google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, October 25, 2020 Alan Olschwang

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Oct 25, 2020

Sunday, October 25, 2020 Alan Olschwang

Theme: "A Series of Missteps" - Anagrams of STRIDE span across each theme entry.

27A. Many an investment: CALCULATED RISK.

44A. MTV Video Music Award category: BEST DIRECTION.

69A. Where many scenes are presented: THEATER DISTRICT. And 104. 69-Across presentation: DRAMA.

99A. Used one's clout: PULLED STRINGS.

119A. Freegan's activity: DUMPSTER DIVING.

16D. It's often passed at family meals: BUTTER DISH.

76D. Records: WRITES DOWN.

Wow, I'd be at a big loss at how to title this puzzle.

It's good to see Alan Olschwang back. Still remember those Tribune Daily days? We see him every Thursday. 

We don't often see 6-letter anagrams. Shorter words are easier to scramble. Fortunately the letters here are all quite common.

Across:

1. South American rodent: PACA. With white spots.


5. "Little Man __": 1991 Foster film: TATE.

9. Minor cuts: SNIPS.

14. Blot with a tissue: DAB AT.

19. God with a quiver: EROS.

20. Times often named for music genres: ERAS. Maybe we should call our blog pre-2018 as the "Argyle Era".

21. Refined, as skills: HONED.

22. Seed-to-be: OVULE.

23. One: SOLE.

24. It's rarely paid to a car dealer: LIST. List price. Thanks for the seat suggestions. We have one just like what Dr. Nina uses. I brought it to Vegas last time. It's easier for Boomer to get up from the low chairs.


25. Big game name: ATARI.

26. Richest person in the world before Bezos: GATES.

30. Treats with malice: SPITES.

31. Sr.-supporting component: IRA. Account.

32. Encl. with postage: SASE.

33. i-opening company?: APPLE.

34. Revolutionary War name: HALE. Nathan Hale.

35. Cambodian cash: RIEL. I saw Norodom Sihanouk, who spent his remaining years in Beijing. He was on TV all the time.

37. Flag: TIRE.

39. Slothful sort: IDLER.

41. Some colas: RCS.

48. Invited to the penthouse: ASKED UP.

50. Loss nos., perhaps: ESTS.

51. British Isles tongue: ERSE. "Ciamar a tha thu?"

52. Pride letters: LGBT.

54. Skyline feature: SPIRE.

55. Store: STASH.

57. Rice, e.g.: STAPLE. And 60. Sushi serving: AHI.

62. K2 locale: ASIA.

63. "Wanna bet?": OH YEAH.

65. Southernmost of the Marianas: GUAM. D-Otto & Edward Duarte were both there.

66. Goddess of marriage and family: HERA.

68. LBJ beagle: HER.

74. Cornfield call: CAW.

77. Up start or follower: SIZE. Size up or upsize.

78. For fear that: LEST.

79. Apply forcefully, as the brakes: SLAM ON.

83. Subway fare?: HERO. Does Subway sell torpedo sandwiches in America? I remember my boss Ken (ex-Marine) bought us torpedo tuna sandwiches in Shanghai in 1995. The taste was so foreign to me.

85. West Coast pro: RAM.

86. Newspaper supplement, maybe: INSERT.

89. Fern seed: SPORE.

90. First of 12: ARIES.

92. Zap: LASE.

94. Cab category: REDS.

96. Corporate honcho: SUIT.

97. Meat-curing compound: NITRITE.

103. Summer wear: TEE. Our weather has been winter-like the past two weeks. Lots of snow. A record for October so far.

106. Simplify: EASE.

107. Family reunion attendee: AUNT.

108. Arcade game word: SKEE.

110. Preferred group on the field: A TEAM.

112. Do a rest stop machine's job: VEND.

114. You, in Germany: SIE.

117. Dark-colored cigar: MADURO. Only knew that the Venezuelan Maduro.



122. Cell terminal: ANODE.

123. Anaheim athletes, in local sportscasts: HALOS.

124. Banned orchard spray: ALAR.

125. Kendrick of "Pitch Perfect" films: ANNA.

126. "Holy moly!": YOWZA. Hi there, Lucina!

