This is John Kugelman's debut puzzle for the LA Times, but HE ( I checked, just to be sure this time ) has had several published in other places - from what I can see, he has constructed mostly Sunday grids - today's puzzle is 15 x 16, with mirror symmetry; somewhat Saturday in nature, and all we are missing is the "Z" for a pangram~! No circles, a fair number of names, 30 TLWs, and a geometrical theme of 'boxy' morsels for the three meals of the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner, in order. Well done~! The three polygonal treats and the reveal;
19. Breakfast: cereal: RICE CHEX
31. Lunch: fast-food sandwich: WENDY'S BURGER
52. Dinner: seafood pasta: LOBSTER RAVIOLI
Mmm-Mmm good~!
My plates are square, too - but don't rotate in the microwave :7((
63. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or what 19-, 31-, and 52-Across literally are: THREE SQUARE MEALS
Now that's my idea of a "Square Meal", but my trainer keeps telling me
I have to stop hanging with the baron - the Red Baron, that is
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Makeshift instrument: JUG - I had "JIG" to start, thinking of a woodworking instument - and they're usually makeshift
4. Chess champion Garry: KASPAROV - name #1 - I do the DOWN clues first, so half of this was already filled in
12. First down yardage amount: TEN - we're in July - just two months to football season~!
15. "Float like a butterfly" boxer: ALI - name #2, but a crossword staple
16. Forget to set the oven timer, maybe: OVERBAKE - surprised to find out this is a unique fill
17. Wrath: IRE
18. "Headbangers Ball" airer: MTV - I want my MTV~! This was about the only segment I could watch
Most of the intro clips were S.O.D. songs - I'd link "What's That Noise" - but NSFW
20. Gaping opening: MAW - ooops - I put in GAP, but those three letters start the clue
26. "A Fine Romance" composer Jerome: KERN - name #4 - I have heard of this guy, despite never seeing/hearing anything from him - but I now know he wrote some classic musical pieces
30. "No __": "Perfect!": NOTES - this is new for me; any review or evaluation with "no notes" is a good thing - e.g., a script
Autumn At Apple Hill - The Hallmark Channel
34. Gravitate (toward): LEAN
36. Camry competitor: ALTIMA - Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan
I am partial to Toyota - I drive a Prius "C" 2, and I would definitely get THIS
37. Seemingly never-ending story: SAGA - I love Star Wars, but even I am getting overwhelmed with the amount of "universe" that is presented to us
40. Poison __: IVY - either this or OAK - I guessed correctly
41. Letter between pi and sigma: RHO
42. Cyclops feature: EYE
44. Sacred oath: VOW
45. Curriculum __: VITAE - Latin for 'course of life', it's a detailed resume, essentially
47. Backside: REAR
50. First-year cadet: PLEBE
55. "That's my experience too": "I CAN RELATE."
56. Like windshields on winter mornings: ICED UP - God bless the fact that I can NOT relate to this - my Prius and Dodge Grand Caravan ( I call them Pixie and Daphne ) are both parked in my garage; they no longer "ICE UP", and in the winter, get COLDER as I drive to work~! I had one of the guys at the pipe organ place suggest leaving the van out for a bigger workshop - I never had a garage growing up, so I am using it for its intended purpose.
59. Like 1% milk: LOW-FAT
68. Org. chasing Jason Bourne: CIA - I have seen the movies, and I think they have the best edited fight scenes of any movie out there - this one from the Bourne Supremacy; I need to read the books now
WARNING~! - Some violence
69. Opening stage: ROUND ONE
70. Letters on Megan Rapinoe's jersey: USA - name(ish) - I had _ S A, so . . . .
71. Contains: HAS
72. Heard things?: NOISES
73. Neither partner: NOR - or SWEdish partner~?
DOWN:
1. Places for mezuzahs: JAMBS - I learned this from working on a movie set back in 1997; I was tasked with making one that would crumble, indicating a "bad sign" to our Rabbi; a girl named Susan May came up with one she "OVER BAKED", the director loved it, and used hers instead; I was very jealous . . . .
A Riot a Minute: The first word of each theme answer, including the unifier, is a description of a type laughter. Several of these terms seemed a bit antiquated to me.
17-Across. Canned responses featured on many classic sitcoms: LAUGH TRACKS.
.
28-Across. Alcohol, in 1920s speakeasy slang: GIGGLE WATER. I was not familiar with this term. It even predates my parents.
46-Across. Egg, in diner slang: CACKLEBERRY. I was not familiar with this term, either. Apparently, Cackleberry is a slang term for a hen's egg because it is a combination of the word "cackle" (the sound a hen makes), and "berry", which is roughly the shape of an egg.
And the unifier:
59-Across. Bozo, and a feature of 17-, 28-, and 46-Across: CHUCKLEHEAD. Also known as a blockhead.
Any other laughs?
Across:
1. Curved segments: ARCS.
5. Happy shout: HOORAH!
11. Scoreboard figs.: PTS. As in Points.
14. Actress Petty: LORI. Lori Petty (b. October. 14, 1963) was in many films in the 1990s.
Then and now.
