google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 Robin Stears

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May 11, 2022

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 Robin Stears

Theme: A Quip in three parts.

17 A. First part of a quip about climate change: A MIND CONTROLLED.

27 A. Second part of the quip: AIR DEODORIZER.

45. Third part of the quip: MAKES SCENTS IF.

60. Last part of the quip: YOU THINK ABOUT IT.

Hi, Gang.  JazzBumpa here.  It's not clear what this has to do with climate change, but oh, well.  I hold this type of theme in very low regard.  Let's move on.

Across:

1. Works in a park, perhaps: STATUES.  Works of art, not labors

8. Chooses: SELECTS.  Opts for

15. City of ancient Greece: CORINTH.  It is located in south-central Greece.   Some guy named Paul wrote letters to his fellow congregants there.

16. Steelmaking raw material: IRON ORE.  It is often found in sedimentary rocks.  The most important 
such minerals are hematite [Fe₂O₃] and magnetite [Fe₃O₄]. 

19. "Cool beans!": NEATO.  Like, a-wow, man!

20. Cookware purchase: POT. Or PAN.  needed perps.

21. Streaming delay: LAG.  Be patient.  it's buffering.

22. Finale: END.  All done.

24. Cornish game __: HEN.  It's just a chicken

26. Abhor: HATE.  Can't stand.

32. "This Is Just My Face: __ Not to Stare": memoir by Gabourey Sidibe: TRY.  Reflections of an unlikely movie star.

33. Green, in a way: NEW.  Raw, too, I suppose.

34. Hearing organ: EAR.  Eh?

35. 2020 N.L. MVP Freddie: FREEMAN.  My grandson Nate is a Dodgers fan and was delighted that they signed him to a six year deal after he spent 12 seasons in Atlanta.  He set a team record in the first game of a double header on Saturday, hitting 3 doubles in 4 plate appearances. in the second game he added a single and a walk as the Dodgers swept the Cubs

38. Beverage similar to hard seltzer: ALCOPOP.  An alcopop is any of certain flavored alcoholic beverages with relatively low alcohol content (e.g., 3–7% alcohol by volume), including: Malt beverages to which various fruit juices or other flavorings have been added.

42. Short lunch?: BLT.  An abbreviated bacon-lettuce and tomato sandwich.

43. Form 1099 agcy.: IRS.  The infernal Revenue Service.

44. Future flower: BUD.  if it doesn't get nipped.

49. Time for action: D-DAY. June 6, 1944 in World War II on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy.   By analogy then, any day on which an important operation is to begin or a change to take effect.

51. With 58-Down, 2018 Best New Artist Grammy winner: DUA.  Due Lipa b 1995] is an English singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco-pop and R&B sound.  Sorry.  Never heard of her.


52. Land north of Den.: NOR.  Denmark and Norway.  our Granddaughter Alexa will be studying this summer in Copenhagen and Stockholm [Sweden.] 

53. Decompose: ROT.  Return to dust.

54. __ and cheese: MAC.  First I entered HAM.  Either way, now I'm hungry.

56. Works very hard: TOILS.  Possibly in a park, maybe, could be

65. Neither here nor there: EN ROUTE.  On the way

66. Flute played by Zamfir: PAN PIPE.



67. Confirm, as a password: RE-ENTER.  Don;t miss-type uit.

68. Syrup source: TREE SAP.  Maple, I hope.

Down:

1. PC virus check: SCAN.

2. Hefty book: TOME.  A large, heavy scholarly one.

3. Opera solo: ARIA.  A long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.

4. Like some windows: TINTED.  Colored to reduce heat load from the sun.

5. Brought to ruin: UNDONE.   Something has either not gone as planned, or has failed in some way. 

6. "The rest is obvious" abbr.: ETC.  And so on. .  .  .

7. Factory: SHOP.  Manufacturing facility.

8. Minor minder: SITTER.  Person who watches over the little ones.

9. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.  Oops -- my mistake.