127. Big name in violins: AMATI.

128. It can smell: NOSE.

129. Announced: SAID.

130. Undo, in a way: ANNUL.

131. It's about 30 kilometers from Düsseldorf: ESSEN.

132. Exude: SPEW.

133. Relationships: TIES.

Down:

1. "Goodfellas" Oscar winner: PESCI.

2. Loudly cheering: AROAR.

3. Formal outfit accessory: COLLAR STAY.  I like "Before".



4. "Just __ ... ": A SEC.

5. Fudge, perhaps: TELL A LIE. And 7. Pepsi Challenge feature: TASTE TEST. 9. Chinese dog breed: SHAR PEI. So many great fill in this area.

6. La Scala solos: ARIAS.

8. Uruguay's Punta del __: ESTE.

10. Waiter's disappointment: NO TIP.

11. Like many an injured arm: IN A SLING.

12. Brewed: PERKED.

13. Star Wars initials: SDI.

14. Places to walk with best friends?: DOG PARKS. Sweet clue.

15. Be of use to: AVAIL.

17. On the protected side: ALEE.

18. Melanie's "Working Girl" role: TESS. OK, I just read the Wiki plot again. The lady in red is mean.


28. Secondhand: USED.

29. Quick movement: DART.

30. "__ the One": 1996 Aniston/Diaz movie: SHE'S.

36. "We're good to go": IT'S SET.

38. Long cold spell: ICE AGE.

40. Tizzy: LATHER.

42. First female Nobelist: CURIE. And the only female to win two!

43. Asparagus unit: SPEAR.

44. Kiss, in Cancún: BESO.

45. Bk. before Job: ESTH.

46. Monopoly props.: RRS.

47. The Rebels of the SEC, familiarly: OLE MISS. Alma mater of Marti's husband, I think.

49. Eco-conscious org.: EPA.

53. Thai dough: BAHT. Thais are finally fed up with their king. Lots of protests in in Oo's homeland.


56. Expressions of skepticism: HAHS.

58. Regular hangout: PURLIEU.

59. Encumbered: LADEN.

61. __ West, wife of DC Comics' Flash: IRIS. Learning moment for me.


64. One who gets what's coming: HEIR.

67. They may be torn on the field: Abbr.: ACLS.

70. Augusta National shrub: AZALEA.

71. Musical motif, to Verdi: TEMA. Theme.

72. Firewood units: STERES.

73. Finishes up on the green: TAPS IN. For a par/bogey.

74. Stands sound: CHANT.

75. Eagle's home: AERIE.

80. Biblical peak: MOUNT SINAI.

81. Not a dup.: ORIG.

82. Takes in and keeps: NETS.

84. Poetic contraction: O'ER.

87. Improve, as an urban area: RE-DEVELOP.

88. NFL "sixes": TDS.

91. Determined by the stars, as time: SIDEREAL. Not a common word.

93. Pancake-making aids: SPATULAS.

95. Brother of Peter, briefly: ST. ANDREW. St. Andrews golf course was named after him, right?

98. Early smartphone: TREO.

100. Doesn't bother to check the water first: LEAPS IN.

101. Hightails it: LAMS.

102. Fashion's Gernreich: RUDI. He invented the monokini.

105. Chair titles: MADAMS.

109. Invasive vine: KUDZU.

111. Ham it up: EMOTE.

113. Rub off: ERASE.

115. Anatomical button type: INNIE.

116. "Yipes!": EGADS.

117. Uxmal denizen: MAYA.

118. Auth. unknown: ANON.

120. Summer shades: TANS.

121. Grand Canyon adjective: VAST.

123. "Scots Wha __": patriotic song: HAE. "Scots Who Have". Wiki says "it's a patriotic song of Scotland written using both words of the Scots language and English, which served for centuries as an unofficial national anthem of the country, but has lately been largely supplanted by "Scotland the Brave" and "Flower of Scotland".

C.C.


