google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday July 23, 2023 Agnes Davidson and Zhouqin Burnikel

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Jul 23, 2024

Tuesday July 23, 2023 Agnes Davidson and Zhouqin Burnikel

Do Not PASS Go.  Today's treat comes to us from our very own Irish Miss and C.C.  Do Not PASS up the opportunity to complete today's puzzle.

17-Across. Vocalist who expresses unrequited love: TORCH SINGER.  Pass the Torch.

28-Across. Early sci-fi adventure hero: BUCK ROGERS.  Pass the Buck, unless you're Harry S Truman.


35-Across. Hockey feats: HAT TRICKS.  Pass the Hat.  The modern equivalent is the on-line GoFundMe request for money to pay for something or to reward someone.


46-Across. Cocktail makers: BAR KEEPERS.  Pass the Bar.

And the unifier:

57-Across. Kill a few hours, and an apt title for this puzzle?: PASS THE TIME.


Across:
1. Vehicle not allowed in Venice: CAR.  Cars are not permitted in Venice, Italy; boats are the preferred method of public transportation, even police vehicles.


4. Museum piece: RELIC.

9. Relax in a tub: SOAK.


13. Mineral deposit: ORE.  A crossword staple.

14. __ acid: AMINO.  Protein building blocks.



15. "More or less": SORTA.

16. Put money (on): BET.

19. Skin bump: WART.


21. In first place: AHEAD.

22. Letters on tubes of toothpaste: ADA.  As in the American Dental Association.

23. Pencil end: ERASER.



26. "And that's final!": I MEAN IT!

31. Bring on board: HIRE.

32. Mil. rank: SGT.  Sergeant is a military rank.

33. Anchor a boat: MOOR.
34. "__ your age!": ACT.


39. Madrid Mrs.: SRA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

41. Previously: ONCE.  "Once upon a time there lived... 'A king! ' my little readers will say immediately.  No, children, you are mistaken.  Once upon a time there was a piece of wood."   Oh, wait!  That was last week.

42. Franchise that includes "Iron Man" and "WandaVision," for short: MCU.  As in Marvel Comic Unlimited.


45. Chimney dust: SOOT.


49. Petitions to a higher court: APPEALS.

51. Workplace for a forensic scientist: DNA LAB.


52. Uno e due: TRE.  Today's math and Italian lesson.

53. Vision-correcting surgery: LASIK.

56. Barest trace: WISP.

61. "Couples Therapy" network, for short: SHO.  I am not familiar with this show, which is apparently  a documentary series following couples as they seek the help of psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik  with their troubled relationships. 

62. Grammy winner Baker: ANITA.  Anita Baker (née Anita Denise Baker; Jan. 26, 1958) is known for her soulful ballads.  She has won several Grammys for her work.  [Name # 1.]


63. BBC airer, familiarly: TELLY.  Television.

64. Spanish for "to be": SER.  More of today's Spanish lesson.

65. Award for "Hadestown": TONY.  I saw Hadestown a year or so ago.  It's a modern re-telling of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.  Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the Greek underworld to escape poverty and the cold, and her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to rescue her.


66. Sign of fire: SMOKE.  Where there's smoke ...

67. Museum pieces: ART.



Down:
1. Spider traps: COBWEBS.

2. Partial floor covering: AREA RUG.



3. Take back, as a statement: RETRACT.

4. Rodent in the Vietnamese zodiac: RAT.  The animals in the Vietnamese zodiac are Tý (Mouse), Sửu (Ox), Dần (Tiger), Mão (Cat), Thìn (Dragon), Tỵ (Snake), Ngọ (Horse), Mùi (Goat), Thân (Monkey), Dậu (Rooster), Tuất (Dog), and Hợi (Pig).


5. Introspective music genre: EMO.  A Crossword staple.

6. Turkish currency: LIRA.


7. Move very slowly: INCH.


8. Joint inheritor: CO-HEIR.

9. Cain, to Adam: SON.  There was another son, but Cain slew Abel.  [Names # 2 and 3, Biblical.]

10. Common label at Whole Foods: ORGANIC.  The store affectionately known as Whole Paycheck.

11. Humbly accepted blame: ATE DIRT.


12. Martial art developed in Okinawa: KARATE.


15. Steamed vegetables, e.g.: SIDE.

18. __ Club: Costco rival: SAM'S.


