google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, September 15, 2023, Zachary David Levy

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Sep 15, 2023

Friday, September 15, 2023, Zachary David Levy

 


Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the Friday recap.  I have been (and will be) traveling and want to thank those who have, and will, pinch-hit for me.

Today's puzzle setter is David Zachary Levy whose work has appeared here several previous times.  His themes have always been clever and this one does not break with tradition.  Let's start with the reveal:

53 Across:  "Without a doubt!," and a hint to 20-, 31-, and 41-Across: NO BUTS ABOUT IT.  At the three identified places, David has removed the word BUT from descriptive words that we have all heard before and, thereby, created appropriate answers to the clues.  

20 Across:  Result of an overzealous stylist?: FLYING TRESSES.  FLYING BUTTRESSES  Think Notre Dame de Paris:


31 Across:  Result of a "Moonstruck" actress converting to Judaism?: KOSHER CHER.  KOSHER BUTCHER

41 Across:  Indulge in many, many naps?: SNOOZE TONS.  SNOOZE BUTTONS  Not snooze GOBS (36 Across).

This is how everything appears in the grid:


The rest of the clues and answers:


Across:


1. Alluring: SEXY.

5. One rocking a pocket protector: DWEEB.  GEEK and NERD were both too short.



10. Cerulean kin: AQUA.  A color.

14. Neutral tone: ECRU.  Another color.

15. Cost: RAN TO.  Cost is used as a verb in the clue.

16. Has to: MUST.

17. Crowd sound: ROAR.

18. Four-footed Jetson: ASTRO.

That's ASTRO on the right.


19. Marathon measure: PACE.  Always set your own pace.



23. Member of the fam: SIS.  Sister.  Got it, bro?

24. Drink that may elicit brain freeze: ICEE.

25. Drudgery: TEDIUM.

28. Genre for the Maytals: SKA.

Toots and the Maytals


29. Dispensable candy: PEZ.



30. CT scan kin: MRI.  See also 3 Down.

36. A whole lot (of): GOBS.  Tons.  Lots.  It wasn't going to be A Lot 'cause that was used in the clue.

37. Cary of "Glory": ELWES.

38. Crunch targets: ABS.

39. Angry with: MAD AT.  This led to one of those first-fill-with-perps-and-then-wonder "What the heck (in this case) is a MADAT?" moments.

40. Some draft picks: ALES.  Not a professional sports reference.

43. Connect: TIE.

44. Sever: CUT.  

45. Extra periods, briefly: OTS.  OverTimeS

46. Got going: SET OUT.

48. Stash of water balloons, e.g.: AMMO.  Often clued with a reference to snowball fights.

50. Sci-fi beings: ETS.  Extra TerrestrialS

56. " ... or not": WELP.  In modern usage, a "linguistic shrug".  Apparently, its use is common on Twitter.  No wonder that I had no idea.

58. "Arrested Development" actress Portia de __: ROSSI.

59. Title for Helen Mirren: DAME.

60. Love god: EROS.  Would it be AMOR?  The perps always tell us which.

61. Wipe out: ERASE.  For another take on this:

The Ventures


62. Ready to do business: OPEN.  Reminded me of one of Cleavon Little's scenes in Blazing Saddles but I could not find a suitable clip.

63. Like the lawn at dawn: DEWY.

Neither Huey, Dewey not Louie Was Correct


64. Stadium toppers: DOMES.

The Original - The Houston Astrodome

65. Coming up: NEXT.



Down:

1. Feudal laborers: SERFS.  Today, we were spared the Liege (sovereign)/Liege (vassal) conundrum.

2. Common source of food poisoning: E-COLI.

3. Shots at a doctor's office: X-RAYS.  Shots as in pictures.  Nice misdirection in the cluing.  See also 30 Across.

4. Gagarin who was the first human in outer space: YURI.  Those of us of a certain age remember the event well.

5. Street racer: DRAG CAR.  Drag Racer and Dragster have both been heard by this solver.  Drag Car?  Never, until today.

6. Refuse: WASTE.  Refuse as in to say no?  No.  Refuse as in please place your refuse in the trash can.

7. __ nous: ENTRE.  Between us.  Cours de français d'aujourd'hui.

