CRISS-CROSS-EYED
This appears to be Sala Wanetick's first solo effort for the LA Times - I found three other puzzles with a co-constructor, Emily Biegas. The grid is size 15 x 16, and the theme is two-word formations known as reduplication. Some really vague clues/answers today, 18 TLWs, just two less than the number of four letter words, and a handful names, some of them totally obscure. The themers;
18. Drag one's feet: DILLY-DALLY
27. Idle banter: CHIT-CHAT
40. Indecisive: WISHY-WASHY
57. Mixed bag: MISH-MASH
69. Tchotchke: KNICK-KNACK - I learned the word "tchotchke" ( CHOCH-key) from the terminal manager at Roadway Express - he was referring to the truckload of Home Interiors goods we had to sort every Friday night
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Loose-fitting: BAGGY
6. Hiker's snack mix: GORP - AND - 32A. Tidbit in 6-Across: NUT - Good Ol' Raisins & Peanuts
10. New England fish: SCROD
15. Tunisian couturier Azzedine __: ALAÏA - Wow. On a Wednesday. Beyond obscure. His Wiki. Name #1
16. Is short: OWES
17. __ Troopa: Mario Bros. turtlelike foe: KOOPA - I grew up with Atari 2600;
this was the "next generation" of video gaming - Name #2
21. Italian sub slice: SALAMI
22. Unleash (on): SIC
23. Management level: TIER
24. Seeking, in ads: ISO - the old newspaper classified dating section - In Search Of . . . .
25. Organic lip balm brand: EOS
34. Drops in on: VISITS
35. Petro-Canada rival: ESSO - Name #3, but a common fill
36. Play areas?: STAGES
39. __ rally: PEP
44. "Silent Sunday Nights" cable network: TCM - filled via perps
47. Hangs loose: CHILLS - how 'bout some Chillaxing music~?
Rapture At Sea
52. "Got it": "OH, I SEE" - a bit meh.
54. Secret agent: SPY
56. Knitting loop: PURL - I used to watch several women in AA meetings knit, to the point where my curiosity got the better of me, and I asked Carol to teach me.
63. Like those on a world cruise: ASEA - Rapture~?
64. Float filler: AIR - I was not sure what "float" this referred to - I am guessing this . . . .
68. Hybrid piece of flatware: SPORK
71. Neutral shade: TAUPE
73. Aerie nester: EAGLE
74. Counterpart of "ser," in Spanish: ESTAR - I had no idea - I used Google translate; both mean "be"
75. "Save me a __!": SEAT
76. Track athlete's asset: SPEED
DOWN:
1. Less photogenic angle: BAD SIDE - my "top side" is bad; the field manager is obsessed with taking pictures of my bald spot
3. Runs fast: GALLOPS
4. __ monster: GILA
5. Self-congratulatory cheer: "YAY ME~!" - cute, but a bit meh.
6. Smallest state in India: GOA - learned by doing crosswords; name #4
7. Parliament birds: OWLS - a 'parliament' being a group of owls - very clever
8. Piece of history: RELIC - this was my nick-name when I worked at Winn-Dixie; I was 27yrs old, roughly 10 years older than the rest of the stock crew - I was actually enamored of the moniker
10. Like some newly rescued dogs: SKITTISH - understandable
12. Fruit from a flowering shrub: ROSE HIP
13. Manage: OPERATE - manage/operate is more Saturday clue/answer, IMO
14. Who __ Nation: New Orleans Saints fans: DAT - I have heard of this; it appears from the Corner map that Hahtoolah and Big Easy might be fans of this NFL team . . . .
19. Pop diva Celine: DION - Name #5, but I knew this one
26. Food that may be served via conveyor belt: SUSHI - I did not understand this clue; when I did an internet search, I discovered that there are restaurants that have sushi dishes going around on a belt - fascinating~!
