google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, November 30, 2023 David Goldenberg, Matthew Goldenberg

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Nov 30, 2023

Thursday, November 30, 2023 David Goldenberg, Matthew Goldenberg

 

Sow's Ear to
a Silk Purse

Eric Bernhardt
Bernie's Blues 2020

It's often said that "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", but our soloist Eric Bernhardt does exactly the opposite in his rift above called Sow's Ear to a Silk Purse.  And so too do our new team of constructors for today's puzzle: David Goldenberg and Matthew Goldenberg.  They do this by taking the nicknames found in five fictional themers and fancifying them with formal first names.  Here are the resulting fills, followed by the names their friends call them ...

18A. Formal name of a tech business?: DOROTHY COM.  Nickname: DOT COM.  A dot.com is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a website on the World Wide Web that uses the popular top-level domain (TLD) ".com".  As of 2021, .com is by far the most used TLD, with almost half of all registrations.

23A. Formal name of a bun holder?: ROBERT PIN.  Nickname: BOBBY PIN.

Bobby Pins
37A. Formal name of a free local periodical?: PENELOPE SAVER. Nickname: PENNY SAVER.  A pennysaver is a free community periodical that advertises items for sale. It usually contains classified ads grouped into categories. Many pennysavers also offer local news and entertainment, as well as generic advice information, various syndicated or locally written columns on various topics of interest, limited comics and primetime TV listings.  Pennysavers can also be online, e.g. this one is for our neighborhood.

51A. Formal name of a twin-engine fighter jet?: THOMAS CAT.  Nickname:  TOMCAT.  The F-14 Tomcat ...

F-14 Tomcat
59A. Formal name of a DNA collection?: EUGENE POOL. Nickname:  GENE POOL,  Also referred to as an organism's genome.  And as they're busy 7x24, also a place where GENES can get a little RNR (Ribo Nucleic Recreation 😀) ...

I thought this was a clean, clever theme.  No reveal.  None needed.

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest.

Across:
 
1. Many a four-hour movie: EPICThese are the 10 longest Hollywood movies.  This one is not the longest, but it may be the most EPIC ...

5. Blue-white heavenly body: B STARA B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K.  B-type stars are extremely luminous and blue.

10. Dash dial: TACH.

14. Taboo: NO NO.

15. Shrine on the San Antonio city flag: ALAMO.  One of my favorite cities.
16. Dull pain: ACHE.

17. First queen of Carthage: DIDODIDO was the lover of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans, as related in the EPIC poem The Aeneid, by the Latin poet Virgil.  On his long journey to what will eventually become Rome, he visits Carthage, meets Dido, and they fall in love.  But as he lingers in Carthage Aeneas realizes that he is duty bound to continue his mission and deserts her.  She is grief stricken and takes her own life.  Her lament before dying is related in this famous aria from the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell ...


18. [Theme clue]

20. Employ: USE.

21. __ Pueblo, New Mexico: TAOS.

22. "The Bear" platform: HULU The Bear is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer. It premiered on HULU on June 23, 2022, and stars Jeremy Allen White as Carmy (short for Carmen), a young, award-winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother Michael's sandwich shop. "The Bear" is a term of endearment that Michael had for Carmy ...
23. [Theme clue]

26. Heath shrub: GORSE.   GORSE, also known as  furze, whin, or ulex) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are native to parts of western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.
Gorse in bloom
29. Submission: ENTRY.

30. Ham it up: OVERACT.
32. Picture: IMAGINE.  I can't IMAGINE how we store all the pictures in our heads, and rapidly retrieve them after many decades have passed.

36. Small bit: TAD.

37. [Theme clue]

41. "Argo" spy org.: CIAArgo is a 2012 American historical drama thriller film directed, produced by, and starring Ben Affleck. The screenplay, written by Chris Terrio, was adapted from the 1999 memoir The Master of Disguise by U.S. C.I.A. operative Tony Mendez and the 2007 Wired article The Great Escape: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran by Joshuah Bearman. The film deals with the "Canadian Caper", in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, under the guise of filming a science-fiction film during the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis.