8. Basic French verb: ETRE.  Un autre cours de français d'aujourd'hui.

9. Rocket stage: BOOSTER.





10. Full of energy: AMPED.  How do electricians relax after getting AMPED up all day?  They chant Oooohhhhhmm.

11. Victor Hugo character: QUASIMODO.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

12. Sch. near Hollywood: USC.  More often, we encounter UCLA clued this way.

13. Devoured: ATE.

21. Air Force 1s, e.g.: NIKES.  A nice bit of misdirection.  We're supposed to think, at first, of the aircraft not the shoe model.

22. "__ me!": SEZ.  A bit of a punt but it does go very nicely with 29 Across.

26. __ sprawl: URBAN.  Cow tipping is an URBAN myth.  The farmers pay them a competitive rate.

27. Humid phenomena: MISTS.

28. Spike Lee's "__ Gotta Have It": SHES.

29. Chihuahua change: PESO.  Not the dog.  The Mexican city.

31. "Hyperion" poet: KEATS.

32. Stan's partner in slapstick: OLLIE.

Stanley (Stan) Laurel and Oliver (Ollie) Hardy


33. Product in pink packets: SWEET 'N LOW.



34. Isn't able to: CAN'T.

35. Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery: HBO.

36. Heaters: GATS.  Both the clue and the answer are noir movie slang for guns.

39. Empowerment hashtag since 2017: ME TOO.  In the news quite a bit over the past several years.

41. Stitched together: SUTURED.

42. "Shaun of the Dead" figures: ZOMBIES.

No BUTS !


44. Den youngster: CUB.

47. "__-daisy!": OOPSY.  I kept trying to  make some variant of UPSY work out.

48. Tea region of India: ASSAM.  A region often referenced in our puzzles.

49. Pool stroke that may damage the felt: MASSE.



50. Tour de France section: ETAPE.  Once, again, French.

51. Corporation that began as the Waterbury Clock Company: TIMEX.  New to this solver but after the X appeared in 65 Across it was not difficult.

52. Vessel opener: STENT.   In this case, blood vessel.  Too close to home for this solver.  No, not that close.  Valerie and I were at the Hollywood Bowl the other night and when we walked to the car our friend, Allan, had a difficult time of it.  The next day he received a STENT.

54. Big name in lawn mowers: TORO.

55. Soup noodle: UDON.  RAMEN would not fit.  Would it be SOBA?  The perps always tell us which.

56. Married: WED.

57. Bard's before: ERE.


Well, that wraps things up for today.  I will be back on sabbatical through the end of next month.  See you in November.

___________________________________


36 comments:

OwenKL said...

A rocket ship CAN'T get a virus
Like those E. COLI germs inside us.
It's metal and fuel,
But still, as a rule
A BOOSTER shot may be desirous!

I'm SEXIEST in ECRU and AQUA.
Women flock like I'm the new Sinatra!
But in beige and sky blue,
I'm known but to few,
And my voice is more croak than grand opera!

{A, A-.}

Subgenius said...

I will admit I didn’t get the gimmick until the reveal. On the whole, I thought this puzzle was fair and sussable. I also found the reveal to be pretty funny, in its own way. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.

TTP said...

Good morning.

Thank you Zachary David Levy, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee.

WELP, that wasn't much of a challenge, BUT that's okay. It was yet another fast solve, BUT I didn't get the theme until reading the reveal clue and answer.

I changed 22D from SUE me to SEE me to SEZ me. The third time's the charm. Also had the city in Egypt (Aswan) before the tea region in India (ASSAM).

Who had the better version of Wipe Out? The Sufaris or The Ventures?

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Yay, d-o did not lose his BUTt on this one. Got the theme with FLYING TRESSES and zipped along, Wite-Out-free. Was ready to call "Nit!" on CHERBUT, but it turned out to be BUTCHER. WELP was underwhelming -- it'll be forgotten by lunch time. Enjoyable distraction, ZDL. Thanx for the expo, Mal-Man. (Enjoy your sabbatical.)

TORO: A fellow I worked with in Iowa left the company to take a position at TORO in MN. He retired from there just a couple years ago.

DOMES: The Astros last played in the Astrodome in 1999. RodeoHouston stopped using it in 2002. And since then, it's been an albatross around the necks of the Harris County commissioners. They just can't bring themselves to a demolition decision.

Yay, we finally got a little rain yesterday. It wasn't a drought-buster, only an inch, but it was definitely welcome.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased mile for PACE.