15. Saint of Ávila: TERESA.
16. Nev. neighbor: ARI. Arizona is the neighbor of Nevada. The Hoover dam is on the border of these two states. Hi, Lucina!
19. Bled, as dyed fabric: RAN.
20. Fix a sloppy cartographer's work: REMAP.
21. Generic painkiller: ASPIRIN. The active ingredient of aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. It is derived from willow bark and has been known to relieve pain for over 3,500 years. Aspirin, that we purchase from the drug store was developed in the late 1890s by chemist Felix Hoffmann (Jan. 21, 1868 ~ Feb. 8, 1946) at Bayer. Aspirin taken in large quantities, however, can cause gastric bleeding.
23. Fictional lion whose name is Turkish for "lion": ASLAN. Aslan is a major character in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis (né Clive Staples Lewis; Nov. 29, 1898 ~ Nov. 22, 1963).
24. Course for intl. students: ESL. As in English as a Second Language. This has become a crossword staple.
26. Shape of a tornado: CONE.
27. Cowboys, on scoreboards: DAL. Think football and the Dallas Cowboys.
32. Attempt: STAB.
34. "__ too shabby!": NOT.
35. Rather thick: DENSE.
36. Share a border with: ABUT.
38. Needs one more candle on one's cake: AGES.
39. Jackrabbits, e.g.: HARES. Jackrabbits are hares, but are not rabbits.
41. Peach or coral: HUE.
42. Milky gemstone: OPAL. Everything you ever wanted to know about opals.
49. Quaint "Hurry up!": HIE.
50. Rich person's suffix: -AIRE. Hand up if you are a Billionaire.
51. Stat that may increase with a homer: ERA. As in Earned Run Average.
52. Love, in Torino: AMORE. Today's Italian lesson.
54. Before daybreak: PRE-DAWN.
57. Striped African antelope: ELAND.
58. Touchdown hr.: ETA. Not football, but flying in a plane. Estimated Time of Arrival.
63. Oil field structure: RIG.
64. Force: COMPEL.
65. Buy in, in poker: ANTE. // And 66-Across. Call, in poker: SEE. // And 1-Down. Winner takes __: ALL.
67. __ rasa: blank slate: TABULA. Today's Latin lesson.
68. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB. Stay is career-making song Lisa Anne Loeb (b. Mar. 11, 1968). The song was from the movie Reality Bites, and was the first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 for an artist without a recording contract.
Down:
2. Greets like a tiger: ROARS AT.
3. Villain de Vil of "101 Dalmatians": CRUELLA.
4. Greek letter on the AutoSum button in Excel: SIGMA.
5. URL intro: HTTP. We had this recently. HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
6. Poetic "above": O'ER.
7. Pop star Rita: ORA. Rita Sahatçiu Ora makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzle. She is a British singer, actress, television personality, and fashion icon. She was born in Kosovo in 1990.
8. Think back to: RECALL. Do you have total recall?
9. Gives a proper "Jeopardy!" response: ASKS.
10. Locking device: HASP.
11. Colorful, chatty birds: PARROTS.
12. Company noob: TRAINEE.
13. One seeking redemption: SINNER.
18. Put up, as art: HANG.
22. "Just watch me!": I CAN SO!
23. Some Super Bowl highlights: ADs.
24. Awards "quadruple crown": EGOT. The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Awards is often seen in the puzzles.
25. PD rank: SGT. As in Sergeant in the Police Department.
29. Occupied: IN USE.
30. Groundskeeper's tool: EDGER.
31. Tiny: WEE.
33. Spoke in a husky voice?: BARKED.
37. "The Fresh Prince of __-Air": BEL. A Will Smith sit-com that ran in the 1990s.
38. Subtle glow: AURA.
39. Scrunchie, for one: HAIR TIE.
40. Farm measure: ACREAGE.
41. Feminine pronoun: HER.
43. Bus. card info: PHONE NO.
44. Broadcast time: AIR DATE.
45. Gymnast Suni: LEE. Suni Lee (née Sunisa Phabsomphou Lee; b. Mar. 9, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast. In the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, she was the all-around gold medalist and won the bronze medal on the uneven bars bronze medalist.
46. Tangy buds in chicken piccata: CAPERS. Everything you ever wanted to know about capers.
47. Deaden: BE NUMB.
48. Ivy university featured on "Gilmore Girls": YALE. I never watched Gilmore Girls, but Yale was an obvious fit.
53. Taj __: Indian tourist site: MAHAL.
55. Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT. As in Account.
56. "OMG!" kin: WHOA. Really?
57. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA. Ella Summer Reed Purnell (b. September 17, 1996) is a British actress who began her career as a child model.
60. PC core: CPU. As in Central Processing Unit.
61. Kenan's former comedy partner: KEL. Kenan and Kel was a sit-com from the late 1990s that starred Kenan Thompson (b. May 10, 1978) and Kel Mitchell (né Kel Johari Rice Mitchell; b. Aug. 25, 1978). Kenan later went on to star on Saturday Night Live.
62. "Smitten Kitchen Every Day" cookbook writer Perelman: DEB. I am not familiar with Smitten Kitchen Every Day. Apparently, the Smitten Kitchen began as a cooking blog.