42. Home of the WNBA's Storm: SEATTLE.

43. Chihuahua y Tabasco: ESTADOS.  Today's Spanish lesson: "States"

46. Microorganisms: GERMS.

50. Egg specification: LARGE.

51. [Theme clue].

55. See 9-Down: IRAS.

57. Theater honor: OBIE. Here are the 66th Annual Off Broadway Awards announced on February 23, 2023.

58. Wail: CRY.

59. [Theme clue].

62. April honoree?: FOOL.

63. Queens stadium namesake: ASHEArthur ASHE, tennis great.
 
Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.
July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993
64. First name in cosmetics: ESTEE.

65. Sunscreen additive: ALOE.

66. "Darn it all!": RATS.

67. "Doctor Who" role for Michelle Gomez: MISSY.  Last Thursday the Dr. Who industry celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first appearance of  "The Doctor" in a blue Police Box parked in a junkyard in London on November 23, 1963.  I recall watching all of the pre Sylvester McCoy episodes at least three times until it went into hiatus in 1989.  But it was rebooted in 2005 (some say at the request of Queen Elizabeth II!) and given fancy new production digs in South Wales

In anticipation of the anniversary celebration I've been binging a lot of post 2005 episodes, but [as you can see from this list] I'm hopelessly behind. I've not yet encountered MISSY, but from what I gather she is a female incarnation of Dr. Who's perennial nemesis, the evil Time Lord called The Master.  Here she is unleashing the dreaded Cybermen on the streets of London and introducing herself to the 12th Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi.
Missy
The Mistress

68. Map publisher __ McNally: RAND.  While it might seem that the invention of the GPS has made maps obsolete, apparently RAND McNally is still going strong.

Down:

1. Last: ENDURE.

2. Cause of death in some cozy mysteries: POISON.  Murder mysteries don't get any cozier than those of Agatha Christie, and in her case saying that "some" perps use POISON is a bit of an understatement.  Before achieving fame as a novelist she worked as a apothecary's assistant and knew quite a bit about poisons.  Here's the trailer for the star studded The Mirror Cracked with Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple ...

3. Owing: IN DEBT.

4. Dove sound: COO.

5. Unskilled in: BAD AT.

6. Single-master: SLOOP.  I know we had this last week, but I'm playing it again for Jinx.

7. Anklebones: TARSI.

8. "Yo te __": AMO.  More Spanish: "I love you".  Also a song, here sung by Chayanne ...

9. With 55-Across, nest egg options: ROTHROTH IRAWhat it is and How to Open One.

10. "Midnights" artist Swift: TAYLOR.  Here's Anti-Hero from her 10th studio album Midnights ...

11. Spot on: ACCURATE.

12. Sulu player John: CHOJohn CHO (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar films, and Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek rebooted film series.
John Cho
13. __ and haw: HEM.

19. Massive: HUGE.

21. Response to "You won't believe this": TRY ME.

24. Speedskater Jackson who won a gold medal at the 2022 Olympics: ERINERIN Jackson (born September 19, 1992) is an American speed skater, roller derby player, and Olympic gold medalist. Jackson is the first Black woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual sport. 
Erin Jackson
25. Nine-piece combo: NONET.  Here's the Miles Davis' NONET playing Moon Dreams from his album The Birth Of The Cool ...

27. Injury reminder: SCAR.

28. Check-in info: ETD.

31. Sleeveless outerwear: VEST.

33. Plus: ALSO.

34. "Whither thou __ ... ": GOEST.  These words are the beginning of a verse from the Old Testament Book of Ruth (1:16-17).  In 1954 it was set to music by Earl Chalmers Guisinger.  Here's Canadian Leonard Cohen's farewell song from his 2012 tour of Canada (another CSO to CanadianEh!)...


These are the lyrics to the song from the Biblical text ...

"Wither thou goest I will go
Wither thou lodgest I will lodge
Thy people shall be my people, oh
Wither thou goest I will go".

