Theme: "In Tune" - Each theme clue is a song. The synonym of the first word in each song is hidden inside each theme entry, which defines the remaining part of each theme clue.
23. Friends in Low Places?: DEEP SEA TRENCHES. Dears.
38. Dust in the Wind?: SOPRANO CLARINET. Soot.
54. Party in the U.S.A.?: THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. Do.
77. Dancing in the Street?: SANTA MONICA BOULEVARD. Samba.
91. Crazy in Love?: ABSOLUTELY ADORE. Outre.
110. Down in the Boondocks?: MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Low.
Just in awe of this theme. So many layers. So much work involved finding workable theme entries. 77A is amazing.
Our blog tags show that this is the Kyle and Dylan's second collaboration. The first one is this themeless Gary blogged last year. Kyle is known for his clean and sparkly themeless grids.
Across:
6. HS course for a future poli-sci major: AP GOV. Also 61. Capitol Hill fig.: POL.
11. "How silly of me!": DOH.
14. Cook brisket, perhaps: SMOKE.
20. Quinceañera accessory: TIARA. So pretty, everything.
21. Singer profiled in the 2022 Netflix documentary "Halftime," familiarly: J. LO. And 85. "__ Kai": Netflix series: COBRA.
22. Ancient manuscript: CODEX.
26. Outkast rapper __ 3000: ANDRE.
27. Org. whose logo features crossed clubs: PGA.
28. Oct. 24 observance: UN DAY.
29. Chemical in bagel-making: LYE.
30. Cream-filled pastries: ECLAIRS.
32. Way off: RANCID.
34. Some truffle hunters: BOARS.
36. Colorado State's sports team: RAMS.
37. Jellicle Ball attendee: CAT. The musical "Cats".
44. Love, in Verona: AMORE.
46. Walking tall: PROUD.
47. Half-inning trio: OUTS.
48. Can opener: TAB.
49. Pixar swimmer: NEMO.
50. Lacking proper punctuation, perhaps: RUN-ON.
51. Delight: AMUSE.
53. School member: FISH.
58. "Am __ blame?": I TO.
59. Presto, musically: FAST.
60. 20s dispensers: ATMS.
62. Amsterdam waterway: CANAL.
64. "Just watch me!": CAN SO.
66. [Crying emoji]: I'M SAD. When I pushed off the wall, I just could not submerge low enough to do the underwater dolphin kicks. Life is hard when you can't sink low.
70. Video art pioneer __ June Paik: NAM. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says he's "considered to be the founder of video art".
72. Licensed transport: TAXI.
73. Train, as a boxer: SPAR.
76. Hilton-owned hotel chain: TRU.
83. Basic ballet move: PLIE.
84. Antibiotic units: DOSES.
86. Central Plains tribe: OTOE.
87. Organ with a hammer: EAR.
88. Foie __: GRAS.
89. Ticket prices?: FINES. Parking ticket.
90. Tons and tons: SLEWS.
95. DOJ agency: ATF.
96. Bench press targets, for short: TRIS.
97. College administrators: DEANS.
98. High-end hair dryers: DYSONS. Very pricey.
101. Flatbread served with dal: PARATHA. And 118. Less spicy, in a way: TAMER. Indian food are a bit spicy for me.
104. Projectile's path: ARC.
105. Beach balls?: LUAUS. 114. Play place?: STAGE. 121. Oyster cracker?: OTTER. 82. Power base?: VOLTS. Fun clues.
108. Noisy fight: ROW.
109. Vessel implant: STENT.
115. To's opposite: FRO.
116. Model/actress Kate: UPTON. She's married to Justin Verlander.
117. "__ mañana": HASTA.
119. Bros: MEN.
120. __ profundo: low voice: BASSO.
Down:
2. Rolex competitor: OMEGA.
3. "Seriously!?": I MEAN COME ON. 16. "Weird, right?": ODD ISN'T IT. I love these two long fill.
4. Maple syrup base: SAP.
5. Like a hotel bathroom, often: EN SUITE.
6. Teeny bit: A TAD.
7. Gyro wrapper: PITA.
8. "Slow Horses" actor Oldman: GARY. My favorite Gary. Gosh, 10 years already.
