17. Manga series also known as "Mach GoGoGo": SPEED RACER. Card table.
28. Toucan Sam's cereal: FROOT LOOPS. Pool table.
34. Today's painting, sculpture, etc.: CONTEMPORARY ART. Tray table.
43. "Golly!": MY GOODNESS. End table.
57. DJs' devices ... and a hint to this puzzle's circles: TURNTABLES. Vinyl is popular again.
Melissa here. This makes three or four Wednesdays in a row with circles, wonder if it will continue. It also appears to be a corner debut for Zachary David Levy.
Across:
1. Gulf of California peninsula: BAJA.
5. SLR setting: F-STOP. SLR = Single-lens reflex camera. Here's all you want to know about F-STOPs.
10. Exchange words?: EDIT.
14. Voting unit: BLOC.
15. Make amends: ATONE.
16. Headey of "Game of Thrones": LENA. Finally, another Lena.
19. History: PAST.
20. Operates properly: WORKS.
21. U.K. equivalent of an Oscar: BAFTA. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
22. Crisis point?: MIDLIFE.
26. Day to put all your eggs in one basket: EASTER.
27. Perfectly, with "to": A TEE.
31. Sunday entrée: ROAST.
33. Novelist Grey: ZANE.
41. __ Beat: old fan mag: TEEN.
42. Alternative energy choice: SOLAR.
49. You can skip it: ROPE. Nice.
50. Grieves: MOURNS.
51. Chemist's tube: PIPETTE.
53. Some govt. bonds: MUNIS.
54. Hilarious folks: RIOTS. Perped it.
56. Curse: BANE.
62. Algerian setting of Camus' "The Plague": ORAN. Have heard of this book but never read it. Wikipedia: "The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition."
63. Maxim: ADAGE.
64. Hawkeye State: IOWA.
65. Saucy: PERT.
66. Bay Area NFLer: NINER.
67. Do as directed: OBEY.
Down:
1. Air rifle ammo: BBS.
2. Swiss peak: ALP.
3. Charlie Brown hero __ Shlabotnik: JOE.
4. Maven: ACE.
5. In the distance: FAR OFF.
6. Rude observer: STARER.
7. Sound heard around the clock: TOCK. Great clue.
8. Tips for a street performer: ONES. Also great.
9. Each: PER.
10. Texas border city: EL PASO.
11. Unwilling to hear, as criticism: DEAF TO.
12. Arched foot part: INSTEP.
13. Volga region natives: TATARS. I did not know Russia's second-largest ethnicity.
18. MADD focus: DWI. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
21. Hay bundlers: BALERS.
22. Artist Chagall: MARC.
23. "__ lived - Brooklyn, of ample hills, was mine": Whitman: I, TOO. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.
24. Campus official: DEAN.
25. For fear that: LEST.
26. Sicilian hot spot: ETNA.
29. Depleted atmospheric layer: OZONE.
30. One may be displayed on a boathouse wall: OAR.
32. View from Yellowstone: TETONS.
35. Scrip orders: MEDS.
36. Signature piece?: PEN.
37. Bygone period: YORE.
38. Tons: A LOT. The alot is better than you at everything.
39. Eagerly attentive: RAPT.
40. Image in the Timberland logo: TREE.
43. 1997 Hanson #1 song: MMMBOP. Ear worm.
44. 1983 Lionel Richie title words before "the sun" and "the rain": YOU ARE.
45. One of the Nelson brothers of '90s rock: GUNNAR. Matthew and Gunnar Nelson are the twin sons of Ricky Nelson. In their heyday, below.
46. "Murder on the __ Express": ORIENT.
47. Dishwashing aid: SPONGE.
48. Parents' date-night expense: SITTER.
52. "The More You Know" TV spot: PSA. Public Service Announcement.
54. Fashion's Gernreich: RUDI. Austrian-born American fashion designer, died in 1985. The brand was relaunched in 2018.
55. OPEC member: IRAN. One of fourteen.
57. Light brown: TAN.
58. LinkedIn profile, e.g.: BIO.
59. Soft toss: LOB.
60. Lamb's mom: EWE.
61. "By the way ... ": SAY.
There was a senorita from BAJA
ReplyDeleteWho wanted to marry a rajah.
To a FAR OFF land
Would be just grand!
And A LOT more exciting than IOWA!
