google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday November 18, 2024 Amy Johnson and Katie Hale

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Nov 18, 2024

Monday November 18, 2024 Amy Johnson and Katie Hale

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with a theme that seems to have arisen out of nowhere.
Theme:      Ta-da!

18 Across. Long garment with no waistline: TENT DRESS.
POP-UP TENT is a tent that is ready to use as soon as it is unfolded, without requiring a frame to be assembled first.  
a TENT DRESS and a POP-UP TENT

24 Across. "These aren't the droids we're looking for" speaker: STORM TROOPER.
Our constructors threw us a curve ball with this one. If you read the clue too quickly you might have wanted to answer Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, Ben said "you're" and the STORM TROOPER responded "we're". Here is the scene from the 1977 Star Wars movie. (The STORM TROOPERs are wearing white body armor.) (1:29 min.)  
Read about a POP-UP STORM here.

38 Across. Activity for a green-thumbed apartment dweller: WINDOW GARDENING
POP-UP WINDOW is a small advertisement or banner that appears in the foreground of one's screen while browsing a website.  
a WINDOW GARDEN and a POP-UP WINDOW I often see on Blogger

49 Across. Aftereffects of a great read: BOOK HANGOVER. I do not recall hearing this term before today but I have definitely experienced one. Here is how one blogger describes it:
A “book hangover” is the slangy shortcut for the feeling when a reader finishes a book—usually fiction—and they can’t stop thinking about the fictional world that has run out of pages. The story is over, but the reader misses the characters or the atmosphere of the novel. 
I bought this elaborate POP-UP BOOK for my grandmother when she developed dementia.
It turned out to be a good gift because her visitors enjoyed looking through it with her.

Now for the reveal:

60 Across. Right-click result, often, and where the starts of 18-, 24-, 38-, and 49-Across can be found?: POP-UP MENU.
If you right-click on your PC*, a MENU of options POPs-UP. Here is an example:  

The reveal clue also says that the starts of the themed clues can be found on a POP-UP MENU. I take that to mean that if you were looking at a menu (list) of things that POP-UP, you might see these four items:  TENTSTORMWINDOW, and BOOK.

Before we POP on over to the rest of the clues, here's a CSO to all the POPS on the Corner.  

Across:

1. Financial liability of concern to creditors: DEBT.     and     
6 Down. Have a 1-Across with: OWE TO.  

5. "Gilmore Girls" daughter: RORY.  Do we get a lot of Gilmore Girls cast member clues or is it always RORY? I never saw the show so these questions are always ESPs for me.  

9. Lightning streak: BOLT.

13. Dickens villain Heep: URIAH.  Uriah Heep is such a great name! He was the creep in David Copperfield. I chose this book 
for my senior literature project when I was in high school.

15. Tot's scrape: OWIE.

16. Grammy winner India.__: ARIE.  My trick for remembering this XWD staple fill is she sings an aria, but with an "e" at the end.

17. "So anyway," e.g.: SEGUE.  Def: (noun) a transition made without pause or interruption.
Regardless, this was a fun word to find in the grid.

20. TV channel with a large film library: TCM.  Turner Classic Movies

21. Sidesplitters: RIOTS.  Def:  (noun) an exceedingly funny story or joke.

23. German sub dangerous to Allied ships: U-BOAT.

27. Goat pen noises: MAAS.  

28. Anchorage locale: ALASKA.  Anchorage is ALASKA's most populous city with 286,075 people. ALASKA's capital, Juneau has 31,555 people.  
North to Alaska  ~  Johnny Horton  ~  1960

32. Calvin of fashion: KLEIN.  As it turns out, Calvin Richard Klein celebrates his 82nd birthday tomorrow. He was born in The Bronx, NY. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962.

34. Anti-inflammatory antioxidant berry: ACAI.  Will the accolades to this berry never cease?

37. Backdrop of many novels set in the 1940s: WAR.  This one took me a bit, but after I got it I thought, "Fair enough."

42. Recipe no.: AMT.     and     
55 Down. Report card nos.: GPAS
"Number(s)" is abbreviated in these clues, so is "AMounT" and "Grade Point Averages".

