google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, October 14, 2022 Christina Iverson

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Oct 14, 2022

Friday, October 14, 2022 Christina Iverson

Theme:


Christina Iverson is becoming a regular contributor to the L.A. Times crossword. She's back today with a bit of a rebus. Four emotions, clued as "Feeling under the weather?" are placed directly beneath four words from your daily forecast. The feelings are literally "under the weather." It's probably easiest to understand by examining the grid:

 

Other than placement, The emotions don't seem to have any relation to the weather words. We have WIND/FEAR, RAIN/LOVE, SNOW/HOPE, SUN/IRE. It would've been nice if Christina could have found another 4-letter pair to replace SUN/IRE, but it's still a pretty neat theme. As is the custom lately, there were plenty of proper names in today's puzzle, but the perps always came to the rescue. I'm happy to say that no WAGs were required. Maybe Christina will drop by to explain her inspiration for this one.  

Across:
 
1. "The Mandalorian" actor Weathers: CARL. No clue. I stopped following when Jar Jar Binks appeared.
 
5. Half of hexa-: TRI. Hexa:6, Tri:3. 
 
8. Parrot: MIMIC.

13. On track to win: AHEAD.

15. Lav: LOO. No hint that it's British on a Friday. 
 
16. Jungian archetype: ANIMA. One's true inner self in Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology. 
 

 
 
17. Cozy spot to read a book, perhaps: BAY WINDOW. Wind source.
 

19. Tiffany collectibles: LAMPS. Created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They make frequent appearances on Antiques Roadshow on PBS. 
 

20. Feeling under the weather?: FEAR. Theme "feeling." 
 
21. Omniscient: ALL WISE. ALL KNOWING was too long. 
 
23. Fencing move: THRUST. LUNGE was too short. 
 
26. "Born a Crime" memoirist Trevor: NOAH. After seven years, he recently announced he's leaving his late-nite TV talk show. 
 
27. Keeps in office: REELECTS.

30. Fit: TRIM. These two words go together just like AID and ABET. 
 
32. Have a bug: AIL.

33. Spot where soap scum may accumulate: SHOWER DRAIN. Rain source. Also hair, when showering after a haircut. 
 
37. Some forensic drama spinoffs: CSIs. The original Las Vegas location is back this season, and Marg Helgenberger is returning as Catherine Willows after a 10-year hiatus. Not sure this is one of CBS's better ideas. 
 
39. Little bit: TAD.

40. Feeling under the weather?: LOVE. Theme feeling. 
 
41. "That's hardly a surprise": IT'S NO WONDER. Snow source. 
 
46. Syncopated work: RAG. Scott Joplin was a master. 
 


47. Feeling under the weather?: HOPE. Theme feeling. 
 
48. Practice of slicing open a bottle of champagne: SABERING. If you've got five minutes to waste, Alton Brown explains everything you need to know to master the art of sabering. 
 
 50. Sported: WORE. Had on. 
 
52. City east of El Paso: ODESSA. East? Yes. Close? No. It'll take you 4 hours to drive the 284 miles.
 
53. Nonspeaking roles on 37-Across: CORPSES. Corpse roles are usually nonspeaking.
 
56. Bath toy: BOAT. No rubber ducky? 
 
57. Fire sign of spring: ARIES. Leo and Sagittarius are the other two fire signs. 
 
58. Expenditures that can't be recovered: SUNK COSTS. SUN source. 
 
 63. Asian gambling mecca: MACAU. Sometimes spelled MACAO. It's a couple hour bus trip from Hong Kong. 
 
64. Feeling under the weather?: IRE. Feeling source. 
 
65. Bridal gown part: TRAIN. Well, actually it's the caboose. 
 
66. Proto- finish: PLASM. Ecto, too. 
 
67. U.K. part: ENG. England. 
 
68. Bridge payment: TOLL.

Down:
 
1. Semi-important part?: CAB.



2. "The penny drops!": AHA. Now I get it. 