37 comments:

SwenglishMom said...

Thank you CC! I appreciate being able to come on here and get the solution to what is contained in the circled letters. I'd rather use your knowledge.

Rainy but mostly above freezing here in Sweden. I'm taking a year certificate program in Teacher and Student Assistant to get Swedish education cred. My MA in English Lit doesn't get much in terms of job interest here, and since I'm turning 60 in a month I don't qualify for support to the university degree programs. But I love my job, substitute child care worker, and it's actually a relief to change preschools daily. More concentration on the kids that way, lots of hugging, singing and serious examination of boo-boos. Count me very grateful.

Many thanks for the blog, always.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Red letter day. D-o got 'er done, noticed the circles, and even read the puzzle title to figure things out. I'll take the CSO at GUAM, and noticed the one to Lucina at YOWZA. Thought UXMAL might be INCA, but MAYA showed up. Nice to see your byline again, Alan. Enjoyed the tour, C.C. (You can have that snow. We complain, because the temp dropped to 60 last night.)

SHAR PEI: A family's house burned down a couple years ago. They had a Shar Pei named Aja, who wasn't injured. They decided to rebuild. They temporarily moved to a nearby house, but Aja wouldn't move with them, insisting on staying at the burned-out shell.

STERES: Had only heard of "cords" of wood until I started doing cws. Here's more about Cords and Steres than you ever wanted to know.

SIDEREAL: Paul Harvey dropped a notch in my estimation when he insisted on pronouncing it "Side-Real" in one of his Rest of the Story episodes. It's actually pronounced sī-ˈdir-ē-əl, per Merriam-Webster.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Swenglish Mom; glad you checked in. Hope you are staying well with all that is going on.

Déjà vu all over again with Alan's appearance. Used to enjoy his puzzles in the past. This one was enjoyable, too.
CSO to the ANON's and to others as D-O said.
SIDEREAL - A SIDEREAL day is about 4 min. shorter than a solar day. 365 x 4 mins = 24 hrs or the passing of the night sky in one year. Sidereal hour angle (SHA) +right ascension equals 360º. SHA is referenced from the 1st point of ARIES, and is part of the computational process for a celestial fix.
STERES are not used here in Oneida County. Face chord is used.
New York, except for the Allegheny Bend in the SW, is littered with remnants of the last ICE AGE; both depositional and erosional.

Mark said...

Breezed through the upper half but SW was a pain for me. Didn't know SIDEREAL. Wasn't sure of SKEE, YOWZA and had NITRaTE and ANNew. But all in all a good Sunday for me!

Was so proud of RISE for 77A...'till it was wrong. Let's start an up rise and rise up people against that clue!

jfromvt said...

I also had trouble with the SW corner, but got the rest. Some interesting long answers, but the theme of mixing up STRIDE isn’t real exciting.

OMaxiN said...

Used a Palm TREO long ago, but missed SIDEREAL.
Lots of good guesses and perps helping the other fill.
Totally missed the theme which is not unusual.

BESO recalled from my adolescent years when we learned how to cuss using a foreign language.

Arlington, TX SHAR PEIs: Funny and fun dogs Thor & Ace
Thank you Alan and C.C.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-BREAKING STRIDE was a fun and challenging exercise today despite some red herrings
-Where BREAKING STRIDE can be dangerous
-We didn’t SNIP our neighbor’s 7’ lilac, we cut it down to 7” and it is now flourishing
-You can’t spend any RIELS at a McDonalds in Cambodia as there are none but they do have Subways
-Snow today and back to TEES next week with 60+ temps
-What’s the most expensive item you’ve seen in a vending machine? For me it was a cell phone.
-Ben Bernie was a radio personality, famous for saying, “YOWZA, YOWZA!” Hey, I’m old!
-I love seeing dogs frolicking in our DOG PARKS
-OLE MISS, “Where we red shirt Miss Americas”
-REDVELOP – Not always well received as gentrification
-At this site you can enter your longitude and see local SIDERAL time
-Dang! An “A” didn’t cut it for MADUR_/TRE_

NaomiZ said...