43. Top-tier: A-ONE.  Also top-tier is the XWD staple, A-Team.

44. Date opening: MONTH.  In the U.S., dates are usually (but not always) written as MONTH/day/year. Since MONTH comes first, it is the opening.

45. Apple download: IOS APP.  iOS is the iPhone Operating System. iOS APPs are designed to take advantage of an iPhone's built-in features, like its camera, microphone, GPS, etc.

48. Duck, duck, goose shape: RING.  Duck, Duck, Goose is a children's game in which the players sit in a circle.

55. Figure on a wedding cake, maybe: GROOM.  

58. Steel support for concrete: REBAR.  

59. Ida. neighbor: ORE.  There is a movement for some eastern OREgon counties to join IDAho.  GreaterIdaho.org website 

62. "Hakuna Matata" composer John: ELTON.     and     
11 Down. WNBA great Leslie: LISA.
We have two double firsties in today's puzzle. Those always throw me off.

64. Hymn finale: AMEN.

65. Give off: EMIT.

66. Shoe material that shouldn't get wet: SUEDE.  You shouldn't step on SUEDE either. Elvis sang a song about that.  

67. "__ my regards": SEND.  not "give"  

68. Loose tops: TEES.

69. Went up a size: GREW.  
The Grinch's heart GREW. (45 sec.)

Down:

1. Does some light housekeeping: DUSTS.  
Treadmills are also good for hanging laundry.

2. Not hunched over: ERECT.

3. Life-changing events: BIG MOMENTS.

4. "T," on sorority row: TAU.  
Greek alphabet

5. Helicopter part: ROTOR.

7. Classic Unilever laundry soap: RINSO.  Unilever is the company that owns the brand name RINSO...among other well-known brands.


8. "So close, __ so far": YET.  

9. Streisand of "Yentl": BARBRA.  The story is that she was born "Barbara" then changed the spelling of her name when she was 18 because she wanted to be unique but did not want to change her name.

10. Cookie with a Coca-Cola variety: OREO.

12. Rorschach __: TEST.  
The test consists of a series of 10 symmetrical blots where the subject states what they see. These slides are shown in the same order to align modern observations with historical performance. You can see the 10 cards here.
This is a 22 sec. clip from Batman Forever (1995) with Val Kilmer and Nichole Kidman.

14. Boy of la familia: HERMANO.  Spanish for "brother"

19. "Hamilton" climax: DUEL.  I liked this clue!  The song from that scene is called The World Was Wide Enough. It is a great message for today's quarrels as well! 

22. "__ showtime!": IT'S.

25. Midnight snack expedition: RAID.

26. Reimbursed: PAID.

29. Person who is a big factor in a two-party election: SWING VOTER.

30. Philosopher Immanuel: KANT.  (1724-1804) He was born in Germany and is one of the Enlightenment thinkers. Basically, he believed in humanity's ability to be rational about morality and wrote about categorical imperatives. The internet says Kant was 5'2" (157.5 cm.).

31. "Grr": ARGH.

32. River in an epic film title: KWAI.  The Bridge on the River Kwai was the highest-grossing film of 1957. It won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

33. Bachelorette party hire, perhaps: LIMO.

34. Before now: AGO.

35. Food drive item: CAN.  a good November reminder to help out

36. "__ you sure?": ARE.  No, I'm sumdaze.

39. D.C. paper: WAPO.  WAshington POst

40. Some asylum seekers: EMIGRES.

41. Improper action: NO-NO.  
46. Teem: ABOUND.

47. Showy splendor: POMP.  I thought of the graduation march POMP and Circumstance by Edward Elgar, a name I've seen in a few puzzles.

