google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, December 11, 2019, Michael Schlossberg

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Dec 11, 2019

Wednesday, December 11, 2019, Michael Schlossberg

 Theme: JOB SAFETY


17. Result of overexposure in the field?: FARMER'S TAN.

28. Result of carelessness in a locker room?: ATHLETE'S FOOT.

49. Result of excessive practice in calligraphy class?: WRITER'S CRAMP.

63. Occupational concerns such as 17-, 28- and 49-Across: JOB HAZARDS.

Very few stumbling blocks, all came together pretty easily. Appears to be Mr. Schlossberg's debut, at least here at the Corner. Welcome Michael, hope to see more of you.

Across:

1. Super silly: WACKO.

6. Gum balls, e.g.: WADS. Only if they're ABC (already been chewed).

10. Surgery memento: SCAR.

14. "Once more!": AGAIN.

15. MLB family name: ALOU. For those (like me) who don't follow baseball, here.

16. Voice mail signal: TONE.

19. "Yeah, that'll never happen": UM NO.

20. Actress Mendes: EVA. Longtime love of Ryan Gosling, they have two children together.


21. Brewpub orders: IPAS. India Pale Ale, a hoppy style of beer within the pale ale category.

22. Fencing blades: EPEES.

23. Blitz by a linebacker: RED DOG. In football, strategy of sending a player on a full-out defensive rush, known in the modern era as a blitz.

26. Ill-fated Ford: EDSEL.

33. Hot rod: DRAGSTER.

36. Cellist with multiple Grammys: YOYO MA.

37. Sales pro: REP.

38. Picks from a lineup: IDS. Identifies.

40. Champagne label word: SEC. Champagne Sec is the title used for off-dry Champagne wines with between 17 and 32 grams per liter of residual sugar. Although the word sec means 'dry,' there are in fact four styles of champagne which are drier: Extra Dry, Brut, Extra Brut and Brut Nature (zero, non-dose).

41. Sighing contentedly: AAHING. Yep, it's a word.

45. Salve: OINTMENT.

51. Cloud, as of gnats: SWARM.

52. Title Mozart valet who married Susanna: FIGARO.

56. "__ Health": Quiet Riot album: METAL.

58. Hops hot spot: OAST. A kiln for drying hops or malt, or drying and curing tobacco.

61. Laundry hamper: BIN.

62. Greek Cupid: EROS.

66. Balmy: WARM.

67. Free speech org.: ACLU.

68. Sampler wisdom: ADAGE. A sampler is a decorative piece of needlework typically having letters or verses embroidered on it in various stitches as an example of skill.



69. Eyelid irritation: STYE.

70. "That's enough": WHEN.


71. Dancer cohort: COMET. Santa's reindeer.

Down:

1. Thin cookie: WAFER.

2. Tequila plant: AGAVE.

3. Spot for a Mercedes: CAR AD. Tricky.

4. Second-oldest Kardashian sister: KIM.

5. Formula __ auto racing: ONE.

6. Winged stinger: WASP.

7. Ski resort near Snowbird: ALTA.

8. Complete one exercise segment: DO A SET.

9. Space heater?: SUN. 😎

10. Utterly shock: STUPEFY.

11. Grow slack, as a poorly tied knot: COME LOOSE.

12. Novelist Tyler: ANNE. Pulitzer winner. Where to start when reading Anne Tyler.

13. Classic autos: REOS. The band REO Speedwagon took their name from the  a 1915 truck designed by Ransom Eli Olds. Neal Doughty had seen the name written across the blackboard when he walked into his History of Transportation class on the first day they had decided to look for a name.


18. "Correctomundo!": RIGHT. Famously spoken by Henry Winkler as Fonzie in Happy Days, and Samuel L. Jackson as Jules in Pulp Fiction.


22. Standard Oil brand: ESSO.

24. Former U.N. leader Hammarskjöld: DAG. Swedish economist and diplomat.

25. NFL periods forced by ties: OTS. Overtimes.

27. Susan of "L.A. Law": DEY. Also from The Partridge Family.

29. Hawaiian garland: LEI.

30. Triage MD: ER DOC. Emergency Room Doctor.

31. Portent: OMEN.

32. Diplomat's need: TACT.

33. "Do I need to __ you a map?": DRAW.

34. Fanny: REAR.

35. Difficult H.S. class covering U.S. or world events: AP HISTORY. AP = Advanced Placement.

39. Round Table title: SIR.

42. "I'm the culprit": IT WAS ME.