Today is:
NATIONAL TACKLE KIDS CANCER DAY (supports Hackensack University Medical Center. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month)
NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY (never forgotten)
NATIONAL NEONATAL NURSES DAY (hey baby, what’s happenin’)
NATIONAL FELT HAT DAY (“don't spill; my dress is velvet.” “once we get to the drive-in it’ll be felt too.”)
NATIONAL TRADESMEN DAY (everyone DOESN’T have to go to college. And everyone can’t succeed there.)
NATIONAL ONLINE LEARNING DAY (after my company transferred me, I finished my MBA on line)
NATIONAL CHEESE TOAST DAY (just give me some good garlic bread with my…)
NATIONAL LINGUINE DAY (with a little…)
NATIONAL CREME DE MENTHE DAY (mom made candy with the stuff)
NATIONAL DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER DAY (two all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun)
GREENPEACE DAY (Greenpeace was all my joy, Greenpeace was my delight, Greenpeace was my heart of gold, And who but my lady Greenpeace)

I worked with a guy who had a rather macabre sense of humor. He really wanted the candy company to introduce a Nicole Simpson PEZ dispenser.

A high school acquaintance made a lot of money DRAG racing against college kids. His Chevelle was marked as a 396 Super Sport, but he swapped out the engine for a souped-up 427. He went on to be a three-time NHRA champion Pro Stock racer. (In high school he also managed to shift gears so hard he broke the shifter mechanism. He complained to the manufacturer, and they sent him a trophy stating "I Broke a Hurst.")

I wish the ME TOO folks would make a stand on the transgender sports issue. Why the crickets?

Although I liked The ZOMBIES' Tell Her No and Time of the Season, my favorite was She's Not There.

FLN - I watch a little ESPN for updates on the sports I don't really follow. It's not unusual to hear a recap announcer say something like "Slim finds Unibrow under the basket for the jam."

FLN - Thanks for the additional definition of Jugni, Vid. Yes, Zoё has given me an overabundance of joy and laughter over the years.

Thanks to Zachary for the fun puzzle. My favorite was "refuse." And thanks to our Malman for teh fun tour. Have fun on your venture - I'll miss you (but my aim is improving.)

Anonymous said...

Took 6:54 today for me to get my butt in the seat.
Oh, not that butt. Oopsy daisy.

Didn't get the theme until I came here, but (as predicted) sensed it was another add/subtract gimmick on Friday. I wouldn't have known flying buttresses, nor kosher butcher (deli? yes; butcher? no).

Welp was unknown. I hope we don't see that one again. and I agree with what was already said about dissonance of "drag car".

I'm not a fan of "entre" and "etre" (especially being side-by-side) and then later, the Tour de France section.

Seems like gobs/tons of proper names, again.

unclefred said...

Ah, great CW, thanx, ZDL. Many witty clues, a good theme and theme clues, and although too many names for my liking, manageable. FIR in better than my usual Friday time. I even got the theme, all by myself, didn’t hafta have MM enlighten me, although it didn’t help with the solve since I didn’t see the missing BUT until the reveal. DNK = ELWES, ETAPE. Only W/O = OOPSA:OOPSY. Didn’t YURI just splash down in a CW a few days ago? Thanx for the terrific write-up, MM, especially the music. I wonder how much amphetamine that Ventures drummer took before that session? What a contrast between the laid back Maytals ska and the frenetic Ventures “Wipe Out”. I kept waiting for them to say, “Ah-ha-ha-ha, wipe-out!”, but that is obviously a different version. For “Air Force 1s” I didn’t even know that was a shoe, I thought maybe it referred to the old Nike surface-to-air system of the 50’s and 60’s. Isn’t English a strange language, when words can have so many different meanings? “Refuse” I wanted to fill “SAYNO”, before WASTE perped in. HUNCHBACK and QUASIMODO have the same number of letters, so had to wait on a couple of perps there too. All in all a great, fun CW, it’s destined to be one of my favorite Friday CWs, and as I said a truly terrific write-up, thanx again to both ZDL and MM.

KS said...

FIR. Didn't get the "but" part of the theme till I got here, "but" fortunately didn't need it.
I stared at welp for some time thinking it couldn't be right and finally acquiesced to the perps and called it. I'm not on Twitter so there was no chance I would know this.

Whiner said...

A DRAG CAR is NOT a street racer.

Even with the explanation that "Cost" was a verb RAN TO doesn't seem right to me.

Except for the French words, this one didn't seem too bad for a Friday.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...


Easiest Friday in a while. The old leave-out-a-word theme. The reveal shoulda been “Leave Cher’s butt out of this” 🤭

Inkover: see/SEZ,

YURI died in his 30s in a plane crash, must have known or said too much as this is apparently the usual form of Russian execution.