When my Father asked my Mother to marry him in England after WWII and to come to America, she recited that verse to accept his proposal.

35. Craft brew with a high ABV: IPAIndia Pale Ale with a high Alcohol By Volume (ABV).  One of my son's brother-in-laws operates a brewery with an IPA named Dundalk Calling.  After a can of it I can't hear it calling me any more. 🙄

37. Italian city known for a campanile: PISA.  Legend has it that Galileo used the bell tower in PISA to perform experiments proving that objects of different masses fell with the same acceleration, disproving Aristotle's theory of gravity (which states that objects fall at speed proportional to their mass). Most historians consider it to have been a thought experiment rather than a physical test.
38. Nutritionist's advice: EAT RIGHT.  Good advice.

39. Aquarium gunk: ALGAE.  Assuming you have more than one ALGA in your aquarium.

40. Victory signs: VEES.

41. Cartoon still: CEL.  Their subjects are serving life with no parole. 😁

44. Corresponds: AGREES.

45. Norris of "Breaking Bad": DEAN.  I've never seen Breaking Bad.  Is Norris a campus figure?

47. Soda since 1905: RC COLA.  The RC stands for "Royal Crown" and their first product was a Ginger Ale.  There is also a "Ginger Beer", which has a low ABV.  IIRC the 4th Dr. Who (Tom Baker) imbibed a bit.
48. Dark red: MAROON.

49. Arranged: STYLED.

52. Nocturnal noises: HOOTS.  Hand up if you speak owl? 
53. Winds orchestras tune to: OBOES.  I think we need a new clue for this, e.g. "Plural of the instrument featured in the soundtrack to the 1986 film The Mission" ...

54. "Younger Now" singer Cyrus: MILEY.  She'll get over it eventually.


56. "So it would __": SEEM.

59. Orecchiette shape: EAR.  Here's a recipe for Orecchiette with White Beans, Tomatoes, and Olives.
Orecchiette Dish
60. G7 member: USA.

61. Omega preceder: PSI.

62. Many miles: FAR.

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

 

44 comments:

Subgenius said...

I grokked the gimmick with the first themed solve, and that made the rest of the puzzle easier to solve. Also, I knew the heavenly body was some kind of star, but I used the perps to discover what its “letter” should be. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Messrs Goldberg snd Goldenberg for a novel and interesting puzzle which had me quizzing as to the catch …. After I had finished. Aha ! I finally got it …. Mostly thru Penny Saver … which we don’t receive any more. We used the four pages as a kitty litter liner….
Thank you Waseely for a charming blog replete with music references de riguer. And also Teri for her valuable assistance . I had a few words I was not familiar with like Amo and Erin but perps were generous.

Have s happy Thursday everyone, and enjoy yourselves, safely, all of you folks.
Now, to get back to my precious nap …

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR without erasure or WAG.

Today is:
STAY HOME BECAUSE YOU'RE WELL DAY (if everyone in the working world took the same day to stay home because we were well, chaos would ensue)
NATIONAL MOUSSE DAY (French for moose?)
NATIONAL PERSONAL SPACE DAY (avoid your personal Space Invader)
NATIONAL MASON JAR DAY (the Osborne Brothers sang that “all the folks on Rocky Top get their corn from a jar)
NATIONAL METH AWARENESS DAY (if you want something done fast, ask a meth head. Maybe not done well, but fast)
COMPUTER SECURITY DAY (just put Bayou Tony on retainer)

One of the highlights of The Open Championship (known as The British Open here in the Colonies,) is to see the best golfers in the world fall victim to GORSE.

If Patti was a Boomer, " Bret Michaels' band" would have clued POISON.

TAYLOR Swift is likely the most successful singer in history. Move over Elvis and those Beatles.

If there was a flag for the American South, RC COLA and Moon Pie would be on it. Skinnard's Free Bird would be its anthem.

Bob Dylan wrote "Ah, but I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now." The Byrds made the song a hit.

THOMASCATS have been retired by the Navy. The Super Hornet is the CAT'S PJs these days.