43. "Cryptonomicon" novelist Stephenson: NEAL. Award-winning 1999 novel by American author Neal Stephenson, set in two different time periods. Absurdly banned in many prisons.

44. Dog's "I'm warning you!": GRR.

46. '90s trade pact: NAFTA.

47. "Yuck, tell someone else!": TMI. Too Much Information.

48. Fuel efficiency stat: MPG. Miles Per Gallon.

50. Kiss: SMOOCH.

53. The "A" in James A. Garfield: ABRAM.

54. Narrow hilltop: RIDGE.

55. Initial stage: ONSET.

56. Kitty cries: MEWS.

57. Middle proof word: ERAT. Latin,"which was to be shown or demonstrated."

59. Fit: ABLE.

60. Avoid like the plague: SHUN.

63. Uppercut target: JAW.

64. Efron of "Baywatch" (2017): ZAC.

65. Hubbub: ADO.

Note from C.C.:

Here is a beautiful picture of Melissa's two grandkids and their parents. You can click here to see all the cute pictures of Jaelyn and Harper.


38 comments:

OwenKL said...

I have a magic anointment
That I only sell by appointment.
It will get you a SMOOCH
From your favorite pooch --
It's a puppy love-potion OINTMENT!

I can do art and math.
See, I can DRAW -- a WARM bath!
And as for quantum
Demonstrandum,
I often err at ERAT!

{B, B-.}

Hungry Mother said...

I hadn’t heard of REDDOG for a long time. Easy and useful theme.

Lemonade714 said...

We had a friend in grammar school who named Schlossberg. Schloss means "Castle" in English, which makes the world all fit together with MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE .

Michael appears to have three puzzles published in the Wall Street Journal this year, so we are welcoming him to the LAT.

If you haven't read ANNE TYLER you likely have seen the movie THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST . I did not know the name NEAL STEPHENSON nor his novel CRYPTONOMICOM.

Thank you Michael and melissa

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Had just a couple of "stumbling blogs" in this one. Tried METRO before METAL showed up. And IT WAS ME began life as MEA CULP...and I ran out of room. Wite-Out, please. Nice debut, Michael. Enjoyed the expo, Steve.

Lemonade, dw explained to me that "burg" means town or city, but "berg" means mountain. So a schlossberg would indeed be a high castle.

Alex Trebek's Moustache said...

Have you been eating right and getting exercise?

ER, DOC, I sure have. Yep, thst's the ticket.

Have y'all heard about the big ADO concerning yesterday's Final Jeopardy's answer and question? Quite the kerfuffle.

Oas said...

Good morning all.
Thanks to Michael Schlossberg and Melissa bee. For a fun puzzle and review.
Steady fill but in the end had to change EVE to EVA .
Cheers

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased beep for TONE, as if for UM NO, and DAk for DAG.

In the US, "fanny" is a pretty benign term. Not so in the land of our former masters.

I liked TACT next to "do I need to DRAW you a map?".

Nice to see the demise of NAFTA. H. Ross Perot was right.

Good knots must hold, and also must be relatively easy to unite.

I'm so old I remember when the ACLU fought for all speech, even non-PC speech.

Off to DWs medical oncologist for her routine follow up.

jfromvt said...

Was able to zip through this quickly, thought it was a fairly easy Wednesday. The themes answers were pretty obvious. REDDOG is an old expression for a football blitz which is not used anymore.

Had to get my crossword fix In early since I’m heading up to the Montreal Casino for a little Blackjack. We’ll see how lucky I am today!

Anonymous said...

I liked the theme.Other then that this was a slog for me for some reason. Maybe the overabundance of proper names and some of the cluing was a stretch.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

More slurred/slang words than I care for but otherwise. OK. Liked the theme. Only 2 wite-out squares; I had 'calm' before WARM. No help was needed.
MPG - Ethanol in gas lowers the rated MPG of gasoline engines.

desper-otto said...

Dang, I did it again. Sorry, Melissa B. I still enjoyed it.

inanehiker said...

Steady fill with a bit of Wednesday crunchiness! Learning moments were RED DOG and NEAL Stephenson. METAL Health was a quick deduction given Quiet Riot is a heavy metal band. It could be a theme entry start for a JW puzzle...

I like ANNE Tyler's novels - but would only recommend reading one every few years- similar to Jodi Picoult- she often has similar protagonists in different scenarios.

