Saturday Themeless by Nate Cardin and Matthew Stock and Nate Cardin
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| Matthew |
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| Nate |
Matthew is a teacher from Gainesville, FL who has taken time out to work on his Masters.
Nate is a chemistry teacher in L.A.
What a struggle! Some of cluing was fiendish and my ignorance of a fictional soccer team made the middle a muddle. I could get AMERICA at the first and ICELAND in the partial fill at the end but alas neither were correct.
1. Make-up artist's talent: ADLIB - Nothing came to mind about applying make-up and so was thinking about a liar but no, it was more subtle than that.
6. __ store: DIME - Make that The Dollar Store today
10. Posts: JOBS.
14. Celine's "Beauty and the Beast" counterpart: PEABO.
17. Dining option: PATIO - Alfresco
18. The best of times: GOLDEN ERA - They don't make 'em like this any more and the box office decline shows it.
19. Star clusters: A-LISTS. These people usually bring their 32. Height of one's ability: A-GAME
21. "I like it": NICE.
22. Brief downtime: R 'N R.
23. 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee Maya: LIN - She won the competition for designing the Vietnam Memorial.
24. HBO's "__ Espookys": LOS.
26. Wailing figure of folklore: BANSHEE Irish Folklore
28. Relaxed: LOOSENED UP.
31. Hall __: PASS - You sure you have to go?
33. Employ: HIRE.
34. Fictional soccer club playable in FIFA 23: AFC RICHMOND - Ted Lasso's imaginary team was completely unknown to this solver and left a big hole in my early solving.
37. Colored outside the lines: BLED 😀
38. Animal whose name comes from the Dharug word for "no water": KOALA.
39. Derivative work, for short?: CALC 😀
40. "Fingers crossed!": WISH ME LUCK.
45. Postelection figure: ALSO RAN - I saw the L first and ELECTOR fit right in.
47. 2022 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion __ Toppin: OBI - An old Japanese crossword regular gets bumped by an obscure athlete
48. Symbol for magnetic flux: PHI.
49. Little tater: TOT.
50. "Wolf Like Me" actress Fisher: ISLA.
52. Molé peppers: ANCHOS - Ghost Peppers too.
54. Social media account?: SNAP STORY - A compilation of Snapchat pictures (we say pictures and not photos around here)
57. Snacks with limited-edition flavors: OREOS.
58. Personal gripes: PET PEEVES.
59. Like the sacred tree Yggdrasil: NORSE - The NORSE tree of life
60. Votes of affirmation: AYES.
61. Wax figure: SEAL.
62. Pointers for a fight choreographer?: EPEES 😀 The pointers were the fencing weapons not instructions
Down:
1. Floor: APPALL.
2. "What's the __?": DEALIO.
3. Like some winners of a Pura Belpré Award: LATINO.
4. Bird associated with the Egyptian god Thoth: IBIS.
5. Criminal record?: BOOTLEG CD.
6. Be into: DIG.
7. Menu image: ICON.
8. Topanga neighbor: MALIBU.
9. Sight before walking down the aisle: ENDCAP 😀 Gotta love it!
10. Podcaster/comedian Kirkman: JEN.
11. Scrambled alternative: OVER HARD.
12. __ mountain dog: BERNESE - They do grow into those paws
13. Toms' neighbors: SNARES 😀
16. __ Vogue: TEEN - This older edition autographed by a very young Taylor Swift can be had for $2,000
20. Help in finding subs: SONAR 😀
25. Prefix with permeable: SEMI.
27. __ fluid: SPINAL.
29. Mariners' realm, once: SAFECO 😀 - The Seattle Mariners played in SAFECO Field for about 20 years and then T-Mobile bought the naming rights and it is now T-Mobile Park. I saw the baseball connection right away but needed letters to help with SAFECO.
30. Starship Enterprise levels: DECKS.
33. Ace of clubs?: HOLE IN ONE 😀 I've had three of these. The first two had human witnesses and the third one only squirrels and barn swallows.