28. St. __ Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub: IVES - fresh cluing for an old fill
31. Auto club service: TOW - I toyed with AAA first, but that would be the club, not the service
33. Texting farewell: TTYL - text-speak, Talk To You Later
37. Knob-handled stickers: AWLS - stickers has different meanings in different places. I was asked by an associate of the Pipe Organ company to get a couple of "stickers"; growing up on Long Island, "stickers" are the self-adhesive images that went on your books and binders - here in New England, it would seem that they are the "chocks" for under lumber stacks. Go figure. In this clue/answer, the term "sticker" is more like "poke-r"
41. Spot with falling rocks?: ICEMAKER - very clever clue / answer
42. Former home of the Mets: SHEA - name #6, but I grew up a Mets fan on Long Island, so . . . .
43. "Reckon so": "YEP."
44. Actor Holland: TOM - name #7; his IMDb
45. Mexican state bordering Guatemala: CHIAPAS - name #8, no clue; tough for a Wednesday
49. Riffle (through): RUMMAGE
50. Thing: ARTICLE - ITEM was way too short
51. Didn't bring one's A game, say: SLACKED
53. Ethnic group native to Nepal and Tibet: SHERPA
55. "Ew! Gross!": "YUCK~!"
58. Fermented brews often served warm: SAKES - Sock-EEs, to drink with your conveyor belt sushi
59. Shutter hardware: HINGE - Shutters SHUT; I have "fake" shutters that would not come close to protecting the windows on my house
they will come off when I do stucco in the future
61. Prods: POKES - you mean, with a sticker~? Or an awl~?65. Latvia's capital: RIGA - learned by doing crosswords
67. Onesie feature: SNAP
70. Winter hrs. in Tulsa: CST - the clocks are "normal" again
Splynter
33 comments:
Is it considered a
Natick if you made a WAG and got it right?
Because that’s what happened for me at the cross of “Chiapas” and “Estar.” And there were certain other parts of this puzzle that were challenging as well. However, the themed answers were all well-known phrases, so I can’t complain about that. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Easy with a Monday-ish theme. The NW was slightly less breezy than the rest of the grid thanks to ALAIA. I also hesitated a bit on WISHY-WASHY, since I didn't notice that the grid was oversized, and so I expected a central entry with an odd number of letters.
I appreciate the consistency of the themers all featuring Is that change to As.
FIR in 13:17 with the usual perp help, DNK KOOPA, ESTAR, or what a Tchotchke was, or CHIAPAS, (sounds like an item off the Taco Bell menu). Award for the worst esoteric clue/entry possibly ever goes to “Tunisian couturier Azzedine” ALAIA. I’ve eaten a lot of California Rolls, but never off a conveyor belt. I did like the theme fills. Thanks for the puzzle Sala.
Splynter ~ thanks for your recap! I thought of AIR as a “pool float” filler.
FIR. This was quite crunchy for a Wednesday puzzle, more like what one expects on a Friday. And proper names like Alaia didn't help.
Also crossing Chiapas and estar was just cruel. I had to take a WAG at the "s" to finish it out.
Ironically the theme was Monday easy and I got it right off. That helped a lot with the solve.
But overall, not a very enjoyable puzzle.
Two elderly Boston Brahmin women were talking and one woman said to her friend, "I go into Boston every Friday to get scrod." Her friend replies, "I didn't know that word had a past tense!"
🤣
Good Morning! I thought today’s puzzle was pretty late week for a Wednesday, but it slowly came together. Congratulations for your debut, Sala.
The theme was great! All familiar expressions but rarely seen in print. Made me smile.
The SW was the last to fill. CHIAPAS crossing ESTAR was pure perp and WAG.
New to me: ALAIA, KOOPA, TMC, as clued.
Not a fan of the vocalizations: YAY ME, PSYCH, YEP, YUCK. Maybe one or two in a puzzle, but four is too many.
I liked the misdirection clue: ICEMAKER.
Thanks, Splynter. Was that photo of you working or resting? 😄, probably putting together this great recap!
Took 5:51 today for me to get the ta-da.
It's only the 6th, and yet we've got a very strong candidate for worst clue of the month (and likely longer), "Tunisian couturier Azzedine ___". Think of how bad that clue is. Most clues that contain "couturier" are suspect. Any clue that begins with Tunisian-anything won't end well.
I wonder if Azzedine's own family members got that one right.
Aside from not knowing the Tunisian, I didn't know the Mexican state intersecting the Spanish word, which was oddly clued off of another Spanish word, but I did know the Tibetan ethnic group. I also didn't know iso, eso, or purl. And, I continue to object to text speak.