Thanks Melissa and congrats to Michael!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I don’t know what the record is for erasing what seemed to be perfectly good answers and substituting other perfectly good answers but luckily the teacher for whom I am subbing had a pencil with a good eraser
-FARMER TANS are very common out here on the prairie
-We had a sales REP in our house Monday and he talked me into something. I called and cancelled the next day. My rule is always “sleep on it” but I didn’t
-Opie selling SALVE episode
-I’ve seen EDSEL HOT RODS but not in a Grand Prix race :-)
-“Do I need to DRAW you a map?” A friend of mine took a circuitous route to tell me her daughter was gay before I got it.
-Here come some 7th graders thirsting for knowledge of pronouns

Lucina said...

Hola!

Not a WACKO Wednesday this one! Thank you, Michael Schlossberg, for the fun.

I have one of ANNE Tyler's books but can't recall it and yes, I have seen The Accidental Tourist, a good movie.

My hand hurts from patting myself for knowing IPAS and ALOU right away. REDOG was perped.

AAHING and oohing are commonly used.

Would an EDSEL be considered a DRAGSTER?

I was not aware of AP HISTORY so thank you for explaining AP, Melissa.

This was a good workout for a Wednesday.

Many thanks, Melissa; what a beautiful family you have!

Have a pleasant day, everyone!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

For a while I thought FARMERSTAN was a country in the Middle East that we hadn't gotten around to invading yet.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

My only unknown was "Metal", as clued, affirming once again my lack of knowledge of the contemporary music world. I did trip over Wacky/Wacko and Do a rep/Do a set; funny that Rep showed up later. Scar was a long time coming because, like BE, I saw Sugary memento instead of Surgery memento. CSO to CED at Mews and a thumbs down to Aahing. (It just got red-underlined so autocorrect agrees with me.) I'm familiar with many of the Anne Tyler titles, but I believe the only one I've read is "Saint Maybe" which I liked very much. I liked today's theme but I found some of the cluing a tad odd, e.g., to me, a hamper doesn't equate to a bin, but, to each his own.

Thanks, Michael, and congrats on your LAT debut and thanks, Melissa, for guiding us along so smoothly. Thanks, also, for sharing the sweet picture; I can't believe how Jaelyn has grown. Seems like just yesterday when you posted photos of her as an infant.

Owen, A and A, IMO.

Have a great day.





AnonymousPVX said...


I thought this was easier than yesterday. No issues at all.

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Michael (congrats on your LA debut) and melissa.
I FIRed and got the theme, but some areas seemed a little crunchy today. Perps were friendly.

Hand up for Wacky before WACKO.
It took a minute for the light to dawn that Dancer was the reindeer.
I had Whew before WHEN; clue "That's enough" seemed a little off to me, but on reflection, I get it. (Like telling the server with the grated Parmesan WHEN to stop!)

I smiled at SUN crossing FARRMERS TAN.
Does this Canadian need to add the American President's middle names to my memory bank?!

OK, shall this Canadian weigh in re NAFTA and USMCA (with signing ceremony the other day). Or is it too political? Either way, the new initials might make a new CW entry.
(except that Canada is calling it CUSMA as "The legal name under Canadian law is CUSMA as Canada always comes first in treaties". UM NO??
CUSMA

Wishing you all a great day.
Love those photos melissa.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Michael Schlossberg, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.

Puzzle went along pretty easily. Got the theme, JOB HAZARDS, after I had all the theme answers. All worked out.

Never heard of AP HISTORY. Thank you for the explanation. I figured out ABRAM after I tried AARON and it did not work. Then that gave me COMET. OK.

Yes, NAFTA. That is the main reason I voted for Ross Perot. Many others did too, and that allowed Clinton to slide in.

Interesting tidbit about FIGARO.

RED DOG was a new term for me.

16 degrees this morning while guarding the crossing. I dressed for it but my fingers were cold the whole time. I need a new pair of gloves.

Lots to do. Masonic Veterans Dinner tonight. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Misty said...

Fun Wednesday puzzle, Michael--many thanks. I got through this prettily readily except for putting Susan as DEE rather than DEY. That in turn gave me a problem with STUPEFY, so I never got YOYO MA, which I should have gotten instantly. But everything else filled in without any problem and the last word just cracked me up: COMET? Oh, of course, Dancer the reindeer not the performer on stage! Lots of fun, and neat write-up, Melissa. And what a lovely family you have!

Loved your poem, Owen.

Have a great day, everybody!

Yellowrocks said...