34. Progressive rival: ALL STATE - They all accuse the other insurance companies of overcharging.
35. Hostess offering: HO HO.
36. Cobra kin: MAMBA.
37. "Horsefeathers!": BALONEY.
39. Siberian resort?: CAT SPA 😀
40. Runs through: WASTES - The amount of money our government runs through/WASTES is mind boggling!
41. One way to fall: IN LOVE 🥰
42. Message from on high?: UP HERE 😀 UP HERE, Stanley!
43. Go for: CHOOSE.
44. Pays lip service to?: KISSES 💋
46. Climb: RISE.
51. Sod buyer's calculation: AREA.
53. Take sides?: CROP - Here are some of our bird feeders on the left and the star of the show in the CROPPED version as he is eating Welch's Grape Jelly
55. Letter writer's addendum: PPS.
56. Couture initials: YSL - Our crossword couture
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
58th birthday to Barry G, who was very active posting in the early days
of our blog. Still with the same company, Barry? How's Joshua?
54 comments:
They just keep getting tougher, don’t they? Obscure names, including sports clubs, misdirection galore, this puzzle had it all. I’m quite surprised that I was able to solve this challenging puzzle. But somehow I did. FIR, so I’m happy.
Accidentally putting in DOCKS for DECKS and not even questioning it caused me to fumble around the NW corner for some time. I knew that "floor" was a verb there but just couldn't see APPALL until I got the initial A, plus the clues for LATINO, LIN and PEABO meant nothing to me.
I enjoyed seeing WISH ME LUCK and I CAN'T EVEN. BOOTLEG CD is most likely a thing but it feels a bit green-painty to me. Not as much as 9-Down from today's Stumper, for sure.
NINE "?" clues are way too many IMO. Not to mention that four of them form a cluster in the SE (HOLE IN ONE, UP HERE, and KISSES crossing EPEES). Seeing "?" clue after "?" clue just becomes irritating. My first guess for KISSES was SASSES given the frequent use of "lip" as a clue for SASS.
This puzzle is a perfect example of why I seldom participate on Saturday. Life's too short for this level of frustration.
DNF. Filled 50, 47 correctly. But I got ANCHO without a single perp, so I got that goin' for me.
As H.Gary's map showed, saying that MALIBU is Topanga's neighbor is a bit of a stretch. Woodland Hills (in The Valley) is much closer. I used to live in the Top-O-Topanga Mobile Home Park. That drive down to the Pacific Coast Highway was beautiful but slow. It should have been a bit slower, but I like a car that corners.
I couldn't get Jailhouse Rock out of my mind, so no BOOTLEG CD for me.
Had electee before ALSO RAN.
Thanks to Matthew and Nate for the Saturday stumper, and to H.Gary for the fine review.
Early on I had to resort to red letters. That didn’t help. Then I turned to alphabet runs. That didn’t help. Then I decided that life is too short to waste any more precious minutes on a puzzle that was bringing me no pleasure, and it was time to get my butt out of bed and get on with my life. That actually helped a great deal.
The weather here in Concord is less than ideal, but that fact notwithstanding, my wife and I are going to take a day trip down to Marblehead, MA. And, yes, raw oysters will be eaten and beer will be sipped.
Didn’t enjoy this one at all. Even after a bit of cheating I had no idea what the clue meant…much less the answers. I used to love the Saturday puzzles because they were a good fair challenge. And most still are. This one however was no fun at all.
Took 20:19. Had the bottom half in under 9 minutes, and spent probably 5 minutes in the top-left corner. That appall/dealio/Latino/lin area was rough.
I got snares, but don't know why - I didn't think of the percussion toms.
Catspa looked odd. Thankfully, I enjoyed watching Ted Lasso because that saved me today with AFC Richmond.
I knew today's actress (Isla).
Overall, this puzzle was ok, but again seems to suffer from an attempt at being too cutesy (as reflected in all the "?" clues). My preference is less cutesy, less themes, and none of those dreaded circles.