10. British lav: LOO.   Necessary facility.

11. Picture that shows more detail: Abbr.: ENL.  Enlargement.

12. Tall decorative addition around some cakes: COLLAR.  If you say so.
  
13. Spring for lunch: TREAT.   To buy for your companion[s.]

14. Swamp plant: SEDGE.  A grasslike plant with triangular stems and inconspicuous flowers, growing typically in wet ground. 

18. "Ain't gonna happen": NO HOW.   Ain't no time, ain't no place, ain't no way.

23. Was philanthropic: DONATED.   Gave support to a worthy cause.

25. Leslie of "The Naked Gun" films: NIELSEN.  Leslie William Nielsen [1926.2010] OC was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. 


26. Long lunch?: HERO.  A stacked sandwich on a long bun.

27. DOJ branch: ATF.  Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is a branch of the Department of Justice.

28. Sale rack abbr.: IRRegular.

29. Pumpernickel grain: RYE.  For bread.

30. Animal house: DEN.  Or PEN.  Are they wild or domestic?

31. Actor Efron who voices Fred in "Scoob!": ZAC.  Zachary David Alexander Efron [b 1987] is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy. During this time, he also starred in the musical film Hairspray and the comedy film 17 Again.

36. Site to do one's bidding: EBAY.  On line auction site.

37. "Letter From Birmingham Jail" initials: MLK.   the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929 - 1968]

38. __ de Triomphe: ARC.  This monument in Paris honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

39. TV network with pledge drives: PBS.  Public Broadcasting Service.

40. "Certainement!": OUI.  Yes, at the Arc de Triomphe

41. Adobe file format: PDF.  Portable Document Format.  It allows documents to be transferred across otherwise incompatible systems.

43. "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" singer Chris: ISAAK.  Christopher Joseph Isaak [b 1956] is an American musician and occasional actor. He is widely known for his hit "Wicked Game", as well as the songs "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" and "Somebody's Crying". He is known for his signature 1950s rock & roll style and crooner sound, as well as his falsetto and reverb-laden music.

45. Grown-up: MATURE.  Adult, presumably.

46. Sting's real last name: SUMNER.  Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE [b 1951], known as Sting, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He was the frontman, songwriter and bassist for new wave rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984.

 
I had forgotten about this song.

 47. Zip, nada, zilch: NOT ONE.  NOT ANY also fits, unfortunately.

48. Group of traveling performers: TROUPE.

49. Appliance that seems to eat socks: DRYER.   Truth!

50. Lorna of literature: DOONE.  The eponym for a historical romance novel, in which a fictional story is set in the context of real historical events and figures.

55. Ship leader: Abbr.: CAPT.   This threw me, as I was exception CAP'N.  Either way it means captain.

57. "For sure!": IT IS.  Affirmative

58. See 51-Across: LIPA.  Still never heard of her.

59. Pedometer unit: STEP.  A pedometer is an instrument for estimating the distance traveled on foot by recording the number of steps taken.

61. Heavy weight: TON. Two thousand pounds.

62. Shack: HUT.  A small, simple, single-story house or shelter.

63. Mineral suffix: -ITE.  Cf 16A.

64. Watering hole: BAR.  Informal reference to a tavern.

So, we end this Wednesday adventure with the chance for a cold drink.

Cheers!
JzB




44 comments:

Subgenius said...

I thought long and hard about whether Mr. Efron's name was Zak or Zac, and also had to replace "Summer" with "Sumner" and "Isaac" with "Isaak." But in the end, FIR, so I'm satisfied.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

We haven't seen Robin's name in some time. Nor a quip puzzle. Nothing too difficult, though d-o fell into the hAm/MAC trap. Interesting that yesterday we had HHOUR, and today it's DDAY. Thanx, Robin and JzB. (Why should the theme have anything to do with climate change?)

DRYER: Last year I decided that life's too short to spend any part of it sorting socks. I threw all mine away in favor of a dozen pairs of identical socks. Now I just stack 'em up. If one is missing, who cares. It'll show up eventually.

Robin Stears said...

Hi solvers! I don't usually do quips. I'm not a quipper. But I happened to read that one-liner, and I laughed so hard I snorted. I'm not sure what it has to do with climate change either; that wasn't in my original clue. I just thought it was funny, and when it fit perfectly into a grid, I decided that was kismet.