Thanks to Dave Matthews er, David and Matthew, for the fun. And thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for the tour, and especially for Sloop John B.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Yay, no reveal to miss. Got the theme early, and that was a big help with the solve. Don't know why, but d-o slammed down GORSE immediately. We often hear nighttime barred owl HOOTS. We've seen it swoop down to our birdbath for a drink during dry spells. Enjoyed your amusement David and Matthew. Nice expo waseeley and Teri.

MISSY: Methinks there was a best Dr. Who -- Tom Baker.

SLOOP: Methinks there was a best Sloop John B -- the 1958 Kingston Trio version.

Methinks you always prefer the version you saw/heard first.

BobB said...

An easy Thursday. Not a lot of formal names, there were but they were easy.

Lucina said...

Hola!

ROBERT PIN? BOBBY PIN? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Bobby pins were the hair pins of my youth! I remember reading that Elizabeth TAYLOR only used NEW BOBBY PINS and thinking in my pre-teen mind how rich she must be to afford that! Now, that's a blast from the past.

ESTADOS was, for me, muy facil, i.e., very easy. I really miss speaking Spanish but since my mother died, I don't any more. My siblings can speak it, but we are all too accustomed to English.

This whole puzzle was truly amusing. Thank you, David and Matthew!

My big error was in filling ROBERTson and only when I came to the Blog did I see my mistake.

Have a fabulous day, everyone!





Anonymous said...

Took 9:04 today for me to use the slim James to open this.

I noticed (had to) the theme today, unlike most days, and found it clever. However, there was plenty of fill I didn't care for: bstar, gorse, the speedskater's first name, the Spanish, the Latin, whatever "goest" is, and today's actress's role (Missy).

I loved Season 1 of "The Bear" and enjoyed Season 2, but like many things, it's not as good as the first season. However, in Season 2 there's a Christmas episode that is fantastic/awkward/anxiety-inducing.

KS said...

FIR. Definitely Thursday fare. The theme was clever, and after the second one, bobby pin, I began to see the light. Penny saver iced it.
Proper names again, but the perps were able to help. Close call on the crossing of Missy and Miley though.

inanehiker said...

Clever theme - but somewhere I recall I did a puzzle with the same underlying theme. Was it a David Bywaters puzzle? or one of the other puzzles I sometimes solve when visiting my mom? Maybe one of you who tracks these things will remember

B STAR - I knew would end in STAR just waited for the perp for which letter

A friend sang "Song of Ruth" at our wedding, but it didn't have the KJV words like GOEST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWoNieTDDA

Thanks Bill & Teri - enjoyed the varied music and to David & Matthew for the puzzle (do you have a band?)

Big Easy said...

It took a while for me to catch on but I eventually got it done. Like most of you, I start at 1A & 1D and either move across or down but really didn't know DIDO, BSTAR, HULU, CHO, or "Yo Te AMO". I guessed TAYLOR ("midnights" was unknown) and HULU (The Bear was unknown and I stream nothing). And everybody's BAD AT something and it took getting to EUGENE POOL for this CAT to realize what was happening. Worked my way back up to finish.

GORSE- only know of it from past literature or a commentator for the British Open.
PISA was a WAG; campanile was unknown. Ditto for EAR and Orecchiette.
MILEY was a guess with he dad BILLY RAY as the only two Cyrus people I know.
ERIN Jackson, MISSY, CHO, DEAN- didn't know those people and get them by perps.

My neighbor was signed by and then cut from the roster of the SEATTLE Storm earlier this year. Talked to her dad Tuesday night. She's doing some type of podcasts with another player. They call themselves "perennial bench warmers". But she lasted 9 years in the WNBA.

Jinx-TAYLOR may be successful now but will they still be playing her songs 60 years from now? I am not familiar with any of her music. Speaking of old bands, the ROLLING STONES are coming to NOLA to play at the Jazz Fest. They have cancelled TWICE because Mick Jagger was having heart surgery. With tickets starting at $225 to sit in the infield of a racetrack I'll take a pass. I saw them in high school for less than $5.00.