20. Sound of disapproval: TSK!

24. Humorist Bombeck: ERMA.  Erma Louise Bombeck (née Erma Louise Fiste; Feb. 21, 1927 ~ Apr. 22, 1996) was an American humorist.  In addition to writing several books, she also wrote a syndicated newspaper column about suburban life.  [Name # 4.]


25. Daikon or beet: ROOT.  A Daikon is a white Asian radish.


27. Cries of discovery: AHAs!

29. Understood: GOT.

30. Misspelling, e.g.: ERROR.


35. Dislike intensely: HATE.

36. Tattoo artist's supply: INK.


37. Looped in on an email: CC'ED.  As in Carbon Copied.

38. Enthusiastic: KEEN.

39. Opera diva, usually: SOPRANO.

40. Successfully entices: ROPES IN.


42. "Bridesmaids" actress McCarthy: MELISSA.  Melissa Ann McCarthy (b. Aug. 26, 1970) is a comic actress.  [Name # 5.]


43. Uninvited party guest: CRASHER.

44. Spot for a flash drive: USB PORT.


45. Made no changes: SAT PAT.

46. Ho-hum: BLAH.

47. Desirable traits: ASSETS.

48. "__ Patrol": animated series with dogs in uniform: PAW.  Paw Patrol is a big hit with the toddler set.


50. Ski resort near Snowbird: ALTA.  Alta is a ski resort in Utah.


54. To-do list entry: ITEM.



55. Metric weight: KILO.

58. Trough locale: STY.



59. "I have a dream" monogram: MLK.  As in Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan 15, 1929 ~ Apr. 4, 1968).  [Name # 6.]


60. Place for winged liner: EYE.  Think of Amy Winehouse (née Amy Jade Winehouse; Sept. 14, 1983 ~ July 23, 2011).  She died 13 years ago today.



Here's the Grid:



It's your turn to PASS on your comments to C.C. and Irish Miss.

חתולה


38 comments:

Subgenius said...

It was fun to see a puzzle from my good friend Irish Miss and C.C. And, like most Tuesday puzzle, it wasn’t very difficult. And I found the reveal clever and appropriate. FIR, so I’m happy.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Managed to go sideways with ladE/HIRE and WelT/WART, but that's why the Wite-Out is always handy. Not sure I've ever seen COHEIR before, though the meaning is obvious. Tried to fit "time" into all the themers instead of "pass." D'oh. Finally saw it. Thanx, C.C. and Irish Miss for the diversion, and Hahtoolah for the expo. (The Oz cartoon was cute -- no brain-freeze for Scarecrow.)

ROOT: Reminds me of an incident from my ute. Guests had come for dinner, and my sister was carrying a plate of radishes and offering, "Would you care for a reddish or a white one?"

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR but erased acne for WART. (Ray-O would say "that's Mr. Cleaver to you.")

Misspelling, or as Ray-O would say "that's Tori to you."

I used to work with a guy nicknamed "strawman." After his frequent goofs someone would quip "if I only had a brain."

BUCK RO(d)GERS wrote The IBM Way, kinda a marketing 101 course without exercises or exams.

AREA RUG, or "killer of senior citizens." Ours are arranged as shown in the "don't" pictures.

I've heard of PADS THE TIME, but only in the context of stretching the amount of billable hours, not to ward off ennui.

CSO to our Bayou dweller @ TONY, and meta CSO when our hostess and co-constructor CCED herself.

Thanks to IM and CC for the fun, mostly-easy (I guessed MELISSA) Tuesday puzzle. And thanks to Ha2la for the colorful and amusing tour.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Crossword friends. It's always fun to see that the constructor is one of our own!

QOD: The more you reason, the less you create. ~ Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 ~ Mar. 26, 1959), American novelist and detective fiction writer

KS said...

