Embracing the 9 to 5
Hi All.Today's offering is a return of Brooke. Last Huckster Gary checked on Brooke (10/22/22), she was in Berlin doing a post-doc in computational chemistry and machine-learning work on molecular kinetics.
Um, I might could help with the latter but the former is beyond me.
Alright then, let's get down to business:
17. "We've all been there": JOIN THE CLUB. JOB - your 9 to 5 work.
29. Element of some holiday traditions: GIFT GIVING. GIG. Could be a job or freelance work.
46. Sentiment celebrated with pink, blue, and white apparel: TRANS PRIDE. TRADE - what you do for your work.
62. Ways to sidestep obstacles, and what are found in this puzzle's circles: WORK AROUNDS. Ah, the circles embrace the phrase (and I made them blue-collars ;-))
Across:
1. Italian city known for its cheese: PARMA.
How it's Made
6. "Girl, Woman, __": Bernardine Evaristo novel: OTHER.
11. NCAA swimming champion Thomas: LIA.
14. Howlin' Wolf's genre: BLUES.
15. Actress Watts: NAOMI.
16. Magic, on scoreboards: ORL. The basketball team Magic is in Orlando, FL.
17. [see: theme]
19. Enemy: FOE.
20. Nissan sedan: SENTRA.
21. Six-pt. plays: TDS. Football: Touchdowns are six-points.
22. Ice Follies venue: RINK.
23. Goose sound: HONK.
25. Sierra Nevada lake: TAHOE.
26. Research on an adversary, for short: OPPO. Opposition research against your (oft political) opponent.
29. [see: theme]
33. PC "copy" combo: CTRLC. Control-C puts the highlighted text on the clipboard for later CTRL-V (paste).
35. Carrot relative: PARSNIP.
36. Also: TOO.
37. Bit of facial decor: LIP RING. Ouch.
39. Stephanie of "Everything Everywhere All at Once": HSU.
 |
| Internet says her name is pronounced SHOO |
42. Four-time FIFA Women's World Cup champions: TEAM USA. Ole!(?)
44. Lanai greeting: ALOHA.
46. [see: theme]
49. Heavy fencing sword: EPEE.
50. Costa Rica's __ Island National Park: COCOS.
51. Big swallow: SWIG. Oh, not the bird.
53. CPR experts: EMTS. Emergency Medical Technicians are experts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
54. Corp. VIP: CEO. The Chief Executive Officer is a Very Important Person.
57. Hosts: EMCEES.
61. Floral wreath: LEI.
62. [see: theme]
64. "haha": LOL.
65. Tear-inducing ingredient: ONION.
66. Fritter maker: FRYER.
67. NNW opposite: SSE. Compass rose.
68. Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Sparks: NNEKA.
69. Caramel-topped desserts: FLANS.
Down:
1. Easy sammies: PBJS. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.
2. __ vera gel: ALOE.
3. Make a mess of: RUIN.
4. Component of some mint oils: MENTHOL.
5. Jetson canine: ASTRO. The Jetsons were a cartoon of my youth.
 |
| Rosie, George, Jane, Judy Astro, Elroy (left to right, back to front) |
6. Ariana Grande's "__ Last Time": ONE.
7. Diplomat's skill: TACT.
8. Pend: HOLD.
9. Ground-bound birds: EMUS.
10. Celery piece: RIB.
11. Form of chill-out music: LoFi HIP-HOP.
12. Appliqué type: IRON ON.
13. Pub cask: ALE KEG.
18. Chill (with): HANG.
22. Musician Shankar: RAVI.
24. Yom __: KIPPUR.
25. Mexican shredded meat dish: TINGA.
 |
| Recipe |
26. Autumn mo.: OCT. October.
27. Vacation hrs., e.g.: PTO. Paid (Personal) Time Off.
28. Touch-oriented language: PROTACTILE. Braille was too short.
30. Language of Nima Yooshij's poetry: FARSI.
31. Threesomes: TRIADS.
32. "The $100,000 Pyramid" channel: GSN. Game Show Network.