This is my first LA Times puzzle edited by the lovely and talented Patti Varol! I'm thrilled to see our bylines together, hopefully the first of many more. :)

Wilbur Charles said...

FIW today. I thought it was ALKa(seltzer) mixed with "pop" and I completely missed the HERO as a "long" lunch. To much ink smearing the paper. And, had ZAc/ZAK Efron.

D-O, I try to do that with gray or tan socks but yes one needs to by a dozen or more

Sticky Wednesday but doable with perps.

WC

But managed to guess DUA LIPA

KS said...

FIR, but took a WAG at the U in Dua. I contend proper names should not cross one another in a crossword. Neither Dua or Sumner were known to me.

Anonymous said...

Took 10:25. I like a "quip puzzle" from time to time, and seems it had been a long time since we had one.

So, am I correct that "climate change" means deodorizing (changing) the air around you (climate)?

Didn't know (as clued) "collar," Sting's last name, or the ancient city.
I also really wanted "matured" instead of "mature" for "grown-up."

ATLGranny said...

FIR with similar sticky points as others had: DUA, SUMNER, ISAAK, (unknown to me but ultimately guessable) and ALCOPOP, LIPA and COLLAR which had solid perps, at least. My first entry for COLLAR was "candle" and for ALCOPOP was "alcohol." Why not, I thought. I also misread British lav as law, which slowed me down a while.

Thanks, Robin, I like an occasional quip puzzle. Thanks for stopping by too. The climate change reference was probably meant to be as Anonymous @ 7:14AM said. I was expecting "air conditioner" before more letters filled.

JazzB, it was nice to see you reviewing today. Humorous and helpful, what more do we need?! Thanks.

Wednesday already! These pretty days are flying by. Have a good one!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DNF, looking up SUMNER. (I would have known Trudy had the clue involved his better half). After cheating, I still FIWed pEN. Erased eco for NEW, and fixed NIELSoN and ISAAc.

I loves me some Lorna DOONE cookies, but since I want to stay a mere vestige of my former self, I never buy them.

Yesterday we had HHOUR, today we get DDAY. Wonder what we'll get TTOMORROW?

My first thought for "syrup source" was Kroger's, and it would have fit. My first thought for a cheese go-along was "wine", but it wouldn't fit.

Three fills reminded me of three good songs, two from my ute:
"She's Come UNDONE" by The Guess Who
"I'm Your CAPTain" by Grand Funk RR
"Shake it Off" by Taylor Swift ("haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate")

Thanks to Robin for the fun. I liked "neither here nor there" for ENROUTE and "minor minder" for SITTER. Made up for the stinkers SUMNER and ISAAK crossing DUA. Glad to know you aren't responsible for "climate change". And thanks to JazzB for the interesting tour.

Lemonade714 said...

Robin, it is great to see your by-one and appreciated that you took the time to say hello to the corner.

I found this to be an excellent age appropriate puzzle, with a gentle dusting of new thing and new cluing. Since we never know which clues are the constructor’s or the editors I try to comment on the whole experience. I liked it and though it includes things or people I did not know, it was not necessary to know DUA LIRA to sole the puzzle. I don’t mind learning new things, slowly

Thanks JzB and Robin

Robin Stears said...

"Anonymous said...
Took 10:25. I like a "quip puzzle" from time to time, and seems it had been a long time since we had one.

So, am I correct that "climate change" means deodorizing (changing) the air around you (climate)?"


I GET IT NOW!!! Patti Varol is so clever. <3

Lemonade714 said...

Climate change relates to a hot button political topic and the Corner does its best to not foster political controversy

We just want to have fun

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

As SS said, an occasional quip puzzle is fun, especially when it’s a cute pun, as this one is. I needed perps for Freeman, Alcopop, Isaak, and Sumner and I stumbled over Pine Sap/Tree Sap and Sty/Den. Am I the only one who dislikes proper name cluing for common, ordinary words? Today there were three examples: Try, Nor, and Arc. IMO, there are enough, sometimes too many, proper names in the grid and using them unnecessarily in the clues is distracting. This trend joins my other pet peeve of excessive three letter words which today totaled 32. On the positive side, Robin gave us several fun duos with BLT/Hero (loved the clecho clues), Shop/Pop, Bar/Rye, IRS/ATF, and Den/Hen.