I understand that constructing this puzzle must've been a real challenge to use all those reduplicatives, especially just those using the "a" then "i" switch, but the bad clues ruined the experience for me.
I hope you all found it more enjoyable.
I can't believe how many people here have never heard of Azzedine Alaia! Surely you remember that his grommeted black leather gauntlet gloves were all the rage in 1980...and rarely does a day go by without thinking fondly of his "brilliantly executed undulating peplums" of 1985.
(Thank you, Wikipedia)
My fear now is that the handful of obscurity-loving constructors out there will see this as a challenge to top this clue with an even more ridiculous entry.
Great morning. YEP, what's SUP. After DILLY DALLY filled, it was pretty obvious what the theme fills would be. And the I-A combo in all of them was a bonus. Those were easy and allowed some unknowns to be completed.
ALAIA, ISO, KOOPA, IVES, EOS. Only one change today: AAA to TOW.
ICE MAKER- great clue.
HINGE- Splynter, my wooden fake shutters got bad after 20 years. I replaced them with Heavy duty aluminum hurricane-proof shutters.
I found this to be of normal Wed. difficulty. Only ALIA AZZEDINE was new to me, but it had very easy perps. I thought the theme was a cinch to suss and kinda cute. No nits with the clues.
The word tchotchke is common here. When we go on vacation we find souvenir shops full of tchotchkes.
I found Rapture at Sea annoying rather than chilling.
In Tokyo I ate lunch at a kaitenzushi bar for local working class people, so it had great prices. We sat around a very large oval counter with a revolving belt inside it adjacent to the counter. It contained individual servings of all kinds of sushi on various colored plates. You just grabbed a plate as it revolved past you. The color of the plate indicated the price. Men inside the oval replenished the plates as they were taken. When you were finished a waitress counted your plates and noted their colors to add up your bill. It was some of the best tasting sushi at extremely reasonable prices that I ever ate.
I would normally take a Thumper, but vague, and totally obscure sums it up for me. Learning moment: parliament being a group of Owls.
Otherwise, not a lot of fun.
Well, I guess our two-day reprieve from the obscure and inscrutable has ended, with a Tunisian couturier leading the charge, allied by such enigmas as a fresh skin apricot scrub and an organic lip balm.
OK, now that that is out of the way, welcome, Sala! I did actually appreciate the main theme, with all of the theme answers sporting a short I sound followed by a short A sound. And all were 8- or 10- letters. Is that why the grid is irregular (15 x 16), so that one of your theme answers could be dead center?
The NW was slightly slow-going thanks to the aforementioned couturier, and YAYME, crossing it, was not obvious to me. The SW was even worse, with some actor right next to some Mexican state--crossing some Spanish word.
So not an entirely enjoyable solve, but thanks, Sala, for a nevertheless well-conceived and constructed puzzle. I hope to see you back here!
Tough for a Wednesday. Too many obscure names for me.
Has anyone here actually heard of Azzedine Alaia?
Current prices: (Way off my radar.)
Sculpting semi-sheer dress: $2,420
Leopard jacquard mini dress: $2,629
Belted denim midi dress: $1,842
Twisted sheer maxi dress: $4,480
Bubble cuffs bodycon dress: $2,419
FIR, but drapes->CHILLS, sprints->GALLOPS, oversee->OPERATE, and mst->CST.
My first greyhound was SKITTISH with men, but warmed right up to women. Zoё wasn't SKITTISH with anyone, but she struggled to figure out the TV, glass storm door panes, and stairs. She's still working on stairs.
Thanks to Splynter for another fine review.
Perps were kind today. FIR. Liked the theme entries.
74A and 17A were unknown.
Turn a cold shoulder and break a heart.
Wonder.
The puzzle is baaaack today. Still don’t know what happened yesterday. I have always seamlessly used the online phone version from the “Arkansas Democrat & Gazette”, very user friendly and the puzzle doesn’t disappear if I leave it for a while.
Fun clue/answers easy to parse once I got the gist. I musta spelt KNICKKNACK (paddy whack?) a half dozen different ways, tho’ still easier’n “tchotchke” 🙄 (a Spelling Bee nightmare!). Thus found myself in a fix in the SE for a bit.