FIR. Nice and easy Tuesday fare. No problems, a clever theme, and good clues.
Most enjoyable compared to what we have seen lately.

inanehiker said...

Fun and easy puzzle - 2 days in a row!
Gotta get going but just wanted to say thanks to IM and CC for a fun fill
and Hatoolah for the amusing blog-
I've been to Truman's presidential library in Independence, MO where his replica of the Oval Office has "The BUCK stops here sign on it"

Anonymous said...

Took 5:13 today for me to twirl the baton.

Ms. Irish Miss and C.C. for the win!

Not too many foreign language lessons (sra & ser), and I knew today's actress (Melissa).

I was eating crow before dirt today, and I was unfamiliar with "torch singer."

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Coincidentally, today's King Features (Sheffer) crossword has "Utah ski resort" for ALTA. Matches LAT's "ski resort near Snowbird" for the same fill.

In Tami Hoag's Down the Darkest Road, the fictional rape-and-kill pedophile psycho thinks "his mind games with the police amused him little more than completing the crossword puzzle in the [Los Angeles} Times." (I'm new to Hoag's work, but the first one I've read kept me on edge until the very end.)

YooperPhil said...

A fun romp this morning from our Cornerite collaborators! Thank you IM☘️ and C.C. for this enjoyable grid. (IM☘️-your third grade teacher would be proud of Little Miss ___ 😂). Ektorp of the day - Karate. Life would be easier if both ends of a USB connection were universal for all devices. Politicians have been making a lot of RETRACTions of their quotes these days, usually like “that is not a reflection of who I really am”, yeah right. Yesterday I mentioned I lived in a remote area, for reference the nearest SAM’S Club or Costco is a little over 200 miles away.

Hahtoolah ~ you certainly have a way of finding very fitting cartoons, my favorite part of your blogs!

sumdaze ~ I did your and C.C.’s WSJ puzzle this morning, nice theme and cluing. The comments section was kinda meh compared to here on the Corner.

YooperPhil said...

FLN - Copy Editor ~ thanks for explaining why B Flat is preferred on scores over A Sharp (while technically the same key). Far less notation and easier to read, makes perfect sense.

RosE said...

Good Morning! What a nice surprise to see two familiar names as our constructors. Thanks IM and CC.
The north filled smoothly but the south gave me some challenges. I had the “U” in MCU then took it out, then put it back in when USB confirmed it.
LASer -> LASIK
SAT PAT – I get it, but is that really an expression?
I came to the Corner to find the theme. The word TIME threw me off and tried to see where it fit.
Thanks, Hah2lah, for the fun review. Your toons and commentary are always a delight.

NaomiZ said...

It's rare to be able to dash through the Across clues without much reference to the Downs, so this puzzle was a gift in that respect. I found the theme perplexing, as I searched for TIME being PASSed around the answers somehow, never imagining that "PASS THE" could be placed at the start of the long answers. Hahtoolah, if you figured this out on your own, my HAT is off to you! As usual, your commentary and cartoons were delightful. Thanks, Irish Miss and C.C. for the head scratcher, and Hahtoolah for explaining it all.

Monkey said...

Fun puzzle this morning thanks to IM☘️ and CC.

When I saw Agnes’ name I knew this would be a smooth solve. The only name unknown to me was ANITA Baker, but no problem.

Thank you Hahtoolah for a fun recap. I always enjoy your selection of cartoons.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Awful puzzle, it absolutely su…. oh wait. CC and Agnes ☘️??!!. Uh no. Absolutely mahvelous puzzle a true work of crosswordian art by two world famous fabulous constructors

😉 he he

Seriously folks, a quick Tuesday with some old timey clues we ain’t seen in awhile: AMINO, LASIK, ERMA, ALTA

Wonder if when Italy went on the Euro they gifted all their old lira to Turkey?