Thank you, Robin, for a mid-week chuckle and thanks, JazzB, for the informative summary.

FLN

Lucina, from many comments you have made, I believe you do everything you can to avoid complications from diabetes. Keep up the good work! 🤗

Have a great day.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

And Hi Robin. It's always nice when a constructor pops in.

And, yes, I agree that Anon @ 7:13 is on to something, with changing the climate in a very localized way.

Too subtle for me, alas.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone.

Cheers!
JzB

CrossEyedDave said...

Thank you Robin for the puzzlement,
works in a park left me standing in the grass from the get go...

One minor Nit,
you know how I feel about French in English crosswords, but how was I to know "certainement?" Certainly doesn't sound French. Oui/no?

And,
I don't think Naticks are fair in a Wednesday puzzle.
Dua/Sumner is a Natick!
Dua/Isaak is a Natick!
Dua Lipa/"Any weirdly spelled name" is a Natick!!!


Of course, it could just be my personal experience,
but something just does not smell/taste right to me...

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Robin (and for dropping by - twice,) and JazzB.
Officially a FIW due to my personal Natick crosses (same as CED @8:32).
But I got the themers, although it took Anon@7:13 to explain the theme. Thanks.
And I knew Irish Miss would not like those 32 three-letter fills (I counted 31 but did not double check).

I thought of Wine before MAC (hi Jinx!)
I smiled at the short and long lunches. And we are going to be TREATed.
1A required a noun, not a verb; 45D required an adjective, not a noun (Adult)or a verb (Matured) Hi Anon@7:13,

I have commented recently about the odd combination (at least to this Canadian) of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms! (All the vices in one department?!)

Wishing you all a great day.

unclefred said...

Fir but couldn't track the time: too many interruptions. DNK FREEMAN, SUMNER or DUALIPA. Thanx for the CW, RS. Thanx for the great write-up, JzB. My big news today is testing finally negative for Covid this morning. Does anyone know how long I need to stay quarantined after testing negative?

Subgenius said...

Congratulations, unclefred*, for testing negative. My brother and his wife went through Covid but I don't recall how long they had to stay quarantined. It seems to me like it was only a short period of time. Perhaps inanehiker* or Ray-o- sunshine or one of our other medicos could advise you. Anyway I'm glad you're feeling better!

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thank you, Robin Stears and Jazzbumpa! Normally I don't care for quip puzzles so I'll add this one to the list. It does, however, make the solve easier and quicker once the quote is revealed. I'll let Thumper decide.

Letter from Birmingham Jail fooled me although GAOL would more properly apply to Oscar Wilde who also wrote one but not from Birmingham.

MLK/BLT crossing could be a Natick for some one.

Site to dd one's bidding is a clever clue for EBay though it's not the first time I've seen it.

IrishMiss
Thank you for your confidence in me but when nature takes its course, it's out of my control. I have always tried to be careful with my health but not much I could do about this one.

Now to finish packing.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Big Easy said...

TGFP because the 'quip' didn't make 'SCENTS' to me. The spelling of NIELSEN, SUMNER, and ISAAK took some guessing. ISAAK,ALCOPOP and DUA LIPA were unknowns; TGFP.

Jinx- I had to change ISAAC and NIELSON to make the puzzle work.

D-DAY today; H-HOUR yesterday
RE-ENTER- don't you hate it when certain websites require new passwords.

ROBIN- the only 'deodorizing' would be done by OZONE (not carbon dioxide), which will do it. 'Climate change'- very sloooowwww process over centuries. Look up mean sea level from 10,000 years ago. About 400 feet lower.

desper-otto said...

Unclefred, found this on the CDC Website.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Obscure to the max DUA and SUMNER and spelling of ISAAK ruined a fun gimmick. Is this a pattern?
-Our ROKU units are buffering and so we are considering changing from Spectrum to ALLO
-Freddie FREEMAN is a joyful exception to athletes with bad attitudes and political opinions
-ENRUTE or ENROWT?
-Joann DONATED to some great groups and now we got solicitations from others every day. No good deed…

Bob Lee said...