Scrambled words are not my forte. However, seeing the same letters show up in the circles did help me with the solve. Good job, Alan and C.C.! Thanks so much.

Yellowrocks said...

Fun puzzle. SW corner was difficult. Like Gary I had TREA and MADURA. I remembered the PALM TRE(?) but forgot the last letter. The scrambled letter theme helped a lot.
My packing has come close to a standstill. I overdid it on Thursday. The soft tissue around my former broken ribs aches. I did nothing Fri. and Sat. Today I am doing what I can by sitting on a chair and moving it along. Every day I get a little better. David is helping me tomorrow. I hope he can come once a week for a while.

waseeley said...

Learned about "sidereal time" in HS from an amateur astronomer friend, but I've rarely seen the word since. It is 4 min/day faster than the "solar time" that we will set back one hour this coming Saturday at midnight. Sidereal clocks are used to drive the "equatorial mounts" used to support telescopes. These mounts are aligned with Polaris, the "North Star", around which all of the other stars appear to rotate. The use of sidereal time is needed for precise timing in astrophotography, otherwise images would blur during long time exposures.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Valerie and I FIR but not rapidly. Our favorite moment was trying to figure out if STAN DREW was Nancy's long lost brother. PURLIEU was a learning experience.

ATLGranny said...

Dang it! I thought I got it, including the theme answers but had one wrong square at nALOS and nAE. A Natick for me, it turned out. Like others, I struggled with the SW corner, having two blank squares for the longest time: _ID_REAL. I didn't see the reference to the zodiac with ARIES and knew SKEE ball but not how to spell it. As my DH passed through the room, I asked him and he knew SIDEREAL, a big help. But, a FIW anyway. Still, lots of fun clues and much enjoyment, Alan. Thanks. Thank you, CC, for reviewing and explaining. I remember the "Argyle Era." Good idea!

Nice to hear from you, YR. Sorry you are in pain again. Hope it improves soon. Best wishes to all. Be well.

Wilbur Charles said...

Despite remembering SKEE Mr S insisted on TRAK phone. LIU says they're still selling them with a C. I also had NITRaTE.

Lot's of cute clues like "One who gets what's coming". I can't believe I couldn't think of AZALEAS until SIZE grok'ed. I also couldn't believe the Ray's had pulled it out in the 9th. I must have dozed. Speaking of stumbling.

Sundays go slow. There's always a bad box or two.

WC

CrossEyedDave said...

stride?

I invested a lot in this puzzle...


I would like to thank my parents...

Wendybird said...

Despite a mess of a SW corner, I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Learned new things and loved seeing little-used words like PURLIEU. I was clicking along, slowly but steadily until I fell into the abyss of the SW.

I didn’t recognize UXMAL, didn’t know SIDEREAL, TREO OR MADURO and tried wowee and yowee, never thinking of YOWZA. So, FIW, but it it was still fun. My favorite theme answer was DUMPSTER DIVING.

Thanks, Alan for the challenge, and thanks, C.C. for the excellent tour.

BTW, what is “The Argyle Era”?

Wendybird said...

CED, great clip of your parents!!

CrossEyedDave said...

beating Anonymous-T to the link without breaking stride...

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thank you, Alan, for the challenging workout! YOWZA! Yes, thank you for the CSO. Sunday's are always a slow solve but it finally fills, little by little.

The entire top half flew by quickly and quite often I take a CALCULATED RISK on a word or term. Sometimes it's correct, sometimes not but that's puzzling.

Wasn't there a movie with Kevin Costner and Rene Russo called TAP IN?

The IRIS is my sister Yoli's favorite flower. I love her crepe trees in North Carolina. Sadly many of the trees are disastrously being overtaken by KUDZU.

Never having heard of RUDI Gemreich I had VENT/RUTI which sounded fine to me.

And speaking of VENDing machines, Carvana in Tempe, sells cars through one. They are stacked inside a very tall machine but I have no idea how one goes about buying one. No coins in the slot, I'm sure.

