google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, December 12, 2024, Darryl Gonzalez

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Dec 12, 2024

Thursday, December 12, 2024, Darryl Gonzalez

 Four clechos on the
fourth planet from the Sun

Darryl Gonzales presents us with a simple theme: 4 entries clued with MARS, each filled with a different meaning for the word.

20. MARS: ROMAN GOD OF WAR.  Here's Gustav Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War from his tone poem The Planets.  IMHO the sound tracks of a lot of contemporary SciFi flicks borrow heavily from this piece ...
 

34. MARS: CANDY COMPANY.  Mars Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer most famous for the confectionery items that it manufactures, such as Mars bars3 MusketeersMilky Way barsM&MsSkittlesSnickersTwix, and Bounty ...
 
41. MARS: DOES DAMAGE TO.  
56. MARS: MUSICIAN BRUNO.  Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for singing in a wide range of musical styles, including pop, R&B, funk, soul, reggae, disco, and rock. Here's his Today My Life Begins ...
Here's the grid ...
 
Here's the rest ...

Across:

 1. Places to retire: BEDS.

5. Passage on a floor plan: HALL.

9. "Yellowstone" actor Hauser: COLE.  Thank you perps.  Cole Kenneth Hauser (born March 22, 1975) is an American actor.  He currently stars as Rip Wheeler on the Paramount Network western drama series Yellowstone.
Cole Hauser
13. Egress: EXIT.  One of the attractions of P.T. Barnum's American Museum was called "The Egress", a practical joke on his visitors in order to overcome crowding in the museum.  There were signs all over the museum pointing to a door that led to it.  When visitors entered it they found that they had EXITED the museum and had to pay the admission fee again to get back in!

14. Medicinal succulents: ALOES.

16. Grape shape: OVAL.

17. Pietà spot: APSE.  I filled ROME for this at first, as ST. PETER'S is too long.  The statue is in an APSE, the Chapel of the Pietà, one of the first things you see when you enter the Cathedral thru the right doors.
Pietà
Michelangelo Buonarroti
6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564

18. Gloria's "Sunset Boulevard" role: NORMA.  Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American black comedy starring William Holden as Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who draws him into her deranged fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen ...
19. Card collection: DECK.

20. [Theme clue].

23. Many prime time offerings: DRAMAS.

24. Recent beginning: NEO.

25. Banana Boat letters: SPFSun Protection Factor.  The clue is also a hit song by Harry Belafonte ...

28. Stall kin: STY.

29. Mary Oliver work: POEM.  Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer PrizeShe found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild. Her poetry is characterized by wonderment at the natural environment, vivid imagery, and unadorned language. Here she reads her poem Wild Geese ...

32. Fail suddenly and spectacularly: CRATER.  This was a toughie.

34. [Theme clue].

36. Poker buy-in: ANTE.

39. In the style of: ALA.

40. "Auld Lang __": SYNE.

41. [Theme clue].

46. Gamer's virtual persona: AVATAR.  This word originated in Sanskrit and has several other meanings beside the one in gaming -- but this one is a god who likes to play games ...
Krishna
The Divine Playful Boy
47. Credit report blot: REPO.  A REPO would indicate failure to pay a debt.

48. Merit badge org.: BSA.  Boy Scouts of America.

51. Thanksgiving side: YAM.

52. Part of FWIW: IT'S.  For What IT'S Worth.

54. __ bar: OMELET.  Here's a recipe.
Omelet
56. [Theme clue].

60. Timeline units: ERAS.

62. Corleone brother: SONNY.  Santino "Sonny" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation.
Sonny Corleone
played by James Caan
63. Caspian Sea country: IRAN.  Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Turkey to the northwest and Iraq to the west, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Caspian Sea, and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south.

64. Suffix for a scandal: GATE.  Originated from the 1972 Watergate scandal, but has long since gone pandemic.

65. Incan carving: TOTEM.  On Peru’s central coast, an ornately carved totem was venerated across centuries of upheaval and conquest.
The Idol of the
Painted Temple
66. Actress Blanchett: CATE.  Catherine Élise Blanchett AC (born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor and film producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognized for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awardsfour British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.  She is perhaps most widely known for her role as Galadriel, the Queen of the Elves in the Peter Jackson film trilogy The Lord of the Rings.  In this extended scene she lets Frodo look into her mirror to see what might happen in the future ...

67. Is in debt: OWES.  In danger of a REPO?

68. Brings along for the ride: TOWS.  Or the result of REPOS.

69. Those in favor: AYES.

Down:

 1. Consequences of lengthening shadows: BEARDS.  Clever!

2. Ship out: EXPORT.

3. Appall: DISMAY.

4. Iron output: STEAM.

5. Doesn't let go: HANGS ON.

6. __ gobi: vegetarian dish: ALOO.  Potatoes, cauliflower, and spices.  Here's a recipe.
Aloo Gobi
7. "Oh __, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?": LORD.  This hit by Janice Joplin is one of the more creative clues for this fill ...
8. Piccata need: LEMON.  Piccata sauce is made using pan drippings; lemon juice and white wine or chicken stock are added and reduced. Chopped parsley and often capers are added; sometimes also shallots or garlic. After reduction, butter is stirred in to finish the sauce. It is often garnished with slices of lemon. Here's a recipe for white fish piccata.
White fish piccata

9. 2021 Marlee Matlin film that won Best Picture: CODA.  Children of Deaf Adults.  Here's the trailer ... 

10. Wear out one's welcome: OVERSTAY.

11. Fond du __, Wisconsin: LAC.  Today's French Lesson: "At the bottom of the lake", so named because of its location at the bottom (south end) of Lake Winnebago.