Same as others, I had to change ISAAC to ISAAK, and laughed about the DRYER answer (I once heard a comedian say the socks change into coat hangers).

But the long climate change quip made no 'sense' to me. So here is what I thought would be a better base to work from:

A MIND CONTROLLED
A WIND CONTROLLED

AIR DEODERIZER
AIR TRANSFORMED

MAKES SCENTS IF
MAKESUSCENTS IF

YOU THINK ABOUT IT

Sherry said...

Didn't know: Alcopop, Dua Lipa, Pan pipe, Zac, MLK, Isaak., Freeman.. Pretty much all proper names. I don't really appreciate puzzles with this many names, poor fill.

waseeley said...

Thank you Robin (and Patti) for a very Fridayish Wednesday puzzle. I can assure you that tomorrow's will be a lot easier. That said I was able to futz around long enough for a FIR, and found the punny quip entertaining at least, if not helpful. Do you suppose if we could invent MIND CONTROLLED AIR DEODORIZERS we could develop MIND CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERES?

And thanks Jzb for helping us MAKE SCENTS of this puzzle.

Some favs:

15A CORINTH. Long after Paul wrote his letters a guy named Rossini wrote an opera about the siege of the city by the Ottoman Turks in 1459. Here's the overture, the most famous bit. And here's a 3D from it entitled "Giusto ciel, in tal periglio" ("Right heaven, in such peril") sung by Joyce DiDonato.

42A BLT & 26D HERO.

66A PAN PIPE. And Zamfir. He's also done a lot of not so schlocky stuff too.

Gotta go.

Cheers,
Bill

Yellowrocks said...

I liked this quip puzzle. PEN instead of DEN kept me from seeing deodorizer until the very end. The context of the quip finally did the trick.
There were quite a few Naticks which I successfully wagged. FIR.
The quip makes perfect sense if you think of indoor climate.
Google: 'Indoor climate' is a fairly broad term. The climate in a room is influenced by six factors, namely: the temperature, air speed, air quality, humidity, light and view.
I use deodorizers to control the indoor climate of my bathrooms.
I especially liked long and short lunch.
I wanted wine and cheese. I know mac and cheese is commonly used, but we never say it. We love what we call "real" macaroni and cheese, homemade and oven baked, as opposed to the Kraft boxes.
DO, I did that with Alan's socks, bought a whole drawer full of all alike socks.
Have a happy day.

ATLGranny said...

HG, I think the traveller is ENRUTE, but the ROWT he's taking is unknown.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Big Easy - Since you bring out that statistic, I'll call off my efforts to organize a demonstration outside of EPA headquarters demanding they accelerate global warming. It has been between 50 and 60 degrees here with 20 - 30 MPH winds out of the northeast for the last 10 days, and I'm over it. But I guess change would take too long to save this spring. (BTW, why does no one recognize that the same types of people who write the algorithms that ban only conservatives from social media also write the algorithms that predict only doom-and-gloom for the climate?)

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

The MidWest was a blank Tic Tac Toe board. Didn't know the MVplayer, "pumpernickel grain" is not OAT, "sale rack abbr" is not RED(uced), "DOJ" branch is not the FBI, ...nothing perped ergo a DNF. But I did like the phrase/theme thing. Even though I didn't complete it. I tried ...by a DEODORIZER which didn't work.

Busy, no time to peruse everyone's comments. Filling in for a Covid afflicted colleague

ALCOPOP, DUA LIPA, a "cake" COLLAR? wha? (All perpwalked)

Inkovers: Noway/NOHOW, Nielson/NIELSEN, Zak/ZAC, sûr/OUI, capn/CAPT.

Our quirky sock-eating DRYER will only eat one sock from a pair. Alas, a bunch of lonely unmatched socks in the drawer.

DDAY: we had "H hour" recently.