3. "West Coast" singer Lana Del __: REY. "Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer and songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, containing references to contemporary pop culture and 1950s–1960s Americana." Wikipedia 
 
4. Legitimate: LAWFUL. Licit. 
 
5. Internet abbreviation before an internet abbreviation?: TLDR. I believe "TLDR" is text-speak for "too long, didn't read." So I suppose that second "internet abbreviation" would be a link to that document? Dunno. 
 
6. Hopping marsupial, casually: ROO. Kangaroo. 
 
7. Ames resident: IOWAN. Ames is home to the Iowa State University Cyclones. 
 
8. Wild duck: MALLARD. Also "Ducky" on NCIS. AHA, now it's time for that ducky. 
 

9. Spinning: IN A WHIRL.

10. Rogers of "Bosch: Legacy": MIMI.
 

 
11. Little devils: IMPS.

12. Bulk buy: CASE. Beer comes to mind. 
 
14. Double daggers, in printing: DIESES. Learning moment. It's this symbol: ‡ Asterisk, dagger, and double-dagger are used to denote items which are referenced later in the document, usually at the bottom of the current page.
 
18. "Goes without sayin'": NATCH. Colloquial "Naturally." 
 
22. Tolkien trilogy, to fans: LOTR. Lord Of The Rings.
 
 

23. "Braxton Family Values" sister: TRACI. Braxton Family Values is an American reality television series that airs on WE tv and premiered on April 12, 2011. It chronicles the lives of the Braxton sisters: Toni, TRACI, Towanda, Trina and Tamar and their mother, Evelyn" Wikipedia News to me.


 
24. Caper film event: HEIST.

25. Chicago dog component: RELISH. But NO KETCHUP! 
 
28. "... and your little dog, too!" dog: TOTO.
 
 
29. Graceful swimmers: SWANS. Mean critters. 
 
31. Indigenous New Zealanders: MAORIS.

34. Old Icelandic text: EDDA. Hello, old cw friend. 
 
35. Director Reitman and tennis great Lendl: IVANS. Knew Lendl, but not Reitman.
 
36. "Passing" actress Ruth: NEGGA.


 
38. Stir-fry vegetables: SNOW PEAS.

42. Marsupial that plays dead: OPOSSUM.Cute when they're little.
 
 
Then there's Ole Possum, George Jones.
 

 
43. "Now __ talking!": WE'RE. I've usually heard it with "You're" rather than "We're." 
 
44. Tablet download: E-BOOK. I read Kindle E-books on my phone now, after my Kindle Paperwhite (my 3rd Kindle reader) bit the dust. 
 
45. Censor for security reasons, e.g.: REDACT. The first time do you simply "dact" it? 
 
49. Sharp comeback: RETORT.

51. Nail polish brand in square bottles: ESSIE. I'm sure we've seen this before. I'm equally sure that I forgot it by lunch time that day. 
 
53. Like-minded group: CAMP.

54. Hard-to-cheat-on exam: ORAL.

55. Costa __: RICA.

56. Rare blood type, briefly: B-NEG.



 
59. Spigoted server: URN. Not all urns are spigoted, but I believe all samovars have spigots. When we visited Japan back in the 60's there was a samovar at the breakfast buffet. Its spigot was labeled in English "Open / Crose." 
 
60. __ Tomé and Príncipe: SAÕ. Whenever you see saõ you can be sure there's a Portuguese connection. 
 
61. Up to, in ads: TIL.

62. Bowen Yang's show, for short: SNL. Saturday Night Live. That's about it. I was called up when Lemonade begged off due to health issues. I sure hope he's feeling better. Desper-otto, heading back to the minors... 
 
Notes from C.C.:

1) Thanks for stepping in again, D-Otto! 

2) Lemonade has decided to take a step back from blogging due to health reasons. Our blog labels showed that he started blogging for us on August  26, 2011 and wrote a total 550 posts (Thanks for the correction, TTP). That did not include the early days when I copied and pasted his writeups to the blog, just I did today with D-Otto's post. Thank you so much for your time and efforts these years, Lemonade! Looking forward to your pinchhitting someday!