Anonymous said...

Someone said it yesterday; this is becoming a crossname puzzle. Actually I did FIR and it was a happy little diversion.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning

What a fun, clever theme this was! Needed perps for Seattle, Missy, Cho, and Erin, but no w/os or major stumbling blocks, so a pretty smooth solve on the easy side for a Thursday.

Thanks, David and Matthew, and thanks, Bill, for a fun, fact, and music-filled review. Loved hearing about your mother's proposal acceptance.

SS @ 7:20 ~ My father was James, known as Jim or Jimmy but my brother was James only legally. . He was known as Bud or Buddy from the day he was born, when one of the maternity nurses christened him Buddy Dimplechin! I never heard anyone refer to him as James in my entire life. The Bear looks like aa appealing series but my streaming apps are already out of control!

Have a great day.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Big E, I think TAYLOR may have staying power. "Hater's gonna hate" (from Shake It Off) is already part of the lexicon. The ticket brokers get a huge share of that $225. I hope something comes of the investigation by the House, but I don't have a lot of faith in that bunch of RICHARDs.

By the way, a new Mustang could be bought for about $2,500 in those $5 concert ticket days, and gas could be had for about $0.25 per gallon.

waseeley said...

Nina @7:47 AM A beautiful rendition of "Wherever you go" Perfect music for a wedding!

waseeley said...

Jinx @9:08AM "RICHARDS". Luv it!

Whiner said...

I was a little slow to get the theme but I really liked it. I struggled with the top middle. Was trying to come up with a specific tech company, stumped on the bun holder (not thinking hair) and I didn't know SLOOP, TARSI, AMO and NONET.

Monkey said...

What a fun CW. I was slow getting the theme, but when I discovered it, it made me laugh.

I liked the April honoree clue.

Waseelee always gives us lovely musical links. Thank you.

I became a fan of Leonard Cohen back in the late 70s.

Anonymous said...

A clever, clean, and fun Thursday jog through the park. Thank you.

A note about Argo… Ken Taylor the Canadian ambassador to Iran was the real hero. He personally hid our American friends at his residence at great danger to himself. He also issued Canadian passports to them to secure their safe passage out of Iran. Its too bad that Hollywood downplayed his heroic deeds to make for a more dramatic movie. Too bad Ben Affleck was so ethnocentric about the role of the CIA when the real star was a Canadian diplomat.
…… kkFlorida

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Our youngest daughter named her teddy bears THEODORE
-Me too on Bill’s summative sentence: “I thought this was a clean, clever theme.”
-Yes, Jinx and Big Easy, The British Open Golf Tournament is infamous for its GORSE bushes.
-A very devout choir director colleague had her group sing IMAGINE not realizing it was a song decrying organized religion
Shawn Klush’s spot on imitation of Elvis on the The David Letterman Show (starts at 1:15)

Husker Gary said...

Addendum
-Last night our two-year-old , 50” Smart TV went out. I just got off the line with the place where I bought it and the man (a former student of course) told that no one fixed TV’s any more. He says it would be around $500 to replace it at his store but I see Wal~Mart has some 50” sets for $295. Not a great time of year for more WILLIAMS!

CrossEyedDave said...

Kinda breezed thru this one, guess I was on the constructors wavelength. There were several posers, but all were perpable. The theme does have me thinking about proper names?

such as...

and...

RosE said...

Good Morning! At last!! A puzzle that is both creative and fun to work! It was a long time coming this week… Thanks, David & Matthew. Loved the theme.

WAG: B STAR
Perps: DIDO, HULU (as clued), MISSY, DEAN
WO: L -> R in EAT RIGHT

MAROON vs. burgundy. Burgundy is one of a few darker colors I like. I’m more in favor of lighter/pastel/muted colors. Never primary….So, after the puzzle I looked up the difference between MAROON and burgundy: how’s this: Burgundy appears to be reddish-brown, whereas maroon appears as brownish-red. Burgundy is a mix of red and brown color, giving a purplish-red hue, while maroon is created by adding brown color to red. Double-speak????😄😄😄.