34. Reunion group: CLASS.
38. Little devil: IMP.
40. __/her pronouns: SHE.
41. OPEC member: UAE.
43. Actress Mireille: ENOS.
45. Hamstring exercise: LEG CURL.
46. Immune response agents: T-CELLS.
47. Alfa __: Italian sports cars: ROMEOS.
 |
| My '86 Alfa Spider Veloce - Red Barchetta's [RUSH] kin. |
48. Still-life pitcher: EWER. Oh, not baseball players' #1 position before the game-clocks ;-)
52. "Gotta run!": IM OFF.
54. The Nutmeg St.: CONN. Connecticut.
55. Sandusky's lake: ERIE.
56. "I get it, I get it!": OK OK.
58. "The Celts" singer: ENYA.
59. The paradise of "Paradise Lost": EDEN.
60. Cold War gp.: SSRS. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, is Latin alphabet transliteration of Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (СССР) //yeah, I Googled the translation.
62. Triumphed: WON.
63. Santa __ winds: ANA.
The Grid:
 |
| The Grid |
WOs: KIPPoR, something under PARSNIP, I'M Out.
ESPs: OTHER (as clued), LIA, ENOS, LO FI HIP HOP, HSU, COCUS, NNEKA, and probably many others
Fav: Alfa ROMEO
Hope the grid wasn't too much of a 'task' for y'all.
And with that, I'll just leave yous with Styx's Blue Collar Man.
Cheers, -T
62 comments:
Well, folks , this may surprise you but I’m not going to say “FIR, so I’m happy “ today. True, I solved it, but I’m not particularly happy about it. It was a slog! And there were too many obscure (and beyond obscure) women’s names. (A name that starts with two “N’s”? Give me a break!) I am happy to be here with you folks, but that’s about all I can say. (And I wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Irish Miss takes a “Thumper” on this one!)
Good morning!
Two lucky WAGs put this one in the win column -- the L at the LIA/LOFI HIP HOP cross, and the O at the COCOS/ENOS cross. Whew. I always hate a mid-week DNF. OK, I hate any DNF. NNEKA was just cruel. Nice CSO to today's pinch-hitter at Alfa ROMEO. Maybe I'm not awake yet, but this one turned into a toughie. Thanx, Brooke and Dash-T.
HSU -- We watched Everything, Everywhere, All At Once the other night (Paramount+). Very confusing/exhausting film. Methinks it's going to require a re-watch.
We're getting a foundation estimate later today; the door to our back patio is attempting to become load-bearing. Can any Houston-area cornerite comment on the quality of Du-West's work? My last experience was with Olshan, and they jacked the house up off the shower drain and managed to cement 25 feet of sewer line. Yeah, they fixed it on their dime, but what a hassle! For you non-Texans, the soil in the Houston area is an unstable, clay-like "gumbo." It seems every structure is eventually destined to have some type of foundation issue.
I stopped doing USA Today puzzles because of their woke agenda. Looks like LA Times is next.
DNF. Had three squares left, and disliked the puzzle enough that I just quit rather than make my usual SWAGs. Husic becomes the sixth name on my "don't bother" constructors list. Right on top of the list.
Good Morning:
Subgenius @ 4:09 ~ No, I’m not going to take a Thumper position on this one, but I am going to make what I consider fair criticisms. Of the numerous unknowns, only NNeka, Protactile, LoFi Hip Hop, Tinga, Cocos, and Hsu were actual unknowns and, IMO, way too many for a Wednesday. So, piling on more “unknowns” by unnecessarily clueing common, familiar words/phrases such as Other, One, Blues, and Farsi is neither fair nor customary, though it has become a disturbing trend in recent months. Despite the heavy hand behind the cluing and some fill, perps were fair and I completed the puzzle but with more irritation than gratification. I saw the theme early on but the reveal was a surprise. Seeing Romeos, naturally, brought Tony to mind, as Imp did with our resident one, CED, but Ale Keg, seems green paintish to me.