 

46 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Christina, for a tricky treat puzzle. The theme had me so befuddled that I stayed at the computer an extra hour until the blog came up -- just to see the mystifying weather report. Groan! But clever.

Thanks, D-O, for 'splainin' and stepping in for a great expo.

Lemonade is taking a much deserved rest. Hope he will still post comments. He's always a favorite. Hope his health improves so he can enjoy life more.

ARIES is my sign, but didn't know it was a fire sign. Maybe that's why I get all fIREd up about some things.

DNK: Double daggers = DIESES. Huh?

As usual too many unknown cross-name drops. Perps & a few red-letter runs filled it okay.

Subgenius said...

I got the gimmick (eventually) and when it did the puzzle became a little easier ( though it was still a slog.) “Fear” was a WAG, because I didn’t know “TLDR” from Adam. And most of the proper names were gotten through ESP, especially “Negga.” I also made a number of other WAGs, and had more occasions of ESP but, finally, I managed to FIR, so I’m happy, not to mention relieved. I can’t imagine Saturday’s puzzle could be much harder than this one was, but we shall see.

Anonymous said...

Looks like it's rare for me to find a Friday disappointing. This was so good, especially theme-wise given the mostly "meh" themes this week. I found it strange that

1) there was what looked like a non-theme clue echo with the "feeling under the weather" thing - and 3+ clue echoes are very rare in my experience, especially in themed puzzles

2) long entries had normal clues instead of the usual punny "?" clues in Friday themes, AND there was no revealer

The penny dropped in the SHOWER D(RAIN) section.

Not a big fan of SNOWPEAS crossing SNOW from the theme (but I guess there weren't that many alternatives) and of CSIS pluralized (but the clue for CORPSES was one of my favorites)

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased shower stall for SHOWER DRAIN, victims for CORPSES, and ill for IRE. Hand up for being an ARIES, but not knowing it's a fire sign. Hand up for finding that the gimmick helped to finish the grid.

IVAN Reitman produced Howard Stern's Private Parts. Or should I say that IVAN Reitman produced Howard Stern's movie Private Parts.

I liked the theme, but disliked the continuing pop-cult emphasis. Thanks to Christina for the challenge, and to D-O for the fine review. Lemony has certainly done his part for our entertainment, and I wish him well.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I found this on the easier side for a Friday, but maybe I was just in tune with Christina’s thinking. This theme has been done before so it was easy to see each themer. Learning movements were Sabering, Dieses, and Sunk Costs, all three of which have never seen or heard before. I had Snap before Snow Peas, before I realized the weather gimmick. Actually, Snow Peas are what I always put in my stir fries, so I have no idea why I chose Snap. Hand up for another Aries not knowing it’s a Fire Sign.

Thanks, Christina, for some bright moments on a very dark and gloomy morning and thanks, DO, for pinch-hitting. I enjoyed your review, graphics, and, especially the Scott Joplin piece. Can’t hear him without thinking of Bill G and the movie, The Sting.

Lemony, I send you my very best wishes for improved health and better days ahead. Alternate Fridays won’t be the same without you. Thank you for being such a devoted and integral part of CC’s team for so many years.

FLN

Anon T, I hope you’re feeling better. A bit of rest might not be a bad idea! 🤒

Have a great day.

TTP said...



Thank you, Christina, and thank you, Desper-Otto.

I was getting annoyed by seeing the repeated clue "Feeling under the weather?" until I realized it must be the theme. Yeah, pretty tired this morning... Anyway, fun puzzle.

D-O, you did a real nice job blogging the puzzle. Have you considered blogging more often ?

BTW, "Internet abbreviation before an internet abbreviation?" "So I suppose that second "internet abbreviation" would be a link to that document? " - A TL;DR is a summation, ergo an abbreviation, of a long article that follows.


One small correction to C.C.'s comments. Lemonade has blogged 500 (not 5,554) crosswords when counting the labels with his name, PLUS those early write ups before labels were used. There are (currently) a total of 5,558 posts all time on the blog, so 5,554 could not be correct.