Thought a SHERPA was a guide who helped get you up Mt Everest (not an “ethnic group”) who may provide GORP: a word I learnt from the puzzles. Does it derive from the sound you make trying to swallow the stuff? 🥴
“Tunisian couturier” Huh? (“Siri/Alexa, help, I’m stuck with some nonsense letters, gimme a clue. I don’t care how remote”).
Still Don’t quite get “knob handled stickers”. With AWL the possible clues, why use that one?
Who DAT nation? Knew CHIAPAS, unfortunately from stories of cartel violence.
Dilly Dally, Howdy Doody’s buddy
The Boston DA called the defendant ….. ALAIA.
When it’s spelt raung…. SIC.
If we squealed on the cartel they threatened to ___ up in little pieces….CHIAPAS 😳
Track athlete’s enhancer …… SPEED.
Still balmy in the 70’s. Just had breakfast on the deck …. in November! 😎
Good Morning:
The themers were fun and easy to suss but the fill was not Wednesday-friendly, e.g., Alaia, Koopa, Estar, and Chiapas. Thanks to fair perps, however, the solve was a FIR. The trend of C/As using vocalizations or multi-word phrases that are random, at best, is becoming tiresome. Today, we were bombarded with eight of them: Oh, I see, Yay me, Yep, Yuck, Psych, Dat, I’m set, and Seat.
Thanks, Sala, and congrats on your solo debut and thanks, Splynter, for the fun tour and commentary. It’s fun to hear about the many different jobs you’ve had, especially your present one which sounds so challenging and demanding.
Have a great day.
Musings
-A nice combo of whimsy and cleverness
-Any port in a storm: Odd names and a foreign word took care of themselves
-Save a SEAT: It irks me greatly to be asked to do this or to be denied a seat because of it
-GALLOPS: A fun line from Arsenic And Old Lace
-Parliament of OWLS: Last month our Saturday puzzle had a CRASH of hippopotami
-Do you remember the answer to the riddle that starts, “As I going to St. IVES…”
-Nice wrap up, Splynter.
I liked the fun theme and detected it early on. The North gave me some difficulties however. I didn’t know GORP (an ugly word) SCROD (Hahtoolah, tsk, tsk!) KOOPA, ALAIA (like everyone else on that one apparently) PSYCH and lower down TMC. Phew! But perps and WAGS came to the rescue.
I agree with IM☘️ concerning the random vocalizations and phrases. I too find them tiresome and troublesome.
Thank you Splynter, nice recap.
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Sala and Splynter.
I FIRed in good time and saw the I to A phrases.
Quick post before appointments.
Some unknown names (ALAIA!) but perps were fair.
Almost a Natick cross with two Spanish words, ESTAR and CHIAPAS, but I WAGged the S.
An alphabet run gave me the K to get SKITTISH.
I noted “loose” in clues for BAGGY and CHILLS.
GALLOP was a Jumbo word today.
Favourite was the clue for ICE MAKER.
Read you all later.
Wishing you a great day.
Hola!
Nope. No problem with CHIAPAS and ESTAR but it helps to be bilingual. I remember SPORK from back in the days when I watched "Roseanne". I believe she worked at a factory that made them.
I used to love wearing TAUPE colored pantyhose and high heels. And I actually have some ST. IVES apricot scrub.
Thank you, perps, for ALAIA of whom I had never heard. However, GILA is a familiar word here in AZ and not only the GILA monster but the GILA River, as well. Thank you,, Splynter and Sala. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
I loved this puzzle and found it easy breezy. Thank you, Sala Wanetick! And thank you, Splynter, for educating us about "reduplication." It was a delightful theme.
I can't say that the clue "Tunisian couturier Azzedine" immediately called ALAIA to mind, but I recognized it as perps began to fill. No, I can't afford clothes at that price, and would have nowhere to wear them, but I can walk through Neiman Marcus and Saks for fun, and admire his knit wear!
Estar and Chiapas were also easy for me. "Ser" is "to be" in an essential way, for instance, "Soy una mujer" -- I am a woman. "Estar" is "to be" in a temporary sense, for instance, "Estoy feliz" -- I am happy. Perhaps because I live in Southern California, we read a lot of news from Mexico, and Chiapas has been the scene of much unrest in recent years.
