google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Katherine Baicker & Scott Earl

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Aug 17, 2022

Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Katherine Baicker & Scott Earl

Theme: 
 

 
20. *Rehearsed reply: CANNED RESPONSE.
 
41. *Knowledge based on empirical evidence: GROUND TRUTH.

35. *Spoke indirectly: MINCED WORDS.
 
52. Something to chew on, and a hint to the answers to the starred clues: FOOD FOR THOUGHT. 
 
I like it.  CANNED, GROUND, and MINCED are all food terms, and here they each pair with a second word to form a phrase about thoughts. 
 
Melissa here. We've seen Katherine Baicker before on May 19th (when Malodorous Manatee linked to her Wiki page), and most recently on July 7th. This appears to be the first collaboration with Scott Earl, who we haven't seen before. Welcome, Scott, and welcome back, Katherine.

Across:

1. Young amiga: CHICA. In Spanish (and also Portuguese), amiga is female friend. Chica is young girl.

6. Austen heroine played by Anya Taylor-Joy: EMMA.

10. Turner in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: TINA. Ageless, along with 50A.

14. Spanish "That's enough!": NO MAS. The expression no más in Spanish means “no more.” Its specific sense can vary depending on context, however, and it can also translate to “enough,” “no longer,” or “just.” In Italian, "that's enough" is basta. I often heard my Italian former FIL say that to his wife.

15. Competed (for): VIED.

16. Willing to talk: OPEN.

17. Brolly carriers: BRITS. The origin of brolly is an alteration of (um)brell(a) dating back to around 1870-1875. Although the term stems from the extracted 'brell,' this is thought to have changed over time as language developed.

18. "Done venting!": END OF RANT.

22. "Mom" actor Corddry: NATE.

23. Dim sum beverage: TEA. Tips for pairing dim sum with tea

24. Sporty option: T-TOP.

26. Debonair: SUAVE.

30. Target of some mining: DATA.

34. Omega, to an electrician: OHM. The ohm (Ω) is the SI derived unit of electrical resistance, named after German physicist Georg Ohm. (SI = International System of Units.)

37. Unlikely esports champions: NOOBS. Noob is a slang term that is used to refer to inexperienced players in a multiplayer gaming environment. Noob is derived from “newbie” and is considered to be a derogatory term. A low-level character may also be referred to as a noob regardless of the skill of the player controlling it. Noob may also be spelled as newb or n00b. Certain behavior may also be called noobish.

39. Lithium-__ battery: ION.

40. "The Jetsons" dog: ASTRO.

44. Good times: FUN.

45. Two-time Wimbledon winner Murray: ANDY. Tennis.

46. Soprano Fleming: RENEE. One of the most highly-acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world's greatest opera houses and concert halls. Renée's new single, Before the Deluge with Alison Krauss, Rhiannon Giddens, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

47. Less than some: NONE.

48. Island ring: LEI.

50. "Believe" diva: CHER. Known as "The Goddess of Pop," now 76 years old, she's been performing since 1963, and still selling out shows.

59. "Go figure!": FANCY THAT.

60. Black-and-white dunkers: OREOS.

61. Black-and-white swimmer: ORCA.

62. "Veep" award: EMMY. Veep won 17 Emmys total, including: 2012 (Lead Actress), 2013 (Lead Actress and Supporting Actor), 2014 (Lead Actress), 2015 (Outstanding Comedy Series, Writing, Lead Actress, and Supporting Actor), 2016 (Lead Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series), (Lead Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series), 2017 (Lead Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series), and 2019 (Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series). Wow. I feel like I should watch it now, since I never did.

63. Cosmic comeuppance: KARMA.

64. Spa treatment: PEEL. Chemical resurfacing procedure that removes the top layer of skin, reduces wrinkles and leaves softer, smoother skin.

65. Sincere: REAL.

66. Sneakier: SLYER.

Down: 

1. "American Greed" channel: CNBC.

2. Wedding ring?: HORA. Nice clue. Hora is a Romanian or Israeli dance in which the performers form a circle, or ring.

3. "Do not push me right now": I'M IN NO MOOD. Well ... a bad one.

