HEAD to HEAD
This looks to be Zhou Zhang's solo debut for the LA Times - congratulations~! I did some research and found he co-authored a WSJ crossword just last month. We have just five (ish) names, no circles, no expanded grid, and three of his four themers are unique to crosswords. So, too, is 33D - one of two 9-letter non-theme fills, the other being 3D, and that fill has only appeared in one other crossword. Well done, sir. The themers;
18. Chance to have a heart to heart?: ROYAL FLUSH
Suit of hearts
26. Spot to meet face to face?: MAKEUP MIRROR
I love the double image of this Def Leppard album cover
61. Person who will go toe to toe?: PEDICURIST
Better would've been having the answers in "body" order, "head to toe", but still a solid puzzle, IMHO
I also found this
Better would've been having the answers in "body" order, "head to toe", but still a solid puzzle, IMHO
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Crystal balls, e.g.: ORBS - ah. I do the downs first, so my 2D. was wrong
5. French cap: BERET - OK, to answer the oft asked question, "Frawnche" comes from this scene from the 80's movie Better Off Dead
And the water is from "Peru"
10. Greek earth goddess: GAIA - Crossword friendly 75% vowels; name #1
14. __ out: sing with gusto: BELT - I have been known to belt out a karaoke song or two
15. Quartz type: AGATE - I did not know this popular crossword fill was quartz ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
16. Branches: ARMS
17. Clever concept: IDEA - I am working diligently to finish one of my board games; I printed a prototype game board and showed it to someone I trust with the idea - and she suggested some clever and well-appreciated corrections for me
21. Cat's warning sound: HISS - Jonesy gave Brett - and the viewers - a heads up HISS that the full-grown "30A." was right behind
22. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" playwright: ALBEE - name #3, needed some perps
23. Some saxes: ALTOs
25. Rewards for a good dog: TREATS - I am reading a book from Robert Crais called "Suspect" with a traumatized USMC German Shepherd as a character - still no luck on my four-legged friend yet 😞
30. Unfamiliar: ALIEN - A what~? A, a Xenomorph~?
James Cameron's 1986 sequel, Aliens
31. New prefix: NEO
32. Trip around the sun: YEAR - yup, that's what it is - and they're going faster, I've noticed
36. Beast of burden: ASS
37. Puts to work: EMPLOYS - AND - 66A. Puts to work: USES
41. Gibbon or gorilla: APE
42. See 43-Down: MOSS -AND- 43. With 42-Across, hanging growth in Louisiana swamps: SPANISH
44. Beverage suffix: ADE - Hi, lemonADE ~!
45. "__ love": "LOTSA"
51. Cocktail party appetizer: CANAPE
54. Dude ranch greeting: HOWDY
55. Solo: ALONE
56. Sound from a fan: WHIR
I'm a "fan"
58. Wax-wrapped Dutch cheese: EDAM
63. Subterfuge: RUSE
64. Parted partners: EXES
65. Scuffle: MELEE
67. Result of a bug bite, perhaps: RASH
68. Pot payments: ANTES - in card games like the hand of poker above
69. School orgs. that may sponsor fundraisers: PTAs - Parent Teacher Associations
DOWN:
1. Somber bio: OBIT - we are getting Spinal Tap II the movie this year; here's a cut from bassist Derek Smalls solo album
"She puts the b***h in obituary"
2. Ctrl+Y action: REDO - ctrl + C is 'copy';....ctrl + Z is 'UNDO' - yet there's a "Y" in copy, but no "Z" in undo and no "Y" in redo. . . . never mind
3. Expressed affection from afar: BLEW A KISS - 😘
4. Marvel Comics legend: STAN LEE - Ah. The "real" side of comics, not the "super" side. Name #4
5. Go around for rounds: BAR HOP - them days are behind me
6. Self-interest doctrine: EGOISM
7. Sunbeams: RAYS
8. Texts from a chronically late friend: ETAs - text implies an abbr. in this clue; at least it's different
9. Contact no.: TELephone
10. Place for portraits and prints: GALLERY
11. Island near Venezuela: ARUBA
12. "No more for me, thanks": "I'M SET"
13. Symbol on the first day of Lent: ASHES
19. Once-popular casino game: FARO - Just watched a clip about the tunnels dug for the Faroe Islands
24. Melody: TUNE
25. "Iliad" city: TROY
26. Counterpart of sir: MA'AM
27. As well: ALSO
28. Small bay: INLET
29. __ Speedwagon: REO
33. "You can't catch me!": "EAT MY DUST~!"