9. Deposit for processing: ORE.
10. Unit for soccer practice carpool, say: VAN LOAD.
11. Video game with a turntable-shaped controller: DJ HERO.
12. Copa América cry: OLE.
13. Slip 'N Slide need: HOSE.
14. Quantities such as mass and time: SCALARS. Opposite vectors.
15. Address for Hercule Poirot: MON AMI.
17. Steve with nine NBA titles as a player and coach: KERR.
18. Old flames: EXES.
24. Finish: END.
25. The "C" of the CMYK color model: CYAN.
31. Prepare to move, as artwork: CRATE UP.
33. Christmas tune: CAROL.
34. Pop star Mars: BRUNO. Loved his "Just the Way You Are".
35. Scrubs: SCOURS.
38. Root veggies: SPUDS.
39. " ... then again, we could try something else": OR NOT.
40. [It's gone!]: POOF.
41. Ardent desire: LUST.
42. "No sweat!": EASY.
43. "Truthfully," in a text: TBH. To be honest.
44. Shenanigan: ANTIC.
45. Conductor Zubin: MEHTA.
50. Genetic letters: RNA.
51. Many NYC addresses: APTS.
52. Tibetan dumpling: MOMO. Similiar to xiaolongbao.
53. Festival entry: FILM.
55. Major key of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise: A FLAT.
56. Spreading fear: PANIC.
57. Bête __: NOIRE.
63. "The Favourite" queen: ANNE.
64. Candy __: CANE.
65. Graph line: AXIS.
67. Minnesota's Paul Bunyan, for one: STATE FOREST. Maybe I should explore the trails there someday.
68. Item in a quiver: ARROW.
69. Bros: DUDES.
71. Wild hurry: MAD RUSH.
72. Threw out: TOSSED.
73. Serious: SOBER.
74. Coach purchase, perhaps: PURSE. Coach bags.
75. __ plancha: Spanish cooking method: A LA.
77. Concrete piece: SLAB.
78. Classic travel trailer: AIR STREAM.
79. Castle defense: MOAT.
80. Sour compounds: ACIDS.
81. One-named Irish singer: BONO. Not ENYA.
83. Test subject for Gregor Mendel: PEA.
88. Nail polish enhancer: GLITTER.
89. Devotees: FAN CLUB.
90. "Oh, really?": SAYS WHO.
92. Mandarin, e.g.: ORANGE. Mandarin oranges were a must for Boomer's fruit salad.
93. "I'll follow you": LEAD ON.
94. Patio spot: YARD.
98. Green owl in a popular language app: DUO.
99. El __: America, in Mexico: NORTE.
100. Necessitate a bleep: SWEAR.
101. Soft "Over here!": PSST.
102. "__ boy!": ATTA.
103. Radio toggle: AM FM.
105. Oodles: LOTS.
106. Sci-fi craft: UFOS.
107. Latin dating word: ANNO.
111. Anger: IRE.
112. AirNow.gov partner: EPA.
113. Prominent part of a beefeater's uniform: HAT.
C.C.
40 comments:
Good morning!
Noticed a "City of Trees" sign on a TV newscast this past week and thought, "Wow, what a great Jeopardy! answer!" Yes, d-o fell into the ENYA/BONO trap. Wite-Out, please. Wasn't familiar with CYMK. Had to LIU: Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Key (black). This one came in just under my self-imposed time limit. Whew. Thanx, Kyle, Dylan, and C.C.
Well there will be no self aggrandizing from me about this one today, as I was humbled with a FIW in the hour I gave it. Quite a few unknowns all around the grid which for the most part I perped correctly, but I couldn’t WAG my way out of the NE. DNK SCALARS, CODEX, ANDRE, MON AMI, OR RAMS, so that corner was a mess. MOMO and PARATHA are not in my vocabulary, but they perped. I had BEARS eating truffles instead of BOARS which gave me VAN LEAD, DOH!! But I had fun while trying, thanks Kyle and Dylan for the challenge!