Incomplete....UNDONE
Oz's heartless metallic woodcutter's brother Edward...TINTED.
Flabby muscles...NOTONE
Expertise...NOHOW
Bread making step...NEATO

Finally warm enough to enjoy our first dinner outside on the deck yesterday evening.

NaomiZ said...

FIR but was puzzled by the "climate change" clue, so I dropped by the Corner to make SCENTS of it. Glad to know that the clue was a stinker for JzB as well, and that Robin didn't write it that way.

Agree with all who struggled with SUMNER and DUA. Lucky WAG for me.

unclefred said...

Thanx, D-O. I had looked but found a confusing array of advice. This was to the point! It'll be great to get outa the house!

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

FIR with three w/o's:

PAN/POT
NOT ANY/ NOT ONE
CMDR/CAPT

Freddie FREEMAN was my son-in-law's (AtlantaBraves fan) favorite player. Last Christmas I got him a Christmas stocking gift; a Freddie FREEMAN bobble head "STATUE". Of course, FREEMAN went FREE AGENT, and signed with the Dodgers. I was unaware that he was from SoCal, so it made "SCENTS" for him to switch teams, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT

There's a puzzle called 7 Little Words that appears in our print edition newspaper on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The puzzle involves a series of 2, 3, and sometimes 4 letter choices, which when properly arranged form seven words to describe clues. Each clue gives you the appropriate number of letters. Anyway, today's puzzle coincidentally had the clue "Singer Dua" (4 letters). As I correctly solved six of the seven, the only pair of choices left were "LI" and "PA". Having never heard of her, I "flipped a coin" and chose LIPA instead of PALI as my answer - thanks Ron for posting a picture of her

Thanks Robin for stopping by to share your thoughts, and thanks JzB for telling it like it is.

I know I've raised the question in one of my blogs about whether we bloggers should remain "neutral" about a puzzle, or say - in our recap - that we do or don't care for a certain kind of puzzle. I think if we're up front about it, the puzzle constructor will be cool

In addition to DUA and LIPA, the other "new word/phrase" is ALCOPOP

The cluing "stretch" today was for COLLAR

Lucina - did my puzzle arrive?

Anonymous said...

Fun quip. Dua who? Singers and actors are challenging for me. All in all good fun regardless of the nitpicking...

desper-otto said...

Thanx for not being political, Jinx.

Picard said...

Robin Stears Thank you for dropping by and thank you for a fun quip puzzle. I don't consider a puzzle solved until I understand the theme. Thanks for letting us know the mysterious and confusing CLIMATE CHANGE reference was not your doing. To me, "DEODORIZE" means remove ODOR, not add SCENTS!

Hand up almost done in by cross of SUMNER/DUA and ZAC/ALCOPOP. WAGs to FIR.

Here my Peruvian PAN PIPE friends performed in downtown Santa Barbara.

From Yesterday:
OlManKeith, Jinx and Others Thank you for taking the time to read my EYEWITNESS testimony article and comment.

I was already familiar with the work of Elizabeth Loftus who showed how easy it is to implant false memories. She was the PhD advisor of my UCSB sponsor Jonathan Schooler. If we followed her advice, we probably would reject EYEWITNESS testimony completely.

But John Wixted is working on a case where a man is on death row and Wixted thinks EYEWITNESS testimony should exonerate him. Good for him for getting Loftus to publish a paper with him showing the special conditions where EYEWITNESS testimony can and should be used.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Enjoyed the puzzle, Robin, but found the theme quip strange and hard to understand once I finally got 'er filled. Nothing I was expecting. Thanks, JzB, for your honest & informative expo.

DNK: WEES. COLLAR on a cake? Not at my house.

Have a great trip, Lucina.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

PK - when I was little, my mom used to bake my favorite cake - angel food - from scratch. The device she used looked like a metal bowl with an upside down funnel in the middle. That device is what I thought of when COLLAR shoehorned its way in. And it's much better than having cholera around your cake.

Kelly Clark said...


Robin, really, really nice puzzle. Absolutely cracked me up.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

FIW - DUs | ISSAK

Fun puzzle, Robin. I like the quip and I think WEES - climate refers to the climate in your house and using a futuristic Nest thermostats to control the SCENT in your house (who burnt popcorn in the microwave?!?)
Thanks for stopping by The Corner. And, yes, Patti is a TREAT to work with.

