Friday, October 25, 2024, Patti Varol

Theme:  "I gotta have a little more cowbell"

Puzzling thoughts:

Well, isn't this a bit of a coincidence for yours truly, the Crossword Corner's bi-weekly Friday blogger: on October 11, 2024 (my last blog date) the LAT crossword puzzle was constructed by Rich Norris, erstwhile LAT puzzle editor; and on October 25, 2024, today, the LAT crossword puzzle was constructed by Patti Varol, the current LAT editor

Do I dare compare Patti to Rich?  Stay tuned ... 

Patti has a familiar "theme" for Friday-difficulty puzzles.  She's using compound words - all of which begin with a musical instrument - to form a funny phrase as it relates to the clue.  

Finding 5 entries for a 15x15 square grid is moderately difficult, as it usually involves placing the "reveal" entry in row 8 (dead center of the puzzle grid), and spreading the other four into some cramped quarters.  A "typical" 5-entry puzzle might consist of four 9 to 13 letter entries and the reveal being either 7, 9, or 11 letters in length

Patti, though, went beyond the extremes today by grouping two 14-letter entries, with two 12-letter entries, with one 15-letter entry (in row 8).  If my math is correct, that's a total of 67 characters for the themed entries.  Most puzzles offer between 40-50 "theme" characters.  What this basically means, in puzzle construction terms, is less "real estate" for the crossing words.  Which also means more TLW's ... 26 of them if I counted correctly.  [sorry, Irish Miss] And with that many TLW's you are bound to get more abbreviations 

But here's my take:  better to have more "theme" characters if it doesn't make everything else feel "forced".  And upon reflection, there are very few "forced" entries today; even among the TLW's

And one other area of note:  the entire puzzle had a total of 74 words (normal for a Friday puzzle; most early-week puzzles have 78-80 words) but 46 blocks.  "Blocks" are the black squares.  Most editors ask for fewer than 40.  This helped contribute to the paucity of lengthy words.  Other than the entries the next longest word(s) to solve were 6-letters in length (12 of them in total; 8 of them in the down position)

But enough of the construction notes ... on to the five theme entries for today:

16-across. Publications dedicated to the history of a jazz instrument?: SAXOPHONE BOOKS.  A saxophone is a very popular jazz instrument (along with a piano, drum set, and string bass/bass guitar).  In the "made-up" version, a saxophone book might be an appropriate monograph to read about the history of that instrument; in real life, though, phone books are something we are familiar with, even though they are becoming more and more extinct

22-across. Particles from a percussion instrument that may start a sneezing fit?: COWBELL PEPPER. If you watched the video clip above (from the SNL archives) you saw a reference to the cowbell as a percussion instrument. A bell pepper (OTOH) is botanically a fruit though most of us refer to it as a vegetable.  I prefer the orange, yellow and red colored peppers to the traditional, green ones.  My favorite way to eat them is baked and stuffed (see image below)

34-across. Windfall from the sale of wind instruments?: CLARINET PROFITS.  Similar to the saxophone, a clarinet uses a single reed and mouthpiece attachment to provide a place for the "wind" to enter.  Both utilize an intricate set of keys and bars alongside the shaft of the instrument to change the pitch and note selection  

Net profits are loosely defined as the amount of money a company (or individual) has when all of the expenses have been paid ... Moe-ku #1:

        A new shrimp trawler's

        Catch yielded one-thousand bucks.

        That's their NET PROFITS

        

48-across. Fantasies about being the best player of a Scottish instrument?: BAGPIPE DREAMS.  This is my favorite of the five as it was for me the funniest.  Bagpipes by themselves are pretty funny (in the way they look and sound); and pipe dreams are ... well, for me it would be to have one of my puzzle submissions accepted by the NYT 

54-across. Endeavor to improve a brass instrument?: TRUMPET PROJECT.  Probably my second most favorite from today.  Moe-ku #2:

        Ex-prez Donald finds

        Aliens in his spare time.

        His TRUMP ET PROJECT

Here is how it looks when all is said and done.  You'll notice my two errors (marked by the black triangle in the corner of the bad cell); the first was a typo (NEAP) but the second (OREE crossing ERG) was my Natick today.  All in all, though, this one gets ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - same as how I scored Rich's.  As each entry is explained I will note those that kept this from getting a fifth star or portion thereof

The Grid

Across:

1. Exhaust: EAT UP.  Clever clue.  I wonder if the constructor or the editor came up with this?! 😀

6. Nosrat's "Salt Fat __ Heat": ACID.  Not familiar with this quote nor the author of it.  Perps and a bit of common sense provided me with the answer.  All of the four are related to cooking, I believe

10. Owed: DUE.

13. Steam bath: SAUNA.  Most of the saunas I have visited use a dry heat.  So, is a sauna a steam bath? You decide

14. Olympic swimmer Torres: DARA.  Here is her webpage

15. Genetic molecule translated into protein: RNA.  While the clue gives this away, I am sure that some of you may have entered DNA at first

19. Subtle glow: AURA.

20. Masters of allusion?: POETS.  Clever clue.  I wonder if the constructor or the editor came up with this?! 😀

26. Go downhill fast?: SCHUSS.  German word for "ski"

28. Thataway, quaintly: YON.

29. Push to the limit: TRY.

30. Café lightener: LAIT.  Or, to those who are French, "Brest milk" 😂

31. Surfer's gadget: REMOTE. For those of us who have "cut the cord", a remote control device is mandatory for streaming

40. Flexible lunch hour: ONE-ISH.  This time will avoid much of the normal lunch hour crowd

41. Chess piece in castling: ROOK.  While I am not a chess player, I do know that the term "castle" involves switching the rook (shaped like a castle) with the king

