google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday August 25, 2019 Pam Amick Klawitter

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Aug 25, 2019

Sunday August 25, 2019 Pam Amick Klawitter

Theme:  "Literal Literature" - "Each what book" phrase is defined literally.

 21. Pop-up book?: HOW TO MAKE PERFECT TOAST.

 33. Match book?: ONLINE DATING PRIMER.
  
 64. Blue book?: A HISTORY OF THE SMURFS.
 94. Text book?: MESSAGING DONE RIGHT.
 
112. Address book?: BEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME.

We normally have 7 theme entries. Today we have 5, but all of them are very long. Rich's minimum theme material is 84 squares.

I chucked at these theme entries. Quite convincing book titles.

Take a look at the book titles of today's constructor Pam Amick Klawitter.

Across:

1. It can have pins at the end of it: LANE. Bowling alley.

5. El __: CID.

8. Pop's Mama: CASS.

12. Printer handle: EPSON.

17. Declare to be true: AVER.

18. Math class ratio: SINE.

19. Metz man: HOMME. Just French for "man". UOMO in Milan. We did have an Italian word: 91. Eros, in Rome: AMOR.

20. __ Khan: "The Jungle Book" tiger: SHERE. Voiced by Idris Elba.



25. Tool usually pluralized: TWEEZER.

26. "According to whom?" retort: SAYS ME.

27. "Don't be __!": A HERO.

28. Haifa's home: Abbr.: ISR.

29. Pleasingly dated retail adjective: OLDE.

31. Post-WWII pres. monogram: DDE.

32. Black cat, to some: OMEN.

40. Woodard of "Passion Fish": ALFRE. Unaware of the movie.


43. "The Voice" host Carson: DALY.

44. One eliciting yawns: BORE.

45. Diagnostic aid: X-RAY. And 37. Diagnostic aids: MRIS.

46. Silver finish?: WARE. Silverware.

47. King Minos' land: CRETE.

49. Does the 96-Down for: CATERS. And 96. Things to do after dinner: DISHES.

51. Sussex suffix: ISE. Like "realise". Also 65. End of a believer?: IST. Like "realist".

52. Has regrets about: RUES.

53. Hill helper: AIDE. Capitol Hill.

54. Over-the-shoulder garment: SARI.

55. Battery parts: TESTS. Had to ask Boomer. He said "a battery of tests", a new phrase to me.

57. They're defined by revolutions: Abbr.: YRS. Liked the "revolutions".

58. Bit of work: ERG.

59. Some HDTVs: RCAS.

61. Swiss Miss product: COCOA.

70. Sign of vacancy?: STARE. Vacant stare.

71. Tempe neighbor: MESA.

72. St. Louis summer hrs.: CDT.

73. Leave in the dust by overtaking?: LAP. Like in a track meet. 

75. Pool table slab: SLATE.

78. Fivers: ABES.

80. "The Lion King" villain: SCAR.



82. Almanac fodder: DATA.

83. Facebook chuckle: LOL.

84. Removes for good: ERASES.

87. Bygone royals: TSARS.

88. "The Haj" novelist: URIS.

89. "Get on it now!": ASAP.

92. Didn't let out, as one's breath: HELD.

93. Chanel product: SCENT.

99. Picasso output: ARTE.

100. Recipient of much Apr. mail: IRS.

101. Morales of "Ozark": ESAI. And 41. Linney of "Ozark": LAURA.

102. "Leaves and Navels" artist: ARP.

105. Schoolyard pal in a Paul Simon song: JULIO. OK, this song.

107. Short-legged hunter: BASSET.

110. Rudolph Valentino's "Blood and Sand" co-star: LILA LEE. Unfamiliar to me.


115. Zellweger of "Cold Mountain": RENEE.

116. Lions' prides: MANES.

117. Gobs of: MANY.

118. "Yeah, yeah, I get it": OK OK.

119. Practices in a ring: SPARS.

120. Small strings: UKES. "Somewhere over the rainbow. Bluebirds fly. And the dreams that you dream of. Dreams really do come true ..."