Thanks, Brooke, and thanks, Anon T, for the fun write-up and visuals, especially your pride and joy Alfa!
Have a great day.
Took 8:49 for me to get the job done, but needed red letters, as I had 2 bad cells: the first letter of the swimmer's name, and where Costa Rica crossed some unknown actress.
Oh joy, circles!
Oh joy, obscure proper names!
FIR, but it was a slog.
And I don't appreciate being force fed woke ideology in a crossword that I do because I enjoy solving puzzles and have for decades. Shame on the LA Times for putting this slanted agenda puzzle out there. Any more of this and I will find another venue.
Gee, Gary has sold us some neat Saturday write-ups but I'd hardly call him a "Huckster"
I survived(FIR) this nest of Uber obscure Naticks
Fortunately we had PTO recently
As noted, CSO to gran-prix Tony with ALFA ROMEO
Brooke went cerebral with us on a Wednesday. If I see her on a Saturday I'll have to load up on the CBD gummies
Theme helped on TRANS
WC
Good morning.
I failed with the L that intersected LIA / LOFI. Other than that, I aced it.
Gotta run, learning (being taught by my DW) how to make buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy.
She's insisting that it's about time I learned to make it myself.
Started off in a race-to-the-finish mode, but soon ran into DNKs and regressed to turtle mode. I did manage to FIR in a pretty extended Wednesday (or maybe Thursday) time. Several obscure names, but several well known names, so I guess that’s fair. Only W/O made a big mess at GULP:CHUG:SWIG. BTW, I don’t think of a “swig” as a “Big swallow”, but as something just a little larger than a sip. I avoided the same mess at 34D, which coulda been ALUMS:CLANS:CLASS; but I waited for perps here (thankfully). I did get the theme, but not until the reveal, which was late in the CW (as it should be) so getting the theme at that point was no help in the solve. NNEKA looked so wrong until I looked at the last name, and realized it is likely of African origin, where many names have double consonants. Besides, the perps demanded NNEKA. All-in-all a good CW, thanx for the entertainment, BH. And thanx too to AnonT for the outstanding write-up: your time and effort is appreciated. Reading the comments I see someone posting as anonymous @ 6:33 complaining about the “woke agenda” in this CW. I grew up in the fifties and sixties, and one of the things my parents emphasized was MYOB: Mind Your Own Business. All these people that rant about a “woke agenda” infuriate me with their level of ignorance and intolerance. The national motto is E. Pluribus Unum. So to this poster I would say put on your big-boy pants, and deal with the fact that everyone is not just like you. So wake up and deal with the real world.
100 percent. A little early in the morning for your infuriating agenda. Woman trains her entire life to prevail over other women in a sports competition; and a man takes it away. Then, you push it on us in a benign crossword puzzle. Ugh!
Not “anonymous”- Eugene O’Reilly
Agree.
This puzzle zipped along except for a few hang-ups like an alphabet run for LIA crossing LO FI HIP HOP. It made me realize how many women's names are 3 letters ending in IA eg MIA, NIA, PIA, TIA. I've never heard of TINGA - but Lucina will fill us in
Though born in the US, with Nigerian parents, the Ogwumike sisters have challenging first names . NNEKA and Chinenye (Chiney) They are a mini family dynasty in NCAA women's basketball as well as the WNBA. They are from the Houston, TX area (Cypress HS) and both played for Stanford and now both play for the LA Sparks. Both were #1 picks in the WNBA draft and Rookie of the year in their first pro years.
It's a dark rainy morning here - Hooray! we need the rain!
Thanks -T and Brooke
Condolences to Gary and Joann- though I'm sure it was a relief with the level of dementia your MIL had
So therefore, mentioning Hitler promotes a Nazi agenda. Mentioning Communism or any of its leaders promotes Communism. Mentioning Bonnie and Clyde promotes crime. Yeesh! We cannot deny the existence of things we do not believe in.