4. Revitalizing snooze: CATNAP.

5. Interview talking point: ASSET.

6. "Best. Day. __!": EVER. Great song, although the name of the band is actually Sly and the Family Stone (not Stallone, as youtube decription shows 🤣).


7. "Dibs!": MINE.


8. Rx orders: MEDS. The shortened Rx in the clue indicates the shortened answer meds.

9. Enlarged one's family, in a way: ADOPTED.

10. Storms that may be chased: TORNADOS. I lived through a few tornadoes in Oklahoma as a teen, and chasing one would not be on my agenda.

11. Some "hazy" brews, for short: IPAS. From The Guardian: The initials stand for India pale ale. It was the answer to the problem of providing beer for the British Empire in the east. It was too hot to brew in India, so what was needed was a beer that could survive the grueling six-month journey from Britain intact.

12. State bird that sometimes nests on lava fields: NENE. The Hawaiian name “nene” comes from the bird's soft, almost gentle call. The literal translation of the word in olelo Hawaii (Hawaiian language) means “to chirp, as a cricket; to croak … whimpering, as a sleeping infant.” The look similar to Canadian Geese, and are, in fact, descended from them. 7 Fun Facts About the Nene, or Hawaiian Goose.


13. Tiny toiler: ANT. E. O. Wilson, the famous entomologist and world's foremost expert on ants, passed away in December of 2021. He inspired many young people to learn about ants (including my son, when he was about six). PBS has a documentary about him and his studies, Of Ants and Men, and his memoir Naturalist is wonderful.
 
19. Adversary: FOE.

21. "The Daily Show" correspondent Lydic: DESI. Trevor Noah's show.

24. Fiji neighbor: TONGA.

25. Side issue?: THORN. The worst! Also called a "stitch," doctors sometimes call them exercise-related transient abdominal pain (ETAP).

27. Come together: UNITE.

28. Oak of the future: ACORN. Mighty oaks, from little acorns grow.

29. Locale: VENUE.

31. Museum curator's concern: ART FORGERY. The best movies about fake paintings and forgeries.

32. Successful sprint to the end zone, briefly: TD RUN. Here again, "briefly" indicates the shortened TD for touchdown.

33. Together: AS ONE.

35. Bing company: MSN. Google vs Microsoft Bing: A Detailed Comparison of Two Search Engines.

36. Sound that may wake sleeping parents: WAH. Grandparents, too.

38. Patronize neighborhood shops, say: BUY LOCAL.

42. Vagabond: DRIFTER.

43. Georgia __: TECH.

47. Like some biological networks: NEURAL.

49. Dreyer's partner in ice cream: EDY. Learning moment, ice cream maker William Dreyer, and candy maker Joseph Edy together created Dreyer's and EDY's® Ice Cream. Fromo their FAQ: "Dreyer's and Edy's® proudly market our products under Dreyer's Ice Cream west of the Rocky Mountains and in Texas. On the other side of the nation, we proudly market our products under Edy's® Ice Cream in the East."

51. Catchy parts of pop songs: HOOKS.

52. Uber charge: FARE.

53. "Fool me __ ... ": ONCE.

54. Woeful cry: OH ME.

55. Hindu epic hero: RAMA.

56. Short "Chat again soon": TTYL. Talk to you later.

57. Second novel in Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead" series: HOME. Very popular.

58. Winter Palace monarch: TSAR.

59. Snappy dresser: FOP.

Notes from C.C.:

Melissa's sweet granddaughter Harper turned 3 years old! Her bigger sister Jaelyn are in the last three pictures. I had to smile at Melissa's note:  Jaelyn with her karaoke and unique fashion sense




 



 

 


33 comments:

Subgenius said...

I wasn’t familiar with “ground truth.”

OwenKL said...

FIRight. Hardest puzzle of the week. My last couple of entries were WAGs.