My ancient TIMEX finally didn’t “keep on ticking” and I replaced it with an Apple Watch so I can record my daily episodes of AFib and a host of other of arrhythmias 💓

Vid recently pointed out that Helen Mirren’s title is actually superior to “Baroness” cuz we all know ”There Ain’t Nothing’ Like a DAME!”

We can now add OOPSIE to the “owie” and “uey/uie” list . I put upsie first (does the OED consider that a variant?)
I’ve watched every episode of “Arrested Development “ couldn’t recall Portia’s last name. “Maytals”?
WELP “or not” wha? huh?? Was tempted to try one A for “draft pics” …”Den youngster” CUB could be a little 🐻or a little 👦

A Nestles “crunch” bar is what “targets” of my ABS 😳

Tousled….. MUST
Have a litter….. WELP
Cross dresser’s vehicle…..DRAGCAR
What interest might do….ECRU

I’m start vacation for 2 weeks, oopsie sorry Mal Man I meant “ sabbatical” 😉

CrossEyedDave said...

Welp?

my opinion of the clue/answer...

...and pls keep yr rear end out of my crosswords...

TTP,
I would have to vote for the Surfaris. But only because it is their version that is imprinted in my memory.
(Or is it?) seems whenever I try to play it on my guitar, I start out in a lower key like the Ventures...
Also, in researching the ab9ve, I found a later Ventures version with two drummers... interesting!

CanadianEh! said...

Fab Friday. Thanks for the fun, Zachary and MalMan.
I FIRed and saw the missing BUTs on the first themer. BUT my first thought for the reveal was NO Ifs, Ands or BUTS. Now that would be a difficult one for you CW constructors to try. Imagine removing all three of those from the themers.
KOSHER CHER brought a smile.

I fought WELP, but my perps were sound. I came here expecting a FIW, but it is slang. Meh! Just clue it as a dog giving birth.
GATS I have learned from CWs.
Hunchback fit the squares for that Hugo character, but QUASIMODO was needed. (Hi unclefred) We are a J and V short of a pangram.
I had Price before RAN TO.
GOBS of misdirection (ALES, WASTE, NIKES), but it is Friday.
I noted ETRE beside ENTRE (hi Anon@7:51). GOBS of French today, but this Canadian is better at French than Spanish.

Canadian XRAYs are not done at a doctor’s office, but at a hospital or a specialized X-ray lab.
You can be SUTURED at Urgent Care.

E COLI has been identified in 310 cases from an outbreak at Calgary daycare centres. Seven children on dialysis.
EColiOutbreak

Wishing you all a great day.

RosE said...

Good Morning! I really enjoyed today’s puzzle. Thanks, Zachary. Clever theme!

When I filled 20A, I thought, “Where’s the BUT?” And then 53A revealed it. When I changed MISTy -> MISTS, I saw the (BUT)TONS of 41A, but it took me a while to see the where the BUT fit into 31A.

WOs: mile -> PACE
WAGS & perps for: ELWES, KEAT & WELP. SKA and NIKES (as clued).

Yes, M-Man, we’ve had this discussion before on the Corner – OOPSY or uppsie (upsy) daisy. When I was a kid, it was always uppsie daisy when a toddler learning to walk toppled over.

Adieu, M-Man. Enjoy your October. Safe travels.

Monkey said...

I got the theme pretty quickly since I started at the bottom, but didn’t quite connect with this puzzle. I’m not sure why.

Not being a sneaker fan, was stumped by NIKE.

I hate ZOMBIES. I wouldn’t be caught dead at a ZOMBIE movie. Forgive the lame joke.

WELP, totally unknown

I enjoyed MM’s recap. Happy trails.

Monkey said...

OwenK so glad to see your poems again. These two this morning tickled my fancy.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-WELP and ELWES had to be, so I passed muster so I earned a “got ‘er done”
-A huge ROAR from inside the stadium once told me I had left a Husker game too early
-A few years ago, we CUT TIES to a couple
-Oops, ASSAM/ROSSI not ASRAM/RORSI. Careless!
-I suspect every drummer knows the riff from Wipe Out
-DEWY greens show you the wrong path your putt took
-Too much snowcollapsed the Hubert Humphrey air-supported DOME in Minneapolis
-The starboard BOOSTER’s O-ring on the Challenger failed and caused the explosion
-ME TOO, Fred, what are the odds HUNCHBACK and QUASIMODO both have 9 letters
-I know Chipotle has had E-COLI issues but we are getting one here in our town

NaomiZ said...