C.C. ~ enjoyed your apercu today! And like many other Cornerites do, I want to express my gratitude for creating and maintaining this blog, always entertaining and educational! To the bloggers~ your efforts are much appreciated.
After last week's pleasure, back to non-words, internet/social media lingo, and how many clues with question marks and in quotations? And clueing volts as a power source seemed to be a deliberate mis-direct---watts up with that? FIR though, but an eye-rolling slog.
Not in awe of this one. Way too clever for the sake of being clever.
Circles, I don't care for, but I usually just ignore because they are incidental but today they are supposedly the answer/synonym to the first word of the clue. I don't know how DO is the answer to Party. Plus OUTRE is not a word I've seen used, though I do see know that it's correct. And then we are supposed to realize that only the last part of the clue is the full answer.
With enough perps I got all those answers, but I had no idea what I was getting. And I had to do a decent amount of checks and reveals to get the rest of the puzzle. I probably could've sussed more of the answers but I kinda lost interest when I just didn't understand those long answers.
I call it like I see it.
fir, but hand up for erasing enya, as well as strut for PROUD, urge for LUST, and curse for SWEAR.
Today is:
NATIONAL CHEESESTEAK DAY (love ‘em most of the time, but NO PHILLYS during NFL season)
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE COVERED RAISIN DAY (chocolate covered ants – kinda a carryover from yesterday)
NATIONAL COCKTAIL DAY (I’LL DRINK TO THAT! Oh wait – a few years too late for me)
If they teach AP GOV in high school, doesn't that imply that they teach GOV in high school? If they are, they aren't doing a very good job of it, at least around here.
I only know COBRA Kai because of that TV commercial where the sensi mugs for the camera and says "Kiddie Kai." My stepson 'splained why it was funny.
When i go to a beach, it is usually clothing-optional. Gave me pause at the "beach balls" clue.
The AM/FM switch is likely to go the way of the horn on Nipper's phonograph in those old RCA commercials. Gotta do away with the band before the next Rush Limbaugh emerges.
FLN: Darren in LA, I thought the complete texting terms were ROTFL, ROTFLMAO, or ROTFLMFAO, depending on how funny it was.
I guess a party is a DO. Seems like I heard it used that way sometime, somewhere.
Thanks to Kyle and Dylan for the fun puzzle, and to CC for explaining it.
FIR. Once again I groaned when I saw circles. And today's Sunday fare was a workout for me. I wasn't sure I'd finish. The NW was the last to fall.
I too had Enya before Bono. And the amount of WAG's that were needed was ridiculous. But persistence saw me through.
Having said that, I disliked this puzzle a lot.
Out of my wheelhouse of this one. Couldn't catch the theme, didn't notice the circles, and too many unknowns.
ANDRE, J LO, CATS, UN DAY, RUN-ON, I'M SAD, NAM, TRU, PARATHA, DJ HERO, KERR, MOMO, ANNE, STATE FOREST, DUO- didn't have any idea about those.
Yooper- I didn't give it an hour; gave up early
Whiner- agree with you on DO. I've never heard of a party being called a "DO".
Way off and RANCID doesn't register for me.
Jinx, d-o is not a party.
This is a trivia contest, not a crossword puzzle. Not my cup of tea.
Musings
-Wow! I got the Congratulations box for this amazing puzzle and then had to go back and ferret out the gimmick. I had to do the puzzle online due to a wet newspaper in a very welcome rain and the title is at the bottom of the online edition which put me on the right track.
-DEARS in DEEP SEA TRENCHES finally signaled, “Here I am!” Wow redux!
-A domestic capital and a foreign one. Do Kyle and Kevin have no shame? :-)
-LYE in a bagel? Yikes!
-The last three OUTS of Don Larsen’s perfect game in the ’56 World Series were Carl Furillo, Roy Campanella and Dale Mitchell.
-HTML code looks like a bunch of RUN-ON sentences
-C.C., my problem is staying up not sinking low
-Dear C.C. is my favorite Zhoquin by far! Her friendship has been a huge part of my life since retirement!
-I’m sure our constructor/art curator Jeffrey Wechsler has had to CRATE UP many pieces
-Would you pay $900 for this Coach PURSE?