Didn’t know it was MARVEL “comic united” just MARVEL

Don’ like SORTA cuz it’s a lazy way o’ sayin’ sort of. I thought it was ATE “crow” (ATE DIRT?, Yuk. Like “bite the dust” ?). Didn’t we have an UNAPEELing discussion about APPEALS yesterday ?🍌🍌🍌. I assume SHO is Showtime network?

Followed the trail again…. RETRACT
Hot vocalist…. TORCHSINGER
A place for Othello to store his Gondola but not his CAR: “The ____ of Venice”….MOOR
CBS or Netflix ….ERROR
Enthusiastically lament…KEEN
Who Maw sent out looking for her hubby: ___ Patrol …. PAW
What the lice egg said: “IMEANIT

Jinx @ 8
Stop putting words in my mouth!!!😫 😩🥺.

Actually I thought of WART a beaver’s father but I included enough annoying nonsense above already (Did Ward Cleaver actually have a job?, with that name maybe he was a serial killer 😳)


Ray - O - Sunshine said...

H2LH loved the brain freeze toon took a heartbeat or two to parse

Yellowrocks said...

This fun puzzle was super easy with few names and little obscure fill. On the NW corner I had a senior moment forgetting the easy SER and SHO. The M in MCU and Melissa was my Natick. Had I remembered SER and SHO the M would have been an easy guess.
I got all the passing themes in the reveal, but why TIME? I guess because you also can pass the time. Now, I finally see it.

Susan, thanks for the funny cartoons.

Sit or stand pat is quite common, so sat pat seemed natural to me.

unclefred said...

Nice, fast, easy-peasey FIR, although I once again didn't take the time to figure out the theme. DNK MCU, MELISSA, SER, DAICON, but perps came to the rescue for each. I had to wait on the K in LASIK, as I could not recall if it was LASIX, LASIC, or LASIK. KILO solved that easily enough. Strange that those things are called COBWEBS, as I've never seen a cob make a web. And why are there so many different connector configurations for a USB Port? I thought it was "Universal". Thanx IM&CC for this enjoyable, entertaining CW, and thanx too to Hahtoolah for the as always fun and informative write-up.

Copy Editor said...

This was an easy Tuesday puzzle with a passable theme from our friends Agnes and C.C. I doubt any of us mistrusts either of them, and I didn’t stumble much. Even the eyeliner entry didn’t throw me.

I wouldn’t have gotten MCU without perps. I have such negative feelings about the outsized roles superhero fiction have taken on. Superheroes, along with streaming, have destroyed the formerly great content on HBO and, to a lesser extent, SHO, and they always seem shallow to me no matter how much substance some of their creators try to add.

I liked COBWEBS in the puzzle as much as I dislike them in real life. They abound on our property. I place a wad of wet paper towels on a squeegee stick with a couple of rubber bands and amble around waving it to and fro to destroy them. I feel sorry for the spiders, which I rather like, but I hate going out the front door and immediately getting a face-full of web I invariably can’t see. . . . I also liked TELLY. It tends to remind me of Monty Python’s “Penguin on the Telly” routine.

Copy Editor said...

Oops, I see a grammar error in my earlier post. Too late to fix.

Charlie Echo said...

Fast, enjoyable puzzle from IM & CC this morning, with another great recap by Ha2la! Still, a couple of nits. I'll have to check with JINX, but I always thought that ANCHOR and MOOR were two different operations. Drop anchor, or moor to a wharf, pier, or bouy. What say you, Jinx? I can stand pat, I've stood pat, but never SAT PAT. Ate CROW, but never DIRT! CO-HERE and I MEAN IT felt a little gluey, but all in all, a fun outing. Nice to see BUCK ROGERS again. I remember watching him battle Ming the Merciless Emperor of Mars, in the serials before the main feature at the local theater Satuday matinee.

Charlie Echo said...

CO-HEIR. Otto Correct strikes again!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Ray-O, Stop living rent-free in my head!!!