Michael, welcome to the LAT puzzle and CC's blog with your fine puzzle. Melissa, thanks for your post and the lovely pictures of your family. I needed the reveal to see the theme.
Some time ago, someone here linked an interesting picture of tan lines on hikers, tennis players, golfers, etc. I wish I could find it. In the summer I have striped feet from wearing sandals. My tee shirt and shorts lines have finally disappeared completely in the last month.
My last fill was the D in CARAD? When I dredge up RED DOG for somewhere, the light dawned. CAR AD. Favorite was dancer cohort/Comet. WACKY before WACKO
I wondered what kind of high school history course could be most difficult. With the P perp, I saw AP. In the upwardly mobile, high achieving school system where I taught, AP courses were very popular. In the high school I attended as a teen we did not have AP courses. Only about 15% of my graduating class were in the college prep section.
To my mind, SCHLOSSBERG would be a hill or mountain with a castle on it, rather than the castle itself standing on the mountain. Schoenberg means beautiful mountain. I am willing to learn. German speakers, your advice, please. ????
Balmy is in the eye of the beholder. In the winter, I consider 50°+ to be balmy. I like the change in seasons here. This morning we had a winter wonderland of snowy trees, with the roads being merely wet. I am fine with any temp above 20° and below 82° in its normal season. Our average monthly highs in winter are above freezing, and in summer are below 82°.
Take heart, Canadian Eh! most of Americans know very few, if any, of our President's middle names.
I watched Jeopardy last night, but didn't hear about the controversy. After reading about it on the blog, I looked it up. Did any contestant answer Midnight Cowboy? I think I would have accepted either answer. Jennifer would have won whether her answer was accepted as correct or not. A tempest in a teapot.

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks YR for the reassurance that Americans don't know all that information about their Presidents either. I will stick to relying on perps.

Re Jeopardy: we have had the discussion here before about the Best Picture winner of a certain year actually being a movie from the previous year. But I think our LA CW clues have used the year of the Award (opposite of what happened on J) so I can see where the discussion arises. But the question did also have "the first words spoken . . . Ten Hut!" "Be Seated!" which ruled out Midnight Cowboy. As YR stated, the outcome of game was not affected since Jennifer had a runaway score. (Both Jennifer and Ben answered Patton, and Shane answered Bridge on the River Kwai.)

desper-otto said...

YR, as I see it, it's the same kerfuffle that always comes up with best songs/movies/books of any given year. For obvious reasons, these awards are not made until the following year. Patton was cited as the best movie of 1970. The award was presented in 1971. The Jeopardy! question was fair. Besides, the first line of dialog quoted in the clue was definitely from Patton not Midnight Cowboy.

desper-otto said...

I see that CanadianEh! and I think the same way. But she expresses it better.

Jayce said...

I often agree with Irish Miss and today especially so.

A also voted for Perot. A rare candidate who actually has practical, common sense.

I actually like the term CUSMA better. It is pronounceable and avoids any confusion with United States Marine Corps something (Academy?).

FARMERSTAN parsed as a middle east country -- funny :)

Good wishes to you all.

Wilbur Charles said...

Looking at the completed xword I see zero write-overs, a rarity for me. I just kept filling, across, down whatever was next. So, still, an entertaining xword.

I give you two W's, Owen.

Correction. IM and others pointed out the O vs Y in WACKO. So I had a write-over after all.

REDDOG goes back to those old AFL telecasts with Gowdy.

Btw, I've actually read those ESSENE Books I linked. Believe it or not I had to order Thiering through a Canadian bookstore because American Customs wouldn't allow her books in.

Radical conspiracy is my mother's milk.

WC

Jinx in Norfolk said...

My CB handle was Red Dog. Partly because I was already a dog lover, but mostly because I drove a red 1972 VW bus that was a real dog. I had a great time with that thing, but it just wasn't a very good car.

Off the top of my head I can remember the middle names of all the men who have been president in my lifetime, except for Jimmy Carter. I have a harder time remembering all the presidents before my birth (not that there were that many). I was astounded when I learned that Millard Fillmore once held the office.

CrossEyedDave said...

Sorry I missed yesterdays Blog till this morning,
thought I had read it, but no.
(but it did allow me to read Wilbur Charles 6:40AM post)
(I would have missed it otherwise...)

The only thing I had to comment on Yest, was Panko.
But I have covered that before.
In case you forgot, it is not cooked in an Oven,
but heated between metal plates using Alternating Current
so that it does not form a crust...