-Off to Lincoln on a rainy, windy Sunday.
Took 18:42 today. Felt much longer than that.
I didn't know the Spanish, the Latin, whatever paratha is, and a few others.
Oh joy, circles!
Quite a workout today. Did finish with a couple of checks. Went "Enya" then "devo" then the second O appeared and BONO became obvious.
With enough perps the long theme answers became obvious. Took pulling teeth to bring out SMOKE. I wanted SautE, 'cause SMOKE doesn't seem like cooking to me, but I guess it is.
Finally remembered CODEX, from the movie DaVinci Code, I think. Some of the long down fills were great. I popped in AIRSTREAM right off. Paul Bunyan had to be a FOREST. He was a lumberjack.
Wanted minivan for 10D, close but no cigar. My wife does nail polish but not GLITTER.. There are UNDAYs and there are UNbirthDAYs as well thanks to Lewis Carroll.
Enough already. This was an excellent puzzle thanks to Kyle and Dylan and a nice wrapup thanks to our own C.C..
Butter up your enemies, but never salt your coffee.
Believe.
HG, try Viagra.
Themes that are designed to show off the constructor's cleverness are not automatically "good" puzzles...this is one such example.
I figured out the gimmick right away, but that knowledge did not help the solving process at all.
Beyond that, the rest of the puzzle was rife with questionable clueing and obscure answers.
FIR on paper with no cheating in reasonable time for a Sunday. It was hard, but the theme was neat, and it *did* help me with the solve. I liked it, and I find it hard to understand how one can conquer a challenge like this and *not* be elated. We all face different challenges in life, but when we face the *same* one, and are equally able to meet it, the attitude we choose determines our experience.
The toughest bit for me was figuring out a one-named Irish singer that was *not* Enya, guessing at COBRA, and changing fares to FINES (different kind of ticket prices).
Many thanks to Kyle, Dylan, Patti, and C.C. Brilliant work.
A convoluted mess of made up words, and obscure names.didn't even try to finish
If I was teaching a puzzleology class (if there was such a thing), I would give this crossword an A, and use it as a model for my students. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and I value Sunday FIRs!
It is clean, straightforward, clever, fair, and rewarding. What Kyle and Dylan managed to do with the long reveal answers was a fait accompli. They succeeded in finding four 15-letter songs, two 20-letter songs to maintain symmetry, all of which contained, somewhere within, one-word versions of the song. And we didn't even have to unscramble the letters to get the word.
From a personal standpoint, I enjoyed all the delicious food items in the puzzle, such as foie gras, Mandarin oranges, and gyros. Santa Monica Boulevard reminded me of all the fun activities we used to do on the Santa Monica Pier. And there was a melange of words that made me smile, from otter to Zubin Mehta to Hercule Poirot and many more.
Thank you, Kyle, Dylan, and Patti, for providing us with a most satisfying Sunday morning activity.
A fun slog to suss out, hard but fair, and the circles helped a lot.
Still don't get party/do though...
CC said: When I pushed off the wall, I just could not submerge low enough to do do the underwater dolphin kicks.
I swim like a rock, so your comment caused some curiosity in me. I wondered, what would happen if you exhaled before starting?
(Probably drown, my swimming is about as good as my parsing.)
so I did some research on what you're supposed to do...
Hmm, in the video, they are sometimes wearing flippers. But I guess for practice it wouldn't hurt. And then at the end, someth8ng about a certain distance underwater is not allowed in competition?
Lots to learn...
Lee, you beat me to it! (Actually, Merriam Webster lists DO as a synonym of PARTY.)
I knew CODEc, a type of chip that codes and decodes. I knew CODEX from The Di Vinci Files. Codec would be great Saturday fill, as would "muldem" (multiplexer/demultiplexer, mainly used with DS-3 transmission signals.)
Well, I’m finally here but must admit to a FIW today. I never heard of an “ensuite” and couldn’t think of “cat” for the “bollicle” (or whatever) ball. Oh well, better luck next time!
Solved the puzzle but have no clue about the circled letters. Can you clue me in?