There was a TEEN-ager named ZANE
Who didn't like to complain
But his teacher this year
Was DEAF TO his fear
A phobia to home-WORK was his BANE!
Some people like to live in the PAST.
But the days of YORE didn't last
So let us not MOURN,
A new era is born,
And it promises to be quite a blast!
He took his old grandfather clock
To the conference held AFAR OFF.
When asked on the train
For why, he'd explain,
"I've been invited to give a TED TOCK!"
{B+, B-, B, A-.}
Hi Y'all! Congrats to Z.D.L. and to Susan yesterday. Both enjoyable puzzles. Thanks Boomer & Melissa for great expos both days.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the LAT Zachary David Levy. With a WSJ published in June and this effort, perhaps you will hit for the cycle with the NYT soon. While the use of circles is not appreciated by all, I did like that all of your tables, including the reveal, are 4-letter words.
ReplyDeleteI did not know much about the TATAR until this puzzle and the always entertaining write-up from mb, but now I do. Also, my f-stop understanding is much greater.
LENA HORNE LENA DUNHAM and LENA HEADEY (the dreaded Cersi) seems like enough puzzle choices.
Bye-bye July, see you in August.
FIW, missing my WAG at the Natick of TATyRS x BAFTy, and OReN x GUNNeR. My friend Duncan's only son is named GUNNAR, but I forgot how to spell it. Ironically, Duncan is an engineer whose passion is creating better arms intended for the US military.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of SOLAR farms around here, and are all over North Carolina too.
Texas is big. When you are in EL PASO, you are closer to the Pacific Ocean than you are to Texarkana. When you are in Texarkana, you are closer to the Atlantic Ocean than you are to EL PASO. "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and we ain't outta Texas yet!"
I waited for T_CK and D_I. I learn slowly, but I do learn.
Lionel Richie is among my favorites. His voice is so versatile. Many years ago I was stunned when I found out that he did both Three Times a Lady and Brick House.
Thanks for the fun challenge, Zachary. And the writeup was fun too, Melissa.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteZipped through this one, saw the words in the circles, but didn't recognize them as tables until the reveal. Nicely done, ZDL. Melissa, I liked your exposition alot.
TATARS: Wow, I had no idea there were so many "Stans." How 'bout you, Maurice?
VINYL: Sorry, but vinyl cannot compete with quality, pop-free, scratch-free, digital audio. Vinyl does sound different -- but not better. I continue to buy CDs to load onto my music server, because the sound is superior to those compressed MP3 streaming files. Often cheaper, too, since folks have abandoned the CD in droves.
MIDLIFE: That crisis is far in the rearview mirror for most of us here.
Good Morning, Melissa and friends. Despite the circles, I found this to be an easy, but fun, Wednesday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteMy Texas border town was initially Larado before EL PASO appeared.
Marc Chagall is noted for both is paintings and his stained glass windows. His best known windows are at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, but you don't have to travel that far to see some of his windows. His American Windows can be seen at the Art Institute of Chicago.
My favorite clues were You Can Skip It = ROPE
and Crisis Point = MIDLIFE.
Thank you for the nice words on yesterday's puzzle and to CC for having confidence in my ability.
QOD: If I could go to dinner with one person, alive or dead, I think I would choose alive. ~ B.J. Novak (né Benjamin Joseph Novak; b. July 31, 1979)
I’ve sometimes wondered what a day at the amusement park with Goldie Hawn would be like .
ReplyDeleteNever knew it was spelled Froot Loops. Despite the various colors there is only one flavor, a mixture of fruit flavors (per Wiki).
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to END TABLE at 34A MY GOODNESS. The DNE were circled. i was suprised to find one 3-letter table along with 3 4-letter tables.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks. Thank you, Zachary David Levy, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.
ReplyDeleteMost of this puzzle went fairly well. Caught theme and the circles. Good one.
Liked F STOP. I scanned through Melissa's link. Very interesting.
Gunnar was interesting. I did not know that Rick Nelson had twin sons, and that they were singings. Live and learn. I do remember when Rick Nelson died in that plane crash. I think it was a DC-3.
PIPETTE was unknown, but made sense once I got it via perps.
MMM BOP threw me for a loop. When I had two Ms I though I was wrong. Then I got three and thought for sure something was wrong. Then I got the Tada. That was my last word. All the crosses looked right, so I guess it was.