34. Church recess: APSE - I'm in this article from The American Organist magazine for our work on the new pipe organ at a church in Lynchburg, VA - I'm the one with the bald spot in the last image 😜
This is that same console that did not fit through the door 😆
35. __ admiral: REAR - Not just in charge of the "aft" or "stern" of a ship; here's the Wiki
38. Chess ending: MATE
39. Cuddling in the park, for short: PDA - Public Display of Affection
40. Barbecue side option: SLAW - I prefer fries
46. Phrase often heard in a restaurant kitchen: "ORDER UP~!"
48. Oil cartel letters: OPEC - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; I just learned that Norway is now at the top of the NON OPEC list; the YouTube clip
49. "That makes sense now": "OH I SEE."
50. Strengths: FORTES - Forte is my accountant's last name; he's good with numbers - it's his "forte"😜
51. Escapade: CAPER
52. Word said with an Echo?: ALEXA - I have to link this again, it was just too good - thanks, MM~!
Uh-huh....uh-huh....
53. Connection points: NODES
56. Small songbird: WREN - not the architect this time
57. Sword handle: HILT
59. Not on solid ground: ASEA
60. What a toddler might leave behind: MESS
62. Actress Thurman: UMA - name #5, crossword staple
Splynter
38 comments:
I enjoy this type of puzzle; funny definitions for common words or, like in this case, phrases. And it wasn’t terribly difficult, either. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Had to change HafT to HILT, but that was d-o's only misstep this morning. I put the Pilot down after seven and a half minutes. Enjoyed your LAT debut, Zhou Zhang. Well done, Splynter. Methinks you're starting to get the hang of this gig.
Splynter, thanks for the CSO for ADE and for the entertaining write-up including the subtle leg pic. It took me a while to get the theme; ROYAL FLUSH did not pop into my head and took most of the perps. Once in, it unlocked the puzzle which now seems easy for a Wednesday. Nice picture of you with your organ covered. Happy mitwoch all
FIR, but isis->GAIA, itch->RASH, i pass->IM SET, and assets->FORTE.
A day or two ago I mentioned that the country hit Jackson, performed by Mr and Mrs Johnny Cash, was inspired by Who's Afraid of Vriginia Woolf.
The reason FARO isn't found in casinos today is that the house had virtually no advantage. Casinos do just fine with a 5% edge, but not when it's nearly zero.
You can correctly pronounce FORTE (as used here) as "fort," but you would sound pretentious. Better to use the same pronunciation as in music - FOR-tay. But the Frawnche always say "fort."
Thanks to Zhang for the fun hump day exercise, and to Splynter for another fine review. BTW - I taught project management to some of the local government workers in Lynchburg's armory a few years ago. Nice people; rugged country.
Just as an aside, the financial difficulty of 23 And Me has consumer advocates suggesting that people delete their data and close their accounts. I found that it was impossible to do, because the two-factor logon email either didn't arrive, or was delayed by hours. I tried it at 0530 Corner Time today, and it worked just fine. Guess their systems are getting overloaded by folks trying to delete their data before the company gets sold to the highest bidder.
Interesting coincidence with the KISS x MAKEUP cross. At first I thought it was theme material and we'd get more "X" and "Y" - type crossings.