The theme was awfully subjective, too. CANNED, MINCE, and GROUND Are all things that can be done to FOOD. And RESPONSE, WORDS, and TRUTH as THOUGHTS, well, they fit, but not as cleanly as I'm used to.

There was a little CHICA in TONGA
Who played with his cars, but, Ay Caramba!
Cars were fine,
What he had in mind
Was some metal toy trucks from Tonka!

When it comes to puzzles, they're lots of FUN!
To pass the time, they're second to NONE.
But I'm conflicted,
In TRUTH, addicted,
When working puzzles, nothing else gets done!

{B+, B+.}

Subgenius said...

Does that mean truth that is “grounded “ in reality? Other than that, no real problems. FIR, so I’m happy.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Is it really Wednesday? Either d-o is still half asleep, or he's getting too old for these newfangled cultural references, or both. Struggled, but prevailed, so I guess all is well. Thanx, Katherin, Scott, and Melissa Bee (Very cute grands, and very nice expo today.)

CHER: Met her in the early '60s when she and Sonny were touring with I've Got You, Babe. I'm sure she remembers me.

BING: Nope. It's DuckDuckGo for d-o.

unclefred said...

Somehow CHICA popped right into my head to start the CW, but I waited until a couple of perps confirmed it. Natick @ 21D & 22A slowed me down, last letter to fill was the E. I would say “Bing company” is Microsoft, or MSFT, not MSN. TINA was the only proper name of the eight that I was sure of. I DNK Edy was Dreyer’s partner. Eventually, I FIR, but it was slow, even for me. I estimate 27 minutes. Several interruptions. Interesting looking grid. Thanx KB & SE for the entertaining CW. And thanx too to Melissa for the solid and entertaining write-up.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased ups for FUN, issue for ASSET, and alas for OH ME. DNK brolly, DESI, HOME or DESI, but I did know MIKA. I agree with U-Fred that Bing is from MSFT. MSN is kinda like saying that "Chevy company" is CADILLAC.

Thanks to perps, I got UNITE instead of untie.

As many times I have watched Mom, I was surprised that I couldn't remember the Gabriel actor. (DW likes the series, and with her condition there is no such thing as a rerun.)

Thanks to Katherine and Scott for the fun, and to Melissa for explaining it. Very cute grands!

Sherry said...

Very difficult. Too many proper nouns. Never heard of Brolly or noobs.

Big Easy said...

The NW was the only difficult part to complete with two Spanish- CHICA & NO MAS - and the totally unknown British word- 'Brolly' as a clue. I knew NO MAS from Roberto Duran saying it years ago. I knew CNBC and guesses HORA to get the rest. The cross of unknowns NATE & DESI was the last to fall today.

MSN and Bing vs. Google- I keep a split screen open on my PC with two browsers open. MS Edge on the left and Google Chrome on the right. I search using Bing on the left and Google's Chrome on the right. On either Android or I-Phone it's pretty much Google all the way since Google pays Apple about 15 Billion a year to be the search engine for Safari.

CrossEyedDave said...

Food

for

Thought?

I had a little trouble understanding "Veep," as I had no idea it was a tv show on HBO
(I don't have HBO...)
A little research revealed it though.
I thought it would help others if I could find the YouTube trailer to "splain" it,
but one of the 1st clips to come up kinda mouthed off at me...

Anonymous said...

To "ground truth" something is to actually go out to where something is supposed to have occurred to see for yourself. Like if the kid told me she mowed the lawn, I go outside and look at it to make sure it's true.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I’m back in the subbing saddle today!
-CANNED RESPONSE – Politicians take a risk when they stray off message and don’t MINCE WORDS
-Granddaughter EMMA is leaving for D.C. this week to seek a Masters at American University
-It’s bad form to open your brolly on the lift or in the loo
-Mark Twain on DATA
-A crossword trifecta would be an ORCA eating an OREO in Lake ERIE
-Obscure D_SI/NAT_ took care of itself.
-The AAA farm team for the KC Royals is the Omaha Storm Chasers
-The “HOOKs” in Sweet Caroline and YMCA are heard at a lot of athletic contests

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I didn’t see the full theme until this morning’s second look, so I’d give it more props than I did last night. I particularly liked the very much in the language and strong declarations: I’m In No Mood, Buy Local, End of Rant, and Fancy That. Wasn’t familiar with Noobs or Desi, as clued, or the phrase, Ground Truth. Other than those, no problems.