Another feature of living on the West Coast is familiarity with aspects of Asian -- especially Japanese -- culture. My 11-year-old twin grandchildren celebrated their birthday last week at a conveyer belt sushi restaurant. But I've never heard of SCROD!
The weirdest clue was the one for AWLS, and I loved Splynter's illustration of AWL through the house. Bravo!
Two coincidences: Next to the SUSHI clue that made me think of the gas-station version, I wrote “ick.” Then YUCK showed up below. I knew GOA, sort of, but I said to myself that I’m not knowledgeable about foreign states other than those in Mexico. Then CHIAPAS showed up. Unrest in that state got lots of news coverage about 20 years ago. It's not THAT obscure.
I’m with those who liked the theme, with no gimmickry and no unifier, and it was a good puzzle overall despite six entries (not counting YAY, ME or ‘SUP) of the sort Jayce characterizes as paraphrases and Irish Miss calls vocalizations. The worst one was “got it”/OH, I SEE. Yuck!
“To be,” or not “to be” situation: I’ve studied enough Spanish to understand the ser/ESTAR entry, but when I ran it by DW, she said it was “too esoteric.”
And now to figure out how to say, ”Please don’t park so close to the curb” in Spanish to the neighbors parked on our side street. (I can’t sweep leaves out of the gutter otherwise.)
Here’s the Playboy version of Hahtoolah’s joke, with an even better punchline: It seems a salesman visiting Boston had a bit of time left before heading to the airport. He had heard of a must-try fish delicacy, so he hopped in a taxi and asked the cabbie “Can you tell me where I can get scrod?” And the cabbie said, “Buddy, I’ve heard that question a million times, but never before in the pluperfect subjunctive.”
One
Very tough for a Wednesday. Far too many names, 14, many obscure. Of the 14 I DNK 12, making for a very difficult FIR (eventually). Nice, easily sussed theme, which is probably the ONLY reason I managed to FIR. Still don't get "Gotcha!" = PSYCH. Even though I did manage to FIR, I did not particularly enjoy this CW. Thanx anyway, SW, for the good bits in the CW. And as always Splynter was informative and entertaining, thanx for all the time and effort. Yeah, as YP said @ 5:20, air is for pool floats. Balloons need helium if they are supposed to "float".
Interesting and enjoyable Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Sala. And your commentary is always helpful, Splynter, thanks for that too.
Well, this puzzle didn't have a BAD SIDE, so it didn't make us SKITTISH or GASP or have us say YUCK. Working through it was a bit slow, but it gave us time to DILLY DALLY and CHIT CHAT on different topics. And in the end we did come up with answers that were a bit WISHY-WASHY and often a MISH-MASH, but who cared. When we were done we all had a chance to enjoy some GORP, and some EGGS, along with a glass of SAKE. Not a bad way to spend a morning.
Have a good rest of the day, everybody.
That’s some ugly clueing.
Managed to FIR, despite the annoying parphrases (or vocalizations, as IM said) and arcane clues that managed to suck most of the enjoyment out of it. Perps were helpful, though, and I liked the theme words. Nice recap by Splynter, too!
I've thoroughly enjoyed all your off-color jokes on the poor scrod. Incidentally, if you've never eaten scrod--and savor seafood--you'll find it delicious. At least I do.
I feel the same way many of you do about this puzzle. Some good, bad, and ugly stuff in it.
I loved the SCROD joke, Hahtoolah. Yes, I have had scrod and it tasted good. I like most fish, swordfish being one I would not go out of my way for.
We have driven through GILA Bend, AZ, many times on our way to and from Rocky Point, Mexico, and Phoenix, Arizona.
There are several sushi places here in the Bay Area that shuttle the plates around on conveyor belts. It seems it is the conveyor belts, not the food, that attracts many patrons to those places. We used to enjoy a restaurant (that is no longer extant) where the sushi came around on little boats that floated on actual water in a "river" or "canal" along a long counter. You would pluck up the plate that had on it a sushi that you wanted to eat, and, as Yellowrocks described, the server would count up the plates to determine your bill. Oh, and the staff would shout and cheer when you enter the restaurant. Made you feel sorta "special."
Well, I'll shilly-shally along and wish you all a good day.
And GILA Bend.
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