Nate and Matt need to retire. They are not clever. They are obtuse. Don’t waste your readers time with these guys puzzle again, please.
Good Morning:
I think my critique of today's offering calls for a "Show, don't Tell" approach, so here goes:
Unnecessarily vague and exaggerated cluing for common words:
___ Store=Dime
HBO's "___ Espookys"=Los
Hall ___=Pass
2022 NBA Star Slam Dunk Contest Champion ___ Toppin=Obi*
"What's the ___?"=Dealio**
___ Mountain Dog=Bernese**
___ Vogue=Teen
___Fluid=Spinal
*Cluing a common three letter word with eight words seems over the top, to me.
**These two words get a pass based on their specificity.
Unnecessarily obtuse/obscure words used in clues for common, ordinary words:
Dharug (Koala)
Yggdrasil (Norse)
Pur Belpré (Latino)
Thoth (Ibis)
Clues that are too cutesy by half:
Pointers for a fight choreographer?=Epees
Colored outside the lines=Bled
Criminal record?=Bootleg CD
On the other hand, a lot of the cluing was delightful, yet fair (and fun) in misdirection:
Siberian Resort=Cat Spa
Ace of Clubs=Hole In One
One Way To Fall=In Love
In addition, the fill, overall, was fresh and lively and while I struggled in several areas, I was able to finish w/o help in slightly above average Saturday time. I welcome Saturday challenges but today's solving experience would have been far more enjoyable and satisfying if there had been more user-friendly cluing, rather than all of the aforementioned negatives.
Thanks, Matthew and Nate, and thanks, HG, for your always fair and insightful reviews and the dazzling eye candy pictures, especially the Koala, Bernese, and the pretty kitty. Is that Darling Lily?
Happy Birthday, Barry, hope all is well! 🎂🎈🎊🎉
Have a great day.
.
Thank goodness I stopped trying to solve this very early on because once I saw HG’s recap, I realized I was wise. This CW wasn’t for me.
HG thank you for the fine review. I enjoyed that part very much.
First DNF for me this year. Not fun.
FIW. So many mistakes, too many to mention. The NW was absolutely impossible for me. I took a lot of WAG's, there and elsewhere, and my guesser must have been broken.
This Saturday's puzzle truly bested me. Although I'm not pleased with my performance I did enjoy the challenge.
This puzzle was a challenge but it had clever cluing and some fresh fill
I did have a few gimmes - I'm a big "Ted Lasso" fan so AFC RICHMOND filled nicely once I new it was a fictional team. The creator/actor Jason Sudeikis is originally from KC as am I and he has all sorts of Easter eggs references to it scattered throughout the program
I have longtime friends who only have 1 (or 2!) BERNESE Mountain Dogs at any one time- they are such huge dogs but very lovable.
My daughter lives in Seattle so knew of the change in the last few years from SAFECO Field to T-Mobile Park
Used my linguistic skills to figure out the four foreign clues (Aboriginal Australian, Scandinavian, Spanish, Egyptian (many Egyptian Gods have names like that)- Would that make them all Ektorps?
BOOTLEG CDs were a lot easier to make with a CD burner than BOOTLEG cassette tapes
Thanks HG for the fun blog and Matthew & Nate for the puzzle!
Happy birthday Barry!
We are headed to KC to visit my mom and also celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary- WooHoo!
I spent a few extra minutes on the puzzle this morning and had the satisfaction of Finishing It Right -- on paper, no cheating. All the commenters who quit early, thinking I CAN'T EVEN, missed out on some clever cluing. Make-up artist's talent = AD LIB? What's the ___ = DEALIO? When you finally crack clues like these, it doesn't matter whether (like me) you've never heard of PEABO. Perps were fair. I liked it.
We all have our PET PEEVES. Some of you hark back to an imagined GOLDEN ERA of superior puzzles. For me, it's those who Throw In The Towel early and consider that a badge of honor. There's no shame in a Did Not Finish or a Finished It Wrong, but no glory in thinking yourself above the challenge. I bring my A GAME, and say WISH ME LUCK.