FIR. I had no problems with this puzzle. The clues were straightforward and the theme was fun. I finished in quick time.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
Took 5:52 today for me to survive hand-to-hand combat with this puzzle.
Good puzzle. I even knew today's writer (Albee), but hadn't heard of the "once popular" game "faro" nor could I remember the Greek goddess.
The word FORTE is pronounced "fort" in French, because, uh, that's how it's pronounced in French. I'm a singer, and the language used in the directions in musical scores is mostly Italian, and FORTE is pronounced "FOR-tay." That's because, uh, it's Italian.
And French, by the way, is spelled "French." Why do you misspell it?
Easier than yesterday's puzzle. I liked theme with the funny definitions. No unfamiliar fill. A few answers took a perp or two to jolt my memory.
Haven't read you-all yet, just co-miserating my luck with all things electronic lately. In addition to large chunks of the blog going missing, requesting a blog filter check and hearing nothing (but that could be because chunks of the blog have gone missing) and my newspaper going all electronic (no print) and loading the entire year to date papers before todays ( it takes about 5 minutes to get to todays addition to date) and when you complain they give you a ticket number, give you Pat answers that you have already tried, and then mark it case closed without EVER passing it on to anyone who could actually fix the problem, I tried to print out todays puzzle to take to the beach... this should be interesting: it doesn't look like this before you print it out...
A different kind of puzzle today where the theme resides in the clues while the grid itself is themeless. Almost absent of proper names, a very doable CW which I FIR in 10:47. Thanks to Zhou for the enjoyable solve and to Splynter for the informative recap.
FLN ~ C Eh! 🇨🇦, when I was a kid my parents were huge Red Wings fans, and the HABS were always our nemesis, they are to hockey what the NY Yankees are to baseball.
Smooth CW this morning. I didn’t notice the theme until I finished. I’m not quite sure I understand ROYAL FLUSH as clued. I appreciated the paucity proper names. All good.
Thank you Splynter for the recap and that episode from “Better off Dead”. What á silly movie that must be, but I liked seeing á young John Cusak and my name making an appearance.
of is missing from my comment.
Too bad my paper has this 3/27 puzzle and not the 3/26 puzzle
Musings
-Patti scheduled double word cluing back-to-back
-My brilliant colleague, Pam, has podophobia. She didn’t fear toes, she just found them disgusting.
-BELT out a song can only mean Ethel Merman to me
-I vividly recall Nebraskan Sandy Dennis’ academy award winning role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
-Employ was, uh, used in the second verse of Joy To The World to rhyme with joy.
-Command + Y is my MacBook’s equivalent of crossword’s venerable STET
-If your ETA is not the agreed-upon time, barring a believable excuse, you’re rude and late
-My new son-in-law and his son are both professional jazz players and great musicians. I struggle with jazz because often times it seems to have no “TUNE” and is random.
-I really enjoyed your write-up and pix, Splynter! I’ll spare you any organ references.
-OH, I SEE is my reaction when I finally decipher vague (clever?) cluing
-I am still laughing about the SNL Alexa bit!
FWIW
-The Omaha paper has quit publishing the LA Puzzle and I don’t want to use so much ink printing it out; therefore, I must do it online. Now the puzzle seems to “lock up” very frequently and I have to go through the process (and the commercials) of restarting it. The restart does bring me back to where I left off but it IRKS me! Anyone else experiencing this?
A fast, fun, and easy FIR. Is it Monday again? No, wait...this was easier than Monday! (And I enjoyed it more). Nice recap, Splynter. I read "Suspect" a couple of years ago, and really liked it.
Because "Frawnche" and "Frawnce" is how pretentious Americans pronounce them.
Why don't you just do it the easy way and print it out at latimes.com/games/daily-crossword?
A fun hump day puzzle with fresh fill.
Nice recap Splynter.
Can any cornerites tell me how we would pronounce Zhou Zhang phonetically?