(Don't believe me? LIU...)

Todays puzzle was equally devoid of satisfactory Silliness in Linkage.
Case in point...

The Blog had me going though, Jeopardy, Kerfuffle?
(I think it was a big Ado about nothing as M. Cowboy started with the song Everybodys' talkin.)

Which I am thankful for, as I have never seen a satisfactory
acoustic cover of the song, until today.
very close!
Love that song! & will attempt to learn it!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Michael for the puzzle. Thanks mb for the fine review (and sharing the pic of your lovely family). Bill Cosby also said "Right" in his Noah sketch.

WOs: RoadSTER, put DRAW in TACT's squares, ERgo b/f ERAT. Oh, and I had an ale b/f IPA and Dae b/f DAY.
ESPs: NEAL, DAG, ANNE, ABRAM (no, C, Eh! we don't know it either), AAHING(? - GRR). The second D in REDDOG was a WAG; it kind rang a bell.
Fav: Clue for COMET was cute [Hi Misty!]. Youngest is a dancer so I was thinking cohort was her troupe or some such.
Runner-up: WACKO. Makes me think of Click and Clack insulting their callers :-)

In 8th grade, I had Quiet Riot's METAL Heath on cassette. Why did I think this was a good song? //feel free to stop it 3 seconds in.

{B+, A}

Jinx - LOL Farmer-stan! That's just north of isbecubeccastan, no?

Lucina - Youngest is in AP History. She's working on a project to present Napoleon's Farcical Funeral right now. Next week, IIRC, they get to watch Python's The Holy Grail in class (Youngest can recite 1/2 of it - yeah, I'm that good'a Dad :-))

C, Eh! - Not political but USMCA evokes US Marine Corps, America (1EA). [Oh, Hi Jayce!] It's a silly (WACKO) acronym. They should have just went with NAFTA-redux. (or, for giggles, used Roman Numerals; good enough for the Pope, they are...)

Cheers, -T

Ol' Man Keith said...

Great photo of Melissa and family! Thanks for posting it.

Reasonably chewy pzl for humpday.

Not much to say today. My mind is occupied by politics.
~ OMK

Yellowrocks said...

Well, Alex discussed Jennifer's low wager last night, but did not mention the film controversy. Apparently the show has no second thoughts about it.

Picard said...

CanadianEh I would be very interested in connecting and hearing your views on the treaties. Can you please email me at earthmanrobert (at) gmail.com ?

Here are some of my photos of YOYOMA

YO-YO MA is a frequent visitor to our little city. He is very generous with giving Masters Classes to young musicians. At the session in my lower photos I have to say that the students were so good that they sounded as good to me as the Master himself!

Wilbur Charles glad you were amused at the comment about René Auberjonois being perfectly cast as an alien! It is sad that he is gone. Yes, small world indeed that Paul Coulter recognized someone in one of my MIT photos! Please keep us posted on your medical tests.

CC thanks for all the photos of Melissa's daughter's family. A lot of cuteness there.

Picard said...

PS:
Melissa that "Avoid Serious Injury" poster was hilarious!

Lemonade714 said...

D-O thank your wife for her assist. That was my point Schlossberg means Castle on a Mountain + HIGH CASTLE.

I forgot that the term RED DOG has slipped away from football analysts' minds.

Alex Trebek's mustache said...

Yellowrocks

Tonight's Jeopardy episode was taped months ago as was tomorrow's? (Is that grammatically correct) They were not aware of this discussion when tonight's episode was taped. As a matter of fact tonight's episode may have been taped on the same day as last nights episode as five episodes are taped each day with short breaks to allow for clothing changes. This taping schedule last for two days every other week.

Yellowrocks said...

I forgot about that. Of course, that is why it was not mentioned. Non compos mentis.

Lucina said...

AnonT:
Not only are you a good dad but an unusual one! Good for you!

Yea for me! Tonight I finished wrapping presents! That is, the ones that are here. More are expected to be delivered in the next few days and will require wrapping. But for now that task is finished. Now, on to the next one: Christmas cards.

Wilbur Charles said...

OMK, just remember Strom Thurmond's words " We don't have the votes!".
The whole thing'll be over by MLK day.

-T, I lasted 20 or 30 seconds.

CED, I often fall asleep mid post. I had to Google for the originator of the brain quote. I remember Dizzy from game if the week telecasts in the 50s.

But as a 8-10 year old I couldn't sit in front of a TV on a Saturday or Sunday. Whether it was football or baseball

WC