Many thanks to Matthew, Nate, Patti, and Husker Gary.
Nope. W-A-A-A-Y above my pay grade. I'll just Echo Monkey on this one. Life's too short.
We FIR but with the help of the red letter switch. Saturdays are supposed to be tough and this one certainly was. However, what's the dealio? C'monio.
Tough but ultimately doable, just like a Saturday should be. I don't always finish (I never google because it turns a word game into a research project), but I like the end of week challenges.
Tried every permutation of 39D Siberian resort? First thought Siberian Husky so wrote DOGspa. Then saw TOT so changed it to PETspa. Finally got CALC and landed on CATspa. “Come with me to the Casbah” sorta...
Yes, very challenging today but that’s exactly what I look forward to all week. Thank you Matthew and Nate.
I print the puzzle and solve in ink. Lots of messy “write-overs” today. Heaven! I decided to take my time and by some miracle FIR!!!
Great way to start the weekend… 😎
My friend had a BERNESE Mountain Dog. Not exactly your most energetic dog, but physically imposing with a bark that made you pay attention. As inanehiker said, very loving. She would lean up against me and sit on my foot so I wouldn't stop petting her, and nudge at my hand with her muzzle if I did stop.
A cute YouTube short of just a few seconds:
Bernese vs Malinois
Hand up this was very difficult. Always happy to see a Star Trek reference. Hand up some clever clues and misdirection:
ACE OF CLUBS - HOLE IN ONE
MAKE UP ARTIST TALENT - AD LIB
CRIMINAL RECORD - BOOTLEG CD
TAKE SIDES - CROP
Hand up some absurdly obscure words and names. PEABO? DEALIO? OBI? ISLA? I was sure these were wrong. Hand up only ever heard of a SIBERIAN DOG. Who can keep up with the ever-changing names of stadiums now?
Had LOGS, LEN, GERNESE which seemed as good as JOBS, JEN, BERNESE. FIW.
Zami Marx is the name of the professional MAKE UP ARTIST who I photographed at a local art show. Body paint.
From Yesterday:
YooperPhil, Jinx Thanks for the further thoughts on regional pronunciations. I have travelled widely and lived in many places. I think California has the most neutral pronunciations. Closest to what you hear on the national TV news.
Agree. Not fun, just annoying.
TTP - had a Irish Wolfhound which loved to chase balls. Didn't know what to do when he got to one, but loved the chase. One becalmed day on a dry lake bed, my buddy said "what would he do if we threw a football for him?" Being bored (no wind to landsail) I just said "try it." He gave it a mighty heave, the Wolfie ran after it, and just picked it up with his mouth like it was a tennis ball. It's easy to forget how big those big oafs are until something like that happens. (We called him a "leanaraner" because he loved to lean against someone.)
Picard, IIRC, the ideal American accent for radio and TV was once deemed to be spoken in Nebraska, and I'm not just kissing up to H.Gary. Johnny Carson was the epitome.
Aslo, I was thinking about communication problems my parents had with people who lived near my boyhood home. One wanted to borrow a "stench cord," and my mom finally figured out that wanted an extension cord. Another time a parasol was requested, but a power saw was what was needed. Guess in the early 20th century it wasn't unusual for people to have an 8th grade education or less, and being in a somewhat isolated area, their vocabulary was somewhat homemade. (So was most of their food and clothing.)
FIR but what a slog. At my first run through of all the clues, when I only had sonar, tot, and ayes; I figured I would never get this one. And on this site, I’m not sure I see anyone as miffed at the way overuse of obscure personal names: Peabo? Who dat?, Obi? Maya Lin is at least well known! Los Espooky? Isla fisher? Jen Kirkman? Pura belpre’? Dharug?