Lemonade, sorry to hear of your health issues and that you are hanging up your spikes. Your reviews were always interesting and thought provoking.

Anonymous said...

Took me 7:36 to get in from the weather today. Or, should I say alee.

Like Ms. Irish Miss, I originally had snap peas before snow peas, but that "snow" then prevented me from seeing the theme.

TLDR I remembered from a recent puzzle. Had no idea about "dieses," "Mimi," or "Negga".

I've driven through part of West Texas (from Big Bend National Park through Odessa to Dallas/Ft. Worth), and there isn't much there. Miles and miles/hours and hours of nothing but a few oil rigs and an occasional truck.

KS said...

FIR, despite many unknowns and several WAG's. Had no idea if I was right till I got here and read the blog.

YooperPhil said...

FIR in 19:59 as it was a typically difficult Friday themer. The perps were kind to get the DNKs. Wasn’t familiar with SABERING, SUNKCOSTS, ANIMA, and DIESES??? (Have to look that up to make any sense). Also the names TRACI and NEGGA were unknowns, again saved by the perps. Hand up for SNAP before SNOWPEAS. I liked the theme which I figured out after a few entries. Nice puzzle Christina, thank you for the morning mental exercise!

Lemonade ~~ hope your health improves, I’ve always enjoyed your blogs!

D-O ~~ very nice work pinch hitting for Lemonade, will you be a regual now?

I’m starting to get confused with the Anonymouses, one of you hasta come up with a handle 🤣

Sherry said...

Dieses dnk, new word for me. Counted 14 proper names. Knew 4 some filled okay. Others not.

unclefred said...

I managed to FIR in 26 today, but did it on my laptop, not pen and paper. Probably the last time I do that, as it is not as satisfying as pen and paper. And once I'm done and come here to the blog, I don't have my printed copy to remind me of the comments I want to post. Anyway, again, too many names, including (if I recall correctly) some that crossed each other, and most of which I did not know. Also DNK DIESES, TLDR, or a few others which I can't recall but do remember having to rely on perps. No surprise, I did not see the theme until I came to the blog. Overall, a clever CW, thanx, CI, and thanx too to C.C. and D.O. for the write up, and 'spaining the theme. Tomorrow, back to pen and paper. Of course, tomorrow is Saturday, so there's a good chance I won't be able to complete the CW. I hope Lemonade gets to feeling better.

Wilbur Charles said...

Fln, TTP, it's unusual to move a runner into scoring position. That respect is for the great ones
I thought it was TORME And inked MEL

Trust me, Saturday will be twice as hard.

I'm going to have to start reading on a tablet. I assume I can read "Kindle" downloads on Android

Bon sante` lemonade

WC

Big Easy said...

CARL Weathers- Apollo Creed from the Rocky Movies. No idea about " The Mandalorian". I FIR but the nice placement of "Feelings" took a while to sink in. I'd LOVE it and HOPE that IRE wouldn't show up again in puzzles as I've never seen it anywhere else but I FEAR it will keep showing up. Ditto for TLDR.

SUNK COSTS is a new term for me. Money down the DRAIN.
Del REY and SNL were easy guesses but MIMI, EDDIE, DIESES, TRACI, and NEGGA were all perps.
Why are SWANS any more graceful than ducks or geese? Are swans any meaner than geese?
OPOSSUM- I have to bring the cat food in every night because POSSUMS and raccoons show up and eat it if it's left out.

Soap scum? I use a Magic Eraser on the tub and Scrubbing Bubbles occasionally. For the shower floor around the drain- Comet after using the Scrubbing Bubbles.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

With the first clue asking about an actor ("Weathers") in a series ("The Mandalorian") few have watched I know it's Friday. Funk, Junk, Gunk, Bunk, Sunk? costs crossed with unknown "nail polish in square bottles" (I only know the brands in round bottles that can be sliced open with a tiny SABER..um...like champagne)..and syncopated work isn't rap. Kindova crunchy theme....