42. Saison for the Paris Olympics: ETE.

45. Buff: FAN.  Naked nor nude nor ripped fit

46. Score: TWENTY.  As in "Four score ... "

52. Thorny shrub: BRIAR.  Here in AZ we have cacti

53. Like breezeways: AIRY. 

61. More than most: ALL. Indeed

62. Hockey Hall of Famer Willie: O'REE.  This was 1/2 of my Natick.  More about this HOF hockey player

63. Pizzazz: FLASH.  Clue could've been "Comic book super hero" (just saying).  For those of you who are fans of TBBT:

 

64. Signals intelligence org.: NSA.  The word signals in the clue gives it away (not the CIA)

65. PC key for scrolling to the end: PgDn.  This entry (PgDn) is not one we see too often.  However, it did appear in the LAT several times when Rich Norris was the editor ...

66. Incursion: FORAY.  Not the first definition of this word I would have chosen ... but ... I did find this when I googled: Foray (noun): the mistake of incurring liability or blame

Down:

1. First of September?: ESS.  In some years, the first of September can be Labor Day ...

2. Tower of note: AAA.  This link might only open for you if you have a Facebook account.  Don't know if this is what Patti meant.  She usually doesn't comment here, so we may all be left to wonder. Either way, this is a very obscure clue, IMO ... 

OK, I re-read the clue.  It's not tower as in a building ... it's tower as in a vehicle that tows cars and other vehicles.  AAA is the abbr for American Automobile Association.  Oops 😒

3. Inaugural ball duds: TUX. GOWN didn't fit

4. Game with 108 cards: UNO.  Should we just Skip over this, or Draw Four??

5. Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAWS.  Anyone else try PAPAYA first?  I did

6. Hold precious: ADORE.  Aww

7. Creation by a locks smith?: CANAL.  Clever clue.  I wonder if the constructor or the editor came up with this?! 😀

8. Wrath: IRE.

9. Perfume application: DAB.  Or, an application of Brylcreem

 

 

 

10. Sag: DROOP.

11. Broken, as some promises: UNKEPT.  If this were to describe the person's hair prior to the DAB of Brylcreem, the answer could have been: UNKEMPT

12. Sunrise service occasion: EASTER.

17. Places to make connections: HUBS.  Back when I lived in SW Ohio, CVG was a hub for Delta Airlines

18. Not against entertaining: OPEN TO.  I am open to entertaining you (I hope) with my blog

21. "omg my bad": SRY.  As I said in my intro, with so many TLW's there are bound to be a few that are abbrs. 

22. "Pet" that needs lots of water: CHIA.  Never had one of these so I wasn't sure whether it needs a lot of water or not.  Does this clue and entry hold water??

23. Concluding piece: OUTRO. As opposed to the beginning piece? Intro? I guess

24. __ node: LYMPH.

25. Not even fair: POOR.  When I was in elementary school the grading system was: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor.  No one failed, per se, but some were held back

26. Jazz home, initially: SLC.  When CVG was a Delta Airlines hub, so was SLC - as in Salt Lake City

27. Ore. neighbor: CAL.  IDA and NEV also fit

31. French queen: REINE.

32. UFO crew, presumably: ETS.  See my Moe-ku 2 in the intro

33. Violinist Zimbalist: EFREM. Yes, the father of the TV star (Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip) was a famous violinist

35. Ailing: INFIRM.

36. Spring's opposite, in tides: NEAP.  This says it all

37. Non-neutral particles: IONS.

38. Add (up): TOT.  Why use an abbr. here?  Meh

39. Much of a sunset photo: SKY. 

42. Abate: EBB.  A tidal reference was already used in 36-down

43. Tam pattern: TARTAN.  I worked for 3M for many years, and it was known, back then, as the "Brand of the Tartan"

44. Members of a TikTok subculture: E-GIRLS.  Read all about it!

46. Yukon, e.g.: Abbr.: TERR.  More abbr.  This is why this puzzle gets only ⭐⭐⭐⭐

47. Not even close: WAY OFF.  If you FIW today, you were probably way off

49. "Into the Water" novelist Hawkins: PAULA.  Any fans of her work here?

50. So last century: DATED.  As a Baby Boomer, so much of me is "dated"

51. Get ready to eat: RIPEN.  My favorite expression to indicate how old I am is saying: "I no longer buy green bananas"

55. __ fly: POP.  It's the MLB playoff season, so this "fill-in-the-blank" clue is timely

56. Indoor rower, for short: ERG.  As in ergonomic?

57. Selena portrayer, familiarly: J-LO.  Jennifer Lopez

58. Orecchiette shape: EAR.  Refers to pasta. Thankfully, I recently returned from a trip to Italy so I knew this 

 

 

It sort of resembles an EAR

59. Local source of produce: Abbr.: CSA.  Odd clue unless you googled it.  I guess this is the new way to use CSA and not refer to the South during the Civil War (or War Between the States, depending on where you're from)

60. Biblical possessive: THY.  Moe-ku #3:

 

        My blog is over.

        Appropriately, last word

        Is THY. We'll be done

See you next month ...