Unfortunately for me, while I loved Ted Lasso, it’s been some time and I had forgotten AFC part! Not all posts are jobs? Snares for Tom’s was too cute by far (Tom toms?) and Endcap…? I thought that’s what I put on a 4x4 post! When’s the last time anyone said What’s the dealio? It’s not Shakespeare or even that common to my mind - which is why my initial light fill of matter helped screw up that section even worse.
Plus I thought it was the Golden Age vs era?
I did enjoy it ultimately, but do constructors ever read these comments so they could try to stay away from obscure personal names and their ilk?
And a question for you all, since I get a regular paper paper delivered daily, what is this red lettering people refer to?
Yet another in a seemingly endless supply of horribly clued AND edited Saturday crosswords that were designed, simply stated, to not be solved so the author and editor can feel so proud of themselves.
Ugly and indulgent.
Anonymous at 12:34, when solving the puzzle online one can turn on a "switch" that will let you know if the letter that you just entered is incorrect. This usually done by having that letter appear in red "ink" as opposed to black "ink" for the correct entries. You can go to this site online and give it a try if you wish (the error check mode is in the Settings tab above and to the right of the grid):
https://www.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword
Anonymous at 12:34 PM asks:
And a question for you all, since I get a regular paper paper delivered daily, what is this red lettering people refer to?
I play using pencil on newsprint, but those who play online have an option to turn on red letters. The red letters show what you've entered that is wrong.
I wasn’t able to secure my FIR until DW returned from her Saturday hiking group’s outing and helped me complete the NW with the BOOT for BOOTLEG CD (which isn’t a record and isn’t very criminal). DW also knew what an END CAP is. I was thinking of END Can, the final tin cylinder tied to the bumper of the honeymoon getaway vehicle.
There were very few entries in this puzzle that could be solved without perps, and the toeholds were hard to come by. DECKS made me believe that I was wrong about the camel I entered, so it almost had to be KOALA despite the misleading clue. Similarly, I don’t necessarily associate ANCHOS with mole, but it was a reasonable guess. Also similarly, I knew MALIBU, but I imagine most of you didn’t suss it from the Topanga clue, and I was right about the BERNESE Mountain dog, so I was able to complete the NE once I realized I needed to change OVER easy to OVER HARD, which I’ve never heard anyone say.
But what you all really want to hear from me is this: The former sportswriter struggled with all three sports entries. Like many slam-dunk contest winners, OBI Toppin is not a star and I don’t know who he is. AFC Richmond seemed reasonable, but the C fell where I felt I needed a vowel. As for the Mariners’ realm, I actually did think of the Seattle team’s former domed home, the Kingdome, and I didn’t realize their current home isn’t called SAFECO Field anymore until perps answered that question. Actually, that’s pretty clever, but it’s too obscure for most solvers.
I branded 30 entries unknown, poorly clued, or lame, a number I consider damning. Among the worst I haven’t mentioned above: DEALIO, the “magnetic flux symbol” clue, CALC, SNAP STORY, the obtuse clue for NORSE, calling tom-toms merely “toms,” and the unknowns ISLA Fisher and JEN Kirkman. . I have heard of PEABO Bryson, but I didn’t know of his “Beast” role. And,coupled with the obscurity of BERNESE, the clue for CAT SPA meant we had a couple of PET PEEVES.
Not even close! At least I stuck with it and didn’t TITT, but Google got a workout, and my L.A. Times printout is a mess. So, “FIWH” and painfully aware of my limitations solving a puzzle this difficult.
Some of the misdirections were clever - AD LIB, CAT SPA, A LISTS. Some were just cruel - END CAP, SNARES. I have never heard of a Bernese, but I loved the clip showing the level of activity! If you haven’t watched Ted Lasso or The Office, those references are out of reach. Maybe next time …
But I always enjoy H.G.’s entertaining tour, and the puzzle had some bright spots, so there’s that. On to Sunday!
Ha!
