CURSES~!
Parker Higgins returns with a "conspiracy" construction - he has two previous LA Times puzzles, and I don't recall this one, but the theme was quite unique. Today we have three incidents of being foiled more than once - I am kinda '"meh" on this one, sorry - having found a clever theme from just two years ago, have we started to run out of ideas~? No circles - we had those yesterday - 25 TLWs, and a dozen names, pretty much what I would expect for a Wednesday grid. The themers;
33. "Another touch point for my opponent!?": OLYMPIC FENCER - Sword Foil
39. "Another literary figure whose qualities contrast my own!?": MAIN CHARACTER - Literary Foil
59. "Another plan thwarted!," or another way to phrase three clues in this puzzle?: FOILED AGAIN
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Saweetie songs: RAPS - A name (#1) to start us off - thankfully, I do the DOWNS first - her Wiki
5. Japanese mat: TATAMI
11. Turf: SOD
14. Burn application: ALOE - I am breaking with tradition, Hahtoolah
15. Preplanned, as some viral videos: STAGED
16. Duo: TWO
19. Gun, as an engine: REV
20. "Fame" singer Cara: IRENE - name #2 , but a Crossword staple
21. Designer Jacobs: MARC - name #3 - the website - and you can have a sack bag for just $550
22. Give over: CEDE
23. Private convos: DMs - Direct Messages - for users on a social media platform, i.e., Facebook, etc. Not my thing
24. Trans- opposite: CIS
26. Queens stadium eponym: ASHE - Shea~? Citi~? Ah - the tennis place - name #4
28. Corn core: COB
29. Throbbed: PULSATED
This is what my knees feel like after squats
35. "Mamma Mia" group: ABBA - Crossword staple, name #537. Fish used as currency in medieval England: EEL - 'tis true; at least according to this website
38. Soap unit: CAKE
44. Kids playing in the backyard?: PET GOATS - goat juveniles are kids; seems like a "forced" fill to me; but then again, I had "GOAT YOGA" not too long ago, and that is a "thing"
45. Blue: SAD
46. Remain unsettled: PEND - AND - 12D. Outstanding: OWED
47. Up to, briefly: 'TIL
48. "Stay With Me" singer Smith: SAM - name #6
51. Hefty alternative: GLAD - Garbage bag wars; name(ish)
53. Bangers partner: MASH - Brit-speak for sausage and potatoes
56. Computer expert, briefly: IT PRO - Information Technology 'briefly' is "I.T."
58. Untrustworthy paper: RAG - hey, now, MiB read them on a regular basis
Let's check the hot sheets
62. Flowery, as prose: ORNATE
63. Frozen drink with a domed lid: ICEE
65. Aquarium fighters: BETTAS
66. Muppet material: FELT - and ping-pong balls; more at this museum
DOWN:
1. Overzealous: RABID - Not EAGER
2. First smartphone alert of the day, for many: ALARM
3. Jabs: POKES
4. "I feel __": SEEN - this must be 21st century-speak, as I have said this never
5. Baking amt.: TSP - I wanted to make me some brownies with a peanut butter filling and fudge topping last weekend - went to use the electric beater I got from clearing out the parent's house, and discovered the beaters were NOT in the box - they were kept separately in a kitchen drawer - D'oh~!
7. "Toodles!": "TA-TA~!" - I tried "CIAO" first
8. Food thickener: AGAR - LFDC
9. "Lady Bird" Oscar nominee Laurie: METCALF - name #7
10. Words one utters in an altar-ed state?: "I DO." - har-har
11. Transport largely replaced by light rail: STREETCAR
13. Peace sign: DOVE
18. Diversionary tactic: DECOY
22. Risked: CHANCED
25. ThinkPad maker before Lenovo: IBM
27. NNW opposite: SSE
28. Sounded like heavy metal?: CLANGED - sounded like Heavy Metal~? - let me count the ways - OK, this one has some clever harmonics that sound like bending metal . . .
Blue Öyster Cult - Heavy Metal; The Black & Silver
29. Fishing spots: PIERS - I was recently contacted by two friends from high school for the first time in decades - one of them is the weatherman on TV in Richmond VA, and he has a podcast on fishing - but he prefers upstate NY to the pier
30. Sch. based in Westwood: UCLA - I'm East Coast
31. "A mouse!": "EEK~!"
32. Beats by __: DRE
33. Newspaper section with notable passages?: OBIT PAGES - forced
34. Bog makeup: PEAT
35. Source of feedback for a guitarist?: AMP - Clever clue, but not deceptive - one could argue there's no "abbr" in there, so it should be "amplifier"
41. Went for seconds: HAD MORE - forced - but has been in another puzzle
42. Forensic drama with regional spinoffs: CSI
43. Actress Shire: TALIA - name #8
47. Eta follower: THETA - Greek letters
48. Elbow room: SPACE
49. Mermaid played by Halle Bailey: ARIEL - name #9
50. "Water Lilies" painter: MONET - two weeks ( for me ) having to guess the "A" or "O"; name #10
51. Snag: GRAB - Ah. The verb, not the noun
52. Floor material, in a children's game: LAVA - "don't touch the floor~!"; 'composition' or 'make up' would have been a better word than 'material', but I still got it - I would pretend to be Indiana Jones when we had this "exercise" in gym class
54. Casual contraction: AIN'T - I tried Y'ALL
55. Thin strip: SLAT - oops, not LATH
57. "Yay, the weekend!" letters: TGIF
Thank Grover It's Funny~?
59. Car remote: FOB
60. __ Plaines, Illinois: DES - LFDC
Splynter
13 comments:
Did I say I wanted a more challenging puzzle yesterday? “Be careful what you ask for…” because today I got it! There were a whole slew of “?” clues, for one thing. And misdirection was only the half of it! Nevertheless, I persevered and got the win. FIR, so I’m happy.