Charlie Echo, MOOR and ANCHOR are used loosely. I think of mooring as tying up to a "permanent anchor," commonly an engine block or slab of concrete with a float and pendant on the surface to tie to. But a spot where there lots of these devices available for yachtsmen is frequently called an "anchorage." Here's a picture of the anchorage at Isthmus Harbor on Catalina Island, where I've spent many a night. (This looks like an aerial photo, but it is actually taken from a cliff overlooking the harbor. I have a similar shot that I took around here somewhere.) It's called an anchorage, but as you see, most folks choose to tie up to a mooring. IIRC Coast Guard paperwork for documenting a boat asks where a vessel is moored, regardless of whether it is usually anchored, tied to a mooring, docked, or kept on a trailer or cradle.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Irish Miss and C.C. (Nice to see you CSO’d yourself), and Hahtoolah (thanks for the LOLs with the Snowman DNA and the Wizard of Oz brain freeze cartoons).
I FIRed in good time and saw the PASS theme only with the reveal. AHA!
(TIME went with KEEPERS, but not with any of the other theme endings.)

One inkblot when I stupidly entered Kin instead of son for Cain and Adam (I think I thought of Abel and I already had the N). ERASER wouldn’t remove the ink.

It took a minute for PASS THE BAR to compute, possibly because the other things passed were tangible, and I had to switch gears.
MCU, MELISSA, SER and SHO were unknown. That SE corner was posing a roadblock until I had enough perps to see MELISSA.i see that I was not alone in the slowdown here.

Sadly, we have SMOKE in ALTA with wild fires (not TORCHes) causing evacuations. SOOT will follow.
This Canadian made an association between TRE and HAT TRICK, and COBWEBS and STY (think Charlotte).

CSO to AnonT with TONY.

Wishing you all a great day.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Jinx

While you’re sailing your fancy shmancy yacht you might look at a map. Anchorage is in Alaska not California!

Waz might’ve commented… We RC’s pray at every mass in Eucharistic Prayer II that we “may merit to be COHEIRS to eternal life.”



Still Curious said...

Along with some others here, I am still curious what TIME has to do with the theme? Is there another theme layer we are missing?

Lucina said...

Hola!

Whee! A puzzle from Irish Miss and C.C.! I love it! And it's a good one! I MEAN IT!

I'm not sure if it's LASIK I've had but haven't had to wear glasses full time since then. I need them to read but not prescription ones. I use readers.

Ray-O, I was thinking of that phrasing at CO-HEIRS. I believe it's the only time I've heard it.

CSO to our friend, MELISSA, who moved away after her marriage.

COBWEBS will always remind me of E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web". Driving across the country we saw enormous COBWEBS along the side of the road.

ALTA in Spanish means "tall". Mi amiga era muy ALTA, a mas de seis pies. Ella murio muy joven. My friend was very tall, more than six feet. She died very young.

CSO to TONY!

I hope you are all enjoying a great day! Thank you again, Agnes and C.C. and a big thank you to Susan, too, for the fine narrative.



Brian said...

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned all the 3 Letter words. I like having many three letter words as they give toe holds in numerous areas. However, IM probably would have liked to come up with fewer of them in her puzzle. I really enjoyed the puzzle and the theme.

Malodorous Manatee said...

What a nice way to spend part of the day. Thanks CC, Cat and IM !

The puzzle reminded me of when I was in a High School lit class and read a story called "Eddie's Hat Trick". This Socal lad had zero idea what a hat trick was.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle.

Thanks for the additional advice last night, sumdaze.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A fun puzzle by two wonderful ladies and written up by another one! Life is good.
-Joe Biden has voluntarily or involuntarily PASSED THE TORCH
-The Secret Service Lady did not PASS THE BUCK yesterday but…
-My DW did all the work with her mother but made sure she and her sister were CO-HEIRS
-Neighbor’s daughter came home from D.C. for two days but I never saw here because she spent every free hour in the City Library studying to PASS THE BAR
-PASSING THE TIME is a challenged when you’re retired during a Nebraska winter
-We don’t SOAK in our “Spa Tub” anymore and so a walk-in shower will replace it.
-My cheap Paper-Mate Sharpwriter has a good lead (I know it’s not really lead) and ERASER
-My old Perry Mason TV shows rely on only finger prints and blood type for evidence
-SMOKE – I very unpleasant memories of teacher’s lounges and bowling alleys
-Costco opened a second Omaha store 20 minutes from us.
-If the NY Knicks did not want to play Ewing, they SAT PAT. :-)
-ROPES IN: We had several couples try to get us into Amway. It wasn’t for us.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Whoot! An IM & C.C. puzzle hosted by Hahtoolah's comics - what's not to love?!? Thanks yous three!