Well put, live and let live, we’re all Americans or some other world citizen. But I didn’t finish the puzzle because of LIA/LOFI cross. I listen to classic rock to chill. OPPO? CTRLC(barely passable). HSU? NNEKA??
Tough too many names, very obscure.
Actually the US motto is In God we Trust.
Oh boy, was that good! And I helped! She makes it look so easy. Not that I'll be making it (or should be making it) all of the time, but I have a pretty good understanding of the buttermilk biscuits part of that breakfast combo now. Her sausage gravy is so good. I'll probably mess up the roux part or add too many pepper flakes, but try, try again. Practice makes perfect. As normal, I got to clean up the kitchen afterwards.
inanehiker, thanks for the addt'l info on the Ogwumike sisters. That's pretty neat that after high school, the sisters both had their secondary education at Stanford and that they both play for the LA Sparks. Then, both being #1 picks and R.O.Y award winners in the WNBA. All combined, that is some interesting trivia.
Husker Gary, my condolences to your and Joann's family with the passing of your mother-in-law.
FLN, Yellowrocks. Thx again for the peas with honey verse. Later, I went back to Hahtoolah's blog and noticed that her entry for that answer was also a video clip that played the little chant. I must have been distracted because I did not see it the first time I read her blog.
Ooh! Too much to do today to continue this frustrating CW. Thank goodness for this blog and A-T’s nice recap.
"I might could help with the latter but the former is beyond me." Thanks for brightening my morning -T
As for the puzzle, FIR but: Far too many proper names for my taste. Far too many obscurities for my taste. Far too much agenda for my taste. Far too many solve-interrupting ads on the Tribune site for my taste.
Wees,
ESP's
And I'll throw in, abbreviated alphabet runs... (not fun)
Not to sound like Thumper,
I'll say there were learning moments...
(Unfortunately, these learning moments made me feel apethetic and ignorant...)
Oh well,
there's gotta be a way around this...
Definitely
Good Morning!
Parm. Reggiano – I always have a wedge handy & grate my own. Nice to learn the care that goes into making it.
ESP & WAGs: BLUES, COCOS,NNEKA, LOFI HIP HOP, TINGA, PROTACTILE.
CTRL-C: I use a mouse to navigate.
Condolences to the H. Gary family. A passing of a loved one’s life is always the end of a personal era.
Thanks, Anon-T, for the recap. I liked your “blue collar” theme reference and tune – I hadn’t heard it in ages but remember it now!
Hola!
I finished but as others have said, with no satisfaction. I like play on words, puns, etc. but this was a slog.
I'm babysitting again so don't have much time and my company will be here soon. I promised to show them how I make tacos. No, I'm sorry, I have no idea about TINGA. Maybe I know it by another name.
Ugh I really, really do not like PARSNIPS.
Luckily we saw HSU previously and I believe she was on the Drew Barrymore show some time ago. She is a very pretty woman.
One of my sisters has a Nissan SENTRA.
Well, I'M OFF. Aloha for now.
Definitely agree. Keep woke agenda out.
Gary and Joann, sincere condolences on your loss.
Well said, Miss Agnes. I agree that when a plethora of less than famous individuals (NNEKA, HSU, e.g.) and phrases (PROTACTILE, LOFIHIPHOP) are in a puzzle, words such as OTHER should be clued more easily
WC, too funny 😂. I noticed the "Huckster", too and figured that - Tony must've had his spell checker engaged ...
Puzzling thoughts:
I know this has been mentioned before; the "mobile" version of this blog allows you to post a reply directly below another poster's comment. The "web" version places that reply at the bottom of the blog page. In this case, to paraphrase -Tony, both the former and the latter are beyond me ...