121. Put in: ADD.

122. Litter cries: MEWS.

Down:

1. Christine of "The Blacklist": LAHTI.

2. Declares: AVOWS.

3. More up-to-date: NEWER.

4. Art Deco icon: ERTE.

5. Dante translator John: CIARDI. Another unknown figure.


6. Tats: INK.

7. Shoddy pair?: DEES. Shoddy.

8. Tummy-tightening garment: CORSET.

9. Clock radio toggle: AM FM.

10. Barrie's bosun: SMEE.

11. UGA's conf.: SEC.

12. Book before Job: ESTHER.

13. Fifth-most populous U.S. city: PHOENIX. So many in Texas. Minneapolis is way behind.

14. Scorch: SEAR.

15. Relative of -ish: OR SO.

16. Cousin of com: NET. Did you once have a Prodigy web page? We had a few pictures there. All gone.

18. Dog attractor: SMELL.

19. Period of great popularity: HEYDAY.

22. Thinning layer: OZONE.

23. Striker of a polymer ball: PADDLE.

24. Mess (with): TAMPER.

30. Was discontinued: ENDED.

32. Fiona or Shrek: OGRE.

33. Finds in mines: ORES.

34. Grill, maybe: EATERY. Sure miss these. If you visit Xi'an, you've got to go Muslim Quarter. Incredible food. Susan was there.


35. Flanged girder: I-BAR.

36. Pay attention to: NOTICE.

38. Steinbeck's "__ of Eden": EAST.

39. Deli selections: RYES.

40. Out of whack: AWRY.

42. Caught this morning: FRESH. Fish.

47. Magna __: CARTA.

48. Hardship: RIGOR.

49. Treatments for breaks: CASTS.

50. Pub pick: STOUT.

54. Burglars' targets: SAFES.

56. Unit of wheat: EAR.

58. First name in the beauty aisle: ESTEE. Vowel-rich, hence its frequent appearance.

60. Word with clean or unglued: COMES.

62. Richard's songwriting partner: OSCAR (Hammerstein). Richard Rodgers.

63. Starfleet VIPs: CMDRS. Commanders. Spitzboov was a commander before he retired.

66. "Because," to a kid: REASON.

67. Pain in the neck: HASSLE.

68. Highway alert: FLARE.

69. Attended as an observer: SAT IN.

74. It's behind you: PAST. We also have 87. Reacts to trouble: TENSES.

75. __ dunk: SLAM.

76. Misplace: LOSE.

77. Worry word: ALAS.

79. North Atlantic hazard: BERG.

81. Tight-knit squad: CADRE.

82. Conveyer of tears: DUCT.

85. Slangy convertible: RAGTOP.

86. Grenoble gal pal: AMIE.

90. Hymnal that's often richly illustrated: PSALTER. I can never remember this word.

92. Oater regulars: HORSES.

93. Con man's cohort: SHILL.

95. Surfaces: ARISES.

97. Kitchen work spot: ISLAND. This looks nice.


98. In a carefree manner: GAILY.

102. How great minds think: ALIKE.

103. Cut again, as grass: RE-MOW.

104. Cheats at blind man's buff: PEEKS.

105. Wrangler, e.g.: JEEP.

106. Middies' sch.: USNA.

107. Toucan's pride: BEAK.

108. Teen breakout: ACNE.

109. Detective show that spawned "Baretta": TOMA. Never heard of it.


111. Chem class model: ATOM.

112. Real estate ad abbr.: BRS.

113. Bird in some Australian place names: EMU.

114. Fidget spinners, evidently: FAD.

C.C.



33 comments:

D4E4H said...

FIR in a measly 91:01 min.

Good morning Corner Writers!

Thank you Pam Amick Klawitter for this enjoyable Sunday CW.

Thank you C.C. for your excellent review.

Ðave

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Stumbled here and there (SEZ WHO/SAYS ME, AN ASS/A HERO, POSTS/TESTS), but still finished in better-than-normal Sunday time. Thanx, Pam, (wow, that's lotsa books!) and C.C.

MESA -- My niece lived there until last year when she moved back to cheeseland. I think she regrets the move.

JULIO -- Recognize these two guys? I think that was their first record.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C. and friends. Interesting Sunday puzzle.

I liked how AVER crossed with AVOW. I also liked the crossing of X-RAYS and MRIS.

I tried Girdle before the CORSET for the Tummy Tightening Garment.

You won't find ESTÉE in the beauty aisle at your local CVS, but at the cosmetic counter at a high-end department store.

I wanted to Dog Attractor be be a Scent, but SCENT is, instead, a Chanel product! Won't find that at your local drugstore, either.