I have read ZANE Grey books years ago. I guess I can relate to him because I love Earl Grey tea.
Never heard of BAFTA. Oh well.
Anyhow, I have to run. Leaving in a few hours.
See you tomorrow, from Normal, IL.
Abejo
( )
I liked the circles in this puzzle. They were not needed for the solve, so those who dislike circles could solve it as a themeless. Nice puzzle, Zach.
ReplyDeleteI knew Ricky Nelson had twin brothers who formed a rock band, but didn't remember their names so 43, 34 and 45 down all needed many perps.
I thought I knew all the Charlie Brown characters. I don't recall ever having seen Shlabotnik. I see this character was unseen, but talked about in several 1960's strips.
I recalled having see BAFTA after every single perp.
Hahklootlah, laugh out loud funny quote.
Several years ago we saw MARC Chagall's exquisite stained glass windows at Union Church, Pocantico Hill, NY, donated by Rockefeller. The small nave is surrounded by stained glass which casts a holy glow. There is a Matisse rose window there, too.
CHURCH
So beautiful
Oh, MY GOODNESS, the TABLES were TURNed on us today. An easy peasy Wed level puzzle by Mr. Levy. A little trouble in the SW after a MM start (and then another M), especially as I've never heard or heard of the song. But the correct WAG of the old Algerian crossword fill-ORAN- took care of that area.
ReplyDeleteThe NE made me hesitate because BAFTA was unknown but LENA (unknown til last week) saved the day after my I DOS changed to EDIT.
GUNNAR- heard the name before but had to wait for perps to make sure.
TICK or TOCK; DWI or DUI- wait for the perps
Let me adjust a Mark Twain saying. "If you don't watch the news you are uninformed; if you watch the television news you are definitely misinformed"
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteDNK 43, 44, 45d so the SW was the last to fall. But 6/6 acrosses perped successfully and it was done. Saw the backwards words in the circles and easily tied them to the reveal @ 57a, Got EL PASO easily enough with the SO ending making it likely. Had I DO'S before EDIT, the only white-out. No searches. FIR.
Agree; the circles weren't really needed.
Congrats to Zach on his inaugural puzzle.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a breezy solve with the exception of the MMM Bop/Oran crossing, neither of which I knew. However, I guessed the O correctly and got the Tada! Even though the themed circles were evident, I didn't guess the theme until the reveal.
Thanks and congrats, Zach, on your debut and thanks, Melissa, for guiding us along so cheerfully.
Have to run as I have an appointment with my retina specialist. Fingers crossed for a good report!
Have a great day.
Morning all. Fun challenge today even though I finished it wrong. for 51A I hd PIU....instead of PIP.... Thouht 52 D USA was referring to a program on that network.
ReplyDeleteI was sure MMMBOP was wrong , but I knew the across fills were good.,so reluctantly I left the across fills alone with my fingers crossed.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Zachary (congrats on your debut) and melissa.
ReplyDeleteNo TADA for me today. I worked this CW in my newspaper and, like others, had trouble with the SW corner. I arrived here to find that I FIWed.
I had Gunter instead of GUNNAR, which made MMM hIP seem perfectly reasonable. But I see that the Plague setting was ORAN and IRAN was the OPEC member. (Switcheroo for me) That means that the hilarious folks are RIOTS not hoots, and the (unknown to me) fashion Gernreich is RUDI, not the strange name Hudi. What a tangled web we weave . . ,
But I did see the backward TABLES and got the TURN theme at the reveal.
I thought of IDos (hi Spitz) and Vows before EDIT.
We had NINERS today not Sixers. Don't ask me who is MBA or NFL,
I thought of Ricki Nelson but knew he was not 90s Rock. Thanks for the info on his sons.
I smiled at the clue for EASTER.
Glad your dental appt. went well OMK.
Hoping your appt. with retinal specialist goes well too IM.
I still need to catch up on weekend Corner comments.
Did the other CW in our newspaper with 8year old granddaughter yesterday. It is for adults but easier than the LA Times one. She did well and liked it. Start'em young!
Enjoy the day.
ReplyDeleteMorning every every one, This was a fun challenge today, but I finished it wrong. For 51A I entered PIU instead of PIP. Had no clue and can't remember ever using the term, so USA looked ok for 52D. Admittedly, I thought I had erred,, but could not think of an alternate.
Turned eighty in February this year and my body has been affirming it for me daily. Seems like every day.