48. Biochem molecule: RNA.

50. Krispy __: KREME.  

51. Figure skater Sonja: HENIE.  (1912-1969) Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other female figure skater. She was born in XWD's favorite capital, Oslo.

52. Shares an edge: ABUTS.

53. Eat away at: ERODE.  During the Ice Age, glaciers ate away at the granite in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, creating Yosemite's Half Dome.  

54. Affirm again, as vows: RENEW.  

56. Italy's capital: ROME.

57. Willing to listen: OPEN.

61. Encountered: MET.

63. Carry with effort: LUG.  

Here's the grid, with a POP of color:

Have a great day! I'll POP by later to read the comments.

*Note to Mac users:  According to the Apple Support website, a right-click on a Mac is called a 'secondary click' or 'Control-click'. To open shortcut menus, Control-click an item using your keyboard and mouse or trackpad.

7 comments:

Subgenius said...

Yes, I solved the puzzle. And, yes, it did seem
like “a walk in the park.” But there was only one problem. I couldn’t see the connection between the themed answers and even after the ‘explanation’ from Sumdaze, I still don’t get it. Nonetheless, FIR, so I’m happy.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR without erasure.

I know Duck Duck Go from the TV ads, but not goose.

Don't think I've heard of a TENT DRESS, but I have heard that someone buys his/her clothes from Omar the Tentmaker.

Maybe the best whistle song ever is from Bridge Over the River KWAI. BTW - Is the proper pronunciation to end KWAI "eye" or "a"? I've mostly heard "eye," but we had a president that insisted "a" was correct. Sounded like what you think "quay" should sound like, but it doesn't.

I like my TEES on the loose side, but around here there are plenty of tight ones as well. Some of those enhance the allure of the neighborhood, others not so much.

Click and Clack used to use "Sonja HENIE's tutu" as an expression of surprise. Kinda like Slim Pickins' "What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin' on here?"

Thanks to Amy and Katie for the Monday eye opener, and to sumdaze for another fine review.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This one seemed crunchier than the normal Monday breakfast fare. Nice. Took about two minutes longer than normal, too. Thanx, Amy, Katie, and sumdaze.

DEBT: I've got a good credit score, but it'll never be a great one. No mortgage, and I pay off my credit cards monthly. Those sound like good things, but they "ding" a credit score.

SEGUE: The Segway was supposed to be the greatest transportation invention ever. Over the life of the product only about 140,000 were sold. Production ended in 2020.

Duck Duck Goose: Don't think I've ever heard of it. I do use the Duck Duck Go search engine. (Hi, Jinx.)

Blue Suede Shoes: The Elvis recording (1956) was a cover of the Gene Vincent original (1955). Both guys recorded for Sun Records in Memphis back in the day.

RosE said...

Good Morning! Not a fan of today’s puzzle or theme. Nothing specific to comment on, just some obscurities. STORMTROOPER, BOOK HANGOVER, LISA LESLIE, RINSO, KANT
I am not familiar with Duck duck goose, so I guessed wrong at dNA instead of RNA. I should have paid more attention to the “shape” in the clue.
Thanks, sumdaze for the fun & info. Loved the groom with the VOWels.

Anonymous said...

Took 4:28 today for me to follow my blocker.

I knew today's actress (Barbra), but was unfamiliar with "Rinso" and "Rory", so a lucky guess was needed at that intersection. I also hadn't heard of "book hangover" or "tent dress."

SubG, "pop up" can precede the starting theme words: pop-up tent, pop-up window, pop-up book, and pop-up storm.

KS said...

FIR. I went off the reservation once by throwing down baas instead of maas. But I quickly saw my error and moved forward.
When I got finished i stared at the reveal failing to see the connections. I had to come here to have it explained to me. Luckily for me it didn't affect the solve.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Of the 140,000, 139,900 were sold to mall cops and real law enforcement organizations. The other 100 were sold to companies running SEGUE tours of cities. I forgot where I saw those statistics - in fact, I may have made them up. Guess I'm ready for network TV news, except I have a face meant for radio.