Inkovers: San/São,

"Wild duck" wasn't Daffy. "Tiffany" LAMPS: Always amazed at the value on Antiques Road Show. Recently one appraised at over 200,000...come on. Louis Comfort Tiffany. My middle name would be comfort too at those prices. 🙄

"The penny drops!" AHA??...and why is there a hyphen between "semi" and "important"?

Thought "caper film event" might be a chase but didn't perp out that way. To "slice open a bottle" think you'd need one of those TV knives that cut thru shoes..😄

"Bigoted server?".. Hater waiter? Oh spigoted!!...nevermind..."bath toy" (held off on duck cuz I never heard of a D NEG blood type.

Summed up or where you might find kibble..In ____ TOTO.
I was so hungry I coulda _____ horse...EDDA
Irish critter that plays dead...O'POSSUM
Speaking (growling) roles on "The Walking Dead".....CORPSES
Bake another French pie....RETORT

Improved health Lemony 🍋


CrossEyedDave said...

I didn't have a clue...

Aside from several multi crossing name alphabet runs that at least allowed me to make WAGs, I completed all the themers but the feeling under the weather clues only made me ill trying to figure out this puzzle within a puzzle!

Thank goodness for the Blog, or I would have never seen how clever this was.

Feel better Lemonade.

One other thing I need clarification on,
Why the need to copy and paste D-Otto ?
Is he having trouble posting too? Or do you need special software to create the blog...

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-This puzzle by an 7. Ames resident: IOWAN was a delight after I saw HOPE, which made no sense as a stand-alone fill, and noticed SNOW above it
-Not only were there an abundance of obscure names in obscure productions (countless options these days) but an obscure cast member was used as a clue for our old standard SNL
-The Jumble abuts the LA Times puzzle in our paper and its second word today was in Christina’s puzzle.
-Me too, BE, CARL Weathers as Apollo Creed from Rocky gave me 1 Across
-A very funny JUNG reference
-ODESSA, NE is not even a town, it is a census-designated place with a population of 132
-SUNK COSTS – Stores call shoplifting losses shrinkage
-My required stop at O’Hare Airport is right next to a McDonalds
-Nice job out of the bullpen, D-O, for our long-time starter Lemon who I hope will come back off the IR (Injured Reserve) List.

PK said...

Anon at 8 a.m.: You didn't mention the things I remember most from driving in West Texas when I lived there 60 years ago: rattlesnakes on the roads. They'd crawl onto the pavement for the warmth during chilly hours. Had car trouble at night and afraid to get out because of snakes.

oc4beach said...


Finished it but didn't see the theme until the explanation. Definitely a Friday puzzle.

Since many of us are of a certain age and getting older, we are seeing more things that are harder to do. Hope you do well Lemony.

Have a great day everyone and try to stay above the weather.

Anonymous said...

Really grumbling when I started out. I wanted 5D to be HTTP (with following abbreviation to be www.) Made sense to me! But I held off with fills TRI and LOO. Although we've seen it recently, TLDR meant nothing to me until I read the review. Perps all the way.
Proud of myself that I did see the theme before I finished the CW. But had two misses: RAP/RAG because I had no idea who Ruth NEGGA is. And I went with the alternate spelling of MACAO/U. Vowels got me again!!
Thanks to D-OTTO and Christina for today's puzzle and review.

waseeley said...

CED @10:22 You use Blogger to create reviews and you need special permissions to copy them to the production blog. Ya better watch out, C.C. will give it to you.

waseeley said...

Ray - O @10:11 AM I think O'Possum is the son of an Irish critter.

NaomiZ said...

Thanks for explaining the theme, Desper-otto! FIW with "rap" instead of RAG. Much love to Lemonade.

CanadianEh! said...

Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Christina and d’otto (thanks for filling in).
Thanks to Lemonade for his years of service to the blog-; thinking of you in your health challenges.