Genuinely very hard, but fair with clever cluing. I had to throw in the towel on the upper left quadrant, leaving IBIS hanging out all by itself. Never watched Ted Lasso, so spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could make “FC” three letters long. Personally, I appreciated the inclusion of OBI Toppin, because he has hands down the most-fun name in all of sports to say out loud.
This one doesn’t even merit an insult. Preposterous.
Tough Saturday puzzle, but Saturday's are supposed to be tough, so thanks all the same, Matthew and Nate, since this one was also a lot of fun. And the pictures along with you commentary were a pleasure, Husker Gary, thanks for those too.
HO! HO! I CAN'T EVEN begin to tell how much I enjoyed this puzzle, which didn't even cost me a DIME this morning. It was so helpful, reminding people about JOBS and that they should work hard to get on an A LISTS, and LOOSEN UP and forget any PET PEEVES they might have. We were encouraged to look forward to a GOLDEN ERA ahead, and to be NICE to each other, and to sit on our PATIO and munch on some OREOS and plan a trip to MALIBU. A great way to spend a Saturday morning. With LOVE and KISSES from us all.
Have a great Sunday tomorrow!
Puzzling thoughts:
I needed just south of 30 minutes to solve; and that included several words that I looked up
I'm not going to pile on about the bizarre clues / bizarre entries / bizarre _____ (fill-in-the-blank)
HG, I too have 3 holes-in-one, all witnessed by humans. My only non-witnessed shot that went into the hole from the tee box of a par three was actually a second ball I was playing in a solo round. Shocked the hell out of me but I knew it wouldn't count, even if I had had a witness (other than a squirrel, bird, et al)
Question to the audience who views here (but may not always post): Does anyone know how I might be able to offer my rejected puzzles (for free, of course) for the public to solve? As Irish Miss might attest, I have several puzzles that are fun solves but didn't make the editor's "cut" for publication
Hola!
Whew! What a workout! Again my grid looks like a neon billboard with all the wite-out! And yet, I did not finish the NW corner. I finished about 75%-80%, all on the bottom and eastern side. MALIBU completely eluded me because I thought VENICE Beach would be closer but even that did not jive with DIME.
And, of course, I was thinking of the bride at #9, walking down the aisle. What a cruel misdirection!
In Mexican folklore, there is the LLORONA, so that's what I tried to fit in there. BANSHEE came later.
I've never watched The Office, had no idea about JEN Kirkman and couldn't quite remember BERNESE though it was stuck in my mind. ANCHOS was the only fill I was certain of so that helped to fill the SE corner.
Thank you, Matthew and Nate, for the extreme challenge today. I'm upset with myself for not finishing but I see that I am in good company.
I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous weekend. Thank you, Gary, for giving us some much needed relief with your analysis. NICE bird feeder!
R.I.P. Martin Mull, a truly fine actor. We have lost a good one.
Nope, no way was I even remotely able to solve this puzzle, even with extensive amounts of looking things up.
Jinx,
Your 12:07 comment about your Irish Wolfhound was sent to spam for some unknown reason. It's been approved and is there now.
A golfing buddy kept saying he was going to get an Irish Wolfhound, but never did. He did have a couple of basset hounds. Talk about noisy dogs. Anyway, they fit in his small yard better than an Irish Wolfhound ever would have.
I remember when it was an enjoyable challenge to tackle the Saturday crossword without resorting to Google or looking up the answers. When a reasonably knowledgeable person had a fighting chance to solve it. Sadly those days are no more.
Big PITA today. My only comment is that in the Service we called OVERHARD "army scrambled". The cook had all the eggs frying on the grill and if you asked for scrambled eggs he would just break the yolk with his spatula and flip it over. Voila!
Beg for it.
Splat.
Thanks to Matthew and Nate for the Saturday stumper. I thought 34A was probably referencing Ted Lasso but I have not actually seen the show so....
Thanks to H-Gary for his time finding the just-right images to go with these clues!
TTP@11:53. That dog video is too funny-- especially because my dog is not a "ball dog". She is half Lab but has no eye-nose-ball coordination. She is not as bad as that BERNESE but close! Thanks for making my day!