This puzzle filled in as quickly as I could read the clues, and the missing BUTs were a help in solving the theme entries. I came here to understand the usage of WELP at 56 across, and MM has filled me in! Nice Monday level treat for a Friday morning.

Parsan said...

Thank you ZDL for this logical, fun puzzle, and MM for explaining NIKES and WELP? (yes CanadianEh!). The BUT theme appeared with the FLYING TRESSES and brought back great memories. Again agreeing with CanadianEh!, never had any EXRAYS in a doctor’s office.

QUASIMODO took several different spellings before it cane out right, and DWEEB filled in when I wanted liftoff for BOOSTER, guns/GATS. and opsie, oopse ,opsey finally became OOPSY.

Our ASTRO was a Guinea pig. He was a hoot!

“What will be the cost? It will run to about——“ No, RAN TO, past tense.

Spectrum’s fight with Disney prevented viewing of many channels and the U.S. Open tennis tournament, a real bummer. Our Governor wants refunds for their customers. We’ll see!

Happy day. all!

Anonymous said...

A clever puzzle but I got stuck on “ Flying For-tresses “ the WW2 B-52 airplanes. So I had to pop into the corner and have MM explain. Thanks for a fun Friday Zachary and an awesome recap MM….. kkFlorida

Lucina said...

Hola!

There is so much to like about this puzzle. GOBS of fun! Thank you, ZDL It was a nice surprise to see QUASIMODO spelled out in full.

I've liked every movie in which I've seen CHER, "Moonstruck", "Tea with Mussolini", "The Mask", etc.

Sigh. The "Lightning Bug" is here so I have to cut this short.

Have a wonderful day, everyone! Happy trails, MM

Charlie Echo said...

Easy, breezy, Monday FIR. What, it's Friday? Coulda' fooled me! Zipped right through this one. Holding my nose at DRAGCAR, said by no one ever. ROSSI, ETAPE, and WELP took ESP. but on the whole, a very enjoyable outing. Loved collecting Pez dispensers as a kid.

TTP said...



I wonder of WELP was a regionalism back in the day. I seem remember it from the 1960s in the Youngstown-Pittsbugh area.

CrossEyedDave, I read that the Surfaris wrote and released Wipe Out in 1963, and that year it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then the Ventures had their cover version of the song on an album they released in 1963, but I couldn't find any Billboard chart listing for it. The original Surfaris recording was re-released again in 1966. Then, Animal from the Muppets covered it on the 1994 CD "Muppets Beach Party" where it did well in England as a single.

Time to run to Homer Depot for some Wasp and Yellowjacket spray foam. I was moving yesterday, and mowed over a nest of ground dwelling Yellowjackets. They swarmed. I counted 15 spots where I got stung. Hurt lake Hades. My left arm and hand got the worst of it. Still swollen, almost 24 hours later.

Acesaroundagain said...

Good recap Mal. Loved the Wipeout clip. FIR and figured the theme. Air Force 1s didn't come right away. I was thinking of everything but shoes. GC

CrossEyedDave said...

OK, this is my interpretation of how I tackled this puzzle...
Warning,,, 20 minutes of chaos ensues....

TTP, I hear ya on the ground dwelling Bees,
I ran over a nest with my self propelled mower many years ago,
and if was not for the dead man shut of feature, that mower would still be mowing down main street...


YeeOuch!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

I’ve always wondered about the derivation and meaning of the unfortunate hunchback’s name QUASIMODO. Confusing. One sites Latin for Half-made; A mean spirited suggestion that the fellow wasn’t quite human. “Quasi” means “ almost” or “nearly” in French and Italian and MODO from the Italian/ Latin word for “mode” in the sense of how something is done or made So kind of makes cruel sense. BUT…there are other more elaborate explanations as well

waseeley said...

Thanks Zachary for today's puzzle -- unlike most Fridays I didn't have to BUT my head against a wall for a FIR.

And thanks for the recap MalMan. Sorry you have to leave so soon! And so do I as it's volley ball season again and we have to get granddaughter #3 to Annapolis in less than an hour ...

... so just a few favs ...

1A SEXY. Do I need a reason?

5A DWEEB. I resemble that remark! [but not the preceding one!]

18A ASTRO. CSO to -T?

Cheers,
Bill

Kelly Clark said...


Fun puzzle, terrific write-up. Thanks Zachary. And thank you, MalMan -- enjoy your sabbatical!