I say the UNDER THE WEATHER theme about halfway through, AHA moment. It helped with the rest of the fill.
I smiled at the Easter Egg 32A AIL (under REEL, which is what WIND, RAIN, SNOW make you do).
The number of names was daunting, but between prior knowledge, WAGs and perps, they filled.

Hand up for changing O to U in MACAU. I had Plast before PLASM. OPOSSUM fixed both.
Another hand up for SAN before SAO, and for wanting You’re before WE’RE fit the spot.
I remembered TLDR only when I saw d’o’s explanation. Thanks TTP for explaining the second internet abbreviation.
We had a Chicago dog and TOTO.

That nail polish wasn’t OPI today but ESSIE. Our late Queen Elizabeth II used an ESSIE nail polish called Ballet Slippers, a neutral pale pink colour that is apparently a favourite of Kate, the Duchess of Wales, as well.

Wishing you all a great day.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know dieses or tldr, so feeling under the weather was way over my head. And decided not to bother with the rest.

I'm very sorry to hear about Lemonade since he has been a particular favorite of mine over the years. I'll keep good thoughts about his health.

I read a few days ago in the blog that we should view crosswords as an opportunity to learn rather than a contest. I have a hard time keeping that perspective with the new editor. TLDR and the like don't inspire me to keep at it either. So I think the LAT Crossword and I are going to part ways.

Thanks to CC and all the folks that have contributed to the blog. It's been a great joy all these years and I'll always appreciate the sense of community here.

JB2

Misty said...

Tough but fun Friday puzzle, many thanks, Christina. And Desper-otto and C.C., thank you both for helping out with the commentary this morning. Take good care of yourself, Lemonade, we'll miss your write-ups.

I'm always delighted when there are lots of critters in a puzzle. This one started out with that ROO followed by that MALLARD and further down, that OPOSSUM. But my favorites were the SWANS, and, of course, that lovable TOTO! So who's going to TRAIN all those animals? Maybe you can bribe them by feeding them some SNOW PEAS in an URN? I bet they would RELISH that.

Have a great weekend coming up, everybody.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Back in the days when AAA published guidebooks, I remember reading a passage quoting an old-time motorist: "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and we ain't out of Texas yet!" I've probably mentioned this a time or 12, but when you are in El Paso you are closer to the Pacific Ocean than to Texarkana. When you are in Texarkana you are closer to the Atlantic Ocean than to El Paso.

SUNK COSTS are important to understand. Many people have trouble understanding that they are unimportant in financial decision making. I used to tell my PM students a saying a pilot taught me. There are three things that are useless to a pilot - Altitude above you, runway behind you, and fuel you left on the ground. SUNK COSTS are runway behind you.

Lucina said...

Hola!

First, I want to thank Lemonade for the many years of entertainment and education on his Blogs. I learned so much from you. And I wish him well on his recovery.

CSO and R.I.P. to my late friend CARL.

Thanks to Christina Iverson and to Desper-otto for the puzzle and exposition. I hope we see more of him at the helm. And it's lovely to see only a minimal number of abbreviations. Well done!

The nail salon where I go stocks dozens and dozens of nail polish bottles but ESSIE is not one of them.

Ruth NEGGA? Unknown to me.

SWAMS appear to glide across the water whereas ducks paddle. The green belt that traverses our city contains several lakes and all are populated mostly by ducks. Only occasionally do I see swans.

Of all the countries I have visited, Costa RICA is one of my favorites. It's not only beautiful and peaceful but the people are so gentle and welcoming.

Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!

Monkey said...

I was not in the correct mental zone this morning for this puzzle to come together. I abandoned it. I admire those of you who who finished it.

Sandyanon said...

Has anyone else seen the film, "Loving", where Ruth Negga played Mildred Loving? Mildred and her husband Richard won the 1967 Supreme Court case that invalidated laws against interracial marriage. I thought Ms. Negga was fantastic in the role.

Thought the theme was clever, though a little disappointed in "sun" being only three letters. But then I've never tried to construct a crossword puzzle!

Kelly Clark said...