Medical folks keep telling me everything is OK so I do what I can do. Right now I'm on injured reserve, but that will end soon.
It's been hot here, but this year it doesn't bother me. Spend some time daily sunning on the deck with my "baby sitter, Casey.
DNF, so I never got to turn the tables...
ReplyDeletetatAr/baftA was my 1st Bane,
I tried to squeeze an E & an O in that cell.
I always lose at 50/50, I should have known 2 out of 5
was not on the card table...
DJ Jazzy Jeff@8:42,
you just reminded me that I still need to play The Wizard of Oz movie
synched with Dark side of the Moon!
More than you wanted to know Re: Joe Schlabotnik...
I didn't know Ricky Nelson had kids,
He was before my time.
or at least I thought he was...
Oas, a day with Goldie Hawn at an Amusement Park?
might be something like this.
(Sorry for bad sound, very few clips of this nature out there...)
Anywho, my imagination paints a much better day with Goldie at an Amusement Park.
(I won the big prize for her, and no one recognized us!)
AnyWhoWho, I was glad I could salvage something from this Crossword...
Hola!
ReplyDeleteThank you and congratulations, Zachary David Levy, on your LAT debut! It was fun. And thank you, Melissa; I thoroughly enjoyed your review.
BAJA is of course more or less in my neighborhood so that started me well off. I laughed at MIDLIFE crisis because who of us hasn't gone through it? Some here might be too young, though.
I have encountered MMMBOP in another puzzle some time ago. It gave me pause then and now. RUDI and LENA as clued are unknown.
The spelling of FROOTLOOPS surprised me, too.
I loved the clue for ROPE and TOCK (Hi, Hahtoolah!)
OwenKL:
Your last line really made me laugh.
Hondo:
It's so nice to see you again!
Have a wondrous day, everyone!
I don't recall anyone getting really upset about circles. For me, the problem is that they don't show up on the online format used by Mensa. So sometimes I guess where they are or I look up a different online format.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon. Thank you David. I enjoyed your puzzle.
Yes, that bottom left corner was a little tough, but not impossible. No circles at the Mensa site.
I got to Melissa's 38D link and read it. Then I read other blog posts by the author, Allie Brosh. Then I read about her. Then I read more of her posts. Then I read some of her tweets. Thank you Melissa for linking that article by her. I spent 18 minutes solving the puzzle and almost 2 hours reading her. I really liked reading her alot.
ReplyDeleteI forgot the smile face after alot.
Thanks ZDL, for a properly easy puzzle with lots of interesting fill. And welcome!
ReplyDeleteBut I’m hanging my head in shame! Not once, in all the many years I read Charlie Brown did I even consider that Joe Schlabotnik was a real player!! He was just such a perfect foil for Charlie!!
CED, thanks for the link.
Yellowrocks - it is updated, thanks.
ReplyDeleteTTP - glad you liked that alot ;).
I hurried and had OREN. Why? Because I spelled it the way a Bostonian would pronounce GUNNah with an ER.
ReplyDeleteVery entertaining clues today. NW was a snap but I had to work for the rest.
WC
Clever theme. The circled theme answers were not randomly scrambled. They were TURNed backwards. Probably harder to construct than random.
ReplyDeleteJinx I also did not like the Natick crossing of GUNNeR and OReN which seemed just as good.
I have been to BAJA California many times, usually just down to Ensenada. But in February we did a BAJA excursion that was an adventure of a lifetime. The gray whales that visit us here in Southern California gather in a remote sheltered cove.
Here is a brief preview article I wrote about a presentation I gave about our BAJA adventure.
Such a treat to be with the whales up close where they felt safe.
Fun Wednesday puzzle, thanks, Zachary, and welcome to the blog! Always enjoy your commentary, Melissa--thanks for that too. I love circles in puzzles, but although they all filled in this morning, I just couldn't get their connection, even with the reveal. Doh! Love remembering nice visits to BAJA in my earlier days. Had to laugh when the crisis turned out to be MIDLIFE--didn't have one, thank goodness. EASTER eggs was easy, thankfully. Glad I remembered ZANE Grey, even though I never read his books. Loved 'Murder on the ORIENT Express' when I saw it many years ago. Lots of variety in the puzzle, thanks for that too, Zachary. And thanks for giving us the Charlie Brown cartoon, Melissa--never heard of JOE whats-his-name.