T. Ken, I think you are new enough to the Corner that I haven't heard this one. Stop me if you've read it before.
My desk used to overlook the Santa Monica Pier. It was in the Lawrence Welk Tower on the corner of Wilshire and SANTA MONICA BOULEVARDs. If you have watched the introduction video from Three's Company, you might remember Jack wrecking his bicycle into the sand while ogling the back of a very nice bikini bottom. That shot shows my office building in the background. My place was on the 17th floor.
Beth at 2:19
Reread blog beginning
Dust in the wind = soprano clarinet. The circled letter spell out soot. Which is the dust (soot) in the clarinet (wind instrument
First, I have put my Sensitive Suit away and apologize for my pout yesterday. I appreciate the empathy from several and have even more appreciation of the kindness and collegial spirit that exists in the Corner. I’ll just keep plugging - and posting.
Today’s puzzle was a BEAR for me. I use the LA Times print version, and I managed to get almost all of it done, albeit in an embarassingly long slog, but the North Central did me in, and I gave up. DJHERO, JLO and HOSE got me. I wanted Icee and My hero - Bzzt! Also, like others, I insisted on Enya for far too long and only corrected to BONO with my last gasp. Still, there was a lot of satisfaction in completing all the themers (without understanding the underlying clues) and much of the fill was fun. I love Zubin Mehta and treasure our video called “The “Trout”, showing “Zubie”, Itzak Perleman, Pincus Zuckerman and Jacqueline DuPres when they were teenagers creating music together. They were having so much fun, laughing and joking.
Thank you, Kyle and Dylan for a huge challenge, and thank you. C.C. for the tour, the always impressive swimming progress report, and especially for creating and watching over this wonderful blog.
My Alma Mater, Duke, advances to the NCAA 2nd round today. I’m afraid the glory days are over for awhile, but hope springs eternal!
Thank you Kyle and Dylan for another fun, eclectic Sunday puzzle. FIR but DNK some of the answers, but the perps took care of that.
And thank you C.C. for a very helpful review. I saw that the circled content was echoing the first word in the clue, but didn't recognize that the full clues were songs.
Some favs:
1A BOISE. Didn't know it had that moniker. Sounds like it would be nice place to visit -- in the Spring.
19A AMMAN. Nice stack. Kind of a mini-theme.
52A FISH. I prefer mine raw. Every time we have sushi my BP is lower the next morning!
50A RUN ON. I tend to lack punctuation.
70A NAM. Perps. Better clue than the usual.
87A EAR. A CSO to Splynter?
98A DYSONS. The DYSONS are also a remarkable family including the famous mathematician and quantum physicist Freeman; a daughter Esther, an investor, journalist, author, and philanthropist; and a son George, a builder of seagoing outrigger canoes and science writer -- his Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence is a favorite book that I would highly recommend.
121A OTTER. Favorite clue!
Cheers
Bill
Hand up this was a steady slog until I got it done. I struggled fully to grasp the theme until near the end. Hand up "DO" mystified me. But when I got the theme, DEARS helped with the North. I only knew a couple of the TUNEs, making it a challenge. Overall I enjoyed the theme, I was impressed with the construction and I was pleased to FIR.
NAM JUNE PAIK was a gimme. I enjoyed his art since I was a child. It was a refreshing change from looking at boring paintings on the wall. In 1965 he said, "Someday artists will work with capacitors, resistors, and semiconductors as they work today with brushes, violins and junk."
Here is my video of a huge NAM JUNE PAIK exhibit that we saw at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2021.
It must have taken a lot of work to CRATE UP that exhibit.
From Yesterday:
waseeley Thank you for taking the time to read that article and thank you for your thoughtful comments and kind words.
D-O 9:47 AM It was a CSO to you -- you should be grateful!
Husker @10:18 AM You know what P.T. Barnum said about suckers!
So you're headed to Lincoln -- do you ever go to their symphony? Their music director Ed Polochick is from Baltimore and we've seen him conduct many times. His annual Messiah performances at the BSO are usually sell outs. He is also a sometime commenter on Face the Music heard every Saturday on WBJC (FM, HD, and.com).
