Friday, September 20, 2024, Will Pfadenhauer

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, aka MM aka OO, here with a recap of a puzzle by Will Pfadenhauer.  Will has previously had puzzles published by both the LAT and NYT and the puzzles seem to evoke strong responses from the solvers.  It is strongly suspected that today will not be different in that regard.

'Splainin' this one is going to take some verbal gymnastics so let's jump right in with the reveal:

70 Across. With 73-Across, insert for some water pitchers, or what has been used row-by-row on the answers to the starred clues?: BRITA. and 

73 Across. See 70-Across: FILTER

Like it or loathe it, Will has executed quite a tour de force.  All of the themed-answers come in pairs with each of the five pairs (ten themers in all) placed, one following the other, on the same row (once with an intervening answer the other times not) .  What we solvers filled in, via perps, early on no doubt made no sense.  How can ARIES, e.g., be the answer to the clue at 19 Across?  Well, what our puzzle setter has done is consecutively FILTER out the letters found in BRITA ...  each letter (dis)appearing twice in each of two words found on the same row.  Double or even quadruple filtered, if you will.  

The first pair is found at 17 and 19 Across:

17 Across. *Youthful helpers on tennis courts: ALLOYS - from BALLBOYS.  If one commenced solving in the northwest, then it soon became apparent that something "tricky" was going on.  BALLBOYS was not a difficult answer to suss out but it certainly was not going to fit within the allotted space.  Next, we got the aforementioned ARIES.  This solver moved on to something else trusting that the gimmick would become known somewhere further down the road.  Later, returning to where he started,  this quote came to mind:

If one removes the Bs from BALLBOYS we get the word ALLOYS.  Will has removed the same letter twice from a word and drived a perfectly acceptable word as the residual.  Then he goes ahead and does it again with another word focusing on the same letter!!  Doing a single pair of these would be impressive enough but in pairs five freaking' times!?

But I digress.  The Bs were also removed from 19 Across, on the same row:

19 Across. *Fashion toys from Mattel: ARIES - derived from BARBIES.

That takes care of filtering out the B of B R I T A.  Now, on to the rest, which appear in the proper order (top to bottom within the grid), no less.  I could go on and on about the gimmick but let us allow the technique to speak for itself.

For the R:

25 Across. *Restaurant freebie: BE A DOLL - from BREAD ROLL  (was the BE A DOLL bit following the BARBIES bit a mere coincidence?)

28. *Weapon in Clue: EVOLVE - from  REVOLVER

For the I:

34 Across. *Italian red wine: CHANT - from CHIANTI

36 Across. *Sasquatch trait: HARNESS - from  HAIRINESS

For the T:

50 Across. *NCAA basketball powerhouse in Milwaukee: MARQUEE - from MARQUETTE

52 Across. *Tornado: WISER - from TWISTER

For the A:

59 Across. *Weekend part: STURDY - from SATURDAY

61 Across. *Finding the means?: VERGING - from AVERAGING  Mean in this case as the companion to mode and median (methods of finding an average).  We encountered mode used this way in yesterday's puzzle.

This is how it all looks in the grid:

Below are the rest of the clues and answers.  It does not escape us that the puzzle setter has employed some not-too-often-seen vocabulary and has sprinkled more than a bit of tech-speak into the grid.  This is befitting of a high school teacher who recently received a PHD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.  (I wonder if he and his former fellow-classmates were teased about that first one):

Across:

1. Pong publisher: ATARI.  A familiar bit of tech-related-ness.

6. Garden variety?: ZEN.  Not as in run-of-the-mill.  A place of serenity.  We visited such a place this past Monday.  One example:

9. Untrue: NOT SO.  Well, actually in this case, yes.  See also 2 Down.

14. Motto: SLOGAN.  A friend was commissioned to come up with a Slogan for the year 2020 that was as catchy as, say, "click it or ticket".  She came up with "mask it or casket".

15. Glass of NPR: IRA.  A frequent visitor.

16. Thickset: BURLY.  

18. Tit for __: TAT.  Equivalent retaliation.

20. Support: AID.

21. "Assassin's Creed" game company: UBISOFT.  A not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

24. __ peeve: PET.

30. Sandwich on telera: TORTA.  One had to recognize that telera is a Mexican bread.  TORTA being Spanish for sandwich.

31. Furry foot: PAW.  On your pet peeve, perhaps.

33. Social equal: PEER.

39. Throbbed: PULSED.

41. "Find out if they know": GO ASK.  These something-that-someone-might-say type of clues provide great flexibility to constructors.

42. School in L.A.: USC.

45. Mature: AGE.  Used a a verb.  The adjective, AGED, was too long.

46. Obtains: GAINS.

48. Remote login protocol: TELNET.  Another not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, again, perps.

53. Snail-mail org.: USPS.

56. Feed letters: RSS.  Yet another not-so-familiar bit of tech-related-ness.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, yet again, perps.  An RSS feed consolidates information sources in one place and provides updates when a site adds new content. With social media, all you see is the favorite stuff that people share.