ReplyDeleteHope your eye exam goes well, Irish Miss.
Have a great day, everybody!
Musings
ReplyDelete-The cluing for EDIT, ROPE, EASTER and MIDLIFE elicited a smile here on the Great Plains
-I thought the double gimmick was a very clever
-My H.S. best friend is a retired millionaire married living with a wonderful woman in BAJA California
-BLOC voting smells of pols staying on the plantation so they can get reelected
-My MIDLIFE crisis spawned an RX-7 in my garage for six months
-I had the BB gun, my sister was walking away from me to tell mom…
-August seemed so FAR OFF and now…
-Who sang, “Out in the West Texas town of EL PASO, I fell in love with a Mexican girl”
-Our granddaughter just agreed to be a SITTER for our kitty for a few days next month so we can catch a KC Royal game
-Off to the dentist after a very busy morning
HG @ 1320 n- - El Paso was originally recorded by Marty Robbins, and first released on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959. Very nice number to listen to.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThis Wednesday effort left me with a bad cell.
Markovers....GUNNER/GUNNAR, OREN/ORAN.
Should have checked my work.
Marty Robbins had a great voice and that song is still one of my favorites. “ ...one little kiss and Felina....Good-bye”. What a song.
Joe Schlabotnik is not a real person. Even with the fake biography.
See you tomorrow.
Spitz, Husker, what really made that song was Grady Martin's superb guitar work.
ReplyDelete-I’m so glad others liked EL PASO as much as I do. The first cut on this album is another favorite
ReplyDelete-I'm glad to learn of Grady Martin
This was a breeze--except for the SW corner, where I wasn't sure of MMMBOP. But the perps seemed right, so I changed TART to PERT and won my Ta ~ DA!
ReplyDeleteForget MIDLIFE crisis and Senior crisis. Can anybody tell me what's next?! Hello?
Back in '66 I spent a terrific summer in EL PASO. I was working on a show there, and really took to the bi-cultural flavor. In those days, we could walk or drive back and forth across the border. The restaurants in Juarez were wonderful--truly first class because the dollar/peso exchange rate helped everybody out. I felt like the young Hemmingway & even enjoyed the bullfights--something I doubt I could stomach now.
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the far side.
The anagram celebrates a particularly spicy or "saucy" musical tempo, the ...
"PERT ANDANTINO"!
Agnes, hoping all is well with your eyes.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this puzzle but Finished It Wrong because I totally Naticked out in the SW corner.
ReplyDeleteMy midlife crisis involved an RX-7 also.
Good wishes to you all.
Speaking of the RX-7, we have had a tradition of naming our cars. I think Lucina does, too; her car's name is Axolotl. Most of the names of our cars contained the letter X:
ReplyDeleteDatsun 510: Dot-dot. (Later renamed Squat-dot after we gave it to our son and he had it lowered.)
Datsun 810 Maxima: Max.
Mazda RX-7: Rex.
Honda Accord LX: Alex.
Toyota Camry XLE: Axel.
Toyota Camry Hybrid: Buddddddy.
Next: maybe a Subaru Outback: Mate.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteHand-up for GUNNeR. FIW.
Congrats Zachary on the LAT debut. I enjoyed the theme but, like other's said, that SW corner was a bugger.
Thanks mb for the fine review. I'll check out the links later; TTP says it will take a bit.
WOs: DEAd TO b/f DEAF. FRuiT LOOPS [how did I miss the OOs my whole life?]
ESPs (+WAGS): LENA, TATARS, BAFTA, MMMBOP, GUNNeR [sic], OReN [ibid], ZANE, MARC
Fav: Clue for MIDLIFE
{B+, B, B+, A}
I liked the DR OMK.
I knew Speed Racer sans perps 'cuz I used to watch it while eating Toucan Sam's FROOT LOOPS.*
Picard - Those Oysters look so good!
Cheers, -T
*I just asked DW, she'd never noticed FROOT either!
Jayce:
ReplyDeleteI love the names you gave your cars! And yes, my Nissan was the first Axolotl and the current one is Axolotl Dos (two). I chose that name so I could remember how to spell it.
Lucina, that's asking a 'lotl' to spell axolotl....
ReplyDeleteMichael:
ReplyDeleteLOL! You know Axolotl occurs in crosswords and I want to be prepared for the challenge!