East of Eden is my favorite Steinbeck novel.

Not keen on the clue Book Before Job. The answer depends upon the Bible one reads. In the Hebrew Bible, Proverbs comes after Job and Ester is found several books later.

I did have some delicious foods in the Muslim quarter of Xi'an, but the area was crowded with people and I got separated from my husband. Fortunately, we found each other again!

QOD: A great artist leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world. ~ Leonard Bernstein (né Louis Bernstein; Aug. 25, 1918 ~ Oct. 14, 1990)

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Well, I almost made it through this one unscathed, but I misspelled GAILY as GAYLY and didn't catch my mistake since it crossed the totally unknown LILALEE (which I, of course, had as LYLALEE). I finally had to turn on the red letter help to figure out why I didn't get the "TADA" even after carefully scanning the grid several times looking for an error.

Ah well...

Anthony Gael Moral said...

Unsure about HEYDAY, which I understand to be a time of one's best years, not of popularity.

John Ciardi was a poet and I believe writer of children's books.

Big Easy said...

Just a test to see if it works from my new phone

jfromvt said...

A fun theme, with great long answers. The rest of the puzzle was pedestrian IMO, a few too many fill-in-the-blanks and common crosswordy-words.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A fun Sunday exercise. Never fear AVOW, AVER is simply going first. My dog first got the SCENT but that was a SMELL and Chanel got the SCENT
-Surprising (to me) source for the naming of the ship Bonhomme Richard
-Billy, DON’T BE A HERO
-OMENS and superstitions have no place in my psyche
-The “Thousand Yard STARE” can be a possible facial expression for someone who is severely distressed
-The two SAFES in my golf clubhouse got battered in a break in a few days ago but did not open
-You can REASON with a child all you want but sometimes it’s simply, “Because I said so!”
-D-O, what a fun Tom and Jerry (Art and Paul) link. You can really hear The Everly Brothers influence in their music

TTP said...




As with Barry, I was uncertain about L(y,i)LA LEE and GA(i,y)LY, but decided to go with the I because I know gaiety is spelled with an i.

Similar to Desper-otto, I first thought "Don't be" A fool, then jerk, then pita, and finally HERO after considering the down clues a little deeper.

Plenty of unknowns to slow me down, but perped them all in to finish in OK time.

CSO to Lucina at MESA and nearby PHOENIX !

Thank you, Pam, and thank you, C.C. !

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Printed out the puzzle using C.C.'s link and did it at the kitchen lunch counter. I always enjoy Pam's puzzles, and wallowed in her nifty theme. BZ. Only flaw was I had (battery) 'posts' before coming here and seeing the error of my ways. Hey, beer comes out of a spout and EAR of wheat isn't in my fluency range. Gotta get used to HEYDAY; not hayday.
UKES - Yesterday at the farmers market there was a NY DMV license tag: UKLELE. (I think the state limits personal plates to 6 letters.)

FLN - Anon -T - re: joke - One of the highlights of the monthly Legion magazine is the last page: Parting Shots. I make a lot of mistakes typing, so I usually google a good one and edit paste it into the blog.

I leave you with: "Rice is great when you're hungry and you want 2,000 of something." per Mitch Hedberg

Also: "My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them."

"

Big Easy said...

Good morning. I really struggled to finish (incorrectly) today. Tough clues. Unknown people- LAHTI, CIARDI, John Daly (the golfer I know), SHERE Khan, ALFRE Woodard (or Passion Fish), LILA Lee (not old enough to have ever seen his movies; did anybody notice that his name was spelled RODOLPH, not Rudolph Valentino on the Circle ad?), LAURA Linney (or Ozark) . All perps and a WAG and the cross of LAURA & ALFRE. PSALTER was unknown and I guessed PSALMER. Forgot to double check my work.

The theme clues took a while to take hold, starting with the first one because my dog was following a SCENT, not a SMELL. After Coco's SCENT showed up at 93A I changed it. But the most trouble were my battery POSTS instead of TESTS and my incorrect spelling of SMERFS instead of SMURFS.

The 'Sign of vacancy' clue for a blank STARE was great.

'Striker of Polymer ball'-PADDLE Maybe Pam plays Pickleball, which is a polymerball like a whiffleball. Is there another game that has a polymer ball? Maybe Ping-Pong.