Thanks to Kyle and Dylan for a tough (for me) Sunday puzzle! I am pleased to say that I filled the grid and figured out the theme -- just not a FIR. I'm so impressed with the many layers to this one!
FAVs: OTTER and Ticket prices?
Thank you for your review, C.C.! I am especially glad I read it because I did not recognize June Paik Nam while solving the puzzle but your image (and later Picard's link) reminded me that I viewed an exhibit of his work in Tokyo. It was interesting to learn about him and his art. The exhibit motivated me to read "Topless Cellist: The Improbably Life of Charlotte Moorman".
Wendybird@2:39. You continue to impress.
= )
That's great!
Santa Monica, I believe, played a role in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. I can picture the two overloaded taxicabs driven by Rochester Anderson and Peter Falk racing down the PCH toward Malibu, chasing Spencer Tracy. That movie is my guilty pleasure. Total nonsense.
Picard @3:14 PM And thank you. BTW, I think you would really like the George Dyson book I mentioned above. In many ways he is a visionary regarding the emergence of a global intelligence. We tend to think of AI as having a silicon address space. For Dyson it is the address space of all mankind networked with its machines. One of my favorite passages was about essayist Samuel Butler (a fan of Darwin BTW), who circa 1860 was living in New Zealand raising sheep when the first telegraph line was installed between two hills a few miles apart. The journey on foot that it saved him to receive orders for his wool sparked his imagination and he instantly saw the long term possibilities: what we now call the World Wide Web -- he would be able to deal directly with buyers in London and attend performances of oratorios at Exeter Hall and operas at Covent Garden: and now I quote directly -- "this is the grand annihilation of time and place which we are all striving for, and which in one small part we have been permitted to see actually realized. I believe this was recounted in an essay entitled Darwin Among the Machines, which Dyson appropriated for the title of his book.
Yes! Great news that you're staying at the Corner. And another perceptive and fun commentary on your part today. I would love to see that Zubin Mehta piece you mentioned. My wife and I had season tickets to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, aka the LA Phils, in the '70's and early '80's when Mehta was conductor.
As for Duke, the women made the Sweet Sixteen today upsetting a 2-seed, Ohio State. And the Duke men I am watching as we speak. It's early in the game, but they are ahead of James Madison. If they hold on to their lead, you're going to have BOTH of your teams in their respective Sweet Sixteens! Not many colleges can say that.
Welcome back!
Our copy of The Trout is on a VHS tape - it was 1969! But Jack just looked on line via Safari, and you can see part of it. Fun to see their personalities
Waseeley, No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. My two grandsons played in Lincoln's wonderful Youth Symphony but I don't know any of the directors in Lincoln.
Wendybird @2:39 PM Were they playing The Trout Quintet, a piece by Franz Schubert? One of the movements contains variations on one of Schubert's songs called Die Forelle ("The Trout"). One of my favorite pieces of music!
Big Easy, re: RANCID. When milk, for example, goes bad, you might take a whiff or taste and say it is "off". If it is RANCID (beyond just bad), it is "way off".
Whiner- I had a draft beer today and it didn't quite taste as it should and it was a little off but it wasn't RANCID.
But either way, it didn't stink. I told the waitress to take it back and have them change the keg or bring me another brand.
I disliked this puzzle a lot.
G.A.
Me no like.
I had my accountant over to do my income taxes with me this morning. Then I did this slug of a "puzzle" (your word, not mine). Shame on you for publishing this unbelievable mess as a "puzzle". When will the LAT Puzzle editor focus on ACCURACY in their puzzles rather on than mixed themes ( this entry had FOUR!!) This entry simply put more emphasis on quirky games than on clever AND ACCURATE cluing. I'm of the opinion that if the LAT doesn't change it's course in editing their puzzles solvers like me will cancel their subscription s. I'm about to do just that!! Your puzzles are not any fun any more!!😡
Yes , but a lot of it was them getting ready for the performance and kidding around with each other. Lovely to see these world-wide esteemed musicians as “youngsters” just enjoying themselves. Forgot to say Daniel Berenboem was one of the group.
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