Great expo, JzB. Sting's (Gordon SUMNER's) Russians was on his The Dream of the Blue Turtles debut solo. When I first heard that song, I had a (growing - other music was in the zeitgeist) suspicion the Cold War was soon to be over.
FFW 35+ years... Oy! #Rinse&Repeat

WO: NEeLSoN [funny guy!]
ESPs: DUs LIPA
Fav: NOR xing NOT - Don't know why but it just tickled me.

UNDONE made me think of The Guess Who. //Hi Jinx!

Good C19 news UncleFred. What is it? Just a couple more DAYs 'till you can join the world again?

Bob Lee - I think it was Douglas Adams: '[...]socks put into dryers sometimes pass through the portal to another universe and are replaced in this universe by a wire coathanger in your wardrobe, which neatly explains why there are so damned many of them in every wardrobe. They even turn up in hotel room wardrobes, despite the coathangers there being the sort that don’t have a hook on them so you won’t steal them when you’re flogging the bathrobes.'

Lucina - Your past posts re: sugar intake indicate you're managing it just fine. Sorry to hear about your pain. Enjoy your trip. //where you going again?

Jinx - re: algorithms... Because over-educated ugly smart people with cats? ;-)

And on that,
-T
Cheers!

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle a little bit. I thought I was so smart putting in PIG IRON at 16 Across that I shot myself in the foot in that whole area until the perps lit the lightbulb over my head. Even at that, I managed to hit the R key instead of the D key, giving me MIND CONTROLLER and SERGE. Because of that error, no amount of guessing what letter crossed DUA and SUMNER resulted in the TaDa. So I had to resort to doing a Check Grid to find my typo. As Maxwell Smart would say, "I missed it by THAT much!"

Misty said...

Bit of a tough Wednesday puzzle for me, but no problem since there were enough ordinary items to make it all manageable. And (forgive me for this, Irish Miss) the many three word pieces were a huge help, I thought. So, many thanks, Robin, and thanks for your commentary, JazzB.

As often happens, the top East corner got me off to a good start with those easy ERR, LOO, and TREAT answers, which then helped me get SELECTS and IRON ORE.

The DRYER clue made me laugh too, and made DDAY and MATURE fall into place for me.

For some reason some reference to TREE SAP or SYRUP seems to show up in puzzles frequently, it seems to me. Always enjoy seeing them.

Have a great evening and a great day tomorrow, everybody.

Vidwan827 said...


Thank you Robin Stears for nice Wednesday puzzle, that was a little crunchy, but one I enjoyed. And thank you for chiming in - twice - at the L A Crossword Corner blog.!!

Thank you Jazzy B for your erudite review and your candid remarks.

I had no special trouble during the solve - except that I did not know a lot of the proper names especially of the break through singer ... Dua Lipa.

I know that DUA means 'an earnest, special and desperate (?) request (of) God' in Islam, ... and I wondered if she might be a muslim. I read her bio on Wiki and found out, sure enough, her parents are Albanians, and she is of muslim heritage. 'Dua' apparently means 'love' in Albanian.

The main theme, the quote, while cute, after I sussed it ... seemed punning and funny, but a little hard to comprehend. Thanks to the other contributors to the blog who made SENSE out of it ....

I also did not know FREEMAN or ALCOPOP.

have a nice evening and good rest of the week, you all.

Lucina said...

AnonT:
I am going to Oakland then Petaluma where my friend lives in Assisted Living and of course, we'll take a trip to San Francisco to meet friends for lunch. I'm told the weather is cold now and it will be lovely to get away from the 90s and approaching 100s here.

CMoe:
Yes I received your puzzle and solved it. I'm sorry for not mentioning it, been very busy. It was fun and had a few challenging spots.

I'll see you all in a week! Take good care of yourselves, please. Are any of you near the fires? If so, please stay safe.

Lucina said...

I'd forgotten to mention that ZAC Ephron was a guest on the Ellen Show today.

Michael said...

CED @ 8:32: Then that would be Toe Tea, no?