BarryG & TTP- I almost made the same mistake but GAYLY didn't look right. Guessed I for LILA.

TTP said...


Big Easy, I was thinking pinball for polymer ball.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but like Hahtoolah and Gary had to erase SCENT when it was needed elsewhere. TEST and AVER had to relocate as well. Also erased washes for CATERS, and char for SEAR. My final entry was to erase GAyITY after noodling on it for about 30 seconds.

I wanted Dusty for short-legged hunter, but there were too many spaces.

Happy to see three Maricopa County cities today: PHOENIX, MESA and Tempe. I belonged to the Arizona Yacht Club and raced on Lake Pleasant and Roosevelt Lake. Loved it, but work moved me to Dallas. As the bumper sticker says, "The only sure things are Death and Texas".

Dismiss the SEC if you wish, but 5 of the top 12 in the ESPN preseason poll are in that storied conference.

You probably heard about the Southern Belle talking to her BFF about having a blind date the night before. When asked how it went, she said "Great! He wants tah take me to Flahada, I think." "Oh?" said the friend. "Yup. At least he said he's gonna Tampah with me." (OK, OK I was leaving anyway.)

Thanks to Pam for the fun Sunday. My favorite was "Pop's Mama" for CASS. And thanks to CC for all you do.

Misty said...

This was one of my favorite Sunday puzzles this year--many thanks, Pam. And always great to get your helpful comments and information, C.C. I got nearly everything except for some areas of the north and south east. And in the end still had mistakes like GAYLY/ LYLA that also seemed to occur to some others. And, yes, I too had GIRDLE before it had to be CORSET. But LAHTI and ALFRE came readily, and I'm happy I got a number of the long answers. I still can't believe PHOENIX is the fifth most populous city in the U.S., but then, I've never been there. And my favorite clue had to be 'Blue book' for A HISTORY OF THE SMURFS. Lots of Sunday fun--thank you again, Pam.

Have a great day, everybody.

Alice said...

Sorry ...
I have to ask: Why is EAR a "unit of wheat"? (# 56 Down)

desper-otto said...

Alice, from Wikipedia: An ear is the grain-bearing tip part of the stem of a cereal plant, such as wheat or maize.[1] It can also refer to "a prominent lobe in some leaves".

CanadianEh! said...

Super Sunday. Thanks for the fun, Pam and C.C.
I moved through this CW in two instalments but FIRed in good Sunday time. The West filled before the EAST today.

Yes I LOLed to see AVER crossing AVOW. I had them placed properly too.
I smiled at C.C.'s PAST TENSES.
Unknowns included LAURA, LILA LEE, CIARDI.
Thanks to Boomer (CSO at 1A) for the explanation of TESTS.
I had Gram, then Nana for Pop's Mama - OK, OK, CASS. Poppa's Mama might have led me there sooner.
We had the whole ISLAND today, not just Isle, isla or lie.
Speaking of Swiss Miss, I hope Irish Miss is recovering quickly.

Wishing you all a great day.


Wendybird said...

Very fun puzzle today. I wonder what happened to Christine Lahti - I liked her, and she just disappeared. I still play The Mamas and The Papas music.
My favorite mis-direction clue was BATTERY PARTS.

Question. How do you put a picture next to your name on the Blog?

Sandyanon said...

Wendybird, Lahti seems to have been working quite steadily. Check her out on Wikipedia.

PK said...

Alice: As a wheat farmer, I keep telling these people that wheat has HEADS not EARS, but they persist in quoting printed sources written by people who apparently have never seen wheat growing. Corn produces cobs of kernals on the side of the stalk like EARS. The portion containing kernals of wheat grow on the end of a stalk like a HEAD. We say, "The wheat is heading" when the grain begins to form. That HEAD also has beards. EARS don't grow beards, do they?

Haiku Harry said...

EATERY owner
Thought he was missing some bread,
So he took roll call ...

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Very clever & tricky puzzle, thanks, Pam! Thanks for the great expo, C.C.!

I got 'er done, but it was a challenge. Liked the theme entries but took lots of perps to see where the clue was leading me. I really need that text book: MESSAGING DONE RIGHT. I can't text. I did find my phone manual the other day so maybe...