As for today's puzzle, it ranks an 8 on the MOES hardness scale; not so much for the difficulty as for the obscurity
Have a pleasant and kind day, folks
I will add my Condolences to Gary and Joann
Gonna blame my DNF on a few nasty Naticks though the theme was very gettable. Also WORKAROUNDS cuz the work is in the ROUND “circles”…. OOO
Inkovers: tsu/HSU “Everything Everywhere all At Once". Saw that movie twice. Thought maybe I’d figure out what the big deal was… nope 😉…good luck DO).
Tapping a half KEG at our Frat parties (69-71). I had to already have had a few cuz it was kinda dangerous. You needed to open the valve and drive the shaft down at the same time and not let it ram you back in the face.
Think of a LEI as a loose necklace and a “wreath” as a fixed circular decoration . Unless you’re drunk at the office Christmas party and wear one as a necklace 😄… PTO clue used to be “parent teacher organization " but now it’s once again the PTA
What is TEA MUSA? (uh, never mind😗)
If yah wanna have a nice garden yah gonna have ____…. TAHOE
Frittering’ holy Man…. FRYER
Stephanie bungee jumping, waiting for the other ____ to drop ….. HSU
Nice day, out on the deck. Watching a squirrel trying desperately to jump past a baffle and cone trying to get to my bird feeders. 🐿️
I understood “no politics” was a standard here. Please 🙏
Ray-O, we also enjoy watching the squirrels try to get past the inverted-cone baffle on the shepherd's crook that supports our bird feeder. The last couple of days we've also seen the neighborhood barred owl swoop down to our birdbath for a drink. With the thirdsty deer, coons, and squirrels it's a chore trying to keep the birdbath filled. Now birds, of all things, want to use it.
And secondly, where did thirdsty come from?
NNeka, Protactile, LoFi Hip Hop, Tinga, Cocos, and Hsu things I never heard of. Mix that with obscure proper names. Where is Rich when you need him?! I used to never have a problem with these CWs. This was just annoying. GC
D-O, it came from the same company that built the firststy and the secondsty.
I agree. The agenda is becoming a little too prevalent. This is the biggest pack of unknowns I think I have personally ever seen in a CW. If you can’t do the fills w/o resorting to this kind of bs, you probably shouldn’t be a constructor. CWs are supposed to be fun if also somewhat learning. This one didn’t even come close. Hope you ladies are having fun, because we’re not. Enough already.
It's not "politics" if the construction of the puzzle is discussed as being politically motivated, which this puzzle certainly is.
I agree that the mere mention of words or people is not advocacy (e.g., answers such as MAO), however it is obvious when there is an attempt to normalize extremism.
An extraordinary small percentage of the population identifies as trans, and here we see yet another reference to it, through a puzzle theme answer.
"Controversial swimmer Thomas" would have been a much fairer and accurate cluing, however here the author/editor chooses to validate this farce with this affirmative cluing.
SHE/her pronouns is the icing on the cake. Whatever criticism one may have about my above analysis comes crashing down when considering this clue and answer. There are literally dozens of ways that SHE can be clued without resorting to woke indoctrination and normalization.
Anon@1:01 -- We've been using She/Her pronouns all my life. How does that equate to "woke indoctrination and normalization?" And just what do you think "woke" means, anyway?
I like to learn new terms and stay up on modern trends… but I don’t enjoy having it forced upon me by a Crossword Constructor and Editor with an “agenda”. kkFlorida
What a STUPID PUZZLE. FIR was easy but a lot of it was garbage.
LIA- Where is his picture? I could run faster than all the girls at my school. Big deal.
TRANS PRIDE- they need psychiatric care.
PROTACTILE, NNEKA, FARSI, TINGA, LOFI HIP HOP, COCOS- weird fills that were all perped.
Way too tough for my “emerging” abilities. Crossing proper names with pretty obscure terms (lofihiphop) several times is just mean IMHO. Especially on a Wednesday. If the constructor’s goal is to frustrate and stump the group, she sure succeeded. I enjoy a challenge and having to stretch beyond my usual effort, but this puzzle left me exhausted and annoyed. Not fun!