SLOOP: Awww, I was hoping for the Kingston Trio’s SLOOP John B… too predictable?
Loved the Barn Owl!

Thanks, Bill & Teri for another great review.

Charlie Echo said...

Clever puzzle indeed! FIR with a bit of sweat. Enjoyed the clever misdirection clues, and the theme gave me a chuckle. Of course, we had to have some obscure names to suck out some of the fun, but on the whole, an enjoyable outing. I have to agree with D-O that the first version of a song is usually the favorite. Got TAYLOR easily enough, although I'm not familiar with her music. (Jonathan wouldn't fit). Great review by Was & Teri, as usual!

RosE said...

What??? I didn't open the Beach Boys link to Pet Sounds, but when I got to the Comments, I went back & clicked on the link, and there it was! SLOOP John B!! Yea!! It was hiding there all along.

Picard said...

Enjoyed the FORMAL NAME theme. Especially since mine was included. Very original. Learning moments about unknown GORSE, DIDO.

Here I was honored to meet Senator EUGENE McCarthy.

It was at our first International Shorter Work Time convention in Iowa City in 1996. We had a couple of TV shows on PBS and a book "Take Back Your Time" come out of it.

After the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, a Senate committee was convened to solve the problems. Senator EUGENE McCarthy proposed shorter work time as a way to create more jobs and equality. A win-win for everyone.

Picard said...

From Yesterday:
AnonT Yes, I know some of those U2 songs. But I just knew them from the radio. So I did not know the JOSHUA TREE album. Thanks! And thanks for the kind words about the photo of us with an actual JOSHUA TREE at JOSHUA TREE.

waseeley said...

Husker @10:24 AM I thought about a musical link for IMAGINE, until I recalled Lennon's lyrics and then I thought not. And thanks for the Elvis clip, Shaun's great, but not as great as the King. Sorry to hear about your TV, but thanks for the CSO!

waseeley said...

Picard @12:02 PM Please accept my belated CSO ROBERT.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

Not as difficult as Thursday puzzles have grown to be

It took me until solving EUGENE POOL to figure out what was happening

Clever puzzle, David and Matthew

Always an entertaining recap when Bill and Teri collaborate ... I hope that when my next puzzle is published in the LAT that waseeley reviews it ... or maybe Renee ... or Susan ... or whoever's blogging Wednesday ... or, of course, my brother from another mother, Joseph

Since my next puzzle is themed it won't be HG, and since it's a 15x15 it won't be C.C.

waseeley said...

MOE @12:38 PM Wouldn't it be a debut? I know you've had numerous puzzles published elsewhere, but have you had a previous puzzle published in the LAT?

Anonymous said...

Finally a puzzle with not as many proper names, and more importantly, not all crossing each other and/or smushed into one section of the puzzle!

I counted only 5% of the puzzle being proper names, as opposed to yesterday's 10% with a lot of them jammed together.

And very clever / funny theme!

Thanks!

Lee said...

My father's name was Harrison but to his mother and then his wife, he was always Bud or Buddy, too.

Anonymous said...

Like Big Easy, EUGENEPOOL was what threw the V8 can at me; a very fun cruise from there on out. Thanks, Mssrs. Goldberg!

I don’t know what species they are, but we have a couple of owls they are hanging out here in our neck o’ th’ San Fernando Valley (SoCal) that I’ve “conversed” with quite a bit, so I guess I speak a bit of owl. At least whatever I’ve hooted back at them hasn’t P’d them off — so far 😎

Now I’m off to look up the K.T.’s version of “Sloop John B”; all I’ve ever known is the track from Les Frères Beach 🏄🏼‍♀️

====> Darren / L.A.

Lee said...

Running late today. FIR. Figuring out the theme made it easier to complete the solve. A few good bites in there today. GORSE comes to mind as well as BSTAR.

Smiles to David and Matthew for their amusing puzzle and a bow to waseeley for his illuminating recap.