I would like to learn just for my own interest and future knowledge. Thank you. 😊
C.C. Could tell you
Zhou Zhang, phonetically, is pronounced like Joe Jong.
Re Charo from last night, I think her saying “Coochie coochie” comes from coochie coochie dancing, which is sorta like belly dancing.
Gary, I for one have not experienced the puzzle locking up. I always do it online. I usually do it on a PC, but have also done it on my iPad, and have never had a problem. I know this doesn’t help you, but I wanted to answer your question.
Thank you 😊
Hola! As others have said, this felt more like Monday than Wednesday and was fun to solve. Thank you, Mr. Zhang and thank you, Jayce, for the pronunciation as well as the "coochie, coochie" reference. I would not have known that but it makes sense.
I liked the clue for POTATO FARMER. Yes, potatoes have eyes!
Have a lovely day, everyone!
Delightful puzzle, many thanks, Zhou Zhang. And thanks, Splynter, for your always helpful commentary.
Well, those references to a BERET and BELT right at the beginning, suggested some fancy dude who used a MAKE-UP MIRROR to make sure he looked good, and BLEW A KISS when he felt he looked great. Maybe he then went out to try a BAR HOP, and maybe later a visit to a GALLERY. By then he was probably hungry and needed a TREAT of some sort (but with no DUST). And we can only hope that he eventually found a MATE.
Have an enjoyable day, everyone, even if the weather isn't perfect.
Husker: I do the puzzle on-line everyday using the LAT website on my MacBook Air. I find that the puzzle doesn't "lock up" if I start the puzzle from a new tab in Firefox each time. I can have other tabs open as long as I start the puzzle from a new tab.
Interesting. I've never heard those pronunciations, coming from the pretentious or otherwise.
Regardless, I find the purposeful misspellings a bit childish, as well as offensive and insulting.
Monkey - Hearts as in the suit of hearts. The face cards are in a Royal Flush. -T
Short on time today. FIR in 14, nice theme, fun CW thanx ZZ. Another terrific write-up, Splynter, thanx.
Did the puzzle later, longer meeting session today.
A lot easier ‘n speedier than yesterday once I got perped northern blanks. Was looking for a podiatrist but then UMA started a MELEE with a PEDICURIST and I refused to accept “de feet”
Although the theme was clever an IDEA is not always a “clever concept”
Next town north of my place in the Adirondacks is Eagle “Bay” then INLET NY in Hamilton county
Γαῖα: primordial goddess sprung from the void of Chaos. She sounds like fun!
canapés
The sound after King Charles leaves the loo … ROYAL FLUSH
White picket fence go with … AGATE
Fanny fancier : ___ “admiral”.. REAR 🤭
Age you might need high “strength”reading glasses: FORTES
Mom’s “pot paying” sisters: ANTES
Useta be: WHIR
Have a great hump day 🐫
Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Zhou and Splynter.
FIRed in good time with just a little slowdown in the SW corner, caused by my own mixing of clue numbers.
I saw the HEAD to TOE theme in the clues, and looked in vain to find any cohesiveness to the answers (although the last two were occupations).
CSO to Ray-o with RAYS.
Wishing you all a great day.
I did
Odd - I nearly never have any problems doing it that way. I use Windoze - if you have an iThing your results may vary.
As I mentioned, I don't want to use all that ink.
Thanks Brian, I'll give that a try.
Zhou Zhang's puzzle was LOTSA fun! I made a note to that effect on the page after finishing it this morning. I have to say, Splynter's review was LOTSA fun, too! It should be required reading before commenting. I loved that Splynter:
- showed us the source of "Frawnche" in "Better Off Dead"
- shared the vulture cowboy cartoon
- took us to work through a linked article, with awesome organ pipes on display
- introduced us to SNL's "Echo Silver," which should help us solve puzzles well into the future
Thanks, Splynter! Best little Corner on the interwebs.
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