Thanks, Katherine and Scott, for a pleasant mid-week solve and congrats, Scott, on your LA Times debut and thanks, Melissa, for a particularly informative review. You have a knack for highlighting the most interesting entries with the appropriate links. Very happy to see current pictures of the two grands who get cuter by the day. Thanks to you and CC for sharing.

FLN

A big welcome back, Tony! You were very much missed and had us worrying a bit about your prolonged absence. Little did we know that you were wearing so many hats: Packer, Mover, Driver, Shopper, Handyman, and, most importantly, doting Dad. Your whirlwind trip made me tired just reading about and I hope you get some well deserved R and R soon. 😉

Have a great day.

Yellowrocks said...

Saw the food theme which helped. Difficult and slow solve for a Wednesday. HORA really slowed me down.

A thorn in the side is figurative, a stitch in the side is physical.
A thorn in the side is "a person or thing that repeatedly annoys someone or something or causes problems He's been a thorn in my side for years."
"A side stitch, also known as exercise-related transient abdominal pain (ETAP), is a pain felt on either side of your abdomen."

"Ground truth is information that is known to be real or true, provided by direct observation and measurement (i.e. empirical evidence) as opposed to information provided by inference." Not a stretch, but a machine learning phrase. (On a Wednesday?)

Alan likes "Mom," but I don't. Perped that one.

Off to do my paper work. My "get up and go" got up and went. I do much better with hard deadlines.

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday Thanks for the fun Katherine and Scott, and melissa ( great photos of the grands).
I FIRed in good time and saw the Foody theme. Loved the cross if FOOD FOR THOUGHT and BUY LOCAL.
Several names and unknowns but perps were fair. Last to fall was the mid-west coast;THORN was clued cleverly - broke the logjam.
We had an island ring and a wedding ring. More Hawaii with NENE.
I’ll read you all later

Wishing you all a great day.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Nice humpday challenge, The long clue answers became clear and perp-helped much of the rest of puzzle. "Empirical knowledge" is derived from direct observation but never heard the term GROUND TRUTH, ergo a learning moment😊. Didn't take CHICA long to return from Guatamala.

Inkovers: ARTfakery/FORGERY, jeep/TTOP, I can't do more/IMINNOMOOD. Basta(it's Sp. too)/NOMAS, ttfn tata for now)/TTYL ...(guess I was "fooled" much more than ONCE.)

Cats must be incredibly "revitalized" animals with all those NAPS: explains the 9 lives. Figured "Mom" actor would be a female (we see both "actor" and "actress"used in CWs lately to mean female), so was surprised when NATE perped.

Veep was one of the funniest series I've seen, highly recommended. Chemical PEEL sounds painful 😢, why not just use an electric sander😄 Swayve & Deboner or something like that. Not a fan of NOOBS (I mean the word). Another clever OREOS clue. ("black and white dunkers": ORCAS, eating a seal? 🤔). EMMA was almost opposite EMMY


You ___ an explanation....OHM
Crosswords' favorite berry, ACAI, is touted as ____....FOODFORTHOUGHT.
Keep your ____ the prize...ION
Apathetic cow quote "___" IMINNOMOOD
Purchase diet food...BUYLOCAL

CHER @ 76 🎼 "If I could turn back tiiiime, I'd take these tattoos off my behiiiind !"🎶

🤣


Lee said...

Agree that the NW was tough with both 1A and 14A being Spanish. However, OwenKL, Chica is feminine, so you should redo your limerick.

inanehiker said...

I found this challenging for a Wednesday - fortunate to be off work so I could do a leisurely solve.
One hang up I started 37A with NERDS who would actually be LIKELY esports champions which then changed to NEWBS and then to NOOBS. With FOP crossing, I confidently put in pedi before changing to PEEL. OH NO became OH ME. Also ART FOR sale became ART FORGERY with perps.
I try to BUY LOCAL when I can.