Joining others in thanking Lemony for the great work, and prayers for his speedy recovery.

"The penny drops!" is such an apt clue for my reaction to Christina's wonderful puzzle...once I got it. Terrific!

inanehiker said...

Enjoyed the creativity in this theme - though it took me a bit to see it. It did speed up the rest of the solve though. I had to switch RAP to RAG for the syncopated work - even though Scott Joplin's hometown is an hour from here and they have a Scott Joplin festival every year.

Sandy beat me to the punch- loved Ruth Negga in the movie "Loving"- highly recommend watching it if you have at your library or on your streaming service. She was excellent in "Passing" but that was a hard movie to watch though the acting was wonderful. I thought the clue was creative for 53A non-speaking roles on CSIs. WEES about SABERING being a learning moment.

Thanks D-O and Christina!
And thanks to Lemonade for all his contributions to the corner!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thank you, desper-otto, for doing the honors today, bringing us a fine PZL from Ms. Iverson.

I cracked half of today's theme, accepting emotions as "Feelings." But I was trying to interpret them as somehow derived from the word "weather," and that was not (obviously!) the way to go.
How was I to know to just open my *#@! eyes and look at the position of the words in the grid?

Thanks for the link to the SABERING tutorial! I am never going to do it, but now I am a believer.
~ OMK
_____________
DR:
Two diagonals, one to each side.
The far diag gives us an anagram (11 of15) of a special desert.
This must be what you get when you make a syrupy preserve of Red Coward Figs.
What else, but a...

"WIMP COMPOTE"!

Wilbur Charles said...

OMK, I see you meant desSert

Israel Padilla said...

Hello,

I took the themed clues literally and tried to come up with words like SICK, ILL, DOWN (as in, feeling down?), sadly my penny didn't fall and the theme remained undiscovered until I came here. Very clever, I liked the idea. My proudest moment was to come up with ALLWISE and discovering that #1 the word was real and #2 it was the correct answer.

I also started using a trick that probably most of you know of already. If I see a clue that ends in a plural (Like stir-fry vegetableS ) I put an S on the last space, which also helps me with that perpendicular.

SUNKCOSTS was an unknown, I had WRITEOFFS. And finally, the only reason I got MALLARD right was because of an old meme. There would be a picture of a mallard with some advice, and if the bird's head was green the advice was legit, but if the head was red then the advice was malicious or false.

Lemonade, hope you get better soon!

-Israel
How to deal with hard crosswords...

ATLGranny said...

One wrong square today for a FIW. I put MACAO and didn't catch that it misspelled OPOSSUM. On the other hand I did get the theme after some puzzlement. Under the weather. Yes!

Thanks for a challenging puzzle, Christina. And thanks, D Otto, for helping out today with an excellent review. Lemonade, I am sorry your medical problems keep you from blogging now, but I hope you'll come by the corner when you can.

Jayce said...

I don't know if I'm getting lazy, getting more jaded, or whether my enthusiasm for crossword puzzles has been eroding, but for whatever reason, I just found myself caring progressively less as I worked through this puzzle. I'm not disparaging Christina Iverson at all; the puzzle is, looking back at it more or less objectively, well-constructed and pretty cleverly imaginative. The fact that I flat out didn't see the feelings under the weather (or rather, the weather words over the feelings) is, of course, my failing, not hers. I just plain couldn't muster much satisfaction or feel much pleasure today. Maybe I'm just in a low mood and it will soon pass. As desper-otto said in his expo on TLDR, "Dunno."

Since doing the puzzle and reading all your comments yesterday, the following song snippet has been echoing in my mind: Oh give me a home where the buffaloes roam and the deers and the antelopes play with the shrimps and the sheeps

Good wishes to you all.

TTP said...

Israel, I am curious as to why you coded 6 Different URLs in: "How to deal with hard crosswords..." ?