Jayce said...

I enjoyed this puzzle but held my nose at WELP and DRAG CAR.

I also liked your verses today, Owen. Thanks for them.

Good reading you all.

Misty said...

Neat Friday puzzle, many thanks, Zachary. And thanks for your always nice commentary, MalMan, and have a good trip.

Well, SERFS made me think this puzzle would be about work, like we MUST get to work, and don't WASTE any time, and get AMPED up for getting GOBS of work done to act more like a BOOSTER, rather than just resting in some TEDIUM. But after the X-RAYS, there was also time to drink some ALEs and sip some UDON soup and SNOOZE a little. In my own case, I wouldn't mind a little MIST either.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Misty said...

RoseE, how nice that you put in MISTY before MISTS! Were you thinking of me?

Ol' Man Keith said...

MalMan takes us along for a ride thru this David Levy PZL...

It is a fair XWD,in keeping with the chewiness we expect on Friday.
I like Subgenius' word, "sussable."

I didn't get the theme, but find it works well.

Whenever I see video of launching BOOSTER rockets, I marvel at the patient genius of our species.
To think of the evolved understanding over millennia, first of all, how gravity pins us to the earth... and then to create & calculate the power it takes to break free of that force!
Whenever we see that enormous rocket firing, blasting, sparking, it is NOT pushing us UP (UP is an illusion) but OUTward, forcing our way AWAY from the planet assigned to us by Nature.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Four diagonals, three on the far side.
The middle diag, far side, offers an anagram (13 of 15 ltrs) that tells of a fair, responsibly calculated debt.
I mean one that is...

"REASONABLE & DUE"!

Sandy Schuckett said...

Born and bred in Los Angeles. 12-Down -- USC is nowhere near Hollywood. Ditto for UCLA.




RosE said...

Misty, your name conjures up so many lovely things. You and your creative creations of our CW words each day are just one of them.

Misty said...

Thank you for your kind response, RoseE. You've made my day!

Anonymous said...

Interesting theme BUT some of the clues left me with an itchy head. WELP an unknown; RANTO for cost…huh?? But Mssr. Levy redeemed himself with the Air Force 1’s twister — I thought that was brilliant!

Took me forever to get past GunS and remember GATS; I need to watch more old flicks…

MalMan, your recaps are always a gem, speckled with some of your Mal-apropisms — especially the cow-tipping and meditative electricians. ARR arr arr, luv ‘em! And thanks for the music — both the Ventures and Surfaris versions of “Wipeout” have their moments, but Mel Taylor had better showmanship, imho. Finally, earlier in the week I learned the correct way to execute a jump shot; now I can add a MASSE to the pool quiver. Thanks, dude!

btw, a DRAGCAR is a general term for all the 4-wheelers at the strip; “dragsters” are also called “rails” (due to their chassis design). Then you have everything else…Funny cars, gassers, etc etc

As for ENTRE, ETRE and ETAGE, I wish constructors would leave French out of crosswords; as far as I’m concerned, the entire language has been misspelled 🤣👍🏽

====> Darren / L.A.

Vidwan827 said...


The puzzle was challenging but sussable ...( thanks Subgenius ...)
Thank You Zachary Levy, for an innovative and clever theme. And if you are from that persuasion, Happy Rosh Hashanah !!!

Thank you MailMan for a very funny commentary. Have happy travels whereever you go, and safe travails in whatever you do. Happy Sabbatical !!!
Many thanks for that Wipe Out, by The Ventures ...( the drummer, mostly.) I've never heard that before, and I've been in the US over 49 years ....

Thank You Cr Eyed Dave, for that link to that 'zombie' like movie !!@!!! The actor was good, but the sets and equipment was magnificent in bringing out the humor !!!
I don't think I can stand another movie of this kind, very soon, ... not for another couple of months.!!

RE: The puzzle ... the 'but' missing was very good, but I never caught on to it. ( Now, you've got me onto thinking about Cher's b--- ... ) Jokes aside, ... as my jewish neighbor explained to me ....( a Kosher butcher's meats cost twice as much as the regular supermarket meats ... so, despite the fact that she is orthodox, her kids don't keep kosher ... )

CanadianEh! sorry to hear of the spread of E Coli in some joint/shared daycares in Calgary. My wife says, severe cases of E Coli infection can damage the kidneys, however ... most cases may be temporary, so the dialysis is required only for a short time.

Have a nice weekend you all.