Last to fill was the "I" & "R" in RIGOR (hardship?), AIDE (hill helper?) and STARE (sign of vacancy?). Found all the clues misleading. I know RIGORous means difficult, but I associate RIGOR with Mortis or dead & stiffening. Hill helper didn't have a thing to do with ants. I kept trying to think of a word to describe motel room availability. Oh Duh! Just showing off the stupid things my mind does sometimes. No need to try to explain it to me, friends. I got it finally.

GAILY is not used as much in the current political climate as in days of yore, methinks.

Hand up for not understanding the "battery parts". "Revolutions" kept me clueless a long time. Not wars? Both were ESP.

Unknowns: WEES

Jayce said...

I loved this puzzle and have added it to my top 50 list. When I saw EAR as unit of wheat I immediately thought of PK. I see ISR is far from IRS. Excellent cluing.

Alice said...

Thank you D-O and PK, that's one I won't forget!

Spitzboov said...

Speaking as a farmer's son who has done some stints of "bringing in the sheaves", I totally agree with PK on wheat HEADS.

PK said...

Spitz, Alice, Jayce: thanks.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk say...

PK - I will enter 'head' when the squares call for 4 letters :-)

Haiku Harry - cute!

C, Eh - I'da gone w/ GRAM too. That's Pop's mama.

Jinx - yep, you can count on Texas! //dyslexics untie!

Spitz - I loves me some Mitch. I know those joke 'cuz I've "studied" him/his style. I love it (his delivery) but can never pull it off. And, I donno why, but your "bringing in the sheaves" made me think of Steely Dan.

D-O & TTP check your "junk" mail.

IM - we're still out here pulling for you. Love your way.

Cheers, -T

Spitzboov said...

Thanx, Anon -T for the Steely Dan

And then there's this Bringing in the Sheaves from Capetown

Yellowrocks said...

I learned in botany in college that ear meant head of grain.

“In Old English, Middle English, and Modern English, the word ‘ear’ has been used to mean a spike or head of grain. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as ‘the part of a cereal plant which contains its flowers or seeds.’ “
Ear was used hundreds of years ago for head of grain by people who had never heard of our “corn” (maize). And the word corn was in use long before the Old Word discovered maize.
"Not until the 1600s did “corn” refer to the maize or Indian corn grown in the Americas, and even afterward, the word as used in Britain meant grain in general. For instance, the 19th-century Corn Laws in Britain were about grain crops."
“So to an American, “ear of corn” means corn-on-the-cob, but to a farmer in Yorkshire, it might mean the head of an oat stalk.”
I have checked many botanical and European farming citations that use ear for head of grain..
Ear was first used by people who did not know of our maize type corn.

CanadianEh! said...

FLN - I finally had a chance to finish the Saturday CW and read the comments. Was I the only one who noticed some Easter eggs?? There are some repeated 3-letter words forming corners or cross shapes. Here's what I found: 18A and 7D-CAN; 12D and 10A-NER(?); 11D AND 23A-age; 47D AND 45A-ATE; 54D and 45A(actually backward)- NOT. Am I imagining things or is it like OMK looking for diagonals??

PK said...

Yr: Good grief! Why are you so determined to show me up on that word? I don't care what the books say. I know what we call it who grow it out here in the wheat belt. Do farmers even grow wheat where you live? That may be England's antiquated use of the word. I don't think they grew our type of wheat in England in those days from what I have read. Lot of words that England used, but we don't. I don't get my knickers in a twist over what they say.

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Pam Amick Klawitter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Puzzle went fairly easily. However, the theme was elusive for me. My first was BEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME. Then I had the gist.

Lots of tough ones: LAHTI, CIARDI, LAURA, LILA LEE, DALY, ALFRE, HOMME, SHERE, Perped them all.

Tried POSTS before TESTS worked better.

Getting late. see you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Lucina said...

Hola!

After attending two birthday parties today, I am beat but had to come and comment on seeing, MESA and PHOENIX in today's puzzle! Yes, Misty, it's true, PHOENIX has grown tremendously in the last 20 years and from what I see of new apartment and condo units being constructed, that growth will continue.

I also liked seeing those two crosswordese terms, AVER/AVOW crossing each other.

I love ALFRE Woodard! She is a fine actress.

You all have said what needs to be said, so thank you for your comments.

Thank you, C.C. and Pam A. Klawitter. I finished this quite early today but then had to leave and was gone all day.

I hope you all have enjoyed a splendid Sunday!