Enjoyed the blog MBee - especially the Sly and the Family Stone song- and the puzzle Katherine & Scott!

waseeley said...

Thank you Katherin & Scott. What, it's Saturday already? By the time I faced the all that light in the NW, I was in NO MOOD, but 3D was my first fill up there and it broke the log jam. Through some miracle, I finally plucked the THORN from my side and got a FIR. I assure everyone that it will be much better tomorrow (except for the theme, but you don't really need it). That said the cluing in this was very clever (except for the usual two "Black-and-Whites") and I, at the END OF RANT, really liked it. Oh and the theme was tasty too.

And thank you Melissa for an informative and masterful (or should I say Maestraful) review. I'll save my favorite bling for below.

A few favs:

6A EMMA. I only know of two 4 letter Austen heroines and EYRE didn't perp.

17A BRITS. Believe it or not, I got this on perps (actually I got most of the puzzle on perps of perps of perps).

46A RENEE. Great clip for this, with a great ensemble of equals. I'd have probably picked some obscure ARIA from an obscure Czech opera.

37A NOOBS. For starters I thought "esports" was French or something. This whole puzzle made me feel like a NOOB.

31D ART FORGERY. Often a precursor to ART THEFT. A documentary called Stealing Van Gogh is streaming on ACORN. I haven't seen it, but I think they did it with a sledgehammer.

4D CAT NAP. That's where I'm headed right now.

Oh and thanks to C.C. for assembling that delightful desert at the end.

Cheers,
Bill

Subgenius said...

Yellowrocks, thanks for your explanation about "ground truth. You're always so helpful. Are you a teacher, or perhaps a professor? You've certainly taught me a few things!

sumdaze said...

FIR. Favorite clue was "side issue?", which also opened up the west coast for my final fills.
Thank you, Melissa, for revealing the "thought" part of the starred clues. I only saw the "food" references.
I agree with Ray-O @10:15 that Veep is a very funny show. I've never had HBO but was able to check out the DVDs at my library.
I'll take a CSO for both RENEE and NENE. The latter was the nickname my older brothers called me when we were growing up. Fun for me to see them both in one puzzle!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Lots of FOOD FOR THOUGHT here, thanks, Katherine & Scott. Great expo, thanks, Melissa.

Also lots I didn't know. Sometimes I think I don't live in the same worlds as some of these NOOB constructors. They're hip. I'm not.

Laughing at myself: Fiji neighbor wasn't Samoa or Tahiti, altho I kept trying to come up with a new way to spell Tahiti so it would fit. Oh, TONGA. Well, sure. No perps in that area to help, but finding TONGA gave me perps for the others.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

OH ME - that NW corner was last too fall -- I kept thinking of the Pickers network at 1d but I couldn't remember that either.

Thanks Katherine & Scott for the puzzle. Thanks mb for the fine expo & cute Grand pics. I'm curious - where in OK? At OU, I had a buddy who worked at the Severe Storm Labs in Norman - his station-wagon was tricked out with tornado-tracking electronics.

WOs: N/A
ESPs: ANDY, BRITS (as clue'd), HOME (as clue'd)

I've never seen Mom, but 4-letter Corddry can only be...
Fav: NATE xing DESI. NATE (and his older brother Rob) were on The Daily w/ Jon Stewart & Desi is on Daily w/ Trevor.
Like Lorne, Jon had a knack for plucking talent.

{C [it's HER ;-)], A+}

Thanks for the welcome back, IM. I missed The Corner last week - hopefully, I can catch up on the goings (wents?)-on later this week.

LOL links, CED. Ibid CHER 'quote', Ray-O.

HG - what's EMMA's Masters gonna be in? I was in the DC area last week and it was cool having WAMU [remember Diane Rehm?] as my NPR station.

mb - thanks for the links to FORGed ART films. I've only seen Tim's Vermeer [Trailer] / Tim's Vermeer [if you have 2hrs].
//at Magnolia (in Vienna, VA - awesome desserts!), an artist (I think one of the owners / owners' kids) painted Fakes with a twist - Vermeer's The Girl with the 'Silver' Earring was on the wall behind our table.