12. Yellowstone buglers: ELK.  Here's 50 seconds of an Elk brass section (IMHO they sound more like woodwinds😀) ...

   15. Seattle-based insurance giant: SAFECO.  Safeco Insurance is an American insurance company based in Seattle. A subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, Safeco provides auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and liability insurance. The company name is an acronym for Selective Auto and Fire Ensurance Company of America, or SAFECO (i.e., S.A.F.E. Co.)

21. Auto parts chain that's also a NASCAR sponsor: NAPA.  The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA), also known as NAPA Auto Parts, founded in 1925, is an American retailers' cooperative distributing automotive replacement parts, accessories, and service items throughout North America.

22. Fish dinner?: WORM.  Eat or be eaten? 😀
 
26. The Quakers of the Ivies: PENN. The University of Pennsylvania (commonly known as PENN) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.  The association with the Quakers derives from the founder of the original colony, the influential Quaker William Penn.

Read Without Vain Manners

27. Leather boot brand: FRYE.  Thank you perps.

30. Answer to the riddle "What cheese is made backward?": EDAM.  A cute meta clue. 😀

31. Shiny balloon material: MYLAR.  MYLAR is one of several trade names for BoPET (biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical stability, dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, and electrical insulation.  These balloons go for about a buck a pop on Amazon ...
Mylar Balloons
33. Lhasa __: APSO.  I always used to think that these creatures were just furry lizards with a ganglion.  But it turns out that Lhasa Apsos are a lavishly coated, thousand-year-old breed who served as sentinels at palaces and monasteries isolated high in the Himalayas.  Smart, confident, and complex, Lhasas are family comedians but regally aloof with strangers.  
Lhasa Apso
34. "__ magnifique!": CEST.  Today's French lesson: "It's beautiful!"

35. Pet store enclosure: CAGE.  Also the name of a musician: John Cage.  Here's a performance of his most famous composition 4'33".  Here it's played on the piano, but it can be played on any instrument or combination of instruments.  It is a unique work in a unique genre -- what might be called "non-performance art".  You could call it soundless, but if you listen really carefully you can hear the blood coursing through your brain 😀... 

36. Robert Newton Peck's "__ No Pigs Would Die": A DAY.  A Day No Pigs Would Die is a semi-autobiographical novel by Robert Newton Peck about Rob Peck, a boy coming of age in rural Vermont on an impoverished farm. Originally published in 1972, it is one of the first books to be categorized as young adult fiction, in addition to being Peck's first novel. 
37. __ Scotia: NOVA.

38. Dugout sharer: TEAM MATE.

42. Speaker's platform: DAIS.

43. Top drawer?: ARTIST.  We've been watching the Ken Burns' PBS documentary on Leonardo da Vinci and he is quite simply the TDOAT ("Top Drawer Of All Time).  Don't miss it! ...

44. Watt and Ohm, e.g.: EPONYMS.  An EPONYM is a person, place, or thing that something else is named after.  Watts (symbol: W) are a measure of power -- how fast work is done or energy is given from one thing to another, e.g. the conversion of electricity to light in a light bulb.  Watts are named in honor of James Watt, who developed another unit of energy transfer called horsepower -- 1 HP = 745.7 WATTS
James Watt
30 January 1736 – 25 August 1819
 Carl Frederik von Breda

An Ohm is a unit of electrical resistance to current flow, as defined by Ohm's Law.  The unit is named for German physicist Georg Simon Ohm who first defined it.
Georg Simon Ohm
16 March 1789 – 6 July 1854
45. Valley of the Kings find: TOMB. The Valley of the Kings is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles under the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt.
Panorama of the valley, looking north

48. Video format: BLU-RAY.  Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video (HDTV 720p and 1080p).
49. 100-member group: SENATE.  The current membership of the US Senate is defined by the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, which apportions 2 senators from each state selected by popular vote. 
50. More than apologizes (for): ATONES.  What can you do when ATONEMENT is impossible ...?
 

53. "Get!": SCOOT.

55. Writer Jong: ERICA.  The author of the controversial 1973 novel Fear of Flying.
50th Anniversary Edition
57. Employs: USES.

58. Passionate about: INTO.  A lot of Cornerites are really INTO crosswords.

59. Fresh: ANEW.

60. Sense of self: EGO.  Today's Latin lesson: "I".

61. Like carpaccio: RAW.  The carnivore's sushi.

Cheers, 
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley

3 comments:

Subgenius said...

An interesting “multiple meanings” puzzle that didn’t seem to throw me, not even the potential Natick of “Erica” and “Cate.” Actually, in spite of some attempts at misdirection, it was a lot of fun. FIR, so I’m happy.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This turned into a Wite-Out-free Thursday romp. COLE was a bit obscure, but the perps were solid. Thanx, Darryl, waseeley, and Teri. (Leonardo da Vinci was an excellent 4-hour program. It would've been even better at 2 hours.)

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but scram->SCOOT.

I know COLE as a spokesman for the outstanding charity Tunnels to Towers.

My DW's BFF was the head of MARS personnel. She says it was different working in a family-owned business - sometimes great, sometimes infuriating. (After retiring she led Virginia's OSHA, separate from the federal OSHA.)

In addition to clever uses of GATE, ___aholic has made its way into the language, as in workaholic. Should logically be "workic," but that's not nearly as snappy.

Can't wait to read how Misty uses OVERSTAY and SCOOT.

I seem to remember that FRYE boots were sold at Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky tonk. (Gilley's had mechanical bull riding in the bar, but Billy Bob's has real bull riding.)

I don't feel too bad for not knowing about Sunset Boulevard, since it was released before I was born. I love being able to say that. Some days I feel that I was born before the invention of bronze.

Thanks to Darryl for the fun Thursday puzzle, albeit with a lot of showbiz names. And thanks to Bill 'n' Teri for another fine review.