I did love the tour, though and want to try the chicken tinga recipe. Thanks, T.
When someone who's worn 'big-boy pants' his entire life begins competing against and besting your granddaughter after she's dedicated her entire life to her sport...perhaps your laissez-faire attitude will transition as well.
It is what it is.
This is the new norm at the Los Angeles Times. You would have to be pretty dimwitted to think anything is going to change. I say either accept it for what it is, or move on. Otherwise, you are just pissing into the wind. Anyone than thinks anything is being forced upon them is a moron. If you don't like it, then, don't do the puzzles, dumb ass.
I must have missed the news about Gary's M-I-L's death.
Gary and Joann, please accept my most sincere condolences as well. It is very sad to lose an elder in the family especially if she is well-loved.
Wow.Wish the blog admins would remove comments that attack other bloggers. Not cool.
Chill it’s only a crossword puzzle
I have two guy friends who are trans. One is a white collar professional. The other works in Adirondack forestry industry. Both have wives and children. Both well adjusted loving families
I hope neither of them do the Lat puzzle or read the comments
Try putting a slinky on the post a foot or so off the ground. Hilarious!
Anonymous T guides us through this Husic PZL.
Pretty easy for a mid-week challenge. I wasn't sure about PROTACTILE, so that slowed me down in both directions.
And between 43D and 50A, it was hard choosing between "O" or "I." I went with I because ENIS is a more common name.
But then so is COCO'S. Doh!
Changed GLUG to SWIG.
~ OMK
____________
DR: Third day in a row for two diagonals, one per side.
On the near side, the anagram (14 for 15) helps us to see how an on-the-job trainee sometimes looks at his or her assignment.
Maybe this is the particular view of a lazy newbie.
In any case, they may see their workload as their...
"APPRENTICE SLOG"!
Anonymous @6:33am….no one cares and you won’t be missed.
Another in a string of ugly clueing and poor editing. Getting the solve produced zero satisfaction.
Get over it
Get over it
Like the agenda being forced on Floridians
woke: alert to and concerned d about social injustice and discrimination.
I don't know what confuses me more - the idea that being alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination is somehow a bad thing or the idea that using a non-Anglo Saxon (or non-European?) name in a crossword is somehow 'woke'.
I didn't know Nneka's name. I'm not too hot on the SportBall questions. But if 'Won' and 'Conn' didn't give you the crosses you're not unwoke, you're comatose.
Creating challenging puzzles must get harder every year, but a treat for those people who do know the most obscure answers. But I agree that this one was over-the-top for midweek. Fave: FRYER. When I took over as fry cook for our church's Pancake Sunday Breakfast, I added corn fritters to the menu (pancake batter, kernel corn and sometimes chopped onions, deep fried by the spoonful to golden brown) and I could barely keep with the demand from all ages. Of all my jobs over 80 years, slinging flap jacks on an industrial grill was my favorite!
Just so we are clear on all this "woke agenda" nonsense...
Is it also part of the "woke agenda" when Jackie Robinson is used in a crossword? And, if not, is that because he's male not female or because he played baseball not basketball?
Not my cup of tea today.
Nope. TITT. No fun. "...but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
I know I’m late to the party, but this seemed more like a Saturday puzzle than a Wednesday puzzle. And for those of you who insist upon invoking the whole “woke” thing, please stop. You’re only flaunting your ignorance and making your children cringe.
Maybe this whole woke thread should have been shut down at 6:33 AM. It destroyed the bon homie on the blog here today.
Gary and Joann, my condolences. You all have gallantly traveled a long, bumpy road with Joann's mom and given her your loving best. Treasure all the happy memories you have shared along the way during her long life
Gary, yellowrocks said it perfectly. I'll simply add my condolences
Apples and oranges. Robinson was a man competing against men. Thompson is a man competing against women.
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