Brrrrrrr. Not a Good Morning!
Zipped through this one, but looked sideways at BETTAS -- d-o never was into aquariums. I thought "passages" made OBIT PAGES clever, not meh. Thanx, Parker and Splynter. (What does LFDC mean?)
Learned From Doing Crossword
Thanx.
FIR, but cod->EEL, eggs->MASH, and iotas->ATOMS.
I always thought that literary FOIL was used by the MAIN CHARACTER, not the MAIN CHARACTER him/herself. Kinda like Dickie Smothers to Tommy, who got all the punch lines.
I had a girlfriend that had a GOAT that she was especially fond of. He was allowed to come into the house occasionally and had no trouble going up stairs to her bedroom. But the GOAT wasn't housebroken, and so spent most of its time outside. Can't really call it a PET, that was reserved for her wonderfully sweet and smart collie named Boots.
I feel ____? "Pretty?" No, too many letters. No West Side Story for you, Jinxy.
I DO. Seems like I mentioned this recently, but one of my favorite old saws is "a man is not complete until he takes a wife. Then he's finished."
My biograndson is on the Murray State University Bass Fishing Team. They fish from boats, not PIERS.
I was OK with AMP not indicating an abbreviation, because it is used that way most of the time instead of AMPlifier of AMPere. But I thought OBIT needed that hint.
Again I think that we've discussed this before. but my all-time favorite Italian restaurant was Romano's in DES Plaines. It was on the approach path to the (crossword favorite) O'Hare airport, so when you went there you could always look up and declare "DES planes!"
Thanks (I think) to Parker for the workout. I could have done without METCALF x TATAMI and MARC, but otherwise it was fun. I could have been born Parker Pieratt Jr, for a man my mother dated before meeting my dad. He went on to become wealthy in the retail furniture business. On the bright side, my last name would have been pronounced PEE-rat, and I can't imagine going through junior high with that moniker. And thanks to Splynter for nailing another review.
I've procrastinated long enough. Time to take poor Zoё out for what might be her first walk in the snow at almost 12 years old. Looks like a couple of inches, less than forecast. IS THAT THE BEST YA GOT, C-EH?
FIR, but man did this seem crunchy! After two easy days we got this bear of a puzzle.
There were complete mysteries to me, like "Beats by Dre"? That took a WAG to enter. Also the theme seemed a bit forced.
I guess i should be pleased i finished today's puzzle, but i did not enjoy it.
Wednesday puzzle. TLW are tolerable…unk names definitely destroy otherwise good fill for this -4 morning. Theme, meh.
Greet the day.
Took 6:14 today for me to wrap up this one.
Surprisingly, I knew today's actresses (Talia & Metcalf), the Japanese mat (tatami), and the Greek letter (theta), but not much related to the theme until I finished. I was surprised when I ran out of room entering "obituaries".
Ariel abutting Monet - both words I have to wait for a cross, as I can't remember the Ariel v. arial and Monet v. Manet.
I thought this was about a typical Wednesday challenge, not too difficult as I FIR in 12:01. Last fill was sort of a WAG at the C for the unknown MARC/METCALF cross but not much else would fit, the names IRENE, ASHE, ABBA, and TALIA should be familiar to most, SAM is a little iffy and took perps. Like a lot of others, whenever I see M_NET, the blank is filled by either a perp or a WAG. I’ve never heard anyone say BAE. Thanks Parker for today’s puzzle, and Splynter for the critique and review.
I managed to FIR with a few guesses and unknowns, starting with 1A- "Saweetie songs". I thought maybe they was some country's music- nope, just trashy RAPS. As for "Trans- opposite", I wish the editors would quit this alphabet nonsense. Unlike Splynt, I liked the PET GOATS because their young ones are 'kids'. And speaking of 'kids' game' LAVA was perps. I've never heard of the game "don't touch the floor!"
RAGS- every one of them being published. I only subscribe for three reasons. DW 1. It is in my driveway when I get up. 2. DW likes to drink her coffee and look at it. 3. Comics and crossword section. The rest is just wire downloads with ads for hearing aids, chiropractors, walk in baths, cruises, scooter chaairs, etc.- everything for OLD people like me.
I had to change TETRAS to the unknown BETTAS to wrap up the puzzle today. I was almost FOILED AGAIN But there was no Snidely Whiplash ending today.
Greek clue for THETA crossing a sorta Greek BETTAS. Hmm.
OBIT PAGES- appeared slowly for me until the V8 moment recognizing 'passages'. The other kind of passage, as in the final passage.
PIERS- fishing from a pier or river bank is what you do when you don't own a boat.
Good Morning:
I guess this was a typical Wednesday level offering, not too easy, not too hard, but the theme wasn’t that strong or clever, IMO. I agree that a few of the entries seem “forced” or, to put it less politely, green paintish. I’m not familiar with Bettas or the Lava floor, but perps were fair, so no foul. The clue for I Do was too clever by half and the 25 TLWs were too many by any metric for my taste.
Thanks, Parker, and thanks, Splynter, for an honest and fair critique.
Have a great day.
If an answer in a crossword can be characterized as "you either know it or you don't," the constructor and editor need to take accountability. It is inexcusable. Unfortunately, there were several such instances today, due to the plethora of proper names, as well as such inscrutable clues as "I feel ____", or "Beats by ____," or the one about a kids' game. Lava?
The theme was interesting, though, and I particularly enjoyed all the misdirected clues, like the newspaper section with notable passages, or kids playing in the backyard.
Thanks, Parker, for your efforts, and thanks, Splynter, for your guidance today. How's it going with the National Cathedral's Aeolian Skinner?
The preceding comment is mine.
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