Jinx Thanks for the further comments on regional accents. Yes, the problem is not just when the word is incomprehensible. It is when it sounds like something else.
At my first JOB in Boston, my boss told me the guy who had my JOB before me was "shot". I was quite worried. Then I realized she just meant that he was not tall.
Sasses is my email name.
Probably the hardest puzzle I've seen in (almost) ten years of doing the LAT. Took me most of the day off-and-on to whittle it down.
IMO a CD is not a Record (I. e. vinyl) just like an 8-Track tape is not an mp3. I had to Google Peabo and Obi to find out who they were after the crosses gave me the answer.
On the other hand I thought the "No water" clue was wonderfully evil. I was sure the answer had to be Camel even after I got the initial 'K'!
Thank you very much. Just wanted to understand the context as so many mention it. I use a pen and write lightly when unsure! Not pretty, but I enjoy.
Turned on error marks while solving online.
Picard, my mom's introduction of Bostonese was at some women's conference. The group ordered drinks before dinner. When the server came to my mother, she said she would like a Coca Cola (except in her Kentucky way she called it a "Cocola.") Apparently mutual frustration set in, until she finally got her point across, and the server replied "oh, you want a soda." She had never heard a soft drink called a soda before, but got the gist.
I also remember that she couldn't find their hotel, because the road ran underneath Copley Square, where the hotel was located. Each time they got out of the tunnel, they found that they had somehow overshot the hotel. (She had driven in NYC a time or two, so it wasn't her first time driving in a big city.) We had tunnels in Kentucky, but none that went under buildings. Too bad she didn't live long enough to experience driving through the Big Dig.
I guess I'm getting older and dumber but the obscure clues and unheard of fills let me throw in the tower after 10 minutes. Even with my mediocre A-GAME. AFC RICHMOND, BERNESE, DEALIO, SNAP STORY, LOS Espookys, OBI Toppin, ISLA, JEN Kirkman - never heard of any of those. I know who PEABO Bryson is but didn't know about his movie credit. Topango could have been somewhere in SA or Africa; MALIBU never had a chance.
Kudos to those who even came close to finishing. I know when to give up.
I forgot to say that the only fill I was completely sure of was "LOS" though I've never seen LOS Espookys, whatever that is. I wonder if it's ghosts?
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's challenge.
Like the majority of y’all, I think this puzzle sucked like a Dyson; obtuse, vague, cutesy, etc etc., and I’d say @AnonymousPVX 12:39p pretty much nailed it by calling out the constructors as being self-aggrandizing. The only saving grace that kept me from trashing this piece o’ scheiß was some of the genuinely fun clues, like the ones for ALSO RAN and SNARES. But waaay too many obscure proper names (at this point in my career, I just look ‘em up) and multiple crossing “?”s. As Snoopy used to say, “bleah!”.
BTW, a CD is not a record, and a record (as in LP) is not a CD. Both are recordINGs, though, which, while not as cutesy as the supplied clue, would at least be accurate…
Heya @Jinx, Topanga Canyon does indeed run down to PCH just east of Malibu, so I would buy into the “neighbor” claim. I guess it’s a matter of whether one agrees on how far the ‘hood reaches, eh?
As usual, H. Gary, you were spot-on with your review — I loved the Hall PASS photo you posted! It makes you wonder how many of that room’s students would just cross their knees and “hold” it so they wouldn’t have to carry that pass around 🤣. Great gag!
====> Darren / L.A.
PPS — I see Mr. Anonymous is still around with his cut & paste “I thought it was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!” BALONEY at 11:09am, 11:10am & 11:11am; is there any way to block this clown from posting his WASTE of space on the blog? sheesh…
Darren, I think it is Mrs or Ms Anonymous.
Ah, okay. Mr. or Mrs/Ms., it’s still a WOB 😖
Agreed!
I believe that this is still a free country and there is a right to free speech!
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