I noticed BOTH constructors got their initials in the puzzle... C.C. at 37d's CCed and IM at 26a's IMeanit ;-)
There's even a CSO to me (even though I've never handed out theater awards).

WOs: Soloist -> SOPRANO, LASIc
ESPs: COHEIR, ALTA, & TORCH (thank you theme for confirming that was right)
Fav: BUCK ROGERS [Duck Dodgers 3:34]

I did notice there were a lot of TLWs for someone that wrinkles her nose at 'em :-)

SMOKE - the name of one of my hacker buddies who was also a pretty decent DJ at Defcon 27.
//I'm not really into EDM (electronic dance music - maybe something to replace EMO with :-)) but it does make for fun when a beat drops and everyone has glowsticks still going at 1am.

Just for CopyEd - Penguin on the TELLY [some politics].

Curious @1:26 - I assume meta... Solving the puzzle was a way to pass our TIME. Just as C.C. is passing the TORCH through her mentorship of new(ish) constructors. Maybe, we too, can earn a BUCK to get some Dewer's at the BAR in a new HAT.

Sumdaze & CC - I've printed y'all's puzzle for something to do Saturday when the LAT stymies me again.

Cheers!, -T

sumdaze said...

Thanks to C.C. and IM for the fun Tuesday solve and for Hahtoolah for explaining the PASS theme on their JOINT efforts!

Hand up for enjoying Hahtoolah's comics (especially the scarecrow with no brain) and for learning that I am in the NOT THIS example of the AREA RUG arrangement.

Today's puzzle has what IM likes to call "lively fill". I also noticed the many CSOs! Good stuff!

YP@8:12. Thanks for checking out the WSJ puzzle!

-T @ 4:24 & Copy Ed. Thanks for the Penguin on the Telly link! Remember the days when TVs were wide and warm so cats liked to sit on top? My brother and I thought it was hilarious when our cat was sleeping on the TV and one of us would say in a British accent, "What's on the telly?" and the other would reply, "Looks like a cat!" So happy to be reminded of that foolishness today!

Misty said...

How exciting to get a lovely puzzle from Agnes and C.C. this morning. What a pleasure and many thanks for this treat to both of you. And your commentary always has fun pictures, thank you for those too, Hahtoolah.

I've never heard of a TORCH SINGER, but along with the SOPRANO we were promised an experience of lovely ART that would let us PASS THE TIME with much pleasure. So we SAT PAT and had a good time listening. Maybe afterwards we could go to a museum and look at RELICS, or see a hockey team produce HAT TRICKS. That might also be fun. By late afternoon we might be ready to get some cocktails from those BAR KEEPERS, and then go home and watch the TELLY. A pretty fun day all around, don't you think? So thank you again, Agnes and C.C. for this delight!

Have a good evening coming up, everybody.

Lucina said...

Misty
I love your narratives!

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

WES

Congrat's to CC and IM for a fun Tuesday puzzle, despite all the 3LW's!! ;^)

inanehiker said...

Finally peeking back at the end of a long day

I think of MCU more commonly as the Marvel Cinematic Universe - when referring to the movies and not the comic books
I have seen most of them - kind of like the Bourne or Matrix movies - if I want to have a conversation with my 2 Millennial sons - at least 10+ years ago - make sure I'm up on the movies they are into

Misty said...

Thank you, Lucina. I love all your varied comments too. Thank you for those every day!

Michael said...

28A was so simple ... I immediately lately put "BUZZ CORBET" as my 5-year old memory told me to.

Big Ooops. It's Buzz CORRY and TOM Corbet, and it's neither of them, to boot.