57. Representative: AGENT.

64. Ultimate goal: AIM.

65. Drop dramatically: PLUMMET.

69. "The Matrix" hero: NEO.  A motion picture reference.

72. Cha or chai: TEA.  We also see Black, Green, Oolong, among others.

76. Thinking clearly: LUCID.

77. Aardvark snack: ANT.  What does an aardvark order on its pizza?  ANT-chovies.

78. Agree: ACCEDE.  IMHO, A word not often seen in our puzzles.  Do you agree?

79. Fencing blades: EPEES.  Blunted weapons often found in crossword puzzles.

80. Simple structure: HUT.

Pizza The Hutt from Spaceballs

81. Flushed: RUDDY.

Down:

1. Basketball great Quigley: ALLIE.  From the WNBA.  Not to be confused with Immanuel Quickley of the NBA.

2. Fibbed: TOLD A TALE.  See also 9 Across.

3. Many moons __: AGO.

Emma, the Yellow Wiggle, Explains

4. Writer Bradbury: RAY.  When, as a child, my family lived in a section of Los Angeles, RAY was a neighbor.  He drove a Corvette.

5. Dig: INSULT.  Not as with a shovel.  Not as a hipster would "grok" something.  Used as a noun.

6. Cylindrical pasta: ZITI.

7. Notable ages: ERAS.  Sometimes clued with as baseball pitching statistics.

8. Gp. joined by Sweden in 2024: NATO.  Uh, Vladimir, are you familiar with the law of unintended consequences?

9. Jazz station?: NBA TV.  A refence to where on TV one might watch the Utah Jazz professional basketball team.  One of those clues that attmpts to mislead us because all clues, by convention, start with a capital letter.  Not an abbreviated clue but an abbreviated answer this time.

10. Team's adjective: OUR.

11. Bases-clearing hit: TRIPLE.  A baseball reference.  All of those who had been on base are now "cleared" but there is now a runner on third.

12. Slob's napkin: SLEEVE.  Or where we have now been taught to sneeze.

13. Grayish-white: OYSTER.  Not the first hue that came to mind.

14. Bygone Volvo rival: SAAB.  An automotive reference.

22. Uninspiring: BLAH.

23. Easiest to count, perhaps: FEWEST.

26. Puts on: DONS.

27. Taco sauce brand: ORTEGA.

29. Photo __: OPS.  OPportunitieS

31. Plain text: PROSE.  As contrasted with, say, to poetry.

32. Actress de Armas: ANA.  The use of a minimal number of proper names in the grid is much appreciated.

34. No. pro: CPA.  A pro.  Not no pro.  No as in the abbreviation for number.  Certified Public Accountant.

35. Embrace: HUG.  I like to crouch down, HUG my knees and lean forward.  It's just how I roll.

37. __ Dei: AGNUS.   AGNUS Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism.

38. Barbecue rod: SKEWER.

40. Strawberry whose No. 18 was retired by the Mets: DARRYL.  Originally from Los Angeles.  A baseball reference.

42. Full-throated: UNSTINTED.  Anyone recall previously seeing this in a crossword puzzle?

43. Spot: SEE.  The combination of the clue and answer bring back memories from early elementary school.  See Spot run.  Run, Spot, run.

44. WNBA pos.: CTR.  Abbreviated clue....  CenTeR.  A basketball reference.

47. Mensa stats: IQS.  

49. CBS News contributor Lisa: LING.

50. Brand sold at REI: MSR.  Another set of abbreviations.  Although both companies pretty much only use their initials these days.  Recreational Equipment Inc / Mountain Safety Research.

51. Roof overhang: EAVE.

53. Fit for service: USABLE.

54. Provoke: STIR UP.

55. Exfoliation stone: PUMICE.  PUMICE is also USABLE for cleaning hard water rings from toilets.

58. Make good progress: GET FAR.

60. Thumb-operated controls: D-PADS.  More tech-speak.

62. Not self-sufficient: NEEDY.

63. Singer Lesley: GORE.

Nobody Knows Where Her Johnny Has Gone

66. Provo's state: UTAH.

67. Main information source?: MENU.  Another bit of tech-speak?

68. Actor Damon: MATT.

Sarah Silverman Receives an Emmy for a bit of NSFW Singing 

(originally aired on the Jimmy Kimmel Show)

71. __-dyeing: TIE.  Far out, man!

74. Hospital dept.: ICU.  Intensive Care Unit

75. Rock's __ Soundsystem: LCD.  From Brooklyn, NY.  This solver was not familiar with the band but we do solve these puzzles, in part, for the joy of learning new stuff.

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