An ode to a dog will probably get your face licked, but an ode to a cat will probably get your nose bit.

Enhance

waseeley said...

Has anyone heard from Yellowrocks lately? I've had a lot of commitments lately and have been following all the comments. Anybody?

unclefred said...

FOR in record Thursday time for me. Clever CW, thanx DG&MG. Everybody else has already said everything else. Thanx Bill for the terrific write-up. I’ll hafta come back later to listen to all the music.

Ray - o - sunshine said...



Easier’n yesterday. I filled in the theme names and understood the play on words on some but not all.

Inkovers: Misty/MISSY (have never seen…Dr Who?) “The Bear” was a great two season show . I was as on edge every restaurant kitchen scenes as Carmy desperately trying to get through a frenetic dinner service. Renewed for 2024.

Started to fill furze (how did I even know that?) but perp checked and the word GORSE evolved

TAOS: a coincidence from yesterday?
“High ABV”? “Single Master” was a head scratcher but great clue.

“Soda since 1905” would be kinda flat😉

“No No ___” …… never won a TONY…NONET
Usually just a guy in a white sheet… GOEST
Leave stranded….. MAROON

IM ☘️…just read that DW’s Alma mater College of St Rose is closing in 2024 after more than 100 yrs. Wonder how Siena is doing?



Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and thought the theme was fun. Enjoyed reading you all.

Chairman Moe said...

waseeley @ 12:54 PM ===> no; not a debut @ LA Times, but yes, a debut with Patti as editor. My debut puzzle was recapped by Boomer

Ol' Man Keith said...

Waseeley does this Goldenberg/Goldenberg PZL...

I got DIDO right away, but I misunderstood the theme, so this Thursday XWD had a lot of holes in it.
And who remembers that SEATTLE has two "T"s?!
I worked there for several months but didn't keep that lesson with me.
~ OMK
___________
DR:
Just one diagonal, far side.
Its anagram (13 of 15) insists upon native geological specificity, as it identifies geomydiac burrowing rodents of a Gallic persuasion.
Yes, I mean...

"FRENCH GOPHERS"!

Irish Miss said...

HG @ 10:25 ~ Your "Williams" comment cracked me up! 🤣

Ray O @ 4:34 ~ That's sad news about St. Rose, but not surprising as the College has had major financial difficulties for the last several years. As far as I know, Siena is stable and thriving.

Big Easy said...

Jinx-"The ticket brokers get a huge share of that $225." NO THEY DON'T

The Stones take is $225. This is from the official JazzFest website.

"Thursday, November 30 at 10pm CT. Single-Day Rolling Stones tickets are $225 each, plus fees." *Residents with a Louisiana billing zip code will be able to purchase up to 6 tickets.

sumdaze said...

Thanks to the Goldenbergs (brothers? father/son? cousins?) for a fun, easy-for-a-Thurs. puzzle! DOROTHY.COM is lol funny!!
I had a 1 box FIW at ?LOOP. Now I get it, single-MASTer. Nice!

I noted OBOES crossing OBIES, EUGENE crossing DEAN, and ALGAE crossing GERMS.
I also noted the CSO to PICARD!

Thanks to waseeley for his musical enhancements! I especially enjoyed the sax at the start.
Spoiler alert: MISSY is bad news.
That was a nice story about your parents. Thanks for sharing!

Ol' Man Keith said...

MalMan is running the show today, taking the Hale grid in hand...

It was tough to figure the connection between clues and fills.
I resorted to filling the most likely responses once each title began to emerge, thanks to perps.

42A MEH -- I wouldn't call that a true "review";
"indifferent," yes, but merely a comment...

58D LOPE -- the LOPE with whom I am most familiar is LOPE de Vega, the 17th century Spanish playwright and poet.
~ OMK
___________
DR:
Today's single diagonal, on the far side, has only two vowels. Still, we are able to spot a two-word anagram (13 of 15) that refers to a censorious putdown of somebody's questionable behavior by someone of an inferior social class.
Yes, of course, I mean...

"PLEB TSKTSKING"!