laugh out loud. Your links were truly missed, so welcome home and keep them coming! 🐈 🐱 😼

Mr. Google said...

VS: "Where is the 27D clue for EELS, “unadon,” from? What does it mean?"

APVX: "is UNADON Japanese?"

Unadon

miss Beckley said...

You know, toe dance and toe shoe should really be dance en pointe, and point shoes. And the shoes are blocked and really painful. Dancers' feet are really ugly. But the result is beautiful.

Bluehen said...

When I saw the puzzle byline I figured that it would be a slog and I was right, at least in in my case. There were no circles on the Mensa site, but I doubt that they would have helped much anyway. The theme rarely helps me solve puzzles. Way too many erroneous entries and subsequent write-overs. They really slowed me down, but with nothing on my agenda today, I refused to use red letters, persevered and finally got the "Tada". The sweetest victory is the hardest gained. Thank you, Mr. Wechsler for a very well constructed and entertaining puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade714, for a very entertaining and informative reveal. I especially like the link to "The Who". Both of you outdid yourselves. And Lemon, belated Happy Birthday wishes. I hope your day was a fun one.

Yesterday's discussion of less vs. fewer and more not making the same quantification distinction reminded me of a epitaph I saw on Boot Hill in Tombstone, AZ:

Here lies Les Moore
4 shots from a .44
No Les, no Moore

Cya

Anonymous said...

Dancers' feet are really ugly. But the result is beautiful.

I have to disagree. I think figure skating has exposed ballet as unnatural and clumsy. Ballet is to movement what opera is to music.

SwampCat said...


This one defeated me, but that happens as weekends near. The fill was clever, though I never did see the theme. At least I did get LSU. Thanks for walking us through, Lemonade. Hope your b'day was wonderful!

Owen, your poetry at play made my day! Keep on playing!

Jayce said...

Good puzzle. Well made.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I have the head of a Roman actor atop a PLINTH in my hallway. I agree: PLINTH is a lovely word.

CrossEyedDave said...

Alas, I have no talent at poetry, and must resort to others.

Here are a few I thought worth sharing....

The Penis Poem...

A Womans Poem...

An English Teachers Poem...

Lucina said...

Very funny poems, CED!

CrossEyedDave said...

poetry in motion.

ChiaPetMcKenzie said...

Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry

ChiaPetMcKenzie said...

Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry

Lemonade714 said...

Loved the links CED

Also the minimalist poetry
CPMcK

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed all of the poems today.

Regarding today's "Unadon fillets," here is what Ogden Nash had to say about them.

I don't mind eels
Except as meals.

Pithy...

OwenKL said...

Starting tomorrow, I'm all on my own
My wife's flying out to visit her home.
A week she'll be gone, to visit her sister,
Leaving me and the cat to sit here and miss her.
What will I do without her around?
Prob'ly veg like a potato that's still in the ground!

Lucina said...

I miss Robin Williams. I just watched Good Morning, Vietnam! He was so good in that! I just hope he is at peace and entertaining all the souls around him. Yes, I do believe in an afterlife.