I was surprised on seeing the ST. ANDREW's golf course how small it is and looking a bit unkempt and not at all like the well groomed courses here.

Can someone tall me who is Freegan of DUMSTER DIVING fame?

YR:
I am sorry you are experiencing pain and I do hope you will have some help soon. Take care of yourself.

I've never left without tipping even if the service is poor. Having watched my nieces work as waitresses I know how hard the job is and even if it's a small amount, I TIP.

Have a joyful day, everyone!

desper-otto said...

Lucina, I think the Costner/Russo movie you're thinking of is Tin Cup. Freegans (pronounced like Vegans) don't pay for food -- they dumpster dive for it.

CanadianEh! said...

Sunday Stumper. Thanks for the fun, Alan and C.C.
Officially a DNF today as I was defeated in the SW corner and had to turn on the red letters and reveal.
MADURO crossing SIDEREAL and KUNZU (seen here before but forgotten) were my Natick.
But I did find the STRIDES.
.
I was thinking of tea and wanted Steeped, but it was coffee that was being PERKED.
Is it SSAE or SASE today?
I had Tase before LASE.

YOWZY, we had HER, HERA and HERO., plus HEIR. (Was SHE’s an outlier?)
Then EROS, ERAS and ERSE; ESTS, ESTES and TESS. (Was ESTH the outlier?)
RAM, LAMS,, MADAMS and DRAMA (Ray’o could do something with that last one - “ the male sheep’s mother” perhaps?)

I noted RAM and ARIES, OVULE and SPORE.
Fans were AROAR (part of our hated A TEAM today) or CHANTING.
We could wear a SUIT or a TEE - COLLAR STAYS if really formal!
RIEL and BAHT for our capital today. Alas NO TIP.
Do those SHARPEI go to the DOGPARKS?

And of course you all know that DRAMA is presented in the Theatre district in Toronto. I was last there in January and am missing it.
I’ll post this and come back to read you all.
Have a great day.

CanadianEh! said...

Good to hear from you SwenglishMom.

Thanks to you all for the info, pronunciation etc. re SIDEREAL. I learn a lot here.

YR, we were missing you (see AnonT last night). Sorry that you have aggravated that rib injury. Packing and moving is a big job. Glad your son can help .

Wendybird - Argyle, AKA Santa was a beloved blogger here (and much more even behind the scenes). His untimely death in 2018 was a very sad time here and truly the end of an ERA. We still miss him.

CrossEyedDave said...

Sidereal was a relearning moment,
I knew it from my astronomy days, just didn't know
How to pronounce it. (Like Betelgeuse...)
Watched a 15 second commercial on YouTube to hear the 1 second pronunciation...

True learn8ng moment: Freegan!
Seems to be a cross between free and vegan...
a skill that may come in handy sooner than you think!

Hungry Mother said...

FIW, even after years of smoking good cigars. I guess I quit too long ago, because I put in MADURa. Also, I used to have a TREO, so not thinking too well.

Lucina said...

desper:
Thank you. As our Canadian friends says, we learn so much here. I had never heard of Freegans though I have seen dumpster divers here. It makes me shudder and count my blessings!

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and enjoyed solving it. Once I figured out that the letters in circles would all be the same six letters in different orders it help to fill in some of the cells.

Favorite fill are DUMPSTER DIVER and IN A SLING.

BUTTER DISH strikes me as being pretty pure green paint.

Favorite clue is "Places to walk with best friends?". (Dog is man's best friend, get it? Nyuck nyuck.) My wife loves to walk through the local dog park every morning, and enjoys meeting up with her buddies and all the various dogs there who have gotten to know her and come running when they see her. I'm sure the fact she always has treats for them has nothing to do with it.

Second favorite clue is the one for HEIR.

Changes: NICKS became SNIPS. MSRP became LIST. NUKE became TASE which became LASE. STEP ON became SLAM ON. EXEC became SUIT. MADURA became MADURO when TREO was revealed. EMIT became SPEW. STS became RRS. CHEER became CHANT. DIVES IN became JUMPS IN which became LEAPS IN (also sorta green painty.) RUDY became RUDI. REAL became RIEL. And an alphabet run changed NAE/NALOS to HAE/HALOS.