How to deal with hard crosswor = 1 link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/
d is a link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/wall-street-strategy-crossword-clue/
s is a link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/tds-crossword-clue/
. is a link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/helios-for-one-crossword-clue/
. is a link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/badger-for-payment-crossword-clue/
. is a link to https://legitcrosswordclue.com/tuesday-to-a-parisian-crossword-clue/

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with doing that, and it's cute, but I don't understand what your motivation would be...

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thank you, WC.

You are correct, good sir! You know dessert. And I know dessert. GoogleSpell is chary of its "S"s.

But that does not excuse my copy-read.
Can you imagine the horror ("Oh, the...") if they should be working on a "Google-proofread"?
~ OMK

sumdaze said...

FIW. I did see the theme but could not find a connection between the feeling and the weather above it. Thanks, D-Otto, for explaining that there isn't a connection! Ultimately I filled all the squares correctly except for RAp/NEpGA. Different music genre but, given the popularity of rap in CWs, a fair guess.

The SUNK COSTS Fallacy is one of my favorite economic topics! Props to Christina for putting it in her puzzle. Does that sound nerdy? I try to factor it in when making decisions -- economic or not.

Best wishes for improved health, Lemonade! I like reading what you write!

CrossEyedDave said...

I need help with another puzzle.

Jeopardy just ended with one winner, and two runners up with $200- each.
The minimum is $2000 for second and $1000 for third.

Why did they hand out $2000 and $1000???
If they both were tied at $200 each, shouldn't they have handed out $2000 each, or $1000 each?

How do you determine who gets stuck with the $1000 third prize when they were tied at $200 each.

Anonymous said...

Edward in Los Angeles here.
14 Down “DIESIS”
DIESIS are also used in publishing to note editorial changes-case in point :

In today’s LA Times, under the first A in the masthead of page one, there are three daggers.
That indicates that the final edition went through three revisions. You will also find other symbols, such as the ⭐️star on page A7 to the left of the date . That indicates an added page; you will find started pages through the edition sections.

You are welcome.

Sandyanon said...

Dave, whoever had the most money before Final Jeopardy is second.

Anonymous said...

Note to CED. In golf they share in ties so they should have added to $3000 and split to $1500 each.

Wilbur Charles said...

I stand corrected. I just finished Saturday. That tells you everything. A very doable xword.

And...

OMK, I owed you for lucid, lucent over at the J

WC

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Holy DNF, Batman! The Carolinas were not going to fill themselves. 31d, 35d, 36d with only passing perps... Oy!

Thanks Christina for the puzzle. Thanks D-O for the excellent expo - you should be a regular ;-)

WOs: N/A
ESPs: here we go again w/ names...
Fav: I'll go w/ ODESSA. My buddy was out there earlier this week trying to beat CyberSecurity into the OT (Operational Tech) guys' heads ;-)
SABERING is fun too - if you want to spoil a bottle of bubbly.

Lem - I hope you're doing OK. Do you know what it is? Pop texted tonight that he's at ready-clinic with Covid. God Speed eBuddy; I hope to read you soon.

Jinx - you nailed it on SUNK COSTS. Can't let what you spent dictate what you're gonna do.

Edward in LA - thanks for the info on printing. Didn't know that.

Scott Joplin for BillG.

FNL - TTP, I idolized Ozzie Smith and tried to play short as hard as he did. I could never do the backflip thing though.
FLN - Sumdaze: So cool you taught the kids fractals and hopefully they learned maths ain't that hard and can be fun.

Shouldn't LOVE be O'er RAIN? [The Who]. //Oh, right, wrong reign.

Chicago dogs (a full meal if paired with cheap beer) are the best... I wanted cELery b/f the pedestrian RELISH perp'd.
Catsup on hotdogs? Yes, if you cut them up first so the baby doesn't choke.
If it's not a Chicago dog, and you're a grownup, onions and mustard are the only acceptable condiments. I think that in the Bible - right after thou shall not covet.

Cheers, -T

Israel Padilla said...

Hello,

TTP - You noticed my unusual links. That's just a small SEO experiment, done in a way that's not unsightly or messy. I like to keep my comments tidy.

-Israel