Cheers, -T

Misty said...

Bit of a Wednesday toughie for me, but mainly because of all those names. But still lots of fun, many thanks, Katherine and Scott. And I always love your pictures and commentary, Melissa, and your own sweet grand-daughter pictures at the end.

Enjoyed the food theme, though not a lot of food outside of the theme. Oh wait, there were OREOS for dessert. But then we seem to get OREOS almost every day in puzzles.

Not only were your poems fun, Owen, but I can't believe you wrote a fun poem about fun poems! Cracked me up!

Have a great day, everybody!

Wilbur Charles said...

Xxxxxxxxxc UncleFred did you beat 31 minutes? Online no interruptions. Nada in NW to start.
I remembered CHICA from a previous xword, else …

NO MAS was uttered by Roberto Duran signaling surrender to Sugar Ray Leonard(as Nola's BigE notes)

ANDY Murray was a life raft for me. Only fill in West for awhile but rock solid

Kid down the street 'chased' fire engines

So, Tony(anon-)… As we entered NC Phil says "So you want "Music". This godawful cacophony erupts: Iron Maiden!!!*

.. They mean THORN (in) the side, colloquially (OK as YR said "figuratively "



* Head to the Hills(Bht I was trapped in the car

Ol' Man Keith said...

Fine work today from the Baicker/Earl team and from melissa bee!

I finally streamed EMMA. A wonderful film, brilliantly performed & beautifully photographed! It turned me back onto Jane Austen.

I reckon we old coots aren't supposed to be familiar with NOOBS. It is why the mid-left sector was my last to finish.

Ah, RENEE Fleming--my dream soprano!
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Two diagonals, one per side.
The near-end diag's anagram (13 of 15 letters) helps us to decide why young lovers of the 1960s might choose "Unforgettable" over "Without You"--or vice versa.
Because it is the...

"SMOOCHIER TUNE"!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Anon T

Antknee Welcome back!

A friend told me 3 moves equals one fire

DW talks about selling the house and downsizing. Since our closets and shelves and the unfinished part of our basement are stuffed with 25 plus years of her "saving stuff"
I tell her the only way we are leaving this house is in two oblong boxes.

🙄

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Last to fill was the E crossing NATE and DESI. Loved the clue for THORN.

Names I did not know:
NATE Corddry
ANDY Murray
DESI Lydic
HOME

Names I did know:
EMMA
TINA Turner
RENEE Fleming
CHER
EDY

Good wishes to you all.

waseeley said...

OMK @2:02 PM RENEE is the BEST! I hope you caught my link to her performance of "The Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka. She owns the role.

Husker Gary said...

Anon-T - Emma is pursuing a Masters in Public Policy at American University.

Ol' Man Keith said...

waseeley @4:13.

Yes, thank you for that link. We agree! --she can do no wrong!
~ OMK

CanadianEh! said...

AnonT- I’ll echo Irish Miss, and say that we missed you. Hope you can get settled in and feel at home there.

Ray-o- we have 41 years worth of “stuff” in this house. I don’t even want to think about moving! But the next generation will just throw it all out, so we must deal with it. I try to purge a little every week.

melissa bee said...

thanks irish miss & misty

and yellowrocks thanks for that distinction (thorn vs. stitch), makes sense

anon-t - tulsa and surrounding areas

i don't come to the comment section regularly, but it seems a little light - only 31 comments at 7p. is that the norm these days?

Michael said...

An addition to comments on the word 'NOOB.'

In the Army, long ago in the 60s, anyone who PCS'd or TDY'd in, was called a 'NOOG,' short for 'New Guy.' No idea what 'NOOB' would expand to .... maybe 'New Boy'?

(PCS = Permanent Change of Station, meaning you're here for a full tour; TDY = Temporary DutY, only around for a short while.)