I learned STERES and PURLIEU. I will probably quickly forget IRIS and TESS as clued. I remember ANNA Kendrick because I used to have a crush on her.

All of which is to say: those characteristics are what I think makes a puzzle fun and interesting.

Good wishes to you all.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk Say:

Thanks D-O for the pronunciation (I'd have Paul Harvey'd it). Thanks Spitz for more learning.

Nice to see you SwinglishMom!

CED @1:49. #3 is LOL. And you beat me to the Minestry of Silly Walks.

DUMPSTER DIVING - What hackers do to find intel on companies from documents that employees tossed in the bin. The intel (phone numbers, names etc) is used in phase II - social engineering [tricking people].

And (CED) then there's George.

Cheers, -T

billocohoes said...

Surprised nobody went for this song for the theme (unless I missed I)
Matthew Wilder
https://youtube/iGtQMT-QLgc

I usually only solve online Sundays but I wish there was a pause on the clock for when I’m called away. Also wish red letters were bold or had a different background- maybe color blindness makes it hard for me to find them.

Subway sells subs. Not submarines, torpedos, heroes, grinders,po’boys or hoagies.

Misty said...

Sundays are always toughies for me, but this one still had many fun items--so, many thanks, Alan. And thank you, always, C.C., for your commentary.

My favorite clue was "One who gets what is coming" for HEIR. I also had to laugh when "Cab category" turned out to be RED. Oh, wine, and not a taxi? (I've never seen a red taxi). Silliest item today was when "It can smell" turned out to be NOSE. Doh! Like I said, lots of fun.

Yellowrocks, take good care of yourself.

Have a good week coming up, everybody.

Anonymous T said...

YR - It was nice to hear you're still doing well. I know - a big transition and lots of work.

BillO - I thought of it; Aint Nothin' but a Break in My Stride but... OK, um, ok, it's a song...

I thought CED's cat covered it pretty well :-)

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

Jayce, what is meant when a clue is referred to as "green paint"?

Anonymous said...

[  ] Green paint" is industry shorthand for a crossword answer that while definitely exists in real life, doesn't feel "conversational enough" to be a tuly legit entry in a puzzle.

Big Easy said...

A very late start the last two days. Yesterday-FIR; today FIW, due to sloppy reading of the 100-D clue. I had to leave at noon to drive to a 70th bday party 50 miles away. No time to double check anything. Filled LEAPT IN instead OF LEAPS IN. DNF.

I'd never heard of PARLIEU;TATE, TESS, SHE'S the one, IRIS West, MADURO (other than the bane of Venezuela), HER, & ANNA Kendrick were other unknowns filled by perps. Didn't really know if it was NITRATE or NITRITE and had to wait for SIDEREAL to complete it.

AZALEA- mine keep dying from fire blight. I am digging up six this week and having them replaced by something else. DW has a nursery rep come over tomorrow.

Spitzboov said...

BigEasy - Azaleas are a close relative of rhododendrons. Rhododendrons need very acidic soil and reasonably dry feet to thrive. We're in zone 4 up here so don't know much else about azaleas.

oc4beach said...


I got to do this in pencil and paper in the Washington post today. Luckily I had the circles today, so it actually helped in solving the puzzle.

I got it done without understanding some of the words like PURLIEU.

Not much else to say other than what others have said. Plus I’m doing this on my iPad, so it’s going slowly.

Be safe everyone, and please wear your masks. See you all tomorrow.

Jayce said...

Anonymous @ 6:37, re green paint, Anonymous @7:04 explained it better than I could.

Lucina said...

I forgot to mention earlier that MADURO means ripe or mature.

JAYCE:
All afternoon, on and off, I've been puzzling about your use of "green paint" which even when I looked it up didn't quite understand it. Do you mean superfluous? or the opposite, non-essential. If you see this would you please explain it. I'll check on it tomorrow.

Granjan said...

Thanks for this explanation of sidereal time, Wasseely!